Pepsi Logo - Old to New

Pepsi: The first developed and produced in the early 1890’s by Caleb Bradham, a pharmacist in New Bern, North Carolina labeled as “Brad’s drink”. In 1898, Bradham renamed his drink into “Pepsi-Cola”.

The Logo of Pepsi is one of the most famous logo in the world. It is considered one of the world’s most recognizable corporate trademarks. From 1898 to 2009 Pepsi had been evolved its logo and design more than 10 times.

You can see the biggest changes in the logo from 1898 to 2009 below.

There are a lots of people does not likes the new logo. In contrast, I find it very simple and funny .
below are two funny renditions of the logo for fun!

Here is a video:



Source: Logo Talks and Nbengo blog.

Illustrator vs. InDesign

Here's a post from a few weeks back at Creativebits that generated a nice discussion of the use of Adobe Illustrator (a vector graphics program) vs. Adobe InDesign (a page layout program) for doing ads and other creatives. Photoshop is thrown into the mix as well. In Switching from Illustrator to InDesign the author is looking for arguments to use to convince a bunch of studio artists to not use Illustrator and Photoshop for everything and instead use InDesign for laying out press layouts. Lots of valid points are raised. Depending on the type of project, Illustrator is not necessarily a bad choice.

12 Common Mistakes Designers Make and How to Avoid Them

Mark Heaps for psd.tutsplus.com
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Ahh mistakes. We all make them, and it’s not something to fear or be ashamed of. They are a great opportunity to learn, to grow your skills, and become a stronger designer for your clients and your career. After doing this for a number of years, I’ve made a few “lessons” myself. I started thinking about the more common mistakes that happen in the creative workspace and maybe some advice to help get around them. After sharing and discussing with a few of my peers here’s what we came up with.

All men make mistakes, but only wise men learn from their mistakes.– Winston Churchill

Speedy

Going too fast! Sounds like that isn’t possible right? You get paid by the hour, your client has a limited budget, and you want to produce something that’s portfolio worthy and insures you’re going to get paid. You spent all that time learning quick keys, shortcuts, and workarounds just so you could literally go faster and be more efficient. But there’s a point on the curve where your speed is up but your quality control goes down. It’s important in your development to discover where that is.

Solution: Go fast, smarter. Any good race car driver knows that you go fast in the straights and drive smart in the curves. The same thing needs to apply in your approach to design work. When it’s a part of a project where you can go straight, full speed, flat out, do it. Automate, batch process, use quick keys, anything to help you get ahead. Why? Not so you can finish faster, but so that you can take more time in the curves. The tricky part of the project is when you don’t slow down. Try to create an overview of the project that you can use to identify times when you can just go flat out full speed on production, and where you’ll need to be careful. Proof reading isn’t something you should do fast, but converting all your images to black and white is. Make sense?

Try to switch gears before you do your quality control check. I often schedule this right after lunch, or I will go take a 10 min break walking around, getting fresh air, grabbing a drink, so that I can come back calmed and focused on the task at hand. It’s important to wind down into that focus, no machine likes to switch from top gear to bottom gear, and your brain is no exception to that.

Tunnel Vision
You’ve been working all night on the cover graphic, the big illustration, retouching a photo that’s part of the annual report center spread, and finally you have it in the project. It looks great and you’re super proud! You send it off to the Project Manager/Editor/Creative Director, etc. The first thing they respond with is, “hey your cover has a couple of typos and you missed a period on the last paragraph of page three”. You feel dumb! You would normally never miss those, so what happened? It’s easy when you’re striving to make a singular part of a project so good, so perfect, so monumental, that you get Tunnel Vision. You’ll start missing all the little details you’d normally catch. I find this happens when the balance of a project is not evenly distributed. For example, it’s easy to do on projects like CD packaging for a band. You spend all that time on the outside cover art that you make all kinds of mistakes in the liner notes. It’s no one’s fault but yours, a hard lesson to learn. It’s up to the designer to push things back into balance and take ownership of as much as the project as they can.
Solution: You can approach this a few ways. My personal preference is to produce a checklist of what needs to happen for the project to be completed. Once identified try to knock out all the small things first, finish them, get someone else to look at it if possible, proof read it, double check it and be done. Now, give your full attention to that big piece of the project. Once there is nothing to be sacrificed at the expense of the largest component it’s more likely that you’ll have no mistakes in the final piece. What happens more commonly is designers try to take the biggest piece and solve it first. Then they approach the deadline and have a lot of small things remaining that get rushed for completion thus causing errors.


Overworked
Ok, the logo for client A is almost done. Those edits for project B are next, you just got an email about website C, and you have a conference call with your code guy in a couple of hours about a new job D! That’s a lot, and realistically a busy designer usually has this going on threefold in any given week. I always envied those designers who talk about the “big project” they’ve been working on for a month with nothing else on their plate. How nice it must be to focus on one single project for a month, imagine how your brilliance could shine, if only! Flipping the switch too many times is bound to burn out the bulb faster, and we as a design machine are no different. Sure all that work can be exciting, it’ll definitely not hurt the wallet, but what does it mean for your reputation, what does it do for your portfolio? Remember that every project you work on is an investment in yourself. You were hired to deliver something great for the client and if you’re dividing your talents beyond a manageable level, you’ll make little mistakes that drive a client to not hire you again.
Solution: Some of the best advice I ever received was, “Learn when to say no to projects and work”. That terrified me because in my head all I heard was, “turn down income, make less money, live on noodles”. The reality became apparent though. When I overworked myself I didn’t produce work with a keen eye for quality control. I was getting the job done, and not making strong impressions on clients and their associates. Reputation and referrals are invaluable in this field. When I sacrificed volume of projects I started producing higher quality work, I could charge slightly more and it allowed more time for quality control. This made for a happier designer and client. This takes time, in my case it was roughly 1-2 years before this balance was complete. It also set me up for this next challenge, which involves knowing when to hire help.


