Feb 1
Basic design
Gene Gable is curating a virtual museum of design, typography, and related ephemera over at CreativePro.com under the title of Scanning Around With Gene.
He certainly has the credentials. At various times he has been the head Publish magazine, the publisher of The Seybold Report, and a member of the Ziff-Davis executive team which was responsible for major business events such as Comdex.
If you don't yet know him and his eye for interesting, you're in for a treat.
Three examples of his column: The Dead Letterhead Department...
When Halftones Were an Art Form...
When Letraset Was King...
An introduction to the author by way of his website...
Gene Gable on twitter...
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Jan 9
Illustration
How do you make a better map? Ask cartographer David Imus. Mapmaking is not only about measurements and data, a great map is a feat of graphic design.
David Imus recently won the Cartography and Geographic Information Society's (CaGIS) annual Map Design Competition, Best of Show designation for his acclaimed new map: The Essential Geography of the United States of America.
Seth Stevenson takes a look the making of the map and explains what makes it significant in a piece he wrote for Slate.com.
Many thanks to Wendy Hersh for pointing us to it.
The Essential Geography of the United States of America...
An insightful piece about the map by Seth Stevenson for Slate.com...
The Imus Geographics website...
The Cartography and Geographic Information Society's (CaGIS) website...
About David Imus...
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Jan 2
Basic design
The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and the Smithsonian Institution's Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, in New York have co-organized an international exhibition titled Graphic Design: Now in Production — what is being called, "an ambitious look at the broad-ranging field of graphic design".
As the exhibit's website describes it, the exhibit "explores how graphic design has broadened its reach dramatically over the past decade, expanding from a specialized profession to a widely deployed tool." The work featured, "explores design-driven magazines, newspapers, books, and posters as well as branding programs for corporations, subcultures, and nations".
Whether or not you are able to visit the exhibit, I encourage you to order a copy of the exhibit catalogue, a 225-page book that includes hundreds of examples plus twenty-some opinion pieces on the recent history and current state of graphic design by the exhibit's curatorial team and others.
The irony is graphic design, as Ellen Lupton puts it, is "about doing something in the world" or pragmatics — and the very nature of such an exhibit is to look at the work and describe it (for the most part) outside the context for which it takes action. It will fascinating to see how well the exhibit is able to bridge that divide.
I'm anxious to see it — here are the venues:
Walker Art Center, Minneapolis through January 22, 2012
Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, New York, May 16, 2012
Hammer Museum, Los Angeles, California, September 30, 2012
Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston, Texas, July 19, 2013
Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art, Winston-Salem, NC, Oct 24, 2013
A quick overview...
The exhibit web page...
About the exhibit catalogue...
Purchase the exhibit catalogue...
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Dec 30
Basic design
Some folks write books because they're talented at researching and organizing ideas and communicating them in ways that make them entertaining and useful to readers. Some people write books because they are compelled to share the subjects they live and breath. Maggie Macnab's new book, Design By Nature, Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design is clearly a book that is as much about the heart as it is about the mind.
What I come away with is a new sense that nature does not merely provide ideas from which we can draw inspiration for design, but rather that it is nature that forms the context and framework from which much of design emanates. That to understand these concepts — the origins of patterns, shapes, and other elements of nature -- will help the designer find new ways of discovering intuitive, "gut-level" solutions to design problems. Solutions that our audiences will absorb on a different, deeper level because of their scientific truth.
The book is well-designed and beautifully illustrated. I particularly like the lists of "Key Concepts" at the beginning of each chapter and the "Guest Designer Studies" — explanations of how other designers use the concepts described in their own work.
I suggest buying Maggie's book as a gift to yourself for the new year. If you're like me, you'll soon be understanding and experiencing design on a whole new, natural level.
Design by Nature: Using Universal Forms and Principles in Design By Maggie Macnab
New Riders, October 2011, ISBN 978-0-321-74776-1, 312 pages
Some links...
The book's website...
An interview with Maggie Macnab...
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Dec 12
Basic design
Graphic design is, in many cases, the re-expression existing ideas. In most cases, re-casting a visual metaphor you've encountered or using a combination of typefaces that seem to work well together would seem to be acceptable practice. But when does inspiration become imitation?
Jessica Hische tackled the subject recently and I'm using her thoughts as the catalyst for a continued discussion on the subject.
Jessica Hische on Inspiration vs. Imitation...
Visual plagiarism: when does inspiration become imitation ?...
Bob Caruthers offers some examples of "Similarities"...
One of my earlier posts about copyright infringement...
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Nov 28
Web Design
Political ideologies aside, I've got to agree with Jason Fried of 37signals.com that The Drudge Report is one of the best designed sites on the web. Among the reasons he gives is that the page is straightforward, unique, specific, "good cluttered," and concise.
Perhaps his best argument is that if you were to pull the logo off most of the home pages of the competing news organizations (CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, ABC News, CBS News, and so on) you probably couldn't tell one from the next.
In a recent The New York Times article, David Carr points to the numbers: "With no video, no search optimization, no slide shows, and a design that is right out of mid-'90s manual on HTML, The Drudge Report provides 7 percent of the inbound referrals to the top news sites in the country."
Ty Fujimura for Huffington Post explains, "Beauty is merely one component of design, like usability, speed, cost, and time. Design is not decoration, it's a concerted effort to solve a particular problem. Some sites don't need to be fast. Some don't need to be cheap. Others, like Drudge, don't need to be pretty."
It's certainly a design worth studying.
Jason Fried's article from 2008 (and the 500-plus comments about it)...
The wonderfully awful design of the Drudge Report...
The New York Times on How Drudge Has Stayed on Top...
The Huffington Post talks about How ugly design can be good design...
Ready to take Drudge on? Here's a WordPress template...
If you hadn't noticed, there has long been a link in the bottom-right column for the Drudge Reference Desk which is compiled and edited by Matt Drudge's father...
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Nov 14
Learning
In the recent past I was approached by a web startup to help with the design of a product user interface. To make a long story short, they wanted me to compete with several other designers to produce a design and, if they liked mine best, I'd get the job. All they needed to see, they explained, was one page.
Just one design of the grid size and column widths...
One definition of the primary functions — what needs to be said and show...
One definition of the terminology — how to say it and show it...
One set of innovations — elements that distinguish their UI from others...
One treatment for the logo and tag line...
One design of the menu and button styles...
One design of the illustration and photography styles...
One wet of choices for the aesthetics such as typefaces and colors...
One page that I figured, properly researched and designed, would take a minimum of 30 hours to produce.
My point is this approach is bad business for everyone involved. Among the risks of spec work, the AIGA writes, "Clients risk compromised quality. Little time, energy and thought can go into speculative work, which precludes the most important element of most design projects — the research, thoughtful consideration of alternatives, and development and testing of prototype designs."
Needless to say I declined the offer (too bad, it looked like an interesting project). But all is not lost, it leads me to today's post — the debate about whether or not you and I should do spec work. Yes, I understand many of us pitch accounts but this is different. This is comparable to producing a finished TV spot to get a job doing a TV spot.
