INSPIRATION.. but for corporate work (ie not cutting edge CD covers)

[thelukeandrews]

There is a massive amount of really cool stuff out there, and I know where to find it. We all do.

BUT

These are usually designs done for funky magazines, ads for NGO's or college projects/ self initiated.:confused:

What I'd love to see is some brilliant examples of a tricky, boring corporate brief that's been solved brilliantly. All the inspirationout there comes from the Carsons and Savilles, but since we don't all get "cool" work all the time, we need inspiration for the boring stuff:rolleyes:

Any thoughts? links? feel free to post yr own stuff

[Broacher]

I don't think it's because boring corporate briefs are so hard to solve brilliantly-- it's because it's so hard for corporations to accept brilliant solutions: especially the ones that reveal, in a sense, that the brief was full of it.

Still, every time someone brings in an annual or book with amazing design examples I always do a quick scan for the ever elusive 'beautiful layout stuffed with type" because that's the reality I usually work in.

I'd like to know what you think defines a 'tricky' corporate brief. In my opinion, great design means "never having to say you're boring". But that doesn't mean that some briefs aren't boring-- just that a lot of briefs, and attitudes that are behind them, can often force a designer into a boring solutions. Convincing your away around these restrictions is extemely difficult for in-housers -- more so than it is for outside contractors where expectations to 'bend or break' the rules is often a given.

And then there's that whole sliding respect for in-house creativity thing which tends to make our ideas always seem duller by comparison after a year or so. Familiarity breeds invisibility.

Again, outside minds are more at par when it comes to floating ideas in and up. Why? There's more parity. In-house, you are always subordinate to some level of management, and management is often loathe or nervous about accepting creative and/or strategic direction from below. You can see why. With an outsider, that's not an issue at all.

[thelukeandrews]

truly said, truly said.

yeah i guess i'm not after results where you can necessarily see that it was a nightmare brief, just stuff i can use as inspiration that would be accepted by a marketing team.. ie my boss..

I'm just starting to run out of fresh solutions that still have a corporate feel to them

[WannaBrie]

The magazine GDUSA has inhouse design awards every year, and that issue is def. one to check out. The July/August issue this year is the one to look at. Lots of corporate solutions in there. Being an inhouser myself, I refer to it frequently for inspiration.

Oh, and what Broacher said.

[garricks]

I can't post my own inhouse work. Ask the Googe about annual reports, corporate design and phrases like that.

[kevincdg]

i don't know if this will help but maybe higher education can count as a corporation? most colleges have strict graphic standards so it's interesting to see how each one varies...

www.edustyle.net

[thelukeandrews]

thatnks. Yeah some decent solutions on there, and colleges aren't all that different to corporate stuff, just a bit more friendly..

[Broacher]

i don't know if this will help but maybe higher education can count as a corporation? most colleges have strict graphic standards so it's interesting to see how each one varies...

www.edustyle.net

Working for a college is still pretty much like working for any corp in that despite your best efforts to instill high graphic standards and processes, the 'corporation' is still pretty well deaf and blind to in-house designer respect or authority, and the design ethos changes as quickly as the management (manager number 5, here).

Maybe what does separate us from other businesses though is that one of our 'products' is, graphic designers. Occasionally you get to enjoy sharing some bitter chuckles while working on graphic design program materials with the people who definitely know better... and know the difference (or relearn it) between GD theory and GD practice.

[Yossarian]

Thanks for the link Kevin. I may pass that on to our web folk in case they haven't seen it.

I can't say I've had that moment of commiseration yet, Broacher. The GD program here is OK, but the instructors have spent so much time urging the students to experiment and have crazy fun time with their assignments that they've failed to instill the concepts of context and audience. It's always interesting being a lead balloon to the student interns though. (And sometimes to the instructors as well when they can't believe we didn't use a particular student design.)

[kevincdg]

Working for a college is still pretty much like working for any corp in that despite your best efforts to instill high graphic standards and processes, the 'corporation' is still pretty well deaf and blind to in-house designer respect or authority, and the design ethos changes as quickly as the management (manager number 5, here).

Maybe what does separate us from other businesses though is that one of our 'products' is, graphic designers. Occasionally you get to enjoy sharing some bitter chuckles while working on graphic design program materials with the people who definitely know better... and know the difference (or relearn it) between GD theory and GD practice.


My university has no graphic communication/design program, and it's the 2nd biggest University in our state. :\ Even the community college has one, but it's a 2 year CC degree. I'd rather try to learn on my own and in the workforce while getting a BA in advertising and hope it works out in the end. :\

This is what most of our sites looked up until a year ago:

http://www.ee.unr.edu/

eeek....:-\

[thelukeandrews]

This is what most of our sites looked up until a year ago:

http://www.ee.unr.edu/

eeek....:-\

my god!

that spotted grey text at the top left has got to be one of the most.. erm.. interesting things i've ever seen!!! :eek:

[synthetik]

This is what most of our sites looked up until a year ago:

http://www.ee.unr.edu/

eeek....:-\


what IS up with the spotty text....it reminds me of the thing i have to look at when i go to the eye doctor to get tested for my every worsening color-blindness (yes i'm a color-blindish designer and i'm proud of it)

[salsa]

Oh, as an in-house designer myself, I agree with everything said so far, for sure.

However, I do see inspiration in all those trendy designs and CD cover type things. I see it as a challenge to take the parts and techniques from them that translate to business design. In a way, I prefer not having all that freedom to go crazy; I LIKE the limits that are set on me. They're there for a reason- usability, legibility, the ability to reach a larger group of people, etc.

For example, one trend is all those type treatments being done in PS these days: textures, 3D, glowing swirls, exploding effects, etc. I can't use those on a corporate design, but it helps me think of type as a design element so the next time my manager asks for a headline that really pops, I'll have some ideas how to do that without resorting to "big" and "drop shadow".