Business cards are one of the most popular personal marketing tools for anyone who is meeting a lot of people in a professional context, and it’s no wonder – they’re portable, affordable, versatile and people actually expect you to use them!  Yet more than 90% of business cards wind up in the trash the day they’re received.  What a waste!

Business card design is more than just the look of the card, although that’s important – it includes the text on the card as well.  And to get the most mileage from business cards, you should also design them with marketing in mind.

Long gone are the days when you simply handed over a white piece of paper with your name and contact info on it to potential clients. Nowadays, who do you think clients will call first, the guy with his name on a sheet of paper or this other one with her name engraved in this colorful plastic wonder?

In this collection we present more than 20 beautiful business card designs for inspiration, we hope they’ll give you some ideas and inspiration for your next design project!

1. Business Card Design Concept Render by Stephan Florquin

2. Business card idea by mitch2004

3. Business Card Design by R3M1X3D

4. .:Indus Tuesdays:. by MolefaceNZ

5. Business Card Design by Popcorn Initiative

6. E kwiat by RadASS

7. Sorin Bechira and Adrian Labos

8. Osram Invitation by mohamedsaleh

9. Flisky do net business cards by flisk

10. Business Card Design by Hidden Creative

11. Sketchbot biz card by Sketch guy

12. acidGFX business cards by AC-1D

13. .:xplicit business cards:. by 7UR

14. business cards by kpucu

15. Muymra business cards by loc0

16. Just Creative Design Business Card by Jacob Cass

17. Viewzi by SuperWindy

18.ODD BUSINESS CARD VERSION 2 by MolefaceNZ

19. akira business cards render by daan-rutgers

20. Business Card Design by XTR Design

21. pfd business cards v3 by crezo

22. Jason Woan

Author : Roldan O. Roldan

Feed provided by tripwrire magazine, Visit this post here: Permalink

“There is no specific London style.” At least that’s what the ‘Super Contemporary’ show at London’s Design Museum proclaims. During an exploration of London’s art and design scene in September 2009, what did emerge was a city with a unique sense of its own personality and history, a fertile hub of international thinkers, and a community working towards a future that is designed to be interactive, environmentally responsible, and prosperous.

Here is a look at the visual personality of London, based on visits to the city’s major art museums, attendance at the 2009 London Design Festival, and interviews with artists and designers who call the great city home.

Identity of a City

Street Style

Neville Brody served as Art Director at The Face and Arena.

London magazines including The Face, i-D, Blitz, and Arena became major influences on international design during the eighties and nineties. The Face was known as a showcase of London street style and experimental graphic design during Neville Brody’s tenure as Art Director from 1982-86. Brody incorporated hand-drawn typefaces and custom graphic symbols into his page layouts. His work for The Face – and later, Arena – put an emphasis on striking photography, the impact of simplicity, and occasionally jarring juxtapositions of text and imagery. Brody is responsible for fonts including Industria (designed for The Face) and Arcadia (designed for Arena).

Geography

Supermundane’s ‘Truman’ font, based on the bricks of the Truman Brewery tower

One example of a physical representation of London in design is the Truman font designed by illustrator and designer Supermundane, a.k.a. Rob Lowe. The font is based on the iconic tower of the Truman Brewery, located in East London. “The reason I did that was because I couldn’t believe anybody else hadn’t done it,” Mr. Lowe says of the project. “(The tower) is just sittin’ there!”

Public street signage around town.

London as an International Hub

London is a metropolis that is proud to be composed of international residents and ideas. The 2009 London Design Festival featured a great diversity of artistic fields (product design, furniture design, digital media) represented by artists from all over the world. The ‘Make Believe’ show presented by Goldsmiths, University of London featured emerging designers who came to London from locales including India, California, Switzerland and Bangkok. All designers seemed to bring their unique cultural perspective to their work; one even boasts of his quadri-lingual skills in his bio.

History

“It’s a city steeped in history and heritage,” says London-based photographer Haider Kikabhoy. It is impossible to review London’s entire art and design legacy here, so two elements of its history have been chosen: a legend from a distant era and a cultural phenomenon from the recent past.

“England’s First Great Native-Born Painter”

A self portrait by William Hogarth (left) and an example of ‘the line of beauty’ in his work (right)

According to the Tate Britain Museum, William Hogarth is “England’s first great native-born painter.” His depictions of London life tell visual stories about the lives of archetypal characters: the harlot, the apprentice, the drunk. He symbolized his unique theories on artistic beauty with an icon he called ‘the line of beauty,’ a curved, serpentine line which can be seen over the palette in his self portrait (above left) and in compositions of his such as Beer Street (above right). Hogarth incorporated this element in his compositions because he believed that this curved, S-shaped line excited the viewer’s eye with its energetic movement (as opposed to straight lines or right angles).

Hogarth is also considered a pioneer of sequential images and therefore a forefather of the narrative structure used in comic books. One example in Hogarth’s work is his series ‘A Rake’s Progress,’ which includes eight paintings that tell a story when viewed sequentially.

Punk Rock: High Versus Low

The often tense relationship between upper and lower classes has been a dominant theme in English culture for centuries. Many entertainers and designers have relished the act of thumbing their nose at a perceived snobbery amongst royalty and the upper class. No one did it better than the punk rock movement that blossomed in England during the 1970’s. The impact of punk has made an indelible impression on generations of designers that have come since. Acclaimed graphic designer Neville Brody said that punk was “the most influential thing that happened to me in London.”

Two Sex Pistols designs by Jamie Reid

Punk design was dominated by D.I.Y. (do it yourself) techniques, outrageous subject matter, collage, photocopied imagery, defaced images, and basically any technique that broke the rules or seized the viewer’s attention. Punk fanzines like Sniffin’ Glue empowered amateur designers and liberated audiences from the limitations of mainstream music media. Jamie Reid’s ‘ransom note’ typography for the Sex Pistols seemed to capture the spirit of the movement.

Elvis’ debut record; London Calling by The Clash

The cover of The Clash’s London Calling (1979) was partially based on the cover of Elvis Presley’s 1954 debut. The London Calling cover was designed by Ray Lowry with a photograph by Pennie Smith. The typography and colors of the two records are nearly identical, but Elvis is pictured playing his guitar while Clash bassist Paul Simonon is smashing his. The design pays mildly satirical homage to the Presley cover while signaling the change that London Calling represented in music: The Clash had come to destroy their audience’s perception of rock and roll.

Pentagram: London Roots, London Presence

This announcement for the merger of designers Fletcher, Forbes & Gill (1962) features split pages so that photos of the three men can be merged. A different incarnation of this design firm would become Pentagram in 1972

London Roots

Pentagram was formed in London in 1972. The studio began as Fletcher/Forbes/Gill, but after aquiring and losing several members, they tired of altering the name of the firm. Alan Fletcher chose the name Pentagram – a star with five points to symbolize the partners – after reading a book on witchcraft. The acclaimed design firm has since opened offices in New York, San Francisco, Austin and Berlin. Pentagram was the world’s first multidisciplinary studio; its partners work independently but share knowledge, experience, and the legacy of the brand name. The formation of this global organization in London seems to symbolize the city’s thirst for international ideas and its expansive creative curiosity.

A clever footwear advertisement by Fletcher/Forbes/Gill on the side of a bus

The Influential Career of Alan Fletcher

Two designs by Alan Fletcher: his logo for the Victoria & Albert museum (1989), and an illustration of a glass of wine from his classic design book, The Art of Looking Sideways

Graphic design legend Alan Fletcher was one of the founding members of Pentagram in London in 1972. One of the most influential designers in history, he was once called “the most highly regarded graphic designer of his generation” by The Daily Telegraph. Fletcher had a gift for cleverness and simplicity. His illustration of a glass of wine (above) uses only the simplest shapes to convey form and perspective.

