Posted by Jeff Young on January 27th, 2010 
1 Comment
Sometimes, to keep myself sane during long work days, I tend to doodle and draw — it’s just what I do and have done since a wee lad.
I was going through some old notebooks and found a few characatures of some co-workers I sketched.
More to come …
Posted by Ben Watts on January 19th, 2010 Comments Off
I swear these wallpapers are going to lose their 76-theme sometime soon. In the meantime, here’s a blue monstrosity of triangles intermingled with the 76 explosion.
1920×1200 download.
Posted by Brett Tackaberry on January 15th, 2010 1 Comment
How many people does it take to handle the crux that is a paper jam? Turns out – all 9 of us housed in the pit of 76design. In a surge of energy usually reserved for client work, we turned our attention to a self-imposed initiative. Three hours of diligence produces a product, a history behind the product, and a website dedicated to solving an issue that riddles offices across the plant. It’s with our pleasure that we introduce PC Loadletter’s Paper Jam: the real full-page spread.
Posted by stevestpierre on January 13th, 2010 2 Comments
Often times, I’m convinced I was born in the wrong time. Maybe it’s because I watched a few too many episodes of Mad Men over the last couple years (yep, I’m an industry cliché), or because my stereo really only rotates Sam Cooke records (ok, and Counting Crows). But it’s safe to say I have a passion for the past, and believe it or not – that bodes well for design. Knowing where you came from, both personally and professionally, is a surefire way of keeping you grounded, and something that’s often lost on these young whippersnappers using every Photoshop filter in the book and calling it ‘good design’.
(Don’t get me wrong, I love bevel and emboss as much as the next, guy – stick with me here.)
Take a look at ‘
Final Marks‘ , an incredible documentary from 1978 on lettercutting. There’s no filter for that! That’s dilligence! That’s focus! That’s passion! There’s no rushing when you’re carving someone’s name into a gravestone. There’s careful planning involved and then the task itself, getting in there with the right tools, getting dust in your eyes, knicks on your hands, all sorts of good stuff – it’s all part of the process.
And that has put me into a decent mindset for the year. I’ve already read a Chapters (or Borders) worth of design books, trying to get whatever edge, but there’s more research to be done into how I (and all designers, for that matter) can become better at what we do. Yes, the focus is always on the finished work, but I think it’s about time we take a step back and focus on the process.
Craftsmanship. Attention to detail. Design is more than choosing colours and typefaces. It’s how all the shapes fit together. Every little pixel communicates something. We’re no different than these guys cutting into stone – except for, you know, the cushy chairs, widescreen monitors, and tablets the size of a kitchen table. Appreciate the process more. I’m not saying that consumers need to think about the poor letterspacing on their taco menu – but that designers and account people alike should understand ‘good design’ rarely comes from a snap of the fingers and the “create logo” filter in Photoshop.
These days, we can’t live by the adage of ‘slow and steady’ – but I think we can make ‘brisk and steady’ work.
Posted by Ben Watts on January 12th, 2010 Comments Off
Happy Tuesday night, here’s a wallpaper!
Oh snap! See what I did there?
1920×1200 download
Posted by Brett Tackaberry on January 8th, 2010 2 Comments
A good friend of ours and past comrade, Matt Wallace of paradisal.ca fame, a stock-photography agency, is launching his annual Paradisal* poster design contest.
There is no cost to enter. The winners get 25% of each sale once they’re printed, a $300 gift certificate for use at www.paradisal.ca and 5 printed copies of their design and 1 of the other winning design. Last year there were 64 submissions with entries coming in from all over the world.
Maybe 76design will simply enter the results of our Aural Design Challenge.
Last year’s winner
