Here is a collection of all the most essential download ready books.  Most of these are usually only be available in printed format, but now are being offered in PDF and web format. Majority of these I end up owning anyway because they are such great books. check them out, and if you like them, buy a copy!

Making and Breaking the Grid

Get it
author: Timothy Samara

This is an absolutely necessary read, I would even recommend having this in hard copy. That it’s on google books really amazes me because it is such a high quality book. It is no light read, the first few pages will convince you of that. However it gives you amazing information necessary for understanding how the grid works in application, it does assume you have some knowledge of how to use grid though. This applies to Print, web, mobile and every extension of graphic design you can think of. One of my favorite books I own. A must read!

About the Author

Timothy Samara is a graphic designer and educator based in New York City, where he teaches at the School of Visual Arts and the Fashion Institute of Technology. He’s also the author of Typography Workbook (Rockport 2004). He lives in New York’s Chelsea district.

Graphic Design for the 21st Century

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authors: Charlotte Fiell, Peter Fiell
Covering a vast range of cutting-edge graphics, with politically charged anti-commercial work placed in the same context as Nike’s latest ads, this book presents a sweeping look at today’s most progressive graphic currents – from signage at packaging to branding and web design. [1]

About the Author

Charlotte and Peter Fiell run a design consultancy in London specializing in the sale, acquisition, study and promotion of design artifacts. They have lectured widely, curated a number of exhibitions, and written numerous articles and books on design and designers, including TASCHEN’S Decorative Arts series, 1000 Chairs, Design of the 20th Century, Industrial Design A-Z, Designing the 21st Century, and Scandinavian Design.

Vignelli: From A to Z

Vignelli: From A to Z
author: Massimo Vignelli

If you live in America you have probably seen work by the famous Massimo Vignelli, make sure you check out our master study on him if you haven’t already. This book is an amazing look into his work and the reason for it. He explains how/what and why he does things the way he does. He says you should be able to design everything from a city to a spoon as a graphic designer, his work is evidence of this.

about the author

check out our article

Swiss Graphic Design

Swiss graphic design: the origins and growth of an international style
author: Richard Hollis

An oldie but a goodie. Swiss graphic design and “the Swiss Style” are crucial elements in the history of modernism. During the 1920s and ’30s, skills traditionally associated with Swiss industry, particularly pharmaceuticals and mechanical engineering, were matched by those of the country’s graphic designers, who produced their advertising and technical literature. These pioneering graphic artists saw design as part of industrial production and searched for anonymous, objective visual communication. They chose photographic images rather than illustration, and typefaces that were industrial-looking rather than those designed for books.

Written by noted design authority Richard Hollis, this lavishly illustrated volume looks at the uniquely clear graphic language developed by such Swiss designers as Theo Ballmer, Max Bill, Adrian Frutiger, Karl Gerstner, Armin Hoffman, Ernst Keller, Herbert Matter, Josef Müller-Brockmann, and Jan Tschichold. The style of these artists received worldwide admiration for its formal discipline: images and text were organized by geometrical grids. Adopted internationally, the grid and sans serif typefaces such as Helvetica became the classic emblems of Swiss graphic design.
Showcasing design work across a range of media, including posters, magazines, exhibition displays, brochures, advertisements, books, and film, this essential book shows how many of the Swiss designers’ modernist elements remain an indispensable part of today’s graphic language.

about the author

(born 1934) is one of the most influential figures in British graphic design. Hollis has worked as a printer, a magazine editor, a print-production manager, a book writer, a teacher and a graphic designer. Hollis was born in London and studied art and typography at Chelsea School of Art, Wimbledon School of Art and Central School of Art and Craft in London before moving to Paris in the early 1960s.

Time Management
for Creative People

Time Management for creative people
author: Mark McGuinness

If you’ve worked in the industry then you know that time management is essential, there is always something new to learn and never enough time. This book helps you understand how to put time management into motion. A must read for all professionals.

We’ve all been there: tight schedule, and no fuel for the fire. How does one combat the dreaded block? There are lots of interesting ways that will instantly produce results. Let’s try them out.

