Pantone Lovers- UNITE

I'm wondering if some of you guys have already seen this, but I'll tell you anyway. Pantone Graphics has a co-branded Visa card now. Wow. 90% of me is saying "that's stupid." But yeah, there's that 10% that loves the insider feeling and really wants to apply for it. And all 100% of me looooves Pantone 18-4039- Regatta.

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20748&ca=1

Putting it together

I was talking to my the head designer today at work about which programs she uses the most. I honestly was pretty surprised to hear that she uses them all pretty evenly. Sitting on the other side of her desk, I could have sworn that she spends more time in Illustrator and Photoshop and InDesign, but she wasn't about to lie to me.

I work for a company that makes dozens of monthly investment advice newsletters. We plan the entire layout in InDesign- import text and all other images from the other programs in there. We use Illustrator to create any graphics we use- like this one!

We also make any fun text, logo images, and text side bars in Illustrator.

We edit photos or manipulate any charts or other images in Photoshop- like this cutout!

So while this isn't an example of our newsletter, we make this page in the same way. I can't post any paid material here, but hopefully this long page can show what our designers do. I can probably also bring in some print copies to pass around next week so anyone who is interested can see it then!

https://www.fool.com/shop/secure/order-01.aspx?dc=eb6b5222-c272-4913-a105-86622398fe29&sf=0510_hybridshort&source=ipesittph0000002

Best Campaign Ever

That's probably not true, but it's one of my favorites. I have a ton of these images hanging on my wall over my desk. They're the Louis Vuitton "Journeys" ads. Each feature a different iconic group of people or individual. Here I have one of their more recent ads- this was out last summer during the World Cup- mostly in mens interest and fine living print publications.

I also wanted to show another favorite- this one is Mikhail Gorbachev. I just love how unexpected, and therefore impactful this one is. Amazing.

Iconic Logos, Ironic Logos

Hey there gang. I'll start it off with one logo that really fills me with good feelings and makes me all warm and gooey inside...

Alright, now seriously. I'm assuming there are a lot of Yankees haters around, so put your personal feelings aside for a moment. There is a reason that this symbol is the most recognized baseball logo worldwide- and while I'd love to believe it's due to the sportsmanship and skill of the team, I'm sure it's not. People look at this, and whether they know it's a baseball team or not, the connection is simple. NY- New York. Once you know it's a baseball team the connection's that much easier.

Another good one- and one maybe as controversial (if we have any PC users in the house)- Apple

The more I think about this, the more I realize that some of the most well known and longest lasting logos are ones that describe the product or brand instantly. Say out loud what the image is- Apple. There you are. I think other logos like this are Target, the NY Yankees one above- even the McDonald's arches refer back to the name of the company.

Some bad ones-

My personal grudge is against Safeway. Don't ask why. (And not because there's a juicy story or anything, it's just illogical. Although one of my first jobs was at Superfresh's New York store- Waldbaums- so maybe that rivalry is coming through.)

No, I don't think any feelings from my high school days as a checkout girl are bubbling up. Pretend the name wasn't there. Here, wait- I'll do it for you.

Hm, what brand is this? You don't know? Me neither. Maybe some sort of feng shui/ yin yang company? A sideways ripoff of Pepsi? The logo means nothing in the context of a supermarket, other than the easily passible S. Lame.

Alright, now this one I saw on a truck when I was driving home on 95 the other day, and part of me actually feels really bad about pointing this out as a bad logo since it seems like a small company. But I'll do it anyway.

Okay, first of all, driving behind this guy, it took me forever to see the "C" in the CD and I kept trying to figure out what Lassy Production means. Do they specialize in Irish women? Dogs? What does the production part mean? Then I finally saw the C and felt jipped, because a truly Classy Production should never have to announce it like that.

 It's outdated- who uses CDs anymore? I'm pretty sure they need to find an S, Pat Sajak, unless they only have one classy production. That CD is really bugging me. If they were really sold on that name, they should have really had the logo look a little more... elegant? Classy? Yeah, that's the word. A reflective CD doesn't really trigger the idea of pure class. 

Sorry Classy Production. I love supporting the little guy DJ and I'm sure you do an awesome job, but... the logo should really represent how awesome you are!

