RobSog

Trinity Finance CZ

Logo design for a friend here in Prague.

If the face fits: the logos of Web 2.0

Joy of joys . . . Dean has posted over at Joyeur on logo design for Web 2.0 identities.

Viewpoints on whether Web 2.0 means more than ajax aside, Dean points us to FontShop's post on the fonts used for the logos of these organisations (original compilation courtesy of Stabiblo Boss).

ShoZu squeezed into 'Part 1' with it's logo courtesy of OptaDesign, set in a tweaked version of FF Cocon by Evert Bloemsma. Opta's contribution makes it into the 'softies' category:

'A clear trend in new identities is the use of soft, rounded typefaces dominated by VAG Rounded (AKA Rundschrift), but also including Helvetica Rounded, Arial Rounded, Bryant, and FF Cocon. All of these lend a modern friendliness to what might otherwise be a cold trademark.'

'Modern friendliness' sticks in my mind as apt description of Cocon. And from a Dutch designer – seems very appropriate don't you think?

Time to return to the classics
A quick scan of 'Part I' from my perspective as a typo+graphic designer and user of a fair few web applications (such as Strongspace™, Skype, Blinksale, Basecamp, Flickr) sees the majority set in what Stephen Coles calls 'the classics'. And for good reason if you follow Erik's logic on what makes a 'classic typeface':

'What makes a good typeface is decided by the users, not the designer. Most good typefaces have been designed for one purpose, they do not come from a designer’s whim.'

That's why I start most journeys in identity design with the usual suspects that I have spent some time getting to know in print and on screen: Meta, Bodoni (the ITC cut), Bureau Grotesque, Minion, Scala, Thesis . . . (enough already, Ed.)

But I digress . . .
Returning to our crazy friends logo wallpaper v.2, some questions spring to mind:
– how long did those images by the Boss take to put together?
– what will Web 3.0 look and feel like?

God bless MaritimeGSM, and all who sail in her

New website courtesy of OptaDesign (the best typo / graphic design boutique in the United Kingdom (OK Cambridge – OK then, north of the river Cam).

OptaDesign[ed]

Coming soon to a website near you, words and pictures under this brand new brand – Mobile200. By Mr Zibbs and I.

A web/infomation design job that matters

A post to the members forum at ATypI (Association Typographique Internationale) just pinged the following – Text Matters are hiring. Here's the skinny:

Web/information designer
Text Matters, an information design practice based in Reading, UK, is looking for a web designer to work on a variety of new and existing sites. See www.textmatters.com for our approach and some examples of our work.

The right person will be a creative designer who understands information design & typography and is happy to work with a small multiskilled team.

Apart from visual design talent and some web-design experience, they will need have these skills:

– Good understanding of HTML, XHTML, XML (and the differences between them)
– Good understanding of usability and accessibility (and the differences between them)
– Fluent CSS
– Good understanding of information architecture
– Good writing skills
– Ability to work smoothly with clients and programmers

Nice-to-have skills include (most important first) some selection of:
– Python
– Zope/Plone
– XSLT

We do not use Flash.

We are really looking for someone to work with us full time in Reading, but we are prepared to consider other options.

Please express your interest by sending a CV and [links to] examples of sites you have worked on to markb at textmatters.com.
--
Mark Barratt | Text Matters
Information design: we help explain things using
language | design | systems | process improvement
––

No point making stupid things look great
So why am I plugging a job ad for Text Matters? Because this is the kind of place I'd want to work at if I wasn't already happily engaged as a partner at OptaDesign. Specifically it's TM's emphasis on attributes complementary to the overused and fluffy 'creative' that rocks my boat*.

Not that being 'creative' isn't important, it's just that in more complex design jobs – well any job let's face it – being a stylist concerned only with a superficial veneer just doesn't cut the mustard in the long-term. You might feel you're getting away with it for a while (see here how to do just that: link via reddit) but this is difficult to square with those nagging little voices saying 'there must be a better way.'

