Writing - Map

December 9, 2024

John’s Top 4 Monogram Logos

It's almost impossible for a graphic designer to pick his or her favorite logo. How does one even decide between a word mark, a pictorial logo, or an emblem? There are too many variables. To make it easier, John narrowed his logo options to just monograms. Below, he describes the reason for each of his top 4 monogram logo selections below.

Number 4
While most of favorite monogram logos were created by well-known designers in the 1950's and 1960's, the CNN logo was designed in 1980 by the late Anthony Guy Bost. Relatively unknown in the design world, Bost was a professor at the University of Auburn, hired by an Atlanta-based ad agency called Communication Trends. CNN founder Ted Turner liked the idea of a monogram with a line through the letters, which reminded him of a cable connecting the characters. I've always liked how easy it is to read, while being somewhat abstract at the same time. It kind of reminds me of the NASA "worm logo," which also has quite a nostalgic brand following. Unlike the NASA logo, though, the CNN logo has withstood the test of time.

Number 3
It's no coincidence that one of my favorite monogram logos was created by one of my favorite designers — Paul Rand. Rand was one of the first Americans to promote the use of Swiss modernism in graphic design, which is why so many of his logos have stayed relevant for so long. They have a universal appeal to them, in my opinion. Unfortunately, UPS saw their expansion from package delivery as a reason to update their brand, and this logo was butchered in 2014. It's a real shame, since most people still associate UPS with delivery, and the original logo had so much more character to it.

Number 2
Look who makes the Top 4 list twice! Did I mention that Paul Rand is one of the most influential logo designers of all time? Rand believed that a logo needed to be designed with the "utmost simplicity and restraint" to stand the test of time. It doesn't get simpler than the IBM logo – Three uppercase letters, made up of 8 horizontal bars. The IBM logo looks as fresh today as it did in 1956.

Number 1
Herbert Matter was a Swiss-born American photographer and graphic designer that taught at Yale University from 1952 to 1976. Paul Rand (see 2 and 3 above) said, "the absence of pomposity was characteristic of this guy." And that's also how I like to look at Matter's work. Bold, modern, and straightforward are all words that come to mind when I look at my favorite monogram logo design of all time. The extended geometry of the serifs represent the cross-section of a railroad, creating a perfect visual metaphor. Apparently, Matter drew over 100 sketches before he arrived at the final solution, and I believe it — perfection takes time.

November 16, 2024

Attention, Please!

Build brand awareness and loyalty without distracting your audience.

By definition, branding is a marketing tool used to promote an organization. It allows businesses to illustrate the values they stand for, and helps to differentiate them from the competition. A compelling brand creates meaningful connections with the intended audience, gains customer loyalty, and increases sales. Historically, branding made good business sense.

Today, brands rely on many new technologies to reach potential customers. Unfortunately, some leverage invasive techniques that lead to dangerous levels of engagement and decreases our ability to focus. Constant interruptions, combined with other aspects of Surveillance Capitalism, are stealing one of life’s most valuable assets — time. In this way, businesses utilize branding as a way to detract from their audience’s quality of life. It’s important to understand how we got here in order for brands to create solutions that attract customers in the future, rather than distract them.

Learn More

August 8, 2024

Crossing the Great Digital Divide

In 2005, I worked in the basement of the Byrd Library at Syracuse University. My job was to help students load the microfilm machines. Microfilm was already outdated, but I enjoyed the physical nature of thumbing through the card catalog, jotting down the call number, and locating the tiny white box among aisles of stocked shelves. I’d align the sprocket holes of the film, flip the light switch on, and spin the reel to the first article.

“All set,” I would say, “just turn the knob to the right if you want to fast-forward.” I took pride in mastering this antiquated database, and gladly accepted $5.15 an hour for my services.

If the technology wasn’t enough of a symbolic divide, a long row of black filing cabinets separated the microfilm machines from the Apple computers at the other end of the Media Center. It was always busier on that side, and I was curious about what people accomplished with the new technology. I remember thinking, could I learn Photoshop CS? I gave myself 6 months to figure it out — At the time, it was a goal that seemed just out of reach.

Fast-forward 20 years and a similar, though metaphorical, divide exists in my family today. Every weekend, we go to my in-laws’ house for a traditional Sunday dinner. There are two grandparents, six parents, and seven cousins between the ages of six and fifteen. On one side of the divide are those of us that sit around the dinner table chatting. My wife’s mother, whom we affectionately refer to as “Mimi,” and I discuss books that we’ve recently read. Stolen Focus, by Johann Hari, is a recent example. Mimi, whose Italian father served in WWII, was interested in the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Looking around the room, I quietly mentioned his discovery that staring at screens provides the lowest amount of “Flow.”¹Our discussions are always deep and insightful. I usually learn something new.

It’s ironic, of course, that as one group engages in conversation, the other stares intently at their mobile devices. Sometimes inches away on the same couch, the adults in this group endlessly scroll through Facebook and Instagram, or swipe through the latest viral TikTok videos. The kids will play video games, text, or Facetime their friends. I can’t help but wonder, which group is missing out? Should I learn to communicate with emojis?

At Syracuse, I was initially reluctant to learn about the tools on the digital side of the basement. Eventually I did, though, and that educational leap began my journey to becoming a graphic designer. Should I cross a similar bridge today? After noticing the division within my own family — and equipped with a rudimentary understanding of the technology that causes distraction — I recently conducted an experiment. I revealed to one of the family members that I had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. I may have had it for years, I exclaimed. Looking up from her phone blankly, but not directly at me, my subject simply replied, “That sucks.” Her eyes darted across the room, then straight back to her screen. (Perhaps she didn’t read any fiction novels in her youth, I concluded.) Having received what I deemed the incorrect amount of empathy, I pulled the iPhone out of my back pocket and began scrolling. I needed to check how many hearts my most recent Instagram post received.

July 16, 2024

Confessions of a Professional Procrastinator

My name is John, and I’m a procrastinator. I openly admit to this apparent character flaw because, as a graphic designer, I’ve worked alongside an Olympic-sized roster of procrastinators. We’ll come up with any excuse to delay a project. Ask any designer how much time it takes to complete a specific assignment, and you’ll get the same response: “How much time do you have?” Putting things off is kind of our MO.

I accepted that procrastination was a part of my occupational DNA a long time ago. And, after 20 years of practice, I’ve become damn good at it. You can, too. For all the aspiring creative procrastinators, here’s a few confessions you might find insightful to becoming a pro like me.

I Dally Every Day

Whenever I don’t feel like working, I run. I like to consider running my dally habit — it’s how I delay getting started on challenging creative problems. Do you need to run to procrastinate successfully? Hardly. But, for a dally habit to be productive it needs to be achievable, and it needs to be carried out every single day. Commitment turns a dally habit into a keystone habit — a small, easy-to-achieve victory that contributes to more significant changes in one’s life.¹ Yoga is a fine keystone habit, but fishing works just as well. Put things off with intention, and you’re well on your way to making procrastination worthwhile.

I Lose Focus, On Purpose

It can be painfully difficult to separate work from life. I try to, though. For instance, I don’t have any thoughtful or creative agenda when I run. I just run. My mind bounces from subject to subject. Inevitably, I will start to think about a recent project. If I’m lucky, my mind-wandering connects unexpected dots, and a new idea emerges. As Hari puts it in Stolen Focus, “Many breakthroughs don’t happen during periods of focus, they happen during mind-wandering.”² Creatives, rejoice. This is why keystone habits don’t include activities like watching TV, doom-scrolling through Facebook, or reading a book. Ironically, those activities take too much attention.³ Turns out, letting my mind wander increases the chance that I develop a breakthrough creative concept. That’s reason enough for me to keep losing my focus.

My Ideas Suck, at First

Whenever I kick off a new project, my anxiety level immediately skyrockets. Is there enough time to develop an original solution? The first few ideas are almost always crap, so I make a point to write them down (or sketch them out) instantly. By getting the first-level thoughts on paper, I free my brain to explore unexpected solutions. As Michael Beirut, Partner at design firm Pentagram, suggests, "Somewhere along the way an idea for the design pops into my head out of the blue."⁴ Getting started right away may seem like the antithesis of procrastination, but eliminating bad ideas allows me to procrastinate when I can’t focus.

Being creative isn’t easy. With a seemingly infinite number of possible solutions, getting started is the hardest part. If you’re going to procrastinate, you might as well do it in a way that’s productive to your problem-solving process. Develop an obtainable habit that allows you to get away from work when you get distracted. Allow your mind to lose focus and wander, by giving your brain the mental space it needs to sort things out and make abstract connections. And damn it, get those shitty ideas out of your head immediately. That’s how I do it, anyway. After all, pros need to get paid, and you’ll never finish any project you haven’t started.