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Design Icons: Marion Deuchars
My children’s drawings surprise me all the time, they break the rules, they inspire, they make me laugh, they shock. I don’t want that to change for as long as possible – Marion Deuchars. To have a distinctive visual style in a vocation so saturated in trends as graphic design, is no mean feat. The […]
How To Write A Design Brief (Getting A Quote)
When a client requests a quote, whether it’s a website design or a complete brand identity, a brief is needed before I can give an accurate estimate. Some designers and agencies offer set pricing on their websites before a brief is given. The reason I don’t do this is that each project needs to be […]
Ebaccs: Include Design
The government is planning to replace GCSE qualification with Ebacc, which will cover English, maths, science, languages and humanities, excluding design, art and creativity. The UK’s creative arts are respected and admired throughout the world. Vital, not only to our culture, but also to the post industrial economy. This will limit our children’s opportunities and […]
London Underground: A Classic Brand Identity
Today Google paid tribute to 150 Years of the London Underground with a doodle of the infamous underground map. The map and the branding of the underground are British institutions. Classics of design that tell a story of the development of our visual culture. Frank Pick In his role as publicity officer of the Underground […]
The Phaidon Archive of Graphic Design
The archive is a boxed compendium of 500 cards featuring some of the greatest pieces of graphic design from around the world. Covering a broad scope of design including logos and brand identity design, books, magazines, newspapers, posters, advertisements, typefaces, album covers and motion graphics from over 300 graphic designers. As well as the expected […]
The Expense of Cheap Design
If it’s really cheap, you’re probably paying too much. What I mean here is that a very low fee say under £300 in the UK, for a logo design means that the designer is almost certainly not doing much work for that money. A client came to me recently with a well established equine business. […]
How to Choose a Rubbish Domain Name
Quite often, businesses come to me that have a domain name that doesn’t represent their brand at all. I won’t give direct examples, but names along the lines of: liverpoolandmerseysidechildrensclothing.co.uk or southeastwallpapermanufacturer.co.uk (I did make sure that these ones don’t exist before laying into them!) The reason for this is usually an SEO company has […]
Horrible Design – A Halloween Special
Monsters, Inc Logo – Pixar What a brilliant logo the Monsters, Inc one is. Simple and clever, it’s just another example of the level of detail and consideration that goes into Pixar’s work. Great to hear that Pixar are making a prequel that will be out next year! American Werewolf in London – Olly Moss […]
Design Icons: Paula Scher
It took me a few seconds to draw it, but it took me 34 years to learn how to draw it in a few seconds – Paula Scher Today I’d like to to celebrate another design hero of mine. Paula Scher. Not only blessed with great talent and insight, she is an wonderful communicator who […]
15 Great Examples of Data Visualisation
Over the last few years data has been turboboosted with the evolution of the infographic. Although data visualisation is nothing new, this aspect of graphic design has leapt forward of late with ever more elegant and masterful solutions being devised. Here are some examples of great infographics. The Power of Pinterest An insight into […]