Colin Harman

The idea of choosing a focal length is an odd metaphor for anything but photography. It may feel completely disconnected, and you may be right, but if you read on I’ll try to show you the parallel that’s been revealed for me. Choosing the focal length for a camera isn’t something the average person who’s not involved in photography or video typically thinks about, so allow me to explain a few basics.

Focal length is the factor in photography which chooses what you focus on. It’s the “zooming” part of the lens (if your lens has that). The basic principle you need to understand is that it helps you define what you are able to capture within the confines of the viewable space in your shot. It not only allows you to focus on what is most important, but also removes what is seemingly not as important.

To cite a few examples of various lenses for context let’s say a 50mm lens is depicting real life as we see it. Theoretically it’s exactly what our eyes see. (For all of you smarty pants kids out there who right now are thinking “that’s not what a 50mm does” I realize this is not entirely accurate but for the purpose of example, work with me here.)

Let’s then say that a 500mm zoom lens, or maybe a macro lens (pick your favorite) allows you to zoom into the very small detail of something. It allows you to get so close to something that you are able to see the individual hairs on a fly’s leg. Or it lets you zoom across the street to see what your neighbor in the building across the street is reading on his iPad at the breakfast table (weird example, sorry).

Lastly, imagine you have a like a 14mm fisheye lens that lets you see almost 180° both vertically and horizontally. While it allows you to see more things than maybe your human eyes could actually see, in order for it to give you this magical gift of more, it has to distort reality to fit it all into this confined space. While it’s useful in some applications, it’s not always a “more is better” situation.

My goodness, I can’t believe you are still reading this mind rant. Thanks for sticking around, I promise this has a point.

So we as designers, as artists, as creatives, are tasked with the choice of choosing the lens for our audience or clients. They all have a camera, and we are to choose what they see. What we want them to focus on. We are supposed to decide when they need to see the big picture (14mm fisheye), they can just see it as it is (50mm) or when they need to have laser focus on a minute detail (macro/zoom). We don’t just do this to be control freaks (although some see that as the goal) but we do this to help provide clarity and context. To bring understanding, and to help people know their part in something.

So how do we know when to use which focal length?

What if we all we did was show people what we saw? What if we just gave them the 50mm view. It would feel like our point and shoot 50mm lens family photos that everyone takes but no one really wants to go back and look at. It’s just a “oh that’s nice ” but it really brings no intrigue, no mystery. It doesn’t inform or delight. It’s just “normal” and not intriguing. So much around us is “normal” so why would we choose more of that?

We want to be engaged in something that captures us, not just whatever is in front of us.

If we were to always use the macro/zoom lens, even though it provides lots of detail and helps bring understanding of a small part, it can be very confusing because it lacks context. We wouldn’t know how this small part relates to the bigger whole because it’s possibly too intricate. If you only saw the fly’s leg hair, you’d have no idea it was a fly’s leg hair and not just the leg hair off your Uncle Remus in his glory days of high school when the roads weren’t paved. Does that make sense?

Knowing the details of something, while maybe fun to look at, is pointless if you have no context for what you’re looking at.

Lastly, in the same way by only using the fisheye lens, while giving you a view of a lot more stuff and showing you context for where things are, it has to distort the image to do so. It has to take everything that you wouldn’t normally see, and bring it into a view where there’s more information than is needed. This effect is usually used to assure that “nothing that could be seen is missed” but it’s typically not necessary for normal use. It brings in more information, but because it distorts so much, it starts to feel overwhelming, like it’s too much at once. Though the fisheye has a way of bringing in more information, it doesn’t help bring any understanding other than being able to see everything, but removes the ability to differentiate from what doesn’t matter and what does.

In a situation where clarity is key, showing someone too many things clouds what you truly want them to foucs on.

Our audiences are asking us to choose their lens for them whether they realize it or not. We can’t ask them what they want, because most of the time they don’t know. We are here to help them. To assist, to bring clarity, to surprise, to delight, to bring focus, to remove distraction. We do this so that what truly matters can be at the forefront in a memorable and inspiring way.

