It’s an odd place to find beauty. Gutters are usually the conduits of unwanted odds and ends. They can become pretty nasty. But once in awhile a treasure is found there. In this case the treasure consists of colors and textures expressed through leaves, asphalt, concrete and mildew.

Coldplay’s web site created this year, bears a remarkable resemblance to a book cover design by Paul Rand a few decades ago. The comparison cannot be missed.

Compare the Coldplay web page screen capture:

Home page at www.coldplay.com

Cover Design by Paul Rand

Comparing is to focus on what is similar. Contrasting is to focus on what is not. There are obvious similarities but enough differences to understand in these two designs to see that the web design is perhaps more than inspired but not a derivative or copy of the book cover. It is “in the style of”. Maybe it’s even a tip of the hat.

The web page lacks the contrast of precise, explicit edges against accidental edges, and is more “dirty” in sensibility. The book cover is an example of modernism looking forward, the web page is an example of postmodernism looking backward.

“Sequoia, In Part” – a pencil sketch of my dog, found in a sketchbook.

I am currently in the concept stages of a logo development project. I always begin in my sketchbook, doodling forms and symbols, playing with shapes, sizes and letter forms until things start to connect. I go a long way with my pencil before I boot up my computer. Yesterday, as I was in this process, I kept remembering an icon I had drawn in a sketchbook several years ago. It wasn’t part of any particular project, it was simply a doodle.

So I took a break from my concepts and pulled out my stack of recent sketchbooks, paging through them one by one. These books go back about ten years, and as I looked at each page, I began to reminisce. Each drawing was, in a way, like a photograph: a memory sketched rather than caught. Some books included drawings by my daughter in her early years. Some of those were pictures we drew together. We used to play a game in which one of us would draw a line or a shape and the other would build on it with a line or shape, and we’d alternate back and forth until we either filled up the page or finished the drawing. 

As I looked and reminisced, I thought about where I was when I made each sketch – whether it was preliminary for a client project, or a record of a place, like Yosemite, a portrait of someone, quick sketches of my dogs. I recalled conversations, thoughts, locations, feelings… my general frame of mind and stage of life when each sketch was made.

I was struck by how different it is to take a photograph of something than to sketch it. Photographs are more separated and distant to me. They’re captured. WIth my camera I am more concerned with composing the shot, framing, bracketing and lighting and with the technical issues of focal length and f-stops. The approach is more analytical, and the image is captured in an instant.

Drawing and painting, in contrast, are built over time. They each are developed line by line or shape by shape. When I sketch or paint, I am concerned with composing, with form, light and shadow, angles, gesture, contour, color, texture…  but my mind can go wandering off and return again. In the time it takes to make a drawing, I get to know my subject. If a person, I can converse and observe. If an object, I memorize its contours and details. The slowness of the process allows me time to muse, contemplate and reflect. I literally can look at an old drawing and remember what I was pondering while I was making it. I don’t do that so much with photographs.

Needless to say, I revisited a large chunk of my life yesterday. I’m glad to say that most of my recollections were good ones: of a young girl now grown and gone, of people who are no longer on earth, of my dogs when they were pups, of places I haven’t been in awhile,  of design projects I’d forgotten about, of certain trees and forms that simple caught my eye.

I found the doodle I was seeking. It was in the fourth book in the pile, toward the back. And you know what? When I found it, I put that book aside and picked up the next one, and then the next, and kept going until I had finished looking through all of them.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y1rZqw5bXb4]
I first saw this clip by EepyBird in a post over on The Digital Sanctuary followed it to its source. I enjoyed it enough to want to share it here. 

And I wanted to add the thought that everything we consider ordinary, such as a pad of sticky notes, had a unique origin. Whether created on purpose or by accident, it was brand new once, and therefore uncommon.

Over time such things become part of culture and are considered mundane. That is, until someone takes hold of them, looks at them differently, makes new associations or puts them in a different context. That’s when the ordinary object becomes extraordinary once again.

There’s more to see from from EepyBird. Have fun!

There is a phrase:ex nihilo nihil fit. It roughly translates from the Latin as “from nothing, nothing comes”. Generally, this is a true statement; you can’t create something from nothing. Unless you happen to be a designer.      

We designers are in the business of creating something from nothing. A client has the need for something that does not yet exist. They have an idea of where they want to be (they want to introduce themselves to the world, they want to grow, they want to expand into a new market, they have a new product or service) but they aren’t there yet. It’s so far only an idea. I take hold of that idea, sit down with a blank sheet of paper and a drawing pencil and begin thinking in visible form. I call it thinking out loud. Doodles and quick sketches cover the page until things start to look like the something that does not exist. Except that it’s beginning to exist. The seed of an idea has been planted and it’s taking root on paper. It’s becoming tangible. I translate it onto my computer, bring it to maturity it and give it back to the client in completed form.

It’s kind of like faith in that faith is confidence in something that is not yet visible. I know it’s there. I believe in it. I do the work of fleshing it out until it is fully formed. I take ideas that cannot be seen and make the visible. It takes no faith to see what already exists. I need to look down the road in faith and envision what the client will be in due time and design to that end.

