Photos.com Blog

Typographica Rises from the Ashes

2009-04-27T08:19:13Z

One of the most venerable independent sites devoted to all things typographic recently pulled off the difficult task of renewing itself, by combining a radical redesign with a strenghening of its editorial voice.... Typographica was launched as a blog back in 2002, using a simple design that would remain fundamentally unchanged for almost seven years—something of a record. The site quickly developed a devoted following amongst those who valued its type-focussed news and commentary, primarily due to a talented group beyond the site founders themselves that was able to participate directly in generating postings. It was this informed commentary that made Typographica truly useful for designers, although in recent years fresh posts became increasingly rare.

The relaunched site, now using Wordpress, builds on its core strength, with its new role seen as a "vehicle for typeface recommendations and reviews." An excellent perspective, since the continuing flood of new faces makes it ever harder for designers to be able to quickly pick good quality, appropriate fonts for their projects.

Now is a good time to check out the new Typographica, since it recently posted the latest iteration of its celebrated pick of the most notable fonts of the year. Since the 2008 picks and reviews involved a broad spectrum of both type creators and users, these provide a rich selection from which you should be able to make at least a few discoveries that have the power to transform your designs.

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In Praise of Rock Art

2009-04-22T15:32:40Z

Posters to advertise live musical events go back a long way and can be found in many countries. But there's something about American rock posters, starting in the turbulent 60's, that commands a unique place in the history of... At least, that's the premise of a new movie, American Artifact, which chronicles the rise of American rock poster art since its birth in the '60s. Director Merle Becker apparently interviewed rock poster artists from a variety of eras and came up with the conclusion that America is currently in the midst of a 21st century "rock poster art movement," with thousands of artists around the country creating screen printed rock poster art inspired by their local scene, the music of our time and the spirit of our era.

Four years in the making, the 88-minute film features interviews with such artists as Stanley Mouse, Victor Moscoso, Frank Kozik, Art Chantry, EMEK, Tara McPherson, Derek Hess, COOP and Jay Ryan, as well as fans, collectors and musicians. The film is scheduled to premiere June 20th, 2009, in San Francisco, as part of The Rock Poster Society's "Rock Art By The Bay" event, so keep an eye out for it in your area.

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A Covey of Covers

2009-04-14T13:39:29Z

We're at the point where we can keep track of not only great new design work in general but also, thanks to specialized sites, specific genres such as posters, business cards, advertising and book covers, the latter of which... A good place to start is The Book Cover Archive (shown above), not only for its clean presentation but for its editorial rigor, depth and functionality. It currently showcases more than 1,000 designs that can be explored by browsing or searching by such criteria as designer, genre, publisher or even the dominant typeface. The latter feature is particularly welcome, with the font identifiction provided by Stephen Coles, type director at FontShop San Francisco. Also worth exploring is the related blog and list of book designer sites.

Next up is the more recent FaceOut Books, a weekly blog that provides a focus on the development of each design. Some of these make for fascinating reading, as the text is contributed by the designers. This is typically in response to questions posed by the site administrators, both designers with The DesignWorks Group. The result provides insights not only into the creative process itself but the sometimes tortuous journey a design must make as it wends its way through the approval process of a large publishing firm.

While there are additional sites dedicated to book design, we'll stop here with Joseph Sullivan's The Book Design Review. Also a blog, BDR goes way back to 2005 and provides short observations on new releases and pointers to related things of interest. A tip of the hat, for example, for alerting me to the upcoming publication of R. Crumb's The Book of Genesis, four years in the making. Now that's a book cover.

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Brand. Rebrand. Repeat.

2009-03-25T15:39:16Z

I can't quite put my finger on what's so fascinating about corporate rebranding. But to watch an entity attempting to emerge butterfly-like from its discarded cocoon of public perception is without a doubt one of the more compelling spectator... Rebranding can be driven by the need to shed negative connotations of the previous branding (think of Blackwater's recent name change to Xe), to reposition the firm as more upmarket, to clarify the nature of a relationship after an acquisition, or for many other reasons.

There's certainly some excellent books on branding available, such as Joel Desgrippes and Marc Gobé on the Emotional Brand Experience, but one of the online authorities is ReBrand. The site is dedicated to providing visual examples and case studies on effective brand transformations, which it defines as "the repositioning, revitalizing and redesign of existing brand assets to meet strategic marketing objectives."

To this end, once a year a panel of international business, marketing and design executives is selected to jury the ReBrand competition, with the goal of showcasing the most effective global brand transformations. The winners of the 2009 ReBrand 100, including Best of Awards, Distinction, Merit and Notable winners, were recently announced. One of the Best of Awards was snagged by Cisco WebEx (shown with the old one above and the new one below) but all the winners are worth examining carefully to get a better sense of current top work in the domain of corporate rebranding.

