“I’ve always been working towards a world in which design for people, design for good, and inclusive design is just good design,” said Young, design researcher and acting chair of the MFA Interaction Design program at SVA. For decades thought leaders have been working to pinpoint the future of good design–and educators have been simply trying to keep up. Now they’re shaping the future themselves. This year, Young collaborated with Pinar Guvenc, partner at the award-winning global design firm SOUR, to construct the first year-long, graduate-level Inclusive Design course in the United States.

Designed to train the next generation of strategic, collaborative, thoughtful, and yes, inclusive designers, Inclusive Design I & II is SVA’s response to corporate reconstruction across industries. Since November 2023, interaction has seen mass layoffs from design leaders like IDEO and technology mega-companies including Google and Microsoft, citing “weak consumer demand.” 

There is demand, just not for their products. People with disabilities hold about $490b in purchasing power in the United States, while 68% of Gen Z prioritizes sustainable shopping. With these two groups holding consumer power, organizations have come to understand that corporate sustainability means social responsibility. Solutions are scarce, as design and tech hemorrhage capital in search of a new ‘new normal.’ 

With an undefined future, the leadership at MFA Interaction Design chose to focus on the only two constants in design — people and their problems. “Every designer is a social impact designer,” said Young. “Whether they like it or not, they’re having an impact on society and people.” 

Instilling inclusion, co-creation, and engagement into design processes may provide the necessary salve to these wounds, setting a strong foundation for our future. It’s the curb cut effect when a design created for a few changes the lives of many. Think of the touch screen on your trusty smartphone, rubber grips on vegetable peelers, or closed captioning; all universal products initially designed with the disabled community in mind. “If you’re not co-creating with people, what you’re putting out there is not going to stick or it’s not going to last, and therefore it’s not going to sustain,” said Guvenc.

Initially designed in two parts stretching over the second year of the MFA program, the course starts slow—painfully slow. Much of Inclusive Design I is spent slowing down, observing, deepening vocabulary, and unlearning traditional design processes. The MFA program defines inclusive design as designing with, not for, communities we aim to serve, recognizing that lived experiences are equally as important as professional expertise. The first few classes are simple yet complex, differentiating inclusive from accessible, universal, or equitable design and exploring what it means to actively invite participants into the process as co-designers. 

“Every designer is a social impact designer. Whether they like it or not, they’re having an impact on society and people. 

Adriana Valdez Young, design researcher and acting chair of SVA’s MFA Interaction Design program

From early January to May 2024, the second-year students in Inclusive Design II were given the mammoth task of redesigning their studio bathrooms. Though interaction design is often seen as a technological field, SVA broadens this definition to include the vast system of networks, services, narratives, products, and experiences shaping our daily lives. “Inclusion, where it differs from accessibility, is not necessarily concerned about the baseline axis,” said Guvenc. “It is concerned about the entire journey and the experience.” Because of this, the faculty chose to focus on a physical, universal human experience to frame the class project in the course’s pilot year.

Left: First-year students celebrate at the DesignIt headquarters with experience designer Brooke Viegut following an expedition throughout New York City; Right: Pinar Guvenc (left) moderates a talk with Jade McDonnough (center) and Marshall Sitten (right) about practicing inclusion as designers and creatives.

This initial class has proven to be a fruitful struggle. Designing for inclusion is a complex, intentional process, filled with co-creation, value-setting, shifting mindsets, community research, and detailed prototyping. As students began conducting anonymous surveys, Guvenc and Young found the emerging designers stuck in habitual thinking and linear processes; many of the students’ first drafts included problematic language and ableist assumptions. Several final prototypes raised an eyebrow, including one with signage depicting a male and female icon perpetuating the gender binary.

“These deeply ingrained mindsets and habits take time to break,” said Young. “For me, it’s about being patient; knowing that we have planted the seed and that seed might sprout later in their design careers.”

The students’ thinking evolved greatly, even if there wasn’t a sharp pivot in their work this year. “Inclusive design is a mindset I can keep with myself, in all types of design,” said Fan Fang, product designer and soon-to-be MFA Interaction Design graduate. “[The course] helped me learn how to decentralize my role as a designer.” Fan Fang’s thesis project focuses on democratizing gaming for those who are visually impaired, designing a tactile controller for blind people to play video games and access information traditionally only visually available. Other graduate projects this year range from apps embracing generative AI to nurture critical thinking for middle schoolers (ThinkKee by Amogh Gharpure), creating a better experience for people with mobility impairments to navigate ride-share platforms in New York City (Unit by Jennie Yang), to tools supporting young people in learning to care for their hands and prevent chronic injury from extensive technology use (Handy by Mihira Patel). 

Under Young’s leadership, the MFA Interaction Design program is turning the needle toward crafting more inclusive designers. Across courses, from entrepreneurial design to game design, students have been tasked with prioritizing ethics and inclusive values, asking them to go deeper into the same projects with these contexts in mind. This year the thesis project requirements have been redesigned to include community engagement, video stories, and a detailed body of work consisting of at least three different design prototypes addressing each student’s research, deepening their understanding of design and its impact. 

If you’re not co-creating with people, what you’re putting out there is not going to stick or it’s not going to last, and therefore it’s not going to sustain.

Pinar Guvenc, partner at SOUR

Looking to the future of the program, Young and Guvenc are hopeful. Inclusive design is still in its early stages as common practice, but its impact is clear. As Black Lives Matter invigorated new diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in leadership, and the deadline for the 2025 European Accessibility Act looms, companies have a need for lower and mid-level employees who bring a thoughtful lens to their work. “I feel like there was this portal that opened to making inclusive, accessible, and community-centered design this new norm,” said Young, “and we’re jumping through this portal to help future-proof our students.” Beyond future-proofing students, inclusive design just might be the key to future-proofing our world; we’ll just have to wait and see.

co-24: MFA Interaction Design Thesis Exhibition, a walk-through exhibition of works by 21 emergent designers exploring the themes of collaboration, connection, compassion, and construction towards a more intentionally inclusive future. May 16-17, 136 W. 21st St. RSVP here to attend.

Brooke Viegut is a narrative-driven experience designer, audience-centric theater maker, design critic, live entertainment researcher, donut connoisseur, cultural producer, collector of silly little things, and the creative lead at for.play. She is the author of Anonymous Intimacy (coming 2024) and holds an MA in Design Research, Writing, and Criticism from the School of Visual Arts.

Header: a snapshot of a tabletop at MFA Interaction Design filled with inclusive design tools and inspiration. Photo by Adriana Valdez Young.

The rise of streamers like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu, and Apple TV has catalyzed a (New) Golden Age of TV: episodic shows have become more poignant, more engaging, slicker than ever, and more nuanced—honing in on pinpoint cultures and subcultures.

The best of these programs (think Succession, Severance, The White Lotus, Shōgun, The Handmaid’s Tale, Fleabag, The Bear, Beef, and on and on) take cues from the world of cinema and demonstrate a new approach to craft and detail. When we get an ad break, however, people are all too often served generic, cookie-cutter promos that viewers understandably look to mute or skip. Essentially, it is the worst of what we as an industry create.

Given the abundance of talent working in the industry, it’s surprising that the ads surrounding today’s culture-defining shows fall far short. Undoubtedly, those who direct and conceptualize these spots have the ability, talent, and storytelling skills. With streaming now representing over 38% of all TV usage—why the lackluster commercials on streaming platforms?

I’m not looking to start a debate (well, maybe I am!), but the best we collectively have to offer shouldn’t be celebrated by a select few only on the festival circuit. Our most stellar work should delight, entice, and educate in living rooms and bedrooms all year round.

Surely, this is also a debate for the media buyers amongst us, but essentially, audiences are smart, and the quality of what we consume has increased over the past decade (contrary to what David Chase, creator of the greatest show of all time, The Sopranos, has recently said about the decline of episodic content). So, let’s give them the best of what we as an industry have to offer.

Netflix’s optional ad-supported plan, launched in 2022, has amassed 15 million users. Prime Video launched ads this year, and we’ve all read the speculation that even Apple TV+ is now poised to do the same. Safe to say, streamers are increasingly moving towards ad-supported services.

We all know about the Super Bowl effect: the connection between ads and the game transcends inside-industry chat and gets everyone talking about mega-budgets and celebrity brand collabs. But let’s be honest: Are these ads even as great as they once were?

Having been at “industry” Super Bowl parties for the past decade or more, I can assure you it’s not my opinion alone that fewer creative risks have been taken in recent years relying on believed-to-be-proven formulas, often using the same voices who have been directing these spectacle spots for the past decade. Why? Because they seem like the “safe choice.” Many of these ads are good, don’t get me wrong, but are they great?

There’s something we all know: we should be making more great work.

These formulas have become tired and expected, and by using the same directors, the spots generated are frequently obvious and, even worse, predictable. Some get it right; the folks at Highdive come to mind, and my synapses also fire to CeraVe (from Ogilvy and Tim & Eric) and even Tubi out of Mischief.

To go way back, those wonderful Tide ads directed by Traktor and Saatchi & Saatchi are the best semi-recent examples where delight, surprise, craft, cleverness, and inventiveness ruled the day. But I digress. Super Bowl rant aside, we can’t overlook the 529 million viewing minutes achieved by Ted Lasso’s final episode alone. Essentially, the best of what we make should be seen and celebrated on the Super Bowl and streamers alike, but candidly, there’s something we all know: we should be making more great work.

It’s not just streaming viewing figures (quantity) that should be luring brands to strive for creative excellence; it’s also the distinct mindset (quality) of those tuning in. Take Euphoria, a show that’s authentic, raw, and emotive and delivers a viewing experience that resonates at the core. Audiences of shows this good are in a state of heightened emotion, receptive in a way they arguably never have been before.

Epic cinema ads like we used to see would feel very at home on streamers; here are a few other ways to kick-start progress:

Push for greater transparency from streamers: Nielsen has started reporting streaming figures much as it does for linear TV. Additionally, in December, Netflix released a report that shared global hours viewed for nearly its entire library over a six-month period, its most comprehensive breakdown of viewership yet. The writers’ strike has also helped to galvanize change and transparency. Let’s build on this momentum by continuing the push for greater clarity around reporting.

Create narratives: Let’s tap into episodic advertising’s storytelling potential. Consider sequential campaigns that take viewers on an emotional journey they’ll want to invest in.

Don’t go for the safe choice: Invest in pushing the boundaries of creative work; as a rule of thumb, don’t create anything for streamers (or anywhere else) that you wouldn’t be proud to air on linear TV or even during the Super Bowl. Push harder conceptually and take more risks.

Embrace thematic alignment: Some posit that if advertising is high enough quality, it risks disrupting the program itself. Advertisers should rise to this challenge, creating ads so well-made that they enhance the viewing experience. Matching ad themes to the content will tap audiences’ unique emotional state when watching beloved shows.

Brands and beyond: Considering public service announcement films (PSAs), let’s tie them into the content of shows to reach the audiences who need to see them with relevant, targeted, unskippable films. Fentanyl’s rise, for example, is a monstrous and disastrous issue in the US and abroad. A PSA-esque ad for Narcan during Euphoria would save lives.

If we align as an industry to address the mismatch in quality between the majority of ads on streaming platforms and the incredible shows they house, we’ll start a virtuous cycle of more channels, more opportunities, and, in turn, continuously better creative work. We’ll also push back the perceived threats of AI, for example.

In this golden age of TV, it’s time to take cues from the cream of episodic content and create adverts that get people talking, not muting.

Images created by Sibling Rivalry.

The company recently reached another important milestone by expanding its mental health services. Ginger, a licensed medical provider group with a nationwide network of psychiatrists, therapists, and behavioral health coaches, has rebranded to Headspace Care and will operate under the brand umbrella.

With broader offerings beyond meditation and breathing exercises, Headspace has also initiated a brand refresh. The rebranding effort was a collaboration between in-house teams and Italic Studio, with Colophon Foundry creating a new custom typeface called a “Headspace-ified version” of their Aperçu typeface. This font was chosen for its ability to transition from a playful to a clinical voice, aligning with Headspace’s expansion into diverse health markets.

The new typeface reflects the brand’s ethos, balancing playfulness with functionality and incorporating curves reminiscent of the Headspace smile. The brand’s illustrative and animated identity remains prominent, now featuring a more comprehensive range of facial expressions to convey various emotions.

The updated color palette retains the signature orange while introducing complementary colors to represent a range of human emotions. The design team addressed accessibility considerations to ensure optimal contrast and color combinations. These vibrant colors contrast with the conventional blues and greys in the mental healthcare space, making Headspace visually distinctive and uplifting.

In mental healthcare, strong brand engagement is the first step to generating better outcomes and reducing costs. Expanding the Headspace brand across our full portfolio of content, programs, and services is a powerful catalyst to reduce stigma and guide our members towards a lifelong journey of better mental health.

Christine Evans, president of Headspace

Headspace’s ongoing evolution and expansion aims to meet the escalating demand for mental health support. Among the notable brand enhancements are:

Streamlined Care Experience: Ginger app users can seamlessly transition to the Headspace Care app, offering a reimagined platform for coaching, therapy, and psychiatry support.

New Therapeutic Content: Headspace will introduce guided programs focusing on sleep improvement and stress management, grounded in evidence-based practices such as cognitive behavioral therapy and mindfulness. These programs join the existing library of mindfulness and meditation content.

Unified App Experience: As of January 2024, Headspace offers corporate clients and members access to a comprehensive suite of mental health resources within a single app. This integrated approach encompasses mindfulness resources, coaching, therapy, psychiatry, and work-life services, ensuring holistic support tailored to individual needs.

Leslie Witt, Headspace’s Chief Product and Design Officer, underscores the company’s commitment to simplifying access to mental healthcare. By providing continuity and personalization of care, Headspace aims to alleviate the burden often associated with navigating the fragmented mental health landscape.

“So much of our mental healthcare system is siloed and episodic, leaving those seeking help with the added challenge of figuring out the type of care they need, what providers are available, let alone where they can turn for everyday support,” said Witt. “Our goal is to alleviate that burden by creating a seamless, highly personalized spectrum of care – with care concierge services available 24/7 – so people can access in-the-moment mental health care that’s tailored to them no matter where they are on their journey, or how acute their needs.”

The changes are presented visually in a way that stays true to the brand’s identity — an excellent example of how personal services can become more professional while remaining true to their essence. The idea that a brand can make solving real problems feel comfortable and approachable shines through; Headspace hopes this approach “can help destigmatise seeking care by making talking about mental health feel approachable and normalised.” As Headspace reimagines mental healthcare, the expanded offerings and a refreshed brand signal a new era of accessibility and empowerment in the quest for lifelong mental well-being.

Imagery courtesy of Headspace: Headspace rebrand, design support by Italic Studio, custom typeface by Colophon Type Foundry, brand guidelines by Order developed on Standards (Copyright © Headspace, 2024)

The straightforward solution seems to be a new website. Tangible engagement metrics on Google Analytics make it easier to persuade leadership to set aside funds to fix your primary channel for marketing and communications.

But, what if the root of the problem lies deeper, in the very essence of your organization’s brand?

Deciding what to invest in first should be based on the root cause of your symptoms. With several hundred projects under our belt over the last few decades, we can tell you that many nonprofits that think they have a website problem, actually have a branding problem.

Where Do Common Website Problems Stem From?

When there’s uncertainty about the organization’s direction and focus, it becomes incredibly difficult to make decisions about content organization, taxonomy, navigation, calls to action and the user experience as a whole.

Let’s zero in on one example. Web navigation is all about guiding your audience to the most essential information they need to access. If you are an org with 30 issue areas or 15 programs, showing all that in your navigation will make visitors’ eyes glaze over with decision paralysis. You have to prioritize or you risk losing people. Your choices will tell a clearer and more strategic story about your organization. But arriving at these choices is hard work.

Many website problems are rooted in strategic brand work to clarify the organization’s story and objectives.

Questions like “Who are our audiences? What is the ultimate story or impression we want them to walk away with? What are the three most important aspects of our work and approach that we want them to know?” are really brand questions that follow questions like “What makes us different from our peers? What value do we uniquely bring to this work?”

Starting your work by answering brand questions is how you make sure your website’s content strategy and user experience effectively support your organization’s mission and engage your audience.

While it’s still a little harder for nonprofits to justify investing in branding — with some still seeing “branding” as a bad word — without a solid brand strategy foundation, website projects are bound to be slow, frustrating, and expensive because no one is well equipped to make important decisions.

So you think you need a new website, but you probably need a brand. How can you uncover what you really need?

Brand-First Approach: Aligning Identity with Strategy

Being 100% real here, more often than not, clients who come to us wanting to focus on their website, with a light brand refresh attached, don’t have a solid brand strategy footing.

Think about it this way — trying to rebuild your website in these conditions is akin to asking an architect and construction firm to make you a building when you don’t yet know what the building is trying to accomplish, who it’s going to be used by, and how you want them to feel when they’re using it. Sounds like a waste of precious real estate and money, right?

If this is where your organization is, do yourself a favor, shift your resources towards building strategic alignment so you can make sure the brand authentically represents your organization. Engage your team members so they can voice ideas, understand the brand’s rationale, and its relation to the strategic plan. This will make all decisions about your website much more straightforward.

Digital-First Approach: Refreshing the Verbal and/or Visual Identity

If you have a solid brand strategy foundation, a digital redesign is a great opportunity to update your verbal identity, which might feel jargony or stale, and your visual identity, which might feel outdated or limited. A sharper verbal identity can make your brand more accessible, and a flexible, well documented design system will enable your team to communicate quickly and efficiently. These updates will all help your brand identity be an authentic reflection of your brand strategy. But the key here is that you’re refreshing your brand, not transforming it — you’re optimizing your brand identity to better reflect your strategy, not building your entire brand strategy.

There are a few important things to keep in mind when taking this approach. First, while the UX and technical implementation are a key priority for these kinds of projects, it’s important to not treat the branding part of the project as an afterthought when it comes to budget and time — make sure you give it the energy it requires and that you carve out time to have discussions about how design decisions align to the promise and personality of your organization. You should also be aware that, even though you might have a solid brand strategy in place, the concrete nature of content strategy work often reveals gaps in the clarity of your positioning which you might need to solve for.

Your Approach Should Inform Your Choice of Creative Agency Partner

Food for thought: most agencies in the social impact space are optimized for a digital-first approach to branding. Many agencies that sell digital-first branding as their primary service do so because that’s what many organizations have been comfortable buying over the last decade or so. This approach works if conditions are right, but if it isn’t what your organization actually needs, it’s not a shortcut.

Make sure that if your organization needs a brand-first approach, that you’re working with a brand-first creative agency equipped to facilitate a deeply collaborative brand strategy process with your team.

Evaluating Your Organization’s Needs

The choice between a brand-first and digital-first approach is not a one-size-fits-all decision. Both approaches, whether leading with a more in-depth branding process that sets you up for your website redesign, or leading with a website redesign that incorporates a brand refresh, require significant investment. You want to make sure you’re thoughtful in choosing the right path — the path that best aligns with your organization’s current needs and future goals.

Determining the right approach requires a reality check. Ask yourself: Is your brand clear and resonant to our staff and stakeholders? Are you able to articulate what makes you unique and indispensable to your cause?

By carefully assessing your brand’s current state and understanding the implications of each approach, you can make sure you’re using your organization’s money and time effectively and setting yourself up for success.

This essay is by Deroy Peraza, Partner at Hyperakt, a purpose-driven design and innovation studio that elevates human dignity and ignites curiosity. Originally posted in their newsletter, Insights by Hyperakt.

Header illustration by Merit Myers.

