Posts Tagged ‘Graphic Design’
Our graphic design new years resolutions
Happy New Year everyone!
We always try and make new years resolutions here at eightyone design. Last year we blogged about our clients new years resolutions but this year we’ve listed a few of our own graphic design resolutions. Most of them are just bad habits we need to break, but there is no time like the present to start a fresh and wipe the slate clean!
1. Stop naming files “final” or “this-one”, or worse still “final-this-one”
2. Don’t save everything to the desktop. The desktop is clear at the moment and I intend to keep it that way! I most certainly don’t want it clogged up with any “final” or “this-one” files.
3. Keep on top of paper work! I have a bad habit of letting admin stack up resulting in a giant toppling mound casting a giant shadow in our office! This will not happen this year!
4. Keep client files tidy! I don’t know about you, but towards the end of a project the overall client folder is brimming with different files and sub folders. Once the project is complete you move on leaving a trail of chaos! Well not this year when the project is finished I intend to rummage through the file tidying away files in appropriate folders and trashing unused files so when we return to the project everything can be found with ease!
5. Launch our new website! We’ve been working on our new website over Christmas and want to launch it in the first few months of 2009! This is the one resolution we have to stick to (especially as we have told you about it now!).
6. Make more time for personal projects! Steve and I have so many uncompleted personal projects it’s hard to juggle them all (one of which we launched last year was vwcampervanblog.com). So this year we intend to make sure we put plenty of time aside to indulge in our creative hobbies.
7. Make more time for blogging! We already have regular design blogs we subscribe to and read, however it would be great to break out of the mould and read some different blogs as well as our regulars. David Airey recently blogged about the best graphic design blog posts from 2008 (in which he kindly featured one of our articles) and there are some great blogs featured that we have not read before that have been added to our RSS reader.
8. Post an article to the eightyone design blog at least once a week! Ok, so this is not actually a resolution as this is something we currently do but we intend to keep up with it!
So what graphic design new years resolutions do you have?
Tags: Graphic Design, new year resolutions
Posted in Graphic Design | No Comments »
eightyone design christmas card designs
Tis the season! Yes it’s that special time of year again where vector snowflakes, christmas trees and stockings are in abundance in the design world! There’s no escape from the festive look and by now it feels like they have been around for too long (especially since Christmas seems to start in September)!
We thought we’d share our Christmas card design for this year with you and get your thoughts.
We want our Christmas card to be a reminder of us and therefore be quite strongly branded. We always have our contact details on the reverse and our logo repeated a couple of times.
Last years card was really quite simple as we wanted to really push the logo. We went with a silver snowflaked logo on white with our company green in the centre to add some spark to the card.
This year we have gone for a similar design, however we didn’t want to utilise the logo as the main focus. We therefore experimented with several design concepts incorporating our branding with a Christmas element - we tried everything from snow men to christmas puddings! We finally decided on this bauble design, which we feel does liken itself to our logo (if you turn your head counter clockwise - the smaller bauble the top of the eight and the bigger logo the bottom?).
We explored several colour combinations but felt that the ligher silver colour followed on well from last year and had a stronger ‘christmassy’ feel.
The inside of the card was left white as we felt the strong green background may be a little too overpowering with the silver front. We inserted our logo with “Merry Christmas” above and below the logo we replaced “eightyone” with “everyone”.
The back of the card holds our contact details and logo repeated again.
Overall we are really please with the card and think that it reflects our branding and style as well as looking ‘Christmassy’!
Do you like the card? Did we go with the right colour choice or do you prefer one of the other options?
Tags: branding, christmas card, Graphic Design, logo
Posted in Colour, Graphic Design, Logo Design, branding | 5 Comments »
Do you produce better graphic design work under pressure? Part 2
A few weeks ago we published a post declaring that some designers (namely Lu) produce better work under pressure (see the post Do you produce better graphic design work under pressure Part 1). The post explained how Lu finds she can produce better design work to a deadline because she is more focussed. She is not distracted by the desire to “try something a little different” or the need to discover the worlds most perfect design. She felt that when designing under pressure, nothing is driving her apart from the objectives for the project and the messages that are to be communicated from the piece.
However, in part 2 of this blog article, I discuss why I think I create better work when there is a longer deadline and the pressure is off.
Creative block
One of the things I really hate about designing under pressure is when all of a sudden my inspiration dissapears and my mind goes blank. There is something about an deadline looming that simply causes my mind to block. I am sure everyone has, at one time, experienced this, sitting looking at your screen thinking ‘why can’t I think of anything?’. This can be a real worry when a deadline is approaching which causes more panic and in turn causes more mental block.
It’s for these reasons I much prefer having extra time to work on a project. It is important to be able to leave and return to a project in order to break that creative barrier (for more info read our blog post on Offline creative inspiration).
Accidental design
You know how it goes, you are working on a design and you delete the wrong path point and you exclaim, “Hey that could work if I just moved that…” So many designs or design elements are developed through accident and if your deadline is not rushing towards you then these accidents can be explored.
I’ll just try…
The urge to just try something (even though you know it will look silly) is something you sometimes just can’t fight and often when you are comparing these ideas to your planned design you realise how good your original is, but I find I sometimes have to go through this process to feel happy that I’ve exhausted all avenues.
The morning after
You put your design to bed at some ridiculous time in the evening and you wake feeling refreshed and ready to start designing all over again. However, you take a look at your design and stand back in horror. This has happened to me a couple of times, thinking I was going down the right path (normally the result of lack of sleep and too much coffee!) and after taking a good break realising that my masterpiece wasn’t quite as good as I’d remembered. Having the time to put your design down and come back to it at a later date allows us not to get stuck in a rut and gives us breathing room to develop our ideas.
Panicking!
When under pressure I just can’t see straight, nothing seems to go right and all my ideas go out of the window. I waste time purely panicking and getting frustrated with myself, my mac, Lu and anyone that dares to look at me slightly funny! This means a lack of concentration and the result is far from perfect design work.
Research
I find that when I am under pressure I spend less time on the most important part of the project, Research and Development. Research is so important to any project and I can’t imagine what it must be like to spend time developing a design only to discover it is similar to the clients competitors. Having plenty of time to spend throwing ideas around and checking out competitors before even hitting the design stage is imperative.
Conclusion
When I am forced to work under pressure and to tight deadlines I find I can produce good work that is inline with client objectives. Despite this, these fast paced projects seem to lack that extra magic that comes from toiling over a design for days, weeks or even months. The final pieces feel as though they are missing that extra special ’something’ that can come about by letting our creative minds loose, free of phones, and deadlines.
So how do you feel about working under pressure? Do you agree with the previous post and produce better design work when working to a deadline or do you feel that time allows you to add that extra element that makes the design so unique?
Tags: Freelancing, Graphic Design, under pressure
Posted in Freelancing | 3 Comments »
20 More Inspiring Website Footer Designs
Following on from our previous blog post ‘10 inspiring website footer designs’ I seemed to see more outstanding footer designs everywhere. I have managed to find another 20 to share with you!
TNT Pixel (Thanks Dan Hauk for pointing this one out!)
What do you think about the footers featured? I have to admit I particularly like the Blup and Uforia footers. Have you spotted any outstanding website footers that should be added to the list?
Tags: footers, Graphic Design, inspiration, Web Design
Posted in Design Inspiration, Web Design | 4 Comments »
My Top 10 Computer Arts Magazine Covers
There is one thing that is guaranteed to make me smile and that’s hearing a thud as my favourite design magazine Computer Arts hits the door mat. Every month I am amazed at the beautiful cover art that stares back at me from the floor. I neatly file away all my magazines after a thorough read as they are always a constant source of inspiration.
I was flicking through them the other day and once again I was taken back by the fantastically designed covers. So I thought I’d post my top 10, here we go in no particular order:
Are you loyal to a particular design mag? We’d love to know, there’s always room for good quality literature on our shelves!
Tags: computer arts, cover art, design, Design Inspiration, design magazines, Design Resources, Graphic Design
Posted in Design Inspiration, Design Resources | 6 Comments »