This month, HOW and Print magazines submitted designs to benefit EPIC, a Chicago-based nonprofit dedicated to inspiring social change by helping other local nonprofits find advertising and design professionals who will volunteer to do pro-bono design work for the nonprofit’s cause. The HOW cards are based on the theme HOW Clever, and each card features a fun saying like “How you like me now?” or “How may I help you?” Print’s cards fall under the Letter Love theme and include red, white and black letters. This ode to typography is available in the whole alphabet or just a few letters such as your initials or a favorite word.

The cards launched June 12 and are available for purchase from The Luxe Project. To benefit EPIC, all purchases must be made by July 12.

Have you created a logo that would put all these designs to shame? If so, we want to see it! Submit it to the HOW Logo Design Awards by July 1.

The post HOW and Print Design Business Cards for EPIC Nonprofit appeared first on HOW Design.

OpenBrand.com is a website that allows designers to upload and send work to clients. While the basic program is free and allows you to “up to 5 users and 25 designs or other creative items,” there are low-cost packages for everyone from start-ups to established design firms. Whether you are sending a logo, website or t-shirt design, templates make showing off the finished product easy. Source files are available in one place, and collaboration is easy in the cloud.

To find out more about if this service is right for you and your creative team, watch the video below.

OpenBrand Delivery Service & Live Comps from OpenBrand on Vimeo.

Did you design a logo that puts the Bruce Wayne business card to shame? Consider entering it in the HOW Logo Design Awards. The deadline is July 1, so submit your work today.

The post OpenBrand Helps Creatives Share Design Work appeared first on HOW Design.

“Navitor Design Works™ Studio featuring Turnstone Furniture” – from Navitor website

Navitor, and their partner CoCo Coworking Space also offer the Design Works Studio program for independent graphic designers in Minneapolis-St. Paul locations.George McGowan, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Technology for Navitor explains their excitement about the workspace:

Our goal is to go above and beyond what you expect from us as your commercial print supplier and we’re excited to meet the designers attending HOW Design Live and talk more about how we can support them and help them grow their business.

We’re also happy to announce Navitor’s sponsorship of the Creative Freelancer and Dieline Conferences.

And to give you yet another heads up, Navitor will make a special announcement at HOW Design Live about their new program that will support  independent graphic designers’ business growth. Be sure to catch that!

Are you a business-minded independent designer? Then you’ll love “Success By Design.” This great resource and other books are currently on sale until June 18th, so don’t hesitate to get a copy today!

The post Navitor Sponsors HOW Design Live & Hosts Innovative Workspace appeared first on HOW Design.

While Polaroid cameras and analog film may seem to be a thing of the past, there are at least 25 people hellbent on keeping the technology alive. Those people are the employees behind The Impossible Project. Impossible is comprised of 10 former Polaroid employees and 15 others, all of whom work in the factory in Enschede, The Netherlands. Born in 2008, three founders—Dr. Florian Kaps, André Bosman and Christian Lutz—opted not to accept that analog instant photography was a dying art and saved the Polaroid production plant.

Since then, The Impossible Project has saved more than 300 million functioning Polaroid cameras from becoming obsolete by introducing various new and unique instant films. Through Impossible’s website, photographers can purchase cameras, film, accessories and more. If you want to share “the vintage beauty of analog film” with your friends and family members, consider the Impossible Spectrum Collection of 100 Instant Film Postcards. From cats and roses to telephones and feet, the cards illustrate a lovely range of color and possibilities.

Have you used vintage photography as part of an in-house design project? If so, consider entering it in the In-HOWse Design Awards & Competition. The deadline has been extended to July 1, so you still have time to submit your work.

The post Photography, Postcards and the Impossible Project appeared first on HOW Design.

  photo from Shutterstock

Outside of designers’ dreams, you cannot simply type in a series of numbers and instantaneously reduce the size of your ecological footprint. Fortunately, you can implement some pretty easy practices to reduce your business’s impact on the environment and simultaneously help your bottom line. Here are some tips to help your business go green and save some green – just not the CMYK kind.

