®

Design talk 0690

FiveDesignIdeasPhysician

DesignTalk19

Lunch $6

cargo shorts $1599now

Clever Glyph Simplified Chart

Updatable Signage Story-Telling Image

Picture Chart

30 OFFO

DEAD END

®

Design talk 06902 of 9

Type A clever glyph they may not see!

Type OFF. Draw a fraction slash.Duplicate and move the O.

OFF OFFO

OFFO

For your next sale poster, merge OFF and the percent sign into an efficient, nearly unnoticeable glyph!

Zero and O are different char-acters. Make the percent sign out of an O.

Cap O

“Lining” zero

Old-style zero

O 0 o

Sleeveless Tops

30 OFFO

2 of 9

®

Design talk 06903 of 9

Pie chart One color makes your point — clearly

Your software can generate a million colors, but your pie chart isn’t the place to use them. One, low-key color dignifies your data — and keeps all eyes on your subject.

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies

Physician

Personal

Nursing Home

Dental

Transportation

Physician

InsurancePublic Health

Home HealthAdministrative

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies

Physician

Personal

Nursing Home

Dental

InsurancePublic Health

Home HealthAdministrative

Transportation

After Simplify the chart by using a single color that’s relevant to your subject (left). Enrich with the soft, life-like glow of ambient light — just darken the first color and apply a two-color gradient to the pie (top right). To high-light a segment, use a darker color (bottom right).

Before Wheel-of-Fortune colors make each sliver easy to see but add a load of unassociated noise. That’s because colors are not benign. Each difference signifies a different kind of information, which is indecipherable and, in this case, misleading, too; all are simply operating expenses.

Gradient

3 of 9

®

Design talk 06904 of 9

Indoor sign Cardboard signs that you mix and match

To keep up with its changing prices, the Gap Outlet designed these inexpensive, yet classy, sale signs that are a breeze to update:

Print and stack . . . . . . insert . . . . . . update as needed

cargo shorts

$1599now

cargo shortsnow

cargo shorts

take an additional

refer to ticket for single item price

25OFF%

$1599

cargo shorts $1599now

(Above) It’s simple. Product name is printed on a big card and the price on a smaller card, both slide into a frame and are updated as needed. Cargo shorts can be $15.99 one week and 25% off the next. Contrasting light and dark cards can be monochromatic, as shown here, or in colors. (Right) Minimalist design uses white space to pull your eye to the center of the page.

cargo shorts $1599now

4 of 9

®

Design talk 06905 of 9

Outdoor sign Let your photo do the talking

Pictures speak faster than words — and they say more, too. When designing for people on the go, make your image carry the communication load.

Use the right image (Above) It’s a nice, mood- setting photo, but is this

a travel agency? You don’t find out until you start reading. Be direct. Use an image that pic-tures what you do or

what you have to offer.

Three words are enough. Pretty face, eye contact and the split screen draw viewers in — and send them away intrigued!

Before After

Talk less Busy conference goers? Who’s in the mood to read? Juicy burger just points you in the right direction. Think in headlines, not sentences. They can read the menu when they arrive.

TANNING SALONGuaranteed Tanning

The Best Tan at the Best Price

Coming Soon!

Lunch $6MAKEEDA

COMING SOON Lunch $6

5 of 9

®

Design talk 06906 of 9

Chart Chart your data — with images

Flat charts are great for showing data, but to show life, you need an image. Before charting, think, how would the reader experience my information? — then picture it!

Before The data is here, but your audience is napping. What’s missing? Real life! These bars show length, not light, and the colors are meaningless. Instead, picture how your customers will experience your light . . .

After. . . on a dark and stormy night. Now 300% means something, and your audience is engaged! Is the sign exactly 300% brighter? Doesn’t matter — just get everyone in the ballpark and you’ll be fine.

Exaggerate! (Right) Reinforce plain data with

visual emotion.

Vsx Mini speakers now 100% More bass!

6 of 9

300% Brighter

Standard Halogen

Synthex XtraVision

Standard Halogen Synthex XtraVision 300% Brighter

DEAD END

DEAD END

®

Design talk 06907 of 9

Typefaces

1 Helvetica Neue 35 Thin

2 Myriad Pro Semibold

3 Helvetica Neue 75 Bold

Images

Images: iStockphoto

4 (6868311)

Related articles

0619 | 0620 | 0623 | 0629 | 0634 | 0638

0643 | 0647 | 0650 | 0655 | 0656 | 0659

0662 | 0670 | 0673 | 0675 | 0684 | 0686

0610 | 0615 | 0603 | 0611 | 0612

Article resources

Colors

4

7

8

9

1

5

6

2

5 C0 M0 Y0 K100

6 C2 M100 Y85 K20

7 C50 M10 Y20 K0

8 C50 M10 Y20 K25

9 C50 M10 Y20 K65

Physician

cargo shortsnow$1599

3

Sleeveless Tops

30 OFFO

7 of 9

®

Design talk 06908 of 9

Typefaces

1 Linotype Didot Bold

2 Futura Bold

3 Gotham Ultra

4 Helvetica Neue 63 Medium Extended

5 Interstate Bold

6 Myriad Pro Bold

7 Myriad Pro Regular

8 Eurostile Bold

Images

9 (www.corbis.com)

Images: iStockphoto

10 (7089669)

11 (8906736)

Article resources

Colors

14

14

16

1512

13

12 C23 M100 Y88 K16

13 C15 M40 Y35 K0

14 C0 M0 Y0 K100

15 C25 M0 Y100 K30

16 C0 M20 Y100 K0

17 C60 M25 Y90 K8

MAKEEDA COMING SOON

Lunch $6

Standard Halogen Synthex XtraVision 300% Brighter

DEAD END

DEAD END

1

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10

2 4

6

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1714

Vsx Mini speakers now 100% More bass!

8 of 9

®

Design talk 0690    9 of 9 | Printing formats

Before & After magazine Before & After has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understand-able, useful and even fun for everyone.

John McWade Publisher and creative directorGaye McWade Associate publisherDexter Mark Abellera Senior designer Before & After magazine323 Lincoln Street, Roseville, CA 95678 Telephone 916-784-3880 Fax 916-784-3995E-mail mailbox@bamagazine.com www http://www.bamagazine.com

Copyright ©2010 Before & After magazine ISSN 1049-0035. All rights reserved

You may pass along a free copy of this article to others by clicking here. You may not alter this article, and you may not charge for it. You may quote brief sections for review; please credit Before & After magazine, and let us know. To link Before & After magazine to your Web site, use this URL: http://www.bamagazine.com. For all other permissions, please contact us.

Subscribe to Before & After

Subscribe to Before & After, and become a

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®

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For presentation format Print: (Specify pages 1–9)

Before & After is made to fit your binder

Before & After articles are intended for permanent reference. All are titled and numbered.

For the current table of contents, click here. To save time and paper, a paper-saver format of this article,

suitable for one- or two-sided printing, is provided on the following pages.

SavePresentation format or

Paper-saver format

Print Format: Landscape

Page Size: Fit to Page

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

ww

.bamagazine.com

1 of 5

De

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Type A clever glyp

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ot see!

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a fraction slash.D

uplicate and move

the O.

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ur n

ext sale po

ster, merge O

FF

and

the p

ercent sign

in

to an

efficien

t, nearly u

nn

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!

Zero and O are

different char-acters. M

ake the percent sign out of an O

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3 of 9

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies Physician

Personal

Public Health

Hom

e Health

Nursing H

omeD

ental

Adm

inistrative

Transportation

Pie chart On

e color makes your p

oint —

clearly

You

r softw

are can gen

erate a millio

n co

lors, b

ut yo

ur p

ie chart isn’t th

e place to

use

them

. On

e, low-key co

lor d

ignifi es yo

ur d

ata — an

d keep

s all eyes on

you

r sub

ject.

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies Physician

Personal

Nursing H

omeD

ental

Transportation

Physician

Insurance Public Health

Hom

e Health

Adm

inistrative

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies Physician

Personal

Nursing H

omeD

ental

Insurance Public Health

Hom

e Health

Adm

inistrative

Transportation

Hospital

Drugs

Supplies Physician

Personal

Insurance Public Health

Hom

e Health

Nursing H

omeD

ental

Adm

inistrative

Transportation

Insurance

Afte

r Simplify the chart by using a single color that’s

relevant to your subject (left). Enrich with the soft, life-

like glow of am

bient light — just darken the fi rst color and

apply a two-color gradient to the pie (top right). To high-

light a segment, use a darker color (bottom

right).

Be

fore

Wheel-of-Fortune colors m

ake each sliver easy to see but add a load of unassociated noise. That’s because colors are not benign. Each difference signifi es a different kind of inform

ation, which is indecipherable and, in this

case, misleading, too; all are sim

ply operating expenses.

