“Do those two colors go together?” Occasionally I hear some version of the above in an initial branding presentation, usually when I show a direction that pushes past what a client expected. It’s a fair question. Most of us are taught early which colors are safe together and which ones aren’t. But sometimes brand color …
“How do you create your color palettes?” I’ve been asked that quite a few times over the years. Sometimes to create a successful color palette I seem to rely on intuition, but that’s only because after years of creating color families some things become second nature. There are some basic rules to follow when getting …
Replace or repair? First, do no harm. In many cases, it makes sense to modify rather than replace a logo design. A logo modification can correct issues that are not working in the existing logo while preserving its essential qualities and ideas make the logo a better fit for specific uses (for example social media, video, etc.) modernize the logo by …
The Commercial Street Night Market opened last week with great success. Shew Design created a logo and a look and feel for the project. We extend our thanks to a successful collaboration with Dean Fearing, who came up with the original night market idea, and Rick Mullen, who created a beautiful rendering of his vision for the market. …
Carrying a camera with us wherever we go is something we do by default. The use of textures in graphic design has a long history. We often incorporate textures into our work, and on a recent camping trip to Yellowstone National Park we captured a number of textures to add to our library. These images …
Research plays a crucial part in creating good design, and so a designer’s life is essentially a never ending series of opportunities to learn. The best designers are really the best at learning. That’s what I like to say as I help myself to a generous handful of research. My third. “That’s Callebaut, 54%,” Kevin …
Francis Ford Coppola said, “Art is partly being available to accidents that fall into your lap.” I agree. I have experienced some of these seemingly lucky accidents while printing, through something called make-readies. Make-ready sheets are most likely as old as printing itself. When setting up a press and adjusting details like ink levels and …
Recently, towards the end of a branding phase for a client, we were finalizing page designs for their website. The site was essentially a reproduction of the paper materials. While they liked the design on paper, the same design on screen felt cool to the touch – overly so. We agreed with their perception. …
The combination of new location, a daily bike commute, and quick daily walks have made Becca and me much more sensitive to the changing seasons this year. Readers of previous posts will remember that leaves are of particular interest to us this fall. We were especially struck with the incredible richness and range of colors, …
Thinking about structure in your marketing materials is about how you decide to use visual relationships to reinforce your message. It means thinking beyond what is being said, and exploring the how. As always, the process begins with focusing on your message, ideally your one message. Deciding on a core message is often the biggest …
A holiday card commissioned by the Port of Bellingham became a little object lesson in design. The assignment was simple enough: use a series of historical photos to convey a message of holiday wishes without using symbolism related to any one religious tradition. In a sense, creating cohesion. The tricky thing about the project was that there …
Color is the place where our brain and the universe meet. – Paul Klee Though our eyes can distinguish millions of different shades of colors, our color vocabulary is limited in comparison – about thirty words in all. As a species, those words – colorful language – enter vocabulary at a snail’s pace, using a …
