The effort to create an idea usually requires several observations and input.
Gather a bunch of objective people in a quiet room and prognosticate an idea.
This used to be called creating a “Think tank”, but in reality it is getting different perspectives on the same problem.
Research and Development was the corporate development for a solution.
The goal is to come up with a solution to a problem.
Committees or commissions or focus groups can be formed, but the real objective of new ideas must be free spirited no-holds-barred, throw-it-on-the-table, out-of-the box, thoughts and wishes.
New ideas cannot be blocked by corporate politics or personal objectives.
Take a goal, wipe the board clean, and let the thoughts flow. There are no wrong views.
This process can take many turns and several days to complete, but if openly realized, new and possible profitable ideas can be discussed and details formulated.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Type
Words, sentences, and thoughts are pecked out on the keyboard, but how they are viewed relates the story.
Today there are millions of type fonts available for the taking. Weird shapes for expression, variations of old familiar styles, and readable favorites.
Type design used to be a painstaking effort to create. After the Stone Age, and the hot metal age with it’s limited range of characters and styles, came cold type or computer design.
Many fonts were copyrighted and their manufactures fought the new wave of designers creating new type fonts based on years of drawing on paper with ink and pen and t-squares and triangles and French curves.
Arial, Futura, Palatina, Century Schoolbook challenged names like Helvetica, Times Roman, and Bodoni, and even Goudy brought new styles using press type rub on letters. The variety increased by imagination and the ease of slight changes in the width or height or italic made a new font.
Techniques, such as kerning, baseline shift, or leading fell by the way as the ease of the computer moving and shifting type to the eye of the typist.
An entire industry was overcome by technology.
Today there are millions of type fonts available for the taking. Weird shapes for expression, variations of old familiar styles, and readable favorites.
Type design used to be a painstaking effort to create. After the Stone Age, and the hot metal age with it’s limited range of characters and styles, came cold type or computer design.
Many fonts were copyrighted and their manufactures fought the new wave of designers creating new type fonts based on years of drawing on paper with ink and pen and t-squares and triangles and French curves.
Arial, Futura, Palatina, Century Schoolbook challenged names like Helvetica, Times Roman, and Bodoni, and even Goudy brought new styles using press type rub on letters. The variety increased by imagination and the ease of slight changes in the width or height or italic made a new font.
Techniques, such as kerning, baseline shift, or leading fell by the way as the ease of the computer moving and shifting type to the eye of the typist.
An entire industry was overcome by technology.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
What’s the story?
A painting hangs on the wall.
A person walks up to it, stops and stares.
A small card at the bottom of the frame announces the name of the painting and the artist.
The viewer must then comprehend the feeling of the artist into the message of paint and titles.
Will the “name” fit the viewer’s assessment of the presentation or just confuse the issue.
All art has a story, and that story must be relayed to its audience.
What is the story behind the painting of a small girl in a blue dress holding a flower?
Is this a portrait of a family member or a commission piece from royalty?
As an artist, the expression of the idea is in the graphic, but sometimes the viewer does not understand the process.
I’ve attended too many shows where the viewer judges the artwork on their own knowledge of shape, color, form and makes an evaluation, while the artist stands to the side and listens.
An artist trying to make a living of selling their artwork must realize this and make an effort to describe the feeling or motivation behind creating the art.
The story leading up to the creation may become more fascinating than the finished piece, but adds value to the presentation.
An artist selling their creations must also be a storyteller.
A person walks up to it, stops and stares.
A small card at the bottom of the frame announces the name of the painting and the artist.
The viewer must then comprehend the feeling of the artist into the message of paint and titles.
Will the “name” fit the viewer’s assessment of the presentation or just confuse the issue.
All art has a story, and that story must be relayed to its audience.
What is the story behind the painting of a small girl in a blue dress holding a flower?
Is this a portrait of a family member or a commission piece from royalty?
As an artist, the expression of the idea is in the graphic, but sometimes the viewer does not understand the process.
I’ve attended too many shows where the viewer judges the artwork on their own knowledge of shape, color, form and makes an evaluation, while the artist stands to the side and listens.
An artist trying to make a living of selling their artwork must realize this and make an effort to describe the feeling or motivation behind creating the art.
The story leading up to the creation may become more fascinating than the finished piece, but adds value to the presentation.
An artist selling their creations must also be a storyteller.
Presentation
After thoughts are made into ideas, the next step is the presentation to someone else. Presentation is the visual and sounds expression of the idea.
The presentation can inspire and compliment the service or product, while a bad presentation, even though the idea may be great, will ruin the chance of bringing the idea to fruition.
Back in the day, sketches and photo prints were rubber cemented onto white boards, covered in a flap of construction paper. These were placed on easels, and during the presentation to the client or organization, uncovered like a treasured surprise. The presenter had to express the excitement of the idea and engage the audience with additional notes on slides or written explanations in a darkened boardroom.
Today, presentations using video, sound, and animation, can dazzle the presentation, but does the message get across?
One, know your audience.
Two, make an organized outline
Three, double check your information
A presentation using the Internet can reach around the world and be interactive with telecommunication. With this technology, the presenter must be prepared to answer and give examples to every question.
Even with the most sophisticated software, the presentation must be brief, concise, and effective.
Tuesday, January 5, 2010
Competition
When following any dream, stop and look around.
Others may already be following the same dream.
If the dream is a business or service in which you want to make a livelihood or profit, look at the competition that is already out there.
Then ask the journalistic 5 questions before taking the plunge.
Who? What? Where? When? Why?
