You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.

In graphic design sometimes you have to play the game, in the words of Albert Einstein, better than the rest to get your piece noticed. So the first step is to know the rules. I am starting with Typography, as that's one of my favorite parts of design.

1. Use only one space after punctuation - The reason this is even in the rules is because when people were using typewriters for correspondence and it made it easier for people to know where one sentence ended and another began. However, with the prevalence of  proportionally spaced typefaces we don't have that issue. This is one rule that most people use without thought. How would something appear in a design where you added more spaces or even tabs between sentences? Well let's find out. I am going to put in 2 examples, one with bad spacing and one designed that way on purpose...

Ok above shows it wrong. The top sentence has a double space between the period and the start of the next line. The second one shows correctly with just one space. But how about an intentional breaking of that rule? Well I found an example (it's of David Carson's work) and I would love to put it here, but it works with the whole rules of typography thing... I am going to put it at the end. Sorry 'bout that.

2. Use proper em and en dashing - You are probably asking what the heck I mean when I am talking about this. What's an en or em dash? Well the exact definition from the Typophile.com website says...

An em is a unit of measure equal to the point size that you are using. An em dash is a type of punctuation used to offset clauses in a sentence or to indicate an abrupt change in thought. An en dash is equal to half the length of an em dash. En dashes are used to denote duration (time.)

What this means is that when you are using your little hyphens on your keyboard, you are using en/em dashes. Saying that a party or event runs from 7 -9 pm shows that you are using the em dash. Whereas, you saying something — it's used all the time — then want to change or add a thought in. 

3. Use proper quotation and apostrophe marks - This one is a big deal. There are many word processing programs out there that will automatically correct it, however we just don't seem to see the correct marks used. 

" is a hash mark showing a unit of measure                              “ ”  are proper quotation marks

' is a hash mark also showing a unit of measure                        ’    is a proper apostrophe mark

How do you get them? Well, it takes a bit of time if you aren't in your word processing program (like word, open office writer, etc) but you can use special characters (using a combination of key strokes) or you can copy and paste them.

4. Use True Small Caps - For most this isn't a big deal. But when you manually adjust the size of a font to achieve a small caps feel, you are cheating the font. It won't feel the same when you use it, and it definitely won't look the same... Make sure you have a true small caps typeface if you are going to use them.

5. Add letter spacing to capitalized text and small caps - When you are using capital letters or small caps, they are looking larger than the normal letters do. They need more space to look as good. Using the add letter spacing in Word or another program (Quark, InDesign) Character/Font options will make your work look a wee bit more professional. Unless you want to run your letters all together in a design, but remember very few clients like that type of design.

I decided to do this in installments, mostly because I have been running around learning a new job! I am now in charge of not only design work that comes out of my new position but the Social Media Marketing as well. Wish me luck as I continue on with keeping up with graphic design, marketing and everything else life can and will throw at me. 

The next installment of the "Rules of the Game" series (as I am calling it now) will be published in the following week or 2 weeks. Until then, play the game better than the rest!

Arise from the ashes and bring the memories to light...

Sorry for the long disappearance. I had a bunch of personal issues to deal with.

Getting back into the blog, you are probably wondering about the title. This year marks the 10th anniversary of the events leading to the fall of the World Trade Center in New York. I know a lot of people are tired of hearing of it, or that it brings back terrible memories for some. What we need to realize is that we use real life to create. A friend of mine is curating a showing and there is a call for artists going out right now. If you think you would like to participate the link is below. The show is taking place in Olrando, FL in a spa. The works do not have to be for sale. They are more to show emotions of the past to the present, the last 10 years and how that day effected you as a whole.

Call to Artists - Reflections on September 11

I am planning on entering something in this.

In other news, I received my new HOW magazine, I love the front cover as I was going to do a post on type and my favorite designer who uses it. I guess I will do the lead in first and do next week's blog on him.

