What would we call ourselves? Designers? Would we maybe take it a step further perhaps? Maybe we’re Creative Thinkers, or even Creative Problem Solvers? How about Visionaries? It’s probably safe to assume that it doesn’t say Professional Crybabies anywhere on our business cards, is this correct?

So why is it that so many of us spent the majority of the past week crying out over the new Gap logo, allotting time to work on creating alternative designs rather than the work we get paid to do, or work that could actually be of service to someone else? Did we honestly think that contributing our own concepts to various blogs and websites, creating—and communicating with—a fake Twitter account for the new logo (which is almost always stupid by the way), and venting about it on our blogs would bring about serious action on Gap’s part?

What’s that? Oh, Gap has reverted to their previous logo? Congratulations, we still wasted our time because we don’t shop at Gap based on the quality of the logo. We shop at Gap because of the clothing. We shop at Gap because there’s usually a gigantic photo of John Krasinski wearing a scarf plastered on the storefront window, not because of the typography on—or the lack of shapes on—the bag.

It’s wholly understandable that as designers, we’re biased in thinking that a logo is the most important element of a brand. Though it might come as a harsh realization to most that a logo is worthless without a solid business model and a solid product or service behind it. Apple is immediately recognizable for their logo. However, we aren’t buying the logo, we’re buying what the logo stands for (usually an incredibly powerful and intuitive device). And yes, the two are mutually exclusive. Just like we buy BMWs because we know that BMW has a reputation for making automobiles of exceptional quality, not because the blue and white roundel represents a set of airplane propellers as well as the colors of the Bavarian flag. We watch CBS because we’re infatuated with Charlie Sheen, the AFC, and crime scene investigations set in a variety of exotic locations, not because of what we designers consider to be one of the greatest icons in this history of visual communication.

We are human. We can be conditioned.

We don’t shop at Target because of their product lineup. Walmart offers the same products, and often for less. We shop at Target because the stores are usually cleaner and the majority of the employees speak English as their primary language. And yet the Target logo has nothing to do with any of this. Apple could rebrand themselves with a new logo tomorrow and we would still buy iPhones and iMacs and iPods and iTVs and we would still use iTunes even with its admittedly poor new icon. And yes, Steve Jobs was absolutely right to disagree with whoever it was that sent him an email lamenting about the new iTunes icon.

We will come to accept it. In fact, we already have.

To put things in perspective, let’s consider a hypothetical situation. What if the Gap logos were switched? Meaning, what if the New Logo was implemented years ago, and the Old Logo was recently introduced as the latest rebrand? We can attempt to defend ourselves as much as we want, but the simple truth is that there would have been an equally volatile uprising as the one we’ve witnessed this past week. We would have poured our emotions onto the proverbial table, longing for a return to the strong and sturdy typographic implementation of Helvetica, and the small blue square located in the upper-right corner that seems to imply that Gap offers products with a quality of a particular degree.

But we’re afraid of the unknown, aren’t we?

It’s natural to be opposed to change. We often develop deep emotional bonds that, when broken, are feared too weak to be fully repaired. But we’re prone to forget that all wounds heal with time, and they often heal stronger. We need to learn to embrace the unfamiliar as we would the familiar. We need to be as outgoing and welcoming and honest toward that weird snaggletoothed cousin we’ve never seen before as we would with our own brothers and sisters, even though it might not be easy to let our guard down so immediately with someone our parents have only recently told us about.

We need to accept that brands are living, breathing creatures. And like all living things, they must eventually die. And we must accept that when one thing ends, another begins. It’s often sad saying goodbye to something so fond and so close to our hearts. But what does it say about us as a community, as an industry, and—perhaps most importantly—as human beings, when we are so quick to reject an idea?

Life as we know it will eventually cease to exist, but out of that tragedy a new life form will emerge. And it will be as flawed, and as beautiful as the one before it.

But seriously, Helvetica?

The studio works primarily in print and packaging; their portfolio consists of magazine spreads, business cards, letterheads, promotional items.

Interaction and Collaboration

Inksie assembles creatives from different mediums in one place for interaction and collaboration. We aim to open minds and build on old and new ideas alike. It’s a reliable place for honest critique, opinions and discussion.

Growth by Inspiration

We foster an appreciation for design and its expressive qualities. To this end, we operate The Inksie Journal of Design & Culture, where we interview highly regarded professionals and feature exceptional artists. Through visual and conceptual content we aim to grow.

Print Production and Distribution

Inksie engages artists and the public alike in the medium of print. We believe that it is a powerful, communicative platform. We exercises the medium’s strengths through distributing original works of printed art and design to the public.

