Design. Graphic Design. Shaken, not stirred. We get asked about design a lot. I suppose that’s only fair, we pay a lot of attention to it, and we work hard to have the best and most appropriate design for the challenge at hand.

The best and most appropriate. That’s an interesting challenge sometimes. The internet is a pretty heady place. And there’s a lot of DIY stuff going on. There’s an ethos and aesthetic of lo fi. Of messy. Of a twelve year old photoshopping the head of his cat onto Trent Reznor. Sometimes we need to mimick this. Sometimes we need to make design that is notably un-designed. The chicken, of course, was an example of this.

Design and marketing have a very intertwined relationship. They’re even more intertwined when you think of Branding, and the rules strict branding has saddled marketing with – the logo must always be this size, this color, in this place, with this much free space. The tagline should always be on there. We must use these colors.

The nature between design, marketing and branding is changing. We’re tempted to say it’s collapsing. Design is a tool, but one whose primary use has, perhaps, been forgotten: to connect and serve the end user. Branding, and the strictures it places on design, are, perhaps, in conflict with this. Is the internet causing this? Perhaps, but more likely, it’s just bringing it out in the open. The users are talking back. They’re responding to designs they like, even if they are not our idea of good desingn. They like things, sometimes, that aren’t designed well. Just like they like the Moldy Peaches.

Of course, the converse is as true as ever. Good design works. Good design sells. Ask Steve Jobs. It’s a challenge knowing when this is true, and when something is overly-designed for the market. The iPhone works. The Vertu? Not so much. (ed: the what? rick: exactly).

So, then, the best and most appropriate. Designing down. Designing up. When and where. And then, after figuring that out, doing it as well as possible. Designing down, as well as possible, we admit, can be a lot of fun sometimes (check out the XPJS site for Gametap). Designing up, for us, just like every other design studio of notable quality, is a never-ending enterprise. We’ve been wrestling a lot with how to further enhance our process to ensure those things that need to be well-designed are as perfect as possible. It’s a never-ending quest. One of the things we’ve noticed: by letting our employees pursue both designing up, and designing down, they get better. Mix up the work. Mix up the tasks. Give them room to spread their wings in both directions.