Archive for August, 2008

The amazing website series that I have been doing for some time has always been a popular series and a great practice for myself in collecting work that is different yet interesting. In order to keep the quality of featured sites up, I have decided to move the series to a monthly feature. I will now be collecting the sites that I feel are the most unique and interesting every month and featuring them here. I believe that doing this will allow for a larger pool of sites to select from so that only amazing websites are recognized.

To put it bluntly, I hate Comcast. Pretty much everything about the company and its offerings are mediocre, and now they are going to help the US become mediocre with them. Comcast recently announced that they will begin capping downloads after 250 gigs of data has been transferred per month. While arguably high compared to some other nations, the problem lies in how this will impact innovation. Just as we are beginning to see the web develop into a place where rich media is not only possible but maturing at a rapid pace Comcast decides to send us to a screaming halt.

Designers constantly get challenged; you have no doubt heard a number of these challenges:

Why can’t you make the logo bigger?
Are you sure the type should be soo small?
What if we added a couple of drop shadows to make it “pop” more?

Clients are very quick to challenge designers on their choices, however the doing the opposite is often met with tension. Because of this tension, some designers eventually give up and let the client dictate the work. We all know the perils of getting into the habit of letting clients dictate projects, however what about taking this scenario a step further and outright challenging our clients?

One reason I was originally hesitant to start designing websites is the nature of “content” on the web. It is the misconception of clients that technology and the flexibility of content management systems allow “content” to come at any time. Unlike print where the medium has physical restraints, the web is abstract with endless pages and the perceived flexibility to handle anything. By anything I mean that clients now believe the more the better, and with SEO professionals telling them it will benefit their search rankings little thought is given to effective writing. Technology has created a situation where people now ingest copy with the hopes of gaining more eyeballs, at the expense of actually saying anything important.

Art on Track is a collective art project being held by a number of young artists located within Chicago. These individual’s efforts are a great way to bring local Chicago art into the eyes of the public so I agreed to share it here with you all. If you live in Chicago and would like to help these visual artists in their efforts please check out the included information about the event, or visit www.chicagoartontrack.com to register for your tickets.

Event description after the jump, courtesy of Art on Track artist (and previous AssociaDirect intern) Ben Koditschek.

Recently I have been reviewing a number of projects that are focused on an audience ranging from preschool until 6th grade. One thing very apparent amongst these projects is their homogenized aesthetic. This aesthetic is semi-appropriate for the age group being targeted however there are a number of reasons why I consider the design to be bad. The term “bad” is being used in the context that it directly impacts the works effectiveness. For a better understanding of this context for the critique of these works please see the article “Pizza Flyers: The Height of Good Graphic Design?” from Speak Up.

Lately my inbox has been filling up with questions and comments, no doubt a result of Positive Space’s continued rise in popularity. I love reading all the great comments the readers have given, however a common trend amongst the emails has developed. These have been questions from design students in regards to starting their careers or finding internships. Rather than just email the responses individually I thought that it would be worthwhile to share my answers in greater detail here. Because of this I have created this new series “Graphic Design Curriculum” which will seek to answer these questions and foster further communication and opinions from the readers.

If you have a question you would like to see answered in this series please ask it via the contact form. Without further introduction, here is the Graphic Design Curriculum’s first question.

Despite the mixed reviews amongst people working in design / advertising about Mad Men, I have become addicted. However it is the underlying struggles raised by the characters that stick with me the longest. For example, in this past week’s episode, Harry Crane opens Ken Cosgrove’s paycheck and sees that he makes 300 dollars a week. This is 100 dollars more than he makes, which to Harry begs the question, why? It is not until a discussion with Salvatore the Art Director that he realizes where he is lacking, and where this article will begin.

For the last year 90% of my work has consisted of either web or interactive work, which has been a great experience. Over this period I have developed more skills than I can even remember, however it has left me in a unique position that I only just realized. A client of ours had asked us to take on a collateral kit, which to my surprise was harder for me than I thought it would be. However, it was ultimately this difficulty I experienced that benefited me and the project in the end.

This is post number eight in my Sources of Inspiration Series. Over 80 portfolios later and I am still amazed by the amount of quality work out there that I am able to find. For this collection I spent over 5 hours reviewing the work, which really speaks for its quality.

Note: This is not a series about the websites themselves. That said, enjoy the amazing design work located within the portfolios below.