As thousands of design students prepare for their portfolio reviews, there’s going to be a lot of printing, color tweaking, reprinting, kerning, ligature insertion, paper trimming, accidental finger cutting, spray gluing and overall project perfecting going on.

That’s the obvious stuff. But having a truly productive portfolio review is about more than just showing up with an über-polished body of work.

Plan to actively participate in the process, and you can have an experience that will give you a leg up over the students who simply plan to show up and let the reviewers do all the work.

NO DUH: THE BASICS

Bring a notepad and pen
This should be the simplest part of preparing for your portfolio review, yet it is the most often overlooked.

You will be meeting with industry veterans. They will be giving feedback — often granular — on each of your design projects. Are you seriously not going to record the wisdom they are about to bestow upon you? You won’t remember it all later … especially if you plan to go straight from the review to an after party.

Bring business cards
Another oft-overlooked basic, the business card is a simple yet powerful leave-behind, the purpose of which is twofold: it proves your ability to succinctly and creatively design within a limiting format, and it gives reviewers a way to contact you later if they so desire. Make sure your card includes a current, permanent email address.

Bring your resume
Resume writing services can be expensive and aren’t always geared toward people in creative fields. Bring your resume along for feedback from people who’ve seen it all and have clearly done something right with their own resumes (they’re professional designers, aren’t they?).

Dress like you care
Regardless of how laid back the design community is, a little effort never hurt anyone. No need to roll out the designer-label power suit and tie, but definitely reconsider the flip-flops and your favorite clubbing attire (ladies: ditch the diaphanous duds). Comb your hair, pack a few breath mints (you’re going to be breathing on people all day), and just be presentable.

TAKE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL

Try going as a junior
If the event you’re considering allows it, attend your first portfolio review as a junior. This will give you extra time to:

- identify the shortcomings of your portfolio and presentation – revamp existing projects that have potential – create new projects that fill any holes in your body of work – select elective courses during your senior year that directly address weaknesses identified at the review

If there are no formal review events that allow juniors, see if you can set up reviews with professors and designers within your community.

Consider bringing some actual pieces
After four years of lugging unwieldy portfolios around campus, the prospect of compressing your final ‘folio into a sleek, booklet-sized presentation is probably a relief. But beware: unless your book includes fantastic, high-res photography featured at a reasonable size (i.e., NOT the size of a matchbox), a reviewer may not be able to see your work, much less evaluate it.

Things like special paper stock, typography, detailed illustrations, complex folding and 3D construction often get lost in mediocre photographs. It never hurts to bring a few, key pieces, actual size, so that they can be thoroughly appreciated — and properly critiqued — by a reviewer.

Explain yourself
There is nothing worse for a reviewer than having to pull words out of an interviewee’s mouth, or suffering through interminable “ums.”

You don’t need to memorize a speech, but at least have an idea of how you will introduce yourself and what points you want to make about each of your pieces. A reviewer wants to know about your concepts — your thinking elevates your portfolio from simply being a series of technical exercises.

If extemporaneous speech terrifies you, jot down brief bullet points about each piece ahead of time. A single-sided index card per project works well. The cards can be discreetly attached to the backs of your presentation boards using acid free photo corners or, if you have a book, kept in a neat stack for you to reference (extra credit if you design to match your resume and biz card, and/or make a cool carrying case).

Bullet points should address key design decisions and how they aid conceptual and communication goals; e.g., how choosing a day-glo ink is a good choice for your target audience of 80-year-olds, or why Curlz is the perfect typeface for a bank’s corporate identity. Also mention notable technical accomplishments; e.g., every photorealistic illustration in your project is vector art created by you.

Above all, be passionate about your own work, and many of your explications will just flow.

HANDLE IT GRACEFULLY

Realize your portfolio is very likely NOT perfect
After spending wads of cash on printing and all the other finishing work that comes with a portfolio, it can be heartbreaking to hear a project requires revisions, particularly if it’s part of a bound presentation (like a book). But going to a review thinking nothing in your presentation will change is the wrong mindset.

Resign yourself to the fact that your portfolio is in a permanent state of flux, will be for the entirety of your career, and that it will not emerge from the portfolio review unscathed. In fact, the better designer you are, the pickier many reviewers will be, because they know you’re at a point where infinitesimal details can and should be addressed.

Consider the portfolio you bring to your review a refined, expensive prototype. Be willing to entertain the idea of revisiting projects — and redoing your book — if necessary.

Defend your work without arguing
While there is nothing wrong with defending your design decisions — it’s a skill you will use throughout your career — arguing with, dismissing and insulting a reviewer is not the way to go. Aside from being incredibly rude, it indicates you are unprepared for a professional environment, where you will have to temper your discontent diplomatically in order to get along with senior talent and clients.

You won’t agree with everything each reviewer says, but respectfully consider their feedback, remembering that they are not doing this for their health: the vast majority of reviewers are volunteers using their (limited!) amounts of spare time to give you advice borne of years of industry know-how.

Understand that the review is not a job interview
We’ve all heard stories of rockstar designers reviewing the work of unknown kids who knock their socks off, and offering said interviewees jobs on the spot.

Such tales represent the exception, not the rule.

Not everyone who volunteers as a reviewer is looking to hire. Some are freelancers who fly solo. Others attend because they enjoy mentoring new talent, even if their company is not hiring.

Leave the Why-I’m-Perfect-for-Your-Company hard sell at home, and listen to the reviewers rather than concentrating all your efforts on peddling your skills. Don’t bank on leaving with a job, and instead use the experience as a way to groom yourself for future interviews. In the event that you do get an offer, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Say thank you
Enough said.

——————————————————————————————

Leila Singleton is Manager, Design Services, at the San Francisco Travel Association. She attended two amazing portfolio reviews as a student and now volunteers on the other side of the table: she’s reviewed work at Colorado State University and four AIGA SF Portfolio Days. Leila’s art and design appears in over half a dozen books and has been exhibited in such diverse locations as Times Square and Kharkov, Ukraine. Say hello to her on Twitter: @leila_singleton.

——————————————————————————————

Every author whose submission is selected for publication on our website will receive two complimentary tickets to an AIGA SF event of his or her choice.

The views expressed by our contributors are not necessarily that of AIGA SF. We welcome any and all submissions, suggestions or grievances sent to communications@aigasf.org. We reserve the right to refuse any submission for publication without explanation.

Maria Giudice isn’t your typical designer. Though she has the skills, particularly in calligraphy, information design, book design and cartography, she’s the first to say that her portfolio is inconsequential. Maria’s greatest design projects are solutions to complex problems, successful collaborations with partners and team members, and two successful design consultancies.

Maria pioneered digital prepress techniques that we take for granted today but the challenges she gives herself, now, are strategic and organizational. The things she’s proudest of have little to do with the craft of design and stretch into the design of organizations and relationships. She’s built a system of growing her company and the people in it. She takes a long view of design and designers.

NS: You’ve been in the design industry for a fairly long time.

MG: Yes, I’m a dinosaur.

NS: You’ve watched it transform radically in that time. Did you always know you wanted to be a designer?

MG: No. I never thought I would be a designer.

NS: So what did you do that was so bad that you had to be a designer?

MG: As far as I can remember, I wanted to be a painter. I grew up in Staten Island, New York. I started taking painting lessons at 8 years old on Saturday mornings at 10am with Frederick Sklenar. I’d pick out a book from the Robert Foster series—seascapes, sunsets, still-lifes. Art was my destiny and my uncle Frank Frazetta was my idol. He was a famous artist and his work was amazing.

NS: I assume he supported this. Did the rest of your family support it?

MG: I was always pushing the boundaries of whatever I did. When I was in high school, I remember meeting someone going into graphic design and I thought it was a useless career. I was going to be a fine artist. That said, I was really getting into lettering. I used to copy letterforms out of a Speedball lettering book I bought at my neighborhood art store, but I didn’t equate that with graphic design at all. When I went to college at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, I went in as a fine artist but I ended-up taking a lot of graphic design courses. In my sophomore year my painting teacher told me to rethink my career in fine art, and that’s when I decided to diversify and take a wide range of classes.

NS: Do you have paintings from back then?

MG: Not now, but I have pictures!. My mother was teaching cooking classes in our basement and I had all of these paintings up. Her students would see them and ask me to paint portraits of their dogs—for $35 a painting. That took-off like wildfire. Also as an early entrepreneur, I would babysit for kids on my block and hand-paint jean jackets at the same time. Essentially, I was doubling my hourly rate.

NS: Double income, with kids! Would the dogs sit for you?

MG: No, I would work from photographs. But I really struggled in graphic design at Cooper Union. I was a slob and graphic design meant you had to be neat and clean. Your boards had to be impeccable. I took a diverse set of classes including photography, calligraphy—even one engineering class—but it was still separate from “design” in my mind.

NS: Aside from the neatness, I have the impression that you didn’t like graphic design because it was so appearance-based?

MG: Yes, it was so formulaic. People would learn about Helvetica and Garamond and Bodoni and if they just used those fonts carefully, with the right picture and white space, they would have a great design. It was boring.

When I was in my senior year in college, Peter Bradford was my teacher and he made us come-up with our own design problems to solve. So, I came-up with these big projects. I lived in Staten Island and commuted into the City every day and there was no wayfinding whatsoever. I wanted to do this giant floor map of Staten Island to give commuting directions, points of interest, etc. but I didn’t think of this as information design. I didn’t connect the dots. The other thing was that I looked like the woman from Working Girl. I felt like an outsider. I had the high hair and the accent. I wasn’t wearing black, and Vignelli would never hire me. I didn’t fit the mold.

Then, I met Richard (Saul Wurman). He came into Peter’s class and he didn’t fit the mold either. He cursed up a storm and I fell in love with that. I felt like he was my people. He told us “You’re all full of shit. You’re all designing for yourselves. You have to help people make sense of the world and design systems that help people understand.” This was the guy I had been waiting for and I just absorbed it all in. So I went to interview with him. I brought along all these wayfinding systems I had been doing in calligraphy, including a map of the Garden of Earthly Delights. I did all of these weird things in calligraphy. He saw something in me and he hired me on the spot. I became a graphic designer unknowingly.

Richard was really championing human-centered design before anyone else in the graphic design field. I had worked for sign painters and other designers but I didn’t get good at it until I worked for him. There were less than 10 of us at Access Press in NYC. He said, “You’re Italian, you do Rome ACCESS.”