Pentagram at the London Design Festival 2009

Logo and identity of the 2009 London Design Festival, designed by Pentagram partner Domenic Lippa

Today, Pentagram’s influence is indelible and ubiquitious. The 2009 London Design Festival included identity and collateral materials designed by Pentagram partner Domenic Lippa as well as a ‘London Posters’ show curated in part by Mr. Lippa at the Victoria & Albert museum – an institution whose logo was designed by Alan Fletcher.

An Eye on the Future

A thorough exploration of the London art and design community in September 2009 has revealed a glimpse at what’s to come. Here is a look at the designers who are leading the way as well as the themes that emerge in their work.

‘London Posters’ at The London Design Festival 2009

Two posters from the ‘London Posters’ exhibit. Designs by Andy Altmann, Why Not Associates (left), and Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell, FUEL (right).

Some of the brightest talent in today’s London design community was on display at the ‘London Posters’ show in the London Design Festival. The show was curated by Domenic Lippa and Sir John Sorrell, Chairman of the London Design Festival. According to Mr.Lippa, the show was “a reflection of how our capital is seen by some of the country’s most renowned graphic designers… certain themes cropped up frequently – transport, location, structure, heritage and even love.”

Two posters from the ‘London Posters’ exhibit. Designs by Morag Myerscough, Studio Myerscough (left), and Jonathan Ellery, Browns.

Another element present in the work was the renowned dry British sense of humor. The poster by Morag Myerscough, Studio Myerscough (above left), reads, “London BORN London BRED until I DIE and then I’m DEAD.” Using stark photography and typography, the poster conveys London pride, playful morbidity, and a delight in language and rhyme.

London Goes Green

London hopes to lead the way to a more environmentally sound future. Lord Digby Jones of Birmingham remarked on the issue of climate change during a London event held by British Airways in September. “The answer to this issue is science,” he said, and went on to remark that leading economies of the world like the U.S. and the U.K. made their wealth while polluting the Earth, so we should lead on solving the problem.

Designers at the ‘Make Believe’ show presented by Goldsmiths, University of London sought innovative ways to approach environmental topics. Mina Papathanasiou proposed a structural system to build housing that would function “as a living organism, while re-using and recycling construction materials.” Among her innovations were roof tiles designed to collect rain water for redistribution throughout the housing structure.

Interactivity

Interactivity was another theme that emerged at the London Design Festival. Visitors at the Victoria & Albert museum were invited to draw ceramics and the results were put on display. Children visiting a boutique called Few and Far were invited to participate in a drawing competition affiliated with illustrator Christopher Brown. But the most exciting interactive element of the festival was Kioskiosk (pictured below), created by designer Wayne Hemingway.

Although Kioskiosk was featured in the ‘Supercontemporary’ show at the Design Museum, its main component is an actual shop where start-up designers sell their wares in a public venue. Hemingway’s goal was to encourage business growth by providing low-rent or free space to designers and entrepreneurs who face difficult economic times and high London rents. This project gives back to British design community by supporting its artists. It also provides an exciting new way for shoppers and art lovers to interact with featured participants like SonoDesign and The Arthouse. Kioskiosk is now on tour.

Seventeen British Artists and Designers You Should Know

This list has been assembled to inspire and inform. It is not an attempt to summarize the entirety of a nation’s visual arts. The selections range in their style, era, and cultural impact. A certain continuum of creativity is evident: Bacon had a profound influence on Hirst, Hockney extolls the virtues of Turner, and so on.

Francis Bacon

Irish-born painter Francis Bacon worked in London for much of his life and is known for his gruesome, nihilistic imagery. “I would like my pictures to look as if a human being had passed between them like a snail,” Bacon said of his work, “leaving a trail of the human presence and memory trace of the past events as the snail leaves its slime.”

FUEL

Two books designed and published by FUEL

Since 1991, graphic designers Damon Murray and Stephen Sorrell have worked together as FUEL. The designers split their time between commercial work (album covers for The Thrills, film titles for Lost in Translation) and self-initiated projects like the publication of their own magazine. In an interview with the Design Museum, FUEL cite The Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopaedia (on which they served as editors, designers, and publishers) as one of their favorite projects. The series of books serves as an ethnographic study and includes thousands of tattoos accumulated by author and former prison warden Danzig Baldaev.

Damien Hirst

Hirst’s installation piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (above) features a 13-foot tiger shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde. The piece shocked the London public during its first display (at the Saatchi Gallery in 1992) and launched Hirst to international fame. The piece is indicative of Hirst’s sense of morbid, outrageous humor.

John Everett Millais

John Everett Millais’ painting Ophelia (1851-52) is an example of the great British tradition of Shakespeare as subject matter for painting. Millais’ dedication to capturing every lush, vivid detail of the wooded scene was so intense that he sat painting by a stream in conditions of great discomfort for nearly five months. Ophelia is pictured holding flowers that she herself listed during her mad scene (Hamlet, Act IV, Scene 5).

Edward Johnston

The logo and typeface of the London Underground were designed by Edward Johnston. The logo (or ’roundel’) has become something of an international symbol for London.

Calligrapher and typographer Edward Johnston is responsible for the logo and font that have graced the London Underground for almost a century. In 1915, Johnston was commissioned to design the font by Frank Pick, the first Chief Executive of London Transport. For his ultra-modern sans-serif font, Johnston looked to a few unlikely sources for inspiration: calligraphy and Classical Roman capitals. The influence of Roman typography is evident in the perfect circle of his capital ‘O’ and the square outline of his capital ‘M.’ The diamond-shaped dot (or ‘tittle’) above the lowercase ‘i’ and ‘j’ resembles the dots made on paper by a square-nibbed pen. The result is a font that has become an influential classic due to its modern nature and profound communicative power. Johnston is author of the revered design textbook Writing & Illuminating & Lettering.

J.M.W. Turner

Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775–1851) has been called “Britain’s greatest artist” by The Times and was even dubbed ‘the Shakespeare of landscape’ by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Turner’s gift for graceful light and sublime color helped him elevate the landscape to an artistic height that had previously been reserved for historical painting.

John Isaacs

Untitled (What Makes Certain), 1995

John Isaacs has shown work at London’s Saatchi Gallery along with other artists affiliated with the so-called ‘Young British Artists’ that included Damien Hirst in the 1990’s. Isaacs’ work suggests an insidious danger lying in wait just beneath the surface of conventional reality.

Bibliothèque

This gallery guide accompanied the Cold War Modern exhibition at the Victoria & Albert Museum. Bibliothèque designed the guide and other exhibition materials.

A glance through the portfolio of graphic design firm Bibliothèque reveals a consistency in the style and quality of their work. Although their clients vary from a manufacturer of electrical components to a company that makes mattresses for babies, Bibliothèque brings an austere simplicity to each project. Another unifying feature of their work is a keen understanding of color: many projects include a limited palette employed in bold compositions.

David Hockney

Pool With Two Figures, 1971

David Hockney is “the most enduring British artist” according to The Times. An important contributor to the Pop Art movement, Hockney is an artist known for painting, photography, printmaking, chain-smoking, and conspiracy theories. He was born and educated in England, but some of his most famous works depict the sunny, laid-back lifestyle that he experienced while living in California.

Chris Cunningham

Stills from Aphex Twin’s ‘Come to Daddy’ video, directed by Chris Cunningham

Chris Cunningham is a filmmaker, video artist, and photographer. The twisted, disturbing style of his music videos for Aphex Twin and Squarepusher have made the director infamous, although he claims to find his imagery more “silly” than scary. Robotics and anatomy emerge as themes in Cunningham’s work, and he often works in color palettes that are cold, muted, or spare. Cunningham’s recent experimental short film Rubber Johnny applies inane, childlike humor to spazzed-out scenes of a disabled mutant dancing in darkness. It’s a truly bizarre vision that is exciting for its sheer individuality.

