There are a handful of qualified branding and strategic communication design firms you could choose to work with, but what questions should you be asking to help you choose the company that is the best fit for your needs? At Industrial Bran [...]
Posted by: Matt SamyciaWood on Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Categories: Branding, Industrial Brand | No Comments »
Did you know the name Apple was inspired while Steve Jobs was pruning Gravenstein apple trees on his friend’s orchard? According to the recent Steve Jobs biography, Apple Computer could have just as easily been called Personal Computing I [...]
Posted by: Ben Garfinkel on Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Categories: Branding, Industrial Brand | No Comments »
Recently a prospective new client asked us some rather pointed questions about the nature of what we provided as brand designers, the difference between branding and marketing, as well as some other rather insightful queries. This client wa [...]
Posted by: Mark Busse on Monday, January 30th, 2012
Categories: Articles, Branding, Design, Tips | No Comments »
The more we know, the better we eat. Merging technology with the sustainable farming methods of our past is our future.
As passionate food freaks, it's all too common to get caught up in the tastes and exoticism of what we are experiencing, rather than in what makes the most sense and is good. In fact, if you look at what makes something 'gourmet' these days, more often than not it's the item that has taken great effort and care to produce and spent the least amount of time traveling from the farm to your table.
A good example of this in Vancouver is asparagus. Ask around and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who can tell you specifically that they've even tasted fresh, local asparagus. Seriously. Most of what people buy comes from Mexico or California with little thought to the seasonality, or what was done to it to get it to grow, or survive the long trip here. In contrast, the local season for asparagus is very short—a few weeks at best. If you're not quick, and early, at the farmer's market, you might not even realize we have an asparagus supply here!
Enter Foodtree.
Although manifest as a website and mobile app to share fresh, mouth-watering photos of food in your community in a fun and simple way, Foodtree is a philosophical and fundamental shift in our approach to understanding the where, why and how of the food we consume. If information is power, then this is one of the key ways we as consumers can control our food supply future. Until we empower ourselves in this way, organic and healthy food will remain a novelty and just slightly out of reach of the mainstream.
Yet, mainstreaming this concern about where our food comes from and what's in it, is precisely what's required.
Inspired by the symbols, styles and ideology of the Homesteading movement, the new identity hearkens to a simpler time of getting back to the land and a self-sufficient lifestyle. The hand-crafting and do-it-yourself ethic also produced a unique aesthetic evocative of an era past, but also in resurgence.
Our future may very well lie in the successful merger of a new integration of technology with the sustainable methods from our past. This is what Foodtree represents and the logo and its application is meant to evoke.
[post_title] => Know your food
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Sometimes it is convenient that our food world and our design world cross paths. Recently Foodtree asked us to help rebrand in the time leading up to the launch of their new iPhone app and City of Vancouver collaboration. Rolled out simulta [...]
Posted by: Ben Garfinkel on Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
Categories: Branding, Industrial Brand, Sustainability | 1 Comment »
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Creating a brand identity and website for a world-class sports training and rehabilitation centre.
Keenly aware that our company is largely defined by its clients and projects, we always evaluate opportunities against a set of criteria that include profit, portfolio, ethics, and fit—but what about optics? At first, this situation felt a little like that which arose when gambling or pornography companies had approached us in the past, leading us to politely decline the work. No matter how you slice it, religion is a touchy topic. Our association with the project could have an impact our own brand, so we had to tread carefully.
Once the project was finished, and though proud of the results, members of the Industrial Brand team would hesitate before discussing the Yaaway project, making sure to explain the situation clearly to avoid it being summarily categorized as bible-thumper fodder. Our team members' histories run the gamut of those raised in religious homes of various faiths, to those who are completely secular. We didn't all share our client's beliefs, but didn't oppose them either, and following the completion of our initial assessment process, we were surprised at how quickly we became comfortable with the subject matter. The message was positive, and nobody was being duped.
