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The Right Way is the Only Way

August 10, 2015 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Here’s a good professional standard: sometimes, the ‘right way’ to do things is the only way.

As a teenager, I learned this valuable lesson from my bass guitar teacher, Bob Valeno. I was 16 and seeking a new teacher to help me advance my skills. I wanted to play like my heroes, Flea and Les Claypool. It was 1996, so I literally opened the phone book and looked at the music ads. I called up Mr. Valeno – a family man and music teacher who spent his weekends gigging at bars and weddings around the Jersey Shore using the name ‘Dr. Bobbyfingers.’ Despite the amusing alias, Mr. Valeno was no joke.

After we introduced ourselves, I said casually, “I’m not looking to learn to read music; I just want to learn to play some of my favorite songs.” Bob replied, “Well, if you don’t want to learn to read music, that’s fine – but I’m not the teacher for you. If you want to work with me, we’ll do things the right way, and I’ll teach you to read.”

One fact immediately came into stark relief: I was a clueless kid and Bob was an experienced professional. I was so impressed by his standards that I signed up for a lesson right away, and studied with him for years. The way that he took authority over his subject and methods was a kind of confidence and knowledge that I wanted, too.

I listen to lots of punk rock and metal, where breaking the rules is a virtue. But you first need to learn the rules in order to break them.

Here’s how this applies to design. A client recently came to me looking for a new website. Her needs were perfectly suited for a website built with WordPress, and I told her so. She said, “But I heard about [insert new, untested startup CMS here] and my friend said it’s good. Can we use that?” My reply was the same thing the Bob would’ve said: “If you want to work with me, we’ll use WordPress, because I know that it’s the most appropriate fit for your needs.” Clients come to you because you’re an expert with the knowledge to make these kinds of decisions – not them. You wouldn’t go to the doctor and tell him to prescribe you laxative for a broken knee.

Do it the right way and do it once. Thanks to Dr. Bobbyfingers for the valuable lesson!

Filed Under: Graphic Design

These Emojis Have Truly Surprising Cultural Origins

August 3, 2015 by Dan Redding 3 Comments

viking praise emoji

Emojis seem to epitomize modern digital communication – but some of these symbols have cultural meanings that go back decades or even centuries. These eight emojis have cultural and historical meanings that will truly surprise you.

drooling face emojiCrying Face Emoji

Common usage: This emoji is used to convey feelings of sorrow or rejection. But that water droplet is not a tear; it is actually spit.

Real meaning and origin: In Japan, this emoji is used as an invitation to play ‘seeko han,’ a popular spitting game. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Featured Writing, Graphic Design, Pop Culture, Satire, The Internet

The Mythological Roots of the Apple Logo

July 20, 2015 by Dan Redding 6 Comments

Adam and Eve by Lucas Cranach the Elder

Detail, ‘The Fall of Man’ by Lucas Cranach the Elder, 1537

This post is a companion piece to my article about the the meaning of the Apple logo. In that post, I stated that the primary source of Apple’s symbolism comes from The Bible. Here, I will dig into those historical roots a bit further. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Artists, Branding, Logo Design

Critique: Infiniti Logo & Brand

July 13, 2015 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

Infiniti Logo Meaning

Infiniti is the luxury division of Nissan, a Japanese car manufacturer. According to Infiniti, their logo consists of “two central lines leading off into an infinite point on the horizon,” symbolizing this “luxury performance brand’s desire to be always looking forward – to new horizons, to infinity.” The Infiniti brand was launched in the USA in 1989. Lippincott “revitalized the visual identity” in 2004. [Read more…]

Filed Under: Branding, Logo Design

Donald Trump Presidential Campaign Logos

July 7, 2015 by Dan Redding 2 Comments

We all know it’s time to “make America great again.” That’s why I’m such a huge Donald Trump supporter. To show my support (and gratitude) for “the Donald,” I decided to provide some of my expert design services, pro bono. Hillary’s logo campaign went viral and Jeb’s fell flat, so I am going to help Mr. Trump top them both. I have created a variety of campaign logos for Donald Trump’s Presidential campaign below – which do you like best?

