Noisy Decent Graphics

CSD accreditation scheme

There's a big debate going on at the moment because the CSD have launched an accreditation scheme. Unhelpfully they've called it The Design Association.

I think accreditation is broadly speaking a good idea (well it's not a bad idea at any rate). The problem is there are so many bodies for designers and none of them are very good. Lynda Relph-Knight highlights the confusion in Design Week. And if it's confusing for designers it's ten times worse for clients.

There's the CSD which has a kinda old fashioned crafty image,
there's the D&AD which is the most credible (by miles) but perhaps a little advertising biased,
there's the DBA which I don't have much experience of but I've only ever heard good things about,
there's the BDI which i don't really understand,
and I guess there is the Design Council which is Governmenty but has a great name.

Why can't they all join together and play nicley?

This week I got emailed a survey (by the BDI) asking me what I thought of it all. I thought I'd post my answers here. I don't know if it makes interesting reading, but I'd love to know what your answers would be.

1. There are several national membership organisations representing the UK commercial design industry, including BDI, CSD, DBA - which of these organisations are you a member of if any?
AGD - None really. RSA and considering joining DBA.

2. Is the UK design sector in danger of being pulled in too many different directions due to the proliferation of these organisations and their membership offers?
AGD - Yes!

3. Are you clear about the differences between these organisations?
AGD - No. What unites them is that none of them are very good. You guys, DBA, CSA, D&AD et al should all merge into one.

4. Several local and regional Design Associations and/or Design Forums have been launched – do you think that the design sector is better represented by regional membership organisations?
AGD - No not really. Maybe outside of London.

5. Should the regional membership organisations seek to have a relationship with one or more of the national organisations or act as local branch of a national organisation?
AGD - This doesn't trouble me very much...

6. Do you believe that membership fees are too expensive?
AGD - Yep.

7. Do you believe that it is necessary to belong to a national or regional membership organisation at all?
AGD - I think it’s important, yes.

8. What key membership services do you feel are/would be of most benefit to your business?
AGD - Legal advice is good. All business advice relevant to creative industries is good, HR, tax etc etc

9. What impact would there be on the design industry if there were more than one accreditation scheme?
AGD - Mass confusion, obviously.

10. Does the design industry need an accreditation scheme at all?
AGD - I think ‘need’ is too strong a word, but I’d like to see one.

"Art is not parrots"

My art teacher at school used to say this all the time. We used to think he was mad. Now I think he probably meant there's more to art than a pretty exterior.

But he could have just been mad.

Official: You Can Kill A Burglar

I was snooping around Flickr and I found this great set of pictures.

DarrenS has taken pictures of Evening Standard headlines and uploaded them. I suppose taking them out of context and looking at them all together adds to weirdness.

They look great, have a look here.

"They know nothing about pumpkins and they know nothing about the web"

Way back, in the dot com days, I used to work for an internet design company. Almost all the clients were dot com start ups. Most of them were crazy. Some of them are still around, kind of.

Shortly after I joined the CTO described the typical dot com start up to me. "A company comes to see us and they want to sell pumkins on the web. Trouble is they know nothing about pumpkins and they know nothing about the web."

Brilliant and true.

Don't even think about it

As seen in the changing room of Slam City Skates.

"The only CDs I've bought since 1998 have been blank"

It always seems to me that the music industry isn't listening. I went to a meeting with some people from PRS a few years ago. When I asked about downloads and royalties they replied that it was all up in the air at the moment and no one really knew how it was all going to work out. That was 2004 people, "it" had already happened.

The quote is from a bizarre blog I was reading, but I thought it had relevance.

The Power of Photoshop

Hilarious mock up from today's Sun. Do you think Adobe ever imagined the horror Photoshop would release on the world?

This made me smile, hope it does you. You can read the article here if you're so inclined.

Explore, Experiment, Excite, Enjoy

What you should aim to do every day, in any walk of life.

7 Habits Of Highly Effective Megalomaniacs

I saw the most brilliant ad for the British Museum on Friday.

Trouble is, it doesn't really work unless you read all the copy. And you can't do that on this photograph. I've tried to find a copy of it online, but to no avail.

So I'll try my best to set the scene here.

The ad is at Waterloo tube station (that's important). It's headlined '7 Habits Of Highly Effective Megalomaniacs' which is brilliant. Brilliant because it takes the piss out of the book '7 Habits Of Highly Effective People' and brilliant because you can't help but read on after a headline like that. There's no logo, no obvious branding, so you read on. It tells you how a Roman Emperor taxed urinals, and when the Senate complained that it was a filthy thing to do told them the money smelt clean enough to him. It tells you how Julius Caesar used to visit Alexander the Great's grave when he was feeling low, how Churchill used to read Julius Caesar's speeches when stuck with his own and how Giuliani listened to Churchill's speeches when he needed strength.

All brilliant stuff you didn't know. And there are 5 more like that.

Right at the end it tells you that all this and more can be found at the British Museum which has free entry and at that price is considerably cheaper than a management consultant.

You're a management consultant, you've read 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People, it's your bible. You've mastered 6 of the habits. You're very likely to be at Waterloo (told you that bit was important) waiting for a train. You can't help but read this ad. Wouldn't you want to pay the British Museum a visit?

Bit Unfair

Great viral for Oxfam.

The idea is good, the execution is brilliant, the cause is... well, this is a blog about graphic design, so you can make your own mind up about the cause.

Brandstorm

Like a brainstorm, but absolute bollocks. Except L'Oreal don't seem to have noticed.

