Let me distill the high points for you.

The Artist

Some of the characteristics of the Artist are that they are working with a personal vision with no or few rules; the work is subjective and they create their own formula or symbols. There is often an emotional component or an attempt to connect with the observer. Sometimes no client is necessary, as they often produce the work for its own sake.

The Designer

By contrast, the Designer is working with what is often called “Applied Art.” The vision comes from the client, who sets up the parameters for the work. There is a problem to be solved, and a calculated process to meet an objective, using established formulas or symbols. It often carries a purpose or function, such as communicating a message or helping a customer take action. It is more commercial, and it is most likely the type of work seen in advertising.

Many artists are designers and many designers are artists. The line between the two can become blurred, however. I use to paint watercolor renderings of dramatic characters in stage costumes. I considered my renderings, although done as a “costume designer” with certain restrictions in mind as I painted, to be art pieces. Today I concentrate on client-directed projects involving layout of marketing materials that connect with customers. There are elements of both art and design in both examples, but today my work is more in the realm of Design than in the realm of Art.

Two phrases from two different bloggers said it best for me: A woman named Rebecca said, “Design is art made to specifications, on time, and within budget.” And writer Rishi says, “Art cannot exist without design. Design cannot evolve without art.” How true.

If you’re looking for a designer who approaches design as art made to client specifications and you have a project that needs that approach, give me a call. Close collaboration with clients is the hallmark of a good designer, and I’ve been doing that since 1981. Let me do the same for you.

In tackling projects, right-brainers can visualize the whole project completed in their minds before they begin choosing the elements to build it, processing many ideas simultaneously. Left-brainers, on the other hand, process ideas sequentially, step by step, focusing on the details with a high degree of organization.

So, Am I Right-Brained, or Left-Brained?

Artists and creatives are commonly assumed to belong to the right-brain group, and probably most are. But not me. I tend to be left-brain dominant. I come from a family of scientists and engineers, and it rubbed off. Although I hold a graduate degree in design, and spent several years teaching design, I was always highly organized and sequential. Then I earned a computer programming certificate, and the logic of programming made perfect sense to me.

These days, when I work on graphic design projects, I can provide my clients with much more than a pretty final product. I can operate within deadlines that match their corporate schedules. I care about functionalities and processes, and I plan ahead for them. And, as I have a technical background, my most ideal clients are those in high-tech industries, because I think much like them.

How about you? If you’ve been skittish about hiring an “artistic type” because that doesn’t match your own style, look harder. Not all designers are right-brain dominant, and they do great work. Give me a call and let’s talk. You may be surprised at how creative a left-brainer can be!

Before the emergence of the internet, the definition of “Graphic Designer” was a lot easier to pin down. Graphic designers might work on advertising pieces, promotional pieces, branding pieces, product packaging, signage, book covers, newsletters, and more, but it was always for print—tangible pieces you could touch.

With the explosion of the World Wide Web, many graphic designers have expanded their capabilities and services to include electronic media as well. So they may also design component pieces to web sites, blogs, landing pages, and e-mails, such as header graphics, banners, attention bursts, or “Buy Now” buttons.

Visual vs. Production Skills

But here’s where the definition can get murky. Just as there’s a difference between the visual design skills and the print production skills in the print world, there’s also a difference between the visual design skills and the web production skills in the web world. Not all graphic designers who design for the web also have computer programming skills to code web pages—so they may provide only the visual components, handing off their work to a programmer from the IT department to complete the job. And that programmer may have a title such as “Web Designer” or “Web Developer.”

Web Designer vs. Web Developer

I see those two titles all the time, and it turns out they are not applied consistently. I’ve seen the same definition applied to both, but I’ve also seen them under completely different categorizations. I’ve seen arguments in online forums over which is which. Sometimes one or the other is applied to the Graphic Designer, too, or even to the Web Copywriter. Which is right? Some say the Web Designer is the one who has the “big picture” of design and functionality (the way it should look and the way it should work), while the “Web Developer” is the one who does the complex computer coding. And some Graphic Designers do indeed include one or more of these skills in their arsenals, but that’s not universal, at least not yet. Many do not.

Clarifying the meaning of Graphic Designer Titles

The bottom line is that “Graphic Designer”, “Web Designer” or “Web Developer” often have a lot of overlap in their definitions, but since the scope of the definition of each may vary, it’s important to clarify. Those seeking talent, as well as those offering talent, should be very clear about the skills they seek or offer. In other words, don’t judge by title alone—look at the full description. In my case, I am a Freelance Graphic Designer who also has a Computer Programming Certificate and I worked in IT departments for over 15 years, after a career of 8 years teaching design. I design for print and for web, and I’m also responsible for the coding and functionality of the web sites I design.

