We start each business day with the dream of learning the secret to making our magazines flourish in both print and online. Depending on your passion you may prefer one option over the other. Clearly, there is still a strong desire for a print edition in many topic areas. There are also many publishers behind the eight ball with their magazine’s online presence or lack thereof. Many do not want to accept change, or have not fully embraced, or understand, the power of the Web, video, social media, mobile applications, or whatever the newest technology is when you are reading this.

For some publishers the flip page PDF may serve a purpose. It may be providing opportunities for expanding international readership or creating an online-only option for its readers. Advertisers benefit since it can expand the number of those who will see their ads and they can actually see the analytics and track it. Allowing advertisers the opportunity to share much more with a link to their site.

While there is still merit to this approach, there is a distinct disadvantage if this is your only digital strategy. Many may end up designing magazines the same way we have been for a lifetime. We need to take a new approach to designing our content to open new opportunities. This will require a strategic approach. Know your readers! Continue to know your readers! Where are your readers? Why are they reading your magazine? How are they reading your magazine? This is a continually changing landscape and needs to be monitored. Every magazine has its nuances that make its online needs different.

I think the best approach is integration. We are not just publishing magazines any longer. For those of you who are today, watch out for tomorrow. What is the print magazine accomplishing for the reader? Can it be done online? Online only? Or can you provide something different online that can strengthen the brand? Interviews, video, and social networks are just the tip of the iceberg.

Creating a completely harmonious relationship between print and online will require a new way of thinking for most publishers. Editors cannot do it all with the same amount of resources or old thinking and processes. Being a disrupter may be just what your publication needs to succeed.

Being successful in the new media world starts with a strategy with a phased implementation plan.

As I return home from Tempe, AZ after speaking at the 2010 Niche Magazine Conference, I was inspired to write about the energy I felt at the conference. It was clear that many small publishers have weathered the economic storm over the last two years and were there to find new solutions to take their B-to-B, trade or consumer magazines to the next level. While most have met with challenges in the recent past, they are more optimistic than ever to grow using the new opportunities in front of them in media publishing. Attendees shared ideas and stories of successful use of social media, creating more powerful and useful web sites and how they planned to increase revenue over the next several years.

One thing that rose to the top of many conversations, which came as a bit of a surprise to me, was their commitment to good design for their small magazines. I think the tough times they have faced in the industry made them take a closer look at the design and quality of their magazines and other products. With so many magazines closing their doors, it became apparent that only the best would survive in these changing times.

Though a greater segment of the attendees have embraced the need for good design as a key element of creating a quality product, I did hear several conversations about not wanting to spend money on design. This wasn’t shocking at all, since when the budget ax comes down it’s always easiest to cut the creative budget, but I think the tide is shifting! If it is not valid and engaging content, it will not grow or even continue to limp by. Most of us concurred that design and overall structure are critical to the distribution of content, and making that content it’s most engaging and informative. Design is what sells it and holds it all together. If a magazine is “really ugly” with no branding or structure, it can easily get passed by or dismissed by readers as unimportant. Worse yet, if poor design cripples the content even devoted readership can fall off.

I will continue to write more for Align about the wonderful opportunities we have today for our niche magazines.

A few additional articles that may be useful if you are a publisher who needs to focus more on the design strategy for your magazine are:
“Design? Who Cares?”
“Great Magazine Cover Design”
or my series on posts on “Design Strategy for your Magazine”

Debbie is President of Bates Creative Group and has more that 18 years working in the publishing industry.

The Big Decision
You have finally come to grips with the fact that your magazine needs an overhaul and a redesign is eminent. You have done the market research and received everyone’s buy-in on both the editorial staff and the design team. Great. Now what? This is often decision-making time for many publications. This is the point where the team needs to decide whether they want to handle the redesign in-house or contact an outside contractor to take on the job. Ok… Now, how do you decide which is the right redesign process for you, your team and your publication? First and foremost, ask yourself: Does your team have the talent and time to pull this off? It’s a no-brainer but it has to be asked. Do you feel like your in-house creative team has the knowledge, talent and time to pull off a successful redesign at the quality level you expect? If the answer is yes, continue reading. If the answer is no (or you had to think about it way too long), go directly to the Outside Contractor section.

