It is a known fact that current societal trends drive the design world to create innovative concepts. Due to a cultural shift in the last several years, we are seeing a major evolution in the direction of branding and logos, particularly in the large corporate logo markets. The mega-corp icons of the dotcom yesteryear were usually characterized by a seriousness and intimidation that left consumers feeling distanced from the company. Today, however, we live in a world of instantaneous information that provides the tools for smaller businesses to gain as much recognition, if not more, as big establishments. In response, branding is a shifting toward strategies that lie in a more affable territory.

A New York Times article, “Warmer, Fuzzier: the Refreshed Logo” printed March of last year remarked that logos are being created noticeably more “inviting, friendly, conversational, playful and reassuring.” Is this a ploy by big companies to gain the same neighborly status as small businesses? Perhaps it is an attempt at reviving consumer trust in a deflated and oversaturated marketplace. Or maybe the age of web and interactive design has led consumers to demand a more tangible relationship with companies. Whatever the source is, it would seem the intention is to appear a friend and not a distant enterprise.

What exactly are we seeing companies do to soften their logos? The first trendy transformation is the letter case. Dozens of companies are switching from those darn yelling capitals to more conversational lower-case forms. Some of the many examples include BP, GE, Xerox and AT&T-all humanizing the look of their tired brands with lowercase. A shift toward softer-shaped, sans-serif faces also alleviates the standoffish nature of the previously popular serif logos. TCBY applied this technique to add a bit of fun into their ill-suited brand. Several brands have cut down on unnecessary clutter and created logos that speak firmly in their simplest state, for instance, Nickalodeon network’s symbol. Once a bright orange trademark splat, it is now replaced by an updated, fun orange logotype. Perhaps one of the most conspicuous alterations in the branding sphere is the application of bright, vibrant palates. It’s refreshing, I think, to witness the growing corporate comfort with straying from the common colors of their industry to immerse themselves in bold, new, and invigorating hues.

Cultures evolve, technologies grow, and it is up to designers to meet these alterations head on with creativity. It’s going to be interesting to watch these trends adapt to meet the demands of a changing society. I wonder just how far designers will take this process of softening and simplification before we see the concepts inevitably swing back to the other side of the graphic spectrum.

Over the duration of my college career I discovered I have a strong preference for hand-crafted design. Throughout my first year at TBG I have tried to work it into as many projects as I can. This style of design fits well with our pro-bono work for a local ballet school and Habitat for Humanity. However, the majority of our regular clients are hi-tech, B2B companies, and the issue that always arises is: “Is there a place for hand crafted design in the hi-tech B2B world?”

Currently, hand-crafted design is most often seen in more intimate B2C industries, like food, health, travel, and fashion. Two examples of this style used in these industries include an ad series by Cheerios and Anthropologie Clothing’s website. In the Cheerios ads, a hand-crafted style is used to represent ideas of intimacy in relation to a person’s heart health and personal passion. For Anthropologie, this style is used to give their clothes a high-end, hand-crafted, artsy appeal. In both cases, it is easy to see how this style gives them a very strong human element; nothing about either example feels machined in any way.

Until recently, the goal of hi-tech, B2B marketing was usually to convey ideas of efficiency, innovation, security, and structure, leaving no appropriate scenario for the use of hand-crafted design. However, with the advent of Web 2.0, social networking and mobile technology, this style of design now has an appropriate place in the hi-tech, B2B world. As our technology continues to become more and more user-friendly, personal, and intimate, the more a style that conveys these characteristics becomes appropriate. While there still may be many marketing situations where the use of a hand-crafted design is inappropriate, I am excited there is now a place for this style in hi-tech, B2B.

What do you think? Let me know whether or not you agree.

Halloween is the one time of the year where we all seek a bit of fear. Whether it’s watching scary movies or dressing up in a ghoulish costume, we love the excitement and adrenalin created by fear. The rest of the year, however, we do everything we can to avoid fear because it sucks the joy out of our lives and compromises our decision-making. This is true not only in our personal lives, but in the way we conduct ourselves at work.

For marketers, fear impacts our decision making at work on three levels; our personal fears, our clients fears, and our audiences’ fears.

Fear plays a major role in both the creation of concepts and the interpretation of concepts. In creating concepts, I must move beyond my own fear in order to address and reassure the fears of my client. If I do not move beyond my fear and instead let it dictate my decision making, it will usually lead to weak concepts and a bad client relationship.

