Noisy Decent Graphics

No Comment?

Hello. It's that time again, my regular appeal for comments.

There are over 100 of you reading this everyday, which is pretty amazing considering I don't really promote it and no one knows who I am. But very few of you leave comments. So I'm gonna make it easy. There are 4 posts which are very, very popular and are easy to comment on. I'll point you in the right direction and you can comment on those posts. Does that sound fair?

Fucking Elle - possibly my most popular post. I spot some weird typography on the cover of Elle Decoration. Is it really weird? Would you have done the same?

I hate ITV - I really, really hate ITV. I especially hate their new idents. What do you think?

Create a great CV - My humble advice for design students. I would appreciate the more experienced of you leaving comments too.

Robert Brownjohn - Again a very popular post. Do you like this kind of simple, ideas led design? Or do you prefer more stylised, fashionable stuff. Let me know.

Making Sainsbury's Great Again

I saw this at a meeting of Sainsbury's managers the other day and it's very unusual.

Why? Because in saying "Making Sainsbury's great again" they are admitting they're not great anymore. And that, my friends, is the first step to success.

In that one sentence they're saying;
1. we understand where this business is, where it used to be and where we want it to go
2. we know we've done some things wrong, but we're going to try and fix it
3. we're not full of motivational bullshit, we're honest and we expect you to be honest with us
4. we'll make Sainsbury's great t and we'll do it together (many, many companies would pay a fortune for that sentiment to be true)

Made those 4 words work hard, didn't they?

Interbrand front of house

I walked passed Interbrand yesterday. This is the sign on their glass door. I've tried messing about with the photo to make it more legible, but i stopped because that's kind of my point. It's a complete fucking illegible mess.

There are 5 companies mentioned there; Interbrand, Markforce, Gavin Anderson, Agency.com and Live (I couldn't find a website for Live. You try searching for Live on Google for fuck's sake). I don't want to slag them all off, in fact agency.com are a fantastic agency, but this sign is just bloody terrible.

Guys, you can't read it.

For a branding agency the size (and the fees) of Interbrand they should at least get this bit right. I hadn't even stepped into the building and already I've got the impression you can't design.

Where is the heirachy? How are the companies related? Why do some companies have phone numbers, some have addresses and some have none? Why is Live so fucking big!? This is not good enough, chaps

D&AD Awards - shit website - moan moan

A bit of a moan now.

I've just spent the best part of an afternoon, deciding which work we enter in the D&AD awards, helping filling in forms and packaging stuff up.

OK, some people don't know what the D&AD is. If you do, skip this paragraph.
D&AD stands for Design & Art Direction and their website says, "Founded in 1962, D&AD is a UK-based charity whose remit is to champion excellence in creativity globally. We run awards schemes, education programmes and work with the business community to ensure that creativity is high on their agenda." For most designers the main thing they do is run the only awards scheme worth winning.

A D&AD pencil really is the only award worth winning. Hence they are bloody hard to win. Bloody hard. And that's a very good thing.

The D&AD also do some brilliant work with education and promoting the industry in general.

Any design company worth it's salt enters the awards. But, here comes the moan, it's soooo bloody hard to enter. Why? 3 reasons.

1. There are way, way to many categories.
And so it's really hard deciding where to put stuff. Every year there is a new President and almost every year he/she adds a new category! Enough!

2. It's too expensive.
This is a fairly common complaint. And it tends to be the small companies moan about the cost while the big groups don't care. That's basic economics. What I mean is that to get the best out of D&AD you have to enter the same project into several categories. And that's the bit that gets expensive.

3. The fucking website.
Jesus Christ it's hard to use. To enter you have to log on, go through all these stupid forms and questions and then pay. Fair enough. Except it's badly designed (it looks great - but that's not the same thing) very hard to use, clumsy and really bloody slow. For champions of creativity that's not good enough. The website also changes every year.

Moan over. D&AD get your act together. Sort your website out. Get some usability guys in.

Anyone share my view?

Create a great CV 3

Covering letters. I don't like them, but a lot of people do so write them if you wish. But if you do write one make it relevant. Take 5 minutes to look at the company website. Mention work they've done, what did you like? What did you not like? At the very least mention their clients...

Create a great CV 2

Oh and I forgot this bit. Here's a list of a load of UK design consultancies that do work placements. Hope that helps: http://www.graphicdesign.org.uk/graphic-design-work-placements.htm

Create a great CV 1

Kim emailed me to ask for some constructive criticism on her CV. Which I'm more than happy to do - Kim I've emailed you back.

Some of the comments I made were fairly general so I thought I'd share them here. Feel free to add comments if you have any helpful advice. We were all students looking for that first design job once. And remember how hard it was?

1. This stuff is important
At the moment this is the most important piece of communication you have ever designed. So treat it as such. Make it brilliant.

2. STAND OUT
Most CV's are dull, boring and repetitive. And everyone says the same thing. Stand out, and you'll get an interview. If you only do two things on this list do this one and number 10.

