Beyond Typography

It is my job

I checked out the blog of Paul Kurzeja, one of the panelists at Tuesday's Big Debate. Some really interesting posts if you're into the future of publishing and marketing. A couple of posts caught my eye: this one, from June, about content and the way it is marketed. The other is more recent and is a speech made by Chad Hurley, one of the You Tube co-founders.

What is apparent from both is that more free content, distributed in an appropriate way, can actually build loyalties to a brand, publication or tv network. Also, that the traditional centralized distribution hub is on its way out. I like the statement:

“There is no old media. There is no new media. There is one media with one common purpose; to inform, move and inspire the world through information, art and entertainment.” – Chad Hurley, co-founder You Tube,  16 October 2008

I think these are exciting times to be a designer in publishing. It's like being back at art college where you get a chance to do a bit of everything – video, photography, graphics, illustration, etc. For years I've thought that the role has been in a straightjacket. Modern technology is now allowing us to participate, on a professional level, in what a lot of us do in our spare time. We, as trained and educated professionals in visual skills, can now start to influence the look and feel of a magazine beyond the printed page. We can now say how the content should be looking on the web, and how the pictures, vids, audio, etc will interact. The role of the designer will become more important as more visual elements are used, not just for layout, but to maintain the visual identity of the publication brand.

The only things holding us back are work colleagues who don't see it as part of our role (journalists deciding how best to crop images or edit video, or marketing people deciding which fonts to use!?), or us – designers, art editors, art directors – in the classic phrase "it's not my job."

Why colour matters

I was looking for some info to back up an argument about how colour affects perception of a brand, and I directed to these sites via the excellent Swiss Miss blog:

The first site is called Color Matters. It is a great site covering all aspects of colour and colour theory;

The second site, actually post, was A Guide to Choosing Colors for Your Brand, on the Usability Post site.

 

Why is the sky blue?

I remember attending a seminar about design in which the presenter said the designer should be seen as a translator. Here is an article that appeared in the New York Times that sort of supports that and goes further by saying that sketching an idea enables science students understand concepts better.

Normal service has been resumed: Updated Type is Art link

Well hello. Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been on holiday. Sunning myself in Cyprus.

I'm back at work now. Here's a quick round up of what's been happening...

Creative

For the next couple of weeks I'm working in the Creative department of the company I work for. Doing a sort of job shadow type thing. As I've been working mainly in editorial for the past 15-or-so years I thought it would be good to see how the commercial side of things operate (even though I've been doing this sort fo thing for a while). In our company there is(was?) a them and us attitude between editorial designers and the Creative designers. Each side thinking they were better. So far, I have not experienced this. As far as I'm concerned, design is design, regardless of discipline. We should all support each other. There is too much pressure and competition from the non-design community for there to be tension within.

Anyway, yesterday was day one and I spent a really useful morning with one of the web designers, who critted my work. I found it really useful as so far I have only had feedback from marketing and editorial people. Thanks Mark.

Sexy things

A few other things have happened. I bought a digital camera. I opted for the Canon Sureshot G9 in the end (see post June 25). I am really please with the performance and results.

I also got my iPhone! FANTASTIC! Friday was an interesting day in the search for a 16Gb version. Got one delivered from the Carphone Warehouse in the end.

Largest Apple customer

One interesting snippet of news last week. Axel Springer, one of Europe's largest newspaper publishers, is moving it's entire workforce over to the Mac platform. 10,000 employees worldwide!

Photography exhibition

I went to a viewing of some photography yesterday. It was one of three that I had been invited to. I thought that this one might be a little different, even if the quality might not be great (my own preconceptions). I was impressed by the quality of the work. Some work being better quality than the endless stream of graduates and new start-ups that do the rounds now, wither by email or in person. The one thing that I found refreshing was the originality of the work, not the endless (tedious) stuff trying to emulate the latest fashion mags. These were good. I have to mention that the work was not at some exclusive venue in London, but at the Treloar College near Alton in Hampshire. The photographs were the final displays for the A-level and City & Guilds photography students. The students are all physically disabled.

Cool

And finally, a bit of fun. Take a look at this. Type is Art is a cool project by Jose Rodriguez where you can create art from parts of letterforms. I originally saw it on the I love typography site.

