Something from Nothing (or at least very little): 8 Design Secrets
December 1, 2007
All designers dream of the client who says “Money is no object. Hire as many photographers and illustrators as you need to get the perfect images for my piece. And while you’re at it, get a professional writer in there. And printing? Die cuts, 7 or 8 colors, special papers and folds… go for it!”
Sadly, this client does not exist. At least I’ve never met her.
Here’s the more typical client conversation:
Client: “I need a full page ad designed.”
Designer: “Great!”
Client: “I’ve written the copy already. It’s about 400 words — can you edit it for me? And I have a couple of photos that I’d like to use that I got from a stock disc I bought in 1998. Oh and I need it by the end of the day today.”
Designer: Checks balance in retirement account.
Whenever this happens, I turn to my arsenal of design tricks — things I do time and time again to transform less than ideal elements into a good design. Assume that these are the elements provided by the fictional client:
And the title: “Going Places”
Here’s a run of the mill layout:
I can do better than that*! Here are eight of my secret weapons.
1) Crop the image
2) Turn the image into black and white
3) Add white space
4) Break borders
5) Play with scale
6) Change the size of the final piece
7) Lose the art — use a type treatment
8) Silhouette
There are infinite variations. To keep it relatively simple, I kept the same color palette (blues and greens) and typefaces (Agenda and Adobe Caslon) and used the same amount of dummy type throughout.
I was tagged for this post a few weeks back, asking for “8 Secrets”, (thanks, AM!). What are your secrets?
*Note from a paranoid designer: These aren’t final designs, just illustrations of the ideas in this post. I would make real color breaks. And kern. And try different type combinations. And silhouette better… You get my point.
Nice. Try this with a snapshot taken with a throw-away camera and a scan from a magazine ad (with a moire).
No, really, this is very inspiring. You must have a very organized brain to be able to put these ideas down in such a straightforward way. Thanks.
jorge
Comment by jorgegoyco — December 6, 2007 @ 1:49 am
That’s a lovely compliment, Jorge. Thank you.
I used to teach Graphic Design and Web Design and had to give that up when I had my daughter. Either I liked to teach because I’m an organized thinker, or I learned how to think in an organized way when I was teaching. Either way, this blog has been a wonderful way for me to get back in touch with the feeling of teaching, which I miss.
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — December 6, 2007 @ 9:34 am
Very nice entry. I like that you show so many variations. I currently deal with this on a day to day basis on the magazines I design. Our photos are often less than ideal. On top of that, I often have to do the same article in several different magazines and come up with new layouts. It’s a challenge to keep things interesting.
Comment by Karly Barrett — December 6, 2007 @ 2:06 pm
Thanks, Karly! I have another post in the works (well, if you can call me thinking about it “the works”) dealing with the issue of coming up with new layouts over and over again for the same event. It can definitely be a challenge.
BTW, I’m really enjoying your blog. You’ve done some great posts.
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — December 6, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
[...] 8 Design Secrets [...]
Pingback by Sunday Weekly Roundup #19 - 12/23/2007 » Blog at veanndesign.com — December 24, 2007 @ 12:20 am
Simple yet effective, I like :)
Jacob Cass’s last blog post..Design Process for my Vodka Premix Bottle
Comment by Jacob Cass — April 13, 2008 @ 7:52 pm
Excellent.
Comment by Fubiz — April 22, 2008 @ 10:01 am
Thanks Jacob and Fubiz. I appreciate it.
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — April 22, 2008 @ 1:44 pm
Ahh..good tips. We should all follow them when “drawing a blank”!
Comment by Jeffrey Way — April 22, 2008 @ 6:24 pm
I’m glad you agree, Jeffrey!
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — April 23, 2008 @ 11:26 am
Ha,ha. Excellent post Leslie - I see you’ve had some of my previous clients too! As Homer says, “it’s funny cos it’s true”
Jennifer’s last blog post..Simple Design Idea : Big images with small text
Comment by Jennifer — April 26, 2008 @ 4:33 pm
Great tips… sometimes my brain fades and I need to be reminded about POSSIBILITIES!!
Comment by Kristine — April 29, 2008 @ 1:10 pm
Thanks I learned something right away. Very informative.
I will dip into some of those ideas. KISS!
Comment by Jerome — April 29, 2008 @ 7:12 pm
Thanks Jennifer, Kristine, and Jerome. Welcome!
Comment by Leslie Tane Design — April 30, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
[...] 8 Little Design Secrets from Leslie Tane Design [...]
Pingback by The Best Graphic Design Articles from 34 Top Design Blogs as Chosen By The Authors Themselves | Dalton Trent's Blog — July 1, 2008 @ 10:35 am
numer 1 and number 4 are the best ones of all of them
Comment by checo and co. — March 9, 2009 @ 10:39 am
hehehe good tips for design hehehe thanks for them
Comment by duer — March 18, 2009 @ 12:33 am
Hello!
Very Interesting post! Thank you for such interesting resource!
PS: Sorry for my bad english, I’v just started to learn this language ;)
See you!
Your, Raiul Baztepo
Comment by RaiulBaztepo — March 28, 2009 @ 6:42 pm
Thanks so much for thiseye opening ideas! You unlocked my mind on how huge the possibilities on designing were.
^_^
Comment by ibzmav — April 28, 2009 @ 2:09 am
I also tend to use some of the techniques you described, they really do continue to work well.
Comment by Jye — June 5, 2009 @ 9:33 pm