Noisy Decent Graphics

Save the typographer

Please don't do this.

I can only guess the designer aligned the type like this because it matched the logo. But a logo is just that, a logo, not a bloody gridline. This is one of the most absurd pieces of graphic design I've seen in a while. It's hard to read and it looks messy and cheap. All because someone thought it was a clever idea to line the text up with the logo.

Sacrificing legibility for a clever idea is never good idea.

Free Chocolate

In our office at least.

For the last few weeks someone has being putting free chocolates on reception of a Friday lunchtime. You would be amazed how happy this makes people. A really simple (and cheap) gesture that makes everyone smile from the Chairman to the juniorest junior.

I know this might sound silly, but this is a real insight into people and morale. It's the little things folks, the little things.

Boycott costing Arla £1m per day 2

Hold on, teh boycott has only been going on a few days. How can it have cost £50M so far?

Boycott costing Arla £1m per day

I find this story incredible. Arla Foods reckons the boycott of Danish products in the Middle East is costing it about £1m a day, and £50m so far.

It reminds me of all those times people urge you to boycott McDonalds or stop eating meet or stop wearing clothes or something, and people always say, “I won’t make any difference”. Well it turns out it does make a difference. Will it make a difference in the long term? Look how The Sun is still affected by the Liverpool boycott.

On another note, what has Arla got to do with an offensive cartoon? So they’re a Danish business, but what does that matter? How can a global companies be (really) affiliated to one country just because that’s the address on their notepaper? Is Shell a British company? If a company has thousands of employees in, say India, does that make it an Indian company? Discuss.

So, people power works but is it appropriate in this case?

Aboud Sodano website

I found the Aboud Sodano website at long last: www.aboud-sodano.com

It's really boring.

Floating Logos

I love this.

It's called Floating Logos and it's by Matt Siber. I don't think it needs much explanation, but if you want some here it is:

"Floating Logos is inspired by signs perched high atop very tall poles in order for people to view them from a long distance away. Often these poles are so tall that the signs on top of them loom over us, ominously broadcasting their message. The digital elimination of the poles not only illustrates this effect further but also serves to disconnect the signs from the ground and reality."

I wouldn't think about it too much, just follow the link and enjoy.

No Comment?

Hello. It's that time again, my regular appeal for comments.

There are over 100 of you reading this everyday, which is pretty amazing considering I don't really promote it and no one knows who I am. But very few of you leave comments. So I'm gonna make it easy. There are 4 posts which are very, very popular and are easy to comment on. I'll point you in the right direction and you can comment on those posts. Does that sound fair?

Fucking Elle - possibly my most popular post. I spot some weird typography on the cover of Elle Decoration. Is it really weird? Would you have done the same?

I hate ITV - I really, really hate ITV. I especially hate their new idents. What do you think?

Create a great CV - My humble advice for design students. I would appreciate the more experienced of you leaving comments too.

Robert Brownjohn - Again a very popular post. Do you like this kind of simple, ideas led design? Or do you prefer more stylised, fashionable stuff. Let me know.

Making Sainsbury's Great Again

I saw this at a meeting of Sainsbury's managers the other day and it's very unusual.

Why? Because in saying "Making Sainsbury's great again" they are admitting they're not great anymore. And that, my friends, is the first step to success.

In that one sentence they're saying;
1. we understand where this business is, where it used to be and where we want it to go
2. we know we've done some things wrong, but we're going to try and fix it
3. we're not full of motivational bullshit, we're honest and we expect you to be honest with us
4. we'll make Sainsbury's great t and we'll do it together (many, many companies would pay a fortune for that sentiment to be true)

Made those 4 words work hard, didn't they?

Interbrand front of house

I walked passed Interbrand yesterday. This is the sign on their glass door. I've tried messing about with the photo to make it more legible, but i stopped because that's kind of my point. It's a complete fucking illegible mess.

