something fun for friday, alissa walker is celebrating 10 years in LA with 10 posts leading up to her birthday, and they are all fantastic! take a spin through her LAX tag and read them all!
10 days of loving LA
articles
creative inspiration
Compressed 02 from Kim Pimmel on Vimeo.
branding
i don’t drink soda, but i think a can concept that is highly typographic, drawing on existing branding is a really nice look.
promo kits
another great promo from one of the many 826 organizations, this space travel supply poster, which folds like a map and has all kinds of travel goodies on the back. fantastic work!
article of the week
You Can’t Innovate If You Ignore Real Problems by Sohrab Vossoughi for fastcodesign.com.
i’ve seen this time and again both in-house and out, and i think it’s an important topic for any business facing a brand overhaul, evolution or innovation. many thanks to sohrab vossoughi for writing about it! the dilemma, as it comes to the designer: a business is experiencing a dip in brand loyalty or otherwise tough times, wants to shift the focus of previous perceptions and tell everyone how great they are, but doesn’t want to change how they operate, what they offer, or do the real work of aligning this message with who they truly are.
it’s tough to really look at ourselves and our businesses objectively and find out if our actions or corporate culture really reflect what we say about ourselves. sometimes we’re too close to the matter, and it helps to get an outside perspective. the fact is, though, branding is not about creating an external façade. it’s not between you and your customer, it’s the very articulation of what you stand for and what you do—it IS you. many of your potential customers have been advertised to, rather loudly, their entire lives at this point, and are discerning about messages that don’t align with a business’ actions or services. if you’re realizing there’s a problem that’s not working for you, re-evaluating your brand is a good idea, but first it’s time to take that look.
read on & have a great weekend!
creative inspiration
Pendulum sound machine from kyoueidesign on Vimeo.
design industry
hey designers, there’s a lovely new book, i heart design, out by steven heller! see the whole profile on the designer’s review of books.
hey clients, if you’re thinking about developing a new web site, there’s this great planning guide that can help you understand what you’re in for and how to prepare!
and hey, both designers and clients, if you’ve ever been confused about how copyright law works, or what are the specifics of licensing, smashing magazine is ready to break it down for you!
and while you’re still here, there’s this great piece on fastcodesign.com about putting entrepreneurial designers in a position to bring their great design energy to the leadership and inception of the company, and connecting them with the money to make it happen:
“What we’re hoping to do is shift the paradigm of what design is. Design encompasses systems now, not just ‘making things look pretty,'” Allen continues. “Designers have traditionally been paid a lot of money to make what people want; meanwhile, most startups fail because they make things that people don’t actually want! But designers are trained in methods of getting to these ‘aha’ moments about customers, products, and use cases. And that’s a great opportunity for designers to make a foundational contribution in a startup venture.”
food
in the world of seasonal eating, we’re moving from spring to summer this week, so enjoy some of the best of both seasons. last week’s seasonal eats was about spring peas while this week, we’re talking heirloom tomatoes!
creative inspiration
for all the LA-lovers out there, a time-lapsed video of 24-hours in downtown LA from blogging.la
letterpress
since calendar days and dates repeat every 2, 6, and 11 years, cranky pressman designed a faux 1966 calendar to be reused this year, 2011, with the encouragement to use it again in 2022. cool concept, and super-cool looking! see the whole profile at under consideration.
design industry
more for the print’s not dead files, felix ng has started up an arts and culture journal, bracket, and the boyle heights neighborhood of LA just got a new bilingual paper—the boyle heights beat / pulso de boyle heights—reported by teens and funded by the california endowment as a joint collaboration between usc annenberg and la opinión.
for more in print on design, the elements of graphic design by alex w. white is out in 2nd edition.
take a spin through the typography of miami with 8 hour day!
los angeles
here’s a lovely little illustration of our burg of echo park, circa 1909. more on the big map blog.
