Thursday, October 30, 2008
Invaluable tutorials
While scanning graphic design sites, an article on creating "Grunge" brushes in Photoshop caught my attention. veerle.douh.com, impressed me as great place to scan for solutions or to a use some of your spare (read sitting there trying to come up with an idea) time to stimulate your mind. I'm not a big fan of brushes because they look so, well, brushy. That said, if you take the time to try learn a particular technique and perfect its execution the exercise alone is worth it. They say learning something new keeps you young.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
Quick, slipshod review—creative tools—Behance
If you are a student, you are probably creating on raw anxiety and adrenaline resulting from roommate problems or a resolution thereof. if you are a little further along in your creative career, you have likely been exposed to various creativity incubators, capturers, developers and organizers. These usually involve movable tabs, clips, stickies, even magnets, a "motherboard" repository of some sort, and "nodes," individual pads, binders or folders that replicate the organization steps for each individual on the team. Tasks are usually broken down in some categorization system. Something like: Do now, do later, blow off. Some are more Freudian than others. If one of the action categories reads something like, "rub this card against yourself in private," then email me and let me know what dark little hole you found it in—or better yet, dow what it says and afterwards, I'll buy it from you.
If you are still reading, How Design/Behance describes one company's effort to sweat-out your creative solutions. Their basic premise follows the norm, "I think—therefore, I am on deadline without an idea." One thing most creativity/productivity tools have in common is—The Action Step.
The next step usually leads to a special creativity jumpstarter known as "Shopping."
Everybody is more creative when they have just purchased and eagerly await, (read: got to put off for another day or two at least) their new, mondo expensive set of tabs, stickies, binders, folders, sleeves requiring numerous specialized refills available only from the innovators of this wonderful system and your big, UPS deliverable to street addresses only, shipping $14.95 or FedEx overnight $64.95, Motherboard!
In the HOW® article, the author takes stunningly dull photos of stacks of work and the many household uses you can put little tabs to. It all looks very, "I wish I worked at a place like that."
The article references the designers' "Moleskines" too. I never paid much attention to what these were actually called, other than, very expensive, sexy pads found in art museum book stores. Well, they really are Molskines® and guess what. More shopping!
If you can read the red special internet price, you can see where this is going.
So a bear walks into a bar and asks the bartender, "How much for a beer?"
The bartender replies, "Five bucks." Then goes on, "We don't see many bears in here."
Then the bear says, "At five bucks a beer, you won't see many more."
If you are still reading, How Design/Behance describes one company's effort to sweat-out your creative solutions. Their basic premise follows the norm, "I think—therefore, I am on deadline without an idea." One thing most creativity/productivity tools have in common is—The Action Step.
The next step usually leads to a special creativity jumpstarter known as "Shopping."
Everybody is more creative when they have just purchased and eagerly await, (read: got to put off for another day or two at least) their new, mondo expensive set of tabs, stickies, binders, folders, sleeves requiring numerous specialized refills available only from the innovators of this wonderful system and your big, UPS deliverable to street addresses only, shipping $14.95 or FedEx overnight $64.95, Motherboard!
In the HOW® article, the author takes stunningly dull photos of stacks of work and the many household uses you can put little tabs to. It all looks very, "I wish I worked at a place like that."
The article references the designers' "Moleskines" too. I never paid much attention to what these were actually called, other than, very expensive, sexy pads found in art museum book stores. Well, they really are Molskines® and guess what. More shopping!
If you can read the red special internet price, you can see where this is going.
So a bear walks into a bar and asks the bartender, "How much for a beer?"
The bartender replies, "Five bucks." Then goes on, "We don't see many bears in here."
Then the bear says, "At five bucks a beer, you won't see many more."
Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Creative customer service
Creativity, it's said, is 5% sweat, 95% presentation. Being self-employed or owning and running a small office teaches you a lot about customer relations. It also deprives you of the working model for office/client/employee procedures you would find in a typical working office.
When I took my studio personal and rented my office out to another firm in a similar business, they asked me if I would "mentor" them some about customer relations and office management. The glow of the new digs wore off quickly so the mentoring never happened. But I am an occasional customer and our interaction led to some thoughts about customer service.
When your client has an impossible deadline and you deliver on time — then the client doesn't show up for days, even weeks to pick up the work — you ask yourself, "If they did't need it that badly, why did they have this impossible deadline?"
One explanation is the timing of the phone call. Say the job is done, on your counter, and you call and let the client know it's ready. Now they have to wrap that task into whatever else they have to do just as they had to wrap their deadline into their entire list of obligations. New information often makes deadlines flexible, sometimes making them non-existent. So the urgent job sits, along with the deadline, gathering dust.