Starting Out: Sunday School
To set the stage, the Yaaway team—a group of experienced media professionals—had already spent over a year (and considerable funds) building the framework and technology platform for a large online community, based on media sharing and social networking. The site was much like a mash-up between Facebook and YouTube, but with a difference: each video and post would ideally be centred on personal stories about Jesus. Not necessarily about Christianity, but Jesus himself. The site would be free to join and use, there were no plans for any advertising or revenue streams, and any user would be welcome to participate, regardless of perspective or religious affiliation.
You're thinking: “So what’s the catch?” Well, we wondered the same thing, and were suspicious about a business model that didn’t include any plans for revenue. We did our homework and discovered that there really wasn’t a catch. Yaaway was a group that had the foresight to say, “Okay, there are a lot of issues and stereotypes surrounding religion these days. So how do we still get out the message of ‘doing good for your fellow man’, while side-stepping the existing public perception of Christianity?” The answer they came up with was to distill the core messages from the historical teachings of Jesus and avoid getting bogged down by the dogma of organized Christianity.
As the project got under way, we realized how unique the creative brief really was. How would we be able to create an identity suitable for a web-savvy community centreed on Jesus’ story and wisdom, while avoiding traditional religious icons? As a group of brand designers with varying perspectives on faith and religion, we were rather intimidated by this unusual situation. At the same time, we were excited by the design challenge to create an identity that expressed Jesus-centric sharing without looking 'churchy'. Like many previous challenging projects, sticking to our proven design methodology lit the way.
Meet Jesus: Just a Guy With a Beard
As we began digging into the project, we learned that the core of this online community was a unique world view. They called it a 'Spiritual Point of View', focused on the "non-religious life of Jesus, the humble person who transforms people of every social class and culture with a spirit of truth and love." We weren't convinced that you could really separate Jesus from religion.
As designers in the branding business, we often toot our horns about building on the existing equity of a brand. This client had the exact opposite problem. It needed to distance itself from the existing brand perception of the Jesus camp—often viewed as right-wing fundamentalists. Beyond the unique portfolio addition this project represented, it was a rare opportunity and challenge.
What the Heck is a Yaaway?
The name Yaaway is a playful re-interpretation of Yahweh, originally an ancient Hebrew word for God, or "the one". By misspelling the word, our client sought to not only distance itself from a traditional religious word, but create a fun, youthful-sounding, nonsense word like Google or Yahoo. The word also wouldn’t have obvious religious connotations. Another benefit was that the word Yaaway could be purchased as a domain name, which was critical.
Early on we uncovered the fact that our client had already invested significantly in the development of the technology behind the online platform, which was being beta-tested online. Yet after more than a year of work on the project, the company had not engaged in any brand strategy or identity design, and had been using a placeholder logomark which was essentially a knock-off of the YouTube logo—a thoughtless contribution by one of its technology developers. This approach was clearly unsuitable as its identity needed to stand apart not only from other religious-based sites, but from the social media/video sharing world. Said the company’s owner, "I feel like we've built a world-class race car without considering the body style or paint job.”
[caption id="attachment_4755" align="alignnone" width="436" caption="The original Yaaway logo."]
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Seek and Ye Shall Find
The goal for the Yaaway website was to create a safe, friendly and welcoming experience about the real Jesus, and not about Christianity. The brand and user experience would have to appeal to a global community of spiritually-motivated and non-denominational visitors pursuing truth and knowledge, and all faiths would be welcome. The core of the site content would be stories and video and, although debate would be encouraged, any antagonistic, irrelevant or inappropriate content—such as the promotion of exclusive religious doctrine—would not be welcome.
That said, unlike so many religious websites (and there are many), this site would have virtually no editorial control. The content would be self-organized by the community itself in the spirit of a Wiki, with the founders 'letting it go', for the most part. Content that members enjoyed and valued would be promoted by users through a voting system, while content not viewed as harmonious with the spirit of the site would settle to the bottom, down-voted and nixed by the user community.
What Would Jesus Design?
