It is rare for designers to achieve such global recognition that they transcend their original function, leading to a celebration of form that becomes a pop culture phenomenon.

You’ve witnessed it. It’s everywhere.

TDC presents an in-person event with Brent David Freaney, founder of Special Offer, Inc., where he’ll discuss type design, large-scale systems, his work on Charli XCX’s album “brat,” and what it truly means to be a professional designer, followed by a live Q&A.

SPECIAL OFFER, Inc. is an award—winning creative tech company committed to the growth of subculture through design.

Brent David Freaney on instagram @spamriskmissedcall
Special Offer, inc on instagram - @specialoffer.inc
Website - SPECIALOFFER.inc

Admission

$20 - General Admission
$10 - Members & Students

Due to capacity, limited seating is available. Purchasing tickets ahead of this event is recommended.

PURCHASE TICKETS
 

Due to capacity, limited seating is available. Purchasing tickets ahead of this event is recommended.

Additional work below.

Charli XCX - 'brat' + Charli XCX Troy Sivan SWEAT Tour

 

Everyone who enters the competition will have the opportunity for their work to be considered by a diverse group of international designers. In January 2021 the group will review a wide range of design – typefaces, books, book jackets, posters, magazines, identities, exhibitions, apparel, websites, film and TV titles, and packaging.

Early bird deadline for entries is midnight, November 20. Regular deadline is January 8. After this date, higher entry fees will be applied to late entries.

See the full list of judges for 24TDC Typeface and TDC67 Communication Design.

Enter the competition site

* * *

 

TDC67 COMMUNICATION DESIGN JUDGES


Melissa Deckert
Melissa Deckert is a multidisciplinary designer, art director and co-founder of Party of One Studio. Formerly the Senior Brand Designer at Etsy’s in-house Brand Studio, her work spans a variety of disciplines including branding, book covers, lettering and murals. In 2018, Melissa co-founded Party of One with Nicole Licht, a collaborative creative studio based in Brooklyn, New York. Combining traditional design principles with handmade elements, colorful set design and unusual styling, Party of One creates compelling, story-driven visuals for brands, products and publications. Their clients include The New York Times, Mercedes-Benz, Playboy, The Washington Post, and Random House. Melissa’s work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and Art Directors Club. Independently she has been a guest critic at Pratt Institute, Rhode Island School of Design, and The New School.

Instagram: @MelissaDeckert
Twitter: @melissadeckert
Portfolio Website: melissadeckert.com
Studio Website: partyofone.studio


Jason Ramirez
Jason is an award-winning designer and art director with Viking and Penguin Books in New York. Previously he worked with St. Martin’s Press and Rodrigo Corral Design. His work has earned recognition and honors from Communication Arts and Print magazines, the Type Directors Club, AIGA Eye on Design, the AIGA 50 Books | 50 Covers competition, and the New York Book Show. In addition, his projects have been published in several books related to graphic design and publishing. Jason is a graduate of Parsons School of Design and the University of Rochester.

Instagram: @ThatandThis
Twitter: @jasonramirez
Portfolio Website: jasonramirez.design


Jason Sfetko
Jason Sfetko is an Art Director in the global brand design team at Nike in Portland, OR. He was previously the Deputy Art Director at The New York Times Magazine and studied design at Rochester Institute of Technology. In 2014 Jason was a member of the Design Team of the Year awarded by the Art Directors Club. He has also received an ASME National Magazine Award for design while at GQ and was named among the 25 Young Designers to Watch in 2012 by Complex.com. His work has been recognized by various organizations including The Art Directors Club, The Type Directors Club, The Society of Publication Designers, D&AD, and Graphis, among others.

Instagram: @JasonSfetko
Twitter: @jasonsfetko
Portfolio Website: jasonsfetko.com


Leandro Assis
Leandro Assis, aka LEBASSIS is a brazilian artist, art director and letterer based in Rio. Lebassis is known for super bold letterings, colorful palettes and playful illustrations, drawing the attention of global brands and agencies. Lebassis also uses his creativity and designs as a tool to promote positivity for black culture and LGBTQ+ rights.

Instagram: @Lebassis
Twitter: @lebassis
Portfolio Website: lebassis.com


Joyce N. Ho
Joyce N. Ho is a Hong Kong-born Australian designer. With a decade’s experience, there’s nothing she enjoys more than storytelling through motion and bringing ideas to life through design. As an art director and motion designer, Joyce’s work is textural and expressive. Her approach is design-led and she’s always excited to learn, experiment and explore uncharted territory whenever possible. Now based in Brooklyn, Joyce continues her obsession with all things motion and freelances in-between befriending all the cute dogs NYC has to offer. She has directed numerous noteworthy projects, including ‘Semi Permanent 2018’ titles, ‘The Expanse’ opening titles and was design director for “Volume 3” of Netflix’s ‘Patriot Act with Hasan Minhaj’.

Joyce has been a finalist at SXSW Film Awards three times and her work has been recognized by The One Club, The ADC, The ADCC and the Australian Production Design Guild, among others. She was named one of “10 Women of Title Design” by Art of the Title in 2018 and was recently a Young Gun 17 winner.

