Apparently, old books are being digitally scanned, and then destroyed. And just like that historical artifacts disappear from our physical reality forever, and the scanned text becomes content that fills the mind of an artificial intelligence. Furthermore, we might never access these works as they were originally printed, because the texts are being filtered through the AI’s training, algorithm and programming bias, and then summarized back to us in its own words.

How it affects film graphic design

The disappearance of real books impacts the work of film graphic designers in two ways. First, we lose the physical reference books we need to recreate graphic props. Design replication isn’t about the author’s writing; it’s about the physical details like the paper texture, typesetting, and ink. It’s the printing and binding style that tells us which era and region that it was published in. It’s the weight of the book and the way the pages turn. It’s the wear on the cover, the dog-eared pages, and the way the spine cracks.

A digitized book loses all its tactile details on a flat computer screen. Many pre-1900 books are unique works of art. Techniques like hand-marbled endpapers, gold-leaf gilding, and original chromolithographic printing plates aren’t preserved when it’s scanned. If you click on some of the linked examples below you will see some have been cleaned up to be read easier.

Books are living records with notes written in margins, ownership stamps, bookplates, or library cards. Physical books literally carry the fingerprints of the people who read them.

The second way destroying physical books impacts graphic designers is the loss of historical graphic design manuals and design books. Nobody but a graphic designer is going to care about those books, or feel a calling to save and store them. This is up to the film design community. Hopefully, someone reading this is inspired and has the space on their bookshelf to save a few old books. In that event, I’ve put together a little list of historical book types to look out for.

There’s just one big problem for want-to-be graphic design book collectors. Historical “Graphic Design” books don’t exist. The term graphic design was coined in the 1920s. Books on visual communications were called things like ornament primers, printer specimen books, or design manuals on printing techniques, layout, color theory, and typography.

Olde Graphic Design Books to Look for:

Specimen Catalogs were produced by manufacturers to sell lead or wood type used on a letterpress printer. They showcased fonts, decorative borders, and printing ornaments and taught typesetters how to group fonts, balance headlines, and utilize decorative flourishes. Pages included practical details like line-spacing metrics, character counts, and ornamental layouts that combined wood-cut illustrations, intricate geometric borders, and how to print with multi-colored inks.

Here are a few libraries with downloadable old graphic arts catalogs from every time period:

• Typographica Library a time capsule of typographic history.

• TypeSearch is a database of historical type spanning the 19th century.

• Kent State University Library Type Specimen Collection houses font catalogs from the early 1800s.

Foundational design and ornament primers were 19th-century educational manuals that outlined the established rules for pattern, color harmony, and visual composition. These books discuss how to recognize and create quality design aesthetics.

• The Grammar of Ornament (1856) by Owen Jones

• Principles of Decorative Design (1873) by Christopher Dresser

• Line and Form (1900) by Walter Crane

• A History of the Old English Letter Foundries (1887) by Reed, Talbot Baines

• The Laws of Contrast of Colour (1839) by Michel Eugène Chevreul. Originally titled De la Loi du Contraste Simultané Des Couleurs. Download version was translated by John Spanton, 1861

• Theory of Colours (1810) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Download version was translated by Charles Eastlake, 1840

• A System of Easy Lettering (1890) by John Howard Cromwell

Old Printing Manuals were written for typesetters and pressmen, serving as a design frameworks for this era. The books outlined things like typography layout, press mechanics, and multi-colour layer techniques.

• The Color Printer: A Treatise on the Use of Colors in Typographic Printing (1892) by John Franklin Earhart. A beautiful manual featuring sample layouts, design layering, chemistry, and color ink mixing on letterpress machinery.

• The American Printer: A Manual of Typography (1866) by Thomas MacKellar. Once a standard American print shop handbook that includes instruction on layout aesthetics and text composition.

• Progress in Printing and the Graphic Arts During the Victorian Era (1897) by John Southward. Features the evolution of industrial book and newspaper layout, advertising typography, and how to make ink and paper.

• Manuel Typographique (1764) by Pierre-Simon Fournier. Moving further back, this is a legendary two-volume French manual outlining type, punch-cutting, and type rules. It’s this book where the initial concepts of measuring fonts in a standardized point system is introduced.

• Mechanick Exercises on the Whole Art of Printing (1683) by Joseph Moxon. The first English language printing manual ever published. It gives a blueprint of seventeenth-century composition, ink-making, and press configuration.

Collecting Historical Graphic Arts Books

You might be thinking, why save real books when so many have been digitally archived? I think digital archives are a great reference, but they don’t replace a real book. When a rare physical book is destroyed, we lose historical data, material culture, and human heritage.

Furthermore, digital data storage isn’t reliable. A paper book can survive where digital data formats won’t. Think of those scrolls excavated at Pompeii that were baked into brittle lumps of charcoal. Thanks to cool scanners (and AI), we can read those scrolls after being buried in volcanic ash for 2000 years.

Most of us have experienced corrupt files, broken drives or own an old storage disk that’s completely obsolete. I just found a pile of Syquest tapes archiving my first design work, but I no longer have the device to read them. Even if I did, I think I would need a computer from that era to be compatible. Anyhow, a big loss to humanity sits in that plastic bin.

Today our data lives on cloud servers, which can disappear in a power outage, when we lose the passcode or can’t pay the data storage bill. By putting our trust in online storage we lose our rights and access to knowledge.

I have a lot of books, and sometimes I imagine myself throwing them all away. Everyone I know has been selling or donating their book collections, and the peer pressure to follow is real. It would be liberating. Books are heavy to move and take up way too much space. I’m also terrified of an earthquake toppling my bookcase over and burying me alive. But despite all the risks, I’ve decided to keep my books.

I predict the trend to toss, sell or donate quality books is about to end as people realize that knowledge that is currently free is being hoarded in a data lakes to be repackaged and sold back to us. In the future, a physical book might even become a luxury item afforded only by those rich enough not to be educated by the algorithm.

Cool Websites to Visit:

Cary Collection printers manual illustrated history reference

Gutenberg Press is a library of 79,102 free eBooks

Internet Archive non-profit library with free texts, movies, software, music & websites

Typographica a digital bookshelf of type and lettering resource.

TypeSearch Historical type specimen discovery and research.

Kent State University Library collection of type specimens from the early 1800s.

Letterform Archive a graphic design collection.

In this post, I want to share a few late-20th-century design niches that interest me. Over these two decades, design tastes shifted from avant-garde to more …

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• What techniques are used to mimic children's art.

• How to integrate the scripted storytelling into the artwork.

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982), Director: Steven Spielberg, Production Designer: Jim Bissell, Graphic Designer: NA

Elliott Taylor, the 10 years old in E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, draws a cute sketch of E.T during a biology class. This art shows Elliott’s growing connection with E.T., who is drinking beer at home. As E.T. feels tipsy, Elliott unknowingly starts to act the same way, disrupting the class and eventually releasing the classroom frogs, causing chaos. This moment emphasizes Spielberg’s visual storytelling, with the drawing illustrating their bond and foreshadowing ETs capture.

Basics of Kids Art:

Children's art has distinct characteristics that give it personality and authenticity. Achieving these qualities can be more challenging than it seems. I once worked on a horror movie that featured a toddler who creates hundreds of drawings for walls, art pads, and boxes. To make my drawings look child-like, I experimented with typical advice to draw with my left hand or hold a crayon in my fist. Turns out I can draw pretty well no matter how I hold my crayon. After a lot of terrible attempts I researched what child art therapists have discovered.

These are typical drawing traits of a four-year-old's human figure:

1. Head-Heavy Figures - These figures resemble tadpoles with large heads, sometimes with legs directly attached to the head.

2. Simple Lines – Arms and legs drawn in straight lines with uneven lengths. Fingers are straight lines that extend from the ends of arms, rather than a hand shape. There may be too many or too few fingers, that are too long or short.

3. Features – Eyes, nose, ears, and mouth are asymmetric with exaggerated proportions or some or all features are missing.

4. Eyes – Exaggerated size, dominates the face, or extend off the face. Lashes might be very long. Iris and pupil might be colored as one shape.

5. Lack of a Neck – The head often sits directly on the torso or right up to the legs.

6. Simple Emotions - Young kids draw familiar emotions such as happy, sad, angry, neutral, scared, or surprised.

7. Random Hair Placement – Hair is drawn as scribbles, spikes, or simple lines sprouting from the top of the head.

8. Bright, Unnatural Colors – Kids love using vibrant colors, but they don't necessarily match reality. Color is arbitrary, such as green faces and purple hands.

9. Clothing as Simple Shapes – A dress might be a triangle, or pants may be two lines dividing the lower body.

10. Asymmetry & Disproportion – Limbs and eyes may not match in size, or they may be positioned lopsided.

11. Floating Figures – People might appear to float in space and are drawn without a sense of gravity or ground.

12. Symbolic Details – Character details, like big round ears for parents or long eyelashes for girls, a circle for a bellybutton on a baby, or pronounced nose on a stranger.

