mayjun2007

HendersonBromsteadArt Laurie Frankel Rethink Daniel Adel Interactive Installations Visual Typography Exhibit

May/June 2007 Eight Dollars www.commarts.com

Inside Front Cover

May/June 2007

Volume 49, Number 2

features

42

52

52 42 HendersonBromsteadArt Laurie Frankel

60

60 Rethink

70 Daniel Adel

By Ellen Shapiro This illustrator divides his time between two continents and many genres.

By Matthew Porter This Winston-Salem, North Carolina, firm blends art and craft in its design work.

By Ruth Hagopian A San Francisco photographer with a flair for children and chocolate.

By Julie Prendiville Roux A Vancouver, Canada-based agency with a refreshing approach to advertising.

78 Interactive Installations

86 Visual Typography

96 Exhibit

By Joe Shepter An overview of groundbreaking immersive environments.

By Rebecca Bedrossian Type is a many splendored thing.

By Jean A. Coyne The latest and best in visual communication from here and abroad.

Cover: Collage created using elements from the Visual Typography feature.

70

Editor and Designer Patrick Coyne

fresh

Executive Editor Jean A. Coyne Managing Editor Rebecca Bedrossian Technology Editor Sue Garibaldi

108 Hannah Stouffer

Ornamental elegance describes the work of this San Francisco illustrator.

110 Patrick Fraser

Travel is fuel for this Venice, California-based photographer.

112 SoCity

This New York City designer finds inspiration in his surroundings.

Editor At Large Anne Telford Designer/Art Director Tricia Seibold Peterson Creative Consultant Bonnie Smetts

columns

Production Director Scott Perry

14 Design Issues

Carolyn McCarron Sienicki is inspired by designers making sustainable changes in their work.

30 Opinion/Commentary Linda Cooper Bowen speaks with five designers working with municipal clients.

125 Web Watch

Dwell magazine’s design resource, plus three compelling online destinations.

24 Design Culture

Wendy Richmond poses the question: “What does it mean to be supportive?”

114 Advertising

The Fenske upload by Ernie Schenck.

26 Business

Experience design is spreading throughout the business world according to RitaSue Siegel.

118 Typography

John Hudson discusses the relationship between writing and memory.

Jumping the hurdles on the pro photography track by Richard Weisgrau.

10

Contributors

13

Letters to the Editor

130

Book Reviews

134

Resources

138

Directory

Volume 49, Number 2 www.commarts.com COMMUNICATION ARTS, (ISSN 0010-3519) is published eight times a year (January/ February, March/April, May/June, July Illustration Annual, August Photography Annual, September/ October Interactive Annual, November Design Annual, December Advertising Annual)

by Coyne & Blanchard, Inc., 110 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, CA 94025-1107.

Periodicals Postage Paid at Menlo Park, CA and at additional mailing offices.

Copyright 2007 by Coyne & Blanchard, Inc. All pieces reproduced in this issue are under prior copyright by the creators or by the contractual arrangements with their clients.

Nothing shown may be reproduced in any form without obtaining the permission of the creators and any other person or company who may have copyright ownership.

Programmer Gary Wium Technology Administrator Michael Hoyt

Production Assistant/Customer Service Representative Khader Yanni General Manager Jeff Stafford

departments Editor’s Column

Production Traffic Coordinator Nancy Hagemann

Customer Service Representative Aaron Miller

126 Legal Affairs

8

Associate Production Director Ron Niewald

Advertising Director Valerie Halaby Circulation Director Perry Fotos Controller Lois Zandee, CPA

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Contributing Editors Tad Crawford, Legal Affairs; Barbara Gordon/Maria Piscopo, Freelance; DK Holland, Design Issues; Wendy Richmond, Design Culture; Ernie Schenck, Advertising Founder Richard Coyne (1926–1990)

© Lorie Moulton

r

nick missed the deer, but flipped the vintage land cruiser in a skid on p rovo canyon road. he and blossom are topsy-turvy, suspended by seat belts, and in the faint illumination of the dash, he can see his half -sister’s hair fall in a tangled gold skein. her eyes gaze toward her brows, as though in deep meditation; she’s almost an angel, nick thinks. he tries to touch her, but finds that he can’t move. like an unstrung puppet, he’s gone mute and useless, and his lack of panic surprises him. he listens to blossom’s shallow breath, a hush subdued by the pelt of cold rain on the undercarriage, the swish of wi pers against cracked glass, and the accusatory hum of the radio, “baby, you dro pp ed a bomb on me.” the air is heavy with the odor of gas, his own urine, and something sweet, like roses in bloom. a flashlight cuts the darkness and nick hears voices calling. someone thum p s the driver door. nick squeezes his eyes shut, tasting blood on his lips, the lingering salt of margaritas, and the waxy, berry stain of

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editor’s column

Patrick Coyne

B

elow are the results of our seventh annual salary

(3.2% and 3% respectively). But what hasn’t changed are

survey in partnership with the AIGA and a compari-

freelance rates, with the exception of Web-related services,

son with the results from 2005. The reason I

which took a major hit during the dot-com crash and are

skipped last year is to give you a more accurate picture

finally exceeding pre-crash levels.

of income trends. Last year’s survey included databases

While this may reflect what the market will bear, free-

and subscriber lists from AIGA, the American Marketing

lancers should make sure they’re not selling themselves

Association, Aquent, BtoB Online and Communication Arts

short. By the way, the National Association of Realtors is forecasting inflation to increase 2.1% and inflation-adjusted disposable personal

2005–2007 Salary Survey Comparison Total Cash Compensation 2005

2007 Change

Freelance Rates 2005 2007 Change

income to rise 3.1% in 2007.

Methodology Salary surveys were administered via the

Solo Designer

$60,000

$60,000

0%

Owner, Partner, Principal

$100,000 $113,000

+13%

Creative/Design Director

$90,000

$98,600

+9.6%

$75

$75

0%

sample members).

Art Director

$65,000

$72,000 +10.8%

$60

$60

0%

Responses were cut off for final editing, clean-

Senior Designer

$56,000

$62,000 +10.7%

$50

$50

0%

ing and tabulation on January 10, 2007, with

Designer

$42,500

$45,000

+5.9%

$40

$40

0%

Entry-Level Designer

$32,000

$35,000

+9.4%

$25

$25

0%

Print Production Artist

$40,000

$44,800

+12%

$35

$35

0%

response rate) and 1,152 Web returns from

Print Production Manager

$55,000

$62,000 +12.7%

$50

$45

-10%

an added sample (22% response rate)—a

Copywriter

$55,000

$62,000 +12.7%

$65

$65

0%

Web Designer

$52,000

$55,000

+5.8%

$50

$55

+10%

Web Developer

$60,000

$60,000

0%

$55

$60 +9.1%

Web Programmer

$60,600

$65,000

+7.3%

$60

$70 +16.7%

Web Producer

$70,000

$75,000

+7.1%

$70

$60 -14.3%

all design professionals. They do, however,

Web Content Developer

$65,000

$58,800

-9.5%

$55

$50

provide a current and specific reflection of

Marketing/New Business Manager

$75,000

$80,000

+6.7%

$65

$50 -23.1%

Web where possible (13,055 sample members) and by mail where necessary (3,215

-9.1%

a total of 1,035 usable mail survey returns (32% response rate) plus 2,746 usable Web survey returns from the initial sample (35%

grand total of 4,933 returns—for an overall response rate of 30%. Because the sample was developed from selected sources, and because of the moderate response rates achieved, the data should not be viewed as a nationally representative probability sample of

what a significant share of those in the design profession are currently earning.

For both years shown above, compensation

and results tracked lower across the entire field. Also,

is the national average median (or 50th percentile) of total

we didn’t have freelance rates.

compensation, which includes wages/salary and other

This year’s survey was limited to Communication Arts

forms of cash compensation such as bonuses, profit

subscribers, AIGA’s current and past membership and

sharing, incentives and partners’ profits.

recent contacts, and individuals from lists of clients and

The complete survey, including a statistical breakdown of

talent supplied by Aquent.

salaries by major metropolitan areas, and employment

When looking over a 24-month range, you’ll see that

benefits, is available at www.aiga.org. CA

most salaries have increased (with the exception of solo designer, Web developer and Web content developer) better than the consumer price index the last two years 8

May/June 2007

contributors

Features

articles that have appeared in

Hebrew, Latin, Ogham and Thai

recruiting for over 25 years. In

Ruth Hagopian writes about

CA. She interviewed illustrator

writing systems. Hudson wrote

2001, RitaSue Siegel Resources’

art and design. Formerly a part-

Daniel Adel, who divides his time

the Typography column.

international capabilities were

ner of a San Francisco design

between New York and France.

Sam McMillan is a San

Joe Shepter is a California-

Francisco Bay Area writer, teacher

based freelance writer special-

and producer of interactive

izing in travel and interactive

projects for a number of produc-

media. He has worked with

tion houses. He contributed to

firm, she is the editor of Paper Specs, an online paper database for designers and printers.

Hagopian profiled San Francisco photographer Laurie Frankel.

Adobe, Oracle and Coca-Cola,

Web Watch and Resources.

Matthew Porter is a writer,

among others. He is a regular

critic and creative consultant

contributor to CA’s Design-

Gary W. Priester is an author

who lives in his hometown,

Interact Web site. He wrote

significantly expanded by a merger with Aquent. Siegel wrote the Business column.

Carolyn McCarron Sienicki is currently a senior art director for Cline Davis & Mann in Princeton, New Jersey. Before joining CDM, Carolyn held

and a 3-D Hidden Image

positions at Gillespie/McCann-

Stereogram artist in Placitas,

Erickson, Waters Design and

New Mexico. He contributed

Houghton Mifflin Company.

to Resources.

She wrote the Design Issues

Wendy Richmond is the recip-

column, edited by DK Holland.

ient of a National Endowment

Richard Weisgrau began his

marketing consultant interested

for the Arts grant and the

career in professional photog-

in business issues concerning

Hatch Award for Creative

raphy in 1966. He served as

the creative profession. She has

Excellence. Richmond’s

executive director of the

written for CA, Graphis, HOW,

photographs have been exhib-

American Society of Media

Julie Prendiville Roux is a

I.D. and Print, among others.

ited internationally. Her books

Photographers from 1988

freelance writer living in Los

Bowen lives in downtown

include Design & Technology

through 2002. Since then he

Angeles and the owner and

Jersey City, where she enjoys

and overneath, and her regular

has been photographing, writing

creative director of julieroux&

an excellent rear view of the

column, Design Culture, has

books, consulting and serving

company, which creates and

Statue of Liberty. She wrote the

appeared in CA since 1983.

produces radio, TV and print

Opinion/Commentary piece.

Ernie Schenck is a freelancer

advertising. She traveled to

John Hudson is a type

based on the island of

designer and co-founder of Tiro

Jamestown in Narragansett Bay,

Typeworks, a Canadian type

Rhode Island. He has been

Ellen Shapiro is a designer

company specializing in custom

named twice to Adweek’s All

and writer based in Irvington,

font solutions for multilingual

Star Creative Team, both as

New York. Her book, The

publishing and computing. He

creative director and writer. He

Graphic Designer’s Guide to

has designed or collaborated

wrote the Advertising column.

Clients (Allworth Press), includes

on type for the Arabic,

RitaSue Siegel has cham-

the Art Institute of Boston,

eleven “Clients and Designers”

Devanagari, Ethiopic, Greek,

pioned design management

Simmons College and MIT.

Atlanta, Georgia. He has at one time or another called Washington, DC, New York, Los Angeles, Bangkok and San Francisco home. His company is PorterWrite Design Consulting. Porter profiled Winston-Salem, North Carolina, HendersonBromsteadArt.

Vancouver, Canada, to profile Rethink Advertising.

about groundbreaking interactive installations in this issue.

Columns Linda Cooper Bowen is a

as an expert witness in legal cases. Legal Affairs is adapted from his book Publishing Photography (Allworth Press).

Book Reviews Angelynn Grant is a Bostonbased graphic designer, writer and educator. She has taught at Rhode Island School of Design,

The pictured contributors wrote features in this issue: (from left) Ruth Hagopian, Matthew Porter, Julie Prendiville Roux, Ellen Shapiro and Joe Shepter.

10

May/June 2007

letters to the editor Interactive Annual

Design Issues

Regarding the Denis Du Bois letter [January/

In the November 2006 issue of CA [p. 204],

February 2007, p.12] about the September/

“Design=Heart,” by Carolyn McCarron

October Communication Arts Interactive

Sienicki, said something profound to me.

Annual:

And I loved the little sidebars. Great little

Thank you, thank you, thank you. There is

stories—”Life takes on meaning.” What

much to be said for the amazing coolness

you touch on is why, I believe, most of us

of Flash. I too have done very interesting

took up this profession—to get someone

things with Flash, but as a general rule my

to see, or understand, or respond, or think.

clients can’t afford it. I develop full-featured,

May I be so bold as to add one little story?

data-driven, eCommerce sites. Doing that

I’ve been diabetic for 30 years—dependent

in Flash would, at best, triple the up-front

to touch someone’s heart, but as you quote

on insulin to survive (this is known as Type I,

and updating cost. Getting a couple thou-

Stefan, I wanted to “do something that

different than the Type II you hear about in

sand for a Web project is pretty good

matters.” The stories I have heard, the

the media). The great thing about being

people I have met and talked to—it has all

around here.

diabetic is that it is a deadly chronic disease

been a profound experience. And all

For many years, I’ve said the award com-

that you can have some control over, some

because I believed in something.

petitions and juried shows need to consider

opportunity to make your life better and

more than just the freak’n amazing, million-

live a semi-healthy, pretty normal life.

dollar brand name celebrity assignments.

For 25+ years I took injections and exercised

easier access. Take a look if you want to

What about that project someone did for

and ate right and stayed healthy, but finally

see what I’m talking about. Of course

a not-for-profit on a $5,000 budget? Or, as

I discovered the insulin pump, a small gad-

I could always send you a booklet and you

Mr. Du Bois said, those who embrace

get that is a tremendous advance in treat-

could give it to someone you know who

other technologies that may not go whiz-

ment over those syringes. I was so thrilled

takes insulin injections and deserves a

bang-fade-in-pop? I also believe that a very

at the improvement in my life and way of

better life.

large percentage of a judge’s criteria needs

living, and so appalled at the lack of infor-

to be, did it work as assigned? Did it achieve

mation—real, useful, personal information

its goals? Was the client’s feedback, “Yes,

about the benefits of the pump—available

this Web site’s user interface and data-rich

to diabetics and their families (at the time

content achieved the goals we requested—

only ten percent or so of U.S. diabetics

on time and on budget.” So what if it isn’t

were on the pump), that I designed and

BMW, Nike or Starbucks. Mom and Pop

wrote a small booklet. It’s non-technical

businesses need good work done too.

I understand your readers are looking to you for inspiration and guidance. Hell, I’m a long-time subscriber and look for those things in every issue. But I would also be just as amazed reading about a less-is-more plain-Jane example of meeting a small client’s needs on time and on budget—in a CA annual.

Nino G. Cocchiarella Evansville, Indiana

and personal and (I’ve been told) funny and not reverential and decidedly nonmedical. The design is OK. Stefan would probably not be impressed. The writing is better.

distribute the booklet (called BETTER IS BETTER) free to patients, doctors, family members. They found, as I began to discover, that people really responded to the piece. To date over 260,000 copies have been distributed. I have received e-mails from people all over the world, and I have received inquiries about translating it into French, Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese.

It has been a tremendously satisfying experience. I don’t know if I could say I set out

I created a Web site—www.2betr.com— so my foreign diabetic friends might have

Chuck Eichten Nike Design Director Portland, Oregon

Errata In the 2007 January/February issue, we were sent incorrect credits for photographer Randal Ford, page 108, project number 9.

Amanda Stevens was the art director and designer for Austin Monthly Home magazine. Joel Mozersky was the subject and the editor was Meghan Richardson.

But I shopped it around and found a few pump manufacturers willing to print and Address correspondence to: Letters to the Editor, 110 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, California 94025-1107 or e-mail letters@commarts.com. We reserve the right to publish letters and to edit for clarity and length. Please include a signature, address and phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published.

Communication Arts

13

design issues

Carolyn McCarron Sienicki

Inch by Inch

Making Sustainable Changes in Design

T

here’s been a lot of talk among designers lately about change. Milton Glaser is talking about Designism— using design to change the course of politics. William McDonough is talking about Cradle to Cradle—rethinking how we design and make things, which is currently from creation to landfill. Ric Grefé is talking about Design for Democracy, so that leadership is never again determined by guessing the number of hanging chads. Christopher Liechty is talking about Cross-Cultural Design and understanding cultural differences around the world so we can be better communicators. Stefan Sagmeister is talking about touching someone’s heart with design. Natalia Ilyin is talking about Chasing the Perfect and not getting so hung up an antiquated design theory that we lose sight of the human being who is supposed to benefit from our design work.

Designers are not the only ones talking. Business and cultural leaders are talking about the Triple Bottom Line, Corporate Social Responsibility, Value-Driven Business, The Global Reporting Initiative, The Creativity Economy and Innovation—all terms they are reading in BusinessWeek and hearing at business conferences.

It may sound like these designers and business leaders are quoting different theories, but they are not. They’re all talking about the same thing: using our creative thinking and design skills to help redirect the present course of the world—economically, socially and environmentally. Maybe it was Hurricane Katrina that finally did it. Maybe it was Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth. Maybe it’s the never-ending casualties and evergrowing troops in Iraq. Whatever the trigger, there’s a collective feeling that we can no longer afford to go on working and living the way we have. In a world that grows smaller every day—where we are economically interdependent on each other, where cultural and social clashes create terrorism, where the changes in the environment are now too disturbing to ignore— the things we are creating no longer feel sustainable.

During interviews, I’m struck by how many designers believe sustainability is about using green materials. It shows we are only thinking about execution, but being environmentally responsible in our design decisions is only one part of being sustainable.1 Making decisions that take into account 14

May/June 2007

humanity and long-term economic impact are also part of it.

But to me, being sustainable means asking oneself: What do I want to leave the next generation through the work I do today?

If you’re feeling like me, the only thing that seems to be standing in the way of creating a meaningful and lasting legacy is the reality of your rent. You wonder if there’s a way to break out of your day-to-day responsibilities and change what you are doing, to make a difference where you already work and live.

Sometimes the best thing to do is borrow inspiration from others. I talked to designers attempting to change how they approach their day-to-day work (yes, for clients). No one has all the answers. There’s no how-to manual. Everyone is figuring it out as they go, learning from what works and what doesn’t, project by project. I’ve selected three that inspired me, for this article (even though there are more).

Mark Randall: Bringing a meaningful message to client work The recent Urban Forest Project, a collaboration between Worldstudio, Times Square Alliance and the New York Chapter of aiga, was intended to show the public how graphic design and visual communications can spark change. But for me, the lessons in this project ran deeper. Mark Randall developed his client relationship with the Times Square Alliance beyond servicing immediate needs, and considered the life span of the project.

Thirteen years ago, David Sterling had a successful career at branding agency Doublespace, where he designed everything from brand identities and logos to posters, packaging and album covers. But he was feeling restless; he wanted to start addressing more humanitarian issues in his day-to-day work.

Mark Randall joined him in his sentiment.

They knew they still needed to earn a living and pay rent. They still liked being designers. They still liked having clients. So they started Worldstudio, Inc., a for-profit company in New York City. To fulfill their dream of pursuing projects with a human and social agenda, they took a portion of profits from Worldstudio, Inc., and established Worldstudio Foundation.

They wanted Worldstudio Foundation to be more than a soapbox. They sought to engage their creative colleagues in hands-

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© Mark Dye Photography

design issues

Urban Forest Project banners designed by (from left): Emma Presler with student Wednesday Trotto; Rodrigo Corral; Rob Alexander; and Alan Dye.

on work, such as mentoring high school students and working with them to address violence and tolerance in their schools and communities. Randall adds, “We enlisted professional designers and artists to mentor these kids, to show them how graphic design and visual communications can give them a platform—a voice—to express what matters to them.” Even more impressive, Worldstudio to date has raised and awarded $700,000 in scholarships for promising students wanting to pursue careers in design or art.

The goal? “We work like a mole from within. We recruit passionate, socially aware, young students. We mentor them.

We help them fall in love with the potential of design. We give them money to go to school and get an education. Then eventually, they go out into the world and get jobs where they are able to actively participate in and influence key design and business decisions...we hope for the better.” aiga President Ric Grefé has taken notice. Randall continues, “Ric calls and says, ‘I love what you are doing. I believe there’s strength in numbers. What can aiga do to help?’” And with that aiga and Worldstudio joined forces to create a new program called Design Ignites Change. Randall exclaims, “I think it’s great because it makes our message that much louder, that much stronger.”

Design Ignites Change The first initiative of Design Ignites Change is The Urban Forest Project in Times Square, Manhattan. The Times Square Alliance, one of Worldstudio Inc.’s clients, needed to fill 185 banners that promote good business and quality of life in Times Square. The client and Worldstudio Inc., however, decided to take it one step further: Bring other forms of design and art to Times Square (other than the larger-thanlife advertisements) to show the public that there is more to Times Square than commercialism.

At the same time, Design Ignites Change leaders conducted a survey to find out what’s at the forefront of designers’ concerns these days. An overwhelming number said “sustainability.”

16

May/June 2007

(There’s a lack of consensus, however, on what it means and how designers can implement it.)

Randall connected the two: Use the banners, and design, to address sustainability in Times Square. It allows the client to support an issue that’s globally important, and designers to show their strengths in creating a forum for discussion around a world-changing topic.

To bring diversity in design thinking to the project, Worldstudio and aiga New York invited respected designers from all over the world to design a banner. Fifty high school students from New York City were also invited to participate via the aiga New York mentoring program (22 accepted). The assignment? Make a visual statement about a tree—environmentally, culturally, socially, economically, politically, metaphorically, literally.

Sounds loose, but Randall explains, “Since the audience consists of the general public, and a large number of designers from other countries were participating, we needed a universal symbol. We felt the tree was not only a good metaphor for sustainability, but had great cultural resonance. Plus, we liked the idea of contrasting this chaotic urban space with 185 graphic interpretations of trees. We may not be able to literally plant trees in Times Square, but we can bring metaphorical trees.”2 To be truly sustainable, they realized they had to think about more than the content and design of the banners; in the spirit of the cradle-to-cradle philosophy, they needed to think about the lifecycle of the banners themselves and ensure they did not end up in a landfill. Alan Dye, a board member of aiga New York and design director at Jack Spade, tapped into his connections at work and recruited Andy and Kate Spade to turn the banners into tote bags. At the time this article went to press, the bags were being auctioned off in New York City. All proceeds go to the scholarship and mentorship programs at Worldstudio Foundation and aiga, to sustain the next generation of artistic talent.

Was the project perfect from every angle? No. The visual din

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design issues of Times Square overshadowed some of the banners. Passersby found some of the banners confusing, particularly one blank white banner. And the material of the banners? Vinyl.

Yet, to critique the individual banners misses the point.

There’s a much bigger idea at play: Bringing purpose to client work, economically, socially, environmentally, and executing Tote bag designed by Jack Spade, made from John Pirman’s banner. it in a sustainable manner that prevents it from being thrown in a landfill. The project generated international media attention, and in doing so raised public interest of issues that are important to everyone.

The project will become an annual one, highlighting a different topic of global concern each time, and Mark Randall, Ric Grefé and participants of Design Ignites Change are just beginning to see the possibilities of what can be done.

Chris Hacker: Making a difference from the inside Growing up in the 1960s and attending art school in the 1970s, Chris Hacker always had a passion for environmentalism.

The reality, however, is that he spent most of his early career working for companies where implementing this passion was difficult. It wasn’t until he joined Aveda in 2000 that he discovered that it was, in fact, possible to weave personal convictions into one’s day-to-day job. The difference was that sustainability is part of Aveda’s business mission and purpose, and Hacker was able to add to it with his design skills. His work for Aveda, from the product design to the packaging to the brand image itself, did not go unnoticed by design and business leaders. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum recognized him for corporate excellence, and Johnson & Johnson sought him out just over a year ago to become their new—and first ever—vice president of global design and design strategy. His assignment? To bring innovative and sustainable design solutions to the consumer side of J&J. Some designers find it difficult to make a difference in a huge corporation that can feel mired in management and politics.

Hacker shows that sometimes the most influential position a designer can have is daily access to key business executives.

He believes, “Big corporations have the ability to make a positive social, economic and environmental impact—in a big way. If we all stand outside of corporations and say they’re bad and disassociate ourselves, that’s not making things better.

The way to make it better is to get inside and work towards it.”

18

May/June 2007

Not all companies are concerned with sustainability, however, so picking the right company can make or break your chance to make a difference. Hacker talked to a lot of people inside and outside J&J before accepting the job offer. He needed to believe that J&J’s intent was truly sincere. Part of what helped him make the decision was J&J’s patient-centric credo, in which the very first line states: We believe our first responsibility is to the doctors, nurses and patients, to mothers and fathers and all others who use our products and services. Hacker adds, “J&J has always been a responsible global citizen. But I saw an opportunity for J&J to think more holistically and execute things sustainably; if my team and I can influence even a small part of the output of this large company, it could make a significant, long-term impact.”

One of Hacker’s first projects is to rethink Band-Aid®, from the design of the product, to the brand message, to the packaging. How do you bring humanity and environmental sustainability to a product with a long history and instant brand recognition? “Band-Aid is iconic,” explains Hacker. “The memory of Band-Aid is our mothers taking care of us and making things better. So how do you make sure everything that is executed for Band-Aid respects that childhood memory and shows care for everything it touches—people, the planet, our company? How does it make things better?”

To answer these types of questions, Hacker has put together a diverse team in New York City. All potential job candidates must show a commitment to sustainable design. “The design process is a little different,” Hacker asserts. Designers have to be able to ask the right questions, study the properties that make up different materials and bring new solutions to the table. “This commitment to designing in a different way is so important,” he continues, “that when I’m interviewing someone, I’m more interested in that person’s intent than past experience.” Hacker has hired different types of designers and engineers, including a packaging expert that holds a degree in ecological science. “He helps us to make sure the decisions we’re making regarding design and materials are the right ones.”

