Since 2021, Pentawards, the leading packaging design competition, has released a Trends Report featuring 10 key trends based on entries into its latest competition.

With over 2,000 packaging design projects submitted each year from 60 countries, Pentawards is in a strong position to witness and share the trends as seen from a truly international point of view.

The Pentawards team meticulously evaluates the entries, thoroughly examining each one to identify patterns and trends that are prevalent across different categories and regions. The process involves analysing various aspects, ranging from bold design elements to primary packaging and branding components, to uncover common threads that are shaping the landscape. These trends are not only current but also growing, as the Report includes a section where Jury members provide insights on where each trend is likely headed next, offering valuable foresight for professionals in the field.

This comprehensive approach ensures that Pentawards’ Trends Report offers a panoramic view of the evolving packaging landscape, serving as a compass for industry professionals navigating the ever-changing consumer preferences and market dynamics.

Among the 10 trends highlighted in the 23/24 report are:

• Art of Subtle Details: In drinks packaging in particular, we’re seeing brands going the extra mile with subtle details to evoke a particular character or narrative around their products, creating a sense of depth, discovery, and personality. Packs featured include MIAO by Left and Right Creative Design, Carmenero by Spazio di Paolo, Cutthroat Gin by Mousegraphics

• Layering up: Packaging is more than protection; it’s a canvas for storytelling, and here, we see that layers have been used to indicate transitional processes, stories and layers of ingredients. Packs featured include Clos du Val Bernard’s Cuvée by CF Napa Brand Design, As one with olive oil by Design Bridge & Partners, Terroir 41º N, 0º E by Vamos Estudio

• Design With Purpose: More and more design transcends aesthetics to carry meaningful messages, this not only captures attention, but also sparks awareness and encourages positive actions. Packs featured include BOSAI gift by drawrope, Omel by Omdesign, CAT FOOD by MYS GROUP CO

• And All About the Numbers: These packs creatively incorporate numbers as a core aspect of their label design – whether it’s to convey transparency in sourcing, portion guidelines, commemorating milestones, or expressing a brand’s character and mood. Packs featured include: MOMENTEN by E2W Studio, Younihaoguozi by Shenzhen Chushan Design Culture Group, Beast’s 35g by Hangzhou Furrytail Technology Co

Each trend is illustrated with multiple packaging examples from around the world, along with an insight from a member of the Pentawards’ 50+ strong expert jury panel and a hint at where each trend might head next. 

“With entries coming in from diverse corners of the globe, it’s really exciting to see the variety of patterns and similarities in these international entries. And it’s even more thrilling to hear from industry experts about where these trends might be headed.”

Jennifer Clements, Senior Project Manager at Pentawards.

Earlier this month, Pentawards also hosted its first online Trend Talks, featuring the designers being the packs that were featured, as well as discussions with Jury members including Pentagram, DesignBridge & Partners and Pearlfisher.

With the 2024 competition preparing to close its doors, we’re excited to see how this year’s entries will help shape future global trends.

Download the report here

For his approach to typographic and graphic design that incorporates cultural and political histories to create socially relevant visual identities and campaigns, Morcos receives a 2024 Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Design.

Representing Language, Representing Ourselves

Morcos’ passion for Arabic typography grew after he moved to the United States from Lebanon—first to pursue studies at the Rhode Island School of Design and then to build a career as a graphic designer in New York. “I was drawn back to my native language, culture, and stories I see myself in. Designing in Arabic from New York City is perhaps an act of resistance,” he says, “but also an act of reaching out, inviting others to engage, utilize, and be inspired by it.”

When you design a font, you’re designing a tool for people to express themselves.

Wael Morcos

“Our language is as much auditory as it is visual. When you design a font, you’re designing a tool for people to express themselves,” says Morcos. “I consider typography the most potent tool in a designer’s arsenal. It has the ability to amplify the meaning of words and to advocate for representation.”

Morcos describes typography as a product of the time it was created and also as having a life that extends well beyond. “Arabic typography needed our help to be reimagined, redesigned for a modern context for modern lives,” he says. His fonts have been distributed through institutional channels like Google and other publishing platforms, bridging the gap between tradition and modernity, “carrying on with how we represent our language and therefore ourselves.”

Amplifying Arab American Stories

As an immigrant, Morcos finds himself drawn to create work that resonates with him personally and connects his nostalgia for Beirut and Lebanon with his life in the United States. He recently championed the development of Mizna’s I Want Sky, a literary journal that shines a spotlight on the experiences of LGBTQ+ Arabs. Through a fusion of multi-script typography, lettering, and illustrations, Morcos illuminates the narratives of a diverse queer community that yearns for understanding—drawing inspiration from the legacy of illuminated Arabic homoerotic poetry and speaking to the contemporary struggles and triumphs of this community.

Committed to amplifying Arab American voices, Morcos is a co-founder of 1on1 projects, a Brooklyn-based collective that works to elevate the stories and experiences of Arab and Muslim Americans through arts, performances, and programs. “You miss a lot of your old self and all the support system you took for granted back at home,” he says. “I try to use my design practice to re-create some of these contexts that are important for me.”

About The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Design

The Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Design celebrate immigrant professionals in graphic design, industrial design, and product design whose work has profoundly impacted their specific field and design, design thinking, and practice more broadly in the United States.

The Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Design specifically recognize immigrant designers age 38 and younger whose work represents an essential contribution to their field and exemplifies the potential for design to change and shape how people interact with their world. In 2024, the Vilcek Foundation awards 3 Vilcek Prizes for Creative Promise in Design, recognizing industrial designer Juan Carlos Noguera (b. Guatemala) and artist and designer Maryam Turkey (b. Iraq) alongside Morcos.

Learn more about the Vilcek Foundation and the 2024 Vilcek Foundation Prizes in Design at Vilcek.org.

Wael Morcos is a 2015 PRINT New Visual Artist.

Knowing this, it was no surprise that Fleur Willems and Jefferson Bueno decided to take the Online Master in Graphic and Digital Design at LABASAD, the Barcelona School of Arts & Design. Like Willems and Bueno, everyone who aspires to be a professional graphic designer has at some point asked themselves: What does it take to be a graphic designer today? What choices can I make to elevate my creative work? What tools can help me go from a novice to an expert?

LABASAD’s six-module online master allowed them to answer these questions and possess the tools and knowledge to navigate expertly through the fascinating world of graphic design. Let’s face it: variations in people’s learning styles mean that not everyone can watch online tutorials on YouTube and become a graphic designer. That system will work for some, but not all. There are some well-constructed and in-depth online learning resources and courses where students can study an aspect of graphic design, but very few give a full overview of every facet of the craft. LABASAD has crafted the Online Master in Graphic and Digital Design, a carefully engineered program to give you a comprehensive overview of graphic design, from the Principles of Graphic Design to Brand Identity, Editorial Design, Digital Design, Motion Design, and Packaging Design.

What’s Involved

During the program, students are required to address assignments resembling real-world professional tasks, applying the knowledge acquired in each module. In contrast, the concluding project is more flexible, enabling students to concentrate on a specific area of interest and develop a portfolio item designed to captivate the interest of potential employers.

How is LABASAD’s Online Master in Graphic and Digital Design structured, and what does it involve? In short, the master’s program is organized around six modules:

• Module 1. Principles of Graphic Design (including History and Basics)
• Module 2. Editorial Design
• Module 3. Packaging Design
• Module 4. Website Design
• Module 5. Motion Design
• Module 6. Brand Identity Design

Students receive guidance from distinguished industry experts boasting decades of professional expertise. The instructors on this year’s master program are:

• Stuart Tolley – Co-Director of the Master, Art Director and Graphic Designer
• Olivier Segers – Co-Director of the Master and Design Director at Zypsy
• Franziska Böttcher – Freelance packaging and brand designer
• Henk Willems – Founder and brand designer at Studio WillemsPeeters
• Sarah Boris – Artist & designer
• Timothy Milne – Founder, ARTOMATIC
• Vicent De Boeck – Motion Brand Designer

Why LABASAD?

LABASAD has revolutionized the landscape of design education, establishing a global reputation as one of the most exclusive online design schools that provides 100% live learning experiences. Students become part of a forward-thinking community, connecting with peers from around the world. Whether from Spain, the UK, Germany, Mexico, Belgium, and beyond, the school brings together over 800 talented individuals annually through smart devices and an internet connection. The success of the alumni speaks volumes about the effectiveness of the system and methodology, with 87% of graduates securing jobs or promotions upon completing their master’s. Some have even landed positions at world-renowned companies, including IKEA, Red Bull, Ogilvy, and Roche, to name just a few.

The school has a long history in the world of online education for creatives, with more than 20 online master programs in Spanish, and is also committed to international training with six programs in English. There are five specialized disciplines: Graphic Design, Illustration, UI/UX, Motion Graphics, and Interior Design. In addition, for those professionals with more experience and who want more advanced knowledge of the design sector, LABASAD also offers an Online Master in Graphic Design and Applied Typography. This program is crafted to provide the tools and creative processes that senior designers need to move to the next level.

Apply Now

In short, whether you wish to work in graphic design at a professional studio, inside an advertising agency, at an in-house company department, as a freelancer, or even as a business owner, then the Online Master in Graphic and Digital Design at LABASAD Barcelona School of Arts and Design is the perfect program to hone and perfect your skills.

The upcoming course starts in March 2024 and will be conducted exclusively in English. It’s important to highlight that, unlike a master’s program in the UK, possessing a degree is not a mandatory requirement for application. LABASAD places significant importance on your professional experience, considering it is on par with your academic background. This approach broadens the opportunities for individuals with diverse profiles to access high-quality training.

If you want more information about the program, you can apply here or send an email to
info@labasad.com.

Don’t miss your LAST CHANCE to showcase your exceptional packaging design at the Dieline Awards 2023. Since 2010, the competition has been the standard of impeccably-designed packaging for consumer products, recognized globally by brand owners, marketers, agencies, students, and enthusiasts. 

Join the ranks of the best in the industry by submitting today.
There will be no further extensions.

Have you had a chance to look at our past winners from 2022? Take a look at what it takes to be the best of the best and view all of our past winners and 2022’s top winners below.

Announcement of Dieline Awards 2023 recipients will come June 5th, 2023 in Nashville at HOW Design Live.

Best of Show & Plastic Free Innovation
of the Year:

Bite Plastic Free Deodorant

CREATIVE AGENCY: Bite, In-House
COUNTRY: United States

View Case Study

Editor’s Choice:

PLUS

CREATIVE AGENCY: Someone & Others
COUNTRY: United States

View Case Study

Rebrand of the Year:

Two Drifters Carbon Negative Rum

CREATIVE AGENCY: Here Design
COUNTRY: United Kingdom

View Case Study

Studio of the Year:

Auge Design

COUNTRY: Italy

With four wins under their belt, Auge Design is the 2022 Studio of the Year.

Since 2010, the Dieline Awards have been an esteemed global celebration of exceptional packaging design. With a broad audience that includes brand owners, consumers, marketers, agencies, in-house creatives, students, and enthusiasts from around the world, this highly anticipated competition is recognized as the ultimate standard of impeccably-designed packaging for consumer products. Don’t miss your chance to join the ranks of the best in the industry.

Ensure your work is in the running for the Dieline Awards 2023 by submitting before the March 7th deadline— seize the opportunity to showcase your talent and take your place among the industry’s best.

Hurry! The Competition Ends March 7th

NFT

The NFT category celebrates NFT creative artwork in branding and packaging. If you developed NFT artwork for a consumer brand or CPG company, you are eligible for entry. The main stipulation for any submission is that it MUST be connected to a brand with a packaging component and was created within the 2023 awards’ date range.

BRAND PARTNERSHIPS & COLLABORATIONS

Brand Partnerships and Collaboration is for any two brands who have partnered and co-developed a packaging and branding system in the last year.

STARTUP BRANDS

The Startup Brand category is for any new-to-market startup brand and packaging developed within the last year.

Beyond the bragging rights, prizes include:

• A write-up in the Dieline Awards round-up article, an individual Winner’s Post, and a permanent spot in the Winner’s Archive.

• A coveted trophy, designed by Jones Knowles Ritchie and produced by Society Awards, as well as a Dieline Awards Certificate printed on Neenah Paper.

• Press and Social Media Coverage. Not only does Dieline share and celebrate winners, but winners have previously also been featured in other global publications such as Adweek, PRINT, Brand New, BXP Magazine, Creative Boom, Core77, Designboom, Dexigner, Packaging World, and Packaging Europe.

• A display section exhibits and conferences that Dieline participates in during 2023. We are finalizing this schedule, so stay tuned.

• A Winner’s Watermark so that projects can be shared online with an official digital Dieline Awards seal.

REGULAR REGISTRATION ENDS TODAY!
SUBMIT TO DIELINE AWARDS TODAY AND SAVE

Dieline Awards 2023 Chairs

Entries are judged by a highly esteemed international panel of structural packaging, design, branding, and consumer product experts and awarded based on creativity, marketability, innovation, execution, and on-pack branding.

For 2023, DIELINE continues to reimagine the competition by welcoming new categories, including NFT, Brand Collaborations, and Startup. We continue to redefine existing divisions and evolve the competition like the industry itself. Judging will continue to be grouped by category, with experts in each division judging the respective work. Learn more about our jury.

Make 2023 your year by submitting your award-winning packaging.

Whether it’s circular, compostable, or plastic-free, the future of packaging is upon us, with innovation at the forefront. Design has the ability to change the world, and the Dieline Awards are here to celebrate true innovation. Submit to our five focused sustainable categories, including Sustainable Design and Plastic-Free, presented by A Plastic Planet.

Now is the time to save: the last day of Early Bird is December 13th.

Meet Our Sustainability Jury

Our sustainable categories are for all sustainably designed products, including food, beverage, health, body, beauty, home, shopping, and other markets. 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners will be awarded for each subcategory 5A-5D, and there will be one Best of Category Winner. All entrants may enter the same project into multiple categories.

While sustainability feels especially critical to the world of brands and packaging at the moment, it’s been critical to Dieline for years. We, the makers, can truly change the world— if we have a roadmap to follow— and that’s exactly what Dieline Conference will provide at this year’s hybrid event on October 20.

Dieline founder and CEO Andrew Gibbs and his team have brought together a cutting-edge group of speakers to point the way forward:

• Sian Sutherland, Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet and PlasticFree.com

• Brandi Parker, Head of Sustainability at Pearlfisher

• Andrew Gibbs, Founder & CEO at Dieline, Co-Founder with Sian, PlasticFree.com

• Katie Levy and Mike McVicar, Co-Founders/Creative Directors of Gander, who value “Purpose Over Perfection.”

This year, Dieline Conference is also part of New York Advertising Week, a four-day celebration of the confluence of culture, commerce, and creativity. A Dieline delegate pass grants you exclusive access to the entire event, including networking happy hours, lounge access, and more.

But hurry, because in-person passes to this high-level event are limited to 125, and once they’re sold out, they’re sold out. Don’t miss out on the packaging event of the year, which can wholly revolutionize your career. Register today!

ANDREW GIBBS
Founder & CEO at DIELINE, Co-Founder of PlasticFree.com

BRANDI PARKER
Head of Sustainability at Pearlfisher

SIAN SUTHERLAND
Co-Founder of A Plastic Planet and PlasticFree.com

KATIE LEVY & MIKE McVICAR
Partners at Gander

As designers, we are accustomed to fielding questions about resolution, pixels, PMS, typography, kerning, Lorum Ipsum, hex codes, UX, CMYK— it’s as if we have our own language.

But do you speak the language of business? Because when we’re talking with our clients— whether internal or external— they are typically not designers or creative professionals. Instead, they may be from marketing, operations, finance, or sales, and their focus is not so much on the font or finishing we’re recommending, but on the budget, cost, logistics, and ROI. (We’ll get to ROI in another installment of this series— stay tuned.)

Understanding and conversing with clients in business terminology reshapes conversations from subjective to objective, where we discuss our “why” behind a design and how it is, well, designed to achieve specific business goals.

From aesthetics to economics

Similar to our design world, the world of business has a long list of relevant terms. For this series, I’m focusing on The Business 6^™— the top six terms to begin building your business vocabulary. When we understand these terms, synthesize them, and use them correctly in conversations and meetings, we’re no longer just talking about aesthetics or color palettes or fonts. Instead, we’re talking about economics; we’re asking about sales goals; we’re listening to strategies for gaining market share.

When we do share our knowledge about a particular design’s advantages— perhaps research that shows consumers spend more time with interactive packaging, or that shoppers are more likely to pick up a product with tactile finishing, or even why we choose green over blue— we can frame our design, data, and scientific-based input within our client’s business goals. The Business 6^™ are tools we can use to expand our understanding, credibility, and impact. You’ll find that clients are more receptive to your input when the point you make is in their language.

It’s not design— it’s design strategy

The Business 6 are the top six business and financial terms to better understand your clients’ perspective and connect with their objectives. Let’s start with revenue. Revenue is simply the money that a company receives in exchange for its products and/or services. Now, there are a lot of terms that are associated with revenue. You might hear gross revenue, net revenue, and top line. Let’s unpack those, too.

Gross revenue is the total amount of money a business receives from its sales. That’s also called the top line. Which term a person uses often depends on their role. I’ve been in cross-functional meetings that include someone from sales, operations, and HR, plus the CEO and CFO. That’s a lot of different people with many points of view. One person might use the term top line, while someone else uses the term gross revenue. They are talking about the same thing: money the business made from sales.

Net revenue is the amount of money a business makes from sales over a given period of time, minus the expenses the business incurred making that product or providing that service over that same period. Let’s say a company made $10 million in sales last year, but it cost them $6 million to make the product (or create the service). They subtract the $6 million from the $10 million to come up with their net revenue of $4 million.

You’ll also hear the terms profit, earnings, and bottom line. Let’s talk about those in the context of the previous example. Four million is what the company had left after it accounted for the cost of producing that product or service. That was its net revenue. However, the company also has other yearly expenses, such as paying employees, rent, and overhead expenses to run the business. Those are called operating expenses. Companies calculate profit, earnings, and bottom line by subtracting operating expenses from net revenue. In our example, if operating expenses are $1 million, and net revenue is $4 million, profit is $3 million. (Fun fact: the term “bottom line” is derived from accounting ledgers. Picture the role of bookkeepers before computers; the number on the bottom line of the ledger page was the profit.)

A universal understanding

But wait, there’s more. If the company has loans, they have interest to pay. If they own equipment, they have depreciation to calculate. And of course, every business has to pay taxes. However, because those are not considered operating expenses, financial investors created a standard formula called EBITDA — an acronym for Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization. EBITDA provides a universal understanding of what is included when assessing a company’s earnings.

Whew! That’s the birds-eye explanation of revenue and its associated terms. The second term in The Business 6 is margin. Margin is typically discussed as a ratio. Here’s an example of how that works: let’s say your company has a product that sells for $20. The cost of producing that product is $15. That means you have $5 left. $5 out of $20 is 25 percent; your margin, then, is 25 percent. Why is margin important to designers? Often the budget for branding, design, and marketing comes out of margin. So when we’re in conversations with our clients, it’s not just about what they have to spend on our project— we want to understand where the budget is coming from as we talk about their investment in design.

This certainly happens to me when I’m designing packaging and I’m advising my client to do something really interesting to increase consumer engagement, or to stand out among the competition, or to align with an integrated marketing campaign. Let’s say I know that the cost for any extra design element I suggest— whether it’s a foil, a specialty substrate or a soft touch finish— will come out of the margin. Sometimes I’ll ask my client, “What is your margin?” When they tell me, I have a better idea of their appetite for adding the extra element, particularly if I can tie the element to their specific business objectives.

So I can ask what their current margin is; I can ask what their projected sales are; I can ask what their marketing plan is. I can even suggest that adding that element to the design may increase their sales. (Be prepared to provide them with examples or studies to back that up.) Taking the conversation to this level lets my client know that I am in business with them; that I’m designing strategically to help them meet their objectives, whether those objectives are related to revenue, profit, market, consumers, sustainability, or any number of goals my client may have at any one time.

Join me next time as we dive into two more terms in The Business 6: Market Share and De-commoditize.

Vicki Strull is a design strategist with more than 25 years in the industry designing packaging, brand identities and a multitude of print and online touchpoints. Vicki co-founded MarketWise Academy with Daniel Dejan and Trish Witkowski to help fellow designers accelerate their impact, level up their design strategies, and thrive in a world dominated by business. That’s where the idea for The Business 6^™ originated. To learn more about The Business 6^™ and other strategies, visit marketwiseacademy.com or contact Vicki directly at vicki@marketwiseacademy.com

Award-winning work inspires new learning, whether it explores diverse ways of learning or confronts the obstacles to creative excellence. 

D&AD Pencil winners from Spotify, Pentagram, COLLINS, and JKR Global recall their experience of winning a D&AD Pencil, what it meant for their careers, and their best advice for industry newcomers.

Alex Bodman — VP, Global Executive Creative Director, Spotify

I remember refreshing my browser about eight years ago to find out I had won a D&AD Pencil for the first time. It was for an Instagram hack my team worked on for Mercedes-Benz. Since then, I’ve been lucky enough to win over 20 more— but each one feels truly special.

D&AD Pencils have always cultivated an image of unattainability, but for me, they represent discernment. Scan the winners’ list and you’ll find projects you already admire, but also discover paradigm-shifting innovations that you won’t have seen anywhere else. It’s always a learning experience, and this attention to curation is what makes it so dear to the creative community. 

The design craft category at D&AD is possibly my favorite, and has actually had a huge influence on how our in-house Spotify team works.

Too often, the industry has settled for a model that has led to the best designers working at design agencies and the best conceptual creatives sitting in agencies. At Spotify, we’re all about ensuring that world-class designers and traditional “conceptual” creative teams work collaboratively. It takes mutual respect, emotional intelligence, and compromise. But the results are worth it.

Eddie Opara — Partner, Pentagram 

Apart from working at Imaginary Forces, I worked at the design atelier, 2×4 in New York City at the beginning of my career. Whilst we created exceedingly important, interesting work, they were determined to be outliers and were not in the habit of “chasing” awards. This attitude really rubbed off on me, and is something I carried with me to Pentagram.

Don’t get me wrong— it is not that I do not see the value of outside validation, or want my team to be recognized for their amazing work.

My time at 2×4 simply taught me not to be guided by awards. What I always say to designers still learning their craft is that awards are there to show you what you achieved and elevate you to another level. But it is ultimately just icing. The long-lasting impact of your work— the dialogue created and the lessons learned— is what is truly important. 

Brian Collins — Chief Creative Officer, COLLINS

In 2008, Leland Maschmeyer and I started COLLINS with no clients, two desks, and a point of view: Design is not what we make— design is what we make possible.

We wanted to build a company for gifted misfits, where “cultural fit” (a pernicious term) would be replaced by cultural contribution— by what made you different, unique, and weird. We knew we’d only be as good as the people around us.

When we were awarded D&AD Agency of the Year, it was both bonkers and a gratifying affirmation of our early, insane ambition. Our hope back then has since turned into a home for the 55 remarkable people we get to work with every day at COLLINS.

We made some good choices, we work hard, and remain beyond lucky with damn good clients. Time reveals wisdom. So here’s my advice to designers finding their way:

Surround yourself with people of wildly divergent talents, backgrounds, and perspectives— it keeps you alert. Pursue broad variety in your work— it keeps you open. Feed the silly and the ability to poke fun at yourself— it keeps you thinking. Embrace all bad news as a gift— it keeps you growing.

Remember the peak of one mountain is just the bottom of the next. It keeps you climbing.

Lisa Smith — Executive Creative Director, JKR Global  

You never forget your first D&AD Pencil. For me, it was 2002. I was two years out of college, and a silver Pencil was called graphite back then. I won it for a set of posters I created to launch a publication for a Magnum photographer and a paper manufacturer. It was my first ever commercial job, where I was getting to experiment with materials like I had always hoped to. I just couldn’t have been more dizzily excited.

But while it is fantastic to have your work recognized so early out of college, I learned quickly not to consider this the be-all and end-all. In fact, the most important advice I would give to emerging designers— even those that have already won awards— is that learning never stops.

You can always improve your craft, whether you’ve won one award, or 20. Remember, you’re never going to be an expert in everything. I have worked on everything from book design to exhibition design, hospitality, tech, and everything in-between— and I’ve taken something new from the experience every time. Now I’m the ECD at a global agency, and I still find myself learning something new every day.

The D&AD celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The annual Awards are a benchmark for creative excellence in design and advertising. This year, the Awards Ceremony will be held over two nights on the 25 and 26 May 2022, and broadcast live at watch parties in a number of locations. Please visit our website for updates.

Your voice and tone are how your brand communicates with the world. They affect every single touchpoint between you and your audience, including your website, social media channels, marketing, videos, webinars, and customer service interactions.

In this article, we’ll explore why your voice and tone are so important, offer tips for establishing guidelines for your brand, and share some inspiration to help you get started.

What’s the difference between voice and tone?

Voice and tone are closely related and at times it might seem like the terms are used interchangeably, but they’re not quite the same.

Your voice is always consistent. It’s the words you use, the defining characteristics of your brand, and the overall personality that you want to shine through while communicating with your audience.

Your tone, on the other hand, changes all the time, depending on the situation. When you’re thanking someone for making a purchase, for example, you might want your messaging to feel informal and lighthearted. When you’re addressing someone who has a complaint or problem, however, it’s important that your words come across in a more serious, empathetic way. Tone is the way you’re using your words to convey a message or evoke emotion from your audience.

The importance of voice and tone

Each interaction you have with your audience, regardless of the channel or medium where it occurs, is a golden opportunity to make—or build upon—a connection with them. According to Erin Crews, the Senior Design Manager of Content Strategy at Mailchimp who helped lead the charge on our own brand voice refresh, “a distinct voice makes your brand’s abstract identity more concrete and helps you connect with your audience. It’s an expression of your company’s values and point of view, and it should differentiate you from competitors.”

So, whether you’re a small online retailer, a large B2B company, or anything in between, the words you use and emotions you invoke when talking to your customers are important. Here are 3 key ways voice and tone affect your brand.

Brand recognition

Everything that comes from your brand should look and sound like it comes from, well, your brand. If, for example, the voice you use on your website, on your social media accounts, and in email interactions with customers are all different, you’re sending mixed signals to your audience and making it tougher for them to identify what makes you, you.

A formal set of standards around the way you communicate will allow for consistency in your messaging and help you give your brand a personality that’s easily recognizable to your audience.

For many designers, this rings true. Molly Combs, an Oklahoma City-based creative, first fell in love with the touch of paper in a course on designing for print. 

“It’s very different from designing for the web,” she says. Combs revels in the dimension print adds to her work. “It’s really the tangible aspect of it. I like to design and then be able to touch it. It’s fun. And it adds a whole other exciting layer to the creative process.”

Chris Siarkiewicz, a Brooklyn-based graphic designer, agrees. “There’s a level of craft I take pride in, knowing that a printed piece has gone from design and will go into production and end up in somebody’s hands who will find it useful or enjoyable. I like to sit with it, experience it, interact with it,” he says.

Aside from the visceral connection, there are the practicalities of directly evaluating paper types. Picking the right weight, for instance, is “more important than many people think,” according to Siarkiewicz. Aside from the design, it may even be the single most critical aspect that influences the impression the final product will make. Heavier stock can feel more formal and valuable, while lighter weights are often more appropriate for temporary use or delicate pieces. A poorly chosen weight can lead to an imperfect ink coverage that gives the print a muddy look. Dimensions make a difference as well. An oversized brochure or distinctive foldout can really tell an engaging story. Texture matters too—is it glossy and slick, or matte and velvety? How will it affect a shopper’s reaction to, say, packaging for a cosmetic product?

“Paper is the vehicle for the design,” says Siarkiewicz.

COVID, however, has complicated the relationship between graphic artists and print. Taking workers away from the physicality of their shared offices removed the physical interaction with their work that speaks to many creatives. Typically, home offices simply don’t have the production equipment capable of printing on specialty stock, like heavyweight paper, or on anything larger than a traditional letter-sized sheet.

At home, screens abound. During the shutdown, many of us found ourselves in front of screens for work, leisure, and even awkward, laggy get-togethers with friends and family. Mounting evidence points to an adverse effect of all these screens on creativity. A 2013 article from Scientific American called “Why the Brain Prefers Paper” states that two decades’ worth of studies have found screens, in general, to be “more cognitively and physically taxing than paper.”

What’s come to be termed “digital fatigue” is widespread. The condition “can lead to lack of energy, mental clarity, burnout, and can cause negative psychological and physical effects to our overall well-being—let alone work output,” writes Tiffany Pham, CEO of recruitment company Mogul, in Entrepreneur. The causes of digital fatigue are varied. They include pragmatic ones, like the strain to eyesight caused by screens as well as the much-documented and lamented blurring of boundaries between work and home. And, for people who went into a creative field hoping to labor at least somewhat with their hands, work-from-home lacks a certain substance.

“My friends will ask me, ‘can’t you just do that from home?’ And I remind them, ‘not really,’ because in the studio we have a production-level printer. I can see exactly how the work will print, and I don’t have to try to decipher it over Zoom,” says Siarkiewicz.

Though many creatives, having grown disillusioned with digital everything, miss the hands-on opportunities that production equipment offers, few employees seem eager for a return to the office. The Economist cites a recent survey of office workers conducted by Slack, the messaging platform, in which 75% of executives stated that they wanted to return to the office three days a week or more, while “only 34% of non-executives felt the same way.”

The conveniences of skipping the commute and wearing sweatpants have captivated much of the workforce, prompting company leaders to look for ways to attract them back to the office.

Could print be the answer?

If the numbers from consumer surveys are any indication, print presents a unique cure for digital fatigue. A survey called “COVID Mail Attitudes” by the USPS reports that most respondents look forward to receiving mail, agreeing that it “lifts their spirits” and “helps them feel more connected.” Study after study confirms that consumers connect more deeply with messages in print. According to a study by Go Inspire Group, print marketing campaigns are five times more effective than email-only campaigns. Those that combine the two media are six times more effective (these numbers also represent a hopeful outlook for agencies looking to rev up client orders after a pandemic lull).

While these numbers speak more to the efficacy of marketing campaigns than to bringing agency teams back to shared workspaces, the feelings of excitement and connection generated by paper media seem to be a shared human response.

Siarkiewicz has chosen to return to the office five days a week. Was the easy-to-use Ricoh Color Digital Press, a compact yet professional-grade production printer, a draw?

“Definitely,” he says.

RICOH Graphic Communications is committed to supporting the vitality of the graphic arts community. Your brilliance continues to drive us and the products we create. This ongoing series explores the role, resurgence, and retro appeal of paper for creatives in today’s digital age.

Want to get your hands on some inspiring print pieces? Request samples here.

Email marketing provides a vital point of engagement between your business and your audience. With a thoughtful strategy and segments based on data, you can create emails that resonate with the unique array of contacts in your audience.

More important than being creative and interesting, all content must be relevant and valuable for the person reading it, at the moment they’re reading it. This is an age of choice for consumers, and people only engage with content if they have a specific reason to do so. But well-branded, professional presentation is still vital to the success of your email marketing. When you know who is in your audience, and you have a strategy in place, you can craft emails that are both beautiful and impactful.

1. Create an email template that tells people what they need to know.

To maintain a consistent brand in your audience’s inboxes, it’s important to have an email template that you use for your campaigns. The template should cover all of the email components that your audience will see and help them quickly glean the information they need:

• Who is the email from? In all inboxes, a name will display stating who sent the email, whether it’s a person’s name or a business. This is important, because it’s the first thing your recipients see, alongside the subject line. Your recipients need to trust your business to open the email, so make sure to build a template that clearly includes your business name, even if it’s also coming from a specific person who works there.
• What is the email about? Your subject line is vital. Next to the sender, it’s the first thing that a contact sees, and it will play a huge role in whether or not they open the email and read the content. Make it enticing and clear—they should be short, snappy, and as personalized as possible. It’s worth conducting A/B tests to discover the kinds of subject lines which work with different segments.
• Why should they open it? A preheader follows the subject line and is a place to make opening the email even more compelling. Not all email formats and providers allow recipients to see the preheader, but it’s worth including for the many that do. Some email platforms will pull automatically from the content in the email if a preheader isn’t specified, but it’s best to write something that gives readers another reason to click and leads neatly into the introduction.
• What does the brand look like? At the top of your email, include your logo and links to your website (but make sure not to overpower your template with a logo that’s too big). Link to a web version of your email should here too, ensuring all recipients can access and read your email. You can also feature a compelling photo at the top of the email. All of these elements should give readers a quick impression about your brand.
• Why should they read it? It’s essential that you write a captivating headline, which entices a contact who has opened the email to read it. This is the main title which introduces the main email body content, and it should be attention-grabbing, relevant, and clearly indicate what the customer can expect as they read.
• What is the main takeaway? Place the primary message in the body of the email. This is the most substantial section, and it should include the information that you want a reader to know. The length of the content, how it’s presented, the number of paragraphs, subheadings, and more will vary based on the business, message, and audience—pay close attention to what resonates for yours.
• What should readers do next? An email footer, or signature block, is where the content signs off. It’s often a good idea to include a call to action (CTA) directing them to something specific on your website, or simply to your homepage. Legally, the option to unsubscribe should be clearly and prominently included. You may also want to include some business details like your contact information, address, hours, and a link to your privacy statement.

