Win Free Copy of the book, No Plastic Sleeves

Follow No Plastic Sleeves on Twitter and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of our book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers. The book is do out in early March and the drawing will happen one week before. The winners will be announced on the site and through Twitter. Those of you already following us will be automatically entered. If you don’t Twitter, enter the drawing by emailing us at freebook@noplasticsleeves.com.

How Do You Say ‘Thank You’?

Grow Interactive in Norfolk, VA says ‘Thank You’ with a really cool T-shirt. Here’s their fun and interactive ‘Thank You Begins with a T’ website. Great site and great t-shirts (Grow was nice enough to send me one).

‘Thank You begins with T.’ was created as a token of appreciation for the friends, family, clients, and colleagues of Grow. Each of the “thanked” received a unique URL that opened a personalized version of the website, thanking that person and inviting him to select a free “T” of his choosing. – http://www.thisisgrow.com/#/work/selectedwork/thankyou

Here’s a promotional video from their campaign.

All Hail Josh! from Grow Interactive on Vimeo.

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Custom Portfolio Book: Photographer D.A. Wagner

Great example of a hand crafted, custom portfolio book, recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by New York Digital Photographer, D.A. Wagner. There’s so much time, effort and thought that went into the creation of these books – and it really shows. The brandmark also works well to communicate a sense of personality – it’s got a spontaneous, playful, and dynamic energy. Visit his site at: http://www.dawagner.com/

D.A. recounts his story about the process he went through to create these books.
In his own words (from his blog) –
“A lot of advertising photographers invest in hand-made portfolio housings. They are the finishing touch to a lot of hard work and make for an impressive presentation. I hand-made my own portfolios and slipcases because it seems like a really important part of the process. How could I entrust anyone to the task of making a book for my work? I had just finished shooting for an entire year, working on a new style and vision, and the vision couldn’t just stop there. The craft should continue from the digital world and carry through to the physical one that wrapped around my printed pages. I’m a hands-on kinda person and I love research.

I sought out Barbara Mauriello, a brilliant and highly regarded bookbinder, conservator and artist, who agreed to take me on as her student, to become a one trick pony. That is, to learn screw post bookbinding techniques, the style in which many commercial photography portfolios are bound. I also joined the Center for Book Arts on 27th Street, to rent their bookbinding studio equipment, a remarkable resource for an archaic craft. I later assembled the books in my basement workshop.

After four long training sessions with Barbara and months making countless “test books” using dozens of different fabrics and techniques, the real books went into production, with the goal of making ten in total, knowing a few would be ruined along the way. Three of the books didn’t make it. After all, I was just an apprentice, more or less copying what the master demonstrated.

As an added element to my books I designed my own logo based on the iconic jumping goldfish photo to create a copper die for imprinting the covers. No, I didn’t make that myself, too, I sent that out to engraver, Owosso Graphics, in Michigan. Sophia Kramer was my mentor on this part of the bookmaking and with infinite patience taught me how to use the kindly used, but ancient, Kensol 36T, three-ton press (ooooh, sounds impressive, doesn’t it?) at the Center for Book Arts.

They’re done, they’re gorgeous, and I’m sending them out in the world (not unlike my teenage daughter to college) to see how they fare.”

*Click image for larger view

PBDH Identity & Collateral

This award-winning brand identity by Phinney Bischoff Design House extends to a wide variety of both print materials and products.

PBDH is an independent, multidisciplinary brand design firm based in Seattle, WA.

*click image for larger view

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Personalizing an Off the Shelf Presentation Book

Photographer Simon Winnall of Birmingham, UK, says, “I’ve moved to a Pina Zangaro book, after having a lovely custom leather folio and case in the past, as the cost was so much cheaper I could have multiple books out at ad agencies for the price of one leather book! I print and finish in house, so I can easily change pages or print personalized books aimed at particular clients.”

