Be a team player and set your boundaries

When I think of a team, I often think of the human body, each part of the body serves it’s own purpose, and without one part of the body doing it’s role, other body parts will either suffer or have to overcompensate for the failing part’s faults. 

As Designers we are given responsibilities and deadlines that must be met, because of this we must be accountable to the people around us and pull our weight as part of a team. However, with this, others also need to also be accountable to us. So like these body parts, we must be team players. 

Something I have learned while working in a studio environment is the importance of a timeline. This sets out exactly when things are due and how the project will be completed by the deadline. It also stops things from being left till the last minute and causing great amounts of stress for the whole team. In the human body when the ears can not hear, or the eyes do not see, the brain as a result of this does not have the information to process. Like this analogy, when people don’t respect deadlines within a timeline, this often has implications on others, and as designers, this implication falls on us. How can we complete a brief if the information promised is not provided? It is not possible.

The sad reality though is that PEOPLE ARE UNRELIABLE.

As a designer it is extremely important for us to set strong boundaries with the people we work with. By doing this we are showing that we respect ourselves as designers, and ask that others also do the same, and understand that the work we do is important and takes time, effort, and skill. Because lets face it, (and not this is not intended in an arrogant way), not everyone could do the work we do.

So I guess the key think I’m trying to say is do your bit, and set your boundaries, you are designer and this is something that people should respect.

The Distillery

Last week, our Design Studio class had the opportunity to accompany our second year 'babies' design students to a really unique and exciting place in Sydney.

The Distillery is the only one of its kind in Sydney with the capability to produce high numbers of specialty design pieces. They have 3 ‘Original Heidelberg’ printing machines, which require a higher level of manual operation than todays printing methods.

Their main area of expertise is in letterpress, which uses a ‘kissing’ technique to create an ink imprint into the surface of a paper. This technique has become incredibly popular in the past few years and everyone on the excursion was excited to see what The Distillery does.

Whilst there, we were given an opportunity to mix paint to create a specific Pantone swatch colour. This was interesting to me, as I was able to see how manually laborious this process really is. There is no way that this technique could be achieved without human interaction (unlike the digital way of the world nowadays). Unlike what we are used to, sending a document to a printer and receiving it back almost instantly; this printing process can take a number of days on production alone. There are significant checks and tweaks that needs to happen even before a project can be considered ‘ready for print’.

We were also shown through the process of setting a machine up for print, and how each mechanical part in the machine performs its individual function. While the machine operator was explaining this, it seemed an awful lot like trying to learn to drive a manual car (it seems complicated and detailed but once you understand the steps, it becomes easy and fun).

One of the most interesting points that I’ve noted for a later date is that when designing for letter press, the more detailed the design (covering less of an area of a page) the better it will look. Also, the less colour the cheaper, quicker, and easier the job will be to produce.

In summary, I found the printing technique of letterpress to be an art form in itself and have a high appreciation of it. The results are beautiful and unique and definitely something I hope to design for in the future.

Check it out here. 

The Importance of Colour in Branding

The importance of colour in a brands design it recognisable and stand out. Colour is the first thing we notice when looking at brand. Majority of people remember a brand by its colours. Colour communicates moods to the audience. It signifies different meanings and interpretations. When the audience first sees the corporate brand design they react to its colours. The colours of a corporate brand design can either make it memorable or easy to forget.

Whilst restocking the fridge at work I noticed a change.. Some of the drinks and packaging were different. At first glance I didn’t like the new designs, simply because there weren’t what I had expected and was used to. When I got home I googled these new designs to compare them.  This is what I found and my opinion of the new designs.

The first design I noticed was Powerade.
  

Old Design

New Design

They have kept the same colours but changed the logo and style of the bottle. The new bottle is more rounded and slimline. It looks nicer to grip and hold in your hands opposed to the original square rigid shaped bottle.
  The new logo is flat and straight, but this makes it look more stylish, contemporary and modern. The typeface is different to the original. The black outline effect and slant on the old logo looks dated. I like that they have kept the original colours as the previous bottles. This makes the brand still recognisable despite the design change that also makes restocking the fridge easy.
 I personally think that by keeping their original colours, the brand is still recognisable as Powerade, it is just a new modern look.
 The second design change I noticed was Cool Ridge. They too, changed their logo, but did not keep their original colours.
 

Old Design

New Design

Coolridge has also changed their bottle to a more rounded and slimline shape. They have changed the original blue to a deeper and richer colour. And then added red. I don’t like their choice of having red to resemble ‘Australian Water Springs’. I don’t know their rationale behind that choice either so I’m not looking at these designs objectively. But for me, I don’t associate red with water; I associate red with fire, heat, roses that are quite the extreme opposite of water.
 They have changed the typeface of the logo, the positioning of the words is slightly similar. I noticed that in the new design the ‘r’ is the only letter capitalised which is interesting. I personally prefer the original design, because it resembles water more then the new design does.