i-tees

In the last few weeks, I’ve been glued to both the internet and the TV (more than usual) for the latest on the world’s efforts to rescue the Haitian people in their time of need.

Photo from iStockPhoto.com

More than ever, I can’t help but notice the ridiculous ads that come up during the commercial breaks. I totally understand that if it weren’t for these advertisers, CNN or other news channels wouldn’t be on the air, or be able to pay the reporter’s and crew’s salaries and expenses when they travel to places like Haiti and we’ve got to have them, otherwise how would we stay informed. See the reality of it all.

I wonder sometimes what these advertisers are thinking? When I see advertising for luxury cars, luxury vacations, and the pharmaceutical products, most of which we don’t need, how can they put these ads up during times of crisis and think we’ll be interested in what they’re selling?

I must say that when I see an ad where a sports celebrity or company has created a new and timely ad, one where they are saying they will be donating to help the cause, I’m much more likely to respect that company and perhaps buy their product in the future.

Thanks for inventing the mute button. That helps.

A client whose website I am redesigning and updating, wrote to me recently and asked me to compare his website against another he’d come across. It seemed that his logo (icon) was 100% identical to the one on the other site and he wondered in my opinion if it was done by the same designer, or if perhaps, one designer copied the other.

These two companies couldn’t be farther apart in the industries they’re in, so perhaps whichever logo designer did them thought the two different clients would never see each other.

Now I must say that we’re all influenced by other designs, we cannot help it with the media we have before us. Between the internet, magazines and newspapers, TV, books, and all the existing companies with logos already trademarked, it’s a challenge to come up with an original logo design. But when I see two logos and they look like one was traced from the other, I know somebody copied the other, or was produced by the same designer.

What makes matters worse is the other website is an embarrassing health related type of site, and their icon is trademarked, so my client was horrified and now needs a new logo! When he approached the logo designer, the person just said, “Oh, really? Okay, would you like us to design a new logo for you?” I think that designer will not be surprised when he has to appear in court.

I felt I had to write about this because it made me wonder how an “artist,” a true “designer” would copy or use the same exact logo for two different clients. It makes me think that perhaps the company that produced the logos was more of a business and not a real artist, proud of their original designs, because a true artist would never copy their own work or someone else’s.

I know what you’re thinking, in web design we see templates for websites and blogs which are using this system and it works somewhat. You know, I’ll always try to convince my clients to go for an original design, even when it’s a blog. But branding a company, creating a logo/icon is very different and must always be original. This client not only had to remove it from their site, but will need to redesign their business cards, stationery and whatever marketing materials they’d created.

Here’s a link to another blog which talks more about this and shows a few examples similar to this case:
http://www.mikeindustries.com/blog/archive/2005/09/logo-originality

On the CBS evening news tonight, they featured Erik Proulx, who has created the film, “Lemonade.” After Erik lost his job as a senior copywriter he started a blog called, “Please Feed The Animals“ to help other advertising professionals reinvent themselves. Erik is the creator, executive producer and writer of the movie and he interviewed various creative people who had lost their jobs and shows what they are doing now. These creative people realized they now had the time to do the things they’d only dreamed about. Credits include: Directed by Marc Colucci, Directors of Photography are Peter Nelson and Will Van Hazel, Edited by Andre Betz. Producer & Executive Producer, Jennifer McKenzie, Producer, Carrie Jacobson, and Producer, Scott Burtnett.

It takes a lot of courage to set out on a new path and I look forward to seeing and hearing their stories.

I am remembering the year 1993, when I was an art director for Macmillan Publishing. After working with them for three and a half years, the company went bankrupt and once the banks took over, they found that the only solution was to tear the company into two pieces, and sell those pieces to Prentice Hall and Simon & Schuster. Almost all the employees working for Macmillan were let go, and yes, I was one of them.

At the time I panicked, as most do, when they find themselves out of work. I tried to find a job, but it soon became clear that it wasn’t going to happen. I’d say the reason was because there just weren’t enough art director jobs to go around, and no one was leaving to make room. So, the only solution was to start my own design company. I had the good fortune of friends and colleagues who helped me get going.

