Ed Fella, National Student Conference poster

Tomorrow, Thursday December 6, at 11am PST, 2:00 pm EST I’ll be hosting a webcast about AIGA’s 100 year history. “Boy, Sean,” you say, “That sounds as interesting as a lecture about the history of the UAW.” And, if it weren’t for the incredible images, you might be correct. The difference is the design solutions created by the nation’s leading designers over a century. They didn’t design an ordinary poster or publication. These pieces ended up in the hands of their peers, and we know that designers often can have opinions. I’ve had the experience of asking a designer to create something for AIGA, and then watch them choke. There is something about the pressure that all of your friends, enemies, and heroes will see it. That’s understandable. But, the opposite is true. When they succeed they create work that is often some of the best pieces of their career. So, if you want to see some pretty nifty design, and you don’t mind listening to me blather on about history, join intomorrow, http://www.aiga.org/webcast-100-years/.

Tommi Ungerer, call for entries

Lester Beall, invitation

Stefan Sagmeister, Jambalaya National Conference poster

Rudy de Harak, call for entries poster

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AdamsMorioka, Managing the Design Process by Terry Stone, book cover

There is a rather severe difference of opinion about using a cliché in the design world. I like them. They are clichés because we all understand them. As long as the idea is presented in an unexpected way, it’s all good with me. An arrow is cliché. “Oh, Sean,” I’ve heard, “Arrows are so 20th-century.” But, why be oblique and complicated when it is so easy to point someone in the right direction?

Arrows are wonderful because they are symbols that command. The viewer is not being asked, “Would you prefer to turn right, perhaps?” An arrow screams, “TURN RIGHT! TURN NOW!” How many other symbols can do that? Lester Beall introduced me to the wonderful world of arrows. Not, Lester, personally, but through Lou Danziger’s vast historical knowledge. At a time when design was racing faster toward more is more with less and less clarity, the arrow was a revelation. The zeitgeist of that time was , “make less with more.” I wanted to make more with less (follow me? More meaning, less stuff.). I could put an arrow on a poster next to a headline and the viewer would read this first. Who knew?

Unfortunately, arrows are a temptation. Like all wonderful things, too much is not good. Judicious usage is needed. As Groucho Marx said: “Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.”

Mieczlaw Berman, collage, 1927

Herbert Bayer, sketch for a poster, 1923

Kurt Schwitters, Cover of Merz 11, 1924

Jan Tschichold, film poster Napoleon, 1927

Lester Beall, Poster for Rural Electrification Agency, 1937

Lester Beall, spread from PM magazine, 1937

Max Huber, poster for a race, 1948

Giovanni Pintori, poster for Olivetti, 1956

Paul Rand, poster, 1965

Shigeo Fukuda, poster for his work, 1971

Tadanoori Yokoo, poster for concert, 1963

Paul Rand, poster, 1948

Paul Rand, Cumins Annual Report, 1976

Chermayeff & Geismar, SeaTrain logo, 1960s

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AdamsMorioka, 1999

Have you ever accidentally stolen something and felt like Lindsay Lohan or Winona Ryder? I’m not talking about jewelry, scarves, or children. This is about accidental design theft. It happens to everyone, myself included. I’ll finish a project, be quite pleased with it, and then months or years later find the original inspiration. Usually it’s a piece of design that I love, but have filed somewhere in my brain. My unconscious mind must be saying, “Remember that Alvin Lustig poster? Steal that.” Consciously, I simply presume I had a wonderful idea.

When a friend sends me an example of how they were ripped off, I usually tell them “Imitation is the best compliment.” Sometimes it’s obvious, a poster for an event in Alabama looks exactly like one by Marian Bantjes. Or, a student designs a poster for Vertigo and gives me Saul Bass’s poster. On my way to work, I pass a billboard for the band XX’s new album Coexist. It is remarkably similar to a poster we designed for the AIGA Capital Campaign in 1999. Now, I know an “X” is an “X”, and claiming I was copied is like claiming I own the golden section. I’ve decided to use it as an affirmation, that 13 years later, the original poster is super groovy.

The XX poster

The XX poster

AdamsMorioka, 1995

Good to Great, 2001

Alvin Lustig

AdamsMorioka

George Nelson

AdamsMorioka

Alexy Brodovitch

AdamsMorioka

Herbert Bayer

AdamsMorioka

Lou Danziger

AdamsMorioka

Lester Beall

AdamsMorioka

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Paul Rand, UPS logo

Identity design is not easy. Sure you can slam a couple of shapes together and call them a logo. But the core of the issue is perception and building a foundation. Over the last 20 years that we’ve been in business, we’ve been called in repeatedly to take on an identity project after another firm has failed. When I’ve asked to see what didn’t work, I’m given a pile of 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheets of paper, each one with a different logo idea. Whether or not any of these were great or awful isn’t relevant. The error was presenting like a smorgasbord of stylistic options.

First, no logo ever lives in a void. Showing a mark on an empty page is deceiving. It will never appear in this setting. Second, persuasion and consensus building is a large part of the job. We take for granted that a client knows all that we know. But they don’t. They only know what they’ve seen already. And they’ve been conditioned to think a logo is a wackadoodle illustration that demonstrates their product. Logos identify, they do not describe. If Apple had made a logo that looked like the first Macintosh, they could never create iTunes, or an iPhone.

Saul Bass told me to never speak about design to a client. He didn’t mean stonewall them when they ask about a typeface or color. The idea is to talk in a language they understand and give them reasons beyond simple aesthetics for your choices.

This is probably stupid of me, and I’m revealing some of our inner processes. But if this process helps another designer solve a problem, we all look better. When we present identities, we walk the client through each step and explain in simple English why we make certain choices. This allows the client to participate in the process and eliminates the perception that designers are just goofballs making pretty shapes. It also creates a document that can speak for itself. So, below, find a typical document we create to present an identity.

LFLA_ID_Presentation_07.19.11c

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Matthew Liebowitz, promotion, 1947

People often ask me, “Sean, what’s the secret with this whole graphic design thing?” Of course, there is no secret. Or if there is, nobody told me. I can say, however, that a big rule for me is contrast. There is no such thing as too bright, or too much contrast in design. I’m not big on de-saturated colors and soft contrast. Design should be bold. There’s an old saying about teaching a donkey. First you smack it in the head with a two by four, and then give it the message. Now, clearly, I don’t advocate donkey cruelty. But, design is the same. First, get the audience’s attention. Then tell them the story.

Red, white, and black are good choices for contrast and bold statements. I’ve used this combination many times and quite enjoyed it. The danger is looking like a Nazi. The Nazis were rather keen on black and red, so you need to be careful to not appear to be a Facist. Using a little bit of red and a little bit of black isn’t the same thing. Remember: donkey, two-by-four, and big.

Alvin Lustig, book cover, 1940s

Gustav Klustis, poster, 1928

Henry Wolf, Esquire magazine cover, 1955

Henry Wolf, Magazine spread, 1960s

Herbert Matter, Arts and Architecture magazine cover, 1947

AdamsMorioka, Frederator postcard

John Massey, Orchestra Poster, 1960s

Karel Vaca, film poster, 1964

Lester Beall, promotion, 1938

Paul rand, Art Direction magazine cover, 1939

Paul Rand, department store ad, 1947

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