Now, let’s be clear — we don’t believe in a formula that works every single time. We acknowledge (and even revere) the pure intuition that is an indisputable part of our craft. But, we also figure a little check-listing never hurt creative types, and it’s all about balance, right? Right. Without further ado…

Step 1 : Kick-off meeting

Grimm Brothers is a start up company here in Tenfold’s hometown of Loveland CO. Knowing that they were one of many small breweries in this area they wanted to stand out and make their mark. It’s what they needed. It’s what we do. Sounded like a good match.

We started by meeting Grimm for a get to know you session in which we walked through our creative brief together. The creative brief gives a framework to the conversation, but really we try to keep the kick-off meetings organic — sharing our thoughts and ideas, and in this case, maybe a few too many tastes of their incredible German-style brews.

Step 2 : Internal Processing

Ideas have to digest, so once we had the information we needed from the kick-off we internally distilled it into “attributes” that we thought the brand should communicate. Our hope is to always get three to five. We knew the folks at Grimm loved the old-world German feel, so, within that framework, we came up with three distinct aesthetic categories on which to base our concepts; Old world, Classic Fairy tale, and German crest meets mid-century modern. Once the attributes are determined we run with it, then pow-wow to discuss our results and create a presentation.

Step 3 : Presentation of concepts

A lonely logo often leaves a client feeling underwhelmed, so we remove the guesswork by presenting concepts that are fully articulated in the first round. This often includes letterhead, business cards, vehicle wraps – whatever application we know will be critical to that brand. As a result, we spend about 75% of our estimated project hours on the first round. It’s a gamble that has backfired a few times, but for the most part, presenting a fully articulated brand package has made for happy clients who feel confident they know what they’re getting into.

Step 4 : Revisions

Secretly we hope the client will see the designs, fall in love with one and want it exactly as it is. But, since we want to appear flexible and would hate to be perceived as overtly Pollyanna, we plan on 2 (or so) rounds of revisions. Based on the feedback from the previous round, we provide another version of the chosen logo, including type and image variations. Grimm loved the eagle in version three, but they weren’t digging the starkness of the original, so the design moved forward with options that kept the eagle but incorporated some of the old-world elements from the first design. We dug it. They dug it. We liked them both. They chose option two. Contentment all around.

Step 5 : Brand Build out

Branding is really the gift that keeps on giving. If you’re lucky (like we were here) after the main elements are complete, website and other industry specific items follow. For a Brewery it’s coasters, tap handles, and brew labels. Building out these other pieces is one of the most challenging but rewarding parts of the branding process for us because you truly get the chance to create personality and voice. Elements look appropriate to the brand family, but have their own distinct details and purpose. Come to think of it, that’s actually how we feel about ourselves too. Thus Collective. It’s the whole package, process, intuition, happy accidents, collaboration. Individual bits, pieces, people creating a whole. Sigh, how much more romantic could we get?

Contact The Tenfold Collective:

Website: http://www.tenfoldcollective.com
Twitter: @10xCollective
Telephone: 970 744 4221
Email: howdy@tenfoldcollective.com
Blog: http://www.tenfoldcollective.com/blog

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Don’t get me wrong — I love marketing as a practice! In the scope of things, marketing is a fairly new practice and one that has to evolve each day to keep up with consumerism and technology. As a designer, coming up with marketing ideas is orgasmic. Guerilla, sabotage and viral marketing are the work of genius and that’s why we don’t see it very often. But you are probably thinking horrid thoughts about marketing practitioners right now. So let’s kill them!

There are a handful of great marketing people I have known in my career and they were smart enough to form their own companies. They always got the delicate dance done to create something that will be effective and not just popular with anyone who may, oddly enough, have an opinion. Then there are the people you see every dreadful day.





I have tons of marketing stories but my favorite one was when I was art directing and designing a major push on a new licensed character over all marketing channels. The staff and I worked like crazy to get the lines done for approval. It took months. That’s how much there was.

After the submission for approvals from the licensor, a member of the marketing staff, lower level, comes to me to tell me the changes needed. First thing, don’t TELL someone — write it down so there’s no misunderstanding. Luckily I was taking notes. One of the changes called for a major surgery on the main character to remove markings on their face. It made no sense to me and I questioned it but he stood fast and insisted that’s what the licensor wanted. I asked to see the email from the licensor.

“No.”

I asked for him to email the licensor to ask them to clarify.

“No.”

The most infuriating thing was that this oversized man with a cherubic face, looked like Baby Huey from the old Harvey Comics. Sounded a bit like him, too. It was hard to speak with him while trying not to laugh. As his new nickname circulated through several departments, it made it a contest among the staff to deal with Baby Huey without laughing.

I knew trouble was brewing and as with all the smart people who make file copies or just turn off layers, the art staff and I stated cutting the image and placing everything on a hidden layer. This was done to hundreds of pieces. A month later, the changes were submitted and the licensor ripped marketing a new one for the marking, so essential to the character, being gone. There was an impromptu witch-hunt held right outside the art department, next to the marketing offices. The president held it.

Yes, without wasting column space on the obvious, Baby Huey was spanked…and I believe the president actually asked him, “what is your major malfunction, Baby Huey!?”

The best part was being asked how long it would take to fix it. Explaining about turning on a layer in Photoshop, took a longer explanation to the layperson then actually turning them on, but I scored big points with the “dad” while my “marketing step-brother” was sent to military school.

