C

TaBle of
CONTENTs
0 3 M EET DAVID CARSON 2 5 T HE BUSINESS END
An introduction to David’s career and pioneering work David’s seven essential tips for
working with clients
0 7 A NATOMY OF TYPOGRAPHY
The elements of letterform and major Latin font groupings 3 3 W HAT’S THE DEAL WITH
DESIGN COMPETITIONS?
The truth about industry contests
1 3 G OING OFF THE GRID
In praise of throwing out the design playbook
Assignment
1 5 G LYPH STUDIES 34 E
 YE ON THE PRIZE
David explains his wonkiest design moment Practice working to a brief by
entering your work in a contest
Assignment
1 8 D E S C R I B E T H E S E FO N TS 3 6 P ORTFOLIO POINTERS
Start training yourself to harness the How to assemble (or refresh) your
evocative power of typography digital presence

1 9 T HE ART OF SEEING 37 M
 AKE YOUR MARK
Use everyday surroundings to ignite The keys to designing an all-time-classic logo
creative inspiration

Assignment 3 9 CASE STUDY: THE DALÍ MUSEUM

2 0 I N TO T H E W I L D Breaking down David’s process
Explore the possibilities of found for rebranding a surrealist institution
imagery in your area

2 1 R IPPED FROM THE HEADLINES Assignment

Why are graphic designers obsessed with collage art? 4 0 M A K E , B E L I E V E
Propose a brand identity for
2 2 B ITS AND PIECES a hypothetical company
Five collage artists every designer should know
41 H OME SCHOOLING
Assignment The best affordable resources
24 C
 O L L AG E L I F E for budding designers
Three exercises to improve your
visual communication skills

2
 D AV I D
MEET

CARSON It’s no exaggeration to say that David Carson has trans-

formed the way graphic design is practiced. If you want to
understand the immensity of his influence, take a moment
to chat up any young print designer. They’ll tell you how
David showed them that success isn’t dependent on fancy
art school degrees or climbing corporate ranks. They’ll say
he’s living proof that rules are made to be broken. They’ll
probably sound inspired. They might even relay a certain
catchphrase:
“Don’t give up / David Carson
wasn’t built in a day.”

ly as uncon-
id ’s pa th to success is near
Indeed, D av . He was
pi on ee ri ng visual language
ventional as h
is ther, a
h ri st i, Te xa s, in 1954; his fa
sC r landing pro-
born in Corpu ASA’s early luna
d on N
test pilot, w or ke e skies, so he
pr ef er re d surfing to th
gram. But D av id re he stud-
So ut he rn C alifornia, whe
made his way
to Univer-
ol le ge an d Sa n Diego State
C It
ied at Fullerton ology degree.
ing to p m ar ks and a soci vidu al s
sity, earn w indi
ke en un de rs tanding of ho is re -
gave him a ed h
w it h so ci et y and sharpen
communicate n skills.
ical-evaluatio id
search and crit s degree, Dav
fi n is h in g his bachelor’ oo l n ea r
After Sch
ol og y at To rr ey Pines High e re -
taught soci lf in th
or n ia . H e im mersed himse to p
Del Mar, Calif he reached th
e
al cu lt u re — at one point, an d d idn’t
gion
p ro su rfi n g circuit—
ate’s the age of 26
,
level of the st course until
h ic de si gn s at th e
take a grap two-week clas
n he sp ot te d a listing for a an d de signer
w he ug ht by artist
A ri zo n a, ta id en-
University of or k st ru ck a chord; Dav
s. T he w l-
Jackson Boelt gon and, the fo
a sm al l ar t school in Ore k w or k-
rolled at for a three-wee
w ing su m m er, signed up
lo
rland. type-
shop in Switze stru ctor , accomplished
’s in
The workshop ay from design
f L ut z, didn’t shy aw
setter Han s- R ud ol rde theories.
an d E ur opean avant-ga
experimenta tion e U.S., he
ed . W he n he returned to th
David was hook eboard-
rn at A ctio n Now (née Skat
inte sports. But he
took up as an d on extreme
e fo cu se
er), a mag az in 84, when he
e in to h is own until 19
didn’t truly co m ateboarding.
t di re ct or of Transworld Sk
was named ar

3
David’s lack of formal training jibed Design and Cover of the Year from the Society of
with the magazine’s rebellious Publication Designers in New York. That success
led to a stint at Surfer magazine, where David
streak; he set about remodeling its spearheaded an imaginative redesign. He began
layout, breaking many supposed to solidify his reputation as a thoroughly revolu-
rules of print design by mixing tionary figure in graphics and editorial.
His outsider aesthetic came into full view
opposing fonts, radically cropping in 1992, when he was hired to design a fledg-
photos, and running text where and ling alternative music magazine called Ray
Gun. The publication’s subject matter and
how he saw fit. conceptual leanings proved a perfect fit
This distinctive take on imagery and lettering for David’s style and attitude; he effec-
also earned him a spot at the publication’s sister tively invented a new visual language
title, Transworld Snowboarding, where he imple- within the print medium, one character-
mented similar changes. In 1989, he left to join ized by rich texture, visual distortion,
Musician magazine in Gloucester, Massachu- and the deconstruction and reconstruc-
setts, later relocating to New York to work on tion of typographical and photographic
SELF magazine. He then headed back west to elements. Above all else, he championed a
join the upstart magazine Beach Culture as art holistic concept of visual communication.
director; the title folded after just six issues but “I’m a big believer in the…message that’s
won numerous awards, including Best Overall sent before somebody begins to read,

4
before they get the rest of the information,” David ex-
plained at the 2003 TED Conference. “That area of design
interests me the most.”
David’s graphic treatments for Ray Gun were unmistak-
ably human, meant to convey (and expand upon) the edito-
rial meaning of each story. In doing so, he demonstrated
that traditional layout templates weren’t mandatory—and
that a page’s design could be just as emotive as its prose. In
a 1997 retrospective, The New York Times declared that Da-
vid’s works were “more like Abstract Expressionist canvas-
es than magazine layouts”; the acclaimed video artist Ar-
thur Jafa cited Ray Gun as the best example of visual jazz.

