About two months ago, I advertised that fact I was giving away four free hours of studio and design time to any charity, anywhere that needed it. To say I was overwhelmed with the response would be an understatement.
At one point I had it in my head that we had, in Canada, over 60,000 registered charities and nfp’s. But according to Imagine Canada, we have over 161,000… that’s incredible. We all know about the big ones of course, they act big, they spend big, and well, they are big. BUT, using the 80/20 rule we can assume that the majority of those 161,000 charities are small. They are run by volunteers, they have no budgets, and are being run by people just trying to do the best they can.
I’m not pretending to be some sort of charitable Robin Hood, as striking as I would look in a leotard, but I take great satisfaction that I work with some of the best agencies and fundraising consultants in the world, and every time I work with a new client, especially the small ones, I can bring all the knowledge and resources I have to the discussion. If they want it.
Mark and I have discussed many a time, that we would love to be able to donate all of our time, resources and knowledge to charities anywhere for free – basically operate as a nfp design studio – but we need to make a living somehow right?
So – anyhow, back to Blue Beauty.
As I went through all of the emails that I received, one was from a woman named Candy Silvasy from Cincinnati.
“Spa4Diabetes is partnered with the United Nations’ Int’l Diabetes Federation, we raise money and awareness for the global diabetes epidemic. Our BlueBeauty initiative seeks to encourage recognition, prevention and self care as the pink ribbon does for breast cancer.”
Candy needed some help coming up with a professional identity for the Blue Beauty initiative.
The problem for me is that it is impossible to design a logo in the course of four hours. I’ve discussed my process before here and here. But I liked the challenge, the cause and Candy had a real passion for what she was doing.
After reviewing her answers to my questionnaire that I use for new logo design projects, I sat down and got to work.
Two key things that stood out to me were Blue Beauty’s target market and demographics. She was targeting spas, beauty manufactures, upscale hotels and women who would generally partake in Blue Beauty spa treatments or buy the products. Age range of 18-35, upper middle class.
Candy explained: “BlueBeauty has taken off so rapidly that companies, including beauty manufacturers, are contacting us to participate. We need a high impact, recognizable logo for BlueBeauty that will motivate companies to create and customers to buy BlueBeauty branded goods. I want it to be the young, fresh, modern look of diabetes. Someone told me recently, that diabetes is not a glamorous disease – the pink ribbon, the Red Dress campaign of the American Heart Assn. have done that for their causes. Though no disease is glamorous – I want this logo to put our BlueBeauty Initiative on the map as the way that diabetes stays top of women’s minds and gets them excited to do something about stopping it.”
So the challenge was clear.
Doing some research was in order.
Candy was right. Breast Cancer has the pink ribbon, Heart and Stroke has their heart, Lung Association has their cross… what does diabetes have? What sort of visual clichés did that section of the sector use to represent themselves.
Well the colour blue kept coming up (which was going to work well considering the name) and the circle also kept popping up. I also discovered that the International Diabetes Federation has started a global campaign to come up with a symbol for diabetes.
So that was settled. I knew I couldn’t ignore it for the sake of being different. As a logo designer I have acknowledged that fact that visual clichés are clichés for a reason. It would be stupid to ignore it. The challenge is always using the cliché in a new, original way.
But there was second piece to this. Giving the logo a upscale spa look.
We’ve all seen those before.
I had the colour blue. I had the circle. I had striking type. I had water.
Now what? Well as usual for me, I started with the type.
There were two faces that stood out pretty quickly. One was called Sparrowhawk and the other was called BauderieScript. They had the qualities I was looking for. Soft and feminine shapes, uniqueness, upscale but not perfect.
Ordinarily I would present two to three ideas, all in black. But in this case, Candy and I knew that we would always have to use the colour blue, so using these two faces I presented Candy with two concepts:
The first one I wanted to keep keep that idea, or cliché of calming water, as well, the roundness of the characters worked to the round circle of diabetes. It was striking and upscale.
The second one, I really wanted to do the blue circle but – not the blue circle. The type was great because it was imperfect. It had flow, it was natural… and I wanted it to feel like it was part of a pool of water.
Candy decided pretty quickly that she really liked option number two and I went ahead and finalized the art direction and cleaned up the concept to work in a number different formats.
