What comes to your mind when thinking of Holland? Cheese, tulips, windmills, a mind-altering substance being sold in shops where you might find or might not find coffee and ... of course – wooden shoes! I have never had the honour of trying on authentic Dutch clogs. As they probably feel as uncomfortable as they sound, I chose to buy soft „wooden“ shoes at Amsterdam airport a while ago. (What else can you do while waiting for a connection flight ...) So I thought I research a bit on Dutch wooden shoes and here I want to show you some outstanding models. The "Münsterländer Holzklumpen" proove that also Germans have a sense for nice wooden shoes indeed. Some models are really elegant. Seen on bluedelft.com . This model I discovered at putinstyle.com . Don't ask me what this has to do with the Russian president ;-) Seen at eggeller.com . Seen at fiskarscraft.typepad.com/my_weblog . When thinking of wooden shoes, the designer Patricia van Lubeck sets the standards for extraordinary models. My soft clogs from the airport in Amsterdam - convenience meets "taste". #holland #amsterdam #clogs #fashion

Until a few years ago, 3D effects used to be really hip in graphic design. When Microsoft Windows 8 was launched however, a new design trend emerged: flat design. Flat design does not use any 3D effects like shadows, reliefs etc. Everything looks more flat, simpler and a bit „plain“. I personally like flat design a lot. However, this trend has not matched everybody’s taste. Sometimes I had the feeling that people either love flat design or they absolutely hate it. It polarises. Maybe this is one reason why you come across more and more flat designs with shadow effects now. You can see that a long, sharp shadow was added to the 2D design in order to make it look 3D, but in the end it still remains 2D. Maybe this is a new trend, a flat design 2.0? I’m curious how strong flat designs with shadows will become in the future. #flatdesign #icon

The Deutscher Verpackungspreis (German Packaging Prize) 2013 has been awarded. Here, I want to show you some of the winners. ABSOLUT UNIQUE Everybody knows the vodka brand ABSOLUT VODKA. In a very complex procedure, four million unique vodka bottles have been produced, whereas no bottle looks like another one. Different colour layers and patterns have made every bottle unique. The thought of giving every Absolut Vodka consumer an individually designed bottle (with collector’s value?) is outstanding. Submitter: Ardagh MP West France SAS Designer: Family Business Producer: Ardagh Group User: The Absolut Company COMBIDOME For this product, the advantages of cardboard packaging (low weight, easy to recycle, durable) are perfectly combined with the advantages of packaging for a bottle. Everyone who has used the ordinary standard carton, is well aware of the difficulties to try and get the last drops of a favourite drink. This unique, bottle-neck shaped design is the perfect solution. Submitter: SIG International Services GmbH Designer: SIG Combibloc Producer: SIG Combibloc User: riha Wesergold Getränke GmbH & Co. KG ALVERDE NATURKOSMETIK Okay, these packaging designs are not very outstanding. But, organic ingredients and the organic/health aspect play a major (sales) role for alverde Naturkosmetik (natural cosmetics). The cardboard box consists of 80% recycled material, it was printed with mineral oil free, organic offset print colours (only renewable raw materials were used for producing these colours). The CO2 footprint is 76% smaller than with ordinary cardboard boxes. The organic theme was spread over the entire packaging process, which resulted in being awarded. Submitter: Carl Edelmann GmbH Designer: khdesign GmbH Offenbach Producer: Carl Edelmann GmbH User: dm-drogerie markt GmbH & Co. KG CHOCOLÉ These chocolate sticks are fantastically presented thanks to a round can packaging design made of cardboard, it looks very inviting. The high convenience factor brought this innovative, yet simple looking design an award. Submitter: Griesson De Beukelaer GmbH & Co. KG Designer: Griesson De Beukelaer, Van Genechten Packaging Producer: Van Genechten Nicolaus, Köln User: Griesson De Beukelaer RED BULL ILLUME 2013 IMAGE QUEST This packaging design was used for promoting a photo contest for sports and action photography. When opening the box (kept together with a magnet), the word „enlightened“ lights up. At the same time you hear the sound of a flash. This experience takes you directly into the world of photography. Submitter: Karl Knauer KG Designer: zooom production GmbH (Gestalter), Karl Knauer KG (Entwickler) Producer: Karl Knauer KG, Rox Asia Consultancy Ltd. User: Red Bull #packaging

