Pros and cons of participating in design contests

The very few times when i think about the meaning and purpose of contests in general, i picture them as one-off events where you give your all  for a chance to achieve something you truly desire. They help mobilize your strength and creativity to defeat all other competitors. It’s more or less a battle, which in a perfect world would be entertained with fair-play, but in reality it’s either as cut throat as you can imagine or just plain rigged.

Now, have you ever wondered how it would be like to apply this very simple concept to mundane tasks or jobs? For example what about holding a contest to select the best defense for your case in court or one  to get the best diagnosis from a bunch of doctors. Why not go further and pay only if you’re satisfied with the end result. Wouldn’t that be a dream world? Thanks to the Internet, you can now do just about that if you’re in need for a design or copywriting project. That’s what you get when you mix the age old custom of pitching an advertising or marketing project and combine it with the modern eastern philosophy that any price is good as long as it’s above zero.  From a designer’s point of view is the worst of both worlds: you risk to work for free and if you do get paid its below what you’d normally get from a regular client.

Much like any other professional working in the services industry, a designer’s job is to provide you with a (creative) solution tailored for your own specific needs, based on years of experience and learning. Even though apparently there are no tangible resources used in the process, this doesn’t mean it should be free. Similar to a lawyer or a doctor, you’re paying for the time spent conducting due diligence on your projects’ behalf. Unlike them, you also have to deal with technology related costs which add up and can turn pretty steep at times. On the other hand, even institutionalized advertising is still much younger in comparison with the other two professions previously mentioned. It’s no wonder why most potential clients have little or no understanding of how it can improve their overall sales. Plus, graphic designers are often associated with hippie, irresponsible, wing it characters based on decades old stereotypes.

The benefits of participating in design contests

• Probably by far the best thing you’ll get out of participating  in design contests is having the chance to gain experience and build an extensive portfolio in a relatively short amount of time. If you’re serious about being a designer, you cannot live on contests alone, but attracting clients can be hard when you’re just starting up. Just like stock  photography sites, while they do provide a decent income once you go beyond a certain level, the whole experience is not as rewarding as the real deal. Plus, there’s always the feeling of amateurism and playing in the Little League. That’s why you should use it more as a means to an end rather than the end itself.
• Get lots of inspiration and be motivated to step up your game and learn new tricks. Seeing how others approach the same design brief will literally help you step out of the box and acknowledge that there’s always more solutions to the same problem.
• Make (sometimes) a significant amount of extra cash. It’s true that you can make the same amount of money in half or even less time, but luck plays a huge role in all of this. You can draw the winning logo design in half an hour and make 500 bucks. Or you can struggle for a week.
• Gain some regular clients based on previous wins. In time, it can even lead to more work through word of mouth. While its true that the “more work ahead” line is overused as a dubious motivating technique, it does ring true every now and then.
• Have to deal with an incredibly varied array of human personalities, which is a good way of becoming a great communicator. That’s probably why it’s one of the most challenging things about the whole experience. While it does take plenty of time explaining everything, it also pays off. Those who matter, will understand you’re looking in the best interest of their brand and will be more open to discussing various options, thus improving your chances to win. Plus, you’ll learn how different people react in different situations. For example, i’ve learned that usually SEO and IT professionals are greatly challenged when it comes to visuals and more prone to picking up a winner based on stereotypes or the coolness  factor. They have a hard time understanding branding and often confuse their own preferences with those of their target (Web 2.0 style, stripes, glossy look and things which were a fad almost half a decade ago).

