Category: Design

Beginner’s Guide To Graphic Design

Posted in Strategy on October 13, 2010 by James Penman

Jessica Halfand and William Drenttel have put together an excellent little primer about the fundamentals of what Graphic Design is over at Design Observer, what matters it concerns itself with, and what effective Graphic Design means. It’s a broad overview, but they hit most of the essentials. After all, they are veterans of the field. At the end they even kindly offer a list of books they recommend for further reading.

Long ago, to be a graphic designer was to distinguish yourself by defining your territory as fundamentally two-dimensional. Unlike artists, graphic designers had clients. Unlike architects, they delivered printed messages. Today, with the meteroric rise of desktop computing, social networking and mobile technologies, graphic design is the ultimate DIY activity. Or is it? Albert Einstein once said that the secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources. So don’t ask us to explain how kerning works: just trust us.

Read the rest of it here.

Effective or pretty?

Posted in Strategy on October 1, 2010 by David Cecil

We just passed around a great article by Mark Cook, a professor of graphic design at the University of Notre Dame, which questions what the purpose of a graphic designer should be. Here is an excerpt from the full article, which can be read here:

Historically, graphic designers have been commissioned to communicate messages in an attractive and desirable way using a combination of type and image. While this is still very much a part of what we do, the role of ”graphic designer” has become increasingly strategic, resulting in a conscious move away from anything that could be perceived as simply decorative. We have worked hard to hold a seat at the table, and fear that recognizing the persuasion of aesthetics will relegate our professional contributions to that of a technician adorning someone else’s thinking. But perhaps the pendulum has swung too far the other direction.

Our opinion? Sorry graphic designers – you need to do both. Great design work needs to communicate the right message to the right people in the right way, AND look great while doing it. I think this is the point that Mark is making, and it’s a good one – you can’t discount the value of doing something that looks pretty anymore than you can discount the value of doing something that is based on sound brand strategy.

Concierge Medical Practice, Meet Creative Agency

Posted in News on August 31, 2010 by JLSA

If you are a physician whose goal is to revolutionize the medical office, you could do worse than partner with a creative agency whose goal has always been to design a website that will help revolutionize the medical office. OK, we’ll admit that hasn’t ALWAYS been our goal, but it got added to the list soon after we were contacted by exclusiveMD, Kansas City’s first concierge medical practice.

What is a concierge medical practice, you ask? That was our question also. Imagine for a moment that instead of showing up at a cold, sterile, uncomfortable office to see a doctor that barely had time to see you, you arrived for your appointment at a beautiful, comfortable facility to see a doctor that had become a trusted friend. Imagine that this doctor was available not just at the office, but also for house calls, by telephone, video chat, email, and IM. Sounds pretty good, right? That was our thought also.
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Typography matters, people!

Posted in Strategy on July 9, 2010 by David Cecil

Typography is the “style and appearance of printed matter” and there is a reason that we bore clients to death discussing the brand ramifications of serif and sans serif fonts. It matters!

Cavs owner’s letter mocked for Comic Sans font

Comic Sans Font

Good Designers vs. Great Designers (Part 2 – Communication)

Posted in Strategy on July 1, 2010 by David Cecil

In my last post, I brought up a question that everyone considering hiring a design firm will inevitably ask themselves – what is the difference between a good designer and a great designer? I’d like to explore the first differentiator raised by Cameron Moll in his presentation, “Nine skills that separate good and great designers“:

GOOD DESIGNERS DECORATE, GREAT DESIGNERS COMMUNICATE

Posted in Inspiration on June 21, 2010 by James Penman

As previously hyped, we had the pleasure of attending the (hopefully annual) Designer/Developer Workflow Conference this past weekend right here in Kansas City. What was it about? Well, here’s the description from the website:

What’s the big deal about workflow? Workflow is something we all do, day in and day out – although you may not even think about it. Do you work with multiple applications during the day? Do you work with team members, departments, clients, etc.? Improving those workflows is what D2W is all about.

Posted in News on June 10, 2010 by James Penman

Designer/Developer Workflow Conference Speakers

Totally surprisingly, Kansas City is going to be host to a conference for designers and developers of websites! I know, right? The only way you normally get to see presenters like Seb Lee-Delisle speaking is if you catch a flight to Brighton and attend Flash On The Beach or other such conferences, usually in cities that are a prohibitive plane-flight-and-hotel-room-cost away.

If you’re going to be there too and want to meet up at some point, give us a holler!

Good Designers vs. Great Designers (Part 1 – Introduction)

Posted in Strategy on May 17, 2010 by David Cecil

I recently came across a presentation by a designer, speaker, and author named Cameron Moll called, “Nine skills that separate good and great designers.” Needless to say, it struck a chord, because it’s a topic that we spend a great deal of time talking and thinking about – both within our agency and with people who are interested in our agency. Since this blog is a place for us to talk not only about us and our work, but also our industry as a whole, I thought I would take some time to go through the points he makes and do my part to help educate people on the differences between good designers and great designers.

Posted in News on April 1, 2010 by JLSA

Creativity, even when based in sound business strategy, can be subjective. For this reason, every time a business engages us to design something that will visually capture their brand and message, there is an element of trust involved; we take this trust very, very seriously. We relish the opportunity because it makes days like today even better, when we can send another happy client on their way with a visual solution in place that we’re positive will do great things for their business.

Today’s portfolio addition is Health Care Consultants of Kansas City, a brand new business with a brand new website and a brand new business card.
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Creative Process – 801 Chophouse Website Design

Posted in Strategy on February 23, 2010 by Joshua Davis

Few things make me wish for wealth more than the possibility of eating at 801 Chophouse every night. When we were asked to design a website that reflected the experience of the restaurant, we were happy to dive deep into research (that means eat there). The end result was truly defining and in some cases delicious.

801 Chophouse is in 3 locations: Kansas City, Missouri; Omaha, Nebraska; Des Moines, Iowa. They offer a fine dining experience that ranks with the best available, claiming a midwest reputation that spreads to the coasts. We worked to match the caliber, energy, and mood that was definitively 801.

801 Chophouse Kansas City Website Design - Johnny Lightning Strikes Again

The Kansas City location is the newest of the three.