William Blake

Plate 1 from Europe a Prophecy, 1824

According to Andrew Wilton’s Five Centuries of British Painting, William Blake was a “maverick rebel” best known for his historical paintings of narrative subjects from The Bible and Paradise Lost. Although he failed to attract many patrons during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a key figure in histories of both poetry and the visual arts. His work was motivated by grandiose creation myths and also by visions he claimed to have seen of Gods, angels, and other spirits throughout his life. To William Blake, the imagination was ‘the body of God.’

Gilbert & George

Existers, 1984

Since the 1960’s, the duo Gilbert & George have been producing provocative, ambitious work from London’s East End – their home and an area they consider a microcosm of the world at large. Their career has been a subversive exercise in branding; the artists incorporated themselves into their body of work as ‘living sculptures’ and thereby “sacrificed their individual identities to art,” according to the Tate Britain.

Lucian Freud

Girl with Roses, 1948

Lucian Freud was born to Jewish parents in Germany during the winter of 1922. Eleven years later, Lucian and his family moved to England in order to escape the rise of Nazism. The anxiety and despair of war and the Holocaust would inform some of the painter’s greatest works.

Girl with Roses (above) is a portrait imbued with fear and discomfort. The subject is the painter’s wife, Kitty, who clutches her roses so hard that she appears to have broken one. The sensation of the thorns in her grasp is almost palpable. Her enlarged eyes are wide pools of angst – what does she see that we cannot?

Airside

Airside’s logo for the Pop Art gallery at the Wolverhampton Art Gallery

Airside is a “creative agency working across the disciplines of graphic design, illustration, digital, interactive and moving image.” Airside co-founder Fred Deakin says, “we have a real pride in bouncing around different media.” In early 2009, Airside designed the identity for a Greenpeace initiative called Airplot. Airside shared some of their design process on their blog and the work was featured on notable design sites including Brand New and Logo Design Love.

Clare Leighton

Breadline, New York 1932

Clare Leighton devoted her life to the medium of wood engraving, cultivating a style of great detail and heavy contrast. Born in London, she later moved to America. In Breadline, New York, she captures the grim mood of depression-era Manhattan. The heavy contrast of light and dark mirrors the contrast between the anonymous poor and the shimmering metropolis that looms over them like an alien landscape.

The Vorticists

Cover of the first issue of Blast magazine, 1914

Vorticism formed in 1914, spurred partially in response to Futurism. The debut issue of Blast magazine shocked with its bold pink cover and huge, diagonally-set type. Along with publications from other groups, notably Fluxus, it is a precursor to the radical printing techniques and typographic experimentation of the punk ‘zine. Author Richard Hollis remarks in Graphic Design: A Concise History that the pages of Blast “exhanged symmetry for the consciously crude layout of popular advertisements,” thereby solidifying the Vorticists as the first in Britain to exploit typographic form at a time when “tradition remained the most powerful influence in Britian.”

William Morris

‘Bird’ textile design by William Morris, 1878

William Morris was a central figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement, which was led by artists and designers who romanticized personal crafstmanship while rejecting Victorian-era opulence and an age of mechanical reproduction ushered in by the Industrial Revolution. In 1861, Morris and several colleagues founded a prolific decorative arts firm that produced stained glass, metal work, printed paper, tapestries, decorative carvings, and more. Morris himself was a master of two-dimensional design and his work should prove inspirational to any contemporary graphic designer. In textiles like the one pictured above, Morris searched for the “force, purity, and elegance of the silhouette of the objects represented.” He also sought to return to the “crispness and abundance of beautiful detail which was the especial characteristic of fully developed Medieval Art.”

Further Resources

• Ways of Seeing
  The first episode of John Berger’s groundbreaking 1972 BBC television series about the perception of art.
• Alan Fletcher: fifty years of graphic work (and play)
  A biography of the designer and his career of accolades. Includes images.
• Video: History of Pentagram
  Current partners of the international design firm provide an oral history.
• Interview: Supermundane
  Interview with London artist Supermundane. Written by Dan Redding.
• J.M.W. Turner Online
  Learn more about the great British painter J.M.W. Turner online at Tate Britain.
• Hockney on Turner
  In this article, ‘The Turner surprise’ from The Times, David Hockney discusses his passion for the work of J.M.W. Turner.
• Pitchfork Interview: Chris Cunningham
  The music video director discusses his work, his goals, and working with Stanley Kubrick on A.I.

© Dan Redding for Smashing Magazine, 2009. | Permalink | 24 comments | Add to del.icio.us | Digg this | Stumble on StumbleUpon! | Tweet it! | Submit to Reddit | Forum Smashing Magazine
Post tags: London

¿Imaginas a Spiderman impartiendo justicia durante la Segunda Guerra Mundial?

El artista indonesio Agan Harahap lo imaginó y lo ha plasmado en imagen.

En su proyecto más reciente coloca a famosos superhéroes en fotos de la Segunda Guerra Mundial, o de acontecimientos históricos importantes… Esperemos que el proyecto siga adelante y nos deje más perlitas como éstas:

Más fotos tras el salto

Incluso a esta peculiar “máquina del tiempo” se le ha colado un villano…

No os perdáis la galería de Agan Harahap en devianART, en donde se hace llamar TOYIB. Encontraréis otros trabajos, muy buenos, como esta otra anomalía en el espacio y el tiempo:

Entrada Original publicada en Gran Angular

Graffiti has existed since ancient times with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

In modern times, spray paint, regular paint and markers are the most commonly used materials.

Although the defacing of property is a crime punishable by law, many artists choose to express themselves this way.

This form of art is also used by some for communicating social and political messages.

For this post, we’ve compiled a collection of 40 striking examples of Graffiti Art. Know of any other great examples? Please post them in the comments’ area.

Compiled exclusively for WDD by Jarkko Laine.

Which ones were your favorites? How does Graffiti art impact the community?

If you find an exclusive RSS freebie on this feed or on the live WDD website, please use the following code to download it: e8fY4b

Just as it is for big corporations, successful branding is essential to the success of a freelancing business and to just one self-employed web worker.

It is often times overlooked, most likely because many don’t realize the large benefits that can come from it.

The first thing we think of when we think “brand identity” is a good logo.

A good logo can do wonders for a self-employed freelancer, but branding identity goes far beyond that, into entire website development, content, business cards, and even into offline scenarios.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at ways to define a brand for something as unique as a freelancing business, and what one needs to do to get started on the right track to a successful brand.Before we get into the specifics, let’s take a look at how a brand can help any sort of business.

A good brand will lead to success now and in the future, and that is essential for a self-employed person that doesn’t ever want to be forced back into a 9-5 job. If created correctly, a good brand will:

• Create a memorable business
  This will make the clients want to come back to, creating user loyalty.
• Create a basis for the business to expand in new ways
  When launching a new project, a brand can be used to jump-start it successfully.
• A good brand confirms credibility
  This is top concern among many potential clients.
• A properly implemented brand will target the right clients
  This will help finding the right clients looking for exactly your style.

1. Define Your Business Goals

Before one even gets started in the design process of branding, one must define what they want the brand to communicate.

In order to do that, we must define a few specific things in general, the first being the freelancing business’s goals.

Beyond helping to develop a brand, defining business goals will help in a number of other ways.

For one, it will help visualize the ultimate goals of the business, helping smaller goals become more proactive in reaching the long-term accomplishments.

It will also keep you, as the leader of the business, on track, from personal self-management, to anyone you may be managing in the future.

Getting off track is why many businesses fail, and why many freelancers eventually go back to a day job they hate. Goals and a business plan will help you to stay on track.

