Imagine you’re a client eagerly about to review Hile’s proposed design for a new website. You click on the link we’ve given you and there on your screen you see a mocked-up web page featuring clean, stylish design, a just-right photo for your banner image and … wait a minute. What the heck? In place of where the copy should go you see this:

Where you thought you’d see words somehow related to your company’s industry or purpose, there in its place is what appears to be a long, lost Romance language. You rack your brain trying to decipher what is now taking the place of the expected text. Of course, the words (if you can call them that) are there to show you how the page will look with copy and, unfortunately, hold as much meaning as a baby’s babble.

What Lorem Ipsum basically comes down to is designing and organizing a website, brochure, etc. that visually looks like the finished product. It doesn’t distract the viewer with actual copy, and the letters are spaced out well enough so that it appears on the page just as intelligible English would. 

If Lorem Ipsum is simply a way to take up space, why not use something less cryptic? Wouldn’t a series of “blah blah blahs” do the same job? Not really. And let’s face it, seeing “content here, content here” all over a design comp (short for “composite,” advertising jargon for a preview or mock-up) can be about as boring as the drone of a person who gets up to the microphone and repeats ”check 1, 2, 3.”

Besides, why alter a dummy text that has survived for over five centuries and made the jump from standard printing to electronic typesetting*? Let’s show Lorem Ipsum a little respect here.

Way More Than a Placeholder

While Lorem Ipsum is not a language itself, most clients are not far off in assuming that it is. While it would be fun to say that we just bang on the keyboard and call it Lorem Ipsum, the placeholder text actually comes from The Extremes of Good and Evil, a book written in Latin by Cicero in 45 BC*. So the next time you’re on a website that sells toilet seat covers or the like, remember that Lorem Ipsum, that shout-out to one of the greatest Roman philosophers, held the place where the description of the latest cartoon soft seat now sits.

Lorem Ipsum has come a long way since the pages of Cicero, though. Today it is even built into most publishing software and can be found online through numerous text generators. If people are going to use dummy text they want the good stuff.

For those familiar with Lorem Ipsum, it has become a sort of inside joke, spawning numerous text generators that morph Lorem Ipsum into humorous, thematic dummy texts. These include Gangsta Ipsum, Pseudo German Ipsum, Marketing Ipsum, plenty of food-oriented placeholder texts, and, our favorite, Hipster Ipsum, Who wouldn’t want a dummy text that uses words like “sustainable,” “cardigan,” and “banksy?”

Lorem Ipsum Generator Sites to Tickle Your Fancy

• hipsteripsum.me
• tlipsum.appspot.com (Yorkshire Ipsum)
• www.lorizzle.nl/ (Lorizzle my dizzle fo shizzle)
• www.duckisland.com/GreekMachine.asp (We like the “Psuedo-German” and “Marketing”)

Apparently food Ipsums are popular:

• baconipsum.com
• tunaipsum.com
• veggieipsum.com
• beeripsum.com

Alternative to latin-ish Ipsums:

• www.cameroncreative.com/filler-text.html (Check out the “Terms & Conditions”)
• chrisvalleskey.com/fillerama (Monty Python filler? Yes please.)
• www.fillerati.com
• slipsum.com/lite.html

With that, I will leave you with these kind words: Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Cras imperdiet. (Let’s pretend that means “So long, have a good day. Thanks for reading.”)

* Fact and figures according to www.lipsum.com

Do you collect things? My cousin collects anything related to penguins. The mother of a friend of mine collects owl bric-a-brac. Her house is packed with owl ceramics, art prints, aprons, snow globes, door knockers, figurines, pillows and anything else that could possibly get an owl image on it. I always wondered what the appeal was, and I found people who obsessively collected themed whatnots to be slightly bizarre (except, of course, my cousin who might someday read this blog). How far is the leap from being a collector to becoming one of those eccentric people who live in darkened houses, who never throw out their newspapers dating back to the 1960s?

Like I said, that’s what I thought. Until I became one of them!

