Think Creative

OK, as nobody attempted to reply to this, the answer is forthcoming. It is easy to analyse the fact the company is in fact involved with skin products. The twist on the variation of 'New' converted to 'Nu' is a common trick to manipulate words to make them into clever logo derivations. However, in my classes I have the students stumped the reasoning behind the icon above the text. One thing I try to get my students to do is to think laterally. This is the teaching of the originator De Bono, and is a good way to exercise the brain in other possible outcomes to a seemingly obvious or obscure answer. If there are additional tidbits of information added to reveal certain aspects of the logo the challenge becomes simpler and simpler. However, this really shouldn't be the process of a clever thinker, nor a creative mind. Look at the logo. What does it seem to represent? What connection can be seen between this and something to do with skin? Think abstract. Obvious...

Some months back there was a discussion on the subject of 'Associational Block'. As with this subject of blocks there can be considered other aspects of the thinking process that can also create blocks. Many of these aspects are subconscious and hard to even notice, but do exist. The process by which 'Cultural Blocks' affect us not only reside in us due to long exposure to their influential promotors, but also as a deep seated passion that is based on many aspects of the culture we have come from. It should be pointed out that these blocks are not a controlling factor in our decisions on every aspect of our choices. If fact they are rare to spot, but at the same time do exist, and can exist in such a way that you are not aware. Due to the natural process of cultural development we tend to take things for granted. Many of these things can include music, art, food, and fashion. All of which by the way can be considered forms of design. However, when the notions of cul...

Continuing the theme of blocks and how they affect the working and creative attitude of many people, today this blog covers that issue of 'environmental blocks'. This is something that is external out there, but affects our mental state of mind. It can range from a number of sources and be caused by a number of things, but ultimately it has control over the way our mind works. One aspect that we never really consider in the development of work is where and how we sit. Or more precisely the environment in which we sit. Firstly, our seated position is of utmost importance to our health and our state of mind. Sitting incorrectly for long periods of time without any degree of support or relaxation is not very productive. Making our back ache is resulting in doing harm to our main nervous channel. All the stems of our bodies extremities come from the many spinal cord. Hence, any aching and numbness caused by sitting incorrectly is a direct result to the prolonged angle at which yo...

Decided to finally get through the last bit of 'Blink'. Malcolm Gladwell's book on the spontaneity in human nature. On reading one of the final chapters I came across a very interesting section covering the concept of what can be called 'Consumer association'. This was an original concept founded by Louis Cheskin. See his website  here ! He moved to the USA from the Ukraine and found great delight in the development of the American culture. However, he discovered a desire to want to analyse the system by which consumers related to their choice in products. One of his achievements was to aid Coco-cola in their understanding in why Pepsi was beating Coke in the race for customers in the late 1970s. Coke was under the assumption that the rival was true in their statement, in that in the taste test ( something I remember as a child ) Pepsi was better than coke. So Coca-cola spent time and money in the development a new taste. They even called it 'New Coke'. Wh...

Have you ever really sat down and thought about your brain? The strange and funny process is that you very rarely do. You can sit and think about your other extremities, but rarely do you consider the one part of the machinery network that actually makes it all function. Maybe, if you have a headache you will feel bad through over drinking of tiredness, or some other ailment. However, because this two pound lump of gray matter sits behind all of your sensory receptors it gets ignored. The brain is in fact a miracle of evolutionary magnitude. The actual fact that it is capable of doing what it actually does is a technical marvel. Scientists for example have been trying to figure out these aspects and recreate them in such a way that computers could have, what we call, artificial intelligence. That we could build a robot that functions in the same way as humankind. the sad truth is that this seems like it will never happen. Reading Steve Pinker's book on the subject has shown some ...

As humans we look at things with different degrees of analysis. We are in fact the only living creature that has the cognitive ability to analyze things, event, problems and try to come to a conclusive result. The advantage of this analytical brain is to help resolve these problems in a more effective manner. Our closest relative, the chimpanzee, when faced with a termite nest wont look at it holistically and see the potential aspects to which a solution to get a termites out. Instead they are limited to their surrounds and their capabilities. They generate simple tools to approach the most convenient solution. Saying this, it is wrong to take away from the chimpanzee the ability to fashion tools and use them. For many years man has deemed himself the only manipulator of his environment, is such a way as to physically alter and fashion elements to create tools. This is not so. What this has to do with creative thinking is a little more deeper than termites in a nest. Holistic knowled...

