Design Insights: A to Z

A to Z is an experiment in typography and a project for my Beginning Typography class at San Jose State University. The composition originally consisted of three separate panels mounted on black posterboard. This digital recreation simulates the position of the three square panels in relation to each other and the posterboard. The assignment contained the following guidelines:

Every letter from the alphabet had to be used once, and only once.

While the letters could be assembled in any way in the three panels, they had to be in alphabetical order from left to right in the overall composition. For example, the letter A could not appear in the right panel, after Z.

Only the typefamily Helvetica Neue was allowed.

No color.

The panels had to each follow a theme: Repetition (left), Transition (middle), and Opposition (right).

I remember other classmates having difficulty working with only black and white, or only a single typefamily, but my biggest challenge was to use every single letter in the composition, and in proper order. I actually worked backwards to create my compositions. The first composition I came up with was Opposition (right). I quickly noticed the similar sharp and diagonal shapes the capitals of V, W, X, Y and Z shared (a combination I would utilize later in my Futura poster as well). The angular bold shapes of the last five letters of the alphabet hinted at a subtle dominance or hostility. Building on this, I worked backwards and chose a collection of letters. I chose the make these letters lowercase, small, and thin to emphasize their more “vulnerable” curves.

My second composition (Transition) was the result of an experiment with overlapping leftover lowercase letters I had from my Opposition composition. I quickly assembled a string of letters that reminded of an old childhood toy where you would stack carved-out wooden blocks with canals and holes in them big enough for a marble to roll through. The “O” and “H” where added later, when I realized I had two unused letters that didn’t fit into the other compositions. The “O” fits nicely as a marble analog. The “H,” on the other hand, is the one part I don’t like fully. It feels pretty stuck on.

Finally, I came up with the Repetition composition. I think I had the hardest time designing something I was happy with. After a lot of false starts and experimentation with overly complex designs, I accidentally overlapped a few letters and suddenly liked the appealing grid they formed. I overlapped more letters until I was satisfied, resulted in the crooked tower seen in the final composition.

I’m happy with the overall composition, especially with the sense of movement that glides between the three compositions.

Design Insights: The Intern Edition Logo

Note: This post was originally written as three separate posts on the on the Intern Edition Summer 2009 blog. Seeing as I was the sole writer, I don’t see the problem with reposting it here. I have edited for clarity and grammar. The original posts can be found here, here and here.

Hopefully you’ve seen it by now – the Intern Edition Summer 2009 logo.  It has been seen on this [Intern Edition] blog, and is also featured on our Twitter and Facebook.

As I’ve stated before, this logo didn’t appear out of a void, it took a long process to create, from early concept sketches to rough drafts to final tweaking.   Usually this process is kept hidden – but I am going to reveal some of the logos that weren’t: everything from the rough pencil sketches to nearly final versions that were almost finalized – but then thrown out.

This was a possible contender as the Intern Edition logo for about half an hour before it was soundly rejected by everyone who looked at it (including me).  This mockup was created roughly halfway through the entire design process (about two weeks),  when several other designed had already be proposed, approved, modified, tweaked, tweaked again, and then eventually set aside.

This was meant to be something new and fresh and totally different from the previous versions, which had all been based upon a very similar design.  During this point the editorial and design teams were considering going for a hyper shiny retro-futuristic look for the Intern Edition website.  I think it was described as “Jetsons plus Apple plus 2001: A Space Odyseey plus World of Tomorrow.” Anyway, what was wanted was something shiny and active and dynamic.  I experimented in Photoshop and produced…this.  Eh. It is truly awful.

Frankly, this logo never had a chance.  I didn’t even like it while I was making it.  No one else liked it, and they realized that perhaps a “Jetsons plus Apple plus 2001: A Space Odyseey plus World of Tomorrow” look wasn’t the best direction to go.

After this logo I switched over to using Adobe Illustrator as my primary tool, the best choice I made during the whole process.  Photoshop is great for a lot of things, but it is poor for logo design. I’m definitely starting out with the bottom of the barrel here. The next prototype logo can be considered the grandfather of the final logo.

This version was one of the very early versions that I came up with after a day of brainstorming.  I was drawn to the idea of the IE initials weaving together some way, and I liked the friendly look of the softer lowercase letters.  At this point of the design process, the editorial team intended to go with the NPR colors (as seen in the NPR logo) for the color scheme of the Intern Edition logo and the website.  Therefore, this logo was designed with the same red, blue and black the NPR logo uses.  Soon after this logo was presented the editorial team decided to distance themselves from the NPR color scheme, and instead settled on darker “navy” blue and silver (to celebrate the 10 years of Intern Edition).

