Logo Creed - The Mystery, Magic, and Method Behind Designing Great Logos (Bill Gardner & Catharine Fishel, 2013)

CREED

CREED

THE MYSTERY, MAGIC, AND METHOD

BEHIND DESIGNING

G R EAT LOGOS

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION 6

Section 1: D I S C O V E RY 12 Chapter 10: Favorite techniques 118
12 Bill Gardner 118
Chapter 1: Origins 14 David Airey 119
Chapter 2: The origins of identity 15 Paul Howalt 120
Chapter 3: Corporations replace kingdoms 17 Miles Newlyn 120
New business, new stories 18 Brian Miller 120
Chapter 4: The next step 20 Felix Sockwell 121
Chapter 5: The value of an identity 21 Sherwin Schwartzrock 121
Chapter 6: Differentiation 22 Von Glitschka 121
Chapter 7: Aspiration and inspiration 22 122
The “R” word 23 Chapter 11: Brainstorming 123
Talk to me 23 Group brainstorming 124
The reasons why 28 Solo brainstorming 124
Oral discovery 31 Forced random connections 126
Visual discovery 32 127
Get to know the competition 35 Chapter 12: Did you try… 128
Graphical differentiation 36 Amalgams 129
Study adjacent fields 37 Concentric 130
What’s in the air? 40 Continuous line 131
International considerations 43 Dry brush 132
Practical concerns 44 Encrusted 133
Other special concerns 46 Folds 134
A last word on research… 46 Ghosts 135
Logo redesigns: Special concerns 48 Glassine 136
Respect equity 48 Handmade 137
Don’t make sweeping judgments 49 Mezzotint 138
Anticipate obsolescence 50 Monoline 139
Design for who they will be 50 Motion 140
What sort of mark should it be? 58 Optical illusion 141
Logo/Symbol/Mark 61 Orbs 142
Logotype/Wordmark 62 Photographic 143
Combination mark Pixels 144
Icons and favicons Ribbons 145
Scribbles 146
Selective focus 147
Series 148
Shadow 149
Transparent 150
Triangles 151
Vibrate 152
Woven 152
154
Section 2: D E V E L O P M E N T Chapter 13: Incubation 154
Reserve time to relax 154
154
Chapter 14: What defines a great logo? 155
It lives (on at least) three levels 155
Chapter 8: Generating ideas 66 It has economy of line 157
Chapter 9: Draw, draw, draw, draw 66 It has quality craftsmanship 158
Feed your brain wisely 69 The “sweet line” is there 166
Traps to avoid 71 It has clever juxtaposition 167
What the process can look like 74 It truthfully conveys who the client is 168
Case study 1: Miles Newlyn 75 More perspectives 168
Case study 2: Sherwin Schwartzrock 82 170
Case study 3: Paul Howalt 86 Chapter 15: Refinement 173
Case study 4: David Airey 90 Select a diversity of concepts 178
Case study 5: Brian Miller 96 Select a diversity of styles 179
Case study 6: Von Glitschka 102 Preparing for presentation
Case study 7: Felix Sockwell 107 Finessing
Case study 8: Moving Brands, Considering color
113
with chief creative officer Mat Heinl Chapter 16: Designing lockups
Predicting usage

Section 3: D E L I V E RY “Symbolize

Chapter 17: Presentation and preparation 184 and
Entering discussions 185
Reiterating objectives 186 Summarize”
The presentation process 186
190
Chapter 18: Application 191
The brand 191
What should the DNA contain? 194
Meet the brand steward 194
The graphic standards manual 196
197
Chapter 19: Implementation 198
Teaching a brand story 199
Preparing the ambassadors 202
Managing expectations 202
204
Chapter 20: How to predict the future
Avoid the latest craze
Plotting design trajectories

EPILOGUE 206 M e e t Y O U R M e n t o r ...
CONTRIBUTORS 208
ABOUT THE AUTHOR 210 Let’s BEGIN.
PHOTOGRAPHER CREDITS 210
INDEX 211

introduction

My CaREER, THE MENTOR

before design, was as a I was very fortunate to have a very talented magician to men-
magician. It’s what put me tor me. It’s really the only way to truly learn what you need
through college. The truth is, to know because, as a rule, magicians keep their secrets.
magic & design are Thousands of books have been written on magic, some
not all that different from each dating back centuries, but they are kept within the fold and
other. Their processes are away from the public. Once you have entered their fraternity
nearly identical, and each is and proven your worth, however, your mentor and the larger
rooted in mentorship. group are more willing to share those secrets.

Bill Gardner Such books as The King of Conjurers are not literally locked away from
the general public. But unless you are being mentored by an experienced
6 magician, chances are that you will never lay hands on a copy.

Nineteenth-century Frenchman Jean Eugène Robert-Houdin was considered to be the father of modern-day magic.
He understood early on the importance of mentorship to the survival of the conjuring craft.

7

They don’t want to share with just anyone because the in- along information that may have been passed along to them
stant they reveal a trick, its value evaporates. The magic— earlier in their careers, plus their own discoveries, insights,
the fun and amazement—is essentially destroyed. and techniques. They are welcoming you to the process.

Sound familiar? THE PROCEss

Magicians look at magic very differently than the general Every illusion that a magician performs has three parts:
public. Yes, the ability to see things through innocent eyes the mystery, the magic, and the method.
is lost. But the plus side for magicians is that this pulls them
through the curtain so that they can participate in the perfor- Imagine that a magician starts to perform a card trick. He
mance in a completely different way—as the builders of the passes a deck of cards to an audience member and asks her
experience. to open the deck to reveal one card to herself only, mentally
focus on it, and then tuck it back in and shuffle the deck thor-
Designers look at design very differently than the general oughly. The magician has no way to see the chosen card, yet
public. Yes, you look at things through very different eyes— it is his job to name it.
understanding the significance of shape, color, and symbol-
ism in ways the unschooled person never could. But the real This part of the process is the mystery. We don’t know yet
plus side for you is that you become the builder of experi- what the card is or how the magician will figure it out.
ences, of stories and of dreams.
The next step is the magic. That is where the deck of cards
Designers and magicians essentially train in the same way. is passed back to the magician. He fans through them, ex-
They typically learn from a mentor and spend time apprentic- plaining what just happened and showing the cards to the
ing. If you look at all the designers who came from the shops audience. And somehow the magician is discerning what
of Saul Bass or studied under Paul Rand, you can’t deny that card the audience member selected. In truth, because he
this happens. Much of the process of design is hidden from has thoroughly studied and practiced this illusion before-
the audience. And until someone is willing to be your mentor, hand, he could just reach in and reveal the card immediately,
it is also hidden from you. with no flourish or other special presentation. But that would
be such a disappointment to the audience. There is no dra-
This is a book of mentorship. The people whose work is fea- ma, suspense, or climax.
tured in this book have come together to let you join their
fraternity of design and share their secrets. They are passing

MaGIC/DEsIGN parallels Three-Step Processes
Both Disciplines
8

It’s the method that delivers the real value. Maybe the magi- OPENING the door to meaning
cian throws the deck into the air and the chosen card hov-
ers, or sticks to the curtain, or appears in the pocket of the EARLY SYMbOLS had a sort of magic all their own, and
person who first selected the card. Maybe he cuts open an they weren’t necessarily used to aid in communication. In
orange to reveal the card. If done well, the revelation stuns the beginning, in fact, they were only understood by very
the audience, ensuring they will remember it for the rest of small pools of people. To everyone outside those pools,
their lives. symbols were meaningless, and intentionally so.
Masons made marks on stones that only other trained
This three-step process is exactly the same one design- masons understood, to cite a very old tradition. This se-
ers go through when they create logos, although we use a cret language protected their guilds and therefore their
slightly different parlance. livelihoods. The Christian fish symbol—the top of the arc
drawn with a foot on the ground by one person, and the
First, there is mystery, or what we would call the dis- bottom drawn similarly by someone else to complete the
covery phase: What is the client’s brand story and how fish—was a way for early Christians not only to identify
will it be told? one another, but to do so without risking their lives. It was
crucial that outsiders did not understand the symbol.
Then, there is magic, or the development phase: The How such marks came about is fascinating to me. They
designer uses his or her very specialized skills and are magical, imbued with meaning, and secret, but pos-
knowledge to understand and divine the best solution sible to understand if someone is willing to let you inside.
to represent the client.
Initially, the Christian fish symbol was not intended to be
Finally, there is the method, or delivery phase: The understood by everyone.
designer translates the story it into a visual experience
that is so meaningful and succinct that it defies gravity,
allowing it to hover in the air and leave a lasting impres-
sion that amazes and delights.

IT’s IN yOUR HaNDs

In magic, it used to be said, if you had a trick and wanted to
keep it to yourself, then you should put it into print. At magic
conventions, it is not too uncommon for a performer to pres-
ent an illusion that floors the assembled magicians in the au-
dience. But when the performer tells his audience that he
found the trick in a book, they are even more stunned. Either
no one else had read that book or no one had envisioned
that trick in the same way he did it.

The same holds true for you now. You have the opportunity to
continue reading and begin to learn from new mentors. You
can build on their knowledge. You can use the magic inside
of you to astound everyone, even—sometimes—yourself.

INTRODUCTION 9



discovery

CHAPTER Origins

1

The history of identity design Symbols evolved into our alphabet during a slow progression. What started
is nearly as Old as humankind. as a hieroglyphic symbol representing a cow morphed into a very similar
Phoenician (second from left) and then Greek (second from right) character.
THE ORIGINs Of IDENTITy The current Roman letter A is really not that far removed from its origin.

The concept of identity began as man’s simple desire to mark Over time, such marks became increasingly representa-
his territory in a visible way. Early peoples made scrawls on tive of collections of people—families, regions, and herds.
the walls of caves that said to others, “I am here.” There was Around 3100 BC, the Egyptians first introduced hieroglyphs.
no commercial enterprise to identify; these were the marks of Society was still illiterate by our definition, so pictograms
an individual, or perhaps a tribe. stepped in to help people symbolically communicate infor-
mation. Someone who raised cows might use a rudimentary
picture of a cow to identify his property or himself. A trades-
man whose business was near a river might use several wavy
lines to represent water: That trademark—the mark of his
trade—might help others understand how to find him and
what he did.

