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Since around 1986, Apple’s Mac Operating System has won-over users due to its ease of use, simplicity and the fact that not much changed in the way it worked — a fact that many PC users claimed was a fault. In fact, until OSX was release in March of 2001, about the biggest thing that changed with the way the Mac OS looked and worked was a few Control Panels making connecting to the Internet easier and a handful of doo-dads that were easily missed unless you were looking for them. All the Finder windows, keyboard commands and icons remained relatively unchanged for years. 
With OSX, everything changed. Users cried foul, threatened to leave the platform if Apple didn’t immediately remove the candy icons and buttons and go back to the dull grayscale and relatively flat appearance of OS9. Of course, eventually those users came-around and quickly learned to love OSX. From OSX 10.1 PUMA to 10.4 Tiger, not much changed with the overall appearance of the Mac OS. A few cool new apps like iChat, a brushed metal appearance, iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, Mail and Safari came along, but none of those really fundamentally changed the way we work with the OS. But then came along a big, bad cat named Leopard.
Is there a worm in our Apple?
Gizmodo pulls prank – gets banned from CES
You may have heard about Gizmodogate, a practical joke a blogger at Gizmodo played on unsuspecting exhibitors at the recent CES show in Las Vegas. Basically, one of the bloggers at Gizmodo was given TV-B-Gone clickers and he chose to use it at the world’s largest gathering of tech-geekery by shutting off not only individual LCD TVs on display, but also a presentation being made by one of the exhibitors. While this may come across initially as good-spirited fun and Tom-Foolery, I look at it another way. To me it was a childish prank that not only affected the hard-working people working the targeted booths, not just the companies that spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to show-off their latest wares, but may have completely ruined the reputation of all bloggers who take what they do seriously. And what’s worse is that Gizmodo appears to be proud of the act, publicizing it on their own site. As a blogger myself, I’ve worked hard to establish myself as a serious writer. Granted, this site is a hobby for me, something I do because I love to do it. But I also would like to think that you, my readers, and other Mac-related sites take me seriously. Maybe it’s just a fantasy and I’m just dreaming. But serious bloggers have been fighting the notion that they’re two-bit hacks not worthy of being called a “real” journalist for years. CES just this past year finally gave-in to bloggers everywhere, offering them media credentials for the event. What Gizmodo has done has validated their past thinking, that bloggers are nothing but a bunch of children playing games and are not to be taken seriously. While CES has banned the Gizmodo staffer from future CES events, and are considering further sanctions against Gizmodo and their parent company (Gawker Media), one can only guess that they will also restrict all bloggers further media access and acknowledgement in the future. Thanks Gizmodo. I hope the 15-minutes of fame was worth it to you. Again, this in no way truly affects my ability to write for my own site now, but who’s to say that it won’t in the future affect my ability to do so should I choose to attend and cover such an event? And while it doesn’t affect me now, it may affect other bloggers I respect that DO depend on these media credentials to do their job. And that would be a shame. I’m not going to sit here and beg you not to visit Gizmodo’s site. You should take advantage of any source of information you can on the internet. But I will say that I personally will not click the ads on Gizmodo anymore, and if this childish act bothers you in any way, I ask you to do the same. Punishing them financially is about all we as readers can do about it. Let’s just hope we don’t have a repeat at Macworld this week.
Good designers copy, great designers steal
Pablo Picasso, the first living artist to be featured in the Louvre, influenced the artistic world in a uniquely original way. So why is he known for saying “Good artists copy, great artists steal?”
The key? Steal from discreet sources.
Cameron Moll, a freelance new media and print designer, wrote an article a few years back on the topic, but I find it still relevant today. Stop by SitePoint and take a look at Good designers copy, great designers steal.
Review: Inside Adobe InDesign Newsletter
Somewhere on the Web I came across an offer for a free issue of Inside Adobe InDesign, a monthly newsletter for ID users, and took advantage of the offer. You’ve seen these offers, get your free issue, no obligation, cancel at any time, blah, blah, blah. About three weeks (give or take) after I signed up, I received an invoice for $147 from Eli Journals (the publisher), stating that they haven’t received payment for my subscription yet. To be quite honest, I didn’t even remember what it was they were invoicing me for since I hadn’t received anything yet, so I tossed the invoice. About a week or two after receiving the invoice, I finally got my copy of IAID. It’s a 16 page, 8.5 x 11 glossy, full color newsletter which was pre-punched for a 3-ring binder. Nothing overly fancy about the design of the newsletter, but hey – I’m paying for the content, right?! Oh, by the way, I also got another invoice. I guess I’m spoiled with my subscription to Layers Magazine, which by the way costs 1/3 the amount and averages over 120 pages. The content of IAID fell WAY SHORT of what I was expecting, though maybe that’s my fault for expecting anything useful. Inside I was treated to the following content:
- Four pages on “avoiding registration mishaps by setting a perfect trap.” Now I must admit that knowing what trapping is and how it can affect your document when printed is important, but any commercial printer worth the ink on their business card handles the trapping for you. Additionally, 99% of the RIPs out there that a printer uses will override your trap settings when printed unless you specifically tell them not to – in which case your carefully trapped document can turn out to be a mess because their RIP is calibrated to trap to their particular output device. In the end, this was a great way to fill four pages, but of little use to anyone who knows commercial printing.