2. Keep your message clear and prominent.

Any marketing email is designed to deliver key messages or to promote specific behaviors from your audience. For example, an abandoned cart email nudges customers to return to your site and purchase what they left in their basket. So, in this case, it’s wise to write and design an email that clearly directs your contact back to their shopping cart. In general, you should signal that content is important with graphics, animations, formatting, and clear copy.

It’s also worth analyzing the ways that your audience interacts with email content. Using your email reports, assess which areas of an email draw the most attention and interaction. Businesses can use this information to place the most important aspects of their content in these areas.

3. Design an email that’s visually appealing and interactive.

Images are an excellent way to make content more engaging, attractive, and professional. However, there are a couple of things to keep in mind:

• Use images to strengthen your message, rather than distract. Images should add to or enhance the message of your email. Be sure that this is what they do, rather than pulling a reader’s attention away from what they need to know.
• Optimize images for a consistently pleasant user experience. Images don’t always load or display as well as they could across all platforms and devices. Make sure that images are optimized for the devices and email clients that are likely to open them. Also bear in mind that increasingly, emails are read by smart speakers, rather than viewed on screens. If an email is too reliant on imagery, a lot of the impact will be lost in a voiced format.

Many of the same pros and cons of images also apply to videos. Videos are brilliant for drawing the eye and getting a message across quickly and effectively. However, they can also make emails clunky to load, and they may not display properly on certain devices or inboxes. But video content is likely to become more valuable as smart speaker technology improves. Although images can’t be read well by Alexa or Siri, videos have much more potential for engaging your audience through both visual and voiced formats.

Interactive content and formats get your contacts where they need to be, quickly. For example, an email that lets subscribers interact directly with a website without traveling to an external link is more likely to get conversions than one that doesn’t. Reducing the number of steps a customer has to take between opening an email and completing the email’s goal is always a good idea.

Plus, interactivity is another way to personalize the email experience, making it relevant to each contact. It makes your audience feel personally involved, and that adds value to the content.

Once the perfect content has been created for each segment, it’s time to send it out. After all, content is of absolutely no use if nobody sees it!

To turn around branding stereotypes, we created a new service in the font market. A month for production, a fixed price of $1999, and a minimalist character composition, now the corporate font is affordable even for smaller companies with a limited budget.

Previously, such a product would seem prohibitively expensive and unattainable. But that didn’t mean that medium and small brands had no intention of standing out. The demand for such a product existed not only among large enterprises but for everyone.

Over a year in the making, we realized the demand for a service like this early on. When we launched, TypeType fonts were inexpensive, and the average bill clocked in around $15. As the years passed, however, we developed and made them more complex and attractive. We enriched the character compositions and the number of styles, and we developed the technical department. Now we have proprietary kerning, and we have even developed in-house hinting. That was reflected in the price of our fonts, which increased significantly. While we grew professionals, we lost the clientele that couldn’t afford to spend large budgets on purchasing licenses. Similar companies constantly contacted us, including those requesting a corporate font, but we did not have enough resources for such projects. We would refuse them, but we were always looking for an opportunity to return to this under-served market.

The Affordable Font service was preceded by another project with a similar concept. In 2021, we launched the first-ever budget fonts line, the TypeType Starter Kit, a series of designer fonts featuring the minimal set of font tools at the same quality level as the baseline fonts.

While the kit was a success, Affordable Font is the conceptual continuation of the TypeType Starter Kit. The fundamental difference is that in the designer font line, the client chooses from ready-made solutions; in the new service line, the client takes over the creative inspiration.

In the future, both projects will merge into the TypeType Design Collection, a set of affordable fonts with different stylistic concepts. That way, designers will be able to find a solution for any task in the form of a suitable font.

With the Affordable Font project, the character composition is limited, though the font has all the tools necessary and can get used for branding and packaging design, in advertisements, or for headlines in print. With the corporate font, however, a company can make a statement and stand out from its competitors. We do not have an image of an ideal project, but it could be a coffee shop or tattoo parlor, a local cosmetics or clothing brand—any company that wants a stylish personal font that’s within their budget.

Young brands are not the only audience for the new product. We received many requests from small and medium-sized agencies that wanted to expand the functionality of the services offered to their clients. Through this offering, an agency can deliver more value to their customers without resorting to hand-lettering or feeling limited by the budget. A functional font for an affordable price, distinguishing the project from peers in the market is a critical need that’s not getting addressed.

When we receive applications, we will choose projects with a creative concept, one whose idea and vision we can relate to but also requires typewritten fonts (as calligraphic or handwritten fonts demand significantly more time and resources).

One of the ways to reduce the price is for our studio to retain the commercial rights of use. The client receives an unlimited license, that is, almost unlimited possibilities for using the font family. However, we reserve the right to modify the font and release its commercial version a month after it gets transferred to the client. Those fonts then get combined with the Starter Kit in the TypeType Design Collection.

Of course, the client can buy commercial rights to use and remain the sole copyright holder—this is one of the additional options. Over the next six months, we will form a complete list of options with final costs. All conditions will be transparent, and the font can get assembled as a constructor kit, with the client knowing the final price in advance.

The character composition of the Affordable Font includes a basic set of alphabet letters, all numbers, service characters and basic punctuation, and a currency sign. There will be one face in the font, which the customer can choose. The font will have high-quality kerning and detailed elaboration of all characters. Proprietary hinting from TypeType or expansion of the character composition can also be ordered—these will be additional options.

There will be only one iteration—this way, we can reduce the time and labor on the type to just one month. The most important stage is the first meeting and discussion of the client’s ideas because, at that moment, we need to understand each other as much as possible. After that, we will gather for a team brainstorm and refine the concept into the final technical task, which will go into production after the client’s approval. There will be no edits in the course of work on the part of the customer.

Along with the budget typeface projects, our studio is also developing the direction of the Social Font project. It is a direct extension of the general concept and an integral part of the Affordable Fonts project.

From time to time, social and charitable projects that spend all their budgets on helping people, animals, or nature approach us. Such organizations cannot purchase a beautiful font but often want to make a statement while looking modern and stylish.

We previously provided these companies with a free license for our fonts. Projects included E-ducare, which helps children in Tanzania and Vietnam, or Nochlezhka, a charity in Russia dedicated to helping the homeless.

As part of the Social Font project, we can develop a font that directly reflects the ideas and mission of such organizations. Thanks to this, we can attract more public attention to such projects and contribute to their success.

Within the framework of the Social Font project, we invite charitable organizations, aid funds, non-profits, or educational institutions without government support to contact us. While we currently plan to take on about two such projects a year, there is only one limitation—the company must have been operational for at least a year, as the group must have a track record of success and helping their constituency.

To summarize, the Affordable Font project united several goals at once: from closing the sought-after niche of branded fonts for projects whose budgets are limited to the desire to contribute to the activities of social organizations.

We launched the Affordable Font initiative quite recently, but we sincerely believe that we will open new opportunities and implement several exciting and vital projects.

About us: TypeType is an independent type design studio based in St. Petersburg. During our eight years in the font market, we developed more than 60 fonts, including the bestsellers TT Norms® Pro and TT Commons Pro.

This article is brought to you by Mailchimp

Mailchimp & Co is a global community of agencies and freelancers who help their clients with Mailchimp and other marketing initiatives. 

Even in the before-times, a crowded hall of strangers exchanging small talk, business cards, and handshakes was often unappealing. Luckily, cattle call-style networking events are no longer needed to expand your professional circle. Communities such as Mailchimp & Co give members access to a ready-built network of their peers. The first step is simply signing up, but to really get the most out of these valuable resources, we’ve put together a few dos and don’ts that’ll help you build a robust professional network.

Do: Think beyond the lead

There’s more to networking than just landing a gig. You can never assume which relationships will yield dividends. If you equate networking solely with boosting your bottom line, you’ll miss out on all the other ways networking can bring you professional fulfillment.

Don’t: Hard sell

When networking, make sure you’re keeping it real and representing yourself accurately. There’s nothing wrong with tooting your own horn, but nobody likes someone who’s constantly hyping (and only talking about) themselves.

Do: Connect with your peers

Through Mailchimp & Co events, meet-ups, and the partner Slack channel, you can connect with fellow Mailchimp devotees across the globe. Many partners have never met in the flesh, but they’ve forged bonds over Zoom calls and DMs. Partners share leads, learn from each other, and even collaborate on bigger projects that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to tackle on their own.

Don’t: Overthink things

Be confident about your skill set and open to learning from folks who have more experience than you. Imposter syndrome is real. But when you learn what your peers have accomplished, you better understand what you’re capable of—and it’s probably more than you give yourself credit for.

Novarese's exuberant passion for the re-invention of traditional letterforms and his relentless exploration of typographic possibilities were celebrated by an exhibition held in Tipoteca and through a successful Kickstarter re-edition of his masterpiece, Alfa Beta, edited by Archivio Tipografico.

But the craziest homage to Novarese was the football poster design tournament Coppa Stadio, organized by Zetafonts Foundry for a revival of the typeface Stadio, a long-lost classic designed by Novarese in 1974 and published only as dry transfer lettering.

Zetafonts’ typographic treasure hunt for Stadio began with a visit to Archivio Tipografico, a collaborative space for the preservation, study, and practice of the typographic arts. Located in Turin, the Archivio is proudly preserving the heritage of the Nebiolo foundry that dominated the type design scene in Italy in the last century and that Novarese had joined when he was only 17 years old.

In the Archivio Tipografico, Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini of Zetafonts discovered a rare copy of Novarese’s Il Segno Alfabetico. Edited by the typographer just a few years before his death, the book shows a complete collection of specimens of his most famous typefaces (like Eurostile, Estro, and Stop), as well as some more obscure ones with sketches and unpublished fonts. Pancini was immediately hooked by the design of Stadio, an extra bold grotesque typeface notable for its reverse contrast, with the horizontal lines being thicker than the vertical. Its bold and playful shapes well suited its name, literally meaning “football stadium” in Italian. Though drawn almost fifty years ago, it had the energy of today’s more trendy and experimental typefaces.

Stadio was also fascinating because no one had ever digitized it-it was only published as a rub-on transfer lettering in the R41 line by Reber, the Italian competitor to Letraset. Zetafonts’ team contacted the granddaughter of Reber's founder and now CEO and agreed on a collaboration for the return of Stadio. A digital revival meant the chance to give exposure to the original lost design by Novarese—with one of the weights being a very faithful digital replica of the 1975 original. On the other hand, Zetafonts proposed to expand the original design into a full typeface family, with various text and display weights and a variable version to fully explore its reverse contrast design space. Novarese had in his life continuously reimagined, reinvented, and expanded typeface ideas from the past, and Zetafonts thought it made sense to apply his method to his own work.

To bring Stadio into the 21st-century globalized world, Zetafonts decided to extend its glyph set to cover additional languages. After designing extended Latin diacritics, the next step was the development of Cyrillic glyphs, designed with the help of Vika Usmanova, who already had scored some dazzling Cyrillic reverse contrast craziness on her Geekette for TypeType. Now in the works are Arabic (curated by Rania El Azmi) and Devanagari, both posing unique challenges on how to translate Novarese’s reverse contrast logic into different writing systems. Devanagari Stadio, designed by Shrishti Vajpai, looks fascinating as the top line becomes a massive black sign dominating the letter shapes.

To launch the typeface, Zetafonts decided to honor its vintage roots and the football fandom its name evoked, inviting twenty Italian graphic design studios and digital illustrators to play with Novarese’s letters to create a poster dedicated to a football team from their home region. A championship was then held on Zetafonts’ Instagram channel, allowing followers to vote for the outcome of each match.

The result was an inclusive and playful championship between Italy’s regions, where first league top teams played alongside lesser-known clubs and even imaginary ones, including Nebiolo’s own soccer team. The specimen of the typeface became a sports tabloid, collecting the posters and the commentaries, and available on Zetafonts site as part of a limited collector edition of the typeface that included a fan scarf and the original R41 transfer sheets of Stadio.

STADIO NOW

Original Design: Aldo Novarese

Design Team: Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini, Andrea Tartarelli, Francesco Canovaro; Vika Usmanova (cyrillic), Rania Azmi (arabic), Shrishti Vajpai (Devanagari).

Type Foundry: Zetafonts

Release date: December 2020

Weights: 12 weights + 12 Italics + 2 variable fonts

Link to download

Author: Cosimo Lorenzo Pancini – Zetafonts Partner and Project director. Cosimo bought his first typeface, an Arnold Boecklin Letraset transfer, when he was nine years old. He has since then kept playing with letters both written and drawn, working as a type designer, visual arts teacher, and art director for print, digital, and video. He has designed over fifty typeface families for Zetafonts Foundry that he co-founded with Debora Manetti and Francesco Canovaro. His typefaces include Cocogoose, Blacker, Monterchi (CA typography award 2020), and Stinger (CA typography award 2021). He lives in Florence with his wife, a cat named Bodoni, and too many books.

Zetafonts Foundry finely designs high-quality retail typefaces and provides custom font design services for commercial and institutional clients. The foundry creates meaningful typefaces with a clear “case of use situation” and a strong “problem-solving attitude." Its goal is to provide finely crafted and innovative yet solid design tools for graphic designers, art directors, and brand managers worldwide. Zetafonts team also promotes typographic culture through the organization of educational initiatives, talks, and courses.

Learn more on www.zetafonts.com

Every year, Studio Hinrichs creates a monthly calendar for type lovers. Hinrichs celebrates the classic fonts that have shaped the world of typography and introduces typefaces created by brand new designers looking to impact the world of type and design.

This calendar—which you can purchase on Amazon—celebrates the aesthetic and sculptural qualities of different letterforms.

For many calendar years, Hinrichs chose to print on the best printing paper in the market—Sappi McCoy. It provides a consistent, beautiful bright white printing surface—every time. Offering a powerful, luminous, and one-of-a-kind finish, McCoy creates an experience that lasts. It’s the paper chosen by leading brands every day of the year.

With its simple design, this calendar lets us ponder a font for a full month. And why would we do that? Because the beauty of type, like paper, is often overlooked. We sometimes see the words but miss the details, variety, and emotional richness of the typeface itself, even in a perfectly executed project. Our experience with paper can be like that, too. We see the images, type, and color but can miss paying attention to the hand, the heft, and the haptics of a paper surface that makes our fingers as happy as type makes our eyes.

At past live events and conferences, Sappi would gift these calendars to lucky attendees. This year, they want to make a virtual experience as gratifying as an in-person experience. So, they are happy to help you celebrate every day (except Blursday, no need to celebrate that) with your very own copy of this coveted calendar. Sappi is offering this beautiful calendar to the first 200 PRINT readers who sign up to receive a copy of the 12 x 18 calendar featuring all the fonts, designed in San Francisco, printed in Canada on paper made in Minnesota—Sappi McCoy.

When you think about Adobe, you think Photoshop and Illustrator.

But they invented the PDF. Now, think about that for a second. You've lived with this file type for so long you probably can’t imagine a world without it. More than 73 million PDFs are saved to Google Drive and Mail every day. That number alone avoids the use of 22.7M reams of paper, the harvesting of 2.3M trees, and the emissions equivalent to 57M cars.

Another behind-the-scenes transformation is happening now—with Adobe among others at the forefront of change. It's starting with something as seemingly innocuous as a photoshoot.

Advancements In 3D Software and Other Digital Tools Unlock Alternatives

Flip through the pages of any IKEA catalog, and you’ll probably find some swoon-worthy furniture for your humble abode. But what you might not realize is that a majority of it was computer-generated.

“If you go on to the websites for some very famous brands and look at their products, many of the photos were done digitally,” says Vince Digneo, Adobe head of sustainability. “And what that means to me is that they did not produce emissions from airfare, shipping, any kind of commuting or travel, or lights or catering or food waste or any of these things that go on with a physical photoshoot. It's now virtual.”

“You can save a ton of time, energy, emissions, money—and all these resources—by doing it digitally,” he adds.

