Logo Design Book Recommendations
Not all logo books are created equal! In fact, there are a lot of books out there that are just plain crap! Some are good, some half good, half crap, and some are real gems and worth tracking down and possessing. Here are a few of our recommendations for the few we consider good.
1. A Treasury of German Trademarks, Volume Two 1900-1950. Compiled and Edited by Leslie Cabarga. Published in 1985 by Art Direction Book Company.
2. The New Logo From California. Edited by Gerry Rosenswieg. Published in 1993 by Madison Square Press.
Although this book was published in the early 90′s, it has some of the best logos from the 1980′s, which represents when logo design got back to it’s roots, going back to logos done in Germany between 1900-1950. Fun, creative, iconic and retro, this book is full of some great logo work!
3. Logo Lounge, Volume 1. Edited by Catharine Fishel and Bill Gardner. Published in 2003 by Rockport Publishers.
Logo Lounge was first a website community of logo designers that Bill Gardner created as a resource for logo designers. It became very popular, very quickly and developed into additionally, a series of logo design books by the same name, Logo Lounge. To date, they have published 5 or 6 volumes, but hands down the best volume is the first one, and although we have it listed as “volume 1″ it doesn’t have a volume number connected to the official title of the book. I guess, they didn’t dream there would be a volume 2?
Because many leading logo designers signed up first, what is contained in the first volume has some of the best work from the 80′s and 90′s. Sadly volume 2 I can not recommend. We have 4 of our logos published in volume 3, and in a couple of other books that have spun off from the logo lounge series into other specific areas.
Additionally, volume 1 has been published in hard cover, soft cover, and a little mini-version. Grab any form of this first book, it will never become dated or go out of style!
Posted in Design Career, Design Education, Graphic Design, Logo Design
Tagged logo design
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Handmade Jewelry Findings
Found this cool designer who design Lampwork and jewelry findings. Check out her artisan and unique design of lampwork and wire finding supplies at
www.handmade-jewelry-findings.com
What to do when you have a creative block ?
“Being Stuck” by Steve Trapero
Being creatively “stuck” can happen at any stage of a project not just at the beginning. It’s important to have several ways to work your way out of those times. Here are some ideas as to how to get your brain kick started, so to speak.
sketchbook> Carry a sketchbook around with you. You’ll be surprised, ideas can hit you at the strangest times. If caught without your sketchbook, use a napkin or a scratch piece of paper, then transfer it to your sketchbook later. They’re like visual diaries of your ideas. An idea for one project may someday work for a different project later on.
word list> Sometimes making a list of words associated to whatever project you’re working on can help a lot. Each word is usually connected with a visual. If you can only come up with a few words, then go to a thesaurus for other words that mean the same thing. It’s surprising sometimes how many words you can come up with to help you spring board from.
books> Refer to stock photography, clip art, and design books. These can be great resources to brainstorm from. I am not advocating stealing ideas or the use of clip art. Spring board off of them, use them to stimulate your brain.
incubate> When you’re feeling too close to a project, and you feel like you aren’t able to see it objectively anymore, you may need to separate yourself from it. You don’t really stop thinking about the project, but put it on the back burner of your mind. I find it helpful at times to put the work up on a wall someplace where I will see it often. Then forget about it, only occasionally glancing at it as you come in and out of the room. Before you know it, all of a sudden you’ll see the project as if you’re seeing it for the first time.
other input> You are not an island. There is nothing new under the sun. You’ve heard both quotes before. Both statements are true in every aspect of life, even with creative people trying to come up with new ideas. Everything we do is based off of something someone else did before us. What we do, is basically putting a spin on something done before. What I’m getting at, is that it’s ok to talk to other creative people about your ideas. If someone you’re showing your work to, can help you by spring boarding off of an idea that you already developed, I don’t think there is any harm in it, and I don’t think the idea is any less yours afterward. Beware! Don’t become overly dependent on others for this. This should only be used when you’re stuck creatively or working on a team project. Ultimately, you want to be able to creatively and conceptually solve problems on your own.
take a break> Sometimes not working on a project is best. What?!? Yep, sometimes our brains get fatigued from over use. At times like this, it’s helpful to entirely stop thinking about a project. Let your brain get some R&R. Go to the movies, go clubbing, go out to eat at a relaxing place, listen to music, get some exercise, go out on a date, whatever helps your mind and body relax. Although you won’t be thinking about your project, your brain will subconsciously work on it. I promise, in no time your brain will be back up, and full of ideas! If not… you didn’t take enough time to unwind and need to spend more time relaxing! Who are you trying to fool? Learning how to relax can be hard work sometimes!
