The use of photography in graphic design had its birth way long ago, back in late 1920 decade, when Herbert Bayer, after leaving Bauhaus school, where he was the teacher of  “Print and advertising Workshop”, started to study the interconnections between “advertising science” and psychology.
He started then to integrate photos in his work, with montages and screens, in order to give more dynamics and expressiveness to his creations and make of them what he called “an architectural framework“.
Those really were first photo montages of graphic design history.

In our days, with the use of computer graphics the use of pictures in any kind of job is a must.

Recently I’ve read an article in a blog that stated: “it is useless to spend a lot of time in Stock Photography websites to search for the right shot while you possibly have a nice camera and you can do the shot yourself”.
I personally STRONGLY disagree with this point of view.
Unless you are an experienced photographer yourself, I firmly believe that a paid job is not the moment to make experiments and play with the brand reputation of your customer!

An image in a website, in advertising or any other printed composition is never just a “shot”.
It has, in a first instance, the task to grab attention.
It has then to engage, beautify, tell a story, create desire, and all of this it must be done being consistent with the image of the brand.
To make it short “it has to sell”.

Your photography necessarily must be “professional”: if photography misses the mark, your brand message will be diluted, if not damaged!
After you’ve spent so much time brainstorming about a message that compels, it must be supported by compelling imagery.
Notice also that if you need your image for printing, professional quality is necessary to guarantee quality reproduction.
Never think customers won’t notice it: they will, whether consciously or not.

Furthermore, if you use photos with people you NEED to have the Model Release, a legal document signed by subjects portrayed, that grants you the permission to use and publish the photo.
I have read a lot of times on various design groups on Usenet, both about people that got into trouble because they used a picture without legal permission and others that were bragging about suing others because they used one of their shots, so, I always use professional stock photography.
A thing you have to know, however, are the differences between various kind of licenses:

• Royalty Free is the most common and affordable license type, often called just RF. As the name says, you can use the image purchased as many times as you want without paying an additional royalty. They have usually good prices, that may vary according to the company of your choice. The only downside is that these images are not exclusive.
• Rights Managed license (or RM) gives you exclusive (but time-limited) use of a stock image. This means that if you buy this kind of license you are the only one to use the image in the period specified in the contract. Photos can be used only for one project and for a period of time, sometimes even only on specified geographical areas. This is an expensive licence, but it protect you brand from competition using the same image.
• Extended/ Enhanced licenses. Not every company offers this kind of licenses, which extends the use of a previously licensed work. You have thus the permission to increase the printed copies featuring the image, to use it for resale purposes or for other method of distribution. It is advised to carefully read the contract, as uses allowed vary from company to company.
• Subscription. This is pretty new, it is not available everywhere also, but this kind of offer is quickly expanding. You pay a monthly fee, often choosing among different price plans, and you can download a set number of photos of your choice. This is probably the best deal if you have to download images often. As a plus, you usually have no limitation about the use.

Here are the stock photo companies that, to my opinion, offer the best value for money:

Getty Images

Probably one of the most famous and one of the first to offer licensed images, since 1995. According to what they say, every months about 4 million people utilizes their website. You find there award winning images, illustrations and even videos and music. Their new offers are The Flickr and the Vector collections.

Thinkstock

A great offer for a great value. They have subscription plans that allows you to download up to 25 images a day in a database that has millions of images.

Jupiterimages

Another huge collection of photos of famous photographers and a lot of niche collections. They often propose discount. Actually you can have 10% discount with the promo code in the home page.

To finish, some sample images from these websites:

Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder but functionality’s got to be a slam-dunk.
If it’s a store, it should be obvious how to buy stuff, right?
It’s a rare ecommerce site that combines beauty with utility. Some of our favorites are below – in no particular order. But remember: a website is only as functional as its hosting service.
So if you sell things online, it’s critical to find a reliable ecommerce web hosting company.

• Threadless: http://www.threadless.com/

This German company expands its core audience by offering an English version of the website.
Attractive splash page offers community and interactive features (like submitting your own tee design or voting for your favorite shirt) but lets the user who wants to cut right to the chase with links to the online store.