The downsides of design contests

• The biggest drawback of doing design contests it’s the risk and uncertainty of ever getting paid for the time spent. There are basically two cases here: your submission might not be the winner or the client might abandon the contest altogether. It’s also not as uncommon for a client to simply use the designers’ work as a free source of inspiration and then replicate it by their in-house team.
• The risk of joining a rigged contest (a slim chance but a chance nonetheless a practice with an unfortunately high occurrence rate). You should look for several signs such as: some last minute entries that sum up a lot of elements from other designs by a ghost or first time designer, the copycat receives better overall ratings than the original designs, the winning design is indisputably lower in quality than most of the other submissions etc. This is usually done either by a cheap contest holder willing to rip off the work of designers/get a free ride or by an insider close to them.
• Having to deal with the insecurities and hidden agendas of clients. More often than not, the contest holder will have their mind set on a specific submission (even early on in the game) and work with the designer to improve on it. However, it will continue asking for designs from others just to validate his decision. While that’s clearly unethical, you’ll learn to spot it after a while.
• Being beaten by a competitor who has copied parts of your submissions is clearly annoying. What’s even more so, it’s when the client is endorsing such behavior. It’s not Shareville, so borrowing design elements between contestants should be a clear no-no.  Yet, some will request a specific designer to include either the layout or the icons from another submission which is a soft case of copyright infringement.
• Often poor, incomplete and ever changing specifications in the brief as well as sparse or no feedback from the client. While it’s always frustrating not having enough information in the first place, it’s even more so when rules change during the game. Don’t be surprised if you see stationery requests added to a logo design project just a few days after the start. Also, unlike during a contract, it’s up to the client to decide if they’ll increase the prize along with the requirements.
• You have absolutely no control over the outcome of the contest and it’s often down to luck, no matter how many five star submissions you might have or the amount of positive feedback received.
• Because communication is done entirely through emails and small messages, the final choice is largely based on emotions (or family/friends’ advice). Unlike when dealing with a client face to face or over the phone, you  have less chances to explain why your design choices work best for their product. I often got responses like “my friends thought it looked cool” or “i asked a friend and said why not try this color”.
• Not dealing with the client directly robs you of all the non verbal cues that might signal either a tasteless goon or a stubborn/control freak you’d be better off without.
• The websites holding the contests are money making machines. That’s why when it comes to picking sides and arbitrating disputes, they’ll often go with the client since that’s where the paycheck comes from.
• Supporting design contest websites will lower overall prices in the design industry so even those in for a quick buck will have to deal with it later on in their careers.

Normally, i don’t have an issue with those small business owners who struggle when having to spend a lot of money on design services. I even find it refreshing helping them, since they are often nice people, willing to listen and learn more. They deal with you directly without employing a stuck up, pretentious “professional” to manage the contests with lines straight from the textbooks.  Yet, it does get pretty old, when just a few submissions into the contest, some client turns from this humble, nice person into a control freak, setting loose a revision and visual experimenting extravaganza.

Still, there’s another thing which I’m struggling to understand and i can only justify it through chronic greed. It’s when big corporations or privately owned businesses selling  luxury products are willing to award obscenely low prizes. How would you comment on someone requesting a logo or packaging for a soon to be released premium product targeted at a rich demographic, but who’s reluctant to offer more than a couple hundred bucks for it? How’s that supposed to attract talented and serious designers instead of young hobbyists or shady individuals willing to copy existing brand identities for a quick win. Also, if they cheapen on the marketing front, how will i know they don’t do the same while building their products?

I hope this will help put things in perspective and maybe save you of some unpleasant experiences while participating in design contests. If, on the other hand you’re thinking of holding one in the future, you might want to check this blog from time to time. Later on, I’ll be posting some tips for managing a contest so that you get the most out of the designers’ potential.

Ornate fleur de lis symbols – free vector graphics download

Set consisting of twelve fleur de lis symbols in one-color designs. Six of them are simple monocromatic shapes while the remaining ones have different hollow ornaments on the inside as well. They all feature various types of curls, fleurons and the spade like shape in the middle. Inspiration came from various history and architecture books, which pictured details from medieval castle facades or from extended ornaments built around a certain coat of arms. You can use them straight up after download, tweak them around a bit to suit the exact needs of your project or break them down and employ the resulting shapes for your specific design scenario. If you’re interested in downloading the background texture as well, just visit my Flickr photostream (see the menu on the right) and you’ll find it there along with others.

As always check the EXIF for licensing. You’re allowed to use it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. Attribution is not required, but it’s greatly appreciated where possible.

To download the archive click here.

Set of tire tracks brushes – free vector graphics download

Set of 8 truck and ATV tire tracks brushes of different sizes and geometric shapes, each colored in a different earth tone hue. The patterns range from simple alternating ones with two or three threads to more complex variations with several irregular shapes on each side. Some of the caterpillar tracks have larger gaps between them. Each of the track is saved as a swatch, with proper clipping, so you can simply apply it to the strokes.

I came up with this set of vector graphic images after working on a website for an off-road vehicle dealer. Because the animated Flash header already featured some ATVs racing on a dirt track, it wouldn’t have made sense using the same idea as the background of the site. That’s why i went for a simple dirty green gradient with all sorts of fading tire tracks overlaid on top. This gave it a nice touch without cluttering the page or distracting the viewers. While i could have easily went and bought any of the previously available stock vector graphics, i thought it would be more fun and creative to try and create my own.

