Caffeine Free Diet Mountain Dew. Seriously, what’s the point?
Originally published on Flickr.
Reposted
Old posts moved over from Sketchbook B.
Vignette effect without leaving InDesign
3/16/09 • 2 min read
This post was originally posted on March 17, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I tend to use a lot of solid color blocks in my designs. One of my favorite tricks in InDesign CS4 is to create a type of vignette using the “Basic Feather” effect. (You can actually do this in CS3 as well.)
Sample of boxes with and without the vignette highlight.
Create two boxes, one on top of the other. The top box should be slightly lighter than the one underneath it. For easier editing, make the rear box a little bigger than the one in the foreground.
Apply the Basic Feather (Object > Effect > Basic Feather) effect to the top box… and instant vignette. Adjust the size of the feather, noise, choke and corner types to tweak the look.
The options dialog box for the “Basic Feather” effect. (Click the image to see the box at full size.)
I used Photoshop for this effect for years, but every time you changed the size of the file or area, you had to go back to Photoshop and render a new file. The InDesign method is faster and more flexible.
And in case you are wondering, I’ve sent files to press with this effect many times without problems. Adding a little bit of noise will limit any banding you might see on press. I’ve got a few other variations on this using photos and blend modes that I’ll try to post soon as well.
The Entrepreneur Journalist
3/15/09 • 3 min read
This post was originally posted on March 16, 2009 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Journalism was my first love. Eventually, working with newspapers led me to my love of design and to my current career. The newspaper will always have special significance to me.
But the newspaper as we know it is dying.
I tell my students every semester that newspapers have survived the introduction of radio, television and 24-hour news coverage. They’ve changed and adapted, but newspapers have survived. But with the closing of the Rocky Mountain News and significant cutbacks in the newsrooms around the country, the verdict is out on whether the newspaper industry can survive the growth of the internet.
The only way for the industry to survive is for the journalists to become entrepreneurs.
How did we get here?
In the not so distant past, newspapers were locally owned (and often family owned) businesses. Their primary objective was to serve and educate their community. Newspapers were a primary advertising outlet and were profitable.
Corporations started gobbling up these papers to form massive media conglomerates. They used their size to leverage efficiencies and become more profitable. With size also comes the inability to change easily and respond to competitive threats - like the internet.
As more and more readers got connected to the internet, subscriptions started to drop. And as subscriptions dropped, revenues from ad sales decreased. This forced the papers to cut back on staff and the size of their publications. The perceived decrease in quality causes more people to drop subscriptions… and the death spiral continues.
So what is next?
The continued decline of the newspaper will leave a void. Newspapers are excellent at providing in depth and investigative reporting. And local papers provide news that you can’t get from national or regional outlets.
Where there is a void, there is demand. And where there is demand, there is opportunity.
Many of the journalists getting laid off across this country are brilliant, capable people. And most of them have a love for what they do… It’s not a job, it’s a calling. They’ll want to continue to cover the news.
To continue to cover the news, they will need to become entrepreneur journalists. Starting their own outlets and news services. Figuring out where the demand is and creating a product that readers and advertisers will embrace. Creating products that marry the internet with the printed page. Finding a business model that will be profitable and serve the community they are in.
Unlike their corporate counterparts, these entrepreneur journalists can be agile and quick to adapt. They can experiment. Like all startups, many will fail. But someone will figure out how to adapt the newspaper to today’s competitive environment and be profitable. And eventually, the industry will be reshaped and the newspaper will survive.
It just won’t be the newspaper as we have grown to know it.
Rough curb. Waiting for my wife, I looked down and found this…
Originally published on Flickr.
Palmetto on Isle of Palms. Beautiful blue sky with some palmettos in the foreground.
Originally published on Flickr.
Tide coming in at Isle of Palms in South Carolina
Originally published on Flickr.
Moon over the beach at Isle of Palms in South Carolina.
Originally published on Flickr.
Sunset at the pier on Isle of Palms.
Originally published on Flickr.
Apple Laptop Box Comparison
12/21/08 • 2 min read
This post was originally posted on December 22, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
I’ve owned three Apple laptops… a Powerbook G3, a G4 iBook and now a new MacBook. Digging through my attic looking for Christmas wrapping paper, I came across the old laptop boxes. The comparison to the new packaging was pretty amazing and the size difference was especially dramatic.
