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October 2004 Issue
The Horrors of Clip ArtJust Say No
Microsoft Office comes packaged with a generous amount of clip art. The Corel Suite comes with oceans of it. Clip art is so abundant, so tempting, so easy. How can it hurt to use just one in my quarterly business report…? The problem with clip art is that it is mass-produced. It is generic, tacky, ubiquitous and lazy. Everyone can recognize it. And it never suits any particular purpose very well, clumsily overshadowing your carefully written presentation like Britney Spears crashing an afternoon tea party. It doesn't have to be that way. You can dress up your business documents in style without breaking the budget. The easiest way is to take some pictures yourself. Digital cameras make this quick and easy. Suppose your report is trying to say that your company's plans have gone awry; take a picture of a pipe wrench against a piece of red construction paper. Or suppose you want to say that cash flow is improving. A stack of coins – pennies, for example – against a green background could work well.
If you can't generate your own artwork, there are a variety of free and inexpensive sources of stock photography. Among many others, we like these:
The odds are that between your own ingenuity and these sources of public domain photos, you'll find something original that will communicate your message precisely and unforgettably. Why We Use MacintoshWhere our competitive edge liesIt's a cliché we've heard too often: Business people use Windows. Creative types use Macintosh. Balderdash. At Digital Wind, we produce the bulk of our work on Macintosh. And we've got sound business reasons for doing so. Let's discuss a few of them. (Full disclosure: Digital Wind's creative director Jim Royal is an Apple shareholder.) First: Macintosh is a terrific platform upon which to do web development. The system is Unix-based, as are most web servers; the most common web servers are Linux and BSD Unix, followed distantly by Windows 2000 (source: Netcraft). The Macintosh operating system comes with Apache and PHP—robust software that powers the majority of web sites—preinstalled and ready to roll right out of the box. Our development environment matches precisely the most common server environments found on the Internet. This is a solid labour-saving advantage. The second reason is compatibility. Although Macintosh is a Unix-based system, it still runs all the common business software that Windows does—such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Photoshop, and Dreamweaver—plus unique Mac software that is not available for Windows. In addition, we use a product called Virtual PC to run multiple versions of Microsoft Windows for quality control. We test our web sites with seven different web browsers on Windows 95, Windows 2000, and Windows XP, plus another five Macintosh-based web browsers. We ensure that our web sites will work everywhere thanks to Macintosh-based development. The third reason is viruses. The number of new viruses and worms targeting Windows rose 400 per cent this year over last year (source: CNN). To date, there is not a single virus or worm that affects Mac OS X. Not one. This lowers our costs, and saves a lot of headaches. The last reason is… it's fun. Most Macintosh users will tell you that they love their machines. There is an elegance to the Mac that is pleasing to the eye and to the mind. You will be hard pressed to find anyone who claims to love using Windows. And given how hard people have to work these days, isn't it better to have a little fun with our productivity tools? Contact and Subscription InformationDigital Wind's newsletter is a periodic mailing about the business of branding in the digital age sent to subscribers only. If you find this information valuable, please pass it on to a friend. SubscriptionsTo subscribe to the Digital Wind newsletter, visit http://digitalwind.com/subscribe/ If you no longer wish to receive this newsletter, you may unsubscribe in one of three ways:
Past IssuesArchives of the Digital Wind newsletter can be found at http://digitalwind.com/subscribe/ FeedbackHave a complaint? Want to tell us we're doing a great job? Contact Jim Royal at Digital Wind with your comments and suggestions. We'd love to hear from you. About Digital WindMontreal-based Digital Wind can manage your company's entire public image, from logo design to web design to corporate email newsletters.
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Ah, clip art: the staple of PowerPoint presentations the world over, and a stake through the heart of originality and authenticity.
Take this example. This image was used in a proposed magazine ad, which you can see