As always check the EXIF for licensing. You’re allowed to use it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. Attribution is not required, but it’s greatly appreciated where  possible.

To download the archive click here.

The Fashion Photography Course – valuable guide to a succesful shoot

Several years ago, I was just starting to seriously learn about the requirements and technical aspects of professional photography. Back then, I would browse glossy magazines, looking at portraits and saying to myself “how hard can it be?’. My naivety at the time, fueled by a serious lack of experience and in depth knowledge, was making me believe the age old misconception that a good photographer is all that’s needed to take good pictures. In other words, you either got it or you don’t. While it’s perfectly true that a real artist will have its way even when the odds are against him, I know now that this line of work is as much about talent as it is about knowledge, creativity, effort and the list could very well go on.

The “you and your camera” myth might apply to spontaneous photography as is the case of amateur landscape, tourist or street kinds. Yet, once you venture into portraiture ranging from fashion to artistic studio shooting or consider getting into commercial work used in advertising, regardless if your subjects are people, animals or products, the rules of the game change dramatically. That’s when you transform from a simple button pusher into a thinking machine.  Once you turn pro or have a desire to achieve pro results, you have to consider a plethora of things, which can make or break your photo shoot: location, both natural and artificial lighting, wardrobe and make-up, selecting the right equipment, keeping an eye open for minor details. Still, what will really make a difference in the quality of your shoots has to do both with technical and artistic knowledge as well as experience gained through extensive practice.

About a year ago, in between photo trips and reading reference materials, i got a wonderful book called “The Fashion Photography Course” as a birthday present. It came as a bit of a surprise, since i wasn’t really that much into taking portraits. My main interests lie with landscape and street photography as it gives me a chance to capture the environment as natural as it is. On top of that, I’ve some of the most critical views when it comes to fashion. Among other things, I find it extremely shallow, mostly of questionable taste and incredibly overpriced for the value it offers back to the customers. Yet, since it’s a business based almost entirely on quality imagery, the bar is set so high that you can proudly consider yourself an accomplished photographer once you master this type of work. That’s why a good book on fashion photography breaks the boundaries of the genre and will help you understand plenty of things from lighting, composition, management up to postprocessing and general workflow.

“The Fashion Photography Course“, written by Eliot Siegel and published by Thames and Hudson in 2008, follows the same pattern. At a little under 150 pages, you could think it’s just another good looking item in your library without a great deal of information to support the visual examples featured inside. Yet, when it comes to reference materials, size is not always a proof of quality and not even quantity for that matter (take overused white space for example). This book manages to offer a lot of concise, practical information packaged in a nice, easy to read layout where neither words nor space are wasted.

Upon browsing it, you will find a total of 9 sections: Inspiration, Tools of the Trade, The Studio, Working with Natural Light, Working with Manufactured Light, Creating Great Pictures, The Team, The Portfolio and Going Professional. Each one will get you up to speed with their respective topic, offering more than enough information to get you going in such a manner that allows to apply it right away in real life. Without being the definitive resource in fashion photography, it provides an amount of knowledge that can help you get a sense of place, if you want to (and you will) explore certain aspects even further. As an example, you can easily find illustrations of lighting setups online, but you wouldn’t really search for them if you never knew why you should.

Inspiration will pretty much walk you through the various options you have in defining your own photographic style: the various sources of inspiration, types of photography you could get involved in, various aspects of magazine and advertising photography along with the implications of specializing in one particular type of fashion. Even at this early on, you’ll get to see tiny icons next to the photos to explain different settings.

Tools of the trade is the type of chapter that’s pretty risky to include in a photography book, mainly because the photos as well as the information is subject to rapid changes and can easily appear as deprecated or obsolete. Still, they manage to get a neutral presentation by mentioning those general things which have remained current and relevant over the decades. Basically, you will read about the differences between small, medium and large format, various type of lenses available, tools used for metering, tripods, digital enhancements and more.

As far as actual photo taking is concerned, the two chapters about working with natural and manufactured light are probably the most useful of the whole book, especially for those who are just starting up. To be honest, it’s been years until I became aware of how to take advantage of the existing lighting conditions in a conscious manner. It took me even longer to realize just how much more i could achieve with proper, well placed lighting than the pathetic pop-up flash. First, you’ll get to know how to deal with direct sunlight, backlight, diffusion, shade or indoor ambience. Next, there’s one of my favorite parts of the book where you get an idea of using strobe lighting both indoors and outdoors without also forgetting about continuous lighting as well.

