Proud of my kid(s)

Not that I favor one over the other but to each their own. Emily Thompson, my daughter who is studying graphic design at MSU in Bozeman, MT has had two pieces submitted for Addy award consideration. I will be ecstatic if she wins but am just as happy she was recognized even this much.

Good music, bad type

So far, the highest number of comments has been for music recommendations. Next are fonts, then design. Be sure to read the comments for ideas on new music. Fuels the creative spirit and gives you something new to listen to.

Attack of the politicians

Not too long after color palette update, The election of three new board members to the client's organization (a non-profit, county-ish hospital)took a dire turn. The logo project, now well along its way to approval and implementation, got snagged on one member's demand that the board see two options and pick one. Well, this stage had been completed months ago and this turn of events would open the door to the living hell of multiple, unqualified opinions that would pass as genuine, working criticism.

Fortunately, the demand turned into a gripey email memo sent around to and reported by the local newspaper. I believe this has spent the board member's energy and he is moving on to other targets of his wrath. It only goes to show how one's best critical path to a design solution can instantly be derailed and tossed into committee hell. You can look all around this country and you'll be hard put to find a monument erected in the name of a committee.

One working alternative to the broad examinations of a group of individual's who's only common ground is that they were elected to a board is to require a contact/managing point person to handle the liaison between you and the board or committee. This will rarely be an optimal solution. Unless they have an amazing grip on the board, the point person will have to assemble, prioritize and relay the same information you are un-exposing yourself to. This, too, can lead to seemingly never ending revisions and frustration. But it sometimes, if the liaison is clever and resourceful, leads to a smoother, more intelligent process.

Try it, you have nothing to lose, and from my experience, about a one in three chance of it working.

Cheers.

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.

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.

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