1. What are the Prime Objectives of the Project?
- Why are we doing this project?

2. Why is this project necessary and why is it necessary right now?
- Sets tone for amount of time allowed on design concept exploration and development (need to know now)

3. What Business Outcomes Are Expected from this Project?
- Business outcomes, not aesthetic outcomes.
“How will this generate revenue? Its something we can sell or market for donors or individuals. offers opportunity to give what we’re giving. its an actual object”… enhance an advantage to …”
- What exactly is the problem to be solved?

4. Identify Key Stakeholders
- Copyright issues, intellectual property rights, trademarks … lawyers?
- When will they need to be involved?
- How much time will they get to do their work?
- Is there a budget in place for them?
+ If so how much has been allotted?

*** All stakeholders need to be identified up-front, then asked to provide detailed information about their issues, concerns, constraints and needs.

5. The Design Brief Project Team
- Identify key stakeholders who will be involved in day to day execution.
- Designers, writers, technical support people.
+ Most important stakeholders are included (aside from project Co-Owners)

Essential Elements of the Design Brief

• Project Overview and Background
• Category Review
• Target Audience Review
• Company Portfolio
• Business Objectives and Design Strategy
• Project Scope, Time Line, and Budget (Phases)
• Research Data
• Appendix

Project Overview and Background

(IMPORTANT)
Clearly articulate the scope of the project, the business needs and objectives, the desired outcomes, and ownership of the project.

Executive Summary of the Project
(per sentence)
State the problem
Tell the result of the problem
Provide more necessary information about situation
Give insight to business objectives of project with suggested solution
Provide advice on how to utilize this for future needs
(next paragraph – design concept)
“The ultimate design solution will incorporate … achieve …, a clearly distinguished … etc,.”
Finally, Identification;
Project owners shall be _______, … Design brief project team members will include _______.

Category Review

(Industry)
Category: specific industry in which this product or service is involved. What category or categories are we in?

1. A list of products
Describe each of the products or services included in this project, their various features and benefits, market share, and sales history. How well are they selling and how long have they been in existence?

2. The Competition
Create similar lists for major competitors.

3. Pricing and Promotion
Describe pricing and promotion methods for each product or service. Be as specific and detailed as possible.

4. Brand
Relate all of the individual products or services to the company’s brand strategy and positioning. Do the same thing for competition. What is the perception of your brand vis-a-vis your competitors in the marketplace? What are the most significant differences?

5. Category (or Industry) Trends
What significant trends are occuring in this category? How might these trends affect this project?

6. Company Business Strategy
What is the business strategy the company is currently pursuing? Price? Quality? Value? Or it may be driven by partnerships or alliances.

Target Audience Review

(IMPORTANT)
Who, in extreme detail, is the target audience?

Company Portfolio

This section describes the company and its activities as completely as possible. What are the elements that make up the organization? How critical are these elements to the project being described in the brief?

Business Objectives & Design Strategy

(IMPORTANT)
(First section of brief laid out groundwork for business objectives. Now is the time not only to expand that discussion, but to formulate a plan of attack, a strategy, for approaching the design process.)
- All key stakeholders need to be in agreement with this section. This is the “contract”.

Best way to start; create two columns: 1) Business Objectives: to create exposure to create interest to create revenue, 2) Design Strategy: form and function, creative, taking ordinary and making it a comodity that is approachable. (a direction, not concepts)
Discuss each point.

Project Scope, Timeline, and Budget: The Phases

(IMPORTANT)
This provides critical detail to the road map to success we are creating. Breaking design project into parts.
To accomplish this, the description of each phase must contain, at a minimum, the following items;

Precise description of the Phase (activity)
Time frame for the phase
People involved in the phase
Approvals of the phase (who, what, when, where, etc.)
Budget for the phase

Last three phases;

Final approval of project
Implementation
Measurement Meatrics

Research Questions

(optional)
State unanswered, critical questions, who gets the answers? When will they get the answers? What are the answers?

Appendix

(optional)
This is where you put all the stuff that doesn’t fit logically in the other sections. (i.e. Documents summarizing research, competitive analysis, photographs, news clippings, etc.)

S/ART/Q Process Exhibition has been running for a week now and I have heard good things from those that have seen it. Look for a Process catalogue in the near future. It will be nice to produce print design again as my work has been focused on web development. If you read ‘Advertising Then & Now’ you can get an idea of why I spend so much time in this medium.

