On Friday our team had the pleasure of hearing from Aaron Draplin of the DDC. Over the years Draplin has garnered a reputation for straight talk, blue collar design. Hailing with pride from his home state of Michigan and now operating out of Portland, he spoke from the heart of his unexpected success, love for America and appreciation for all who've come before us.

Draplin's aesthetic is known for it's mid 20th century honest approach. A simplicity he and others have come to love and find abundant inspiration for by rummaging through old barns, garages and estate sales… what he calls junk'n. He has multiple tool chests of old overprinted packaging, user manuals, signage, baseball bats, machinery labels, etc. Pretty much anything and everything he can find that was "graphically" designed before computers.

What I appreciate most about the guy though is his overwhelming sense of heritage. He seems to genuinely love his family and friends, as well as, the great unsung heroes of design on whose shoulders we all stand on. He has a great perspective on work and life and how to draw the line between the two. It's refreshing and reassuring to see and hear.

Thanks to MailChimp for hosting and bringing The Man to Atlanta. Thanks to Our Man Jonathan for championing the event and driving.

I saw this Oreo ad last Sunday and have been completely obsessed with it since. I immediately tweeted about it. I emailed our whole team about it. And I've been walking around humming the nursery-rhyme-like-jingle all week.

It has to be the most refreshing piece of advertising I've seen in a while. Every detail is right for Oreo, the creative stories, jovial tone of the music, playful illustration style, and the cookie smiling at the end is seriously genius. What makes this ad even better though, is the connection it makes with the audience. Blake touched on this a few weeks ago, but great brands go beyond the qualities of the product and onto bigger ideas, simple qualities of life.

Oreo could have just talked about the double-stuff (or even triple-stuff) filling, or some sales driven, marketing "great value" BS… But instead they just made me smile, and that made me want an Oreo.

You may not have a well-known product, and playful illustrations, or a jingle, might not be right for your brand. But chances are your business or product is making someone's life better, and that is what you should be celebrating.

The title of this blog is the namesake of a C.S. Lewis essay making its first appearance in the Christmas, 1959 edition of the Catholic Art Quarterly. He does a masterful job, as usual, of connecting the dots on a long line of thinking. The subject of his dissection is about the work we do and the fulfillment we get from it. His 54 year old argument could just as easily be made in today's society, and maybe even more so. I pause as I type the following excerpt from my MacBook Air:

[T]he great mass of men in all fully industrialized societies are the victims of a situation which almost excludes the idea of Good Work from the outset. "Built-in obsolescence" becomes an economic necessity. Unless an article is so made that it will go to pieces in a year or two and thus have to be replaced, you will not get a sufficient turnover.

He states that people have always gotten joy out of making things for "use, or delight, or (more often) for both." It wasn't until the people making things were so far removed from the people using things that those things forgot to be functional and/or beautiful. For example, picture yourself as a blacksmith. If you get a little careless and neglect to empathize with your client, you may find yourself in the following situation:

If you make bad swords, then at best the warriors will come back and thrash you; at worst, they won't come back at all, for the enemy will have killed them, and your village will be burned and you yourself enslaved or knocked on the head. 

Enter today's craft movement. People and businesses desiring to make gorgeous, useful, and enduring things. Good designers are the ones who are highly in tune with what the user would find practical and pleasant.

One such company is Top & Derby. They make canes. In their words:

For hundreds of years, walking sticks were common fashion accessories which were made and worn with pride. But as time went on, the aesthetics were abandoned and the finely crafted artifacts were replaced with cold, clinical, and impersonal items of utility. Today, most canes do little to inspire the self-confidence of those who use them. We aim to change this.

How close are you to your customers?
How do your services or products rob your clients dignity or pride?
At Matchstic, we aspire to help our clients craft their brand to be both useful (aligned with business goals) and beautiful (compelling, original design). Do you have a tendency to lean to one or the other? How can you make sure to accomplish both?

… and the directions on that map will determine the route by which you take to reach your destination.

