Noisy Decent Graphics

Connect

This holiday we played Connect, Ken Garland's brilliant board game (card game?). If you're a graphic designer this is about as good as parlour games get.

I don't know about you but when I see a collection of shapes and lines like that I instantly think - could I make an alphabet out of that?

The Os are normally easy. And seeing as this one is based loosely on a digital style grid the U is pretty easy too. And the N.

The M isn't quite as elegant, but it looks cool.

The connect game doesn't only consist of three lined squares though. And to be honest all these letterforms remind me a bit too much of the Mexican Olympics and all those Helveticalovers. You know the type.

So this M is a little more fun. And more appropriate for the game.

But making a full alphabet is hard. And it's a bank holiday weekend. Easter weekend. So back in the box they go. Until another time.

Still, at least I got enough letters to make COMMUNE.

Numbers and lights

At the weekend graphic designers do stuff like this. As we used to say at college, "you could hand that in".

Typography of Heroes

More tales from Chicago.

We were lucky enough to have a visit to the Hillside Fire Dept. If this was a different blog I'd say how kind they were for showing us round and how brilliant the tour was. Hero is one of those tags that gets bandied about too easily, but people that run into burning building for a living qualify in my book.

Anyway. This is a graphic design blog so take a look at some of the gorgeous hand painted typography. A few more pictures over here.

The best wrapping paper so far

This lovely wrapping paper is just lying around the office. It's gorgeous, but no one can remember where we got it from. Anyone got any ideas?

Pantone Xanthophyll

It's been a good autumn for colour in London.

Apparently this is something to do with warm days and long frosty nights (the sunny early autumn days have produced large amounts of sugars within the leaves whilst the dry weather has allowed these sugars to become highly concentrated).

There's a good BBC video on the subject here.

But whatever, enjoy.

Via Swissmiss

Russell's leaves

 My leaves

Pantone Manet

Mike of Surrey is a frequent contributor to The Design Disease Flickr pool (a constant source of inspiration for me, err The Pool not Mike) and he alerts us to this cool picture in the reception of The Partners. A Manet made entirely of Pantones.

Looks great, doesn't it?

Beauty Week: Autumn has all the best colours

The Signage of Summer

It's been a brilliant summer. Almost every weekend we've been out and about doing something. Being me I couldn't help but snap signage wherever we went. So in the spirit of la rentrée here's the best of the summer signage.

OK, not all of that was signage but the Typography of Summer isn't such a snappy title.

How to paint anything the colour of the Golden Gate Bridge

Picture from Telstar Logistics. Usual stuff applies.

Following along the 'Pantones in my life' theme, here's an explanation of how to paint anything the color of the Golden Gate Bridge.

Tom, I think you ought to do that.

Pantones in real life

Brilliant. I might play that game.

Pictures by RIVET sf, link via infosthetics.

We are 1,000

Today the Design Disease Flickr pool had it's thousandth photo added to it. The Design Disease Flickr pool is a strange and wonderful thing. When I started it I really didn't know what was going to get uploaded, and I still don't.

I subscribe to the RSS feed (you can too here) and every day new pictures get added. Some things I would expect to see there, some things I would never ever post there. All of them absolutely perfect.

It's one of my favourite pieces of inspiration.

So, if you've ever posted - thanks.

In celebration here are some of my favourite, weird and wonderful, pictures from the pool.

Clothes arranged by The Design Disease

Closed for a week

Picture taken by dotx3 (usual stuff applies) and taken from the always interesting, always inspiring and always surprising Design Disease Flickr pool.

I've (finally) made it big

You know you've made it big when someone writes a letter to Creative Review slagging you off.

Because Comment Is Free on NDG here's the full letter. Brilliant.

