What is this design agency you work at?

I get asked by clients and friends about my job – what is it that you do again? Its easy to say, “Graphic Designer,” and nearly impossible to tell you all the things we do at my small company. So for clients, friends, and yes, even my family, here is a look at all we do here at Runway 21 Studios.

When you work on contract part-time, and the staff is smaller than the average family, its quite impressive the stuff we’ll kick out. We have several people that help us work with us on everything media/creative related including video, web design, web coding,  programming, commercials, talent, makeup, specialized equipment, technical geniuses, print models, printers, movies, sitcoms, reality television, radio spots, voiceovers, photo shoots, green screen, public relations, event planning, and of course, graphic design and advertising in all shapes and forms. We are Brand Canyon Co. (branding, advertising), Apple Box Pictures (video production, editing, audio), and EMC Entertainment (event planning and promotion) under one roof at Runway 21 Studios. If you’re confused, check out this video:

They get paid to use facebook…

In my office right now, we have hired an intern. Her job currently entails adding friends on facebook and following people on twitter.

At my church right now, we have a fan page for our youth ministry. Our youth pastor made one student an administrator and in less than a day, the site had 15 more fans, completely updated events, pictures, and wall posts. She, however, is not getting paid. But how big her eyes were when I told her she could add it to her resume, priceless!

So what does this mean for our future? Businesses, both big and small, are discovering the need to have a specific person in charge of their social networking. Whether its a contest for a $5 gift card that adds 100,000 fans overnight, or a twitter account that updates with the current bagel selection in the break room – one person, or possibly a team, will be responsible for social networking. Imagine, being paid to be on facebook all day. Not playing Farmville or Zoo World, but making contacts to allow your business to grow, not to mention basically free advertising space. Possibilities are endless with companies like Sprinkles (cupcakes) using their facebook page as a daily draw for their fans – every day they post a new “secret word” that people can say for a free cupcake at their local Sprinkles store.

So what does this mean for graphic design? Its an ever BIGGER reason for us designers to get on-line and design for on-line. Who knows where that next print piece might end up? It could be a direct mail piece one day, and a profile picture the next! Also, designers need to familiarize themselves with the interworkings of social networking sites. How does a background for twitter work? How customizable is a facebook fan page? Know these things now, and your client base will blossom right before your eyes.

I’ll leave you with this  – Pepsi will not be running their ads for the superbowl this year. Instead, they are launching a huge web campaign… Time magazine writes,

“Pepsi has started a social media advertising campaign to promote its “Pepsi Refresh” initiative. Pepsi plans to give away $20 million in grant money to fund projects in six different categories: health, arts & culture, food & shelter, the planet, neighborhoods, and education. People can go to a Pepsi website, refresheverything.com — which can also be accessed through Facebook and Twitter — to both submit ideas and vote on others they fine appealing.”
So what do you think?

Apple Tablet

Tomorrow Apple is holding a press conference regarding their brand new release of the Apple Tablet.

Check out Geekology for some possible pictures of the tablet.

More than talent?

Sometimes the best designers hae the least amount of qualifications. Their resume may be filled with odd jobs, random employers, and educational flaws. But for some reason, it seems their talent covers the lack of degrees. Give them the proper tools and they can create anything. So then, why go through all the trouble of education, degrees, internships?

I think its up to character. I, myself, hold only a bachelor’s degree in design. And someday I hope to get my masters because I love learning new things and being challanged. I like the teacher/student relationship and the limitless possibilities of classes available at various schools both online and on campus around our nation. For some though, an associate’s degree is sufficient for them, for others, no degree as they feel pure talent will help them through. I think this might be true.

When I was finishing up my final design classes in my final year, it occurred to me how different everyone designed. We had all been through the same classes, had the same professors, books, software, time available, and projects assigned. Yet, we had all produced very different work. Some work was amazing, off the charts, A+, and some would barely make it on a first round of logos to a low-budget client. So maybe its both?

Talent is necessary. But talent without motivation and determination is just a hobby.

Education is nesscary. But education without talent is just another major and another degree.

So what do you think? Is it talent that makes a designer? Education? Or both?

Adding Depth to Your Logo

3D Vector Logos

Depth can mean a great deal in a logo. It can add just the right flair while still keeping your company recognizable by your clients. Updating an old “flat” logo is something that I love to do. Taking a flat object and making it look like you could reach out and grab it.

The logos to the left are just some symbols I created to show you the impressive impact that the 3D designs can make. They look classy, professional, and modern. Plus, they are in vector format, so they can be scaled to any size needed for your logo.

If your logo lacks that depth and added dimension, consider a re-design of your logo today and attract new clients and a younger generation.

Speaking the Design-ese

Its always hard when a client and designer first interact and use completely different terminology. The designer is stuck in this force-field-like textbook design terms that they’ve learned over the years, throwing things out like, “bleed, trim size, and process color vs. PMS,” to which a client ponders how a woman’s time-of-the-month correlates to their project.

That sucks.

So here is my solution, I stop using the terminology (whenever possible) and use words and ideas that my client will understand. If the client is a big corporate giant, I will use much different conversation and email grammar than with a start-up wedding consultant business. I try my best to adapt to the environment and the client, and save all the technical jargon for conversations with other designers, printers, and my bosses at the design agency I do contract work for.

So what does this mean for you, as a potential client?

