12 02 MARCH 2010 | 16:50 GMT
… And what you can’t learn from blogs.
One of the most often repeated refrains on design blogs, in the critique of a new logo, is “Any design student could do a better job.” This ubiquitous comment is especially amusing to me because, well, it’s mostly true. If you judge virtually every new logo designed today by classical design school standards, the kids in school are doing a better job. This is because of the way logo and identity design are taught in so many schools, and what that exercise is meant to accomplish.
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11 04 DECEMBER 2009 | 21:44 GMT
It always makes me happy when a well thought-out brand identity is being launched;
I smiled the moment I saw the new Aol. mark. A clever departure from the utilitarian looking image it replaces. The “dynamic branding” model is not new in the field of corporate and product identity design, but this new Aol. is the most spectacular of all, using not only different shapes behind the brand, but also shapes of different subjects and color. Refreshing.
The dynamic branding model has been used in the past. Here are a number of examples:
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10 28 OCTOBER 2009 | 18:45 GMT
Here is a timely, practical brand strategy question for Brazil, from Brazil.
As you know, Rio de Janeiro will host two big events – the 2014 Football World Cup, and the 2016 Summer Olympics. For each event, sports agencies and regional and local government officers will soon seek branding and environmental design solutions for a variety of venues.
My question: As branding advisors, for each event should we advocate a “master brand” integrating system, with common visual elements across all venues – or should we look for “constellation expressions,” encouraging each venue and arena to express its own independent identity? For example: one standard alphabet, grid and color scheme for all Olympics signing, or should each local building have the right to create its own design scheme?
I welcome opinions from all, outside and inside Brazil as well.
9 15 SEPTEMBER 2009 | 19:55 GMT
I had lunch recently with an old friend and competitor who’s been around the identity and brand consulting field for many years. He asked me what I saw as the future of the “industry.” I remarked that if we could get through this past year intact, the future looked pretty darn good. That said, I also told him that I think the future looks potentially bleak.
In my view, our profession - it ain’t an industry - hasn’t really evolved in decades. Continue reading this entry >>
8 10 SEPTEMBER 2009 | 18:05 GMT
Identity practitioners are very lucky people.
When we are invited into an organization, we are one of the privileged few advisors that has been given a mandate to break with the past and invent the future, usually in any way we see fit. Changing things is what we do, and what energizes us intellectually and emotionally.
In this regard, identity practitioners are perfectionists, always unsatisfied with the status quo. We feel compelled to look at a new identity and immediate identify the flaws, the missed opportunities and the technical shortcomings. Critics abound in our profession, not because we are a negative bunch, but out of a genuine yearning to make things better.
With this context, I began thinking about whether there are identity solutions, designed with the best of intentions in mind, that have achieved a kind of Aristotelian perfection in their completeness, simplicity and elegance. More than just being strategically correct or creatively brilliant, are there a handful of identities that should never be changed? Continue reading this entry >>
