Sheri L Koetting speaks at Spark Boot Camp Event on issues relevant to small design studios

Spark — an Organization Offering a Support System for Independent Designers

In the spring of 2003, a handful of independent graphic designers got together for drinks to discuss our businesses. All of us had one thing in common; we were either working completely alone or aided by a small number of support staff, creating design solutions for clients. Not only did we crave the professional insight from other designers, but we also faced the new challenges of running a business. The responsibilities of an entrepreneur were far greater than the tools and skills we had previously learned as designers.

Six years later, the specific, yet important, needs of small design firms we defined in those first meetings led to the establishment and growth of a niche organization, Spark. Read the rest of this entry »

MSLK’s Watershed project installed on Governor’s Island

As designers we feel compelled to use our talents towards helping the public visualize and comprehend complex information. Recently we, at MSLK have become keenly interested channeling those skills to help people understand the effects of society’s mass consumption of plastic. It seems that the things that are most transient such as disposable bags, silverware, applicators, packaging and bottles are made from plastic, a material that is very enduring.

However, whether out of complacency, lack of information, or confusion, the general public hasn’t taken to condemning these practices.
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These days, your role as a designer is much more than just styling text and graphics. Designers have become the project ringleaders, hiring everyone else on the team including market researchers, copywriters, photographers, illustrators, printers, and programmers. Recommending good vendors to your clients is part of being an accountable designer. Read the rest of this entry »

Don’t forget to be accountable to mother earth.

Again less is more. Once you’ve convinced your client to produce less and better stuff (see previous post), how can you improve the quality of what you are producing and be accountable for it’s impact on society? Here are some things we have started looking at: Read the rest of this entry »

If you don’t subscribe to this principle stop reading now, as this post probably isn’t for you.

So let’s say that a client approaches you and needs 10 pieces, which are all variations of the same campaign in different formats. Try as you might to understand the objectives and differences between all of these pieces, you just can’t figure it out. In fact, some of them don’t even make sense to your client. He or she is just producing them because they were asked to, or because that is what they have “done in the past.” If the objectives don’t make sense to you, they aren’t going to make sense to the audience. Chances are they know even less about the client/brand/product than you do. Read the rest of this entry »

Surprisingly this principle is often overlooked in design curriculums. Graphic design is ultimately your interpretation of information, and in order to design something you must understand it. In most cases the target audience knows as much or even less about the brand than you do. How can you communicate to this audience if you don’t know what you are communicating? Read the rest of this entry »

In this time of market saturation, what do you look for in the things that you buy? If you are like me, the latest and greatest stuff just isn’t enough. I want to buy from brands that I like and people I enjoy working with—companies and people who are accountable for their actions. These accountable companies ultimately make my life easier. I can turn projects over to them and trust that my needs are going to be met, and that when we run into problems they will fix them. So when it comes to my own company, I strive to offer clients the same things I’d expect if I was in their shoes. Read the rest of this entry »