When taking a road trip from Atlanta to New York City, the first thing most of us would do is determine how long it will take, what the options are for getting there, and where can we get Moon Pies along the way.  In the end, we will plot our course and set out on the great adventure…I like to think these principles apply to many areas in life, including brand strategy and design.  The map we follow determines our destination. 

As a Matchstic fan of many years, I often wondered how such good work came out of the firm.  When I arrived here several weeks ago and the curtain was pulled back, what I saw was not what I had in mind: an amazing process that drives deep insights and world-class design.

You see, in order to arrive at world-class strategy and design, there has to be a world-class process at the core.  A good process takes time and experience to cultivate, and if deviated from, the outcome will likely be unknown.

I often encourage people to take the time to truly define where do you want to go and how do you want to get there.  The how do you want to get there is the process.  At Matchstic, whether it's brand strategy, naming, or identity design, that process is tried and true and clients who understand the value in that arrive at the final destination they embarked for.

Have you plotted your course?

What is currently determining the course you are on?

Are you heading towards the destination you desire to arrive at?  If not, how should you course-correct before you reach Los Angeles when you left heading to New York City?

Personally I've been learning that I can only change what I'm aware of. If I don't know of a bad habit or poor tendency, how can I fix it? Not that this ever happens… but what if I unknowingly have spinach stuck in my teeth like a Tennessee hillbilly? There's not much I can do until I stumble across the unwanted field of greens in the mirror. We all have blind spots we are oblivious to, whether small bits of food in our teeth or big time character flaws.

Brands are the same. They don't know what they don't know. A brand audit is that crucial look in the mirror for unknown and unwanted tooth decor. In my opinion, it is better for a business to know the hard truth now, and fix it, as opposed to putting their heads in the sand, waiting for something to break (like a decline in sales or employee quitting). The brand audit is a process of digging for gold, more so than digging for broken parts, but it is a fantastic leading indicator for problems in the organization, internally and externally.  In the brand audit phase we are immersing ourselves in the business, experiencing as many actives as possible, trying to answer these simple questions:

1. What are you saying?
2. What are your customers saying?
3. What are your competitors saying?

All the while, we are uncovering the value of the brand and stumbling across detractors at the same time. We are inspired to find the "food in the teeth" in addition to all the merit of the brand; they go hand and hand. These findings give us the gold we need to begin shaping the the ideal future and building the brand.

This is a crucial step in the process, not to be skipped. It is hard to be the coolest kid at the party with dried spinach in your teeth.

I thought this was wonderful. It was created by a talented design consultancy in Bangkok, Thailand called Farmgroup. A glass sculpted waterfall, frozen in time, hangs in the middle of what looks to be Central Plaza Ubonratchathani, a new mall on the northeastern side of Thailand. Malls are a big deal in Thailand and serve as ongoing canvases for fascinating architecture and environmental design. This work is based on a beautiful nearby waterfall called Saeng Chan. Saeng Chan means "moonlight" and is known for the unique way both water and light pour through a hole in the rock like rain. I love it when natural design inspires creative work.








More images here.

When two industry heavyweights merge, the results are usually disastrous. Back in April of 2012 when Facebook acquired Instagram, we could only cross our fingers and hope for the best.

Over the past month, Facebook has rolled out brand refreshes for both Instagram and itself. The changes are subtle, but they've strengthened the bond between two previously separate entities. Here's a few things they've done right:

Own A Color
Facebook has always been blue, but they removed any light blues and bevels with this update. The new Facebook icon sports a solid, flat blue. Instagram has never really owned a color exactly, maybe that rainbow stripe? maybe black? But the new update clearly has Instagram owning blue, a very similar blue in fact. It's almost like they ran Facebook blue through a vintage filter.

Create Consistency
Over the past year, Instagram has become much more computer friendly – featuring an online feed, a strikingly-similar profile page, and the ability to tag friends in your ‘grams. These features are congruent with Facebook usability.

Retain Existing Equity
Instagram's update introduces a refined, custom wordmark –  losing the old "J-looking" I and some odd spacing between characters, and replacing it with a smooth, flowing script.

Retro-be-damned, there are just parts of Instagram that Facebook can't mess with without making the internet explode… the rainbow camera icon stays, at least for now.