We had a tumultuous relationship. I felt like he had a great mind but we didn’t agree on design aesthetics. In my mind he didn’t seem to care so much about execution so we constantly clashed. He was dictatorial back then and didn’t listen to you and I hated it, yet I had tremendous respect for him.

NS: So how did you get to San Francisco?

MG: In 1987, he got the gig to redesign the Pacific Bell Yellow Pages. He opened an office in SF to do this work and called it TheUnderstandingBusiness. I sensed that if I didn’t get away from Richard, he was going to fire me. My friend from Cooper Union, Sandra Kelch, was moving out to SF—which I had never been to. I volunteered to go out and help set-up the San Francisco office. I think he saw it as an opportunity to get rid of me, so he agreed.

NS: Did you know what to expect out here?

MG: Not at all. I had never been to San Francisco before. It was just an adventure. I thought I was moving out for 6 months. I had no intention of staying. I was a die-hard New Yorker. I had a job but I didn’t have a place to live so I stayed in a youth hostel for a while. When I reported to work, there was no there there. There was no one to report to and Richard went radio-silent. That’s when I met Nancy Cech, a friendly face who was sitting in a cubicle at Pacific Bell Directory. She welcomed me and took me under her wing. Mark Johnson was hired to run the office. He showed-up a week later. Greg Galle was hired as the Art Director and followed about a week after that. At first, they didn’t know what to do with me, so they treated me, basically, as a secretary. They didn’t have a whole lot of faith me and didn’t think I was going to last. I was warned in an elevator once that if I didn’t shape-up, I was going to get fired.

NS: Shape-up how?

MG: I was obnoxious and loud. I was used to New York. I didn’t understand the culture out here. So, I took a class in interpersonal communication at City College and it helped amazingly. I learned about listening techniques and I learned to use non-threatening language…it saved my career. They cast me off to the side as this weirdo but I carved-out my own thing that worked and I gained power. “Oh, we’ll give her maps.” Low and behold, over time, I had 20 people working for me in the map department who believed in what I was doing and building.

We pioneered the digital prepress techniques with the Macintosh and desktop publishing. I remember taking densitometer readings and doing dot-gain experiments. We invented how to trap with Illustrator and other programs in order to take these files to a real 4-color press. We did that on the USATLAS project and when we went to MacWorld that year, every booth that had anything to do with publishing had a copy of these files and were showing off the book and film separations even though they had nothing to do with the project. It was hilarious.

I worked at TUB for 2 years when I decided it was time to leave. I went traveling through Southeast Asia in 1989 with friends and missed the earthquake in the Fall. When I came back, I had no job and no place to live since my loft had been condemned in the quake. I consulted a bit for Mark Johnson at TUB on process but I also started working at DPI (Digital Prepress International) on the first Agfa Prepress Guide. That became an overnight success and we had more books in mind.

In 1992, I started my first company with a colleague I had worked with at TUB. I started getting more work and I needed help. We were on a press check for one of the Agfa books when I asked her to start a company with me and we were discussing possible names. I remember thinking of the name YO because it was fresh and didn’t take the design industry too seriously. My colleague was resistant, so we asked one of the press guys what he thought of the name. He liked it and she was open to it so YO began right there.

We went in very idealistically—we were young so we never thought about what could possibly go wrong. We didn’t think through all of the ramifications. We were both designers with similar skills so there was no natural tie-breaker and we clashed over aesthetics. Our skills weren’t complementary, they were overlapping.

I took a course on Entrepreneurism at the Renaissance Center here in SF (an early start-up non-profit) and that helped me learn about accounting and the basics of running a business. My partner and I were mismatched in terms of where we were in life and what our goals were. We were going in different directions.

The other thing happening then was the Internet. We had been working with Peachpit Press designing books when they asked us to design their first website. They said, “You know, Maria, you think of design differently than any other designer we’ve ever worked with. Can you design our website?” I didn’t know what a website was but I was sure I could do it. We applied the principles of information design to the Web and it worked perfectly.

I avoided the whole CD-ROM thing because I really didn’t understand it but I remember you saying, in 1994, “We’re not doing CD-ROMs anymore, we’re going to work on the Internet.” I remember thinking: “Pthh. That will never last!” But, here I was in 1996 and not only had it not gone away but it was the accelerating opportunity to do information design. It was during this time when my partner, along with Darcy DiNucci and I, coauthored the book, Elements of Web Design, The Designer’s Guide to the New Medium.

After five years, my partner and I decided to go different ways. In 1997, we split up the assets, and moved on. She took her clients and I took mine. I like to say, she took the Y and I took the O and started HOT. I walked into the bank with a $20,000 check and opened a banking account. Fifteen years later, the same guy in the bank who took my check, Ali Ansari, is my banker today.

I had just started dating my now husband, Scott Allen. We had met in 1996 and I tried to pick-him-up during the weekly Friday Night Skate but he didn’t bite. One evening during the Skate, he mentioned that Prince tickets were going on sale the following day and I stopped in my tracks and said “I need to go now.” I was going to go sleep in line in San Jose, CA for Prince tickets. He said “I’ll go with you.” I thought he was crazy and I told him he didn’t know what he was getting into but we went, slept in line, and that was our first date. When it was time to think of a new name for the company, I began looking in the dictionary for words that were a little risqué, that would be memorable, and that people were either going to love or hate. He jokingly said “how about Hot?” I looked-up and said “Maybe!” Later that day, in a postcard store in the Castro I noticed a postcard with a photograph of a neon sign that said “HOT”. I said to Scott “that’s the sign.” So, I named the company Hot Studio and opened for business on July 25, 1997.

My first employee was Ben Benjamin, who was a freelancer for YO. Then, Ben Seibel. My third employee, Renee Anderson, joined Hot, and worked with me on and off up until last year— for over 10 years! I was really timid about hiring people but there was a certain point when it became necessary to grow. Back then, it was still 80% print, 20% digital. Sam McMillan wrote an article in Communication Arts about YO and our unique design process. We were diagramming schematics of pages, and we called it “page architecture,” which is now called information architecture and Richard’s book, Information Architects, came out about then, too. By the end of 1999, our work switched to more digital than print. Now, we rarely work in print.

The other thing about designing for the Internet was that it was so collaborative. I fell in love with collaborative design back at TUB but didn’t realize it then. When we started doing Web work, it was the same thing. It was art and science combined. You had to work with people with different skills: engineers, coders, writers, and business people. It wasn’t just about design anymore.

We started growing quickly and we didn’t have enough processes in place. By the end of 2001, when the crash hit, we had to lay-off 5 people. Companies were dying around us overnight. But, I had steady clients, like Schwab. My bookkeeper was telling me to sell the business while I could. I called Rajan Dev, from the TUB days, who had a business background, for guidance and advice. He came over during his lunch hour, and asked me two simple questions: How much can you confidently make every month and how much are you spending every month? I told him and he matter-of-factly explained, “Based on my calculations, you need to cut your expenses by 20%, which is five people.” I was completely blown away by that. Rajan joined Hot Studio in 2005 and is now President, and second in command at Hot Studio.

That’s when I realized that your company is not family. You need to be able to make hard choices or you lose it all. I made strategic choices and was able to rebuild with those who stayed. We had to manage those severe dips three times throughout the years: in 2001, 2005, and in 2008 (and a little bit last year).

NS: What’s remarkable to me is that, at every point, you not only survived but you thrived.

MG: I learned that when it’s REALLY bad and you’re at the lowest low, you can shrivel up or you can find something deep inside you, get over the initial shock and embrace it as an opportunity. You have to look at your situation and ask how you can do things differently. I think that one of my superpowers is resiliency. At the end of the day, I can always get a job as a back-up plan. Then I ask myself, “where do I need this company to be and how are we going to get there?” I feel like, after four downturns, they still totally suck but I’m not afraid of them. It also comes down to reputation and integrity. I definitely have a few people who don’t talk to me anymore but I feel like I’ve always been honest and fair. I believe in my own abilities and staying relevant as a practitioner is important. It gives you a lot of strength. If we have to downsize again, I know we can survive.

NS: You’ve never really spoken a lot or published articles but that’s changed recently.

MG: Hot now employs about 75 people and we’re in NYC, too. I’ve always brought-on people who are smarter than me and I trust them to make great decisions. Every year, at every scale, I reevaluate my job and what I can bring to the table. I think about what I can delegate to others. I always challenge people to go beyond what they think they can achieve. I no longer have to work in the business, I can work on the business. I think of building the business as a series of design problems that I continuously have to solve.

NS: Tell me about the TED Prize sites.

MG: We helped two wishes come true: Once Upon a School for Dave Eggers and the Open Architecture Network for Cameron Sinclair. Richard (Saul Wurman) founded the TED conference and I’ve been attending the conference every year since 2002. At first, it can be really intimidating. You sit in this theater next to people who have made these huge accomplishments and you think “What the fuck have I done? I’m just a designer and I haven’t made any significant contribution to society whatsoever. What am I doing that’s world-changing? I’m a tiny company with 20 people.” In 2006, Cameron Sinclair won the TED prize and they were asking for people to help get the network off the ground. I sent a simple email to Amy Novogratz at TED saying “We can help create the website” and much to my amazement and surprise, she emailed me back immediately.

It was the first time we didn’t feel like we were working with a client. We approached the project as their partner, along with Sun Microsystems who stepped-up as their technology partner. It was our first true project where we were all empowered to envision what the future might be like. We delivered it within a year and it brought us credibility. It made me realize the power of design—the power design brings when you’re treated like an equal at the table. It doesn’t matter how big or small you are. If you are willing to come to the table feeling like an equal, you are going to be rewarded as a contributor. It was a time in my life when I realized that design doesn’t have to be subservient. With the right people, together, you can create things that are world-changing.

NS: That leads me to where you are today, with a book and a new message about leadership.

MG: The next generation of leaders will be designers.

NS: Do you mean that leaders will have a traditional design craft background?

MG: No. I don’t believe that design should live in design schools. We need to liberate that word. It’s really creative thinking. I hate the term design thinking. It’s really about creativity.

NS: But it is a certain kind of creativity, don’t you think? Art is creative but it’s not the same kind of creativity you’re talking about. One good thing about the term design thinking is that it drew a line between design craft (which was very much about typefaces, colors, form, etc.) and design process (which could be applied to anything, including business models, etc.

