I’ve been working on a zine.

At first I had parts in there about design but I’m not feeling it anymore.

The stuff I’m taking out I’m just going to post here, mostly since popjellyfish wanted to read it, and maybe a few of you might actually need to. Its unfinished, and pretty unstructured, but its never going to get out unless I get it out now.

Its essentially design gripes from my own little point of view, somewhat in the context of speaking to my community of occultniks as a whole. I’m not sure I can even stand behind it, philosophically, but nevertheless, here it is. Enjoy.

Pretty Damned For Kids : Style Sheet Witchcraft

As a designer with a good network of creative and intelligent friends who represent their work online, it has been hard to navigate while biting my tongue. I have a backlog of criticism and unasked for advice when it comes to logos, site design, and identity creation that will never find its way out of my system unless I let it out, so in the following I attempt to relieve myself.

Specifically, my network is comprised of people who are all familiar with concepts such as memetics, magic, and marketing. I personally detest the practice of marketing the use of marketing as magic, because its tacky, but I also don’t have a problem with good natured hypocrisy. I am a ‘chaos magician’ after all, and thats just how we roll, right? Anyways, the following is addressed to those who understand this paragraph. This is especially for those who are creators of niche media and arts.

It seems to me that my community for the most part got into the occult via Chaos Magic or Crowley, but altogether ignored Anton Lavey, because somehow he was harder to take seriously than those two sources of reputable flimflam. Memes they may have missed out are on some of the most important ones a serious business wizard can have. LaVey’s magic is centered on practicality before spirituality, focused on the results in the here-and-now. In particular, Lesser Magic:

Non-ritual or manipulative magic, sometimes called “LESSER MAGIC,” consists of the wile and guile obtained through various devices and contrived situations, which when utilized, can create “change, in accordance with one’s will.” In olden times this would be called “fascination,” “glamour,” or the “evil eye.” […] To manipulate a person, you must first be able to attract and hold his attention.

- Lavey

Lets factor in here what you know about memetics. Understand that every single thing you post, how you post it, and where you post it to, includes more information than you may have intended. You are getting attention, but is it presented in a way which has your best interests in mind?

Just as much as symbols, words, and well designed logos have a power of all their own, as does design, whether its book covers or blog templates. Your visual identity is the most important part of how you represent yourself in mediated spaces. There is only a split second to rope someone in to getting them interested in reading your words or taking in your art, you have to make it count. Your visual identity is what you have communicated before you have even said anything.

Just like a priceless picture in an ugly frame, or a beautiful woman dressed like a Juggalo, your content being presented in a tasteless, jarring, or noisey fashion, is only going to make your content more obscure and less relatable to your intended audience.

If the cover of your book looks like it wasn’t thought out very well, what does that say about its contents before the reader gets to it? If your blog design looks awkward and ill groomed, what mindset have you put your readers in before they read what you even have to say?

It is fine to be punk or poor sheik, if thats your angle, but being entirely tasteless in an environment which is dominated and filtered through design sense can only substantially weaken ones agenda in the competetive sphere of attention.

The fact that I know that many of you are well acquainted with the idea of mememtics, but don’t seem to be utilizing it even while trying to make a buck off your understanding of it boggles my mind. Or even in general, I really expected the lot of you to know better. Language is not bound by words, it is in every perceivable detail. Substance matters, but the style points are more than essential to have balanced against that, especially if your project has a high dorkatude quotient or is almost incomprehensible by virtue of its complexity.

A list of do’s and don’ts. There are some pretty clear donts, but the realm of what works is only confined by ones imagination and grace. Pick and choose, these are all random tips I have that could all be elaborated on, but I wont do that for free.

Tips :

Don’t let yourself get outdated, and don’t overcompensate in your new material by using every latest embed code or stylistic cliché, it will only make you less relevant. Be minimalistic when you can afford it, but not sterile.

Don’t fool yourself into thinking the first thing you come up with is the best or most appropriate.

Don’t regurgitate information without weighing in on it, or else you muffle your voice.

Especially if you are tone deaf and blind, don’t pretend that harmony and color do not exist simply because it is a world unavailable to you. This goes double for you cerebral and empiricist writers out there.

Musicians and artists, don’t have your content managed in a way that cerebral writers cannot understand it. Unleashing the gibberish without any foreplay will only make your art appear as less meaningful and important.

Dada works fine if your objective isn’t to be successful, which is a perfectly amicable path to go down, just don’t butthurt get when no one gives a fuck.

Don’t labor over design choices if you aren’t a designer. Access your talents honestly and allow yourself to be represented in your best possible light. DIY means that sometimes its going to off as crappy, so avoid that if it is not the desired result, get some help.

Never rely on ‘the cloud’ the provide for you. Any swath of humanity will inevitably let you down, unless you are adept at rallying up the troops, and I mean really adept, not just bossy.

Get your site hosted, and have access to your FTP space. Don’t ever host your site at a domain you don’t own. Blogspots, myspaces, wordpress.coms, and facebook pages, should never be the main page of your project, ever.

Remind people of your content, but don’t be a shill. Create hype by building excitement over time for releases, adding new information while using some repetition.

Novelty is key. The fastest traveling information is bizarre, taboo, or illegal.

Make people want to spread information about you.

Have promotional graphics. Look important.

Allow hotlinking to your content, people will find their way to you.

Watermark important images, and be tasteful about it, small and non-obscuring.

Find your voice, make your humanity and personality felt. Create intimacy.

Make it easy for people to spread information about you.

Actively join digital communities where you don’t know anyone yet. People you do know may follow you, interact, and generate interest for new individuals.

Be topical when you have new content that reflects your reactions, otherwise refrain from being a voice in the chorus, unless your initiative includes either jingoism or bleeding heart sentimentality.

Have a good logo. Pay for it.

Make the front of your site a business card, fast pertitent information.

If you want people to participate in discussions, make it as easy as possible.

Avoid registrations.

Think of everything in terms of how many clicks it takes to find what people want from you, or complete an order.

If you need to show your face, be attractive. If you aren’t, embrace your ugly.  Be memorable. Be honest.

Have a well designed blog theme. Make your twitter theme match it. Carry your visual identity around wherever possible.

Don’t put up adsense unless you genuinely have a decent volume of traffic. Support others, especially that return linkages, but don’t clutter yourself.

TAKE DESIGN RISKS. Especially for you oddballs out there, allow your work to be presented in a space that is both alien, yet compelling in its novelty.

If you believe in your work, invest in it.

Be concise, no matter how esoteric your initiative is. If you can’t explain yourself in half a tweet, you have failed.

Choose a good name. No numbers, no hard to read or drawn out titles. Be punchy, clear, and memorable. Dont be too generic or general, dont be too confined, in case your projects change its scope. Use unique words and phrases, be clever, but not indecipherable.

Dont rebrand unless you really have to.  Seriously!

The older your intended audience, the less major design or branding changes you should make, once you have an established identity. If skewing young, go crazy.

When online you can prepare for how you come across, so show your ideas to someone who may help you, ask them to be honest and critical, because filling up on empty praise from friends wont do anything but drag you down. Be sure to ask, the best criticism is seldom volunteered.

Dont be influenced by people with less depth than you.

A lack of generated interest is a lack of design. If you are being ignored, or your intended audience is not participating as you desired, it is the fault of bad design.

Love what you do, and how you do it. It will show, and be an infectious sentiment.

I could go on. But not for free.

You guys should know this stuff, backwards and forwards. Its pretty damned for kids.

Tags: occult, stencil style