1. Turn off the lights, or anything with a plug really

We’ve all heard this advice before, and it remains one of the easiest, most effective practices to reduce energy consumption. So do as your parents taught you: When you leave the office, turn off the light, shut down the computer, unplug your printer and switch off your photocopier. Basically, shut off, turn off or unplug anything with a plug.

2. Never let the water run

Another simple, yet effective tip. When you aren’t using the water in the kitchen, turn that faucet off. This applies to leaks as well. The faster you locate and repair water leaks, the less water you use and the more money you save. You may also want to consider investing in a water meter, so your business can monitor water consumption and continue to make smart, eco-friendly choices.

3. Think before you print

This tidbit is especially important for writers, editors and designers working on publications or other print-heavy projects. Resist the allure of that flashing “print” button and consider if you really need a hard copy of the document at hand. Could it be emailed or presented onscreen instead?  Put those iPads you expensed to use!

4. Skype, Facetime, whatever you want to call it

No, not your fourth grade pen pal from Hungary. Use telecommunication software like Skype to reduce your need for travel, and consequently, your CO2 emissions. If you need to meet with a client or customer suggest this virtual option. It will likely save you both time and money, and you can rest easy at night knowing you weren’t on that $400, gas-guzzling flight to Cleveland.

5. Use recycled paper

All that paper you’re throwing into your office’s recycling bin will be remade into a new product – a new product you should use. Buy recycled paper to ensure that the paper you recycle fulfills its function and ceases to be waste. More recycled paper means more trees. More trees mean less CO2. Less CO2 means a healthier environment. Captain Planet would use recycled paper. You should too.

Find more in-depth tips and step-by-step strategies to reduce your business’s ecological footprint in “The Green Design and Print Production Handbook.”

The post 5 Tips to Go Green (No, Not the Color) appeared first on HOW Design.

Here’s what Yu had to say about the interactive design work:

The opening sequence is aimed at kids, so we chose to use classic imagery that would resonate with them—a magician, monkeys, a circus elephant in a tutu, acrobats and witches. We created a 3D wonderland with visuals drawn from the imaginative world Sam created, but reinterpreted them so as not to simply mimic the story. We want to prime the audience for the adventure, but not give it away.

We wanted the art work to look authentic and have a hand-painted quality to it, so all of the individual elements were created with that in mind. Everything has a sense of physical reality and gravity to it—objects don’t float or fly in—they are always supported by something tangible. Plus, all of the imagery makes reference to the story and the character. Our typography was inspired by look of early circus posters and silent film titles.

Do you have an equally cool interactive design that was used for an in-house project? Enter it into the In-HOWse Design Awards & Competition. The deadline has been extended to July 1, so there’s still time.

The post yU+co Designs Interactive Sequence for Oz Movie appeared first on HOW Design.

I appropriated this great image from Adri, our brilliant social media manager for HOW Design Live! There’s still time to register.

The post What is Keming? appeared first on HOW Design.

Page from the Holly Hunt catalog printed on Sappi’s Opus paper .

Projects reach their greatest potential when all contributing members challenge each other to go further and create beyond their current abilities.

To achieve the elegant design of Holly Hunt’s latest furniture design publication, the dynamic working relationship between designer and photographer as well as printer and paper was essential. Holly’s long-time friend and respected designer, Rick Valicenti, and world-renowned photographer, Tom Vack talk about the project:

It’s interesting how you all had close ties with Holly somehow before this project. Could you please share a little background on how you collaborated in the design process?

Tom: Rick was the leader on the rapport with Holly in the beginning, but as we began to work, Holly reviewed and interfaced with us to give direction and her point of view along with the assistance of Curt Kendall. I have in my 25 years in Europe, worked with designers, such as Starck, Michele de Lucchi, Ron Arad and Ingo Maurer, and furniture and lighting company owners such as Flos, Magis, and Driade. They are always particular as to their point of view and while respectful of your point of view (or they would not have chosen you) you must think and emote in a collaborative or harmonious interface. In this case, we had a trio of tastes to blend.

