Marketing Intelligence – The Synaxis Blog

Often those in the industry (graphic designers even!) think a designer’s job is to do that and only that—design. That is, the job is supposed to be to create a design that visually communicates the brand strategy and receive the “thumbs up” from the client. Check. Check out . . . well, not quite.
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Typography on the Web has come a long way in the last couple decades. In the past, Web typography was rarely well designed due to technical limitations. Although constraints do still exist, doing a little extra to create clear, readable typography on the Web is both possible and smart.

Quality Web typography improves communication. It also enhances flow and interactivity. Your written content is usually the most valuable element on your Web site. Thus, prioritizing your Web site typography is actually highlighting your most profitable resource. Below are three basic, but important rules to abide by when considering typography on the Web.

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What makes a great logo design? I think it is a combination of technical, strategic and aesthetic factors that combine in just the right way. Often, if the typography was just slightly larger, or the color was just a shade brighter, it wouldn’t work. Let’s face it—it’s difficult to design a smart, successful logo that resonates with an audience. It is elusive and complicated, and you can’t always identify why it works. It’s much easier to spot a poorly designed logo and know why it’s unsuccessful. Below are three suggestions to correct the missteps I see most often.

1. Create your initial logo as a vector file.
“Vector” logos, or logos built in Postscript, allow for maximum usage. You can scale the size of vector files greatly without loss of quality or sharpness. This means that the same logo file that looks great on a business card will also look great on a billboard­. Also, vector graphics are small in file size. This makes them much easier to manage and share. The bottom line—for print design, a vector logo will always look and act best. Your design agency will typically start with a vector logo, but can provide Web-friendly files from this format also.

2. Design your logo in black and white – at first.
It is best to avoid color while in the first round of logo design. If you design a logo that works without color first, you can avoid the possibility of the logo relying on color for its visual impact. This is important because most logos end up being displayed in black and white at some point­—in a newspaper or on a fax or copy. Once you do add color, it is best to limit it to two if you can. Too many colors can confuse the eye rather than helping to focus it. Limiting your colors will also save you money during the printing process. Since there is no limitation to color usage on screen, many companies shave been tempted to overuse color in their Web design. Bad design, however, is bad design in any context.

3. Simplify. Simplify. Simplify
Overly complicated logos are often difficult to read and understand. This is true even at a large scale, but especially so when reduced in size. And since these complex logos are difficult to really see, they are almost impossible to remember or recognize. Companies often mistakenly perceive their logo as their entire brand platform. Thus, they try to communicate everything about their company in the mark, instead of the essential, overarching qualities. You do need to put a lot of complex thought into your logo behind the scenes, but you do not want the viewer to see that in excessive detail work, color, or font usage. It is best to communicate a company’s brand attributes with a clean, simple logo design.

4. Always consider your logo’s size and ratio.
As a rule, logos should be recognizable and readable at a quarter inch. At some point, most logos will need to be reproduced at a very small size—on a plastic pen, key chain or usb drive. It is also best if your logo is not overly horizontal or vertical. Most logos will not be a perfect square, but a conservative width to height ratio is ideal. A balanced mark is adaptable, making it easier to successfully place in a variety of layouts.

One thing that I encourage clients and agencies to do is to take advantage of all the print techniques that are available. Too many times, whether it be because they are in a rush or it just slips their minds, designers and creative directors opt for more typical printing methods: four-color process on the standard house sheet. Maybe using a spot color if the project warrants it. Read the rest of this entry »

American Apparel. Mac. Crate & Barrel. Target. The list of brands represented with the typeface Helvetica goes on and on. And on.

I recently saw the documentary “Helvetica”, written and directed by the filmmaker Gary Hustwit. The feature-length film uses the famous, yet controversial typeface to tell a comprehensive story about typography and visual culture over the last fifty years. Read the rest of this entry »

Seth points out that great logos are about the meaning derived, not from the logo itself, but from the company behind it. While that’s certainly true, it underestimates the role of design in a good logo.

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John Gruber offers a new take on an old debate: are design templates a good idea? He’s talking about blog templates, but the idea is general. And so is his conclusion:

Default templates are terrific for people who can’t or don’t want to design their own—but they’re terrible starting points for anyone attempting to establish their own unique brand. If you start with nothing, you’re forced to think about everything.

Since it’s general, the same applies to Web sites. Many companies think that they need a template and not a custom design. They don’t think it matters. In a certain sense, this is true. The content is the main attraction, not the design. On the other hand, I think that this attitude reveals a deeper attitude. It shows that a company doesn’t value branding. In this sense, branding means your public persona. And since they don’t think their public persona needs to be unique, they don’t think their Web site does, either.

Again, at one level, that’s fine. Maybe you’re going to focus on content to be unique. But, there is no sense in which you don’t have to be unique. Branding is not trickery. It’s a method to make it easy for your customers to clearly understand who you are and what it would be like to do business with you.

In making sure that customer know who you are, a custom Web site can go a long way.

Seth Godin brings up an example of an attitude that I see often. When you work at a company for a while, it’s easy to start thinking that your company is the universe. In this way, you start optimizing the work to suit you, not your customers.

In the agency world, it’s the same thing. The best example is designers who design for themselves, not their clients. They create what they think looks great, ignoring their client’s needs. The worst part about this is the clients often don’t realize this is happening. Unlike with parking spaces, clients often can’t tell when a design represents the designer and not them.

And this makes it hard for me, too. In explaining why Synaxis doesn’t do that, I first need to educate clients on how to hire an agency and on what to look for in design work.

Back in November of last year, I considered whether To Print or Not to Print. At that time, I allowed that print has a role in a well-integrated communications strategy. Today, I’m wondering how viable the medium is.
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It’s very popular these days to tout the rise of the design culture. For some, it’s the stage past the information age. Even organizations need designing. What’s at the root of this feeling?
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