mike beard's blog

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Why I love nice type, part three.

January 11, 2012 | aurora, brand, creative, design, marketing, typography

Brrr! Chilly winter is a tough palette, all grey and threatening skies. Or bright blue sky and white snow… after Christmas a winter palette leaves few choices.
So I was surprised when the Centre asked for the yellow headline, and surprised that it worked so well in this context. I love working with Gibson, a great, clean font just released. And what could be more apt? Designed by a Torontonian! Suits the Centre well and always sets beautifully. One luxury seldom afforded the typographically inclined is a full set of weights. In the case of Gibson, a beautiful, spare Light weight that just seems to sit effortlessly at the top of this brochure cover on the left. Like Winter minus the chill.
Well, almost….!

http://youtu.be/UF8uR6Z6KLc

Calligraphy was important to Mr. Steve Jobs

October 6, 2011 | apple, brand, calligraphy, creativity, design, innovation, IPod Nano, marketing, TBWA, Technology, typography

Why I love nice type, part two.

September 24, 2011 | aurora, brand, brands, Canada, creative, design, marketing, mike beard, typography

Some times creative work just seems to go right, unforced, natural. That’s the way it is with my work for the Aurora Cultural Centre. The iconic design of the Church Street School struck me right off as a architectural logo, meaning that the recognition factor of the school had recognition and cultural intent written all over it.
So to date I’ve done a small series of brochures like this one on the left, featuring an ever widening set of learning opportunities for the good citizens of Aurora. Guitar, Painting, Wood Carving, Lectures… even historically themed birthday parties where kids can dress up and go pioneer.
So I think the building serves well as a sign posts for what is offered within, and I am glad to offer and in my way, communicate a small part of it all.
In this case it’s the perfect fit.

Simple. Refreshing. Iconic.

So it’s 2007 and Apple’s IPod Nano commercial is the just coolest thing. Check out Fiest’s even better version on the Letterman show: http://youtu.be/DmEHauRTzJI The music, perfect. The product, so easy. The singer, so fresh. Apple takes a chance here, choosing a relatively unknown Canadian folk singer. But she is just so right. And this makes her career. Apple is claiming the entire digital music space, and does it so sweetly. Apple’s deft brand touch is so assured. The spot displays an uncanny yet genuine knowledge of what’s undeniably revolutionary. It’s what this commercial never says that’s so important.

September 21, 2011 | apple, Blackberry, brand, Fiest, IPod Nano, U2

What’s the thinking behind this?

Bono sings ‘every generation gets a chance to change the world…’ Wow, big words. Stadium shaking, grandstanding rock ‘n roll. Big sound, big star, big music. No clever irony here, eh? But what this says about Blackberry and RIM branding is somewhat less. Somewhat blatant. Somewhat over the top. Somewhat safe. Coming as it does in 2009, is this RIM screaming ‘ME TOO’? We like ‘YOUTHFUL’ music too, SEE?? I guess RIM couldn’t choose a native Canadian singer as Apple had already scooped them with Fiest, but at least someone fresh and unheard? Someone ‘new’? And without iTunes or a reasonable RIM equivalent, there’s simply no rationale for any of this. Is this when Blackberry lost it? I’ve always thought so.

September 21, 2011 | apple, Blackberry, Bono, brand, commercial, creative, Fiest, IPod Nano, RIM, U2

Things that can be clicked.

September 1, 2011 | boomers, design, healthcare, long term care, mike beard, typography

Remember that old quiz show, ‘Pyramid’? It really brought in the ‘things that can be …’ categories.
What could be more ‘clickable’ than a mouse? Another of those design ideas that just works and then… Designer: get out of the way. This was for the home page of the Ontario Long Term Care Association and clicking it access a host of learning pages. Love working for the group… they understand big, legible type as do seniors everywhere.
The idea that seniors are not adequately represented on the internet is increasingly a thing of the past as net savvy boomers reach their senior years.

Button, button, what’s in a button?

August 31, 2011 | creative, design, long term care, Media, typography

When the internet first caught my eye, in 1994, I struggled with the slow speeds and the evident prejudice against graphics. I understood this, as the net was a slow beast ‘in those days’ and we all, as visual people, tried to get more for less. Narrow pages and little buttons. I resisted.
I thought why press a button that looked like an envelope that evidently meant ‘email’. That’s exactly what email wasn’t! THERE’S NO ENVELOPES IN EMAIL!!! Or stamps with wavy lines. Or pens with little fingers. Why not, I thought, print the word ‘email’?? And with a wink and a nod toward my typographic roots, I began producing typographic finding aids for the web.
For my efforts I was told, ‘You are not an iconographic designer.’ And web designers ran off with all sorts of little images of icons that ran, smiled, and vibrated. Here’s one of my efforts that’s clear, that promotes the message and branding of the impending document, and is rather large as buttons go. It was made to draw attention within a busy page. You decide. Don’t try pressing the button, although I’m betting you want to.

OLTCA addresses the looming crisis in long term care.

August 30, 2011 | creativity, design, healthcare, long term care, typography

Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. In this case, a straight forward messaging piece, a designer simply states the case and then quietly withdraws.

How Google makes a bundle . . .

July 26, 2011

Interesting to see just where Google scores the most real cash, and you guessed it, wealth begets wealth. Insurance, Loans and Mortage are the top ad-words, collecting over half of Google’s money. Here’s a handy link for further, FREE SEO exploration: Wordstream’s Keyword Research Test.

Why I love nice typography.

July 24, 2011 | aurora, brand, Canada, creative, design, marketing, mike beard, typography

When I designed the brochure on the left for the Aurora Cultural Centre it was the pictures that came with the job that struck a chord. And what could be better? A sunny day in a beautiful town in front of a minor architectural wonder. These images do not come without a bit of reverence. Storybook, perhaps.
But the shots told the story of how much fun one could have and be a bit of help to the community too. There’s certainly no lack of things to do and things that just have to get done in a venture like the Centre. Volunteers are needed in almost every capacity. For me, the task became one of emphasizing an already great story with typography – and then getting out of the way.
I’m always looking at new fonts and the extreme narrowness of this ‘grotesque’ caught my eye. I thought it might be interesting to throw in some colour as well. So in came the blues and teals. As these brochures must literally shout out louder than the competition on brochure stands around town, most of the pertinent information must be contained in the top few inches.