–

This may seem nuanced, but even subtle changes are a big deal when it comes to branding. In the future, I see the line between Facebook and Instagram becoming more blurred, maybe even just becoming one. This one-color camera icon has now snuck its way into the system and I've got a feeling that it may one day replace that rainbow camera icon we identify with today.

The average person can see almost 5,000 advertisements a day. If our customers and potential customers are interacting with such a large number of messages day in and day out, the consistency of our message is even more important. This is first and most importantly seen in the visual consistency of our brand.

What might feel repetitive to us is the consistency that conjures thoughts and emotions related to our brand. Our customers have a sense of knowing us, a familiarity and hopefully an association with a felt need.

If we cave into the feeling that consistency is boring, we may change too much or too quickly, and the inconsistency we create in our brand's look and feel or messaging leads to confusion and unfamiliarity in the mind of our customer.

A great example of this is the Delta Airlines "Keep Climbing" campaign. Designed by Wieden + Kennedy in 2010, every touchpoint of the brand looks and feels the same; the monochrome imagery, tilted triangle, and simple type treatment in the signature red and blue. When you see a Delta ad, you know it's Delta.

Those now iconic elements that define the brand are consistent and recognizable in the mind of the customer, whether he's passing a billboard as he passes through the city, or comes across an ad in a magazine.

Earlier this year we posted a few new job openings and we've been busy filling those as well as one we never mentioned publicly.  I'm honored to introduce three new talented Matchstic team members!

David Williams, Account Manager - David has been working in brand strategy & account management at other agencies for the majority of his career and is currently pursing his MBA at Georgia State University with a focus in brand strategy.  He brings with him a high level of client respect as well as a love for the branding process, having worked with brands such as General Mills and The Coca-Cola Company.

Liz Chai, Production Design Director – Liz has worked for the last 12 years as an independent graphic designer working with clients such as CNN and UNICEF.  She has been a contractor in the Matchstic office for the past 9 months and decided to make it official this Spring!  Liz is responsible for making sure that all of the creativity in the office is done in an orderly fashion, resulting in highly-functioning print and web pieces.

Annie Morgan, Traffic Coordinator – Annie graduated from Oglethorpe University last spring and brings with her a love of creating order and dreaming of ways to delight.  She supports the project management efforts in the office and ensures that all client work gets done smoothly and in a timely manner.

Where one decides to spend their career is one of life's most important decisions, and it's incredibly humbling anytime someone choses to invest their time and talents at your company. I couldn't be more excited about David, Liz and Annie and hope you get the privilege of meeting each of them soon.

For those considering undertaking a branding initiative (new name, new positioning, new visual identity, etc) here’s a helpful guide to avoid making common branding decision-making mistakes.

Avoid Large Groups

Small groups committed to the entire branding process will allow for faster & better decision making because of a shared journey. This group together becomes an expert on the problem, the objectives, the strategy and can quickly identify the right solution. The ideal size is roughly around 5-8 people from diverse functions of the business, not just marketing.

Large groups, on the other hand, suffer from group think (making irreverent & poor decisions) and coordinating meetings with them can be like herding cats. Big groups prove true the old idiom, “a camel is a horse designed by committee.”

Avoid Democracy

I love democracy and I love America, but in a branding conversation equal say can hurt rather than help. There needs to be a clear leader to cast vision and drive the right decisions for the group.

Avoid an “Us vs. Them” Mindset

Branding work is the result of how well the agency and client work together. It often comes down to how much the client truly trusts the agency and, likewise, how much the agency trusts the client as experts in their business. It is a two-way street. The best work is done in collaboration with mutual respect and trust on both sides.

Avoid Selling Upstream

Rarely can a big change, like a rebrand, be made from the bottom up (sorry to be a dream crusher, but it’s true). Usually, someone up the food chain, not part of the process, will swoop in, disagree with a fundamental strategy, and derail everything. There needs to be a mandate from the top for change, commissioning the work to be done, and an agreement with the business problem.

I hope avoiding these pitfalls can help you make better decisions and create more inspiring work. Of course, you can always hire us to help.