Such design decisions vary from project to project, brand to brand. The key, says Hacker, is research, research and more research. “There are tons of resources on the Web. The aiga is beginning to provide more resources. Ask questions of engineers, as well as paper and printing vendors. Learn about different kinds of materials. As you become more educated, you get better at picking the right materials and putting them to better use. As the ones who implement the development and execution of different products, designers can make a difference.”

Janine James: Shifting the client mindset from responsible to innovative Instead of lecturing clients to be socially and environmentally responsible, Janine James gets them excited by helping them

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design issues explore new solutions that could transform what people consume and how they live. She calls these ideas innovation, and she started her agency, The Moderns, in New York City to pursue such modern and relevant ideas. It’s important to James that all ideas work on more than one level, and at The Moderns, ideas are held up to “The Big Three”: Can it uplift the human spirit? Create good commerce? Sustain the environment?

Through research and focus testing, The Moderns discovered that people everywhere want to devote their time and resources to improving the environment and helping others. Yet, the average person says they are so busy and their lives so chaotic, they struggle to learn just how to make a difference. James and her team realized that there’s an opportunity to help clients make sustainability accessible to the public. She says, “We asked consumers, If you knew certain things you were choosing to purchase were somehow environmentally and socially sound, would you make different decisions? And the answer was a resounding yes. When we heard this from the average American citizen, we realized that what we are talking about here is a paradigm shift—an inspiring one. What people are saying is that they are starved for innovation.”

The Moderns brought sustainability to their client milliCare, a carpet and textile cleaning company. They clean large office buildings, government facilities, hotels, educational facilities and public areas throughout the U.S. and Canada. The Moderns encouraged milliCare to think about their services beyond everyday cleaning, and rather, what they can bring to their customers, their industry and the greater public to improve living. Through market research, The Moderns showed milliCare that from the increased sales and interest in items such as organic food, solar heating and recycling programs, many people are looking for more responsible

Packaging for milliCare designed by The Moderns.

20

May/June 2007

ways to work and live. An increasing number of architects and their clients are now designing buildings that use (and respect) local resources, conserve energy and limit polluting both indoors and outdoors. Yet, many people still clean their homes and offices with toxic chemicals that lower the air quality. When finished, people pour these chemicals down the drain and they find their way into the environment. The Moderns thus identified an area where milliCare has an opportunity to be innovative. And they ran with it.

Besides providing safer, environmentally-sound cleaning to corporate clients and public services, milliCare is extending this concept to the general public through education and books, such as Green Clean: The Environmentally Sound Guide to Cleaning Your Home. The book itself [see above], designed

by The Moderns, uses synthetic paper called DuraBook™ technology, patented by Melcher Media, and fulfills the cradle-tocradle philosophy.3 They also established a community service program, Clean Up, where volunteers work together to clean up selected public areas that are polluted or neglected, including parks, roads and beaches. Everything around the milliCare brand is developed and designed with “green cleaning” in mind.

To get clients to approach their industry differently, working collaboratively is critical. Thus, James put together the Idea Circle, a team of “solutionists” that consists of graphic designers, industrial designers, architects, scientists, engineers, environmentalists, researchers, marketers, business strategists, social anthropologists, psychologists and wellness experts.

Everyone’s got a talent. But everyone’s talent lies in a different place. The key is to tap into all of them. James says, “When I started my company I thought: Imagine how much innovation could happen if you put all these minds in one room at the start of a project. When everyone works in isolation, no one communicates, challenges each other or asks questions.

If you get everyone together, it’s easier to think more holistically. People start asking each other, What if…?”

James warns graphic designers that we’re wasting too much time talking among ourselves about what design should and should not do in the world. “We need to get back to the basics of what it means to design, which is to innovate. What all these problems are doing is representing continued on page 23

design issues opportunities for designers. We need innovation and change in every category. It’s our responsibility to bring the highest level of creativity to our clients, whatever industry they may be in, and bring the most relevant solutions to the table.”

Leaving your imprint Learning from people we admire can help us evolve in our own careers. I learned something different from each of these creative professionals: think about what the client is really asking for, beyond their immediate needs; see if there’s an opportunity to elevate the project to a higher purpose; hold ideas up to The Big Three: human, environmental and economic impact. When designing collateral, think beyond the life span of that particular piece. Ask: Where will this end up?

Be willing to invest time in researching an alternative way of making things. Pull vendors in to help. To see things from a different point of view, collaborate with people outside the design profession. Include your clients in the collaborative process and brainstorm with them. These are all ideas I have already begun to incorporate into my day-to-day work.

It’s also important not to undermine the lessons of our own experiences. Through various jobs over the years, I’ve learned that the creative team is the one that makes ideas a reality; we bring them to life. For me, this reinforces the idea that it truly is our job to provide creative insight and sustainable solutions to bring about change.

Designers everywhere choose to answer this call differently, each in their own way. Some choose to make a difference through aiga. Some choose to work for a nonprofit company. Some choose to work within a big corporation. Some choose to start their own agency. Some choose to start a program to help schools and nonprofit organizations in developing countries.

Some choose to teach and mentor the next generation of designers. Some choose to inspire others by writing. Diversity in thinking is needed. Designers have to take their skill sets and passions and figure out where they can make the most difference.

Are these efforts too little, too late? It can sometimes feel impossible to alter the course of the world’s destiny. The values are there, but enacting them seems to be another issue. Yet, I believe that if we all start with small changes in our day-to-day work, with time they will add up. After all, the greatest mountain ranges in the world were created by the earth’s plates slowly moving toward each other, day after day. The Himalayan Mountains are still climbing to new heights, at an inch per year. That’s the way the world changes, and that’s the way we evolve and grow—in small increments—by the choices we each make, every day. We do what we think is right each time. Gradually, the world around us starts to change. That’s how we leave our imprint on our profession and our life. Inch by inch. CA

Here is a brief list of online resources: Institute for Sustainable Communications www.sustaincom.org renourish www.re-nourish.com WorldChanging www.worldchanging.com The Cloud Institute www.sustainabilityed.org TreeHugger www.treehugger.com Sustainable Metropolis www.metropolismag.com/cda/sustainable.php Green Map System www.greenmap.com GreenBlue www.greenblue.org Global Reporting Initiative www.globalreporting.org The International Network on Sustainable Design www.o2.org

Editor’s note: Many of the most popular Design Issues essays are available in the book of the same name, compiled and edited by me and co-published by Communication Arts and Allworth Press.

—DK Holland 1 According to WorldChanging, edited by Alex Steffen, there are no truly green materials; it takes energy to produce any kind of material. Of course, there are some we should never use if possible, but the ingenuity is in use and reuse of materials to prevent them from ending up in a landfill.

2 To view all 185 banners, go to www.urbanforestproject.org.

3 The material used in DuraBook™—polypropylene film—is tree-free and completely recyclable. While paper is also recycled, it is considered “downcyclable” because with each trip through the recycling process, the fibers lose quality and virgin pulp has to be added. Furthermore, since ink cannot be lifted from paper, toxic chemicals remain part of the paper pulp.

With polypropylene film—made of plastic resins and inorganic fillers—ink can be safely lifted from the pages, the plastic melted down and reused as other products again and again. It can safely become another book or a yogurt container. It does take energy to melt down the plastic, but recycling paper takes the same energy and polypropylene film never loses quality or ends up in a landfill.

Communication Arts

23

design culture

Wendy Richmond

Stages of Support

I

am in the midst of preparing for a show of new work.

During a recent critique with colleagues, I focused (rather obsessively) on technical and formal issues until one member of the group challenged me. She said, “Wendy, the work is beautiful, and the technical problems are details that you have always solved, but this is a diversion. You need to get back to the content, the meaning of the work.”

She was right. I have notebooks full of writing about the subject that I had been shooting, but had not yet spent enough time articulating and expanding those thoughts.

After her astute remark, I did not feel criticized; instead I felt energized and inspired to plunge into the tough issues. The rest of our session was animated, thought provoking and extremely helpful.

Did I employ and appreciate my colleague’s criticism because of the supportive way in which she delivered it, or because I am at a mature stage of my work?

Many years ago, I was given what should have been the plum job of designing a poster for an upcoming public event. My boss handed me the assignment with a few scribbled sketches and said, “If I had the time, I would do this, but I can’t do everything.” He made it clear to me that I was a poor substitute, but I would have to suffice. I spent most of my time trying to figure out what he would have designed, unconsciously rejecting everything that was unique to my own capabilities.

Was I flummoxed by my boss because he was insensitive, or because I was insecure?

What does it mean to be supportive? Does it change depending on the maturity of the “supportee”? How does support— getting it and giving it—evolve over the course of one’s career? How can we be more aware in each stage, delivering and accepting criticism to its best advantage?

I’m not promoting wimpiness, nor am I ignoring the realities of the business world. I know that, in times of intense competition, deadlines and chaos, one cannot stop and say, “Oh, I’m sorry, did I hurt your feelings?” However, I do believe that insightful support produces the best outcome for all parties, and is therefore worthy of study and practice. One

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must be conscious of both the situation and the people involved, and consider the needs of each.

The earliest encounters of support in one’s profession typically begin in school. All too frequently, a teacher’s intention is to be supportive, but the result is imposition and control, instead of helping a student to find his or her own voice.

In the beginning stages of one’s career, support is more of a by-product. Our bosses (who may, incidentally, be mentors) need to be more focused on their business than on our education. Support and/or its erosion occurs in more condensed episodes, especially now, when time is so scarce.

As we become more stable and mature in our professions, the nature of support morphs again. The power relationship equalizes, and support becomes more mutual, often taking the form of collaboration between colleagues.

As one approaches retirement, relationships shift once again.

Responsibilities are delegated, and replacements are groomed.

In some of the classes I have taught, there are students who have begun second careers. The cycle restarts, and the loop begins again.

No matter what stage of career or set of circumstances, there is nothing more important than to acknowledge one’s individuality. In the book Seeing is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees by Lawrence Weschler, the artist (and teacher) Robert Irwin said, “I think the most immoral thing you can do is have ambitions for someone else’s mind.”

From time to time, I use this column as a place to invite and share your thoughts and experiences. We all have stories about people who have influenced our careers, and the ways we have influenced others. So I am asking you to respond: How has their support (or lack thereof ) affected the different stages of your career? And how has your support affected the work of others?

Please e-mail me at ca@wrichmond.com, and I will include your comments in a future column. Your name, and the names of people and places, will not be published. CA © 2007 W. Richmond

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business

RitaSue Siegel

Trust in Experience

O

ver the past few years, advertising pundits have been warning clients and colleagues that consumers tuneout ads and don’t believe what advertisers are telling them. Johan Liedgren, in Advertising Age online, warned recently that the ad industry “is hooked on delivering messages that come from wishful thinking about brand positioning to an audience that doesn’t expect much from us.” His advice is to communicate “brand qualities that are truthful, relevant and sincere.”1

collaborate with partners who have classic industrial and visual design, design planning, marketing, technology skills to develop experience design methodology. At the same time, experience designers are educating program managers and selling their ideas to internal partners. To be effective, presentation and persuasion are as important as creative design. The focus on experience design at HP means driving a cultural transformation of an engineering culture while encountering and learning to overcome pockets of resistance.

Not only have people tuned-out advertising, they have closed their minds to messages from formerly trusted sources. Think about: “We did not—repeat, did not—trade weapons or anything else for hostages, nor will we,”2 “Read my lips, no new taxes”3 and “In defiance of pledges to the United Nations, Iraq has stockpiled biological and chemical weapons, and is rebuilding the facilities used to make more of those weapons.”4

Traveling to Davos, Switzerland, Bruce Nussbaum blogged, “We are moving through a vast cultural change that involves shifting from The Voice of Authority to The Voice of Understanding.

Listening and understand[ing]—connecting and communicating—are the key skills of business culture today and the essence of leadership. If you don’t get this—and many CEOs being fired these days clearly don’t—you don’t get the 21st century of social networking, disaggregated power and co-creation.”6

Hollywood movie studios are in trouble because they gamble on content; the costs of labor, promotion, production and distribution are over the top; and their business model, marketing spending and distrust of digital technology are ruining them. They face an increasingly technology-savvy audience who can choose to watch movies on their cell phones, video iPods, TV screens or computers, or abandon movies altogether in favor of games or Second Life. David Denby, New Yorker movie critic quotes the essence, “We have the resources to tell the public what it wants to see.”5 The problem for the studios is not the proliferation of delivery platforms, it is their attitudes. The decision to focus on audiences and delivering experiences uniquely defined by platforms is an idea that has spread because of its intrinsic value.

26

The diverse customer-focused team in an organization responsible for developing, orchestrating and implementing total customer experience strategy and brand building works at the intersection of business, design, marketing and technology strategies. Designers work well at this intersection because of their comfort level and ability to deal with ambiguity, and to use design thinking to generate concepts against focused objectives.

A focus on the consumer experience is spreading like a virus through the business world, creating jobs for designers who understand business, technology and behavioral trends. In some companies, designers concerned with the user experience with organizations, products, services and events, have stepped into the breach—created by years of “less than truthful, relevant and sincere” messages—to deliver authenticity. In some established companies, experience design is an entrepreneurial start-up, like design once was.

Denby said, in the movie business, marketing and research can find out what audiences want, but without “instinct, taste and daring, not to mention acting, directing and cinematography,”7 they ain’t got nothing. In our world, in the final analysis, there is no substitute for talented designers who interpret and are inspired by the findings of research about people, social and cultural trends, technology and the competitive landscape. Add the elements of surprise and delight and, for “acting, directing and cinematography,” substitute design thinking, form, visual design, typography, information design, usability, interaction design, emotion, packaging, colorcopy, business, design, stratedy, and you have the ingredients of an organization that can develop and implement a total customer experience strategy over time.

Hewlett-Packard is one such company where cross-functional teams of thinkers from interactive and usability design

To develop experience design strategy, the leader puts in place the methodologies and people who can build capability fast,

May/June 2007

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business create reusable experiences, visual design, usability assets and reduce cost and increase margins. The experience design leader’s understanding of the organization’s goals and the priorities articulated by management, combined with design thinking, can ensure that every customer touch-point will have been considered in the drive to develop differentiators and exploit market niches. In business today, internal collaboration of specialists and networks is crucial to achieving goals. It is equally beneficial to develop collaborative relationships with strategic partner organizations.8 Before the proliferation of channels, one commercial on primetime television could reach 30 million people. While advertising is not going away, much of the communications focus of brand marketers has shifted to other opportunities not merely to reach but to engage the customer. Experience designers orchestrate these on- and offline opportunities. Experience design is closely associated with online experience where its status is up a notch from the user experience designer in more traditional companies.

Experience designer Nathan Shedroff, on www.nathan.com, states, “The elements that contribute to superior experience are knowable and reproducible, which makes them designable.”

In the digital realm (Google, Yahoo!, e*trade, etc.), the intent is to develop interactions with customers that will surprise and delight them virtually, without apparent human contact.

No company can influence every touch point. At Whirlpool millions have been spent to discover people’s latent and expressed needs and expectations. Designers lead the development of innovative products that attempt to exceed those desires; the products look good, are priced fairly, use quality materials and finishes, include easy-to-read documentation and, importantly, perform as promised. Consider the risks such an organization takes if it cannot provide a totally satisfactory customer experience. What if it has no control over the placement of their products at stores that belong to others, or the behavior of sales and delivery people in them?

The term “experience design” is also used by the hospitality, theme park, entertainment and events industries. Hospitality and entertainment companies like Disney, Starwood Hotels and Starbucks require a cross-discipline perspective that considers multiple aspects of the brand/business/environment/ experience including architecture, interior and environmental design, uniforms and employee training to deliver desired customer experiences.

Experience designers come from backgrounds as diverse as journalism, information architecture, human factors engineering, cognitive science, psychology, all the design disciplines and fine arts. One director of experience design we know at a telecom provider is responsible for developing the vision and experience design strategy, translating business goals into creative solutions for the Web site, managing all user-experi28

May/June 2007

ence internal and external resources, including interaction design, information architecture, usability and visual design, transactions for consumer and business customers, as well as statements (printed, online and e-mailed), retail stores, instore merchandising and telephone customer service—but not telephone design.

Every company has its own set of complexities. In some companies, one of the main interactions with customers is via the Web. Insurance, financial services, express delivery carriers and the like, invest heavily in site experience design, as well as training and providing resources for their agents, advisors and delivery people so they are able conspirators in delivering superior customer service.

In their book, Making Meaning: How Successful Businesses Deliver Meaningful Customer Experiences,9 the authors list experience design’s multiple dimensions.

“Experience design seeks to develop the experience of a product, service or event along any or all of the following dimensions: n Duration (Initiation, Immersion, Conclusion and

Continuation) n Intensity (Reflex, Habit, Engagement) n Breadth (Products, Services, Brands, Nomenclatures,

Channels/Environment/Promotion and Price) n Interaction (Passive, Active, Interactive) n Triggers (All Human Senses, Concepts and Symbols) n Significance (Meaning, Status, Emotion, Price and Function)

While it’s unnecessary (or even inappropriate) for all experiences to be highly developed across all dimensions, the more consistently a product or service is developed across them, the more responsive an offering is to a group’s or individual’s needs and desires. Enhancing the affordance of a product or service and its interface is key to commercial experience design.” CA © 2007 RitaSue Siegel

1 “Life After Hot and Sexy,” January 24, 2007.

2 President Reagan, Iran-Contra Affair, December 13, 1986, address to the nation.

3 President George H.W. Bush, Republican nominee acceptance speech, New York Times, August 19, 1988.

4 President George W. Bush, October 5, 2002, radio address.

5 The New Yorker, A Critic at Large, “Big Picture, Hollywood Looks for A Future,” January 8, 2007.

6 BusinessWeek online, Innovation, www.nussbaumondesign.com, January 19, 2007.

7 The New Yorker, A Critic at Large “Big Picture, Hollywood Looks for A Future,” January 8, 2007.

8 Jeneanne Rae, a service innovation consultant, discusses these and other issues in “Don’t Look to New Ideas for Growth,” BusinessWeek online, Innovation, Insight, January 17, 2007.

9 Steve Diller, Nathan Shedroff, Darrel Rhea, New Riders Press, 2005.

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opinion/commentary

Linda Cooper Bowen

Citywise

Working With Municipal Clients

M

unicipal projects have a high profile, diversity of elements and media plus community impact. What designers wouldn’t like to see their work permanently installed all over town? But the rfp (Request for Proposal) or rfq (Request for Qualification) bidding process is time-consuming, extensive and complex. City work requires skills and abilities that designers are never taught in school. These projects are not for the impatient or those needing instant gratification; they can take as little as six months or more than four years with many delays. Nevertheless designers who want to contribute to the enrichment and beauty of public spaces will find working for the city a rewarding experience.

assignments, but when a city is the client, there are requirements such as Living Wage, eeo (Equal Employment Opportunity), Non-collusion Affidavit, Spouse/Partner Equal Benefits, Workforce Ethnicity description, Taxpayer Protection Assurance, Proof of Authority, etc. Los Angeles even has a Slavery Disclosure Ordinance Form. And now proposal documents must be eco-friendly—no plastic, no binders, recycled stock, etc. Typically, a city rfp will have 2 or 3 pages defining the work scope, 3 to 5 pages describing the consultant selection process, and up to 40 pages of forms and instructions. Some require a notary, others require insurance certificates in advance.

Many cities require that a percentage of disadvantaged or minority firms are included in the project.

Wayne Hunt, Hunt Design, Pasadena, CA: Whenever I drive

The procurement process is brutally fair; a city contract award needs to be 100%+ free of any bias, personal preference, influence by staff or any sense of impropriety. rfps are part of an objective process and firms are rated on a score sheet, with points for relevant experience, proposed personnel, written understanding of the project, etc. They are ranked numerically.

The top-rated three to five design firms are summoned for interviews with city staff. It is very difficult to break into city

by a good public building, see a well-designed public sign or visit a well-executed public park, I don’t think “Wow, what a cool building,” I think “Wow, what a victory of diplomacy and perseverance!”

CA: Explain the RFP process.

© Jim Simmons

Hunt: Competitive bidding is common for private and public

LA Walks program by Hunt Design: (from left) This system of icons required approval by the city as well as each district; the 1,300-sign program took over 4 years to design, seek various approvals, fabrication and installation; hundreds of zoomed-in maps were designed by Corbin Design and Hunt Design.

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May/June 2007

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CELEBRATING DIVERSITY

opinion/commentary

work, firms that have done a lot of related work score high, less experienced firms do not. Private clients are business- and schedule-driven and immediately turn to the fee page. At the city, the highest authority is the city council, a group of cautious, elected officials who seldom agree on anything and may not even want the project you were hired to do. The dreaded Design Commission, a mayor-appointed committee of citizen “experts,” must sign off on the design of public projects and most large private developments, and generally they have no use for graphics, signage or strong colors.

CA: What is your winning strategy?

Hunt: Our strategy is based on communicating our knowledge

of the city, the situation and how our experience relates to their specific problem. City staff are usually bright people with degrees in planning, city administration or other areas.

They respond to clear writing and persuasive exposition. Next to writing skills, interviewing skills are most important. A big part of designing is listening, negotiating and getting something built, the process is often the design.

In spite of the frustrations, city work can be very satisfying.

Cities should be great places and it is an honor to play a small role in designing them. Our downtowns need color, good signage and good outdoor “exhibits” about their history and culture. We help make places where people interact and thrive.

David Vanden-Eynden, Calori & Vanden-Eynden, New York, NY:

You need social and people skills, the ability and willingness to compromise, to be diplomatic and flexible as well as having the strength to hold your ground.

CA: How do you learn about RFPs? Vanden-Eynden: City planners are a small group, and word-of-

mouth puts us on the distribution list for rfq packages. We are also copied on rfq lists from previous clients. In addition, the Society of Environmental Graphic Designers (segd) occasionally provides a list of members with applicable or appropriate experience to city administrations. Most public institutions advertise rfps, so it is useful to search government Web sites.

Friends and colleagues are also a good source of leads. Young designers must build their own network including landscape

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May/June 2007

13/03/07 11:09:10 AM

© Hoachlander Davis Photography

opinion/commentary

Washington, DC Citywide Wayfinding by Calori & Vanden-Eynden.

architects, architects, developers and planners and begin by partnering with them on smaller city projects like parks or zoos, and still cold-call city agencies to develop contacts and get onto bid lists.

CA: What are “stakeholder groups”?

Vanden-Eynden: Presentations are made to “stakeholder groups” which include convention and visitor bureaus, the Department of Transportation, representatives from sports arenas, the Arts Commission, neighborhood associations and community boards as well as numerous business, civic, cultural and governmental groups. With our Washington, dc project there were over 60 of these groups! After reviewing their wish lists of kiosks, maps, gateways and vehiclular and pedestrian signs, the designer has to focus the client. What is the vision and intent? What will the program do for them?

CA: How do you manage a project?

Vanden-Eynden: A city project is formalized with more correspondence, distribution of multiple copies and thorough documentation. In our office one partner runs the job and a staff member is chosen to project manage and work with the client-side counterpart. Our teams range from two to four people on a project. We hold weekly office review meetings and the coordinator at the client end is responsible for meetings with stakeholders.

The nice thing about public-funded city work is that it generally will go ahead, even in tough times. Implementation generally happens in phases or on an as-needed basis. Once the money is allocated, it will be spent and will continue as long as the funding is in place for the design phase.

Bennett Peji, Bennett Peji Design, San Diego, CA: I never

thought that graphic design would be my vehicle for helping my community in a lasting way. Now I see that graphic designers can be invaluable contributors to a city’s planning and success.

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For centuries pictographs have been a window to the past.

This one will help you discover the door to the future.

*

www.unravelthecode.com

*Hint: Three words, four syllables. Level of difficulty: Any Moron to Simple.

Decipher the code, then go the above website and follow the trail. This is not a stock photo site, even though that was your first guess.

If you guess the secret before you leave this page you are an esp genius. Plus we’ll fire our marketing company.

Have a little fun. Good luck!

opinion/commentary

Sketch of the Filipino Village pedestrian retail kiosk center and a rendering of Grove Plaza, one of the retail malls, both by Bennett Peji Design.

CA: It’s rare for a graphic design firm to win an urban

redevelopment competition. Tell us about the Filipino Village project.

Peji: The typical rfp is written for urban design and develop-

ment projects, but does not consider community or district branding. Our task was to convince the City of San Diego that a branding firm should be the prime or subcontractor.

The goal was to find a compelling theme to unify the City contracts diverse perspectives into offer designers a singular vision. Located in downtown San Diego, the chance to use Filipino Village will be a their talents for mile-long cultural and commercial destination. At the the betterment of start, it involved hiring a team that includes a comthe community. munity outreach liaison, workshop facilitator, environmental graphic designers, project manager, architect, economists, landscape architect, structural and civil engineers and a sign fabricator.

Part design, part community activism, part politics, the Village project celebrates the city’s Filipino population and my own Filipino heritage. To learn the skills necessary to lead a master planning team I spent five years, beginning as a team member on San Diego’s largest civic, arts and cultural project, a $100 million conversion of the closed Naval station. My firm developed the name of the center as well as the identity and branding guidelines. The vision for developing Filipino Village is one that will create an economically viable destination to reflect the best of the warm, inviting Filipino people and culture.

The Village is still in development. I submitted the first designs in April 2004. Private property developments began in 2004.

The city has not yet started construction of the new street, 36

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medians and landscaping. It is still years out for completion.

In the meantime, the city has hired me to design two completely different neighborhoods, including downtown National City, while the Filipino Village project continues. So it’s been good to remain visible to the city.

Ann Harakawa, Two Twelve Associates, New York, NY: It takes real emotional commitment at every level of the firm to pull off good work for government or other regulated client organizations.

CA: Explain how Two Twelve approaches city projects.

