Memo: Notable Graphic Design

So you need a typeface

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:53:00 +0000

Cool flow chart font picking poster from Julian Hansen.

Book Review & a Freebie

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 27 May 2010 21:33:00 +0000

I recently read the book Glimmer by Warren Berger. This is an awesome book that had me examining why and how I design. It's like the first semester of design school in one book. It breaks design down to four areas- universal, business, social, & personal and discusses methods and cases studies in each. The chapter headings themselves are mini lessons in design thinking:

1. Ask stupid questions
2. Jump fences
3. Make hope visible
4. Go deep
5. Work the metaphor
6. Design what you do
7. Face consequences
8. Embrace constraints
9. Design for emergence
10. Begin anywhere

Among other case studies and designer spotlights, Glimmer chronicles some of the work of designer Bruce Mau. I loved the view into his world. Several of the chapter headings above come from Mau's Incomplete Manifesto for Growth. Which are his strategies for creative thinking and how his studio looks at projects.

The book also quoted Buckminster Fuller quite a bit. A legendary design thinker and innovator, Buckminster was a head of his time. I had the opportunity to see an exhibit of some of his sketches and models while in Chicago a few years ago. I was mesmerized and spent hours being inspired by his alternate view of the world and it's possibilities.

One favorite quote from the book by Fuller states, "When I am working on a problem, I never think about beauty, but when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong." Love that!

When it comes to design thinking, I have begun to ask myself if I have considered these ideas. Am I channeling my own "Inner Buck" and thinking beyond what is readily apparent? Am I asking the stupid questions, going deep, looking at all the consequences? Not just a book for designers, Glimmer shows the methods and importance of thinking like a designer no matter what industry you are in.

I made a little mini-print to share with all of you (personal use only). Next time you are in the middle of a project, think about Buckminster Fuller, Bruce Mau, and design thinking and see if you can Rock Your Buck! This is a 5x7 pdf that you can print onto cardstock then trim. Just right click (pc) or option click (mac) on the previous link to download and save the print to your own desktop.

Interactive Business Card

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 18:01:00 +0000

I love this business card concept- simple design, creative application, & fun interactive idea! What are your thoughts on non-traditional business cards? Love them? Hate them? Keepers or unpractical?

via

Never enough chairs

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 23:45:00 +0000

I love this chair print by Blue Art Studio. Lots of cool chair inspired prints over there- check it out! I need more wall space. Would it be wrong to have every wall covered in chair art?

PicScout

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 20:01:00 +0000

PicScout is an image tracking service that I learned about last month at the Alt Design Summit. PicScout had a giveaway and I won my Alt ticket! Fun! They didn't ask me to write about them but I think it's a great resource and wanted to share.

PicScout is a service that fingerprints images. They have a FireFox plugin that brings up a little "i" next to images in an image search. When you click on the "i" the image credit and purchasing info are displayed. As a designer, finding and sourcing images can be time consuming. This would certainly help. Amy, their rep told me they want to make legally using images from the web so easy that most people don't think twice about it.

I did a search for "flowers" and clicked on a quilled flower picture that hand the little blue "i" next to it. It brought up the info in the screen shot below. I can see it's under a Creative Commons license and came from Flickr. Cool, right?

I also think this is great find for photographers. They have partnered with PhotoShelter to allow any photographer to index their images. Then no matter where their images show up on the web, proper credit can be given and traffic directed to their page for purchase.

Since I've been trying it out, I've noticed that not all images I'm interested in have the little blue "i" next to them, but as more and more are added, I think this will be a great source for bloggers, designers, and others who look for images on the web.

ClearPlay

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:37:00 +0000

I've been able to create some fun designs for a company called ClearPlay. They contacted me to have help re-imagining their DVD player packaging. ClearPlay sells a DVD player that is able, through the use of filters, to skip content you might not want to watch such as excessive violence or language leaving the original DVD perfectly intact.

After researching their market we realized that Moms were the number one purchaser of the player. As such, most were purchasing it for their families to be able to watch movies together as a family. We decided to create a package that was almost game like in it's aesthetics. Less hi-tech, more fun. Something that kids and families would be drawn to for a fun activity together. We came up with the concept of "The Return of Family Movie Night" using iconic imagery portraying the movie watching experience.

Since then, the project has added ads, a website face lift (not up yet), blog creation, twitter account, and a fun promotional materials for the Mom 2.0 Summit. ClearPlay is a great client to work with and they are excited about offering this new direction to their customers. They have more fun things planned to bring the movie watching experience back home to families.

If you are interested, they have a giveaway for 3 of their players going on right now until midnight MST tomorrow on their [blog].

The images above are from the Mom 2.0 Event this past week taken by Imelda.

