During the past few years, almost everyone has rediscovered the value of a dollar.  No bill goes unquestioned, costs are constantly compared with multiple price quotes, and pie-in-the-sky graphic design budgets have gone the way of the Saturn automobile. Fortunately, this is not all doom-and-gloom. Lean budgets are here to stay, but common sense has prevailed so that clients are able to get more bang for their buck with greater efficiencies and a more direct path to polished marketing materials that still hit their mark.

Ornament is a Crime. Tighter budgets mean fewer concepts, but this also leads to a leaner, cleaner, more direct, less-is-more approach that is perfectly in-tune with the times.  Because there is less time on the clock, some of the fancy details and extremes of idea exploration remain only as ideas in the designer’s head, tucked away until the roaring 2020’s arrive and we’re back to “less is a bore.”  (Full credit to Adolf Loos, Ludvig Mies van der Rohe and Robert Venturi for borrowing their phrases.)

Sketch Artist. Clients who are cutting costs have become more accepting of sketchier, more conceptual ideas upfront, where they can help to shape the first drafts to help overcome internal hurdles at an early stage.

Many hats. Leaner times has also added a few hats to the graphic designer’s wardrobe.  In addition to the backwards beret, today’s designer must also do some copywriting, be more engaged in sales, and even put on the accountant’s green visor to keep projects on track and within budget.

Fewer paper cuts.  The designer has to do a little more heavy lifting, now that expensive uncoated papers and elaborate finishing techniques like die-cutting, foil-stamping, embossing/debossing are reserved for only those with the deepest pockets. Proceed with caution here — cutting back on some of these features can lead to more design hours to try and get back some of the lost perceived value that occurs when these papers and techniques are scaled back.

Live a little.  Cutting back too much on design, paper and techniques can send your customers the wrong message.  These marketing materials are a quick first impression of who you are and they need to make an impact.  There is a balance that should be met to give you the impact you want at the price you deserve.

From the amusing five word acceptance speeches to the controversy of its pay-to-play formula, the Webby Awards are now firmly rooted in the industry and in pop culture as the leading authority on excellence in websites and digital advertising.

Launched in 1996 by the now defunct “The Web Magazine,” the Webbys are backed by the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which mirrors the Academy Awards with celebrity judges like Arianna Huffington, Beck, Martha Stewart, David Bowie, Harvey Weinstein, Matt Groening and Sir Richard Branson.

The four main categories are websites, interactive advertising, online film & video and mobile web.  Awards may be earned by securing votes from The Academy and/or by online voters (over 500,000 participate) for the People’s Choice awards.  Work can be entered and can win under multiple subcategories such as: Best Welcome Page, Best Copywriting, Best Navigation Structure, Humor, Politics, etc.

While the 2010 awards have been announced, the ceremony will be taking place on June 14^th in New York City.  This year’s host is BJ Novak from The Office.

Now for the pay-to-play catch. To be considered for a Webby, you have to pay an entry fee per submission ranging from $150-$499 and you also have to agree to attend the awards event at your own expense, which tends to leave behind many small to medium size companies that are doing excellent work.

Check out the Webby award-winning work.

The experimental rock band “Captain Beefheart” was known for their “exploding note theory.”  The members of the band often played notes without any relationship to one another, with a little space in-between them for emphasis.  The results are what you would expect – chaotic and often discordant. The same can be said of the results of those who don’t realize they’re using the random color theory in their visual designs.  Colors that are unrelated may create a look that is anywhere from “not quite right” to “downright obnoxious.”

When I design, I start with tried-and-true, color-theory-based combinations and fine-tune them as needed.  I thought it would be helpful to show some of the most common color relationships to reveal the structures of universally agreed upon pleasing combinations.  Everyone has a favorite color and favorite combinations, it’s helpful to understand how colors are organized by designers.

