Many years ago, before even becoming a member, I would visit the website at AIGA.org just to read the articles.  There were brilliant design essays written by Steven Heller, business advice from Tad Crawford, inspiration from Milton Glaser, and resources I could download and put to use immediately.  Today the writing is as strong as ever, the topics are relevant and the site always serves as a starting point for me on the ever evolving industry of design.  Perhaps you have visited that web site as well.  Or perhaps you haven’t even heard of AIGA.

AIGA – The professional association for design, consists of some of the best designers and creative minds in the nation.  It not only embraces graphic design but a host of uniting disciplines such as photography, illustration, web design, programming, and writing. The organization works to promote professional development for designers and creatives at any stage of their career and it serves as a source for inspiration and education for its members and the public on matters of design value, best practices and The Living Principals.

Despite all that, I really couldn’t imagine what membership might bring to me… after all, I was already able to read all those great articles online. I could browse resources.  And if I really wanted to attend an event I’d just pay the extra $10, $20, $50 bucks as a non-member and go to the events that interested me. Finally, at the urging of Fred Caserta, I took the plunge and invested the $300 to become an official card carrying member.

I had an excellent day yesterday!  It started with a productive morning with a good deal of client work accomplished… just like that!  There were many emails sent and replied to and phone conversations were exciting and on target.  It seemed like everyone was available at the exact same time I was.  I spoke with some incredibly smart people (always a pleasure). And I asked some questions of others that might have caused ripples.  I love ripples.  I question things… it’s what I do.

In considering the pros and cons of ripples, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe I’d be better off if I didn’t disturb the status quo; I have a tendency to do so.  Pondering this made me think however of one of the strongest attributes and most wonderful things about designers… And this is one of the reasons you want to hire a professional designer.

One of the designer’s great talents is to question things. They bring fresh eyes into a situation and often ask questions of their clients such as “Why are you doing things this way?”  From that question, comes much information about the client’s organization and that information is what designers use to create effective and successful visual communications. Designers can create a bit of ruckus sometimes with their curiosity but the questions we ask are not meant to be mean or judgmental. It’s fact finding. And it’s done with the intention of best being able to assist those whom we are working with.

It’s not like designers have had their jobs forced on them.  Not like the old days when an employee stayed at a job they hated for 20 or 30 years.  Designers choose to be designers and often design is our lifestyle… our air. We love to talk with clients about their dreams and their missions, to share goals together and to receive new opportunities to be our best creative selves.

So the next time your designer starts picking away at you asking questions, remember it’s because we want to create something for you based on your needs, your mission, and what you might be looking at for the future.

Do you need a creative sidekick?  Contact me… I’ll probably ask you some questions

You might have noticed that it’s been kind of quiet around here lately.  The last month has found me with a lot of client work and I’ve been on a mission of updating and redesigning my websites at lisamikulski.com and dragonflyblu.com.  You’ll also see that this blog has a whole new look.  In order to accomplish all this I put a curtail on blogging, twittering, socializing (online and off) and emails.  But… here we are.  Websites are nearly completed and I’m ready to move forward.

The WordPress theme you see here was developed by the fabulous Veerle Pieters for Woothemes.  I’ve been an admirer of Veerle’s work and her blog for a long time.  While I could have created a unique design for my blog it was never my intention to spend a month (or more) developing my own theme.  The purpose of my blog is to serve as a writing platform.  Writing is hard enough (I sweat blood) and I didn’t want to be fooling around with design or coding…at least not here. I looked at many WordPress themes, both free and paid.  There are many themes that are beautiful and the WP community is wonderful to work with. I could also have taken a rather generic theme and made it my own, but when I learned that Veerle’s design was created for Beast Cancer Awareness month… I was sold.

I also wanted a theme that worked the way I do.  While the design I had here in the past was indeed beautiful… it was dark and didn’t really fit my working style. It didn’t work as a cohesive design element with the branding of my other two sites either. I knew Veerle’s work would be quality and that the configuration would work in harmony with me. It’s my belief that a tool is only useful if it suits your working style…this goes for the majority of gadgets and applications out there.  If you have to structure your working style to meet the requirements of the tool, you are working in reverse. That’s never productive.

So please take a look around. I’ve included a small sample of work from my design portfolio, the navigation of the blog is easy and clean and I’ve recently included a few new posts I hope you will enjoy.  As always…

If you have a thought about this post or the new design, please comment and feel free to share.