Conducive to Creativity

We’re fans of a good challenge and growth as a consequence of it. We’ve structured Inksie with that in mind, with a community that not only fosters creative culture, but drives for progress.

About the Campaign

As you may have seen, Inksie released a new set of icons on the Fusion Ad Network as a part of a new advertising campaign. These icons represent everything that we are as a company. There is reasoning behind each one of the enigmatic shapes, please take some time to read about our thoughts and process behind the set.

To advertise, or to not advertise? This question became a long process as we are highly skeptical of advertising ourselves. We finally came to the conclusion that this was a necessary step in expanding our brand image and audience. Upon making the decision, we decided we would like to showcase our brand in a non-traditional manner – with the use of icons. We wanted to catch people’s attention with stylistically cohesive and visually compelling set of shapes.

In the initial steps of the process, we analyzed how we ourselves view advertising on a daily basis. We found that users have evolved and adjusted to the static and tasteless nature of advertising on the web. It has become second nature to mentally block out flashing banners and the all-too-familiar voice announcing that, you, are the millionth site visitor and are entitled to a billion dollar shopping spree. For the most part, modern-day advertising has become a tasteless, stagnant, and sometimes irritating experience.

The icon set started with Interaction and Collaboration. The logo needed to be a hierarchical image that conveyed smooth transitions instead of definitive beginning and ending points. This evolved into the bold sets of curving lines flowing into one, central point. As soon as the icon was created, the set’s aesthetic found its footing. The imagery found in all of the other shapes followed the three stripe pattern to create Growth by Inspiration, Print Production and Distribution and Conducive to Creativity.

The Euro icon, released on December 12, 1996, is the most recently designed symbol for a currency. The Euro character was the final selection out of ten other symbols presented to the general public. Its shape derives from the Greek epsilon (ε), and the “C” character, which references the cradle of European civilization . The two horizontal lines have been attributed to the stability of the European market. Before the symbol was created, the European Commision (EC) listed four criterion for the design:

It should be a highly recognisable symbol of Europe. It should have a visual link with existing well-known currency symbols. It should be aesthetically pleasing and easy to write by hand.

The EC showed an immense amount of pride in releasing this new symbol, although not all received it with such enthusiasm. British typographer James Souttar highlighted neglected considerations on the symbol’s day of release:

…What interested me most was that the designer(?s) has treated it as a logotype — to appear in one set style only. This seems to be in flagrant disregard of previous currency symbols, which are interpreted according to the font. It is also hard to discern which characteristics are essential, and which contingent, so that it might be adapted. As it is presently constructed, it would look truly abysmal fronting up a set of figures in any seriffed type. But the quirky finials mean that it will also look odd with sans — even monoline sans like Futura would be set off uncomfortably. And there is also no indication of how it could be modulated for weight — so it raises the spectre of incompatibility not only by style but also by density.

Souttar raised relevant and interesting points concerning the properties of the symbol. This controversy began to grow when the EC considered patenting the Euro sign. This would have made it the first-ever patented currency symbol. Fortunately, this never went through and was left as-is.

Many font designs have their own distinctive variations and interpretations of how the Euro fits into their character sets. Some font designers have chosen to not manipulate it and leave the original symbol untouched. It is such a widely used symbol that almost all fonts include it within their glyph sets.

The designer of the symbol remains a mystery to this day. The EC has not revealed its team of four designers behind the symbol for unknown reasons. Alain Billiet contentiously claims he created the symbol before the EC’s team version. No official conclusion has been reached as of yet.

Fabien Barral is known for uniquely textured work that is layered and colorful. He is also the creative mind behind Graphic-Exchange, a premier source of design inspiration. The Journal had the opportunity to interview Mr Barral. Here is what we asked him:

How did you get started in design and graphics?

School was not my cup of tea, and I always feel stupid learning things I don’t care for. At the end of my regular school courses, there was a forum to present working life to young, unprepared people. I saw this amazing school where you can design magazines and CD sleeves. That’s a job? Good … I get into it, I love it and I never stop. It wasn’t so long ago – 12 years ago – but, believe it or not, it was a time without internet and Photoshop layers!

What inspires you? Who do you look to for visual inspiration?

I am that kind of designer that needs to eat thousands and thousands of images before going into the creative phase. Most of the time I do mood-boards of what I love and can feature on the project, and when I am not on the computer – driving, walking in the street – images and concepts come to my mind. I don’t really know how, but it happens. Sincerely, it also happens when i fall asleep: not when i sleep, when i fall asleep. This curious moment where you are not awake but not gone enough to not remember…

Also, I remember reading a Michael Stipe interview (REM lead singer). He said that when he started to record a new album he needed to listen to the old one to be sure he can do it again. I feel the same, I need to have an updated portfolio to check what I have done to make me feel confident. The creative phase is always difficult and full of doubts; I hate this feeling.