“John created the logo for our non-profit’s main initiative. What impressed me so much, was John’s thorough and enthusiastic interest in what we’re doing. His research and creativity meshed to produce the ideal logo that’s not only aesthetically beautiful, but also on target with helping Spa4Diabetes reach it’s goals. Thanks so much John and we look forward to working with you in the future!“
Archive for the ‘Basic Design’ Category
Blue Beauty
Monday, August 10th, 2009The Visual Language
Monday, June 15th, 2009In the past few weeks I’ve written about effective design and what branding really is.
I was flipping through an old issue of Advancing Philanthropy (I’m a little behind on my reading!) when I came across a great side bar article called “Your Campaign’s Visual Messages” by Edward Fierro.
He reminded me that the visual language/message is the design. You have the words and you have the design. The design can be determined and driven by a graphical or visual identity – commonly and incorrectly referred to (by some) as your “brand”.
I strongly suggest that having even a simple graphic identity helps define who you are as an organization. The guide could/should contain your logo, colour scheme and typography (fonts). It may also contain types of images that are appropriate for your charity, different versions and formats of your logo, design templates for certain materials like letterhead and brochures and anything else that will help anyone creating a message on behalf of your organization stay consistent in your design.
Fierro writes, “The visual language is particularly useful in developing campaign communications because it offers opportunities to define both an institution and a cause and is ideal for making the many parts of a fundraising program easily understood as practical and emotional messages. In concert with written and spoken campaign material, graphic identity provides the structure, familiarity and navigation needed by the target audience.”
He goes on to point out that your graphic identity creates recognition and is memorable in ways that the written word is not. It also helps build confidence and loyalty.
Your well thought out graphical identity will help you with that.
You should expect, no matter how large or small your charity is, that your designer or agency provide you with some bare bones identity guide as part of your new logo design.
And with that guide in hand, it will help you define your visual language for all of your marketing materials.
Effective Design
Monday, March 16th, 2009I was invited to write a guest post over at Lindsey Patten’s Blog about what makes design effective. It’s a great topic because people’s answers can vary greatly!
It’s also an appropriate topic because later this week I will be having a discussion with a client about what makes an effective outer envelope.
Design is completely subjective which makes it hard sometimes to gage its effectiveness. What one person loves, another will hate. That is the beauty of it. Some people love Van Gogh, some like Monet – but they were both brilliant painters nonetheless.
So what makes design effective? To me the short answer is: results.
Effective design will ask someone to do something and they do it. Let’s also bare in mind that design plays only a small part in the drive for results. The ‘piece’, be it a direct mail package, poster campaign, drtv ad, etc, needs to be where it’s audience might be, at a time when they might be watching or looking, appropriate and relevant to their lives, and then, hopefully the design will say something to them that matters.
This is a big subject and what is effective design for a direct mail outer envelope will be different for a web site. And through the next weeks I will try to address some of those different vehicles.
The bottom line here is that effective design is not always pretty (though hopefully it is). Effective design is about being appropriate to your audience and asking them to clearly do something – one thing. Give a donation now! Come to our event! Come out and show your support! Volunteer today!
Effective design is about reaching out to your donors or audience and connecting with them. Effective design is about moving someone to do something maybe they hadn’t considered a moment before. Effective design makes your message understood.
Will my interpretation of the effectiveness of a design be the same as yours? Of course not. But effective design, or design itself is not about one solution. There are many solutions to any design challenge. The difference is, you have hired me for my solution.
And hopefully it will show in the results.
Why logos don’t cost $50 – Part Two
Monday, March 9th, 2009Last week I launched into a – was it a rant? – about logo design and why the process of designing a logo or maybe a whole brand does not come cheap. Like all the good things in life, you get what you pay for.
If the brief or objective was clear and I’ve done my research properly and have actually put some real solid thought into my concepts, I should be in front of you presenting 2-4 black logo concepts and hopefully, after I’ve gone through them with you, you will say – “this is going to be a difficult choice”. And it so it may seem once you first see them, but once we talk them through a bit more, and get a chance to sleep on it – there tends to be a clear winner. One that really stands out to you.