MG: Yes, the best design is 50% thinking and 50% doing. You learn through doing, they’re codependent. Designers can get shit done: GSD. They know how to drive towards a deadline and get to a conclusion. Without the doing, you get nowhere.

There are many designers in this world who look at the world differently. You have to be open to the idea of exploration, of divergent and convergent thinking, of looking at as many ideas as possible and then zeroing-in on a strategy that can be built over time. The best design is when you have an engineering point of view, a business POV, a human factors POV, a visual POV. At Hot Studio, we have so many different types of creative people. Everyone provides a lens onto the world that’s different than others. We tell the same thing to clients—they bring a collaborative lens and an appreciation of their customers. When I say that the next generation of leaders are designers, I think of it in broad strokes.

I’m talking about Design Executive Officers—CEOS that are creative leaders. When I think of DEOS, I think of Ray Anderson, Emily Pilloton, Robin Chase, Yvonne Chouinard, and Chip Conley, for example.

We are at both the shittiest point and the best point in life. Everything is breaking and the world is at its worst but what a great opportunity because everything has to transform, has to be reinvented. Things have to die in order to be reborn and we’re witnessing the death now. Not a lot is salvageable. We need the people who are able to create new models. Technology is continuing to change so I feel really excited. It’s not a done deal. We can make a huge impact if we embrace it. Then, you have to have the confidence to feel like an equal participant in helping to solve the world’s problems.

NS: How do designers develop that confidence, because they almost never feel like an equal.

MG: We’re seeing that metamorphosis now. In many cases, the younger generation of designers are more engaged. They see themselves as responsible for changing the world and that they have a stake in it. Generationally, that’s going to work itself out.

Aside from giving birth to my two amazing children, I feel like my biggest contribution to society has been leading two companies for over twenty years (Hot Studio turns 15 this year). I started out as that Working Girl with the accent who never thought she was going to be successful in graphic design. I now have 75 employees, most of whom are younger than me, and I’m teaching. My job, now, is to inspire them and tell them, like my own kids, that anything is possible. I don’t care what you do in life, just love what you do and try to do it better than anyone else.

I try to be a role-model at Hot Studio. I think about my time spent at TheUnderstandingBusiness. It was a magical time, just like you had at vivid. These were some of the best years of my life when we grew as designers, as people, as friends. I want Hot to be that kind of place. I want people to say “That was an amazing time where I met life-long friends and grew as both a person and a designer and I was doing stuff that really counted.” That’s my responsibility now. When they leave Hot Studio, they’re going to do something amazing.

I can tell that people LOVE being at Hot Studio. That’s why I enjoy coming to work every day. I think of my own portfolio as insignificant, as a contributor. I think we’ve done some really great work and we’ve broken barriers but I hate when people measure you by your clients and stuff that you make.

In five years, how many of those websites are even going to exist? The greatest work I’ve ever done was creating the map department at TUB, by creating YO and creating Hot Studio That’s my project: making sure Hot Studio continues do important and meaningful work, continues to evolve, and continues to thrive.

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Nathan Shedroff is a car designer turned information designer turned interaction designer turned experience strategist turned business strategist turned educator. He is currently the program chair of the ground-breaking MBA in Design Strategy at California College of the Arts.

Karin Hibma has a first hand understanding of the power of design and visual thinking in our economy and culture. A strategic partner in : : CRONAN : :, Hibma brings deep listening, design thinking and creative insights into finding “the big idea” inherent in every client’s projects. Among her many accomplishments, Himba was named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2009.

Kristen Bouvier: Congratulations on your well-deserved award! We’re thrilled to have you as a design leader in our community with the amazing example you’ve set and all you give back.

Karin Hibma: Thank you, thank you. This is a wonderful opportunity to think about where I’ve been, where I’m going and all the people I’ve met through design. I’ll share anything that can be helpful for others to get inspiration. I’m in great company with the other 2012 Fellows, Maria Giudice and Patrick Coyne. The Bay Area is rich with amazing, creative people. I’m excited about what can be done with design and our community moving forward.

KB: So how did it all begin for you? Have you always been artistic?

KH: Yes, I was the kid that got to do the bulletin board in the second grade. I went on to study at Sacramento State and, of course, majored in fine art. We were fortunate that we had an awesome Art Department. Joseph Raffael and Bill Allan, Joan Brown, Carlos Villa, Sylvia Lark. Wayne Thiebaud was teaching at UC Davis, as well as Bill Wiley. We got to hang out with painters—there were some pretty amazing people on the faculty and in the program. Joseph Campbell came to give lectures, R. Crumb’s band played on the school lawn.

I took on a number of jobs during school from modeling to drawing kid’s coloring sheets for the Sacramento Parks and Rec. I moved to Europe for a couple of years. I planned to move back to Paris after finishing school. I’d met this guy in Art and Mythology class who shared my interests. He was going to buy my VW, which was going to pay for my return ticket to Europe. Only the engine blew up as I pulled up to sign the car over. So I stuck around. We’ve been together ever since. Of course that guy was Michael Cronan.

KH: We lucked into the world of design; my first job working in the field was listed on a job card. They needed a researcher to get pictures – for example – of roller coasters to use as reference material for the illustrator for a credit union campaign poster when the rates would “roller coaster”. I had no problem finding reference images (and lots of inspiration for my own work) and it was great – the library was open until one o’clock in the morning and the company paid me 5 bucks an hour, great wages in the 70’s for an art student!

We quickly found the design community seemed very different than the art world. There were a lot of opportunities, new people to meet. Everyone was excited “…oh have you met that person, they’re so cool and they’re working on this great project.” There was also a great exchange of value – clients paid you for work and earned from effective results. So, it was during school we discovered and fell in love with design.

KH: Yes. The folks from the company that hired me to get reference materials referred me to others who needed props for commercials and films. The California State Department of Education hired me to research the history of education in California and work with their documentary filmmakers for the centennial and a film on migrant workers’ education. I created a big bound book of all my research for the California State Library. Forty years later, we’re advising the State Library, helping them refresh their brand and identity. That big book is still there on the shelves.

My client in Sacramento, Michael Kennedy, was very connected to the design community in San Francisco. He invited Michael and I to an event here and introduced us to Michael Vanderbyl and Michael Manwaring. It’s always been fun with all the Michael, Michael, Michaels. That’s kind of how that all started.

After school I moved down to the Bay Area, Michael was already working here. I invented my career by continuing my design research business, calling it KH Design Resource. I went around to the design offices in San Francisco and told them I did research for designers, illustrators, and photographers. Everyone listened patiently to me and looked at the work I’d done for other people and mostly nodded and told me that they’d never hired anyone to do that and didn’t need me.

But (this has been part of the secret sauce that I share with other beginners) I learned, whenever I hit that dead end, to ask “then who else should I talk to or go see?” Every one gave me 5 or 10 names, even called other firms and told them that I was headed over. I’d go and meet with those people. After a short while they knew there was this researcher… when a project would come up that they didn’t know where to get something they said, “Well let’s call Karin.” I met so many wonderful people this way—Dugald Stermer, Larry Duke, Bruce Wolfe, Primo Angeli, etc.

After a few years in San Francisco, all these designers were friends, many were teaching at CCAC. Michael Vanderbyl and Manwaring were neighbors on Sansome Street and Michael Cronan was working with Manwaring, there was lunch at Café Lido together every day with all the Michaels, Tommy Ingalls, Dixie Manwaring and a constant stream of visiting designers (Michael Bierut, who was working for Vignelli, came from New York to meet and join in – he says he was star-struck). Over the years, we’d go to lunch, sit and laugh, talk, let down the load of responsibility, noodle on the tablecloth or on a napkin about what we were working on, steal an idea, get an idea, give an idea, and then go back to our offices charged up and refreshed. Honestly, having an ongoing dialogue around design is completely an inspiring process.

I love being around designers and learning how they see and critique work. It makes me sharper coming back to the office to look at ours. I’ve attended and spoken at major conferences and judged shows including the AIGA National with Paula Scher, Dana Arnett, and Jim Cross. On the other side of the scale, we go to Austin, Texas just about every spring for Chris Hill’s Creative Summit. It’s a student competition and the speakers/judges get passionate about each student’s work and their presentations. A lot of people get siloed in their offices, not having any dialogue. These design conversations help enrich all of our work.

KB: It sounds like your background of fine art, design and research were great stepping-stones for your work with the Creativity project?

KH: Yes, the Burdick Group was working with Chevron to celebrate their centennial by doing a contemporary slice of creativity across America of people who had made major contributions in the arts and sciences, people that were living and able to document their work. They had this grand theme/concept, “Creativity :: The Human Resource,” but hadn’t identified the people they would profile. They needed someone who knew how to do the research and develop the creative documentation.

That was when research meant you had to look in books to find information. Michael says that I was the Internet back then, able to find almost anything and make connections. Within the first month of the project, we created great lists and I checked out over 1000 books. I skimmed through them looking for individuals to profile and their creative process. Everything we included needed to be exhibit-able. We worked to come up with an interesting cross-section of these creative leaders. We reached out to a wide range of people, architects, writers, designers, artists – John Cage, Judy Chicago, Merce Cunningham, Jasper Johns, Lawrence Halprin, Robert Rauschenberg and scientists Margaret Mead, Linus Pauling, and Jonas Salk. I engaged with them, drafted their profiles, wrote and corrected their quotes and helped them describe their creative process.

We were creating all these individual profiles and knew we hoped to define overall what creativity is. It had been written about, but what notes could you put in an exhibit that would define creativity clearly enough to reach everyone from school groups to professionals and everyone in-between? We identified a group of characteristics which creative people share. The first, and perhaps the most important, is the willingness to challenge assumptions. Creatives discern previously unseen patterns – seeing things in new ways. They take risks. They tend to be independent and span several fields of study. They have fresh eyes and curious minds. They make connections. And creative people form networks with others like themselves. Milton Glaser did the amazing poster. The exhibit opened at the California Academy of Sciences in 1979 and travelled for three years to Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington DC, up to Seattle and they finally retired it 5 or 6 years ago.

KB: How did you finally end up combining your research, business experience, and design expertise into your current work?

