Henry Ford once said, “Every object tells a story, if we know how to read it.” In many cases that story is design. From the toothbrush we use in the morning to the tablet we read on the metro to work it’s purpose, it’s meaning is often defined by the manner in which we chose to interact or receive it’s message. Design is an integral role in how we use, discern and make decisions on items we interact with on a day-to-day basis. Whether from a cognitive or subconscious level, each object has a way of creating associations with how we categorize, define and use it.

This holds even more true when it comes to graphic design. Every piece is designed with a uniquely specific purpose in mind. Some focus on getting your attention, others offer a more intellectual approach to how the piece translates it’s message. Regardless of the end goal, the story should still be there.

A well designed logo should not just identify a brand, but do so by telling it’s viewer a brief story. Some of these stories might be evident, some may not. In some cases, purposeful narratives may focus on translating a message to the employees of a company where other designs might incorporate a narrative more directed at those looking into the company from the outside – their target audience. Often, the most interesting part of a logo or company identity is knowing how the company and designer ended up with the concept that they did. Why they chose certain associations, imagery or text to translate their message, what exactly is the message, and why they wanted that story transferred to their viewers.

A narrative can significantly bolster the design by provide a deeper understanding of the logo, poster, brochure or other through a simple narrative. Great works of art throughout the years are often viewed by the public in museums, but many who see them don’t gain the true essence or appreciation of a piece unless they read or educated themselves on their historical significance or the artist background. For example, would one truly gain an appreciation for a Van Gogh’s self portrait with one bandaged ear if they weren’t aware of his personal struggles of epilepsy, bipolar disorder among other ailments that drove unique characteristics to many of his later paintings. This is that story, that narrative – albeit a bit extreme in nature.

So, take a look around you and as you interact with the tings around you, try to discover their narratives. Whether the utensils on the table at lunch or the brands you choose to interact with. A message is there – it would be a shame to miss it.

Here’s an unusual example of a brochure designed for the Fund for American Studies in which they had requested that the general theme for the piece be that it might look like it were an old photo album.  Although this design presented some challenges, the final result was right inline with what they were looking for.

Developing an all-new company identity – or brand image – in a competitive marketplace can be a very daunting task. What really constitutes a good versus a bad logo design or brand image?  Well, it really depends on your product or service, how you deliver on your promises, and the relationship you as a business owner develop with your clients or target demographic.  Yeah, I know that’s not what you meant. You want to know what’s the best logo design out there, what company can I mention that really hit the nail on the head?  Well, I’m sorry to tell you that the answer is just not that simple.

A true brand is developed through several key factors in a client-to-business or business-to-client environment.  The success of a brand or logo design will ultimately depend on how you identify your business strategy, your marketplace competition and your goals for your new identity – to name a few. Every business has it’s own persona – it’s own approach to doing business, and this needs to be inherently translated through your branding efforts to help bolster your business philosophy and marketplace approach.

The first area of focus as a brand is being developed should be defining your business persona.  Understanding who you and your business are vital to the success of a brand.  What three characteristics would you use to describe how you go about doing business?  How would you define your business strategy with regards to service, sales and support?  How do you think your customer base might define you as a business entity? These must first be defined in detail before a brand can be developed around you.  Doing some basic market research and soliciting participation from past customers can help you determine the answers to your questions without a great deal of effort.

The second aspect to define is how you and your business are different from the competition in your marketplace.  Have you developed a product or service that is like none-other?  Have you identified your business attributes that make your business more appealing to a client base that cross-shops other brands and businesses?  If not, I suggest you do so.  Again, with minimal effort (and some introspectiveness) these key elements can be determined.  If not, then there may be some opportunities to rethink your business approach to gain attention from those you wish to attract by adding features that you now know your competition simply doesn’t offer.

The third key element to developing a strong brand is to know your target demographics.  Identifying their spending trends, their ‘hunting’ triggers, how they shop, their age ranges and socio-economic stature can be crucial information to factor into your visual brand.  Without knowing who you’re targeting, the visual identity you design/have designed will never appeal to their spending triggers.  Define your target, aim, then shoot.

