There is rarely, if ever, a single solution that reaches the entire audience for a particular product, service, or idea.
Obviously, people think differently--we don't all enjoy the same foods, we don't necessarily appreciate the same music, or adopt the same views or values. So how could one design or marketing solution ever successfully address and reach more than a fraction of its intended audience?
As designers or writers, we must continually divorce ourselves from our personal thinking patterns in an attempt to see problems from other angles, and hence, to maximize the number of people we reach.
The challenge becomes: how do you create a brand that is flexible enough to appeal to people who think in so many different ways--it's not easy.
Be well, Chuck
http://www.facebook.com/ideabookfb
Have you seen my InDesign Ideabook?
315 template files in 19 different categories -- Everything from brochures, newsletters, and direct mail to packaging, calendars, and books (one CD works with both Mac and PC). Use two or three files and you'll pay for the entire book and disc...
For Adobe InDesign... Here
For QuarkXPress... Here
Meet illustrator Neil Webb
I like Webb's bold illustrations. How would you describe the influence? Art Deco?
Example 1... Here
Example 2... Here
Example 3... Here
Neil Webb's website... Here
And his blog... Here
The style reminds me a little of a poster I have in my office... Here
Behind the scenes of Mad Men
I suspect most designers have seen an episode or two of the AMC series Mad Men. It provides us with a pulp fiction-like look inside a 1960s, Madision Avenue advertising agency (hence "Mad Men") against the backdrop of a rebellious time in United States history.
Today I want to point you to a behind the scenes look at the making of the opening sequence to the show. As Cara McKenney, the producer of the piece for Imaginary Forces, puts it, "This was a new show and a period drama at that, with no-name actors, on a network with no success in developing original content."
The opening sequence was produced for AMC by Imaginary Forces... Here
Here's an interview with the creative team that produced the opening... Here
An aside: Sixties-era model Gita Hall May, whose image appears in the sequence, is suing Lionsgate for failing to seek permission to use it... Here
And while we're at it: A nice collection of behind the scenes photographs of the set and players by James Minchin III... Here
More great work and great workers from Louise Fili Ltd. Meet John Passafiume.
Louise Fili not only produces great work, she has a knack for hiring great talent - Jessica Hische got her start there. But today, I want to point you to a few projects produced by another terrific designer, John Passafiume.
First is a series of ten book covers art directed by Louise Fili and executed by Passafiume that commemorate the 150th anniversary of the unification of Italy.
The book covers and an interview with Fili... Here
An interview with John Passafiume from Method & Craft... Here
Describing his hand-drawn thesis, Passafiume explains, "I developed a debilitating case of Carpal Tunnel Syndrome heading into the spring semester of my senior year. I was forced off of the computer--faced with a difficult task of graduation without the crutch of technology. This prompted the hand-drawn (Process), which visually documents 700+ hours with a Bic mechanical pencil over the course of 90 days."
Passafiume's thesis titled "Process"... Here
About the making of a poster for the School of Visual Arts in New York City inspired by NYC subway lettering... Here
Passafiume's Website... Here
And his Dribbble.com page... Here
Geez, I hope this does not become the pervasive attitude
Chip Kidd - The State of Graphic Design... Here
Learn virtually any software program...
I recommend Lynda.com... A huge library of top-quality, design-oriented tutorials. Click here for a 7-day free trial. Here
An important announcement from Adobe that will affect most graphic designers
The headline reads, "New Product Innovation to be Delivered Exclusively Through Adobe Creative Cloud." In short, what they're saying is that Adobe Creative Suite 6 is the last edition of the CS and all future products will be available by subscription only.
The press release says, "...The company will focus creative software development efforts on its Creative Cloud offering moving forward. While Adobe Creative Suite 6 products will continue to be supported and available for purchase, the company has no plans for future releases of Creative Suite or other CS products. Focusing development on Creative Cloud will not only accelerate the rate at which Adobe can innovate but also broaden the type of innovation the company can offer the creative community."
