brainstorming magazine Salke Lagumdžije 3 71000 Sarajevo Bosna i Hercegovina p: +387 33 956 517 p: +387 61 107 832 w: www.brainstorming.ba e: info@brainstorming.ba
Publisher DDS Idea is all Salke Lagumdžije 3 Hadžisulejmanova 10 71000 Sarajevo Bosna i Hercegovina p: +387 33 956 517 p: +387 61 107 832 w: www.ideaisall.com e: info@ideaisall.com Editor: Rusmir Arnautović | rusmir.arnautovic@brainstorming.ba Review editor: Ena Matković-Arnautović | ena.matkovic@brainstorming.ba Cover illustrator: DDS Idea is all “idea is all” is an digital design studio located in the Sarajevo area and serving clients worldwide. We have experience in Branding, Identity Design, Web Site Design, Graphic Design, Multimedia and Print Production. Our work has been recognized by a number of clients in various industries for exceptional performance, expert advice and quality services in the fields of design, information architecture, branding and development. INFO: http://www.ideaisall.com
We`re always on the lookout for new artist as well as established creatives - so if you`re interested in contributing to the magazine, please send some examples of your work to (e.) samples@brainstorming.ba
2 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
Welcome While Graphic Design as a discipline has a relatively recent history, with the name ‘graphic design” first coined by William Addison Dwiggins in 1922, graphic design-like activities span the history of humankind: from the caves of Lascaux, to Rome’s Trajan’s Column to the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, to the dazzling neons of Ginza. In both this lengthy history and in the relatively recent explosion of visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is sometimes a blurring distinction and over-lapping of advertising art, graphic design and fine art. After all, they share many of the same elements, theories, principles, practices and languages, and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In advertising art the ultimate objective is the sale of goods and services.
Meet the artists KittoZutto
HandMadeFont
They combine fine art illustration with digital imaging, and the highlydetailed results are often best seen in large formats.
We are an Estonia based design company HMF (HandMadeFont). It was founded in 2008 by Vladimir Loginov and Maksim Loginov.
Alberto Cerriteno
Fabrice Le Nezet
These contrast strikingly with the blending of desaturated colours and ink, sometimes featuring a vintage coffee finish.
Sculpting Directing Design
Pale Horse
Max Kostenko
Pale Horse has had the opportunity to create artwork for companies like Hasbro, Sanrio, Iron Fist, Bernstein & Andriulli, Dean Guitars ...
I work with the largest agencies all over the world, develop characters and draw illustrations.
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 3
Contents JULY
Discover What Type of Designer Are You?
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers, programmers, signmakers, etc.) – undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience. The term “graphic design” can also refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines that focus on visual communication and presentation. The field as a whole is also often referred to as Visual Communication or Communication Design. Various methods are used to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
Just like there are different client types, and different people in general – there are a few different types of designers. In this article we will have a look at some of the characteristics of some of these and give you some tips on how to improve. Hopefully you will have a few good tips on how you can become an even better designer when you’re done with this article! Have you ever thought that you’re unique? Or felt that you’re just one of thousands out there struggling to get a project?
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Brainstorming Tips and Techniques for Freelancers Brainstorming is the secret weapon of every freelancer and entrepreneur. It helps us recall everything we know about the subject and any related ideas to it. Whether we realize it or not, brainstorming is at the root of every venture we undertake, be it a product, project or something as simple as a blog post. There’s a reason freelancers swear by the powers of brainstorming. A single brainstorming session can create new and creative ideas that either make you more productive or help you find a solution to your problem. It’s a great way to extract all the information you have and what you need to know more about.
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Email Marketing: Tips to Do it Well Nowadays, with Internet spreading its wings all over the globe, more and more people are switching from physical mediums of business promotion to online marketing. Email marketing is one of the best means of promoting your products and services online. It is also one of the oldest sources of business-to-business marketing used by virtually everyone. A well planned effective email marketing campaign can help your business products and services gain maximum visibility and recognition, not only locally but all over the world. With this direct marketing procedure you start getting quick response once your email reaches your targeted customers.
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Artist, Illustrators, Photographers, News Achim Lippoth
Winkler+Noah
Achim Lippoth, born 1968 in Ilshofen, Germany. Freelance Photographer since 1992, also directing commercial videos since 1998.
For Winkler+Noah, photography was the most fitting point of arrival for an artistic itinerary that they began instinctively from childhood ...
Kele Dobrinski
Rodney Pike
My work spans across all mediums, and I take pride in its breadth & diversity.
My name is Rodney Pike. Many in the art world know me as rwpike, which is my username at several of my online portfolios and sites ...
Mario Testino
Poked Studio
Mario Testino was born in Lima, Peru. In 1976, after completing his studies in Peru, he arrived in London to pursue a career in photography.
Poked Studio is Jonathan Ball an illustrator and graphic designer living on a diet of pixel dust.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.lippoth.com/
Achim Lippoth
Achim Lippoth, born 1968 in Ilshofen, Germany. Freelance Photographer since 1992, also directing commercial videos since 1998. Childhood is the central topic. His works are constantly on exhibition and regularly win international awards. The latest awards he got 2010 in Cannes and at the New York Festivals, current exhibitions took place in Galerie Paris Beijing (Paris), Shay Arye Gallery Tel Aviv and at Catherine Edelman Gallery Chicago. In addition to it Achim Lippoth is founder and editor of “kid´s wear magazine”, which is published internationally since 1995.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://arnistotle.deviantart.com
Arnold Tsang To contribute artistic skills and experiences, and be involved with art teams to create worlds and design high quality media.
e v i t a e r C s k r wo
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 11
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND
DESIGNERS “
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers, programmers, signmakers, etc.) – undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience. The term “graphic design” can also refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines that focus on visual communication and presentation. The field as a whole is also often referred to as Visual Communication or Communication Design.
“
Various methods are used to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
Common uses of graphic design include identity (logos and branding), web sites, publications (magazines, newspapers, and books), advertisements and product packaging. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.
History While Graphic Design as a discipline has a relatively recent history, with the name ‘graphic design” first coined by William Addison Dwiggins in 1922, graphic design-like activities span the history of humankind: from the caves of Lascaux, to Rome’s Trajan’s Column to the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, to the dazzling neons of Ginza. In both this lengthy history and in the relatively recent explosion of visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is sometimes a blurring distinction and over-lapping of advertising art, graphic design and fine art. After all, they share many of the same elements, theories, principles, practices and languages, and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In advertising art the ultimate objective is the sale of goods and services. In graphic design, “the essence is to give order to information, form to ideas, expression and feeling to artifacts that document human experience.”
The advent of printing During the Tang Dynasty (618–907) between the 4th and 7th century AD, wood blocks were cut to print on textiles and later to reproduce Buddhist texts. A Buddhist scripture printed in 868 is the earliest known printed book. Beginning in the 11th century, longer scrolls and books were produced using movable type printing making books widely available during the Song dynasty (960–1279). Sometime around 1450, Johann Gutenberg’s printing press made books widely available in Europe. The book design of Aldus Manutius developed the book structure which would become the foundation of western publication design. This era of graphic design is called Humanist or Old Style.
Emergence of the design industry In late 19th century Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, the movement began to separate graphic design from fine art. In 1849, Henry Cole became one of the major forces in design education in Great Britain, informing the government of the importance of design in his Journal of Design and Manufactures. He organized the Great Exhibition as a celebration of modern industrial technology and Victorian design. From 1891 to 1896, William Morris’ Kelmscott Press published books that are some of the most significant of the graphic design products of the Arts and Crafts movement, and made a very lucrative business of creating books of great stylistic refinement and selling them to the wealthy for a premium. Morris proved that a market existed for works of graphic design in their own right and helped pioneer the separation of design from production and from fine art. The work of the Kelmscott Press is characterized by its obsession with historical styles. This historicism was, however, important as it amounted to the first significant reaction to the stale state of nineteenth-century graphic design. Morris’ work, along with the rest of the Private Press movement, directly influenced Art Nouveau and is indirectly responsible for developments in early twentieth century graphic design in general.
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Twentieth century design A Boeing 747 aircraft with livery designating it as Air Force One. The cyan forms, the US flag, presidential seal and the Caslon lettering were all designed at different times and combined by designer Raymond Loewy in this one final design. The name “Graphic Design” first appeared in print in the 1922 essay “New Kind of Printing Calls for New Design” by William Addison Dwiggins, an American book designer in the early 20th century. Raffe’s Graphic Design, published in 1927, is considered to be the first book to use “Graphic Design” in its title. The signage in the London Underground is a classic design example of the modern era and used a font designed by Edward Johnston in 1916. In the 1920s, Soviet constructivism applied ‘intellectual production’ in different spheres of production. The movement saw individualistic art as useless in revolutionary Russia and thus moved towards creating objects for utilitarian purposes. They designed buildings, theater sets, posters, fabrics, clothing, furniture, logos, menus, etc. Jan Tschichold codified the principles of modern typography in his 1928 book, New Typography. He later repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this book as being fascistic, but it remained very influential. Tschichold, Bauhaus typographers such as Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and El Lissitzky have greatly influenced graphic design as we know it today. They pioneered production techniquesand stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth century. The following years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application. A booming post-World War II American economy established a greater need for graphic design, mainly advertising and packaging. The emigration of the German Bauhaus school of design to Chicago in 1937 brought a “mass-produced” minimalism to America; sparking a wild fire of “modern” architecture and design. Notable names in mid-century modern design include Adrian Frutiger, designer of the typefaces Univers and Frutiger; Paul Rand, who, from the late 1930s until his death in 1996, took the principles of the Bauhaus and applied them to popular advertising and logo design, helping to create a uniquely American approach to European minimalism while becoming one of the principal pioneers of the subset of graphic design known as corporate identity; and Josef Müller-Brockmann, who designed posters in a severe yet accessible manner typical of the 1950s and 1970s era. The growth of the graphic design industry has grown in parallel with the rise of consumerism. This has raised some concerns and criticisms, notably from within the graphic design community with the First Things First manifesto. First launched by Ken Garland in 1964, it was re-published as the First Things First 2000 manifesto in 1999 in the magazine Emigre 51 stating “We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication - a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of
design.� Both editions attracted signatures from respected design practitioners and thinkers, for example; Rudy VanderLans, Erik Spiekermann, Ellen Lupton and Rick Poynor. The 2000 manifesto was also notably published in Adbusters, known for its strong critiques of visual culture.