Get Backwards

1. It’s like what it sounds, think of things backwards.

“When everyone zig’s, zag.” —Marty Neumeier (The Brand Gap)

These are words to live by. This quote can mean many things. We can apply it to thinking about ideas backwards. Take a design you’re stuck on and flip it around, try to give it some negative space:

If we’re going inside out, why not down side up?

Now all the sudden we have some character to it. Now maybe you can start seeing something you haven’t before. An eye form in the “e” maybe? Some sort of abstract shape, maybe even a symbol starts to form where earlier you were stuck. A lot of times it just takes the act of doing (don’t just think, do), even if it’s silly or may seem like a bad idea. Don’t be afraid to experiment.

It’s not necessary to be as literal as this, although thinking backwards helps to get out of a rut.  Designers tend to get pigeon holed in the comfortable, so get uncomfortable! If you’re stuck often it’s because you’re not satisfied with you idea, which is a good mentality to have–in moderation. If you never get stuck, ask yourself why? It’s likely you’re not challenging yourself.

exaggerate

Have you ever looked into a photo of someones eye, or a glass that is high resolution?

You will notice a lot of interesting things you never thought were there. This concept is endless with everything from photography to poetry, it’s used often.

Lets try it with the logotype from earlier:

personify

Here is a fun one: what does the client stand for? what are their values? do they have a taste? a smell? a texture? create a character around these things. If you need inspiration, check out Disney characters. Really, I’m not kidding. Disney artists were masters of this:

Look at the colors, and shapes, even postures. Evil characters had hard, sharp and abrasive edges. The good guys were always rounded yet strong flowing lines and shapes. Every single character has a purpose and unique personality through and through, as should our design.

history

This last one is a very nebulous concept. However, fear not! It is definitely worth diving in to. There are two main reasons; there are countless sources of inspiration, also this allows us not to fall into the trap of repeating forms. Have you ever looked at ornament in history? you should.

here is a page out of a book I like to keep around for inspiration:

If that isn’t inspiration, I don’t know what is.  History is full of them.

let try some of this in the logotype:

There are lots of ways of solving creative block, it’s just knowing how to utilize your tools.

Some book recommendations:

History of Art: Slipcased

Art: The World’s Greatest Paintings Explored and Explained

Meggs’ History of Graphic Design

Lets do a recap:

1. Think backwards
2. Exaggerate, it’s in the details!
3. Personify
4. Know your History

Good luck with your creative woes!

Please Dig/Stumble/tweet/Whatever else you do this post if you like it, thanks!

Massimo Vignelli was born in Milan, Italy. He is a designer who has done work such as package design, furniture design, public signage and showroom design through Vignelli Associates. He has said, “If you can design one thing, you can design everything,” and this is reflected in his broad range of work. Vignelli works firmly within the Modernist tradition, and focuses on simplicity through the use of basic geometric forms in all of his work. He has worked with companies such as IBM and American Airlines.

This most important virtue for a designer to possess. Discipline serves the designer from the project concept to its end realization. It is the governing factor in the intricacies of a concept, guiding the designer throughout the whole process. Without it, it it total anarchy, total randomness, pure chaos. Discipline is the attitude that helps us discern right from the wrong and guides us to achieve consistency of language in whatever we do. Discipline is what helps us navigate through the social context in which we operate. Discipline is what makes us responsible toward ourselves, toward our clients, toward the the society in which we live. It is through discipline that we are able to improve ourselves, mentally and physically; to offer the best of ourselves to everything around us, including every project on which we work. —Massimo Vignelli: Vignelli A to Z

View Large Scale Version

unfortunately his 72′ map was replaced by this awful new map:

which is clearly a failure at being legible and a map. most of the curves are unnecessary, do we really need to know that the metro is not a straight line? no one cares. The purpose is to be legible and clear, which it is not.

hear more about the map in the film Helvetica, here is a scene where he is talking about the new york map.

American Airlines logo and logotype he designed, which is still in use today.

package design for Knoll.

What sets a good trademark apart from an awful one? Why do some trademarks endure and others experience complete overhauls? Lets find out.

One color to rule them all.

First lets set things straight. Your trademark should always be able to work in a single color. Some might argue and shout, “but web 2.0 is the future, MORE COLORS!” This is an uneducated claim that “web 2.0″ will even last. Something else will take its place–I promise. How can we say this confidently? Well you hear it over and over, know history and you wont be doomed to repeat it. All these web 2.0 trademark are really just a revamping of all the old trends, but with more colors. Don’t believe me? Lets take a look at history of trademark design:

Remember that little company called Nike^®? How about the swoosh epidemic? Maybe not, just in case lets recap, lest we forget the martyrs (believe me there are a LOT more where these came from):

You smelling what I’m steppin’ in?

Trends come and go. But good trademarks endure. Does your trademark describe what you do? Don’t just do what is popular, make sure you give it some flavor. It’s no surprise that most of these companies have redesigned their trademark.

Money, money, money…

So what are some other reasons to keep a trademark simple? It cost effective, it has legs to move to other mediums and is easier to remember. Why spend millions of dollars on making a trademark colorful and doing complex spot process colors when you can just use a single effective color?

OK, so now to the grey area.  This doesn’t mean you can’t do “web 2.0″ style trademarks. It does however mean it should be effective in a single color. what do we mean by that? lets take a look at Apple’s trademark:

You can see that the trademark works in a single color. Doesn’t mean it stays this way, only that its pleasing to the eye without any addition of color. However you can see that apple went gone with the more simple emblem eventually. This is why their trademark has endured. Its effective, simple and runs laps around most trademarks.

we can apply this example the Concept Genius Emblem as well:

It’s clearly made with more of a 3D style, but it’s fitting for what we do here and for what purpose it serves. Also, it works in a single color, the shapes don’t look awkward or strange when broken down.

A little history, not the boring kind.

It’s interesting to look at the development of writing and how it formed.
Abstraction (e.g. an idea) > Oral Tradition > Symbols/Wall Paintings > alphabet to describe the symbols.

It makes a lot of sense when you think about it: Abstraction was the first form of higher level thinking unique to humans. They take an abstract notion of a thing like “to hunt” and try to eventually verbalize it, hence language is formed. Now the human brain kicks it into high gear and develops Cuneiform script in an attempt to be more naturally more systematic. Eventually leading to what we know as phonetic form of writing we know.

Why did we form shapes rather than try written language first? The answer is simple. It’s also why developing a good trademark is important. It’s cross cultural. Almost didn’t think of that one huh? Now the Jimbo tribe can send message to the Jenbo tribe even though their languages have developed individually, genius! Enter Nike…

Now lets take a look at how Nike developed their branding campaign. They roughly worked back words from how we got language. Going from trademark to logotype then to just the Symbolic emblem. Eventually they use just pure abstraction in some cases. It should be noted the emblem is seen more so than not, since it’s the most primitive form of communication. Unless you count pantomime, but that would make an aweful trademark, think of all the mimes you would have to hire?!

Most of the time one can recognize the Nike brand just from look or feel of the advertisement. There is something profound when you examine this.  It also shows the importance of a good brand. When you look at the history of how it developed it makes perfect sense, it was the first way of communication we had after abstraction or oral communication.

So it goes without saying, trademarks are indeed vital parts of a successful company.

A lot of companies end up failing or spending millions that shouldn’t be spent after creating a ridiculous name that makes no sense and doesn’t describe what they do. Avoid the headache and start out with a bang. Here are some criteria to create a great name.

1 – Originality

That’s a “no duh” one. However, if it’s a no duh then why do so many people make that mistake?

1. Make sure you can trademark the logo.
2. Make sure the domain is available. If it’s not, no sweat its not game over. Get creative–SEO, brevity and effectiveness should be kept in mind as you search. If you’re stuck try tools like:
   • Nameboy
     
   • Domain Generator
     
   • domainr
     
   • Dot-o-mater
     
   • Domain Exposer
     
   • Bustaname
     
   • Domain Tools
     
   • Domize
     
     
   • SquURL
     
   • DomainsBOT
     
   • DnScoop
     
   • StuckDomains
     
   • Dyyo
     
   • ajax Whois
     

They will save you many headaches. Don’t know where to start? try this.

2 – Wiggle Room

Does your name get up and go? Can you apply the name to other mediums and if you ever hire on designers will it let them easily design for it?

1. Make sure you have room for the name to move around. I’ve worked for a few companies that have struggled endlessly with even going as far as releasing videos how to pronounce their names because it was so confusing. Don’t make that mistake, make sure you have room to grow with the name. “Xoomdum” is probably a bad name to use where as “ZoomBoom” might be better. The latter connects with sounds, video elements, maybe even touch.
2. does the name provide room for a good logo? Abstract names tend to be harder to design for and don’t describe WHAT you do.
3. Does it make your imagination go wild or maybe connect with several senses; like smell, touch, taste, sound?

3 – Does it work for you?

Does it describe what you do?

If you sell medieval armor and call your self ‘Techniques’? *alarm sound* bad idea, it might sound good at first but if it can describe another business easily, i.e. recording studio, computer repair and so on, then you should probably keep looking. Make sure it sound like what you do, do some research.  If it’s medieval armor you sell, look up what the cities were called, what the kings names where, something that is unique to what you do.

4 – They love me, they really love me!

get feedback, is your name likable?

Ask some friends, family, strangers or anyone you can for that matter. Usually the first name you come up with isn’t the best, so try a few and let people choose. When you say “Nike” you get a overall good felling (at least from the name), and if you understand mythology it makes you feel even better. It’s a hidden reward built into the very thing your identified by.

5 – Type-o-City

Make it easy.

If I had a nickle for every bad name I’ve worked with, I wouldn’t be writing this blog post, I would be swimming in a pool of nickles breaking a world record. MAKE IT EASY TO SPELL AND PRONOUNCE, period. It doesn’t get simpler than that.

6 – Keep it short

Short is good

this is by no means insulting to your demographic.  Keeping it short makes it easy to remember and makes it resistant to being given a nickname, which in the long run will cause confusion. Minimalism is the name of the game here, if you can keep it to one word, do it. Two words are still OK if they are necessary to describe what you do.

7 – King of the court

Make yourself stand out.

1. Will the name make you stand out?
2. will it ring in the depths of your psyche?
3. What about your name will make you stand out from the competition?

Review:

1. Keep it original, use tools.
2. Wiggle room, does it have room to grow?
3. Describe what you do.
4. Get feedback
5. Make it easy to spell
6. Keep it short, if possible.
7. Make yourself stand out.

it’s all necessary to ask these questions. Follow through with this process and you wont be disappointed! Good hunting.

What do you think makes a good name? Lets hear what you have.

No one does that…Or do they? One thing graphic designers don’t do enough of is thumbnails. We should take industrial designers as a model and do more thumbnails.  This is where true ideas and solid concepts come from. So what do you need to get started? Lets find out…

Industry standard Supplies

If you’re a poor collage student, which I know there is a lot out there, then you’re not willing to spend $200 on crazy amounts of markers in all colors. So what’s a poor student to do? If you can afford them, they are definitely worth it, but there are also alternatives. let’s look at the options.

*Buy only what you need

Really all you need about 3-5 monochrome ones.  You really don’t need the entire rainbow set. In fact I stay away from using color at all in initial concepts because I might focus on color schemes more than I might an idea. If you’re really tight on money here is the minimum you want to get:

Prismacolor

Prismacolor Premier 10% cool grey: I like cool grey because it is a little more pleasing of a color, but they do also have warm. what this one does is allows you to make a wire frame confidently. This is similar to using a really light pencil stroke.

Prismacolor Premier 50% cool grey: this will be for your mid-tones. It works similarly to building up your tones in traditional drawing.

Prismacolor Premier 70% cool grey: this will be usually the last tone. Sometimes you can add black however I prefer to stay away from pure black unless its absolutely essential to the design.  As far as eye flow goes, your eye usually goes to darker areas in a composition, so unless its well thought through try to only go up to 70%

Prismacolor Premier black: I’ll usually use this one tastefully, or in very well planed areas of the concept.

you can get these markers at local art stores or online.

PROS: Standard Marker set and can be found almost anywhere

CONS: Can get pricey, non-refillable.

Bienfang

I used to be very resistant to buying this paper because it’s expensive. Why get it when you can get 10x the amount of regular sketch paper? However, now I see why it’s very important in any designers arsenal. Maker paper is formulated to react to markers in a very precise way that you wont get with any other paper. One huge bonus is that it doesn’t bleed. If you’ve ever tried to draw on normal paper with marker, you will clearly see it’s a disaster.

you can get this paper at most local art stores or online.

alternative supplies

Copic

PROS:

• Square body profile is roll resistant on working surfaces.
• Solid polypropylene body is both smooth and comfortable, for a perfect, controllable grip.
• Durable polyester nibs are easily interchangeable and available in nine different weights and styles.
• COPIC Markers come in 214 colors and are refillable with Various Inks.
• Electronic production guarantees consistency of both color and output.
• Precise and positive colored capping system provides for instant color selection.
• Body inscriptions and symbols are wear resistant and easily cleaned with COPIC cleaner

CONS: they are harder to find since they aren’t as mainstream. They are a bit more expensive (about 70 cents more than Prismacolor).

you can find a dealer here, or buy online.

Pantone Tria markers

PROS: having a total of 300 colors that correspond to PMS (Pantone color matching system). About same price as Prismacolor. 3 Tip shapes: chisel, fine, brush.

CONS: Not as well known, making them harder to find.

Touch

The process

usually per project you want to do 50-100 thumbnails. In fact, I wouldn’t suggest ever doing under 50. If you want your concept to be solid, it really does require you to lay down this many.

A way to start is referencing your research/mind maps/streams of consciousness. there are some things you need to consider before even beginning your sketches however:

What is your objective?
how do you want your target market to react or think? make it short and sweet. Einstein would say “Make it as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Who is your target audience?
age/demographic/location/culture.

What kind of things does target audience like to do?

Can you interact with what you are designing for?
If it’s a product, use it. If its a place, visit it. etc.

What are some unique things about this product?

What makes this product successful or unsuccessful?

Now as far as the design goes, here are some things to consider:

• what angle do you want it coming from?
• how can I clearly convey the ideas I have?
• should it be photography, illustrative, typographic, none of them, all of them?

Here is how I usually structure my thumbnails:

I will do 50-100 thumbnails. Make them quick, just get the ideas out. Some should only take a few seconds. Put them on paper, even if you think they are silly. Sometimes great ideas are inspired by some of the worst.

Also make sure you make space for them, don’t try to cram too many on one page, and usually it helps me to keep them organized via a grid.

Once I finish the 50, I then pick the few I like the most and develop them more. The larger ones still aren’t the final direction, they just give me a direction.

Pick a few I like, and develop them more and larger. Usually each with its own page. Again these are fast drawings nothing fancy, just getting more specific and larger. Don’t attempt a Caravaggio:

I then get feedback from others and see what they think. With that feedback I either develop the ones I like the most or am persuaded that ones I liked, might not be as strong as I had thought. The latter happens quite often, some of what you think are your best designs are sometimes the worst.

When I’m done with all the nitty-gritty I throw a few more sketches together, then put a final product together and Voila! A finished product:

Client contacts you and says they need a project by tomorrow. You say, no sweat and get the pencil and paper out, boot up your computer and you realize you have absolutely no inspiration. what now? Well do not fret my friend! here is an effective and quick way to develop a solid concept.

conceptualizing an idea will show you how all the pieces fit together and let you visualize the final result. —Karl Aspelund

Very wise words. This is crucial to making a concept work. Too often we want to just jump into drawing and visual elements of an idea.  This approach for the most part is counter productive for a few reason.   If you just start guessing what will work what wont you have anything solid backing your idea.

Even if your on a tight deadline here are a few things you always want to keep in mind:

The questions

1. What is the most important thing you want to say about what you’re going to present?
2. Who are you communicating with? Students, Teachers, People with lots of time, Someone passing by?
3. Once you have what the most important thing is, how are you trying to say this?
4. Are people familiar with what you are presenting?
5. What do you want people to think of the thing being presented?
6. What is the history of the people/thing being presented.
7. What is the emotional connection and how do you make it resonate with them?
8. What tone or attitude do you want to want to convey.
9. Where will this be presented and how can you make it stand out from other things presented in the same way?
10. What is in it for the demographic?

