The Inksie brand began as a side project of a larger company that specializes in online apparel sales. The company aimed to branch out and develop its own line of proprietary apparel. The idea was to expand the business in a fun, unique way while capturing apparel enthusiasts’ and designers’ interest with a quality brand. The success of several online t-shirt retailers helped form the vision for a community-driven company.

In the Summer of 2009, design and development on Inksie’s website began, and production planning and organization took place during Fall of 2009. The company’s blog, The Inksie Journal of Design & Culture, went live in late November. A lot of time and energy was put into The Journal as content was curated and artists and industry leaders were interviewed. Its initial goal was to attract interest to the Inksie brand and build community through thoughtful discourse and content.

Behind the public face of Inksie, more planning was taking place. Half way through development, the opportunity to develop the brand beyond a simple apparel shop and blog presented itself. As the ideas evolved, things became more complex. The brand was conceived as an exclusive source of artwork and apparel, to be designed by well known, notable artists. A plethora of artists were contacted and a complex designer program was developed, complete with a print handbook, hierarchy system and a separate sub-site. This was a perfect example of scope creep: these aspects of the project consumed time and resources beyond what was originally envisioned. The vision for Inksie became that of a “lifestyle brand,” one that spanned multiple disciplines. There were plans to self-publish The Journal, sell woodblock letterpress prints, open a retail space, release limited edition vinyl pressings, make custom shoes and even organize live D.J. events.

Inksie’s official website launched in late August 2010. We had been working on Inksie almost exclusively for the last eight months. Our time was a valuable resource, and working on Inksie – organizing Journal content, curating artwork and preparing and photographing products – meant that our parent company’s projects were put on hold.

This neglect reached a climax in the middle of October, as the lucrative Christmas season was approaching. Inksie hadn’t generated as many sales as we’d hoped. The owner decided to put Inksie on hold and told us to change gears. The idea was to come back to Inksie when we could afford to allocate resources.

So, for the next few months, we worked exclusively on projects for our parent company. The Holiday season was very successful. Unfortunately, by the time it was over Inksie had been seriously neglected. It remains in this state: funding for Inksie has not been allocated, although the shop is still open, and we’re processing orders.

We’ve had some time to reflect on our experiences. When we started working on Inksie, our vision was obscure at best. It clouded our judgement and made the brand-developing process difficult for everyone involved in the project. Needless to say, we’ve learned a lot about marketing, apparel and print production, and project organization. As difficult (and occasionally frustrating) as it was, we enjoyed the process, met some great people and got to interview some personal heroes.

There were a number of friendships that grew over the course of Inksie’s development. After Inksie’s figurative plug was pulled last October, we lost contact with nearly everyone. The project’s abrupt halt was both embarrassing and frustrating, and we didn’t know how to respond to it. We sincerely apologize for this.

To be honest, we’re not sure the what the future holds for Inksie. If any new developments occur, we’ll write about it here and post it on the Inksie Twitter.

Dave & Cory

Have you ever used a touch screen device to browse the web? Chances are, you have. iPhones and iPads were the scouts of the army of touch-enabled devices – set out to conquer worlds – and recent iPad sales statistics show that touch is here to stay.

Meanwhile, the keyboard and the mouse will probably stick around for another decade. This has some serious implications for web designers, as they need to come up with designs that work on a myriad of devices.

Responsive web design is a principle that we can use to overcome the problems that varying screen resolutions bring along. But, there is one design conception not all web designers know about: feedback.

The Golden Days

When I was in kindergarten, I was taught how to write with a pencil. At first, the device did not work properly; I could tell by the absence of grey lines on my piece of paper. My mentor explained to me that I was holding the pencil upside down. I turned the device around and began drawing again. Lines appeared, I knew that I was doing something right; I got immediate feedback.

Many pencil training sessions later, my beloved writing tool was replaced by the Personal Computer. I started browsing the web. Sometimes I would click on a link, and nothing would happen. Either the following page was loading slowly, or I had not properly pressed the mouse button. I could usually exclude the latter, as the mouse was designed to provide me with a clicking sound and some friction – immediate feedback.

