Promo Item: schedule

I emailed this to everyone last week, but just in case you didn't get it:


Here's your timeline for this final project with. Let me know if you questions.

Specialty/Promotional Item Project:
Weight: 20%

APRIL 15 - First review of sketches/concepts for promotional item (or on computer if you're there already)

APRIL 20 - Second review of promotional item's progress

APRIL 22 - Informal critique. Have work printed out to pin up on board.

APRIL 27 - Final review of progress and work day

Major critique on April 29: Specialty Item

DUE: Present boards & critique on April 29

Virtual class tonight

Class is cancelled tonight. I've emailed everyone, but wanted to post here to be sure you all get the message. Please take a moment to post the progress you've made on your blog concerning your promotional design, so that I can evaluate it and give you feedback if necessary. I will not be checking things over the weekend, so post tonight! Let me know if you have questions.

Tomorrow: The Icebox

Remember tomorrow we are meeting at the Icebox at 5pm. We'll be there for an hour and then just to shake things up, we will walk over to Inman Perk and continue the rest of our class there as opposed to heading back to GSU. Their web site is http://www.iceboxonline.com/.

Their located near Inman Park in the Old Fourth Ward area, just down from Fritti on N. Highland Ave. Their address is 700 Lake Ave.

Parking is very limited, so car pool if you can and expect to park on the street if you can't find parking by their building.

Bring your questions for Icebox's owner, Regina, and the designers at Icebox, about coming up with concepts and designs for promotional items, etc.

Remember to have three different concepts for me to review, any research/inspiration you've come across. and any sketches you have begun.

See you tomorrow!

design career opportunities

here's a list of job postings from a unexpected source, patternpulp.com, a web forum devoted to tracking ideas and emerging trends that expose, celebrate, share and connect pattern design across all creative platforms.

Also on Thursday...

I was reminded that the Spring 2010 Juried Student Exhibition and Awards Ceremony is this Thursday April 1, 6-8pm.

So I'd like to meet for class as usual at 5:30 to check in on your billboard/large out door signage campaign. Then those that want to go down and check out the Juried student show can, as well as the pin-up show if you'd like.

Email mw with questions, comments, etc.

Models not required

Some of you missed this, but I announced at the end of class last Thursday that you all are NOT going to be required to make models of you sign for this class. This semester is just flying by and I don't want to sacrifice the other projects, so we are cutting this one out.

pin-up show

You may have seen flyers around campus for the Pin-Up show, but I wanted to remind you all about it. Let's go by room 257 this Thursday from 6-7p (We will still meet for our class at 5:30p so I can check in with you all, etc. Then we can come back to class and finish up what we have to do. Nancy Floyd has invited everyone to come by, pin up a work, and eat a slice of pizza. Its's fun, you can get some feedback if you want, see what others are working on and overall it's just a great way to be involved with your art school as a whole.

(Faculty are also invited to put work up, so you can see what your teachers have been up to as well).

just for fun

Ever wonder what type you are? Here is a fun mini web site Pentagram put together to discover the truth about what type you really are.

:)

Billboard Series: Assignment Sheet

I have emailed you this as a pdf. Bring any questions you might have about this project, to class on Tuesday.

Final signage models

Here is more information about your final signage model.

Please read the PDF that I've emailed about how to use Ponoko's making system. You do not have to use Ponoko, but from the research I have done, this is a very affordable way to make a great looking final model. The laser cutting system allows you to use the materials they provide (Acrylic, Wood, MDF, felt, leather, etc.) and cut the shapes you need, engrave vector and raster images, and gives many examples of how to design your piece so that you can assemble it as a 3D model.

Here are some other laser cutting services I've found, if you'd like to compare. And of course do your own research especially if you don't want to build your model this way and want to do it your self.

On Tuesday, March 30, you will need to turn in a proposal explaining your plan for making your final signage model.

