Meaningful design

Tuesday’s Design Tip for Graphic Designers

There’s something that has been bugging me for a while now. And something that I’ve been very passionate and vocal about.

Paul Rand once said “Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions, there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.”

He went on to say “A bad design is irrelevant. It is superficial, pretentious, … basically like all the stuff you see out there today.”

Begs the questions: is content as important as form? And is design all about aesthetics?

Some tricks of the trade for creating meaningful designs:

1. Have you given some thought to the design? Are you starting your design without really analyzing what you are trying to do?
2. Have you read the piece? Seems like a no-brainer but I’ve met many a designer that haven’t even read the content of what they are designing.
3. Visual hierarchy: Have you established what is important and what is supporting in your piece and have established a visual hierarchy reflecting it?
4. Fonts: Are you using fonts that are easily readable and appropriate for your intended audience? What about the size; is it suitable?
5. Colors: Are you choosing colors with your audience on your mind? Are the colors you’ve chosen appropriate and don’t overwhelm your message? Have you selected type colors that are easy to read?
6. When including photographs or illustrations: Are the visuals there as a decorative elements or to strengthen and complement the content? Can you see the relationship between your visuals and the content?
7. Graphic elements should not be distractions: Have you added lines and bullets that don’t interrupt going through the design but are there to provide structure and flow?
8. Don’t overdo it on filters and effects: Are your filters and/or effects really necessary? Does it enhance your message or are you just trying to show off?
9. Are you wasting time? Are you spending an more time trying to pretty it up or adding filters and effects than you did on the actual concept for the design? As Roger C. Parker constantly tells me “are we rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic while it’s sinking?”
10. Have you used elements of your brand: Have you included the logo, colors, typefaces that are seen in the rest of the promotional materials?

In my first newsletter, I spoke about how technology may not be such a good thing. When I see some designs that are out there, I see that they are become more reliant on the tools (ie. software) than on our actual creativity.

What does this lead to? Designs that are very similar and honestly a lack of creativity and of a concept. Many designs nowadays rely more on filters and effects than on classic design principles.

It’s a strange dichotomy: We can actually achieve whatever is in our heads, but are getting hung up with the tools used to achieve our visions. We spend more time fiddling with the tools than we do thinking through what we want to do — and what’s appropriate for our audience.

You can see this reflected also in many design schools’ curriculum. It’s now almost exclusively dedicated to learning the tools of the trade (Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Dreamweaver, et al.) than it is with learning color theory and design principles

What happens? We don’t really think ahead of doing our design. We simply dive in. We itch to start clicking that mouse button. If you were to conduct a poll on how many designers actually do thumbnails, I bet most newbies don’t even know what a thumbnail is.

T A K E A W A Y :

So, back to Paul Rand. If you read his statement: design is the method of putting form and content together. That necessarily means that you must read the content. You must understand the content and plan out what you want to accomplish with your design.

And finally, you must choose graphic elements that are appropriate for the content. It’s the only way of getting more meaningful designs.

Make your designs more meaningful today!

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Design, Design Theory

The importance of the concept in design

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

Well, this week, a bomb exploded in the form of posters from the Spanish basketball teams. Not one, but both the men and women’s teams.

For the Beijing Olympics, Spain’s Basketball Federation published a “good luck” ad for their basketball teams (the men’s are world champions, no less!) in which the members are making a slit-eyed gestures on a floor picturing a dragon.

Well, this generated a firestorm.

I doubt that their intent was to anger their Olympic hosts, that would be foolish. But seriously, who can think that this was a good idea? And that it would not be taken badly?

As a result, they are being accused of racism.

It does beg the question: should it be considered racism when there is no malice intent behind it? Or are they just ignorant? Personally, I don’t think it’s ever acceptable to joke about, mock, poke fun, or imitate others.

In The Guardian there was an article by Sid Lowe. He is a Madrid-based correspondent for The Guardian’s football weekly podcast — about the photograph. Here’s what he had to say:

Spain’s Olympic basketball teams have risked upsetting their Chinese hosts by posing for a pre-Games advert making slit-eyed gestures. The advert for a courier company, which is an official sponsor of the Spanish Basketball Federation, occupied a full page in the sports daily Marca, the country’s best-selling newspaper.

The advert features two large photographs, one of the men’s basketball team, above, and one of the women’s team. Both squads pose in full Olympic kit on a basketball court decorated with a picture of a Chinese dragon. Every single player appears pulling back the skin on either side of their eyes. The advert carries the symbol of the sport’s governing body.

No one involved in the advert appears to have considered it inappropriate nor contemplated the manner in which it could be interpreted in China and elsewhere.

Pete Thamel, who reports for The Times, wrote  “The typically sedate Chinese crowds vigorously booed the Spanish basketball team at times in Spain’s overtime victory here on Tuesday night. It’s unknown whether it has anything to do with the publication of insensitive pictures in which the Spanish men’s and women’s team appear to be mocking people of Asian descent by pulling back their skin behind their eyes.”

El Mundo, in their post “¿Racismo o guiño cariñoso?” (Racism or affectionate wink?) made an attempt to answer the obvious question: What the heck were they thinking?