I love reading the German NEON magazine. The Art Directors Jonas Natterer and Ji-Young Ahn conducted an interesting editorial design relaunch that I want to take a closer look at in this blog post. The new cover page (bottom picture) shows a much more sharp-edged font. The old NEON font (top picture) looks a bit frumpy and bulky. The main topics are now formatted as axial justification (centered). The old NEON showed the main topics as left-aligned, one-lined paragraphs. You’ll come across axial justification (centered text) quite often within the new editorial design. The topics in the table of contents are centered (they used to be left-aligned as you can see on the top picture). In addition to that, red colour is used here and there for smartly steering the reader through the table of contents. The category "Nur eine Frage" (only one question) presents comments of Neon.de users. The old design (top picture) comes with a rigid, straight grid. The new design (bottom picture) reflects the design of modern social media channels like Google+ and Pinterest that does not have rigid grids on purpose. The new editorial design looks like social media channels the readership likes spending time on. The "Deutsche Geschichten" (German stories) have been pressed into a slim shape that is, however, still pleasant to read for the human eye. Also here, you see the Art Directors’ love for axial justification. Another repeating design element is the CTA - Call to Action. Red speech bubbles invite readers to become active in sharing their opinion etc. The headers in the new editorial design (bottom picture) look less plump as they are less spaced out and have upper and lower case letters. And – surprise, surprise – you see centered text again (old design: left-aligned, see top picture). Another newness are bent headers that look funny and edgy and are not too dominant. Opening pages for categories have been completely renewed. The new design (bottom picture) focuses on three big topics instead of listing all topics of the category like in the old design (top picture). A sharp-edged font gives the page the perfect oomph. The page number stands on its own now (bottom picture). Thus, the page makes a more solid, grounded, stronger impression than before. A clear structure instead of too much knick-knack: The redundant hyphen between page number and category has been banned. Headers and lead texts are now more modern and slightly remind of the design on mobile devices such as iPad etc. Old (top picture): left-aligned text, several text hierarchies and serif fonts gave the header and the lead text seriousity and a journalistic news feeling. New (bottom picture): Axial justification, no text hierarchies, clearer and sharper-edged font. All that creates a modern feeling that matches the NEON readership perfectly. A small font without serifs and a glass in 2D rather than 3D give the category "NEON testet die Parteien" (NEON tests political parties) a fresh oomph towards modernity. As a graphic designer dealing with editorial designs on a regular basis, I have to say that that new editorial design of NEON triggers the target group much better than with the old design. The only negative thing that I have to point out however, is the fact that the paper quality is still not very good. The opacity is still bad. Pictures slightly shine through the paper which increases the grey tone of text, furthermore this makes text more difficult to read. Paper with higher density would have looked more inviting and would make reading much more pleasant and enjoyable. But maybe the Art Directors of NEON think of that in the course of the next editorial design relaunch. #editorialdesign #desktoppublishing #magazine

The Lewa Marathon 2011 in Kenya gained photographer Marietta D'Erlanger international recognition. She took this photo and won the Judges' Choice Prize in the course of the Association of Photographers Open Awards 2012. http://www.mariettaderlanger.com/ #kenya #photography

National Geographic is one of the top magazines worldwide. The issue "50 of the world’s last great places – destinations of a lifetime" features some fantastic editorial design elements that I would like to show you here. Double pages opening categories live from the pictures of course. The category names ("temperate", "arid" etc.) are placed into the picture in a matching colour with light transparency. The category intros I find very interesting too. The first word (or only a part of it!) catches the reader’s attention, the lead copy follows in a black, bold font with only a small line spacing. Transparency is also used for info boxes which makes them look elegant and does not affect the background picture’s dominance. The design team used only sans serif fonts in this magazine. That might have the following reasons: - The focus clearly lies on the pictures which is why the font has to be as simple and clear as possible. Serifs would give the text too much importance. - There is not too much text which is why the human eye does not need any help or support for the reading flow (what is normally achieved by serifs). The line spacing is quite big (apart from the intros), so the readability is improved in this aspect. - It is an American magazine. In the Anglo-American area, serifs are not as widely used as in continental Europe. This magazine truly is a masterpiece of photography and editorial design. You can order it here . #editorialdesign #photography