The final aspect to consider while developing a new brand identity is what sort of impact – or impression – do you wish to instill on prospective clients when it comes to the visual identity package you seek to have designed?  What emotions, key drivers or instinctual “triggers” to you want your identity to conjure up? Whether we choose to admit it or not, we all experience intrinsic emotional reactions to visual stimuli on a daily basis. Some of it occurs on a cognitive level, but most on a sub-conscious one.  So, on a daily basis, we react to brands without even recognizing it. Colors, shapes, imagery and unrelated personal associations can have an immediate impact on how we perceive a brand and whether or not we may eventually do business with said brand.  Being aware of all these elemental and influential factors will also be of paramount importance as you design your identity.

Although these are not the only determining factors in developing a strong brand within your marketplace, they are certainly key determinants to the over-all success of  brand development – not to mention how your clients will associate your brand with your product or service.

In the myriad of unlimited resources and self-proclaimed experts in SEO available via the web, in print and more, one can certainly see the world around them begin to spin. “Experts” in this field riddle us with BP’s ranging from phrases like ‘keyword optimization’ and ‘reciprocal linking’ to the extent that their recommendations often get lost in translation to the average website owner.

In an effort to render some clarity to the dilemma of setting up your website for optimal exposure, we’ve made an honest attempt to clarify which practices might be best to focus your attention on as you head down this rocky road of discovery. As a disclaimer, we need to be clear that these are not the only practices worthy of attention, but are the building blocks to better search engine performance. So, with that said, here we go.

Site naming -
When building a website, a crucial way for search engines to identify what your site is all about is to be sure you choose a clear  site description (the text that appears as a blue hyperlink in an browsers search results page) that not only incorporates your site/business name, but also a few select keywords to describe you product or service. We also see great merit in adding your city or state in the title.  As these are the first lines of text that a searchbot will hit on in a viewer’s organic search results, adding these elements to your site’s title can really bolster your its browsers visibility. Don’t try to conquer all locations or words, just pick ones that acutely describe your site (consider long-tail keywords for small businesses). If you spread yourself too thin, you’ll dilute your visibility. Don’t forget the short descriptive text that shows up under you site link in browsers as this plays an important role in page ranking as well.  This can be done via the CSS or in your settings in a WordPress site.

Page naming -
The same rules apply to each of your site’s pages. Think critically of the content on your page and use site-specific words to tell the searchbot what kind of content resides there. This can be done easily in Wordpress sites via the SEO booster plug-in – so get it if you don’t already have it! If you’re dealing with an HTML/Flash/other site, these names can be assigned via the metatag descriptions or added directly into your CSS.

Keywords -
Keywords drive traffic, simply put! Be selective and specific to your website’s content in the words you chose. Keywords are a crucial element to your website’s visibility and ultimately help to drive hits to your content. If you want to get creative, go to one of your primary competitors sites and right-click on their homepage and select “source”. By doing this, you can look at the content and keywords they may have incorporated into their site and this can help you differentiate your words from theirs or, you can borrow some of their ideas. It really depends on each particular situation.  Again, if you’re a small business, focus your efforts on long-tail keywords.

Use Google Analytics -
There is such a wealth of knowledge and insight you can discover about your website, your visitors, your page performance and the keywords that web searchers use to find you (and which keywords you might not be utilizing). Don’t miss out on this valuable insight – it’s free!

Don’t Focus on just Google -
Although Google is a primary weapon in creating visibility for your website, it’s not the only game in town. So don’t focus all your attention solely on it. Be sure to submit your site to other browsers! Yahoo, Bing and MSN are other big boys on the block. In fact, via your analytics you can discover some interesting things about your web visitors by learning which browsers they use. For example, if you are getting a lot of traffic from MSN or Bing, you may have an end-user who “tends” (according to the experts) to rely on their default settings on their computers. This might indicate that your visitors may tend to not be of a higher computer literatacy and/or are folks who jump on and off quickly – shopping generally and could be more impulsive buyers. If this is the case, you can identify this and edit your content accordingly, simplify how one navigates your site and make your pitch quickly. If you’re getting a lot of Firefox or Safari users coming to your site, then you might have a tougher sale on your hands and will need to build value in your product or service via your web copy as these folks tend to be more web savvy and more inclined to do thorough research before making a purchase or commitment online.

