AD2 Roanoke

A while back, I needed some inspiration and was looking at design books. It made me wonder if other designers and industry-gurus have book suggestions that have helped them along their graphic design travels.

Here are some suggestions that I received…

How To Be a Graphic Designer Without Not Losing Your Soul – Adrian Shaughnessy http://bit.ly/1s46ko

Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far – Stefan Sagmeister http://bit.ly/pF5xx

100 Habits of Successful Graphic Designers – Josh Berger, Sarah Dougher http://bit.ly/279h8O

Hey Whipple, Squeeze This – Luke Sullivan http://bit.ly/sId7r

And David Ogilvy is so rockin’ awesome that these were suggested several times:

The King of Madison Avenue: David Ogilvy

Ogilvy On Advertising – David Ogilvy http://bit.ly/1eP8v0

Confessions of an Advertising Man – David Ogilvy http://bit.ly/1gjwgN

Also see, David Airey’s blog on his favorite book: http://www.davidairey.com/whats-your-favourite-graphic-design-book

(Sidenote: I apologize to Brad and Patrick, since they responded to my query and unfortunately your answers were lost by a work email change-over. Sorry!)

After landing in Phoenix last night, my traveling companion and I stopped in Scottsdale for some late night mexican food. A necessity after spending half the day on a plane. On the way to Glendale, around to my hotel, we drove through what I now know understand to be “New Scottsdale”, the “ritzy” part of town; lots of new finished construction and that sort of thing. Two and three story buildings full of Neiman Marcuses and Crate & Barelses and trendy places to eat with obscure spanish sounding names, full of slick modern architecture built out of cheap looking materials and painted in dark and neutral colors. All things that make me feel like they are trying so very hard. Too hard, almost.

Why is this new part of town with the new money trying so very hard to emulate what we’ve seen in so many other parts of so many other cities that are perceived as “upscale”? The truth is that this sort of perception works. This is where the marketing and fiduciary statistics works against the creative process. They see a product succeed and want that success for their product, so they mirror the design with hopes of mirroring the success.

Pablo Picaso famously said “Good artist copy. Great artist steal.” I often tell new designers that when they go to look through a magazine or on the web for inspiration to look at what makes the thing they like the thing they like. That is to say, find out what makes that great design great, whether it’s composition, color, the way it works in the space they’re given or even the way you interact with it, and then use that as a lesson to apply in they’re design. You’re not stealing or copying, you’re learning from what works. It’s definitely a step up from just outright “creative theft”.

Jeff Veen gives this 5 minute Ignite presentation that touches on all of this. I enjoyed his parallel between iPhone knock-offs and the “cargo cults” that developed after WWII.

So, if good artist copy and if great artist steal I submit the best artists (and in this case, designers) are the ones worth stealing from.

What do you send new recruits to inspire them to join a branch of the armed forces? Why not a full sized paper cut out of their potential future decorated dress uniform? Thats what the Singapore Navy did.

“We sent out direct mailer packs, which opened out to be the ultimate uniform – a crisp, white Naval Officer’s jacket, complete with medals and decorations. An awe-inspiring uniform that is revered and respected. The life-sized uniform could be held up, immediately allowing the recipient to see how he would look in it. A business reply card was placed in the breast pocket.

What kills me is that even something as cool as this still only received 4.7% in responses out of the 6,000 students it was sent to, only slightly higher than an average direct mailer. I do like the touch of the business reply card in the breast pocket.

[Singapore Navy Ad Campaign via Neatorama]

From a great article by Garr Reynold’s on his blog Presentation Zen:

Most people do not really think about design and designers, let alone think of themselves as designers. But what, if anything, can regular people — teachers, students, business people of all types — learn from designers and from thinking like a designer? And what of more specialized professions? Can medical doctors, scientists, researchers, and engineers, and other specialists in technical fields benefit in anyway by learning how a graphic designer or interaction designer thinks? Is there something designers, either through their training or experience, know that we don’t? I believe there is.

Below are 10 things (plus a bonus tip) that I have learned over the years from designers, things that designers do or know that the rest of us can benefit from.

Read more…

Some of the tips mentioned here are words I live by daily. Others, it was nice to hear spelled out and to be reminded of. Take the time to read over these points, especially if you’re not the “creative” in your office. You may find you relate easier to them after you do.

[Pesentaion Zen via Mister Alexander]

Jeff Gardner in an article from smashigmagazine.com writes:

I’m about to make a bold statement. The quality of a design and the monetary cost of producing or procuring that design have absolutely no relationship whatsoever. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, I know. Many of you are crying foul at this very moment, but hear me out. I’ll explain my radical position – and hopefully give you a few pointers about how to more effectively price and position your design business in this brave new, and uncorrelated, world.

Jeff goes on to outline a few guideline for pricing your work and a few tips on your approach, as well as a few assumptions we make, like this:

Good design is about attitude

A little attitude and a little cockiness never hurt anyone. I would argue that those two qualities have actually helped more businesses than they’ve harmed. Why? Because being confident in your product or service is infectious. If you believe strongly in the value and the worth of what you’re selling, your clients are going see that – and respond in kind.

This is a great read for freelancers getting started and those of you who are looking for work and are filling your off hours looking for extra jobs but you don’t really know what to charge. The article is geared towards web designers, but the trends and truths are appropriate for any creative job.

One of the biggest hurdles I had to face as I started working for myself was juggling between taking what I could get and positioning myself in such a way where I could dictate, with pride and honesty, a price for what I do for my potential clients that would not only keep me in business but keep me respectable. It’s a decision I didn’t make overnight and it’s something I re-approach regularly.

Read the rest of Quality-Price-Ratio in Web Design (Pricing Design Work) from Smashing Magazine.