I’m going to send you to a color wheel at one of my favorite color playgrounds, Kuler by Adobe so you can follow along. kuler.adobe.com/ – create/fromacolor. Click on the color rules and spin the colors around to see how, as the colors change, the relationship of the color grouping stays the same. You can drag the white circle closer to the center to lighten all colors and/or add black to tone them down with the slider. You can keep this window open as you follow along:

Complementary colors are located directly across from each other on the wheel and they tend to set each other off in a dramatic fashion.  Sometimes the effect is a little overwhelming if the colors are adjacent so that one or both of these colors may require some distance or some taming. Complementary examples include purple and yellow, green and red, or blue and orange.

Triadic colors are three colors chosen each a third of the way around the color wheel.  For example, the primary colors red, yellow and blue are triadic. They are also the primary colors from which the other colors are mixed.

Analagous colors are adjacent colors on the wheel from both sides of a particular color.  Example: green, greenish-yellow and greenish-blue (aqua).

Compound colors are the most complex. Up to five colors in two wide nested V shapes on the wheel, two of these colors are closer to the center of the wheel and are therefore lighter in value. 

Monochromatic colors are from one slice of the color wheel, for example, light blue, dark blue, gray blue.

The last two relationships are not shown on Kuler, please use this link to follow them. www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm.

Tetradic colors are four colors chosen, each a quarter of the way around the color wheel.  There are square and rectangular variations on this relationship.

Split complementary colors (www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-harmonies.htm) are a combination of one color and then two colors adjacent to its complement across the wheel. For example, green and its near-complements reddish-orange and reddish purple 

For further color exploration, visit www.pantone.com and www.colormarketing.org/

And if you’re feeling musically adventurous, follow this link to preview Captain Beefheart’s “Troutmask Replica” album from 1969. (www.amazon.com/Trout-Mask-Replica-Captain-Beefheart/dp/B000005JA8)

 True or false? The purpose of advertising your product or service is to tell people why they should buy it.

Like many “true or false” questions this is a trick question. It’s absolutely true that the only reason to spend money and time on advertising is to sell something. The biggest gripe clients have against advertising and marketing agencies is that agencies are too concerned with making something creative (which is to say something that sells their own capabilities) and not focused enough on selling the client’s product or service. And while that criticism sometimes reflects the client’s ignorance about how advertising works and unrealistic expectations for returns on investment, in other cases it’s absolutely valid. Advertising agencies and digital marketing firms exist to help companies sell things—and if they don’t succeed at that, they’ve failed.

So what’s false about the statement? It’s all contained in the words “tell” and “should.” Let’s start with “should.” You have a list of competitive features and benefits that you believe make your product superior to what your competition offers. The ladder your store sells is ten feet longer than the one the other guys sell and comes with a 20-year money-back warrantee compared to their 5-year warrantee. And it’s only ten bucks more. You see it’s better and you think your customers should, too.

But maybe your hardware store is in a Florida retirement community, where most of the homes are one story high and the customers average seventy-three years old and are on a fixed income. They don’t need the ten extra feet, they can use the ten extra bucks, and they’re not planning on climbing ladders for another 20 years. They don’t want what you tell them they “should” want. You “should” have been advertising what they need—safety features or free ladder delivery or maybe a window washing service so they don’t have to climb a ladder at all.

Which brings me to “tell.” As the above example illustrates, the key to effective advertising is listening to what customers need and responding. That’s different from telling them what they should buy. The notion of understanding who your customers are and customizing a relevant message is the basic idea behind content marketing, which usually gets discussed in relation to online media, but which applies to “old-fashioned” advertising, too. Don’t tell customers what they should want. Listen better. Sell more.

Robust web content management tools are a great way for you to take control of your company’s website, but there are limits and guidelines that should be followed to maintain the integrity of the design.