Here's the anti-spec argument...
And the AIGA's position on it...
And a rather agnostic, but useful view from a talented photographer and designer, Nick Campbell (warning: the video contains some strong language)...
Nick's website...
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Nov 9
Graphics Tech
There are plenty of theories about where interaction design is headed — the trick is to separate hyperbole from true vision. Why should you care? Because, as designer and engineer Bret Victor puts it, we shouldn't, "...just extrapolate yesterday's technology and then cram people into it."
"Technology doesn't just happen." Victor says, "It doesn't emerge spontaneously, like mold on cheese. Revolutionary technology comes out of long research, and research is performed and funded by inspired people."
He knows what he's talking about. Among his many accomplishments Victor, "...designed the initial user interface concepts for iPad, iPod Nano, and half a dozen experimental hardware platforms. Initiated, designed, and prototyped over seventy concept projects, including radically reinvented interfaces for video editing, animation, drawing, learning, collaboration, mail, photos, and much more. Invented features for Mac OS X Lion. Worked with designers and engineers from all parts of Apple. (And) Routinely presented to top-level management."
If you're anything like me you'll find his insights and predictions fascinating. Thanks to my friend Monique Larsen for pointing us to it.
A brief rant on the future of interaction design...
Victor's information graphics bio...
Thinking about user interfaces in very different ways...
Magic Ink: a revolutionary approach to UI...
Victor's website: WorryDream.com...
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Oct 31
Web Design
That's a quote from a member of the development team for Muse, a new web design and publishing product Adobe is creating for professional graphic designers (now in public beta).
I haven't used it so I have no opinion about its value, but if you aren't familiar with it, you need to be. Why? Because the barriers to design are going to continue to fall away. To make a living at graphic design we're going to need to be independent thinkers and doers.
I believe that, as the tools become easier to use and proliferate, more and more people with want to design. And that, as the field expands, good design will be more widely recognized, better understood, and the best of it will be more highly valued.
But being a good designer will be more difficult too — it will no longer be enough to simply make our designs look good, we're going to have to know how to make them work well.
In other words, more than ever, we'll need examine and understand the entire picture:
1. What is my client trying accomplish?
2. How can I optimize the content and design to facilitate that goal?
3. What combination of devices, technologies, and messages will we use to draw our audience into the conversation?
4. How will my client keep their marketing fluid?
Yes it's all moving quickly and it can get a bit overwhelming, but don't be discouraged, if you love it, you can find your place in it.
The Adobe Muse website (made using Muse)...
A series of videos that explain the product...
Some anti-Muse sentiment...
Another recent post about fundamental changes in the world of graphic design...
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Oct 26
Marketing PR
I like this animated presentation for two reasons: First, the information is fascinating. The author cites statistics that point to radical changes in world markets in the future. Second, I like the look, feel, and sound of it. I flows nicely and uses type to emphasize the soundtrack.
If you don't already know Fredrik Härén, he is an author and speaker on the subject of creativity (his book like mine is an "idea book").
How is your idea perception?...
About Fredrik Härén (the other Idea Book author)...
Härén's Idea Book Facebook page...
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Oct 14
Print Design
Technology can be a little overwhelming sometimes. We're moving so fast, it's difficult to know which ideas to adopt and when to adopt them. Just when you settle on a content management system, for example, someone invents a new system that makes the one you just adopted looking kinda lame.
But it's inevitable. Hardware and software companies are like sharks, unless they keep moving forward, they drown — so they relentlessly invent and re-invent devices and tools in the hope that they'll maintain and grow their audience.
The good news is the creative options are ever expanding, the downside is it's almost a full time job separating the necessary and valuable from the gingerbread and hype. I love Adobe, in my lifetime they have played a major role in transforming my profession from a craft to a way of life.
I know it has become the industry way — but the Broadway show stuff makes me uneasy. I'm beginning to feel less like a partner and more like a member of the audience. Honestly, given the forces at work, I don't know that it is a problem that can be resolved, I just feel compelled to point to the obviousness of it.
You be the judge: Adobe's next big thing -- the creative cloud.
Adobe Chief Technology Officer Kevin Lynch's keynote presentation at MAX 2011...
The expressive web...
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Sep 28
Web Design
When I saw this lovely lithograph by Angie Lewin, it made me think there are probably many ways it could be used for commercial purposes. On the cover of a brochure for a spa, to illustrate a web page for a bed and breakfast, and so on.
My point is, we shouldn't be shy about inviting artists to collaborate on projects. In some cases, artists will be receptive to the possibility, in some cases not. I'm just suggesting it's worth investigating. (I'm using Ms. Lewin's work as an example — I'm not implying that she would be interested, but I'm guessing most artists would be willing to entertain a proposal.)
A lithograph by printmaker Angie Lewin...
While we're on the subject of printmaking — my niece, Summer Ventis, is also an accomplished printmaker...
BTW: If you're not familiar with the various printmaking techniques, MOMA explains the processes: woodcut, etching, lithography, and screenprints...
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Sep 26
Packaging
If you're enamored with Dieline.com, you'll love Boxvox.com. How do I explain the difference? Let me put it this way, I've come to think of Dieline.com as a fashion show and Boxvox.com as a sewing machine. Randy Ludacer's blog looks at the fabric of packaging: the current state of packaging, the history of packaging, the technical side of packaging, and all threads in between.
Chained Polyhedral Portion Packs...
Package as a metaphore...
Geografia's Polyhedral Planet...
Edge matching puzzles...
Randy, who is also a musician, even writes songs about packaging (bottom of the page)...
But don't miss Dieline.com either...
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Sep 23
Basic design
In October, Fast Company publishes its annual look at "Masters of Design" and "The United States of Design". I say "kinda" because we all recognize that the state of design changes hourly. A design in development this afternoon will likely sway our thinking shortly.
But it's fun to see who the design establishment — the educators, editors, pundets, curators, and organization heads — recognize as the current leaders in the field (I fear it will be another generation before the effusion about 3M and Post-It Notes finally dies down).
It's well worth a look.
The United States of Design...
Fast Company's 50 most influential designers in America...
A few examples of those cited...
Ji Lee, Facebook's creative director...
Scott Wilson...
Ben Fry...
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Sep 21
Typography
"You have to convince the client you have as much at stake as he does." Those are the words of the late designer and calligrapher Raphael Boguslav (1929-2010). You'll see many familiar brands in his portfolio. There's lots to see and learn from this old school icon.
Logos...
Lettering...
Calligraphy...
A video profile from the 1980s...
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Sep 14
Basic design
In fact, I can think of only a few clients who seemed really difficult to work with. I've always though it was a two-way street — if, after a while, you're unable to demonstrate your value, you're either dealing with someone who is oblivious to well-executed, smart marketing, or you're failing to provide it.
But for the moment, let's entertain ourselves with stories of those less fortunate.
