Aug 30
Ideas 101
Do me a favor, come over to my Facebook page and help me with a little experiment. I'm curious as to which of these wristwatch designs you like best.
No, I'm not selling watches. I pose the question specifically to "designers only" because I'd like to see which design a designer selects when they are asked to choose something they did not design themselves. I'm using watches because (to me) they so clearly represent distinct design styles. Why explore? I'm guessing, if we get a decent sample, we will learn something significant.
To vote, choose "Comment" and give us the number of your choice and if you'd like, include a link to one of your designs so we can better understand your perspective. Have additional comments? We'd like to hear those too. One proviso--You don't need to love the design you choose. Just pick the one that most closely represents your aesthetic.
Which watch?...
Thanks to Watchismo.com for the use of the images--I have no affiliation with them but the site has a wonderful collection worth seeing....
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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 11
Graphics Tech
In twenty-five years we've gone from clunky slide projectors to graceful walls of high resolution LED video blocks. Twenty years ago the limitations of media (I believe) made our job as designers far easier.
I show you this new technology because it is yet another barrier removed. With each barrier removed, the creative focus sharpens another click. You'll need a more creative strategy, a better idea, and an innovative style to distinguish your client from their competition.
The future of graphic design is, at once, challenging, exciting, and unpredictable.
An introduction to Microtiles...
The manufacturer even provides a system for calculating the number of tiles you need for a particular design...
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Aug 4
Ideas 101
My friend Sabu George points us to an interesting example of how a logo concept can be used for multiple purposes.
This is an extreme example, but it might help you conjure up ideas about how to make your next logo design perform more than one trick.
An adaptable identity...
The old logo...
An article about the makeover by its designers...
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Jul 28
Ideas 101
This is one annual report I look forward to reading--the 2010 logo design trends report by Bill Gardner for LogoLounge.com.
Bill Gardner's logo design trends 2010...
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Jul 12
Ideas 101
Time to stretch your brain. Meet inventor and artist Steven M. Johnson. While many of his ideas sound silly, Johnson offers a serious message about innovation--primarily that there is too little of it.
What I hear him saying is this: In an age when the barriers are fewer than ever before, it is disconcerting to think how many of us are willing to accept the same old solutions. Everyone has a capacity to innovate but few of us use it.
Makes you wonder how much better a place the world would be if we devoted as much time to learning how to generate, parse, and pursue positive ideas as we do in figuring out how to accumulate money.
Allison Arieff's original piece on Johnson for the New York Times...
Another, more recent article including an interview with Johnson...
Johnson's own web page...
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Jul 7
Marketing PR
I was thinking the other day, how important it is that our client doesn't center their entire marketing strategy around their competitor's marketing model. Just because a competitor, for example, does some radio advertising doesn't mean radio advertising makes any sense for our client. The same applies to print materials, a web presence, social marketing, premiums, and everything else in the realm of marketing.
I say that because I think it is easy to lose sight of the fact that every organization is unique. That an organization's particular mix of products, services, expertise, experience, style, location, pricing, and so on, distinguishes if from any other organization on the planet.
Follow the leader marketing and mirror-the-competition tactics ignore that all-important fact. The best marketing approach (we all know) is one that is invented for one specific organization and its unique circumstances. Ideally, it even includes some elements that competitors are not using at all.
Our job as communication designer's is to discover and deliver unique solutions. Sure, there are smart, conventional approaches that work for most of the organizations you apply them to, but we shouldn't recommend and produce materials because that's the way we've always done it. I'm guessing "That's the way we've always done it," has killed as many businesses as any other single reason.
Do you want more clients and more work satisfaction? Use your talents and experience to devise a better approach. Dig into the market, find out what people are doing in other areas and see what might apply. Invent something new! I find clients are almost always open to dealing with the reality of the market and will experiment with you if you are able to make a compelling case for your idea.
A designer who has a wonderful sense of style and the technical expertise to create a compelling layout should maintain a pretty consistent work load. A designer who is an inventor and problem-solver will have to turn clients away.
Tell your client this: Every organization is unique—the sooner we identify your organization's unique advantages, the sooner we can begin telling the world about them.
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Jun 30
Web Design
The great gift of the digital age is shared knowledge. Technology makes it possible to document levels of information that, until recently, were just too costly and difficult to capture and maintain. In the case of writing and design there is a repository of information, much of it freely available, that provides us with an extraordinary opportunity to dramatically improve the quality and effectiveness of communication.