Food for thought

I had a conversation yesterday about design and the role of the designer and it got me thinking. I've mentioned before that everybody thinks they are a designer (or at least has a view on design). Well, this conversation verged on the "why do we need designers?" The equipment and software available means that anybody can design now. Templates are provided and it's easy.  This is a similar question that's been rumbling on for years about photographers: if cameras are no so smart and can, for example, correct lighting, camera shake, etc., why pay for a photographer to turn up with much the same equipment and take the pictures for you?

Well, if you went to Le Gavroche or The Fat Duck would you expect to cook the food yourself? (And don't get me started on the whole char-bar thing!) No, you'd expect some fantastically cooked and presented food from MIchel Roux Jr. and Heston Blumenthal respectively. The ingredients would be well-sourced and the menu put together in a well-thought out way. I would argue that a decent, professional designer (or photographer) is comparable. We have spent time training and learning, not just in using the tools of the trade – be it the Mac, the software or camera – but the stuff behind it. What the terminology means, composition, colour theory, type/design history, a chance to experiment and generally getting to know the subject inside out. We know what a baseline grid is and how to construct one, we know what kerning rules are. Most of us older ones know what knockout and overprint means. Some of us have even used a type scale.

A designer arrives at a decision through various conscious and subconscious factors. The decision we arrive at is (usually) better informed.

Going back to the chef/restaurant analogy: a design-led solution is like going to one of the restaurants mentioned above; a half-way house, where the client has a template but can vary the content within the framework such as add pics and change the length of copy, is like going to a fast food outlet such as McDonalds; and the final version where no designer is involved is like making a sandwich at home.

The point is, is that if you make a lot of sandwiches and visit fast-food restaurants a lot, you are really going to appreciate the visit to the Michelin-starred restaurant.

The client will also appreciate the higher quality as well.

Ok Computer, Printer, Scanner…

Continuing the student them today, here is an excellent video from James Houston. 

Big Ideas (don't get any) from James Houston on Vimeo.

This is his final project for the visual communication's course at Glasgow School of Art. Also check out the other videos.

Creative Review interview him here.

Degree show

I visited my old art college at the weekend to look at the Degree Shows.

When I attended it was called Portsmouth College of Art, Design and Further Education and I studied BTEC Technical Illustration (TI) at OND and HND levels. It is now part of the University of Portsmouth and known as the Eldon Building and runs degree courses (dropping the BTEC courses). When I was considering whether to go on to do a degree in Illustration or do an HND, I looked at the stats. Back then, we were told you had a much higher chance of employment with an HND than with a degree. My experience since then suggests that this may have been true (most people I know in this profession went to Art College and came away with HNDs not degrees).

It also happens to be the 100th annniversary of an art and design school in Portsmouth. There was an interesting exhibition in the foyer including a display case with some "artifacts" from my course! Rotring pens, airbrush, etc.

The Illustration show always used to be the best show at the College, and I'm pleased to say that the course that now runs (although bearing no resemblance to its ancestor) carries on this fine tradition. You could see that a lot of research and hard work had gone into these projects. And a lot of originality.

One of the other displays I thought had some good work in was on the floors below. These included product design and digital design. 

  

I noticed they had replaced the lift as it looked very new. Hopefully for the second time in 20 years as it seemed knackered back then! The Refectory is now called the Art Cafe and has nice wooden chairs instead of the stacking plastic ones we had. Many a College party had been held in this place, usually with the Three Little Piggies as guest band. I remember one halloween party when everybody was flour-bombed by the guys on the TI course a year above me. Elmo the caretaker wasn't happy!

New buildings now occupy the area that were known as the huts. The name is self-explanatory. The new buildings (Eldon South) house the Communication Design (aka Graphics) course. There were some good bits in here, but nothing that I would say was really original apart from a couple of bits of work.

I wasn't impressed by the photographic exhibition. Same old images of the same old subjects (more or less) displayed in the same old way. As a person who commissions and buys photography I was left cold. I was rather disturbed to see a series of pics about British people and their guns. One image was of a young woman holding a pistol. I hope it was replica or decommissioned.

I only meant to pop in for half-an-hour or so and left two-and-a-half hours later!

If you you can't get to see this one (it runs until 13 June), go to your local college show. It's worth seeing what'll be on the market soon.

UPDATE: Find your local (UK) show here...

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/uk-degree-shows-whats-on-when/