Al & Laura Ries came last week and led The Swift School through a brand strategy session.  Laura put together a report to summarize the day.  Today is part 1.

The story of Swift.

The Swift School is a non-profit school in Roswell Georgia that teaches students in 1st thru 6th grades with dyslexia and other language-based learning differences.

The school was founded in 1998 by Gail Swift a long-time teacher at The Schenck School in Atlanta. When Gail wanted to retire from Schenck parents urged the beloved teacher to continue teaching privately. She accepted and in one room in her church Gail began teaching five students.

In 2000, a two room modular building was leased and the schools enrollment was up to twenty-two students. The school continued to thrive and expand and by 2005 was up to seventy students.

Clearly a larger and more permanent home was needed for the Swift School. So in 2006, after a board of trustees had been established, the school purchased a 20,500 square-foot office building conveniently located on 5 acres in Roswell, Georgia.

Unfortunately due to medical concerns, Gail Swift announced her retirement in 2006 and the board began a national search for a new Executive Director.

Swift found Elizabeth Strowd from the prestigious Fletcher School in North Carolina and wooed her to the Swift School. The Fletcher School also specializes in dyslexia as well as other learning disabilities and attention deficit disorders.

In 2008, the Swift School celebrated its 10th anniversary. With a new building, an energized new Executive Director and 120 succeeding students, the Swift School was ready to take things to the next level.

Winning the $100,000 On the House marketing make-over is just what Swift needs to get there.

The Challenge.

Nobody knows about the Swift School. Public awareness of the brand is extremely low even in the learning disability community.

The logo, materials and website need to be updated. But before any materials can be improved by the other On the House volunteers, the brand strategy needs to be clearly defined. No brand will get in the mind with a three paragraph brand mission. Brands get into the mind by owning a word.

Swift needs to narrow its focus to own a word in the mind. For example, BMW owns driving, Volvo owns safety. Or in business schools, Kellogg owns marketing and Harvard owns management. It is interesting to note that both Kellogg and Harvard offer a wide variety of business majors; it is not about limiting what you do, it is about focusing your message to perhaps not include everything you do.

We live in an over-communicated society today. With too many brands, too many media outlets, too much advertising. The only solution to these problems is the over-simplified message. An over-simplified message allows you to cut through the clutter and get into the mind.

What word should the Swift School own? How can Swift verbalize that position in a memorable and meaningful way? What can Swift do to increase brand awareness?

These are the brand questions we will address and answer. Each consulting assignment is different, we don’t have a formula. We dive in and figure out what is going on, what is needed and what can be done. We had a meeting with the Swift team on May 4th. I'm first am outlining the problem, opportunity and challenges. Then I'll give you my strategy in tomorrow's post.

What is Dyslexia?

Dyslexia not seeing words backwards. Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that is neurological in origin and is characterized by difficulty with accurate and/or fluent word recognition. It is typically the result of a deficit in the phonological component of language and often unexpected in relation to other cognitive abilities.

In other words, Dyslexia is a difficulty with reading in otherwise bright people.

Students with dyslexia typically have poor spelling and decoding abilities, problems with reading comprehension and a reduced reading experience that can impede growth of vocabulary and background knowledge.

In other words, students with dyslexia find school extremely challenging.

Undiagnosed dyslexics are often assumed by parents and teachers alike to be lazy and lacking in intelligence. They struggle in school and frequently experience failure which often leads to low self-esteem and behavioral problems.

Who is Dyslexic?

The numbers are astounding. 15-20% of the population has a language-based learning disability. Dyslexia is the most common cause of language disability which includes reading, writing and spelling difficulties.

Dyslexia doesn’t discriminate, it affects males and females nearly equally, and people from all ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds.

In the greater Atlanta area of 5.5 million people it is likely that at least 40,000 elementary school children suffer from some degree of dyslexia.

Obviously, the market for Swift and other specialized schools is huge. There are thousands of students in need of help.

Despite the challenges, many dyslexics have gone on to great success. Some famous dyslexics include: Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Sir Isaac Newton, Henry Ford, Walt Disney, Steve Jobs, Charles Schwab, Richard Branson, Ted Turner, David Needleman, Wendy Wasserstein, Pablo Picasso, John Irving, Hans Christian Andersen, George Patton, Magic Johnson, John Lennon, Harry Belafonte, Jay Leno and Tom Cruise.