Take some time aside to set goals properly. Write them down, detail them, and think about them critically. Goals can help plan the future of a freelancing career for years to come. Below are ten items to keep in mind when setting goals:

• Be specific
  Losing sight of where you’re going is an issue that comes from having no goals, but having unspecific goals will also create this problem.
• Create a business plan
  This should be a separate article in itself, but it is a great way to outline goals as well as include finances and tools into accomplishing those goals.
• Set short-term goals along with your long-term goals
  It’s easy to turn ultimate dreams into business goals, as we should, but shorter, more technical goals can track success better.
• Keep committed
  This is an obvious point, but think of lifestyle changes that will help you commit to the goals that are made. For example, if you would like to expand your skill set, set aside a time each day in your schedule to study.
• It may help to make goals public
  Make your freelancing business and goals associated with it as public as possible. If this means sharing with only friends and family, then so be it. It will help to motivate you to complete goals — keeping your business on track.
• Be realistic
  It’s ok to dream high, but don’t set unachievable goals for a time given.
• Have relevant goals
  If a goal ends up providing little or nothing to the growth of the business, then it is pointless. For example, don’t set a goal to take on another client each week that you can’t handle — this will likely only limit the time you have to grow and market the business in other ways. A relevant goal would be, for example, to expand to more than a 1-man (or 1-woman) operation.
• Create an action plan for each goal
  “I’d like to someday own my own design firm”, is just not good enough. Have a goal-by-goal plan to complete broader goals like this. In other words, make the goal actionable.
• Keep everything in line when working on a new goal.
  Reaching goals means business and lifestyle changes, so make sure your finances and other forms of security are still tightly in place throughout the process.
• Take a step back to analyze the progress
  Take what you’ve learned onto the next goal. As an example, if you’re trying to market your portfolio better, what marketing strategies worked? Which strategies didn’t work?

2. Define Your Target Audience

After defining business and career goals, you need to define who you’ll need to attract to keep the business alive.

These people are, of course, the clients. Who is your ideal client? Beyond clients, are you willing to work with others on group projects (i.e. developer and designer)? Who would that ideal partner be?

Target audiences are often more related to one that sells products, or to a blog or other form of website that relies heavily on its visitor count. However, selling services is no different. One must recognize this and take the necessary steps to define their target audience.

Both how a brand is designed visually and how it is presented professionally will lean towards a certain type of person.

This person should be someone you’d like to work with, as well as the type of person that will help your brand grow.

When seemingly ready to open up Illustrator and start on a logo design, wait one more second and get prepared for the visual aspect of the brand-to-be.

Below are some questions to ask about the target audience before jumping into the design phase of your brand.

What is your design style?

If it is more creative, you may want to appeal to groups that would need a creative website.

If it is more Web 2.0 and sleek, you’re going to want to appeal to business owners or vendors of “high-technology fields.”

Consulting agencies, app websites, and other sites of the like would be great targets.

To What Level Are you Willing to Help and Communicate?

It’s true; all clients have varying levels of understanding web technologies, and well, technology in general.

Do you want to attract a client that knows nothing of the web world, in which you will be responsible for providing an easy to maintain website? Or, would you rather communicate with a group of web professionals, sending out the final project to one client?

This can dig deeper into clients as well. Attracting a client, for example that is maintaining a site dedicated to some sort of technology may be easier to communicate with about technology if you prefer that.

Any other type of website that coincides with the “offline world” though may hold a client that would need a simpler website.

What work would you like to be responsible for?

Many of us don’t like all the work that comes from freelancing. Especially in the world of website creation, many clients want us to do it all — design, develop, market, and more.

If you specialize in one area though, it may be beneficial to have part of your target audience be those looking for partnership projects.

For example, if you are a designer, you may want to include web developers in your target audience so that they could contact you to partner up on a bigger project.

This way, whether you know how to or not, you wouldn’t be stuck with the coding and you can stick with what you love.

Define it on Paper

After asking these questions and researching a bit more, write out your target audience in a list.

Each item should not be a single-line type of person, like “Clients with a lot of web experience”, but rather a small very descriptive paragraph.

The more detailed the description, the more success you’ll have once it’s time to start the design process of the brand.

Further Resources

• Web Design, Ad Copy and Targeting your Target Audience
• Website Design – Identify Your Target Audience
• How to Market Your Small Business: Meet Customers Where They Are

3. The Business Name

Is it your own name, or a more formal and creative name?

This is often times a step overlooked, but it is incredibly relevant to the final goals of the website. If you plan to be the owner of a firm someday, or develop a team of web professionals in any other way, your given name as a brand may not be appropriate.

However, many freelancers chose to grow their business by always freelancing solo, while still outsourcing some of their work. There is a difference in each situation, and a personal name would thrive on this type of business.

Also, bigger names may attract bigger projects, while a personal name would attract many smaller clients. Depending on what you’d like to do in terms of work greatly depends on the brand’s name.

So, in the plainest sense: an alternative name would be more versatile, but your own name as a brand would be more personable and each would lead to a different type of client.

Image credit: Mark McGall, 72 Thinking

4. The Logo

The logo is the first step into the design process of the brand. It is the one graphic that your business will survive upon.

Your website, content, and all other design elements must compliment a brand’s logo, as well as work with it towards the ultimate goal of making the sale to the client.

Whether designing it yourself or hiring someone else to do it for you — you’ll need to be the one that decides how it will look.

Many times I get clients that let me have too much creative control when it comes to their brand design. While creative control is always appreciated, when it comes to a brand — that’s a bad choice.

Be sure to research and create a plan for the brand of your freelancing business so you can take control.

Everything mentioned so far in this article will come into play for the initial design phase of the brand.

The name is an obvious factor, but the target audience and business’s goals will also come into play. Keep a few questions in mind concerning all of this when beginning the logo design phase:

• What does the overall style of the logo need to be to attract the right audience?
• What type of colors should be used? As different types of colors provoke different emotions, this ties in greatly to the target audience.
• How versatile does it need to be? How will it grow with your freelancing as a business?
• Does it need to be formatted well with print material as well as web material?
• What shape does it need to be, generally (more rounded/square, or rectangular)? This has a lot to do with what materials you’ll be using it on and the format it will need to take when combined with content.

Some Examples

The above logo says “professional, fun, and personable”. Notice how the varying colors in the web design turn into a more playful approach, which in turn makes it more personable.

The smooth curves in both the font and the image portion of the logo also take the strict factor away, making him as a business person approachable.

This freelancer runs as a single freelancer, branding his business as him — most likely returning to him one-on-one clients with great communication and many smaller, more creative projects.

This brand is a group of designers working together under one website. The brand has a more generalized name, and even a more professional, company-like feel.

Furthermore, looking more into their portfolio, one can see that the image compliment on the logo highlights their design style: clean and sleek with a hint of outside-the-box creativity.

The abstraction of this logo tells the viewer right away about the style of this designer. Also, a bright color also plays into it. It is simple, effective, and portrays the designer’s intentions well.

Playful, light and super creative is what this brand is all about. The logo complimenting this brand is incredibly creative, and lacks a more formal look. That’s not to say it isn’t effective though. Its overall look is still professional while being quirky and original.

This is a single freelancer with a portfolio full of Web 2.0 material. The logo quickly reflects that, and the nature theme provides a calm, cool, and collected tone. The brand says professional and high-tech, but not rigid or boring.

This brand is the most classical of all the logos above. Along with it comes a business that is more traditional and formal. This likely creates more credibility for them as a team, rather than a single freelancer, allowing them to take on bigger clients.

5. Your Website Design, Business Card Design, and Everything Else

Now that you have a logo, you’ve gone through much of the design process for nearly everything else that will require design. It only takes a bit more planning to complete the design process.

If your brand is very personal, a hand-drawn website design may work well to compliment the logo and brand as a whole. If the brand is Web 2.0, you’ll want a sleek web design, sleek business card design, and sleek, high-end stationary and other printed material.

