Archive
The professional photoshop book
I came across this book last week thinking it was just another expensive photoshop tool book but I was very wrong. Excellent step by step tutorials to get the best out of this software for £15.00 it’s one of the most helpful magazine you will come across! Highly recommended to anyone and everyone!
Once looking into some articles more indepth I noticed that a number of step by steps were abit unclear to follow granted this book is a fantastic buy, you will need a large amount of knowledge to follow some techniques.
Tutorials for Designers
Nowadays with different software becoming more and more smarter it becomes harder to learn what programs can really do. You can buy books and dvds to show how to do certain things but i find it personally better if you have a step by step tutorials helping you along the way.
Web Design is not my strongest point i must admit and i have found tutorials from youtube and other videos along the way. Speaking to a few students a few weeks ago i have recommended this website which has thousands of different program tutorials which have helped me along the way the site is http://geekmanuals.com/
These step by step videos are very short and straight to the point going through all the things you need to know about. You can download the course which contains files clearly labeled and are easy to digest. If you are a busy student or professional wanting to learn more or brush up on your knowledge these are fantastic!
Let me no what you think of these and if you find them helpful thats great!
Kind Regards
Rustic Snail
Colour and Design
Colours in Graphic design is very important, it could make or break a design, be it a website, business cards, leaflets or the company logo colours are important, they give the viewer a feeling, emotion and most importantly it gives them a feel of what the company is like, friendly helpful etc you name it, they can be all displayed by colours!
Now i have been doing some research into this topic recently and have spent ages trying to find what helps bring colours and patterns together. going through colour charts at B&Q in the paint department, looking at pantones the lot. Speaking to a few designers on this subject has helped alot, they recommended a website to me which helps makes life easier when picking out a colour scheme.
As always Rustic Snail is here to help you guys with this subject.
Adobe has created this site which allows you to see which colours goes well with other colours, this site is http://kuler.adobe.com/
A Brilliant tool and should be bookmarked straight away along with this blog! Theres subject headings which has preset colours which work together and help you get the best out of your work.
I hope this helps you in your present and future designs!
Kind Regards
Rustic Snail
Clients!
There comes a point within design, when working with clients becomes aggravating to say the least, they give you a brief of lets say design me a fantastic leaflet for my new shop heres the information see you in a couple of days! So your working on the project giving it all the thoughts that you have learnt which has given you a title of ‘graphic designer’
It is now time to show your hard work to the client….. first thing they will say is, “I like it….but i had this thought in mind! if you change this and that and this and that how about if you….and so on!” and straight away you shout in your head “well why didnt you tell me what ideas you had in the first place!” My favourite is when they have a flyer for a different company and say “i want that! ” that would be copying somebody else’s design now wouldn’t it! I speak from experience with a number of design briefs iam currently working on! where the clients think i like that design what if we just slap our logo and branding on and then send it too print! (slapping my head at this point!) YOU CANNOT REALLY DO THAT CAN YOU! So you reluctantly do this for the client because you do get some jobs which aren’t your favourite types! but money is money at the end of the day
With this piece of work which is basically copied off another designers work you go back to the client, next about the client says “Well i love it, however i need you to send it to my business partner! (this is a new person that you never even heared about until now) and see what they think!” Alright then so rather than telling me the full details about the business, wanting me to copy someones design work already now you introduce a new person to me! EH?
The Payment:
Once finalised the design which should of only taken a short while ended up taking the time it would to build an entire website they now ask a question about the cost! “So how much is this going to cost, because..er…i..er…dont…have a big budget really…can you give me friend discount?” Jaw drops at this point!
Final result:
Its all experince at the end of the day! yeah rite! this type of job shouldnt of taken along time to do at all a nice simple leaflet design taken ages to complete simply because lack of communication! My top tips (apart from slapping the client around abit) is to sit down and fully chat about what the client/clients are wanting, they ideas there thoughts and how much they have set aside for the budget!
EVERYONE will get these types of clients believe me hopefully some less that others!
at the end of the day i designer is not a designer if they dont have any clients to design for!