Too Many Hats
So the client contacted you about work, and you’ve dreamed of working with this company. How exciting for you. So first you need to submit your proposal, then get the project timeline figured out, contact and hire a contractor to handle some specialist parts to the project like 3D modeling, voice over, video, etc. You negotiate budgets between all those involved, start writing/reviewing content and all of this is before you’ve put pencil to paper, or mouse to pixel, and actually been a designer. Freelance is hard because you have to fulfill many more roles than an agency, or in-house, designer. Wearing all these hats can distract your focus and pull you away from delivering the great project you want to provide. If you are wearing so many hats on a project as this, and it’s not uncommon at all, then it’s almost guaranteed you’ll make a mistake and miss something from someone. So what do you do?
Solution: This is hard, because it’s the most common problem for freelancers. I think you have to approach this in a very systematic, structured, and organized way. I’ve met designers who say they only take conference calls on mornings so their afternoons are focused on the design side of the project. Fridays are the days they handle billing, etc. Find a system of organizing the roles so that it works best for you. My personal process is I write down all the positions of a project and under those positions I write what needs to happen, when it should happen, and how long I have to do it. For example “Copywriter>Edit Down Article to Fit Layout>2 Hours>By Friday”. Once I have this all figured out, I put it into my calendar and block out time based on position and need. Once my blocks are full, I can evaluate needing to work longer days or if I want to hire in extra resources. This is great because it puts you in a position to decide what you want to do, and what you need to contract out. This level of organization and focus should better insure you make less mistakes and that you’re giving your very best to each role for success.


Ooh Shiny
Some people are not meant to quality check their own work, I honestly and strongly believe that. It doesn’t make them any less skilled, or any less valuable, but it’s not in their personality to recheck their work. For me, these are the “artists”. Their minds wander, they are easily distracted, always looking for a potential muse, and maybe they’ve stayed attentive long enough to get that one killer part of a project done. It’s important to recognize and admit if you’re this sort of person. It’s considered by some to be ADD, and I won’t comment on that because I’m not a medical professional. However, the personality type is real, and for as brilliant as their talents can be, their mistakes potentially rival in scale.
Solution: Don’t work alone, and never put yourself on a timeline you can’t meet. Pad your time knowing that you will need it or create a distraction free work environment. That could mean turning off email, IM and phones during certain times of day while you produce work. Find others you can collaborate with, bounce ideas off of, and get spot checks of what you’re doing. Make sure the client understands exactly what you’re willing to deliver and what you’re not willing to do. This might sound like you’re cutting off the potential for more work but it’s better to have clients hiring you know exactly what you are providing them. If you don’t do research well, make sure they understand they are providing you with the necessary information formatted for the project because you won’t read it and edit it down. The best carpenter can charge more than an average handyman.


Ass-U-Me
A group project, great! You’re doing the layouts so you don’t have to bother checking if Bobby’s copy has spelling errors, right? It’s dangerous to assume roles on a project when they haven’t been clearly defined by anyone. It’s even worse when there’s no project manager to define responsibilities. I care much less about my title position on a project and much more about my responsibilities for it’s success. At the end of a project when the final deliverable is sent, a client will never accept the granular elements of a project and alienate the mistakes by category alone. Either the project is right, or it’s not. This is a shared responsibility and one often lost when there are no clear guidelines for expectations established early on.
Solution: At the beginning of a project launch ask for it to be clearly stated by the Project Manager or Client exactly what roles each of you will fulfill. If you think that’s not possible, state the roles and responsibilities yourself. Make sure everyone agrees, and if they don’t agree continue to rework the list until all responsibilities are met. In some cases the list might only be you, but now you have a checklist for each individual component you must deliver. There will be no surprises, and now you can focus on tasks without fear. It also can help illustrate the dispersion of work on a project which can lead to support before you have to cry for help.


Miscommunication
You weren’t sure what they meant in the meeting? You didn’t want to sound dumb so you didn’t say anything about it. You didn’t set expectations back to your client for when they need to get you the content, or logo, or image, etc. If you don’t communicate clearly, and I mean with complete transparency, you’re setting yourself up for failure. If it comes out towards the end of a project, you have less time to address the issue because the deadline is closer now then it ever was. Worse, the solution means reworking a lot of the project, ouch again! I’d rather be told I over communicate and make very few mistakes versus over simplify something very technical because I didn’t have the confidence to ask the client something. Often designers feel like they have to be an expert at everything to be able to design for it. This is extremely bad practice because it’s theoretically impossible. In the same week I’ve worked on projects for companies like Nokia and Genentech. There’s no way I could possibly be an expert on mobile technologies at the same time as I need to be a master of bio-tech.
Solution: You have to ask if you’re not certain and don’t understand something. Beyond stating the obvious about the potential risks, I often find that if a client’s information is so complex that I can’t understand it, there’s a good chance their target audience won’t either. They hired you for design, but it’s true that you’re biggest value add is being a sounding board for their message. To test it’s ability to be communicated visually, and how well it will be received. Try restating the information and see if the client agrees with you. Many times I find they’ve never heard their own content explained back. They may have never heard it translated and re-voiced. This can cause a better alignment of messaging, thinking, and ideation between you and the client both. If you have a client that doesn’t want to collaborate like this live then shoot them an email breaking out your understanding of each part of the project and let them correct it, mark it up, edit like a madman free with a red pen. In fact, I welcome that sort of approach. I often tell clients, please go through this and let me know what needs to be changed because “I WANT TO BE SURE IT’S RIGHT FOR YOU!”. That usually creates an appreciation for the attention to detail you’re bringing to the team.


Selling Short
Taking on a project that will allow you to use some skills you haven’t developed fully is a great opportunity to learn something in a real world scenario. Necessity being that mother of invention, sometimes this happens under duress versus desire. I for one have learned in all my years that I should NOT do 3D modeling work, and dance the line on coding for websites. But I’ve made the mistake of saying “yes”, that I’d give it a try because of time restraints, unavailable resources, or the client doesn’t have the money. The result is almost always, just ok work, long days with late nights, a less than happy client, and me being underpaid for my effort and overpaid for my delivery.
Solution: Know your strongest abilities, not just your technical/vocational skills. What are your individual strengths that allow you to add value to a project? I can do a lot of things, but I know I’m a strong Photoshop/Illustrator user. That’s good as a technical skill but another skill I’ve realized I have is that I can create a lot of ideas very fast. Without hesitation I can generate a pool of ideas while others are still deciding if their first idea is worth exploring. This will help when assigning roles mentioned earlier, knowing your strongest contribution puts you in a great position of success with the projects you take on.


