10 Commandments for Good Design: Dieter Rams

 

 

 

 

Although there’s plenty of room for subjective interpretation on some of these points, Dieter Rams‘ points are nonetheless excellent reminders that as designers, our work is about transforming the product into the best that it can be, without the design getting in the way or drawing undue attention to itself. It’s been said many times before, and it’s still true: often the best design is invisible.  LINK

New Cover—Classic Toys Hall of Fame Book

I recently finished work on a complete design for a book produced in conjunction with Running Press and the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester. You may remember the Toy Hall of Fame from recent news, where they inducted a “stick” into their permanent museum exhibit. Curators ”praised its all-purpose, no-cost, recreational qualities, noting its ability to serve either as raw material or an appendage transformed in myriad ways by a child’s creativity.” Amen.  This was a really fun job to work on, and the Running Press folks helped turn it into a seriously nice end result.

 

The Wonderful World of Letterpress

If I were filthy rich and had no need for working, I’d still get out of bed in the mornings and go down to my basement (if I had one) and crank up my old Heidelberg letterpress (if I owned one) and commence to designing and printing hour upon hour upon hour. And I suspect that this would, for the most part, keep me happy until my dying day. Running a printing press is akin to working the soil–it’s dirty work, and laborious; your hands become fantastically covered in grime; there are moments of very real pain and frustration–but in the end when your job is complete, it is a feeling of immense satisfaction comparable to few others.  Letterpress printing is all the more wonderful because it is so real and so basic, and so mechanical. This little video is a wonderful tribute to this dying artform–enjoy…

 

Favorite Book Cover Designs of 2008

The Book Design Review has posted the winning cover designs for 2008, as voted for by readers of the BDR blog. The winning choice certainly isn’t the one I would have picked, although it’s certainly a nice enough cover. My fave–Obsession–did at least rank, although it didn’t make the top 3. I was also glad to see Against Happiness rank as well–both of these are ultra-simple designs that distill the greater idea down to its purest essence–which in my opinion often makes for quick communication and an excellent cover.  But, some very nice work overall by everyone involved!

David Drummond Interviewed by Tobias

One of my most favorite book cover designers–David Drummond–is interviewed by another excellent designer–Christopher Tobias–on Books Covered, Tobias’ personal blog. It’s a wonderful interview, and provides some great insight into the inner mind of yet another wonderfully creative individual. Chris has done some other good interviews as well, but Drummond happens to be a guy whose work I’ve followed for a number of years. Good reading for anyone interested in cover design–and thanks to both Chris and David for taking the time to put it together.

Book Design Winners–Their Top 10 Typeface Choices

The American Association of University Presses (AAUP) holds an annual juried design show cataloging the best designs from across the country. FontFeed tallied the typefaces used from the past three year’s winners, and came up with a Top 10 list of fonts. The only surprise is… that there’s no surprise: classic choices top to bottom. While I wholeheartedly agree that there are lots of other choices out there, the alternatives aren’t typically going to show up in a Top 10 list. The classics are classic for a reason: they’re readable, predictable (in a good way), don’t draw too much attention to themselves, and work well in a variety of design situations. But trends do change, and I’m sure another review in a year or two will yield a couple new names. Meanwhile, you won’t go wrong with any on this year’s list.

Digging Deeper into the Art of Book Cover Design

A really excellent blog was recently started by Jason Gabbert at the DesignWorks Group: Cover Design Issues FaceOutBooks.com. The stated purpose is clear and simple:  ”This venue has been created to appreciate the practice of book cover design.”  An excellent designer in his own right, Jason has taken on the task of interviewing various cover designers about how they handled the design of various book covers, and then posting the responses on his blog–great insight for people such as myself who don’t work in a group environment every day. LINK  Keep up the good work, Jason.

Readius Book Reader’s Flexible Screen: Size Matters

The New York Times‘ technology section reports on the Readius reader–an electronic device that’s the size of a cell phone, but utilizes a flexible fold-out screen to allow viewing on a more convenient size window. The device is made primarily for reading books, magazines, newspapers, and mail. 

I’ve been watching the technological changes in electronic book readers with a curious eye. At some point, sooner rather than later I think, someone will enter the market with one that is compact and easily portable–and yet enough like a real book in the ways that are important to people–that the scales will finally tip, and the world of books and publishing will be forever changed, almost over night. Or at least, it will seem that way. The Readius is certainly approaching that milestone in some areas.