- Three pages of a tutorial on how to “Create realistic Polaroid-style frames for your images” without the use of Photoshop. Great, I love tutorials. Unfortunately, the end result of this tutorial looked like a design-school first-day project. It was horrible. The image was at a different angle than the white Polaroid-style frame it was sitting on. Completely amateur, completely useless. Plus, there are easier ways to create Polaroid-style frames for your images.
- Two pages of “10 surefire ways to cut your printing costs.” Now this was something of use for most designers – except that the tips were so vague in nature that they were barely useful. One full tip essentially is to “properly prepare your digital files.” Another was “plan ahead to avoid rush charges.” Well no duh!!! Another wasted 2 pages.
- One full page on how to “upgrade your workflow with Adobe Creative Suite 3.” This was nothing more than the product chart showing what programs are included with what Creative Suite – the very same chart you can find on Adobe’s Web site (and the 5,000 other sites that had the chart and description several months back and that you’ve already seen).
- One full page on how to “nest frames to create a one-of-a-kind object.” OK, so this was actually useful.
- One full page on “getting text and objects to peacefully coexist” – which was basically a very brief tutorial on how to anchor an object/image into a text frame. This tutorial was also useful to new InDesign users, but didn’t really go into enough detail to show you how useful it really can be.
- One and a half pages on how to see what color profile is embedded in your Photoshop image and how to safely scale images. Yawn…
- Three quarter page software review of Teacup Software’s ImageSwapper plugin – which allows you to replace your low-res images with their high-res equivelant just before print time. Um, who still does this? Well, large catalog-makers probably still do this, but there are automated workflows for OPI that link to image databases to handle the job. I can’t blame the newsletter for covering this, because it is a nice piece of software, but so limited in its audience that I hardly think it worth the back cover of the newsletter.
That’s it. $12.25 of my subscription for one issue, and not a single valuable piece of information as a pro-user, and about a page and a half of useful info for beginners. Perhaps I just received an older issue (it was Volume 4, Number 6 for whatever that’s worth) and the content has gotten better. Or maybe when you get the “free issue” you only get a portion of a full issue. Either way, I wasn’t impressed at all. This is definitely not something I consider worth the investment. Needless to say, I won’t be subscribing. Oh, by the way, I received another invoice a few days after receiving the free issue… I give them an “A” for persistence.
Working with a copywriter: an interview
One of the misconceptions many new designers have when they start out in an ad agency is that they will work alone in a plush office taking client supplied copy and photos and designing the next great ad. In reality, you’ll be working as a team with a copywriter tossing ideas back & forth about the text for the ad, as well as the overall design. That’s because any great ad has to speak to a viewer with words and pictures, at least most do. Some ads are pure text and can be quite successful and creative. Others offer only a word or two with a stunning visual to get the message across, such as Apple’s “Think Different” campaign. At first it can be difficult learning to “share” the design process for someone used to freelancing or working for a firm with an in-house design shop. Working with a copywriter doesn’t mean you won’t have to write copy, it also doesn’t mean you’ll have 100% control over the design. In order to shed some light on the subject, I asked former R&R Partners Senior Copywriter, Steve Yamamori, for some brief but helpful insight. Steve has worked with clients such as Cox Communications, YMCA, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, National Bank of Arizona, Anti-Tobacco, Las Vegas Convention & Visitors Authority, Valley Metro and several non-profit clients. He’s also an Emmy and Addy Award-winning copywriter, so he knows his stuff! CG: Steve, tell us how you got into the ad business?
Steve: I had worked in account management for over five years when I got a unique opportunity to work in the creative department. It’s been about four years and I’ve been writing ever since. Having worked on the account side previously has given me some fantastic insight into how my account reps and the client are thinking. I feel it’s important to “get into their head” before I begin writing, and knowing how and what to ask the client has helped a great deal.
CG. What is your role in the creative process?
Steve: In a creative department, regardless if it’s in a traditional agency or client side, sooner or later you’ll come face-to-face with a real life copywriter. My suggestion is not to make eye contact and hastily make it for the door. Actually, a copywriter can come in really handy. Having a creative-minded partner working with you on a project can help you bounce ideas off one another and come up with better ideas that are simple and smart. Two heads are almost always better than one. As for the process, the team (the art director/designer and the copywriter) usually meets with the client and/or the account team. A creative brief is then written and the team gets to work. There are a lot of ways teams concept together, some stay together the entire time, while others will separate, think on their own and then come together and hash out their concepts. Either way, ideas are shared, split, dissected, killed, dreamed-up, etc. It’s not always the copywriter with the headline and the art guy with the visual. It’s a partnership and anything can spark the next great idea. Even the worst shit makes excellent fertilizer. So ideas are dreamed up and the best get presented to the client. What happens next is heaven or hell depending on luck, or which way the wind blows.
