PixelatedImage Blog

Welcome here, folks. It’s like an after-moving pizza party without all the moving of furniture and stuff. This transition took all day and I could never have done it without the kind of help of ET Web Hosting – they have astonishing customer service and did alot of trouble-shooting for me today. Many of my clients have been hosted with ET Webhosting for years and swear by their reliability and customer service.

A few hiccups in the transition means I was forced to delete alot of the little photos that accompanied older posts. In some cases whole posts were deleted – they just didn’t seem timely any more.

There will be some links that still don’t work – I have a feeling it’ll take me a while to find all the bugs and fine tune this blog.

So, come on in, look around, make yourself at home. Then update your bookmarks and any links you might have pointing to my blog.

*RSS feed / Subscription buttons are at the bottom of the right-hand sidebar. Thanks for pointing that out, folks.

** A search bar has just been added to underneath the RSS feed buttons. Thanks for the heads-up, Eric.

This is the seventh installment in the On Design series looking at basic design principles and thoughts intended to help photographers produce better self-promotional pieces.

The final P in the “Make your stuff look like CRAP” is Proximity.

This principle implies that related elements belong together. Don’t make your prospects look everywhere for information, create an appropriate place for contact information, for example, and put all the contact information together. Here’s a quick and dirty before and after on a card with a design I’ve seen way too many times, the contact info everywhere.

Just the simple gathering and alignment of related information makes the mediocre card stronger. It’s still mediocre but it’s a B+ mediocre instead of a D-

This principle is not just for contact information, but for all related information or elements. The underlying reason for all this is to make it as easy as possible for prospects to find what they’re looking for effortlessly. Anything less and it will (a) be harder for clients to find what they need, (b) look amateurish and cause your prospective client’s confidence in you to diminish.

It could be way stronger, and much more creative. So that’s where your next assignment comes in.

THE OFFICIAL CRAPPY DESIGN CONTEST
I want to see your business card designs, current or new, based on the CRAP principle – but they have to be real. None of this fake-o stuff like the junk I’m pawning off on you in this series. Real business cards, using the CRAP principles – and they have to be yours.

I am giving away a Lexar 4GB 300x CF card to the best of them – if I get more than 10 entries. Less than that and I keep the card. Send your files – no wider than 350 pixels so I can post them here easily – to me here: info AT pixelatedimage dot com. Deadline is April 30 and I will be posting as I get the designs.

Now for the fun of it, let’s push this card a little harder, give it the full CRAP treatment. Here’s what it might look like if you pushed the contrasts a little harder, played with the repetition of elements, strengthened the alignments and proximity, and threw in die-cut corners. Could it be done differently? Sure, a hundred ways, some of them much stronger.

If I were taking more time I’d space my text differently and be much more specific with the leading. Probably choose a different font entirely. But design is about decisions, and assuming this design reflects the personality of the photographer it represents, and speaks to the market in which he works, it’s solid

OK folks, send in those business cards.

Scott Kelby returned from Dubai yesterday and in several posts alludes to it being the week of always having the wrong lens on the camera. Man do I know that feeling. You make choices as an artist, you pick a lens and go for a walk and every vision you conjure up requires any lens but the one on your camera to capture it. The comment trail on one of his posts testifies to the fact that many people feel this way and all of them offered tips on how to travel light and still have the gear to get the shot.

All this led me to two thoughts, and Scott and I will probably talk about this when we have lunch next week (I’ve been waiting to do that bit of ostentatious name-dropping for a while,) but for now, let me springboard into some thoughts about “the wrong gear” because we’ve all been there – and will be there again.

Thought One.
If capturing the vision you have in your mind’s eye without compromise is important to you or your client, forget traveling light or inconspicuously unless light and inconspicuous are vital to you capturing that vision. There is a reason pro shooters on the job talk endlessly about schlepping all their gear and protecting it, etc. It’s because they NEED that gear to do their job. You could probably get an excellent series of images with only a Canon G9 (many do), but if they aren’t the images the client wants, traveling light just lost you a client. I feel like a satellite location for B&H Photo when I am traveling and shooting. It’s part of what I do. If you’re a tourist, by all means, travel light and make your time a little easier, and shoot some great images, like Scott did, even though you’ve got “the wrong lens”

Thought Two (sub-thoughts A, B, and C).
We photographers are a funny bunch. We bounce between unrealistic self-praise, and un-deserved self-criticism. Some of us linger at one of those poles more than the other, but for those who end up, like me, overly-critical of our work – here’s some sub-thoughts.