It provides a foundation of ideas, expression, and practical information on which to build the next, better solutions. Want to write better documentation? Create a better web menu? Understand why people interact with messages the way they do? It's all there for the taking. Here's a taste...
Introduction to Apple Human Interface Guidelines...
Example: Menus...
Apple Publications Style Guide (1.14MB PDF)...
Windows User Experience Interaction Guidelines...
Example: Visual Index...
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Jun 16
Ideas 101
This is a fun design that offers a valuable lesson. You can command a lot of attention when you apply a common solution to a situation in which it is unexpected. Thanks to Paul Butt for pointing us to this.
Flying 101...
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Jun 7
Illustration
My friend Daniel Will-Harris was kind enough to give us a heads-up about this unique offer from French Paper. What they are offering is the free use of a host of black and white images from CSA Images when the project they are used for is printed on French Paper. You'll need to read the small print but it looks like a pretty interesting offer.
The occasion of this offer also gives me an excuse to point you back to CSA's substantial body of work. I first wrote about Charles S. Anderson and the CSA Archive Company in Clip Art Crazy a book I wrote for PeachPit Press back in 1995. Even then, Anderson had compiled close to 1,000,000 twentieth-century line art images that were being used on prominent projects such as the Turner Classic Movie Channel and for licensed products for Paramount Pictures.
The beat goes on. Listed below, for example, you will find a gallery of book cover designs created in recent years using CSA Images.
The offer from French Paper...
Another collection and purchase option...
A gallery of book cover designs created using CSA Images...
About the collaboration...
The French Paper Sampler Room...
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Jun 4
Print Design
My first thought was: Why would anyone put a portfolio of static print and web design on video? Here's why. MINE, the design office best known for it's "Everything is OK" campaign, has a bright, upbeat vision. I'm a big fan.
MINE's portfolio...
MINE's "Everything is OK" campaign...
I must have a roll of that tape...
Follow MINE on Facebook...
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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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May 19
Web Design
Pattern Tap is an invention of Matthew Smith at Squared Eye. It is (loosely) similar to other pattern libraries (Yahoo has a notable one) in that it presents the what, how, and why of user interface. The value is, instead of searching through a thousand sites for interesting and innovative UI ideas, you can discover designs someone else has found to be particularly notable.
I think you will find that Matthew Smith know of what he speaks. His company site, Squared Eye, is nice to look at AND easy to use—I have long admired it.
Pattern Tap...
The Pattern Tap Twitter page...
Matthew Smith's Squared Eye...
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Apr 30
Print Design
Graphic design is a quirky business. You can explain what you do to relatives and friends, but no matter how hard you try, only about 10 percent seem to get it. The say, "Yeah, ____ is a graphic designer. We're, uh, real proud...real proud."
So when I meet someone who speaks my language I appreciate it. Jeff Gamet and Jay Nelson do a podcast hosted by CreativePro called Design Tools Weekly--they speak my language. It's nice to sit down once a week and hear a discussion about the hardware, software, and the general state of our business. I recommend it highly.
The Design Tools Weekly Podcast...
AND, as always, you can checkout a free sample issue of Design Tools Monthly here(1.9MB PDF)...
Jay's Twitter page...
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Apr 28
Ideas 101
I first read about the OKRA identity on Fontshop's Unzipped blog--they referred to it as "flexible design". As you'll see, OKRA landscape architects is an agency specialized in making plans and designs for public space in city areas and city related areas. It is a service that lends itself to this idea of creating multiple versions of a logo to fit the purposes for which they are used. It reminded me of another very successful execution of the concept for Tate.
It is certainly an idea worth considering when you tackle your next design project.
OKRA...
The Tate model...
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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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Apr 14
Ideas 101
Jack Schulze, the Director of New Product Development at BERG, offers yet another example of how it is possible to re-invent things--even something as literal as a map. This map puts the viewer simultaneously above the city and in it--both looking down and looking forward.
Then & There...
A more complete explanation...
An earlier post about BERG...
We're now on Facebook...
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Apr 9
Ideas 101
Scott Belsky, the founder of the Behance Network, poses that What the Creative World Needs Now Is Organization. I think he has a point.
"The sad truth is that most of our ideas will never see the light of day." Why? Because, "Creativity, it seems, is not only the catalyst for new ideas. Creativity is also the greatest obstacle to seeing our ideas through to the finish."
Why do we need organization? "Organization," Belsky theorizes, "is a major force for making ideas happen."
Enough said. If that intrigues you as much as it did me, read these 12 brief pages from ChangeThis.
