Can I still be a graphic designer, please?

I’m doing graphic design several years now and I never tought that I would build a portfolio with logo designs. It was always the most prestigious of all the graphic design, the hardest. That’s why I admire the work of the big guns like Pentagram, which are well respected also by the masterminds of design such as Sagmeister. That’s why I’m excited and that’s why I’m sometimes not quite sure. Am I going in the right direction? I ask questions because I want to grow, be better and stronger.

That’s why I follow some great branding and design pages/blogs. One of them and I think a really good one is blog from David Airey (thanks iAlja) and some others such as HicksDesign . And those guys always impress me with great interpretation and the process behind the logo creation. And always, I mean ALWAYS it starts with some sketches and concepts. What happens when you are not good with pencils? OK, me to, I sketch and draw all the time, but all the real work I do in Illustrator. Is that a no-no thing to do? Some old school designers/artist once told me, that they hate computers because they are not only a tool and that they “kill” once creativity because they offer you solutions and all you do is choose the best one. Here you go, something to think about.

Hm… I guess I need a coffee, because I talk nonsense And later I will post some new stuff I’ve been working on. Please feel free to comment. In the meantime have a look at some of my photos. Yeah, I guess I’m better at photography than am at drawing.

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Blok54 it is!

In my previous post I was writing about some decisions which I had made and mentioned that there are still some to be made. And voila, my »transformation« is almost done.  Welcome in my blok, Blok54!

Yes, it’s official now. I joined forces with Miha Grudnik, a friend of mine who is an expert in visual communication, especially in promotional signs, led displays and the technology connected with it. Together with my knowledge and experience in the field of media, design, PR etc. we try to form some kind of unique company. We try to focus on personalized solutions, we try to introduce different approaches and to “abuse” as much as possible the new media and combine it with conventional.
And because I’m the capo di banda of the creative part of our project, it felt down to me to create a brand which will present our hard-to-define work.

EDIT: I separated from Miha and stayed with the creative part. We collaborate, but otherwise work separately.

The NAME ?!?

It’s not that easy if you work on your own brand. F***, it’s really hard. Why? Because you want it to be perfect. Because our brand will combine different activities I had even a harder job. After a week of brainstorming it was decided that BLOK (block) is the name. Why? Because it is simple and strong, it is Slovene, but is easily to pronounce and is almost the same as the English word. Why than Blok54? Because we wanted to personalize the brand. So it is not just one block, it is The Blok54.

!SKETCHES

I thought that it’ll be easier when the name is decided. Especially because I had an image in my head. First there were the sketches. I wanted something more cartoon like; but on the other hand, I wanted something which would still be serious enough. My friends which opinion is really important to me were saying that I should stick with something more formal. Together with Špela (yes, you are the best! ) we made some sketches.

VECTORIZE

After the sketches I tried some forms in Illustrator. I wanted something bold, almost industrialist, something totally opposite to shy design which is used by most of modern advertising agencies. Yes, I am a fan of minimalism and I like simple logos, but for our brand I wanted the opposite. Simple but strong.

FINALIZE

Hm… After I sent out the test pdf to my friends some interesting feedback returned. After 3 or 4 sleepless nights and nights spent before my monitors I decided for a series or versions of the logo, I chose and modified the font and here it is. I decided to include some dynamics and some character to the logo. Perhaps, some of you will say that it is too cartoonish, and perhaps you are right, but, hell, I am a fan of cartoons. And most of all, Blok54 is about different approaches and wants to go out of the mainstream. And so, I came out with different variations.

edit:

After some evaluation time this are the favourites or the final versions which I’m using, or better say, will be using.

BLOK YOU !

Blok54 is still in the beginning. I still have to decide which logo to use, even though I think we will use almost all of the variations because we’ll include many activities under the brand Blok54. But still, I want to give the logo a test phase, and I want to gather some further opinions.

But as I was finalizing the logo my friend Saša set to me something amazing, and because of it I decided to make the logo as it is. She said something like this: “It’s your brand, you are the one who’s invented the story behind the brand. And that’s why you should the logo which you feel is The one.” And that’s how the cartoonish Blok54 was born. Thanks not only to Saša, but to all others who were involved in the process.

COMMENT PLEASE !
Now, I want you to comment. Which version do you like the most? Which one should we use? What are your thoughts about the Blok? How Blok are you? 

World Wide War?

UPDATE:

I was going to turn off my PC, but my Feedreader blinked and I read this article on writeweb.com. 