Looking towards a better future

Recently, I purchased a mobile phone with a touch screen. I regularly surf the web and inevitably click on links and buttons. Sometimes, nothing happens. Is it the slow connection or did my skinny fingers miss the clickable area? There is no way to tell if I have actually clicked on a button or link, because there is no tactile or auditive feedback like I received with a mouse. This problem can be easily fixed by:

1. Setting a proper :active state for links and buttons in the css file. It is often neglected, but important to create visual distinction between a links that have or have not been activated.
2. Providing a clickable area that is large enough so that clicking on a link or button does not become Odysseus’ Journey. Add some padding to your anchors!
3. Adding interaction sounds on touch/click events. Time to dive into jQuery and html5!

Physical devices are built around the same basic principle: users provide input; the device processes the input and returns an expected output. As described by Don Norman in The Psychology of Everyday Things, providing proper feedback between input and output is key to successful user interaction. He writes:

Feedback—sending back to the user information about what action has actually been done, what resulted has been accomplished—is a well-known concept in the science of control and information theory. Imagine trying to talk to someone when you cannot even hear your own voice, or trying to draw a picture with a pencil that leaves no mark: there would be no feedback.

The web is unique in that it is a solely electronic medium. However, web designers would be wise to learn from product design and consider the ways users interact with the web.

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?

We can empathize with Mr. Rousseau as infographics have remained a vexatious subject for The Journal staff. The article pinpoints what makes them so very irksome; they typically provide an unclear spatial representation of data and continually tip the form and function scale to an unnecessary degree, leaning fully upon the form, of course.

To put it simply, modern infographics are too confusing. One cannot help but feel as if they are piecing together a puzzle or solving a logical word problem. To put it crudely: they’re a visual face smash.

In Rousseau’s words:

“Such is the conceit of much contemporary information design: where a simple bar chart would have provided an intuitive and more accurate display, the emphasis was placed on form over function.”

A prime example

Amanda Buck’s “The Value of an Hour of Work” was commissioned for Good’s Transparency series. The graphic utilizes the quotient of the 2008 GDP per capita and hours worked annually per capita to generate the size of the cog and value stored within the center.

This is a prime example of infographics disposing utility and placing precedence upon aesthetic. These cogs represent a vague value. This takes complicated information, and makes it more confusing. The important information is not given enough visual weight to be understood at first glance. Take a look at the hours worked annually per capita; their value occupy maybe five percent of the entire circumference. This allows viewers no way to visually compare it to other countries. There is also the ratio that is placed inside of the center of the cog; of what use is this data? To simplify, it could have been omitted and viewers would be able to utilize the cog’s size as a comparative factor.

A second take

This infographic is by British designer Paul Butt, and unfortunately, there is no further publication info attached to it. The top section of the infographic contains giant concentric rings of indecipherable data, and therefore, am unable to address it.

The bottom portion contains large amounts of data in a small section, including:

• Real size of the disk
• Transfer speed
• Read speed
• Write speed
• Line-drawn depiction

The fact this information overlaps itself in several places shows its lack of efficiency and disorganized nature of the data. There is also no clear distinction between the read/write and transfer speeds. In the end, the data is presented in a way that provides the viewer no clear visual reference to judge or weigh against.

Is there still hope?

Many infographics fail at conveying information clearly. However, there must be some successful examples.

When compiling this article, I was referred to an infographic of old – one that Edward Tufte claims is “probably the best statistical graphic ever drawn.” In fact, it was one of the first ever made, by French civil engineer Charles Joseph Minard, entitled Carte figurative des pertes successives en hommes de l’Armée Française dans la campagne de Russie 1812-1813. It vizualises the size of Napoleon’s army on its march to Moscow starting at the Neman River. Temperature changes displayed across the bottom.

Upon viewing this graphic, one is quickly able to ascertain the various attributes displayed and truly grasp the magnitude of Napoleon’s march and retreat. The temperature drops and river crossings account for some of the most notable casualties.