A. It’s rarely your gear. If you didn’t get THE shot, that’s one thing, but if you didn’t get A shot, that’s another. It may be the “wrong” lens, but it’s the only one you have right now, so work with it and make a great photograph.

B. Client concerns aside, and speaking simply as an artist – it’s not the shots you missed that count. No one will see them. I come home from every trip with a mountain of images I didn’t get, did have time for, didn’t see until it was too late, just missed the moment, whatever. You need to be a little more Zen about this. The photograph that matters is the one you are capturing, not the one you’re missing. In that regard there is no wrong lens, only your “now” lens.

C. Creativity happens within confines and limits. So put the wrong lens on occasionally. Colour outside the lines.

Gear matters in as much as it enables us to capture our vision. Better gear enables us to capture our vision faster, or easier. But lack of gear only provides a confine within which our creativity can better function. As an artist, this is important. The biggest lack in photography – for most of us – is not a lack of bigger, better, newer, gear. It’s a lack of vision and the creativity to realize that vision within the confines (one of which might be TOO MUCH gear. It’s far easier to make creative choices when limited to a 17-40mm lens and natural light than it is when faced with a bag of 7 lenses and 8 strobes. Too many options can cripple an artist as easily as too few.)

So that’s Thought One and Two, if you’ve got Thoughts Three and Four, or other push-back/discussion on this, the comments are open.

If you’re following the On Design series you know we’re half-way through making your promotional design look like CRAP. If you’re not following this, I suggest you start at the beginning. We’re looking at basic design through the helpful lens of Contrast, Repetition, Alignment, and Proximity in hopes that we can make our design efforts a little less haphazard.

The principle of Alignment implies that strong lines lead the eye better than random, weak ones. The surest sign of someone who has just started doing their own design work is the way in which they fearlessly ignore any semblance of a straight line, and run straight to centre-justification as their design panacea. Centre-justification has its place, but it ought to be used for a reason, not for lack of further creative options. Using centre-justified type immediately destroys most chance of using strong lines to lead the eye, and limits your options in laying out other elements. Here are two business card layouts, one using centre justification, the right. Which one is stronger? (I’ve added a guide to each so you can better see the alignment – click the thumbnail to enlarge it)

Notice how the card on the right uses alignment to form a strong vertical line down the card, even aligning with the subject – this line allows you to guide the viewer’s eyes without resistance or confusion. The harder it is for your prospects to quickly ingest the impact and information you are providing them, the easier it will be for them to put the piece down and forget you.

Let’s do another one with a few more elements.

This postcard uses a few more implied lines to make a stronger, more cohesive design than it would have been without them. Notice how the headline is aligned along the dog’s gaze, how the positioning statement below it is aligned on both the left and right of the headline and how all the type aligns on the right and down past the dog’s nose on the bottom.

You should also by now notice how the other CRAP elements come into play – the strong contrasts, the repetition of several elements, and the alignments all make for a strong, professional looking piece. So does the proximity of related elements, but we’re getting ahead of ourselves now. We’ll handle that tomorrow. Lastly notice how we moved from high impact/low information to high information/low impact as we moved from left to right and from top to bottom.

Exercise. Pick up an old magazine, grab a sharpie, and go through the full-page ads – take notice of the alignments the designers have used and draw guides like the ones I have done above. Some will only have one or two – simple design is not simplistic, or weak, design. But find every strong line, really work it. Do this for about 30 ads and you’ll start to have a stronger sense of alignment.

(Unlike the other fake-o examples, these are drawn from some playing around I’ve been doing for one of my own businesses, so the usual copyright warnings apply to these. )

Remember the idea behind this? You want your stuff to look like CRAP – Contrast. Repetiton. Alignment. Proximity. Yesterday we talked about contrast, today I want to approach repetition.

Repetition of key elements adds interest and cohesion to a piece. It gives a piece consistency and that alone is a key step in getting your stuff a little closer to professional.