Instagram: @Joyce.N.Ho
Twitter: @joyceho
Portfolio Website: joycenho.com


Leland Maschmeyer
In 2016, Leland joined Chobani as its first Chief Creative Officer and led its lauded brand transformation. In 2020, he became the company's Chief Brand Officer. He is a Board Member of the One Club for Creativity and Advisory Board Member of NOMI Networks – a global organization dedicated to ending modern slavery. Leland is also the Co-Founder, Board Member, and former Co-Chief Creative Officer of COLLINS, the globally renowned design firm. His work has defined “the next big design trend” (AIGA Eye on Design), produced “the future of music videos” (Forbes), influenced federal climate legislation, federal childhood nutrition policy, presidential candidate platforms, and won every major global creative award. His re-launch of the Chobani brand earned nearly 9 billion media impressions and praise as “literally and absolutely perfect” (AIGA Eye on Design). His global re-imaginations of Spotify, Instagram, and Chobani were each recognized as “Best of the Year” (Fast Co, Wired, Brand New). He has won recognition as "Global 30 under 30” (Campaign), “Young Influencer” (Ad Age), “Most Influential Designers Today” (HOW Magazine), “Design Thinking Leader” (IBM), “Master of Marketing” (Assoc. of National Advertisers), “Tastemaker” (PDN Magazine), and “Designer to Watch” (Graphic Design USA).

Instagram: @LeLandMaschmeyer
Twitter: @leemaschmeyer
Portfolio Website: leemaschmeyer.com


Marta Cerdà Alimbau
Marta Cerdà is a Barcelona based independent Letterer, Illustrator and Graphic Designer. Her main body of work is focussed on the boundaries between typography and illustration. While Marta's style is strongly eclectic, she believes that the separation of these two disciplines into specialized activities is a limitation for her work.

She graduated in Graphic Design in the University of Elisava, Barcelona. At the end of 2008, after working in agencies and studios between Barcelona, Düsseldorf and Munich, she won the ADC Young Guns and decided to found her own studio. Since then, she has worked globally, based in different cities like New York, Los Angeles, Amsterdam and Barcelona, working on projects which call for Art Direction, Design, Illustration and Custom Typography for Arts, Culture and Advertising Clients.

Marta has been awarded by major Design competitions like The Type Directors Club, The Society of Publication Designers and the Art Directors Club Young Guns, among others. She also lectures about Design at creative conferences and Universities internationally.

Instagram: @MartaCerda
Twitter: @MartaCerdaAlimb
Portfolio Website: martacerda.com

Juan Carlos Pagan, Jury Chair
Juan Carlos Pagan is a Designer, Typographer, and Creative Director. He received his BFA from Parsons School of Design in 2006, and completed his postgraduate studies in typeface design at The Cooper Union in 2011. Some of Juan's clients include Pinterest, Cîroc, Under Amour, The New York Times, Variety Magazine, Apple, Google, Disney, and ESPN.

Juan has been honored for his work by The Type Directors Club, Communication Arts, The ADC, The One Show, Graphis, Cannes Lions, Clios, FastCo, 4A's, and Print Magazine among others. In 2013 Juan received the Art Directors Club Young Gun Award (YG11), honoring vanguard creatives under the age of 30. That same year he was named the top of Adweek‘s Talent 100, and he graced the cover of that year's issue. He was subsequently nominated for Print Magazines New Visual Artist 20 Under 30. In 2018 Juan received the Type Directors Club Ascenders Award, which recognizes designers who are 35 years of age and under for their remarkable achievement in design and typography. In 2019 Juan was asked to join the board of directors of the Type Directors Club.

Juan is currently the founding partner and Executive Creative Director of Sunday Afternoon. He previously held Head of Design and Creative Director positions at, 72andSunny NY, Deutsch NY, DDB NY, and MTV.

Instagram: @JuanCarlosPagan
Twitter: @Juan_C_Pagan
Portfolio Website: carlospagan.com
Studio Website: sundayafternoon.us

 

24TDC TYPEFACE DESIGN JUDGES

Peter Biľak
Peter Biľak works in the field of editorial, graphic, and type design. In 1999 he started Typotheque type foundry, in 2000, together with Stuart Bailey he co-founded art & design journal Dot Dot Dot, in 2012 he started Works That Work, a magazine of unexpected creativity, in 2015 together with Andrej Krátky he co-founded Fontstand.com, a font rental platform. Peter is teaching at the Type & Media, postgraduate course at the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague.

Instagram: @typotheque
Twitter @typotheque
Website: typotheque.com

Ryoko Nishizuka
Ryoko Nishizuka received her degree in type design from Musashino Art University in 1995, she joined Adobe in 1997, and is currently a Principal Designer of Japanese Typography. Ryoko was a member of the team that designed and developed the first Adobe Originals Japanese typefaces, Kozuka Mincho and Kozuka Gothic. She designed the typeface Ryo family, the world's first full proportional OpenType Japanese font Kazuraki, Source Han Sans and Source Han Serif as the Pan-CJK typeface family and Ten-Mincho. She has won several awards including NY TDC, Tokyo TDC and the Morisawa Awards International Typeface Design Competition.

Noël Leu
Noël Leu is a graphic designer and co-founder of the Swiss based type foundry Grilli Type. He usually spends a large part of the year traveling the globe to broaden his horizon, getting inspired, and to give lectures about design.

Instagram: @grillitype
Twitter: @grillitype
Website: grillitype.com

Agyei Archer
Agyei Archer is a multidisciplinary designer and art director from Trinidad, focusing on commercial work that integrates graphics, type design, and programming. He recently co-founded Unqueue, a mobile app designed to improve retail experiences in the Caribbean. Past clients include Google, RISD, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago, and the Caribbean Mental Health Foundation.