Clients From Hell is a collection of anonymously contributed client horror stories from designers. In the forward to a compilation of contributions in book form, the editors explain, "...What if the reason we were consistently running into the same issues with different clients was that we were the difficult ones?... Feeling the sting of insecurity, we launched Clients From Hell in a desperate attempt to validate ourselves."
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
See for yourself...
It's now in book form..
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Sep 12
Photography
Last week I spent two days art directing a photography shoot inside a steel foundry and manufacturing plant. It reminded me of how interesting the job of a photographer (and designer) can be.
In fact, some of the most interesting folks I have met in my life are professional photographers. The reason is becuase, to do the job, you've got to be confident, outgoing, opinionated, technically skilled, and able to react quickly to the inevitable changes many projects present. That combination of traits makes for an eclectic, complex, personality.
Today I want to point you to a site dedicated to photographers and the nitty gritty of their business: APhotoEditor.com. The site is published by Rob Haggart, the former Director of Photography for Men's Journal and Outside Magazine, and features topics such as business practices, legal issues, marketing for photographers, and so on.
You'll have to visit it to get a feel for what distinguishes it from other photography resource sites — suffice it to say, I think the point of view is particularly intriguing.
Real World Estimates - Bribes And Kickbacks...
Reference to discussion about how photography is used to exaggerate...
"The Daily Edit" is Heidi Volpe's column which points to great editorial content...
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Aug 15
Print Design
Chronicling America is a long-term effort to develop an Internet-based, searchable database of U.S. newspapers. It contains millions of pages (yes millions) including a mountain of interesting period advertisements.
Chronicling America...
Some event topics you might find interesting...
A sample of an illustrated advertisement...
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Aug 8
Basic design
Noel Weber was one of the original "Letter Heads" — a group of professional sign and lettering artists that formed back in the 1970s. Today, he and his team at the Classic Design Studio produce products — signage, identity, architectural elements, and so on — that seem to reflect a love of the creative process.
In competitive markets companies resort to all kinds of machinations to find and hold an audience. I suspect that this is the type of business the audience finds and supports without the hype.
There's something uniquely satisfying about seeing designs reproduced in physical form. I suspect as the world continues its shift to digital, these physical expressions of graphic design will become that much more popular.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
The Classic Design Studios website...
Their portfolio continues on their Facebook page...
A brief bio of Weber on one of my favorite sites, Letterhead Fonts...
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Aug 3
Basic design
Sporting team identity and branding is big business. Dan Simon and Studio Simon has carved out a spot in, among other niches, Minor League Baseball. The interview recounts how Simon got involved with sports team and event logo design.
Studio Simon...
A 2010 interview with Dan Simon on the Minor League Baseball website...
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Aug 1
Learning
Line By Line is a 12-part New York Times series on learning the basics of drawing, presented by the artist and author James McMullan. As McMullan explains it, "During the 12-week period of this column, I will be working on posters for Lincoln Center Theater as well as on a children's book, and I will share with you sketches from those processes if they seem to illuminate an aspect of drawing being discussed."
My friend Jessica Jones pointed me to the series and shared this critical insight...
"For those of us who are not artists/designers, it is actually quite comforting to see the many, many iterations that get discarded, but also disconcerting to see the nimbleness of the artist's move from one approach to several quite-different approaches.
"I've just thought about what it reminds me of: long ago, when I was doing linguistics (the course was, 'The Theory and Practice of Writing,' a terrible title for a vivid and wonderful course), I came across research on the differences between fluid writers and plodding writers (or 'good' vs 'bad' writers). And it had to do with this 'nimbleness.' Both the fluid and plodding writers will produce, say, a draft or drafts of an essay/poem/novel/article. The plodding writer will go back and tweak a word here, a phrase there, move this paragraph from here to there. But the fluid writer will step back, scrap the lot, and rewrite from scratch.
"In A. Scott Berg's wonderful biography of Max Perkins, the famous but reserved Scribners editor of Hemingway, Wolfe, Fitzgerald inter alia, Berg writes of Perkins' editorial process. Perkins would, say, receive hundreds and hundreds of pages from Wolfe, read them thoroughly, and then write to Wolf something like, 'There's a character who emerges in Chapter 2. I suspect that this character is the real voice of your book.' And Wolfe would dash off and rewrite, to much better effect, the whole caboodle. So the 'fluid' writers don't tweak; they rework, rethink, take a different approach.
"I am better at this 'reworking' with my own (infrequent) writing, but in my wee forays into design,' I know I am definitely a plodding tweaker. I don't do what a journalist teacher once said: 'Don't agonize over your lead paragraph; write SEVEN different lead paragraphs, and go with the one that most energizes you.'"
Someone who understands the processes that well cannot, in my opinion, claim status as a "non-artist/designer." Jessica points to one of the most critical talents a designer can possess — the ability to explore at will. A good designer (or writer) develops an ability to dig into a topic deep enough to find the treasure but no so deep that they can't climb back out of the hole.
The first in the series: Getting Back to the Phantom Skill...
James McMullan's Line By Line — all twelve parts...
James McMullan's website...
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Jul 22
Graphics Tech
I'm a lover of signage so when I came across Dan Sawatzky's Imagination Corporation I was truly enthralled.
Sawatzky and his crew use their creative skills, craftsmanship, and engineering expertise to produce signs and environments. They design, sculpt, build, and paint -- plus they are experts at using CNC routers (a computer numerical controlled cutting tool) to produce some of their work from CAD/CAM drawings.
There's just enough here to get you exploring — and lots more to see beyond that.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
Dan Sawatzky's Blog...
And the Imagination Corporation website...
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Jul 18
Typography
I guess this is lettering month. I think of "lettering" as the design of a specific group of characters for a specific purpose. (Any letterers out there who have a more accurate definition?)
In any case, if you don't already know him, meet Jude Landry. His work reminds me of how often I look at the sum of the parts of a design without considering what it took to get there. Imagine, for example, the work it required to create and puzzle together the examples below.
Good design often looks simple. It is anything but.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
Example 4...
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Jul 4
Typography
I guess the reason I find ephemera so fascinating is that it freezes ideas in time. Advertisements, specimen sheets, instruction guides, product labels, and other forms of printed matter that were never meant to outlive their immediate purpose, provide a snapshot of the producer's intent and reveal a designer's approach to solving a problem.
Below is a brief tour of a new book the folks at publisher Thames & Hudson sent along: Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age. It's a collection of elegant and eccentric examples of script lettering — French, British, German, Italian, and American — compiled over a thirty year period by authors Louise Fili and Steven Heller.
If you know the work of Fili and Heller, you might expect they'd have amassed a rather substantial collection of ephemera over the years. Heller, a former art director for the New York Times and well-known lecturer on the history of graphic design, has authored over 100 books on design and popular culture. Louise Fili, formerly a designer for Herb Lubalin and art director for Pantheon Books, has authored another twenty titles, many of them in collaboration with Heller (they are husband and wife).
Fili is among my favorite designers. If you have no idea why you'd want a book of this type, take a look at her portfolio of work. Though she offers a fresh and modern approach, you can't help but see the influences of 19th and early 20th century graphic design and typography.