I had several things to say about repetition but at the last moment I found an article on Peachpit Press’ website that does a better job than I would have done – so I’m going to take the easy way out and refer you there. Think of it as a guest post by someone who knows her stuff better than I do. Plus, it’s longer and better illustrated than it would have been if I’d written this installment.

Liven Up Your Design Through Repetition – Robin Williams – Click HERE

I’ve seen a couple sources now that helpfully encourage you to make your stuff look like CRAP, and I’m going to perpetuate this as well. C.R.A.P stands for Contrast. Repetition. Alignment. Proximity. This is not a magic pill to make lousy design brilliant, it’s a reminder as you create and place your elements. I’ll introduce all four over the next few days. Remember, I’m only introducing you to the concept, for a more complete primer on design I recommend Robin Williams’ (not that Robin Williams, the other Robin Williams) book The Non-Designers Design Book (link HERE – don’t let the really ugly cover throw you off it)

CONTRAST is not only the difference between white and black. It can be contrast of colours, shades, weights, styles, etc. The examples below are a mix of contrasts between shades, weights, colours,styles, and sizes.

Where contrast helps is in drawing attention to different elements, adding distinction between them while keeping them a unified whole. So in one sense the contrast has to be complimentary, while not being similar. Remember, you’re still trying to communicate something – so two elements that contrast and conflict at the same time is a bad idea.Here’s a ludicrous example of that:

Likewise, you don’t want contrast to be too subtle. Here’s a two sans serif fonts – different fonts from different font foundries, but too similar for the contrast to be anything but confusing to the eye. It accomplishes nothing but distraction as the viewer tries to decide if they are different or the designer forgot to changed one and not the other, or if the viewer is just finally losing their mind.

A stronger choice would be a contrast between a serif and sans serif, or keep the font the same and use a contrast of weight or shade.

The above examples are type-related but the principles can be extended to all your elements. Intentionally introducing contrast makes for stronger designs, but keep in mind what you’re trying to communicate, and make your contrasts consistent, not conflicting or confusing.

In the last six months I have had 3 LaCie d2 drives fail on me just after exceeding their 1 Year warranty. This doesn’t make me the happiest camper. But it does make me glad I practice paranoia and the art of redundant backups. 1 TB drives are going for less than $400 now, so there isn’t much of a reason not to be redundantly backed-up. The lesson learned – back up, back up, and back up. Also, because it seems inevitable that drives will fail and it’s painful replacing them – pay attention to the length of the warranty. LaCie now offers 3 year warranties on the d2 drives. I believe Seagate offers 5. Most others are 1.

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This blog has been going strong for just under 3 years now and it’s time for a change. I’ve just installed WordPress on my server and once my design has been churned into a functioning template I’ll be migrating this blog and it’ll be found at www.PixelatedImage.com/blog. I can’t tell you how much dread the thought of this change fills me with, but when it’s done it’ll be the same great content, ad-free, but sexier. And more integrated with my portfolio and other stuff. I’ll let you know when this is about to happen and y’all can pray it doesn’t blow up in my face and horribly disfigure me. If any of you have experience with WordPress and have any must-know tips – send them my way, especially if it involves importing a TypePad blog without going insane.

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Lightroom 1.4.1 has been released – more info HERE

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I’ll be back on Monday morning with another installment of the OnDesign Series and if all goes well should have one each day all through the week. If you have suggestions or questions, fire them my way and I’ll do what I can to incorporate them.

Have a great weekend, everyone.

Part of the balance you need to consider in creating any piece of marketing – whether that’s a logo or a mailer, a website or a business card – is the ratio of impact to information. We’re talking here about where you place the elements. Each piece needs to have a specific purpose and that purpose will not only balance impact and information but it will put each in it’s appropriate place.

In general you will want to start with High Impact/Low Information and move through the piece until the ratio is reversed. So let’s look at a two sided postcard. Assume you have the following elements you need to put on the card:

Logo
2 photographs
Address
Email
Website URL
Benefit-oriented headline
Body copy about your services
Body copy about you

Before we go any further remember your basic marketing. Prospective clients care about themselves, not you. So start with that and begin with a solid benefit-oriented statement. Keep it short, keep it simple, keep it about them. High Impact, not alot of information. Use a great photograph that is relevant to the market you are selling to. Put your logo on there if you need to. That’s the front. High Impact. Does your address need to be on there? No. What about body copy? Again, no. You need to hook them. If they do not say, “wow, cool card” you’ve lost them. Give them a reason to turn it over and read the back.

