6 London 2012 Olympics logo. Is it a disaster?

Tweet

Today saw the launch of London’s 2012 Olympic logo.The jagged emblem, based on the date 2012, comes in a series of shades of pink, blue, green and orange and will evolve in the run-up to the Games.It shows the numbers 2012 in a design aiming to appeal to today’s Internet generation. Sebastian Coe, chairman of London’s 2012 organising committee, said: “It is an invitation to take part and be involved.”




The brand identity was designed by Wolff Olins. Given how they were chosen as the designers over a year ago, I find the results disappointing.
Quite a few others are showing their dislike of the new logo too. .
What do you think?

5 The world’s best logo designers

Tweet

These people are reknowned for many disciplines, not just logo design.

Herb Lubalin

Born 1918. Died 1981.

Herb’s Families logo was designed in 1980 and the Marriage logo in 1965 (both above).
Read more about Herb Lubalin here.

Paul Rand

Born 1914, New York, USA. Died 1996.

Rand is responsible for the ABC logo (American Broadcasting Company) from 1962 and the IBM logo (both above).
Read more about Paul Rand here.

Milton Glaser

Born 1929, New York, USA.

Since founding Milton Glaser, Inc. in 1974, the work produced at his manhattan studio has encompassed a wide range of design disciplines, including identity programs for corporate and institutional marketing purposes and logos (among them the ‘I love New York’ logo for the New York state department of commerce, that became the most frequently imitated logo design in human history).
View more of Milton Glaser’s identity projects here.
Read more about Milton Glaser here.

Saul Bass

Born 1920, New York, USA. Died 1996.

Saul Bass’s long and prolific career has influenced legions of designers. Bass studied at the Art Students League with Howard Trafton and at Brooklyn College with Gyorgy Kepes. After working in New York for a number of years, he moved to Los Angeles and founded Saul Bass & Associates in 1946.
Bass was a design innovator, in the corporate world with logos for AT&T and United Airlines (both above) and working with directors such as Alfred Hitchcock, Martin Scorsese and Otto Preminger.
Read more about Saul Bass here.

Walter Landor

Born 1913, Munich, Germany. Died 1995.

What is probably Landor’s most famous logo is that of Fedex (shown above). The negative space ‘arrow’ has been well documented. The peoplepc logo (also above) is another that I enjoy. However, today Landor Associates don’t always get it right, such as their awful attempt at Italy’s national logo.
Visit the Landor website here.

Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar

Chermayeff born Chechen Republic. Geismar born New Jersey, dates TBA.

Design is directed toward human beings. To design is to solve human problems by identifying them and executing the best solution.
Ivan Chermayeff

Chermayeff and Geismar designed the famous Mobil logo (shown above) and developed a complete corporate identification program with continuing consultation for 35 years. The program was built around the logo, a specially designed alphabet, a clear policy for colour, and a comprehensive design approach that integrated new graphics with new architecture. It included design of product packaging, vehicle markings, print material, posters and all design, packaging and sign standards for facilities throughout the world.
Read more about Ivan Chermayeff and Tom Geismar here.

Bob Gill

Born 1931, New York, USA.

In 1962, Gill, Alan Fletcher and Colin Forbes established Fletcher / Forbes / Gill design studio, the forerunner of Pentagram (design studio).
LogoMania, his latest book, sets out to prove that there are unlimited good solutions to any problem. Gill designed thirty two logos for the same client.
Graphic Design as a Second Language is a superb book that details Gill’s design process. Highly recommended.
Read more about Bob Gill here.

Wally Olins

Born in London, England.

According to Wikipedia, Wally Olins is generally recognised as the world’s most experienced practitioner of corporate identity and branding.
Wally was awarded a CBE in 1999. He was nominated for the Prince Philip Designers Prize in 1999 and received the Royal Society of Arts’ Bicentenary Medal for his contribution to the design and marketing industry.
Read more about Wally Olins here.

Minale Tattersfield

Founded 1964 by Italian, Marcello Minale and Yorkshireman, Brian Tattersfield. Today there are many partners.

Minale and Tattersfield met while working at the advertising agency Young & Rubicam. Here they gained invaluable experience in broad-based commercialism, marketing and research which, combined with the deeper culture of their training as designers, gave them a tremendous advantage over others in their field when they set up their own practice.
You can view some of the Minale Tattersfield agency’s work by clicking on the client names below:

• Harrods corporate identity
• Eurostar corporate identity
• Sydney Olympic Bid campaign

5 Graphic Designer Arik Mergi Under The Spotlight

Tweet

Arik Mergi is a Graphic Designer from Tel-Aviv. His works includes Photo Illustratons, drawings and 3D elements. Here are some of his most famous artworks. Arik Mergi talks about his fantastic works and his design life. Let's have a chat with him!