Other local resources:

http://lightcarve.com/about/

http://www.lasertechatlanta.com/

Seeing Things: The Art of the Billboard

Billboards, like palm trees and freeways, are ubiquitous elements of Los Angeles’s vast cityscape. Over the next seven weeks, “How Many Billboards? Art In Stead,” an ambitious urban exhibition organized by the MAK Center for Art and Architecture, will be displayed on 21 billboards across the city. When the Museum of Contemporary Art unveiled its controversial 2001 marketing campaign, in the form of billboards plastered with clever plays on museum labels, Kimberli Meyer, the MAK Center’s director, imagined billboards as a site for art rather than for advertising. (read more)

- from The New York times Style Magazine, Brooke Hodge

New Reading assignment PDF

Click here to download your new reading assignment from "signage systems + information graphics"

Links to our class materials, etc.

I asked you all to upload to your blog (do not email me a bunch of files) the thumbnail sketches and ideas for your signage. Some of you did that, some of haven't yet. For those that haven't met this deadline, remember it does affect your grade and will be counted as late. I will give you all some feedback and then you should be moving into the computer and creating the signage designs. After the designs are finalized, you will be creating the schematics.

ALL thumbnails for your signage is DUE Tuesday 2/23.

You should have done this already, but remember to download the pdf of your first reading assignment here. This needs to be read by next Thursday 2/25.

Don't forget that I've also set up a web site for the other things I've showed in class regarding signage.

See you all next week!

more signage and environmental graphics inspiration

i've uploaded a lot of examples of really great environmental design projects, all from the Communication Design annuals from 2004-2009.

Check them out here.

signage project deadlines

for your signage project, you will have several mini-deadines to keep you on track as you develop the final product. there is a lot to cover, so you have to be diligent about your time management. 
(POST your work for each mini due date on your blog - the blog is 20% of your final grade!)

research due tues. 2/16

thumbnails due thur. 2/18

1st draft of all signage due tues. 2/23

design signage schematics; due thur. 2/25

2nd draft of all signage and 1st draft of prototype due thur. 3/2

final: signage and schematics due thur. 3/4

FINAL PROTOTYPES will be due after spring break, on thursday march 18th



and then we're on  s p r i n g  b r e a k!! something to look forward to...

Beginning the design process for your signage

As you begin the process of determining your signage needs, you'll need to research several things. First put yourself in the place of the "user". Beginning with the exterior experience:

1. being this is a first impression, what information needs to be conveyed to the "user"? make a list of all the possible needs (for example: main sign or "signal"; ticket booth; hours of operation; book/video return area; directions to parking or service entrances, etc.)

2. observe the existing signage or lack there of and what problems might exist with the current signage

3. create a rough map/diagram and note where signage could be improved or implemented in the exterior area

4. Go through the same evaluation in the main entrance and then in identify secondary interior signage needs.

5. Make a list and a rough diagram of what signage needs to be designed and where it will go.

This information will inform your final decisions and how best to present the final information in schematics and comps.

Note: You will be producing a scale model of your exterior sign this semester. Ponoko.com, a DIY manufacturing web site service will be an excellent source for the final product.

Though some of this will not apply to your project, these are things to keep in mind once the design process has begun especially once you're working for paying client:

• signage expresses the brand and builds on understanding the needs and habit of users in the environment

• legibility, visibility, durability, and positioning must drive the design process. distance, speed, light, color, and contrast affect legibility

• signage is a mass communications medium that works 24/7 and can attract new customers, influence purchasing decisions, and increase sales

• exterior signage must consider both vehicular and pedestrian traffic

• every community, indestrial park, and shopping mall develops its own signage code; there are no universal codes

• signage codes affect material, illumination (electrical), and structural choices; zoning or land use issues affect placement and size of signage

• zoning constraints need to be understood prior to design development

• permit and variance applications should include the benefit to the land-use planning scheme

• signage requires a long-term commitment, and maintenance plans and contracts are critical to protecting the investment

• developing prototypes minimizes risk by testing design prior to fabrication

• signage should always complement the overall architecture and land use of a site

• signage standards manuals include various configurations, materials, supplier selections, and production, installation, and maintenance details

this information will be specified in your final schematic:

• brand identity system (logo)
• color, size, scale, format
• typography
• lighting
• materials and finishes
• fabrication techniques
• mounting and hardware
• placement

updated schedule

design brief template

i thought this might help some of you finalize your design brief for your organization. take all the research and other questions you've answered and apply them to the design brief below. i've provided example answers to get you started. format it and include this with your logo board on tuesday.

