Graphic Design : Visual Comparisons
Graphic Design : Visual Comparisons (by Pentagram founders, Alan Fletcher, Colin Forbes, and Bob Gill) is used at the MKCREATIVE Design studio to remind ourselves what great design is about and why we strive to create it. This collection of designs, logos, headlines, and conceptual pieces is a reminder that sometimes “less is more” and that the most effective solution is not always the most obvious.
From the introduction (1963 paperback edition), “…The vast majority of advertisements, posters, television commercials, booklets and other printed matter clutter our environment and insult our intelligence.
And besides, they are so monumentally boring.
There are, however, some designers and even clients who insist that the public deserve and will respond to much higher standards in graphics. They are convinced, as Charlie Chaplin was convinced, that the best way to entertain the public is to first entertain oneself.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
In Print : Text and Type in the Age of Desktop Publishing
In Print … is a little dated but I’ve found it a useful as introductory text for junior production artists and interns who have little or no real-work production experience.
Written before desktop publishing became the norm for the communications, advertising, and marketing sectors, “In Print” helps the student of graphic design understand the fundamentals associated with modern typography and typesetting. With this “old school” knowledge, junior designers are more likely to create typographical treatments that communicate and illuminate.
From the introduction, “… Alex Brown’s discussion of typography is a compelling reference. Rich in visual detail, the book provides in-depth information about classification of typefaces…. (it) gathers in one volume, all the historical, technical, and historical information print communicators need… Brown also discusses the correction cycle in the context of both traditional and desktop technology; and offers approaches to proofing and text handling to eliminate and reduce corrections.”
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Illuminated Manuscripts : Treasures of The Pierpoint Morgan Library
Illuminated Manuscripts… is a pocket-size collection of medieval and renaissance paintings typically found in books, bibles, scientific works, and the “how-to” reference guides of the day.
This particular volume has seen much use at the MKCREATIVE Design studio. It’s a rich source of inspiration and ideas – we are forever referring to it for guidance and direction. It’s also an interesting window into the lives of those of have gone before us in glorious, vibrant colour.
From the introduction, “…They are like museums between the covers of books and constitute the largest surviving body of painting from this period….(and) since they are parts of books much can also be learned about how earlier men and women lived, what they wrote, read, and thought, and how they used and contributed to knowledge.”
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers
After “Purple Cow“, “Permission Marketing…“, a marketing-bible in your pocket, is a must-read. It defined a new marketing paradigm (back in 1999) but is still as relevant today as the “right” way to develop a marketing strategy for the world on Web 3.0 if you want your business to be successful. In a world where hulu, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and iTunes are more relevant than network television, his recipe for success rings true: engage your customers, draw them into your world, develop a long-term relationship with them and marketshare will follow.
“Seth Godin, one of the world’s foremost online promoters, offers his best advice for advertising in Permission Marketing. Godin argues that businesses can no longer rely solely on traditional forms of “interruption advertising” in magazines, mailings, or radio and television commercials. He writes that today consumers are bombarded by marketing messages almost everywhere they go. If you want to grab someone’s attention, you first need to get his or her permission with some kind of bait–a free sample, a big discount, a contest, an 800 number, or even just an opinion survey. Once a customer volunteers his or her time, you’re on your way to establishing a long-term relationship and making a sale. “By talking only to volunteers, Permission Marketing guarantees that consumers pay more attention to the marketing message,” he writes. “It serves both customers and marketers in a symbiotic exchange.”
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking
I read Blink on a plane to London last year and was thoroughly taken with Gladwell’s thesis: that the brain works very quickly to analyse information and come to a conclusion that informs us through the medium of “a feeling” or a “gut instinct” — all of this taking place in a few seconds and on a sub-conscious level.
“Blink is about the first two seconds of looking–the decisive glance that knows in an instant. Gladwell, the best-selling author of The Tipping Point, campaigns for snap judgments and mind reading with a gift for translating research into splendid storytelling. Building his case with scenes from a marriage, heart attack triage, speed dating, choking on the golf course, selling cars, and military maneuvers, he persuades readers to think small and focus on the meaning of “thin slices” of behavior. The key is to rely on our “adaptive unconscious”–a 24/7 mental valet–that provides us with instant and sophisticated information to warn of danger, read a stranger, or react to a new idea.”
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Purple Cow : Transform Your Business By Being Remarkable
Purple Cow kicked-off my investigation into the “new” approach to marketing: offer something great — a service, a product, an idea — and then develop a permission-based marketing plan (as opposed to traditional “interruption-based” forms) to reach out to new customers turning them from “strangers into friends”.
“The world is changing ever more rapidly, and the rules of marketing are no different, writes Godin, the field’s reigning guru. The old ways-run-of-the-mill TV commercials, ads in the Wall Street Journal and so on-don’t work like they used to, because such messages are so plentiful that consumers have tuned them out. This means you have to toss out everything you know and do something “remarkable” (the way a purple cow in a field of Guernseys would be remarkable) to have any effect at all, writes Godin (Permission Marketing; Unleashing the Ideavirus).”
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Idea Index: A Portable Guide
Idea Index is a great series we’d like to recommend. This edition is particularly useful when a designer needs to brainstorm different looks and approaches and is pressed for time.
From the dust-jacket: “Don’t let the size fool you. Inside you’ll discover thousands of big ideas for graphic effects and type treatments—via hundreds of prompts designed to stimulate, quicken and expand your creative thinkingâ€.
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
Layout Index: A Portable Design Guide
Layout Index is a great series we’d like to recommend. This edition is particularly useful when a designer finds themselves in-a-pinch for design solutions while away from the studio.
From the dust-jacket: “Don’t let the size fool you, Layout Index packs a wallop of inspiration and insight, everything you need is a handy, take-it-along-with-you-everywhere size”.
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Written by: Marco Kathuria
BoxTone, Inc.
BoxTone is a global BlackBerry Management Software and Service provider headquartered in Columbia, Maryland, USA. Their platform of enterprise-grade, plug-and-play software modules is used by more organizations than any other to manage, monitor and support mobile users provisioned to the BlackBerry platform.
MKCREATIVE Design has provided BoxTone, Inc. with graphic design services since 2008.
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Written by: Marco Kathuria