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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