An early research step in our process was what we refer to as a Brand Discovery session, essentially a workshop including a series of exercises and games designed to challenge key stakeholders' preconceived notions and assumptions. As with many clients over the years, our Yaaway clients arrived in our studio with ideas of what they wanted to accomplish, who their audience was, and what was needed to achieve their goals. Our first job was to challenge that paradigm, and dig deeper into the situation to reveal more than could be expressed in an initial creative briefing. The workshop culminated in identifying Yaaway’s brand essence and aspirations, and the creation of a visioning statement to provide the core direction for the brand design project.
Due to our client's own moderate views on Jesus, we explored the extreme right-wing, church-driven fundamentalist websites, and determined how Yaaway was not that. In fact, one of the more interesting things that emerged during this research phase was that it was far easier to determine what Yaaway was not, which was one of the best ways of determining what it was. This was especially relevant to the project as the identity of the Yaaway community would be largely determined by the users themselves. Plus, this process of discovery made a huge difference to our own acceptance of the client and the project.
Personal biases began creeping into our team’s psyche, and as communication designers, it’s critical that we’re able to set aside our own preconceived notions and focus on the goals, needs and audience at the core of the problem before us. However, the topic of Jesus Christ was a difficult one to remain unbiased about, regardless of faith or perspective. The tactic we settled upon was relative to a round-table discussion; one where any issue or query could be aired without judgment, and then settled before approaching the next. After confronting and discussing our biases, we let our process reveal what our assumptions clouded and the identity began to take shape.
What Does Your Soul Look Like?
As far as branding and identity challenges go, this project had many. In creating the identity, we had to dive deep down into what the site could become well into the future. This invariably led to some interesting and important developments when designing the website itself.
Beside the fact that the intended audience was a vast multicultural group made up of various ages, educations and faiths, the client insisted that we avoid direct references to the image of Christ, as well as classic icons of Christianity such as a crucifix, lamb, fish, crown of thorns, etc. The logo and website interface had to look 'Web 2.0' while standing out against sites like YouTube, Facebook, DailyMotion, etc., and it most certainly had to up-stage related competitors such as GodTube, JesusClips, and GospelTube. Further, the site had already gone live as a beta with placeholder graphics and an interface that hadn't fully considered the user experience. We had our work cut out for us.
We began by highlighting key words, targeting various graphic elements and iconography, in order to grasp particular themes and ideas. We then cross-referenced the visual language of spirituality (both subtle and blatant), with the vast online social networking meme, seeking inspiration for ways to communicate the concept of non-denominational spiritual dialogue, while avoiding cliché graphics.
[caption id="attachment_4756" align="alignnone" width="436" caption="A sample of some of our concept sketches during the design process."]
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As community, sharing, connections, and exchange of ideas became central themes, we sketched and explored visual language that included speech balloons and quotation marks as connectors, links, overlapping elements, clusters and video screens. An epiphany came when the speech balloons were arranged to reveal a cross in the negative space—a fortunate point of view as the client didn’t want Yaaway to have any obvious religious or denominational overtones.
Another moment of insight came upon reviewing many different styles of quote marks. Arranged in an organic cluster at varied sizes, they suggest abstracted talking heads coming together in their shared dialogue. With some adjustments, that central point of focus became the 'invisible' cross discovered earlier.
Custom typography to complement the rounded forms of icon was developed along with a colour system flexible for both print and web environments. This vibrant palette suggests a journey from cold to hot, as from discovery to acceptance, as the ascending quotes reach upwards to a more spiritual focus. Four graphic elements not only provided the minimum for a sense of community, but four elements also serve to represent the four books of the New Testament and the four disciples who wrote their chronicles of Jesus’ life.
[caption id="attachment_4757" align="alignnone" width="436" caption="The final logomark, fully realized and addressing the brief, client requirements and target audience."]
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As wtih all identity design projects, we ran the final top three logos through a theoretical strainer. Is it readable? Is it relevant? Does the typography resonate with the brand? Elements right down to subtle moods changes affected by colour were scrutinized. The editing process is always one of love and hate; but it’s what takes a logo from good to outstanding.
Of couse, final delivery of the brand design included many elements beyond the logo. These included a comprehensive online brand usage guide, complete stationery package, collateral and promotional materials, signage, and the critical interface design for the website.
