For this inspiration post, I went to the web site drawn.ca and found the site www.lettercult.com which did some features on the best lettering of 2009 that was created custom for certain projects or events.

Part of the reason I post inspiration sources is to keep in touch with what other people are working on. Communities of graphic designers will study trends through others work to get ideas about what directions their would like to take in their designs, what sort of competition is out there, and also to find out what a variety of people like and don’t like. Studying others’ designs is a good way of keeping in touch with the design world as well.

Seeing as typography plays a big part in graphic design, this site is rather fitting. One of the typefaces I personally feel works really well is the slinky featured on the front cover of a pamphlet. To check out more visit lettercult.com.

It’s true, graphic design is about being creative and clever. It’s about matching up fonts and creating appealing color schemes. It’s about layout, white space, and images. But, when you get down to the bone of all of what graphic design is, it’s really a way to solve problems.

Graphic design is implemented to solve a variety of problems, create unity, brands, advertisments, build up new companies, keep old ones from falling, sell tomatoes, books, sewing machines, decrease crime, pollution, poverty–the list goes on and it gets more bazaar. What it comes down to is that good graphic design influences people which solves problems.

Alright, lets go somewhere. In Marty Neumeier’s novel, The Brand Gap, he writes, “Execution–read creativity–is the most difficult part of the branding mix to control. It’s magic, not logic, that ignites passion in customers.” He says that it is emotional appeal that really convinces people to take action in most everything media related. Here are a couple other things he points out:

• “Our best thinking depends more on the “illogical”skills of intuition and insight, which may explain why logical argument rarely convinces anyone of anything important”
• “Benjamin Franklin, despite being a child of the Enlightnement, showed both intuition and insight when he observed: ‘Would you persuade, speak of interest, not of reason’.”
• “Innovation requires creativity, and creativity gives many business people a twitch. Anything new, by definition, is untried, and therefore unsafe. Yet when you ask executives where they expect to find their most sustainable competitive advantage, what do they answer? Innovation Because the truth is, innovation lies at the heart of both better design and better business.”

Here are a couple ads that I think effectively implement this idea of innovation to cleverly create emotional appeal to attract and convince an audience to solve problems for an organization. These examples may help solidify this concept of logic vs. emotion, and innovative quality design. Consider the messages here. What are these ads saying? And is what they say logical? Is it effective?

Use something familiar in an unfamiliar way. This logo uses portions of  the actual number eight to write the word eight. The repetition and consistency in typeface give a lot of strength to the design because of the familiarity of the number eight.

Use your space wisely. The FedEx logo uses a lot of white space and color contract in their logo are create some good  visual emphasis. Their company is all about organization and movement. This logo embodies that in the consistent type which breaks in color to seperate the fed from ex bt buts them up together to say they belong together and remain distinguished. They also show movement by aplifying the -> symbol naturally created between the “E” and “x”.

Complete a puzzle. Logos are a way to tie in a company and what they’re about. It is to be the symbol by which they’re known. The Hartford Whalers logo compiles two major parts in their business: their initials and their association with whaling. So does the ED logo for Elettro Domestici -Home Appliances which includes the “e” and “d” through the image of an electrical plug

Tell a story. The Nike symbol symbolizes the wings of NIke, the Greek Goddess of victory. People now associate it with motion and movement.

The logo position was just above the grooves were my hand fits around the container and opposite the opening where I drink from. Naturally, anyone looking my way when I took a sip would see it’s from Starbucks. This is good branding with strong logo association–the down side: I go to a LDS affiliated university, where I’m sure several students are strongly opposed to cafinated beverages and the likes of Starbucks Coffee Houses.

Anyway, I made it through the day with no conflicts. Phew.

And now I’ll just segue into talking about branding and logo development.

The LogoFactory.com says two things make a good logo: (1) Concept (2) Execution.

Concept: This phase is primarily about discovering what your client or company wants to say. Consider these questiosn as you brainstorm logo concepts:

• What is the business’s personality?
• What products or services do they offer?
• What are the best known for? What do they want to be best known for?
• How can a logo impact their business and in what ways do they want to use the logo?

