Notes from Notchcode

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All solitary dreamers know that they hear differently when they close their eyes.

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Notes from Notchcode

8.27.2009

Fill this up, already!

I actually really enjoy creating collateral material like point of sale, table tents, and actual merchandise for clients. So when I get to design the art for, say, a pint glass, it's a fun assignment. Here's one I did for a client recently:

Beer-colored background is optional, of course. Once I have the actual glass in-hand, I'll post a photo with real beer behind it. There's a nice second-side design for this one, too. To see that, though, you have to register for the event and get a glass of your own.
Labels: beer, graphic design, nonprofits

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7.24.2009

Want more proof that logo "contests" are spec work? And that spec doesn't pay?

...then I would suggest you follow Spec Watch, on Twitter. They seem to be aggregating some of the nasty stories about so-called contests in the design world.

I'd also recommend NoSpec. And my posts about bartow's survey of $99 logo sites and the AIGA's position on spec work.
Labels: advice, graphic design, spec work

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7.09.2009

Compensation: Graphic Designers

Planet Money asked people how they are compensated, and I added my two cents today, regarding graphic designers. I've posted about this before, but it's a nice (relatively brief) summary:

Compensation for graphic designers is all over the map, depending on how long you've been in the industry, how your shop is set up, and what you have been trained (by either clients or your boss) to expect.

Most designers who work for someone else--in a studio or in an in-house design department--make a salary, like many white-collar workers. Benefits, etc. all depend on the size, wealth, and philosophy of the employing firm. So that's fairly "normal".

Where it gets interesting is when you're working for yourself, or looking at how the client/studio relationship works in regards to compensation.

Crowdsourcing, and Logo "Competitions"
Of late there has been a lot of "crowdsourcing" of logos: logo "competitions", where freelancers submit a design (based on very little info about the "client" company), in hopes of being the "winner" and having their design chosen. The payout for this is usually very small--a few hundred dollars for something that (when a firm does a lot of research, takes time to get to know the client's organization, and so on) potentially is worth several thousand dollars, at minimum. A lot of designers, design advocacy organizations, and professional groups have come out against this model, saying it's bad for both the designer (not getting paid fairly) and for the client (not getting a logo or brand identity that's really all that effective).

Value-based Fees
Typically, a graphic designer will charge a fee based on the value their finished product has for their client. The logo for a small local business with a lower annual revenue has less value assigned to it than a brand identity for a national, multi-million dollar corporation. A lot of time is spent by designers and firm owners figuring out what these values are, and how the value _they_ assign to them fits into the competitive marketplace. A firm may charge more for a given product for a given client than another firm, but perhaps they offer value-added services (additional consultation, an approach that fits the personality of the client better, and so on).

These fees take into account not only the value that the client places on the product, but (internally) takes into account the actual amount of research, concept, design, production, and implementation time for the designer. They know that they can't make less than $X per hour if they want to pay rent on their studio, cover health insurance, buy design software upgrades, and so on. And since on average a designer only does about an hour of design work for every two or three hours spent looking for work (or planning projects, or doing their accounting) the actual hourly rate is lower than the figured rate.

The client usually doesn't see any of this. It's part of the larger calculation that figures in the value of the piece to the client, as well as hard costs of production.

Hourly Rates
Other designers will charge their clients an hourly rate, but in my experience this hurts the client, the designer, and --ultimately-- the project. If you're paid hourly, what's the incentive to work efficiently? If the client runs out of money, does the project stop where it is, or proceed with the designer getting paid less, effectively, per hour? Or does the client cough up more dough?

Setting Expectations
Whether a designer is charging based on value or based on time, a set fee for a project with a defined scope of work is better for everyone, setting boundaries and expectations on all sides, and resulting in happier designers and clients in the end. The AIGA has excellent resources for designers (both those just starting out and those of us who have been at it for a while) regarding contracts, fees, and terms of use; as well as resources for people who need to hire a designer.
Labels: advice, b2b, graphic design, logo

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7.06.2009

Passport Stamps for Fictional Countries

I'm working on a project for a client which has, as a component, stamps for fictional countries. It's a lot of fun, and is a great excuse to look through lots of countries' visa and customs stamps for inspiration. A lot of them are pretty boring (I'm looking at you, United States!), but some are quite fun. Here's an early version of one of the dozen or so I'm creating:

Labels: graphic design, illustration, information graphics

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5.21.2009

How to make your children make your Art Direction Better

Of course someone in the advertising industry would leverage their children to benefit their performance. As for myself, I will henceforth be training my sub-six-year-olds to play the role of the Client as well.

Bonus: TIny Art Director has a book deal!

Labels: advertising, advice, children, creativity, graphic design, humor

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4.06.2009

What's in a good design proposal

I've been writing a heck of a lot of proposals this month, and probably have written hundreds over the last ten years. Regardless of the scope of work, the type of project, or the size of the client or client's budget, there are some key things that you should look for in any design proposal, and they're all based on setting expectations--on both sides of the table.

What are you doing?

Spell out broadly, then specifically, then in excruciating detail, exactly what you're doing for the client.

How are you going to do it?

Discuss the process; how are you going to get from step one to step three?

When will it get done?

List a specific schedule for each step, including things the client is responsible for. Make sure they know they are an important part of the process by including them in the planning process for a schedule.

How much will it cost?

I'm of the opinion that the client likes to see the project fees broken down in some way, whether it's by job function (design/production/copywriting/etc.) or by project phase (research/conceptualization/layout/revisions/etc.). This helps them--and those above them who have to approve budgets, perhaps--to get a handle on where all the money (read:effort and time) is going.