Apple touts the new, smaller box size as an environmentally-friendly feature. Smaller boxes and packaging use less resources to create and transport. But when comparing the box to the packaging from the last few generations, it really is impressive to see the change.
From left to right: MacBook (2008), iBook (2004) and Powerbook G3 (2000)
From the side, you can really see the size difference between the boxes.
I also pulled out my old Powerbook G3… honestly, it’s still a pretty impressive design, but compared to the new MacBook, the thing is massive. I may post a few more detailed comparison shots later. I think it’s interesting from a design standpoint to look at the progression of elements like latches, ports and trackpads. Here’s a shot with all three laptops stacked…
That Powerbook G3 on the bottom looks massive compared to the newer models.
Design Contests and Spec Work
12/7/08 • 4 min read
This post was originally posted on December 8, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Design competitions are a common grassroots tactic to encourage involvement from readers, volunteers or supporters. Asking for designs from the public involves them in the creation process. With the advent of the Internet, seeking out designs and allowing online voting is easy and further builds a connection to the product or movement. The side benefit is, of course, cost savings.
Professional design organizations like NoSpec and AIGA warn that design competitions are often a form of spec work. An attempt by a client to get design services without compensating fairly for the work provided. Spec work lessens the value of design because it treats it as a commodity instead of recognizing the time and effort that goes into providing design solutions for business.
Personally, I’m not a big fan of design contests and side with NoSpec and AIGA on the matter. But I also understand the PR side of the argument. Design contests are not going away. (In fact, with the growth of social networking, they are more popular than ever.) But professional organizations have a valid point. Contests are asking for designers to work with no guarantee of compensation and the quality that results from these contests is often subpar.
An Acceptable Framework?
I came across a competition the other day that provides a framework for what I think is an appropriate way to build a competition. When I posted my Polaroid/iPhone article last week, I linked to Save Polaroid, a site dedicated to ensuring that someone continues to manufacture film for Polaroid instant cameras. They have a t-shirt design contest that they have clearly thought through and that I think provides a fabulous structure for when a contest is appropriate.
Its goal is to provide issue awareness. Save Polaroid is a volunteer, grassroots organization. They are using the contest to raise awareness about the importance of instant photography and to advocate for companies to continue to support the industry. I think motivation matters here. Yes they are going to print shirts and yes, they hope that they will see some profit. But the main objective is obviously not profit; it’s engagement and promotion.
Contest is for a one-off design. This contest is for a t-shirt design. To me, in this case, a t-shirt design is a fairly simple thing. It does not require a massive understanding of the industry or strategy. And it will have a limited shelf life and a limited run of less than 100 shirts.
It’s not like a logo for a company. Or a license plate for a state. These things need to designed with a clear understanding of strategy and planning and would be inappropriate for a contest. But in the case of a one-off design, like a t-shirt, I think it can be appropriate.
They provide compensation for the winner(s). It’s not cash, but it is a prize. The prizes - a Polaroid camera, film, limited edition posters - all reinforce the contest’s connection to the issue.
All rights remain with the creator. All rights to all designs, including the winning design, remain with the creators. Most competitions do not address this, but this is a key issue.
If an artist is going to design something for no or limited compensation, the artist should retain the rights. Many contests do not clearly spell this out. And some require the artist to turn over all rights as a condition of entering - even if they don’t win. In a contest like this, all rights should always remain with the artist. Anything short of that is unacceptable.
Moving Forward…
I think this provides a functional framework for an acceptable design contest - part of grassroots effort to promote an issue, one-off design, appropriate compensation and responsible treatment of artist rights.
And who knows… I may just submit a design or two.
To learn more about the problems with spec work, visit NoSpec and read the official AIGA statement on spec work.
The modern equivalent of Polaroid?
11/30/08 • 2 min read
This post was originally posted on December 1, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
Kodak Instant Print of a future art director on his Big Wheel. (Taken with an iPhone.)
Everyone loves Polaroid prints. The shape and format is iconic. The quality wasn’t that great. You couldn’t really enlarge or frame the prints. And the camera itself didn’t offer anything that even remotely resembled bells and whistles. But the great thing about Polaroids was that the moment you took a picture you were ready to share it.