13. Overlapping or Out-of-Place Features – The hands might float separately from the body, or arms might come out of the head instead of the torso.

14. Process vs Product – Toddlers are more focused on the act of creating than on the final result.

Materials and Mark Making

To recreate realistic children's art, you want to use the same materials as a child. This approach might be an obvious statement, but some graphic designers use drawing apps like Procreate or Fresco. The problem can start when you want to print on a specific art paper. It may lack saturation and authentic texture. Also, the art paper might not work in the printer. However, an app might be a quick way to develop a design concept before using kids' art supplies to recreate it. 

Basic Kid’s Art Supplies:

• Art mediums for kids: Little kids will use crayons, washable markers, colored pencils, colored chalk, washable watercolor, finger paint, tempera paints. Older kids might also use pencils, ballpoint pens, sharpies, and felt pens.

• Tools: scissors, glue stick, Elmer glue, chunky paint brush, fingers, sponges, dabbers, stamps or (potato stamps), scotch tape and stencils.

• Add dimension and collage: stickers, sequins, glitter, pipe cleaners, pom-poms, felt, or other recycled materials.

• Standard Paper: craft paper (white and recycled), watercolor paper, colored construction paper, white easel paper roll, spiral-bound sketchpad, poster board, newsprint pad, tissue paper, recycled materials like pie or paper plate or cardboard.

Drawing Dexterity and Mark Making

Children don't have refined motor skills, so consider the line work. A child's hand will be unsteady, and a mark could be wobbly; the marker could shoot off in an unpredictable direction, or a line might be drawn multiple times. A child might apply deep pressure or create very faint lines. The first marks a child makes when learning to draw are always scribbles, and these become more refined as they age.

Understand the Line Quality and Pressure

• Light, soft strokes – May indicate timidity or insecurity.

• Heavy, forceful strokes – Can suggest strong emotions, tension, or frustration.

• Chaotic scribbling over a figure – May indicate distress, anger, or rejection.

Adding Symbolic Meaning

What is your character going to draw? The subject of an art piece might be in the script, or you might have to make a list of topics for your fictional toddler to draw. Here are ideas to consider when developing this list.

Children’s art can serve as a storytelling device that reveals a character’s inner world, emotional state, and relationship dynamics. Each drawing choice will add depth, authenticity, and reinforce the scripted character’s voice, grounding the artwork in the narrative rather than just visual flair. Also, you might consider developing a drawing style for your fictional character, which can provide insights into their personality, emotions, relationships, and the story arc in the script. Plus, different drawing styles can reinforce the film or series genre. A child’s drawing in a Rom-Com is going to look very different than a Horror movie.

Hereditary (2018) Director: Ari Aster Production Designer: Grace Yun, Graphic Designer: Loren Kane

Charlie Graham, the 13-year-old girl in the movie Hereditary, draws an unsettling sketch of a crowned pigeon. This bird crown symbolizes King Paimon, the demon summoned throughout the film. The stark composition and crude jagged drawing add to the film’s eerie atmosphere. The beak resembles scissors, foreshadowing the decapitation of multiple characters, including a pigeon, and reinforcing the film’s themes of sacrifice and ritual.

Symbolism and Storytelling

Here are common symbolic details and psychological indicators identified by child psychologists that you can use to hone a character's drawing style:

Consider the Size and Placement of Figures

• Large figures may indicate confidence or importance; therefore, drawing a big self-portrait could mean the child sees themselves as significant.

• Tiny figures can indicate insecurity, low self-esteem, or feelings of insignificance.

• Figures drawn in a corner or isolated might suggest shyness, withdrawal, protective feelings, or feeling left out.

• Centrally placed figures can indicate a well-balanced, confident child.

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What are the key features?

How to use NotebookLM

Using it in your daily design workflow

Have you stumbled upon NotebookLM in the Google ecosystem?

If you haven't used it or are unfamiliar with it, it's Google's AI-powered research assistant. It's a free app that can streamline your film graphic design workflow by managing reference materials, research documents, creating lists, and addressing questions about design ideas, scripts and production schedules. It's like having an assistant managing your design administration. NotebookLM allows you to upload documents and then chat with the AI to summarize content, generate insights, translate to another language and answer questions based on the uploaded materials. But, it doesn’t use your content to train its model. Also, NotebookLM will provide a citation link with every ideas, allowing you to cross-reference the original source material easily.

Key Features:

To create a Notebook upload links and files (URLs, PDFs, Google files, YouTube links and audio) into NotebookLM. What makes NotebookLM convenient is that it can link directly to your Google Drive files. Once a document is uploaded and linked to a Notebook, any document changes automatically update. However, it doesn't link to folders, so documents aren’t automatically detected. Every document must be manually input first.

• Source Size: Each source can be a maximum of 500,000 words or 200MB.

• Source Limit: A notebook holds a maximum of 50 source documents.

• Notebook Limit: You can have up to 100 notebooks in NotebookLM.

• Sharing - Individual Notebooks can be shared.

File formats that NotebookLM accepts:

• Google files, such as Docs, Slides, and Sheets.

• PDFs (.pdf). (It must be a selectable and searchable text, not just an image scan.)

• Text files (.txt, .md), as well as text directly pasted into a Notebook.

• Word Documents (.doc, .docx)

• PowerPoint Presentations (.ppt, .pptx)

• YouTube video links

• Websites URLs

File formats it can't read:

• Image files (.jpg, .png, .tiff, etc.)

• Design files (.psd, .ai, .indd, .fig). NotebookLM can't parse vector files or raw images, so you need to export them as readable files, such as a PDF or text file.

• Scanned PDFs (unless OCR'd and converted to searchable text)

  • Use Adobe's free converter to create OCR files.

• Folders: ZIP folders or project folders

How to use NotebookLM

After you upload content files and create a Notebook, there are three main tabs across the top: Sources, Chat, and Studio.

The Sources tab is where you to upload source material for NotebookLM to analyze. Also, you will generate new documents when you ask questions which you can choose to save in the “Sources."

The Chat tab is where you interact with the AI through a conversational interface to chat about the specific sources you added to that Notebook.

The Studio is a space where you can create new content using the AI's analysis of your source material. Also, there are preset interaction buttons like generate a summary, FAQs, timelines, mind maps, and briefing documents.

NotebookLM in your daily workflow

The type of notebook you create is only limited by your imagination. As a tool in the art department, I recommend focusing on research and organizational tasks that will enhance your productivity. Here is a list of ideas where NotebookLM can help you work more efficiently.

Generate Graphic Lists

Upload your script and ask NotebookLM to extract all the graphic design references, such as "List all props with text or labels." NotebookLM can quickly create a prop list with the scene numbers, characters, locations, or descriptions. This works well for any scripted graphic categories such as vehicles, playback, costumes, and signage. It's a fast way to generate an initial breakdown. But, always cross-check, as not all graphics are obvious.

Also, when a script revision is issued, you can ask NotebookLM to check your first breakdown against the revised script to see if graphics were cut or new ones added. A citation link is provided with each answer, allowing you to click through to the script easily.

Content Ideation

Often, the graphic designer is responsible for developing a list of background paperwork. You know, the graphics that rarely appear on screen. NotebookLM can speed up this process by recommending a list of potential graphics. Take, for example, a crime show where the script never says explicitly what paperwork a detective has on his desk, but he is always busy writing something. Ask NotebookLM to "list the police documents and forms the detective would need based on the types of crime and investigations in the script." NotebookLM will develop a comprehensive list of police paperwork and provide links to the scenes that support its thinking.

Finding Data

Ask NotebookLM to search for names of people, places, or props. This is particularly useful if you're working on a series with many seasons. Create a notebook with every episode from each season. Ask if Susan has a last name? Where was Karl born? Or does Joe drink a specific brand of beer?

Name Generation

Also, you can ask NotebookLM to generate name ideas. It may or may not provide a great name, but it will give the rationale for why the name was chosen based on the script. That information might serve as a creative catalyst for you to come up with a better name.

Continuity & Clearance Support

Create a Clearance Notebook by uploading your clearance logs, the script clearance reports, and any backstory details. Now you can reference information, such as whether a name has been cleared yet or if the lawyer has flagged any scripted names. Organize all clearance reports, submission history, and rejected elements in one place for quick reference. Its important to note, a clearance Notebook will only be as reliable as the data; therefore, check that the documents are current.

Production Schedule Hub

Upload the script and production schedules along with your graphic design breakdown to query when a graphic is playing or create a graphic shooting schedule. (**NotebookLM doesn't format, but I heard the next iteration will be more integrated with Google Sheets and Docs.)

Hero Prop Storyboard

Sometimes, a prop will have a story arcs that the graphic designer needs to track. A graphic prop might appear in multiple scenes and undergo changes, like aging or design alterations. NotebookLM can help create a beat sheet, written storyboard, or a shooting schedule.

