January 31, 2012
Simplify your Company’s Message
Recently I was on the phone with a man trying to explain my credit score. After one particular point of nonsense, I complained about the obvious complexity and backwardness of the system. He said, “I know, but that’s just the way it is.” The ridiculous conversation reminded me of a TED talk I once watched. Alan Siegel, of design firm Siegel+Gale, described a challenge issued by President Obama after signing the Credit Card Bill of Rights into law. The President challenged the credit card industry to create a consumer-credit agreement that everyone could understand and that took up only a single page. Siegel found the concept compelling, locked himself in a room, and designed the one-page document. He claims it has been tested and is legally sound.
Siegel calls on companies to use greater simplicity in their language. Visual language, including graphic design and branding, is as much a part of this language as verbal language. In fact, because images are experienced first they are arguably more important.
I’m currently working on a brochure that explains complex algorithms and formulas for a network-marketing compensation plan. We realized most people will not want to know all the nitty-gritty details, however a small minority will. By simplifying everything to visual metaphors and quick statements that are easy to understand, the result is a breathe of fresh air in a complex, over-hyped industry.
Our approach applied two lessons learned from the Internet.
1) A lot can be said in only 140 characters.
Messages about your company and its offerings must be made shorter and shorter or fewer and fewer people will listen.
2) Those who desire can simply click “learn more.”
Make the information accessible to those who really are interested but don’t lead with it. Ever. Make it available on your website somewhere but keep it indexible. No PDFs.
Steve Jobs once said, “It’s a very noisy world and we’re not going to get the chance for people to remember much about us. No company is. And so we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.”
Strong brands are easy to understand. Toms Shoes, Apple, Google, Nike are built around simple concepts; “One for One”, “Think Different”, “Don’t Be Evil”, “Just Do It”. Each stands out in their crowded industries. If you want people to pay attention to you, you need to be the breathe of fresh air in your industry.
Simplicity, though, is much easier said than done. Sometimes “simple”, when it has nothing of substance to say, is just boring and is easily dismissed. The trick is not to have simple ideas, rather complex ideas presented simply. Oliver Wendell Holmes is attributed to saying, “I wouldn’t give a fig for the simplicity on this side of complexity; I would give my right arm for the simplicity on the far side of complexity”. All industries are complicated and if you can be the one you can present complex ideas at their most basic level, you can be powerful.
January 13, 2012
Branded Environments
Up the emotional response by creating a brand space in 3D
A couple years ago our traditional biggest client, YESCO, asked us if we had any suggestions for them about new lines of business that they might logically pursue. YESCO stands for Young Electric Sign Company and as their name suggests, their primary business is custom electric outdoor signs. After some thought, I went back and said, “Branded Environments”. All right, maybe my answer wasn’t quite as succinct or elegant, but that’s what I meant.
December 6, 2011
Cars Are Little More than Brands on Wheels
The customer experience in the purchase of a new ride
I bought a new car a few weeks ago. Making purchasing decisions about vehicle brands is an interesting mix of personal and marketing forces. You consider, consciously or subconsciously, much more than just what car will get you from point A to B.
October 17, 2011
Caught-up in our own Web
Modern8 launches new website
Today marks the public launch of our new Website. It’s a complete overhaul and a dramatically different design strategy. With the recognition that we are living in a mobile, always-connected world, we created the site in a grid-based layout that changes automatically to fit different monitor sizes, whether on a smartphone, tablet or desktop.
September 13, 2011
Authenticity in Design
If you change perceptions are you being authentic?
Authenticity in design is an interesting concept. All design, by its very nature, is an exercise in persuasion. As someone once said, asking a designer not to persuade is like asking a fisherman not to fish, it’s what we’re trained to do. According to David Berman, author of Do Good Design, “Designers tend to underestimate how much power they have. They’re culpable.”
July 28, 2011
Dressing the Part of Your Core Values
Your authentic identity reflects your culture, values and beliefs
Stop reading this right now, switch over to a word processing app and describe your firm in no more than 50 words. Save it. We’re coming back to it.
What are the core values that drive your firm? Perhaps you address your core values in your mission statement, but if you’re like most companies, you don’t remember your mission statement because it’s not distinctive and it has little relevance to your core values. (more…)
July 5, 2011
Delivering the Art of Brand Design from the Science of Brand Strategy
A Presentation to the Utah Technical Council
In introducing our firm, I often use the phrase, “We bring together strategic and creative services to achieve a shared goal.” I was asked to speak last week at the marketing forum of the Utah Technical Council on the subject of Delivering the Art of Brand Design from the Science of Brand Strategy, which seemed tailor-fit to our distinguishing position. I’m sharing with you some of the main points of my presentation.
May 26, 2011
Worth the Paper It’s Printed On
Could the design of the almighty dollar affect the economy?
The mightiest trick of any print designer is to imbue the object of his creation with value beyond the paper it’s printed on. And there isn’t a more important document anywhere than paper money. Of course, at one time, the US dollar was backed by silver and gold, but now it’s literally just a piece of paper that proclaims “Believe in the brand called United States of America,” (and fortunately, most do. Thank you China.)
April 27, 2011
Launch Your Brand Internally First
How a great story can turn your employees into brand ambassadors
Brands are expressed in many ways, including in the actions and behavior of your own people. In fact, employees are crucial to the brand experience, particularly in the B2B space. Inasmuch as a brand is the totality of all your perceptions about a business, obviously, employee actions and attitudes have an impact—everything from answering phone calls promptly to product knowledge. But it goes beyond customer facing employees. Employees don’t just represent the company, they are the company. The depth of understanding each person has about brand values and purpose is reflected in productivity. The workers of strongly branded organizations literally “live the brand”, giving them focus, motivation and a guiding direction.