When you are creating something for a client's tight timing, letting them know the job is definitely going to be on time, ahead of time, gives them the opportunity to fold your work into their project. Giving them a heads-up a day prior to delivery can make you look like a hero and strengthen your relationship with your client.
Just make sure you deliver when you said you would.
When I took my studio personal and rented my office out to another firm in a similar business, they asked me if I would "mentor" them some about customer relations and office management. The glow of the new digs wore off quickly so the mentoring never happened. But I am an occasional customer and our interaction led to some thoughts about customer service.
When your client has an impossible deadline and you deliver on time — then the client doesn't show up for days, even weeks to pick up the work — you ask yourself, "If they did't need it that badly, why did they have this impossible deadline?"
One explanation is the timing of the phone call. Say the job is done, on your counter, and you call and let the client know it's ready. Now they have to wrap that task into whatever else they have to do just as they had to wrap their deadline into their entire list of obligations. New information often makes deadlines flexible, sometimes making them non-existent. So the urgent job sits, along with the deadline, gathering dust.
When you are creating something for a client's tight timing, letting them know the job is definitely going to be on time, ahead of time, gives them the opportunity to fold your work into their project. Giving them a heads-up a day prior to delivery can make you look like a hero and strengthen your relationship with your client.
Just make sure you deliver when you said you would.
Monday, October 20, 2008
A thousand words about web templates
Yes, a remark in that same comment spun off another recollection. csszengarden demonstrates the range of ideas CSS, cascading style sheets, can turn into reality. Though the site's name obviously influences many of the solutions, check out "Revolution!".
The layout is simple, the Post Constructivist elements combined with a graphic floral, all on a rich, deep background. However, many of the other sites here, and in my experience, most of the sites I see, it grabs my attention. Moving on, the right column is too wide for comfortable reading and there isn't much payoff as you move down the page. But the designer has showcased the subject with his own creativity at the forefront. More about this later.
The layout is simple, the Post Constructivist elements combined with a graphic floral, all on a rich, deep background. However, many of the other sites here, and in my experience, most of the sites I see, it grabs my attention. Moving on, the right column is too wide for comfortable reading and there isn't much payoff as you move down the page. But the designer has showcased the subject with his own creativity at the forefront. More about this later.
Who cares about creativity
A comment raised a question in my mind, "Why creativity?" I haven't fully answered that question because I assumed everyone wanted a unique design. Creativity isn't an end in itself, but a process that aids someone who communicates graphically.
My clients have goals they want to achieve—they come to me to implement the graphic direction, and sometimes the marketing, to get where they want to go.
A great deal of my professional work is creating identities. Each approach is unique, creating an image, icon, logo, that speaks visually to the personality, scope and professionalism of that client's endeavor. I often use similar geometry, handled in a unique way, to convey subtle differences.
Both of the above logos are for builders, both builders work as general contractors assembling their crews to fit the project.
The logo on the left is for a builder who works on small to moderate sized projects, one house at a time. He is also a carpenter on his projects. The logo on the right is for, again, a single individual but who works on much larger projects, not just what you think of as "homes." He is often building small compounds, salvaging historical structures on the site, creating massive homes, guest houses and other custom buildings. Finally, each builder has a unique, memorable personality that comes through in their work.
Future posts will better describe the role of the creative process and how it applies to various subjects.
My clients have goals they want to achieve—they come to me to implement the graphic direction, and sometimes the marketing, to get where they want to go.
A great deal of my professional work is creating identities. Each approach is unique, creating an image, icon, logo, that speaks visually to the personality, scope and professionalism of that client's endeavor. I often use similar geometry, handled in a unique way, to convey subtle differences.
Both of the above logos are for builders, both builders work as general contractors assembling their crews to fit the project.
The logo on the left is for a builder who works on small to moderate sized projects, one house at a time. He is also a carpenter on his projects. The logo on the right is for, again, a single individual but who works on much larger projects, not just what you think of as "homes." He is often building small compounds, salvaging historical structures on the site, creating massive homes, guest houses and other custom buildings. Finally, each builder has a unique, memorable personality that comes through in their work.
Future posts will better describe the role of the creative process and how it applies to various subjects.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Digital sketches
These are sketches for a site I was creating for Finegan Thompson in 2007. Three splash page designs, mocked up with the same images in different formats. I don't write html very well so I work with a web jockey who can translate my ideas into online sketches. From there, we have a system for filing components, delivering them sized and optimized and quickly putting rollovers, Flash, whatever into the online mock-up.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Building and presenting color palettes
Navigating the world of color is a complex and wonderful thing. Here is an initial palette of tones for a client's branding system. As with so many projects, the client has a preconceived notion in their head. My job is to present a cogent group of tones and prioritize them for each potential use.