Applications From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals, graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge. Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation of text. Design can also aid in selling a product or idea through effective visual communication. It is applied to products and elements of company identity like logos, colors, packaging, and text. Together these are defined as branding. Branding has increasingly become important in the range of services offered by many graphic designers, alongside corporate identity. Whilst the terms are often used interchangeably, branding is more strictly related to the identifying mark or trade name for a product or service, whereas corporate identity can have a broader meaning relating to the structure and ethos of a company, as well as to the company’s external image. Graphic designers will often form part of a team working on corporate identity and branding projects. Other members of that team can include marketing professionals, communications consultants and commercial writers. Textbooks are designed to present subjects such as geography, science, and math. These publications have layouts which illustrate theories and diagrams. A common example of graphics in use to educate is diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design is also applied to layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more readily understandable. Graphic design is applied in the entertainment industry in decoration, scenery, and visual story telling. Other examples of design for entertainment purposes include novels, comic books, DVD covers, opening credits and closing credits in film, and programs and props on stage. This could also include artwork used for t-shirts and other items screenprinted for sale. From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use graphic design to inform and entertain. With the advent of the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools such as Adobe Flash are increasingly being used to illustrate the background to news stories.
Skills A graphic design project may involve the stylization and presentation of existing text and either preexisting imagery or images developed by the graphic designer. For example, a newspaper story begins with the journalists and photojournalists and then becomes the graphic designer’s job
to organize the page into a reasonable layout and determine if any other graphic elements should be required. In a magazine article or advertisement, often the graphic designer or art director will commission photographers or illustrators to create original pieces just to be incorporated into the design layout. Or the designer may utilize stock imagery or photography. Contemporary design practice has been extended to the modern computer, for example in the use of WYSIWYG user interfaces, often referred to as interactive design, or multimedia design.
Visual arts Before any graphic elements may be applied to a design, the graphic elements must be originated by means of visual art skills. These graphics are often (but not always) developed by a graphic designer. Visual arts include works which are primarily visual in nature using anything from traditional media, to photography or computer generated art. Graphic design principles may be applied to each graphic art element individually as well as to the final composition.
Typography Typography is the art, craft and techniques of type design, modifying type glyphs, and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters) are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type is the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing) and letter spacing. Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic artists, art directors, and clerical workers. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of visual designers and lay users.
Page layout The page layout aspect of graphic design deals with the arrangement of elements (content) on a page, such as image placement, and text layout and style. Beginning from early illuminated pages in hand-copied books of the Middle Ages and proceeding down to intricate modern magazine and catalogue layouts, structured page design has long been a consideration in printed material. With print media, elements usually consist of type (text), images (pictures), and occasionally place-holder graphics for elements that are not printed with ink such as die/laser cutting, foil stamping or blind embossing.
Interface design Since the advent of the World Wide Web and computer software development, many graphic designers have become involved in interface design. This has included web design and software design, when end user interactivity is a design consideration of the layout or interface. Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with software developers and web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site or software application and enhance the interactive GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 15
experience of the user or web site visitor. An important aspect of interface design is icon design.
Printmaking Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing on paper and other materials or surfaces. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each piece is not a copy but an original since it is not a reproduction of another work of art and is technically known as an impression. Painting or drawing, on the other hand, create a unique original piece of artwork. Prints are created from a single original surface, known technically as a matrix. Common types of matrices include: plates of metal, usually copper or zinc for engraving or etching; stone, used for lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts, linoleum for linocuts and fabric plates for screen-printing. But there are many other kinds, discussed below. Works printed from a single plate create an edition, in modern times usually each signed and numbered to form a limited edition. Prints may also be published in book form, as artist’s books. A single print could be the product of one or multiple techniques.
Tools The pencil is one of the most basic graphic design tools. The mind may be the most important graphic design tool. Aside from technology, graphic design requires judgment and creativity. Critical, observational, quantitative and analytic thinking are required for design layouts and rendering. If the executor is merely following a solution (e.g. sketch, script or instructions) provided by another designer (such as an art director), then the executor is not usually considered the designer. The method of presentation (e.g. arrangement, style, medium) may be equally important to the design. The layout is produced using external traditional or digital image editing tools. The appropriate development and presentation tools can substantially change how an audience perceives a project. In the mid 1980s, the arrival of desktop publishing and graphic art software applications introduced a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and creation that had previously been manually executed. Computer graphic design enabled designers to instantly see the effects of layout or typographic changes, and to simulate the effects of traditional media without requiring a lot of space. However, traditional tools such as pencils or markers are useful even when computers are used for finalization; a designer or art director may hand sketch numerous concepts as part of the creative process. Some of these sketches may even be shown to a client for early stage approval, before the designer develops the idea further using a computer and graphic design software tools. Computers are considered an indispensable tool in the graphic design industry. Computers and software applications are generally seen by creative professionals as more effective production tools than traditional methods. However, some designers continue to use manual and traditional tools for production, such as Milton Glaser. 16 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
New ideas can come by way of experimenting with tools and methods. Some designers explore ideas using pencil and paper. Others use many different mark-making tools and resources from computers to sculpture as a means of inspiring creativity. One of the key features of graphic design is that it makes a tool out of appropriate image selection in order to possibly convey meaning.
Computers and the creative process There is some debate whether computers enhance the creative process of graphic design. Rapid production from the computer allows many designers to explore multiple ideas quickly with more detail than what could be achieved by traditional hand-rendering or paste-up on paper, moving the designer through the creative process more quickly. However, being faced with limitless choices does not help isolate the best design solution and can lead to endless iterations with no clear design outcome. A graphic designer may use sketches to explore multiple or complex ideas quickly without the distractions and complications of software. Hand-rendered comps are often used to get approval for an idea execution before a design invests time to produce finished visuals on a computer or in paste-up. The same thumbnail sketches or rough drafts on paper may be used to rapidly refine and produce the idea on the computer in a hybrid process. This hybrid process is especially useful in logo design where a software learning curve may detract from a creative thought process. The traditional-design/computer-production hybrid process may be used for freeing one’s creativity in page layout or image development as well. In the early days of computer publishing, many ‘traditional’ graphic designers relied on computer-savvy production artists to produce their ideas from sketches, without needing to learn the computer skills themselves. However, this practice has been increasingly less common since the advent of desktop publishing over 30 years ago. The use of computers and graphics software is now taught in most graphic design courses.
Occupations Graphic design career paths cover all ends of the creative spectrum and often overlap. The main job responsibility of a Graphic Designer is the arrangement of visual elements in some type of media. The main job titles include graphic designer, art director, creative director, and the entry level production artist. Depending on the industry served, the responsibilities may have different titles such as “DTP Associate” or “Graphic Artist”, but despite changes in title, graphic design principles remain consistent. The responsibilities may come from or lead to specialized skills such as illustration, photography or interactive design. Today’s graduating graphic design students are normally exposed to all of these areas of graphic design and urged to become familiar with all of them as well in order to be competitive. Graphic designers can work in a variety of environments. Whilst many will work within companies devoted specifically to the industry, such as design consultancies or branding agencies, others may work within publishing, marketing or other communications companies. Increasingly, especially
since the introduction of personal computers to the industry, many graphic designers have found themselves working within non-design oriented organizations, as in-house designers. Graphic designers may also work as free-lance designers, working on their own terms, prices, ideas, etc. A graphic designer reports to the art director, creative director or senior media creative. As a designer becomes more senior, they may spend less time designing media and more time leading and directing other designers on broader creative activities, such as brand development and corporate identity development. As graphic designers become more senior, they are often expected to interact more directly with clients.