IMPORTANT

I still have not received everyone's blog link, please send me an email with the link if you have yet to do this. thanks!

Logo contest

Feb. 1-March 11

Abbadabba's Inc. logo/design contest 
Online

Abbadabba's Inc., a footwear company, is sponsoring a logo/design contest and is offering a $500 prize for a design selected by Abbadabba's and chosen as their corporate logo. The best logo/design submitted will receive a $100 prize. If Abbadabba's chooses to change their logo to the image submitted for corporate use, the designer will receive an additional $400. Learn more about the company online. All submissions and questions should be sent to logocontest@coolshoes.com.

I saw this posted on SCAD's web site. I think you all have the skills to give them a new logo identity. As you can see they NEED your help!

don't drool over eye candy

(from imjustcreative.com)

When you need a healthy shot of inspiration in the veins, don’t get caught up with the seemingly endless variety of logo and design inspiration galleries. So much focus is placed on these sites, that we seem to assume these are the only places to get current inspiration. This is far from the truth. These galleries offer a very limited perspective on design, usually just surface eye candy. Inspiration comes not just from pretty colours, but the reason why those ‘pretty colours’ were used.

It’s all about context. Logo design galleries don’t offer this essential ingredient, ‘in context‘. They are out of context, and this can be very misleading, especially for the less experienced amongst us. It is also can make a logo look like alost soul if it’s placed out of context. Some logos need to be seen in situ, in the environment for which it was designed. Not just a gallery, sitting idly on its own.

I should note here that the one exception to the above. LogoGala.com ‘Fresh Logo Inspiration’. Deron Sizemore has done a great job of allowing designers to add ‘context’ the the submitted logo designs. One should not underestimate the value of this feature in a logo inspiration site. It helps us understand the ‘whys’ of a particular design, rather than just seeing ‘pretty colours and shapes’.

In my most humble opinion, use these galleries wisely. Appreciate them for what they are, but don’t rely on them. If you really want the low down on why people design logos and brand identities, then the answer is this, read.

Here are a list of books with various doses of case studies:

Logo Design – Vol 1 – Publisher : Taschen


Logo Design – Vol 2 – Publisher : Taschen
Logo Lounge – Vol 3 – Publisher : RockPort
Designing Matters, Logos – Publisher : RockPort
Logo Savvy – Publisher : RockPort
Identity Crisis – Author : Jeff Fisher
Designing Brand Identity – Publisher : Wiley

Michael Bierut at Portfolio Center

Michael Bierut from Pentagram is giving a seminar at Portfolio Center. Plan on us all going to this event on February 18th instead of meeting for class that night. It's free and open to the public, so if you know anyone else who'd like to go, invite them.

Thursday, Feb. 18th, 6:30 pm

He has won hundreds of design awards and his work is represented in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, all in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C.; the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg, Germany; and the Musee des Arts Decoratifs, Montreal.

Example of work for Yale School of Architecture Posters in Creativity

(Michael Bierut)

(Michael Bierut and Marian Bantjes)

(Michael Bierut and Kerrie Powell) 

New branding for the Pew Center for Arts

Based in Philadelphia, the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage is a collective of seven grant-making initiatives dedicated to supporting local artists and heritage organizations. Originally, each initiative had its own logo, lacking any consistency with the others. Because of that, there was no indication that it was part of a greater entity. Another problem was the absence of an umbrella logo for the Pew Center. The challenge for London-based johnson banks was to solve a rather specific client brief.