Staying In-House
Starting an in-house redesign allows the team an obvious high level of control over the entire process. Since it’s an in-house project, it can be controlled like an in-house project. The redesign can happen immediately and everyone on the team is there through every step of the process. Critiques can happen often and the redesign can be massaged on a regular basis as needed to get it to where it needs to be.
A big decision for the in-house staff is deciding on how to deal with the ongoing publication as the redesign is being worked on simultaneously. Time and manpower are crucial. Can your team be divided into two divisions to deal with both the current issue and the redesign? Or will your budget allow for freelancers to be hired to deal with the daily magazine production and open up your design team to concentrate on the redesign. A realistic schedule for the redesign launch is paramount to help make this decision so that you don’t stretch your team too thin, or go over budget with freelance.

One of the design hurdles with the in-house redesign is the team’s intimacy with the prior magazine design. The creative team will have to make a conscious decision to step away from what was and move forward with what will be. For some teams this is easy, for others it’s more difficult. Some creative teams are too close to the old design that it is very hard for them to step away. Make this decision early because the last thing you want is to get midway through a redesign and realize your team is just too close to it and your goals for the process aren’t being met.

The Good:
-Unlimited control and direct team involvement
-The team working on the redesign is intimate with the publication
-The in-house staff dictates the timeframe/schedule

The Bad:
-Time and manpower limitations due to the ongoing magazine work
-The team working on the redesign is intimate with the publication
-Possible lack of knowledge and experience on magazine redesigns

Outside Contractor
There are many different firms that specialize in magazine redesign and each has a different process and outlook. One of the great things about working with an outside contractor is that you get to choose who you feel is the best fit for you, your team and your budget. Working with an outside contractor can remove all of the pressure that comes with the redesign process from your team and allows them to focus solely on the ongoing magazine production until the redesign is ready to be implemented. Specialized contractors often bring a fresh perspective and tested processes into the fold. Their experience in the redesign area can often streamline the redesign and help with the organization of all aspects of the process. Obviously, working with a contractor isn’t as hands-on as an in-house project, however this issue can be easily avoided as long as the communication lines are always open. A quality line of communication between your team and the contractor can mean the success or failure of the redesign… as with most projects communication is of utmost importance.

The Good:
-Specialized in magazine redesign – it’s what they do
-Removes pressure from the in-house team
-Bring a fresh outlook and tested processes to the project
-Good communication can lead to a successful redesign

The Bad:
-More hands-off than the in-house process
-Non-communication can lead to goals not being met
-Often slightly higher cost than the in-house solution

Choosing
Choosing between an outside contractor and an in-house redesign can be difficult. Even with the general overview above, deciding which direction to take on the process isn’t always cut and dry. The key is to think through everything clearly, state your goals and make a decision based on your magazine, team, schedule and budget. Good luck.

A Color Trend With Traction

In the past few years, a keen observer might say that green has made its way to the top of the color power list. Anyone keeping up with the news will find green philosophers waxing poetic about the environment, corporate social responsibility (CSR), sustainability communication, greenwashing, and green tea. The combination of new environmental mindsets and corporations positioning social responsibility efforts under a green label has raised the profile of the color green.

In a recent corporate social responsibility and sustainability Google alert, I saw a listing titled, “RED is the new green.”¹ Intrigued by the possibility that red may be scooping the trendiness of green, I did a Google search on the phrase—45,000 hits.

Further research suggests that we may be experiencing a red revolution. The semantics of red have shifted back to positive, and there’s evidence of a trend with traction. Give it to the Pantone execs who predicted the strength of red and in 1998 tagged it as a favorite for the century.

Nearly 10 years later, Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute®, said “Whether expressing danger, celebration, love or passion, red will not be ignored…nothing reflects the spirit of adventure more than the color red.” In 2007, Pantone named Chili Pepper as the color of the year and for 2010, PANTONE 18-1661 Tomato Purée was in the top 10 colors for women’s fashion.

Companies Known for the Colors They Keep
Red, with blue in a close second, inspires and dresses some of today’s most celebrated icons. These colors are important to corporate brand recognition and commerce color coding.