Creating great pictures deals with more subjective and artistic issues such as composition, content, attitude, movement, framing and managing a shot. As mentioned earlier, these are all topics which deserve more in depth attention and in fact are each covered extensively in other books. What’s great about this chapter is that it makes you think about all these issues prior to taking your shot. Besides that, it offers some valuable tips for those lacking previous artistic training, pointers which by themselves can substantially improve the quality of your work.

I’m still a bit unsure why the chapters dealing with the studio, the team and going professional are not back to back, since they are normally quite connected in real life. While you won’t have to consider these three elements until further up on the road, you might also be interested in working as an assistant, which makes them a nice introduction for such a job. Also, it helps by giving you a general idea about certain management issues to consider if you ever plan on running your own photographic studio or even choosing this as a career in the first place.

Another chapter which i found to be very useful, mainly because it’s something most hobbyists tend to overlook, is that about the portfolio. It includes information about the stages of the editing process and teaches you how to view it as a storytelling device. By picking photos which are more or less related in some way and which allow for a certain flow, will elevate your portfolio from just a collection of good looking shots to a timeline or themed showcase. It will be very much alive as it allows the viewer to have a connection with the materials.

In the end, despite being somewhat targeted to an entry and intermediate level, i found “The Fashion Photography Course” to be a valuable resource as well as an enjoyable read. Besides the things mentioned earlier, i also found the various exercises spread around the book to be very useful in stirring up my creativity and making me aware of all the little things that would normally add up and affect the end result. While it might not have the breathtaking samples you’ll see in a photo album type of book, it has a broad range of quality images suitable for illustrating the ideas presented within. This isn’t the coffee table book you flip through while relaxing. It’s a well put material meant to offer a comprehensive overview of the challenges and experiences you’ll encounter while getting involved in fashion, advertising or any other type of portrait photography. Hope you’ll enjoy it just as much as i did!

The clueless mistress and her older boyfriend

Despite what some might think upon reading the title of this post, it’s not about a troubled  love story gone wrong.  It’s actually about a type of people you should  stay away from, if they ever approach you for any design work. Their  inability to understand the requirements of a professional project or to emphasize with the needs of a designer makes them an unnecessary stress generator and a very unlikely source of profit.

These two were one of  my first clients and to date one of the most annoying people I’ve met. Needless to say,  at that time i was lacking  any experience whatsoever in dealing with problematic people, while also craving for any contract i could get my hands on to start building my portfolio. It turned out that both of these things would come back to bite me,  as  i was struggling to bring the project to fruition.  It was late in the summer when i first met them. The guy was a middle aged foreigner in search of greener pastures. Along with two older associates of his, came to my hometown to expand his existing business. In circumstances which escaped me nor interest me for that matter, he met this rather classless (to avoid the term skanky) young woman who would become his mistress. If i were to take a wild guess i would definitely go with the bar/club hypothesis as the stage of their first meeting.

She was the kind of person who would wear bright, poorly done make-up, shamelessly smoke one cigarette after the other without refraining from blowing smoke in your face while ostentatiously chewing gum. He would often have a pretty poorly maintained look, with the more than occasional unshaven beard and sweaty T-shirt complete with the same smoking habits. Just writing this down makes me wonder what in the world was i thinking going forward along such clients. However, i take it as a valuable lesson about things you should avoid in a business context.

Essentially, we were supposed to build them an online catalog for the several ranges of products they were distributing. Besides the occasional sweaty/smoky setup of our meetings or the half an hour to two hours wait, things went rather smoothly the first few times we’ve met before actually starting to work on the website. We weren’t even concerned about the somewhat low profit we were going to make from it, because we felt the project had potential and it would help us in the long run. However, things started to go sour just a week or two after that. Upon presenting them with the graphic templates, they started requesting all sorts of changes, some of which were not making any sense and I’m sure eventually worked against them. On top of that, they would keep requesting us to try and execute their suggestions just to have an idea  about how those looked like. After all, if your line of work is even touching on marketing services, then you should first take care that you can market yourself the best possible way. Otherwise, clients might think you’re just a smooth talker lacking substance or the ability to follow through.

As a designer you should avoid that at all costs. It is a complete lack of respect to your work and a clear proof that your client has no idea what they’re talking about or what they want. If ever in such a situation, then you’re at the mercy of random luck or some good old NLP. Because you’re working with virtual raw materials, people usually believe that rebuilding a concept or making unlimited revisions should be free. In other words, your time is worth in their minds less than that of a house painter or a carpenter. That’s not really motivating anyone to do more than they’re normally required.