The ability to update your website is a feature that most of our clients want, and our content management system can allow you to update images, add pages, delete pages, and change web copy in a moments notice.  While experience in html, xhtml, css, javascript, and other programming languages isn’t necessary, it is important that the updates are handled by one or two people who have been properly trained.  The primary concern would be accidental page deletion, though regular website backups will allow you to retrieve the deleted page if that should ever happen.  Some questions that will need to be answered include: What happens to the navigation when a page is added?  What if I add a picture that’s the wrong size?  Can I change the font from black to lemon yellow?

(more…)

The recent passing of musician Vic Chesnutt prompted me to visit the itunes store to complete my collection of his work. As I browsed his albums, I began to think about how his album covers reflect his music. That led me to muse about how successful websites visually reflect the work and spirit of companies.

What kind of “music” does your company make?  Does it strike the bold chords of a Beethoven piano concerto? Or mirror the serenity of Handel’s Water Music? Is it a multi-layered, Hüsker Dü wall of sound? Does it dance to the mellow, lilting reggae beat of Bob Marley?  Perhaps it’s a bit of Frank Sinatra – confident, smooth and cool?  Maybe it’s even Elvis Presley in a glittering, sequined Vegas performance – replete with gyrating hips?

Your website should show the world who you are with more than just a tagline — the layout, photos, fonts and colors you choose should reflect who your company is — not simply what it is. In order for your website to do just that, it’s essential to reflect on your company and culture. Is your corporate culture loved more by the management or the people they lead? In what ways does your company give back to the community?  How do your goods or services make a difference in the lives of others? How do your future plans apply to the above questions?

(more…)

Careful pre-planning is essential to ensure that your website functions well, has the desired content, and looks great when you go live — and a wireframe helps you do just that.

A wireframe is a series of diagrams that serve as a virtual road map of your website. Sorting out the details in the wireframe stage helps to prevent cost overruns because changes at this early stage are generally very quick and easy to make.  However, changes can be costly if they’re made after the developers have already started to build the site.

Every detail of your site can be addressed with wireframes including: (more…)

Another year is quickly coming to a close, which means it’s a perfect time to peek around the corner to see what the new year has in store for web graphic design.

1.  Typography is king. There is a trend towards jumbo headlines, mixing contrasting fonts, and finding other ways to break up the monotony of type-heavy websites and add beauty to pages so that images are no longer mandatory. http://www.leemunroe.com/typography-inspired-websites/

2.   Control freaks, unite. Speaking of type, Kernest offers free and commercial fonts to embed into your website to move beyond the plain and well-worn handful of safe fonts that designers have grown to loathe.  The only downside to Kernest is a brief change in font rendering when the page is first opened.  There’s always a catch, but this is big news and a leap in the right direction. http://www.kernest.com/

(more…)

Alvin Lustig.  Right.  Wait – Alvin who?  While his name may not come up in most water cooler conversations, Alvin Lustig was one of the greatest designers who ever lived.  He studied architecture with Frank Lloyd Wright at Taliesin and like Wright, he was also a master of many design trades — graphic design, architectural design, type design, furniture design, interior design, industrial design, and textile design. And he did them all very well.

Lustig believed that good design in all facets of life could lead to better living. He is perhaps best known for his groundbreaking book jacket designs of the 1940s and 1950s, as well as his work for the magazines Look and Fortune. His print design was heavily influenced by avant-garde abstract painting, and his designs helped to move the field away from the tame home-and-hearth postwar era and into the modern jet age.

(more…)

Ah, the Seventies.  The Gremlin, The Saturday Night Special, denim furniture and macramé.  If your logo hearkens back to this era and hasn’t been updated, it is time to consider bringing it into the modern era, Baby.

Will It Cost a Lot of Bread?
A logo can be a significant investment to a company, because a change may require new signage, vehicle graphics, packaging and trade show displays – in addition to the numerous correspondence and marketing materials you have in inventory.  Cost has to be considered, but also consider the cost of doing nothing and maintaining the status quo with a logo that represents a different company from the distant past.

(more…)