There are 5 companies mentioned there; Interbrand, Markforce, Gavin Anderson, Agency.com and Live (I couldn't find a website for Live. You try searching for Live on Google for fuck's sake). I don't want to slag them all off, in fact agency.com are a fantastic agency, but this sign is just bloody terrible.

Guys, you can't read it.

For a branding agency the size (and the fees) of Interbrand they should at least get this bit right. I hadn't even stepped into the building and already I've got the impression you can't design.

Where is the heirachy? How are the companies related? Why do some companies have phone numbers, some have addresses and some have none? Why is Live so fucking big!? This is not good enough, chaps

D&AD Awards - shit website - moan moan

A bit of a moan now.

I've just spent the best part of an afternoon, deciding which work we enter in the D&AD awards, helping filling in forms and packaging stuff up.

OK, some people don't know what the D&AD is. If you do, skip this paragraph.
D&AD stands for Design & Art Direction and their website says, "Founded in 1962, D&AD is a UK-based charity whose remit is to champion excellence in creativity globally. We run awards schemes, education programmes and work with the business community to ensure that creativity is high on their agenda." For most designers the main thing they do is run the only awards scheme worth winning.

A D&AD pencil really is the only award worth winning. Hence they are bloody hard to win. Bloody hard. And that's a very good thing.

The D&AD also do some brilliant work with education and promoting the industry in general.

Any design company worth it's salt enters the awards. But, here comes the moan, it's soooo bloody hard to enter. Why? 3 reasons.

1. There are way, way to many categories.
And so it's really hard deciding where to put stuff. Every year there is a new President and almost every year he/she adds a new category! Enough!

2. It's too expensive.
This is a fairly common complaint. And it tends to be the small companies moan about the cost while the big groups don't care. That's basic economics. What I mean is that to get the best out of D&AD you have to enter the same project into several categories. And that's the bit that gets expensive.

3. The fucking website.
Jesus Christ it's hard to use. To enter you have to log on, go through all these stupid forms and questions and then pay. Fair enough. Except it's badly designed (it looks great - but that's not the same thing) very hard to use, clumsy and really bloody slow. For champions of creativity that's not good enough. The website also changes every year.

Moan over. D&AD get your act together. Sort your website out. Get some usability guys in.

Anyone share my view?

Create a great CV 3

Covering letters. I don't like them, but a lot of people do so write them if you wish. But if you do write one make it relevant. Take 5 minutes to look at the company website. Mention work they've done, what did you like? What did you not like? At the very least mention their clients...

Create a great CV 2

Oh and I forgot this bit. Here's a list of a load of UK design consultancies that do work placements. Hope that helps: http://www.graphicdesign.org.uk/graphic-design-work-placements.htm

Create a great CV 1

Kim emailed me to ask for some constructive criticism on her CV. Which I'm more than happy to do - Kim I've emailed you back.

Some of the comments I made were fairly general so I thought I'd share them here. Feel free to add comments if you have any helpful advice. We were all students looking for that first design job once. And remember how hard it was?

1. This stuff is important
At the moment this is the most important piece of communication you have ever designed. So treat it as such. Make it brilliant.

2. STAND OUT
Most CV's are dull, boring and repetitive. And everyone says the same thing. Stand out, and you'll get an interview. If you only do two things on this list do this one and number 10.

3. Communicate
That's what you're paid for. Your brief is to sell yourself, quickly, efficient, amongst masses of competition to an impossible audience.

4. Remember that the content is king.
Write, rewrite and rewrite it again. Strip away any superfluous information. So you worked at M&W Local Stores when you were 16, so what? Is that relevant to your design experience?

5. Keep it short.
I get at least a CV a day, more in the summer. Almost all of them go in the bin. Try and get it to one page of A4. I bet the Microsoft press office can get Bill Gates' biography on one side of A4.

6. Are they really your hobbies?
You swim, you go out with friends, you like the cinema. Big fucking deal, so does the rest of the world. If you have an interesting hobby then include it, don't make them up. Anyway graphic design should be your hobby.