An analysis of Interbrand’s top 100 brands’ logo and corporate colors reveals a preponderance (70% of the total) of red and blue logos. Thirty-six of the 100 logos were entirely red or paired red with other colors. Thirty-four of the 100 logos were blue or paired blue with other colors. IBM, affectionately known as “Big Blue” for its official corporate color, ranked mostly in the second position for the nine year period. (Green appears in no more than 4 logos in any given year).

Many larger US corporations have red logos: CNN, TIME, LIFE, Business Week, ExxonMobil, Verizon, Xerox, and others. As for consumer awareness of red logos, ask 100 people what company is best known for its red logo, and it’s likely that at least 90 percent of them will say Coca-Cola. Not surprising, from 2001 to 2009, Coca-Cola maintained the #1 position in Interbrand’s Best Global Brand’s List. Coca-Cola knows the power of red and banks on the color’s bold simplicity and authenticity for its packaging and designs.

The Red/Blue Debate

Coke – red. Pepsi – blue. IBM – blue. Xerox – red. Red state. Blue state. The two colors are pervasive in advertising, politics, and politicians’ tie colors. Which is stronger? A new University of British Columbia study, reported earlier in this year in Science Daily, reconciles the marketing and psychology debate on which color, red or blue, most improves brain performance and receptivity to advertising. Both, but, it depends on the task. Red enhances our attention to detail, while blue boosts creativity.

Is Red the Color of Business?

Red attracts attention
Large phone companies use red. Verizon’s trademark check mark/V and typeface are red. In a major rebranding and renaming effort, Vodafone Ireland Limited, the largest mobile phone company in Ireland moved from deep purple to a trademark shade of red and adopted a new tagline: “Red is the new purple, Vodafone is the new name for Eircell.” They also created the Mission Red website, a forum for customer communications.

Using Red for Good – Creative Capitalism at Work
Today companies are selling (RED)-branded products and donating a portion of their profits to Bono’s Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. It’s been reported by Time that the companies participating in the (RED) campaign drew in new customers and that the corporate socially responsible action was the tipping point they needed to choose those products over others. The color prominence contributed message, meaning, and visibility.

Red is power. Red is prosperity. Red (and blue, but mostly red) will always be important to high-stakes business, graphic design, results of elections, and tie colors…for politicians, like President Obama who wore only red and blue ties in his first 11 days in office.

While Donna does have one pair of red shoes and a red blazer, she favors purple (a Vincent Roa Group, LLC and Purple Pony Websites corporate color). Admittedly, she was pleased with Pantone’s 2008 Color of the Year announcement: purple (blue iris), a color that “satisfies the need for reassurance in a complex world, while adding a hint of mystery and excitement.”

Brand Identity that Integrates Customer Values with Company Values

Using this research and strong support from women scientists in the organization, Clorox successfully established the Green Works natural cleaning product line with a clear brand identity that integrates customer values with company values, slightly disengages the company from it bleach reputation, and takes into account the impact on customer lifestyle. Clorox positioned itself to understand how customers use products and to translate that understanding into actionable insights (e.g., design and marketing) that would drive greater revenue.

The savvy marketing and communication professionals at Clorox tap the influence of social media, and provide the challenge participants with simple tips via email, coupons, checklists, reminders, blog badge, and IM icon, to name a few.

The recent and laudable 30-days to Natural Challenge, for example, asks customers to trade in all of their traditional cleaners for Green Works natural cleaners. This program connects with the values of the consumer and addresses the utility of the product in an innovative way. The program website is inspiring, inviting, and stimulates a customer response.

Connecting to the Customer Value Chain

It’s clear that Clorox has connected to the customer’s value chain around convenience, effectiveness, cost, and design and is using the video evidence to enhance the Green Works storytelling. Requiring the YouTube documentation of the experience provides the company with consumer-generated endorsements of the products and a record of positive cleaning experiences.

The videos showcase the “she’s just like me” component of ad effectiveness. The chance to win a high efficiency washer/dryer further incentivizes the consumer to provide feedback on the products.

In general, consumers indicate willingness to adopt green technology and products. Moving the needle to change perceptions that green technology is ugly, hard to use, and expensive will favorably affect consumer-purchasing behavior of green products.

Clorox is clearly moving the needle, both from a product development perspective and from a marketing perspective. For example, the green product road show to 14 major cities’ summer festivals is an innovative way to position “try me” opportunities and to drive products directly into the consumer communities.

