Red Pill

Detroit...

The photo is of the MOCAD building featuring a mural by artist Barry McGee and a neon piece by Martin Creed.
Photo by Corine Smith.

Design for the Information Age

Whether it's global change or aiding a major corporation with pedaling products, the use of strong and innovative, Information Design can add dramatically to your message. Most designers have at one time or another created graphs, charts, timelines etc. But how many actually enjoy and excel at it while incorporating the same level of creativity as in other areas of design?

I feel there are new opportunities to innovate in Information Design, mostly in the United States where we have relied so heavily on pre "Information Age" methods and processes.

Hitting your audience in both lobes is key today, we have mere seconds to get our message through those synaptic gateways. Putting big bold copy in the viewers face is no longer the answer, in my opinion this trend is quickly becoming cliche and therefore less impactful. When visual information is partnered with a strong concept it will only enhance the message and open new opportunities to be creative in the delivery.

I actually ran into this amazing site while exploring my thoughts, their work is not only powerful but its very creative and beautiful. They are Information Design Studio, located in Amsterdam.

Here are a few projects that stood out for me:
2008 – UNITED NATIONS – YEAR OF LANGUAGES
FILTER THE WORLD
MILESTONES OF INFORMATION DESIGN

Almost famous.

A while back during the second Super Tuesday we posted a little piece playing off the fonts that Hilary Clinton and Barack Obama had chosen for their respective campaigns. We found it funny that the font choices coincided with their political platforms as well as their own personalities, so we decided to make the fonts the candidates. You can see what we wrote here: Change vs. Experience, may the best FONT win.
A few weeks ago our friend Brian Collins saw the posting and decided to use part of it on a segment he did on ABC a few days ago. He tried to plug us a few times during the interview but unfortunately any indication of myself or the Vega Project was edited out completely. Regardless, we appreciate Brian's attempt to give our lowly blog a little taste of fame. Thanks Brian!

>You can see Brian's ABC segment here<

designer = (Communicate + Ideas + Information) creatively

At our core, designers are communicators, we decode, interpret, and translate information and ideas which is then applied to one or more of the vehicles we have in our creative arsenal.

Unfortunatily many designers, schools, clients, etc.. value each of these qualities differently, not quit understanding that they are of equal importance. What's the point of conceptualizing and interpreting a big idea without presenting it in a creative manner? You see it everywhere these days, left justified all caps Helvetica, Gotham, News Gothic, sure the message won't get lost but is it being elevated creatively? This seems to be where we are these days, I wouldn't call it bad design it's just non-existent design.

The focus has definitely shifted, the craft has definitely taken a backseat, where back in the 90's during the digital transition we looked at design as an art form. You had the whole grunge movement with the David Carson's and Emigre' magazine driving us all to push creative boundaries. Unfortunately what was being communicated many times was lost in the process.

Communicating Information is quickly becoming the most valued design quality, making sense of chaos and delivering it clearly. This is a skill that only a handful of designers poses, it's not sexy, it won't get you published, and you definitely won't win any awards. When was the last time you looked at a street map or at a interface and stopped to think about who designed it? Unless it's flawed it becomes transparent, a part of our lives that's success is measured based on how invisible it is.

I believe strongly that as a designer today you need to posses each of these qualities equally. Especially as our role changes with the on-slot of new technology, in a culture of disposable trends. A great Designer stays true to the fundamentals of good creative design, while clearly communicating ideas and information. It also helps to be a good educator, therapist, and mediator but that's a whole other posting.

San Francisco, the "teal" city

On my way into our studio this morning I had the sudden realization that our City is being flooded with the color teal, It struck me that it’s everywhere these days. I was aware that a few of the newer buildings intruding on our city’s skyline were teal, but I guess I never really considered how widespread it was. What set me off was seeing our building this morning being defaced with brand new teal awnings, and the realization that when giving directions, from now on I’ll have to say, “look for the building with teal awnings”.

When did it start? When did we first decide teal was aesthetically appealing here in San Francisco? Was it when Apple first released the original iMac? Or maybe when the Asian Art museum opened in the old library filled to the brim with teal colored supports.

Regardless of when it began, the transition to that greenish-blueish hue is definetly in full swing. Look around, you can't miss it. Especially with the One Rincon Hill building staring at us from all corners of the city like a massive teal middle finger. Or the newly built Infinity and 300 Spear Street towers. My favorite though is the InterContinental building, it looks either like a giant Apple G3 computer, or an Art Deco teal tombstone.

