Noisy Decent Graphics

Graphic Design and Obama

In the past few weeks I've had lots of students emailing me to ask what I think about the Obama branding.

I know a little bit about this having run some sessions in the summer which covered this topic*. I don't want to offer my personal opinion on Obama or even his brand. That has been done many times before and it has been done better elsewhere. So instead I will point you to some things I think you will find useful.

First up, if you read nothing else, read this article in Newsweek where Michael Bierut talks about Brand Obama. It's the best thing I've read on the subject by a long way.

"There's an absolute level of control that I have trouble achieving with my corporate clients."

Armin at Speak Up wrote probably the first decent article on Brand Obama. It set the tone, it's comprehensive and it's very good. It also includes all those variations of the logo.

"For each segment of people, the logo changes accordingly, tip-toeing a fine line between cliché and clever, and never crossing to the former's dark side."

Obama has used the web very well. His Twitter feed is here and an article on him and Social Networking is over here. It tells you why they say Obama is very Cybergenic.

And there's lots more. Here's a great image gallery from The Guardian. Every Presidential candidate needs a private jet. Obama and the kids? Read that here. Richard on the great Great Schlep campaigng.

Did you know that Obama's supporters made an iPhone app in 3 weeks? User generated Obama posters. 30 graphic designers present 30 reasons to vote for Barack Obama. And even that wassup commercial remixed for today.

And finally I presume you've all read Michael Johnson's round up in this weeks Design Week.

* Yes, that is deliberately vague.

What The City looks like at night

"glowing changing rainbow tron grid filling a square in the City, underlying structure of the universe shining through" as Matt would say. Well, as Matt said.

Lego Wall Hacks

Brilliant. Mad. Good. Let's do this more.

A Management Guide to Corporate Identity

A while ago Julian very kindly sent me this lovely, wonderful book. For free. As a gift. What a nice man.

It's from 1971, it's a handy Management Guide to Corporate Identity and it's bloody brilliant. Lots of bonkers charts.

Loads of gorgeous stuff in there including Crown, Smiths, Peter Dominic and the British Transport Docks Board. Wonderful. Thanks Julian.

D&AD stuff

I'm sorry I haven't done a review of the D&AD Annual like I have in previous years. It feels a bit late now you've all seen it haven't you? It's online anyway for members and non-members alike. Which is fantastic.

Now, some other D&AD news. They've started putting lectures online as podcasts, which is brilliant. Easy and accessible and the quality is good.

Lots of people leave comments on my review of the Ivan Chermayeff lecture saying they wish they could watch it. Well now you can.

Tony Davidson is up there as well, as is Irma Boom and Paul Davis. You can subscribe straight through iTunes (opens link in iTunes).

There's some good interviews with Kyle Cooper and Garrick Hamm on YouTube, all well worth watching.

The brilliant 45 years of pencils exhibition is now on Flickr.

Last but not least you can now enter the D&AD Awards. After all the fuss last year it's important that us graphic designers enter some bloody good work and that we win. There's only one way to win and that's to enter. So enter. They've made it cheaper this year too!

That Fiat pic in Autocar

The Fiat post for a few days ago made it in to this weeks Autocar (with full credit etc etc).

The guy that owns the Fiat has gotta be happy with that?

The story has also been on blogs all over the place, especially a couple of big US ones. If Fiat have been watching all this they should give this guy a new van and see if they can turn this into a brilliant little story. Let's see what happens.

My Internet Remix

Michael has brilliantly printed out My Internet and stuck it on his wall. It looks so good Swiss Miss picked up on it. Whilst we're talking about that Matt wrote a very similar (and brilliant) version of this in 2001. it's called WebDogme 01 and it's well worth a read. it contains the great line, "The browser must not be violated".

Books you should own

Sometimes people, usually students, email me and ask me what books they should read.  Here are two classics that should never be over looked. They're pretty famous, but if you're a new student you may not have heard of them (and let's face it one of them is 12 years old) so I thought it worth mentioning them again.

You'll notice I've said 'books you should own' and not 'books you should read' that's becuase you should OWN these books. They're not really the sort of books you can read, they're the sort of books you should own and keep coming back to again and again. And it's Christmas soon, so you can put them on your list.

A Smile in the Mind is a lovely book. It feels a bit dated now but that doesn't stop it being a great book. And it shouldn't stop you buying it. Just don't copy every logo for every project you work on. It's full of witty, penny dropping moments in graphic design. There's some great stuff by some great designers. It's also a book you can give to non-designers and they'll happily spend an hour looking through it.

The Art of Looking Sideways is an equally lovely book. If magpies were graphic designers and they could write books, this is the book they would write. And wonderful collection of images, quotes, thoughts, photos, stuff. I guess you might call it a thought starter. If you spoke like that. It's a book full of inspiration and one that can get you out of the deepest funk.

Both of these books get better with time.

Quiet Please

Great photo, borrowed with kind permission from Cakehole and seen in The Design Disease Flickr pool. You should sign up to that.

 

My Internet

Ages ago a Head of Internet (or something like that) from a big high street retail brand asked me why a website looked smaller on my computer than it did on his.

"Well, my screen resolution is different" I answered. Obviously. There was a small silence. "Explain to me about screen resolution again..."

This wasn't the first time this had happened. Someone very high up in an organisation and in charge of an internet didn't know what srceen res was. Now, I'm not being facetious you can't expect everyone to know everything. But I thought it might be a nice idea to get everyone to describe 'their internet' at the first meeting of any new client. Like they do at school when the new kids arrive mid term. Get everyone up to the same level. That way, everyone would know the 'level' of everyone else and there would be no clangers later on.