How do we judge or interpret a good design?

We’re all surrounded on a daily basis by visual representations that we interpret in many different ways. Some we walk by without any needed effort to understanding their meaning, while others seek to invoke an emotional response in the brief seconds we afford them.

Over time, certain design principles have bounced back and forth from the forefront to the background as stylistic transformations have occurred within each generational movement. Take the classic “form follows function” as an example. This has been a design foundation to many designers over the years, but does it always hold true? Could we say that the form of an iPhone follows its function? Not so much. Does a digital camera form follow it’s function? They’re still shaped based on a design that accommodated film rolls within. Digital camera no longer require such a shape. But yet its functionality is as loud as its form. When is it appropriate to follow certain rules and when does a design need to deviate from these hardened guidelines to better suite the needs of its intentions? Should a design be minimalist or complex in its presentation to its viewer? Should designers focus on a functionalist approach or is there more to it than that? What role does symbolism or iconography play in the design of a logo or other piece and should archetypes be so often revisited or should we seek new, innovative ideas? So, what ultimately determines whether a design concept is successful or not?

Unfortunately there is no one simplistic answer to solve these creative dilemmas designers face every day. Ask any designer and they’ll tell about the struggles they’ve encountered while working on a project with a client and how they found difficulty in seeing eye-to-eye when it came down to final artwork. But ultimately, design is a cooperative effort of listening to ideas both from their point of initiation and throughout the design stages. A good idea can mature into a great one as it moves through constructive critique. The difficult part is recognizing this and acting on it.

Ultimately, a design should generate a desire, an emotional energy, a clear understanding and association to something – whether subtle or not. Colors, shapes and how these elements interact will determine the success of a piece, but not due to their sheer presence, but how they are cooperatively intertwine to invoke a response.

A great design is not one that solves everything at once, but one that inherently solves the challenges of its intended audience as it and they mature over time. Unintended audiences may not see it as successful, but the design itself should predict this. Individuality is often an underlying factor in how a design is created, whether corporate or private, and should be embraced as part of the process.

In the end, a design will serve to support an idea, a business strategy, an identity, a visual representation of a tightly wrapped emotional package that with the right trigger, would openly identify with something so simple as a visual aesthetic – a creative identity with a distinct purpose. A narrative. A story.

No, design is not simply the construction of shapes, lines and text, but how these elements are constructed to interact with their viewers.

“If there is any one secret of success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from that person’s angle as well as from your own.”- Henry Ford

Here’s a website designed for Academic Travel Abroad, a premiere educational travel company and tour operator in Washington DC.  They needed a site that could handle listings of many different tours by date, destination, and location while providing for additional sub-pages to carry the burden of information translation to any web viewer.  We worked in a search tool that allows a search by region/country and date of departure to allow users to track down the tours of choice with relative ease. We also incorporated a unique “slider” to the homepage to give it an immediate sense of appeal and interaction as the photos change as you move the cursor over them.  This website is totally customizable for the client who can change what it features and how depending on their ever-changing needs.

Click here to see their website

What constitutes a well-designed logo? Here’s a question that has been asked over and over again throughout the world of “creatives” and designers alike. Frankly, there is no one right answer here. Designers and creatives all develop their sense of construction and style via their own individual perspective. When you combine this with the fact that the same applies to the clients each designer works for, you end up with a subjective juggernaut of opinions and conflicting interpretations of what a particular logo should look like, represent and invoke.

With that said, there are a core set of principles to live by when taking a logo from conception to delivery for a prospecting client. These core elements drive the basic themes and ideas that should essentially be embedded in the process behind every logo design.

(1) A thorough inception

First and foremost, a designer needs to spend time meeting with the client to get a feel for the client themselves, the product or service they are providing and the general culture of the company or individuals seeking the design. This is vital for one simple reason. If one does not take the time to familiarize themselves with their clients, there is no way that they can then build a design or identity that would come close to representing them accurately or effectively. Without an ample understanding of their vision, culture and background of your client, you simply can’t put a design together that will best represent their brand in an effective or responsible way.

(2) Research comparable marketplaces

Once you have developed a strong understanding of the client themselves, thoroughly developed their profile and their internal ambitions, then it’s time to turn to the market they will be competing in. Study their competitors, market-specific trends, tendencies and data on what to avoid. Identify how to differentiate your clients logo and market identity from the crowd, while still providing a direct or indirect association with their respective marketplace. Their design should not result in imagery that might inadvertently displace them into another marketplace due to poor color, form or imagery associations.

(3) Creative development

If both step 1 and step 2 are fullfilled, then a designer can then move forward into conceptualization. This is the time to put marker to dry-erase board, pencil to paper, or whatever intitial medium one choses to literally start throwing ideas around and see what sticks. Some may create 4-5 initial thoughts, others more. Honestly, I think a designer needs to apply a bare minimum of ten initial concepts (but only rough ones) – not to the client, but to themselves. I say this beacuse every time I have stopped short of that, I later come up with a design idea that ultimately becomes the final draft. Don’t settle! If you’re not excited about a design, then the client won’t be either. The key here is to take breaks when the creative juices stop flowing. Go back to it later if need be. Take a walk around your neighborhood and you’ll be surprised by what might give you a sudden idea or burst of inspiration.

(4) Invoke an emotional response

This is a step in the design process many designers skip right over. This is a crucial element of a well designed logo. Once an initial design(s) is developed through the designer’s conceptualization, it is then time to step back and absorb the visual message it/they translate. Does it tell an internal or evident story? It should. Does it appeal to some human sense? It should. What innate associations arise from it? These natural, human tendencies to see something visual and immediately associate it with something else is very common and must be taken into consideration. It is part of how a human brain functions – sectioning off certain stimuli and categorizing them with other similar connotations. Be aware of this… be very aware, and address it accordingly.  If you take this step to heart and build in a correlated dialogue, story or appropriate emotional contingent, you will immediate build value in the design in your client’s eyes.

(5) Presentation and feedback

Once a designer has addressed the above steps, it is now time to present the work. Designers should not approach this too proudly. If they do, it may translate to the client that the designer feels they know better than them. Not a good start. Only present your strongest design concepts is a common theme among logo designers. I personally think this up to the designer. If only a few final designs are presented, then yes, just present the strongest ones. But if a designer wants to approach the presentation by offering numerous solutions to the design, so be it. Maybe the client might need more choices before the process can be narrowed down. But be sure to have some very strong ones within the mix. If you have good ones mixed in with the really powerful ones, they can sometimes help accentuate the ones the designer wants the focus to fall upon. Be careful though, offering too many options can render confusion and indecisiveness with the client. Part of a designers job is to bring focus and solutions to a visual identity, not create more questions to ponder over. The presentation is also crucial, in that this is the time to listen – not defend your designs. Take the feedback and work it into the design. This is time when you need to follow your mother’s advice and “be a good listener!”

(6) Refine and Solve

Now it is time for a designer to take the feedback back to the studio, address it within the design that solves both the client’s and the designer’s internal dilemmas. There is no place for ego here. This is where the designer needs to ask themselves whether they’re in the business to build a portfolio or address their client’s needs. Decision time. I have been stuck between these two rocks before, but stepped aside, then reengaged and found that I could address their needs while satisfying my desire to render in a particular way. If designers do this, they will succeed in the final piece.

By utilizing these basic principals throughout the design process, a successful logo will demonstrate to the client that a great deal of time, effort and critical thinking went into the final rendering – which adds a great deal of value and appreciation for the work performed.

We are often asked to design custom graphics for newspaper, magazine and online ads and promotions – even the occasional       t-shirts.  We have also designed promotional posters in all shapes and sizes for all kinds of venues.  Each design is done to you or your printer’s specifications in any necessary file formats.  In fact, we often handle the design and print coordination for many of my clients.

We get a lot of requests to help design custom graphics for websites, blogs, banner ads, and more.  These graphics are tailored directly to your needs and are custom sized and formatted for optimum web performance, loading and clarity.