Qualifications A degree or certificate from an accredited trade school is usually considered essential for a graphic design position. After a career history has been established, though, the graphic designer’s experience and number of years in the business are considered the primary qualifications. A portfolio, which is the primary method for demonstrating these qualifications, is usually required to be shown at job interviews, and is constantly developed throughout a designer’s career. One can obtain an AAS, BA, BFA, MFA or an MPhil / PhD in graphic design. Degree programs available vary depending upon the institution, although typical U.S. graphic design jobs require at least some form of degree. Current graphic designer jobs demand proficiency in one or more graphic design software programs. Arguably, the most common software used in the graphic design industry is Adobe Creative Suite. The “Suite” has three primary programs used by a designer: - Photoshop -manipulate photos, typography and create images with a variety of effects. - Illustrator -create logos and typography. - InDesign -create typography, and output print layouts. (Some designers still prefer QuarkXPress when creating layouts, as it was previously the industry standard choice.) Outside the graphic design industry many people use Microsoft Word to make a layout or design. However, depending on the job at hand, most designers create the layout in either InDesign or QuarkXPress. Specifically, the designer will type the text in the layout program, importing the graphics and images they created in PhotoShop or Illustrator. There are a couple reasons a designer builds a layout in this fashion: - Files going to press are printed at 300 dots per inch. As a result, the file size can become very large. So by using a layout program and importing the graphics and images, the working file is a fraction of the file size. When the designer is ready to go to press, they will either create a press-ready PDF; or do what is called, “Collect For Output.” - InDesign or QuarkXpress make it possible to work with large multipage layouts like catalogs and booklets. - Since InDesign and QuarkXPress import the original
Graphic designer A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures (sometimes) and advertising. They are also sometimes responsible for typesetting, illustration, user interfaces, web design, or take a teaching position. A core responsibility of the designer’s job is to present information in a way that is both accessible and memorable.
file, linking to the graphics and images, the designer can change the “original file” and it will update all instances throughout the document. This is very efficient and a big time saver, which in the Graphic Design industry deadlines are always tight; and time is money! A web designer should understand how to work with XML, HTML, and basic web programming scripts. A print designer should understand the processes involved in printing to be able to produce press-ready artwork. Designers should be able to solve visual communication problems or challenges. In doing so, the designer must identify the communications issue, gather and analyze information related to the issue, and generate potential approaches aimed at solving the problem. Iterative prototyping and user testing can be used to determine the success or failure of a visual solution. Approaches to a communications problem are developed in the context of an audience and a media channel. Graphic designers must understand the social and cultural norms of that audience in order to develop visual solutions that are perceived as relevant, understandable and effective. Graphic designers should also have a thorough understanding of production and rendering methods. Some of the technologies and methods of production are drawing, offset printing, photography, and time-based and interactive media (film, video, computer multimedia). Frequently, designers are also called upon to manage color in different media.
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Career portfolio Fifty years ago, the graphic designer’s portfolio was usually a black book or large binder in which samples of the artist’s best printed pieces were carried to show prospective clients or employers. Printed pieces are often protected inside by being mounted on boards or slipped into Acetate sleeves. Since the 1990s, portfolios have become increasingly computer digitized, and now may be entirely digitized and available on the Internet, or on CD, DVD, or via email.
Branding Graphic design relates heavily to corporate identity, the branding and “persona” of a corporation.
Graphic design occupation Graphic Art Managers The following are positions or responsibilities and usually titles, held by experienced graphic designers in related management roles:
Creative Director Creative directors are in charge of a creative team that produces artwork to be displayed in advertising campaigns, or on products. A creative team can consist of artists (e.g. art directors, graphic designers, illustrators, photographers, copywriters, production artists) and a production staff. Creative directors initiate or inspire creative ideas and make sure that the art works include those ideas to the client’s satisfaction. Creative directors usually are promoted from an art director or copywriter position. A creative directors job may also involve responsibilities usually associated with a client representative or a project manager.
Art Director Art directors make sure that illustrators and production artists produce and complete their work on time and to the creative director or client’s satisfaction. Art directors also play a major role in the development of a project by making decisions on the visual elements of the project, and by 18 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
giving the final say on the selection of models, art, props, colors, and other elements. Art directors need advanced training in graphic design as they often do artwork and designing themselves. However, an art director’s time may be consumed doing supervisory and administrative work.
Art Production Manager Art production managers or traffic managers oversee the production aspect of art to improve efficiency and cost effectiveness. Art production managers supervise artists or advise the supervisors of artists. Creative directors and art directors often assume the role of art production managers, especially when production cost is not a critical concern.
Hands-on Graphic Designers The following are positions or responsibilities, not necessarily titles, held by art directors and graphic designers:
Brand identity developer Brand identity design is concerned with the visual aspects of a company or organization’s brand or identity. A brand identity design is the visual element that represents how a company wants to be seen; it is the company’s visual identity, and is how a company illustrates its ‘image.’ A company’s brand identity can be represented in terms of design through a unique logo, or signage, and is then often integrated throughout all the elements of a company’s materials such as business cards, stationery, packaging, media advertising, promotions, and more. Brand identity may include logo design. Brand identity development is usually a collaborative effort between creative directors, art directors, copywriters, account managers and the client.
Logo Designer The job of a logo designer is to provide a new and innovative way to express the key message of a company through an image. Logo designers take the information given to them by the client and work, using their own creativity along with marketing strategy to find an appropriate image that their client can use to represent what they are trying to encourage, sell, or what they are. It is not likely that a company will specialize in logo design or have a position for a designated logo designer.
Illustrator Illustrators conceptualize and create illustrations that represent an idea or a story through two-dimensional or three-dimensional images. Illustrators may do drawings for printed materials such as books, magazines, and other publications, or for commercial products such as textiles, packaging, wrapping paper, greeting cards, calendars, stationery, and more. Illustrators use many different media, from pencil and paint to digital formatting, to prepare and
create their illustrations. An illustrator consults with clients in order to determine what illustrations will best meet the story they are trying to tell, or what message they are trying to communicate. Illustrating may be a secondary skill requirement of graphic design or a specialty skill of a freelance artist, usually known for a unique style of illustrating. Illustration may be published separately as in fine art. However, illustrations are usually inserted into page layouts for communication design in the context of graphic design professions.
Visual Image Developer Similar to illustration are other methods of developing images such as photography, 3D modeling, and image editing. Creative professionals in these positions are not usually called illustrators, but are utilized the same way. Photographers are likely to freelance. 3D modelers are likely to be employed for long-term projects. Image editing is usually a secondary skill to either of the above, but may also be a specialty to aid web development, software development, or multimedia development in a job title known as multimedia specialist. Although these skills may require technical knowledge, graphic design skills may be applied as well.
and similar formats. For magazines and similar productions, color, typeface, text formatting, graphic layout and more must be considered. Is the chosen typeface good for long term reading, or will the eyes get tired? Does that title typeface fit the feel of the rest of the article? Are the photos arranged in such a way that is pleasing to the eye, and directs the reader in the right flow or direction? These are just some of the questions a layout artist must ask themselves. Page layouts are usually done by art directors, graphic designers, production artists or a combination of those positions.
Interface Designer Interface designers are graphical user interface (GUI) layout artists. They are employed by multimedia, software, and web development companies. Because GUI elements are interactive, interface design often overlaps interaction design. Because interfaces are not usually composed as single computer files, interface design may require technical understanding, including graphical integration with code. Because interfaces may require hundreds of assets, knowledge of how to automate graphic production may be required. An interface designer may hold the job title of web designer in a web development company.
Multimedia Developer
Web Designer
Multimedia developers may come from a graphic design or illustration background and apply those talents to motion, sound, or interactivity. Motion designers are graphic designers for motion. Animators are illustrators for motion. Videographers are photographers for motion. Multimedia developers may also image edit, sound edit, program, or compose multimedia just as multimedia specialists.
A web designer’s work could be viewed by thousands of people every day. Web designers create the pages, layout, and graphics for web pages, and play a key role in the development of a website. Web designers have the task of creating the look and feel of a website by choosing the style, and by designing attractive graphics, images, and other visual elements, and adapting them for the website’s pages. Web designers also design and develop the navigation tools of a site. Web designers may make decisions regarding what content is included on a web page, where things are placed, and how the aesthetic and continuity is maintained from one screen to the next.
Content Developer Content developer is a generic term used for describing illustrators, visual image developers, and multimedia developers in software and web development. The term has a broader scope that includes non-graphical content as well. A generic name for content that is used in a digital composition are digital assets.
Visual Journalist Visual Journalists, also known as Infographic Artists create information graphics or Infographics; visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used anywhere where information needs to be explained quickly or simply, such as in signs, maps, journalism, technical writing, and education. They are also used extensively as tools by computer scientists, mathematicians, and statisticians to ease the process of developing and communicating conceptual information. They are applied in all aspects of scientific visualization.
Layout artist A layout artist deals with the structure and layout of images and text in a pleasing format. This can include magazine work, brochures, flyers, books, CD booklets, posters,
Depending on the scope of the project, web design may involve collaboration between software engineers and graphic designers. The graphic design of a website may be as simple as a page layout sketch or handling just the graphics in an HTML editor, while the advance coding is done separately by programmers. In other cases, graphic designers may be challenged to become both graphic designer and programmer in the process of web design in positions often known as web masters.
Package Designer A package designer or packaging technician may utilize technical skills aside from graphic design. Knowledge of cuts, crease, folding, nature and behavior of the packaging material such as paper, corrugated sheet, synthetic or other type of materials may also be required. A customer may see the top/outside of a package at first, but may also be drawn to other package design features. A packaging design may require 3D layout skills in addition to visual communication to consider how well a design works at multiple angles. CAD software applications specifically for packaging design may be utilized. GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 19
Creativ AD Photo`S
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Showcase of Inspirational Tree Logos Tree logos are used by many companies in various industries around the world. The use of the tree logo is a universally recognizable symbol which represents many things, some of which are life, wisdom, strength, protection and abundance. The popularity of tree logos is due to certain characteristics attributed to them, including the following:
Acacia
Banyan Tree Companies
Beirut Gardens
Dig this tree
Westerville
Campground
Odyssey Paper
Earth save
Eileen Myers
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Lotus
Legacy Wellness
King of the Beach
Greenscapes
Inspiring life
La Carolina
Grapes & Granola
Geko climbing
Frisco
Environmentally Friendly
Ephfx
Foresti
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Discover What Type of Designer Are You?
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Just like there are different client types, and different people in general – there are a few different types of designers. In this article we will have a look at some of the characteristics of some of these and give you some tips on how to improve. Hopefully you will have a few good tips on how you can become an even better designer when you’re done with this article!