As the World Wide Web continues to grow and develop, so will the demands for related skills. In the future, “Graphic Designer” may encompass ALL the skills of design and coding, but until then, pin down any definitions you see, and make sure you are clear about what is offered and what you need. Doing so will avoid misunderstandings down the road, and contribute to a favorable outcome.

Sometimes all that’s needed to be different is to use a different size, weight, texture, or finish for the paper you use.

Sometimes simply changing the orientation from vertical to horizontal can be a good step in a new direction.

One of the more popular folding alternatives is the “accordion” fold with folds on alternating sides, zigzagging first forward, then backward. Another alternative is the “gatefold” where two side panels are folded in toward the center before a final vertical fold is made. A “roll” or “barrel” fold opens one edge again and again in the same directional sequence. Each of these three examples can all use the same size paper; they just take different planning for using the panels.

The most interesting folds are those that fold in more than one direction in the same piece, or that make use of “die cuts” that cut an edge into a particular shape or angle, rather than the traditional 90-degree corner angles. The die-cut edges may have an interesting look about them when used with a folding pattern, even a traditional folding pattern, so that the piece looks much different—and therefore more interesting.

As enthusiastic as I am about alternate folding patterns, I must mention that it’s very important to have a chat early on in the design process with your printer about what you’re planning. If your piece uses custom paper sizes, or folds must be scored, or there are die-cuts, or it requires hand assembly instead of machine automation, there can be increases in cost. Your printer will know how to guide you or make suggestions to help you keep costs down. But if the piece does indeed get more attention because of inspired design—and therefore brings you or your client more business—the investment can certainly be worth it. And you’ll be a hero!

Well, yes. But there IS a difference.

A decorator is someone who decorates. And the definition of decorate is to bedeck, trim, garnish, festoon, furnish, adorn or embellish with something ornamental or becoming.

A designer is someone who designs. The definition of design (as a verb) is to make plans, drawings, or preliminary sketches to fashion the form and structure of an object, artistically or skillfully. The execution of the design is part of the definition.

In my friend’s profession, her skills include moving walls, installing plumbing and electrical wiring, and understanding the underlying architectural structure. She may add decoration as the final step in her design, but if she were only a decorator, she’d only be adding those final bits of trim and adornment.

Other designers make a related distinction. Graphic designers are sometimes seen as people who add the color, photography, and fancy fonts to the layout of an advertisement. The usual intent of those is “brand identity” or “brand awareness”—to make the brand of the item being offered more identifiable and memorable to the consumer.

But graphic designers are so much more than just people who decorate or embellish a print piece. We deal knowledgably with images and layout, yes, but we also understand much more. We learn about our client’s business and their intent or underlying purpose with the piece. When we design, we use our understanding about how a reader’s eye must flow across pages, and ways to make text more readable, and how to project the overall psychological “tone” behind the piece.

This understanding is even more important in designing Direct Mail lead generations and product promotions, since the graphic designer works closely with the copywriter to make the piece as persuasive as possible, so that the “call to action” is not lost, and the client gets the highest possible response with the piece. I’ve said it in a previous blog post that the design in this case “supports the copy” and is not the main event. It should not call attention to itself—it is not design for design’s sake.

All this is done using complex software that gives us far greater control over every tiny variable in the “look” of the piece. That’s worlds apart from only knowing how to make a colored border or insert a photo in Word or Publisher. Good graphic designers use Quark XPress, Adobe InDesign, Photoshop, and Illustrator. And their output is not just for print anymore; these days, it is also for the web.

So think beyond pretty pictures to the “next level” of talent for completing a promotional piece. I’d be happy to discuss your next project with you, whether for print or for the web.

I often create documents in Word, Publisher, InDesign, Photoshop, etc. But I also use a feature of those programs that many folks don’t think much about. I make sure to identify myself as the creator of that document.

That’s important, because many of these documents are either passed along to others “as is”, or they are exported as PDF files first before passing to other folks. And I want my own “intellectual property” to be identified as such.

When you sit down at the computer to create a document in these programs, some documents will automatically pick up some of this data. For example, a new document in Word picks up my name “Nancy Pickering” as the author. That information lives elsewhere on my computer, but Word finds it and includes it for me.

But here’s a situation that’s even more important: what if I’m working on the layout of a document for a client? They created a draft document and sent it to me for adding design elements. Let’s say I create a new blank document with all the design elements in place, and then pour in the text from the draft. That new version will show my name as the author – but the client doesn’t want to have my name as the author, they want to have their own name as the author. And if I finish the file with those properties unedited, and it’s exported as a PDF and sent to the client, they will not be able to edit that information themselves after the fact.

Therefore, it’s important you know where and how to declare or edit the information that should be saved with the file. In Microsoft products, depending on which version you have and assuming your file is open, go to the File menu and click the Properties item. Or go to the Office button and click Prepare, and then Properties. In Adobe products, go to the File Menu and click on the File Info item. In either case, you’ll be presented with a dialog box where you can enter such information as Title, Subject, Author, Company, Keywords, Comments, Category, and Status. Fill in as much as is appropriate, at the very least the first three. Then save the file. Now when you export the file as a PDF, that data will be picked up and included with that file. And your client will properly get the credit they deserve as the author of the piece. Ditto if the author really is you and you want to ensure the credit goes to you.

One more hint. If you plan on distributing your PDF as a downloaded eBook from your web site, don’t forget to fill in the “keywords” field in the Properties area. Doing so just may boost your search engine rankings for your web site for that topic.

This is the time of year when many people are asked to set New Year’s Resolutions for the coming year. Many more do a more specific job by setting Goals for the year. I’m no different, but I use a system that I first learned about when I was a member of Toastmasters International several years ago. This system has actually been around for over 20 years, in the context of project management and more recently, personal development.

The system I’m referring to is “S.M.A.R.T. Goals.” The letters in “SMART” help you remember the attributes of goals that have a higher likelihood of being met. And that’s important, because everyone knows someone who has failed to meet their goals, or New Year’s Resolutions, because those goals were unrealistic or not planned well.

The letters (usually) stand for the following: S=Specific, M=Measurable, A=Attainable, R=Realistic, and T=Tangible.

A Specific goal has a much greater chance of being accomplished than a general goal. A general goal would be, “Get in shape.” But a specific goal would say, “Join a health club and work out 3 days a week.”

A Measurable goal is one where you ask such questions as “How much? How many? How will I know when it is accomplished?” And when you measure your progress, you stay on track, reach your target dates, and experience the exhilaration of achievement.

An Attainable goal is one where you can put yourself in the right place at the right time to develop the attitudes, abilities, skills, and financial capacity to reach them. You see opportunities to bring yourself closer to achievement, where once you might have overlooked those opportunities.

A Realistic goal is one that is set at a level at which you are both willing and able to work toward. The surprise is that a high goal is frequently easier to reach than a low one because a low goal exerts low motivational force. If you truly believe your goal is realistic, it probably is.

A Tangible goal is one you can experience with one of the five senses: that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. (Intangible goals are your goals for the internal changes required to reach more tangible goals.) When your goal is tangible, or when you tie a tangible goal to an intangible goal, you have a better chance of making it specific and measurable and thus attainable.

There are articles about this system that go into more detail, but I’m sure you get the idea. There is one more concept I want to bring up, though, and that is the now-popular advice to “Dream Big”. How can you do this if you’re trying to pay attention to “Realistic” and “Attainable”—Don’t they contradict one another? Well, I’m not saying you can’t do both, but at this point I should mention another bit of advice regarding goal-setting: Breaking down larger goals into smaller goals. You can indeed Dream Big if you’re willing to do the thinking and the work toward breaking down that goal into its component steps. Then make each step a SMART goal!

So, what are your goals for 2011? I’ll divulge one of mine: I’m planning on doing a massive update to my web site this year. More on that in another post…

For that, many folks go to Google Images and conduct another search. That often yields good results. But have you ever noticed more than one instance of the same picture from different web sites? Why is that?

It could be because more than one person purchased or licensed the same image from a stock photography service’s web site for their own use. That’s fine. It’s just as likely, however, that the picture was copied off the web—that is, pirated.

Are You Guilty?
When Google indexes web content, it doesn’t check whether that content is copyrighted. There is a disclaimer when you click an image on the search results page that “This image may be subject to copyright,” but that’s as far as it goes. If you save an image from another web site to your own computer and then use it for your own purposes without permission, you may very well be violating copyright restrictions. Unless you’re invited for a “free download,” the images are likely protected by some sort of intellectual property rights. Just because an image turns up on a search results page doesn’t mean it’s available for anyone else to copy and use freely as they please. The images are not necessarily in the “public domain”—so copying and using them for your own purposes is unethical and probably illegal.

Unless you want to encourage people to use and distribute your own work for free, it’s wise to be careful about posting original images on your web sites or blogs, as you never know where they’ll end up. Many folks embed a watermark or a copyright tagline right on their images, so that if they do show up in search results, potential pirates can see that the work is protected.