On the back you begin to reverse the flow of Impact:Information. You’ve already hooked them, given them a reason to turn it over – but they’ve turned it over looking for more, so give it to them. Give them another photograph or two, then the body copy that concerns them the most: the benefits of working with you. How will you make their job easier, and why should they chose you?

Then you can add the body copy about you and your multiple awards and fancy-pants clients. If you’ve done your job right and they’re still reading there’s only one more piece of info they want – your website URL for more info. After that put only the contact info you need on there.

The flow from High Impact: Low Information to Low Impact: High Information is what leads the prospect through your piece. It’s not manipulation, it’s making it as easy as possible to decide what you’re all about and whether you have anything to offer them or not.

I threw this together for the sake of illustration, so don’t go picking it apart for content or perfect leading or alignment, but here’s a possible front and back:

Yesterday I suggested a simple exercise for you – to verbalize in one clear sentence who you are to your market. This needs to be really clear in your mind before you begin to choose the language in which you will communicate. Each font in your library carries certain associations. Each colour has a certain feeling. How you use white space and balance, how much contrast you use, it all works to say something visually.

Before we get into where we place elements in the frame, and other design considerations, try this – look at the type treatments below and think about what this photographer might be saying and who (his market) he might be trying to connect with by choosing these fonts/colours. Which one shoots kids? Which one specializes in Rodeos?

How do you react to these? Do you dislike one of them more than others? Why? How about filling in the blank: “this font just feels more________________” Amateur? Professional? Established? Hip? Artsy? True, not everyone in your market will feel the same way about these fonts, or these colours – but many of them will.

This is simple stuff. By being aware of the feelings fonts and colours can generate, you can move towards selections that better communicate who you are. Not a kid’s photographer? Then stay away from Comic Sans (in fact, you should ALL probably take a moment and delete it from your font library. Friends don’t let friends use Comic Sans.) Not young and artsy and into the grunge thing, then stay away from grungy fonts. Shooting food? Consider using organic colours. Want to communicate cutting edge? You probably want to avoid using tried and true – but boring – fonts and use a font that says “cutting edge.”

There are no hard rules on this, but be intentional about it. Know what you’re saying with your choices of fonts and colours. Be aware of the feelings they create. You want your market to have confidence in you – to feel that you understand them. If it’s a Mercedes market you want to appeal to, use a Mercedes font.

Fishermen say that “you catch what you’re baiting for.” I think the same rule applies here too. Pick your bait AFTER you’ve decided who you’re fishing for. Lousy analogy, I know, but it’s sound in principle.

If you want to create great looking design, you must do it on a Mac. You can’t do it on a PC.

OK, that’s not really the first tip. Here’s the real one:

If you have vision, your tools don’t matter a whole lot. But without VISION you done lost the battle before it started. So start there. In any self-promotion initiative you must understand what you are promoting and to whom. If you don’t have a basic sense of who you are and how you want to be positioned in your prospects mind, then you’re taking a road trip without a map – you’ll end up somewhere, but not where you hoped.

The visual language is like any spoken language; which words, phrases, nouns, and verbs you choose depend on what you want to communicate. By all means, babble away but don’t expect to communicate anything (unless you’re playing the “I’m a total lunatic” card). Know WHAT you want to say before you choose HOW you want to say it. Once you’re there it gets a whole lot easier.

Exercise: In one sentence – who are you to your prospective market?
Example: I am an upscale food photographer specializing in ethnic foods.

Why such a simple exercise? It establishes a starting point. It begins to define which verbs and nouns you will use to start speaking visually to your market.

So, why the bit about “you must own a mac”? Just making a point. Apple gets it when it comes to using design to visually communicate their brand and establish a position in the mind of their market. They don’t use different fonts because they just found a cool new one. They don’t change colour palettes because they get bored. Everything they put forward to market themselves is consistent with the message they are trying to communicate. Without an understanding of what that message is, they’d have no starting point and would flounder around. Much like Microsoft.