Of course, this method is value-based vs. hourly-rate agnostic; you can place the full value of your concept work in the "Concept" row, or you can simply list a number based on your hourly rate multiplied by the number of hours you plan on spending on that task. I won't go nto detail here, as I've posted about it before, but design is a value-adding process, and I would advocate charging based on the value the client will get out of a certain function of your work, as opposed to merely the hourly rate you value your time at.

What will the client get?

List explicitly what the client will receive at the end of the project. In my case, it's the right to use a certain design for a certain application for a certain amount of time, for example. That, and the physical or electronic deliverables they receive comprise the total deliverable package they pay for.

Terms

Make sure you use a good, vetted set of terms. The AIGA and the Graphic Artists' Guild are good places to start; your lawyer is a good place to end.

Sign on the dotted line

Make sure you and your client sign the agreement. It is a contract, after all.

Photo via flickr by A National Acrobat

Labels: advice, b2b, graphic design, process, small business, work

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4.03.2009

If you aren't creating to communicate, what's the point?

...oh, yeah, THAT'S WHY.

Just proving that once again, artists and designers, etc. need to read Cat and Girl every time they have the chance. After all, this is the woman who brought you Future Corpses of America.

Labels: advice, art, comics, creativity, graphic design

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4.01.2009

I was born a poor Kraft Single...

My posts on Twitter today will serialize my rise as one of Denver's best graphic designers--despite my being merely a grilled-cheese sandwich.

I hope you'll join us for this exciting tale.

Labels: creativity, graphic design

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3.30.2009

Nice dental practice business card

This is a great design for a dental practice's business card. Removing the insert also removes the "cavity" in the die-cut tooth:

Print pieces like this aren't as cheap as the "normal" business card, but the impact is about a thousand times better. If a dentist pulled one of these out and handed it to you, would you forget who they were? Doubtful. Totally worth the additional production cost if you want to make an impact.

via Kottke
Labels: branding, graphic design

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3.04.2009

How designers charge

I've been asked by a number of new clients and friends how graphic designers charge for their services. Here's how I do it:

I prefer to charge on a per-project basis, estimating a fee that accurately reflects the value that the client will get out of both the intellectual property I create, and the physical/virtual expressions of that property. For example, if asked to create a direct mail brochure for a nonprofit client's annual giving campaign, the intellectual property includes:

the research and investigation into their audience, marketplace (competition), and goals,

the concept of the piece, including marketing direction and consultation,

copywriting and visual hooks or elements unique to the piece, which integrate their branding and overall marketing strategy,

There's more, but those are the basics.

The expressions, of course, would be:
the graphic design based on the approved concept,

revisions to the design based on feedback from the client, focus groups, stakeholders, etc (although most of this feedback should be handled in the conceptual phase, it sometimes leaks over into the design phase),

production of the approved design layout for printing, coding for e-mail or web, etc.

overseeing fulfillment with vendors (printers, web hosts, programmers, etc.)

Partially, there is an hourly rate component embedded in here. As any small business owner knows, you have a certain hourly wage your workers (including yourself) must generate in order to make the business profitable. $x per hour for y man-hours a year minus expenses (including salaries, taxes, etc.) roughly equals your profitability. So you can't not have an hourly rate as some portion of the equation, at least from a pragmatic standpoint. Hourly rates are also an important part of out-of-scope work elements (say, you decide to add a micro-website on top of the previously-negotiated brochure project). Those rates can serve the practical function of covering your firm's time, while also acting as a bit of a warning to clients to try and get all the work covered in the original project, so as to avoid extra charges.

The hourly rate isn't the only factor in a project's cost, of course, because we are talking about the value that the finished work has to the client. If a client is only using this piece for a one-year campaign, it's not as valuable as something they will use over and over (like, say, a brand identity). Therefore, it will cost less than a more long-lived product, even if the work takes the same amount of time and effort to produce. Many of the books on the subject show a percentage calculation for this sort of value (or other values, such as turning over all the source files, or re-using a design that was only licensed for one-time use). The value is really the important thing to stress, both for designers and their clients, because it frames the product of a designer's work in the right way. Like architects, lawyers, scientists, and other professionals who generate intellectual property which is then applied in the "real world" around us, the value in a designer's output isn't in the mechanics of creation; it lies instead in the application of creative and analytical thinking to a particular problem, which results in a practical solution.

So with this overarching concept of charging based on value, it's important to note exactly what the client gets, in-hand, at the end of the process. Contrary to what most people assume, it's not the actual product of all that work; rather, it's the right to use that intellectual property in a certain way. It's a license.

That license may be limited by time or quantity, or geography (one year, 5,000 brochures, only in North America); or it may be completely unlimited. In the design world, it's usually an exclusive license, as a designer is making something that's "purpose-built"--made for a very specific application such as a capital campaign, or fundraiser, or season ticket brochure. A programmer may specify the license is non-exclusive, since more than one person may be using, say, their video game.

By specifying the scope of a license, the value can accurately be assessed, and the client doesn't pay more than the worth of the designer's work for the use the client needs. Why buy the bridge, when you just want to walk over it once?

This aspect--licensing--can flummox even business professionals who otherwise comprehend much more complex concepts. Many people assume that design work is more like carpentry: they ask you to build it, and take possession of it. This is a concept known as "work for hire", and many others (illustrators, photographers, graphic designers) have detailed why it's a bad idea, so I won't go into it here. Suffice to say that work for hire practices ultimately stifle creativity and can generate unwelcome issues for both the creator and the party commissioning the work. Both leading professional graphic arts organizations, the Graphic Artists' Guild explicitly opposes work for hire, and the AIGA also seems to concur (albeit without the vitriol or explicitness of the GAG).