What the Creative World Needs Now Is Organization...
Looks as if there is more to come next week...
Belsky's Behance Network...
Follow Scott Belsky on Twitter...
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Apr 8
Ideas 101
Ideabook.com, jumpola.com, and pageplane.com have afforded me the opportunity to communicate with many thousands of talented folks like you over the years—graphic designers, developers, marketers, writers, illustrators, photographers, and so on.
I created this Facebook page in the hope you will have the opportunity to meet some of them and that they will have the opportunity to meet you. Calling it a "fan" page is a misnomer, if anyone is a "fan" here, it's me.
Meet the friends of ideabook.com...
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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 26
Ideas 101
Here's another elegant idea born out of a passion for a subject. The DailyLit divides a book—fiction or non-fiction, classic or contemporary—into a series of easily digestible pieces and emails them to you at a rate you prescribe.
I'm showing it to you for two reasons—first, because it is a great service, but primarily because it is such a good illustration of a powerful idea. It addresses a serious human dilemma—we promise ourselves we will do something that we never seem to get around to doing. In this case, reading a book we always meant to read.
The take away is this: There are countless human needs and wants that can be addressed by coming at problems from the new angles the World Wide Web and computer technology afford. It excites me to wonder about those next steps. What is truly worth doing? What is the best expression of it? How will it be made accessible and to whom?
I want to play.
A typical author page...
Categories of titles...
The front door...
DailyLit's Twitter page...
An interview with CEO Susan Danziger...
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Mar 17
Illustration
Clay Hayes' GigPosters.com features posters used to advertise music shows and events. As you might imagine, the subject matter allows the designers and artists great creative freedom—so you're going to see some exciting and interesting uses of type, color, and illustration. (The examples I link to are tame, but I'll caution you that if you wander around, there's also material some might find offensive.)
Example 1 by Gwenola Carrere...
Example 2 by Nate Duval...
Example 3 by Matthew Fleming...
The front door...
The GigPosters Twitter page...
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Feb 15
Illustration
Here is some great insight into icon design from someone who knows a fair amount about it. Before starting his sole proprietorship, Felix Sockwell was the Design Director and co-founder of the Ogilvy, The Brand Integration Group—not bad credentials. As you will see, he has an amazing talent for condensing ideas into icons and illustrations. Be sure to see his portfolio, it is wide and deep.
Sockwell's show and tell about the development of icons for Real Simple magazine ...
Another project for The International Herald Tribune...
Sockwell's portfolio...
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Feb 12
Ideas 101
Eric Baker started out spending 30 minutes each morning finding and sending odd and interesting images to a friend online—a good idea soon draws a crowd. If you need an occasional creative nudge, check out Eric Baker's Today, it just may do the trick.
Baker's first post from October 2008—Today on designobserver.com...
A recent example...
The archive...
Baker is one of the principals at The O Group. Their portfolio...
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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 13
Ideas 101
Copywriter Jessica Hagy explains ThisIsIndexed.com as "...A little project that lets me make fun of some things and sense of others. I use it to think a little more relationally without resorting to doing actual math."
Her big collection of little diagrams is well worth a look.
ThisIsIndexed.com...
Explanation of a Venn diagram (relations between groups)...
An interview with the author and copywriter Jessica Hagy...
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Jan 6
Ideas 101
Paul Overton explains DudeCraft.com like this: "I think it's great that there is so much DIY going on these days and that access to techniques and advice is fairly universal, but I'm bummed that there aren't more guys out there making things. Enter DudeCraft."
DudeCraft.com includes many idea starters that could be applied to graphic design as a well. Great for men AND women.
Paul Overton's DudeCraft.com...
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Jan 4
Ideas 101
I happened on a post by Grant McCracken, the author of Chief Culture Officer. He says, "At year's end, I have an unhappy thought, that some of the creative professionals who rose to prominence in the first decade of the 21st century will be eclipsed by the end of the decade coming, that the first decade of the 21st century will be, for some creative professionals, a brief moment in the sun."
Some perhaps, but overall I pose that consumers are becoming more sophisticated about the quality of design, not less--and that, contrary to riding into the sunset, designers are just now seeing the dawn of a new day.
My propositions:
1. Markets are multiplying.
The Web provides for conventional worldwide, regional, and local markets as well as an entirely new class of specialized markets that were not previously feasible. The proliferation of products, services, organizations, and ideas that make up those markets point to a virtually endless stream of work differentiating one from the next.