A Disease Not Worth Catching

Re: The Design Disease (March): I’m a designer. I too love my job. Absolutely love it. However, if I ever discover that I have turned into the obsessive, tunnel visioned, design snob that you describe in your article on page 21 of this month’s issue of CR, I will either, a, promptly jump into a bath, slash my wrists to see how my Pantone 7418 mixes with hot water and take photos of it as I slowly turn Pantone 7454, or, failing “a”, continue with my narrow-minded, authoritarian existence whilst drinking crap wine and going to George Michael gigs despite his outrageous taste in typography.

What makes my job so lovely is not only the fact that I get to draw ace pictures all day but also that I can let myself be influenced by all the brilliant things I obsess myself with outside the fickle world of design. It also helps that I get to meet an infinitely diverse array of characters along the way, some of whom, incidentally, did learn to use Photoshop and still astound me with their knowledge of it and the work they produce.

As for the line painter who produced the glorious “GIVEWAY TO PEDESTRIANS” piece [above], I really would like to meet him and take him round to Ben Terrett’s so we can have a bloody good laugh at the man who spent £400 on a set of Taschen books because they look good on his shelf.

PS This is the first time I have ever felt compelled to write to a magazine.

Pantone handbag

I'd love to tell you about this new Pantone handbag.

It's the perfect gift for someone with the disease.

It sounds like a good idea and it lends itself to good window displays.

I've seen it in real life and I've taken the pictures above but I just can't find out anything about it. Pantone sell their own handbags and German Vogue have an article about the Mango ones, but the translation doesn't really make any sense.

Can anyone shed any light?

Sooner or later... everything digital becomes real.

As someone once said...

As some of you may have already noticed, Creative Review have published the Design Disease post in this month's issue (page 21, available in all good newsagents for just £5.70).

Patrick (the editor) contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if he could publish the post as an article. They've done a good job considering the way you structure a blog post is different to how you would structure a magazine article. They've even corrected the grammar.

If you've arrived here via Creative Review, welcome. The original Design Disease post is here and this is as good a place to start as any. You'll find some helpful FAQ's here.

Good afternoon.

Ace post, ace brief, ace photos

There are so many good things about this post from Richard. Have a read.

The Design Disease Flickr Update

When I started the Design Disease Flickr group I wasn't really sure what would happen.

Over 200 photos and 80 members later we've got an amazing collection of images. Every single one of them fits the brief perfectly. Every single one of them taken by people who have the Design Disease.

Good work team. Keep it up. (If you haven't had a go, then dive in.)

Flickr Pool is going well

Some really nice stuff on there. Keep up the good work, team.

The Design Disease Flickr Pool

Wow. I've gone and started a Flickr Pool.

I'm not really sure what sort of pictures will get uploaded there. But essentially, if you've got the Design Disease then upload pictures you think are relevant to the Pool. Funny bits of type you noticed on a wall, all your CDs arranged like a colour spectrum - knock yourself out.

I'm sure that's clearer to you lot than it is to me. Let's see what happens.

(How were the apostrophes in that? OK?)

Books you should buy because they have nice covers

You should buy some of these books. Because they have nice covers.

The series is called Great Ideas and Penguin say, "Throughout history, some books have changed the world... now Penguin brings you the works of the great thinkers, pioneers, radicals and visionaries whose ideas shook civilization, and helped make us who we are."

Forget all that rubbish, they have lovely covers.

A really nice uncoated stock, lovely rich blues and reds and some cracking debossing. They feel nice in the hand. Designed by David Pearson and Phil Baines and some others.

(There's a more serious article about these babies over at the International Herald Tribune written by my friend and yours Alice Rawsthorn.)

What I see when I listen

If you asked me what my favourite band was, I would pause and then reply, The Beatles, Massive Attack and Oasis.

If pushed I'd say Oasis just top it. Why? It's a cliché but it's because their melodies coincided perfectly with a period of my life. I was there, if you like.

I can remember exactly where I was when I heard my first Oasis song. I was sat in the back of a mate's brother's car heading down the pub on a Friday night. Whatever (It's Good To Be Free) was playing. I loved the song and that was followed by an evening down the pub listening to Oasis songs on the Juker.