Because the rest of your design needs can be based primarily off of the logo design, most of the target audience and business goals implementation will come into place naturally.

Still, keep them in mind as you develop the brand further. Don’t lose sight of the goals, and always pertain to the original message you’ve planned for.

Examples Continued

This group keeps to their image with the rest of their design as professional yet creative.

The colors, wireframe, and work featured on this portfolio are all abstract, just as the logo is. It is also very clean, to the point, and has a lot of whitespace — again mimicking the logo and brand design.

The web design of this brand is the primary focus, and it is playful, personable, and approachable. It mixes very well with the logo and highlights the brand very well.

The web design is super clean and web 2.0, just as the logo is. Furthermore the design is laid out in a way that is systematized, letting visitors in on all the information necessary, which is a very professional, company-like approach.

This web design is very traditional, attracting clients that would like a straight approach to their web services. Like the logo and appeal to the brand, it is “gimmick-free” and professional. A high level of credibility is present in the web design as it is in the entire brand.

6. Write an Elevator Pitch

An elevator pitch is traditionally used offline when trying to sell your services in about 30 seconds or less.

Pre-planning a small speech to sell your stuff can help to include everything you need to, while still having a crafted pitch that is likely to sell.

However, as the technologies of web work expand each year, elevator pitches are becoming increasingly important for online freelancers as well.

An elevator pitch is very much a part of a brand. What is said in the pitch shares what you do, what your business does, and what you and your business can do for the person reading or hearing your pitch.

When a prospect asks what you do, you should not respond with, “I’m a freelance web designer” or “I’m a freelance writer”. Instead, this is a chance to say, in about 15-30 seconds, what you do in detail.

Nobody is interested in a “freelance web designer”, “freelance web developer” or a “freelance writer”.

What potential clients are interested in is “a web designer that focuses primarily on user-centric web designs that are both creative and professional” or “a web developer that creates website apps focused around users needs — apps that are designed to sell”.

Realistically, elevator pitches should be even better than the above. Furthermore, they can be used as an introduction to a portfolio, or used on the about page to help make sales there, too. To find out more about elevator pitches and how to write the perfect pitch, check out the resources below.

Further Resources

• Is Your Elevator Pitch a Home Run?
• The Writer’s Elevator Pitch
• Not Getting a Rise out of your Elevator Speech?
• Write an Elevator Pitch for Your Blog
• Elevator Pitch 101 – Intro To Writing a 30 Second Elevator Pitch

7. Write an About Page

Your about page is where clients and others who may want to work with you can get to know you, before having to make any sort of contact. It should reflect yourself, and the way you do business.

Is your brand fun, professional or to-the-point? Most likely, your brand so far has reflected your personality in its own sense already. It’s now up to you to write an about page that can “make the sale“.

If a person has become interested enough to check out the about page, you have somehow convinced them to become at least half-way interested in your services.

Hopefully, you’ve attracted the right person based from your declared target audience. If so, how would you talk to this person?

Content-wise, you’re going to want to keep to your original style. For example, if you want a more company-like approach, write more formally. For a more creative approach, be personable and fun.

Your career choice as a freelancer and the work you do probably already reflects your personality a great deal, so just being yourself is the best option when trying to find a writing style for the about page.

It is of utmost importance to not try to sound like anyone else — your own voice is what makes you different from every other freelancer on the planet.

After figuring in the writing style and how to approach the page, one must outline what to include. Below is a minimum:

• Your history in the field and what you do.
• Your professional experience, and possibly school experience if present.
  (A written résumé)
• Perhaps a link to a more formal resume.
• Contact information, or a link to the contact page.
• A relevant note to their problem, and how you can help them.
  (They need a website, you can make one for them.)

One may want to include other sections that further define their personality and business.

The more a potential client feels they know you, the more likely they’ll be to make contact because you and your business will seem more approachable. (Keep in mind though that it need not be a 10 page autobiography!)

Further Resources

• Your About Page Is a Robot
• How to Write Your “About Me” Page
• The 4 Essential Elements of an About Me Page
• Best Practices For Effective Design Of “About me”-Pages
• Five Tips (and a Bonus!) on How to Write a Fantastic About Page
• The Importance Of An “About Me” Page

8. Get Clients to Reach You

Now that you have a brand, it’s all about marketing and having clients find you.

You’ve created a target audience, identified business goals (both present and future goals), built the brand in a design sense around those two definition, and created content that helps sell your material.

This is all great, but at this point your brand is unknown and inactive. Don’t worry though — your brand is supposed to do the work for you, and given the time, it will.

Let people know about your brand by getting listed on job websites, doing guest posts, or leaving messages in forums. Generally, marketing is the same — but now you must market your brand as opposed to yourself.

Keeping Consistent

In my own experiences with branding, I’ve found myself re-branding and trying out new things.

It all came down to the fact that I had never taken the time to correctly brand my business, and specifically, that I had never taken the time to find my true target audience.

That forced me to revamp my brand to meet my needs as time went on. I could have avoided the whole mess if I would have taken the time in the beginning.

In the end, that has hurt my business because clients, readers, and other people that keep my business alive didn’t recognize me and my business after each revamp, and it also hurt my credibility.

It is essential to keep a brand consistent, for the reasons mentioned above, and for a number of other reasons. Once you lose the brand, you lose all of the benefits that come along with it. If you change a brand, even if it is being changes to better match goals today, it will have to start marketing from base zero once again.

Here are a few articles and tips on how to keep a brand consistent.

• Keeping Your Brand Consistent
• Is your online brand consistent?
• Keep Things Consistent – Basic Brand Management

Updating a Brand

As we change as professionals and as people, there is no doubt that we will want to change our brand too. We may grow into a design firm rather than a freelance web designer, or a web developer more so than a designer.

Much of the time a person will be focusing on one area of web work, only to find over time that their skill set and interests have expanded into something completely different.

• That’s fine; that’s life — we live, we grow, we change.
• The trick now is to not change your brand, but to upgrade it, and develop it further.
  This is where our initial goals step into place. With the correct planning of our goals in the first place, we were able to plan ahead for moving forward. Perhaps you were a single, lonely freelancer back in the day you created your brand, but now you’ve finally got a team together as a firm, just as one of your goals stated. If you planned the brand around that goal successfully, you may only need to make a few tweaks, while still making your brand recognizable and overall, the same.
• To upgrade a brand, keep a few things consistent: the name, the style, and the main color combination.
  The name is the most recognizable part of a brand, so that is something you will never want to change. The overall style is very tightly knit into your target audience, and in order to keep your current client base, you’ll want to keep that. Lastly, color is one of the most memorable aspects visually, and most likely is the driving force visual for your brand. Keep this, and you keep the tone and memorable factor of your brand.

Further Resources

• How to Get Clients to Come to You
• 8 Brilliant Freelance Job Boards to Help You Get More Clients
• Getting the Freelance Gigs to Come to You — Your Resume and Portfolio

Wrapping Up

Brand creation is definitely an art in itself, and takes a lot of time to plan.

Don’t rush through this essential step of a freelancing career — having a brand can not only benefit you as a web professional, but also avoid fallbacks and can aid as a form of security.

No matter how big your business is — how big your client base, your team, or your popularity is — develop a plan, a brand around it if you haven’t already.

Then, stick to it, be consistent. It may also be helpful to take a step back if you already have a brand to analyze it. Can it be upgraded or further developed? Are you missing anything essential to your brand thus far?

There are, of course, many more tips and suggestion that could be mentioned, and much of it is a matter of personal experiences.

Written  by Kayla Knight.

We’ve put together a collection of magazine covers that have stirred up controversy through the years.

These covers can serve as object lessons for what to do and what not to do both with design and editorial.