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Tagged creative block, graphic design, graphic designers, logo design ideas
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Yvonne’s favorite websites Part 1
From this day forward, I’ll try post some of my favorite websites online. Unfortunately most of them are not “design” related, but I believe these sites will help designers and artists to market themselves online in one way or another.
www.alltop.com ( all the top stories at a glance )
http://www.wolf-howl.com I have to say, out of all the SEO sites that I’ve visited during the last 3 years, this is one of my favorite site on SEO.
www.seomoz.com is also another authoritative site on SEO
Google offers a lot more than search engine and gmail, here are some really powerful tools that Google offer for free
http://www.google.com/analytics ( to track your traffic online for free )
www.google.com/places ( I’m really surprised how many small businesses don’t know about this )
www.google.com/adsense
www.google.com/base
Steve Trapero Underwater Shoot July 27 2011
One of Steve Trapero’s recent underwater shoots. This is one of my favorite shots from the shoot and there are simply way too many pictures to go through. Please be patient and I’ll definitely make an effort to post them more often.
Yvonne’s Hero List #1
When I look back at my life, there were many people who I owe thanks to. So, starting today, I’m going to compile a hero list. These are people who have taught me a lot. Drum roll please…
My #1 Hero… My husband, Steve Trapero!
You probably thought I was going to say Jesus Christ, huh? No, I’m not going to get that “spiritual”. I’m going to name real people in my life. Not that I think Jesus Christ isn’t alive, or real, or in my life. But I think you know what I mean, right?
I once wrote down on a piece of paper, 68 reasons why Steve is a great husband! I have no idea where that list is now?
My husband Steve is a great husband and an awesome dad! He’s a simple, straight forward guy, who doesn’t take any bullshit. Not from me, and not from anybody!
Don’t worry, I’m not going to rewrite those 68 reasons I mentioned above, but let me describe something that happened just last night and this morning…
When Steve came back from our studio (Pinnacle Design Center) at nearly 11pm last night, I was an exhausted tiger. My heart was sour and I was in a dark place. I was a bit moody and snapped at Steve a couple of times. One of the first things out of his mouth was that I shouldn’t wear “grandma panties”. I usually wear thongs, but when it’s around that time of the month, I prefer bigger panties. Much bigger ones, and have actually began wearing my mother’s big panties when on my period. As I was bending over in the house, Steve caught a view of me wearing my mom’s panties. Over the past couple of days, every time Steve has seen me in my mom’s panties, he’s given me a hard time about it. He mentioned something about them again, and said something like, “Hey dear, if you ever want to have sex with me again, loose the grandma panties!?!” I know it turns him off. Sex however, was really the last thing on my mind. I was really stressed out, and normally something like this from Steve might have started an argument, but I was simply too stressed out.
Steve hadn’t eaten dinner yet. There was cold, leftover egg salad for him on the diner table. He took a bowl and served himself a heaping helping, then walked up behind where I was sitting at our iMac surging the web, and stood behind me. I could tell he missed me, and just wanted to be near me. I finished surfing the web, then folded down three loads of washed clothes. As I was heading upstairs I asked him two things. “Can you bring the folded clothes up when you come to bed, and can you wash Taylor’s baby bottles too?” He said he would bring up the clothes, but simply said, “Nope!” in regards to washing the baby bottles. I was really too tired to fight about it. Which was a good thing, because we did not in fact end up fighting. That’s one way to get out of a fight ladies!?! He climbed into bed finally at around 2am. This was kind of late for even him, the night owl.
The next morning, before Steve left for the studio, he gave me a kiss and said he was sorry about last night. He said he knows how much I hate having to wash the baby bottles, and that he was going to wash the baby bottles before he came to bed, but he could only find 3 dirty baby bottles downstairs before he came to bed.
When Steve was apologizing, my first reaction was, what was he sorry for? I was the one acting like a bitch last night, not him. He said yeah, but he knew I was in a dark place and that he was too tired to really do any thing to help. The thing is, he was still trying to talk to me with every, single, second he had before he go to leave home and drive to our studio.
I like how Steve tells me things. He tells me stuff just as he sees it. For example, he’ll tell me he’s starving when he’s hungry. He’ll tell me he’s grumpy when a model flakes on a photoshoot. He’ll tell me he’s horny when he wants sex. When he’s pissed off, it’s written all over his face! Simple, straight forward, no bullshit.
There are many other things that I like about my husband Steve—
1. He’s taught me a lot about graphic design.
2. He encourages me to follow my passions, such as jewelry design.
3. He given me a backbone, and tells me not to settle for anything less than what I’m happy with.
4. We can pray together. Yes, you read that right, I said “pray together”, not “play together”! We do play together as well.
5. He’s really not that picky about food.
6. He just told me he’s horny!
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Handmade Jewelry by Yvonne Xu
When we first opened Pinnacle Design Center, we had all kind of classes from Editorial Design to Jewelry Making. Many of the classes got killed due to low enrollment. (hahaha, yeah, we didn’t have too many students at that time). I even taught a few Jewelry Design classes to kids during those days. I’ve always liked Jewelry Making but never did anything serious with it. Now, I’m serious. (hahaha!)
