Poll results: People want more optimism

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

This week, I was reading about a poll asking readers whether we would like to see more optimism in design. Especially in this crappy economy.

The results were overwhelming.

• 83% said they would like to see more optimism.
• 17% said no.

CONCLUSION:

I wonder who would actually say they wouldn’t want more optimism… I mean who doesn’t? And 17% is a little high.

Perhaps there should have been a third alternative of “I don’t really care”

For the record, I’m all for more optimism.

Personal side note: I won’t be blogging for the next 2 weeks, but will be back in June.

Technorati Tags: Marketing, Personally Maria, Print Design

Ethics in graphic design

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

Today is more of a philosophical post more than anything else. It stemmed from an article that appeared this week in AdAge Mediaworks.

They were talking about how magazine editors in the US and UK want to introduce a “code of conduct” for how designers use Photoshop to perfect the imperfections. How far is too far?

We often hear about ethics in fields like law and medicine, but I’ve never heard of ethics applied to graphic design. It really got me thinking.

Should graphic designers develop a code of ethics? Or should ethics go out the window when you are paid to do as the client asks? Who is responsible for deceitful advertising?

I often wonder whether what we design shouldn’t be a reflection on the kind of designers we are…

What should a designer’s responsibility be towards his audience?

1. Should we accept jobs that clearly manipulate?
2. Do we accept jobs where the product may be misleading and/or deceitful (or plain lying)?
3. Should we be airbrushing pictures? I’m not talking simply about removing pimples and touching up skin blotches, I’m talking about removing pounds, and making the subject look like someone else or completely different?
4. Should we only take jobs that are dignified and we truly believe in?
5. Does for whom and what we design have to mesh with our beliefs and our principles? Or can we separate what we believe from the equation?

C O N C L U S I O N :

What kind of designer do you want to be?

Do we have a responsibility to our audience? Or does that fall on our client?

Should we accept the responsibility for the kind of jobs we are taking?

Technorati Tags: Business, Management, Personally Maria

Lessons from a graphic design master

Friday’s Creative Review for Graphic Designers

Don’t know if you’ve noticed but I love reading about the theory of design. I find myself constantly learning from other designers and honing my design skills by reading.

As an added bonus, it sometimes explains why I design the way I design. Why I like certain colors over others. Why I place things the way I do. There appears to be logic behind my detail madness!

I feel very privileged to have had the opportunity of working with one of the greatest design teachers of our era: Roger C. Parker. He’s written a ton of books, has worked with some of the biggest companies, and he even coaches. Many call him the “great simplifier” and he is.

A couple of months ago he started a really great website on what he does best, writing: www.publishedandprofitable.com. I’m going to plug it a tiny bit here: it’s a subscription site that offers a daily blog, articles, book reviews, resources, interviews, and much much more.

So what are the greatest lessons he’s taught me over the last year?

1. Writing to fit: In design school, I was always taught that we have to modify our design around the content. Roger taught me that you can actually have the writing fit your design (especially if you are the author!) You can always edit the text. Remove sentences. Many times there are extra words that just don’t need to be there!
2. Tightening up your writing: Use only those words you need. Reword others. Rework sentences. Even at times — rather than writing something — use graphics! Simplify, simplify, simplify.
3. Designing with an audience in mind: Before I would hardly think of who would actually be reading my piece. My concern was to create “pleasing” designs.
4. Design has to be relevant: How many times have we seen design that is more dominant than the content itself? Roger taught me that design complements the copy, not compete with it. All the elements on the page needs to be there in order to support the content.
5. Design as a whole and not a sum of parts: Design is much more than the piece you are currently designing. Design has to work together as part of a family. It should work together with previous published pieces — not be a complete departure from them.
6. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel: You have to give the audience what they expect. Design is useless if it does not reach your intended audience. In design school, people would always try and “outdo” each other using the latest filters and effects. Sometimes, this may not work depending who you are designing for.

C O N C L U S I O N :

I’ll finish this post with one last tidbit. Roger always preaches: reuse, repurpose, recycle. This is in everything from designing to writing. We often forget that just because you’ve written or designed something in the past, it’s no longer relevant.

We forget that:

1. Not everyone has read or seen it and
2. Many people need constant reminding.

FURTHER INFORMATION:

I going to be interviewing Roger. I’ll be posting what will surely be a candid interview with him next week on Design and Thrive. I’ll keep you posted!

Technorati Tags: Personally Maria, Tips & Techniques

Off for the Holidays and some exciting news

So, another year has flown by and the Holiday season is among us again …

I’m off for the next 2 weeks. I’ll be returning on January 7th for a new year, tons of blogging, and another set of resolutions that hopefully I will stick with this time!

New blog content plan

I’ll also be introducing a new content plan for my blog. It will tie the blog even more tightly with the website (and its principles) and my tip of the week.

The new plan will become fairly obvious. I’ve now opted to organize my postings by my “Profit from Design” categories. Monday will be devoted to promotion, Tuesday to design, Wednesday to produce, Thursday to manage and Friday will be a floating topic.

All questions, suggestions or comments are welcomed. You can reach me here.

A final word for 2007

I hope you are not too disappointed and I hope you aren’t logging on to the internet too much. This is a time to spend with your family and loved ones.

My “bestest” wishes to you and your loved ones for this Holiday season and year to come. I wish you much joy, prosperity and health to you and those closest to you.

Let’s make 2008 the best one yet! And best designed!

Technorati Tags: Personally Maria