5 Things Logo Designers can learn from Dixie Allan — Clip Art Expert
Much like learning to walk on stilt, which requires a special discipline and a commitment at heart to take a professional stilt gait, creating iconic brand identities, no doubt, also requires same (or perhaps, even more) research, time, and skills (and/or experience) to creatively create a unique and memorable logo.
Dixie Allan, Clip art expert and “… designer who has been working in the design field for nearly 35 years…” has been influential in my works as an iconic brand identities designer (and content developer) much like my favourite, "earlier epoch", brand identity designers, Paul Rand, and Saul Bass; and "present epoch", David Airey (Logo Design Love),
and Ian Paget (Logo Geek) — and this list is germanely known by most logo (or brand identity) designers.
And here’s what Dixie has to begin with – which sets the mood and anchor for all the “5 things Logo Designer can learn from Dixie Allan – Clip Art Expert”:
I’m a teacher at heart
and I’m here to help you get started or improve your use of clip art.
1. Be a designer at heart – always think values
Working out ineptly on any skilled venture or trade, inevitably, leaves traces of hasty and incompetent outcomes; that are even rarely found among amateurs. In short,
“When putting in details don’t think details – always think values.” (Inspired by Dirk Dzimirsky, official Facebook post, 08-04-2015).
Below are some three wise quotes that I believe will help us — logo designers — figure out the essence of being “Makers at heart”:
__________ (i)
“Even if it falls your lot to be a street sweeper, go on out and sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures; sweep streets like Handel and Beethoven.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968) Civil Rights Leader, Minister
__________ (ii)
“All labor that uplifts humanity has dignity and importance and should be undertaken with painstaking excellence.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968) Civil Rights Leader, Minister
__________ (iii)
“Whatever your life’s work is, do it well. A man should do his job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn could do it no better.”
—Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929 - 1968) Civil Rights Leader, Minister
And this is the first lesson I learned from Dixie — “I’m a teacher at heart…”
2. Learn the basics first
If you ever had the chance to ask any Stilt walker how he’s been able to take such a “giant-walk” high above the ground in those two stout poles with foot rest in the middle, you’ll most often than not hear them say:
“Learn the tricks first.”
And this is what every logo designer can learn from Dixie’s expertise on Clip art design and usage, that there are known ways of doing certain things – “learn the basics first.”
3. Play with and manipulate shapes and forms
Since we’ve all been once a child, we may almost agree that everyone can "play with and will love to manipulate some shapes and forms" when given the chance; but our ability to look beyond what can easily be seen (during those initial exploration) is the key to creating a logo that is memorable and unique.
Though this may seem not quite a difficult thing to do, Shirley Hughes, children’s author and illustrator, says
"Learning to look at pictures [which encompasses shapes and forms] is a skill" that need to be taught and mastered.
Again, this is another lesson I learned from Dixie’s articles, and posts, which mostly shares some great clip arts that make use of simple shapes and forms.
4. Keep it simple and uniquely welcoming
One of the things every Clip art expert (or designer), like Dixie Allan, has always emphasise on in the creation of Clip art for various uses (from children’s books, picture cards, through to social media icons) is:
"keeping every visual elements simple and uniquely welcoming."
This is the fourth lesson that I learned from Dixie’s simple Clip arts — and hope logo designers will find it useful in creating, successful, iconic brand identities.
5. Just say it – “It’s good to be different!”
Dixie’s many years of experience as a Clip art expert has help her to share some great “tips on how to make your designs (or Clip art) stand out and get noticed”, which reechoes on the very thing every logo (or brand identity) designer always seek to achieve —
“It’s good to be different.”
Below are some of Dixie’s great articles on “Holidays, Special occasions, or events clip art” that make use of clip art to commemorating “Holidays Events and Awareness Days.”
Let’s see what we — logo designers — can learn from Dixie Allan’s Clip art examples below:
(a) Clip art of National Nurses Day
(b) Clip art of National Teachers Day
(c) Clip art of Universal Children’s Day
(d) Clip art of National Bowling Week
(e) Clip art of A Red Awareness Ribbon
Learn more from Dixie Allan Clip art — @pinterest. And help share, through your comments, other interesting ways where we can draw inspiration as logo designers.
