aspire to enquire

Two becomes One

Living, as I do, in Wales, it's become quite easy to take bilingualism for granted. Nearly everything here is available in both English and Welsh. 

Which is why I found the use of Spanish so interesting when I was in New York this summer. 

I'm hoping this post won't become an exploration of the use of language as signifier of cultural identity, because that's something I know very little about. 

But as a Welsh Graphic Communications student, there are a parts of bilinguality that we are invited to explore. 

For starters, it's a huge challenge: In a lot of professional Welsh graphic design jobs, not only are you required to produce a beautiful and effective poster, website or brochure, but it has to come in two languages, without losing any of its effect. There are whole design companies who specialise in it.

Moreover, you need someone in your company who can speak the language. But they also need a firm enough grasp of it to be able to translate not just the words but also the meaning. In a country whose language is based upon convergence of centuries old local and regional dialect, that's not going to be easy. This is hard enough when being done by a Welsh company - what about the companies advertising in Wales but based externally?

All of which makes it a little easier to understand little oops moments like this:

© BBC. The Welsh translation to this sign reads something like "I'm not in the office at the moment, please send my work for translation"

Despite those setbacks, I still see the use of Welsh as a challenge, not a constraint.

I also think that there should be more reasons to use both languages than just that it's the law. 

Admittedly, most sane people have probably thought at least once in their life that seeing as the whole population speaks English, what's the point of using Welsh at all (there was an interesting Rob Brydon documentary on this subject the other week actually). But I think they're missing some of the point.

A well-designed bilingual poster will not just reach the demographic that English one would have done; DIY enthusiasts, benefit claimers, or whoever, it will also reach a Welsh Person. It's a self-identifying demographic. 

It could encourage more of a sense of empathy, or community, or inclusiveness. It could draw on Welsh colloquialisms to give more local impact. It could do all sorts of things by speaking exclusively to Welsh People, whether English or Welsh speaking. As aspiring designers and advertisers we should be relishing this opportunity.

As an aside, I was just listening the new Seth Godin audio book ("Tribes"), and he quotes someone who says we should stop using the word "opportunity" and replace it with "obligation". So there you go.

In New York, I found it all a bit confusing.

This billboard is in north Brooklyn bordering on an area called Greenpoint which has a long history of being colonised primarily by Polish emigrants.

This kind of advertising is everywhere in New York. If you call any big phone number, you're given the opportunity to speak in Spanish, much like in Wales with Welsh. 

I don't have a problem with advertising or communicating in a country's second language, as I said above. But I think there's an opportunity being missed. If not for value-building reasons, at least for money-saving ones.

Unsurprisingly for me, being one myself, it's the smug Europeans who are already starting to do it a bit better:

And reassuringly, there's instances where I'm reminded all to fondly of some Welsh signs.

I guess my point is this: Wouldn't it be great if the idea of being a New Yorker included the idea of multilingualism?

Of course, if you ask anyone, it already does. 

So why don't we see that in the graphic design there? Why do Bank of America have to have separate posters? Is the Spanish-speaking 2009 Toyota Corolla different to the English-speaking one? Are native English-speaking Americans to stupid to decode more than one language in a poster? Is there a problem with showing America as one, multicultural nation?

Less is more effective

I like a good logo. 

The last project we did was in some ways an identity project, and I've been thinking a lot recently anyway about what I really like about specific logos.

I'm a firm believer that logos don't have to necessarily have anything to do with what they represent, but when they do and it works, those are the times I seem to really remember and love the work.

The Fedex one is obviously a classic example of this. 

I did a little tweet the other day and was reminded of the times when I saw this and completely missed the awesome use of negative space between the E and the X. Now thanks to a pointer from a uni friend, whenever I look at it, I can't help but only see the arrow. 

It's so beautiful. 

There's a good interview with the man who designed it here actually, which is an interesting insight into brand identity creation.

Another logo I'm growing to love more and more is the World Dryer logo, which you don't really appreciate when it's at hand dryer label size, but it's absolutely lovely, and again there's a hint to the company in there:

I don't like the House of Fraser one so much (it doesn't really have anything to do with mass-market overpriced tat, for starters), but it is one of those ones where I looked at it for years without really noticing an integral part of it, the F shadow. I blogged this one before.

But food for thought, in this instance, comes when things like this are attempted, but completely miss the point. I'm suggesting the point is simplicity, symbolism, and often, humour. A smile in the mind, if you will.

Here's one example.

Ok, so you may have summed up everything that the Union supposedly does.

But, really?

Really though?

It's not about just using nice shapes and symbols, as I seem to have implied here, I mean do whatever you want. But I think with any logos I'll be producing personally from now on, I'll be making sure they can scale nicely, they have some sense of a concept to them, and ultimately, that they're visually pleasing. The whole 'recognition' thing, and the alignment with your brand, for me, is more about what you do with it, not the logo itself. That can come later.

As a final thought, that last statement is probably why I have such a problem with Pepsi's continuous re-brands. The latest one is just rubbish. Everyone's saying so. No really, everyone.