Agyei runs a small studio in Trinidad, and works on type projects that are both referential of the space he’s in, and with consideration of the implications for the global Black population as a whole. As a result, he’s interested in African Latin language support, but also non-Latin writing systems of colour. Most recently, he completed a digitisation of the Afáka script, the world’s only creole writing system, and he’s currently working on a variable font project for Google, scheduled to be released in [redacted].

Instagram: @agyei.design
Twitter: @agyeiDesign
Website: agyei.design

Nadine Chahine
Dr. Nadine Chahine is an award-winning Lebanese type designer and principal at ArabicType Ltd. She has an MA in Typeface Design from the University of Reading, UK, a PhD from Leiden University, The Netherlands, and a Master of Studies in International Relations from Cambridge University. She has numerous awards including two Awards for Excellence in Type Design from the Type Directors Club in New York in 2008 and 2011. Her typefaces include: Frutiger Arabic, Neue Helvetica Arabic, Univers Next Arabic, Palatino Arabic, and Koufiya.

Nadine's work has been featured in the 5th edition of Megg's History of Graphic Design and in 2012 she was selected by Fast Company as one of its 100 Most Creative People in Business. In 2016 her work was showcased in the 4th edition of First Choice which highlights the work of the 250 top global designers. In 2017, Nadine was selected by Creative Review to their Creative Leaders 50.

Instagram: @arabictype
Twitter: @arabictype
Website: arabictype.com

Sandra García
Graduated in Graphic Design from the Universidad del Área Andina, Bogota-Colombia. Master in Typographic Design from the Gestalt Studies Center. Teacher with more than 10 years of career. Speaker at national and international conferences, recently in the version of ATypI Tokio 2019 and Letrástica 3, Guadalajara. Winner of the 2018 FONCA Co-investment Grant from the Secretary of Culture of Mexico. She received the international Clap award for font design Xantolo, co-author of the book "Elementype, a practical guide to typographic use." Co-founding partner of Tipastype.

Instagram: @tipastype @wondertype
Twitter: @tipastype

Ksenya Samarskaya, Jury Chair
Ksenya Samarskaya is a strategic consultant and creative director, passionate about the nuances inherent in our visual and literary culture. Samarskaya has served on the board of AIGA/NY and taught creative practices at Harbour.Space University (Barcelona), IE School of Architecture and Design (Madrid), School of Visual Arts (New York), and the University of the Arts (Philadelphia). She has previously judged competitions for ADC/The One Club, Communication Arts, TISDC, TDC, and the SoTA Catalyst Award.

Samarskaya & Partners is a creative practice with a collaboration model at heart, featuring a rotating team of kick-ass designers, developers, copywriters, and artists, who come together to craft visual identities, brand strategies, marketing initiatives, editorials, and multiscript type design. Clients and collaborators have included Adobe, Apple, Google, IDEO, Intel, Monotype, Rosetta, Snoop Dogg, WeWork, YouTube, and others.

Instagram: @samarskaya
Twitter: @samarskaya
Medium: medium.com/samarskaya

* * *

Enter the competition site

Early bird deadline: November 20, 2020
Regular deadline: January 8, 2021

The curator of the Herb Lubalin Study Center, Alexander Tochilovsky, will discuss the history of the center and the evolution of its collection.

The talk will also focus on a few recent acquisitions of Japanese graphic design ephemera made during a trip to Tokyo. There is something magical about the serendipity of finding interesting ephemera, and even more so because of the stories and names they reveal. The talk will shed light on some wonderful objects and the designers behind them.

Alexander Tochilovsky is a graphic designer, typographer, curator, and educator, with nearly 20 years of professional experience, and 10 years of experience teaching typography. He graduated with a BFA from The Cooper Union, and holds an MFA from Cranbrook Academy of Art. He is currently the Curator of the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography. Since 2007, he has taught typography and design at the Cooper Union School of Art, and also teaches the history of typeface design at Type@Cooper, the postgraduate certificate program he co-founded in 2010.

Registration for this special event is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets: Tickets to the TDC Virtual Salons are free to members only. Non-members are asked for a suggested donation of ten dollars to help fund our free recordings of events and to grow typographic awareness. Donations of $1, $5, $10, or more are welcomed.

Click on the registration link to sign up for this live Zoom webinar via Eventbrite. We suggest downloading the Zoom software prior to the start of this event. We will send you event reminders, but we advise everyone to connect a few minutes prior to the start. The event waiting room will be open 10 minutes ahead of time.

The start time for the live event is:
10:00am LA/SF/Seattle (PST)
1:00pm New York (EST)
6:00pm London (BST)
7:00pm Berlin/Europe (CEST)
9:00pm Dubai (GST)
1:00am Seoul/Manila
2:00am Tokyo
5:00am Auckland

About the Herb Lubalin Study Center of Design and Typography

Opened in 1985, the Study Center was created at The Cooper Union in New York City in order to preserve an unprecedented resource: Herb Lubalin’s vast collection of work. Its goal was to provide the design community with a means to honor Lubalin and to study his innovative work.

Herb Lubalin (1918–1981) is best known for his wildly illustrative typography and his groundbreaking work for the magazines Avant Garde, Eros, and Fact. The Study Center’s core collection includes an extensive archive of his work, including drawings, promotional, editorial and advertising design, typeface design, posters, logos, and other materials dating from 1950 to 1981.

