Remember: when in doubt, use this

Helvetica “Goat’s Milk + Salt” body scrub and other Helvetica products.

Found this in a Manga shop in Bangkok. I’m totally clueless, too.

On the other hand—you know those two holy sayings about it:

Nobody has ever been fired for choosing Helvetica.

and

When in doubt, use Helvetica.

So, all things considered, goat’s milk looks like a safe bet.

Is this fetish or brand identity?

White Windsor on black

White type on black opening titles rolling on old jazz or classical music became a part of Woody Allen brand.

In a time when movie titles become more and more of a clueless “me too!” affair¹, Woody Allen’s unique (and relentless) typographic style is entirely praiseworthy. His white type on black opening titles rolling on old jazz or classical music became a part of Woody Allen brand, just like his neurotic dialogues and “his black-rimmed glasses”² are.

The white type being EF Windsor Elongated (later edit: or a heavier weight of EF Windsor Light Condensed, as some of the readers suggested) by Elsner+Flake foundry.

Continue reading "Woody Allen's typography" »

Googlers

I see incoming hits coming from Google searches for “communist design” keywords. They drive me mad and determined me to write this post.

However, what these searches find is A communist design law in the making page about SDPR’s “design law” is only fair, if not also a bit amusing.

But that’s not about communist design per se, but about a professional conduct that reminds of communism: people with mindsets imported right from “the old times” and an appetite for control by monopoly and lack of choice that can only make sense in a centralized economic model.

Parenthesis

Communist economy was utterly inept at building a nice spoon.

IKEA opened their first Bucharest store a few months ago. One of the first items my friends bought from IKEA was—among other items—a tea spoon. A very simple yet beautifully designed little metal spoon, featuring a clear line and a matte sandblasted texture, almost soft to touch.

I look at it for a long time, trying to understand. How hard is to design a spoon, and—I remembered—why during communism exactly those small day-to-day domestic life objects were the most horrendous?

Because everyday life objects don’t have any political propaganda potential. They don’t serve the regime.

Communist economy could manufacture spaceships and send people on orbit, but was utterly inept—and will always be, in any if its iterations—at building a nice spoon.

Contradiction

Communist design is a contradiction in terms: there is no such thing as communist design.

In fact, communist design is a contradiction in terms: there is no such thing as communist design. The rudimentary exceptions you’ll find can only confirm this statement, because communism and design are incompatible and mutually exclusive. Here’s why.

• Communism despises people¹ while design is an effort to help and dignify people²;

• Communism is a centralized economy which means that market competition is heavily discouraged until complete obliteration, while design is an instrument for outperforming competing players in a market economy;

• In a centralized economy it’s not the market that decides what’s good—someone else decides what’s good for you and what you should like: centralized taste. Design stands for differentiation and plurality, design teaches and encourages a democracy of taste;

• Communism is about eradicating the freedom of choice by lack of options and by coercion, design is about encouraging choice by seduction;

• Graphic design in communism is closely linked with propaganda. So closely that anything that’s not propaganda it is regarded as hostile to the regime and subject to censure.²

• Without plurality there is no need for identity, consequently identity design is either pointless or diverted to propaganda, also.

Now really, please—if you find this—quit searching for “communist design”—it’s not only a deceptive oxymoron, it’s plain bullshit. There could exist an appropriate term, however: communist antidesign.

¹ Romania’s president officially denounced the Communist regime as “illegitimate and criminal” in 2006. Before that, in July 1993, the Czech Republic passed an act condemning its Soviet-era government, and Bulgaria’s Parliament passed a resolution condemning the former regime there in 2001. In 2006 also, Ukraine’s Parliament passed a bill labeling the Stalin-orchestrated famine of the 1930s that killed an estimated 10 million people an act of genocide. [See article in International Herald Tribune.]

² Informations architecture helps people understand messages better, ergonomics helps people use products with less effort, usability helps people accomplish their goals, and so forth.

³ Graphic artists and book illustrators explained me the numerous revisions that were forced upon them by the censors for mere poetry books illustrations. In one instance a Communist Party censor asked that all earrings and bracelets from a series of book illustrations to be airbrushed out because they were “decadent” and “bourgeois”.

