Where is your audiences attention.

If there is one thing I have learned from working with teams of people throughout different companies is that there tends to be a some kind of disconnect between the marketing team and the desired audience that said company wants (granted that is their job to solve that gap.)

I find that the first people to pick up on this are the designers. Why, I am not too sure. Maybe understanding the subtleties of the story being told gives them a better insight into why the company is not getting the attention they want.

Also why I think that it is not unheard of for designers and marketers to jump between those two professions often. Some find they get one side or the other better.

A short story/example.

It was not a rare thing for me to work with a company that needed some work done on the aesthetic side of things and worked with the marketing team. Their audience was the early 20's to around 45yr old age group. Great, solid demographic to market to.

The very first thing they wanted to do was do a direct mail blast, some other printed publications and some direct email marketing campaigns.

What?!?! Blew my mind. Even though I would get paid regardless.

Anytime someone hands me a piece of paper, a brochure, information, card, or mails me something...and I did not ask for it. The first thing I do is toss it right in the trash.

I did not ask for this, I did not want it, you are selling me something or a service that I also do not want or have no need for.

Right in the trash with you.

Just the same with email campaigns. If I do not shop or use your service regularly, there is a maybe 5% chance I open it....maybeeeee 5%. That small chance I do....even a smaller chance of me clicking a link or following through on anything in the email.

Cut it out.

I fall into that demographic stated early. My attention is not on print media and good luck with email. My attention is on my phone and social media apps. That is where you have your best luck reaching me. Other then that, I do not want to marketed at.

It is like walking into a store and a sale rep coming right up to you asking you what you want, if you want to try anything and starts trying to sell me stuff.

The chance of me coming back to your store after that is low.

Understand where attention is and how to best use it.

So instead of that company wasting money on me redesigning print material, I helped them understand where their audiences attention is and helped to design digital ads for different platforms that would better reach who they want.

Design and tell your story where people are actually listening.

Go near the fringes.

Whenever I start a new design or project I do my best to tackle it from every angle I can imagine that way I have many different looks to use in my development of the design.

Having many different points of references allows you to pick the best solution for the problem you trying to solve.

Now what do I mean by work with the fringes. It means taking the design principles you learned and pushing them to a limit that often you are not comfortable with. One of my favorite examples of this is scale.

Scale can be such a powerful tool when used properly in your ability to tell powerful, convincing and dynamic stories. Scale is the size of an element as it relates to its usual physical size. The ability to use the size of elements on a plane to dictate the narrative is a next level design skill. Everyone loves drama and what is more dramatic then large elements juxtaposed against small elements. But there must be a rhyme to the reason or else you are risking the loss of computational fluidity.

I always take the element I am using and make whatever is important really big....like uncomfortably big. Just to see where the fringe is. You would be surprised at how many times what you thought would be too big is actually in the viable realm of use.

Just the same when it comes to making elements small. Scale objects down till they seem too small. This is helping you define the usable spaces around and how you will tell your story.

From here on, you will find that it is a juggling act of scale comparisons. The bigger things are, the more dramatic they seem, almost like it is shouting at you. Just the same small things are often just a whisper and sometimes can be missed altogether.

This is not to say that something large cannot be soft but it is all about the relationship to other elements.

You will also start to see that compositions that often have all the elements roughly the same size are boring, unresolved and bothersome. Now, there are often exceptions of course, we must take into account the reason for the design in the first place. But generally speaking, scale is something that really brings it too life.

Be daring and create some drama.

Whitespace is your friend.

A lot of designers are constantly fighting the the urge to "fill the space". When composing a layout, poster etc. We try to use whitespace to help improve the composition to communicate as best as possible.

I look at whitespace like I look at a good type family. When they are used, a great type does not sit on top of the plane but it sits inside of the plane. Not sitting over or covering the space but inhabiting the  space and sharing it with the emptiness.

I scale that up to composition elements when applicable. When designing a layout I try to make sure the headers, body text etc simply do not just take up space over the plane. But these elements sit inside of the plane themselves, creating a relationship between elements and empty space.

These empty spaces are vital to the compositional flow of any look and learning how to use space to direct the eye is super important to any successful solution. Some designers and even clients get aggravated with too much or little white space because "There is to much blank space, you hardly did anything etc." Now maybe they are right...that is another issue altogether. But let us just say they are wrong. Whitespace that is used correctly can be hard to come by and makes a design stronger. So to get to the best solution which looks like minimum work sometimes requires massive amounts of work to get there. Simple does not always mean easy.

Taking time to learn how to dictate a viewers eye and command a composition is going to pay great dividends in the long run. Learn when a design is too busy or maybe when there is too much space. The constant battle of balance is what we are left with.

"Less is not always more, just enough is more." Milton Glaser.

Where it all started.

Everyone at some point ends up asking me where it all started with my passion for art and design.

It was my grandmother.

She loved art...especially oil painting. It was her hobby that she spent years developing. Taking classes, practicing, reading books and continually learning. Even till she was into her 90's!

From a young age, grandma loved to share her art with me. It was something fun to do with her and bond over. We did not live super close so I always would draw things and mail them to her religiously, showing her how much I have learned and how much better I had gotten.

She was the first one to tell me that I would grow up to be an artist of some sorts.

The never ending support she gave me to do what I loved to do is what really stoked the flames. At a young age I found myself in love with art and doing it now for myself.

She was always sending me old boxes of art history books, photos of her work (or actual work) art contests to try and of course materials to practice with. She continued to support me till the day she passed away.

If it was not for her, I have no idea what I would be doing now. Not one clue. It seemed like I knew that I was suppose to be doing this since day one.

Thank you gram' for everything. I love you very much.

Oh for fonts sake!

Now, do not misunderstand what I am about to say. So let me say this before we get started here....

There are tons of terrible fonts....a lot. But who gets to decided what is good and bad? Who are the gate keepers that decide what looks good and what is crap or passe?

There are some well known and great designers who use fonts that I would never think would be acceptable by mainstream designers. Other times I am like...."Ok, looks great but can we use something other than the same old 5 fonts?"

Good type setting seems to be slowly dying off and is being overlooked (super guilty, I am trying to step my game up here).

I understand that communication is key and that a font can say volumes with its kerning, tracking, density, serifs etc. So the importance of type choice is obviously super important.

What helps me stay sane is the notion that a character does not sit on or over the plane. But instead it sits inside the plane and the relationship between other characters and the space it is occupying is of the utmost importance. This fine dance we do with grids, spacing and composition can sometimes be exhausting.

At the end of the day though, is our ability to pick a good type just the result of trends? Does a trend make something good? Well of course not. Are some types timeless? Some would ague yes. Others would argue they have lives, to be born and die themselves.

Maybe there is something more I am missing. Maybe they are more like tools, thousands to choose from. Making the choice up to me (us) to choose which tool communicates the best.

But boy that leaves me still wanting though.

Learn the pen tool!!

Something short and sweet for any designer, graphics junky or person who uses the Adobe software for anything.

If you want to take your abilities and talents to the next level, it is imperative to learn the pen tool. I grew up with a background in fine arts and have always been very handy with a pencil or anything you put in my hand. When I made the transition to computers, I found myself feeling cooped up and uncomfortable not being able to make the same images I can with my hands.

Now don't get me wrong, there are still times and places where I use my hand ability to create and draw whatever I am making. But then I scan it and do the editing digitally to finish a logo, illustration or whatever it may be.

When using a vector program, there is no replacing the ability to create your own vector illustrations or being able to redraw and vector hand drawn illustrations you scanned. This can send you talents and worth sky high since hand illustration is a dying form often not utilized.

When working in Photoshop, the pen tool is still hands down my favorite way to make my selections. Being able to control a line exactly how I need it in order to make selections is imperative for professional quality photo-manipulations. Once you understand the pen tool, mix that with a good understanding of feathering and image resolution and you have a wonderful bases for making pixel perfect selections.

Learn the pen tool and master it!