So who sets prices? Ultimately, the market does. There's a reason multinational corporations pay millions of dollars for a brand identity: it's worth it. Likewise, there's a reason local businesses pay a certain amount for a new website: it's worth it. The great thing for businesses is they aren't forced to pay a certain amount for a service. Someone shopping the design market for, say, a website, will find a range of fees offered from different firms for the same thing. They would also see a range of capabilities, creative outlooks, and strategies for production and implementation from these firms. But there will be a range, and that range is determined by what those firms have independently determined a given project, with certain specifications, is worth to that type of client at that time. While there are guidelines (based on surveys made nationwide), they don't determine a given firm's rate for a project any more than market pressures in their area do.

It's also important to note that as I alluded to above, price is just one variable to consider when shopping a project around for a designer. Businesses and designers need to have compatible viewpoints on strategy, approach, attitude, working methods, and other things, to really have a successful outcome. I've found that if an organization is shopping exclusively on price, they will get what they pay for, and not get what they really want, or really need.

I should also note that the basic principles I mention here are used by most of the reputable professionals in the field. People just starting out, students looking for a little extra money for tuition--they may charge differently. I'm certainly not saying everyone should apply these principles, but I am saying lots of us do, which is why I've outlined them here.

Hopefully this has been informative. I'd love to answer your specific questions about the pricing process, (and bid on a project, if you have one in mind!). Just e-mail me or leave your questions in the comments.
Labels: advice, b2b, b2c, graphic design, licensing, process, work, work for hire

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3.03.2009

The official Recovery and Reinvestment Act project logo

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has a logo, which will appear on all projects funded by the Act:

It's nice, I suppose. One interesting thing I noticed is the upper left borders of the two stars that intersect with the blue background border (in the upper left quadrant of the logo) aren't there. These two stars look like they've opened up, blossomed, perhaps, into the white space of the circular inner border.

Another nit-picky thing: the "RECOVERY.ORG" typography is very small. If you're using it at the size you see on this screen, it's about 14 points in size (nice use of old standby Trade Gothic, BTW. Is there a subliminal message to be had there, in the use of a typeface whose name reflects commerce?). When this mark is used in smaller sizes, the type is going to become illegible. I could see this happening when the ARRA money is being used along with other funding for a large project, and promotional roadside signs, posters, and web banners have to fit a lot of logos into a small space (they become, in PR parlance, "bugs".)

The little reverse swiss cross that forms the center of the big gear in the lower right quadrant of the mark...it alludes to the health plan reform, perhaps, as being integral to the recovery?

[3/3/09 22:24] UPDATE: This emblem, along with one specific to transportation projects, was designed by MODE in Chicago. Um, if you don't know by now, they did the Obama "O". (I can't wait for a Denverite to be President: more branding work for us Queen City designers...).

Other comments? Post them below!

image via abc news

by the way: looks like the folks over at recovery.gov are using Numbers for their charting:
Labels: branding, bug, design, graphic design, illustration, information graphics, politics, typography, usability

posted at 2:28 PM Leave your comments here: 0 comments

2.19.2009

A tour of $99 logo sites, by Doug Bartow

Ever wondered what you get from a bargain-basement, cheapo logo firm that offers "unlimited revisions" (even "unlimited concepts"!) for less that it costs for a good pair of spinning rims for your Bentley? Well, if you make enough to own a Bentley, you probably have the business sense not to ever find out. Instead, consider this wonderful post from Doug Bartow, who held his nose long enough to get logos from four of the "top" cheap logo companies. As a branding and design guy, he takes a critical look at what was offered up to his fictional company, a (nonexistent) rollerderby team in Troy, New York.

some of my favorite excerpts:

[traditional brand designers] operate under the somewhat antiquated notion that actually getting to know our clients might help us better understand their communications needs, and, as a result, do a better job defining and articulating their message in an engaging and compelling way. Crazy, I know.

...

After about 10 minutes, the "wizard" determined my rollerderby club's profile to be a "strong, confident and sophisticated business." Sophisticated? Perfect, if I were TAG Heuer or BMW.

...

Rather than focusing on clearly understanding the client's business and needs, the general solution put forth seems to be simply providing more and more sketches until something visually clicks—or the client's budget is depleted.

The whole story (and the accompanying logos that Bartow received) are worth a look. The main point is that a good logo comes from knowing the organization, it's hopes, aims, audience, and personality...not easy to do via a one- (or seven-) page form on a website (plus the $99, of course).
Labels: b2b, b2c, branding, customer service, graphic design, logo

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1.31.2009

I CAN HAZ FAMOUZ D3S1GN3R FRIENDZ?

I mean, really, Facebook, REALLY?
Labels: graphic design, social networking

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1.14.2009

Thoughts on Hirschfeld declaring bankruptcy, and the future of newspapers

102 years old and Bankrupt

I heard yesterday what was made official today: National Hirschfeld was closing their doors, citing a lack of financing. Over 250 people were laid off immediately. Hirschfeld had been in business in Denver for 102 years.

I have also heard from industry insiders that national Hirschfeld owed nearly $2 million to at least two paper vendors, along with debts to other smaller vendors.

Hirschfeld had a number of reputations in town. For a while they were the go-to printer for large offset work, and even some web, depending on who they were competing against. They wanted the big-name, glamor pieces, and would price aggressively to get them. Because they had so much printing capacity on the floor they often underbid the competition by a substantial amount in order to keep the presses running.

