Design Briefs
Have a news item you’d like to share? Have you read a good book or blog lately? Would you like to see your work featured in Designer? How about an office or department profile? Your contributions and feedback are welcome. Let us know what you think. designer@ucda.com
2022 Type Trends Report
This report, produced by Monotype, shows work by brands and agencies that we admire and whose work really stood out over the last twelve and some odd months. Monotype is sharing it for educational purposes to tell a story of typographic creativity and some of its root causes. This is not an advertisement for Monotype; it’s a celebration of the unique typographic voices of our times.
Dig in to learn more about how design reflects society, key trends in typography and branding, and how the creative world is adopting technology like animation, variable type and NFTs.
Both the report and webinar are available at: www.monotype.com/type-trends
Free, designer-curated gradients for that much-needed depth
If your work isn’t getting the dimension you have in mind, one possible solution would be to swap out solid colors for gradients.
Getting the hassle of color coordination out of the way is Design Gradients, a new collection of 48 linear gradients curated by designers that you can use for free. The site was created by product designer and photographer Guzmán Barquín, who wanted to give back to a community that has helped him grow into his expertise.
The free platform of 48 linear gradients was curated by designers to use as content backgrounds in any piece of digital art. (Source: designtaxi.com)
A Visual History of Graphic Design
Even those the least acquainted with design history are usually able to point out at least one time period based on the aesthetic stylings of the work it produced. From the geometric shapes of the mid-century, to the bulbous typefaces of the 1970s, with the right example it can be straightforward to pin down a timeframe for a style.
An authoritative voice on design history, Jens Müller’s book published by Taschen in January 2022, A Visual History of Graphic Design, seeks to delve even deeper into these stylistic time periods. In the book, he curates the stand-out designs from each of the last 130 years—tracking artistic movements alongside historical events like World War II and different political shifts. The book features year-by-year spreads, as well as in-depth features on dozens of what Müller calls “landmark projects” and profiles on the designer who helped shape the industry during their careers.
Belgium’s new passport celebrates the country’s comic book heroes
The redesigned Belgian passport features famous faces on a series of international adventures as well as tighter security measures. The Belgian government has revealed a new passport, which honours of the “jewels” of the country’s culture: comic strips. The new document has been designed by French design and engineering consultancy Thales Group and Belgian tech company Zetes.
View the new design of the Belgian passport on YouTube: tinyurl.com/belgium-passports
Conference Scholarships
The UCDA Design Conference is set for October 15-18, 2022 in beautiful Santa Ana Pueblo, New Mexico. Learn more at storytellers.ucda.com.
UCDA recognizes the importance of lifelong learning and, as a result, proudly supports members through the dedicated funding of the UCDA Foundation professional development scholarship program. This program provides opportunities to attend the UCDA Design Conference by covering the registration cost.
The UCDA Foundation currently has two scholarship opportunities available:
- Professional Development Scholarship (available to members only)
- Elevating Black Design Voices Professional Development Scholarship (available to both members and non-members)
Learn more or to apply, visit: ucda.com/scholarships
From the UCDA Journal: A Spoonful of Sugar
As creative professionals in higher education, we often need to translate design-speak into language that is more easily understood. While terms like “RGB,” “PMS” or “white space” may elicit nods of understanding, they’re usually pretty meaningless to those outside our circles.
A further challenge is getting our non-designer colleagues to adopt and consistently use production best practices. Ensuring that every task and assignment goes through the pipeline with the greatest efficiency is a team effort, but some members may need a little coaxing.
No one likes to be told that they don’t understand—or, worse yet, that they aren’t doing what they’re supposed to. So how do you conduct those potentially uncomfortable conversations without setting fire to the goodwill you’ve cultivated?
I believe the answer is a spoonful of sugar. As the Sherman Brothers’ legendary song states, “A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down.” In this case, the medicine is the topic you need to address, while the sugar is the means by which it’s communicated.
With this in mind, I created a simple series of flyers titled Tips From the Cranky Creative Director. Each flyer includes a stylized photo of my scowling face followed by a tip geared toward either clarifying or reinforcing creative terminology, best practices or rationale. These are submitted to the entirety of our marketing department. The language is a little snarky, but not too over the top—just enough to elicit a smile and open a dialogue. It’s done wonders for clarification.
It’s clear from the Cranky flyers that while I don’t take myself too seriously, I do take the topic at hand seriously. It’s that little spoonful of sugar that allows me to right a wrong without singling anyone out. (Although, from time to time, the guilty party will reach out to sheepishly admit they’re the reason for the tip. I typically assure them that they’re not alone, which is usually—but not always!—true.)
If you create your own tip sheet, it should reflect your personality. Be yourself, but play with the volume a little. I would also caution you to avoid sending something out the moment an issue comes up, to avoid singling someone out. Instead, make it second in line.
If your content is specific to your department, give careful consideration before sending to a broader audience. They may miss the point. For example, the frequently referenced Project Management Tool (PMT) holds no meaning outside of our department. Basically, you should never use lingo to explain lingo. More generic messaging may better serve your needs.
While nothing beats a good ol’ fashioned face-to-face, a tip sheet can be an excellent communication tool. Since you’ll mainly send them when something has gone wrong, don’t forget to mix in some off-topic content every so often to keep it light. It just goes to show that even difficult topics can be addressed “in a most delightful way.”
The UCDA Journal occasionally highlights several of these tips and the ideas here can help generate discussion in your own offices on how best to handle some of these same issues—if and when they arise.
See some of the previous posts at: