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New Project: Identity Design for Indianapolis Anti-Trafficking Group

Monday 6 Dec 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Design, Projects Tags: Design Process, Human Trafficking, Identity, INATP, Print Design, Web Design

Through some volunteer work over the summer, I was fortunate to get connected with the Indianapolis Network to Assist Trafficked Persons, a coalition of local agencies that provides services to victims of human trafficking. I had the opportunity to work with INATP to develop its identity system. The goals of the project were to differentiate the group from its leading partner members, the Julian Center and Exodus Refugee Immigration, and to provide consistent branding across a city-wide awareness campaign.

The project began with the development of a logo and color scheme to set the tone for INATP's identity.

Logo sketches

Horizontal and vertical lock-ups of the INATP logo

4-color, grayscale, and reversed variations

The gold bird represents the hope and freedom that victims of trafficking find as their lives are restored through INATP's services. Composed of fluid, organic shapes that symbolize INATP's many member organizations, the bird conveys a victim's movement up and out of slavery. The type treatment is dignified but contemporary, and its earthy red color hints that trafficking is a human rights emergency that demands our attention.

Informational brochure and hotline card

A challenge for this project was selecting the right style of imagery. How do you show human trafficking without graphic or emotionally exploitative images? Avoiding cliches like shackles, chains, and cages, in INATP's brochure I used portraits to convey both the helplessness and the hope felt by victims on either end of their trafficking journey. The front headline emphasizes a fact that shocks many Indiana residents: Human trafficking isn't found only in New York and L.A. It happens here.

The INATP hotline card has two functions: it serves as a take-away awareness tool that citizens can carry with them, and it also serves as a lifeline to potential victims of trafficking. One side features INATP's 24-hour hotline number, and the other side briefly defines human trafficking.

Letter- and tabloid-sized posters

On INATP's promotional poster, I included additional portraits to convey the diversity of human trafficking victims. Both women and men of all ages and nationalities fall victim to trafficking, being forced or coerced into forced labor or sex slavery. The portraits peer out from shapes forming the INATP logo, representing both the confinement of trafficking and the opportunity for restoration through INATP's services. The headline encourages the viewer to reconsider the world around them and to be aware that human trafficking often takes place in everyday settings and situations.

INATP Website

The INATP website features detailed information and statistics about human trafficking, as well as action steps, information about available services, and links to partner members. To fit the group's budget and desired flexibility, I created the site in WordPress and customized it with INATP-branded graphics.

Visit www.inatp.org to see the complete design and find out what you can do to help curb human trafficking in Indianapolis.

Double-Take: Allstate's Mayhem Campaign Echoes Saul Bass

Wednesday 6 Oct 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Design Tags: Advertising, Allstate, Food for Thought, Homage, Inspiration, Mayhem, Saul Bass

The other day as I was driving I caught sight of a billboard in Allstate's current Mayhem campaign. Though the campaign only launched in June, the billboard seemed oddly familiar. Then came the "aha" moment:

Poster for "The Man with the Golden Arm," designed by Saul Bass, 1955

Web banner in Allstate's Mayhem campaign, 2010

The television portion of the campaign was created by Leo Burnett Chicago; if they created the graphic system as well, there's definitely a Saul Bass fan or two in that office. (The similarity is even more apparent on the billboard, but I don't have an image of it.) The campaign isn't a case of plagiarism, but Bass's poster was clearly an influence. The cut-paper graphic treatment is characteristic of Bass's style throughout much of his work, and the theme of addiction in The Man with the Golden Arm parallels nicely with Allstate's general "mayhem." Subtle, appropriate, clever... the campaign could even cross the border into straight-up homage, in which case, I say "Well played."

Have you ever spotted a reference to design history in a modern design? Did it work or fall flat?

(For more of my thoughts on the inspiring work of Saul Bass, check out my post from a couple of years ago in Designer Daily'sDesign You Love contest.)

Has the Design Process Changed? The New Role of Thumbnail Sketches

Sunday 26 Sep 2010 by Julia Spangler | 1 Comment
Filed under: Design Tags: Design Process, Food for Thought, Sketching

A few weeks ago at work, I overheard something that made me think about the way designers work today. It was our summer intern's last day, and several of the designers in our department were giving him parting advice. One designer was commenting on the difference between designing for school and designing for the real world, and she remarked that thumbnail sketching, often a major requirement for school projects, is virtually irrelevant in real-world design. She said that designers simply don't work that way anymore.

At first hearing, I adamantly disagreed with my coworker. Over the course of my internships and the first few weeks of my job, I had sketched many times for real-world projects and found the process helpful. Especially in logo design, I use sketching as a way to get ideas (usually bad ones) "out of my system." And on layout or web projects, for which I don't sketch very extensively, I at least sketch two or three different concepts to guide me once I get onto the computer.

However, my coworker raised a good point about how graphic designers work today. She said that sketching is irrelevant because designers face too many limitations to make it worthwhile. To an extent, I agree. In my experience, real-world designers rarely envision a detailed concept in a sketch, then go find or commission all the parts of that vision. Few of us have the budget or the freedom to work that way. Instead, we often have to look at the resources to which we have access and create the best solution possible using those resources. Only at a certain level do designers get to commission illustrations and photographs, or even purchase typefaces.