I can remember exactly where I was when I bought What's The Story (Morning Glory). Our receptionist at college had just rushed out to buy the album for her son. I hadn't realised that the album was out and I promptly rushed down to Our Price and purchased the CD.

But more importantly, I can remember what I first saw when I heard What's The Story (Morning Glory). That weekend after the album was released I took a train to see a friend in Nottingham. I listened to a tape I'd made of the album for the whole journey. There and back. Over and over. And so therefore, for me, What's The Story (Morning Glory) will always, always, look like this.


(Picture taken from Waddie with huge thanks, usual stuff applies)

I'm deadly serious. That's like a screenshot from my brain's PVR. That typical British rainy Saturday. The way the view is slightly blurred because of movement and also because of scratches on the glass. The mixture of green and brown tinged with grey that you only get in Britain.

When I was 13 I went on a school skiing trip. The weekend before the trip my cousin gave me a copy of U2 's Rattle and Hum on tape. I had been given a Walkman for my birthday. The trip was mostly by coach through the long winding roads of the Italian Alps.

And so, for me, Rattle and Hum will forever look like this.

(Picture taken from ngvirtz with huge thanks, usual stuff applies)

Always black and white, which is probably something to do with Phil Joanou's wonderful imagery. That cold, clear light you get in the mountains. Crisp shapes. Moody landscapes.

All those mental snapshots took place when I was listening to the music concerned. But this one is a little different.

In the summer of 2005 I spent two weeks in LA. It was about 3 weeks before the Coldplay album launched. LA was covered in billboards for X&Y. Everywhere you looked, Chris Martin and the other 3. I think they recorded some of it in LA too. Either way every time I listen to X&Y all I see is this.

(Picture taken from aggleton with huge thanks, usual stuff applies)

That lovely orange streaked with tail-light sunset that LA does so well. The long straight lines. Lines everywhere, not a curve in sight. The glow of constant traffic.

Does that make sense? Does it ring any bells? Does anyone else experience this? Is it because I'm a visual person (and have the disease)?

What does everyone else see when they listen?

We are not alone

One of the reasons I wrote this post was because "I'm becoming fascinated by how this thing takes hold of us all and I'd like to share it with you lovely people".

A few weeks later and loads of my fellow designers have said it struck a chord with them. I wanted to list some of the comments people have made.

This my life... I keep telling my design students that they have to join AIGA or they will end up surrounded by people who don't understand them. This article describes why perfectly.
http://tdjohnsn.livejournal.com/77380.html

Yes, I have a mild case of the Designer's Disease as outlined on Noisy Decent Graphics. Yes, I photographed my deoderant because I like how it is designed.
http://pussreboots.livejournal.com/156107.html

THIS explains everything. It is the most truthful and reliable written source of why I am the way I am. Why I think the way I think. Why I see the way I see. Why I look the way I look. Why I live the way I live.
http://thealamoandme.blogspot.com/2006/12/me-in-nutshell.html

sounds very familiar. there was a billboard here not too long ago for a classic rock radio station that featured a tagline in comic sans! i had to take a different route home for the next two weeks to avoid seeing it.
http://joshuablankenship.com/blog/?p=4558#comments

My wife claims that I waited until we were married before revealing that I was a font-spotter but I deny that to this day – I’ve always been one. Noisy Decent Graphics reminded me of the first day of my marriage with his great post about being a graphic designer – the disease with no known cure.
http://30gms.com/permalink/design_disease/

I love it.  I smiled. I nodded my head in agreement.  I said "OMG...I do that too."  (Yeah...I said that more than once.)  All this time I thought maybe I was just "a bit" weird.  Now I know...I'm just a designer.
http://artlook.typepad.com/a_look_at_art_design/2006/12/the_design_dise.html

Although i’m not a trained graphic designer, i’ve grown up and been immersed in art and design since I was born, and hence can really relate to this post by Ben. It’s SO true.
http://hostler.com/2006/12/08/the-design-disease/