Alphabeasties

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 23:36:00 +0000

This is an awesome book with animals created out of letterforms and fun facts about typography throughout. Great paper and fun layouts- LOVE it! The kind of book that makes it hard to share with the kiddies. Created by Sharon Werner and Sarah Forss and inspired by a project they did for the [The Type Directors Club].

This makes a great addition to my growing collection of alphabet books. Thanks Jen!

images via

7 Rules and a Resolution

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:50:00 +0000

My studio needs [this decal by Harmonie-Interieure]. Don't you agree? Love it! Thanks to those of you who keep checking back here when there is nothing new to see. It's been hard for me to find a focus here on this blog. Can you tell :) Can someone be a designer & a design blogger? Since this is also my business website, I know I need to step it up and post some of my work as well as post regular content. Can you still make New Years resolutions at the END of February?

If so, my blogging resolution for this site is to post 3 times a week- a mix of things I've been working on, things I find inspiring and want to share, and helpful finds for other small business owners or freelancers.

Oh, and my little neglected shop. I hope to have some items in there soon as well. Different from my custom work, these items will be bits and pieces that you can mix and match for your own businesses and blogs.

Thanks for checking up on me!

Will that be cash or credit?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 23:43:00 +0000

Take a look at this new product called [Square]. It's a little device that attaches to an audio jack that lets you swipe and accept credit cards on the spot. I think this is an amazing idea! I'm so excited what this could do for small business owners, vendors, and artisans.

2010 Pantone Color of the Year

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 20:22:00 +0000

In early December, Pantone announced their pick for 2010 color of the year. Turquoise! They report that is positive color that represents compassion and healing, faith and trust, escaping our troubles and increasing the feeling of well being. Great ideas for 2010. And... I LOVE this color!

Takeaway for Small Business Owners: Try adding this color to your window displays, advertising, packaging or product lines to take part in the trend. The color is appealing to both men and women.

Do you know Drop.io?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 18:08:00 +0000

This is a really great service that lets you create "drops." A drop is a place on the web for you to post documents, media files, images, or whatever you want to share with others. Drop.io lets you create free drops up to 100 MB at a unique custom URL which you can then give to whomever you wish. There is also a paid version for larger drops and more features.

There are a lot of other options available for free like password protecting the drop for sensitive information, setting expiration dates on the files, you can even use their site for conference calls and emails.

I use it a lot for giving clients access to files too large to email. I just give them my drop site address and they can download their intended files. Make sure to watch their short intro video to get an idea of everything you can do with Drop.io.

Takeaway for Small Business Owners: Let's say you have an e-book or other large PDF file you want to make available to certain customers or clients. Create a drop with a unique URL and password protect the file. Upload your PDF, set an expiration date, and email your customers the address to download the file. Easy!

10 Reasons to Contact your Graphic Designer

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 19:35:00 +0000

Or as I like to call it: BEYOND LOGOS AND WEBSITES...

When I tell people I am a designer, a lot of times I get asked "What do you design?" I'm sure I am not the only designer who gets this question. While we do have our favorite projects, most designers are able to handle a wide variety of projects. Most people know that designers make logos and design websites. But after you have those, what else do you need? Here are my top 10 reasons to keep a hold of your designers contact info:

1. Business/Personal Identity- we can take your logo and create business cards, stationery, stamps, and more. So any time someone comes in contact with something from you or your company it has the same look. It's not a great look when each employee sends out something different to your clients. Creating a cohesive identity system will go a long way for your brand.

2. Promotions- designers create ads, postcards, flyers, posters, and billboards. We work with copy writers, ad agencies, or marketing companies to get you the best return on your investment possible.

3. Announcements/Holiday Cards- we create announcements for weddings, births, graduations, anniversaries, retirements, holiday cards and more. We work with photographers and printers to create custom pieces just for you.

4. Events- you may need your designer if you are participating in or holding an event. We can help create your event graphics, such as signs, agendas, place cards, name tags, swag bags... we make sure everything works together.

5. Web Polish- what I mean by that is beyond your website there are usually other things that you need in the social media, blogging, web sphere such as avatars, banners, buttons, headers, backgrounds, etc... graphic designers can create images for your for all these applications. From a branding standpoint, the more consistent you are across all these spaces, the more you will build recognition for your business.

6. Packaging- if you have a product line or store, you will need packaging for your inventory. Graphic designers create labels, tags, bags, boxes... we work to come up with the best solution for you and the consumer.

7. Interior Graphics- you may need to call your graphic designer to work with your interior designer on projects to create custom signage or artwork within your shop or office space. Things like window graphics, decals, menu boards, etc... all would fall under a graphic designers job description.

8. Layouts- graphic designers work on book covers, book formatting, magazine spreads, restaurant menus, and more. So maybe you have an e-book that you are working on, your designer could help get that into the best format for your readers.

9. Apparel and Surfaces- graphic designers can work with you to create custom surface designs for products and apparel. Your designer can help you design or select designs that would be most appropriate for your product.

