A Brand's place matters in two ways.

1. Shaping External Perceptions

For consumer brands and business to business brands alike, physical office space isn't just a place for employees to do their jobs. It is a major touch point for any brand. A perception setter. The moment a customer walks through the doors perceptions are forming. The question is, Are they forming into what you want?

Restaurants probably understand this the best, perhaps they suspect food actually tastes better when the environment suggests so. On the contrary, I see business to business brands do this the worst. As a business owner I understand and appreciate the idea of keeping overhead low, but not at the expense of your brand (or perception). Simply defining these three questions is a good start:

How should customer's react when they walk into our office?
What's the first word we want them to say?
What's the worst thing they could say?

2. Inspiring Internal Culture

Our office, our home, or our coffee shop, wherever we are effects our thinking. A few months back Dustin and I had the privilege to attend a 3-day innovation & creative process workshop hosted by the IGNITIOR team at the Coca-Cola company. One of the first things we learned was the importance of an environment for incubating creativity. No one wants to "Brainstorm" in a windowless florescent-lit conference room like the one below. No natural lighting, low ceilings, cramped spaces, and no visual stimulus on the walls make for a depressing creativity nightmare.

Contrast the above environment with two places I toured a few weeks ago in Chicago, Threadless and 37 Signals. Two VERY different brands and experiences but both very successful in creating great external perceptions and internal inspiration.

37 Signals 

Large windows with plenty of natural lighting.

Chalk Wall – They bring in local artists to change it up every so often for new stimulus.

Beautiful Wall Art by a local artist

Full Size Kitchen for large gatherings

Threadless

Exterior of building with a "billboard" space that rotates based on popular user submissions.

Main Lobby- I love the "Make Great Together" rally cry

The Threadless Airstream

Skateboard Deck Art on display

I'm always interested in what else is out there. Any other great work "places" out there?

I've been wanting to write on the topic of Brand Standards for a while now – partly to flush out my own thoughts, but also to share my struggles with the trending topic.

For those that don't know, Brand Standards (or sometimes called Style Guides, Visual Identity Guides, etc.) are multi-page documents traditionally thought of as the do's and don'ts for a brand's visual assets such as logos, trademarks, fonts, colors, graphic elements, copy writing, visual themes, and imagery. They usually contain exciting topics like clear space, minimum sizing, hex colors, and grid requirements.

In reality they should be fun, but I see tons of them that just don't feel usable, interesting, or even human. Often they are formulaic, mechanical, and complex. Most end up as beautifully designed dust collectors tucked away in a desk drawer. The last thing I want to do is create more useless paperwork that clutters up the world. If this is the case, why do brands create them? Why are they needed? What purpose do they serve?

Here's what I believe GREAT brand standards should do:

1. Help establish a consistent and recognizable visual language for the brand.
Simply having a "cool" logo isn't enough anymore. A brand needs to have a differentiated and unique identity system across all applications that is recognizable to it's costumers. Southwest's "No Change Fees" bright yellow billboards can't be confused with Delta's black & white imagery with angled red type. If you remove a logo and can't tell it from the competition, you're in trouble.

2. Define the "sacred" and the "soft" elements equally.
Great standards take time to carefully define what is untouchable (sacred) as well as explain areas for creative freedom (soft). For example, the Coke script logo, contour bottle shape, and color red are untouchable but perhaps everything else is up for grabs. That balance of sacred and soft has led to beautiful things like this.

3. Serve as a central rallying point for all designers, agencies, and/or stakeholders involved in designing elements for the brand.
Almost every designer has an undefined opinion on what they think is "good." When multiple designers get involved they leave their fingerprint of uniqueness on each piece. They want their piece to be special, interesting, and award-winning. They aren't necessarily thinking about brand cohesion. Standards should be the rope that reigns them in but at the same time isn't so tight that is chokes the creativity out of them (which goes back to point #2).