More to come on this in the near future, I’m sure. Thanks to Karen Horton at design:related for the post.

Book Reader Buying Survey Provides Interesting Results

The New York Daily Star provides some recent survey results about book readers that you might find interesting:

–11 percent of people like to read digital books.
–13 percent of those who would consider digital books are under age 30.
–6 percent of those who would consider digital books are over age 65.
–43 percent of people visiting bookstores go there looking for a specific title.
–77 percent who are looking for a specific title then go on to purchase more books.
–52 percent buy a book for its cover art (who says you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover?).
–49 percent are influenced by book reviews in their purchases.
–60 percent of purchases are influenced by recommendations from family and friends.
–35 percent of purchasers bought a book because of the quote on the cover.
–86 percent of purchasers buy books written by authors they like.
–49 percent of shoppers buy at both physical and online stores.

———————

I’d be willing to bet that more than 52% buy a book for its cover, or are at least swayed heavily by the cover art… I know I am. It makes a difference, even though it probably shouldn’t. But I’m glad it does.

Entertainment Weekly’s Top 25 “Classic Covers”

For their 1,000th issue, EW has gathered up a slew of “classics” from the past 25 years, from movie posters to television to music… to book covers: the top 25 in each category. Being a designer, specifically a book designer, I’ll stick with the one category.

Unlimited room for agreement and disagreement / arguments and complaining for the covers on this list. Some don’t even make sense to me, but that happens most of the time when I walk into the bookstore, so why should this list be any different? One thing’s for sure: Chip Kidd gets kudos for making the list an amazing 5 times. Also very glad to see Rodrigo Corral’s A Million Little Pieces make it high on the list… always been one of my favorite covers.

Don’t have time to scare up images of these, but I’m sure someone will before too long. For now, you’ll just have to live with a simple listing, and Google the titles if you don’t know what the cover looks like…

1. The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood (Designer: Fred Marcellino, 1986)
2. A Million Little Pieces, James Frey (Rodrigo Corral, 2006)
3. Everything Is Illuminated, Jonathan Safran Foer (Anne Chalmers, 2002)
4. Born to Kvetch, Michael Wex (Jennifer Carrow, 2005)
5. Jurassic Park, Michael Crichton (Chip Kidd, 1990)
6. Jimmy Corrigan, Chris Ware (Chris Ware, 2000)
7. The Wind-up Bird Chronicles, Haruki Murakami (Chip Kidd, 1997)
8. Prep, Curtis Sittenfeld (Allison Saltzman, 2005)
9. August, Judith Rossner (Fred Marcellino, 1983)
10. Oh The Glory Of It All, Sean Wilsey (Non-Format, 2005)
11. Glamorama, Bret Easton Ellis (Chip Kidd, 1998)
12. Holidays on Ice, David Sedaris (Rymn Massand, 1997)
13. The Fuck-Up, Arthur Nersesian (Deklah Polansky, 1997)
14. High Fidelity, Nick Hornby (Archie Ferguson, 1995)
15. Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney (paperback original) (Lorraine Louie, 1984)
16. Fast Food Nation, Eric Schlosser (Martha Kennedy, 2001)
17. Hairstyles of the Damned, Joe Meno (Pirate Signal International, 2004)
18. Presumed Innocent, Scott Turow (Tom Tafuri/One Plus One Studio, 1987)
19. A Wolf at The Table, Augusten Burroughs (Chip Kidd, 2007)
20. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling (Mary GrandPré, 1997)
21. Blindness, José Saramago (Claudine Guerguerian, 1998)
22. All The Pretty Horses, Cormac McCarthy (Chip Kidd, 1992)
23. Geek Love, Katharine Dunn (Chip Kidd, 1989)
24. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime, Mark Haddon (Michael Ian Kaye, 2003)
25. The Yiddish Policeman’s Union, Michael Chabon (Will Staehle, 2007)

Helvetica Film Available on DVD

I hadn’t realized it, but the Helvetica documentary film that’s been selling out in cities all over the world is available on DVD–which also means NetFlix, of course. I’m putting it on my queue right now, since I missed it when it came through Nashville.  See the screening schedule here.