David’s work flowed into popular

culture, causing a paradigm shift in
the appearance of products and
packaging. His style was emulated
by other designers for television
graphics, album and book covers,
posters and signage, logos, clothing,
and advertisements. Unsurprisingly,
the look proved divisive: While many
applauded overlapping images and
disorderly typography, others derided
it as fractured and obfuscating.
But even critics couldn’t deny the
effectiveness of David’s approach.
Before long, he wasn’t just an industry sensation but a
bona fide celebrity, profiled in mainstream outlets like
Newsweek. After designing Cyclops, photographer Albert
Watson’s award-winning monograph, David published a
monograph of his own, The End of Print, in 1995; that same gress. Creative Review magazine describes David as
year, he left Ray Gun to start his eponymous design studio “the most famous graphic designer on the planet”
in New York. There, he developed bleeding-edge cam- and “the art director of the era.”
paigns for Nike, Pepsi, Microsoft, Armani, and other blue- The common thread throughout David’s epic
chip clients. He also created album artwork for Prince and career and eclectic portfolio? His belief that out-
Nine Inch Nails, graphics for the Smithsonian Institute standing design is intuitive, personal, and commu-
and FOX Sports, television commercials for Xerox and nicative. It doesn’t require formal training, and it
Motrin, type treatments for Eddie Bauer and BMW, logos certainly isn’t downloaded from a template. Here,
for Burton Snowboards and Florida’s Dalí Museum, post- he wants to break down some core elements for
ers for Britain’s National Theatre, and a new version of the you: sending a message with typography, using
I NY emblem. photographic imagery effectively, and establishing
Today, David continues to build on his prolific body of your visual identity.
work, hosting design workshops around the globe. He has “At its best, graphic design can express what the
published four books; worked with David Byrne, William S. heart is trying to say, what the emotion is trying to
Burroughs, and the estate of Marshall McLuhan; and won get across to somebody else or to a group,” David
more than 240 awards, including the prestigious American says. “It’s the feeling we get from looking at some-
Institute of Graphic Arts gold medal in 2014. His work now thing—not only what we read, but the emotional
resides in the permanent collection of the Library of Con- impact and how we’re moved.”

5
 “If it feels like anybody could have
just typed it in, then you really don’t
need designers. Did you look at the
space between the letters? IF IT
SHOULD BE IN CAPS? If you
should find something TALL or
CONDENSED? Make those decisions, don’t
get lazy. If it’s readable, it’s okay, but
you won’t have the most fun doing
it, or do your best work. Look at the
obvious, basic categories of fonts—
bold, thick, serif, sans serif, italic,
non-italic, CAPS, lowercase—to see
if something strikes you as feeling
right for the message and works with
the other information on the page,
like a photograph or graphs.”
— DAV I D

6
 Tracking

Anatomy
Shoulder Kerning

Counter
Crossbar
Baseline

of
Terminal

Sans Serif

Serif
Leading Italic

Typography
Stem

Ascender
Bowl

Cap Ear

Height X Height
Bracket

Axis

Descender Loop or Lobe

Link or Neck

David’s designs are all about impact. When it comes to typography,

he often breaks down letterform and reassembles them, mixing and
modifying fonts and pushing the limits of legibility in an effort to
capture (and convey) a specific emotion. Want to start experiment-
ing on your own? Get acquainted with the basic language of typog-
raphy and major font groupings in the Latin alphabet.

7
 efaces
Major groupings of Latin typ
(15th century–present)

HUMANIST

GARALDE (SERIF)
B L AC K L E T T E R Also known as:
Old Style, Venetian
Also known as: Aldine
Also known as: Textura Origin: Italy, c. 1465
Origin: France, c. 1540
Origin: Germany, c. 1455 During the Renaissance period,
cultural hubs in Europe—largely This group of typefaces takes
Johannes Gutenberg’s printing centered around Florence and its title from an amalgam of
press—and, with it, movable Venice in Italy—strived to evolve the names of French type cut-
Latin type—meant Western from medieval norms. This ef- ter Claude Garamond and
texts could be reproduced in fort toward sophistication mani- Italian scholar Aldus Manuti-
large volumes at smaller costs fested in new typographic con- us. They differ from humanist
than previous methods of dis- ventions; printers started to type in their finer proportions
semination (i.e., writing out create letters that took on the and were used in France un-
each and every publication by appearance of the Latin hand- der King Francis I as a tool to
hand). The Bible was the first writing of the era’s philosophers create official standards for
substantial book Gutenberg and scribes. The lettering ap- grammar and orthography
printed, using blackletter type peared with a calligraphic aes- (the set of conventions for
cut to replicate the handwrit- thetic, mimicking the angles at writing a language, including
ing of early 15th-century Ger- which a right-handed person spelling, hyphenation, capi-
many, which had a formal ap- holds a pen. Traditionally, all talization, word breaks, em-
pearance partly due to pens humanist typefaces were serif phasis, and punctuation).
being held at a 45-degree an- fonts, but in recent years de-
gle. In the 20th century, black- signers have created sans serif You’ve seen it:
letter styles were co-opted by versions that retain certain Abercrombie & Fitch logos
the Nazi party to signify pride calligraphic characteristics.
in German history. The style
Examples:
was revived in merchandise You’ve seen it: Bembo, Garamond
and album cover designs for Penguin Classics book covers
1970s and ’80s metal bands
and, more recently, for those Examples (serif):
of hip-hop artists. Centaur, Verona

You’ve seen it: Examples (sans serif):

The New York Times Gill Sans, Johnston, Optima
nameplate

Examples:
Bastarda (1455), Darka (2019)

8
 SLAB SERIF
TRANSITIONAL
(SERIF)
Also known as: Antique, Egyptian,
DIDONE
Mechanistic, Mechanical
Also known as: Realist
Origin: England, c. 1810
Also known as:
Origin: France, c. 1700s Modern, Romantics
Slab serifs are a broad and varied
Transitional fonts were bunch, characterized by thick, block-
Origin: France and
born thanks to King Louis like serifs. They emerged in the early
Italy, c. 1800
XIV, who was keen on ele- 19th century, in response to the explo-
vating France’s printing sion of commercial advertising, shar-
Named after type design-
prowess. He set about ing very few elements with previous
ers Firmin Didot (France)
renovating the Imprimerie type designs. The first known example
and Giambattista Bodoni
Royale (the French gov- is a lottery advertisement from London
(Italy), didone is the prod-
ernment’s printing press) in 1810, but the earliest slab is widely
uct of an ongoing profes-
and commissioned the cited as Antique, by London typogra-
sional rivalry between the
French Academy of Sci- pher Vincent Figgins, which appeared
two men. The style was in-
ences to create a new in a type specimen dated 1815. Slab
formed by writing created
typeface. It came back serifs were often created with display
by hand using a pointed
with the Roman du Roi, a purposes in mind—to grab people’s at-
nib held at a 90-degree
suite of 86 typefaces that tention on posters and billboards, for
angle. In the West, Didone
birthed an entirely new example—though some were intend-
became the standard of
way of creating type: ed for use in smaller sizes with large
general-purpose printing
drawing letterforms on a chunks of text, such as on newsprint.
during the 19th century.
strictly geometric, grid- They were also often used in typewrit-
based system. ers (such as Courier), and so these ex-
You’ve seen it: Vogue
amples are monospaced, meaning the
magazine nameplate
Characteristics characters each occupy the same
Very strong contrast, amount of horizontal space. The slab
Examples: Bodoni, Didot,
near-vertical axis, flatter category includes typefaces with
Walbaum
serifs, refined details square, unbracketed serifs (often
called Egyptians) as well as those with
You’ve seen it: bracketed serifs (sometimes called
Kendrick Lamar’s DAMN. Clarendons or Ionics).
album cover
You’ve seen it: Wells Fargo branding
Examples:
Baskerville, Fournier, Examples: Clarendon, Courier,
Times Rockwell, Sentinel