12

These amphoras might have contained oil or wine or other goods for ignited. The mark made in Rome still meant little to someone
shipment. Each vessel bears the mark of its maker. in India due to language barriers, so it could not be consid-
ered marketing.
As even more time passed, in Western cultures those pic-
tograms transformed into letterforms. The Phoenician al- In heraldry in the Middle Ages, kingdoms and fiefdoms fought
phabet was adopted by the Greeks circa 800 BC. Some for their beliefs and lands wearing their colors and flags and
Eastern cultures, on the other hand, stuck with pictograms. symbols. These markings followed a very specific set of
Communication became easier, even among illiterate people. guidelines that were strictly adhered to. They told who was
Now you could know where a vessel of oil came from and royalty and must be treated accordingly (often at risk of one’s
could return to that source for more, because the vessel car- life or property); who to kill or not kill on the battlefield; and
ried a unique mark that identified its origin. where you could go or not go. The invention of the culverin,
a medieval sort of cannon one could shoot while astride a
In Mesopotamia, the cradle of commerce, many tradespeo- horse, made heraldry obsolete. In battle, a shield carrying the
ple started to mark their wares, because they were proud of livery of the lord was easily pierced by such a firearm, and war
their work. Potters marked their clay pots; masons marked and the associated markings were suddenly reinvented. The
their bricks. The baker inserted his thumb into the center upper crust continued to use their crests on everything from
of a proofed loaf of bread and twisted it just so, to make a buildings and boats to jewelry and household goods, but he-
mark that represented his establishment and no other. But raldic marks no longer held the vital value they once did.
these tradespeople did this for a very small universe. There
still was no larger distribution system that moved goods out- As the sixteenth century passed, the upper classes no lon-
side of a region: If you were in business at that time, you ger exclusively comprised people with a history of noble
literally served people who were only within walking distance lineage. But many nouveaux riches realized the cachet that
of your trade. A potter may have marked in his entire lifetime crests and flags had, and soon the likes of Napoleon, Marie
as many pots as a pottery manufacturer today marks in a Antoinette, and many others had their initials designed into
single hour. a monogram that was then featured on their clothing and
furniture, woven into their linens, and painted on their dishes.
The marks these people made could not be defined as Illiteracy was still common around the world, but even those
“marketing.” They were not trying to convince consumers who could not read learned to understand these monograms
to buy their goods over another tradesperson’s goods. But and who they represented. To have a monogram was a sign
when ships began sailing out of Mesopotamia and into other that one had arrived.
civilizations, that is where the paths of commerce crossed
and the spark that would become the value of identity was Up until the introduction of the culverin in the fifteenth century, it was easy to
spot the enemy, as combatants in battle carried shields that displayed their
heraldry and allegiance. This early gun made shields carrying crests on the
battlefield obsolete.

CHAPTER 1 Origins 13

Marie Antoinette had her monogram worked into everything around her, companies became increasingly specialized in what they did,
including into railings at the Court of Versailles. and as multiple establishments began to specialize in the
same item—for instance, candles, or linens, or soap—they
By the eighteenth century, you could pick your three initials needed a way to differentiate themselves from one another.
out of a catalog and have your monogram created. This in- Companies also started transporting their goods beyond
dicates the continued (although diluted) value of marks, but their immediate geographic areas, which further heightened
still, such designs were not being created for commercial the need for an identity that many people recognized.
purposes.
It’s natural for people to develop preferences, so if a woman
CORPORaTIONs REPlaCE discovered that a certain brand of leavening worked better
kINGDOMs for her baking, she would ask for that brand at the store next
time. This encouraged companies to distinguish themselves
Commercial identity began to take shape once people no to an even greater extent.
longer produced all of the goods—food, clothing, candles,
and so on—that they needed. In the early nineteenth century, By the time of the U.S. Civil War, companies were filing for
trademark protection. There was enough commercial trade
for tradespeople to understand: My identity and what it rep-
resents is very valuable.

Still, we have not arrived at logos as we know them. A com-
pany’s identity might show a helpful butler or a little girl hold-
ing an umbrella, or it might show a crow and fox having a
drink together. These were symbols that people knew repre-
sented a certain product, but really, they were placeholders
for stories. Even the first mark ever registered for U.S. pat-
ent protection—the Underwood Deviled Ham Devil, with his
arms reaching up—was not really a logo: It was a story.

Proctor & Gamble was one of the earliest adopters of a logo. The design was Many logos that were developed in the earliest days of commerce related a
taken from the pattern of stars that dockhands would draw on the outside story associated with the product. In fact, like the Morton Salt Umbrella Girl,
of the company’s crates of candles, indicating that these were the quality most were more like illustrations than logos. Morton’s product was a granular
products. salt that did not clump in humid weather, whereas competitors offered flaked
salt, which did tend to stick together—hence, the story.

14

The Underwood Deviled Ham Devil, introduced in the early 1870s, was the NEw bUsINEss,
first mark protected by trademark registration. NEw sTORIEs

There was a sweet spot between 1945 and 1965 when de-
sign consciousness met up with manufacturing capabilities.
Fine art, product design, and writing had evolved to the point
where good design in all things was not only possible, but
desirable.

Also, in 1946 the Lanham Trademark Act was passed.
Advertising had come a long way since the turn of that cen-
tury. Prior to Lanham, trademark law protected only goods.
Now it would protect services as well, and trademarking of
these services quickly followed.

With this surge in potential new clients came the first real
identity design. Industrial designers played a critical role.
Companies began to recognize that if a product was beauti-
ful, it made perfect sense to make the name attached to the
product beautiful as well. Since these companies already had
relationships with the industrial designers who created their
products, they asked these people to also help them develop
graphical identities for their products and services.

Over the years, the Underwood Deviled Ham packaging and logo went
through a number of updates, but the core identity has remained true to the
original design.

As the world became industrialized and as printing devel-
oped, many more items were no longer sold at the store
in bulk, but were packaged, canned, boxed, and labeled.
These processes hid the product, which made effective
branding and a good reputation and story all the more cru-
cial. In time, the real story of the little girl with the umbrella,
created in 1911 to make the simple claim that “When it rains
it pours,” was lost. Freeflowing salt has ceased to be a big
worry for most consumers, and the little girl’s story is now of
a company with a long history and a quality product.

This photo shows an interesting point in history, where some items were still
sold in bulk, sans packaging and logos, and some items were starting to be
differentiated by branding.

CHAPTER 1 Origins 15

Immigrants were coming to the United States that had been Bell Telephone logo, by Saul Bass
schooled in the Bauhaus or Werkbund design movement. Chrysler logo, by Lippincott & Margulies
Walter Landor was an industrial designer from Munich who Shell logo, by Raymond Loewy
ultimately started his own firm focused on creative package Westinghouse logo, by Paul Rand
and labeling solutions. This work on beverage and food labels
led to the eventual redesign of some of his clients’ logos. He
eventually created identities for Del Monte, Ore-Ida, Levi’s,
and several airlines, to name a few of his clients. Raymond
Loewy came to the United States from France and found
early success in industrial design. He brought a trademark-
streamlined appearance to the exteriors of otherwise mun-
dane appliances, office equipment, and eventually, the auto
and space industries. His heroic reputation also crossed into
commercial design, with his creation of identities for Nabisco,
Exxon, Shell, BP, and International Harvester.

Industrial designer J. Gordon Lippincott and architect Walter
P. Margulies founded Lippincott Margulies and went on to
design identities for Betty Crocker, General Mills, Chrysler,
and FTD. (In fact, it is Lippincott who is credited with first
coining the term corporate identity.)

Paul Rand was one of the few identity players at the time
who came out of the commercial art field. He started design-
ing publications, posters, and other printed graphics before
developing a reputation for logo design for Westinghouse,
IBM, UPS, and ABC. Saul Bass, too, came onto the scene
at the tail end of this time, moving from film posters and ti-
tles into identities for Bell Telephone, Rockwell International,
Continental, United Airlines, and many others.

All of these people, and many more, slid through the back
door of identity design. None came into the field intentionally,
but essentially, they invented a new design discipline.

Up until the late 1950s and early 1960s, logo design had
generally been born out of an associated field. It was at this
time that identity design fully came into its own. No longer
were designers spending the final years of their careers de-
signing identities; now they were choosing to embark on their
careers in this field. Businesses realized that a solid identity
was the centerpiece for a company. The dog was finally wag-
ging the tail.

16

The value of a visual language Even before packaging, consumers formed product preferences and could
identify product types based on simple product identification, such as the
ALvIN LuSTIG, RAYMOND LOEwY, PAuL RAND, and specialized marks the baker makes in his bread.
other visionaries realized early on the value of represent-
ing goods and services through a trademark. But even Now it is up to you to continue this story. After years of guid-
these early giants did not realize the true value they held ing LogoLounge.com, and organizing and reviewing the
in their hands. thousands of logos submitted by our members, I still get the
occasional chill. It usually comes when I see a logo that is
Referring to Western man, Herbert Bayer said, “Today al- impeccably succinct and stunning, with a viewpoint that has
most anything he has to say can be expressed in words never been imagined before. It is knowing that one of the
spoken or written, but there is another kind of language readers of this book, whether it is evident yet or not, is a
which has come down through the ages that has kept its member of the next generation of identity geniuses.
directness of impact—the language of pictures, the visual
language. This language comes as a relief from the over-
whelming quantity of word messages continuously given
and received by modern man. He is inescapably exposed
to a never-ending variety of impressions on his mind so
that we may say as designers concerned with the visual
aspect of communication, he is letter poisoned.”

(From Herbert Bayer’s essay, “On Trademarks,” from the
book Seven Designers Look at Trademark Design, pub-
lished in 1952 by Paul Theobald Publisher.)

THE NExT sTEP

One thing we are assured of is change. Every story is told
from a perspective on a very long timeline. It is in our nature
to not look ahead on the continuum but to assume we have
reached the close of the story. And we have not.