I collect modern clocks. It started about four years ago. One day I felt like we needed a clock for our office. A nice big one so all the designers could keep an eye on their deadlines. But of course being a lover of all things modern I couldn’t just buy a regular clock. So I turned to the internet and began researching designer wall clocks—most of the ones that appealed to me were made in Italy, Holland, England, Finland or some other European country. I ended up buying the Contrattempo model by Rexite, an Italian product design firm. It was big and easy to read and really well designed with a cool red pendulum in place of where the numeral “6″ should be. Then a few weeks later I saw another really cool clock from an English company named Joseph Joseph. I figured the office could use another clock. I mean, there are all kinds of walls and corners in our office so another clock wouldn’t hurt, right? A week later on impulse I bought two more Joseph Joseph clocks. Four years later our office has eighty clocks. Oh, and the son of my (penguin) cousin bought me a clock on his last business trip to England. Yup, the circle is complete.

I take a lot of flack from my staff. Their jokes include not being able to tell the time from the clocks because of their modern, unique designs. Other jokes revolve around my being compulsive and my “hoarding problem.” I make our production designer, Lindsey, reset all the clocks twice a year because of the time change in our region of the country. It takes her an hour and a half to update them.

But I have developed a unique defense for my collection. It goes something like this, and I’ve actually used it with clients:

“See all these clocks?” (Client makes a 360 of the room.)

“All these clocks are created for the same purpose. Right?” (Client nods affirmatively.)

“But each one takes a wholly different approach with totally unique results. Some are clever and some are functional and some are funny and this one over here doesn’t even have any hands at all.” (At this point I show them the MOMA Timesphere clock that uses a little red ball that travels around the clock face in lieu of mundane and archaic hands. The client chuckles and increases their head bobbing.)

“It’s just like your advertising. What we have to do is find out what’s most unique about your company and the services you provide your customers. There are many creative options we can apply to your corporate branding, just like there are many different ways to create a timepiece.” (The head bobbing is at maximum capacity.)

Sure, I made this spiel up after I got all the clocks, but it actually is a good analogy. Each clock design is inspired in its own way and presents a completely different “attitude.”

I have to go now. The clocks are telling me I’ve got a meeting to attend. At least I think they are.

Let’s find out a bit about what it takes to conceptualize, design and manufacture everyday consumer products that are functional, environmentally friendly and also beautiful to behold.

Sorapot

Hile Design: Hi, Joey. You have an interesting background in that you started out in college pursuing creative writing. Writing is a medium that depends on people forming their own mental images based on the imaginary world the author creates. Industrial design, on the other hand, reveals a physical object interpreted and designed solely by the designer and presented to the consumer. Do you see a parallel between these two different creative processes?

Joey Roth: Hi, Dave. The two processes actually aren’t that different to me. I think that the meaning of a teapot, a short story, or any creative piece comes from a conversation between the creator’s intention and the reader’s interpretation. Once people start using something I designed, I lose the final say on what it means—and that’s part of why I love design. An object, like a piece of writing, means something different to each person who uses it because of the person’s unique memories, associations and expectations. These mediate any encounter with something new.

HD: Sorapot, your take on the modern teapot, made it into the marketplace in a big way. I’ve seen it all over the Internet and in catalogs such as Veer. Can you share with us the background story of how you conceived the pot and how you went about designing it?

JR: Before I loved design, I loved tea, and making a teapot for my first independent product was an easy choice. I wanted to emphasize the beauty of leaves unfurling as they steep, and use materials in their most raw form. The glass tube that bisects the steel arch flowed naturally from these parameters. Figuring out how to make such a simple shape function as a teapot took a lot longer.

HD: Tell us what kinds of considerations and challenges went into finding a manufacturer for the Sorapot, and how you went about marketing the product?

Photo credit: Jean-Marie Phonesavanh

JR: I designed Sorapot as a portfolio piece during my junior year. I didn’t intend to manufacture it until a writer for Cool Hunting somehow discovered it and posted on it. The same day, I received a ton of emails from individuals and stores asking about price, availability and minimum order quantities. They thought it was a real product, so I decided to make it one.