10. Presentations- you might want to consider calling your designer next time you are working on a presentation. Graphic designers can help with maps, graphs, charts, folders, and other materials you might need.

Takeaway for Small Business Owners: Design doesn't stop with the logo and website. Think of your business as your wardrobe. Maybe your logo and website are the basics that keep you covered. But, there is a lot design can do to keep your business on front of your customers minds. Accessorize those basics!

Color Theory Play

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:33:00 +0000

One of my favorite things to study in design was color theory. I loved learning about how colors act with each other and how color can influence different outcomes in design. I made a little color test to show you some fun effects that can happen with color.

This is based off the book The Elements of Color by Johannes Itten. Look at the rows of colors above. Each row contains a bottom colored square and a top colored square. How many colors appear on each row?

It looks like four, right? The small squares slightly different shades of the same color. But, there are really only three colors per row. The small squares on each row are EXACTLY the same color. Cool, huh? It's interesting to see how a color can change when influenced by another color.

Takeaway for small business owners: be careful when choosing your color palette for your printed materials, website, and interior applications. What you think might be a good color combination, might come out looking totally different than you had hoped. Not because of any printer error- but because of the surrounding colors.

Travel Inspired Invite

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 17:30:00 +0000

I think this wedding invitation is so beautiful. What a great idea for a going away party invite or moving announcement too- using maps of your new location as the lining.

Helvetica or Arial

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Ironic Sans presents this little test to see how well you know your Helvetica- replacing the Helvetica typeface with Arial in logos. Fun! I got 18/20 missing Mattel and Target. TARGET! Hello! Don't know what I was thinking there. That Mattel is a tricky one... How'd you do?

via Swiss Miss

Amazing Book-Cut Paper Sculptures

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:32:00 +0000

Taking direction from the story itself, Su Blackwell creates amazing art using the pages of a book. The above piece is from a copy of The Secret Garden. I love this!

Did you see this DIY business card holder?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 14:54:00 +0000

Via Jessica Jones of [How about Orange]. Cute! Think of the fun possibilities... Have a cooking business? Use a cooking mag or vintage cookbook pages. Sew? Use a pattern package. Or make some out of your company press kit pages, postcards, or other printed materials.

Brand Alphabet

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:11:00 +0000

How well do you know your brands? This fun little game is from [At Issue Journal]. Can you tell what company logo each of these letters come from?

Answers:

Creative Cupcake Packaging

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 17:11:00 +0000

-And great logo for Lola's Kitchen. I like the sugar crystal concept for the logo and the cupcake packaging is so fun! I like that it really creates an experience for the recipient of the cupcakes. Also cool- this idea could be DIY'd and used for other home baked goods. Fun!

via

Pedal Logo

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 21:08:00 +0000

I finished a fun project for [Pedal] a bit ago and thought I'd share. I re-designed their logo and website. Yeah! It was fun to get to do something with a dash of a retro. The website update is still being built so I'll make sure and link to it when it's done. For now, you can check out their existing site for a lot of great ride on toys for kids. I really want one the their [Balance Bikes] for my littlest boy. He'd love it!

Cool Card

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 04:06:00 +0000

I like this business card idea. Really creative.

via

Alphabet Art

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 00:36:00 +0000

Beautiful laser cut alphabet from Bookhou made from 1/4" birch plywood.

Laser and Ink-jet Labels

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 16:36:00 +0000

This is a great resource for small business owners and startups. Rippedsheets.com is a company that sells all kinds of laser and ink-jet printable papergoods and labels. The site is a bit hard to navigate but if you dig around a bit, you'll find tons of cool products like printable wristbands, waterproof ink-jet labels, die cut labels, perforated hang tags, jewelry card, etc... I even found printable duct tape.

Do you have a product that needs a label? I'll bet you'll find something to help you here.

Brand Vision Board

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 15:31:00 +0000

If you are starting a new business or want to re-focus an existing one, try creating a brand vision board. Different from a personal vision board that portrays your personal goals, a brand vision board includes clippings and images about your customer- who they are, where they shop, what kinds of things they do for work and play, what they buy and wear...

Creating such a board, and hanging it somewhere to view often, will help connect you with your intended market. It's easy to forget sometimes and start adding the unimportant or irrelevant to your business. A brand board will help keep you focused as to who you are serving and why.

The image above is from Flickr. Do a search for vision boards to get some ideas of how others have put them together. Just remember that it is your customer you are collecting for and not yourself.

Logo Game

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 18:45:00 +0000

Can you identify these brands with just a portion of their logo? The answers are posted below. Don't peek!

Answers: Left to right & top to bottom are- CNN, Digg, Espn, Ford, Facebook, Fedex, Google, HBO, Ikea, Nike, Target, & Twitter.