I have been meaning to post this up for several weeks now and just keep letting it slip by. I live in this quaint little town in Middle Tennessee called Franklin. If you have ever visited Franklin you know how charming the downtown square area is and tucked away into one of the little rows of retail shops is a very well-designed boutique called “Haven”.

Haven is a woman’s clothing boutique so needless to say I found it on a trip through with my wife. I don’t know who owns this store but they do the best windows in town – possible Nashville – hand’s down. Even the interior of their store is very tastefully decorated, from the textures on the walls and floors to the display of product they sale. They have thought through ever corner of that store and walking through is a bit like Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory for designers. Tasty treats at every turn. So, if you’re a designer and near Franklin, check it out. Downtown Franklin, right off the square roundabout.

This is a fun topic for me because I have family members all the time ask me, “Now Scott, tell me again exactly what it is that you do?”. Not that my answer to this question is directly related to the above title but it certainly is a first cousin. I try to explain in a humorous, quick way that I simply, “make things look pretty”. Now, to a person who probably has never even heard the word serif, this answer will suffice. However, it fails on multiple levels to really describe a designers true work.

One of the things I constantly try to communicate to young designers and folks who have worked for me over the years is that the basis of a great designer is the ability to come up with a solid, interesting concept. Many, many people can copy or mimic visual fads of the day, but only a few can come up with an original idea (concept) in their head and translate it to paper before prettying it up with flair. That, my friend, is what separates a designer from a person with a Mac.

I recently read an interview with Saul Bass (legendary identity designer) about his process in designing large corporate identities. The interviewer asked him this question, “When designing a trademark, does the computer play a role in your process?”

Saul answered, “Not in relation to the fundamental concept, the idea of what it is. Computers can respond quickly and efficiently to questions like how will it look if it’s turned this way or that, made heavier or lighter, squeezed or expanded? But these are secondary issues–modifying factors. The basic notion still has to come out of someone’s head.”

His last sentence, “The basic notion still has to come out of someone’s head” is the meat of his thinking. A real designer thinks with his head before putting pencil to hand or mouse to finger. In my opinion, the best way to tell a designer from a person with a Mac is to see who owns a sketch book.

I was reminded this week what my job really is. More startling than that statement, this reminder came from a client, not an inspiring peer or design professional.

I tend to forget that my clients also work with, or have worked in the past with, other designers and design firms. They have past “designer” experiences and as such typically come to my table with an unspoken opinion or assumption about the process and the role of my job. Their opinion is rarely verbalized but I was reminded this week that it is ALWAYS there.

We had just started a project with a large publisher in Nashville and quickly into the first piece, after we sent them a quick PDF for approval of direction, I received the phone call. Fully expecting a “you’re close but let’s do X or let’s move it more towards Y”, I was quite surprised to hear an affirming word on how we, as a design firm, actually did our job. Our client told us that she appreciated the fact that we actually read the material we were designing. She went on to say that instead of just reading the writers art suggestions and quickly moving on with one of them verbatim, we engaged our own brains and created an idea that was superior in concept and design to any of the suggestions. Our idea explained the concept clearly, in a visually compelling manner.

I always enjoy hearing encouraging feedback, however the positive for me in this conversation was the reminder it provided. Good designers ARE to read the content to be designed, really think through the written concept needing to be expressed, and create a visually compelling, relevant, interpretation that communicates clearly and effectively to the intended audience.

Fair warning, this blog is more of a rant than a help. You’ve been warned.

We have been working on designing a PowerPoint presentation for the VP of a very large publisher. We don’t normally take on such projects but this was for an important client so we bent our rules a bit for him. Let me first say, I love this company and I love the man we are working for, this blog is in no way a complaint against either. But, I do HATE Powerpoint (PP).

I hate it.

For the life of me I cannot figure out the thinking behind some of the tools and processes in PP. There seems to be very little keyboard shortcuts for actions and perhaps most importantly the program itself does very funny things in dealing with fonts and images. Unexplainable things. Things that would only happen in the show Lost - moving through time continuums and fighting off smoke monsters.

Before you start preparing your mental list of my shortcomings, let me go ahead and get them on the table for you. I am very aware of most of them.