Gradient

Design

talk3

of 9D

esign talk

®

De

sign

talk

0690

BA

mag

azine.co

mU

iX

Befo

re&A

fter

4 of 9

Indoor sign Card

board

signs th

at you mix an

d m

atch

To keep

up

with

its chan

ging p

rices, the G

ap O

utlet d

esigned

these in

expen

sive, yet classy, sale sign

s that are a b

reeze to u

pd

ate:

Prin

t an

d sta

ck . . .

. . . inse

rt . . .. . . u

pd

ate

as n

ee

de

d

cargo

shorts

$1599

now

cargo

shorts

now

cargo

shorts

take an add

itional

25O

FF%

$1599

cargo

shorts

$1599

now

(Above) It’s sim

ple. Product nam

e is printed on a big card and the price on a sm

aller card, both slide into a frame and are updated

as needed. Cargo shorts can be $15.99 one w

eek and 25% off

the next. Contrasting light and dark cards can be m

onochromatic,

as shown here, or in colors. (R

ight) Minim

alist design uses white

space to pull your eye to the center of the page.

cargo

shorts

$1599

now

Design

talk4

of 9D

esign talk

Be

fore

&A

fter | w

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.bamagazine.com

3 of 5

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5 of 9

Outdoor sign Let your p

hoto d

o the talkin

g

Pictu

res speak faster th

an w

ord

s — an

d th

ey say mo

re, too. W

hen

design

ing

for p

eop

le on

the go, m

ake you

r image carry th

e com

mu

nicatio

n lo

ad.

Use

the

righ

t ima

ge

(Above) It’s a nice, m

ood- setting photo, but is this

a travel agency? You don’t fi nd out until you start reading. B

e direct. U

se an image that pic-

tures what you do or

what you have to offer.

Three words are enough. P

retty face, eye contact and the split screen draw

viewers

in — and send them

away intrigued!

Be

fore

Afte

r

Talk

less

Busy conference goers?

Who’s in the m

ood to read? Juicy burger just points you in the right direction. Think in headlines, not sentences. They can read the m

enu w

hen they arrive.

TANNING SALONGuaranteed Tanning

The Best Tan at the Best Price

Coming Soon!

LU

NC

H

$6

MA

KE

ED

ACO

MIN

G SO

ON

LU

NC

H

$6

Design

talk5

of 9D

esign talk

Chart C

hart your d

ata — w

ith im

ages

Flat charts are great fo

r show

ing d

ata, bu

t to sh

ow life, yo

u n

eed an

image. B

efore

chartin

g, thin

k, how

wou

ld th

e reader exp

erience m

y inform

ation? —

then

pictu

re it!

Be

fore

The data is here, but your audience is napping. W

hat’s missing? R

eal life! These bars show

length, not light, and the colors are meaningless.

Instead, picture how your custom

ers will experience your light . . .

Afte

r. . . on a dark and storm

y night. Now

300% m

eans something, and

your audience is engaged! Is the sign exactly 300% brighter? D

oesn’t m

atter — just get everyone in the ballpark and you’ll be fine.

300% B

righ

ter

Stand

ard

Halo

gen

Synth

ex X

traVisio

nStan

dard

Halo

gen

Synth

ex XtraV

ision

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hter

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AD

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ND

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AD

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ND

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! (Right)

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ith visual em

otion.

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ker

s

no

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0%

Mo

re b

ass!

Be

fore

&A

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7 of 9

Type

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1 Helvetica N

eue 35 Thin

2 Myriad P

ro Semibold

3 Helvetica N

eue 75 Bold

Ima

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s

Images: iStockphoto

4 (6868311)

Re

late

d a

rticles

0619 | 0620 | 0623 | 0629 | 0634 | 0638

0643 | 0647 | 0650 | 0655 | 0656 | 0659

0662 | 0670 | 0673 | 0675 | 0684 | 0686

0610 | 0615 | 0603 | 0611 | 0612

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8 of 9

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2 Futura Bold

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4 Helvetica N

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6 Myriad P

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8 Eurostile Bold

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10 (7089669)

11 (8906736)

Article

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9 of 9 | P

rintin

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Be

fore

& A

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ag

azin

e

Befo

re & A

fter has b

een sh

aring its p

ractical app

roach

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hic d

esign sin

ce 1990. Becau

se ou

r mo

dern

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rld h

as mad

e design

ers of u

s all (ready o

r no

t), Befo

re &

After is d

edicated

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aking grap

hic d

esign u

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erstand

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n fo

r everyon

e.

Joh

n M

cWa

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blish

er and

creative directo

rG

ay

e M

cWa

de

Asso

ciate pu

blish

erD

ex

ter M

ark

Ab

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ra Sen

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esigner

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ag

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e323 Lin

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Design

talk