Harakawa: We love to work with cities. Not only does it gratify

our mission to serve the public, but we gain an insider’s understanding of how local government works and who the players are. When you have the privilege of working with visionaries like New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff, you gain an appreciation for what it takes to run a big city and communicate with a truly diverse constituency. Two Twelve enjoys big, complex public-information projects that focus on the needs of the user. The process is entirely client-driven. Procurement procedures are specific to each government agency or regulated agency (and they differ from one another) and scripted to the letter, they must be followed without deviation or the designer risks being taken off the list of candidates. We are very thorough in reading and responding to rfps. By reading between the lines and asking questions ahead of time, we try to understand the motivations and operations of the client and how we will best fit in. We seldom have the opportunity for a candid conversation with the client decision-maker prior to interview, so relationship-building is slow and difficult. It takes persistence from the development stage throughout the life of the contract.

CA: How does the fee schedule affect budgeting?

Harakawa: This varies according to the project and rates

allowed. Many city agencies have an hourly rate formula based on direct labor costs times a multiplier to cover over-

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Cackalacky Is a Place Called Home

by Matthew Porter

B

ig fish, who’d a thunk it? Winston-Salem (pop.

190,000) has become North Carolina’s hot place to be these days. HendersonBromsteadArt is right in the thick of it, too, enjoying the easy lifestyle their little city offers while benefiting from its proximity to North Carolina’s crowded commercial and cultural hubs.

This talented group proves once again that there is life, love, art and design prosperity in America’s (so-called) hinterlands. On a recent visit to the old downtown district, a renaissance was in motion and hba’s fingerprints were all over it. No matter where we went—a housewares shop, an art gallery, a popular restaurant— someone either knew Hayes Henderson or Brad Bromstead. These guys are big fish, but this is not a small pond. There are around 35 design shops in Winston-Salem, 10 of which are the size of hba (staff of 12). When Bromstead and Henderson were not greeting an old friend or acquaintance, their work was just around the corner: a poster for the symphony or a fundraiser here, a logo for a cool coffee shop or a happening restaurant there. “We have always sought people who have a connection to this community,” said Henderson. “No one can be ambivalent about the good things Winston-Salem has done for us and what we owe it in return.” Walking the walk, talking the talk.

A mouthful Forget alliteration, Henderson and Bromstead don’t make the agency name easy to say, write or remember.

They know it. They offer a funny send-up of their staggering, stuttering, speed bump of a name on their Web site: The idea behind our carpal tunnel-inducing name was to let people know who we are (that’s original) and the profession we’re in (so as not to be confused with Henderson Bromstead Plumbing). We explored alternatives. One option included using the ancestral derivations of our names. For instance, the English translation for Henderson is “Son of the Hedge Trimmer” while the Norwegian translation for Bromstead is “The Brown Place.” Ultimately, “Trimming The Brown Place” was rejected.

And while the names on the door mean that two fellows stand behind the work, it does not mean they take all the credit for it: At hba (isn’t that easy?), collaboration is the watchword. As for the use of the word “art” in the name, their explanation is more prosaic—something nice about craft and process, something that makes sense but dulls the senses. Yet, rare is the creative who has the audacity to use the word “art” in their company name lest they invite predictable ridicule upon their heads: “Artists? What ho?! Get the hell out of my business office, you street performer!

Businesses don’t buy art!”

In Winston-Salem, “art” and “craft” are embraced. It’s a Moravian thing—look it up. hba is proof; with art in their name and craft in their pitch, they create splendid work for Winston-Salem Symphony, Masquerade for Downtown Arts District Association, Secrest Artist Series at Wake Forest University, as well as lovely efforts for Habitat for Humanity, Dining for Friends, an annual aids fundraiser, and the United Way Forsyth County. “Good-cause” clients hba calls them.

Fast friends Hayes Henderson grew up in North Carolina, graduating from Eastern Carolina University (where he met his wife, Elizabeth, or Little E as she is known) in nearby Greenville, with an interest in the lucrative fields of golf and fine art. When he realized that his avid interest in golf would not earn him a decent living and his nascent interest in fine art needed more worldly cultivation to achieve credibility, he turned to applied arts—graphic design—landing a job in 1987 at Long Haymes Carr working for such consumer brand legends as Planters Peanuts, Bubble Yum, Life Savers and Hanes among others.

Fifteen years ago, Henderson launched his design practice after leaving Long Haymes Carr. Bored and frustrated with his work at the agency, he got permission to take on some freelance illustration assignments “so long as they did not conflict with agency work.” But the freelance work did conflict because it taught him that agency life was a drag. After being asked to do a

Hayes Henderson provided the caption information.

Right: “The multi-colored image was created for Dining for Friends, an annual fundraiser for Triad Health Project, an AIDS service and support organization. The event usually raises around $120,000 in a single evening, which goes towards research, education and support for people in our area who have contracted HIV/AIDS. This year will mark the thirteenth year we’ve collaborated with THP on this springtime fundraiser.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Will Hackley/Hayes Henderson, designers/illustrators.

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HendersonBromsteadArt Newsweek cover, Henderson grabbed the brass ring and decided to pursue the life of an illustrator. He soon realized, though, that illustration was a labor of love, not compensation. So over the course of the next decade, Henderson built a successful design practice mixing in illustration whenever he could and gaining such well-known clients as Wrangler, Hanes Beefy-T, Lowe’s Home Improvement and Wake Forest University.

A native of Boise, Idaho, in 1983 young Brad Bromstead headed east, landing at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, where he received both a ba and an mba. There he also met his wife, Anne from New York. After graduate school, he went to work for Sara Lee in their branded apparel division where he remained for eight years, rising to the division’s vice president of marketing.

During those early years, Henderson met Bromstead while living in the same Winston-Salem apartment building. They’d sit out on a wrought-iron fire escape, drinking beers, sharing dreams and offering each other foamy advice. The friendship grew, eventually leading to a lasting, trusting business partnership.

Don’t the best? They did their first work together at Sara Lee. With Henderson directing a team of “mature” designers, Bromstead’s planning and management background, from Wake Forest University and Sara Lee, guides hba’s account service to high-level, strategic planning and management. “I would like to point out,” added Henderson, “Brad and the account team contribute much to the creative process because their ideas coalesce around sound strategies that can see the light of day.”

With Bromstead leading the charge, hba continues to build its branding and advertising portfolio with interesting and comprehensive programs for corporate clients, including Lowe’s Home Improvement, Wonderbra, C9 by Champion, Hanes Beefy-Ts and Habitat for Humanity. Logo work for Habitat, Red Kap (apparel), Red Hat (technology), Hanes Beefy-Ts and Maria’s Coffee are exceptional. “I believe we are just hitting our stride in these areas,” said Henderson, “and we are getting the kind of work that can help a company like ours find national recognition and national opportunities.”

A wise move It was 2000 and business was humming when Henderson made a big decision: He bought two floors of a historic, seven-story, brick office building on Fourth Street, in downtown WinstonSalem’s commercial center. “The building was nothing but a shell, really. The only thing new were its windows and its roof—the rest was a mess,” recalled Henderson. “But at $20 a square foot to purchase [eat your heart out] we could afford an architect and a construction loan.”

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hba’s two floors cover 7,000 square feet. The space is longer than wide, with expansive views north and east (Winston-Salem is built on a high ridge, so the views even at street level are long). With serene white walls, spacious, light-filled corridors, efficient work zones and custom workstations, the interior design and architecture would make a Pentagram partner proud. The team uses a semi-enclosed, cast-iron staircase at the rear of the building to transit between floors— an unintentional homage to the business partners’ early fireescape courtship?

The acquisition and build-out came at a time of transition: Henderson’s first business partner, Troy Tyner, was leaving while Bromstead was arriving. But the new office gave hba room to grow and think; it also made a statement to the community, “We are here to stay.” In the years since, hba has grown, winning a boxcar full of national awards and mentions in national design competitions. “Awards don’t buy your lunch,” reminded Bromstead. “Every day we must prove ourselves again and never take anything for granted.”

Soul food Despite what they say about the intrinsic value of awards and honorific mentions, Henderson and Bromstead know well that peer recognition wins respect and license. For hba’s most widely known work, poster design, this is especially true.

“Everyone knows posters represent wonderful opportunities to express yourself intellectually and artistically,” said Henderson, “That’s why so few people get to do them. We treat every good-cause client like any client, but we do insist on creative freedom. For example, the poster we did for the local addys displeased some local members. Why? Because some felt it impugned the advertising profession. Well, it did in way because it expressed the point of view that we can get trapped ‘feeding the monster’—paying bills, making payroll, etc.— rather than doing work we find fulfilling and meaningful.”

This page: HendersonBromsteadArt staff: (top row) Kris Hendershott, Paul Roman, Carol Inman; (middle row) Tracy Holcombe, Gretta Davis, Martha Logemann, Joel Bowers, Brent Piper, Will Hackley; (bottom row) Elisa Lovette, Brad Bromstead, Hayes Henderson. Photographs by Will Hackley, illustration by Hayes Henderson.

Right: “In 2003, Champion commissioned HBA to create a sub-brand for exclusive distribution at Target. Positioned as a more fashion-influenced version of the core brand, C9 by Champion has connected with an entirely new market, eclipsing $450 million in sales in just 3 years.”

Hayes Henderson/Brent Piper, art directors; Brent Piper, designer; Jill Greenberg, photographer.

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HendersonBromsteadArt Perhaps an advertising awards banquet is the wrong venue to remind admen and adwomen that they are ad whores, but it added impact. Needless to say, the addys poster did nothing to “feed the monster” at hba because the client didn’t pay for it.

Irony? The poster fed the souls, even of its detractors, who were reminded of the risk of losing one’s soul in the pursuit of clients and riches.

This is important. People are happy when they enjoy their communities. They are happy when they are earning a decent living and doing interesting work. Sometimes this work involves challenging corporate assignments (making a white T-shirt something other than a white T-shirt). But most often it involves “good-cause” assignments that provide spiritual relief. hba knows being a Good Samaritan is both good for the community and good for business.

My cup of tea The nice thing about HendersonBromsteadArt is that you can walk down its corridors and know you are not among provincials “pretending” to be something they are not, or “hoping” to be compared with something they cannot become. They’re regular folks with exceptional talent. They are content but not complacent; hungry but not covetous;

Left: “We’ve been working with Hanes Printables for almost ten years.

They’re our sugar daddy, and, at the same time, one of the best clients we work with creatively. There’s not a lot to say about a T-shirt after you get past how soft it is, how well it’s styled or how inexpensive it is. So we have to make stuff up and sometimes build buzz where there is none. From an industry standpoint, the bar wasn’t set very high. Our work for Beefy has gotten a lot of attention within the category. Through aggressive promotion, Beefy has become about the only shirt the general consumer knows by name. This campaign specifically uses the vernacular of the butcher shop to deliver key messages about the product quality and color range.” Kris Hendershott/Hayes Henderson, art directors; Will Hackley/Kris Hendershott, designers; Julie Curtis/Hayes Henderson, writers; Craig Orsini, photographer.

This page: “We’ve worked with Habitat for Humanity for several years on various projects. This piece was created for an annual fundraiser titled ‘Birdfest,’ a springtime event where artists from around the community create birdhouses and other forms of garden art for auction. The event will typically raise enough money for a new home to be built. The guitar was bought at a pawn shop for $20. We sanded down the finish and sectioned it into quadrants; each creative then took turns working on specific sections. It went around several times, with various constructions and additions, before completion.” Joel Bowers/Will Hackley/Kris Hendershott/Hayes Henderson/Brent Piper/Michelle White, illustrators.

“Maria’s was a popular gourmet coffee shop in Winston-Salem, selling fresh roasted beans to the well-heeled for twenty years. Maria decided to retire before her customers were ready for her to leave. A couple of entrepreneurs and budding coffee afficionados, who had a coffee shop of their own, Krankie’s Coffee, decided to purchase her custom-built roaster and keep the Maria’s brand alive as well as develop their own blends.

With the new logo design for Maria’s, we created something that wouldn’t put off the coffee’s loyal following and would still interest folks new to the brand. For the packaging, we sourced simple craft bags, printed two-color stickers and produced big rubber stamps for printing the logo to help keep costs as low as possible.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Elaine Manglicmot, designer; Krankie’s Coffee, client.

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HendersonBromsteadArt earnest but not obsequious; town but not street. Theirs is a family place, close, simple and true. hba’s receptionist, Carol, is 70-something, white-haired, 100 pounds soaking wet and a bundle of energy. She checks to make sure you have directions, arranges accommodations, bakes birthday cakes for staff members, greets everyone with a smile and hands you a cup of tea the way you like it. She is also Hayes Henderson’s mother-in-law. Cracker-Barrel quaint?

Old-fashioned goodness? Sure, but rare these days, too. Once you’ve had a taste of this kind of stuff at hba, you’ll come running back for more. Now, if I could only remember how to pronounce (and spell) their damn name. CA

This page: “Secrest Artists Series is an annual fall/winter music series at Wake Forest University.

This project has been a part of the studio since the studio was in a back bedroom. The promotional poster goes out to students and faculty, gets posted around campus, as well as distributed in the surrounding community. After several attempts to get the art for this particular piece right, I went back to the original drawing doodled on a sticky note.” Hayes Henderson, art director/ illustrator; Will Hackley/Hayes Henderson, designers; Secrest Artists Series, client.

“In 2006, HBA worked with VF Wrangler Imagewear to overhaul Red Kap, their workwear brand (and get it ready for a retail introduction). Using the people closest to the brand as our inspiration, the repositioning reflects the ‘simple truths’ and wry wit of those who have made the Red Kap brand some of the most popular work clothes for over 83 years.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Joel Bowers/Will Hackley/Kris Hendershott, designers; Matthew O’Connell, writer.

Right: “Tim and Denise Duffy’s altruistic vision for Music Maker Relief Foundation started with helping destitute musicians at the most basic level. Tim took them to pay bills, buy food and even gave used guitars to artists who hadn’t owned their own instruments in years. In 1993 they began booking gigs and recording CDs in their small studio. Over time Tim’s passion has transformed into a vibrant music label generating great music (as well as income) for a variety of formerly unheard musicians. This booklet and carrier were part of a CD box set, the Treasure Box Anthology, containing 38 different musicians as well as a short DVD.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Will Hackley, designer; Tim Duffy, photographer.

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HendersonBromsteadArt

Left: “This CD design was for Alabama Slim and his friend Little Freddie King, long-time New Orleans’ bluesmen. Tim Duffy had heard about Slim’s reputation as a great musician even though Slim had never put out his own album. He also knew that Slim and Freddy had been displaced after Hurricane Katrina; they were living in Dallas writing songs about their lives and the damage that Katrina had wrought.

Tim put them together with producer Ardie Dean and other New Orleans musicians to record The Mighty Flood. As for the aging newcomer, Tim notes, ‘It’s clear that traditional blues will never die as long as there are artists determined to scuffle to hold onto their blues, even if it takes 50 years to get in the studio.’” Hayes Henderson, designer/ illustrator; Music Maker Relief Foundation, client.

“We created this retrospective booklet for artist, curator and educator Ted Potter, past director of the Southeastern Center for Contemporary Art (SECCA) in Winston-Salem.

During his tenure in the 1970s and 1980s, SECCA rose in prominence as one of the leading art spaces on the East Coast. Its provocative direction under Mr. Potter became the flash point for the obscenity in arts controversy of the late ’80s. After displaying the works of Robert Mapplethorpe and Andres Serrano, SECCA drew the ire of southern political fixtures like Jesse Helms and lit the debate over public funding. Sometime after this, Mr. Potter left to become a teacher at Virginia Commonwealth and continue his painting. The intent of this design was to stay out of the way of the artwork as well as critic Tom Patterson’s tribute to the accomplishments of Ted Potter.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Will Hackley, designer; Tom Patterson, writer.

This page: “Art director Francine Kass of WW Norton Publishing had seen some of our poster work and took the leap to find out if we would be interested in trying bookjacket design. The collaboration has been mutually beneficial, we get to work on interesting publication assignments and Francine gets to make fun of our southern accents.” Hayes Henderson, art director; Will Hackley, designer/illustrator.

“Logo for software that tracks product and material inventory, specifically for the textile and apparel industry.”

Hayes Henderson, art director; Joel Bowers, designer; Apparelnet/Hanes Brands Inc., client.

“I had been shooting blanks for awhile trying to come up with a seasonal theme for the fall/winter Secrest Series concert poster. The Sunday evening before my Monday morning presentation, I was sitting on my front porch staring alternatively between a sketchbook page full of lousy ideas and a gnarly, 80-year-old maple tree in my front yard, when it came to me. Duh.” Hayes Henderson, art director/designer; Will Hackley/Hayes Henderson, illustrators.

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by Ruth Hagopian

LaurieFrankel I

f Laurie Frankel didn’t love shooting on location so much, her recent setup at a llama farm in Half Moon Bay would simply have been a cold, wet and reeking experience. It was definitely that, but the muddy llama dung that covered Frankel, her crew and the inside of the tech van was undetectable in print and didn’t really hamper her shots of children in their Peruvian-inspired fashions.

The client was Tea Collection, a children’s clothing company in San Francisco, and Frankel has watched the company grow in just a few years from straight catalog shots to images with deeper mood and emotion. She’s found the freedom to interpret the fashion’s global spirit by becoming more editorial and by never treating the kids like props. Frankel’s natural rapport, along with her expert abilities at rolling around on the floor or making faces, captures their best expressions. Or she’ll use little tricks that please them, like putting a mirror on the camera so the child can see herself during the shot. “I’ve gotten the best kids with personality, with a little spunk and character, not just pretty faces,” said Frankel. “Now, it’s not just about happy-go-lucky kids, but creating different moods.”

Emily Meyer, creative director and co-founder of Tea Collection, credits Frankel with bringing a tenderness into the images and elevating the company’s level of sophistication, while also keeping it real. “Working with her, she’s visually tuned in to everything around her.” Frankel also spends a lot of time talking with art director Satoko Furuta. “She comes up with great ideas,” said Furuta, who has worked with her for several years, adding, “Everything’s still exciting with her, she’s not jaded.”

Frankel’s photos of children are only part of her creative work.

She’s successfully built her career from a variety of subjects and with a client list that includes Williams-Sonoma, Pottery Barn, Ogilvy & Mather and Martha Stewart. Her images include kids, interiors, still life and food, as well as a personal portfolio that’s just as varied. We discussed her eclectic interests at Samovar, a tea lounge in San Francisco. While her voice

retains her East Coast accent, she has a sunny openness and optimism associated with the West. “When I was an art director,” she said, “many photographers were focused on being just a still-life shooter or being just a fashion shooter.

Now it’s changed a lot, which is great. It keeps me fresh to work on a whole bunch of different things.”

Phase one: East Coast art director A New Jersey native, Frankel attended the University of Delaware, where she studied with Bill Deering in photography, Ray Nichols in advertising and Martha Carothers in design.

She credits them as the talented force behind what she is today. After graduation, she worked in New York as an art director for Macy’s and for Revlon’s in-house design department, but when legendary marketer, Mal MacDougall, started his own agency, Frankel became his creative director and he became an important mentor. “He wrote all those famous tag lines,” she said. “Lines like, ‘Just for the Taste of It’ for Diet Coke and ‘Come to think of it, I’ll have a Heineken.’”

MacDougall impressed Frankel with his ability to “get” exactly what the client needed and to express that concept in a few concise words.

“We were a good partnership because I could do that visually,” she said, and MacDougall agreed. “In my long career, I’ve worked with a lot of great art directors and Laurie, I still say, is number one—the best I’ve ever worked with,” he said. “She can take some really junky ideas and turn them into something beautiful. You can see in her artwork she has a range, she thinks about it and has a clean, clear way to present something. It’s rare.” Frankel still keeps MacDougall’s advice to designers on her desk: “Don’t try to be crazy. Don’t try to go to your computer and think you can do something off the wall. Simplicity is what’s going to work.”

The journey from designer to photographer took 17 years and more than 3,000 miles. With her husband, Frankel moved to California in 1994 for an opportunity to be creative director for San Francisco’s venerable retail store, I. Magnin.

Right: “This photo was used to promote a children’s clothing line. It was shot at an old hotel in Oakland, California, a good place for the kids and clothes to stand out from the mundane furnishings. I liked the simple graphic look of the suitcase that created a frame around the little girl. She had such a great time playing in there; she didn’t want to get out. Working with children, you never know what they’re going to do and you can’t preplan the outcome.” Satoko Furuta, art director; Tea Collection, client.

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Laurie Frankel

Giving life to still life Successful food photography is particularly demanding when the subject is a wet lump of breakfast cereal. For Kashi foods, Frankel and her crew made very tight shots of Kashi’s products— all natural and very brown. “I can’t tell you the mountain of food photographers we look through to find someone with the ability to give bran flakes or oatmeal some magic,” said Lynda Pearson, co-founder and creative director at Amazon Advertising.

“It’s easy to shoot a chocolate cake, but to take a handful of wet oatmeal and make it pleasing and appetizing is really difficult. Laurie would step back and look at it with a painter’s eye in terms of composition, lights and darks and where the light was coming from.” Frankel’s photos were a success for the client because Kashi needed a style to carry through to all their products. “She was able to style and shoot something in a way that was both soft and hard, take that harshness of the reality away and then translate it into a style that was strong enough to be interpreted on television,” Pearson added.

Shooting food and still lifes for Martha Stewart Living, Martha Stewart Weddings and Martha Stewart Kids magazines again took Frankel in a different direction and into a world of beautiful props. She noted that the company finds the best ribbon with perfect form that reflects light or the best vase, whose sheen showcases its curves. The best of the best also includes getting extensive background information on the concept and the story for each assignment. “When photographers come in, we really put a lot of trust in them and we always give them so much respect and so much input,” said 54

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Bergren Rameson, senior associate style editor for Martha Stewart Weddings.

“Laurie won’t instantly pick up the camera, but will walk around the subject and treat light as something she can really play with. [Her photos] have that feminine quality, a softness, but they’re also very clean and bright at the same time, which I really love.” © Chugrad McAndrews

Ironically, the store that first opened in 1876, closed before the year’s end in 1995 and Frankel’s departure turned into a two-year hiatus to care for their young son. After a couple years of freelance design, a new baby was on the way and Frankel thought it was time to start over. “I wanted my kids to see me doing what I loved the most, so they would know they could do whatever they dreamed of.” She made the bold move and used a lifetime of creating snapshots to produce the portfolio of still lifes she would show to Chronicle Books. The publisher was impressed and Frankel was given several book projects, including The Beauty Workbook, Baby Gifts and Funny Bunnies. But it wasn’t until Gymboree hired her to produce posters for the windows of their 500 stores that she developed a system of shooting. “I love to get assistants who are really excited with what we’re doing,” she said. It’s important for her to bond with her team, which now consists of two photo assistants, one digital assistant and a stylist.

Though Frankel’s approach is contemplative, as much as she moves lights around and changes things, she often goes back to her first Polaroid—the instant reaction to what she sees. “When the digital world came about, it was the best thing for me,” she said. “You take the picture and you have enough information.”

Besides natural light, she prefers a directional, simple light in her work and many of her images have a graphic feeling in form and composition.

A graphic sensibility is also evident in the work she admires, by photographer William Eggleston, artist Joseph Cornell and director Pedro Almodóvar. She’s drawn to the simplicity of modern interiors and conversely, to sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Dutch paintings. Like those ornate works, Frankel also constructs her compositions with extreme care, noting the subtle changes of light on each surface. It’s an enduring fascination, like the time she first realized she was visually aware: “I remember as a kid in first or second grade, when the teacher called on me, and I was watching how the light was hitting the falling chalk.”

An ease of collaboration For those who have worked with her, Frankel’s quiet confidence and generosity to clients and creatives are often mentioned. Mal MacDougall describes her as someone without any ego and who doesn’t need any because her work speaks for itself. “She’s not a person who tries to take the spotlight in any way, shape or manner,” he said. “It’s very refreshing in this business; there are so many egos in the art world. She’s fun to work with and she’s just darn nice.”

Right: “The wedding cake and truffles were shot for a Martha Stewart Weddings story on champagne. It’s inspiring to work at their studio; the whole team has flawless taste, and they have a selection of the most beautiful props. When I’m shooting with them, I never want the day to be over.” Brooke Hellewell, art director; Alexa Mulvihill, design director; Michelle Michael, stylist; Theresa Canning Zast, style director; Brittany Williams, food editor.

Personal. “While shooting a catalog luggage series, I saw this pile of white stuffing near the dirty windows. I’m often shooting a beautiful set in a big, grungy warehouse and frequently find a quiet moment to capture the opposite.”

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Laurie Frankel

In addition to her work, Frankel’s personality is a value-added aspect of hiring her. She has an unflappable nature and brings a calmness to the shoot, without the sense of impending catastrophe that oftentimes accompanies a commercial photo session.

Of the muddy llama shoot, Satoko Furuta said, “We were knee deep in ‘stuff’ and freezing. I had hot air blowing inside the team van just to heat us and then we’d go out there again to freeze. Laurie has a really good attitude and I found it makes me not afraid to push [the photo] more, to move the camera; she’ll still be encouraging.”

That flexibility is how she balances her time between photography, her husband, Gary, and their two boys, Julius, 7 and Xander, 11. The men in her life have become another source of inspiration in her work because she finds them so funny.

“I’ve started to bring more wit into my work and now I feel like I’m trying to be more playful,” she said, “even in still life. If you can add something that is funny and makes you think, it makes you a little bit more curious about life, and that’s something I would like to do.” CA Left: “Photographing designer Tamotsu Yagi’s space was like recording an art installation. I had the opportunity to meet him and photograph his collection of Prouvé furnishings. Yagi is an elegant man with an impeccable eye, and I tried to capture the refinement in all of the lines created by his clean designs.” Tamotsu Yagi, art director; Tamotsu Yagi Design, client.

This page: “When stylist Alessandra Mortola found the weathered fence, we decided it was the ideal background for the silver vases. We always try to push a picture and end up with something unexpected, like the gap in the fence.