Building the palette requires a lot of trial and error. Instead of starting with the usual Pantone books, look around at what catches your eye in your environment. It could be something such as Fall aspen leaves on a rock in a stream—setting up a gold, rich gray, blue and silver theme. Clothing or fashion spreads—not the images so much as the pockets and bands of color created by the process.
When developing a system that may be handed to people with absolutely no sense of design—choose wisely.
Successful print bids
Staying within a budget or creating pieces that are readily doable by a number of print sources is easier when you create designs that fit within standard paper sheet and printing press sizes. In the digital age, it is easy and quick to photograph your mock up and include images when you submit bid requests. Put dimensions with the image and note pertinent requirements. Does that wrap need to seal, etc.
By including images it makes your finished project "real" to everyone who has to deal with it down the line. It hastens and simplifies communication and could easily get your bids processed more quickly. You can ask the printer to modify your specs if there is a much more efficient trim.
NOTCOT—a model for success
http://www.notcot.com/, a site dedicated to perpetuating creative thought via design references is a great source for what's what on the hipness front. In a universe of great ideas/less-great execution, it is a successful example of serious collaboration. So many sites are built on the foundation of an untested idea and someone who can get stuff up on a website.
Read NOTCOT's background and you get a feel for the level of dedication it takes to build, grow and maintain a spark of creativity. The marketing model is basic—anyone could do it. The success is the team behind it and their constant attention to detail and their adherence to their mission.
The answer to the question, "What has this to do with tips and tricks in the marketplace?" is, if you want a full-time salary plus profit from a web endeavor, be prepared to work as hard as this group has. There are no concepts on the web that simply go viral with no effort.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Shameless self promotion
As I mentioned in the first post, I am an artist, making these boxes with found objects and my own creations. "Metropolis" a piece from 2000 is roughly 18 inches tall, wood with steel, feathers and pool ball. I have sold a few to friends but have not yet put them in a gallery. Here in Jackson, "Western" art, i.e. those beautiful savages I mentioned in the previous post, win out.
Saturday, October 11, 2008
Magic numbers throughout history
James Carville, while advising Bill Clinton for his second run for the presidency, had two edicts. Stay on point, count off your arguments supporting your point in threes. Using fingers is optional. Psychologically, three gives the listener, reader, whatever, more than an "either-or" decision path. Options and flexibility make it easier for the audience to come to a decision they (he/she/they) feel they have made independently. When the listener comes to their own conclusion, the impression left in their mind is far stronger and more durable over time. Think about this in terms of advertising.
Thirty seven, a prime number, has many magical associations. The most fetched I read, (Scientific American a while back) was as a decision making tool. Say you want to hire the best possible job candidate from a pool of applicants. Line up thirty-seven good resumes, start interviewing with thirty-eight and hire the first good prospect. Your chances of getting a good employee go up 300 plus percent. But who's got the time? In this economy though, you'll likely have the applicants. (see next paragraph)
Another SciAm citation: Miracles. If you divide your life into five minute segments, probability says you are likely to experience six miracle-like episodes each year. Something such as humming a tune and then hearing it when you turn on the radio counts.
It is said that it takes doing something thirty times in a row to make it a habit. It's cold where I live. A suggested method for resetting your body's thermostat to better accommodate sub zero days is to sleep outside (in a nice, down sleeping bag of course) for two weeks and you will better tolerate cold for the rest of the (long) winter.
Here's one I won't test. Told to me by a guide who runs rafts down the Colorado River, after 26 or so days not washing your hair, it attains a natural, washed glow on it's own. That could explain those beautiful savages in movies.
With marketing research, don't base your entire decision making on surveys, focus groups or the like. Never base more than thirty percent of your decision on research—no matter how thorough you think you have been.
This is just a rule of thumb but it gets clients thinking about their assumptions about media. Thirty percent of the paid subscribers to a periodical (and this may be even more likely with electronic media) don't see a given issue of a publication. Issues are lost in the mail, lost in the household, go under the porch, get to the bottom of a large stack of other stuff. Or, the readers are sick, on vacation, bored, angry, whatever—and don't bother to open the publication.
Finally, lists—odd numbers, three or five for talking points on brochures for candidates or causes when you are trying to change people's minds. I have done many campaigns and this rule has not failed. Then again, maybe I just picked the right causes and candidates.