I’m a graphic designer. That means, I get paid for creating something visual that is effective for people or companies (boosting sales for instance). When thinking of corporate design projects that shall companies give a new face or appearance, I encounter one phenomenon – the fear of change. What happens? The concept of the corporate design as well as colours, typography and a few logo drafts are there. The client signs off on a logo draft and is happy with it. The rest of the corporate design (secondary style elements, principle of arrangement, maybe a manual) are in the works and all of a sudden it happens: Out of nowhere the client says „no, no, stop everything, it doesn’t work like that, it has to be different somehow“. Every client gets into that phase at one point in the course of developing a corporate design. I call this the fear of change effect. The client may be open-minded, young, old or whatever, that phenomenon just comes up. This phase is mostly very short, but intense. Why does that happen? I guess, it has to do with the fundamental fear of change in all of us. New things are initially always bad because you have to invest time and energy to get used to them, you don’t know what to expect maybe. And nothing is as difficult to get rid of as old habits or the habit of an old (even though bad) design. What can you do, if a satisfied client panics all of a sudden? I take the client’s hand and explain the concept again (even though we had already talked it through and it was agreed on). Then, everything is okay again, the client relaxes and knows „oh yes, that’s how it’s supposed to be“. So the client needs another confirmation that he really wants a new corporate design. #change

I want to give you some impressions of my Morocco holiday here in my blog. a lake in the Atlas mountains of Morocco green tea, anise stars, coriander seeds, cardamom seeds, Berber tea, peppermint tea and lemon grass tea the Strait of Gibraltar The beach of Agadir is probably the most beautiful beach of the country. The motto of Marocco: God, fatherland, king #morocco #holiday

If you look at Facebook, Youtube and Google+, you’ll find out that different profiles almost look the same at first sight. Several design relaunches in the past two years impaired the branding possibilities. Youtube, Facebook and Google+ only offer a banner picture for being in line with the corporate design. Only Twitter still offers individual, big picture backgrounds. Speaking from a graphic designer’s point of view, I find the decrease of branding possibilities and individual designs in social networks sad of course. However, you have to see social media as something as it is: a network to communicate. It is about content. Of course, hashtags (#) are very useful for that, Twitter used to be the only social network to have hashtags. Now, also Google+ and Facebook feature hashtags. But branding is not limited to the visual appearance (corporate design) only. Branding also means that you have a certain way to communicate – I’m speaking of corporate language and corporate behaviour here. How do you deal with client feedback (positive and negative!)? How do you address your followers/fans (formal or informal language)? What do you post? What language do you use (dialect, way of saying things)? All that has a lot to do with branding. So: Branding goes from the visual to the content more and more in social networks. More quality content and active communication with and among the followers/fans is the key. Happy networking! #socialmedia #branding

Today I show you part two of my (current) 24 favourite fonts that I picked from my font "stock" of 1300 fonts altogether. I ordered the fonts alphabetically, not by my personal taste. DANIEL (Great handwriting, good readability and supports fast reading.): ENRIQUETA (Very good readability, a bit edgy but still timeless.): GEARED SLAB (A high grey level but great for headers, short text, quotes etc.): HEADLINER NO. 45 (Rough, strong, loud, a real eye-catcher, also suitable for Vintage projects.): MAGESTA SCRIPT MIX (Mysterious, suitable for Vintage projects.): MARLON BOOK DB (Very good readability due to high minuscules.): METROPOLIS 1920 (A font that I have seen quite often lately. Used with care, it looks elegant especially with 2-coloured projects.): MISSION SCRIPT (Clear, strong, great handwriting.): Example: I used Mission Script as an eye-catching design element in an online advertising campaign for a newsletter as well as a landing page. MOSAIC LEAF (Goes well with nature themes on big billboards.): PEA CARRIE SCRIPT (Very good for food packagings – natural, healthy products. The minuscule height in relation to the majuscule height is interesting here.): PUPCAT (Minuscules and majuscules have almost the same height what creates an interesting effect.): Example: I used Pupcat for an exclusive olive oil packaging to support the nature theme. SAHARA (The shadow creates a 3D effect, great for headers, a good choice for Vintage projects.): #typography #font

