art270 blog

The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most of the world. It is named after Pope Gregory XIII, who introduced it in October 1582. The calendar was developed as a correction to the Julian calendar, shortening the average year by 0.0075 days to stop the drift of the calendar with respect to the equinoxes. The calendar spaces leap years to make the average year 365.2425 days long, approximating the 365.2422-day tropical year that is determined by the Earth’s revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is: every year that is exactly divisible by four is a leap year (2020 is a leap year) except for years that are exactly divisible by 100, but these centurial years are leap years if they are exactly divisible by 400. For example, the years 1700, 1800, and 1900 are not leap years, but the years 1600 and 2000 are. 

Call Dana to discuss the timing of your next branding or logo project or to see samples of our latest work. 215-885-2756.

“Typography is an art. Good typography IS Art.” Paul Rand

Call Dana to discuss your next branding or logo project or to see samples of our latest typographic work. 215-885-2756.

Type comes in all shapes and styles, and with a little clever manipulation or arranging it can be shaped into a memorable logo. How well is your brand working in 2020? Is your logo or logotype interesting and memorable? Are you proud to promote your business with it? Do your employees feel the same way? Let’s talk about how your logo and brand can find new life and make the impression you had always hoped for this year. 

Call Dana to discuss your branding or to see samples of our latest work. 215-885-2756.

More about 2’s and 0’s. The glyph used in the modern Western world to represent the number 2 traces its roots back to the Indic Brahmic script, where "2" was written as two horizontal lines. The modern Chinese and Japanese languages still use this method. The Gupta script rotated the two lines 45 degrees, making them diagonal. The number 0, or simply zero, most likely derived its shape from the sun and the moon. Many have ascribed divine qualities to circles. The study of the circle eventually led to the development of astronomy, geometry and calculus. The first evidence we have of zero is from the Sumerian culture in Mesopotamia, some 5,000 years ago. There, a slanted double wedge was inserted between cuneiform symbols for numbers, written positionally, to indicate the absence of a number in a place (as we would write 102, the '0' indicating no digit in the tens column). 

Call Dana to get us started on your next graphic design project or to see samples of our latest work. 215-885-2756.

Think a custom logo, clever copy or a really cool 2020 will help to promote your business or next event? How about a new website, brochure or a brand refresh? Give us a call so we can talk it over. I don’t have to remind you that one good, well-designed image is worth a thousand words.

Contact Dana to get started on your next graphic design project, 215-885-2756.

The number 0 is a whole number as well as an even one, especially for money, and is thus considered a lucky digit. 2 (两), pronounced er or liang, is considered to be lucky as the Chinese believe that all good things come in pairs. Will 2020 be a lucky year for your business? Will your brand, marketing materials and website help you to grow and prosper? If you’re wavering on your answer, it might be time to let us give it all a good look. We’ll be frank and honest, and if we think we can offer improvements we’ll let you know. If we think you’re on track to be the next Apple or Nike, we’ll let you know that too. All you have to do is ask.

Contact Dana to tell us your story. (She’s a good listener.) 215-885-2756.

For the year 2020, the main zodiac element is metal, and the animal sign is Rat, and hence, 2020 will be the Year of the Metal Rat. The Chinese year will last from January 25, 2020 to February 11, 2021. Does your brand look a little “ratty?” Time for a refresh, an update or a brand new look?

Contact Dana to discuss how art270 can re-make your brand to get you noticed, 215-885-2756.

Type comes in all shapes and styles, and with a little clever manipulation or arranging it can be shaped into a memorable logo. How well is your brand working in 2020? Is your logo or logotype interesting and memorable? Are you proud to promote your business with it? Do your employees feel the same way? Let’s talk about how your logo and brand can find new life and make the impression you had always hoped for this year.

Call Dana to discuss your branding or to see samples of our latest work, 215-885-2756.

Think a custom logo, clever copy or a really cool 2020 will help to promote your business or next event? How about a new website, brochure or a brand refresh? Give us a call so we can talk it over. I don’t have to remind you that one good, well-designed image is worth a thousand words.

Call Dana to get us started on your project or to see samples of our latest work, 215-885-2756.

Think a custom logo, clever copy or a really cool 2020 will help to promote your business or next event? How about a new website, brochure or a brand refresh? Give us a call so we can talk it over. I don’t have to remind you that one good, well-designed image is worth a thousand words.

Call Dana to get us started on your project or to see samples of our latest work, 215-885-2756.

It’s 2020! Maybe that’s not a big deal to you, but for us graphic designers that get our kicks out of subtle details, having a number that repeats itself is a rare treat. You probably never gave it a thought, but the last time the date repeated itself was at the end of the first world war. Just for fun, we’ve created “twenty, twenty-twentys” for 2020 (beginning today on the 20th) to give us a jumpstart on invites, reports and such for this once in a lifetime year. Watch your Instagram, facebook, Twitter or email accounts for the daily 2020. And if you have a good idea for your own 2020, we’d love to hear from you.

Think a custom logo, clever copy or a really cool 2020 will help to promote your business or next event? How about a new website, brochure or a brand refresh? Give us a call so we can talk it over. I don’t have to remind you that one good, well-designed image is worth a thousand words.

Call Dana to get us started on your project or to see samples of our latest work, 215-885-2756.

October was a busy month at art270 for poster design. Every fall and spring, our client, Montgomery County Community College, needs to promote a variety of campus events and programs and art270 gets the call to deliver the graphics.

Posters work well as an advertising medium in the college environment because students, faculty and visitors tend to move around by foot all day long making them good candidates to view the large poster graphics placed at strategic locations. Unlike online advertising which tends to become nothing more than passing visual noise, posters remain stationary for a period of time which means that viewers will see them over and over during the course of their day cementing the message. 

The posters shown here were developed by several art270 designers, and our new intern, Kyle Valdes, a Montgomery County Community College graduate and currently a student at University of the Arts, using a team approach to the project. The events include a theatre production, a writer’s competition, a pottery exhibition and a new fashion course being offered by the college. We love working on poster design, because solutions are typically an exercise in simplicity, or “less is more,” a phrase often associated with the architect and furniture designer Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (1886-1969), one of the founders of modern architecture and a proponent of simplicity of style. When we design a poster, our goal is to add all of the components we think will tell the story and convey the idea, then carefully remove elements until we can’t take away any more without changing or confusing the message. Typically a finished poster should have no more than three distinct elements. This can include the main image (photo or illustration) the headline, the body copy, the logo, and more. It’s the “more” that we are always trying to eliminate to make the message clear and concise. 

Want to read more about the history of poster design? Here is an article that will give you a brief overview of how and when posters developed around the world. 

Think a poster (in print or online) will help to promote your next event or convey your message? Give us a call so we can talk it over. I don’t have to remind you that one, good, well-designed image is worth a thousand words (or emails).

Call Dana to get us started on your project or to see samples of our latest poster work. 215-885-2756, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.