The photograph, widely disseminated now by the press, was made during the preparation campaign for the Olympic Games in Beijing. …

Jose Manuel Calderon, an icon of the national team, explains in his blog at elmundo.es that it was a wink of the sponsor, something they thought appropriate and affectionate. He is blunt: “Whoever wants to interpret something different, totally confused.”

“It turns out that in the photo shoot for the submission of our team, one of our sponsors asked us to make, as a ‘wink’ to our participation in Beijing, an expression of Eastern eyes. We felt it was something appropriate and that it would always be interpreted as an affectionate gesture,” says Calderon. “However, some European media have not looked on it well,” laments the linchpin of the national team.

Calderon denies any racist tinge in the gesture and expressed his “great respect for the East and its people.” The Extremaduran highlighted his great personal relationship with several Chinese friends by his team in the NBA, Toronto Raptors, and recalled that the sports brand Li Ning China outfits the Spanish team as one of its sponsors.

El Pais reported that the Chinese embassy in Spain has pronounced the ad “ni racista ni ofensivo.” (neither racist nor offensive).

U P D A T E :

The Argentine Women soccer team did the same thing!!!

T A K E A W A Y :

1. Has it become so “common” to make this gesture that we couldn’t tell that this might be considered offensive to the Chinese?
2. It doesn’t matter what your design will look like. If it’s offensive, no one will pay attention to the graphics — but they wll to the content of it.

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Marketing, The good, the bad, & the ugly

Absolut Blunder

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

I LOVE IT!

Well, DUH. That’s all I have to say. Like the ensuing firestorm could not have been predicted!

Have you checked out the latest Absolut ads?

In their infinite wisdom, Absolut Vodka have withdrawn their ads advertising a good chunk of the US (California, Arizona and other states) as being a part of Mexico.

Titled “In an Absolut World” it’s a pre-1848 map where certain states were still a part of Mexico.

Now, where this gets really interesting is that Absolut initially defended the ad. They said it was made “with a Mexican sensibility” and besides, it wouldn’t appear in the US publications but in Mexico only.

Digging their grave even further they issued the following excerpts on their website “In no way was this meant to offend or disparage, nor does it advocate an altering of borders, nor does it lend support to any anti-American sentiment, nor does it reflect immigration issues […] Instead, it hearkens to a time which the population of Mexico may feel was more ideal.” the spokeswoman wrote.

C O N C L U S I O N :

It’s a global world, baby. There was NO WAY this would go unnoticed.

Remember designers: It’s a global world and your designs may be seen throughout the world. And thanks to the internet, it may spread like wildfire.

You can’t design thinking you live in a vacuum. Never bank on the fact you think a certain segment of the population won’t see it.

Seriously, who’s bright idea was this? And couldn’t Absolut Vodka predict that this would cause a commotion?

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Management, Marketing, The good, the bad, & the ugly

Is the idea more important than the design?

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

When I was working a printing company, I noticed there are three characteristics of jobs that project an amateurish or unprofessional image (other than the design itself, of course):

1. Printing
2. Bindery
3. Finishing

It’s all about the presentation

Now, I love a good ad.

Let me show you how the concept behind a MADD (Mother’s Against Drunk Driving) ad campaign is perhaps more important than the design itself… I think it’s rather brilliant.

The ad as it is printed is no big deal. It’s a car that has a broken windshield with tire marks on the ground.

However, once you see how it’s supposed to be presented (the finishing), it’s a different story… However, when viewed as it is presented, it really grabs your attention and is has great impact.

What do you think? Would the ad have such an effect if it were presented as it was printed?

Check out the other ads in the series. These can be found in the swipe file on Design and Thrive

Q U E S T I O N:

Should printing, finishing and bindery be a vital part of the design process?

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Design, Production, Swipe File, The good, the bad, & the ugly

Watch your creativity and productivity soar!

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

The greatest single piece of advice that I can give you is to start mindmapping. Roger C. Parker turned me on to mindmapping about a year and a half ago.

Trust me, you’ll soon be thanking me for this.

What’s a mindmap?

A mindmap is a diagram. You start a mindmap around one central idea. From this you branch out with words, ideas, thoughts, tasks and pictures. It’s used to generate ideas, solve problems, and to organize your thoughts.

Why do you use a mindmap?

Mindmapping increases productivity and creativity because it helps you focus on the task at hand. I’ve created mindmaps on practically everything.

I’ve created shopping lists, to-do lists, proposals, meeting agendas, future plans and goals, as well as writing notes on chapters I’ve read. I created a mindmap of each topic of my newsletter and yearly newsletter topics lists for it too. If you’ve got a subject (or a focus) you can create a mindmap!

How do you create mindmaps?

When first starting out, I used pen to paper. I’m a faster typist and would have really liked having a software on my computer. Unfortunately, there just weren’t many mindmapping software available for the MAC. Then Roger C. Parker recommended a really great software called Mindjet Mindmanager.

It recently came out with a MAC version. It’s fantastic! I can’t recommend it enough. It comes with a huge assortment of tiny wingdings that you can use to instantly jazz up your mindmap with.

TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT IT

Check out the Mindjet Mindmanager website. You’ll be so glad you did!

Want to know more about MindMapping? Watch Roger C. Parker’s webinar (it’s FREE!)

Technorati Tags: Creativity, Production, Technology

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