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Sometimes the best thing you can give a young creative is a swift kick in the ego.

July 21, 2009

Being nice and telling them they're doing a good job won't help their careers. Honest, expert criticism is what they need. The truth might hurt, but growing from the experience will pay off in the end.

That's what's NEXT – a portfolio-building program that puts aspiring creatives in front of some of Denver's best creative directors. Want to get your book sized up by people like Mike Sukle of Sukle Advertising and Design? Apply by August 5, 2009.

The New Denver Ad Club, in partnership with Roshambo Films, created these videos to help spread the word.

Is our money too boring?

May 18, 2009

Sometimes the best way to add new life is through a rebrand. Is this the answer for our economy? Could the U.S. Dollar stand to be redesigned? Yes, our paper money has undergone facelifts through the years, but it hasn't been significantly changed since the 1930s. Check out the suggested new looks for our Greenbacks submitted to the Dollar ReDe$ign Project.

We've come a long way, for sure.

August 13, 2008

While it's always fun snickering over ads of the past, computer ads like these are often the funniest. Hope you enjoy 'em like we did.

Here's a question, though. How did this advertising industry of ours function without computers? We shudder to think.

Middle East creative tensions escalate

July 14, 2008

As we know, Iran test fired three missiles last week, and Photoshopped in a fourth to make it look scarier. Check out the free world's creative response.

Maybe PowerPoint isn't the best program for logo design.

June 13, 2008

Tens of millions of people around the world will watch this year's U.S. Open. Is that logo the best impression Torrey Pines golf course could make? Not to be critical of other people's hard work or anything, but... that logo looks like clip art.

What is it with all these poorly conceived logos and campaigns lately? For instance, refer to 2012 Olympics, 2008 Republican National Convention, Let's Talk Colorado, and Welcome to Scotland.

Good Design: Potato/Potatoe

December 21, 2007

We're all guilty of it. We take one look at a logo, an ad, or a brochure and immediately judge the quality of its design based on our own personal tastes and biases. But none of us are experts%u226 how do we know what good design is? How, exactly, can we determine if something qualifies for that distinction? There may never be a good answer to that question, but I thought these attempts at a definition might help us to take a step back and think about good design from a broader perspective. Food for thought.

"Good design is the process of doing well what must be done anyway." Louis Danziger, Graphic Designer and Educator

"Good design is design that not only achieves a desired effect, but shapes our expectation of what the experience can be." Astrida Valigorsky, Manager of New Media, Museum of Modern Art

"Good design today requires more vision (a larger point of view versus the single brilliant idea), more consistency (a deeper underlying structure of language and form versus the simple, uniform application of visual elements) and more patience (persistence over time versus creative authoritarianism)." William Drenttel, Partner, Jessica Helfand/William Drenttel Design Firm

Finally, a solution for those pesky little logos

November 21, 2007

Make My Logo Bigger Cream. Guaranteed to make your logo bigger or your money back.

Does this font make me look fat?

June 22, 2007

How much does a typeface say about you, your logo, your business? Apparently, a lot. And one well known typeface is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Helvetica faced some criticism when it was first introduced, but over time perceptions have changed. With all of its simple elegance, it's still going strong in design today. If you're looking to discover the nuances of this typeset, pick up a copy of the 2005 book, "Homage to a Typeface" by Lars Müller or grab some popcorn and spend an evening with the feature-length documentary by Gary Hustwit "Helvetica."