Technological and societal shifts still leave me guessing at
the next significant change to affect our craft. Methods of
delivery and materials and aesthetics and preferences are
continually in flux. But no matter where this story goes, I sus-
pect there will still be a baker out there who’s going to press
his thumb into his loaf of bread just to leave his mark. I am
here, he says.

CHAPTER 1 Origins 17

CHAPTER T h e va l u e o f a n

2 identity

An identity is the skin your Although we can tell what these items are, there is no information here to help
client is in. us build an affinity with a specific brand.

LET’S IMAGINE fOR A MINuTE that there

is no such thing as identity—of anything. Only a few mo-
ments of considering this possibility helps you understand
the value of identity. With no identity, there is no traction for
understanding.

A business stripped of all visual identity—no logo, no printed
name, no Web page, no color, no graphics on vehicles—is
like a person wearing a pure white, blank face mask. You
can’t learn the age, sex, facial expression, or anything else
about that person. You can’t communicate with such an en-
tity, at least not effectively.

When you talk to someone face to face, you rely on what you
are looking at to interpret the information he or she is giving.
It’s the same thing with an organization: You draw cues from
its identity in order to be able to relate to it. Without those cues,
commerce is difficult or impossible. That “face” has to be there.

18

This early Cycladic sculpture lacks any sort of facial identification. The barest The full value of an identity can be achieved only through
amount of information is here to indicate that it is a face, but there is no you, its creator, and the organization, its caretaker. In be-
detail: no emotion, no features, no distinction. tween the creation and the caretaking, though, you build the
conduit between the consumer and the organization. You
How many messages are we bombarded with every day? weave the connective tissue that brings the two together.
There are so many identities out there that the face of an Designers listen to the organization, decipher its information,
organization can’t just exist; it has to be exceptional in order and determine relevance in such a way that consumers can
to break through the static and boost its brand value. It has understand it.
to have legs, purpose, and meaning. It has to stick to the
consumer with an incredibly aggressive adhesive and elicit a Designers do create the logo, the visual heart of the brand.
reaction (ideally, a positive one). That’s the right-brain part of the job. But business strategy
is also critical. Through careful research and consideration,
This is where those who buy group-sourced logos off the designers also learn what will trip the trigger of the consumer.
Internet completely misunderstand what the mark could do They have an elevated sense of what the organization’s tar-
for them or how to achieve it. Such a business owner may get audience will respond to, with a deep yet to-the-point
now have a logo to place onto whatever he pleases, but he message that people are willing to come back to again and
has not increased the perceived value of his company in any again, for more and more interaction. They can create a face
way. He may as well have purchased a rubber stamp that that is different, special, and highly communicative.
reads “My Company” with which to stamp everything.
Of course, an identity is not just a face: It’s a much larger
That’s because a logo is not an identity. That would be like organism. What you, as a creative and business-minded de-
saying the outfit you are wearing today defines every aspect signer, create should be a good fit for (and possibly drive)
of your being—your history, your goals, your personality, your everything the organization is—how its employees treat cus-
talents. A logo is only a small, albeit very noticeable, part of tomers, its signage system, the paper it uses for business
an identity. cards, the construction of its trade show booths, the hierar-
chy of its website, and so much more.

The identity you create must also be flexible enough for visual
evolution to occur over time. Consider this: If a friend grows
a beard, you don’t cease to be his friend. The core of that
person remains the same. But if that same person develops
a major change in personality or beliefs, you may question
your friendship.

It’s the same thing with a corporation or other type of or-
ganization: As long as its fundamental nature and principles
remain unchanged, updates of a website, correspondence
materials, advertising, and other outward components will be
acceptable to the consumer, provided that the changes re-
main true to the core brand. The original identity stays intact,
a touchpoint that consumers feel secure with.

An identity is the skin your client is in.

CHAPTER 2 The value of an idenTiTy 19

DIffERENTIaTION

All organizations want to be unique, but not so distant that the
consumer can’t relate. It’s the designer’s job to find that sweet
spot that makes a client different but still understandable.

Consider this: As humans, we are predisposed to tell the dif-
ference between one person and another person. It is doubt-
ful we could tell the difference between a dozen fish of the
same variety, but a person’s face we get. We also have the
ability to further distinguish the facial emotions and gestures
among humans and can recognize potentially thousands of
people by name just by seeing their face. Even more finite, it’s
possible to spot specific people from a great distance just by
the way they move or by their body shape.

As designers, what we create is the visual face of the com-
pany. We are able to identify those differences and visual nu-
ances that make our client unique. Further, we are trained to

Both of these bottle openers work just fine, although one sells for next to
nothing and one for much more. There are markets for both.

visually translate this information into a form that communi-
cates the same and allows the consumer to parse one com-
pany from another.

Your client—whether it is a restaurant, a social services
agency, a car repair shop, or whatever—needs to have as
part of its identity aspects that let us know—in general, at
least—what category it fits into. But it also needs traits that
make it completely unique and recognizable within the cat-
egory—the way it walks or laughs or dresses, so to speak.

As designers, this is the magic we are selling: being able to
pick out an organization’s identifying features and coalesce
them into a form that communicates the organization’s es-
sence and uniqueness among all others in the category.

Scientists estimate we can recognize thousands of faces, although we cannot
remember the names that go with all of them.

20

who can your client be? Some people’s glasses are fuller than others’.

MILES NEwLYN SHARED wITH ME a fantastic thought asPIRaTION aND
on the designer’s role in the identity creation process. INsPIRaTION
For every company, he says, there is potential, and poten-
tial is a fascinating value to explore. It is the beginning of If you met a small child who had something really special
growth for the company. about her, you would say she has huge potential. Her par-
The logos we create, he adds, should be a vision of who ents may have aspirations for her as well, but for now that
the company can be if not constrained by who the com- potential and those hopes have not yet crossed paths. It’s a
pany is. mystery what this child will become.

Miles Newlyn’s proposed logo solution for B, a telecommunications New logos are that way, too. No matter how much exacting
company in the Seychelles, exhibited an aesthetic far ahead of effort we put into a logo’s design, what it will become in time
corporate constraints. The basic shape of the mark is modeled is a mystery. That’s why, when you release designs to your
after the coco de mer nut that is indigenous to the islands. From client, your work must be as full of potential as possible.
this perspective it also creates the letter B.
My mom used to tell me that IQ was not a good measure
of how smart someone was; it was only a way to determine
how big a glass everyone had. If someone has a smaller
glass than you do, but he fills his to the brim and you don’t
bother to fill yours even halfway, he clearly has made better
use of his potential.

You have to fill your design with as much potential as it can
possibly hold. That’s what will give it its fullest value in the
long run.

CHAPTER 2 The value of an idenTiTy 21

CHAPTER T h e “ r” w o r d

3

It’s one thing to know where you are, in the end, magician and demigod. Not only does research
but a much richer thing to know hOw improve the project; it improves you as a designer and as a
you got there. person. And there’s no better place to start doing research
than with your client.
IDENTITY DEvELOPMENT can be very simple
Talk TO ME
or highly complex, depending on the scale of the project.
Each has completely different parameters. But one thing that My dad used to tell me that college is not about what you
all projects have in common is that, through them, you will be learn, it’s about learning how to learn. Interviewing clients is
learning a new business from the ground up. And that can definitely a “learning to learn” situation. You have to quickly
be really exciting. become adept at absorbing the salient details and not drown
in minutiae.
Identity design is the perfect field for people who don’t know
everything already, who get a thrill from discovering things Your job as a researcher is to become a vessel that will even-
they never knew existed. There are no true discoveries, tually contain as much pertinent information about your client
though, without fully committing to research—the “R” word. as possible. Now, your client may come to you with beliefs
But this is not the sort of grim, dogged research you might she would like to pour in, and your interviews with owners,
associate with a graduate thesis. Instead, it’s a revelatory management, and employees may yield endless buckets of
process that allows you to be an archeologist, pilot, psy- information that could also be added. But you must be more
chologist, dream interpreter, secret keeper, gold prospector, than just the vessel; you must also be the arbiter of what is
world explorer, and sometimes, when everything goes right added.

22

This can be tricky, because it is a discovery process for you Or you might be dealing with a new owner of a business
as well as for your client. She will discover things about her- that has been around long enough that its original owner is
self and the organization that she never knew existed, or at retiring but still in the picture. The old owner may value tradi-
the very least she will become more introspective. So, what tion more, while the new owner desires new relevance. It’s a
the client believes she wants may be a moving target, at least tricky dance.
at the start of an identity project.
N E w l E a D E R s H I P / / / When new management is brought in,
The first thing to do is to discern the real reason you are it often means there is not just a change of the guard but a
discussing this new identity. If it is a new entity, the answer is change in the ways things need to be done. The status quo
self-evident. If re-identifying, it is a different story. isn’t working. In this case, the new management will want to
make a very evident change that will cause the public to take
THE REasONs wHy notice and give the company a fresh look. This is an excellent
way to reinvigorate past markets.
In general, a client will request a new identity because of one
of the following reasons: N E w P R O D U C T / / / More than the typical release of a new
product, this situation is characterized by some sort of shift
NEw OwNERsHIP with the company that produces the product. For instance,
imagine your company sells DVDs, and you wake up one
NEw lEaDERsHIP day to discover it has been outflanked by online downloads.
A sea change like this may signal that there is a need to shift
NEw PRODUCT the brand identity.

NEw ETHOs N E w E T H O s / / / This might be a company that realizes it must
start pursuing digital technology as a method of communicat-
There may be variations or iterations on these themes, but ing better with customers. Another example: At one time, phy-
these are the basics. (Note: If you can identify any of these sicians and attorneys were not allowed to advertise; now they
elements in the field as you are out there looking for ID as- can. These situations mark a change in ethos; in other words,
signments, you’re probably on to something promising.) a very fundamental change in the company’s spirit or beliefs
has occurred. Again, this could be a signal that the identity
N E w O w N E R s H I P / / / There are several likely and very different should be changed in order to signal the new belief system.
scenarios here. At its most basic, a new owner wants to put
his own mark on an organization. At the same time, he just ORal DIsCOvERy
paid good money to acquire this entity, so he also knows the
existing brand has equity. Therefore, you may be asked for a Your first step starts through conversations with your client
solution that is totally new or a combination of old and new. so that you can build a project brief (more on that in a bit). A
client rarely walks in to your office with clearly defined proj-
If the new owner already owns another company, you may ect objectives, and if you do get such a client, these objec-
be talking about a merger or consolidation of brands. Any- tives very rarely are the ones you will end up using. Without
thing you discuss with the client will also concern his other a doubt, your client has had extensive internal conversations
properties. before you were ever consulted, so you don’t want to dis-
count their ideas. But you should be able to expand their
thinking through cogent questioning.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 23

HEllO sERENDIPITy w H O s H O U l D y O U a s k ? / / / It is important in the initial stages
of the project that the right people are at the table so that you
YOu NEvER kNOw where the impetus for a new logo can get their direct input.
will come from; a little jewel that will drive the whole project.
The first and most important person who should be present
We were working with a client whose treatment center uses is the individual who will make the final decision, although
alternative methodologies for improving health, including sometimes that person does not want to be in the loop until
diet, karma, mental balance, etc. The client’s campus con- the very end—the approval (or worse, rejection) stage. The
tains eight geodesic domes and a pyramid: It’s very unique. smaller the company is, the easier it is to get all the decision
makers there. But no matter the size of the organization, you
We spent a lot of time with the client, getting to know the need those decision makers present so that you can gather
administrators and the group. During one meeting, some- the correct information before you begin.
one commented on a pearl pendant that one adminis-
trator was wearing. She said it had been a gift from the A real warning signal is when someone—a manager of com-
now–late founder of the center. It was a gift he had given munications, for instance—tells you she can give you all the
to several other administrators as well. information you need. In the end, though, that person doesn’t
have the authority to say yes. She may be able to say no, but
The pearl pendant had an interesting story behind it. she will never be able to say yes. Even if all you can get are
written comments, you need contact with that ultimate voice.
The founder believed his center was an irritant to people
involved in traditional medicine. He felt they were like a Other important folks: If you are working with a product-driv-
grain of sand that got inside an oyster and resulted in a en company, you need the product manager there. If it is a
very beautiful outcome. The founder gave the pendants service business, you want the sales manager or salespeople
to people as a reminder to be proud of being that irritant. there. And you don’t want to leave out a person who deals
with the customers directly. Managers deal with anecdotal
Everything just fell together. The campus had one large information; the customer contact for the client has direct
dome surrounded by seven smaller domes. People called information.
it “The Bright Spot for Health,” or just “The Center.” We
thought about the nature of healing and of new begin- In addition, you want a broad spectrum of management in-
nings for patients. The logo became the pearl in the shell, volved—everyone who could make an objection and make
which also symbolized the dome, and the rays of light it stick should be there. Strategize with them on the impor-
cast from the pearls became the eight pyramids. You can tance of getting their input now so that you can gain their
see all of that, and more, in the final design. acquiescence later.

If we had a set list of questions that we ask all clients It is not uncommon to find that you will have to break the
when we interview them, there is no way we could have discovery process into different meetings with different peo-
forseen the story. Take every path. You just might meet ple, especially if you would be more likely to obtain more
serendipity on the way. frank perspectives that way. Maybe you will meet with just
the sales force of a wholesaler or retailer. Or maybe you’ll sit
down with just the doctors and nurses of a hospital client.
Depending on how deep you want to go, you may even meet
with some of your client’s customers.

24

When the entire process is finished, it is about building a Tips for EffECTIvE
sense of ownership for everyone—the client, the customers, questioning
and the salespeople. If they have been involved in the infor-
mation gathering process, they are going to feel ownership. Here are some tips for gathering more and
better information from clients:
w H aT s H O U l D y O U a s k ? / / / One of the very first things I like
to pose to clients is this: “Why are we discussing a new ID?” Don’t ask all yes or no questions.
Ideally, you are with more than one client representative when Sculpt your questions so that they cause the
you ask this question, because each person is likely to have a client to give detailed answers.
different and informative answer: Different people are feeling dif-
ferent parts of the elephant. The salesperson is thinking about Come in witH a list of questions, but don’t
sales, whereas those in personnel are hoping to attract a certain let this drive you. Be ready to ask follow-up
sort of employee, and the CFO has better numbers in mind. questions.

These early conversations will start to crack open the oys- reCorD tHe Conversations so that you
ter—but this will only be the first of many oysters that need can focus on talking, not writing or typing. Also,
cracking. You may get blank looks, or people might say, hearing how people say something is sometimes
“Because our existing identity is old.” That just signals an op- more informative than what they say.
portunity for you to expand the conversation further by, say,
pointing out that the Coke logo looks old but still very relevant One of the most overlooked questions is, “What do you like?”
(due to frequent updates). What is their reaction to that point? People who say they have no idea are lying: Everyone has an
Determine who is the current steward of the brand, and why opinion of some kind. Ask them to give feedback on work
the current identity has been used for so long (more on evalu- from your portfolio, or ask them to name a logo from any
ating the status quo in Chapter 4). Remember that this is ev- point in time that they particularly admire. Many times the
ery bit a discovery process for them as it is for you. exceptional design of a competitor may have led them to
consider a redesign. Find out exactly what they like about
There is no limit as to how inquisitive you should be. They certain designs—the color, the form, or whatever. (It helps to
may not want to answer certain questions—proprietary or have others from your office with you to assist in pulling an-
financial inquiries, for instance. And sometimes groups won’t swers from the client group, as this can be a rather esoteric
understand why you would need to know certain information. conversation for nonvisual clients.)
But you need to press on. Say you’re talking to a client about
their competition. Your client makes their product in lots of
colors, but their competition makes their product only in one
color. Why? They may tell you that years ago, this single color
symbolically represented their industry. Maybe this is a signal
that your client does not feel beholden to old ideas. It’s an
inference, one you need to explore.

Balking on their part may mean they do not understand the
design and exploration process. If you sense that this is the
case, you might share a story with them in advance con-
cerning another project of yours that enjoyed great success
because of effective research. Explain what a project brief is,
and how crucial their input is in finding the correct identity
solution. Likely, as you proceed, the group will become in-
creasingly comfortable with your questioning.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 25

Considering past logos is a great starting point for discover- What changes has the industry seen during the client’s
ing likes and dislikes, and you can branch out this discussion corporate lifetime and what changes do they forecast
to what your client’s competitors are doing with their identity for the future?
programs. How does your client feel about their competi-
tors’ packaging? Advertising? Why? This is an excellent time If the client’s company were an individual, what would
to get a sense for how your client feels about white space, its personality be? Would it be serious or lighthearted,
photography, color, and so on. a pragmatist or a dreamer? Would it pick up the check
at a lunch or expect everyone to go Dutch? If it had
Some large design firms take a more objective approach to a voice, would it be soothing or loud? What would its
this research. They show their clients decks of textures and laugh sound like? Consumers relate to a brand much
colors and styles, trying to hone in on likes and dislikes. They like they do to another individual, and if you can define
ask clients to flag the pages of magazines and such to get a the personality of your client’s company, you will be bet-
sense of their wider world of preferences. ter able to design an identity that matches the client.

These semiscientific and often copyrighted methods are try- Does the client have any particular color likes or dislikes?
ing to bridge a gap that you must span as well: the chasm Should you not use purple because the local college’s
between subjectivity and objectivity. They (and you) must at archrival’s team color is purple? Is the owner’s spouse
some point convert subjective, qualitative information (the cli- deathly afraid of birds? That may sound like a ridiculous
ent’s feelings, personal preferences, and opinions) into objec- thing to ask, but if that is the case, and you unknowingly
tive, quantitative results (an identity system that must provide design a logo with a bird in it, you’re doomed.
ROI). So any system or method that can efficiently gather a
wide span of information from your client can be useful. Personal proclivities are usually in my parting questions.
After we have discussed everything else possible, I will
Also useful at this point is showing the client one or two of often ask, “Is there anything else I should know about?
your previous projects that highlight how effective information Do you have any other challenges?”
collection resulted in a certain percentage increase in name
recognition or in some other measurable improvement. wW Hh eE nN Tt oO s tT oO pP oO rR a l dD iI s cC oO v eE rR y / / / Everyone reaches a satu-
ration point. They are worn out. You are worn out. They are
Here are some additional questions you should ask: starting to think about everyday business again. You’re likely
done with your questions (at least with this group). But if all
What defines a successful solution to the client? you have gotten from these people is what you got from the
About Us section on their website, you have not dug deep
Is the client’s objective to come up with a design that looks enough. It’s better to schedule a later meeting to try once
almost identical to the old one, but is updated? Or to look again to dig past the surface information.
totally different? Look more digital? Try to think of every
possible path, and then help them explore each one. Another stopping point might be when you feel you are out
of your depth and can’t ask effective questions. For instance,
When will you know you are done? (Is this an open-end- say you are talking to a company about annuity tables and
ed process? Does board approval mean you are there? amortization, or scientific or medical terminology, or worse
Does the president’s spouse need to see and approve yet, say the meeting has deteriorated into acronyms. If the
the design?) Don’t leave this question unanswered, be- information starts to get very complex, you may need to ask
cause otherwise you will become their slave. Unless you the client to slow down or back up. I always find it very helpful
mutually agree on what your destination is, you will be to have other people from my office in the meeting with me,
driving forever. so I can sit down with them when we get back to home base

26

Oon staying oObjEeCctTIivEe

bBEe aAwaArREe TthHAaTt if you have a client who says, “I’ll know it when I see it,” that client will never “see it.” By creating an effective brief from
the information you gather, discovering the successful solution becomes an objective exercise, not an arbitrary, subjective, and never-
ending one.

Development of Visual Identity Update for PBA Architecture:

The following is a positioning document that will be used as a reference point
in the development of the new identity for PBA Architecture. Please review
these statements and make sure that this is, in fact, the direction we should
be pursuing on your identity.

PBA Architecture has a strong, credible reputation in the Kansas regional mar-
ket. Although the firm has an extensive background in retail, medical, lodging,
and corporate offices, its directors would like to expand into larger projects
and additional areas of design. PBA Architecture will pursue government con-
tracts and more projects of larger scope. In addition to providing general ar-
chitecture, the firm will play up its extensive interior and landscape planning
capabilities.