One of the things I see when I am teaching is the great deal of nervousness that occurs when the students are about to do that simplest of actions, of putting a pencil on a piece of paper. After twenty odd years of doing all this drawing and sketching and the like, I find it odd to observe, or at least funny that someone has that nervousness. There can be many reasons for this to occur. I have thought about it whilst sitting and trying to encourage the students to leap right on in there. One possible reason could be that there is a daunting task of seeing how to fill a large expanse of white space with something. Another, and especially in the classroom environment, is the fear of embarrassment in making a mistake in front of people. This is odd, as I have always stated and affirmed, people can only make progress by making these mistakes. However, the one problematic area that can easily explain all these in one form or another, is the way in which we use our brain. I mentioned befor...

So once we have our list of terms and derivations, the next stage is to convert them into visual ideas. Mainly, as this is a creative project then all the elements need to be presented in a graphic form. What I tend to do is to develop via sketching. Saying this though, there is a disparity in what can look good in a sketch and what can look good in a final design. This understanding can come with a great deal of experience in how things look in rough and complete form. I tend to so all my logo designs via illustrator, and so when sketching I tend to keep simple lines and blocking that I note will be colour or shape. Anyway, what happens depending on the list of words, is I try putting down any idea that pops into my head based on the initial visual I see. This can usually populate an entire A3 sheet of small thumbnails. Like the one I added above. Another thing that is hard to describe, as a necessary part of the process, is the need to have gestation time. For example, I have tree ...

What usually tends to take place next i the depth process is to define the images I like the most as fully rendered icons. This tends to be done in illustrator. Illustrator is great for icons and logos, many as you can resize the objects without loosing quality or clarity. So what I tend to do, is whilst designing and thinking about logos, I tend to image how I will achieve them in illustrator. Its hardly worth trying to think of a great logo that can only be made in photoshop. Not saying that you can't use photoshop for doing logos. The issue there is that you have to make a very large version and then hope the resizing wont degrade the image too much. So, for the sake of all that hassle, it is best tho construct the whole image in illustrator. There are a great deal of effects now available and with some training it is possible to make the image look almost as good as a photoshop file, if that is the look that is required. For these logos, it was important to maintain a clean a...

So, moving further down the path of the depth process, we have ended up, through client choice, at a possible two versions. The surprising thing, that never fails to amaze me, is that the icon on the left is the first design I chose and developed, based on that feeling. The client was skeptical, and so wanted variation, but then when it came down to it, returned to this choice. In some aspects of trying to understand this, it could be said that this is possibly the eye that designers have in knowing a good design over a bad. Not saying that some of the other logo ideas were bad, but sometime something just stands out. And as the client wanted something a little closer t the original then this sort of hit the mark. So what the next step was, was to define a minor variation to draw the logo to a more Greek feel. I decided to incorporate the principle of gestalt in the design and minimizing the two letters of the school's name from the 'sigma' and 'kappa' that exists...

After two weeks of working and tweaking and convincing the final logo has been decided on. In some senses it is still my second choice, although I was very pleased that the concept came in a 'eureka' moment one night as I was feeling desperate about the clients insistence on doing something different from the original design and close to the original. This pays dues to the notion that good ideas come when you are horizontal, sleeping or consciously resting. It has a great deal of gestalt aspects to the design as well. Making the 'sigma' appear from a negative shape that reflects the 'kappa'. What was then part of the process is to deliver the several variations that may be needed by the client for print. This includes black on white and the reverse out against black. Also included are several adaptations of the logo with text positioned differently. I managed to convince the client that the use of PF Archive Pro was better than the original Sans Serif font ( M...

This post is was inspired by several things that occurred over the past few weeks. Some were observed, some experienced and even some were reflections on things past. However, they all seem to drive toward a main focal key point; that of design control. One of the things I notice in the world and reflect to my students when I teach them, is the simple fact that every single thing in the world that is manufactured ( and I could say naturally made ) has been designed. Regardless of how bad or good that design is, someone has had to sit down and conjure a way to make an idea look good based on its needs and requirements for function. Looking at the process of education, and its seeming lack of concern to the arts or the fundamental aspects of teaching children to draw, there is a great deal of scope in the argument toward design control. It has always been a strong curriculum bias towards mathematics and the sciences. I can even remember as a child that the art class to most was the ...

This is an immensely large subject full of debate on so many levels, that it will be hard to cover all of them. What would be the best approach is to skim the surface of the main points and mix it with some historic flavouring, in an attempt to make some discursive approach to the post. What must be made as a point at the beginning of this post, in conclusion to the last, is that one of the worst types of censorship, is that of self-censorship. Not stating one's opinion based on some fear or lack of knowledge is not the best approach to creating communication. It may be clear that I may not know what I am talking about in some of my posts, but with a little supportive research and a desire to say what I think, I put in words a viewpoint. After all, this is what I can do and is a right of all individuals, to have an opinion. Not saying something can possibly take away a viewpoint or piece of knowledge that could help in the argument, help an individual understand or even just give...