So how does one maintain ad-space and a good design? The online radio site Pandora managed to solve this problem. Instead of sticking the ad in a banner and calling it good, Pandora takes it to the next level by incorporating the ad design into the background. Not only does this draw more attention to the ad (by using the entire background it creates more visual interest) it also doesn’t sacrifice the design for an ad - it adds to it. Furthermore (and probably most importantly) the ad is usually a memorable one. A good example of this was when I was debating this topic with a co-worker (who is a general hater of flash sites) and he named a previous ad without even thinking about it. I say good work, Pandora. Not only do I love your music, but you made me a believer in ad-space.

Some years ago sites started to emerge that promised low fares for airline tickets by lumping all the airline fares into one database. Unfortunately for the airlines, their customers were no longer concerned about being faithful to a particular airline anymore; it was all about the cheapest flights. What’s more is that after 9/11 there was a mass panic about flying, particularly with the airlines whose logo was plastered on the planes: American Airlines and United Airlines. One particular company (Frontier Airlines) jumped on the fact that two of the biggest names in the airlines were suffering by aggressively marketing their cute-sy talking animals on the tails of the plane matched with the promise of lower fairs.

This unfortunately opened a can of worms on the airline industry. The only way that airlines could make money was by having the cheapest flights, but with gas prices climbing and airlines struggling to make a profit this lead to a catch-22. What else can an airline do to stay afloat? Most have been finding the solution to that in charging for extra bags and food and drink on the flight. Sorry folks, can’t have your cake and eat it too. Furthermore, travel sites still charge a “booking fee” when you purchase tickets. By showing brand loyalty and going directly to the airline site, you save money. Next time you’re on a travel site, try thinking about if someone made a site to find the lowest prices in your business but the price for your materials have sky-rocketed. You may not feel like complaining about the airlines “robbing” you of your money anymore.

I always considered the walking fingers a clever concept representing “Let Your Fingers Do The Walking” and the idea of convenience and ease. Now you can’t even make out the fact that they are fingers. People who are challenged to decipher the new icon have never seen the old version of the logo would probably fail. In my opinion, the only good thing about this redesign is the change in typeface. I understand that the world is changing and typically stream-lining your logo is a good idea, one of my favorite redesigns is the NFL redesign. The designer was able to simplify and stream-line without losing the overall look and feel of the logo.

I cannot seem to understand why the ‘A’ is so big and the ‘M’ is flipped. Not only that but is that (gasp) stretched type? Every aspect of a logo should have a rhyme or reason. Apparently Animal Planet was attempting to make it look more “wild and feral” but coming up short in my opinion. One of my favorite logos is the Fed Ex logo because in the negative space in between the ‘E’ and the ‘x’ is an arrow. I love the fact that not only is this a simple and clever concept, it is also something you don’t see right away. When you do see it, it’s like finding a nice little Easter Egg.

Too often do I see images that are robotically flipped, rotated and opacity-ed but the designer doesn’t take perspective into consideration. If the object is 3d, this tactic doesn’t work mainly because the surface should reflect the planes of the object.

One of the reasons this technique is my favorite when my brain is feeling “blah” is that it purges out all of those crappy ideas that keep circulating in my head. Typically if I set a goal of 100 ideas and time is winding down, I scrape to come up with new things I haven’t thought of. This way I’m breaking out of my normal train of thought which is key when thinking creatively.

However bad it is, I would like to take a stand for the misguided and abused star-burst. I think that this design element can be resurrected in a blaze of glory, just as long as it is used correctly. Recently I have been seeing some beautiful designs that are vernacular in nature. Usually the star-burst works best as a knock-out negative shape. The best I have seen have used some lighter blues so that this aggressive element can blend and add to the design, but not overwhelm it.

As an added note, the star-burst should not be confused with the lens-flare. That, I’m afraid, has always been poorly used and is dead in my book. Sorry, but I don’t think this cheesy “design element” will ever come back (or ever was) in style.

If you don’t know who I am talking about, he is worth looking up. His eccentric, original, stirring design still hits a deep cord in my graphic design heart. When he returned to the states after a short design bout in Hong Kong, Sagmeister created his own unique “type face” where he would use his own handwriting instead of regurgitating the same type face in the same bland ways. Sagmeister even went as far as etching the words into his own skin (with some help).

Now, 10 years after this poster was designed do I start to see people utilizing Sagmeister’s techniques. The first time that I saw it was in the movie “Napoleon Dynamite” which used the concept of Napoleon’s doodles that is a running joke throughout the movie and added the spice of the handwritten type.

Most recently I have seen this style featured in an ad campaign for Noodles and Company pushing for the concept of “balance”. What I found most interesting about this is the fact that this concept of balance and symmetry is conveyed with an asymmetrical unbalanced typeface. I think that the reason this design technique is so exciting for designers is the fact that it reintroduces the human element back into a design style that it dominated by the computer. So maybe next time you are stumped about your design, try putting down the mouse and picking up a pen and paper.

True to the nature of design, this graphic style is copied, recreated, and manipulated. Recently I saw a similar style on Fergie music video called “Clumsy”, but with a much grander scale (thus changing it enough to be it’s own). I’m not critiquing this new style, I actually appreciate the way that the visuals fold into each other and have a look of an origami set that was made by hand. It is definitely a beautiful and different way to present things, however I worry that this shiny new style will start to get dull and overused.