Besides the colors, this logo is different in several other ways.  It is simpler in design, featuring none of the additional “highlights” or “shadows” that would eventually be added.  It also is sharper and slightly “fiercer.”  Though the lowercase letters are still friendly, their edges are pointy, the bottom of the “I” juts out from the bottom of the “E”, and the shaft of the “I” is also longer and narrower.  In the final version, all of the sharp edges were very subtly rounded out, and the base of the “I” was removed to keep the rounded bottom of the “E” uninterrupted.

Though it was not the final choice, without this draft version the current Intern Edition logo would never be.

After the first version of the logo was presented, I was asked to modify it to making it “sharper and shinier.”  At this point I was not as experienced with vector graphic design in Adobe Illustrator, so I assumed I could simply “spice up” the logo in Photoshop, which turned out to be a pretty bad idea.

While it is an excellent program for editing and manipulating raster graphics (pixel-based graphics like photographs), Photoshop does not work as well with vector graphics (graphics created using vectors and calculations, allowing them to be scaled infinitely).  The clash is event in this version of the logo.  Everything just appears off…the shine, the shadow, the added “detail” – all wrong.  Eventually I wised up and moved almost entirely to Illustrator, leaving Photoshop for things like editing photos of NPR staff.

You can check out a graphic I created documenting the process of designing the Intern Edition logo here!

Lessons Learned as a Graphic Design Intern Part 2

Note: This post was originally posted on the Intern Edition Summer 2009 blog, in a post called Lessons of a Graphic Designer: Font Continuity. Seeing as I was the sole writer, I don’t see the problem with reposting it here. I have edited the post for clarity and grammar. The original post can be found here. I thought it would be interesting too look back on some of the thoughts I had while I was interning at National Public Radio.

In my previous post, I talked about the importance of a graphic designer to “let go” of their designs and accept that many of their designs might be rejected, regardless of quality.

This time, I want to emphasize the importance of sticking to something once it is chosen, no matter what.  I’m talking about fonts.

Fonts and font continuity are extremely important for brand recognition.  When companies choose a font to represent their brand, they stick to it.  FedEx does not use Arial one day and Helvetica the next, they continuously stick with Futura Bold, with of course the little modification to create that hidden “arrow.”  Likewise, Disney also sticks to their famous stylized Walt Disney signature, and does not substitute Comic Sans or Papyrus (though that would be HILARIOUS).

When designing early versions of Intern Edition material (logos, posters, banners, etc), I made the mistake of not choosing a standard font.  Early posters featured INTERN EDITION in Arial Black, while the logo was based off of Futura.  Eventually the Ariel Black poster evolved into the design for the t-shirt.

As the weeks passed, the design of the style and branding of Intern Edition Summer ‘09 was refined, and a new standard was set.  The logo remained unchanged, but the bold INTERN EDITION text changed from Ariel Black to Impact, and almost always had a slight gradient to imitate a silvery shine.  Also, fonts Futura and Rockwell were adopted as secondary fonts for accompanying text.

This resulted in a slight discontinuity between the early Intern Edition branding (web logos, T-shirt) and later branding (posters, premiere invites).  While a switch from Ariel Black to Impact isn’t as drastic a switch as it could be, it still caused a disruption in the branding of Intern Edition.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with fonts, but once you have taken the leap and associated a font with a brand, you should stick with that font.

Additional thoughts from an older and hopefully wiser ex-intern:

Rereading this post, I cringe just a little. My typeface choice of Arial Black and Impact make me feel a little ashamed nowadays. In my defense, I had not taken a single typography class before I became an intern at NPR, so my knowledge of appropriate typefaces was unfortunately very lacking. With a typography class and extensive research and reading under my belt, I feel I am a bit wiser when it comes to typeface choice. I know I won’t be touching certain typefaces ever again.

Lessons Learned as a Graphic Design Intern Part 1

Note: This post was originally posted on the Intern Edition Summer 2009 blog, in a post called Lessons of a Graphic Designer #1: Detachment. Seeing as I was the sole writer, I don’t see the problem with reposting it here. I have edited the post for clarity and grammar. The original post can be found here. I thought it would be interesting too look back on some of the thoughts I had while I was interning at National Public Radio. I believe what I had written then still holds true now.

This is the first post in a series of posts I am going to be contributing to this blog over the summer.  As mentioned in my introductory post, being a graphic designer at National Public Radio gives me a very interesting perspective on both the day-to-day operations at NPR and graphic designing in general.

Interning at NPR is the first time I have really designed graphics for “real” clients.  Previously, my graphic design work consisted on projects for family and friends, or class assignments.  My family and friends always applauded whatever I gave them, even though looking back I know some of the work was not very good at all.  For my class assignments, I did receive feedback (as well as a grade), but I was never required to go back and change it, or to keep modifying it to satisfy the instructor.