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How to Lie, How to Tell the Truth

2009-03-16T09:31:28Z

At one point, not that long ago, it looked as if it was too late. As if powers beyond our control had spun things on a global level to the point of no return, where an individual's struggles to... Berman begins Do Good ~~Design~~: How Designers Can Change the World, published recently by New Riders, by stating that: "In the year 2000, I sold the successful graphic design agency I had founded at the age of 22. I chose a new career path, to achieve a balance between working for clients who are helping to repair the world and sharing how to do that with others."

What follows is a compelling synthesis of Berman's beliefs in "how we can use design to help repair (or destroy) our civilization," based primarily on an examination of design work that spans the spectrum of reprehensible through inspirational. And while it's all very nice to read about others who have made the leap to integrating principles of social justice and sustainability in their work, too often in other books the reader is left without guidance on what specific action to be taken to begin moving in a new direction.

Here's where Berman's years of actively working to provide concrete, realistic suggestions for designers to "do good" makes all the difference. It's hard to not be struck by his ability to have convinced AIGA to reflect his convinctions in its standards of professional practices, for example. These were recently published in Chinese, and in China "where there are one million students just beginning their design careers, these standards are the only expression of professional expectations." Wow.

For Western readers, Berman provides lots of specifics that designers can adopt to begin moving in the right direction, notably with a three-part pledge bringing together ethics, principles and effort. The implications are a bit scary but at the same time liberating—generally a good sign. Chapter 11, How to Lie, How to Tell the Truth, is available on Graphics.com.

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A Newsletter Is Not a Web Page

2009-03-08T13:59:30Z

We'd all like it to be. And sometimes when we design an HTML newsletter we even pretend it is, typically with horrendous consequences. Because the brutal reality is that readers will open your newsletter in a hodge-podge of email... Campaign Monitor is one of a number of services that take virtually all of the uncertainty out of HTML email, providing everything from free content to managing all aspects of a campaign. The image above, for example, is a detail from a design in the site's gallery of 30 free HTML templates, which have been tested in the major clients, including Outlook 2007. So if you're doing your first newsletter, these are a safe place to begin your design. Definitely not be missed is the Articles & Tips area, with titles such as Guide to CSS Support in Email Clients, Email Design Guidelines, and How to Charge for Email Marketing. The articles are well-grounded and are geared to both in-house and freelance designers.

When it comes to the site's commercial services, probably the best deal around is paying five bucks to be able to see how your newsletter or email shot will display in the major clients across platforms, including mobile. Be prepared for a shock! Beyond that you can sign up and use Campaign Monitor for as much of your mailing campaign as you want. Just as an example of the level of service provided, a new report has just been introduced that shows which email clients your subscribers are using and to what degree. That's essential information for deciding which clients to optimize for and which you can safely ignore. Who knows, with any luck there won't be too many Outlook 2007 users on your list.

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Pick a Card, Any Card

2009-02-24T10:07:50Z

When it comes to design inspiration, one of the best practices is to immerse yourself in the work of your peers. It's not about borrowing the design solutions of others but more to get a boost of energy, to... There are an increasing number of online repositories of specialized design work. For example, when it come to logos, it's hard to top LogoLounge. A relatively new kid on the block is the Card Observer site, which specializes, as you might imagine, in featuring one of the most pervasive genres of design, that of the business card.

New cards are added to the site every day, chosen from examples submitted by visitors. As well as being able to submit, joining the site also allows you to post comments on the cards, although the level of discourse is not currently very illuminating. Most of the cards are pretty good, although it's a shame there's nothing in place to categorize them for easier searching: you can't display cards from a particular industry, for example, or those using specific printing techniques, such as embossing.

While the ultimate business card design site has thus yet to be created, Card Observer remains worth a periodic visit. And while you're there, you shouldn't hesitate to submit examples of your latest work.

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HUGO Create Round 8

2009-02-18T12:23:40Z

Design contests provide a good way to stretch out and create fresh work beyond day-to-day requirements. One of the more lightweight, but amusing, ongoing contests is HUGO Create, now in its eighth iteration.... To participate, you're invited to submit pixel, vector, mixed media, drawing, painting and photography works based on the HUGO Fragrances perfume bottle. Until April 30, 2009, the theme of Elements - Earth, Wind, Water & Fire encourages entrants to submit images in which the HUGO bottle plays a central role. An archive of bottle imagery can be downloaded from the contest site, providing both Photoshop PSD and Illustrator EPS files. Once complete, the design can be uploaded to the HUGO Create site, where 10 entries will be picked by judges for their "expressive, clever and daring designs" and be rewarded with $500. One will also be published in a "well-known design magazine."

