Making the Complex Clear

Le Corbusier was the famous French modernist architect. His Savoy house in the countryside outside of Paris is a classic example of how he reduced the form of structure to just essential components. The house design was purposefully structured with no extraneous elements, no decorative motifs nothing that would add embellishments. Le Corbusier’s design philosophy focused on minimalist ideas and elimination of any extras.

Arrow

He believed that a house is a machine and as a machine the house should not be laden with any elements that otherwise do not support the machine function. He drew these conclusions analogous to how aircraft are designed and built and pointed to how the cockpit of an airplane is fit up with only functional and working controls, instrumentation and features that support the aircrafts performance. The exterior of the aircraft design structurally could not have any additions or parts that were simply for show this after all would impact on how the plane performs. Parts that didn’t contribute to engineering flight on the interior or exterior of an aircraft would not be considered. Le Corbusier questioned why parts would be put on a house if they didn’t contribute to functionality?

Situational Awareness

We have had the good fortune acting in our client’s interest developing an entire range of aircraft solutions. We’ve produced an arsenal of brilliantly engineered online learning modules celebrating aircraft within National Defense’s asset inventory. Access has been the operative word for this reason. For most people getting “up close and comfortable” with a Globemaster or a CF18 Fighter Jet, a Helicopter or some other defense aircraft asset isn’t an option. Having these great interactive 3D Max. modules online is meaningful. They're educational overviews about aircraft features that define for everyone complex information that is made easy to understand.

Helicopter

Making complex information easy to understand or removing extras that don't support ease of access or performance all contribute to the business of design leadership.

Typography design' query

typography judging panel

Dave from British Columbia asks...

...I just had a Corel advertisement pop up on my computer...got interested and started reading, which lead to a link to your company and you, being the designer. I don't want to waste your time, but I've been trying to search for an answer to a 'design' query that has been bothering me for a long time. Your company has been designated as one of the best in the country for design, so I am approaching you and putting my trust in your knowledge and experience. I read that your company diversifies, and includes signage as well as smaller forms of advertising.

I am one of the designers for a sign company in Oliver, BC. and we often have requests for billboards, sometimes a large as 10 feet x 32 feet, which are viewed from a considerable distance, sometimes 500 ft - 800 ft away. Can you tell me if you've ever come across a definite design rule, that states whether CAPITAL letters are more legible from a distance as opposed to Upper and Lower Case letters used in conjunction with each other? A lot of the time I believe capital letters have been used with false understanding, just because they are all larger in height, yet they are all square in shape basically. I'm wondering, by contrast, if the diversity in shape of Upper and lower case letters produces more clarity? Do you know if there has in fact been any studies done on this? I hoping you can set me straight. I would like to offer my customers the best information I can muster so that I can effectively design their signage with better knowledge. I hope to hear your side of this, and perhaps you might even know of a 'source' of literature or web site to refer to on this question. I appreciate your attention to this matter and look forward to your response.

Thanks Dave for the great question in response here is a thread to follow ...

from Typophile forum...

http://typophile.com/

Not exactly billboard related, but road sign:

http://opentype.info/blog/2009/09/02/designing-the-ultimate-wayfinding-typeface/

Response to follow once gordongroups esteemed panel of typographers give their rulings..Creative Director Leslie Miles...it is proven that text set in upper and lowercase letters are easiest to read as our brain recognizes the shape of the word rather than reading each letter individually। Billboards are most often scanned quickly as the viewer passes by so it makes sense to make it as easy as possible to take in the message by setting text in upper and lowercase letters। An exception to this would be if there are only 2-3 words set in all caps to convey a particular tone...Senior Designer Kelly Read - Lyon I think the real issue is the amount of type you are using and how fast you need the viewer to understand it. Billboards usually need small amounts of type and fast comprehension. U & LC will always be easier and faster to read. Going with all caps in small doses can add impact though, should the design call for it (as Leslie says, 2–3 words or so).

I also don't think size of type or its distance from the viewer factors into the question of U & LC vs. caps. The designer should set the type at a size that is readable in either case, whether it's a billboard that is 800 ft. away or a printed piece that is 2 ft. away.

Thanks very much....that adds a lot of clarity to my 'mind' over this matter. Appreciate your time on this...the whole design crew.

Cheers,
Dave Veach
Graphic Designer
Outreach Neon Ltd.
Oliver, BC.,

the thread continues from TYPOPHILE a great forum for typographers ...