Another innovative marketing move: a short film. This #1 Featured Video on YouTube, received over 500,000 views in one week and was part of the Reverse Graffiti Project,  a 140-foot-long mural developed by graffiti pioneer Paul “Moose” Curtis. The artist, a professed grime writer, used Green Works to create a reverse mural (removing dirt and pollution) of native plant life.

The campaign won a Gold Media Lion, a Silver Outdoor Lion and a Bronze Design Lion at Cannes International Advertising Festival.

Add Clorox to Your Branding Watch List

Put Clorox and Green Works on your sustainability, marketing, and design watch list. They are doing a lot of things right: innovating on the brand continuum, shifting perceptions of green cleaning products, and providing the forum for customer involvement.

The Reverse Graffiti Project

In today’s business climate, design is a critical part of product lifecycles. Changes in design and manufacturing processes to support sustainable packaging, for example, and working to ensure that product design meets downstream concerns can favorably affect a company’s triple bottom line.

Companies are adjusting business processes to ensure that design innovation is in line with sustainability principles and are developing metrics and guidelines in the design and development processes to stimulate awareness for and focus on environmental issues.

The majority finds that examining environmental pros and cons up front ensures that the design doesn’t undermine the market success of the product, whether it’s a magazine, product packaging, or a consumer product.

Packaging Innovations Good For The Environment

Wal-Mart—Recently, Walmart asked General Mills to replace curly noodles in its Hamburger Helper with straight noodles because straight noodles take up less space and require smaller boxes…same weight, less packaging, but good for the environment.

Coca Cola Company—In May of this year, the Coca-Cola Company announced the PlantBottle™, a first generation recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) plastic made partially (30%) from plants (sugar cane and molasses). In mid-November, the company delivered beverages in PlantBottle™ to select markets throughout the world.

Touted as a sustainable packaging innovation by Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, the move positions the company to rely less on a non-renewable resource (petroleum).

A Coke-sponsored life-cycle analysis conducted by Imperial College London revealed that the “PlantBottle™” reduces carbon emissions by up to 25 percent, compared with petroleum-based PET.

HP—The technology company that operates in more than 170 countries around the world recently reduced packaging on their Pavilion Notebook by 97 percent. Designers and engineers follow stringent packaging guidelines to minimize environmental impact.

Recently, engineers reduced PC packaging by 20 percent for units shipped from China and were able to increase the number of PCs per pallet from 28 to 40 units resulting in a 40 percent decrease in energy required to ship each unit. They rely on an in-house designed Robust Orientation Size effect (ROSe) calculator to develop packaging designs that minimize the amount and cost of materials used.

Are You Sitting on Soy?

Ford—Ford leads the industry in the use of soy, a renewable bio-material. Soy-based seats (backs and cushions) can be found on more than 1.5 million Ford, Lincoln, and Mercury vehicles, decreasing Ford’s use of petroleum oil by one 1 million pounds and reducing its carbon dioxide emissions by five million pounds annually.

“Natural fiber-reinforced composites and polymer resins made from plant resources provide positive environmental impact by utilizing renewable resources, reducing CO2 emissions, by being entirely compostable and—in some cases—reducing weight, which helps improve fuel economy,” explains Debbie Mielewski, Technical Leader, Ford Plastics Research.

Ford’s innovative use of environmentally friendly, soy-based foam has earned six prestigious awards to date, including the including the 2009 R&D 100 Award which honors the latest technology developments across numerous industries that are designed to meet societal, scientific, or business challenges.

Design Innovations Can Contribute to Sustainability

Responsible and sustainable packaging and product design innovations have a favorable effect on the environment, reduce costs, save space, and accrue benefits in product transportation. For many companies, the changes have resulted in improved efficiency, life-cycle effectiveness, and eco-innovation.

Adopting and acting on sustainability principles give consumers tangible evidence of a company’s commitment to the future of our planet.

You should. Your bottom line could depend on it.

As a publisher, you may think that the design of your brand, magazine or Web site is the last thing you should be thinking about if you are looking to improve your bottom line. It’s not. There are many areas where building strategy into your design process can save you money, streamline your processes, and make you the leader in your category.