Licensing Terms
So you really have only a few choices. You could create your own original images and protect them, or gain permission from the owners, or purchase usage rights for images from a stock image provider. Licensed images are usually reasonably priced, and they are available in various sizes and resolutions for print or web—something you can’t count on with pirated images, which may lead to substandard visuals (for example, in the case of using a pirated image off the web for a print piece, where the resolution is too low to look professional in a print publication).

What do I mean by “usage rights”? Stock image providers provide their images under various licensing options, all of which start with a basic purchase price. You’re purchasing a license to use, not a license to own; the image is still not “yours.” Additionally, some images are “rights managed,” where you’re allowed a one-time use or “royalty per use,” and an additional use requires an additional license. Other images are “royalty free”, with either standard licenses, where you have the right for limited usage with few restrictions (for example, up to 500,000 impressions), or higher-priced “extended” licenses for unlimited usage with virtually no restrictions.

The point I’m making is that images on the web are not free for the taking, just because you know how to “save image as.” Viewing them online may help your research, but unless you’ve purchased them or have the owner’s permission, best to view them and then leave them alone. Remember, the person who produced those images may depend on the income their work produces—please support them by appropriate purchases, and avoid pirating.

So what is our purpose? Each of us creates lists of monthly goals and we are kept accountable by sharing and reporting our progress to the other two. We give advice and information when solicited, from feedback regarding each other’s work, to sharing knowledge of techniques and software, to handling clients, vendors, and contracts, to congratulations when a project goes well.

And how do we do this? Well, we do send e-mails sharing pertinent articles we’ve read or asking for feedback on something we’ve just designed. But we also have regularly-scheduled 3-way sessions with an agenda. Since the three of us live in 3 widely separated states (we met at a conference several years ago), we come together by telephone conference call for about 90 minutes every other week. And if we need to, we can log on via the web to a computer-sharing program and see what is on each other’s computer desktops, too.

I think you can guess some of the benefits of a Mastermind Group. We’re more than just a support group for each other; we’re all helping each other succeed. We get the benefit of other points of view, we have a chance to share our background and learning in the context of a project or goal, we get inspired by other approaches, and we do this freely and unconditionally – there are no jealousies or hidden agendas. We value and respect each other’s strengths and differences. And the contributions we give are as fulfilling to the giver as they are helpful to the receiver.

And the grand result of all this is that we are able to move ahead with our goals and stay focused on them. I’d say we all consider this activity to be an essential part of our “success plan,” and I say that because we’ve often commented to each other that we’re getting real value out of our sessions. Far from wasting time every other week, we all feel we’ve invested our time wisely.

If you’re a freelancer or know someone who is, I think you’ll find value in a Mastermind Group. They come in all types and sizes, so shop around to find the best fit, or start your own. And start reaping the benefits!

Over time, additional information was added, such as a logo and a fax number. As time went on and we entered the Technology Age, we added mobile phone numbers, e-mail addresses, and web site addresses. Cards are printed on both sides now. My own card lists my services on the back. Others list a company motto or tagline. Many cards also include the links to a LinkedIn profile or social media addresses such as Facebook or Twitter.

And the card itself is rarely a plain white card anymore. We went from white to colors. First we saw a band of ink in the corporate color along one edge. Then we went from a plain or solid background to including a headshot, and then to creating a full background from a photograph. Some have “foil” or embossed finishes. Some are even no longer in the rectangular shape but die cut into interesting shapes, or folded, both for impact and to create more surface area for information.

I’ve watched these changes take place over the last couple of decades. Most of the new designs are creative and eye-catching. But more than a few suffer from one glaring difficulty: they are difficult to read.

A truly talented designer takes readability into consideration. But so many designers ignore “best practices.” Their first priority is to make the card either pretty or attention-grabbing. In so doing they may make the following mistakes: they choose a font that has too many thin strokes that don’t show up well, particularly at small sizes. Or they are so concerned about cramming lots of text into that standard 3.5” x 2” space, that the size of the fonts are reduced to a size too small to read on the fly. Or they want a jazzy photo behind the text that is either too busy for the text on top of it to be read easily, or similarly, they choose a font color with insufficient contrast against the background image or photo. My own pet peeve is white lettering at 8 points or less against a busy photograph that isn’t dark enough for good contrast. Except for a tagline, I believe no text should be set at less than 10 points, even on a plain card.

When I taught design in another field, one of the models I used to teach my students was the concept of “Simplify and Exaggerate.” At high speed or great distance (both of which are characteristic of today’s society), it’s important to distill the most important aspects of a design to its simplest elements and then play up those elements so they get noticed and the message is transmitted clearly. Business cards should observe the same concept if they are to properly serve their purpose well.

I’m not saying some of the creativity I mentioned shouldn’t be used at all. But the point is not to over-design a business card. Let it speak for itself. Let it “breathe.” Most of all, make it readable.