My absolute worse case scenerio are the words “let me show this to my board.” Then I know I am in deep trouble. At the risk of going into a side rant about boards of directors, there is a reason why some of my colleagues offer discounts to their discounts to NOT involve your board. Simply, if you have a board of 3 people or more, that is 3 or more totally different needs, perspectives, bias’s, ideas, etc that are now going to weight in on these poor little logos – and they will not stand a chance. “Can we…?, Can you…? What if ‘we’…? Why don’t you…?” etc, etc. Bye bye all those hours of time, effort and money – welcome to Compromiseville, second stop, Dullsville… Ok, ok… maybe I’m being a little tough. Bottom line is – you know what they say about opinions – everyone has one and every one will be different.
So, hopefully we’ve declared a clear winner in our concepts! Hoorary!
The next challenge comes with some final art direction and looking at colour combinations.
Usually when developing concepts, I am just trying to get an idea to work. I’m not worrying about the spaces between the type, how the ascenders look, is the leading too tight. I just want the idea to come through. But now is the chance and time to art direct the logo to visual perfection.
Type is a funny thing. In the old days they used to use wood or metal type (some places still do!) and they could control the amount of space between the letters (kerning) or between the lines (leading). The type or fonts we use on our computer are set at a typeface default and a professional will take the type to correct these defaults to make sure each letter dances well with the letters next to it. This kind of teaking can make a massive difference in how the logo looks.
Once the type is cleaned up and looks just the way I want it, I might look at cleaning up any visual I might have used. I try to keep visuals very simple in their shapes and level of detail. Anything can look good when it blown up to fit on your monitor but how does it look when it is printed 0.5″ x 0.5″ in a local newspaper that is using a LPI (lines per inch) of 75? You need to remember that as you work through the logo. That skinny serif or gorgeously detailed illustration is NOT going to cut it and the print guys will want some blood – especially if you try to use it reversed out of a solid tone.
So the type is great, the visual is all cleaned up – it all works. Do a double check and print it off very tiny and very large. Put it up on the wall and look at it from 15 feet away. Turn it upside down and backwards – are there any spaces that don’t look right? Some part of the the type which just stands up like a piece of hair that won’t lay flat? Does it look like a black blob? Make sure it works. And if it does, then we can start to think about and work with – hoorary! – colour.
For charities, I present the final logo as a black only version. If this logo looks amazing in black – then adding colour will be like adding a piece of parsley to a plate. It’s a garnish. Important but not necessary.
I present a black version, a one colour version, a two colour version and a four colour version (a cmyk variation using the spot colours for reference). I also design some reversed out logos using the same spot colours.
I have mentioned this before. For your one colour and two colour versions, please make sure that the designer, or you- if you are the designer, have used a dominant spot colour. Because if I have to work with your gorgeously designed logo and you used PMS 1215 and 7486 – someone is going to pay. Use at least one dominant colour. Always and forever.
I present final logo ideas to the client and upon the approving nod of the head, send all versions that the client will ever need in a electronic file. As a client, you should be asking for your logo saved in a few formats and for both platforms. An Illustrator eps file with all type concerted to outlines – a black verison, one colour and two colour variations (and cmyk), as well as any reversed out options. You should be getting all of those versions saved a rgb jpgs and tifs as well. You should know the name of the font that was used and should get a final pdf of the final variations. I include my name, font and pms information on my illsutrator files so the next designer will not have to guess if the client does not know.
If you, the client has asked for it, I may even design you a styleguide that shows you all of the ways a designer can use your logo (and also the ways they cannot), but may design up some templates for you to use as reference for business cards, letterhead, envelopes, powerpoint presentations, advertisments, websites and so on.
I am hoping that if I’ve been hired to do this very important job with you, that we can discuss managing and designing the other sorts of brand support materials you will want and need.
I hope this explains why a logo (designed by any professional) will not cost you $50 or less. Our processes may differ, but most designers are following a similiar route to give you a clean, professional, creative and thoughful logo to represent your organization.
I know what you are thinking – ’so what does this cost’? And my first question for you is – what is your budget? I won’t speak for all designers, but please don’t call me if you answer is “$50!”.