For example, I worked on a classroom set where chalkboard designs varied by scene, plus the teacher wrote on the board. These boards were not shot in chronological order, meaning a board needed to reset. Tracking these changes ensured the correct design was ready for each scene turnover.

Create an Archived Graphic Database

Most graphic designers save and archive every graphic they create. So, it's easy to take your archives one step further to create a searchable database. Upload your final production graphics to NotebookLM as a readable PDF. Additionally, you could upload the final graphics breakdown for more researchable information.

Annotate them with reference notes and information you might need: script title, scene numbers, set name and number, shoot dates, graphic name, graphic type, department, fonts, output details, dimensions, construction and install methods, materials used, aging, quantity, image sources, clearance details (names, dates etc), vendor contact, PO number, budget, etc.

What can you do with this database?

• Find recurring assets, such as logos, newspapers, and certificates.

• Reuse and reference materials across episodes or seasons (e.g., Find the employee badge design used for Season 1.).

• Find evergreen templates for quick repurposing.

• Find a stock photo reference number.

Preset Query's

NotebookLM has preset options in the Studio tab that automatically generate a request, such as the MindMap and Timeline.

Create a Mind Map

The MindMap option can create a script outline. It's helpful information, but something I would never do without AI, because it would take too much time. However, NotebookLM generates this in seconds:

• Film / Series Name :

  • Production Details = Episode Title + Writers + Production Info.

  • Main Cast = List of each character with the actor's name.

  • Locations = Interiors list + Exteriors list.

  • Plot Breakdown = Maps the main story and each subplot.

Create a Timeline

Timeline creates a chronological list of scripted plot points and events. This function is useful if the story jumps around in time, has multiple timelines or locations, or has a complicated structure that requires sorting out when a graphic fits into the overall timeline. Additionally, the timeline generates a character list with full names, ages, physical and personality descriptions, and their actions within the plot structure.

Make A Personal Reference Library

Making a searchable reference library with your design resources is a game-changer. We all have stuff scattered about in website bookmarks, social media, written in notes, video tutorials, books, and magazines, but once you add these as sources to NotebookLM, you can instantly search everything at once. You will save hours of research time. It's also the notebook that will take the most time to compile.

Final thoughts

The best way to be on top of the schedules, scripts, and breakdowns is to read them first. I wouldn’t recommend using AI to replace an initial reading of material. With that said, NotebookLM is a great tool for finding answers, creating lists, or quickly exploring production paperwork. The content is reliable, as it consistently points you back to the exact spot in your documents where it found the answer, allowing you to review the document sources.

The truth is, film graphic designers are busy people. NotebookLM could save us time, but more importantly it can ease our daily stress.

Download a Design Resource List

Download the Graphic Design database below with over 80 links to graphic design collections and archive websites.

This downloadable database is available exclusively to paid subscribers and comprises a curated collection of design websites featuring archival graphic design materials. It includes visual references such as historical signage, posters, packaging, labels, maps, manuals, and ephemera from various decades and regions. The resources are ideal for film graphic designers looking for authentic period design references and inspiration, and are a great resource to upload to NotebookLM.

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Effective organization and a bit of pre-planning can help ensure your designs pass the approval stage seamlessly. In this post, I'll share my tips and strategies for optimizing my workflow. By anticipating clearance needs and staying organized, we can confidently tackle clearances.

Databanks and Breakdowns

Tracking is everything. I create a clearance list or databank during script breakdown and get organized for the future with these details:

1. Note any scripted items to be cleared by the production. Then, watch for the clearance report to see what has been cleared. Also, check if the lawyer missed something you need.

2. Note any names that the art department will write and clear. These are any props and signs implied in the script or graphics added to flesh out a scene.

3. Add details that are useful for graphics you will create and clear later. For instance, characters will likely need statistics for passports, driver's licenses, access cards, legal papers, and medical forms. So, if you see character details like their relative's names, birth towns, injuries, tattoos, high school names, and criminal or arrest details, cut and paste them into a character database.

4. The show might have predictable, reoccurring graphics in which you can pre-clear names. For example, if the main character is a drinker, clear a dozen wine and beer names at the show's start rather than scrambling to clear names from script to script.

5. Reoccurring graphics show up in many genres. For example, a crime show will likely need medical, legal, and police paperwork, while the mystery genre might have printed and online publications (think murder board). A romance might have scenes in pubs and restaurants.

6. Another set of details to organize in a databank is background world-building names, like fake social media apps, TV station call signs, phone numbers even if they are 555, and mail and email addresses.

A database or checklist is a bit more work upfront, but your future self will thank you, especially if you're four seasons in and trying to figure out details from season one.

Order out of Chaos

I always follow a systematic order to clear my designs and optimize my workflow. I avoid starting a graphic until the name or logo is approved by legal. I submit design components in stages and refrain from using that logo as a placeholder, as an unapproved logo or name will require redesigning. Moreover, it will add more time to your workload if a logo is embedded in multiple graphics and needs to be replaced. It's easy to overlook one, risking a mistake that will likely end up in a closeup shot.

Here's my order to clear and design work:

1. Submit names and prominent copy before starting any design work.

2. Once a name is clear, design the logo and then have it cleared.

3. Before proceeding with a design that incorporates ANY significant design, art, map, font, or visual, I send it to clearances. This includes anything from free online sites, public domain sites, drawings created in the art department, or any design references taken from a film location.

   1. What are design references from the set, you ask? It's when you are provided design details from an actual location, like wallpaper, stained glass, or an architectural motif, which you are asked to repurpose. Don't assume it's clear to use. You could do a lot of work only to discover it's not okay to use. This is definitely not a mistake I made.

4. Finally, it's time to send the final graphic to clear. To avoid any delays or confusion, I always note design components that have already been cleared so that legal doesn't clear them again.

Unfortunately, it's still possible that a graphic will not be approved (even with names and logos pre-cleared). So here are more ways to be prepared for clearances.

Plan for Rejection

Sometimes, you may doubt that a design will pass. This might happen because it was scripted to emulate a real-world brand; a producer or production designer might have fallen in love with a questionable design choice, or maybe you are under the gun, hoping and praying it's approved to meet a deadline. Regardless of your situation, the best tactic is to be prepared for rejection and have another graphic design ready.

Vet Your Design

It's a good idea to review your design before submitting it. There are a few levels of scrutiny that can be done. At the basic level, I ensure individual design components, like fonts, illustrations, and photos, are licensed for broadcast. But for more complex graphics, I examine them closer if I can. Here is a list of ways to vet your work:

• Check that your fonts, illustrations, and photos have an approved license. This is typically sorted out at the start of production, and you are given a login for fonts and stock imagery.

• Use your best judgment when determining design plagiarism. Compare your design against similar real-world branding and your reference material. Even if the name is fictional, it has a similar color palette, font pairing, and logo shape, it can raise red flags. If your design resembles an existing design, make tweaks before sending it for approval. If you don’t the lawyer will suggest design changes, and it sucks to be art directed by a lawyer.

• If you don't trust your judgment, you can upload it to ChatGPT for a design comparison. It can do a risk assessment to determine infringement (qualitatively, not legally). Go ahead, let the robot judge you.

• I often run an internet search to ensure a name isn't taken or a design isn't similar to another graphic. This gives me time to make any corrections before submitting. Here are some sites to use:

  1. Do a reverse image search with Google Image Search, Bing Image Search, or Tin Eye.

  2. Research existing brands at the Global Brand Database.

  3. Or, use Openverse to research existing designs.

• Allow time to approve graphics from free-use websites and public domain works like historical art, maps, or designs. The rights might not be as straightforward as they appear, but it's worth checking with clearances when you find cool stuff.

• When working with historical art or design, it's not a good idea to assume a design is in the public domain because it's old. I will do an internet search to identify their copyright use and origin as well.

  • Another search tool is Bridgeman Art Library, known for its extensive collection of art and historical images. Check to see if your work is in their collection and copyright status.

  • Make sure no unforeseen restrictions are attached. For example, a museum might have a conditional usage on a photograph or digital scan of a public work. Another example is inadvertently using a version with copyright restrictions; the early Mickey Mouse "Steamboat Willie" is in the public domain, but no other version has free usage.

Metadata

Sometimes, it's nice to figure out the legal status of a design work before sending it to the lawyer. Finding out whether a design is useable will speed up your workflow. So, if you're in doubt about an old map, a fancy border, or a paper lantern graphic, it's possible to investigate the rights yourself in the metadata. Only once you’ve ruled out copyright issues, send it to the lawyer for final confirmation.

Here are some tips on searching for metadata:

• Sometimes, metadata can be viewed in Photoshop. Clicking file>file info brings up all the available information on the picture.

• Use an online tool to view an image's metadata, such as Get-Metadata.com. Check for fields labeled "Copyright," "Rights," "Creator," or similar licensing terms.

• Use ExifTool by Phil Harvey, an online app for reading, writing, and editing meta information in image, audio, and video files.