• Shoe Guru: http://shoeguru.ca/

No ambiguity whatsoever about what this site is selling!
The photographs on this site will turn even the most shoe-adverse into Carrie Bradshaw. Seamless navigation lets you go very deep into the site almost instantly. Our only quibble: It takes four clicks before you get to the page where you can actually buy something.

• Habitat Shoe Boutique: http://www.habitatshoes.com/

Another online shoe store with a crisp clean look that offers users not just the opportunity to browse and fall in love, but also the ability to hunt down something they’re looking for through a search box on the very first page.
Clueless and shoeless?
Then you’ll want to check out the Habitat’s Trend section (through a link on the splash page) devoted entirely to the hottest new looks. The site also allows users to compile their very own Wish Lists.

• Emptees: http://emptees.com/

Okay, this company loses points by having a name that’s not only ambiguous but, if you think about it for any length of time, is actually a deterrent to the “call for action” that all effective ecommerce is about. But once you get the website, it’s a stunner: The photos of the tees alongside the graphic art displayed upon them is so eye-catching it immediately makes you want to look some more.
You can personalize the site by creating your own account – and it’s a club most definitely any hip person – Emptees’ target audience, obviously – would like to join.

• Itself: http://www.hereitself.com/

We like this website for its minimalist design and the fact that you can start shopping on the entry page. The fish bait leads: “Free shipping on orders over $60!” Hey, we’ll spend $65! It also announces right upfront that its shopping cart is a secure technology. In these days of massive insecurity over identity theft and economic downturns, it’s always a good thing to let prospective customers know their money is safe with you.

• Fugitive Toys: http://fugitivetoys.com/

First of all, the name is just terrific. It lets you know your purchase is more than just a purchase – it’s an opt-in lifestyle.
It doesn’t get “stickier” than that. Customers will be returning to this website again and again and again.
The pricing breakdown is a terrific customer-friendly tool, as is the links to various social media on the right hand side of the page because these are purchases customers will definitely want to talk about.

Honorable Mentions:

Tilly Moss: http://tillymoss.com/

This site’s outstanding graphics will make you long to buy the product — even if you have no idea what a “sleeve” actually is.

Shop Curious: http://www.shopcurious.com/

The text is wobbly and hard to read, but we really like the eye-catching, diagonal graphic on the upper left.

Little Catwalk: http://www.little-catwalk.com/

Photographs could be somewhat better, but we the concept of lifestyle magazine content will draw perspective purchasers in.

Bridge 55: http://www.bridge55.com/

Great site in every way but one: the graphic underlying the product slideshow — a crumbling wall — is really a turn-off.

The Brazilian design studio PS2 created this beautiful self promotional typographic memory card game.

This concentration game consist of 20 pairs of card, each one with a different type family.

Set has some extra cards with a typographical glossary and the explanation of the sentence that names the gift: “the quick brown fox jumps to over the lazy dog”.
The package also contains a text about the evolution of type design, locating in history each font used in the cards.

Set is the annual gift to customers and friends of the graphic design universe and of the agency and comes in a limited edition of 300 numbered copies.

JUST BRILLIANT.

Some Spec:
Principal Type: Univers Condensed, by Adrian Frutiger
Paper: Condat Silk + Matte
Colors: Pantone
Finishing: Lustre Lamination + Die Cut

Click to view a larger image

Hi people. Here I am again after more than a month of isolation (I’ve had to change my pc and requested to my ISP an upgrade of my ADSL – wich I never received).
First of all I want to thank all of my readers, that kept on visiting this website in search of new articles.

The one I’m going to publish today was written before my old pc broke.
I admit it is not a fresh news now, however, when I wrote it I did it a lot of research, and you can see and read here things you can’t easily find somewhere else. I think I did a rather good job. Any comment is always appreciated.

Some days ago (it was 25th march when I was writing) I received from Citroën itself the email you can see in the screenshot above (Who told them I need to change my car?).

Here it is its message:

“CITROËN REINVENTS ITSELF.

CRÉATIVE TECHNOLOGIE.
Creativity and technology. Innovation. Ecologic performance. These are our proofs.

CITROËN is a strong culture.
CITROËN is a relationship.
CITROËN is ambition.
CITROËN is a vision.

A brand is a promise. A great brand is a kept promise.

Discover New Brand Image”

An impressive message, I admit it.
Last line of it lead to flash website www.creativetechnologie.com.

To celebrate the 90th anniversary, the motor manufacturer has not only redesigned its logotype but completely aims to reinvent itself. After enduring a difficult period the brand flourished stronger than ever starting from 2000 and currently is the third-largest French automobile brand.
CITROËN now introduces the new course with this website to its customer (well, even to potential one it seems).

Prepare yourself: website is quite heavy even if you choose the low broadband version, however, it really worth to see its videos about rallies, innovation and ecology (I’m not sure if they are available in all languages).

Showroom, which are a key factor in managing relationship with customers, have been completely redesigned, a new series of cars, the DS series, is about to be launched starting from the upcoming Geneva Motor Show and it is said that 6 new models will be introduced in next 3 years.

Talking about what’s strictly related to us, new identity surely is a good upgrade of the previous one.
Logo typography has some sci-fi and futuristic trait, but really leaves nothing to chance and it’s like its newly acquired soft curves makes a perfect match with the soft pronunciation of the name of the brand.
I am a bit puzzled, nevertheless, about the 3D rendered design of the 2 chevron.
Beautiful, no doubt about it, probably designed to appear prominently on new media, but I’m old school, and I’ve always known that a good logo has to look good first of all black and white, so I would like to see how it prints in a fax too.
Just curious.
I am pretty sure Landor made a perfect Corporate Identity Manual with all possible version of the logo, even a 2D one for such uses.

For those who wants to know a little history, these are the milestone of the brand and two chevrons:

• in 1919 André Citroën founded the brand and released the Type A. The iconic chevrons made their first apparition on the radiator shell, to reference Citroën’s early work on double helical gears, however, official logo was a blue and yellow type;
• a badge with the graphic of the Type A radiator shell was made and Citroën gave the French government 150 000 branded road signs bearing it;
• The Traction Avant range of 1934 abandoned the double-chevron badge. Its production bankrupted Citroën;
• André Citroën died in 1934;
• Flaminio Bertoni designed in 1955 the famous two chevron logo recently redesigned by Landor;
• In 1985, official colors was changed: from André Citroën’s preferred blue and yellow to red and white.

A 1920 image with the first logo. Andrè Citroen was the first to use the Tour Eiffel as a giant billboard.

The 1934 Citroen Traction Avant that almost bankrupted the company

Here it is again the list of my 10 favorite readings of the week.
Let’s start.

• Most brilliant is new Zippo advertising campaign. Even if message clearly exaggerate the amount of space taken by discarded lighters, it shows an interesting point of view that probably few of us had considered before. Read a full article on StillAd ;
• Most Useful is The 13 most essential plugin for WordPress by Net-tuts. Even if I don’t agree to all of them because I think some plugin in list are not strictly necessary (don’t forget that each plugin you activate eats resources and slows a bit your wordpress!), there are some I didn’t know. I would add to list Login Lockdown: detect and record IP addresses of every failed login attempt and if more than a certain number of attempts are detected within a short period of time from the same IP range, then the login function is disabled for all requests from that range;
  
• Most stunning is Step into my Cardboard Office from CR Blog. Their article tells about Nothing, a new Amsterdam creative agency that built its internal working spaces with cardboard. Article has plenty of amazing pictures of the studio;
• Most funny is Comments you won’t have seen by DavidAirey.com. I read this clever and wit blog very often and surely there are a lot of graphic design post to point out (I especially like the “Logo of the month” series), but this one was, really, exhilarating;
• Most Interesting is Achieve your goals with Incremental Persistence. I’ve found this article on DevLounge. Very powerful explanation about how persistence conquers all. You can’t miss the linked John Reese article on Income.com too;
• Most Beautiful is a showcase of SmashingMagazine of 40 typography-related websites and blogs. Astounding creativity and a lot of knowledge here;
• Most Inspiring is a DesignM.ag Showcase about landscape photography. Incredibly, the shot of the cypresses has been taken not far away from where I live. Those trees are really famous among photographers here;
• Most Valuable is The Ups and Downs of Business by Chris Tomlison. I’ve found by chance this 5th and last article of an interesting series, so, my advice is to read them all;
• My favorite artist is Jay Horinouchi creates dreamy and intriguing worlds filled with Japanese-inspired creatures. Amazing painting technique. He is having a solo exhibition at Möbius Gallery in Los Angeles until April 7, 2009.