My heritage is a rich, vibrant tapestry woven from the traditions of the Pueblo people of the Southwest and the Nahua/Mexica of Mexico. It’s an identity steeped in pride and longing, a strong fabric of interconnection and reciprocity that also bears the scars of displacement and detribalization. 

As an adult, I’ve embarked on a journey to reconnect to these roots, unearthing the treasures buried within my heritage. I’ve found solace and renewal in embracing community, the sacredness of ceremony, the rhythm of language, the pages of literature, and the passion for activism.

That’s why I felt instantly inspired and excited when I was invited to participate in a project designed to amplify Indigenous-owned businesses on Google Maps and Google Search. This wasn’t just another campaign; it represented an opportunity to help Indigenous business owners share their heritage and foster deeper connections between the businesses and their consumers. I had the honor of crafting Google’s Indigenous-owned attribute icon and associated launch materials, and little did I know then that the experience would ultimately inspire a personal project dedicated to commemorating Indigenous Peoples’ Day. It immediately felt empowering, allowing me to delve into the complexities of my cultural background and fully embrace my identity as an Indigenous designer.

As creatives and strategists, we can create something far beyond design when we work with a respect-first mindset and a genuine desire to listen and learn.

Together with Kevin Coochwytewa, a talented Seattle-based designer of Isleta Pueblo and Hopi heritage, we collaboratively explored the depths of Indigenous motifs across Turtle Island—from East Coast wampum belts to West Coast basketry and everything in between. The final product draws inspiration from the medicine wheel, whose four-quadrant design embodies balance and the interconnected cycle of life, with nuances paying homage to the diverse traditions of different Indigenous groups. The circular motif symbolizes the intricate web that binds all living things and, in this context, highlights the vital connections between Indigenous businesses and their communities.

Throughout the process, I was reminded of design anthropologist Dori Tunstall’s poignant words in this interview at the Jacobs Institute: “We’re accountable to those outside of ourselves in how we derive inspiration from the cultures of others but also our own. We don’t have permission sometimes to just mine, extract from our own cultural practices and backgrounds either. There’s an ethical dialogue that needs to happen with that.”

In creating this icon, we kept others in mind. Our work was not about appropriating or borrowing for aesthetic ends; it was about understanding the core essence of symbols, seeking permission, and engaging in genuine dialogue with community members to bring it to life. We actively listened to the concerns of local equity and Google Aboriginal & Indigenous Network leadership, valuing and incorporating their feedback with respect and empathy—a testament to the importance of intentional representation in shaping inclusive campaigns.

As creatives and strategists, we can create something far beyond design when we work with a respect-first mindset and a genuine desire to listen and learn. We build bridges of understanding, pave the way for healing, and, ultimately, weave a future where authentic representation and decolonization are not mere metaphors or ideas.

Images provided by author.

I work in a very competitive landscape of legal and financial services, and the articulation of brand identity through user interfaces (UI) is a critical strategic endeavor. Firms are increasingly aware of the necessity to distinguish themselves, fostering recognition and trust amidst a sea of competitors. Yet, the integration of logo branding into UIs, a seemingly direct route to achieving this distinction, merits a deeper strategic contemplation. Drawing on the principles of strategic thinking and branding, this exploration seeks to illuminate the nuanced interplay between brand visibility and user experience (UX) optimization.

The Principle of Strategic Distraction

Central to the philosophy of user-centered design is the imperative to streamline user objectives with utmost precision. Clients engaging with digital platforms in search of legal or financial counsel are driven by specific needs—be it advice, information, or transactional services. An interface that prioritizes branding to the point of distraction undermines the very essence of user-centricity. It is a strategic misstep, diverting focus from the firm’s core value proposition: the delivery of expert, reliable service.

Clarity Over Complexity

The elegance of simplicity in UI design cannot be overstated, especially within sectors that deal with inherently complex subject matter. An overabundance of branding elements risks cluttering the digital experience, obfuscating the information or services sought by users. Strategic branding, therefore, must favor clarity. It should enhance, rather than encumber, the user’s journey—a reflection of a firm’s commitment to accessibility and ease of use.

Elevating the User Experience

The pursuit of an enhanced user experience is a multifaceted endeavor, encompassing aesthetics, functionality, and intuitiveness. A branding strategy that overlooks these dimensions for the sake of visibility is counterproductive. It risks alienating users, potentially eroding the trust and credibility firms strive to build. In contrast, a nuanced approach to branding—one that respects the user’s need for a frictionless experience—can significantly amplify engagement and loyalty.

Avoiding the Pitfalls of Brand Fatigue

In the realm of branding, consistency is key. However, when translated too liberally into UI design, it can lead to an over-saturation of brand elements, culminating in brand fatigue. Users, overwhelmed by repetitive branding messages, may grow indifferent. Strategic restraint is advisable, focusing on the placement of branding elements at pivotal interaction points rather than ubiquitous presence. This strategy ensures brand reinforcement without compromising the user’s engagement with content.

The Imperative of Accessibility

Accessibility stands as a cornerstone of inclusive design, ensuring that digital platforms cater to the broadest possible audience, including individuals with disabilities. Excessive branding, particularly when it impedes navigability or comprehension, directly contravenes this imperative. A strategic approach to UI design, therefore, must prioritize accessibility, aligning with both ethical standards and broader market reach aspirations.

Strategic Branding as a Catalyst for Engagement

The integration of branding within UI necessitates a strategic balance, leveraging brand elements to foster a cohesive experience without detracting from usability. Employing brand colors, typography, and imagery judiciously can subtly enhance brand identity, supporting rather than overshadowing the user’s journey. This approach aligns with the strategic branding ethos, where the focus shifts from mere visibility to creating meaningful engagements.

The intersection of branding and UI design in professional services is a terrain ripe with strategic implications. As firms navigate this landscape, the challenge lies in harnessing the power of branding to reinforce identity and trust without compromising on the sanctity of the user experience. Embracing a strategic, user-centric approach to branding in UI design not only positions firms as leaders in their domain but also epitomizes their commitment to service excellence and client satisfaction.

In charting the course for strategic branding in digital interfaces, endeavor to transcend the conventional, and foster brand engagements that resonate deeply with clients, thereby cementing our place as vanguards of innovation and trust in the professional services sector.

This post was originally published on Lynda’s LinkedIn newsletter, Marketing without Jargon. Lynda leads a team at Decker Design that focuses on helping law firms build differentiated brands.

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash.

The rebranding of Extreme Reach to XR signifies more than a name change; it represents a bold reach into the future. XR partnered with brand studio Athletics to create an identity embodying purposeful momentum and enlightened performance driven by insight. The new identity reflects a modernist aesthetic infused with imagination, drawing inspiration from diverse sources, including fashion, skincare, film culture, and research consultancies.

XR’s distinctive logomark, centered around the letter “X,” is the nucleus of the rebrand. The mark symbolizes versatility and intelligence. It breathes through subtle animations, adding a dynamic element that mirrors XR’s forward-thinking ethos. Including a transitional asset incorporating the entire Extreme Reach wordmark ensures continuity during the brand transition.

The approach to color is highly differentiated, evoking warmth and boldness. With its analog, tactile feel, the color palette instantly distinguishes XR. In photography, the accentuated blur captures the essence of motion and dynamism, reinforcing XR’s commitment to progress and forward momentum.

The expanded visual system utilizes dynamic, generative patterns composed of language and letterforms to create a variety of motifs and textures. XR has developed a custom tool that generates on-brand patterns with minimal input to ensure consistency and scalability, empowering its team to scale the brand efficiently.

The supergraphic, featuring enlarged letterforms from the logomark’s “X,” is a versatile framing device. Beyond its aesthetic appeal, the supergraphic plays a crucial role in building equity and recognition for XR’s newly abbreviated brand name, reinforcing its identity across various touchpoints.

Video, UI, and animation are integral to XR’s storytelling strategy, illustrating the entire production process from ideation to outcome. Graphic elements overlaid on video provide insightful annotation, highlighting XR’s understanding of the industry and its role in facilitating seamless implementation.

XR’s rebrand marks a significant milestone in its journey. With its forward-thinking identity and cutting-edge technology, XR is poised to continue shaping the future of entertainment, driving productions forward with insights and creativity. 

Another groovy project done by Athletics was their recent rebranding of the Seattle Sounders.

Originally founded in Paris, Stereolabs emerged as an AI vision company with its sights set on equipping robots with human-like perception. With their cutting-edge cameras and software development kits (SDK), Stereolabs has empowered over 200,000 developers and 1,000 companies to harness the power of 3D vision in robotics.

However, despite their technological prowess and widespread adoption, Stereolabs found themselves constrained by an awareness issue. Their success in developing hardware, particularly the renowned ZED camera, led many to perceive them solely as a camera company, overshadowing their equally impressive software offerings.

Recognizing the need for a strategic rebranding, Stereolabs partnered with Pentagram to reshape its narrative. The focus shifted from being perceived as a mere provider of cameras to a visionary company offering comprehensive solutions for robotic perception. The new narrative emphasizes Stereolabs’ mission to empower robots with advanced perception capabilities, transcending the limitations of traditional robotics.

Pentagram crafted a dynamic visual identity integrating IRL and digital environments to complement this narrative shift. At the heart of this identity lies a multidimensional spark symbolizing the capture of vision in a digital context. This symbol is a unifying element across Stereolabs’ ecosystem, reinforcing the company’s commitment to precision and innovation.

Moreover, Pentagram developed a comprehensive modular diagram language to illustrate the simplicity and effectiveness of Stereolabs’ ecosystem. These diagrams highlight the ease with which developers can integrate Stereolabs’ hardware and software solutions, thereby unlocking the full potential of autonomous robots.

In addition to the visual identity, Pentagram meticulously designed a color palette and type system that align with Stereolabs’ positioning. Each element of the design system, from the technical icons to the choice of fonts, reflects Stereolabs’ dedication to precision and clarity in conveying complex information.

Key Highlights of Stereolabs’ New Visual Identity:

Dynamic Symbol: The multidimensional star-shaped symbol captures vision in a digital context, seamlessly transforming across various applications, showcasing Stereolabs’ commitment to intelligent robotics.

Modular Diagram Language: Designed to effectively communicate how Stereolabs’ product family can be configured into tailored solutions, illustrating the user-friendly and flexible nature of the ecosystem.

Technical Icons: Distinct icons convey the readiness and robustness of Stereolabs’ technology, serving as visual cues for key features.

Precision through Perception Design Language: Simple and direct visual design underpinned by a technical grid layer, emphasizing accuracy, reliability, and attention to detail.

Color Palette: Each hue in the palette aligns with the ‘eyes’ and ‘brains’ narrative, with Signal Green (SL-Lime) serving as the DNA of the Stereolabs brand.

Type System: Utilising Neubau’s NB Akademie™, a grotesque style with a mechanical tone, ensuring precision and clarity in conveying complex information.

The result of this collaboration is not merely a cosmetic makeover but a strategic realignment of Stereolabs’ brand identity. By conveying their role as both the “eyes” and “brain” of robotics, Stereolabs is poised to lead the next wave of innovation in autonomous systems.

With this new brand identity, Stereolabs is well-positioned to navigate the rapidly evolving landscape of robotics and continue pushing the boundaries of what is possible. As they embark on this exciting journey, Stereolabs reaffirms its commitment to shaping a future where robots possess unparalleled perception and intelligence.

Invariably, many healthcare brands opt for safe, uninspired creative (think upbeat or defiant people of a certain age at a farmer’s market or a yoga class). But why should the healthcare sector, with its profound impact on our everyday health and well-being, settle for anything less than beautiful, ground-breaking design that has the potential to make a meaningful and measurable impact?

Central to the issue: the perception that legal and regulatory boundaries stifle creativity. This fear of taking informed risks restrains creative leaders and clients, leading to repetitive, homogeneous branding and campaigns. How frequently do we encounter functional yet bland pharmaceutical brands or clichéd depictions such as lifestyle campaigns of smiling couples on a beach or families playing sports in the park to advertise medication?

The conventional approach may drive sales but lacks originality and fails to forge a lasting, trusted connection between the consumer and the brand. We can and should be doing better. Effective communication through thoughtful, human-centric design demands a unique and uncharted approach to creative challenges.

Constraints As Catalysts For Creativity

Our creative organizations are responsible for cutting through and redefining the space in which we communicate on behalf of our clients. Rather than seeing these legal and regulatory constraints as limiting, we should ask: How can we embrace them? What possibilities do they present?

Embracing the space within the constraints is a possibilities mindset rather than a prohibitory one. It means seeing guidelines as a prompt for unconventional thinking and unparalleled creativity.

An example of this that stands the test of time is the original Zoloft campaign. Existing within rigid constraints didn’t stop the creative team from creating work that was (and is) differentiated, powerful, simple, beautiful, and resonant. They used straightforward, playful animation to explain what Zoloft did in the brain rather than just focusing on the generic outcomes for patients. This campaign broke through at a time when mental health communications were a clutter of safe, repetitive, and easily ‘approvable’ work. In a sea of trite sameness, Zoloft came along and explained the solution, respecting the viewers’ intelligence. Ultimately, working within legal constraints should always be seen as our opportunity to find new and innovative ways of creating work that is both memorable and effective.

Be Fearless, But Know The Boundaries

A profound understanding of regulations and constraints is the first step to cultivating genuine ground-breaking creativity.

How far we can push creatively varies from client to client. But first, we must show that we have a proper understanding of where the hard and fast boundaries are and that we understand their purpose.

How can we embrace the constraints? What possibilities do the boundaries present?

Society of Valued Minds: Authenticity Breeds Connection

In today’s content-saturated environment, authenticity is more important than ever in building connections and trust. Amid the proliferation of content, misinformation looms large, and authenticity is instrumental in genuinely connecting with your audience. It is mission-critical to cultivate an understanding of “the science behind the sell.” Yes, the science! Your audience wants to know more and are perfectly capable of understanding more.

When working on the Society of Valued Minds, a social media initiative committed to helping destigmatize the conversation around mental illness, our boundary was that we couldn’t mention any therapeutic or drug treatments. So, our challenge became: how do we find ways of helping people and offering support without explicitly pointing to any specific treatment?

We needed a genuine way to transcend the boundary while respecting our audience.

To do that, we allowed the people who were part of our campaign to tell their stories, creating a micro-influencer-led community. This approach with real people created an openness and the space for conversation that ultimately helped make mental illness support feel uncomplicated and accessible. We combined their stories with playful typography, bold color, and eye-catching animations, creating an approachable design system that was relevant and engaging for our specific audience.

Pushing for that authentic conversation with an audience based on real experiences helps people connect to a brand and each other through emotional resonance and authenticity. It shows that the healthcare industry’s constraints should be the exact thing that motivates creative innovation, allowing creatives to craft supremely designed campaigns that resonate and revolutionize.

This guest post was written by Gino Carolini, creative director at healthcare creative agency minds + assembly. He has over two decades of experience shaping and crafting 360º brand stories and experiences for a wide range of clients. Having spent most of his career in general consumer advertising, he joined healthcare with a diverse portfolio and category experience spanning cpg to luxury hospitality.

I recently spoke to YuJune Park, a designer, speaker, and educator with deep expertise in creating hybrid physical-digital experiences in the cultural heritage sector, to get her thoughts on this renaissance and what the future holds.

Park co-founded Synoptic Office, an award-winning design consultancy that partners globally with leading cultural, civic, and business organizations. Fast Company, the Webbys, Design Week, the Art Director’s Club, and the American Institute of Graphic Arts have all honored the studio’s work. Park is also an Associate Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design. In 2022, Creative Review selected Park for their Creative Leaders 50 list, celebrating global leaders advancing their field.

Below is our conversation, (edited for clarity and length).

Why are experiences and interactivity critical in engaging audiences with history?

The study of history can often be perceived as something distant or irrelevant to daily life. Digital experiences, when done well, have the potential to make history more accessible and immediate. They can immerse audiences in historical narratives through multi-sensory engagement by breaking barriers between the past and present, connecting singular narratives to broader ideas, and moving outward from there to other sources of knowledge. Ultimately, the past shapes the conditions of the present. How can we situate ourselves within the history of ideas?  

The best educational digital experiences can promote active learning over passive consumption by interweaving content and interaction, past and present, and singular narratives to broader themes and perspectives. They help you see and experience a new perspective, challenging points of view and prompting you to reflect on how you see the world and where you sit in the history of ideas.

The Brooklyn Public Library: The Book of HOV

The Brooklyn Public Library recently put on an amazing exhibition on Jay Z. The exhibition website was an incredible piece of design that featured a mix audio rendered in beautiful ways. The exhibition lead to a huge surge in new library memberships.

In what formats are we seeing digital interactivity expressed? 

It is an extraordinarily exciting time to work at the intersection of education, arts, and digital design. We are seeing cultural institutions creating hybrid, digital, and physical experiences. They are truly becoming borderless institutions, opening up access to knowledge to the broadest possible audience.

Digital interactivity is being expressed through online exhibitions and virtual museums, digital installations/exhibits, AR, VR, websites, apps, and games—all with the goal of digital storytelling. These products enable the audience to physically experience art and history—whether it’s a historical artifact, painting, or piece of music—and learn more about the context of the work through multimedia experiences. They invite audiences to engage deeply with the work, experience it, and learn more about its origin and the ideas it represents.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Unframed & Replica

The Met has also been doing some interesting work with The Met Unframed, a virtual space offering immersive access to digital galleries and augmented realities of iconic Met masterpieces.

The Met Replica is an initiative that allows you to scan the physical artwork in the museum and then it comes to life on your phone through AI.

Following the news of V&A’s launch of an interactive website for adolescents, Mused, and the National History Museum’s major installation plans for interactive exhibitions aimed at 8-14-year-olds, why are we seeing organizations target younger audiences this way? 

A museum’s mission is to share the transformative power of knowledge about the human condition and the world to the widest possible audience—through art, history, science, music, and more—in a way that invites us to see anew. However, many teens might perceive these institutions to be stodgy and unwelcoming. Or worse, many may feel as if they do not belong. Layer those perceptions on top of other factors: The first is that Generation Alpha is digitally native; the second is that the Internet is flooded with questionable sources of knowledge, and many sites are unsafe or do not meet the broadest accessibility standards.

Amid that perfect storm lies an opportunity. Digitally engaging websites such as the V&A’s Mused can invite the broadest possible audience—there is no need to travel or pay an admission fee—to interact with “5,000 years of human creativity across the V&A collection.” By interweaving contemporary culture with history, teens can explore the human condition and new perspectives enabled by engagement with the arts. 

Digital experiences can be utilized in and outside of the classroom. They also have the potential to transform passive learning into active learning through prompts, questions, and spaces for writing and reflection that can often lead to a deeper understanding of content. Digital exhibitions and discovery sites can also create personalized learning journeys and meet all kinds of learners (visual, auditory, read/write, or kinesthetic) where they are and support learning differences by meeting robust accessibility standards. 

From your experience as Associate Professor of Communication Design at Parsons School of Design, what makes digital interactivity appealing and accessible to younger audiences? 

Teen audiences are already digitally fluent. They are used to hybrid learning experiences. The best digital learning experiences utilize immersive multimedia and prompts to encourage deeper engagement with ideas. That being said, I do not believe digital interactivity is a panacea for all challenges in education. The value of in-person experiences, peer-to-peer, and community building in the classroom is critical. In an ideal world, these digital experiences work hand-in-hand with in-person learning. In a few years, it’s possible to imagine a world where students will have an AI-powered learning assistant to supplement in-person classroom education.