• With Google Image Search, you can match a photo to visually similar images across the web, which can help you determine whether something is original, stock, or from a known brand. Google can also read embedded text (OCR), which includes copyright information.

  • To use this tool, Open Image Search and click the Tools button. Select Usage Rights and then — Creative Commons licenses.

• Also, ChatGPT can check for Creative Commons licenses once you have the sourced the URL or metadata.

Prepare a Source Sheet

When submitting a graphic for clearance, I always include a breakdown of all the design elements and research. Missing details can delay approval. Or, worse, the art director may call months after the show has wrapped because an issue was flagged in the post, and now you need to find the stock image number. Having these details noted will be a relief.

Design Title

Scene Number

Graphic use (e.g., background sign, hero prop)

Font Names

Any pre-cleared components like names and logos.

Any stock image sources or textures.

Designer created/drawn art, font, or motif.

Provide visual reference when necessary.

That’s all my whole process! Hopefully, by using these tips before sending your design work to the clearance team, you can catch any issues and feel more confident that your work will be approved quickly.

Good luck, and thanks for subscribing.

Check out the CHARACTER DATABASE download below for paid subscribers.

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What is shape language?

Basic shapes like circles, squares, and triangles carry deep psychological meanings that evoke emotions and memories, influencing the mood of a design. These fundamental forms shape every element, from layout to typography. By mastering shape language, designers can strategically convey messages and evoke desired feelings in the audience. Understanding the emotional associations of each shape is essential for refining one’s work and ensuring the right choices in fonts, illustrations, and compositions. For example:

• Shapes can impact world-building by reinforcing the genre and tone—triangles might enhance a futuristic feel, while soft curves might convey mystical vibe; stories of oppression might feature chunky cubes.

• Shape choices also impact emotions; sharp typography conveys danger, while soft lettering feels more inviting.

• Shapes play a key role in historical design era, for example Art Nouveau has flowing curves, while Bauhaus design uses clean geometric forms.

• Contrasting shapes can draw the audience's attention, create tension or add importance. A circular element in a rectangular setting will stand out, and guide the viewer's eye to important information like a key prop.

The Basic Shapes:

Basic shapes like the circle, square, and triangle, are the building blocks of visual language. They are the elemental components upon which more complex visual elements are constructed. The inherent qualities of these basic shapes convey concepts that are universally understood.

THE CIRCLE:

• Circles are smooth, curved shapes and lack corners and edges that inherently convey softness.

• They signify wholeness, cuteness, friendliness, harmony, protection, power, completion, eternity, and perfection.

• They convey a sense of inclusivity and harmony, making them suitable for concepts of unity, connection, and cycles.

• The oval adds sophistication, elegance, grace, and femininity.

• Circles feature heavily in recognizable symbols like the Infinity Symbol, Yin-Yang, Peace Sign, Ouroboros (Serpent Eating Its Tail), Enso (Zen Circle), technology power button, and recycling symbol.

To emphasize the looping time and infinity theme in Marvel’s Loki, the set design, costumes, and graphics feature the circle. Everything in the top left image has soft, rounded shapes, including rounded hats and arches. In the background, circles of light form the illuminated “Ferris Wheel” sign. In other images, notice how uniform patches are circular, the book corners are round, rooms are curved, and even repetition of the word “pies” reinforce the round shape in this show.

THE SQUARE

• A square’s straight lines and equal sides create a sense of structure and order not seen in nature.

  • It’s a foundation shape—often associated with buildings, rooms, and frames. Commonly used in grids and rigid design systems.

  • Its solid, enclosed form evokes protection and predictability.

• It conveys fairness, logic, symmetry, stability, reliability, balance, strength, comfort, and order.

• Negative connotations suggest rigidity, control, stubbornness, and an impenetrable force. Frequently used to symbolize rules, systems, or institutions—sometimes associated with rigidity or a “box” mindset.

• Squares are used in institutional settings (offices, government buildings, libraries) to convey reliability, order, and conformity.

Squares are seen throughout Chornobyl, with blocky typefaces, repeating squares in floor patterns, wallpaper, cubist painting, and the control panel. The square helps reinforce the static, oppressive tone of heavy government regulation and structure.

THE TRIANGLE

• The triangle conveys messages of energy, power dynamics, hierarchy, progression, tension, conflict, and trinity. It’s often associated with masculine energy.

• The sharp points of a triangle feel aggressive, confrontational and emphasize danger.

• Triangles represent structure, order, or top-down control—think pyramids, religious trinities, or corporate flowcharts.

  • Equilateral triangles symbolize balance and equality.

  • An irregular or obtuse shape suggests corruption and instability.

• Triangles imply energy, momentum, and action—and their symbolism depends on the direction they point.

  • Upward-pointing triangles symbolize power or aspiration. It suggests strength and balance (as it has a solid base). They symbolize rising ambition, elevation, or enlightenment.

  • An inverted or downward-pointing triangle invokes instability or danger. It creates tension, imbalance, or unease and is commonly used in villainous or high-stakes environments.

• Common triangles in our world include the play button, warning symbol on traffic signs and dangerous household products, and the all-seeing eye and pyramid on a US dollar bill.

The triangle is a repeating shape in Midsommer, emphasizing the cult and hierarchy in this community. There is an unsettling power dynamic, and the triangle emphasizes this danger. The triangles blend pagan spiritual traditions seen in the runic symbols with rigid hierarchal structures.

Circles, triangles, and squares are just the beginning. Shape language goes much deeper — into spirals, zigzags, crosses, and even the hidden power of pentagons and hexagons. In the next section, we’ll break down how detailed shape language can transform a graphic’s emotional impact — and how understanding these subtleties can help you create designs that feel perfectly tuned to the mood, meaning, and world-building of a film or TV series set.

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What’s happening with internet research? More and more, it’s becoming a challenge to find authentic design online. Search results are dominated by SEO-optimized websites like Etsy, Pinterest, eBay, Amazon, and stock image sites like Getty. These corporate sites drown out smaller, independent sites and many have just disappeared. Even worse, AI-generated imagery is infiltrating the internet. What can we do to ensure we have actual historical graphic resources in the future?

Create a Graphic Design Collection

1. Collect real world graphics.

2. Take photographs of graphics in the real world.

3. Create a digital file system.

4. Keep reference books. For some reason, people are ditching their physical book collection, which might prove to be a mistake in the next few years.

5. Bookmark or create a spreadsheet of your favorite websites.

   1. If a website disappears, you can look it up on The Wayback Machine, a part of the Internet Archive, where you can often find a backup of the original site.

6. Experiment with alternative search engines like Kagi, Brave, Yandex, or DuckDuckGo to find more varied and less filtered results.

In this post, I’m showcasing eight archival websites with extensive niche design collections worth bookmarking. If you are a paid subscriber, a spreadsheet with over 50 more sites is attached.

Historical Yearbook Design

I’m starting with the Internet Archives because it’s the largest site for research. It is a treasure trove for all media types, with the yearbook archive being one example.

The Yearbook Archives has over a hundred years of school annual design, providing historical font, color, and design styles used in each era. However, what makes these yearbooks a fantastic resource are the photos within the books, which showcase school signage and logos, team crests, school wall graphics, hallway posters, banners, principals’ desk gak, and era-specific company sponsors logos and advertising.

Global Money Design

Banknote World is a website selling collectible banknotes and coins from around the globe, including hundreds of currencies to reference and research. Their collection has historical and current coins and bills, including unissued, novelty, and counterfeit money. The novelty items include money from films, TV series, and games.

The banknotes below feature a selection of Queen Elizabeths from around the world spanning the last 75 years.

Playing Card Design

It’s surprising how often we design playing and tarot cards for a film or series. The World of Playing Cards site has an archive with 4,528 designs that go back to the 1300s. The site’s easy navigation (by timeline, country, manufacturer, suit, game type, or designer) makes it fun to explore. The site also has a learning section with historical printing techniques and discussions on design details, like why cards have rounded corners and patterns on the backside. Below are two fun examples from the collection.

Brewery Graphic Design

Brewery Gems is an illustrated directory of Western US breweries from the last century. This website is a wealth of research information with historical location photos, including manufacturers’ warehouses and pubs, signage, glassware, trays, mirrors, tokens (apparently, that was a thing), logos, labels, bottles, barrels, crates, ephemera, posters, and newspaper ads. The Brewery Gems’ website has 95 documented breweries, each on a dedicated page. The example below is from the Bellingham Bay Brewery c.1905, which illustrates a sampling of images found at each brewery archive.

Sheet Music Cover Art

If there’s a piano scene, there will be sheet music. Illustrated Sheet Music is a colorful website that has an incredible archive of vintage cover art for sheet music booklets from the Art Deco and Art Nouveau periods. If you need inside music pages, check out the Internet Archive. Their blog is also an excellent graphic resource for theatrical, musical and film posters.

Match Book Cover Design

LILEKS The Matchbook Museum collection has over 2100 matchbook designs. This archive is a great source of historical company logos since matchbook covers are used for advertising. The website has categorized each matchbook by business type, including bars, restaurants, hotels, motels, liquor, health, cigarettes, groceries, soda, candy, finance, transportation, gasoline, and world fairs. This archive is an excellent resource for referencing historical business logos, illustrations, design layouts, and color palettes.

Below is a selection of matchbooks from the grocery category. Check out the phone number on the TenderKrust art, it’s only four digits!

Fruit Crate Label Design

Vintagraph sells authentic museum-quality art prints and posters, emphasizing vintage and historical artwork. Their collection includes propaganda posters, labels, travel posters, and WPA art. Vintagraph restores original pieces and prints reproductions, meaning their selection constantly changes.

Below is a selection from the Fruit Crates labels.

NASA Mission Patch Design

Everyone will likely create a NASA-inspired patch at least once in their film graphic design career. It’s interesting how patch designs vary within the same mission and era; some designs are dynamic and graphic, some are overly complicated with awkward typography, and others have a government or military vibe.

Paid Subscriber Download

Download the full Graphic Design Database below for links to over 50 more unique design collections and archives.

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This edition of tips & tricks was written for Graphic Union UK. So, if you’ve arrived at the GRFxFILM newsletter from Instagram, welcome. And, thank you to everyone at the Graphic Union UK for inviting me to contribute to your Instagram account!

Image Transfers in Film Graphic Design

An image transfer is a technique where a printed design is reapplied to another surface. It’s a handy for mock-ups, templates, stencils, aging and prop making. They are especially useful when working with materials that cannot be printed.

There are many types of transfer methods and material available. The first category included commercial image transfers like heat transfer paper, printable dry rub transfer paper or Water-Slide Decals. These are expensive, but transfer vivid colors and clean edges. Often used for T-shirt graphics, tattoos, decorating things like mugs and glasses, or labeling.

The second type of image transfer are DIY methods using readily available materials like glue, tape, gel medium, wax paper or acetone (aka nail polish remover). This post is all about this type. They are cheap, convenient and a good resource to have when you are thinking “how am I going to do that.”

Where to use an Image Transfer

Mock-up or Prototyping

Useful for testing placement, size, color and opacity before committing to the final. Use on any material, but if the transfer needs to be cleaned off it is best on a smooth surface like glass, plastic, metal or ceramics. Great for testing a design where regular printing is impossible like a doodle on a thumb drive.

The Mitchells vs. the Machines

A Template for Hand Drawing a Duplicate

An image transfer is great for duplicating a handwritten or handmade graphic prop when multiples are needed on set. An image transfer works well as a template on non-printable or oversized paper and specialty materials to make signs, posters, banners, ephemera, or a plaster cast like the still from Halloween below.

For example, on a recent movie I worked on, we made a poster sized list for a fridge. It was hand drawn by a kid with felt pens on construction paper. Three versions of the list were required for three different scenes where the list grew longer and longer. Since the scenes were shot back to back, there was no time to simply amend the original. To ensure all three versions of the prop list were exactly same, we used an image transfer as a template.

Halloween 2007

A Stencil for Creating Guidelines

An image transfer is helpful for adding guidelines for a pattern, image or letters on any surface where a stencil is needed but can’t be printed. Transfer a stencil for cutting, foiling, etching, coloring and burnishing. It could be used to transfer an image on a linocut block for a quick stamp, or for carving letters on wood like “Orient Express” example below.

Orient Express 2017

Creating Tactile Aging Effects

Useful for layering natural texture and flaws for realistic aging. Transfers can distort the physical surface making it more dimensional and natural. Can be used for packaging, labels, maps, letters, scrolls, documents to transfer smudges, ghosting, dirt, stains, grime, coffee or blood stain, or adding dirty finger prints.

Why use an image transfer instead of digital aging on a computer. Using image transfer techniques to add aging effects to a graphic prop allows for organic, unpredictable textures that are difficult to replicate digitally.

• Randomized Imperfection – Unlike Photoshop, transfers create natural flaws, making aging look real.

• Physical Texture – Ink can soak into materials, react with surfaces, or flake off, adding dimension.

• Layered Build-Up – Transfers can be applied in stages for depth, rather than a flat printed effect.

• Material Interaction – Transfers can warp, wrinkle, or distort with the surface for authenticity.

Creating a Graphic Prop:

An image transfer is useful way to create a final graphic where an artistic, faded or imperfect result is better than getting a professional print. Here are a few examples of graphics that might be made with an image transfer:

• A wax paper image transfer works well for an aged wood cigar box, custom wax candle, and wooden wine or produce crate.

• Packing tape is a fast easy way to make stickers.

• A gel medium image transfer creates a good base for an art canvas that can be finished with brush on gel medium for texture. Great for DIY background art, especially on a budget.

Types of Image Transfer Methods

The following image transfer techniques are cheap practical methods that can be done with basic supplies that are readily available art department.

Most methods require the printed image to be reversed because it will be mirrored when it transfers.

Blender Pen (Xylene) or Acetone Transfer

Makes a good stencil, template image, or for adding smaller details.

• What is it: A blender pen is an alcohol-based, inkless colorless marker. Acetone is nail polish remover, and creates a stronger results than blender pen.

• Technique: Acetone or xylene work by dissolving toner and transferring it to another surface. Photocopies and laser prints give the best results, but you can also transfer images from magazine, books or newspaper. For the best results use a high contrast image.

• Tools: Burnishing tool

• Surface: Paper, canvas, sanded wood, leather, fabric.

Method:

1. Print image e (mirrored) with a laser printer or photocopy.

2. Place the image face-down on the surface.

3. Position the image printout face-down on the surface to transfer. Tape into position to prevent movement or misalignment.

4. Either use a blender pen or acetone:

   1. With the blender pen rub the back of the printout, working in small sections.

   2. Apply a small amount of acetone using a cotton ball or brush.

5. Burnish with a spoon or tool for better transfer.

6. Lift the paper carefully. Seal if needed.

⚠ Use gloves, mask and proper ventilation; acetone and xylene are toxic.

Mod Podge, Glue, Gel Medium Transfers

All three substances work similarly. These image transfers create a more embedded, hand-painted look. Good for larger artistic and colourful art transfers

• What are these mediums:

  • Gel mediums are clear acrylic paints that come in different viscosities.

  • Mod Podge is an adhesive and sealer.

  • PVC glue is an adhesive.

• Technique: Paint gel over a printed image, place it face-down on transfer surface, let it completely dry, then rub paper off with water.

• Tools: Foam brush, burnishing tool, exfoliating gloves, heat gun or hair dryer, warm water in a spray bottle or sponge.

• Surfaces: Canvas, wood, leather, fabric, and non-porous material. Paper will not work well.

Method 1:

1. Print image (mirrored) using a laser printer.

2. Brush a thick layer of gel medium onto the surface.

3. Press the image face-down onto the medium. smooth out any bubbles.

4. Let it dry completely (6–12 hours) or dry faster with a heat gun.

5. Dampen with water and rub off the paper backing.

6. Use your fingers, a soft cloth or exfoliating gloves to reveal the image.

7. Seal with varnish or more gel medium or Mod Podge.

Packing Tape or Contact Paper Transfer

Creates Transparent Decals.

• What is this: Clear plastic packing tape, used to seal cardboard boxes. Contact paper is an adhesive vinyl used for lining drawers and shelves.

• Technique: Print an image, press clear tape over it, soak in water, then rub off the paper backing. This method is great for transferring onto glass, plastic, ceramics, back of a laptop, graffiti in a street scene.

• Tools: Foam brush, burnishing tool, bowl of warm water

• Surfaces: Will adhere to any surface a sticker would normally stick to.

Method:

1. Print or photocopy your image (not mirrored)

2. Place clear packing tape over the image, pressing firmly.

3. Burnish (rub) the back to ensure full adhesion.

4. Soak in warm water for a few minutes.

5. Rub off the paper backing gently.

6. Let it dry.

7. Stick the tape (Sticker) onto your surface.

Wax Paper Transfer

This method is great for transferring an image to a wood surfaces like a small sign, crate, or box. It is also great for putting an image on a wax candle, if that very specific graphic prop ever shows up on your graphics list.

• What is this: Wax paper used to wrap food.

• Technique: Print an image directly wax paper on an inkjet printer

• Tools: Burnishing tool, heat gun

• Surfaces: Wood and wax.