It doesn’t happen enough. It does and CAN happen! In another corporation marketing got publicly spanked for taking eleven and a half weeks to work on a twelve-week initiative, giving creative, copy and design three or four days to execute lines of hundreds of products. Creative would always get it done so action to stop it took a while but the grumbling and angry staff meetings got some relief in the form of at least six weeks.

What do creatives look like to non-creatives? Obviously everyone thinks that they can design an ad or logo in MS Word, so immediately we are snooty, whining, snobs. A great marketing person I worked with wrote me a recommendation and included, “…great designs without a lot of creative baggage!”

“Creative baggage?” What could that mean? For anyone who has wrangled creatives, staff or freelance, we CAN be intolerable freaks. It’s hard to remember the last creative who actually followed my art direction without an argument or apology. We are also weak and without the socialization skills to deal with corporate power-speak. Often we give away our own power in an effort to be seen as “flexible” or “a team player.”

A recommendation from an art director, firmly a puppet on the hand of the company for which she worked said of me, “he usually hits strategy, but if some adjustments need to be made, he is very open to suggestion and direction. (Speider) has worked with our team for a long time and understands our process.”

The process was I went into meeting all smiles, told a few jokes and did exactly what I was told to do. The paycheck helped me live with myself.

In most cases that means doing what you are told by anyone bold enough to speak their opinion towards creative efforts and not have that questioned for validity. I have had to pull marketing coworkers aside and remind them that we both report to the same person and nothing was ever said about my reporting to them. I’m not being difficult – I’m taking control of my work for my department so I don’t take the fall for failed initiatives and sales down the road for someone else’s design decisions. I never get angry or attack, although people who have worked with me say my sarcasm could be deadly at times. Baby Huey’s ghost haunts me.

Just the other day, I client who showed me a product catalog that I thought was from 1972. It was the 2010 catalog and the creative department directors asked me to bring some paper product into the present (or future) and do “something different.” I love when they say that.

I did some of the finest work I have done in my career…of fine work. The creatives were really on board and revisions almost non-existant. Imagine basically having free reign on designing some fun and impressive paper products and the full support of your clients? Well, no good effort goes unpunished and I was informed the marketing department rejected the work in favor of the upcoming 1973 catalog.

Where has the fear in business put us for fast, hard decisions in the marketplace? Safe, take-a-step-backwards got us into the mess we’re in right now. How do we get out of it? I included this passage from someone who would only refer to himself as a “suit.” I have put it in another article on “Design-By-Committee.”





“I have to have the confidence that the design solution is meeting the needs of the client and is achieving strategic/tactical goals. Because of that, if there are elements of your design that I’m uncomfortable with, I will call them out, and in some cases, will nix them. Similarly for the client; they have to be comfortable about how their own brand is being presented, how their market will react, even how their own staff will react.”

“How their market will react.” That should be the only concern. And how did the “suit” become the tip of the approval funnel? The truth is that people can’t let go without second and third guessing what will be successful. It’s not like, say, a good marketing plan based on researched demographics would help in the form of a creative brief with which professional designers and writers could work from to incorporate everything into a cohesive package. It’s more the, “just design and I’ll make changes until I see what I like.” That always works out for the best…waste of time and resources.

Business is tight for many reasons but even one wrong move can cost you big. My question is; if the marketing plan is sound and the sales staff is competent, then why would those simple little changes that pop up to please people truly affect the product?

”You know, Bob…I was going to buy that package of Flugglebinders I wanted but I just couldn’t.”

“Too expensive?”

“No. The color of the package put me off.”

Happens like that every day! I used that line in a committee where the background color of an exclusive product had been discussed and sampled for a week. The marketing manager turned to me and said that I had negated marketing’s input. I thought marketing’s input was to figure out whom the target audience is, their habits, income, etc. and how to best reach them through media and other advertising venues and not how blue or green it is? Silly me! Maybe it’s a marketing secret and that’s why they can’t tell creative. We’re spies for…something.

What can one say when sitting in a committee and the subjective suggestions fly, usually contradicting each other, or people echoing previous requests but adding it should be “more” (red), “bigger” (logo), but “will know when (they) see it?” I sit and listen, take notes and then turn to my contact, if it’s a freelance job and ask what he/she would like me to implement. To be sickeningly submissive, I say, “some great insights but some are counter to the creative brief and some other directions suggested here.” I turn to the art director, boss, marketing person or whoever hired me and ask them to go over what they think will be needed. Usually they will tell me to follow what I was told in the committee. This is when I’m thankful for hourly rates because the Frankenstein created in committee is usually too monstrous to please anyone. It goes around and around as long as more than one person has at least a final decision on a project. Imagine what really would happen if too many cooks worked on one dish. The chefs I know are insane and would stab and de-bone each other.

When freelance, you are outside the eternal struggle of creative and marketing. You are only a tool used by creative and a bludgeon used by marketing to show their power over creative. Forget it and let the creative department live with it.

What happens if YOU are the staff art director or designer? Prepare for office politics. The struggle of creative and marketing has nothing to do with design or marketing — it is the good old human condition of having power over others — to be the alpha dog. No matter what your position or department, everyone there is jockeying for some power over others. From the frowning, minimum-wage guard at the front desk who tells you to sign in…while you are doing it, to the mail person who won’t let you get your mail away from your desk, to the coworker who tries to convince you that part of their job is now your job or part of your power is part of their power.