The collection also includes work by other eminent designers including Otl Aicher, Anthon Beeke, Lester Beall, Will Burtin, Lou Dorfsman, Karl Gerstner, Tibor Kalman, Alvin Lustig, Elaine Lustig Cohen, The Push Pin Studios, Paul Rand, Bradbury Thompson, Massimo Vignelli, and many more. There is also a library of books and magazines about design and typography, an extensive collection of posters, myriad type specimen books, and pamphlets within the archive.

How have ideas about typography been shaped by culture and technology over the last three centuries, and what is Gretel’s approach today?

Dylan Mulvaney is Head of Design at Gretel. His expertise lies in translating core values, strategy, and voice into striking visual executions for clients like Vice, Netflix, Knoll, and MoMA. His work has been honored by the Type Directors Club, the D&AD, the Art Directors Club, and Fast Company.

Registration for this special event is available on a first-come, first-served basis. Tickets: Tickets to the TDC Virtual Salons are free to members only. Non-members are asked for a suggested donation of ten dollars to help fund our free recordings of events and to grow typographic awareness. Donations of $1, $5, $10, or more are welcomed.

Click on the registration link to sign up for this live Zoom webinar via Eventbrite. We suggest downloading the Zoom software prior to the start of this event. We will send you event reminders, but we advise everyone to connect a few minutes prior to the start. The event waiting room will be open 10 minutes ahead of time.

The start time for the live event is:

10:00am LA/SF/Seattle (PST)
1:00pm New York (EST)
6:00pm London (BST)
7:00pm Berlin/Madrid/Milan/Europe (CEST)
9:00pm Jerusalem (GST)
1:00am Seoul/Manila
2:00am Tokyo
5:00am Auckland

Thank you to everyone who joined us (and tried to!) on Thursday, May 22 for our virtual salon with Armin Vit of Brand New, where he took us through his logo design process in real time.  We're preparing the video of the webinar, distributing it to TDC members for 30 days, and will share it with everyone here on the website and on the TDC YouTube channel.

Armin took your questions (all 97 of them!) and we're happy to share his answers here:

Thank you, TDC community and Armin!

Can you talk about providing clients with options or multiple concepts to choose from? Is this something you typically do or try to avoid?

I like to show options and let the client choose. I think there is no single right answer to a logo/identity project so the client should be able to choose a direction they enjoy and are comfortable with. I show between 3 and 5 options.

How do you decide on the typefaces that form a typography system and match (or not) the type in a logo?

I try to find typefaces that are useful and simple so that the client can get the most out of them. Something too weird or esoteric, I think they’ll get tired of it quickly. So I try to find logos that either complement or contrast the logo.

Armin, what made you become a graphic designer?

Path of least resistance! LOL. When I was in high school I was a terrible student and graphic design seemed like a degree that didn’t require lots of testing or memorizing things and I liked to draw heavy metal band logos on my notebooks (instead of taking notes). Third year of college is when I realized I REALLY enjoyed graphic design.

How final were these marks before you presented them to the client? How many/which ones did you end up showing them?

They are pretty close to final. I will usually do a round of revisions to clean up and tighten the selected direction. Sometimes the client doesn’t even ask for it but I know that any logo presented in the first round needs a lot of refinement.

How many days did this bpp design process take?

From initial client conversation to first round design presentation about 3 weeks. We spent a good 3 weeks developing two of the options in parallel because neither he nor us were sure which one would best. Then it was about another month to get the logo approved by the board of directors, about a week to prepare final files for them and then they were on their own.

Do you look at other logo designs for inspiration during the creative process?

Never, not because I’m all high and mighty but because I invariably end up copying something. I try to dig into my head for references to pull from and build new things. Every now and then, I’ll look at something like “Soviet logos” if I want to emulate a specific approach.

Do you come up with concepts first and play, or do you play and develop those concepts later? Seems like the latter but I’m curious.

Play first : ) but as I’m playing I’m always thinking if what I’m doing can be rationalized.

What details influence your decision to eliminate ideas?

It usually has to do with expandability… meaning, can I see a logo expand into both a visual language and into a useful system. If I feel something doesn’t have legs for the long run, I’ll abandon it. Also, if I can tell it will suck.

How do you push yourself to come up with more concepts? Do you ever feel stuck at 1 or 2 concepts?

I can usually power through 3 – 5 different solutions without a problem but I always feel like I have to have 7 to 10 to satisfy my curiosity and yeah, plenty of times I will feel like I have nothing else to do. A trick that often helps is to ask “What Would X Do?”… so “What would Michael Bierut do?” “What would Jessica Hische do?”, etc and sometimes that will trigger different directions.

Armin, have you ever submitted your own logo to Underconsideration??

Yes, it did not go well, LOL [see here] I still like our condensed logo a lot.

Love your work, thank you for sharing. How do you stay confident in your work and not worry about what others are creating?

I worry. A LOT. So, I think that because I worry so much, that makes me work harder, which gives me a confidence that I am doing something right somehow.

Curious about your hours estimate for a logo design? And roughly how much time do you spend in the concept stage?

Oh, I’m a wreck when it comes to estimating because I always spend more time than I first imagine spending. Working non-stop on the concept stage I will probably spend 8-full-working hours a day for maybe 7 to 10 days.

Do you present all options to the client or narrow it down to 3? The One Logo approach is gaining steam in the design space.

I present all good options. Sometimes it’s 3, sometimes it’s 5, sometimes it’s 7 — which is way too much and I don’t do that anymore. I’m not a believer in the one-solution approach but that’s me.