However, sketching doesn't necessarily have to function as pure brainstorming. It's possible to sketch with limitations in mind, whether they're constraints dictated by the client or the limits of stock photography. While 40 detailed thumbnail sketches may be unrealistic and unnecessary in professional design (except in logo design—40 sketches might be the minimum there), a handful of well thought-out sketches can help you reach better solutions and save you time by guiding your computer work.

Do you sketch? Are your sketches affected by whether or not you are able to commission artwork? How "big" should designers allow themselves to think when beginning a project?

Show Your Scribbles to the World with the Sketchbook Project

Monday 16 Aug 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Art Tags: Calvin Fletcher, Sketchbook Project

The last time I went to Calvin Fletcher's Coffee Company in Fountain Square, I noticed a black leather notebook sitting unattended on the table by the couch. When I picked it up, I was delighted to find that it was a community notebook filled with doodles and words of wisdom from Calvin Fletcher's patrons. Not being much of a sketchbook-keeper myself, I find it fascinating to read the random scrawls of others.

Looks like I'll have a bigger opportunity to peruse artsy sketchbooks when The Sketchbook Project tour comes to Chicago next May. The project, currently accepting sign-ups, provides artists with blank Moleskines and asks them to fill their notebooks with content related to one of about 20 pre-selected themes. Anyone can request a notebook in exchange for a $25 sign-up fee, and artists have until January to complete and return their sketchbooks. Then next spring, the books begin a cross-country tour in art galleries before becoming permanent additions to the collection of the Brooklyn Art Library in New York.

The project sounds like an awesome way for artists to challenge themselves and get their work seen across the country. The Art House Co-op, the group behind the project, makes it clear on the project's site that the themes and notebook medium are in no way meant to restrict what artists submit: they encourage fold-out pages, rebinding, decorating the cover, and any other form of expression, as long as it can be contained within the general form and size of the original book.

Are you intrigued by the idea of filling a blank book with your thoughts and drawings? It would be great for Indianapolis to have a presence in the exhibit!

Graphic Design Makes an Appearance on Kiva

Tuesday 3 Aug 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Heroism! Tags: Kenya, Kiva

A few weeks ago I got a notification from Kiva reminding me that I had money in my account available to re-loan. (If you're not familiar with it, Kiva is a website that allows users to fund microfinance loans to entrepreneurs around the world.) I finally got around to picking out a loan today, and I saw a kind of business that I had never seen on Kiva before: a graphic designer. Florence Wamuyu Kibuchi, a young designer in Kenya, needed a microfinance loan to buy a printer. From the description of her loan:

Florence is 29 years old and married with one child. She designs and prints cards, brochures, and newsletters — a business she started five years ago. (She was previously employed as a secretary.) She is now earning a better income from her business and hopes some day to open a graphic design college. Florence has requested a loan of 95,000 KES to purchase a printer and cartridges.

While I usually take hours comparing different loans, this one was a no-brainer. Stumbling across Florence's loan reminded me that the printed word is designed everywhere, even in developing nations. And having recently coughed up the big money for new ink cartridges myself, the sting of printing costs is fresh in my mind. Kiva often provides lenders with updates on their borrowers' businesses during the loan repayment period, and I'm excited to hear about Florence—call me crazy, but I've got a soft spot for twenty-something, self-employed, female designers.

After making my loan, I checked to see if there was a Kiva lending team for graphic designers. (Lending teams are a way to keep track of the loans of a group of people—members still loan individually, but the team allows you to see the group's overall impact.) Surprisingly, there wasn't a team for graphic designers, so I started one. If you've got a Kiva account, join up! (If you don't have a Kiva account, get one, then join!) Designers tend to be generous people, especially with their time in the form of pro bono work, but it will be encouraging to see the difference we make with our dollars as well.

Ready-Media Templates Shake Up Editorial Design Community

Sunday 25 Jul 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Design, Villainy! Tags: Magazines, Publication Design, Templates

The editorial design community has been feeling shock waves this week after the launch of Ready-Media, a new company led by well-known publication designer Roger Black that provides low-cost, "world class" design templates for magazines, newspapers, and websites.

A few available Ready-Media templates

Though most feedback has been resoundingly negative, seeing Black's promotion of templates as a betrayal of the integrity of publication design, writer/editor Andrew Losowsky points out a potential benefit: He says that the templates are realistically only a solution for small, low-budget publications, and that "by raising the quality of the worst-designed, the best now needs to reach higher, in order to continue to make clear its points of difference." Losowsky advises designers to view the templates as a challenge, not a threat, and he's right—in a world where the stock-photo mentality continues to encroach on every aspect of creative professionalism, pros simply can't afford to have a defeatist attitude. Mass-market solutions must inspire us to continually prove the true value of our services. Be sure to read the rest of Losowsky's comments and other thoughtful responses to the brouhaha on the roundup over at the Society of Publication Designers.