KH: After the Creativity project, I continued to run Design Resource until we had our first son. Michael had just opened his new San Francisco design office, working with Levis and the San Francisco Symphony, and needed help with contracts, invoices – all the business things. I’d been doing these business things for years for myself, as well as the work, so I started organizing and developing his business for him. I spoke at conferences about growing a business in the field of design. We invested a lot in forming how the business of design worked, learning and helping to set standards for making that part transparent. I saw it as an extension of how people can work together to be creative, and grew to care about the design clients as I had for mine. My research, business and design experience helps me speak our : : CRONAN : : clients’ language.

We’ve evolved the business and focus our business scope on creating names, identities, design strategy and brands for game-changing products, services and companies. The naming and identity work is directly with the amazing key decision makers. We work to understand their business deeply and help them realize their aspirations. They tell us their ideas with no physical aspect yet to show or demonstrate, and these are things that haven’t existed before. So we have become good at reading people’s intentions and sharing the vision.

Our clients are creating change. They are innovators who are making strategic shifts, creating new products and want to establish, update or improve their brand strategy – Origins for Estee Lauder, SFMOMA’s store, et cetera. We’ve named and developed the identities for transformative organizations like Healthy Child Healthy World, as well as the new technologies, like TiVo and the Amazon Kindle. Everything has identity – the creative process and working with a design thinking approach has enabled us to help our clients gain iconic status in our global culture, energizing and extending the vision of their leadership at many levels. We believe a name and brand identity should be one of your hardest-working, and hopefully longest-working assets. Having worked in all forms of design, we are generalists who specialize; our deep and wide experience, innovation and insight translate into excellence, adaptability, and longevity for the names we create.

We are curious. We care. We are persistent because our clients need us to be so. If you are good — you don’t get to great casually. After three decades in business, we have fresh creative ideas plus the insights, experiences and perspectives of scores of successful products and companies to share, and we are deeply committed to the lasting success of our clients. We listen deeply and learn so much from them.

KB: You mentioned that you work with key decision makers. One question I continue to hear in the design community is “How do we get a seat at the business table?” Based on your success, do you have any insight on this?

KH: I’m going to quote my husband on this. Many designers aren’t ready to have conversations at the boardroom level because they don’t know enough and don’t care about the success of their client’s business. They care more about winning awards for their work than about whether they help the client’s company achieve great results. Designers who have been most successful in connecting with business at the higher level are the ones who have been interested in what their client’s business is.

Design thinking is the approach that allows for inquiry into our client’s world. It requires very, very deep listening. The first phase of any project needs to be learning all about the client, their industry and their competition. How did they get here? What’s their vision? What makes them different? What’s going to make people want to choose the product or the service they offer? When you have that dialogue and listen deeply, you put yourself in the position of being able to bring design tools and knowledge to the conversation, to the solution and to the business table.

There’s certainly a strata for general design in marketing, announcements, things that help keep a company fresh. But for design that is going to create change or be transformative, you need to be working with the leadership. And, in order to work with the leadership, you need to be able to have those conversations.

I was born curious so I’m passionate to learn about my clients and their business. The conversations around the Creativity project and the experience with Cronan Artefact, the company I founded for our Walking Man clothing, taught us about what our clients go through and transformed our understanding of the C-level. And I love our customers who’ve been wearing Walking Man for twenty+ years.

KB: How are you now using your business and design knowledge to affect positive social change in the world?

KH: Agnes Bourne brought fifty designers to Aspen for the Design Leadership Summit in 2005. She invited Michael and me and our sons, the only family in the group – Nick was at CCAC and Shawn was in high school. It was incredible for them to participate fully with design leaders including Rob Forbes, Cheryl Heller, David Kelly, John Maeda, Bill Moggridge, Zahid Sadar, Ann Willoughby, Keith Yamashita – these amazing people they’ve learned so much from.

This was where we all met Paul Polak, then head of International Development Enterprises (IDE). The message around him was that he’d helped get 17 million people out of poverty. Listening deeply during the course of the conference, Paul pointed out that 90% of designers were working on problems that were only relevant to 10% of the world. At the end of the Summit, the group was brought back together to decide what should happen after the Summit, Nick, one of the youngest participants, spoke up and said “I think we should solve Paul’s problem and teach designers to help design solutions for the other 90%.”

That led the AIGA to focus on social entrepreneurship, and me, Cheryl, Ann, Michael, and Paul to work with Barbara Bloemink and the Smithsonian’s Cooper Hewitt to develop the exhibition Design for the Other 90%. I’d met Paul at the very first Summit party. Seven years later, we have deep design conversations from wherever he is in the world. Paul’s experience taught all of us that you can’t donate people out of poverty. We’re helping him design opportunities for those in poverty to create a product that they can sell or create enterprise with, empowering them to sustainably help themselves. He’s speaking with multinational companies who want to understand how they can create products and markets for the 90%. It’s helping these companies’ bottom line, which drives business, and it also makes a huge difference for those billions.

I enjoyed judging the AIGA’s Cause/Affect show last year. It’s a brilliant program. The neighborhood Boy Scout troop builds community and needs innovative, appropriate design as much as somebody in a hut in Cambodia. They both need local solutions and approaches to their problems and/or their opportunity. If you bring your design expertise to each need in the same way, you’re going to see things that you wouldn’t have seen if you were just thinking “am I going to make this red or blue, Helvetica or Arial?”

I’m thankful for the group that’s in leadership at the AIGA San Francisco, the designers that are volunteering and being engaged. The designers that came out for the Cause/Affect show—getting to meet some of those energetic and committed local, national and international people was amazing. It’s exciting that the Gain Conference is coming to San Francisco this year and will be focused on design for social value. And we’re very excited to be re-energizing the Design Lecture Series. I’m just blown away at the endless potential for design.

KB: You’ve founded and help run at least 3 businesses and numerous side projects while at the same time raising 2 children and caring for other family members. Do you have any advice for women in design and business, any work / life balance suggestions?

KH: I’m thrilled for women today. I don’t know if you recently read about Sheryl Sandberg, the brilliant COO at Facebook. She’s on the front page of the NY Times with the President kissing her, Bloomberg hugging her and Jeffrey Immelt from GE shaking her hand, they are all in awe of her and how’s she’s helped grow that business. She says that women, in her view and I strongly agree, must take responsibility for their careers and not hold back, “keep your foot on the gas pedal and aim high.”

If you persist, don’t let anything stop you from doing what you see to do, you will be amazed at the results. In both our work and our lives together, I have been thankful that Michael is such a strong partner. We raised our sons to be awesome, respectful, interesting men. They’ve chosen amazingly strong women to be partners in their lives. You can work out how you’re going to get your work done, whether you’re doing it while you’re caring for your child, whether your partner happens to be better at caring for children. It’s a combination of no boundaries and taking initiative.

Joe Duffy’s wife, Patsy, gave me a wonderful piece of advice years ago when the children were small. She said they need you most when they’re teenagers. Plan your career so you can be around after school when they’re fourteen, fifteen, sixteen—that’s when they’re going to tell you what’s going on in their lives, when they need you to listen and be present. It’s the hardest time of their young lives and can the best time for helping them build the rest of their lives. We made a point to be a family. We had great conversations at dinner. They travelled and went to design conferences with us. They got to know our friends and our clients.

Another of my secret sauces is that we apply our design approach to our everyday issues. Now that the guys are grown, we have a regular family business dinner where we all talk about what’s going on in our career lives. We gain new perspectives, iterate on solutions and hopefully return to the next dinner in a better place. Again, being proactive and taking initiative.

As for balance, Michael and I are both artists, we never felt that we should create from nine to five. There are people who want their work and their personal life separate so that they can put one burden down and feel refreshed and pick up another. That’s great, but as designers and artists, we’re lucky—we’ll switch gears from whatever we’re working on with a client to dinner with friends who are coming over to talk about a pro bono project or career advice or to meet new people that they know. So always, our work is kind of continuous.

KB: Where do you see your career going now?

KH: I am fortunate to be able to say this – I feel I’m just beginning, that this all is just a start of understanding what we’re doing here. And, since I have that kind of beginner’s mind, I find myself very comfortably engaged with people who really are beginners. Doubt and uncertainty and fear go away pretty quickly when you just start putting one foot in front of the other. You know, if you put everything that that you’ve got in, give it your best, put your heart and energy into it, you have such a greater chance of being happy yourself. You’ll probably make your client and their customers happy and excited as well.

—————————————

Kristen Bouvier is a partner at Morphos, a San Francisco creative consultancy focused on transforming brands by harnessing the potential of design to create memorable interactions. With a background in both sociology and design, Kristen provides a unique approach and understanding of human behavior, user experience, and effective communication. Kristen serves on the board of AIGA San Francisco, the professional association for design, as the Social Impact co-chair and has co-chaired San Francisco “Design Makes a Difference” Week.

Trained as a designer, Patrick Coyne has spent the last 25 years editing and designing Communication Arts, the largest international trade journal of visual communications. While his lack of publishing experience may have actually contributed to the publication’s longevity, he admits he would have paid more attention in his high school English classes if he’d known how important writing would be to his career. In this brief interview, we discuss the magazine’s humble beginnings, the impact of technology on publishing and business, how his family’s foundation is trying to make visual communications more accurately reflect society and what he thinks might be happening in the future.

SM: Communication Arts is currently in its fifth decade of publication. Tell me about the background of the magazine.

PC: The magazine was set-up by my father and his business partner back in the ’50s as a sideline business so they could play with the new technology of the time. They wanted to have their own litho film prep facility and they couldn’t justify buying a big copy camera and darkroom for their design/ad business. So they came up with the idea of a commercial art magazine to justify the expense. After a few issues, my dad realized publishing a magazine was a lot more interesting than running a commercial art studio. It was not a profitable venture for the first seventeen years. Fortunately, people give you their subscription dollars in advance with the understanding that you’ll deliver issues over the subscription term.

It’s still a family-owned business. I was involved as a kid in the summers helping with the competitions, opening packages, gluing gold seals on award certificates, working as the janitor, whatever it took. I really wasn’t that interested in getting involved in the business. I wanted to do my own thing because I was looking at my parents doing their own thing. That was my role model. “Be your own boss.” That changed in 1986 when my dad decided he wanted to retire. It was “I’m going to sell the magazine unless you want to get involved.” At that point I realized that if I didn’t, somebody else was going to be running my family’s legacy.

SM: So, to put 1986 in context, Steve Jobs was running a little computer company called Next at that time. Tell us what it was like stepping into the role at the magazine.