How do you manage the conversation around presenting several logo design concepts as well as a variety of color choices at the same time? How do you narrow it down with the client without having to iterate on lots of different ideas?

If color is completely up for grabs, from the beginning I will tell them that the colors chosen are interchangeable and if they see a color they like in one option we can easily apply it to another option. That’s why I always show the logo in black and white first so that they can see the idea first. I very rarely have super strong opinions about color, so I’m happy to go with whatever makes the client comfortable.

What program did you do the simple logo animation and how did you show it as animation in the InDesign presentation ?

I use Adobe Animate and I generate an MP4 or MOV file from there. The presentation itself is given in Keynote, so I embed the video there. Before getting into Keynote I do the presentation itself in InDesign and simply leave blank spaces for videos later.

What do you do if you end up hating or otherwise struggling with the option the client likes best? I think about the paycheck : )

Kidding aside, yeah, it happens so it’s really just about getting the job finished properly and quickly and just moving on. Not every project can be great.

How do you manage situations where clients like aspects of different options and then ask you to combine them for round 2?

If it makes sense, I have no problem combining elements of different ideas and I have been in 2 or 3 situations where that was the case where the client was right in bringing two ideas together. If I know the combination will not work I simply tell the client that it will be like trying to combine an Italian dish with a Thai dish and that those specific ingredients, while good on their own, were not meant to come together.

Has a client ever chosen your least favorite concept? How do you prevent that?

So far, never my least favorite. Most often is the second favorite. I think clients can tell when you are not excited about an option so if you can’t get them excited about something they won’t do it for it.

Do you typically show 6 options? Have always been told to only show 3-4, so as not to overwhelm the client. Is this an outdated rule?

See answers 1 and 16 above + no, overwhelming the client is a real thing. I have showed as many as 7 and the client had no idea how to move forward.

How much of your rationale do you share with your client? How do you support your decisions on symbols, colors, typefaces, etc.?

I share a lot, almost all of it. I want them to know that the decisions are not completely gratuitous and then I think that the more abstract thinking and way we talk about logos is beneficial for them to talk about their brand. I try to justify every decision with something regardless of whether the justification is overly simply or overly philosophical.

Will registrants receive a copy of the recording? Or is that only for TDC members?

You will receive a copy of the recording.

Having a simple animation in a branding project brings a change? if yes how? What all factors come to play?

It’s amazing what an animation can do (for the better) as it can bring to life an entire concept in 2 to 3 seconds.

Hi. Can you please talk about how you explained to BPP logo concept to the client?

That’s a lot to explain in this format, sorry. Will have to pass on this one.

Hi Armin, great presentation! How many logos thumbnails do you sketch on paper before you move to the computer?

It varies, sometimes 3, sometimes 20. There is no minimum I make myself do.

You use multiple files, each for a specific exploration—is there some limitation to using one file with multiple artboards, or is that just your preference?

Pure preference and probably comes from the fact that I started using Adobe Illustrator before multiple artboards were a feature so I have always used each file as single-use. Also, the less vectors and fonts you have in a file, the quicker it is to open them and go through them.

How do you get yourself out of getting overly attached to one idea? I find it can sometimes make me “blind” to other ideas.

I have to ask my partner to slap me out of it. It’s probably the hardest thing. I do get very attached to specific ideas. So, I don’t have good advice on how to not do it because I haven’t figured it out.

Do abstract logos make a difference?

Sure. You can build more meaning into them as well as allow the audience to interpret it.

Why Bloomington?

See here.

What techniques do you use to push your thoughts to try new solutions for the same thing over and over?

Oh, hard question. I really don’t know. Sorry!

It seems that these two projects each had a singular overarching hook (acronym, building). Do you get signoff on this direction ahead of time or do you just address it during the pitch?

I address it during the pitch because I usually don’t know what the possible solution is until I start coming up with ideas and after a while a better approach emerges, so neither the client nor I know what’s gonna happen until I start designing.

Where does your inspiration come from?

I really love graphic design so I look at a lot of it, which gives me a wide vocabulary to draw from. Also, sunsets.

How long does it take you to design the initial logo options?

Between 1 and 2 weeks.

How did you make the 3D version of logo in illustrator?

Effect > 3D > Extrude and Bevel

For the Mill, you stuck with the architecture throughout all exploration—was that initially from the client or did you just have the hunch that it would yield the best solution?

It’s such an iconic building and it had such specific architecture that I felt  1) we had to honor that and 2) it would be an easy association for the public to match the logo with the building.

Do you have an all-time favorite logo/ designer?

I think I’ll go with Lance Wyman. Beyond the 1968 Olympics logo he did some amazing stuff.

When you’re pitching these ideas are they pitched as finalized or do your clients choose a direction and you refine further from there?

Clients choose a direction and refine from there. We always assume there will be a second round where you can address concerns from the client and bring the logo further afield.

Do you have any techniques or ‘design principle checklist’ for motivating new directions in your exploration phase? Or is it a really free-flow approach like free association until something sticks?

Nope, no techniques… I just go. I think it’s almost like a muscle, the more you train it, the more it responds.

Do you present your favorite direction last? Possibly starting with second favorite? Or some other order?

Yup, favorite last, always. And I will usually show the “safest” direction first so that the client can ease in into the process of seeing and judging logos. Then in between those two I will include the others in a way that feels varied.

Is the custom font derived from an existing typeface?

Yes, DDC Hardware.

Thank you, Armin, for sharing your logo design process. Have you had time to explore with the Astute Graphics AI plug-ins yet? I feel their plug-in tools help increase creativity and productivity options during a designer’s initial ideation phases.