7. Tough audience
This is the toughest audience you'll ever have. You are designing for designers. So take care. Craft it. Check the typography, check the widows, check for typos, line stuff up. Prove you can design well.

8. Online tips
Send it as a PDF or a web page. DO NOT send massive jpegs.

9. Offline tips
Send one piece of paper (or maybe even try something that isn't paper, innovate a little...). Do not send a business card. Do not send loads of samples (unless asked for).

10. You wouldn't do this would you?
Never, ever, ever, ever send anything in Word (on paper or electronically). If you think this is OK you should not be working in design.

Has anyone else got any helpful tips?

"Walks through the door"

"A true friend is one that walks through the door when everyone else is walking out."

Alex Ferguson.

Change one thing

This is a really nice idea from Boots.

Boots rather obviously have to ride the "New Year - New You" bandwagon. This year they've chosen "change one thing" as the theme. Here's how it works; Want to give up smoking? It's easy if you change one thing. Want to lose weight? It's easy if you change one thing.

The graphics are stylish, sensitive and appropriate with a great use of illustration (and I don't often like illustration).

But it goes much deeper than that. Each sin (smoking, fat, stress) is linked to in store offers. For example; giving up smoking is easy if you change one thing, try nicotine patches, buy one get the second half price in Boots. That's where it all hangs together, insight, marketing, design, sales.

But it gets better. The one key thing that makes the whole campaign work and makes it stand out from all the other patronising rubbish that's about this time of year is that they are... telling the truth. Yes, the truth ladies and gentleman.

It's believable, it works. It's not marketing bullshit. It's achievable. Maybe you can't imagine yourself giving up smoking, but you can imagine yourself doing one thing to try. Maybe you don't really believe you'll be less stressed, but you'll try one thing to see if it works.

This is great. It's really well thought out, very now, very Mind Gym. Good, good, good. The website is lovely too. good use of Flash (and I don't often like Flash either).

As a foot note, Boots is s great British company that has always championed good design. They even used to employ a Pentagram partner to manage the roster. We need more of that.

"More harm is done by indecision than by wrong decision."

As said by Tony Soprano.

If only agencies and clients would live by this quote our world would be a much better place.

Selfridges Advent Calendar

This is gorgeous.

It falls into the “I wish I’d thought of that” category. Which is always the mark of a good idea.

This was an advent calendar in Selfridges. (Yes, I saw it a while ago but only just got round to posting, sorry.) It’s a really nice, simple idea. The execution is lovely. It’s got that really nice hand crafted, loved, feel about it. Look at the different fonts, it doesn’t look messy it looks crafted and thought about. Brilliant.

Do you believe this?

"Starbucks has a simple brand statement: A great coffee experience. It influences everything the company does from its logo, store design and employee selection, and even choice of toilet paper.

The story goes that some consultant found a way to shave costs significantly by changing over to one-ply toilet paper. Starbucks’ marketers held firm for the two-ply because they knew that something as simple as cheap toilet paper can ruin the goodwill a brand has built."

Is that true? Do you believe that? Comment below.

Voluntary United Group of Creative Agencies

Thee is a networks of WPP agencies called Voluntary United Group of Creative Agencies.

Which is the worst name for anything, ever.

Find out more here.

July

For one reason or another I was looking at the website belonging to a company called Igor Consulting yesterday.

Igor Consulting think up names, brand names, company names. And they thought of this little stunner, July. Yes, July, it's for a financial services firm.

Apparently, "one of the key positioning points the name had to capture is "the freedom to focus on your core business." The name also needed to be fresh and different, yet fall within the parameters of the types of names associated with the financial services sector. The name had to be both intuitive and interesting".

Remember we're talking about July. It gets worse.

"July is much more than the name of the month that Julius Caesar named after himself. It is the one name that covers all the established financial services cues, is fresh and different, and infers -- rather than shouts -- "Freedom," making it infinitely engaging."

No, July is a fucking month. Not a financial services company.

There is also a hilarious story about the thinking behind calling Steve Wynn's new Las Vegas hotel, er, Wynn Las Vegas.