Being a designer is a full time job – and by full time job I mean 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. One’s inner designer can never be turned off, no matter how heroic the attempt to ignore it. Each and every thing - from the Chinese take out menu on your refrigerator to the pattern on your sister’s tank top - triggers some sort of designerly critique. You can call it whatever you want - designer’s insomnia, the designer zombie, designer intuition, or just plain observation - but you can’t make it go away.

In many ways a designer’s ability to constantly absorb visual inspiration is a great asset, but for every spark of creative mojo that comes my way, there is always a counterpart that ruins a perfectly good conversation with friends or romantic moment with a loved one. What follows is my most recent account of the many ways my inner designer has tried to sabotage my life outside of work:

The Ice Cream Incident

A few weeks ago I spent the evening walking around one of our city’s great lakes with some friends. We stopped for ice cream afterwards, and that is when the trouble started. My eyes became affixed to the pattern on my sister’s tank top. I couldn’t keep myself from staring rudely at her chest, trying to decipher where I had seen the pattern before. Was it one of the pages from Owen Jones’ Grammar of Ornament? Or had I seen it on the website of a restaurant I recently visited? I could not wrap my mind around where this familiar pattern was haunting me from, and in a moment of frustration I finally blurted out “WHERE is that pattern from!?”. I was completely zoned in to my sister’s shirt, and equally zoned out of the conversation the rest of my friends were engaged in. Naturally, I didn’t realize that my call of distress came at a most inopportune moment in the conversation. Silence followed, along with some blank stares and laughs. How could I have missed out entirely on what my friend was talking about because of some pattern on my sister’s shirt? Was the origin of this graphic subconsciously more important that what my friends had to say? Doubtful. But how do I explain my deep frustration over this pattern to an actuary, teacher, and event coordinator? After an unsuccessful attempt, a few sighs, and shaking heads the interrupted conversation continued. Secretly, my mind still searched and searched for the source of the pattern.

Weeks later, I still have not completely figured out where I recognized the pattern from. I have spent many wasteful hours searching the internet and racking my brain for an answer, but still haven’t gotten to the source. What I have learned is that the pattern is Persian in nature and based on a geometric system. Yes, a similar pattern is illustrated in the Grammar of Ornament (see above), but it’s not a dead ringer. So….if anyone has seen this pattern and can identify its origin…PLEASE…help my put my inner designer to rest!

Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned for more real platform action.

This casual male in a wooden rocking chair was observed by a coworker at Azul 7. I was out of the office one morning, and upon my return I heard murmurings of an interesting platform sighting. I was thrilled to hear someone took a snapshot of the occurance — a young guy, apparently waiting for a train — in a rocking chair. “Hmm… weird!”, I thought, as questions and theories started gathering in my mind, as I’m sure they are yours. Where do I begin?

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When working with system fonts, you need to stop and ask yourself, is this something I can even work with? I have selected the top three system fonts based on accessibility, history and functional properties. Don’t get me wrong, I am not head over heels for any of these fonts. But based on my limited selection I have chosen Helvetica, Georgia, and Verdana.

I have not included any of the new Windows Vista fonts because they have not been made accessible to me. In the words of Adam Gedde, the Great, “Don’t rely on anything from Microsoft to be free, available or to work”. I see some of the new Windows Vista fonts have a contemporary look and functional properties. However, I am not willing to pay $299.00 for system fonts when I would rather be spending my cash money on fonts from Emigre, Hoefler & Frere-Jones, 2Rebels, or Under Ware, just to name a few.

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“I am a words person, that is why typography is the obvious extension, it just makes my words visible.” Erik Spiekermann

As a designer, I have a special place tucked away in my heart for fonts. However, I find working with system fonts tragically disappointing. I am faced with this disappointment every day when creating accessible interactive spaces. Spaces that need to be compatible with every operating system and web browser. This is the dilemma, how do you create engaging spaces that are accessible to everyone when there are so many limitations?

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When working with system fonts you need to stop and ask yourself, is this something I can even work with. Some system fonts are absolutely useless but no need to worry I rated each one for you.