As time marched on, I knew I needed to expand my design skills and added website design/development in the late 90s. Knowing both graphic and website design has helped me through the toughest of times, after September 11th, and today with the economic crisis.

There is nothing in the world like being your own boss. Having the freedom to plan each day as it comes. For creative types, it takes a very serious commitment to be freelance. It’s also a truly rewarding life to be able to do what you love. I can’t imagine my life without design and meeting new people each day.

I look forward to the start of this new decade and will welcome all the opportunities that come my way with enthusiasm!

Now when is this film coming to NYC or NJ?

In my last post, I wanted to highlight that in many cases I’ve seen websites and print marketing done by individuals and small companies without hiring a professional designer. In various group discussions on LinkedIn, artists from all over are commenting with their experiences. In these comments, some artists have brought up a few very important points, which I’m going to pass on now.

As designers, many times, friends and family ask us to “help them out” with a project. Depending on who this is and the scope of the project, we may decide to help. One artist reported that after creating various materials for a friend and gratis of course, the friend didn’t use any of them and instead got a family member who just happened to have a computer and “Word” & “Photoshop” to create something.

Now, I suppose the big question here is, why wouldn’t you use the materials created by the professional designer, and instead use the amateurish piece by the family member. Instead of using a professional printing company, it was printed out on their home printer. The end result did not look professional. Secondly, wouldn’t the friend realize how rude that was, after asking the professional to invest time and effort in the project.

In addition, they have said that it always seems to be the non-paying, non-profit clients who they’re “helping out” who send the most changes or edits. It’s interesting how when someone has to pay, they understand the rules a bit better.

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Clients change their look and their logos. As artists we understand this, we do as well. I had changed my company logo a few times over the years, until I settled on the (sndi) I have now and the current color palette. I also previously wrote about how I changed this (i-tees) site into a blog, and I’m sure at some point, I’ll change the look again.

One thing an artist just reminded me of,  is when you’ve created a wonderful website for someone and they seemed to be very happy with it… then a short time later it has been replaced with a totally different design. The most important part to remember, is not to be too disappointed. With the web, this is bound to happen, hopefully not often, but face it, it will. I suppose what bothers us most, is that it happened and the client didn’t tell us or come back to us for the new design. We wonder about whether they really liked the original or just said they did, so they’d have the site up, (urgency again, content over design and style) who knows? I always wonder about this. I remember a magazine site I did a few years ago, and about one year later there was a new site up. It didn’t really have any new features, or e-commerce, it just had a different look.

It’s also important to realize that if they do create a new website with new features, they may not realize you can do what they want. Always be sure that your clients know about all your capabilities. I have a current client who’s website I update and he never knew I designed books, good thing I mentioned this, and was able to design his book cover.

What you need to do, is check all the links you’re featuring on your portfolio website, perhaps once a month. I sometimes forget to do this, but will this week. You don’t want to have an image or link up and a potential client goes to see it, and it’s a different site. I’ve also had sites disappear or go down for one reason or another. So be sure to update your portfolio and site often.

Okay, I may be in a lousy mood, and this is going to sound like a rant, so get ready!

If one more person builds a website without caring that it looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m going to do!

Recently, an artist friend contacted me because he wanted to start a new business. I was hopeful, because what I’m best at is a new business start-up, logo design and giving them, their identity… that all around consistent look. I also love working with the arts community. I spoke with him and we discussed various things, but… today I got an invite, and realized he had just pushed ahead with the site, without me. Now aside from losing a potential client, I went to look at the site to see what had been developed. To say I was disappointed and horrified is an understatement.

There are (links) pages that don’t even apply to his company. So does this mean he copied or worse, another site’s pages and is planning to just update the content when he has time?

What could he be thinking?

Why do people feel so urgent? Pushing their information out there, without any control to how it looks, or if it will attract an audience. This has really sent me into a depression, and the realization that on the web, content will always win over style. I suppose only on the web this may be true. When I’m looking for something or shopping, functionality and directness will always win over pleasing design and pictures. But don’t we want to push our content out there in a pleasing way?

There has to be a balance between the content being current and wanting it to look nice. We’ve got to make any client, whether an artist, musician, author, small business owner or fortune 500 company understand that these things go hand in hand. And an artist should know better!