How does our design team think?
Have you met our design team? We’ve got quite a crew of talent. What makes them tick? What sparks their imagination? Do they have a favorite tool? Do they have a favorite color? Do they like Joe’s pants? We thought these and other questions might interest you, the People, in knowing more about design and the process that gives your brand its visual spark, funk, and a little bit of shazam.
1) How did you choose Graphic Design as your career?
Lidya: When I was 14, my dad bought me a second-hand computer with photoshop already installed. I started creating photoshop images and collages and really enjoyed it. Although I took an illustrator class in high school, I wasn’t totally convinced until I learned about all the job opportunities design offered! My other option was to be a dentist.
Cindy: When I was 5 years old, I started designing my own posters, magazines, and books with Word Art on our home computer. In high school, I designed logos for my friends’ garage bands, and create graphics for their t-shirts and posters. When I learned that was Graphic Design, I decided to pursue it… And here i am!
(We think our designers made a great choice, of course!)
2) What’s your favorite type of design project?
Cindy: Layout/Editorial style design. I use this alot when designing Lead Magnets at BRANDING FOR THE PEOPLE. I’ve always been very interested in fashion. Growing up, I loved collecting fashion magazines and admiring the layout and design of each spread. It’s like a puzzle: how am I going to organize and make all of this information visually interesting?
Lidya: I love working on website designs, magazine or just any layout for print. I also love working with animations.
3) What’s the most unusual request you’ve received from a client?
Lidya: A client once asked me to print a video for him… and then it took me 10 minutes to explain that was impossible.
Cindy: A request to composite a photo that created a scene of zombies walking in a suburban neighborhood being chased by T-Rex.
4) What font are you?
Cindy: Futura. Minimalist and geometric, my two favorite things!
Lidya: Papyrus, so haters will make me famous!
5) What is the biggest misconception about design work?
Lidya: That it can be done fast, cheap, and good. Worthwhile moments and things take time, and fast leads only to cheap design, which is everywhere and is easily overlooked.
Cindy: That it’s easy & anyone can do it. Although it’s true, anyone CAN use photoshop or Illustrator, this doesn’t mean they should! I’ve met many who call themselves a “designer” because they can work photoshop, but their work shows that they just don’t have the initial eye for design.
6) What favorite trick or tool helps you?
Cindy: Design books & the internet. I have a library of design books in my office, I glance at them when I want any sort of inspiration.
Lidya: The pathfinder tool in Illustrator: it lets you create and cut shapes with shapes. Amazing!
7) Favorite color?
Lidya: I like all the colors, but my favorites are black and yellow.
Cindy: Pantone 337C (Mint!)
8) Who is your favorite designer/artist?
Cindy: That’s hard to choose! I’d say Paul Rand. He’s best known for creating the IBM logo. I’ve always been fascinated with how bold, bright, and simple his designs are. That’s something that I try to integrate a lot in my work.
Lidya: Paula Scher for typography and Karim Rashid for packaging and environmental design.
9) Can clients do anything to help make design work efficient?
Lidya: Provide content before we get to design, because content drives design (I quote Michelle our web developer on this one, she is so right about it).
Cindy: Offer rational and clear and direct feedback, Some clients might say, “I don’t like it. I don’t know why or what you can do to make it different and for me to like it? But try again.” We may be wizards at photoshop, but we’re not mind readers.
10) What do you think is the coolest thing that’s ever been designed?
Cindy: I believe Helvetica was the best thing ever designed. It’s one of the most widely used typefaces, it’s so versatile and can be used to capture different types of moods. It can be fun, elegant, bold, enable trust (etc.) all in a single font family. That’s pretty cool to me!
Lidya: The smartphones! And the wacoms. 🙂
11) What’s the most challenging thing about design work?
Lidya: Trying to understand someone else’s design idea. We all have different perceptions and personalities: my idea of bright and loud can be so different from someone else’s. And for my part, I am very visual so I always try to ask for visual examples.
Cindy: Interpreting someone else’s vision. It can be a hit or miss: sometimes a client will come along and you’ll share the same vision and everything will work smoothly. That’s ideal. Other times it won’t be as smooth, and it’ll require more time, more revisions. I think communication is key. When you really understand a client, their vision, and purpose, the better the outcome will be.
12) What’s your favorite thing about design work?
Cindy: Working with color. If you haven’t figure it out yet, color is what drives me!
Lidya: The process of going from zero to the final product. I love sketching and searching for inspo anywhere I can find it.
13) Do you like Joe’s pants?
Lidya: Haha Joe’s pants are AMAZING! They inspire me to try new things and take risks.
Cindy: As a lover of color & pattern… of course!
Takeaway
The creative process always seems a bit intangible and indescribable to clients, so we hope these insights from our design team have been fun and at least a little informative! If you haven’t worked with us in our design team, take a look at our portfolio. As Lidya reminds us, inspiration is everywhere. Just look around and see what you find!
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