To this end, PBA Architecture should visually present an appearance of grand-
er scale that demonstrates historical experience and capabilities with tomor-
row’s innovative technical advantages. As client demographics age down-
ward, the identity should show trends for which they have a shared affinity.
This will also assist in the recruitment of personnel for the firm as we look to
the future.

This change of visual identity should read favorably with existing as well as fu-
ture clientele. Current clients should see the stability and creativity they have
come to know visually repackaged to show the firm’s recommitment to future
growth and capabilities for their betterment. New clients will read this as an
established firm that is emergent and fresh in the face of competitors who
have a static or stale reputation.

Visually, we will investigate solutions that work off of the equity in the initials
PBA. We will also look at solutions that do not rely on the name or initial.

If there are additional points we should add to this list or if you have any chal-
lenges with it, please do not hesitate to call. Thanks again for the opportunity
to work with you on this project. I look forward to exceptional results.

A sample design brief from my office. We keep it succinct.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 27

and compare notes. It is unnerving for a client to talk over Get all THE faCTs
your head, but it happens. Call a time-out, and regroup; once
you find your bearings, come back with more questions. After OuR OffICE wAS wORkING on the Miss USA mark
all, they didn’t learn their field overnight, and neither will you. some years ago, and we had created a violet, yellow, and
teal logo. These were all fashion-forward colors at the
You should take the time to prepare and know as much as time. We showed the client a variety of different solutions,
you can about the client before meeting with them. They are but he didn’t react normally to any of them. In fact, he
certainly paying you for your expertise, and showing that you left kind of upset. After the presentation, one of his assis-
have done your homework will help you as well as confirm tants told us he was colorblind. Everything looked brown
to the client that they’ve made the right choice in hiring you. to him. It would have been good to know this before we
started the design.
Having said all of that, seldom will you walk away from the
oral discovery sessions knowing exactly what you are going In the next section, I talk about other folks who can give you
to do. So don’t panic. Many more resources are available to input, but it’s important to realize that you will seldom talk
help you. to all of these folks. Your client will ultimately let you know
who they feel comfortable having you talk to. I’m bringing up
vIsUal DIsCOvERy these options here so that you will know the various places
they should consider for information.
At the same time your oral discovery process is in motion, the
visual discovery process is also advancing. There are many Q uU eE Rr y cC uU s Tt Oo Mm Ee Rr s / / / Identity design is highly driven by what
places to look for visual inspiration. What is to come isn’t is referred to as consumer permission. For instance, if I am
about visual discovery. It’s more about oral discovery. with Starbucks and I decide to start selling flavored-coffee
additives or tea or cups, my consumers likely won’t squawk
Get it right THE fIRsT TIME much. But I can’t start selling refrigerators without expecting
some real pushback.
wHEN YOuR fIRST and best identity solution is shot
down, perhaps because you did not have the proper in- That’s what happened when Pepsi decided to rebrand one
formation while you were designing, you have to go back of its properties, Tropicana. The company wrongly assumed
at it a second time. The problem is, it’s hard to make but- that the existing identity element of the red and white straw
ter at this point, because now you are whipping skimmed sticking out of an orange meant little to consumers. The new
milk: A lot of the cream is already gone. Finding a solu- identity, which was very clean with no straw or fruit, wiped
tion in a second round requires exponentially more energy out years of brand equity. With no introduction to the new
than getting it right the first time. look, consumers were met at the juice case with something
they could not relate to at all, and sales plummeted 20 per-
cent. Customers also sent letters and emails to voice their
displeasure. Very quickly, Pepsi reconsidered and put the
original packaging back on the shelves. But the switch ulti-
mately cost the company an estimated $35 million.

28

When Tropicana released an identity without its familiar fruit and striped the same, but different
straw, consumers were not pleased and sales plummeted. The company’s
response was to bring both elements back in this newly designed package My office created a new nationwide identity for
from Sterling Brands (shown here). Kroger convenience stores. Depending on which area
of the United States you are from, you may know these
So, any new direction in which you might want to take a cli- stores by the name Turkey Hill, Tom Thumb, Kwik Shops,
ent’s identity system has to be acceptable to consumers. It Quik Stops, or Loaf ‘n Jugs. The stores had strong name
has to pass the smell test. equity in their areas, and each had a dramatically different
visual identity.
Here’s what I mean: Say a cable television client is well known The solution to coordinating them was to create word-
for its good pricing and product, but not for its speedy ser- marks using a common typestyle on all names, but to
vice. Your client might suggest adjusting an existing logo to pair all the store names with the same logo, one that in-
visually suggest speed. But the company’s consumers are corporated all the colors found in the old identities. The
not going to believe it at all, and your client will have gained a new logo became the common flagship for all the stores.
new logo but lost credibility. Customers would still see their own store name and their
own familiar colors, so brand equity could be preserved.
Interviewing your client’s customers directly can be very help-
ful to get a better feel for what they believe, especially when The typographic solution developed for each of these stores is
you are creating a rebrand. Don’t assume you know what unique but clearly each looks a part of a system.
will work, or take the client’s word for it. Ask the ultimate
customer instead.

P oO l l tT hH Ee P uU b l Ii Cc / / / The public is different from the consum-
er in that its population is made up of potential—not actual—
customers. All people have opinions about things they have
never consumed. I have never shopped at Tiffany’s, although
I know what it is and can draw reference from it. I’ve never
owned a Maserati, but I have opinions about those as well.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 29

Of course, not every client is as high profile as Tiffany’s. John Good REsEaRCH = better valUE
Q. Public has probably never heard of the Jones Underwear
Company, but everyone has opinions about underwear. YOu LIkELY wON’T DO the same amount of research
There is still good information to be mined here. for each client, and there’s always a sense of unease in
the process: It’s normal to ask, “Have I done enough?”
T a l k T O I N v E s T O R s / / / Investors have skin in the game and
should be consulted for their opinions. In small companies, When I got started in the business thirty years ago, there
the best sort are people who have a financial stake but who was a real level of mystery regarding how other design-
are retired from the company. Such people are often thought ers did their research. I visited other studios, such as that
leaders because of their hands-on experiences with the of Saul Bass, to see what they did. Three decades later,
company. They may not have a final say, but it’s good to there is still mystery. Everyone’s process is different. This
enroll them in the information gathering process so that they book couldn’t possibly provide you with the entire uni-
don’t feel left out and their experience isn’t wasted. Or, you verse of “how to.” But I do know that the more information
may find that the founder’s daughter has a vote on the board you can gather, and the more thorough your process is,
of directors and can still sway things. the better the result will be. The client will perceive much
more value in your work.
Management can cue you in as to who is influential. Former
owners, for instance, aren’t always totally cast off: Companies I have lost jobs for not charging enough. There are large
can value their input immensely. If not asked to participate or design companies out there that will bid twice what you
share their insights they may well feel alienated from the pro- do and still get the job. So just keep this in mind: When it
cess. So make sure such an oversight will not inadvertently comes to research, you can always thin out your process
damage your client’s relationships. when it seems to make sense. But it’s also good to be
aware of how thick the process can be.
The other sort of “investor” is the general public, anyone who
buys a company’s product, enrolls in its school, participates G a T H E R R E a D y R E f E R E N C E s / / / Your client has an entire li-
in its fun run, or appreciates its work. Often, with a public brary of existing reference materials that will help educate
company a good portion of your work will be directed toward you. The first time I meet with a new client, I ask them to load
these people. When your client is a privately held company, me down with information. Anything they have that is written
you report to the owner and you quickly get to know her or visual—annual reports, blogs, websites, catalogs, manu-
opinion. But when your client is a publicly held company, you als, whatever—I want to see it.
“report” to the public, and there’s no way you can appre-
ciate their diverse and myriad opinions quickly. Sometimes, Especially helpful in building a new story for your client is
management believes they know what the public wants, but getting access to its full history. Whether this is a book or a
they can occasionally be out of sync with reality. A company’s website timeline, you will get a chance to see how they were
tagline may be “The Thought Leaders,” and while that was founded, as well as what they were before they morphed into
true twenty years ago, it is not true now. what they are now.

s T U D y T H E C O M P E T I T I O N / / / We’ll talk more about this later
in this chapter, but suffice it to say here that you can’t dis-
tinguish your client from the competition until you can distin-
guish what the competition is. With a full understanding of
what your client’s rivals are doing graphically, you can better
leverage your position against them.

30

GET TO kNOw Build RELEvANCE
THE COMPETITION
it’s not unCommon for a Client to can-
When you look at the identity marketing systems of competi- didly share that they are at the bottom of the heap
tors, the objective is to find a way to leverage your position but are ambitious. They admire the leaders and
against theirs. Every company within your client’s sector has want to emulate them. Though imitation is never
strengths and weaknesses. So look at what the competition an option, we may counsel a client to borrow no-
is doing wrong and right. tions from the competition to help them compete
better. It helps them build relevance quickly.
Gather the competition’s material and develop opinions
about them. Do they appear to be a relatively new company? EmULATE versus imitate
Are they dated? Do they have a history? Would they take
risks? Are they stately and conservative? What does their wHen you are Designing for a Client
trade show booth look like? You get the idea. Also think of whose business category has already been dictated
what their persona is in terms of what the industry wants. by history or a competitor, your design should
Think of an investment firm that exudes gravitas and security. blend in appropriately for the occasion and not
If your client is the new investment firm on the block, being stick out. But don’t imitate: Large companies such
seen as an upstart or fresh or anything untested might not as Starbucks go after smaller ones for trademark
deliver the right message. infringement. In Starbucks’ case, the company
frowned on others who had used its donut enclo-
Can you draw personality out of what you see? Picture your sure shape. It’s easy to see that perhaps some of
client’s company and the competition as people. Would one these smaller companies are not graphically all
be a scholarly older gentleman? A wisecracking teenager? that far away.
A fitness freak? A socialite? Try to get to know them better.