The human animal usually spends a lot of effort blending with the herd and shies away from confrontation. Confrontational people know this and use it. When the counter person asks if you want to super size, do you say, “sure” or “no?” You say yes because your brain and protective nature is telling you to go with the easy route of saying “yes.” Less aggravation. Why do good girls like bad boys? Because we…I mean they go against the herd, break rules and convention and are confrontational.

So, it stands to reason, while in the workplace, where you are in the stress situation of HR rules, progress reports and the always present cliques of workers and executives, you feel alone and stay away from confronting coworkers. But from day one you can bet they are going to at least size you up if not start stealing your power and setting a standard that will follow you throughout your career with that firm. You must start a new job with the basic knowledge of your rights as an employee. Listen and be bold, compassionate and assured, show no fear and show that being flexible is not the same as being a wimp. Any business book will tell you the weak die. You have to set your own tolerances when starting a job. Wait and see will still be setting standards for you while you believe you are in the learning curve. Once you allow any give of your territory, you will not be able to get it back. You are open to, “that’s the way it’s always been done and you said nothing last time.”

*Comeback to that line, “it may have been done that way in the past but part of my job is to streamline the process to get the best results, faster and more efficiently. I’m sure you’ll love what my system will do for the workflow and product.”

As with any situation, your human gut will tell you what feels right and what feels wrong — so will your job description. To whom do you report? To whom do others report? If a marketing person who reports to the same person as you or they are lower on the corporate ladder, why would you allow them to dictate anything if you were not told to follow their lead on the project or in general. Sometimes someone may be assigned to oversee all aspects of a project. They are the boss and that’s that…but that ends when the project ends.

If a peer on the corporate ladder makes a suggestion in a committee, it’s best to nod and either don’t execute it and you will probably never hear another word or it will be brought up by the person and you should respond not that you don’t have to listen to him or her, which might be labeled “confrontational” (it’s always the people who defend themselves who are “confrontational”) but that their idea, after much consideration, had no merit. Simple, easy, ego deflating, leading to sexual performance problems down the line. How can it be argued?

“I thought they were good!”

“Sorry, but I didn’t think so and no other opinions aired echoed your concerns” (this cuts the person off from others by setting a line that people would rather not cross. You are showing strength as the alpha dog. The pack will get on your side).

A more direct and devastating attack is to ask, “why do you think I’m unable to do my job?” This is a heart-stopper because it cannot be answered. They may bring up the team vision or protecting the client’s interests. Again, ask why they think you haven’t fulfilled the team vision from the creative briefings and why he/she sees you as against the client’s interests. It’s like a fistfight. It only lasts a few seconds before the herd breaks it up to stop…yes, confrontation. Even confrontational people are taken aback when confronted themselves, unless they are psychotics and then pray that HR rules will keep them from becoming violent. If they do, a knuckle sandwich to your lunchbox is a small price to pay to see the aggressor fired and marked as being dismissed for violence in the workplace and you can even prosecute legally, make them spend a night or two in county jail awaiting a bail hearing, they get molested with a broom handle and then you can sue them in civil court for your emotional distress. A win-win situation!

From this, you do get the “squeaky wheel” running to the boss to demand “respect” and a title over you. Often, to get to quick resolution, the squealer gets their way. You’re only chance is to calmly state your side, note your accomplishments without the squealer’s input and add that it’s a business office and not a therapist’s office for people to work out their personal problems by laying them on others. Firm, direct and sound. If squeaky gets, his/her way, then you are doomed but really don’t want to work in a place like that. If the boss so easily knocks you down the ladder, you need to find another boss. If you get your way, others will fear confrontation with you. I think coining the name for Baby Huey may have frightened into not incurring my displeasure and gaining a nickname of their own.

Once you establish that you are not a pushover, most people will respect your boundaries and the natural order will flow, with an occasional bump as a member of the herd tries to probe your weak spots. That, as some will discover, is your staff. Lowly designers and writers who will surely tremor when approached by someone outside the office that will storm in and demands changes that were “called for in a meeting.” Now you, as that lowly worker have another problem. You just gave up power to a stranger and put your creative director in a tough spot. Your actions affect how your supervisor controls the department and YOUR job.

The proper thing to do is to tell the intruding stranger that you are just a designer or writer and they will really need to talk to the creative director so they can assign the proper revisions and work. Then smile and point to the creative director’s office. If coworkers are on their toes, one will summon the creative director to come into the department and protect his or her minions from intruders. I’ve done it a gilliondy times. Summon your righteous indignation, flair your nostrils and imitate the tiger. When the interloper leaves, send an email gently reminding them that they must come to you for any creative needs as only you know everyone’s scheduled assignments and all changes must be signed off by you, as the department head. Don’t think HR will intercede to stop it. The opinion is that this process should be flexible to keep work flowing or, you “weren’t around and HR likes as few problems as possible if the bloody wound isn’t squirting arterial red like a fountain.

Points to remember:

1. You WERE around. In fact, aside from an occasional bathroom break or meeting, you are around 12 hours a day on average.
2. YOU are responsible for everything that comes out of your department and will be held accountable for it.
3. People want their way and they will try anything to get it.
4. Don’t allow people inside your power area to sabotage your power and security.
5. Have an objection response ready in your head or make a list of them and be ready to use them when a ridiculous argument is used to corporately castrate you.
6. HR wants the easiest way for quiet and harmony. Play all squealers as troublemakers and not as a team player. Use corporate-speak to your own advantage. If that fails, say you feel threatened physically or sexually.
7. Sometimes you will lose the battle. Sometimes you will also lose the war. Have as many strong allies in the company as you can. The higher the executive level, the better!
8. People want to comment on design during a conference meeting? Make some well-educated comments yourself. Maybe you see a hole in the marketing plan or the project isn’t slated with enough creative time or the sales material is a week past deadline. Bring it up gently and kindly. I believe that’s called passive-aggressive. Use it!
9. Grab power and don’t wait for it to be offered. Take on an extra project, create an initiative yourself or earn a few million dollars for the company and they will sit up and take notice.