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Have you ever thought that you’re unique? Or felt that you’re just one of thousands out there struggling to get a project? Most likely, both of these statements are true. Many designers are out there trying to get their next project and most of them are in a way unique. Still there are
some characteristics that we all have more or less of. By understanding some of these and knowing how to take advantage of your better sides while getting rid of the bad ones, you will be more likely to succeed!
Different Characteristics
The Over-worker
Very few are just one single type. Most of us have some characteristics from several of these types, giving us hundreds of possible combinations. So we are indeed unique. Being one specific type doesn’t mean that you’re better than everyone else, or worse for that matter. The best way to be is a nice mix of different ones if possible. Even some of the more negative sounding types do have their positive sides. Now let’s have a look at one way to divide us into these types:
More common within the ranks of fresh designers is the over-worker. This is the designer that spends a lot of time on even the smaller projects believing that this is the answer to everything. On the good side it’s always great when people try to make sure they’ve done the best they can. On the other hand this can be a dangerous path to go as you will have time for less projects during a month. If you’re being paid by the hour your designs will be more expensive than with several other designers and if you’re paid by the proj-
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ect there’s a good chance you’re working a lot for every dollar you get in. The key here is to learn when to say stop and getting more confident in what you do.
breaking style. Often this designer works part-time.
The Confident
Many times the trendsetter can own his own company or work with a bigger one. But these can also be freelancers. This type is the first one to start-up new trends and often has a lot of success. He can choose from many available projects at most times and is well-known in his niche. To be able to stay on top this designer will need to spend a lot of time reading up on what’s happening in the market, have the latest software and keep the skills polished.
Confident can be good. Actually it’s very good to some point. The confident designer knows that he’s doing well and sometimes dares to believe in his own gut feeling when making decisions. Balance is essential though. If you’re too confident you may be missing some important feedback from the client or not be critical enough to your own work.
The Trendsetter
The Nervous Wreck
The Ego-tripper
I’ve met a few designers that are really nervous wrecks. They think that everything they do is bad or that clients will be unhappy with them no matter what they deliver. The confidence level is zero and I’ve many times thought that it must be really painful to have it this way. For some it can be just a matter of getting some quality feedback or polishing the skills a bit to feel more confident. Ask fellow designers for feedback, read up on what you do and do an evaluation of your routines. Maybe you’re someone who’s better off in another job?
Haven’t we all met them at some point? The designer who believes he is a trend setter or that his designs are absolutely awesome at all times. This person needs to be better to listen to feedback and be more realistic. Instead of attracting clients he will be likely to drive them away. Clients that re-buy are few and he doesn’t understand why as he is “perfect” in his own eyes.
The Average Designer As the title says this is the average one. By average I don’t mean bad, just someone who’s right there in the middle with thousands of others without standing out much. A lot of us manage well in this segment and get a nice share of projects on a regular basis. These designers live by current trends without daring to take too many risks. They have the basic skills and understanding and usually make an ok living from designing. The Creative Mess The creative mess has a lot of ongoing projects simultaneously. He/she often has many projects outside the design terms as well, along with personal projects and dreams – all in the creative field. This can be a dangerous path to walk down if you’re not able to get done with what you’re doing. Try to get balance (the next characteristic) and work on time management. Sometimes it can be hard, but necessary to realise that you can’t do everything you want always. Priorities have to be made. The Balanced Creative This is the succesful version of the creative mess type. With a lot of ongoing projects, this designer knows that it takes priority and hard work. Having multiple projects can be a really good thing and this designer has found the secrets to how to balance all projects in a satisfying way. The Unique This designer works more for the design than for the money (usually). A person that focuses on design that is uncommon and rarely seen. He doesn’t always have enough work but occasionally there comes huge projects along from clients that dare to go for his unique ground-
The Copycat There are some designers that copy others work almost for a living sometimes. This will eventually be discovered and is a really bad thing. It gives a horrible reputation and most of these designers have to stop doing business after a short time. The secret is to do your research properly and learn to use trends without copying someone elses work. The Lucky One and the Unlucky One This is many times more a myth than a fact in my opinion. I’ve many times hear someone say they don’t succeed because they have bad luck or that someone else succeeded because they were “really lucky”. Obviously you can have good and bad luck with everything you do, that’s a fact. But using it as an excuse is not the way to go. While some succeed or hit that one client that is great referral or has a lot of money, it all comes down to hard work. The harder you work, the bigger the chance is for success! Conclusion There are many types of designers, and you’re probably a combination of several of these. My advice to you is to have a look at these, make up your own opinion and work towards becoming the type you think is the best for you. I’m sure I’ve forgotten some characteristics, so feel free to leave your feedback for everyone to hear. By doing things your own way without blaming the situation and working hard instead, you will have a better chance at success!
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Most Creative Ads Series
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Meet the Artist: INFO: http://paffos.com
Arsen Stahiv
Paffos (Arsen Stahiv), whose works are perfect blend of creative photography and manipulation, whether it is the composition and light or the breathtaking environments. Paffos has been responsible for some of the most stunning images. Here we present his portfolio, you will see each photographs are different in ideas and style.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.4playgraphix.com
Olly Howe
Advertising, Digital Art, Illustration
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.cathriley.com
Cath Riley
The emphasis, and main body of my work, has always been of a three-dimensional nature, but over the last few years, I have given time to develop and explore new skills, particularly the use of pencil on paper to produce some of the pencil drawings which are here on this site. The drawings are part of an on-going evolutionary process of exploration and development, and thus serve only to mark and represent a particular stage in my abilities and understanding. Current on-going experimental ‘drawing’ includes very large scale drawing, based around the human figure, which are very different in character from the pencil portrait and ‘flesh’ figure drawings which are featured here.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.d-kele.com
Kele Dobrinski I’m Kele Dobrinski. I have a traditional Advertising background in Art Direction & Design, and have spent time working with agencies Cutwater (3 years), TBWA/Chiat/Day (1 year), Venables Bell & Partners (2 years), and Goodby Silverstein & Partners (4 mos.), as well as project work with many others.
Johnson & Johnson Band Aid: Score “Winning hurts. Band Aid.” Advertising Agency: JWT, Sao Paulo, Brazil CCO: Mario D’Andrea Creative Director: Roberto Fernandez Art Director: Filipe Cuvero Copywriter: Fábio Leão, Christian Fontana Photographer: Régis Fernandez Account Director: Luciana Rodrigues Account Supervisor: Rafael Freitas, Priscila Arakelian
Viking Fertilizer: Mango, Coconut “For faster fruiting.� Advertising Agency: McCann Worldgroup, Bangkok, Thailand Chief Creative Officer: Martin Lee Creative Director / Copywriter: Santi Suwanvalaikorn Art Director: Naree Leungvititgoon Production company: Visionary Group
Brainstorming
Tips and Techniques for Freelancers Brainstorming is the secret weapon of every freelancer and entrepreneur. It helps us recall everything we know about the subject and any related ideas to it. Whether we realize it or not, brainstorming is at the root of every venture we undertake, be it a product, project or something as simple as a blog post. There’s a reason freelancers swear by the powers of brainstorming. A single brainstorming session can create new and creative ideas that either make you more productive or help you find a solution to your problem. It’s a great way to extract all the information you have and what you need to know more about. It allows you to notice connections and patterns in the information and helps you create an outline. 46 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
Mind maps Mind mapping is the easiest and most popular form of brainstorming. They’re especially effective if you’re brainstorming on your own. A mind map is a graphical representation of all your ideas linked to and arranged around one central idea, problem or topic. There are no rules to it apart from jotting down everything that comes in your head. Your mind map can be hierarchical or in a tree branch format. You can either do mind map on a paper or use an online program like Mind Meister which lets you save, import and export your mind maps and comes with a free version as well. Brain dumps Brain dumps are the most fun. Take a piece of paper or open up your word processor and start writing everything that comes to mind. There’s no rule saying it has to be related to the project. If you’re brainstorming logo ideas for a client and find yourself thinking about lunch, note down what you want to have. Trust me, it’s much more productive this way. Otherwise, you’ll be stuck trying to come up with logos while your mouth is watering as you’re thinking about food. Collaboration If you find yourself stuck for ideas, talk to someone and invite them on board for the project. Get them to brainstorm with you and compare notes. More often than not, your brainstorming partner will pick up something you might have missed, find a correlation or come up with a unique angle that you wouldn’t have thought of on your own. If you don’t want to partner up on the project, that’s fine. You can still get them to collaborate with you for brainstorming as long as you return the favour. Reverse brainstorming Reverse brainstorming can work in two ways. The first is to visualize the result you want to achieve and then work your way back to the start. For example, if you want to write a blog post, then depending on how you write, your reverse thinking timeline will look something like: -
Respond to comments Publish post Format post Write post Create an outline of the post Write title
This technique helps you concentrate on areas that you may take for granted and highlights anything that you might have missed. In the example above, you might realize that you didn’t pay attention to the formatting of the post and now know that you need to do. The second way is to ask yourself the opposite question of what you’re trying to achieve. First, ask yourself ‘How do I achieve these results?’ and then ask ‘How do I achieve the exact opposite?’ Let’s take this blog post for example. When brainstorming the ideas for this post, I wanted to make this post exceptional. So I asked myself ‘How can I make this post amazing?’ I drew up a blank. I spent an hour looking at my outline for this post trying to figure out how to make it amazing.