Here's My Internet, it's not finished so feel free to add your own in the comments.

1. My Internet doesn't use flash, evahhh. Unless it's a video, and then only for video.

2. My Internet prefers html text wherever possible.

3. My Internet lets me use my email address or my usual username as a username. It doesn't give me one or make me create a new one.

4. My Internet lets me use a password entirely of my own choosing. It doesn't make me add numbers or Capitals wH3re I don't want them.

5. My Internet values simplicity and clarity over almost everything else.

6. My Internet prefers tools that I'm familiar with like Flickr, YouTube, iTunes, Google etc. It doesn't reinvent convention for the sake of it.

7. My Internet has a screen resolution of 1024x768. Today. As I write this. That will change sooner than you think.

8. My Internet has absolute urls for everything.

9. My Internet may not have exactly the same colours as My Printed Matter.

10. If My Internet was forced to choose between speed and visual lushness, speed would win easily.

11. My Internet has no back, forward or print buttons. That's what My Browser is for.

12. My Internet has contact details clearly accessible right from the word go.

13. My Internet will not work for everyone, everywhere, always, at the same time, all the time. It will especially not work for CEO's Aunties.

This could be the best book ever.

I'll read it and let you know.

Wouldn't it be better if it said 'Please Reuse'?

I know that 'Please Recycle' is very good. I know. But it's a big box and it could easily be reused.

I Mean, Grand

I don't know about you, but I love the smell of a fresh new Tube station first thing in the morning.

This is Shepherd's Bush. Brand spanking new. Lovely new signage.

All clean and nice. Strong, non faded colours.

Like a blank canvas.

The only thing they've lost is the funny little sign which used to tell you the origin of the name. Oh well.

This Fiat Is Very Unreliable

I saw this earlier today and rushed up to take a photo.

Obviously I know very little about it apart from what I can see;

1. It's on a Fiat.

2. It's a new Fiat, March 2007.

3. This is looks like a genuine van for a genuine tradesman. It has contact details.

So we can assume that it's a authentically pissed off van owner and not a TV prop or a stunt or something. It looks like a pretty effective way to take revenge. I bet Fiat hate it if he turns up at the local dealership. And it's highly visible on the road, and now thanks to me, on search engines.

I'm sure there's a name for this. Antivertising or something. But that's for other people. It made me smile, so I thought I'd share it with you.

D&AD 45 Years Exhibition Book

Anyone want this? I don't.

I don't mean that to sound ungrateful. It's a very nice thing. It's just that it'll sit on the shelf and you know, just sit there. Doing nothing. Adding no value to the world. So I thought someone might be able to give it a better home.

Errr, you can't read that, sorry.

It's designed by Build (I bet you lot love Build, don't you?) and it features all the text from the excellent D&AD exhibition. It's all the Presidents talking about their favourite piece of work from their year. Very good.

So pop over to the FAQ's, find my email address (think of that as an initiation test) and send me your address. First address I get - gets the book. Simple. Bosh. Break it down.

UPDATE: Competition closed. It's going to Matthew in North Yorkshire.

Life In The Muddle

Not graphic design related at all, but I know that lots of you would like to know that Life In The Middle is back.

The Economist cover this week

Gratefully received from one of our readers.

Credit Crunch Graphics

I'm gonna start a new, loosely curated, series on Credit Crunch Graphics.

I love this Economist cover. This sort of stark, powerful illustration is the reason I first started buying The Economist.

This is a nice little in-joke from the FT. Promoting their well known, regular supplement 'How to Spend It' on the top left and promoting the one off Credit Crunch special with the line 'How to Survive It' on the top right.

I guess this is the first financial crisis in the era of "You can't move in London without someone giving you the news". That's why it has to have a catchy name and it has to be the biggest crash and the biggest bail out. This is also why it has to be happening NOW. Whereas history will probably have the Credit Crunch dated as 2007 -2010. Something like that.

Here's Robert Peston the unbiased bringer of many leaked scoops (you knew his father was a Labour peer, right?). But ignore him (go on, please) and look at that Global Financial Crisis logo. What's the point of the bloody arrow?

Sure the arrow signals down, which is the way everything is travelling, but is it necessary? Is it helpful? Surely the word Crisis communicates enough. A better use of the arrow would be on I in Financial and then we could lose the Crisis. Sort of.

To be continued.

UPDATE: Due to popular demand, I've created the Credit Crunch Graphics flickr pool.

This Is Not A Joke

Look carefully on the top left. Pizza Hut has changed it's name to Pasta Hut.

No joke of a lie. Pizza Hut is now Pasta Hut.

Go to the website and watch the cheesiest flash video (again top left) of two workmen replacing the neon Pizza with a neon Pasta. Unbelievable.

And here's a picture of a new Pasta Hut restaurant from the Daily Telegraph. I was starting to wonder why they keep saying, "these are strange times" on the news...

Panic Room Film Titles

I thought I'd written about how much I love the Panic Room film titles before. Turns out I haven't.

I love the Panic Room film titles. You can now watch them here courtesy of a great site called Art of the Title which has oodles and oodles of lovely film titles and end credits online. Found via Design Observer.

It should be noted that the Panic Room titles owe an inspiration debt to Saul Bass' titles for North by Northwest.