No kid or adult should be ashamed of being dyslexic. It is a common disorder affecting millions of people. And being dyslexic doesn’t mean a life of struggling with reading, there are now proven techniques and strategies that enable success and offer great hope.

Stay tuned for part 2…

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I read a great article in PRINT Magazine about the history and origin of pattern. Pattern is a design element frequently scene, but rarely understood. There are four main pattern elements that are most commonly used: stripes, polka dots, paisleys, and the fleur de lis. Since I'm a nice guy, I thought I share with what I learned.

Stripes: A recent phenomenon in the design world, or are they? They can be traced back to 1254 when Palestinian monks traveled wearing stripped cloaks, which were reminders of the prophet Elijah's charred cloak after his fiery ascent into Heaven. They were also associated with medieval prostitutes, prisoners, and fools, and eventually banned by the Catholic Church! Today, they serve as a visual instrument of priority. School crossings, lighthouses, and barbershops all contain stripes for a reason. Stripes transcend time and carry a broad, but bold, range of emotional connections. As a side note, The IBM logo, mostly stripes, was almost shot down in the board room because one member responded, "It looks like prison stripes".

Polka Dots: Fresh, funky, and relatively modern. In the 1830′s era, the Polka swept Europe and eventually jumped the big pond and landed in the United States. Marketers quickly associated the dot pattern with the movement and as the music style fizzled out the dots remained. Nowadays, polka dots remind us of the polka era, but they are also bubbly, playful, eloquent, nostalgic and used in halftone prints in the ever popular and nostalgic screen printing.

Paisley: Anything from vegetable to animal, the Paisley has been compared to a lotus, a cypress, a leech, a mango, a dragon, just to name a few. Folk lore tells of how illiterate farmers at the harvest keep a schedule by dipping a curled fist in ink, then stamping it against a wall like a prehistoric punch clock, which looked remarkably like the shape above. The paisley also has large ties to the east India traders and the popularity of patterned shawls in the mid- 18th century in most of Europe. The pattern is today scene in bandannas (from hippies to gang bangers) and main stream brands like Vans, Juicy, and Baby Phat pants.

Fleur De Lis: Some claim this little treat is the world's first logo, I humbly disagree, but it does date back to ancient times as a decorative element on coins, textiles, and art from Mesopotamia, Egypt, and several others. It became mostly associated with France, in 493, when the French King converted the nation to Christianity and used this as a symbol of his power. Other accounts credit the shape as a lilly, an iris, a lotus, a trident, an arrowhead, a dove, or even three toads. Today, the fleur de lis is an icon for hope in New Orleans after Katrina ravaged the region. The pattern has rich history both past and present.

Patterns are not just shapes, they are beautiful communication devices with rich history, meaning, and emotional ties. So designers (and clients), lets think next time before we throw that ever catchy stripped pattern on something, it might just cause a jail break!

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If your reading this over the next couple weeks, Im in Italy! My wife and I are flying into Venice, traveling to Florence, Cinque Terra and down to Rome for our fifth anniversary.

I think I'm most looking forward to Florence. It seems the Renaissance movement really started there and then spread to the rest of Europe. I am excited to see the art and architecture that revolutionized much of western civilization simply by looking to the past (Greeks/Romans).

So many artists like Michaelangelo, Donatello, Leonardo da Vinci and Masaccio, considered the masters, are from this time. Artists began to really study the body in pursuit of ideal human expression. Architects like Brunelleschi looked back at Greek and Roman styles striving for balance and symmetry. There was invigorated desire for excellence and to make sense of it all. 

Also, much of the art and architecture was made possible and funded by the church/government who began to afford the people certain artistic and economic freedoms. Freedoms which paved the way for democracy and capitalism as we know it today.

The Renaissance was a fascinating time in history. I'll post up some pictures when we get back!

Ciao

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Don't have a big ad budget? Don't worry – you don't need one. According to Tourism Queensland, you just need a really clever idea, social media outlets, and some luck.

The Tourism board released a campaign earlier this year to locate someone to fill "The Best Job in the World". Genius. "The job description? Explore the islands of the Great Barrier Reef for six months and report back to Tourism Queensland and the world via blogs, a photo diary, video updates and interviews." The pay, $110,000 for six months of work.

After 34,000 video entries from some 200 countries, 34 year old Ben Southall was selected as the winner this week.