It is possible that my couple of reader will think that I am a soft drink addicted now (if so I Would never tell, LOL), but surely I couldn’t let this news unnoticed.

Coca-Cola launched about a month ago a limited edition design for the Coca-Cola Light bottle. And a very coool and eye-catching one, I have to say.

Bottles have been styled by Natalye Rykiel, daughter of the talented end eclectic French stylist Sonia Rykiel, ex model, actually art director of the family griffe.

Rykiel’s creations mark the 20th anniversary of Coke Light and the 40th year of her mother’s fashion house.

Lovely colored Diet Coke bottles are customized according the typical style of Nathalie Rykiel, the same way some time ago was done by Roberto Cavalli and Patricia Field.
Cavalli embellished 300,000 bottles with three of his typical animal prints.

Patricia Field edition (the designer became famous because she was the costumer of “Sex and the City”) had four color designs, that aimed to represent some aspects of a woman life: Career (gold), Love (pink), Passion, and, naturally, Fashion (the light blue bottle).

Nathalie Rykiel collectors bottles are sold at Monoprix and Grand Epicerie de Paris for 1,25 Euros (about 1,60 USD) but in EBAY there already is collector war, and there are some sold for 15 Euros and more!

Visit official Coke website presentation of the design HERE.

I really wonder if out there there are some of us that never had the frustration of a rejected work.
Lucky few guys!

For the rest of us Matt Gustavsen and Justin Hastings created Project Never competition.

It may be true that a lot of design concept gets rejected for (probably) a good reason, but many times worthy ideas are condemned to oblivion just because: “Ehh…this is good, but this is not what we had in mind” or : “we’re not going in that direction”.

Very frustrating.
Although this could be the obvious end of a poorly defined Design Brief (always be aware and take care of this point!) it is also true that sometimes it happens that customers don’t have any idea at all of what they want and we end up that we have to throw away our work and restart again.

Here it comes Project Never, which aims to give to all discarded designs all the fame they deserves.

Let’s summarize:

• award is open to all print and and web design concepts developed between January 1, 2007 and December 1, 2008;
• to all countries (but obviously they have to be presented in english);
• deadline is 1st december 2008;
• winner will be announced on 1st march 2009.

All rules and details are available on the website of the competition, the only fee is the willingness to be slapped in the face once again. ^__^

PROJECT NEVER
Rejection never felt this good.

This Sunday, I’ll list my 10 favourite websites of the week.
They may include articles, video and portfolios.
Let’s start.

• Most Comprehensive is Your Rights as a Photographer by Tutorial9.net: a complete and extensive guide about commercial and legal rights when you use your fotocamera, there also are two downloadable samples of models releases;

• Most Creative is A little something to remind me… by CR Blog that shows how photographer Michael Hughes renew the concept of tourist attractions in his new book Souvenirs, where he take a shot of a postcard of them, skillfully merged with the real view;

• Most Outrageous is Shavethepussy.com. Yes, as the name says, you have all the tools to shave a pussy and get a score to win the foam/moisturizer set. Honestly, I didn’t understand if this site was made to really promote the set or the amazing mastery of the flash design, but one thing for sure it gets noticed!!;

• Most Funny is Make my logo bigger video on YouTube. How often customers obstruct us from doing our work with request of the kind: “I want my logo bigger”, “All of that white space is wasted”, “I want more colors”?. Well, it has been created a new set of tools right for this purpose.

