Author: paul@kronerdesign.com

Positively Negative: Part 1

Post author By paul@kronerdesign.com
Post date March 18, 2012
No Comments on Positively Negative: Part 1

I’ve always been a big fan of the conceptual use of negative space in design. Michael Vanderbly’s logo for the California Conservation Center, pictured here to the right, being one of my all-time favorite applications of this design technique. And as witnessed by the number of rip-offs of this that exist, I’m not the only fan of this design slight of hand.

I was recently in the Delta terminal at the Reagan National Airport, enjoying a hot cup of coffee with my wife Lynne and patiently waiting to board our flight back to Boston, when I noticed that the food court was surrounded by a series of posters for the IBM Smarter Planet campaign. Created by Ogilvy Paris, each poster consists of a simple headline set in a slab serif font (Lubalin Graph) with a supporting illustration rendered in a bold and simple graphical style. Each image incorporates a creative and beautifully conceived use of negative space which when combined with the headline creates a smart and memorable poster. What a treat it was to be corralled by this wonderfully executed campaign.

Follow the link below to see a number of these stunning posters and kudos to the designers, writers, and illustrators involved in this project. -PK

Design

Design Democratization

I believe we are in an era of design democratization, where everyone has been empowered with the tools they need to create some well designed out-of-the-box design solutions. Products like WordPress (which this site was created in) or SquareSpace,etc., allow everyone to create a web site in minutes, with a pretty terrific range of design options to choose from. And digital printing is getting better all the time. It is like reliving the advent of the Desktop Publishing, where everyone instantly became a designer.

Design Fine Arts Painting

Tour Guide for the Eye

As a visual communications designer and artist I am interested in the relationship between design and fine arts.

On a recent trip to Italy to study painting and sculpture, I was struck by how much the frescos of the 13th century painter Piero della Francesca and the paintings of Caravaggio relate to the work I do as a designer of marketing communications. I know you’re thinking “too much vino rosso for Paulo,” but hear me out.

These guys were hired guns, charged with communicating (non-verbally I might add) the content of some well-heeled and very influential clients (the Catholic church) who had a specific story to tell about their product (Catholicism) to their target markets (church-going folks). And to do so in some really large spaces, and at times, difficult working conditions.

I admire their work for many reasons, one of which is the strength of the design.

Design Painting

2D or not 2D?

Graphic designers, painters, and others who create on paper or canvas, are said to work in a 2-dimensional world. I’ve never really agreed with that limited view of my craft.

A brochure, a magazine or even an event invitation are all 3-dimensional forms that require the viewer to interact with the piece. They are a sculptural construction that require the same consideration of space and flow as one would expect from a 3D form.

I also think of painting as a 3D form, possibly 4D (if there is such as thing) when you take into consideration the dimensional effects color has on how you view the forms created.

Paint is a solid material that is moved about a canvas in much the same way clay is applied when making a sculpture. The dimensional application of the paint, or mark making, can really influence how one “reads” the painting… how the eye travels across the canvas. Think of the thick application of paint on a Van Gogh painting and the way the sculptural quality of the paint guides your eye around the canvas. Or the brush strokes on a Cezanne masterpiece.

Line, shape, color, texture are the tools 2-dimensional designers/artists work with to create the visual hierarchy, eye tracking, and an emotional connection that transforms a flat surface into a work of art.

-PK

Branding Community

KO2DC!

My 8th grade daughter, Amelia Rose, and her classmates are headed to Washington DC for the bi-annual King Open School 7th and 8th grade trip to the nation’s capital. And like most schools, they are always looking for ways to raise money for the trip. My friend, fellow parent and Cambridge artist, Janet Malenfant, and I decided to host a series of fund-raisers at my favorite Cambridge pub, Atwood’s Tavern, to raise money for the trip. To raise awareness and to create some buzz about our efforts, I created a logo for the trip and branded it as KO2DC. The logo, buttons and posters we created for the event were a big success and we raised over $1,200 dollars towards the cause.

I never get tired of witnessing the positive influence good design has when it comes to these kind of grass root events or bigger company product releases. It is exciting to see other people excited by design and see it move them to action. -PK

KO2DC buttons

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