Then I decided to ask myself ‘How can I make this post mediocre?’ The answer was staring me right in the face – for both this question and the one above. I could make this post mediocre by simply explaining the tips and techniques for brainstorming and not giving any examples and not showing how to use these tips. Group sessions Group sessions are great for getting past ideas that have you stuck. If you’re stuck at a particular section of your project, a group brainstorming session can be your ticket to clarity. The people in your group bring their own experience and knowledge that will help you find ideas for solving your problem. It’s not necessary for the group members to be from the same field as you. As long as they have a rudimentary understanding of what you’re trying to solve, their ideas can be invaluable. Sometimes, even input from someone who has no idea what you’re talking about can help. Encourage them to ask questions and propose any idea that comes to their head – even if it seems silly. Having a novice’s perspective on your problem may just be what you need to find a solution. Ask Questions Asking questions is a great way to come up with ideas and answers to your problems. Use prompters like what, where, who, when, and how. Suppose you’re creating a website for a dentist, ask ‘Who is the customer?’ The answer will be, people who have problems with their teeth. Next, ask, ‘What kind of problems do they have? To which you’ll answer ‘Toothaches, cavities, dentures, etc’ and so on until you have all information you need. Set A Time Limit Setting a time limit is a great technique if you’re pressed for time or haven’t been able to brainstorm successfully. It forces you to focus and come up with as many ideas as it can in the given time. The duration of the time limit depends on you. The limit has to be short enough to instil a sense of urgency but long enough to allow you to record all your ideas. If you’re trying this technique for the first time, start with 10 minutes. For bigger projects, break your tasks down in small chunks and then brainstorm them one by one. This way you won’t feel overwhelmed by the sheer size of the project. SWOT Analysis A SWOT analysis is an analysis of your project’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Doing a SWOT analysis will give you a clear idea of what you have, what you need, what you can capitalize on and what you need to improve.
How do you brainstorm and what is your favourite brainstorming technique?
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20 things that drive web developers crazy
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The relationship between visual designer and web developer can be a fraught one. Rafael Mumme, senior client-side developer at New York agency HUGE, takes a wry look at where it can all go horribly wrong...
I’m going to be honest. The life of a web developer is pretty sweet. We get paid to sit around an open plan office all day solving problems that, if we weren’t getting paid, we’d probably do anyway.
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what to do. (Will the visual designers please stand up?). And because they don’t quite understand what we do, sometimes we have to do things that, quite frankly, make us feel dirty. Not to mention having to navigate PSD files so fiendishly organised that you would think they were created that way on purpose. (But that’s okay, because we like solving puzzles too.)
We also work with people who, because they don’t quite understand what we do or how we do it, regard us with a certain bootlicking awe. This does no end of good for our enlarged sense of self-importance. So, visual designers, here’s a list of 20 things that drive developers crazy. Unfortunately, some of those people If you’re not doing at least 15, then are also the same people who tell us you’re not trying hard enough.
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1. Add rounded corners to every single element on the page. While you’re at it, add shadows and gradients too. 2. Use the same PSD as a starting point for every project. Hide unused layers, but don’t delete them. Make sure your PSD is at least 100MB. 3. Use sIFR on every piece of text. Bonus points if you choose a font that’s very similar to Arial. 4. Never use the same dimensions on elements. Give each a different font size and colour (for black, use #000000, #111111, #121212 ...). 5. Use a lot of breakout images with transparency. Web developers love graphics breaking out of boxes and columns. Bonus points if you add text wrapping around images. 6. Add a modal window. At least half the site should happen in a modal window. 7. Add a Facebook Connect button. It’s just a button. How hard can it be to implement? 8. Hide important PSD layers. Later, tell the developer that they missed a hidden element. 9. Create buttons with rollover, active and clicked states. Then don’t tell anyone you’ve done this. Create a separate file for them and send it on at the last minute. We love surprises. 10. Tell the developer about some fancy functionality you read about somewhere on a blog. Then tell them to build it, because, if you saw it somewhere, clearly it’s possible. 11. Add a carousel. Oh yeah, and make sure it’s a fullscreen carousel. 12. Use Lorem Ipsum instead of real copy. And make sure the reserved space is not big enough for real copy. 13. Randomly merge PSD layers. Why not? (But don’t merge too many. It’ll take you further away from the magic 100MB target). 14. Name all your files ‘final’, plus a date and a random letter (final-2010-12-01a.psd, final- 2010-12-01r.psd, final2010-12-02b.psd). 15. Don’t worry about making changes once everything is signed off. When we’re done with a page, send another, completely different version of it. And tell us that those changes are necessary and essential for user experience. 16. Don’t name or organise your PSD layers and folders. 17. If you’re designing a form, forget about error and success states. We’ll squeeze that stuff in somewhere. We love guessing your intentions. 18. When you’re designing a website, don’t invite any developers for brainstorming or design meetings. Make sure we’re the last ones to see the layout. Show it to the client first, so it will be too late to introduce even a modicum of
sanity into your work. 19. We should hang out more, so during QA don’t use bug tracking software. Come sit with us for an entire day and point out changes you want made over our shoulders. Use the opportunity for some impromptu design updates as well.
20. And finally, this is the most important thing: don’t learn anything about HTML, CSS, JavaScript or browser issues. The less you know about it, the more important we seem. GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 49
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.jgjones.com
J. G. Jones
J. G. Jones is an American comic book artist, known for his work on books such as Wanted and Final Crisis.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.mariotestino.com
Mario Testino Mario Testino was born in Lima, Peru. In 1976, after completing his studies in Peru, he arrived in London to pursue a career in photography. Testino has become one of the world’s most well known and celebrated fashion photographers. His work has been featured across the globe in magazines such as Vogue, Vanity Fair and V and he has crafted and contributed to the imagery of leading fashion houses such as Burberry, Gucci, Versace, Calvin Klein, Dolce & Gabbana, Salvatore Ferragamo, Estee Lauder, Hugo Boss, Miu Miu, Shiseido and Michael Kors, among many others. As well as having published nine books of his work and edited one other dedicated to contemporary art and artists from his native Peru, Mario Testino has had many successful exhibitions in galleries and museums around the world.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.naderbilgrami.com
Nader Bilgrami
Photographer
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://rwpike.blogspot.com/
Rodney Pike
My name is Rodney Pike. Many in the art world know me as rwpike, which is my username at several of my online portfolios and sites I’m a member of. I have a lifetime of experience in Fine Art and Graphic Design and Digital Illustration. I offer Photo-Manipulated Illustrations of all sorts but I specialize in Photo-Manipulated Caricature Illustration, Humorous Illustration and Political Satire, perfect for magazines, books, etc. My clients include companies such as FHM Magazine, Tennis Magazine, Bauer Media and Miller Publishing Group. I am a member of the ISCA and NAPP
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.winkler-noah.it
Winkler+Noah
For Winkler+Noah, photography was the most fitting point of arrival for an artistic itinerary that they began instinctively from childhood, exploring all the forms of expression that they encountered — painting, drawing and sculpture — amalgamating them and trying out blends between different media. This creative need for self-expression matured over the years, first becoming curiosity and then a strong will to create and to photograph. After a professional detour as an illustrator and graphic designer, Noah met Winkler and this acted as a detonator, producing a mixture fusing traditional photography with experimentation.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.pokedstudio.com
Poked Studio
Poked Studio is Jonathan Ball an illustrator and graphic designer living on a diet of pixel dust. Inspired by lo-brow art forms such as cartoons, retro video games, urban art and cute monsters, creating fantasy worlds and characters in vibrant colours and settings.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.mydeadpony.com
Raphael Vicenzi
RaphaĂŤl Vicenzi aka My Dead Pony is a self-taught illustrator. His approach is therefore very personal and mixes digital media, watercolour and furious doodles. If at first the illustration seems fresh and light, a darker, more provocative undertone emerges afterward. His style remains accessible and clients like Graniph, String Republic or Ride Snowboard have understood this. His works have been published in magazines like Computer Arts, Advanced Photoshop, Rockpile, Idea Design as well as in books about contemporary illustration like Illusive 2, Zeixs Illustration and Fashion Wonderland.
Email Marketing: Tips to Do it Well
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Nowadays, with Internet spreading its wings all over the globe, more and more people are switching from physical mediums of business promotion to online marketing. Email marketing is one of the best means of promoting your products and services online. It is also one of the oldest sources of business-to-business marketing used by virtually everyone. A well planned effective email marketing campaign can help your business products and services gain maximum visibility and recognition, not only locally but all over the world. With this direct marketing procedure you start getting quick response once your email reaches your targeted customers.
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The Importance In today’s world of cut-throat business competition, companies and enterprises are making use of only the most effective means of business promotion, and email marketing is one of these mediums. Businesses find email marketing beneficial because of its ability to be highly adaptable to today’s constantly changing business world. Other factor that adds to the inevitable importance of email marketing is its aspect of being highly inexpensive and affordable. It can also easily be built into existing marketing systems of any organization seeking promotion at international level. Moreover, online marketing can make business promotion more efficiently, short, and real time in terms of delivering something to your clients and customers.
Benefits of Email Marketing Rightly executed email marketing can compliment all other marketing initiatives and reap you many benefits, some of which are as follows: - Cost-Effectiveness No matter how inexpensive the conventional mediums of marketing and business promotion can get, they can never be compared to the cost-effectiveness of email marketing. Marketing collateral, like press advertisements, brochures, flyers and posters require a significant financial outlay. On the other hand, email marketing is live, constantly changing and is easy to implement, along with being inexpensive.