Stylistically Challenged
No designer likes to hear this one. “You’re not the right person for the job”. But you know all the latest techniques for the applications like Photoshop and Illustrator, you can “make” anything, why wouldn’t you be the right person? Simple, it’s a project that isn’t in your style. Think of this like fashion design and styling. Whoever is designing should hopefully have a passion and proficiency in the style they are working towards. Design for work that aligns with you, your style, interests, passions, and successes. If you do great grungy textured urban looking work. Then don’t take the project for the chain of childcare businesses around your state. It’s not what you do, it’s not where your mind eye lives. How many times have you seen a logo for a business that looks like it was done in a conflicting style? This is what I’m talking about, and we’ve all seen examples of this. Comic Sans used for construction companies and an Apple Chancery font used for a electronica-dance club. Yikes.
Solution: Get portfolio reviews, look for peer feedback often of your latest work, and start building a digital style box of other designer’s work that you would compare to your own. Do a side by side of their work and yours and see if other people agree with your comparison. The goal here is to gain a real perspective on your work, versus your definitive perception. For years my wife, another designer who I respect dearly, called my personal illustrations cute. I hated this, the word seemed dirty and rude to my work. I collected samples of my personal illustrations and asked for feedback from many designers and illustrators I respected. “Cute”, was a common descriptor amongst others. That was it! I had to change, or accept that I illustrated “cute” things.


Silo
Don’t work in one. This echoes some of the other mistakes mentioned but can also be identified by the lack of collaboration on a project. Working in a silo is a cause for errors, it’s when you isolate yourself on a project, and it isn’t seen by anyone, before it goes to a client. You don’t want your client to be the person who edits your work and catches your mistakes. Their edit requests should be ones that come from being inspired by your efforts and ignite more ideas in them. In future you’ll be seen as a creative resource that can consult versus the person who can “get it done”. When I was a teacher I told my students, “never trust your success in the hands of others”. That holds true at the base level. You assume the project manager will catch any mistakes and hopefully tell you about them. The project manager is busy and assumes you didn’t make any mistakes because you’re “awesome” and they trust you. This is probably the cause of projects ending up on those design disaster websites where hundreds of comments are left about how “stupid” you are for missing something so simple, but every designer has missed something. You don’t want your work to end up there I imagine.
Solution: Get extra people to review your work and it doesn’t have to be another designer. In fact I recommend that you have a non-designer look at it objectively for every project you work on. My friends who aren’t designers will often question the simplest things that cause me to change my designs. The “a-ha” moment comes more often this way. Think of this as research, and everyone else is studying your project. Does it say what it’s supposed to? Is it communicating properly? Extra pairs of eyes are helpful, and often inspire greater work. I utilize friends over IM, via email, those who sit next to me, anyone really I believe is confident enough to give me honest feedback. Take a screenshot of your work, and share it, be open to feedback and critiques and consider it a success if on the first pass it comes back covered in questions and change requests. Now, it’s aligned for success thanks to that open feedback. This takes removing a little bit of ego, but it’s worth it for your career.


Married by Design
Don’t marry your work! Younger designers are brilliant, they have a fresh sense of style, and what’s going on in current culture. However, they often are the ones that get emotionally attached to their projects and want to see their ideas “win”. Unless you’re Charlie Sheen, winning isn’t your goal. This is when creative types treat their projects like contests. I’ve seen it, and I’m equally guilty of it. That doesn’t mean to not voice the strengths of your ideas and concepts, but question your motives. In college I was taught “an artist has one person to please but a designer has the client’s audience to consider first”. Sometimes even the client is married to their own idea and it can be difficult, and require some courage, to explain why it’s not the best concept.
Solution: For each project there is usually a list of goals. If I’m the facilitator of a project I like to start each one with a “need and brief” breakdown. The “need” is a list of goals for the project. You should attempt to isolate this list down to one parent need that all others are a sub goal to. Make it clear and well stated so everyone agrees to the parent need. The more well isolated the need, the greater chance you have of accomplishing it with solid design. The “brief” is what creates some of your design restrictions. The “brief” is the rules behind your project. “You must use this color, it must use this font, it must…”. For large corporate work they often have branding guidelines or a design strategy that you will adhere to. When you have boutique clients the structure isn’t usually so well defined. Think of the “brief” as your QC checklist for meeting standards. If your client is small and doesn’t have any, now is the time to start defining some of those and maybe they’ll see you as the master visionary of their brand. When you start following a “need and brief” approach to projects it will help you be strategic to specific goals instead of just marrying your ideas and fighting for their place in a project. This will help you learn to be a better facilitator and leader of work.


Numbers
We’ve all seen the projects that have little inconsistencies that make it feel just slightly under-polished. Maybe they ran out of time, maybe they ran out of budget, or maybe the designer just didn’t work systematically versus organically. Some shadows varying on objects, leading on different blocks of text varies, the list goes on. The look is there, and it’s impressive, but the client wants that now applied to a 200 slide presentation, or equivalent page count for a website, how easy is it to reproduce? There’s a reason the old design rule Keep It Simple Stupid exists. It’s not just to help design clean elegant work, sometimes it’s about the ability to be consistent.
Solution: The tools now offer everything up in some form of numbers. The angle of, shadows, blur, kerning, leading, pagination, picas, pixels, inches, dpi, lpi, and more. If you can create a style guide, or cheat sheet on a project that tells you the numerical value of something then it can be reproduced consistently. More importantly it can be shared so anyone else working on the project can produce consistently with you. Getting everyone on the same page takes guidance, and guidance comes from clear instruction backed by solid examples. Break down a checklist for your project so someone can use it as a QC check list before delivering to the client. Are the fonts all the right size? Are the colors correct? A simple list can speed up quality checking, offer better accuracy, and make the process more efficient.