My reaction is, "Good!" I signed up for the program a couple of months ago and I don't see a down side for anyone who uses the CSs on a regular basis - for $600 per year ($49 per month) you have access to the entire suite of Adobe products. $600 compared to buying or upgrading to a new product every couple of years for hundreds more.
This, eventually, will save Adobe hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue lost to piracy - and that, hopefully, will keep the cost to subscribers reasonable. Again, "Good!," you and I have been subsidizing that piracy for for long enough.
Adobe also announced (Wacom ain't going to like this) its first hardware device, a pressure sensitive stylus and an electronic ruler (below).
Press release: New product innovation to be delivered exclusively through Adobe Creative Cloud... Here
Press release: Adobe unveils major update to Creative Cloud... Here >
Adobe's big picture view of the Creative Cloud... Here
Adobe CEO: The Truth About Creative Cloud by Lance Ulanoff... Here
Adobe scraps Creative Suite software licenses in favor of cloud subscriptions by Jackie Dove... Here
Adobe Moves Software Out of the Box and Into the Cloud by Steven D. Jones... Here
Adobe also announced its first hardware device, a pressure sensitive stylus and an electronic ruler... Here
Ready to sign up? Do it here and I get a small commission and, more importantly, an inflated sense of my own self-importance... Here
Meet illustrators Peter and Maria Hoey
I featured one of Peter Hoey's illustrations in The Desktop Publisher's Idea Book more years ago than I would care to recollect. And he has remained a mainstay of many top publications in the years since.
So I was pleased, but not surprised, to open the Wall Street Journal recently to find an illustration in his signature style on the front page of a special investment section.
Peter teamed up with his sister Maria in 2001 and their illustrations appear in magazines and newspapers, plus they are doing some animations for advertising.
Example 1... Here
Example 2... Here
Example 3... Here
The Hoey team's website and store... Here
A sample from a flip book titled, Out of the Habit... Here
And their studio's Facebook page... Here
Should Microsoft and Apple market their software and systems separately?
I think companies like Microsoft and Apple are missing an important distinction. They, in some ways, seem to still be marketing themselves as if this were the 2000s--as if their operating systems were still the ledge on which every computer user's life teeters. As if being a loyal Windows or Mac user was still the badge of honor it once was.
When it clearly isn't (thank goodness). Operating systems, though still critically important, simply don't demand the attention they did a decade ago. Today an operating system is expected to be secure and stable, file formats are more accessible and interchangeable, even issues of system speed and storage capacity are not longer key to the average user.
The computer experience is more and more fractured and I wonder if any company can hope to hold the sway Apple and Microsoft once did. I wonder too if, at some point, it wouldn't be best to begin marketing their software and systems separately rather than as a conglomeration of products and services under a single flag.
They've changed but, more importantly, we've changed. Support of the big brand is (in many cases) no longer a positive, it's a negative. The 2010s is the decade of the startup and the little guy, not the megabrand.
No?
If you use this link to buy your type from MyFonts.com, you won't pay any more but I'll get a kickback and will be one step closer to getting that English manor house. Here
A notable use of a fisheye lens in fashion photography
I like these unusual photographs created for SuitSupply by Carli Hermes. They were used in a nicely designed insert from the Wall Street Journal.
Example 1... Here
Example 2... Here
Example 3... Here
Example 4... Here
SuitSupply.com... Here
About the supplement... Here
A multi-dimensional identity for a new Internet TV channel
Pretty interesting. StreetArt Agency out of Ekaterinburg, Russia has developed a corporate identity for Malina.am, a new Internet TV channel. The art director is Andrei Kolokolov.
Various elements of the identity... Here
Adobe announces two new hardware devices: the Mighty Stylus and the Napoleon Electronic Ruler. Here
I can't get enough of these ads in my Facebook mobile feed.
I dearly love knowing which of my friends likes Cheerios and that there are now some good options for "motivating your workouts with cash rewards" (there's a tortured idea). Thanks Facebook, my life has new relevance. I think I'll contact Mark Z with my shoe size.
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