Alberta Design Blog

Remember to turn Overprint Preview ON.

It recently occurred to us that some very simple pdf tricks can assist many of you when you are proofing your projects with us. Have you ever printed a piece and noticed the reversed (white) logos were missing, even though you had seen them on your approved pdf proofs? Here is a quick trick to fend off the logo stealing gremlins.

The moral of this story is very simple. Always, always proof digital pdfs with the Overprint Preview turned on.

Just follow these steps:

• First, download this pdf example.
• Then, open it in either Acrobat Reader, or the full version of Acrobat. If you don’t have either, download the free Reader here.
• With the file open, you see 4 lines of text and 2 logos – white and black.
• In the upper text menu in your software, go to Advanced>Overprint Preview (this may be different/unavailable on some versions of your software) . You will see some of the white text and the white logo magically disappear. So what has happened?
• It’s actually very simple – the white text and logo are set to Overprint white. But you can’t overprint white, since on a printing press, white is the absence of ink. You can’t print nothing. White is nothing, as far as the printing press is concerned.
• The Overprint Preview allows you to see what the printing press sees. This means, if it’s not visible with the preview on, the press won’t see it, and viola, the logo gremlins have struck! Since the white logo here disappeared, if we were sending this to press as is, there would be no logo on the final printed pieces. Very bad.
• Toggle back and forth by turning the preview on and off. Note that this can affect text as well. So what do you do?
• First, don’t send the pdf to the printer! And secondly, tell us that there was an issue and we’ll fix it. It’s that simple.

Next time you proof a digital pdf from us, a printer or another design firm, remember to proof with this preview turned on. It has the potential to save many avoidable reprints—and dollars.

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Another major theme we caught at the conference was the title: “DesignThinkers.”

Design Thinking Andrea Siodmok, of the Design Council in Britain, and a few other more analytical speakers, brought up the issue of Design Thinking. Andrea offered more statistics on design that one could even fathom. Like Karim Rashid, she pointed out that the act of manufacturing products is not enough anymore. We need to improve our products and services by adding value through design, customer experience and customization.

GM was until recently, the most productive corporation on earth. GM produces primarily physical products. At close Friday, GM’s stock was $31.280USD.

The concept is: we are so good at producing things in the world today, that simply producing is not enough. We need to improve our products and services through design “thinking”—that is, thinking about how products look, feel act, & what the lasting impressions are, are as important if not more so than the simple task a product fullfills.

Looking at cars again, many manufacurers outcsource parts. How many car brands have the same window switches or radio knobs? Producing a unique product isn’t as improtant as the experience, at the very least, the impression of the car. The quality of the knobs is less and less improtant. This makes it sounds like design is less important, but think about how much more detail the average car gets in the styling of the interior & body panels, even with those generic knobs.

Google is a world leader in online search technology, and the poster child for new media technologies. In reality though, they produce nothing. They closed at $663.970. One company provides products, the other provides information and experience. What makes a company that produces nothing vastly more valuable?

Toronto in a nutshell

While in Toronto, we toured many of Hogtown’s many sights. A definite highlight was sneaking into the Ontario College of Art & Design – OCAD (pictured here), which is a building so cool it defies logic. The architects were instructed not to touch the old building when designing the new expansion. So they designed a floating building. A brilliant solution to the problem while leaving the old building intact. The new building is litteraly supported by stilts.

We also toured the Distillery District – a cluster of 100 year old red brick industrial buildings that now house art galleries and funk for the bourgeoisie of Toronto. I saw a glass octopus in one gallery that was one of the the most brilliant things I have ever seen, and so was the price – $250,000!

All that aside, I also managed to score centre ice box seats to the Leafs and the Blackhawks, and third row, 30 yard line seats for the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens. For those wondering, Ray Lewis is definitely crazy.

All in all, I have to admit… I’ll be going back next year!

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It’s been a few weeks since I got back from Ontario, and before it gets too distant, I thought I’d recap the week’s events.