Discovering, digesting, and deconstructing the work of others — finding the essence of how disparate elements are arranged in order — is part of the design mind's blessing/curse. Whether it's a conscious effort or gut-level assimilation, you can't help but absorb the layouts, typefaces, colors, and imagery that pass through your vision each day and mentally store them away. The beauty of this book is that it captures some of the best of what these two experienced designers have found and distills it in a form we can easily access.
The book is virtually all images — there are brief introductions to each section and footnotes, but just enough to supply the necessary orientation. The wonderful cover design was created by Louise Fili and John Passafiume. (I'm told that another favorite of mine, Jessica Hische, worked on the early stages of the interior design.)
I have hundreds of design books on the shelves around me. And, though I love digital, I love print too. I get some indescribable sense of satisfaction knowing that the thoughts of so many good designers and tens of thousands of their designs are by my side.
Scripts: Elegant Lettering from Design's Golden Age by Louise Fili and Steven Heller, ISBN 0500515689, 352 pages, published by Thames & Hudson, 2011
Some links...
Louise Fili...
Steven Heller...
Thames & Hudson, the publisher...
Jessica Hische...
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Jul 1
Basic design
As the story goes, Adobe was founded in 1982 and named for the Adobe Creek that ran behind John Warnock's house in Los Altos, California. Who could have predicted what Adobe would become — the company that started as the home of the PostScript page description language, ended up precipitating the desktop publishing revolution and today has 9000-plus employees and revenues of $3.8 billion.
But the magic, to me, is what Adobe has done for my profession. It has helped to grow seemingly creative disciplines -- graphic design, photo editing, illustration, animation, and so on -- into scientific collaborations and pursuits of the highest order.
Adobe invests 20% of its revenues in research and development. But, as they explain it, "The company's commitment to innovation... goes far beyond dollars spent. With a wide range of initiatives that provide resources, tools, and support to stimulate innovative practices at every level of the company's activities, Adobe has ensured that innovation remains an essential element of its long-term strategy."
For a guy who once used a T-square and press type, the stuff going on in places like the Adobe Advance Technology Labs is science fiction made real.
Cosaliency and image triage...
Video Tapestries...
Articulated puppet building...
PatchMatch...
About Innovation at Adobe...
Adobe Advanced Technology Labs home page (Above are just a few of the many developments Abobe has pursued on its own and in collaboration with other organizations. Be sure to explore the many headings under "Technologies" in the right column and meet the some of the players.)...
The Adobe Creek
Haha... press type
Hahahaha... the olden days...
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Jun 29
Basic design
This piece from The Flores Shop for Owens & Minor (a medical supply distributor) is, to my way of thinking, what graphic design is all about.
Design should not be sycophantism — it should be the honest telling of the client's story. This concise campaign does just that. It may not win a designing with the stars competition, but I bet it's fruitful investment for the client.
The Owens & Minor case study...
An interactive brochure with a USB WebKey that launches into an impressive testimonial video...
A rolling tag line...
A direct mail piece (1.2MB PDF)...
The Flores Shop website...
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Jun 22
Illustration
If you're a writer, designer, illustrator, photographer, editor, developer, or marketer, the obvious answer is yes. The proof is in the many new studios popping up to specialize in the development of content for the new generation of phones and tablets.
Electric Type, for example, bills itself as a digital book foundry. Here, they provide us with a taste of how some of the aforementioned players have collaborated to reinvent a storybook.
A video tour of their first project: The Jungle Book...
How it was made...
About Electric Type...
Illustrator Nigel Buchanan's portfolio...
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Jun 20
Illustration
In his short career (he's only 30) Alex Varanese has demonstrated a talent for illustration, design, typography, and 3D modeling. In an interview I link to below, he speaks of the influence of video games and computer science — both of which are obvious in his work.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
Varanese's website...
An interview with Smartpress.com...
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Jun 8
Print Design
To design a great logo the designer needs to have a sense of how it will be used.
Watch how well these stark black and white logos and wordmarks translate to the packaging on which they are ultimately used.
Work of this quality requires a clear understanding of current and future usage, a keen understanding of printing and packaging, and lots of foresight.
The designer is Rob Clarke.
Example 1: In black and white...
Example 1: On the package...
Example 2: In black and white...
Example 2: On the package...
Example 3: In black and white...
Example 3: On the package...
Rob Clarke's full portfolio...
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May 25
Graphics Tech
I'm just back from the aforementioned conference and I thought I'd sit down and share some impressions. My hope is that, if you don't normally attend these events (I don't either), that you might be interested in the goings-on...
First impression: It's a global thing.
Roughly 400 folks attended the conference from 33 states and 11 countries — I believe it was a sell-out. I heard mention of Australia, Hong Kong, Serbia, Belgium, United Kingdom, Guatemala, and others. I know that kind of diverse participation is no great revelation to people who move in design and software circles frequently, but to someone who doesn't, I am particularly aware of the privilege it is to be a part of this type of international event.
It's a community.
Equally as interesting is the sense of community I felt. Designers, geeks, authors, and designer-geek-authors have much in common. Many of us are most comfortable in designing our world and staying within its bounds — so it's particularly exciting to be with other folks who spend so much of their lives on the same layer. I love my wife, but she couldn't care less about which device and software I use to calibrate my HP ZR30w monitor (thank goodness). Occasionally, it's a good idea to sit with people whose brains are trying to solve similar problems and attain similar outcomes.
There is no single voice.
For some reason I had the expectation that I would hear one side of things. Yes, that sounds silly in hindsight, but that's what I was thinking. The reality of it reminds me that there are as many workflows, approaches, and opinions about design and production as there are people doing it. For example, I sat in a session with the InDesign development team who all seemed to think that it should be the printer's responsibility to produce final production PDFs from native InDesign files. That was followed by the "Long Live Ink" roundtable with Design Tools Monthly editor Jay Nelson and prepress troubleshooter and Adobe Certified Instructor James Wamser both of whom seemed to think the opposite — that most jobs are best prepared for printing by the user (using the printer's guidelines).
E-publishing is in its big-bang stage.
There are MANY ways to create and view e-publications and MANY devices and platforms on which to view them. That's about all anyone agrees on. Which software and software settings to use (including InDesign's EPUB export) will be dictated by the device you're preparing your publication for, the complexity of the document, the intended distribution channel, and so on. As conference organizer David Blatner pointed out, you can't, for example, produce PDFs to sell through Apple — not because you can't produce them, not because the iPad can't read them, but because Apple doesn't yet allow you to distribute them through iBooks.
There are also significant design considerations to be tackled. When you convert page layouts for different devices and orientations, you'll need to design different layouts for each setting or create simplified, "elastic" layouts that adapt to multiple uses. I heard someone refer to that conversion as changing your layout into a Microsoft Word document.
Software developers and designers alike are in the very early stages of figuring out how to recast information in ways that are compatible with the new devices yet as aesthetically pleasing as print and conventional web page design. I think even the folks at Adobe would agree that (for now), that InDesign's EPUB export is not for creating e-versions of complex layouts.