9
 N E O - G R OT E S Q U E

Origin: Switzerland, 1957

Neo-grotesque fonts are

the ultimate modernist
typefaces; the first exam-
G R OT E S Q U E ples to be categorized as
such—Helvetica (or Neue
Haas Grotesk by Max
Also known as: Gothic, Grotesk Miedinger), Univers (by
GEOMETRIC Adrian Frutiger), and Folio
Origin: England, c. 1815 (by Konrad Bauer and Wal-
ter Baum)—were released
Origin: Germany, c. 1920s in 1957. This category of
Grotesque is often used to describe any
sans serif font, but the term should really fonts is associated with the
As the name suggests, these Swiss International Style
be applied to the sorts of typefaces that
are sans serifs constructed that emerged in the mid-
originated in the 19th century and bear
from simple geometric 20th century and continues
some unusual characteristics. (The first
shapes, which are often opti- to be hugely popular today.
official sans serif dates back to 1748,
cally adjusted by typogra- They’re simple, legible, and
originating in the foundry of William
phers to make the shapes even neutral, designed with
Caslon; in 1785, Valentin Haüy, founder
seem more linear and legible. a range of uses in mind, un-
of a school for blind children, also devel-
Notable early designs include like original grotesques,
oped a typeface called the Haüy System,
Erbar by Jakob Erbar, Futura which were largely intended
essentially an early sans serif.) The true
by Paul Renner, and Herbert for bold headlines.
grotesque font style was born around
Bayer’s Universal alphabet.
1816 in William Caslon IV’s foundry, which
(The latter, an unreleased You’ve seen it: American
developed the first sans serif printing
study from the mid-to-late Apparel logos
type. The letterforms were influenced
1920s, was revived digitally
by Didone typefaces, particularly the
as Architype Bayer in 1997.) Examples: DIN, Helvetica,
varying contrasts between thick and thin
Some Geometric fonts use a Univers
strokes. Re-creating this without serifs
range of geometric shapes to
means that grotesques have unusual
give them varied proportions,
quirks and exaggerated shapes in strange
like more classical roman
places, as the contrasts of calligraphic
typefaces, while others use
letterforms doesn’t apply to sans serifs.
repeated geometric elements
Initially designed to be a bold type style
in the construction of each
for headlines and advertising, most early
letter for a more uniform look.
grotesques are only created in capital
This group is strongly associ-
letters, with lowercase versions appearing
ated with Germany’s famed
later on.
Bauhaus art school.
You’ve seen it: MoMA signage
You’ve seen it:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Examples: Franklin Gothic, Ideal
movie poster
Grotesk, Two Lines English Egyptian
Examples: Avenir, Century
Gothic, Futura

10
11 
 "Pay attention to the details. Don't
let software determine the width
between columns, the spaces
between sentences or between
letters... Separate the title from the
subtitle, separate the author from
the body copy. Don't automatically
make all the drop caps or pull
quotes the same. They’re all
decisions you should be making."
— DAV I D

12
 Margin

Going Off the Grid

off baseline grid
base aligned

In praise of throwing
out the design playbook

Baseline
Guides for a gridded layout

T
o understand why David’s approach to de- The modernists aimed to expand upon these ideas, culmi-
sign is so revolutionary, it’s important to nating in Müller-Brockmann’s 1968 guidebook, Grid Systems
first understand the conventions he has de- in Graphic Design. In it, he offered insights on the interdepen-
fied. Chief among them is the grid structure, dency of type and grids—essentially creating systems for
Margin Margin
which became an intrinsic part of graphic placing text within a “container,” or page space. He also set
design training after WWII. In the most ba- out recommendations for modular layouts that use horizon-
sic sense, the “grid” is a two-dimensional framework of in- tal rows and vertical “gutters” that stem from the baseline
tersecting lines that helps designers organize content on a text grid, forming modules that he termed “fields.”
page. The idea is to create layouts that are both legible and
aesthetically pleasing without demonstrating the existence Here, it’s important to note that
of the framework underpinning the whole thing. Müller-Brockmann didn’t intend to
This school of design is synonymous with the modernism create a clinical methodology. He
movement of the 1950s. Proponents like Max Bill, Emil Rud- merely offered the grid as a tool to
er, and Josef Müller-Brockmann were heavily influenced by Guide support a designer’s vision, empha-
Jan Tschichold’s 1928 book, Die neue Typographie (The New sizing individual flair rather than
Typography), a strident manifesto for modern design, which blind facsimile. He also pointed to
could be considered the antithesis of David’s visual lan- natural and historical precedents: The
guage. Tschichold advocated for a codified, rules-based sys- honeycomb patterns formed by bees,
tem for design, including the strict use of standardized pa- rudimentary proportions of the hu-
per sizes and blocky, neutral typefaces. man body, traditional Japanese archi-
tecture, and Egyptian pictograms are
all analogous to his gridding concept.
Müller-Brockmann’s tenets can be ex-
panded beyond the page for 3-D appli-
cations, too; the legendary Italian de-
6 Column grid signer Massimo Vignelli used similar
modular systems in his iconic map-
2 Column grid ping of the New York City Subway.
Still, some designers came to see
3 Column grid these principles as rigid and dogmat-
ic. By the 1970s, grids were part of

13  Margin
 Gutters
Uniform spacing between columns

vid just has a different perspective:

“Sometimes I feel I’m one of the few
voices out there trying to keep graph-
ic design a little more emotional or
give it some spirit, which is what in-
trigued me early on.”

He’s not alone. Some critics

now say grids have become yet
ents in
another aspect of design system-
standard teaching for design stud
Europe, North America, and mu ch of atized by modern software, along
Latin Americ a. Soon, they wer
e in- with automated type settings
pop-
grained in the very look and feel of and color corrections, making
of com put er-aid-
ular design. The advent
ed gridded layouts only offe red mo re the work feel stagnant and de-
plex
preset, templated answers to com tached. Breaking from these
design questions.
ni- systems, à la David, can help you
David’s humanist approach—tech
cally “incorrect,” yet inargua bly suc cess - facilitate conceptual thinking
wed a
ful—upended the system. He sho and deliver something that’s both
t they
new generation of designers tha
didn’t need to stick to rule s abo ut image truly original and entirely unex-
typ ogr aphy. pected. “I’d like to encourage you
placement and consistent
oth er-
David has no formula, gridded or to not put things where they seem
tch,
wise. He starts each design from scra
simply working in resp ons e to the goa ls to want to go,” he says. “Don’t
of the project.
we
put them in the obvious place.
“Who’s the audience? What are
trying to say, and what would tha
t look The idea that a computer sets up
like? How would the des ign rein forc e the guidelines is just all wrong to me.
it? How do
message, or get people into
cle or I think this is where you end up
you get people to dive into an arti
itute
website?” he told the American Inst with boring design and boring
whe n ask ed abo ut
of Graphic Arts blog
side rati ons
his process. “All these are con designers, and probably a boring
ount,
that a lot of designers take into acc
tract
but from there I go a little more abs audience. Bring your eye to it,
itive . Des ign sen ds
or looser or more intu rather than following somebody
it ‘fee ls’ righ t
a message—whether or not
is a hard thing to quantify.” else’s guidelines. Never snap to
has
He emphasizes that it’s not as if he
y sets out to brea k guides. We want your mind, we
no rules or intentionall
trai ned de-
those established by formally don’t want your software.”
s, Da-
signers. Having never studied grid

Tilted text box 2°

14
15 
Glyph
Studies
David explains his wonkiest
design moment

Dingbat fonts replace alphabetical or numeric

characters with symbols and shapes. Examples in-
clude Wingdings and Webdings, created by Micro-
soft in 1990 and 1997, respectively, and the Zapf
Dingbats, designed by Hermann Zapf in 1978 for
New York’s International Typeface Corporation,
which licensed it.

In 1994, David’s predilection for typographic

risk-taking—and his resolute adherence to his
own convictions—resulted in one of the most infa-
mous magazine spreads ever created. He was lay-
ing out an interview with Bryan Ferry, the Roxy
Music crooner, for Ray Gun, and David considered
the piece to be “incredibly boring.” So he decided
to make it more interesting (and entirely illegible)
by setting the text in Zapf Dingbats font.

“I’m a bit surprised it became such a big thing,” he

told the American Institute of Graphic Arts blog in
2019. “I don’t show it in my talks, and design-wise
it’s average, it’s okay—it’s kind of funny and quick.
Sometimes you hear a band say they wrote the
song they’re best known for in 10 minutes, like a
throwaway thing, so it’s a bit like that. But it fit
with the attitude of the magazine, and you have a
responsibility to the audience to represent them
and the subject matter.”

And it’s not like David left Ray Gun readers strand-
ed: He ran the Ferry interview (using an entirely
legible font) elsewhere in the issue. If you’re going
to pull a stunt, make sure you stick the landing—
and that you’re doing it in the interest of your audi-
ence, not at their expense.

16
 With the font choice,
don’t overlook the message
behind each font. They all have
their own personality, and
you have to decide, as a designer,
which one fits your particular
project the best—one which
doesn’t simply carry
the information. It’ll help you
reinforce a message.”
— DAV I D

17 
 (descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

(descriptor)

D e s crib e The s e Fonts

Typography can speak volumes, subtly (or overtly) conveying your message
to a reader or audience. Take a few minutes to study the front samples above.
Then match each of them with a descriptive term from the word bank below.

18
Word bank: quaint, loud, distinguished, gritty, haunting, warm, beautiful,
claustrophobic, insightful, celebratory

18
The Art
minutes a day to draw, without the
end goal of presenting the finished
work to anyone, is a great way to dis-
entangle the thinking mind from its

of Seeing
more free-associative, creative coun-
terpart.
Similarly, creatives across all disci-
plines have espoused the virtues of
writing longhand, particularly
Use your everyday surroundings through the Morning Pages ritual,
to ignite creative inspiration popularized by Julia Cameron’s 1992
book, The Artist’s Way. The exercise
simply involves filling three sides of
A4 paper with words (using pen or
pencil, and kept private) as soon as
you wake up. The aim is to write with-
out thinking, stream-of-conscious-
ness style. According to Cameron,
there’s “no wrong way” to go about it,
but she adds that “the second page-

T
and-a-half comes harder” than the
he best ideas, as the old cliché goes, come when you aren’t looking first, and three pages is the absolute
for them. But those ideas are rarely the result of idleness or pas- limit, to avoid “self-involvement and
sivity. They’re the product of viewing the world—consciously or narcissism.” Those who swear by the
not—with an eye for depth and detail. They require that you rec- practice extol its virtues for calming
ognize emotional resonance and make cognitive leaps that forge anxiety, resolving creative problems,
creative connections that no one else would make. and leading to fresh insights.
Take the now-classic severed ear scene in David Lynch’s celebrated 1986 film, The Morning Papers ritual must be
Blue Velvet: The image was born of the Bobby Vinton song that gave the film its undertaken immediately upon regain-
name. “What came from [hearing] the song at first was red lips in a car, and green ing consciousness. This is crucial, and
lawns with dew at night,” the director said during a 2015 event in Switzerland. similar meditative activities can be
“The next thing that came was a severed ear in the grass.” Lynch didn’t take the incredibly powerful when the brain is
song or its lyrics at face value; instead he formed a surrealist visual narrative in still a little sleepy; we’re less inhibited
his head. He took the track’s subtle sense of the uncanny, and of unease, and then, meaning revelations are more
translated the literal meanings of Vinton’s words into a striking sequence. forthcoming. Truly seeing—and as-
Lynch is a vocal advocate of transcendental meditation as a means of accessing similating what we see, connecting it
ideas that the conscious mind might not, or, as he puts it, “catching the big fish.” with the unexpected, forging new
Designers can try those techniques, too. But with the pressures of client deadlines, concepts from what might seem insig-
you need to create great work even when your muses don’t drop in. By actively nificant—is almost an art form unto
engaging with what’s around us—visually, sonically, even olfactorily—those types itself. As adults, especially those for
of creative cognitive leaps will come far more readily. whom creative awareness pays their
Sometimes that means exercising ways of looking deeper into what might seem rent, it takes work to arrive at viewing
ordinary or banal. Life drawing, for instance, sharpens the connections between the world in a way that’s both innately
the drawing hand and the mind by breaking down the human body—usually perceptive and naively unselfcon-
fraught with insecurities and warped perceptions—into its most basic lines, scious. It’s worth the effort.
curves, and proportions. It’s liberating to see the physical for what it is rather than
what it’s associated with. Loosen up the brain to express things in new ways, and
you might find something incredible.
The same can apply to sketching in general. While phones are handy for cap-
turing an image for later reference, the immediacy and physicality of putting pen
or pencil to paper—taking in the topography of everyday life unselfconsciously
on a page—can shine an entirely new light on the mundane. Even just taking five

19 
Into the Wild

Awareness is crucial to developing your design eye, and

found imagery can serve as a source of inspiration. David
often photographs the man-made details of his everyday
surroundings, from community posters to graffiti tags.
Walk around your own neighborhood and inspect the text
elements—flyers stapled to telephone poles, signs for yard
sales, posted notices—and photograph them. Then do the
same on a different day while exploring a new neighborhood.
Compare the results. How does each object use typogra-
phy? What message is being conveyed? Which ones are
effective? Which aren’t? What aspects (literal or figurative)
might you be able to translate into one of your own designs?