Unfortunately, I never had much luck with the projects I sent to Hirschfeld. I would say well over half of them developed issues related to poor prepress preparation of the job, inadequate proofing internally, and a lack of attention to detail. This caused myself--and many of my design colleagues--to avoid printing at Hirschfeld whenever possible. I hadn't sent a job there in over eight years. But Hirschfeld kept rumbling along, powered by Barry Hirschfeld's good humor, charisma, and an eventual merger with two of the other largest printing concerns in town.

But in the end, even Barry's smiles, bow tie, and glowing white halo of hair couldn't keep things moving. National Hirschfeld is declaring chapter 7 bankruptcy; the presses and other assets will be liquidated in order for outstanding debts to be (at least partially) repaid.

What does this mean for designers?

As a designer with over 15 years' experience in print, it's disheartening to see any established printer go. Even though Hirschfeld wasn't one of my preferred vendors, the reduction in competition will hurt, a little. And I feel the pain of the prepress folks, the pressmen, and the sales reps that all worked hard to get our projects turned into a tangible product.

Mostly, however, it's a sign that, as a designer, if you're not diversified into online, experience, or other forms of interactive design, you'd better get started. Print will never completely go away--it's an important part of almost any integrated marketing campaign--but that's just what it is: a part.

The future of the printed newspaper

On a related note, I listened to two good podcasts this morning regarding the future of the printed newspaper. The local angle was handled by Colorado Matters, produced by Colorado Public Radio. They interviewed Mike Littwin, columnist for the beleaguered Rocky Mountain News, and Andrew Hudson, former press secretary for Wellington Webb (among other things) and man-about-town. The upshot was that the Rocky is probably going out of business, despite its history as a founding father of the city of Denver. Hudson would like to save it as a cultural institution, using a sales tax to support its operation.

On June 12th's broadcast of Fresh Air, Terry Gross interviewed the former managing editor of the Washington Post and the publisher of the Christian Science Montitor. She discussed the future of the printed news with both of them. Both interviewees said that while the daily paper may be in decline, journalism has never been stronger. Delivery of a newspaper's product online has a broader reach, and in the end, may provide the successful way out for newspaper companies. The Christian Science Monitor, for example, will cease publishing a daily paper, and go all-online with its daily content. A weekly edition will remain in print.

The CSM's strategy seems like a good one. Reading ink-on-paper newspapers is more of a luxury, and something that you like to take your time doing. I get the Sunday New York Times delivered to my door, and I take two days to get through it (longer than that for the Crossword). I read the Times' website during the rest of the week because it's more convenient, and more in step with my workweek pace. Don't doubt that the Times, with around $1 billion in debt, won't be watching the Monitor's strategy unfold. I wouldn't be surprised if, by 2011, even the Gray Lady will be cutting her newsprint diet back to one helping a week.
Labels: advertising, advice, b2b, b2c, customer service, denver, graphic design, paper, press check, print, printing, web design

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1.13.2009

Non-Profit Design Feature: Education

I'm in the process of redesigning the website for our childrens' preschool, Steele Cooperative Preschool. The current site is static, and takes someone with knowledge of HTML to maintain it. This makes even small changes (like tuition amounts, which change yearly) hard for the layperson to perform. I'll be using Joomla to create an easy-to-use, simple-to-maintain website for the Co-Op, which will allow parents and teachers to spend more time where it counts: in the classroom!

You can check out these resources if you want to know more about the cooperative preschool model.

As long as I'm talking about education nonprofit design work: I also wanted to show off the work I did in the 2004 general election cycle for the National Education Association. They needed an information packet and resource guide for their campaign to raise awareness of education issues in the general election, and asked us to design the components. We created an original visual concept, to match the information and delivery concepts the NEA staff had created. The result won a Pollie award, as a component of their online campaign (which was handled by CTSG/Kintera).
Labels: graphic design, nonprofits, web design

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12.10.2008

Six marketing ideas for a recession

Now that the recession is "official", why not use it as an excuse to tighten things up?

Not tighten your belt, necessarily, but tighten up the way you use your marketing? What serves you well in a recession will serve you well when times are good, too. So, to that end, I bring you:

Six marketing ideas for use in a recession (and when things bounce back):

The amuse-bouche.

Give your clients a little something extra, that you enjoy doing and also benefits them.

Nontraditional uses of traditional marketing pathways

Forget about the coupon in direct mail. What about a "secret word" that brings your customers a discount or access to special services...that only "select" people receive via your permission-based email blasts...or getting your clients involved in an online dialog that benefits all of them (on your site, of course)...none of these suggestions are groundbreaking, but think about how much they cost, compared to traditional direct mail, etc....

Redefine what "essential" is, in relation to marketing and brand expressions

What's more important: meeting someone face-to-face, or sending ten people a direct mail piece talking about your services? Getting new clients, or strengthening ties with existing ones? Or both? Having that nice rounded die-cut corner on your letterhead, or spending that extra $250 on overhead for an informational seminar for your clients?

Now is the time to think hard about what you really need, and why you are using the marketing strategy you currently employ.

Less is more, and now's your chance to prove it

Do you really need a fax machine? Need a fax number on your business card? When was the last time you actually sent a fax versus an e-mail? Use cost-trimming as an excuse to streamline your communication pathways, clearing out the chaff of old technology and ways of thinking and replacing them with methods and channels that are relevant to your audience.

An opportunity to enter new markets or new marketing channels

How about an iPhone app that pushes relevant info to your target market? Outdoor advertising to get someone's attention focused on your issue? Permission-based e-mail campaigns to build brand impressions? If you haven't thought about these options, now is a good time to do so. Why? Because approaching people from another angle allows you to catch them off guard, and hopefully even give them information or motivation that they really need in order to get your company in their life.