Transformers – definitely NOT robots in disguise
Robert Waller and Michael Macdonald-Ross (when they were both at the Open University) sum up this desire to good stuff in a piece of design writing I count as highly influential, when they wrote 'The Transformer'.† Here's a nice snippet:

'The transformer starts with what to say, and then resolves how best to say it. Naturally, this distinction must not be overdone. What you want to say does partly determine how you say it and, in return, the content of a message is always altered to some some extent by the way it is put over. Nevertheless, the distinction is a useful one. First one discusses the content of the message with the experts; later one works out the exact form of the message with the help of illustrators, photographers, programmers‡ . . . and other technical people. The skills faced differ at each stage. The cycle is complete when the transformer discovers what effect the message has on the reader.'

So that's what I aim to be as a 'creative designer' – a transformer. As the editor of the abstract in the Penrose version of 'The transformer' wrote:

'Break down the barriers in the interests of the reader. Take responsibility for the success or failure of the communication. Do not accept a label or a slot on a production line. Be a complete human being with moral and intellectual integrity and thoroughgoing technical competence.'

Definitely not a robot then. Wonder if I'll ever get there? Beep . . . .

*Hugh's definition of creative is a must read for anyone trying to get a handle on that side of their personality – you know the bit that really likes to make things, good things, better than what they see around them. As Paul Graham says 'Great work usually seems to happen because someone sees something and thinks, I could do better than that'.

†Written in 1974 while the authors were with the Open University, this paper first appeared in the 1976 Penrose Annual. See 'The transformer revisited in Information Design Journal (IDJ) 9/2&3 (2000) pp.177–193.

‡I've cheated slightly here . . . prize to the first one who picks my hack at the original ;o)

[Disclosure: I studied Typography & Graphic Communications at Reading – and TM have close links to the University as you can see from their 'our people page'.

A winning message

One of OptaDesign's clients ShoZu has just won Best Mobile Messaging Service at the GSM Association Awards 2006 in Barcelona. Congratulations to all involved. I know how hard everyone at Cognima (the proud parents) have been working to make this happen ;o)

Shozu: what's that then?
ShoZu or 'show's you' is a friendly application that you can download to your favourite lifestyle accessory – the mobile phone (or 'cell' phone if you're from the good old US of A). It makes for a quick and easy way to upload your stories (be it text, video or images) to social network websites such as Flickr, Webshots, Buzznet.

Caveat lector: you need a newish cameraphone to use the free service – so being a bit of a laggard phone wise, I'm not out there with the early adopters using ShoZu just yet. There are however, plenty of people who are though. Being at the end of resaonable broadband connection in Cambridge UK and a white-hot one in Prague CZ, I'm more of a VoIP man myself using Skype for voice, file transfer and Instant Messaging (IM).*

Show me the plan – getting the message across
Talking of IM, the Mobile Network Operators (MNO's) PR efforts at the above Barcelona shindig have concentrated on pushing Instant Messaging as a compliment to SMS (text messaging) – albeit when they have finally broken out of their own walled-garden idea of keeping users in one place. They will might do well to negociate flexible pricing plans such as those for web applications. Basecamp, I'm looking in your direction.

Bill Gates and his crew are in on the act. Let's just hope the interface designers can make Mobile IM (MIM), or Wireless IM (WIM) an intuitive, easy-to-use experience on a really small screen. Good design really can be good business, so it would help adoption if someone smart was on the case. Talking of good design . . .

Hyperlinks subvert hierachies
On a converging section of single-track, Jeff Veen recently found treading an Adaptive Path, has announced he's been tempted to don Google lycra, as Measure Map has been snapped up by the big 'G'. Hopefully Jeff will be back posting on design and social software matters very soon. Hopefully there will some cycling tales up to Mountain View to boot . . .

*Think link: interesting thread on 'pipes' and the incumbent phone companies in the States.

Harmonize, then customize

Observed elsewhere: harmonize, then customize. I find this as good a model for making great design work as anything else I've ever heard.

Giving ‘designers’ a bad name

Oh dear – these Charlies have been rumbled. As Jeff Veen says, compare the above with Adaptive Path. Taking flattery to a whole new level.