I love LogoLounge

I (and Brandient) feel LL’s love for quite a while now and—as the minimalist title says—I love LL back, too. Let me explain:

• 2005 – Bill invites me to be part of LogoLounge 3 international jury;
• 2006 – LogoLounge 3 book features Brandient works;
• 2006 – LogoLounge 3 book features me (the merciless juror, ha!);
• 2006 – Bill likes my Radiocom and Domo identites and my Smartree packaging and writes beautiful words about them in Identity Magazine at Best of the Best 2006 in Moscow;
• 2006 – In his 2006 Trends Report, published in the April issue of Graphic Design USA magazine, Bill features Brandient work: Radiocom and Europharm;
• 2006 – Cathy kindly offers me the opportunity of an interview on LL web site as featured designer;
• 2007 – LL’s home-page displays Europharm¹ logo (see the picture above) taking me by surprise. Later edit: it seems that Radiocom was featured as well.

What can I say? Thank you, Bill Gardner. Thank you, Cathy Fishel.

¹ Designed by Bogdan Dumitrache, award winner in international competitions.

If you work with graphic designers or are one yourself you’ll probably be interested in the only joke about graphic design that I know of. [Via Posterwire] Pay attention:

Q: How many graphic designers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Does it have to be a light bulb?

Our profession doesn’t seem to be very fertile for making jokes about, don’t you think? I have no clue why is that or whether it’s a good thing or not. Are we a solemn species of unsmiling fellows?

Continue reading "Graphic design jokes" »

Awarding excellence in corporate identity

Jury

After last year’s LogoLounge jury, this year I have the honor to participate in Identity’s Best of the Best international jury along with design legends I’ve been looking up to for many years. Here are the jurors:

• Ruth Klotzel — Vice-president of ICOGRADA, founder of Estudio Infinito (Brazil);

• Minato Ishikawa — Founder of Minato Ishikawa Associates Inc. (Japan);

• Ivan Chermayeff — Co-founder of Chermayeff & Geismar (USA);

• Emma Booty — Creative director of London office (Landor Associates, UK);

• Ken Cato — Co-founder and chairman of Cato Purnell Partners (Australia);

• Prof. Erik Spiekermann — Founder of MetaDesign and Fontshop, member of German Design Council, president of the ISTD, International Society of Typographic Designers (Germany);

• Cristian “Kit” Paul — Co-founder and creative director of Brandient (Romania);

• David Carson — Founder and principle of David Carson Design (USA);

• Alexander Faldin — Founder and art director of fallindesign (Russia);

• Tony Spaeth — Independent brand consultant, founder of identityworks.com (USA).

Contest

From Identity’s press release:

The international award scheme, now in its second year, is designed to recognise excellence in logos, trademarks and corporate identity.

In 2006, 970 submissions from 26 countries resulted in 10 prizes. View the results.

This year two new categories have been added and the award scheme has been endorsed by Icograda. Entries will compete within 12 categories (6 categories for logos and trademarks, and 6 categories for corporate identity and packaging).

Act!

I invite all Romanian designers to submit their work to Best of the Best 2007. We all have things to prove and misconceptions to turn around. We all need to get rid of the provincial status quo that plagues our industry and open up to the world.

In 2006 Brandient demonstrated the potential of Romanian design by winning the most awards and nominations in this international contest — now it’s your turn.

Against SDPR’s “design law”

It seems that our petition against SDPR’s law reached 1000 signatures mark. If you did not sign it yet, please do.

Metropolis Magazine USA about “the design law”

Titled Design and the State – A law in Romania requiring designers to be registered could push its best practitioners underground, a leading design and arhitecture magazine from The United States of America — Metropolis Magazine — publishes David Womack’s article about SDPR’s initiative for regularization of the design practice.

Here’s an excerpt:

And you call yourself a designer? A law likely to come before the Romanian parliament in the next year would restrict use of the term—be it graphic, interactive, or product—to members of the country’s official design association, the Society of Professional Designers in Romania – SDPR. “Unfortunately the term design is used by anyone and anyhow just because it sounds exotic and it is the ‘in’ trend,” complains Alexandru Ghildus, a founder of the SDPR and professor of art and design at the National Art University, in Bucharest. To be eligible for “designer” status, one would need a degree from a recognized institution and to have completed a one- to two-year internship under the guidance of an SDPR member. Ghildus hopes that the law will prevent “counterfeit” design, which he says is flooding the Romanian market.

