Swiss Typography

Entering Switzerland we hit a traffic jam. Normal, we thought, as it was the school holidays so lots of Swiss people will be returning home. Not so. the jam was uniquely foreigners entering Switzerland and being asked to pay the road tax. Some people say that Swiss people are money minded, others just plain boring but for me I think they're sticklers for rules and regulations. And this can be seen in their typography and graphic design.

I was in Switzerland purely for pleasure with no work commitments at all, but you can't switch your eyes off from the graphic design around you. Looking at the billboards, posters and magazines you can see the differences and in Switzerland the differences are remarkable. Clean use of type is to be expected but also a beautiful appreciation of white space and grids. This was not only present in cool magazines and shops but also for fairly mundane products such as car washes, local radio stations and the like. This sort of design is very often mistakenly called uninteresting by British clients who bemoan the simply sans serif mistaking most for Arial. Not even seeing the beauty involved in the relevant 'Helvetica' font. Sometimes our clients feel a nice twirly font might do the job. and sometimes they're right. Flouncy fonts are sometimes necessary but not nearly as much as the client might think or want it themselves. But can this argument be levelled at Swiss design? Is it boring? Are the lack of 'interesting' fonts creating an atmosphere of blandness? Certainly some of the designs I saw were rubbish; not every Swiss graphic design project I saw was intricate and delicate in its respect for simple design. And if I'm honest it did feel like *lots* of the ads and designs were following the same pattern of typography and layout but I don't think this is because the Swiss are boring. I think it has more to do with their respect of rules and regulations.

The Swiss have obviously settled on the essence of what makes good design for them: clear typography with bold sans serif (although they like some slab serif). Sometimes the typography is all of the design. I like this idea that the information within the piece also makes up the aesthetic. Form and function together. Sometimes this can get messy but see the examples here to see how it really can work.

Fireworks shortcuts

I enjoy using Fireworks as it very efficiently produces JPEGs and GIFs I can use for web design. If I really want to it can also produce HTML ready websites but I'm guessing that the code it produces is worse than that of Dreamweaver! But Fireworks is a good program to use as it enables me to quickly see how a website might look and preview its functions in a browser.

Today though I had a problem as the toolbox wasn't responding. Everything else was fine but I couldn't access the left hand toolbox. This is what I found as a quick workaround:

http://www.shortcutworld.com/en/win/Fireworks_MX.html

All the keyboard shortcuts for Fireworks which proved very useful and allowed me to get on with my work. Of course the real solution is getting the toolbox working again but these shortcuts are useful to know anytime and if you use a program often can speed up your work flow a lot.

2010 Brit Insurance Design Awards

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8536000/8536968.stm

"showing how design can move off into other areas....closer to art." Deyan Sudjic, Design Museum Director.

Showcasing some neat designs (like the folding plug by Korean designer Min-Kyu Choi) and some unconvincing ones (like plant lock: is it really heavy enough to stop it being lifted off somewhere?).

I do agree with Sudjic in his quote that design sometimes sways towards the world of art but many times this is its undoing: it sometimes is so close to art it fails in its functional spec. Design does a job and looks good. Or looks good and does a job: an old debate started by the form follows function lobby of the early part of the Twentieth Century.

Is it enough to ask, "Does the design fulfil the function set out in the specification?"? Is ornament crime?

Well, there's plenty in the designs of 2010 awards to give you food for though on this matter.

http://www.designsoftheyear.com

Mathieu Lehanneur's science based designs

Mathieu Lehanneur's talk for TED highlights some really fundamental principles of design. Is it colour theory? Typography? Is it perhaps the socio-economic impact of design?

Nope.

It's even more fundamental than that. It's about being human.

At a martial arts seminar once I heard a Systema guru speaking about styles and how to effectively make the techniques work. "Do you think this move is more like the crane style of kung fu or tiger style?" (referring to the idea that fighting systems have evolved after emulating certain animals in their habitat). The head honcho snorted and said, "Humans shouldn't need to imitate animals they should concentrate on being human".

In a similar way Lehanneur states in his opening part of this lecture how important science is to him: the science of being human because therein lies the answer to design solutions. He says,

"Science helps us understand how we see, how we hear, how we breathe, how our brain can inform or mislead us.

It's a great tool for me to understand what could be our real needs.

Marketing people have never been able to do that.

Marketing reduces things. Marketing simplifies.

Marketing creates user groups.

Scientists admit complexity, admits fluctuation and uniqueness."

Understanding how we perceive and interact with our world is essential for designing products or communications. What I find intriguing about his approach is that he looks at the real essence of the problem. Often designers talk about solving problems but really just create a make-over or 'paint it up' to look pretty (and in fairness often clients want this as a solution rather than any deep searching study into what is really needed!). This guy at least looks at the very heart of the problem and works in deep thought into the solution. Designing isn't about drawing pretty pictures it's about solving problems. Drawing helps us communicate ideas. Problem solution is about thinking. It's about seeing how we are as humans.

Zen and the art of animation

Richard Williams is a renowned animator who discloses below part one of the animator's survival kit. This approach works for lots of different aspects of life and is something I encountered early on in my relationship with art! I remember having a colleague confess that he lobed doing the dishes. This is something I loathe but do on a daily basis as we don't own a dishwasher. His claim was that this 10 or 15 minutes of the day gave him solitary time to think without distraction. The process of washing the dishes freed him from thought; the actions he needed to perform with his hands are automatic requiring no brain effort thus allowing him to take stock of the day.

Maybe, as Williams alludes to in this video, to do something well we need to immerse ourselves in the task at hand. If we do, he says, the quality increases.