Method:

1. Freezer Paper Transfer.

2. Cut freezer paper to printer size.

3. Print your image with an inkjet printer on the glossy side.

4. Quickly press the wet ink onto the transfer surface.

5. Burnish with a spoon.

6. Lift the freezer paper carefully.

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Self Promote on LinkedIn

Build, Grow and the Follow Button

Media and Content Creation for LinkedIn

How to activate Follow setting

Self-Promote on LinkedIn

LinkedIn has always been a serious job search platform, but it's also becoming an excellent place for self-promotion. The platform focuses on job search, professional achievements, career d…

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How to Instagram

Profile Page Aesthetics

Content Types, Sizing, Sharing

What to Post

Who to Follow

Perks of Being on Instagram

This post is part of a career development series that includes social media and content creation for film graphic designers. I hesitated to write about social media because many subscribers are very good at it. However, …

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In this post, I want to share a portfolio 6 case study formats. This style of portfolio layout focuses on design thinking and puts an emphasis on film set experience….not just graphic design experience. It’s an approach that might get your work noticed, whether you’re new to film graphics or trying to breathe new life into a tired portfolio.

This format relies on a mixture of visuals to provide a complete picture of the graphics within the set design and the storyline. Compare this to traditional portfolio formats, which organize graphics by film title, graphic type (packaging, vehicles, signage), or department (props, costumes, playback), which risk being long, repetitive, and lack context to your involvement in the set design.

This formula builds a visual narrative that allows the art director (or whoever is hiring) to understand the connection between your graphics and the film set, and why and how you made certain design choices. This approach provides more context than a pretty slideshow of film graphics might.

By focusing on context and process it invites you to include a variety of visuals to flesh out the narrative and make your portfolio more engaging. This type of presentation will hold the viewers interest, which is always a good strategy.

A well-done portfolio can communicate who you are as a designer and your experiences, such as:

World-Building: It demonstrates your understanding of the role film graphics play in building a cinematic world.

Storytelling: It showcases your ability to create graphics that serve the story and support the characters.

Production Design: It demonstrates how your graphics contributed to the production design vision.

Scenic Details: It showcases your ability to design for various styles, periods, and genres.

Process: It demonstrates your understanding of the steps required to take a graphic project from concept sketch to digital design to construction to camera-ready film graphic.

Technical Skills: It offers visual proof of your graphic design abilities, digital skills, and print knowledge.

Practical Set Design: It demonstrates your understanding of on-set design, including materials, dimensions, lighting, camera angles, set extensions, visual effects, location constraints, actor needs, and budget.

Provides Context: It connects how a film graphic relates to the scripted scene. Afterall, the merit of a design is at the discretion of the person reviewing your portfolio. Even the most beautifully designed pieces risk being misunderstood or misjudged without context.

In this post, I break down exactly how to make a portfolio that people are excited to look at.

Create a Visual Case Study

In this type of portfolio, film graphic projects are presented as case studies in order to highlight your creative process, the design challenges, and the final results. A case study utilizes imagery to tell a story. This visual flow allows an art director (or the person hiring) to understand your designs quickly, how they appeared on set, your role in the project, and your design collaborations.

Presentation Goal

A film graphic case study focuses on your work within a single film set. Since film graphics are integral to set design, presenting them in context is crucial. The first objective in your portfolio is to exhibit great graphic design work. Equally important, the goal is to demonstrate how your graphics enhance the story, contribute to world-building, and support the overall production design. Even seemingly mundane graphics (the not-so-fancy things) play a vital role, acting as essential building blocks of the visual world. 

How Many Examples

Start with creating one case study. Crafting a quality deck takes time, from sourcing good film stills to creating concept art and mock-ups. Each deck should focus on quality over quantity. However, a finished portfolio might range from three to twenty decks, depending on their scope. A deck might be an isolated study of a complex exterior sign or an in-depth overview of a graphics-heavy set with many details. The goal is to showcase your design and experience, not to present everything you have ever worked on. Three well-designed decks might be enough to impress.

Six Ways to Craft a Case Study

Visuals are the building blocks in a portfolio case study. It’s a collection of images that explore one theme or topic about what you have created, such as your creative process, set design branding, technical problem solving, design innovation, scenic impact, or has a history or genre focus. These visuals might include print graphics, technical drawings, photos, videos, concept art, mock-ups, renderings, research, and other design references or inspiration. Together, these design elements create a presentation that tells a compelling story that showcases your design skills and also immerses the viewer in the world you’ve helped build. 

Below are six case study strategies. These formats are intended as a starting point to organize your work and should be tailored to highlight the strengths or goals of your particular film graphic project. 

1. Case Study for Creative Process

This case study type guides the viewer through your creative process, providing a timeline from beginning, middle, to end. It’s a showcase of how your ideas evolved and contributed to the larger vision of the set design:

• Design Concept (Why make this graphic?)

  Start with the initial vision and inspiration. Represent these ideas with sketches, storyboards, concept art, mood boards, and references that set the tone for the design.

• Development: (How is this graphic made?)

  Show the progression of your work through drafts, technical drawings, progress photos, materials, construction, printing, and installation. This step illustrates problem-solving and creative decision-making.

• Final Execution (What is the final graphic?)

  Include mock-ups, renderings, or finished graphics photos in isolation or on the set. These graphics help the viewer see your designs fully realized in context.

• On-Screen Impact: (Where is the graphic in the scene?)

  Use a video clip and movie still to show how your graphics contribute to the story or world-building in the final production.

This case study story centers around your graphic design process and shows how your designs contributed to the production design.

2. Case Study for Branding a Set

This type of case study focuses on brand consistency using elements such as logos, icons, motifs, colors, and typography. It shows how design identity is applied throughout a set in the signage, props, costumes, vehicles, playback, set dressing, etc. The focus is on the design execution and how the graphic details build an immersive and believable world. Here are notable examples of graphics used to brand a set design:

• Jurassic Park (1993) The Jurassic Park logo and branding are integral to the production design, appearing on staff uniforms, vehicles, merchandise, maps, brochures, signage, and even the park’s entry gates. The cohesive graphic design creates the illusion of a fully operational theme park.

• Severance (2022) The minimalist and clinical aesthetic of the Lumon brand appears on everything from badges and office equipment to wayfinding signage and promotional materials. The cool green and blue palette reinforces the sterile corporate atmosphere.

• The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) There are two distinct branding styles for the hotel. The glamorous opulence of the 1930s hotel features an art-deco-inspired logo, color palette, and typography that appears on the signage, uniforms, keys, stationary, and even the funicular railway car. In contrast, the 1960s hotel branding was replaced with bureaucratic and utilitarian signs.

• The White Lotus (2021-2023) The tranquil lotus flower logo is featured everywhere on towels, bathrobes, uniforms, and signage, but it contrasts sharply with the dark humorous storytelling. Other design details like statues, paintings, and wallpaper murals are also a part of the hotel branding and contribute to the show’s quirky tone.

These branding examples support and elevate the storytelling, find the story in your branded set design, and show how they created a believable, immersive world.

3. Case Study for Technical Problem Solving

A problem-solving case study illustrates creativity, ingenuity, resourcefulness, and technical proficiency when faced with unique conditions on a set or location. Here's a list of areas where innovation on a set may be required:

• Simply getting a graphic onto a weird surface.

• Producing super large-scale graphics like a floor, banner, or sports turf.

• Designing a prop to endure rough conditions or repeated handling.

• Designing signage for a forced perspective shot.

• Devising an installation solution for location-sensitive graphics so as not to damage property or prevent a safety hazard.

• Designing for new systems or technology such as interactive graphics for LED volume walls, augmented reality scenes, or AI-generated graphics.

• Weatherproofing graphics to withstand harsh filming conditions, such as rain, wind, extreme temperatures, or a blazing sun.

4. Case Study for Design Innovation

Showcase a creative experiment or technical innovation in your film graphic work. Include images of the design process and outcome to visually showcase your skills. For example, documenting graphics created with old or new printing techniques such as:

• Utilizing traditional graphic design processes such as block printing, screen printing, cyanotype, letterpress, etching, mono-printing, photocopy manipulation, image transferring, hand-drawing machines, stenciling, chalk drawing, and hand lettering.

• Creating a graphic with new technology such as CNC, digital etching or screen printing, laser cutting, UV flatbed printing, 3D printing, digital screen, electro-forming, digital embroidery, engraving, or UV printing on unique materials or objects.

Another creative case study could illustrate how a design problem was solved for a specific film graphic, such as:

• Recreating digital technology for a retro or out-of-date computer interface, digital display, or a new fantasy technology.

• Adapting modern printing techniques to mimic outdated processes or achieve unique finishes, such as letterpress effects or handmade textures.

• Creating fantasy elements like an alien alphabet, fantasy glyphs, or futuristic interfaces to fit a fictional world.

• Sourcing materials to recreate bygone period-accurate materials.

• Recreating historical finishes, texture, or aging techniques.

5. Scenic Impact Case Study

Sometimes, a film graphic has a noticeable effect, such as enhancing the story, impacting the production design, and leaving an impression on the audience. While we can’t predict a cultural phenomenon, we know when a graphic is special to the director, production designer, and all the producers. It can be interesting to share the intended impact on the story with design. Here are a few iconic examples:

• Superbad, 2007: The absurd, funny, and simple fake “McLovin” Hawaiian ID was a pivotal plot device and became a cultural icon.

