Inside the Mind of a Graphic Designer
Evan: I have been thinking about making fictitious magazine covers in crazy formats. This is a square format. Delta is the title of the magazine.
Mark: Written in the Greek alphabet? That is what you like to do, encoding text, isn’t it?
Evan: Yes, indeed! The magazine is about art and travel.
Mark: When you are looking for photographic images to put into your design, what are you looking for?
Evan: I am looking for simple ways to make a point while making it interesting.
“I am looking for simple ways to make a point while making it interesting.”
Mark: So, in the first design, you used the leaf image in the middle and the power lines with blue sky in the background. What did you see in them to make you use them this way?
Evan: Nature’s gentle shape and colors have their healing power. The harsh artificial structure, on the other hand, is something most people would rather not look at.
Mark: So this is a contrast between something harsh and artificial and something gentle and organic?
Evan: Yes.
Mark: How about this cover with the blue sky behind dense tree branches and a panoramic view of the Grand Canyon?
Evan: In the image of the branches, it is so close and so personal—the dew water could drip on you. The Grand Canyon, on the other hand, is very far and wide.
Original images by Mark Chen.
Sample design by Evan O’Neal.
Original images by Mark Chen.
Sample design by Evan O’Neal.
Sample design by Evan O’Neal.
Original images by Mark Chen.
Mark: From the designer’s point of view, what is the thing you are looking for when you search for an image?
Evan: I am looking for an image that has a story behind it. A point of view. But the point of view might not be what the photographer had in mind.
Mark: That is a very interesting point! Does that mean a stock photographer does not have to think too much about their images?
Evan: They do have to think a lot—but be prepared for the designer to find totally different thoughts in that image.
“Be prepared for the designer to find totally different thoughts in that image.”
Mark: In other words, we should not assume too much for the designer. We should not tell ourselves, “Oh, they are going to want this and that.”
Evan: Exactly. But a photographer should still put a lot of his or her own thoughts into it. What makes an image stand out for my eyes is its storytelling.
Mark: This brought to me a very fundamental question. We tend to assume there is a standard “stock photo” look—bright sun, bright smile, bright everything. What is your take on that?
Evan: [making a vomiting gesture] Yeah, that is why sometimes I resort to illustrations instead of photographs—so I don’t have to swim up a river of generic-looking images to find the image I can use. And I do spend hours a day looking for ideal images. There is also a fight between the client and the designer. The former tend to think about more generic images—smiley face, bright sunshine, etc. Sometimes they win, sometimes we win.
Mark: And you don’t speak for all the designers either.
Evan: Actually I do. I was elected the designer of America, North America—just kidding! [both laugh]