Paul Rand on design

Oh how I drool at Paul Rand's sense of colour and turn of phrase.
I would like his scissors.

Getting niched in the customer's mind

Creative ---->
adj.

1. Having the ability or power to create: Human beings are creative animals.
2. Productive; creating.
3. Characterized by originality and expressiveness; imaginative: creative writing.

n. One who displays productive originality: the creatives in the advertising department.
<---

OK, now it says that all humans are creative. That doesn't niche us very well then.
The other words attributed to it that we like are; expressive and imaginative.

More often than not, we are these things. Even so - most people and companies are expressive. Even a potato is expressive.
That leaves imaginative. we also like the word'animals'. It sounds more exciting to be imaginative animals.

While this describes how we see ourselves, it's not much use to our customers. We need to ask ourselves 'what's going on outside the marketplace rather than what's going on inside'.
'What business are we in?'
OK, in the mind of our target market - being primarily corporate marketing people who have worked with design firms before. We are a multidisciplinary design studio.
That might be too broad. To be properly niched we need to be specific and it might be wise to narrow it down even more.

Girling Design
id, print and web design by imaginative animals

The animals part adds a great point of difference. It makes me think of an interview with Steve Jobbs about Paul Rand and how he describes Paul Rands business methods. He calls his methods as having a clarity within the business relationship which is refreshing.



But more than anything, getting niched is also about associating your own business ideals with attributes that you aspire to having.

Second guessing creative briefs

I read an article from a marketing person recently. They are involved in the creative industry and the article was about briefing a creative.
The take-out from the article was important from both the client and the creative expert perspective. It was that the client needs to be specific about what they want.
After reading that article I could not help but to test that theory. After some further consideration I have found that the statement, 'be specific' is not specific enough.

What if a client doesn't actually know what they need? This is likely the case when they approach a professional design studio for assistance in the first place.
Should a new prospect know what they need and exactly the way they want it presented, then they should really go to a finished artist or desktop publisher to obtain the communication item.
In theory, if we went with the original sentiment about the client being specific, then the designer wouldn't be the best person for the job. This idea has cycled about my little mind for some time and I have some conclusions after further consideration.
The client still needs to be specific - but they need to be specific about the areas where they are not sure how to proceed as well as where they are sure how they want to proceed.
If the client would like the designer to solve the challenge from A - Z - then they also need to be specific about that request.

Conceptual: Product design - one-push pizza cutter

Push down and cut your pizza with one downward movement. Cut into eight slices fast. When positioned in the middle of the pizza, all portions are cut equally. Best suited for pizza shops with lots of quick orders. The arms holding the blades are flexible springs. Depending on the materials and spring direction, the flexible spring may assist in the downward pressure when the arms spread apart. The central arm serves a dual purpose: it acts as a stationary stabilising element and as the initial central 8 way dividing cut. The round blade wheels then spray outwards from the middle to continue to cut the pizza into 8 slices in one downward push. The central arm moves up the handle as the arms flex away from the centre. COncept design: ©Copyright Nicholas Girling 2009 All Rights Reserved.

Rainwater tank signage. A clear compact sign

Have you ever noticed the big ugly tank water signs in peoples front gardens.
I did and really didn't like the look of them. The reason for that is that they completely detract from the garden itself. You end up basically looking at the sign and miss the garden all together.

Girling Design has created a small range of versatile screw on signs and adhesive labels to bring the focus back to the garden.

For one - our signs are smaller but clearly marked.










Our focus is on manufacturing simple, professional and visible tank water signage to compliment attractive tank watered gardens."
Now available in the shop

Art and illustration a success

After several years of working on the illustrative side of Girling Design, we have presented our work in their own spaces.
Printspace and Otispepper have their own blog environments and share consistencies of layout. Our work is kept separate within the blogs and the etsy stores to enable a clearer snapshot of style. Both brands are are the brainchild of both Mara and Nicholas Girling.
Click here to learn more.

Introducing Bandfinder

Designed by Girling Design - bandfinder has been specifically designed to rock.
bandfinder is a publicity tool for bands and venues. As long as each are members, they can publicise their gig on the home page and on their own profile pages.
A CMS was custom developed to manage new members and their performances. The site also allows different groups to login and edit their own content.
Venues can request bands and bands can confirm requests from venues via the member admin areas of the site.
During the beta testing for this site, it's free advertising. If you know of a band in Melbourne Australia - they need to become part of the community. Best thing would be to lock-in their name.