- Global Approach A good advantage of email marketing comes with the globalism of the Internet. No matter where you are or whom you need to reach, email marketing paves the way to a global approach of business promotion. Borders are no obstacles in email marketing. - A Personalized Medium Email marketing is a personalized medium of advertising and business promotion. It enables you to create a special bond with the prospects. Unlike other mediums of marketing and promotions, email marketing can be segmented in terms of its target audience, meaning that you can split people off into smaller, more focused lists. This too gives a more personalized approach to your marketing messages. - Gauge Results Any marketing campaign needs to be gauged in terms of its results and feedback from the target market. With email marketing as a tool of business promotion, you can easily carry out litmus tests on your target audience regarding different campaigns. You can accurately measure click-through rate, conversion rate, how a person arrived at your website, and more, through readily available tools on the Internet, and assess the success of different email campaigns. - Quicker Response Time Another advantage of email marketing over the conventional means of business promotion is that it has a quicker response time. The average response time of email marketing is one to three days at max and you get the most responses on the first day itself, while a direct mail camGRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 67
paign would take minimum two weeks to generate any responses. - Ease of Use Email marketing comes with an ease of use for both the sender and the receiver. Executing an email marketing campaign is simple and anyone can do it without any extensive resources.
6 Tips to Do it Well For every effective marketing campaign, doing it right matters a lot. Following are certain tips which will help you execute better and more effective email marketing campaigns. 1. Pre-determine Your Campaign’s Objectives Before executing any campaign, its objectives and targets need to be pre-determined in order to get the maximum out of it. A general email marketing campaign can have two basic objectives i.e. to strengthen customer loyalty and ongoing relationships and to drive direct response of the customers. Whichever of these two are your campaign objectives, it is important that you plan it out and then set it for execution. 2. Avoid Spamming No matter how easy, affordable and responsive it gets, the biggest hurdle in the way of a successful email marketing campaign is the spam filters. When more and more people started misusing email marketing, email service providers all over the world introduced spam filters, which were a great setback for this mode of business promotion. Therefore, when the successful marketing practitioners realized that people’s dislike to spam destroyed the customer loyalty they worked so hard to address the problem with best practices that revolved around the aspect of ‘permission’. Permission is best and the only authentic way to avoid spamming in the process of email marketing. This may sound a tedious process to you, however, in actual getting permission is not much difficult. Offer something useful to your customers (a coupon or special discounts, a research related to your product or perhaps an informational newsletter) in return as if the person agrees on receive your messages and, often, to provide valuable personal information. Never underestimate the power of “free” and use the same in taking customer’s permission for email marketing. When you will give them something free, build the relationship and then recommend products or services, they are likely to buy from you and will stay loyal to your brand. 3. Opt-in Option An opt-in option is a perfect way of taking permission and carrying out an effective email marketing campaign. Adding an opt-in form to your email marketing message is the best practice in terms of marketing ethics and effectiveness. Considering the importance of an opt-in option, larger organizations even go for a ‘double opt-in’ option i.e. after the receiver of their marketing message firstly enters his/ 68 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
her email address to subscribe to their list, they send them a confirmation email which contains a special link back to their email marketing campaign, which verifies that this visitor did indeed sign up to their mailing list. This way they easily avoid spamming and their customers develop a sense of respect for them. 4. Creating the Message Once you plan out your campaign objectives and also get permissions of your customers, the next step is to create the actual message that needs to be sent out. There are some points to be remembered while creating your email marketing message: - The subject line is the most essential element of email message content. The subject line should always make sense and should standout. - Create the content of your message absolutely clear and easily readable. - Go for the ‘inverted pyramid model of message construction i.e. start from ‘most important’ information to ‘less important’ one - Web readers have very less time and are always in a hurry so keep your message short, to-the-point and ensure its relevance. - There are certain essential elements of an email message content i.e. the ‘to’ line and ‘from’ line, the subject line, the offer, the format, the body copy, the message category, message personalization and targeting. - Like the subject line, signature has a crucial importance in an email message. Always include a signature at the bottom of your emails, as it is a good way to attract more traffic to your website. This signature should include your personal details, your company details, and an opt-out link. 5. Testing the Message Before sending out the actual campaign in execution, it is better to test its different aspects with trial and error method. Try out different fonts for both content and links, re-positioning images such as logos and buttons and experiment with different emailing patterns (including the greeting and sign off). Send three different patterns of your email, compare their click-thru stats and see which one works best. This way you will be sending the right mix of content and images that will attract more visitors, and ultimately more sales. 6. Develop and Maintain the Email List As mentioned earlier, in order for your email marketing campaign to be successful, it is important to be focused in every aspect of execution. Similar is the case with email list. You need to develop a proper and well-searched email list for your campaign (probably of the people who are interested or have opted-in for your marketing initiatives). Also, email list is not a one-time thing. It needs to be trimmed and maintained according to the circumstances. Longer lists should be broken down into smaller segments, targeting the consumer and personalizing the message. Also, after every three months, shed off the people in your list who do not rear or respond to your messages.
Conclusion Email marketing is a fully grown and well-used tactic for business promotion via emails. It is cost-effective, easily executed and gives a good impact to your campaigns. Email marketing does not replace your other marketing activities but compliments them extremely well. A well run and good email marketing campaign can grow your customer pool and add to customer’s loyalty. Hearing from your brand repeatedly, with good content reminds readers of your business’ value, especially if they take your advice and find it works for them. Although email marketing comes with lower risks and higher profitability, however, this can only be achieved through proper planning and execution tuning into higher success rates for your business.
Some email marketing examples
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Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.mrgo.co.uk
Mrgo Mrgo is a young designer from the south of England who can often be found scratching pen against paper by candlelight in an attic, in a very much Anne Frank-esq manner, somewhere near Brighton. It is said that your past makes you who you are today, and if that is the case then Mrgo is one hell of a man judging by the last quarter of a century. It is reported that Mr Go doesn’t need to blink, he just does it just to ‘Fit in’, a tactic learnt from school to avoid bullying- Even though all of school only took him a week.
On July 17–19, 2011 we bring you PUSH Design Camp, Block Island!
Greetings! We founded PUSH Workshops in 2007 to bring high-quality workshops, salons and events to creative professionals in our South Norwalk location. PUSH was founded in 2007 by Karl Heine, principal of creativeplacement and kHyal™, President + Creative Director of fiZz. The husband and wife team partner with masterful individuals and companies to produce career-critical communication design events and workshops. PUSH is an ongoing series of handcrafted workshops, salons and events developed to expand the learning opportunities of creative professionals at every stage in their careers. From tips on typography and the lost art of letterpress — to rapidly evolving emerging interactive technologies. From creating a portfolio for success — to techniques that get your resume noticed. From how to present your best self in an interview — to mapping out a career shift — and more. PUSH provides the tools and training to keep you pushing toward your goals. In 2011, PUSH goes mobile with Design Camp on Block Island. Revel in nature with like-minded creative professionals for three days of hedonistic play and design learning. Stay tuned as we develop and solidify the schedule for an intense three days of design thinking and workshops in a breathtaking world of natural beauty. On the menu: welcome dinner by a master chef, typography in nature, plein air painting, found object sculpture workshop, natural clay spa on the beach and more!
http://push. bigcartel. com/
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://weare.kittozutto.com
KittoZutto
KittoZutto is an art and design boutique comprising of Yana & Jun. They combine fine art illustration with digital imaging, and the highly-detailed results are often best seen in large formats. Their hyper-realistic yet surreal illustrations are inspired by woman, fluids and nature. Before setting up kittozutto they have worked in the field for more than a decade collectively, and have done work for Adidas, American Express, BBC, Chanel, Coca Cola, Levi’s, Ministry of Sound, Motorola, Ogilvy & Mather, Pioneer and Yahoo.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.davidmascha.com
David Mascha
David Mascha  is a freelance graphic designer and illustrator living in Vienna, Austria. He works with special emphasis on aesthetics and creative ideas with a high attention to details. Beside showcasing on international fairs and exhibitions, he has been working for clients such as IBM, AT&T, Gillette, Hennessy and K2 Sports. His work has bee
Interview with: INFO: http://www.perttumurto.com/
Perttu Murto RESOURCE: http://abduzeedo.com/
I am a 23-year-old graphic designer from Finland. I have been involved in graphics for almost 7 years and was also recently selected as the Young Advertisement Designer of the Year for 2007 in Northern Finland. My work has also been featured in several prestigious design websites and magazines. 1. First of all we would like to thank you for taking the time to provide abduzeedo.com with this interview. Please tell us more about your art and design background and what made you become an artist and designer? It all begun when I bought my first digital camera, I think I was 16 or 17 years old. That’s how I got my first touch with Photoshop and boy I was sold when I saw what kind of stuff you can do with it. Anyway I kept photographing and playing with Photoshop. There was a time when I played with Photoshop everyday. When I learned more about it, I started to really get into 80 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
graphic design and art directing. I studied things about typography, layouts, logos, branding and everything which had something to do with graphic design. I really wanted to know it all, haha. Years went by and I started to notice that this is definitely what I want to do in my life. It had become more like a lifestyle than a profession. At the moment I study in Oulu University of Applied Sciences Business and Information Management, majoring in Digital Media. I am also working in an advertising agency called Työmaa but I’m always up to interesting freelancer projects as well. 2. Your work is pretty unique and full of creativity. Where does your inspiration come from? It really comes from everywhere, but mostly from music, movies, other designers, cd-cover art etc you name it! Sometimes I don’t even know where it comes from, I just feel like creating something what I think might be cool.