3D design is now enabling creative agencies and global brands to be less wasteful, and designing for circularity is a lot easier digitally than physically. You can now create photorealistic 3D assets from scratch using Adobe Dimension. Upload your designs from Illustrator or Photoshop, and then you can use Substance, a 3D material texturing tool that gives the objects you envision the look and feel of the real thing, be it glass, aluminum, or even paper.

“Say you're trying to design some really cool package. Rather than shipping paper, cardboard steel, aluminum, and plastic from China to the US to make a bunch of prototypes that you throw away 99 percent of the time,” says Vince. "You can create a digital version and look at every angle of what you're producing, you can pick the materials from the materials library using Substance 3D, and make it exactly the texture and look you want. You can then make it in 100 different colors." Digital prototypes make it easy to iterate, creating multiple views and variations in minutes vs hours or days.

Always innovating, the design folks at Ben & Jerry’s were intrigued. They quickly pivoted to Dimension as an alternative to traditional photoshoots using 3D assets with photographic backgrounds to create virtual photos for campaigns they are running during the pandemic.

“Ben and Jerry’s found what many companies are finding; that 3D-rendered images are indistinguishable from traditional photos, and they’re far more efficient and actually less expensive to produce,” said Scott Belsky, Adobe’s chief product officer.

“The idea of rapid prototyping digitally in the studio and bringing that to the production process through digital printing and other methods phenomenally cuts down waste,” says Tom Szaky, CEO and founder of TerraCycle, a company that collects hard-to-recycle and non-recyclable waste and turns it into materials that can be reused to make new products.

But there’s more than the environmental benefit (though let’s not undercut that either). “Waste is also equal to cost, right? It will save tremendous amounts of money. It will save tremendous amounts of time. It will allow you to innovate significantly faster and actually try to have the product accomplish what it’s intended to do, which is delight and make someone's life better in some way.”

Once you have those tools, not only is it hard to go back, but it can foster behavioral change, a digital transformation that can eliminate wasteful and conventional design processes.

Taking on CPG Challenges

When you introduce transformative changes at the corporate level, they echo across an organization’s business practices, and that’s a critical milestone when it comes to the circular economy. Plenty of companies want to improve their sustainable bona fides, but they’re worried about being accused of greenwashing. Many even fall into a kind of paralysis with a damned if we do, damned if we don’t mentality.

“You have to achieve it in bite-sized chunks,” Tom says. “At the very beginning, the first step for the organization should be something that they can act on and celebrate within 90 days, which may be as simple as skipping a photoshoot. That gives you a runway to do something that may be a little bigger.”

The same technology that’s disrupting creative processes can also have a big impact on materials and packaging decisions in the CPG world. Enter Loop, a circular economy venture led by TerraCycle. It’s an innovative reuse platform that sells CPG products in reusable packaging that can be cleaned and refilled. Loop also wants to influence product design using refillable containers instead of single-use plastics. The idea is gaining global momentum with big brands, like P&G, Gillette, Unilever, and more. “Loop is the beginning of the end of disposability, making reuse a viable and accessible option for CPGs, retailers, and consumers,” Szaky says.

Loop is also quickly building an ecosystem of agencies and 3D designers, who understand TerraCycle and Loop’s materials standards and can design accordingly so that when the reusable packaging meets its inevitable end, it can still find a way to be used in some other capacity.

For this transformation to take hold, the design has to be better, and the container has to be more innovative and beautiful than what came before. That’s the playbook. It’s not about capitalizing on guilt or shame. “Many times, sustainability is shrouded in some form of sacrifice, right?” Tom asks. “Live in a smaller home, fly less, don't eat meat.” This transformation is about giving people a viable path forward that revolutionizes how we design, how we do business, and even the way we live our lives.

By the time a product makes it to the shelf, so much has gone into it—from R&D, funding and design to sales and distribution—it’s smart business to give it a longer, more valuable life. “When they move the package from being a cost to an asset, you can explode the investment per package significantly,” Szaky notes.

Now designs can be richer, more substantial—made with heavier alloys that feel less disposable. Designers can devote more time and attention to the details, creating goods that are more like lifestyle accessories. Brands can differentiate reusable packaging with styles and shapes not possible with single-use options, catching consumer attention.

“I'd rather play into their desires and get them things that are better and more awesome and just so happen to be more sustainable,” Tom adds.

The biggest changes often happen naturally and because it is the right thing to do. Whether it’s an unexpected need to workaround photoshoots or the looming problem of single-use plastics in CPG, digital transformation is creating a more environmentally friendly future.

Mailchimp champions authenticity, originality and expressiveness—we believe building a successful brand and business requires staying true to yourself. By creating unique narratives using exaggerated proportions, off-kilter concepts and unexpected combinations, our signature illustration system celebrates the idea of individual expression and imperfection. And in this series on PRINT, we celebrate the brilliant creatives who use their visual alchemy to help us reach all-new heights.

Franz Lang’s illustrations sing with life; his line is electric with motion and energy, and his body of work exudes charm in spades. We began working with the London-based Lang two years ago after observing his strong embrace of concept and metaphor, as well as his skills with complementing materials.

His approach to his Mailchimp illustrations is perhaps illustrative of his process at large:

“Mailchimp’s prompts are always very funny and challenging,” he says. “The abstract concepts are always interesting to explore and materialize into more concrete and realistic drawings. I’ve learned to take my time to think about the meaning of the prompt, as well as the implications of it. I always start by writing down words that are relevant to it or that pop in my mind. After that, I start sketching, mixing up my list of words and following the randomness of my train of thoughts.”

The results are uniquely and undeniably joyful—and here, he riffs on his art and craft.

What materials (or programs and devices) do you use?

Everything I do always starts on my sketchbook. I’ve been using the same two brands of sketchbooks for years now, and have a lot of different pens and markers in my pencil case. On the iPad, I only use Procreate and Fresco, as the different digital brushes available are amazing in terms of versatility, textures and shapes.

Have there been ways that working with Mailchimp is different from other clients?

The nicest part of working with Mailchimp is how well-written their briefs are, together with the very clear vision and branding they already have in place. Understanding from the very beginning of a project what a client wants makes it easier to conceptualize thoughts and create more freely. Also, I’ve been working so much with them that I now understand exactly what they like and what they are looking for, making it easier for me to think and create.

Your work typically incorporates a lot of bright color; has it been challenging to work in black and white for the brand?

Luckily, I really enjoy working in black and white. Color is something I introduced in my work just a couple of years ago, as mostly everything during my university studies was black ink on paper. It was nice to be able to leave color behind for a bit and focus on the quality of the line work, the different textures and brushes!

What does your workspace look like?

My desk is in a window corner of a big room I share with five other illustrators and makers. It’s always messy; a lot of plants around, pens, markers and pencils everywhere, and empty coffee mugs. I dream to have a big studio all for myself one day, where I can store all my books, prints and objects I have been collecting.

What are your stylistic influences?

While studying art, I came across a lot of very interesting artists and designers, both from the past and contemporary. I am always researching new artists on Instagram and tend to go [to] as many exhibitions as possible.

Who are your favorite illustrators and designers?

I am in love with the dark drawings of Edward Gorey, the super-colorful sculptures and objects by Ettore Sottsass, the simple shapes of Enzo Mari, and the psychedelic drawings of Heinz Edelmann.

Where do you find inspiration away from the page?

Everyday life is my favorite source, as well as conversation with friends. Mostly all my personal work is related to my life, as I try to visually represent thoughts and emotions that I have during the day. I’ve been doing a drawing a day since lockdown started—that was back in March in Italy—and thinking about collecting my favorites into a zine/collection of some sort, a big project that will keep me company during this crazy second wave.

What’s your best advice for illustrators working today?

Connect with other illustrators and ask them all the questions you have. I have learned so much from confronting myself and my practice with other artists, not only about the way that I approach a drawing, but also about pricing, licensing, industry standards and projects that I was not aware of.

A designer’s monitor is more than just a monitor. It’s the tool that lets them see and shape their work with confidence before it’s released to the masses. Frank Ramirez, owner and videographer of Coyull Films, agrees: “Monitors. Having the wrong one causes eye strain, frustration and decreased productivity,” he says. “The right one gives you confidence in your work, keeps you excited to work throughout the day and helps get work out faster.”

ASUS’s ProArt family of displays is built for this exacting work. Introducing two new ProArt monitors: the PA278QV and PA248QV, that make professional-caliber display technology accessible to a broad audience. For those who are just setting out on their creative journeys, the PA278QV and PA248QV provide an accurate and reliable canvas for their photos, digital art and video.

All the Right Hardware in All the Right Places

For most creators, it’s essential to find a monitor that offers accurate, vivid colors. When looking for a new monitor, keep an eye out for features like factory calibration and verification, as well as robust coverage of color gamuts.

Both the PA278QV and PA248QV use an IPS panel, the LCD technology of choice for enthusiasts chasing the most accurate, vivid colors. Both monitors cover 100% of the sRGB and Rec. 709 color gamuts typical for standard-dynamic-range photos and videos. The PA278QV and PA248QV are factory calibrated and Calman Verified to ensure an average Delta E value of less than two, so that they offer the color accuracy necessary for professional work out of the box.

IPS displays are renowned for their wide viewing angles, too. Even when a client or co-worker looks at the display from off angles, colors and contrast won’t shift as they might on other panel types. Both displays are equipped with a convenient and ergonomic-friendly stand that allows for tilt, swivel, pivot and height adjustments.

In addition, both of these new ProArt monitors feature a 75Hz refresh rate and Adaptive-Sync technology, which helps to eliminate screen tearing to preserve image quality even as delivered GPU frame rates naturally fluctuate.

The Right Tools for the Job

The 27" ProArt PA278QV has a generous 2560×1440 resolution, with ultra-slim bezels that make it ideal for multi-monitor setups. It’ll accept inputs through a broad selection of ports, including DisplayPort 1.2, Mini DisplayPort and HDMI 1.4, and can also serve as a convenient USB 3.0 hub thanks to a USB passthrough.

At 24.1", the ProArt PA248QV has a smaller diagonal than the PA278QV, but has a resolution of 1920×1200, giving it a 16:10 aspect ratio. Many of today’s monitors have an aspect ratio of 16:9, which is often regarded as the ideal ratio for watching movies and other entertainment. The extra vertical space afforded by 16:10 displays can be helpful for creatives using software like Adobe Photoshop or Premiere, programmers who need lots of vertical space, or anyone who commonly works with two documents arranged side-by-side on the same monitor. The ProArt PA248QV also features ultra-slim bezels, and it accepts a wide variety of inputs, including DisplayPort 1.2 and HDMI 1.4 inputs, and a legacy D-Sub (VGA) port. This monitor can also serve as a USB 3.0 hub.

Dependable Partners for Creative Enthusiasts

Need a starting point for your work in photography and videography? These displays provide out-of-the-box color accuracy at price points within the reach of just about any creative enthusiast. Whether you’re touching up photos for social media or editing video for your YouTube channel, PA278QV and PA248QV will pave the way to transform your creative vision into completed projects. Explore more about them on ASUS’s Let’s Create website, and enter the giveaway for your chance to win your own PA248QV monitor.

Established in 1989, ASUS is a multinational company known for the world’s best motherboards and high-quality PCs, monitors, graphics cards, routers and other technology solutions. ASUS founded the ProArt product line in 2011 with the goal of helping creators power up their imagination.

There’s something to the notion that to be creative, you surround yourself with beauty that espouses innovative design. We’re careful to keep unnecessary clutter away from our workspaces, and we introduce calming elements that bring us joy. It’s even better when the tools we use to get our jobs done are similarly satisfying. The ASUS ProArt PA90 Mini PC aims to enhance the vibe of your creative space in a compact form factor that packs oodles of performance for work.

A Tiny Beast

Powering this workstation PC is a custom motherboard sporting an Intel Z390 chipset with two 9th-gen processor options: an Intel® Core™ i9 processor or an Intel® Core™ i7 processor. High-end host processing is available through NVIDIA Quadro RTX™ 4000 or NVIDIA RTX™ 2060 graphics cards.

Four SO-DIMM slots host up to 64GB of DDR4 memory, and PCIe- and SATA-attached SSDs hold up to 512GB of latency-sensitive software. There’s room for a 2.5" hard drive, which is great for storing documents, photos or project files that aren’t reliant on high throughput.

Design That Works

Although the ProArt PA90’s cylindrical chassis is fluid and aesthetically pleasing, its shape serves a functional purpose. As a mini PC, it’s meant to monopolize as little space as possible—at 6.9" wide and 14.4" tall, this called for ASUS’ engineering prowess to design a custom motherboard to fit into the unique chassis, and to mount the graphics card vertically instead of horizontally.

Continuing the effort to keep your desktop tidy, clean and ready for maximum productivity, ASUS created an organized back panel that hosts a plethora of I/O ports. Here you’ll find the DisplayPort interfaces, two 802.11ac Wi-Fi antenna connectors, a line-out jack, an RJ45 port for gigabit Ethernet and two USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports perfect for attaching peripherals. An additional pair of USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A ports up front provides easy access for thumb drives or external hard disks. Separate headphone and mic jacks come in handy for teleconferencing, or when you need a little musical inspiration without disturbing others.

Cool-Looking Cooling

One of the greatest challenges in building a small PC is keeping it cool without generating a ton of noise. Compact interiors challenge the notion of an ideal airflow—and ASUS tackled this by designing a closed-loop all-in-one system to cool the CPU. A fan blows through its 120-mm radiator, exhausting waste heat out one side of the chassis. Since thermal energy rises, it was a no-brainer to pop the top—and the PA90’s top cap lifts up when the going gets tough.

Getting Down to Business

It was important to ensure the PA90 could handle the regular workload of a creative pro without getting overwhelmed. With dozens of browser tabs open, Discord chat up, a 1080p video streaming from YouTube, more than 20 pictures open in Adobe Photoshop and working on a video edit in Adobe Premiere, there is no slow-down. Every application is as snappy as if it were the only one running.

Built by Professionals, for Professionals

The ASUS ProArt PA90 Mini PC doesn’t just look chic and contemporary, it has a hidden beast within. The powerful components housed inside blast through basic desktop productivity and easily accelerate more demanding tasks while keeping everything inside cool.

If you’re interested in a PC that is a beauty and a beast, learn more about it on ASUS’ Let’s Create website.

Established in 1989, ASUS is a multinational company known for the world’s best motherboards and high-quality PCs, monitors, graphics cards, routers and other technology solutions. ASUS founded the ProArt product line in 2011 with the goal of helping creators power up their imagination.

Designers and content creators need high-performance hardware for work, and there’s an increasing demand for the ability to do that work on the go. A lot of people pause on more complex jobs until they get back to home base because they need a professional-grade display or more power to get the job done in a reasonable amount of time. But life is a lot easier if you don’t have to sort your workload into the things you can do now and the things you have to save until later.

The ASUS ProArt StudioBook 17 is a new breed of workstation that lets you work from anywhere, no matter the task. The StudioBook 17 was built using feedback directly from professionals, and was made for those who want something light enough for travel yet powerful enough to make changes right there and then.

The StudioBook 17 packs a huge 17" display, an Intel® Core™ i7 processor, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics into a portable form factor, so it’s tailor-made for creative pros and content creators who often find themselves working outside the office.

When Beauty is the Beast

Building a great workstation is about more than just putting together the right parts—it has to be in the right form factor, too. The StudioBook 17 leverages ultraslim bezel panels and a 16:10 aspect ratio that measures 17″ on the diagonal but fits inside a 15" body, resulting in a truly expansive display.

The panel itself covers 97% of the DCI-P3 color space, much wider than the sRGB color gamut used by typical PCs, and it’s Pantone-validated for color accuracy and factory-calibrated, similar to ASUS’ ProArt displays. Wide 178-degree viewing angles ensure colors stay vivid, and the 180-degree hinge allows for a wider range of positions for the display, including flat on the table for presenting to co-workers or clients.

Power to the People

It’s what’s on the inside that counts, especially when it comes to demanding workloads, like design and rendering. The StudioBook 17 is available with an Intel® Core™ i7 processor with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2060 graphics, and doubles down on performance with a pair of PCIe solid-state drives in a RAID 0 array that connects one drive to the CPU and one to the chipset, allowing users to achieve much higher speeds.

The StudioBook 17’s slim 18.4mm frame is packed to the gills with performance hardware, with venting, fans and heatpipes that keep the StudioBook 17 cool and quiet, even under heavy loads. And, at 5.3 lbs, the StudioBook is light enough to stash in a bag without worries, as it’s MIL-STD 810G tested for vibration as well as environmental extremes like temperature, humidity and altitude.

