Do you look like a graphic designer?
08 Aug
2010
I got told that I “look like a graphic designer” recently.
Now as I didn’t have a big sticker saying on me saying that my job was a graphic designer it got me thinking, do people in the design industry have some sort of template that we all fit into?
I’m talking mainly about fashion style and dress sense here.
Now I’ve never been one to dress particularly smartly…..in fact I normally dress pretty scruffy.
Don’t get that confused with personal hygiene. I shower and wash as much as the next guy and the same for my clothes. They get washed (and ironed if I feel like it) regularly. I feel the importance of this is obvious….no one wants to be near people who smell bad and it’s also unhealthy.
My issue is as long as the person and their clothes are clean why should it matter what they choose to wear?
Back in my uni years (during those lovely long holidays that the real world of work has now obliterated) I worked in a large Bristol life insurance company where they ran a fairly strict dress code. I could not (and still can’t) see why they bother with it. All the office staff don’t have contact with people from other companies except via email and phone so they never see each other. It also caused several problems. The managers were constantly having to tell staff that what they were wearing was not part of the dress code and to not wear whatever it was again. The bigger issue for a lot of people was sexual inequality. Normally when you hear about sexually inequality in the workplace it is normally woman who are being mistreated but in my case it was completely the opposite. Men had to wear a top with a collar but women did not. Women could wear skirts but men were not allowed to wear shorts. Flip-flops were banned for everyone but sandals could be worn by women. One of my male friends was given a warning about having a 1 inch blunted spike earring in his left ear, but the gold hooped earrings almost large enough to be a tiara that were worn by a girl on the desk opposite were excepted without so much as a second glance.
Obviously I am writing this from a male perspective so I’m sure there were things that women were unhappy with as well, but my point is that surely this could of all been sorted if the company just scrapped the dress code and let people wear what they wanted.
Now I’ve only been employed by one design studio but I have had work experience placements in at least 4 other design/advertising places and all of them had no dress code. I felt that this led to the entire work environment being more relaxed and friendly which benefited the employers as the staff did not resent working in the studios anywhere as much at the staff in the insurance company.
Now I’m not trying to say that all jobs should not have a dress code. Something like a supermarket really benefits from it’s employees having a uniform because shoppers can easily see who the workers are if they want to ask for help.
Some people may try and dismiss my argument by saying that people would not take casually dressed people seriously but I would counter that by saying take a look at how Steve Jobs (the co-founder and chief executive officer of Apple) dresses for his keynote speeches which is attended by 1000′s of business people. He chooses a casual look with trainers and Jeans. Wikipedia states that he has a key understanding of the crucial role aesthetics play in public appeal so I feel that he is better qualified than most to know if dressing casually would mean than he would not be not taken as seriously!!
Now obviously this is just scratching the surface on a very deep debate (don’t even get me started about visible tattoo’s being frowned upon in the workplace) but what do you think? Am I full of crap or do you feel the same?
Graphic Design and Country Music
18 Jul
2010
As anyone who is reading this after looking at my website should know I’m a Graphic/Web Designer (well at least that’s what the big chief at our company pays me for when I’m not mucking about on Facebook)!!
What you may not know is that I recently traveled from Bristol to London to see a country/southern rock musician called Brad Paisley.
What do these two things have in common? Seemingly, very little. But in my life there is one distinct and interesting parallel.
The Brad Paisley gig had a relaxing yet friendly atmosphere with just a slightly exciting tension that was caused by never knowing what was coming next! Country music as a whole is steeped in tradition and Brad treads a fine line between the traditional sounds and being creative and trying out something new while still remembering what key points make country music. Another thing to note about country music is that not all of it is good! In fact some of it can be really bad, but it’s artists like Brad who are never afraid to try out new things that take country music to the next level and that’s what makes him a great musician. Someone who leads the pack with innovation and is not content to just follow the crowd.
Working in a design studio has a relaxing yet friendly atmosphere with just a slightly exciting tension that is caused by never knowing what project is coming next! Graphic design as a whole is steeped in tradition and a good designer treads a fine line between traditional design elements and being creative and trying out something new while still remembering what key points make good design. Another thing to note about graphic design is that not all of it is good! In fact some of it can be really bad, but it’s the designers who are not afraid to try out new things that keep graphic design fresh and that’s what makes a great designer. Someone who leads the pack with innovation and is not content to just follow the crowd.