Chris Kitchener, Senior Product Manager for Adobe InDesign, "Meet my extended family," 2011 InDesignSecretsLive Print and ePublishing Conference (doctored image)
The best early tools are expensive.
It's not surprising that the tools that allow the most control over page layout and effects are being developed for the upper echelon of the publishing trade. James Fritz, another respected author and trainer, discussed some of the many platforms used to create digital versions of magazines — Adobe Digital Publishing Suite, WoodWing's Digital Magazine Tools, Mag+, and others — and the fact that the new pricing models require both upfront fees (most in the thousands of dollars) for the initial content management systems and ongoing monthly or per-piece publication fees. (The good news is that by the time you read this [a couple of hours after I write it] everything will have changed.)
Much of what I learned was from the audience.
I went because of the featured speakers but I learned lots from the audience too. Questions, suggestions, and comments from audience members were every bit a useful as those from the assembled experts. For example, in one session, Eddy Hagen, the managing director of VIGC in Belgium offered some excellent insights on the production of PDFs and pointed us to his own Flemish Innovation Centre for Graphical Communication and the Ghent PDF Workgroup. There we're lots of high-powered users and experts in the audience.
Technology is a moving target.
No revelation here, but it is impressive when a presenter changes her slides in the hours just preceding her presentation because of some new tidbit of information. From his view inside Adobe, the Lead Product Manager for Adobe InDesign, Chris Kitchener, explained the perplexing process of gathering suggestions for new features, fixing bugs, and working with engineers to update a program as complex as InDesign. It's easy to forget the divergent pressures applied by users, reviewers, stockholders, partners, marketers, and so on to influence the decisions about which features or fixes to produce when and why.
BTW, the Adobe team was particularly impressed by and thankful for this blog post which explains that InDesign is a database and why, for example, files are not backward compatible.
There is a modicum of tension between Adobe and its community.
One of the most intriguing revelations of the experience was the respectful tension there is between the product producers and their users. All of it was friendly and in good humor, but it's obviously, a real issue. Adobe wants everyone to like its products and users are great at pointing to flaws. None less than Michael Ninness, now the VP of Content for Lynda.com, formally the Senior Product Manager for InDesign, rose to ask the current Senior Product Manager when certain features (such as charting) would be added to InDesign. It was all good-natured (especially when Ninness pointed out that he, himself, hadn't added the feature when he could have), it is a complicated dance.
There are few better venues for meeting the people you want to meet.
I had the pleasure of meeting, face-to-face, some of the many people I communicate with online and introducing myself to others I would not have otherwise had the opportunity to meet.
First and foremost I got to meet and speak with one of the conference organizers, David Blatner. My only complaint about the entire conference is we didn't hear more from David. He is a smart, personable guy who knew as much or more about InDesign (from a user standpoint) as anyone in attendance.
If you don't know Blatner, he's the editorial director of InDesign Magazine, wrote Real World InDesign (and 14 other books), teaches courses on InDesign at Lynda.com, and co-hosts InDesignSecrets.com with Anne-Marie Concepción.
Their combined experience with InDesign, the InDesign community, and Adobe corporate made David and Anne-Marie uniquely qualified to pull together this wide and deep gathering of designers, technicians, and developers.
If you don't know Anne-Marie Concepción, she too teaches courses on InDesign at Lynda.com, does the InDesignSecrets.com thing, plus rules her own creative empire at Seneca Design & Training.
This was also an opportunity to sit with Jay Nelson and Lesa Snider. Jay is the affable publisher of Design Tools Monthly, the only industry publication I read cover to cover, every issue. It was a real treat to spend some time comparing notes with someone else who is as interested as I am in finding and sharing the the best of design and publishing ideas. Lesa is a writer for Macworld, author of numerous books, chief evangelist for iStockphoto.com, and host of graphicreporter.com
I also had the good fortune to have one-to-one discussions with conference speakers Gabriel Powell, InDesign and Photoshop author and Senior Solutions for Typifi Systems, Ron Bilodeau, the Production and Design Specialist at O'Rielly (who once worked for the beautifully designed Cooks Illustrated), Chris Kitchener, Lead Product Manager of Adobe InDesign, Nigel French, the author of InDesign Type (who spoke about designing with a grid), and Cari Jansen, a technical writer and print and publishing consultant who spoke about the challenges of this new medium.
And I gathered some great insights from Keith Gilbert, a brilliant tech- and design-savvy guy who spoke about XML and data publishing and who showed me an impressive project he had just finished. It's a beautifully designed iPad-based catalog/brochure his client's sales force will use at an upcoming trade show.
All that and, of course, all of the good stuff I learned (I just downloaded a 344-page PDF of conference slides that Anne-Marie Concepción made available to those who attended.)
Finally, most happily, I got to meet a few folks who subscribe to my newsletter at ideabook.com and who read my blog at PagePlane.com. Thank you all for introducing yourselves. (If I didn't get your business card please send me an email so we can stay in touch.)
So... where's the 2012 conference?
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Apr 25
Basic design
In Facebook's own words, "Facebook Studio is a place to celebrate marketers who are creating and innovating on Facebook. It is a community where you can share your work, get recognized for your creativity, be inspired by your peers, and browse a collection of work that represents some of the best marketing on Facebook."
Ad Age reports, "Facebook executives say this move is a first step in a give-and-take dialogue between Facebook and the creative advertising world. Until now, Facebook has been mostly hands-off with agencies, letting them navigate the frequently changing Facebook waters without a compass."
Whatever it is, it's interesting. Assuming Facebook can maintain the enormous community it has been the recipient of in recent years — it is a platform that creatives must reckon with. Here is a spot for sanctioned conversation.
Facebook Studio...
An announcement from Ad Age...
The Learning Lab...
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Apr 8
Basic design
It's easy to lose track of that simple fact but Keetra Dean Dixon, kindly, reminds us of it. She got me asking myself when I last designed something, primarily, for the purpose of expressing myself — its been a while.
Dixon is as much an artist as she is a designer. I'll point you here, to some examples of here work that include typography but be sure to explore her whole portfolio of work.
Example 1...
Example 2...
Example 3...
Dixon's website: FromKeetra.com...
A profile of Dixon from the Designing Minds series...
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Apr 4
Basic design
Fifty and Fifty an fascinating project curated by designer Dan Cassaro. It offers a "...new way of looking at our country. Fifty designers, one per state, will illustrate their state motto, creating something steeped in history but completely modern and unique: a kind of designer's atlas."
I have two reasons for pointing you to it. First, the illustrations/designs are excellent, and second, Cassaro's choice of designers is out of the ordinary. He has tapped the talents of several designers I was not yet familiar with and that are well worth knowing.
Three of my favorites. First, Meg Hunt's Connecticut: He who transplanted sustains...
Second, Josh Brill's Maine: I lead...
Third, Micah Smith's Louisiana: Union, justice, confidence...
Here's the entire gallery...
And the list of the contributors...
