Tuesday, January 24, 2006

iStockphoto: Designer Spotlight



Mayhem Studios is pleased to announce that our self promotional brochure design was chosen to appear on iStockphoto's Designer Spotlight.

So drop on by and check it out!

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Friday, January 13, 2006

Design Process: Poster Make Over

This time around, I thought I would take you behind my design process on a poster make over project I worked on for the Family Medical Group. The original article maybe seen on Creative Latitude, GRAPHIC-make overs web site.

A brief background: The Family Medical Group is a hospital in a community that is majority Latino and low income families. They are a fairly large hospital, they have 3 locations plus a joint partnership with 3-4 other independent hospitals. Which brings it to anywhere in the neighborhood of 20-30 hospitals.





As you can see from the original, it needed a redesign badly. It's a very plain with little to no color or graphics to draw any attention to it. They were not getting much responses to the posters or to their services. They wanted me to punch up the poster and convey a clear message.





The poster needed some color or graphics to grab your attention. Using Images of prescription drugs, as a focal point, then leading your eyes outward and down to the copy. The challenge was not going too crazy with the design and colors. Being a hospital, I had to keep it a little more conservative. Chosing colors that would draw attention but also colors that would balance out the design. Using varying shapes and sizes give the design some movement.

In the end, I think, I came up with something that works. A three-column grid allows the type to flow more smoothly and to give more flexibility as well as more interest to the page layout.

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Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Design Competitions as a Marketing Tool



I am always trying to find new ways to promote myself and getting my name out to potential clients. Submitting design projects for competitions, winning and being published in books is a great marketing tool. Many potential clients look through design books for prospective designers to work with that fits their style and look.

That's why my marketing budget has shifted to design competitions but it also can be very costly. I only enter competitions which give me more bang for my buck. Ones that give you the most exposure and reaches the largest audiences. Competitions that are published/distributed nationally and worldwide.

Information on submissions for design competitions may be found on Graphics Books, books by David E. Carter and Rockport Publishers.


Other Design Competitions of interest

American Design Awards
Communication Arts Magazine
CMYK Magazine
Creativity Annual
Design Graphics
Graphic Competitions
Graphis
HOW Magazine
PRINT Magazine
Step Inside Design
The Summit Awards
Workbook Competition

I was successful that three of my business card designs were chosen to appear in "David E. Carter's, The Big Book of Business Cards," which is in bookstores now.

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About me

  • Mayhem Studios is a small award-winning design firm located in Los Angeles, California, developing identity and brand recognition for the business sector across the nation. The Studio uses strategic and creative design with effective messages targeted to the client's specific audiences to produce identity and branded collateral pieces, annual reports, brochures, logo design, advertising and interactive web sites. Calvin Lee, Principal & Creative Director of Mayhem Studios is a graduate of Platt College and serves as a member of the Platt College Advisory Board for the Visual Communications Department, NO!SPEC Committee and on the Creative Latitude Management Team.
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