Your client can help you identify these competitors, but they
need to be very open about it, which can be difficult. They
may not even name their top competitors. Or it may be that
they just don’t care much for them and so automatically dis-
regard them, or they are their greatest rivals and don’t think
they can compete there. Your client needs to be able to point
out how they are the same as well as very different from the
competition. For instance, maybe they are fruit producers,
but they sell to school buyers and their competition sells to a
broader wholesale market.

Even beyond these studies, you can go to people outside
your client group to get a second or third opinion. Ask your
friends, family, neighbors, and peers: From a visual perspec-
tive, who among the competition do they see as the most
adaptable? Which one feels the most progressive? Which
feels the most helpful? These secondary and tertiary opinions
will help you hone in on where your client needs to be.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 31

GRaPHICal DIffERENTIaTION

Visually, one of the first things that most people recognize in
an identity system is color. Think of John Deere green, Tiffany
blue, or Yahoo purple. What colors are inherent to your cli-
ent’s world? Typefaces? Art styles?

You don’t want to look exactly like the competition, but there
are situations where adopting similar conventions is advan-
tageous. For instance, think about how many cola drinks
have the color red in their identities, à la Coke. The makers
of these cola drinks know that in consumers’ minds, red =
cola in the soft drink category. But although there are certain
conventions you need to respect so that your client doesn’t
come across as completely alien, there are points of differen-
tiation that can be accommodated.

To better understand how much you can move away from
what consumers already know and understand, try gathering
a number of logos from the industry you will be designing for.
Chances are you are going to see some trends that help you
understand the appropriateness of a mark for this client.

The Cuban soft drink brand Tukola borrows from Coca-Cola’s visual assets These corporations own these colors, not only in
despite the fact that Cuba has been separated from U.S. commerce for half their identity, but also across their product lines.
a century. The equity of Coke is valuable enough for the Cuban brand to
emulate.

32

To help visually see this you might arrange these logos on an the other based on where the larger proportions rank. Taking
x–y axis, as shown in this sample using marks from a collec- these same images, you can also add another factor on the
tion of restaurants. By arranging the more serious solutions second axis, such as heritage versus contemporary. This ex-
at the top and more whimsical at the bottom, you start to ample was built with exactly even results in each quadrant, but
see whether this industry is more comfortable with one or yours will undoubtedly appear weighted in one field or another.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 33

In this model the logos of the fifty leading telecommunica- leader or a follower. Knowing which quadrant your client falls
tions companies internationally were graded by the public. into may be useful in determining how the public will per-
Each was ranked on a ten-point scale as to whether they ceive your solution. Note the similarities of the logos within
appeared to be more thoughtful or more passionate. Again each cluster.
they were ranked on whether they were presumed to be a

34

Now imagine you are creating an identity for a contact lens sTUDy aDjaCENT fIElDs
manufacturer: Could you try out all four directions as you
search for the solution? Sure, but your sketches likely will While we’re on the subject of speaking in the same language
be grouped on the contemporary side for this client/prod- that an audience already understands, it’s time to talk about
uct. A royal crest evoking heritage feels untruthful, since the adjacent fields. The concept is as simple as this: The coffee
manufacturing of contact lenses doesn’t go back centuries. world is very closely related to the pastry world; fashion is
A more serious solution may work better in this field than a tied to music; health food is inexorably linked to fitness.
whimsical identity.
Your client is no doubt connected to allied fields in some way.
Feel free to develop your own axis headings to best describe Look to these neighbors for graphical cues that might help
the variant of logos you are seeing in a field. Actually chart- improve your identity design. Buyers in these areas already
ing this out may be useful to show a client where they fall in have preferences and expectations that you can take advan-
a field of their competitors. See where your client falls in the tage of. If your client manufactures exercise equipment, for
market in terms of their personality. Are you dealing with the example, you would be wise to take note of the identities of
young gun or the old sage? Is your client the one who would successful health and nutrition companies.
tell a joke or the one who wouldn’t get it? You can custom-
ize these traits in any way that seems appropriate for your Using such cues is an excellent way to avoid inbreeding, as
project. This brings greater value to your work and will help it is supremely easy for your designs to become trapped in a
the client understand that your solution is not entirely based specific field, especially if your client’s field is small or uniform
off of subjective opinion. in nature.

No matter how innovative you want to be, there are certain
conventions that you must respect so that the public under-
stands what your client is all about.

CHAPTER 3 The “r” word 35

CHAPTER WhaT’s in

4 the air?

There are clues on where to take How to stay on top of trends
your designs—if you know where
to lOOk. If YOu ARE TRuLY INGRAINED IN DESIGN, you are
always taking note of design. As you eat breakfast, you
TRENDS AREN’T merely interesting. For designers, may be far more conscious of the typography on the ce-
real box than of the taste of the product itself. You are
they can be very useful tools: a springboard, a telescope, a always gathering information everywhere you go.
divining rod, and more. As nearly everything in the world is But there are limits to the amount of information you can
trending in one direction or another, trends serve as an ever- actually use before you become overwhelmed and simply
growing resource for designers. Whereas the general public mired in it. You need to know when to stop being a stu-
most often just placidly observes trends, it’s your job to be dent and start working.
conscious of their ongoing movement and to have informed
opinions that can feed your work. You have to keep up with Outside of your normal trend-viewing venues, there are sev-
visual current events. eral other areas that can be very helpful.

Your goal is twofold. First, you need to be aware of what has
been done, so you don’t imitate it and you know what has or
has not already worked. Second, you need to consider the
moving-forward aspect of a trend and project where it might
go next. There is a lot of value in being able to understand
how other designers get to a certain point and then to stand
on their shoulders.

36

Both of these logos are for architectural firms, but one is from Russia and one paper currency, actually). So we went broader, considering
is from the United States. Cube is Russian. The designers clearly have a very precious metals, the proverbial pot of gold, and finally, a pig-
different aesthetic shaped by their respective cultures. gy bank with a bow tied around its middle.

G E O G R a P H I C T R E N D s / / / It’s important to remember that dif- Even with that solution, we had to be aware that in some
ferent regions of the world design differently. As you design, cultures a pig means good luck, while in others the animal is
you may not always be conscious of this, especially if you are held in disregard. You will never please everyone, and if you
creating work that will be seen only in a small region. try to do so you can quickly water a concept down to noth-
ingness. But do be conscious of the following factors if your
But you can find real value by looking abroad. For instance, logo is destined to travel.
what are bank IDs like in Venezuela? Japan? New Zealand?
You may find fresh blood for your designs there. l a N G U a G E / / / One of the least portable aspects of an iden-
tity is language. Most designers have heard the story of the
l E a D I N G I N D I C a T O R T R E N D s / / / These are the first respond- Chevrolet Nova, whose name means “no go” in Spanish. But
ers: Apple, fashion companies, music producers. Look to then there’s the story of Travelocity: “Travelo” means “cross-
them as trendsetters as they will always be leaders when it dresser” in France—a city full of them is perhaps not the im-
comes to early adoption. age the company wanted to project.

INTERNaTIONal C O l O R / / / This is a trickier area, since every culture (and
CONsIDERaTIONs sometimes geographic locations as small as cities, when it
comes to the IDs of home sports teams) has its own color
There are plenty of culture traps to fall into when designing meanings.
identities. The trick is to create a design that is not limited to
just one small audience but is broad in terms of its ability to In some regions, purple is considered to be a rich and royal
be understood. color. But when EuroDisney used purple in its signage, the
color was viewed as morbid by a predominantly Catholic
A case in point: My office was creating an identity for an app population in Europe. In Italy, purple is associated with fu-
called Give-A-Buck that allowed users to donate money as nerals and death. In the United States, it might simply mean
Facebook birthday presents. Right away, we knew the word “nonpartisan.” So tread carefully.
buck would not be understood everywhere. So the product
name would have to be accompanied by a picture logo. But
we also could not use a picture of a buck (or any specific

C H A P T E R 4 What’s in the air? 37

Some stories don’t travel well Despite extensive visual dissimilarities between Arabic and Roman characters,
designer Nadine Chahine has been working to develop monoweight Arabic
Once, when I was travelIng in Russia, I saw fonts that feel more familiar to Western eyes.
an apartment complex that had a boat-shaped element
on its roof. My host explained to me that it referenced a Ss tT Oo Rr Ii Ee sS / / / Every culture has its own foundation of stories
Russian folktale. I was completely lost. and fables that create a morass of meaning for its inhabit-
ants. Hansel and Gretel’s trail of breadcrumbs might be the
Fairy tales, folklore, parables, and even religious texts are perfect symbol for your client’s new tracking software prod-
rich ground for symbolism and metaphor, but they often uct, but don’t expect people in Korea to understand your
don’t translate well. There’s the story of Babayaga, which crumb-base logo at all.
is vaguely like the story of Hansel and Gretel in which the
children wander away and come to a witch’s cottage in tT y Pp oO gG Rr a pP hH y / / / In identities, typography has its own special
the woods. Instead of the witch that Americans and many international concerns. In Western cultures, people are ac-
Europeans are familiar with, however, Babayaga flies customed to reading monoweight letterforms, and are also
around in a mortar and pestle. Her house can grow giant familiar with a certain method of Roman letter construction.
chicken legs and move around the forest, making it very In Arabic cultures, which use more calligraphy or Sanskrit,
hard to find her. there are more thicks and thins to letter strokes. In fact, the
weights of the strokes are critical to the meaning of the char-
The image of a house jaunting about on chicken legs is acters: You can’t just change these arbitrarily to a mono-
visually wonderful. It might be used for a Russian mobile weight letterform to fit a certain look in a design. Some type
laundry logo that might show legs coming out the bottom design companies are working to create sets of Arabic and
of a washing machine, but Americans in the United States Roman typefaces that coordinate, but it’s likely that this will
would have absolutely no idea what was going on. So be be a problem for years to come.
conscious that not everyone knows who Little Red Riding
Hood or King Midas or St. George is.

Because Baba Yaga is not a fable common in Wester n culture, it
would not be wise to base an international logo on it, despite its
wonderfully image-rich story.

