Introduction

A lot of people we talk to just smile and nod when we tell them about Elbow Room Design. They're not quite sure what we're talking about.

We think it's pretty crazy that so many people don't understand the work that we do but see the results of it all around them every day. We also think it's crazy that a lot of Graphic Designers don't realize that other people might not understand what they do.

Many times, as the confused public and the poor misunderstood designer decide to avoid each other, lines are drawn and people get mad at each other. How are we supposed to get any work done? We decided that it's high time somebody cleared the air!In view of this, we are proud to present:

The Five P's of Graphic Design:

The First P: The Past

The earliest graphic designers made a few nice paintings in the caves of Lascaux quite a long time ago. The birth of written language in the third or fourth millennium BC is also a significant milestone in the history of graphic design. These two events led to further advances, such as The Book of Kells, The Gutenburg Bible, Piet Mondrian's grid system, the Kelmscott Press, the sans serif typeface, and finally The "I love New York" campaign. This is quite an abridged version of history and you can do a little more research if you want to. We just wanted to give you an idea of where we're coming from here.

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The Second P: The People

The modern Graphic Designer tends to be a fairly independent thinker with questionable hygiene and a poor attitude towards standard social behavior. Although well known and valued for their visionary ideas, sometimes Graphic Designers would just like to be alone with their fonts.

Most Graphic Designers listen to weird music with awful clanging and banging sounds in it and pretend to like it. This is just done in an effort to seem very progressive and artistic.

Graphic Designers are sometimes quite hip and up on the latest tends, especially when it comes to new types of electronic gadgetry. It is also the case where graphic designers get angry and rebellious and dress up in ripped jeans, old wool sweaters, large eye glasses and listen to record players. Graphic Designers will read magazines like Adbusters and try really hard to "jam culture" but most of time they get arrested instead.

Sometimes it's hard to work with a Graphic Designer because they are poorly adjusted to mainstream society. At Elbow Room Design, we take these type of things into consideration when we are looking for employees and generally only take on people who say please and thank you and eat with cutlery.

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The Third P: The Process

When a Graphic Designer sets to work, he or she might require a little space. Usually this person will be good at generating a number of excellent ideas for you and can be trusted to perform this work diligently.

The creative process varies depending on the scope of a project. Usually when you begin a relationship with a trusted Design Studio and work with them frequently, it will take some time to understand the process unique to an individual. A lot of the time, you, the client, will be responsible to supply certain things in order for a process to advance smoothly. If you are working on a website, we'd like to see clearly typed content for each page. If you don't have any content quite yet, we can develop that for you as well as long you supply the designer with concise ideas. If you would like a logo or a corporate identity, make sure you supply such things as a mission statement, or even a business plan if you want. This will help the Graphic Designer understand what you are looking for.

You have to be careful not to harshly assault the concepts that are presented to you, as Graphic Designers are sensitive types and may feel the same way if you were attacking the honour of his or her mother. Feel free however, to be as involved with the process as much as possible. Many times, a Graphic Designer's best work comes from a highly collaborative process. Elbow Room Design realizes the affect positive relationship has on a good result and so we do what we can to make our clients feel welcome and our team happy to be working together.

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The Fourth P: The Product

Graphic Designers can do lots of things! They can design logos, make charts and graphs for your annual report, create snappy looking client presentations, make nice looking brochures or folders, think up crazy advertising campaigns, make posters, signs, and billboards. They can even fashion fish hooks out of paper clips for your weekend getaway (unfortunately they cannot guarantee that you will catch any fish this way).

Many things you see everyday such as restaurant menus, newspaper ads, kleenex boxes, and coffee cups are all the work of a Graphic Designer. It's our job to find a way to communicate clearly to make your day easier.

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The Fifth P: The Power

By power, we mean benefit, it's just that "benefit" didn't start with a "P".
The benefit of better communication, is a powerful product. A well respected logo, a consistent identity, and a commitment to the transmission of excellent material is what separates the ordinary business from the extraordinary. Looking presentable is one thing, but being charismatic and expressive is quite another entirely. Elbow Room Design is exited about this kind of thing and would enjoy the opportunity to introduce you to our Graphic Designers any time.

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