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Mar 28
Typography
One of the panel discussion at the recent South by Southwest (SXSW, Inc.) Interactive Festival featured four typography experts discussing typeface selection. (SXSW is a set of film, interactive, and music festivals and conferences, the interactive component of which is attended by many in the design community.)
Generally my feeling is, when it comes to typography, that there are very few truths but many religions. But this is session is worth listening to. I especially appreciated Jason Santa Maria's insights.
Here's a breakdown of the recording:
Frank Chimero @ 2:45 minutes, slide 9
Tiffany Wardle @ 13:42 minutes slide 41
Jason Santa Maria @ 19:45 minutes slide 58
Stephen Coles @ 26:35 minutes slide 82
Cure for the Common Font — A Web Designer's Introduction to Typeface Selection...
Frank Chimero's upcoming book...
Tiffany Wardle's website...
Jason Santa Maria's website...
Stephen Coles is the editor of Fonts In Use which I pointed you to earlier this year...
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Feb 21
Ideas 101
The reason I am pointing you to James Geary's TED Talk on the subject of metaphors is because it reminds me of how important it is that our designs don't simply replay the same old, tired messages. (As I was writing this, my first thought was to use the phrase, "break new ground" — it doesn't get much worse than that.)
Geary mentions a George Orwell essay in which he offers six rules for improving the writer's use of the English language including: "Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print."
That's quite a challenge. Doubt me? Try writing a few paragraphs without a "well worn" metaphor. Imagine too if we, as designers, were to rewrite that rule in graphic designese — something like, "Never use a marketing approach, page layout, or color scheme which you are used to seeing in print."
James Geary, Metaphorically Speaking...
George Orwell's 1946 essay, "Politics and the English Language"...
Geary's 7 Strange Places to Meet a Metaphor...
Roger von Oech breaks my tired, old lightbulb...
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Feb 18
Illustration
In times when just about anything can be simulated digitally, I think the work by Flemish designers from Coming Soon offers examples of the very different look and feel you can achieve by melding the physical with the digital. It produces a result that is achievable no other way — one that will have your audience asking, "How did they do THAT?"
Campaign image for the city of Ghent, Belgium...
An identity example...
the Coming Soon portfolio..
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Jan 24
Ideas 101
Before I can design something — a website, a logo, a brochure, whatever — I've got to understand what needs to happen. What my client's purpose and motive is, and the action they want their audience to take.
Once I understand what I am being asked to accomplish, I can design with purpose. I'm not a decorator, I'm a designer — my job is to determine the combination of elements — the images, typefaces, and user interface — necessary to communicate messages in a way that makes them interesting and accessible.
Teaching that process is what John McWade is so expert at. Through the pages of Before & After Magazine, he has been teaching what others don't, in ways that others can't, since the days when the first version of Aldus PageMaker was in beta testing. He parses, deconstructs, and studies a design problem, then packages a solution in a form that is easy to understand, digest, and reproduce.
I've written for B&A and I can testify that there's nothing easy about making things simple. I have pointed you to John in the past, but there is some new news worth sharing: John McWade has begun a series of wonderful short stories about design — video snippets that once again have me thinking about what is possible.
One in the series, How to design without graphics...
The beginnings of the new collection...
Plus, for the first time, the entire Before & After collection goes digital...
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Dec 20
Learning
My old friend Martin Bounds points us to Big Think: "a global forum connecting people and ideas." Design is not the only focus, but the site does include many design-oriented interviews with people whose names you will recognize. In all, superb, personal insights well worth your time.
Here's a taste...
George Lois on his design epiphany (among other topics)...
Paola Antonelli, MoMA Curator for Architecture and Design on exhibit design (among other topics)...
Khoi Vinh on the differences between print and web development (among other topics)...
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Nov 19
Print Design
The Washington, D.C. arm of 826 National — nonprofit tutoring, writing, and publishing organization — recently opened a storefront similar to The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company we discussed a while back.
I, primarily, want to point you to the identity and items designed for The Museum of Unnatural History by Oliver Munday.
The Museum of Unnatural History...
Munday's portfolio..
In case you missed it: The Brooklyn Superhero Supply Company...
826 National and an overview of the new project...
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Nov 15
Basic design
Emily Oberman and Bonnie Siegler are the founders of Number Seventeen — a multi disciplinary design studio with a stellar reputation and a wide, deep, impressive portfolio of work. Today though, allow me to point you to their comic series — a quirky collection of design-centric insights and anecdotes.
How to stay friends with a graphic designer (1.2MB PDF)...
How to be a good designer (263KB PDF)..
Worst. Meetings. Ever. (138KB PDF)...
Now THAT's a portfolio...
The Number Seventeen home page...
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Oct 20
Basic design
Signs require the physical organization and fabrication of elements and the investment of serious money. With investment comes a certain increased level of corporate agreement and accountability. Not a bad model for applying to logo design. I'm not saying designs that require a 3D component are somehow superior to 2D digital or print design, I'm saying they're different — to me, they end up with a different aesthetic "weight" to to them.
Here are three collections of signage — see if you don't agree.
Arzan Sam Wadia's Neon Sign Boneyard collection...
PopKulture's Roadside Signage collection...
Vintage roadside's Neon Signs collection...
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Oct 18
Basic design
For five years REBRAND has offered its 100 Global Awards a fascinating look at how leading companies reposition and revitalize themselves — including logos, collateral, advertising, web pages, and so on.
Get out lunch and dinner, this is going to take a while.
the 2010 REBRAND showcase...
the 2009 REBRAND showcase...
the 2008 REBRAND showcase...
the 2007 REBRAND showcase...
the 2006 REBRAND showcase...
the 2005 REBRAND showcase...
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Sep 27
Marketing PR
I was talking to a fellow designer the other day and we were discussing the horrendous state of marketing in certain quarters—where unscrupulous marketers put forth products and services that are clearly meant to do nothing more than part people from their money. It's an old problem, the tactics of which, I hope and believe will become less and less viable in the years to come.
Though their approaches are very different, I want to point to two men who really do seem to have a finger on the pulse of that change—Seth Godin and Tim Girvin. They are both passionate advocates of honesty, clarity, and style.
The "honesty" part insists on worth and value. I doubt either of these guys would even consider selling a product they did not believe in. That would be antithetical to their nature.
The "clarity" component is what they are about. Though they are both great teachers (and prolific bloggers) their passion seems to be that of students. You simply can't understand and articulate foundational ideas if, from time to time, you don't shut up long enough to listen.
And "style" is their mantra. They both preach that the story you tell and how you tell it is what distinguishes you from everyone else. I can't help but think, as the world amalgamates, that greater and greater value is going to be placed on the positive things that make each person, place, and thing unique.
I'm not telling you anything you don't already know. But these gentlemen will.
Seth Godin..
Tim Girvin...
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Aug 25
Learning
Cabell Harris is a designer who understands the big picture. By that I mean, he understands the intricacies of making real things happen through design. That requires a keen understanding of many disciplines--marketing, development, branding, copywriting, layout, typography, imagery, production, and publicity--and how they interplay.
