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)...