Why logos don’t cost $50 – Part One
Monday, March 2nd, 2009I realize this might come across as a bit self serving but that’s ok. Part of working with charities is trying to find that middle ground to keeping the work we offer affordable AND effective. It’s a fine line sometimes.
If I’m asked to design a direct mail piece, I often know the rough total cost and how long it will take me because I’ve been doing it for a long time. But I also know the design is reactionary. I read the brief, and the copy if I can, then I react in an emotional way and hopefully that comes through in the design. Also, 99% of the time, there is no budget or time to sit around pontificating about things. Read, react, design. That doesn’t mean I don’t think about things – I do. Is the type big enough, clear enough, does it suit the subject matter or audience, does it say something clearly, do we need a visual, one colour or four, is the logo big enough, will there be room for all of that copy, what are we saying, what do we want the donor to do, does this have impact, will the donor open the envelope, etc. You may be only paying $800 for that direct mail pack but you are getting well over a decade’s worth of doing, testing, looking, asking, experience.
Logos on the other hand are totally differnet.
It’s the challenge of creating something that is memorable, communicates an idea, visually defines and sums up what a charity does, maybe who they do it for, gets across what a event is for, etc. It’s the challenge of finding the right sort of font that is appropriate to the charity and it’s donors (Can you imagine Apple using Comic Sans for all of their marketing?), the right type of visual that distills everything your charity stands for.
It’s not easy and it’s a lot of work. It takes time, talent, patience and concentration.
Can you get a logo for $50? Of course you can. Just take a look right here.
But I can’t do it for you. Most professional designers can not do it for you.
My first step is brainstorming all of the sorts of adjectives, verbs and nouns that might be associated with your charity or event. I can easily spend a few hours – as all of these words help define the sorts of visuals that might work. I look at the name of your organization. What does it say, what do we want it to mean. Who is your audience? Who are your donors? What do we want the name to say to them. I start to typeset the name of the organization over and over, in typefaces that may be suitable. Some fonts have a lot of personality – or the good ones do. All the while remembering, what does it say? What do we want it to mean? I would love each of my clients to have custom fonts that they could use for their logo and marketing – but at the very least, when using an off-the-shelf font, I find ways to make it unique by tweaking some of the characters.
Next comes the visual brainstorm. I go back to my list of words and start to use them to discover ways I can visually express them. Again I may make another list of words or just quick thumbnail drawings of ideas. This is the real time of discovery. And often there is no end. I just keep pumping out idea after idea, all very quick, not stopping to censor myself or my ideas. If I see something I like, I may try to approach it from different angles – “How can I express time? What are the visual clichés to express time? How many different ways can I show or communicate a clock?” Over and over. There is no perfect idea here.
Once I’ve completed this process, it’s time to start putting some of these elements together. Most designers use a program called Adobe Illustrator to design logos. Illustrator is a vector based program (as opposed to a raster based program like Adobe Photoshop) which allows us to control the number of colours and most importantly, makes what we design scalable. As I start to marry visuals and typefaces, the logo starts to come together – but it is also another period of discovery as you try to make the type fit into and with the visual. Maybe the type is the visual. Maybe the visual is the name of the charity. Maybe you need both. Again, I just want to keep circulating the ideas. This is not the time for tweaking and art directing – making sure everything is perfect. And as I work, I find new ideas forming and as I put one concept together, I move onto another. This process can be endless. There is no ONE solution. And it usually ends when your time is up and actually have to present some concepts to the client.
I select 2-4 ideas that I feel work the best and present them to you, the client, as black only files. Why? I want you to focus on the concept. I don’t want to talk about how you don’t like blue.
Part Two – next week.
The Eyes Have it
Sunday, February 8th, 2009I have to thank the folks over at The Agitator for the inspiration for this post. Jerry Huntsinger did a guest post about the use of eyecontact and online pages.
For years, as a direct mailer and print designer, I’ve known the value of good eye contact. You can see I even utilized it on my home page (thanks to my daughter Evelyn). My mom has even criticized me because she feels I crop my personal photos too tight – but I’ve reminded her – “Mom – all the emotion is in the eyes – and I want people to feel it.”
Here are some examples.
Read The Agitator post here for how it applies to online.
Never forget – the eyes are the window to the soul – they say more than words often can. Don’t be afraid to use that power in your communcations.