Attaching the letter helped create romance, as in Flemish paintings, where one often looks at objects and wonders why they are there.” Roost, client.

“I was shooting a party scene for Design Within Reach, and before the models arrived, I set up the camera in front of this orange couch. I wanted to create a strong visual with a graphic contrast between the horizontal lines of the furniture and the vertical wooden slats of the wall. The bottles broke it all up.” Frank Kofsuske, art director; Stephania Serena, creative director.

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Laurie Frankel Left: “This was from a fashion shoot of Small Paul jackets for Modernseed. The boy was three and had a very short attention span. I told him if he looked into the lens, he would be able to see himself. He tried a few times, and when he couldn’t see himself, he was done.” Eric Pfeiffer, art director.

“The house where we were shooting had a lot of toys laying around, and this girl didn’t want to model, she just wanted to play with the toys. I said, ‘Give me an angry face. I know you don’t want to be here.’ And the very shy, second model reacted to her faces. When I saw her reflection, I positioned her in the frame and put a blackboard on the other side of the glass to emphasize it.” Eric Pfeiffer, art director; Modernseed, client.

“This little boy really wanted to be with his grandmother, who wasn’t part of the plan. She had such great character, so we had her switch clothes with the art director and put her in the shot. The style was influenced by William Eggleston’s ability to capture a moment and his graphic use of colors and shapes.” Sakoto Furuta, art director; Tea Collection, client.

This page: “I’m a chocoholic. So, when Vosges Haut-Chocolat asked me to come to Chicago, I was there! Vosges also sells clothes, and I shot them on a model with chocolate covered body parts. I loved the chocolate texture and the light on the model after she dipped herself in her next coating. I asked her to put her hands together and got the perfect drip. The model said it was the best shoot she had ever done. Who wouldn’t love to work around large vats of melted chocolate all day?” Maria Vettese, art director.

Personal. “The cloud poster was used as a reflection in a mirror for a Roost catalog. We were cleaning up the set and I loved the curl of the sky backdrop. I saw the wire sculpture tree in their office and placed it in front before we took the set down. This is part of a series of outtakes from commercial photo shoots that I’m collecting.”

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ethink

ADVERTISING

by Julie Prendiville Roux

A

t the Rethink offices in Vancouver, British Columbia, gleaming, intricately carved elevator doors glide open to a vaulted-ceiling lobby of glass walls resplendent with sweeping views of rugged Coal Harbour. Two reflecting pools, long rectangles studded with iridescent pebbles imported from a small village near Prague, boast exotic, vivid koi. Above a sprawling, curved bamboo reception desk, six floating plasma screens show the current times and climates across the world.

Soothing, melodies lilt through the cavernous space, a specially commissioned soundtrack by Groove Armada...

Well, not quite. Not even in the ballpark. Rethink’s offices are definitely anti-office, basement chic, frat house with file folders.

“We think our offices shouldn’t be fancier than our clients’,” explains founding partner and co-creative director Chris Staples.

No worries there.

Emblematic of the agency’s philosophy of work—creative and otherwise—their environment is pared down to the essentials, only with clever, inspired-thought infused throughout. Instead of springing for wallpaper, for example, Rethink thinks of wallsized world maps purchased for $100 off the Internet. Instead of fine art for decoration, framed Rethink work, musings and memorabilia from parties and events hang on the walls.

“Clients are sick of it—sitting in fancy offices, where they know they’re paying for the oak and marble. They love this—for meetings, we sit around a Ping-Pong table that cost $400,” Staples says. AstroTurf in friendly grass-green replaces pesky wall-to-wall carpeting. And when viewing rough-cuts or reels, forget the flat screen, fabulous sound system fanfare. A metal rack on wheels, reminiscent of av departments in community colleges everywhere, holds a basic 20-inch screen tv and a vcr/ dvd player. “We say to clients, ‘This is the how the majority of your customers see tv, so this is how you should see it.’”

What the clients won’t be seeing is PowerPoint presentations, elaborate storyboards, computer layouts or animatics. Rethink staffers show their ideas the old-fashioned way, as pencil roughs (remember those?), partly so that a last-minute, fabulous idea

won’t have to die because the presentation has been illustrated within an inch of its life. In client meetings, notes and brain-storming sessions are conducted on wall-sized “chalkboards”—with special black paint that can be scribbled with notes, then erased. Any leave-behinds are tucked into blank white folders, dvd covers or booklets stamped with a small backwards circle R—the Rethink logo. Even business cards are strictly generic; they, too, are plain white with spaces for the handwritten name of the staffer and a phone number or e-mail address. The Rethink Web site is a white screen with a small glyph saying Web site.

It’s all part of the Rethink way of doing business. Ian Grais, founding partner and co-creative director, explains, “The only thing we can control and over-invest in is the creative. Our pared-down structure has removed the layers of account people. We don’t have time sheets, which we felt were a waste of time at other agencies where we’ve worked. We invest in our people—we have profit sharing, three weeks of paid vacation and if someone wants to study something, we pay half.”

Staples, Grais and Tom Shepansky started Rethink in 1999 after working together at Palmer Jarvis, which had recently become Palmer Jarvis ddb (now ddb Canada). The departure was big news in the Canadian advertising world because these were three of the top staff at arguably the most prestigious agency in the country.

Although they had no clients when they opened their doors, by 2003 Rethink was named Agency of the Year by Marketing magazine and again in 2006 by Strategy magazine, the Canadian equivalent of Adweek. At the time of the Strategy awards festivities in Toronto, the agency was scheduled to go on retreat. So instead of collecting the trophy themselves, they sent three older, female actors dressed in native Ukrainian costumes, claiming that they were Shepansky’s relatives. It was pure Rethink for two reasons: it was a twist on expected agency behavior, and they wouldn’t have rescheduled a company retreat to pick up an award.

Caption information provided by Ian Grais, Chris Staples, Rob Tarry, Rob Sweetman, Bryan Collins and Michael Milardo. Ian Grais and Chris Staples are creative directors on all projects.

Right: “Fifty-thousand buttons were displayed, each printed with a single word representing one of a hundred possible responses to contemporary art.

The public was free to walk away with as many buttons as they wanted in this interactive promotional installation for the Contemporary Art Gallery in Vancouver.” Ian Grais, art director; Chris Staples, writer; Dale Vankoughnett, agency producer.

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The wins were highly satisfying, especially because Rethink is the result of nine months of careful consideration of what works and what doesn’t work in traditional advertising agencies.

While they were still at Palmer Jarvis ddb, Staples, Grais and Shepansky planned their exit carefully. Basically, the three wrote a wish list of what the ultimate ad agency model would look like and then proceeded to make it happen. In one antiagency move, they decided to actually be accountable for the work they produced. For retainer clients, up to five percent of the budget is set aside until the end of the year, as a kind of rebate. Client and agency then sit down and review the year. After analyzing the year’s work and results, the client is free is to give the agency part, all or none of the funds.

Their convictions are evident in every decision, like how to attract new business (although they’ve never had to actually pick up the phone to solicit clients). Shepansky explains, “We don’t have a business person. We have simple criteria: Do we believe in the brand? Do we respect and like the people?

And, is there a creative opportunity?” They don’t believe in offices, even for themselves, preferring to allow free exchange across cubicles. Telephone booths on each floor allow for private phone calls and a few small lounges with doors serve as quiet thinking spaces for creative teams. And for an agency that’s clearly driven by creative, they’re highly disciplined about the business of the business. “Our picture of growth is one foot on the gas and one foot on the brake,” Shepansky says.

The one belief that trumps all others is that the idea is king.

Along with saving lots of money on elaborate décor and layers of staff, which may ultimately add nothing in the greater scheme, each piece of their identity is a well-thought out execution of their corporate dna—the idea is everything. Grais explains, “Ideas are brought to life seamlessly across disciplines by creative teams, avoiding the need for stand-alone divisions.”

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© Hans Sipma

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staff in operations and accounting. This means that the creative staff is fully half the agency. “Our ratio is 50/50 because of our cheap and cheerful surroundings,” says Staples.

There are no account planners, and this fact informs the way the agency approaches work. “Planning is a process, not a person,” says Shepansky. “I think planners can take a brief to a box that’s often too small. Strategy needs to take you part of the way and creative takes you the rest of the way. But if the box is too small, you’re not going to get great creative.”

In fact, Shepansky says, if a strategy yields less than sparkling work, they throw the strategy out and start again. “Here, we’re all account person-slash-planner, creative-slash-planner.

We all need to get our hands dirty and work on the solution.

Planners can be a crutch. It creates a divide between ‘thinkers’ and ‘doers,’” he says.

Vancouver is a relatively small city, especially compared with bustling Toronto, so for local accounts, Rethink comes up with surprising solutions that are designed to grab attention and whenever possible, press. To introduce a new 3M product, Scotchshield, a treated plastic film that renders glass surfaces bulletproof, the agency placed a see-through box inside a bus shelter and filled it with stacks and stacks of dollar bills (most fake, but enough were real to pull off the prank). [See 2005 Advertising Annual.] Passersby were then invited to try and break the glass and earn the money. Throughout the next 24

Their culture is rooted in attracting and retaining great Rethink-ers. Rob Sweetman, art director and associate creative director, is one of five staffers who have earned the title of partner. He describes the climate: “When I got here, it felt like a place where I could work forever. It’s really empowering to know that if you have a great idea, they will do what it takes to get the idea done. The only thing you have to worry about is coming up with a great idea. They’ll take care of the rest. At the same time, they recognize that inspiration doesn’t come from within these four walls. They’ve got a really nice balance of pushing everyone to do their best and also have a life.” In the employee handbook, there’s a section devoted to “Personal growth and a balanced life.”

“This ad ran on the back covers of Modern Drummer and Drum magazines, providing the illusion that someone has been using the magazine as a drum pad. The copy asks, ‘Still holding out for Ayotte drums?’”

Ian Grais, art director; Chris Staples, writer; Hans Sipma, photographer; Brent Mulligan, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer; Ayotte Drums, client.

Teams consist of an art director, a writer, an account person and, if the project calls for one, a designer or Web specialist.

The creative staff is the largest—24, at this writing—with 14 account people, 7 print and broadcast producers and support

“We enlisted dry cleaners to spread the word about our local version of the AAA Automobile Association. We distributed 100,000 free hangers, each printed with a cautionary message and a coupon on the back.” Ian Grais/Martin Kann, art directors; Heather Vincent, writer; Chris Raedcher, agency producer; BCAA, client.

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Above: Rethink staff photo.

Right: “A poster for the launch of DOSE, a free daily newspaper for jaded hipsters. We aimed for blunt and honest to a fault, laying all our cards on the table—no sense trying to hide our intentions from those savvy scenesters.” Lisa Chen-Wing, art director; Rob Tarry, writer; Tom Feiler, photographer; Steve Pinter, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer.

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Rethink

hours, willing participants kicked, beat, slammed into and otherwise tried to compromise the glass. In just over 24 hours, someone succeeded. By that time, enough Canadian newspapers, radio and television stations and one British newspaper had covered the stunt, earning 3M nearly a million dollars in publicity.

For Bell Mobility, a national account, the agency created the identity and advertising for Solo Mobile, a youth-targeted cell phone. Along with all the other pieces of the campaign, a bus shelter was once again employed. Mock-ups of Solo phones, almost as tall as the callers themselves, were placed in shelters across Canada, allowing passersby to make walkietalkie connections to anyone who happened to be walking by on the other end.

One of the most-attention getting accounts in the last year was 1-800-got junk. The agency wanted to find a creative way to talk about trash. The result: The Rat Advertising Trials (rat), with tv spots featuring white rats wearing little 1-800-gotjunk vests scurrying off trucks in search of trash. [See 2006 Advertising Annual.]

Notably, account people are encouraged to be as involved in production as creatives. Once they’re assigned a project, they see the entire job through. Partner and account director Joanne Turner says, “I love production. Getting scripts approved, looking at casting reels—there’s no job description here and you leave your ego at the door. Nobody’s at a higher level than anyone else. We’re all going for the same thing. I’ve never seen so much passion in every single team member.”

Rethink will have moved into a new space in Vancouver by this printing, but their surroundings will be just as inspired and frills-less, with one small change: “This time, we’re springing for red and blue AstroTurf,” advises Grais. CA

This page: “Sirius Satellite Radio has a big advantage over traditional radio: It has 85 more channels. To illustrate this, we developed a campaign that mashed-up listeners. There was one simple rule. Every person had to embody three very different channels. Here, the Slam Dunking Punk Nun listens to NBA Radio, The Catholic Channel and Punk Faction.” Tony Hird, art director; Matt Bielby, writer; Robert Kenney, photographer; Jonathon Cesar/Steve Pinter, studio artists; April Haffenden, agency producer.

“This poster was one in a series that showed BC Lions souvenirs with extraordinary powers.” Ian Grais, art director; Andy Linardatos, writer; Hans Sipma, photographer; Steve Pinter, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer.

Right: “To demonstrate Solo’s walkie-talkie feature, interactive transit shelters with built-in, two-way radios were placed in Vancouver, Montréal, Calgary and Toronto. When people pushed the button they were connected live to another bus stop in another city.” Bart Batchelor, art director; Michael Milardo, writer; Zorina Baksh/Paula Gill, agency producers; Solo Mobile, client.

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Left: “These newspaper ads and in-gym posters for Gold’s Gym use the classic ‘before and after’ ad strategy in the visual language of more serious weightlifters.”

Rob Sweetman, art director; Bryan Collins, writer; Hans Sipma, photographer; Pearl Louie, illustrator; Steve Pinter, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer.

“Posters were stenciled with a clear, scented adhesive, much like flypaper. Over time, trapped insects revealed the Orkin logo in the stenciled areas.” Rob Sweetman, art director/writer; Chris Raedcher, agency producer; Orkin Pest Control, client.

This page: “When we launched Rethink, we wanted to show clients we could also do design and new product development. So we created a brand from scratch, with the help of a friend at a local micro-brewery. ethink Beer was the world’s first herbalcharged lager, with ginseng, gingko and tribulus, which is reputed to boost testosterone. The standard beer box was also rethought, so it could be reused as a CD holder.” Ian Grais/Chris Staples, designers.

“A new logo for a Vancouver commercial editing and motion graphics company.” Ian Grais, designer; Steve Pinter, studio artist; Cycle Media, client.

Print ad for MIO Watch. “Almost dying makes your heart rate go up. And you’ll know exactly how much if you have a MIO Watch.” Rob Sweetman, art director; Bryan Collins, writer; Alastair Bird, photographer; Jonathon Cesar, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer.

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This page: “This point-of-purchase ad reminds people about Stong Market’s home-delivery service. It was dreamed up while waiting in line at Stong’s, pretending to drive the plastic divider down the conveyor belt.” Rob Sweetman, art director; Bryan Collins/Jono Holmes, writers; Tom Pettapiece, studio artist; Chris Raedcher, agency producer.

“Have you ever wondered just how fast revolving restaurants can go? We found out in this commercial for Playland.”

“Revolving Restaurant” :30 (Open on an upscale revolving restaurant) Maître D’: Good evening, how are you tonight?

(Cut to restaurant staffer who turns off the classical dining music, puts on some DJ headphones) DJ: (Into the microphone) Ladies and Gentlemen…is everybody ready?

(He cranks some classic rock and the restaurant’s “speed dial”) Music: “Raise A Little Hell” by Trooper.

(The restaurant revolves faster and faster. Plates crash, servers drop trays, guests fly through the air and scream for their lives…The DJ, rocking to the music, glances back at the chaos behind him, then smiles evilly to himself) Super: (Former Playland Employee) Logo: Playland Ian Grais, art director; Heather Vincent, writer; Peter McAuley, editor; Clay Staub, director; Rob Alan, producer; Partners, production company.

Right: Science World TV spot. “After sifting through roughly a billion science facts, we narrowed it down to those we found interesting, educational and, most difficult of all, true. Once we learned that shaking hands spreads more germs than kissing, it was a quick leap to this script. We aimed for a tone that was bland and understated: business people acting as though this was just another day at the office, complete with banal chit-chat and lame corporate humor.

Keeping it realistic highlights how hand-shaking is part of everyday life. If only we knew. Well, now you know. Who wants a kiss?”

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“Boardroom” :30 (Open in a well-appointed corporate boardroom.

A man and a woman in business suits await the arrival of colleagues…Two men and women enter) Corporate Guy: Ah, Ted. Perfect timing. You remember Annette.

Ted: Of course.

(They share a passionate kiss) Annette: And you must be Jeffries.

(They kiss deeply) Jeffries: Pleasure. This is Linda from accounting.

(She kisses the Corporate Guy. They break the embrace) Corporate Guy: Ted you old Phi Beta Kappa dog!

How’s the golf game?

(The women kiss. The men kiss) Super: Shaking hands spreads more germs than kissing.

Businessman: So… doesn’t really feel like Tuesday does it?

SFX: Fake corporate laugh.

Logo: Science World. We can explain.

Rob Sweetman, art director; Rob Tarry, writer; Glen Wilson, editor; Wave Audio Productions, sound design; Michael Downing, director; Jacqueline Burgmann, agency producer; Radke Films, production company; JMB Post, post production company.

“We wanted to take what Science World does— make science interesting with 3-D exhibits—and bring it down to street level. No big idea to get in the way, just demos in unexpected places and a whole universe of facts to draw from. The promise ‘We can explain.’ at the end gives us a lot of leeway to explore bizarre and intriguing concepts.” Hylton Mann/Rob Sweetman, art directors; Bob Simpson/Rob Tarry, writers; Brent Mulligan, studio artist; Pat Busswood, agency producer.

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Adel

A

n illustrator today is not just an illustrator—if he or she ever was. If Daniel Adel is a paradigm, a successful illustrator has a multifaceted career that encompasses creating images for magazines and newspapers, illustrating children’s books, making several different genres of art for galleries and personal edification, portrait painting, even owning a gallery. On two continents, in two languages.

Daniel From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

by Ellen Shapiro

Daniel Adel does all these things, and more. His illustrations—mostly celebrity portraits and caricatures—grace magazines like Entertainment Weekly and Vanity Fair. Children’s books he’s illustrated include The Book that Jack Wrote, by Jon Scieszka, which won a Society of Illustrators’s medal. His still-life oil paintings of subjects like classical drapery sell for five figures at Arcadia Fine Arts in New York’s SoHo, where he’s had two one-man shows and is currently finishing sixteen paintings for a third. College presidents and captains of industry have commissioned portraits, which hang in boardrooms and libraries. With his wife Véronique, a photographer, he owns Atelier Rue Basse, a gallery in the village of Lacoste, in Provence, France, where they live for six months each year and exhibit landscape watercolors and photographs. A Francophile since childhood, he publishes a bilingual journal about artistic goings-on in Lacoste, which is also home to Savannah College of Art and Design’s study-abroad campus.

“There are days when I wake up as a painter, have lunch as an editor, spend the afternoon as an art dealer and go to bed an illustrator,” he says of his life. “But I’ve always been a fan of hats, so I quite like wearing a bunch of different ones.”

A longtime denizen of the Upper West Side and Chelsea neighborhoods of Manhattan, Adel is adjusting to the country life. He and Véronique recently moved to Cold Spring, New York, a hamlet of Victorian and Federal-style houses, antique shops, stone walls and picturesque churches. Many New York illustrators have lived outside the city limits, relying on faxes and delivery services to get their work to art directors and editors. High-speed connections now make life and work in more remote, idyllic places like Cold Spring— and Provence—a reality.

In a cul-de-sac at the edge of the Hudson, the house he and Véronique share has a rowboat dock, gazebo and panoramic views. “This is a remarkable spot,” comments Adel. “The view is always changing, the light and the water. One minute a massive freighter comes by, pulled by tugboats, then a 100-car freight train.” He’s keen on taking up where the Hudson River School left off; an easel for plein-air paintings may very well be set up in the backyard, come summer.

The walls of the house are filled with paintings familiar to readers of popular magazines.

Nicole Kidman for Esquire is over the sofa, and Santa for Entertainment Weekly’s holiday movie wrap-up is hanging in the front hall. Adel works in a studio five minutes away, in a small office building on Cold Spring’s Main Street. “I need the separation,” he says.

Tucked behind a flower shop, the studio looks like it’s right out of a nineteenth-century engraving. There are stacks of canvases, pots of brushes, reproductions of classical statuary, shelves of art books, a still life of crumpled paper set up next to the easel—and a Nikon D100 digital camera on a tripod and an Apple Cinema Display. Adel delivers his work by photographing it and uploading high-resolution images to his clients’ servers.

Adel grew up in suburban New Rochelle, New York, where Norman Rockwell had his studio for many years. Rockwell’s realism was “in the air” during Adel’s high school years in the late 1970s. He was an art history major at Dartmouth College, where he worked in the art history library and tutored fellow undergraduates in French. He studied the Dutch, Flemish and Spanish Baroque painters, and was especially interested in French Salon Right: “This piece was a great excuse to do what every true painter wants to do from time to time, which is to copy from the old masters. Of course, I got to stick Tom Hanks’s head on La Gioconda, much as Duchamp stuck a mustache on her, and reduced a great masterwork into a low transvestite joke. I’m sure Leonardo would forgive me.” Brian Wilson, art director; AARP, client.

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Daniel Adel

After graduating from Dartmouth in 1984, Adel was accepted to the master’s programs in illustration at the School of Visual Arts and Syracuse University. He was trying to decide between studying with Marshall Arisman at sva and Murray Tinkelman at Syracuse, when thoughts of a career in the real world intervened, “Let’s see what happens if I show my work to the New York Times.” Jerelle Kraus, art director of the Times Op-Ed page, looked through his portfolio, which had fifteen pieces, three styles. She said, “These are no good” of the first five pieces, he recalls. “Too much like Brad” was her assessment of the next group. Of the last five, she said, “If you can do this, we can use you.” He did, and it turned into a gig of two Op-Ed illustrations and five smaller spots on the Times letters page every month for several years, most done in black-andwhite acrylic paint. He also worked in China Marker on black paper, pencil on tracing paper and oils on canvas.

“Jerelle let me figure out who I was,” says Adel. “It was exciting.

I was an illustrator for the New York Times!” He also began doing work for trade publications—and studying formal drawing and painting techniques at the National Academy of Design and privately with celebrated portraitist Burt Silverman.

“I realized how critically important observation is,” he says of those days. “Before, I was just making stuff up.” He also took classes at the Art Students League of New York and enrolled in the academically-oriented mfa in painting program at Hunter College. “After a year at Hunter, I put my pursuit of an mfa on hold when I found myself using words like ‘hermeneutics’ and ‘transgressive’ in casual conversation,” he muses.

It was a new, satirical style developed in 1994 to illustrate The Book that Jack Wrote—a slightly twisted version of The House 72

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that Jack Built, by Jon Scieszka, author of The Stinky Cheese Man—that really got things going. “It sold well and led to tons of caricature work,” says Adel.

“Thanks to the Society of Illustrators and other annuals, I was able to start over.

Before, I was always asked to do serious topics like domestic violence or the breakdown of the salt II Treaty talks.

With a successful children’s book, things lightened up. Now I could do funny.”

The first call that came in was from Michael Mrak at Esquire to do a monthly column spot. Over the next few years came calls from art directors at, among others, New York magazine, Vanity Fair, Rolling Stone, the New Yorker, U.S. News and World Report, the Atlantic Monthly, Forbes, Der Spiegel, Newsweek and Time, for which he painted two covers, one of which was the 2004 Person of the Year, George W. Bush. Diplomatically sidestepping any personal feelings about the subject, Adel says, “I can’t think of a more visible and prestigious forum for illustration than a Time Person of the Year cover. It was a big milestone for me.” © Veronique Adel

painters like William-Adolphe Bouguereau, whose work was out of fashion yet exemplified the idealized treatment of figures and draperies that have become a hallmark of his work.

Although he took only one studio art class at Dartmouth, he was drawing all the time, doing caricatures for the college newspaper and obsessively looking at illustration annuals, as he puts it, straddling the line between Ivy League academician and would-be published illustrator. The nineteenthcentury caricaturist Honoré Daumier was a major influence; so was John Tenniel of Alice in Wonderland fame.

On the other hand, the early 1980s were a golden age in magazine illustration, and commercially successful bad-boy Brad Holland “was god.” With little formal training at the time, Adel worked in a dark, metaphorical style influenced by both Holland and Matt Mahurin.

Those interested in the process of illustration—how an idea is sparked by an event, explored by an editor, envisioned by an art director, then interpreted and rendered by an illustrator— might wonder who is most responsible for the concept that ultimately appears on the printed page. It’s a collaborative effort, but the best illustrators bring much more to the table than anticipated. John Korpics, now art director of InStyle, considered Adel one of his most important collaborators at Entertainment Weekly, Premiere and Esquire. “Dan is that rare combination of a classically trained artist with a pop-culture sensibility, which makes him unique among illustrators working today,” Korpics says. “The combination of his painterly style mixed with his twisted sense of humor makes for a terrific and powerful style that is uniquely Dan’s. There is just something very funny and visually arresting about seeing Paris Hilton Right: “I’ve been doing covers for the Rumpole of the Bailey series with art director Jesse Reyes since 2002. The challenge has been to come up with ways of depicting the character without showing his entire face, as there are complicated intellectual property rights issues involved.” Viking Penguin, client.

“A piece for an article about Bob Dylan’s recording sessions for Blood on the Tracks. Ultimately more about the hair than anything else.” Brian Johnson, art director; Minnesota magazine, client.

“Nicole Kidman having her feet put to the fire, literally, by the director Lars von Trier, who put her in a tight spot during a press conference.

Coincidentally I did this piece shortly after seeing Shakespeare in Love which starts with a feet-to-the-fire scene, from which I learned it wasn’t just a metaphor.” John Korpics, art director; Esquire, client.

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Daniel Adel painted in a-turn-of-the-century illustrative style. He probably hasn’t actually painted Paris Hilton, but I know he wants to.” (Note: According to Adel, he hasn’t yet had the pleasure, but is mildly interested).

