Anyone thinking of entering the corporate design industry should—but probably doesn’t—know the name Eliot Noyes. Have you ever heard the maxim “Good design is good business?” Its originator, Eliot Noyes, died in 1977, but he laid the groundwork for the corporate design culture we take for granted today. During the 1950s and 1960s, he assembled the in-house design programs at IBM, Westinghouse, Mobil Oil, and Cummins Engines. When you consider the career “in-house designer” it pays to be aware of Noyes’ contributions and the principles on which they are built. More

In the past, I’ve worked on a few projects where there were quite a few layers between myself as copywriter, and the designer(s) of a site. For some reason, many think that as long as the site structure or copy inventory is passed along to the writer everything will be fine. But there are problems that ensue when a project is structured in such a manner. (more…)

Bruce Livingstone, Founder, President, CEO, iStockPhoto

Bruce Livingstone, 35, is founder, President and CEO of iStockphoto, an innovative marketplace for imagery. Bruce started his design career in 1994, as a clerk in the mail room of Image Club Graphics, a Calgary company credited with being the first to put RF images on CD-ROMs. After a piece of software essentially eliminated his job, Bruce’s manager authorized him to spend $2,000 to create a plan for a potential new venture for the company. The experiment was a strong foreshadowing of Bruce’s future career at the helm of a powerful and profitable Internet company. Bruce then moved on to work as a designer at various places including the Idea Machine, where he was a graphic designer for the Web, helping to create Web sites for Air Canada and others.

During these years, Bruce sharpened his skills as a photographer, and eventually decided to try to market 1,600 stock images of his own on CD-ROM. He calls iStockphoto a "true example of success born from failure." After deciding he was not going to make it in the traditional stock photography business, Bruce created a free Web site to share his images with a network of designer and photographer friends, and iStockphoto was born. Initially a trading site, iStockphoto introduced the micropayment model in 2000, where buyers purchase credits in blocks starting at $10 each. iStockphoto filled a need in the industry for great images at affordable prices, and is now the leader in the value segment of the imagery industry, selling images from $1-$40 depending on usage. Today, iStockphoto is rapidly approaching one million members and a collection of images from thousands of artists around the globe.

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Today is definitely a good day to stay under the covers. For those of us who can’t afford to…take comfort in the storybook-like artwork of Catia Chien. The Brazilian artist’s work will take you back to warm memories of childhood. Known for featuring dreamy watercolor landscapes enlivened by colorful Edward Gorey-esque characters, Chien’s talents don’t stop at paintings. She has created concept art for films and comics, as well as having contributed to an anthology of art inspired by Belle and Sebastian songs.

More from Catia Chien

Hooded Bandits

Lara Modjeski

Lara is the Vice-President, Creative, at Tom Ford Beauty. She held previous design positions at Ralph Lauren Fragrances, where she was also senior art director, and at L’Oreal USA, where she was a junior and senior designer for their European Designer Fragrances.

While at Ralph Lauren, Lara was responsible for concept, design, and project management of RL Fragrances worldwide. Individual brands under her leadership included Pure Turquoise, Polo Black, Purple Label, Lauren Style, Polo Blue, Ralph Lauren Blue, Romance, Romance men, Romance Silver, Ralph, Ralph Cool, Polo Sport, Polo, Safari, and Lauren.

Q: Tell me a bit about yourself and your current position.

Lara: After leaving Providence College after my freshman year, to "explore my interests" (a.k.a: Find a major!), I moved to Memphis with my parents. By luck, I linked up with a wonderful professor who let me attend a couple of junior/senior level graphic design classes at Memphis State University before taking basic 101 classes.  I just needed to see if I was really meant to take this path. Luckily, it clicked immediately and before I knew it, I had graduated, moved back to New York, and landed my first "career job" as a junior designer in the Designer Fragrance Division of L’Oreal. I spent 15+ years there until I was offered my current position as creative head for Tom Ford Beauty. 

Q: What is the most important aspect of the creative process? Planning, design, or implementation?

Lara: Being free of perimeters and guides. Allowing yourself to just be open. To just throw out those ideas without judgment. To make a space for the creativity in your mind—keeping it a safe, free space for idea-generating. Then the planning, the implementation, comes in to play, as you fine-tune and work with any must-haves, company guides, cost constraints, and so on.

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Clients who think they can save on design fees with a template-based site have another think coming. Now that online retail is ubiquitous and consumers are ever more web-savvy, even a small-business client who would have gone with a cookie-cutter site for cost and efficiency purposes has to face the realities of the current times: shoppers are wary of doing credit-card transactions with a site that doesn’t look “legit”—any scam artist can slap a logo on a template site, but a well designed and thoroughly branded site establishes credibility and consumer trust. More

Ottawa-based graphic artist Eric Chan marries technology to groovy colorscapes that bring the world of the yellow submarine into the here-and-now. Chan uses generative programs of his own creation to output compositions that are chock full of movement, which is no surprise since music serves as inspiration. Chan manages to combine elements of street art, Japanese prints and graphic design to create eye candy that translates quite well into function – if his designs for a Harvey Nics’ line of belts is anything to go by!

via mocoloco.com

graniph is a Japanese T-shirt company that is hosting its first international T-shirt design award. The application process is open to anybody regardless of age, nationality, or sex. Pictures, illustrations, graphics and photographs are limited to flat surfaces, but there is no limit on the type of design. There is no limit to the number of designs that can be submitted. Designs must be original and must not have been published before. The top winner receives $9,000 and will have his/her T-shirt produced by graniph. There is no entry fee.

Deadline: March 31, 2007

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From designing chocolate to graphic tees, Ayo Kato has done it all!

Check out her latest designs

For a record ninth-consecutive year, Anheuser-Busch has just won USA Today’s exclusive Super Bowl advertising poll. And with it, Budweiser has flipped the switch on Bud.tv. With Anheuser-Busch looking to spend over $30 million this year alone on this online video network. The site looks to be easy to navigate, featuring short films like “Finish Our Film”. This mash-up of reality show and making-of-a-film documentary was produced by LivePlanet, (Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s production company). Not surprisingly most of the videos lean towards 25-year guy humor with high art concepts like “Replaced by a Chimp” in which a chimp tries to do a real job.

Sure there have been many attempts by marketers to create content online that provides a contextual envelope to advertise their brands, yet, Bud.tv is definitely the most ambitious venture of its kind to date.

Missed out on all the “commercial” fun? Well here’s your chance to catch up and see what all the fuss is about. Watch the Superbowl 2007 ads.

via threeminds.organic