1) I work on a Mac, so basic PC logic is foreign to me. Thank goodness.
2) I mainly use the Adobe suite of software for our work (Photoshop, InDesign, etc) so Office software is not the norm.
3) I do lose patience quickly when the ideas in my head do not find a fast home in my hands.

Please know that I do factor the above items into my equation of trying to understand why PP (and Office as a whole) operates as it does. I still come out believing Office is terrible and PP should be located six feet under. I know lots of people who would argue with me – I just have to express my frustration with these PC based tools. They are clunky, they are not designed for efficiency, and they don’t look pretty.

Whew, I feel much better. This PP therapy has really cleansed my mind. Now let’s talk about Excel …

I live in Franklin, TN, a city not necessarily known for contemporary architecture or progressive building design. However, I recently stumbled upon an attempt by someone to design and build a contemporary structure, very reminiscent of Frank Gehry (see photos below). As I drove by the first time I caught a glimpse of the heavy glass, curvy orange metal on the top floor and it really caught my attention. I thought to myself, wow, Franklin is taking a risk and allowing a contemporary building to be constructed within the city limits. As my path pushed me by it the second time I saw the first floor of the building and all my hopes of a solid, well-designed contemporary building died.

You see, this building looks like two different structures set on top of each other. The top floor, an ode to progressive modern design, the bottom, a compromise required by the conservative city planning commission to meet their “design” requirements of brick and columns. I won’t get into the politics loaded within the previous statement, however, it did raise the thought in my mind of the need to be consistent in design. Design of anything really … a building, a brochure, a car … anything.

Many times I see work that has tried to include several styles, feels, and concepts all together. The practice of multiple styles does more harm than good as you try to effectively communicate your message through design. The old adage of “less is more” really is true. Simplicity and consistency are your friends when it comes to effective communication. And, as I’ve said many times before, design is all about effective communication! First, find the concept that best communicates your message then finish it out in a style that compliments that concept. Don’t try to include lots of styles or ideas in your design. Fulfilling design is not offered on a smorgasbord.

So, be simple and be consistent. You’ll win every time!

White Space. Yes, most every designer loves white space while many clients believe it to be a waste of good space. In my years as a design professional I have a good list going of ways to “fill” the “blank” space. Just for grins, here are a few:

1) Hey Scott, “let’s tile our company logo in that space so we can ingrain it into our customers minds!”

2) “We need a colorful stock photo of a 34th story building just like ours in that blank space. It shows how “uptown” we are.”

3) “Since we are paying for 4 color printing let’s find a color image of some kind of rainbowy pattern. That way we are geting the most printing bang for our buck.”

And you wonder why designers become quick fans of that empty space we call “white space”. For a person trained in helping people find joy in seeing ads or reading a magazine, white space can be a very restful place for the eye. Thus, white space has much power as a tool for the designer.

We recently finished designing a 224 color photography book for a renown photographer and had the time of our lives using white space as one of our main design initiatives. Photography books are all about the photos,  they need space around them to allow the reader to truly enjoy the art. That being the case, we spent as much time designing the white space in this book as the photo layouts.

This project required us to carefully chose photos with size and proportions that work together to create appealing white space across the spreads. Each layout became a study in space and proportion. To compliment both the book layout and the photography on exhibit, we utilized purposeful white space to help the reader view the photography in a peaceful, museum-like environment.

Here are a couple of spreads from the book for your perusal. Hopefully you can appreciate the white space almost as much as the beautiful photography.

I just got back from a business trip to Colorado Springs, CO and during that trip had the opportunity to meet with a large company (Compassion International) that recently finished a brand management piece. Compassion has spent thousands of dollars, and countless hours, I’m sure, on creating a path for brand management which protects and promotes one of the biggest assets they possess, their “brand”.

Over my years in the design industry I have seen numerous companies stick their feet in the shallow end of this pool but no one has ever jumped in the deep end like Compassion. They have created a full “product” consisting of an 80 pg, full color, hard cover book directed at helping employees understand the company, a 200+ page full color, 4 ring binder of guidelines for employees to implement the brand and nice hard cover sleeve for them both to slide in. This product is NICE and well thought through.

