PagePlane.com

A feet feat

Fri, 09 May 2008 15:38:16 -0500

You need real guts to take on a job like this. Amsterdam studio Bolt Graphics designed this handsome set of posters for Adidas and translated them into 24 languages—not just translated words but word illustrations.

Bolt Graphics posters...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Templates for InDesign, QuarkXpress, or PageMaker...

Communication designers: Turn on your legal radar

Wed, 07 May 2008 17:46:17 -0500

Every designer should be a student of copyright and trademark laws. These laws not only protect your work and mine, they protect the work of others—everyone from artists and designers to corporations and public institutions. Part of our job is to be certain that the illustrations and photographs we incorporate into our work do not infringe on existing copyrights or trademarks. Or, if they do, that they are properly recognized and documented.

It is not as simple as it looks. Here, for example, is a technical wiki for the royalty-free illustration and photography site istockphoto.com. It is designed to help the those who submit work for sale to understand what can and cannot be distributed under royalty-free guidelines. You might be surprised at the scope of the imagery that cannot be used without the permission of its owners.

The istockphoto wiki on copyright and trademark issues ...

Trademark basics...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Design-It-Yourself: Graphic Workshopa...

A different take on web menus

Mon, 05 May 2008 16:55:40 -0500

Thanks to Chris Miller for pointing us to this interesting navigational approach by EffectiveUI. I like the idea that everything carries near-equal weight. Kind of like a book table of contents—it displays the linear layout but it also gives you a simple, in depth way to pick and choose.

The EffectiveUI interface...

NEW in the Ideabook Design Store: Tintbook CMYK Process Color Selector...

Using a silhouette as a transition

Fri, 02 May 2008 23:21:57 -0500

Here is a nice example of how to use a silhouette as a transition from one section of a web page to the next.

The example is at the bottom of the page...

In the Ideabook Design Store: The Copywriter's Handbook...

Chuck's big list of delusions: tilt-shift photography

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 23:15:49 -0500

Great. I have a new addition to my list of delusions—next time you see a photograph of a tiny little, toy-like model of a “real” scene, look again. It may not be a model at all, it may be the real thing edited using the “fake tilt-shift” effect in Photoshop (“real” tilt-shift is accomplished using a camera lens by the same name).

This is an illustration technique you will definitely want to add to you toolbox. The effect is achieved by changing the depth of field (among other things).

A set of examples...

More examples...

A Photoshop tutorial...

In the Ideabook Design Store: The Color Harmony Guide...

Start you next web with much of the work already done

Mon, 28 Apr 2008 21:45:52 -0500

If you design web sites and have not come across the Blueprint CSS Framework, I recommend you take a look to see if any of its parts and pieces could be of use to you. The framework includes a layout grid, basic typographic styles, and underlying code contributed by a coalition of high-powered CSS experts.

I know there are folks who think that if you don't create everything from scratch that you are somehow “cheating”—I'm not one of them. To me, a well designed grid or template is like any other tool—a smart way to amplify productivity.

The Google Blueprint CSS framework...

An introduction by Jeff Croft, one of the original contributors...

A demonstration of the web framework (all of which can be edited)...

A demonstration of the typographic styles...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Creative Business CD-ROM...

Buying illustration art

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:48:52 -0500

I have an affinity for illustration. I can't count the times a talented illustrator has made me look like I knew what I was doing.

Truth be told, I am more likely to hang a poster than a painting. Here are two sites where you can buy originals and prints of published and unpublished works by both well-known and not-so-well-known illustrators.

illogator.com...

and Thumbtack Press...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Graphic Artists Guild Handbook: Pricing & Ethical Guidelines...

Commercial graphic design is not self-expression

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 14:19:30 -0500

I have two very talented sons in design school—in the last few years their education has been the catalyst of many interesting conversations. As they unfold the intricacies of the business of communications design and ask questions, I must think through and articulate theories and practices I have long taken for granted.

This month on ideabook.com I want to share one of the more controversial issues with you—regarding the concept of self-expression. Even if you don't think this is something you would normally take the time to read, please take a few minutes to read it through and to share your thoughts about it with me.