PS- I feel like a huge jerk. Hating on Safeway was one thing, but CP is another. 

colors

So I found it really easy to find examples of good use of color, but one really stand out in my book. I love Tiffany's yellow diamonds ads.

Those are two facing pages in a spread. The Tiffany's blue is expected- it's their trademark color and it's immediately recognizable. Facing it is a page with huge yellow diamond rings. The colors are simple but pure, and facing each other, they really contrast in a lovely way. The reflected yellow is almost tinted slightly blue green. It's not as visible in the scan- or maybe it's just the facing page reflecting. Either way, I'm sure it was intentional, because it's beautiful.

For my example of a bad piece, I have a Revlon ad. I don't know why, but their ads generally annoy me.

I'm sure this color usage isn't the worst in the world, but it's just too much. Too many vivid hues and the pink lips next to the yellow/orange inexplicable background just gives me a headache. Are they standing in front of a giant neon color wheel? I guess that's an awesome place for romance... It kind of looks like an elementary school picture background. 

Yeah, that's hot.

J'adore Photoshop

What you've heard is true. I do love Photoshop. It was a whirlwind romance after a difficult courtship. I thought we really existed in opposition. The tools were confusing. The commands were illogical. But our mutual friend, InDesign, really paved the way to our romance.

So there are some awesome things I've learned so far with Photoshop. I love that I'll finally be able to take off 10 (or 20) pounds from my wedding pictures. I love that I can tame stray hairs from my recent vacation pictures. I love that I can adjust the colors and lighting in fireworks pictures to make them stand out the way they looked in person- or even better. But something I love most of all is the quick selection tool. I love being able to cut an aspect out of one picture, and plop them down into another place so easily! Check it out-

Look at me- in St. Thomas-

Look at me- nowhere. I got some seriously crazy hair going on.

Here I am that time I went to the enchanted castle. You know the one, right? Okay, yes. I did get rid of my crazy hair and I slimmed down my arms a bit. But hey, while I'm working on it, I might as well, right?

In conclusion, I love this tool, because now I too can get in on internet memes like "Cigar Guy," ya know?

Pretty Packages

So as soon as I read the topic for the blog this week, I knew exactly what I wanted to bring up. My favorite packing in the entire world is the original iPod packaging. I remember when I got one in 2004, I was more in awe of the packaging than the product itself. I loved the way it folded into itself- it reminded me of a toy you'd buy at a museum when you were a kid. I loved that it was so clean and simple. The feel of the paper was different than anything else. I hadn't seen any packaging like that before, and it blew my mind that simple packaging could have that effect on me.

Now I'll be honest, I kept the packaging. It's somewhere in my parents basement in Queens, NY, which doesn't help me much now. I did find some pictures of similar packing though. The pictures I found are of the first few generations, all using the cube packaging. The images on the sides are different for the different versions, but you get my point.

I love them so much. 

Grid

One of my favorite blogs (as far as layout goes) is Subtraction.com. I started reading it because a friend sent it to me as an example of a design she liked. Subtraction's design is all about simplicity. There's a clean grid that's obvious to see. I love that the lines of the grid are the white space. There's no actual line, but just breaks in the top row and then the columns below follow the breaks.

It's so easy to read because of that. Even if you don't like the content, you can't not like the layout.

Check it out at subtraction.com.

Love this layout

This is going up at 11:45 tonight since I've been watching the Chilean miner rescue all night- anyone else watch it? It's intense!

A layout that I came across that I really liked was from the September issue of Fitness magazine. I generally really like their layouts- they tend to be light and easily readable with a few columns and tons of subheads and pulled out quotes. This one is really true to that and I wanted to share it since it was something I enjoy as both a reader and designer.

Sorry about the terrible scanning job.

These face eachother

I like the photos and subheads breaking this up. Additionally, each paragraph has a mini title bolded at the beginning. I think it makes it readable and interesting at the same time.

Thank you, InDesign!

I used to look at people who were fluent in Creative Suite like they were superheroes. Clearly they were blessed with some supernatural skill set not given to mere mortals. When I submitted copy at work to the designers, it was like the work went through some magical machine that made it snazzy and readable. Now I realize I'm already capable of doing most everything that they do. I mean, not the photoshop stuff, but general layout and basic design.

