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For decades, Young Electric Sign Company has had a dual identity.
The 88-year old private company has often used the acronym YESCO
in place of their long, but descriptive name. After recognizing
that some areas of the country knew them better by their acronym
while others by the full name, a recent legal restructuring
allowed the sign company to finally unify around a single
moniker--and the shorter version won out.
Working with YESCO since the mid-90's, we began last year an
effort to change the brand identity to reflect the name change.
The "Y-Mark" had been in use since the 70's, combined with a
typeface that epitomized era of its birth. With YESCO's strong
desire to retain the essential characteristics of their identity,
we recommended simplifying the symbol, by eliminating the border
and the type underneath. We typeset the name in Univers,
formalizing the de-facto corporate typeface we had been using
since the beginning. The new identity has started to appear on
business cards, stationery, billboards and their Web site.
After redesigning the identity for the 40-year old ARSgroup, we
followed right up by designing and implementing a new Web site
for them. The Indiana-based company helps advertisers optimize
the effectiveness of their advertising campaigns. We also created
the Web site for their sister company, ARSgreen, whose services
drive demand for green products.
Don't call us Thursday, September 4. We're all out for an office
late Summer party. / We've been in our new office for nearly
three months and we're still getting customers coming in
wondering where Howells Photo, the former tenant in our space,
has gone. They're usually older, carrying a camera, and they say,
"Well they're still in the phonebook!" / Two new clients have
engaged us for brand strategy this month, Ogden Clinic, a
multi-facility clinic based in Weber County with over 60
physicians and UCN, the leading provider of software as a service
to call centers nationwide. / Want to comment on what you read in
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Years ago we were working with a marketing executive who managed
to repeat the same phrase in every single meeting we attended.
She would always work in the phrase "marketing-driven solution",
often in the form of a question. Was our proposal a marketing
driven solution? What about the headline? It got to be a joke
around the office. Does this color look marketing-driven? This
paper stock? What about that typeface?
That was fifteen years ago. Today, design-driven companies are
the topics of conversation. I.D. (International Design) magazine
published a list of the 40 most "design-driven companies in
America". Obvious selections were on the list: Apple, Gillette,
IBM, Patgonia, 3M. But as business management guru Tom Peters
says, "More interesting to me, fully half the companies were
service companies. Amazon.com made the list. So did Bloomberg.
Also: Federal Express. CNN. Disney. Martha Stewart...even The
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints." (Note to local
readers: that's the actual quote.)
Coca-Cola's Vice-President for Design, David Butler, avoids using
the word "design" as much as possible. Though he has written up a
30-page manifesto laying out a design strategy for the company,
when he is meeting with manufacturing people, he'll say, "How can
we make the can feel colder, longer?" Or "How can we make the
cup easier to hold?" He talks about the benefits of smart design
in a language to which those he's talking to can relate.
According to Business Week magazine, this surreptitious approach
seems to be working. The new Coke identity work won the Grand
Prix at the Cannes Lions awards program in June.
Mohamed Samah, a design socio-psychologist said, "The design
discipline itself is expanding beyond 'form and look' to include
processes and business strategy in general. Organizations are
using design as a tool to stimulate creativity and to foster
innovation in the market".
Successful marketing-driven companies are in fact design-driven
companies, attested by the success of such divergent companies as
Harley-Davidson, Target and Nike. - Randall Smith
— Randall Smith
The ubiquitous corporate pocket folder is a catch-all for a lot
of purposes and the folder we designed for YESCO has enough
pockets and slits to accommodate them all. With a cover embossed
with graphic dots and their identity, and a full coverage of
corporate red on the insides, the folder frames company
collateral and corporate stationery.
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