Every so often, we have projects where an envelope needs to be designed to match a letterhead or an invitation. Other parts of a design project can be free from rules and regulations, but the design space on an envelope is much more rigid. The Post Office is very particular about the layout of envelopes due to machines doing most of the processing and sorting these days. There are certain areas on an envelope that needs to be clear of background color, graphics and type. This can be a real challenge for a designer.

The envelope is the first piece that is seen and needs to compel a person to open it, yet space is so limited to convey a message other than a logo and return address. The San Diego Museum of Art Art Alive invitation envelope is a great example of keeping the branded look and feel of this years’ Art Alive, yet still meeting postal regulations. The pink area indicates the space that is off-limits for type and design.

For information and templates on envelopes, go to USPS.com. You can also find the Mailpiece Design Analyst contact information where you can send an envelope design to see if it meets mailing regulations. Do this before the job is printed and rejected by the post office. It will save you lots of time and money.

We are served advertising continuously in so many forms. But whether advertising gets our attention or not can depend on an undervalued element: white space. This is the areas between type and images in a magazine ad or web page, etc., that is blank.  And when it is used well, white space can automatically increase the design aesthetic.

White space provides a balance in the design, a place for the eyes to rest, and accentuates the product and messaging in the layout.

This VW campaign was launched in 1959 by ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach and uses white space brilliantly. Some advertisers want to fill every square inch of purchased space with type and graphics because they have the inaccurate idea they are getting the most bang for their buck. Trying to wedge too much content into a layout can lead to advertising that gets little or no attention, basically a waste of ad dollars, since building brand awareness and moving people to buy products is the goal in advertising.

We’ve seen that it takes creativity and courage to say yes to white space but that it can pay off. Sometimes less is more.

Creative work has begun on The San Diego Museum of Art’s primary fundraiser Art Alive, which will be held April 29 through May 2. We are revamping last year’s ideas while staying within the tight, non-profit budget. Below are a few tips for producing something wonderful when financial resources are low.

Tips for a low-budget photo shoot

• Keep the ideas simple. Extravagant ideas are usually expensive ideas. To make it simple, go with a clear concept and minimal props.

• Plan ahead and be very organized. This will help you be efficient with your time, which can be costly to your client as well.

• Use the heck out of interns (they live for it and an intern with their own camera is a big advantage). Interns often have fresh ideas, are hungry for the experience and best of all, cost little to nothing to the client. With the direction of an art director or designer, they can be a huge asset to the photo shoot process.

• Go with wholesale purchases of props. For this shoot, we went to a wholesale florist to get all of our props. It will save you a bundle.

• Do the photo shoot outdoors. We chose to shoot in my front yard where we could use the plants and flowers already there as additional props.

• Take an abundance of photographs (more than you think you’ll need) so there are plenty of options at the end.

• Do most of the creative production in Photoshop. This is where you have the opportunity to make a low-budget photoshoot look like a multi-million dollar production.

Did you hear about the $22 million theater complex that was unveiled yesterday at the Old Globe in Balboa Park? Wow. What a phenomenal achievement for San Diego, the nation and the arts community. It will be the sixth largest theater in the country. To find the support and funding for that kind of project in these economic times confirms the notion that art must be supported by patrons in order to thrive and that despite tough times people recognize the value of art and culture in soothing our cultural psyche.

It’s tough to ask for money to support the arts while children go hungry and families live on the street. Yet, without the arts to reflect our imaginings and relieve our sometimes relentless reality, this life is less worthy of the struggle. Artists take risks and express beauty and pain in ways that we need. And art takes many forms – some that is familiar or humorous and some that is awkward and just plain weird. Sushi, A Center for the Urban Arts, located in San Diego’s East Village, has been home to more of the latter than the former, so it has a harder time finding big dollar donors. Its support has always been grassroots.

Sushi provides a home for artists who are usually struggling, yet still committed to offering up contemporary, multidisciplinary art for our collective enjoyment. It has been a center of alternative art in San Diego for nearly 30 years, yet like so many other non-profit organizations, has been battered by the financial tightening of the past year.

Will you join me in supporting Sushi? I don’t always understand what I see there, but San Diego shouldn’t lose one of the only places that supports art that’s pretty much on the opposite end of the spectrum from The Old Globe. Communities that value art need both.

We are asking for whatever you can afford (from $10 – $100, it all counts). Our goal is $30,000 by January 15th to pay for 2010 programming. Highlights for 2010 include Dutch artist Oscar Prinsen, Russian physical theatre company ARTEL, international Fringe Festival favorites Die Rotten Punkte and San Diego’s own acclaimed choreographer, Patricia Sandback.

In addition to our online ask, we are selling some furniture here on Craig’s List and all proceeds will be donated to Sushi. We’re also cooking up a really cool all-ages photography class with Paul M. Bowers that will happen in January, with proceeds going to Sushi (watch the Sushi homepage for more info soon).

Thank you for reading, considering and hopefully making a contribution today by clicking on the ChipIn link on this page.

Some of my co-workers were not even born when I first picked up an exacto knife and started doing pasteup on my Junior High year book in 8th grade. I have a boat load of traditional, old school, graphic design experience which comes in handy, even in this era of computer/internet everything.

Here, at Bailey Gardiner, a San Diego advertising agency, it seems we are focused primarily on everything internet, however, not all of the work we do is about cutting edge social media and advertising on the web. There are creative projects we produce for clients that are more traditional in nature. The technology to produce them has changed, but it still takes time and experience. One of these projects is the Membership Magazine for The San Diego Museum of Art. Here’s the process I used for designing the magazine:

The magazine is 22 pages plus a 4 to 8 page Program Guide insert. The content is written, edited and provided by the Museum. I take the copy and images and design each page. I have a certain amount of graphic content and room to arrange it on each page. This part of the process is like working on a very large jigsaw puzzle and takes about 30 hours to complete. I also make design suggestions for the background colors of each issue. As I am creating the design, I set up the magazine mechanicals to be printer ready. This includes:

• Working within short- and long-term deadlines
• Building mechanicals in InDesign to correct size with bleeds
• Formatting the type to follow the design format
• Eliminating True Type fonts
• Sizing, cropping, color correcting and retouching photographs
• Formatting all content from RGB to CMYK
• Deleting all extraneous colors
• Proofreading. (The magazine mechanicals go back to the Museum for at least 4 rounds of proofreading by over 20 people)
• Making revisions which sometimes includes redesigning pages
• Making print outs and actual dummies of the magazine to check design consistency
• And, finally, after a sign-off from the client, I output the job by doing final proofreading checks, pre-flight checks, gathering files and delivering to the printer

The entire production process takes about 10 weeks from start of writing to the mail house delivering the final pieces to the 12,000 members of The San Diego Museum of Art.

I use a computer instead of an exacto knife these days and it still takes skill and dedication to produce a traditional graphic design print project.

I last blogged on my favorite brand reinventions, and I’d like to add another to that list: Bravo TV. Lauren Zalaznick, president of NBCU’s women’s & lifestyle entertainment networks, is my hero. Lauren took a simple concept  – Reality TV: great if you’re watching it, horrible if you’re living it – and ran with it. She’s transformed the network and built quite the brand -  look at the success of shows like “Project Runway,” “Top Chef,” “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,” and all the Real Housewives series. And “NYC Prep,” “The Rachel Zoe Project,” “Make Me a Supermodel,” “Millionaire Matchmaker,” and “The Fashion Show?” I watch(ed) and love them all. It’s pretty safe to say Bravo TV would not be where it is today without Lauren.

Her latest project? An art-world reality TV show produced by Sarah Jessica Parker. The show, which doesn’t have a name or air date yet, will feature undiscovered talent competing for a gallery show, a cash prize and a sponsored national museum tour.  As reported by the New York Times this weekend, more than 400 people auditioned. I have a good feeling about this show.