One great tool to get those gears grinding is *dun dun dun* brainstorming. There are several ways to do this.

Mind map:

• this is simply just a random list of webbed connections. it can be really neat and organized or totally sporadic. That’s the fun  part of brain storming, There really is no wrong way of doing it.  Remember to always write down everything no matter how silly it might be because it can trigger a great idea. Use those neural synapses!

remember this can be done as a list too. It doesn’t have to be done with visual arrows. It can simply be a list of words or phrases in a notebook. What does the idea smell like? what does it feel like? what color would it be? what season?

I prefer to do it on paper so I can have access to it wherever I am, however if you’re not much of pen paper kind of person you can try some internet apps. Here is a good one to try out:

MindMeister
http://www.mindmeister.com/

“This is um my idea. Um … I believe that it is uh probably going to work because I believe that it will hopefully target our audience.” Convinced? Me neither… Here is how to avoid this kind of introduction.

This wasn’t uploaded to poke fun of or to mock her. The point here is that even if you are intelligent or confident, you might still come off as not so using all of the “Crutch words.”

One of the main reasons people use these words is simple, they are a part of their vocabulary already.  How does one fix that? Fix it in your everyday vocabulary. easy right?! Not as easy as you think… but worth it. We also use it to “fill the gaps” in conversation and presentations. We hate silence don’t we?

A fun way to unlearn this habit is create a reminder in everyday life, get friends to help. If you use it in your normal speech it will only be amplified in presentation.  One thing me and a few friends do is we have a secret gestures.  When we hear the other person use those crutch words you simple touch your shoulder or have some sort of gesture that doesn’t seem too obvious.  What this does is makes it less obvious to others you are fixing something. It isn’t very disruptive to others, so you can do it all the time without distracting from conversation. Just a disclaimer: get ready to start talking funny after this one because you will start thinking about fixing your sentences and this takes more brain power than one might realize.

Here are two general rules to remember so you can pace yourself. Crutch words attack most during silence, so don’t be afraid of it. allow yourself one pause for commas and two for period. This will also help you not to rush you ideas and allow people to follow along with your presentation.

You can present a flawlessly, have great posture and even put on a winning smile. Yet you can still make a lousy impression if you present poorly.

Here are the words that get you in trouble:

Make up your mind!

“Somewhat”
Be bold, be confident! do not be somewhat bold and somewhat confident.

“To some extent”

“To a certain extent”

“More or less”
which is it? make up your mind!

“Perhaps”
Confident is key

“Sort of”

“Kind of”

“Maybe”
To be… or not to be….

“Fairly”

“A bit”
A drill bit?

“Reasonably”
Well I hope so…

“Hopefully”
unless its BIlly waiting hopefully for his long lost dog…

“Pretty”

It’s all about you isn’t it? I hope not…

“It seems to me…”
Well I hope so… since you’re presenting it.

“I believe…”
Hope so, you’re presenting it.

“I think…”

Am I looking for feedback or unsure of my presentation?

“You know?” You wouldn’t be presenting if everyone knew.

“You know what I mean?” same as above.

“You see?” vague…see what?

“Really” not fatal yet can be distracting

The fillers

“So” (so what)

“Like”

“Um” and Uh”

Awkward laughter is also sometimes present as a filler.

[image via jaxestudios.com]

So you see an ad, it’s got one of those cool anti-gravity poses with water or paint flying off the person. Look cool huh? But what is that ad saying? If done right simplicity can be very effective. Copying trends can be a huge “oops.”

There are a lot of way to avoid these problems, lets explore a few:

1. don’t fall into what everyone else is doing. bad johnny, bad!

You tend to see a lot of art that has all the same stuff over and over. This is a total baddy. There is a good reason real artists are apposed to this kind of design.  The reason is, it’s just not effective among many other reasons.  You can use it as a case study, but its not recommend as a final product for an ad.

2. Be creative.

Being creative is hard to train at first and it certainly takes many years to stay consistent at effective creativity. But once you do, you got it and you just keep rolling with it. It’s very liberating to be creative even when you’re first starting out and no good at it. There are also lots of great methods to realizing a creative idea.