Chances are if these three points aren't relevant to you then you don't need standards. If they are, then what's important is to to clarify the problem(s) you're trying to solve, create standards unique to that problem (and you), and create them with the end user in mind. Most of all, make them human, useful, living, and inspirational. The world has enough dead documents laying around in drawers. Create something great. Create something people want to use.

Big thanks to Intern Devin for the blog image.

"Be interested, not interesting." It's a popular saying and it's a powerful way to help people feel valued, heard, and appreciated – meeting very basic human needs. Similarly, brands need to feel human and meet human needs by injecting an element of this into their own DNA.

Simply asking people (or customers) what they like, love, and loathe about your brand is a great start. Mass surveys can work but what's best is a person-to-person conversation (on the phone or in person). Desiring feedback means the world to people, it connects you (and your brand) to them. After several conversations, you'll come away with groundbreaking or affirming insight on what's most loved and most problematic about your brand. Then, and only then, can you go about your work to solve any problems noted.

As mentioned in Dwain's presentation, imagine a giant scoreboard keeping track of the words you use (a brand) and the words they use (a brand's customers). At the end of a conversation if your score is higher than theirs then you lose. Customers want to feel heard and that means they don't want to feel like you are always trying to sell them something. They want to feel appreciated beyond the transaction. Today's marketplace desires authenticity and vulnerability over the veneer of perfection.

Just like people, brands aren't perfect. But their willingness to listen & help can greatly mend all imperfections.

See more from Dwain's talk at the April 2012 Creative Mornings.

I'm a bit of a history nerd, especially when it comes to military history. I've been reading the book "Unbroken" by Laura Hillenbrand and I'm engulfed by it. One of those you can't put down. Towards the end of the War, as documented in the book, the tide turns when the American military launches the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bomber. It was the largest aircraft released in the war and could fly farther and faster than any other bomber ever to fly. It had a combat range of 3,250 miles dwarfing it's predecessor by 1250 miles and it flew almost 100 miles per hour faster than the B-17. This new bomber put Japan mainland in bombing range almost immediately and changed the outcome of the war.

Innovation perhaps won the war for the allied forces. Perhaps today it wins the war of brand differentiation. The rate of rise and fall is staggering in today's market. What took Blockbluster decades to build they lost in a few short years, taken down by a young Netflix and an even younger Redbox. Instagram sold to Facebook for $1 Billion dollars, with a staff of 12.

In last week's Creative Mornings talk Dwain Cox, Director of Innovation, said "The world is starving for different. The world will reward different." He added "Be good and be different, but if you can't be both, be different- good will come." Good advice for all businesses & people alike.

Just like in 1945, innovation can drive victory and perhaps win the war in marketplace.

CHOA, as it's referred to, was challenged to expand the reach of their brand while preserving precious and emotional brand equity. The goal was to modernize the brand, making it more cohesive, strategically-focused, and appealing to teens and their parents. The goal was to enhance Children's brand equity in order to support future recruiting and a growing national reputation.

Process & Solution

Through qualitative and quantitative research, it was concluded that the historical "Hope & Will" characters held strong brand equity & awareness throughout Georgia. To revolutionize the identity would not be wise. With this in mind, an evolutionary rebrand approach was elected in order to both maintain and grow the current brand equity.

The new Hope & Will are a simplified and modernized version of the lovable children. Subtle changes to the design include oval eyes, bigger smiles, clothing more suited to older children and a taller, a more streamlined appearance, and Hope’s hairstyle—she is now wearing a ponytail. They are constructed with symmetry, spacing, and line width all considered. The logotype was also updated to feel "kid-focused" yet still remain professional and credible. A "Naming Decision Tree" was also developed to guide the organization along for a more cohesive and intuitive naming architecture for future expansion and existing locations.

We also developed a comprehensive brand style guide (over 100 pages) to drive all stakeholders toward a coherent yet flexible brand identity system. Throughout the new brand platform, Hope & Will are signature features of a brand with more personality, more consistency, and more clarity while still retaining critical brand recognition.