In addition to moving beyond my own fear, I must also address how fear will impact my audiences’ interpretation of the concept. It is important to recognize that fear is one of the most influential drivers of whether we purchase something, particularly in a business buying decision. We may think we are buying for many other reasons, but typically fear has the final word. For this reason, fear can work to our advantage if we ensure that the interpretation of our concept works to address the audiences’ fears.

Ultimately, we must remember that truly cutting edge ideas are almost always a bit scary, but it’s the cutting edge ideas that tear through the clutter. So, maybe we should seek and embrace our fears more than just once a year.

The other day, I came across these videos on a site called “The Fun Theory”. According to its creators, the site ” is dedicated to the thought that something as simple as fun is the easiest way to change people’s behaviour for the better”.

In order to prove this theory, three experiments were set up and video taped on the streets of Sweden. Each experiment posed its own question. The first experiment, titled “The World’s Deepest Bin”, posed the question “Can we get more people to throw rubbish into the bin, rather than onto the ground, by making it fun to do?” As you will see in the video the answer to that question is a definite yes. The following two experiments, titled “Piano Staircase” and “Bottle Bank Arcade Machine”, posed similar questions about people choosing the stairs over the escalator and the recycling of glass bottles. Again there was a strong shift in people’s behavior.

I think these videos are a great example of how a strong concept can move people to act. Moving a target audience to action is something that designers and marketers strive to achieve all the time, albeit their goal is usually to get their audience to buy something. While the premise of this particular campaign might not directly apply to the goals of your campaigns, it is still fascinating to witness people taking a specified action in reaction to a strong concept. For me, it is also empowering to know that I, as a creative, could potentially change human behavior for the better.

Do you have any examples of strong concepts moving people to action? Share them with us.

“The Times They Are a-Changin”.
This famous lyric that Bob Dylan wrote in 1963 has never been more relevant to the world than it is right now—particularly to the world of marketing. The increased pressure for profitability, the disappearance of television’s mass marketing approach and the emergence of online social media has created a new set of fuzzy rules and expectations for marketing professionals who want their work to remain relevant.

The question now is how do we profitize, personalize and create community within marketing? The answer is not so much a single action item as it is a broad shift in mindset.

Think like an investment banker not like an artist
To begin, as marketers we must redirect our focus from a creativity-at-all-costs model to one of quantifiable profitability. This does not mean we should cease striving for brilliant creative and engaging ways to communicate with customers. What it does mean is that in this new age marketing cannot function as art for art’s sake. The new reality is that marketing is now investment that needs to show a tangible return. This can only happen when marketing objectives are tactically defined and outcomes are carefully tracked. Ideas still need to be creative, but more importantly, they must be flexible, measurable and profitable.

Make it personal
In today’s marketplace, communications must be personalized. The one-direct-mail-fits-all mindset is now antiquated. In order to create relevant communications, you must first understand the fears, pressures and desires of your customers. This is the insight you need in order to create communications that are meaningful and speak directly to the correct audience.

Secondly, we must create communications that are more focused on nurturing leads than closing a sale. This is an important shift in mindset because in today’s marketplace sales are more about long-term relationship building than scoring a one-time order. Marketing communications must now move the audience to the next position in the sales cycle. It makes no sense to speak to someone about your payment structure when they have shown no interest in your product. At the same time, for someone who has demonstrated significant interest in your offering, your payment structure may be the deciding factor between you and a competitor. This approach allows you to build trust with your audience, which leads to loyalty.

Participate in the Community
The third change sweeping the marketing world is the advent of social media. These types of communities can be significant assets to your marketing efforts if they are utilized correctly. In order to take full advantage of social marketing opportunities, however, it is not enough to simply follow the masses. First, you need to understand which communities are relevant to your audience, join in and start to listen closely. This is where your audience is going to be talking about their pain, their needs and the vision. By becoming part of the community, you gain an intimate understanding of needs you must meet to be successful.

The second and most important aspect of community is participation. Once you understand the issues your audience is facing you can start to be a voice within the community that provides insight, answers and leadership. This is your opportunity to demonstrate you expertise. The more you participate the more recognizable you become and the more trust you build. Eventually, potential customers will come to you seeking solutions based on the insight you share with the community.

It is definitely true, things are a-changin, but it doesn’t have to be a disaster. Marketers are in the business of creative solutions. Now is time to start looking internally to figure out how we are going to change with the marketplace.

The JuJu chair was where I would go to lay my head when I needed to create the impossible…or at least the elusive. I would climb in, prop up my feet, lay my head back and announce to my office mates that I was not sleeping, despite appearances. I would fall into some sort of trance in which my mind could be wiped clean. It was in this hyper state of relaxation that ideas would simply appear to me. I wrote my best headlines, conceived my most creative campaigns, and problem-solved my most overwhelming obstacles in the JuJu chair. It never let me down and I loved that chair. To be honest, it became something of a joke in the office because the chair would not come through for anyone else but me. I raved about the power of the chair. I advocated for its placement, its cleaning and its care, but no one else believed in it, thus no one else benefited from its innate ability to stimulate the creative process.

Eventually, the chair had to be moved to the dumpster. Even I agreed that it might be some sort of biohazard and carried it out to its final resting place myself. It was a sad day, but things like this have a lifespan. The JuJu chair had run its course.

The red chair is still discussed in the office, though somewhat tongue-in-cheek by some. I am periodically teased for my faith in the JuJu chair. I take my ribbing with a smile, defending my allegiance to it, though I could not explain its power…until recently.

As it turns out, I had to do a bit of research about brain function for some project. As I waded through documents on how the right and left brains interact I tripped upon an interesting tidbit.

Apparently, the left and right sides of our brain are almost always in a conflict of perception. And, for most people, the left side (the logical side) nearly always wins, leaving the right side (the creative side) muted. In order to combat this, one must quiet the left side by denying it stimulation. Once the left side is calmed, the right side has a brief open moment to wildly express itself. But you have to grab what it gives you quickly because that pesky left side becomes a bit territorial and perks up, screaming mad, silencing its adversary.

In walks the JuJu chair. As it turns out, the power of the chair was not its ability to stimulate my creative brain, but to assuage my logical brain. Though I did not understand it, the power of the chair was real. It worked for me and for no one else because I was the only one whose unwavering faith allowed me to fully relax and give my right brain the voice it so desperately sought. My faith was justified…and I gloated.

While all this is good fun, there is something rather important to take away. We are working in uncertain times. As marketers, our job requires us to be creative, yet our anxiety, trepidation and worry about the marketplace can hinder our ability to conceive the next great idea. We’re all used to sitting around a big table brain storming, feverishly writing things down, following rabbit trails and hoping for creative association to do its magic. But that doesn’t always work, particularly if we are all waded up with fear about our jobs. So here it is-your take-away from this blog: take a deep breath and calm down. We all need to find our own JuJu chair and invite relaxation to be our muse. It really does work; there is science behind it. (And it’s a much better way to live anyway.)

As a continuation of my post Going from 0-60, I thought I would focus specifically on my experiences with Twitter. At this point I know you may be on Twitter overload since everyone and their brother is talking about it. That said, I thought I would still share some helpful tips and perspectives on how Twitter can be used as a great business resource. The running joke about Twitter is that it is a pointless waste of time where people post insipid food updates, but I have learned that it can be a great tool for businesses of any size. Here’s why.

For starters, it allows you to get immediate customer feedback. If your customers are following you on Twitter, you have the ability to see their questions, comments, and complaints in real time. Now, this characteristic of Twitter can also backfire easily if you don’t monitor it. If you don’t respond to your followers in a timely or sincere manner, it will be easy for them to spread negative comments. There are plenty of stories of corporations learning this lesson the hard way.

Twitter also gives you the ability to share new projects or products with your followers. It’s also a great way to get new people interested in you, which can lead to new customers. But here again is a fine line that should not be crossed; it is perfectly acceptable to share your achievements as long as you are not spamming your followers. If you join Twitter and simply inundate your followers with your own shameless self-promotion, you will soon be unfollowed and probably banned by Twitter altogether.

Finally, choosing to follow others in your niche is a great way to find good resources such as articles, blogs, white papers, etc. that pertain to your area of interest. And sharing any of your good resources is also a good way to gain loyal followers.

I have complied a list of important starter tips. If you are new to Twitter these will guide you on your way to setting up a strong business profile.

1. Customize your background and profile picture
Once you have opened a new account one of the first things you want to do is customize your background and profile picture. This is a fairly simple thing to do and it will let potential followers know that you are not a spammer.

2. Search for people in your niche
After you have set up your account you want to find people to follow, preferably in the same niche as you. You can search for people by name, by using your email or IM lists, or by keywords. By following people you will also begin to build followers.

3. Follow people that follow you
An unwritten rule of Twitter is that if someone follows you, you should also follow them. Not everyone follows this rule, but many people do as you will see when you begin to follow others. Also, you by no means need to follow spammers who follow you. You will quickly learn who the spammers are, but there are some quick hints. They usually have a default background and profile pic (or a pic of someone who looks like a model), their updates pertain to how you can make quick money, or they invite you to look at provocative pictures of them by clicking on a link.

4. Posting a link
Chances are you will want to post a link in your tweets. However, with a 140 character limit it is often impractical to insert a full link. It is good to use sites like tinyurl.com or bit.ly to shorten your link. On sites like these you simply paste in your link and then hit shorten and it will give you a much shorter link to use. You will notice that most people do this.

5. Do some research
The hard part about jumping into Twitter is that many important aspects of it aren’t intuitive and aren’t explained when you sign up, such as @replies, retweets, and # marks. There are important functions that are unfamiliar and unexplained as well. It is too much for me to explain here so I recommend looking through a good post I found on Webdesigner Depot’s site. It will explain almost anything you need to know about Twitter before starting.

6. Warnings
Always remember that Twitter is public. Anyone on Twitter can see your profile and your tweets, so be careful about what you put out there. If you need to send someone something private on Twitter you can use the direct message function, but that is the only private function you have. One other important warning I would like to pass along is don’t ever use sites that promise to get you large numbers of followers if you simply give them your username and password. Often these are scams to get your account information that they can then use to spam others under your name.

Ultimately, Twitter is simply another form of communication, one with beneficial characteristics for any type of business, large or small. With real-time data and direct public interaction, Twitter is a great business tool in today’s high-speed environment. Businesses and their owners should not fear it but embrace it in the same way they have embraced past forms of communication.

Good communication skills have a broad application.

Oh so many years ago, when I declared my collegiate major in English, my academic advisor assumed I would bolster that particular field of study with a minor in education. “Oh nay, nay,” was my response—well, maybe not those exact words. But while my refusal may have been a bit more timid, it was firm. I had no interest in teaching and I could not be dissuaded from my course. I could read the obvious consternation and concern on the face of Beulah Baker, my advisor, but my course and my course work were set in my mind. I was going to be a writer and nothing else. I’m certain Beulah thought I would starve.

At that time, English majors nearly always ended up in classrooms or in graduate school studying the intricacies of Library Science. While both are fine professions, neither offered me any enticement, and I have never regretted my decision. While I have yet to complete my magnum opus, I have managed to make a living writing marketing. The truth is that good communication skills can take you a long way no matter what your profession. In fact, in today’s marketplace, English majors are among the most sought after applicants to major companies across all fields from finance to healthcare. The ability to communicate well is at the foundation of a multiplicity of professions. And if you’re a marketer, the ability to produce a well-constructed sentence is crucial.

When most people think of marketing, the idea of design comes readily to mind. Dazzling graphics and flashy Flash® do impress, but without words it’s a lot of bells and whistles. This is not another of my shameless plugs for a copywriter’s due respect. Words-for-hire have an important place in marketing, but a vast number of communications must be written in-house and on-the-fly by marketing professionals. Budgets rarely allot for copywriters to compose every sales letter, marketing plan, product description, press release, creative brief or corporate initiative. Messaging is constantly created and it needs to be clear, consistent, convincing and to the point. Marketing is about connecting with your audience and communicating the wonders of what you are selling. That cannot be accomplished if your readers are stumbling over split participles, misplaced predicates and generally clumsy construction.

Here’s the bottom line, the ability to communicate is essential in the modern marketplace, not to mention life in general. For marketing, it is core. If it is a skill that has eluded you until now, it’s not too late. You can improve. It might scare you to think about it, but words can become your friends. You may never rival Shakespeare, but with one simple directive I can help you improve every sentence you pen. Like so many things, this is a lesson you learned in kindergarten. If you want to write well—drum roll, please: READ. Real often and read much. Bathe yourself in the words of others. Breathe them, eat them, wallow in them and they will change you.

I never considered the life of a teacher or a librarian, but I truly understand the value of a good book or periodical. Find a few that captivate you and fill your brain with well written words. Soon enough, you will start to distinguish a finely structured sentence from one built with shoddy construction. Before you know it you will be waxing eloquent yourself every time you pick up your pen. Despite the concerns of Beulah Baker, you will not starve.

Since starting at The Basis Group I have realized the vast difference between school and the real world, and, wow!, what a gap. Though still a student, I’ve realized in order to prepare for this transition you must take the initiative or you will find yourself in a constant struggle fighting to keep up. I obviously struggle with my inexperience and lack of know-how in daily situations, and I’m confident that every other graduate will come across these same struggles. The selling point here is that you can never be fully prepared for what is to come, but I know without doubt there are ways to help lessen the blow. Looking at some areas of concern I will walk you through what has been successful in my attempt for preparedness in the design field.

The first area of concern is the young designer’s inability to understand and effectively use the software, design professionals wield. Let me first clarify that I think a university education is a necessity, but it does have its downfalls, as with anything. Being a young creative, it is of utmost importance to fill in these holes. The concern is that a large part of readiness for a professional career depends on your ability to use the programs well. Collegiate instructors have the tendency to assume we have the skill set to use any program proficiently, which isn’t necessarily the case. In order to overcome this concern you must self-teach on this issue. I have found tutorials to be very successful in supplementing my program knowledge. There is a wide array of tutorials available for your use. They will help you understand the capabilities of your design programs and are applicable to both student and professional work. Take time to find these tutorials-you’ll be surprised what you don’t know.

The second area of concern is lack of proper exposure to great design resources such as Print, Communication Arts, How, blogs, etc. The solution is an awareness of how these resources can help build great design. View the designs as solutions to problems and take note of how certain aspects of the work can apply to the design problems you are facing.

As a creative you must use design resources as a standard-a level of professionalism-that you strive to achieve. Set the bar high and work towards it. It’s easy to think that your designs are good when you’re comparing them to other students’ work. If you’re constantly pushing to create work at a professional level, you are going to see definite results. It’s an up-hill battle and having great designs in sight will help achieve accomplished work.

The third, and without doubt largest, area of concern is the lack of knowledge beyond design skills. The complexities that run through the veins of a firm can be jaw-dropping if you are clueless to the business side of the design world. There is so much that must happen in order to achieve the beautiful end result. It’s easy while still in school to think that you will just be creating and designing beautiful pieces all the time. The reality, however, is that there are many things taking place in your day other than just creative processes. Branding, PR, HR, scheduling, client communication, are all concepts I’ve heard, but they come across as foreign. I hear the words, but lack a formal understanding. This opportunity has helped me gain an awareness of the side of this field I’ve never experienced before, and I couldn’t imagine what it would be like stepping into a career situation without this experience.

The solution I have to offer is to be proactive and take the initiative to seek out an internship opportunity. People are willing to help coach you along the way, and being an intern is a great step toward becoming a great designer.

As I have moved into my new position as designer, I have begun to work on projects that involve strict corporate guidelines. I, like many designers, find that such rigid restrictions can kill all creativity. So I decided to explore what I feel are the problems with many corporate guidelines and how they could be resolved.

As both marketers and designers know, corporate guidelines are an essential part of any strong brand identity. They help ensure that the identity remains consistent and messaging remains on target. However, the problem with most corporate guidelines is they focus too much on restricting the visuals and messaging and not enough on defining the brand. This leads to guidelines that read like a stiff legal document and stifle both designers and marketers. And when marketers and designers are left with no creative freedom it soon leads to a lifeless identity; or in some cases, the guidelines just get completely abandoned.

So, how do you achieve a balance between corporate guidelines that help maintain an identity’s consistency but don’t kill all future creativity?

I believe the solution to this problem lies in creating guidelines that present designers and marketers with a creative challenge, rather than pre-designed templates. Guidelines should define two things: the values of the brand and a few basic visual rules that should never be broken (i.e., handling of logo, corporate color palate and fonts). It should be up to the designer or marketer to build upon these fundamentals. This will allow the brand identity to evolve and maintain a fresh look while still remaining consistent with brand values.

On Core77’s website, I found an example of a great guideline strategy. Ziba, a design consultancy in Portland, Oregon, created a design language for Kitchen Aid’s line of small appliances. The language, called ProScale, organizes core values, visual positioning, design principles, and signature elements into a strategic pyramid. This pyramid both defines Kitchen Aid as a brand and provides fundamental visual rules, giving any future product developers the fundamentals they need to create something consistent with existing products, but also allowing them the freedom of creative exploration.

Our solution at TBG is the Brand Basis, a document that helps businesses fully understand their brand. It defines a brand objectively and honestly by pinpointing the company’s target audience, defining strengths, weaknesses and market differentiators, and outlining key messaging and core values. Once this document is complete both the company and their designers fully understand and respect their brand, which creates a strong identity and hopefully strong corporate guidelines.

Now, the reality of the situation is that designers and marketers are still going to have to work within strict, rigid guidelines most of the time. While it tends to be a struggle to create original and creative work within such inflexible constraints, I do feel it is important not to give up in these situations but to continue to search for a creative solution. I feel it is out of this tension between guidelines and full creative freedom that great design emerges. Now, if you do happen to find yourself in a position where you are able to set up or change the guidelines, think about how you can inspire and guide future designers and marketers, so that the identity will continue to evolve in a positive way.

What are your thoughts about corporate guidelines? Nuisance? Necessity? Or both?