I'm trying to walk the line between asking for CS5 on my computer at work to help out with simple design stuff when our 3 designers get swamped, but not wanting to make them feel like after a few weeks of class, I think I have the same skill set as them. It is a small company and pretty flexible, so I'll feel it out.

ANYYYway- I have a more confidence in speaking with the designers and explaining what I'm thinking and talking through a design with them. Stuff gets finished in less drafts because I'm not leading them astray from what I need with made-up mumbo jumbo talk. Being able to speak with them on a technical level helps me feel more confident.

Use your words

The first thing I thought of when thinking about text only ads was the movie poster for Helvetica. Being that the typeface itself is the subject of the movie, it's not surprising that it's the only thing present on the movie poster. 

You can see that they used just about every character to show the "stars" which I think is fun and attention getting. That's important for a movie poster, as they're usually tacked en masse onto construction site awnings and rented out wall space.

Another piece I started thinking about was The Beatles White Album cover. Talk about using text only- and minimally. It's hard to tell if the text or the surrounding white space is the true star- both are important for the message. Even if you didn't know the name of the album, you would know what to call it. Pretty genius.

How odd. I see a theme in what catches my eye here.

Very Clever!

I love most of Guinness' ads. They've always been clever and iconic. The dark glass with the white head is a universal signifier of the Irish beer. I love how the designer used this shape to bring a monstrous vibe to the ad. This is really using the simplicity of the product creatively. One of those things I wish I'd thought of.

I also think the ads for the first season of Glee is very creative. The ads evoke a "collect-them-all" feeling- once you see one or two, you understand that they are part of a collection. The L being the universal signifier for "loser" helps the viewer understand the dynamic and the main struggle in the show without ever having seen show at all. I'm aware there's a dreaded gradient in these, but I don't think that ruins anything. The colors are so vibrant that they might be too much without the gradient leading you to each characters face and the name of the show.

Symmetry/Asymmetry/Tommy Hilfiger

So maybe I'm just bizarre, but I found it way harder to find examples of symmetry than asymmetry. Maybe it's because I'm drawn to asymmetry more and notice it quicker, but it was tricky.

The example of symmetry that I decided to use is from Tommy Hilfiger's new Fall/Winter 2010 campaign: Meet the Hilfigers. Full disclosure: I'm obsessed with these ads. They're so clever and fun and tongue in cheek- perfect for this American designer.

Also, I'm going to show another example from this campaign, just because I love it so much.

I think the symmetry in these are obvious. In the first, the people are grouped and lined up symmetrically. The two blonde women sitting down in the front are the center, family radiates from either side. This reminds me of DaVinci's Last Supper. 

The second picture is almost a mirror image- the cars, the men, the objects on either side. (Yeah, I just called a kid and a dog objects. Sorry.) I love the rich use of color in these ads- something that I think isn't overwhelming because of the use of symmetry. Similar colors and textures are repeated through the images, but the layout of the picture is simple to understand because of the symmetry.

My example for asymmetry is an ad for Saks Fifth Avenue.

Just as the use of color in my earlier examples seemed logical because of the symmetry, I think this ad is effective in black and white because of the asymmetry. The large, blocky figures on the upper right side contrast directly with the thin text on the lower left side. I think if there was use of color in this, it would be confusing to look at. The use of black and white organizes the information and instructs the viewers on how to read the ad. The arrows point to the store name and then lead you to the remaining copy.

CS what?

So this is my first real foray into the land of indesign- or really any program in CS5. It's fair to say I was very intimidated to begin with. I think the best thing about it is that it is hard to really mess up. Enough searching around will let you find at least one way to get your goal achieved. I'm sure once the projects get more complicated it won't be quite so user friendly, but for now I do appreciate that there are at least 6 ways to do any one thing. I talked to a few designers I work with and asked them how they would make an arrow. Three different people, three different answers. I like that!

Figure/Ground

I think this logo is a really cool way to play with figure/ground.

I love that it's really playful and helps you see what type of business might be using this logo. Of course, I also think that the zoo might be touting an impressive wild cats habitat, but that might not be true. Seeing the bodies of the animal in motion- and then seeing the second animal keeps your eyes on the name and the whole logo. It's smart and exciting.

Oh crap

I saw this invitation (well, save the date) as a primo use of CRAP. The three boxes are repetitive and alligned, but contrast in color. The use of proximity helps you read the information and understand the event and what will take place.