Adel captures the foibles of the rich and famous in ways that surprise even the most jaded art directors. He is master of the big-head thing, practiced by artists from Daumier to Robert Grossman; shrinking the body to half or less of the overall image allows more square inches in which to convey the subject’s countenance, yet leaves plenty of room to exploit his or her body language. Cases in point are paintings of Madonna as Marie Antoinette, octopus-armed Al Sharpton pressing the flesh on the campaign trail, Mike Myers as a shagadelic Rumpelstiltskin, Sacha Baron Cohen as Borat/ Hamlet in a codpiece. All demonstrate that no ethnic group, sex, age or type, if a public figure, is safe from Adel’s wicked brush. Stefan Kiefer, art director of Der Spiegel, the German newsweekly, who commissioned Adel to do a life-size portrait of the magazine’s editor-in-chief for his birthday party—and got a landed aristocrat with cell phone and whip—sums it up simply, “Dan is quite brilliant at what he does.”

Like many illustrators, Adel is perhaps most passionate about his personal work, realistic abstractions—in this case not an oxymoron—based on classical drapery, crumpled paper and water in all its guises. The only thing twisted about these serene still lifes are the folds of the fabric or paper. “These paintings are a great antidote to illustration, which is always on deadline and a much faster process. Illustration often involves working from someone’s else’s photos, depicting someone you’ve never met. You are three or four steps removed from the subject,” he explains. “When I do these still lifes, I spend days focusing on every nuance of a given object. The technique and subject matter are controlled.” To the viewer, the object, rendered in almost monochromatic oils, can take on a life of its Left: “This piece was for an article asserting that comedians, such as Sacha Baron Cohen, are as much actors as anyone else, though not often treated with as much respect. Hence Borat, as a true Thespian, playing Hamlet—with a bit less in the bloomers department.” Joe Kimberling, art director; LA Magazine, client.

This page: “A piece for the Wall Street Journal about Jimmy Carter’s writing career. No more entertaining collection of incisors and bicuspids exists in the known universe.” Joe Dizney, art director.

“A cover for the New York Times Sunday Magazine about how video games are becoming the new Hollywood. I’m still amazed that the New York Times agreed to let me paint a severed flaming head. Not your father’s Grey Lady.” Joele Cuyler, art director.

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Daniel Adel own. It’s no longer a piece of drapery, but might suggest the wing of a classical sculpture or a bird in flight.

Comments Alex Hulse, assistant director of Arcadia Fine Arts, “Dan’s work is a sublime, modern take on still life, with a power that draws you in from across the room.”

Adel’s daily routine could be a model for the multi-tasking, self-employed artist. Mornings are spent doing business: paperwork, e-mails, phone calls, talks with art directors about ideas. He starts painting after lunch, usually a French meal cooked by Véronique, and works through late in the evening. He is prolific. “I can do one illustration in a day,” he says, “though it might take a few days if there are multiple figures.” In France, a day might also include driving around the Provençal countryside, taking photos, passing time in cafés eating and drinking, and meeting the French, American and British tourists who visit Atelier Rue Basse. The newsletter he publishes, L’Os de Figue, or The Figbone, named after a missed shot in the French game of petanque (or bocce) showcases short fiction pieces, poetry, “ridiculous, fact-free news” and drawings and photographs by a group of local writers and artists.

It’s an elite group. And surely Daniel Adel, with all the things he does so well, has earned the privilege of membership in that group and many more. “I’ve been powerfully drawn to the in-between zones,” he says of his career and work. “Between illustration and fine art, classicism and modernism and, most important, between the sublime and the ridiculous.” CA

Left: “A portrait of Fats Domino for Rolling Stone. Tickling a different sort of ivories.” Devin Pedzwater, art director.

“A piece for LA Magazine about the darker side of Walt Disney.” Lisa Lewis, art director.

Sentier de Bonnieux, Lacoste, personal. “One of the first watercolors I did after arriving in France in 2003. I’d avoided watercolors for years, until I found that it was the only way I could capture even some of the dense, layered textures of the surfaces that are everywhere in the Luberon valley.”

This page: Personal. “I was inspired by an eighteenth-century series of prints on the professions to do a (somewhat) updated version for our gallery in France.”

“It was a great honor to be asked to paint this portrait of Der Spiegel editor-in-chief Stefan Aust in honor of his 60th birthday. Because of his interest in raising horses, we portrayed him as a nineteenthcentury landed gentry type—with a Motorola Razr cell phone in his coat pocket. As always, working with art director Stefan Kiefer, one of the great champions and supporters of illustration, was a pleasure.”

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Interactive

by Joe Shepter

Installations T Coming Soon to a Space near You

he experience can be unnerving. You walk past a bank of monitors and they light up. You turn around, and they show a person staring at you. You wave a hand, and the person waves back. Before long, you’re interacting with a set of screens you’ve never seen before.

In part, the reason is technological. In the past few years, screens and sensors have gotten better and cheaper. Where early kiosks could only accommodate a single person, now, it’s financially feasible to have dozens of led displays activated by multiple users at once.

Get used to it. Every day, exclusive firms are building bigger and better installations for tradeshows, museums and public places. They include room-sized tables with multiple overhead projectors, faux holograms floating inside storefronts and things far more bizarre.

“There’s been a real shift away from individual interaction with a computer to a complete view of what interactivity is,” says Ralph Appelbaum, ceo of Ralph Appelbaum Associates.

For example, Berlin’s art+com recently built a sidewalk along a pool in Tokyo that senses footfalls and creates a virtual “wave” across a row of screens lying underfoot. When the wave reaches the edge of the sidewalk, another mechanism sends ripples across the pool. At the Mirage in Las Vegas, Cambridgebased Small Design Firm has decked out a lounge with tables that react to whatever touches them. Place a drink down and they produce a circle; run your fingers along their edges and a colorful pattern emerges.

The potential for such installations is endless. Stores, universities, cultural institutions, private corporations and top ad agencies are only now discovering them. But within a few years, many believe, they will even be found on the sides of buildings.

“It’s not one of those things that is going away,” says Eduardo A. Braniff, ceo and creative director of Imagination usa.

“Companies are seeing the benefit. They’re seeing people interacting with their brands longer and connecting with them better.”

The background Why all this, and why now? After all, the first generation of kiosks and large-format video displays were not very successful. Thousands of standalone touch screens now stand idle in museums. And a quick walk around any tradeshow floor demonstrates that videos are not particularly effective—when they’re competing with dozens of others.

For example, museums have begun using overhead projectors to create interactive tables that are far more effective than their stand-up predecessors. Not only does a table fill the center of a room, it also provides a way for many people to get involved at the same time. Outstanding examples include one done by Small Design Firm for the Churchill War Room and another

by Ralph Appelbaum Associates (produced by Second Story Interactive) for the National World War One Museum.

Among advertisers, who have less information to convey, the focus has been on large, eye-catching experiences. Typically, these installations use high-powered projectors, filtered glass and infrared sensors to create highly immersive experiences.

Placed virtually anywhere that people go—storefronts are one of the more common locations—they allow people to contact brands in three dimensions.

At the Samsung Experience in New York’s Columbus Circle, Imagination designed an entire store with nothing for sale.

Instead, customers walk in and play with interactive objects and products. They can create art, explore the city and (of course) talk with experts on Samsung products. Wherever they go, their paths are recorded using a rfid chip and then transferred online, where the experience can be continued.

“It’s very ambient and not a very directly explicit experience,” explains Damian Ferrar, design director of the media group at Imagination. “We’re working on creating interactive exhibits that work on a number of different levels.”

Right: “Described by some as the world’s first ‘Unstore,’ the Samsung Experience is a physical destination that brings the brand to life,” said Chloe Couchman, head of media communications. “The experience is not a store where you can buy products, it’s where visitors are invited to relax and learn how the latest devices can enrich their lives. Situated on the third floor of the stunning Time Warner Center in the heart of New York, the permanent venue introduces visitors to Samsung’s vision, products and technology through a harmonious balance of interactive and retail solutions.

Both entertaining and informative, the venue is a remarkable 10,000-square-foot interactive emporium of technology and experiences, each of which ties the brand and technology to the experiences of everyday life.” Imagination (London, United Kingdom), design/digital imaging/lighting design/agency producer/strategy/curator; Paul Kim, Samsung North America, client.

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© John Wildgoose

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Interactive Installations Reaction vs. interaction So how do we break down this new type of media? Its designers make a distinction between interactive and reactive experiences. The first is relatively straightforward. In it, users are brought in by an “attract” screen and then interact with the content through an easy-to-use (in theory, anyway) interface.

But today few large-format installations are purely interactive.

Instead, they feature at least some elements that react as a user moves near them. They may sense a visitor’s presence through an infrared sensor or pick up a rfid signal from a card he or she is carrying.

“We call it a reactive installation if something is reacting to you and you don’t have to interact with it on purpose,” says Joachim Sauter, head of design at art+com. “So people say there is something that is reacting with me, and how do I interact with it?”

In their pure form, reactive installations dramatically reduce the learning curve of traditional kiosks. For instance, visitors who walk through Small Design Firm’s Nobel Field automatically set off hundreds of small lights. The rest of the installation consists of screens that play videos whenever someone stands before them. There is no interface as such.

And it’s not merely self-running installations. Especially in Europe, firms are also exploring new ways to enhance public spaces and spectacles. A good example of this is art+com’s Mediales Bühnenbild, where actors in an opera are automatically tracked by projectors that train video images on them (but not on anything else).

Development Obviously, the more advanced of these projects require technical skills that are beyond the reach of most interactive firms.

Much of the groundbreaking work in the field is still performed by a small number of specialized companies, many of which have academic connections. David Small, the principal of Small Design Firm has a PhD from mit and strong connections there; while art+com’s Joachim Sauter is a professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Their productions often involve custom software and an intricate knowledge of sensing and display devices.

Other firms rely on in-house research and development teams.

“We’ve got an R&D group here, and we’ll ask them how to achieve an idea,” says Imagination’s Ferrar. “They’ll come back with computers and split them open and hook bits up…

A lot of times it involves simple technology, but we use it in a surprising way.”

Even so, the field is opening up. With Flash interfaces, 50-inch led screens and rudimentary sensors, even inexperienced shops can get into the act. For them, Sauter and Small recommend simplicity. A public installation is never like a Web site, 80

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and you should never expect people to wait for something to unfold or to take the time to master an interface.

“The big problem with a lot of installations is that the designer is not aware that there is only an attention span of 30 seconds,” says Sauter. “If the visitor does not understand the interaction principles immediately, he is going away.”

The future From a strategic standpoint, the field remains at that early stage where its practitioners are always looking to build the next big thing. But at least one thing has changed: Now they know there will be a next big thing. And another next big thing after that.

In fact, most of the field’s top designers are looking forward to the time when they’ll be able to mix interactivity with architecture. With increasingly more powerful projectors and better sensors, that time may not be too far off.

“Display technology is catching up to the things I want to do,” says Small. “You could have a wall that’s not just a wall, but a display for information. So the displays could become part of the architectural surfaces and not seen as distinct computer displays plopped into a space…That transition is going to be very interesting.”

That experience will also be a little unnerving at first. But as with large-format interactive installations today, we’ll probably have to get used to it. CA

Right: “Beneath the classic Victorian ceiling of Oslo’s former railway station is a room of glass where, amongst many hundreds of points of light, visitors find glowing portraits of all the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.

This is The Nobel Field, the centerpiece of the new Nobel Peace Center, a virtual garden grown from one hundred LCD displays planted among a thousand twinkling blades of LED grass,” said creative director David Small. “Each display honors the winner of a Peace Prize and reacts to the approach of a person, revealing the winner’s story and philosophy.

Directed by Grete Jarmund and Paul H. Amble, The Nobel Field was an extensive collaboration between the architects Adjaye/Associates, Small Design Firm and Timon Botez. From its conception, the Nobel Peace Center aimed to be the realization of a new kind of museum, one in which the message and words of the Nobel Laureates become both content and artifact.” Adjaye/Associates, 3-D designer; Timon Botez, information architect; Eric Gunther/John Rothenberg, programmers; Paul H. Amble/Grete Jarmund, exhibition developers; Small Design Firm, Inc. (Cambridge, MA), design firm.

“For The Science of Aliens, we created an interactive room where visitors can get in touch directly with aliens,” said Berlin, Germany-based design firm ART+COM. “The creatures living on the planets ‘Aurelia’ and ‘Blue Moon’ are generated in real time and move dynamically through virtual landscapes. Visitors interact with the two worlds via a touch-sensitive surface of 6½ feet in width and 24½ feet in length. They can watch the aliens as well as influence the creatures’ behavior and actions. The exhibition premiered at the London Science Museum and moved on to Birmingham, United Kingdom, Paris, France, and Miami, Florida. Further locations are planned.” Jussi Ängeslevä/Patrick Kochlik/Dennis Paul, designers; Joachim Sauter, creative director; Big Wave Production/Channel 4, 3-D animators; Science and Media LLP, client.

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© ART+COM © Timothy Soar, Adjaye/Associates

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© Bill Keays/Virtango

© Peter Mauss, Esto

Interactive Installations Left: “The Museum of the Portuguese Language is the first institution devoted exclusively to the language of a country. It is a museum of the 21st century that presents new forms of connecting language to people,” said New York-based design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates. “Rather than traversing galleries filled with objects and text panels, visitors are immersed in a sensual and subjective journey through language, utilizing audiovisuals, lectures, virtual experiences and interactive opportunities. Located in the heart of São Paulo, the museum is in the Light Station, the meeting point between spoken Portuguese and other languages.

Features include a Language Plaza, with projected images and words and audio of Brazilian literature; a grand gallery with a 120meter media experience; an interactive Gallery of Influences; a timeline of the Portuguese, African and indigenous languages and traditions; and an interactive game called the Etymology Table.”

Noboru Inoue, designer; James Cathcart, senior design director; Andres Clerici, writer; Ralph Appelbaum, chief creative officer; Caroline Brownell/Gabriela Gasparini/Nancy Hoerner, graphic designers; Paulo Mendes da Rocha/Pedro Mendes da Rocha, design; Sylvia Juran, editor; George Robertson/Pia Samrithikul, digital imaging; Marcello Dantas, senior media producer; Rico Linz, production designer; Isa Grinspum Ferraz, senior content coordinator; Fundacao Roberto Marinho/Jarbas Mantovanini, clients.

“Revolutionary in design, The Beatles Revolution Lounge takes guests on an evolutionary journey, where both music and interior transform, creating a psychedelic sensory environment,” said designer David Small. “The first nightlife experience created by Cirque du Soleil, the lounge blends cutting-edge interactive design, art and sound in a contemporary interpretation of The Beatles era at the Mirage in Las Vegas. Guests are encouraged to add their own creativity to the ultra-lounge’s décor. The electronic surfaces of the interactive VIP tables use infrared technology, allowing guests to create tabletop artwork that is then projected onto the central diamond-shaped column. Small Design Firm created these interactive tables in collaboration with Cirque, Virtango and Nearlife, Inc.” Bill Keays, Virtango, senior designer; Jean-Francois Bouchard, Cirque du Soleil, creative director; Avi Weinstein, Small Design Firm, Inc., graphic artist; Stephanie Cardinal, Huma Desgin, 3-D designer; Nol van Genuchten, Cirque du Soleil, lighting designer; Tinsley Galyean, Nearlife/Henry Kaufman, Nearlife, interface designers; Eric Gunther, Small Design Firm, Inc./Michael McKenna, Small Design Firm, Inc., programmers; Small Design Firm, Inc. (Cambridge, MA), design firm.

© ART+COM

This page: “For the opera The Jew of Malta (2002) by André Werner, cross-sections of virtual architecture were projected as clipping planes onto large, angled projection screens. The architecture was generated in real-time and contingent not just on the music but also on the position of the protagonist (Machiavelli),” said Berlin-based co-design firm ART+COM. “This relationship linked the story and architecture on stage. The costumes were also computer-generated via a specially developed tracking system that produced digital masks in real-time and projected ‘media costumes’ with precision onto the singers. The dynamic costume textures opened the inner realm of the singers to the imagination of the viewers. The project was sponsored by ZKM, Karlsruhe.” Nils Krüger, Büro Staubach, designer; Joachim Sauter, ART+COM, creative director; Büro Staubach, co-design firm; Biennale Munich, client.

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© Obscura Digital

© ART+COM

Interactive Installations

Left: “Mobile phone company O2 presents its first German flagship store in Munich. The central feature of the shop is a 59-foot-long, interactive multimedia strip, along which customers are able to call up detailed information on products, services and offers,” said Berlin-based co-design firm ART+COM. “The installation winds its way through the room on various levels, starting as an interactive floor projection and flowing into a multimedia tabletop before becoming a wall projection. Customers interact with the content displayed on the strip, obtaining information on prices and mobile phones and playing film sequences.” Nicole SrockStanley, Dan Pearlman Markenarchitektur, design director; Joachim Sauter, ART+COM, creative director; Dan Pearlman Markenarchitektur, co-design firm; O2 Germany GmbH & Co. OHG, client.

© Ralph Applelbaum Associates

“The installation focused on Saturn’s affordable Green Line hybrid vehicles. Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, Obscura Digital and The Barbarian Group created an inclusive and inviting display comprised of a 45-foot-wide, high-resolution reactive and interactive wall of animated, stylized grass anchoring the 4,000-square-foot space,” said Toria Emery, associate creative director at Goodby, Silverstein & Partners.

“Via a kiosk, visitors were asked, ‘What if everyone drove a hybrid?’ and with each answer, a blade of grass grew on the screen, creating a user-generated, product-relevant art display.

To highlight specific features and hybrid components, super high-definition, CAD-based animations were mapped and projected onto the cars, creating the effect of seeing into the car with X-ray vision.” Chris Valencius, art director; Jeff Goodby/Keith Anderson/Will McGinness/Travis Threlkel, Obscura Digital/Randy Stowell (visual effects), The Barbarian Group, creative directors; Brian Rulapaugh (lead), The Barbarian Group/Chris Kelly, The Barbarian Group, visual effects artists; Susan Fisher, The Barbarian Group, post producer; Brit Charlebois, senior interactive producer; Chris Lejeune, Obscura Digital, production; Hilary Bradley, senior broadcast producer; John Weber, account director; Julie Evans, account manager; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (San Francisco, CA), ad agency.

This page: “The original S’pore Discovery Centre presented a platform for Singaporeans to think about the past and prepare for the future,” said New York-based design firm Ralph Appelbaum Associates. “In 2002, it hired us to transform it into a world-class attraction, and help visitors understand the country’s security (‘Total Defense’), economics and social issues in a new, interactive and entertaining way. As the project was nation-building, the client and local content developer needed to take proactive roles. The world’s first and largest team-based interactive ‘design studio,’ the ‘Visionarium,’ is the project’s centerpiece. A 47-foot-high sphere features a 360º projection screen. Visitors join a ‘design session’ with up to 120 people and make creative choices that transform Singapore into the city of the future.

The final design is presented as a computer animation flythrough on the wraparound screen.” Jody de Best/Tana Green/Gary Tonda, designers; Dennis Cohen, lead designer; Madeline Chinnici, writer; Joyce Wang, graphic designer; Ralph Appelbaum, project director; Kai Chiu/Min Ching Yeap, managers of exhibition design; Simon Chang, production designer; Donna Zimmerman, senior content coordinator; James Jeffries/Deborah Wolff, exhibition developers; Ayako Marketing/Ida Bachtiar/John Butterfield/ Craig Newman Interiors, consultants.

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by Rebecca Bedrossian

is a many splendored thing

A

uthor and typographer Robert Bringhurst said it best, in his much-respected book The Elements of Typographic Style, “Typography exists to honor content.” This has always been true, whether it’s printed matter in a textbook or the main creative element in a design solution.

Typography is the style, arrangement or appearance of printed matter. Its origins come from the Greek typos meaning “dent, impression, mark” and graphia meaning “writing.” A broad term, over time it has meant different things to different people, but it has always served as the vehicle for information. In the 20th century, it became a tool of the designer, and evolved from a means of delivering a message to often becoming the central design component. Its most recent incarnations have been in the digital realm, opening it up to even more interpretation (or not, if one considers online type issues: legible fonts, css and relative font sizing).

Typography is complex, an intricate science. To the designer, and connoisseur of type, choosing to use a particular font in one’s work is a big decision. The implications are huge; the characters carry weight in terms of how they are perceived as well as what they are referencing. What impression needs to be made? One of harmony or strength, contemporary or historical, casual or sophisticated? If chosen well, type will echo the sentiments the designer intended for the targeted audience.

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Much to our surprise, submissions poured in from all over the world. Twenty-one type-centric solutions were chosen for inclusion, representing an inspiring range of work, including brochures, posters, signage, logos, identities and a truck wrap.

One such project that came with an inordinate amount of pressure in terms of the typography was the TypeCon2006 identity [see page 92]. Of course it stands to reason that when branding a conference for The Society of Typographic Aficionados (sota) every detail must reflect their dedication to type. sota and TypeCon executive director Tamye Riggs says, “The assignment can be a challenge for designers who work with sota.

They understand going in that type must be central to every single piece they develop…The pressure can be intense; the design review board scrutinizes every detail of the typography, requesting multiple tweaks to kerning and spacing, weight changes and modifications to letterforms for better fit. The smallest details are important to making type look its best.

Typographers take their concerns many steps further, looking at serif or sans serif, contrast, weight, structure, kerning and so on. For the uninitiated, the minutiae can be overwhelming. One only has to search for “typography” in Google to see 15 million results.

“We’ve been fortunate to work with designers that love type,” Riggs continues. “That said, even top talents get a little nervous knowing that their type treatments must stand up to the scrutiny of experts and critics from around the world.

Once a TypeCon identity is released to the public, the eyes of the type world are on it, and they can be quite vocal if something doesn’t work…It was a real pleasure to work with Clifford Stoltze and his crew at Stoltze Design in Boston for the TypeCon2006 identity. Stoltze totally understood how to evoke the feel of Boston with typography. He took a somewhat clichéd theme (a play on the historic Boston Tea Party) and came up with a fine blend of history and contemporary style.”

For this feature, we invited creatives to submit design solutions that used typography as the primary ingredient. While no one can deny its popularity in the design community— just look at the number of type titles that are published each year—we were uncertain of the response we would receive.

Budget constraints are sometimes the catalyst for choosing type solutions in lieu of photography or illustration, but the scope of projects on the following pages demonstrate that the substitution does not have to compromise quality and that type, indeed, is a many splendored thing. CA

Right: Reflections Delivery Truck. “Reflections is a small, but powerfully premium printer that takes their brand serious enough to have fun with it,” said art director Derek Sussner. “Since the Reflections brand was never in doubt, a great deal of weight went to the ‘vehicle’ on which the graphics rode (roof included). Reflections’s colors made this unit a no-miss on the road, arrows signified the Reflections’s policy of speed, accuracy and directness and the copy carried on with Reflections’s tongue-in-cheekbut-true tone. It was another opportunity to make contact with customers and potential customers, even at 60 miles per hour.” Jeff Mueller, writer; CJ Marxer, designer; Sussner Design Company (Minneapolis, MN), design firm.

“ScrapHouse was a San Francisco World Environment Day initiative to build an entire house from 100% scrap material. The word mark was developed to represent the ad-hoc nature of the scrap project, bringing together ‘remaindered’ typographic fragments to create a new, deliberately awkward, visual language,” said co-creative director Jeremy Mende. “It lead to the development of an entire graphic kit of parts highlighting the modular possibilities of scrap material. The poster was printed on discarded ‘make-ready’ presssheets to infuse an improvisational aspect into the design and to build the idea of ‘reusability’ directly into the finished poster.” Amadeo DeSousa/ Jeremy Mende, designers; Cinthia Wen, Noon, co-creative director; MendeDesign (San Francisco, CA)/Noon (San Francisco, CA), design firms; Public Architecture, client.

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Visual Typography Left: “Country is a new Manhattan restaurant that serves sophisticated contemporary dishes featuring local and organic ingredients. For their brand identity, the client wanted something that made use of the letter C; we used the letter C in an unusual way, changing the mark for every application and overlapping two typographically different Cs to create a new and interesting shape each time. We chose quirky letterforms from various time periods to convey an oldworld feeling, and used overprinting and a bright color palette to add a modern sensibility,” said art director/designer Andrea Brown. Matteo Bologna, creative director; Mucca Design Corp. (New York, NY), design firm.

“Pittsburgh’s new August Wilson Center celebrates all things African American, with a mission to preserve, present and interpret the art, culture and history of African Americans. Public programming has begun despite the fact that their state-of-the-art building is not scheduled to open until 2008,” said Landesberg communications director Anita Driscoll. “The cover of this oversized seasonal brochure (91⁄ 8 × 117 ⁄ 8) emphasizes the word ‘Culture’ with huge letterforms and a rich color palette. It appropriately captures the spirit of the events and performances described within—an interesting and aggressive mix of modern dance, social commentary, music, poetry and architecture.” Matt Lee, designer; Rick Landesberg, creative director; Landesberg Design (Pittsburgh, PA), design firm.

“This is a gallery guide for an exhibition of artists’ books in the Doheny Memorial Library at the University of Southern California. My goal was to express the duality of artists’ books as both informational and works of art,” said designer David Mellen. “The 3 × 5 catalog card is a reference to the tradition of the book, while the perforated and punched-out letters hint at the nontraditional physical forms, tactile qualities and conceptual processes of the artworks on exhibit. The white areas of the card shape are embossed on the cover.” Tyson Gaskill/Andrew Wulf, curators; David Mellen Design (Los Angeles, CA), design firm.

This page: “A relatively new category, Residence Clubs have emerged over the last five years. They provide beautiful homes in exotic/desirable locations that include premier luxury services at luxury prices. Our client, a latecomer to this category, wanted us to differentiate his club from the others, and focus on the emotional experience and the memories that would result,” said designer/illustrator Charlie Ross.

“Lusso is the Italian word for luxury. The typography was inspired by the stenciled lettering found on shipping crates from distant lands, as well as the very expressive and distinct lettering from the Roaring Twenties.” Bob Upton, creative director; Parachute Design (Minneapolis, MN), design firm; The Lusso Collection, client.

“This poster was created for the band The Wrens to promote their San Francisco show,” said designer Jason Munn. “It’s a fairly literal interpretation of Meadowlands, an album written over the course of eight or more years. Two-color, limited-edition, 18 × 24 screen print, metallic gold and dark green on an offwhite stock.” The Small Stakes (Oakland, CA), design firm; Absolutely Kosher Records/The Wrens, clients.

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Visual Typography Left: “The American Institute for Contemporary German Studies (AICGS) strengthens the German-American relationship and produces objective and original analyses of developments and trends in Germany, Europe and the United States. We have been working with AICGS for a few years now, and each year we move their brand look a few steps further. As a result they have grown over the years, not in staff size, but in recognition among the many ‘think tanks’ in Washington, DC. Since AICGS is a small organization, they wanted a well-established look for their overview brochure, and it also had to have a long shelf life,” said co-creative director Pum Lefebure.

“We designed the brochure in a very timeless Euro-style using only typography with a hip corporate color scheme as the main focus.

The brochure utilizes a stair-step cut so it has an interactive format, and was printed in 4 PMS inks on a single press sheet for huge cost savings. The finishing touch was the two-hole drill binding with black screw posts. Nobody can throw away screw posts!” Mike Maluso, designer; Jake Lefebure, co-creative director; Design Army (Washington, DC), design firm.

“Until the mid-1980s, the visual arts program at Sarah Lawrence College, a small, private, liberal arts institution located in Bronxville, New York, was completely housed in one building. The program has since overflowed into additional makeshift spaces throughout the campus,” said marketing manager Erin Zielinski. “The new building brings the visual arts department under one roof, accommodating its varied needs while meeting new safety and environmental standards. The 60,000-square-foot Monika A. and Charles A. Heimbold Visual Arts Center is integrated into the campus landscape and is sensitive to the undulating topography and scale of surrounding structures. We programmed, designed, documented and supervised the implementation of a comprehensive environmental graphics, donor recognition and wayfinding sign program for the Center. The program relies primarily on typography that is utilitarian in form and interpreted in various building materials.” Brian Brindisi/L. Richard Poulin, designers; Poulin + Morris (New York, NY), design firm; Polshek Partnership Architects, client.

This page: “Savannah Hill is a high-end time-share community being developed on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas. The client was looking for something stylish, upbeat and clean, while, at the same time, capturing the spirit of the island, which has a history of colonial settlements, antique homes and old plantations and churches,” said designer Lanny Sommese. “Our conceptual approach was drawn from photos of old island structures with wrought iron detailing.

Using late nineteenth-century English monogram and cipher designs as our point of departure, we did a number of variations of the S and H letterforms. After selecting the one with the most visual appeal, it occurred to us that not only did the design relate to the island’s rich history, it also echoed the island vegetation, which, in some places, is thick with intertwining vines. We amplified that a bit, and the final version of the logo was in place.” Lanny Sommese/ Kristin Sommese, art directors; Jason Dietrick/John Heinrich, producers; Sommese Design (Port Matilda, PA), design firm; Lauth Development, client.

“This poster was created for The Connection ’06, an annual conference exploring the relationships between several pivotal figures in the American Arts and Crafts movement. Typography respectful of, but not derived directly from, the aesthetic helped this poster stand out in a very cluttered Arts and Crafts environment in Western New York, home to numerous Frank Lloyd Wright properties as well as the Roycroft Inn and Campus,” said designer Gregory Meadows and copy supervisor Mike Gluck. “The overlapping type, set in various sizes, underscores the relationships while highlighting key figures.

A wallpaper design by William Morris—the inspiration for the East Aurora, New York, Roycroft Community and Campus—adds a note of authenticity to the conference offerings and appeals to the Arts and Crafts faithful.” Michael Telesco, creative director; Stand Advertising (Amherst, NY), ad agency; The Foundation for The Study of The Arts & Crafts at Roycroft, client.

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Visual Typography Left: Mr. Letter’s Press identity. “Since the first home of the press was located in an orchard called Mr. Farm’s Orchards, it seemed natural to call the press Mr. Letter’s Press. Our name also needed to pay tribute to Tibor [Kalman] in any way possible. We couldn’t commit ourselves to a single typeface, so we did the Utah thing and married them all. Our mission statement, ‘Quality Products Since Monday,’ is an added bonus to help our clients appreciate the seriousness with which we conduct our business,” said designer Chuck Williams of Quorum Design in South Ogden, Utah.

“When Allan Haley approached us about designing the identity for TypeCon2006 (The Society of Typographic Aficionados’ annual gathering of typographers, type designers, and users and appreciators of typographic forms), I knew it wouldn’t be easy.

There is a bit of pressure when the audience members are all self-described typographic aficionados,” said art director Clifford Stoltze. “TypeCon2006 was held in Boston, and the logo is an interpretation of the theme The Boston T Party. Created with a nod to Boston’s rich history, other assorted collateral (Web site, postcard, shirts, programs, etc.) utilized elements and typography that might be found on an invitation to a formal tea party. The tea bag becomes a container for a collection of Ts, while the splats and drips reference ink and, well, tea.” Tamye Riggs of SOTA, added, “Central to any TypeCon identity is the typography. In the TypeCon2006 identity, Stoltze Design used three distinct typefaces to create a harmonious typographic palette highlighting historical and modern type design: Hermann Eidenbenz’s bracketed slab serif, URW Clarendon; Antenna, a then-unpublished sans super-family from The Font Bureau’s Cyrus Highsmith; and Richard Lipton’s elegant formal Adobe typeface, Bickham Script.” Roy Burns/Clifford Stoltze, designers; Stoltze Design (Boston, MA), design firm.

This page: “During the course of our long relationship with The Canadian Opera Company, we had the pleasure of working with Montréal photographer Valerie Simmons for two consecutive years to produce thematic images representing the season’s lineup of operas. To celebrate this partnership, we produced a promotional custom daytimer featuring the images and appropriately named it ‘Coloratura,’” said art director Ric Riordon and creative director Alan Krpan. “The word mark for the book was designed to reflect those attributes heard in music with graceful and whimsical lines floating and interacting with the letters and was featured as an engraved tip-in in a debossed area on the cover.” Dawn Charney/ Shirley Riordon, designers; Riordon Design (Oakville, Canada), design firm.

Film Finance Corporation Australia annual report. “Being a government report, there are certain constraints to the form and cost of producing the report, particularly size (7 × 97 ⁄ 8), two colors and stock. The intent of this report was to express ‘the passion’ and commitment required to create and support quality filmmaking,” said creative director Annette Harcus. “The words within the ‘heart’ reflected the areas of FFC’s involvement and the passions that drove them. Each cover was hand laser-cut to reveal one of the year’s key feature films—Candy starring Heath Ledger and Abbie Cornish—coming together beneath the words.

This typographic treatment was carried throughout the report with key icons for each of the sections, reflecting an accessible and expressive organization willing to engage and connect with their audience.” Kirsten Davidson, designer; Harcus Design (Sydney, Australia), design firm.

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Visual Typography This page: “Tea Embassy, housed in a historic home in Austin, Texas, serves premium teas from around the world,” said writer Chad Berry.

“This poster was designed to introduce the store and get people thinking about tea. The label was affixed like a stamp to provide additional information and for reuse on future applications.” Brett Stiles, designer; Stiles Design (Austin, TX), design firm.

“A contemporary totem is the logo concept for this historic Northeast Portland business district. Well-preserved old buildings and homes are now filled with progressive businesses. At the heart of the district is the intersection of 30th and Killingsworth Avenues. A three-dimensional ‘corner’ logo emulates this anchor,” said co-designer Elizabeth Morrow McKenzie. “The association of local businesses received a grant to create the identity. Volunteers handle all advertising and promotion. To ensure simplicity and quality, we created two versions of logo wallpaper that can be used as a dramatic visual without photography or complex copywriting.” Mette Hornung Rankin, co-designer; Morrow McKenzie Design (Portland, OR), design firm.

Right: The main titles for The Number 23 came about because of Imaginary Forces’ (IF) close relationships with director Joel Schumacher and production company Contrafilm. IF art director Michelle Dougherty and her team met with Schumacher to discuss the film’s premise, in which the main character (Jim Carrey) becomes obsessed with a book that appears to be based on his life, but ends with a murder that has yet to happen. “The sequence uses erratic typewriter movements to suggest a haunting narrative. The main titles set the film’s tone and context, namely, the hidden power and prevalence of the number 23.

A sheet of paper is peppered with the number 23, as related facts appear via seeping blood and ink blotches. The opening also communicates the torment of Jim Carrey’s character, achieved through raw graphics, typography and orchestrated editorial moves designed to be unsettling and jarring. The teams worked in tandem to create typography, graphics, pacing and sound effects that lent themselves to the film’s suspenseful tone,” said art director Michelle Dougherty.

Peter Frankfurt, creative director; Rob Bolick/Michelle Dougherty/Juan Monasterio, designers; Magnus Hierta/Andrew Hoevler/Sean Koriakin/ Juan Monasterio, animators; Rod Basham/Nick Rubenstein, Flame artists; Mark Stevens, New Line Cinema/Danielle White, editors; Beau Flynn, New Line Cinema/Kathy Kelehan/Steiner Kierce, producers; Joe Denk/Heather Dennis, associate producers; Eli Richbourg, New Line Cinema, executive producer; Imaginary Forces (Los Angeles, CA), production company; New Line Cinema, client.

“Tattoo inspired by the ‘Death or Glory’ theme, also explored by one of the classics of punk, The Clash. The ambigram was inspired by typographer John Langdon’s works,” said creative director and client Roberto Janz of Curitiba, Brazil.

“Cyban Trading System is a U.S. developer of stock market trading software that delivers automated, Web-based trading systems to private traders and independent financial professionals. Since it mainly serves the China investment market, the letter C gives the impression of China’s traditional coin, and the form identifies with the company’s nature of business,” said art director and designer Joseph Leung. Lindy Chan, strategy; Nex Branding Design (Hong Kong, China), design firm.

“The challenge for this book cover was to communicate how citizens within American society are devalued as individuals and trained to be consumers, living their entire lives in an economic snare,” said designer Jason Gabbert. “This solution takes the most versatile symbol of American consumption, the barcode, and turns it into an intrusive being. The typography is treated in a manner that complements the barcode’s perspective and adds to its movement and personality. The strong break in the title visually portrays the ‘con’ of consumption, concealed from American citizens by their culture. This solution allows type and imagery to actively enhance each other in order to visually communicate the message and actively involve the participant.” Eleen Cheung, W.W. Norton, art director; The DesignWorks Group (Sisters, OR), design firm; W.W. Norton, publisher/client.

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Berik Concept Store (102-1) 12.55x7.47 80.0%

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Jinsoo Seo/Tnop Wangsillapakun, designers; Segura Inc. (Chicago, IL), design firm.

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RockShox catalog

“RockShox, a company owned by SRAM, asked us to position the brand and develop their new products catalog for the 2007 model year of front and rear shocks,” said creative director Carlos Segura.

“Our first task was to develop a tag line to use across the board on their adver tising campaign (which we also did), as well as all collateral materials.

The Earth Is Not Flat led us to visualize the catalog footprint to represent not only the positioning and concept of the tag line, but also the product benefit of their first-to-market bike suspension shocks. Additionally, we were asked to refresh the RockShox logo. The goal was to mod ernize it, while maintaining its recognizable attributes.”

Berik Concept Store

Berik Concept Store

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Berik concept store

“We were commissioned to create this retail concept for Italian motorcycle brand Berik for their first flagship store in Hong Kong,” said creative director J. Foss Cole. “Although the basic inspiration was simply speed, the design itself was a complex, multilayered and deconstructionist illustration of the idea of movement and motion, as though a generic engine had exploded shedding all its parts. The installation conveys the idea in three dimensions using discarded engines and car parts suspended from the ceiling as additional background canvases for the graphic elements. The positioning of all the elements was designed to lead customers through the store and to surround people with the idea in all dimensions.”

Friendly Liu, designer; ChinaStylus (Hong Kong), design firm; Ricky Lau, Starbourne/Sammy Lip, Starbourne, clients.

12.5x7.5 80.0% 10.0x6.0

We’re looking for new, outstanding, original work. Send samples of your most recent collateral, packaging, print ads, television commercials, direct mail, shopping bags, CD covers, books and exhibits to Jean Coyne, Exhibit, Communication Arts, 110 Constitution Drive, Menlo Park, California 94025. Describe the purpose, background and include creative credits. Submit TV commercials on 3⁄4", Beta SP or DVD (NTSC). Samples will not be returned.

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exhibit 1

Cenex TV spot

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“SF Connect needed marketing that would both inspire involvement and give the program a personality,” said writer Ronny Northrop. “We realized there’s a human truth in that when you help others, you feel good. And when you feel good, you look good, because giving of yourself is a beautiful thing.

When we wrote ‘volunteering is sexy,’ we knew we had something iconic and true.

Although putting the words volunteering and sexy in the same phrase felt right to us, we knew the notion could be offputting to some. So we went out and talked to people. Overall the response was great. It was rewarding to hear someone say, ‘I love it. Where can I get one of those T-shirts?’ The effort feels more like a movement than an ad campaign. Hip stores are selling the T-shirts and the stickers are showing up in unexpected places. And the best news is the campaign is driving more traffic to sfconnect.org than ever before.”

“Cenex is an energy company that distributes propane, refines fuels, manufactures lubricants and operates over 1,600 convenience stores and gas stations across the Midwest,” said writer John Neerland.

“They were looking to infuse their brand with more personality, yet, at the same time, deliver key messages about each of their business divisions. Enter the Cenex Guy. Part brand spokesman, part symbol, part Buzz Lightyear, the Cenex Guy represents Cenex energy in all of its many forms. From his gleaming pedestal, he waxes enthusiastically about everything from industrial lubricants and efficient fuels to beef jerky. In this spot, while symbolizing the safe, dependable propane that’s heating a home, the Cenex Guy inadvertently makes a new friend.”

“Living Room” :30 (Open on a woman walking into the living room where she sees her husband on the couch and the Cenex Guy on his pedestal) Woman: Honey, have you seen my (pause) who’s that?

Cenex Guy: I’m the Cenex Guy. Husband: (Watching TV, ignoring her) He’s the Cenex Guy. Woman: Who? Cenex Guy: I’m a symbol for all the safe, dependable propane that heats your home.

Husband: Yeah, he’s a “symbol.”

Woman: (To husband) Is he staying for dinner?

Cenex Guy: Ah, well, I’m sort of here every day.

Woman: (To Cenex Guy) Well, are you spending the night?

Cenex Guy: I’m here every night, too.

Husband: Yeah, honey, look, he’s here every day and every night.

(Woman gives the Cenex Guy a flirty look.

Husband sees her glance and then turns and looks at the Cenex Guy) (Cenex Guy looks away) Anncr. (VO): Cenex. Every day. Every night.

Energy.

Dustin Black, art director; Mike Fetrow, executive creative director; Mark Laliberte Else, director of photography; Tom Doeden, animator; Charley Schwartz, editor; Steve Medin, online editor; Schnitt Editorial, editorial company; Wow & Flutter, music company; Dale Goulett, sound designer; Joe Schaak, director; Dave Sweet, colorist; Kelly Kytola, associate producer; Jenee Schmidt, agency producer; John Malina, executive producer; Ramon Nunez, director of broadcast production; The Artists Company, production company; Pixel Farm, post production company; Colle+McVoy (Minneapolis, MN), ad agency; Cenex Energy, client.

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SF Connect bus shelter poster

Nancy King, art director; Ronny Northrop, associate creative director; Jeff Goodby, creative director; Brian Dunbar/Ladd Martin, project directors; Claude Shade, photographer; Suzee Barrabee, agency producer; CBS Outdoor, consultant; Goodby, Silverstein & Partners (San Francisco, CA), ad agency.

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Victoria Hagan identity

“To help Target develop its interior home brands, we strategically defined the brand essence for a new collection by influential designer Victoria Hagan,” said creative director Joe Cecere. “Drawing on the designer’s classic style, we created the ‘Perfect Pieces’ identity by teaming simple shapes and images from nature with her signature apple-green color, and extending it to packaging and in-store display materials.”

Jeff Turner, writer; Katherine Lamm, designer; Melissa Kalal, project director; Kim Seibold, production designer; Little & Company (Minneapolis, MN), design firm.

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Victoria Hagan identity (106-2) 40.5% Dropout

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Bright Stars brochure

“As part of a series about the arts in Minnesota published by The McKnight Foundation, Bright Stars highlights stories about art in rural Minnesota. One of the artists had mentioned that he loved to work in the country because he could see the stars at night,” said creative director Stefan Hartung. “There was the cover idea! Laser-cut holes in the shape of the state represent the artists’ stars.

The first eight pages are a collage of studio and installation photos that give the reader an overview of the multitude and depth of art forms in the hinterland. It had the added benefit of bringing down the printing costs. The rest of the book is 2-color; after all, this is a nonprofit client.”

84 pages, perfect-bound, 5½ × 8½.

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Lindsay Fischer, designer; Carrie Mielke, project director; HartungKemp (Minneapolis, MN), design firm.

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GONZO limited-edition book

“Our studio worked very closely with co-editor Steve Crist to produce this book. After his initial edit of the material and a few meetings to decide direction, we were pretty much given carte blanche and came up with some visual devices that hold the book, in all its disparities, together,” said codesigner Ryan Corey. “We worked a schedule that Dr. Thompson would have appreciated: all nighters right down to the wire to put the book together. Hunter was dilligent in preserving the visual artifacts of his past, and this book tries to illustrate that through its layout and design.

People get to see the side of Hunter that until now has only been hinted at in his writings. Response has been very favorable—this limited edition is already almost gone.”

Hunter S. Thompson, writer/photographer; John Heiden, co-designer; Laila Nabulsi, coeditor; Smog Design, Inc. (Los Angeles, CA), design firm; AMMO Books, client.

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© Dave Teel

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Laundry Chic products

“How does a design firm with twenty years of successful print work increase its skill set to benefit clients and feed its hunger for new creative outlets? For us, the answer has been a special product line and store, LindySues.com,” said creative director Linda Warren. “It all started with our move in 2002 to the Beacon Laundry, a refurbished, 1930’s industrial laundry building, in Culver City, California. The new studio inspired our identity, which morphed into a tag line: ‘The clean-living folks at Studio Deluxe’ and promotional gifts wrapped in blue laundry paper. The natural evolution from there was a product line called Lindy Sue’s and, ultimately, an online store, launched in July 2006.

Clients love the gifts. Consumer response is growing, as we gain attention in the blogosphere. We continue to add products based on what we’ve learned.”

Candace Pearson, writer; Linda Warren, project design and development; Anouk de Jonge, interface designer; Sheharazad Pezeshkpour, manager of media services; Warren Group | Studio Deluxe (Culver City, CA), design firm.

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BiOH poster

“Petroleum isn’t just used to fuel your automobile,” said writer Lee Remias.

“It’s used to produce the foam inside your couches, recliners, chairs and other upholstered furniture. Cargill came up with a smarter alternative, BiOH polyols, which are made from plants like soy. They asked LKM to help introduce this breakthrough product to the furniture industry. Our solution?

Remind the world of the problem. A problem we all find ourselves sitting on.

Production ended up being a challenge, since we wanted to capture the couch all in camera, with as little computer manipulation as possible. A welder was hired to put the drums together. After some experimentation, we had our couch. Not the most comfortable thing, but the crew did sit on it during breaks.

Response? Cargill has recently signed on numerous partners to use BiOH in their

furniture production. They’ve also reported successful sales of BiOH at their initial production plant.”

Shawn Perritt, art director; Jim Mountjoy, creative director; Jim Arndt, photographer; Sarah Peter, agency producer; Cory Hughes, senior brand strategist; Loeffler Ketchum Mountjoy (Charlotte, NC), ad agency.

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Homage to Hemingway TV spot

“The spot’s playfulness targets our interest both in the game and the product,” said Jennifer Siegel, coexecutive producer at Tool. “Erich captured the time-honored tradition of bull-fighting while winning over the audience who will take a good look at the car.”

“The Sun Also Rises” :30 (Open on a vacant rooftop parking lot. An errant, dust-covered SUV careens up to the lot. The MINI Cooper is waiting. Poised for battle at each end of the ring, the MINI taunts the SUV with a selfassured flash of its lights. Their dance begins. The SUV charges, but is gracefully averted by our spitshined hero. Onlookers point and gawk from surrounding buildings, safe from the bull’s lethal advances. Charge after ineffectual charge, the SUV is no match for the MINI’s speed and exceptional turning radius. The SUV makes one final bid for MINI blood, then dies in a cloud of engine smoke and shattered pride. To cheering fans, the MINI exits the parking lot victorious) Will Dean/Steve Mapp, art directors; Lyle Yetman, writer; John Butler/Mike Shine, creative directors; Carl Nilsson, Tool of North America, director of photography; Pete Koob, editor; Cleaver Editorial, editorial company; Greg Kuehn, music composer; Peligro Music, music company; Erich Joiner, Tool of North America, director; Kelly Christensen, producer; Tracy Kurtz, agency producer; Brian Latt, Tool of North America, co-executive producer; Tool of North America (Venice, CA), production company; Butler, Shine, Stern and Partners (Sausalito, CA), ad agency; MINI USA, client.

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Bus Shelter

The objective was to raise awareness of the desperate plight of homeless people who are deprived of living essentials. A huge $20 bill on the bus shelter’s roof demonstrates that with just a little generosity, one can help put a roof over homeless people’s heads.

Forrest Chan, art director; Joe Chan, writer; Kin Chong/ Asawin Phanichwatana, creative directors; Sandy Chan/ Connie Lo, executive creative directors; Leo Burnett Hong Kong (Hong Kong, China), ad agency; Society for Community Organization, client.

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Be the One poster

“Hockey-crazy fifteen- to eighteen-year olds are a special breed of athlete, indeed,” stated executive creative director Tom Fugleberg.

“This poster, from a series, was part of a holistic Olson effort (which included advertising, Web, promotion, in-store and PR) that spoke to them in their language, inside locker rooms. We’re particularly proud of the work for a number of reasons, none greater than the fact that we seem to be turning these kids into felons. The moment posters are plastered up, players are ripping them down, taking a piece of the brand home and throwing gasoline on the Nike Bauer brand’s bonfire.”

© Franklin Lau

Gabe Gathmann, art director; Derek Bitter/Eric Luoma, writers; Brian Kroening, creative director; Charlie Townes, studio artist; Irene Lockwood, agency producer; Andrew Donlan/Arturo Mendiola/Bob Molhoek, strategy; Olson (Minneapolis, MN), ad agency; Nike Bauer Hockey, client.

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© Scott Barry

Hannah Stouffer

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Location: San Francisco, California, and

www.grandarray.com.

Duration: All my life, but professionally,

about two years.

Staff: Just me.

Education: Various, mostly self-taught,

though I learned a lot about business from my father. I have a bfa in conceptual information arts and photography from San Francisco State University, and attended the California College of the Arts.

Cultural Influences: Luxury and elegance,

French Victorian, genres, eras, icons, solid gold, classic contemporary, femininity, textile patterns, pin-ups, color combinations, Si Scott, Deanne Cheuk, Andy Warhol, Baroque furniture, old magazines, vintage postcards, Wild America, friends, family, love, lust, ornamental embellishments, decorative text and romance.

Environment: I’ve always shared a studio

space with other friends and artists, but I’m about to move into a studio by myself, with lots of room to think, good space and good light. These things are really important to me right now…Though I also like interaction, so we’ll see. I’m excited though (I’m always really excited).

Philosophy: Smoke Diamond, Glass of

Red, Famous Royalty, Vicious Love, Liberty Cash, Venomous, Dawn after Dawn, Kiss Goodbye, Hurry Home and Never Stop.

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1 “Concave Pinup, part of a series of illustrations to be used as graphics for a women’s apparel line, inspired by Playboy models of the 1960s and 1970s.” How Wild is Jane, client.

2 In Flight, illustration for a line of women’s graphic tees, Spring 2007. Paper Denim & Cloth, client.

3 Gothic Letter S, personal promotional piece, 4 × 6 postcard. Hannah Stouffer, art director.

4 Featherweight Champ for White Walls Gallery exhibition titled Well Hung, San Francisco. Ink on paper, 11 × 17.

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5 Personal work, Breathe It In. Hannah Stouffer, art director.

6 Envy illustration comp, for a Rocket Dog advertising campaign. Manuel Donayre, creative director; A.D.D. Marketing & Advertising, ad agency.

7 San Francisco Edition completed for Flavorpill’s 200th anniversary cover. Hannah Stouffer, art director; Flavorpill, client.

8 Personal work, The Woods. Hannah Stouffer, art director.

9 Create Shoe Envy, one from an advertising campaign. Manuel Donayre, creative director; A.D.D. Marketing & Advertising, ad agency; Rocket Dog, client.

10 “Animal Kingdom, a portrait of Wild America, inspired by my father. Illustration created for the White Walls Gallery exhibition Well Hung, San Francisco.” Ink on paper, 16 × 20.

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Patrick Fraser

© Franny Maclennan

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Location: My production space is in

Venice Beach, California, and also www. patrickfraserphotography.com. I am British, so I travel back to England a couple of times a year and make myself available on the East Coast.

Duration: Eight years.

Staff: I run a tight ship with a few key players: an archivist/organizer, a business manager, a Web site tech, a first photo assistant, who sometimes works in the studio, and an intern.

Education: Art Foundation Course at Norwich Art School, and a ba honors degree in fine art at Oxford Brooks University (both in Britain).

Cultural Influences: Growing up in Britain through the 1990s, I was exposed to an exciting time in art, music, fashion and editorial. The Saatchi Gallery was introducing Damien Hirst and his contemporaries. In music, The Stone Roses and the indie Manchester scene were huge.

Photographers Nick Knight and David Sims were shooting fashion photography for The Face and ID. Travel has also been wonderful fuel for my work and introduced me to many different cultures. Last May, I traveled 3,000 miles on one road across China for a book project about China’s “Route 66.”