2. More markets mean more stories and more frequent story cycles.
For most organizations, the design of all types of communications is not an end, it's a cycle. As markets become more competitive and design becomes more of a distinction, it stands to reason that more designers will be needed to cast and recast the messages.
3. Core design skills cannot be automated.
There is no such thing as an organization that is exactly the same as its competitor--location, timing, finances, and personnel are just a few of the many factors that make each organization one-of-a-kind. A smart designer is able to see an organization and its products and services in ways that the organization itself cannot. You can't replace the need for, or automate the creation of, intelligent analysis and vision-casting.
4. The definitions of design, communications, and marketing are ever-changing.
Certain approaches to design run their course, but no one believes that design can be confined to any one course. Those who are able to effectively identify, define, and communicate organizational, product, and service distinctions are more in demand than ever before.
The future of design, I believe, has never been brighter.
Grant McCracken's post, Creativitys brief moment in the sun...
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Nov 25
Graphics Tech
Don't know if you caught this. Pranav Mistry, a PhD student in the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT's Media Lab, invented a wearable device that demonstrates one possible direction for future user interface. I am less interested in these early prototypes than I am in his broad vision for how we might integrate the digital with the physical down the road.
Though you certainly don't need a crystal ball to predict it, it would seem that the future of graphic design, likewise, will be more about 3D than 2D.
Thanks to my friend Wayne Belvin for pointing us to this.
Pranav Mistry discusses his ideas...
More about Mistry and SixthSense...
More projects from the Fluid Interfaces Group at MIT...
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Nov 13
Illustration
My interest in the aspects of graphic design that can be "proved" continues to grow. By "proved" I mean visual and informational structures that are actually based on some type underlying formula.
I thought this article was particularly intriguing: "The mathematics behind the Droste effect." It poses that when M.C. Escher drew his Print Gallery, he was, without realizing it, following a rather complex mathematical formula.
It reminded me of our discussion a few months ago about whether there exists some type of "design DNA" that we do not yet understand.
Seb Przd's conformal mapping imagery...
More from Seb Przd...
The mathematics behind the Droste effect...
12-page illustrated article "Artful Mathematics: The
Heritage of M. C. Escher" from the American Mathmatical Society (1.8MB PDF)...
Our earlier discussion, "Is there such a thing as design DNA?"...
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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 28
Web Design
I wish more of my work reflected the confidence and restraint this design does. So nice.
24hourplays.com...
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Oct 21
Ideas 101
I was in a local convenience store a few mornings ago and the manager mentioned how significantly their business increases as the weather turns chilly--the coffee drinkers return. Sales, she explained, will remain significantly higher throughout the fall and winter. (I would have thought cold drinks in warm months would balance sales out, but evidently not.) In any case, it is another example of just how much I have yet to learn about specific marketing applications.
So my invitation is this: Share a practical marketing and/or design idea that the rest of us may not have thought of. Doesn't have to be your idea or ground breaking, just something a little off the beaten track.
I'll lead off with one of my own--a "web card:"
My web card...
Share your idea in the comment section here...
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Sep 11
Ideas 101
I got a question this week that led me to believe that the writer did not fully embrace that fact. They asked, "Is creating a direct mail piece more effective than using something like Google Adwords?
My answer: I would have no way of knowing unless I knew your marketing DNA--what you're selling, who your prospects are, the options for reaching them, what your offer is, who you're competing against, what the current market conditions are, and so on.
My point is success is circumstantial. You should run in the opposite direct of anyone who offers generic yet "foolproof" advice, formulas, or solutions that do not acknowledge the importance of understanding and addressing the many inherent differences in each situation.
Its the old problem of the client who spends 95 percent of their budget on the phone directory ad space and five percent on the message. Whether you're creating a brochure, a web site, a direct mail piece, a radio spot, or whatever else, you need to understand the brand.
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Aug 26
Ideas 101
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 21
Ideas 101
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 14
Print Design
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 7
Packaging
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 3
Ideas 101
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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Jul 10
Ideas 101
Photograph 1 is fascinating. Photograph 2 is shocking. The difference is not that both animals are strange, the difference is that the second animal is shown in a totally unexpected context--surrounded by a pristine white background.
Makes me wonder how I better communicate a message by taking something people are used to seeing in one context and showing it in another.
Photograph 1...
Photograph 2...
See more of these wonderful creatures...
See how photographer David Doubilet captured these images on a specially constructed underwater cyc--and I thought I had some bizarre photo shoots...
I describe one slightly strange photo shoot here (hop down the page to "The glamorous life of a design executive"...
