FullBleed

Design courtesy of Poccuo

For better of worse, as designers and art directors, the days where we were only print designers or web designers are over. The reality is that our designs have to work in both the print and digital worlds.

To help bring some insight into getting the best of both of these two amazing worlds, I jumped at the chance to speak to Dan Rubin about making the transition from print to web, inspiration, and the stress of keeping up with social media, before his presentation to ADCMW in November. Dan is founder and principal of Webgraph in Fort Lauderdale, Florida and a highly sought after speaker on web standards.

For those of us, who do not specialize in web-design, but are tasked with designing for the web more and more frequently, it can be a little over-whelming to jump into the deep end headfirst. “Don’t fear the web as a new medium,” Rubin calmly states, “just remember to get out of your own way and slowly learn about the technical side.” Easier said than done I thought to myself, with the alphabet soup of programming languages, social media, devices, and all of the other technical stuff that can make the transition a little daunting. As if to set me at ease, Dan offers a very straightforward piece of advice, “Good design is good design, regardless of the medium.” A very simple strategy, but one that helps to softens the trepidation that one can feel when designing for a new medium.

His is careful not to ignore the reality that with any project there are some parameters to work within and a minimum level of understanding about the technology that you have to bring to the table. He stresses another simple point; you don’t have to know how to code HTML and CSS to design for the web. It’s more important to know the limitations of the code and what is and isn’t possible from a technical standpoint. “If you understand the technology it allows you to be able to manipulate it better.” Rubin isn’t promoting that every designer become an expert programmer, but that they should focus more on learning the basics and building from there.

Rubin, who writes the blog, SuperfluousBanter, in addition to many other web projects, is a seasoned veteran of speaking and consulting on the topic of web standards, usability and web design, admits that there are a ton of great sites and social media tools on the web for designers. And that it can feel like a full-time job checking them all out and becoming a part of them. He adds, “There is an implied pressure to checkout every new thing on the web. Don’t feel the need to be up on every new thing, see what works for you, and if it doesn’t, don’t worry about it.” Your network of colleagues and peers is a huge resource for keeping up to date he stresses.

Changing gears a little, our interview heads into the topic of what inspires his design work. Rubin, who counts music, accapella, voice coaching, and photography among his interests, stresses the need for designers to find an outlet outside of there design work. “You can only do one thing for so long before it drives you crazy,” he comments. He notes that when he comes back to the office after a weekend of singing or shooting photos, he brings a new perspective and inspiration to his work.

For those who were in attendance at Dan’s presentation in November, I hope that you were able to get some insight into making the transition from print to web. If not, I hope this is the catalyst for a great dialogue within our design community.

Some food for thought:

• Nine tips for making the transition from Print to Web Design
• Dan Rubin’s From Print to Web Presentation
  

A sampling of some Bad Ass Resources courtesy of ADCMW’s own Samantha Warren

Photo courtesy of Sean McCormick

Recently I had a chance to sit down with Rachel Robertson, a well traveled twenty something that just hit the D.C. creative scene with a jam-packed portfolio. Rachel hails from the Bayou, but she’s spent most of her time in the past two years traveling around Africa working with Liberia refugees. At only 26, Rachel has seen more and traveled further than most of us can dream.

What I saw in her portfolio was great, but even more impressive was her innate zest for life, travel, and everything design.

RB: Pick a number between one and ten. GO.

RR: 7, of course. I was also born on the 7th day of the 7th month. But I really wanted to pick 12. The 1 and the 2 make an R if you squish them together.

RB: What’s the oddest thing in your refrigerator?

RR: Does freezer count? Haven’t actually been able to claim a refrigerator in years—I’ve been so transient up until now—but the last time I did have a refrigerator I put my sadly deceased goldfish in Ziploc water bags in the freezer. I couldn’t bear the thought of flushing them—so undignified—and always thought I’d get around to burying them at some point.

RB: What’s a product you wish you’d thought up?

RR: The magic 8 ball. It’s made my life so much easier.

RB: First thought when you heard the word “twitter”?

RR: Falling in love.

RB: What’s something you avoid like the plague?

RR: Twizzlers, and football. I’m pretty much open to anything else.

RB: Have you ever felt compelled to buy a Billy Mays product? You know, Oxiclean, Hercules Hooks, etc.)