While some controversial covers have worked and sold more magazines, or won awards for the editors who made the decision to go to press with them, others were embarrassments that the publication had to either apologize for, or fire an editor over.

Here are some of the most controversial magazine covers of all time. Feel free to suggest other covers that you think should be part of this collection.

Time Magazine, January 2, 1939: Hitler as Man of the Year

This cover featured an elaborate illustration of Hitler playing “his hymn of hate in a desecrated cathedral while victims dangle on a St. Catherine’s wheel while the Nazi hierarchy looks on.” Baron Rudolph Charles von Ripper was a Catholic that fled Hitler’s Germany, and the artist of this disturbing piece. By 1938, Hitler had firmly seized power in Germany, taken over Austria and Czechoslovakia, and had been given a free hand in Eastern Europe by the English prime minister of the time, Neville Chamberlain. Time has had to defend this choice throughout history, and at the time defended it by stating that the “Man of the Year” was a title bestowed on the person who had most influenced events of the previous year.

Time Magazine, April 8, 1966: Is God Dead?

This cover has been called the most controversial of all time. The related article concerned the “death of god movement” that had sprung up in the 1960’s. The cover and article enraged readers.

Life, November 26, 1965: War In Vietnam

Paul Schutzers captured this arresting image of a VietCong prisoner being taken prisoner by American forces during the Vietnam War. Photography and news coverage like this helped to turn the American public against the Vietnam war. While Schutzers was one of LIFE’s best photographers, he was killed on assignment during the Six-Day War of 1967 between Israel and its neighbouring states of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria.

Esquire, April 1968: The Passion of Ali

This smart rendition of Muhammad Ali was created to illustrate his martyrdom to his cause after he refused to join the US military due to his religious beliefs and was subsequently stripped of his heavyweight boxing title. The piece was done after the same manner as “The Martyrdom of St. Sebastian”, a popular theme through medieval art but most recognizable in the painting by Andrea Mantegna.

Esquire, May 1969: The Drowning of Andy Warhol

Another triumph of Esquire’s former visionary Art Director, George Lois, this picture combined two separate shots of a soup can and Warhol. In the first ten years of his employment at Esquire, circulation was boosted from 500,000 to 2 million, a figure for which his covers were partially responsible. This shot references Warhol’s famous “soup can” exhibits that symbolized the American avant-garde art movement.

Playboy, October 1971: First Playboy African-American Woman

This cover was the first Playboy cover to feature an African-American woman. The model is Darine Stern and the photographer was Richard Fegley.

National Lampoon, January 1973: If You Don’t Buy This Magazine…

While this cover didn’t do much more than make people laugh when it came out despite its violent overtones, Ronald G. Harris’ famous cover shot definitely raised a few eyebrows in pre-Photoshop days.

The New Yorker, March 29, 1976: Steinberg Map of New York

This portrayal of a New Yorker’s idea of what the rest of the United States looks like was drawn by Saul Steinberg. The artist sued Columbia Pictures over their movie poster for “Moscow on the Hudson”, which does seem to be derived from Steinberg’s cover down to the placement of the title. Steinberg won the case.

Rolling Stone, January 22, 1981: John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Annie Leibovitz took this shot just hours before John Lennon was shot outside of his apartment building, the Dakota, in New York City on December 8, 1980. Leibovitz originally wanted to take the shot of Lennon alone but he insisted that his wife be in the pictures. This cover was named the most popular magazine cover of the past 40 years by the American Society of Magazine Publishers.

Vanity Fair, August 1991: Demi Moore, Pregnant and Nude

This cover was shot by celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz and was decried as shameful and disgusting when it was released. Some stores sent back the issue, or only sold it with a brown paper covering the “offensive” image. It has spawned countless celebrity nude pregnancy shots done in the same fashion, and helped to launch Demi Moore’s career into the stratosphere.

Vanity Fair, August 1993: K.D. Lang and Cindy Crawford

The cover was meant to be as controversial as the country star’s career. According to the cover story, Lang got more grief from the country music industry over her decision to join PETA than her decision to come out as a lesbian.

Time Magazine, June 27, 1994: OJ Mug Shot Controversy

In 1994, OJ Simpson was accused of murdering his wife, Nicole. In 1995, he was acquitted after a long and highly publicized trial. The photo used on the cover of Time Magazine was manipulated to make OJ look darker in skin tone and more menacing. For comparison, see the Newsweek cover which uses the original shot without any alteration.

The Economist, September 10, 1994: The Camel-Humping Issue

Obvious Black Eyed Peas references aside, this cover drew some fire for the UK-based magazine. The cover was printed for the North American market only.

Time, April 14 1997: Ellen’s Coming-Out Issue

Time’s cover and exclusive story left no doubt in the minds of all Americans that Ellen was, in fact, gay. Even in 1997, coming out could be perilous for a star’s career. While it may now seem like a mere bump in the road due to Ellen’s stunning success, at the time TV outlets in rural America pulled her show.

Wired, June 1997: 101 Ways to Save Apple

When this magazine went to press, Steve Jobs had just rejoined Apple through Apple’s acquisition of his NeXT Software Inc. While the cover was a bit more pessimistic than the story it was meant to illustrate, it remains one of the top magazine covers of all time. We don’t think anyone would try to give Jobs advice today, but back then Mac fans would have done anything they could to help the ailing corporation.

Time, Dec 21, 1998: Devil Horns on Clinton

This was one of several magazine covers that featured Bill Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. In 1995, Lewinsky was an intern at the White House during Clinton’s presidency, and they had an intimate affair. The scandal broke when Lewinsky confided in a colleague in January of 1998. The scandal eventually resulted in Clinton’s impeachment. The top of the letter “M” in the Time masthead appear to be resting on the top of Clinton’s head as horns. The devil horns were written off by Time as an accident of masthead placement rather than a deliberate act.

Esquire Magazine, December 2000: The Crotch Shot

This shot of Clinton was said to be inspired by the Lincoln Memorial, but was interpreted as an obvious reference to the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Like the Obama couple satire in the New Yorker seen further down, this cover drew fire from both sides of the political fence.

The New Yorker, Sept. 24, 2001: Twin Towers in Silhouette

This cover was a graphical as well as an editorial success. The magazine succeeded in creating a fitting and classic memorial to the victims of the tragedy and the buildings themselves in true upscale New Yorker fashion. Covers editor Franoise Mouly created a testament to the Twin Towers that drew on the inspiration of Ad Reinhardt’s black-on-black paintings.

Entertainment Weekly, May 2 2003: Dixie Chicks

The Dixie Chicks set off a firestorm when they criticized then-president George W. Bush for invading Iraq on the grounds that Iraq was manufacturing weapons of mass destruction. The Dixie Chicks used their weapons of mass distraction on this provocative cover.

Seventeen, May 2003: Sarah Michelle Gellar’s Zombie Arm

This horrendously manipulated stock photo of Sarah Michelle Gellar made the mag send an expensive purse by way of apology. Gellar returned the purse since she didn’t wear leather. While the practice of using stock photos for covers is common, flagrant abuse of Photoshop is something that the art department and editor usually catch before print time.

Rolling Stone, January 2006: The Passion of Kanye West

Rolling Stone tipped a thorny hat to Esquire’s portrayal of Ali with this 2006 cover. It isn’t known if the cover was meant to be a joke about the singer’s ego, but most people found it very funny. Religious fans of the magazine didn’t find it as hilarious, and the odd cover story that went with it in which the singer admits to a porn addiction just made the whole thing awkward. The tone of the cover feels current in light of the singer’s recent mike-grabbing moment at the 2009 VMA’s.

