Stauber Design Studio presents: Design-ish

What is design-ish?

Typically, "design" is used as a noun describing output; designed things. But it's also a verb that describes the work that happens before tangible artifacts (like brochures or websites) are in hand. The dialog, discovery, sifting, collaborating, evaluating, and editing that lead you to the right communications strategy and positioning, and then on to specific applications. You might call all of those activities and considerations "design-ish." That’s what I’m calling them anyway! So, I introduce these pages as a place to share thoughts, experiences, and information — my own and those of opinionated experts I'm happy to have as colleagues. Please take a look around and if you’re interested in contributing, drop me an email.

Thanks,
Joy Panos Stauber

All content ©2005–2009 Stauber Design Studio Inc. and individual authors.

Encountering "brand voice" at tax time.

  

As I was signing 2008 tax returns, I noticed this (highlighted above) line of text on an Illinois form. Why say something simple and concrete like "Due March 15th" when you can do a much better job of supporting brand perceptions by using byzantine, highly-detailed, attorney-speak!

Words vs. Images

When we work with clients, we're often developing a visual and verbal language. A brand vocabulary. Whatever you want to call it (there's a lot of jargon out there), it basically boils down to a set of elements that you can put together in different ways to tailor messages while still retaining a recognizable voice, look, and feel.

Once you have established that visual language, how do you know which elements to use when?

It's about choosing the best way to convey what needs to be said. Sometimes words are most effective, sometimes visuals are most effective, sometimes the right balance of both working together is most effective.

For example, this is the front and back cover of a brochure for business bookseller 800-CEO-READ:

Their visual and verbal language had been defined — the basic toolkit including typefaces, imagery approach, color palette, tone of voice, etc. The back cover needed to convey who they were and how to contact them. That could have been done using the right copy in the right typeface. Instead, it has a photo of all the employees holding up the ISBN number for their favorite book. The images says that they are friendly, knowledgable, book-loving people instantly, without a word. And says it louder (more effectively) because the subject and content of the photos make it real... more real than words ever could. It reflects who they are FAST. Plus offers an engaging ISBN-lookup game (a wonderful idea from the client) for those in the know. All in all, a much richer connection than words alone would have provided. And much more true to who they are as a business.

Everything you do (intentional or not) is a reflection of brand values.

It's generally not a good idea to mix politics and business conversations, but there was a really interesting thing to note in our recent presidential election.

The media in Chicago was, of course, very excited about this election. TV cameras showed countless shots of the ebullient crowd at the Obama celebration in Grant Park.

A quick comment from one newscaster provides a great example of how design thinking (in the largest sense, planning and thinking at every level) can impact (positively or negatively) brand perceptions. After showing images of the Grant Park crowd, the camera cut back to the newscaster, and he explained that the reason they were not showing images from a McCain gathering too was because they did not have access to the candidate and his team "at the exclusive Arizona Biltmore Resort."

The contrast drawn between the two election night venues was so vast. Ebullient, diverse, and open to the public vs. inaccessible and exclusive. And (fair or not, intentional or not) it drew corresponding contrasts between the candidates themselves. Regardless of who you supported in the election, this is a good reminder that everything you do reflects your brand values. (And also: a picture really is worth a thousand words.)

Men after my own heart.

Typesetting, and then proofreading typeset pages, is a major activity here at deadline times. This had made me a spotter of typos and bad kerning. It's impossible to read a newspaper or a magazine or walk down the street without spotting glaring errors on a daily basis. So I was glad to read an article in the Chicago Tribune about two men who are traveling around with Sharpies and paint on a crusade to correct typos on signs!

When designers & clients say "Why not?!"

Say you're an architect and you are commissioned by a Chicago suburb to design a new YMCA. There's a big brainstorming meeting and someone on the team says, "What if...we make the Y look like THE LEANING TOWER OF PISA?" And the other people on the team, even the client, amazingly and wholeheartedly respond, "LET'S DO IT." Maybe it's silly... but it's fun. And it's right there across the parking lot from Target and Costco.

Here they are side by side—Pisa and Niles, Illinois:

Know your audience.

I recently read an article in Crain’s Chicago Business entitled “Organic options losing steam.” (Crain's 10-23-06) It says that few shoppers are willing to pay the higher prices for organic versions of mainstream foods.

By "mainstream" foods, they evidently mean what most organic consumers - and many others - might call "junk food" or at best, dorm food. (Yes, I say this without any market research to back it up.) A primary example given is that people aren’t swooping a big-name brand of organic macaroni and cheese off the shelves at $2.29 a box when the non-organic version is 99 cents. Is this really surprising? Are organic consumers looking for neon-orange refined white flour mac and cheese? Are "mainstream" (non-organic) consumers looking for an organic seal on this type of food? It seems out of sync with some main drivers of organics: health (that of your body, your family, a regional economy, or even the planet). What's next - News that people are not willing to pay $10 for an organic Big Mac^® and fries!?

Just a good reminder of a design basic: know your audience. Know what they care about, what they are looking for in products they buy, why they buy them, etc.