Aug 31
August 2009
I did.
I recently happened on this a guide to my town on Design Sponge and got to thinking about it. I live in a wonderful part of the United States, two hours south of Washington, D.C., an hour from the Atlantic Ocean, and an hour from the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Richmond, Virginia has a rich, interesting history, many nice neighborhoods in both the city and suburbs, great venues for entertainment, active design and technology communities, fine resturants, and so on. And I doubt that I have taken advantage of five percent of it.
This was a bit of a wakeup call. If you have a similar deficit, take a look at a web site that provides outsiders with a look at your part of the planet. You might be surprised about how blessed you are. (Thanks Design Sponge.)
A Richmond,Virginia guide from Design Sponge...
I live in a Richmond suburb: Glen Allen, Virginia...
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Aug 28
August 2009
If you can continually expand your visual vocabulary, every day is new. What I like most about "lapsed Graphic Designer" Marian Bantjes is the seemingly endless ways she invents to say a thing. I'm guessing that making each project different is a challenge she relishes. Here are some wonderful examples.
A menu of items...
And then something entirely different...
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Aug 26
August 2009
The My Moleskine 2.0 Exhibition challenged Moleskine users to do things better, faster, more creative and innovatively with the popular Moleskine Pocket Notebook. The results are sometimes frivilous and fun, and sometimes serious and practical. In any case, if you are a Moleskine fan, you'll want to check it out.
Christian Mahler...
Florence Chan...
Ben Grier...
The list of finalists...
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Aug 24
August 2009
A work of art? I certainly believe it is.
Here's a bit of a controversy I'd like to hear your opinion on.
I love the Shorpy photographic site but something shown there struck a (dull) chord with me. It is the coloroization of an iconic black and white photograph--Dorothea Lange's Migrant Mother.
I don't think the contributor is a bad person for doing this, I just think they don't fully appreciate the fact that it is wrong to copy and or edit someone else's work without their permission.
Personally, I believe a photograph is a creative work that should be protected from this type of defacement (ethically, if not legally).
I can't image anyone having the temerity to colorize Ansel Adams' The Tetons--Snake River. Or Pablo Picasso's Guernica. I doubt most would look favorably on a budding writer who decided to add a chapter or two to Joyce's Ulysses and republish it.
Is this any different?
The image in question...
The original image...
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Aug 21
August 2009
360 Cities presents an interesting dilemma. It is a gateway for visiting places on a map and viewing them in 360 degrees--an example of the type of virtual experience that has become increasingly prevalent in recent years.
My first question is this: As a vacationer, if you can go to a place and experience it virtually, do you need to travel there to experience it physically? "Well of course," you say. "To really experience a place, you have to be there." True--but what if, having experienced it virtually, you don't deem it significant enough to merit a physical visit? How many destinations that currently trade on mystique and discovery can survive that type of virtual scrutiny?
Now let's explode the question: Can your client's product, service, or idea survive virtual scrutiny? When it is illustrated, diagrammed, and dissected--revealed for its true self--will it continue to command the audience it commands today?
Here's an example of what I mean: I recently visited a city and had no idea where to find a good meal. A few years ago I would have found something that looked appealing and given it a shot. But now I look up restaurants on a site such as Yelp.com and see what people who have eaten in places nearby have to say about them. It is a helpful development for the consumer but a potentially worrisome one for the seller (especially one that relies heavily on mystique and discovery).
How does this relate to graphic design and marketing? It seems to me that our key challenge going forward will be to help clients achieve or retain significance. Not conventional significance but uber-significance--a type of honesty, clarity, style, and consistency that can survive the conclusions of those who view it through the virtual microscope.
The days when clever copy and gauzy photographs sell inferior products are numbered. The days of building brands on story alone are numbered. The days of predictable public relations are numbered. Assuming an organization can find a way to reach a prospective audience, I'm guessing the quality of its product and the honestly with which it is presented will have to be (in many cases) light years ahead of where it is in 2009.
Our success as marketers, graphic designers, copywriters, illustrators, and photographers will be wholly dependent on our ability to help clients re-invent and re-brand themselves--to help them see the world from all 360 degrees.
360 Cities: Nothe Fort...
Another amazing example of 360 technology...
The 360 Cities home page...
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Aug 19
August 2009
I think personalizing a web site (in most cases) is a good thing. It provides a sense of who's doing the talking, the scope of the business, and (most importantly) that there is someone confident enough about the product that they are willing to attach their name to it.
Most sites are black holes--two or two hundred people so concerned about privacy that they don't even list the organization's street address. Don't get me wrong, providing too much personal information is not smart. But contracts require signatures. If you want information about me as a customer and are unwilling to share anything about you as the seller, I get a little queasy.
Here is one example of how it can be done. Have any others?
An example by Blue Sky Factory...
