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The case that all story is manipulation, a new source of cheap royalty-free images, the font worth $136 million dollars, and more...
If a client comes to us with a poorly designed logo, the first thing we're going to tell them is that we need to design a new one. (Or, if the concept is sound, that we need to make it over.)
From the small business owner's angle (who spent hundreds or thousands of dollars getting it created), they're going to assume we're nuts. But we're not.
A logo is a foundational element. If the client insists that it appears on their website and print materials, the website and print design will have a hard time ever being any better than that logo. It can lift everything to a higher level, but it can also drag everything down to the depths.
To me, a really bad logo and insistent client is a dead end. It is a sign that they will never trust me to do what seems counterintuitive-and much of what many client's need most, appears on the surface to be just that.
Be well, Chuck
Comment > http://www.pageplane.com/design_briefing_178_sound_off.html
When a type foundry was a foundry
In the late 1800s, the new technology of the day, factory manufactured metal type, required hot metal, heavy machinery, and massive people power.
The Lanston Monotype Machine Company was founded in 1887 and was played a key role in the development of metal type--which, in turn, changed the very nature of the dissemination of information. The books, newspapers, and other collateral that factory-produced movable type made possible shifted the course of communication in ways so profound that we (in my never to be humble opinion) can no longer clearly gauge what the world would have looked like without them.
Here's an introduction to Monotype and an exhibit on it's history titled, Pencil to Pixel.
A 1950s aerial photo of the Monotype Works in Salfords, Surrey, England...
Here > http://recorder.bymonotype.com/img/catalog/company-life/company_life_image_3.jpg
The Monotype website has a labyrinth of articles and information regarding typeface history and design...
Here > http://www.monotype.com/
If you use InDesign (or QuarkXPress), you might find this useful
The idea is simple. Modifying a well-designed template is far easier than starting from scratch. My InDesign Ideabook includes 315 researched, designed, and meticulously formatted documents in a clean, simple style that it easy to build on.
The Ideabook lets you breeze through time-consuming document setup and get right to the important stuff. Instead of spending 15 minutes to create a simple layout, you'll spend 15 seconds. For complex projects-books, newsletters, catalogs, reports-you'll save HOURS.
"If you need to create winning design and your time is important to you, there is no better investment than Chuck Green's Idea Book. I write copy and create marketing materials for small business, and Chuck's world class layouts have me up and running in minutes instead of hours. I can't recommend this book enough!" Kory Basaraba, Copywriter and Consultant, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
For Adobe InDesign
Here > http://www.ideabook.com/the_indesign_ideabook_59.html
For QuarkXPress
Here > http://www.ideabook.com/quarkxpress_templates.html
A few particularly interesting examples of parallax scrolling
The weirdest stock photograph I've ever seen.
Support Ideabook.com, Jumpola.com, and Pageplane.com
Media Temple Host websites for AIGA, Adobe, Samsung, Sony, Dribbble, and many more. The provocative headline from the CNN story reads: "Teen to government: Change your typeface, save millions."
It points to a story, reported last week, about 14-year-old student Suvir Mirchandani who published an article that the United States Government could save over $136 million per year by changing the typefaces it uses to Garamond. What surprised me was, when I mentioned the same on Facebook last week and it reached more people than any other post I've ever written.
What the on-air story failed to mention was, while it is a good idea on the student's part and a good reminder, that it was, by no means, a revelation. Having dug a little deeper, I found a large number of initiatives in and outside of government that address this very issue.
But what really piqued my interest was, how easily restating your case in a different context can so dramatically revive interest in a topic. It got me thinking about other issues and ideas that I could help clients recast in different terms.
Here is the original story followed some examples of what anyone can do to save money on paper and ink.
Thanks to Matt Hanna for pointing us to it.
The CNN report about student Suvir Mirchandani's article...
Here > http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/27/living/student-money-saving-typeface-garamond-schools/index.html
The article: A Simple Printing Solution to Aid Deficit Reduction by Suvir Mirchandani and Peter Pinko...
Here > http://www.emerginginvestigators.org/2014/03/ink-cost-2/
This report from the EPA demonstrates how to reduce the use of ink AND paper using a combination of reduced margins and line spacing, changes in fonts used and their size, using "shrink to fit," deleting advertisements from web articles, and so on.
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