Monthly Archives: February 2012

Designed with a purpose in mind.

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I recently made the site www.gmcak.com for Generations Medical Center based in Wasilla, Alaska. I think it looks fantastic. It’s a very clean site which is great for a medical center, not for a day care.

That’s a very important thing to consider when you have a site made. What is the mission of this website and who do you want it to appeal to? Who is your audience? Is your site there to inform people or to sell a product? There are so many things to think about when making a website. This is why I like to talk to clients before I begin about the intended purpose of the site. Occasionally I get a client who has no clue what they want the site to look like and they don’t really care. If this is the case, I will do my best to evaluate your business, your customers, and how your website is going to help your business, then model your website accordingly.

The medical center is a perfect example of this. The website is there to give information to potential and current patients and to establish confidence in the center. So important things to think about are what is important when delivering information and what establishes confidence in a medical center?
When delivering information, it’s all about ease of use. The site is laid out very simply with links at the top and bottom of the pages.
In order to assure the patient and to give them confidence in the medical center, the site is both clean (as we would hope our doctors offices to be) and the site is professional (also a quality we look for in our doctors).

So make sure you think about these things when having a website made or anything for that matter. Flyers, business cards, and brochures all should be made with your audience in mind. After all, these things are for them.

Are graphic designers flooding the workforce?

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This last year I have met more graphic designers than Carter has liver pills (as my grandmother would say). I started to think about how many young people are pursuing a career in graphic design and you could see how that could be worrying for me; but, I’m not worried. Here’s why, students pursuing graphic design very rarely end up solely a graphic designer. Designers are used in so many different professions that there is plenty of room. Someone with a degree in graphic design may end up a web designer, they may end up in advertising, public relations, fine arts, or something else! There’s so many different areas graphic designers can be used that the future is bright.

The other part of this flood of graphic designers is that, “graphic designers” are a dime a dozen but a good graphic designer is a rarity. I have met several people who claim to be graphic designers but after reviewing their work I realize, they aren’t really graphic designers. They’re unemployed and they know how to use microsoft publisher. That may sound harsh but its true. I think a lot of people try becoming graphic designers because they lost their job or they can’t find work so they think they can just start making money on their laptop at home. Well truth is, these people may be able to make a few bucks but they’re not going to have any return clients and they aren’t going to be able to make a house payment from designing a few business cards. Eventually, these people will end up finding a job somewhere else.

All of these “graphic designers” may initially take away some business from professional designers but when the clients get back poorly designed work they will be more willing to hire a professional the next time. It also helps people understand why professional designers charge more. It’s easy for somebody getting an unemployment check to charge $50 for business cards, enough to keep their frappuccino fund active while they look for a new job but a professional has to make a house payment, pay for insurance, buy equipment and pay the bills. Not to mention hopefully receive a salary. So yes, a real designer is going to be more expensive because we have real expenses. The upside is that we have dedicated our career to design. This is what we do. We have quality work and we back it up. If you need a design tweaked in 5 years, I’m here I still have the files and I can do that for you. So moral of the story, make sure the person you are about to hire is professional, has some kind of training and is committed. You’ll be glad you did.

As always, if I can help you with anything or answer questions. Please, let me know.
-Bryce

Trending designs.

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I’ve recently taken on the role of Design Director for True North Magazine based out of Anchorage, Alaska. This has set me on a journey to discover what is trending in magazine design and as usual there is no solid answer.

Magazine design is not that different from other graphic design, especially advertisement/promotions. Essentially your magazine is your product that you are trying to sell, which makes the similarities between product promotion design and magazine design very understandable. As we are seeing more and more, advertising is the new art. The creators of the latest Nike campaign are the Da Vinci’s of today. Just don’t tell the hardcore artists that. So most of these types of design that are promoting something or another are moving along general design trends. I sat back and contemplated the trendiest designs of 2011 and have decided that two biggest trends are fresh typography and simplicity.

Simplicity is the ultimate form of sophistication.
- Leonardo Da Vinci

Typography, being font style, has become a huge deal the last few years. There are literally whole companies that all they do is design fonts, or consult on what font’s for a business to use. Finding the right font is absolutely critical to good design. The downside of this is that it can be very time consuming and not especially interesting. Recently I had a dream (or more accurately nightmare) that I was choosing fonts all night long. The whole night I just scrolled down a list of fonts! I woke up exhausted and ready to snap. So if you ever see a font you like, write down the name and save it for later so you won’t have to track it down again.

Simplicity. Cleanliness. Purity. Blank Space.
All these have become more and more trendy over the last few years. Just look at the Pepsi can. Six years ago it was a mess of bubbles and swirls and writing, today it is nothing but a logo on solid blue. Same with Coca-Cola. Leaving space is absolutely essential for good design.

One final goodie I’ll leave you with is that gray and white are the colors of the year, if you can call them color. Apple computers has pushed gray as far as it can be pushed and I love it. Of course you can only keep someone interested in gray and white for so long so a single bright color used sparingly can be very affective and fun.

Any questions? Or If you need a graphic designer. Shoot me an email!