I have not. Sounds fun though.

How important of concept and storytelling of logo in present day?

VERY! Because anyone can make a logo that looks good, even robots, so it’s all about the story behind and around it that makes a difference.

How do you determine the right number of options to show when first presenting logo concepts?

It varies by client whether I think they can handle 3 or 5 or 7. No hard science though, I take it on a case by case basis.

Had Armin seen those crazy lockers before embarking on the sticker mockups, or was he only going with their request to show a sticker? Just because it ended up being a home run!

Ha! No, I had not seen them. They had them in a previous co-working space so they already had years worth of stickers on them.

How much tiny do you spend on a client? From first sketches to final Behance images?

It’s usually 6 months. We work with smaller clients so they move fairly fast. It can sometimes be 9 months to 12 months because it takes an additional 3 to 6 months to photograph the work, prepare images, and write text for the case study to get the Behance appreciations.

Sorry. Time.

No. YOU are time.

Did the clients from The Mill continued the project by themselves? Or you designed the brand identity too besides the logo?

We created some initial explorations and general approaches, provided some halfway comprehensive guidelines, and they did pretty much everything in-house with their marketing person.

How many hours/days do you give yourself to explore and design for 1st presentation?

2 weeks max to come up with the options and 1 week to put them together into a presentation.

My first question was re: The Mill identity…

Awesome!

When you’re facing 6 small variations of an idea (ie - the different triangle shapes in the BOND Mill logo), how do you determine which one works best when you’ve been staring at it for hours or days? How do you keep touch with reality?

In that case I think it comes down to the applications… and that’s why I always show some renders and mock-ups to see which one has more potential to work as a system.

Do you share your preference from the options? Or root for one option more than the other or showcase them at par with each other?

We usually do give the last option a little extra oomph but as we are presenting we don’t state it. If the client asks which one is our favorite and, in my experience, they all do, then we do share our preference.

How logo design evolve after covid era?

I don’t think logo design evolves, I think clients and designers evolve… the task is the same.

How do you know when to stop? Experimenting, doing more versions… I assume choosing the final one is more the client’s task?

When I feel satisfied with the exploration… meaning, do I have enough variety here? Do we address what the clients are asking for? If we have managed in the first few explorations then we’ll stop because, yeah, this process can go on forever.

During this pandemic, would you recommend doing the first client presentation through zoom or some other online platform? Or should it always be in person?

I think zoom is as good as it gets to doing it in person. The benefits of doing the presentation in person currently do not outweigh the risks of being in a meeting room for at least an hour while you talk loudly and expel particles. Also, at this point, I think Zoom is so much second nature to most people that’s a very accepted form of communication.

How long do you typically take for your exploration process?

2 to 3 weeks.

Do you give yourself time limits per sketch idea?

No, not really. I’ll dig at it until I get to something good. Sometimes I do have to force myself to stop on one specific idea so that I don’t get too obsessed with it.

What have you learned from writing/curating Brand New?

I think I answered this on the video.

For « The mill » project did you supervise all the steps with your client ? I mean : were you involved in all the things (tape / sign / wood things…) where the logo is marked ?

No… and it drove me crazy. They took the logo files and just went with it. As I mentioned, I’m a control freak, so not overseeing how the logo was applied kept me up at night. The rolls of tape I was able to do because the specs for it were so weird… it wasn’t just providing the logo to a vendor. A first set of t-shirts they printed, the logo was horizontally shrinked at some point in the process, so yeah, things like that happen. But other than that, they have done a wonderful job.

Do you work independently? If not, how many other people are you working with?

Our business is just me and my business partner and wife. She’s also a designer but specializes in the hand-assembly things we do for our conferences as well as our admin so she usually doesn’t have time to work on the identity projects. So, pretty much, I do it on my own but always with her input, which is critical because otherwise I get carried away.

Is it essential to have your own style in branding nowadays?

Nope. I think your style should adapt to what the client needs, not the other way around.

Any tips on keeping your problem solving process fresh?…Avoiding cyclical thinking everytime you approach a design?

I think it’s about being very self-critical and really questioning if you are just repeating yourself or doing something new that is appropriate for the client.

Does your blog make you a better designer or overly self-critical?

Both. I do think it has improved my abilities because I’m constantly analyzing what works and what doesn’t so by being OVERLY self-critical of my own work I think that by sheer brute force something decent eventually comes out.

What are your favorite resources for finding typefaces?

I love TypeWolf. He is able to point out some really cool things. And every now and then in the marketing emails of MyFonts or even Creative Market, I’ll see something that catches my eye.

Does deciding on a typeface depend on whether the client chooses to license it?

Sadly, yes. In my experience, clients’ sticker shock when they learn they have to pay hundreds of dollars for a “font”, is very real. Luckily, Google Fonts has some decent options, so I will often propose licensing one or two weights of a display typeface to serve as the brand typeface and then choose a text family from Google Fonts.

What are you charging lately?

Non-profits between $10,000 and $16,000; for-profits between $20,000 and $40,000. This includes logo exploration, basic guidelines, and some templates.

Do you research a client’s competitors when you start the project? And if so, how do you record and use that info?

Nothing too scientific or rigorous. I’ll look at their website and social media. A lot can be inferred from a superficial glance. Since our clients are smaller, a true competitive analysis at the Landor/Interbrand levels is not necessary.

When a brand has such a long history, how do you treat rebrands?

