Design Archives - Plaid Swan

July 30, 2018

Between Two Macs: Christian interviews Graphic Designer Craig White

Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a graphic designer and artist? Well, you’ve come to the right place! Budding designer and videographer Christian Smith sat down with Craig White, our Art Director, to ask him a few questions about life, his career, influencers he’s had, and more.

Christian Smith: When did you first realize you wanted to be in the creative industry and not something else?

Craig White: When I was in high school I had a wonderful art teacher. He saw that I had a creative side and encouraged me to at least consider some sort of creative field. He showed me that not all jobs in the creative industry were drawing and painting; I didn’t want to be a “starving artist.” He invited me to attend two field trips. The first was to an exhibit by a font designer in Minneapolis. The fact you could take a font and create art with only words and different graphic design treatments intrigued me. The second was to Meredith Corporation. Meeting the people that worked there and seeing the work they did made me excited about graphic design. At that point I realized that I could create art, while still feeling like I was in a professional atmosphere.

CS: What do you find is the most challenging part of being an art director/graphic designer?

CW: For me, personally, it would be time constraints or schedules. I think every designer wants to put out the best work they possibly can and would love the opportunity to work on something until it is perfect and exactly what they envisioned. Unfortunately, there is time to consider. Graphic design is a very fast-paced occupation and it is very important to realize your vision in the quickest possible way while adhering to schedules dictated by the client or printer. On the other hand, that is also what makes the field fun and exciting.

CS: If you had to choose to design using only one font for the rest of your career, what font family would that be?

CW: Well that would be quite boring, but… if I only had one font to use it would probably be Helvetica. Not because it is the most exciting font ever, but because it is a huge font family and is very versatile. It has a wide range of different variations and can basically cover most things I need it for (except for serif, of course.)

CS: How do you like your eggs?

CW: Made of chocolate and fresh out of the freezer.

CS: What creative suite program do you think you have the most knowledge with?

CW: I think I have equal knowledge in all three of the main graphic design programs provided by Adobe (InDesign, Illustrator, and Photoshop.) If asked which is the most fun for me to work in, that would be different. I really enjoy painting in Photoshop and/or manipulating photos into something fun.

CS: Do you have anything that helps you get out of a creative block?

CW: Taking a walk outside, either in nature or a populated area, helps clear the mind and can also inspire you just by taking in everything around you. Sometimes it’s as simple as stepping away from the computer for a moment and coming back. “Computer Coma” is the worst!

CS: If you could pick up a new skill in an instant what would it be?

CW: Concept character design.

CS: Do you have any phobias?

CW: Snakes. WHY DID IT HAVE TO BE SNAKES!

CS: Do you have any advice you’d give to budding graphic designers or creatives that are fresh out of college looking for work?

CW: Creativity is obviously very important in graphic design, but I would encourage any fresh designer to also gather as much information about the post-production process as they possibly can. Speak with printers. Don’t just drop the files off to them and hope for the best. Learn how they like their files to be delivered and build a good relationship with them. It will make your life a LOT easier.

CS: Who are your big inspirations when it comes to anything creative?

CW: This kind of relates to the previous question, but I started watching videos on YouTube created by a man named Feng Zhu. He is a concept character designer and started his own school instructing others on the process. He is very creative, and his artwork is AMAZING. When I am in a creative block I sometimes watch these videos to get inspired. If you haven’t seen him before, check him out!

CS: For the Horde or the Alliance?

CW: No doubt about it, FOR THE HORDE!!!!

Christian Smith is Plaid Swan’s media coordinator,
working on video, creative and social media projects.
Plaid Swan offers a wide range of creative services
that are sure to pair perfectly with marketing efforts
to reach your desired target audience. Contact us
today to revamp your creative efforts!

Create Unique and Powerful Designs with Ninzio

March 31, 2013

Best solutions for learning web desing

Here at Cerasis, we think it’s important that our clients and customers understand that transportation reverse logistics (or reverse logistics in general for that matter) is much more than just a flashy buzzword. It’s an integral part of helping your company thrive in today’s competitive business world. A key part of that is that you fully understand not only what reverse logistics involves and how it can help you, but what its history is. Reverse logistics really does go back further than most people realize.

The key reason that it’s only now getting the attention it deserves is through the development of transportation reverse logistics programs that help improve efficiency throughout the process.

With that said, we have assembled and written the Ultimate Guide to Transportation Reverse logistics as we have finalized our new technology product for Transportation Reverse Logistics. You can download a copy of the industry leading white paper by filling out the form to the right and below.