Minard’s graphic took complicated data and created a clear and understandable vizualisation. Every visual element found on the spread is useful to the viewer.

In conclusion

Infographics can be useful tools when data is applied to aesthetic with utility in mind. Minard’s graph is a perfect representation of this: while it is not the most stylistically progressive image, it conveys exactly what it needs to in the space provided.

Once information designers are able to sift through all of the unhelpful visuals that accompany data, infographics will be of much more use to readers.

Inksie’s online shop launched on Monday.

The shop, envisioned as a core part of the brand, is the fruit of a year-long effort. We currently have three custom designed t-shirts, two prints and a set of Scout Books notebooks available for purchase. We aim to increase the number of products and expand our product base as we evolve. Sign up for the newsletter to receive the latest news on Inksie releases.

The Inksie Shop and Journal of Design & Culture are currently in beta. Our team is tirelessly testing the site for glitches and bugs, but that doesn’t mean we’ll catch everything. If you see something that needs addressing, please don’t hesitate to drop us a line.

On the Inksie Journal

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, feature exceptional artists and more. Through visual and conceptual content we aim to grow.

So goes the mantra for the Inksie Journal, aptly titled “Growth by Inspiration.” As you may have seen in previous posts, The Journal is not the place to search for the “latest,” most “advanced” Photoshop techniques or recent, re-appropriated visuals of mediocre, “minimal” “design.” Instead, we aspire to provide creatives and non-creatives alike with a source for traditional and non-traditional inspiration, education and relevant news.

Plans for the Future

Unfortunately, the shop launch has, due to time limitations, detracted from The Journal’s consistency. We’d like to put more of a focus on The Journal, as we feel it important to educate and provide interesting content to those in the industry and enthusiasts.

The Journal is intended to be a champion of reading in the digital age. We would like to continue exploring Design while also examining Culture. These topics are heavily influenced by one another – design directly impacts cultural trends, culture shapes the needs and requirements of design. In these realms, we seek to maintain a consistent level of quality and are continually striving to improve upon the content that we provide to our readers.

Here’s what you can look forward to:

• Visual work of interest and importance from well-known and unknown artists and designers
• Interviews with acclaimed artists and designers
• Tasteful opinion pieces of relevant content
• Cohesive editorial illustration
• Written series on various design- and culture-related topics

If you have an idea of what you’d like to see on The Journal, please leave a comment.

A Call for Contributors

The Inksie Journal of Design & Culture is looking to hire contributors – both writers and illustrators – in an effort to push its content. Please review the requirements. If you would like to be considered for one of the contributor spots, please email The Journal’s editors.

Update: We are looking to pay contributors, depending on experience. Please email us for more information.

Writers

We are seeking writers who are comfortable writing essays or brief discourses on various topics ranging from culture to design, specifically in the fields of design or the visual arts. In addition, we are looking for individuals with perspectives and opinions on various topics. Please provide:

• 2-3 writing samples
• A list of blogs you currently follow
• Topics you are interested in writing about

Illustrators & Designers

We are looking for illustrators and designs who are able to think conceptually and bring a new level of understanding to a written piece through visuals. We are looking for illustrators who are able to glean relevant information from an article and create a visual from it. We are looking for designers who work with information graphics, expressive typography and other visual elements to add interest to a written piece.

• Link to portfolio
• List of blogs you currently follow
• Topics you are interested in

The Inksie Art Team is pleased to showcase Brent Couchman’s Print & Production Poster, now available in the Inksie Shop.

We commissioned Mr. Couchman to create a design based on one of the four Inksie Principles:

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

The print is a three-color serigraph on 18″ × 24″, 80-pound cover. Mr. Couchman chose French Paper’s luscious Hot Fudge from their Pop Tone line. It comes in a limited edition of 100.

The Inksie Art Team is pleased to showcase our very first product, the Inksie Ampersand Print. The design, made by Portland, Oregon-based creative studio Colorcubic, was inspired by Herb Lubalin’s famous ampersand designs. It utilizes patterning of Inksie’s icons to form the symbol.