CG: That’s a bit one-sided, don’t you think? Is working with a copywriter that important?
Steve: James J. Jordan Jr. a famous ad man described his concept of “Power Copy” this way, “The heart and power of advertising is copy…A very few words so skillfully targeted, so clear in their positioning, so vivid in their articulation and so memorable in their identification with a given brand, that they, all by themselves, become not only what people remember about the brand, but also the most important part of the brand’s identity and people’s principle reason for buying the brand.” I offer you the following: Think Different, Just Do It, Have a Coke and a Smile, True, Where’s the Beef?, Like a Rock, The Choice of the New Generation, What Happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas – all ad slogans that really need no visual to get their message across. They’re embedded in consumers’ mind and have lasting appeal. Of course we add a visual to these famous slogans and it only serves to strengthen their position and meaning. None of those award-winning slogans were written by a copywriter or an art director, they were written by great creative teams of writers and art directors, and it’s important to not only understand that, but to embrace it and use it for all it’s worth!
CG: Any other profound statements for the readers, Steve?
Steve: That’s it, simpleton, we are good, and you, in the black with the goatee, are bad.
Does 9 to 5 = Average Designer?
If you haven’t yet worked for a real design firm/ad agency, you may not have been exposed to frequently working late hours, weekends or when you’re flat out of ideas. This is the agency life. People work at different paces, with different styles. But in a design firm, you have to “put in the work” in order to be great. IdeasOnIdeas has a an article titled 9 to 5 = average, in which the author comments on his belief that being great at design more or less *requires* you to state late, work harder than the next guy and essentially throw aside any hope of a balanced life.
Design is a particularly challenging profession at this point in history. It requires understanding of cultural issues, history, psychology, multiple media forms, ever-changing tools, and roles which can often mutate with time. Is it realistic for one to become an outstanding designer, working 37 – 40 hours a week?
The author of this article suggests that “balance” in your life leads to being an average designer. While I agree somewhat with the overall theory behind the article, I’m not sure my 20+ years of experience proves his theory correct. Being a designer requires a good work ethic and dedication. Being a great designer requires you to go the extra step. But what I’ve found is that you can stay late, work weekends and be as passionate as you can possibly be and there’s a very good chance you’re still going to be an average designer. Just like there’s a good chance that leaving the office at 5pm and having a well-rounded life outside the office will lead you to greatness. I subscribe to the theory that “I work to live, I do not live to work.” I think it makes me better at my job. Too many designers who make their career their entire life tend to make staying late and working weekends a badge of honor to be worn on their chest with pride. I consider it a badge of stupidity. Now don’t get me wrong, I think you have to be dedicated and willing to do whatever it takes to be great at your job… within reason. But just how great do you want to be? Just how great do you need to be? This is your career we’re talking about, not your life. Unless of course you let your design prowess define your life. Also remember that part of being a great designer (which is all about communicating with your targeted audience) is knowing the trends, interacting with people, visiting places and seeing “what’s out there.” You can’t do that sitting in your office, not matter how many free snacks are available or how many gadgets you have on your desk. As the owner of a design firm or ad agency, I would much prefer an office full of designers who rate a consistent 8 (on a scale of 1 to 10) who on occasion turn in work that makes them a 10 – rather than having an office full of 10s who get burnt out after 6 months and leave. I would rather have happy employees who look forward to coming to work each day and have life experiences to share. I do not want someone who has nothing to offer but their design, no passion beyond the work. This is a business about communicating with PEOPLE about their life. If you don’t have one of your own, it’s hard to speak to someone who does in a way that invokes passion.
Designing with a solution is the problem
I came across a rather interesting article by Thomas Vanderwhal regarding a long-standing issue with the ad business. The article is titled Designing with a Solution is the Problem, and it covers the ever-present problem of clients asking you to design a solution to a problem they aren’t willing to, or cannot show you (cart before the horse). If you thought design is about making an ad look cool, you obviously have no grasp of the business, and hopefully this article will illustrate this concept for you. Also, be sure to check out the other article Thomas linked to, Be Cooler by Design.
Which Mac to buy if you’re a designer or content creator
Which Mac should I buy? It’s a question I see constantly in forum discussions across the Web. If you’re an average consumer who needs Web, email, word processing and little more, the choices are easy. You can go with what your pocketbook allows and be satisfied. Deciding which new Mac to get if you’re in the content creation business, however, is like trying to decide what milk to buy at the grocery store when you don’t normally do the shopping in the household. You’ve got the choice between 1%, 2%, whole milk, low-fat, skim, no freakin fat whatsoever, the list goes on and on. It’s enough to drive you crazy just looking at the options. Here is my (very opinionated) advice to those who find themselves faced with such an expensive dilemma as to which Mac to buy. You’re on your own with the milk though.