LA observed has a video of the newly-reopened angeles crest highway, which has been closed for the past 18 months following the station fire. looks like the restoration included lots of newly-topped road.
if you’re looking for an out-of-the-way tour of los angeles, 7 days in LA has a great selection of indie tours that go beyond the generic hollywood tour and give different perspectives on our rich history.
blogging hiatus
i have been so buried with work, i actually had to stop blogging. this is a sad thing, because i like blogging, but just can’t spare the time and energy. perhaps next week i’ll be able to return with the highlights of all the cool stuff waiting for me in google reader over the last 3 weeks, but in the meantime, i’ll leave you with this nice article, good for clients and designers alike:
The goal of any information design task is to communicate a specific message to the end user in a way that is clear, accessible, and easy to understand. Even an elementary review of educational theory, how we learn, can provide the designer with crucial insight into the needs of the end user (and make a big difference in the way aesthetic decisions are made). This overview of learning styles has immediate implications for visual communication.
creative inspiration
event design
this invitation to the natural history museum’s halloween event “haunted museum” brings together retro thriller movie design with vintage travel posters. see the entire profile at fpo.
furniture innovation
thanks to fastcodesign.com for sharing the comfy cargo chair, which can be stuffed with anything you’d like to display while sitting in it. i only hope there’s a suggestion to add a cushion to the seat.
typography
H&FJ has just announced a new typeface, ideal sans, a clean, highly-versatile sans-serif that tinkers with space and proportion while maintaining high readability.
design industry
the 2011 brand new conference is open for registration.
for those of you following trends in logo design, logo lounge’s logo trends for 2011 is out.
i recently watched this “talking funny” show on hbo as well, but michael beirut was able to grab from it 7 things graphic designers can learn from stand up comics.
if you’re a designer working with a developer when it comes to web development, maybe your relationship could use some guidance. smashing magazine offers two cats in a sack: designer-developer discord.
it’s never too early to incorporate design into a development process, so why not revisit your research process and integrate it wherever you can. parse can help you get started: design-research process.
food
this week in food, we’re talking all about cherries over at LAist: seasonal eats: cherry season is upon us!
how magazine, may 2011
if you’ve got your how magazine‘s design & creativity issue for may 2011, check out ilise benun’s piece, “making the move,” on how to transition to freelance for advice from myself, alisa bonsignore, lydia varesco racoma and kristin maija peterson. i’ve been talking a lot about how i started planning for my transition and then put it into high action during an unexpected layoff. 3.5 years later, i’m still going strong and only getting better. if anyone has questions about what they should know or what to be aware of, i’m always happy to help.
i’ve been reading how for about 15 years, and i’ve met so many great people through it, it’s a true honor to be able to contribute to it and be included in helping other designers learn different aspects of our industry.
for more on the transition to freelance, check these links below:
Ready to Conquer the World? by Ilise Benun for creative freelancer blog
Take 6 Steps Toward a Successful Freelance Career by Ilise Benun for HOW
In House Interpersonal: Walking out of the house from the InHOWse designer blog
Interview with Heather Parlato on Freelancing, podcast with Ilise Benun
Freelancing 103: When to Make the Leap to F/T Freelancing by Ilise Benun
Freelancing 102: Balancing Two Jobs by Ilise Benun
Freelancing 101: How to Begin Getting Clients by Ilise Benun
creative inspiration
Loose Leaf – Edition One from Manual on Vimeo.
publications
more good news for the print’s not dead files, two new publications have emerged this spring worthy of note. eureka magazine, profiled on iso50 is a fresh, clean & colorful approach to scientific matter, while codex is dedicated to typography.
design industry
we’re ramping up for the creative freelancer conference in june. i talk about what a good pep talk does for me while longtime HOW magazine editor, bryn mooth, talks about joining us in her transition to freelance. dang, we’re in good company.
i spent the weekend with students at AIGA LA’s student portfolio day, and met some really nice people and promising designers. here’s one for you guys: 50 things every graphic design student should know.
and one for back to basics / back to awesome, if you’re not asking these questions, or questions like them on every design project, it’s time to start: 5 questions every designer should ask their clients.
food
this week in food, we’re all about fresh fava beans over at LAist, seasonal eats: get fava beans while they’re fresh! and look at this nasturtium love over at hot knives!
finally, in semi-food & semi-hollywood news, cahuenga alley adjacent to where the hollywood farmer’s market sets up has been approved for a makeover?! that would be incredible!
parlato design studio 