SketchInk

Brand Evolution.. Why hello you…

Lu Moss — Thu, 03 Aug 2017 01:11:22 +0000

There is a saying that familiarity breeds contempt. I have always thought that was a bit extreme, I think familiarity breeds indifference. See something once or twice and you pay attention, see something 100 times and it becomes invisible.

Moreover, we are actually wired to tune things out once they become familiar. We live next to the train line and for the first couple of months I awoke every morning at 2am in sheer terror of impending doom as a train hurtled past wrenching me out of my deep sleep. Two years on, I can’t remember the last time I heard that train… and so it is with branding. Some would argue that familiarity is the bedrock of perception; we associate this perception with a positive or negative experience based on association with an image, and this ultimately drives repeat purchase and economic growth (or not). The question is, does breaking the circle of familiarity unsettle the brand and business ecosystem? I think not – if it’s done right. In fact there’s a fine line between moving with the times to pique people’s interest and becoming stale and overly familiar. It needs to be subtle much like boiling up the frog in a pot of luke warm water.

We think we like familiarity, and yet when change comes along, we find it refreshing, invigorating. It catches our attention and we can fall in love all over again, as long as the essence is maintained. Most people are not even aware of this seduction, however, on a subconscious level they’re taking it all in. I’m a graphic designer so I’m constantly aware and judging branding all around me every day, I long for dated logos to be updated! This is called brand evolution and all the big names do it, MacDonald’s, Pepsi, Shell, Coke and Toyota to name a few, in fact Toyota used to be called ‘Toyoda’!

These companies aren’t silly, can you even imagine the cost of rebranding a big business like Telstra or KFC? …and yet it’s being done on a very regular basis, all around you, big dollars are being spent on getting your attention whilst maintaining your loyalty and commitment. Uniforms, signage, stationery, websites and a whole lot more upheaval and for what? for fickle creatures who want both familiarity and novelty simultaneously. We are being seduced over and over with something new, like a lover wearing a new perfume or a dress – everything we already liked..and now with a hint of mystery… oooh we might say, (we being a male), “Have you done something different with your hair?? I likey! You just got interesting all over again!” Conversely, you may have the partner who has accidentally gone overboard with a tattoo of a giant lobster on their neck… oooooh no likey. Noooo. Too much change, ooh, it’s Windows 10 all over again. No one likes Windows 10. You went too far, you spoiled it and I HATE YOU.

The bottom line is no business wants to be invisible and neither do we want to startle our beloved clients with a whole new look. Observe how the experts do it, via stealth, only eliciting the mildest of “why hello you, have you done something with your…”

If you have inadvertently dropped off the cliff into branding obscurity, contact me at www.sketch-ink.com to get your clients taking a second admiring look.

C.R.A.P. Rules for Design

Lu Moss — Sat, 07 Jan 2017 03:46:13 +0000

How C.R.A.P. is your logo – website – flyer – business card – branding??

Read on. Even (or especially) if you think you are all that and a bag of chips.

Touted as the 4 Principles of Design, if you stick with these rules, it’s unlikely you will ever make a design faux pas and find yourself looking like an amateur.

You see the thing is we don’t go looking for poor design, in most cases it has to be pretty bad to flag a conscious thought, the trouble is, we are measuring, calculating and judging what we see around us all the time. We do it with people, with food, with TV in fact, if we can see, hear, taste, smell or touch it we can and will make some sort of observation which is often followed by a judgement.

As human beings we inherently crave to see beauty and balance. We live in a world where we are bombarded daily by advertising. We are being constantly exposed to the very best of design, by the smartest people in the business. Advertising is nothing short of a complete seduction of the senses designed to strip us of our cash.

If the greatest minds in the world seduce us daily with design that is so well constructed we are drawn like moths to a flame, then it stands to reason we are going to notice when we get Danny DeVito instead of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

Don’t look at your own branding, because your ego is probably highly involved, and you may find that you see Arnie every time you look at it. Get a friend to look over it or better still, contact ME, and apply the rules below. It’s not ever rocket science; as I’ve mentioned in other articles, the over arching rule is ‘nothing sells like space’, (think Apple, Nike) however the tips below will help you put that into more practical terms:

C. is for Contrast.

Contrast is all about making things stand out. A call to action that is green on a black and white website will stand out in a big way. Users need to know what order to look at things. This helps with scanning, especially with making ‘important’ things stand out.

R. is for Repetition.

Repetition of colour, shapes and other design aspects creates a cohesive look. Repetition ties things together, it’s pleasant to look at, for example, if green is in your logo, then repeating that colour in boxes and panels on your website or flyer is going to give it a uniform look and feel.

A. is for Alignment. (haha little joke) (looks awful huh?)

Ugh, have you ever seen a poorly laid out article, where the spacing is bad and bits are poking out of the paragraph, or worse, it’s a hard to read wall of text? Columns within a page makes it easier to scan horizontally. Newspapers are a great example of this. It’s all about assisting the reader to scan effortlessly. Make someone work too hard for it and you will lose them in the first 3 seconds. Aligning objects is equally important, it’s all about balance.

P. is for Proximity.

Proximity helps us make data more digestible, if information, whether it be, bodies of text, headers, pictures or maps, is placed together, this infers association, which in turn makes the job of reading more streamline instead of an arduous task.

So that’s it. Go and take a look at your branding and don’t suppose that just because you paid a graphic designer that it’s all going to look just fine. All artists are not created equal, just like owning a paint brush won’t make you Michael Angelo.

So don’t settle for Danny DeVito, when the world can see you as Arnie.

Bad Design

Lu Moss — Sun, 11 Dec 2016 02:26:58 +0000

Who can stand it? Bad colour combinations, mixing one hundred awful fonts together, pixelated images and so much going on, it’s an assault to your senses.

In my first week on the job being a graphic designer I was awarded the task of creating the upcoming year’s desktop calendar pad, you know the kind people can scribble all over and then tear the page away. I did a lovely job on it, I filled it up with lots of colour and fancy shapes, I thought it was a work of wonder. My boss came in with the proof and he sat down next to me and he said something I’ve never forgotten.

“Leonie, the first two rules of good design are: 1) If everything’s shouting nothing gets heard and 2) Nothing sells like white space.”

I’ve since come to alter that last line of advice slightly to: “nothing sells like space”. He tactfully handed me the proof and I returned to him later that day with a design that he went on to use for many years to come.

Design – good or bad, says so much about the image you are wanting to portray. It’s like clothing, the same principles apply. Good design doesn’t go out of fashion. Good design speaks to our sense of balance and harmony. If you are not creative, don’t try to save money by DIY artwork – It’s like visiting the Queen in your trackies. Stick to what YOU are good at and outsource your art to someone else. Like me.

You’re welcome.