These are all extreme cases, and somewhere in all of this you have to find the happy place for your project, whatever it may be. Choosing the focal length is a big responsibility. It takes understanding your audience, honing your skills, and it’s something that isn’t just “figured out” and then you’re done. It’s a tension to be managed. It will forever require extra thought and empathy. There is no formula, there are no rules. But when you get it right you will know it, and when you get it wrong, everyone will miss what matters. No pressure.

Learn through processes, learn from experience, learn from failures (lots of them), learn from people more wise and seasoned than you, learn by accident, learn by research, learn by doing, learn from teaching someone else what you are learning. Bottom line, keep learning how to choose the right focal length for your project and for those who are depending on you to show them what matters.

I was asked yesterday what replenishes me, what builds me up, where I discover the most. I had to give it a bit of thought, because I could think of a list of things that filled me up when I felt empty, gave me that extra push when I couldn’t get motivated, things that brought more out of me than I thought was in me, etc, but needed to find out what all those had in common. I love getting stretched, critiqued, pushed, and even when it’s no fun I realize that it’s important and for my best interest. But what was it that they all required for me to get to that place?

I realize, that the common denominator was this: I love being around people who are better than me. It doesn’t have to be some particular thing that they are better at, just anything. I could be equally inpsired by someone who’s incredible talented at working on cars, or a brilliant creative thinker, someone whose walk with God spurs me towards Christ, an unfathomable problem solver, a gifted designer, an incredible cook, or even someone who can make a perfectly straight photocopy everytime. I love being shown there’s a new way to do something that is beyond my knowledge. I love having my mind blown, my faith increased, my desire for attention to detail increased, and being shown how things can just be all around better than they are.

I need to be pushed, and the way I that I do that is by surrounding myself with people that have passion, vision, and a like-minded desire of progress in whatever they are doing. It doesn’t matter what you’re doing, but if you’re amazing me while you’re doing it, I am thankful for you. You inspire me to get beyond who I am into who God calls me to be.

On the evening of Tuesday, March 8, The Architectural League gave its President’s Medal to Lella and Massimo Vignelli. The award (past recipients of which include John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Hugh Ferriss, Joseph Urban, Richard Meier, Robert A.M. Stern, and Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown) was given to the Vignellis “in recognition of a body of work so influential in its breadth that it has shaped the very way we see the world.”

Pentagram’s Michael Bierut, an Architectural League vice president who began his career over 30 years ago as a junior designer at Vignelli Associates, designed the the program we see here. The five different covers featured a quote from Vignelli printed in PMS Super Warm Red and set in Helvetica of course.

So why are these five Vignelli-isms important?


When I first came across this I immediately saw five lessons to live by rather than just five miscellaneous quotes. They appear self explanatory but read each and give it a moment alone in your mind:

• One life is too short for doing everything.
• We like design to be visually powerful, intellectually elegant, and above all timeless.
• If you can design one thing, you can design everything.
• If you do it right, it will last forever.
• The life of a designer is a life of fight against the ugliness.

The untrimmed press sheets unexpectedly served as posters that were available to the gala's guests as souvenirs.

This is Conan O’Brien’s Farewell Speech from NBC. It’s really well laid out and beautiful. Kudos to Jacob Gilbreath for this great work.

Created in Illustrator, Soundbooth, Cinema 4D, After Effects

This Kinetic Typography project was created from the dialogue of Conan O’Brien’s final episode of The Tonight Show on NBC. In this farewell address, he describes his feelings towards NBC and the situation at hand. His personality exudes positivity and humor allowing this dialogue to describe his character very well. Even through the hardships of leaving NBC he promotes hard work and kindness.

The concept behind this video is to show Conan O’Brien as a the monumental entertainer and solid wall that he is. Conan O’Brien is and will continue to be a seasoned television entertainer. After drawing inspiration from Lou Dorfsman’s Gastrotypographicalassemblage, this concept was achieved by creating a literal wall from over 60 individual typographic layouts. These custom crafted layouts reference a variety of eclectic type design. The combination of eclectic typography and modern 3D letter forms achieved in Cinema 4D provides a contrast between old and new. This contrast emphasizes time to create a sturdy and timeless object. This solidity and timelessness is the perfect representation of Conan O’Brien.