Often the power grab comes from people too incompetent to do their own work and public displays of “directing” are thought to mask that incompetence. It often does. Handled correctly, it doesn’t because they won’t get the chance.





Working at one large corporation, I was closing up my office and the art department at 7:00 PM on a Friday night when a young woman from the marketing department caught me in the hallway and asked to step into my now locked office. She immediately went into an act on “her” project that is so important and had to be done by Monday and emailed to her as she was going to be away for the weekend. I looked at her in silence. I asked to whom she reported and found it was one of my subordinates (if you went by the order of the corporate masthead). I told her I would talk to her boss on Monday and find out why she would have the utter nerve to hope I would be in the office at 7:00 PM on a Friday night and then expect me to work all weekend on something that was not important enough to have such a tight deadline. She stormed off.

I don’t remember why I was late on Monday but as I walked down the hall, people were shouting for me to check my email. There was an email from the young lady I had met on Friday evening. She must have gone back to her office and written a very angry message and courtesy copied the entire corporate division about how unwilling I was to work on her project and she was canceling it and I cost the company millions of dollars and immortal souls, hail Satan, hail Satan, etc.

In steps her boss, one of those fine marketing people I mentioned DO exist. The young lady had the project for three weeks (grabbing it as her first project and, naturally wanted to make a big splash) and, as I had guessed, it wasn’t time sensitive…for the previous three weeks she sat on it, but it did have to be to the printer the very next day. Being of sound minds, the head of marketing and I were able to come up with a solution, work hard together and make the deadline. Creative and marketing did it…together, with no arguments or stepping on each others toes or egos and we both shared in the glow of accomplishment. It can happen. Maybe there just needs to be guns to our heads at the time?

Speider Schneider is a former member of The Usual Gang of Idiots at MAD Magazine, “among other professional embarrassments and failures.” He currently writes for local newspapers, blogs and other web content and has designed products for Disney/Pixar, Warner Bros., Harley-Davidson, ESPN, Mattel, DC and Marvel Comics, Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon among other notable companies. He also continues to speak at art schools across the United States on business and professional practices and telling frightening stories that make students question their career choice (just kidding).

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Sitting one night and Googling myself…online…using the keyboard. It just won’t sound right no matter what. I was dismayed to see I was on the 27^th page behind more accomplished actors, doctors, war heroes and other n’er-do-wells pushing my graphic design career to the sub-basement. People use Google to see a bit more about you and I was showing them I didn’t exist.

My personal branding as a freelancer was a company named, The AFTERLIFE. Lot’s of death motifs as a sick joke on the trend of companies hiring only people under the age of 17. I was dead to them…although, as I would discover, not so as a highly paid consultant/baby-sitter. I had coffin-die cut business cards, great tombstone fonts, a Photoshopped picture of me with wings that made those who know me laugh and a growing trends blog. Other creatives loved it. Clients didn’t know what to make of it, so it had failed. The coolest skull logo in the world is not going to sell you to McDonald’s or Disney/Pixar. Again, the Google search brought up a LOT of companies and bands with the word “afterlife” somewhere in it. Not good enough in a field stuffed with competition. The finest former full-time staffers at the world’s best-known design departments are out there, too.





The failure became a lesson, which is all nature asks of us when we make an ungodly blunder. I looked at all the factors in my restarted freelance career. I took a long look at what would create the buzz that fuels the BS that makes clients want a certain person and fellow designers be damned. I lied. I want to show off my talent. I want to be respected. I want people to wonder what the hell is my problem.

I admit to being tired, loaded and sitting in front of my computer when it struck me how an old nickname would push my name to the front of Google. After some odd laughter, forgetting what I was going to do and then it coming back to me, I signed into LinkedIn and Facebook as “Kaboom J. Schneider.” My friends, who span my lifetime, have all used my various nicknames when posting on my page, so most never mentioned the change but as time went on, most switched to “Kaboom.” Watching my questions and answers on LinkedIn brought people all writing, “well, Kaboom…” and “that’s a great point, Kaboom.” It didn’t take long to establish my new brand. The name itself.





I started to form a campaign based on old space toys and witty captions for an updated-retro look. An edgy fun. One great consideration was to let existing clients and contacts know that I was now Kaboom. My early promotional pieces bore my full name. I still have a few to go and then I switch to pushing the full Kaboom brand.

One marketing tool I use is a print-on-demand/mailing site to send real postcards and greeting cards to a specific list of 100 people. Twice a month, for the next six months, they will receive some odd mailing. Recipients of the early mailings reported that they kept the mailings on their desks or bulletin boards and people would pick them up and look at them. Referrals alone grew my mailing list to other creatives in big design departments. I’m guessing I hit something. Maybe it’s the brand and designs used for promotion, maybe it’s the old fashioned mailings are new again, maybe it’s just a mix of social media and promotional direct mail?

A few of the early pieces. Cute and fun with a fresh retro feel. It formed just as I did an assignment for a new client and each one influenced the other. People felt very warm about this work.

