Back to Basics

With all the jazz we sometimes ad to our designs, such as graphics, textures, layers, effects, and multiple type treatments it can be refreshing to get back to basics.

http://lovelypackage.com/brand/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKho1aDikBI

These packaging examples prove that simple and elegant type along with simple color fields can make simple look expensive and intriguing. One typeface: Helvetica, it is always a safe bet using Helvetica because it is simple clean and never fussy. Helvetica also gives you many styles and weights to choose from. I also goes to show generic does not need to look cheap.

As I mentioned in Getting the Right Kind of Attention http://designmorsel.blogspot.com/2011/06/getting-right-kind-of-attention.html

It may seem easy, but have a simple and unfussy design can be the more difficult to accomplish. I encourage anyone who is reading this to take a look at your work this week and remove the excess and leave the essentials to a design. Using simple black and white can be elegant and save your client money. Giving yourself a challenge is a great way to bounce off new ideas that would not happen in the same way if you did not give yourself any restrictions.

A recent birthday card I made from my brother. Really simple just black and white. He has that modern aesthetic so this really fit him for me. I could be a little more fun with the interior of the envelope for a surprise punch of color. This was my attempt at going back to basics could clean type. Maybe a little boring with Helvetica, but it is always a classic choice.

New app

Having recently became addicted to my phone, I try to do everything I can on my phone. I have had the blogger app for a couple months now, but it has been a hassle to post most things. Adding links or type style was something limited to my computer. But the latest update from google has made it easy for me to blog on the go, which is perfect because most of my ideas do not come while I have time to sit by my computer at home.

Not that there aren't dome bugs that still need to be worked out. I am looking forward to the new opportunities this may bring, and hopefully I won't be so engaged that I disengage.

Fluid Color

I have been watching a lot of anime recently. I obviously I love the story line and characters, but I find myself paying more and more attention to the background. Often it is water colored and the beautiful tones that the paint makes with the water is just something I cannot recreate. My grandmother has only begun her painting career in my lifetime and this year alone has had her first solo exhibition and been in several galleries. Watercolor illustrations can be a beautiful way to ad color and a sense of fluidity to a design. I am not much of an illustrator; I only dabble. But at my grandmother did not start until her 50s, and look at her now. She is proof that it is never to let to start a new career, and love what you do.

Continually to broadening your skills is essential, particularly in this market. The more you are personally capable of is attractive to a potential employer or client; just make sure it is your best work of course. Often in this age skills are thought of as computer competency, but skills off the computer are just as important. But more about that on another day.

I think I will try to add some watercolor to my work, probably my personal work, even it is as simple as background. That mysterious gradation of color will add a look that I have never had before. What is important for consideration is to make the painting to fit the concept of the work, not the design fit the painting. 

http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/entertainment/116685429.html

 

The Little monsters were my attempt at watercolor characters for Halloween.

Getting the Right Kind of Attention

Sometimes working on ad can be like teenage girl applying makeup. Clients can be prone to fall into the more is more category. "That type needs to bigger, bolder, more brighter, wider, and more content, and don't forget the!!!!!!!" You want your clients to be able to trust what you are doing as a designer, but sometimes they don't believe you can sell their sale with clean type and striking simple copy rather than all bold large and very full ads. Honestly all this busy-ness creates distraction from the sale more than anything else.

Especially when you provide a quality product to your customers, you should be willing to look for quality design as well. One one to get clutter off the page is to drive people towards your website or social media account. You can provide full details of the sale or product in digital rather than in a printed. Of course the most important information should be visible and stand out, such as the sale name, date, and time. Percentages and amount can be useful to grab the consumer's attention. And this information should use a variety of sizes and weights to draw attention to what is most important. If everything is large it is hard for the consumer to distinguish between information.

Be careful on any graphics you use to enhance the ad. The graphics should be fitting in quality to you product and help attract the right customer. It could be photos of your product or photos of how you want your customer to feel about their 'purchase'. Or graphics that fit the style of your intended customer. But if the graphics take away from your message or make the ad too busy it is not doing you any good and it should be removed or possibly simplified. Sometimes the photo or illustration can have too many elements that draw too much attention to themselves.

Social Networking

Maybe its because social media has been quickly changing over the last few years, but no one at my school told me how important social networking could be. It can be difficult to network in a distant city. I experienced that myself at the end of my college career. I knew I would be headed back to Wichita, but did no know anyone in my line of work except the design studio I had interned at the summer before. Perhaps if I had learned about tools like linked in and behance sooner I would have been able to utilize those sites to my advantage.

Social networking can be a great tool, but it cannot beat meeting people face to face. Using social media can help you get that foot in the door, as long as you are representing yourself in a positive manner. Potential employers are going to google you so you should make sure there us nothing that degrades your digital appearance. Also making sure you have a uniform look and style at all your online media will help to brand yourself. Using a blog can be a great way to show a lot of personality and knowledge in your line of work. It helps if all you'd social tools link back to one another to help create connections and can simplify the steps a potential employer has to take as well as help design their experience.