Specs:
PORTFOLIO: Pina Zangaro Machina – Name laser etched onto cover
PAPER: Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Duo
PRINTER: EPSON 4000 – Printed both sides
FINISHING: Pages creased, cut and punched by hand

http://www.simonwinnall.com/

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Graham Winterbottom, a Vancouver Photographer, also uses a Pina Zingaro.

He says, “The book is a Pina Zingaro 11″x14″ Vista portfolio. My original intention was to do a custom housing but since I was building multiple versions it was more cost effective to go with the off the rack version. I did however have a custom slip case made by a local bookbinder who also built the pages and hinging. To personalize it I had both the book and the slip case embossed with my name. I finished the book in October and have had a bunch of meetings since then with really positive comments from designers and art directors about the books construction and images. My plan for 2010 is to get a few more made in order to ship out to agencies across the country.”

www.grahamwinterbottom.com

Site of the Week: Photographer Corey Arnold

Corey Arnold, Photographer, Portland, Oregon
http://www.coreyfishes.com/

This is just a beautifully designed site. It’s got a distinct visual look, without being overdone. The interface is clean, efficient and even looks good. And it really adheres to the primary objective of a portfolio site – to show the breadth and depth of a person’s work easily and cleanly. The designer is JD Hooge of Gridplane.

For the primary navigation, this site takes advantage of a design principle called layering and separation. If used strategically it can help one integrate and organize multiple levels of visual and functional information into the same space without clutter or confusion. In this example, upon rollover, the main menu smoothly transitions down to reveal navigational elements. It’s “layered” on top of the content underneath. By simply rolling off of the menu or clicking a link, this area then hides again – allowing the space to be fully utilized to present content. This technique really allows one to maximize the compositional space available “above the fold” - which (considering screen resolution and browser size) is limited when dealing with the web.

Through the use of interactivity, this site offers two different ways to view Corey’s photographs. Upon clicking on a collection title in the main menu, one is first presented with a group of thumbnails – providing the user with a quick overview of the entire collection within that category. Upon clicking an image, the user is then presented with a larger view of that one individual photograph. The photograph is presented very cleanly within the space as text and additional navigation is “hidden” until rolled over. At this point, the user can choose to go back to the collection of images or stay where they are and linearly move forwards or backwards through a sequence of larger individual images.

About Corey Arnold (taken from his website):
“Corey Arnold is a photographer and Alaskan commercial fisherman. During the winter, he can be found aboard the F/V Rollo in the Bering Sea and more recently catching salmon in Bristol Bay. The off season is filled with travel, gallery exhibitions, magazine and ad photography assignments with a bit of backyard gardening, cat maintenance, and skateboarding in Portland, Oregon.

He is currently working on a life long project entitled “Fish-Work” which chronicles the commercial fishing lifestyle throughout the world. Since 2003, he’s been documenting the crab fishery in the Bering Sea. Most recently he was nominated for the Aperture West Book Prize, the Santa Fe Prize for Photography, and named one of PDN’s 30 for 2009. The work has been featured in The Paris Review, Juxtapoz, Esquire, Italian Rolling Stone and Artweek. in 2005, he received an American Scandinavian Foundation grant to photograph the fishermen and whalers of Northern Norway.”

Brand Identity for MacDonald Photography

This award-winning, professional looking brand identity for MacDonald Photography was created by Rule29 of Geneva, IL. It’s a superb example of an entire visual identity package, established through a strong logo, bold color palette, memorable copy and unique construction. As with this example, when all pieces of your promotional and professional materials are visually connected, you’ll be sure to stand out from the crowd and remain memorable.

Art Direction: Justin Ahrens, Principal and Creative Director
Designers: Justin Ahrens and Kara Merrick

According to Justin Ahrens’ bio -
“As founder and principal of Rule29, Justin Ahrens infuses his strategic creative firm’s credo of “making creative matter” into every project. With clients ranging from non-profit organizations to Fortune 500 corporations, Justin strives to continuously expand the boundaries of R29′s design, collaborative approach and creativity to deliver unequaled results. His passion for his profession is evidenced by Justin’s involvement in design community organizations. Having served several years on the HOW Conference Advisory Board and more recently on the Create Magazine Advisory Board, Justin is also a member of the STA and AIGA having held AIGA board positions in Arizona and Chicago.

