Do what’s Relevant

When I began my university course some lecturers would take strong viewpoints on how to design. One would say to always be as minimalist as possible as anything that could be classed as decoration is not necessary. While this approach is great for a piece of infographics, like the directions round a hospital, it is only one design mentality that will not work in a lot of other situations. Under this school of thought I found myself momentarily producing minimalist logos and posters for wedding days and other jovial celebrations where it completely the wrong stance to adopt. Take on board what other designers do, and appreciate a variety of different styles and methods of design, but know when it is the right time to adopt a particular style of design. Number one rule: Do what’s relevant!

As easy as CMYK!

When I graduated University in Graphic Design I never really understood the commercial printing process. I knew how to get the design looking perfect on screen but I quickly learnt that how it looks on screen is not always how it will print when using a commercial printing press.

The first lesson was that Photoshop Black is not a very good black at all. Although it will print fine on your home printer it is not ideal for large printing presses. Photoshop black is C75, M68, Y67 and K90. Therefore it is made up of 4 colours printed on top of each other. This is a lot of ink and can make the paper feel tacky depending on the paper stock. True black is C00, M00, Y00 and K100. This only has one colour ink and will prevent possible blurring caused when the 4 inks don’t perfectly align (which is a huge problem if you design has thin white text on a black background). Problem solved? Well not exactly… C00, M00, Y00 and K100 can appear to be dark grey to the human eye because it is made up of lots of tiny dots with white space between them. A good alternative is C20, M00, Y00 and K100 which should print out as a deep black on a commercial printing press. If you have a look on screen though it doesn’t look black at all. It has a hint of blue visible. This is a perfect example of how on screen colour will vary from the commercial print colour.

The paper stock will also change the colour of the ink. A recycled porous paper will print duller than a coated glossy stock. Lamination will also change the colour as this often makes it more vibrant. Your design may need to take into account the stock and you may need to change the colours accordingly.

What to do? Ask the printing press for some sample colour charts on the paper stock you wish to print on. This will give you the best idea of how colours will look on the printed work. After all you don’t want to print 100,000 brochures for a company with a purple logo and the colour prints brown. All good printers will have a guide or samples you can use to your advantage. Print work can be very expensive and the last thing you want to do it get it wrong!

Good Design

Try not to over work something, simple design often has more impact. If your design is confusing and complicated to people, break it down to its simplest form, this goes for aesthetics of the design too. 

This quote made me laugh:

‘Practice safe design: Use a concept.’ -Petrula Vrontikis

:)

Procrastination

Why is it we feel so bad for procrastinating? I think we should all enjoy our procrastinating, its a process we need to go through to eventually concentrate on our work. So don’t feel bad about it, enjoy it, celebrate it, then get on with your work : )

Submit your procrastination to this blog -> http://thisnotawot.tumblr.com/