1. Welcome to Think Smart Designs please introduce yourself. Could you tell us where you're from and how you got started in the field?

My name is Arik Mergi, born, live and create in Israel. After completing my design studies at Vital, the Israeli branch of Middlesex University, London I went on to ESAG, Paris for an additional year.


As a little boy I was always interested in painting and colors. Then one day, sometime in my teen years, I went to see a dance performance by Israel's best dance group - Bat-Sheva. The show was called "Anaphaza" and I had no idea what I was about to see or hear. The show incorporated dance, music, video, text, poetry, images, and rhythm; it was a mesmerizing experience that took my breath away and left me with a sharp message. Over the years I've learned that combining several elements into one experience in a creative way was called design.

2. How was your first experience with Photoshop? And tell us how you have evolved as an artist since then, what lessons have you learned that stuck with you all these years?

My first experience with photoshop was before I was 15 and since then I always discover new things. After working with this program for so many years I understand that before starting to work with photoshop or any other program you must have an idea-concept, and just after that you can execute your design on the computer. Programs are great tools to help you express your creativity, you must not let the programs lead you - only the idea and your brain can lead you.

3.Can you please walk us through how you created your pieces and what exactly you intended the message to be when you created them?.
Since completing my studies five years ago, I have been working as an art director for an agency that specializes in branding and design for a commercial sector. While working, I started looking for my own language, a unique way to express my thoughts and ideas about the many issues that preoccupied my life and mind on a daily basis. The use of collage came from my attempts to pull apart metaphors and images and then put them back together into one intriguing new image. From a creative standpoint, connecting elements from different worlds into one collage expresses the meeting points that happen all around me.

4. Your design style varies from piece to piece, it could go from typography, to photo manipulation. Why do you experiment with so many different styles instead of sticking to one and mastering it?

I live in Tel-Aviv, a visually and culturally intriguing city. Tel Aviv is the center of culture, creativity, business and leisure, in Israel, and one of the most obvious things about it is the impact and influence of other large cities in the world. A lot of my work captures restless moments, and feelings of alienation I feel around me every day. I also feel the work touches on the meeting between the people who live in the city and the endless mechanism which is the urban environment.
From a creative standpoint, connecting elements from different worlds into one collage expresses the meeting points that happen all around me.

5.In your opinion what would be the best way to market yourself as a designer to attract clients?

In our world after every designer has his own website where he can share his portfolio, the market and clients look for something more...they want to know who is the person that stands behind the designs, what are his thoughts about many subjects...so from my opinion every designer must have a blog where he can express his thoughts and opinions about many things..And if you are consistent with it, and keep it interesting, it will be worth it for you. On these days I'll be working on my blog and it will be on the web soon...

6.What programs do you use? And lastly walk us through a typical session as a graphic designer.

The main programs I use are my brain and my hands,, before jumping to use the computer I start making some simple sketches with a pencil and a sketch book..After I get the idea of what I want to do...I go to my beautiful Mac and let it flow by using: Illustrator, Photoshop , InDesign...I recently started working with friend of mine on some 3D elements...So, I import them into illustrator and play with them...

7. Which would you say is your favorite illustration that you have created, and why?

I'm teaching myself , not to fall in love with my works...So, I always hope that the next work will be better than the previous ones.

8.Thanks for providing Think Smart Blog with this opportunity to interview you. Any final thoughts for our readers?

what is thought to be the edge is only the beginning.

9. Where can we find you on the web?

http://www.arikmergi.com/

7 company logo design

Tweet

Believe it or not, the most important part of logo design happens before the designer even starts to sketch. The power of any logo comes from the original logo concept. This concept is the image you envision the logo representing for your business. First, think of a simple thing that relates to your industry. It may be a computer for a software company, or a vacuum for a cleaning service. Or it could be more abstract, like a blurred image for speedy service.

Don't just go with the "in" style of the day. Changing your logo in the future can be a costly expense, so try to imagine something that will look fresh in 10 years. You don't want to have to reprint all your stationary and business cards just because bubble letters went out of style.