Push vs. Pull The conference was quite interesting. I think the biggest single theme I came across was that the world economy is changing and that designers and advertisers need to adapt, and quickly. People are tuning out advertising at an alarming rate. As we shift from a “push” (buy my product please!) to a “pull” (what do you want, kind sir?) economy things are fluid and consumers are in control. So what does that mean? I think for the average central Alberta business, it means that we all need to listen a bit more, and realize the value in our customers. Not many of us are marketing on the scale that a mega-brand, like say nike, does so we have to be realistic.

“We have designed systems, cities, and commodities. We have addressed the world’s problems. Now design is not about solving problems, but about a rigorous beautification of our built environments. Design is about the betterment of our lives poetically, aesthetically, experientially, sensorially, and emotionally.” —Karim’s manifesto

Fruit Bowls Karim Rashid, one of the designers who spoke was an industrial designer who designs products for mega-brands like Prada, and his take was quite unique. His slideshow was just a montage of products he designed. But a point of debate for him was the fruit bowl. How many time have people made fruit bowls? Why do we need to make another fruit bowl, unless we make it better? Or unique? Or functionally different?

Let’s all look a bit more critically at what we produce. How can it be made to better our world?

Sometimes the best solutions are squirmingly honest. And they have to have an element of risk to succeed.

Don’t be afraid of beans Garrick Hamm, of Williams Murray Hamm in the UK, chatted about his firm in the UK. Case studies included turnaround campaigns for major British brands like Tesco and Hovis Bread. Their mantra is “create difference”, and Garrick made sure to mention their unconventional process—single concept presentations (hey if you put your best into it, why show two ideas?) and a reluctant use of research (all focus groups get you is the most watered down option anyway). The results are pretty amazing.

Most of the brands they represent have turned around to lead their categories. My favourite is the Hovis Bread Identity, in which the bags are covered in full–colour baked beans. Apparently, in the UK, everyone eats beans on toast… but won’t admit it. WMH had the guts to speak the truth. Hovis turned around to become the number one bread in England. It’s the equvalent to spurting that dark family secret at Thanksgiving dinner… you just don’t do that.

“I show you one, and if you don’t like it, hire someone else!”

Quality over Quantity Zoa Martinez, of Zona Design in New York does amazing things with motion. Zona does trailers for Many of the TV networks we all enjoy today, including ESPN & Discovery, to name a couple. I was really inspired with Zoa’s vibrancy, and more than that, her confidence. She also normally shows one concept, and explained, “I show you one, and if you don’t like it, hire someone else!” This makes sense in the high-end motion graphics world where they take three weeks of full-time work to create a single presentation.

But Zoa also offered insight into creating in motion. Her perspectives on the use of music in her work—music drives motion, but I could see her studio in the Empire State Building kickin’ the latin grooves. The quintessential funky agency does truly exist!

I’ll post another set of reviews in a day or so, but DesignThinkers ’07 was certainly exciting!

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We had the opportunity to present at Red Deer City Hall on October 26 to a group of Alberta Municipal Web Group members on web trends, web 2.0 and other fun stuff. We discussed technology, when to use flash and other widgets, how to organize information and what users really want from a website.

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Working in a smaller market like Red Deer doesn’t often garner a lot of design awards, but some of our recent work for Red Deer College has gotten some attention.

Red Deer College was awarded with five Medallion Awards from District 7 of the National Council for Marketing & Public Relations (NCMPR), recognizing excellence in college publications and marketing efforts. Of these five, we designed two.

We designed a logo for an alunmi event earlier this year called “Welcome Back Alumni” that had a retro seventies look, and it won a bronze medal for identity development, and the Summerscapes brochure we designed last year took silver. The brochure (pictured above) incorporated an intricate diecut and blank pages for art students to decorate.

Sonya was the lead designer on the logo, and I was the lead on the brochure. So it’s good credit for the whole team!

Designing to win awards usually doesn’t produce the most effective tools from a client’s perspective (aka: the bottom line), so we usually don’t worry about awards. That makes it that much more satisfying when our work does win. It’s also nice to have clients who let us play once in a while and try new things.

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Look out Hogtown… Redpoint Design is coming to town! I’m off to Toronto this week for a conference sponsored by the RGD (Registered Graphic Designers) association of Ontario. Design Thinkers 2007 is a hodgepodge of new media, branding and design leaders from across North America, with a myriad of session choices of presenter and subject matter.