A similar situation is when your clients insists on having more than one template to choose from. While that’s a somewhat decent request, it should also act as a signal that they’re clueless about what they believe to be representative for their product. It might also mean they’re unwilling to spend even the least amount of time to think about it or take the responsibility if their ideas turn out to look below standards. In other words, it’s so much easier to blame it on the designer as being lazy or not getting in touch with their muse.

While aesthetic elements are always subjective, you can’t say the same thing about programmed features. Just a week short from our planned deadline, we received a call that they wanted several changes to the website. If that had happened days after starting the project, this would have been fine, but having spent a lot of time implementing features (designing the database, building the admin, developing the interface etc) it came as a nasty surprise. Suddenly, we would have to rewrite consistent parts of the website. In such cases, again, we have to deal with different perceptions on the amount of work involved. More often than not, i hear people using the words “few quick changes” for what turns out to be a week’s worth of programming. It’s about the same as when they count the catalog section on a business website as just one page (heard it so many times).

Initially, we had made an unwritten promise to upload their products into the database, provided the number was reasonable. We felt it was a good way to test the website while using actual content. However, words have different meanings to different people. That’s how they ended up suggesting we could manage transferring several hundred items.  Needless to say, we grew tired of doing community service at around the 100th mark.

To finish on a high note, after all the extra work we had done for them, when it was time to get paid, they bargained till the last minute. I would normally understand that from a business savvy, calculated individual. However, these were the kind of people who would drop 100 dollars at a coffee shop or rent an office in a high priced residential part of the town. There’s no other way to read this than a complete lack of professionalism and respect. If i were to face the same scenario again i would probably say “pass” from the get go. A clearer brief than the one i had in place, a bigger check  and a firmer approach in dealing with their requests would help a lot. Also, i wouldn’t stray away from trying to explain the aspects they were unfamiliar with. While it doesn’t always work, there are  a lot of people capable and willing to know or learn more.

Yet, the point of all this is not to complain about this particular experience. After all it happened years ago and now i actually get a laugh just thinking about it. What’s important is to treat yourself with the amount of respect you expect from others. This means anything from following your gut instinct to having the patience and confidence to take on the projects which feel right for you. Above all else, you should treasure your time the most because it’s your best resource.

Black and white stripes on classic clapperboard

The idea for this vector graphic came while browsing a visual foreign language dictionary, when i reached the entertainment section. Among items such as scene props, the director’s chair, microphones and others was a tiny thumbnail of a classic clapperboard. It felt interesting to see if i can make something similar out of just a few simple paths. Yet, before i started working on it, i did a brief image search on Google and Wikipedia if i remember exactly to find what other variations were there.

After about half an hour or so, I had a rough idea about what i wanted to look like, combining features and design elements from the different models i could find online. So i started building up the different path and went for a simple font. Given the nature of the design, it was better to keep it as simple as possible, without too many graphic effects so that it would be able to scale correctly both up and down.

It has three labels for the production title, director and director of photography which feature the texts “Big action movie”, “Wise guy” and “Art kid” respectively, written next to them. The lower side shows the roll, slate, shot and take number along with a handwritten white date.

As far as licensing goes, you’ll find a thorough description in the EXIF. You’re allowed to use it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. If unsure about things being covered in the license, just send me an email and I’ll be happy to answer you. Attribution is not required, but it’s a great motivator to continue publishing this type of free files.

To download the archive click here.

Ogilvy on Advertising – the book that changed my life

Back in high school, there was this craze about advertising among teenagers. The whole media was coming of age, and the agencies were booming. As a result, at that time there was a huge leap in terms of quality as well as quantity in the ad world. Unfortunately, what i was about to find out a couple of years later, when i started going to the university, was that most of those “passionate” about it, were in fact craving for the money and the lifestyle they perceived as the natural spoils of war from the brand battlefield. Even those mentioning creativity from time to time, were still more interested in the awards, fame and bragging rights than the actual job they would eventually be hired to do. It’s almost ten years since then and the things have only gotten worse. For example, I went from admiring a funny, flamboyant, yet smart creative director to working with a cretin, man-child web planner who had issues understanding basic Internet terminology, both of them part of the same agency. But i guess I’ll have to cover that in another post.