The StudioBook is designed to let you work on the road as well as accommodate a more traditional multi-monitor professional setup. There’s an HDMI 2.0 port, three USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A ports, a high-speed SD card reader and a USB Type-C with Thunderbolt 3 support for hooking up to external displays—and it’s even compatible with DisplayPort 1.4, and allows you to output in 8K.

Hit the Road

Over the years, mobile workstations have changed a lot. Once portable in name only, the hefty chunks of black plastic that used to adorn our desks have been replaced by sleek, shiny notebooks. The problem is that we’ve started to settle for workstations that let you work from anywhere but don’t necessarily let you do your job on the road. The ASUS ProArt StudioBook 17 is a mobile workstation that aims to deliver all you need to get the job done and make changes on the fly. Learn more at ASUS’s Let’s Create website.

Established in 1989, ASUS is a multinational company known for the world’s best motherboards and high-quality PCs, monitors, graphics cards, routers and other technology solutions. ASUS founded the ProArt product line in 2011 with the goal of helping creators power up their imagination.

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.

Well, not long ago, we saw what Adobe Dimension is capable of—how it blends the art and craft of photography with the art and craft of 3D design in all-new stunning ways—and decades on, we got goosebumps once again that we might be looking at the next game-changer.

Brooklyn-based photographer Greg Comollo has long wowed us with his multi-varied talents, from his stellar product shots to his powerful profiles. He recently completed a virtual photography campaign for Ben & Jerry’s using Adobe Dimension—his first time experimenting with the tool.

In this article, brought to you by our friends at Adobe Dimension, Adobe 3D&I Creative Director Vladimir Petkovic and Comollo have a candid discussion about the tech—how it works in symphony with a photographer’s core skillset, its many potential uses, and just what role, exactly, it might play in the future of the craft and beyond.

Petkovic: Greg, before we go into Dimension and technical details, can you tell me a little bit more about your career as a photographer?

Comollo: When I was younger, I was just into photography, and when I went to college, I knew that I wanted to do something with visuals. I didn’t know that photography was a real job—it seemed like something that was on TV, or something like that. So I ended up on a path as a designer, which was really where I learned that photography was a thing, and how they worked together.

My own self-interest found me assisting the photographer at the studio I was working at; I had some mentorship through that, and that gave me my footing for photography as a professional. After it got to the point where my design career was me trying to do as much photography for design as possible, I realized it was time for me to transition full time to doing photography.

What would you say is your photographic philosophy?

Man, that’s tough, because one day it’s like, “Don’t get caught up in the pixel peeping and looking at all the details,” and then the next day, it’s like, “Look at the big picture. Nothing matters. Everything should feel natural and of the moment.” And then the next day I’m taking mirrors to perfectly bend light in the way that I want to light some minuscule macro object, and I’m using as much technology as I can to make sure that the final result works, and works as best as I can make it work. So I think it’s just creating whatever’s right for the project, or what tells the story or shares the idea.

Yeah. I can definitely relate. I call that creative anarchy.

Yeah, exactly. Two weeks ago I was shooting a model on a field putting makeup on, and it’s a whole different thing than last week, [when] I was shooting super-detailed maximum resolution for print ice cream that was scrutinized at a millimeter level, or below a millimeter level.

Let’s talk about 3D. It seems like you’ve used 3D before in your career. This hybrid work of using photography, but also 3D, is what we essentially call “virtual photography.” When you first heard the term "virtual photography,” what did you think?

My approach or attempts at 3D have always been very related to the real world. One technical example that maybe you can appreciate is that I needed to make an image that was 56 inches long at 300 DPI. … It needed to be shot in one photograph for a wide-angle lens perspective, and I wanted to know exactly the height. I had to rent a Phase One—some crazy high-end camera. This was 15 years ago, so technology was a lot different then.

And so what I ended up doing is I used 3D to get an exact sense of the height and graphic that I was going to create with the camera. So it was used as a planning tool for me in the beginning. … Before virtual photography, it was never this thing that I could do a final image with. It was always like, I could approach 3D, I could do some cartoon-style rendering, [but] because I’m not a 3D professional, it was limited to what my exploration led me to.

And then when I got to the virtual photography end of things, it was a whole new level of being able to achieve something at a level that I never really had access to before. I feel like I’m just scratching the surface of it, having done what we did together. It’s really exciting.

Yeah, it’s really obvious that you’re super comfortable implementing this hybrid model of not just photography but also 3D techniques. I’m curious, when you first learned about Dimension, how did you feel when you tried it? Was it intuitive, easy, hard?

I think seeing how it takes a space or a scene or just overall the information, and creates something from that that is both based in the traditional version of photography, and then using that in addition to the virtual aspect of it—it all made sense right away. It’s like taking a plate for a photograph, when you just can’t get these things together, and not to simplify what’s there, but it’s layering in Photoshop—and when you understand how that works, all of a sudden you’re like, “Damn, I see what can happen here. I see how this can be used.”

[It’s like] when I was 13 in middle school and saw Photoshop and said, “This is awesome. I can do everything.”

And so as far as Dimension goes, there wasn’t a debugging code script running down the side, and all these other things. It was just so much more user-friendly than anything I’d done. The front end of it is not like Maya 3D Studio Max; when I’ve seen 3D artists working in those things, it’s so deep and rich and I know that there’s good reason when you’re a full-time professional doing that, to have control over everything, but sometimes having control over everything is a problem.

Sometimes you’re just lost in those options, right?

Yeah, so I think the cool part about the virtual photography thing is those options are decided by real-world factors. It was cool when I sent the renders to you that I had [created by combining the regular backplate photo with the 360-degree HDR panorama of the environment], and the way that you can analyze and put those two things together to marry those two worlds. It’s really difficult, and I think that’s what this does so well. Because it uses so much of the analog world around it in order to create the final piece.

Yeah, with our 3D tools, we are hoping to simplify these processes intelligently to where we’re using a lot of machine learning to analyze the photo, and just solve the compositing problems for you. All that had been possible before, but it took a lot of time. And this next question, this is something that I’m really curious about: You being a very experienced photographer, do you feel like your existing knowledge can be somehow translated into 3D environments? Are you able to use that knowledge in a way for the lighting or just compositing?

Whenever I’ve dabbled in the 3D world, you have your light figured out and you step in and then you say, “This goes here, this goes here, that goes there.” And you don’t have to worry about shadows from light stands or any of this other weird stuff. But when you marry those two worlds, you definitely use the lighting.

… And it’s the next level between what I was saying about going fully analog input to the fully digital input, where you can, along the way—if you don’t have these resources—you can use your imagination to create certain parts of it that wouldn’t be accessible in a studio or things like that. It just allows more control over what—

What’s possible.

What I’m looking for, too, yeah.

Do you think that having that additional flexibility, so to speak, using Dimension and 3D, can be a cost-saving solution or more efficient compared to a 100 percent traditional workflow?

I want to say yes. I come from the world of being like, “There’s something about that moment, and perfection matters.” And to have the same noise pattern across these things, and all this super deepness, and sometimes I have to step back and remember that not everything is going to be a 48" x 48" print on a wall in gallery quality, and that takes me back to my design side, where sometimes getting the idea across the most efficient way makes sense. And I think, yes, it is a cost-efficient way for sure to create certain things. I think there’s still the magic of photography for certain elements—

Yeah, absolutely.

The certain magic of that. But to do like we’ve been doing—settings with scenes with rendering in different products—it’s amazing how quick [the] turnaround time [is]. Within a day you can do what would take pre-production, shooting, post-production—you can do that all in one fell swoop. You can make editing changes on the fly.

I have a situation where we shot some product recently, and I need to replace some of the text on the product, and in the past, the retoucher can go in and bend and warp, but now what we’ll do is we’ll render out these plates in Dimension.

Yeah, those are great examples. We are not aiming to replace the photography, but provide a tool which is natural extension of it.

Exactly, yeah. It’s the same way that Hollywood’s done it for years, where they don’t have to blow up as much stuff in the background. You have to blow up a little bit of stuff to make it feel real. And then you can fill in the gaps with this, and I think it also has places where photography was lackluster in some of these things, when you get in these close-up details, you can do a better job with rendering. I know that makeup companies, for years they’ve been rendering their products because photography has physical limitations, so I think this opens us up to a new world too of creating images with photography that go beyond what our capabilities were.

Yeah, exactly. Can you tell me some of the features in Dimension that you especially liked? And if there was anything that’s missing that you wished was there?

Well, A, it’s so user-friendly to replace the textures; to replace the graphic files on pieces is so easy. It seemed to render really fast for me. There are things that I would like to see added in there, like to mimic exact camera settings.

Nice. Like the physical camera settings—maybe exposure, shutter speeds?

That would be cool. … And this is where it’s the tip of the iceberg.

Let’s switch gears and talk about our campaign with Ben and Jerry’s. I would love to hear about your experience there.

We have these flagship images and some of them are these giant, close-up textures of ice cream, but there are other times where we need to shoot hundreds of different flavors for different countries. Even just in managing the workflow of having five to 10 different flavors, with just these little, different details on there, it becomes, “Do we shoot everything? Do we do the food styling and shoot everything in place?” And then if we want to switch out one flavor with another one, it becomes a whole Photoshopping situation, and it’s just a lot of management on that end.

So what we were able to do with Ben and Jerry’s is we were able to create these scenarios—and we’re still using them currently—of different combinations of ice creams, or different flavors that are available in different places in the world, and as markets need. Because they have such a large reach, it would take days and days and days to shoot this packaging for all these different regions. … By creating the natural environment, that was something that I would natively shoot with my 35 millimeter camera, walk away and have a retoucher take care of it. We were able to shoot that environment and then save it and then—

Bring it into the 3D world.

Yeah. And there’s been a lot of
positive response because people that aren’t at the production level, or aren’t able to be there when we’re making the decisions on what combinations are made, can then take these resources and create their asset request list, and then we can generate these things as needed without a full other shoot with many people—and especially right now when we’re minimizing the number of people we’re exposing ourselves to and working with.

Right. You kind of answered this, but I wanted to ask you what this workflow that you established for the project looked like.

To break it down for this one, because I’d never done anything like this before, I did some tests and tried to figure out how to use strobes with this and realized that there are certain aspects of this photography that required certain technical parameters, where it does need to be continuous lighting sources and there are reasons for that, and also I’ve always liked continuous lighting sources. But it’s really nice when you can see what it’s going to be and just click “capture.”

And so it’s fun to work in a new way. I had received the [360-degree] camera from you guys, and after being given the tutorial [about how to create spherical environment panoramas], I did my own testing of it, seeing what was possible, seeing what worked and what didn’t work. Like any creative process, you need a starting point; we couldn’t just say, “We’re going to capture environments and then film it later.” You still have to be thoughtful about this stuff. It’s still required. It doesn’t replace thinking. It’s not like we could just go in there and just have all these pieces and then click, “I want this, this, and this, and this.”

Yeah, that’s the key. The same way of thinking as a photographer still applies, I feel.

100 percent.

If I understand correctly, you first set up the real scene with an actual product, just to set up the lights in a proper way, but then you took away the object itself so you could take the empty back plates and the 360-degree environment image, and now you were able to bring all of that in Dimension. You then have this customizable 3D object where you can swap different materials, flavors. … What was the reaction to the beautiful results? I know that we were impressed.

I think we all were like, “Holy shit. This is amazing.” I was so—not doubtful, I knew that it would be good—but there was doubt that it would be impressive to me or impress me or blow me away. I remember doing the first one and I think I tried to explain to people what I was doing, and they were just like, “What are you talking about?” And then a visual of it would just blow everybody’s mind.

For you, what was the “Wow, that’s so cool” moment?

I don’t know if this is going to translate to the general public, but when I would have a fork in [a backplate photo], and then [when I render it with the 3D object of a pint next to it], I would see the slight double shadow. That’s sometimes frowned upon in lighting and video and photography, but it’s natural. And when it read the environment, it clicked and I saw what it was. I mean, OK, that goes beyond.

When you walked me through and showed me the [VFX trick of using a mirror ball object to reference the reflections of the 360-degree environment image], that was my first mind-blowing moment. Actually using it and setting it up and getting all the lighting in place and rendering out the first image. And I rendered it out at really high resolution.

The results are beautiful.

Yeah, if I was to try and approach something like that with 3D software with my knowledge, it’d be like 2024 by the time I had anything that was acceptable. To be able to throw that in there and then have it just output, it’s amazing. And then to have a layered file that came from it so I could still go in and mess and tweak with just little pieces that I wanted to customize and work from there …

Overall, we are in this COVID era—do you think this is something that’s going to be potentially important as we go forward, having this hybrid model?

Yeah, it totally opens up working with people in different places. I’m just scratching the surface of it. I’ve been thinking of ways to produce almost assets that I can provide—not stock images, but custom stock sets—where a client can come in and say, “I love the way that that’s lit and looks. And I want to see my product in there.” And then I’d be working with a 3D designer to create the actual object, and create something that works, and then have a texture and skin it. It just opens up a whole new collaboration field of people that we could make stuff with, and I’ve been trying to think of ways to just have fun.

And you are a visionary, Greg, I have to say—because we are thinking about a brand-new type of content, which is essentially what you just explained. So, I’m glad to hear from professional photographers thinking in the same direction.

You’re obviously super proficient in this hybrid model, as we say, and using virtual photography, but I’ve been talking to photographers who are not as open to this new technology. What would you say to your colleagues who are now maybe hesitant to try to use 3D?

Why would you not try something new and see if it works for you? I don’t think that this is going to work for live sports photographers. … [But] because it makes sense in this product photography world, for the project we’ve done, it doesn’t mean that it’s wrong for other things. I think breaking the rules of how it’s used is going to be what leads us to the next cool thing.

Of course.

The next interesting use of it. So to those people that are rejecting it, reject it and use it at the same time. Break it to work for you, and make it work for you, and if you don’t want to do that, then don’t do it.

I think many people could be afraid of it because they don’t know where exactly to start. So do you have any advice for people like that? How do you dip your toe in?

I think you should start with—this goes back to creative director talk—start with your vision of what you want to make, and not that you’re going to get to what you want to make. Most of us have this vision and then we end up over here, but that’s what gets us there, and that’s what gets that process and that feeling going, and it’s reacting to those little results along the way that is going to get you there. It’s
almost like, aim high and start with some crazy idea and expect nothing. And somewhere in the middle will be the results of reality, and sometimes they can blow your expectations away.

That’s great advice.

If I was going to be a design professor for a minute, I’d say, “Take Dimension and make something that’s super simple but pleasing and palatable.” Just find a color palette that you like and build yourself the simple geometric composition that we would do back in design school—cut out three squares of black paper and glue them onto the white paper, and then graduate on to cutting out three squares of colored paper and then gluing them onto the other colored paper and choosing the colors that you like.

Yeah, one step at a time.

One step at a time. And I think that’s a very elementary way of putting it, but once you do that, then also the brain’s going to click, and you’re going to go, “I see what I can do with this.” …

Whereas [with] photography in the past, you can tell a kid to go take the camera and you get your perspective right away. So [with Dimension] you have to start with your imagined perspective or what you want to see. And sometimes that can be the same exact thing that we would create with a traditional camera, or sometimes it can be a simple composition, or in my case it was doing typography in a 3D world.

Do you think this is going to be the future of photography? This hybrid model? Or do you think there’s going to be a definition which is different, traditional photography here, 3D, and then something being—

I would’ve never thought that this was going to be a thing, so I think it’s just, this is the beginning of virtual photography. I think how the hardware also is developed in coordination with this is going to influence a lot of what we can do and what’s able to be done. Things like capturing a 19-stop HDR image take time, and in years or days or hours, we might be able to capture that same HDR image instantaneously. Which all of a sudden will change the way that we can capture these scenes and sources. To say it’s the future—it’s obviously going to be incorporated in the future of it; just to imagine photography in a world where this is not implemented would be crazy.

Do you think it’s going to have a huge impact on commercial photography in general?

Yeah. It depends on how it’s picked up and how it’s utilized. I think if it’s done intelligently, yes. It’s going to have an impact. I want to see what other people are doing with it. I want to see this after the human mind has taken it and done 10 different experiments, and I want to do my own too at the same time.

Right.

To say how it’s going to affect it is beyond my view into the future. To say that it’s going to affect it and be part of it is without a doubt, because it allows us to do basically things that we’ve been trying to do for a long time of creating a perfect image.

Well, the results speak for themselves. Have you shared these results with your buddies?

Yeah. I can show them the before and after, and a lot of people are just like, “So, you just shot a plate in the background, and then shot the ice cream afterwards?” It’s so good that I have to explain that it’s not traditional photography.

I think that’s the best feedback ever.

