Change is good, change is inevitable

Change is good: Two weeks ago I participated in a roundtable hosted by Recourses, a management consulting firm that works with service providers in the communications industry.

This particular roundtable (unfortunately, you'll have to wade through the Recourses web site to get to the roundtable page, as the site currently has the misfortune of being coded in frames) was guided by David Baker, and attended by principals from 10 other design firms of 6 employees and under.  It was two intense days of discussion and interaction, with the goal of learning from each other and affecting positive change in our businesses.

And learn we did.  I honestly don't think my view of business, or even the business itself, will be the same.

It's not uncommon in the design field for firms to be unfocused, looking for work from any client who comes along.  But now it's going to be different, we'll be looking for the work we want to do.  Marty Neumeier, whose excellent book, The Brand Gap, explains focus very well.

My epiphany: For all of the positioning work we do for our clients (at BS+Co.), we've never clearly focused on our own positioning; it's been too broad.  But now we have narrowed our focus, and things are going to change, of course for the better.

Change is inevitable: For all the hype that Gilette put into its new Gillette Fusion, it was inevitable that I try it out.  I've been using the same type of two-blade razor for 25 years.  Now we'll see how 5 blades do, and if the signal to noise ratio is justified.

Tags: advertising, marketing, branding

Book Review: LogoLounge3

As reference books go, one of my favorite series is the LogoLounge series, published by Rockport. The authors, Catharine Fischel and Bill Gardner have collaborated on the first two books in the series, LogoLounge 1 and 2. The newest is LogoLounge 3: 2,000 International Identities by Leading Designers (LogoLounge)

Culled from the nearly 37,000 logos submitted to logolounge.com, The LogoLounge books have become a yearly snapshot of the best (and I mean best) of the logos being designed currently (or logos that have been around for a few years, such as Netscape's. This logo in the book was attributed to AOL, but my understanding is that it was designed by a Neutron LLC, a collaborative group headed by Marty Neumeier in 1996).

The book features "portraits" of several identities, in four-page spreads. Some identity portraits are unremarkable, from AOL, Travelocity and others, to the exceptional: The Bank of New York, Sprint and Cameo.

Also featured are one-page summaries of several designers and design firms. These are spread throughout the book, and punctuate it for interest.

From there the book breaks the chosen identities down into many categories( e.g. typography, people, animals, symbols, sports and food to name a few), and is my favorite and the most enjoyable part of the book. The breadth of creativity is superb, and provides ample reference and inspiration for designers and creatives developing and interested in identity development.

The book has a companion web site where you can search the 2,000 logos included in the book. But we'll ask you to buy it to find out how to get there.

Congratulations to the folks from LogoLounge.com on yet another superb volume for my reference library.

Disclaimer: The logo designed by Brian Sooy & Co. for Drum Foundry is included in Book 3 on page 169.

Tags: design, branding, books, reviews

Printing old school style

A weekend trip to Nashville allowed me 15 minutes to visit Hatch Show Print (hence the delay in this week's post).

We're talking old, old school. Letterpress and ink, worn metal and wood type for over 100 years. Even with that, they have more cred than many commercial printers.



Their pricing is simple, $1 per color up to three colors, minimum 100 units. Can't beat that, and I'm racking my brain to figure out something for them to print for me.

Digital, schmigital. Gimme ink and paper.

Quick brand comparison: Lego vs. Limited Too

My son has been fascinated by Legos as long as I can remember, and as he has moved into his teens, his interest has moved on to the Lego Mindstorms product.

Given the potential of Lego as a brand and the Mindstorm NXT, I am mystified that Lego just doesn't get it when it comes to creating a strong brand as children get older, especially in the US market. There is prime opportunity to create brand awareness and loyalty through some very simple things that many other companies do, such as branded apparel and accessories, as young boys grow into their teens.  The strongest brands create incremental sales and passive marketing through apparel and accessory sales.

One of our summer trips was to Chicago, Illinois, USA – home to a Lego company store.  My son wanted to visit the store all summer, only to be greatly disappointed by the total lack of anything that he could buy that showed his affection for Lego.  No t-shirts, no baseball caps, nothing.  Unless you were an 8-year-old, and maybe there would be something in your size, but one couldn't count on it.

And with the Mindstorm, they still don't get it.  I just discovered that the Bluetooth won't work with their release software on an Intel-based Macintosh running Rosetta.  Hello!  The Intel Macs have been available for over a year before the NXT was released.  I was looking forward to the freedom from the USB cable.

Overall, Lego isn't creating a positive end-user experience on-line, in-store or with their product.  I foresee more plant closings.

Compare this to Limited Too.  My daughter has become semi-obsessed with visiting this store, which isn't so bad, even for a dad.  Granted that there were only two fathers and a half-dozen soccer moms in the store while we were there.

This is a great store for pre-teen and tween girls, with none of the objectionable fashions that are featured at other retailers.  It's a very positive, pro-girl environment, emphasizing cute and stylish clothes and accessories that really appealed to my daughter (and to the parents – we prefer to guide our daughter in modest dressing, not the ho style).  I noticed that the in-store music was all female performers.  They've created a great experience.

My daughter can't wait to go back to the store.  My son on the other hand, won't want to return to the Lego store.  Of course it's all part of growing up.  But clearly one manufacturer doesn't understand about creating consumers for life, and the other: it will only be a matter of time before my daughter wants to visit the Limited.  Time and a few more inches.

Tags: branding, fashion

Design Matters bookstore

Amazingly enough, many of the topics we touch on in Design Matters have been written about by more informed and enlightened individuals.

These individuals are so knowledgeable, they have actually written books (instead of simply writing blogs), indicating that someone, somewhere, has deemed their writing as worthy of the expenditure of ink, paper and other resources. Not that some blogs aren't worthy of becoming books.

Hmmm. Will the blogosphere someday replace books? Either way, we appreciate the efforts of everyone who writes.

Anyway, I digress. Please visit the Altered Ego + Design Matters bookstore, and support capitalism, free speech and the creative economy.