For the love of whitespace

We know we’re in Haiti but, God bless the Swiss!!! The design world probably owes it to Switzerland for giving birth to the Swiss Style Graphic Design which gave the basis for our modern graphic design sense and how we perceive and use whitespace as designers.

But whitespace is more than just a design style that was attacked and defended in Switzerland. As often demonstrated in Whitespacelover, it’s a discipline. It’s everywhere and in everything we do. It’s the lull between melodies, the calm before a storm, the breath before an I love you too, the stillness in prayers and the silence that allows us to communicate. Whitespace is life!

Even if you’re not a designer, you still live in a world of whitespace! Here are 10 evidences, tips and tricks on why you live in whitespace and how you can deliberately see and tap into it.

1. Whitespace is responsible for comprehension. The gap between spoken and written words are whitespaces. Without it this entry would look like a mush of letters on your screen. Or worst Kate Beckinsale’s sexy voice would sound like mosquitoes raping termites in your ears!

2. The more whitespace there is in your apartment the more spacious it will look and the more restful the environment will be. Not to mention that it will look better in photos. Try clearing unnecessary items or grouping them in a corner to create more space.

Ref: http://ow.ly/4VGqN

3. In Taoism The Void is the state of nothingness from which all things become. Incidentally, whitespace is the design element that allows all other design elements to exist. Hmmm, cult of the designers anyone?

4. Your perception is greatly affected by whitespace. People tend to perceive something as elegant, classic or high-end in appearance when whitespace is mindfully applied in a design.

5. Whitespace is the ultimate something. What makes a Prestige bottle useful? It’s not the actual product we see but the empty space we can’t see that gives those brown bottles utility. Okay! A beer is useful too but don’t throw away your beer on Thirsty Thursdays for the sake of whitespace.

6. Essential designing principles such as “less is more” and Pareto’s Law, commonly known as 80-20 rule, are basically the wise use of whitespace.

7. If you want to design using the Swiss legacy, turn on the grid system in Photoshop (view>show>grid) and design like the Swiss Style Masters. Use ample gaps instead of separators to separate the elements in your layout.

8. A caution to designers. Amateur or clumsy use of whitespace could make a design look as if the graphic designer went lazy, resulting to an incomplete-looking work.

9. Apple, whether their designers are conscious or not, uses whitespace a lot in their OS interface, product design and ads. This naturally leads to an upscale image and a good end user result.

Ref: http://ow.ly/4VGuz

10. Design with whitespace in mind. Premeditate the space you’re given before starting to work. Our designers here at PubliGestion do it by roughly sketching a layout on a paper. They use shapes and lines to assign graphic elements their proper position in the layout.

Publicité et Métaphysique

Pour cette nouvelle entrée sur le blog, il m’a été proposé de vous entretenir sur un éventuel lien qui existerait entre la publicité et la métaphysique.

A l’évocation même de ce thème, j’en vois certains qui écarquillent des yeux incrédules, car, doivent-ils se demander quel lien possible peut exister entre « un juif et un samaritain » ou, en d’autres termes, entre la publicité, discipline « matérialiste » par excellence, chevauchant entre la communication, les sciences de la gestion et l’économie, dont le but est de fixer l'attention d’une cible visée (consommateur, utilisateur, usager, électeur, etc.) pour l'inciter à adopter un comportement souhaité : achat d'un produit, élection d'une personnalité politique, incitation à l'économie d'énergie et la métaphysique, branche de la philosophie (ou de la théologie) menant des investigations sur l’âme immatérielle, l’existence, les principes premiers, le bonheur, le sens de la vie…

Et, pardonnez-moi, chers amis lecteurs, si je suis tenté de partir de mes propres expériences comme hypothèses pour dégager des pistes de réflexions, que chacun se proposera selon ses humeurs de débroussailler par la suite….

Je suis en effet concepteur-rédacteur à PubliGestion, ce qui veut dire en termes clairs que je conçois des projets publicitaires, des spots, des scénarii, des campagnes globales, et tout comme le philosophe ou le métaphysicien, je m’isole dans mon esprit, immatériel et impalpable, pour penser et créer. L’acte de création ou de conceptualisation en soi est un exercice métaphysique, à l’origine duquel d’ailleurs je pose des questions critiques tant sur le produit, ses propriétés, son incidence ou le sens qu’il est susceptible de donner à l’existence de ma cible. Mes interrogations déboucheront également sur une définition factuelle du bien-être ou du bonheur, tant individuel que collectif.

Comme en métaphysique donc, mon travail quotidien m’invite souvent à (me) poser des questions pertinentes, sauf que, pour ce qui concerne mon domaine, les questions se posent dans le but précis de définir une action concrète qui tend à la satisfaction immédiate des besoins de ma cible.

Kanga, Concepteur-Rédacteur à PG

To be or not to be

So, it’s Happy Monday again. We hope the weekend smiled back (as it did for us) and that you are all full of energy and passion in a clear mind.

Today’s post is a note a colleague of mine left on my desk this morning…I figured I’d share.

I know you are a busy bee, she writes, but please take a time to read this. It could make the difference between “good” and “fantastic” social media:

Be responsive: By responding quickly to feedback, you will create a strong presence. Always tell yourself, If not now, when? In communication and exchanges, immediacy is golden. Procrastination in responding will make conversations loose momentum and have fans loose interest.

Be authentic: (Taken directly from Apple’s OS dictionary) (Be) of undisputed origin; genuine and original • base (your entries) on facts; (be) accurate and reliable • (Everything you post) should relate to or denote an emotionally appropriate, significant, purposive, and responsible mode of human life.

Be open-minded: Embrace cultural diversities…Social media is another way of saying “citizen of the world” media. Did you know that Pink in Japan had a masculine connotation?

Be transparent: Do not lie. I repeat, do not lie. Be honest with your audience. Never put yourself in a position where you have to lie. Remember it takes 1000 lies to cover up for the first one.

Be boldly original and confident: Think right brain. Plan and act with the left.

Be all of these BEs, and you shall prosper she signed.

Need we say more?

Have a wonderful week!