Thirty seven, a prime number, has many magical associations. The most fetched I read, (Scientific American a while back) was as a decision making tool. Say you want to hire the best possible job candidate from a pool of applicants. Line up thirty-seven good resumes, start interviewing with thirty-eight and hire the first good prospect. Your chances of getting a good employee go up 300 plus percent. But who's got the time? In this economy though, you'll likely have the applicants. (see next paragraph)
Another SciAm citation: Miracles. If you divide your life into five minute segments, probability says you are likely to experience six miracle-like episodes each year. Something such as humming a tune and then hearing it when you turn on the radio counts.
It is said that it takes doing something thirty times in a row to make it a habit. It's cold where I live. A suggested method for resetting your body's thermostat to better accommodate sub zero days is to sleep outside (in a nice, down sleeping bag of course) for two weeks and you will better tolerate cold for the rest of the (long) winter.
Here's one I won't test. Told to me by a guide who runs rafts down the Colorado River, after 26 or so days not washing your hair, it attains a natural, washed glow on it's own. That could explain those beautiful savages in movies.
With marketing research, don't base your entire decision making on surveys, focus groups or the like. Never base more than thirty percent of your decision on research—no matter how thorough you think you have been.
This is just a rule of thumb but it gets clients thinking about their assumptions about media. Thirty percent of the paid subscribers to a periodical (and this may be even more likely with electronic media) don't see a given issue of a publication. Issues are lost in the mail, lost in the household, go under the porch, get to the bottom of a large stack of other stuff. Or, the readers are sick, on vacation, bored, angry, whatever—and don't bother to open the publication.
Finally, lists—odd numbers, three or five for talking points on brochures for candidates or causes when you are trying to change people's minds. I have done many campaigns and this rule has not failed. Then again, maybe I just picked the right causes and candidates.
Friday, October 10, 2008
Pro Bono Reaps Rewards
Doing something in the public good can be effective in drumming up more business. This brochure for our local mental health center's annual Summer fund-raising led to several new clients. They were referred by fellow board members so the introductions went smoothly. I went into the initial meetings with positive reviews and less anxiety on both my part and the client's.
The fundraising exceeded this year's goal and was the most attended event in the run's three year history.
I illustrated the cover and all art in Adobe® InDesign. The piece, 16 x 9 inches folding to 4 x 9, was printed in four-color offset. Due to the relatively short duration of its need, no varnish or aqueous coating was necessary.
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
copywriting for the net
SEO, search engine optimization, has been the golden fleece of internet marketing. Capture it and you realize your prophecized quest for success. Good copywriting suppports good design. The two must work hand in hand to turn SEO into revenue. This site's glossary is an easy-to-absorb list of pertinent net-writing terms as they relate to your site's search engine success.
http://www.searchenginewriting.com/glossary.shtml
http://www.searchenginewriting.com/glossary.shtml
focus focus focus
What do you get when you cross a Mafia hit man with a performance artist? Someone who makes you an offer you can't understand.
http://www.principiumstudio.com was introduced to me by a friend of a friend. It is a pretty, Flash® driven site with an obscure offering. It is grossly self-aware and no matter how useful its product might be, I still can't figure out what they do or why I should care.
Ben, the acquaintance, already has my trust. But Ben's site is engulfed in beautiful nothings. The message is wordy and the navigation requires more guesswork than intuition.
A site that really grabs your attention can be a piece of crap with the right headline.
If I see a Google result that says "John Thompson can't afford to overlook this site" my ego will drive me to click on the link. Then if I encounter a busy, hard to read, ad-ridden black hole with a headline such as "John, this site will get you the best deal possible on that A4 you want, has the best gumbo recipe ever, will solve that buzzing issue in your phone and show you how to fold fitted sheets." you bet I'm going to find and read the meat of this offering.
Providing the copywriting is at least passable. Oh, and it really has to deliver on at least one of those promises.
And finally, I get things like this in my email all the time and never click on them. So know your target audience and your best method of reaching them.
http://www.principiumstudio.com was introduced to me by a friend of a friend. It is a pretty, Flash® driven site with an obscure offering. It is grossly self-aware and no matter how useful its product might be, I still can't figure out what they do or why I should care.
Ben, the acquaintance, already has my trust. But Ben's site is engulfed in beautiful nothings. The message is wordy and the navigation requires more guesswork than intuition.
A site that really grabs your attention can be a piece of crap with the right headline.