Assignments continue to come in, either wanting me to ape the style of the promotional piece, which is just fine with me, or someone so blown away they would tells me to “do something different” from where their line was. As I worked long hours with Photoshop and illustrator constantly running, I found, as many of us do, some happy accidents that created a look that just amazed me. The techniques were refined and the dark and depressing world ruled by giant robot overlords who exterminated every other design firm, leaving Kaboom Industries to provide the remaining 732 humans the products and design needed to live a modern life, was thriving like it actually existed. Did I mention I am the only remaining human male left and women still tell me they “just want to be friends?” Maybe I didn’t create this world?(Two or three of the darker promotional pieces)

Then there are the quick steps in “hitting the market, “going live” or “bursting on the scene” as many call it. Twitter, Facebook, a website or blog, business cards and they all have to be ready at once. Sadly, my life is still “under construction.”

I was spiraling out of control. The work was again intertwined with another assignment. I loved what I did but wonder where I go from here. I'm thinking more artful pieces of robots or real ads from the 50s and 60s and continue mutating them into nightmarish subliminal advertising.

This starts the process of horror. I find an unusual photograph, add a few layers and effects in Photoshop and Illustrator, distort elements to trap the eye within an image while the brain is screaming to look away and BINGO! a promotional piece you just can't unsee.

The most important thing in branding yourself as a freelance identity, with goals of perhaps growing into a small design firm, or tyrannical ruler of a country comprised solely of designers and dead account executives, is to create something you love, because more often than not, you are married to the name, brand, URL, tattoos, shirts and, as I now have, a huge bag of coffin Halloween candy I bought two days after Halloween to use for The AFTERLIFE. They’ll fit fine besides the unused business cards and other items that are now fit to throw out. There’s also a financial consideration to rebranding aside from the confusion of whom you are when you awaken in the morning. I suggest nametags on everything.

Is this working for me? Yes! I wish I could write about the tremendous feelings of dread I had when first wondering what reaction I would awaken to the morning after changing my social media tag but, thanks to that same social media, it didn’t take more than 24 hours to see the reaction was good. Imagine the old days where you had to wait months for trumped up data on consumer reactions and the money spent.

The other day I was speaking with someone I had spoken to several years ago but he didn’t remember me. Finally, after many promptings for recognition, he said, “I would remember speaking to a Kaboom Schneider!”

Number one brand mission accomplished.

Kaboom Schneider has worked for such human companies as MAD Magazine (Warner Bros.), Hallmark Cards, Golden Books Family Entertainment, and has created products for Disney/Pixar, Harley-Davidson, ESPN, DC and Marvel Comics, American Greetings, SmartHealth, American Express Publishing, Scholastic, United Media, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Merck, the N.Y. Daily News, The New York Times and other firms eventually exterminated by, or on the “honey-do” list of the Most Benevolent Giant Robot Overlord. You can reach him through Kaboom Industries or email him at bigbang@kaboomgoesthe.net.

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A father-and-son team based in Bend, Ore., approached us for a brand identity design. Through the branding process, Sean Patrick and his father, Dennis Patrick, got to explore what made them really excited, and also, where and how they excel. Along the way, we were inspired to drop their original name, which was Western Renewables Alliance. Dennis, a longtime electrical contractor, said: “There’s always a way to do it. You just have to be innovative.”

And so the startup once known as Western Renewables Alliance augmented their ideas about what they could offer the world. The minute they did that, they started to embody the persona of brand now known as Million Monarchs.

Internet as Receptionist & Office

Design Kompany changed, too. Or more specifically, our process. Akira and I never would have imagined working virtually with anyone. That’s because we know just how important the words we don’t say are as the ones that we do. For past branding projects, we flew to LA to meet insurance advisors Ajay and Garima Gupta and to Charlotte to see firsthand the works of glass artist Mark Selleck.

We’d just relocated from Seattle to Durham, NC, and the Northwest suddenly seemed far. Million Monarchs wasn’t going to be able to fly us out, so we had to get creative. Branding a renewable energy company? That was just too exciting.

So for our first interview, I suggested Skype. “It’s a free video conferencing software, and a little more engaging than a phone call,” I said. “If we can’t meet in person, it’s the next best thing.”

DK’s Akira Morita (left) explains that Pantone colors don’t always print consistently. Also pictured: DK’s Dipika Kohli (center) and Million Monarchs’ Sean Patrick (screen).

Talking through a screen with family was fine. But using Skype for work? That seemed weird. I know people all over the world do it, but this was new for us. Dennis was a little reticent at first, but by the end of the interview he’d moved into the picture.

What I learned from this is how you can capture so much nonverbal subtlety in real-time video chats. Virtual meetings are tight and efficient, too. There’s less stress when it comes to the usual things that happen when you meet regularly: schedule changes, getting lost, and looking for parking.

That said, I did miss some things about being with our clients in a physical space. Last year, Akira and I bought a cool orange teapot from which to serve our guests a selection of rooibos, English, or green teas. Loved the teacups, too. We’d also splurged on an eight-person dining table, justifying it as a pre-Thanksgiving necessity, in part, but mostly because it was perfect for our mood board collage session. This time it was impossible to say, “Let’s get up now, walk around the table, see what’s there and what patterns emerge.”

That physical part is so vital to building rapport. I still feel that way. That’s why later this June, Akira flies to the Northwest to meet Sean as we explore Million Monarchs Phase II and beyond.

One major insight for me was to realize that the introduction to our company is now an online experience. More so today than ever. It’s almost like time is more valuable than money.

