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One idea is to have somewhat of a handmade, chaotic studio feel to it with charcoal, paint or collage incorporated in some aspect. A background with splattered paint or an unfinished piece of work or painting might be interesting, where you could click on the color-coded paint marks to enter different areas. I would like to have separate sections for maybe cool websites, interesting books and designers, blogs, daily inspirations, and emotionally inspired artwork or quotes.

Another idea is to stick with something more clean and basic with a black background and clean photographic images that each represent a separate area the user can enter by clicking the image. I really like the idea of having natural images or textile patterns that emotively illustrate the specific area of concentration.

Flipping through magazines the other day, I realized that “wild” has succeeded as a huge, consistent trend in advertising that shows no signs of extinction in the near future. Combining the wild ferociousness of exotic animals with utilitarian and fashion accessories has become a successful strategy for seducing consumers into thinking that they are wild, rebellious, stealthy, powerful, exotic or sexy by linking products to wild “safari” cats such lions, leopards, jaguars, tigers or cheetahs as well as other dangerous animals. While it is fun and makes the consumer feel like they have an untamed, primal and exotic sense of style it can sometimes be a bit absurd and even comical.

For example, what does makeup have to do with baby tigers (as in the Max Factor Ad above)? What does Kahula have to do with White Tigers? Why do Jimmy Choo ads feature women as fierce cats preying upon men to get high fashion bags? Why does Britney Spears need to hold a giant python draped around her body while performing on stage? Why do women go crazy over leopard print bags? Why does Roberto Cavalli have a cafe in Florence where tourists and models indulge in animal print packaged boxes of chocolates? Why does Pottery Barn suddenly take a change of style from their typical clean look to include animal print accents?

American consumers eat it up. We want an escape. We want to feel exotic and different, to live life outside the cubicle. We want to be stylish yet in touch with the primal nature of ferocious animals. Animal prints are marketed as having a sense of power, strength, uniqueness, seductiveness, foreign and unknow beauty. We want to be at the top of the food chain and having something that says “I’m wild” is cool and edgy. If I add a little leopard to my wardrobe or abode I might just be tempted to get a little crazy. Maybe I’ll embark on an African Safari. Maybe I’ll try some new extreme activity I never knew existed. Maybe men will be more attracted to my new “exotiqueness.” Maybe I’ll start hunting high fashion bags like a lion stalking a zebra. Maybe I’ll suddenly become inclined to buy a White Tiger to drink Kahula with. Who knows?

Yesterday I sat on the sundrenched rooftop of Iconologic and gained incredible insight into the field of graphic design from brilliant designer, Wade Thompson. A native Atlantan, Wade studied philosophy as an undergraduate before, as he stated, “doing what all philosophy graduates do: managing a coffee shop.” Drawing has always been a central part of his life and in 1999 his work was first featured publicly in Young Blood Gallery. In the early ’90s he worked as a graffiti writer and was commissioned to do illustrations for Parisian, Wish, and Bella Cucina. Upon realizing his desire to effectively communicate ideas and concepts through design, he enrolled in Portfolio Center.

What inspired you and kept you going at Portfolio Center?
W: That I sucked. I was hungry for success. I wanted the “Penternship.”

Did you participate in internships?
W: I worked at Primal Screen in animation and screen graphics.

What was your first job after Portfolio Center?
W: I graduated on a Friday and was offered a job to teach at Portfolio Center on Monday. I was offered a job in New York in international brand consulting.

Wade worked for 3 years as the Creative Director and later Senior Designer at Unboundry focussing on helping companies to define themselves in terms of market place identities and also traveled internationally on photoshoots

At Iconologic, Wade is able to focus on more on personal relationships with each of his clients and work individually with strong leaders in organizations to help companies communicate more effectively. In response to a question on how he handles working idependently he stated, “I like having a burden to carry.”

What is a typical workday like for you?
W: On Monday, I got up at 4:00 am, got to the office at 4:45 am, worked on one project, presented another project to a panel, and then worked some more and left at 5:30pm.

What inspires you as a designer?
W: Keeping involved. Great ideas spark great ideas. Real creativity is simple and magical at the same time. I study and read about art. I look at other fields.