If I see a Google result that says "John Thompson can't afford to overlook this site" my ego will drive me to click on the link. Then if I encounter a busy, hard to read, ad-ridden black hole with a headline such as "John, this site will get you the best deal possible on that A4 you want, has the best gumbo recipe ever, will solve that buzzing issue in your phone and show you how to fold fitted sheets." you bet I'm going to find and read the meat of this offering.
Providing the copywriting is at least passable. Oh, and it really has to deliver on at least one of those promises.
And finally, I get things like this in my email all the time and never click on them. So know your target audience and your best method of reaching them.
Best proofreading method on the planet
I talk big because I like making monumental generalizations from obscure ideas. My proofreading's superiority claim has been backed up in the May, 1987 issue of "Gross Generalizations" magazine. I wrote a letter to the editor thanking them, but they never printed it. On to the meat of the post.
Assuming you have just written or edited some copy - read it word for word forward twice. Once out loud helps. This gives you a chance to test the flow, grammar and syntax. Next, read it backwards, one word at a time. Out of context, misspellings stand out, making them easy to correct prior to publication. While this deprives readers of that smug sense of superiority they get catching you in a typo, it gives you the warm glow of keeping your act together and depriving them of that satisfaction. Let them read this and get their own typo fix.
Many people rely on spell check. But it can't differentiate words with two spellings and divergent meanings. So if your typo happens to be a real word, you REALLY look foolish to savvy readers. To not-so-savvy readers, you leave them scratching their heads.
Assuming you have just written or edited some copy - read it word for word forward twice. Once out loud helps. This gives you a chance to test the flow, grammar and syntax. Next, read it backwards, one word at a time. Out of context, misspellings stand out, making them easy to correct prior to publication. While this deprives readers of that smug sense of superiority they get catching you in a typo, it gives you the warm glow of keeping your act together and depriving them of that satisfaction. Let them read this and get their own typo fix.
Many people rely on spell check. But it can't differentiate words with two spellings and divergent meanings. So if your typo happens to be a real word, you REALLY look foolish to savvy readers. To not-so-savvy readers, you leave them scratching their heads.
Monday, October 6, 2008
Home Office and Studio
Finegan|Thompson design studio and art side of a 16 x 28 foot room. The carpet is FLOR tiles. They are environmentally friendly, easy to lay down yourself and can be washed or replaced easily. That's an HP 130nr, a low priced Epson scanner, early Mac Cinema display, Wacom et al. On the art side are some of my boxes, and a steel frame work table with an old bowling alley lane floor as a top. I have a large cutting mat for mounting comps. There is enough room to set up table top photo shoots for comps. Camera is a Nikon D70, no flash setting. Grainy in low, available light but good enough for comps and family photos.
The Home Office
My Pandora® just played The Cure, then Jimmy Reed followed by Question Mark and the Mysterians. This is one nice thing about home/office. My music preferences are universal, played on nice equipment in just about any room where I work. I have to admit, the office had a nice, wall wired quad system driven by anything on my computer.
The distinction between office and home is a valuable tool for limiting stress for many. I chose two stressors, working with my wife and then the studio. Since art is my other pursuit outside work, the two blend together. I don't experience the home studio as a haunting reminder of project stress. It allows me to jump back into any project, ideate and develop it on the fly, while it's hot.
The distinction between office and home is a valuable tool for limiting stress for many. I chose two stressors, working with my wife and then the studio. Since art is my other pursuit outside work, the two blend together. I don't experience the home studio as a haunting reminder of project stress. It allows me to jump back into any project, ideate and develop it on the fly, while it's hot.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Why Graphic Design in Marketing
Tests have shown it takes a glimpse of only one seventeenth of a second for us to compile, interpret and store an image we see. Hence, the justification for a strong identity for your business or endeavor. Your image characterizes the nature, direction and sophistication level you wish to send to your audience.
Good design is the tool that develops that image. I created this blog to communicate and promote quality graphic design in marketing. I went solo, read: no employees, about a year ago. But I miss the informed chatter that goes on in a creative business. It ran the gamut of subjects from typography and letterform design to our loves and hates in music, motorcycles and single malts. I want this blog to inject some of that banter back into my life and my work. So please feel free to throw in your thoughts and ideas about anything relating to visual communication and its impact on culture.
Regards,
John Thompson
Good design is the tool that develops that image. I created this blog to communicate and promote quality graphic design in marketing. I went solo, read: no employees, about a year ago. But I miss the informed chatter that goes on in a creative business. It ran the gamut of subjects from typography and letterform design to our loves and hates in music, motorcycles and single malts. I want this blog to inject some of that banter back into my life and my work. So please feel free to throw in your thoughts and ideas about anything relating to visual communication and its impact on culture.
Regards,
John Thompson
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