I’m most excited to see Debbie Millman of Sterling Brands, New York. Her ability to keep perspective on the life of a simple graphic designer, while offering insight into the realities of being a partner in one of the major US Branding Agencies is quite refreshing—and informative. I first heard her speak at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton in ’05.

There will be workshops on trends in design, the ever-evolving internet, and commentary on where we are going with design & communications in Canada today.

Oh, and we get to raid a variety of agencies in the Toronto area, poaching talent and clients where ever we go… OK… Maybe we’ll see the lunchroom and have a coffee, but we will get to tour many of our peers’ studios in TO. I just hope there is fooseball.

So, I’ll be away for the week of October 15-19. Sonya is being a good trooper and working hard back at the office. If there are any projects that need attention, she can help out. Feel free to email Sonya with any queries.

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Which is greater? Leaving a community in hope of greatness, or staying and creating greatness? An interesting question. Yesterday I attended a press conference where the Alberta Minister of Advanced Education and Technology, the Honourable Doug Horner, presented Red Deer College with a substantial grant from the Alberta Government. $18 million.

I’ve been around RDC for a long time – they are one of my longest standing clients. I’ve seen them working on the “Building Communities Through Learning” capital campaign to raise funds for a major expansion, in fact, we designed the Case for Support Document for the campaign.

At the press conference, kudos were passed around liberally to the boosters that have worked for years to achieve the goals of the expansion. Many of these men and women could A) have higher paying jobs with more glory in larger centres, or B) will never get recognized at all for their efforts. But they stuck with the campaign, and saw it through.

It occurred to me that these people are real heroes in our community. Bob & Jane Unknowns who have stuck with their collective visions to create greatness where they are, not where they might someday be. Congratulations are in order for all the campaign team!

It’s a testimony to the power of little people with vision, and achieving greatness. I think it’s something we should all hope to achieve someday. The biggest opportunities in our lives are probably right down the street, in the communities we live in, just waiting for us.

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It was hot in Alberta this weekend. Really hot. Likely the most important weekend in the entire year for Tim Horton’s to have Ice Capps for the world. We, like the rest of Alberta, wanted and Ice Capp on Sunday afternoon. But the first Timmies we went to offered only “the machine’s broken” and an offer to wait for an hour while it was repaired. Another Tim’s replied “well, ok, but they’re very runny.”

Promise Less, Deliver More. Your brand will thank you.

Reluctantly, since I already had 45 minutes invested in the runny Ice Capp, I ordered one. Ironically, it was totally fine–nice fluffy, frosty, tasty… just what I wanted.

So here’s the point: The marketing: a succulent, refreshing drink that turns any hot day into a day a the beach. The Reality: A mediocre slurpee that is either not available or “too runny”.

I’ve been reading a book called “Selling the Invisible” by Harry Beckwith, and aside from some prophetic predictions in 1997 about technologies we enjoy today, it focuses on marketing service companies (90% of companies in Alberta), with a key point being “assume your service is terrible”. Why? Two reasons: It forces you to assume you need improve, and it prevents “runny ice capp” syndrome.

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Is Graphic Design art? Some might argue no, depending on how pressing their deadlines were, but sometimes as a designer, little things help highlight how we create things that end up a bit more than just fishwrap.

I was at a meeting at the Red Deer Museum this morning and spotted the newsletter we design each quarter for them. Each one was hung up on the wall, in order & grouped with other posters, collectables and “ART”. It’s nice to be a designer and make things. It’s nice to be able to feed my family. And sometimes it’s nice seeing something I’ve made—that was destined to be fishwrap—carefully hung up on a wall.

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Some look at designers as being psychologists… able to weave a complex web of messages to promote a behavior in viewers. Sure there’s a bit of that, but I’d like to believe that communicating well will get the point across well enough without being tricky. So if designers out there have the ability to influence the subconscious, what about the designers? Is the designer brain impervious to influence? Are they operating at a higher level than mere mortals? Or are they influenced by the very messages they create?

• Find out by watching this  video.

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