Is Arial something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Robin Nicholas and Patricia Sauders in 1982.

Classification: Humanist Sans-Serif

Is Calibri something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Luc(as) de Groot in 2007

Classification: Modern Sans-Serif

Is Cambria something I can work with?

Absolutely Useless 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 Tolerable

Designed by: Ian Koshnick in 1989

Classification: Transitional Serif

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So I thought it was a normal Thursday morning, until I was confronted with the fact that my blog post was weeks overdue.

So I turned to my team for help.

“What should I write about?”, I asked, “just give me a topic and I’ll write about it.”

“You’re only as good as your latest Photoshop filter”, said Charissa, “there you go, get to writing.”

I started thinking to myself, yeah right, as if I know anything to write about Photoshop, that Adobe guy is way smarter than I am. I gave it some time to sink in and started to realize maybe she had just given me a great topic. There seemed to be some inner meaning behind her advice. It was like an inside joke without the joke.

You’re only as good as your latest Photoshop filter, what exactly does that mean? Well, here’s what I think she meant:

You’re only as good as your creativity takes you. If your creativity stops at a Photoshop filter, well, you’ve succeeded in utilizing and learning the tools of the trade. Keep trying. Real creativity goes beyond the obvious tools right in front of you, it requires a significant amount of belief. Belief in yourself that you can not only utilize the tools at hand, but introduce a fresh and unique way to integrate those tools into your concept(s) and approach. That belief then takes you to finding ideal combinations of those tools introducing new techniques into your skill set.

This belief now starts taking you down an avenue of unlimited possibilities. It’s not until you find yourself going this direction that your designs really start to have their own voice and personality. Of course finding this dark, hidden avenue takes a number of years, but when you find it, the work you’ll start producing will blow you away. Now imagine executing your designs with a rock solid creative development team and you just might start considering a change of religion. To Adobeianity to be exact.

So what I really think she was trying to say is, don’t let a Photoshop filter drive your belief in yourself. Those are just tools and pieces of the bigger picture. It’s how you use those tools and then move beyond those tools that really define who you are as a creative.

Thank you Mr. Adobe, it’s now up to the rest of us to advance beyond your latest filters.

Let your passions move you. Don’t be defined by what you aren’t; be defined by what your vision of the future will be. Don’t be afraid to think big. Think. There’s a bigger ocean. Your only limitation is your confidence in your compass.

In the last few years I’ve been listening to a debate about what the future of advertising isn’t. I sometime find it ironic that an industry that should be creative has such a difficult time articulating a vision.

As I look back and I consider what inspired me. What stands out to me is that the people I recall first are the ones that were the smartest, kindest, and the most thoughtful about their profession. They never stopped studying, teaching, exploring. Their lives were defined by their passion and they shared their passion every hour of every day with those that were willing to learn.

Inspired by a life of work,

Saul Bass www.designmuseum.org/design/saul-bass
Burne Hogarth www.bpib.com/hogarth.htm
Jack Unruh www.jackunruh.com/real.html
Stan Richards www.adcglobal.org/archive/hof/1999
Milton Glaser http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/milton.php
Woody Pirtile http://www.pirtledesign.com/index.htm
Eric Madsen http://emadsen.com
Matt Mahurin http://www.tlchicken.com/view_story.php?ARTid=3345
and http://www.about-tracy-chapman.net/videos.htm

People I love to watch:

Joe Duffy www.duffy.com/duffy/index.aspx
Alan Colvin http://designcue.com
Woody Pirtle http://www.designerid.com/video.php
Pentagram http://hillmancurtis.com/hc_web/film_video/source/pent.php
Russel Davis http://youtube.com/watch?v=6F1T9RDBY3I
IDEO http://ideo.com

Miscellaneous thoughts;

Stanford Design www.fastcompany.com/fast50_08/index.html
Ted www.ted.com
Art Center www.artcenter.edu
One Club www.oneclub.org
Cannes www.canneslions.com
Second Story http://secondstory.com
Communication Arts http://commarts.com

Welcome to As The Platform Fills, a weekly series reporting on the latest sightings, observances, and events taking place right here — outside our office — in downtown Minneapolis overlooking the Nicollet Mall Light Rail Platform. The lives we observe are complex. The dramas we record are real. Things get weird. Stay tuned each week for more real platform action.