Who is the competition? Someone else came up with an idea (or stole it from someone else) and has built a business plan that banks agree with. Now the dream has become a reality, but everyone sees his or her dream in a different way.
What is the competition’s reality? This might also be defined as “how” does your competition present his or her business or service. Some might have a grand global scheme while others are mom and pop operations.
Remember, your competition is already out there, so you are competing for a slice of an established business or service.
Where is the competition located? High traffic areas will increase chances of retail sales, but does not guarantee profit. Cheaper rent locations may be appropriate for businesses that deliver their services. The Internet presents an array of new options of working out of a home office or flexible location.
When does the competition follow their dream? The old 9-to-5 operations are a thing of the past. Today a business or service, that wants to compete for a share of the pie, needs to be available at any time to any one.
Why is the competition out there? Someone else has come up with a dream, following it on a unique path, presenting itself with techniques, materials, operations, and applied results no other competition can match.
Some of the competition will fail and fade away, but there is always a new dreamer.
Tuesday, June 2, 2009
When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s a moiré.
Question:
How do I get rid of that pattern on my image when I scan from a book or the newspaper?
Answer:
The pattern is called a moiré. It is the pattern presented when angles are scanned into the linear digital world. Shingles on houses were the first to be noticed.
Solutions:
1. Check your scanner. There should be rescanning preferences for printed material. There is a difference between newspaper and magazine. Before you scan, check the preference and set accordingly.
2. After you scan a printed image, go to the blur filter and choose Gaussian blur. You will have to adjust the effect several times to get the best results, but it will blur the dots and keep the image.
How do I get rid of that pattern on my image when I scan from a book or the newspaper?
Answer:
The pattern is called a moiré. It is the pattern presented when angles are scanned into the linear digital world. Shingles on houses were the first to be noticed.
Solutions:
1. Check your scanner. There should be rescanning preferences for printed material. There is a difference between newspaper and magazine. Before you scan, check the preference and set accordingly.
2. After you scan a printed image, go to the blur filter and choose Gaussian blur. You will have to adjust the effect several times to get the best results, but it will blur the dots and keep the image.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Concept
Sales opportunity: A father's day tabloid for multiple merchants.
Assignment: A full color 10 1/4" x 13" cover to attract readers.
Deadline: Two days.
Concept: To create a cover that was fun yet not too topical.
So instead of the usual photo (which at the time had a small library and nothing was suitable), a drawing was created to show the love for dad.
Since this was 1976 and the bi-centennial was growing in interest, I figured I would get a head start on the flag.
Knowing the image would be over used in July, I decided to use it on the cover.
At the time, these ties were custom made but where still frowned up by the silent majority.
Specifications: Hand drawing cartoon figures were sketched and approved by the art director. The figures were traced on velum using a Design medium black marker in a 1/16" path to ensure registration.
The skin tones (20% yellow and 20% red work well), background and flag were cut on amberlith flaps and marked accordingly to percentage value and color. The circles were drawn with a huge compass with an extension arm.
Each of the amberlith flaps were punched and fitted to the vellum drawing taped to a heavy cardboard backing.
Presstype for the "Father's Day" was put on a piece of vellum laid on a thin blue line.
First the type was given to our engravers ( the one's who operated the huge page camaers) and requested it be blown up to 13" or the depth of the cover.
The print of the resized type was waxed and pasted to a clear acrelate flap, much as the amberlith had been prepared. The edges of the type were touched up by a free hand Rapidograph pen.
The thick line around the date was hand drawn using a Design black marker.
A blue box was cut in amberlith marked to drop out of all the colors.
Then the type flap was marked to drop out of the blue box.
The entire piece, board, and flaps were taken to the engravers.
Each flap was shot on the page cameras and screen applied to the negatives.
The four color negatives were combined and shot again.
A color key or amberlith four color seperation was made of the final 4-colors.
The was registered and taped together as a press proof.
Note: Be sure to check the correct usage of the possessive '.
Assignment: A full color 10 1/4" x 13" cover to attract readers.
Deadline: Two days.
Concept: To create a cover that was fun yet not too topical.
So instead of the usual photo (which at the time had a small library and nothing was suitable), a drawing was created to show the love for dad.
Since this was 1976 and the bi-centennial was growing in interest, I figured I would get a head start on the flag.
Knowing the image would be over used in July, I decided to use it on the cover.
At the time, these ties were custom made but where still frowned up by the silent majority.
Specifications: Hand drawing cartoon figures were sketched and approved by the art director. The figures were traced on velum using a Design medium black marker in a 1/16" path to ensure registration.
The skin tones (20% yellow and 20% red work well), background and flag were cut on amberlith flaps and marked accordingly to percentage value and color. The circles were drawn with a huge compass with an extension arm.
Each of the amberlith flaps were punched and fitted to the vellum drawing taped to a heavy cardboard backing.
Presstype for the "Father's Day" was put on a piece of vellum laid on a thin blue line.
First the type was given to our engravers ( the one's who operated the huge page camaers) and requested it be blown up to 13" or the depth of the cover.
The print of the resized type was waxed and pasted to a clear acrelate flap, much as the amberlith had been prepared. The edges of the type were touched up by a free hand Rapidograph pen.
The thick line around the date was hand drawn using a Design black marker.
A blue box was cut in amberlith marked to drop out of all the colors.
Then the type flap was marked to drop out of the blue box.
The entire piece, board, and flaps were taken to the engravers.
Each flap was shot on the page cameras and screen applied to the negatives.
The four color negatives were combined and shot again.
A color key or amberlith four color seperation was made of the final 4-colors.
The was registered and taped together as a press proof.
Note: Be sure to check the correct usage of the possessive '.
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