Toy Pistols

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That’s a bad motherf… shut yo’ mouth!

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Board Games

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Alphabet Blocks

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Bicycles

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Trains

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Toy Animals

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Five down from the top left – I proclaim thee “crack dog”.

Erector Sets

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Sounds like there’s a joke in here somewhere, but this is a classy website…

Christmas Stockings

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What’s your favorite catalog ad? Comment!

1 — Keep Work That Has Lasting Value

The meaning of “important” is different for everybody but if you want to keep an efficient archive where you can easily find your work, don’t be afraid to part ways with non-essentials. Many people believe that their archives serve as an overview of their work and careers. Does having three versions of the same postcard you designed at your first job really deserve a spot in your Hall of Fame?

Having said that, keep other items from that project that shed more light on the actual design process such as sketches, print-outs, client testimonials and Polaroids. For those iffy items whose fate you just can’t decide upon — scrap the physical version and make sure you have it on disk to make your heart feel a little better. Don’t worry, those postcards are in a better place and will live on in our hearts forever.

2 — Logically Group Your Work Together

This depends on what type of designer you are — whether you’re an in-house, freelance or design studio employee. When I was a in-house designer, I grouped everything by year and all I had to do was go to the year and the piece would usually be chronologically ordered (by stacking newest on oldest). Freelancers often group their projects by clients but under circumstances they like to group by type of project.

For example, my friend is a screen print designer and prefers to organize by apparel, paper medium and weird stuff like Frisbees. Now that I work in a studio atmosphere, I prefer to actually archive by year and type of project. So in the future, all I’d need to remember is the year and I should be able to find the type of project because they are grouped together (different than when I was in-house because grouping by client was more easier as their projects were similar in tone and subject matter). Do what makes most logical sense for your individual needs but year, client and category are good places to start.

3 — Store Your Work In Trusted Archive Quality Containers

There is no way around this one. You’ll need to get your mitts on suitable vessels for your work to ensure longevity. Go online and get yourself some acid and lignin-free archive safe folders, boxes, tubes and what have you. Paper is often treated with acid because it aids writing but over time it breaks down paper.

That can translate to making your work brittle and yellow. Lignins are a natural substance found in wood (and therefore paper) that breaks down over time to create acid… which means brittle and yellow once again. If you’re in a bind but want to archive on a budget, buy some acid-free paper and cut it up to buffer your most valued pieces while in storage. You can invest in some proper containment units when you have the means to do so.

4 — Label It

You scoff at this suggestion now but we’ll laugh last when you’re confronted with several seemingly identical boxes staring you in the face when you need it most. For all the all-star lazies out there — take some post-it notes, capture the year, client and project of as many pieces you can muster and slap it onto the inside box lid, tape it to the exterior of the tube or someplace easy to spot. That’s the minimum you need to achieve to have some semblance of find-ability later on. Hopefully, if you organized your work logically, you’ll be able to find work contextually despite not doing careful inventory.

For every one else, take the time to label the box with what’s inside and perhaps even devise a simple system you can document. For example, you can have 3 boxes labeled A, B and C. Each letter can represent a year, a range of clients or a category of projects. The first box (or whichever vessel is most accessible) can be accompanied by a documented key explaining how the system works. Anybody who has ever had to remotely ask a wife, parent, sibling or roommate to search for something while you are away will see the value in this step. The amount of work you put in towards labeling will directly correlate into how easy you can find things later on (especially as the archive grows).

5 — Store It Somewhere Safe Away From Sunlight & Water

Sunlight and water are the two arch enemies you must avoid at all costs. That means using your best judgment in keeping away from washing machines in the basement, anywhere near aquariums of any kind, a closet that has any appearance of water damage or anywhere else that has even a hint of danger.

If where you’re currently residing doesn’t offer a safe and hospitable environment for your archive think about leaving it in storage. Whether that be paid storage if you’re in a urban city like NYC or yo’ mama’s house if that’s an option for you. It’s a risk you don’t want to take because these items are often irreplaceable.

6 (Bonus) — Digital Archives?

Data media is cheap compared to the past, I keep my work on hard drives and back it up on DVD. Experts suggest that you keep equipment so that you can still access the old digital files but my personal preference is to export a high-res PDF and leave it at that (for closed projects and clients that are not coming back [thanks, Nick]). If I desperately needed something from an old project, a high-res PDF will suffice almost all of the time. I would not keep an old computer or a zip-drive around anymore for the sake of backwards compatibility and instead focus on transferring them to new technology.

Other articles of interest:

Demystifying the Use of Service Agreements
A Designer’s Guide to Copyright

Your comments are appreciated!