No matter how you slice it, design is important to any product. Presentation is key on many levels, especially when your goals include reaching your target audience and holding their attention. I am not suggesting that making something pretty will guarantee you a return, but including outstanding design as part of your overall strategy will have a positive effect on your bottom line.

Focusing on a few specific areas can make a big difference.

Strong Cover Strategy
Developing a clearly-defined cover strategy for your magazine can save you time and money in several ways. Depending on your topic, you may be able plan a photo shoot for multiple issues at the same time. This will build consistency in quality, and its efficiency will save you money. If you use stock imagery for your covers, having a strategy in place will focus the team’s search to appropriate sources, thus saving time — and time is money. Also, planning for your cover up front will allow more time for execution with less stress under deadline, resulting in more successful covers. Great covers sell.

Detailed Design Templates
Streamline mundane design tasks with comprehensive templates. Having well-structured, functional design templates that support an engaging look and feel for your magazine or Web site means less tedium during the production cycle and more opportunity for concept exploration. Production time can be cut down if style sheets are organized and intact and the overall design of your magazine’s template is interesting. If your templates are a mess, consider a redesign. This will incur a cost up front, but if done well, will pay off within a matter of cycles.

A Talented Designer
If you spend excessive amounts of time going over your designer’s work and requesting changes, you don’t have the right person. Publication design for both print and Web is a specialty. Not every production person will have the sensibilities needed to make your publication the best it can be. It requires greater training, experience, and skill than just knowing the layout programs.

A WOW Web Site
Your publication’s Web site must be engaging with an emphasis on usability in order to work for you. To accomplish this, it must have a strategy behind it that drives its design and functionality. It needs a strong brand that complements your magazine but also stands on its own. A successful site will lend itself to many opportunities for growth.

These are just few areas where design can play a big part in the bottom line of your magazine. For more detailed information about cover strategy, read “Great Magazine Cover Design” or my series of articles on “Design Strategy for your Magazine”

With a fresh, well-targeted design for your publication now in place you are ready to take the steps to make the ongoing implementation consistent and streamlined. If you have been following my four-phased process for developing the design strategy for your magazine, don’t stop yet. The fourth phase is critical to the ongoing success of your publication.

Many organizations skip the development and documentation of the style guide. Don’t do it. I promise you, you will regret it later. It may be when a new designer has to take over or when your boss tells you to make the type smaller to fit in more content. At any rate, take the time to build the style guide and use it as your manual, road-map, bible, or whatever you would like to call it.

Why? The style guide is your road-map for keeping ongoing consistency in your publication. It will serve as a judge to keep the editorial and design teams working well together. Since it will be important to keep the document up-to-date, making changes to it should take more thought and be really worth it. Hopefully this will cut down on making changes on a whim to the structure of your magazine. The style guide will become a key tool and trusted source for new team member training.  Making the document as detailed as possible covering all styles and concepts for the magazine will make it a very valuable asset to have.

In some cases the style guide is not final until the first new issue is complete. If you wait to finalize the style guide until then, it can include all of the smallest details of the magazine.

The first new issue is a very important one. If possible, have the designer who did the redesign complete the entire first new issue. Make sure it has exceptional content and a compelling cover. Plan on taking extra time on this first issue. You will be working out the kinks and getting used to all of the new requirements and styles. It is ok to need to make a few adjustments to the style guide after the first couple of issues.

I would also recommend getting a written critique from a reputable outside source after a few issues to see if you are staying on track.

The final style guide and master template document should be shared with the entire team. Consider having the creative team hold a walk-through presentation. This is an opportunity for the creative and editorial teams to ask questions and really understand the power that is in the details of publishing a great magazine.

The Web is continually redefining the way people, business, and organizations access and distribute information. As companies are pushing for a stronger online presence, many print designers are being faced with the task of applying their print skills to the digital medium. After nearly a decade as a print designer, I decided to take the headlong plunge into the Web world myself and thought I’d share a few of my experiences and  “ah-ha” moments to help anyone considering a similar path.

When I first decided to make the switch, I was quickly overwhelmed and I was really not sure where to begin. In addition to feeling like I needed to learn what seemed like a million different coding languages, I unknowingly still had even more to learn about understanding the key differences between the media.