Need a model for a rock-solid communications designer? This is how it's done.
Harris' company is Work...
Most of the objects on the page are clickable and lead to interesting tidbits such as this...
Here is the Work Photostream on Flickr...
And their blog...
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Aug 18
Basic design
In the introduction to her book The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe, Sarah Lowengard writes, "Throughout the eighteenth century, people from all social and economic backgrounds thought about color, experimented with color, and offered their own notions of how to explain it, how to use it, and how to improve it. In this book, I will discuss those interests, explorations, expectations, and outcomes."
What I want to point you to is, first, the text of Lowengard's book, and second, a two-part article on the color wheel by Jude Stewart that was inspired by the book.
The Creation of Color in Eighteenth-Century Europe by Sarah Lowengard...
The Wonderful Color Wheel: Part 1...
The Wonderful Color Wheel: Part 2...
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Aug 13
Illustration
The term "tradigital" art refers to art that is created by combining traditional and digital media. Jim Leggitt's presentation (below) shows you how he employs conventional drawing techniques to produce textured, warm, and visually interesting architectural drawings using digital renderings from, in the case of this class, the SketchUp 3D program.
I show this to you because it provides two important reminders for the graphic designer. First, is that we should continually try to find ways to humanize our work. The more we use digital tools, the more we need to sketch and visualize and brainstorm. The world is not a perfect place and making everything pixel-perfect is not believable.
And second, as a practical matter, it is often preferable to present a client with a sketch-like idea versus a nailed-down solution. A sketch allows you the freedom to refine the solution as you get into the detail of it.
Jim Leggitt on Traditional Imaging...
Tradigital imaging allows you to turn a finished image into a work in progress...
About Jim Leggitt...
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Aug 9
Learning
I'm guessing most graphic designers have been asked, at one time or another, to design a trade show exhibit--a banner, a "booth," or an entire exhibit space. Crafting a message and design for a large-scale application presents a variety of interesting challenges. Before I show you the state of the art (the next post), here's a brief history of exhibit designs provided by exhibitoronline.com.
The International Business Machines exhibit at the 1925 National Hotel Exposition...
A pitchman from a 1954 exhibit...
PC Expo--1982...
The Trade Show History index...
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Jun 14
Print Design
I was looking for a simple, comprehensive list of current desktop publishing software and could not find one. Here's mine. If I'm missing something, please comment here and I'll add it.
A note to the purists: Don't freak on me--this is merely a reference list, I'm not making any judgement of quality or suitability for any purpose.
Adobe FrameMaker...
Adobe InDesign...
Adobe PageMaker...
Apple iWork Pages...
Broderbund Print Shop...
Corel Ventura...
InPage...
iStudio Publisher...
Laidout...
Microsoft Office Publisher...
PageFocus Pro...
PageStream...
QuarkXPress...
Ragtime...
Scribus...
Serif PagePlus X4...
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May 31
Ideas 101
I got this question from another designer recently: "My client requested a logo design. She filled in my design brief questionnaire, I presented a few concepts, and we went through three rounds of concepts, variations, and tweaking. They were not sure of any of the designs and finally backed off. Though I did get an advance, it did not come close to covering the time I invested in the project. How do you handle this type of situation?"
Whether you charge a few hundred dollars or a few hundred-thousand dollars, the great conundrum of logo design is this: If you can't provide the client with a mark that they are excited about and invested in you haven't done your job. It is that simple.
Designing a logo is a responsibility that should not be taken lightly. Remember, we're asking the client to build their organization on a framework that we provide—to adopt our ideas, our style, our palette, and to identify themselves with that brand for years, even decades to come. If we ask for that type of commitment from them, it seems entirely reasonable (to me) for them to be excited and energized by what we design.
That type of commitment does not come cheap. You cannot learn what needs to be learned and do what needs to be done in a few hours. I have no idea how many hours my friend budgeted to create the logo, but my advice to him is this: Charge what is necessary to deliver a compelling solution or turn the job down—you owe that to your client and your client owes that to you.
Logo design requires a commitment from both sides to see it through to its end. That means you need to charge enough to do the research necessary to understand the client's industry, their competition, and to clearly understand where they fall within that landscape—enough to create a design that not only speaks to those issues but that aligns with the aesthetic and intellectual sensibilities of the people within the organization who will be living with it. That's a lot of people to satisfy, but that's why logo design is not for the faint of heart.
How do you avoid my friend's problem? By making everything crystal clear up front. Some designers prefer a formal contract, some a letter of agreement, others just a few paragraphs in an e-mail before the job begins—whatever you choose, choose something. If you wait until you are in the heat of the project to address difficulties, you're going to get bruised.
Here are a few examples of such agreements.
The Graphic Artist Guild's Contract Monitor—about reading and writing contracts...
The AIGA's Standard Form of Agreement for Design Services...
Of course you can't beat seeing what a real working document looks like...
You might also be interested in my Design Constitution...
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Apr 26
Ideas 101
This is a great reminder of the problem solving aspect of design. It got me thinking about the many techniques we use to solve problems and how important it is to our work as graphic designers and marketers. My curiosity led me to an excellent page on the subject by Robert A. Harris, Ph.D.
Thanks to my friend Cathleen Rittereiser for pointing us to this.
So you need a typeface—start by choosing the project you need the typeface for (center)...
The designer, Julian Hansen...
An excellent, in-depth page on problem solving techniques...
If the subject interests you, you might like this too...
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Apr 23
Ideas 101
A recent article in the New York Times points to a simple list that is making a rather profound difference in the world of medicine. "...A year after surgical teams at eight hospitals adopted a 19-item checklist, the average patient death rate fell more than 40 percent..."
A list is certainly the most rudimentary type of design structure, but it's easy to forget how important such "first principles" are. The information contained in the checklist at the center of this story is not new or unknown, it is that the way the information is organized and presented makes it accessible in a new and important way.
Stephen Sondheim says that, "Art, in itself, is an attempt to bring order out of chaos." Here is proof of the power of order.
The New York Times article on surgical lists...
The World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist (450KB PDF)....
The World Health Organization's Surgical Safety Checklist page (take a look at the Implementation Manual)...
A wonderful discussion of lists on Edward Tufte's site...
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Mar 31
Ideas 101
Humble Pied is an inspirational project created by designer Mig Reyes. The idea is simple. He is asking one question of some of the design industry's top creatives: "If you had just one bit of advice to share with a young creative type or someone early on in their creative career, what would that one bit of advice be?"
The answers are funny, interesting, surprising--a few even, down right brilliant.
Jessica Hische says, "The work you do while you procrastinate is probably the work you should be doing for the rest of your life"...
Jim Coudal says, "Rip something off"...
Justin Ahrens says, "Learn the culture of a potential employer you admire. Be persistent, and do your homework."...
Every bit of advice...
Mig Reyes' Twitter page...
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Mar 29
Basic design
When I see something like FontShop's bigger-than-the-browser page, it reminds me that doing something a little unconventional can make a big difference. Is there a law that says all web pages have to be optimized for 1025 by 768 pixels? Absolutely not.