Do you think most designers have relatively stressful occupations and lives?
W: It’s how you handle it. The stress is in the person, not the job.

What authors or design books would you recomment?
W:
Allen Fletcher
Massimo Vinelli
Milton Glaser
Craig Frasier- The Illustrated Voice
Daniel Pink- The World is a Whole New Mind
Thomas Friedman- The World is Flat
I like books focussing on the implementation of the idea and the story that led the the design. I read business books. I like books about perception, the philosophy of the mind. Philosophy is like doing push-ups. It is a rigorous process that demands logic.

If you could have the perfect job in an ideal setting what would it be?
W: I like the energy and comradery of New York but I also like Atlanta. I think the design studio should be more like an artist’s studio than a lawfirm office, small and intimate with maybe 5 people. Somewhere in a big city with a cloistered environment that isn’t driven by the hustle and bustle of the city.

What advice would you give to design students?
W: Own your projects. Never just fulfill assignments. Take full responsibility of your work. An understanding of design in a global sense is important. Understanding the value of creative thinking in the world.

How would you respond to the argument that designers are not as important as doctors or other professions that focus more on “basic needs”?
W: Nobody could get to the hopsital if design didn’t exist. Without the organization of information such as street signs or medical text books, there would be no doctors. Doctors often treat patients as bodies of data and don’t ask the right questions or necessarily link data. Design is a fundamental tool for solving problems and making the world a better place. Without design a campaign for AIDS walk may not be as effective. Design brings value that no one understands or knows.

How would you define design?
W: It is the bridge between information and understanding. It is a tool for creatively solving problems. One of my favorite things about design in having new people to learn from or mentors.

Who are some of your mentors?
W: Matt Rollins, Rick Anwell, Todd Martin, David Butler, Stefan Yodkinsen.

How do you relax in your spare time?
W: Reading the New York Times on a Sunday morning, walking my dogs. I really like to help people. I enjoy doing a lot of pro bono work.

On FWA, I found the Sprint Broadcast website at curedcd.com. It is hilarious! They invented this traumatic disease called Connectile Disfunction which mainly plagues overly-stressed businessmen. The disease is caused by bad phone connections and dropped calls. They have E Harmony type testimonials from couples about how their lives have changed since entering the Connectile Disfunction Center.
When you enter the site there is this crazy woman working at the desk who talks to you while answering random, hilarious phone calls. What a clever way to advertise.
Humor is definately a big key to success in design and fortunately, it seems like a lot of companies are latching on to the idea of creating make-believe societies dramatizing real situations and cultures. One of my favorites is Tea Partay sponsored by Smifnoff’s new flavored raw teas. The clever rip on preppy East Coasters wanting to be “playas” and “New England Gangstas” was hugely successful and recently featured in Communication Arts rewarded for breaking into a smart new marketing approach.

1 ) How did you first decide that you were interested in design?

2 ) Why did you decide to attend Portfolio Center?

3 ) What were some of the challenges you encountered at school and how would you advise other students to deal with similar situations?

4 ) Do you feel that your job now has a workload equivalent to that at Portfolio Center?

5 ) How did you find your current job? What is a typical day like?

6 ) What inspires you as a designer? What do you like / dislike about the design field?

7 ) What type of clients do you work with? What is your favorite project you have worked on?

8 ) What are some of your favorite relaxing activities?

9 ) If you could live anywhere and have your dream job, what would it be?

10) What advice would you give to design students and which areas would you say to focus on most?

The book Becoming a Graphic Designer (3rd Edition) is a great guide to careers in the graphic design market with advice and insight from recognized designers. In one section, a variety of designers from type designers to illustrators to publication directors and musicians give straight forward advice to people interested in becoming graphic designers.
Here are a few good quotes:

“Be culturally literate because if you don’t have any understanding of the world you live in and the culture you live in, you’re not going to be able to express anything to anybody else.” -Paula Scher

“Unless you have a huge flair for self-promotion, it’s going to be tough to get recognized. It’s hard for somebody who’s just getting started. I guess I would say that you should look at every possible magazine and book and European publication to try to see everything that’s being done, now and past.” -Rita Marshall

“Try and eke out some fun. This is supposed to be a creative job. If it ain’t then why the hell are you doing it.” -James Victore