The New York Public Library: Insta Novels

This was not a history-focused project, but a few years ago, Mother New York did an amazing project for the New York Public Library where they put entire novels into Instagram stories. They essentially hacked Instagram stories to become a digital bookshelf. Here is a great video about the project.

Why is it so crucial for young people, in particular, to connect with art, design, and ideas from history? How does design play a vital role in making these things accessible and memorable?

Engaging with the history of ideas is essential to understanding contemporary culture. The ideas we dialogue with today have precedent—they are born from and are in dialogue with historic ideas and the past’s social, cultural, and economic conditions. We must engage with these ideas to better understand ourselves and the world we live in today. Design is pivotal in transforming data into knowledge, increasing engagement, deepening understanding of content, and making learning more accessible and equitable. 

The 90s are back! (Particularly our enjoyment of technology). How has this impacted museums’ transition into the digital space? The elephant in the room is, of course, AI. How are you thinking about deploying fast-evolving AI technology in the exhibition space?

We should realize that the methods and technologies like machine learning and image recognition that are part of AI have been with us for some time. They have already been deployed behind the scenes in a variety of different ways. We should never lose sight of the fact that exhibitions are about curation and storytelling and that any technology, from static wall text to AI, serves those goals. Because AI excels in working with large amounts of data, the technology opens up opportunities for visitors to peel back the layers of an exhibition and engage more dynamically in the information that is summarized and surfaced in an exhibition.

Online Collaboration+ Tool, Figjam

Design studio Figma is using AI in thoughtful ways for Figjam, a creative notetaking, organising, designing platform, which is actively used in a lot of classrooms.

Speaking of fast-evolving, any advice for organizations, institutions, and brands on future-proofing their interfaces against rapid technological change?

While interfaces change quickly, there is a lot that institutions can do to future-proof their content and data, which are at the heart of every organization. Future-proofing means adopting a technology stack that separates data, business logic, and presentation from each other. All technologies will need to be upgraded and replaced eventually, but it is about maximizing their lifespan and allowing these updates to occur over time. 

Legacy brands and museums can be slow to change and adopt new ways of seeing and doing. What misconceptions do organizations have about creating meaningful, impactful, and long-lasting experiences, and how do you help them overcome these?

The most common misconception we see is that all the digital work has to come out as one big bang. That can feel very overwhelming. We often advocate for an incremental approach that allows the organization to grow alongside its digital properties. 

If you had a crystal ball, what would it reveal about the next five to ten years of digital interactivity? What’s your biggest hope based on what you know of our growing capabilities?

If we take history as precedent, predicting the future of interactivity is tough. For instance, who knew that the Internet (first confined to the desktop screen) would be a key driver for mobile computing and, by extension, the interfaces we interact with daily? In this vein, we think generative AI will have a similar but bigger transformative impact.

Banner image from The Met Unframed.

In fall, I returned freshly tanned to the U.S. and began showing my portfolio before landing a position with the seminal multi-disciplinary design firm, Chermayeff & Geismar Associates. A year later, I seized an opportunity to work on the 1976 Olympics in Montreal and moved to Canada to join the Euro modernist firm Gottschalk + Ash Intl. By any measure, this was an auspicious career beginning.

I eventually co-founded The Carbone Smolan Agency with designer Leslie Smolan. CSA had a successful 40-year run before we closed our doors in 2019 to merge with the Chicago agency 50,000feet.

Today’s design students would be baffled (if not amused) by the laborious design-making process from decades past. The change is perhaps nowhere more significant than in typography. Selecting fonts and using type is a common activity enjoyed by the public every day. However, early in my career, the typographic arts involved unionized artisans, molten lead, clanking machines, and ink. Working with type required meticulous specifications, measured in agates and picas, and waiting hours, if not days, before receiving paper repro proofs that were cut and pasted to “mechanical boards” with lots of hot wax. Yes, it was downright medieval!

I’m not the least bit nostalgic for these days, and you can decide if the technical democratization of design today is a good thing. But this article is about the future, so I’ll leave the further tales of bygone days for another time.

Abraham Lincoln once said, “the best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time.” That may have been true in the19th century, but in the velocity of the present, predicting future events is an all-consuming activity. Society is so focused on the future that the present seems increasingly irrelevant, from political campaigns that precede elections by 18 months to exploring the potential for human existence on Mars.

To help me speculate about the future of design, I invited a charming chatbot to share impressions of the profession decades from now. I’ll call her Pythia.

In her unedited response, she touches on a range of topics that are like a classic S.W.O.T. analysis of a possible future for designers:

“Design has come a long way in the past 50 years, from traditional sketches and blueprints to digital rendering and virtual reality. But what does the future hold for the field of design? In the next 50 years, we can expect a rapid evolution in technology, materials, and human needs, which will undoubtedly shape how designers approach their work.

Designers will need to be adaptable and creative in their approach, utilizing new technologies and materials to create sustainable and user-centric designs. By doing so, they will be able to create innovative and impactful designs that can stand the test of time.

One of the key advantages of generative A.I. is its ability to automate many of the tasks traditionally performed by designers. For example, generative A.I. can quickly generate large numbers of designs, allowing designers to focus on refining and improving the designs rather than creating them from scratch. This could result in a more efficient design process, but it could also mean that designers are required to spend less time on individual projects.

In addition to this, the rise of generative A.I. also raises concerns about the role of designers in the creative process. With generative A.I. capable of generating designs autonomously, there is a risk that designers will become less central to the design process. This could result in designers being relegated to more administrative or supervisory roles, rather than being involved in the creative process itself.

Another potential impact of generative A.I. on designer job security is its ability to create designs that are cheaper and faster to produce. This could make it more difficult for designers to compete on price, particularly for simpler design projects. However, designers will still need to work on more complex and specialized tasks, which require a human touch and creative insight.

Despite these potential concerns, it’s important to note that the rise of generative A.I. and other technological advancements also creates new opportunities for designers. For example, designers can use generative A.I. to create designs that were previously impossible to produce manually, or to automate repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on more creative and strategic work.”

An increasingly popular, unattributed quote floating around the internet offers an assessment of the new frontier of design and AI’s potential threat to the profession: “Generative A.I. will not replace you; someone using generative A.I. will.”

After my discussion with Pythia, I wondered how a future designer equipped with new technology might respond to a brief I received from a client several years ago.

In 2018 the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, a world-class institution whose credentials include collaborations with David Byrne and Beyoncé, asked our agency to help them create a new brand identity. They specifically wanted an image that felt progressive, non-traditional, and reflected the experimental reputation of the chorus. Our recommended solution used symbols of pulsing sound waves to depict the features of a child’s face. We chose the gender-neutral name “Sam” for the logo.

When I asked the popular generative A.I. program Midjourney to create a logo for the same group in 2073, it offered these suggestions minutes later:

Clearly, these examples do not indicate future results and, in fact, look quite dated. But the computing power used here demonstrates an evolution of design tools that will shape words and images for our world.

Whatever the future of the design profession, I hope the net result is some form of BEAUTILITY. This term was coined by industrial designer Tucker Viemeister, and I’ve always embraced it as a simple standard of achievement.

In my long career, I’ve experienced remarkable advancements in the design profession, from the analog, to the digital, to what now appears beyond the virtual, as anyone can generate incredibly rich, seductive images with a key stroke. I just pray that future design clients and arbiters of taste will not be easily swayed by the shallow pyrotechnics of tech. As for me, I still like to draw with charcoal and consider a day well spent when I’m scrubbing paint from under my fingernails before dinner.

Next month: “Politically Speaking”

Ken Carbone is an artist, designer, and Co-Founder of the Carbone Smolan Agency, a design company he built with Leslie Smolan over 40 years ago. He is the author of Dialog: What Makes a Great Design Partnership, a visiting lecturer at numerous design schools, and TED X speaker. A recipient of the 2012 AIGA medal, he is currently a Senior Advisor to the Chicago-based strategic branding firm 50,000feet.

I have mixed feelings about this statement. I do value the importance of copyright (unlike some people who feel that it only serves corporate interests and should be abolished). I have threatened to sue on three occasions and been compensated in all three instances. Two of those were clear and direct lifts of particular images, but one of them was merely a infringement of style, which my lawyer enumerated in 13 points. He expected that they would tell us to “fuck off back to Canada” (his exact words), but much to our surprise they paid up and destroyed remaining copies of the offending item.

We were surprised because “style” is not copyrightable in the US (where the infringement took place). Someone has to actually, demonstrably lift your image or unique part of your image for you to have a copyright infringement. But when they do it it makes me hopping mad.

There is a—sadly abandoned—Facebook group called “Copy/Anticopy” which I absolutely loved. In it they would post two or more images of design side-by-side and ask the question “Similarity, Copy or Not Copy?” And those few of us following would weigh in. The comparisons were fascinating. As I pointed out in some of the posts, other options to the question were “homage” and “parody.” Some were posters that used the same image—but that image might have been stock. I found the question endlessly fascinating. The group is still there, so take a look.

All this to say that unless your image has been specifically lifted and regurgitated (alterations and interpretations may or may not protect you: search “Shepard Fairey vs. Associated Press”), you are not protected by copyright—online outrage and accusations notwithstanding.

However, in tiny Canada:

Canadian copyright law takes its cue from a 2004 decision of the Supreme Court: CCH Canada Ltd. v. Law Society of Upper Canada. In it, the high court defined an “original work” in terms of effort — as a product of “an exercise of skill and judgment.” That exercise of skill and judgment, wrote then Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin, “must not be so trivial that it could be characterized as a purely mechanical exercise.” 

—

CBA / ABC National: “The legal status of generative AI”

Super interesting! However, from the same source:

But because Canada is a little fish in a big copyright pond, said Lebrun, many decisions about the legal status of generative AI may be settled abroad. “The principal problem facing any artist in this situation is jurisdiction,” he said. “This isn’t happening in Quebec. It’s happening in California, mostly. This is an international issue. It’s international data.”

From time to time someone would contact me to say that so-and-so had copied my work. I’d take a look and see something ornamental and say, “I don’t own ornament.” Or maybe it would be something that showed some influence, but so what? I have been influenced by those who came before me—we all know that’s how it works.

So when we look at other people’s work are we stealing something from them? What if we search for pictures of horses to figure out just what that hind leg looks like from a certain angle? What if we search #hotrod and use what we find as references to make our own drawings of hotrods? Is any of that theft?

Because that’s what AI is doing. And in fact, because it’s looking at and learning from absolutely everything, your (yes your) influence on it is far less than on the person who specifically looks at your images for “inspiration,” or whatever.

Meanwhile, currently, images made with AI are not copyrightable. Copyright (in the US, anyway) applies only to images “made by humans.” I’m sure this will be challenged in the near future, but the law changes very slowly and technology moves very fast. But I’m fine with this; I think that’s fair for now until things get more sorted out. As mentioned in my previous post, I personally don’t feel authorship in the images I made, although I do feel ownership.

Turbulent waters

I’ve covered the basic usage of Midjourney, but it, and other AI image programs, have the ability to specifically request images “in the style of” an artist or photographer. Aside from the fact that style is not copyrightable, this does seem concerning—until you try it. I have tried it, and my dear designer/illustrator friends … it has no idea who you are. I have tried some of the most famous names in Illustration, and it doesn’t even give a hint of knowing who the fuck I’m after. As for myself? Oh, people have tried…

Again, it hasn’t got a clue. I’ve got maybe 500 images out there among billions. An artist has to have a massive level of fame (word-recognition by the masses) for this to affect them—if indeed it does. Below are a couple of experiments I made:

Both of these are astonishing. They really had me wondering how close they were to actual paintings (except the bottom two “Hockney”s) but via online searches I could find nothing with the same compositions, although plenty, in both cases, with similar elements. The AI is extremely good at representing paintings by incredibly famous artists within the subject matter that is common to their work, but I wondered how transferable that imitation was to a subject not associated with the artist.

It would appear it has no idea how David Hockney might paint a rabbit:

It’s an idiot! This is because it has no actual intelligence—it is riffing off of many thousands of artworks on the internet by those artists. But when presented with something they never made, it’s unable to apply any technique whatsoever to a new subject. It has no idea that Rockwell is associated with sweetness, innocence, and a particular era. So basic to a human, incomprehensible to it. And this aspect of understanding is not going to improve in the near future, possibly the distant future, or maybe never.

Nevertheless, an unscrupulous person might generate a Hockney (or Rockwell, Koons, Hirst …) similarities and put them on pillows or some shit and sell them. But the AI didn’t do that, the human did. That same human would think nothing of taking images from the internet and selling them on pillows. And guess what—here they are. AI won’t change bad behavior by humans.

Things get murkier the deeper you go

I was disturbed, however, to discover that you can point Midjourney to an online image in the prompt to include it in the algorithm. I do actually think this should not be legal, despite the less-than-stellar results, because it shows intent to copy. That’s an important point and comes up in this legal case against Jeff Koons.

However, I wanted to test it out, so I used some of my own work on the internet to include in a prompt.

While the first two examples are vaguely me-ish in a way that I might recognize if I saw them in the wild, they are no more concerning than any human-created messes that I have seen based on or influenced by my work. As for the third example, there’s barely any relationship. Only the 2nd version might give me pause, but otherwise, have at ’er.

While I maintain that AI is not going to improve in “intelligence” any time soon, this type of copying directly from an image will improve, and that really is something worth fighting/lobbying against.

But aside from that I think Illustrators and artists have little to worry about on the copyright front, unless your work looks like this.

In which case you should have been worried a long, long time ago, and not due to AI, but due to humans.

Meanwhile

If you’re seriously worried about your copyright, you might want to take a look at what you agree to when you use Facebook, Instagram or any number of other online platforms. Meta’s (FB, Insta) current policy is:

We do not claim ownership of your content, but you grant us a license to use it. Nothing is changing about your rights in your content. We do not claim ownership of your content that you post on or through the Service and you are free to share your content with anyone else, wherever you want. However, we need certain legal permissions from you (known as a “license”) to provide the Service. When you share, post, or upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights (like photos or videos) on or in connection with our Service, you hereby grant to us a non-exclusive, royalty-free, transferable, sub-licensable, worldwide license to host, use, distribute, modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and application settings). This license will end when your content is deleted from our systems. You can delete content individually or all at once by deleting your account. [Emphasis mine.]

—

Copyrightlaws.com, “Instagram and Copyright — What Are the Terms of Use?”

And you might want to think twice about complaining about it all on social media while using animated gifs from movies etc. to express your feelings.

But there’s still lots worry about

Will people use AI instead of artists? Yes, and they already have. Ad agency BSSP used AI generated images for the fall 2022 production of The Nutcracker for the San Francisco Ballet. And I’m sure there are many more.

I think a lot of artists’ work will be lost to AI. Not from the likes of The New Yorker, or anywhere that has intelligent (there’s that word again), sensitive Art Directors—but we all know that kind of work is few and far between. So while I honestly don’t believe that an AD who would otherwise use, say, Anita Kunz, will instead try to get an Anita-Kunz-like-image out of AI (good fucking luck!), the types of people who just need something that they would have previously got from stock imagery, or stolen from the internet, will. Plus unimaginative, shit ADs.

David Holz, the founder of Midjourney, says:

Right now, our professional users are using the platform for concepting. The hardest part of [a commercial art project] is often at the beginning, when the stakeholder doesn’t know what they want and has to see some ideas to react to.

Oh my god. The day will come soon, if it hasn’t already, when you—yes you—will be presented with some piece of half-baked “concept art” generated in AI with the instructions “like this, sortof, only happier, with more “pop”, and no warrior king, and you-know—in your style.” This guy shows us how horrible it will be.

Some of us have the luxury of telling such people to fuck off. Others don’t. Welcome to the 1990s of graphic design when young designers had to take “direction” from people who just learned how to use InDesign, and people with two months of night classes in design were “stealing our jobs.”

In the immortal words of Michael Bierut, “Do good work.”

David Holz, again, says:

I think that some people will try to cut artists out. They will try to make something similar at a lower cost, and I think they will fail in the market. I think the market will go towards higher quality, more creativity, and vastly more sophisticated, diverse and deep content. And the people who actually are able to use like the artists and use the tools to do that are the ones who are going to win.

I hope he’s right, and in certain areas AI cannot and never (in our lifetimes and, I bet, before the power grid goes down and we all have to live on nuts and berries) will be able to compete. It will never be able to read a story, understand its nuances and come up with a compelling image for it (although it could “read” a story and pick out repeating words like “girl, house, mother” and make some cliche out of that); and it will never have humor or wit (Christoph Niemann can totes relax).

But its use will impact you and other artists, and especially photographers, like stock photography and illustration did. I predict we will also see a big jump in the next year or two while everyone tries out the novelty of it.

But as someone who has used it obsessively over the past two weeks, I can tell you that it’s not as easy as people like to say it is, and I think ADs will tire of spending hours trying to get that “concept image” and revert to just telling you what they want.

Regarding Contests

So far, the Society of Illustrators New York, American Illustration, Communication Arts, Spectrum Fantastic Art, 3×3, Creative Quarterly, Society of Illustrators Los Angeles, World Illustration Awards, Applied Arts Awards and the AIGA have all stated that they will not allow AI images into their competitions, and for the moment, I support that, and think that’s fair.

I do believe, however, that AI like Midjourney, etc. are tools, and that creative people will find ways to use those tools in interesting and creative ways, and that these boundaries will become blurred.

For now, I believe that AI generated images should be clearly stated as such, wherever they are used, even if put in other photos or whatever. For the record, I also believe that digitally altered photos should also be stated as such. Much of the furor comes down to honesty. People should not claim work as their own that they did not make or that they stole from someone else, whatever the method, and such behaviour should not be tolerated.

If you want to understand more about AI, please read this article about the difference between AI and babies.

For more about US copyright and AI, you can watch/listen to this annoying video.

That article about Canadian law (“The Legal Status of Generative AI”) is super interesting, and is here.

Next, in Part 3, Edel Rodriguez and I will talk about all of this.

This essay was originally published on Marian’s blog, Marian Bantjes is Writing Again. You can keep up with her work here, or look through her archives on Substack.

Header image generated in Midjourney by Marian Bantjes, including the prompt “in the style of Albrecht Dürer.”

The Colours of Africa, an online digital exhibition of work by 60 African artists from the continent’s 54 countries, is based upon the idea of a kaleidoscope where each artist’s contribution is represented by a facet of color. In its non-linear, non-hierarchical structure, no one comes first or last. Creatives from a wide range of disciplines (architecture, painting, ceramics, writing, engineering, and the performing arts) were invited to select a color and create an original piece of art that would represent their country as well as express on a personal level what it means to be African.

The interface’s randomized navigation tool gives each visitor a unique path through the art and gives all the contributors an equal chance to be seen. There is a pleasing element of surprise for the viewer as they click around the color wheel, exploring the art in a playful and serendipitous way.

The project was designed by typographer/designer Noel Pretorius and his partner, digital strategist Elin Sjöberg, in collaboration with Google Arts and Culture and Design Indaba. “The concept came from the idea of seeing the world through a number of different lenses or viewpoints and how these stories together create a larger tale of the multifaceted continent of Africa,” Sjöberg said.

The project began in 2020, at the beginning of the COVID pandemic. “We used the idea of the randomized kaleidoscope to break away from the strictly linear existence we all experienced during the pandemic,” Pretorius said. “You’d get up in the morning, get a cup of coffee, get onto Zoom…it was a very linear way of being. We were looking for a way to do something in the digital world that was inspired by physical art, yet would provide a new experience every time.”

The interface’s visual appeal is enhanced by the letterforms of Movement, Pretorius’ African dance-inspired variable typeface that mirrors the triangular shapes of the kaleidoscope’s rays.

Google Arts and Culture reached out to partner with Design Indaba as a way to include African art in its online collection of work from large institutions around the world. Design Indaba’s Ravi Naidoo and Priyah Pillay in turn reached out to Pretorius, who’d spoken at the 2019 Design Indaba conference. Their collaboration was inspired by his 2008 project Them-and-Us, which paired 20 European and 20 African visual artists, designers, illustrators and photographers to address the broad themes of tolerance and intolerance.

 “Them-and-Us was a labor of love,” Pretorius said. “Where that project came short was that although we wanted to curate work from all over Africa, it was so hard to reach artists in remote areas that most of the contributors ended up being from South Africa.”

This required the team to get creative. “For Colours, Ravi and the team at Design Indaba had already done the hard work of sourcing amazing talent from the entire continent!” Pretorius continued. “It was more or less two years from start to finish. Additionally, each artist was paid $500, so everyone who contributed was commissioned.”

To find artists in smaller countries where Design Indaba didn’t already have a footprint, such as Guinea-Bissou, they interviewed creatives who already had a history with the organizations and asked them for new leads. Many of these artists are entirely self-taught, as their countries don’t have art institutions or design schools.

“Colours of Africa is deeply rooted in exalting African design and creativity, and finding artists across the continent who exemplify these qualities was paramount to the selection process,” Pillay said on curating the exhibit. The Design Indaba team made sure the show’s perspectives covered a wide range of the gender spectrum and were careful not to edit any individual point of view.

“We offered creative guidance, but did not censor or steer the artists’ messages,” she continued. “Choosing narratives aligned to the intent of the project was an important part of the selection process. We also paid close attention to diversity and inclusivity, making sure we gave underrepresented groups a fair chance to participate.”

“To be African today is to have a very particular position in a world in which your culture and your identity is undermined, undervalued and considered to be unimportant,” Gabonese photographer Yannis Davy Guibinga said in a statement for the show’s site. “Being African is knowing that, despite the world’s misconceptions, you have a deep understanding of your story, your heritage, the wealth of your culture and the strength and pride of your ancestors.”

Pillay agreed. “Truthfully, I do think Africa is often overlooked as a creative powerhouse,” she said. “It’s been a slow burn for art and design but things are definitely heating up. We are not reliant on outsiders telling our stories; we have the means and platforms to share them in first person with the world. African artists are trending on Spotify globally, we have fashion designers featured at international fashion weeks, we have directors staking their claim at the Academy Awards, and the list goes on.”

The innovative design and inclusive structure of Colours of Africa presents the art world with a complex, eye-opening experience of what it means to be African, shaped directly by the artists who live there. The project radiates a feeling of love and pride in heritage as it illuminates a range of vivid cultural narratives.

Visitors virtually respond to prompts displayed on screens throughout the space by communicating their wishes as an image or text message. Each wish is a secret between the sender and the fountain, creating animated waves of colors across the bench and screens. To everyone else, the wish just looks like a light show traveling across the space’s furniture and walls, visually translating the essence of water after a coin hits the surface of a wishing well.

By leaning into what humans are connected to most (their phones) to create an interactive exhibit, SOSO has proven that even the most personal exhibits can build a community-inspired space.

Regent Properties is a real estate developer based in Los Angeles committed to creating dynamic and beautiful properties out of contrarian, out-of-favor, complex, or distressed assets. When reviving 1 Columbia Place, the developer aimed to attract newcomers and generate social media buzz by creating a “surprise and delight” moment for visitors. Regent turned to creative studio SOSO to create Wish Fountain, a nature-inspired, technology-infused interactive installation that transforms visitors’ wishes sent via SMS into a colorful, water-like light show across a ripple-shaped wooden bench and wall-mounted screens. 

Inspired by San Diego’s natural environment and ocean landscape, Wish Fountain conveys the undulating surface of the water after a coin hits the surface of a wishing well. Visitors share their wishes via SMS to a posted phone number, as an image or text, in response to a prompt displayed on the screens. The wishes then are transformed into a light show rippling across the installation. 

Each wish is a secret between the initiator and the fountain, resulting in a unique and captivating animation of colors across the bench and screens. To keep the prompts timely, the building owner has access to a cloud-based Content Management System, allowing them to update the wish prompts to reflect current events, holidays, or important local themes.  

The cloud server powering Wish Fountain draws from online visual sources to decipher the content of each visitor’s text. Then, the installation changes its colors and display inspired by the wish, resulting in reflective and distinctive displays of each visitor’s thoughts and feelings. The building manager can update the prompt for the Wish Fountain so new and returning guests can have new experiences each time they visit 1 Columbia Place. 

Wish Fountain connects people, builds community, and reflects San Diego’s pulse. The installation is visible to all entrances and levels of the building, inviting anyone to view and participate with their own wishes. Not only does it give onlookers the ability to impact their environments and a sense of respite, but it also serves as a new social gathering space to share their wonder. Regent’s commitment to creating unique, fun, and dynamic environments was the perfect catalyst for these immersive experiences. 

Wish Fountain is a part of a series of unique digital artworks for Regent Properties that build community, give visitors a canvas to impact the space, and reflect on local San Diego culture. SOSO worked hand in hand with Tecture on fabrication and installation, Digital Ambiance on LED/electrical engineering, and Performant Advanced Manufacturing on wiring and electrical installation for Wish Fountain. 

I trolled around for a while, trying to find an AI-generated garden “good enough” to show as an example. I finally settled on an alien landscape credited to Bryan Price on NightCafe.studio. With it came a 25%-off-my-first-month offer. Ah yes, another income-generator for someone who is not me, i.e. for NightCafé and all the similar sites that are popping up.

Traditional illustrators are up in arms. On Thursday, December 22, the Society of Illustrators posted this message on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

In less than 24 hours, this collaborative post by the award winning duo of Society of Illustrators President Tim O’Brien and illustrator Edel Rodriguez had more than 8,500 likes on Instagram, 16.2k likes, and 3,280 reposts on Twitter.

For more than 30 years, O’Brien has been painting meticulous oil portraits of famous people, from his hero Muhammed Ali to Elon Musk, and many have been featured on the cover of TIME. He and his colleagues are insisting that illustrations for publication must be created by real, thinking humans who interact with real clients and use real artists’ tools. “The sudden availability of artificially designed images creates a moral challenge to the illustration community and to the broader design community,” O’Brien said. “We are at the critical point at which illustrators and designers must value human interaction and reject the output of AI image generators. The inclusion of a credit highlighting an AI generator should bring on a sense of shame.”

O’Brien went on to note that athletes are subject to drug tests for trying to enhance their performance artificially, and those who fail are punished. “Humans can run faster, jump higher, and perform better using synthetic means, [but] we as humans are interested in what a human alone can do. That’s what makes us human.”

Illustrator Victor Juhasz, best known for caricatures that have graced the pages of Rolling Stone, TIME, Newsweek, and many other publications, takes the argument a big step farther. “The current craze for AI-generated ‘art’ is a symptom of a disease,” he said.

Juhasz did not mince words. “The temptation to take the fast, easy way rather than put in hard work is enormous. Contemporary society thrives on celebrity, fame and notoriety, and much of it has nothing to do with honest craftsmanship. It’s about the con and getting away with it.”

Other notable illustrators like Anita Kunz, known for her New Yorker covers and feminist responses to classic art have spoken out on how much they hate seeing their work scraped into databases. Karla Ortiz, a painter, printmaker, and concept artist at Marvel Studios, has been especially vocal on social media, posting impassioned arguments against the commercial use of AI art and spearheading a GoFundMe campaign to hire a lobbyist to make the voices of artists heard.

At the present moment, the creative heads of magazines sound largely uninterested in AI. Michael Mrak, the creative director of Scientific American, a science publication with over 10 million subscribers, “[sees] no reason to replace real artists with AI-generated anything.”

“AI can generate interesting and elaborate imagery, but there are many problems from a legal and moral point of view,” he continued. “AI-generated art cannot be copyrighted and therefore has potential legal issues attached to it, a principal one being that it uses art from across the internet to make the final image. That, and the fact that it scraped or pulled copyrighted art into its learning algorithm.”

Art director and designer Alexander Isley treasures his one-on-one collaborations with artists. “I have never used AI-generated artwork, and have no interest in doing so, unless it’s in the context of how odious it is,” he said. “From all I’ve seen and read, machine-generated artwork is based on modifying, remixing, or adding to real artists’ existing work without acknowledgment or compensation. With commissioned artwork, sketches and revisions are often required. How does this process work with AI-generated images? I can’t deny that the results can be interesting to look at, but it’s a fun parlor trick.”

While art directors might not see AI as a threat, the competitive aspect of design complicates matters. Will AI-generated art be eligible to win contests and grants?

“The short answer is yes,” was the initial answer from Patrick Coyne, editor/designer of Communication Arts, one of the world’s most important design publications. “We always tell jurors to select work based on the quality of the idea and the execution. We celebrate compelling imagery regardless of how it was created.”

Managing Editor Michael Coyne noted that Communication Arts had already featured a few campaigns that used AI-generated art “because they were interesting or appropriate applications for AI as an artistic tool rather than a medium on its own.” He cited an ad campaign by Dentsu Creative Portugal for Jardim Sonoro, an electronic music festival held in a national park near Lisbon, is an example. According to the agency’s creative directors, the challenge was to blend the musicians’ portraits with natural elements. “We learned that AI is a great tool,” they commented. “We are still at its beginning and will certainly see significant developments that will dazzle us all. But it won’t replace anyone. It needs someone to guide the creative process.” They added, “Novelty and discomfort often lead to great work.”

However, a few days later, the Communication Arts‘ team’s stance evolved. “We’ve been approached by several illustrators upset over our position regarding accepting entries for the Illustration Annual produced with text-to-image AI software,” Patrick Coyne wrote via email. “While I still see the long-term potential for AI-assisted creative exploration, I better understand the position that illustrators and photographers are currently facing with copyright infringement and the unauthorized use of their work to ‘train’ the current crop of text-to-image AI software. Consequently, we are reversing our position and will not be accepting AI text-to-image generated submissions in our Illustration competition.”

Hobbyists have a different relationship to the software. Daniel Rocha of São Paulo is an active contributor to Facebook’s “AI Art Universe” group, and one of the many thousands of people who make AI art for fun. “I use [Mage’s Standard Diffusion program] daily, many times a day,” he said. “I click ‘enter’ on a prompt many, many times, until I get something good or see that I need to change it because something is not nice. I’ve generated more than 22,000 pictures, but that’s not at all time-consuming, since all I have to do is click, click, click.”

Oddly enough, Rocha works in Brazil’s patent and trademark office, where he analyzes the registrability of trademarks. However, “that has nothing to do with what I do on Mage,” he clarified. “I think it is an extremely useful tool for artists. They can use it to fill in details or compose a complex scene extremely fast.”

Stable Diffusion can be trained to fit an author’s style, which allows them to make grandiose scenes in a short time, in their own style. “An amateur like me can reproduce the work of a skilled artist, art that could surpass in quality and inspiration the Sistine Chapel ceiling,” Rocha continued. “That took years for Michelangelo to make, and [similar work] can now be completed in a few days or weeks. Right now, the artists are too scared, but I think they will come around soon.”

Since I have family members who like to play with DALL-E, we decided to try it ourselves. I went in wondering if I could re-create one of the world’s most iconic posters, Milton Glaser’s 1966 “Dylan.” When I used Mage, the results were dismal. Apparently, the Mage database doesn’t have the stuff. We had no luck on DALL-E either (“does not follow our content policy”), but got meh results with Midjourney, where we typed “/imagine the famous 1966 Milton Glaser Bob Dylan poster” and got:

The curly hair must have gotten scraped in, along with some old album covers. And possibly black-and-white portraits to which the photographer owns the copyright. Then we tried: “/imagine the famous 1966 Milton Glaser Bob Dylan poster, but for Lady Gaga” and got:

The whole process took about three minutes. Fortunately— for now, at least— AI isn’t giving Milton Glaser’s brilliant work any serious competition.

To get clarity on where AI stands in regards to legality, I reached out to Martin Schwimmer, a partner at top-rated New York intellectual property law firm LeasonEllis. In his opinion, text-to-image AI models “present novel [new, unexplored] legal issues, including the extent to which the creator of the repository of images makes use of images that were previously displayed on the internet, and to what extent can an AI model look at an image and derive ‘rules’ about that image.” While that language is a little murky to me, it sounds like the lawyers are working on it.

However, Schwimmer didn’t agree that all AI repositories consist of ‘scraped’ images without regard to copyright. For example, he said, a repository named Laion consists not of images, but links to images, which apparently makes a legal difference.

As to who owns the so-called final product, Schwimmer said that he views AI models as one more tool that helps users generate content. “The copyright analysis will be comparable to the analysis we use today when artists use the various illustration tools, graphics editors, paint programs, and other digital art tools: Is the work sufficiently original when divorced from the accompanying tools?”

For now, that will be the last word.

Magazzino Italian Art launches a new digital platform that allows the Cold Spring-based museum and research center to make its resources available across the globe. The platform, designed in partnership with New York-based strategic design consultancy, Synoptic Office, gives Magazzino Italian Art borderless capabilities to achieve its ambitious goals for connecting people around the world through contemporary Italian art and culture.

“We are proud and excited to unveil a digital platform which celebrates and elevates Italian art and culture for people across the globe. The Magazzino mission has always been to offer accessible and compelling exhibitions and resources. Bringing that mission to life in the digital sphere, and creating an experience which transcends borders, is both a necessary and natural next step.”

A living center of culture

Located in Cold Spring, New York, Magazzino Italian Art is a museum and research center dedicated to advancing scholarship and public appreciation of postwar and contemporary Italian art in the United States. The nonprofit museum offers free admission to the public and serves as an advocate for Italian artists as it celebrates the range of their creative practices from Arte Povera to the present. Through its curatorial, scholarly, and public initiatives, Magazzino explores the impact and enduring resonances of Italian art on a global level.

Meaning “warehouse” in Italian, Magazzino was co-founded by Nancy Olnick and Giorgio Spanu. The 20,000 square-foot museum opened its doors in 2017, creating a new cultural hub and community resource within the Hudson Valley.

Following a period of immense growth for the museum, Olnick and Spanu aspired to develop an expansive digital strategy that would make Magazzino more accessible for audiences outside of Cold Spring, whilst continuing to support the crucial work done on-site. Synoptic Office, having helped clients like Carnegie Hall, Julliard, and Artstor curate compelling and culturally resonant digital platforms, made for the perfect partner to bring Olnick and Spanu’s vision to life through design.

“Magazzino Italian Art is a living center of culture, and our task was to create a natural expansion of that outside of physical place. The ambition is for the Magazzino to be a truly borderless cultural institution,” says YuJune Park, Co-founder of Synoptic Office.

Park’s Co-founder, Caspar Lam, adds: “What we’ve given Magazzino is a digital hub to help them fulfill that ambition – one that reflects and grows directly from the strong roots they’ve built on site so that the important work the organization champions can engage audiences around the world.”

Timeless, strong, confident

The new Magazzino Italian Art platform builds on the graphic identity created by Waterhouse Cifeuntes, continuing the use of timeless typefaces, including Plak Magazzino, a font inspired by Alighiero Boetti’s Manifesto, a striking composition that lists the names of 16 Italian artists flanked by mysterious symbols.  

The site utilizes a strong and confident grid that brings uniformity to the design, as well as incredible flexibility. “Each section of the site serves as a pedestal to Arte Povera, a movement that transcends boundaries and simple thematic definitions,” explains Synoptic Office’s Park.

The color palette is inspired by Magazzino’s physical building. The concrete and glass—shades of pale gray and white—serve as a backdrop to the vibrant array of art within. All design elements reflect Magazzino’s desire to elevate the organization’s digital presence from touch point to immersive destination. 

To increase accessibility, Synoptic Office led a reorganization of Magazzino’s online content, simplifying topline navigation into three actionable items: Learn, Watch, Visit – creating a seamless experience for audiences, whether they plan on engaging with what the Magazzino has to offer online or in person.

Synoptic’s Lam says: “This new platform will allow Magazzino Italian Art to strengthen its movement in service of Italian art and culture, and bring what it does best on site – host cinematic screenings, exhibit incredible work, provide bespoke experiences, tell powerful stories, and connect people through Italian art – to the global stage.”

UK beverage company innocent and London design studio ShopTalk provide an excellent example of where to step in with their new digital platform The Big Rewild. This charming, intuitive app not only provides concise information about innocent’s sustainability efforts, but invites consumers to take part. Green tones and leafy design emphasize the project’s passion for nature, while games, easter eggs, and witty illustrations add a sense of play and optimism. This fun, accessible educational hub shows how brands can hold themselves accountable and empower consumers at the same time.

ShopTalk designs digital platform as part of innocent’s new campaign: the Big Rewild

London-based design and brand studio ShopTalk has partnered with innocent to create a digital platform as part of the Big Rewild, innocent’s new campaign inviting drinkers to support rewilding efforts.

ShopTalk created a digital hub which forms an integral part of the digital toolkit for innocent’s campaign content – from core information on carbon reduction plans to rewilding inspiration and activities. The interactive site sits alongside innocent’s digital strategy, limited edition pack and OOH advertising to bring together the campaign and drive strong awareness and support for the rewilding initiatives that innocent is enacting within its business and beyond.

ShopTalk’s design is built to delight and engage people, with an emphasis on assets that encourage interaction and participation – first online and then in the community. One stand-out element is the “Spin the bottle” game, which prompts users to spin an innocent orange juice bottle to receive a random challenge that inspires them to take an action toward rewilding and saving the planet.

The design overall captures the attitude of the Big Rewild project – leaning into green tones, natural textures, and interactive elements. Quizzes, maps, interactive easter eggs, and a dynamic counter that tracks the trees planted in orchards as part of the campaign infuse innocent’s recognisable playful-yet-informative positioning into the platform for a brand experience that’s both inspiring and reinforcing.

James Wood, Creative Director and co-founder of ShopTalk says: “We were brought on to develop the digital platform which demanded translation of incredibly complex material into a playful, easy-to-understand user experience. The Big Rewild hub is designed to inform and inspire people to learn more about innocent’s rewilding projects and get involved in the campaign. We’re proud to have partnered once again with innocent and helped them bring the Big Rewild to life.”

This campaign comes off the back of ShopTalk’s recent redesign of innocent’s website with the brand’s commitment to reducing its carbon emissions in mind. The resulting addition of a “green switch” allows site visitors to opt into an energy saving version of the website – an effective way to reduce the site’s overall carbon footprint.

The Big Rewild, as well as innocent’s new website, are now live.

—Hans Hoffman

Technology experts claim that the acceptance and growth of any new technology is a slow progression. It’s a slow income time, placid and shallow at first, slowly growing until the degree of acceptance surges, suddenly becoming a wave that floods everything in its path. The internet grew out of military communication concerns, and blossomed from small utilitarian protocols into the complex living organism that now dominates culture and commerce. Today, we are walking in the shallows of artificial intelligence technologies, and small waves are gently lapping at our ankles. However, those who understand AI know that the tsunami is on its way. At the very least, the changes resulting from AI will be fully enveloping for designers and creators. If we don’t understand or learn how to manage the AI that is currently being incorporated into communications and creative tools, it could undermine humanity’s role in controlling in creativity as we know it.

Artificial intelligence is more than just complex mathematics— it is a process of securing information, turning it into optimized data, and using algorithms to find the best prediction. That best solution is then used to effect some desired result, guiding the car to a desired destination, and navigating the next turn safely. Choosing the best background for an image may involve turning a 2D image into a realistic 3D rendering and, in the process, turning a mere snapshot into a false reality. These are the obvious, open, and sometimes notorious uses for AI; it is the hidden or more subtle uses of the technology that create its seductive powers. The AI chip in your mobile device guides you on your walk, chooses the best images to post, and tells marketers what ads to show you. Social media apps determine who, or what, will be interesting based upon your purchases, browsing histories, and past interactions. All these functions ride on top of artificial intelligence engines. But AI is not limited to social media technologies— they are just the low hanging fruit for AI creators. The real magic is evident in computationally complex apps, such as applications commonly used by designers.

Design programs are starting to use AI extensively. They’re most visible in magical completion of the missing parts of an image, smart deletion of unwanted backgrounds, auto color, auto exposure and image sharpening tools we use. Designers and photographers have become extremely reliant on these aides, and in response, the way we design and take photographs has changed. It is a self-reinforcing cycle. Adobe, Google, Apple, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, among others, rely on AI to make their products easier to use. This simplicity of use comes with a complex trade-off. The data and access to information you give to cloud-based app providers is much deeper than most people understand. This access may even extend to data stored on your hard drive, on the cloud, and even on your mobile device. AI is always searching for data and the creators of AI-enhanced technologies are very creative in the way they consume your data. Why? More data makes the reach with consumers deeper; it may make the product better, more seductive and, undoubtedly, it makes the provider more valuable. However, the use of AI has an echo chamber effect— not only does it affect outcomes, it also shapes decisions regarding inputs. What happens when effect shapes the design brief? I believe AI will eventually become a more commonplace tool for making business decisions. When this happens, AI will begin to influence and shape the creative work product. It will start slowly, but at some point, business managers will likely rely on AI to make even more decisions. But as AI gets better, does that make it any more trustworthy?

Business owners want to ensure the process of creating, designing, and marketing products and services is efficient and, above all, results in measurable profits. Shiny new concepts and tools are always welcome, and few are as new and shiny as artificial intelligence. The process of classic design thinking relies on securing information about customers and understanding their needs, followed by ideation, prototyping, testing, and reiteration. Current AI technology is a perfect fit for the first and second part of this process. As the technology improves, the remaining processes will easily be incorporated into AI design processes. The problem with AI in this context is that it must rely on what it learns, and it only learns from the information that is given. Typically, the humans providing this information are not artists or designers. They are low-paid assembly line knowledge workers who make decisions based on a lowest cost basis. Humans then construct the algorithms that tell the computer what data to use. Designers have little to no influence during this process; they just have to live with the results.

Fields that rely on AI tools include transportation, industrial operations, banking, communications, manufacturing, and medicine. But AI is affecting every industry, and design software is not immune to this trend. Adobe states that their new analytics software, Adobe Sensi, is a set of tools will help designers “optimize and scale user experiences” with “real-time intelligence” and help marketers predict customer behavior based on “attributes, differences, and conversion factors.” Stated simply, what Adobe and similar companies are promising is that AI will create shortcuts, like an easy path from design to market success. But designers should remain mindful that creativity, good artwork, and good design are inherently human pursuits. Will these tools create a valid shortcut in the creative process, or hinder its natural progression?

So when, and how, should we use AI to enhance creativity? While it can be a helpful addition to a design toolkit, designers must understand how it can influence creative processes as it becomes prevalent. AI creates the promise of easy answers, or at least, a faster way to get usable solutions. For a product manager or business owner, any tool that makes it easier to understand customers and their desires is a good thing. The problem with AI in design is that, because usable data is difficult and very expensive, tool creators will be tempted to use the same data sets repeatedly. This is dangerous, as the overuse of certain data will inevitably create bias in the algorithms guiding AI. While the information within an AI solution is what creates its magic, it’s also a significant part of its danger. At the very least, resulting designs will soon lose their distinctiveness.

An artist / designer who chooses to work with AI must remain mindful of the fact that it is not one single technology. Facial recognition, gaming, and many creative uses of AI use Generative Adversarial Network (GAN) networks, a type of machine learning that is also used to create deep fakes. To my knowledge, the issue of licensing a person’s image and subjecting the photos to GANs manipulation has not yet been addressed. If a designer is working with GANs technology, the model release should at least identify that the photos may be computer manipulated.

Deep learning is a subset of AI machine learning that incorporates additional neural networks. This technology is usually associated with automation and “teaches” an AI application to make better decisions for performing analytical and physical tasks without human involvement. This technology could also train a design application to use tools in the designer’s own style or manner of working. If these applications are cloud-based and served to your workstation on demand, review the settings to ensure that you are comfortable with the default level of sharing. You may wish to avoid granting excessive access to the information you’ve created while working with the application.

Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) and their cousin, Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs) are another subset of machine learning. CNN technology is commonly used for image classification (identifying an object in a picture) or feature recognition (identifying patterns and voices), while RNN is associated with speech recognition tasks. Designers who create work that incorporates image and/or voice recognition, such as UX and UXI, should be aware these technologies require specific methods of input which may affect the final UX experience. Designers will also find that computer processing power will impact the possible implementation of their designs. Designers who create UXI for reinforcement learning systems, such as teaching machines that manage large data sets, must ensure they understand the limitations of the technology. In this case, it’s important to ask questions about the type of user, as well as how the design will be used. Find out if the computing devices and human interfaces have input or graphics display limitations. You can always ensure a better solution by learning about the intended uses for a design that interfaces with AI.

As AI tools become more sophisticated, they will certainly go on to influence choices in prototyping, fonts, color ways, image styles, and design element placement. In sum, design decisions will become based upon data selected by third parties who may or may not be designers. Choices by AI engines will not evince the creativity, imagination, and exploration that all good designers exhibit. All of which leads to the following questions: who is selecting the data? What is their design experience, and what are the criteria for selection or exclusion of information? If there are weaknesses in these choices, they contribute to the bias inherent to the algorithms. If this consideration goes unchecked, AI will corrupt creativity and design. The danger of such shortcuts will result in questionable choices being “baked into” a project, and will be part of many projects when an AI engine is used repeatedly. The results will feel devoid of the search and discovery that form the uniquely human elements of creativity. The wise designer will come to understand that while AI is a design aid, it is not a solution to design problems.

It’s not easy to make a park feel “vibe-y,” but Smith & Diction has succeeded tremendously.

When we shared our initial branding for this project, the park itself didn’t exist. It was just a lofty dream that maybe—just maybe—Philadelphia could make a cool thing…for once. (Gritty and the Phanatic are the exceptions, they are dope as hell and will kick your ass.) Fast forward a bunch of years, and a lot of drama, including a fun little cease & desist letter from a “partner” organization (that’s a story for another time), and now the Rail Park is a real live place, with giant swings, beautiful art, towering trees, and lots of dogs peeing on stuff. Classic dog move.

We recently launched a new website for the Rail Park, so we thought it was the perfect time to write a̶ ̶l̶i̶t̶t̶l̶e̶ an extremely longwinded case study update on how the brand has evolved and grown over the past few years.

This is the second part in our two part series, so if you want to get the story on the new website, head on over to Part I. I tried my best to keep it all in one post but I don’t know how to edit myself. Smith & Diction at its finest baby.

One design concept I really got into with the brand was this idea of repetition, mimicking how the park sort of spontaneously combusted into existence over a long period of time, if that makes any sense. Once upon a time, a bunch of tree seeds fell off a freight train, eventually the trains stopped running, the trees grew through the seasons, dropping leaves, getting new ones, layer would fall on top of layer, creating soil, repeating for years and years, new seeds would find their way into the soil, they would take root and start the same process over and over again, and soon enough there was a beautiful oasis floating above and below the city.

One of the most unique parts of the park is the gigantic industrial swings at the end. What’s Rittenhouse got? A statue of a goat? Go on and get outta here with the goat and the weird Michael Jackson impersonator trying to make awkward eye contact. They are smooth though I’ll give them that.

We wanted to idolize those swings a bit, so we put them in beautiful, bright fluorescent ink on the cover of the maps so they would be impossible to miss amid the stacks of show flyers, takeout menus, business cards, and whatnot.

Read more at Medium here!

Project Credits
Smith & Diction

We mention these pairings to describe something so disparate, so contradictory in nature, that they could never possibly share any traits. And it’s not that any one of these things is inherently bad or lacking in some profound way; they’re just opposites.

You could say the same thing about our new site-wide redesign on PRINT. No knock on what came before, but modernity called, and when you’re running a site FOR designers and creatives, the design and layout has to be as captivating and eye-catching as the published content. Otherwise, what’s the point?

And, yes, we’re extremely biased, but it looks great, and it’s much easier to navigate. We’re still hitting you with the latest in design news and projects from the designers you know and love, and oh, look, there are special sections for the Daily Heller and Debbie Millman’s Design Matters—which, by the way, did you know that PRINT is the only place you can find a transcript of the show?

But we digress. The central problem for anyone undertaking this particular kind of task is that when you shake things up, it not only has to be practical and convenient to use, but it needs to look good. Like, really, really good. In redefining a new era for PRINT, we wanted to tip our cap to the magazine’s legacy, but we also needed to move forward as we embrace the future of the design industry. No, PRINT is no longer a physical thing you can hold in your hands, but having a magazine layout that works in digital was essential.

So, we went to WordPress and Automattic.

“The editors of PRINT came to us in November of 2020 with an initial website that did not measure up to the high aesthetic and quality standards the publication is known for—standards they themselves helped set for the entire industry,” said Christy Nyiri, designer at Automattic. “Additionally, their site was limited in functionality and locked inside an inflexible content platform.”

Accessibility was critical for the redesign, and not just with functionality, but in terms of color and typography, as well as the look and feel of the graphics and images and how they get framed for our audience. Visitors with any level of ability needed to navigate the new PRINT with ease. And yeah, it needed to look pretty. Now, you’ll find:

• A flexible, modular platform that allows for the curation of new content, including content from the PRINT archives.
• Images are displayed uncropped at their original ratio, showcasing the full artistry of the work and encouraging visually dynamic layouts.
• The homepage logo overlaps featured content, subtly nodding to the history of multi-layered print processes.
• The site allows for better content discovery through improved search functionality and content categorization.

Open source WordPress unlocked the site’s potential and restored the ownership of their content to them, while Automattic worked closely with our editors and ownership to craft an experience that would be worthy of our legacy but flexible enough for their future needs.

And what you see here is a very, very different kind of PRINT—one that’s here for the long run.

“For those of us who grew up reading PRINT, a magazine with such a long and influential history, being directly involved in this new phase of its life was an immense and humbling honor,” Christy said.

“The details have never felt more important to perfect! We spared no expense to equip the site with all the tools it needs to flourish as a digital publication—to be as easy to navigate and use as it is delightful to read, watch, and listen to—and to look beautiful while doing so. Frankly, we were all ecstatic to work on it!”

Downloading NES and SEGA emulators back in college nearly ruined my junior year, as I skipped my fair share of classes revisiting classics like River City Ransom (the smiles are free), Fester’s Quest (dude, impossible), and my beloved Shining Force and Shining Force II (greatest RPGs ever?). In retrospect, it’s a ridiculous reason to skip class or stay up late into the night, but these quests don’t complete themselves, do they?

Well, get ready for an epic time suck, as today’s Google Doodle is a 16-bit styled video game.

Fire up your Chrome browser, and you’ll be greeted by Doodle Champion Island Games, a pixelated JRPG where you get to play Lucky the Ninja Cat, a (c)athlete that’s arrived at a festival where she’ll compete in seven different sports like archery and climbing. There’s an island to explore, quests to get completed, characters to talk to, and apparently, even more sporting events to unlock.

Debuting just in time for the Tokyo Olympics, Google claims it’s the largest interactive Doodle they’ve ever made and an homage to Japanese folklore and myths. While Google spearheaded the project, all the art and design comes from the Japanese animation firm Studio 4°C.

The description of the game is as follows:

​​Welcome to the Doodle Champion Island Games! Over the coming weeks, join calico (c)athlete Lucky as she explores Doodle Champion Island: a world filled with seven sports mini-games, legendary opponents, dozens of daring side quests, and a few new (and old ;)) friends. Her ultimate goal? Defeat each sport Champion to collect all seven sacred scrolls—and complete extra hidden challenges across Champion Island in the purrr-ocess.

Anywho, there goes my day. Doodle Champion Island will remain up so long as the Olympics are on, so good luck saving your game beyond August 8th.

Promise, Witness, Remembrance, the Speed Art Museum’s latest exhibit, honors the life of Breonna Taylor. Not only does the show reflect on Taylor’s murder at the hands of the Louisville police, but it explores the loss of countless Black lives to gun violence in the US.

Those three words that make up the exhibit's name come from Tamika Palmer, Breonna Taylor’s mother, and they divide the show into three crucial segments. “Promise” finds artists discussing the origins of our country and its founding, along with the symbolism that speaks to the realities of our ideologies. With “Witness,” they explore the moment we find ourselves in, with a country that exploded in protest last summer after police murdered Taylor and George Floyd. Finally, in “Remembrance,” they honor the Black lives lost to gun violence and the ongoing legacy of police brutality in the US.

Curated by Allison Glenn, the exhibition features both artists from the Louisville area and the national scene, like Lorna Simpson, Nick Cave, Nari Ward, and Bethany Collins. Perhaps the biggest draw to the exhibit, however, is Amy Sherald’s powerful portrait of Breonna Taylor that graced the cover of Vanity Fair.

But even when organizing a museum program of this nature, you still need other visual assets to frame the entirety of the affair. Strategic design studio Team created the verbal identity and typography used throughout the exhibition, with design lead Aida ElBaradei taking visual cues from epigraphs while adapting a typeface from one of the first known Black typeface designers. We spoke with Team about their less is more approach and how they tackled the consequential and necessary exhibition.

How did you come to get involved with the project?

John Clark, co-founder and creative director: Team was brought in by the strategists at Cultural Counsel, the PR firm that collaborated with Speed, to develop the public relations and social media strategy for the exhibition. We have collaborated with them on many campaigns, including the launch of the Bronx Museum of the Art’s Bronx Ball and the rebrand of Red Bull Arts.

What was your design process here? Can you tell me about the verbal identity and use of typography?

Aida ElBaradei, senior designer: Typography plays a huge role in this exhibition—we iterated through a variety of type treatments and drew inspiration from Black type designers like Joshua Darden, who gets credited as one of the first known African American type designers, and Tré Seals, whose work draws from the visual language of Civil Rights protest signs. In the end, we settled on Darden's Freight typeface. Freight is a graceful serif that pairs gravitas with elegance, reinforcing the power of the exhibition without distracting from the artwork itself.

Nicole Wang, senior designer: We selected galaxy black for the exhibit to complement Breonna Taylor’s portrait and favorite colors—a mix of blues and purples. We intentionally used it as the hero color for the visual identity. The heaviness of Galaxy black is an appropriate match for the weight of the show, and the color’s subtle depth gives it a transcendent quality, serving as a powerful accompaniment without creating a clashing color palette. In the web experience, we fade from Galaxy black to pure black, creating a subtle differentiation between the microsite and exhibit.

Devin Sager, associate creative director: Time: Allison Glenn broke the exhibition into three segments of Promise, Witness, and Remembrance (she elegantly describes the purpose of these three categories here) that naturally alluded to the tenses of past, present, and future. We felt the text should be dynamic in the sense of where to allude to the ever-shifting moment and perception for that particular segment of the exhibition, but not any concrete moment in time.

Throughout the exhibit, the placement of Promise, Witness, Remembrance is dynamic and ever-changing—signaling to the viewer that we should view each work through a shifting lens of time and place. What do Promise, Witness, Remembrance mean not just today, but how have they changed in the past 50 years? And what will the next 50 years look like?

What about other elements like interface design and motion graphics?

Ioan Buitu, user experience and interface designer: Our goal for the microsite was to create a fluid experience that presents the artwork as the audience’s primary focus. The user experience design evolved from a splash page we designed announcing the exhibit to a resource and tool for reflection. Each evolution of the site incorporated the subtle timeline design to situate the viewer with the work and the exhibit’s eponymous themes, whether they can visit the exhibition in person or not.

This is such a crucial exhibit in the wake of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd's murder in 2020, as well as the legacy of police brutality and systemic racism in the US. How do you approach this kind of project and visually frame it?

Samantha Kassay, creative producer: In developing the design for Promise, Witness, Remembrance, it was of the utmost importance that we were sensitive to the serious subject matter of the exhibition. For this reason, to focus on anything other than type and color was superfluous, as would be any design elements that detracted or overshadowed the art. As such, we collaborated closely with Allison Glenn and key community stakeholders through an in-depth workshop and goal alignment session, as well as a series of reviews to create the microsite and id
entity, ensuring the curatorial vision was front and center.

What was it about the project that resonated with you?

Amy Globus, co-founder, creative director: We felt this project was an opportunity to lift up an important story—but we also didn’t want the exhibition design to be in any way the focus. The input of Allison, The Speed, and community stakeholders was essential to creating a poignant identity that treats such a challenging subject with grace and the appropriate tone.

We were inspired by Glenn’s clear vision, “to explore the dualities between a personal, local story and the nation’s reflection on the promise, witness, and remembrance of too many Black lives lost to gun violence.”

Glenn’s vision pushed us to look at the exhibition and the individual pieces through the context of time. We used the dynamic positioning of the typography and the subtle palette to question the fundamental role time plays in understanding how we Promise, Witness, and Remember—as well as where we’ve been as a nation and where we might be in the future.

The work was also a good opportunity for us to reflect and learn. As a studio, we’ve been reckoning with how systemic racism and white supremacy affect the work we do and how we can use our output to promote the voices of artists and designers who may not always have the same opportunities which many of us in the studio are afforded. We don’t have all the answers, but this past year has been a lesson in leaving space for acknowledging our own privileges and learning to listen.

Promise, Witness, Remembrance runs until June 6th. You can reserve tickets for the exhibition here.

We’re sure you’re aware, but plastic pollution is out of control.

It’s in our oceans and waterways, it’s stuffed up sea turtles’ noses, and it’s definitely sitting around in landfills across the globe waiting for the next 500 or so years to decompose. And that’s if it really does at all—unless we figure out what Ted Williams saw in cryogenics, we’ll all be dead if and when the first pieces of human-made polymers disintegrate.

But what you might not know is that it’s also in the air that we breathe. You were already eating and drinking it—and, yes, pooping it, too—but now researchers have found that the further plasticization of the planet is only speeding up. Billions of pounds of discarded plastics that land in the ocean and, well, everywhere else, are now breaking down into microscopic pieces, getting tossed around in the air because of cars on the roads and winds traveling over our waterways and farms.

To raise awareness of this issue, Pentagram partner Giorgia Lupi and her team (including members Talia Cotton and Phillip Cox) have created "Plastic Air," an interactive experience that shows viewers just how common, everyday items break down and travel through the air that they breathe unbeknownst to them.

The web-based project was created alongside Google Arts & Culture and released for today’s Earth Day celebrations. The ask was to imagine something visually that would speak to the rising impact plastic pollution has on our health and the planet. After talking with many experts on microplastics, Lupi and her data-humanism-inspired work (humanizing facts and figures to frame an issue ) created a deeply captivating and approachable project worth sharing with your pals.

“‘Plastic Air’ allows viewers to imagine these particles as objects and see what we usually don’t see,” said Pentagram of the project. “The experience consists of a speculative “window” onto a data-driven approximation of plastic particles that exist all around us, but remain hidden to the naked eye. Users can drop identifiable objects like housewares and apparel to “pollute” the sky, and then see the items break down into the air. They can also adjust factors like location (cities vs. rural areas) and weather conditions like wind, rain, and snow to see how these affect dispersal patterns.”

Once you kickstart the interactive experience, you can see how some of the seemingly mundane things you do have dire consequences on your environment, from drinking a cup of coffee and redecorating your house to having a baby or even eating a snack. Once you do this, those objects break down into tiny pieces of plastic that float American Beauty-style around your window. The airborne microplastics almost resemble confetti, and the vibrant colors and shapes give it a charming sensibility—think of it as a party, but like, you know, a shitty pollution party where you can analyze the chemical composition of household items and how far they’ve potentially traveled.

Plastic pollution isn’t going away any time soon, and it's very unlikely brands will stop using it overnight. But “Plastic Air” is nice, steady reminder that we really should be using a lot less of the stuff, and the more designers that try to utilize alternative substrates to discourage the use of single-use plastics is always a good thing.

Anywho, happy Earth Day. Enjoy your confetti.

Now a part of the ViacomCBS portfolio, the Paramount name spans movies, TV, and digital streaming. Formerly CBS All Access, the streaming platform recently relaunched as Paramount+, and parent company ViacomCBS partnered with agency loyalkaspar to create the new brand identity for the platform.

As consumers embrace Over The Top (OTT) services instead of traditional cable and satellite, Paramount+ owns an identity that propels the legend into the new digital media age. With plenty of heritage to tap into, loyalkaspar gave the core element—the summit—a new, streamlined look while still projecting strength and authority. The wordmark is tied closely to the mountain, serving as the base to the peak. Additionally, the Paramount+ base is flexible enough to be paired with network logos such as MTV, CBS, or Cartoon Network, and can be used alone, applied vertically or horizontally.

A bespoke typeface, Peak Sans, was also designed to complement the core brand elements and draws inspiration from Paramount’s cinematic history, looking to theater marquees for inspiration—remember those? Additionally, loyalkaspar unified the various hues used by Paramount throughout the years into one pleasant and calming blue.

The new brand identity is a modern interpretation of a storied media brand as it enters the streaming age. Visually, it makes Paramount’s legacy clear and makes efficient use of the long-built equity in the brand. Paramount+’s new identity also serves a strong and adaptable base where primary elements such as the summit and wordmark can be used alone or used with sister brands under the ViacomCBS umbrella.

Illustration and graphic elements are clearly inspired by mid-to-late century aesthetic, animations compliment the music, and record packaging gets laid out in a format and layout familiar to those that like to drop needles onto wax. Each volume finds inspiration in the decade it represents, and covers include AR markers viewers can scan to interact with the record via their phones or tablets.

The AR vinyl is the resulting work of a master’s course at LISAA School of Art & Design, and the technology is powered by the Overly app. The use of augmented reality provides a more immersive way of experiencing TV jingles, both solo and within the advert, while also going beyond preservation to showcase the commercial music of decades past.

Designers, creatives, and web architects use filler text almost daily, so why not add awareness to their projects and increase early detection of Parkinson's Disease. It's the uncomplicated thought mixed with the powerful intentions that make this project a sincere winner.

Designers, creatives and web architects; they are just some of the people who see ‘Lorem Ipsum’ daily. Yet many don’t realise it derives from the Latin ‘dolorem ipsum’, roughly translated to ‘pain itself’ . Two words that people living with Parkinsons know all too well. In recognition of Parkinson’s Awareness Month, Wunderman Thompson Australia and Parkinson’s NSW have created Parkipsum’s – a Lorem Ipsum generator. Launched on World Parkinson’s Day, the tool changes the usual Lorem Ipsum dummy text to a variation that sheds light on the little-known symptoms of Parkinson’s, while also raising the importance of being aware of changes within yourself and others to increase early detection.

Project Credits

Advertising Agency: Wunderman Thompson, Sydney, Australia

National Chief Creative Officer: Simon Langley

Creative: Nick Doring

Creative: Kat Thomas

Digital Design Director: Dena Taiebat

UI Creative: Marvin Cheung

Senior Front End Developer: Joe Campbell

Partner: Ana Lynch

Engagement Manager: Rebekah O’Grady

Chief Executive Officer: Jo-Anne Reeves / Parkinson’s NSW

Marketing and Digital Manager: Mirelle Brockett

Hong Kong-based Nuverse develops and publishes games worldwide across multiple genres, including action, sports, and role-playing titles. The firm sought the expertise and talent of studio Pentagram London to create an identity with opened windows to the virtual worlds and immersive experiences its gaming portfolio strived to provide gamers with across the globe.

Pentagram’s branding for Nuverse took concepts like community, interconnectedness, and the passion that binds players to each other, the developers, and the business of gaming. The combined Chinese and Latin wordmark reflect the global reach of Nuverse, while the logo, made from connected spheres, represents individuals engaged in a game, with colors both bright and fun. An included player icon creator has over 500 different combinations, allowing gamers to highly personalize their icons, which are color-coded by game genre, showing some degree of connectedness while standing out as an individual.

Overall, the Pentagram team created a branding identity and system compatible with different gaming genres, markets, platforms, and devices, but its new visual look also works in meatspace on analog displays like paper and business cards. Flexible, vibrant, and colorful, the Nuverse brand stands out as much as the mesmerizing worlds created by game developers.

Marketing, branding, and design aren’t limited to commercial enterprises. Government agencies, advocacy groups, and other non-profits also rely on creative work to accomplish their respective missions. Every client is unique, of course, but the type of organization it is will often shape how a creative agency tailors its work and approach.

A community organization committed to helping underserved portions of the public is markedly different from a business selling widgets. Most of these organizations rely on donations, endowments, and a combination of public and private grants. While a business, even a bootstrapped start-up, will have at least one person versed in marketing and experience interfacing with a creative agency. And unlike some business clients, philanthropic entities can have difficulty communicating their own needs.

Brooklyn-based Mixteca is a nonprofit organization (NPO) dedicated to enriching the lives of the local Latinx communities by enabling access to critical services and programs while building a supportive environment. Recently, the NPO launched a new identity with help from branding and design studio Trollbäck+Company.

The agency created a system inspired by Mixetca’s leadership, heritage, and mission that clearly articulates its purpose, one that they can easily use across different media and social channels for years to come. Trollbäck recognized the unique needs of Mixteca and tailored the solution to the NPO, while the community nature and social good of their mission helped to inspire and drive the project creatively.

“I think the biggest difference between a [business brand and nonprofit], for me, was this was a lot about guidance and collaboration,” Nadia Husain, design director at Trollbäck, said. "Everyone who we worked with at Mixteca was very emotionally connected to the brand, in some ways more so than I think with a lot of corporate brands.”

"It really comes down to a difference in audience,” said Bo Bishop, executive director of creative strategy at Trollbäck. “Working for a nonprofit, creative companies need to understand there are three essential audiences that you design for. One is the community that the nonprofit serves, then the internal stakeholders, and three, which is essential, is the fundraising aspect,” Bo adds.

Unlike a business start-up pleading its case to investors, nonprofits need to communicate the significance of their mission, as well as the effectiveness of donations towards that cause. Rather than seeking profits or growth, donors want to see their dollar further the organization’s purpose.

With an understanding of Mixteca’s needs, Trollbäck went to work developing a system with clear cultural nods, like the geometric patterns and a color palette reminiscent and familiar within the Latinx community. Respect and close consultation with Mixteca lent authenticity to the new branding. Bright and contrasting colors are vibrant, sure. But they're also attractive and eye-catching on a poster in Sunset Park, Instagram, or in a fundraising email blast. Typography choices take into account license fees, and as such lean heavily on Google Fonts. The new visual language also considers the software Mixteca uses, such as Canva, creating a solution that best fits their operations.

“It just felt like a very democratic process in the sense that everyone gets a vote, rather than just one or two people who are major stakeholders,” Nadia explained.

“I think with a nonprofit, it's much more important that there's internal alignment and that they agree on things. It's much more democratic,” Bishop says. “But I think the key takeaway for nonprofits reading this and working with an outside agency is to have a specific point person who's really good at communicating between our team and their team." It's also helpful to have a smaller committee that can steer the creative process. Then, you can take that support to a board of directors—which is what happened with Mixteca.

Agencies should strive to make the most of the time and effort put into a nonprofit project, even if it won't add oodles of ducats to the coffers. The work is rewarding, and it deserves the same level of professionalism according to both Husain and Bishop—don't treat it like a side project.

“Just because it's not a paying job doesn't mean that it's not a worthwhile investment,” Nadia said.

“From the agency side, it has to get treated like a real project,” Bo added. “It has to be produced, it has to be scheduled, and strategists have to be given the time that they would be given on any project to achieve the objectives. Sometimes, I think agencies will work with a nonprofit, but it will be like, on Thursday nights, when they're at the end of the day and drinking a beer."

“We've found that the most successful times we've worked with nonprofits is when we treat them just like every other job," Bo further explained. “You actually produce work that is way more impactful. Otherwise, if you hope that it happens on people's downtime, it won't happen.”

To visually represent how quickly arctic ice is melting, Helsingin Sanomat, the largest Nordic newspaper, has released a new typeface, Climate Crisis, and it's free for individual and commercial use.

The most obvious use cases are likely for media outlets communicating the urgency of the climate change crisis, as you can set the OpenType variable font to represent the level of sea ice that has melted into the ocean from 1979 to 2050. For projects where variable fonts are unsupported, a set of weights representing ice levels at 1979, 1990, 2000, 2010, 2019, 2030, 2040, and 2050 come into play. The data used to visualize the ice melt are from National Snow and Ice Data Center’s (NSIDC) data from 1979 to 2019 and projections to 2050 from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change”s (IPCC) Special Report on the Ocean and Cryosphere in a Changing Climate.

“These kinds of new methods of journalistic storytelling compliment our recent investments in data journalism. Yet, we don’t just want to keep it to ourselves, which is why we are giving it out for free and hope to see it in use elsewhere as well”, says Tuomas Jääskeläinen, the Art Director of Helsingin Sanomat, in a press release.

To learn more and download the font, visit www.TypeToAct.com.

Editor X, the powerful platform for creative and web professionals by Wix.com, has officially launched.

Editor X’s beta release comes after a year of improvements and added features to the already 200,000-strong user base. Editor X allows team members to concurrently design and work on a website simultaneously. The new platform allows precise control at every breakpoint, CMS integration, advanced code editing, and e-commerce solutions.

Customers and visitors visit websites across many devices these days, creating a genuinely adaptive website that looks great and exactly as intended used to be expensive and complex. Wix.com’s Editor X allows professionals to control how different page elements interact with each other at different breakpoints. Editor X includes smart docking for page elements, pinning, animations, control overflow, even choose different behavior based on screen size. Wix.com’s new platform also incorporates control of copy flow and built-in image editing.

“Editor X is a dream come true for a designer—I have the complete flexibility to create and can manage every aspect of design on the platform, which makes my workflow much more efficient than it used to be,” said Andrea Beaulieu, creative director of Studio Linear, an NYC based creative agency, via press release. "Working within the music industry, we need to be on top of emerging web design trends because a website is an extension of a client's branding."

To learn more and start creating using the new powerful Editor X platform, visit EditorX.com.

Main task

Our task was to develop a visual identity for “Kritika” which is software that helps users find mistakes and vulnerabilities in the code written by a software development team.

Research

During the client briefing, we outlined the mission of Kritika, its competitive advantages, and its core customers. The service was developed for CTOs in large companies who want to control the quality of their product but are unable to monitor every single employee.

Kritika does this job for them in a reliable and automatic way. Users who apply Kritika in their work can be assured that everything is under control. Customers will no longer feel that they are not alone, knowing there is something standing against coding mistakes.

Comparing Kritika’s competitors, we realized that the majority of similar apps share similar looks. They all appear way too “digital” and cold, seemingly soulless. That’s why we decided to emphasize the emotion of using the product with the help of craft stylistics.

Concept

Metaphor: Personal Assistant

As we were looking for a visual identity, we decided to create a virtual character and animate the product in this way. Kritika is metaphorically represented as a competent “personal assistant”. She knows the topic very well, has her own opinion, and shows creativity. She is learning all the time by studying new languages and has the same goal as the user, to improve the quality of the product. That’s why her criticism is constructive and friendly. Kritika spots minute imperfections and gives useful advice.

Solution

The logo is based on a monospaced font that calls to two different applications. On the one hand, this sort of font is seen in code editors, a direct tie-in to Kritika’s application. On the other hand, this is the font of typewriters, symbolic of critics and personal assistants. Together it expresses the metaphoric character in a wonderful way.

The visual image of Kritika is also expressed with the use of craft illustrations, which shows the way Kritika works and emphasizes its features. To check and correct the code, a pair of eyes and hands are all that’s required, so they appear on the illustrations.

We also chose corporate colors that are closer to the real world and are not typical of a digital product, such as natural carrot-like orange and olive colors, deep graphite, and Swiss white, the color of paper.

Details

The visual concept is reinforced with common corporate sights. For example, we intentionally made mistakes in the headlines and underlined them with a squiggly, red line, similar to how code editors mark errors. Placed under the slogan, the logo resembles a popup message. All the microcopy addresses the user from the first person singular in order to create a feeling of dialogue.

Conclusion

The metaphor of a “personal assistant” helped us add character to the service, also supported by illustrations and copy, creating a scalable corporate identity that stands out among the competition while being memorable.

Credits

Art Direction: Aleksandr Gusakov

Graphic Design: Julia Zamiatina

Illustrations: Myroslava Shevchenko

Photography: Akim Karpach

At League Design Agency, we strive to understand the needs of our customers and solve their business problems with the help of design tools.

Following a year of pivotal changes and global uncertainty, we’re entering 2021 with a newfound understanding of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.

Reflecting on this unique moment in time through a design lens, Editor X’s Shaping Design publication recently released Web Design in 2021. This interactive report covers 10 themes that will dominate the digital design industry in the coming year, and the role they’ll play in the work we create.

Here are four major takeaways from the report, plus a few examples of innovative and refreshing web design.

1. Life On Screen

As we shelter in place and practice social distancing, the bulk of our daily activities and interactions has shifted online. With the internet now serving as a critical lifeline connecting us to the outside world, screen time has become more of a necessity than a luxury. This places a heightened responsibility in the hands of web designers.

In response, designers are making up for our lost real-life interactions by creating immersive web experiences that are spatial and rich with elaborate visual effects.

The BFA Show Opening created by Yifu Zhang is a great example of this. The website served as the opening event for an art show featuring various schools across the world.

Since the show couldn’t bring people together in a physical setting, the website allowed participants to explore the artwork while also encouraging conversation between participants as their avatars moved around the virtual space.

Web designers are also searching for exciting new ways to bring tactility into our otherwise flat UIs. Designers turn to the tangible world of print for inspiration, reinterpreting traditional print layouts, grids and other elements—such as stickers—to create a lifelike sense of depth.

2. Design for Change

Now more than ever, we see designers lending their creative voices to engage with pressing issues, ranging from the climate crisis to racial injustice and political turmoil. Whether individually or in collaboration with likeminded creatives and companies, designers are using their skills to educate, empower and raise awareness.

Wavering Stripes, for example, is an interactive website created by Naily Nevarez and Detention Watch Network. It delves into the issue of immigration detention in the United States, using custom illustrations to create a bold storytelling experience that amplifies detainees’ personal recollections.

A similar social awakening is happening with our relationships to brands, as a new generation of consumers are demanding that brands do more than provide a product or service. Designers working in large companies will speak up for causes they believe in and respond to current events in real time, creating strong visuals that send an unequivocal message of solidarity and support.

At the same time, tech designers are reassessing their role in creating products that put users’ agency, privacy and wellbeing at the forefront, instead of competing for their attention and data. This coincides with the rise of design movements such as digital wellness and calm tech.

3. It’s All About You

In 2021, web and app design will put users at the center in an almost literal way. Our faces will play a growing role in our online experiences, and we'll have greater control over the design of our apps and websites.

We've already seen our faces take center stage this year, with the widespread use of webcams, face filters and avatars. Our reflections, as seen via a webcam or different face recognition technologies, will replace those of photoshopped models and stock photography to foster relatability and engagement.

One web experiment that makes interesting use of users’ faces is Your Typeface. In this typographic project co-created by Overtone and Set Snail, site visitors can design a variable font based on their facial features and expressions, resulting in a unique font for each visitor.

It’s not just the use of our faces in UI that will make web experiences feel more personal. Interface design itself will be much more flexible and customizable. This will allow users to express their tastes, style and identity through the look and feel of their apps and websites. Users will be able to tailor-make their own UIs using modular and modifiable assets, adapting the design to fit their current mood or a special event.

4. Hope By Design

In light of the momentous and turbulent global events we’ve seen this year, design will continue to offer comfort, relief and a sense of optimism.

The current health and mental health crises have given rise to a new aesthetic within healthcare design that’s playful, energetic and uplifting. It’s a refreshing alternative to the cold and medicinal visual language commonly associated with these fields. This style helps extend a calming, friendly hand to patients who need it.

The physical activity and wellbeing website and app Squadeasy is all color and cheer. Created by Guillaume Azadian, Célia Lopez, Lei Xing and Soufiane Lasri, it’s designed to make people happier using a neon-green background and an animated puppy face that swirls around as you scroll down the page.

A similar sense of lightheartedness is also making its way into other fields. A surge in online games offers mindless digital escapism that’s free of any functional purpose, other than passing the time and providing a much-welcomed distraction.

Across web design, we can also expect to see a rise in visuals that convey a sense of hope using colorful gradients, vast open l
andscapes and skies and other promising elements that, together, help paint a brighter future.

Eden Spivak is a design expert and editor at Shaping Design by Editor X. She is also a freelance illustrator, with a love for editorial and children’s illustration. Working at the intersection of text and image, she is passionate about putting visual concepts into words and dreaming up imagery to accompany written text.

UNESCO—the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization—hosts the Futures Literacy event, which aims to redefine how we see and shape the future, from environmental crises to racism, gender oppression and more.

As UNESCO breaks it down:

Futures Literacy, a universally accessible skill that builds on the innate human capacity to imagine the future, offers a clear, field-tested solution to poverty-of-the-imagination. UNESCO, in its role as a global laboratory of ideas at the cutting edge of human knowledge, has demonstrated that people and communities everywhere are capable of becoming more futures literate. This means they are able to use their imaginations for different reasons, using different methods, in different contexts.

So: How do you brand a five-day summit with such a high-level mission?

“The team has created a moving identity that conveys the spirit of an ecosystem where ideas spark, collide, merge, grow and develop, reflecting this innovative and forward-thinking approach,” Pentagram writes. “This universe is constantly changing, but made of a family of components crafted and animated in 3D which represent ideas, thoughts, systems, which are unusual, using colors such as purple and mustard, which are also unfamiliar and surprising.”

The summit, originally slated for the Paris UNESCO HQ, will feature everyone from government officials to thought leaders from various disciplines. Check out Pentagram’s work below (still and animated)—and, even better, see it in action by registering for the summit.

The Atlanta-based masters of marketing have long partnered with the Decatur Book Festival to bring a diverse group of writers to the fore. The 2020 landscape is very different for authors—in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, book tours and festivals, crucial outlets for many, have been scrapped, lessening visibility and sales, not to mention vital perspective.

So Mailchimp pivoted, and “By the Book: A Collection of Rising Voices” was born.

“Our summer reading partnership with the Decatur Book Festival has long been one of my favorite Mailchimp programs, and when the festival was cancelled this year, we had to find a new way to promote these authors facing disrupted book launches and an uncertain moment in publishing,” says Sarita Alami, director of programming for Mailchimp Studios. “‘By the Books’ is an attempt to take the book festival experience online, to curate new conversations, commission new writing and provide a space to engage with stories that we want to share.”

True to its usual form, the company utilizes design and illustration to gather and magnify a powerful ensemble of works. There are many entry points into the virtual fest, but the cornerstone is a collection of 14 books curated by Ann Friedman and Aminatou Sow—hosts of Call Your Girlfriend and co-authors of Big Friendship—championing fresh ideas and progressive thought.

Ashley C. Ford, meanwhile, offers a curated set of literary essays for Mailchimp, while Sow and Friedman deepen the book selections with a series of conversations with authors including Cathy Park Hong, Curtis Sittenfeld and Danez Smith.

“By the Books” then springs to visual life via the new Book Shook series, featuring Reese Witherspoon, Jameela Jamil and Yara Shahidi reflecting on books that moved them, alongside bi-weekly documentaries and short films, including I Am Not Your Negro, Public Speaking: Fran Lebowitz and more.

Finally, Mailchimp provides an audio component with the new podcast The Books That Changed Us, hosted by Aaron Lammer and Max Linsky of Longform. It kicked off with guests Shea Serrano and Saeed Jones.

All told, “By the Books” is a brilliant literary festival to-go—and a testament to the power of what companies can build when they go against the grain of the usual bland business advice to stay in their lane.

Berlin-based gallery dealer Johann König makes a living selling art he can barely see—he has 2% vision.

When he was 11 years old, he was playing with toy store gunpowder when it suddenly exploded in his hands. “I saw a flash,” König told Art Agenda. “I couldn’t see anything and I was extremely hurt.”

After 14 hours of operations, he was transferred to the local eye hospital, where the chairman did another 12-hour operation, “and they were kind of surprised that they worked something out at all, I think,” says König, who represents 29 artists, many of whom are collected in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. “When I do studio visits [with artists], they are so nice, you know?” he says. “Artists will show me a crappy, bad, photocopied image and I honestly see nothing on it and then they explain everything to me and I get it. It’s fine.”

Making aesthetic judgments that make or break thousands of euros doesn’t faze him. “It’s not about knowing whether the art is good or bad,” says König. “I’m able to build up an imagination of the piece and this forms a communication with the artist, which is very important, to also form trust.”

Anyone can become blind, at any age, any time. According to the World Health Organization, 285 million people worldwide are visually impaired—39 million are blind and 246 million have low vision, 90% of whom live in developing countries. Roughly 82% of the visually impaired are over the age of 50. The United States is home to 6.6 million blind citizens over the age of 16, according to the National Federation of the Blind. And viewed collectively, these statistics make up a ripe challenge—one that designers can truly impact.

THE BRAILLE REVOLUTION

Braille, the embossed language for the visually impaired, is seeing revolutionary changes in its design. It’s the advent of the long-awaited “braille revolution” that Fredric Schroeder, the first vice president of the National Federation of the Blind, called for in 1994. Schroeder defined it as necessary “for true social equality.”

“Today, we have braille on medical packaging, wine labels, restaurant menus, personal cards,” Portuguese graphic designer Bruno Brites says. “It is also possible to have braille dots with color, which explores the visual side of braille and its aesthetic shape.”

Canadian, Chinese, Mexican, Indian, Israeli and Russian currencies are printed with braille, as are British pillboxes and American buildings. With Apple products, the blind can take photos of words and hear them transcribed—a braille note-taker app for the iPad called iBrailler Notes was recently unveiled, too, offering a way to quickly type braille notes on a touchscreen. The visually impaired can also browse the web with the B2G braille keyboard and JAWS software, a tool that reads websites aloud. The blind can use word-to-audio narration Kurzweil, use the braille translator Duxbury DBT with more than 130 languages and the NDVA open-source reading software.

In 2014, the first commercially affordable 3D printed braille phone also hit the market by OwnPhone, while Index Braille released a portable braille embosser called Basic-D. And in 2015, Apple’s VoiceOver, which reads speech in Apple products, garnered the 2015 Helen Keller Achievement Award from the American Foundation for the Blind.

3D printed braille phone by OwnFone

“Braille has adapted wonderfully to modern technologies,” says Marie-Renée Hector, a blind ceramics sculptor who was partially sighted until 1995, when her retina detached. But, “With new technologies and computer speech development, some people say that it is the end of braille, that it has become useless or obsolete. These people don’t know what they’re talking about or have lost their sight late and don’t want to adapt to their new condition. Braille pages can now have different formats and large maps can be made of towns, countries, as well as art books, geometry, chemistry diagrams and graphs.”

While speech synthesizers are much faster, “refreshable braille displays”—electronic devices that feature morphing braille characters via raised pins on a keyboard-like structure—are ideal for deaf-blind users. “[It] represents a huge step for the blind in having a quick access to a computer and general information—these devices make visually impaired people much more independent, more literate and free in their own lives,” Brites says.

There is even a braille version of Playboy, which has been printed since 1970. Held in the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, the Internet Archive brought it online in 2011. Naturally, it’s read for the articles, as there is no pictorial version. (That’s left to pornfortheblind.org, a volunteer-run website that donates porn audio clips.)

One hub for print development is The National Braille Press, a braille magazine publisher, which launched the Center for Braille Innovation in Boston. Built as a base for new ideas and affordable tech tools, the Center recently held a tactile graphic and thermoform workshop that aids braille. By featuring design tools to create lines and braille textures on a thermoform machine, it seems almost anything can be printed on a ViewPlus Tiger embosser—at least someday.

THE HISTORY OF BRAILLE

The history of braille started 191 years ago, arou
nd the same time James Monroe was president and people were going to Beethoven concerts. “Braille” is the surname of Louis Braille, a French scholar who lost his eyesight in a childhood accident—one similar to that of König. While he was studying at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, Braille created a reading and writing code in 1824, when he was just 15 years old. Inspired by the military cryptography system created by French army captain Charles Barbier (who developed “night writing” for Napoleon’s military to read in darkness), Braille created the raised dot-based system for the blind “to be treated as equals,” as he said, “and communication is the way this can be brought about.”

While it was first invented for the French alphabet, English braille soon followed. As National Braille Press explains, “The braille cell is a unit of six raised or embossed dots—two horizontally and three vertically. Each dot in the cell is referenced by its placement numbers of dot 1 through dot 6. Various combinations of the six dots represent letters, numbers and word contractions.”

Today, there are three braille codes:

1. Grade One (uncondensed) braille spells out the 26 letters of the alphabet.

2. Grade Two (condensed) braille—the standard for most users—is literary, condensing words into cells made of 250 photogram letters, numbers, abbreviations, contractions, punctuation and formatting marks.

3. Building on the Grade Two contractions, Grade Three braille is shorthand for fast readers. It adds 200 celled words to the vocabulary (for example, the word acknowledge in short form is ack).

Both Grade Two and Grade Three braille are condensed for practical reasons (paper) and length issues.

There are also embossed graphs and illustrations, as well as braille numbers (called Nemeth) and braille musical notation—as Louis Braille was a cellist and organ player in the Parisian Church of Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs.

.

Braille design can only be read if it’s measured correctly to fit under the reader’s fingertips. “If cells are too small, too large, too close together or uneven in spacing, the message can’t be read properly,” says Frances Mary D’Andrea, chair of the Braille Authority of North America. “There is a standard size for each cell and standard distances between cells and even within a cell.”

So, no “font” sizes can be changed. According to National Braille Press, a standard braille page is 11 inches by 11.5 inches, and a 12-point document will essentially double in length with braille.

Exclamation marks? All caps? Italics? When braille needs to indicate a change in the type, symbols are added before and after a word, phrase or paragraph, not unlike the Spanish language.

To help readers and transcribers, the design of braille follows the format guidelines of each country’s braille authority (in the U.S., for example, that is the Braille Authority of North America).

“There are levels of headings, formats for things like columns, poetry, footnotes, captions, and all sorts of text elements,” says D’Andrea. “And of course, many braille readers use electronic braille displays to read material online or stored electronically. The design of those devices is also important to readability.”

With such a comprehensive system in place, one wonders why braille literacy is so low. The National Federation of the Blind says only 10% of the visually impaired can read braille (a statistic they’re attempting to improve through educational resources and initiatives).

One reason for such low literacy is because many who are blind or severely visually impaired are above 65 years old, “and many don’t have the opportunity to learn braille for complicated reasons,” says D’Andrea. “In children, blindness and visual impairment are considered a ‘low-incidence’ disability in the U.S.—one of the lowest in all of special education. Many children with visual impairments also have additional disabilities, including cognitive disabilities that make braille reading slower or more difficult for them. Service delivery issues factor in.”

There are braille bookstores, both online (Amazon’s bestselling braille list includes several children’s book titles) and in major cities, which sell everything from Danielle Steel to Star Trek, as well as young adult novels, textbooks and children’s books. The problem is that braille books are heavy and expensive to produce, with mounting costs for expert transcription, proper paper, embossing—and then often assembling the book by hand, since modern binding equipment doesn’t handle braille well.

When National Braille Press printed the Harry Potter series, it clocked in at over 56 volumes, each tome at least 12 inches thick. They’re not cheap, either: Each Harry Potter book costs between $65 and $218, depending on its length—and that’s before the costs of shipping a 50-pound book.

A braille edition of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in five volumes

Some organizations have been working on the problem, though—a nonprofit called Seedlings collects donations and sells braille books to children for a low cost average, such as $10 a book—and others are working on designs to spread braille literacy to even more potential readers who may not have the money or resources to get their hands on a braille book.

PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES OF BRAILLE

While every facet of design has its superheroes and heroines, so too does braille.

One of them is Philipp Meyer, who designed an experimental, tactile comic book for the blind called Life. Possibly the first braille comic ever, the story unfolds through shaped characters that call to mind a game of “Pong,” but with a non-text narrative. “I always wanted to see how graphically simplifed a story can be without losing its meaning,” Meyer writes on his website. “I wanted to use comic techniques, the user’s imagination, and let the medium do the work.”

Philipp Meyer’s tactile comic, Life

It isn’t a superhero comic book. Every page has four frames depicting situations with braille numbers to explain the reading direction. The first frames introduce one character—a circle—that grows up and meets another, represented by a circle with a differ
ent texture. “They get closer and closer until they have a child, who leaves home at some point; then one human dies, and after a while the other human dies as well,” says Meyer. “It’s about life itself.”

Meanwhile, Brites designed a braille version of Message, a poetry book by Portuguese writer Fernando Pessoa. A design master’s project at the Duncan and Jordanstone College of Art and Design, it was produced in collaboration with ceramicists, bookbinders and two braille readers. “My blind collaborators participated in the design process, helping to certify the legibility of braille, discussing the best solutions to achieve the final layout of the haptic image and choosing the best materials,” says Brites. “As a graphic designer, it was definitely a test of my communication boundaries.”

The sculptor Hector helped Brites with his book, which originated as a ceramics book, lo and behold. “I have always been a defender of braille, being blind myself and having learned braille from the age of 4,” Hector says. “When I met Bruno, we exchanged a lot [of ideas] about his book and I encouraged him to create a poetry book; we discussed its aspects, the pleasure of touching different materials, the coldness or softness of materials for fingers. … It was really great for me to meet him because he showed me how much he believed in the development of beautiful objects together with braille. I am always grateful to those who have no prejudices whatsoever.”

Braille and standard typography have also seen recent overlaps. German designer Simone Fahrenhorst created an alphabet that combines braille into “a new typography that can be seen as an intersection between braille and normal print,” as a way to prepare the elderly for reading braille type, says Fahrenhorst.

Braille type by Simone Fahrenhorst.

Meanwhile, English designer Greg Bland created an alternative braille typeface based upon the “Kobigraph,” a typographic bridge between embossed braille and the alphabet. His typeface, the Kobi Serif, is an alternative to braille inspired by calligraphy inspired by Korean symbols. It can be read by everyone—it embodies the same cell structure as braille but the dots are connected with a calligraphic script “as a guide,” says Bland, “to get people understanding braille.”

Award-winning designer Rene Put took a similar approach with stamps created for the Dutch national post, combining text and braille to celebrate Louis Braille’s birthday. “Read Them” offered short phrases that combined braille and text into what Put calls “a typographical puzzle.”

“For the first time, the blind could read and experience a stamp,” says Put, who, for each phrase, added the missing letters by printing them on the back of the stamp (sort of like a cheat sheet).

BRAILLE AS ART

Some of the most fascinating recent creative developments in braille are the role it has been playing in the arts. A festival called the Blind Creations Conference in England kicked off in 2015 at Royal Holloway University in Egham, Surrey.

A hub for academics who cover blind topics, it stretched far beyond your typical PowerPoint presentations by including a haptic exhibition. Works by seven blind artists were on show, hoping to break down the “helpless blind” stereotype. Rather, it’s “not just giving people a piece of braille but playing with issues around celebrating blindness as a creative force,” says Hannah Thompson, a blind educator who co-founded the event with Vanessa Warne.

Bringing together academics, designers and artists, Thompson and Warne pulled together a program of tactile art, photographs taken by the blind, audio-directed theater, public art sculptures and raised print poetry. “It’s a different way to experience art and design,” Thompson says.

And not only that, but it breaks the rules of the art world, too. “Do not touch the art” has a whole new meaning. “Everyone was allowed to touch everything,” laughs Thompson, who specializes in French literature at Royal Holloway.

One highlight from the festival included a public sculpture carved from concrete by blind English artist David Johnson called “Too Big to Feel.” Johnson created 18 large concrete domes that are each 66 pounds in weight. They sit on a grassy slope in front of the conference, and spell out “Seeing Red” in Grade Two braille. The artist, who became blind in his mid-30s, made the pieces by pouring concrete into plastic bags on a table with a carved out hole. “He wanted to make the point that visual metaphors have become so much of our language,” says Thompson. “‘Seeing Red’ is not about seeing but understanding or believing, as blind artists connect with the world through touch.”

“Too Big to Feel”

The piece poses a paradox: If you’re blind, you can’t read the work as braille unless you awkwardly crawl across the grass piecing it together—but even then it’s simply too big, says Thompson. If you’re sighted, you can’t read it either because you never learned braille. That middle point is the crux, however. “Braille is creative—it’s an inventive way of expressing things,” she says. “An artform.”

The conference also featured a cameo from a London-based theater company for the visually impaired, Extant, which is developing a handheld haptic white cube called the Animotus that leads attendees through a pitch-dark play with an indoor localization system similar to GPS.

Created in collaboration with Dr. Ad Spiers of Yale University and Dr. Janet van der Linden of Open University, the pilot play, “Flatland,” dressed guests up in neoprene, spacesuit-like uniforms wired to the Animotus. Through localization systems, WiFi and radio frequencies, instructions were sent in real time to the devices through a microcontroller in the system’s hardware.

The show is sort of an Orwellian dystopia, a world where talking is prohibited. Based on a satirical novella by Edwin Abbott Abbott written in 1884, guests are transported to the world described in the book, primarily hearing and feeling. Able to move around the dark theater with the plastic cubes in their hands, guests are led by vibrations. So far, the project has received £125,000 in government funding for the development of the cube, and a full public performance is set for 2018.

But most important: Experts say devices like this could make the visually impaired more independent by allowing them to navigate the unknown with trust, potentially replacing guide dogs and canes and ushering in a new era of autonomy.

DAWN OF THE REVOLUTION

Back in the day, when Schroeder, who is now 58, called for a braille revolution, he said:

We must do it by first believing that we are as capable as others, by banding together and demanding access to literacy comparable with our sighted peers. We must do it by coming together through organizations such as the Italian Blind Union, the European Blind Union, and the World Blind Union and convincing society that our claim to equality is not merely wishful thinking or hyperbole, but fact.

Once we have achieved a shift in the way we and society view blindness and adjust our expectations accordingly, then I believe the resources will follow. By reshaping society’s assumptions about blindness, we can begin replacing the belief that minimal functioning is all that can be expected from the blind. Once this has been achieved, braille becomes no longer simply the method by which the less-fortunate read, but instead takes its rightful place as the means to literacy for the blind.

The revolution continues.

About Nadja Sayej

Nadja Sayej is a culture journalist and photographer who covers architecture, travel, design, technology and art. She writes for The New York Times, T: The New York Times Style Magazine, The Guardian, Forbes, Harper's Bazaar, among others. She has written four books, including Getting Your S*** Together and Biennale Bitch. Follow her on Twitter at @nadjasayej and check out her work at nadjasayej.com.

View all posts by Nadja Sayej →

Why was a redesign of the SVA website necessary?SVA needed a fresh-faced platform to showcase the incredible work created here and our vibrant community. Which also meant crafting a site tuned to the myriad of devices available today. Sva.edu was last redesigned eight years ago (with a mobile version released six years ago), so we identified many areas for improvement in the user’s experience of the site due to the quick evolution of online media during that time. Also, we desperately wanted to introduce a new set of typefaces and a brighter design from our previous iteration. Back in 2012, while planning the last site, there were typographic limitations that constrained our decisions. So much has changed for type on the web since then!

Before design even began, we engaged in hundreds of meetings with stakeholders across 60 academic and administrative departments in an attempt to define objectives, pare down content and envision the most streamlined user-flows possible. We managed to reduce the number of pages on the site by around 35%. We ran user tests on our navigation to ensure users can find the most important parts of the site.

With such a huge site comprised of so many parts, how long did it take to design, program and test, and what issues were involved in making the site function the way you wanted?The entire process took around three years. One of our foremost concerns was that the site be ADA accessible to all users. From the beginning we worked hard to ensure our color palette and font sizes met contrast ratio requirements for visually impaired users. As these designs were implemented, we worked with consultants to ensure our choices were as accessible as possible to anyone wishing to access the site.

The design process began with ideation on pencil and paper before working digitally on a complex library of structural page modules and CSS styles. Every page design was crafted across at least four different breakpoints: 4K, desktop, tablet, and mobile. Our small team met on a biweekly basis to discuss the minute details of each page. We would debate user experience, iconography, typography and user flows, all with the objective of creating a beautiful, fluid user experience.

We extensively prototyped our designs to test that our ideas for user-flows made sense in practice. Handing off designs for developers to translate into code has historically been a tricky proposition. We worked very closely with our developers to ensure our visual designs and subtle animations during content transitions appear as close to how we imagined them as possible. There are several great tools that designers can use to help ease the translation between design and code and clearly convey an idea to a developer.

Once implemented, every page design required rigorous testing both for functionality and design consistency across all responsive breakpoints. Testing is painstaking but essential work, so we could rest assured our designs looked great for everyone everywhere.

The CMS was an enormous undertaking in its own right, and we designed, prototyped and developed it alongside the public-facing front end of the site. The CMS allows the entire SVA community to highlight student work and clearly present information to our internal and external audiences.

Who was involved in its creation?SVA Visual Arts Press creative director (and chair of the BFA Advertising and Design department) Gail Anderson created a multifaceted and multiskilled design team by teaming web and graphic designers together:

1. Eric Corriel: digital strategy director (and a faculty member in several different SVA departments)

2. Brian E. Smith: design director (also a BFA Design faculty member and MFA 2006 Design alumnus)

3. Declan Van Welie: web designer and developer

4. Ryan Durinick: former senior designer (and current BFA Illustration faculty member)

5. Linnea Taylor: multimedia designer (BFA 2009 Graphic Design)

6. Josh Weingart: freelance web designer (BFA 2017 Design)

7. Stephanie Gaito: freelance web designer

8. Sam Potts: freelance web designer

9. Interns: Shannon Koh (BFA 2017 Design), Janina Quinn (BFA 2018 Design), Ifah Pantitanonta (BFA 2018 Design), Aline Rubin (BFA 2019 Design)

10. Additionally, SVA MFA Interaction Design faculty member Karen McGrane consulted on the site.

PRINT is back. And soon, we’ll be relaunching with an all-new look, all-new content and a fresh outlook for the future. Stay tuned.

The Eye-Catching. The Controversial. The Adventurous.

Ad blockers, ad clicking robots, and search engine penalties for ad violations mires today’s online advertising environment. This environment throws a heavy lift on graphic designers searching for ways to create an effective web banner design. By that we mean a banner ad that stays on brand, doesn’t annoy the website viewer, and actually converts.

Drafting a cool web banner design is doable despite this obstacle-filled internet space. Let’s review the factors behind an effective web banner ad, a key component of any web design.

Elements of a Successful Creative Web Banner Design

It’s important to first research search engines and their advertising policies to fully understand how to deliver a successful, creative banner ad. Google lists its advertising policies, and it will penalize websites that do not follow those policies. Google’s advice on creating web banner ads is a bit dated, from 2016, but its advice still rings true: “the success of a banner campaign comes down to creative quality.” Google further recommends that website banner ads should be compelling, concise, and clear.

With those action items in mind, the workflow of a creative banner ad should contain the following tasks.

The Process

The marketing team should conduct thorough research on the target audience. Why? To produce a message that invokes one of the three models of persuasion – ethos, pathos, and logos — to resonate with the target audience and to entice them to click.

The designer then should work with the marketing team to identify the visual elements to enforce that persuasion model. The team identifies the marketing copy and visual elements. Then the graphic designer utilizes the graphic design principles – alignment, hierarchy, contrast, repetition, proximity, balance, color, and space — to design the ad.

The implementation of the creative banner ad is an iterative process. It also includes testing and analysis to determine the ad’s overall effectiveness. A/B testing of the ad’s performance will inform the marketing and design team if tweaking of the ad is required or if the ad meets its conversion goals.

Other factors worth mentioning behind a creative web banner design include relevancy and recognition. Part of the marketing and design research should address how to establish relevancy to the target audience. The website banner ad should instill brand recognition as well. Establishing brand recognition starts by defining the timeline of the brand campaign. It ends with identifying the channels to market the campaign. Brand recognition efforts and relevancy require constant review throughout the life of the campaign.

Examples of Successful, Creative Web Banner Designs

This web banner ad won gold place in the 2018 American Advertising Awards. It was created by Garrison Hughes for the Scope International Contemporary Art Show. This ad grabs attention by visually representing a typewriter gun in the form of a weapon. The company uses timely copywriting that mimics the discussion around a highly-contentious issue in today’s political spheres to grab the website user’s attention.

Vattenhall’s, an energy company based in Europe, website banner ad utilizes application programming interfaces (APIs) to adapt the ad’s image based on the landing page’s content. It relies on an API to determine which version of the banner ad to present that best identifies with the user’s intent. It’s a brilliant way to connect to the website viewer and deliver relevancy to the user’s search.

Another winner in the American Advertising Awards is BRUNNER’s banner ad. Its integrated ad campaign reflects the bonding experience of storytelling around a campfire with an inviting call to action, “the story begins at Journey84.com.”

Oakley created a series of web banner ads for its advertising campaign that elicits feelings of adrenaline, athleticism, and adventure with the tagline One Obsession and the hashtag #CantStop. This advertising campaign is targeted to users with an active outdoor lifestyle who rely on shades to protect their eyes from the sun. Its strategy included capturing the pathos of the targeted audience to drive conversion of its sunglasses products.

A Crucial Aspect of Web Design

A web banner ad is ubiquitous to the online landscape, but it doesn’t have to be boring. These examples give designers inspiration to put a new twist on a design basic. And if you are craving more, plan on joining us at HOW Design Live! Your creativity will increase exponentially when you join us there in just a few months! Register now!

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Raise Your Banner High High High

If you designed logos in the days before the term “animated GIF” was not even a twinkle in anyone’s eye, you might have developed a style guide with instructions something like this: The logo shall be printed in Black or Pantone 186 Blue only, and reproduced in sizes not less than one-half-inch high. It must placed on a white or light-colored background one inch from the bottom of the page and not less than ¾ inch from the right-hand margin.

Maybe I’ve exaggerated a bit, but that’s how the world of corporate identity operated. Woe be to anyone who broke the rules.

Now, thankfully, rules are meant to be broken, and logos are meant to expand and contract, wink, blink, dance and burst forth in animated glory. Here are four of the most lively, interesting examples created in the past year.

4 Lively Logo Animations from the Past Year

: : :Meatpacking District Business Improvement District

Base DesignNew York, USA

New York’s Meatpacking District used to be the place where, in the wee hours, animal carcasses hung in the open air, after-hours clubs attracted an unsavory crowd, and flophouses rented rooms by the hour. Over the last decade or so—although a few meatpacking companies remain—the neighborhood has become a high-end nexus of art (The Whitney Museum), fashion (Diane VonFurstenberg, Rag & Bone, Theory), technology (Google, Betaworks, Cisco Systems), food (too many restaurants to mention), and architecture, gardens and culture (The High Line).

According to Geoff Cook, a partner in Base Design, which has offices in New York, Brussels and Geneva, Base New York was challenged to rebrand the neighborhood. “The goal was not just to rebrand, but to change perceptions,” he says. “We reconciled and celebrated the clash of old and new, gritty and chic, with a logo that literally has two sides. The motion reflects the vibrant, dynamic nature of the district. That dichotomy was embraced and expressed in signage, banners, window displays, the website and more.”

: : :JimJams

Anagrama StudioMonterrey, Mexico

Anagrama is one of the leading firms redefining branding in Mexico. Now with an office in Mexico City and virtual offices in New York and Tokyo, in addition to its Monterrey HQ, Anagrama has brought a clean, sharp, international sensibility to its much-awarded work and has changed how Mexican business leaders and entrepreneurs communicate with their audiences.

This sporty design program for JimJams, a retail store that specializes in clothing with images of sports personalities and events, is based on strategic-play diagrams used by coaches of American football. The store interior features lockers and stadium seats; JimJams’ garments are displayed in glass cases as if they are collectible memorabilia.

According to Anagrama press liason Marissa Gutierrez, the website was intended to be a dynamic, surprising shopping experience where fans can buy new graphic interpretations of their favorite teams and stars (note: $370 in Mexican pesos is approximately $20 USD.)

: : :Rainbird

The Click DesignNorwich, England

Rainbird, a technology startup with offices in London and Norwich, helps clients use artificial intelligence (AI) to automate complex tasks. The firm chose The Click Design to position them as a serious contender in the field and help them gain new clients and additional venture capital funding.

According to The Click’s creative director Bobby Burrage, “The name ‘Rainbird,’ which had no particular rationale behind it, was to be kept. Everything else was up for grabs. We gave the client an abstract bird that draws the eye to the letters ‘AI’ in the company name.”

The identity was applied to the website, software, print collateral and digital channels. The designers developed a series of visual wordplays that use the bird device to point out strengths of Rainbird’s service, and which are used for online banners, print ads and digital marketing.

: : :Plus Plus Plus

Boy CreativeVilnius, Lithuania

Boy Creative, which calls itself “a freshly minted studio,” has received nearly 42,000
project views on Behance, including more than 1,000 appreciations for its naming and branding project for Plus Plus Plus, a Vilnius gastropub that, according to TripAdvisor, is a big hit with budget-minded locals and travelers.

Designer Migle Rudaityte says he was “more than excited when the client chose the name he proposed, already imagining the possibilities around those plus signs,” which stand for + eat + drink + chat.

The studio also produced colorfully patterned signage, menus, takeout boxes and cups, T-shirts, tote bags and tape for identifying yourself, or anything you’d like to wrap it around.

The Behance portfolio site, founded by entrepreneur/investor Scott Belsky and acquired by Adobe Systems in 2012, is celebrating its 10th anniversary. According to an Adobe spokesperson, Behance’s global user base has exceeded 10 million members. Projects have been viewed 4 billion times and received 275 million appreciations. In 2017 alone, the spokesperson said, more than 300,000 ‘nontraditional members,’ including industrial designers, architects and fashion designers, joined the community, which has experienced its greatest growth in Asia, especially China.

The fourth most appreciated post in Behance history, I’ve learned, was a Spanish designer’s resume template, a free download, which in itself received 1.25 million project views and more than a million appreciations. (Detail at right.)

I recently had the pleasure of speaking with the designer, Fernando Báez, who as Just Creative Ideas, has been doing digital projects for clients like Playstation, Philips, Heineken, Disney Pixar and Audi.

Q: Fernando, a million appreciations! What inspired you to create the resume template?

A: Designers redesign their own personal logos and resumes, like a thousand times in a lifetime. I designed this resume for myself six years ago, when infographic resumes were not so common. It really made a difference and helped me stand out from others. I got my first two jobs with this resume and started giving talks to design students about creating your own resume. I shared it with them after each talk. When it was time to make a change and I knew I wasn’t going to use it any more, I decided to share it with the world. It’s crazy how quickly it went viral. Boom!

How many people downloaded the template? And from which parts of the world?

I believe there were around 300,000 downloads. It’s insane. I get dizzy just thinking about it! The link is in a lot of different places, so I don’t have control of that. But one thing I know—by reading the messages I’ve received—is that people all around the world used it, from the U.S. and Canada to South America (Perú, Venezuela, Argentina, Brazil), India, Russia, and Australia, and around Europe (for example, the one below by Georgian-Sorin Maxim in Denmark).

Hundreds of people wrote to thank me or just to tell me they got a job with it, and that has been awesome. I truly believe that you get a job because of your talent, your interview and your portfolio, but resume content is critical.

What makes infographic resumes so popular and such a good way to showcase skills?

It’s simple. Companies receive hundreds of emails with resumes. Most of the time, they look at yours for two seconds. Maybe they are looking for a certain qualification or knowledge. Making your resume more visual helps it be readable even for a quick look. Obviously, the resume of a lawyer should be more formal, but when it comes to creative work, we have much more freedom in terms of aesthetics, and also functionally.

Some people liked the template so much they asked me to design a new version from scratch. Most of them were not graphic designers, but industrial designers, artists, or even people quite far from the creative world, such as lawyers and marketing professionals. An astronaut even used it! And people are still reaching out. Also, my old boss—the one who first hired me because of that resume—asked me if he could use the template when applying for a new job.

Having a good resume is important for designers, but you should also spend time on your Behance portfolio! In a resume, you have to explain how wonderful you are. Your portfolio, instead, speaks for itself.

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am from Valladolid, Spain, but I went to college in Madrid, at Nebrija University. When I was a kid, I dreamed about creating video games, so I studied computer programming. After a few years I realized that coding wasn’t my thing and I needed to do more creative work to be happy, so I switched to industrial design. I discovered the web/digital world by then and was fascinated, spending most of my time on it.

After I started doing work as a graphic and web freelancer—and my early projects looked horrible, you can be sure of that—I buckled down and got more serious, so I needed a better way to showcase my work. I discovered that Behance is not only a portfolio site, but a place to get inspired, to see creative trends, network with the best professionals, build your reputation, and open up new opportunities. Behance is not only about work. It’s about connecting with people around the globe and even creating an amazing community in your own town. For example, recently there was a Behance Portfolio Review event at Neoland, a design school in Madrid. They asked me to be one of the experts and review portfolios.

Thanks to that, I now have great relationship with Neoland and started regularly giving talks to students.

I probably log into Behance more times a day than Facebook … no joke! Of course, as the web designer I am today, I look for digital projects. However, the most stunning and inspiring projects are the ones that are far from the web world, from my world: motion projects, 3D, art, photographs. Those projects make me think, ‘Oh man, I wouldn’t be able to do that in 200 years.’ Since they are not in my skill-set, they force me to think out of the box. Projects have triggered my interest in photo retouching, the clean way of presenting a project, creating stories from your art, and putting all the love and time in your personal projects.

If infographic resumes are now common, as you point out, are you seeing a new trend?

Yes,
we are finishing that trend and starting a new one. When the sector was overloaded with so many infographic resumes, they ended up feeling somewhat antiquated. Free templates like mine made it possible for almost anyone have an infographic resume. But some of them became almost 100% infographic with little content, so now I think the trend will be resumes focused on good content, clean and minimal design, with a great use of typography, and infographics just only in the points where they are really required. My version 2.0, below, is an evolution of the previous boom.

You said, “Some people liked it so much they asked me to design a new version from scratch.” Did this turn into paid jobs for you, designing original resumes?

Yes, it did! I have designed 20 resumes for people in the USA and all around the globe, and of course, getting paid for it. It’s a good lesson: sometimes if you give something free to the community, it can go viral, and finally reward you with much more money than you could have earned selling it.

What are some of your other favorite projects?

My own concepts—the projects you create for fun with complete freedom and as a way to learn new things, forcing yourself to leave your comfort zone—are always my favorites. If you are always designing minimal interfaces, why don’t you try designing one for kids, for example? Or for a video game? If you have never done a TV interface, why don’t you try? If you are not good at illustration, why don’t you think about an amazing concept that includes illustrations?

The Star Wars: Force University concept was one on my favorites, especially because I worked on it with two of my best friends. I also enjoyed my first illustrative project, creating my hero version of Cabify, “Herofy,” where you can call a hero from your app and pay for their services. I put all my nerd love into these projects. They are the most fun and also let me learn more. And they helped me create the freelance business I have right now. People ask for similar projects to the content in your portfolio, so inventing your own concepts is an amazing way of getting more clients.

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About Ellen Shapiro

Print contributing editor Ellen Shapiro is principal of Visual Language LLC in Irvington, NY. She has been designing for her whole life and writing about design for more than 20 years. Her website is visualanguage.net.View all posts by Ellen Shapiro →

And I knew the guys running it, Ryan Doran and Jonathan Manierre, two talented, multitasking entrepreneurs who simultaneously head a full-service design/ photography/ video studio, Turkois, which serves top brands, and KOI Creative Space, a well-designed co-working space in the center of White Plains, NY. They host informative, fun events there, everything from yoga classes to AIGA Brand Central gatherings. Having spent months and months on my own portfolio site, built on a blank WordPress template, and knowing firsthand what’s involved in getting assets lined up to post on various WordPress sites (including this one, printmag.com), I signed up. I’d admired the clean, fresh look of Squarespace and thought it could be a good platform to showcase my essays, magazine articles, and posts—and maybe even attract some freelance writing gigs.

At KOI Creative Space, ten workshop attendees are ready to build a website in a night

But there was something deeper going on. In 1993, when it seemed like desktop publishers—armed with their new PCs and Aldus PageMaker floppy disks—would take business away from qualified graphic designers—with our T-squares and type specimen books—I wrote an article entitled “Certification for Graphic Designers—a Hypothetical Proposal” that was published in Communication Arts magazine. It might have been the most talked-about (both revered and reviled) article in C.A. history. Rebuttals, events, debates and suggestions for everything from feasibility studies to test-prep courses followed. Among influential graphic designers, the concept was far from popular. As Michael Bierut countered at a debate in Washington, D.C., (possibly the lowest point of my career): “Here’s the sure way to convince the business community of the value of graphic design: Do a really great job for your best client. If all of us did this every day, we’d win the battle the only way it can be won, one job at a time, one client at a time, one day at a time. Certification of our competence will never be enough. Quit longing for respectability and start doing great work.”

History has taken its course, and as Ellen Lupton, author of D.I.Y. Design It Yourself, has said, “Graphic design is a tool and a mindset that anyone can use to build relationships and share ideas. Design is open to everyone!” It’s true. New apps like Adobe Spark are intended to help everyone make web pages and graphics for social media on their iPads, “effortlessly.”

Never mind that Michael is one of world’s most extraordinary creative talents; that all the cool examples in Ellen Lupton’s book were designed by her MFA students at MICA, Maryland Institute College of Art, an elite institution with high admission standards; and that the examples on the Adobe Spark page were created by a leading ad agency.

What is ‘everyone’ capable of? And even if the results don’t measure up to design-award-winning standards, would they be good enough to meet the marketing needs of a typical entrepreneur? I hoped so. I attended to learn how to make my own writing site on a platform new to me. But I also wanted to see how small business owners, freelancers, and consultants who don’t have the budget to hire a web designer would do.

The day before, attendees completed the pre-launch prep kit, a questionnaire that had us defining our markets and goals. At the workshop, Ryan began the session by introducing the features and benefits of the Squarespace platform and reiterating what an effective website should accomplish. “Every home page must have a call to action!” he stated. Good point. Then we opened the “Bedford” template on our laptops and followed along as we learned how to delete Squarespace’s dummy copy and lovely stock images and insert our own text and photos.

Ryan Doran, certified Squarespace trainer

It was not as easy as I’d hoped. Ah, certain things can be changed—like type sizes, fonts and colors—and others are immutable (or at least very difficult to override)—like the position of type on a picture. I’d planned to use a certain photo of myself in my design library on the home page, and no matter what I tried, the type went right over my face. Time to change templates. Then I had to start all over again. Hmm. After a while, I walked around to see how everybody else was doing.

Individual coaching provided

Jonathan Manierre assists market researcher Joan Bogin

The first thing I noticed is that people can write pretty well. They know what they want to promote and can describe it effectively. But they might not be so facile with images. For example, my deskmate, Joan Bogin, an expert in market research and brand strategy, was trying to fit a vertical picture into a horizontal space. Ryan and Jon, going from desk to desk, explained why that wouldn’t work. I helped Joan out by increasing the canvas size and rubber-stamping in background to make it fit. Her site—she chose stock photos with a subtle black-and-white vibe—is still a work in progress, she reported later: “I will continue to evolve it over the next week or so and then publish it. And wait for the business to flow in!”

Ms. Bogin chose stock photos of arrows as backgrounds

Another hopeful attendee, Karen Lennon, is starting a business called Place Lifts, specializing in home staging. “Hiring a web designer is way beyond me right now,” she told me. “This is a quick, non-threatening, budget-friendly way to get started.” Next to her, Luke Doran, a high school history teacher, was successfully adding images of paintings like The Death of Socrates and Guernica to his educational site, History in
Plain Sight, which he hopes will have readership, and value, way beyond his own classroom.

The Smiths, three family members, all realtors at Better Holmes Rand Realty in White Plains, want not only to be on one page on the corporate site, but have their own unique web presence. “We do a lot for clients,” Jovonna Smith says, “virtual and real professional staging, floor plans, videos. Our new site, The Smith Portfolio of Homes, will showcase the properties we offer and to grab the client.” Happy with what her team was able to accomplish in a few hours, she said, “We just have to tweak it some more.”

The Smiths currently have one page on the corporate Rand Realty site

In progress: the new Smith site will showcase services they provide and homes for which they’re listing agent

Joe Ferraro, who was setting up his One Percent Better Podcast, a self-help site, summed up the workshop like this: “Ryan and Jon distilled years of valuable insight into a single evening. I left emboldened and a bit dizzy at the possibilities. While I am not naive enough to think I can master the template after one session, I now believe that I can save the lion’s share of the expense a designer would charge. There are limitations to the Squarespace template model, but none that make me feel that the cost-to-value ratio is not in favor of my current marketing budget.”

Joe Ferraro was a bit frustrated that he couldn’t move the position of the logo or move the “1% Better” headline up, but feels that this DIY approach works with his current marketing budget

For myself, when I have some time, I’ll choose and size my images, write the text, and send Ryan a folder with the ingredients. I think I know when to hire a professional.

Web design requires the coordination of HTML, CSS, and graphics in order to construct a layout and design. Learn how to make your website work for any visitor with this HOWU corse.