Other work being done is Justin’s and Rule29′s involvement with Life in Abundance and their work in the slums of Northeast Africa. To make creative matter in the world both in the US and in Africa is a core benefit to being a creative from the R29 perspective. Justin’s award-winning work resulted in being chosen by Graphic Design USA as one of the top designers to watch in 2004. His work can be seen in leading industry publications and books including Communication Arts, HOW, PRINT, Graphis, Create, Rockport Publishers and STEP. Justin’s passion for design is only overshadowed by his passion for being home with his wife Sarah and their four amazing kids who think Dad’s job is listening to music, drawing pictures and playing on the computer.”

*Click on images for a larger view.

Portfolio Book – Ed McCulloch

This portfolio by Ed McCulloch of Salt Lake City goes the extra mile. It’s a superbly crafted, uniquely branded book that’s sure to make a statement and leave a lasting impression. Ed says, “The actual portfolio book works together with my other marketing material. The brand and images all come together for this physical piece. The color of fabric was chosen because my images and characters are all connected to the land. The ED logo patch was conceived by Eric Kass and symbolizes the power of my images and my approachability.”

Check out more of Ed’s work at http://edshoots.com/.

Designer: Eric Kass, www.funnel.tv
Book Builder: Scott Mullenberg, www.mullenbergdesigns.com

About

This website serves as an extension to the book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers published by Focal Press. It is the creation of co-author Danielle Currier and will continue to feature new work, articles, interviews and resources. Please feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think of the book and the site.

About the Book *Book now available!
No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers

When you look at your portfolio, ask yourself:

- Do I stand out from the crowd?
- Do I communicate an effective concept and message?
- Do I demonstrate impeccable skill and craft?

Your work and the manner in which you present it is a critical part of securing potential employment opportunities and clients. Our unique approach addresses all facets of the portfolio process. Each step has been carefully planned, organized and simplified in order to maximize the potential of your portfolio book, website and supporting materials.

Key concepts, principles and techniques are brought to life through a vast collection of real-world examples, diagrams, step-by-step visual aids, a comprehensive list of resources as well as key perspectives from a select group of industry professionals.

This text will guide you through the complete process of conceptualizing, designing and developing all the interconnected aspects of your total portfolio package:

• Objectively evaluate and edit your work
• Develop a distinguishing self-brand concept
• Understand and apply effective design strategies
• Create a custom-made portfolio book
• Translate and extend your ideas into an online portfolio
• Plus develop integrated self-promotional materials and marketing strategies

Ordering Online *Book available mid-March
Available through our publisher: Elsevier, Focal Press. Also available for pre-order online through Barnes & Noble, Amazon.com as well as all other major bookstores.

For Professors & Instructors
If you’re an instructor and would like a desk copy to review, please contact me and I can send your name to Focal Press’s academic sales rep.

About the book’s authors
Larry Volk is an Associate Professor of Photography in the department of Visual Communications in the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Endicott College. He holds an M.F. A. from Rhode Island School of Design. Larry worked in the editorial and commercial market for 10 years. He has been a photographic educator in New England and exhibiting photographer both, regionally and nationally for over 20 years.

Danielle Currier is an Associate Professor of Design in the department of Visual Communications in the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Endicott College. She holds an M.F.A from Parsons, The New School for Design. Danielle has worked as an educator, designer and artist in the Boston area and New York City for over 12 years. She has received numerous awards, grants, and fellowships and exhibited her digital art nationally.

The views expressed on this blog are those of Danielle Currier alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of Endicott College.

Designing for the Web: Screen Resolution and Browser Size

It’s important to consider screen resolution and browser size when designing for the web. Since not everyone has a nice big 27-inch iMac on which to cruise the internet, screen resolutions will vary. Luckily, there are a number of industry standards and resources that can help us find the right size for our intended target audience.