#79: Orange Liquid, 50th Street / Minnehaha Falls Station, 8:13 AM

Mysterious. As I approached the ticket kiosk one cloudy morning — my GoTo card out and ready to swipe, wind whipping my freshly blow-dried hair into a nasty tangle — a white shape to my lower left caught my eye. I looked down. It was a white, Styrofoam cup — not your usual 12 oz size, but a bit larger, perhaps 16 oz. It sat there, perfectly centered at the base of a steel support beam, containing a small amount of an unknown orange liquid.

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With some friends of mine recently returning from Vegas, it got me thinking of bright, eye-catching, cool, elaborate and over-the-top means to get a message across.

In the world of interactive, sometimes the use of widgets, Flash, or other “bright, flashing things” can interfere with the more important messages or tactics that a site is attempting to execute on. It reminds me of the traditional marketing/advertising star burst. In that case, what was (or god help us still currently is) intended or used as support or enhancement to the message simply became a distraction. That same sort of issue is now translating itself to the interactive space.

To be clear, Flash, widgets and the like aren’t necessarily a bad thing (unlike their traditional counterpart, star bursts). In fact, a majority of the time they can be a very well-used and effective tool. However, as more people and companies learn the ropes of the interactive space I just hope that we’ll avoid the use of Flash, for the sake of using Flash, but rather use it in a useful and supporting manner to progress the larger objectives and goals of the brand or company.

The problem is, too much Flash may help a site look cool and be eye-catching, but when it comes time to actually USE the site or get information what is that technology platform doing to the user’s interaction? How is the Flash interrupting a smart, clean and strategic navigation structure or information architecture? How is too much Flash causing longer load times and a slower site? How is a site made of entirely Flash hurting our online visibility in search engines? How are you hurting yourself with a primarily Flash site, when a part of your audience doesn’t have the latest versions of Flash or even have it all?

Without the intent of bashing anyone or any particular site, I’ve included some examples where they might consider those types of questions to provide a more usable product for their customers:

-www.rmgconnect.com
-www.innerstrengthstudio.com
-www.tampax.com (this isn’t flash, but I just can’t believe they have sideways navigation…did I miss something?)
-Just about any car company website

The twentieth-century saw a great shift in the style and purpose of art and design.

The Art Nouveau movement at the turn of the century had elaborate, lush, organic ornamentation that provided a decorative visual language with an emotional quality. Art Nouveau laid the groundwork for abstraction by breaking organic forms down to basic shapes rather than creating realistic representations.

In A History of Graphic Design Philip Meggs states, “Art Nouveau became the initial phase of the modern movement, preparing the way for the twentieth century by sweeping this backward looking spirit from design.”

The sparse geometric style of the modern movement was a stark contrast to Art Nouveau, and modern design went beyond mere decorative element; it served a purpose.

In A History of Graphic Design, Meggs discusses Walter Gropius’ beliefs on purposeful design. Gropius was one of the founders of the Bauhaus, one of the primary influences on modern architecture and design.

“Recognizing the common roots of both fine and applied visual arts, Gropius sought a new unity of art and technology as he enlisted a generation of artists in a struggle to solve problems of visual design created by industrialism. It was hoped that artistically trained designers could ‘breathe a soul into the dead product of the machine’ for Gropius believed that only the most brilliant ideas were good enough to justify multiplication by industry.”

Now at the turn of the twenty first century, we asked ourselves, what is the designer’s role in the age of mass production? We create so much, and the work that we create needs to have a purpose. We aim to unite art and technology by creating interactive spaces that are both functional and memorable. Creating rooms with walls that talk. Exploiting technology to create structures that the visitor can engage with. Spaces where the creative is fully integrated into the structural planning, not just a facade.