Redefine your brand

Why not? If things are really going down the tubes, take a hard look at your existing brand. Is it reflective of your organization, your product, and your culture? Does it address the relationship between your organization and the public at this moment? What about in five years? Time and money spent refining your brand right now, when things are down, will get paid back in spades down the road, as other organizations play catch-up.

What are some ideas you have? Let's hear about them in the comments!

photo by jtloweryphotography
Labels: advertising, advice, b2b, b2c, branding, clients, creativity, design, graphic design, marketing, nonprofits, process, productivity, small business, web design

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12.09.2008

When are enough revisions enough?

The short answer is: when either your budget is exhausted, or your are satisfied that it's perfect, whichever comes first.

Why a set number of revisions in an agreement?

Some graphic design and web design clients may have trouble respecting your revision cycle. That's why designers have a set number of revision cycles for conceptual development and typographical edits built into their agreements. But it's up to the designer to keep the lines of communication open to make sure the client knows they are approaching the edge of the cliff that is The End Of The Revision Cycle.

What Happens if you don't tell them they have run out of time?

If you don't let a client know that they are nearing the end of the revision cycle, expect to pick up the tab of your client's extra revisions; it's unprofessional to let them keep revising and revising and then expect them to pick up the tab on a bunch of AAs without giving them fair warning. Additionally, it will help to keep the client's process tighter; if they know they only have a set number of shots at refining a concept down to razor-sharp accurate expression, then they WILL pay better attention. Trust me.

The end goal: a great design that does its job

In the end, the most important thing is making sure that the design clearly articulates the vision set forth by the objectives set forth by you and the client in the design brief. Keeping the lines of communication open, and having respect on both sides for each others' time and effort will go a long way to making this happen.
Labels: advertising, advice, branding, design, graphic design, performance, web design

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12.08.2008

Great Graphic Design makes everything better

One thing I remind people about all the time: everything anyone has ever made has been designed by someone. Great graphic design makes products, companies, and ideas more accessible by more people. Bad graphic design just makes products, companies, and ideas more opaque.

What differentiates the good from the bad? Lots of things. Focus. Brand integration. Accessibility. Grokability.

Paying someone $150, or $400, to design a logo will almost always result in bad design. Does that mean the designer who made it is not a good designer? Not necessarily. What it does mean is they aren't taking the time to find out what the essence of that brand should be. The same thing goes for paying a similar amount to design a website. Or a brochure. Even if you think about that money in terms of an hourly rate, rather than the value the design has for you (which is really how you should look at it), what does $150 translate to, in hours? I'll tell you: very, very little.

Would you trust a lawyer to draft the articles of incorporation for your business for $50? Would you let a $400 doctor operate on your heart?
Labels: advertising, advice, aiga, b2b, b2c, branding, graphic design, illustration, information graphics, interface, licensing, logo, marketing, nonprofits, packaging, process, ROI, seo, typography, visual information, web design, work

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12.01.2008

Snippets of Design and Branding interest for today

Some graphic design and branding news from today:

A nice take on the calendar: Calendar Tape! This is a nice modular design which would integrate well with just about any office/home/workspace:

via Better Living Through Design

My friend Nick takes us through the process of making a classic Commedia mask in the traditional fashion over at his blog:

An excellent product design here in a children's scooter:

via BabyGadget

A Periodic Table of Branding, via Logo Design Love:

Labels: branding, graphic design

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11.30.2008

I hope it's a graphic designer they're hiring

Noticed this teeny-tiny "people wanted" ad on the front page of nytimes.com today....an ad for the CIA. Have a look at the nasty dithering in the background gradient! Nothing says "we're a government agency that's ten years behind the times" than a static GIF for an ad. For that matter, the "www" at the beginning of published URLs is also becoming quickly obsolete. If it is a compound word, or an acronym, and has a dot after it, followed by two or three other letters, (like, you know, .com or .tv) people get the fact that it's a URL:
Labels: graphic design, marketing, web design

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11.25.2008

Great Design Firms have Great Clients

A big slice of roasted turkey, heap of mashed potatoes and gravy, and a side of dressing for my wonderful clients and creative partners who have made this year so good (listed here in no particular order):

The Division of Reclamation, Mining, & Safety

the signage and exhibition display design projects, in particular were a lot of fun!

The National Association of Abandoned Mine Lands Programs

the National Conference branding, website, and print materials turned out great!

Leichtling & Associates

2 new websites and lots of book cover design

Gillingham & Associates

they were so successful that they were purchased by a larger firm--who kept the existing brand we developed for them

Walker Media

a new company branding effort and some product photography

Classical Public Radio Network

ongoing website support

Clear Creek Watershed Foundation

consulting with them on a branding effort, which helped them clarify their vision

University of Denver College of Law

work on a to-be-completed project, that is shaping up to be awesome

Colorado Organization on Adolescent Pregnancy, Parenting and Prevention

design and production of their annual report of pregnancy and prevention-related issues in Colorado [PDF]

Native American Community Development Corporation

an excellent website design, which is almost ready to launch

Whitman Interior Design

we're creating their website as I write this

Carl Socolow

we designed an excellent website for this Guggenheim-recipient photographer

Andrew Bale

a website design and subequent revision for another great photographer

Tamzin Architecture

notchcode did brand identity development and a website (in development) for this Evergreen-area architect

Rhombus CGI

a website design which builds on their existing branding and raises their profile
Labels: branding, design, graphic design, information graphics, web design

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11.17.2008

New CD cover design

I just received samples of a 10 CD set I designed the cover for. Here's a look:

It's part of a larger integrated marketing campaign I've been working on with my client, including four other book covers. Lots of fun.
Labels: b2c, graphic design

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11.12.2008

Heller on Humor in Graphic Design

This post from Steven Heller over at the AIGA on whether or not there's anything funny about graphic design makes some good points. In general, I find that any creative endeavor turns out better (more effective, more compelling, more "tight") when some humor or playfulness has been applied to the process.