The iPhone and other camera phones are becoming the modern equivalent of the Polaroid instant camera.
The photographer in me hates my camera phone. The iPhone camera has 2 megapixel image quality, no flash, no zoom, no control over exposure. My digital SLR is far superior as a camera. And yet, I still take pictures with my iPhone all the time. Why?
It’s because I want to share what I’m shooting. Right then. I take a shot of something and I’m able to email it to someone, post it to an online gallery or Facebook. I’m not planning on making prints or enlargements. I’m not expecting great lighting.
I am capturing a moment and sharing that emotion immediately. Just like with the Polaroid.
To build an InShow Cube
11/29/08 • 4 min read
This post was originally posted on November 29, 2008 on Sketchbook B. It’s reposted here as part of a project to move some of my favorite writing to my new site.
InShow is AIGA South Carolina’s annual design competition. While most design competitions have plaques, statuettes, acrylic blocks and other mass-produced awards, InShow has the “cube.”
Every year, the cube is manufactured from a different material. It’s been aluminum, concrete, cardboard, acrylic, ceramic and wood and is always roughly 5 inches.
This year’s cube
The cube for the 14th Annual InShow was manufactured out of electrical boxes and carriage bolts.
I actually built the prototype for this year’s show as a backup for last year. The wood cubes had been shipped, but there was a slight possibility they would not arrive in time for the Gala. So I went to Home Depot and assembled a quick prototype from off the shelf parts. Something we could assemble quickly if the wood awards did not arrive.
However, the wood cubes did arrive in time, so the electrical box prototype was saved for the 2008 show.
The challenge of the custom award
I was at least partially involved with the last five cubes: cardboard, acrylic, ceramic, wood and now electrical box cubes. And I’ve learned a lot from the process. There are several specific challenges to building a custom award.
Find a material. For the InShow cube, we use a new material every year. And every year, we go through a bunch of concepts and ideas. The cube needs to have a certain aesthetic value - after all it is an award - so the material needs to look nice when completed. And budget is an issue, too. An expensive material or process can completely throw the budget off.
The parts for the electrical box cubes came off the shelf from local hardware stores. We debated a few finishing options - like using duct tape to hide the gap between the boxes or some different combinations of parts. But in the end, we went with the cleanest execution of the concept.
Now make 60. It’s one thing to make a prototype. It’s another thing entirely to make 60 awards. Whatever concept you settle on has to scale. Building 60 cubes can be a massive undertaking, especially if you don’t think it through completely. Part of the design process is figuring out the most efficient way to build a larger quantity.
However, 60 is also too small of a number to be efficiently produced using a large-scale manufacturing process. So much of the work is done by hand.
The only scale related issue with the electrical box cube was finding enough electrical boxes. This is not a commonly used box size and is not stocked in large quantities. And with 2 boxes per cube, we were looking for 120 boxes. I had to buy all the stock at three different hardware stores to find enough boxes.
Whose award is it? The hardest and most time consuming part of building a custom award is personalization. The award has the name of the winning firm and title of entry. We also have a handful of judge’s awards that need to look a little different than the regular award.
I used a Dymo 3-D label maker to put the names on the awards. On the prototype, I used black labels and spray painted a black InShow logo. I wanted the label to look more intentional and so I experimented with different combinations. I finally settled on silver labels - which meant I had to spray paint the completed labels. I was a little more time consuming, but I felt the more subtle effect from silver labels on the silver box was worth the extra effort.
I changed the color of the InShow logo from black to dark gray (although most people still thinks it looks black). The special judges awards sported magenta logos - an accent color we picked up from the Call for Entries mailer.
So what’s next?
I have no idea.1 Lots of concepts have been thrown around, and every year, it becomes that much harder to find another concept. But inevitably, someone will come up with a material and an execution that will work.
-
Okay, I have a few ideas. And even a few more prototypes… ↩︎
AIGA Gain Conference. Shot of the stage from back center.
Originally published on Flickr.
Sagmeister with Egg. Sagmeister with one of Marius Valdes’ Egg Shotskis.
Originally published on Flickr.
Espresso on a rainy day. Shot of a neon sign from inside a car.
Originally published on Flickr.