• Most Useful is How to Write An Effective Design Brief By JCD Blog. Starting from the definition of design brief itself it analyzes what goals of design could be, then it draws a roadmap through target market, design specifications, benchmark and deadline.

• Most Interesting is Typographic Nostalgia: Bell Centennial by Speak Up. This article talks of the creation of the typeface Bell Centennial, used for the AT&T telephone book, as an update of old Bell Gothic. A lot of good pics of the rare booklet that illustrate the process.

• Most Beautiful is The beauty of old maps by Design Daily. I just love vintage photos and illustrations. Period.

• Most Valuable is 10 Timeless Business Tips From 10 Millionaires by Quick Sprout. From venture capital to savings, from starting a business to investing in ourselves.

• My favourite portfolio: Philipp Zurmoehle at http://www.phillennium.com/ is a fine and creative graphic and web designer from Norway.

Some years ago I made a set of four advertising (I realized both visual and copy) for a branch of a press agency that deals technology and computer gadgets.
They all (but one) were two pages wide and were going to have nationwide diffusion (for those who don’t know I am in Italy).

The reason I am writing about this is that few days ago I was leafing through a technology magazine when it happened, to my great surprise, that I saw one of those old adverts (and to be more exact, the one you can see a detail in the pic above).
As far as I’ve always known all advertising campaign have their life cycle: customer gets attracted and interested in products thanks to the freshness of the message, than desire and acquire (you know … the old good A.I.D.A. formula …).
So, when customer already knows your visual and he is already accustomed to it, your message higly risks to get unnoticed.
I am pretty sure the result of each campaign has always been benchmarked by that company so, if they keep on publishing that advert it can only mean one thing: IT KEEPS ON SELLING.

This whole story inspired me some insights that I want to share in this article.

• Good Design Tells a Story.
  Design IS communication, and spending your hours with your tools just to make a composition look better or to refine your tecnique is useless. No one of the element of design should be gratuitous, everyone of them must convey your message. It doesn’t? Discard it. Never forget the old rule LESS IS MORE.
• It all starts by the definition of a “concept”.
  I know of a lot of colegues that when they are going to start a new project brainstorm by jotting down everything comes to their mind then refine in a second time. I work in a different way. I start defining a creative concept that should describe client and product. Something daring that I want to hook the customer. Something different and new.
  The case in example was particularly challenging: how many online technology and gadgets shops already exists? How could I been able to compel customers to get there?
  To make things even more difficult target audience of adverts were a lot heterogeneous because they were going to be featured not only on business and high-end tech mag, but on newbies magazines too.
• You got to reach your customer “emotionally”.
  Best feature of the client was that he offeres often rare to find tech gadgets and solutions, so, the starting principle of all four adverts I developed was the he provides products that make life easier. As a plus, to contrast with “cold” technology I wanted my message to be strongly emotional.
  Watch in the pic above and you already know the direction I took. I choose a photo of a happy grandfather and child, imagining the first whispering to the second about a secret place where he would have bought some unique and rare to find gift.
  
• Colors have to be active element of your composition.
  They never-ever have to be casual. Colors communicate as much as visuals itself, I’m of the opinion that every designer should learn the power of a correct use of color. I often like to desaturate the scene and leave color to the element I want it to have emotional impact, but this is not a set rule.

It makes one week that Creative Freelancer Conference (an event from HOW MAGAZINE) in Chicago closed its doors.

As its crew itself defines it, it was “the first gathering of its kind, covering marketing, client retention, proposals, contracts, time management, work/life balance … everything the solopreneur needs to know, by creative-business experts who’ve built successful solo careers themselves”.

As stated in the official Website more than 200 creative attended the first edition of this event, where all aspects of a creative business where covered.

If you regret you missed the conference (I do, too, but I’m in Italy, not exactly round the corner after all!) you got to know that now all the resources, links, slides and speeches have been uploaded to the event official BLOG.
This is a real collection of business and creative ideas for solopreneurs that anyone should read!
Let’s only hope this blog will keep on staying alive!

If you want to visit the Creative Freelancer Conference event Website click HERE, while if you want to go to their resurceful blog click HERE.