And besides, if you can't have fun while you're working, what the hell is the point?

A short excerpt:

Why are puns necessary in graphic wit and humor? The rules that govern verbal language do not translate precisely into visual language. Thus, The New York Times has no rules governing visual puns. Graphic designers’ canon of usage is different because our means of communication—our language, syntax and grammar—are different.
Labels: graphic design, humor

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10.17.2008

Fun activity for this weekend? Early voting!

Usually my weekend activities at this time of year revolve around gardening, starting to design Notchcode's holiday card (and holiday cards for my clients. Clients: need a holiday card? It's probably time to get started!). But since it's an election year, and I live in Colorado, I'll be filling out my state's four page mail-in ballot.

Four pages? Yes sir! We've got all sorts of amendments, referenda, and county, district, state, and national candidates to vote on. It's Colorado's longest ballot in 96 years. I suspect I will not be alone in voting for the amendment which makes it harder to get amendment questions onto the ballot, since we are all pretty tired of having every little thing written into the state constitution, rather than being enacted as a law. Some may call me short-sighted, and unamerican. Whatever; I just want to take less time to actually fill in my ballot than I do filling out my tax returns.

I want to take this democracy-reated moment to remind you all about the AIGA's project to make ballots easier to understand, process, and be counted for everyone. I have written about it twice, here and here. check it out, and follow the links there to the site with the sample ballot designs. It's very cool, and if you are in a position to recommend changes to your local ballot's design, your fellow citizens would thank you if you helped to implement some of the changes shown here.

Labels: graphic design, information graphics, politics

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9.20.2008

Visual Editing

A large part of a graphic designer's job (or anyone who traffics in visual information) is to curate the visual elements that are brought to the project table so that they are useful and understandable to the viewer. One such effort I am currently undertaking is the creation of thumbnail images for a photographer's website (not just any photographer, but the great photographer Andrew Bale, whose site we're retooling already has some beautiful work).

The current navigation scheme for moving throughout Andy's bodies of work uses an empty and full visual metaphor to show you what images you've visited, and which ones you haven't. It looks a bit like this:

The dark gray square shows the image you're looking at. The white squares are ones you've seen already. The blank ones are yet to be seen.

The new navigation uses snippets from each image as a representation of the whole image, so people can anticipate (or have their curiosity piqued). There are some good reasons not to use thumbnail crops (people want to see the whole image), but the advantages (you get the essence of an image, and can use it for navigation in a smaller area) are greater than the disadvantages--at least for this application.

In the case of this site, we're using a thumbnail image that is 64 pixels square. Andy's images are usually not square, so a crop is inevitable under this rule.

The issue here becomes what 64 pixels in a given image will evoke the larger whole, and that's where my job moves from being a production monkey to something that requires an understanding of the aesthetics, intent, and forms inherent in each image.

Take, for example, this image:

This is the same image you see above. I've rendered it here at the new enlargement size, which as you can see is a lot larger than the current view. Another improvement in the site that takes advantage of the growth in computer screen real estate since the initial site was developed.

So, what portion of this image evokes the whole? The blurry gondolas? The lamp on the right edge of the frame? The dark water below? Well, it's open for debate, surely, which is one thing I love about this job, but here's what I selected:

I think the darker mooring pole on the right, combined with the lighter one (in motion, slightly) to its left, along with the misty air and hazy building in the background, these elements evoke the whole of the image to me.

It's also mysterious enough that is makes you want to see more. It's a little call to action, without even having to use the words "click me!"

Visual editing doesn't just apply to photographs. Any time you consider using a visual element like a logo, color bar, or illustration, you have to "curate" its placement on the page, making sure it works in harmony with the other elements (text, page proportion, browser capabilities, paper stock, etc.) you are using. It's, simply put, the essence of any design problem.
Labels: advertising, creativity, graphic design, photography, visual information

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9.08.2008

Stop thinking about your marketing as a binary activity

Innovators work their magic in two ways: either they come up with a product/idea/process that should have been realized years ago, and make it real; or they turn something that already exists on its ear. Here's one literal example:

Three outlets in the space that used to accommodate just two. This is an excellent example of looking at a problem creatively, without letting the bounds of convention define your project. Innovative solutions don't take up any more space (in this case physical, in other cases mental/conceptual/strategic) than other approaches, while giving you and your audience a much more effective way of sharing information .

image via BoingBoing.

Labels: branding, creativity, graphic design, marketing, process

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8.27.2008

Packaging that both reminds me of the old generic packaging of the mid-'80s, and at the same time looks fresh.

BVD: "

Nice packaging deign from BVD
"

What makes it work for me is that the product is what creates the texture needed to offset the otherwise rather bland (on purpose) type.

(Via The Serif - Your daily dose of design inspiration.)
Labels: graphic design, packaging

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8.25.2008

Travel Posters for Intra-solar system Tours

Steve Thomas in Minnesota has created some fanciful travel posters for many lovely tourist hot-spots of the future, right here in our own solar system. They borrow from the styles of travel posters from the '20s through the '50s, and are a lot of fun. Check them out, and buy one, if you like one.
Labels: advertising, graphic design, illustration

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8.18.2008

Damn right your dad drank it

Check out the excellent period-appropriate typography, color palette, and imagery used in Canadian Club's latest print ad:

The colors are pulled straight from the main image, and the type is dead-on for what you would see in a Mid-'60s ad. Even the copy style is stylistically correct. The only thing that probably should be in there, that isn't, are periods at the ends of the title and subtitle copy blocks; I have seen a lot of those in the older print ads, and they aren't as in vogue these days.

