Our electric cards were piling up so I decided to put them to good use by creating this rather fetching piece of ‘wall-work’. I’ve just made up the term wall-work by the way. I’m quite pleased with it.

I’m a graphic designer which means I care more about how something looks than the words that accompany it. NO! If I ever say that, I’ll have to fire myself.

I firmly believe that it is the designer’s job to make sure both text and image work harmoniously. You can’t do that if you’re ignoring the text. Too often I see otherwise excellent design work spoiled by shoddy copy. I’m talking about spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, bad typography or just plain nonsense. Consider the following example (taken from a well known crisp packet) that was recently highlighted by Martin Lewis of Money Saving Expert.

Now I’m sure ‘Made with real ingredients’ probably came fully formed from the marketing department, keen to point out that no imaginary potatoes were used in the production process. But in the face of statements like this, I either get depressed or slightly militant. I prefer to speak up. If the client has supplied all the copy, read it and make sure it makes sense. That’s part of your job. The client is paying for a professional service so that’s what they deserve. If you point out something and they ignore it, at least you’ve tried. I know it’s not always easy, but don’t you just love a challenge?

Here’s another one…

‘Full length DVD player’ – as opposed to what? Those kind that only play half a film? At least this model includes black colour. My last DVD player didn’t include black colour.

Have you ever wondered who the Swedish national hero is? No, I hadn’t either. And I can tell you, I was quite surprised when I found out who it is.

Learn who the hero is by clicking here

Personal poster project.

One of the things I find most exciting about design is how seemingly inconsequential details can completely change a person’s perception of an object, website or place. I was sat at my desk the other day when Russ called me on his way out of the building. “Just to let you know, there’s an exciting parcel for you in reception.”
We get plenty of parcels in the mail, so I wondered what it was that made this one ‘exciting’. I went down to collect it and found that it had been sealed with bright green parcel tape, instead of the usual brown. I had no idea what was inside at that point, but the vibrant sticky tape suggested it was going to be something worth looking at. (The new Autechre album, in case you’re wondering.)

You could argue that there was no real point in using non-standard tape, after all I’d already made my decision to purchase. But this little touch gave the otherwise mundane act of opening a packet a little suspense. And that in turn reinforced my satisfaction at buying the CD – very important in the face of reduced sales figures.

As designers, we can use this kind of psychology to our advantage. We can add value in all sorts of situations just by making a few careful decisions about colour, typeface, paper etc.

Why not ask yourself if there are any details you can change on your next project to make it stand out a little. Has anyone got any further examples of little touches they’ve seen that have made designs stand out?