I eventually finalized the design and found the right manufacturer through a great referral. I began to take pre-orders through my site, and was able to fund the first production run largely from these sales. Not coming from a design school background, there’s a ton I’m still learning about manufacturing, ergonomics, SolidWorks and all the other things that industrial design students master by the time they graduate. Luckily I’ve made some friends who are design school alums, and they’ve been an invaluable resource. The same goes for wrangling incorporation, fulfillment, insurance and forecasting into a viable business—I couldn’t do it without help from friends who’ve done it already. In general, I try to see all the day-to-day frustrations as map markers that force me to find a better way as I shape my business. The process is a lot like designing a product.

HD: You have a strong commitment to to the environment. How does that get expressed in your products and packaging?

JR: Most products that harm the environment are made from permanent materials, but are designed for short lifespans. I make sure that my designs either become more beautiful with use or disappear as cleanly as possible. My dream is to see a well-used and well-loved Sorapot in an antique shop in a few decades. The raw stainless steel will record the user’s daily tea making, becoming shinier where it’s held, revealing where it was scrubbed, and changing color gradually as tea tannins are deposited on its surface. It will look far better than when it comes out of its box, which will have decomposed long ago.

HD: What inspires your design work?

JR: I’m inspired by everyday rituals like swiping a card at a train turnstile, talking on the phone, and of course, making tea. I think each of these rituals has the potential to become an oasis in modern overcomplicated life, but people tend to ignore them, largely because of ease-of-use advances that designers have made. The less thought a product requires to use, the less the user will think about the task. This is great in most circumstances, because it allows people to accomplish more in a shorter amount of time. Some tasks reveal tremendous beauty if they’re given some thought, however, and I try to design products for these tasks. For example, the easiest way to make tea is to nuke some water in a mug and stir in powdered Lipton, but the point of making tea isn’t the tea itself. I designed Sorapot to encourage its user to attend to the details, while still making a delicious cup.

HD: Could you share a bit about your daily work routine and environment?

JR: I like to wake up early and make oatmeal for breakfast. I use the daytime to call people, meet with people, find new customers, make sure my existing customers are delighted. In the afternoon I usually take a break to explore San Francisco. After dinner I do creative work—designing new products and planning for the future.

HD: Are there any projects you are working on currently that you are excited about?

JR: I’ve been spending a lot of time designing shoes, trying to channel elegance through humble materials like cork, felt and steel. I’m also working on cardboard furniture that’s designed to last about a year, and then decompose in your yard. I’m starting to get into interiors as well.

The next design that’s actually ready for production is an optical mouse made from felt and teak. Mice are in constant contact with your hand, but for some reason they use the same materials and design language as computers, which are in constant contact with your desk. I re-imagined the mouse as a personal accessory, using materials that feel good against the skin and will change over a break-in period to fit your hand. Felt also allows me to maintain the boxy aesthetic I love while ensuring that the mouse is comfortable. I hope to have it ready this fall.

Optical mouse

HD: You are a young guy with a whole career ahead of you. Envision yourself at retirement age. What would have been your greatest achievement?

JR: If I ever feel like my greatest design achievement is behind me, I’ll go back to writing.

Want to learn more about Joey Roth and his work? Visit his website or the sorapot website now.

Hile Design: Hi, Robert. Can you tell us what Filtre Studio does for its clients?

Robert Frolich: Filtre Studio’s primary focus is high-end creative image retouching. We work with advertising agencies, design firms and photographers to artistically enhance images, or in some cases create them from scratch. Projects we work on range from simple color correction to complex multi-image composites, combining 10 or more images to create one extraordinary image.

Often, we work with a client to create a composition that would be impossible, or at least cost prohibitive, to create in camera. Or the task can be taking an ordinary photograph and increasing the drama through a carefully crafted color palette, creating an entirely new look and feel.

Sometimes, it’s about making an already beautiful photograph even more beautiful. We have had the pleasure of working with some very talented photographers. Recently, some of our retouched images for TYR Sport, shot by award-winning photographer Steve Bonini, have been featured in Lürzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers worldwide. Also, German Vanity Fair has featured some of our International Truck images, shot by Andy Goodwin.

HD: You came out of an ad agency background, before founding Filtre. Can you share a bit about your past positions and tell us how you ended up specializing in digital imaging?

RF: I come from a design and art direction background. I started out with a small agency in Ann Arbor, Michigan, working on General Motors assignments. I then moved on to a Raleigh, North Carolina, agency for 6 years before returning north to Chicago as a creative director for Bagby and Company. There I worked on Sony, International Truck and Miller Lite. I’ve always been with small to mid-size agencies, which gave me the opportunity to wear several hats. With the larger shops, everyone is more specialized—the creative director is often more of a manager, overseeing art director/writer teams who come up with the concepts that then get handed off to production. Being at smaller agencies gave me the opportunity to see a project through from start to finish. Especially in the early years, if I wanted to see one of my ideas produced, I would have to do the retouching myself. Often, the budget just wasn’t there to send it out to a studio. Creating an image from scratch, or making a photograph more beautiful than it was to begin with, is something I’ve always enjoyed doing. The post-production has always been the icing on the cake for me.

HD: If there is such a thing, what is a typical day like at Filtre Studio?

RF: Every day is different, but at Filtre the one common denominator is the morning routine. Coffee.  Lots of coffee. Then, on to the day’s business. I know many creatives like to use that early morning time to generate ideas. We generally prefer to use that time to answer emails, make phone calls, do invoicing, estimates, scheduling and any other administrative tasks that need to be done. Then we can focus on digging into an image. With the larger composite images, it’s good to block out several hours of uninterrupted time. Late morning through mid-afternoon is usually a good time to focus on that.

HD: We know that Adobe Photoshop is an indispensable tool for you, but are there other tools you use in your work as well?

RF: Yes, Photoshop is where we spend 90% of our time. Because it’s so important to what we do, it’s also the one program where we approach each new software release with fear and trepidation. While we eagerly anticipate all of the “revolutionary” new features, we also know there are going to be an equal number of new bugs to ferret out. At the end of the day, we mostly rely on a core set of tools that have been with Photoshop from the first release: curves, the selection tool, the paintbrush tool and the info palette. These are the foundation tools of any image work.

For camera raw processing, we have Capture One Pro and DxO Optics Pro. While we typically don’t do big corrections in raw, we’ll process the images differently based on what the original looks like, and where we’re going to take it. Photoshop, for example, has superior tools for enhancing detail in the shadows and recovering highlights. DxO Optics Pro has very advanced camera/lens specific optics corrections and noise reduction. For example, if a photographer gives us raw files shot on a Canon 1Ds Mark III with a 24-70mm lens, there is a module for that specific camera body/lens combination.

On the Windows PC side, we use Autodesk 3D Studio Max for 3D work. We also use Onyx RIP (raster image processor) software, which gives us very accurate continuous tone proofs from our Epson 4880 printer.

In addition, we have a 21MP Canon 5D Mark II that comes in handy for pickup shots and shooting textures for 3D work.

HD: You work with a lot of leading photographers who are hired by different agency art directors and creative directors. How do you all get on the same page to assure that after the photographer has his shoot, you have what you need to complete your assignment successfully?

RF: It just depends on how the job comes to us. If we estimate the job through the photographer we’ll usually have more input at the preproduction phase. Ideally, we can be at the shoot to consult, but due to budget and time constraints, that is often not the case. Usually we’ll have a prepro call between the agency, client and photographer to ensure a smooth process. If the image will be a composite of several elements combined with the background plate, the best photographers deliver a set of images that pay strict attention to perspective, and direction and quality of the lighting. As is often the case, talent will be shot separately from the background. If the lighting doesn’t match, it makes our job very difficult.  Even in this day of digital magic, it’s almost always better to capture everything you can in camera, then use post production to enhance the image.

HD: To date, do you have a favorite assignment, and why?

RF: My favorite assignments tend to be the ones that go beyond what you would consider traditional “retouching.” Where Filtre Studio really excels is developing a visual treatment for an image, or a series of images for an ad campaign. Filtre worked closely with internationally recognized British photographer Stuart Hall and McCann Erickson NY to enhance a series of Images for Mobil 1. A limited color palette and stylistic treatment was created to heighten the drama and speed of the images.