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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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Jun 8
Ideas 101
I recently read an excerpt from Adolf Loos essay, Ornament & Crime (1908). He posed that, "The evolution of culture is synonymous with the removal of ornament from objects of daily use." He believed that "style" and "ornament" was "wasted manpower."
One-hundred years hence, to what I am sure would be Loos' great dismay, we are awash in graphic design--some ornamental, some practical, much of it both.
Skidmore, Owings, & Merrill, one of the world's leading architectural firms, offers some good examples of the degree to which graphic design is integrated into every level our lives. Their web site features everything from articles detailing the design of multi-million-dollar buildings to an article detailing the design of carpet: "Three individual carpet patterns derived from the random graphic appearance of landscape, traffic, and water."
It got me thinking, what ARE the best purposes of graphic design? Is our best work ornamental? Functional? Essential? Instructive? Timeless?
The SOM carpet design...
SOM Graphics Projects...
The SOM Ideas page...
The SOM home page...
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May 29
Ideas 101
Here is the 2009 installment of Bill Gardner's excellent logo design trends report for LogoLounge.com. As always, it is a must read.
Bill Gardner's logo design trends 2009...
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May 20
Ideas 101
The older I get, the less I seem to know about the story I am a part of. By that I mean I have come to believe that we are a part of a system we know very little about--one that continues to reveal itself to us in unexpected ways.
Take the example of DNA. Imagine how profoundly the understanding of this code (now in its infancy) will ultimately effect life on our planet.
So here's the, "is Chuck a crackpot" question: Do you think there could be such a thing as a design equivalent of DNA? Some type of underlying blueprint that map non-visual information in visual form? Is it possible there is some hidden structure to all things that design is, in a clumsy way, trying to reveal?
At first blush it sounds nutty, but consider the fact that many folks have attempted to identify just that--a formula or approach that breaks design down to some "true" or "correct" combination of dynamics--white space, grids, form and color selections, and so on.
But, I digress. All that leads me to Stefanie Pasavec's Writing Without Words. Don't get me wrong, I do not equate it to some type of literary DNA, I simply find it fascinating to contemplate yet-to-be-defined alternatives for envisioning the world around us.
Love to hear your thoughts on this--I think. Use "Comments" below--I answer every entry.
Writing Without Words...
A detailed view...
An excellent article on Pasavec's work...
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May 15
Ideas 101
Let me make a simple point using a site in a language I do not speak--French. That way, it will be a tiny bit more difficult to find words that help to explain the significance of the imagery. As roughly translated via Google Translate, the first link shows a list of organizations and their logos associated with a creative media contest. I chose it because, you would expect that this type of organization would be particularly interested in branding.
My question is, what do these logos tell you about the organizations they represent?
Do they reveal anything about the organization's product, service, philosophy, derivation, purpose, or industry?
Or, from another angle, are these logos distinctive, versatile, memorable, durable, timeless, or symbolic?
My intention is not to ridicule--you have only to look at any random grouping of logos to see the prevalence of this type of white noise. I just wonder, if a client doesn't have hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars to imprint its brand on its audience, shouldn't the logo at least tell some part of its story?
I have had my fair share of communication failures--my point is simply, when we don't fight for meaning, we haven't done our job.
Do you have a good definition of the purpose of a logo? Share it with us using "Comments" below--I answer every entry.
See the stack of logos down the left side of the screen...
Paul Rand's thoughts on logo design...
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Apr 6
Ideas 101
On his blog, you can view the photograph of Daniel Will-Harris--hands clasped across his forehead--as an artsy portrait of an urbane intellectual, or the final attempt of a defeated soul to keep his brain from exploding. Whichever you presume, I encourage you to read this laugh-out-loud design review of what Daniel crowns the worst of all hotel web sites.
Bad design at a design conference...
More...
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Apr 3
Ideas 101
Our local newspaper (The Richmond Times Dispatch) laid off 59 employees yesterday. One in a long series of recent reports that would have you believe that nothing can save the newspapers.
Nonsense. To my way of thinking, the reason this and so many other newspapers are struggling is not simply from "a loss of advertising revenue," "changes in the classified market place," and "the difficult economic environment." What is killing newspapers is an extraordinary lack of creativity. Extraordinary because unlike other institutions that continually reinvent themselves to remain relevant to their audiences, city newspapers (generally speaking) seem to be paralyzed by their legacy.