3. Take risks.

Some people might have you thinking that it’s a safer bet to be in the safe zone when it comes to design, concept development and so on.  This is definitely not true. What this doesn’t mean is that you create some gratuitous campaign just to turn heads. It does mean going into the unexplored and thinking about things that people usually aren’t used to seeing.

4. Read read read….

I cannot stress enough how important it is to read daily, even if its a few minutes.  Read weird stuff, sci-fi, philosophy, science– whatever you can get your hands on. Reading is a unique medium to derive creativity, it isn’t bias to any kind of prior aesthetic, you’re brain is the only one that will create it.  That makes it a very important tool in a creative arsenal.

5. Have a process

Have a creative process.  This is in no way a limiting exercise, in fact its one of the most liberating. It doesn’t have to be the same processes over and over, there is always room for rearranging.  You don’t always have to follow the same process, but have one.  You can write it down at first, then expand it. After a while you wont need to follow any plan, you will just innately know how to do what your project calls for. There are times that every single project will call for a slightly different process too, so don’t be afraid to explore.

6. Step/roll/flop away from your computer.

Really… don’t depend on your computer to make you creative. It’s a fantastic tool, but the real stuff starts with your imagination. The computer can spread you thin so quickly, you wont let you live in the idea. Sit back with some coffee and just let your imagination play with some ideas. Make make some doodles. Perhaps even thumbnail.

You’ve got a great idea, you’re confident about it, and you’ve spent days developing the concept. But all this means nothing unless you present it in a clear and efficient way.

Do

• Always start out by Introducing yourself, your idea or concept, what the most important thing about it is and move on from there. Unless you’ve been working with everyone for very long time its always good idea to introduce yourself.
• Talk at a moderate speed, try not to talk to fast. Everyone gets nervous but just know you did your best and present it  with confidence.
  
• Even if you aren’t satisfied with your campaign or ad, present it like you are.
• Know your audience. Are you presenting for a conservative client or a liberal one? You should never limit your creativity, but its unfortunately unavoidable that you will have to have some day present to different types of clients.
• Listen to everything people have to say before butting in. It can be a very counter productive environment if you cut someone off in mid sentence just because you think your idea is amazing and needs no input.
  
• Read ALL the copy on your presentation material (obviously unless its a citation, web address, etc). If its in your presentation YOU SHOULD READ IT. If its there and you feel like its not necessary to read, take it out. Less is more clutter can distract the viewer, so say it effectively.
• If you have time for questions and suggestions always try to initiate them.
• Make the parts of the presentation clear. If you have a tag-line and a headline, make sure you say: “The tag-line reads…” and “and here the headline says…”
• Relax. Everyone gets nervous in front of people, I mean it, everyone. Most people wont admit it but there is always a little bit if jitter that comes with presenting your hard work in front of people. If you’re not getting nervous you should reevaluate how much passion you put into your work. I believe that firmly, especially after talking to a lot of big shots in the industry who still get a little jittery in front of their peers. Its a good thing, its called eustress.
  

Don’t

• Don’t use verbose language.  Explain it in the most understandable and effective way.
• Don’t draw out the presentation, keep it timely but say everything you need to say.
• Don’t Us “Um,” “Like,” or “uhh” at all.  Check out our article on avoiding Crutch words and phrases.
• Don’t be stubborn in accepting suggestions, this is why creative teams are so effective. But also don’t give into suggestions just because someone is confident or presents their opinion as fact. Give yourself a second, analyze it and respond appropriately.
• Don’t talk fast. Take a breath and say it like you mean it.
• Don’t ever say “I don’t know” after you present an idea. you hear this the most in response to questions: “I think I presentation it in this way because it conveys the message to our target audience, I don’t know.” It seems silly when you read it, but it happens often. This is not to say you should make things up on the spot if you honestly don’t know, this is a sign of great humbleness and wisdom if you have no answer to a solid question. Instead of rambling try  giving yourself a second to think, if you have no answer try saying something like “Honestly I don’t currently have an answer to that one, let me research it more and get back to you on it.  Thank you for your question.”  Most presentations are end all be all of your idea. If you get stumped come back harder, faster and stronger next round.