PixelatedImage Blog

TripAdvisor.com has published their 2008 Traveler’s Choice Destination awards and the pdf is available for download HERE – if you’re passionate about traveling the globe this list of top destinations is a wonderful distraction.

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While we’re talking travel and top picks for destinations, here’s a link to the Canon/Microsoft Top 100 Iconic Locations Contest. I don’t have much interest in the contest, but the top 100 locations are interesting. Always as interesting to see what got excluded as it is to see what got listed. Link HERE

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Earlier this month I held an ill-fated design contest – up for grabs was a 4GB 300x Lexar CF card but the stipulation was that there had to be a minimum of 10 entries. I thought I might even bend for 9, but the total submissions tallied at 7, so I get to keep the card. Thanks to those who entered. Next time I’ll plan a contest that doesn’t fall directly into the middle of a planned blog-migration – that was poor planning on my part.

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If my monthly desktop wallpaper didn’t do it for you this month, check out the offerings from colleagues Matt Brandon (link here) and Gavin Gough (link here). Just don’t tell me, I don’t handle rejection well.

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In July I’ll be teaching for a week at the YWAM School of Photography in Kona, Hawaii. I’m very excited about spending a week in a small class unloading some of the grey matter I’ve been accumulating. I’ve been alot of places, but Hawaii isn’t one of them. Hoping by then to have a housing for my 5D or perhaps just one for a G9, but I’d love to spend some time snorkelling and shooting in the water. I live 30 seconds from the beach here in Vancouver but most of the year even the seals look like they’d rather be on land with a hot cup of coffee. Anyone with a passion for teaching knows how exciting this kind of thing can be. I’m counting the days…

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Lastly, in the category of “I’ll never buy one but man is this thing cool” – the Rolleiflex MiniDigi AF 5.0 – I defy you to look at one of these and not imagine yourself feeling really artsy using one. It’s a tiny, 5 megapixel TLR replica and I want one. If money were no option I’d immediately order one of these, a black turtleneck, and a beret from Amazon.com – More info HERE.

Sure, it’s a toy, but it’s a really SEXY toy. I don’t mean to feed the gear-lust, but sometimes you just can’t help but drool.

Three final things I wanted to leave you with in the On Design series.

1. Balance.
It doesn’t fit into the C.R.A.P. acronym we’ve been looking at – but your material should have a sense of balance – the elements and the white space (negative space) should balance with each other so the piece (logo, page, business card, whatever…) doesn’t feel like it’s leaning. If you’ve been looking at a piece for a while take a breather from it, then come back and look at it with fresh eyes. Asking someone else to look at it doesn’t hurt either.

2. Embrace the white space.
The more cluttered your design, the less the eye will want to move through it, or be lead in the direction you are hoping. Being generous with the margins and spacings, when it’s appropriate, will give the elements in the design more impact. Filling it to the gills with elements only dilutes the impact of each.

3. If design is not your strength, farm it out.
Amateur design is a sure way to communicate to an intended market that you yourself are an amateur. It may not be true, you may be a brilliant photographer, but if you send out marketing material that looks sloppy you are signalling that you do not understand the importance of visual language – and that’s bad. Focus on what you are good at, farm out the design as soon as you can. But don’t let that stop you from learning. The more you learn about design, the stronger your photography will be.

Be sure to pick up the Non-Designer’s Design Book, or The Robin Williams Design Workshop both by Robin Williams and both available from Peachpit Press.

Remember to send yor business card by email to enter the CRAPPY Design contest. You have until the end of the month to send in your cards – the winner gets a 300x Lexar 4GB Compact Flash card. Email’em to me.

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.

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.

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.

Photography is a visual language. It makes sense then that presentation is important. So why the photographic world is so chock-a-block with mediocre and downright crappy design completely eludes me.

I get that not everyone has design training or a natural talent for it, but I would have thought that as both disciplines involve arranging elements within a frame there’d be a little less tragic design coming out of photographers, or at very least an awareness that this is the case. But on the whole it feels like a good number of photographers are blissfully ignorant of the notion of visual language, and that design matters.

Let me try to make this a little more positive. You must present your images in a way that does not distract from them, and in a way that communicates to the world out there (ie. prospective clients) that you understand the visual language.

I am going to do a series of short, very truncated design tips for photographers called On Design. I know, it’s not brilliant or clever. I’ll be focusing on some simple principles and tips that you can use to make your website, business card, logo, and other self-promotional tools stand out from the madding crowd of mediocrity. It won’t win you any awards, but it’ll make you and your work look stronger.

But before I get into this let me refer you to a couple excellent primers on basic design that you should get right now. In Malawi they have different nows. They have now, just-now, and now-now. So when I say you should get these books now, I mean it in the Malawian now-now sense.

The Non-Designer’s Design Book, Robin Williams, Peachpit Press
Robin Williams Design Workshop, Robin Williams, Peachpit Press

Caveat: I am not a trained designer. Much of what I know has come from reading and observation. My knowledge of type is minimal, I know about enough to stay away from Comic Sans and identify a serif, and that’s about it. So if you’re looking for advanced design, this ain’t it.