Today it’s all about a wonderful book, that literary changed my life: Ogilvy on Advertising. Funny enough, this was my first marketing related book, which i got as a birthday present from a very good friend of mine.  If i remember correctly, is was also one of the very few, if not the only serious advertising books you could get your hands on in my country at the time. It was just before the whole avalanche of quick money publishing tumbled over the bookstores: marketing, branding, self help etc.  Yet, a decade after reading it for the first time and more than a quarter century after being published for the first time, I feel it’s just as relevant today as it was back then. It succeeds because it follows a very simple principle: as an advertiser your job is to sell not to put on a show.

To bring it justice, as I’m writing this, I’m also browsing its pages, just to consciously remember some of the things that influenced my perception of the whole marketing process. As far as generalities go, this is a medium sized book, with a little over 200 pages. The copy i got, which i suspect it’s quite a common version, has a clean layout with beautiful typography and plenty of white space. You’ll find an extensive amount of visual examples, each ready to prove the points stated in the text. In just the same way, you could also see it as a short history of clever and effective advertising from the second half of the 20th century. It is written in an informal tone, with enough real life stories to keep you going and clear explanations of why some things work, while others don’t. Along its twenty chapters you’ll get to read David Ogilvy’s take on things ranging from getting a job in the field, running an agency to praising research and questioning America’s top spot. While there are a couple of chapters that seem a bit out of place, they are still equally entertaining and informative.

Unlike more recent material, which suffers from delusions of grandeur or promises to give you easy recipes for success which only work on paper, this is the real deal. But in order for it to work you have to approach it with an open mind. After all, you might be taken aback just by reading the first few paragraphs, if you’re a fan of Hollywood styled ads. It works by giving you a series of general principles and workflow advice that as much as it is common sense, it’s also just as commonly ignored or discarded as antiquated nonsense.

The first few chapters will put you up to speed on how to produce advertising that sells, what are/were the jobs you could go for, some information on how to run an agency and the means in which you can get clients along with some useful tips for the client in search of an advertiser. These are all great at clearing the bullshit and the legend surrounding this line of work. Yet, criticizing creativity for its own sake is most obvious when speaking about print ads. If you are to take a look at current samples of this kind, you could easily find a generous amount of design extravaganza suffocating the product or its selling points, as designers are too busy building impressive artwork portfolios. For example, one priceless snippet compares the general layout of news stories with that of ads from the same publications, clearly pointing out the latter’s most common readability mishaps.

While you won’t have to deal with TV commercials, foreign travel, charity events or even take Procter & Gamble head to head, there’s still a lot to learn from these chapters as well. As with the rest of the book, it helps you adopt a clean and correct mindframe. This allows you to focus on selling by learning to ignore the false goals and destructive behavior.

Because a history lesson never hurt nobody, towards the end, it talks about what the author regards as “six giants who invented modern advertising”: Lasker, Resor, Rubicam, Burnett, Hopkins and Bernbach. It would be foolish to think that their experiences are directly applicable today, as even David Ogilvy doubts it at times. Yet, they act more as a source of inspiration for the newcomer who can employ the new media possibilities in much the same way as those forerunners did with a young market in the first half of  the 20th century. The book ends with a list of 13 predictions concerning changes in the advertising industry. A quick glance over them reveals that most have in some way or another came true.

All in all, if you’re serious about working in advertising or any other form of commercial communications, then you should definitely read this. While it might be slightly demoralizing for those who fancy themselves as artists rather than salesmen, it has the great merit of bringing them with their feet back on the ground. In fact, I’m sure that if just a part of those young blood “creatives” of today read this, then this field will enter a brand new age. Instead of the visual freak show or the subliminal programming, we could focus on clear selling points and useful creativity. If anything, you should give it a try just for the pure entertaining value. After all, the man was among other things a professional copywriter.

35mm colored photo film cartridges free vector download

About a year ago, while in the process of uploading fresh content on my soon to be closed artsilo.com website, I thought about adding free vector graphics downloads. They were harder to find than stock photos and offered a fun and relaxing way to improve my skills and challenge my creativity. Based on the feedback I’ve received ever since, I’ll be transferring most, if not all of the files, to this blog. Also, I’ll be revisiting some of the designs and make sure to fix or improve those elements which no longer seem right. On top of that, if i manage to find ways to simplify the design process, that’s even better.

Today’s download consist of a set of four 35mm colored photo film cartridges  each inscribed with one of the basic ISO settings, commonly found on the market.  They’re brand agnostic, or as some might call them no-name, so you can easily put your own logo if that suits your project. Although there were other effects that could have improved its photo realism, i tried to keep things as simple as possible to maintain compatibility with open source software.

