What You Can Learn from the Hipster Mindset
There's a phenomenon that has gripped the country (and possibly the world); it's the hipster. Whether you love them, hate them, tolerate them, or maybe you don't even really get what a hipster ...
Don’t Think — Know
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXDTx9YcN50 Thinking is great, it's something you NEED when you're designing. But if you want your clients to trust that you know what you're doing, maybe you shouldn' ...
Passion Projects (why every designer needs one)
A few months back a we brought a designer friend of mine, David Schwen (owner, DSchwen) into town to speak at our 99u event. He spoke about passion projects. His work is fun and goof ...
See Type Differently (Conference Talk)
This past week I had the opportunity to speak to designers from the SEE/PRC at their annual conference. SEE is a professional association of communication directors, editors, graphic designers, and ...
The Myth of the Right-Brained Designer
If you are a designer, and someone were to ask you if you are right brained or left-brained, chances are that you would answer without hesitation, “right-brained”. Designers are marketed to and told ...
Creative Courage & Using Your Fears
So I talk about design on this blog, why would I talk about fear? No one is afraid of design right? Well, not exactly, but sort of. We may not be afraid that the Baskerville capital letter "G" is go ...
What do graphic designers do and why is it important to EVERYONE?
Design can be a thankless job. It is also kind of an invisible job in a lot of ways. People don't realize that it is all around them every day and even more than that, not many people consider that s ...
Twelve Habits of a Happy Designer
I talked a few weeks ago about ways you can be sure to kill your design soul. It’s hard work being a designer these days so it’s really easy to focus on the negatives of what we do. But how can we ...
5 Secrets to Choosing Colors for Your Designs
So what’s so important about color choices? I mean, the trends change so regularly with Pantone releasing new color reports twice a year and choosing a special color to represent every year. So why ...
Sometimes Things Just Don’t Work (and that’s okay)
Today’s post was supposed to be about some very important things to consider when you’re choosing colors for your designs. Unfortunately, thanks to some unknown ghost in the machine that is my com ...
How to Use Music to Unlock Your Creativity
Music is my secret weapon in the arsenal of my creative process. As I am writing this post I have music playing in my headphones. My music choices vary dramatically based on what I am doing or wh ...
You Should Try to Use Paper
What difference does it make if you actually use paper or if you just start making stuff and fleshing out your ideas directly on the computer or on an app? Tons, trust me on this one. https://www.yo ...
Embrace Boundaries
If you've ever thought that boundaries were restricting, I would suggest you think about them differently. Check out today's tip on my YouTube channel and see what I think about Boundaries. https://y ...
Why You Should Care About Pantone Color Trends
The purpose of the colors is not just to set a trend. There is so much psychology behind colors and color theory; the reports are meant to represent the zeitgeist (spirit of the time) of the entire world.
Design Tip Tuesday is now on YouTube
Welcome to the future.. of Design Tip Tuesday that is. I’m so happy to announce that my weekly design tip will now be weekly videos available on my new YouTube channel.
Don’t Fall in Love with Your Ideas
The creative process is all about coming up with a ton of ideas, and realizing the most of them will probably not ever see the light of day, and we need to be okay with that. There’s a few reasons why we designers can tend to fall in love with our ideas. But why shouldn’t we?
Design problems don’t have ONE solution
I’ve been asked more times than I can count, “How do i know if i’m going the right direction with my design?” or “What if i chose the wrong idea to go with?” Designers are often more insecure about t ...
Let the Image Guide Your Type
If you are creating a design using photos as your primary backdrop, let the image give you a guide on where to place your type. You can create interesting compositions busing the space allowed by th ...
Don’t Design Just to Win Awards
Let me start off by saying that I don’t see anything wrong with design awards. Just like awards in any arena of expertise, they are important in the realm of visual design. However…
Use Hierarchy to Take Control of Your Design
Everyone wants to be the boss. People like to be in control; of their lives, of their relationships, etc. Designers, I believe, especially the good ones, are actually control freaks. But there are tho ...
DO NOT Make the Logo Bigger
This is one of those classic pet peeves of designers. The dreaded client question “can we make the logo bigger?” To this I say, tell them no. Not just to making the logo bigger, because often there ...
Take More Pictures
Welcome to Design Tip Tuesday! This week I want to encourage you to get out your camera. You should take a DSLR, an iPhone camera, a Polaroid; whatever camera you can get your hands on. Practice taki ...
The Motivation Myth
Much like love, creativity is a choice, you have to choose to be creative, you need to decide in your own mind that you will be creative, and the feelings of excitement and motivation will follow.
Leave Your Comfort Zone
It's really important to recognize when you have become too cozy where you are creatively. Leaving your comfort zone doesn't just mean learning something new. It can also mean pushing yourself into ...
Take Chances
Sometimes we get comfortable in the creative spaces of what we are "good at". It's really important to do work that is something you've never tried or never had the guts to try. Trying a new design t ...