Not about the typography but the content:


6 words - 6 seconds


7 words - 7 seconds

That’s an old billboard design adage.

pbc

 

russellm

10.Dec.2009 6.30pm

 

When designing signs I find that lateral space is usually at more of a premium than vertical space for text.

All-caps, at the same nominal size might well be more legible, but U/C characters are generally wider and, excepting ascenders, taller and therefore occupy more area per glyph.

Try setting your text in upper and lower case, then all-caps at the same nominal size, then in upper and lower case, increasing the size until it is the same length as the upper case sample. Then walk away from your samples and see which one becomes unreadable first.

…
-=®=-

 

Paul Cutler

10.Dec.2009 6.40pm

 

Indeed russellm, when I’m doing billboards I print them out at tabloid size, tape them to a wall and get about 10-15 feet from them to judge legibility.

pbc

 

Design On!

Book design for clients is another discipline that we engage in at gordongroup. Over the years a number of important books have been produced these past projects stand out in retrospect as highlights from the project collective of 22 years.

Peter Dorn a book designer from Queens University was my book design Professor during college years. This was an early touch point and an important foundational focus on the fine art of book design. Throw back to 1985 a great friend and business associate Professor Michael Gnarowski was the General Editor of Carleton University Press. He and I enjoy the odd pint to this day and I celebrate the fact that Michael holds the coveted longest client relationship status at gordongroup. Books have been Michael's passion and to his credit he has enshrined many notable titles for important people who require support, commitment, tenacity and knowledge navigating through the publishing trade labyrinth. Michael's love of books is evident in his library and his leading expertise in Canadian Literature. His enterprise Golden Dog Press operates from his magnificent home in Kemptville Ontario. Before I realized it I was on a book design trajectory working with Michael at Carleton University Press. These were early days entering the book design pathway.

We produced the Canadian Centre for Early Canadian text series, numerous academic authored titles and other interesting subject matter over the course of many years. Two important titles funded at the time of the millennium were seminal reference in the form of coffee table books. They included a historical retrospect on The James Bay Northern Quebec Crees and a second history title on The Supreme Court of Canada. (Without my knowing at the time the Cree History book "I Dream of Yesterday and Tomorrow" was the precursor to a major 4 episode documentary film production currently underway today at gordongroup)

Both these major projects stand today as records of our book publishing expertise but more rewarding was the people we met under engagement to produce the products. Two people come to my memory who have now past on but during the brief period I knew them they enriched my life being in their presence working together with them on book design. While engaged with the Grand Council of the Crees a gentleman Bob Epstein played a central role helping us document Cree history. Elders, leaders, storytellers and others from Cree society made unique contributions and gave their perspective to create the manuscript that was eventually published. Bob an incredibly engaging man I recall had a remarkable sense about exploring and digging into subjects to better understand and learn. He impressed me as a great educator.

The Supreme Court book was another brilliant opportunity and intensive study on Canada’s judicial system. I was introduced to Malek Karsh who brought his collection of period black and white photographs from The National Archives for our clients to review and select for their publication design layout. Malek of course was Yousef Karsh’s brother. His diplomacy and gentle personality embraced everyone he met in the Tax Room within the Supreme Court Building. I knew him only by his work previous to meeting him in person. His genius photography today remains legendary he was the founder of Ottawa’s Tulip Festival. Both these great people made a lasting impression on me I'm privileged to have known them. These millennium books designed for our clients bring memories of great relationships and rewarding times in the understanding business.

Kita Szpak one or our senior project managers within gordongroup recently published her inaugural children’s storybook. “Your Special Wherever You Are” The book has great illustrations throughout and engaging prose. This new and great book is a testament to the talent and intelligent thinking that people who come to our organization bring on a daily basis. Publishing has some down side risk today to Kita’s credit she got the book off the Press’s and out into children’s hands. An admirable accomplishment!

Bon Vivant!

Many great opportunities arise in the design business we play a central role assisting our clients with conversations that engage their various audiences both old and young. We often enter into opportunities that require visuals. Visuals come in many forms photographs, illustrations, iconic marks, symbols or logos. The business of commercial illustration has evolved with the advent of new technologies specifically software programs like 3D MAX and Maya. The level of realism that illustrators achieve today is remarkable. Visuals and words plus engineering combine all the essential ingredients to making information meaningful.