Compassion has done several things right in this process. They realized the importance of their brand and were not afraid to spend the money on protecting it while fully harnessing the synergy from having all employees using it succinctly. Many companies can learn from their example. Don’t be afraid to spend money and resources on protecting what may be your biggest asset. Kudos to you Compassion!

I know this entry is probably going to cause a ruckus (assuming anyone really reads it). However, I have come to realize there seems to be an inherent virus going around the creativity world. Weirdness.

Why is it that so many people who just seep creativity are weird. I mean seriously, from Michael Jackson hanging his child out the window and looking like a Photoshop-ed robot, to a local designer friend of mine (we’ll call him Timmy) who makes his own clothes and continues to look like he wrestled a tube of hair gel and lost. I consider myself somewhat creative, yet I don’t think I am that weird. There again, I may be the brute of someone else’s post on this same topic.

I’m not sure I understand the phenomena. Why must creative people act, talk, behave, and look so much like they are stretching to grasp bragging rights for the next popular wave of whatever (clothing, music, design, etc). In working with loads of creative people in my day, all the while trying to keep my normalness, I have culminated my findings into this one, gold standard hypothesis:

Creative people, to be known as creative (and we all want this label), must launch themselves on a continual search to find the obscure in; music, flip flops, graphic design, shoulder-slung satchels, european motor scooters, torn and heavily stitched jeans, disc golf courses and locations to intake fair-trade and organic food/drink goods. They must adopt these things as their personal style mantra. Finding the unique in any of these lifestyle items will set them apart in the eyes of their peers as “creative”.

I personally love creative people. Creativity does not = bad, it just abnormally =’s weird.

I have been thinking lately about the shared similarities and abilities used in designing. Yes, designing. Design of most anything. Granted, there are a few very specific skills needed in each field of design, but there also many, many shared tools our design bags hold.

I recently designed the home where my wife and I live. Throughout the process I found many design decisions that were made using skills I use in my graphic design business. I am fully aware that I am not a highly-praised (nor paid) interior designer. Honestly, I don’t even consider myself an interior designer, however I would call the tasks I completed on our house “interior design”. I have no formal training in interior design, and little to no experience in the field. However because of these very facts, I stumbled upon the realization that many design tools find themself at home in most design jobs.

Here are a couple of design skills that I found to be transferrable:

1) Planning Color. Just as I work through and create complimentary color pallettes for the print pieces we design at Scott Lee Designs (SLD), when designing our home I had to think through and plan a complimentary set of colors for the house. The rules of color apply across the board.

2) Planning the Focus. When we layout, for example, an ad at SLD we know the purpose of the ad and the intended action we want the consumer to make in reaction to it. We know where we need to push the focus of the consumer. So it is with interior design, when you step into a room you must use the same set of design skills to plan the focus of that room and lead the viewer to the intended place.

3) Be tactile. In graphic design, textures can be expressed in photographic, typographic, illustrative, and various other forms. Layers of textures, whether they be photographic elements or the creative use of typography, all lend themselves to a wonderful tactile experience. In interior design there are many texture elements to consider when designing the interior experience. From metals, to woods, to actual hand textures, there are lots of ways to create interest and depth in the design of your space. Don’t ignore the textural details. Excellence is in the details.

So, whether you are a graphic designer, interior designer, or artificial turf designer your skills are valuable and VERY transferrable. Don’t be afraid to try them out in a new field!

Here are a few pictures of my first (and not the last) interior design project:

Scott Lee Designs (SLD) was recently hired to be the creative agency for a new movie project (Jesus … No Greater Love) coming to theaters in the spring of 2011. Aside from the glamour of working on a Hollywood movie project, we are very excited about the unique opportunity this provides for a design firm to be involved in every creative aspect of a film. From the initial design of the movie logo, to onsite photography while the movie is being shot in Israel, to post-film merchandise design, SLD will be the agency carrying out all the design aspects for the film. Most films hire different agencies to work on the different aspects of the film’s life; one for handling the movie identity work, a different one for the advertising component, and so on, whereas this project has allowed SLD to being the sole creative entity controlling the brand and design throughout the entire process. A new step for film creative and an alluring creative adventure for Scott Lee Designs.

To see more information on the film project, please visit newjesusmovie.com