At NPR, the first design is never the final design.  I have slowly (and a little painfully) learned that as a graphic designer working for a client, one cannot become attached to one’s work.  The design will be in flux until the deal is final, and even after that revisions or remakes may be required.  It doesn’t matter if several hard days of work were spent refining a rough design.  It does not matter if it looks PERFECT in your eye.  You are working for the client, and your end goal is to please them, even if it means you have to throw out many other versions before settling on a final design.

Now, this is not to say that you should allow the client to walk all over you and demand changes that clearly reflect poor design (”Change that font to Comic Sans!”).  But you do have to be willing to let go of designs that are just not what the client wants.  They probably are not bad designs, per say, but ultimately they do not fit the desires and needs of the client.  You can keep the rejected designs as personal inspiration, or even for your portfolio.

I think it is important to point out what I think is the primary difference between a graphic designer and an artist.  An artist works for themselves.  A graphic designer works for someone else.  Though many artists get commissions, they still ultimately get to decide what the want to create.  The people commission the artwork may not like it, but almost always artists can (generally) still get away with anything they please.  Graphic designers, on the other hand, are employed by a client, and therefore must answer to that client.  That is not to say “The client is always right” – far from it!  But it does mean the graphic designer has to be willing to listen to every comment and suggestion the client supplies, even if some of the suggestions are simply not good ones design-wise.  They also need to be willing to put their foot down and make their opinions clear on what is good design and what is bad design, and why some of the client’s suggestions are not in the best interests of either the client or the graphic designer.

As you will see in future posts, designing the Intern Edition Summer 2009 logo was not a simple process. There were many variations, many versions, and many modifications.  Some versions of the logo look NOTHING like the final design.  Believe it or not, one version of the logo featured an electrical plug shooting out radio waves from its prongs!

Stay tuned for future posts for pictures, and keep an eye out for the launch of the Intern Edition website [now online], where I will feature a detailed examination of the evolution of the current Intern Edition logo, as well as a reflection on the past Intern Edition logos.

Some Thoughts From a Former NPR Intern

Note: This post was originally posted on the Intern Edition Summer 2009 blog, in a post called A Graphic Designer at [a] Radio Company (sic). Seeing as I was the sole writer, I don’t see the problem with reposting it here. I have edited the post for clarity and grammar. The original post can be found here. I thought it would be interesting too look back on some of the thoughts I had while I was interning at National Public Radio. As a bonus, I have included a picture of my cubicle.

Hey there.  I’m Nathan Wells, the Creative Services Intern (a part of the Communications Department).  I’m 21 and a Graphics Design major at San Jose State University.

From the moment I started telling people I had an internship at NPR as a graphic designer, people have asked how I could design graphics for a radio broadcast company.  So what do I do?  Along with the typical intern responsibilities like filing, I perform a wide variety of tasks, always different from day to day.  Here’s a sample:

For the last week I have been assisting in proofing the NPR 2010 calendar.  This involves examining every printed sheet with a careful eye, looking for misaligned text, incorrect fonts, poor legibility, even the dreaded extra space between words.  These may seem like minor issues, but trust me, a single missing period or slightly pixelated graphic is like fingernails on a chalkboard for us in Creative Services.

I also have been cleaning up headshots of talent and staff, such as fixing the lighting, saturation, and cropping where needed, as well as some other cosmetic work.

Another one of my assignments was to create a banner welcoming a client of NPR to NPR headquarters.  It was a relatively simple, straightforward job, but it was very exciting to see the final project printed out crisply onto two 2′x3′ foamboards.

In addition to the regular Creative Services assignments, I am the Graphic Designer Editor for this Summer ‘09 Intern Edition.  My first (and arguably my most important) job was to design a logo for Intern Edition.  I won’t reveal the process it took to create the logo just yet – that story is for a later post or two [I will repost these posts on this blog later].  But I will say that the logo went through many, many versions and variations before it arrived at its current navy blue and silver glory.

As I work with fellow editors to put together the website, stay tuned for more posts from me, and keep an eye  out for some behind-the-scenes pictures of how I get my work done!

Design Insights: Air is Power

This post kicks off an ongoing series I’m going to call Design Insights. As a student, doubt I have much insight to give, but I always enjoyed seeing the process of how something like a poster or a movie was made, so I thought it would be fun to occasionally show off how some of my work was created. Sometimes everything just falls into place; other times the creative process can be really convoluted.

For the premiere of Design Insights, I’ve decided to focus on my Air is Power poster. First, some background information. It was created for an assignment I had in my Intermediate Graphic Design class at San Jose State University. It was the first of four graphic design projects that followed a renewable energy theme (the remaining three I will probably cover in future Design Insight posts). For this poster, I had to select a general aspect of renewable energy and promote it in an 11×17″ poster. “Energy Foundation” and the URL for their website was the only required copy. While other copy was not discouraged, the point of the project was not to create something that required a lot of reading. Instead, the poster should pique the viewers’ interest and encourage them to visit the Energy Foundation website.