Dan Flavin

We'd didn't get to the Dan Flavin exhibition the other day, so I went yesterday instead.

It's good, very good, but it's very short. And you can't take photos, which is understandable, but a shame.

But all things considered, it's well worth a visit. Here are some fantastic pictures from the BBC.

Talk by John McConnell

I went to a talk the other morning called Designer Breakfasts. The talk was by John McConnell (formerly of Pentagram) and was excellent.

He has recently retired as a partner from Pentagram but he's still involved with Boots and John Lewis. He's more client side these days managing the design roster. He was billed as the client's advocate and talked about client relationships and how to get the best out of them.

He was eloquent, charming and had that wonderful way of telling a story that comes with the wisdom of experience. He said loads of interesting things that would be worth a few minutes of anyone's time and I've tried to highlight the best ones below.

1. It's not the client's fault, it's yours.
This was the main thread of his talk really, that you should examine your own behaviour before slagging off the client. It's too easy to blame the client when it's probably your fault. How many times have you been guilty of not explaining something, or not asking more questions, or not clarifying things at the start or not saying no more often?

2. If you can't find a solution, you haven't found the problem.
I like this one. Every problem has a solution, but you'll only see the solution if you know (clearly and correctly) what the problem is in the first place.

3. Try to avoid the grey bit in the middle.
Most of the problems occur when you're dealing with middle management. He prefers to great straight to the top, the board if possible. Hmmmm, easy enough when you're a Pentagram partner and 60+. Not so easy when you're everyone else.

4. Be honest, always.
We all know this - we just don't do it. If you've just listened to 45 minutes of jargon, pause, and then say 'I'm sorry I didn't understand a word of that'. He reckons they will probably agree with you and be relieved you've had the balls to speak up. Try it.

5. The client doesn't see your great design.
Very true this one. When looking at your beautiful concept, the client is thinking, 'will my boss like that?' 'will that get me promoted?' 'did the boss say something about not liking green?' 'didn't the last guy get fired for taking a risk?' etc etc. Bear it in mind when presenting.

6. Say why you did something.
I don't do this enough, but I'm going to start now. When you present your concept explain why you've made decisions. You have made lots of decisions that the client can't see, so tell them. This brochure is A5 because... it's green because... we've used this font because... we've not made your logo bigger because... we've not used that awful illustration you gave us because... Sell your ideas. Back them up. You have made considered decisions for a reason so share that with the client.

Lastly, I really don't want to complain, because this is a good idea organsied by people in their own time for the benefit of everyone, but I've got a few little gripes. The format was terrible. Badly chaired and full of people with this dated 'them and us' attitude to clients that I loathe. It all felt a bit old fashioned. Almost all the people there worked for consultancies with less than 5 staff. Maybe it's a result of that? I don't know.

I probably won't go again, but don't let that put you off they are worth checking out. You can find out more details here.

Good advice for budding café owners

Street Alphabet

These are beautiful.

A graffiti artist called Eine has painted the whole alphabet across the shutters of East London shops. Dave Gorman (a very funny comedian) has managed to find all 26 letters. The letter forms are gorgeous. The colours are lovely. The textures that the shutters give the letters are wonderful. I love these letters.

Take a look at the letters here via Flickr. Take the slideshow for the best view.

Pentagram Video

If, like me, you’re a big Pentagram fan you’ll enjoy this video by Hillman Curtis. It has interviews with all of the partners and examples of all of their work.

If you’re not a fan of Pentagram, you ought to be.

Death by PowerPoint

This is fairly old, but I just stumbled across it again. Seth Godin's guide to really bad PowerPoint, or rather, how to make great presentations. Obviously.

Like all Seth's stuff I don't agree with everything, but most of it is great and it's all well worth a read. If you're a graphic designer I'd like to think you wouldn't make these mistakes but...

You can download the PDF here.

On the same subject have a browse at Presentation Zen. I'm making a big presentation this week so I'll try and use all that good advice!

Is Ikea a successful brand?

Some nice graphics from inside Ikea.

I always wonder about Ikea. It's one of the biggest companies in the world. It's a huge consumer brand. Almost everyone (in the countries Ikea is in) owns something by Ikea, so they're in every living room. Stop people in the street and they will all have heard of Ikea. So we're agreed it's a big, successful brand. Right?

Well, they never win any branding awards. It never features in any brand value charts, it never gets in those cool brand books. No one ever owns up to designing the logo. No one ever owns up to working on it at all, really?

So is it a successful brand? Is it successful in the real world, so it's irrelevant what happens in our brand, design world? Is it successful but it could be more successful? Does it prove that all branding is bollocks? Does it prove precisiely the opposite? Is it not really a successful brand?

Paul, Valarie, Russell, Steve, Graham, Mike, mofe, Blip, all you other readers - what do you think?

Free Cash Withdrawals Here

You don't see this sign very often, anymore.

Won't be any posting today as I'm out on a photoshoot all day. See you tomorrow.

What do we do?

Just had a meeting with a client who was complaining about her new brochure.

She said the text wasn't black enough.

The text is black. Just standard black. 100 K printed in a four colour process on to pretty standard stock. We tell her it can not be any blacker. She's not convinced. We can't use a different font becuase that would break her company's strict guidelines.

We eventually come to the conclusion that she wants the text in bold. But you can't have a 12 page brochure with all the text set in bold? Can you? (Well you could, but not emanating from this consultancy...)

So what do we do now?