Execution: Artwork is important, fonts and design are important. A logo needs to be able to function as a stand alone and in a variety of context and still convey strong association to the affiliated company. Here are a couple things to keep in mind when considering the execution of a logo:

• Make sure the design principles are working in harmony with the type of service or product they represent. (Proximity, Alignment, Repetition, Contrast) If you’re designing for a dentist, don’t make an edgy super conflicting asymmetrical design, unless the dentist is radical and doesn’t want any business. In the instance of doing a dentistry design make it a peaceful clean look in line with the feel the dentist office would like to portray
• Keep true to two things: Every logo needs to touch on who the company is and what they do. This is the purpose you need to keep in mind as you create the design. Be sure that by the time you finish you don’t just have a cool design on the screen; instead,  you have an image that means something.
• Consider where the logo will be placed. Apple computers have consistently included the apple logo on the front of their computers need the screen, and they now also include it on the back side of their computers so that as someone uses their products others around them know immediately their computer is an apple. The possible placements of  a logo can impact how it will be designed, it’s standard sizes, colors, and contents.

Look forward to my next post with examples of excellent logos and what they say about their company.

In my last post, I wrote a bit on finding inspiration. Every once in a while I’ll share projects I find by a variety of designers, not just in graphic design, that might help influence some great inspiration for a project you might be working on or in coming up with a new project. Each of these types of posts will be under the category titled inspiration.

This is a video created by Ross Ching, an incredible still photographer who has put his photos in motion by slicing series of shots into a video to create motion with his photos. So this video is comprised entirely of still shots. It’s actually quite similar to what Bart Benton did with type in the video from a previous post. It’s really very cool.

If there is one thing alone that could convince me of God’s existence it’s the world we live in and the creations on the face of it. After watching this video I feel pretty inspired. I hope you enjoy it.

Eclectic 2.0: Earth, Water, Sky from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

For example, last year in my first visual media course, we each had to create a brochure for any company or organization we wanted. I wanted to create my own ogranization but I wasn’t entirely sure what the company would do, what they stand for, how to brand them, etc. And thus began a massive brainstorm. My concept eventually winded down to a theft reduction agency which I named pickpocket who wanted to increase the awareness of wallet theft. From there I had to formulate the content I wanted to present in the brochure, and how the visual presentation would work out. I ended up making the brochure itself resemble a wallet with the information including different facts on wallet theft, steps to prevent theft, and what to do if it happened to you.

This is a simple example, but like any project especially dealing with branding identity or conveying a message for or about an organization or their products, it’s easy to get stumped. So, here are some tips to keep in mind as your attempting to formulate your next big idea.

1. Place a method behind your madness. Writing exercises are some of the most well-known ways of getting your ideas flowing. As a designer, you’re occupation is no exception. Ryan Hembree, author of The Complete Graphic Designer shared that “The more literate and articulate the designer, the more prolific he will be in producing original ideas…” he even goes on to say that some of the top art directors and graphic designers were at on point involved in copy writing, journalism or another area of professional writing.

Two of the most effective idea incubation writing exercises are free association and idea trees.

Free association is where the designer writes down any word that comes to mind when thinking about the project or task at hand. Many design agencies will hold meetings after a client assigns a project just to bounce off agency members through free association. They’ll place large sheets of paper across the walls and have a scribe write every word or idea listed off in the meeting. After a break or adjourning the meeting, the list will be revised by the project manager, art director and some assistants to eliminate any of the unusable ideas and circle up the ideas with greatest potential or promise. Even after this process all of the rejected ideas aren’t discarded. Many of them are still considered usable for future projects and are filed as such.

On your own, you can also practice this method and keep a record of all your ideas as potential candidates for future projects.

Idea trees are much like the word trees your teachers had you draw in middle school before starting an essay. With this method you start with an initial thought in the form of one word and create connecting lines to other related thoughts to show a logical thought process in a web like stucture. Using this method can help create a specific direction in what you want to accomplish for a project.

2. Spend a couple hours with Dictionary.com. Words are a priceless commodity when trying to formulate a strong direction for your project topic. By just weaving your way through the thesaurus tab, you may find the word that embodies an exact idea you want to convey. The Complete Designers Guide suggests that “Due to their descriptive nature, word definitions give the designer visual clues for possible solutions…the dictionary is an indispensable tool for translating written ideas into visual symbols and metaphors.”