San Francisco may be one of the “greenest” Cities in America but we may soon displace Miami as the “tealest”.

Can GM call themselves "Green"?

These days General Motors, Ford and Chrysler, are getting their asses handed to them by Japanese automakers, led by Toyota, who recently displaced GM in domestic auto sales. For the last ten years Detroit has been focusing on large SUVs' instead of more fuel efficient vehicles such as small Hybrids. Now Detroit automakers and GM find themselves playing catchup to the rest of the industry leading to layoffs, plant closings, and suppliers going belly up all while profits continue to drop.

GM is suddenly touting themselves as ”Green“ while their recent and historical records shows otherwise. They have been plastering ads for cars that don’t exist yet, creating campaigns based around existing or so-called “Green” technology. For instance, GM introduced the Chevy Volt at the Detroit International Auto Show this year. It’s basically an electric car with a small gasoline engine that charges the battery when it's running. This is an innovative concept, that if put into mass production and made accessable to most people could be a positive step forward, supposedly it can go up to 40 miles before the gasoline engine even needs to start up. The problem is that the Chevy Volt is just another concept non have been produced as of yet, and when they finally are they could very easily be impracticle. Remember the EV1, GM's electric car for the 90's? The car was crushed before it ever had a chance, thanks to Chevron and GM. As for the Volt, they are estimating a price of 30-40k! and production if it ever happens, will only be around 10,000 units. In comparison, Toyota produced 15,000 Prius models in their first year of production alone.

The simple fact is for the last 100 years or so GM has been one of the worst polluters on the planet and today are still are one of the worst. Their number one selling vehicle is the Chevy Silverado with 526,575 units sold in 2007 and it only gets an average of 19 hwy / 16 city. Just to put things in prospective, the original Ford Model T could get 25 mpg over 100 years ago, so much for advancement.

Let's hope that the general public will see through these ad campaigns, with the beautiful Chevy Volt prototype strategically placed in a corn field, under a dreamy blue sky, with the American flag waiving in the background. Let's also hope that they realize GM is doing this purely for profits and better PR in the attempt to catch Toyota.

Change vs. Experience, may the best FONT win.

The long Battle between Baskerville and Gotham comes to a crucial climax today, which some are dubbing Super Tuesday II. With the primary elections in Ohio, Texas, Rhode Island and Vermont today one will most likely emerge victorious.

Will it be Gotham? The slick young, clean cut font, full of charm and charisma. Riding on recent momentum of 11 state wins in a row, preaching change and vowing to displace the old standards of Helvetica and Myriad. Designed by American type designer Tobias Frere Jones in 2000, some feel Gotham has too little experience, with little to offer besides charming good looks and a talent.

Baskerville on the other hand is a classic Serif font. It might not be the most appealing, however it works well with other fonts and has a timeless appeal; is refined and well designed with many years of experience. Baskerville has its’ limits though, especially within contemporary design—branded with the idea of old it lacks the ability to be used in various digital formats.

It’s Change vs. Experience, may the best font win...

Sicko - Every American needs to see this film.

As small business owners we know all too well the pain of paying for health insurance. As my rates go up hundreds of dollars each year with very little explanation, less is covered. Every drug prescription I have received since the day I started coverage has not been covered! I have to pay full price for all non-generic drugs. I had an incident last year that ended up costing hundreds on top of my premiums. Obviously I’m not the only one being systematically screwed by the healthcare industry in this country, and this becomes painfully obvious in Michael Moore's Oscar nominated film - Sicko.

I watched Sicko last night for the first time, I wasn’t expecting much going in, just mostly what I have already read and heard about our healthcare system but interpreted by Michael Moore’s one sided opinions. I expected lots of Bush bashing (which is fine by me) with tragic stories and humor laced through out. I’m not going to get into the details of the film, just see it, I think every American needs to see this film. There is much more to what is wrong with our healthcare system than what most people know including myself When Sicko compares our system to other western powers and even a few third world countries, you see just how backwards and dysfunctional it is.

Did you know in France you can get a doctor’s house call at anytime for almost any ailment, back pain, cough, etc. for free? If your a new mother, the government sends a nurse to your house to help out for as long as you need them, they will cook for you and also do your laundry among other things, yes that’s also free. Sicko is packed with examples that put our pathetic healthcare system to shame.

"The U.S.A is a ME country not a WE country", this is the best line in the movie and pretty much sums it up. I just hope enough people see this to make difference.

What’s really amazing is Hillary Clinton is now the largest recipient of campaign contributions from the healthcare industry with Obama not too far behind. |Take a look