Think about the style of your logo. There are several of these out there, which you've probably never thought of, so here's a primer:

Iconic logos: These are some of the most common you'll see out there. They're simple, usually just one graphic element, icon or design. They often include the company name on the bottom or to the side of the graphic element. When utilizing and iconic image, the best figures to go for are usually symmetrical geometrical shapes. That way, they can be placed anywhere and they'll still look balanced in the layout.

Logo types: These words are graphic in themselves. Think of Sony, Kellogg's, Coca-Cola and IBM. There are no drawings, per se, but these words express as much in their design as they do in their meaning.

Illustrative: You'll know an illustrative logo simply by its eye-catching design. This is probably the most impressive (and also expensive) kind of logo to create, as they are detailed and try to represent the company's business using just a graphic.

Integrated: This is the combination of illustrative and logo type. The words and pictures work together to create one solid logo. These are a rarity because they are the most expensive to create.

To wrap up, logo design is one of the most demanding areas of graphic design. Logos have a big job to do: they represent your company, convey your image, and greet customers on the face of your stationary and business cards. Choosing the right company logo design, and the right design firm, is one of the best things you can do to help your marketing efforts.

0 Ten Most Popular Firefox Plugins of Web Designers

Tweet

Firefox is the browser of choice for most web designers. Not only does it display websites the way they should be displayed, but it also gives users the ability to add tons of functionality and customization through add-ons or plugins. Since Web designers spend most of their day working in a browser it makes since to be able to do things like make edits to css without switching to a different application.
If your a Firefox user, but have yet to try any extensions, here are 10 of the most popular among web designers. You should really give them a try. They may just make your life a lot easier.

Firebug

Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools at your fingertips while you browse. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.

Web Developer

The Web Developer extension adds a menu and a toolbar to the browser with various web developer tools. One of my favorite features of this extension is being able to edit css of any web page and see the results in real time.

ColorZilla

ColorZilla assists web developers and graphic designers with color related tasks – both basic and advanced. With it you can get a color reading from any point in your browser, quickly adjust this color and paste it into another program. You can Zoom the page you are viewing and measure distances between any two points on the page. The built-in palette browser allows choosing colors from pre-defined color sets and saving the most used colors in custom palettes.

Codetch

Codetch gives you the feel of Dreamweaver in a Firefox extension. Edit your documents right next to your web pages as you surf.

Window Resizer

Window Resizer is useful tool for testing different screen sizes. It accurately resizes your browser so you can test to see if the web page you’re working on looks right in all of the standard resolution sizes. It supports the 640×480, 800×600, 1024×768, 1280×1024, 1600×1200 resolution sizes.

Pixel Perfect

Pixel Perfect is a Firefox/Firebug extension that allows web developers and designers to easily overlay a web composition over top of the developed HTML.

Pencil

Pencil is a free and opensource tool for making diagrams and GUI prototyping that everyone can use. Some of the key features include: multi-page document with background page, on-screen text editing with rich-text supports, and PNG rasterizing.

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, cross-platform FTP client for Mozilla Firefox which provides easy and intuitive access to FTP servers.

FireShot

FireShot is a Firefox extension that creates screenshots of web pages (entirely or just visible part). Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations. Such functionality will be especially useful for web designers, testers and content reviewers.

MeasureIt

MeasureIt allows you to draw out a ruler to get the pixel width and height of any elements on a webpage.

4 Cool Online Color Tools

Tweet

This can come very handy specially if you don't know much about color combinations. Special thanks to AVIVADirectory.com The Canonical List of Online Color Resources for Designers