The lords of news and knowledge need to wake up. We are in the midst of a fundamental shift in the control and distribution of knowledge. A kid with a computer in a remote corner of the planet can monitor a lecture at MIT. And I can sit in my chair and navigate my way, block by block, through the streets of Paris. To imagine that a publication, designed, written, produced, and delivered in much the same way it was 20 years ago, can continue to flourish, is not short sighted, it's blind.
Shutting down creativity is a destructive reaction to success. Instead of continuing to innovate--the very thing that lead to our initial success--we often cling to our original notions. Instead of devoting the research and resources necessary to take the next step we opt to carefully, cautiously, incrementally dabble around the edges of the old ideas--at times, beyond all good reason.
I have no doubt innovators in the newspaper business will survive and thrive. The resulting product may have little resemblance to the newspaper of today but a reinvented model that capitalizes on what works and lets go of what doesn't will surely emerge. It will come from those who, rather than fight the profound technological shift we are witness to, recognize how lucky we are to be living at such a seminal time in history and jump in head first.
The pursuit of making the world a better place is what makes life such a blessing. I find a real glimmer of hope in discussions such as these:
From a recent talk at TED: Can design save the newspaper?...
About reinventing newspaper classifieds...
The local story. Could this web site be any more nondescript?
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Mar 20
Ideas 101
I got a plea for help the other day. A designer who frequents this blog had shared a recent post with an engineer friend and the reply was a bit condescending. The post, "The talent that makes a good designer great," points to an engineer who I thought was particularly innovative. My purpose in drawing attention to him was to emphasize the importance of the same type of innovative thinking to the field of graphic design.
The essence of the engineer's response was they saw little correlation between the skills of an engineer and those of a graphic designer. How could that type of innovation, they posed, have anything to do with a designer's sense of style, their ability to choose typefaces, their knowledge of color, and so on. After all, the subject of my post, the engineer asserted, was a PhD candidate.
I laughed out loud. Every designer has had (or will have) this conversation. At its root is the implication that devoting one's career to the design of communications and an interest in the aesthetic is somehow less of a calling than some other, more significant field of endeavor.
My response is this:
The ergonomics and aesthetics of design are to engineering what taste is to food.
Remove the aesthetic qualities (style, organization, presentation) of the clothing you wear, the book you are reading, the automobile you drive, the room in which you spend your time, and so on, and all you have left is...function.
It is important for every student of design (and engineering) to recognize and appreciate the importance of form to function and vice versa. And it is equally important to understand that to be a exceptional practitioner of either discipline requires out-of-the-ordinary instincts, curiosity, knowledge, craft, and so on.
Lots of people view art and science as a comfortable coexistence. But for those who are particularly attuned to one or the other, it is good to remember that the most debilitating form of blindness is to minimize the way in which others see. It is not only a sure way to limit your potential--it is a certain and swift strategy for diminishing your influence.
An example of substance without style...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...
Mar 2
Ideas 101
Last week I heard filmmaker Ken Burns say something that I think applies to every communications designer.
In the process of discussing his reverence for the stories and imagery he uses in his films he said, "...We, in the present, think that because we've survived we're somehow smarter, or better, or different from those who went before us--and it's not true. For ten thousand or more years human beings are the same, the conversations they have...are no different, the degree of understanding, the glibness of rhetoric--whatever you want to call it--is the same: we love, we hate, we feel jealousy and passion, in the same ways that other people did and it is the responsibility of those of us who labor in these historical vineyards to remind people of that."
So I am asking myself and you, to pause and think about what we can learn about going forward from what has passed. How do foundational concepts such as top to bottom, left to right, and beginning, middle and end dictate the borders of our creativity? How can we avoid losing simplicity in sophistication?
The Kish Tablet...
NEW in the Ideabook Design Store: Tintbook CMYK Process Color Selector...
Feb 20
Ideas 101
As we go through this rough spot on the financial road, I'm sure there are plenty of folks in the job market who are considering going out on their own.
That fact reminded me of a rather profound (to me) insight I learned years back from Michael E. Gerber the author of The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It.
The crux of it is this: being highly skilled at what you do does not necessarily translate into being successful at running a business based on that skill.
That's all I'll say—the book was written in 1995 so you'll have to determine for yourself how relevant Gerber's solutions are today. I just point you to it because, as a business owner, I think it is an important point to consider if you are contemplating starting your own business or if you are trying to figure out how to make your existing business more successful. Hope it helps.
Reading Chapter 1 with get you right to his point...
Here's the author's site...
In the Ideabook Design Store: FontHead Typefaces...