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Aug 17
August 2009
John Solimine is Spike Press. Spike Press is John Solimine. Seems as if everyone has recognized him in the last couple of years--Communication Arts, Coudal Partners, illustrationMUNDO, Lettercult, and so on.
I was particularly impressed by his poster designs...
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Aug 14
August 2009
Designer Richard Smith kicked off something he calls the The Dollar Redesign Project a while back. The idea, as he puts it, is to rebuild, rebrand, and revive currency design.
The Dollar Redesign Project...
While we're on the subject, here is a fascinating look at the color of money from colourlovers.com...
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Aug 12
August 2009
One of the great things about being a graphic designer in the year 2009 is that the playing field is almost perfectly flat. The tools cost next to nothing and clients are more willing than ever to work with you because of the quality of your work versus the size of your sign. We are judged by what we produce and little else.
But being a graphic designer in 2009 requires a skill we didn't even contemplate 20 years ago--an understanding of usability. By usability, I mean how people access information and accomplish tasks. It wasn't long ago that the primary mediums for messaging, collateral and advertisements, were pretty straight-forward. The vast majority of brochures had a headline on the cover, text and images inside, and a call to action toward the back. Similarly, though the information was situational, print, radio, and TV advertising were also presented in very predictable ways.
That has changed. Not only does the designer have to contend with communicating the message, they have to (at a minimum) understand the scope of the platforms available for presenting it.
Adobe's Scene7 site is a great place to see some of the most interesting and intuitive ways that are currently being used to present product information.
The demos page...
An overview of "rich media" in presentation form...
The Adobe Scene7 cover...
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Aug 10
August 2009
Alison Carmichael has a wonderful gift for all types of lettering design. You can see the depth of her talent under "Poster ads."
See "Poster ads"...
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Aug 7
August 2009
A couple of days ago I wrote a post on the design of street fashions, T-shirts, caps, and such (When the brand is the product). I understand the value of it, I like to look at it, I am intrigued by the designs.
But for some reason I have trouble with sneaker design. My mind does not recognize the same connection between design and footwear that it does between design and shirts and caps. I see people walking around with what looks like little sports cars on their feet and it looks weird to me.
So, in the interest of facing your fears, I sought out and sampled a site devoted to sneaker design--sneakerfreaker.com. I still haven't totally overcome my lack of interest in sneakers, but I do have a better appreciation for the craft of sneaker design.
An article about profiling Keep and Una Kim...
More interviews with sneaker designers...
A recent design from Puma...
Luxury sneakers?...
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Aug 5
August 2009
I saw a guy recently wearing an absolutely elaborate T-shirt. It was printed in four or more colors and what looked like gold leaf. It made me curious about the state of the street fashion industry so I started looking around to find some examples to share with you.
This may sound like I'm stating the obvious, but what makes it so interesting to me is that it appears that there is not real story or meaning behind much of the the imagery--it is just emblems, typography, patterns, and color. And that I am so conditioned to thinking of that combination of elements as having a specific purpose and meaning that it makes the whole thing that much more intriguing.
In any case, I really appreciate the quality of the design. Your thoughts?
A design by Crown Holder...
Another from Crown Holder...
Crown Holder, detail two...
Crown Holder, detail three...
A design by Zoo York...
A typographic sketch by Zoo York...
By Coogi...
The source, Dr Jays...
An elaborate embroidered cap by Stall & Dean...
Another interesting cap design by Leroy Jenkins ...
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Aug 3
August 2009
True passion is rare.
Much creative energy and expertise is expended moving value from one hand to the other. That's not a criticism--commerce makes lots of good things possible--I am a card carrying member of the commerce thing. But I can't help but take special notice when I encounter expressions of interest and involvement that appear at least, to have grown out of a pure devotion to its subject.
I see that in a new publication--UPPERCASE magazine (2009). A magazine? Are you kidding?! Who starts a magazine in the year of Twitter? People with passion do--their names are Janine Vangool and Deidre Martin and they've enlisted the help of an eclectic collection of talented contributors--designers, illustrators, photographers, typographers, writers, and others.
The purpose of UPPERCASE is to take a look at the creative process from all angles: profiling creatives, peeking into work environments, pointing to examples of styles and palettes, uncovering interesting ephemera--they even devote a section of the magazine to brief profiles of five or six of their subscribers--an approach that (to me) demonstrates something important about their thinking.
Enough with the accolades--at this point you probably think these are relatives of mine--they aren't, I have no connection with them whatsoever. But I can tell you the first thing I did after closing the last page was to go online and subscribe. I figure that when you find a passion you share, you should support it.
UPPERCASE Magazine: Issue 2 preview...
The magazine is just part of the mix, their web includes lots of interesting material...
Their blog...
You can buy the current issue or subscribe here...
Once you've seen it, I'd love to hear your comments below...
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