Making beautiful work matters to design legend, Saul Bass*, and it matters to me.
“You can get much more quickly to an answer if you don’t worry about those things [making it beautiful]. It costs every designer money to make it beautiful. It means you have to spend more time, you have to futz with it, you have to noodle, you have to push, you have to pull, you have to try, you have to do. And that’s all money. You’re eating up your budget. But, that’s a commitment you either make, or you don’t make.”
Family and friends always ask why I don’t just leave a design project alone once it hits that “good enough” level. It looks fine. The client would be satisfied. But, it’s not beautiful. Yet.
Those extra steps are for me. Sure, the client benefits from it … but wanting and needing to take the extra steps between “good enough” and beautiful is why I’m in business for myself. It’s why I come to work each day.
Clients hire designers to take care of the aesthetics. We’re the experts. It’s up to us to make it beautiful.
*Who is Saul Bass? Well, he’s most famous for his movie posters, but he also designed the logo for United Airlines in 1974, among others. In short, he’s pretty darn awesome.
The event (in honor of National Eating Disorder Awareness week) was incredibly powerful, and completely sold out. I am really proud to work with such a fabulous organization.
I’ve always thought there is something really beautiful about graffiti and street art, but I can’t condone the defacing of public property. (Chicago’s taxes are already way too high.)
This morning, I learned about mud stencils (from Kirk Roberts via the Kernspiracy mailing list) which could be a very unique, eco-friendly way to spread your marketing message. The darkness of the mud feels like black spray paint, and offers more opportunities for high-contrast, eye-catching messaging than sidewalk chalk. Chalk messages were really big on my college campus … I’m curious to see if mud stencils catch on.
Once Chicago thaws out in the spring, I’m really curious to try out this new technique. It’s pretty straightforward: all you need is a stencil cut out of mylar (the same material used for overhead transparency sheets), a sponge or roller, some tape, a bucket, dirt, and water. Draw your design (or print it out) and place a piece of mylar over it. Using an X-acto knife, cut out your stencil. Mix up your batch of mud until it has the consistency of peanut butter (if it is too runny, your design will bleed). Tape your stencil to a sidewalk or wall and apply the mud using a sponge or roller. Remove the stencil… bam. Marketing with mud.