3. Could you describe for us your typical ‘start to finish’ workflow when working on a design? It depends on the task and especially whether it is a client job or a “own” piece of art. If it is a client job, the process begins already in the client brief. After the brief you do different kinds of raw layouts which correspond with the client’s brandbook and the target group of the campaign. The raw layouts are presented to the client and the client chooses the best one and he gives some comments about it. Then you’ll start finishing the layouts in accordance with the client’s comments. A personal piece of art differs completely from a client job. When creating a personal artwork you don’t have to think about any target groups or take care of the customer’s brand. The idea for a personal artwork can come from
anything and it can stay in your mind or sketchbook for months and develop at the same time. Then, when an inspiration hits, you can make it real. Nowadays I haven’t really had time to do personal pieces of art because the client jobs are taking so much time. Personal pieces are really important so you can experiment and develop your skills. 4. What are your tools of the trade, both hardware and software? HARDWARE: Sketchbook, pen, wacom, mac book pro, Canon 30D. SOFTWARE: Photoshop, Illustrator, Adobe flash, Dreamweaver, Indesign. 5. What, for you personally are the pros and cons of being a designer? Pros: I can do what I want for living. I can be part of different projects around the world. I can give a face for a brand new company. I can see my works in everyday life,
street ads, magazines, CD stores etc... Cons: It keeps me very very busy sometimes. The deadline might be so short that it’s impossible to put as much input to the work as I want to. 6. How does your job as an artist and designer influence your life? Do you feel that you see things around you differently for example? I like it. I see some things really differently than some of my non-designer friends. For example when we are in some coffeeplace I can check out a nice typography in a sign or magazine and be like “damn that’s so cool”, my friends are usually like “I dont get that... it’s just text”, heh. But I like it, I like how I notice all the details we got everywhere around us.
7. What are your coming projects? There are few personal projects I am working on, nothing really to say yet... And of course there are plenty of projects we are working on in our agency. Plus the school stuff.. It’s gonna be a busy year! 8. What are your favourite 5 websites, and why? Pingstate.nu / A great Finnish design community! Depthcore.com / The best artgroup around there, I love to spend time in the memberpanel. FFFFound.com / A lot of inspiration! ReformRevolution / When I want to know what’s new in the design field. Behance.net / A nice network for creative people. 9. Once again , thank you very much for the interview. As a final word, do you have any tips for upcoming artists and designers? Be patient, work hard, work harder, chill. GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 81
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.albertocerriteno.com
Alberto Cerriteno
Alberto Cerriteno is a Mexican illustrator & designer who lives in Portland, USA. Strongly inspired by urban vinyl toys, alternative cartoons and the pop surrealism movement, Alberto Cerriteno has developed his own very personal technique and style, having always present a delicate hints of traditional Mexican artistic influences in his management of rich textures and decorative patterns. These contrast strikingly with the blending of desaturated colours and ink, sometimes featuring a vintage coffee finish. His illustrations have been recognized by progressive art institutions such as Juxtapoz, Create, Drawn!, The Little Chimp Society, Computer Arts, Communication Arts and IDN among others. He has also been invited to participate in collaborative art projects all around the world in diverse solo and group gallery shows.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.sandin.ba/
Sandin Medjedovic
Advertising, Web Design, Photography Sandin Mededovic is 26 years old art director, designer and graffiti artist based in Sarajevo, BiH. Also known by creative nom de plume Dream83. Focused on various different types of design and illustration work including identity, print and conceptual visual interventions.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://sedibujantuits.posterous.com/
El Grand Chamaco The Grand Chamaco born in 1982 in Los Ramones, municipality of Nuevo Le贸n. He spent his childhood afternoons playing with crayons while snacking dried meat with sauce and lemon. Is an orphan and spent his childhood and adolescence with his maternal grandfather, who walked in the direction of drawing and painting activities
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://palehorsedesign.com
Pale Horse
Hailing from Tampa Bay, Florida, Pale Horse is the moniker and studio space of illustrator & graphic designer Chris Parks. Since opening the doors, Pale Horse has had the opportunity to create artwork for companies like Hasbro, Sanrio, Iron Fist, Bernstein & Andriulli, Dean Guitars, Globe Shoes, Hart and Huntington and many others. Pale Horse also actively hosts and participates in various gallery exhibitions throughout the US, Europe and Asia.
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.denada.de
Andreas Krapf
Digital Art Illustration Character Design
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.handmadefont.com
HandMadeFont
We are an Estonia based design company HMF (HandMadeFont). It was founded in 2008 by Vladimir Loginov and Maksim Loginov. We specialize in developing unique, untraditional fonts. We take inspiration from everything that surrounds us. On this website we offer completed fonts that you can buy and use freely. We would recommend you to buy the whole collection. In that case, it will save you an substantial amount of money and will expand your potential in visualizing Your own projects. Developed fonts are of such a high standard that they can be very widely used, from business cards to an outdoor advertisement.
Interview with: INFO: http://epochdesigns.co.uk/forums
Lowpop RESOURCE: http://abduzeedo.com/
Thanks for the opportunity of having you here. I really like your work. So, tell me a bit of how did you start and discover that you wanted be a designer? Well, it’s been a long road to get there... I screwed up school, was kind of a lost and violent teenager, and also passionate by street art, and photography. i was taking my lessons in sort of graffiti fonts, and always stealing the teachers markers and else ( i apologize for that, really :p ). And then i stopped school, and stopped the whole thing too. I started to play guitar, several hours a day, and when i had my first serious rock band, from the first hours i wanted to participate to the visual stuffs. And it’s how it came back. I had my computer ( an old crappy shit ), a photoshop 7.0 version, and later bought a digital camera. And i spent nights, trying to learn on my own the rules of design, what to do, what NOT to do, why this font works better or not.. And it took me a long long time, i wasn’t aware of the tutorials or else. And anyway, never really 94 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
liked to learn with “ lessons “ , i always think it’s better to learn everything on your own, even if it’s quite longer... It’s like in music, you study everything you hear, you swallow it, slowly digest it, but when it comes out , it’s your own shit. And from the day i realized i was spending much more time on photoshop or any other design softs than on my guitar, i thought “ that’s what you wanna do “. How do you come up with those amazing ideas and effects? Tips on how to create those effects? Wow. That’s quite of a good question i never asked myself. The fact is : I’m kind of a tortured mind, every second of every minute there’s something in my head, something i’m thinking about, worrying about, forgetting about... So it’s a complete mess in my head. Hard to handle sometimes. And my ideas come the same way. I’ve never been in the street thinking “ hey ! i’m gonna take a pandabear and a beautiful lady, put a yellow background and some of this some of that “ In my way of thinking it’s a bit restricting.
And i know i have a bad way of work : i just open a new empty photoshop document, seek the internet for elements, and go. But it’s the way it works for me. Even if, thanks to my friend Kawo, i tend to change this way of working, for a more professional way. So my ideas come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time, from my mind or from the street, anything.. And tips to create effects ? Damn, i don’t know, try everything in your softwares, even things that would make you think “ no way, it can’t work “ and you’ll see, sometimes, it works great. And never stop to watch nature, everything is in nature, it’s one of the design rule i prefer. Tell us a bit of your career? Favorite project you worked on? Toughest project? My career is so so new ! i’ve started to work in july for wonderful people i met when i moved on Lille ( North of France ), still thanks to my friend kawo. I kinda have to get my ideas straighter, more accurate, more focused. ‘Cause it’s a fresh new world for me, and i have to make my place in it. So i can’t say i have a big career for the moment, but it’s cool this way, i need things to go quietly at the beginning. And two weeks ago, i became creative director for Epoch, a brand new collective that will, i hope, make some noise !!! My favorite project is the one at the moment, i work with a band called Skip The Use, they’re one of the greatest bands i’ve seen, and i have to design every visual piece for them, it’s a real pleasure. And it’s also the toughest one, i want something perfect for them, and it takes time ! And, advertising time, i’m available for any commissions ! Who are the designers you like and inspire you? And what sites do you visit, or what do you do to get inspiration?
idea of shutting down everything, go at a desk, and draw, paint, cut, anything. But i don’t take time for that.. Soon, i hope. It’s been two years i use photoshop, one for illustrator ( learned it at school, very useful tool ). And i also know Indesign well, and Quark Xpress too. And i’m working on After Effects when i have time, cause it’s really fun to make your things move ! ( but.. Being good at AE is a full time work... ) What about your hardware? I mainly work on a 17” laptop cause i often have to move, but it’s powerful enough for everything i need. Well... almost... But i also have a PC with the good old windows XP on it, i think i’m gonna leave it only if it dies cause it works well. And if i have to buy something soon, it’s gonna be a 24” imac. This thing is incredible, and the screen is outstanding. I’m not a huge geek in computers, but i guess what i use is enough. Again, thanks for the opportunity of talking to you. One last question: Any advice for designers out there, who, like me are willing to improve their skills and become a master? You’re welcome. I’m nobody in the world of design for the moment, so it’s a great chance for me to be interviewed here... And so thanks to you ! And i’m still a padawan in design, so i guess the best advice i could give is “ listen to the advices of the masters ! “ haha ;o) Lowpop can be found at: http://www.myspace.com/iamlowpop http://epochdesigns.co.uk/forums
Damn, there are so many... Since i’ve discovered how internet can bring talents to your door, i can’t stop watching folios and sites... I’m a huge huge Fan of Takeshi (TKSH), this guy is just so brilliant, and his style begins to be simpler and simpler, i love it... I wanted to drop his name particularly ‘cause that’s one of the first that made me say “ wow “. There’s also Neil Duerden, who is just a f**kin master in what he does. All his pieces are just perfect. Craig Shields is a killer, Nelson Balaban due to his age makes you feel washed up.. And there are so many... I have books, magazines, plenty of those, full of talents and inspiring things, there’s no limit.. Even your friend who just caught photoshop on the internet and destroyed a picture can be inspiring.. For the sites i visit : plenty of blogs, i have discovered abduzeedo a year ago, and still visit it, DeviantArt is a huge huge community.. it’s a no end list, i also visit fashion sites, photographers folio, EVERYTHING related ( or not ) to what i like.. Tell us about the apps you use? How long have you been using them? Well well well... I use photoshop a lot, it’s really the main tool. Even if i use illustrator on the side, or even Cinema 4D sometimes, it’s always to import elements in a photoshop documents. I feel more comfy this way. And i bought myself a huge huge amount of paintings, pencils, papers, cissors, from all sorts, that i wanna use soon. I love the GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 95
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://www.max-kostenko.com
Max Kostenko
I work with the largest agencies all over the world, develop characters and draw illustrations.