Environment: A white box with high

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and high benches along two walls. Other artists work in the complex, a composer, painter and architects; creative community is important to me, especially living in Los Angeles and being freelance. I usually shoot on location or rent studios for shoots.

Philosophy: Stay true to my visual instinct

when working. Try not to compromise.

Stay fresh by experimentation.

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1 Musician KT Tunstall. Outtake from cover shoot for Der Spiegel magazine in Germany.

2 Personal, Stalker art project. The model is Claire Titelman. Shot with 8 x 10 camera.

3 Outtake from Venice magazine editorial shoot with British band Keane. Shot in Brooklyn, New York.

4 Rapper 50 Cent, an outtake from a People magazine editorial session. Ann Tortorelli, art director.

5 Musician Corinne Bailey Rae in Los Angeles, 2007. Nancy Bishop, art director; Venice magazine, client.

6 Actress Emily Blunt. Nancy Bishop, art director; Venice magazine, client.

7 The band The Secret Machines for Spin magazine. Lisa Corson, photo editor.

8 British band The Kooks, shot in a laundromat, Hollywood, California, in 2006. Nancy Bishop, art director; Venice magazine, client.

9 Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist Web site. San Francisco, 2006. Maggid Murphy, art director; Guardian Weekend London, client.

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10 Published image of a police diver shot emerging from London’s Thames River.

Regina Wolek, art director; FHM UK, client.

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© Jamie Siler

SoCity

Location: East Village, New York City, and www.socity.com.

Duration: Three years.

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Staff: One (Jesse Raker). Represented by www.josettelata.com.

Education: University of Vermont and

Academy of Art (San Francisco).

Cultural Influences: Anyone who has passion, anyone who is trying to make their dreams reality; the colors, sounds, smells of New York City; the New York Post; urban decay; old street signs; the Mission District in San Francisco; flea markets; found objects and old magazines; street art, photography and real hip-hop culture.

Environment: My studio/home is a

sun-drenched space overlooking lower Manhattan, high in the sky (12th floor) towering over many smaller buildings in the area. Sounds like a real-estate ad, but in reality it’s an extremely inspiring setting across the street from Tompkins Square Park, where I do a lot of my work as well.

Philosophy: Do what you love, and

continue to grow as a person/artist.

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1 Illustration/design for Smirnoff billboard campaign. Colin Gaul, art director; JWT, ad agency.

2 Personal work, illustration of Dwight “Doc” Gooden.

3 Illustration for Cool’eh magazine.

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4 Illustration/collage for the Semi-Permanent07 book.

5 CD cover design for Naledge + Double O’s School Was My Hustle. Olu, photographer; Rawkus, client.

6 Bag design for Sketchel art show hosted by jeremyville.

7-8 T-shirt graphics created for Brooklyn Industries.

9 Illustration/collage based on found images in the East Village for Blacklist magazine.

10 Art direction and design for Five Pointz clothing ad. Olu, photographer.

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advertising

Ernie Schenck

The Fenske Upload

A

lot of people are spending a lot of time these days trying to get all clairvoyant on us. Trying to predict whether advertising will zig or zag. This one says print is over. That one says TV has one foot in the grave. Movie theaters will soon be as relevant as the Parthenon. The human eyeball will gradually evolve into something approaching the size of a pea thanks to all those hours spent squinting at that teeny, little video iPod screen. Edgar Cayce, we hardly knew ye.

will. And when it does, I know exactly what I’d like to do with it. Because no matter what twists and turns await us in the future, doing this one thing could solve a lot of problems.

I’m talking about Fenske’s brain.

That’s right. I want to upload Mark Fenske’s gray matter into a computer. Every thought he’s ever had. Every insight. Every pearl of gritty and authentic “In your quest to wisdom. Just hook a bunch As for me, well, I haven’t a clue where all of this is going. of electrodes up to the guy’s make interesting Sure, I have a theory or two, though I don’t know what’s noggin and suck it all up. All going to happen. But let me tell you, I know what I’d like to that cool thinking. All the work, you must see happen.

Of course, the technology exist3:47 yet, but 3.375" x 4.75" ArtRes ads (CA) doesn’t 9/15/06 PM itPage 3 stuff that the little twerps at not choose the Virginia Commonwealth adoration University (VCU) Adcenter Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806), comfortable The Stolen Kiss, ca. 1785. Hermitage, St. Petersburg allegory get to hear about and most altarpiece way.” of us never will. Just upload anatomy Find the masterpiece angels Fenske’s brain and make it —Mark Fenske annunciation you’ve been looking for, available to advertising creaphrodite at artres.com atives for as far into the future as the eye can see and then some. apocalypse apollo apparition baby baroque battlefield bohemian brotherhood burial byzantine cathedral chaste cherubim chiaroscuro contrapposto countryside courtesan crucifix dancer death diptych duomo eclipse enigma epiphany evangelists fantastic fashionista fencing flood

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I’m going to just say this: Mark Fenske is one of the few guys left in this business who genuinely gets it. That there’s something fundamentally deeper to all this stuff. That if a client from a neighboring star system came down here to conduct a review, well, she’d probably be pretty disappointed with the shallowness. The lack of deep insight. The absence of thought.

The ready willingness to throw substance to the sharks. The mindlessness of it all. Fenske has no patience for it. So he goes to a classroom in Richmond and he talks, and he provokes, and he stirs the pot.

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“Our brain’s default position in every situation we face is to angle for the way that gives the most comfort, or is the most efficient, or hippest or cheapest.

“The brain is rational. The brain aims to keep the status quo until something more comfortable comes along. The brain needs tricking. To create at a high level you must trick your rational brain into sitting down and letting the rest of the gray matter work. In your quest to make interesting work, you must not choose the comfortable way. You must not do what is efficient or logical or what satisfies someone sitting

Some designers do it naturally.

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advertising next to you. You must overrule your brain. You must march out into the field you don’t know.”

And he stirs…

“To write advertising—maybe to write anything—you must be coming from where the audience comes from. Who doesn’t know the agony of having to listen to someone talk who thinks they’re more important than you are.

“To attract, hold and be loved by an audience, you must be preoccupied with what preoccupies them.”

And he stirs...

“It takes magic, ludicrous, fancy, blind-flying and something hidden from probably 99.7% of the people on earth to bring an audience what they don’t know. It takes Mr. Wacko. A willingness to love what it makes no sense to. A penchant, sometimes, for turning an exact circle away from what everybody around you says is true and going in the opposite direction. These are crucial willingnesses, not something you can allow yourself to be afraid of or talked out of by the normal people around you.”

And still he stirs...

“This is me. A Michigan-football-watching, deep-fried-turkey-

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eating, flannel-shirt-is-a-coat man of the prairie. A barn-sized door-filler from the offensive tackle-producing breadbasket of the country. The kind of guy who wants another turkey on the bbq while the first one is in the deep fryer. Just in case.

When I sit down to write, beer and sausage is what flows in my head. If I try not to be who I am, if I try to be someone cooler or slimmer or better dressed, am I going to be able to feed the pen that sits at the end of my hand waiting for ideas?

There’ll be nothing. Nothing human or new anyway. There’ll just be that nasty-faced bugaboo that doesn’t like me like I am, staring back at me with an empty expression that says, ‘Go find something to say from somewhere else, buddy, ’cause what you got in here we don’t like.’”

Somewhere, someday in some ad school of the far future, a bunch of students are going to be sitting in a holodeck classroom watching some guy trying to show them the secret to great work.

For their sake, I hope it’s Fenske. CA Editor’s note: Mark Fenske’s quotes are taken from his blog at www.markfenske.com, and used with his permission. Ernie Schenck is the contributing editor for the Advertising column and the author of The Houdini Solution: Put Creativity and Innovation To Work By Thinking Inside The Box.

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typography

John Hudson

The Typography of Forgetting

T

he relationship between writing and memory has always been considered ambivalently, infected by the fear that all writing is, in some sense, a kind of forgetting. At the end of Plato’s Phaedrus dialogue, Socrates relates the story of the ibis-headed Egyptian god Theuth, keeper of magic and ritual, who one day invents a new kind of magic—writing.

Theuth proudly presents his new invention to king Thutmose of Thebes, extolling its usefulness and claiming, “It will make the Egyptians wiser and better able to remember things; for it has been invented as an aid to memory and for wisdom.”

But the king (who, in the complex familial relations of Egyptian royalty and divinity, is also Theuth’s son) is not convinced; indeed, he susWe now live in a pects that the opposite is true, and that writing

society in which the majority of people do not write, and certainly do not write formally.

…will create forgetfulness in men’s souls, because they will not use their memories but will trust to the external written characters and so cease to remember.

The art which you have discovered is not a means of remembering but of recording, and you give to your students not wisdom but the appearance of wisdom.

They will take in much yet learn nothing, will think they know everything, and will be tiresome to deal with because they have the show of wisdom without the reality.

Socrates expands on this theme, eventually contrasting writing’s static simulation of knowledge with the vigorous, animated “living word” of speech and, especially, dialogue. For Socrates, the important thing is not to record ideas, but to talk about them. But it is Thutmose’s first comment that expresses the primal worry about writing: It is not what the god claims. It will not help us remember but will make us forget.

When an oral culture becomes a literary culture—a profound societal transformation that occurs even today, in the experience of small linguistic communities living out their humanity beyond the reach and concerns of “global communication”—it is said to be “reduced to writing.” It is a phrase that captures the ironic cultural simplification that occurs in the transition 118

May/June 2007

to what we think of as a more sophisticated (modern, progressive) medium: the reduction of diversity and the restriction of potentialities. In any major media shift, it seems, only some dominant streams of earlier cultural expression make the transition to new media. Much gets left behind and, perhaps most significantly, this includes many possible ways of making new things. Of course, the new medium replaces some of these possibilities with new creative potencies of its own, but often these are developed along narrower lines. A story in an oral culture is an exchangeable currency, passed from teller to teller, each bringing a particular emphasis, or articulation, to the performance of the tale, adding to it from his or her individual and cultural experience. The same story written down becomes a “text”—perhaps one of a number of recorded versions of the story—that has been reduced to writing and has lost much of its potentiality for further development. It will be read, may even be admired or loved, but each reading is an act of forgetting all the other versions of the story; those that were not written down and those that will never be spoken.

Is this kind of cultural forgetting characteristic of all media shifts? Something similar seems to happen in the transition from manuscript to print, from a culture in which texts are written by hand—chirographical—to one in which they have become typographical. From its earliest days, printing from moveable type has been a commercial venture, the economics of which meant that no book would be published in print that would not be guaranteed to sell a few hundred copies.

Many works that were simply not fashionable at the time of the transition, or that were considered too esoteric, would not be printed. Others, which might have been safely passed around in manuscript, would have been too dangerous to publish and distribute in print. An enormous number of texts that existed in manuscript, simply failed to make the transition to the new typographic medium; they were forgotten. The new medium acts as a kind of filter, through which only some knowledge of the past passes. Of course, unlike the stories of oral cultures that died with the last people who knew them and spoke them, there is the chance that the wealth of human wisdom, wit and insight that typography has enabled us to forget may be rediscovered in the fragile pages of surviving manuscripts.

Recently, I’ve begun to think about how this notion of

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typography

“reduction” applies not only to the ideas and texts of the past, but also to the letters in which they were written. The reduction of a script to typography acts as a filter on letterforms in much the same way as typographic reproduction of texts acts as a filter on knowledge. The greatest reduction is probably in the loss of much regional variation in letterforms, the local dialects of script. In the second half of the fifteenth century, the multitude of regional styles was reduced to two primary models: the humanist book hand and the textura blackletter.

Both these styles, in their new typographic medium, then under went refinement and development into new derivative and supplementary styles, leading ultimately to the rich typographic diversity of the present day. The new creative potencies of typographic expression are undeniable, but looking through paleographic studies of the Armenian, Greek, Hebrew and Latin scripts, I’m struck by the number of possible “lines” of descent that are typically cut off when a script is reduced to typography. It is like looking at a family tree in which most

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of the siblings of a generation die without children, and only one or two lines continue.

A good example of a forgotten writing style that, had the accidents of history been a little different, might easily have become the model of our basic typographic letterform is the Beneventan script. This round, undulating writing style, with wide, alphalike lowercase a, originated in the scriptorium of the great Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino, Italy. Today, it is known only to scholars and specialists dealing with historical documents, but for more than five hundred years it was one of the major regional writing styles. By the time of the transition to type, the popularity of the Beneventan script was already on the decline. Like certain books that had once been popular in manuscript, it had ceased to be fashionable in the places that mattered, the centers of humanistic learning that were the market for the new printed books, and the Beneventan script was forgotten.

In the early 1990s, Robert Norton, then head of the typography group at Microsoft, wrote to his many friends and contacts in the type business—type designers and typesetters, graphic designers, publishers and editors—and invited them to nominate, with comments, which typefaces they most valued and which they most felt the world could do without. The results were published by Norton in the entertaining and cleverly reversible volume Types Best Remembered/Types Best Forgotten.

Since the selections in each side of the book are ordered alphabetically by typeface names, they are helpful indices of “who remembered” and “who forgot.”

The contributions of the Dutch writing master and theorist Gerrit Noordzij are characteristically provocative. He is the only contributor to nominate one of his own typeface designs as best remembered, and the only contributor to suggest that all typefaces are best forgotten. (Only Alan Fletcher comes close to the same conclusion with his handwritten contribution “A typeface is an alphabet in a straightjacket.”) Noordzij wants us to forget all typefaces, but fundamentally his comments are positive ones, reminding us of the relatively brief amount of time that …type has paralyzed the faces of writing. Their mummified bodies are laid out in the catalogues of the typefounders. A stop of 500 years in the development of text scripts is long enough to make one look upon formal writing as static. Against a tradition of 5,000 years, however, the interruption has been merely incidental.

It has, perhaps, but we now live in a society in which the majority of people do not write, and certainly do not write

23821480 I Jennifer Becker

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typography

Writing will cREatE foRgEtfulnESs in mEn’s Souls, bEcauSe thEy will not uSe thEiR mEmoriEs but will TRuSt To ThE EXTERnal writTEn chaRactERs anD So cEaSe To REMEmbER. ThE aRt which you havE diScovERED is not a mEans of REMEmbERIng but of REcoRding, and you gIvE to youR StudEnts not wisdom but thE aPpEaRancE of wisDom.

formally. Ironically, the only medium in which the potential persists for new styles of text script—lettering intended for continuous reading—is typography. This is not true of all societies: There are still places in the world where a scribal tradition is maintained alongside modern communication media, and where creative exchange or collaboration between writing master and type designer is possible, if they will not be suspicious of each other. But for us, if we want to rediscover some of those lines of descent, those potentialities for new forms cut off by the reduction to typography, the only significant cultural framework within which to do so is type itself.

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Noordzij recognizes this.

Writing in the context of the ferment of typographical experiment and playfulness of the early 1990s—much of it now itself forgotten, much of it forgettable—he notes:

From a traditional typographic point of view type design is drifting. But it is only the provisional standard that has fallen away…

We are only recently beginning to see the new opportunities for type design.

It is disorienting to think of the centuries-old, well-established letterforms of our typographic alphabet—the letterforms of Aldus and Garamond, of Caslon and Bodoni—as a “provisional standard.” But perhaps it only seems to because we have forgotten so much that preceded them, and have forgotten other ways of thinking about letters.

Noordzij picked up on the new potentials in the democratization of font manufacture, the new opportunities that arrived with the reduction of the material costs of font development and the availability of tools to make digital fonts. The media shift we are currently engaged in, seems to me different in important aspects from the transition from orality to literacy or from manuscript to print. Previous media are not being swept away, they are being augmented and broadened by the Internet. If other media shifts have acted as filters on our knowledge of the past, the Internet is acting as a diffuser, and providing a forum for people around the world to share enthusiasm for gradually rediscovered artifacts of a forgotten past.

The global diffusion of the fragments of that past can lead to unexpected developments. In researching this article, I stumbled across a new OpenType font in that forgotten style of medieval Italian writing: Agedage Beneventan, designed in Nagoya, Japan, by Ryoichi Tsunekawa [see above]. This is no mere scan and trace of samples from a paleographic text, but a serious effort to represent this venerable script in a typographic idiom. It is also an act of remembering, by a person in a foreign culture, picking up a piece of our past and understanding the potentials within it. CA

Web Watch Dwell’s custom typeface for the alphabetical searches and an accordian-style list to tame the unwieldy number of categories. With clear lists of retailers and trades, the search-results pages are visually consistent and easy to read. One of the navigation features that makes this site unique is the detailed search accessible from every page. New Search is a concise version of the homepage Search; it’s nice that the developers have offered an alternative to returning to the homepage to change-up search criteria.

dwell DesignSource

The lists of products and services, divided into more than 35 design-

This online resource (www.dwell.com/source/designsource) for

handsomely in a very familiar advertorial-like layout, it consists of a

products and services delivers on Dwell magazine’s mission to

brief description, one or two images and a link to a corresponding

bring good design to everyone.

site for each entry. Although we’re not sure how they’re chosen,

What’s essentially a format for generating advertising revenue is a useful and on-brand tool for Dwellophiles. The content is perfect

oriented categories, are the content on this site. Presented

Featured Source is an additional promotion—an animated billboard of sorts to highlight advertisers.

for the magazine’s image-conscious audience and the spare,

On average, the site receives 110,000 page views per month.

clear visual design provides easy access to a group of advertisers

—Sue Garibaldi

with which they’re probably very familiar. At this site’s core is an interface that provides an attractive, functional structure for entry into the content.

Visitors can search alphabetically, by region, category or keyword.

Because of Dwell’s position in the world of design, even the search is a well-thought response to a series of design decisions: there’s an appropriately stylized map for regional searches, large letters in

You’re just my type Similar types like to hang together, and now they have just the place—www. typophile.com. The site features a type of wiki, where know-it-alls can explain the difference between ITC Garamond and Adobe Garamond; a forum to debate the latest work; and a place where they can get their efforts critiqued. Typophile.com

Jeff Fassnacht, Jeff Fassnacht Design, art director; Jeff Fassnacht/ Gabriel Hernandez, Jeff Fassnacht Design, designers; Jessica Grossman, developer; Jeff Fassnacht/Gabriel Hernandez/Catherine Giayvia, Jeff Fassnacht Design, coders; Perry Nelson, Dwell, online director; Nancy Alonzo, Dwell, design source director; Lara Hedberg Deam, Dwell, founder; Michela O’Connor Abrams, Dwell, publisher/president; Jeff Fassnacht Design (http://jefffassnacht.com)/Clickability (www.clickability. com), site design and development.

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125

legal affairs

Richard Weisgrau

Jumping the Hurdles on the Pro Photography Track This article is adapted from the new book, Publishing Photography: Marketing Images, Making Money, by Richard Weisgrau, published by Allworth Press.

P

ublication photography is a highly competitive business. The supply of photographers exceeds the demand. That fact has stopped very few from entering the business, so the supply/demand rule continues to work to the disadvantage of the photographer. In spite of that, many photographers continue to earn a good income from publication photography. They are separated from the low earners by some combination of three things: they have very good aesthetic ability; they have good technical skills; and they understand the business. But there is even more to it than that. They also have learned how to surmount the obstacles they face every day either by study, experience or advice.

Hurdle number one: getting good advice Good and bad advice are easy to come by and hard to distinguish. Understanding the nature of the business is imperative to operating successfully within it. If you are currently engaged in publication photography or are about to become engaged, you are or will be offered lots of advice from many different sources about how to conduct your business. When it comes to accepting advice, you ought to follow the same rule that journalists are supposed to follow when a source provides them with information. Confirm the information by another source or other means. Don’t act on the information until you have good reason to believe it to be correct.

During my fifteen years as the executive director of the American Society of Media Photographers (asmp) and in the four years I have spent as a consultant since my asmp tenure ended, many photographers came to me for advice on how to reverse a situation that resulted from advice they had received from photographers who overstated their understanding of business; from lawyers who know nothing about the photography business or related laws; and from consultants who freely gave advice even though they had never been in the photography business. The fact is that photographers crave advice to advance their careers. In that respect, they are no different from other professionals. But publication

126

May/June 2007

photography is a niche business, so advisors who only have general business experience are often unqualified to give advice. Also, some advice-dispensing photographers do not have the credentials to give the advice they offer. If you get your advice from a person who has no record of long-term success, you might be getting it from the next person who is going to fail in the business. So when you seek or read advice contained in an article like this, be sure to ascertain whether the author has the credentials to provide it.

Hurdle number two: preserving relationships The clients of a publication photographer may include oneman businesses, medium-sized advertising agencies or giant corporations. Regardless of the size of the entities, there is one common element—you are dealing with people, not companies.

Those people have titles like editor, photo editor, art director, art buyer, communications director, public relations director and, in the case of small companies, owner. Always remember that you are developing a personal relationship when you court a prospective or existing client. For the most part, the publication photographer is dealing with a representative of a company and not its owners and policy makers.

The larger the company, the more inflexible it will be in a negotiation. That is because the company has to control the actions of its employees to the extent that it can, so it sets limits and guidelines to which they must adhere. When you run into a client policy that you do not like, don’t take it personally. The person delivering the unwanted message is only the messenger, and ought not be punished for delivering what he is ordered to deliver. Remember, people generally perform the way their employers expect them to perform.

When you are presented with a prospective client’s terms or conditions that you cannot accept, all you have to do is say no and explain why you must refuse. Never get angry. If enough good photographers say no, the terms will change, and the company will better its offer. If you expressed anger to your prospective client, you can be certain that the person that you got angry with is going to give the work to someone who did not get angry. Anger begets anger, and mutual anger often ends relationships.

legal affairs Hurdle number three: understanding price and value You set the price for your photography. Your client also sets the value of your photography. If you set a price that is higher than the value assigned by the client, you have to accept, negotiate or reject your client’s position. Sometimes clients won’t budge. Here’s why: In the advertising business, agencies are awarded jobs from advertisers based on a bid they have made to do the work involved. That bid is made long before the photographer is hired to work on the account. The agency allocated a certain amount for photography in its bid. To exceed that amount, the agency has to do one of three things: it can lose money, or it can cut back expenses on another part of the work to be done. Neither is palatable because no one wants to take a loss, and cutting back on another aspect of the work means compromising results, which is taboo in the creative communications business. The third option is to go back to the advertiser and ask for more money. Now put yourself in the agency’s position. Would you want to explain to your client how you managed to underestimate the cost of the work and now need more money? I doubt it. It has been done, but not often.

Certainly the agency has some leeway to negotiate, but it is not boundless. If you are asking for a lot more than the agency estimated, it is going to tell you that as far as it is concerned, the job is worth a certain dollar amount to it and not more. You will have to decide whether you can do the work for that amount. If you cannot, you should bow out gracefully, not angrily, keeping the door open to be eligible for the next job.

In the corporate business sector, the value of photography is usually underappreciated. Corporations have one goal—a profitable bottom line. That drives them to sacrifice creativity for the sake of profits whenever the creativity is not going to drive significant dollars to their doorstep. Businesspersons often use the phrase “Show the flag.” It means, keep the company in view so no one forgets about it. It is a routine part of the cost of doing business, and you cannot trace any part of the profits to it. On the other hand, there are times when a company has a need for photography that can help to drive dollars in the door as a direct result of publication. An annual report is a good example of a dollar-driving publication.

128

editors. Managing editors control the budget. A monthly magazine allocates a certain dollar amount for the photography that will appear in the publication during the budget year. Each issue has a certain level of funds allocated to it.

The number of pages of the magazine will depend on the ad sales. The editor knows that a certain percentage of the publication’s pages will be occupied by photography, so a certain percentage of ad sales can be used to pay for photography.

Book publishers have a budget for a book. Only so much of that book’s costs are allocated for photography. The person buying photography is not going to spend more than that amount. Once again, the client is setting the value, and you have to try to negotiate the client’s assigned value to come close to your assigned price. Everyone has some leeway, but how much is the question. You have to test that, and then decide whether you want the work or not.

Hurdle number four: developing a mindset Being a publication photographer is easy. All you need is a camera and lenses and a business card. Finding a few people who will publish your photography is easy. There are numerous photography users who buy photography at every quality and price level.

Being a successful publication photographer is not easy—not if you define success as making enough money to live a middle-class lifestyle. Success in publication photography requires aesthetic talent and technical skills, but most who have aspired to become successful publication photographers have those qualities, and yet many have failed. You can be the da Vinci of photography—an artistic and technical genius—and still fail because success in business requires business acumen, and no one is born with that. It has to be developed.

Your acumen for business is developed by learning and doing on a continuing basis. The better you get at business, the more money you can make. One thing I can tell you with certainty after more than four decades in the business is that unless you understand how to do business and how to jump the daily hurdles you encounter, you will fail economically.

That will make you an amateur photographer.

Most successful photographers with more than five years in the business have learned that business comes first, and the photography only gets done profitably if the business is done right, and they act accordingly. It is a learned behavior, not an innate one. If you can develop the kind of successful mindset that allows you to adapt to business conditions, you will find success in publication photography. CA

The corporate client’s staff person to whom you will be talking is in the same position as the advertising agency explained above. There is a budget for a publication project.

Photography is part of that budget. No one in a company wants to go and ask for more money because the budget was underestimated. Just as in the case of advertising, you will have to decide whether you can do the work for that amount, and bow out gracefully if you cannot.

Editor’s note: Publishing Photography may be ordered for $19.95 plus $5 shipping and handling from Allworth Press (www. allworth.com) or by calling toll-free (800) 491-2808. New York State residents should add sales tax.

In the editorial marketplace, editors report to managing

© 2007 Richard Weisgrau

May/June 2007

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book reviews

Picturing and Poeting

As a collage artist, Fletcher had a keen sensibility for visually redefining the most ordinary elements. He enjoyed playing with superimposed letters, often remaking

By Alan Fletcher 384 pages, hardcover, $39.95 Published by Phaidon Press Inc. www.phaidon.com

and reshaping their form in the process.