ART & COPY, a new documentary film, has the advertising and design world abuzz!  The new film, directed by Doug Pray, is about the creativity and inspiration behind the work and vision of some of the most influential advertising creatives of our time.  This is not a film about trashing the evil world of advertising.  It is instead a tribute to those relatively unknown few who actually helped shape our society and our culture with their work. These are the people who’ve created such slogans as “Just do it”, “Got Milk?”, and “Think Different.” They’ve created campaigns for the Energizer Bunny, Apple, MTV and so many other ads which became the signs of our times.  Despite advertising’s evil reputation, these brilliant campaigns and creative minds have helped us laugh, think, smile, and have moved us to act.

What happens when you take 20 designers out of their element and place them in the woods to work on a project without Wacom tablets, computers or cellphones? Such was the experience this past weekend when I joined AIGA-CT for the LOTION/Roughin’ It event in the Berkshires where some of the best designers in Connecticut met up to collaborate for a cause.

Creating graphic design for the arts is a bit like tightrope walking.  Like designers, artists are creative too and they usually have some very specific ideas.  This can be good.  Sometimes not so much.  In addition to being a designer, you will also find yourself in the role of consultant.  This can also be good.  Sometimes not so much!

Regardless, the designer must always remember the #1 rule: Do not overshadow the art. The art and the design must sing together much like a canvas in its complimentary frame.  When I designed the website for artist, Daryl Zang, we kept the presentation very minimal and clean. The website palette was selected from the artist’s own palette and I designed the navigation buttons using Daryl’s artwork.  Artist websites and promotional materials don’t have to be boring for sure and the designer need not feel like they must abandon creativity for the sake of the client, but the focus is on the client’s artwork… not your design, not flashy elements. One little caveat here… this rule might be broken when designing posters and CDs for music clients. Music is a different genre from the visual arts and an edgy complicated design is often just what the project entails to promote rock n’roll or heavy metal artists.

Just like any other business or corporation, all business collateral should be consistent.  Business cards, brochures, web site, letterhead and letters of authenticity should all have a similar look and feel.  Consistent use of fonts, color palettes and paper selection are all considerations. This establishes visual recognition.  But again… never should the branding be so loud that it competes with the artwork.  Simple, creative and relevant gets the job done.  Branding creates a signature for the artist much like a signature piece of art work but in a ‘business kind of way’.  The main mission in creating design for an artist (or sculptor, photographer etc) is to showcase the art and to create business collateral for distribution… usually to make a portfolio, brochure of works, hard copy artist statements and resumes etc. This mission is a bit different when designing for a gallery or art organization.

While galleries also display and focus on the artworks of it’s stable, galleries are art market oriented.  For this reason, the designers frame of reference will differ from that of creating design work for individuals.  First and foremost, the difference here is commercial. SEO and advertising on a website will hold a major focus in the information architecture and design work. The designer must also keep in mind the genre of the artworks being sold.  If a gallery is selling 19th century American Art, a European styled font and contemporary design may not be the best choice.  Graphic design for galleries and organizations will focus on the work of all its represented artists and no one artist is treated differently (better or worse) than the others.  The idea is to create unity.  Palette selection and fonts are the identity of the gallery, not taken from any one artist’s oeuvre, and the gallery’s presentation materials should allow the artwork of its members to shine.

Graphic design for an exhibition or installation is again a different type of animal then the two examples above.  Exhibitions always have themes and the successful translation of that theme into the design work can promote the show in a very creative and unique way.  For instance, graphic designer Peter Good, of Cummings & Good, created 20 posters over 20 years for the Manchester String Quartet. Incorporating scanned textiles, a hand embellished violin and musically referenced illustrations into his poster design, Peter was able to keep the design fresh and punctuate the yearly event with style and class.  The website for Cummings & Good displays many fine examples of incorporating a theme in great design work.

In addition to the design of the project, some other things to keep in mind are color accuracy and photographic content.  Artists who spend considerable amounts of time mixing the exact perfect color deserve to have that color displayed as accurately as possible in both web presentation and in print.  This means color optimization across platforms and browsers and an accurate color representation in CMYK as well.  Not always an easy trick.

Photographic content is another consideration.  Sculptures are 3 dimensional objects and the proper photograph taken from the right angle can really speak volumes and capture the attention of a buyer or curator in a second.  A picture is worth a thousand words, right?  I’ve actually seen photographs of sculpture that were more impressive then the actual sculpture.  Photography of painting should be accurate and clean enough so that brushstrokes and details can be detected and used successfully in ‘detail’ presentations.  In all cases, photographs should be taken at high resolution for print purposes.  These same high resolution photos can be dumbed down for display online at 72 dpi but always start with the highest resolution possible.

So in closing, my advice for designers and artists who are looking at promotional graphic design is:

1. Be creative but never overshadow the artwork.
2. Keep branding simple but memorable, use elements of the artists own work to create a unified front.
3. Remember when promoting a gallery, both art and the market are principal.

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