Screen size is always a tricky issue and plagues most web designers – especially due to the limited vertical height of a monitor. However, any web designer worth their salt will make sure that vital content, calls to action and primary navigation remain “above the fold”. This is the area of a website that’s viewable without requiring the user to scroll down. This is important because it’s counterproductive to force users to hunt around for the means to navigate to or view important content on your site. Designing for “above the fold” follows standards of good web and user interface design.

Considering Sizes:
While I remember a time when I was designing websites for 640 x 480 pixels, nowadays most screen resolutions can be assumed to be set at a minimum of 1024 x 768 pixels. In fact, designing for a screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels is considered appropriate for folks in the creative fields. Many sites are even designed so that the composition stretches with the browser’s expanding or constricting size – creating what’s called a “liquid layout”. Also consider that having a website up that’s still designed for a smaller screen size (like 800 x 600 pixels ) will make it seem outdated.

When designing for the web, you really want to utilize the space you’ve got. Including, designing navigation so that it’s readily available, but unobtrusive to one’s view of the content. Even if you’re not the one designing and/or building your own portfolio website, it’s a good idea to be aware of good web design practice. Ultimately the site has your name on it and will reflect your standards. Not to mention that it’ll take away from the purpose of having a portfolio or promo site if the site itself detracts from the experience of enjoying your work.

Use this Equation:
The following equation is used to find the optimum viewable area of a website design (keeping in mind the space the browser and desktop menus take up). Screen Resolution [minus] The Browser/Desktop Menu [equals] Above the Fold.

Resources:
These are great resources that will help ensure your site is designed for optimum screen resolution and usability.

Google Browser Size App: Google Labs Browser Size app
Washington Post article about “above the fold”: Washington Post Article about “Content Above the Fold”
Browser Display Stats: Browser Display Statistics
Browser Size Utility: Browser Size Utility from BrowserSize.com

An Example:
The following website, submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by photographer José Mandojana of Seattle, WA is a good example of a portfolio site that was designed to take advantage of optimum screen space. It’s designed for an optimum screen resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels. So, subtracting for desktop menus and browser attributes, the physical design fits comfortably at about 1160 x 760 pixels. The site is also “liquid” and scales up or down depending on browser size. One of the nice features of the site is the ability to hide the bottom menu – creating an even cleaner presentation of the photographic images. The images themselves are the focal point of the composition and fill the majority of the compositional space – utilizing the space that’s available “above the fold”.

http://www.josemandojana.com/
Redesigned by Greg Lutze at http://scienceoffiction.com, with backend programming by Michael Madrid at http://work.entrauge.com/.

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Photography Portfolio – Bob O’Connor

Bob O’Connor, Photographer, Boston, MA
http://www.boboconnor.net/

This understated and well crafted book by photographer, Bob O’Connor, makes for an effective portfolio. The book cloth texture, color, typeface selection and hot stamped name give the book just enough visual characteristics to distinguish it. The interior layout is clean and focuses your attention where it should be – on the photographs. It’s also clear that the pairings of the photographs were given some serious thought.

Bob says, “The book/case are covered in a grayish blue book cloth reminiscent of a cloudy sky color- something that is a recurring theme in my photographs (despite none being show in these sample spreads). My name is hot stamped on the slipcase and book in white.”

Book specs:
Dimensions: 11″ H x 15″W x 1.75″D
Number of images: 70
Paper: Inkpress Luster Duo Paper”

Win Free Copy of Our Book

Follow No Platic Sleeves on Twitter and you’ll be entered in a drawing to win a free copy of our book, No Plastic Sleeves: The Complete Portfolio Guide for Photographers and Designers. The book is do out in early March and the drawing will happen one week before. The winners will be announced on the site and through Twitter. Those of you already following us will be automatically entered. If you don’t Twitter, enter the drawing by emailing us at freebook@noplasticsleeves.com.