A font should transport information in a beautiful way that is easy on the human eye. I have picked my (current) 24 favourite fonts out of my font "stock", which is comprised of about 1300 fonts. Today you see part one, next week you’ll see part two. I have ordered the fonts alphabetically, not by my personal taste. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Elegant, reminds of the good old days.): Example: Abraham Lincoln served as a basis font for the logo of a fictive luxury food brand named Little Luxury. (Distinctive characters have been made even stronger.) AFTA SERIF (Good readability, slightly playful, the serifs are a matter of taste though. The k-minuscule is an eye-catcher, the double O-minuscule however looks a bit strange. The kerning could be better.): AGRAFA (Timeless, elegant, technical, transmits precision, only suitable as a dark font on a light background.): ALEGREYA AND ALEGREYA SC (Elegant, reminds of handmade things, i.e. in the food industry.): Example: I used Alegreya SC for an exclusive olive oil packaging. ANGILLA TATTOO (Great handwriting, suits the Vintage look.): BILLIE BOB (Hard, rough, but still offers a good readability.): BODONITOWN (Fantastic readability, elegant, timeless.): BOMBARDIER (A great handwriting, good readability, strong but still good looking, great for technical purposes.): Example: I used Bombardier for the headers in an infographic on commercial vehicles. BRAWLER (Good readability, but still edgy and hip.): CAMBO (Good readability, optimistic and happy font.): CHAPARREL PRO (Very good readability, transports a feeling of being grounded, offers a pleasant reading flow.): Example: I used Chaparrel Pro as the main font for a test editorial design. CODE LIGHT AND CODE BOLD (Looks great in combination, strong, elegant, the I-serifs are a bit too heavy maybe.): Example: I used Code light and Code bold for the corporate design of Randall Records. #typography #font

When Indesign CS5 (and shortly after that, Indesign CS5.5) came out, many advertising agencies jumped at it. "You can create App magazines with that, great! Let’s get the new Indesign!" Something like that may have been the motto. Companies hoped to jump on the App hype train and get their piece of the market share. However, there are massive regional differences as regards to the daily usage, as well as the acceptance of tablet PCs. Many advertising agencies here (Austria) have invested a lot of money in updating their Indesign licenses. And if you have an Adobe program, you know how costly such a software license can be – especially when you multiply it with the number of employees, It all sums up! When the hoped-for App magazine boom hit the big consumer publications (but neither hit middle-sized magazines nor specialist magazines), the disappointment among many advertising agencies was big. As an alternative, there is now the Adobe Creative Cloud. It gives you an update to the latest version of various Adobe programs without extra payment. However, you have to pay a subscription fee. You can either go for an annual or a monthly subscription plan. A monthly subscription fee of USD 49.99 per user is not cheap, especially for companies with many employees. Adobe try to at least contribute to eliminating software piracy, I guess. Time will show if that works out. I have been working with Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator CS4 and have always been quite happy with that. But I was curious how the Adobe Creative Cloud would work for me, so I subscribed for the 30 day free trial. I have thoroughly tested Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign CS6 and I have to say that there really are some very useful new features. My favourite new features are the improved ways of generating patterns in Illustrator, the new blur effects and the new cropping tool in Photoshop, plus of course the numerous animation and App functions in Indesign CS6, combined with the DPS (Digital Publishing Suite). The question now is: are those new features really worth the price of a regular, costy software updates outside of the cloud? No. Besides that, I have to say that only the Single Edition of the DPS is included in the Adobe Creative Cloud! The Single Edition only allows you to publish one magazine onto the iPad. That is it. If you want to offer more magazines within one App and/or offer the App for more devices (iPhone, iPod Touch, Kindle, Android ...) you have to subscribe to the DPS Professional Edition, which costs you USD 495 per month. Well, this investment has to be thought through carefully. Companies that produce many monthly App magazines work with the DPS Professional Edition and the license really pays off for them. When the demand for App magazines grows more and more in Austria, this software license will pay off for advertising agencies here too one day. #indesign #ipad