Author Sues Bookstores for Selling His Book

COPYRIGHT FOOLISHNESS that defies logic reported this week in Publishers Weekly: several bookstores (including Amazon and Barnes & Noble) are named in a lawsuit filed by an author for selling his book. Nice way to make friends and influence people.

Shakespeare was right. About the lawyers.

Cool Old Collections Stickers for Those Really Stubborn Accounts

Ran across some very nifty old collections stickers in an article about collecting past due payments. With the economy getting rockier by the day, even some of your best paying clients may be getting a little slow, or even downright late.

Their advice in a nutshell: stay after your slow accounts, as the squeaky wheel tends to get the oil. People in the business of collections say starting out nice is always your best bet, and become gradually more aggressive as time goes along. Stay away from threatening language as long as possible, and always be open to some sort of payment plan so you’re at least receiving some money. Remember, these people are your clients, and you’re all in the soup together.

Heck, if nothing else works, maybe plastering one of these old reminders on your letter will get someone’s attention. Certainly can’t hurt to try!

Truly Fine Industrial Design, Hunter Style

We’re not about industrial design around here, but once in a while I run across a product that’s so well thought out that I have to rave about. Such is the case with my new Hunter oscillating fan, shown below–”The Rockefeller” they call it, and it’s a masterpiece of Art Deco design and quality execution. 

Very nicely made, and a fine addition to my office on these steamy hot summer dayz. Don’t know if the design is new or if it’s an updated variation of an old one. Whatever the case, the Hunter design guys did a fine job–it’s solid, sturdy, quiet, and man, it really blows!

FWIW, I looked at a Vornado fan that was similarly styled. Vornado’s an old fan company that I happen to be familiar with, and I was all set to buy theirs just for their logo alone (yes, I sometimes make buying decisions based on such silly things–oh well, I’m a designer and I appreciate good design.) However, after reading a comparative review, it was obvious it didn’t compare quality-wise to the Hunter, plus it’s not nearly as sporty looking, either.

So, I’m now a happy camper… and of course, I’m cooler than ever! ;-)

See Me on design:related

For a while now, I’ve been a part of a designer’s social networking site called design:related. Just in case anyone’s interested, you can see some of my work there, along with about a zillion other designers as well. You’ll see some very nice work by lots of very talented people. Check it out when you have a moment.

Quark 8: Wandering into Oblivion

CreativePro.com has an early peek at the upcoming Quark 8. The gist of the article: basically, Quark makes an effort to become “more Creative Suite-like”. Uggh.  I knew it was bound to happen.

OK, you may as well know: I’m a dinosaur…  I’ve been using Quark since my first days on a computer, somewhere around 1991 I believe. It’s served me well, and I consider it to be an excellent program. Yes, I know all the reasons why people have hated Quark: insufferable cockiness and arrogance, slow or invisible customer service, overpriced and unwilling to give reasonable educational or quantity discounts, blah blah blah…  Still, in my book, their program architecture has always seemed very intuitive and amazingly simple for what is a very complex program.  

Enter Adobe, a veritable marketing machine. They quietly and systematically rolled out their own “Quark Killer”, InDesign, grouping it with their existing programs to create a Creative Suite of designer’s software. Quark’s arrogance instantly became their feet of clay. Before they knew what hit ‘em, Adobe had repositioned themselves as the new professionals. Extremely competitive pricing and placement in colleges as the “standard” design software suite has moved Adobe to the… head of the pack? I’m not positive about this, but if it ain’t true yet, it likely will be. 

So now, Quark–feeling the pressure–is about to make themselves more “Adobe-like”. Uuh boy… for me it’s a sad day, a day I suspected was coming but one that I still held out hope would not. Don’t get me wrong: Adobe has great products, and they’re a great company. But they’ve never had the knack for the certain types of simplicity and intuitiveness that I’ve always admired in Quark. Adobe, by virtue of their sheer size and power, is now getting to create “the standards” in the design software world, and just like VHS vs. beta, I don’t think the best standard will necessarily win. (One statement in the article that really goads me: “The Bézier path toolset in QuarkXPress 8 has been updated to be more “Illustrator-like” and uses standard conventions for path editing.” Oh please. Quark has wonderfully simple Bézier tools that I consider far, far superior to those of that trainwreck of a program called Illustrator. But alas, I’ve just re-made my previous point.)