PC: Well my father already understood that computers we’re going to become a significant part of the field. He was actually an early investor in the Lightspeed computer, which was essentially a desktop publishing system that predated the Macintosh. Of course that didn’t work out. It wasn’t until 1989 when we actually bought Macs and started doing in-house desktop publishing.

SM: In the late ’80s and early ’90s technology was seen as a tool that would revolutionize publishing for the better, making it much more streamlined, more productive. What were the changes you’ve seen as a publisher, actually manufacturing a magazine?

PC: You could argue that technology is still doing that. Technology in almost every creative endeavor is making the price of entry less, making it easier to get your content out for the world to see. The shocker for publishers has been watching their advertising revenue decline. Their whole business model is undergoing a revolution. Suddenly the Craigslists, Googles and Facebooks of the world are capturing that income. Fortunately for us, we never had that much advertising in the first place and we had to rely on subscription revenue in order to survive. That’s the reason why I think we’re still here.

SM: Well that was my next question. How does a magazine like Communication Arts, survive? There such a high level of quality and craft and the standards are so high. So how do you guys exist in an arena where magazines are failing everyday?

PC: Because we’ve put out a product that our readers are willing to support with their subscription dollars. That’s what you’re hearing now from all the publishers adding paywalls, “We have to start charging for our content.”

SM: So how will Communication Arts play in the digital, online arena? Is there advertising support for it?

PC: What we’re doing is making a certain portion of the content on the website available for free—and that’s partially supported by advertising. Then we’ve been archiving the Annuals and feature articles behind a paywall. That’s what we’re calling our Online Premium Content, which is free to print subscribers. The part I’m most excited about is the way it’s structured. It’s not “here’s issue 355, 356…” If you want to search for work from a firm or individual, you can search everything we’ve put up, taking advantage of what the web does best. It’s like a Google image search but only within the award-winning work and profiles that we’ve included. Whenever I’m looking through the magazine for inspiration, I’m either looking for a certain type of media or a person or a firm and I’ve always wanted to be able to search across issues quickly. For us the future is the combination of the two—print and digital. We really like the idea of people paying one price and having access to everything. And at some point when we add tablet or mobile apps or whatever comes after that, again we want to include that as part of the subscription. I just don’t think it makes sense to pay twice for the same content.

SM: You mentioned the iPad or a tablet version. Is that in the works? A year ago the iPad was hailed as a savior for magazines. It’s a new medium. It’s a new platform…

PC: Until Apple announced they were going to take 30% off the top and not release any buyer information to the publisher. So as far as the publisher is concerned, it’s like a single copy sale. I’d have no idea who bought it and I can’t reach out and get them involved in entering the competitions or anything like that.

SM: So it wasn’t a panacea?

PC: No. And we haven’t released an iPad version because of the terms, the production process and the cost. Some of the biggest consumer titles are bragging that they’ve sold 30,000 copies of a particular issue when they have a circulation of over a million. So we do the math and realize we’d sell maybe 250-300 copies—it’s just not worth the effort at this time. But I think it’s inevitable.

SM: You’ve been publishing now for over 50 years with the Annuals functioning as a way of taking the pulse of the industry. I’m not sure when they started as a regular kind of competition, but I would imagine that they came out over time. There was first an Advertising Annual, maybe a few years later a Photography Annual or…

PC: It all started in 1960 as one Annual. And that one Annual included design, advertising, illustration and photography. So it was everything. It was a decision based on survival. When the magazine had about 5,000 subscribers and little advertising revenue to speak of, my father realized he had to come up with something to make the magazine viable and that’s when they launched the competition. What happened over the years is the competition just got bigger and bigger. We had to separate the Illustration and Photography from Design and Advertising. Then Design and Advertising split. Then Illustration and Photography split. It was in 1995 we added the Interactive Annual because the entries just needed to be judged differently. We actually had three interactive entries entered in the 1994 Design Annual and it took the nine judges half-an-hour to look at them and I still had like 10,000 print entries for them to judge. That’s when we said “We’ve got to do something different.”

It’s been interesting to see how quickly the industry has changed. In the early days of the Interactive Annual, it was all disk based. Then it was all web. Now we’re seeing more and more mobile and tablet apps come in and interactive installations, which I think have real growth potential for the future. We’re just starting to see the impact of touchscreen technology. It won’t be long before every surface has some potential for interactivity.

SM: You recently published your second Typography Annual. As a writer, one of the things I got into twenty or thirty years ago was book arts and letterpress printing. So it’s been gratifying to see this interest in type. But it’s just the geekiest thing.

PC: For years typography was always the top topic of interest in our reader surveys. When we decided to merge all our content into six issues and had room for one more competition, the answer was obvious. We had to do typography. It’s amazing to me the number of people who love type! We get letters from people who say “I don’t know anything about design, but I just love looking at type.”

SM: There’s been a real renaissance in typography. The same trend that is driving the artisanal bakers of the world. The same kind of people are doing artisanal letterpress. They’re rediscovering wood type…

PC: Which I think is a natural reaction to the technology that permeates our lives.

SM: Like bands releasing vinyl records…

PC: I think there’s still that need for a physical connection. One of our recent Typography judges, who runs a book arts center in Buffalo, told me it’s a shame this resurgence didn’t happen sooner because so much of the equipment has been destroyed. It just isn’t going to be able to grow much larger unless somebody decides to start producing new equipment, which, unfortunately, I don’t think anybody will.

SM: Fortunately that stuff was made to last. Franklin presses are gonna last for thousands of years. Mimeograph machines I’m not so sure. So let’s talk about people trying to get in the industry, where students might position themselves. What do you think might be happening in the future?

PC: I sure wish I knew.

SM: What would you tell your daughter who’s studying photography at San Jose State?

PC: To get more involved in social media. I think there is a lot of growth potential there in a way that my generation just isn’t going to understand—the way we’re going to connect people to companies, products and services. Another growth area is service design, where instead of designing objects, it’s improving the experiences people have with a company’s product or service—choreographing the experience.

SM: I know there’s some new thinking happening around the retail experience. Apple’s a great example of that. I think IDEO may have done some work on hospitals.

PC: There needs to be work done there, the interaction with doctors, the communicating of information. Any experience with the government needs improvement. I think that’s going to be a big area of growth in the future.

I also think a lot more designers are going to be creating their own products and services rather than waiting for a client. There’ve been a few examples of that over the years.

SM: Sites like Etsy and Kickstarter have made it easier to get access to the public, access to the marketplace where an individual designer could make and sell a product or service.

PC: Exactly. I think we’re just at the beginning of that. There’s going to be more entrepreneurial people coming up with ideas. That’s where innovation happens anyway. It happens in the garage.

SM: I’ve been reading about Alice Waters and Chez Panisse. She started about 40 years ago and I don’t think she intended to become an industry or an entrepreneurial giant. And yet her organization has spun out chef after chef after chef and all these people are going out into the world and starting up their own kind of mini Chez Panisse-style restaurants or they’re making goat cheese in Point Reyes…Do you see studios or companies like Apple acting like engines of that kind of activity?

PC: Absolutely. We’re in Silicon Valley. We’re even seeing this with Google and Facebook. I mean people are spinning off right and left from those organizations, creating their own start-ups. That’s what I think the whole San Francisco Bay Area has been about: The spin-off, the spin-off, the spin-off. In our anniversary issue we did a family tree showing design and advertising firms and how people spun off from existing firms, started their own businesses and then other firms that started from people who worked there. It’s just a continual evolution.

SM: This is an area that rewards that, that almost looks forward to it.

PC: It sure makes this an exciting place to live. But we go through the boom and bust cycles and it hits us harder than most parts of the country. Things get hot, get overheated and then poof!

SM: Yeah then everyone is off to Singapore or wherever the next hot place is.

PC: Now, and I wouldn’t necessarily call it a bubble, there are all these micro start-ups happening, which I think from a business model is a little more responsible to have just a few people with an idea. Again technology has enabled this. They don’t have to have a big server room anymore. They can keep all their content on a cloud-based service. And I think the VCs have come to realize that it’s better to fund thousands of little ideas instead of a few big ones. Some of these are going to pay off.

SM: Let’s shift gears again and talk about the family foundation.

PC: It’s the Richard and Jean Coyne Family Foundation. The idea for this started back in 1968. Bill Tara, a good friend of my dad’s who wrote quite a few articles for the magazine, started the Tutor Art program in Los Angeles helping inner-city kids get a portfolio together so they could apply to art school. My dad was really impressed with the whole idea. Now the foundation is funding seventeen programs that are run by schools, non-profits and local AIGA chapters that do mentoring programs—showing kids that visual communications is a viable career, getting them some training, helping them put a portfolio together and also providing scholarships.

This has always been a problem in visual communications: It’s just nowhere near representative of the diversity of the general public. I think the last time the AIGA did a poll, the membership was like 80% white. Consequently the work being produced is being created from a limited viewpoint. We want to help talented kids go out there and change things. Let’s make visual communications a more accurate reflection of society.

SM: So what’s next?

PC: That’s the part that keeps me going. I don’t know, but it’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be different. My job is to make sure that we’re still relevant to what’s happening. I just want to make the most beautiful, useful, informative, well-produced, archival product that we can—that people are going to want to pick up and to keep. That’s not to say that digital is not an important component of our business. But for people who love print, there’s still going to be a need for a print publication.

.......................................................................................................................

Sam McMillan is a San Francisco Bay Area-based writer, teacher and producer of interactive multimedia projects for a number of Bay Area production houses, and can be reached at sam[at]wordstrong.com.

Kit Hinrichs offers a remembrance of his friend Dugald Stermer, 1936-2011. These remarks were adapted from Kit’s introduction at Dugald’s 2011 Fellows ceremony, and shared at his memorial service in December 2011.

Kit Hinrichs:
Now, Dugald was a complex man to know. As an example, let’s look at who’s gathered here today:

Some of you know Dugald from his groundbreaking role as art director of the counter culture Ramparts Magazine in the early 60’s.

Another group knows Dugald as one of the country’s preeminent illustrators of all things natural.

There’s a bunch of you who know Dugald as a writer for design journals like Communication Arts, Print magazine and Graphis.

Of course, there are many of you bibliophiles who know Dugald by the books he’s authored over the past 25 years. Books like “The Art of the Revolution,” “Birds and Bees,” “The Vanishing Creatures,” and his favorite, “Vanishing Flora.”