The limited-edition, 11″ × 17″ posters were printed on Neenah Environment PC-100 White 80-pound cover with a metallic gold ink. Rebecca from Stumptown Printers, a print shop in Portland, made the prints on a Vandercook Universal 1 Press.

The Ampersand Print will be available in an edition of 250 upon the launch of Inksie’s online shop.

Update: Giveaway Wrap-up

Monday, August 23rd: After five days of iPhone and Droid winners, the Inksie giveaway is over. Be sure to check back for the shop launch. Our winners are:

Adrian Kenny	Anna Schwartz	Nico Schneider	Dylan White	Chris Koelle

Original Giveaway Post:

Did you miss your chance to win some Inksie branded merchandise in the initial giveaway? We decided to give you a second chance, to win something even bigger. Can you possibly guess what it could be?

The initial Inksie Giveaway contest ended on Sunday, August 8th at 12:00 PM. We randomly selected and announced winners this morning. Be sure to check our Flickr feed for pictures of winners’ packages.

An Extension of Appropriate Proportions

We want to create the best possible experience to customers and provide the best possible arena to sell designer’s products. There are still some bugs to fix and details to iron out on Inksie’s shop. Therefore, we’ve set the new launch date for Monday, August 23rd.

The Newer, Grander Contest

We have found a new love for the number 23. Notice, we have given away 23 prize packs and set the launch date for the 23rd. Now, we would like to further utilize this wonderful number: we are giving away two Droid 2s and three iPhone 4s.

This Way to Enter

We’re sticking solely to Twitter for this contest. If you are not already following Inksie on Twitter, do so. Then, tweet the exact message found in this link:

Entries are valid until Sunday, August 22nd at 12:00 PM. You must follow Inksie and tweet this exact message to be entered into the contest.

To The Winners, The Spoils

Winners will be selected and announced daily from August 18th to August 22nd. We’ll announce an iPhone 4 winner on August 18th, a Droid 2 winner on August 19th, and so on until August 22nd.

Just Some Minor Details

• Winners will be randomly selected by computer system the day before they’re announced.
• Inksie will contact winners through Twitter. If a winner does not respond within 23 hours, a new winner will be selected.
• Winners will receive a gift card that corresponds in value to their respective prize in their respective online store (either the Apple Store or Verizon online store). These gift cards will be issued as electronic store codes via email.
• We reserve the right to change these terms and conditions at any time. But don’t worry, we won’t pull a fast one on you.
• Contestants are limited to only one valid entry. Once a contest has won, he or she is no longer able to win again.

About Juice

Juice is Inksie’s experimental podcast. It’s a mix of electronic and analog sounds, with both ambient and lyrical songs that create a cohesive listening experience. The Inksie Team curates and mixes Juice (semi) monthly and commissions custom artwork.

Track Listing

About the Tracks

Inksie’s Creative Director, Dave, selected and organized Juice 002’s songs. He writes:

I ran across the B. Fleischmann & Ms. John Soda a couple of years ago. The intro resonated with me, so I decided to start the playlist out with it. I tested the waters with iTunes Genius and began researching suggested artists’ work, sometimes to a second or third degree. A few of the other artists were some old favorites of mine including The Radio Dept., Dntel and Casiotone for the Painfully Alone. They seemed to fit in well with the other tracks, so I fit them into the mix where they flowed the best.

I’ve learned quite a bit in organizing this playlist. Please give this month’s Juice a listen and let me know what you think.

About the Artwork

The artwork for Juice’s second edition was created by the Inksie Team’s Creative Division. It was inspired by the fifth track, Eyes on Fire by Blue Foundation. The song’s quiet, haunting lyrics provoked a powerful mental image:

Eyes on fire

Your spine is ablaze

Felling any foe with my gaze

The idea was developed through several sketches that evolved into the icon. A vector version of the icon was developed for texture work. It was printed on a low-quality laser printer with cheap, course paper. The Inksie Team spent several minutes harassing the ink from the paper’s fibers with Bic pen-ends and fingernails, giving it a fatigued appearance. It was scanned and colorized using Photoshop.

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