The proposed law has set off a furious debate within the Romanian design community and beyond. Almost a thousand people have signed an online petition opposing its passage, among them famous outsiders such as Stefan Sagmeister and James Victore. Local designers including Cristian “Kit” Paul and Ovidiu Hrin, who do not have diplomas but nevertheless have managed to build successful practices since the collapse of the Ceausescu dictatorship, in 1989, are leading the opposition. For them the law is disturbingly reminiscent of Romania’s Communist past, when regulation often served as a thin disguise for corruption. “These guys are not altruistically concerned about the well-being of the design industry,” Paul says. “They’re relentlessly pursuing their own self-serving agenda.”

Have a look also on the whole protest coverage list.

About this, that and the other

It looks like LogoLounge is everywhere these days.

LogoLounge founder Bill Gardner and editor Cathy Fishel kindly offered me the opportunity of an interview as featured designer. it’s about inspiration and masters, gratification in design vs. advertising, trends and the future — in not too many words and a few pictures.

LogoLounge seems to be ubiquitous these days, from US to Russian design magazines, competitions and seminars, while LL books are on the shelves of every decent bookshop and in many, many designer’s bookcases. I may be biased by the fact that I was part of the latest LogoLounge book jury (LogoLounge 3), but it seems to me that Bill is on the right track to build a solid global brand targeted towards graphic / identity designers. For us.

Uncovering the genocide

While in a previous post I was pointing toward an anonymous drive-by hit-and-run, my friend Bogdan takes a step further and authoritatively exhumes the prominent victims of a high-profile genocide—nicely embalmed corpses we’re happy to carry around each and every one of us, everyday, as a zombified bunch of ignorant undertakers.

As Bogdan Dumitrache puts it:

Lack of diacritics? Well, today I changed my mind regarding the topic. After I’ve seen them used wrong on the Romanian banknotes—look at the caron instead of breve in “BANCA NATIONAL …”—and in many other public places, I think I prefer them not tő bê ŭşed åt ãll.

The A-caron doesn’t even exists in any language. I guess they worked a bit to make it wrong, haha!

Now for the forensics enthusiasts, here it is, the body (looking alive to the untrained eye):

Enlarged, the inconspicuous plague that caused the death becomes hideously obvious (not for the fain of heart), the infamous A-caron:

What a massacre—right on the money!

For the foreign readers: the correct spelling is BANCA NAȚIONALĂ A ROMÂNIEI (The National Bank of Romania), where the “Ă” (A-breve) in NAȚIONALĂ was sloppily replaced with an “Ǎ” (A-caron), a letter that doesn’t exist in Romanian language. It may seem like a small thing, but it’s not. Misusing the language on official items is a bad thing and quite a shame. A banknote is an important national symbol and ignorantly designing it reflects a general lack of respect for the country, a bit like wiping your ass with the flag.

So much for the “money talks” proverb—it talks gibberish sometimes, it seems. And in the meanwhile “money is the root of all evil” proves right once again. Thank you, Bogdan, for your sharp eye.

Now for real, joke aside: let’s make a wall of shame, a place somewhere all this bad design can be exposed, e.g. as an on-line gallery of horrors. There are plenty of them, in those free glossy magazines, on posters and I’ve even seen some horrendous A-tilde (Ã) supers on TV (ProTV seems to excel in this regard, it seems). It would be a public service announcement that many (especially young) designers could benefit from. I’m seriously thinking about hosting or at least mirroring it.

Cold blooded, in broad daylight

Sometimes it’s hard to figure whether to laugh, get mad or cry when such freakish clowns are encountered. But when they’re right on main street it can only mean one thing: this damn city needs more designers.

Food for thought, SDPR guys. Food for thought.

James Victore, David Womack aginst SDPR’s design law

After Milton Glaser and Stefan Sagmeister, we hear now from James Victore, via the same Ovidiu Hrin:

I thought these kinds of politicians died with Stalin. Please let me know what I can do to help. Cheers, James.

Ah, and James has a special reason raise an eyebrow to the discrimination imposed by SDPR’s law: he’s a self-taught designer.

David Womack signed the petition also. David was director of new media at AIGA from 2000-2004 and served as executive editor of GAIN: AIGA Journal of Business and Design, and managing editor of Voice: AIGA Journal of Design. His involvement with AIGA, the leading professional association for design in America, qualified him as a very acknowledged referee concerning issues regarding the role a professional association must have in the field of design.