There was also a bit of an ego pill to swallow. It was humbling to watch our resident Web guru fly though code, correcting errors along the way in minutes or seconds, that had taken me hours to create, while going on about ‘box models’ and ‘style inheritance’ as he absentmindedly plowed through my creation. Huh? This humbling initial buy-in can be the make or break moment for a lot of people. It’s difficult to be in a position where after 10 years of professional experience, you feel like you’re back in your first year of school.

I’ll admit my first Web site was easily recognizable by most Web designers as a site that was done by a print designer. At first, I did not understand how they knew. I now know that print designers are notorious for designing “pretty” Web sites which load slowly, are not optimized for the search engines, don’t work on certain browser/operating system combination’s, and have numerous usability problems. The sites look nice, but they are often re-purposed print pieces that don’t take full advantage of the strengths of the Web.

To utilize the strengths of print and Web, it is important to grasp a few obvious (or not so obvious) differences between each medium.

• The Web is dynamic. Unlike print, the elements on a Web page can be interactive. Content, such as text, images, and form fields on a Web page can change in response to mouse or keyboard actions by using animations, mouse-over effects, pull down menus, etc. As obvious as this is to anyone that has used the Web, it is important to plan for these elements as you are designing a site. Also remember that just because you can do something does not always mean you should. The key to using interactive elements is not only knowing how to use them, but also knowing when to use them.

• A Web site is never “done.” This was another concept I had to wrap my head around. With a print piece, once it is printed it is done. You can’t change it unless you reprint it. With the speed at which the Web evolves it is necessary to continually plan for and adapt to change. A site plan you develop today may be significantly different than one you had a year ago, or even a few months ago.

• Lack of visual control. This was one of the hardest things for me to understand and embrace. When designing for print, the layout, fonts, line breaks, colors, page size, paper stock and every last detail was meticulously crafted to ensure that all the printed pieces looked exactly how I wanted. With a Web site, all of those constants become variables. Different screen sizes, browsers, operating systems, system fonts, and color and contrast settings, are just a few of the reasons why the same Web site could display differently on each user’s computer or mobile device.

Thinking back to my first Web site, to achieve the control that I wanted I thought it would be a good idea to do it all in Flash. Sure it gave me that print-like control, but in the end it was a bad idea for the overall purpose of the site. While Flash elements can be a great compliment to an HTML site, it’s usually not recommended that a site be entirely done in Flash for a variety of reasons, primarily Search Engine Optimization (SEO) purposes. That’s a whole different, larger discussion and you can read more here – so we’ll move on.

• Usability. Usability. Usability. Usability, not the design, often determines the success or failure of a Web site. While great content and a visually appealing design can give credibility to a site and its company or organization, ultimately that does not matter if the user can’t find what they are looking for. Create a site structure with a clear, self-explanatory navigation and interactive elements first, and then make it “pretty.”

At this point you may have that overwhelmed feeling I mentioned at the start of this article. Don’t worry; while there are certainly a lot of differences, there are also many similarities that can help make designing for the Web a little less intimidating.

• Good design is good design. The same fundamental design skills you have developed to effectively communicate a message through print can also be used to create a compelling and dynamic Web site. Good color use, balance, rhythm, negative space, typography, etc., are all still critical, there are just some different things to consider and rules to follow.

• Design process is similar. While the tools, file types, and delivery methods are different, the design process used to publish in print is very similar to the process of publishing for the Web. Just as you would never begin to design a print piece without knowing about the content, the size, the number of pages, or audience, you wouldn’t start designing a Web site unless you understood its purpose, structure, the kind of content, and the goals for what the site should accomplish.

• You don’t have to do it all. Just as there are various vendors for print, there are those for Web. Beyond the keystones of HTML and CSS, there are seemingly endless scripting languages, databases and other techno-jargon – enough to overwhelm anyone. But there’s no need to know how to do them, you just need to know what they are, and their capabilities – then find a specialist to create what you need. Understanding what is doable is more important than knowing how to do it.