Something like a date (and the use in a save the date) works really well being shown by repetition in an invitation. There is a universally understood format that people read. Filling out forms, selecting from a drop-down menu, dates are formatted and repetitive in the mm/dd/yy format.

The center column of text also helps with the idea of allignment. The words aren't perfectly alligned on both sides, but they do line up with the boxes and then with eachother.

I really like this piece. It's clean, simple, easy to read, but somehow doesn't feel like something you've seen a million times before.

Hot or Cold

So let's take a look at some examples of design that I think are good and bad.

I might be a bit biased with this first one, but I genuinely think it's good. Yes, it's my wedding invitation. No, I didn't design it.

I love the simple, clean, capped text. I love the elegant but not too flourish-ey script font used for the names. I also think the design was great for the actual event described on the invitation. It was at a beach club- the simple reeds evoke the idea of an outdoor, natural setting. The color of the reeds are reminiscent of sunset, perfect for the time stated. 

The next example I love is from Real Simple magazine. I'm sure all designers love it. It's pretty much perfection. This is from the "Trends Worth Trying" section of the September 2010 issue. 

Love that it's billed as something "unexpected" right there in the subhead. I really loved the shapes used here. The lines within the pieces each influenced how the actual item was shown. The bag- made up of rings- is shown as mostly circular, and even in the profile shot, it appears curved and concave. There's so much texture going on here- color is only used in the text and that's all that's needed here. There was so much potential for this page to be a huge mess with all the interesting lines going on, but the use of a totally clean background and simple layout preempted any problems.

This next page, which really hurts my eyes, is from the September 2010 issue of In Style Magazine. I jus think it's terrible- take a look.

This is really what I thought that Real Simple page above could have turned into if it hadn't been handled so masterfully. What a disaster. Nothing on this page makes sense together, other than as a group of advertised products- whose advertisers apparently hadn't wanted to spend too much to advertise. This is obvious at first glance. A reader might think that it's not worth looking at just because it wasn't worth designing well. Everything is overlapping each other, theres not a cohesive message, this isn't targeted to anyone in particular- therefore it suffers overall. I don't want to look at this anymore, so let's move on.

This last one is a little difficult for me to admit is an example of bad design. Like I said in my previous post, I'm a NYC native. Well, for those of you who are unfamiliar with NYC culture, allow me to introduce you to Dr. Zizmor. He's a dermatologist who has been promising "beautiful, clear skin" on subway ads for over 30 years. I couldn't find a landscape photo that would really do this glorious ad campaign justice, but I hope these pictures help get the idea across.

Why the rainbow? Why the oddly placed testimonial? The totally tragic phone number? We could really go on. It's just not good. But here's the strange part. NYers LOVE Dr. Zizmor. Everyone knows who he is, and everyone loves these ads. So let this also serve as an example of a time where bad design becomes a beloved part of a cultural tapestry. I don't seek to understand it- I've been brainwashed too and my love runs deep. 

Hope you guys like these pieces, and don't forget who to call when you find yourself in need of beautiful clear skin.

Intro to Me

I think in order to be a good blogger, I need to lay it all out there. Who I am, what I like- all that. So here goes:

-I'm just a typical 20-something born and raised in NYC, off in Baltimore trying to forge my own path.

-I love to write and I'll read anything- shampoo bottles to supermarket tabloids.

-My role models are Betty White, Jay-Z, and Kelly Cutrone.

-I adore designs that are modern, clean, and have interesting use of color.

-I drive a 15 year old hoopty and love it for its character. New or old- gotta love a convertible.

-Ice cream is a no-go, but tart frozen yogurt and italian ices are irresistible.

-Growing up, my favorite shows were Columbo, Golden Girls, and Happy Days. I was a strange kid.

-I was scarred for life by A Very Brady Christmas when the house collapsed and Mike Brady got trapped.

-I adore Beyonce, Lady Gaga, and Elton John- mostly for the costumes.

-Ballet and running are my favorite full body workouts- mind, body, and soul.

-Marc Jacobs can do no wrong.

-I love chocolate and cheese, but never together. That's just gross.

-I believe that if you don't have everything you want, you're not working hard enough.

I'm sure there's more, but we'll get to that along the way.