I don’t typically post book reviews here but I really wanted to let people know about a book that I picked up at the HOW Conference this summer. Graphic Design Referenced comes from Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit of Under Consideration (a great resource in itself).

The book first piqued my interest because of the numerous case studies throughout the latter section of the book. Without much time to look through the rest of the book thoroughly I purchased it and shipped it back to my office with a few other books from the conference. I hadn’t really opened it up until this week while I was researching a new campaign but I quickly realized that it was far more useful than I’d first thought.

Graphic Design Referenced calls itself “A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design” and starts out almost like a textbook. I don’t mean that in a bad way, this is the way design textbooks should be written. Among the subjects discussed are typography, print production and grid structure. The information is so well organized with so many examples that it really makes everything easy to understand and easy to remember.

The design samples and case studies continue on through the remainder of the book. In the final “Practice” section, there are numerous examples of logo design, brochure design, poster design, publication design and so on. Not only does the book provide great inspiration for future projects but the back stories provided on each one really give a lot of insight into the thoughts behinds the designs.

The massive amount of information in this book could almost be overwhelming but the authors and designers did a great job of structuring everything so it feels manageable.

There are a ton of books out there on graphic design and it can be tough to decide where to spend you’re hard-earned money. I love this book because of the great content but also because I feel like I really got a lot for my $50. If you’re a designer, design student or have an interest in advertising and marketing I would highly recommend this book.

Although I’m not an architect I often find great inspiration for graphic design by looking at clever and beautiful architecture. This post on Abduzeedo highlights Slovenian architect Andrej Kalamar of Studio Kalamar.

From apartment buildings with sharp geometric lines to an amazing organic feeling pool and spa complex, there is a lot of great inspiration from this firm. Check out the Abduzeedo article for a lot of great pics. You can also see more at the Studio Kalamar website but be warned, I found it fairly painful to look at and navigate.

Home Retail Group – Reporting outside of the box from SAS on Vimeo.

I came across this video on the Fast Company website today. It’s a pretty interesting take on the idea of annual report design.

Too often annual reports can be beautiful pieces with lots of time and effort put into them but in the end not many people notice them. So what if instead of a printed book the report was a stop-motion video? That’s what SAS, a UK branding firm, did for Home Retail Group. I’m guessing that quite a few more people have seen this video than would have seen a printed report.

Yesterday I noticed a tweet from Chris Brogan telling designers that he had just put a logo design contest up on a popular crowdsourcing website. If you’ve heard me discuss crowdsourcing then you know I’m not a fan so I sent a quick reply letting him know that most reputable designers are against this type of design “contest.”

Considering that Chris has over 135,000 followers on Twitter I thought that would be the last I heard of the issue. I was pleasantly surprised when Chris replied back asking me why. I responded with a link to NO!SPEC and a quick summary of my point of view that, “designers deserve to get paid for work they do and businesses deserve full attention from their designer.”

It was clear from his discussion with me and others on Twitter that Chris was attempting to educate himself. He also asked if anyone had written any blog posts on the issue and said he might link to some in a future post of his. I happily sent him links to the two posts I’d made about crowdsourcing graphic design last year.

Soon Chris had a blog post up about his project and the strong reactions he’d been getting from Twitter, he also linked to one of my posts. There has been a great discussion in the comments on his blog about crowdsourcing benefits and why it might hurt designers and businesses. I’d recommend taking a few minutes to read his post and his decision to pursue a $300 logo over the $20,000 logo he had previously had done.

Of course I made my opinion clear although I don’t particularly expect it to change many minds. What I do appreciate is someone taking the time to educate themselves and others about both sides of the debate. It’s understandable that a business might just see crowdsourcing as a way to get a cheap logo but hopefully discussions like these will educate those people so that at the very least they are aware of what they are asking of designers.

I came across images today of a hotel in Krakow, Poland. The design of the hotel is absolutely amazing and has a graphical element that especially appeals to me as a designer.

The hotel exterior consists of a sleek aluminum material that is interrupted by beautiful black lines and windows. I have to admit that I think part of the reason I love the design is that it reminds me of Apple products.

Unfortunately I don’t think I’m headed to Poland anytime soon but if I was I think I’d set aside a little extra money to stay at this amazing hotel.

Obviously not everyone would boost their productivity by spending time on Twitter or Facebook during their workday. But for graphic designers or other creatives these short breaks can help keep our minds running and the ideas flowing. Take a look at the article and see what you think.

On March 2 we launched CPAReviewMaterials.com, a website devoted to helping people pass the CPA exam. Help is offered through articles, a forum and a store that offers discounted study materials.

This was an especially fun project because the owner of CPAReviewMaterials.com is my brother, Andrew. This was the first time working with a family member on a business project and despite what some people say about working with family and friends everything went smoothly.

Andrew came up with the idea for the website after studying for the CPA exam himself. While studying for the tests Andrew realized that there were no websites that offered everything he needed in one place. He wanted to create a place that people could come to find advice, discuss issues, ask questions and purchase the best review materials.

Since the launch Andrew has been very actively promoting the site though Twitter, Facebook and on other related websites. Overall it’s been a very successful launch and it will be fun to watch the site community grow over time.

I’m excited to announce that Adam Lee Design has won two ADDY Awards from the Inland Empire Ad Club. The awards were announced at the Ad Club Gala celebration on the 12th. We won a Silver award for our annual report design for Loma Linda University Medical Center. I posted a short blog post on this design a few weeks ago. We also won a Bronze award for a brochure design that we did for San Gabriel Valley Medical Center. This piece isn’t in our portfolio yet but I will try to post a few images later.

This was my first time attending the Gala and I left feeling very inspired. There is a lot of great work coming out of the Inland Empire. Congrats to all of the other winners.

I came across a great website on Twitter today. Where We Design showcases design spaces from studios and agencies around the world.

I’ve been having a lot of fun browsing the photos of where other graphic designers work. Stuff like this really gets me motivated to make my own space more creative (still need to get around to hanging a couple things on the wall).

One of my favorites is this one in Tulsa, OK. I love the way the conference room is placed in the middle of everything and even raised up off of the floor a little.

In my design work, I’ve found that the state of my work area affects both my productivity and my creativity. For creativity I keep a lot of inspirational products, mailers, magazines, etc. around that I can browse when I need inspiration. I’ve also found that keeping my desk free from too much clutter helps me stay calm and productive. The messier my desk is the more stressed out I become.

What’s important to you in your workspace?