Feb 11
Ideas 101
I happened across this site recently and got to thinking about how profoundly non-designers have embraced the design world in the last decade. There has long been an appreciation for the design of clothing, automobiles, architecture, and such but we're seeing something different here aren't we?
More and more people seem to appreciate design, understand it, and want to try their hand at it. I makes me think the market for professional design is going to continue to expand, perhaps far beyond what we now see.
The general appreciation of and desire for good design is expanding...
Love the design of this site and its crisp, bright photography...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color...
Feb 4
Ideas 101
Why does a client hire a designer? For our sense of style? For our ability to choose and use typography? Our knowledge of color? Sure, all those things. But first and foremost, they hire us for our ability to innovate. For our ability to see the problem so clearly, to analyze it so comprehensively, that we are able to discover something about it that they themselves may not have even seen.
Here is a wonderful demonstration of that talent. Johnny Chun Lee has an amazing gift for taking something that is already "understood" and recasting it in a whole different light.
A brief presentation of two ideas...
Johnny's "Poor man's steadycam"...
Lee is now working with the Applied Sciences group at Microsoft. His blog...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...
Jan 23
Ideas 101
ReCourses, Inc. is a management consulting firm that specializes in working with advertising agencies, design studios, PR firms, interactive companies, and the in-house marketing departments of large corporations.
I recently stumbled upon their generous collection of free position papers. A few examples:
Saying "No" and Caring Too Much
Changing Client Perceptions
Common Struggles in Firms
Don't Always Listen to Your Clients
Navigating a Downturn
Hobby, Job, or Company
Raising Your Prices
Recognizing Growth Pains
Promoting Timekeeping Compliance
The collection...
In the Ideabook Design Store: The Copywriter's Handbook...
Dec 29
Ideas 101
Time for the 2008 installment of Bill Gardner's excellent series on logo design trends for LogoLounge.com. Mark it "must read."
2008 logo design trends from LogoLounge.com...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...
Dec 19
Ideas 101
If you have not been to an Anthropologie store lately, I encourage you to stop by. It is all about design--they offer an eclectic mix of woman's clothing, tableware, books, and furnishings all accentuated by truly creative, one-of-a-kind displays and fixtures.
I'm guessing this is at least one direction of future retailing. This approach (versus a conventional department store) sells one point of view, a certain set of tastes, a particular mindset—something approaching a lifestyle. I really love the place. For a chain with many stores nationwide, it is amazing how unique they are able to make each.
To get the idea, you'll have to take a field trip—what you do not get from the Anthropologie web site is the importance of the store displays and fixtures to the experience. They are, in some cases, the best part.
Anthropologie.com...
They have some great letters...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshop...
Nov 5
Ideas 101
Do you call yourself a designer? Graphic designer? Communication designer? Commercial artist? Art director? Creative director? I believe this is a worthwhile discussion. As I began researching an article on the subject I found someone had already started the conversation--Errol Saldanha. Take a look here and tell me what you think.
A discussion about communication design...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Becoming a Graphic Designer
Oct 15
Ideas 101
In case you haven't tried it, twitter is a good place to get to know folks in a slightly different way. You post brief thoughts and ideas (to be exact, 140 characters or less) and people who are interested in checking in answer back, make derogatory remarks, and so on. While some folks use it to answer the question: "What are you doing?" I am using it to answer the question: What are you thinking? Interested? Take a look.
Ideabook (me) on twitter...
In the Ideabook Design Store: The Color Harmony Guide...
Jul 25
Ideas 101
Maybe a more apt headline is, "the hidden value of smart thinking." If you study the list of the "Latest News" headlines on the cover of cnn.com, you'll spot a tiny t-shirt icon next to one or more of the listings. Click it and you are whooshed off to CNN Shirt where you can order a t-shirt emblazoned with the headline and stamped with the date and time it was created.
The idea is the work of The Barbarian Group, the folks who designed the site. I point to it because I think it is worth noting the little things that go into building big successes. As you'll see in a brief story about the project, it has created lots of buzz and (not surprisingly) sold some shirts. Dual-cool.
Look for the t-shirt icon to the right of the Latest News headlines...
The CNN Shirt archive...
A story about the idea...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...
Jun 30
Ideas 101
BIG ANNOUNCEMENT: the most recent post was number 400 (yes I realize, relative to events such as upgraded your favorite software, this is not even on the radar).
