Kathleen; no debris know design

Design Practice: Considering All Customers

Often I find myself forgetting about all audiences when creating my projects. Seeing a handicap sign is more than just a fine if you park there. It symbolizes that not everyone can walk the distance I can, or may have a harder time getting to the same place as I am going. Ramps, Braille, and signs to show our message should all be considerations when designing our shops. There are also regulations for safety within the shop that have been created to protect against lawsuits and accidents.

ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) 

This is a detailed website about the ADA 

This act is to help not discriminate against individuals with a disability, just like the Civil Rights Act doesn’t allow discrimination against race, sex, national origin. For Employment, the employer can’t deny someone of a job because they have a disability. In public, there has to be a way for the person with the disability to get to any program just as any other person. 

OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration)

This is the website for OSHA 

OSHA was created to help prevent on the job injuries, illness, and potential deaths. Some examples of regulations OSHA has would be:

The amount of chemicals exposed to employees, better use of gloves, protective eye wear, cover-ups, and respirators. While working in manholes, tanks, bins, employees must use to “buddy system”. In trenches, there must be a secure on them so they don’t fall on the employees.

BIFMA (Business and Institutional Furniture Manufacturer’s Association)

Here is a website to learn more about BIFMA

BIFMA was created to ensure the furniture being purchased meets safety requirements. They test the durability, and structural integrity of the product. There are minimal requirements the furniture must meet in order to be sent out to be purchased.

ANSI (American National Standards Institute) 

Here is a website to learn more about ANSI

ANSI oversees the guidelines and regulations set by other groups. They compare the standards to those from others around the world. There mission is to help improve the way our standards are set up based on the way the rest of the world is doing theirs’. 

Design Practice: Design Job

When applying for a job, I think of how my work might not be what they are looking for. But after reading this article I realized it is more than that. I already have the skills, I just need to continue to learn and offer the best I can give. This article by Micheal McDonough helped me think about things I have never thought about before.

5. Start with what you know; then remove the unknowns.
I forget sometimes to do this because I am so focused on how I need to come up with something creative, and original. But this snip reminded me to start small and work big. Each step of refining it will help me get to that creative point in the future. “Be where you are.” couldn’t say it best. Start small and with what I know and just build on what I have already done.

9. It all comes down to output.
The last project with the poster we worked on, I was initially trying to print on vellum, but my professor reminded me of production, and how that would cost more, and be harder to find and produce overall. So then I went back to paper, but figured out that it would work the same, but not appear the same. The poster would be cheaper to produce, and work just as well. Sometimes I get caught up in the design and forget this thing has to be produced.

10. The rest of the world counts.
I like this one, because the last 4 years I have depended on what my professors and fellow students think, but rarely bring it out to the public to see. They are the people who purchase things because of your ad, or brochure. I think that sometime I should bring my work out, to maker sure it actually works, and people get my message when they don’t know what I am trying to convey.

This article inspired me, because it made me think about things I forgot, or didn’t know. It was almost like a reminder not to beat myself up about some things.

Design Thinking: Tangoes

This game relates to my graphic design education because it involved critical thinking, teamwork, and trial and error.

Critical Thinking is involved with every project that we do. It means getting past that first level thinking of how something can work, then moving into the complicated way of solving it, and bringing it back down to something that works well and is simple. (Remembering K.I.S.S) Critical thinking also means to think of the best way to convey the message, or solve a problem in the best way possible. This game made us think of the best way to complete the puzzle, and then someone pointed out, to keep it simple and not try to make the puzzle too complicated. That statement applies to every project.

Teamwork is a role that is sometimes played with projects like our food campaigns in class. Everyone brings their own small input to the situation, and the group evolves those ideas into one great idea that works. During the game we all were thinking critically about how to solve this puzzle, and then each of us would take a small part of the puzzle and solve it, then try to bring the small solved puzzles and make one big successful piece.

Trial and Error is when we as designers are in our discovery and researching phase of a project. We have 20 different ideas that we think may work, and then slowly execute the ones that aren’t working. Then we get down to a few options and try and try to make them work, but sometimes they work, and sometimes they don’t. Trial and error was applied from this game because we would try pieces together, and they wouldn’t work, and then we would try again and again until the puzzle was finally solved.