3. Seek inspiration. You’ll be surprised at how much watching a video, reading a book, or surfing some design sites will help get the gears in you head to start cranking. Find designers online whose work speaks to you, listen to music, catch a show, have conversations. Inspiration can come from so many places, so find venues to involve yourself in. Exploit areas that will give you some momentum to start a plan. And really this is different for everyone. Some people find inspiration in driving, exercising, sleeping, eating, you name it. Find a source for inspiration.

I’m discovering this is a trying process to get a good concept to look good on paper.

On my way out the door of my advertising class, the professor commented “I loved it.” as I placed the sheet of paper on his table. I think he was sincere. I said I was glad and left the room.

Immediate these words ran through my head:
I could have done better.

As a graphic designer, you have to deal with situations like this were you come to blocks in brainstorming, problems with printing, and strong competition. It is a disheartening and difficult process, but it is also rewarding and inspirational.

If you haven’t had the chance to watch the video I posted earlier on the creative process through type by Bret Barton, you need to. For me, it embodies so much of the experience I’ve had in individual designs and trying to discover what works and what doesn’t for whichever project.

In the end, if you’re not confident with your concept, bag it. You’ll come up with something better. But, for my situation, where I knew I had a good concept and then was still feeling wet feet with the submission and presentation, you have to go at it one hundred percent. Because sometimes what it comes down to is that if you’re not convinced, then what will convince anyone else?

It’s kind of that concept where if you do all that you can do you won’t be left with regrets. You know, those awful could’a should’as that keep you in the past and feeling critical of past projects that you should have learned and moved on from.

Confidence is more than a happy face, it’s a successful pitch.

Pitching an idea to your client, or for many first time designers, to your peers and professors takes a lot of preparation and organization. No matter what stage you are at in your designing career, you’ll be faced with many moments when you’ll need to share your ideas and get some feedback. And all you’ll need to back you up in those moments is a brick wall of confidence. Here are a few tips you’ll want to keep in mind when those instances present themselves.

Building confidence in your designs:

1. Lets get visual. Professionalism and physical organization make a huge difference in showcasing your work. No doubt your ideas  will look more legitimate as  physical print outs than the image of you whisking your hands around and attempting to share this amazing idea you have formulating in your mind. Images sell. Being able to have a visual representation of your designs is a powerful point in selling your ideas.

Under Selling the Idea of the book The Complete Graphic Designer, author Ryan Hembree points out: “Presenting ideas to the client for feedback is the next crucial step in the design process. The designer must be able to not only speak intelligently about her work and the rationale behind it (if a creative brief is followed, the design will meet the client’s goals and objectives), she must also be able to prove that the visual solution works. To generate excitement, acceptance, and approval, ideas must be refined and executed in full-color, rendered mockups that help clients visualize the final design solution.”

The idea here is to get your idea on paper. A rough sketch will do wonders to solidify mere ideas which could present themselves as possible design solutions for a company or project.

2. Practice, Practice, Practice. In many cases, confidence is best gained by an increase in experience. Take every chance you have to design and always learn something new. Discover more and you’ll find the quest for knowledge makes you less vulnerable to rejection.

In his post titled 10 Steps to Becoming a Successful Freelance Designer, Preston Lee writes “Nothing will help you increase in confidence and ability more than practice. If work is a little slow, nail down some of those personal projects you’ve been meaning to finish. Join a group at school or in the community where you can freshen your skills. Participate in design forums, contests, and workshops. Nothing can take the place of real life application and experience.” I love that he mentions personal projects. So you’re not assigned any venues to give you more practice. Your teachers are supplying you with additional projects. Clients aren’t knocking at your door requesting new logos, business cards, web sites, etc. The answer is create your own. Find projects and practice.

3. Get some solid feedback. At every twist and turn in your design process, try to get some feedback. In her blog post at slicedbreaddesign.com,  Laura Klein has a great post on 6 Stupid Excuses Not to Get Feedback. She takes things as more of a customer-product-testing approach, but the information still applies. She says getting feedback from members of your intended audience is crucial in formulating products (or designs in our case) and adapting them for a greater rate of success. She also encourages designers to get input from anyone they can, even if they’re out of your intended target range. You never know how their insight could encourage your design or even give you new direction.