20
Ripped From
the Headlines
Why are so many graphic designers obsessed with collage art?

David is a huge advocate of collage as

a medium for expression. But, as he
rightly points out, “collage has been an
abused word over the years, some-
times it’s been designated as quite
‘cute.’ ” He allows for a few “amazing
exceptions” while offering his take on
the form: “It doesn’t have the same
clout as fine art or graphic design.”
Maybe that’s because collage is an
inherently democratic art form, at
least in terms of accessibility of mate-
rials or due to its popular perception “negate the ideological conditions of artistic production, the fact that all artworks
as a rainy-day distraction for kids. But are ultimately commodities.”
here’s the truth: Like high-quality Oftentimes, multiple works are cut and reassembled, revealing both hitherto
graphic design, high-quality collage unseen meanings and creating new ones by dint of their placement alongside one
requires an incredible level of artistic another. This concept of newness from the old—reinventing artifacts through
skill, in both planning and execution. their evisceration or placement—is at the heart of the work of John Stezaker. The
The form’s conceptual underpin- pioneering conceptual artist’s early collages, in particular, reveal an obsessive
nings are certainly storied. Collage, as relationship with mass-produced imagery. Often combining postcards of vast
we know it today, is strongly associat- landscapes with intimate Hollywood film stills, his compositions cleverly riff on
ed with détournement, a practice that the interplay between outdoor and interior spaces, as well as the aesthetics of
stems from a midcentury European melodrama. The results are aesthetically beguiling.
avant-garde movement called situa- Stezaker’s oeuvre exemplifies appropriation done well: He underscores col-
tionism. The situationists aimed to lage’s capacity for subversion while making the case for the timeless relevance of
create new artworks by “creatively the medium. And just as David uses typography and layout as intrinsic message
disfiguring” existing ones; as outlined carriers, Stezaker lets his materials communicate the content; postcards, accord-
in situationist theorist Guy Debord’s ing to art critic Yuval Etgar, are a deliberate choice to “capture exactly what me-
1956 essay “A User’s Guide to Détour- chanical reproduction did to our way of looking at pictures.”
nement,” the resulting piece must It’s fair to say collage and graphic design share a beauty in subversion. They’re
both rooted in theorem or are willfully devoid of them; academic and visceral;
virulently antagonistic and coolly calm. So it’s no wonder that David is drawn to
this sort of work. His designs are often calcified by a need to interrogate the status
quo, a belief shared by many of his collage contemporaries. In elevating the mean-
ing of materials, graphic designers cannot only find inspiration, but learn to better
understand the power of context.

21 
 1.
Hannah Höch
(German, 1889–1978)
A member of the Berlin Dada movement,
and a pioneering artist working
in collage and photomontage, Höch
was best known for appropriating
5. mass-media images and turning them
Mickalene Thomas into critiques of the Weimar Repub-
(American, 1974–present) lic, gender roles, and identity.
Thomas, a hugely influ-
ential multidisciplinary
artist, brings Black
femininity to the fore-
front of her collage
studies. Lush textures,
unexpected materials,
and striking juxtaposi-
tions give her pieces a
singular look. Five
Collage
2.
Artists Linder
(British, 1954–present)

Every First emerging from Man-

chester’s fertile 1970s
punk scene, Linder is best

Graphic
known for her provocative
explorations of society’s
treatment of the female
form; her collages have
Designer frequently combined
imagery from pornography,
women’s magazines, and

Should mail-order catalogs.

Know
4.
Kurt Schwitters
(German, 1887–1948)
Associated with both the
constructivist and Dada-
ist art movements,
Schwitters created col- 3.
lages from photos, found John Stezaker
objects, typography, and (British, 1949–present)
discarded materials to
comment on the breakneck Taking inspiration from surre-
modernization of the alism, the contemporary concep-
20th-century world. tual artist interrogates no-
tions of truth, memory, time,
and culture through his assem-
blage of postcards, vintage
Hollywood press photos, and
magazine images.

22
 “I stay away from anything that
feels too popular—too common,
too forgettable. I’ve always done
some part of hand lettering ... it’s
human. It sends a message that
there’s a person behind it. Never
use a font that’s made to look like
hand lettering: hand letter it, or
get someone else to do so."
— DAV I D

23 
 Collage Life

David gives design workshops all over the world; one of

his goals is to demonstrate how much can be conveyed
through graphics without using words. He suggests that
you try these three assignments at home to improve
your visual communication skills:

Create a 2-D graphic Create a 2-D graph- Create a 2-D or 3-D

artwork that shows ic artwork that graphic artwork that
who you are, using shows how your life shows where you’d like to
only the letters of is going this week, be a decade from now,
your first name and using only color. without using literal im-
black and white When you’re fin- agery. There are no lim-
coloring. When you’re ished, reflect on the itations on color, texture,
finished, carefully ability of colors to typography, or any other
consider how our cre- send strong mes- elements. When you’re
ative expressions can sages and how you finished, think about how
capture our personal- might use them to a representational or
ity—even when there convey more than abstract visual can still
are strict, mandatory emotion at the communicate powerful,
guidelines in place. same time. grounded ideas.

24
The
Business
When designers win work (i.e., get hired to take on a project), it’s not always a result of being ap-
proached directly by the client. There are several ways for a designer to be commissioned. They
might work through something called a tender—invitations from public- and private-sector busi-
nesses to bid for design projects, as listed on sites like Creative Tenders and Global Tenders. These
jobs will include a tender request document, explaining what services they require, with specific in-
structions and desired criteria.
Occasionally, designers can also win business by working “on spec,” a term derived from the
word speculatively. Here, the designer has already created something independently, approaches
a person or company they’re keen to work with, and pitches the work in the hope of being commis-
sioned. More established designers do have a better chance than unproven names in this arena,
but the risk is fairly obvious—if the client isn’t interested, you’ve exerted a huge effort with zero re-
turn on your project. It’s a bit like cold-call sales: difficult but possible.
When a client does approach a designer or studio directly, the work can still require a lengthy
pitch process. Many would argue that these proposals should be paid (and working on spec, de-
pending on how much detail is given, can be seen as creating an unpaid pitch), since the designer
is likely to invest time formulating ideas—and, in cases where they’re pitching against other design
agencies, might not even win the paid commission after doing so.
Of course, winning a project is only the first step. The next is actually doing the work. Everything
starts with the brief—a description of what’s needed from the designer. For some clients, this will
be a comprehensive document, packed with information that outlines each touchpoint the design-
er will work on; maybe it’s a one-off magazine cover, or maybe it’s an entire branding scheme, in-
cluding logo, store signage, staff uniforms, and an app icon. For other clients, the brief could just
begin as a verbal request; in that case, it’s on the designer to find out exactly what’s needed and
how it fits the client’s attitude, selling points, target consumer, or audience.
To ensure that the client is happy (and you get paid in full), here are seven nuggets of wisdom
from David in order to make the most of your commission:

End
DAV I D ’ S S E V E N T I P S FO R WO R K I N G W I T H C L I E N TS

25 
 1
INTERROGATE THE BRIEF
(AND BEYOND)
Working with a range of different gonna trigger something in you. That’s
clients—editorial (a magazine or other the direction you start exploring with
publication), commercial (a brand), your design work.”
and cultural (record labels, art gal-
leries, theaters)—requires a deft The design elements you create—logos,
touch; as David points out, “They’re typography, color palettes, illustra-
all different.” Regardless of the tions, photographs—should address the
project, though, the best starting issues presented in the brief. But the
point is always the brief. At this brief alone is rarely enough, and a
point, David says, the designer has to good designer won’t take everything at
start asking questions: Who is this face value. They’ll investigate the
client? What are they trying to say? client’s origin story, the competitors
What are the benefits of their product (and how they’re faring), the main au-
or the service? Who is their audience? dience, and new audiences they’re in-
The first ideas for a project, whether tending to reach. Looking back on the
those are strategic or visual, can client’s previous design work can also
only come from thoroughly investigat- inform its future: what worked and
ing these lines of inquiry through what didn’t, and why. Following the
both micro and macro lenses. research phase, the next step is
“gathering materials you think can
“Read that brief. Read it well. And ‘reinforce’ the brief and answer the
what do you get from that? What are questions it brought up,” David says.
you seeing? What are you feeling?” “Then it’s a matter of letting your
says David. “Something in there is design mind go to work.”

26
22² 2 2 2 2 ²2 2 2

Give Them

Opt
ioNs (and make
sure that you
actually like
all of them)

When it comes to presenting initial ideas to a client, one

school of thought advises that a designer should bring
only their best ideas—three at the most. David dis-
agrees. He says that he’s always worked by showing an
array of different concepts, “maybe because I’ve been
doing it for a while and I don’t feel any one project is can better gauge the client’s re-
that precious.… Some are safer, some are more out sponse; if they go for, say, hand-let-
there, some are all in between.” tering over something more formal,
The client could pick your favorite. They might even you can fine-tune the work that’s
go for the one you consider the most experimental or most aligned with that aesthetic.
outlandish. But there are countless tales of designers pre- “I’ll come back with a dozen or
senting a few options, from which the client picks the one more ideas based on feedback
its creator secretly hates. The trick to avoiding that is to around the direction [the client is]
actually like everything you decide to present. Plus, from liking,” David explains. “I think
David’s point of view, by putting forward more ideas, you there’s probably been a couple times
where I confused clients by giving did a lot of work.”
them too many options. Like, literal- In short, David
ly, a wall of printouts. But for me, advises you to “give
overall, it works really well. Usually ’em some options…
they’re appreciative of the fact you show the ones you re-
ally feel passionate
about, and ones that
you feel good about
but are a little safer,
and go from there.”

27 
KNOW YOUR
3 Whatever your creative field,
self-awareness is key. Maybe a de-
signer has a strong grasp on typog-
raphy but isn’t the best with 3-D
graphics; an illustrator could be fan-
tastic at futuristic CG images but ter-
rible at hand-drawn likenesses. While
everything you do for clients should

STRENGTHS,
fit the brief, you were likely hired be-
cause they spotted something about
your style, process, and chosen me-
diums—so play to those strengths.
David reckons that now, more than
ever, clients are picking designers on
the merits of “personal” work, since
it’ll likely result in a more unique de-
sign product. When the Macallan
whiskey company approached him

BUT PUSH
about a collaboration, he created a
series of original collages (see
“Ripped From the Headlines” on
page 21) for the brand’s campaign,
which were also made into a limited
run of hand-signed art prints.
“It wasn’t so much a matter of me
looking at this particular client and
saying, ‘Oh, they need collage,’ ” he

YOURSELF
explains. Rather, the collages David
created conveyed the “hands-on-
ness” of the whiskey-making process
and included abstractions of the
landscapes around the distillery,
which brought a natural feeling to the
work. In this case, David’s collage art
simply “made sense” for the brand
and the project.

CREATIVELY
28
4 BE ABLE
TO JUSTIFY
EVERY
ELEMENT
It’s all well and good to present several potential
design routes at an early client meeting, but that
work can be easily undone if, when questioned, you
can’t justify why you proposed these ideas. Simply
liking a certain color or typeface doesn’t cut it.
Every design decision has to be arrived at through
a considered process, whereby you can justify why
it would be a smart approach for that particular
brand, brief, or project. As David says, “It’s just
a cool shape, I like it” isn’t going to sell an idea.
29 
Good creative is the product of
unique perspectives, so take ad-
vantage of yours. Don’t just rein-
force the norms of what’s been
seen before for a particular sector
or type of client. Authenticity
sells. To wit, in an early project for
Burton Snowboards, David was
presented with many photos
showing what he terms “people
doing the obvious tricks in the
air.” They felt stale—and staged.
But one image was different: It
was of a man who’d just crossed a
half-frozen lake. Unexpected,
sure, yet it still showed off the
core product perfectly. “I had to
argue for this one, because they
really wanted another high-air
photo. But there was something
real about the way the guy was
looking back at the camera.”

30
 6
Use your
work
Eventually, most successful de-
signers struggle to strike a bal-
ance between taking on proj-
ects to pay the bills and doing
ones they genuinely enjoy.
They’re likely to face difficult
ethical decisions, too. Some de-
signers and agencies now flat-
out refuse to collaborate with
companies that don’t practice
climate consciousness or have
poor working conditions in
their factories.
In many cases, as a creative,
you can make small but signifi-
cant changes; remember, you’re

for good,
in a unique position as someone
charged with making images for

public consumption. Tackling

not just a
social issues from the inside, as
a sort of graphic design Trojan
horse, can go a long way toward
effecting change.

payout
And it doesn’t even need to
be overtly political. When Da-
vid was working as the creative

or
director for Bose Corporation,
he realized that the company
had exclusively used white men
in its previous ads—something

portfolio
many brands have been guilty
of doing. Rather than reinforc-
ing that hegemony, David went
for a typographic solution that

piece
suggested the design was pro-
gressive, answered the brief,
and, crucially, introduced more
inclusive imagery.

