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Archive for the ‘branding’ Category

Death by PMS 576

Monday, February 11th, 2008

I know my lot in life. I am a designer. I am a graphics communicator.
But, I have a beef. A branding beef to be clear.
At the risk of offending, well, pretty much every charity I work with, please stop killing me with your “brand”.

Too many charities have been told by too many brand experts that if their logo is not reproduced in PMS 123 and placed in a hallowed ground of concentric circles, set on top of a three rounded corner box (with the square edge behind on the bottom right)…. well – the consumer or donor WILL NOT GIVE! The sky will fall and the brand manager will be out of a job.

Please…

I like how it is worded in the style guide for Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation. “A brand is a combination of tangible and intangible attributes… Brands provide donors, customers, volunteers and the public with a means to choose which organization, which service, or which product to support…”

I’ve read it a few times now, it doesn’t say anything about PMS 123… hmmm…

What if, as a designer and communicator, I wanted to raise money for your charity.
What if I focused on:
- a provocative message
- stated why you needed money
- clearly showed how the donor can make his or her donation
- designed it so the message was clean and readable and engaging

What if I didn’t use Fruitger Bold Condensed for the headline and Adobe Garamond Regular for the body copy?

PMS colours, font selections, types of pictures are great supports for your brand – but first and foremost, focus on what matters…

The message.

What if I raised money for you if you like it or not?

Posted in Basic Design, branding | 3 Comments »

Merry Christmas

Thursday, December 20th, 2007

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything,
But still I can do something;
And because I cannot do everything
I will not refuse to do something that I can do.
- Edward Everett Hale

It’s been a great year for Idea Design and I thank all of you, whoever you are for reading and your comments and well wishes.

Early in the new year I will be relaunching my site – and I can’t wait to get it live. Here is a sneak peek for you:
The blog will be moving to my site once I get it live.
I have to send a massive thanks to Kim McMullen of Flipside creative for her brilliant work on this as well as to Paul Koehler who is making quick work of all the coding.

The tag line says it all.

Inspire us today.

And I have been inspired by a lot of people and a lot of great charities this year and for that, I am truly blessed and thankful.

I wish you and yours a very happy holiday and Merry Christmas and will see you in the new year.

Thanks for reading.
John

Posted in Inspiration, branding | No Comments »

The importance of research

Monday, November 26th, 2007

I was flipping through my Costco magazine and saw this ad:
What struck me were all the logos across the bottom. It’s not often where you get to see so many similar charities in one place, but to me, the one thing that stood out were the five charities that used a bear in their logo. And similar looking logos/bears they are.

Yes, I know bears are the top visual cliché when representing children… I know. I also know that when I’m developing a new logo for a charity or organization, I not only spend a ton of time getting to understand what they do but also seeing how similar charities choose to represent themselves.

Currently I am working on a logo for an umbrella organization called Access Waterloo Region. Their site and mission will reflect their dedication to helping and providing information to people with disabilities. So what’s the top visual cliché to represent people with disabilities?

Yes, gold star for you – a person in a wheelchair.

Like a former creative director told me, “I don’t care if you use the obvious cliché… It’s a cliché for a reason. But – find a new way to twist it or spin it to make it different.”

So I will be providing a couple of options with the wheelchair but hopefully doing it in a unique way. And how do I know if it is unique? I try to look up as many charities as I can that help people with disabilities and see how they’ve done it. And I do the complete opposite. And I also go outside of that and find other ways to design the logo where I don’t need to use a wheelchair.

So, yes teddy bears work. Just find a new way to do it. Or use bunnies. And/or chicks. And/or baby ducks. (Thanks to Steve Thomas for showing me that one!)

If you or the designer/agency you’ve hired decide to use the most obvious visual cliché for a logo, ad or whatever… make sure they’ve done their homework and spent a little time doing research – otherwise – you end up with something that is no different than all the others who didn’t take the time.

Posted in Basic Design, Inspiration, branding | 2 Comments »

Be appropriate

Monday, November 19th, 2007

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we must, as communicators, at all times – be appropriate. I know I’ve said it before but time and time again, I see work, creative, ideas, statements and so on – that is not appropriate for the audience or the subject matter. Recently I was almost guilty of the same crime.

I was developing a package for a local hospital who wanted to use funds to increase the size of the ward where they treat children who have cancer. I was trying to be clever graphically with type and making it look nice. But – duh – I was overlooking RULE #1 as a designer – let the message BE the message – just make it clear. Here are a few of the BAD ones…

So, lucky these weren’t approved. I did what I should have done in the first place – which is read the copy. And as I got half way through, practically in tears, I realized that I overlooked my OWN RULE. I was not being appropriate.

So after developing a more appropriate tagline, I wanted to give it a bit of visual ompf as well. Here is the final.

Its easy to get caught up in making it “look nice” and “using all the colours” and making sure that we “stick to our brand” – but you know what – the only thing we really should be worrying about is making the creative appropriate to the audience and to the subject matter. Donors respond more to the your message than your (or my) fancy design.

Don’t believe me? Then test it!

BONUS: I’m getting this for all of my clients this Christmas. Make My Logo Bigger cream!

Posted in Basic Design, branding, direct mail | 1 Comment »

Walking the walk… again…

Monday, October 29th, 2007

I know I recently wrote about the importance of brand and making sure every person in your organization lives, breathes and eats it… but I was reminded of how effective a brand can be when that happens.
I flew to Vancouver last week with West Jet… the no frills carrier… and yes, the seats may be cheap but the service is not.
You’ve maybe seen the commercials, where the stewardess totally saves the business guy by bringing his presentation, which he forgot on the flight, to his meeting, and she set up the projector, and made copies, and she…
The schtick is that all employees of West Jet are owners and that’s why they care. Even the guy in front of me, when getting on the plane, made a comment to the stewardess about how happy he was to be flying with the friendliest people in the sky…
And they were. When we stopped in Calgary, the pilot came out of the cockpit, chatted with a few of us who were still on the plane. He said he was going to Starbucks and asked if any of us wanted a coffee… The pilot!
When we were taxiing towards takeoff, I glanced out my window and watched the people who loaded the luggage, fueled the jet and the signal guy – stand and wave at us as we went by them – and they kept waving until we were well past…
These people really care! They really want you to come back and fly with them again.

Can you imagine if you and your charity (or business) could deliver a similar experience to your donors (or customers)? It’s not impossible, but it certainly takes a lot of work. I think when people experience a brand like West Jet, they keep coming back for more.

I, for one, will fly with them as often as I can…

Posted in Inspiration, branding | No Comments »

Controlling the experience

Tuesday, October 2nd, 2007

I just got back from Chicago, where on top of doing a little shopping and relaxing, I got to enjoy some amazing architecture.
We visited the Robie House, a home built back in 1910 by Frank Lloyd Wright. This is the first home I’ve visited designed by Wright and – what an experience.
It was, as we were told, one of Wright’s favourite homes built in the Prairie style.

Wright was notorious for his attention to detail and controlling how a person may experience one of his homes. He was even quoted as saying if he could design the dresses of the ladies who may live in the home, he would do so in a style to suit it.
He designed the built-in shelves, furniture, windows, light fixtures, chose the paint on the walls – everything – to ensure that the way a person experienced the house – was exactly the way he intended.

Do you think your company or charity is like that? That every experience or touch point a consumer or donor has with you is consistent and designed right down to the tiniest detail?

Should it be?

Does it make your customer or donor feel like a witness to something special but not a part of it?

Posted in Inspiration, branding | No Comments »