Well… nothing to be done from here. Quark and Adobe will continue to duke it out, but I fear that instead of ingratiating more people to Quark, this latest makeover will only serve to drive more people away. I firmly believe many designers and companies are just waiting for a good reason to ditch Quark altogether, and this may well be the trick that does it. After all, who needs (or WANTS) two layout programs? Furthermore, who needs two programs that are becoming more and more the same?  Why own some quasi-variation of InDesign, when you can just switch over to the “new standard” and have the real thing? 

Peep Hole Marketing Gimmick is Hilarious

I gather from the comments on BB that this isn’t the first time the world has seen this visual trick.  Oh sure, it probably doesn’t really get any new business, and it very probably annoys the dickens out of a lot of people… but it’s STILL remarkably clever–and absolutely hilarious!  Bound to be lots of other clever/funny images you could put to similar use. Adding it to my list of things to do to torment my neighbors who have peep holes.

 

How’s Your Bedside Manner?

I went to the doctor a couple months ago because it was time for a physical. He worked me over pretty well, asked a bunch of technical questions, made some jokes, asked how me and my family were doing, asked more technical questions, and ultimately pronounced me healthy. Am I truly as healthy as he said? I hope so. More importantly though, I enjoyed the experience. I like my new doctor. He’s interesting and pleasant, and he takes an interest in me. Even if he’d had to deliver unfortunate news, I would have still come away feeling positively about him.

The doc I went to a couple years ago for my previous physical came to pretty much the same conclusion, but I don’t go to him any more. Know why? Because I didn’t like his bedside manner. He wasn’t a people person. He wasn’t particularly warm or friendly. He didn’t put me at ease, he didn’t ask about my family, he didn’t inquire about my work or my life in any way other than how it specifically related to the exam. In short, he couldn’t have cared less about me, and it showed. Was he a good doctor? Probably. In fact, very likely. 

And so I realized something about all this: My first doctor has lost a patient (client)–me. And he’ll never get me back. My new doctor has gained a patient–me again–and will likely have me for life. It’s not because one was a better doctor than the other, because on a professional level, frankly, I can’t tell the difference… I assumed that each had adequate expertise in his profession. No, I chose one doctor over they other purely because of the way I was treated–because I felt cared for, and it showed. In other words, he nurtured a relationship with me, one that will likely continue until one of us is finally dead.

And I suspect I’m like most doctors’ patients (clients). I like to do business with someone who seems like they care. In the real world of professional services (and design is no exception) your expertise and skills are typically taken for granted–it’s assumed that you already know what you’re doing. So what, then, will separate you or me from the next person in the same line of work? In a nutshell: Bedside manner. 

Are you paying attention to your clients? Are you returning your phone calls and emails promptly? Are you saying thanks for the business? Take a moment to think about it. How’s your bedside manner?

Have You Been “keming” Correctly?

This dandy gem came across my email recently:

It took me a minute to get it, but when I got it, I loved it! One of those inside joke things that you can flaunt in front of all your non-designer friends… or designer friends too, for that matter. Thanks to David at Ironic Sans for an excellent little quip, AND a cool t-shirt to boot!

Correct Breaking of URLs… Is It Possible?

Can URLs be broken “correctly” in end-of-line situations?

As a designer who often works with large amounts of text, I run into this problem all the time. Chicago Manual of Style Online says: “when a URL must be broken over a line in a printed work, breaking after a slash is preferable (also break after a double slash). On the other hand, breaking a URL after a dot (leaving what looks like a period at the end of a line) might cause difficulties for the reader. It would be better to place the dot at the beginning of the next line. Using a hyphen to break a long word at the end of a line is not a good idea, since some URLs contain hyphens as part of the address; moreover, a hyphen that’s part of a URL should never appear at the end of a line. For more, see paragraph 17.11 in CMOS 15.”

My dad also sent me this bit of info that he ran across online, which is helpful, although I don’t know the source:

OK to break:

After a slash   / 

After a doubleslash  //

Before a dot   .

Break before a tilde   ~

Break before a hyphen  -

Break before an underline  _

Break before a question mark   ?

Break before a percent  mark   %

Break before or after an equals sign   =  

Break before or after an ampersand   &

A hyphen that is part of a web address should not appear at the end of a line   -

Good luck to us all… but this is a good start!