31 
MAKE
YOUR
WORK

7
VISIBLE

THERE’S LITTLE HOPE OF A DESIGNER BEING APPROACHED

FOR COMMISSIONS IF THEIR WORK ISN’T READILY ON
DISPLAY, ESPECIALLY WHEN THEY’RE STARTING OUT.
HERE, DAVID DOESN’T MINCE WORDS: “YOU COULD BE
THE BEST DESIGNER IN THE WORLD, BUT IF NOBODY
SEES THE WORK, IT’S GONNA BE DIFFICULT.”

OBVIOUSLY, A DECENT WEBSITE, SOCIAL MEDIA PRESENCE,

AND ROBUST ONLINE PORTFOLIO ARE KEY TODAY. BUT
MORE TRADITIONAL ROUTES, LIKE FACE-TO-FACE MEETINGS
AND DESIGN COMPETITIONS, CAN STILL DO HEAVY
LIFTING IN GETTING YOUR NAME OUT THERE—AND
WINNING NEW BUSINESS.

32
 What’s the Deal With
Design Competitions?
The truth about industry contests

I
n recent years, there’s been an
increasingly heated debate over
the value of design competitions.
The main arguments against them
are expense (free time isn’t free,
suggesting that success can be more work. It’s no secret that many business-
“bought,” in a way) and the inequitable nature es use D&AD Annual (which collates the or-
of the industry as a whole (bigger agencies, ganization’s various award winners) as an
after all, can divert more funding to ancillary informal directory when looking for new de-
projects). It’s true that for smaller studios— signers. An award can also act as a short-
those with under, say, 30 people—the costs hand for quality in the eyes of brands that are
to enter competitions can be prohibitive. less familiar with the design world but inter-
Still, big-name awards have enduring clout. ested in experimenting or eager to commis-
Many studios and designers are well-loved sion new work. For studios, awards can help
by their peers and insider press but struggle attract and recruit fresh design talent, too.
with expanding into wider markets or new So entering a competition doesn’t hurt,
geographical territories. Recognition from provided the studio can allocate suitable
Design Week Awards, Cannes Lion, Red time and resources. Winning will mean in-
Dot, Pentawards, or AIGA 50 Books/50 creased publicity and recognition, though it’s
Covers can help firms break through the arguable how much of that is just peer-to-
design-world bubble and, eventually, win peer recognition. The good news? If you’re
early into your career, student and amateur
design awards are usually free to enter. (See
“Eye on the Prize” on page 34.)

33 
Eye on the Prize

New to the world of design? Eager to get more eyeballs on your work
and maybe even pocket some extra cash? Start researching amateur
design competitions. There are numerous contests held around the
globe every year, running the gamut of specialties and mediums,
from travel posters to sustainable packaging. Look closely at the
submission criteria, find a few that match your experience level, then
add the submission deadlines to your personal calendar. Set periodic
reminders to ensure that you allocate time to creating your best origi-
nal work. The entire exercise—research, working to a brief, managing
multiple projects—is great practice for your career. If you feel proud
of your design, add it to your portfolio for future clients to reference.

34
35 
 Portfolio Pointers
A few things to keep in mind as you assemble (or refresh) your digital presence

Make it easy Case studies, not

to read. just pictures.
No, you don’t need (or want) an essay div-
If your online portfolio is difficult to ing into each piece. But a few lines explain-
navigate, it’s an immediate turnoff for ing the brief and how your designs fulfill it
most potential employers or clients. Avoid (and tangible results, like sales conversions
bouncing them to external hyperlinks to or web traffic, if you have them) alongside
view your projects, as much as that’s possi- the imagery sends a message: You can hit
ble. Keep it tidy. a client’s key points, and get results, while
making beautiful things.

Curate!
Making the most of five brilliant projects is Show who
generally better than showing off a doz-
en middling ones. Remember, you can’t you are.
control how somebody peruses your work; Sure, a quick personal paragraph covering
each piece they see—no matter in the your background and your passions (when
order they view it—should be your best. it comes to design and maybe beyond) can
Padding out your profile with duds makes help. But your work should do most of the
you look inconsistent, not more prolific. talking. You don’t need a memoir here. Let
your creative samples fill in the blanks.

The work you

show is likely the Keep it up
work you’ll get. to date.
Clients and collaborators often hire de-
Check your portfolio periodically to make
signers based on a certain style, skill set, or
sure there aren’t missing images or, if
thematic focus. So if you’re looking to land
you’re forced to hyperlink out, dead URLs.
more print work, highlight your previous
Add a social media feed, if that’s your
magazine layouts or posters; if you want to
thing. And when you’ve finished a work
work with climate-friendly brands, show
that you’re proud of—personal or profes-
off pieces that cleverly touch on sustain-
sional—make sure to include it under the
ability. Dress (your portfolio) for the job
appropriate heading.
you want.

36
Make
Your
Mark M A K E I T C O M M U N I CAT E
Recognizing a logo is subconscious; all
The keys to designing it takes is a glimpse of the swoosh or
an all-time-classic logo the golden arches to identify Nike or
McDonald’s. As such, remember that
when we see something, we don’t
At the risk of stating the obvious, a “read” it. What gets our attention, at the
most basic level, is color and shape. As
logo is one of the most—if not the
David puts it: “Don’t mistake legibility
most—significant design elements for communication. Just because
for a brand. This is often the initial something’s legible doesn’t mean it
communicates. More importantly, it
point of contact for the wider world,
doesn’t mean it communicates the
signifying what a business or organi- right thing.”
zation is all about. Logos should be
striking, so that people unfamiliar
with the brand notice, and memora-
ble enough to endure regardless of S K E TC H I T O U T

the time and place in which they’re Legend holds that graphic design lumi-
nary Milton Glaser came up with his
displayed. The best ones demon- iconic I NY logo in
strate what both the brand and its the back of a cab, and
audience represent, and what sets jotted it down right
then and there. You
them apart from the competition. never know when in-
“A logo is an image, just like a spiration will strike, so
word is an image,” says David. “A keep a notebook on you at all times. If
an idea works, you can always finesse it
logo is something we want to recog- digitally later, but pen and paper are far
nize from a distance, that people quicker (and easier) than your comput-
er for skeletoning a design idea. Plus,
want to put on their hats, T-shirts,
you won’t get the tunnel vision of star-
certainly their website, and maybe ing into a screen.
their expensive car, too.”
37 
KEEP IT SIMPLE
When David begins a new logo, he always does so in black and white; the design
should be strong enough to work without color, so leave that until later in the
process. The simplest designs (think: the Apple logo) are often the smartest in
practical terms, since they can easily be adapted across static 2-D mediums,
from an app icon to a billboard, as well as in motion, like in a quick TV spot.