• The Shining, 1980: The surreal geometric Carpet Design in Overlook Hotel intended to create an eerie, unsettling atmosphere.

• Blade Runner, 1982: Neon cityscape signage in the dystopian cityscape intended to set the tone for a futuristic world.

• Stranger Things: Dungeons & Dragons Game Board is a storytelling device that visually bridges the ordinary world and the Upside Down.

• Parks and Recreation: The politically incorrect Pawnee murals at City Hall intended to set the tone for the fictional town’s funny, crude, and problematic history.

• The X-Files: The “I Want to Believe” Poster is intended to symbolize the show’s central theme of seeking truth.

• Fight Club, 1999: The Ikea catalog overlay is intended to visualize the character’s obsession with consumer culture and set a satirical tone.

6. Historical Period Case Study

This film graphic case study focuses on the research, authenticity, and execution of vintage-looking graphics for a specific era or cultural aesthetic. Visually communicate how you studied the period or culture. Compare how your research influenced the designs. Highlight era-specific details or building techniques that added authenticity to the final work on set.

Here’s a brief list of imagery types for a research case study for a historical film or TV show:

• Archival References and Inspiration: Add photos, documents, ephemera, packaging, posters, signage, labels, and period artifacts.

• Research Boards: Collages of textures, colors, typography, motifs, materials, and printing techniques available in that time or place.

• Sketches and Concept Art: Show design evolution and process.

• Graphic Techniques: Visuals of hand-drawn elements, typography recreation, or digital aging effects.

• On-Set: In-situ photos of graphics integrated into sets (e.g., shop signs, storefronts, books, letters, tickets, fabric patterns, and costume insignias.

• Before-and-After: Comparisons between historical references and final on-set graphics.

Building Blocks of a Portfolio Case Study

Putting all the pieces together requires a balance of visual and written storytelling. The goal is to communicate your creative process, the rationale behind your designs, and how the final pieces integrate into the set to support the film’s narrative. These are the building blocks or formatting to use to illustrate a case study:

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Create a Permutation Sigil

Create a Magic Square Sigil

Create a Esoteric Sigil

Create a Geomantic Sigil

Create a Binary Point Sigil

Create a Natural Sigil

Refine the Shape Language

What’s a Sigil?

A sigil is a sign, word, or object with occult power or magic. They are made with the intent to create a desired outcome, whether it be a…

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What’s a Sigil?

Temporary Sigils

Permanent Sigils

What is a Sigil?

Sigils are a type of symbol. Unlike typical symbols, which are recognizable icons like a dollar sign or a Christian Cross that hold a specific cultural meaning, sigil…

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High Concept Floor Design

Materials: Real World vs Film Set

Outputting Your Digital Files

Why your Floor is the Wrong Size

The Best Construction Methods

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In this issue:

How does AI take our artwork?

What can you do to protect your work?

How to know if your work was used to train AI

How to remove your work from a generative AI database

How does AI take our artwork?

AI generative art exists because it trains using art, design, and photography that we upload to the World Wide Web. AI scrapes everything online, especially on sites where you consent to the agreement terms for platforms like Pinterest, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X (Twitter). I suspect anything stored on cloud servers like Google is also fair game for training data and imagery. Platforms continually update their agreements, so if you’re concerned, read the user clause. 

What can you do to protect your work?

You can’t reverse the training an AI generative art app has already done with your work, but you can stop (or reduce) the damage going forward. 

• Remove personal art, photos, data, or information, such as photos of your children, from the Internet. 

• Change your settings in Meta to stop Instagram and Facebook from using your data for its AI. Find the new section about Meta AI, which includes a link to an opt-out form called “Right to object.” Go here for more instructions.

• For professional work on social media, add watermarks, digital signatures, and metadata that explicitly state your preference not to be included in AI datasets. While this won’t stop all uses, it might discourage some platforms from including your art. Plus, the law might be more aggressive in the future, so stating your copyright now could help you legally later. I’m not a lawyer, but it seems like a useful preemptive strike. 

• Use an Opt-Out Services when you can. Some companies and platforms, such as Substack, offer an opt-out button where you can request the removal of work from AI training datasets. 

• Use a Creative Commons license for your work, and make sure to select a license that explicitly prohibits commercial use or derivative works. This may help protect your art from being used in AI training without your permission.

• Use anti-AI tags on your work. Many online art communities have developed tags like “NoAI” or “AIOptOut” that can be added to the metadata of digital artworks. While these are not legally binding, they signal your intent to opt out of AI datasets. Whether the platform does or doesn’t support Anti AI tags or metadata, I suggest using them for future protection. Here are a few sites supporting artists:

  • DeviantArt, one of the largest online communities for artists, introduced an “AI Opt-Out” option. Artists can add a “NoAI” tag to their artworks, and it provides tools for bulk tagging existing works, making it easier for artists to apply the “NoAI” tag to their entire gallery.

  • ArtStation, a platform popular with entertainment industry professionals, introduced an “AI Opt-Out” feature, allowing artists to indicate that they do not want their work used in AI training. The platform adds metadata to the artwork, signaling this preference. They also added a “NoAI” tag for individual pieces, and artists can opt out of AI usage across their entire portfolio.

  • Flickr, the photo-sharing site, allows users to choose Creative Commons licenses. Users can manually tag their images “NoAI” or “AIOptOut” or rely on Creative Commons licenses restricting commercial use or derivative works.

  • On website builders like Wix and Squarespace, artists can add custom metadata and tags to their images to indicate that they do not wish their work to be used in AI training. While they don’t have built-in AI protection, users can include licensing information and opt-out statements in their image metadata or website terms of service. The Wix site has helpful information on AI protection.

• Use metadata, which is information embedded within your image about how it was created, the usage rights, licensing, and ownership. An image with metadata gives you a better chance of tracking who has clicked, downloaded, or used it. You can also embed anti-AI tags like "NoAI" or "AIOptOut" to signal that your image is not permitted in an AI training dataset. Use Adobe Bridge to add metadata and protect your work.

  • Learn more legal info on metadata from the Creative Law Center.

  • Need instructions on how to add metadata? Check out The Association of Medical Illustrators how to page.

• Add a Watermark using Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.

• Cloak images with online tools designed to help artists protect their digital images from being used in AI training without their consent. 

  • Glaze adds subtle changes to an image that are invisible to the human eye but can confuse AI models, making it difficult for them to learn from or replicate the protected artwork.

  • Mist, like Glaze, works by making small, strategic changes to an image that don’t affect its appearance to the human eye but will interfere with the way AI models perceive and learn from the image.

  • Nightshade Instead of just confusing the AI, Nightshade goes a step further by adding patterns that can "poison" the AI model’s training process, leading it to learn incorrect features from the image.

How to know if your work has been used to train AI.

Discover if your work has been scraped at Have I been Trained. This is a website for artists to search and find out if their artwork has been included in a dataset for training AI. The site is part of a broader effort to increase transparency and give creators more control over their work. Use their search function to input keywords, phrases, or even upload your artwork to see if it appears in any AI training datasets.

• The tool will show you any instances where your work may have been included. This can be particularly useful if you suspect that your art is being used without your permission.

• If you find your work in the dataset, “Have I Been Trained” provides a instructions to request its removal. The site guides you on how to contact the dataset creators or relevant platforms to make this request. Notes on requests to remove: 

  • Not all platforms will honor removal requests, especially if they’re managed by decentralized or unregulated entities.

  • “Have I Been Trained” doesn’t cover every dataset, so not all uses of your work will be detectable.

How to remove your work from a generative AI database:

• File a DMCA Takedown Request. If you find your work being used without permission, you can file a Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notice with the platform hosting the dataset. This legal process can be effective, especially if your art is copyrighted and was included in a dataset without your consent.

• Reach out to the AI platform directly to request the removal of your art; be prepared to be persistent.

• In some cases, legal action might be necessary, especially if your work is used in a way that violates your copyright or moral rights. Consulting with a lawyer who specializes in intellectual property law can provide you with options tailored to your situation.

The Downside of Protection

By protecting your work with watermarks, digital signatures, metadata, and anti-AI tags you kill your SEO. In other words, the algorithm on platforms like Instagram or search engine’s like Google won’t work as well. So if you are putting work online to be seen and get traction for your career, some of these protection methods might make you completely invisible online. It’s a catch-22.

AI Protection Tools

• Glaze: is a free tool used to cloak your art style It adds pixel-level noise that appears normal to humans but makes the art style appear completely different to an AI model.

• Nightshade: is an offensive tool designed to disrupt AI models by poisoning their training data. It alters images so that AI interprets them differently and confuse the AI when attempting to recreate it.

• Overlai: an iPhone-based app that embeds an invisible watermark and meta-data to signal to AI models that the image should not be used for training.

• Mist Designed to prevent AI models from accurately imitating an artist’s style. It poisons AI training by adding noise, and creates an ugly, full-bleed watermark when a AI tries to reproduce stolen artwork.

