A designer by day.

What better way to fill a gloomy Sunday morning than with some nice type experiments? I was thinking about this exercise for quite a while now, trying to find a way to involve people with typography. I think people aren't aware of the impact typography has on their minds. So, I picked a few famous movies, and imitated the font the movie title was written in to draw different words that are also clues to what the movie is.

So come on, try to guess the following movies and tell me your results in the comments section!

This can seem a bit too long, but if you hum along, you’ll find it a cheerful song!

On the 1st day of Stressmas
My boss said to me
You don’t really think you’re leaving work early!


On the 2nd day of Stressmas
A client said to me
I need 4 new placemats
Full of cheerful red hats
You don’t really think you’re leaving work early! 


On the 3rd day of Stressmass
My sister said to me
We need to go shopping
For mom, dad and siblings
I have 4 new placemats
Full of cheerful red hats
I don’t really think I’m leaving work early!


On the 4th day of Stressmas
Same client said to me
Scratch that line on holiday cheer
Please do mention the new year
I need to go shopping
For my parents and siblings
I need my 4 placemats
We’re late on promoting that
You don’t really think you’re leaving this early!


On the 5th day of Stressmas
My conscience said to me
YOU’RE MISSING THE ESSENCE!
Scratch that line on holiday cheer
Also mention the new year
You need to go shopping
For your parents and siblings
Finish up those placemats
With the silly red hats
You really should be leaving work early!



On the 6th day of Stressmas
Secret santa gave to me
A stress ball shaped in a reindeer
To squeeze out of all life dear
YOU’RE MISSING THE ESSENCE! 
Stuck with rhymes on holiday cheer
That don’t mention the new year
I still haven’t gone shopping
For my parents and siblings
Copy paste those placemats
With different colored silly hats
I am never leaving work early!

I’ve decided to add this new section to the blog to spark more discussions about what we do as designers and how we affect the world. So read below and let’s chat!

1: Do we design for the people or for peers?

It’s true, whenever we get a new project, our first step is to look closer into the target market and dedicate ourselves into luring it.

But I always find myself wondering whether people are really affected by the visual aesthetics of what we do. Do our efforts really matter? When your target market is as specific as an age group, you know your energy is not wasted, because it’s clear that kids will respond to more colors and cartoons and exclamation marks! But when the service/product you’re designing serves a broader audience, can you be sure of how sensitive these people are to design?

This question is most present when I see a poorly designed product/service doing wonders numbers wise. The people didn’t care about the visual brand but rather about what it really offers. And that’s fine by me! That’s even, ethically speaking, quite the perfect thing to happen. But it saddens me because it makes me all the more aware that I stress for nothing.

And on the other hand, one has to admit, that through the course of creating a brand, we designers are not only concerned with building loyalty to the brand but most importantly concerned with how it will look in our portfolios and how it will measure up to the work of designer peers.

In the race between form and function, functionality is always a priority both to the designer and the client. Functionality serves the people without their knowing, magazines made more entertaining to read, health brochures made more easy to understand, paper work made less painful to fill out. But when it comes to the form, nothing is certain.

What makes it even harder is that once you’re a designer you can never claim to be in a non-designer’s shoes. Texts you read will always be about kerning and leading before meaning.

So designers, do you fall into the designing for peers issue too? Would you risk your portfolio over a client’s needs or would you rather risk the success of a brand over peer recognition?

And people, how sensitive do you think you are to design? When you’re standing in front of a supermarket shelf do you pick one product over the other because of the way it looks? Is visual experience a factor when you choose a restaurant?

It seems that today is World graphics day! Yeyyyyy!
On this occasion, let's all give out a thought for all the consumers we've deceived, all the corporations we've enriched, all the waste we've encouraged and all the dumbing-down we've cheered for.

What's funny is that on Wikipedia this is supposed to be an occasion "when designers reflect and hope that an international network can contribute to a greater understanding between people and can help to build bridges where divides and inequities exist."

Yeah maybe that'll happen when bridges and understanding pay.
Have a proud World Graphics Day :)

To all of you who go totally blank on us when we tell you that we’re graphic designers, here’s the lowdown on who we really are.

We are the voice in your head that tells you to buy the green box of snacks instead of the pink one because we made it look so much healthier knowing that you will never look close enough to realize that both have the same nutrition facts.

Anthropologists have lately revealed news about the emergence of a highly evolved branch of homo sapiens. They call it homo ophtalmus mainesthai.

This specie can be traced back to the late 19th century when the so-called graphic arts began manifesting themselves in large advertising posters by the likes of Henri Toulouse-Lautrec and Alphonse Mucha (proclaimed possible ancestors of the specie). However, some scientists presume it is more accurate to date it back the invention of movable type printing in approximately 1439 A.D. by Johannes Gutenberg.

Whichever the case, it is without doubt that the homo ophtalmus mainesthai witnessed the culmination of their evolution during the 21st century crossover, when development in computer technology was peaking (and has been peaking ever since).

In fact, the said specie has undergone a series of mutational physical changes that define it as such. Extensive studies and experiments have shown the following characteristics:

I am too lazy to have taste. I prefer to have my opinions already made for me. I hate all time-telling devices since i like to think of myself as timeless.
Favorite song: Hotel California
Favorite movie: The graduate

Google Plays With Helvetica, Comic Sans For April Fools' 2011 Gag

I had such a good laugh when I learned about this! Not many people will get it, some might actually enjoy a google page in all Comic Sans but for us designers, it's a very smart prank to pull!