Sharing My Crayons

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

 

 

"Every new

beginning

comes from

some other

beginning's

end."

Seneca

 

In case you missed it in the banner image sitting atop this blog, we've been very busy little bees here at Born to Design. Several months ago I had merely wanted to refresh the symbol potion of our logo. I came up with something that I was happy with – but the process had taken me down an unexpected road that I felt led to explore further. That road brought us here, to a new and wholly different brand identity. And it is indeed a long way from where we started.

And yet, this feels like much more than just a new coat of paint. More than just a rebrand. More like a rebirth. It's hard to describe, but there's a renewed enthusiasm around this launch that has me as energized as I was when things were just getting started.

Which is another reason the timing of this feels right; this year we're celebrating 15 years in business. To be honest, that had kinda snuck up on me. But it was back in 1997 that I was blessed with the opportunity to leave my position as Creative Director at Tavel Optical Group and take a giant leap of faith to go out on my own. And what an incredible journey it's been.

As I was processing all of this, I thought it would be fun to launch the new identity with a nostalgic look back at the evolution of the brand.

For starters, back when my now-13-year old daughter Alex was just north of one year old, I sat her on our kitchen floor, grabbed the camera, spread out some crayons by her and started shooting. The image that opened this post (never shown in full color before) was among those shots, and has been a component of our marketing materials and collateral ever since.

But even before that, a baby has been a part of the vision for our identity. That's due to the answer I always gave when someone would ask how long I had known that I wanted to be an artist – "...ever since I could hold a crayon" was always the answer, and the truth.

So in 1997, with the thrill of the leap still fresh, I grabbed my sketchbook and started working out design concepts (the same way I still do today). The sketch to the left was used for a very short time as is, but it's really the genesis of what would become the first Born to Design logo.

 

 

This was the first real Born to Design logo. It was really just a refinement of the initial sketched idea, but it felt much more official. It was also a little indicative of some of the identity work I was doing at the time. Still, in the end (pun intended), it felt like me (other than the fact that I didn't work in the buff... and, for the record, I still don't).

 

 

Around the year 2000, I felt like I had really outgrown the initial logo. My work had grown as well and I felt that, ironically, the first logo was a box I needed to break out of. I needed something that would stretch and grow as I would. My love for 40's and 50's era design aesthetics influenced what would be the Born to Design logo for nearly 12 years.

 

 

Around the beginning of 2012 the typography in the logo was beginning to feel dated. Honestly, I'm not sure if it truly was, or if I had just lived with it for so long that it no longer felt fresh. Either way, I set out to slap a fresh coat of paint on things, while keeping the same visual vibe (maintaining brand equity, as I would tell a client).

 

 

As I explored the new direction that the update process had taken me, it became clear pretty quickly, that this last logo was only going to be a transitional design; a stepping stone to something new and completely different. It's been very encouraging to hear what the few folks that have seen a sneak preview have had to say. It's exciting to finally unveil it to everyone else!

 

The new brand is such a departure from the old one that it required a complete, from the ground up, redesign of our website as well. That has now launched and we'd love it if you hopped over to born-to-design.com and took a gander at that too.

And while you're at it, click over to our Facebook page and give us a "like". That's all freshly rebranded as well.

Thanks for strolling with us down memory lane. It's been fun looking back at where we've been – but not nearly as fun as anticipating what lies ahead!

We have come a long way in 15 years...

And we're just getting started!

 

This Book Is Not For Me . . .

 

 

"Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience.

They are the currency of human contact."

Robert McKee

 

 

If the title Gentle Rogue didn't give it away, the barechested Fabio lookalike with his open puffy shirt and windblown golden locks grasping the rope that's falling mysteriously from the sky as he readies himself to carry off the buxom, raven-haired beauty before the oncoming tidal wave sweeps her out to sea should do the trick. This book is, indeed, not for me.

That fact is never really in question. The point is, Johanna Lindsey knows this book is not for me. It's not written for me. Nor is the cover illustrated with someone like me in mind either.

But the author does have a story to tell here. She knows her audience (and at sixty million books sold, it's a large one) and writes with intentionality to it. To assume that because something fails to make a connection with me, personally, that it fails in telling it's story powerfully, is missing the point. More than that...it may even be making a pretty strong case for just the opposite. A story, like a brand, is intended to capture, captivate and compel it's audience. The glistening pecs of our "Gentle Rogue" are not just to better carry away our heroine – they're to carry away the potential reader.

There has been a lot of thought here at Born to Design recently about how we can better communicate what we do to our audience of existing, new and potential clients. As we've worked through this process, the idea of storytelling really started rising to the top. Not by design, or because we thought that would be clever. The truth is, all marketing, design, advertising and communications efforts are, at their core, storytelling. And every brand is telling a story as well – some are just doing it better, more compellingly, and with greater strategic thinking and intentionality than others.

Our internal endeavors landed us here – a fresh answer to the question "So, what does Born to Design do?":

Our gifts lie in visual storytelling
that connects your audience to your brand.

I like it. But, as mentioned, it's not something new we created. It's simply a better telling of the story of what it is we were already doing.

Robert McKee (quoted above), knows a thing or two about storytelling (he's spent 30 years educating writers of all stripes in better storytelling). He states: "Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." I would, perhaps, add the word "Good" to the beginning of that quote.