The words Creation, Emotion and Inspiration occur repeatedly throughout your work. Why do you use these words?

Because they sum up the creative project as a circle. When you feel a positive emotion, by seeing an image for example, it inspires you. When you feel inspired you can create, and your creation can give an emotion to someone, who will be inspired and create again and again.

Also, it is important to know you can be creative in everything, not only in design. You can be creative with cooking, in giving a gift to your wife when she does not expect it, etc.

What are your favorite typefaces to use?

I have a lot. I get the question every 3 days. My definitive favorite is Disturbance, the one in my logo, and you can get it on FontShop.

Your work is very inky, very splattered. What is your typical process? How much of this is digital?

My wife is also a painter, and she is the best for inky things. When I have something in mind, I simply tell her and she does amazing stuff that I can scan and integrate in my work.

Many of your posters and wall stickers have design statements and design mottos. How do you come up with them?

I always like these short sentences that tell you a simple thing, but you never put it in these words. Over the years I have noticed a lot of them, and, as I am a designer, of course, particularly ones related to design. I won’t come back to each, especially because I have no idea where I read them first, but some have a nice story :

The best designers are the ones who find good clients.

It is the most important for me, because without good clients you can’t do a good project. I read this one in an interview with the French designer duet Antoine & Manuel.

Imagination is more important than knowledge.

Said by Albert Einstein. We all know he was a genius, but he always said that if he did not imagine the impossible, he could not prove it.

What was the motivation and inspiration behind Harmonie Intérieure?

In 2007, with my wife, Frédérique, we decided to create our online shop, to sell our creations. I was like my clients, I needed an identity. I can put in that project all that I have in mind, things that never found the right project to express themselves. I have a hard drive full of sources: photos, textures, and old papers I buy at second-hand markets and scan over the years. I love old books in very bad condition because I know they will provide great textures, and the sellers sell them to me very cheap because they think I am crazy. This constant research of materials give me unique tools for my creations.

I always liked the word ‘harmony,’ because it is the base of graphic design work. You need this harmony between the images, the fonts, the colors, the designer and the client. It was for home decoration, so Frédérique wanted to add ‘inside’ and we thought, “Of course!” (Intérieure is French for interior.) We had the name. We needed to do everything: create the company, the visuals and the products. Then we designed all these wall stickers. Most of them are font works, as I love to have messages on the wall, and it works.

What gave you the idea to start Graphic-Exchange?

The first idea was a way to organize all the images that inspired me. Also, I was sad to see that some websites disappeared. (The one by Jennifer Sterling, for example. A lot of people contact me because my site is the only place where you can see her amazing work.) With the usual blog you have a link to a site and you have to find out, by yourself, whether you like it or not. My idea was to have the images directly on the site. It is much work, but so useful.

Is all of the work submitted or do you find some of it?

Now, most of them are works I have found. Sorry to say, most of the submissions are not interesting.

What have you learned by running it?

That the best way for being recongized is to talk about other people, not yourself. It is the same in everyday life: if you show interest to someone, if you listen to him, your relation will have a good base. That’s why most submissions do not work.

All images courtesy of Fabien Barral.

The iPad, as Apple CEO Steve Jobs explained, is a personal computing device that fills a void between laptops and smart phones. Jobs says the device excels at everyday computing tasks like browsing the internet, reading email and watching movies.

A quick look at the Apple Tablet:

History of Apple’s i

Prior to using the i prefix, Apple had product names like Power Macintosh 7300, PowerBook 4300 and Workgroup Server 9650. Apple first used the prefix on the first iMac, introduced in August of 1998. The original iMacs were very successful, selling 800,000 within five months.

The name iMac was based on the ideas of personal computing and the internet. “iMac comes from the marriage of the excitement of the internet with the simplicity of Macintosh,” Jobs declared at its introduction. “We are targeting this for the number-one use that consumers tell us they want a computer for, which is: to get on the internet.”

The following descriptors, displayed during the press event, better explain Apple’s choice of name:

• internet
• individual
• instruct
• inform
• inspire

Apple’s adopted the prefix in other product names. The iBook, a laptop computer, was released in 1999, followed by the iPod in 2001. Apple software started to follow suite: iTunes; iCal and iChat, and; the iLife and iWork packages. In 2007, Apple released the iPhone.

Then & now

Apple rethought computing with the iMac: it was the first computer to look beautiful. The iPod and iPhone were equally revolutionary. The tablet has the potential to be an innovative, forward-looking technology. But, the name doesn’t live up to it.