Designers know the rules of Typography, however how many know when they can break them? Using type correctly makes it easy for the client/audience to tell what you are saying or what the product is about... What happens when you take those rules, made a long time ago to make designs easy to understand and beaten into the heads of new designers, and throw them out the window? More so how can you know when it's not only allowed but encouraged?
Well, for a certain designer it's his trade mark. From the moment I had to do a project on him, I fell in love with the way he takes chaos and creates wonders. Mr. David Carson is probably my typography hero. So next week I will be posting about typography, the rules and show how Mr. Carson breaks them... (I might even add my project we were assigned in my Adobe Illustrator class about his style). So until next week!

MIA and Life

Hello folks. I wanted to apologize for the blog not being updated. I had something happen that really messed with my head and schedule. My current job reduced my hours and pay, making it to where I have to find another place of employment. So I took what's amounting to 2 weeks off of blogging. This weekend I should have a new post for you focusing on a designer that I find inspiring and some design work on the blog itself.

For those who have been checking back and seeing the same old posts, I thank you for continuing to come back. I assure you that this blog is not disappearing anytime soon (if at all). Happy Friday the 13th and let's get back into it this weekend shall we?

:)

Tutorials and my favorite blog

Posting on time this week it seems. I am going to go a different direction this week. Instead of me stating what I am discovering, I would like to talk about the tutorials that I find helpful for some things. As I am new to this blogging thing (that is an understatement) I will be doing my best to ensure that the links work.

One of the blogs that I read regularly is the Vandelay Design Blog. Not only are there great tips, but the tutorials there are easy to understand, listed down the right side of the page, and they give you the files to work them through. The directions are step by step, which makes me a happy geek. And the best part is you don't have to be a member to do them. I am using their tutorials to relearn (as it were) photoshop. It's been a while since I had done anything in that program.

The next one I find interesting is the DesignM.AG website. This page shows 40 InDesign tutorials including a brochure (which looks amazing), an interactive portfolio and a cool typography grid set up. From using Quark and InDesign, I have to say I am more familiar with Quark. However, with InDesign coming in a package with Photoshop and Illustrator. With this program being more easily obtained (and a little less in cost) this set of tutorials might just be the ticket to becoming more familiar with the product.

For Adobe Illustrator (which lets just admit is my FAVORITE of the Adobe products thanks to a teacher I had in college) I would like to direct you to the Noupe website. The tutorials range from bling text (which I don't use) to the realistic images you can create using the gradient mesh tool. The tutorials appear to be really clear and concise on direction and let's admit the site is pretty neat too. Full of information that is wonderful to look at.

Typography, being as important in my mind as any image you put anywhere, even has some good tutorials. One that I like (could be due to the mention of my favorite type guy out there, David Carson) is the webmonkey type tutorial mostly because it gives an intro to typography (showing it is important!) and that it goes into some of the specifics on using type in a web page. Which, let's face it, is where most of us spend our time now.

What are your favorite tutorials? Anyone want to share their favorite blogs?

Client may be king, but knowledge is power

As some of you might know, I am designing a web site. The job started off with a "play with this and see what you can come up with" and has changed to a "you have changed too much". I have spent the last day working on it only to delete what I have done because it's "too different". So here's something from my experience on what you should get from a client BEFORE you start designing.

1. What is your company about? What do you want to say? This can not be stressed enough. With this project I had to do all my research and let me tell you, it read like ancient Greek to me. Also I am not sure what content the company will be keeping. You can only do so much with the little bit they give you.

2. Do you have anything you don't want on the site that your company name might conjure up? This could be something that would really upset someone. Say you are designing for someone who's name is not a run of the mill normal name (personally I used to get made fun of for my name all the time, you remember those "jokes" right?). Sometimes there might be something that goes with the name or the service that the client just doesn't want on their site (porta potties probably don't want a plastic porta throne as their main logo am I right?).

3. Do you have a budget for images? Have you decided to use stock images or do your own? This is a big deal. You can only design with what they give you. Remember that if you use "royalty-free" that there are rules to them. Site your artist if they tell you to. Copyright law is kind of vague but blatant use of someone's property is dangerous in this field, just ask Lynx about their suit with Greyhound. Creating your own images (photos, illustrations etc) are perfectly acceptable AND it means you control what you are using and don't have to settle.

4. Communication, deadline and all those in betweens  When you start working on the project, you need feedback. Frequently need feedback. You also need to send something out to receive that feed back. For instance, this site I am working on (it's taking forever it seems) I sent over what I had, they sent it back with a template (which I had) and said there were comments. Unfortunately there were no comments, so I had to wing it. While I will be sending it back to them again tomorrow, I am unsure of what the changes they wanted were.
The deadline is important if you want to get paid, as well as keeping the client. If you miss your deadline you lose that job. Sometimes you can get an extension but I would save the request for when martians are attacking and we need to run around the the old record player, ok?
All those in betweens, what this means is there will be times where the client will want something, be firm about it. Then waver about it. Then go back to the original thought, then back to your idea. Or keep changing their minds right up to print/publish time. Keep your cool, and keep records of everything! This way when someone says "we didn't know that you would charge extra for us changing our minds after the first run!" you can show them the document stating that there would be an extra charge due to the printer being extremely disgruntled about the little change.

In other words, Client might be king, patience is the all being and Knowledge is real power! With the knowledge and information we gather at the beginning of the process, the job becomes much easier. Documenting everything means that your back is covered in case of an issue. I like to think that the way I am doing this job right now, is just because I like a challenge... not because I was too distracted by the getting the gig, that I didn't ask the right questions.
What do you think? Is client king?

Deadlines and why do we procrastinate?!?

Again late on updating the blog, which is where this title came from. It's been pretty busy in my world lately, mostly with vehicle swapping going on (true but still an excuse). But it brings to mind another issue that seems to plague people I know. Procrastination and the inability to meet deadlines. This can apply to any thing, not just design or art or even meeting friends to go to the movies.

I notice that when I have a deadline that is too far in the future I will sit and think "ok let's get started! Don't want to go into 'Panic Mode' if I drag my feet!". I will start some part of the project, do pretty good on time with it that first day. The next thing I know it's due in 48 hours and that's all I have done on it! So for the next 40 hours I will start snapping at people, closet myself off, turn up loud annoying music (to keep me awake while pulling an all nighter) and guzzle coffee like it's going out of style. All this while frantically working, belittling myself for timing and sniping at people around me. Let's say it's not pretty.
The last time this happened (thankfully not to that degree for a while) was a project that I knew about for approximately 12 weeks (school project, I love syllabus work). I started brainstorming then drawing up ideas, then the drive just "Poofed" as I had some other things come up. Then 3 days before the presentation (which was to 3 professionals, not the teacher) I realized that my self promo (the project) was only in the drawn up stage. I had to create 4 pieces, all identical, showing these people what kind of designer I was ... and prove that I had creativity that wasn't just follow the guidelines of a project sheet. I did cigar boxes that were decoupaged with pictures I took, inside was a resume and business card I designed for myself and 5 over-sized postcards of my work (they were pretty neat, it was like cropping some of my school projects so they appeared abstract). Lets say I should have spent the full 12 weeks on it.

Why would someone deliberately put themselves in this position where they would miss a deadline and potentially lose a job, client, contract? My reason (or excuse since there is no good reason to miss the deadline, unless you get kidnapped by monkeys and taken to the mother ship) is I get distracted and then say "oh it can wait until ...." then just forget about it. Or I will say "I need to do this" and have someone ask me for something else (which I can't say no to ever, but that's another topic). Do we do this to ourselves so we have to have that panic moment to be creative? Is it detrimental to your creative process to have a deadline that seems so far in the distance come up and slap you saying "ha ha here I am!"?

Right now I work in a field that has no give on deadlines. If I miss one I cost companies up to $800 a day plus medical costs. I have never missed one of those deadlines. I got close once. So now the next thing is, should I charge myself funds every day I am late on a creative deadline? I don't know.
Well next time I should have an update on time, and maybe a more put together topic.

Mind Blank, jumpstarting ideas

I am a little late in updating the blog (as you probably noticed). In deciding what to talk about I thought, why not discuss what you do when you find you are stuck in a design or piece of art.

I recently worked on a design for a website. Updating a design is, to me, harder than designing from scratch. You see what the client has and have to expand, making it better. But what happens when the design they have isn't so bad? Of course you are given what the client wants (which in this case was way too much information) and have to come up with something to blow their mind. I started strong on the design, and when I hit the layout part of the content I hit a brick wall of pixels. My mind went blank and I just sat there staring alternately at my computer screen and sketch book. Asking my roommate and friend their opinion really didn't help much, though I appreciated their insight. I walked away from the project for a day and tried to go back, full of vigor only to look at what I had already and realize that the wall was still there.

For most of us we can't afford to have a block, a wall that is in our brain preventing us from even a bad idea. So what do you do to jump start your ideas again? Getting the creative juices flowing, as it were, can be really hard or pretty darn easy. Sometimes I walk away from the project, other times I will grab some markers or crayons and just do random doodles (which is how I came up with Fred in my Flash class, I should tell you about him someday). I have a plastic envelop which has clippings, papers, and all sorts of other things that I will go through when I am working on something. Sometimes it helps, other times all I do is waste a bit of time going through the fat file.

How do you get out of the block? Do you even experience it or is it something that is purely in my head? What do you do when you hit that wall of pixels or shall we call it the "wall of mental anguish"?

Inspiration in strange places

There are days when I have my sketch book and get a million ideas (maybe not a million, but quite a bit). Then there are days when I wrack my brain to try and get one that doesn't look like I designed it while under the influence of prescription cold medicine. Sometimes when I am working on something that I have already sketched a rough design idea of, I get bogged down and just can't go any further with it. The things that can bring you out of those are interesting and sometimes quite strange indeed.

There have been projects where a song, or a memory would cause me to have sudden insight into what I wanted on my sketch book or computer screen. Colors and images I wouldn't normally use just seemed to pop in certain moods.

I was assigned a project in a very basic graphics class where we had to design a typeface. Yup! Design a typeface. Everyone in the class started sketching and doodling, my sketch pad was blank. At the time I was also working a couple of jobs, so after class that day I went to work. I was a parking attendant at a city parking lot. There was one lot that was right next to a shady tennis court, which was where I got stationed that day. Since it was slow I had my sketch book with me and would try my hardest to come up with SOMETHING!
That's when I saw it! Lizards! No one had done lizards yet. It was original, it was... too boring! So I changed my lizards to geckos. It was right around the time Geico came out with their cute, comical spokesperson. My teacher would be thrilled! At least I thought so. She wasn't that impressed (I probably shouldn't have made them eat the tail of the other one to form letters), but the point is I found inspiration in a strange place.

When you are designing something (whether it's graphics related or even a living room!), what strange places have you found inspiration?

Vivids, Visuals, Valuable!

Remember in English class when you would write an essay and the teacher would tell you to use vivid language or descriptors? How much more attention do you pay to ads and bill boards if there are "vivid visuals"? Would you be more apt to read this whole blog if there were images? I am sure you would! We are visual people who like to see pictures.

Imagine you are reading a brochure for a trip to Prague (I chose Prague because it's a beautiful city and you can get amazing pictures there without being a professional).
The brochure is full of type, no pictures, no descriptive language:
"The city is the capital of the Czech Republic. It's old. It's in Europe"
This doesn't sound like a great place to go on vacation does it? Ok, try this one then:
"This beautiful city, being the capital of the Czech Republic, is full of rich history and awe inspiring architecture." Then has this image inside:

 

The brochure and the city become more interesting. It's no longer this dreary read, it's a place! A mysterious, beautiful place full of history and wonder!

But! Remember that using images also has a downside. You can make mistakes by using the wrong one. For example: You wouldn't use the above picture to talk about  health care or financial issues. It wouldn't fit the subject.

Good enough or just garbage?

Design that blog...

