Brand Central Station

My business partner and I are working to save a client from his current web site.  The site he has now looks okay.  It should.  It was designed by an award-winning, graphic designer who knows a lot about designing attractive brochures, annual reports and the like. But she doesn’t know Jack about designing a web site.

Or should I say Jakob. 

Jakob Nielsen, that is.  For those of you who don’t recognize the name, Jakob Nielsen is the “guru” of web page usability as a concept in the design and management of web sites.  And while I’m not a big fan of the look of his web site on the subject, it does put his theories into practice in a clear and obvious way.  Which is, I suppose, the point of web usability in the first place.

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I had an opportunity to interview with Matt Mickiewizc, the US representative for 99designs.  The site, a spinoff from Sitepoint, puts clients in direct contact with graphic designers from around the world.

Over 22,000 graphic designers from over 100 countries.

And the results can be pretty amazing.  So far, 99designs has helped broker over 14,000 projects, soliciting creative ideas from places like Africa, South America, Asia and all over Europe and North America.  Each project is presented as a “contest,” complete with prize money and a creative brief to provide direction. Each entry submitted by a designer is posted for public display (check out examples of contests here, here and here).

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There’s probably no consumer product that has done more to ruin the moral credibility of the advertising profession more than cigarettes.  After all, there aren’t any more credible arguments that can be made against the dire health warnings issued by doctors, governments and just about everyone else who DOESN’T SMOKE.  But people still do it.

There’s no denying that nicotine is one of the most addictive drugs out there – but it’s the advertising and the image created around the act of smoking that has drawn people in for generations.

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From Smashing Magazine – a great site for creative inspiration, innovation and information. 

Here’s a look at forty powerful depictions of human emotion.

So why should we link to this?  For the simple reason that communication that motivates consumers, employees and business partners need to find a way to tap into their hearts and minds.  Every bit of advertising, every story you tell, every presentation you make needs to make an emotional connection in order to unseat the preconceived notions held about your product and your competitors’ brands.

Not only that, but these pictures are awesome.

Grabbed this from the FontFeed newsletter.

Wolda, the high-profile, global graphic design competition, just announced the publication of its 2008 printed annual.  Between the covers are the best logos and trademarks designed throughout the world this past year.

So, just how do you determine which logos are the “best in the world”?  As it turns out, there are four key judging criteria:

1. Clear Communication of the key brand message;
2. Originality and Creativity (who said everything had to be subjective, right?);
3. Good Graphic Design;
4. and a Positive Overall Impression.

For businesses and marketers considering a logo re-boot (or if you’re just starting out), these four evaluation points are a great starting point for your own logo project.  But take special note of the first criteria (Clear Communication).  That point presumes, of course, that you have an idea of what you’re supposed to be communicating.

The fact is, whether you’re designing a logo for a new medical practice, a real estate development, a sports team or a new consumer brand – there has to be a message you want the mark and logo to convey.

Take your time to develop that message and make sure it’s true to who you and your brand are before you hire a design team to do the “fun” part.

And one other thing.  Send me your best logo work along with the brand strategy and I’ll post the best to the BCS blog!

See more great logos and trademarks from the Wolda Competition here.

When you ask an art director or designer to create a logo, they all seem to have a different way of doing it.  Whether their “method” involves sitting down with a bunch of design annuals and looking at what other people are creating or taking pictures of the client’s “environment” from which they can draw inspiration – everyone has their own method.

This post, by Chuck Green, provides insight into his methodology.  A key observation, though, can be found from this quote:

To my way of thinking, designs emerge from concepts, concepts do not emerge from designs. My goal in creating a logo is, at best, to demonstrate the benefit of using the product or service and at minimum to create a visual symbol of the subject matter.

The value of a well-prepared brief for a creative team – whether they’re working on an advertising campaign, a brochure or an identity – can’t be underestimated for developing a clear position and concepts that are strategically on-target.

Diego Rodriguez’s metacool blog started me on a search for sites and blogs that tracked the evolution of different brands.  There’s something about this that appeals to both the marketing guy and the historian in me. 

Check these out:

Evolution of automobile brands
Evolution of tech brands

Let me know if you find any more studies like this!

Remember the Spirograph? Well, Scriptographer.com has come up with a plug-in for Adobe Illustrator that can create the same kinds of designs.

Cooooool.