What would you like to see?
Rustic Snail Design Blog is for you! If you are a student studying Graphic Design, Web Design Illustration, or your just a fan of graphic design we are here for you!
What do you expect from a design blog? is it tips, tricks or words of advice we would like to hear your views of what you would like to see on blogs.
So please get in touch by commenting below and we are all ears! Just to make you get the best out of your current or future briefs!
Dont be shy we dont bite!
Kind Regards
Rustic Snail
Graphic Designers for Inspiration
In all university briefs they will ask you to gather inspiration, most people will find well known designers such as Saul Bass and David Carson and just slap some of their work in and thats that, however tutors will give extra credit when they see that you have found some other designers that are more relevant to the brief and style that you are aiming at.
As always Rustic Snail is here to help you along the way! i have created a list of Designer which have different styles from the comman design styles for you to do abit of research and get those all important marks!
Alex Steinweiss
William Addison Dwiggins
Alvin Lustig
Paul Rand
Armin Hofmann
I hope you find these to be helpful, there will be more updates on designers very soon!
(Images shown from google image search)
What is Graphic Design?
What is Graphic Design?
This question has many answers, i typed in the question into google and it came up with a Wikipedia responce (just like most questions people ask wikipedia has an answer!) it gave me this as a responce;
‘Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers, programmers, signmakers, etc.) – undertaken in order to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience. The term “graphic design” can also refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines that focus on visual communication and presentation. The field as a whole is also often referred to as Visual Communication or Communication Design. Various methods are used to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
Which is a brief answer to what the subject is and it is correct!
When asking this question to a number of people they will give you answers saying a graphic designer or graphic artist is someone who designs and creates brand identities, posters adverts and what not, most of parents who have a son/daughter studying graphic design may well just say “oh, erm…. they play about with pictures and something to do with computers!” thats exactly what my parents say. However graphic design is much much more than playing with computers!
To me this subject is one of the most difficult professions out there, because it is such an opinionated subject, some people may think that a piece of design is the best thing since sliced bread and others may have a complete different perception on it.
It is attention to detail, seeing new possibilities that could open peoples eyes to a new product, business, object or event, a new way of selling something. I remember when given a brief to design a new christmas mail out for a company, they wanted something querky, different eye catching rather than the traditional ‘Merry Christmas from all of us at such and such!’ As all starts to a new design brief i research into christmas cards previously produced finding most of them to be jolly happy with images of families, santa clause and snowmen! which, dont get me wrong are a nice thing to see at the seasonal time, however the company wanted something different! So i went shopping to see if i could get some kind of inspiration for this brief, looking for hours upon end to get something that would be unique and quirky. Eventually i found a few small toys that gave me an idea that would fit the brief. The company was very pleased with the final outcome and boosted their costumer data base.
So thats an example of how graphic design isnt just using computer software to get the final product, its using your creative edge that others would not of noticed. Its thinking outside the box!
There are many many different areas of graphic design which all work together to give a fantastic final outcome, some people may be typographers and others may be logo designers, some areas are your weaknesses and others are strengths, my advice to you is try each area in your first and second years to see which area of design best fits in with your design style and then in final years of university concentrate in the area you are best at. When you are working on your portfolio you will need to include a wide variety of designs to show that you can manage different projects and briefs however make the portfolio work towards your favour by arranging your work starting with your strongest piece and ending with your strongest piece.
Graphic Design is more than just playing with pretty pictures, its thinking outside the box, its something that is inside of you! many people will support you with your designs but when people have a different view to you, take in their advice and try and see it from a different point of view. All advice is good advice!
Tin Advertising pieces
Heres a few pieces of which i have collected which i think could be inspirational for some advertising briefs that you could come across.
Coca Cola:
This Piece here is Advertising the Coca Cola brand drink using only typography with no image of the product itself.
Brasso:
A tricky product to promote i like the feel that this piece has, its bold its strong and eye catching, which is what you ideally want from an advertisement.