The Making of a Holiday Card

This comes to us from photographer Eric Doggett in Austin, TX, who recently submitted his holiday card to No Plastic Sleeves. The card looks great and what I really like is this video he created that steps us through how he made it. Students and those new to the field should definitely check it out. He’s got more details about the “making of” and additional cards on his site at www.doggettstudios.com.

The Making of the ’09 Christmas Card from Eric Doggett on Vimeo.

Did you make a holiday promotion this year? Did you find this video informative? Share your feedback.
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Holiday Card from Chen Design Associates

About the Company
Chen Design Associates was founded in 1991 by Joshua C. Chen. Clients include: Verve Coffee Roasters, SFMOMA, Chronicle Books, The North Face, Public Policy Institute of California, Timbuk2, Pottery Barn, Stanford University, Yoshi’s Jazz Club, San Francisco Symphony and EMI Capitol Records.

Over the years, Josh and his team have received national and international recognition for their ambitious yet relevant design thinking. Nods from not only industry leaders like AIGA, Communication Arts, Graphis, Metropolis, Novum, and Type Directors Club, but also from the broader mass media including A&E Cable, San Francisco Chronicle, dwell and Organic Style confirms that good design isn’t just for a select few — rather, it has the ability to speak and connect to everyone. Most recently, CDA was one of twelve firms hand-picked to be part of San Francisco Graphic Design, an attendance record-breaking exhibition at the SF Museum of Craft + Design, showcasing the rich and varied SF graphic design community.

About the project
Collaboration of three companies — PaperSpecs, Chen Design Associates and Full Circle Press. PaperSpecs provided the paper, we provided the concept and design, and Full Circle the letterpress printing.

The card is inspired by holiday/advent calendars, where you open one “window” a day. That, along with the old-school “Concentration” game show where you try and solve a rebus puzzle provided the inspiration for the holiday promo. We came up with 5 themes that people could choose — from the more standard “happy holidays” to the quirky “television, beer & general laziness” to customize their own holiday message.

- Joshua Chen, Principal & Creative Director, Chen Design Associates

Did you make a holiday promotion this year? What was it?
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The Value of Personal Work: A Look at Work by Zack Seckler and Michael Hall

For most of us, what we do is more than just a job. It’s a calling. We’re compelled to create for better or worse. And for many of us, the only way to truly do what we really want to do is by pursuing our own projects. Of course, there’s a tremendous amount of intrinsic value in doing just that. For most of us, personal projects show our softer side – the side that loves doing the work we do.

While it takes time and money to pursue our passions, I think most of us feel its worth it in the end. Especially when you can share what you’ve done with others. To that end, personal projects make for great promotional opportunities. They’re usually more interesting than client work as they give you an opportunity to explore an idea, to communicate your own vision and push beyond client constraints. They give you a reason to get in touch – sending clients, buyers and others a mailer or email, letting them know about the project and reminding them about you and your work. Sometimes, personal work makes for a great piece to submit to an industry competition or has the potential to end up in a show – reaching audiences you may not otherwise have connected with. In the end, personal projects that are done well can demonstrate your passion for your industry, showing the zeal you bring to your work. That’s something that anyone who’s thinking of hiring you likes to see.

A high quality personal project can go a long way with potential clients or employers. So definitely think about personal work in your portfolio. Many of the industry professionals, my co-author and I interviewed for our book, specifically mentioned how much they enjoy seeing personal work in a portfolio. In some cases, considering personal work even more so than commercial work. They felt it told them a lot more about the individual they were thinking about hiring – their own personal attitudes, vision and “no holds barred” talent.

The following are two examples of personal projects that were recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves .

The first project comes from photographer, Zack Seckler and is called “True Love”. This project is all about loving what you do. The concept for the project is definitely intriguing. In an opening statement, Zack describes the project as one in which “a group of volunteers worked with professional hypnotist, Joel Elfman, to reach, in trance, a point where they were able to visualize the camera as a beloved person”.