If your product and market share is so weak that you need to continuously reinvent it, surely you're going to keep starting from scratch, and keep finding yourself 10 years down the line needing to start all over again. Poor strategy, in my books. 

Imagine if Coca-Cola changed their logo! I know they sorta did in the 80s with the 'Coke' thing on bottles, but they never got rid of the actual thing, did they. A smiley face? 

News Ahoy!

I seem to remember being suspicious of facebook at first but once I actually got an account being pretty much sold on it from day one, and using it pretty much ever since. 

I saw some murmurings on mini-feeds last week about a 'pirate' setting, and thought it was just another one of many apps that people keep inviting you to join.

It turns out that you can, actually, officially change your language setting to 'pirate' for the whole site!

It's the little changes that are the most amusing to me, for example the 'arrrcount' settings on the bottom right-hand corner, the 'bewitched portraits', the 'abandon ship' log out link. It'll be interesting to see if I get bored of it, perhaps by then there'll be a jedi setting or something else to keep me occupied.

But I like how facebook have managed to bring humour into the interface, brightening it up without taking away any of its functionality. Rum all round!

Why not take a plunge and give it a go yourself!

AW08-09's key trend: bad powerpoint

Yesterday creative students from around South Wales went to the Odeon in Swansea for a Design Wales event that was introducing the ffres awards, a national student awards scheme, and hoping to shed some light on the competition briefs. We also had talks from trend forecasters and designers about general working method stuff. 

I've been to a few Design Wales events before, and this one was no different. But I guess I've never really noticed a theme before now. 

I started to get a feeling for it when heading into the auditorium:

This might look like some sort of crazy walkway, it's actually a cable that's been taped down discreetly, coming out of the theatre.

Then there were slides like this from the opening chap from DW...

And I liked the irony of this one - tell me again about ergonomics? 

And don't get me started on this chap...

Those are my word-inspired wiggly red lines. I should also apologise for the poor picture quality throughout, I was trying to be stealth.

I guess there are two points. Firstly, I don't think I can go a week without seeing a new guide or fact sheet on effective presentations popping up on the internet somewhere. Even since I've come back I've seen this, this and this. So, why are crimes like the above still going on? Especially at an organisation that claims to encourage good design in Welsh business. So that's my first point.

The second point relates back to the theme I mentioned in the first paragraph, the one I'm beginning to pick up from nearly every Design Wales event I've been to. We look like amateurs, us Welsh. I don't think we are, and every time we go into companies for college collaborations or talks, it's proved to me that there are some brilliant people here doing creative work. But whenever we get together and invite some Londoners over, we put up 200 word powerpoint slides and talk about the importance of design. 

This event was exactly the same. As expected, the visitors did what they'd travelled 3+ hours to do. We had two amazing talks. The first, an engrossing trends prediction for AW09-10 from Alison Hughes of Carlin International The second was from William Hall, who it turns out is featured in a Grafik magazine I have here. I'm glad he was last to talk, it pretty much saved the morning. Here he is engaging in a 'live' interview via powerpoint, with Matt Dent, the designer of the fantastic new UK coin series (Except it's not live now, it's just a photo. There's a similar video here though):

That was a presentation. 

Maybe instead of inviting students to these events to perpetuate this idea of best practice, Design Wales' next event might be some sort of 'effective presentations for creative professionals' style seminar. Before any more students are allowed anywhere near anything. Because otherwise new people to the industry will just keep following the same techniques.

Just a thought

I don't mean to poke fun.

And I'm no expert on New York property. 

But I'm guessing that a brand new condo apartment on W25th St. is going to set you back a few dollars.

I'm also not claiming to be an expert on graphic design. 

But, well, it's just that if I was working on something at this end of the market, I might have checked if there were windows involved. 

Just a thought.

My two Interesting08 contributions:

Both completely unnecessary, but I'll be taking along some green tea, and contributing a letterform to the Interesting08 font. Can you guess which it is? Pretty obvious isn't it. Go easy, it's my first letter.

What would you do

Slightly overdue on the 'my opinion on the Olympic logo' post, but a few events have occurred recently which has made me think about it a little more, and actually have an opinion. Ben Terrett did a really good summing up blog last year, though, that's probably still my favourite account of the whole thing. 

I guess after August we're going to be seeing a lot more of 2012 though, so here goes.

If you were asked to do an identity for a recurring event, I guess you've kind of got four options..

Option One, you could follow an established style, for example Modernism...

Option Two, you could use a style that befits the era...

Although with those examples, options one and two are kind of the same thing, aren't they?

Option Three, in the Olympics' case, you could do some sort of brush / woodcut thing...

... which also includes Greece. I guess this option is kind of the 'establishment' option. We fear change.

or Option Four, do something completely unprecedented, unique, and a little bit bonkers...

That's kind of why I like the 2012 logo, not because it's any good (which I'm in no position to judge, it's entirely subjective) but because it's brave enough and positive enough to stand up there and say "This is London in 2012 - confident, dynamic, fresh, modern and constantly pushing boundaries". 

I don't have any problem with that.

Also, it lends itself to treatments like this, which are rather lovely.

Horse of Fraser

I've never noticed the 'F' shadow on the House of Fraser reindeer before.

Start to Grow

Grow got off to a good start last week.

It was a real team effort, and, despite the stress of the build-up week of hanging and the associated arrangements, it was actually a lot of fun. The space we use is a little rubbish, but we managed to get it looking vaguely presentable and the work is all really good, so I think everyone was really proud not just of their own work, but of the whole thing. You never know if lecturers are being genuine, but their line was that "this year the second year show looks like a third year show, and the third year is of post-grad standard" so there you go.

The head of department said a few words, and also invited other speakers to present prizes. They were people who we had either worked on briefs for, or who were from companies offering work placements based on the work shown at the exhibition. I came second in one and won another, which is good, although in some ways a little unfortunate, as I'd pretty much based my USA trip on being able to work flat out for money before I left. I'm sure that in the long term it will have some merit though. It's also pretty amazing as I didn't really feel my work was that good. So really pleased.

Dave Cuvelot was awared "best student", or something along those lines, due to his work on alzheimers that you can see in the background. His work will be featured in the next uwic art prospectus and I think he won some money too. Along with Chris Welsby and Jo Williams, he also won a placement with London firm Brand Union who take on a few UWIC students every summer.

I picked out a few other students from the show who's work represent the cross section of work being produced. Dave's, above, is the extreme end of the typographic work that our tutors are really hot on working with us on.

Anna Roberts work, (pictured above with a smiling Anna), sits at the other end of the spectrum: They're A1 exploded photocopies of her sketch interpretations of the old photographs of Cardiff Bay. It's almost fine-art but really beautiful, and it proves that drawing is still an essential skill to have in the Mac age. I think it was really brave of her to show this work, considering that most other outcomes on show were slick, foam-mounted A3 posters. It really stands out.

I always love that Jenny Phillips work looks like it could actually be used 'in the real world'. She did some work last year that involved beer mats, I can't remember much more, but I really liked it. Her work here, for Fair Trade products, is slightly quirky, but, in my opinion, really imaginative and could definitely work. The key thing for me is that there aren't pictures of happy farmers. Her aim was to promote that there is more to fair trade than just the traditional products like coffee and bananas. In the wake of recent publicity, a worthy cause.

And here's Gemma Roberts (no relation to Anna) with her part of the show. Gemma's work is always really fun, really inventive and has a cool relationship between hand-made and computer generated work that is still really eye catching, even though it has been quite popular over the last 10 years or so. She did a brilliant 'E-Sting' earlier in the year, but I don't think it's displayed here. Her work for Feel Good Drinks was great and even at the show people were getting involved with it:

I wrote "horn solos". They make me smile.

So for my own work, I chose to display my two most recent projects, my D&AD competition entry (although I didn't actually enter), and a campaign for Cardiff Council encouraging drivers not to part irresponsibly. Here's my brilliantly lit little corner:

The 'freyja' piece is a proposal for a new brand of sanitary products, with the brief criticising current brands for being all flowery and pastel, and calling for a confident, positive and fun new brand. We were asked to produce the name, logo, and packaging design. Think I probably met the brief to about 25%, but I really chose that brief more for the challenge rather than for the outcome. Pretty pleased with it though.

You can't really see, but the packaging is based on cigarette packaging, to make the products more suitable for handbags. Unless you hate smokers.

My other project was just to try to make people think more about where they park, so various different applications based on the excuses people make for parking on double yellows. Varying amounts of text in each one, depending on where they'll be used.

That one got a surprisingly high mark, and I wasn't going to use it in the show, unfortunately my digital portfolio wasn't ready in time due to some pretty poor time management on my part. I'm actually quite glad, everyone else who had done a portfolio would have ripped mine to shreds!

Sadly, no one from Retro was there to offer their placement.

Massive well done to everyone involved. You can still go along and visit, till May 22nd I think, check the Graphics news page for opening times.

Some of my work is online.

A few weeks ago I was on work experience at East Communications, a Social Enterprise PR & Marketing company in Brighton. One of the main things I did there in the last few days was put together a template or two for their website, which didn't need a massive overhaul but did need a little refresh after some new staff had come on board.

So I took the existing layout principles and imagery and tried to give them a more 2008-y feel, adding the border, subtle gradients, and images that didn't feel confined to those borders. It's also a website that's far more suitable for screen-readers etc now, as it's all based on css rather than text as images, as it was previously. There is also about a fifth of the amount of distinct pages.

So, erm, here it is. I only managed to get 'home' and 'services' done in my time there, the lovely Andy Ward did the other pages, and has put the whole site up as their main online presence. I'm wondering now, though, if the 'back to top' style navigation I used was actually a little unsuitable when it came to the other pages.

Still, have a look and let me know what you think. I really enjoyed my time there and I'm honored and flattered that they've chosen to actually use my work in such a critical place for them. It's a real example of their social aims and values in action.