It’s a wrapup of Adobe MAX conference, and I great summary of the things presented by Adobe. What’s the buzz? Hell, it’s the same with Adobe and MS – all about web applications.

Yesterday I was on lunch with my coworkers. It was interesting, because I was once more talking about Adobe and it’s agressive campaigns (buy everything that’s showing at least some potential) and that Adobe is becoming more and more dominant. Perhaps, that’s why they produce so superficial software – like new Adobe CS3 which is full of cool and actually usefull stuff, but also full of bugs. Well, I’m once more going off-topic… Story told short, the debate was going about Adobe buying Virtual Ubiquity the creators of Buzzword and Adobe’s intentions of going into war or at least going for the victory on the web office front. On the Max conference 2007 Adobe presented where it’s heading in the future, and it looks like Adobe is getting hostile towards Microsoft.

Adobe gained a lot by buying Macromedia – they almost formed a monopoly on the web design and design per se front. Corel is battling hard, but, Adobe won because they successfully packed a great deal into their Creative Suite CS3. They can guarantee compatibility between it’s software, which is great and is one of the main reasons why Adobe is so popular. And hell yeah, that’s why I use it. With Adobe Share , Adobe Media Player and other annoucements Adobe is looking to hammer especially Microsoft. But is THE BIG one just going to stand and watch? Hell no!

ANSWER WITH STYLE

Old boy Microsoft is still the biggest player in the worldwide software industry. It’s money makers are OS Windows and MS Office, which is still the leading steed in its branch. MS is also very strong in other fields (web applications, server technologies, media support…), but Bill’s company has not shown any interest in hitting Adobe on Adobes home field – design. Well, at least not ’till now. Microsoft is surprising us all in past few months with announcements about new applications and constant inovations. Besides long awaited Silverlight (rival of Adobe Flash) they presented Office Live Workspace and Microsoft Expression, which amazed me the most.

MS EXPRESSION

Expression, the rival to Adobe CS3? Hm, I would like an answer to that, and I would like to find it out myself. That’s why I downloaded the trial version of MS Expression Blend and MS Expression Design. MS Expression Design is going to compete with Adobe Illustrator and the ones alike, because it is a vector based graphic software. I can’t write anything concrete yet, because I installed it this morning and have been “playing” and testing it for only 5 hours. I most admit, that I use Photoshop much more than Illustrator, and therefore it is harder to pinpoint the difference between MS and Adobe. What I like about Expression Design is that it is slick, intuitive, isn’t packed with bunch of features which you don’t need and is not THAT different than for example Illustrator. Yeah, sometimes it is good to come out with something totally new, but not here, and thank god that MS didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. And one thing I noted and is very important: Expression works much faster than Adobe CS3 applications. Sorry Adobe, but…

So, for now, I must admit (though I’m not a MS fan); Expression Design looks and feels good. The biggest problem seems to be the compatibility, because you can’t open the files in Illustrator or in another third party software. Yes, soooo Microsoft.

But, if Expression Design is nothing special, I think MS hit the jackpot with Expression Blend and Web. With Blend, they compete with Adobe’s upcoming Thermo application. And Web has its rival in Adobe Dreamweaver (former Macromedia). I tried MS Expression Blend, because it impresed me, when I read that it enables creating web based applications without any coding! Yes, I hate coding (but have the deepest respect for it and therefore deeply respect all programmers) and that’s why Blend and Thermo are like Christmas for me. And here, I think MS has a slight advantage of Adobe, because of all the support and experience in stuff like server technologies, data bases, coding etc. Anyway, what is BLEND actually about? Well the MS page says Blend is: “… the professional design tool to create engaging web-connected experiences for Windows.” All I can add is, that it’s easy to learn and you can produce amazing results in no time. And almost without coding And NO, with easy to learn I don’t mean I’ve learned it already.

STILL TESTING

Again, I managed to post a totally confused article, with no real conclusion, or? I tried to point out, that there’s some great software waiting for us to try it out. Ok, and I pointed out a war between MS and Adobe. I’m still testing the new MS Expression Studio package, but for now I must admit that the future does look very bright for both; MS and Adobe. Hell, Adobe presented some of the coolest stuff and is going really big. But, Microsoft, is already the biggest. And with aditions like Expression and Silverlight, they are fighting harsh.

I can hardly wait for the report from MS reMIX which will take place in Boston (US) on 8-9.10.’07. I bet that MS is going to bring some new players on the “war front”. But then again, Adobe is prepairing the European AdobeMax conference in Barcelon (15-18.10). So, we’ll see… I challenge everyone to post your own opinion about it. Be a part of the war