With a lot of care. this involves a much longer answer, sorry, and at question 74, I’m losing steam!

Process-wise, how do you schedule your time for logo projects like these and allow for enough exploration, before the first presentation?

Yeah, definitely. I will usually state in the proposal that we need 4 weeks — it’s usually 3 weeks but I want them to know that it won’t be immediate.

How long is a typical process of exploration for you, Armin?

2 to 3 weeks.

Can you elaborate on the conceptual process you follow while creating a brand identity?

Oy… I’m not sure I can. Not because it’s a secret but because I’m not sure how to verbalize it.

If you can’t present to the client in-person, do you send them a video/screenshare of you walking through it or do you just send the PDF?

Never a PDF on its own. It’s a recipe for disaster. You want to at least have them on the phone and walking them through it.

Do you define the communication parameters of the project by creating some sort of attributes and share those with the client? Or do the client pass these to you?

They’ll pass them on to us somewhat indirectly, it usually comes out from initial conversations.

The form (shape of the mill) of the selected logo has not been used in the signage, which happens to be one of the first touch-points for a user. What are your thoughts?

YES! Good question. Because the shape of the logo is the shape of the building so it would have looked very redundant. It was very much on purpose to not include the building shape in signage so that the building itself could be the logo.

Since you design your logos by yourself, how do you get perspective/critical distance?

At this point I think it comes down to experience. 10 years ago, I don’t think I could do it as well. Something I ask myself a lot as I’m designing is “if I put this up on Brand New, what would the comments be like?” That wakes me up right fast.

Hey there! I have a question: from where do you get clients??

These last few ones have been from good old-fashioned networking. When we moved to Bloomington I made a HUGE effort to meet other people who are not designers and that was very hard.

Has it ever happened that you’ve thought of an amazing idea and executed it pretty well and later learnt something like that already exists?

Yeah, it sucks.

Has it ever happened that the client did not like any of the options presented?

Yeah, it sucks. With one client I went through four rounds of completely different directions. In the end, I think it was my fault for not asking the right questions.

Do you think it’s a good idea to engage the client in the ideation and sketching phase before moving forward executing and crafting many options? did you try this before?

Some designers swear by this but I would never do it. This is ME-time. I really do think this is where the magic happens and, at least for me, it happens best in isolation.

How do you go about the charging process? Is it project-based or hourly? Does it vary if depending on how big / small the client is?

We do it project-based and it will depend on the financial capacity of the client. For the same amount of work we’ll do it just the same for $10K as $30K. We usually break down the total by phases so that the client at least sees some breakdown of how their money is being spent.

How to convince clients to invest in a custom font, when they’ve only commissioned a logo?

In this case it wasn’t too hard because the cost was minimal, only the fee for the OpenType features. In general, custom fonts come about when the cost of commissioning one is less than the cost of licensing it for a huge corporation. But in more normal circumstance it comes down to value: can you explain the real value of a custom font to the client or is it just a designer whim?

Do you have some algorithm in designing identities?

No?

From your point of view, does it need to be a good designer to be a good design critique?

I do think so because it’s about filling that bridge between theory and practice; if you are not a good designer I don’t think you would have the right understanding how design works to give useful critique.

How many hours would go into budgets like you mentioned?

No idea! We do not track hours and every project is different. In 20 years we have never outlined actual hours.

When does agreeing to a limited scope make it not worth doing a logo anymore—at what point do you pass on a project, or do you ever pass on a project?

Yeah, we’ll pass on projects where we don’t feel there is any satisfaction anymore. The ideal is to do logo and identity and then the implementation. I’m usually okay with dropping the implementation phase. I’m sometimes okay with dropping the identity design and just designing the logo, but that’s usually when projects start to get questionable — if they start haggling about how many explorations they want to see then that starts to be a red flag.

How long have you been designing on your own?

Since 2007.

When you are sure a certain option is *the one* but it’s not selected.... what do you do?

I cry a little inside but then move on. I never push any one solution on a client.

Armin, always a pleasure to see you speaking!

Thank you! So nice to end on an easy, non-question : )

The Bauhaus was the world’s most famous art school, and Herbert Bayer (1900–1985) was its most prolific graphic designer. This talk, which features up-close images from the collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum and from the Merrill C. Berman Collection and Display, Graphic Design Collection, delves into Bayer’s unique design methods and the theories he refined and repeated over his long career. We’ll also dish about Bayer’s unusual relationship with modernism’s biggest power couple (Walter and Ise Gropius) and take a look at his connection to the Third Reich.

Registration for this special event is free to everyone, on a first-come, first-served basis. Click on the registration link to sign up for this live Zoom webinar. We suggest downloading the Zoom software prior to the start of this event. We will send you event reminders, but we advise everyone to connect a few minutes prior to the start. The event waiting room will be open 10 minutes ahead of time.

The start time for the live event is:
10:00am LA/SF/Seattle (PST)
1:00pm New York (EST)
6:00pm London (BST)
7:00pm Berlin/Europe (CEST)
9:00pm Dubai (GST)
1:00am Seoul/Manila
2:00am Tokyo
5:00am Auckland


Ellen Lupton is a writer, curator, educator, and designer, whose latest books are Health Design Thinking and Extra Bold, a feminist career guide for designers. Her book Design Is Storytelling was published by Cooper Hewitt in 2017. She is the founding director of the Graphic Design MFA Program at MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) in Baltimore, where she authored Thinking with Type, Graphic Design Thinking, Graphic Design: The New Basics, and Type on Screen. She received the AIGA Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement in 2007, and was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 2019.

Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is dedicated to all disciplines of design. It has a permanent collection of more than 210,000 design objects fully digitized and available online, including its collection of product design, decorative arts, works on paper, graphic design, textiles, wallcoverings, and digital materials.

Armin Vit will share his screen and take us through his logo design exploration process in Adobe Illustrator, demonstrating how he goes from crappy idea to less crappy idea to showable idea.

Born and raised in Mexico City, Armin Vit is a graphic designer and writer now living in Bloomington, Indiana. He is co-founder of UnderConsideration, a graphic design firm generating its own projects, initiatives, and content while taking on limited client work. Although he has written for most well-known design publications, Armin is most recognized for his writing on the blogs that make up the UnderConsideration online network—particularly Brand New, the popular blog for opinions on corporate and brand identity work.

Along with his wife and partner, Bryony Gomez-Palacio, Armin has co-authored various books for publishers and for UnderConsideration and has organized multiple design events, including the annual Brand New Conference and bi-monthly Austin Initiative for Graphic Awesomeness speaker series. Previously, Armin worked at the New York office of Pentagram and his professional experience stretches back to 1999. Since then he has become a popular speaker and juror for events and competitions around the world. When not working, he is either out for a run or washing the dishes.

Registration for this special event is free to everyone, on a first-come, first-served basis. Click on the registration link to sign up for this live Zoom webinar. We suggest downloading the Zoom software prior to the start of this event. We will send you event reminders, but we advise everyone to connect a few minutes prior to the start. The event waiting room will be open 10 minutes ahead of time.

The start time for the live event is:
10:00am LA/SF/Seattle (PST)
12:00pm Chicago/Mexico City
1:00pm New York (EST)
6:00pm London (BST)
7:00pm Madrid/Europe (CEST)
1:00am Seoul/Manila
2:00am Tokyo
5:00am Auckland

Anne Quito will talk about her process of writing and editing, Mag Men: Fifty Years of Making Magazines, a book about the glory days of magazine design as told by graphic design legends Milton Glaser and Walter Bernard. For this special live event, Walter Bernard will join Anne.


For more than fifty years, Walter Bernard and Milton Glaser have revolutionized the look of magazine journalism. In Mag Men, Bernard and Glaser recount their storied careers, offering insiders’ perspective on some of the most iconic design work of the twentieth century. The authors look back on and analyze some of their most important and compelling projects, from the creation of New York magazine to redesigns of such publications as Time, Fortune, Paris Match, and The Nation, explaining how their designs complemented a story and shaped the visual identity of a magazine.

Registration for this special event is free to everyone, on a first-come, first-served basis. Click on the registration link to sign up for this live Zoom webinar. We suggest downloading the Zoom software prior to the start of this event. We will send you event reminders, but we advise everyone to connect a few minutes prior to the start. The event waiting room will be open 10 minutes ahead of time.

The start time for the live event is:
10:00am LA/SF/Seattle (PST)
12:00pm Chicago/Minneapolis
1:00pm New York (EST)
6:00pm London (BST)

Spread from Mag Men: Fifty Years of Making Magazines

Anne Quito is a journalist and design critic based in New York City. A staff reporter at Quartz, her coverage underscores the design angle of politics and business news. She is the recipient of the inaugural Steven Heller Prize for Cultural Commentary. A story she co-wrote about Emmanuel Macron’s symbolic presidential portrait garnered a Malofiej26 medal.

Anne graduated from Georgetown University with a master’s degree in Visual Culture in 2009 and is an alumna of the School of Visual Arts Design Criticism MFA where she wrote a thesis on the nation branding of the world's newest nation, South Sudan. Her writing also appears on The Atlantic, Works That Work, Metropolis, Architecture Digest Pro, Eye on Design, 99U, Designers and Books, Core77, and Intern magazine. She is currently working on Milton Glaser’s “last book.”

DesignThinkers, Canada’s only conference for visual communicators, is a must attend for any informed, forward-thinking creative, communications or marketing professional or team.

Confirmed speakers include:

Registration is open here! RGD is offering Early Bird prices through October 23.

The Association of Registered Graphic Designers is a non-profit, professional association that represents over 4,100 design practitioners, including firm owners, freelancers, managers, educators and students. Through RGD, Canadian designers exchange ideas, educate and inspire, set professional standards and build a strong, supportive community dedicated to advocating for the value of design.

Originally debuted in New York City, The World’s Best Typography: The 65th Annual Exhibition of the Type Directors Club (TDC65) is a travelling exhibit that features communication design and selections from the twenty-first annual typeface design competition hosted by the Type Directors Club in 2019.

Hosted by the Visual Arts program at Francis Marion University, the exhibition displays typography in a wide range of books, posters, corporate branding, logos, web graphics, film and TV titles, products, and magazines from around the world. This exhibition arrives at FMU after its showings in Tokyo, Seoul, Warsaw, Lille, Barcelona, Nagoya, Minneapolis, Osaka, Taipei, and cities in Canada and Poland.

TDC65 will be on display in Florence from February 25-March 27, 2020 in the Adele Kassab Gallery of the Peter D. Hyman Fine Arts Center. Visiting hours are from Mondays-Fridays from 8 am to 5 pm.

The exhibition is free and open to the public.

To learn more about the works in this exhibition, read about the poster project from Brazil that received the Best in Show award here, and the award-winning student work here.

Read more about these Judges’ Choices, which are featured in this exhibition: