Me: A modern graphic designer should know HTML/CSS as intimately as they know pre-press and print production.
19 minutes ago
Michael: Is this your position:absolute ?
3 minutes ago ·
Me: Yes, this position IS absolute. It is not a position: relative. And it will NOT float: left or float: right.
Michael: Your points are clear:both of them.
Click to enlarge.
This excellent piece of typography was found on designersbookshop.com, a company that creates tools for designers to use in making compositional/typographic grids.
Notice there are 6 columns here, 3 per page. The outside columns are left blank to serve as the margins. The gutter between the two pages is thin, as the 2 text blocks on either side are pushed together in the middle. What you start to see is that there are 3 designs occuring here: Each page has 2 text columns that are perfectly balanced on the page. Not only that, looking at everything together you see that the entire 2 page spread is harmoniously arranged.
The spread is not crammed full of information: at least half of the surface is untouched by ink. This allows the design to “breathe.” It makes the content on the page more important and eye catching. Even though you probably can’t read this language, you want to sit and look at it. That is perfect design: It needs no improvement.
Our books today traditionally have a single wide text column on each page. I wouldn’t mind seeing some of those broken in two like this. Of course, magazines make use of this extensively, using 2 and 3 columns per page. But magazines also tend to over-crowd.
Printed in London, 1581, by Christopher Barker.
These typefaces, the paper, the density, the uneven quality of the ink: All these elements come together to give us an example of lush typography from the 16th century.
Look how the margin notes wrap into the text column (especially apparent in the second image). We could apply this to current design projects just as you see it, or in other ways too. What other secondary or tertiary design elements could be allowed to “impede” on the territory of the top-level heirarchy?
Click each image to view a large version.
Source: Fromoldbooks.org.
One of my favorite websites is SmashingMagazine. Rarely a day goes by without them posting a great article on design or a collection of free downloads (fonts, photoshop brushes, patterns, icons, etc).
In a recent post, they had a collection of free Photoshop patterns. When I went to download some, I found the majority were rendered useless by pattern creators throwing attribution (”you must link to my site if you use this”) or permission-only (”email me before you use commercially”) clauses.
It reminded me of the rise and fall of the Stock.Xchng.. a photosharing site where photographers would upload stock-style photographs for free download and use. In 2004, Stock.Xchng was great… but then something started to happen. Photographers began putting these attribution and permission clauses on almost every good photo. The whole point of the website: If you give me some free photos, I’ll give you some free photos, had been lost.
Sometimes it is good to share just for sharing’s sake.. all of us designers post a few things here and there without restriction (except that someone doesn’t resale the collection), and we all have more tools to use in our work.
In 3 years, if I choose a pattern, font or photo out of the thousands on my computer and throw it over an element in my design, I won’t be able to dig around and figure out who I am ‘required’ to link back to in order not to violate the copyright.
Plus, what bank, corporation, government agency or business is going to allow the designer to throw “Random square pattern barely visible in background of contact form by [link]PhotoshopPWNRdood[/link]“? They won’t, therefore the pattern is completely useless for downloaders.
I quickly check the Terms of Use on each freebie I consider downloading, see if there is an attribution or ‘ask permission’ clause, and if there is, I have to skip it. When I post my own freebies, I un-cuff them and let the community use them, knowing others will do the same and it will benefit me. These designers should do the same. If you want credit and money, then please just sell your work.. but don’t tease us with a free download that is anything but.
Though their french fries aren’t as tasty as McDonald’s slivers of ultra-preserved, mystery chemical deliciousness, Burger King has been hitting advertising home runs all throughout 2008 and into 2009. These new commercials and viral campaigns make us LOL to tears, and, in most cases, deliver memorable and powerful bits of marketing.
If Budweiser was in command of funny, smart and memorable advertising in the 90’s, and Geico ruled the mid 2000’s, the crown has now passed to “The King,” Burger King’s new(ish) mascot. Most memorable from Budweiser were the “Bud-Wei-Ser” frogs, whom they followed with the “Wazzzzzup!” campaign. Geico’s Gecko transformed them from being the drab General Insurance Company to being THE Geico.com. They turned funny into an advertising art form with the Geico Cavemen, a campaign that was so successful it warranted a TV sitcom spin-off. Recently, that campaign has gotten stale, partly because of the sitcom’s flop, but also because it is showing its age and running out of jokes.
Burger King, on the other hand, has been taking a multi-faceted approach, with several funny TV campaigns running concurrently, supported by viral documentary-style videos (with supporting websites) and social networking campaigns.
The King
Always with that creepy, unchanging expression, The King wakes up in bed with men, or pops up like a stalker from the other side of a window, or delivers huge tackles on football players, among many other things. He’s the best at whatever he does, especially when it comes to being a memorable mascot.
The Whopper Freakout
The Whopper Freakout campaign was led with introductory TV commercials that drove viewers to online videos. Hidden cameras showed Burger King customers being given flagship sandwiches from competing fast food restaurants and then taping their response. There is no better way to illustrate “We have the best sandwich” then showing unwitting customers screaming at Burger King managers and cashiers over a Big Mac.
Burger King’s Flame Body Spray
Completely gratuitous and unexpected, Burger King released (or pretended to release?) a body spray that smells like grilled meat. Add a website with sultry 70’s style funk and you’ve got an email-link-to-everyone winner.
Whopper Virgins
The perfect taste test. Burger King flew in people who had never touched or tasted Big Macs or Whoppers before, filmed their trial, and put it on the web for all to see. Taste testing is a worn out form of advertising: with thousands of coffee, beer and food commercials doing the same thing over and over (usually with actors). However, the authenticity of this campaign cut through all that history and created something wholly believable.
And For the Win: The Whopper Sacrifice
This viral campaign was so hip, so hilarious and so successful that Facebook felt obliged to axe it on their system. Not only did the campaign successfully get the word out about free Whopper coupons, it poked snarky fun at the foundations of social networking. By deleting 10 friends from your Facebook profile, each of whom gets a message telling them a Whopper is more important than their friendship, you get a free Whopper coupon. Who doesn’t have 10 friends on their profile they could live without?
We all have favorite album covers. Sometimes, this affection leads us to look at the full range of design that composes a recording artist’s “brand.” Whenever I see interesting music design, I am always most interested in what that designer is doing when they aren’t working for a client. Almost all music designers have an expansive collection of fine art which is often just as interesting as what they are doing for bands. This is natural, because music graphics are a very equal blend of functional design with conceptual art.
In this gallery, it should be noted that some of these designers, such as Shepard Fairey and Idris Khan, are known primarily as artists, not graphic designers. But again, the line between the two in this industry is very fine.
Rob Sheridan, Nine Inch Nails
www.rob-sheridan.com
Nine Inch Nails, With Teeth
Headache
We Could Build a Better Robot, If We Only Had Arms
Eduardo Recife, Panic! at the Disco
www.misprintedtype.com
www.eduardorecife.com
Panic! at the Disco T-Shirt
The Truth
The Art of Losing
Lost Paradise
New Heights by Eduardo Recife
Shepard Fairey, Smashing Pumpkins
www.obeygiant.com
Smashing Pumpkins, Zeitgeist
Mujer Fatal Mural
No, I’m Vegetarian
Duality of Humanity
Big Brother City
Stanley Donwood, Radiohead
www.slowlydownward.com
In Rainbows
Amnesiac
United States
Residential Nemesis
Meteor Oligarchy
Glass House Disaster
Idris Khan, Editors
An End Has a Start
every…Page of the Holy Koran
every…Bernd and Hilla Becher Spherical Type Gasholders
every…William Turner Postcard from Tate Britain
Note:
Obviously, this is just scratching the surface of the vast pool of music designers out there creating great fine art. However, putting together a gallery like this takes a great deal of time. I plan on revisiting the subject again, and recommendations are welcome.