1 — Information

You can make a strong statement with what you don’t say. Depending on the type of business, you can get away with not saying much on a card. It can draw attention to what you really want them to do, such as visit the website. Conversely, you can pack a card with tons of data as long as it ties in with a concept. The business cards for my design firm have a lot of random personal information but it often leads to easily striking up conversations and getting to know clients better.

2 — Concept

Having a unique overall concept instantly captures attention. It can also be a double edged sword because since it has so much cache in the client’s mind — it should be relevant in some way. Sometimes being overly clever is akin to trying too hard. However, if you can make it work because you’re taking advantage of some sort of unique factor in your name, company, or industry… that’s fair game.

3 — Shape

I think shape is one of the most underrated ways to make your card stand out. My experience with my personal cards being slightly smaller than the norm is that it’s a detail that people always notice. Now imagine if you did some sort of die-cut or choose a shape completely divorced from what people think of in business cards… you and the card would be instantly memorable.

4 — Material

CAUTION… when leaving the realm of 100lb paper you can get into hit or miss situations because of how well the piece is produced. Other issues such as price and how annoying it becomes to carry around come into play too. On the opposite spectrum, using cheaper substrate can be just as bad because the card may require you to hand craft each one or the material may be very delicate. However, when successful — these cards are total show stoppers.

5 — Color

This may be one of the easiest ways a designer can set themselves apart while not straying too far away from the pack. Colors play such a huge role in the way people perceive things that a smart designer can use that to their advantage and design a great card without having to resort to exotic tricks and the trendy technique of the moment.

6 — Texture

This is one of the human senses that I think designers forget about sometimes for business cards. Whether it’s an emboss, varnish, substrate or special process — it’s always fun to watch people focus on just the feel of the card rather than the look (which we are more used to).

7 — Size

Risky as it may be, size can be a playful and instant attention getter. Dramatically bigger or smaller somehow always says something about the card owner as well from my experience. The challenges of this can be tough as a large card is cumbersome but a small card can easily be misplaced.

8 — Versions

Often unappreciated because people rarely see all the cards together as a set, having multiple versions can serve as a nice conversation starter if they notice that each card is unique. If you’re like Jason Santa Maria (as seen below) and participate in conferences/meetings where you might have a stack of cards out — a nice functional trick may be to lay them out so they can see the cards as a set if you designed them that way.

9 — Alternate Purpose

These type of “business cards” often generate huge buzz in design books and magazines because they’re almost like modern art. At it’s best, people will never forget you because of it but at it’s worse you might need to make a second set of cards because let’s face it — you’re not gonna carry around a box full of wooden laundry clips every where you go.

10 — Part of a Business System

A jaw dropper of a card is all well and good but if it is a total disconnect from the rest of your business system, you may have consistency issues. Alternatively, if you make your business system some sort of circus to help buoy the card’s extravagance that can make you look like you’re “trying too hard” (which can appear unprofessional at times).

Business cards at their best display some basic information while showing a bit of your personality. There is a fine line you have to look out for depending on who you are, what type of work you do and other factors but I support those who are willing to take a bit of a risk and throw some caution to the wind for the sake of innovation. If you concentrate on two of the ten listed elements, you’re well on your way to a quality card.

You may also like:

20 Astonishingly Intricate International Metro Maps
A Designer’s Guide to Copyright

Comment if you like the article!

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Which was your favorite? Let me know in the comments!

Tip #1 — It’s All in the Timing, Baby

For those who didn’t know, Tuesdays have shown to get the best “open” rates for email campaigns. Tuesday is probably just that perfect time of the week where you can catch your potential clients and customers after they’ve finally got back to speed from the weekend yet still have plenty of time to read your email before the coming weekend. Most report that it usually declines after this point with Wednesday and then Thursday being the next best days to send a email blast out. Keep in mind that everybody’s business is unique, so it may for your individual industry. Some of my friends who are in the bar/restaurant business send out emails with drink/meal specials on the day of so they can tempt their customers all day hopefully ending with them visiting later on.

Tip #2 — Add Me to Your Address Book

Do not ever underestimate the power of the spam filtering that people have. Spam is so annoying and dangerous to individuals and corporations alike that they use varied methods of just keeping the inane and dangerous garbage out of their lives. Believe it or not, adding a little bit of text — “Please add example@website.com to your address book to ensure delivery.” in a prominent area in your sign up area is an incredibly underestimated and often neglected practice that can yield tremendous benefits. I would go as far as adding it to the newsletter/campaign as well somewhere just in case your newsletter has been blocked but has miraculously made it through on rare occasions.

Tip #3 — Don’t Underestimate the Importance of the Subject Line

Not only does the subject line help you make it pass the spam filters and into the mailbox — it is the text that entices the receiver to open the email. Here are some quickie recommendations:

• Keep the messaging short and simple and 50 characters or less
• Read the subject line out loud. Hearing it aloud will allow you to hear the flow of it better. See if your co-workers can comprehend what the email is about just from listening to that
• Never use ALL CAPS
• Never use the words: Free (Can’t resist? Just never first in the sentence and be very careful with punctuation), Help, Percent off, Call Now, Discount and Reminder (or anything sexual or “naughty” if you want to be sure to clear the spam filtering)
• Be very careful with punctuation if you use it. Multiple exclamations is just asking to be filtered
• Localization Helps — Mentioning a city or town name can be effective
• Don’t be afraid to test — tweak length, keywords and tone until you hit the sweet spot

Tip #4 — Have a Consistent Sending Schedule

Generally, bi-weekly or monthly is a good frequency as most people find the time between messages to be just long enough so they are not annoyed. You want the recipient feel that they might miss something if they don’t scan it this month. Most people are curious and if you craft a consistently good newsletter — it can become a part of a recipient’s routine. It’s worth it to the sender as well because from my experience, it can be cumbersome to generate a ton of emails . It all depends on the type of business but for those who care about sending an email that always has genuine value with quality content — it can be tough.

Tip #5 — Build Your Lists as Much as You Can

When you premiere that first newsletter/email campaign… think if it as the start and not the ending. Every chance your business affords you should add names to that list. Trade shows, seminars, sign-up forms, events and even social networking should be a chance for you to get some names for the list. After a client meeting — ask them if they’d be interested in your mailing list which includes your newsletter subscription. If you work at a bar — ask your bartenders to help inquire clients they’ve newly befriended. There are many many way, but just realize it’s a never ending process. Be warned that permission is key as your potential client may not like you so much if you “spam” them (which it is if you don’t ask for permission to send).

Tip #6 — No Video and Flash Allowed

Sorry , my new media maven buddy — that stuff just doesn’t work. However, that shouldn’t stop you from offering that content elsewhere if that is the goal of the email campaign. Just design the email blast so the singular goal is to get them to click the link to view the new media as easy as possible. Don’t deceive them by having a image of a YouTube style graphic and expecting them to play it but entice them with a fetching screen cap (whatever that might be for your purposes). The point is, new media is revolutionizing the internet and how people communicate and you shouldn’t let email browsers prohibit your company from offering that type of content.

Tip #7 — Stop With the Ginormous Image as The HTML Email

Yes it’s simple and allows you to design without knowing any code at all and always displays perfectly — but nobody will see it! This is what spammers do so it will be highly likely it will be damned to spam folder hell! Also, email clients by default don’t display images. So that means it will become yet another hurdle that you’ll have to jump over to get your email message to your clients and customers. My advice is to find a quality email campaign service with lots of templates and choose one that floats your boat. Anything is better than sending simple big image emails.

Tip #8 — Take the Time to Test

Since a lot of businesses are doing email marketing, the propensity for blunders is occurring more frequently. A simple and effective practice is to make a checklist and turn it into a routine that you build in time for. It can be simple like — spell check, correct list, tested all links in the test email and plain-text is set up. When you click that “send” button you want to feel secure that you’ve done your due diligence in making sure your clients see you in the best possible light. Here’s a testing tip: don’t use dummy text. When you send it to the test list, it’s not going to be a accurate delivery because dummy text triggers spam infiltrators preventing it from arriving in the inbox (causing confusion and unnecessary headache).

Tip #9 — Is Your Sign Up Form Perfect?

Rightfully so, most people and businesses will concentrate their best efforts into their website. If it’s built right, it’s the ultimate go-to for impressing your audience and generating results (whatever that might be). Naturally, you’ll want to strike while the iron’s hot and get them to sign up for the newsletter/mailing list to keep the client relationship strong long after they leave the website. It’s a good idea to make sure the sign up is in a logical and relevant place that they will surely not miss during the browsing session. The sign-up form itself should not be cumbersome to fill out — look at your competitor’s website and try to only harvest the info you can’t live without.

Tip #10 — Design Your Layout Width Between 500 to 600 Pixels

You have no idea how people are viewing email, whether online or via a dedicated email client. Even if they have a web mail address they may be forwarding it to a client or using POP and IMAP features. Play it safe, 500 to 600 pixels is not that restrictive — this is the sweet spot for a email preview pane. Furthermore, when you see how people are using the preview panes you should try your best to follow simple user patterns such as logon on the top left and content in proper hierarchy so the viewers can scan. As Steve Krug says — “Don’t Make Me Think”.

