If Truman Capote was like a semantic Paganini, then Malcolm Gladwell is undoubtedly a Paganini of anecdotes. Much has been already written on Gladwell’s recent Outliers: The Story of Success. If a summary can be made before the book is actually written, then the best one was given by Richard St John in his 3-minute TED talk: “8 secrets of success”: [continue reading]
A store has 3 distinct aspects: design (the premises), merchandising (whatever you put in it) and operations (whatever employees do). They’re closely intertwined, interrelated and interdependent, so changing one of them will affect the other two as well. Their correlations are thoroughly covered in Paco Underhill’s analysis of an evolving shopping culture. It’s one of these books that in addition to substantial advice on customers’ tastes and habits is able to entertain us with witty anecdotes and gripping details.
The book has been incredibly well summarized by Malcolm Gladwell in his New Yorker article: The Science of Shopping, so instead of writing a mere ersatz of Gladwell’s review (which definitely is a must-read), I’ll focus on the book’s guidelines for designers. [continue reading]
I’ve been recently commissioned to review a logo for a beauty product. The what do you think question. The logo itself was well crafted and will probably prove successful, but it got me thinking about general rules for logo design. The technical aspects are well covered (e.g. here or here), but there are a few guidelines that exceed the obvious “it has to be legible and memorable”. So, here’s my list of common, but not that obvious at first glance, mistakes in logo design:
Carlo Tassara International, an Italian financial group, is setting up a new bank. The Alior Bank is planning to launch with a total of 200 outlets across all voivodships, targeting at 2-4 percent of the market share. The scope of the enterprise makes it one of largest FDI projects in Poland. With the initial capital of of 400 mln euro, it is the biggest financial venture Europe has seen in the last 25 years.
The new brand is presumed to stress innovation, simplicity and the high speed of its services. As Wojciech Sobieraj, the bank’s CEO, states it: “We’re certain, that our logotype thoroughly demonstrates our values: passion, professional approach, innovation and respect. At the same time it relates to tradition, confidence and trust.” [continue reading]
“The Culture Code is the unconscious meaning we apply to any given thing — a car, a type of food, a relationship, even a country — via the culture in which we are raised. The American experience with Jeeps is very different from the French and German experience because our cultures evolved differently (we have strong cultural memories of the open frontier; the French and Germans have strong cultural memories of occupation and war). Therefore, the Codes — the meaning we give to the Jeep at an unconscious level — are different as well. (…) It is obvious to everyone that cultures are different from one another. What most people don’t realize, however, is that these differences actually lead to our processing the same information in different ways.”
However trivial the starting point of Clotaire Rapaille’s “Culture Code” may seem, the marketing (and cultural) guidance deduced from the anthropological study is quite puzzling. The analysis of several fundamental archetypes (ranging from shopping to sex), abundant in examples from Rapaille’s practice, seems to assure consistent results in any commercial endeavor. [continue reading]
“I never knew a designer that got hundreds of thousands of dollars to design a logo. Mostly, designers get paid to negotiate the difficult terrain of individual egos, expectations, tastes, and aspirations of various individuals in an organization or corporation, against business needs, and constraints of the marketplace. This is a process that can take a year or more. Getting a large, diverse group of people to agree on a single new methodology for all of their corporate communications means the designer has to be a strategist, psychiatrist, diplomat, showman, and even a Svengali.
The complicated process is worth money. That’s what clients pay for. The process, usually a series of endless presentations and refinements, persuasions and proofs, results, hopefully, in an accepted identity design” What they don’t teach you about identity design by Paula Scher.
Briefly and to the point (& video): Olympic Pictograms Through the Ages.
“Lindstrom suggests that too much messaging on a product’s packaging can actually prevent a sale. Logos and words can engage the rational mind, causing people to actually think harder about making a purchase. It’s a counter-intuitive notion, but then think about the effectiveness of the quiet logos on a bottle of POM Wonderful pomegranate juice, or a Method product, or the entire Apple product line up.” The Myth of the Rational Buyer: How Too Much Thinking Can Hurt Your Brand
Not exactly on the main subject of this blog, but hey, branding actually IS about meetings. Meetings, the Google way:
1. Set a firm agenda. 2. Assign a note-taker. 3. Carve out micro-meetings. 4. Hold office hours.
5. Discourage politics, use data. 6. Stick to the clock. [via: supervolatile]
A Bain & Co. survey notes that 80 percent of CEOs believe that their product is differentiated, but only 8 percent of consumers agree. To truly stand out in the market, a product must embody the characteristics of its brand. (…) The first to market position is a market opportunity, not a brand strategy. A product is not a brand.
“Design beautiful experiences, not beautiful artifacts. Stop asking “what” and start asking “why”. Start with experience, end with experience. Genius will fail, wisdom will succeed. Become wise. Keep it simple. From design thinking to dynamic thinking. Let iteration direct your process: Work more rapidly, change more frequently. Have fun. Adapt your process to your design goals, not the other way around. Preserve the experience, not your own competency.” The Experience Imperative: A Manifesto for Industrial Designers by Ken Fry.
Plus: “Experience design is not a remedy that turns products into miracles that everybody likes. It will help you speaking more efficiently to your target group. To that end products needs to be simplified. The simpler the product the more character it has, the more likely it is to be rejected or accepted by a group of customers. To that end you need to know your customers and you need to test your designs with your customers.” iA: Can Expierience be designed?
“Designers care. This is not always a good thing, and can, in fact, be annoying. Designers obsess so much about their work that it’s a wonder they ever let any finished project out the door. And they’re just as tough on everyone else’s work.” I feel excused now;). For other equally accurate features read: Four Things I’ve Learned About Designers by Warren Berger.
“John Updike, who was so enamored of Janson and insisted that all his books be set in that font, would have been appalled to see all of his books set in Caelicia, the same font used in, say, Nora Roberts.” E-readers in authors eyes [NYTimes]
“As a client, your job isn’t to be innovative. Your job is to foster innovation. Big difference.” Seth Godin on how to be a great client. Worth taking into account;)
“The prescription is not to embrace abduction to the exclusion of deduction and induction, nor is it to bet the farm on loose abductive inferences.
Rather, it is to strive for balance. Proponents of design thinking in business recognize that abduction is almost entirely marginalized in the modern corporation and take it upon themselves to make their companies hospitable to it. They choose to embrace a form of logic that doesn’t generate proof and operates in the realm of what might be — a realm beyond the reach of data from the past.”
Roger Martin: What is Design Thinking Anyway?.
idiologie.com is an obsessive collection of my thoughts & findings, focusing extensively on branding and corporate identity.
I’m a graphic designer specializing in corporate branding and digital media. Some of my works are available at: www.helen.pl.
Networks:
LinkedIn / Readernaut / Twitter.
1 connaissance de l'individu par découverte de ses particularités
2 denoting an interest in ID & branding
[ORIGIN from Greek idios ‘own, distinct’ & French -logie or medieval Latin -logia, from Greek]