Here's a detail:

via 5 Blogs Before Lunch.
Labels: advertising, graphic design, typography

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8.04.2008

Poster/Exhibition Display Design for the Colorado State Fair

Here's some recent work done for the folks at the Clear Creek Watershed Foundation and the state of Colorado's Division of Reclamation, Mining, & Safety, promoting the 150th anniversary of the discovery of gold in Colorado, slated for 2009:

It's an 8 foot-tall display, about three feet wide, and is designed to generate interest and drive people to the anniversary event's website. it will be seen by over 60,000 people down at the Colorado State Fair this year, in the Natural Resources Hall. We had a lot of fun researching the typographical history of posters created in the 1860s, which informed the mixed use of typefaces as well as sizing, layout, and spacing. The type is from Adobe, sourced from their nicely-cut set of woodtype families. The illustration was previously commissioned by the anniversary committee, and the paper texture was sourced from flickr's vast creative commons-licensed trove--an invaluable resource for any cash-strapped client (although I would argue that you usually get what you pay for).
Labels: advertising, display, graphic design

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7.18.2008

(Relatively) New work from us: 200 Essential Pieces in Classical Music Booklet premium piece

Last year, The Classical Public Radio Network, a consortium of classical public radio stations scattered across the country, asked us to design an inspiring premium print piece to send to higher-value donors. Their idea was some sort of listing of not just the 200 most important pieces in classical music, but the 200 most important performances as well. The list had to contain artist information, composer, featured conductors, soloists, and the recording's catalog number, enabling people to quickly find the recording and purchase it. We produced a key to the listings, featured near the front of the piece:

This is a lot of information, and pretty dry stuff. But it's the sort of list a true classical music enthusiast would really enjoy. The challenge was to present the information in a way that:
was easily accessible,

engaged the content with the viewer in a compelling way, and

had an enduring, lasting value that would make the user keep the piece around for a long time.

It was decided to present the pieces chronologically, arranged by date of composition. Below the list, we created a timeline showing the lifespans of the eras' major composers, as well as notable historic and musical events that took place. The dates of the timeline on any given spread corresponded with the pieces listed above them:

Throughout the booklet we also included features on some of the world's iconic performance halls and spaces: the Paris Opera House, the Tomaskirche, the Disney Concert Hall, and others. This helped to break up the list into more visually manageable chunks:

The client was an excellent collaborator, including a lead who knew her stuff, and what her audience would respond to: Karla Walker; and one of my writing pals from my University of Denver days, Jon Pinnow. We had amazing printing help from Tamera Rice-Ehrman at Sprint Press/Denver. They made the strike-through dull/gloss spot varnishes we used on the cover (subtly imprinting the composers' names over the front of the piece, and emphasizing graphic blocks and timelines inside the booklet), as well as making my 4-color quadtones look great (done in three colors of warm gray plus black).

By all measures, the piece was a success; it was a valuable draw when used in combination with other premiums at the $1,200 level and above, and both the client's stakeholders and recipients polled about the piece loved it. It's a piece that will continue to work for the client for a long time to come.
Labels: design, graphic design, information graphics

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5.02.2008

Making a case for good marketing...even when the economy stinks

Oh, Closet Entrepreneur, you've just made my morning. Their post from yesterday warns businesses not to skimp on

advertising,

Website development and design, and

Freelance services.

It's like they built the yellow brick road right up to my office door.

If you're in the market for any or all of these items, it just so happens that notchcode offers high-quality branding, marketing, advertising, and website development and design. And since I'm not part of your staff, I guess I qualify as a "freelance service" as well.
Labels: advice, branding, graphic design, web design

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4.23.2008

ok, so I am working out right now. even as I blog.

Here's a lovely bit of graphic design interpretation from calorielabs.com. Several states are featured, and I can't decide whether or not I like New Mexico's or South Carolina's flag-as-infographic better. What do you think?

My own interpretation of the Colorado state flag is below:

thanks, Cool Infographics!
Labels: graphic design, humor, information graphics, visual information

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4.01.2008

What Makes a Great Designer?

Adrian Hanft over at Be a Design Group has a nice post on the Five Uncommon Attributes of Good Designers this morning. It rings true not just for the designer in me, but the brand communicator, the photographer, and the marketing consultant as well. Hanft concludes thusly:
At the end of the day, designing a logo is relatively easy. Being a good person is the real challenge. I believe that it isn't enough for a good designer to just do good work. A good designer must also be a good person. What are some virtues that you believe help make a better designer?

Read the whole post. It's worth the time.
Labels: advice, creativity, design, graphic design

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3.20.2008

Why cropping can be bad, and why failure can be good

Two items of linklove for you guys:

Matt Soar: Fail Again, Fail Better, in the Design Observer

"Jonathan Hoefler says, 'Increasingly I think about the work that I do not so much as a directed effort, but as the ability to recognize accidents and interpret them productively. Even failures have their place, since without them there’s no progress: anything that’s truly 'experimental' has to run the risk of failure.'"