38

Llost for words

wEe hHaAvEe aA cCLlIEeNnTt named Piranha, whose parent
company is Megafab. Piranha’s main product is the Swiss
Army knife of metal fabrication. It can cut, nip, and oth-
erwise slice through large pieces of steel—hence, the
aggressive name. In Western markets, the Piranha name
is well known. But in China, where the company was ex-
panding, the name was literally nonexistent.

In China, there is no such fish as a piranha, so the Chinese
have no such word for it. There is something called a tiger
fish, which is similar in nature, but its body is long, and
looks nothing like the short, blunt fish in Piranha’s logo.

We also thought about just spelling out the word, but that
did not work with the culture’s symbol-based alphabet.
Chinese people wouldn’t be able to figure out the new
word at all.

Ultimately, we went with Megafab, which could be trans-
lated. Sometimes the word just isn’t there.

Another stumbling block is that all cultures do not use the
same letterforms and systems. The big K used by Kellogg’s
may work in the United States, but in China, many people
don’t know what a K is, so it has no meaning, and there-
fore no phonetic association to the company’s name. By the
same token, a Chinese letter in the eyes of those who read
and speak English is utterly devoid of meaning and not at all
memorable.

The word piranha does not exist in the Chinese culture, so there
is no literal translation for this mark’s actual name.

C H A P T E R 4 What’s in the air? 39

CHAPTER Practical

5 cOncerns

You serve your client best when you wHaT DEsIGN sOlUTIONs CaN yOUR ClIENT sUPPORT? ///
provide exactly what fits their When you create an identity for a client, it likely will not have
needs and budget. to live everywhere and in all media. For example, when we
created the identity for an app called Give-A-Buck, we al-
THERE’S NO SENSE in creating identity aspects ready knew it had to work small and in RGB, like on a phone
screen. It could have highlights, reflection, shadow, and
that your client can’t use or afford. Consider each of the fol- motion.
lowing before you start designing.
On the other hand, when we created an identity for
Apps present a special set of logo constraints: The design must fit into and Castlewood Reserve, we knew it would be strictly analog.
work well inside a small square. The primary logo use would be on the packaging for this pro-
prietary brand of lunch meat. It would have to print on clear
plastic packaging using flexography—which doesn’t offer the
best accuracy—so fine detail would be a problem. There was
also a limit on the number of colors we could use.

The point is that you have to make design decisions regard-
ing your limitations before you begin such a project. Before
you create your first sketch, find out what media forms the
client will live in most often. Do they need door hangers?
Posters? Packaging? You need to be print oriented. If your
client’s product is an app, you don’t need to be as concerned
with print issues as you do with RGB and pixels.

40

The primary use of this logo, for a brand of lunch meat, was flexographic Design seen and unseen
printing on a transparent plastic sleeve, which limited the possibilities for
type and other fine detail. SOMETIMES YOu GET INTO A PROjECT that has
very specific limitations that you need to consider as
w H a T I s T H E b U D G E T ? / / / A big part of deciding what media part of the design brief. One of our clients, Hustler Lawn
to design for is knowing what sort of budget is available. If Equipment, manufactures hydraulic riding mowers. Most
your client will never have the money to print four-color or use parts of the mowers are made of steel, and plasma laser
embossing, for instance, don’t build a design that depends cutters are used to cut out parts.
on those features. (It helps to stay as up to date as pos- The client asked us to design a logo that could be cut
sible on reproduction technology. Being aware of the latest into the bed of the mower. This presented a number of
print techniques may open up affordable new worlds for your quandaries: If we designed anything with inside spaces (a
clients.) circle within a star, say), the middle part would just fall out
if not planned carefully; all of the letterforms for “Hustler”
w H a T D O T H E y N E E D ? / / / Find out exactly what the client had to be considered carefully; connecting points had to
needs to have at the end of the assignment, in addition be strong enough that they would not break under hard
to a finished identity. Six different envelopes? A website? equipment use.
Billboards? Enameled pins? Embroidered shirts? You have
to create a design that will work in every possible use the Here, the logo had to be functional when punched from metal.
client can imagine.
includes before you design anything. As early in the process
s T I l l O R M O v I N G ? / / / In some quarters, an identity that as possible, ask the client to collect a sample of every last
can be put in motion is very important; the still identity is item that might carry or contribute to their visual identity. Ask
secondary. In other words, a motion identity would be com- to see all of their signage, fleet graphics, uniforms, packag-
pletely wasted. For example, an exterminator who needs his ing, and anything else that might be pertinent. Also gather
ID on the sides of his truck fleet is poorly served by motion screenshots and URLs for all digital material.
graphics.

D O a C O l l a T E R a l a U D I T / / / If you are creating a new identity
for a client that has been in business for any amount of time,
you need to get a solid picture of what their collateral system

CHAPTER 5 Practical concerns 41

Odd logo applications small but mighty

wE HAvE A CLIENT that uses very large cranes as part bELAbuMbuM, A DESIGNER and manufacturer of
of their business. On a crane, the most visible and notice- really beautiful lingerie, including maternity lingerie, had a
able element is the armature. When the crane is trans- unique identity quandary. It needed a new logo that would
ported, that arm is horizontal. When it’s in use, it is verti- ably serve two distinct audiences—pregnant and not preg-
cal. It’s also an incredibly long, thin space that is in use at nant—but which would also communicate the same core
different angles all the time. Creating a logo that fit on this message: quality, very feminine garments.
ever-changing, oddly shaped space was a real challenge.
Compounding the issue is the fact that on tiny thongs and
Be aware of major logo applications. For example, Allied Crane’s other lacy pieces of clothing, there is not a lot of room
logo needed to work on a boom arm in a vertical or horizontal for labels. Whatever identity we came up with, we would
position. have to use a very small area, less than one-quarter the
size of a business card, for the company name (which is
Portuguese for “beautiful bottom”), laundry instructions,
fabric content, and so forth.

The logo we created successfully serves two purposes. If
the customer looking at the logo is not pregnant, she is
likely to see a heart, the hips and thighs, and lace at the
top. If the customer is shopping for maternity lingerie, she
is more likely to see a blooming flower and a heart. The
clothes are not sold side by side, so both personalities in
the dual identity can exist autonomously.

The reasons for this audit are threefold. First, you will better Lingerie is inherently small, and lingerie tags are therefore smaller
understand the scope of the project. Second, you may find than typical tags. Thus, the client’s logo had to be small enough
that there are forms, envelopes, and so on that are seldom to read well at a very small size.
or never used. That’s when you can streamline the system
and possibly simplify the client’s life (and reduce costs at the
same time). You may also recognize opportunities for the cli-
ent: Say your client sells zero-turn mowers. A good way to
reach their consumers might be through hats or shirts, but
that means designing a logo that can be reproduced in em-
broidery or silk-screening, which is challenging if you have
designed a logo that depends on a gradation.

Finally, the audit may uncover factors that may limit or at least
steer your design. For example, say you notice that your cli-
ent’s building has only a vertical space available for signage.
You had better be thinking about an identity that can fit that
space. What if your design solution must be reproduced on
a white background, but the building is black? How will you

42

deal with that? These simple considerations will help you Exploratory ID design
avoid walking into a presentation with a solution that simply
can’t be implemented. THE OREGON DuCkS have become Nike’s experiment
lab. The company asks the team to try out new cleats,
If a client’s vehicles are really critical to their business, and materials, clothing fabrics, gripper gloves, and so forth,
there are a lot of them, carefully think through how your de- and then carries the best ideas into the traditional mar-
sign works with that fleet. If the vehicles are white, can the cli- kets. Nike takes design cues from the Ducks as well.
ent afford to paint them blue? Wrap them? Will the logo work
on opposite sides of the vehicle? With really large vehicles,
such as airplanes, adding layers of paint or graphics can ac-
tually impact the vehicle’s weight and performance. Different
colors cause surfaces to expand and contract more, so your
design could literally cause structural issues.

Design that fits the budget

wE CREATED A MONIkER for a designer named Nike has long used the Oregon Ducks football team as a living
Rebecca, who creates incredibly tactile and beautiful lab. Nearly every week, the company provides the school with
clothing and linens. Her signature style component is vel- new prototypes using new materials and applications.
vet, with metal or lacy components serving as stencils for
bleach-over spraying. This treatment changes the color of OTHER sPECIal CONCERNs
the fabric and creates patterns on it. It’s not a highly ac-
curate application, but this is part of its charm. There are a few other areas where you must be mindful of
The client did not have a huge budget. For her paper very unique conditions.
goods, we suggested she could use a rubber stamp to
“print” her logo on just about anything. The rubber stamp a P P l I f E / / / If your client has an online or app presence,
serves her cost factor, and it also degenerates the mark, you have a very special constraint: Your logo design must
which serves the aesthetic of the brand well. ultimately be reduced into a tiny square button. Therefore,
that shape will likely drive your entire design.
When the extent of a client’s reproduction budget is only a rubber
stamp, you still need to find a solution that works. s P O R T s C l I E N T s / / / If you are creating a logo for a sports
client, your design may have to be built into Astroturf or be
chalked out on the football field. It may have to be in motion
on a scoreboard’s digital screen or on helmets, jerseys, or
many other places you have never designed on before. In
addition, sports logos often have whole families of related
marks so that there is always a perfect application for mer-
chandising, signage, uniforms, or whatever.

CHAPTER 5 Practical concerns 43

No matter how hard you think, there will be applications for your design that
you could never, ever anticipate, as demonstrated with a European Football
Championship logo.

44

Vehicles present very limiting opportunities for manufacturer identification. a lasT wORD
The logo for Collins Bus had to work as a badge on the front of a grill and a ON REsEaRCH…
wordmark solution used above the door. School districts use the dominant
fields to identify buses with their own identity and logos. This chapter, as well as Chapters 3 and 4, presented plenty
of tasks for you to complete, all related to research. Don’t get
You may have to familiarize yourself with an entirely new pal- discouraged. Research certainly looks like a long process,
ette of materials and applications that really don’t exist in the but you are doing it already, before you even consciously
real world. start. You are gathering a lot of the information simultane-
ously, or you have already gathered it in your life experience.
M O T I O N G R a P H I C s / / / When you start talking about graphics You come preloaded to the project.
that will be used for TV shows or movie production compa-
nies or similar entities, the logos are usually in motion. But But do your homework. It pays off very well in the long run.
they also have static materials that you need to design for. One of the reasons more experienced designers are able to
The moving logo has to tell the same story as the static one. walk away with more substantial projects is because a client
knows they are less likely to be led down a blind alley. You
may have a reputation as a tremendous designer, but with
limited experience. Demonstrating an awareness of poten-
tial challenges will engender a higher level of trust in your
performance.

