It’s a graphic style
Stretching dollars in design means embracing and leveraging limitations. Or as Stefan Bucher of 344 Design puts it, “For lo-fi, I think of a particular graphic style. Cheap production means nothing. The right style can make cheap production look totally hi-fi.” Going lo-fi gives designers a chance— and a reason—to experiment. In the view of many designers, a lo-fi approach doesn’t have to be confined to projects that are cash-restricted. It may just be the right approach in terms of aesthetics.

Handmade simplicity in lo-fi graphics speaks of a straightforward approach. Handmade and hightouch are common threads in lo-fi projects. These pieces run the gamut of client types and project purposes. Different problems may be tackled, but the same conceptual approach is employed.

A rough-hewn appearance is often provided by typography and illustration styles as well as paper stock and printing. Distortion and visual noise—either as a result of a production technique, for example uneven ink coverage in printing, or as a deliberate artistic choice—are hallmarks of lo-fi. The rough handmade look and feel is recreated digitally to appear authentic.

Inherent in the lo-fi style is an emotional resonance. Often there are references to the past. Storytelling narrative threads can be woven into the design, as seen in Modern Dog’s Crocodile posters. Vernacular design, leveraged in lo-fi graphics, is bound to evoke certain meanings and connotations. In addition, lo-fi can seem more spontaneous. “Mistakes” become a desirable part of the look, which can give lo-fi graphics a more honest tone to serve to the client’s message.

Meaning and use
Lo-fi is not just for arts and culture organizations, although for them it’s an obvious choice. Social consciousness and budget limits can be effectively and successfully linked via a lo-fi strategy. Environmentalism and lo-fi are a particularly good match, as their modes are often in sync. Sundance Film Festival’s environmental concerns motivated AdamsMorioka to limit the use of slick materials and go lo-fi.

But as businesses seek to establish personal connections, lo-fi graphics also offer a way for the handmade to move out of the world of arts and culture and into the corporate sector. The lo-fi approach can grab and hold attention, standing out in a slick world as a reaction against all that is super-polished and prepackaged. The Gartner annual report designed by Cahan & Associates shows that lo-fi can even work in corporate financial reporting.

Originally motivated by primitive production constraints, lo-fi is now sought out or synthesized. For many designers, it’s a backlash against overproduced style and work that is too digital-looking. Lofi offers an inspired way to use design within budget constraints. If you know going in where you want to arrive, you can still do great lo-fi design.

 

Lo-Fi Production Techniques Limited number of ink colors Multipurpose pieces (e.g., a self-mailer that’s a poster when opened) Inexpensive paper stocks (newsprint, offset opaques) Colored stocks (good with onecolor printing) Prefabricated materials (preconverted pocket folders, etc.) Stickers & rubber stamps (very multipurpose to liven up projects) Handmade (handbound booklets, hand-assembled invitations) Woodcuts and linoleum cuts for print reproduction Letterpress Screenprinting Photocopying Found materials & graphic elements Repurposed stock (use makeready sheets, print over existing stuff, recycle in real time) Offbeat suppliers (newspaper printers, business supplies, novelty items)

Lo-Fi Graphic Style Techniques Naiveté: handmade retro quality, ageless simplicity Unsettling juxtaposition of elements and messages Handmade-looking illustration (e.g., woodcuts, linoleum cuts, stamps) Uneven background colors (marker streaks, pattern excesses, natural chipboard) Embracing the natural: Even if the printing is 4/c process, it appears to have a coarse, natural look Typography: distressed, vintage, actual wood and metal type or reproductions Borders: repeating pattern elements of scrolls, filigree, bars of various weights Colors: uneven, limited (or not), thicks and thins in coverage, not fully saturated “Orderly chaos”: frenetic bits held within borders, backgrounds, and energetic type

About the author
Terry Stone is a design management consultant and educator. She is the strategy director for AdamsMorioka Inc. and co-author of Logo Design Workbook (2004, Rockport Publishers) with Sean Adams and Noreen Morioka. In June and July she will present on logo design for Dynamic Graphics Training, www.dgusa.com/dgt.