A designer-friendly break down of media consolidation

baby_lamont · 2012-05-25T05:23:12.670003+00:00

Allow me to clarify. Using entirely pastel colours are a bad idea in this kind of information design. They have limited tonal distinction.

There needs to be more contrast between the featured items, the text and the layout colours. The issue is compounded by the designer failing to establish a consistent colour scheme for the content itself. An example of this is the 'big six' colours varying between the dots at the top, their identities and the dots on the bottom. When the designer focuses on Newscorp, they represent their information in the colours of CBS and Time Warner.

This palette is unsuitable to the memorisation of visual information and hamper distinction for the most common colour blindnesses - Protanopia (red) and Deuteranopia (green). This affects 6% of men. At least with a more diverse palette, content elements would remain consistently distinct from layout elements. There are types of information visualisation that they could suit (conceptual image / illustration-based). There are also plenty of other areas of design where they can be appropriate, just not with predominantly text-based information, like in this post.

jkruisb2 · 1 day

Goof, not plothole.

baby_lamont · 1 day

Designer-friendly? This is all over the place visually. It doesn't make the information easier to digest, it takes deciphering and you've to learn the designer's visual language. It uses lots of stylistic callbacks, but doesn't establish consistent identifiers for the organisations involved: There's no easily-discernible consistency to the information's colour schemes (Pastel colours are a bad idea); The various character callbacks are irrelevant, the building images are irrelevant etc. Overall it's poor infographic design, whatever about its accuracy. If the OP means designer-friendly by virtue of us taking the time to decipher it, then yes, it is. Overall I don't think it's anyone friendly, just due to poor communication. Very pretty, but useless.

stunt_penguin · 2 days

Hey sp, fellow Irish designer here - based in Galway actually. One thing, and I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Galway Fringe text could be bigger. It's delightful, let it shine! Assuming I'm looking at an A3 poster, you could set it to an inch from each edge. You could also skew it to about 20 degrees diagonally - from above the guitar at 8 o'clock to below the guitar at 2 o'clock, if you know what I mean. More or less aligning it to the dancer's back (right?) leg. This should make it 'pop' (:P) even more and might even make the dancer more apparent.

I suggest this to distinguish it from the countless mediocre Róisín Dubh posters around town. The type treatment is so much stronger, that i just feel like it should be the star of the poster. Also the shapes in the background are a bit arbitrary, so i don't think it matters if you cover them with the lettering a bit more.

khonsu · 2 days

Not crazy about the type choice as is, maybe it's just because I'm from Ireland, but we associate that type of font choice with tourist tack unless it's used expertly.
Have you actually looked at any Irish drink labeling? None of them use that sort of type. Jameson Whiskey, Paddy Whiskey, Power's Whiskey, Guinness Irish Stout, Murphy's Irish Stout, Smithwick's Irish Ale, Kilkenny Irish Ale. Galway Hooker Irish Ale does use a font like that but it's much better handled and it's the least successful drink I've listed, take from that what you will.
Your wolf design is pretty, but it could possibly be better defined to be suitable as a logo. Filling out the black under the eye sockets highlight, also on the lower cheeks and along the sides of the snout could help anchor it more. As it stands, it's floating. It needs to be made out of slightly less shapes, but everything above the eyes and the mouth itself are all lovely.
There's no reason for your type to be so badly aligned in the banner at the bottom. Your use of outlines and gradients on that banner clash with the subtle colour of the ellipse, this is where consistency would unify your label. You shouldn't use the identity font for subtitles, initialisms or quantities, use a tidy sans-serif instead.
Your wheat shapes could be better aligned to the circle, either tighter to the circle and bound within the borders equally, or tighter to the circles and breaking its boundaries more. The colour of their weight (the distribution of positive / negative space) is all over the place.
The texture is distracting and should be removed if you want to see what your label actually looks like. Put the average colour of the texture behind the label and you'll see how bare your label actually looks (When it really has almost all the elements it needs, they're just not distributed appropriately).

It's utterly pointless asking for critique if it's not for sale/marketing or whatever because as I just showed, your design is an unprofessional mess, with no apparent typographic knowledge and a lovely vector drawing poorly used. You planning on selling this thing? If not, then your label is fine, leave it as is, your friends will love it, just don't think of it as a design as it has no real function, there's no communication imperative. It's a nice art, but it's bad design.

marypap · 7 days

Your sister's work just got caught in the crossfire. It's since been approved.

marypap · 7 days

This is our very own tsevis' work! He's a fantastic contributor here, a little bit hampered by the rules (for submitting his own, and his sister's brilliant work) but still one of the most dedicated-to-quality post contributors in r/graphic_design. Much love.

Screetching_Cat · 12 days

California has a great job market for design, you'll be fine if you work hard.

Screetching_Cat · 12 days

The free internship is coming under fire. This will become a much more debated and possibly regulated issue as time goes on. Working for free is still exploitation and businesses are starting to be reminded of such. Doing free projects that aren't directly benefitting your network/portfolio/people-you-care-about is just playing at design, and is also the reason logo contests for bad organisations throw up vomit from top to bottom. Limit your free work to people who deserve it or will return the favour.

Screetching_Cat · 12 days

There is more than enough work to go around at every level of design. As long as people need visual communication, be it entertainment or information, there will be design work. As web-based technologies grow in ubiquity, people need digital visuals now too, and plenty of them.