20 Excellent Web Design Tutorials Using Photoshop

Via: cssrex.com

Designing is one of the most crucial step of  Web Development. The first thing that leaves an impact on a user is the design layout of a website. Photoshop is the tool of choice of most of the Web Designers. In photoshop, we can create almost evrything from small buttons and boxes to complete layouts and illustrations. Keeping that in mind, i have summed up 20 step by step tutorials that can help you in mastering website layout designing using Photoshop.

1. Design a Professional Portfolio Web Layout

Paul Rand

Paul Rand: Wikipedia (link)

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A conversation with Paul Rand

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An interview with Paul Rand (a 3 fold interview by Miggs Burroughs)

Part One:

Part Two:

Part Three:

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All about Paul Rand

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Thanks to LDL

web 2

The key feature of modern web design is simplicity. and some of the features that make a modern web page look fresh, appealing and easy to use.

The great sites above share the following design features:

• Simple layout
• Centered orientation
• Design the content, not the page
• 3D effects, used sparingly
• Soft, neutral background colours
• Strong colour, used sparingly
• Cute icons, used sparingly
• Plenty of whitespace
• Nice big text

Let's look at these features one by one [here].

Web Typography Sins - Top Ten

- By Steven D.

While many designers have been quick to embrace web standards, it’s surprising how often the basic standards of typography are neglected. Here are ten deadly sins to avoid in your web typography:

1. Using hyphens instead of an em dash

If you need to interrupt yourself, do it with an em dash (—) instead of a pair of minus signs. This is a top pet peeve for countless editors.

2. Using periods instead of ellipses.

Most fonts provide a dedicated ellipsis character (…) to keep your type tidy. The ellipsis character fits the three dots into a single letterspace, which is especially beneficial for content that might be printed.

3. Using dumb quotes

These straight “up and down” quotes used in your markup should stay in your markup. In your content, only use them to indicate a measurement in feet or inches.

4. Double-spacing between sentences.

The antiquated practice of double-spacing between sentences seemed like it was finally laid to rest thanks to web typography. Just a few short years ago, it required manually inserting a blank ASCII space to commit this font faux pas. Now, some content management systems will actually format the double-spacing for you if you let them. Don’t give them the chance! Only use single spaces between sentences.

5. Improvising a copyright symbol.

Not only is it ugly and lazy, a copyright symbol hacked together out of a capital C and parenthesis might not even cut the mustard in court. Use the real McCoy (©), and bill your clients extra for the legal advice.

6. Using too much emphasis.

You can bold text. You can italicize it. You can underline it. You can even use all caps if you really need to hammer home your point. Just don’t use more than one at the same time.

7. Underlining your hypertext links.

Underlines cut right through the descenders in your typeface, making it harder to read. Instead of text-decoration: underline;, use border-bottom: solid 1px #00f; to draw a line below your text instead of through it.

8. Faking families in Photoshop.

If your font doesn’t offer (or you couldn’t afford) the bold, italic, or smallcaps branches of the family tree, don’t try to fake it in Photoshop. Sometimes you can get away with it in print, but at web resolutions, it’ll be a mess.

9. Not using accent characters.

I know how annoying they can be (especially when you’re writing about Ikea furniture), but if somebody’s name includes an exotic character, be polite and include it.

10. Not using CSS for capitalization effects.

I know it’s CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, but if you’re using caps (or lowercase) for decorative reasons, be sure to use the text-transform property. It’ll save a lot of trouble if you ever decide to change things later.

About the author

Steven D. is a web developer so secretive that he won’t even tell you his last name without entering a mutually-binding NDA. In his free time, he enjoys working instead of enjoying his free time.

My Secret Weapon to Getting Contracts

- By Hollis Bartlett

In my first days of freelance web design, I did all the right things to get business — web-site done, Chamber of Commerce joined, social media networking done. So why wasn’t the phone ringing? I suspect many freelancers feel the same way. The big question remained: where do I get business?

Then I discovered a secret weapon. I wanted local business, as it’s easier to build referrals that way. I went through the local directory looking at businesses without web-sites, or with very old and poor sites and made a list. I made a small brochure, put on some decent clothes, grabbed my business cards and actually physically walked into their offices! I got enough business within two days to keep me busy for months, and had a blast at the same time.

It seems many of us have trouble getting over the fear of actual cold-calling. We will do anything possible to avoid it. We will waste time on catching up on blogs, RSS feeds, Facebook, anything to avoid cold-calling, and still chalk it up as ‘work’. However, once you try this method you will forget all other marketing ideas.

So, if you are new into freelancing, or business is slow, try the GOYAKOD method — Get Off Your Ass and Knock On Doors!

About the author

Hollis Bartlett is a full-time freelance web designer & developer located in Nova Scotia. He loves the freelance lifestyle as it gives him flexible time to spend with his wife, 3 daughters, supports a blacksmithing hobby and still gets the bills paid.

Who Do You Design For: Clients or Users?

- By Brian Haught

If you close your eyes and think back to the first design fundamentals class you ever took hopefully you remember the instructor saying,”When beginning a design ask yourself who is your audience? If you don’t know who you are designing for then how can you design anything at all?”

Fast forward to the present. Now you are a freelance designer, you have met with the client, discussed what they want and agreed to do the job. Suddenly the client sends you a sketch of a horrible monstrosity of a design so unholy your eyes begin to burn. The client attached instructions that do not resemble the previous discussions and break every rule you can imagine.

Now ask yourself, “Who are you designing for?” By definition, your job is to communicate a message via images and text. But, as a businessperson your goal must be to meet the requests of the client. If you go against the client’s explicit requests and produce a user-centric design, oddly enough you’ll have an unhappy client. Now the flip side of the coin. If you cooperate, lay down your sword, turn off the grids and produce what the client has demanded, the design will fail and in turn you will fail. The bad design will always come back like Rocky and smash you right in the face.

I still feel there is no right answer, but all I can do is plead my case. This is the very definition of a catch-22 and this 800 pound gorilla shows no signs of going away. I get down on all fours and beg the client not to demand drop shadows and convince them that whitespace is a beautiful thing and is not to be confused with wasted space.