Our first office in Seattle was floored with slate and walled with glass. Fancy. I realize now that this is far less important than your shop’s very first “door,” your website. It’s becoming clear from the Milion Monarchs experience and new engagements in recent months that the video on the front page of our website is our new reception space. It is the first stage of, “Welcome.”

I like that. It’s doing its job.

Most people’s first point of contact with us is our online video, Say Hello to Design Kompany.

The Sandbox: Naming & Designing Million Monarchs

If you could encapsulate the experience designing a brand image for Million Monarchs as a Flickr image, it would rank really high for “interestingness.”

A name is a big deal. A name is your reputation. It precedes you. So when we’re talking and it comes up, “Hey, so, what do you guys think. Really. About our name. Should we change it?”—

—We said, “Yes, absolutely.”

To get to the new name, Sean brainstormed with us, and Akira and I scribbled everywhere—on napkins at a local panini shop or a scratchpad next to the stovetop while cooking (such things become intermingled when your design partner is also your spouse). We collaborated with Sean to create a shortlist, and circled one of the names.

Sean told us later his father hated it. “Million Monarchs? Sounds like a damn tea shop!”

Ouch. But that comment was honest. And imperative. A huge part of this process was creating a safe space to voice opinions like this without fear of judgement. Hard to do when you’re not meeting in person, but not impossible.

What we knew for sure was that if Sean and Dennis weren’t excited about their name, no one else would be, either. After some more conversation along these lines, the elder Mr. Patrick was convinced. He acknowledged it piques curiosity, maybe people will ask, “Wow, what do you do?” Opening the door for conversation was a definite plus.

And once the design drawings started appearing as sharp vectors, the new name won even more points. “I like the ll’s in ‘million,” Dennis said. By the time DK finalized Illustrator files and their RGB color schemes, you could see that Sean and Dennis really owned the Million Monarchs brand. It wasn’t us making something up anymore, it was them. I knew it when Sean’s video came up and he was confident, strong. “Here I am,” I thought, “Talking to Million Monarchs. This is cool.”

Here’s what Sean said after we’d delivered all the final files about working with DK:

“I’d love to say that you both are professional and talented, but working with you is comfortable – like working with close friends. This keeps ideas flowing and anxiety down; and there’s never any pressure to conform to a previous expectation that you have. Things are open and awesome.” —Sean Patrick, Million Monarchs.

Sean’s and Dennis’ natural proclivities emerged in a fascinating way. They were clearly in tune with one another’s strengths (and weaknesses), and weren’t afraid of sharing exactly what was on their mind. We saw a lot of affection, but also nervousness, as they dived headfirst into a business venture together. Slight disagreements gave way to larger counterpoints, but they stayed open. Concerns and hesitations came out as easily as stories from the time Sean was a kid. It was wonderful to see their dynamics crescendo towards real dialogue, where understanding one another laid a foundation for true cooperation.

Dennis’ family is Irish, as in the Republic of Ireland, so the Million Monarchs logo was not going to have any orange in it. Even if black-and-orange combo seemed like it made sense (the monarch’s colors), there was no way there would be orange. Orange would be very uncomfortable.

No orange. Done.

Hearing Irish humor again (we’d lived in southwest Ireland for three years) warmed our hearts, and reminded us of why we love this job so much. You get to play, like in a sandbox as wide as the beach. Akira and I began talking eagerly, “How can we better understand Sean and his father?” Okay, let’s ask for some reading suggestions. What’s that? The Handbook of Electrical Contracting. Wow, cool. Where can we get that?

We presented our first round of sketches as really rough pencil drawings. One of them was this:

Winning concept idea.

This image really stirred Dennis and Sean, and during a short break they’d printed out the .jpg we’d uploaded to the Basecamp locker and already started talking about it. I said, “Whoa, wait!,” and sent over a higher resolution version so they didn’t have to deal with the jaggedy printout. Some of the words that emerged and stuck with us in that first meeting were: iridescence, movement, and transformation. These inspired us in later stages of choosing typeface and color scheme.

Basecamp helped us keep track of files, notes, and schedules.

We look everywhere for inspiration once the concept idea is locked in.

Once the butterfly concept was clearly the leading candidate, Akira and I began to eat, sleep, and breathe butterflies. We visited the remarkable butterfly house at the Museum of Life and Science here in Durham. We studied a lot of drawings. We found other images to draw inspiration from, and built a mood board collage.

I browsed the stacks at the local library. I remembered that Vladimir Nabokov spent a lot of time chasing butterflies. In a volume of poems called Nabokov’s Butterflies were these words from “Lines Written in Oregon:”

Esmeralda! Now we rest
Here, in the bewitched and blest
Mountain forests of the West
…
Cornfields have befouled the prairies
But these canyons laugh! And there is
Still the forest with its fairies.

The photocopy image is a 1967 pen and ink drawing by Jeffries Mackey. We looked for images that suggested motion for design inspiration.

Question everything. Accept nothing as true at face value. Consider every angle. These are some of our credos, and how we hope to inspire our clients.

Here are some early sketches that eventually spawned our brand message: “The brand new game has begun.” (The name change happened halfway through design development, so most of our first sketches are of the original name, Western Renewables Alliance.)

It’s exciting because we’ve gotten to know Sean and Dennis well along this journey of brand identity design. It’s natural, when you share so much about who you are at your core, and what’s important, and why that should matter to anyone else.