Because it’s in a vector format you can easily adapt it to your own needs. For example you might want the film strip to extend a little further or to overlay some existing design. As you probably know, you’ll be able to do that in a couple of minutes by adjusting a clipping path or changing the opacity of a certain object. As far as the whole design process went, there isn’t anything particularly special about it. All i did was to observe and break it down into visual bits which i then replicated as vectors. As a result, if you’re wondering how’s been done, all you have to do is get the files and start to examine them.

As far as licensing goes, you’ll find a thorough description in the EXIF and i’ll soon add it as a standalone page on this blog. Basically, you’re allowed to use it in both personal and commercial projects. While, you shouldn’t redistribute it or link directly to the file, you can link to this post instead. If unsure about things being covered in the license, just send me an email and I’ll be happy to answer you. Attribution is not required, but it’s a great motivator to continue publishing this type of free files.

To download the archive click here.

Just as always, if you have an idea which you’d like to see transformed into a vector drawing then tell me about it and I might do it in the future.

Lessons learned from working with my clients

As a designer working either on web or in print, dealing with clients can be truly frustrating at times. Without enough experience under your belt you won’t be able to spot those hopelessly troubled individuals you’re better off without, maintain the lines of communication open with the ones that don’t share your views or keep close those you’ve enjoyed working with. Just as everything in life, this type of jobs come and go, faster or slower, better or worse. Even more important than the money you’ve made or the stress you’ve incurred from them, are the lessons you’ve managed to learn in the process. Why? Simply because without firmly analyzing what went wrong or how you managed to make it happen so effortless, you’re either bound to repeat those often costly mistakes or scratch your (unfortunately) balding head wondering why things aren’t working as they used to.

During the last three years, I’ve managed to meet quite a lot of people, some of whom became my clients. At this point, i can honestly say that I’ve left most, if not all of the grief behind and i am truly grateful for the incredible amount of knowledge this social interactions provided me with. I had to deal with almost anything and anyone ranging from the proverbial Scrooges, the know it all narcissist to the adorable positive behavior of a knowledgeable and confident client.

Because all of these experiences can take their toll on you, it’s best to have an objective view of the whole process. This way, chances are you’ll be able to pinpoint the exact cause of the problems that inevitably arise  and come up with (better) solutions. As much as we like to think that design is all about the creative process, every newcomer will be surprise to realize just how much time it’s spent doing anything but actual work: writing emails, talking on the phone, meeting with your client face to face, doing paperwork etc. Depending on the project, you’ll find yourself communicating with your client about the same amount of time or more, than you’ll be  designing or coding. Even so, there are moments when it is tough to identify who’s fault it is when things start to go haywire. For this type of situations, try to see if things didn’t get lost in translation. You might be speaking the same language as your client but in reality, unless you’re working for a competitor, misunderstandings are more common than you think.

To avoid such cases, you should take it upon yourself to clear out any doubts. Unsure about what the client wants – why not ask again, maybe make them use an alternative means of explaining and have them agree at least in a written electronic document if not in an actual contractual document? For example, i was unpleasantly surprised to face similar issues when working with people who had a more than basic understanding of the whole process. That’s why i no longer build false hopes or assume anything.

As a rookie freelancer in graphic or web design, you might not have the luxury to impose working conditions and request a lot of things from your client. Often, they are either too busy or they simply don’t understand why they need your work, which can easily turn into lack of respect. Unless they’re willing to learn how design services can improve their business and eventually their bottom line, they’ll be just as happy to see you as they are seeing their dentist. Let alone they’ll feel better about spending 300 EUR on a fancy dinner than on a logo update. Not to mention the number of times when companies shamelessly and proudly (almost teary eyed) mentioned how they ditched their previous designers without paying because they didn’t like their efforts.

Still, you should always insist on writing a thorough brief as part of the contract.  Go into as much detail as you can without sounding foolish, but never think in terms of “it’s obvious” or “that’s the only way it can be done”. You’ll be stunned just how big the differences can be between your point of view and your client’s. Miss discussing those things beforehand and you risk having to rewrite consistent parts of your application or redesign over and over again at your own cost. When you lack a clear description of your project, reaching a successful outcome before deadline becomes somewhat of a random event.

Because design is very much a subjective endeavor, it doesn’t hurt if you are able to identify from the get go those elements which are easily assessable as opposed to those which are dependent on the whims and taste of the client. Think about working on a website worth several thousand euros with much of the effort going into programming. If for some reason you can’t agree on the graphics and failed to mention an actual value for this part of the project, the situation can get a bit complicated.