In a graphic design lecture last week, a BYU-Idaho professor shared an experience of meeting Paul Rand. Rand had come to the Art Center where this professor was studying graphic design to meet with an associate whom Rand was mentoring. When students gathered to meet Mr. Rand, the first question sputtered into the air and from what I gather, the conversation went something like this.

“Mr. Rand, what would you suggest designers do to come up with creative ideas?”

Disgustedly, Rand scoffed his reply, “This generation, always looking for an easy way out. I’m not even going to answer that.”

Just in case you didn’t already know, Paul Rand was an influential American Graphic Designer best known for his contribution to several company identities we still recognize because of logos and brand images created in part by Rand’s designs. Some of these companies included IBM, UPS, and ABC.

He is certainly someone worth looking into to gain additional history and insight into the process and life of Graphic Design. (You can start with his website at www.paul-rand.com/) No matter how grumpy he was that day at The Art Center.

Graphic designer Louis Danziger said of Rand, “He almost singlehandedly convinced business that design was an effective tool. [. . .] Anyone designing in the 1950s and 1960s owed much to Rand, who largely made it possible for us to work. He more than anyone else made the profession reputable. We went from being commercial artists to being graphic designers largely on his merits.”

What Paul Rand brought to light for many professionals in the business world is that design is more that just decoration. Design should be done with a purpose to solve problems. For example, in creating a company logo, a designer defines what that company is about, their characteristics, and their practice or products.

Rand encouraged companies to use design to enhance their image and make statements in a unseeingly indirect, but proven effective way of communicating: through design. In the first paragraph of his New York Times published article “Failure by Design” Rand expresses the misunderstanding of design and addresses it’s impact and meaning.

“Because design is so often equated with mere decoration, it is safe to assume that few people understand what design means or the role it plays in the corporate world. Graphic design pertains to the look of things — of everything that rolls of a printing press, from a daily newspaper to a box for corn flakes. It also pertains to the nature of things: not only how something should look but why, and often, what it should look like.” (Click here to continue reading “Failure by Design” by Paul Rand.) http://www.paul-rand.com/thoughts_failureByDesign.shtml

The simple lesson he teaches presented through the video above is the balance between form and content. Form can be described as the overall look of a project; whereas, the content is the actual message within that project.

My explanation of what he is saying is as follows: Rand indicates that if form overpowers a work the message or content will be lost. If the content is what overwhelms the page, viewers and readers will be lost. In the balanced combination of the two, a work will have visual appeal and content to get an audience to take the message.

This is an important lesson to find that balance. But how is it done?

THREE SIMPLE TIPS TO LEARN BALANCE OF FORM AND CONTENT:

Show as many people your work as you can. In constructive criticism there are two steps. (1) Get someone to give you feedback. (2) Take it. This means you either need to take their ideas and work with them, or just listen and consider suggestions. Also, getting more criticism is better. From a variety of people’s feedback you can start to see any trends from what people think. If they’re good, great! If not, you’ll know what you need to fix.

Just because you can doesn’t mean you should. Just because you can create illustrations of elaborate flowers and swirls doesn’t mean you should overpower a pamphlet with them. When you’re contemplating adding more fluff and frill ask yourself if it serves a purpose. If it is essential in conveying the message, keep it. If it’s not, ditch it quick.

Take a break. Although in the fast pace world of design, you may get projects with next day, hour, minute sort of deadlines and it’s hard to find time to break from a project. But when possible, taking time to get a way from one project to let ideas sit and your mind step away from what you put on the page can get you to give a new perspective of your form and content. After a break you might see things differently and realize what’s not working for your design. Consider your audience and the purpose, consider the flow of the document and readability, and consider the central message. Make sure what needs to be clear is clear.

You’ll also come up with new ways as you work on more designs, but the three principles above can get you started on discovering where form and content should meet.

I could watch this movie all day.

This is an excellent display of what can be done with type. Each frame of this video was individual letters placed to form single frame images. After putting the images and playing them at a high amount per second we can’t detect the a group of single images one after another, instead we see what looks like film. Fabulous animation.