About the author

After several years as a corporate slave and servant to the public Brian Haught got a wild hair and went to college. Today he landed a position as Art Director for a local company where he oversees and implement the print and online advertising. He manages to do several freelance jobs a year and find time to play video games. You know the important stuff. All in all he is just a guy who likes design, art and anything “techy”.

Note

This post is one of the finalists of guest author contest on smashingmagazine.com.

Tips on principles of Design

four principles of design: balance, emphasis, rhythm, and unity. Below are some tips on the same.

Balance:

• Repeat a specific shape at regular intervals, either horizontally or vertically.
• Center elements on a page.
• Put several small visuals in one area to balance a single large image or block of text.
• Use one or two odd shapes and make the rest regular shapes.
• Lighten a text-heavy piece with a bright, colorful visual.
• Leave plenty of white space around large blocks of text or dark photographs
• Offset a large, dark photograph or illustration with several small pieces of text, each surrounded by a lot of white space.

Rhythm:

• Repeat a series of similarly shaped elements, with even white spaces between each, to create a regular rhythm.
• Repeat a series of progressively larger elements with larger white spaces between each for a progressive rhythm.
• Alternate dark, bold type and light, thin type.
• Alternate dark pages (with lots of type or dark graphics) with light pages (with less type and light-colored graphics).
• Repeat a similar shape in various areas of a layout.
• Repeat the same element in the same position on every page of a printed publication such as a newsletter.

Emphasis:

• Use a series of evenly spaced, square photographs next to an outlined photograph with an unusual shape.
• Put an important piece of text on a curve or an angle while keeping all of the other type in straight columns.
• Use bold, black type for headings and subheads and much lighter text for all other text. Place a large picture next to a small bit of text.
• Reverse (use white type) a headline out of a black or colored box.
• Use colored type or an unusual font for the most important information.
• Put lists you want to highlight in a sidebar in a shaded box.

Unity:

• Use only one or two typestyles and vary size or weight for contrast throughout the publication, presentation, or web site.
• Be consistent with the type font, sizes, and styles for headings, subheads, captions, headers, footers, etc. throughout the publication, presentation, or web site.
• Use the same color palette throughout.
• Repeat a color, shape, or texture in different areas throughout.
• Choose visuals that share a similar color, theme, or shape.Line up photographs and text with the same grid lines.

Graphic Design?

Graphic design is the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information. Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Like other forms of design, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

• Graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge.
• Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation of text.
• Intricate and clever pictures are used when words cannot suffice.
• Graphic design helps set the theme and the intended mood.
  

Tool:
The primary tool for graphic design is the creative mind.

Critical, observational, quantitative and analytic thinking are required for designing page layout and rendering.

Uses:

Administration - road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals.

Advertising - sell a product or idea through effective visual communications, Elements of company identity like logos, colors, and text, together defined as branding.

Education - Graphics in textbooks.

Entertainment - From decoration, to scenery, to visual story telling. Cover to cover in novels and comic books, from opening credits to closing credits in film, from programs to props on stage.

Journalism - scientific journals to news reporting - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries use to inform and entertain.

Web - (Graphic designers are often involved in web design) Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site and enhance the online experience of web site visitors.

>> List of notable graphic designers <<
>> List of graphic design institutions <<

Free Color Manipulation tools on the web

Here are some of my favorite online tools for exploring and manipulating colors.
These are free and simple color manipulation tools which require NO installation and can be easily used off the web.

• Color Blender — Very convenient tool to blend any two colors with a varying number of midpoints

• Color Code Chooser — tool helps you manipulate colors in a number of very helpful ways.

Auto designers set to ride the Nano wave

When Ratan Tata drove the ‘Made in India’ car, Nano, at the Auto Expo, the world applauded the Indian enterprise. Suddenly, global auto leaders are on hot trail for Indian designers who can sculpt automobiles to perfection.

If until now it was Pune-based automobile designer Dilip Chhabria whose castle on wheels have been driving home style and flamboyance, the advent of Nano has spurred the present breed of designers to take India to the world through their designs. Pinnen Ferina, Renault , Ford and General Motors among others are looking at Indian designers for their future models.

Finally, the world has woken to the paradigm shift in Indian automobile industry, says National Institute of Design’s principal designer (faculty of industrial design) Pradyumna Vyas.

“If IT ruled the roost in 1990s, this will be an era of automobile designers. With Indian designers thinking out of the box and daring to dream beyond the obvious, the good times for the sector have just set in,” he said.

Mr Vyas who worked with Tata Motor’s design team in Pune for ideation on the small car in mid-2000 even guided three NID students to create concept small cars in 2005.

Vyas told ET, “There is more to Nano than miniaturisation — it is a trend setter and a technological marvel. With automobile industry realising that sheer styling can put their product on the forefront, automobile designers have plethora of opportunities ahead of them.”

Nano has stamped its approval on the capability of Indian automobile designers. No one feels it more than Chennai-based Rajesh Mirajker who was the Tata Motors consultant in 2003 when the decision to go ahead with Nano was frozen by Ratan Tata.

Mr Mirajker is the proprietor of industrial designing firm Mirajker Design. He told said, “Tata has designed an Indian car for Indians. Importantly, it is even designed and styled by Indians and that is what is significant. Nano made ‘Made in India’ dream shape in a big way for the automobile sector.”

Mr Mirajker said designing a small car was a challenge as the team had to get the right mix of parameters — technical, marketing, manufacturing and homologation — to make ends meet, it proved the might of Indian designers.

“The ball has been set rolling. Indian designers must continue to churn out more revolutionary products,” he said. Further, with the likes of Pinnen Ferina, Renault, Ford and General Motors reaching out to Indian designers, there is no time to be lost for designers to join the automobile design revolution era, he said.

Experts say the car has opened up a new world of automobile design to Indian companies and professionals.

- The Economic Times
By: Shramana Ganguly Mehta, TNN

Typographer's ToolBox

This is a little resource for anybody interested in graphic design. Here, I will expel my knowledge in a very basic manner. Previous versions of the Toolbox have been quite wordy, so I'm going to try to cut down and get straight to the point.

