I recently presented a two-day training workshop with our co-author Lisa Brochu. The participants were interpreters with a city parks department, nondesigners responsible for creating nonpersonal media. When I do these presentations, I talk primarily about choosing meaningful colors and typefaces, working with type and images, and using a grid to achieve a clean and organized composition.

As we worked on an exercise related to composition, I suggested to one participant that she move an item to reinforce her grid. The woman (who had identified herself as an artist* early in the class) said, “I hate the grid!” I laughed, because I certainly respect that some new designers feel constrained by using a grid, especially people who consider themselves artists and rely on intuitive decisions.

Still, I stand by the grid as a simple and effective way to organize information and create a consistent look and feel for compositions, from a single sign to a 200-page publication. And good designers find a way to make the grid work to their benefit.

Every rule designers impose on themselves, such as using two typefaces or working within a certain color palette, is meant to limit decisions so that compositions don’t become jumbled, meaningless messes. The grid is just like these other rules. Placing elements in a composition based upon “what feels good” rather than using a grid is like choosing whatever typeface (or however many typefaces) on a whim from page to page within a publication. It’s like choosing colors with no regard for a predetermined, meaningful color palette. Like these other rules, the grid helps us create consistent, accessible, clean compositions.

*Check back soon for more on the difference between fine art and graphic design.

The following question from Steve comes from our “Ask a Nerd!” file:

Dear nerds,

How about talking about do-it-yourself displays? These have a very bad rep, in fact my organization (a state park service) prohibits the use of “computer-generated” signs. This is of course ignored by all, but too often the prohibition is deserved. Staff will print letter size signs on a consumer inkjet and post them unprotected. They look bad enough on day 1, but by the end of the first month they are water-stained, curled, and faded. Sadly, they often remain up for months in this condition. A lot of people don’t know signs can be produced by interpreters that are aesthetically pleasing, long-lasting, and very inexpensive.

I convinced my manager to get me a 13 inch pigment ink printer, most of my signs are 13×19 but I do some banners. I use a 27 inch roll laminator which I loaded with matte film, giving a nice non-glare surface. I’m able to mount these with contact cement directly to wooden mounts I build myself. The look is certainly rustic, but hey, so’s the park. My oldest signs have lasted two years in the direct southern sun. The cost is about 1% of the beautiful displays one sees at the NAI National Workshop, it gets my message out there, and it does not reflect badly on my organization. Given the choice is this or the one or two displays I could have gotten for the price of the equipment, I’m proud of what I’ve done.

Any tips for those that want or need to roll their own?

“The meaning is in the content of the text not in the typeface and that’s why we loved Helvetica so much” – Wim Coronwel, “Helvetica”

IBD should not be confused with IMDB, and Paul and I should not be confused with Siskel and Ebert. This post, however, may be an exception. If you find yourself saying things like, “I wonder what that typeface is…” or, “That is an excellent use of a sans serif font…” we have something in common, and the documentary “Helvetica” is for you.

The 2007 release “Helvetica” brings recognition to a typeface that was created not to be noticed. Designed to be clean, well balanced, and easy to read, Helvetica (the typeface, not the movie) has saturated our environment on signs, logos, and multitudes of other printed and digital media. Some of my favorite parts of the movie were montage sequences that show how much Helvetica is used in our environment. It is staggering how often it is used and we don’t recognize it (at least, most don’t).

Graphic designers depend on type designers to create typefaces that we can use to enhance our messages. This documentary provides insight into elements of creating a typeface, as well as the impact that one typeface can have on the design world.

One of the last interviews is with Michael Place, who says, “The biggest thing for me, in terms of design, is to get sort of an emotional response. For me it is all about the emotional response.” As interpreters and designers, it should be all about the emotional response for us, too.

If you haven’t seen it, add it to your Netflix queue, though I wouldn’t recommend it for a first date (or any date, for that matter).

Oh, and for the record, I would be Roger Ebert.

From our “Ask a Nerd!” files, this question came in from “Steve” (whose real name is actually Steve; we just had some extra quotation marks lying around). Steve’s comments are in bold, with responses below.