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In the Alphabet monograms, he joined

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Reading Alan Fletcher’s Picturing and w

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Poeting, it was apparent how special a designer Fletcher was and how he will be missed. He died last September at the age of 74, distinguished in a career that included co-founding Pentagram in 1972 and 50 years of graphic work. His approach to

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preserving their individual character. Or he abandoned recognition all together and wrote

scores of quotes on art on top of each other with different colored pens until they became

gestural abstractions. A personal favorite is The Chinese Horoscope constructed from his collection of printed ephemera;

design was that of a consummate creative, constantly seeking visual

tickets, programs and bills form recognizable heads of twelve

surprises through inventive observation. From his childhood real-

animals, simply and skillfully defined in composition and a refined

ization that the London street railings were more evocative of spears

sense of color. And he continued to invent for his Menagerie of

than barriers, Fletcher pursued a lifelong interest in discovering the

Imaginary Creatures, the playful constructions of painted animals

unique characteristics of form, font and face.

made to amuse his grandson from rubbish the child collected.

Clearly passionate about type, Fletcher’s collected images reflected

Fletcher’s collected drawings, constructions, collages and writings

his curiosity about type forms from his photos of street signs to his

display a vitality of expression turning ordinary experience into an

paper and print collages. Vagabond Pizza (version 2 shown above) is

inquiry on the nature of seeing. Fascinated with facial characteristics,

a series of printed labels, stickers and price tags collaged on paper

his quick sketches captured ancestral characters from cities around

and contained by Fletcher’s simple drawn circle. In his caption, he

the world or guests at dinner parties in Milan, Tokyo and Budapest.

suggested another level of seeing, noting that each “pizza” could also

The evidence of his imagination: an eventful life full of family and

be an indication of spending levels, eating habits and social standing.

friends, images and ideas. Always ideas. —R.H.

The Ten Commandments of Typography/Type Heresy

includes Herbert Bayer, El Lissitzky, Erik Spiekermann and Jan

By Paul Felton 72 pages, hardcover, $22.95 Published by Merrell www.merrellpublishers.com

132

©

a Ph

the 26 letters to make new shapes while

Tschichold; men who would all probably be surprised to find themselves relegated to the anti-innovation side of the dance floor. The “Fallen Angels” in “Typographic Hell” include Edward Fella, Jeffrey Keedy, Carlos Segura and Zuzana Licko. (David Carson is “Satan.”)

But the “us” versus “them” here is both a bit artificial and certainly dated at this point, with the design hooligans battling the typo-

This little book is like that old drawing that changes from pretty

graphic squares. Matthew Carter, interviewed to represent the

young woman to hag when flipped upside down. You think you’re

Commandments side, says right off, “The advantage of rules is that

reading a rather reasonable presentation of ten sage rules for

they can prevent mistakes; the disadvantage is that they can prevent

well-considered, legible typography when, halfway through, the

discoveries.” On the other hand, Jonathan Barnbrook, interviewed

page orientation flips, you close the book, turn it and realize the

for the Heretic side, states that, “With a bit of extra reading around

second half is a defiant call to break each of those very same

on the subject, however, and by bringing your own interest into it,

rules. Two books in one; a typographic Janus mask—although,

you will find that typography truly reflects the whole of human life,

which direction faces forward is questionable.

and those rules of punctuation, leading and so on are directly linked

The commandments include such sound maxims as “Thou shalt not

to language, with all its complexities of double meanings, intonations

apply more than three typefaces in a document,” “Thou shalt not

and...a direct visual representation of the tone of voice with which

use only capitals when setting vast body copy” and “Thou shalt not

we express the spirit of our time.” Doesn’t sound so demonic.

make lines too short or too long.” The book offers illustrations for

Although the whole thing is silly and moot, there’s some good

conforming to or defying these rules: overly constrained specimens

advice here. The book is a fun little trifle, cleverly laid out, beautifully

for the former, fairly mild displays of recalcitrance for the latter, with

bound (with rivaling marbled endpapers on either side) and would

both sets resembling exercises commonly seen in any first semester

be a piquant gift for your favorite typophile, particularly one who

type class. A list of “Twelve Disciples of Typographic Heaven”

got a good laugh out of the 1990s. —Angelynn Grant

May/June 2007

How Sweet It Is!

KromekoteCollection Simply the world’s finest printing surface.

Reserve your all new Kromekote Collection swatchbook today at www.smartpapers.com/kromekotecollection. ®

books

resources Color coding Feeling blue? Seeing red? Green with envy? According to the newest Guide to Color on Classic Crest from Neenah Paper, designed by New York-based And Partners, there’s more to color than these tired old clichés. This primer explodes the cultural myths of color to take a more personal, nuanced and rigorous approach to color choices, as presented in the Dewey Color System (billed as “the world’s only validated, color-based, personality testing instrument”). For art directors, designers, marketers and their clients, the Guide to Color explains the inner logic of color, how it can be deployed to evoke emotion, convey brand attributes and appeal to customers. Foldout palettes of color swatches show how base colors, complements and blends work together. Designers can use this guide to present their color choices to clients, confidently backed by research (instead of a gut instinct) that supports their decision.

Everyone will be tickled pink. For more information, call (800) 558-5061 or visit www.neenahpaper.com.

Color calculations Available from online design academy Sessions School of Design, the Sessions Color Calculator aids designers in selecting accurate HTML, RGB and CMYK color values. As a bonus, it will also suggest color harmonies and color schemes. The interactive color wheel features a click-and-drag interface for immediate results that can be saved to a clipboard and e-mailed to colleagues and clients. Shapes on the color wheel can be rotated to define harmonious color schemes and slider bars allow users to adjust saturation and lightness to an almost infinite degree.

To open the color calculator, go to www.sessions.edu/career_center/design_tools/ color_calculator/index.asp.

Write for a change Art With Heart, a nonprofit organization dedicated to production of children’s therapeutic creativity books, has just launched a line of greeting cards, with 100% of the proceeds donated for children in crisis. Since its founding in 1996, Art With Heart has helped more than 25,000 children affected by cancer and other life-threatening illnesses. Designed to complement their Oodles of Doodles and Chill & Spill books, these greeting-card collections are quirky, edgy and a little off-beat—exactly what makes them perfect for kids and teenagers immune to the traditional syrupy blandishments of the greeting-card industry. Each collection features themes such as birthdays, inspirational thoughts and get-well wishes and spotlights the work of illustrators such as Mary GrandPré, Chip Wass, Vivienne Flesher, Coco Masuda and many others. For more information, or to order, visit www.artwithheart.org.

134

May/June 2007

Designing the Obvious: A Common Sense Approach to Web Application Design

By Robert Hoekman, Jr., 256 pages, softcover, $39.99, published by Peachpit Press, www.peachpit.com.

Consider your favorite designed object: Chances are that it’s aesthetically-pleasing and blindingly simple to use. As author Robert Hoekman, Jr. points out, it is hard work making things look easy. That hard work is the subject of Designing the Obvious, an absolutely essential guidebook for anyone involved in software, Web, graphic or product design. His advice: focus relentlessly on what the user needs; be brutal in eliminating features; and design for activities. In clear, straightforward language, Hoekman explains how to scope a project for simplicity, analyze the target audience, design features that support real-world tasks, blueprint the project using wireframes, build functioning prototypes and conduct usability testing.

If everyone followed Hoekman’s advice, calls to the support desk would be a thing of the past.

Information Dashboard Design: The Effective Visual Communication of Data

By Stephen Few, 212 pages, softcover, $34.99, published by O’Reilly Media, www.oreilly.com.

Information threatens to swamp us in a tsunami of data; Information Dashboard Design by Stephen Few teaches designers how to present it. An increasingly popular way of handling a mass of information, an information dashboard presents on a single screen, the critical material someone needs to do a job.

They are becoming popular as the front-ends for heavy-duty analytic software packages in sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, Web services and technical support. The same way a car’s dashboard relays important data, information dashboards present multiple measures of performance simultaneously on a single computer screen. Information Dashboard Design presents an authoritative, in-depth look at the medium. Few provides an overview of the field, points out common pitfalls, and clearly explains how to combine text and graphics and arrange them for maximum usability and effective communication.

—Sam McMillan

call for entries design & advertising

Deadline: June 1, 2007

competition

48th Annual Juried Competitions Now is the time to promote your talent to the creative community and to potential clients worldwide by entering the largest and most important juried competitions in graphic design and advertising: Communication Arts magazine’s 48th Annual Competitions.

The results will be published in the November 2007 Design and December 2007 Advertising Annuals. Over 70,000 copies of these highly-respected annuals, printed with exceptional quality, will be distributed worldwide, assuring important exposure for the creators of these outstanding projects.

Entry Forms Online at www.commarts.com/competition

Snap to it Natural media artwork in a snap, that’s the promise of Snap Art, the newest release from Alien Skin Software, makers of filters and plug-ins for Adobe Photoshop. In a single step, Snap Art examines an image to discern objects, edges, lines and shapes. Based on this outline, Snap Art’s advanced paint engine goes to work, filling the outline using strokes, brushes and specified colors. The result is a realistic portrayal of detail balanced by stylized artistry. The ten filters that comprise Snap Art create one-click stylized artwork including Water Color, Pastel, Oil Paint, Comics, Pointillism and Colored Pencil effects.

Hundreds of presets make it simple to achieve a desired look and for precise rendering, Snap Art includes drawing tools such as brushes, pencils, pastels and pens for fine-tuning compositions. A free 30-day download is available from www.alienskin.com.

Digital art blurs the line Corel Painter X is a natural media painting tool for digital artists, designers, animators, photographers and illustrators. New composition tools, faster performance and the introduction of a “RealBristle” painting system blur the line between digital art and fine art. RealBristle heightens brush responsiveness, creating a brush that effectively bends and splays, so on-screen artists can experience the interplay of paint, canvas and brush.

New composition tools include a Divine Proportion guide that enables artists to compose layouts using the golden ratio employed by the masters. To get up-to-speed quickly, downloadable training videos from Jeremy Sutton are available. And, good news, the Painter can is back in a limited edition. A 30-day, fully functional trial edition of Corel Painter X can be downloaded from www.corel.com/painterx.

Two on the aisle Looking for free uploaded film content? Look to the newly redesigned iklipz.com. On it, more than 2,500 films are browsable using tags to find similarities in content, filmmakers, performers, categories and personal preferences. Thanks to a newly enhanced player, visitors can view, browse, freeze and control their clips. Contributors can share their clips—shorts, documentaries and animations—with more than 400,000 unique visitors a month. Pass the popcorn at www.iklipz.com. —S.M. 136

May/June 2007

photography

resources

Film is not dead, it was just resting After a restructuring in 2005, during which its assets were bought by former managers of the old company, Ilford Photo is back. They’ve revived and reintroduced a number of specialty black-and-white film stocks, including the beloved Ilford SFX 200. With its extended red sensitivity, Ilford SFX 200 is perfect for capturing contrast and detail in landscapes, architectural settings, mountains, cloud formations, open skies and green foliage. Combined with the Cokin P series mounted red filter, the effect of Ilford SFX 200 is absolutely eyepopping, especially when shooting on high-heat/haze days. Ilford SFX 200 is available in 35mm cassettes and 120 roll film stocks. For more information, visit www. ilfordphoto.com.

Are your digital photos safe?

If you’re like most people, probably not. If you’ve stored your digital photos on a hard drive, they are just a computer crash away from disappearing forever. Now there’s an educational Web site that can walk you through simple, cost-effective ways of preserving and protecting your digital photographs. Created by the International Imaging Industry Association, www. preservemymemories.org offers a step-by-step approach to preserving digital photos.

The site explains how to create a backup solution for longterm storage, the pros and cons of various storage media and offers tips for organizing and naming your digital files so you can find individual photos when you need them. A useful table provides an at-a-glance overview of various backup methods, including CDROMs, hard drives and DVDs. Interestingly, the preferred method for preserving valuable photos is the oldfashioned approach: print them. —S.M.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 You can’t turn on your television today without hearing some enthusiastic 25something grunting “Sweet!” Soon, readers of most design publications will be saying, “Suite!,” with the same enthusiasm. Adobe’s mission “to revolutionize how the world engages with ideas and information,” has given birth to a suite of sweet suites. With cell phones that can take photos, surf the Internet, read e-mail, get stock quotes and provide voice communication and display advertising, the boundaries between media types have become blurred. Today’s designers are having to repurpose their designs for a variety of media that didn’t exist a few years ago. To meet these unfocused design challenges, and to reflect the expanded product line created by the merger with Macromedia, Adobe has refocused its Creative Suite of products.

Adobe Creative Suite 3 will be available in separate editions for Design, Web and Production (film and video), as well as a Master Collection. The Design and Web editions will be offered in both Standard and Premium versions. The CS3 Design Premium Suite, for example, includes InDesign, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Flash Professional, Dreamweaver and Acrobat; the Standard version includes InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Acrobat.

The Production Premium CS3 package includes: After Effects, Premiere Pro, Flash, Photoshop Extended, Illustrator, Soundbooth and Encore DVD and will be released on both platforms.

The Master Collection addresses Design Across Media and includes a range of multidisciplinary products.

Photoshop now has four products in its family: Extended addresses the digital photographer; Lightroom helps organize and catalog photography and do batch processing; Photoshop Elements 5.0 for users who just need the essentials; and an aggressively enhanced Photoshop CS3.

Adobe Device Central CS3 helps translate design into a multitude of mediums from the Web to print to portable electronic communication devices, like the soon to be released Apple iPhone. The entire line of products has been optimized to run on Windows Vista and Macintosh Intel Dual Processor computers and will be released simultaneously for both platforms.

For more information, visit www.adobe.com.

—Gary W. Priester

Listen while you work An open-source software, ourTunes, lets you connect to your local network (whatever building you’re in), browse your colleagues’ collection of iTunes and download the songs you want to your own hard drive. It connects to every visible host, gets their

calendar may 10 and 24 AIGA Design Lecture Series Herbst Theater San Francsico, California www.aigasf.org 17–20 APDF Exchange 2007 “For Love or Money” Association of Professional Design Firms The Wynn Las Vegas Las Vegas, Nevada www.apdf.org

june 6–8 DMI 19th International Brand Design Conference “Brand, Design and Business—the Integration Imperative” Design Management Institute Drake Hotel Chicago, Illinois www.dmi.org 7–9 AAF American Advertising Federation National Conference Marriott Louisville Downtown Louisville, Kentucky www.aaf.org 11–17 Design Week in San Francisco AIGA San Francisco Chapter San Francisco, California www.sfdesignweek.org 12–14 Promax/BDA Conference Promax and Broadcast Designers Association New York Hilton New York, New York www.bda.tv 25–30 Platform International Animation Festival Portland, Oregon www.platformfestival.com

music library listing and then disconnects. Users are presented with a searchable, sortable list of every song on the iTunes shares. From that point, users can play MP3 files and download MP3 and AAC files. OurTunes will be at its most viable when it works over a fast network where lots of individuals are sharing music. To learn more, stop in at htttp://ourtunes.sourceforge.net. —S.M.

Copy must be received three months prior to the publication date. Please include a contact, phone number and address.

directory

Featured in this issue Daniel Adel 25 Market Street Cold Spring, NY 10516 (646) 250-3206 danieladel@mindspring.com www.danieladel.com Laurie Frankel 697 Douglass Street San Francisco, CA 94114 (415) 282-7345 (415) 282-0132 fax lf@lauriefrankel.com www.lauriefrankel.com Represented by Friend & Johnson 443 Greenwich Street #6J New York, NY 10013 (212) 337-0055 www.friendandjohnson.com HendersonBromsteadArt 105 W 4th Street Winston-Salem, NC 27101 (336) 748-1364 (336) 748-1268 fax hayes@hendersonbromsteadart. com www.hendersonbromsteadart. com Interactive Installations Ralph Appelbaum Associates 88 Pine Street 29th Fl New York, NY 10005 (212) 334-8200 (212) 334-6214 fax cherylheld@raany.com www.raany.com ART+COM AG Kleiststr 23-26 Berlin, 10787 Germany +49 (30) 21001-404 +49 (30) 21001-555 fax js@artcom.de www.artcom.de Goodby, Silverstein & Partners 720 California Street San Francisco, CA 94108 (415) 392-0669 (415) 955-6296 fax www.goodbysilverstein.com Imagination (USA) Inc. 155 Franklin Street New York, NY 10013 (212) 813-6400 (212) 813-6401 fax julie.weinman@imagination.com www.imagination.com

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May/June 2007

Small Design Firm, Inc. 875 Massachusetts Avenue Ste 11 Cambridge, MA 02139 (617) 661-6680 (617) 661-6685 fax dave@davidsmall.com www.davidsmall.com Rethink #700 470 Granville Street Vancouver, BC V6C 1V5 Canada (604) 685-8911 (604) 685-9004 fax inquiries@rethink communications.com www.rethinkcommunications. com Visual Typography Design Army 1312 9th Street NW Washington, DC 20001 (202) 797-1018 (202) 478-1807 fax pum@designarmy.com www.designarmy.com EstudioCrop Antonio Costa 177 Vista Alegre Curitiba-PR, 80820-020 Brazil +55 (41) 9651-3630 setedesign@yahoo.com.br www.betojanz.estudiocrop. com.br Harcus Design Level 3/46 Foster Street, Surry Hills Sydney, NSW 2010 Australia +61 (2) 9212-2755 +61 (2) 9212-2933 fax studio@harcus.com.au www.harcus.com.au Imaginary Forces 6526 Sunset Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90028 (323) 957-6868 (323) 957-9577 fax information@imaginaryforces. com www.imaginaryforces.com Landesberg Design 1219 Bingham Street Pittsburgh, PA 15203 (412) 381-2220 (412) 381-2413 fax rick@landesbergdesign.com www.landesbergdesign.com

David Mellen Design 8111 Bleriot Avenue Los Angeles, CA 90045 (310) 665-0707 david@mellendesign.com www.mellendesign.com MendeDesign 1211 Folsom Street 4th Fl San Francisco, CA 94103 (415) 431-8200 (415) 431-9695 fax anythingreally@mendedesign. com www.mendedesign.com Morrow McKenzie Design 431 NW Flanders Street Ste 201 Portland, OR 97209 (503) 222-0331 (503) 296-2332 fax elizabeth@morrowmckenzie. com www.morrowmckenzie.com Mucca Design Corp.

568 Broadway Ste 504 New York, NY 10012 (212) 965-9821 (212) 625-9153 fax info@muccadesign.com www.muccadesign.com Nex Branding Design Room 1907 Marina House 68 Hing Man Street, Shaukeiwan Hong Kong China +852 2861-3809 +852 2865-0485 fax joseph@nexbd.com Parachute Design 120 S 6th Street Ste 1200 Minneapolis, MN 55402 (612) 359-4376 cross@parachutedesign.com Poulin + Morris Inc. 286 Spring Street 6th Fl New York, NY 10013 (212) 675-1332 (212) 675-3027 fax richard@poulinmorris.com www.poulinmorris.com Quorum 4981 Ben Lomond Avenue South Ogden, UT 84403 (801) 920-8321 (801) 475-5907 fax work@mrletterspress.com

Riorodon Design 131 George Street Oakville, L6J 3B9 Canada (905) 339-0750 erin@riordondesign.com www.riordondesign.com Sommese Design 100 Rose Drive Port Matilda, PA 16870 (814) 865-1203 (814) 863-8706 fax lsx14@psu.edu www.sommesedesign.com SOTA/TypeCon 3025 Alta Vista Alameda, CA 94502 info@typesociety.org www.typecon.com Stand Advertising 2351 N Forest Road Amherst, NY 14068 (716) 210-1065 gmeadows@standad.com www.standadvertising.com Stiles Design 2503 Milfoil Cove Austin, TX 78704 (512) 633-9247 bstiles@austin.rr.com www.brettstilesdesign.com Stoltze Design, Inc. 15 Channel Center Street #403 Boston, MA 02210 (617) 350-7109 www.stoltze.com Sussner Design Company 212 3rd Avenue N Ste 505 Minneapolis, MN 55401 (612) 339-2886 (612) 339-2887 fax derek@sussner.com www.sussner.com The DesignWorks Group PO Box 1773 257 S Pine Street Sisters, OR 97759 (541) 549-1096 (541) 549-1097 fax torrey@thedesignworksgroup. com www.thedesignworksgroup. com The Small Stakes 1847 5th Avenue Oakland, CA 94606 (510) 507-9466 (510) 891-8625 fax jason@thesmallstakes.com www.thesmallstakes.com

Exhibit Leo Burnett Ltd 6/F Cityplaza 3 14 Taikoo Wan Road Hong Kong China +852 2884-6220 shirley.ng@hk.leoburnett.com ChinaStylus 8 Gutzlaff Street Central Hong Kong +852 2833-9971 +852 2832-9203 fax lui@chinastylus.com www.chinastylus.com Colle + McVoy 400 First Avenue N Minneapolis, MN 55401 (612) 305-6000 info@collemcvoy.com www.collemcvoy.com Goodby, Silverstein & Partners 720 California Street San Francisco, CA 94108 (415) 392-0669 (415) 955-6296 fax christine_odonnell@gspsf.com www.goodbysilverstein.com HartungKemp 1128 Harmon Place Ste 200 Minneapolis, MN 55403 (612) 343-8881 mary@hartungkemp.com www.hartungkemp.com Little & Company 920 Second Avenue S Ste 1400 Minneapolis, MN 55402 (612) 375-0077 (612) 375-0423 fax jeffrey.gorder@littleco.com www.littleco.com Loeffler Ketchum Mountjoy 6115 Park South Drive Ste 350 Charlotte, NC 28210 (704) 364-8969 lremias@lkmideas.com www.lkmideas.com Olson 1625 Hennepin Avenue Minneapolis, MN 55403 (612) 215-9800 tfugleberg@oco.com www.oco.com

Press Kitchen 1410 Abbot Kinney Boulevard Venice, CA 90291 (310) 392-6682 presskitchen@verizon.net Segura Inc. 1110 N Milwaukee Avenue Chicago, IL 60622 (773) 862-5667 (773) 862-1214 fax info@segura-inc.com www.segura-inc.com SMOG 1725 Silverlake Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90026 (323) 668-9073 smoggurl@aol.com www.smogdesign.com Warren Group | Studio Deluxe 8695 Washington Boulevard Ste 210 Culver City, CA 90232 (310) 204-4012 hello@studiodeluxe.com www.studiodeluxe.com Fresh Patrick Fraser Studio 324 Sunset Avenue Unit G Venice, CA 90291 (310) 980-6462 (310) 314-0808 fax p.fraser@mac.com www.patrickfraser photography.com Represented by Friend & Johnson www.friendandjohnson.com SoCity 143 Avenue B #12D New York, NY 10009 (917) 494-1010 info@socity.com www.socity.com Hannah Stouffer Grand*Array 1720 Bryant Street San Francisco, CA 94110 (415) 710-7787 hannah@grandarray.com www.grandarray.com

Columns Advertising Ernie Schenck ernies2000@cox.net

Business RitaSue Siegel RitaSue Siegel Resources 20 E 46 Street New York, NY 10017 (212) 682-2100 www.ritasue.com Design Culture Wendy Richmond wendy@wrichmond.com Design Issues Carolyn McCarron Sienicki CDM Princeton 302 Carnegie Center Princeton, NJ 08540 carolynm@clinedavis.com kk_design@comcast.net Legal Affairs Richard Weisgrau 711 Willow Way Narberth, PA 19702 (610) 664-6507 Opinion/Commentary Linda Cooper Bowen lindabiz@earthlink.net Typography John Hudson (250) 668-3967 tiro@tiro.com www.tiro.com Resources Sam McMillan sam@wordstrong.com Gary W. Priester gary@gwpriester.com How to Reach CA Communication Arts 110 Constitution Drive Menlo Park, CA 94025-1107 (650) 326-6040 (650) 326-1648 fax www.commarts.com e-mail: ca@commarts.com advertising@commarts.com clubs@commarts.com dealer@commarts.com editorial@commarts.com letters@commarts.com competition@commarts.com subscription@commarts.com Subscriptions www.commarts.com subscription@commarts.com (800) 688-1971 U.S./Canada; (850) 682-7644 outside the U.S. and Canada.

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Hardware Apple Macintosh G5 computers running on Ethernet network; Apple, Sony Trinitron and SuperMatch monitors; Agfa Duoscan 2000XL, Agfa Arcus II, HP Scanjet 4C/T scanners; HP LaserJet 8100 laser printer.

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Advertiser’s Index Art Resource 114 Blend Images 31 Crane 9 DesignSoft 122 Domtar 39, 123 Jim Erickson back cover Extensis 15 FontShop 32 Fotosearch 25 FunctionFox 116 Getty 131 Hoefler & Frere-Jones 127 HP Designjet 29 International Paper 105 iStockPhoto 107 Jupiter Images 121 Konica Minolta 19 Liquid Library 117 Masterfile 41 Mohawk Paper Mills 33 NAPP 129 NEC Display Solutions 27 Neenah Paper 11 Nikon 37 Photos.com 115 Elizabeth Poje 6 Printingforless.com 35 Shutterstock 119 SMART Papers 133 StockFood 34 Stockshop.net 5 Ultimate Symbol 120 Wacom Technologies 17 Yupo Paper 21 Call for Entries Design/Advertising

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PhotoCards Pete Barrett Claire Bock Lonnie Duka George Fulton Michael Grecco Vance Jacobs Deborah Jones Andrej Kopac Peter Leverman Dominique Malaterre Paolo Marchesi Cade Martin Arthur Meyerson Harold Lee Miller Patrick Nichols Shaun Pettigrew Scott Ritenour David Sacks David Schinman Scott Spiker Rainer Stratmann Jenny Thomas Nick Vedros Terry Vine

Communication Arts

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Communication Arts

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Inside Back Cover

Erick son Stock

10,0 0 0 o r i g i n a l e r i c k s o n, h i g h r e s o l u t i o n i m a g e s. d o w n lo a d yo u r n e x t c a m pa i g n. e r i c k s o n s t o c k . c o m

Digital art by FatCat: www.fatcatdigital.com