Typeface Use
Use one typeface per design. If absolutely necessary, use 2. However, make sure each has a specific purpose. One might be for important information, the other might be for body copy.

Lorem Ipsum
Lorem Ipsum is dummy copy. It's filler just to see how a paragraph of type will look on a design. Check out [link] for a Lorem Ipsum Generator.

Design Software
The following is a list of design software and what it should be used for:

• Adobe Illustrator.

Use this for single-page layouts, logo design, illustration, typesetting. Do not use Illustrator for editing photographs, making website layouts, or making multiple-page designs. It gets a bit laggy when setting a big block of text, so use InDesign for the larger jobs.

• Adobe Photoshop

Use this for editing photography, drawing photographic imagery, and designing web-page layouts. Do not use Photoshop for typesetting, making document layouts, or multiple-page designs.

• Adobe InDesign

Use this for multiple page layout design. It can also be used for typesetting, but it does not have as many drawing capabilities as Illustrator. It's really best when you have a lot of text to set. Do not use InDesign for editing photographs or making websites.

• Macromedia Flash

This is ONLY good for animation/interfaces. It is functional as a website design program, but it requires a lot of additional coding knowledge that many creative people do not have. Do not use Flash for any print work at all. It is only good for web use.

• Macromedia Freehand

This program is comparable to Adobe Illustrator. It doesn't work exactly the same, but it can do a lot of the same illustration things. If you're comfortable with Freehand, by all means use it as you would Illustrator. However, be aware that it is not compatible with any Adobe programs, and is likely to be discontinued because of the recent acquisition of Macromedia by Adobe.

• Macromedia Dreamweaver

This is what I use for website compilation. I don't actually design the website here. Instead, I drag and drop elements and do some code editing. It's simple and fast, but not entirely necessary if you can write code by hand. It is also known for being a poor WYSIWYG, in that what it shows you is not always exactly how it'll look in a web browser.

• Quark Xpress

Do not use Quark for anything. Some people are happy with Quark, but I am wary to trust them. Quark is comparable to InDesign in many ways, but its usability is very low and it is not at all intuitive. All good printers have switched over to InDesign, so there is absolutely no reason to continue using Quark unless you're stuck in the stone age. Okay, that may have been harsh, but Quark has become dramatically surpassed by InDesign in every way. There's no reason to keep using a sub-par program.

• Final Cut Pro

This is for film/video editing. I prefer this program to After Effects, but the downside is that Final Cut Pro is only for Mac computers. Final Cut is the industry standard for film editing.

• Adobe After Effects

Comparable to Final Cut Pro, but a little more confusing. The interface is similar to most familiar Adobe interfaces, but it doesn't functional as well as it should and runs a little slower than I'd like. Still, it can do most everything Final Cut can.

Typesetting
Setting type is an important skill. So is spelling. When setting type, give it at least 5pt of tracking, and it's usually a good idea to give it good leading. Make the leading equal or 2pts higher than the size of the type, and you should be fine. Also, be sure to kern by hand. Kerning is adjusting the spacing in between individual letters, while tracking is the spacing in between all of the letters as a whole. Computers cannot kern well by themselves just yet, so it is up to designers to know how to do it.

Printing
Finding a good print source is important for any designer. Most offset printers are crap, so here are some things to look for:

1. Do they care about your project? If they treat your project like a hassle, don't give them your business.

2. Do they print using PMS (pantone) colors? A good printer will. This is also referred to as offset printing. A good offset printer will use Heidleberg printers.

3. Are they willing to work with you on the price? Good printers can give you discounts if you ask. They might not be huge, but every bit helps.

4. Nearby Location. It's a good idea to find a printer close to you. Don't use internet-based printing companies unless their printing locations is nearby. Why does this matter? You need to be able to go on press checks, and by living nearby you'll also save on shipping costs. If you can pick the work up yourself, why bother shipping?

5. Do they allow and encourage press checks? A press check is when you, the designer, visit the printer to see the status of your print run. Check to make sure the color is accurate, and there is no blurring or smudging. If your project is worth a lot of money, most printers will treat you to lunch as well.

6. Do they support InDesign? Most all reputable printers have switched from Quark to InDesign, but there are still a handful that don't yet support it. Don't bother using a company that doesn't support InDesign, as they are clearly outdated.

Two good printers in the Los Angeles area:
Typecraft - These guys print all of the stuff for AIGA. They're expensive, but they're damn good.
Digital Room - A small print house. They mostly say they do 4-color printing, but they can also do PMS. Prices are cheap, but they can be a bit of a hassle to work with. They require a credit card to begin work, and rarely return calls on time. You really get what you pay for, in terms of service.

Logo Design
A good logo is unique, looks good, is appropriate, and is very graphic.
So, to elaborate, the logo should not look like any other logo. It should be pleasing to look at. It should fit with the company it's supposed to be for. It should be able to scale up and down and still look the same (you shouldn't lose lines or shapes at small sizes).

Logo vs. Logotype
A lot of idiots have argued with me on this. A logo is an all-inclusive term used to refer to any symbol used to represent something. A logotype is a logo made out of type.
If you want to get more technical, a mark is the symbol portion of an identity. A logotype is the lettering portion. A signature is the entire identity system as a whole.

Be Simple
Keep your message simple. Don't overcomplicate the idea you're trying to convey. If your design looks good, but is conceptually weak, then you've failed in design. Design isn't supposed to just look good, it's supposed to give people a message quickly and clearly. This is why graphic design is referred to as a communication art.

Soliciting Work
If you know of a company that needs a new logo, don't go out of your way to tell them how crappy their logo is. Instead, have a meeting with the owner of the company. Talk to him about how you have some idea that could improve his business. Let him know how a new or appropriate identity could attract more people and make him look more professional. Do not hand him your design. Even if you don't want money, it's good to get in the habit of getting paid for your work. If he owns a restaurant, he can pay you in food. If he owns a car wash, he can give you some free car washes. Your design is valuable, so don't short-change yourself.