“Look at everything for influence and inspiration; don’t limit yourself. It is also very important to have an understanding of the history of art and design. And it is very important not to let people discourage you.” -Kyle Cooper

“You must have:
1. Fire in the belly
2. Intellectual curiosity
3. Visual sensitivity
4. Guts of steel
5. Thick skin
6. Stamina
7. The ability to listen”
-Deborah Sussman

Looking through Portfolio Center’s last quarter wine label designs, I started researching effective label designs. I found an old Business Monthly Article,
Wine Label Design: What Makes a Successful Label by Lance Cutler. He states that a wine label’s job of telling a story and creating memories is a huge task that requires much though and dedication.

He explains that wine labels have a sense of place and time and tradition. In the beginning, most labels were austere, somewhat stuffy rectangular one- or two-color designs featuring illustrations of chateaus and bold declarations of the names of the wineries. Now, wine labels burst from the shelves with bold colors and torn, warped shapes often peering through the bottle itself. They are festooned with colorful animals, layered with screens and hidden motifs. They are a printer’s history of fonts.

“Wine packaging has morphed into the territory of custom glass, designer capsules and V-caps, but nothing is as important to a brand’s identity as its label. That’s because, as consumers, we can’t help but link our feelings about what is in the bottle to what is on the bottle. In today’s highly competitive world market, the wine label (and the entire bottle package) is more crucial than ever.”

As an avid low-budget connoisseur, I can absolutely support this statement. When you’re picking a new wine within the same price range, style and alluring colors definately catch the consumer’s eye and set the bottle apart. I think Little Black Dress, Mad Housewife, Seven Deadly Zins, Tall Horse and Marilyn Monroe wines are great examples of companies that have clever packaging and design down. The power of colorful and off-the-wall product design is greater than most consumers realize.

Enjoying the afternoon sunshine the other day, I paged through Fingerprint: The Art of Using Handmade Elements in Design. The author, Josh Chen, defines the book as a celebration of both the presence of the human hand in visual communiction, and the breath of fresh air into a field glutted with predictable, passionless solutions. The book features amazing artists and designers who do almost all of their work by hand. It is a truly inspiring book that bridges the world of graphic and computer-based design and studio art. Now that most design now is done directly in the computer, it is refreshing to see artists mixing the two forms to create beautiful and more emotive pieces.

One artist that I found particulary interesting is Sabrina Ward Harrison who published a journal that is beautifully painted and decorated with mixed media illustrations that encourage the users to write, draw, paint, collage, and make messes creatively to get to the heart of their lives and souls. It is very freeing to know that sometimes the best design comes from complete chaos and making magnificent messes to create beautiful and emotive expressions.

According to most designers, we are entering a new era of interactive technology. People are growing past the plain, non-Flash web page and plain posters and visual print media. I recently read an article in The Week Magazine dicussing the latest computer games as alternative realities in which players can do virtually anything inside an electronic fantasy land. The article focussed on Second Life stating that the 250,000 active users (who are mainly middle-aged) spend $1.5 million in real money inside the game. It has attracted scores of companies for both sales and market research.
Being fairly uncharted territory, the future of “cyber games” remains open. Mitch Kapor, the CEO of Lindon Lab, the company that created Second Life, states that “spending part of your day in a virtual world will become commonplace and may even accelerate the social evolution of humanity.”
To me it seems like more and more people are losing basic communication skills as well as experiencing life the the real world. The world of interactive marketing, design, and communication is rapidly expanding into an amazing new ground but at the same time a bit alarming. Are we going to become a society of computer-obsessed introverts who love their computers more than people? It seems strange that there are so many people who are addicted to playing interactive computer games more than interacting with real people.

Marketers are constantly fascinating the public with even more clever and sly ways to manipulate. Apparently I am on some type of marketer’s dream list with all the random marketing ploys I get in the mail on a daily basis. A few days ago I was sent a new “passport” from Blue Sky American Express. The envelope was printed to look beaten up and “very important material” maked all over it. Honestly, when I opened it, I thought it was a real passport. It had the stamps and my name and everything…and then a credit card casually stuck inside as if by some accident someone had left it in there and now you were destined to be a millionaire. Now that is clever marketing–deceptive, yes, but uniquely smart and remarkable.