The initial concepts behind the i- prefix — while very philosophical — are too abstract and no longer apply. The idea of the ‘individual’ has transitioned. Individual is clinical, singular, isolated and divided; it’s reserved for individually wrapped and individually packaged, or individual rights. The computer as an instructing, informing and inspiring tool is an antiquated way of looking at things.

Personal is personable and custom, the current direction in technology. Computers are now more personal, and the internet has aided in this. Content is based on personal preference. The web is no longer new, as it was twelve years ago: it is the ubiquitous standard.

iPod + iPhone ≠ iPad

When interviewed on the Apple tablet, Steve Jobs explained, “Plus the fonts look great together … iPod, iPhone, iPad.” Firstly, those aren’t fonts: those are names. Secondly, this is poor justification because the relationship between the portable music player and tablet is fanciful. While the Apple tablet can play music, these products serve entirely different purposes.

There is something to be said for unity in product lines. However, the prefix has been around long enough that software and hardware creators, in an attempt to capitalize on Apple’s success, have adopted it. Many of these spin-off products aren’t up to Apple standards. This cheapens the brand.

A marketing team probably spent months searching for an appropriate word to append to the letter ‘i.’ This seems like a terrible waste because the whole concept has lost its originality. Apple’s motto is ‘Think Different,’ for goodness’ sake! The Apple tablet embodies this: the name iPad does not. An original product deserves an original name.

This entry is an opinion piece and may not represent the beliefs of other Inksie staff members. If you have any insight, please leave a comment.

I can’t help but thinking of the Apple retail store with their employees buzzing around with their little credit card processing units when I saw this new technology released today by a company called Square. This startup company looks like it has some big plans, and with famous entrepreneurs on their team (Jack Dorsey) they have reason to be. Square seems to be saying, “Hey, you can reach out to your customers in a new way, because, face it, your customer is evolving. It’s up to you to adapt, and this is one way to become sociable with them in a new electro-centric way.” I like that. I hate getting receipts and having tons of those “I bought 10 coffee’s from you now give me a free one” cards.

This new little piece of hardware (looks like it will run on the iPhone and Android based platforms) can easily add credit card processing to any business. You plug the square unit into your mobile device and can swipe the magnetic strip of a credit card across it to verify the cardholder, get a signature, and process a purchase. This is huge deal for anyone that runs a farmers market, or even has a small shop but can’t afford to implement a regular processing system. I can’t think of how many times I wasn’t able to purchase something because I didn’t have cash on me (seems as if most people from my generation don’t carry it around anymore).

Some features I liked:

1. Their “rewards” system so if a repeat customer comes in to your shop, it will notify you. So all you have to do is tell your employees, “Give ‘em a free one after they buy 5.” I say, right on guy.
2. Photo verification. No one likes having to pull out their photo ID when making a purchase (sounds kind of petty right now, but just wait, you’ll get annoyed the next time it happens)
3. Donations for every transaction by Square. It’s just a penny, why not?
4. Email receipts. No more having to quickly shove that receipt in your pocket or purse that you’re only going to throw away.

So… all in all. I think this technology is a unique and fantastic idea and hope to see it really take off. They’re slated to launch their product in early-2010 so you won’t have to wait too long to get your hands on it! Pricing still has not been released but I imagine it will be very reasonable.

First test of our stamps

We recently ordered custom stamps from rubberstamps.net (great turnaround time and quality, will definitely use them again) to leave ink imprints on unsuspecting documents floating around the Inksie office. I believe small details (such as these stamps) can really do a lot for brand recognition and personality. It adds another dimension of uniqueness to every package shipped out to customers. Like the narrator (Edward Norton) in Fight Club says at the beginning of the movie, “The glass dishes with tiny bubbles and imperfections [are] proof they were crafted by the honest, simple, hard-working peoples…”

Our heavenly embosser

Another fun purchase we’ve made here at Inksie was our custom embosser from customembossers.com. We’re hoping to add a professional touch to… pretty much everything. This one is exciting since we can actually remove the engraved plates and replace them with other designs. More to come on that in the near future. Keep your eyes peeled.

Update: You can check out some more photos in our Flickr branding set.

It's launch time. Like a rocket ship.

Hello. We would like to introduce ourselves. Inksie is a new brand based on tasteful design and creative culture.

This blog, otherwise known as The Journal of Design and Culture is where we will feature and provide insight into unique creative work. We want to recognize truly deserving artists and at the same time highlight fresh talent.

Additionally, we would like to keep you informed. Inksie is a developing brand; we are constantly growing and evolving. We are planning many exciting creative opportunities in the near future. We invite you to come along for the ride.