Design Practices: Visiting Grand Rapids

Our trip to Grand Rapids started at GRCC with our Ferris Grad Ryan Vandyke who landed a job withMike Carnevale, before graduating. Ryan earned a sub contract for the first 3 months being hired in. Some important qualities Carnevale was looking for include; dedication, interest in design, and being tech-savvy. Ryan was mainly hired in because of his talents in Action-Scripting with CSS and Interfacing.

Ryan told us that he no longer uses Dreamweaver but does use Textmate, which is purely code, no clutter. Some other programs he uses includes; SlideshowPro, Swift 3D, and Google API. Swift 3D makes 3D items so they can have texture, and add motion to them. Google API is a google map that you can insert into websites.

They are sometimes working on as many as eight projects at one time. He showed us four clients. La Becasse, National City Bank, Grand Theft Auto, and Blue Quill Angler.

After Ryan’s presentation, we ate the Heritage which is a sophisticated restaurant that would be very expensive in any other place, but it is students who cook the food. The students cook for their assignments, so it is sold at a low price.

Dalin Clark was our second speaker, and half of the class had the opportunity to eat and discuss their specialty shops with her. Dalin is a writer and strategist for designers and many other people. She started in journalism, then went to working for web development, to a journalist, and now is a freelance worker. Her inspiration for becoming a writer is that she is curious.

Dalin does a lot of B2B consulting, and her area of specialization is that she can turn complicated things and make it understandable. Some of the best advice she gave us was to have us find our own niche, and then find out who needs what you have to offer. She also told us to read books, not just one style of books, but several different kinds.

Some advantages to having a copywriter is that they are good with words, they are good with connecting with clients, they can use the most influential words in a limited amount of space, and are good with collaborating with designers. The most challenging part about working with designers is that they don’t have deadlines, and don’t supply enough copy space for what they want.

Dalin’s favorite people to work with are people who come with problems to be solved, people who are honest, and forward about what they want.

Some rules Dalin has when working with clients is that they have to:
Say please and thank you
Have reasonable expectations for the budget
Use profanity correctly

She also had hints for us when approaching a writer, tasks like providing all the information, asking the questions, and be ready for the questions.

Bill fromSpout was our last speaker. Spout helps people find films and vise versa. He talked about how Spout has mavens (people who know about something), and they hook-up with a consumer who is looking for information or help on a certain movie.

Spout has 350,000 movie on their site, and have over 100,000 members, and about 26% of them are active. Spout succeeds from having advertising on their website. The one competitor they have, that is closest to them would be Flickstr.

The story behind their name is that they started out with about 500 names that they wanted it to be short, piffy, and original. Then they started to weed out names as they went throughout them, and eventually got to Spout.

Design Thinking: The Big Apple & Me

Something that always inspires me is seeing other’s professional work, and hearing about how they go to where they are now. I enjoy hearing why they came up with the brand identity they did, and what inspired them to use the ideas they did. For example, Nina from Carbone and Smolan, she was explaining her new brand she design for Bildawee, and going into detail about why she chose the colors, and how she did some background research on the company, and competitors. I rarely think about the competitors, and what they are doing, so I know not to go in that same direction.

Other things that inspired me, was the working area they were in. The buildings, and the different kinds of working spaces, some are open, some are closed in, separated, ceiling no ceiling….just the overall working area is cluttered with stuff they are working on, but there is a certain kind of creative feeling you get from that. Not thinking so clean and clear, but going out of the box. A crazy area, creates crazy ideas.

Design Practices: Visiting New York

NYC Design Agencies
Metropolis
Metropolis Magazine was experiencing some problems when we went to visit them. Apparently some of the information provided in one of the articles was incorrect and didn’t have information that was good to be cleared for press. We were told about the re-design of Metropolis Magazine by Paula Scher. The title of Metropolis was initially centered in the top of the magazine at a smaller size, on this huge magazine. Then was redesigned down to a better size for a couple reasons. It’s easier to sell off the shelves, easier to carry in a bag, cheaper to produce. The title was cropped off and is now stretched across the entire top of the magazine. Metropolis has 3 main executives making the large decisions in the magazine. These 3 also decide what to put on the cover of the magazine, which is usually chosen by what article is most important, or interesting. The cover is either done in-house or contracted out of house. Their studio is very small and cluttered, not at all what I expected from them. They have all of their magazines of the year lined up, and each release has a post-it, telling its amount of sales.