Should You Be a Graphic Designer?
Not all artists are graphic designers, but all graphic designers are artists.
Just because you can draw well does not mean you have the knack for design. A good graphic designer looks at intricate details, and understands that everything has meaning. A good designer also has the ability to see things through the non-designer's eye. If you've always had a preoccupation with colors and shapes, see if graphic design is something you might be interested in.

- by Ryan Ford on DA

Your Creative Life

Get A Life (And Other Remedies for Creative Atrophy)

When creative impulses are few and far between , designers often turn to outside sources for a boost. Whether it's hiking in the mountains, getting a tattoo or bringing your pet iguana to the office, this freedom to explore your inner child feeds your business finesse.

- by Jenny Pfalzgraf

Wouldn't it be great if you could go to a brain spa to get steamed and exfoliated of dead ideas, kneaded into shape and primed for creative brilliance? Imagine if, for the low, low price of $49.95, you could wrap yourself in a tinfoil cocoon, shed your inhibitions and, in a matter of hours, emerge as raw and unbiased as a newborn.

Unfortunately, there aren't any snake-oil cures for creative brain-block. Innovation can't be bought or patented that easily; if it could, we'd all be Einsteins. But you can clear your head of stagnating ideas—a condition Doug Hall refers to as "mental constipation" in his book Jump Start Your Brain. It all starts with the environment you call work.

Today's most enlightened design teams are embracing the fact that creativity gestates in weird and mysterious ways. Creativity is a byproduct of life—not just a 9-to-5 exercise. Smart companies are giving their designers the chance to have a life, with hopes of seeing a creative ROI (return on investment). Here's the scoop on some of the creativity boosters they endorse.

Exploring the Mind/Body Connection

Creativity is often described as a "muscle" that needs exercising to stay in shape. While this is true, it doesn't help to bench-press your creativity to death at the expense of your other body parts. Sometimes the best way to rejuvenate your creative prowess is to ignore it for a while and take in a good physical workout. "Fitness is a big part of our culture," says Rex Peteet of

Sibley Peteet Design in Austin, Texas. "One year, we all did a lot of mountain biking. Then we bought a Foosball table. Next we got hooked on Frisbee golf." The firm's designers are as adventurous with sports as they are with new projects. You can't help but wonder if there's a correlation.

At Tran Interactive Design Group, a Washington, D.C.-area multimedia boutique, exercise isn't mandatory—but it is subsidized. Soccer games, swing dancing, rafting, skiing and self-defense classes are factored into the firm's annual budget. "When people have fun, it's reflected in the energy they bring to their work," says Creative Director Hung Tran. "It's well worth the investment."

Some firms take the idea of sports therapy to extremes. Last year, the creative trio at MB Design in Bellingham, WA, expanded its horizons (literally) by climbing 10,778 feet to the summit of Mt. Baker in Washington's North Cascades. "It was a personal goal that each of us had," says owner Matt Barnhart, who footed the bill for the two-day excursion. "I wanted the office to do something as a team that was healthy and would create a sense of camaraderie." It worked.

"On the mountain, we were all roped together," says designer Sean Fields. "If you fell into a crevasse, you literally had to rely on the others to save your life. We all saw each other in a different way. When we got back to the office, I think we all felt more open to discuss new ideas and voice our opinions."

Getting Out in the World

Even if your studio is situated in a particularly swanky city, it's still only one point on the map. That's why Minneapolis-based Kilter Inc. sends its people to "walk" other cities to collect creative artifacts. A fully loaded sensory experience is good for stimulating new ideas.

Recently, the firm dispatched two designers to New York City to prepare for a re-branding project for Lidz, a Boston-based hat seller with 300 stores nationwide. "We wanted to study how consumers experience a brand in other places," says Kilter Creative Director Cynthia Knox. "So we sent two of our people to study retailers that are masters at defining the brand experience for the customer—companies like Starbucks, Ralph Lauren and the Gap." Kilter's explorers observed the latest trends, "took tons of pictures and lugged stuff back to present to the whole group."

Taking a more global approach to cultural anthropology, Peekskill, NY-based YOE Studio will soon swap staff members with an Australian design shop through an international exchange program. The three-month stint "down under" will broaden YOE's window to the world.

Escape from Reality

Then again, inspiration is sometimes readily available in your own backyard. At the Los Angeles arm of TBWA/Chiat/Day, designers don't even have to leave the office to get a change of scenery. The mega-agency recently moved into a 100,000sq.ft. warehouse that's anything but typical. Billed as an "advertising city," the space houses a full-length basketball court, an indoor park with trees, three-story cliff dwellings, and workspaces—called "nests"—designed to nurture innovative thought.

"There are lots of places to escape within the building," says agency spokesperson Jeremy Miller. "Of course, employees are allowed to leave at their leisure, too. They can do whatever they need to grow professionally. It's an extremely open environment that enables the creative process to happen the way it needs to happen."

On the opposite coast, YOE Studio shares this "otherworldly" philosophy. Located in a 19th century Gothic-revival castle overlooking the Hudson River, the company sports a picturesque facade. But when you go inside, all hell breaks loose. The studio—which caters to kid audiences via clients like Nickelodeon, Mattel and Disney—is self-consciously loony. The "corporate" conference room features Mickey Mouse-shaped furniture surrounded by treehouse wall murals. YOE's hot-pink bathroom doubles as a shrine for Barbie memorabilia; the green bathroom pays homage to Kermit and the gang from "Sesame Street."

"Our designers thrive in this unorthodox atmosphere," says co-owner Craig Yoe, a self-professed pop-culture addict. To discourage routines, Yoe summons his 21 staffers to impromptu readings of Dr. Seuss and to brown-bag lunch screenings of movies like Austin Powers. The team also benefits from weekly "Yell and Tell" sessions, in which "aliens" from the real world enter the castle and share their expertise. "We've invited illustrators, animators and even the town historian to come talk about what they do," Yoe says. Most recently, the company entertained a local tattoo artist. After discussing his craft, the artisan offered a live demonstration of his skill, using a willing employee as a guinea pig.

"The dichotomy here is that we're all still kids, but we treat everybody like adults," Yoe says. "We trust that everyone is going to do their work. I'm not interested in micromanaging—or really managing at all."

