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A good lesson in "context" for graphic designers

2009-07-11T00:29:55Z

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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Packaging design trends to watch

2009-07-09T02:27:55Z

Came across this excellent piece on packaging design that is every bit as applicable to today as it was when it was first published a couple of years ago. It was written by Steven DuPuis, the Founder and President of The DuPuis Group, developers of branding programs for clients including Dole, Heinz, Kellogg's, Mattel, The Walt Disney Company, and ConAgra. He seems to know of what he speaks.

10 Packaging Design Trends To Watch In 2008--or anytime...

A sneak peek at Package Design Workbook by DuPuis Founder Steven DuPuis and John Silva, its Creative Director...

Home of The DuPuis Group...

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Pulp tricks for graphic designers

2009-07-06T19:58:38Z

Some wonderful examples of how to make the paper more important to the design.

A laser-cut design from the Chartula Studio...

My favorite graphic designer

2009-07-03T16:32:42Z

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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The use of symmetry in graphic design

2009-07-01T16:59:33Z

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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My drug? Sideways web pages

2009-06-29T20:36:09Z

I must get some kind of endorphin rush from "different." I like to see people break the mold, send the conversation in another direction, turn the tables, innovate, and so on. Web pages that scroll sideways are no longer revolutionary but I still love the fact that they are so counter-intuitive. Here is yet another excellent example pointed to by my brother Jim (thanks buddy). Music ain't bad either.

Elvis Costello's site...

If you're curious, here's the background image...

The illustrations are by (the strange) Tony Millionaire...

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Interesting typefaces, interesting navigation

2009-06-27T00:28:18Z

In addition to the fact that OurType offers some interesting typefaces, their web page offers some unique ideas about navigation. I must admit it took me a couple of beats to figure out that you click and drag the orange arrows to move up and down, but other than that I like how the designer has made everything accessible from one screen. The only downside being I can't point you to specific information--no variable URL.

OurType...

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Brevity and graphic design

2009-06-25T02:13:09Z

There is a theory that pose that making something complex makes it seem more valuable. But that is not always the case. This web page--a single page--is a great example of how effective it can be to tell a complex story in simple terms.

You condense your message to its essence and in doing so show respect for the fact that I don't necessarily have the time to read ten or twenty pages and condense it myself. That (in many cases) is what you want your reader to come away with correct? If you can do the condensing for me if would seem I am far more likely to get an accurate account.

The First Twenty...

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Great typographic inspiration

2009-06-23T01:34:24Z

Art director and designer Kent Henderson has assembled a wonderful collection of type specimens via Flickr under the umbrella of Depression Press.

Kent's “Typecase” set...

More print- and type-centric sets...

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Get the most from Google's search tools

2009-06-19T15:00:56Z

Occasionally I find a shortcut for simplifying a process and I kick myself thinking, "Why didn't I take the time to figure this out before?"

If you know Google well, GoogleGuide.com will seem elementary--but if you use Google for nothing more than simple word or phrase searches you will find this information quite useful.

The Google Guide for Experienced Users...

A cheat sheet for making informed searches...

Another easy way to get the most from Google: Advanced Search...

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Turning your graphic designs into products

2009-06-17T18:44:54Z

Catalina Estrada is an illustrator who has turned her illustrations into a small industry. Some applications of her intricate repeat patterns and icons are used to draw attention to another product, service, or idea--others make her illustrations the product itself. An important distinction.

If you've read this blog for more than a few months you know that, to me, commercial graphic design is not self-expression. This is an excellent example of the exception--how a designer or illustrator can successfully segregate professional and personal focus.

Catalina Estrada...

Estrada's bio and some downloads are featured on her rep's site...

Estrada's clothing line for Levis...

Her web site...

And another fashion site...

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Meet three talented product and process illustrators

2009-06-15T18:28:53Z

It is, "the run-of-the-mill stuff that keeps the mill running." That's not a dig--I say it with great respect and affection. This is the type of work that rarely commands the recognition high-profile advertising work does, but that is often more consequential because of the much needed information it imparts. Hats off.

Jim Kopp...

Joe Saputo...

John Hartman...

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Have you seen these bold, colorful images by illustrator Don Cosgrove?

2009-06-12T18:53:09Z

I love how he recasts this type of retro style with vivid colors, hard shapes, and surprising perspectives.

A dreamlike bon voyage ...

Another surprising perspective...

Drama!...

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The next big transition: "assisted" graphic design?

2009-06-10T16:23:30Z

In less than 25 years we have moved from pasteups and X-acto knives to simplistic desktop publishing to the advanced graphic design systems and software of the moment. The transition from the board to desktop publishing software made it possible for the designer, who once spent a day assembling the parts and pieces of an advertisement, to produce the same product in an hour. In doing so, it allowed them to increase their work load and/or to devote more time to substance.

I'm guessing that transition will pale in comparison to the transition we now face. "Assisted" design further automates aspects parts of the production process. Instead of inventing your own systems for moving tasks forward you adopt a process built and perfected by others. Assuming it is equal to or better than a system you could create, why wouldn't you use it?

Content management systems are one example of how this transition is manifesting itself, EightShapes Unify offers another. Unify is a comprehensive collection of (primarily) Adobe InDesign templates and graphic elements you can use to present and prototype web pages. I point you to it not only because it is a very cool (free) product, but because it appears to me as another signal of a shift.

As the tools are improved, expectations increase, process is diminished, more resources are devoted to substance, and (in most cases) quality and effectiveness improves. You can easily see how each step prepares us for the next--the question is: where are we headed?

An overview of EightShapes Unify...

Samples of the results...

Download Unify...

The EightShapes web (the folks who created the templates and libraries and released them to the community)...

Nathan Curtis, one of the founders of EightShapes, has a book coming out this summer--Modular Web Design...

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What is the purpose of graphic design?

2009-06-08T15:22:31Z

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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