Commercial graphic design is not self-expression...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Brenner Pricing Tables...

Craft lives

Mon, 21 Apr 2008 16:10:51 -0500

It wasn't long ago that graphic design was as much craft as it is intellectual exercise. You could argue that there is craft to using computers and software, but the physicality of most designer's daily work is not what it once was.

So it is refreshing (and nostalgic) to see great craft being practiced. Thank you to my friend Sheila Hanchard who points us to the work of Russian animator Alexander Petrov. Though he is best known for his artistic achievements—among others, his adaptation of The Old Man and the Sea—he is the director of several much-acclaimed, anti-conventional spots for United Airlines.

One of the United Airline spots—titled The Rose...

A clip from The Old Man and the Sea...

The Canadian animation studio Petrov works through, click Welcome > Directors...

And a fascinating documentary of Petrov's pastels on glass technique...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Task Force Clip Art...

“What if the Hockey Pokey IS what it's all about?”

Fri, 18 Apr 2008 21:44:05 -0500

The photographs at Notes from the Road are stunning—they're captured using a traditional large format sheet-film camera. But the layout is why I'm pointing to the site. Though the understated, neutral palette and the type treatments are well worth noting, what caught my eye was how the bottoms of the anchor photographs are feathered into the article text—a simple but effective technique for integrating two dissimilar elements. (You'll have to dig deep to find the context of the Hokey Pokey bumper sticker.)

Erik Gauger's Notes from the Road...

Another nice example...

About the author, designer, illustrator, photographer...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Moleskine Notebooks...

Art versus illustration

Wed, 16 Apr 2008 21:51:23 -0500

Illustrator is to artist as reporter is to poet. The reporter uses words to communicate news—the poet defines his own purpose. To my function-focused mind there is nothing quite so compelling as an illustration that communicates the idea more persuasively than words could. David Gothard is an illustrator with a wonderful talent for marrying concepts to images.

Watch this...

Gothard's portfolio...

His blog...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Art Parts Clip Art...

Alltop.com: A links list with a brain

Mon, 14 Apr 2008 22:52:35 -0500

Guy Kawasaki makes it look easy. This time he, Will Mayall, and Kathryn Henkens (all principles of Nononia, Inc.) have birthed Alltop—a table of contents to “all the top” stories on the web.

What type of semantic computational algorithm could possibly make such a subjective judgment? The human brain. Yup, these industry innovators propose that what we need is not another regurgitation of every other machine-picked list, but a lineup selected by people.

“The bottom line,'” as they describe it, “is that we are trying to enhance your online reading by both displaying stories from the sites that you’re already visiting and helping you discover sites that you didn’t know existed. In this way, our goal is the 'cessation of Internet stagnation.'”

We are honored to be included on the Design page.

The home page with all the categories...

The Alltop.com Design Category—LOOK, there's pageplane.com next to the kid with the circle on his shirt...

In the Ideabook Design Store: FontHead Typefaces...

Design: Define a problem, invent a solution

Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:00:44 -0500

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...

Who the heck is Fabien Barral?

Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:21:40 -0500

I'm slightly depressed. It seems as though, at every turn, I come upon a designer whose work knocks me into next week. This time it's Fabien Barral, a guy who claims to be living in the middle of the French countryside—no comment. Seriously though, his deft mix of typography and old/new design elements is very interesting. Another one for my “when I grow up I wanna design like” list.

Fabien Barral...

More Fabien Barral...

Okay Fabien Barral, you're starting to get on my nerves...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Getting It Printed...

I'm a sucker for the red, white, black palette

Mon, 07 Apr 2008 15:30:32 -0500

UNIQLO is a company based in Japan that is fairly new to the United States. It positions itself at a provider of “high quality, basic casual wear at the lowest prices in the market.” Their site was designed by Yugo Nakamura who employs the color palette Roger Black made famous (at least to me): red, white, and black. It relies heavily on a combination of stark contrast, powerful typography, and bold images. Love it.

The is the company's site...

This is the site used to tease the arrival of the store in NYC...

In case you missed it previously, Roger Black's page...

In the Ideabook Design Store: Getting It Printed...