I get to imagine what is possible for my clients. I see them not as they are now but as they will be. I invest my time, thinking, imagination and creative effort in what does not yet exist. If I look only at where my client is positioned now, my work is futile. Since success is best measured over the long term, I need to anticipate a realistic future for them that is bigger than they are now. And they should expect to grow to fill the capacity of the design. Think of it this way: if the client is now a half cup of milk now but wants to be a half gallon of milk, the design has to accommodate the capacity of the half gallon, not the half cup.

Oliver Wendell Holmes once said, “A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions.” If he was correct, it can follow that an organization, a business and even a person, once stretched by design, will never return to their former state.

Over on Zale Tabakman’s blog, Success Through Balance, my response to one of his questions asked on LinkedIn is featured. The question and responses describe how an intangible element – faith – figures in to one’s success in business and life.  Read his post here.

Thank you, Zale!

My friend, Mary, was recently in a community theatre production of The Mikado. She was asked to write a bio for the printed program. This being her first role ever, she had little to say about herself that related. So in the 250-word blurb, she “humorized” on the concept of a bio, sidestepping the usual “this is what I’ve accomplished” in favor of “this is how I see things”. She ended up saying more about who she is than any of the other cast members did with their bios. Not only that, but Mary’s bio is the one we recall, giggle over and share because it’s just too funny not to. Mary made herself memorable. 

There’s a clue for the rest of us here. If you haven’t noticed, it’s become very difficult to stand out from the crowd. Being a creative has become “normalized” and there is a lot of competition for design jobs, clients and projects. How do you get noticed? By taking a different approach. Do things differently. Don’t just say you’re creative. Prove it up front.

Over on Seth Godin’s Blog, he addresses the issue of being remarkable and offers a few suggestions for extraordinariness (is that a word? It is now!).

I’m taking his advice. And I’m re-reading Mary’s bio for additional inspiration.

Thanks, Mary!  

An insightful article on Edward Hopper, whose work is currently on exhibit at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Through January 21, 2008, is found over at The Weekly Standard.

Being an illustrator at heart and by training, I have always had a happy response to Hopper’s work. I understand and am inspired by his concern with light and shadow, defining his forms through value contrasts and the principles of light logic. He was sort of a granddad of the “painters of light”. His work had clarity and his form always supported his storytelling. Even in his sketchbooks he clarified light, shadow and reflected light to distinguish form and create mood.

The cover story is worth checking out, and so is his work.

Having mentored so many students over the past 20 years (wow, has it been that long?), I’ve learned that their success as students and ultimately as designers depends as much on them as it does on me. Here are some tips gleaned from both observation and experience for making the grade:

The teacher is there because you are there. It may appear that you are there to jump at the teacher’s beck and call, but you should consider that training for when you will jump at your client’s beck and call. It’s you who paid the tuition and takes the time to show up and do the assignments. Remember, every teacher was once a student. It’s hard to put anything over on them.

Listen to what your fellow students are saying in class. Students talk a lot outside of the classroom. But what they say during class, the questions they ask, the reponses they give and what they say about their work and yours during crits can be invaluable to you. Don’t miss it.

Invest in a camera. Make it a good one – with f-stops. If you can, get a digital SLR, and a tripod. And then document, document, document. One thing I learned as a student at Art Center was to take lots of shots of my work. If you’re spending all that time, and all that money on tuition, supplies and materials, document the work that results with a good quality, high-megapixel camera. Sorry, camera phone are not worth it. You’re your photos backed up on CDs, and also print them out and glue them into your design journal (sketchbook). While you’re at it, document your design and fabrication processes, not just the results. If you work in 3-D, take pictures of a project from several different view points.

Keep a design journal. This would look like a sketchbook. Put your ideas, doodles, sketches and comments in it. Document your projects in it. Record notes and ideas. Do you concept work in it. It is a great substitute for the paper napkin, and everything you’re thinking and seeing is all contained in one easy-to-carry place. Draw. Draw. Draw some more.

The computer is a tool. Use a pencil instead and you’re still a designer. Having a computer, even if it’s a Macintosh, does not make you a designer.

Don’t work for the grade. The reason you have chosen to be in school is because you want to succeed as a designer of some sort. If your first question for any teacher is “What does it take to get an A in this class?” you’re missing the point entirely. That would be like asking aclient, “How much will you pay me?” before their job is even defined. Pay attention, do the work, put in the extra effort, and the grade will follow.

Plan your time. Build in margin for the unexpected. Studio classes require an amount of time spent outside the classroom in research, preparation and execution. Time is required. Identify your time-wasters and get rid of them.

Use inspiration. Then make sure it remains inspiration. In other words, don’t copy. It’s unethical.

Be creative but solve the problem. Design is not for the purpose of self-expression. If your goal is to express yourself, go be a fine artist or a tagger. Designers create for reasons not their own, mostly.

Get everything on the course aupply list and learn how to use it. You can’t substitute a Leatherman™ for an x-acto™. Use the right tool for the job. It’s safer that way.