SOMETHING DIFFERENT N E G AT I V E S PAC E

I S N ’ T E M P T Y S PAC E
If all the brands in a particular sector
Need proof? Look no further than the
seem to lean on a certain typo-
FedEx logo, which uses the gap be-
graphic style or color palette, avoid tween the uppercase E and lowercase x
it; we don’t need more organic foods as an arrow, suggesting forward motion
packaging in shades of green and while neatly summarizing the brand’s
brown. Avoid those types of clichés purpose of transporting parcels. In the
as well as lazy visual shorthands, like hands of a smart designer, the spaces
that go unfilled can become brilliant
a Clipart-style light bulb graphic to
communication tools.
represent ideas or a book to repre-
sent education. Follow David’s cre-
do: “The more literal the logo gets,
the less interesting it is.”

A logo is not an island. Brand strategy involves much, much more than one
icon, and a good identity works even when the logo isn’t visible. It’s cru-
cial that all visual elements—from color palette to typefaces, text align-
ment, photography style, and copywriting—share a cohesive ap-
proach. When you’re designing a logo from a clean sheet, think about
how it might be iterated. Is it strong enough to provide the conceptual
framework for multimedia advertisements? Packaging? Apparel? The
strongest logo provides a versatile backbone that supports endless
permutations without losing its recognizability.

38
 Case Study:
The DalÍ Museum
The Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg, Florida, commissioned David
to create a new brand identity for its grand reopening in 2011.
Here’s a peek into how the design process unfolded

Early Stages
Given the subject matter,
David felt this logo de-
manded experimentation. He
initially sent the client
around 25 mockups, many of
which could be displayed
either horizontally or
vertically, a nod to the
whimsical nature of Salva-
dor Dalí’s artwork.

Refined Per Feedback

When the client expressed concerns about the
design feeling cramped and forced, David real-
ized they wanted something safer. He carried
over the tilted and sideways letterforms from
his initial mockup while simplifying the
composition and adding color for contrast.

The Final Product

After dozens of iterations—including one
with a custom European typeface and anoth-
er incorporating Dalí’s signature—David
finalized the logo. Colorful, versatile,
and inviting, this design conveys an ele-
vated eccentricity, capturing the artist’s
persona (and the museum experience) with-
out reverting to literal elements, like
mustaches or melting clocks.

39 
Make, Believe

Ready to put your branding brain to work? Sit down with a friend and invent a fic-
tional company together. Outline the key points of its hypothetical business plan:
what services or products it offers, its origin story, market position, direct compet-
itors, intended customer, and core messaging. Now, on your own, mock up a logo
proposal for the company you’ve invented. This should include examples of how
your design could be adapted to fit various needs, like business cards, a letter-
head, physical signage, and a smartphone app icon. Continue iterating until you
have a handful of mockups that might work. (Try to make at least one option radi-
cal and experimental.) Present them to your friend and ask for feedback. Which
design did they like most? Which one best reflected the spirit of the fictional com-
pany? What did they think of the logo’s color palette, shapes, and fonts? Can you
justify the thinking behind each design element?

40
Home Schooling
The best affordable resources
for budding designers

BO OKS

For branding tips…

Branding: In Five and a Half Steps
by Michael Johnson

For logo history and inspiration…

Logo Modernism
by Jens Müller and Julius Wiedemann

For a go-to typography guide…

The Elements of Typographic Style
by Robert Bringhurst

For advice from the best…

How to Be a Graphic Designer Without
Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy

For definitive design theory…

Ways of Seeing by John Berger

MONOGRAPHS

How to Use Graphic Design to Sell Things,

Explain Things, Make Things Look Better,
Make People Laugh, Make People Cry, and
(Every Once in a While) Change the World
by Michael Bierut

The End of Print: The Grafik Design

of David Carson by Lewis Blackwell

The Art of Looking Sideways

by Alan Fletcher

A Designer’s Art by Paul Rand

The Graphic Language of Neville Brody by Jon Wozencraft

Things I Have Learned in My Life So Far

by Stefan Sagmeister

Interaction of Color by Josef Albers

41 
 F R E E D E S I G N TO O L S
WEBSITES

Note: Adobe Creative Cloud software

Best for multidisciplinary
can be downloaded for free for a
design-industry news…
one-month trial, and additional
Design Week fonts are available from both Google
Fonts and DaFont.
Best for inspiration…
Creative Boom
For vector art…
Best for long-form pieces that Gravit Designer is suitable for design
go deep into industry issues… tasks ranging from presentations to
creating icon designs to illustration and
Eye on Design
animation. Features include nonde-
structive Booleans, a knife tool, and
Best for discovering
path graphs, plus multiple fills and
emerging designers...
blending modes and a powerful text
It’s Nice That engine. It can be used online or down-
loaded onto Windows, macOS, Linux,
Best for no-nonsense, and ChromeOS machines.
practical design tips…
Creative Bloq A genuinely good alternative
to Adobe Illustrator…
Vectr offers the usual vector features,
as well as options for filters, shadows,
and fonts. It can be used online, en-
abling live collaboration, or downloaded
for Windows, Linux, or Chrome. Alterna-
FREE ONLINE
ARCHIVES tively, GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation
Program) is an open-source software
Letterform available with Linux, Windows, and Mac
Archive versions. It offers all the usual tools—
painting tools, color correction, cloning,
AIGA Design selection, and enhancement. There’s
Archive even a version available that mimics
Van Alen Institute Adobe’s interface.
Design Archive
Limited but free alternatives to
The Saul Bass Adobe Creative Cloud programs…
Poster Archive
Canva is, broadly speaking, a piece
of image-editing software, but it pro-
vides a wealth of tools. Users can create
color palettes, match font pairings,
generate infographics, and more. It
P O D CA S TS can be used in-browser or downloaded
for iOS and Android.
Typeradio
Design Matters Free 3-D–creation software…
M AG A Z I N E S Blender, which has been hyped by excit-
Arrest All Mimics
ing young creatives like Julian Glander.
Eye It’s now the largest open-source tool for
Creative Review 3-D creation, offering modeling, textur-
ing, animation, rendering, and compos-
Print iting for Windows, macOS, and Linux.

42
 C R E D I TS

vid Carson’s
Footage of Da
work in a gallery
ES AD /College of
Courtesy
(esad.pt)
Art and Design
stage, along
vid Carson on
Footage of Da Po lytechnic
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with an interv ia , Spain
Valenc
University of chni c University
e the Poly te
Footage by th Creative Comm
ons
Spain (UPV),
of Valencia, ivecommons .o rg/lic ens-
e 3.0 (creat ag e
licens is foot
egalcode). Th
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was modi
ers,
Talk 2 Strang
Footage from KidWis eman
n with
a collaboratio d Carson
Courtesy Davi