Any text is constructed as a mosaic of quotations; any text is the absorbtion and transformation of another. The notion of intertextuality replaces that of intersubjectivity.
Julia Kristeva

Tell me, ye learned reader, shall we for ever . . . make new books, as apothecaries make mixtures, by pouring only out of one vessel into another?
Laurence Sterne

Great album covers

OK, the title of this post is somewhat misleading when you have a butcher's hook at the example below. Infact it's the polar opposite. Apologies for the tautology – but on second thoughts, 'polar' reflects the chunky-knit sweater look of our axe-wielding hero so I'll leave it be.

I'm curious as to his choice of accessories (I mean what is in the bag?), but then he's obviously not the average Dad returning home from a hard day at the office. Perhaps he's going 'smorgasboard on these poindexters'? Or maybe on the copy-editor who missed a certain typo?

Weather Report
As my Swedish Mum is keen on saying this time of year 'there's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothing'; though I think she might take issue with another disk by our Jimmy. I mean look at that letter-spacing…

Well it's turning into a cold winter here in Prague and the forecast for my return back to Cambridge, although not quite so wintry, is nonetheless a bit 'zima' so I'll pack my fishtail parker. See you all 'in the bridge.'

Breadcrumb trail, or how I found the above on the 'interweb' (as James May calls it): the del.icio.us blog > Museum of bad album covers

Seconds out, round three

We didn't get it. Bugger.

Sentiments along similar lines are to be found floating around George Street, Cambridge and Praha 4 this afternoon. And the reason for the blues rather than the usual jollification normally found at these locations on a Friday afternoon?

Separated by a ciggy paper*
Well, to cut-to-the-chase, OptaDesign (and three other 'design oufits') were asked to pitch (in a paid pitch you will be pleased to hear – we don't do owt for nowt) for the redesign of the Fitzwilliam Museum website.

As you've guessed by now dear reader, we were pipped to the main prize – yep, we came an honourable second. (Wonders – maybe I should loose some weight and look more hungry? My trousers were a little tight.)¶

De-brief via Skype
Malcolm and I are none-the-less pleased as punch to have been asked in the first place to pitch for the contract. We did a great presentation (well not quite great enough Rob!) which was complimented with a lively discussion of the issues involved involved in bringing disparate parts of the site[s] together into a coherent whole. Many thanks again for being asked ;o)

Word of mouth is king
To be asked in the first place to pitch based only on previous work and recommendations from happy clients (rather than as a result of a cold-call) is just how we like to get new work (or otherwise ;o) Shame it didn't come-off this time.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Etymological bites
Talking of pitching, northern advertising agency cravens have a new website (with drawings by the irrepressible Hugh Macleod of gapingvoid fame, who, I suspect had a good deal to do with the words too). At number 4 from craven's '10 things that interest us', are a couple of words you will hear in the design/ad world. The first is 'pitch'. They riff thus:

'Goldman says that to understand the pain of the pitch you have to consider its origin. Back to a time of medieval religious persecution and the actions of one of its chief inquisitors.

This originated during the Spanish Inquisition. Torquemada, one of its leaders would tell imprisoned playwrights that if they could interest him in an idea, he would let them live long enough to write it. If not, they were dropped into a large vat (or pitch) of boiling tar, hence the term pitch.'

From pitch to deadline
Something we won't have to deal with with regard to the Fitz is the second word under the spotlight, deadline:

'Originating during the American Civil War: prisoners in that war were seldom held in purpose-built jails. More often, they were herded at gunpoint inside a makeshift boundary. The boundary had two lines, and a prisoner who stepped outside the inner boundary was ordered back, but one who over-stepped the outer boundary was shot. Thus it was called the deadline. Tough job this agency gig.'

Touché.

¶ Need to eat less pies – as does this man. Chapeau to web-meister and cyclist Jeff Veen for the link.

* A compositor tweaks letterspacing in metal type with cigarette papers to get that just 'just so' setting beloved of all fanatical typographers everywhere.