Process- Brand Analogs & Mood Board

Process- Prototype Board

Process- Prototype Board

Process- Prototype Board

Process- Brand Color Palette Prototype

Process- Brand Style Guide Mapping

Process- Brand Style Guide Mapping

Process- Brand Style Guide Mapping

Brand Mark – Primary Lock-Up

"Hope & Will" Mark Evolution & Grid

Brand Style Guide Spread

Brand Style Guide Spread

Brand Style Guide Spreads

Brand Style Guide Applications

Brand Style Guide Swag Applications

Brand Style Guide Signage Applications

I came across the amusing "Hipster Branding" tumblr blog last week. In the blog, Swiss designer Dave Spengeler "holds up a mirror to the artsy community" by redesigning some well known logos with trendy aesthetics. This witty little blog idea made me wrestle with my own thoughts on the line of timeless design principles v. trendy aesthetics.

In school I was taught that "eye candy" (or using trendy tricks) was never a good thing, unless it had a conceptual backbone. This still holds true. But most brands do need a relevant and innovative identity system to cut through market clutter, establish brand message, and set the right perceptions. Almost everyone wants to look good. I've never had a client that sad the opposite. So how do you find a balance?

In my opinion, brands need to define the DNA first- void of skin-level trends. Then once the brand knows who it really is then it can move into visuals and the process of trying to determine which appropriate aesthetics. Perhaps it needs some "Hipster Branding", because it's a Hipster brand. Perhaps it needs some "Credible Experts Branding" because credible & expertise is the value proposition for the business. Perhaps it needs some "Grungy Skateboard Branding" because it's a grungy skateboard shop. It all depends on the strategy. Trends aren't necessarily bad. Knowing what is happening in the design market place (or current trends) can actually be a great source of inspiration for designers to innovate on what other people are doing well. Trends become dangerous when there is no defined DNA backbone and it's just visuals for visuals sake.

Trendy execution isn't the issue. The issue falls on designers and clients prematurely jumping to the visual stage and not spending enough time defining the DNA of the brand. There will always be a space where brands and trends coexist.

Some brand identity systems recently designed that do this really well are:

AOL
Current TV
Comedy Central
Men's Journal
Girls Scout's

When was the last time you looked up while waiting in line at the grocery store? If you were one of the rare ones that did pay attention you'd probably notice a slew of bent necks entranced in their smart phones. Today we have HD Movies instantly at our finger tips, world news feeds on hand, and addicting apps to entertain us in our doctor's office. I don't remember the last time I was "bored". In ways, the speed at which technology is improving is the rate at which our patience is declining. Our expectations for everything, traffic jams, download speeds, sports team's performance, delivery pizza, design, furniture, car washes, product assembly, packaging, etc. is rapidly changing.

One of my favorite authors, Marty Neumeier, talks about the old metric of "Good, Fast, or Cheap" (and choosing only two) now being replaced with "Perfect, Now, and Free" (and consumers wanting all three).  How can brands deliver on "Perfect, Now, and Free"? That's an impossible promise to live up to, but brands must find a way to offer a little of all three. We see the world's largest brands already embracing this trend. Facebook is free, instant, and always working towards perfection. Google is primarily known for its free apps, like Google Maps. Apple offers iTunes, and even Starbucks lets us hang out for free.

Even in our business we see a progressively more intense demand for "now", with next to impossible turnaround times and resistance towards proper timelines for a comprehensive brand identity to be developed. Often we lose jobs because of this, and more times than not the original prospect comes back to us a year later wanting to "do it right this time" scarred and bruised from false promises or disappointing work from other vendors. I guess the "Perfect" was missing.

I'm my opinion, the beauty of our work is in our process. Whether strategy or design, being disciplined as design thinkers to take steps of understanding, research, inspiration, experimentation, exploration, and collaboration produce the most meaningful results. Not skipping steps to get a logo done in a week. If you want quality work you have to wait for it. Perhaps a truth for everything.