Although they wanted at one level to present themselves as a unified “Pew Center,” they still wanted to show that they worked across dance, exhibitions, arts fellowships, theatre, management, heritage and music, all within the Philadelphia area.
— johnsonbanks case study

Glancing at the Pew Center’s web site — as its civilian audience will experience it, and not presented in a case study — you might think the logo to be the white square, and that the other words and colors were designed purely for the website’s navigation. Checking johnsonbanks’ project description proves otherwise. This megalith of a logo includes the organization’s full name, the seven initiatives, the word “Philadelphia”, and a mammoth palette of eight colors. Designed to adapt to different situations, the primary logo system has three forms, each with varying scale and detail. The largest holds a record-breaking 25 words.

Deeper in the system are treatments designed to push individual initiatives. Each maintains the typeface, 8-color standard, the word “Philadelphia”, and a tiny “The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.” It’s unclear whether these are meant to be the official logos for the initiative. If so, they certainly won’t work at small sizes. Other than that, the designs show just how recognizeable and flexible the “colored cards” concept can be.

A minimal sans-in-square logo isn’t particularly groundbreaking for an art institution. What makes these logos worth noting is the ironic use of that solution — where the bombardment of simplicity creates a clutter that’s hard to miss. Aesthetically, it isn’t the most beautiful, nor the most interesting thing. A family of icons representing the initiatives would’ve been simpler to manage than type. Accusations of bad design decisions about scalability and printability are certainly expected and valid. In the end, though, it’s those risky decisions that make the logo stand out. Most importantly, the design tends to the client’s need of a flexible system that reflects the relationship of an organization and its constituents.

(from: www.underconsideration.com)

Logo: Next steps

Today you should have several conceptual directions for your logo sketched out for me to look at. 


For our next class meeting on Tuesday 2/2, based on my feedback, I want to see you're 3 best logos, refined, and printed on a letter sized paper for an informal critique. 


From there, you'll take the best one and make any refinements you need based on feedback and produce a color version. 


On 2/9 you will mount the final logos on a board for a formal crit.

Kyle Cooper speaking at Plaza Theatre on feb. 3rd

The amazing film title designer and director will be lecturing at the Plaza Theater, Feb 3rd, 6-9pm

See more samples of his work here:

www.artofthetitle.com

Kyle Cooper has directed over 150 film title sequences, and has been credited with almost single-handedly revitalizing the main-title sequence as an art form. He is the founder of two internationally recognized design and production companies, Imaginary Forces and Prologue Films.

Cooper earned a M.F.A. in Graphic Design from the Yale School of Art, where he studied independently with Paul Rand. Cooper is a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale and holds the honorary title of Royal Designer for Industry from the Royal Society of Arts in London. 



Past work includes title design for Seven, Dawn of the Dead, Braveheart, Superman Returns, Mission: Impossible, The Painted Veil, Donnie Brasco, The Island of Dr. Moreau, Mimic, Wild Wild West, Titus, Zathura, Iron Man, and Spider-Man 1, 2, and 3.



Plaza Theater, 1049 Ponce De Leon Avenue, Atlanta 30306
Doors open 6:00 pm, presentation 6:30 pm



Member: $8 on-line, $10 door

Student Member: $5 on-line, $10 door


Non-member: $15 on-line, $22 door

Defining the "Brand"

Think of Brand as a Person... Define your Brand. This creates a foundation for all other components to build on. It will serve as your measuring stick in evaluating any and all marketing materials and strategies.

step 1: DEFINE.

1. What do you offer? Define the qualities of this.

2.What are the core values of what you offer? What are the core values of your company?

3.What is your mission?

4. Any Specializations within your company?

5. Target audience market?

6. Existing tagline or slogan? What message is it sending?

7. From the answers you've gathered so far, what is a personality/character that could represent you? (Celebrity, car, etc.)

What qualities about this character stand out? Is the personality innovative, creative, energetic, or sophisticated?

8. How does this personality interact with your target audience? Which qualities get the attention of your audience?

9. Review your answers, create a profile, describe the personality with words just as if you were writing a personal ad. be creative.