A double-edged sword.

In the web design side of my business, I feel like I am spending a lot more time dealing with technical details and minutiae than I am more creative aspects.

I think this has gotten worse recently and I know what’s partly to blame: WordPress and social media tools.

Now, I’m a big fan of WordPress for hosting websites. It allows me and my clients a lot more control over posting new content and linking with other social media tools like Twitter and Facebook and being a media channel, but it’s also limiting for me to add graphical interest and variety.

Here’s the thing: I’m not a geek (despite what some of my friends think).

I learned a long, long time ago that I am not inclined to writing code and have very little patience for the details that are needed to do more of the back-end or behind-the-scenes coding work of websites. My brain simply doesn’t go there. I’ve tried and tried.

This means if I want to manipulate WordPress into doing more interesting things, I need to go for outside help. That’s ok, but for the small sites I build, there’s rarely a budget for this and even if there is outside help, the sites still end up looking a little uniform.

Being realistic, I know the days are almost gone for static websites, but boy, do I miss the flexibility I had with those when I could spend a lot more time creating interesting graphical elements, because I could.

There is a “sameness” in the look of many small sites and it’s rather sad. Earlier this year I read Jaron Lanier’s book You Are Not A Gadget and I found his argument compelling when he suggested we create websites that are unique and different from the cookie-cutter types that are so prevalent.

It’s ironic that we have so many tools now to connect and engage and show our unique qualities but we seem to be forcing ourselves to work in the world of the graphically bland. In trying to “think outside the box” we are living more in the box than ever.

Look at my own website! I’m a graphics guy and it’s bland as hell. Jesus! What’s happened to me? Have I drunk the kool-aid but just don’t know it?

Maybe it was just a bad day I was having dealing with all the back-end side of things in developing a new website for a client, but I found myself totally disinterested, not because of my client’s content—which is wonderful, colourful and exciting—but because of the way it all has to be shoved into a box with technical limitations.

Taking this one step beyond the web design world, I wonder if you are feeling controlled and constrained by the technical infrastructure. Is your website a Starbucks—clean, efficient, predictable—or a corner, custom coffee shop with a real espresso maker and a staff that doesn’t wear a uniform?

So, the double-edged sword is that so many more of us have a voice now, and that’s great, but in so doing we becoming somewhat “the same.”

I have no clear-cut solution. If I were bold and brave, I’d start by smashing my own website into pieces and starting over. I’d also look at how I spend my seconds, minutes and hours every day in computer-land and change more than just my site. I’d change the time and way I interact with all this electronic, technical world.

A work in progress…

Today, I thought I’d share some screen shots of a website makeover I’m working on for Canadian jazz vocalist, Karin Plato. I did a site for her in 2005 but Karin figured it was time for an update five years later.

We’re still moving content to this new site so some pages are in flux.

Her reasons to update the look of the site had to do with needing a refreshed look with more up-to-date images (she had some great photos taken) and for it to better reflect who she felt she was at this time.

Her site structure is still very simple, so to keep more control over the look the site has been built using static html (how old-fashioned, I know). Though I love the functionality of sites using a content management system (CMS), I am often disappointed at how “limited” they can look unless there is a budget for considerable customization.

The one place where we will stray from using static pages, is with her “Plato’s Words” which is essentially, her blog. For that, we’re setting up a WordPress site (not there as of this blog post).

Karin really liked the font Kabel so I’ve used that for her name and the navigation text and headings.

For colour, we picked up on the dominant themes of her promotional photographs and those used in her new album packaging.

Back in the “old days” long before computer graphics and digital type, real artists had to draw illustrations by hand and even create special type by hand.

This is the first Kokanee beer bottle label which was designed by my dad, George McLachlan in 1960.

Kokanee Beer Bottle Label designed in 1960 by George McLachlan

He painted the glacier and he hand-lettered the Kokanee Pilsen Beer text.

Now that’s talent!

P.S. I posted this blog post from the BUZZ cafe which is located at Homer and Smithe Streets in Vancouver, BC. It’s the same building my dad created the artwork in 50 years ago when the building was an ad agency.

“Only connect.” E.M. Forster (Howards End)

To me, it’s all about connecting. Graphic design is one place that you connect with your audience, members, customers, fans. You can make your connection more effective by using better graphic design.

Connection is also about communication. The better you communicate, the better you can connect. The better you connect, the stronger the relationships you develop.

You want to be able to communicate the excitement and passion you feel for your service or product. For example, if you are an arts presenter and have a performing artist you are bringing to town, you want to convey your excitement about the artist and make the case why someone should attend. Stronger graphic design can help with this.

Conveying your message in the clearest and most appropriate way can make a difference. You do this by:

• Using appropriate images (not too many, but effective ones)
• Using appropriate typography (suited to the artist and in line with your own organization’s look and feel)
• Creating an overall design using some basic design principles that help strengthen your message

The problem is, when you’re not a professional designer and you have little or no budget, how do you accomplish this? You know what it’s like to sit down at a blank page with some text and images and have to create a sales piece (poster, handbill, flyer, web page).

It can be daunting getting from “ok” to “stunning.”

I intend in this Design Thursday series to present some simple, but very effective principles that you can use in any documents you need to create. I’ll be using “before and after” examples.

What is your biggest challenge when designing documents? Are there things you’d like to see covered here?

Yesterday I spoke about my favourite print project for the year. Today, I want to feature a web project but first, some thoughts on how I changed my approach to designing sites.

In some ways, the story for me this year was more about shifting from creating static web sites to using WordPress as an underlying technology.

I finally “woke up” to the reality that the technology had changed and that there was considerably more interest and excitement when various social media tools could be incorporated into a living, breathing web site. To do this, a static site would not do as well.

To be fair, I had considerable experience with this approach from when I was with the Creative City Network in 2002 where we deployed a content management system created by Tomoye out of Ottawa. I never found it horribly intuitive and it scared me off getting into that area for quite a few years.

I’ve seen the light!

The first site I converted to using WordPress was my own. I figured I’d better find out how all this works before I start offering it to others. Plus, I figured that if something broke on my own site, I’d be the only one who would get screamed at (by me)!

In the process of implementing all this, I attended a day-long session in Surrey called WordCamp and then later in the summer at BarCamp and I devoured anything I could read.

I’m not really a geek, so I’ve teamed up with Kulpreet Singh (he presented at WordCamp) and he’s been a great help for matters more technical (such as the site I’m re-designing for Arts Starts that will launch this spring).

If I had one complaint about using WordPress, it’s that there are some limitations when adding stunning graphics, unless you really get into the code. That’s where the older “static” style of design has some easier options.

My work this year has focused more around converting existing sites to ones that use WordPress as well as still designing a few that are static. In addition, I’ve worked more on designing components of sites — sub sections — that fit into a larger database-driven site.

My “favourite” site was probably Brenda Fedoruk’s who is a Vancouver-based flutist. This is a very small, static site that was done easily and affordably to enable Brenda to feature her recently released recording (which I also did the design of) and to help market her other skills.

Home page of Brenda Fedoruk

Wetlands Catalogue

Though this project started at the end of 2008, it wrapped in January, 2009. I enjoyed, from beginning to end, working on this catalogue for an art show at the Art Gallery of Golden in Golden, BC.

It was such a pleasure to have a whole collection of images featuring media from artists of the Columbia Valley. Bill Usher, Executive Director of Kicking Horse Culture (my client) gave me a lot of freedom on the design of this 32-page, full colour booklet printed using an environmentally sensitive process (paper, inks, etc)*.

I chose a horizontal page size to help accommodate the majority of landscape images, but also to give the document a different feel. Each page was 10.5 inches long by 7 inches tall.

Along with the print document, I also incorporated the content into their website which available here.

* While getting prices for printing, I learned a lot about the standards of FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) and “recycled” paper as well as the varying processes used in printing today.

One of the most interesting things to learn was that FSC paper came from Japan. It was one of those crazy things where we think we’re being so environmentally friendly by cutting trees, sending them by truck to the coasts of North America or Asia, sticking them on ships, sending them across the ocean, processing them into environmentally friendly paper and then shipping at back across the ocean. How much carbon does that all take?

Billed as a program to prepare for a career in the field of graphic design, it really focuses on preparing its students for working in the graphic design industry. Most applicants to the program have this as their primary focus however, some students do come with a fine arts background and use the skills they learn to promote their own businesses once they graduate.

The program started out in 2003 and for a few years it was difficult to get enough students to apply, but this year there were 90 applicants for 34 positions. The students are in two groups of 17. One group works through the morning, the other starts in the afternoon. The lab they work in has a great view of the Vancouver harbour and North Shore mountains but none of the students were looking at the view, they were instead intensely working in front of their Macs doing Photoshop retouching.

Earlier in the morning they’d been working on their current project and the “builds” looking at design choices and if they’d been using the software efficiently (workflow, cross-application compatibility, etc). A big part of the teaching is geared to be as “real-world” as possible. Their projects come with restraints of budget and scope so they can be well-prepared for many of the projects they will likely face once they graduate.

I’m glad they cover such common issues because they are things that I face on each project. The fact that many of my clients are non-profits makes it even more appropriate to be very aware of limitations before the design process begins.

Non Profit Organizations
Non profit organizations can approach the program to have a project done for them in exchange for a small scholarship (ranging from $200 – $1,000). The client comes in, is interviewed, then a brief is created. A second meeting happens for clarification of the project. Then, each student will create a style guide and a short presentation to the client. The client then takes the bundle of proposals back to their organization and chooses one of them. The “winning” student receives an award at the end of the year, their work is used and they get something to add to their portfolio.

The program is looking for non-profits to bring project ideas to the program. If you are a non-profit organization with a design project, contact Tene Barber for more information.

Tene showed me a diagram of how she suggests students approach every project. It’s something she remembered seeing on a TED talk from a few years ago. The diagram shows the yin and yang diagram where one represents Art, the other Science and around that is wrapped Business. (the following illustration is mine)

Art: Aesthetic considerations and design principles

Science: studies behind processing and decoding and mnemonics and semiotics

Business: Looking at what the client is trying to achieve and also your own business considerations and how you develop your client/business relationship.

I like this approach. It makes so much sense. It’s a great way to articulate what many designers do without really thinking about it, but acts as a reminder to make sure you are covering all the bases.

Success stories of graduates

Rihad Hashim Grad 2005

Joy Hanser Grad 2005

Nicola McGarry Grad 2007

Owen Covert – To the nines clothing (Owen’s designs are carried in many downtown shops like Big Cartel) Grad 2007 (Interview)

Emily Haggar Grad 2009

Zahra Hosseinkhan Grad 2010

In my design workshop, Communication by Design, I like to take a look at some of the history of typography so that people may develop a little more appreciation for its use.

The letter forms we use today are based on forms created centuries ago.

Greek inscriptions acted as the model for formal lettering in imperial Rome as seen in the following image:

Roman Inscriptions

Notice how much these letter forms look like the words you are reading on this screen.

The first “movable type” letter forms that Gutenberg invented with the printing press were modeled after the hand-written type of the day. Imagine a script pen and how the ink flows on the page. The pen creates thick and thin lines within each letter. Mechanical type copied this even with the “serif” where the pen would first start the letter and end it.

These typefaces have changed little in the hundreds of years since 1450 and are used today in almost every book and newspaper we read. They are more readable than sans serif faces which came along later, but that’s for another blog post.

So, when you’re reading a book that uses a serif face (most of them do) think about the history of the letter forms themselves.

“What am I going to do? It’s four in the morning. I can’t get back to sleep. I may as well get up and get to work, but I’ll be so tired later in the day. I’ll need a nap. DOH! I did it again. I said ‘yes’ to another job.”

Ahh, the joys of freelancing. I’ve been freelancing in one form for most of my working life. I started out as a singer/songwriter and touring musician. That work really taught me how the cash-flow can have radical “ups and downs.” The thought is always, “will there be work next year (or next month)?” That creates tension and tends to make me say “yes” to any and all work that comes along. Of course, this can get me into trouble for a couple of reasons. One is that I may say yes to work that I’m not suited for and two, that I may take on too much.

I learned the hard way as a musician about taking on work I’m not suited for. There’s nothing like performing in a venue for an audience that wants to hear one thing but not knowing any material suitable for that audience. It can make a four-hour gig feel like eons. Fortunately, I don’t take on work in my design business that I don’t feel I want to do or am unable to do.

The issue of taking on too much is a more difficult problem, and it reminds me of how people of my parent’s generation have never really forgotten the Great Depression of the 1930s. It still has an impact on decisions they make. I still have the memory of dry work periods as a musician which, motivates me to say “yes.”

About once a year, I find myself in the position of taking on too much at one time. It’s extremely uncomfortable when it happens and causes me to wake early and spend the day juggling several jobs at once so that by the end of the day, I feel like time has been shredded into a million little pieces which further increases the sense of urgency to everything.

Somehow, it all works out. I have great clients and most are understanding, though I dislike the delays that sometimes happen. The closest analogy I have of this situation is from the movie Pushing Tin which is about an air traffic controller. The title refers to what they call all the airplanes circling the airport that need to get landed. When there’s a lot of air traffic, the tension and stress is really high.

Right now, I’m pushing tin.

Current jobs on the go are:

• Website redesign for ArtStarts in Schools
• Website redesign for BC Touring Council
• Newsletter design/layout for Creative City Network of Canada
• Several posters and ads for Kicking Horse Culture
• Website design for playwright Jeff Pitcher
• Website update for AMSSA’s Safe Harbour
• Website update for Elizabeth Brodovitch
• Contract work to administer a grants program for 2010 Legacies Now
• Preparation for a design workshop at Vancouver Island Arts Summit

and more…