The beauty of correspondence

In the days of e-mail and blogs, sometimes it is so special just to receive a letter in the mail. As I was looking for images of letters, it reminded me of the experience of opening a letter. The revelation is a narrative, and sometimes a surprise.

Postcards do not have this same kind of narrative. Their information is revealed immediately. The only drama would be when you flip it over to see who sent it. Just for my personal information, here is an image of the backside.

There are specific requirements and constraints of a postcard that most letters do not have.

However, the effect can still be interesting, as is this thank you postcard above.
This envelope causes the recipient to think about the revelation process.

This envelope would give a little tease, as well as a hint with the leaf design on the print.

Lastly is the letter itself. I like this one above because it has a process of unveiling in and of itself. There is a lot of intricacy to this, while its aesthetics are still so simple.

As I said, I love snail mail. However, I also love trees and breathing. This company offers an alternative.

Typography is Everywhere

I love public acts of typogrpahy. Due to a lack of a digital camera, I had to borrow my found type.

Most images are from Itchy Robot.

A business card is such a lovely social and networking tool. It can get so many people's feet into doors - in a good way. So, we must be different. For some, their personality and credentials stand out enough. These people do not need unique business cards.

For the rest of us, here are some business cards that could get our feet in the door.
Hot pink is always a good choice.
I thought that this sensual solution is so effective. Maybe it is because I need coffee right now.
To me, this is one of the most effective (and environmentally conscious) business cards. It does exactly what the business already does. It is clever, unique, and it stands out. However, they should work on their handwritign before I would call it typographically beautiful.
I always love printed materials with an organic feel. This card shows the successful design of the card, but it also shows off a beautiful logo.
For some reason, the black and white really intrigued me. Everyone is obsessed with full-color, hi-res, pricy design. However, I would take this card over so many overloaded solutions any day.

Next Big

What the Emigre 39 essay by Rudy VanderLans called The Next Big Thing is really saying is that designers let their egos get in the way of solving the problem.

Ones personal aesthetics and style almost never actually meet the design needs of a particular situation. We think we know what our client wants before we even hear the issue. I think that the problem is lack of listening skills.

I believe that people can hear you without listening, and I believe that this is what designers are doing with the Internet and with the printed word. They say “to hell with what you want, this is what I know.” This is not design. This is ego.

Listening skills would solve so many of the design problems today. When I say listening skills, I mean visual attention skills as well. When people are able to pay enough attention to the printed word or to a meaningful layout, designers will take the time to do more than WOW or SHOCK. They will allow the dialogue to unfold between viewer and designer and writer.

I feel very sorry for writers today. We cut their words and make them illegible. The typefaces we use are smaller and smaller. We make it impossible for the reader to understand what is going on, and we call it good design.

As VanderLans said, we are always striving for The Next Big Thing, but I think that we also strive to find Our Thing. So many people try to assert their style, their wisdom on to their work, but a designer is supposed to cooperate. We have constraints and we have possibilities, but the constraints are where we must find opportunity. Otherwise, we might as well be fine artists.

Logo Love

My first extreme experience with logos happened when I was in Visual Concepts class last semester. I created 400 sketches to make a symbol of a bird. The problem is that my sketches were illustrations. I tried to communicate too much information in each sketch. Hence, it was less of a symbol and more of an explanation.

The final product was more refined, but not by much. You can find them at people.ku.edu/~mcgillk. However, I have seen so many companies ACTUALLY use logos that are just crazy illustrations. It takes time to understand. They are not iconic.

Icons are the basis of logos. I especially appreciate the simplicity of the on/off computer button. How simple, universal and beautiful.

It is a logo, but it is also a wonderful use of typography. With logotypes, you can imbed meaning into the images.
I appreciate the ABC logo, and other logotypes that are clean and simple, but my favorite are the unique, expressive and quirky ones. I like the logo that adds a stroke of humanness.


A logo must also be flexible, though. While the one above is very sweet, and I like it when it is small, I would never want to see it large, because that would be boring.

This logo below would be attractive in both small and large, color and black and white. It is a universally useful logo in its simplicity.

F is for Futurist

“The most instructive angles from which to portray modern life are from above, from below and on the diagonal.” - Rodchenko

I finally made it to the Spencer to see the Futurist exhibit, which I will discuss in a bit. But first, I was able to wander through the Constructivist photography. These exhibits went together so well, and played off of eachother more than I would have imagined. I was able to see in photography what I then saw through lithographs in the Futurist exhibit.

The photography was basically divided in two sections. There were wonderful formal studies of Rodchenko’s angles, and there were images of the idealized citizen with a body like a machine. One side I found to be quite beautiful. The other side I found to be quite disturbing.

The formal studies spoke of the industrialization of the time, with images of machine and steel. At the time, these were images of progress, growth and a crazy obsession with speed. Now we look at these images and struggle to find the “futurism” in them. To me, the datedness is the most fascinating thing about these images. The factories and mass production, at the time, were seen as a beautiful new invention. Now it is something that people try to hide and act as if it doesn't exist. These images show the precursor to the sweatshop and the exploited worker. That is why they seem more ironic and depressing than inspiring.

The greek looking, almost homoerotic images of athleticism were what I found to be more entertaining. By showing Man as Machine, these photographers, funded by the government, took images of russian bodies and actions and framed them in a way that was almost unhuman. How ideal? How contrived. (By the way, this pic is a bad example. I can’t find any Greek looking ones. Sad.)


After viewing the photographic idealization of Man in this exhibit, it was curious to see how El Lissitzky took this into abstracted form. Instead of turning a human being into a machine, he turned a machine into a human. He gave each of his figures titles and usually eyes of some sort. These machines in frames had personality, and so did the space around them.

The other, unexpected dimension of the exhibit that I had not anticipated was the installation work. Hydeyo Okamura took the idea of proun (a word invented by Lissitzky to explain a substance between painting and architecture) very literally. He designed a set upon which the pieces danced. He responded to the work, but he also responded to the imperfections of the room to creat opportunities instead. As he says, he was having a conversation with the artist's work as he designed the space.

Happiness in Design

I finally finished watching the TED presentation from Stefan Sagmeister called Yes, design can make you happy, and it was worth the wait.

Within this 15 minute speech, he addressed the idea of the visualization of happiness versus actual happiness. Basically, it is very easy to visualize happiness through design


but much more difficult to actually create it.

A few design elements that make Stefan happy through design are sunlight, humor and lack of pressure/deadline.

While I agree with him, I wanted to add a few items to my own list.

1. Nature


When one can truly capture the beauty of nature through design, I believe that it is a worthwhile venture. Zaha Hadid's Dune furniture is one of my favorite examples.

2. Symmetry
Seeing a beautiful Rocky Mountain landscape is breathtaking. What about seeing it twice . . . in the same picture. Isn't that so much better?


3. Imperfection

Yes, well-schooled and “perfect” design is nice, but so is the raw and unexpected beauty in the fresh perspective of a child. Some of my favorite artwork in the world came from a six-year-old girl.