Currently we’re working on a project for Chicago design firm Zun Partners and the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust.  It’s a very interesting project for us. We’re working with curators at the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House to ensure historical accuracy. From a combination of current photographs, and historical photographs taken in 1909, we’re creating a series of images that show the Robie House dining room during various stages of the restoration process, from where it was when FLW Preservation Trust acquired the house to where it will be, fully restored, a year from now.

Right now, they’re about midway through the restoration, so we had to “deconstruct” the room to show the bare, beginning stage. We digitally removed the custom rug, replacing it with a separately photographed oak floor. The wall finishes were removed along with a built-in buffet that had already been restored. Then, we recreated the stages in between, adding back in the wall finishes, rug, buffet and missing woodwork. Next, all of the furniture and light fixtures will be digitally added to show a fully restored dining room. As a side note, it’s a little weird when the client calls here. The caller ID truncates the name to “Wright, Frank”, so for a moment you wonder who’s going to be on the other end of the line. We hope that our finished work will live up to Mr. Wright’s legendary standards.

HD: Technology has advanced so rapidly in the digital industry. As you move forward, where do you see the technology going? Are there aspects of the business that you feel won’t change?

RF: No matter how fast the computer, it’s never fast enough. Each new software release places greater demands on the computer’s processor. Just about every file we work with is well over 1GB, with many as large as 4GB or more. Hopefully the hardware will get fast enough so it’s one step ahead of the software manufacturers.

I think the one thing that won’t change is that it always comes down to a matter of aesthetics. Either your images are going to resonate with art directors and clients, or they’re not. There’s nothing automatic about what we do—there’s no “Easy Button” that we push, and voila…amazing image! There are a lot of “technicians” out there that know how to use the software, but the artistic vision and the ability to deliver that vision is what really matters.

HD: Currently Filtre Studio is you. What are the positive and negative aspects of running a single-person firm, and do you see taking on additional staff in the future?

RF: Right now I typically have one or two talented freelancers working for us at any given time. When we’re busy, I’ll often get help with file preparation, cleanup, clipping paths—that sort of thing. Of course, the downside to having a staff is that you have to spend more time giving direction and managing. As our workload increases, however, I will have to consider bringing in additional artists so that we can continue to deliver an excellent product to our clients in a timely manner.

HD: Here’s a Barbara Walters–inspired question: If you could retouch yourself, what would you alter?

RF: Well Barbara, I think I would take about 4 inches off my waistline. Why go the gym when you can just fix it in post, right?

HD: Thanks, Robert. We wish you continued success and we look forward to seeing more great work coming out of Filtre Studio!

RF: Dave, thanks for the opportunity to share our story.

Visit Filtre Studio’s website to see more work.

Since my theme is “Birth,” I thought I’d kick off our debut entry by giving a history of the beginnings and growth of Hile Design over the years. So here goes:

1984 BC (Before Computers): Hile Illustration is founded by Dave Hile as a studio supplying advertising artwork and photographic retouching for creative firms and book publishers nationwide. Office space is shared with an advertising agency. (Dave also got married that year so a lot of credit goes to his trusting bride, Claudia.)

1986: After working with freelance graphic designers, the first full-time designer is hired. Company name is changed to Hile Illustration and Design, to reflect expanded services.

1991: Moved into our own office on Stadium Blvd in Ann Arbor. Three staffers.

1995: More hirings. Hey, it’s starting to get crowded! Designed new company logo.

2000: All staff (now numbering seven) are exceedingly relieved to move into a brand new office on Jackson Road, roughly doubling our square footage. An office administrator comes aboard.

2001: Tired of holding client meetings on our lunch table, we knock out a wall, add a conference room and a work area for our office administrator, affording her a comfortable distance from the “Creatives.”

2004: Feeling that Hile Illustration and Design sounds too much like a freelance business, we change our name to Hile Design LLC. Redesign the logo to its current incarnation.

2006: We knock out two more walls and add more design space as well as a digital photo studio.

2008: Staff of ten, all is right with the world and we love our office. Stop by for a visit.

2009: It’s our 25th anniversary!