Akira and I created this process for ourselves when we were trying to reinvent who DK wanted to be, back in 2006. Every time it looks like we’re floating without a compass, we’ll take a step back, a deep breath, and remind ourselves: “Trust the process.”

Even if it’s virtual, this process is pretty cool.

Contact Design Kompany:

Website: http://www.designkompany.com
Twitter: @designkompany
Telephone: 206.778.5136
Email: letsplay@design-kompany.com
Blog: http://www.designkompany.com

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Knowing this, it seems that as far as design integrity goes, what matters is what we actively do with the visual input, how we process it to create something of our own. It seems reasonable to talk about this in terms of levels, let’s call them inspiration, mimicry, and stealing.

Inspiration : Looking at other work and admiring typographic style or other aesthetic execution.

This is the way we learn, visually. When we see something we like it gets logged in the database of visual information and processed. It might be a movie title, a photograph, an old sign. It may be completed design work. But If you’re truly working a project and completely engaged, there’s no way to steal, there just isn’t one solution that can really work for two distinct projects (and all projects are distinct). Something made for a particular person or occasion can very rarely be ‘plugged in’ with any sort of legitimacy and so is rarely a temptation.

If you aren’t familiar with Bruce Mau, you need to be (www.brucemaudesign.com). We’re big fans. Though I have never met him, I would like to think he is a bit of a mentor… all right, that may be a stretch, but he has definitely been a major influence on me. In Mr. Mau’s incomplete manifesto he states:

35. Imitate.
Don’t be shy about it. Try to get as close as you can. You’ll never get all the way, and the separation might be truly remarkable. We have only to look to Richard Hamilton and his version of Marcel Duchamp’s large glass to see how rich, discredited, and underused imitation is as a technique.

Mimicry : Looking at work with a particular sensibility and recreating the style in your own project.

This is a part of the design learning curve. Designers, just as painters, often begin by looking at the work of the masters and recreating aspects of the work in order to understand. It’s a process of identifying those who have a similar tendencies, but more experience, and learning from them by doing. This isn’t a carbon copy of the ‘masters’ work, but it’s often clearly reminiscent. One could be told, it reminds me of Rand or Sagmeister but wouldn’t be told it looks just like a particular logo or piece of design from either. While work that stays extremely close to a ‘masters’ may be considered immature (in a formal sense) to us, it doesn’t fit the bill of stealing.

Stealing : A completed piece (logo/brand/poster whatever) created by someone else, is reproduced to be used by another person or agency without permission.

We’re talking flat out lifting here. This isn’t something that inspired process or informed style. It’s literally taken as is. Tweaks may have been made, some colors changed, the different business name made appropriate but it’s essentially the same.

We all like to get judgy about this (the phrase ‘the guilty dog barks loudest’ comes to mind) but more often than not, stealing or lifting seems to spring from insecurity rather than laziness or a desire to be malicious. However, no matter what, it won’t win you any friends, or respect.

In regards to true creative process, it takes us all a while to find our way, and our own personal style and voice as designers. In truth, it’s what we’re all working hard at all the time. The more confident we become, the smaller the temptation to mimic or lift. The more we encourage each other to find our own way, the less reproduction we’ll see.

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I’m often asked, “how do you come up with creative ideas?”. I usually answer, “It’s a process”. It’s true, understanding how ideas are cultivated and developed into great creative executions is why I also say, ”Creativity isn’t a talent, it’s an obligation”.

It’s this obligation that most people never learn to respect and incorporate into their creative personal and professional lives. Every great artist, designer or director of creativity uses some sort of process, bringing successful appreciation or effective results to what they create. But how much time did they spend getting there? Or, did they use the same methods every time to achieve their goals?

John Maxwell, author of Talent is Never Enough, writes, “The key choices you make—apart from the natural talent you already have—will set you apart from others who have talent alone. Talent + right choices = a Talent-Plus Person.” If you have read this book, you’ll know that he is referring to a 13-step process to recognizing and behaving in a way that takes your talent to new a level of value. His steps are not just about cultivating ideas, they are about understanding your abilities and being in- tune with them to reach farther to achieve peak performance—a skill that takes an obligated attitude.

Sure, I have a process. It’s a 9-step journey to uncovering insights and developing ideas. It is also a path to appreciating persuasion, respecting measurement and being in-tune to my creative balance—perspective and objectivity, including steps that allow for ideas to mature (incubate) and finally, understanding the difference between “execution” and “production”—there is a difference.

So if everyone uses a process, why is it that so few actually achieve greatness? It is this question that points to whether someone is seen as successful or valuable. Using a process can make you successful—just ask any ad agency. There have been many books written about process and the science of creativity. Removing subjectivity and adding a proven system for getting results differentiates one ad agency or designer from another.

It is when a creative person becomes so in-tune with their process that he or she pushes the aspects (the details) of that process to a commitment level more similar to an obsession than anything else. He becomes obligated to things like exploration, collaboration, measurement and the art of persuasion, thus becoming more valuable than others practicing the same process. Taking it to another level, this person incorporates balance in her life with other creative outlets of inspiration, helping to remove emotional bias and instilling clarity between their creative professional and personal life.

The difference between good to great shouldn’t be measured by success. Instead, greatness, associated with talent, should be valued by obligation and commitment.

Bruce Stanley is a Creative Director and the Graphic Design Coordinator at Nossi College of Art. His belief in the ability to control your creative destiny is why he enjoys sharing his expertise and experiences with others. You can reach him though his blog, caretocreate.com, twitter, @bsimage or at bruce@nossi.com.