Rick: On many occasions, Holly discussed with us how to move the level of her collection branding from promotional to keepsake quality. The new collection offers the perfect opportunity to make a bold gesture and reposition the Holly Hunt collection firmly in the Luxe strata.

The catalog’s futuristic design seems to transform the furnishings into objects d’art with very little text. Was this your intention for the art direction?

Tom: That was, of course, Rick’s concept. He wanted to give a new interpretation to Holly’s new interpretation of her collection. It began with the title, Things are New Again, which arose during our first meeting to discuss a direction for the book with Holly.

Rick: This tagline, Things are New Again, became a mantra during our planning and photo sessions. The aliens have landed and they are beautiful.

Page from the Opus book

When photographing the collection, how did you use lighting to create geometric shapes ‘between light and shadow’ that are evocative?

Tom: I have been working with light as a medium of background and foreground since I began working as a design photographer. I have constantly experimented with light installations as a means to create an environment or theatrical setting for objects of design. This book for me is a continuation of that search augmented to blend with the collaboration with Rick and Holly.

Rick: It should be mentioned that many of the images are actually combinations of many images, each illuminating with a slightly different lighting direction. Once layered in post-production, this created geometric patterns of light and shadow.

As a large format catalog, the piece has a strong presence in person, not only because of the size, but because of the unique pearlescent inks and satin finishes. How did the beauty of ink on high-quality paper convey the feeling of luxury?

Tom: Luxury is certainly a key word in the vocabulary of this piece. It is the luxury of materials. Holly’s collection is one of precious, sumptuous, and harmoniously finished materials. Part of Rick’s mastery of book making is the choice of papers and printing technique. Sappi’s paper and Classic Color’s printing was the equivalent of the bronze, fine wood, leather and impeccable details that Holly puts into the crafting of her work. That’s what makes it representative of her.

Rick: Classic Color’s 8-color press with the UV coatings has provided us a vast collection of finishes to draw upon and align with various images. Our favorite experience came late one night when the reverse negative image of the long sofa received an aura of gold sparkles. While it was easy to conceive the effect, it was one of those on-press moments where once the gold sparkles were added to the UV coating there was no turning back as the press was running some 3000-5000 impressions an hour.

The catalog is printed on Sappi’s Opus paper. Custom Opus cover.

Don’t forget to get the July issue of HOW, the interactive design and typography issue.

The post Photographer & Designer Discuss New Furniture Design Publication appeared first on HOW Design.

Want to create a similar typography design. Start with the Mastering Type book from MyDesignShop.com.

The post Tuesday Type Treat: HWT Geometric (A Serif Font) appeared first on HOW Design.

“Important Work” by Bob and Roberta Smith

From artists taking a look at “the malleability of language” to re-purposing other texts to combining text and images to explore personal moments or emotions (such as the “Important Work” piece above), One Hundred Forty Characters includes many different theoretical approaches to text and image.

For example, Christine Hill takes famous motivational quotes and repaints them as retro grocery shop signs; Eleanor Antin takes a look at how modern society uses classification by categorizing modern women with library classification systems; and Nancy Chun combines cartoon-inspired imagery and phrases that call upon modern technology and ancient pictograph languages to create some interesting subject matter.

The exhibition, as described by the Ronald Feldman Fine Arts:

In our instinctual effort to communicate with other human beings, we call upon both imagery and language to convey everything from our simplest animal needs to the most intricate complexities of the human psyche. Where one falls short, the other compensates. Though the platforms for communication have expanded in tandem with our technological advancements, the urge to relay an age-old content remains unchanged.

Christine Hill, “Life Can Be Only Understood”

One Hundred Forty Characters may have you feeling inspired to see what you can do with, well, 140 characters (perhaps, beyond a witty tweet).

Don’t forget to show off your work by entering your logo designs in the HOW Logo Design Awards by July 1st!

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