Carbone and Smolan
Our two presenters were Nina and Paul. Nina has worked at Carbone for about a year and half, while Paul has for about 5 years. Carbone is a great agency, because they don’t have one main focus, they work on museum set up, brand identities, to hospitality, the kinds of work is extensive. The owners are Ken and Leslie, for about 30 years now. Carbone has 20-25 employees currently working for them, but this amount fluctuates depending on the amount of work they have at one time. They showed us two projects they just got done working on, one being Bidawee, which is a non-profit animal shelter who was looking for a whole new brand identity. The other project was The W Downtown, which was also looking for brand, but also, bags, stationary, cards, all the items a hotel usually needs. Carbone worked in about teams of 2 or 3 depending on what kid of a project it is, and at one time working on about 3 projects at once. They also mentioned that CSA is re-branding themselves right now too.

AIGA
AIGA in New York was showing a theme of 50 years of 50 books. They had these books laid out on a table like they were serving people with information. On the table there was a place setting for each book. All of the books were unique in their own way. The actual building had a lot to offer, including a full library of books, and another gallery upstairs. They talked about what AIGA has to offer to students, and professionals in the work field.

NYC Play
Avenue Q
Avenue Q was a great play. At first I wasn’t sure because of the whole puppet thing. The actors were very entertaining and played good with each-other and the puppets they were impersonating. They used a lot of words that could be offensive to some, but the crowd seemed to like it. The play was about how after school, not everyone has a certain purpose in life, but everyone should learn how to give to others, and there fore achieve a certain satisfaction of giving not receiving all of the time.

Design Thinking: New York Museums

Cooper-Hewitt
The Cooper-Hewitt had a few different exhibits going on while we attended. IDEO Selects, which is centered around “Design Thinking”. It is explained to be something that is “…human-centered…that has potential to solve problems in business, education and etc…” This exhibit forced you to think how a designer can solve problems for the end user of the product. Examples would be a typewriter cover for travel, or a children’s chair. Or the snake-like flashlight, which allows people to wrap the light around anything so they don’t have to hold it while working on something.
Another exhibit is “Piranesi as Designer”. Bringing up his designs and sketches, allows people to use his work for inspiration with architecture. His work is strongly influenced by Rome, and tends to be very detailed and intricate. Incorporating Greek and Roman work was always a trait of his. But his strongest design was “eclectic design” (ideas coming from several different places. He was great at chimney-pieces, furniture, and interiors. Later on in life, moving to vases, and candelabra.
One more exhibit was “Provoking Magic”. These pieces of work were really interesting, some had lights shining through water, some through objects. One of them included light underneath a fish tank with large gold fishes swimming around, then reflected onto the wall. That particular piece had a relaxing feel. Ingo Maurer, the designer of this work is an artist, designer, magician, an entrepreneur in one. Each piece of his work seemed to have its own meaning. Through light he is able to convey a different feeling and appearance that sometimes seemed unsolvable, which make his work interesting.

Guggenheim
The Guggenheim was extremely gorgeous inside, wrapping up and around in a large cylinder, it was almost too hard to concentrate on the art work, because I was focusing on how cool the actual museum was set up. I remember work that took everyday conversation sentences out of their usual context, and turned them into something completely different while standing alone. We weren’t able to take pictures, which was a downer, but we still maintained to sneak few from the very top floor looking down. Some exhibits being featured right now are, Richard Prince: Spiritual America, Foto: Modernity in Central Europe, Solomon’s Gift: The Founding Collection of the Guggenheim, Permanent Collection, and First Place: Richard Prince’s Early Work.