March 21, 2011
The Drive Downtown & the Fake Eyes
How our subconscious minds influence our behavior
My office has always been located in the downtown area of Salt Lake, despite my home being some 20 miles south in the suburbs. Sure, the drive is pretty familiar after 30 years, but one morning a few months ago I arrived at my office parking spot somewhat surprised. My mind had been preoccupied and I was amazed that I had driven the 20 miles without a single conscious decision about where I was going or what I was doing. In fact, I remembered absolutely nothing about my drive downtown. It was as if I had been teleported from home to my office without any effort on my part.
According to Shankar Vedantam, Washington Post science writer and author of The Hidden Brain, my story of the drive downtown is a perfect example of how our subconscious minds can manipulate us without our awareness. (more…)
February 24, 2011
Branding 101: Your Logo Isn’t Your Brand
And other brand myths dispelled for B2B companies
Last week I gave a presentation to the Society for Marketing Professional Services (SMPS) entitled, “Your Logo Isn’t Your Brand”. If you subscribe to the modern8 newsletter or read the blog, the subject may not be new, but it is worth repeating.
January 20, 2011
You Don’t Name Your Kid “A Blue-Eyed Boy”
Picking the right brand name
Back in early ‘90s I designed the logo for Associated Foods—the “cart in the A”—that you see on big trucks throughout the Intermountain West. So I was quite interested when Associated Foods adapted my logo for the identity of the Albertson’s chain of grocery stores that they acquired in 2009. The company-owned stores were named “Fresh Market using the “cart in the A” inside an apple. They didn’t ask for my design help (I certainly wouldn’t have put it inside an apple.) Nor did they ask my opinion on the name.
December 23, 2010
How Branding Stole Christmas
And why, like it or not, it’s not prone to change.
According to NPR, you can now follow through with the empty threat waged at children worldwide during the holidays. “You’re going to get a lump of coal for Christmas.” A company called CoalGram is offering to ship a lump of 100 percent pure anthracite coal to the transgressor of your choice. And you needn’t limit it to naughty kids. The company suggests your boss who didn’t give you a raise, your boyfriend who forgot your birthday and the politician who is driving you nuts. Each specially wrapped chunk of coal will cost you ten bucks.
November 22, 2010
Stupid Questions
How many designers does it take to change a light bulb?
When we are engaged for brand strategy, our first step is the interview — which is typically one on one, between the client and myself. We always ask to interview the CEO, the marketing department and a few others. We start right off by asking stupid questions. We’re sitting in their offices and the company name is proudly displayed in the lobby or on the door and the first thing we ask is “Who are you?”
October 14, 2010
That Typeface Just Spoke to Me
The language of the designed world and what it says.
I’m reading a new book. Only through the first chapter, but when I was driving past the mall on Friday and looking at their sign, I immediately connected with something I had just read.
The book is The Language of Things by Deyan Sudjic, a treatise on the meaning of man-made things. In the intriguing first 40 pages the author connects such diverse design luminaries as William Morris, Jonathan Ive, Raymond Lowey, Dieter Rams and Philippe Starck. (more…)
September 15, 2010
The Perception Gap
The distance between seeing and understanding
Last week we presented design proposals for the packaging of a new retail product. While discussing the relative merits of one design concept compared with another, I was asked by the client about the value of intrigue in design solutions. The client was wondering if design effectiveness was enhanced by certain amount of ambiguity in the solution, which sets up a cause to be interested, or curious.
August 17, 2010
Personal Brands
Recently we met with a successful entrepreneur who had sold his company to a competitor in a related industry. He is now employed by the acquiring company, but it isn’t going well and he is leaving 90K on the table to jump ship and restart his old business again. He told us, “This time I’m going to do it different. I don’t want to be as big as before. It’s really all about me anyway. I’m the rainmaker and the one with the technical skills.”
July 19, 2010
Child-like Seeing
First see, then think, then do
A few weeks ago my 4-year old grandson, Luke, picked up my point-and-shoot digital camera and decided he wanted to shoot some photos. I wasn’t there when it happened. No one needs to tell him (nor, I suspect, many others of his age) how to use buttons on electronic devices. It’s simply intuitive for them. I discovered the photos quite by accident. The next time I used the camera I asked Luke’s mom if someone had been using it. She acknowledged that Luke had been playing with the camera, but with cost-free digital photo technology, saw no harm in it. She hadn’t seen Luke’s photos.
June 16, 2010
Designing Web Sites for Architects
No architect would begin designing a building without knowing the purpose of the structure: how it’s used, for whom and to accomplish what? Successful buildings are aesthetically satisfying and serve the needs of their inhabitants. A well-designed space can make our lives easier and happier.
Web sites are no different. What’s the purpose, how is it used and by whom? If the Web site is well-designed, “inhabitants” are happy and can find their way around. (more…)
May 14, 2010
The Five Skills of Innovation
I’ve sat through a lot of business speakers’ presentations (and some I’ve slept through). But despite a rather low-key presentation style, the speaker I heard a couple weeks ago at a Utah Technology Council industry breakfast was just short of revolutionary. The subject was “The Innovators DNA” by Dr. Jeffrey H. Dyer, professor of strategy at the BYU Marriott School of Business. (more…)
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