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After making the decision to move to a new city and build out my career, I knew it was imperative to make an impact with my personal branding. The unique challenge involved developing an identity not only for a freelance professional, but for very specific experiences associated with building a network of new colleagues.

I coined the name Design That Talks, as my freelance company, and now needed to build a professional image without losing ‘me’ in the process. Before starting with any of the designs, I needed to step back and think about how I was going to approach people and companies and what I wanted their first interaction with me to be. Being a traditionalist, I knew hand written letters and face-to-face communication were going to be the primary tools.

The next phase is where things took a different and exciting turn. I had met a letterpress printer who owned a manual-feed press and mentioned he could print on almost anything. There were no questions after that. Having the name Design That Talks, I wanted the driving design element to be wooden tongue depressors. They would metaphorically communicate what I do, and are built in icebreakers during face-to-face interaction, and make for a fun companion to letters.

I had never jumped to choosing a paper stock or even thinking about the business card this early in the process, but this was the element that would hopefully set this identity apart from the others. It allowed me to fuel the design with my personality while giving future colleagues something that will keep me at the top of their mind.

Now it was onto the rest of the identity. I worked through a number of typographic options as well as toying with icons and illustrations that epitomized the company. I knew that whatever the typography and iconography was, it needed to be able to carry the company name as well as hold its own as part of the tongue depressor.

The final solution utilized an industrialized serif typeface combined with a thought bubble. The composition of the typography and thought bubble was another way the “talks” element could be highlighted.

The final identity system was then built out. This system was a bit different because I wasn’t designing the typical print collateral. The business card was going to do the heavy lifting with a resume layout and letterhead following suit.

The other challenge was staying in budget, which was very minimal since I was fronting all the costs. I knew the business card was going to swallow most of the funds, so I chose to design the letterhead and resume in a way that I could print them myself, at home, and to maintain the ability to customize the resume as needed. I was able to produce enough business cards to facilitate my move and now have the flexibility to write, proof read and re-write as many letters as my heart contents.

Below are a few images, taken by the printer, of the business card.

Contact Matt Van Ekeren:

Web site: www.designthattalks.com
Twitter: www.twitter.com/jollyolchap

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Yes, a logo should be able to stand alone anywhere and people should know what and who it represents. A logo should be a harmonious combination of design elements that will be used to determine the rest of an identity. The shapes, colors, typography and composition of a logo should be the foundation for every design element throughout a company. Whether it be the die cut of a business card, the name plate on the corner office or the color of the company golf shirt. When people interact with those elements, they should be reminded of that logo and subsequently who and what it represents. If a logo can’t stand alone, then all of the accompanying elements will seem like a grab bag of random thoughts and your entire message will be overcome by user confusion.

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We usually formulate pricing by balancing both the amount of time it takes for us to finish a project, and the value of the final deliverable to the client. Pricing is based on the specific project scope, and the cost of additional work beyond that scope that is requested by the client is quoted before amendments are performed. We will invest in additional work if we think that the project really needs additional time in order for the design to really make a difference.

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Michael Stinson is the Creative Director at Ramp Creative, a design studio located in downtown Los Angeles.

A group of post-production industry legends got together to start New Hat, an independent video and film production agency in Santa Monica, California. The new company wanted to communicate their expertise of color correction and the freedom of the independent New Hat’s creative process. My thinking was to allude to screen movement and inject a fresh look to the company brand to help separate New Hat apart from their corporate counterparts.

A few questions immediately came to my attention: How do we communicate color expertise in an identity? Can we show energy in a dynamic medium of the screen in the non-moving and non-changing medium of print? Finally, could we create a flexible and fresh system that didn’t look corporate?

Color is their main expertise, so that had to be the main part of the equation. But because color on the screen is an always-changing visual element, I started thinking that we needed to echo that transformation in print.

Because the parts of the company name, New and Hat, didn’t apply literally to their business activity, the two words as a brand name needed to be portrayed as a second element.

With the two parts to the identity: the ever-changing color element and downplaying of the name; we decided to design a unique look for the company. To begin with an overall look, I jumped ahead into developing the whole system first, rather than starting with the just the logo.

In developing multiple design directions, I explored colors, textures and composition. Each direction had a slightly different treatment of the logo, and the style changed with each piece of collateral. I kept thinking about the simple idea of movement to reference motion graphics and reinventing that energy from piece to piece.

Some directions were more exploratory, some conservative and some a combination of the two. After a few discussions with New Hat, we decided the third direction was the most simple, fresh approach. The client mentioned that the freeform artwork looked both like photographic film and digital waveforms at the same time. I love it when our clients resonate with the work and extract their own vision from concept.

Next up: refining the logo direction they chose. From there, I developed 18 subtle iterations of the logo and application until one worked in weight and balance on its own and within the identity system.

It’s good to really get the kinks out of a logo… we usually execute detailed adjustments so the client will not only love it, but also so the logo remains somewhat timeless. I felt the stacked version of the type worked best. It was unobtrusive and grounded–a great juxtaposition playing out through the system–while the rest of the stationery pieces changed color, composition and artwork.

The final identity system became an activated play of color on paper, where each represents a piece part of a collectible set. The resulting identity included a folder, letterhead, business card, envelope, buck slip, mailing labels and writing pads.

Contact Ramp Creative+Design:

Web site: http://www.rampcreative.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rampcreative
Telephone: 213-623-7267

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