What it comes down to is the battle of quality v. speed. And from what I can tell the former is at risk in our society. If anything this is simply a note to myself as a reminder to slow down and enjoy the process of life to straighten my neck while I wait in line and actually enjoy the boredom.

Recently dubbed "Ted for the rest of us", Creative Mornings takes the propriety and hassle out of attending a large scale conference. That's one reason why I wanted to start a chapter in our city. Conferences can be expensive and time consuming. Sending your entire staff to a destination event can easily cost $5,000+. Creative Mornings however is a simple format that lasts around an hour and a half and is 100% free of charge. Amazing sponsors, like Mail Chimp, make the event free and amazing speakers like Ben Chestnut, make the content incredible. There's also an incredible community forming that makes every event like a Friday night with friends (even thought it's at 8:30am).

This Friday we have our March event with Doug Grimmett of Primal Screen. The event is sold out but if you'd still like to attend sign up for the waiting list and add "I <3 Matchstic" after your last name. You might have a decent shot of getting in.

If you can't make this Friday's event be sure to catch the upcoming Month's lectures:

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April 27th – Dwain Cox, Director of Innovation @ Chick-fil-A
Location: 112 Gallery

May 25th – Tod Martin, President of Unboundary
Location: Unboundary

June 29th – Katie Hawkins-Gaar, CNN's iReport Lead Editor
Location: Unboundary

July 27th – Andy Levine, Founder/ President of Sixthman
Location: Unboundary

==========

Registration opens for each event the Monday before. Keep up with us on twitter: @Atlanta_CM for the latest ticketing info.

I'd like to thank Ron Dawson of Dare Dreamer Media for graciously creating the above video.

Ripple is an IT company that believes service is about communication. Offering complete, unlimited IT management at every level of service is the philosophy that guides Ripple to "Help People, not computers".

Challenge

Already carrying a good identity, Ripple needed to figure out if it was good enough to visually encompass all of their values. They needed to find a way to clarify their humans first approach with authenticity while still presenting strategic business value. They needed a new mark that would put a stake in the ground and align their visuals with the best bits of their DNA.

Ripple Collateral Before

A Few Sketches & Process Images

Solution

The new Ripple identity system is extendable to any medium and shows a very human (and very Ripple) trait of communicating. The brackets create a framing device – like a target – that can be used to highlight elements that are most important. The soft red is friendly and more ownable color in the I.T. space than the previous blue. Ripple truly is unique in the I.T. market and this new system highlights their humans first approach to solving real business problems in a memorable way.

Primary Brand mark

Tagline Lock-Up

Business cards

Proposed Apparel Designs

Proposed Poster Design

Website Design

Mike Landman, Ripple Founder & CEO, talking about working with us.

Some of my favorite examples:

NOTE: These are some of my favorite systems that I've recently seen. We DID NOT DO THIS WORK

More4 by ManvsMachine

My thoughts: There is nothing new about multicolored triangles, but the continuation of thought in critical applications like animation and video is brilliant. It is what brings this brand to life.

New Theater by Interbrand / Australia

My thoughts: I am not a fan of the primary lock-up at the top. The space seems awkward and the upside down "T" is lost in abstraction, BUT when I see the entire system from signage to tickets I instantly fall in LOVE. This is a great example of a cohesive visual program.

OCAD by Bruce Mau Design

My thoughts: The simple grid "container" becomes the plain skeleton that allows the expressive abstractions to dance and play. This is a recognizable system that is interesting, flexible, and fluid. Skip to minute 1:10 to see the good stuff in the video above.

The Bottom line: I find that these brand marks at first glance don't repulse me. They are just okay. But once I see how they are being used and lived out through the system they make my jaw drop. They are alive and breathing. They are human. The branding landscape is changing. It is no longer just about having a single beautiful mark, but about having an entire cohesive visual language with ebb & flow, pattern, and personality.