Halloween

It's that time of year again and I've found a few spooky themed goodies for the occasion. I found these pint sized printables at the Canon Creative Park which are sure to scare (well maybe not but they're cute anyway). You can print them out and assemble yourself.I am a fan of a themed wallpaper and found these at Pixelgirl Presents which has loads of great wallpapers for throughout the year too.

Now all I need to do is get my costume sorted!

Good Design

I have always looked at Graphic Design as an art from, no different from sculpture, illustration or textile design however after completing work placements last February with two different highly regarded design agencies in Edinburgh I came away feeling slightly disillusioned. I had witnessed that the industry can be no more than another nine till five job with little room for creativity and individual thinking. Everything felt corporate and formulaic, I knew I still loved the graphic design area but also knew I wanted room to experiment and learn more before joining the industry myself. This is why I chose to continue studying at Duncan of Jordanstone.

So far Design Studies has challenged what I saw in the industry. Design shouldn’t only just be about making something look pretty, designers have become obsessed with “Good” and “Bad” design, I know I have. I have been conditioned into thinking because something had garish colours and cheesy typography it is automatically bad design and have neglected to think about the needs of the client. A fast food restaurant does not need a classically designed menu; it needs something that is going to convey “This food is cheap, fast and easy”. In other words the customer needs to know what they are going to get, and as a designer I have to realize that communicating the brand is more important than simply making the design nice to look at.

“Good” and “Bad” design goes so much further than many designers think. Many different factors need to be considered when designing a product and not just about if you’ve got your em and en dashes mixed up. I do not just want to become a “Mac Monkey”, churning out generic and soulless pieces of design, too engrossed in kerning, stock photos and Photoshop retouching. I’m aiming higher.

It is important to understand the world’s needs and how it operates; it is too easy to lose perspective in our own design world bubble. Every so often we need to take a step backwards and realise the only way to advance it to understand the needs of others and their social and economical needs. We need to realise that what we do has consequences and it’s not just about the visual, when we fully understand this, then we can start designing “good design”, even if it’s just a humble pizza flyer.

Something I've noticed recently

Something that I’ve noticed over the last few months is companies not putting their web addresses on their advertising publications or bill boards.

I first noticed Samsung doing this in their magazine advertising for their new super slim LED TV. This is similar to the advert with the humming bird which has recently been on TV; unfortunately I have not been able to find a copy of the advert.

Instead of cluttering up the ad with long web addresses often including forward slashes, dashes and all sorts of unreadable and hard to remember squashed together words, there is now a trend for simply putting “Search online for…” in it’s place.

This looks much more elegant and also negates the question of do you include "WWW." before or simply just add “.com” when adding a web address to an advert, something when I was designing my editorial adverts last year at college received some debate from industry when I came to present.

I think it makes the company look smart and self assure about the strength of their product or service. I am not sure how many people remember web addresses on adverts but am sure people are more likely to remember a name or phrase related to the product.

Personally I know if I saw an advert for a restaurant which contained information of its name and location and also a website address, I am more likely to remember the name and location of the restaurant when I came to Google it than the web address.

The Tipping Point

We have been asked to mind map Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping point. Firstly I did a general mind map which included information from the whole book before choosing one chapter to explore in more depth, The Law of the Few.

Creating a mind map helped me to retain the information I learnt while reading the book, putting key points down it in a format which is easy to understand has not only helped me now, but will help me in the future if I come back to the book. Using different colours for each chapter "branch" helps to differentiate and reinforce ideas and makes the mind map much easier to read.

Collating my notes in this way has helped me understand the points of the book so much easier, being able to break them down and lay them out in an organised way has really helped me with my understanding of the book's key issues and points.

(I will upload better quality scans of my mind maps tomorrow, unfortunately I'm not very well today and don't have a scanner at home! So photos will have to do until tomorrow)

Design Big

Am I a designer of Dundee? Am I a designer of Scotland, the UK or Europe?

No. I am a designer of the world. And I need to “Design Big”.

Mike Press gave a lecture on Friday morning titled: Design in the Age of Knowledge, Experience and Terror. It was all about having big dreams, designing big and living a big life. He showed me that I should never doubt my ability, limit my imagination or fail to take risks. He spoke with such passion and enthusiasm about what we could achieve if only we think big that as I left I could not help feeling elected about my future.

Design is only about how things look, yes?

No. If we only think about what how it looks then the product will fail in other areas. We have to understand people’s needs, identify opportunities, develop ideas and communicate values as well as thinking about reducing costs, adding value and improving productivity. If we want to design a “big” product we need to think on a “big” scale.

Today in Britain most of our wealth is created by knowledge, we no longer rely on the production of physical goods; we are living in a “Knowledge Economy”. Fashion designers, film producers, software designers and graphic designers etc. are all trading on knowledge. Consumer culture is now not about the product it is about the experience. As a nation of consumers we use goods to create social bonds and distinction, we give aesthetics emotional attachment and as designers we are reflecting this. We need to think what will the user gain from our design? We are no longer just designing a chair; we are designing a sitting experience.

As a designer I need to “ride the wave of diversity” I need to look at the world and question how I could solve some of its problems? I need to understand that we live in an ever changing world, understand I have to be flexible within my field, and I have the ability to adapt accordingly. I need to stay ahead of the game, stay connected with the rest of the world and think openly. If I wait until point B to realise what I could have achieved at point A it will be too late.

Think big you will have a big life.

Two 3D movies in the space of a week!

Just back from Toy Story in 3D and it was every bit as good as it was when I was five. In fact it was better, and not just because it was in 3D. The film is a masterpiece and paved the way for loads of CG films since. It is astonishing that the animation Pixar were producing 15 years ago still has us "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" today.

Toy Story truly is a timeless classic. Go see it.

Helvetica Documentry

I had been wanting to see Gary Hustwit's Helvetica documentary for over a year now so was pleased to find out that we were going to see it with uni and for a reduced price. The film is about the iconic typeface, Helvetica, it looks at how designers have used it over it's lifespan of fifty-two years and how peoples attitudes towards it have changed and differed over the years. I have always been wary of using it in my work as I knew that many designers argue passionately both for and against its use. I on the other hand have never been sure what camp I lie in.

Watching the documentary helped me see the bigger picture, Huswit interviews renowned designers from the UK, America and Europe to find out how and why they use the typeface, or why the avoid it altogether.

The designers that are pro-Helvetica are of the opinion that no other typeface is needed when you can use Helvetica. It's clean, sharp and extremely legible. It is a perfect communication tool which does not interfere with your ability to read or understand the product. It has become a subliminal typeface, used so often in our every day lives that we barely notice it. It has become the typeface of consumerism and conformity. It gives the impression of a large powerful brand, yet one that is still welcoming and approachable.

It is conformity of the highest order. It's a safe choice.

And this is exactly what the anti-Helveticans have against it. Some believe it is simply a cop out, it has become the default font for the lazy creative. Huswit interviews German typographer, Erik Spiekermann who argues passionately against Helvetica, claiming that the uniform appearance of the font was reminiscent of Nazi soldiers marching in line. Others believe it represents, Communism and the Vietnam war.

I believe that Helvetica is an outstanding piece of design. I consider it still looks fresh, modern and extremely usable after fifty years. And although I still might hesitate to use it within my work, I can certainly appreciate it as a design icon.

Here are some fun typography related links:

10 Common Typography Mistakes

What font are you?

Cheese of Font?

Crazy hard kerning game

Typography Quiz

Another font game

fun, fun, fun :)