A few months back, we had a student who came to us asking if we offer any jewelry classes. We told her we could put one together for her, as it’s been an ongoing interest of ours to run such a class. We found a great teacher, put the class together, and this student still didn’t sign up, but others (like myself) ended up taking the class with our brand new, but very experienced instructor Emily Ito. I love this class so much! The class is still not finished, and I have already created almost 40 different pieces of jewelry!?! I even just finished posting a few things on Etsy last night!
http://www.etsy.com/shop/PinnacleDesignCenter?ref=seller_info
Here’s a few handmade earrings and neckless I made (click on the thumbnails to view an enlarged image):
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14 Myths about Graphic Design Debunked ( Part 5 of 5 )
Myth #12: It’s an easy way to make lots of money.
Truth: Few graphic designers make a lot of money. Most of us, simply make a living and enjoy how we do that.
Myth #13: In the age of the internet, it’s ok to rip off other designer’s ideas.
Truth: Thou shall not steal! Regardless of where you saw something, does not give you the right to steal it. Copyright law applies, and believe it, copyright lawyers are out in hordes looking for infringement of their clients work. With the internet, people tend to think, that stealing someone else’s ideas will go unnoticed, but this shouldn’t be your mind frame. It is a small world. However, use other’s designs to inspire you, to push you, to help you spring board off of their ideas, creating something as unique as possible without crossing copyright infringement boundaries.
Myth #14: All graphic designers need to know HTML.
Truth: There are many different areas of graphic design such as, print, motion graphics, and web design. The internet is daily growing at an increasing rate, but really only graphic designers dealing with the design, implementation, and maintenance of websites need to know HTML.
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14 Myths about Graphic Design Debunked ( Part 4 of 5 )
Myth #9: You can start your own graphic design firm right out of school.
Truth: Most new businesses fail within the first year the open. You need business experience, graphic design experience, a business plan, and lots of wise business advice. Do yourself a favor, when you ask for business advice, ask the richest, most successful people you know. You’ll save yourself lots of heartache and money!
Myth #10: Clients will always listen to the designer’s sound advice, and respect their opinion.
Truth: Sometimes they will, sadly most of the time they won’t. Some clients will even ask and listen to the opinion of someone else, who doesn’t know a thing about graphic design. Clients will also often pick your lease favorite design idea over the more creative, progressive ones. If clients are listening to other people without a design education or background, well what does that say about respect?
Myth #11: Graphic design is a lot of fun.
Truth: It certainly can be a lot of fun! But it is also a lot of work too! From having to deal with clients or your boss, managing projects, doing production work, putting together and doing presentations, meeting deadlines, etc., things can get very stressful and hard to juggle all of it at times.
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14 Myths about Graphic Design Debunked ( Part 3 of 5 )
Myth #6: Graphic designers don’t have to deal with people because they’re at a computer all the time.
Truth: All business is truly about people and building relationships. Regardless if a designer is a freelancer working out of their home, or working in a full service design studio or advertising agency, you must deal with people on a daily basis, albeit client, other employees, or your boss.
Myth #7: It’s easy to come up with ideas.
Truth: Sometimes yes, most of the times not. With time and experience it often is easier to do creative problem solving, but surprisingly this is not always the case, as each new project can challenge you, especially if you’re a highly creative individual striving to break new ground whenever possible.
Myth #8: Graphic Design doesn’t require a lot of studying.
Truth: As long as there is breath in your lungs, and you’re working as a graphic designer, the learning never ends. In this age of technology, software continues to be upgraded at lighting quick speeds. New processes and technologies are being developed all the time. Also, with new clients, come the need to learn new things, about them, their business, products and services.
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14 Myths about Graphic Design Debunked ( Part 2 of 5 )
Myth #4: In order to become a graphic designer, a college degree is needed.
Truth: Getting yourself a formal education is very important. However, the degree does not equal, guarantee a job, or mean that it is the only path available to becoming a graphic design professional. No school anywhere will promise you a job after you graduate. With good reason too. A design education can give you graphic design skills, help you develop creative concepts, and a portfolio (both physical and an online one), but ultimately it’s up to the individual to develop their business and people skills, and land the jobs the want for themselves. Your design education and portfolio may open doors, but it’s really up to you (the person, designer, business person) to close the deals yourself. However, there are those few who are real go getters, that are self-starters, driven and very intuitive that are able to achieve great results in graphic design without a formal education or a degree. The key word here is “few”.
Myth #5: Branding is just a fancy, new way of saying a logo.
Truth: Branding is about far more than merely a logo. A logo is the foundation for which the entire brand is built upon. Like the structure of a skyscraper, a good foundation is essential. Likewise with branding. So, branding starts with a logo and builds upon it.
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