Design used to be an expensive discipline or endeavour with a lot of mystery around it and confined to specific infrastructures for execution. Speaking historically and in terms of practical availability, it has just arrived.

There are a couple of things to realise as you move forward. Be prepared to move where the work is. Be knowledgable, concentrate your creativity and learn to code for the web. Graphic Designers who can code are quite sought after and good ones are relatively rare. It takes focus but it's still a fairly meritocratic career. The pool of good jobs is larger than the pool of good (or oftentimes appropriate) designers.

Blumphy · 16 days

Read the rules in the sidebar. Post removed.

merix1110 · 17 days

Well this one slipped through the cracks. From the sidebar:

Do not request free design consultancy. e.g. I'm a non-designer that needs help, what direction should I take my project in? This also includes help vectorizing a raster logo, help with your non-profits poster etc. You can ask /r/favors for those type of things.

Hire a designer whose style fits the bill. Not prepared to? Then you don't get good branding, that's how it works! Post removed.

garrygra · 17 days

Read the sidebar. Post removed, sorry.

tsevis · 18 days

~~Sidebar rules. You know these too tsevis:~~

Do not post your own work. No critiques or critique requests, r/Design Critiques services these with a great community that are willing to tear shreds out of your work. /r/idesignedthis is a new community just for showing off design work.

Withdrawn and approved.

philyb23 · 20 days

Read the Rules for submitting in the sidebar. Post removed.

need_a_logo · 20 days

It's no problem at all. No need to apologise.

need_a_logo · 20 days

No crits, read sidebar "Rules for Submitting". Post removed. (This is why you got no upvotes or comments from regulars.)

ShoppedYourPost · 20 days

If that happens, I'll be on the look out for more moderators. Also, I think it's the lack of memes and bullshit that have lead to our success, traffic has been consistently up since we changed the rules and introduced the sub-theme. Post quality is seriously improving over the past week too, and I'm delighted there's been organic growth endeavours like the IRC channel and the challenges, from initiative-taking community users like Champ-Ooh and iSunMonkey.

YourOldBoyRickJames · 21 days

I've a company that's basically just me on graphics, my brother on development and the odd intern that comes through my doors for experience. I have hired other designers on behalf of clients and I've subbed work out however, also I don't just take the first intern that comes to me anymore (although showing the initiative gives someone a huge advantage).

The default factor I look for is strong typography and vectorisation skills. You need these before I'll even look at you. If I don't see evidence of basic adherence to typographic rules with a good sense of space, you've no chance. After that it's about creativity and ability to communicate. This suits my process. I don't go for the overly critical because I feel that's my role and one of my strengths, so I seek the whimsical enthusiast as a foil to my pedantic pessimist.
Work only. Grade is irrelevant. That they have completed their studies (or are still working on them thus far) shows commitment and that's a vital quality. The work generally answers the practical questions I have about their technical ability.
Figure out how you like your process to work and tailor your project management to that. Work on discovering your strengths. Work on being able to creatively cogitate on demand. If you must work for cheap or free, do an amazing job and then never work for that person again for free, get out of the habit of working for cheap or free as quickly as possible.
- Do show initiative and enthusiasm. I've had some gormless fuckers, afraid to speak their mind, working for me as interns and it is the most tedious shit to have to put up with.
- Don't come to me with a load of established trendy design elements padding out your portfolio. I browse the same sites you do and will know if you're cutting corners that way.
- Therefore, do know the difference between a motif (e.g the visual language of signage or conservative logo elements), a pastiche (imitation) and a cliché (a motif that has lost it's originally intended meaning).
- Don't be quiet and non-vocal. I don't care if you're an introvert or an extrovert. I don't care how your process works. I can tailor to all that, but if we need to discuss a concept or project, I need you to be vocal and contributing. Keep notes / a script, if you have difficulty bringing your points to bear on a situation.
- Be intimately familiar with Illustrator.

nomdeweb · 22 days

Photo-fills are actually a great idea because the space the photo fills, can still be used as a flat graphic. My main problem is the selective focus, transparency reliant, gradient reliant (peels) and sphere carvings. I know there's ways to simplify these but I feel like it's a lazy choice from the outset. That said, i'm sure the designers built a robust identity where the typographic solutions by themselves would stand up. It's a small gripe, but a valid gripe nonetheless.

Mikeymanguy · 23 days

You really should say what form the interview will take and when you need it for.

greyhat2010 · 23 days

Same to you.

greyhat2010 · 23 days

Have you read the sidebar?

contemporary_boy · 23 days

Interesting question! One of my go-to briefs is to make a logo inspired by a poem (or even a writing excerpt) you assign them. Boil the poem down into one coherent symbol that speaks about the contents in a way that is memorable and understandable, but abstract. That may be more a general creativity kind of test, but if they come out with something engaging but slightly surprising you'll know if you got the right fit.

I that's too broad there's always the rebrand option. Give them an established identity, get them to make a newer better one. It has to be something researchable, to give them something to work towards. They also should have to frame their presentation in a way that succinctly explains the design choices and edits.

nomdeweb · 23 days

Fair point. I agree. I guess most people just adhere to the Paul Rand "The principal role of a logo is to identify, and simplicity is its means." rule. That said, we all know over-zealous adherence to rules can be regressive and stifling, but Rand did know his Logos.

lordofthejungle

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lordofthejungle

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