Baby Talk, August 2006

While this image seems benign to most people who have been involved with a baby in one fashion or another, the cover was decried as obscene. Even though moms made up the target demographic, a survey of 4000 of them turned up the fact that 25% had a negative response. One mother actually shredded the magazine so that her 13-year old son couldn’t see it. Not that he likely noticed; he was probably on the computer downloading porn watching tips from Kanye.

Texas Monthly, January 2007: Dick Cheney Cover Issue

Building on the famous 1973 Lampoon cover, Texas Monthly took a jab at the Vice-President’s hunting accident where he shot a colleague in the face. This cover won the 2007 Best Cover Line of the Year Award from the Magazine Publishers of America.

Time, August 29, 2007: Devil Horns on Billy Graham

The blogosphere was rife with rumours about this cover. This was probably not intentional. Time Magazine has claimed that all of its “Devil Horn” covers through the ages are mere coincidences. For a defense of the Time Magazine position, this blog post has a list of Time Magazine covers that have devil horns but no potential hidden meaning. Accident of their masthead design, or subtle editorial statement? You decide…

Golfweek, January 19, 2008: The Noose that Hung an Editor

This cover was born out of the comments of a golf anchorman, Kelly Tlighman, that fellow players should “lynch (Tiger Woods) in a back alley” and the subsequent feature story that was published in that edition of Golfweek. PGA Tour director Tim Finchem had this to say about it: “Clearly, what Kelly said was inappropriate and unfortunate, and she obviously regrets her choice of words, but we consider Golfweek’s imagery of a swinging noose on its cover to be outrageous and irresponsible”. A day after the cover was published, the editor was let go.

People Magazine, March 2008: Brangelina Twins

This cover and photo shoot sacrificed People’s editorial soul for a first shot at the Brangelina twins. Instead of their usual journalistic even-handed approach, they seemingly acquiesced to the couple’s need for nothing but positive coverage in order to get a scoop on the rest of the world with the first baby pictures. While People magazine denied these charges as “categorically false”, the coverage was nevertheless very rosy-cheeked in tone.

Vogue, April 2008: King Kong Cover

This cover of model Gisele Bundchen and sports star Lebron James was considered to be a racist portrayal of “King Kong”. Images that portray black males as threatening “reinforce the criminalization of black men,” said Damion Thomas, assistant professor in the Department of Kinesiology at University of Maryland. The cover was supposed to showcase two stars with excellent bodies, in keeping with the “Shape” theme of the issue.

The New Yorker, July 21, 2008: The Obama Couple Satire

This cover by famous New Yorker cartoonist Barry Blitt was heavily criticized by both the McCain and Obama camps during the 2008 US election. While the piece was meant to be a satire of allegations lobbed at the couple by their detractors, its inopportune appearance during a campaign didn’t have Obama’s supporters laughing as hard as the magazine intended.

OK Magazine, June 2009: Michael Jackson Death Photo

Fans were upset over the magazine’s decision to publish this photo. Sarah Ivens, editorial director, said that the cover decision was made since they wanted to stand out from all of the tribute covers that were dominating the stands that week. Jackson died on June 25, 2009 after being given a cocktail of drugs by his physician.

Compiled and written by Angela West.

Typography is the art of arranging, designing and modifying type.

Creating a well designed typography poster is no easy task, and takes time and patience.

When a poster focuses only on typography as its main element, the designer has to carefully craft his design to make sure that the type is both legible and artistic at the same time.

In this amazing compilation, you will see typography posters created by designers from all over the world.

Here are 30 Amazing Typography Posters that you have probably never seen before.

1. Typography is Tedius

by Derek “longdesinzzz”
United States

2. Make Good Typography

by Enzo “EN70″
Poland

3. Urban Typography

by Andrew Ackroyd
United Kingdom

4. Punk Typography

by TPHorne

5. Funke – Terry Francis

by Sébastien Nikolaou
Greece

6. AIGA Typo Show

by Allison Wilton
United States

7. Bauhaus Typography

by Samuel “SeriousSamm”
United States

8. “T” ypography

by “bacon111″
United Kingdom

9. Jimi Hendrix

by Kuba Czerniak
Canada

10. Better Than Nothing

by Nils Davey
United States

11. Helvetica

by William Antonius
Indonesia

12. Sylfaen Type

by Dan Smith
United States

13. Design Culture Now

by Emn1ty
United States

14. Helvetica

by Nikko. P. Lukman
Indonesia

15. Morgellons Awareness

by Lisa “Spambi”
United States

16. Watchmen Quote

by Daniel Peters
Singapore

17. Wonderland of Type

by Philippe Nicolas
Italy

18. Typography

by “shetsy”
Canada

19. The Cult of the Ugly 2

by Tyler Durden
New Zealand

20. The Cult of the Ugly

by Tyler Durden
New Zeland

21. Typography

by Stefano Joker Lionetti
Italy

22. Typography Dope

by Francesco Muzzi
Italy

23. Movie Poster

by Boris Bonev
Bulgaria

24. Chaos is my name

by Palax
Turkey

25. Defence H1N1

by Mike Chan
China

26. Most Of the Clients Don’t Know What Typography is!

by Mike Chan
China

27. Valdrada

by Carpet Crawler
Argentina

28. Graphic Evolution

by Boris Bonev
Bulgaria

29. The Past and the Future Make the Present Inspiring

by Mauro Hernández
Colombia

30. Nothing Can Stop a Good Idea

by Mauro Hernández
Colombia

Compiled by Paulo Canabarro.

In this post, we focus on Japanese design by taking a closer look at the design of Japanese municipal flags.

These flags feature highly stylized bicolor geometric symbols, often incorporating Japanese or Latin characters, making them especially interesting from a designer’s perspective.

The symbols that are featured are representative of the foundation on which the municipality is built.

We’ve put together a compilation of 100 Japanese municipal flags which we thought were the most graphically appealing, especially to those with an interest in logo or Japanese design.

Here’s an explanation of some of the Japanese words that appear in this article:

Hiragana/Katakana: a Japanese syllabary, which is a component of the Japanese writing system.

Kanji: the Chinese characters that are used in the Japanese logographic writing system.

Ume: Plum.

Origami: Folded Paper.

Tomoe: Japanese abstract shape that resembles a comma.

Aioi, Hyogo. The A in this flag represents a boat and ocean waves.

Azumino, Nagano. This flag consists of a stylized kanji.

Biratori, Hokkaido. The three stars are replicas of the stars that form Big Dipper.

China, Kagoshima. This flag features a stylized kanji with Erabuyuri, lilies local to the island.

Dazaifu, Fukuoka. This flag features an ume with a stylized kanji.

Ebina, Kanagawa. This flag features a stylized katakana.

Esashi, Hokkaido. This flag features a katakana surrounded by four stylized katakanas.

Fuji, Shizuoka. This flag symbolizes Mount Fuji, with the three lines representing the three municipalities that merged in 1966 to form the current city.

Fujimino, Saitama. This flag contains a stylized version of the letter ‘F’.

Fukushima, Fukushima. The nine katakana on the outside of the symbol and the four katakana in the inside make the rebus of Fukushima.

Fukuyama, Hiroshima. This flag symbolizes a bat.

Ginowan, Okinawa. The katakana in this flag represents wings over a bay.

Hachijo, Tokyo. The kanji in this flag symbolizes eternal peace and endless progress, qualities that Hachijo hopes to adopt.

Hachinohe, Aomori.This flag represents a crane.

Hagi, Yamaguchi. The grid pattern in this flag is used on the walls of the Hagi castle.

Hakodate, Hokkaido. The inside of this five-pointed star is the single tomoe which represents the map of the peninsula.

Hakusan, Ishikawa. This flag shows Mount Hakusan with the Tedori River and the Sea of Japan.

Hamada, Shimane. This flag features a stylized kanji which symbolizes ocean waves, representing a beach.

Hanamaki, Iwate. The four petals represent the four municipalities that merged in 2006 to form the current city.