CHAPTER 5 Practical concerns 45

CHAPTER lOgO redesigns:

6 special concerns

redesigns can offer the best they are in the mood to invest and spend. When you design
creative OppOrtunities, for a start-up, the biggest limitation on your design is often
as well as better budgets. money: You may simply not be able to take your great idea
very far given their limited resources.
AbOuT 65 PERCENT of the identity work we do
So embrace this work and take these special considerations
is for companies or organizations that already exist. This is a into account when you are presented with the challenge of
number that likely holds true for many design offices. These reidentifying a client.
clients already have an identity, and we are reidentifying
them. Maybe they didn’t have good brand stewardship, or REsPECT EQUITy
were offering confusing messages. Now, though, they simply
need to get back on track or reinvent themselves. The very first thing I try to do with such clients is to evaluate
whatever equity they might have with their existing ID. Less
Those new to redesign work may believe these projects are experienced designers (and sometimes the client themself)
not as “fun” as creating a brand-new logo, that there are often want to simply abandon the old logo and start with
more rules and less creative freedom. a completely clean slate, but this is malpractice, pure and
simple. The client’s existing identity likely has both positive
From my perspective, though, I truly enjoy identity redesigns. and negative equity. Both are tools you can use in your new
They offer a more challenging scenario, and one with signifi- design: What was wrong and why? What was right? You
cantly more traction: You begin with more solid information. may determine that there is 90 percent negative equity and
The other major positive difference is cash. Companies that 10 percent positive equity—but despite the unbalance, this
are just starting out don’t have it. Redesign clients do: In fact, means there still is some part of the old identity that has value

46

Before valuing equity

After THE REDESIGN Of THE GIRL SCOuTS LOGO,
completed by illustrators Joe Finocchiaro and Jasper
Interbrand recognized the massive equity AT&T had in its original logo, but Goodall under the direction of design agency The Original
was able to pull the logo forward into a new millennium. Champions of Design, looks almost unchanged, but upon
careful study, subtle changes emerge. The hairstyle has
and should be considered for preservation. Is it the color? A been adjusted to be less dated. The profiles are more
pattern or shape? The line weights? A font? girl-like in appearance, which makes them more age ap-
propriate. The trefoil shape has been adjusted so that it is
You might find that the brand is simply fragmented and could a more evident shape. The original deep green has been
be pulled together into something more cohesive. Consider changed to a lighter, fresher green.
AT&T after it was broken into the many Baby Bells, and then Not only does the redesign preserve the core value of Saul
reconstituted. Interbrand, which was brought in to reinvent Bass’s original design, but it also makes the brand more
AT&T, could have decided that since the client had broken relevant to girls today.
into pieces, its original logo no longer had any relevance with
consumers. Also, the company’s product had gone digital The redesign of the Girl Scouts logo recognized the equity of the
and had a worldwide audience. But the designers recog- Saul Bass original.
nized that certain aspects of the old identity were still very
valuable.

The AT&T Globe, designed by Bass Yager in 1986 and af-
fectionately referred to as the “Death Star,” had developed
tremendous equity at the time of the company’s dismantling.
It was arguably one of the most ubiquitous and highly rec-
ognized identities of its generation. After a hiatus, AT&T was
able to reemerge in 2005, but with a clarified and updated
set of attributes.

CHAPTER 6 Logo redesigns: Special concernS 47

Interbrand reinterpreted the sphere to give it a three-dimen- This is not to extol the virtues of crests or monograms. It’s
sional appearance to represent a global presence with more just to point out that your client’s version is not inherently
depth and breadth of services. Its simpler detail was given bad: It may just be poorly designed or out of date. This is
transparency to portray clarity of vision, and the associated definitely a case for examining function first and then decid-
wordmark was now in lowercase to be more welcoming and ing how to address the form.
accessible.
aNTICIPaTE ObsOlEsCENCE
The color, the shape, the stripes, and the name were pre-
served, but essentially were new. If you can imagine the We make some natural assumptions when we design an
original globe spawning an AT&T Junior, prepped for the new identity. We want it to have a long and fruitful life. We want it
millennium, this was it. to have longevity and gain equity.
But sometimes that is not the objective of the client.
The key in any redesign is to maintain relevance with existing Sometimes they are trying to build immediate value in the
customers, that is, to not abandon them and appear to care organization so that they can sell it. Other times you might be
only about newer customers. This means respecting what designing an identity for a product that the client will update
equity the original identity has, no matter how small. You will in a year or so. This sort of planned obsolescence offers ad-
be building, rather than deconstructing, customer trust. vantages for the designer.

What happens when a company comes to you with a new You can’t deny that some of the most counterfeited logos in the world are
product that needs its own new identity, but somehow must simple monograms. Some designers may not care for monograms, but there’s
meld with the company’s existing brand? The premise is to no denying that they have value.
be cognizant of everything that preexisted. Look at it this
way: If you are redesigning your kitchen, you likely aren’t go-
ing to tear the kitchen off the house and rebuild it. You are
going to preserve what is worth keeping and discard the rest.

Make sure what you create integrates with what already ex-
ists. It needs to suggest the same company culture, person-
ality, physiology, and mood.

DON’T MakE swEEPING
jUDGMENTs

Say your client is using a crest of sorts, or a monogram, or
some other device that reminds you (not in a good way) of
Marie Antoinette. The first thing you would like to do is get
rid of it.

But consider first that Chanel, Louis Vuitton, and many other
long-term, highly profitable companies use crests and mono-
grams in their identities today. Consumers pay top dollar for
their goods; counterfeiters spend endless amounts of time
trying to mimic them for profit.

48

Master identity designer Tom Geismar once said that nothing why are we here?
dulls quicker than the cutting edge. This is especially true
in identity designs, which begin to look dated as soon as IT IS vERY fRuSTRATING to have had premeetings,
they become recognizable. If you know your client plans to then larger meetings, then meetings with various de-
update their identity in the foreseeable future, you may be partment heads, and then to have the CEO finally tell
able to go for a trendier, more cutting-edge (versus classic) you the real reason for the identity design is to build the
look, knowing that it will be disposed of before it goes out company’s value because it will be sold within the year.
of style. A bold and specific “look” can have excellent short- Everything you learned in all the previous meetings has to
term impact. This is a common approach for product identi- be interpreted in a different light. The real goal is to quickly
ties, which by necessity have to be updated frequently to build value in the company, not to create a long-term plan.
remain visible in the marketplace. Identities done for repeat- You are now creating an identity to please a new buyer,
ing events, such as the Olympic Games or a local fundraiser, not the existing one.
also do not need a long expiration date. You can try more
fashion-forward designs in these instances. Asking the right questions early on, and building a sense
of openness with the client, is crucial to not wasting time
Or you may decide to take a long-term perspective and build and energy.
“bones” that can be easily updated when needed. Think of
this like building a wardrobe of classic clothing items. Apple For example, if we are designing for a client that manu-
has done this very well over time, by updating its simple- factures sound equipment, we already know that the way
shaped logo with different colors and patterns. The company people have listened to music over the years has changed
could even update the shape of the logo over time and not significantly. Records, tapes, CDs, MP3s—it’s clear that the
damage its brand equity. public may again be playing music differently very soon. This
means using an iPod shape as part of that company’s logo
The key is to know what your client’s plans are. Don’t as- design dates the work as much as using a 45 rpm record.
sume you are designing for the ages.
You certainly can’t be vague, but do learn to think in the fu-
DEsIGN fOR wHO THEy ture tense.
wIll bE

With a start-up, it’s easy to design with an eye toward the fu-
ture. You pretty much have to, because at start-up time, that
client is a complete unknown. But with a preexisting client,
it’s important to resist designing for who that client is now.
Redesigns must look to the future: If you design for who they
are now, your work will be dated tomorrow.

This can be a real trap for companies. When you ask them
the hard questions, they sometimes are so close to their own
current business that they do not know what will be next.
Chances are their minds are so wrapped around the next
quarter or next year’s financials that they are experiencing
tunnel vision. But you can help them see the future, using
history as a guide.

CHAPTER 6 Logo redesigns: Special concernS 49

CHAPTER What sort of

7 mark

should it be?

Wordmark? Monogram? Pictorial? There famous logos/symbols/marks, such as the CBS eye, there is
are these and many more designs a wordmark standing by in the wings.
from which to cOnsciOusly
chOOse. Let’s break this section into subcategories.

DESIGNERS AND NONDESIGNERS alike INnItTIal / leEtTtTeErRfoORrMm / mMoOnNoOGgrRamM

are equally guilty of using words such as logo, icon, symbol, These designs are linked to wordmarks in that they use let-
and mark interchangeably. Although they all relate to identity, ters, but these usually just use one or two characters in a
each is different. As it is always best to call something by its solution that clearly has had design attention—that is, these
proper name, this chapter focuses on definitions so that you are seldom letters used straight off the shelf.
can better decide which options are best for your clients.
Such solutions provide mnemonic associations to something
What follows is a hierarchy of marks and subdivisions of each. visual that the viewer is already familiar with. They are a pho-
netic jumpstart. Consider the scripty letter K for Kellogg’s:
lOGO / syMbOl / MaRk Even children know that the K = cereal. When the consumer
is not familiar with your client’s name, an initial/letterform/
These designs present concepts through visuals, although monogram solution won’t help them work out a resolution.
they seldom live alone: They almost always are associated
with a wordmark (which we will cover later). Even with very A logo that is an initial does not stop at just showing a beau-
tiful letter. Instead, it is a letterform that provides additional
information that plays out the meaning of the company. For
instance, an M used as a design for a construction company

50

Wood_Backgrounds_4.tif