If you're feeling slack, an online Flash-driven generator can be used to create entries by dragging and dropping from a selection of more than 1,000 design elements. Five additional "special" prizes will be awarded to the best generator-created designs. More information is available on the HUGO Create site.

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Seven Charities, Seven Briefs

2009-02-08T08:14:31Z

All around us we see people rising to meet the challenges of our time. So how can designers put their talents to work to help make a difference? One route is through work for charities, with the recent call... Good 50x70 is a non-profit independent initiative founded by a group of young creatives to promote the value of social communication among the global creative community, provide charities with a database of communication tools they can access at no charge, and inspire members of the public through graphic design. The result was the creation of an online project open to all, with 2008 marking its second edition.

A new set of design briefs has recently been initiated by the group, devoted to Child Labour, Climate Change, Healthcare Deprivation, HIV/AIDS, Nuclear Emergency, War on Terror and Women's Rights Deprivation. Participation is as simple as choosing a brief, creating a related poster and uploading it for addition to the Good 50x70 database. All posters will be provided to the endorsing charities for their potential use, with the best 30 responses to each brief, as selected by a jury, exhibited around the world and published in a catalog. More information is available on the Good 50x70 site.

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Layer Tennis, Anyone?

2009-02-01T16:11:37Z

Click, Click, Click. Boing, Boing, Boing. That will be the sound of volleys being exchanged in an upcoming new series of Layer Tennis matchups. Courtside... er, screenside seats are still available on request for what should prove to be... Artistic collaboration is nothing new, although it was given a serious boost with the Surrealists' fondness for exquisite corpse sessions, in which artists or writers would take turns adding text or imagery to create a collective work. The idea has been popular in the digital graphics world for almost a decade, often under the term Photoshop Tennis. Layer Tennis is an expansion of the idea to permit the use of a broader range of tools to include video, animation, sound, photos and type, although with Adobe sponsoring the event the organizers are understandably promoting Creative Suite 4 as "the weapon of choice for Layer Tennis players and creative professionals everywhere."

The idea is simple enough. Two participants swap a file back and forth, with just 15 minutes available to make changes to the work before returning it for posting on the site, where a writer provides play-by-play commentary on each iteration. After 10 volleys Season Ticket Holders pass judgement and a winner is declared. All this happens live, so there's a certain sense of drama involved.

A detail from a Series One round between Steven Harrington and Chuck Anderson is shown above, with the event archive providing a good idea of what to expect. A nice touch this time around is the ability to download files from each match, use them for the creation of new works and then post links to them, for the amusement of all.

And how do you join the elite ranks of Season Ticket Holders? Just head to LayerTennis.com and sign up, it's free for the asking. The events will begin Friday, February 6, at 3 p.m. Eastern Time, with the matches running every Friday until May 29.

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Grab Some Web Site Glory

2009-01-13T16:40:24Z

Created a compelling site for a client or your own company? The annual STEP Best of Web design competition provides a way to potentially earn some well-deserved recognition.... Published bi-monthly, STEP inside design magazine serves an audience of graphic designers at advertising agencies, design firms and corporate design departments. According to STEP editor Tom Biederbeck, "Because it's Web-specific, and because we create an article explaining why each winner is so noteworthy, STEP's Best of Web is the preferred competition for online designers who want their work shown in the best possible light, as well as for those who want to learn about groundbreaking work being done on the Web."

Entries can be submitted for Entire Website, Advertising (Web banners, pop-ups, etc.) or Motion Graphics works in the Consumer, Business, Self-Promotion, Nonprofit/Public Service or Miscellaneous categories, with the requirement that submissions have appeared live online for the first time between April 1, 2008, and April 1, 2009, the cutoff date for entries. All winners will be interviewed and featured in STEP's September/October 2009 Best of Web Annual, the only design annual of its kind. A submission form is available on the STEP inside design magazine site.

The winners of the previous year's competition are available for browsing. The Digital Vaults site, shown above, created for the National Archives and Records Administration by Second Story, was one of last year's Judges Selections.

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Recession, What Recession?

2009-01-09T16:34:51Z

Had your fill of design firms and agencies that make a big deal about their commitment to ecological or humanitarian causes? Then you probably won't be pleased by NoRecessionForMe.us, a new micro-site launched by ad agency Holton Sentivan +... As background, keep in mind that the agency uses "Be conspicuous" as its own tagline and defines its mission thusly: "Our job, our reason for being, is to help clients be successful by attracting special attention, as by outstanding qualities or eccentricities." Attracting attention is just what NoRecessionForMe.us is all about. Visitors are invited to "refuse to participate in any current or worsening global recession" by adding their name to those that will be displayed in the agency's Wall Street Journal ad this Spring, pitched as some kind of manifestion of the public will to not collectively give up and jump off a bridge.