What's next for this off-the-wall studio? YOE is flying the entire staff to

London for a weekend of fun, bonding and British culture.

Getting Down and Dirty

Most designers don't enjoy the luxury of castle living. But many are finding other ways to channel bygone eras in the name of creativity. One rejuvenation practice that's increasingly popular is making art the old-fashioned way—without a computer, that is.

Six years ago, Nerve, a Cincinnati-based design firm, began hosting digital-free creative sessions known as "Crafternoons." "I wanted to work collaboratively and to make things with my hands," says founder Lori Siebert. Once the idea caught on, local designers began making bimonthly pilgrimages to Nerve (at the time known as Siebert Design Associates) to get a creative fix. Although their handmade items were routinely auctioned off to charities, participants left each session with something else to take home—creative inspiration.

"People were jumping in, and it was changing their lives," Siebert recalls. "It was amazing. They might not have sewn or sculpted in a year, but they'd resolve to start again. Another staff member and I started illustrating as a result. Illustration has since become another stream of revenue for our company."

Perhaps the best-known champion of handmade art is greeting-card giant

Hallmark. With a creative staff of more than 740 (the world's largest), the Kansas City, MO-based company churns out roughly 11,000 new and 8,000 redesigned cards per year, not to mention licensed products. Hallmark expects its employees to produce, but it also gives them the time they need to explore creative ideas without the looming pressure to generate deliverables.

Among its countless perks, the company offers workshops ranging from experimenting with traditional oils to textile art to blacksmithing to birdhouse-making. These are conducted during company time, and they aren't necessarily intended to produce salable items. Senior creatives at Hallmark have the option of embarking on independent study sabbaticals or "rotations" at the company's vast Rice Center facility and at its Kearney studio, a 300-acre working farm.

Last year, Hallmark illustrator Denise Chevalier took a four-month hiatus from her "regular" job with Shoebox Greetings to experiment with raku-fired ceramics, primitive rug-hooking, mosaic art, Native American seed beading and automata (mechanical sculpture). "I made a hand-powered wood sculpture with gears," she says. "When you turn the handle, this fox tries to catch prairie dogs that are jumping down into their holes. I also made one of a bear trying to catch trout leaping upstream. These projects challenged me to use my design sense, to carve and to assemble found objects. I also worked with color.

"For me, it was an exercise in renewal," continues Chevalier, a 22-year Hallmark veteran. "It wasn't really about the objects themselves that I was making. It was the problem-solving aspect that was really enlightening. It's a win-win situation for Hallmark and for me. I learn something new and, in the best possible scenario, something new may eventually appear in the card line."

During an age in which corporate loyalty is virtually unheard of, it's no wonder so many designers continue to log lifelong careers with Hallmark: They never get bored.

There's No Place Like Home

In the end, field trips and sabbaticals are only effective if the progenies can return home to a comfortable workspace and implement what they've learned. A studio whose environment isn't conducive to creative noodling will never get the most from its staff—no matter how often it sends them away for rehab.

When it comes to nurturing creativity, there's a lot to be said for stress control. Tran Interactive Design Group keeps its employees sane by offering alternative work hours (a 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. schedule lets staffers miss rush-hour traffic), plus a fully stocked fridge and a studio where pets are welcome. "We want people to come here focusing on work—not on the errands they didn't have time to run, or that they're hungry, or that they need to let the dog out," says co-founder Tran. "Also, having animals around is a good release. With dogs in the room, you can't take yourself too seriously.

Creativity is born when you're relaxed and having fun. Next week, we're going to bake homemade dog biscuits."

On the 100-acre campus of SAS Institute, a major software developer located just outside Raleigh, NC, staff designers enjoy a 36,000sq.ft. gym, unlimited sick time, free self-serve soda fountains and a bottomless supply of M&Ms (the company purchases roughly 23 tons per year). But for Lynn Scott, SAS manager of visual communications design, the cushiest benefit is free, on-site daycare.

"There's nothing that can compare to having your child well cared for while you're at work," says Scott, a single mom. "I've been appalled to attend design conferences where female design leaders have more or less said women have to choose between being a mother or mothering their work. No profession should support such a prejudice against women." Knowing that her son is in good hands, Scott is able to focus more intently on environmental graphics, ads, collateral materials, conference programs and being creative.

Taking Responsibility for Your Creative Muse

In the quest for creative fulfillment, it's always tempting to blame your clients if you're feeling impotent. This kind of self-imposed victimhood will get you nowhere fast.

Kilter Inc. avoids this slippery slope by not relying on clients to shape all of its creative pursuits. Under the name Kilter Industries, the company runs a product-development lab that produces, among other things, a groovy line of watches that the firm licenses to retailers and manufacturers. "We don't just wait for clients to give us directions," Knox says. "We brainstorm for really good product or packaging ideas, mock them up and try to sell the rights."

Not by coincidence, Kilter is following up its identity project for Lidz by designing a new line of hats for the company. "The interesting paradox with design firms is that you have all these great creatives working for you, but clients are the ones dictating needs and parameters," Knox says. "Product design creates a role reversal. It gives creative people the opportunity to execute the ideas that are in their heads."

In the end, creativity is what you make of it. Every few months, Nerve's designers leave the office and burrow into some serious soul-searching. "We want to help each person—not just as a designer, but as a person—determine what drives them," Siebert says.

In one recent exercise, Nerve staffers were challenged to create "image boards" representing themselves. "We asked each person to show how they envisioned the perfect workspace, the perfect client and the best sources of inspiration. You work with people every day, but you don't necessarily know what makes them tick," Siebert says. "We want to get at the essence of the way we think and the way we work. We want to marry clients to that ideal, not vice versa. We're now looking for opportunities that will reflect us. And we're going to proactively search out clients and projects that fit with that goal."

In The Power of Myth, Joseph Campbell writes: "We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.

"Follow your bliss."

Jenny Pfalzgraf works in Northern Virginia, lives vicariously through the creative types she interviews, and dreams of one day having a lifetime supply of M&Ms.

- HOW design