Sometimes Design Falls Into Your Lap There are times when graphic design is too easy and those times are certainly rare for sure. But in some cases you will find that a situation simply comes to pass that design just means everything that is current and it was a given. The 45th so called President is one such case this…
LAXY / LAZY Los Angeles 2024 Olympic Bid Pushed To 2028
How this move is a good thing from a graphic design point of view. It was announced that the 2024 Summer Olympics will be held in Paris while the 2028 Summer Olympics will be held in Los Angeles. From a design point of view I find this a relief for Los Angeles because the logo they were using to promote…
Creating Smaller File Sizes Working In Large Format – Adobe Illustrator Edition
This post has been moved for now to my employers web site here to learn about designing large format graphics for the trade show industry.
Beware Blog Articles That Are Ghost Written
Is a graphic or trade show expert just a hired writer with no experience? So the company or individual you do business with has written a blog article and you are excited to read it because you trust this entity. However, are you certain the article was actually written by the person/company in question? How can you tell? As the…
PDF Files Are Evil (a personal feeling)
Why a large format job should never be submitted in PDF unless specifically requested and you know what you are doing Almost every professional design application has the ability to export or save as a PDF file and some large format printers actually request PDF files for final output (very limited number). However, it is my opinion that PDF files…
The Race To The Bottom In Portable Exhibits
An industry insider view on how the Internet has changed the portable display industry in the last 16 years and where it will go. Around the time that the dot com bubble burst in 2000 there were some fantastic ideas of what the Internet could become. Unfortunately, at the time, the ideas were more developed than the technology available or…
Maintaining Consistent Color From One Vendor To The Next In Large Format Trade Show Display Production
Is it possible? One of the secrets of the trade show display industry is that manufacturers, distributors and suppliers use multiple outlets to create what you are buying. It is extremely rare to find one location that will produce everything you need under one roof. Rather, what really exists is a community of companies that source multiple items from other…
When Is An Xpressions® Display Not An Xpressions®?
Simply put, when it is something else. The Xpressions® SNAP Display is one you have probably seen at various trade shows as it has a very unique appearance. The Xpressions® is a simple concept that takes a workhorse frame from the exhibit industry (this being the straight popup frame) and adds dye sublimation printed tension fabric graphics in multiple configurations…
Ugly Design Is Ok If Your Client Wants It
When your desire as a designer is trumped by client taste you design an ugly graphic. Several years ago I was presented with a design task for a client looking for a small table top display. The exhibit hardware involved was the ExpoGo Showmax unit, which is beautiful, and I had designed many items for that unit in the past…
HBO Does Trade Shows on Silicon Valley
How HBO hit the nail on the head in terms of graphics and trade shows If you are a fan of the HBO program Silicon Valley, and you have worked in the trade show industry, you witnessed a fantastic episode this past Sunday. As I watched the episode I instantly fell into corporate mode to review the displays used to…