Peta: Baby, Passion
Advertising Agency: Y&R, Chicago, USA Chief Creative Officer: Bob Winter Creative Directors: Pam Mufson, Jeremy Smallwood Art Director: Jeremy Smallwood Copywriter: Pam Mufson Illustrator: Rudy Hall
Felis Awards: Box
Advertising Agency: Oyku, Turkey Creative Director: Ozer Ozbey Art Director: Cavit Isici Copywriter: Ahmet Okan Photographer: Bahad覺r Tanriover Graphic Designer: Ahmet K覺l覺c Account Executive: Mutlu Cag
Tips For Choosing A Graphic Designer Graphic designers come in all shapes and sizes, freelancers, large design agencies; designers that have just left college and designers with decades of experience. Choosing the right type of designer will play a big part in you getting the right finished result for your project. You may have a brochure that needs to be re-designed, a banner for an exhibition, maybe it is much larger; an advertising campaign that needs some seriously creative ‘outside the box’ thinking – how do you choose the right designer? Who do you use for the project?
Are All Graphic Designers The Same? No, not all graphic designers are the same. All are different, with different design skills, industry experience and creative flair. Some graphic designers focus on packaging, some on brochures, some on outdoor advertising etc. Some designers focus on different ‘themes’ of design such as artwork, industrial, nature, landscape etc. Depending on the sort of project that you have would determine the sort of designer that you need to talk to.
Is a Local Graphic Designer Better? Well, let’s reverse the question; would you be happy working with a graphic designer that is a 4-hour drive away? Or even a plane ride away? What happens if you want to meet up and chat over a new project? The phone is great, and e-mail is also good; however as only 10% of communication is verbal then some points may be missed if the contact is not face to face. Well, it does depend; some companies are very happy to work with graphic designers that they never see, maybe the graphic designer is in another country. Some businesses will only work with a graphic designer that is in the same town – as they crave that personal contact. There is a big benefit in having that face to face contact 100 | ISSUE 02 | GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS
with a graphic designer – as you can both look at and discuss the project in a focused manner. If you deal over the phone/e-mail the designer may be multi tasking your project with others (and not giving yours the 100% focus that is needed).
Long Term or One Off Depending on what sort of project you are considering, would have an impact on what sort of graphic designer that you choose to work with. If you have a one off project that is not going to require any follow up, then location may not be as much of a governing factor when it comes to building a relationship and making the project clear to the designer. An example could be a one off brochure or poster – a project that is not going to have repeat work. If you have a number of projects that do require a certain level of understanding, market research and design synergy, then a meeting would certainly be helpful in conveying this to the designer. An example could be an advertising campaign, which may require continuity with the designs adapting them gradually throughout the campaign to communicate a subtle message. This then follows on to something else, which also plays a factor in the selection process:
Experience – Does the graphic designer know your product/market/industry?
If you are looking for a design partner (to work on a long term project/campaign), then this will be a factor that will play a key role in how effective the finished result will be – and what results will stem from it. If you have an important advertising campaign, or a corporate brochure; then having the right design and text is crucial if it is going to prompt the right response. Designs that work well in one industry may not work well in another; equally the content has to be targeted to specific industry sectors. This can only be done by having experience and knowledge of how that market place works.
Price – Not always the be all and end all.
There is no getting away from it, price is an important factor and all companies are looking to save money where possible. No-one likes paying too much for something; however quality does come at a cost. Top businesses have great designs due to using top designers. Indeed they may have paid a premium but they did get a great end result.
to compare prices, to ensure that you are not overpaying (but choosing a designer based solely on price is unwise).
Inspiration I hope that this article has challenged you to think hard about the sort of graphic designer that you choose to work with. There are literary hundreds of thousands of graphic designers around, thousands of good ones, hundreds of great ones, but not many that would be spot on for your project.
Closing Thoughts Working with someone local is always good – as it does bring the benefit of being able to build a relationship (and relationships are key in building good business links). Choosing a graphic designer based on their skills and experience is probably more important, as the finished product is likely to be superior and to get the results that you are hoping for.
It is possible to get a great deal, however the problem with getting a cheap design, is that it can look cheap. We all know that you do get what you pay for, so it is good GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 101
Gender affects a Graphic Design Project
Is HE right or is SHE wrong? One thing I admire about graphic designing is that there is no dearth of talent and flair in this field. Regardless of the gender, the graphic design field is crammed with both, male and female, talented graphic designers. But socializing with a gathering of both male and female designers, I have observed some variances that relate to the human gender.
Characteristics of Female Graphic Designers: Let us start by first discussing the common traits of female graphic designers and how they have an affect on graphic design projects:
Characteristics of Male Graphic Designers: If you think that I was biased in describing the female graphic designers, wait till you read the male side of the story. Like I said, both genders have their pros and cons that influence a graphic design project. Here are a few traits of male graphic designers:
1. Organized & Punctual
1. Cool-Headed
In my opinion, the best habit of a female graphic designer is punctuality. In comparison to male designers, females by nature are more organized and disciplined. In most cases, you will witness the workplaces of female graphic designers to be more organized and structured, unlike their male counterparts who (including myself) are generally disorganized. If you’re working with a female graphic designer, you can rest assure that your work will be done on time.
The first thing that you will observe in male graphic designers is the level of patience and endurance. Men are relatively more cool-headed than their female counterparts when it comes to enduring client criticism. Like I said, women are more sensitive than men hence they tend to lose patience when criticized. Although this is not 100% true but I am sure many of the clients will agree with this difference.
2. Equal Attention to Every Project
2. Lazy Procrastinators
The next trait of a female graphic designer is that she will give equal attention to all her graphic design projects. Since females are known to practice the concept of equality more than men, they make sure to treat each of their clients equally. Irrespective of the size of the graphic design project, a female designer will not prioritize them. Instead she will give fair share of attention to all projects.
This is one point that I’m sure most of the male graphic designers will agree to. You must be wondering women are also lazy, but as far as I have observed, male designers tend to postpone tasks relatively more than their female counterparts. Don’t know if it’s a male specific trait, but men can be awfully lazy at times. They can pass on a minimalist design just to meet a deadline. But this doesn’t mean that all male designers are indolent and sluggish, rather you will find more incidences of procrastination with men.
3. Tend to Panic Speaking in relative terms, women are more emotional and finicky than men. From what I have observed, female graphic designers are a perfectionist. Their satisfaction lies in perfection and for that they can be extremely finicky about the details of the design. They can be irritating at times as they are eager to get each and every element of the assigned project. Although, it is a good practice to obtain feedback from the clients beforehand but being overly finicky can frustrate the clients at times. 4. Easy to bargain As I mentioned in my earlier points…female graphic designers are relatively more emotional than their male counterparts. This is why they tend to have a soft corner for their clients as well. Although you may think this is a good thing to be considerate but it has its own drawbacks. A friend of mine once narrated me how she slashed her fee halfway down after her client sobbed in front of her whining about his financial problems. My point here is that female graphic designers are relatively easier to bargain with since they can be convinced emotionally.
3. Rational Minded Like I mentioned in the female section of the post, women are emotionally more sensitive than men. Contrary to that, men are more rational and logical than women. They will prefer using their brains more than their heart. Everything they do will hold a logic behind it. They don’t let their emotions control their decisions while working on a graphic design project. Hence, the point of easy bargaining isn’t true for male graphic designers. 4. Easily Distracted I have to admit something here…while working on a clients project, I have several such tabs open on my PC that are irrelevant to my work. I get easily distracted by the social media and instant chat with friends. At first I thought it was only me, but after observing many of my male designer friends, it seems as though distraction is a trait more prone to men. You will also find male designers easily distracted by sports, news and other activities while at work.
Reading the above mentioned positive & negative characterstics of male/ female graphic designers, do you think that gender has any influence on a graphic design project? Being a client, have you ever thought whom you want your project to do…a male or female graphic designer?
GRAPHIC DESIGN AND DESIGNERS | ISSUE 02 | 103
Wine Pinnes We love the illustration on the label that represent the history of the Heroic warrior the wine was named after. The colors indicate the type of wine it is. “From the year 167 bc river Neretva was the north western border of Roman Republic in Balkans and also the border of Daors tribe who enjoyed a certain kind of autonomy within the Republic. Their main city and trade center of the region was the large fortified settlement called Daorson or Daorsi or Daorsum. Pinnes was a warrior and Daorson was his hometown. He died defending his city back in year 43 bc; his helmet, which has become the symbol of Daorson, was found on the main door of the Acropolis in 50 cm thick layer of ash, pierced by a spear which inflicted a deadly wound on him.” “Winery Vino-Daorson was created by gathering true lovers of wine and viticulture within the winemaking and viticulture cooperative. It produces wine only from the autochthonous grape varieties Zilavka and Blatina.” Designed by SM-ART http://sm-art.ba/
Meet the Artist: INFO: http://be.net/FabriceLeNeze
Fabrice Le Nezet
Sculpting Directing Design