Noisy Decent Graphics

Work for Bloomberg BusinessWeek

ATT: THE WORLD'S ILLUSTRATORS/ARTISTS/DESIGN GRADUATES we're looking for new blood-mail your work to bizweekartdepartment@gmail.com (pls RT)

— Richard Turley (@Mr_Turley) April 29, 2013

Previously.

 

I *may* have been guilty of saying "make it like Google" in the past

I am grateful I work with smart people, who take the right approach to solving problems.

Really Decent Books are looking for new illustrators

A friend of mine has started a publishing company concentrating on books for kids. Or as they say,

"We produce books for babies, toddlers and children about the things we love – learning, stories and, most importantly, fun! We believe in a thing called quality – in making books that last longer. We integrate innovative design and editorial to create high-quality illustrated books. We make books we love and believe in."

They are looking for new illustrators and I thought some of you might be interested, if you are contact Phil direct - phil dot dauncey at reallydecentbooks.co.uk

 

GOV.UK wins D&AD nomination

We've been nominated for a pencil in the Writing for Design / Websites & Digital Design category of D&AD.

Have judged a few times, I know how rigorous the process is and how bloody hard it is to win one. Fingers crossed.

 

"Britain’s world class design talent standing out on the global stage"

On Tuesday night GOV.UK won Design of the Year. Which is pretty incredible. I've written about it on the GDS blog and you can see lots of the press coverage here, including an article from the Daily Mail which calls the website boring.com and Gizmodo who've redesigned the site as they imagine the Daily Mail would like it too look.

And here's what the Prime Minister had to say, "I am delighted that the GOV.UK website has won the Design of The Year award in 2013. This government is committed to being the most transparent in the world. For the first time, people can find out what’s happening inside government, all in one place, and in a clear and consistent format. It is just another example of Britain’s world class design talent standing out on the global stage; in this case helping to enhance the modern relationship between the public and government."

There is still a lot of work to do. As the boss would say - onwards!

Newspaper Club samples

Want to print a newspaper with Newspaper Club? Not sure? Not sure which size? Not sure what the print quality is like? Not sure how the colours turn out?

Request a sample.

Small post in praise of the Hailo logo

I've not used the service in anger, but lots of people tell me it's very good.

I want to talk about the logo for a little bit. 

It's great, isn't it? Simple, fun, tonally right. Works well on apps, on the side of cabs, on leaflets. The form does a reasonable job of describing the function. It even has a touch of humour about it.

I walked past a Hailo driver office today. That looked good too. There even looked like there was a place to get your cab washed out the back.

All good. Bigger brands could learn from this small one.

(The blog is worth a read too.)

 

It's going well

Making a newspaper with the kids this Easter.

Lichtenstein at the Tate Modern

Obviously it's brilliant. Really good. New and old stuff, but all the blockbusters you'd want to see. Lots of paintings, value for money. Not too cramped. Some sketches.

Go. But make sure you book.

 

Good sign at Legoland

Branding, tone of voice, lightness of touch, charming, humour etc.

Good.

Design Museum, Design Commission report, Design Manual, Design Indaba, Design Council and other design news

Hi, it's been too long since we talked about work, my work. Some updates.

I am delighted that GOV.UK is nominated in the digital category for the Design Museum's Designs of the Year. We made a few things for the exhibit and I wrote about it on the GDS blog.

There is a parliamentary Design Commission and they have written a good report about design in public services. Something I'm obviously interested in. It speaks favourably about GDS and once again I've blogged about it on the work blog.

Questions about that report in parliament are what led to Francis Maude talking about user needs, which I blogged about t'other day.

 

 

Last week we laucnhed the Government Service Design Manual. It's similar to the Design Principles but much wider. It covers words, open source, building a team, agile and lots more.

If I'm honest the design stuff is a bit thin, I need to add more, or you can grab the code on GitHub and suggest changes yourself. Make it better.

 

A beta of the digital service standard to be applied to all UK Govt services by April 2014 bit.ly/YbDLqH US should do this too

— Tim O'Reilly (@timoreilly) March 14, 2013

 

A few weeks ago I was in Cape Town speaking at the wonderful Design Indaba conference. That deserves a whole blog post on it's own, so I'll do that soon. Incredible conference, wonderfully organised.

I spoke at the Design Council on Tuesday where I basically made a plea for "less reports, more delivery" and I'm speaking at the RCA next month as GOV.UK is featured in a Helen Hamblyn exhibition of 20 Inclusive Design projects.

It will be summer soon.

The kids are doing brilliant in their piano exams.

The dog is still with us, but getting older every day.

Joan has taken up croché.

I hope you have a great Easter.

 

 

Examples of bad and good art direction

Art direction. We spoke about that along time ago. Nearly 7 years ago - remember? 

I keep seeing these two posters around town, one is an example of bad art direction, one is an example of good art direction.

First, the bad.

You would think these ads would be a gift for any agency. They feature three hugely recognised sports stars. Rory McIlroy is probably the most famous golfer on the planet, after Tiger Woods. Jess Ennis is stilll basking in the glow her amazing Olympic performance. (And Jenson, bless.)

But who on earth decided to put Rory in a red polo shirt? On a red background! I'm guesisng the red background is a standard brand thing for Santander, in which case someone has to ask Rory to wear or different shirt. Or, more likely, provide him with a different shirt on shoot day. 

And Jess! Star of the Olympics! Inspiration to a nation! Who put her in that purple? Which is redish and doesn't really stand out from the red. Both of them just blend into the background.

From a distance its really hard to notice them.

It's lazy art direction. Bad.

Now here's the good. Disclaimer, this is done by my old agency.

These ads don't feature any glamorous celebrities. They're pretty straight retail ads. The feature groceries. Groceries. Yet the art direction is exquisite. Crafted. Considered. Clever.

There's a whole series of them and the way they're based on the colour spectrum is beautiful. It makes my design disease heart leap for joy. Such a simple idea. The use of the slightly off white colour is well thought out. The lighting and the typography creates the feel of the checkout in an elegant way.

But they're cleverer than that. All the ads feature something big brand, something fresh food and something own label, which is the point of the ad. Not just beautiful - smart and communicating a message. Brilliant.

 

Ken Garland: Structure and Substance

I just finished reading this book on Ken Garland, from Unit Editions.

It's really good. Garland has lots of good work which is illustrated well, and he's a very interesting person which is also handled well by the lengthy interview. Unit Editions continue to make good graphic design books.

Garland is most famous for his First Things First manifesto, even though there's much more to him than that as the book is testament to. The First Things First manifesto is interesting to me in my current job for obvious reasons.

Worth buying the book.

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Making a newspaper with the kids over Easter @newspaperclub

More details on the Newspaper Club blog.

Francis Maude on designing services around the user

On Wednesday, answering questions about this report.

Newspaper Club are looking for a designer. Great opportunity for someone who loves web + print

 

Full details here http://files.newspaperclub.com/designer-job-posting.html

Woohoo! It's Oscars

I'm guessing all the writers were away that day.

 

Jonathan Ive design crit on Blue Peter

In case you haven't already seen it.

These things are crazy