3. Communicate
That's what you're paid for. Your brief is to sell yourself, quickly, efficient, amongst masses of competition to an impossible audience.

4. Remember that the content is king.
Write, rewrite and rewrite it again. Strip away any superfluous information. So you worked at M&W Local Stores when you were 16, so what? Is that relevant to your design experience?

5. Keep it short.
I get at least a CV a day, more in the summer. Almost all of them go in the bin. Try and get it to one page of A4. I bet the Microsoft press office can get Bill Gates' biography on one side of A4.

6. Are they really your hobbies?
You swim, you go out with friends, you like the cinema. Big fucking deal, so does the rest of the world. If you have an interesting hobby then include it, don't make them up. Anyway graphic design should be your hobby.

7. Tough audience
This is the toughest audience you'll ever have. You are designing for designers. So take care. Craft it. Check the typography, check the widows, check for typos, line stuff up. Prove you can design well.

8. Online tips
Send it as a PDF or a web page. DO NOT send massive jpegs.

9. Offline tips
Send one piece of paper (or maybe even try something that isn't paper, innovate a little...). Do not send a business card. Do not send loads of samples (unless asked for).

10. You wouldn't do this would you?
Never, ever, ever, ever send anything in Word (on paper or electronically). If you think this is OK you should not be working in design.

Has anyone else got any helpful tips?

"Walks through the door"

"A true friend is one that walks through the door when everyone else is walking out."

Alex Ferguson.

Change one thing

This is a really nice idea from Boots.

Boots rather obviously have to ride the "New Year - New You" bandwagon. This year they've chosen "change one thing" as the theme. Here's how it works; Want to give up smoking? It's easy if you change one thing. Want to lose weight? It's easy if you change one thing.

The graphics are stylish, sensitive and appropriate with a great use of illustration (and I don't often like illustration).

But it goes much deeper than that. Each sin (smoking, fat, stress) is linked to in store offers. For example; giving up smoking is easy if you change one thing, try nicotine patches, buy one get the second half price in Boots. That's where it all hangs together, insight, marketing, design, sales.

But it gets better. The one key thing that makes the whole campaign work and makes it stand out from all the other patronising rubbish that's about this time of year is that they are... telling the truth. Yes, the truth ladies and gentleman.

It's believable, it works. It's not marketing bullshit. It's achievable. Maybe you can't imagine yourself giving up smoking, but you can imagine yourself doing one thing to try. Maybe you don't really believe you'll be less stressed, but you'll try one thing to see if it works.

This is great. It's really well thought out, very now, very Mind Gym. Good, good, good. The website is lovely too. good use of Flash (and I don't often like Flash either).

As a foot note, Boots is s great British company that has always championed good design. They even used to employ a Pentagram partner to manage the roster. We need more of that.

"More harm is done by indecision than by wrong decision."

As said by Tony Soprano.

If only agencies and clients would live by this quote our world would be a much better place.

Selfridges Advent Calendar

This is gorgeous.

It falls into the “I wish I’d thought of that” category. Which is always the mark of a good idea.

This was an advent calendar in Selfridges. (Yes, I saw it a while ago but only just got round to posting, sorry.) It’s a really nice, simple idea. The execution is lovely. It’s got that really nice hand crafted, loved, feel about it. Look at the different fonts, it doesn’t look messy it looks crafted and thought about. Brilliant.

Do you believe this?

"Starbucks has a simple brand statement: A great coffee experience. It influences everything the company does from its logo, store design and employee selection, and even choice of toilet paper.

The story goes that some consultant found a way to shave costs significantly by changing over to one-ply toilet paper. Starbucks’ marketers held firm for the two-ply because they knew that something as simple as cheap toilet paper can ruin the goodwill a brand has built."

Is that true? Do you believe that? Comment below.

Voluntary United Group of Creative Agencies

Thee is a networks of WPP agencies called Voluntary United Group of Creative Agencies.

Which is the worst name for anything, ever.

Find out more here.

July

For one reason or another I was looking at the website belonging to a company called Igor Consulting yesterday.

Igor Consulting think up names, brand names, company names. And they thought of this little stunner, July. Yes, July, it's for a financial services firm.

Apparently, "one of the key positioning points the name had to capture is "the freedom to focus on your core business." The name also needed to be fresh and different, yet fall within the parameters of the types of names associated with the financial services sector. The name had to be both intuitive and interesting".

Remember we're talking about July. It gets worse.

"July is much more than the name of the month that Julius Caesar named after himself. It is the one name that covers all the established financial services cues, is fresh and different, and infers -- rather than shouts -- "Freedom," making it infinitely engaging."

No, July is a fucking month. Not a financial services company.

There is also a hilarious story about the thinking behind calling Steve Wynn's new Las Vegas hotel, er, Wynn Las Vegas.

