Before & After | Design Talk » Question & answer

What do you know that you don’t know you know?

John McWade — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 23:29:42 +0000

On most designs, there’s something that you don’t know how to do.

Maybe you have a poster to make for the company retreat, and you’re stuck for an idea. Or you don’t know what typeface to use or how it should be illustrated.

Yet you sense that there’s an answer. And this sense pulls you into the work.

You dig for images, set type, try layouts, looking. Are you hoping that something cool just happens? Or is there a vision, unarticulated, that you’re working toward, and you’ll know it when you have it?

What do you know that you don’t know you know, and how do you find it?

Old Pepsi, new Pepsi

John McWade — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 21:22:44 +0000

Reader Glenn Kramer writes: “When I last went grocery shopping, I had the fortune of spotting boxes of the new Diet Pepsi logo side by side with the old design. I happen to love the new look. The sans-serif geometric font with the smiley e, paired with the new Pepsi circle, looks forward-thinking to me. I like the change, even if it’s hard to tell that the Pepsi circle is supposed to be reminiscent of a smile or smirk.

“However, when I posted the photo to Typophile’s Web site, it seems like everyone so far pretty much hates the new look. I wanted to know your take on it. I’m attaching the photo that I took at the grocery store. It’s interesting to see the old and new next to each other for easy comparison.”

———————

Thanks for the photo and your question. This is a big makeover. Pepsi says it will spend $1.2 billion (that’s a b) over the next three years to re-brand its carbonated soft drinks plus its Gatorade and Tropicana lines. Considering the fantastic number of cans, bottles, Web and print ads, point-of-purchase displays, vending machines, billboards, sportswear, stadiums, on and on—worldwide—that must be changed over, well, the scale is mind-boggling.

So does the design boggle you? I’ll give you my observations next week, but this week I’d like to hear from our readers.

A couple of points before you write.

One, don’t go with your knee-jerk reaction, good or bad. Let it simmer awhile. What you know and like (or not) about Pepsi is attached not to the new logo but the old one.

Two, try to be objective. Focus on this design, not what else it may look like. Almost every image looks a little like something else. Ask, “Do I like this look? Would I reach for it? Would I be happy with it?”

Three, try to articulate the reasons for your impressions. (You’re Before & After readers; you can do this.) Keep in mind that we’re interested in design here, not business, marketing, strategic planning, what-were-they-thinking?, none of that. Just, “Do I like this and why?” To get you started, you might look at our Gestalt theory: Equilibrium (article 0676) preview, (which is free), and Simplify, the back page editorial of print issue 32 (which is not).

Also, the can in Glenn’s shot is one in a series of five, all of which can be seen on Pepsi’s site; note how the logo changes from can to can.

Your turn.

(To leave a comment, click on “### Comments” below the print-issue images, then scroll to the bottom.)

For more on logo design, we recommend the following print issues:

What typeface would you recommend?

John McWade — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 03:54:31 +0000

I really enjoyed the current article, “How to use that typeface.” In fact, I find every article informative and useful. I was wondering, though, what typeface you might recommend for the business in the article — Alamo Flags — and why you would choose that typeface. Thanks. — Laura Jones

Hi Laura,

To recommend a typeface, I’d have to know more about the business.

A couple phone calls told me that Alamo Flags sells flags of the world, buttons, pins, patches and so on. So it’s a gift-quality flag store. Its employees who spoke to me did not know the origin of the name or if it was connected to the real Alamo. For a real project, you’d want to know those things.

So let’s imagine that Alamo Flags wants its sign to convey a fairly authentic image.

First step would be what we call “World of” research. Ask, what is the Alamo? Where is it? What does it look like? What is its story? What associations does it have? Are there lines, shapes, colors, textures that we might use? And so on.

For a real project, the client would give you most of these answers. For our example, we’ll use Google.

We find that the Alamo is an old Spanish Mission in San Antonio, Texas. Early in 1836, it was site of the most famous fight in Texas’s war for independence from Mexico. The Alamo was overpowered by the forces of Mexican President Santa Anna, and all its defenders were killed. Among the dead were now-legendary Americans Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett. After the defeat, the Texas colonists regrouped, and the term “Remember the Alamo!” became a rallying cry for the remainder of the war.

