I wrote this for the maxiwill blog, you can find the original post here.

Ask yourself what your problems are, not what your solution is

Designers provide a service, but in many ways, they are problem solvers within their field, just like you are within yours. Offer an expert your problem, and if they know how to, they’ll to solve it. Offer an expert your solution without making them aware of the problem, and they’ll either not solve it at all, or create more problems for you.

First off, know what you want to achieve, or what problem you have that needs to be solved. “I want a logo and a website” is not a marketing strategy, and nor is it demonstrating awareness of your business. “I’d like to raise brand awareness, and I think we should develop and expand our customer base” is more like it. “Customers don’t seem to respond to our marketing, How can we improve sales?” is also better than “We need a logo”. Decide what you want to achieve, identify your problem, and you’ll make your designer’s job a whole lot easier.

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Here’s a recent submission of mine to Threadless. For those that don’t know, Threadless is a t-shirt company that accepts submissions from Joe Public. Other people vote on the design, and if it gets enough good votes, and the Threadless team like it, it gets printed, and the designer wins a prize. The prizes are quite substantial, but the competition is tough!

I’d really appreciate it if you could take the time to vote for my design, by clicking on the link below:

It’s my first submission to the website, and I’m really pleased with it. The design is inspired by Nordic/Inuit/Finnish symbolism, and more specifically, Finnish mythology. The name “Linktukoto” refers to a mythical place on the edge of the earth where birds fly for winter.

I’ve been designing t-shirts for a few months now, as a side-project to my main designs. Hopefully, you’ll see more and more of them as time goes by. I design some sports and humour stuff for Toffee Monkey, and work on my own designs too. I’m working on a nice project with some friends of mine, and if you grew up with me, you’ll probably see those designs in the near future.

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You know that saying, “don’t judge a book by it’s cover”? Unfortunately, people do. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. People judge others on their appearance first, and instinctively, someone’s face is the first thing you judge. You’re probably just as guilty of it as I am.

How about an analogy? If your business is a person, your logo is its face, and your brand identity is its clothing. People will judge you on it, and make their choices based upon it. Large businesses lose big if they make bad branding choices; Just look at the 2012 London Olympics, the Tropicana rebrand, or in the 90’s, “New” Coke.

Logo design is a specialised field of design. Successful logos should simultaneously communicate multiple business values, inform the consumer of the appropriate business sector, and should influence the target audience’s opinion. They should work as well in monochrome as they do in colour, and they should work as well on a business card or email footer as they do on a billboard. That’s a big ask. Get it wrong, and you can communicate all the wrong things. Get it right, get the consumer on your side, and the battle is all but won. (more…)

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Sub-blue is a blog run by one Tom Beddard, who likes to play around with home-brew programmes that can generate pretty pictures.

More specifically, astounding pictures that strike an elegant balance between art and logic. Which makes sense, as Tom is an ex-physicist who now fills the role of Technical Director at one of Scotland’s leading digital agencies, tictoc family.

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Or, “La Potenza della Chiesa”.

Silvio Berlusconi is a joke, an embarrassment to Italy, and a slimy toad of a man who has bought his way into power, and amazingly has held onto it, presumably because his media empire still churns out thinly-veiled propaganda about him. Take a look at some recent news stories if you’re still doubtful as to his joke status as a “world leader”.

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Photo by Frederick de la Faille, via Flickr.

Why your travel guide is not a bible.

Travel guides are often the first thing on a traveller’s list of “must-get” items. They are undoubtedly useful for finding your way in an unknown land, providing the weary traveller with everything from a list of recommended hostels and restaurants to contextual references and historical background. Used well, they can help a journey go smoothly, providing a swift, accessible insight into a location and leaving you more time to enjoy yourself. But used incorrectly, they can create disappointment and can even promote a lack of inclusion and provide a barrier to communication. (more…)

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I love this flickr collection of patterns from various modes of public transport around the UK from around the world.

Some will trigger nostalgia, while others are more an experiment in a special, geometric kind of visual assault. Click through for more.

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This is Lars Holdhus at rest.

And this is Lars, hard at work.

Lars Holdhus has a Christmas Sweaters Collection.

While it’s an apt website for this time of year, it’s also undeniably another collection that treads a fine line between joyous nostalgia and web-based retinal violation.

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