Museum of Modern Art
My favorite works from this museum by far would be Pablo Picasso. I love his color combinations, and his use of shape and line. His work is abstract but still understandable and admirable. I bought a poster of his from the huge gift shop. Other featured work was Georges Seurat: The Drawings, New Photography 2007: Tanyth Berkeley, Scott McFarland, and Berni Searle. Focus: Alexander Calder, and 50 Years of Helvetica, just to name a few. They had classic work from people I only get to read about in books, and hear about in class.

Design Thinking: Value

Deborah Alder was a student at The School of Arts in New York, who was given an assignment to develop a product from scratch, and happen to come up with an idea to change a prescription bottle. Her dad had mentioned to her that her grandparents were having trouble with reading each-other;s pills, and had gotten each-others pills mixed up one time. Thank god nothing happened to her grandmother, but got Deborah thinking about how this problem could be solved.

The first thing she did was evaluate all of the problems with the current prescription bottles being used. Then after thinking of the problems, she thought of how they could be solved in the best way possible. Then after coming up with solutions, she tested them on people and came up with a consensus on the resolutions.

Some real problems with the bottle was the typography, the leading and kerning was too hard for people to read, especially for elders. She explained how the line length on the bottle was way too long and people usually skip over the information after a certain point. Another problem was that it was hard to read because the bottle was a cylinder, and she changed it to a flat surface.

After working through the problems and coming up with solutions, she started to get a patent on her product, and introduced it to Target who grabbed onto the idea, and decided to use the product.

The @ Issue stated that “…proves that design isn’t just objects that are pleasing to the eyes. They are products, processes and experiences.” I think that this quote explains design in a really good way.

New Prescription Bottle

Design Practice: Photography

Environment
Stephen Alavarez
Clients: Toyota, Adventure Magazine, IMAX, Delta Airlines, Men’s Journal, Patagonia.

Portraits
Rafael Astorga
Clients: Adidas, Adobe, Foot Locker, Sony, Nike, Nordstrom, Finishline, Champs, Bellissima, and many more.

Still Life
Harmin Lee
Clients: Acura, Dove, Lipton’s, Mastercard, Molson, Nike, Samsung, Sears, Hyundai, Kellogg’s, Starbucks.

One of the most important things to keep in mind when hiring a photographer, is the budget, and the history a designer has had with the client when hiring a photographer. The specifications for the image should be very clear and concise, making sure you both are on the same level. A schedule is also very important, deadlines are always key when working for someone, allowing a few days as a buffer incase of sickness is smart. If the images aren’t presented in the time agreed, the designer has free rein to use the photos however they want. Changes to the contract must be written in order to keep a real agreement.

The fee is crucial, thinking about what the designer will get for what they pay. Several designers try to get the limited rights because its the lowest in cost. But then keeping in mind what the client needs, may require the designer to purchase all rights. Price changes can be determined by electronic needs, and re-shoots also.

All rights means that the designers can do whatever they want with the images. Competitors will try to use the work, but cant be prevented by signing a contract that they will not use it. Many times, designers will reject clients who are requiring all rights for photographers work because of the hassle.

A good relationship between the designer and photographer can bring up great work, that may be unexpected by the client. Talking about business issues and goals, then writing them in contract will lead to the best outcomes.

Design Practice: Specialties

Environmental
Skidmore Owings and Merrill LLP has partnerships with other business, such as people from the AIA, AICP, FAIA. They are located in Hong Kong, London, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other places all over the world. They have done work for San Francisco’s International Terminal, a Dublin Airport, The Rockafeller Center, Harvard University, The US Embassy, Weyerhaeuser Corporate Headquarters and several others.

Information Design
Pentagram Design Works in small teams, and collaborates with each-other within the smaller groups. Their clients work directly with the designers and partners, without an account manager. They have offices in Berlin, San Francisco, New York, and Austin. They have worked for Time Magazine, Vacation Homes, Angus Hyland, Saks Fifth Avenue.

Book Design
Farrar Straus and Giroux is a firm that works on publishing books, but has small design area that designs the books that they publish. Several of their books have earned Nobel Prizes, and are some of the most memorable books in the world. Some clients os FSG are; Neil LaBute, Normal Pearlstine, Anne Fadiman, Dennis Ross, Knut Hamsun, Hermann Hesse, T. S. Eliot, Pär Lagerkvist, François Mauriac, Juan Ramón Jiménez, Salvatore.