I know there are many of you who know him as a teammate in the “No Fault” softball league in San Francisco, Russia and Cuba. Perhaps you cheered with him when his beloved Giants won the 2010 World Series.

Many of you know his years of work at Delancey Street, where he’s helped men and women who have hit rock bottom to work their way back into society.

Some of you know him as the man who designed the 1984 Olympic Games Medals, or the guy who designed the Earth Day poster for the State Department.

I see a few of you out there who know him as the “Old West” enthusiast with his collection of cowboy boots and leather vests and Tom Mix memorabilia.

I know there are a bunch of music buffs who know Dugald as the collector of steel-stringed, left-handed Martin guitars.

There are many of you who know Dugald as their teacher, as chair of the illustration department at the California College of the Arts.

Dugald was known to numbers of you as a passionate activist for social justice, anywhere in the world.

For a few select people, Dugald was simply Pop or recently, Pop Pop.

Perhaps to get a more complete picture of Dugald, we asked a few of his friends and colleagues to comment:

Brad Holland, Illustrator:
“In his life and in his art, Dugald Stermer has always been a triple threat.

As Art Director of Ramparts in the 60s, he helped revolutionize magazine design with his elegant typography and innovative use of art as visual commentary.

As a freelance artist, he’s produced some of the most beautiful and socially responsible art of our time.

And as a man, he’s enriched the world around him with his commitment, his integrity, his plain speak and his writing.”

Martin Pedersen, Publisher, Graphis Magazine:

“Dugald Stermer is a highly accomplished, classically skilled artist whose timeless work arrests your attention.

He also has an environmental conscience and his beautiful wildlife work has the added value of ecological responsibility.

He’s a master at his craft.”

Milton Glaser, Artist
“My friend Dugald represents what I believe to be the twin commitments for a graphic designer. The first is a commitment to beauty and clarity and the other to social and political concerns that affect us all. Finding both in a single person does not occur very often. Thank you, Dugald.”

Patrick Coyne, Editor, Communication Arts Magazine
“A long-time contributor to CA, Dugald’s greatest contribution was guest editing and designing an entire issue of CA dedicated to the environment, published in 1972. This was the result of a heated dinner discussion on the subject and a thinly veiled dare on the part of my dad, Dick Coyne, for Dugald to either put up or shut up. Dugald put up!”

Steven Heller, Author and Art Director
“Stermer has been a perpetually vital force in San Francisco as art director, activist, civil servant and, of course, artist and teacher. His own work is exemplary illustration. By example, his art and craft enables his students to strive for a standard that pushes the boundaries of visual culture. Stermer would hate to be called a “moral compass,” but for me, he’s been a moral model, balancing art, message and conscience, too.”

Mimi Silbert, Founder, Delancey Street
“Dugald has been my best friend for forty years and without whom Delancey Street would not be happening from day one until right now. I love him with all my heart.”

Jill Manton, San Francisco Arts Commission
“As a former Arts Commissioner, Dugald’s trained eye and candid comments helped shape the professionalism and success of many of the Arts Commission’s programs, such as the Street Artists Program. Dugald always respected and treated the staff as esteemed professionals, which, for many, was a unique experience.”

Larry Garchik & Leah Garchik, San Francisco Chronicle columnist
“What we didn’t know 40 years ago was that Dugald is a devout baseball fan. If, in times to come, every other ideal he holds dear becomes sullied, there will still be the Giants.”

Student quotes from his CCA course evaluations:

“Was I adequately prepared for his class? No, I could have used a prior class in magic.”

“The quick pace of the class gave me a tremendous opportunity to grow—and to lose lots of sleep.”

“He instills a discipline and work ethic guided by an approach to illustration as a thinking person’s sport.”

“He’s the teacher who reminds you why you went into illustration—it’s fun.”

“The best damn teacher at CCA.”

And from Dugald, himself:

“As Howard Gossage used to say, ‘The only fit work for an adult is to change the world.’ [laughs] He said it straight faced, and while other people might laugh, I always have that in the back of my mind. I don’t walk around with my heart on my sleeve, but I do feel that using our abilities to make things better is a pretty good way of spending ones life.

I haven’t got the brains to cure cancer or world hunger; or bring warring parties to the peace table, or any of the big issues. All I know how to do is to draw pictures and write a little bit. So it becomes more important that I try to use those abilities to do good.”

» Read Dugald Stermer 2011 Fellows Award Bio

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Kate Matsumoto – University of San Francisco

Designer’s Statement

I have found in my twenty-one years of life that the world is an astonishingly boring place. More often than not, everything looks the same, or is at least presented to look similar or familiar to what we already know. However, there are those rare moments in which we, the consumer, audience, or viewer are astonished to find that yes—there is more than one way to package something, to send a message, or to sell a product. These revelations are almost always brought about because of good design.

Design challenges us to be smarter and to look forward. It is the catalyst for the advancement of our society because it is an inherently critical and perpetually changing field. To me, good design will always have a sense of humor and demand more of its viewer by finding new ways to surprise them.

I have three goals that I would like to achieve with my design degree: the first is to avoid becoming a soulless robot and slave to a client. The second is to create something that changes someone’s daily routine; and the third is to eradicate the font Comic Sans from all functioning computers.

Ideally, I would like to start my design career learning about branding and identity, how to change the public’s perceptions of a preconceived name or product. Eventually I would like to pursue a career in researching human interaction and behavior so I can help improve design and functionality.

Attachments

• Matsumoto (Matsumoto1.jpg)
• Matsumoto (Matsumoto-2.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Stephanie Pressler – University of California, Davis

Designer’s Statements

I am grateful that I was able to study design at a major research-based institution. It is an environment that allowed me to experience courses outside of my discipline and learn from professors and classmates who think in ways completely new to me. It is why I also majored in communication. I enjoy the balance between the open creativity of design and the structure and organization of communication.

The way I see it, there is something particularly different about designers. Most disciplines encourage individuals to study and research to get to a conclusion. Many people can do research to get to the same result. However, research will not lead to one clear answer in design, because there is no single right answer. Instead, exploration and experimentation are what lead to discovery. Since each person’s path and process to breakthrough is distinct to who they are, it is unlikely that any two people who start at the same point will end at the same design result. Thus, as designers, we generate and create newness through everything we do. If a designer does not do something, it may never be done.

It excites me to know that what I create is true and unique to me and no one else. I hope to continue to devise my own routes to new ideas and think about the world in fresh and original ways. I would like to learn new techniques as well as create my own methods to develop design solutions. I aspire to always balance my understanding of the world with the perceptions that others have of it, and be able to learn from them and our environments.

Attachments

• Pressler (Pressler1-5.jpg)
• Pressler (Pressler2.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Cindy Quan – University of the Pacific

Designer’s Statement

Graphic design is the greatest solution to communication problems in visual form. My goal is to become that visual communicator who knows no end to a project because there is always room for improvement. Some of the principles I follow are K.I.S.S. (keep it simple stupid) and less is more. Looking through my work, it is clear that the principles have inspired me to become the designer I am today, but the inspiring doesn’t stop there. I want to embark on a career path that will continue to fuel my need for knowledge and will set me up to become one of the best designers out there.

Attachments

• Quan (Quan2.jpg)
• Quan (Quan1.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Vince Skelly – San Francisco State University

Designer’s Statement

I am inspired by typography, art history, architecture, the appropriation of children’s toys, and found objects. There is satisfaction in assisting the evolution of discarded materials by giving them new purpose. Much of my design process involves experimenting with methods on and off the computer embracing physical interaction. Growing up as a skateboarder in Southern California has put me in touch with the DIY movement. My job as Art Gallery Manager at the Cesar Chavez Student Center at San Francisco State University has allowed me to curate shows and design a variety of exhibits including sound art, furniture from discarded materials, and MFA work. I am attracted to design that is driven by intricate underlying systems, but I also trust intuitive design.

Attachments

• Skelly (Skelly3-3.jpg)
• Skelly (Skelly1.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Maria Mercedes Piva – San Jose State University

Designer’s Statement

Design is an act of creation and communication which reconciles the rational and emotional. Designers are often asked to make the complex and confusing instinctual and obvious. We are asked to make the intangible concrete. This requires a level of thought and consideration, and even during those times of intuitive ideation and execution, to design means to recognize that spontaneous creation as an effective solution to the task.

It is this type of critical thinking that allows designers to anticipate and solve problems, and this is why I love design. When I first began my education, I was inspired by the potential it has to make the planet we live on a better place. We live in a cacophonous world of problems, and through design, we can begin to harmonize the discordant themes.

This can easily go the other way, and what can be used as a tool for clarity and prosperity can become a tool for misdirection and stagnation. As cliché as it may sound, we all need to use our powers for good. I’m not sure how my design career will unfold, but I aim to produce ethical work that will hopefully leave the world a little better than I found it.

Attachments

• Piva (MariaPiva1-2.jpg)
• Piva (Piva1.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Jimmy La – City College of San Francisco

Designer’s Statement

Becoming a graphic designer was not always my dream. In truth, it was to become a fine artist. Over the years, I have attempted to find a satisfying thread between these two areas of interest. During this time, I have read countless books on art and design theory and attended numerous design conferences. Through my investigations and experiments in both disciplines, I have recently begun to find my answers.

I have come to the conclusion that graphic design is much like fine arts. Both disciplines possess the power to communicate complex ideas in profound ways, which allow an audience to see the world in a new light. As designers, we may not have the solutions to the world’s problems, but we can use design as a medium to carry out a public dialogue and engage in critical discourse. Hence, I study design because it is the medium in which I am best able to articulate my ideas about the world. Presented here are three pieces from my portfolio that demonstrates how graphic design can be informed by contemporary fine art practices. Through a conceptual approach to design, I hope to intrigue, delight, and provoke the viewer in a meaningful manner.

In the future, I intend to continue exploring the expressive and conceptual potential inherent in graphic design, all the while working as a commercial designer in a local studio. In addition, I would like to become an educator within the Community College system and teach the next generation of designers to come.

Attachments

• Laney (La1-17.jpg)
• La (La3-2.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Alex Laney – California State University, Chico

Designer’s Statement

Design is a process that is constantly evolving and expanding and has a great potential to change human behavior. As designers, I feel we have an obligation to produce work that helps make the world a better place. As designers, I feel we must constantly adapt and strive for more meaningful and efficient user experiences, no matter what the medium.