Of course, these are all things which will seem strange and time consuming the first couple of times you do them. However, as they become habitual, you’ll realize just how much of a time saver they really are. In the long run it means better profits and more piece of mind.

Because just one blog post can hardly be enough, I’ll go into more detail complete with actual examples in the near future. Instead of making your own mistakes, I’ll tell you about mine, what went wrong, why and how i feel about handling the situation if i were to do it all over again. Although i might sound harsh at times concerning my clients, I can understand they’re only human and have their own problems. If this proves to be a useful tool for them too, than that’s even better.

Logo Savvy – clever mix of branding, naming and identity

If you were to judge this book just by reading the “Contents” page you’d have a hard time finding reasons to buy it. At a little under 200 pages and just over 40 case studies you could think it’s not too much bang for your buck. At least not when comparing it to those index type publications which feature examples in excess of several hundreds up to a thousand and more. If you were to do that you would be quite wrong.

To be honest, Logo Savvy was the book that jump started my new found love for printed design resources. Last year, back in autumn, i was in a somewhat creative rut, knowing i could do so much more but not really sure how. Of course, i could turn to the endless string of websites showcasing design examples of all kinds. Still, there were a couple of issues which i knew would hinder my success. First of all, most of these sources of inspiration follow more or less the same pattern: several paragraphs of general talk followed by a bunch of screenshots supposed to express the general idea of the article. While that’s OK if you’re in a hurry, looking for something to quickly spark your imagination, it doesn’t really get you very far if you’re trying to learn at a deeper level. The second aspect, is that while you can find logo examples galore, that doesn’t translate into the same amount of information about the naming process, branding and identity.

Right now, you could say that in most cases the brief will include an already named product and for the most part you won’t have to come up with a whole branding strategy. And you would be correct. There’s plenty of money to be made as a designer just for slapping around some flavor of the week design motifs (such as arrows, leaves, gradients etc) next to a nice free font. After all, that’s what most low to moderate budget clients tend to request from us, acting more like frustrated rappers in a never ending race to outbling the competition. Are they to blame? Probably not. After all, these are things you learn in time if you want to or you don’t. As a designer your job is to facilitate the best visual communication for your client’s product or service, rather than selfishly build your own flashy portfolio.

If you’re willing to go the extra mile in hope that one day you’ll play with the big boys, let’s see why this book is a great resource.

It starts off with several small chapters about the whole branding process, describing what seems like a common sense workflow. There’s information about how to name your products, the major directions you can choose from, how they fit with the general strategy and rounding off with some legal considerations you should be aware of. You’ll also find some quick templates to use during the process.

The rest of the book contains campaign examples distributed into 7 sections such as: acronym, descriptive, metaphorical, playful etc. While there are over 30 contributors from 10 countries, there is also a wide array of industries ranging from pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, apparel to arts, travel and telecommunications.  As with other books of this kind, the information is mostly presented in a light and informal manner, easy to read and understand. Thankfully, it strays away from boring neologisms or fancy words for which you need a dictionary to get their meaning.

Fortunately, it’s more story driven, guiding you through the main stages of the branding process. As a results you’ll often see intermediary sketches made during the design process, alternate versions which were rejected along with the main motivation behind the final choice. You’ll find out why some clients decided on a name variant over the others, as well as the shapes and colors used for the logo.

As any design book worth its price, it features extensive photography examples. Because of its focus on brand strategy, you will find more than some basic stationery samples: real life packaging design, point of sale design, outdoor displays and more.  All of these will help you get a general idea of all the possibilities that results from a single, well conceived identity.  If there was a thing which annoyed me at this point, was that some of the quotes and captions accompanying the images were taken straight from the text. This meant reading some things twice.

At the end of the book you’ll also find the list of all contributors, complete with their contact information. Starting from there, you can hit the Internet and check their websites for even more examples.

Coincidence or not, a week or so after I’ve finished reading it, while working on a couple of logo projects, i managed to get some really nice ideas which helped me finish them sooner than expected. All in all, i think this book is well worth a place on your shelf. Yet, if you’re on a tight budget, you might consider going for the paperback version, since the hardcover one, at least at my local bookstore cost about 30 bucks more. The size and print quality is the same so you might spend that extra money on something else.

Hope you’ll enjoy it and don’t mind recommending me some similar items.