[Read more…]

Filed Under: Branding, Featured Writing, Satire

Illustration’s Not Dead

July 6, 2015 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

I was an illustration major in college at Parsons School of Design. While my education in drawing and painting was invaluable, I quickly discovered that this century is not an ideal time to be a professional illustrator. From the dawn of cinema through roughly the eighties, illustration lied at the heart of film promotion. Legendary illustrators like Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo created lush, gorgeous oil paintings for film and television. Simply put, their movie posters were works of art.

Then came the Photoshop era. Movie studios realized they could save tons of time and money by lazily slapping a couple stars‘ heads on a poster. Instead of telling you what a movie was about with a visually enticing painting, movie posters focused on merely telling you that Tom Hanks is gonna show up. This is generally the kind of poster you’ll see on the subway platform nowadays. These posters seem to say, “You like Tom Hanks, right? What more do you need to know, dummy?”

I was happy to see the poster for the Netflix series Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp (below). The poster deliberately hearkens back to 80’s-style movie poster illustrations. It could be a painting or a Photoshopped emulation of one; whatever the medium, it’s nice to see a colorful, painterly poster that’s evocative of an era when handmade illustration was central to film promotion.

Hopefully illustration will come back into vogue in a major way someday soon – the world just looks better with more drawings and paintings in it.

movie poster illustration

Filed Under: Illustration

Happy Birthday to the Device that Changed Everything

June 29, 2015 by Dan Redding Leave a Comment

The first generation iPhone went on sale eight years ago today – on June 29, 2007. The device’s popularity ushered in the mobile universe we live in today. This post is not an “Apple fanboy” rant, but rather an appreciation of all that has changed in the world of technology and communication in the iPhone’s wake. Like it or not, its impact has been tremendous. Here are a few ways the world has changed since 2007:

The Web and Responsive Design

The rise of smartphones (from both Apple and its imitators) presented web developers with a vexing problem: their standard desktop sites were unreadable and unusable on mobile. After a few years of innovation, failure, and debate, Evan Marcotte created responsive design. Responsive design uses CSS media queries to make websites change shape depending on the device and screen size they’re presented on. The web underwent an overhaul for handheld accessibility and immediacy; this was a watershed moment for web design and has forever altered the style and shape of the web (for more info, read my article about the basics of responsive design). One recent symbol of mobile’s impact on the web at large is the ubiquitous ‘hamburger’ menu icon – an icon that was once a mobile mainstay but which has risen to prominence on almost every platform.

While web designers were grappling with responsive design, app developers were learning to exploit mobile-centric behavior and functionality like swiping and geolocation.

Culture & Lifestyle

Your aunt has a dangerous addiction to Candy Crush. There’s an Angry Birds movie on the way, obviously. Last year, app developer Supercell was reportedly raking in an astounding $654,000 a day on its hit game Clash of Clans.

Mobile gaming applications have risen to be a major force in pop culture – but smartphones are used for much more than gaming.

Social media apps like Facebook and Foursquare have changed the way people communicate and socialize. Tinder caused a splash in online dating and created a cultural phenomenon out of ‘swiping left’ (Vogue calls it “the definitive gesture of permanent rejection in the digital age”). Another area of major cultural change is mobile’s impact on ecommerce and the way that people shop. Mobile commerce has experienced exponential growth; so much so that consumers now spend more time shopping on mobile devices than desktops.

Music

The universe of Apple products – including iPhone and iPod – have made some musicians feel that they need to tailor their music to be immediate and digestible. Former Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher was recently interviewed on the podcast You Made It Weird, where he commented on the impact of Apple products on popular music. “Music is now designed for the iPod. Music is designed and written to come out of tiny speakers on iTunes. Music is designed to hit you by the time that [iTunes preview] wheel turns around, so you buy it. The ninety second thing… check it out, modern pop music, it’s all about the ninety seconds – forget three minutes.”

Filed Under: Responsive Design, Web Design

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Magnetic State is a design studio powered by Dan Redding. We create websites, brand identity, and print design. Wanna work together? Send Dan an email.

Featured Articles

These Emojis Have Truly Surprising Cultural Origins

These Emojis Have Truly Surprising Cultural Origins

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Donald Trump Presidential Campaign Logos

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Here’s Why Richard Prince’s Instagram Portraits are Brilliant – and Misunderstood

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14 Weird Logos in the U.S. Trademark Registry

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Culture Creature is the magazine for music fiends. Visit CultureCreature.com!

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