Tag: bill gardner

Those that follow this report annually may recall a few years back we identified the expanded use of four-pointed stars to which we assigned the name Sparkle. At the time, this group was fledgling, but typically appeared as a non-aligned star avoiding jingoistic or religious connotations with more points. Four points was enough to get […]

As designers, I cheer on any of our ilk that creates a product so engaging that the public becomes inextricably involved in it. I mean isn’t that one of our ultimate goals‒to captivate the public and create a symbol that can’t be ignored? Optical illusions often do that as do single perspective murals that shift […]

There are those things in life that can make us feel uncomfortable or on edge, but that captivate us nonetheless. It’s the old theory of a train wreck and not being able to look away. We may fain an objecting posture, but inside we want to take it in, secretly wishing we could stare at […]

Demonstrating dimensionality of form is a foundational way of shifting a flat image from 2nd, to at least 3rd gear. Finding that hybrid between committing to gradient tone and graphic surfaces that imbue reality and a simple vector outline really only offers up a handful of tricks. Shadow has long been a staple of the […]

Throwing shade on a designer’s work is as toothless as a heckler to a seasoned comedian. Show five logos and one gets picked. At best we have an 80% rejection rate. No doubt the seeds that make us so resilient and inventive. Tiring of the expected, this year our lot has crafted a new way […]

If you’ve met the person that groans when food on their plate touches, you’ve met the individual that will wince at these marks. Not only have designers removed any pretense of separation of elements, they’ve flaunted this layering of graphic components and even doubled down here and there to cloudy results. The majority of these […]

Shadow as an element in logo design is critical in so many ways. I’ve created full chapters discussing how shadow came about as such an important component to designers. It foretells events or gives a sense of place. They can display aspirations or other yet-to-be-determined assets. They identify the direction of light and tell if […]

An enthusiastic generation of designers are reinventing the wheel but with a whole new vengeance. In pre-digital years, any desire to lay stripes, dots, mezzotints, woodgrain or other exotic half-tones into an illustration first required a trip to your local commercial arts supply store. Sticky backed sheets of film under the names Zipatone or Letratone […]