Sometimes it's easier to spot the ones getting it wrong, than it is the ones getting it right. For some time I've wanted to write about the gigantic missteps of Netflix this past year (and still may). The mistakes they made weren't in their marketing efforts (at least not directly), but they still told a story about the Netflix brand – one that actually undermined the story they wanted their audience to hear.

The lesson? It's not enough just to have a good story to tell.

The story needs told clearly, continually reinforced and protected from sabotage – even from the brand itself.

 

Elegant Simplicity

Everything

should be made

as simple

as possible,

but not simpler.

Albert Einstein 

What a treat recently when going to the Turner Classic Movies website to check out the schedule for the coming month. In their the Flash banner of their homepage I saw an illustration style that I instantly recognized. It was the elegantly simple style of illustrator Michael Schwab.

I already give a tip of my hat to the TCM folks for the retro designed flare of their site and for their genre icons which were designed by Charles Spencer Anderson, one of the great influences on my early design career. They further show their good taste with these new commissions for their Summer Under the Stars series.

Michael Schwab has a style that I have been a big fan of for many years. It's one that is so simple in it's execution that it is incredibly deceptive as to how hard it is to create. I know because I have tried before to emulate his style on a logo or illustration project and found it very difficult to get the look down. With the selective use of color, minimalist technique and brilliant use of negative space, his illustrations have a very iconic look to them – completely appropriate for classic movies.

I highly recommend you check out the the full series of illustrations HERE (navigation from one to another is at the bottom of the screen) and check out how much this guy communicates using so little. Be sure to also check out his website for more inspiring images. From the TCM homepage you can also enter a competition to win a complete set of the 31 movie cards Schwab designed – but you don't want to do that (unless you plan on giving them to me), right?

I find these powerful designs leave me with two questions:

1) How can I strive for the simpler solution in my own work?

2) How can I encourage clients to shun the desire to fill up every nook and cranny of white space in favor of a solution that is simple, impactful and elegant. I think that is always in order, regardless of your positioning, product or brand essence.

The maxim that "good" is the enemy of "great" may be true – but sometimes being great can mean backing away, stripping things out and going with an elegantly simple solution.

Freaky Photoshop Science

My experiments did not turn out quite like yours Henry.

But science, like love, has her little surprises – as you shall see.

Dr. Pretorious in
Bride of Frankenstein

I've worked with Photoshop for many years and know my way around the program pretty darn well. One of the cool things about Photoshop is that every new version usually comes with one or two new features that are just freaky-cool. The kind of stuff you can't begin to get your head around in terms of how it does what it does as fast as it does it.

Well, in the pervious version of Photoshop a feature called Photomerge evolved into the freaky-good category. It can be used for several different applications, but it's freakish characteristics bleed through when it comes to creating panoramas.

To execute a photographic panorama you take multiple shots as you rotate your shooting angle as if on an axis (shots can be vertically-oriented, though most are horizontal – depends on the subject being shot). Then you slip on the blood-stained white lab coat and play Dr. Frankenstein, stitching the various shots together using Photomerge. What's surprising is how "off" you can be in your shooting and still get amazing creations.

This was another little sandbox for my creative play-time from Photoshop for the Soul. I had not worked with panoramic imagery before – but I was encouraged to do so and am thrilled with how cool the results can be. I'll start with the one we ended with last time (mainly because I'd love to show it one mo' time).

Be sure to click each image to open a new window and see the big dog-chokin' version – a must for these proportionally-challenged images.

And just so you know I was telling the truth about the option to think of them vertically . . .


 

Fun stuff, huh? Being able to experiment with things like panos reminds me that I need to push myself to see design – and it's possibilities – in fresh ways. It also reminds me just how fun it can be to slip into my lab coat and monkey around with some of the freaky-cool science that's already under the hood of my favorite design app.

Next time I'll share some cool & creative image processing that I learned, and some insights into why "doing it on a slider" is a powerful way to work on images.

Aloha!

I am Infra-Man!

 

There are other weapons I haven't given you as yet.

For success it's essential you have thunderball fists.

Professor from the cinematic classic
Infra-Man

OK, let's get this out of the way. If you have no idea who Infra-Man is – and especially if you are the parent of a young boy – you owe it to the both of you to pick up a copy of this masterpiece of cinema. That quote above should tell you all you need to know. But if you need more proof, see the trailer HERE and read Roger Ebert's original review HERE.

Now that that's out of the way . . . I may not have Thunderball Fists (and it's not because I don't want them), but I have discovered a new weapon in my creative arsenal that I didn't have before. It's a weapon that my Photoshop for the Soul "professor" Jack Davis outfitted me with during my week on Molokai. That week a whole new way of seeing the world was opened up to me when I borrowed Jack's extra infrared camera (my apologies to other attendees if I was bogarting it a bit much).

If you're unfamiliar with infrared photography let me tell you that the images below have been tweaked, but the colors are essentially what comes right of a camera that's been converted to shoot infrared. For your camera to be able to produce shots like this, you must send it in to a company (LifePixel is one) for conversion. This involves removal of the sensor in your camera that blocks the infrared spectrum. It's pricey and permanent, so we're talking about a commitment here – but it's a plunge that I plan on eventually taking myself. The images below will tell you why.

I told you in the last post that I'd be sharing the results of my creative play-time from Photoshop for the Soul. This was the perfect place to start! Be sure to click each image to open a new window and see the big honkin' version. Hope you enjoy . . .

The last shot is a 6 or 7-shot panorama stitched together in Photoshop – another new  technique I found quite fun. Will share some of those multi-shot panos next time. Aloha my friends!