Pull + Ink

Last Thursday, Chris and I jumped over the causeway for an AIGA Miami event at the Lincoln Road Art Center. Pull + Ink was the third event in the Parallels series that commenced with a presentation by Jeff Matz, Principal of Lure Design, followed by screen-printers Ian Rowan and Chuck Loose of Iron Forge Press discussing the technical aspects of the medium.

The show concluded with Jeff having everyone pull and ink their own screen print of the above declaration: "I promise I will never use Hobo, Comic Sans, or Papyrus ever again".

A clever little line definitely tailored to the graphic designers at the show, as these are the names of typefaces widely considered a big no-no when used. I agree.

Broken Telephone

Khoi Vinh, the current Design Director of the NYTimes.com writes a great piece on "the efficiency of transferring ideas from the brain to the hand" when working with small teams. He also goes onto mention the integrity of the creative output when working with a design team of no more than a dozen people.

The writing is short, to the point and I can attest to every argument he makes for small versus big. At Bridge House our team is never more than a few designers on each project, so there is less of the "broken telephone" effect as I like to call it. You know, the game where each participant whispers to the next a phrase whispered to them by the preceding participant. As each turn goes on, errors accumulate and often lead to the last person uttering a statement that greatly differs from that which started it all. It's funny when played under the right circumstances, but in the business of communicating a client's product or service, it can easily hinder the process and dilute the original brief or solution.

Click to enjoy the read: Great Numbers, Not So Great Design

Managing Multiple Real Estate Clients

Juggle, juggle, juggle -- this would be the best way to describe a day in my life as an account manager. Managing multiple real estate accounts keeps me incredibly busy with many deadlines, projects and events. So there is definitely a great deal of variety in my day.

I truly love working with an array of clients and different projects. It makes my job more interesting and keeps me on my toes. Prioritizing the most important projects and communicating those priorities to the creative team makes a huge difference and helps keep everyone sane when things are crazy.

The team here at Bridge House is such an amazing group of people to work with. The designers are so talented and care so much about each project that comes through the studio. They all go the extra mile to give each project that extra special touch or flair that makes that brochure, billboard or ad stand out from others out there.

I feel extremely happy and fortunate to work with a group of such gifted people and to be a part of the Bridge House family.

Day 26: Get To Know The Interns

Now that all the interns have arrived and been put to work, we've each filled out a questionnaire so you can get to know us a little better. Can you guess what advertisement campaign its from?

Monica Alfonso
School: Florida State University
Major: Advertising
Favorite Ad Campaign: Absolut Vodka: "In an Absolut World"
Biggest challenge: deciding what to do with my life
My life: I keep it simple
My Internship: Bridge House

Regine Mechulan
School: Cornell University
Major: Communications & Applied Economics and Management
Favorite Ad Campaign: Get A Mac, and Publix's rebranding
Biggest challenge: acing Organic Chemistry
My life: confuses me
My Internship: Bridge House

Alyson Schulman
School: University of Texas at Austin
Major: Communications/Advertising/ Business Foundations
Favorite Ad Campaign: Dove: Campaign for real beauty
Biggest challenge: choosing a major
My life: is exciting
My Internship: Bridge House

Selma-Rachel Swire
School: Rhode Island School of Design
Major: Graphic Design
Favorite Ad Campaign: We Can Solve It.org
Biggest challenge: getting enough sleep
My life: is on a roll, with fries and a pickle
My Internship: Bridge House

Day 1: I <3 PMS

Who could be able to talk about fonts (for you old schoolers, typefaces) for an hour? Rony can. We assumed graphic designers only deal with, well, graphics, but apparently type is an art within itself. Computers don’t magically space the letters perfectly (see how wide the e is compared to the l? we wouldn’t want them to overlap). As newbies (I’m Regine, and I’m Monica, by the way) to the advertising world, we're trying to get used to this new lingo.

During a press check (literally, checking the press), we gained a new appreciation for printing. It was such a complex process—a bajillion different machines for a bajillion different processes to mass produce a simple brochure. First the appropriate colors have to be chosen, measured, and applied. If the green tone is off by one shade—redo! Then the paper, like, has to get cut to the custom sizes. The paper doesn’t walk off the tree itself. And, What? Hickeys are acceptable in post production? Actually, they’re not. Those stubborn splotches on prints are a major faux pas.

Those are two areas in the advertising realm, and we still have the whole summer to dabble in all of the other departments at Bridge House Studio. Can’t wait to see whose PMS Jenny is complaining about next--Pantone Matching System, that is…