Category Archives: Graphic Design
The Universal Arts of Graphic Design
Wikipedia describes graphic design as “…a creative process—most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers, sign makers, etc.)—undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience”. That simple description fits, until you realize how much more graphic design influences our lives. Design surrounds us to the point that it’s often overlooked. The only place where you might not see graphic design would be on the final pitch to the summit of K2, but even in such a wild desolate landscape, there’s that Patagonia or North Face logo emblazoned on the front your climbing partner’s jacket. As Debbie Millman, brand consultant and president of Design Sterling Brands, states: “We use graphic design to pay our bills, to get married, we use graphic design to get divorced. We use graphic design in every single aspect of human life…”
Here at KRT, we use graphic design in all aspects of our marketing solutions for our clients – from simple online marketing to product logos to multi-page corporate brochures. The final design is a result of carefully understanding the message to be conveyed, and creatively communicating it to be informative and impactful.
This “PBS Off Book” presentation looks into the world of graphic design and how it affects the world around us. Let us know how we can help to make your message, services or products more impactful.
Brand Logos are Apart of Our Daily Lives
Logos are everywhere. From the moment we wake-up to the time we turn off the lights to head off to bed, you‘ll probably be exposed to hundreds of brand logos throughout the day. One blogger recorded seeing 33 logos in the first 33 minutes after waking up: http://www.logodesignlove.com/33-logos-in-33-minutes Just sitting here at my desk, I counted 12 brands on various products. The competition for brand recognition is fierce! There are a lot of factors that can make one logo standout over another. A simple but unique design, free of noise and clutter, is usually the best solution. It also needs to convey what the brand is all about. Of course, trying to achieve those goals is difficult. The great American graphic designer Paul Rand once said: “Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated”.
I recently came across this cute video posted by logo designer Adam Ladd. He showed his five-year old daughter various brand marks to get her reaction and commentary. It’s surprising how many she correctly identified. Even from a young age, we begin to associate images with a company or product. It’s hard to say whether her reactions were a result of good design or product exposure – probably both. How many logos do you think you’re exposed to in one day? What makes one logo more memorable over another?
TYPO – San Francisco
A couple weeks ago Europe’s premium design event, “TYPO” took place in San Francisco at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) and was open to the public. The two-day event made its U.S. debut on April 5 and was centered around the theme “Connect.”
The event had a wide range of speakers including the beautiful free form lettering of Jessica Hische, and the very technical and precise work of Kutlu Çanlıoğlu, who is responsible for the user experience and design of 27 different language services for BBC World services.
The opening speech from Tina Roth Eisenberg, a Swiss designer, was about side projects and how sometimes we can get side tracked from what we really love to do. Joshua Davis, had a more over the top stage presence, but defended the idea that work and play are synonyms, instead of antonyms, and we lose the enjoyment of work as we grow up. Çanlıoğlu showed complexity and uniqueness of the different cultures around the world and how research and small details can affect the success of a project.
As day one came to a close, I felt that the speakers focused on spreading the message of enjoy what you do and do what you enjoy because in the end it will all pay off.
Are We Drowning in a Sea of Visual Garbage?
Years ago, while hanging out with a friend in San Francisco, we discussed a poorly designed poster behind the counter of a clothing store. We tried to figure out the three ugly typefaces used in the layout. Guess our critical conversation was a little too rowdy since a clerk walked over and asked us what we did for a living. We both blurted out “We’re graphic designers,” to which he angrily replied, “Well, everyone’s a designer, aren’t they!”
My friend gave him her business card from a well-known design firm, flipped him off and we were on our way. We assumed the poster was created by the guy.
These days, anyone can play designer if they’re willing to buy the software and learn to use it. Adobe CS5 Suite (Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign), used by graphics professionals, will set you back $1,300. There’s even free bundled software like Microsoft Paint, used by a client of ours. Of course, the final product won’t guarantee whether you’ll win a Clio Award.
In fact, looking at the mass of 24/7 noise out there in print, web and other media, shows there’s a lot of bad-looking work being made. There might be that rare individual with innate talent to design awesome stuff, but on the whole, it takes years of training, experience and criticism, to deliver a truly great creative product. Even pros in the business can have off days and produce mediocre work.
Has the growing bombardment of visual stimulation all around us and the availability of computer tools, created a critical mass of bad design? This brings me to this video I came across awhile back. In it, a graphic designer, Aaron Draplin, tells the story about a sign and what’s happening to graphic design in this country. WARNING: He is passionate and uses some pretty strong language. So if you’re easily offended by F Bombs, DON’T WATCH.
View Aaron Draplin’s video here
Let us know what you think. Is there too much visual garbage out there?
As a side note, KRT is always looking for creative resources to add to our talent pool for possible projects. If you’re passionate about what you do, Contact Us, but please leave out the cursing…
Good design is good design, it doesn’t matter what media is being used
With the advance and popularization of digital media for mobile platform, lots of people are complaining about the difficulty to create in restricted spaces. As the German Typographer guru Erik Spiekermann explains, if you can create good design for print you can also design for mobile. You have to focus on the hierarchy of the content and highlight what is important.
Check out more from Spiekermann in the video below – “Typographic Design in the Digital Domain with Erik Spiekermann & Elliot Jay Stocks “
Typefaces are not toys, they’re tools
Type is everywhere. In moving through our daily lives, we’re constantly being exposed to thousands of typefaces conveying messages, ideas, moods, and emotions. Here at KRT, whether we’re designing an ad for print or web, the selection of a particular typeface is an integral part of the creative process. In this short documentary by PBS Arts, six designers offer their insights as to why typography is important in their work.
How to read graphic design
With digital democratization, design, photography and other creative professions have been vandalized and misjudged as a simple action to press buttons on a machine. Everybody today has been overexposed to visual stimuli; people tend to think they are experts in visual aesthetics. However, just because you see logos, magazines, billboards and posters everyday doesn’t make you an expert. Read the rest of this entry
Make the Logo Smaller
Jan 20
Posted by henrykrt
Anyone that’s a creative in the graphics/advertising/design field for any length of time has probably run into the request by SOMEONE to “make the logo bigger.” That request, along with “make better use of the white space,” has caused many designers to blurt out endless obscenities or fall to the floor writhing in agony. The pain is akin to being forced to use Comic Sans for every layout – forever. It’s not that we creatives want to downsize a company’s logo to a nano speck on the page or have all the copy positioned in one tiny corner in 2pt. Helvetica for the hell of it. It’s that we used our creative and aesthetic judgement to make a well balanced clean design that communicates well, only to have it junked-up, messed-up, cluttered, off-balance, noisy, sucky, effed up… you get the idea. “Bigger” or “more marketing content” usually isn’t better.
A few years ago, a video popped up on YouTube that illustrates the point well. It’s a spoof about what would happen if Microsoft designed the packaging for the Apple iPod. Who knows, maybe someday the popular design trend will be to “make the logo smaller”… nah, that’ll never happen… will it?
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Posted in Graphic Design, Marketing
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Tags: advertising design, Apple, Commentary, creative, design, design trend, inspiration, Microsoft, rant, spoof