By Brockett Horne

New graphics at the airport made my recent trip through security much more pleasant. Good design makes all the difference!

At Baltimore International airport, gorgeous graphics and cool colors brought down my blood pressure before entering the checkpoint at Gate B. An attractive holographic display of x-ray goods marked the threshold into the checkpoint (pictured). I zoomed past illuminated graphics with clear, well-considered typography because the line was moving quickly. An “organization” counter complete with recycle bins helps travelers with lots to manage, and posters were displayed along the walkway with portraits and profiles of the security guards. The walk through security was efficient, organized, trustworthy and friendly. (more…)

By Justin Ahrens

Illustration by Justin Ahrens

I recently had the opportunity to do something I’ve always hoped to do – visit Africa. I visited for several reasons, but I think my biggest motivation was my belief that firms need to do work outside their “normal client” environment, especially when that work helps organizations that so desperately need it. At Rule29, we do a mix of work for little or no fees. This makes my advisors nervous sometimes, but it’s this work that really makes us feel like we’re making a difference in the world. It’s a feeling that monetary compensation can’t create. Some of you may also do this type of work and hopefully you know the feeling – the feeling of helping the greater good. But like everything else, you need to make sure you keep it balanced. There have been times we’ve taken on so much complimentary work that it has hurt the productivity of our mainstream work. And that’s when you just need to back off. You can’t do any good for anyone if you run yourself into the ground. (more…)

By Eric Benson

Part III: Sustainable printing and the graphic designer

“The single most important problem is our misguided focus on identifying the single most important problem.” – Jared Diamond, Professor of Geography at UCLA. (From the book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed.” Penguin Books. 2005.)

It is fairly simple to call a few printers in your local area and find one that gives you the best price on paper and printing and also meets your busy schedule. It’s a job well done as soon as you drop off your CD packed full of files at your chosen printer and take a breather before starting your next big design job. But what if price and deadlines weren’t the only variables that led a designer to choose a printer? What if we paid more attention to the printer’s business practices? Could this improve our overall quality of life? In general, when we design something the idea is to make things better. Whether we are improving the economy (through advertising and sales) or making things easier and simpler to accomplish (via products or better designed instructions/communications), the design intention is to create a catalyst in our society for positive economic growth or social change. (more…)

By Karen Morrill-McClure

Where to start in a review of a book that’s over 900 pages long? Hard to say.

Maybe I should start with what I was looking for. I’m not a complete beginner with PHP, I’ve been using it on my sites for several years now and I’m starting to write more complicated web applications using both PHP and MySQL. I’ve mostly used online resources to learn about PHP and MySQL. I have one old resource book, a 2001 PHP and MySQL Web Development manual from SAMS. (more…)

By Ilise Benun

At Marketing-Mentor.com, we see too many creative freelancers working their butts off for small potatoes clients who don’t appreciate or value their work — being paid peanuts for it to boot! And all because you haven’t learned the basic business skills you need to get the projects you want, from the clients you want, at the price you want, just so you can live the life you want.

That’s why we pitched an idea for a business conference for freelancers to the folks over at HOW Magazine. Turns out, they had already been thinking along similar lines. So we put our resources together and, voila, the first ever Creative Freelancer Conference to be held August 27-29 in at the Hyatt Regency Chicago. (more…)

By Brockett Horne

Image: Chris Jordan’s Plastic Bottles, 2007 (detail)

This summer, I’m pondering the enormous weight of numbers:
426,000 cell phones retired every day
9 million American children with no health insurance
12000 plastic bags are used every minute
400,000 plastic water bottles tossed every minute
$60 to fill up my Honda with gas! Ouch!

Artist Chris Jordan presents compelling images that overwhelm with the magnitude of collective consumption. His haunting photographs depict, through repetition, our incomprehensible mass imprint on the world. His images really function as infographics, and illustrate statistical data through the lens of the camera just as effectively as a chart or graph. (more…)

Hjalti Karlsson and Vera Yuan at home with their son Dagur

Married couple Vera Yuan and Hjalti Karlsson live together in New York with their one-and-a-half-year old son Dagur. They are both designers and, as with all creative people, their work is an important part of their lives. Which also makes it an important part of their relationship (“It IS the relationship,” Vera jokes before the interview). We thought the marriage of love and design was an interesting topic and sat down with them on a hot and humid June morning to explore it further. (more…)

By Justin Ahrens

Illustration by Justin Ahrens

Last post, I talked about creating a designer “farm system” that works for everyone involved. Of course, that doesn’t matter much if you don’t have the work. So, how do you “shake the marketing tree”? First, you need to know that there’s no magic bullet here – and I’m sure you’re aware of the many volumes dedicated to this subject. But, what I’d like to do is share what we have done, and see if it might work for you. (more…)

By Bryn Mooth

I often find that designers, whether they’re new to the field or have been at it for a few years, are a bit muddy on their career options. Should I go the in-house route? Is a design firm for me? What kind of business know-how do I need? What about opening my own shop?

I suppose it’s not unlike other careers: You don’t get career development guidance in school, so you learn it along the way, from mentors or contacts in your network, or maybe by instinct. (more…)

Want to get a glimpse of what’s going on inside the heads of some of today’s most interesting designers? The exciting new online video series Designing Minds lets you do just that. In three just-long-enough installments, the videos deftly mixes interviews with shots of past and present works and voice-overs. First out is the prolific graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister who shares the story of his life and work with typical humor and candor in his inimitable German accent. The first two episodes are already online, with the third and final chapter going up next week. See Stefan discuss his early years in Austria, his move to NYC, the beginning of Sagmeister Inc. and how he was able to combine his two passions: design and music.

Zoom In is planning to do more videos with other designers that will be posted throughout the year. Next up will be rising graphic design star Julia Hoffmann, with world renowned industrial designer Yves Béhar following later in the summer. For fall we can look forward to Vivian Rosenthal of the multidisciplinary studio Tronic and towards the end of this year photographer Ben Watts will get ready for his close-up.