Photo Op

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations, Photo of the Day No Comments »

Still sorting through vacation photos to find fun ones to share on the blog. Here is a funny scene that reminded me of how many different perspectives we all have. Everyone can photograph, sketch, or paint the same thing, but each viewpoint is unique. These photos where taken when we stumbled upon a fashion photo shoot in Piazza San Marco, in Venice. The best part? All the other tourists taking advantage of this photo opportunity.

The opportunity for me? To sneak behind them and take their photos.

This guy may have been one of the professionals, but we weren’t quite sure… and he isn’t aiming at the model here:

Venice photo shoot

But this kid has the model nicely centered in his frame!

Venice photo shoot

And this guy is just priceless… no words needed.

Venice photo shoot

Sharing Source Files

Written By: Julie Categories: Design Topics, Observations No Comments »

Our general policy is that we do not share source software files with clients (unless the source file is part of the specific project scope and agreement).

What is a source file? At J Sherman Studio, the source file is the editable professional software file that we use to create the design: typically Adobe Illustrator (.ai), InDesign (.indd), or Photoshop (.psd).

Why do we do this? It is not to be obnoxious and we are not trying to hold our clients hostage by not releasing source files.

There are specific instances where we plan from the very beginning to deliver source files to a client. For those cases we approach the design work differently to ensure a smoother file hand-off.

The general practice of not sharing source files is fairly standard for many design shops. I hope to explain below why this is an industry standard practice and also a general J Sherman Studio policy.

Design relationship. Part of this policy is tied to the nature of J Sherman Studio’s ideal client relationships. We focus on long-term relationship clients who value design services. We are eager to help these clients make the most of their budgets while we craft the strongest visual brand possible. Clients who either want to price-shop each new project (and therefor want to pass source files off to the next designer) or clients who want to do a lot of internal production are not the best matches for our business.
Professional software learning curve. The professional design software we use is deceptively complicated. While there are many features that a layperson can easily navigate, the software programs are very robust and have many nuances that can be difficult to figure out. While we know this is not rocket-science, collectively we have more than fifteen years of professional experience using these programs and we still learn new tips and tricks every day.
Software versions. We try to keep ourselves on the most current versions of the software (we usually upgrade two to three months after any new release). We don’t expect our clients to do the same, but for some programs (specifically for InDesign back-saving to older versions can be tricky).
Aesthetics and branding. Even small edits can impact the overall design look/feel. If you hired a designer in the first place let’s make sure the final piece looks designed!
Font licenses. Many fonts are licensed and we only share these fonts with printers who require them to properly print materials. Our clients can purchase fonts, and we can always guide them on where to find these fonts. However, we encourage our client’s to evaluate if it is worth it to purchase and use these fonts.
Image links and image files. InDesign and Illustrator often have linked image files. These can be hard to keep track of an maintain for people who are not familiar working with these types of files. In addition, if you are adding new images there are questions about resolution and color mode that take time and experience to master.
Version control. We want to avoid confusion about who has the latest version of the source file. We also have a hard time re-inheriting source files that have been edited by other people, even other designers. Every design shop has its own processes and preferences for working with these programs.

Does all of this mean that working with us will be expensive and slow you down? Not at all. We want to partner with our clients to get great results within their budgets.

We are a small, responsive business. We plan on being in business for a long time and keeping your files so we can best fill your design needs.
We offer tools and guidance to try to make the editing process as smooth as possible.
We’ll discuss the project goals before we begin design. If handing off the source files is an integral part of the project we’ll take that into consideration when we design and we will coordinate software, fonts, and set-up with you before we start.

In most cases, our clients are hiring us to design (which usually equals final designs and help with implementation) rather than design templates for internal use.

Here are a few questions to consider for motivations behind wanting source files for either internal implementation or if you are shopping your projects around:

Internal implementation. How much will it cost you to do the work internally? It can add up. Software expenses? Font expenses? Time and training to use the software? How connected is this to your core business? Are you actually saving money by doing design work internally?
Multiple designers. Does your brand benefit from shopping projects around? Does it build a consistent brand? How much back and forth do you have with multiple vendors?

Sharing source files can be a loaded issue. I am very eager to hear your thoughts. Are you a client and you have experienced this when purchasing design? Or are you a designer and have grappled with this issue?

Please comment below.

Robins Egg Blue

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations No Comments »

A playful blog post for the day. My family has discovered a robin’s nest outside of my old bedroom window, with three beautiful little eggs inside. I wasn’t able to get very close, but here is a photo.

Are all robins eggs the same color? I’m not quite sure but now I think there might be some variety. For fun I decided to assign a Pantone color to my photo (oh, and draw a little bird to go with it).

robins nest

But then the color I chose felt a little purple, though I think the photo color balance is pretty good. So I found this photo on istockphoto to assign a greener-blue.

Robin egg

What fun!

Have any robins egg photos? Send them to me and I’ll grow this collection!

Wallpaper Memories

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations 2 Comments »

Wallpaper memories! I had the strongest sense of deja-vu last weekend at an open-house. The bedrooms had the exact same wallpaper that my sister and I had in our rooms back in the mid-eighties!

I remember so clearly when my mother gave us a pre-selected assortment that we could pick our patterns from. They were in these crazy big books of samples, each pattern in 5-6 color options and some of them had crazy, funky texture. I wonder if that is when I fell in love with pattern? I loved my choice with its happy flowering vines. Who cares if it was busy or made the room feel smaller? It was girly and swirly, what more could a ten year old ask for? My sister’s choice was far more subtle, a refined, deliberate sprinkling of flowers. I wonder if being two and a half years older gave me more confidence to go bold? Or perhaps my sister knew better than to pick something so ornate?

I took a quick photo on my phone of the patterns to confirm with my mother that yes, these were our old wallpaper patterns!

Julie wallpaper

Stephanie wallpaper

Presentation Notes

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations, Tips & Tricks 5 Comments »

After volunteering to review student portfolios for the AIGA on Saturday I have been thinking a lot about tips for presenting work. I think these tips are applicable to almost any work presentation, not solely design portfolios.

Think about the sequence you want to show samples. Does it tell a story? Establish a rhythm? Build momentum?
How have you packaged yourself? Are you showing enough variety? Or are you confusing your audience with too much variety?
What physical form should you show your samples in? Is your portfolio cumbersome? Will it take over a desk or table? Should you bring loose samples? How will you hand them out? Will they get damaged? Will it be awkward to put things in and out of paper pockets? Or if your work is online, is a laptop really the best way to present it? What about glare? Size? Technical glitches? Better to think about how you will present something before you are actually presenting it.
Don’t apologize. If you didn’t like the work example to begin with, please don’t show it or talk about it. (and yes, this is definitely something I have been guilty of in the past!)
Allow time for response and feedback. Don’t rush to respond to everything and don’t jump to conclusions if someone is asking for more information or clarification. Listen, think, and respond.
Be accurate about your involvement on projects. If you contributed to part of a project on a team talk about what role you played in relation to the larger team. Don’t lie: it will come back to haunt you.
Proofread, proofread, proofread. I don’t need to say any more about this one.
Do a dry run to see how long your presentation will take. If need be, cut some samples so you don’t miss any good ones that are at the end.
Be yourself. You don’t have to present yourself the same way everyone else does. Have fun, be creative, and be excited about your work.

What other tips do people have? Please share.

Service Oriented

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations No Comments »

After a weekend of satisfying volunteer work I feel inspired to write this post. On Saturday I donated time separately to both Step Into Art and the AIGA to help review student portfolios at MassArt.

Since starting J Sherman Studio I often thought about how I am (and how J Sherman Studio could be) active in the social sector. Below I will share my current thoughts. This is a subject I continue to mull over and would love to hear your thoughts as well. I am also very eager to hear what other professional service businesses do.

Why we have decided, in general, not to provide pro-bono services:

Many of J Sherman Studio’s clients are nonprofit organizations. We love working in this sector, for clients who have meaningful missions and do good work. We work with them to create impactful designs, be significant thought partners, and help develop strong brands. Yet, we cannot provide this service pro-bono, it would just not be sustainable.

Sustainability & Relationship: We truly enjoy what we do, but at the end of the day the Studio is a business and we hope to stay in business for a long time. How much value could we be to an organization if we went out of business in three months?
Project Structure & Efficiency: We have found (from past experiences donating projects) that having a budget (even a small one), a clear process, and well-defined deliverables usually leads to a much more successful outcome than a less-structured service donation.
Fairness: We have many nonprofit clients and believe it would be unfair to charge one nonprofit client for a project while we give it for free to another.
Return on Investment: We know the organizations we work with see a positive return on their investment in design. While it is indirect and not always simple to measure, the power of strong visual branding is invaluable. Visual impressions are integral to building a strong brand.

Does this mean we are too expensive for nonprofits? Of course not. Instead of giving work away for free, we are flexible when we work with nonprofits and try to come up with offerings that are appropriate to their needs… in general we’ll offer a variety of solutions and scale a project back instead of offering an arbitrary discount to nonprofit clients that we don’t offer to other long-term clients.

Our approach to working with our nonprofit clients:

Focus on the bigger picture to understand how each project fits into the whole.
Evaluate the need and project goals before proposing solutions.
Offer choices and alternative approaches when possible.
Be selective about which organizations we work with. Our goal is to have a long-term partnership to develop strong visual identities… so we look for organizations who are equally as invested in the relationship and the work process.

Step Into Art

What do I do personally?

I try to donate money and time, whenever I can. Clearly these are both finite resources, but as the business grows I hope my involvement with meaningful causes can grow with it. I am on the Advisory Council for an organization that personally is close to my heart: Step Into Art. I donate time, money, and services to this single organization (check out a student exhibit program image above). I also really enjoy offering professional insight to college students. Just this weekend I volunteered my time to AIGA to help review student portfolios for college students to help them prepare their portfolios to enter the workforce. I have also spoken to a couple undergraduate communication classes about small business. I loved these opportunities to share professional experience and hope to do more in the future.

And what else will J Sherman Studio do?

A wonderful client and friend, Kelly Shearon, inspired me to consider this idea: offer a single annual design “grant” for a project to a deserving organization. We love this idea. It is clear, well-defined, and fair. We plan to clearly outline the offering, the value of the offering, and then have a selection process to determine what organization we would work for. Our hope would be that this would be a valuable service for a great organization and, like good karma, would benefit J Sherman Studio in the long-run.

Other thoughts? I would love to hear thoughts and ideas on this subject! Please share.

Gate Pattern

Written By: Julie Categories: Featured, Observations No Comments »

I love pattern! And I tend to seek out pleasing patterns wherever I go. This weekend I found this beautiful iron gate at the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in Wellesley, MA where I literally got lost in the curling iron. The pattern inspired me to create the image below.

Now how can I find a client to commission a custom iron-work pattern from J Sherman Studio?

pattern gate

ironwork pattern

Design What?

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations No Comments »

What type of projects do we work on?

The obvious:

logos, brochures, website designs, annual reports, postcards, posters, invitations, packaging, letterhead, business cards, advertisements

The unexpected:

giant wall panels
fake book covers
gallery wall mock-ups
carpet pattern design
car decals
notebooks
place-mats
water bottles
wall decals
canvas bags
campaign progress signs
paper airplanes

The complete answer:

anything that tells a visual story.

What crazy projects do you have in mind?

Birthday Color 2

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations 1 Comment »

For my birthday in December I rebelled against Pantone’s super-cute Color Astrology tool and assigned myself a new birthday color. Today is my husband’s birthday and because he is one of the four official subscribers to the J Sherman Studio blog I am giving him his own special birthday color! This is not easy seeing that he is a partially color blind scientist. But I know exactly what color belongs to his birthday! Chocolate brown because he is such an amazing baker when it comes to all things chocolate… chocolate torte, chocolate layer cake, chocolate souffles, and so on… Happy birthday husband!

PS: While I’m no color astrologer I’m happy to randomly assign colors to any of my friends and clients, just ask me!

(the top part of this image is a screencapture from the Flash based Color Astrology tool, which I do think is very fun!)

Bar Code

Written By: Julie Categories: Observations No Comments »

A delightful discovery as I as putting my Kindle’s shipping box into the recycling bin: the best bar code I have ever seen! Great design and thoughtful visual branding should consider even the smallest detail.