Over the weekend I was of a mind to design my blog some. I like the template design but it just doesn't say it's me or graphic design, typography, art or crafts. It's pretty, just doesn't go with the idea of this blog. So I looked up tutorials. I found one that looked like it would be easy and quite useful. It's on the Vandelay design website (http://vandelaydesign.com/blog/design/website-layout-photoshop-tutorials/ ). Being a smart designer I figured I would do the tutorial, use my own images and then as I got more confident with the HTML, coding!
Sadly, as you can see it did not work out. I am still trying to get step 2 down. Where you use the pretty design they give you as a background abstract image, my little gradient is now blank. I can't find something I think is "good enough" to put up there. 

This is an issue we all run into. Whether it's sewing a hemline (yes I have torn out hemlines up to 12 times to get them right), coloring inside the lines (it's a HUGE issue when you are 6) or your design you spent hours pouring blood, sweat and tears into. As a designer the thing that we sell is our skills. If you don't believe in your work, how will anyone else?


Value your work...
HOW magazine recently published an article where there are 29 things a new designer must know. One of them is to value your work. This is the hardest step for me, and others it appears! We go out and bid for a job, the job is a good one. You put in your bid where it's not too high, but still you get to eat more than Ramen for the month. The sweating starts, you question yourself, the doubt creeps in with misery and when it's time to start your presentation you put down yourself and your design without even realizing it. It's time to show that you care about your work and you know you are good at what you do.
Lately, I have found that part to be the hardest part, not the brainstorming, thumbnails, composites... just the part where I say I like that design, it's my best yet! So I tear up my thumbnails or despair and just do the lamest job I can, so I get credit or just get it over with.

The wind up...
I just put in for a design position. Whether I get it or not is dependent upon how I sell myself to the project manager and the head design guy. Am I nervous? Yes, as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs (love that image). Was I sick to my stomach when I sent a couple of my pieces to them? Oh yes I was, I thought I would faint. But the key here is I did it. And I guess that means that when I get the rest of my design back up CD's to actually spin right, I can design this blog and it will be amazing!

Remember to value your work, and mean it! If you don't it could cost you a position, sale or even a night's sleep!

Wait, that typeface is a corporate identity??

I was driving home from work earlier this week and while in traffic noticed this van in the lane next to me. I normally check out the logos and type on commercial vehicles here because it's Orlando. Our companies that have cars, trucks and vans tend to use some funky design and text, Lynx bus lines tend to do full vehicle wraps that just amaze me. 

Back to our van from earlier this week, there was no real logo. I thought "OK, so that company is using the name and type for their identity" and really took a look at it. Papyrus. The whole company identity, including the website, phone numbers, everything was in Papyrus. Now don't get me wrong it's a nice typeface. I have used it myself. But there are times and places for it. It seems that this company just didn't understand that septic tanks and Papyrus just don't seem to go together in most minds.

I might have gone with something that wasn't as delicate looking myself. Maybe used something that showed strength like Bodoni, or maybe flexibility like Bauhaus. Just not a flowery script that looks like it's fading away. That I would have saved for something not having to do with waste water and sewage.

When do we use those fun fonts?! Imagine you are doing a black tie dinner and you want to use Taco... I think that might be a bit much but we can work with it. Use it for one piece... like maybe the headline. but don't use it for every word, number and symbol on the page. Though I wouldn't use Taco for something like that unless it was for a taco stand.

This brings to mind an article that was written on the use of Comic Sans. The title was "Typeface Inspired by Comic Books Has Become a Font of Ill Will" and it was in the Wall Street Journal. The article talks about how a font created for fun in comics is now being used everywhere. People fall in love with it and put it on fine jewelry stores, important documents and even a theater in Spain. Now why would I be going on about a typeface and what is the point of this? See there are times for everything. You wouldn't go to a wedding wearing your pajamas would you? Well if you are designing a legal document you wouldn't use a font that make people think of the Sunday funnies!

I guess I am just silly that this irritates me. Not to the point where I am going to lash out and yell. No, I will shake my head, take a picture and put that snapshot in my "Do Not Do!!" file.

Hope you (my oh so many readers, ah sarcasm as I write this with no followers right now) enjoyed that little bit of fun.