It is a great encouragement to discover so much great work by so many talented folks. I hope my seemingly endless blather about it all has been of some interest and encouragment to you. As always, you are invited comment on the posts (click comment at the bottom of the post) and to introduce yourself via email (click Contact Chuck at the top right).
500 here we come. Chuck
NEW in the Ideabook Design Store: Becoming a Graphic Designer
Jun 16
Ideas 101
I happened across the web of The French Laundry recently, one of 14 restaurants awarded the Mobil Five-Star Award in 2007. As I was browsing through it, it struck me how analogous graphic design is to dining. Both disciplines use a basic set of ingredients to prepare a product using a fairly well-defined set of tools.
So what distinguishes fast food design from five-star design?
1. The quality of the ingredients
2. Attention to detail
3. An understanding of consumer expectations
4. A balance between price and perceived value
5. The level of designer's training and experience
The French Laundry...
In the Ideabook Design Store: Before & After: Graphics For Business...
Jun 9
Ideas 101
There are many, many folks who join us here but who do not chime in—now is the time. I showed you my favorite web site, now tell me yours. Think hard, of all the web sites you have visited, which one struck the most profound chord with you? You think it is exquisitely designed, it has some emotional meaning for you, or it led you to some pivotal thought—whatever the reason. Show me where it is and tell me why you chose it.
I'll even add a small incentive—my favorite of your favorites wins a copy of The Business Side of Creativity by Cameron Foote.
To add your site and explanation, post a comment by clicking “>>Comment” below or click the red box here and e-mail it to me.
What is the URL ? Why did you choose it?...
In the Ideabook Design Store: The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book...
Jun 6
Ideas 101
I have seen many thousands of web sites in the initial years of the World Wide Web—to date this is my favorite. Not because of the design (its plain), not because of the navigational structure (because of the use of frames the links are difficult to share), and certainly not because of the information (I vehemently disagree with much of what is set forth).
This is my favorite site because it is a crystal-clear example a foundational principle: that design is opinion. Yes or no. Left or right. Light or dark. The calling of a designer is to determine the source and meaning of truth and to use that knowledge to improve communication and perfect systems. If you're good at it some significant number of folks will agree with you. If you're not, you dig deeper.
Here, unabashed and in depth, is one designer's opinion and his expression of it.
Rearrangement of tables in the laundry room...
Plan for USA regional designations...
How to think...
The whole experience...
NEW in the Ideabook Design Store: Tintbook CMYK Process Color Selector...
Apr 11
Ideas 101
This simple example, to me, represents the best of design. These folks are experts at designing wine labels—a fairly narrow niche. But they studied their subject and found room to innovate.
The idea is “Wine Find”—a loose, perforated portion of the label that can be removed by the seller or customer as a reminder of the exact brand and vintage of the bottle they purchased.
That's the type of jolt thinking that gets me pumped—I can immediately think of several ways to translate the same concept to other media and formats.
The Wine Find label (450KB PDF)...
Stellar label designs and a better photograph of a Wine Find label (1MB PDF)...
New in the Ideabook Design Store: Creative Advertising...
Mar 24
Ideas 101
It would be difficult to overstate the importance of restraint in communications design. It is so easy to add elements to a layout that it is often difficult (for me) to know when to stop. I have struggled with it every day of my career—in print and online. Much of great design is brilliantly complex, much is brilliantly simple—at both extremes the key is knowing when enough is enough.
Here are two sites designed by Blue River Interactive Group. To my eye, both reveal a keen understanding of this art of restraint.
The KP Public Affairs cover...
Inside KP Public Affairs...
The Heath Ceramics cover...
Inside Heath Ceramics...
In the Ideabook Design Store: The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book...
Feb 22
Ideas 101
The first link is a great example of my rule of miniatures: Showing an image at half its size makes it twice as interesting. I think the actual demo of this template is beautifully designed, the point is, I like it even better shown in miniature.
The second example proves my rule of multiples: The more images you show, the more interest you generate. Each image is interesting in itself, but show a grouping of images and the whole becomes more interesting than the sum of its parts.
The rule of miniatures...
The rule of multiples...
New in the Ideabook Design Store: Creative Advertising...
Jan 21
Ideas 101
We expect to see type in two dimensions—flat on the page. The proliferation of type shadows in recent years has had a profound impact on both print and web design. Today we regularly see words that are animated, distorted, made transparent, and so on. Here is yet another basic idea that needs pointing to: the technique of recasting words as objects. The purpose of these 3D posters is to recruit designers. I can't imagine anyone, who happens on them, missing their message.
Make words into objects...
Another example (-1MB PDF)...
