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Chance — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 03:38:52 +0000

Compromising Structure for Preference in Web Development

Chance — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 02:32:56 +0000

This is a discussion I have had with clients and one that I can honestly say, form a design standpoint, gets ignored quite often. Lots of clients, once they have contacted a designer, already have a gneral idea of how they want theier site to look and what aspects they want portrayed on it. That being said, the process can turn into a large discussion of “that box is too far to the left” or “that text isn’t elegant enough”. In terms of discussion, let’s say you hire an architect to design your home. The architect listens to the requirements and draws up plans based on those requirements using his knowledge to design somethign as close to those requirements as possible. Lets say the client points out support beams that compromise his requirements just a little. Would a skilled architect replace the position of the beams to suit your liking and compromise the structure, or would it be a preferance that they be placed to best support the structure of the home to withstand time and change? Needless to say, if the structure failed due to moving the beams in the future, who would get the blame? Just somehting to think about. Comments anyone?

Hard Hitter Music

Chance — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 22:56:52 +0000

How to Get Mediocre Work From An Artist

Chance — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 15:47:30 +0000

I recently read an article that someone I follow on Twitter posted the link to and I thought it was pretty interesting. It summed up a lot of work I have done for clients in the past, and in fact, I was writing an article myself about just that. Here is the article:

It’s actually pretty easy to get awesome artwork from a professional graphic designer, animator, or illustrator. In fact, it’s so easy that I can sum it up in just two steps:

Tell the pro what you want.
Accept the result.

If you hired a pro, then they’ll probably work with you to tweak a few things and correct any errors. Otherwise, accept it.

Oddly enough it takes more steps to get mediocre design. It’s much more complicated. Are you with me? Here’s how to get your crappy art:

Make sure the artist follows all those rules you read about in your Graphic Design for Dummies book. Don’t let them get away with bending any rules.
You loved the artist’s portfolio. That style, it just spoke to you. You can just see your project in that style. Now… change it. Why shouldn’t you have your say?
Change your mind. A lot. Better if it’s in the final phases. If you change your mind early it still might wind up awesome. Don’t risk it!
Ask your sister what she thinks about your branding, identity, and layout. She just took that scrapbooking class. She’s practically an expert.
Assemble a team of non-design experts to comment on design elements. Stick rigidly to their suggestions, even if they don’t make sense.
If you need it in August, ask for it by Monday morning. Then drag out the approval phase three months. You’ve got plenty of time, but why share that knowledge? You need to control artists, they just don’t have those time management skills like the rest of us.
Make sure everything jibes with your focus groups. Especially that orange text. It might have to be a shade darker to keep the teen crowd. Not too dark!
Ignore the advice of the artist. I mean, who has time for that shit? Just fucking make our changes and stop thinking already, right? Jeez.
Suggest some changes. Make sure they’re ambiguous enough so you can tell your boss it’s not your fault. Stupid artists.

That’s it, you’re done! By now your design, illustration, or animation should be flat, homogenous, and pretty okay.

If it’s awesome, edgy, different than anything else out there, and completely original, then you must have skipped a step. Go back and review everything.

Taken from: http://sparkyfirepants.com/blog/2009/07/07/how-to-get-mediocre-work-from-an-artist/

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