Steve: In your book you come down hard on Comic Sans, saying it is an over-used default font that is very cold. I’ve avoided using it, Marker Felt, and Chalkboard, but for a different reason. To me they seem childish and informal, and I feared they would undermine my message, giving it less authority than it deserves. Do you think that a default font acquires coldness simply because it is used often?

IBD: Steve, let me say first that these fonts will undermine your message, so you have good instincts. The problem with Comic Sans is not only that it is used a lot. It’s that it’s almost always used inappropriately, which has caused its original intent to be lost. It was designed with a specific use in mind (to represent speech from a cartoon dog on the Windows 95 operating system), but now it is ubiquitous.

Much like the word “Smurphy,” Comic Sans loses its expressive quality (and becomes cold, which is what we’re getting at in the book) because it is used so much in so many different ways (in one famous instance, it was used on a gravestone; see the photo by Cory Doctorow above). When I see Comic Sans used, I feel that very little thought has gone into the design and it makes me think less of the site or organization it represents.

Steve: Would that apply to Helvetica and Times as well? Why or why not?

IBD: I believe Helvetica and Times are different because they were designed in a classical tradition, more for legibility than for expressiveness. It’s considerably more difficult to pick out Helvetica (which pops up all over the place) because it was designed in the modernist tradition not to be expressive, but rather purely functional. Times was designed specifically for use in newspapers and is often poorly used, but because it’s a traditional serif typeface, it tends to blend into the background. (See “Get to Know a Typeface! Times New Roman”)

Steve: I conducted a very unscientific study, asking a few people (fellow interpreters and general public) what comes to mind when I show them a few sample fonts, including these. None came up with anything like coldness for the printing emulation fonts.

IBD: First, it’s a great idea to show typefaces to others and get feedback, so kudos to you for doing that.

I’m sure that most people will not say “cold” or “impersonal” when asked to identify the expressive qualities Comic Sans tries to achieve. The design of the typeface itself actually is friendly or childish. However, it is so readily identified by even the casual observer, its inherent aesthetic qualities are overshadowed because anyone who sees Comic Sans on your communication has probably already seen it many times over that day alone.

As an interpreter and a designer, your task is create meaningful communication, and using a font that has lost its meaning due to over-use does not help you do that.

Steve: I still feel if I needed to use a font to convey a very young or informal point of view I’d consider using one of these fonts. Convince me I’m wrong.

IBD: Don’t give in to the temptation! Remember, your nonpersonal media represents your site or organization. Even if you’re promoting a program for kids or a friendly community gathering, choosing the same typeface that countless others have used for take-out menus, personal e-mail, or garage sale flyers looks lazy and unprofessional.

IBD reader Sherry asked this question on our “Ask a Nerd!” files:

Sherry: Dear nerds, is this a site where someone might get feedback on something like developing a new logo?

IBD: Yes! See the comments on this post for feedback. We invite all of our readers to comment.

So when Paul and I created IBD.com we had a good idea of what we wanted to blog about. We tend to be capable of talking/writing about various topics (use of colors, baseball, type, computers, our children, grids, growing up in the 80s, software, food, and ourselves) for extended periods of time. But as my wife has pointed out to me on more than one occasion, I don’t always say what she (or you, in this instance) wants to hear.  I’m trying to be a sensitive husband/blogger, so if there is a topic that you would like to hear our take on, let us know about it.

If you have a question that you have always wanted to ask (personal or professional) send it our way and we’ll take it on. Use the “Ask a Nerd!” link at right if you want your question posted for all to see. Several of you have found the link already. We have received three requests on the “Ask a Nerd!” section of the site. Check back soon to see the responses. You may also use the “Contact Us” link if you do not want your message posted.

Warning: The creators of IBD.com (Shea and Paul) have the reserved the right to avoid topics such as the 2004 World Series, PC vs. Mac, life with red-headed spouses, east coast vs. west coast rap music, proper use of clipart, and NASCAR.