Comment if you have any questions!

(I tried to focus on the most simplified “quick-view” versions meant for scanning on stations rather than intricate street combo versions. These versions have their own unique challenges like — readability, that I felt made them especially designerly.)

Japan

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New York City

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London

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Hong Kong

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Chicago

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Paris

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Moscow

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Montreal

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Melbourne

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Munich

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Oslo

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Zurich

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Madrid

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Washington, D.C.

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Boston

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Berlin

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Barcelona

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Switzerland

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Milan

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Singapore

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I apologize for any mistakes due to language barriers. Please alert me to any mistakes so I can make corrections!

What’s your favorite? I’m sure I missed some good ones, let me know in the comments!

Fever To Tell

Fever To Tell featured a punk-grunge-collage solution to it that mirrored the raw sound from that record.

Maybe it was lead singer’s hairdo that made me make the connection but I always thought they were trying to pay tribute to the another NYC band — the Ramones. Now that I think about it the Clash and Green Day’s Winston Smith Insomniac cover look like more of an influence.

The music itself on this album had many great tracks including Maps, Pin and my favorite — Y-Control. For the most part, a lot of the energy from this album was courtesy of Karen O’s snarling vocals over crunchy/gritty guitars on tight punk style 2 to 3 minute tracks.

Show Your Bones

The Show Your Bones legend goes — the band reached out to their fans to help come up with a Flag and they liked some so much they turned it into the cover art.

This one instantly reminded me of jasper John’s work of symbols like the various Flag works he did. Wondrously simple and beautiful how the tactile texture is responsible for the true beauty of the work.

The music of this album had everything we came to love and expect from the band but clearly you can see they sound very tight. The biggest hit on the album — Gold Lion is a haunting track that just sticks to your ears like honey. Karen O doesn’t need to snarl or hide behind guitars as much as her clear emotion is easily distinguishable as she sings. Just like the flag has fringes of unpredictable texture, so do most of the tracks.

It’s Blitz!

The latest album — It’s Blitz! has quite a striking feminist egg squashing image (although I have no idea if they intended that).

Made me think of the Saatchi collection a bit from when they came to the Brooklyn Museum of Art. Damien Hirst’s bizarre animal dissections and Sarah Lucas’s fried egg coming to mind first. I feel as though I’ve seen stuff exploding on CD art before but I can’t recall anything for the life of me this moment.

Music-wise, it’s still fresh on my iPod but from my observations it’s a degree cleaner than Show Your Bones but now they have a more predictable sound but make up for it in competence. Some of the tracks like Soft Shock and Skeletons make me think of how Robert Smith from the cure would approach a mid-tempo song. There is a “delicate quality” in how both sound too.

Yeah? No? What do you think of their cover art?

HELVETICA

• Created in 1957
• A “Grotesk” sans-serif (any early sans-serif essentially)
• Created to compete with Akidenz-Grotesk
• Updated to be more legible and consistent in 1983 (christened Helvetica Neue)
• A film was made about it
• Thx, to simplebitsdan for CC photo! BTW, I met Dan at ALA SF in 2008. Awesome dude.

Gill Sans

• Created in 1928 by Eric Gill
• A “Humanist” sans-serif (a calligraphic sans-serif essentially)
• Originally intended as a painted storefront lettering for a bookstore
• Beloved for the quirks and personalities that each letter form has
• Thx, to Y.Liu for the photo!

Futura

• Created in 1924-1926 by Paul Renner
• A “Geometric” sans-serif (geometrically oriented essentially)
• It has a reputation of efficiency and straight forwardness. Logically, IKEA has a font based on Futura
• Has roots from Bauhaus movement but much more useful and has aged better
• Thx, to Nick Sherman for CC photo!

Franklin Gothic

• Created in 1902 by Morris Fuller Benton
• Some classify this as a “Realist” sans-serif (basically a generic sans-serif) but I don’t agree. FG can be badass. That’s why I choose this pic.
• Was and is still used tremendously in newspaper/magazine ads. I would say the reason for that is the wonderful condensed versions that look great even capped.
• Thx, to DC/WB for image!

Univers

• Created in 1954 by Adrian Frutiger
• Classified as a “Realist” sans-serif
• A number system is used to describe weights
• This family has 44 faces (possibly why it requires a dewey decimal system to pick out a thickness!)
• Thx, to vistavision for the CC image!