I always found the image of a tri-blade wind turbine very striking, and so early on I decided to focus on wind power for my poster. Looking back, I wonder if that was the best choice, because a significant portion of the rest of the class also thought the wind turbine was the best image to focus on in their poster. Oh well.

Anyway, this poster went though many versions. While the turbine was always the focus on the poster, it’s size, position and coloring was tweaked constantly. I even started out with an actual photo of a wind turbine at first, but quickly switched to a vector illustration I created from scratch.

One of my earlier versions featured a night scene with bright Art Deco spotlights shiny out from behind the turbine. I liked the look, but eventually I was convinced by my classmates and teacher that the poster was stronger without the searchlights. Once the searchlights were removed, I changed the poster to a “daytime” setting and focused on streamlining the type.

I was encouraged to get the type to interact with the turbine. First I floated the type above the turbine as if the type was a cloud, but then I decided to actually make the “Air is Power” type become the air. After much fiddling around with placement, angles and transparency, I reached the final product.

One note about the type: For the body type, I went with Helvetica, because it is hard to go wrong with Helvetica. For the display type, I chose Avenir. I originally considered Futura, but I had already used Futura for several earlier projects, and I didn’t want to box myself in with one typeface.

I hope this examination of the creative process to create my Air is Power poster was at least a little interesting and fun. Larger versions of any of the images in this post can be seen by clicking on them (takes you off site to my Flickr account). Stay tuned for some more Design Insights, and other random ramblings!

Summers: Past and Present

Last summer I got an internship at National Public Radio, in Washington DC. It was an amazing opportunity, and sometimes I still can’t believe I got it. I was one of over fifty interns that summer – but I was the only graphic designer. Most of the other interns were journalist majors, and a few others had emphases in music production or programming. Sometimes I felt a bit out of place, but I learned an incredible amount that summer. Not only did I improve my graphic design skills and expanded my portfolio, I also learned a lot about motivation, dedication, and how to function in a office environment. I also discovered that I probably would not be the happiest in such an environment. NPR, of course, is a news corporation (and a damn fine one at that), but they simply don’t emphasize graphic design as one of their priorities. I learned that if I was to be truly happy and content with my career as a graphic designer, I would have to find a company that loved form, composition, color and creation as much a I did.

One year later, as I face the summer of 2010, I am without an internship or a summer job. This hasn’t been for lack of trying. The uneasy economy may have denied me a place to work, but I don’t intend to let this summer go to waste.

For this summer, I have resolved to continue to expand my portfolio with personal projects, pushing my creativity and honing my skill. I know I have much to learn, and I want to do some self-improvement on my own, on my own time. I have already completed one poster (which I shall unveil shortly), and have several others in various stages of completion. I also want to improve my online presence and catch up on networking.

I also have pledged to rediscover simple joys in life. I have always been a dedicated student, putting school first above all else. Hours of hard work, dedication and stress have resulted in good grades, praise from my teachers and parents, and a Certificate of Achievement. It’s also cost me. As I face my (hopefully) final semester, I have decided to eat better, exercise more, and return to reading for pleasure. I now watch my diet as best I can, try to walk once a day, and I’ve begun to read Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (expect a few blog posts on this book).

I also has tackled the task of sorting my LEGO, which for two years has been locked away under my loft bed in half a dozen plastic containers. The moment I finished animating my film 30 Years: The Story of the Minifigure, I had to move down to San Jose to start my first semester at San Jose State University. All of those sets built for the film was lumped into a huge pile of unsorted LEGO that grew stale and dusty for two years. Now, having reclaimed most of my room, I’ve set up the tables, pulled out the bins and have begun sorting in earnest. Who knows, I might actually be able to animate a short film, or build a few creations this summer. No promises, though! Not yet.

So, there you go, my first real decent blog post. Hopefully I can keep this up once or twice a week!

Captain’s Personal Log, Stardate June 2, 2010.

I sat here for ten minutes trying to think of a clever blog title. Should I opt for the simple, straightforward-but-boring “Welcome!”? What about the more excitable “My first post!!”? Or maybe the slightly nerdy “Hello World”? I decided to go full-out nerd, and what’s nerdier than Star Trek?

Anyway, I would like to welcome visitors to my site and blog. The site has been perpetually under construction and out of date for many months now, but with summer now in full swing, I have no excuses to get this site fully operational. Yes, it’s a WordPress site, but I feel it will suite my needs until I can afford a professionally designed and personalized site.

My main goal is to maintain my portfolio and to improve my online presence as I finish up my final months in school and prepare to find a job. I also will hopefully keep this blog relatively up to date with personal reflections about my life.

The site isn’t quite complete at the moment, I still need to add my portfolio, and I hope to eventually have pages on my other creations, such as my animated films, but that will take a little time. I’ll keep this blog updated when I add projects.

Now I just have to make it so. Engage!