Old Gold Cigarette:
Obviously these days any form of cigarette advertising is not allowed by law these days, however back in the day companies sometimes used celebrities to sell there product and to promote a film that is out, here they have used Laurel and Hardy to promote their brand along side their new film ‘Babes in Toyland!’ The colours chosen here attract the on lookers eyes and the style at the time is not involving proper photography but detailed illustration which is unique to look at. There are a number of tabacco promotions which are fantastic to look at especially subliminal advertising which i shall post at a later date.
Vintage Design
Graphic Design is everywhere we go, see even touch. From a chocolate bar to a massive billboard on the side of a building, they all have at least abit of design work behind them. However designs these days are all fancy and jazzy incorporating new technology, computer designed which taking over the industry. But i think that the best Graphic Design is still held in vintage advertising techniques and styles, which is starting to become more and more popular especially within the fashion industry with brands appearing such as ‘All Saints’ ‘Top Shop’ etc. So how come designs from that era are not making a come back again?
Brands such as ‘Fairy’ ‘Sugar Puffs’ had some fantastic designs to sell their brand in the past, with far more eye catching designs than some we see these days. If i saw some designs that were used say in the 1970s on the shelf in a supermarket that would jump out at me and make me purchase that product than others, i believe that these designs deserve so space on the shelves again.
I myself am a huge fan of vintage advertising which i do base some of my work on, given the correct brief of course! No offence to any new age designers out there who are fantastic on programs such as Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign etc but how about taking a step back from the Computer and getting a sketch pad out and drawing what you want the peice of work to be and then move onto the programs to interpret what you want. Design is about creativity and ideas to move a product from A to B. A clean design does’nt always mean a brilliant design.
When i studied design there was a screen press facility, type room etc which i had in my head that i would never use these tools to create a fantastic piece of work. I came up with concepts for assignments which i thought would be brilliant and did not involve any of the above processes, but now looking back i wished i had taken the time to use these tools for free whilse they are still available, rather than now in the real world they are expensive just to book a couple of hours. So a piece of advice experiment with old tools and equipment to appreciate them for future reference.
Screen Printing is brilliant for a vintage style especially in t-shirt design which i am currently working on. different textures result in interesting results and in some cases are unique and cannot be recreated with ease. Same with Letter Press work shops, working with large wooden fonts can give great results to type briefs, because of a slight wear and tear to a letter can result in interesting final products, which is completely different when working on a computer. everything is clean neat and tidy, far too computer generated for my liking. That is my only regret from university, not using these tools which some places do not even have the opportunity to use. They are there for a reason, to help you along the way!
When looking at a new brief, take a step back and fully research into past and present designs and see what different styles will best work to produce the final product, (obviously not if the brief requires an animation or any film media) and see what has been produced previously before you get down to business. If the ideas inspire you then do incorporate the style and feel to them however do not just copy them straight out of the book and slap your own type on it, because that is not really your own design in the end and you could end up failing due to stealing an idea of the book or net. and is not what you want.
Follow the steps and rules of design that are out there and you will not go wrong!
Bring back Vintage Design into the world before everything becomes computer generated!
A Smile In the Mind
Title: A Smile in the Mind
Author: Edward de Bono
Price: £15.27
A Smile in the Mind -Witty Thinking in Graphic Design.
The Book, in my opinion is abit confusing and slightly everywhere in the contents, some of the examples are fitting to the title of this book however most of its contents are slightly shoved in to fill some space i feel, not being harsh to the author or the designers which have been printed in, after all design is one of the most personal opinion jobs.
This book has been given 4 out of 5 stars on recommendation sites however i do not feel that it is that fantastic.
I think the best styles of design makes people smile and even laugh in order to sell a product of to even make people remember that campaign, something such as a catchy jingle or associated with a character i.e McDonalds had Ronald McDonalds for children which obviously worked a treat for them. However this book is not as great as the recommendation on some sites for Graphic Designers wanting to create a witty advertising campaign.
Unfortunately i would give this book a review of 3/5 with some good material, but dont let me put you off if you would like to purchase this book as this is just my own personal opinion.
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