Interaction at the museum

Saw a quite interesting interactive display at the Fitzwilliam museum recently. Not the interactive we usually think of, you know...push this button, prod that, watch this film, walk over there... This was much better: a bank of screens showing marvellous images of nature, celebrating the diversity in life which Darwin spent his life trying to understand. the neat 'interaction' was that you could add your own colourful nature photos to the display via flickr. So it's not instantly gratifying in terms of interaction but I'd wager this was a bit better in some ways. If you submit, you need to come back to the museum to see if it was accepted! Encourages re-visits and a great feeling of connection with the exhibition! Two for the price of one.

New distorted world view

Check out this interesting but distorted view of the UK based on the density of where people live...

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8280657.stm

Microsoft's power of advertising

...or "Let's make a really crap advert and get people talking about it"...

Well that's one way I guess. I just thought this was eye wateringly cheesey. I was waiting for the punchline to arrive but it never came. It seems that this really is the advert pushing a Microsoft product which I, frankly, couldn't care less about mostly based on watching this ad!

Ha, ha, ha! It's so much FUN using Microsoft products! Ho, ho, ho!

Thanks to PR.

How are your Photoshop skills?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2009/sep/12/philippe-ramette-interview

The Eight Principles of Success

Very neat, short film by Richard St. John outlining his ideas about the journey through to success.

Only 3mins 55-worth a look as it's straight-talking and inspiring.

Verdana is the new futura then?

What were IKEA thinking of? Using a font like Verdana, which is primarily a screen font, across all their media is bonkers. I know that often there is a dynamic that needs addressing between the main corporate font which is used in printed matter and a 'replacement' font to be used globally in Powerpoint slides, Word processing and the like and particularly websites which really can only display a small number of font styles. So what to do? Often a similar type of font is chosen for the online use/Office use which either closely resembles the corporate font or complements it nicely. That's one way.

The other way is to blanket use one monolithic font across everything, like this use of Verdana by IKEA. The great advantage, of course, is that it's cheap. Times are hard for IKEA too after all. The down side is that we, the consumer, know it's cheap.

Is this a wise, functional choice based on sensible cost cutting in a tough economic climate or the easy way out?

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1919127,00.html

Are you fired up...?

...ask a silly question!

Systemising knowledge with Wolfram|Alpha

Is this a new way of bringing together all that information out there?

Does this fill in what wikipedia and google seem to leave out?

I don't know to be honest but this seems like a powerful way of systemising knowledge.

Suck it and see.

CSS stuff

Just a CSS snippet to help me on my way...

p {margin-left: 2px; margin-top: 80px; margin-right: 45px; margin-bottom: -5px; }

a.nav:link {color: red; text-decoration: none; }
a.nav:visited {color: purple; text-decoration: none; }
a.nav:hover {color: orange; text-decoration: underline; }
a.nav:active {color: blue; }

http://www.yourhtmlsource.com/stylesheets/

Chat box

Ok so here's a widget for blogs or small-scale wannabe interactive websites: chat box.

Looks interesting but I guess is only really useful for a dedicated community which you know is going to be logging on frequently. Otherwise it might be like having a website counter on your page-fine but not if it shows 58 hits since 1998!

Check it:

http://www.cbox.ws/

Art or Information?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8130554.stm

http://stats.oecd.org/oecdfactbook/

Creating creativity

Radio 4 show tonight explores whether scientific research can be creative.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00kvr9l

I was struck with Anne Miller speaking about her experience of creating products in a scientific arena. She said when she first started creating ideas and products she thought there must have been something wrong with her ideas as so many scientists were creating barriers to her theses.

Even when creating graphic design I come across barriers to great ideas. I'm not being precious here, I do realise that design is led by marketing and business and as such responds to criteria set out by the client. To a certain degree the 'blue sky' research spoken about in the radio show doesn't operate to criteria, but some clients just don't get the idea of inputting 'research' into designs. I've spoken to clients who have come to me wanting cutting edge contemporary designs and ideas but really they already have preconceived ideas about what they themselves desire. This is somewhat dangerous. In this sort of project we usually end up pandering to the client's personal desires. The client has confused business and marketing criteria with their own taste. Very often I'm asked to try it in orange "because the wife wants to see it like that". On the other hand these guys are paying for it but it must be designer's responsibility to check the client and make sure they realise that this deviates from the design specification laid out initially which responds accurately to the target marketing.

Shall we try it in pink?

So you think you've got a creative website? Think again...

Your business card is crap

I'm not quite sure if this is for real or not but it's damn funny.

I like the way he actually claims that it doesn't fit into the rolodex. Pardon? Isn't that ...the point? If it doesn't fit in it'll get chucked out in my experience. 

He may not have the best business card in the world but he is a brand. For sure.

Check out this link for more business card laughs:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

Santander takes over

"The bank says that rebranding will cost it £12m, although this does not include any of the cost of advertising or expenses. The savings by integrating the businesses has been estimated by the bank as £180m."

So Santander wants to bowl over Bradford and Bingley, Alliance and Leicester and Abbey and there's much talk about why and will it pay off? For me it has to be a no-brainer. Santander wants to consolidate (ok) and I think they realise now is the time as people have lost faith in bank names all over but especially the UK. I'm sure there are high level strategic reasons for repositioning services and products and giving a Europe-wide portfolio for customers but really, are they risking anything? This article says some customers will be lost but to which other trustworthy bank? Are there any?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/8070335.stm

Kuniyoshi exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts

Kuniyoshi

From the Arthur R. Miller Collection

21 March—7 June 2009

The Royal Academy of Arts presents an exhibition on one of the greatest Japanese print artists, Utagawa Kuniyoshi (1797-1861). Featuring over 150 works, the exhibition presents Kuniyoshi as a master of imaginative design. It reveals the graphic power and beauty of his prints across an unprecedented range of subjects highlighting his ingenious use of the triptych format.

http://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibitions/kuniyoshi/

An oldie but a goodie

Cropmarks xtra for Freehand

Ok so a bit of geekiness here... I like Freehand. Ok, yes I know it's no longer supported and Adobe make Illustrator so why bother? Well it's like a comfy old pair of slippers: feels great and does the job but maybe not as good looking as the new pair you got for Christmas.

What a palaver to sort out cropmarks though! You know, you set up some artwork; it's all beautiful; you have to manually add in cropmarks (Acrobat can do this sometimes depending on the version you have). Not anymore! I found (a rather old-but hey, so is Freehand) xtras plug in that Boris Jerenec has developed which simply sits in your xtras folder and adds another easy to use cropmark-making tool! Thanks Boris and here's the link to his site:

Cropmarks tool download.

Camcreative Networking

I always used to think networking was a great way of getting business. But now I don't think it is. Networking is a great way to extend your (wait for it) network. More often than not I'd find myself at networking events where there was a glut of suppliers with not many potential clients in sight. Sure I might be going to the wrong networking events but even so I think there is value in this. 

Camcreative is a bunch of creative professionals who get together frequently to chat and keep in touch. This is very valuable to me: keeping in touch with what's happening in creative terms, with the industry and with client industries. A lot can be gauged from chatting to contemporaries in a relaxed atmosphere over a beer. In addition to this Camcreative features a guest speaker each month who brings something useful and interesting to the discussion platform.

I don't go to Camcreative expecting to find new clients but I do find like minded creatives and we can discuss what's afoot in the industry.

Here's the Meetup page.

Here's the webpage.

New ways of working

We want everything these days. We want everything, anywhere and NOW. Which is why computer manufacturer's like Sony are making small, thin, but fairly powerful and certainly stylish laptops like the P series. Surf anywhere and do anything but beware...this is no netbook claim Sony!

"Once we say it's a netbook people think that it's cheap and lousy - we want stylish and cool," Sony Australia's VAIO marketing manager, Kent Tanigaki, said.

Don't worry though, Sony remains stylish and fashionable encouraging you to "make a statement wherever you go" with their natty different colours: onyx black, garnet red, emerald green and crystal white.

Can graphic design make you happy?

Intriguing look at the relationship of our state of mind with our designed environment by Stefan Sagmeister.

Pepsi-giving you more than a drink in a can

QR codes (Quick Response) have been taken up by Pepsi making it the first time this technology is widely used in the UK. The QR has already reached a type of cult status in Japan where it was invented and uses a type of barcode technology printed onto products which can be swiped by a mobile phone giving additional product specifications or competition information. 

Pepsi are rolling out the QR codes on their Pepsi Max products as part of a renewed Mobile marketing campaign showing that they are well ahead of the game in the QR and aiming at early adopters. Check out this article on QR codes.

http://www.pepsi.co.uk/QRSteps.aspx

Aston Martin designs Routemaster

Thank God for that! The Aston Martin/Foster pitch has won through and they will be in charge of redesigning the beloved London Routemaster bus. Why the relief? Well if you take a look at one of the other designs that was in the running by Capoco design you'll see not so much a new design as a redesign. The losing Capoco design was said to combine " the best of the old with the best of the new" but to me it looks like a compromise botch job. And so thank god the AM/F design won (see opposite). This winning design may not look like the Routemaster but I don't think it should (too much)! It should recreate the feelings we had about that lovely old bus without making simply an updated version. I want to think quirky, particular and peculiar when I see the new design and that's what it does! Simply beefing up the old Routemaster look seems, to me, pointless and a bit of an insult really. Do they really think we want to see the classic design reworked? Not really-a rework is not good enough. A new design is needed which shows a certain classiness and identity for London and the brand of Britain, which I think this new design does.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7790082.stm

Crunchy sales

So a main trend in the marketing press these days is the discussion as to whether flash sales will pose any long term threat to the business. Debenhams, Marks & Spencer and BHS all announced sales in their stores recently and analysts worry that not only will this give just a temporary boost in profit but that long term consumers will see the retailers in a different way, damaging their brand position.

Discount stores threatened Tesco's 30% lead in the grocery market and replied by introducing the Discount Brand. This, claims the Fool, has brought in 300, 000 new customers but The Independent recently reported on the company's worst sales in the UK for 16 years, so maybe things are catching up with Tesco.

My question is, though, what else can be done? These companies are attempting to stimulate spending in a rather flat economy and hopefully long term marketing budgets and planning won't suffer for it. this will be key to keep companies afloat during the difficult times-creative and canny PR and marketing to help sell products and ultimately contribute to a bounce back in the economy.

Anyone Can Do It!

Anyone Can Do It by Duncan Bannatyne.

An inspiring read, this book not only plots the early days of Bannatyne's life through to his Den days on tv but gives a useful insight into how he made his (many) millions. The title is called 'Anyone Can Do It' but I'm not so sure that anyone can do it after having read this. There are a few necessary traits. For example Bannatyne has a cast-iron determination and ability to deal with lots of complex issues happening simultaneously-something even he identifies as crucial in his success. Of particular insterest to me was a story he tells of trying to help some directors to gear up their company only to find that they didn't have the desire for the wealth. This hasn't been a problem for Bannatyne! It seems that he's also driven by a sense of justice-or maybe it's a sense of injustice: striving to make his business the right way and feeling proud about this. Not scared to shop anyone else who's breaking the law or trying it on with him. Don't get me wrong I reckon this guy is hard to deal with for all the above reasons but I kinda like this. It seems you'd know where you were with him.  

I think I'd like the guy and I liked this story: it's fresh and frank- a straightforward guy who's made it big from his own hard work and bloody mindedness. Well done! And thanks for inspiring me to get off my bum and make some decisions...

Why we design

Or at least why Philippe Starck designs. Pretty entertaining and some gems of ideas about 'high' design within a business and social context.

Fonts in movies

Here's a neat little look at font styles in the movies.

Pop-up quiz on BBC

Sat nav generation, symbols and interface

As satellite navigation systems are becoming cheaper and therefore everyone is buying them up, it's interesting to stop and consider what this is doing to our driving experience along with the whole idea of user interaction whilst driving.

We tend to trust machines to work the way they are intended. Even more so do we trust computers! Ah yes, the summum of intelligent design, conceived to make out lives easier which is exactly what sat nav does, doesn't it? Well mostly yes it can alleviate the stress of navigating alone whilst driving (or even the stress of being navigated by a nitwit with a map sat next to you!) but occasionally sat nav goes wrong. Furthermore it seems to be sucking out all of our sense of direction by relying on these machines too much. Worse than this it can lead to annoying and inappropriate shortcuts like the one which has led to a cottage being driven into 15 times in the last year by lorries who have blindly followed the sat nav instructions.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7588566.stm

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1583776/Satnav-takes-Earl's-daughter-to-wrong-Stamford-Bridge.html

Design, camouflage, dinosaurs and exams.

One of the main functions of visual perception is to detect objects in the environment as either a potential mate, predator or perhaps lunch (Scientific American p18. V Ramachandran, D Rogers-Ramachandran). So determining what is not part of the scenery has been vital in the past in order for us to pass on our genes to our lucky predecessors. What use is it in modern life though? I'm not in the habit of popping out to the high street to bag a mammoth or flee from roaming tyrannosaurus rexs (!) on my way home from work.

What's the use of it now in getting our food or our mate then? Well in design terms it means that when we engage with visual communication we tend to see contrasted items much better. It jumps out at us as we say to ourselves, "Woah...is that a dinosaur?!". Use your head, designers!

No point using low contrast text on designs...

When I was doing my O levels the dreaded exam papers were black text on yellow paper. Oh boy did that strike fear in our hearts. We only had to glimpse a registration plate to give us the shivers! Apparently though this is the best contrast for legibility. So I guess we should thank the exam board for making it like this!

If you need some tools to ensure your website text has sufficient contrast for good legibility check out this article which gives some web tools to use.

What is YouTube for?

Check this out to get an anthropological take...(thanks to DB for highlighting this)

'An Anthropological Introduction to YouTube' by Michael Wesch

Identity...

Interesting presentation here on Identity! (Thanks Phil) The style of presentation is great too...

Check out the nervous compere though in his geeky shirt :)

Follow up presentation here

Slutbucks?

It's amazing what people can read into symbols isn't it? For example we all know that certain images are meant to be ambiguos. Take for example my wife and my mother-in-law. Actually please don't take them too far as Im rather attached to both of them...

Here we can see a cleverly designed visual pun.

On the other hand the new Starbucks logo is, well, just ok...I mean nothing special, but if you are a particular sort of Christian it seems that the following (on left) is offensive!

This article says that a US Christian group hs said the logo's character has her legs "spread like a prostitute... ".

Interestingly the founder of Starbucks has said of the logo (in general terms) "bare-breasted and Rubenesque; [it] was supposed to be as seductive as coffee itself".

It's true that the tails are spread but it would never occur to me that this mermaid's tails were sexually enticing me. What a load of old rubbish!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7427105.stm

Are your Hands giving the right impression?

This is why creating the right look and feel for businesses is important...

"Fidgety, ink-stained and with nails bitten to the quick, Gordon Brown's hands are fast becoming a visible symbol of the pressures he is under."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7402803.stm

Responsible design 1

It was a fine April morning and my little one and I decided to go for a stroll, fulfilling her burning desire to go to a playground ("pingownd daddy, pingownd!). We stopped briefly to post a letter and I was left aghast at the state of British design. It's something I've noticed many times before and always tutted at, but this jarring image stopped me in my tracks today. Maybe it was the juxtaposition of a beautiful spring morning with the visual house of horrors I saw before me. What was this horror of horrors? None other than our great British pillar box.

WHAT? I hear you gasp. He's crazy. This is an iconic design! Almost as iconic as the red Gilbert Scott designed telephone box. WHAT ARE YOU THINKING LITTLEFAIR? Well, I shall explain. The beautiful Georgian pillar box is not that which is offending my sensibilities but rather the monstrosity welded to the side of it. Is this the height of well integrated British design? Don't get me wrong- I'm no pre-raphaelite revivalist who swans around in a smoking jacket bemoaning the good old days when a pint of beer cost 2d and everything was SO much better when things were made of wood. No. We need to embrace modernity and our ever evolving lives and find interesting and innovative ways of moving forward. And sticking a big red box on the side of a (probably) antique piece of (functional but attractive) street furniture is not the way forward!

I have sympathy for the posties. They do a good job and they're probably not paid a great deal. Our postie is a family man who does his job and later in the day I see him with his kids doing dad stuff. So I don't want to burden his round- of course he should have a secure place to leave some of his deliveries so as not to be weighed down. But can you imagine the design brief conversation before this was implemented?

Big wig: "We need some storage areas to integrate onto existing pillar boxes for posties. Let's have a look a the designs"

Designer (mechanical, no doubt): "Well. I've come up with this box. It has a lock and we simply weld it to the side of the post boxes."

BW: " Hmm, yes I like it. How much does it cost? What are your fees?"

D: " Oh a lot less than an industrial designer's. All that marketing bullshit - you don't need that"

BW: "Yes you're right but, somehow this box on the side....it needs something else. What do you think?"

D: "Hmmm. How about if I add a radius along the top edge. Give it like an arched roof"

BW: "Will it add cost?"

D: "no, no."

BW "...... Yeah. I like. I like. Implement this and make 25,000 units. Well done. We also need some stand alone boxes to set up. Make them grey and ugly"

Ug.

I guess these boxes need to look fairly industrial so as not to attract attention of thugs and vandals, but really........What have they done to our heritage. This is my (and yours) cultural inheritance that they are tampering with! (I know they probably own these boxes and can probably do what they like with them. But aren't they listed? Should they be? This link tells how they are protected by English heritage)

These people have a design responsibility. If you pay in the design stage for a bit of creative thinking rather, chances are you'll come up with a great looking integrated design which may not cost as much as the off the shelf monstrosity. Designers also have a responsibility to solve the problem fully. That's what designers do- they look at problems and try and find solutions. If they are working with an enlightened client then a full range of ideas can be explored and market tested to see if this is the real deal: the right design solution. But the designer also has to advise on this process. Often clients can't comprehend the long term (and sometimes strategic) value of design input at the beginning of the project and may need to be convinced. The designer has a responsibility too- it's not just the penny pinching client. I've been put under immense budgetary limits in the past and this only makes me more resolved to think about the problem fully in order to come up with a solution within the full design brief: aesthetic, functional and financial.

What's in a name?

A lot is in a name really. Ask Iona Knipl, winner of the New York Times Worst Bad Name contest. Read here how she used to hate her name at school, but now finds it "neat".

I also had a bad time at school because I had the longest name in letters in my primary class. I remember being given a long thin piece of coloured card with my name neatly spelled out by the teacher and told to copy it, letter by letter. I was the last in the class to achieve it!

Throughout senior school it was a real drag of a name too, but I have come to love my unusual name, even though you'd blanch at some of the spellings I've had! Once people understand my name, it's unforgettable, or at least instantly recognisable. Yes, I like my name. It doesn't define me as names did when they were first given hundreds of years ago. I'm not that small and not too pretty! But in some ways I am now defined by my name and how I had to deal with it growing up.

In this light I can see how Sir Terence Conran is miffed that some other company is going global with a chain of companies in his name. When I was considering a name for my venture a good friend and colleague who happens to be a specialist in company acquisitions warned me of using my name as a trading name, the argument goes thus: you get known, build up your company to the point where it's not just you on your own anymore, but a board responsible to shareholders. It's at this point that you are no longer in sole charge of your named company. Nor, in that context, your name. You could be ousted by from the board, retire, resign. But your name goes on in the guise of the company. Just like Sir Conran.

Mystified by branding? It's all in the cup of tea

Are you mystified by branding? Fed up of people talking about how their logos talk about their "core values"? Don't know a logotype from a logomark? Well, to be honest you don't really need to know about these things to give a good impression of your company. It's all about the cup of tea...

A brand isn't your logo. The amount of times I've had clients call me in for meetings and let me know in a very matter of fact way that they'd like me to design a brand for them. I get excited. An enlightened client! But it soon transpires that what they want is a 'logo' redesign. Usually in isolation to all other communications in their arsenal. Well that's no brand I'm afraid. The brand can be found in the gut reaction your key stakeholders have about you and your company. It goes way beyond the logo. Sure the logo needs to toe the line and reflect your company's values but it's more than this. It's about getting all the visual language correct, right across the board. You get it right and you can get the brand to work for you- to achieve results for you as it reinforces this gut feel.

And yes, it starts with the cup of tea...

When I visit a client's company (or a suppliers) I'm greeted at the reception and perhaps offered a cup of tea. All of your questions about this company can be found in this cup of tea. But I'm not talking about tasseomancy!

If I were given a chipped mug, or a posh china tea cup and saucer, or an Elvis mug-I (or you, I'm guessing) would immediately start to make judgments about this company. Is it rich, poor, flippant, conservative, young and dynamic.... We may be WRONG about these assumptions, but we can't help making them. When we meet people for the first time we make judgements about what type of person they are based on their face, their voice, their accent, their clothes, their hair, their movements, their body language. All in an instance. And we usually stick with these ideas, rightly or wrongly! That's why first impressions last and why, if you work at it, you can help get some ideas quickly into the head of the client/key partner/supplier.

As humans we know about body language and in a similar way we are quite sensitive to the visual language used in communications design: which type is used, the colour, the tone of voice in literature. All of these things add up in our minds and create an impression of a company. We just can't help it!

Check out this company's website and compare it with this one and this one. Three very different approaches to the same problem: "flogging plumbing stuff" (I use this language deliberately-none of the companies did, right? Because using those particular words give an instant feel. This effect works similarly in a visual way too.) Each may be 'right' in its own way- it really depends on how they've done their homework and if each site gives the right type of client for them a nice warm fuzzy feeling. Try it with your friends' company sites...!

And this doesn't stop at the logo or corporate stationery, it should permeate the whole organisation: how the building is lit, the colour of the walls, the carpet, how the phone is answered, which hold music is used. These all build to make an impression and cerate an idea of the sort of company it is. And most importantly is the first impression: it's the way the receptionist greets you, how they treat you, if they are friendly or not, and of course, how that cuppa looks.

Got it?

How Ebay changed our online habits....

As featured in http://www.business550.com

Culture Jamming

Culture Jamming

Seen on Regent Street, Cambridge.

Internet Art

http://www.newrafael.com/
http://www.stupidforum.com/ http://www.dazeddigital.com/projects/digital50/article.aspx?a=530
http://jacksonpollock.org/

Qashqai

Why do I like the Nissan Qashqai?

Argh! I can't get it out of my head. "Oh! Look there's one. Hmm. Nice!"

It's exactly the sort of car I shouldn't like: SUV type car (although it seems that this is a crossover of sorts, as according to this article it has little more than a Ford Focus footprint on the road!), it's name is taken from a nomadic tribe implying all sorts of off-road antics which I just don't associate with my urban driving (nor do I want to!-described as “Urban Nomad” style. Honestly!), but....

"Oh yes, there's the funny skateboarding Qashqai advert. Hmm. Nice!"

I think I worry too much. Global warming. Fuel crisis. Economy downturn. Rising bills. Plus I'm attracted to a car which I *shouldn't be*! So I'm not going to worry. I think the marketing-design of Nissan have done a good job.

Damn them!

Creative Spirit

Listening to the Today programme on Radio 4 this morning I took interest in the "...and finally" piece discussing the name of the new Russian president, Medvedev a tricky one for our English mouths to get around apparently.

What interested me most was the process by which we, as a nation, decide to pronounce foreign words. It has always been a great mystery to me why we don't just say a foreign place name how it seems in English. We don't for instance say "Par-ee" for Paris. We pronounce it: Par-is. No problem there is there? Well no, but the expert from the pronunciation unit of the BBC maintains that policy is to keep older forms such as Paris the way we say it, but for names we encounter now we have to make an effort to form the correct localised pronunciation. Radio announcers don't have to sound exactly like a native speaker as the BBC is broadcasting to primarily a British audience. Which makes me wonder why we go to all this bother? The market for the BBC is British- can't we say it the way it seems? I tried out the words on the pronunciation unit's page without looking at the explanation and I made a pretty good job of it. The main errors I made were of stress not phonetics. John Sergeant, who was also contributing to the show, made the point that the French refer to Mrs Thatcher as "Szatsher". The French know who they are talking about and an English person listening probably would too (despite having a little giggle). Famously London is Londres and Edinburgh the improbable Edimbourgh (said Edimboor)... So why do we do it?

I feel it's to do with a mis-guided feeling of not wanting to offend. A desire to make sure everyone is ok. "Everyone ok, got everything you need? Cup of tea anyone?". Driving a car in England is a pleasure compared to many other European countries, but if you don't obey the unwritten rules of the road of being courteous then you incur the wrath of the English driver: they snub you! Or try and block you out. Why? Because you didn't follow the rules!

Interestingly I also find Britain to be one of the most creative places I have lived and worked. Creative in terms of risk taking: let's push boundaries, analyse deeply in order to find a solution and really "think laterally". I've been in many technology brainstorms where ideas flow freely and creatively without inhibition, where there are no rules to knock you back if you say something a bit outlandish or creative. This, I feel is where the true nature of the Brit lies. A free, creative spirit- not the stuffy bowler topped business man who spends half his time wondering how to say Medvedev .

If you wear a bowler hat then follow this link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Ru-DmitryMedvedev.ogg

Adding a poll to a website

A client has asked me to quickly add a poll to their website (which means no time to pull in a programmer!). Quick googling has come up with:
http://www.internationalvoting.com/

This gives an editable poll which can be easily inserted into HTML. It's advert free, but is hosted on the international voting website. Quick and Dirty....

Google- thank you!

Still no word from the Real Shaving Company

Still no word from the real shaving company! Has been at least a week since I sent the letter first class. I'll make a note to call them this week. I sent it to the marketing manager thinking she or he may be interested in the idea of the mismatch between the design and messages portrayed on the packaging and the real deal of using the product.

They're probably busy.

_____________________
Update 15-02-08, 16.22: Rang the number on the packaging: no answer (I let it ring about 15 times). Checked the website: same deal.
_____________________

The symbolism of the sword!

I'm reading a book about signs and symbols. This is an are which fascinates me. For me it's linked to the development of communication and written language. How did we develop writing systems which were pictographic, or a picture of say a cow... to the written letters forming the word cow! Interestingly the letter 'a' which derives from the Hebrew aleph for bull doesn't feature in the word cow or bull! Anyway- I digress...

My eye alighted rather on the article in the book regarding swords!

Swords which stand for power and virilty with their phallic form. He who holds the sword upright and threatens is to be feared! Perhaps I'm over-egging the virile element of a sword. After all, I'm not quite sure what other form a sword could take, other than phallic! There are some Bronoze Age Celtic swords which were 'leaf' shaped, but all in all it's a big metal stick with a pointy end :-)

Interestingly the sword is used when honouring Knights to bestow honour and authority but the book also says the sword can be seen as a symbol of purification. I wonder whether warriors of old thought of their swords as a purifier-cleaving the enemy in two to 'purify' them! Maybe. Maybe not....

The sword is often a violent symbol of death and power.

Japanese swordsmen do have, however, a slightly different take on this called Satsu Jin Ken / Katsu Jin Ken, or life-taking sword / life-giving sword. When the sword is applied without discipline it is destructive or Satsu Jin Ken but with experience and ability the master of the sword can resolve matters without the drawing of the sword, or by the re-sheathing of the sword to show an intention of peace. This is Katsu Jin Ken. Iaido is in fact a non-combatative mental discipline as much as it a physical one. Iaido is the art of drawing the sword but futhermore can be seen as "the way of mental presence and immediate reaction"(ref: wikipedia), thus we see the handling of the sword in a thoroughly peaceful way for the personal development of the practitioner.

Life taking and life giving sword.

Beyond the logo: building the customer experience

Most of my clients, I have to admit, don't know what a brand is. Well who does!? It's a recognisable logo, right? So please design me a brand.

The difficulty is telling the client that they're wrong. And to be honest they mostly don't want to hear. Building a brand is about taking care of your customers and projecting the right values about your product or service in whatever you do as a business.

I'll be interested to see how my sore little problem turns out in terms of customer experience. Let me shed some light on this for you...

I love shaving! It's bizarre, I know. I think I prefer to pamper myself rather than the act of shaving off skin and hair from my face. In any case I fell for this beautifully packaged and messaged shaving gel: Real Shaving Company. It promised me "anti-razor burn" , "professional formula" for "sensitive skin"!

"This clear gel provides an invisible coating to give incredible slip for against the grain shave with no burning or redness and allows you to see where you're shaving." (Their words not mine)

Oh yeah baby! I'm getting it! This is for me! Total connection with this product- GIMME more! So I shelled out near enough 5 quid for this professional product which promised me no burn or redness. YESSSSSSS!

But I've been having a few problems with it. It doesn't seem to give me the clean results I anticipated from the values the packaging portrayed, nor the details written on the side. Quite sore, no smooth shaving experience, quite painful: tugging at the beard and LOTS of redness...But hey, I persevered with it thinking maybe I wasn't exactly following the instructions. I tend to leave my beard a long time before cutting and it gets quite thick. Maybe that was it. I cut the gel some slack huh!?

But this time, I did everything to the letter. Result:

AAAAAGH!

New razor, washed face, towel dry, shave along grain of beard at first, pulling skin taut to help the shave.

Look at the state of my poor face :-(

But I'm not here to moan about the gel really. I'm telling you about my brand dissatisfaction: my expectations (which were reinforced by the packaging and the website) were not met. In fact if anything all it's achieved is negative brand experience.... up to now!

But let's see how they respond to a letter I'll send them. After all I feel the product has let me down (at the least) and possibly even misled me! Painfully!

So I want to see if the Real Shaving Company can re-establish some of its values with me by its response. How will they react to my complaint? Let's see.... I'll post a letter soon to their Peterborough address. Can a brand be re-built in the customer's mind?

A suivre.....

Adding value through design

This report published by the Design Council recently, picks up on a thread I was writing about earlier: that marketing and design are inextricably linked through business performance.

In fact this report goes further to say that the more investment in design (actually those that "use designers") that the company makes into its product or service, the better return it will have. Yup. What designers have always known: design helps sell products, it's not about tarting it up. In fact it amazes me the amount of times I'm asked to tart up something from a purely aesthetic point of view.

What this report doesn't address (can it ever?) is whether the design has to be necessarily good or bad! Obviously the design needs to address to the core client audience, otherwise nobody will be engaged. But I've worked for clients who are Venture Capital funded and these guys are tight! Ducks don't come anywhere near it. And they're not extremely wealthy for no reason! I'm sure being canny with their money on a small as well as large scale is one way of getting rich. Frequently, though, Venture Capitalists want as much as they can get out of you for as little money as possible. But this is not my gripe: this is the way of the modern economy, n'est ce pas. My gripe is with those VCs who see design as a non-integrated part of the business and marketing process. They plug designers into the "selling" process as and when they need them. I argue that placing a manager of design (or design marketing, marketing design, I'm not fussed) with a full emphasis on the design as well as marketing would be a much more powerful proposition and give them a better return on their investment! As proved by the Design Council report above. Design should be a continuous process managed along the way : constantly looking a the product or service and thinking about how to better serve the client or customer. This is design. Thinking is design. It's an integrated thinking, marketing, design, finance approach. (I used to think it was about drawing pretty pictures. )

Still. There'll always be the client who knocks you hard on price saying: "But a colleague of mine got his website designed for £50 and a bag of Tudor crisps". Well my friend I can say but one thing. Adios.

Giles Gilbert Scott, Cambridge University Library and the need for tea and biscuits!

Yesterday I went to see the Cambridge University Library for the first time. Well close up for the first time anyway, as you can see "this magnificent erection" (words attributed to Neville Chamberlain upon the opening of the library) from pretty much all over Cambridge. In fact you can see it from the M11!

The reason I went to the library was to see the latest exhibition there called, Through the Whole Island, Excursions in Great Britain. The (rather small) exhibition room was showing some very interesting pieces of writing and etchings of people's journey's around the British Isles. Of particular interest, I thought, was a handwritten piece from Charles Darwin. Well worth a visit.




The library building was designed by Giles Gilbert Scott. Having known this I was interested and intrigued to see this building close up as I knew of Scott from his impressive Liverpool Cathedral and more mundanely the telephone box which probably made his name famous in quiz nights throughout the UK!

What I wasn't prepared for though was that the building would take my breath away (or at least evoke an audible WOW!). This strong and sturdy temple of learning reaches up and touches the clouds! The windows allowing the exterior viewer to see the books almost saying: "I have a serious, didactic role and am protector of knowledge!". Wonderful also were the details such as the hand rails leading up the well proportioned stair way to the main revolving door.

It seemed like a style on it's own: it has been said that Scott's work fused the classical with the modern creating this new functional style. It was certainly impressive! The only thing it needed really was a tea lady offering biscuits and tea! I was gasping after the cycle over there in the wind!

I do feel obliged to comment on rather a sad note though: that in researching the library on the internet it seems that The University of Cambridge's Brand Manager failed in their task to portray some of these wonderful qualities to the website! A bloody awful mess of a website greeted me which you can see here: http://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/


This does not say keeper of knowledge, or didactic mentor nor indeed "this magnificent erection". Sadly it looked like somebody had put a lot of different elements into a bag, shook it about a bit and thrown them onto the screen. And as I dig around the general Cambridge University site I realise that the mess wasn't confined to the library!

Wikipedia boasts: "The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University), located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the English-speaking world and has a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious universities." See how the University main website utterly fails to convey this: http://www.cam.ac.uk/. Staggering. Really staggering that this amazing University has for an internet presence what looks like a site that has been knocked together by a programmer over the weekend!

There are no reinforcements of brand values either in textures, colours, or layout of the pages. The navigation is basic. It seems fairly usable and it's Google ranking is certainly sky high (9/10) but it seems no thought has gone into portraying the University values. Easy to criticise isn't it? Well, here is an example (in Cambridge) of how it could have been done better: The Fitzwilliam Museum. No comment, just compare and contrast...

Then again, maybe they want to attract geeky programmers who work over the weekend.....

Design should be business led not technology led

I was having a grumble with a developer friend of mine the other day as we pored over the designs that a creative agency had sent over. We couldn't understand how they could quite blatantly have ridden rough shod over our technical and functional spec whilst designing their concepts! I mean do they realise how difficult it is to implement this design!?

Problem was- the design was spot on. Focus groups of client customers were happy, client was happy: it did the job perfectly. So the developer and I got on with it: tweaking the technology to make it reflect the design. Pushing the boundaries of our expertise in order to fulfil this website. And that's the way it should be!

Visual design in the business environment or commercial visual communications rarely exists to satisfy its own needs. Design can't be led by the technology we use at the moment. If that were the case we'd be riding around in wooden cars. (That's a gag). We have to push technology to fulfil the marketing objectives of (in this case) a website. And of course the marketing objectives are set by the business goals. Design is a function of a business: it has to earn its keep.

So designers of the world unite in your efforts to create websites that look great in their role of doing a good business task. You have nothing to lose but developers who give you grief!

:-)

Giving the logo space

You see it everywhere.

It's all around us but usually goes unnoticed.

And it's a disease - we need to take action today to stop it spreading!

Thankfully this disease is curable and I'm here to help you recognise symptoms of this damning condition and to help you STAMP IT OUT!

The disease is: Logo clear space impingement.

Mostly this is seen on PowerPoint presentations where business people have pinched a logo from a website and crammed it onto a heavily laden slide (the contents of which can't be digested anyway) and omitted to give the logo some breathing space. OK- not so critical, but check out this on the new Grand Arcade building in Cambridge:

I mean..on a building! With an amazing brand like John Lewis!?

Give the logo some room dammit! Compare it to the John Lewis website here:

http://www.johnlewis.com/

You'll see that I'm not talking about miles of space around the mark; just enough to comfortably recognise it as John Lewis and for it to 'feel' comfortable in its own space!

The reason that when I see this I get slightly uncomfortable is because the logo, which identifies the company and to a certain degree projects corporate values of John Lewis, feels cramped, squished in, about to fall off, unable to breath and at worst: an afterthought. Logos need this white space around them not only to give it a good sense of proportion but to enable a consistent feel across all media so we can easily recognise it time and time again without thinking. OK so John Lewis is a good, solid recognisable brand but if the white space is built into the logo usage visual clarity is maintained and reinforced.

Save the logo now!

Give it air and space to breathe properly....!

CIM: Digital Marketing Conference, July 2007

Yesterday I spent the day at Robinson College in Cambridge at the CIM Digital Marketing Conference and happily I get to report that it was interesting, enjoyable and mostly useful. The thrust of the talks was how to use different online channels to reach customers.

Michael Nutley of New Media Age set the scene nicely highlighting the shifting dynamic of the internet with the movement into a more accessible online environment thanks to fast broadband connections and easy to use online tools. This helps people get online and create their own content and share their views through sites like blogger.com, Myspace, youtube and facebook. Online users are becoming more and more discerning so in an effort to reach them content must be targeted and relevant if it doesn't want to be overlooked.

Other speakers such as Mike Weston, Tink Taylor (read about the case study Tink gave us on Aquaplastics), Rachel Harker and Dave Chaffey outlined the way this targeted content can be delivered through various channels. Cue different case studies: email marketing (well targeted) can be very powerful as long as it doesn't become too intrusive; mobile content delivery (clever hypertag!); online advertising; interaction with and building of social networks and blogging helps access customers with specific interests.

The magic formula is therefore to find out where your customers are online, then use the right online and offline channels holistically to deliver relevant and targeted content. Get online marketing integrated into your marketing strategy early and budget it in so as to get that message across to acquire and retain customers.


Easy.


I'm off to integrate and target.

Trademarking on logos and designs

The following is guidance only! I'm not a lawyer so if in doubt contact one!

I was asked whether there were any rules on how to apply the TM sign on logos and icons to protect them. I have done this some time ago for companies but needed to refresh my memory so here is what I've found out: You can apply the TM sign on any of your trademarks at any time to claim rights in it. The C-Circle can be applied only once the mark has been registered. (Ref 1) (Ref 2)

If you are concerned about this ruining the layout of your brochure as you have to dot the TM symbol throughout then fear not fellow creative as you can add it to the first mention in the text or the most prominent usage of it. (Ref 3) "When in doubt, err on the side of “over-marking.” "

And what about your beautiful logo that you've designed? Will it be ruined? Well all I could find is this mention:

"Remember that apart from marking, a trademark should also be properly used (e.g., used as an adjective and distinguished from surrounding text by capitalization, distinct typeface, color and/or size)." (Ref 4)

And...

"These symbols are often put in superscript (smaller, raised) form." (Ref 5)

Wikipedia Trademark article.