Advice from some of the biggest names in graphic design today.

1. A Summary | November 11, 2010

2. History of Brand New
• Part of a family of blogs
• Founded by Armin Vit &
Bryony Gomez-Palacio
• Critiques New Logos and
Rebrands

3. Where We Sat

4. Speaker Biographies and Talking Points

5. Michael Johnson
• Partner at UK based Johnson Banks
– Produces identity
• Science Museum
• Parc de la Villette
• Developing typefaces in China and Japan
• London Airline redesign
• Johnson has won
– eight pencils from D&AD
– has dozens of designs in V&A’s collection
– lectures on design worldwide.
– He’s written one book, Problem Solved and edits
the design blog Thought for the week.

6. Look at your competition.
Google Image your competitors - what do you see about their branding?
Maybe your company’s branding shouldn’t look expected…

7. The emergence of the animated logo.

8. Avoiding the obvious.
Clients always expect certain images for a “film” institute - but no one uses film or
projectors anymore, why should we limit ourselves to those items.

9. The problem of multi-organization logos.

10. Michael Lejuene
• Currently Creative Director for
Metro (LACMTA).
• 30-person Creative Services group
• Has received more than 60 honors
since 2002
– American Public Transit Association
(APTA), the American Institute of
Architects, the Society of
Environmental Graphic Designers, and
Communication Arts, Print, STEP Inside
Design & HOW Magazines

11. How many People even knew there was a Metro?

12. Design Overhaul

13. • Changing what you can

14. Design Overhaul

15. Benefit from doing more

16. Michael Bierut
• Partner at Pentagram
• Studied graphic design at
the University of Cincinnati’s
College of Design
• Numerous High Profile Clients
• Won Hundreds of Design Awards
• Senior Critic at the Yale School of
Art

18. Logos are simple things - Target is a dot in a circle, Nike is a swoosh
“...[it] comes down to what most designers would agree on: the obvious thing, it’s
not the actual logo but how it is used.”

19. Utilize - If no one in the public knows about it, or if it isn’t utilized correctly or it
isn’t going to work, whether or not it is the best logo, branding, or marketing
campaign possible.
“Alternatively you could design what seems to be a brilliant logo for people who are
not smart or energetic or are incapable of associating with anything positive and it
would become a terrible logo.”

20. Reputation - “When it comes to working on identities, a lot of the time I find
myself working with a company that has been around for a while. No matter what
they say their goal is, the history and the impression that they have already made in
the minds of the public is a real thing that you have to deal with.”

21. Paula Scher
• Partner at Pentagram
• Studied at Tyler School of Art
• Began at CBS Records & Atlantic
• Numerous High Profile Clients
• Contributor to NYT, GQ & other
publications
• Has received an AIGA medal & The
Director’s Club Medal
• Honorary Doctorates

22. The joy in being simple

23. The joy in being simple

24. The joy in being simple

25. The joy in being simple

26. The joy in being simple

27. The joy in being simple

28. The joy in being simple

29. Christian Helms
• Co-Founder of The Decoder Ring
Concern
• Began His career under Michael
Beirut at Pentagram
• Founding member of Project M
• Many Music Clients
• Other clients include Hasbro, Toyota
& the Obama campaign
• Award Winner

30. Selected Pieces

31. Selected Pieces

32. Reduce an identity to its most important meanings, and then make it iconic.
If this is done successfully, the branding can hold meaning and recognition
of its own.

33. Appealing to the public through nostalgia.
Associate your company with a client’s nostalgic/positive feelings.

34. Since most production company one sheets get filed away, our goal became to
"defy the file folder." The result is an object that's more likely to be hung on the
wall or used around the office, ensuring far more visibility for the client.
- promotional poster, business cards, capabilities sheet, custom DVD sleeve, note cards and more
lighthearted items like a coaster and even a pine-tree air freshener (which users are urged to spray with
their favorite scent before hanging).

35. Tom Dorrestijin
• Founder of Studio Dumbar
• Clients Include
– KPN (communication), Randstad
(employment), TNT Post Europe (postal
services), Marlies Dekkers (fashion),
several Dutch government ministeries,
the government of the independent
state of Sint Maarten, the South
Korean Home Office, the European
Central Bank, HuaLung (Taiwan),
Champalimaud Foundation (Portugal),
SAIC (China) and Buick (China)

36. Selected Pieces

37. Selected Pieces, Simplicity

38. Paradox can work to your advantage.

39. Connie Birdsall
• Connie Birdsall leads the design
practice at Lippincott and is a
member of the firm’s executive
committee.
• She has directed programs for
numerous multi-national clients
• Has won numerous awards
• Sat on the board of AIGA

40. Selected Pieces

41. “Brand-building is turning upside down. It’s not just about logos and awareness, it’s
about creating advocates.”

42. It’s way more than logo design, it’s authentic stories and inspiring experiences
which are related to your logo, and therefore associated easily.
“Brands need authentic personality, the fight to change a relevant conflict, and a
mission bigger than money.”
Walmart was established by Sam Walton to provide the American dream, but lost
touch with that over the years and became more about making money.
Solution: Save Money. Live Better.
Walmart sales increased
dramatically

43. Inspiring Experience - Virgin Airlines picked what mattered most (the actual
experience of flight) and delivered on it.
Develop a roadmap – Lippincott is currently doing with Delta - to decide what kind
of experiences you want to focus on for the predicted future and beyond.

44. Other Points:
Too much client assumption or research can be bad, you can become fearful of
using strategies which may be very helpful.
Signature Cues - Logo, Color, Typefaces, Sound, Texture - the more things you can
own the more you can work with to tell your story. But of course you should NOT
use all of these all of the time.
“Color helps increase brand recognition up to 80%.”
“You can’t create brand equity if you change it every year.” - but do update and
continually evolve

45. In total:
Figure out what MATTERS about your company.
Then decide how to DIFFERENTIATE your company from others.
Then IMBUE your identity with those elements.

46. Karl Heismann
• CEO of Wolff Olins
• Worked for Apple after college.
• Has served as a design director for Apple
• Karl studied graphic and industrial design
at the Rhode Island School of Design.
• Clients:
– GE, Unicef, PricewaterhouseCoopers, PepsiCo,
Citibank, Staples, New York City, Sundance,
Carter’s, OshKosh and (RED). Currently, he is
leading our work with PG&E and PacSun. Prior to
joining Wolff Olins, Karl was a creative consultant
for branding agencies Landor Associates and
Anspach Grossman Portugal

47. Jordan Crane
• Creative Director of Wolff Olins
• Clients:
– Target, New Museum, NYC, AOL

48. Selected Pieces

49. Selected Pieces

50. Selected Pieces

51. Selected Pieces

52. Selected Pieces

53. Selected Pieces

54. Out of the box designs

55. New Ideas

56. New Ideas

57. Erik Spiekermann
• Studied in Berlin.
• Information architect, author and
type designer
– Meta, Officina, Info, Unit and
corporate typefaces for Deutsche
Bahn, Bosch, Nokia et al.
• He started (1979) MetaDesign,
Germany's largest design firm.
– Projects included corporate design
programs for Audi, Skoda, Volks­
wagen, and others.

58. Selected Pieces

59. Logos are all about detail – detail is the base not the final touch.

60. Logos & detail

61. “It's very much like any location or event design: you have to make your
presence known to people. Once they are in the system, design tells them
whether they are on their right path and indicates what is about to happen to them.
Design has a functional role, but it also creates a mood. It has both important
functional and psychological roles.”