I Like Your Colors

Pull color schemes from existing websites automatically

HTML Color Code Combination Chooser

Online color scheme generator

EasyRGB

Create color palettes, or search existing color libraries

colr.org

Create and share colors, or generate a scheme from an image

Color Scheme Generator 2

Create color schemes by modifying simple options

Color Palette Generator

Allows you to generate a color palette from a photo or image

Color Palette Generator

Turns a photograph into a color scheme

Web Color Combinations Testing Tool

Allows you to view color combinations online

ColorBlender

Color matching and palette creation

ColorMixers

Web-based color-mixing tool

Color palette creator v1.6.1

Color scheme generator

ColorJack: Sphere

Online color scheme creator

GenoPal Online

Free tool for finding harmonious color schemes

kuler

Create and share color schemes online

ColorToy 2

Flash color-scheme generator

Downloadable Software

The Color Schemer

Downloadable software for viewing and mixing color palettes

ColourMod Colour Picker

Color picking tool for your desktop or web application

ColorZilla Extension for Firefox

Simple extension allows you to quickly pick colors from the web

Pantone to RGB and CMYK

Allows you to convert from Pantone to CMYK and RGB

ColorImpact

Color theme creation software

Pixie

Simple and free utility for selecting colors

Anry Color Picker

Color selection and harmony generator

Color Schemer

Variety of software tools from Color Schemer

ColorPicker

Easy color palette creation in Windows

Color Oracle

Color-blindness simulation software for Windows and Linux

Color Schemes

Colour Lovers

View, rate, and review colors and palettes

Colorcell Ranking

Color schemes based on reproductive and evolutionary techniques

ColorBurn Winning Schemes

Winners of Firewheel Design's "ColorBurn" contest

Sherwin-Williams Color Trends 2006

List of interior design color schemes

Website-ready color schemes

Great list of color palettes ready for use with Color Schemer software

Web Color Combinations Library

List of user-generated color schemes

Fashion Trendsetter

Color schemes based on fashion trends over the years

Color palette predictions for the 2007 home

Interior design color schemes from Pantone

Grammy Award Winning Album Colors

Color schemes from 2007 album covers

Darkeye

Search for designs and color palettes by individual colors

Kolur.com Inspiration

Inspiration site listing color palettes based on images and photos

Daily Color Scheme

New colors schemes every day...until Sept. 2006, anyway

Color Schemes (Standards for Life)

Nice schemes from a variety of sources

Screenalicio.us

Browse web designs by color, and see schemes for each site

kuler

Create and share color schemes online

Individual Colors

List of colors

List of named colors (including hexadecimal values) from Wikipedia

Color List

List of named colors, including gamma variations

Color Shades

Colors and lighter shades in hexadecimal format

Design Melt Down

Awesome site! Lists great-looking websites by their dominant colors

Web 2.0 Colour Palette

Specific colors used by popular Web 2.0 websites

Color in Motion

Interactive flash website exploring colors

ColorWhore

Browse colors by category

Color Codes Matching Chart HTML

List of Pantone, CMYK, and RGB (hex) equivalents

Fashion in Colors

Explores color as a design element in Western fashion

Hues to Use in 2005

Adam Polselli's famous color forecast

Skin Color ChartsCharts

Charts describing how to mix skin tones for painters

Color Blender

Quick tool for finding colors between two other colors

VisiBone Webmaster's Color Lab

Classic site with charts, downloadable color palettes, and more

moreCrayons - Web-Smart Palette

Tools for finding web-smart colors

rgb.txt

List of named hexadecimal colors

Techniques and References

Color guidelines for brands

Cultural and psychological connotations of individual colors

Color Theory

A simple introduction to color theory

Instant Color Schemes

How to pick create a color palette from an image

The Art of Camo

Article about the fine art of creating camouflage

Color Rules of Thumb

Simple color theory and tips, with examples

CMYK (for Those Who Do RGB)

Explanation of CMYK colors and how they're used

Colour Schemes

Article about different ways to create color palettes

Colour (Web Page Design for Designers)

Article about colors, schemes, inspiration, and design

Colors Found in Nature

Explanation of how to find color schemes from photographs

List of palettes (Wikipedia)

List of computer color palettes

Why Color Matters

Explanation of the importance of color in marketing and business

Color theory (Wikipedia)

Great article about general color theory principles

Colors on the Web

Articles about color usage online for designers

Color Glossary

A dictionary of terms related to the science of color

Choosing color combinations

Explanation of how to select color combinations for websites

0 30 Clever Coaster Designs for Inspiration

Tweet

Ever come across a really cool coaster and wonder, “Am I drunk or is this coaster really cool?” Well here is your sober chance to take a look at some clever and creative coaster inspiration. We’ve rounded up 30 coasters that would definitely liven up any bar top or table.
Mehmet Gozetlik

Kent and Jim

Dave Hall

Kaleb Coleman

Niyati Mehta

Tiina Ilmavirta

Yvonne Schüttler

Kamal Patel

Jennifer Stetson

Kelsy VonderHaar

Thapanon Khongraksa

Joshua M. Smith

Devika Khowala

Elizabeth Crowther

David Garcia

SLAMS

Chris Trivizas

Emily Cowdrey

Renee Richards

Jeff Burger

Hrishikesh Shinde

Carolyn Paluch

Simon Bent

Veroyama

Ink Design

Vrinda Kataruka

Margaret Hanson

Matt Heindl

INOUDID’s Attic