• It means you can use your words (“Can we move that black thing over and under, but not on top?”) and your slang, (“I like a cursivy font, but not too formal, but not handwritten either, and soft, not too bold…”).
• You can focus on what you do best, run your business. And I’ll do my best to help you let the world know who you are, what you’re all about, and why they should pick your business over anyone else.
• Hours aren’t wasted away trying to figure out how to get that “designer of yours” to do what you want

Also, for those curious –

Bleed refers to the width of a piece (like a brochure) that is printed and then trimmed so that all graphics can “bleed” off the edge. Trim size is the size of the piece after the bleed has been cut off. Process color is what your desktop printer uses to produce any graphics, it is also what you use most of the time to print anything with pictures on it. Any printing company will be able to do process color, but each printing press is slightly different and colors will not be the same every single time. PMS color stands for the Pantone Matching System, which, for all the ladies out there, is like nail polish. Each PMS color has a specific number – so every piece you print with that color comes out exactly the same. This is impossible for different process color printers. That means you can print something one year, and then decide to print more across the globe another year later, and still end up with the same exact color. This is great for logos, or if you brochure or stationary has a large block of color that needs to stay consistent.

A Logo to Grow With

Often clients come to me confused and frustrated with either the beginning of a new company or trying to breathe life back into one that has been left to die. What usually happens is they are so focused on this end product and haven’t articulated the steps that will get them to that goal. Without having an action plan for your company, you miss the mark and end up making a logo based on what you want to be, and not what you are.

For example, one of the first logos I created for a client was for a non-profit organization to help kids in Africa. She was so focused on this end result of a happy and thriving orphanage that her logo would have been better for the actual orphanage logo. She missed the mark that the logo should have been very professional looking to attract potential high end investors and to create a feeling of strong foundation. Handwritten fonts and pastel colors were just not working for this logo. She was very happy with the logo and as a designer, thats what my goal is – for the client to walk away with a logo they love, not that I love.

Anyway, back to the point. Be careful of what you ask for in your logo and what details you use to describe your company. Sure its great to dream of the big office you want, or the home office, or all the traveling and financial freedom – but what is your business really focused on now? Are you a small real estate agency that is focusing on first time home buyers and sellers in a low-budget neighboorhood? Then your logo shouldn’t look anything like your dream to sell multi-million dollar estates on the countryside someday. Think realistically, I’ll think creatively, and together we’ll develop a logo that can grow with you.

Photoshop Actions

A screenshot of the Actions pallete.

If you know your way around photoshop, you have probably figured out by now that some things are tedious. For example, if you are making a layout and you need each image in your layout to be a certain size or a certain sephia tone, etc, you wish there was an easier way. Well, my friend, there is! Photoshop actions are great for all kinds of things. You can record your own actions, use the default actions, and even download ones online that others have been kind enough to share. Imagine with the click of a button you can saturate your outdoor photograph with the perfect amount of contrast and brightness. What about making a collage of Polaroid frames from your latest vacation? Or maybe you want to use some cool text effects but you are too tired to go through all the effects? Click here for some free and useful photoshop actions.

Vector/Raster

Picture From: Design Services University of Mary Washington

There’s a difference? Yes, there is.
What is a vector? A vector is a file made up of paths that are mathimatically computed and therefore can be expanded and scaled to any size.

What is a Raster? A raster is a bitmap image made up of many tiny pixels which is common with photographs. (Grab a random photo off of google images and zoom in as tight as possible. You’ll see that each pixel is a small square of a different color.) Raster images can not be expanded without loosing resolution(details and sharpness).

A vector logo can be expanded to any size without losing resolution. A raster image, or a flattened image, will loose its resolution if it is expanded to any level beyond its original creation size. It will become blurry and pixelated.

Why does this happen?
Its the way that the image is created. In Photoshop, for example, people love to create all kinds of different effects like chrome and sparkly gold and really intense grunge or fancy beveled pieces. The only problem with them is that they will not print any larger than how they were created. If you try to blow them up to a larger size, they loose the sharp looking detail they once held.

Why create vector and then change to raster?
This is why logos should always be created in Illustrator or a similar vector program. This way, a start-up company can use their simple logo on their business cards and letterhead, but someday when they get famous, they can take it into a raster image and add the fun effects at the size they need it for a specific piece, like a commerical spot, or a billboard ad. But, if the same company started out with a “bling” logo and then realized that they would need to get it embroidered on polo shirts for a big convention, they would have to start back at square one, and possibly be reformatting their logo.

Decision Making

Recently, I’ve encountered a few clients who have had a lot of trouble deciding which logo they like best. They claim that it is too hard to choose just one and move forward. I have talked to other designers and it turns out that this is a common issue. I believe the source of the problem is not knowing the “brand” of your company. It can also be related to not having a direct understanding of the goal you want your logo to help reach. One other issue is having too many logos to choose from.

I tell clients I will give them at least three unique choices in their first round. Sometimes, making a decision between three logos is hard. One may have the right color, another might have the right font. Maybe one has the right “emotion” or the right “balance.” Either way, the best way to make a decision is to decide what you don’t like. Then identify what elements in each logo you like the best. Is it the color, the graphic, the style…? Is it the way the “swirl connects to the end of the “S”? Is it the line that follows before the tagline? Start by identifying these little things, and before you know you’ll have created your ultimate logo.