As far as my personal artwork is concerned, I honestly haven’t had much time for myself. Business has been floating with the inconsistencies of the stock market, unemployment and housing sales (or lack there of) which makes actual work very challenging (and extremely busy). On the other side of that (or what takes up my evenings) is dedicated to exposing the art collective, and producing, what seems to be my newest medium of choice, video.

In my quest for understanding ‘contemporary art’, not defined by a time period, rather an actual understanding of what contemporary art means, where its going and how I can successfully represent my work, I converse with contemporary artists I associate with. Naturally I get all different responses with nothing concrete to strive for other than doing what I did since I was a kid, be true to myself; make art for myself. However, one person did mention how contemporary art has landed into the realm of being “digitized” … so lets play with that for a while and see what comes of it.

I must admit that my United States Souvenir Series has been put on hold until this painting block (similar to writers block) gets lifted. The next paintings to come of that are Illinois, Colorado and New Hampshire.

Fast forward two hundred years. The Associated Advertising Clubs of America, a group of agencies, advertisers and media representatives, is formed. In 1906 The AD Club launches a series of talks at NYU that becomes the first formal teaching about advertising to be offered by an educational institution. W.K. Kellogg places his first ads for Corn Flakes in six midwestern newspapers. By 1915, he is spending $1 million on national advertising.

In 1936 Life publishes its first edition. It later becomes the first magazine to carry $100 million annually in advertising. In 1953 The Advertising Research Foundation is established. 1976 The Supreme Court grants advertising First Amendment protection.

And now the internet …

In 1993 The Internet becomes a reality as 5 million users worldwide get online. By the end of 1998, Google had an index of about 60 million pages. Internet advertising breaks the $2 billion mark and heads toward $3 billion as the industry, under prodding from Procter & Gamble, moves to standardize all facets of the industry. In 2000, Google began selling ads, keywords were sold based on a combination of price bid and click-throughs, with bidding starting at $.05 per click.

February 23, 2008 The Albuquerque Tribune closes after 86 years of print. October of that year the Christian Science Monitor announces their transfer from print to web only. The Tribune Co. files bankruptcy a month later, they own 12 newspapers including The Chicago Tribune, LA Times, and the Baltimore Sun. January 15, 2009 the Star Tribune Co. files for bankruptcy. They are the owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The following month, the Journal Register Co., which owns 20 daily newspapers including the New Haven Register and 160 non-daily newspapers across six states filed for bankruptcy. That day, Philadelphia Newspapers Inc. files for bankruptcy. Rocky Mountain News, 150 year old newspaper lost $16 million in 2008 forcing to close, announcing plans for an internet only news site. March of 2009 Hearst Corp. halts print edition of the Seattle Post-Intelligence and goes online only. With a weekday circulation of over 261,000 (23rd largest newspaper), the San Diego Union-Tribune sells. The same month the Christian Science Monitor publishes its last print edition after 100 years moving to an online version. March 30 the Tribune Co. announces its combining operations of The Harford Courant newspaper along with television stations. The Detroit News and the Detroit Press cut delivery to three days only. The following day (March 31, 2009) the Sun Times Media Group, owner of the Chicago Sun Times, files for bankruptcy. The beginning of April brought the New York Times Co. to force The Boston Globe to agree to $20 million in concessions.

I end this post with Bob Dylan’s song; Times They Are A Changin’

Come gather ’round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You’ll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin’
Then you better start swimmin’
Or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won’t come again
And don’t speak too soon
For the wheel’s still in spin
And there’s no tellin’ who
That it’s namin’.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don’t stand in the doorway
Don’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There’s a battle outside ragin’.
It’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin’.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don’t criticize
What you can’t understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin’.
Please get out of the new one
If you can’t lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin’.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin’.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin’.

Stay tuned for the next post which will be discussing how the internet effects the buyer and what that means for the website and proper development.

Silk screening is one form of meditation for myself. Graphic Love Juice is one of those projects / companies I’ve developed that allows me to create silk screens at my own pace, with the creative + collaborative benefits. This project however, is a little different and I am going full steam with it … hoping to have test prints underway by this coming weekend.

If you made it out to the Crowbar show with Meteoreyes, Tiger City and RELO, then you may have scored a button or two which I developed for the band (shown below). We are going to be producing more in the coming weeks.

meteoreyes button designs

 The following image is the design for the screen I am developing which will be the overlay print on top of whatever designs I develop for background. The image under the black is an example with color.

Meteoreyes design being silk screened.

Meteoreyes t-shirt silk screen.