Through my time in school, and my experiences with various internships, I have gained the skills needed to produce work that creates an emotional response in viewers. As a recent graduate, I hope to move to a bigger market and pursue a career that pushes the boundaries of design towards a more meaningful existence. I feel the best way to achieve this goal is to develop my skills in interactive and print design. I want to learn how to facilitate the use of clear, and dynamic information to promote organizations and systems whose goal is making the world a better place.

Growing up and attending school in a small community, a little over 100,000 people, has provided some unique experiences. Although there is a hotbed of creativity and activism in my community, there are very few opportunities for professional design work. I hope that relocating to a larger area will provide more opportunities to make this larger impact and reach my full potential. I plan to use the incredible passion I have for design and use it, along with my extreme motivation, to make a positive impact.

Attachments

• Laney (laney3-1.jpg)
• Laney (laney2-1.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship and Judges’ Honor Award Recipient
Matt Delbridge – California College of the Arts

Designer’s Statement

I want to live in a world that is emotionally engaging. A world that is not afraid to be whimsical. A world that speaks with power and authority. A world that knows the power of honest expression.

As a designer, I have the opportunity to build this world, to tell stories and communicate ideas with sophisticated brevity. Stories that have the power to delight, surprise, and inspire deeper thought.

The vast majority of us inhabit environments saturated with visual stimulation. I find myself drawn to design that finds new ways to connect with the viewer. I value design that fits into the natural contours of our daily lives, yet speaks to us in unexpected ways. I believe seeing these opportunities requires a deeper understanding and empathy for the viewer.

Good design sits at the intersection of smart and beautiful. The work must be captivating enough to hold the attention of the audience, and smart enough to know how to address that audience.

During my time at CCA, I have had the great privilege of developing my ability to think creatively. I find it most rewarding to be able to share the creative process with other students and practitioners through collaboration. I have learned that the design process becomes much richer with active participation from multiple parties.

I feel fortunate to be practicing in the field of graphic design and look forward to the challenges and triumphs ahead.

Attachments

• Delbridge (delbridge3-21.jpg)
• Delbridge (Delbridge2-7.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Jeff Rauch – Cal Poly

Designer’s Statement

My favorite part of design is the journey—the initial steps and exploration that one takes on their road to a solution. I think this is one of the most exciting and important aspects of creating art. With each piece of work, every designer takes all of their life experiences and personal preferences to create something that is uniquely them. I believe that design should always be
inspired.

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.” This quote by the English biologist Thomas H. Huxley is a personal favorite, and I think it accurately describes how we as designers need to be. We need to know everything about our craft, but we also need to have a broad range of knowledge to accurately communicate to the world. In an age when the world
has become so shrunken by technology, this has never been more important. In my own life, I have tried to learn and experience as much as possible and I hope to continue to do so. I believe that the wisdom and experience obtained from doing so will benefit myself as a person, my career and ultimately the art that I create.

Attachments

• Rauch (rauch1-2.jpg)
• Rauch (rauch3-4.jpg)

Enrichment Scholarship Recipient
Kwadwo Otempong – Art Institute of California: San Francisco

Designer’s Statement

My love for design began at a very young age, I was enthralled by the captivating images on billboards and posters. At the time I didn’t know how to describe it, but I knew that I wanted to be apart of it. Communication art caught my attention because it was captivating and it was all around me. In High school, I realized that communication art is more than just billboards or posters, and it became inescapably clear to me that this was going to be my future.

Being a designer is a powerful and fulfilling career. I do have skills few people possesses and they are what make me so valuable. I’m not referring to technical skills, but rather my motivation, creativity, dedication, and my desire to always take my designs to the next level. With theses skills, I make complex or simple information fun and enticing for viewers to digest, and also guide consumers into making the desired choice of product. I believe design should have structure, but at the same time be an enjoyable viewing experience. The best designs encourage the viewer to fill in the gaps with their own imagination.

I am inspired by everything around me: what I see, feel and have experienced throughout life. Great designs inspire me to think of coming up with the next big idea. I enjoy every aspect of design, but there are few areas that I really get excited about, such as: typography, layout and packaging. I envision myself working in the creative field for some years to come, doing what I love. I don’t want to be just another designer, I want to be a great designer who will be remembered in the design industry after my career is over.

Attachments

• Otempong (Kwadwo3.jpg)
• Otempong (Kwadwo1.jpg)

Enrichment and Rick Tharp Scholarship Recipient
Mike Andersen – Academy of Art University

Designer’s Statement

For me design is about many things, but none more important than the idea of communication. Design has the ability to reach millions of people and to influence their daily lives. This is a very powerful and important ability that we as designers must never ignore or forget. It is easy to make something look pretty or to stylize something, but it can be very difficult to truly craft a meaningful and beautiful piece of communication.

When I start out on a design problem, I always make sure to ask myself a few key questions. What am I trying to communicate with this piece and whom am I trying to reach with it. These may seem like simple questions but they make up the core to any successful design project. It is in this initial research where I often find myself enjoying the challenge of design the most. It becomes about problem solving, a puzzle that I must piece together and then find a way to present it to the world. It can be challenging, and frustrating, but nothing is more rewarding then creating something that you can be proud of.
I really love design. I think it is an amazing field, and its potential to influence and interact with other disciplines is endless. It is always changing, and it always challenges me. It is something that I can never see myself living without, and I can’t wait to see where it will take me in the future.

Attachments

• Andersen (Andersen3-18.jpg)
• Andersen (Andersen1-1.jpg)

The Creative Group (TCG) specializes in placing a range of highly skilled interactive, design, marketing, advertising and public relations professionals with a variety of firms on a project and full-time basis. As a division of Robert Half International, the world’s first and largest specialized staffing firm, we are backed by a history of excellence.

By working with TCG, organizations gain access to some of the most skilled professionals in the industry – from user experience designers who can create impactful online experiences to online community managers who can moderate and monitor live conversations across various platforms.

Our recruiting and staffing professionals are well-connected within the creative community and are always on the lookout for top-notch creative talent. Because many of our recruiters have worked in the design and marketing fields, they know how to spot people who are the right fit for our clients’ unique needs. In addition, they can provide valuable advice and resources, like our annual Salary Guide, to help organizations make strategic hiring decisions and manage their creative workflow more effectively.

TCG maintains business relationships with a number of well-respected professional organizations, including AIGA, the American Advertising Federation, Graphic Design USA and HOW magazine. These ties greatly extend our reach within the creative fields.

For more information about The Creative Group, please call our San Francisco branch at 415.989.6650 or visit us online at www.creativegroup.com.

Adobe Systems is a strong Partner in Design to the San Francisco Chapter of AIGA. As such, they underwrite the chapter’s annual programming and provide their San Francisco headquarters as the venue for the our Design Lecture Series. We appreciate all that Adobe does for the local chapter as well as nationally.

Adobe Systems, Inc. is proud to be the Official AIGA Sponsor for Design Solutions.
Together with AIGA National, Adobe is creating innovative programs that give members a voice, nurture young designers and actively engage the creative community in dialogues about the important issues in the fields of design and technology.

The alliance between AIGA and Adobe is a long-term partnership dedicated to advancing design and the use of technology across creative industries as well as understanding and highlighting the impact of design on the economy and society. Adobe has been an active participant in the design community over the past 25 years and looks forward to an on going conversation and dialogue – listening closely to designers and their needs.

Adobe Discounts for AIGA Members
Through this long-term partnership with AIGA, Adobe is proud to offer AIGA members the following benefits:

• Discount on Adobe software: Adobe is offering an AIGA-member exclusive 15 percent discount on anything in the Adobe online store. Find out More.

About Adobe Systems Incorporated

Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. The company’s award-winning technologies and software have redefined business, entertainment and personal communications by setting new standards for producing and delivering content that engages people anywhere at anytime and through any medium.

Special Resouces

• Creative Suite Facebook Page
• Creative Suite Twitter

AIGA SF’s Partners in Design underwrite all of our programming and initiatives for an entire year and allow us to present unique and vital events and services to our diverse membership and audience.

This rate is a significant discount over the standard $75 student member rate.

Help us by spreading the word to all student groups and colleges in your personal network. There are no paper forms to complete or money to collect. Students can simply go to my.aiga.org starting September 1 to sign up and save!

Learn more about this special offer on aiga.org.

Recently, the graphic design community was shocked to discover that thousands of their logos had been copied (often with minor modifications) and offered for sale on a website called Logogarden.com.

See, e.g., the AIGA’s Action Alert. and online discussions in our community:

• From rockpaperink: Love Thy Logo Charlatan, Huckster, Moron, Thief!
• From Prejean Creative: LogoGarden Should Be Plowed Under
• From Prejean Creative: DIY, Crowd Sourcing or Piracy – You be the Judge
• From bLogo-Motives: LogoGarden.com harvests logos from pros

When you discover your work has been copied online, what should you do? I discussed this issue generally several years ago in Legalities 9. Please consult that posting if you encounter a copy that is not a clear plagiarist attempt to resell your work. Legalities 9 describes how to determine whether an online use might be fair use.

For this article, we are concerned with blatant plagiarism such as recently found on Logogarden.com. When that happens, here’s what to do:

1. Determine whether you or your client owns copyright in the copied work

When you create a design for a client, either you or your client may own the copyright. Generally, the person who creates a design is considered its “author” and automatically owns copyright in that design under copyright law. However, there is a limited exception under the “work made for hire” doctrine: if you are an employee, your employer is considered the author and automatic copyright owner of any work you create within the scope of your employment.

If you did the work as a freelancer or independent contractor, you may have given your copyright to your client in an explicit “work made for hire” contract, or by a written copyright assignment in your contract with your client. In either case, the copyright transfer is not valid unless you signed the contract. See Legalities 1.

If you are dealing with copies of logos, such as Logogarden.com, there is another wrinkle. Logos are trademarks, and the trademark rights (which protect the goodwill and reputation of the company that uses the logo) are owned by your client. Trademark infringement occurs when another company uses a confusingly similar copy of the logo as a brand for their own goods and services. So your client will have an interest in stopping online sales of copies of its logo, especially to potential competitors.

If you determine that your client owns copyright in your design, tell your client about the online infringement. In most cases of blatant offers to re-sell the design, your client will want to take action against the infringer. If not, ask your client to give you permission to go after the infringer on the client’s behalf.

