What Matters

Author: Justin Ahrens

As creatives, we get to tell stories through the medium of design. We help people form opinions and frame the way they experience products, messages, causes, and brands. But sometimes we lose sight of what matters most – the things in our lives that impact the way we see the world for good. What would life look like if we created a little space in our career for perspective? What would our work look like if we saw the world as bigger than we are? What ideas are we sitting on that would lead to change? Let's see (and play) a little differently and make things matter.

International Landscape of Design

Author: Paul Burgess

So, who's the best? The Dutch? The Swiss? The Japanese? The Brits are pretty handy, aren't they? India and China are emerging too. It's very easy to be insular when designing, and only think about your own culture, and designing within your own society. But didn't we all go into this business to try and break the rules and do something more interesting with design? When you look further afield you realize that no single nation has it dialed, but each nation has it's own, often uncelebrated stars. What are the latest trends kicking off in those countries? Where can we glean inspiration? From a Mexican airline ticket? Or a crazy designer/biker in Australia? And who gets it wrong? Let's celebrate those that miss the mark by a mile too!

Brand Bible Blogumentary

Author: Debbie Millman

Debbie Millman's goal in life is to make the supermarket a more inspiring and beautiful place. Brand Bible Blogumentary details the experience of teaching her students how to do that too and describe all the gritty details in the best book on branding ever written.

Color Consumption

Author: Jake Lefebure

In the color spectrum – and the design world - inspiration can strike anywhere or anytime; it can be barely visible or it can bulldoze you over. The key is seizing it, applying it or ... stealing it. From trash can tones to fashion week hues, a treasure trove of colors can be found in the most unexpected places. Color Consumption looks at how these different shades are incorporated into our daily lives – and how they inspire our collective minds.

Love Thy Logo

Author: Bill Gardner

Logo design is not brain surgery, but it's about as close as most designers will ever get. Clients place the fate of their corporate viability in our hands knowing if we fail, they suffer the consequences. The logo is but a slice of the branding pie, but it's the slice that defines the feast.

Love it or hate it, everyone has an opinion or a better solution. We'll talk about identity in real time and other times, as it's one thing to know where you are but far better to know how you arrived. This is where the losers come to sulk and the winners come to gloat. Where design truth is splayed open when the curtains are pulled back and where genius and success are certified long before the votes have been cast.

The Storyteller

Author: Stanley Hainsworth

We are storytellers. At the heart, that's what we, as designers, do for a living. We use pixels, shapes, words, materials and colors to express our stories in amazingly beautiful and impactful ways. Our job is to find the core story for each of the brands we work with and then express that story through our varied mediums – paper, digital, environmental – to create an emotional connection with consumers. So, come on, tell me a story.

Indie

Author: Steve Gordon, Jr.

You are not a company, but you handle your business. From clients to downtime, 'INDIE' highlights the lifestyle of operating as a fully-independent creative professional.

Dirty Work

Author: John Foster

Design that gets under our nails, done by cutting edge kids, or seasoned masters, is often filled with the personal touch - literally. Dirty Work is all about the kind of solutions that comes directly from applying some elbow grease, and a unique mindset, to bring about the awe-inspiring projects that can only come from our greatest tools. (Not the newest AppaMcCS12athingadoodle - our hands, silly!)

Design Change

Author: Yang Kim

Design faces a continually shifting landscape thanks to new media, technological opportunities, economic pressures, etc. In other words, design ain't what it used to be. At the same time, as designers we know well that change itself can be researched, planned, designed. Designers are in a unique position to make a real impact on this changing world. Design Change explores not only how design is changing, but also how, as designers, we can get better at designing for change.

Sister Raye

Author: Robynne Raye

Sister Raye is a devout observer of all things design-related, with a special interest in design that is born of the hand rather than of the pixel. Celebrating line, color and form that has seemingly sprung from Nature is her…. oh shit, the Sister doesn't care much for mission statements! This is just a column about all the design stuff she loves.

Ask Design B*tch

Author: Terry Lee Stone

Design business isn't easy. Taking care of sales, finance, legal, and personnel issues isn't what most people who dream of a career in design want to deal with. Every design team needs a pragmatic realist who organizes all those bits and pieces, sweats the details, says "no" when it must be said, and minds the bottom line. They save designers' bacon again and again, but they are typically the nudge, the boring one, the meanie, the killjoy — the bitch. Well people, the Design B*itch is here, so you don't have to be. Go ahead and ask for help, you know you need it.

Please send your questions to: AskDesignB1tch@gmail.com

Points, Pixels, Paper

Author: Jason Tselentis

Talk like a type nerd in no time! Points, Pixels, Paper critiques and showcases everything type related to deliver the terms, tools, and know-how that will help you sound cool at the next type conference. Discover typographic principles, how type functions in the public domain, and the details that go into creation, composition, and usage.

Design Change

Author: Kevin Budelmann

Design faces a continually shifting landscape thanks to new media, technological opportunities, economic pressures, etc. In other words, design ain't what it used to be. At the same time, as designers we know well that change itself can be researched, planned, designed. Designers are in a unique position to make a real impact on this changing world. Design Change explores not only how design is changing, but also how, as designers, we can get better at designing for change.

Color Consumption

Author: Pum Lefebure

In the color spectrum – and the design world - inspiration can strike anywhere or anytime; it can be barely visible or it can bulldoze you over. The key is seizing it, applying it or ... stealing it. From trash can tones to fashion week hues, a treasure trove of colors can be found in the most unexpected places. Color Consumption looks at how these different shades are incorporated into our daily lives – and how they inspire our collective minds.

Editor on the Run

Author: Emily Potts

The Editor on the Run will write about any and all design related issues--whether it's in print, online, or on the street. This will be a hodge-podge of interviews with graphic designers, observations on design, and even some snarky comments now and then.

The Culture Vulture

Author: Kevin McConkey

What makes a space creative? How do people with different backgrounds, beliefs, and abilities bond into a productive work environment? The Culture Vulture is about how people and places create a company culture. From ideas about outings and retreats to tricks and tips, join Kevin McConkey to discover what makes a place unique.

Fashion Filter

Author: Jay Calderin

How do you write about fashion, without necessarily writing about fashion? Which color is the new black? Who wore what best? What do you need to do in order to look like your favorite celebrity? What constitutes best or worst dressed? Those and many other similar topics will most definitely be off the table. It is not how I think about fashion. Besides, why would anyone want to read those musings from me, when I spend most of my time in graphic tees, western shirts, Levi's jeans and Converse hi-tops? My wardrobe not withstanding, I have devoted my entire professional career and a good part of my personal life to fashion. I know a lot about fashion, but even after all these years I cannot curb my appetite for discovering new ways into and around fashion. That will be the focus of The Fashion Filter. So, bon appétit!

From the Crow's Nest

Author: Regina Grenier

An art director's bird's-eye view of the world we live in. I will be talking about what gets me jazzed, what ticks me off and sometimes just report on what I see. I have a fabulous view as an art director, and by that I mean I get to see a whole lot from up here.

Across the Pond

Author: Tony Seddon

Back in the old days before we could see what everyone was up to via a couple of clicks and a quick scroll it was easier to sum up the particular design aesthetic of a place, be it a country or a continent. Way back when, one had to go to a museum or gallery for an alternative cultural experience and an awareness of design culture was not widespread. As travel became easier and cheaper our cultural styles began to mix and merge, then mass communication and the internet came along and the mix was complete. However, the distinctions remain below the surface and should be acknowledged for their continuing influence. Across the Pond will talk about those differences from a Eurocentric point-of-view, along with anything else happening over here that looks vaguely interesting.