In my quest for realism and the personification of inhuman objects long before online technologies I went on a pursuit some years back prior to 1995. I met an extraordinary individual Francesco Santalucia. I needed someone who could turn produce into mascots. This was a project for a client’s umbrella organization. Their membership includes produce growers from across the country. This association wanted to launch a kids outreach campaign. We found Francesco in Montreal as a result of his pages in a large hard cover illustrator’s promotional publication. He had the right skills to bring carrots, apples and other earthly vegetables to life. The intent was to make these vegetable products into animated characters that would appeal to young children. The project was a smash hit Francesco's illustration created more demand from children across Canada joining the club then the client envisioned or expected. A great metric and fabulous outcome promoting healthy eating to youngsters while being educated about nutrition.

Francesco was at the office today, we engaged him to render a high realism Maya animated sequence for our documentary film production that is nearing completion. He came to Ottawa to review the details and creative direction with the film director and director of photography (DOP). The relationship lives on and I'm thrilled to have Francesco back on assignment for our clients.

Lasting business relationships contribute to making the business vital. The projects we complete on behalf of our clients bring constant reminders of the upside of collaborating toward positive outcomes and driving the company success. Having dynamic people part of the program is that much more rewarding.

Times shared with Francesco have been great his fabulous work over the last couple of decades enshrined positive memories. His work stands as testament to someone who has unmatched passion achieving excellence in his craft. I believe his core brand is capturing children’s imagination through extraordinary skill in rendering ideas. Check out his site to get the picture.

We’ve become friends. His insight and counsel on matters of business have been great. His creativity, wisdom, and genuine magnetic style and inspirational spirit is evident in his craft and abundant in his personality. I look forward to continuing great times ahead launching brilliant visuals for our clients knowing and collaborating with Francesco Santalucia.

Smoking good Cuban cigars, drinking fine wine and enjoying remarkable dinners with this bon vivant has contributed to enriching many experiences personally and professionally.

Organizational Diagnosis for Brand Management

user experience click here

For effective brand building to be accomplished the first important stage is understanding our clients unique organizational structure. Looking at the organization from the perspective of how all its various parts, constituents and stakeholders align to ensure a properly functioning enterprise is essential step one.

We cannot provide useful counsel on brand for internal audiences or others if we fail to see the unique profile of organizational structure. In retrospect some large organizations like federal departments have expansive profiles with whole communities of employees working interdependently toward defined mandates. Our engagement with Service Canada gave us a genuine understanding of the unique attributes of large scale brand programs. We have engaged with Not for Profits that have a volunteer base who comprise of a core group of stakeholders. This same organization has board oversight, with a CEO who also deals with governance from public regulatory officials, the clients “customers” are accredited organizations registered and legally obliged to utilize our client under the regulatory regime. Other parties contribute to the functioning of the organization all of this toward ensuring outcomes and advancement of the Not for Profits organizational goal. I use this specific example to define for readers the degree to which we have to respond and carefully navigate with all the players toward successful outcomes in brand leadership. The example provided is not unique when entering into new business models and lack of understanding of the make up of the organization prior to launching into brand management is at the consultant’s peril.

A good cross section of clients engage us with less complex management and stakeholder profiles but frequently we do diagnostic assessments of organizational structure and dynamic prior to getting down to essential planning and strategy. We are prepared then to sell the “change”, which is why we’re being paid the big bucks in the brand business. From the outside this missive I hope will provide some context for how our task as experts in brand can have some serious logjams and potential barriers. In most cases the client has aligned the organization as a whole and informed the team that something new is underway this creates less resistance to our involvement in leading the charge.

But here is the scoop or the post point. We encounter new opportunities monthly and annually. The cumulative net advantage from moving from one client on to the next client working on a continuum of brand engagements has been extraordinary. Factor the learning and diagnostic focus done for one company and what you gain from studying that model. Take that over many companies over a decade and you begin to appreciate the big advantage you bring as an expert dealing in complex brand management programs. The understanding and investment as a result of diagnosis of business models over years in the field affords the brand consultant unequalled depth by comparison to staff members or those who have not touched on the variety and expanse of opportunities. The brand consultant’s wealth of experience, great depth and understanding of unique and different business models provides significant advantage to the client who is interested in distinctive, well-defined brand leadership models for their organization.