For more information and inspiration, visit Adobe Dimension here.

Whether working on an immersive art installation, a campaign for Nike or a film for Givenchy, digital artist Shane Griffin maintains his iconic style. He crafts captivating, otherworldly scenes and experiences, bringing his artistic mindset to his commercial work. This niche approach is what gives the brands he collaborates with a unique and innovative edge.

Griffin grew up in Dublin, and relocated to New York City in 2012, where he recently set up his independent practice, GRIF Studio. Specializing in both art and commercial design, the studio works on diverse projects through a wide range of mediums.

Balancing Management With Creativity

After years of freelancing, Griffin felt it was time to broaden his horizons and take on more opportunities. With projects growing in terms of scale, consistency and deliverables, the formal launch of GRIF Studio earlier this year was a natural and necessary progression.

To his surprise, Griffin has found that running his own studio is much less overwhelming than expected. Accustomed to working on the design and production aspect of multiple projects simultaneously, his work now also involves the management side of things.

“Knowing that everything is running and progressing is a huge relief and makes for a much more focused mental space,” Griffin says. “Given all we’ve been through this year, that’s a rare luxury.”

When creating his studio’s new website on Editor X, Griffin was mindful to curate and bring attention to the projects that he’s most passionate about. To present his work in a way that would feel purposeful, he adapted the layout of each project page, bringing attention to the unique nature of his various pieces.

This diverse mix of projects and professional roles is what keeps Griffin on his toes, enabling him to continuously learn, experiment, conceptualize and have a bit of fun along the way.

The Meeting Point Between Art and Design

The studio’s portfolio includes an impressive array of clients, from Apple to Nike to LG and more. What’s interesting to note is how Griffin’s personal projects and artwork inform his commercial pieces.

“I’ve been lucky to have such a positive response to my personal projects that it’s resulted in some great commissions and collaborations,” he says. “To me, that’s a real dream situation: elevating a brand with your signature look.”

One such project is his set of bespoke wallpapers created for the iPhone 8 launch. The work is based on his iconic personal series “Chromatic,” which explores light and color through mesmerizing large-scale visuals.

While Griffin’s artworks are often the starting point for commissioned design projects, he sees a clear distinction between the two.

“With art, it’s all about asking questions,” he notes. “You’re inviting the audience into your world and asking them a question about your subject matter. It creates this silent dialog of reflection and thought.”

Griffin’s art rarely has a specific objective. His goal is to let people feel something about his work, whether they end up liking it or hating it, and to momentarily grab their attention away from their phones.

His 2019 installation “Ecotherapy” is an example of a piece whose purpose was simply to invite the audience to enjoy a moment of calm and reflection. Griffin worked with satellite photography, transforming aerial landscapes into canvases of moving fibers. These “living canvases” were displayed on a floor-to-ceiling screen surrounded by mirrors, making for a transformative and immersive experience.

“I wanted to create something that was a love letter to the earth,” Griffin says. “I grew up with my mom being a hippy, and I’ve been a vegetarian all my life, so living in New York there was this longing for nature and the outdoors that I wasn’t getting my yearly quota of.”

In contrast to his artworks, Griffin’s commercial design projects are about answering questions. They are goal-oriented, have clear objectives and need to speak to the principles of the brand. “While the medium and process may overlap and be very similar, the method of getting there is entirely different,” he explains.

For both types of projects, Griffin works with a large and constantly evolving set of tools. Having transferred his workflow predominantly to GPU-based software, he currently does his 3D rendering on Redshift, 3ds Max or Houdini. For additional assets, he c
ombines Quixel DDO Painter and Megascans, with a huge array of plugins to achieve his desired results.

A Long-Standing Partnership With Nike

The focus on goals and targets in commercial projects doesn’t stop Griffin from coming up with highly creative and diverse works. During his many years collaborating with Nike, he has created physical sculptures, worked on multiple artwork and motion projects, and directed the title sequence for Unbanned, a documentary about the beloved Air Jordan 1s.

Recalling his first collaboration with the brand, Griffin says that the partnership came out of thin air, before Instagram and other social media platforms really took off. He started by fixing some 3D typography, and continued to collaborate with them on the Yeezy project, followed by many more.

Looking back, Griffin recalls a piece that he’s especially proud of—his artwork for the Yeezy IIs, dubbed “The Red Octobers.” “I still see people going crazy for the shoes six years later,” he says.

Merging Sonics and Visuals

For Griffin, working with sound comes naturally. Collaborating closely with composers and sound designers, he says, “There’s something so satisfying about this process. The rest is hell, but this is pure bliss!”

The way he sees it, there’s a mathematical harmony that marries sonics and visuals. “I always refer to it as the unconscious 10%,” Griffin says. “Most people will say ‘something’s not right’ when they see things out of perfect sync, but can’t really put their finger on it.” It’s all about making tiny tweaks with subtle ramps and cuts that blend together so well that you don’t notice them. “That’s what really makes the piece sing.”

Learning On-the-Go

Despite his outstanding achievements and impressive clientele, Griffin says he has made mistakes throughout his career. But it’s his daring and relentless approach that has ultimately pushed him forward. “It’s not ideal, but it works for me,” he says. “I’m the sort of person who doesn’t read a manual. I can’t do it. I’m entirely visually driven.”

As a self-taught artist, Griffin sees art and design as more of a personality type. Not going to college meant that Griffin could start his career early on and gain a lot of experience by his mid-20s. “Luckily, we’re in an industry where people are judged on talent and professionalism over Ivy League schools and social status,” he says.

Throughout his career, he has also taught himself how to work with many digital tools. With technology and the visual industry evolving quickly, he points out the importance of constantly staying in the know—otherwise you can find yourself with a lot of catching up to do.

The events of 2020 alone have been a tremendous learning curve for all of us. “We’ve all had to adapt one way or the next,” reflects Griffin. “From long hours, to separation anxiety from work, to the lack of respect for clear working hours, everyone is seriously affected in one way or another this year.”

Having had a couple of projects canceled due to the pandemic, Griffin notes that while it’s been tough to work on live-action pieces, it has, on the other hand, been a good year for design and animation. “I’ve tried to not let the more insignificant things bother me, and just remind myself that I’m lucky to be working,” he says.

Dana Meir is an editor at Shaping Design. With a background in industrial design, she is interested in user experience within both the physical and digital environments. She is passionate about exploring the theme of ethics in the tech industry and how we can build a more positive future through design.

The cultural influences that find their way into multidisciplinary designer Rajlaxmi Jain’s works are many and diverse. During her time around the world, working and studying in India, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S., Jain absorbed different styles that have each left their mark in her practice.

The designer's Indian roots are one such contributing factor to her personal aesthetic. “India is a very visual country,” she explains, describing lush scenes of hand-painted murals and rickshaws adorned with flowers and birds. “The visual language is extremely uplifting, and makes you feel like you're part of a celebration.”

During her studies in London, Jain homed in on the European design tradition as part of her training. “My lessons were heavily based on the Swiss International Style,” she says, mentioning the grid system and the principles of reduction and functionality.

Upon moving back to India and then to New York, Jain started experimenting with breaking these rules in favor of a sense of play and surprise.

Together, these various backgrounds constantly inform Jain’s work and keep her attuned to the cultural implications that come hand-in-hand with creative practice.

Designing for Mental Wellbeing

Jain feels strongly about the power of design in enhancing emotional wellbeing. “I think design can improve mental health in so many ways,” she says, noting how it can shape everything from our environment down to our very sense of self.

These ideas are at the forefront of Jain’s thesis project, “One Mindful Mind.” This award-winning interactive print toolkit fosters positive psychology among children. The toolkit was further developed and published at the creative agency where Jain worked at the time, TBWA India.

While working on the project, Jain educated herself on the topic of pediatric mental health through extensive research and conversations with school counselors, pediatric psychologists and social workers.

By browsing the children’s sections at bookstores for hours on end, she gradually identified the key points that were later integrated into the toolkit. One notion that came from her research was the bright and vivid color palette. Similarly, her use of various materials and textures are meant to evoke a sense of tactility.

“More and more, children are missing out on the tactile experience that only print can bring,” Jain says, explaining her choice of creating a printed product. She notes how, on screen, “you cannot feel textures, tear a page, smell freshly printed paper, paste stickers, scribble with crayons.”

She also points out that “children like having things in abundance with options to pick from,” leading her to break the kit down into five distinct formats. This allows kids the freedom to make their own choices, so that they can “navigate and explore their way around the kit.”

Amplifying Voices in Mental Health

As part of her mission to advocate for mental wellbeing through design, Jain also took on the website redesign for nonprofit organization I’ll Go First, in collaboration with Aanya Gupta and Karla Cullen. The project was created during her studies in the 2020 Wix Playground Academy.

Founded by Jessica Minhas, I’ll Go First provides resources and support around the topics of mental health, trauma and healing. At the core of the website redesign was the intention to shift the organization’s messaging from a more solemn approach to a cheerful and optimistic tone.

Another important design direction was to highlight the personal stories shared on the I’ll Go First podcast, by prominently displaying photos of the real people behind the episodes on the homepage.

This design choice is in line with the organization’s mission of inviting people who deal with trauma, abuse or illness to step up courageously, dispersing the prevalent stigma and shame.

“We tried to make the site welcoming, uplifting and energetic,” says Jain, “because the very spirit of the organization is not being afraid to go first and take charge.” The visual language chosen for the design is bold and colorful, in testimony of the I’ll Go First community.

A Creative Vision for Web Design

Having recently completed a summer web design program at the Wix Playground, Jain describes a fun, inspirational learning experience. “I think my biggest takeaway was not to be afraid and keep trying new things, because that’s the best way to learn,” she says.

As her final project for the academy, Jain created her own portfolio website on Editor X. “Editor X is an extremely powerful platform,” she says. Her portfolio website uses code to create microinteractions, such as small animations and hover effects that add a playful touch to the otherwise sleek and elegant design.

Speaking of her use of code, Jain shares that “it’s a first for me, so bringing my vision to life and learning to code was definitely an exciting experience.”

Nonlinear Design Processes

Jain has recently joined the Brooklyn branch of digital product agency
Work & Co as a product designer. She describes the agency’s working environment as nonlinear, with all teams working in parallel.

“Once you get a brief, you dive straight into the design without having to wait for the strategists or writers to get the content to you,” Jain explains. The result is a creative process that’s in full gear from the very early stages of the project.

“We start concepting and putting together fully fleshed, high-fidelity designs and prototypes on day one.” This way, by the time a project comes to an end, “you’re going with the best ideas from the thousands you’ve tested. I mean, how amazing is that? You’re always three steps ahead!”

As a product designer, Jain is excited about creating digital products that become a part of people’s daily lives and affect them for the better. She’s also inspired by the talented team at Work & Co, who are constantly pushing her to keep learning and growing.

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.

Good designers—and many brand owners—understand the importance of brand guidelines. A lot of time and effort goes into them. A successful brand book is a thing of beauty—a distillation of good design thinking, an embodiment of the brand’s direction, values and essence.

But all too often, among the logo lock-up, the typeface, the color palette and the brand story, the 3D is neglected. It is consigned to future activations or campaigns.

Adding Another Dimension to Retail

Yet 3D is already shaping and redefining the world of retail and how brands appear online and on the shelf—the way customers shop, and what they expect from a retail experience and the brands they buy. As Allan Cook, managing director and digital reality business leader at Deloitte Consulting, puts it: “The massive shift to 3D technology will completely transform the retail industry and redefine how people shop.” Brand owners need to take note and start thinking about their 3D assets in a more strategic way, otherwise they risk being left behind.

A good 3D asset can be used again and again to create different forms of content—from key visuals and CGI product shots, to 3D commerce, social content and AR or VR experiences. Investing in high-quality 3D design assets from the start saves duplication and wasted budget further down the line.

Interiors juggernaut IKEA, for example, has already embraced this approach. It creates 3D assets at the design stage, and then uses them on its product listings or as CGIs in its catalog. This has removed the need for expensive photoshoots and gives the retailer a ready-to-go library of assets—used to incredible effect in its IKEA Place app, which allows the user to visualize true-to-scale items in their own home.

Driven by Alternative Reality

AR in particular has seen rapid growth in usage over the past year or so. It is no longer seen as an “emerging” technology on Gartner’s hype cycle. Advancements such as WebAR (which allows users to view AR content directly through their web browser without having to download an app) have considerably driven adoption. All social media platforms now feature AR content, and coupled with the advent of 5G, we are seeing a huge leap in potential capabilities of streaming 3D content and experiences on the go.

In retail, these already include 360-degree views of products, with virtual try-ons of fashion and beauty products. According to Shopify, allowing customers to view a product as a 3D model via AR can increase conversion rates up to 250%. And these developments are not just applicable in fashion or home furnishings. Even for a whiskey brand, virtually placing a bottle in a consumer’s own space adds to its perceived value and increases the likelihood of purchase.

Storytelling in Three Dimensions

But 3D content is not just about the practical, about figuring out a sofa’s dimension in your home or seeing whether or not a new sweater might fit. It is also about storytelling, bringing a product’s background or credentials to life, sharing information that has no space on a pack or a label. 3D can do so in a uniquely engaging way.

A great example is a recent AR campaign from Siduri Wines. Through scanning QR codes, users can access three multi-layered WebAR interactions that include a hologram of founder Adam Lee, who introduces the wines and gets the user to engage with some interesting facts. The experience perfectly encapsulates his laid-back and fun approach, while conveying the brand and its products’ unique character.

Salt brand Reichenhaller’s recent AR experience, meanwhile, turned its pack into a 3D visual that shared the brand’s history. It included immersive tours of the salt mines as well as recipes. It was a great way to attract attention to a traditionally low-interest product and raise emotional brand awareness. Undoubtedly it fostered a welcome new cohort of loyal customers.

The three-dimensional can provide engagement that video can’t. According to Mindshare U.K., AR elicits three times more brain activity and holds 1.9 times the visual attention in users when compared to video, and can boast four times longer dwell times (ADVRTAS).

With such convincing statistics, it makes sense to give your 3D brand assets the attention they deserve. They need to form part of a brand toolkit right from the start, part of an ever-growing library of quality assets that can be used at a moment’s notice. It is a huge task for established brand owners to revise and create high-quality assets from scratch—not everyone has had the foresight of IKEA. But it’s a project worth starting, even if on a small scale.

Let’s Talk ‘Phygital’

What makes this “nice-to-have” even more of a necessity is the rise of “phygital.” The industry might need to coin a more palatable term, but it does highlight the fusion of the physical and digital. Not only does 3D facilitate at-home shopping, it also enables immersive, engaging physical experiences—and provides a bridge between the two.

Retailers are already experimenting with closing this physical-digital loop further. Fashion brand H&M, for example, has been exploring spatial computing, a type of 3D tech that interacts and integrates in the physical world, placing digitally created items into bricks-and-mortar settings. In its latest experiment, H&M teamed up with Disney to allow customers to design their own Star Wars–themed garment with digital design elements in its Tokyo store.

With wearable technology in the pipeline of all major tech brands, such 3D and immersive experiences will become even more the norm. Buying a product in a shop
window with the nod of your head, say, or being greeted by an AR shop assistant as you enter a store to point you in the direction of a product viewed online—the possibilities are exciting, and not far off.

Another Level of Creativity

For many brands, 3D also provides another level of exclusivity and creativity. It can add excitement and wonder that complement and go beyond the physically real. Last year, Selfridges collaborated with 3D design collective Digi-GAL to launch an otherworldly digital collection accompanying its in-store garments.

Or take TheFabricant.com. The digital-only fashion house recently sold a “Digi-Couture” dress for $9,500. This may seem like a lot of money, but in a world where we curate our digital selves, and virtual experiences are becoming part of our everyday, the way we look—or what we consume—online will become just as important as our choices in the tangible world.

In addition, a lot is happening behind the scenes to ensure consistent quality of 3D content and experiences. Last year, open industry consortium the Khronos group launched an exploratory committee to create standards and guidelines for representing retail products in 3D. The Khronos 3D Commerce initiative is driven by major players in technology, retail and manufacturing, such as Adobe, Google, IKEA and Samsung, and aims to turbocharge the engagement with and adoption of 3D.

So as the physical and digital become increasingly intertwined, brands need to take ownership of their 3D assets. They need to start ensuring consistency and uniformity across all channels, to become future-proof, and anticipate future 3D activations and campaigns. From product to pack, from brand story elements to founder holograms, those assets need to meet the standards that consumers will come to expect. Building and implementing a 3D strategy may not happen overnight, but now is the time to start. Brands cannot afford to be caught napping.