Designing through an economic crisis is a decision that can only lead to positive results. Vision, or visual communication revamped to give potential customers something new and exciting can enhance the users experience and bring more business. A new aesthetic or branding can entice a new audience helping to maintain competition. Design is also a powerful tool when helping to achieve objectives, long term and short term goals.

Good design can also take a company’s product and enhance it to save money. For example, designs main focus is to enhance the users experience, get attention and bring new prospects to the forefront by introducing other possibilities then what has been thought of in the past. Taking something that works and making it better can save money and add potential growth to whatever market it is targeting.

In some cases, a company’s identity may need a little revamp to appeal to a changing demographic, or one that may be basing their spending habits on the economic failings. This may be a simple logo change making the product look less ‘fancy’ and more practical, even if the price of the particular product isn’t changing at all. The perceived value of that item, or items, can be communicated by something as simple as a color or typography shift.

You may see these things happening in supermarkets. Higher end goods will most likely start focusing more on health benefits or natural ingredients rather than depending on their name. Product design will be changing to grab the attention of shoppers more interested in eating healthier and cheaper.

From food to music, liquor to banks; design has the power to change and will without question. In times of financial stress, it is design that will get us out by using informative and good (and bad) practices to allow the consumer to make the right choices while trying to educate and supply the growing demand for  and survival. In a Capitalist society, the ones with the best designs and the most thought provoked messages will be the ones that stay abreast of the times we are witnessing now.

It is indeed an interesting time to be a visual communicator. In the end, it is the implementation of technology and good design that wins.

Something I read a few years ago was that “Content is King”, meaning that the information for a website should not only dictate the look and feel of a site, but also be its main focus. When first landing on the page, the user is introduced by words that are from a poem of mine, which is then put in a fashion in which the user can interact with. Like refrigerator magnets, I have constructed a space which the user can move words around to create sentences. I am using mootools for this.

Menus are a very important aspect in any site. When considering what to use, I wanted something that has motion, something somewhat playful (no flash).  Nathan White has helped me with many javascript applications. Over the years of my web development implementations, he has shown me and written for me many things that enhance the users experience. I owe many thanks to his will to help me with many of my projects.

In the coming days, I will add some more content. For now check it out and provide any feedback you wish to share.

To view an example of the above, please view the SnapLock Tin Ceiling landing page.

Today, most of the successful businesses seem to be following (or should be rather) technology and all its conducive marketing approaches through internet and mobile devices. Newspapers and local television are taking a dive for extinction as web portals provide everything. Why leave your house when you can have it mailed to your door at the lowest price from anywhere in the world?

Enter the visual communicator, equipped with the necessary tools to implement ideas into ‘perceived’ meaning. If a viewer lands on a website, it is the designers responsibility to keep that eyeball there and has around two seconds to do so, or at least get the individual to remember or bookmark that particular web page. How do you do it, and when you do, how do you know it works? The answer can be complex although in its most simplest answer it would fall under the ‘guess and check’ practice. Analytics are one of the most important tools other than the thought process for any director or manager. Demographic, browser compatibility, visitor trends, navigation are all analyzed with meticulous detail to get the best idea of the user and their habits. Similar to Wal-Mart taking note of every purchase with debit cards, the internet documents everything. Given the write systems, a company can monitor these sources of information and make appropriate changes if sales are not what they should be.

More to come.

Graphic Design is ambiguous in itself. It is difficult to pin point a clear definition other than it being a number of disciplines focusing on visual communication and presentation to an audience. Methods are used to create symbols and words to formulate a message or invoke meaning from varying ideas. Often referred to by process and product (or designing to the end result of a finished design).

Through an idea’s conception, practices are put in place to communicate this form of one thing to another and get the attention of a given individual or group that could benefit from such subject matter. It is through conceptualization and reasoning that an idea can formulate into a visual product or thing. Once this is put in a tangilble idea, it is then analyzed through many different tests to ensure its usability and value.

A tin ceiling can be one form of analogical reference. It’s pure intention is for aesthetic value, although its historical content can out do its virtuous appearence. How so many view it for its beauty yet referece its historical existance. It acts as a time stamp, bringing happiness and provokes thought. It has a function as well as visual likeness to itself by doing nothing other than being inside a structure. At the same rate, it covers up what lies beneath it, always sitting on a solid foundation.

Graphic design plays a huge role in identifying the producer of the tin ceiling. Through branding and identity, the world is exposed to the originator of the newly stamped historical ceiling product. Color, image, word all play a role in telling a story to personify this product with a potential buyer.