Those willing to suspend their disbelief and engage in the mass hallucination can click on the "I've had enough, count me in" option to be treated to a short video pep talk. There's also a collection of links that provide "survival advice," although I'm not yet ready to begin volunteering for medical clinical trials and I doubt there's a ready market for the little hair I have left to sell. What if you click on the "It's too late for me, I'm sunk" option? Well, the tirade is unfortunately not as amusing as it could be, given the black situation we find ourselves in.

But what is funny is that more than 4,000 visitors so far have agreed to have their names displayed in the ad, which will undoubtedly accomplish little... beyond helping Holton Sentivan + Gury "Be conspicuous." Job done!

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Fear of Selling

2009-01-02T10:45:39Z

Thinking of going out on your this year? While the benefits of freelancing are many, being an independant also carries with it significant risks. But beyond tangible issues lurks that bête noire of many a freelancer—the need to sell...]]> SitePoint has just published The Principles Of Successful Freelancing, by Miles Burke, which provides a good overview of what's in store for those pondering the rocky road to independance. Because rocky it will probably be, despite your talent, business sense, dedication and just plain luck. You'll have more competition than ever, thanks to the current economic climate, with clients that are demanding to the point of exasperation.

But first you'll have to snag some that are actually prepared to pay you for your services. Which is where selling comes in. Burke frames it this way: "It’s quite common to have an irrational but very real fear of selling. However, you’ll really need to do your best to overcome this fear if you want to excel as a freelancer. The first step you’ll need to take is to understand exactly what it is you’re afraid of. Is it fear of rejection or failure? Are you afraid of being too pushy? Are you afraid you’ll magically transform into that sleazy sales stereotype?"

These questions resolved, you can move on to contact targeted prospects, close sales and finally begin living the freelance life. And those that make it, swear there's nothing quite like it. An extract devoted to the sales cycle is available on Graphics.com. If that intrigues you, the book can be purchased for $39.95 on the SitePoint site.

Adobe to the MAX

2008-12-23T15:25:19Z

I don't know about you but I've always wanted to attend the Adobe MAX conference. Held each year in cities across the globe, and involving thousands of designers and web developers, the conference agendas provide a mouth-watering feast of... The 2008/2009 California event took place in November, followed by Milan in December, while Tokyo will be the place to be for the lucky few in January. Nothing can match actually being there, but it's definitely worth checking out the work of the 2008 MAX Award winners and finalists. Syndicate's video for Radiohead's House of Cards, shown above, was one of the video category winners.

Even better is the ability to view conference presentations, which are now being posted in the MAX channel on Adobe TV. A good place to start would be Photoshop product manager Bryan O'Neil Hughes' hour-long Photoshop CS4 Essentials: New Features You Need to Know, followed by Kelly McCathran's A PDF Can DO That? and perhaps Ilustrator product manager David Macy's Illustrator CS4: Deep Dive.

And if you're new to Adobe TV, head to the home page to take advantage of a great and growing collection of Creative Suite-centric tips and tricks, as well as oddities like the Agency of Record comedy series.

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T-shirts by Design

2008-12-07T12:48:42Z

Imprinted t-shirts have been with us more than half a century and yet the vast majority are embarassingly lame. The reason is simple enough: the designs are the work of amateurs. But what if talented designers were given the... The online apparel store Threadless.com was founded in 2000 and employs a community-generated approach to generating a steady stream of new t-shirt designs. Members submit their designs to the site, with visitors and fellow community members rating the approximately 700 designs that show up each week. From the top-rated submissions 10 are chosen by staff, with each designer receiving $2,000 in cash and a $500 Threadless gift certificate, as well as $500 for every reprint.

In 2006 the site introduced Threadless Select, which allowed those winning four competitions to bypass the community voting system and make submissions directly, with accepted designs being able to employ up to eight colors (beyond the usual 5), as well as foils and metallics. The latest development is the creation of a separate site for what is now called The Select Series.

These shirts are curated by the graphic artist and publisher UPSO—aka Dustin Amery Hostetler— who is best known for his Faesthetic magazine. A new design is released every Monday, with guest curators also contributing their pick of four designs. The first of these is the work of Rhode Island School of Design President and artist John Maeda, with a collection having the theme of "Newness." The photo above shows Jason Urban's The Sailor and the Sea Serpent, which I think nicely meets the criteria of "really remarkable."

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