2. Immediately contact the website owner AND the website host

When someone posts a copy of your design online, legally, everyone in the chain of distribution is an infringer. So you have copyright infringement claims against at least two infringers: the person who posted the copy of your design (usually the website owner), and the hosting internet service provider (ISP). The person who posted the copy is liable for willful infringement, as he/she presumably knew that he was copying your design and posting it online. The website owner and ISP are liable for infringement because they are enabling the infringing copy to be seen online.

Note: copyright infringement occurs when a “substantially similar” copy is made without permission. A copy is “substantially similar” when people can recognize the copying. Small changes like those done by Logogarden.com do not avoid infringement liability,

In cases of blatant offers to resell your designs, it is important to stop the infringement right away. So, instead of the two-step process described in Legalities 9 (contact the website owner first, and follow-up with a take-down notice under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act if necessary), I recommend that you send a take-down notice to the ISP first. Follow up quickly with a cease and desist letter to the website owner.

A. Send a DMCA take-down notice to the website host
There is a provision under a U.S. law called the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) which allows copyright owners to demand that an internet service provider (or ISP) remove infringing content from a website the ISP is hosting. The DMCA established very specific “notice and take-down” procedures, under which an ISP can have immunity from infringement if it takes down the infringing content when you send them notice in a particular way (templates are provided at the end of this article). Most ISPs will honor a take-down notice in order to avoid getting sued for infringement.

Finding out who hosts a website may be challenging. Sometimes the site host has an icon or a link right on the site, but often, you will have to do some digging. There are several services online that can help, for example:

• IPChecking
• NSLookup
• My firm uses the service Domain Tools
• Your IT people may also be able to help, or show you how to look up the web host through your operating system.

Once you have the web host information, the next step is to find out if the web host has designated an agent or specific email and snail mail address to receive an infringement complaint under the DMCA. Most ISPs list their agent and contact information on their own site, sometimes with a step by step explanation of how to follow the DMCA complaint procedure. Look for “legal” or “copyright policy” on the site. The law requires that these agents also be registered with the Copyright Office, but frequently the ISPs overlook this requirement. You can search for registered agents online at the Copyright Office web site (click on “Online Service Providers” under “Search Copyright Records,” then click on “directory of agents”).

If you are not able to find a DMCA agent, just use the general contact email and address for the web host. Write your DMCA take-down notice using the appropriate template below (depending on whether you or your client is the copyright owner). Send the notice by email and by a trackable delivery service (e.g., FedEx or Certified Mail), and be sure to sign both (type “s/[your name/]”on the email – that works as an electronic signature).

B. Send a cease and desist letter to the website owner
A DMCA take-down notice will almost always be effective in getting the infringing copies removed from the site. However, some ISPs may not comply, especially if they are located outside the United States (where ISPs are not subject to the DMCA). Also, you should be aware that under the DMCA, the ISP is required to notify the website owner when it takes down an infringing design, and give the website owner a chance to file a “counter-notice” alleging that the design was not actually infringing. Some infringers will try a counter-notice if they think you might back down from your claim.

Whether or not the DMCA take-down notice is effective, you should also send a cease and desist letter directly to the website owner. You want the website owner to know that you are serious about protecting your rights, and you want to ensure that there are no repeat infringements. You will also want to know if any of the infringing copies of your design were sold to a customer of the website. If so, you will want contact information for such customers, so you can make sure they do not use the infringing design. And you may want an accounting of the website owner’s profits from selling your design. Under U.S. Copyright law, the copyright owner is entitled to recover all profits from the infringement. If there is a U.S. Copyright registration for your design, the copyright owner is also entitled to an award of statutory damages (up to $150,000 for willful infringement) and to recover its attorneys’ fees. See Legalities 1.

Cease and desist letters are more effective if they come from a lawyer. However, you can start with a simple letter directly from you. If your letter is ignored, you can ramp up with a second letter from your intellectual property counsel.

3. File a lawsuit

If all else fails, the last resort is to file a lawsuit. Consult with your lawyer to determine if that is a viable option. As noted above, if you had already registered the copyright in your design before this copying occurred, you will be entitled to recover enhanced remedies (statutory damages of up to $150,000 for willful infringement) and your attorneys’ fees if you win. That is often a powerful incentive for infringers to take down the image and settle your infringement claim out of court.

Templates

A. DMCA Take-Down Notice

1. If you are reporting an infringement of your own copyright:

[date]

Via email [ISP’s DMCA email] and [Federal Express or Certified Mail]

[give ISP’s mailing address]

Notice of Infringement: [infringer’s website]

This notice reports a infringement of my intellectual property in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 15 U.S.C. § 512©.

Copyright Owner’s Name and Contact Information

[give your name, address, phone, email]

Copyrighted Work

[for each design that has been copied online, give the title, US Copyright Regis. No., if any for your original design, and URL where your design can be seen online, if any]

Infringing Material

[give the URL where the copy is shown, and any additional information that will help the ISP locate the copy, for example, the title given to the copy by the site owner]

Statement of Good Faith

I hereby represent that I have a good faith belief that the creation, display, promotion and distribution of the above-referenced copies of the copyrighted work is not authorized by me, my agents, or the law.

Demand for Removal

I hereby demand that all references to and depictions of the [title of your design] be immediately removed from [URL for infringer’s website]

Contact Information

Your response to this notice should be addressed to my attention at the address, phone number and/or email set forth above.

Statement of Accuracy

Under penalty of perjury, the information in this notice is accurate.
This notice is submitted without prejudice to my rights, all of which are hereby reserved. I look forward to your prompt attention to this matter. Thank you.

[your signature]

2. If the copyright in your work is owned by your client:

[date]

Via email [ISP’s DMCA email] and [Federal Express or Certified Mail]

[give ISP’s mailing address]

Notice of Infringement: [infringer’s website]
This notice reports a infringement of my client’s intellectual property in compliance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, 15 U.S.C. § 512©.

Copyright Owner Agent’s Name and Contact Information

[give your address, phone, email]

Copyrighted Work

[for each design that has been copied online, give the title, US Copyright Regis. No., if any, for your original design, and URL where your design can be seen online, if any]

Infringing Material

[give the URL where the copy is shown, and any additional information that will help the ISP locate the copy, for example, the title given to the copy by the site owner]
Statement of Good Faith

I hereby represent that [client’s name] has a good faith belief that the creation, display, promotion and distribution of the above-referenced copies of the copyrighted work is not authorized by [client’s name], its agents, or the law.

Demand for Removal

On behalf of [client’s name], I hereby demand that all references to and depictions of the [title of your design] be immediately removed from [URL for infringer’s website]

Contact Information

Your response to this notice should be addressed to my attention at the address, phone number and/or email set forth above.

Statement of Accuracy

Under penalty of perjury, the information in this notice is accurate and as agent for [client’s name] I am authorized to act on behalf of [client’s name] in this matter.

This notice is submitted without prejudice to my client’s rights, all of which are hereby reserved. I look forward to your prompt attention to this matter. Thank you.

[your signature]

B. Cease and Desist Letter

[date]

Via email [website email] and [Federal Express or Certified Mail]
[Website owner name, if known, or simply “Proprietor”
Website name
Address]

Re: [infringer’s names for the copied logos] on [infringer’s website] Intellectual Property Infringement

Dear Sir or Madam:

I am a professional graphic designer. My work is shown online at [list URLs for your online portfolios]. I created the following logos: [list your logos by their name or client name, and URLs where they can be seen online] (hereinafter, “My Designs”). Images of My Designs are attached hereto (by Mail). [If applicable: My Designs are protected by U.S. Copyright Registration Nos. ____________ and U.S. Trademark Registration Nos. ______________.] Under U.S. and international laws of copyright, trademark and unfair competition, myself and/or my clients own the exclusive rights to reproduce and My Designs in commerce.

I have just learned that on [website URL] your are claiming to have created and are offering for sale logo designs called [list infringer’s names for the copied logos]. These logos constitute substantially and confusingly similar copies of My Designs referenced above. You did not seek permission from myself or my clients to reproduce and post these logos for sale. Moreover, your site falsely claims that you created these logos as your own original designs.

This letter puts you, [website name], and any other related entities, corporate officers and employees thereof (collectively, “you”) on notice that the creation, display and offering to sell these logos constitutes copyright and trademark infringement, and violates other state and federal laws. These laws provide substantial penalties for the unauthorized reproduction and commercial use of My Designs. Remedies include disgorgement of your profits, recovery of monetary damages, statutory damages, and attorneys’ fees. Where the infringement is willful, treble damages [If applicable because there are copyright registrations for your logos: and statutory damages up to $150,000 or more] may be awarded. Along with business entities, individuals involved in the infringing activities may be individually liable under these laws. The minor changes you made to My Designs will not shield you from liability. Moreover, you have exposed your customers to infringement liability, and you are subject to contributory and inducement liability for encouraging your customers to use the infringing logos.

On behalf of myself and my clients, I hereby demand that you immediately remove the infringing logos from your site, your advertisements, and anywhere else they have been displayed, and destroy all copies of them, including digital copies, in your possession.

In addition, you must provide me with complete information regarding any person or entity to whom you have distributed or sold the infringing logos, including the name, address, phone, and email address, as well as the date each such transaction took place, and the amount paid to you for delivery and/or use of the infringing logo. Finally, provide your records of the purchase orders for each transaction.

If I receive your signed written statement and supporting documents in full compliance with the above, and your assurance that you will not copy any of my work in the future, I expect we can resolve this matter amicably. I need to hear from you no later than [insert 1 week deadline].

This letter is written without prejudice to any of my or my clients’ rights, all of which are expressly reserved.

Sincerely,
[your name & signature]

______________________________________________________

You are invited to submit questions for upcoming Legalities columns. Please send your questions to .

Legalities is a service mark of Linda Joy Kattwinkel. © 2006 Linda Joy Kattwinkel. All Rights Reserved. The information in this article is provided to help you become familiar with legal issues that may affect graphic artists. Legal advice must be tailored to the specific circumstances of each case, and nothing provided here should be used as a substitute for advice of legal counsel. Linda Joy Kattwinkel is an attorney, painter and former graphic artist/illustrator. She practices intellectual property law, arts law and mediation for artists with the firm Owen, Wickersham and Erickson in San Francisco. She can be reached at 415-882-3200 or .

An archive of previous Legalities articles is available at Linda Joy’s website.