Win Adobe CS5 Premium!
05 Jun
2010
Over at Graphic Design Forums they are holding a damn fine competition to win a copy of the new Adobe CS5 worth £1500 along with some other awesome design related prizes!!
I’ve been a member of the Design Forum for a few years now and it’s a really great place for advice and help with anything design related and it’s got some really talented people who are always sharing hints and tips or answering peoples queries so it really is a place worth checking out if you have any interest in Graphic Design!
Anyway getting back to this competition!
Here is the list of prizes and as you can they help to make this competition a must for all designers and entry just requires you to tweet/blog/facebook or generally create awareness about the Graphic Design Forums
The other prizes are:
(1x) Pantone Color Cue® 2.1 (worth in excess of £330 approx)
(1x) 5,000 A6 Flyers or Business Cards
(2x) Design Week Magazine Subscriptions (worth £85 each approx)
(3x) Pantone Coated GoeGuides™ (worth in excess of £70 each approx)
(2x) Creative Review Website Subscriptions (worth £64 each approx)
(10x) Pantone Tea/Coffee Mugs
For full details and how to enter visit the Graphic Design Forums
No Pain, No Gain!
13 May
2010
Recently I was on holiday with a friend in Finland (random place to go on holiday I know, but it was kinda picked out of a hat so we just went with it…and it was lovely) but I digress. On the second day of the holiday it started raining quite literally just after we left our hostel in the morning and continued to rain ALL SODDING DAY!! It was cold wet and nasty and I’m amazed that neither of us caught hypothermia. At the time it really seemed to spoil the day as we were constantly rushing from one indoor area to another in a vein attempt to keep dry(ish), we could not really take any photos outdoors without ruining our cameras and then getting completely lost and trying to stop and unfold a map in the wind and rain was about as easy as being forced to eat soup with a fork (and just as much fun)!!!
However looking back now I realise that the day was not really spoiled at all. Being forced to remain indoors meant that we got to experience a different side of Helsinki that we may have overlooked if it wasn’t for the rain. Finland seems to like sticking everything under one roof, so it is not surprising to find a supermarket, an opticians and a sauna in the same building. We managed to find a lovely indoor market that sold loads of unique foods (everything from reindeer jerky, bear steaks, spider crabs and things that I could not even hazard a guess as to what they were). Being a veggie I did not have a huge interest in the meat but I also discovered that the Finn’s seem to have a passion for patisseries (which is fortunate because me and my friend share their passion…..Mmmm….cheesecake *salivates over keyboard* ….admittedly ours is less about the making and more about the consuming of said delicacies but who’s judging)!!
When we were lost we found out how friendly the locals are because despite the fact that it was tipping down we were shocked when this guy came over from his motorbike and asked us if we were lost and then told us where we were and pointed us in the right direction. Now I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say that the British would not be so forthcoming in offering help to stranded tourists (especially if the weather was as nasty as it was on that day) so I take my proverbial hat (I say proverbial hat…but there could be a blog entry coming up about how we both managed to spend most of our holiday money on two hats if people are interested…leave a comment if you are) off to the Finnish people!
So where is all this rambling leading you maybe wondering (assuming anyone is still even reading)! Well it made me realise that loads of memorable experiences in my life, in retrospect, have something to do with painful times and I think the same can be said of the design process.
I frequently moan about clients being picky and annoying (Christ sometime I’ve thought that if some of them ask for one more revision I swear I’d hurt someone) but it all depends on how you look at it, Surely if the client has paid you for a job, then they should get what they pay for and maybe a bit more. So if you have a client that wants a revision or a little bit extra, try and give it to them because even if they seem to be being a nightmare client, (and most of them will be!) this is not such a bad thing, as they will eventually end up with exactly what they want….and remember when a client gets what they want (and have paid for) they tell other people, but when they do not get what they want, they tell even more people!!!!
*For anyone interested in our photos of Finland & Helsinki checkout the set on my Flickr account
iMac steampunk mod!