Word on the street is they haven’t chosen which museums are participating yet… Being part of the art world as Bailey Gardiner reps The San Diego Museum of Art – can’t wait to watch what happens!

Here’s one of the nasty little secrets about working at creative marketing agencies. You get asked to do a LOT of free work for non-profits (nice word is pro-bono – but really folks, c’mon, it’s free). Since you can’t do it all, you end up having to pick and choose what worthy organization you will give your precious time to and that is not an easy thing to do.

Last year we chose to support Sushi, A Center for the Urban Arts. Sushi presents artists who otherwise might not have a venue in San Diego. The art is sometimes so out there that I don’t understand what’s going on at all. And I don’t always “like” it. But I believe it deserves a place to be expressed and seen.

Like most arts organizations, Sushi, is struggling financially. That’s why it needs YOU and ME and EVERYBODY WE KNOW, to attend the Red Ball, on Saturday, June 13th at 7 pm at Sushi. Check out all the details on this cool invitation, or read more details on the Sushi blog. This event will feature a steampunk circus theme, vaudeville, illusion, music (live and DJ), dance, performance art/spoken word, food and booze. There will be two incredible art auctions (silent and live), and where else will you find an art auction where the auctioneer is on stilts?

So please, buy a couple of tickets, dress up in red, and attend one of the most artistically driven parties of the year. You will leave this amazing evening knowing you have helped ensure that visionary artists have a place in San Diego to present their work.

Many of you know our Bailey Gardiner team is very pleased to be working on the creative brand management, advertising, public relations and online initiatives for the San Diego Museum of Art.  As we search for best practices and learn from what other museums and cultural institutions are doing across the country, our creative director came across this beautiful example:

All I can say is that it’s f*ing brilliant.

This and other marketing successes we have been studying are helping us shape our efforts for SDMA in ways both unexpected and nuanced — all with the intention to bring more people to the Museum to enjoy the amazing treasures we own right here in San Diego.

Thanks Museum of Modern Art New York.  You have set the bar high.

This week is the official launch of pedicab advertising campaign for Seaport Village.

Ten cabs from Yellow Bike Cab will be running the ads in the downtown area for the next three months. The ads are an extension of Seaport’s existing advertising campaign and coincide with summer — when Seaport sees it’s largest crowds.

What makes this campaign unique is that not only were we able to buy space on the pedicabs, we also created t-shirts with wording that ties-in to the cab messaging. The shirts will be worn by the cab drivers throughout the campaign.

Check out the photos of the final product below and this video we made showing how the pedicab company applied the artwork to the cabs. Neat!

Shirt reads: “Stop staring at my butt”

Shirt reads: “No weight limit”

Shirt reads: “My other ride is a carousel”

Let’s face it, we’re small.

Probably too small to have any business pitching someone as big as Current TV. But we’re small for a reason. It makes us nimble thinkers. It makes us more creative. And it allows us to partner with other creative people that are small for the same reason. People like Sway whose CGI work challenges reality, Shilo for bending the laws of live action and design, Syd+1 for directing some of the coolest shit we’ve ever seen, Sol Neelman for making pictures that make us see things, and Ravenswork for making things that make us listen. We partner with artists, buskers, and unsigned bands. We partner with local and national media. We partner with consumers. We ask for advice from others, like social media guru Jason Baer, and partner with him when we need his brain. And we’re part of Pinnacle Worldwide so that we can call on our partners around the world to spread the word.

See, we’re not an ad agency or a PR agency, a social media agency or a design agency. We’re a creative agency that understands that creativity isn’t just contained within an agency’s four walls. Yes, we’re paid to be creative, but it’s also up to us to help draw out the creativity that exists in the heads and hands of other people.

Kind of like Current TV.

And, even if we don’t make it on the short list, we just like making really short videos.