Of course the goal was not to get someone to fill a job. Rather, it was to provide a platform for people to see how amazing the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef really are and that this is one amazing place you should visit.

Perfect idea, not to mention a great use of resources.

On a side-note, they do appeared to have totally ripped-off the concept used in the Bahamas logo. At least their campaign was original.

*Quote & Picture from article as it appeared at MSNBC.com. Full Article.

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I read somewhere once that the human body really only needs five hours of sleep (probably false). So how do I combat having all that free time when I'm not working, eating or drinking? I take the obvious, easy way out — combine forces with my friend Shelley, ghetto-rig a screen printing set up in my garage and make some posters.

It was tough at the beginning. Not very expensive, but hard to get the process down right. After seeing the process from start to finish performed once, I set out to teach myself how to print. Only after many a head bang, ruined screen and wasted ink bucket later did I finally start to get comfortable with it.

Music makes up a huge part of my life, and I feel lucky to have worked with many artists I admire — Fleet Foxes, Man Man and Bon Iver to name a few. It hasn't been a particularly lucrative gig, but it has been really fun. And it's a nice feeling, getting your hands dirty (especially after being on the computer five full days a week) — mixing colors, the fresh smell of ink, and the look and feel of the final product as only such a primitive process can deliver.

Pictured is the most recent little project, a poster for Canadian band The Wooden Sky. They're a cool, talented group of guys; have a listen.

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I love symbols. We look at thousands of them everyday, and in a flash the good ones tell us what they mean. They are the simplest and earliest forms of communication, even most eastern languages are still based off of symbols and not pronunciated letters, like our western alphabet. Here's a look at over 2,000 symbols in a little over 2 minutes. Enjoy.

2,000 Symbols from matchstic on Vimeo.

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I read this article in the Economist last week and thought it posed a critical viewpoint for companies and marketers as we prepare to come out of a recession.  

People are going to come out of this recession more aware of what they really need.  In recent history, the line between need and want has been very blurred.  But now we've been burned.  People are realizing more and more the importance of saving for a rainy day and asking ourselves "Do I really need this?" before we make a purchase.

Now more than ever, we need to make sure that we're making products and offering services that truly add value to one's life and not just one's ego or self-esteem.  I for one, am excited for the accountability this brings to us as marketers as well to not fluff up a story, but unveil the truth.

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Ever so often something comes along and completely changes our culture, and is labeled "Great". Whether, Twitter, Cell Phones, or the world wide web, all of these ground breaking adventures have one thing in common. So what is the main difference between tons of good work, that mostly goes unnoticed, and the few that are labeled as "great"?

I think its courage.

Courage is the key ingredient to the secret sauce of great. It is what is takes to pursue risk and distinction. From new consumer products to new non-profits, we have the privilege of being agents of change for an array of new entities and organizations, and the result is usually contingent on the ability to manifest courage.

What causes "great work" to slip into the category of just "good work"?

I think it's fear.

The opposite of courage is fear. At a conference I attended last week, called Q, a presenter talked about fear and how it is directly related to vision and brain activity. Research has shown activity in the Amygdala, which is commonly associated with fear, when an unknown stimulus is introduced. Basically, we are preconditioned to fear things we haven't seen before. This is why we gravitate to the familiar, lean towards the common, and stray from the unknown. This is instrumental in understanding our lack of courage.

The rare few, however, who preserve and uphold the truth of courage, achieve remarkable results.

At Matchstic we want to strive for the courageous.

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Remember almost ten years ago, a show about robots? Specifically, robots built by teams for the purpose of competing in a ring and crushing their opponents? Robot combat is a pretty amazing thing to watch. And it's even more fun to work on.

That's right, one of our new clients is the National Robotics Leage (NRL). I have had the pleasure of working with Deb and Rob for the past few weeks on designing their new identity. We're starting from scratch, testing the boundaries, and getting ready to run over the competition. I mean, it's either join them or be taken over, right?

It's exciting (and new) territory for us; a field filled with supremely dedicated students, teachers and industry professionals.

What's great about the NRL is their focus. They're not just combining fun with education (which many other leagues do as well), but actually building industry awareness, relationships and the bridge between a high-energy extreme sport and a viable future career.

It's still early in the process, but maybe a sneak peak will come in the near future. Since Dustin is the only person I know who speaks fluent binary, I'll just give it away — the title translates to "domo".

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