28 Apr
2010
Have you been playing to much Bioshock, reading to many Jules Verne novels or maybe watching anime films like Steamboy? All feature an obvious steampunk theme so you may like the iMac steampunk mod above which should cater to your fashionable hypocrisy. Old Time Computer are the makers and designers of these handcrafted oak and brass iMac mods should you feel compelled enough to actually want to mod your very own iMac.
Personally I’m not a huge fan of the actual iMac encased within wood, but I must admit to having a bit of a soft spot for those retro keys on the keyboards!
WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN?
18 Apr
2010
That’s the dreaded Design question isn’t it?
That was the question that was asked to me and my whole class by a graphic design thoery teacher while I was still a University Student.
Well, I didn’t have (and really still haven’t) got a bloody clue, but I had a stab nonetheless.
So just what is Graphic Design?
Well the answer that I mumbled out at the time was that it was everything and yet nothing at the same time.
This received a puzzled look and I was asked to explain myself. I used the example of an iPods button symbols (e.g. the play/pause button).
I said that the symbol did not need to be there for the button to work.
If you pressed the button once then it would play the music and a second press would pause the music. The symbol is completely obsolete for the buttons operation to work. However the symbol is useful for the person operating the iPod, so that they know what button to press. So for the iPod, the symbol is irrelevant but to the user, the symbol is almost essential.
Since then I’ve started to compile a list of all the things that I feel can make up graphic design:
- Ideas.
- Communication.
- Visual.
- Language.
- Creativity.
- Technology.
- Wit.
- A Job.
- Life.
- Projects.
- Open.
- A Lifestyle.
- A Career.
- Colour.
- Perfection.
- Luck.
- Balls.
- Honesty.
- Bullshit.
- Love.
- Layout.
- Marks.
- Legibility.
- Content.
- Bold.
- Form.
- Fluidity.
- Style.
- Obsession.
- Glaring.
- Obvious.
- Powerful.
- Aesthetic.
- Contribution.
- Collaboration.
- Subjective.
- Brands.
- People.
- Execution.
- Trends.
- Tone.
- Noticeable.
- Discovery.
- Experimental.
- Reduction.
- Contrast.
- Arbitrary.
- Forced.
- Relationships.
- Typography.
- Shape.
- Understood.
- Longevity.
- Valuable.
- Thoughtful.
- Accurate.
- Concise.
- Collected.
- Developed.
- Movement.
- Hypocrisy.
- Simple.
- Elemental.
- Superfluous.
- Application.
- Addition.
- Subversive.
- Concepts.
- Ongoing.
- Integral.
- Material.
- Complex.
- Production.
- Rational.
- Emotional.
- Seriality.
- Miscommunication.
- Joy.
- 24 Hour.
- Debate.
- Dead.
- Connection.
- Selling.
- Whoring.
- Useless.
- Association.
- Engineered.
- Pioneering.
- Myth.
- Thoughts.
- Practiced.
- Perfect.
- Narrative.
- Personal.
- Interactive.
- Influential.
- Fantastic.
- Experience.
- Corporate.
- Capitalist.
- Revolutionary.
- Rebellious.
- Small.
- Contemporary.
- Society.
- Modern.
- Strange.
- Removed.
- Foreign.
- Overlooked.
- Things.
- Seen.
- Reviewed.
- Influence.
- Bad.
- Good.
- Owned.
- Formulaic.
- Free.
- Choice.
- Manipulation.
- Analysis.
- Marketed.
- Defining.
- Solitary.
- Furtive.
- Hypocritical.
- Definitive.
- Effects.
- Support.
- Professional.
- Void.
- Valid.
- Credited.
- Potential.
- Art.
- Commercial.
- Complicated.
- Truth.
- Social.
- Fun.
- Control.
- Culture.
- Virtue.
- Necessity.
- Function.
- Fast.
- A Word.
- A Term.
- A Classification.
- Invisible.
- Unnoticeable.
- Nothing.
- Anything.
- Everything.
The two posters shown on this page were both part of a competition which asked the same question as this article. They can be found at Veerles blog
If you have anything you think that needs to be added to this list of what Graphic Design is, then please contact me and let me know as I’m always adding to it:
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