RR: Oh, OxiClean. Absolutely. I’m much more about play than perfection, and focus more on conversation than eating, so it’s not uncommon for me to end up with the occasional fleck of food on the table, on my face, and especially on my clothes.

RB: What are you sick of hearing about?

RR: Reality TV and other shows that make you feel like you’re doing something. How about actually doing something!

RB: If you didn’t do what you do, what would you do?

RR: I could entertain myself doing so many things: structural geology, international journalism, and horse training are some of the fields I’ve forayed into. But I’m happy doing what I do now, and happy to be living in DC.

RB: We’re fishin’ for some new music, so what band(s) do you love now?

RR: My new found favorites both come from Sweden: The Tough Alliance, great lyrics, fresh experimentation with music and sound, and The Honeydrips, which is an almost whimsical one man band (though you’d never know it listening to him) who plays electronic music that is both fun and beautiful.

RB: How many countries have you been to and which one is your favorite?

RR: I’ve lived in Germany, Austria, London, Africa, and Costa Rica. The most idyllic place for me is definitely Costa Rica.

Photo courtesy of Deane Nettles

On July 21, I found my way to the CDIA in Georgetown on the threshold of a dark, cavernous room. I was among 30 area designers there to experience an ADCMW  Paula Scher type workshop. She began the day by showing samples of her work, and providing insights and personal asides about how several logos, identities and subsequent branding programs (of which she spearheaded) were approached from beginning to end.

It was inspiring to learn about her first-hand account of these projects; it was interesting to note that her constant assertion that many of these ideas were generated and “visualized” within minutes. She expressed how the Devil really is in the details and that a designer earns her keep by agonizing over which font, which thickness, which shade of chocolate brown is BEST for the work. But the idea itself, that magical concept that cements an image to a meaning, is something that we designers immediately intuit and should therefore, trust.

Next, she detailed her side work: typographically driven geographic paintings. Paula relayed (with surprise and touch of dismay) how her personal work transitioned from a side art “escape” to become a business success. One of my personal favorites was her illustrative diary featured in Print Magazine detailing the evolution of many newspaper headlines from 2001 to 2003. Her typography expressed the media frenzy from sex and sensation to terrorism and fear with lusty reds, black, jags and angles. Marks that originally conveyed shock and scandal became ones of frantic and enormous screams.

This piece, among others, evidenced Paula’s pension for hand-rendering letterforms to tap into the spirit and emotion of what she is trying to express.  This approach frees her from the methodical trappings of computers and (blessedly) reminded me to bring back my personal touch. It was musical to hear.

With respect to our work that day, I learned that a lot of the DC brands in the cultural arena are seriously stale. Look left, and look right and you see the same ALL CAPS to express a museum title. Theater signage is safe and cemented, and institutional websites are a complete abomination. Her thoughts on the whole designscape of our region is that DC needs our help.

In response, my one-day classmates came up with clean and lively work that instantly changed the face of DC (or could). Further, Paula encouraged us to seek out these clients and find ways to convince them to use our inspired designs.

What did we come up with? We strove to be bold and three-dimensional. Paula then reminded us to apply our solutions to surprising surfaces and forms (think stair wells, air-conditioning ducts, windows, terraces, floors, elevator doors, etc…). Next she encouraged us to apply strident and consistent branding language to all of our many surfaces and materials. Safe and soothing was out. Instead, she pushed us to “hit people over the head” with our brands, even if that means two years later we redo it again to keep things continually fresh.

I left the workshop dizzy from a day of drilling designs knowing for certain I would never again use Trajan.

Hello Creatives,

Cayden Walter Clemmer, Nicholas Flynn McCormick, and FullBleed.  They say things happen in threes, and while a child’s birth cannot certainly be compared to our online magazine, all three are sure to give this editorial staff a few sleepless nights.  It’s a time of new beginnings.

We, the editorial staff, here at FullBleed aim to resurrect this publication to a more regular status.  Something along the lines of, “Ah, the new FullBleed should be out soon” and it actually is.

We’re hoping to bring you fresh content, new local talent and the deep, dark secrets of speakers and guests who are soon to grace our fair clubs presence.

We hope you enjoy our efforts and are patient as we try to mold FullBleed into a relevant vehicle for ADCMW.

Thanks for reading,

John Clemmer, Sean McCormick, and Nick Whitmoyer
FullBleed Editorial Team

P.S. We welcome any and all content ideas- Feel free to email us at publications[at]adcmw.org