George Bennett is head of immersive at LOVE, a multi–award-winning design studio with high-profile clients such as Häagen-Dazs, Guinness, LVMH, Johnnie Walker and Nike. With an integrated agency background, Bennett works to solve brand challenges through a deep understanding of the latest in technological innovation and always has an eye on what’s next. He is currently exploring the new opportunities offered by web-based AR and VR experiences and working closely with brands to create engaging and impactful campaigns that deliver long-term added value for customers.

If you want to learn more about how 3D is transforming design practices and workflows, check out this case study and video with Ben & Jerry’s on Adobe.com.

Mailchimp champions authenticity, originality and expressiveness—we believe building a successful brand and business requires staying true to yourself. By creating unique narratives using exaggerated proportions, off-kilter concepts and unexpected combinations, our signature illustration system celebrates the idea of individual expression and imperfection. And in this series on PRINT, we celebrate the brilliant creatives who use their visual alchemy to help us reach all-new heights.

Her clients include The New Yorker, The New York Times and MIT. Her accolades include the Golden Pen of Belgrade, a Society of Illustrators Golden Medal and features in numerous outlets. And for good reason: Sarah Mazzetti’s work speaks powerfully in a bold voice all its own.

Around a year ago, we reached out to the Milan-based creative because we were deeply drawn in by her craft; she draws by hand, but retains a strong graphical quality, and her interesting and expressive characters bring a unique voice to the Mailchimp ecosystem.

Here, we catch up with Mazzetti about her work for the brand and beyond.

What materials (or programs and devices) do you use?When it comes to commissioned work, I usually draw by hand with a brush pen or pencil and color digitally (with Photoshop)—but my personal work is fully handmade, and I use pretty much anything, from Ecoline markers to pastels. Portability is also fundamental for me because I like to travel and be able to work from different locations. I’ve never owned a desktop computer.

Have there been ways that working with Mailchimp is different from other clients?

I consider every project different and specific; every client comes with his own audience and references, and his own tone of voice, so a similar topic can be approached in very different ways depending on who is commissioning the illustration. When I work for Mailchimp, there are a few aesthetic aspects that lead the way I design an image: the limited range of colors and consequent need for a bold, not-too-chaotic composition—and then there’s the tone of voice. I go for a fun, lively and also quite ironic approach to the way I illustrate a concept.

What does your workspace look like?My desk is always very messy—I go from working by hand with different materials to working digitally on a daily basis, and everything I might need has to be around me, so a certain amount of chaos is part of the process, I would say.

Your work has a lot of movement and energy—what techniques do you use to convey that liveliness?

I think it’s just a matter of design; creating movement within a static image is something I’m very interested in, and I always try to push that aspect further by using smooth lines and unexpected ways to deform shapes and characters.

What are your stylistic influences?There are so many: Illustration and design from the ’60s and ’70s are still a key influence in terms of clever composition and color combinations, but also modern and contemporary art and contemporary painting are very present in my universe these days.

Who are your favorite illustrators and designers?Alex Steinweiss, Dino Buzzati, Nicole Claveloux, Leonora Carrington, Edward Bawden, Push Pin Studios, Kitty Crowther … there are so many.

Where do you find inspiration away from the page?When I free my mind from stimulations. I very much need to build my own empty and silent space sometimes; one thing I especially love to do is read at the park or on the beach.

What’s your best advice for illustrators working today?Keep on experimenting and have fun in your practice. That’s the most important part you need to preserve. And be open to exploring and learning new things; renewing oneself is key for a fulfilling career.

The Ocean League is a new global awareness campaign. Using Adobe tools, Ocean League aims to inspire support for ocean protection through creativity and gather more than a million pledges to influence policymaking at major United Nation events in 2021. The Ocean League Pledge, powered by Adobe Sign, captures people’s desire for greater ocean protection. Additionally, Adobe has created specially designed ocean-themed Adobe Photoshop Camera Lenses, giving everyone the opportunity to express their creativity and show their support visually.

Here, Adobe Stock’s Lindsay Morris hosts an oceanside chat with Richard Vevers of Chasing Coral and Julie Lake of “Orange Is the New Black.” The trio discuss the power of imagery, how creativity can change the world and, of course, the creative call to action that is The Ocean League.

Morris: Richard, tell us about your beginnings with The Ocean League.

Vevers: The inspiration for The Ocean League came from the film Chasing Coral. We had been racing around the world photographing what was happening to coral reefs and the mass die-off caused by climate change, and we wanted to do something to help on a large scale. What is really needed to save ecosystems such as coral reefs is global government action. And to get policymakers’ attention, you need to come up with a unique approach. We want to show creative support for coral reef conservation and ocean protection, and that's really what The Ocean League is all about.

Morris: Julie, how did you get involved?

Lake: I am an ocean lover. I love to snorkel and swim and scuba and surf. If I could live in the ocean, I would. I watched Chasing Coral, and at the end of the movie, [Vevers] shows the culmination of [his] work with the before-and-after images of the bleaching event on the Great Barrier Reef. It was so devastating to see. It’s unbelievable that it’s happening so fast and it’s happening in our generation. It isn’t like it’s happening 50 years from now or 100 years from now. It’s happening right now, and those images moved me so much. At the end of the movie, I think it said, “If you want to help, go to this website,” and I thought, OK, I'll go to that website! Through that I got in touch with Richard, and it all happened from there.

Morris: I actually had a similar experience to you! I’m an ocean lover, as well. One of my favorite things to do growing up (and still) was playing in the tide pools on the Oregon coast. There are so many beautiful, mystical, otherworldly creatures that inhabit those pools, and it always sparks my imagination. When I watched Chasing Coral for the first time, I had never even heard of coral bleaching. I had absolutely no idea that it was happening—and I’m a millennial, I know about everything! But I didn’t know about it, and I was shocked by what I saw.

In the film, Richard said, “The ocean is out of sight and out of mind—and that is an advertising issue.” That’s what really clicked for me. When you see the actual underwater footage of the devastating effects of coral bleaching—right there on your screen—you can’t look away. I immediately wanted to help amplify the work you were doing. Imagery can be such an impactful and motivating catalyst for change. So that’s how we ended up partnering together for The Ocean Agency collection on Adobe Stock. And that led to the collaboration on the Glowing Glowing Gone design challenge, and now The Ocean League campaign.

Lake: That’s so on point. It is a publicity issue! That’s what is so brilliant with the film, and the work you’re both doing through The Ocean League.

Vevers: Thank you. What’s exciting is that people like Lindsay—employees working at large, influential companies—have approached us as a result of the film. What has gotten me really optimistic is the power of the individual to make a difference. It only takes someone who is passionate and persistent, especially within a big organization, and suddenly you can get global brands involved in a cause. That’s the catalyst for change. Some people think that they don’t have much power as an individual, but when you really have that passion and persistence, anyone can make a massive difference.

Morris: Getting Adobe involved has been a really rewarding experience. We want to give storytellers the tools to create rich, immersive stories that can help inform, educate and ultimately sustain a world impacted by overlapping crises. The Ocean League campaign is an
amazing example of creative storytelling. The Photoshop Camera lenses we’ve developed that allow people to show their support for ocean protection are inspiring, fun and optimistic, but they also have a really important message. Same with the pledge powered by Adobe Sign. We want people to really think about what they’re supporting and how they can make a difference just by raising their hand, signing their name and sharing it within their network. At Adobe, we know that creativity has the power to change the world.

Lake: I believe deeply in the power of storytelling. I was on the show “Orange Is the New Black,” which is a show that speaks about so much of what is going on in our country now—the Black Lives Matter movement, corruption in prisons, overcrowding, privatization, mental health issues, trans issues—and I think that if you haven’t had personal experiences with these issues, it’s hard to care about them unless you are brought in on an emotional, visceral level. That’s why storytelling is so important. It’s the same with the ocean and coral reefs. The visuals in Chasing Coral make us care.

Vevers: Absolutely. Pictures can tell the whole story instantly. It’s kind of funny thinking about the process we went through, literally chasing coral all over the world, painstakingly trying to take the exact same shot before and after bleaching, but those are the shots that really made the difference. We want to do a lot more of that.

Morris: Yes! There are so many examples of ways imagery and storytelling have changed the world. When people see something, certainly in the environment, and also in diversity, inclusivity and many other important topics like Julie just mentioned, it changes how we see each other, how we see ourselves and how we understand the world around us. The world needs more people, more voices and more stories, because it leads to more creativity and innovation.

Vevers: It is a fascinating time, you know, working on The Ocean League and seeing how environmentalism is changing. It has me really optimistic, seeing how the power of creative communication can get people to take action en masse. Everyone thinks we have to work logically and accept that progress will be slow like it’s been for the last few decades. But change can be catalytic if you get it right. It’s no longer just about creating outrage to get to action; that doesn’t work. What’s needed is positivity and creating excitement and optimism around these causes. I think it’s all about creative communication. When you have that, action can happen really quickly.

Lake: I also think educating children is so important. I’m sure learning about how amazing coral is will spark kids’ imagination and passion and they will take it with them, because kids are such little sponges. They have such imaginations! I think reaching out to them and fostering their care is a really important step to creating change, because they are obviously our future generation.

Morris: There is so much to teach kids, and there is also so much to learn from them, too. I love how kids are so inherently optimistic and creative and uninhibited. If we can really tap into some of that in our process of working through these heavy topics, we can make a big difference. Kids inspire me all the time. Something else that’s a big inspiration to me is your 50 Reefs project. Richard, can you tell us a little bit more about that?

Vevers: Our 50 Reefs project is all about bolstering conservation efforts where they are going to be most effective. We worked with the leading scientists to identify the 50 reefs around the world that are least vulnerable to climate change and ideal for reseeding other reefs. As a result, millions of dollars have been committed to conserving these reefs.

What’s just as exciting is the progress being made to restore reefs like these. Some reefs are less vulnerable to climate change but have been severely damaged by pollution and overfishing. Scientists have developed a method using metal structures seeded with coral fragments to restore reefs. In just three years, you can get complete recovery of the reef, back to full-functioning status, with loads and loads of fish. The restored reef we went to photograph in Indonesia was one of the healthiest reefs I’ve ever seen. Taking before-and-after images of what’s possible in just three years creates optimism and gives people the motivation to support the cause.

Lake: I feel like that is what you need to show next! Show us these structures being installed and show the reef growing back over time, the same way you did the before-and-after of the coral. I want to see these images.

Morris: Me too. This is the second part of the story. How can you scale a project like 50 Reefs?

Vevers: It is estimated that we need seven times the current level of funding for coral reef conservation. So that’s where government funding comes in. But coral reef and ocean conservation is rarely prioritized by governments, even though it makes great sense economically. Protecting marine environments can deliver a fivefold return on investment because they are so productive and they bounce back quickly. That’s what always amazes me about the ocean—ecosystems are often able to recover quickly, as they are constantly being hit by storms and other impacts. The ocean is designed to bounce back if we let it. What we need to do is just take some of the pressure off.

Morris: Wow. The ocean is actually designed to recover, and we’re still messing it up. It can heal itself if we let it, and we’re still managing to get it to its breaking point. I think the fluorescing coral you captured on film in New Caledonia is a fascinating example of this protective design. The way that coral creates its own chemical sunscreen when it gets too warm and emits these glowing colors. It is an amazing, haunting, beautiful, devastating example of their will to survive. They are literally screaming in color trying to get noticed. It’s breathtaking and heartbreaking all at once.

Vevers: Yes, the more you find out about the ocean, the more it draws you in and inspires you. Coral has been evolving for half a billion years. They’re so advanced they can grow their own food in their flesh. They can grow into these giant structures that dwarf our cities. It just goes to show that they are these super-evolved creatures. They planned for almost every eventuality—apart from us. If we can take the pressure off, they will bounce back quickly.

Morris: Richard, you said something that really inspired me when we were working together on the Glowing Glowing Gone campaign with Pantone last year. You said, “Let’s take these colors of climate change and turn them into climate action.” And that call to action has really carried through to The Ocean League.

Vevers: It’s been great to see Adobe building the Glowing PS Camera lens inspired by the Glowing Glowing Gone campaign. Seeing the glowing colors of corals in real life and knowing the story behind it … it’s disturbingly beautiful, and I knew the colors could be used creatively to inspire support for saving the ocean.

Lake: When I was encouraging my castmates to support the cause and get involved, they wanted to know the significance of the neon colors in the Glowing PS Camera lens. When I explained to them that they are the colors that coral emits as their ultimate warning, they were amazed. I thought it was such a genius lens that you created.

Vevers: We hope it can spread some optimism and positivity in what is such a bizarre time for ocean conservation. 2021 is being called the Super Year for the Ocean because of all of the international meetings happening to set long-term goals for marine and biodiversity protection. It’s a pivotal decade for the ocean, and the targets that are set will determine how well the ocean can survive and recover. For coral reefs especially, this is the moment in time that we need to act. We need to make campaigning for ocean protection as popular in the mainstream as ocean plastics.

We’re aiming to get signatures to show support in numbers but use imagery to make the support real to policymakers at the key decision-making events. Our aim is to make it impossible to ignore all of the individuals, celebrities and brands involved, creatively showing support for ocean protection.

Lake: You know, all three of us had babies in the last year, and the saddest thing in the world to me is thinking that we might not get to share the ocean with them. It’s the most mysterious, exciting place on the planet. But the work you are doing is bringing me so much hope and inspiration.

Vevers: Thanks, I do believe we just need to be creative and to get much more of the ocean protected, so we can let the ocean save itself.

To join The Ocean League, go to www.theoceanleague.org

Mailchimp champions authenticity, originality and expressiveness—we believe building a successful brand and business requires staying true to yourself. By creating unique narratives using exaggerated proportions, off-kilter concepts and unexpected combinations, our signature illustration system celebrates the idea of individual expression and imperfection. And in this series on PRINT, we celebrate the brilliant creatives who use their visual alchemy to help us reach all-new heights.

Stephanie Wunderlich has long wowed us with her wondrous work.

Her illustration exists in a space that is neither strictly painting nor drawing, but that always shows the artist’s hand at play—something that gave Mailchimp a new visual flavor.

We began working with the Hamburg-based creative two years ago; we sent her a brief and asked her to go against convention in her response, and she delivered. (Not that it was easy—as she says, “To be expected to find new, odd forms of interpretations for well-known topics puts a lot of pressure on you, but at the same time it really challenged me to grow as an illustrator.”)

Her work is now a beloved element of Mailchimp’s aesthetic. Here, we chat with her about her illustrative approach, her influences, and more.

What materials (or programs and devices) do you use?

The main element of my style is paper cut illustration, but I also mix in some drawing and digital editing in Adobe Photoshop. For the Mailchimp illustrations in particular, I made analog drawings with different pencils and brushes, which I later composed digitally.

What is your process?

I start with a lot of sketching, collecting whatever visual interpretations come to my mind.

After refining and boiling down my ideas, I present a first choice to the client.

What are the benefits of working with cut paper/collage?

The working process is just really playful and flexible. Before using glue, I can always change things, move them around intuitively, trying out different colors and shapes. There are a number of elements and a defined area. It feels like having a theater stage on which I can rearrange the props until the composition seems just right, full of tension and harmony at the same time. Each part is communicating with the other and following a sort of inner logic. Then I glue it on.

What I also appreciate about paper cut illustration is the bold and graphical visual language. I like the rough and edgy appearance. In paper cuts you see the traces of analog work: the imperfection of a shape cut by scissors, the shadows and the textures. In my studio, there are always colored papers in random shapes still laying around from previous works—many coincidental color-shape combinations just waiting to inspire me.

The technique also forces me to keep finding new ways to simplify, reduce and see things in an abstract way.

Are there any other techniques you like to experiment with?What I would really like to learn is animating my illustrations. I have already [experimented] a bit with GIF animations in Photoshop, but the options are rather limited. I guess my next step is to get familiar with After Effects.

What does your workspace look like?

I work in a house full of many artists; there, I have a wonderful bright room, which I share with a photographer. My work space is split into two areas: my computer desk, which is always clean and tidy, and my analog table, which is pretty much a creative mess full of paper snippets and unfinished illustrations.

What are your stylistic influences?

All sorts of rather graphical design/art, like Russian Constructivism, Bauhaus, Art Deco, Socialist poster design, Japanese graphic design.

Who are your favorite illustrators and designers?

I love drawings by Yann Kebbi, David Shrigley, Dennis Eriksson, JooHee Yoon or Patrick Kyle. I like the painterly work of Romy Blümel or Gérard Dubois. And the graphical style of Henning Wagenbreth or Icinori. As for the strong visual ideas, I like Christoph Niemann or André Carrilho.

Where do you find inspiration away from the page?

I really enjoy going to museums and looking through architecture or interior design magazines. When I was a teenager I always wanted to become a furniture designer. What probably frightened me was the third dimension, so I studied graphic design.

What’s your best advice for illustrators working today?

Believe in your work. Broaden your horizon.

Look also at work outside of contemporary illustration. Engage with many forms of art and narrative. Study illustrators and painters of different eras.

It’s important to think about where your work fits, but don’t limit the work you make to what you assume will get you jobs.

Try to create self-initiated experimental work where you don’t have to meet clients’ expectations.

Make the most interesting and special work you can!

The same could be said when PRINT relaunched with a fresh website in June. Looking to revitalize the brand from soup to nuts, PRINT turned to Morisawa’s Role typeface, a family of 200 styles. Not only is it readable and has an air of authority, but there’s a timeless quality to it, and it lends itself easily to every part of PRINT’s branding. For the leading premier foundry in the Asian market, it was their first standalone Latin typeface family since their launch way back in 1924, and they collaborated with type legend Matthew Carter to imagine the letterforms.

PRINT chief creative officer and Dieline founder Andrew Gibbs knows a thing or two about hunting down the right typeface for a media brand. When Dieline rebranded, they turned to Jones Knowles Ritchie for a bespoke proprietary typeface that would further their standing as the leading voice in packaging design and branding.

Gibbs recently shared some of his thoughts on why he selected Role for PRINT, and what it means for the future of the brand.

So, how hard is it to choose a typeface for a publication?

It's very hard to find a complete look and feel for a publication, but especially when it comes to something like PRINT because it has such a storied history. The typeface is the literal written word of the brand, and choosing the wrong one would be absolutely detrimental. But when you land on something that feels right, it can help those words live on the page, whether it's on a desktop, a mobile device or your laptop.

So, no pressure then?

Yeah, no pressure at all.

What kinds of typefaces do you gravitate toward?

I'm a designer, so I love sans typefaces. I think the simpler and cleaner, the better. I love Helvetica, and I think there’s something that’s so obviously beautiful about it, which is why it’s so widely used. But, you know, I think the sans serif Role and this typeface, specifically, looks very striking. In designing PRINT’s brand, it’s the right font for us because it gives us a lot of variety to work with.

What did you want the typeface to say about PRINT, especially since the plan was to resurrect this beloved steward of all things design?

We wanted to reflect the history of the oldest design publication in the United States. It started in 1940, and there is a very rich legacy and heritage there, which needed to be respected. A typeface like Role kind of looks back and forward at the same time, and the serif style looks very traditional, but in a fresh, new way. We used to have a PRINT logo that looks very similar to Role with the soft, rounded edges, so seeing the typeface and how it looked like a lot of the prior branding felt like we were onto something.

How did you ultimately land on Role?

We had to quickly figure out how to resurrect PRINT, but also quickly make decisions based on what we had in front of us. So, imagine having to make really solid design choices while relaunching this beloved thing in the design community.

When you select a font, a lot of it has to do with not only the longevity of it all but how you’re going to use it across every aspect of the brand. We use type everywhere for everything, and this one was so flexible.

I think for this typeface, specifically, because it’s Matthew Carter and Morisawa, we knew this would stand the test of time based on who designed it and what they’ve already contributed to the lexicon. The New Yorker called Matthew Carter the most read designer in the world, because look what he did—Georgia and Verdana, Tahoma for Windows, and the list goes on and on.

Morisawa is a foundry that is very much a champion of typography, and they often talk about the connection that it makes from the past to the present and into the future. How does the new typeface celebrate where PRINT has been and what lies ahead in the future?

This typeface really respected the magazine’s past. In trying to move forward and future-focus everything, there was still a sense of nostalgia, but it was also a bridge to now. That’s what’s unique about it; it has every single style you would need for web, print or display banners. It’s one of the most flexible typefaces that I’ve personally seen. We’ve been able to use it for all sorts of things, and I don’t think we’ll be getting bored of it anytime soon.

Morisawa is good at bridging the past and the future, and the typeface is so representative of that. With Role, there are versions of it that look very traditional and some that are very future-forward. So to have that level of timelessness in the same typeface is pretty remarkable.

Want to know more about Role? Click here to request the Role Specimen book!

Having grown up internationally, with much of her childhood spent in the Philippines, artist Niki Waters, aka Knees + Keys, is never short on inspiration. Her work depicts lush scenes from the country, based on her early experiences.

Currently based in California, Waters describes her style as “difficult, yet simple.” Balancing complex subject matter, such as race, gender and immigrant rights, with a playful, innocent aesthetic, her illustrations are emotive and poignant.

We chatted with Waters about her early days as an artist, as well as the goals and influences that lead her successful practice today.

Developing a Unique Voice and Style

“I really had no idea what I was getting myself into when I graduated from art school,” recalls Waters. “I was naive and pretentious all at once.” After assuming she’d jump straight into an art career fresh out of college, things didn’t go quite as expected.

“It was a long, painful lesson to learn. I actually stopped doing art for a while after I graduated,” she says. But things started falling into place with time, as Waters began defining her style and harnessing social media to build her personal brand.

As the latest step in the perpetual process, she recently hired graphic designer Mark Buenafe to help create her portfolio website on Editor X, with the goal of displaying her work in the most meaningful way. Picking out specific pieces to highlight, Waters sees her portfolio site as a great practice in editing herself, while her social accounts allow her to be less premeditated with the content she shares.

“While social media is great for followers and purchasers to see what I’m up to, serious clients (or clients looking for big projects) can view my portfolio site to see the type of work that I’d like to create,” says Waters. “It really helps weed out the clients that don’t align with what I want to make.”

Browsing her portfolio, it’s clear that she has a distinct aesthetic running throughout her illustrations. But it wasn’t always that way. “Up until a few years ago I was trying so hard to figure out what direction I wanted to go, and my style changed a lot,” she explains. “I went from being inspired by James Jean, to Tomer Hanuka, to Claire Wendling (to name a few) … and by ‘inspired,’ what I really mean is I was trying to emulate their work.”

When she finally arrived at the style we see in her work today, she made a conscious effort to stick to it. Even now, she’s still learning about her visual language, exploring how far she can push it, as well as what works and what doesn’t. “It’s exciting to watch my current style evolve while still keeping it under the vein of what my work has been recognized as.”

Finding the Right Clients

Having a defined style and staying upfront about it is what encourages the right clients to approach Waters, and what allows her to be choosy and reject work if the brief clearly deviates from her approach. “It’s not that I can’t do it,” she explains. “I just don’t enjoy it, and it shows in the work. I love when I find the right-fit client—someone who has looked at my work and decided it’s a fit for what they need.”

She especially enjoys working on portrait commissions, in which the process with the client is interactive. To make the work as personal as possible, she asks the client a range of questions, from their favorite color and outfit, to specific objects that hold importance, quotes they resonate with, and more. “I think the clients really enjoy answering these questions, and it makes the work feel tailor-made.”

Her emphasis on communication was also an important part of her recent piece “Working Together,” created for Inclusive Data. Waters credits the success of the project to strong teamwork. “The client was very amenable to my ideas, and I to theirs.”

The final piece portrays a group of people from different races and genders, and of varying physical abilities, working together to nurture a garden that provides for all. As Waters points out, it’s the subtlety of the illustration that makes it so powerful.

Another recent piece of Waters’ was a collaboration with artist Franceska Gámez for The Okra Project, a collective that supports Black Trans people worldwide. Despite seeing Filipino culture as having a wonderful sense of community and being very giving, Waters says that when the Black Lives Matter movement started ramping up earlier this year, she was disheartened to see so much silence from the Philippine community. “We as Filipinos owe a lot to our Black brothers and sisters,” she says. She and Gámez wanted to do something to help, and it being Pride month, they decided to create an illustration and donate the proceeds to The Okra Project.

Exposing Philippine Culture to the World

Speaking of the Philippines, Waters’ homeland is a prevalent theme in her illustrations. “My work is 100% pulled from my identity,” she says. “Every single piece that I create in the scope of Philippine culture has a direct relation to me.”

There are two memories, in particular, that inspired Waters to engage her interpretation of the Philippines through her work. Recalling her favorite childhood books, Waters points out that none of them had anything to do with Filipino people. She also remembers when a new classmate, who had just moved to the Philippines, shared her surprise at how “modern” the country was.

Now, Waters wants to “show people around the world who we are as Filipinos,” striving to highlight the differences, but also the similarities, between cultures. In addition, she aims to show young Filipino children that people know who they are, and to celebrate their existence.

One of her projects that embodies these values is a children’s bo
ok dedicated to her grandpa. The story follows Natalio, a provincial Filipino boy who has been given a very important task—to go to the family’s backyard and bring home a pineapple for dinner.

Originally created as part of a competition, Waters is currently exploring ways to publish the story. The competition may have been what initiated the project, but it’s the process of making the book that has been more precious than anything else. Having collaborated with her family on shaping the narrative, Waters emphasizes what a valuable experience it was to work with them.

Exploring Creative Mediums

Using a mix of techniques, from digital tools to silkscreen printing, acrylic painting, collage and more, Waters has always loved jumping between mediums. As she sees it, her openness to various mediums has helped improve her professional work.

One example of this is her plein-air painting. She and her partner Jason often travel together, painting their adventures as they go. While she wasn’t a fan of the technique at first, she eventually decided to stop trying to draw exactly what she saw, instead focusing on conveying it in her own style. This creative freedom opened up her ability to draw backgrounds, and helped her accept that messy brush strokes can end up benefiting the piece.

Waters also experiments with silkscreen printing when she has the time, noting that it allows her to reset her brain and analyze things differently, giving her the clean slate she needs to come up with fresh ideas. For her, silkscreening combines the art of making a piece with the science behind the technique and the mental gymnastics of figuring out how to mix and make colors using the layers.

“You also have to be a problem-solver on the fly if things aren’t coming out exactly right,” she says. “I get to use so many parts of my brain, and I love putting together that puzzle.”

Dana Meir is an editor at Shaping Design. With a background in industrial design, she is interested in user experience within both the physical and digital environments. She is also passionate about exploring the theme of ethics in the tech industry and how we can build a more positive future through design.

Let’s be frank: When it comes to printed ads, they just don’t make ’em like they used to. Great examples of the craft can still be seen on billboards every now and then, but the golden age of physical advertising has moved on to the next medium. However, our affection for those classic styles is one thing that has not faded with time. And the photo printing experts at MyPicture.com.au offer the perfect way to celebrate them.

A History Shaped by Fierce Competition

Back when TV advertising was in its infancy, advertising posters could make or break a new product—even an entire firm. Making an impact on the thousands of passers-by who would glance at a billboard or other public piece every day was a massively important means of exposure … and exposure meant profit. That raised the stakes to unfathomable heights—you had fractions of a second to win someone’s attention.

Given the fierce competition back then (just look at photos of any city center in the mid-20th century), it was a craft that called for enormous skill and originality. That’s why many vintage ads could be considered true works of art in themselves. The artists paid extraordinary attention to detail in their quest to turn heads, transforming good pieces of creative into truly irresistible ones.

If you’re looking to decorate your home in a way that gives it real character, vintage ads are the perfect source of inspiration. And we think the perfect medium for displaying vintage-style prints is canvas prints from MyPicture.com.au.

The Spirit Lives On

The heyday of print ads may be in the rear-view mirror, but first-rate examples of advertising design can still be found today. The tradition of brilliance is best preserved by niche businesses, guerrilla marketers and a generation of enthusiasts who try to capture the raw essence of that original appeal. And this fits perfectly with our continued love affair with all things “retro.”

From the witty minimalism of the Volkswagen “Lemon” ads to the heart-warming images of 1950s America in classic Coca-Cola ads and the variety of billboards for diners and bistros, the golden age aesthetic is alive and well in bedrooms, offices and coffee shops around the world. And this is made possible in part by printing services like MyPicture.com.au.

Immerse Yourself in the Era the Simple Way

MyPicture.com.au has made custom photo printing simpler than ever before—and their service comes with a lowest-price guarantee for Australia. With such accessible pricing, quick turnaround times and the sheer variety of products and formats on offer, the online printing service is the right choice if you want to immerse yourself in design inspired by the era of classic advertising.

If you’ve got a soft spot for this aesthetic, this is your chance to really spoil yourself!

Lucy and Imogen Borrill, co-founders of the Australian Lumo Design Studio, don’t think of branding work as something to be delivered to a client. Rather, they strive to build a brand together through a collaborative effort. “We educate and bounce ideas off each other, so we can understand their vision and help them express it,” the duo says.

A key component to their branding process is listening. Lucy and Imogen kick off each new project in a strategy workshop that they conduct with clients. This method aims to “unearth those gems of inspiration that only our clients—the experts on their business—could know.” The two designers thus learn to see these businesses through the eyes and vision of their founders, giving them a unique viewpoint that is clearly evident in the resulting work.

We chatted with Lucy and Imogen about the driving force behind their work, as well as their approach to branding and digital design.

Designing With Empathy for Clients

Lucy and Imogen have a special place in their hearts for small business owners and the passion that motivates them. “No matter if it’s their first or 100th business, every small business owner shares the same balance of vulnerability and determination driving them,” they say. “This fuels excitement, nervousness and creativity—all the things that keep us inspired.”

As co-founders of their own design studio, it’s easy for the two to relate to the needs and pain-points of budding entrepreneurs.

“We love being the guiding hand we wished we had way back when Lumo started.”

For Lucy and Imogen, a big part of their job is helping clients take a step back from their busy work lives. “In the swarm of day-to-day tasks, business owners often have their head in the sand. We help clients come up for air,” they say, referring to the studio’s ability to paint a larger picture and offer a broader perspective.

“We know our clients spend countless hours brainstorming and lying awake at night thinking about every facet [of their work]. They know the importance of having a good brand and website, but they don't have the bird's-eye-view clarity or skills to translate the myriad of ideas into a result that’s both authentic and compelling to their customers.”

This discrepancy between the client’s dedication to their brand, and the struggle to formulate a coherent, compelling story around it, is where Lucy and Imogen find themselves especially effective. They dig deep into the client’s work until they manage to decipher the overarching idea or theme behind it.

In Lucy and Imogen’s experience, once this concept is put into words, it resonates with business owners instantaneously, like a good friend telling you a profound truth about yourself that you hadn’t yet realized.

When the foundations for a good narrative are laid early, the design process runs smoothly, leading to a brand that feels genuine and that clients will connect to and be proud of.

Web Design Inspired by the Australian Landscape

Originally from Perth, the studio currently operates remotely from opposite ends of the country, with clients spanning the globe. “Our design aesthetic is inspired by our hometown in Western Australia and its sparse, oceanic landscape,” Lucy and Imogen say. “We like subdued tones, natural lines, white space and design that gives you a sense of calm.”

On top of their distinct visual language, their design work is also rooted in strategy and research. Lucy and Imogen pride themselves on designing with the project’s specific goals and metrics in mind, making sure that it will match their client’s business expectations.

When it comes to web design, both strategy and aesthetics are of equal importance to the two designers. “In this digital age, websites can be the primary brand touchpoint so it is important that a website properly communicates the brand we have worked so hard to create,” they say.

For their studio’s own website, created on Editor X, they evoked a neutral, white cube–like appearance that serves as a platform for them to display their works. “A clean, white space was key for us as we wanted our site to act as a gallery for the work we do for others,” Lucy and Imogen say. “We use our website to share our story and show the humans behind it all. Ultimately, we wanted to communicate our style and capabilities to encourage connection.”

Passion Projects, and Attracting the Right Clients

As noted, the clients that Lumo Design Studio works with are diverse, but all fall under the category of small businesses or startups. With plenty of experience in that department, Lucy and Imogen strive to attract the right types of clients by effectively communicating who they are and what they stand for.

Much of their work is made for brands that place an emphasis on sustainability and ethics, including nonprofits. “We’re enthusiastic about community and well-lived lives,” Lucy and Imogen say. “In turn, we advocate for niche businesses who are creating products and services that make this world a better place.”

Another passion of theirs is their “wedding mags,” a creative side project that’s entirely different from most of their branding work. Serving as an alternative to wedding albums, their bespoke wedding magazines give Lucy and Imogen the opportunity to work in the print medium, which they enjoy, alongside their other, mainly digital services.

“Our wedding mags are just a little ode to love,” they tell us, speaking about the stories of the couples they feature. Yet at the same time, it’s their own love—for their clients and for design—that ultimately shines through in their work.

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.