After Milton Glaser, Stefan Sagmeister against SDPR’s law

Another piece of good news: Stefan Sagmeister found out about the situation in Romania via Ovidiu Hrin and firmly reacted from Singapore (where is he is at the moment) by signing the petition with the following message:

Every country in this world that is serious about its own well being would reject a law like this.

Previously we had a message of support from Milton Glaser.

These international echoes are stepping stones towards further and wider international protests within the international design community as we’re working to inform the greatest designers of our time about what’s going on in Romania.

A message from Milton Glaser against SDPR’s law

Somebody signed the petition against that crazy ‘design law’ of SDPR’s as Milton Glaser, adding the comment “Design shouldn’t be obtusely constrained and create precedents for big brother aSSociations…” Good wordsmith, I do acknowledge that, but was it for real?

Somehow ashamed of this trivial matter and without much hope for a reply, I checked via email with Mr. Milton Glaser’s office to see whether this is a legit signature or a mere fraud using internet’s anonymity, telling him along the lines the whole story about the situation we find ourselves in, about the fight we’re fighting.

A week later (tonight), when all hope for a reply almost vanished — bing! — email’s icon leaped in the dock:

Dear Cristian,

I did not submit the quote attributed to me on your petition. You may replace it with the following:

All bureaucracies are conspiracies against the public.

Best,
Milton Glaser

I deleted the forged entry already and tomorrow and I’ll figure out if (even though I have his approval, is it morally acceptable? I guess it is) and in what form to append to the list the real one with the real quote. So — if you asked yourself — the answer is yes, many signatures on the list are verified to see if they’re legit or fake. But this is not the point now, tonight. The point is, I guess, that living legends of design are… well, different. Wise, warm and benevolent. Meeting them, even virtually, is beautiful.

I’m happy: Milton Glaser’s nod of approval means that we’re really doing the right thing.

Reactions against SDPR’s design law

Newspapers and magazines

The protest against SDPR’s design law builds up and gathers steam. Newspaper and magazine coverage is only at the beginning and there is more to come:

· O organizatie profesionala cu numai 27 de membri incearca sa-si impuna propriile reguli by Maria Gatea, Adevarul de Cluj, June 23 [newspaper clipping, in Romanian]
· Ghildus pune tepe designerilor by Cosmin Popan, Cotidianul, July 3 [in Romanian]
· Farade/lege pentru creativitate by Mimi Noel, BusinessWeek Romania, Nr. 10/July 11 [magazine clipping, in Romanian]
· Ideile vand, daca circula liber! by Adrian Gongea, Arhitectura, Nr. 44/May 2006 [magazine clipping, in Romanian]
· Contra legiferarii designului by Iulian Toma, AdPlayers.ro, June 13 [in Romanian]
· NU Societatii Designerilor Profesionisti by Dan Popescu, 24FUN, Nr. 169/July 21-27 [in Romanian]
· Alba-neagra cu legea designerilor by Loreta Budin, Saptamana Financiara, Nr. 70/July 24 [in Romanian]
· Se pare ca si somnul creativitatii naste monstri by Aneta Bogdan, Campaign Romania, July 2006 [magazine clipping, in Romanian]
· Contra proiectului legislativ ‘toxic’ privind designul by Iulian Toma, AdPlayers.ro, July 28 [in Romanian]

International:

· Design and the State – A law in Romania requiring designers to be registered could push its best practitioners underground, by David Womack, Metropolis Magazine USA, Nov 8. [in English]

Blogs, corporate websites

The blogosphere rose up against SDPR’s law with a remarkably solid response — here are the articles and the timeline:

· Kit.blog, A communist design law in the making, June 23 [in English]
· Grafic, Actele la control! Jun 24 [in Romanian]
· Speak Up, Quipsologies Vol. 65, June 26 [in English]
· Feeder, Lege privind organizarea si exercitarea profesiei de designer, June 26 [in Romanian]
· Isotopic.blog, Societatea Designerilor Profesionisti din Romania, June 26 [in Romanian]
· Identity Blog, Legea Designozaurilor June 27 [in Romanian]
· Novo, Petitie privind SDPR, June 27 [in Romanian]
· Isotopic.blog, Vote, June 27 [in Romanian]
· The Story Blog, Regulate This, June 28 [in English]
· Kit.blog, Sign the on-line petition against the Design Law, June 28 [in English]
· The Burden Of Proof, Don’t Regulate Design! — site offline, see the post in Google’s cache, June 28 [in English]
· Kindablog, Liga amatorilor de design saluta grupul profesionistilor frustrati, Jun 29 [in Romanian]
· Blogul blogurilor din Iasi, Jun 29 [in Romanian]
· PubLog, Sign the on-line petition against the Design Law, June 29 [in English]
· Ideile vand, daca circula liber, Jun 30 [dedicated blog, in Romanian]
· Aglomerari Spontane, Ghildus presedinte!, June 30 [in Romanian]
· Creatie si infractiune, July 2 [dedicated blog, in Romanian]
· Kit.blog, Over 500 signatures, July 2 [in English]
· Fast Book, Is this a law against talent?, July 4 [in English]
· Kit.blog, Protest coverage, July 5 [in English]
· Brandly Yours, Designers’ Guild, July 6 [in English]
· Kiddo, De ce sa facem simplu…, July 6 [in Romanian]
· Kit.blog, Beautiful things happen, July 7 [in English]
· Manafu: Atentat la designeri!, July 7 [in Romanian]
· Elucubraţii, Acţiuni civice, July 7 [in Romanian]
· Chris, Legea designului,… nu mai am cuvinte, July 7 [in Romanian]
· Raduionescu.ro, Din ciclul - ‘ce legea mea’, July 7 [in Romanian]
· Jobsessive, “To be or not to be… designer?!”http://www.jobsessive.com/?p=258, July 7 [in Romanian]
· Andrei Maxim, Talent, creion, hartie si drept de semnatura, July 8 [in Romanian]
· Blacknight’s Cyberhome, Romania… tara tuturor posibilitatilor, July 8 [in Romanian]
· Kit.blog, International echoes, July 8 [in English]
· ProtestCoverage, July 9 [dedicated blog, in English]
· Designro, Designer de designer, July 10 [in Romanian]
· Kit.blog, International echoes, July 15 [in English]
· Transmissions, Design a new design industry, July 15 [in English]
· A nazi design law?!, July 27 [dedicated blog, in English]
· Elenalog, Petitia de luni, August 7 [in Romanian]
· DanUrsache.net, Coming very soon: the nationalization of design, August 8 [in English]
· Drept & Internet, Despre Legea designerilor, October 30 [in Romanian]
· Mediabistro.com: UnBeige, When ‘Designer’ Becomes a Four Letter Word, November 8 [in English]
· Publicitate de Iasi, SDPR e?, December 18 [in Romanian]
· Mihaela Berneaga, Despre profesionisti, December 23 [in Romanian]

Corporate websites and corporate blogs that railed against SDPR’s law:

· Synopsismedia, Sign petition against ‘Design Law’ July 2 [in English]
· TreeWorks corporate blog, Pretty please with sugar on top, can I design, Comrade?, July 5 [in Romanian]
· TreeWorks corporate blog, Cine mai trebuie sa semneze ca sa intelegeti?, July 20 [in Romanian] and Whose signature is necessary so that one can understand?, July 21 [in English]

Forums

The topic actually broke out on the forums:

· Discutii despre proiectul de lege privind organizarea şi exercitarea profesiei de designer!, Proiect de lege, privind organizarea şi exercitarea profesiei de designer, June 13 [in Romanian]
· VisualArt, Dormi linistit SDPR lucreaza pt tine, June 15 [in Romanian]
· Design Kulture, Intalnire la BR RC!, June 21 [in Romanian]
· Softpedia, Proiect de lege, privind organizarea şi exercitarea profesiei de designer, June 28 [in Romanian]
· Liberalism, Monopolizarea si politizarea designului, June 28 [in Romanian]
· Webdesignbox, La Arme, June 29 [in Romanian]
· Comunitatea motociclistilor din Romania, Legea Designului;, July 5 [in Romanian]
· Baseboard.net, Romanian design needs a helping hand, July 8 [in English]
· BAU, Comunismul continua, July 9 [in Romanian]

I’ll keep this log updated. If you have knowledge of coverage on the topic please let me know. I’ll also append to the list the subsequent articles (hopefully) in newspapers and magazines.

I’ll end this post by urging you to write on the subject, spread the word and sign the petition if you haven’t signed it yet, and show your support for Romanian design community (regardless of your profession).