I must constantly remind myself that taking the same path as everyone else is going to get me to the same place as everyone else. That good design, in many cases, takes you on a different path to a new place.
Don't think small. FontShop's anniversary page...
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Mar 5
Web Design
Anyone who thinks graphic design is merely about style doesn't understand consumption. You can bake a pretty cake, but the true test of its quality is in the eating.
To me, the future of graphic design is clearly in the development of intelligent user interface. On paper or the screen, the most highly prized skill will be a designer's ability to recast information in ways that make it most interesting and useful.
The recently redesigned blog of designer Simon Collison is a good example of that type of user-centric thinking. He generously gives as an in depth insight into his inspiration, ideas, processes, and type and design choices.
Mr. Simon Collison...
An indepth look at the site design...
Watch for the details. For example, the treatment of footnotes...
In February of 2010 Collison left the firm he cofounded—Erskine Design...
Collison's Twitter page...
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Feb 10
Basic design
What I like so much about Fred Showker is that he sees the graphic design industry from more than one angle--he's is a working designer, an experienced teacher and presenter, a bit of a technoid, and the creative mind behind one of the top marketing and design resources on the Web--the Graphic Design & Publishing Center.
Not only does he stay curious about what's next, he has amassed a huge archive of insightful articles and tutorials on design, photography, typography, marketing, and the business of graphic design.
He recently did a major reorganization and re-launch of the site so, if you haven't already, I urge you to take a look.
The Design & Publishing Center...
Example 1: Visual Proofreading: 10 Rules...
Example 2: Designing Spaces...
Example 3: Throw Your Press Release in the Trash...
Fred's bio...
I've been a subscriber to his newsletter, DT&G NEWS, for years...
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Jan 11
Basic design
Wonderwall is an interior design firm that specializes in commercial space. First of all, its amorphous project page is, itself, pretty unusual. Second, its collective eye is very different and very interesting. Don't miss The Ice Cream Store--a high-end apparel retailer in Hong Kong--it's just plain weird (not that there's anything wrong with that).
Wonderwall Inc....
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Dec 16
Basic design
This article describes four types of symmetry: rotation, translation, reflection, and glide reflection. If you are a nut for symmetry (me too), it is helpful to understand it from every angle.
The Four Types of Symmetry in the Plane by Susan Addington...
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Nov 23
Print Design
This week marks the opening of the Tim Burton exhibit at the The Museum of Modern Art. Best known for his film making, Tim Burton is also a designer, an artist, and is, as you might suspect, a tad bit crazy.
The website created for the Burton exhibit...
About the exhibit and the design of the accompanying web site...
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Nov 9
Illustration
If you want some terrific presentation inspiration, head over to The Art of the Title Sequence. It demonstrates how top film title designers, past and present, combine pictures with words to communicate ideas in thoughtful and intriguing ways.
While there, check out the wonderful collection of alphabet posters created for the film Coraline. Take note of how each letter of the alphabet is modified to provide a secondary meaning.
These are the titles for Coraline...
For fun... the Coraline movie site...
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Nov 2
Basic design
Next time you are brainstorming an advertising or marketing piece, consider the idea of using an illusion to illustrate your point. I'm thinking, if you find just the right illusion (something somehow related to your topic) and write a thoughtful tie-in for it, you'd have a built-in reason for people to stop, look, and get interested.
Thanks to my brother Jim Green for sending me this link to the 2009 Finalists of the Best Visual Illusion of the Year Contest.
The 2009 finalists...
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Oct 23
Typography
Hope you'll share this with someone who has yet to grasp the idea that honest work deserves honest treatment. If they want to trade fonts and images outside of established licensing, all we ask is that they first email the designer to explain why they think the ability to create a design and the long hours necessary to produce and market it, does not merit compensation.
Here's an example of one step of the font design process. It does not even address the issue of the talent and dedication it takes to determine a need and to design something that is useful, stylish, and distinctive.
Watch John Roshell create the Moritat font...
The finished typeface...
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Oct 14
Basic design
As they explain it, "Trademarkia is the largest, most accurate, and most complete free search engine for U.S. federally registered trademarks on the Internet. We provide up to the minute contextual information about the current use of interesting business names, slogans, and logos through pictures, commercials, and conversations from Flickr, Google, Youtube, and Twitter for each U.S. trademark filed in with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) since the year 1870."
This is not a "best of" or "how to," this is the work that is or has been in use in the real world. It is a resource I'm guessing every designer will want to link to.
Trademarkia...
As you might imagine you can search in lots of different ways, by theme, company, attorney, and category...
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Oct 5
Basic design
I like the way Pinch describes their work as designers, "We believe in clear, reductive thinking, and in helping our clients say what they mean, without pretense or artifice, and otherwise staying out of the way."
Watch how well that philosophy works.
A recent Pinch design for Smith & Fong...
A case study of the project on the Pinch site...
Pinch on Twitter...
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Jul 31
Basic design
Everyone involved with designing web sites and creating illustrations needs to understand copyright and fair use. Even if you think you have a good grasp of the subject, you need to periodically refresh your view because it is ever-changing.
Here is a great, new-to-me source of excellent information by (what I assume are) legal experts.
I also include a link to The Center for Internet and Society (CIS)--a public interest technology law and policy program at Stanford Law School--that "brings together scholars, academics, legislators, students, programmers, security researchers, and scientists to study the interaction of new technologies and the law."
Stanford Copyright & Fair Use website Overview and Resources section...
An interview with Attorney Richard Stim, author of Getting Permission How to License & Clear Copyrighted Materials Online & Off...
The Center for Internet and Society (CIS)...
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Jul 15
Basic design
Historic Stock Market is an international online-market for historical shares, old stocks, bonds, and financial documents. Their collection includes at least 20,000 old stock and bond certificates, many of which include elaborate illustrations, ornate typography, and/or highly complex borders and patterns. This is one place to remember when you need some graphic design inspiration.
Look at the meticulously crafted filigree on this 1920s British certificate...
and this French certificate from the 1890s...
If you're interested in exploring further...
Another excellent source: George H. LaBarre Galleries...
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Jul 3
Basic design
Back in February I mentioned that Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California was doing a retrospective of Kit Hinrichs (my all-time favorite designer) titled, The Storyteller's Art. Now that it has closed (and in case you missed it) here is a look.
Who is your favorite graphic designer?
From his home at Pentagram...
A visitor's perspective...
From the One Club...
New to Hinrichs? Buy this book...
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Jul 1
Ideas 101
I like the way David Pearson used asymmetrical illustrations to create these unique, decidedly symmetrical book cover designs.
The use of symmetry in design has long intrigued me. I guess it is some deep psychological attraction to the foundational balance and order of nature. It pays to recall how profoundly we are influenced by design.
Have you seen any other good examples you can point us to?
David Pearson's Great Journeys series for Penguin...
A passage from The Elements of Graphic Design by Alex W. White on Symmetry and asymmetry...
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