An interesting way to go about judging the effectiveness of an ad. I wonder what are some other techniques agencies’ use.
Category: Design
What I learned from my 30 day logo experiment.
When I first took upon myself that I wanted to improve my logo design skills I had no idea what to expect. My first thoughts were yea this shouldn’t be to hard to design a logo a day for 30 days straight. Well I was unaware the complexity of designing logos for various types of businesses.
Some of the many things I learned from designing a logo a day for 30 days
- Is this going to be able to be used on anything besides a business card or a piece of paper? Because a logo can look good on one thing and no on another. Which was taken into great consideration when designing the logos.
- Is it understandable and legible : Just because I designed it does not mean that everybody else will.
- Does it convey the company’s image properly: Is the design something that you could actually see being used in a public space.
- Coming up with a strong brand can be more complex then it seems to the eye
- No detail is to small
These were the major things that I was asking myself after completing a logo and during the process. I’ll have to say after completing the experiment I now look at logos and everything else in extreme attention to detail.
Alex Bogusky on creating great ideas
I never would’ve thought about getting on my bike and riding it to come up with ideas. Usually when I was more frequently skateboarding I would come up with ideas non stop. Just the whole freedom of being outdoors and not sitting behind a computer screen tends to open my mind up to the endless possibilites.
The Birth Of A Tool. Part III. Damascus steel knife making (by John Neeman Tools)
The Craftsmanship is unbelievably good. I’ll admit I got a little jealous when I seen he was making the knife in a cabin. It looks so peaceful there.
Designers Critiquing Other Designers
In the design community you have many people who want to help each other out. Some of those people are more honest then others and some are helpful and others are not. One thing that I always check for if the person actually has work equivalent or better then yours.
A lot of it has to do with a person ego that they have built for them self. When you are critiquing a designers work you should always make sure to give them helpful advice on not just what they did wrong but also what they did right.
How to give a proper design critique
- If you are critiquing work get off your pedestal
- You are not that good because someone else is better
- Be positive about it
- Give helpful advice
- Let the person know what you actually like
- Remember your work was not good as good at some point in your career
- Leave your Emotions at home
- Taking things personal does not help
- You can explain why you designed the way you did but if they don’t get it explaining will not help
Image rights belong to USC
How to Design Like Apple
In this video they give some very precise explanations on how to design like apple. Jonathan Ive being influenced by dieter Rams has helped Apple to design some beautiful products. Whenever I somehow find myself using non apple product I tend to get upset by how everything is works from the design to the software. The Steve Jobs biography taught me how serious Steve Jobs took design, even when he was in the hospital he was thinking about design. He also complained about how certain things were designed poorly I forgot what to be exact.
Steal Like an Artist Review
So This past week I finished reading The book by Austin Kleon called how to steal like an artist. The Book lists 10 things nobody told you about being creative. After watching Austin’s ted talk I have always been interested in what else he has to say.
The book is only 140 pages with short golden nuggets that you can easily apply to your creative life.
Here’s a list of a few
- Steal like an artist
- Don’t wait until you know who you are to get started
- Write the Book you want to read
- use your hands
- Side projects and hobbies are important
- The secret: do good work and share it with people
- Geography is no longer our master
- Be nice ( The world is a small town)
- Be Boring (its the only way to get work done)
- Creativity is subtraction
If after watching the Austin’s ted talk has you more interested I definitely recommend getting your hands on a copy of this book. When I was in barnes and noble I picked it up and I had to force myself to stop reading it before I got home.
Designed a logo a day for 30
So on I finally finished up my latest project that I feel was a great experiment. I’ll admit at times I felt a little frustrated with feeling as if I’m doubting myself with designing logos. The reason for taking upon the task of designing a logo a day for 30 days I felt it would help me become better at designing logos.
Some of the rules I set for designing these logos were
- They can only be from local businesses
- I will not spend more then 10 – 15 minutes coming up with a concept ( The reason for this was to set limits on my time of thinking and to see what I could come up with)
- Think fast and stick with my gut feeling
- Sketch first before going to the computer
- Experiment with different types of businesses
So overall I am very pleased with what I can up with. Some of the logos are just little refinements and others are completely brand new. Mainly I wanted to design the logos how I felt they should be used to represent the type of business correctly. Here are a few of my favorite logos that I designed. Check out the rest of them here and here
Tyesha Snow: Advice for the Young Graphic Designer
A Good quote to go along with this video
If you want something done, ask a busy person. – Benjamin Franklin
Be a student not a follower
Be a student not a follower is such a great quote that I remember hearing from Jim Rohn. When I first heard it I immediately changed my whole perspective on how to view people who are great then me. Because to me being a follower your really not learning anything from the person who you aspire to be like or admire.
Just think someone who is a student they learn as much as they can about whatever the subject may be. While a follower will only do one thing follow and copy. Which after while will start to limit your growth and perception.
So always remember there is only one of you and nobody else like you. Study and learn from the greats, and then apply what they did to your own life (well the things they did that you agree with and fit into your view of life).
jostendooley.com 