Corporate Communication
VSA Inc. is well known by many people, it is located in Chicago, Minneapolis, New York, and St. Louis. VSA digs deep into thinking about aesthetics, and economics. Their staff consists of all completely different people, which helps them bring several different ideas to the table. Some clients are AGI, Alcoa, Argo Tea, Bell Canada, BP, Brunswick, Caterpillar, Chicago Board of Trade, Chronicle Books, Cingular Wireless, The Coca-Cola Company.

Interactive Design
Leo Burnett is a popular company that creates great interactive websites and products for people. Leo has 96 offices, in 84 countries, and over 8,000 employees. Leo likes to create big ideas, and turn them into something big that works. Concept is a main element and helps produce media-neutral products. They have worked with Coca Cola, Walt Disney, McDonald’s, Tampax, Ninetendo, and many other large companies.

Advertising/Promotional
TDA Advertising works as a single firm, but works as a small team when doing a project. The firm has 16 employees, each with a distinctive personality, which brings a good mixture to each project. Some of the clients they have had are Chipotle, Fox, Thule, Crocs, Toyota, Johnson and Johnson, Bot, and And 1.

Music/CD’s
Invisible Creature is located in Seattle, WA. There are two designers in this business, Don and Ryan who each have their own job within the company. They like to do work that is widely respected, and “cult-following.” They enjoy cartoon and illustration work. They both have extensive background work, which gives them an edge. Some of their clients are; Atlantic Records, Bluegrape, Dreamworks, Nordstrom, RCA Records, House of Blues, Universal Records, Virgin Records, and several others.

Brand/Identity
HendersonBromsteadArt designs good brands, depending on discovery, client interaction, and the crazy ideas from each employee. They have large collections of identity programs, brand launches, repositioning efforts, retail advertising, and e-commerce. The employees participate in design competitions, which keeps their minds flowing on more than just the project they are working on. Some clients are; American Express, Arista Records, Coca-Cola, Hanes, IBM, Newsweek, Sara Lee, Sears, Strathmore Paper, Top Flite, and many others.

Packaging
Beth O’Rourke is an illustrator and creative director at Razorfish. She prides her work on all of the research on each project, and then flushes out out the information onto paper. Her favorite thing to ask herself before beginning each project is, “What is the best story I can tell?” Some of her clients are Sun Microsystems, Quicken, Visa, Janus and McKesson.

Editorial
Anne Sherwood is a well known photographer. She has done work in America, Bolivia, Liberia, Panama, South Africa, Zambia, and several other countries. Her work has been seen in New York Times, National Geographic, and Smithsonian. She graduated from Princeton University, where she worked on fine photography. Her photography represents articles about AIDS, orphans, sky line, and other interesting articles and editorials.

Design Practice: Illustration

Paul Rand’s illustrations were expressive statements that don’t tend to get too complicated, he kept his work very simple and to the point. He was excellent at capturing corporate identity through illustration, and logos. Rand designed the IBM logo which was very literal and easily recognizable once seen.

Chris Gall does a great job with engravings and paintings to create his illustrations. They are very comic-like, almost like a surreal apperance. Creating an interesting composition that gives off a feeling when you are looking at his illustrations.

He has done work for: Time, Newsweek, The New Republic, The Progressive, Money, National Lampoon, Business Week, The Washington Post, People, GQ.

Kyle T Webster is an illustrator that gives great expression through line weight and color in his projects. The Donald Trumph in the CA caught my eye because of his use of line. He does a great job with creating characatures of people, and picking out certain noticeable features on an individual. He works 100% digitally too.

Some clients he has worked for are: The Progressive, Slate.com, Utne, Reader, PASTE Magazine, Scratch.

Michael Wertzis an illustrator who uses vibrant colors as an attention getter. He always starts with pencil and finishes with digital collage, monoprints, and screen prints to accomplish his illustrations. I find his work to be mostly portrait and city scape.

Some clients he has had are: aids health project, alternative medicine, the bark, bill graham presents, david carson, chronicle books, converse, denver post.

Specialty Shops

Here is a website for Grand Rapids Specialty Shops.

GR Shops

Design and Business: Brand Identity Fundamentals

Part 1 had a lot of important information, but some items that stuck out are things like positioning statements, importance of messages, customer experience, and brand marks.

Positioning statements are strongly apart of the brand strategy. They drive the strategy to what the goal of it is. Customer approval is very important, and this keeps the promise to the customers apparent. Every company has goals, and a positioning statement helps reinforce the goals, dreams, and long term thoughts.

The message behind any design is what the design is all about. Design usually has a message being portrayed, and if you can successfully achieve promoting the message in a unique understandable way, the company image may prosper. Names are either formal or informal; the use of a last name if they are well known, or “Target” meaning you are hitting the target with shopping with them. Tag-lines are the catchy phrases that can make a company memorable, one that sticks in my head, but isn’t even used anymore is “JCPenney, do do doing it right” Communications are tones or voices, along with being clear and concise with what you want to message to say to the customers. Touch-points are websites, email, brochures, they are the little extras for the company.

Referring to the article, “Burnishing the Golden Arches” gave a great example of a company visually changing their whole look to appeal to its customers. Over the years, McDonald’s has changed it look slightly, but now they wanted to head into a more modern look, and try to reclaim themselves as more than a “fast food joint” into a restaurant that appeals to all ages and different tastes. Part of the place is fun with bar stools, while other parts have club chairs to sit and conversate, while there are still booths with black and white photos to give a more sophisticated look. The menu was also changed to be more readable, and understanding. They wanted to make sure that everyone still knew it was MCDonalds, by keeping the arch in the displays. Overall, I am satisfied with the new look, but the service in Big Rapids hasn’t changed from being slow.

Word-marks are used to be easily recognizable to the public, by portraying a message of what the company is, and a certain feel. Letter-forms are used as a graphic appeal for a company name. Sometimes they use letter-forms to shorten a long company name, but still gives the feeling they are representing as a company. Emblems are strictly picture like. They are almost like a patch, while the company name is posted right on it. Pictorial Marks are literal but designed to be visually interesting. Abstract Marks are trying to show a strategy from the company and showing a bigger thought.

Design and Business: Brand Identities

A brand is something that speaks to the mind and heart. When you see a brand you instantly relate to it, and it reminds you of an encounter you have had with the company, or it reminds you of something more than just a visual.

A brand identity is tangible, and appeals to a persons inner senses. It is more of what you relate to the company when you see the identity. For me, when I see the “M” for McDonald’s, I think of the most experience I have had with McDonald’s, and that is slow service, but good food. The identity is suppose to symbolize being friendly, which they are, but the business behind the symbol is not good for me. 

Functional criteria that designers should address is thinking about what they want the people to think of when they see the business, what the business represents, and what they want people to think of when they see the business. Also, they want the brand identity to be remembered, and the words to be decoded.

The value in a brand identity for a business is that it creates awareness and increases the business intake. A brand identity can be memorable, authentic and flexible to all audiences. It can also create recognition and give off perceptions of what they business is all about. 

Business’ need to know their own identity and what they want to portray to their customers. They need to know what they want customers to remember about their business when a customer see’s their brand identity. If a business doesn’t know what they want to portray to their consumers, then they wont know what kind of feeling to give off to others.

Design Practice: Resource Sustainability

The other day our class had a visit from Amy McGreavey, a paper representative who works for Quimby and Walstrom. Designer’s look to a paper rep. when they are searching for the paper they want to use on a project. The also look to a paper rep. for suggestions on deals for paper, new paper that may have come out, or maybe ideas on what would work better for a project.

It’s valuable to form a good working relationships with a paper rep. because they can inform you of deals coming out on new paper, or existing paper. Also, they can help with an emergency situation that may happen with the printer or during the project process.

Some issues and considerations when ordering paper is the stock of the paper, and environmental. If the paper is only mill stock, then it will take twice as long to come in. Also, if there are any minimum quantity orders, or special orders. Envelope availability is a big consideration if the project is going to be mailed. Some clients want to use recycled paper, and some want to use textured.

Online resources that were mentioned with the visit are;
Smart Papers
Paper Mill Store
Envelopes
Neenah Paper
Jam Paper