Fan To Pro - The Blog of Professional Geekery

Tales from the Ashcan: Proof Identity Design is Important

Merry Christmas!  Right now, you're probably drinking egg nog, cozying around the TV station playing the picture of the fireplace and beating that cousin you don't like and haven't seen in a while at Call of Duty, so you can ignore this.  For the rest of you who aren't, however (read: me), I've got a new Tales from the Ashcan for you.  This month, we're talking about identity design.

As a graphic designer and typographer, one thing that I've really noticed since my great wide entry into the world of comic publishing is exactly how horrifically bad some of the identity design (aka logos) some people have.  Seriously.  Granted, horrific logo design is something you see on a regular basis - it's everywhere.  But I've noticed that it's exceptionally bad in the realm of comic logos.  Without pointing fingers (because that's bad), I can find you within ten minutes some of the most afterthought (if even that much) series logos out there.  Likewise, aside from our own, I can point out what I think are some of the most incredible ones.  While the former are afterthoughts, the latter have clearly been thought out in terms with the scheme of the story, or are intentionally aping a particular style.  The difference between a monstrosity (you can find one within five minutes by looking at any webcomics aggregator) and something as beautiful as the logos for Woody After Hours or Powernap or Delve into Fantasy are immense.

But as a professional, it's even more important to have the proper identity for your business, regardless of whether or not your business is a comic artist, bookseller, travel agenty or coffee shop.  Why?  Well, it can really hit you hard, and I'll give two examples; the first one now, the second after the jump.

Take, for example, a conversation I had one day with an individual who handed me his business card. It was a simple affair, with black and blue ink and looked very sleek and stylish for a technology company. There was just one problem: the gentleman was in the food services industry, something that the average person would not have known by looking at the card. While his logo and branding needed work, the colors and fonts chosen did even more to confuse potential customers, thus making a simple food producer look like a great tech company (which was not even close to his intent.)  I ended up doing a much warmer and more accessible logo for their business, and their business is doing swimmingly.

But I had another customer who had an even bigger issue, and his I'd like to share with you.

Interview with Cailyn Leigh, Set Painter and Scare Actor

As All Hallow's Eve approaches, it seems fitting to interview a progeek who specializes in scares.  Cailyin Leigh is a set decorator who works year-round in theatre, but most notably, she is part of the team that creates Canada's Wonderland's Halloween Haunt.  In the weeks that lead up to the event, she designs and decorates scary mazes and haunted houses.  During the Haunt itself, she dons gory makeup and scares the bejeebers out of the park's patrons.  All in a night's work, right, Cailyn?

1. What kind of portfolio or qualifications did Wonderland want to see before hiring you?  Did past hobbies/jobs/other activities help prepare you for this?

When I first applied for the Halloween Haunt all I brought with me was my resume. My technical theatre resume. They already knew what my previous jobs were due to the online application so I brought with me the jobs I had done in the theatre world. As for qualifications; I would say having studied something artistic is what they were looking for.

Past hobbies I'm almost certain came in handy. I have always been interested in the arts be it theatre or fine art using paint or whatever else I could get my hands on. I was one of those that while in high school, my jeans were decorated with pictures in permanent marker. Halloween has also been a hobby you could say. The idea of dressing up and changing who you are fed the theatre person in me while the decorating the outside of my house fed the artist in me.

A Perfectly Progeeky Society

I was pondering that eternal question, "what is the perfect progeek society?" ...and I realized, we're not too far off.  With things like Lulu and YouTube, there is very little standing in the way between a progeek and their audience.  However, I believe that today’s world places a disproportionate value on immediate financial value, which makes everything else undervalued.  For example, we don’t care about science or technology as much as we should, because as important as it is, it is behind the scenes and therefore doesn’t mean much to the world unless it is directly tied to a top-earning product or company.  And as for the arts - don’t get me started!

What Fandom Has Given Me

This is the week of Speak Out With Your Geek Out, a time of celebrating fandom.  Because I am an active member of many fandoms, I couldn’t pick just one.  Therefore, I’m writing to you about all that my various fandoms have done for me.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 5 - Boom! Goes Our Sanity: Process Lettering, Part Two

Well, here we go: five days left, and things are not getting any easier.  Again, it's time to scream.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 7: One Week Left! - Toning: Dealing with the Earthquake Was Easier

Well, today, we had that 5.9 earthquake southeast of us and for Ayne, she really appreciated it; the distraction allowed her to actually take a break and field mails, tweets and posts from people freaked out about something that's considered a minor distraction in LA and/or Tokyo.  

It also let her relax and think about her toning a bit.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 8 - Chaos Continues: Blanco Y Negro (Okay, "Inking", So It Doesn't Sound as Cool)

Okay, welcome back to the Panic Zone formerly known as Megami Studios.  We're getting closer to launch (just a hair over a week now) and we've still got crab-buckets of stuff to do as well as writing these articles.  Yay.

It's times like ths that we could really use a drink.  Or twelve.  And just scream incomprehensibly. 

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 10 - Crunchtime Begins: Design

Hello and welcome back.  We've finally reached the point where we're 10 days before launch, so things are just a tad busy around here.

 

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 13, - Realism vs. Reality vs. Realization vs. Real Estate? (Quick, Come Up With Another Word!)

As we discussed yesterday, research is the key to getting everything right - or at least plausible - in your works.  But in all that, there's a question that should really be asked.

Why?

Or rather, does everything need to be true and accurate in all details?  Yes, it helps to know that the point end of the sword is not the part that you hold, and that the moon is not made of green cheese.  But what it if was?  What if ol' Luna were composed of Swiss? (sorry, couldn't come up with a gouda enough variety).  What if there was air in space?  What if we just threw the book out?

And, of course, it goes without saying that some things just don't mesh well in a realistic setting.

Launch or Be Lunch, Day 16 - Inspiration is Where You Get It (or Something Like That)

Ah, insipiration, that fickle inspiring inspirative that inspires inspiration.  Yeah, whatever.

The fact is, most of us tend to get our inspiration from what we're exposed to the most.  If you read books, books are your inspiration.  If you watch TV, you get it there.  If you're a cinephile, most of your works will have a cinematic quality.  If you're an otaku, guess what?

Well, I'm here to give you yet another bit of information that will likely annoy the crap out of you and earn me yet more hatred and contempt (just performing a public service, folks!) from all my potential fans.

Stop.  Stop what you're doing now and Get Your Own Damn Idea.