Cerasis developed, as an added functionality to our proprietary transportation management system, the Cerasis Rater, a transportation reverse logistics product in order to serve our shipper customers and future shipper customers to seamlessly handle returns, especially core returns, and warranty policies in the automotive aftermarket for Less-Than-Truckload shipping. However, for anyone who is looking to implement automation features, gain visibility into, and start reaping the benefits of an efficient transportation reverse logistics process, the Cerasis Reverse Logistics technology product is the only choice.

March 27, 2013

Welcome to Responsive Retina-Ready WP Theme

Who can forget the GIFs of the ‘90s, or the more up-to-date focus on flat design?

Recently, we’ve seen a surge in popularity of responsive web design, as more and more sites join the drive to become ‘mobile ready’ which is now even more important in the wake of Google’s Mobile Friendly update.

Let’s examine some of the most popular for this and the coming year.

1. The Proliferation of UI Patterns

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One of the side effects of responsive design has meant that a lot of sites look similar. However, responsive design isn’t solely to blame. The rise of WordPress sites and the booming theme market also have a hand in it. And some folks, such as Matthew Monbre, have copped to being guilty of following everyone else’s look with his company’s site.
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But having a similar look isn’t necessarily a bad thing. That’s because we’ve changed the way we consume the web, which has resulted in a lot of common UI design patterns. Design patterns have matured and as such, there’s little in the way of innovation when it comes to UI patterns.

In other words, a checkout will still be a checkout and should function as such. Same with a login model. There’s no real reason to reinvent the wheel. UI patterns must guide users through a smooth experience.
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Here’s a few patterns you should be familiar with:
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The hamburger menu: While some criticize this pattern’s use, there’s no doubt that it’s widespread use makes the function easily recognizable for users.
Account registration: You’ll find this pattern whenever you try to register for a site. There might be a form to fill out or a button that’ll allow you to use a social account to sign up. Multi-step form wizards are also effective since they “chunk out” the required fields, reducing friction and encouraging users to flow through the process.
Long scroll: Placing all your important elements above the fold is now a well-known myth. Furthermore, almost everyone is accustomed to long scrolls thanks to mobile devices. The technique works especially well for sites that want to lure users through storytelling, and you can still mimic a multi-page site by breaking the scroll into clear sections.
Card Layouts: Pioneered by Pinterest, cards are everywhere on the web because they present information in bite-sized chunks perfect for scanning. Each card represents one unified concept. Since they act as “content containers”, their rectangular shape makes them easier to re-arrange for different device breakpoints.
Hero images: Since vision is the strongest human sense, HD hero images are one of the fastest ways to grab a user’s attention. Thanks to advances in bandwidth and data compression, users won’t suffer from slow load times either. One common layout you’ll find is a hero image above the scroll, followed by either zig-zagging sections or a cards-based arrangement.

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We’ll describe 7 of the most popular animation techniques:
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Loading animations These are used to entertain users and delight users during an otherwise tedious experience. Loading animations tend to be popular for flat design, minimalism, portfolios and one-page sites. Keep them simple and avoid adding sound. They should however match your site’s personality and color palette.
Navigation and menus (nonscrolling) Hidden navigation menus have become increasingly popular, especially as they can be used to save screen space. As you can see in the example below created in the collaborative prototyping tool UXPin, these use animations to reveal a menu when clicking on a specific button and prevent a jarring transition (like a navigation drawer hidden behind a hamburger icon).
Hover animations Hover effects give a more intuitive feel to a site as users mouse over content. Users unsure about a feature’s function tend to hover over them automatically for instant visual feedback.
Galleries and slideshows Galleries and slideshows are an effective way to showcase multiple images without overburdening the users. These are great for photography sites, product showcases, and portfolios.

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2. Additional Advice on Web Design Trends

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Don’t follow trends just because they’re the “hip” thing to do at the moment. Trends represent popular techniques for good reason, but make sure it’s best for your users. For example, an e-commerce site certainly wouldn’t do well as a single-page infinite scrolling site.

Trends are nothing more than additional tools in your designer toolbox. Always pick the right ones for the job.

For more advice on the 10 most important web design trends, check out the free e-book Web Design Trends 2015 and 2016. You’ll learn from the best with analysis of 166 examples from companies like Google, Apple, Reebok, BMW, Intercom, Adidas, Dropbox, and many more.