Cropping: A Duh Moment, in the Online Photographer
(referencing this amazing image)

"Once you start cropping, why stop? You've entered context-elimination mode; you're engaging in the activity of denying information to the viewer; why not take it a little further, and then a little further than that?"
Labels: creativity, graphic design, photography

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3.07.2008

Songs for this week

Been a bit busy to update this last week. Here's this week's faves:

Got Your Money Ol' Dirty Bastard & Kelis
Happy Day Burning Spear
Playmate MC Solaar
CR-08 M. Antonio (Original) Beto Bertolini
I Was A Landscape In Your Dream Of Montreal
Jackson Hem
L'aigle Ne Chasse Pas Les Mouches MC Solaar
Tumble Down Burning Spear
Purple Haze Groove Armada
WS-11 Stream Beto Bertolini
Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games Of Montreal

Maybe it's politically incorrect to like Ol' Dirty Bastard. But what can I say? It has a beat, and you can dance to it. Even if it's about pimps and hos. I sure ain't listening to it in front of my daughters, though.

Album cover I wish I could take credit for designing: Feist. Nice use of phorography, brings the artist's personality into it, and lends some mystery and romance into the image.

Album cover in most need of a redesign: Burning Spear's Live at Montreaux*. Yeah, I know: it's a live album. That's why it's titled Live at Montreaux, silly designers! No need for the crowd shot. Too bad, actually, because a lot of Mr. Spears' covers are so interesting:

* notice how I didn't use a bold italic there? That should make designers everywhere happy ;)
Labels: graphic design, music

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3.06.2008

Behind the Scenes at the NYT Graphics Department

The New York Times' Graphic Director, Steve Duenes, took reader questions last week. The interview is filled with insights into how the NYT's crack graphic staff creates the award-winning work that appears both online and in print.

And in case you still don't believe that graphic design can change lives, just check out this quote, from Nicholas Kristof, who was relating a story about the impact graphics that were designed to accompany his article on the state of public health in Africa had on one particular individual: Bill Gates. Gates was telling him how, initially, he and his wife were planning on essentially wiring the continent, thinking that this would do the most good in bringing Africa out of poverty. Then he read Kristof's article, and decided funding public health initiatives for clean drinking water, malaria prevention, and the like would have a far greater impact. He continues:

Great! I was really proud of this impact that my worldwide reporting and 3,500-word article had had. But then bill confessed that actually it wasn't the article itself that had grabbed him so much -- it was the graphic. It was just a two column, inside graphic, very simple, listing third world health problems and how many people they kill. but he remembered it after all those years and said that it was the single thing that got him redirected toward public health.

No graphic in human history has saved so many lives in africa and asia.

[emphasis added]

So, what moves the richest couple in the universe to make Africa a healthier place to live? Good graphic design. It doesn't need to be flashy, it doesn't need to be hip. It needs to work: deliver information effectively. This is what I tell my clients, and I swear by it. Effective information delivery--whether it's for marketing, advocacy, or journalism--isn't about clever, hip, new, etc.... It's about presenting everything you need to present, and nothing extra, in a succinct, direct way. It's that simple.
Labels: advice, africa, graphic design, information graphics, visual information

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2.25.2008

The 8 Types of Creative Directors

Tom Fishburne sends out pithy branding/advertising-related cartoons every weekend. This one, featuring the 8 types of Creative Directors, showed up in my mailbox this past Saturday. Check out the entire cartoon and see which one you identify with/aspire to be/loathe.
Labels: creativity, graphic design, humor

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2.16.2008

More great street art, and another well-designed (unauthorized) campaign poster

Steven Heller has a nice roundup of unauthorized campaign posters from past years (mostly the late '60s and early '70s) over at the New York Times this morning, in response to the Shepard Fairey "Obama" poster sensation. While he has some nice examples in the piece, he glosses over the phenomenon of Obama street art that has cropped up in the last few months. All sorts of folks, not just graphic designers and poster gods, have been designing campaign posters, graffiti, and other forms of what we in the business call "outdoor display advertising" for the populist candidate of the moment, Barack Obama. You can see some great examples of the genre over at GoTellMama.org.

Here's another example of a great campaign poster design, thoroughly unauthorized, executed very well. It's by Ray Noland. It speaks not only to the fact that Obama is the change agent, it speaks to him being eager to be in there, making it happen. It also shows off the fact that he is an unreconstructed street basketball player from way back. All of Noland's and others' work was on view at the GoTellMama! Show in Chicago this past week. You can see samples of work featured in the show here. A cryptic message on the site mentions that they may be taking the show on the road as well, so stay tuned.
Labels: branding, design, graphic design, politics

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2.11.2008

Easier voting through graphic design

A nod in this run up to the November elections towards the importance of good graphic design in everyday things. Like ballots, for example. We all remember the hanging chad debacle of the 2000 general election, right? As Alice Rawsthorn writes in her article appearing in the International Herald Tribune,

One glance at the [Palm Beach County] punch card explains why they did so: the layout is hopelessly confusing, as is the blizzard of text. Those ballots are such a (booby) prize example of lousy information design that it's a mystery how anyone managed to vote correctly.

Indeed.

Even before the 2000 election, the AIGA had begun an effort to make voting easier for voters and provide more accurate results at the same time. The crux of the problem lies in how to present a large amount of content in the small space of a ballot--be it paper or on-screen. AIGA Design for Democracy advisor, former AIGA board member and AIGA Chicago president Marcia Lausen wrote a book, Design for Democracy: Ballot and Election Design which outlines best practices for accurate, meaningful, and understandable graphic design of ballots.

The AIGA also created, with the Election Assistance Commission (EAC), Ballot and Polling Place Guidelines which can be immediately implemented for state and federal elections. By making ballots more easily understandable, good design best practices can help the will of the people be accurately and clearly heard.
Labels: aiga, design, graphic design, politics, visual information

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