In 2009, Zack received 1st Place in the IPA 2009 Digital Enhancement category, IPA 2009 Honorable Mention in People category and was a Communication Arts 2009 feature in Fresh.

Below is a “behind-the-scenes” video from Zack’s website, http://thetrueloveproject.com/ .

The True Love Project from Zack Seckler on Vimeo.

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The next piece is a book submitted by Melissa Hennessy of Hennessy Represents, on behalf of photographer, Michael Hall. It’s a great example of a polished piece that integrates both design and photography while communicating a clear and thoughtful message. The small book published by Michael Hall, serves as a self-promotion piece to raise awareness about climate change & its devastating effects. For more visit www.michaelhall.net.

Michael has been a professional photographer in Australia for over 20 years. He was selected as ‘photographer of the year’ in 2006 by the Federation of European Photographers. Recently, he was announced as a finalist in the Hasselblad Masters 2009 .

What do you think of personal projects? Tell Us. Click here to comment.

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Unique Holiday Card by MOS

Here’s another great holiday card. This one submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by Simon Duhamel of Made of Stills, a montreal-based studio representing 4 photographers working in different fields. This piece really stands out as it’s certainly unique. The idea is fun and engaging. The production quality is also really good (done by VisualBox, a retouching studio). Click on the images below for a closer more detailed look. For those of you interested in how it was done – check out the link below offering a “making of” video.

Simon emailed this about the piece -

For our Christmas card, we decided to offer ourselves as toys to our clients and collaborators.
We shot each other acting as Cavemen, then sent out the shots to VisualBox, a retouching
studio, so they could transform us into real neanderthal men! Each one of us was boxed, given
a title and was assigned a totem animal as well as alternative weapons related to our respective
character.

The idea was to suggest Christmas without ever mentioning it. The piece could be folded so
any one of us could be on top, depending on who the package was addressed to. It was sent
in french and english versions to about 150 people.

Here is the Making of by VisualBox retouching studio:
http://www.levisualbox.com/making_of.html

“None of Your Business Cards”

Check out this just-for-fun, witty promotional piece from NYC’s Mauseth Design and writer Darren Farrell. This piece was featured and awarded in HOW magazine’s 2009 Self-Promotion Design Annual.

Their press release says, “Their 2008 self-promo, None of Your Business Cards, is an ingenious set of faux business cards, which upon close inspection contain fake names and numbers and a special hidden message: never call me again. In addition to meetings, None of Your Business Cards have been known to work well at: clubs, bars, lounges, coffee shops, class reunions, Chinese restaurants and traffic stops.”

MausethDesign, NYC
www.mausethdesign.com

Promotional Video: Martin Adolfsson

Check out this fun and well put together promotional video recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by Martin Adolfsson, a Swedish photographer based in NYC. Martin wrote, “[This is] my new video promo that I created together with the very talented video editor Johan Syriänen. The video consists of more then 300 images dating back to my childhood Sweden and up until present. The video is now finally done after a few month of hard work.”

http://martinadolfsson.com/index.php?/info/promo/

Time of Your Life – A Photographic Box Set

This promotion was recently submitted to No Plastic Sleeves by Emiliano Granado. In 2008 Emiliano was chosen as one of PDN’s 30. He works in NYC and seasonally in Miami and Buenos Aires.

The box set seen here is a collaboration between Steven Brahms, Emiliano Granado, and Stephen K. Schuster. It contains 21 images. www.quesofrito.com

About the Project:
The box set was used to promote all three photographers, and it is also available for purchase at quesofrito.com. After returning from Panama City Beach, we realized that our photographs were very different and painted a unique, 3-dimensional, perspective on Spring Break. We decided to create a singular body of work from all three of our images, and a box of postcards (a nod to the culture of tourism, pop culture, and Florida) seemed like a perfect way to showcase the work. We sent the box set to many photo editors, friends, art buyers, book publishers, and gallerists. The first edition quickly ran out, so we’re on the second edition now.