As I carved out my own path for learning the Web, I determined I wanted to focus on the importance of usability, how Search Engine Optimization (SEO) works, and have a basic understanding on how to build Web sites using HTML and CSS using Web standards. I felt that this would be a great starting point and knowing these would help build a solid foundation for learning more complex aspects of the Web. I was lucky enough to have a very knowledgeable and patient co-worker that was there to answer any of my questions along the way, but barring that resource, here’s a few to help get you started.

Resources:

HTML and CSS Web Standards Solutions: A Web Standardistas’ Approach

By Christopher Murphy and Nicklas Persson

This book will teach you step-by-step how to build hand-crafted Web pages using XHTML and CSS. You will also learn about the history and evolution of Web standards and why they are important. A must-read for any beginner.

Don’t Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability, 2^nd Edition

By Steve Krug

The title of this book says it all. It’s a very quick read and gives a lot of common sense advice on creating usable designs for the Web.

Firebug

Firebug is a free plug-in that integrates with Firefox. It has numerous capabilities, but it is also a great learning tool as it allows the user to edit CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live on any Web page and immediately see the effects.

Lynda.com

Lynda.com is a subscription-based, online educational and training resource with a suite of step-by-step lessons on a wide variety of topics – from best practices for Photoshop for the Web, to nitty gritty code lessons. Most lessons are supplied with well-constructed example files, which is a great bonus.

An important, yet often overlooked, aspect of being an innovative and successful designer is maintaining an awareness of global design trends. Exposure to design movements overseas can jumpstart and redirect creative flow, while offering fresh perspectives and cultivating a curiosity for the exotic or unexplored.

Design styles vary dramatically from country to country, as diverse political and cultural environments foster the emergence of new design trends. Observing the way foreign alphabets are utilized in layouts may be unique sources of typographic inspiration for designers dealing strictly with the English language. Noting how ethnic color palettes and textile prints are integrated into design pieces can spark ideas, or encourage a designer to explore new patterns and color schemes. It is beneficial to study these seemingly trivial cultural fragments of daily life because they profoundly affect the development of art and design.

The culture we grow up in shapes the way we perceive our surroundings. Colors and motifs take on specific meanings that become ingrained in our minds after years of exposure. For example, in the United States, the holiday season is heavily associated with reds, greens, gold and holly. However, in other parts of the world, winter holiday decorations have a wide array of colors, and decorative themes vary according to regional plants, customs, mythology and history. As designers and creative thinkers, we need to overcome any definitions assigned to holidays, festivals, seasons, emotions and any other tangible object or intangible concept that may require representation via design. A designer well-versed in global iconography is less likely to be constrained by a narrow visual vocabulary. In its most potent form, design transcends geographic boundaries and has the ability to unify people with its universal language.

Design movements from around the world have made a huge impact on the global design community. The propaganda art used in Soviet Russia generated much admiration and is emulated in modern-day advertisements by companies such as Smirnoff Vodka. Swiss International Style, initiated in Switzerland in the 1950’s, emphasized readability and ultimately produced two world-renowned typefaces, Akzidenz-Grotesk and Helvetica. When these regional movements intersect, ideas intermingle, giving birth to unique, hybrid design styles. An old example of this occurred in the 16th and 17th centuries, when Iran and Turkey delivered gifts to the Moscow Kremlin to preserve diplomatic relations and keep lucrative trade routes open. Persian, Ottoman and Russian crafting techniques fused into a spectacular new form of artisanship. These days, we don’t need to travel across the ocean to see the world’s incredible variety of design. Fortunately, all we need to do is go online and, with a few clicks, we have a wealth of design inspiration at our fingertips.

Locating these indispensable sources of inspiration can be slightly tricky, especially when sifting through design sites written in a foreign language. Fortunately, some overseas Web sites, such as domusweb.it, an Italian magazine, offer English translations, making navigation infinitely easier. Other sites, such as netdiver.net and icograda.org, aim to foster a global design community by recognizing outstanding work from all corners of the world, and forge cross-continental connections. Certain design magazines printed overseas offer membership to US residents, with free shipping in some cases. It is wise to tap into these amazing global resources and pay attention to the constant evolution of design.

Just as a muscle in the body needs resistance from multiple angles to achieve maximum strength, creativity needs stimulation from multiple sources to flourish. In today’s competitive arts industry, introducing overseas design into your daily dose of design inspiration may have a tremendous payoff and give you an edge on competition.