New Communist Party

Is this a new political party? Or simply a new party for Communists? Whichever, hilarious it is.

 

I hate ITV

No, I mean - I really hate them.

I hate them for these good reasons:

1. Their branding (new and old).

2. All bar 2 of their programmes are terrible.

3. Their name.

4. When they did the football.

5. ITV2, ITV3, ITV4.

6. ITV News.

Today, ITV have officially launched their new branding (actually it was launched last week, but it debuted on the telly today). It's bloody awful and it's reminded me of a few other things that I hate about ITV. When I sat down and thought about it, all these things probably contribute to the dreadful identity. Those reasons one by one.

1. Their branding (new and old).

The new branding is terrible. After spending some decent cash with M&C Saatchi and loads of WPP agencies (why couldn't one handle it? why not ask Lambie Nairn for fucks sake?) ITV has come up with the following. "the BBC's image is well defined as the 'dad' figure producing programmes that are good for you, while Channel 4 is the 'cool brother'." OK fine. I get the BBC and the Ch4 analogy, it sounds like marketing speak, but it will do.

So what does ITV compare itself to? "ITV... compares its flagship channel to the pop star Robbie Williams". It gets worse, "ITV2... to Hollywood star Cameron Diaz, ITV3 to the actor Sheila Hancock and ITV4 to the James Bond actor Daniel Craig." You really have gone mad now. ITV2 just shows Coronation St repeats, ITV3 shows Darling Buds of May repeats and ITV4 just shows Jeeves and fucking Wooster repeats. What a load of rubbish.

The creative work isn't much better either.

There is absolutely nothing good about these logos. The colours are awful, the spacing is wrong, the font is horrible, the style is unsophisticated. A poor attempt by a poor brand.

2. All bar 2 of their programmes are bloody terrible.
There are two good programmes on ITV, Coronation St and X Factor. Coronation St is a brilliant piece of British drama. Creative, insightful, touching, funny, well written, well scripted and well produced. It's no surprise that it's been around for so long. The X Factor is also a brilliant piece of television. Innovative, great entertainment and it has captured the zeitgeist perfectly. The only caveat is that the single reason it's on ITV and not the BBC is because of the commercial aspect. The BBC would not be allowed to be so ruthless in their pursuit of text message revenue, commercial ties or licensing deals (don't get me wrong, the BBC can be ruthless, just not AS ruthless).

All the other programmes are awful. Badly made, badly produced, cheap, shit concepts and repeats.

3. Their name.
In last week's Indy, Greg Dyke made a valuable point, ITV's name is kind of irrelevant now. When ITV started it was the sexy, young, flexible commercial alternative to the state monolith BBC. That's why Independent Television sounded so great, almost risqué. Thing is nowadays it simply isn't the young, flexible alternative to anything. We've got Sky (who invest in programming and ideas and who innovate) we've got Five (who are downmarket but are positioned dead right) we have Channel 4 (the sexy, young, flexible alternative) and we also have digital channels. So it's hardly Independent is it? In his article Dyke says he once suggested renaming the station "Three". It wouldn't work now because of the mobile phone company, but was a great idea. (Subscription needed for the Greg Duke article).

4. When they did the football.
To be fair, I bet even the execs at ITV knew "The Premiership" would be shit.

To me this programme highlights the difference between commerical and public broadcasting. The BBC always put the best football matches on first, as you would want them to. So you might get Man U followed by Chelsea followed by Arsenal. ITV always put the best matches on last because they want you to watch the programme all the way through so they can increase the advertising revenue. So you might get Sunderland followed by Birmingham followed by Portsmouth. Which is crap and doesn't work. And that's exactly why state funded enterprises can do things that commercial enterprises shouldn't even attempt. It's the same with running the trains, the Post Office and the hospitals - some things simply don't work in the private sector.

5. ITV2, ITV3, ITV4.
No explanation needed.

6. ITV News.
When ITV News closed someone (sorry can't remember who) said that they were closing it because they needed the extra Freeview capacity for other projects. Rubbish, you closed it because it was fucking awful and no sane person would choose it over the BBC or Sky.

There, 6 reasons why I hate ITV. In a few years, I predict that Sky will buy Channel 5 and ITV will die a slow painful death. The main channels Britons will watch will be the BBC and Sky. You heard it here first. Comments?

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end."

"Look at a day when you are supremely satisfied at the end. It's not a day when you lounge around doing nothing; it's when you've had everything to do, and you've done it."

Margaret Thatcher said this. What ever you think about her, she was right in saying this.

Don't put stuff off, do it now. Now.

Where on Earth are we going?

As a companion to "What on Earth are we doing?" I'm also planning to write a book called "Where on Earth are we going?".

This would be the cover.

Pictures of 2005

Reuters Pictures of 2005. Brilliant.

Brandweek: Best & Worst Marketing Ideas of 2005

This is good fun. Very American (it mostly talks about American ideas) but still worth a read.

It's a PDF and you can download it here.