This explains so much.
http://beanstalktalk.com/beanblog/?p=267

Have a read, especially if you know exactly what I am talking about. You can't walk anywhere without noticing the signs, postings, flyers, windows, everything.
http://designthat.lifewithchrist.org/permalink/28595

For me it borders on Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, everything I do is informed in someway by Design. What I buy, how I think, my habits all stem from Design. I collect things for no (logical) reason, scraps of paper, old books, diagrams, I photograph strange things.
http://www.designbyok.com/blog/2006/12/04/the-design-disease/

My friends, have no fear, we are not alone.

Decorating when you have the Design Disease

The Design Disease

Big post coming up.

I've been meaning to write this for a while. I first mentioned it here and I've been thinking about it ever since.

I love my job. Absolutely love it. Not many people can say that, but then not many people get to do their hobby for a living. Ever since I was 13 I wanted to be a graphic designer (technically my school library careers guidebook called it an advertising artist, but hey) and ever since I was 13 I pretty much knew what I had to do to get there. It's not just me, I have friends who thought like that too.

It seems to me that if you're a designer, a proper designer not someone who learnt Photoshop in between phone calls, then design runs through your veins like Pantone 7418. But more than that, it's there in every aspect of life. You can't stop looking at things through your designer eyes. Everything you do is clouded by this thing that lives inside you.

Now, this is no bad thing. But I'm becoming fascinated by how this thing takes hold of us all and I'd like to share it with you lovely people.

So what's it like, living with this disease? What does it make you do that other people don't do? How does it affect you?

Let's say you took a trip in to town one day. First off, you'd be incredibly upset by the shocking kerning on this roadsign.

And if you parked your car in a multi storey car park the thing you'd be most struck by are these

And of course this.

We all love arrows and we all love collecting things, more about that later.

As you left the car park you'd see this

and it would annoy you, really annoy you, that it wasn't quite centred and it wasn't quite justified and it wasn't left aligned and it wasn't right aligned. You see sometimes the disease will stop you enjoying things. I know designers who will walk out of a room because the colour upsets them.

Or you might see this on the way to a gig

and spend the rest of the concert wondering why they distorted the type like that?

Back on your journey into town. You'd step outside and see this and wonder how on earth that can be allowed to happened. Who would space type like that?

Then you'd spot this and be puzzled by the logotype. Do Ferrari really have an estate agency?

On the drive home you'd take photos like this.

Just because.

People with the disease will always choose books by their covers. Probably these covers.

Probably these covers and these colours, becuase you love colours, you worship colours which is why you collect things (you see, collecting again) like this

and why this website was so spot on.

But it's not just books, it's everything. You'll choose wine by the design of the label,

you'd stay here because of the sign

and you'd photograph the sign and a million others like it.

If you were good, really good, you'd collect all these photos of signs and store them alphabetically

because they may come in handy one day. Just like you collected these pencils

and they came in handy.

You'd also be obsessed with letters, or type as you've been taught to call it. Letters of any shape, size or description.

Like

or

or even

which means you start collecting things like this

and like this

as that magpie like bit of the disease seeps out through your keyboard into the finer reaches of eBay.

Again, if you were good, you'd pick up on this obsession and turn it into a project like this

which is Michael Johnson's brilliant Send A Letter thing. Or you'd have gates made like this (Alan understood).

It's not just letters, it's numbers too. You'd photograph and collect things like this

(thanks Russell, this goes without saying)

in fact, that inner magpie would make you arrange everything like this

and on the biggest day in modern history it would make you wander the streets looking for postcards. And then you'd do this.

(Told you Alan understood).

You see, it affects every aspect of your life. How you think, how you buy, what you see. If you're lucky you're friends and family will pick up on this and if you're lucky you'll get things like this for Christmas

which will be the best thing you receive all year because it gives you a quick fix.

Designers, does that sound familiar?