Hirakata, Osaka. This flag symbolizes the image of a bird flapping its wings in the sky.

Hitoyoshi, Kumamoto. The katakana in this flag represents a bird.

Ibaraki, Osaka. The kanji in this flag represents a pigeon.

Ibusuki, Kagoshima. The three lines represent a map symbol of hot spring, as well as the three municipalities that merged in 2006 to form the current city. The letters ‘I’ and ‘U’ represent the city name.

s

Iki, Nagasaki. This features a stylized version of the letter ‘i’.

Imabari, Ehime. This flag features the letter ‘i’, which represents the Inland Sea and the bridge over the Kurushima Strait.

Imizu, Toyama. This flag sports the hiragana that represents the Sea of Japan.

Ise, Mie. This flag symbolizes the letters: ISE.

Ishigaki, Okinawa. This emblem features a stylized kanji.

Ishinomaki, Miyagi. This flag features a stylized kanji.

Itami, Hyogo. The kanji symbolizes a swan of the Koya Pond.

Itoigawa, Niigata. This flag comprises of a stylized kanji.

Iwakuni, Yamaguchi. The petals of sakura in this flag represent the arches of the Kintai Bridge.

Izumo, Shimane. The flag features a stylized kanji.

Kagoshima, Kagoshima. The foreground of this flag is a kanji based on the symbol of a popular Japanese clan, while the background is Sakurajima, an active composite volcano.

Kaizuka, Osaka. The five prongs represent five pine leaves that surround the waves of Osaka Bay and the kanji.

Kakogawa, Hyogo. This flag represents the Kakogawa River.

Kamagaya, Chiba. The flag contains a stylized katakana.

Kamakura, Kanagawa. This flag represents bamboo leaves and a gentian, originally used as the symbol of a prominent Japanese clan.

Kanazawa, Ishikawa. This flag consists of a stylized kanji, the outline of ume and a symbol from a notorious Japanese clan.

Kanoya, Kagoshima. The blue shape in this flag represents the Osumi peninsula and the red circle with the gold katakana represents the city.

Karuizawa, Nagano. The hiragana in this flag symbolizes a flying bird.

Kitadaito, Okinawa. The flag of Kitadaito is comprised of a stylized kanji.

Kokubunji, Tokyo. The katakana forming the circle expresses harmonious unity and the kanji in the center symbolizes the city’s name.

Kozushima, Tokyo. The hiragana in this flag, represents the Izu Islands and the flow of the Kuroshio Current.

Kuji, Iwate. This flag is a stylized form of the letter ‘K’.

Kumamoto, Kumamoto. This flag is a stylized version of a hiragana.

Kurobe, Toyama. This flag is also a stylized version of the letter ‘K’.

Kurume, Fukuoka. The flag of Kurume features nine katakana that surround a stylized kanji.

Kutchan, Hokkaido. This flag consists of the stylized letter ‘K’, representing snowflakes and flying birds.

Makurazaki, Kagoshima. The katakana in this flag, and the letter M, symbolize a caudal fin of the skipjack tuna.

Matsumoto, Nagano. The circle represents a pine, and the inside is a stylized kanji.

Matsuyama, Ehime. This is the stylized version of a kanji.

Minamidaito, Okinawa. The flag of Minamidaito consists of a stylized katakana and kanji.

Mishima, Kagoshima. The flag features a stylized kanji.

Miyakonojo, Miyazaki. The three arrows represents a stylized kanji.

Muroran, Hokkaido. The outside of the symbol are six stylized katakanas and the inside is an orchid.

Nagaoka, Niigata. The shape of the blue noble phoenix in this ceremonial flag represents the city Nagaoka.

Nankoku, Kochi. The katakana in this flag symbolizes wings.

Nara, Nara. This flag represents a stylized kanji inside a sakura.

Naruto, Tokushima. The symbol in this flag represents the Naruto whirlpool.

Nikko, Tochigi. This flag contains five letter ‘N’s representing the five municipalities that merged in 2006 to form the current city.

Ninohe, Iwate. This flag features a stylized katakana.

Noshiro, Akita. The hiragana in this flag represents the Sea of Japan and Shirakami Mountains.

Obama, Fukui. The kanji in this flag represents wings.

Odawara, Kanagawa. This flag represents ocean waves and ume, the city’s flower.

Ogasawara, Tokyo. In this flag the disk represents the sun, harmony and progress, and the three birds within the disk stand for the peace and friendship of the islanders.

Okayama, Okayama. The symbol in this flag represents mountains.

Okazaki, Aichi. In this flag, the kanji is in the center and in the outer parts there are a dragon’s claws holding a sacred gem.

Ome, Tokyo. The emblem of this flag features a stylized kanji in the shape of a flying bird arranged on the shape of an ume flower, which symbolizes active development.

Osaki, Miyagi. This flag displays a hiragana.

Oshu, Iwate. This flag comprises of the letters O and S, as well as a stylized kanji.

Rishiri, Hokkaido. The white hiragana in this flag represents ocean waves and the green hiragana represents Mount Rishiri.

Rumoi, Hokkaido. This flag comprises of a katakana surrounded by the four gulls.

Sakaiminato, Tottori. The hiragana of this flag represents waves in a port.

Sapporo, Hokkaido. The white hexagon represents snow. The circle inside is the the first kanji of Sapporo. It also represents a katakana. The star is Polaris, as well as the katakana.

Shikokuchuo, Ehime. This flag sports the letter ‘S’ representing expressways.

Shimanto, Kochi. The kanji in this flag represents a flow of the Shimanto River.

Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi. The stylized hiragana represents a puffer fish.

Shinjuku, Tokyo. The kanji character in a diamond shape is a symbol of steadiness.

Suita, Osaka. The kanji represents a pigeon and the background is the kanji, which represents a flower.

Takamatsu, Kagawa.The center is a stylized kanji surrounded by pine (matsu) leaves.

Toshima, Tokyo. This flag is made up of a chrysanthemum with a stylized kanji inside.

Tosu, Saga. The flag of Tosu features a stylized hiragana.

Tottori, Tottori. The circle and the lozenge of this flag were adopted from the Tottori Domain symbol and the inside is the seal script kanji.

Toyama, Toyama. In this flag, the symbol is based on the one used by the Toyama Domain and the inside is a stylized kanji .

Toyonaka, Osaka. The symbol as a whole represents a kanji.

Tsuruoka, Yamagata. The symbol represents a flying crane.

Tsuwano, Shimane. This flag sports the stylized kanji.

Wadomari, Kagoshima. The concept of this flag is a ring representing a mari ball.

Wakayama, Wakayama. The circle is a stylized katakana and the inside is the kanji, representing mountains surrounding the city.

Wakkanai, Hokkaido. The flag as a whole represents water, and the three letters W stand for “will”, “wisdom” and “work”. The inside is a steering wheel of a ship.

Warabi, Saitama. This flag shows the katakana inside a ring.

Yamatokoriyama, Nara. The four kanji in the diamond-shaped symbol were taken from the flowery rhombus of the a popular Japanese clan’s crest.

Yatsushiro, Kumamoto. The 6 represents the six municipalities that merged in 2005 to form the current city. The inside is the kanji from the former municipal symbol.

Yokote, Akita.In this flag the stylized hiragana and the letter Y represents Yokote, and the blue hiragana represents the former Hiraka District.

Yonago, Tottori. This flag contains a stylized kanji.

Yoron, Kagoshima. This flag features a stylized kanji.

Yufu, Oita. This flag features a stylized form of the letter ‘Y’.

Yurihonjo, Akita.The kanji in this flag represents a lily flower, a lily bulb and a gotenmari, a local varitey of temari ball.

Zama, Kanagawa. This flag features the stylized katakana.

Compiled exclusively for WDD by Zoe Ajiboye.

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