For maximum protection use Glaze to protect your work and Nightshade to poison the data.

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Officials Sign with Personality

The Shortest History

Reflections from a Real Stop Sign

How to Make a Fake Stop Sign

World Building with Signs

All about Sign Aging

Making a Stand

Official signs with personalty

Recreating an official road sign seems basic. However, the sign should look like it belongs to a scripted fictional world. After all, it’s not a real sign, it just plays one on TV. Every circumstance within the scenic environment will shape the appearance of this sign. The graphic designer uses film-friendly materials, aging, and texture to achieve its distinct personality. 

Take the “Breaking Bad” example above. It’s not just a stop sign; it’s a gateway into the gritty realm of drug crime. The Spanish wording suggests the scene is in Mexico, the bullet holes indicate cartel territory, and the sign’s weathering reveals a harsh desolate landscape.

In this post, we’ll look at how to make a stop sign for a film and how to specify the aesthetic details and finishes for cinematic world building.

The shortest history

It was William Phelps Eno who first conceived of signs to control traffic after his horse and buggy got stuck in a traffic jam in 1867. His road rage seeded the idea that eventually led to the first stop sign in New York City, a 2' x 2' square with a white background and black letters.

Timeline

• 1915: Stop signs in random shapes, sizes, and colors start appearing on corners. Yellow with black text was popular.

• 1920: AASHO devises a unique octagonal shape to alert drivers to stop.

• 1935: MUTCD mandates that stop signs be octagonal. Signs commonly have a yellow or red background.

• 1954: MUTCD mandates all stop signs be red and octagonal.

• 1971: A US law standardized the stop sign to be 30" wide, mounted 7 feet above the ground, and red with white letters, and a 3/4" white line around the edge.

Reflections from a real-world stop sign 

Real stop signs are created with either vinyl-cut graphics or are screen printed, but all have a reflective surface for nighttime visibility. Many different reflective materials have been tried over the years, such as the cat-eye marbles seen in “A Shadow of a Doubt” example above. These were discontinued, because they were high maintenance. The marbles went missing or became dull when dirty.

Today, stop signs are covered with retroreflective sheeting made from tiny glass beads or prisms that reflect light and make the sign highly visible to a driver at night.

Here’s the thing about highly reflective prisms of light on a film set: they’re not always popular. Reflective material can be an issue for controlling light on camera. So, unless the director, DOP, and production designer request it, don’t add shiny, reflective, bright white materials.

How to make a fake stop sign

Choosing a size:

What size you make the stop sign depends on how it’s used.1

• 18" x 18" is great for a bike, pedestrian path or hand-held.

• 24" x 24" is suitable for parking lots.

• 30" x 30" is the official street size on a conventional road.

• 36" x 36" used at hazardous intersections, off-ramps, multi-lane approaches, or anywhere traffic is fast and dangerous.

Choosing a substrate:

Real-world stop signs are constructed from aluminum, steel and sometimes plywood. The material you choose depends on the era, the condition, and where it is used. Here are three common film construction choices:

Dibond or Alupanel (aluminum composite board)

Dibond is a layered composite that has a polyethylene sheet (like foam board) sandwiched between two thin aluminum outer sheets. The aluminum face looks natural, but the composite layers are visible along the edge. To manage the problem, paint the edges to match the final sign. This material can be moderately aged. However, heavy aging with holes, corrosion, or degradation might not work as well as other materials.

Dibond is lightweight so it’s easy to hang temporarily on location. Set decorators use a sticky adhesive called Crystalgel (snot) or masking tape to dress a set fast. For example, say you're shooting in Quebec where French stop signs say Arrêt, an English Dibond sign can easily cover it.

Sintra Board (or PVC Board) 

Sintra is a rigid plastic sheeting that comes in various depths. This durable material is easily cut and shaped and is perfect for raised or routered graphics. Cut sintra has very sharp edges that need to be addressed to create authentic aged sign. Sanding will soften sharp edges, while epoxy or caulk can fill the sharp angles made where layers connect.

Sintra is a good choice to replicate a dimensional old wood or iron sign. Also, it’s heavier weight is a better option to mount on a pole as it won’t sail around or bend in the wind.

Aluminum Sheeting

Aluminum is affordable, but it’s not usually the first choice for a film sign. A 30”x30” aluminum sign is a heavy piece to install temporarily, making it a fall hazard. A falling metal sign could hurt someone, destroy property, or disrupt a scene with a noisy clatter.

However, aluminum is an excellent choice when a sign is attached to a pole. The weight prevents the wind or people from moving it around. Aluminum is also perfect for a realistically aged modern stop sign, especially when there are rusted holes or edges, or it needs to be bent or warped.

Choosing a Font

Many US road signs utilize one of two typefaces. In the 1960s most signs used Highway Gothic, a blunt font without much detail and some readability issues. The spacing with “a,” “e,” and “u,” makes it look more like an “o” when read at higher speed, and lower-case letters like “i” and “l” are hard to tell apart. As a result, it was replaced in 2007 with Clearview Typeface. It’s easier to read, especially at night and from a distance. Yet, even with the introduction of Clearview as an official font, signage with Highway Gothic is still more common on American roads.

Building a world with signage

World-building is all about creating the fictional place described in the script. It involves establishing the story’s setting, culture, history, geography, and overall atmosphere. The film’s period, location, mood, and aesthetic is considered for every set piece, to ensures everything contributes to building a cohesive world on screen. 

Signage is part of world-building. A stop sign of screen is more than a 30”x30” red octagon with white text. Every component tells a story with its age, materials, manufacturing, installation, weathering, location, and interaction with people. Each unique circumstance in the environment helps to create its personality. Specifying these details is the responsibility of the film graphic designer who communicates these construction notes to the vendor and crew who make and install the sign.

In the “Ghostbusters: Afterlife” example above the stop sign has a cartoonish bite and slime stains. It is likely two signs were made for before and after the bite, and everything in between was CGI.

All About Sign Aging

Every exterior sign has a story of wear and tear. How the age appears on each sign depends on the weather, geography, environment, and human factors. Aging reveals itself as peeling, dripping, cracking, fading, swelling, warping, bending, splintering, crumbling, breaking and rusting. Here’s what to consider when building a sign to fit your film world. 

Water: 

• Damage from rain, snow, hail, ice, humidity, or saltwater exposure will lead to patterns of rusting, streaking, fading, staining, corrosion, and discoloration. 

Sunlight:

• Bright light fades colors over time.

• UV rays crack and degrade the paint and coating.

• Extreme cold cracks the paint, coating and hardware.

• Extreme heat warps, bubbles, and melts the surface.

Wind:

• Wind-blown debris will scratch or damage the surface of the sign. 

• Wind-fallen branches will knock signs out of place.

• Sand or dust causes erosion and scratches and dulls the sign’s finish. 

• Strong winds stress the hardware, causing it to loosen or unfasten.

• The wind can carry corrosive or toxic pollutants from nearby industrial facilities and cause fading, rusting, disintegration and holes.

Nature:

• A damp environment creates discoloration and growth from algae, moss, mildew, or lichen. 

• Grass, weeds, moss, fungus, or vines can grow up or around the post.

Human:

• Vehicle emissions add a dirt and grime buildup. 

• Puddle splashes or hits of liquid from bottles. 

• Vandalism leaves signs with graffiti, bullet holes, and stickers. 

• Car accidents cause signs to crack, dent, lean, or break.

• Stolen hardware may cause a sign to hang loose.

Making a stand 

Whether you choose a round galvanized steel post, a U-channel post, or a wooden post, your sign will need a way to stand. If it's on a back lot, your sign might be installed semi-permanently. However, if the stand is on location it will need a temporary base that is hidden from camera view. This is easy to hide in grass, but a challenge if the stop sign is on a flat surface like pavement.

Here are some standard methods to hide the base:

• Greens: Grass, gravel, and foliage will disguise a sign base. 

• Paint and texture: To blend in seamlessly, paint the base to match the surrounding pavement, sidewalk, or road texture.

• Set dressing: Set dressing can hide the base by strategically placing small objects like trash bins, traffic cones, or a bike in front of it.

Take a look at the examples pictured below. In ‘The Wire,’ the top left image, the sign is supported by a small stand and possibly sandbagged. I am sure it’s the same stop sign reused in the alley image on the top right, where the stop sign base is hidden behind set decor junk. In ‘Atlanta,’ the base is visible but not immediately noticeable because of the camera angle. Finally, in ‘Yellowstone,’ the stand is hidden in tall grass and sandbagged or planted into the ground.

Nuts, bolts and clamps

There isn't an elegant method for mounting a sign on a pole. In most cases, clamps secure the sign from the back, but the bolts are visible on the front. If you're creating a temporary 'cover' sign, remember to specify faux hardware details to create authenticity.

Check out this video on How a New York Stop Sign is Made

PDF download for the current US Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices for Streets and Highways

List of International Road and Traffic Sign Fonts you didn’t know you needed.

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