Brainstorming

The surrealists were masters at putting the familiar in an unfamiliar setting. This is a simple method I've used for decades to come up with fresh concepts to solve graphic problems. In this example imagine you've been given the assignment to create a visual for an article on Growing the Green Economy.

Start by writing out the name of the article and select the key words.

Underneath each key word make a word list-free associate and write quickly any idea that comes to mind to represent that key word. Your list should be really long to find the best solution.

Force connections between the two key words. Put the familiar in an unfamiliar setting.
What about a piggy bank shaped like the U.S. Treasury building or a bank? What about a dollar bill that looks like astro turf and sprouting wildflowers?

Make small thumbnail sketches of how you would force connections between column one and two and simply go down the list trying out each idea. In this example I have a drawing of a figure watering a small plant that is a dollar sign.

Note: click play and let this short video completely upload, take a short break and come back and you can watch it all the way through.

Vendor contacts for logo/packaging

Clyde
Inscriptu
518.8865/819.9347


Carol Dodds-Kink, vinyl cutting
carol@cjnorbysigns.com
938.1500

T shirt transfers
Sports Arena & Rosecrans
look for the yellow sign across from In and Out Burger
you can buy the transfers at Target, Office Depot or other vendors. I suggest the dark t shirt transfers. Then use the industrial heat iron at this location

Doyald Young

I wanted to call your attention to the work of legendary type and logo designer Doyald Young who is getting the AIGA Gold Medal this year in New York City. He is a master teacher and you can learn so much from his books.

http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEPMagazine/Article/28594

http://www.stepinsidedesign.com/STEPMagazine/Article/28881

http://www.lettercult.com/archives/58

Golden Section

In class yesterday we talked about the golden section. It could add the ahhhhh! to your layouts and once you master it people will look at your work and think you are a rocket scientist in design. It is also fascinating and mysterious as phi is a powerful aesthetic tool that can evoke great emotion in your audience.

I found a link that shows how to golden section a square if this is the format you select.
http://textism.com/bucket/fibsquare.html

More than likely it will be a rectangle and this will be much easier to follow. This short video explains the procedure.Once you have created golden section grid lines you can use the intersections of those lines to position images and text on your mood board. It really is amazing how applying the golden section to your page design pushes it to a higher visual aesthetic. At private design schools like Academy of Art San Francisco there is an entire course devoted to the golden section.

If you want to learn more check out these links:
http://milan.milanovic.org/math/english/golden/golden1.html
http://milan.milanovic.org/math/english/golden/golden5.html
http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html
http://powerretouche.com/Divine_proportion_tutorial.htm

One of my favorite books on the subject is called the Geometry of Design: Studies in proportion and composition by Kimberly Elam. It is inexpensive and has many great examples with tracing tissue overlays showing golden sections. BUY THIS BOOK!

What do the ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and the sun pyramid of Teotihuacan have in common? What secret did great world thinkers, artists and composers like Plato, Michelangelo, Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, Mozart, Beethoven and Bach embrace?

I created this short video featuring Sean Bacon who completed the portfolio class at SD City College in 2008 and does a masterful job of explaining the golden section. The results are amazing and you will be hooked on the power of the design tool. The relationship between mathematical thinking and design is fascinating.

"The power of the golden section to create harmony arises from its unique capacity to unite different parts of a whole so that each preserves its own identity, and yet blends into the greater pattern of a single whole". Gyorgy Doczi, The Power of Limits 1994