What are your thoughts on design templates? Are they blasphemous, or the unavoidable way of the future?

WMMC Radio Website Launches

Thursday 15 Jul 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Design, Projects Tags: Web Design

For about a month, I have been working on designing and developing the website for WMMC 105.9, a radio station based in Marshall, IL. The site recently went live:

WMMC Home Page

A breath of fresh air in the world of cluttered, over-crowded radio station websites, WMMC’s site offers just what their listeners are looking for: contest rules and info, details of sports coverage, and bios of the station's on-air talent. It's a well-known marketing axiom that small businesses succeed by doing one thing better than anyone else, and WMMC does just that by cutting out clutter and focusing on what it does best: providing unparalleled community coverage for Clark and Edgar counties in Illinois.

Check out the rest of the site and let me know what you think. Your comments and feedback are always appreciated.

Design Links Roundup: WWF Ad Series, iPad Painting, & Blatant Plagiarism

Friday 9 Jul 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Art, Design, Heroism!, Technology Tags: Advertising, Food for Thought, Inspiration, iPad

These are a few of the most interesting art- and design-related links I've come across this week:

Urban Decay Reaches the Wild

This ad campaign for the WWF looks bound for advertising design textbooks. It's a perfect example of ad man Leo Burnett's definition of creativity: "[Creativity is] the art of establishing new and meaningful relationships between previously unrelated things in a manner that is relevant and in good taste." Well, maybe not 100% in good taste: My only qualm with the concept is the legitimacy with which graffiti art is currently regarded in the art world. Graffiti is no long synonymous with vandalism. The message of the campaign still comes through, but is the concept could be read as an ignorant jab at graffiti artists.

The tagline reads: "What will it take before we respect the planet?"

iPad Finger Painting

Artist David Kassan creates a realistic painting using the Brushes app on the iPad in this time-lapsed video. (I wonder what formats the final art can be exported as. Found via Drawn!)

Inspiration vs. Plagiarism

Bob Caruthers has one of the most well-researched, thought-provoking Flickr sets I've seen: his collection "Similarities" shows examples of graphic design alongside their more-or-less obvious inspirations. Caruthers passes no judgment on the work he highlights and includes everything from clear homages to accidentally similar ideas to examples of appropriation. It's fascinating to see the historical comparisons and the different ways old ideas are expanded or simply re-used.

Funny Girl Playbill (c. 1964); Concert Poster (2008)

Art Meets Crafts at July First Friday

Monday 5 Jul 2010 by Julia Spangler | 1 Comment
Filed under: Art Tags: Crafts, First Friday, Handmade, Harrison Center, INDIEana Handicraft Exchange, Refashion

The handmade movement in Indianapolis has taken off like a runaway sewing machine. Its most visible manifestation is the INDIEana Handicraft Exchange, a mammoth craft fair held biannually at the Harrison Center for the Arts that features handmade products ranging in style from cute to cheeky to mildly creepy. On the tails of the June edition of the IHE, the Harrison Center held another event this First Friday to appeal to Indy's DIY community: the Refashion Event.

The event, while small this year, has the potential to grow into a must-attend for DIY-ers in Indianapolis. The formula is simple: Refashion provides a starting pile of fabric, random clothing items, and a smorgasbord of buttons, ribbon, and trim. Participants bring their own supplies to share or use the provided stash to modify, embellish, or otherwise "refashion" an existing item. There were even Barbie clothes for kids to modify (or for grown-ups to mine for Velcro). A photographer was on hand to take before-and-after shots, and a fashion show at 8:30 let crafters show off their creations.

Here's what I "refashioned":

Ruffly flower with a big gold button, plus an extra unattached flower

Though the event started with small numbers, people wandering through the gym at the Harrison were delighted by the event's premise. As I envision the crowds that pack that same space for the IHE, I see oodles of potential for the future of Refashion, which is planned to become an annual event. The premise fosters the collaboration and interaction that's a key part of craft culture, and a production-centered event would be a perfect counter-balance for the purchase-centered IHE. I'm looking forward to seeing how Refashion grows in a year's time.

Do you dabble in the handmade, or do you think ironic pillowcases are just for kitschy hipsters? If you're a fan of crafty goods, don't miss the opening of Homespun next weekend, a boutique of handmade products brought to you by—who else?—the folks behind the IHE.

First Friday: July Highlights

Sunday 4 Jul 2010 by Julia Spangler | No Comments
Filed under: Art Tags: First Friday

My favorite parts of this month's First Friday, other than the cloudless skies and 79-degree temperature:

Enkindle by Adam Noel

Adam Noel using fireworks as his medium to create abstract compositions in the Harrison Center's "Old & New" group show
Splattery, energetic colorfest "Cuban Salsa" by Steve Woerner, on display at Art Bank (Woerner has no online presence that I could detect... anyone know anything about this artist?)
Getting drawn in by the big brushstrokes and peaceful moods of Shannon Godby's abstract landscapes at the Franklin Barry Gallery at the Frame Shop
The Refashion Event at the Harrison Center (full recap to come)

Did you make it out to the galleries on Friday? What were your favorite stops?

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