The Alamo has its own flag (although its authenticity is uncertain) with its own colors.

A logo request from Bali

John McWade — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 18:18:55 +0000

I have read the book from Before & After, Graphics for Business. It’s always a good idea for me to work with design. But now, I get stuck on my head to design about “Bali Surfers” logo. Can you help me for give me ideas and sample, so that can inspiring me for make a logo? Thank you. —Fona

Hi Fona,
Tell me more about Bali Surfers. Who are they? Where are they? What do they do? Who is their audience? And so on. —John

Hi Mr. John,
Bali surfers is community of Balinese that liked surf. Balinese surfer always liked peace of mind and enjoyed surf as a beauty.

They live at any region in Bali and every weekend they have the schedule to surf and help people to learn surf in any beach in Bali.

After they surf, they will do something positive for people, like cleaning the garbage on the beach area.

Sometime the surfers from other places in Indonesia or other country want to joined, and we are welcome for them, but we must keep peace on Bali and this earth. Because when we always feeling peace of mind, anything we do will have a positive response from universe.

Mr. John that was about what I know about Bali surfers. Thanks for your help. I’m so happy. —Fona

Hi Fona,
Why do you want a logo? What will it be used for? Do you have images that you’ve thought about? —John

Hi Mr. John,
The logo use for my friend, I help them for give some advice to setup a logo. And they are not commercial community.

And I don’t have the images, I just think how to make it simple and looks interesting. Just the text “Bali Surfers” or with icon image combined with the text.

Can you help me please? Thanks.—Fona

Hi Fona,
Try this . . .

Craft designer gets a new look

John McWade — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 00:21:16 +0000

I’ve been making beaded jewelry for sale in a local gift shop, and I’ve recently discovered that the customers also seem to like the labels I’ve designed. What I can’t quite understand is just what factors are at play in a successful business identity. I’ve decided to build my identity based on my label design, and I’d very much like to avoid the pitfalls that can destroy a business.

Angela Lantain

[Posted at 1:15 pm on August 21, 2008 by Angela]

Hi Angela,

There’s very little in design that can “destroy” an established business. Poor design can, however, keep a new business from getting traction. A design can be misleading. It can be inappropriate. It can be sentimental or corny or otherwise cloying. It can be amateurish. And so on. The design you want is the design that expresses unambiguously who you are, beautifully, simply, clearly.

Your project sounds interesting. Show us more.

John McWade

[Posted at 1:30 pm on August, 2008 by John]

Real estate logo gets a makeover

John McWade — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 18:53:33 +0000

John, I have been a subscriber since the early 90’s and have all issues. As a matter of fact, I think the article you wrote on designing a report in your first two years of your publication was responsible for at least a 1 pt increase in my GPA since I used your format for all my papers.

Anyway, I have a logo I’m working on and was wondering if you could put your spin on it. How much would you charge for your services?

Thanks,
Bill Petrey

[Posted at 10:10 am on July 2, 2008 by Bill]

Thanks for the funny note. Happy to help get you through school! ;-)

About your logo, the short answer is that everything here is about the magazine. If we are able (and you are willing) to use your logo in an article, it costs you nothing. If we can’t use it, we can’t do it.

Why don’t we start by taking a look at it, and we’ll let you know.

[Posted at 11:25 pm on July 3, 2008 by John]

Would be honored to have you rip into my work and make all the readers feel sorry for me. Keep in mind that my only background in graphic art is being a loyal Before & After reader. The colors may be off a bit, but I was trying to simulate the colors in an ear of corn. Colorblindness is awkward when picking color schemes, but thank heavens for RGB %, hex codes and a wife. Okay, enough excuses.

The logo is for a blog/real-estate agent referral site that I call AgentHarvest.com. The site will be an expression of my real-estate opinions (believe me, I have many) and will market my service of finding the perfect real-estate agent to sell your house. I use MLS data to research an agent’s track record to find the best agents in your neighborhood.

The logo is trying to connect a farming harvest theme with real-estate agents. Except for the domain name, everything is fair game for you to play with or remove. The phrase at the bottom is sort of sloppy, but I haven’t come up with anything better yet. It’s all still pretty new. I’ll also be using the theme on the Web site, too.

Thanks, and I look forward to seeing the results of your work.