Some of the applications of the new Yaaway identity and web interface:
On the 70th day, We Rested
Yaaway was a challenging project; one that our team will not soon forget. We are proud that our belief in creative strategy helped us overcome what at first seemed a worrisome project with a challenging brief. This case study will serve as a litmus test and benchmark for future brand identity projects, proving that even when faced with extreme difficulty, our individual talents, combined with our collective faith in the design process, will guide us to effective solutions. We no longer pause before showing off the project, often catching new clients off guard by saying “Can we tell you about Jesus?”
But Was the Project a Success?
The client was ecstatic with the brand platform and, after several months, re-launched its website, promoting it publicly. The site began to expand daily, with a growing collective of spiritually curious users signing up, engaging in dialogue and up-loading videos. The identity even won industry recognition such as a prestigious Communication Arts Award in the 2009 Design Annual.
Then, trouble. It was found that the primary users on the site were Christian—no surprise for us, but a disappointment for the client. Although we were told the site was making good progress, the client suddenly announced that further development of the project was being halted and the core team disbanded. The owner felt compelled to change direction and discontinued his funding. With his original unusual business model lacking a revenue stream, it was no surprise that he ultimately decided to commercially market the technology platform to groups and associations looking to build their own media-based online social networks.
Recently the Yaaway.com website itself went offline, surely a disappointment for those who worked so hard on it for two years. But, maybe one day, it will rise from the dead.
Click here to view a brief case study in our portfolio or click here to download the longer case study overview as a PDF.
[post_title] => Branding The Man They Called Jesus
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[post_excerpt] => Separating Church and State (of Mind). At some point in our lives, each of us learns the lesson that discussing religion or politics in mixed company can backfire.
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Separating Church and State (of Mind). At some point in our lives, each of us learns the lesson that discussing religion or politics in mixed company can backfire.
Posted by: Mark Busse on Friday, October 15th, 2010
Categories: Articles, Branding, Industrial Brand, Websites | No Comments »
Our very own Matt SamyciaWood was featured in a recent issue of Business in Vancouver with his article A Home Business is Still a Business. Addressing some of the more common mistakes with branding a business, Matt shares insights into how [...]
Posted by: Mark Busse on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010
Categories: Articles, Branding, Learning, Tips | No Comments »
The response to District has been very positive. Building one sold out in the first three weeks. Building two has just a couple of suites left. In fact, every element of the development not only worked well but exceeded expectations.
The buzz in the media was great! The PR Campaign that Mac Marketing created with Rock 101 was a huge success. They gave away a $350,000 Condo, Harley-Davidson, home entertainment system, BBQ and iMac—apparently the biggest giveaway contest in the history of Western Canadian Radio history. It drew a lot of traffic to the development and presentation center.
The design that Industrial Brand created was very distinctive. Susan M Boyce wrote in the New Home Buyers Guide article, the following "Located in Vancouver’s South Main neighbourhood, even District’s brochure stands out from the rest... honest, I’m not kidding. It has attitude, and how often can you say that about a brochure?" Download the whole article.
I am looking forward to walking by the buildings when completed and observing the new residents, seeing the intended vision for the neighborhood realized.
[post_title] => People build culture
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Being involved in the development of District was a great experience. Working closely with our clients Amacon and Mac Marketing I truly feel that we have all contributed to the South Main district by creating not just a great building but a [...]
Posted by: Matt SamyciaWood on Thursday, December 17th, 2009
Categories: Articles | No Comments »
A few months ago, Mac Donald’s launched a new TV campaign in France ‘come as you are’. The campaign itself, created by EuroRSCG, is pretty nice but what really caught my attention was the logo: it has turned green!! Just l [...]
Posted by: Mathilde Salvert on Thursday, July 9th, 2009
Categories: Advertising, Branding, Food, Marketing, Sustainability | No Comments »
The Metro newspaper today was wrapped in a full advertisement for Candian Tire – it was selling outdoor furniture. I noticed their tagline “For days like today” but didn’t connect with it. It works I feel on a corporate [...]
Posted by: Matt SamyciaWood on Thursday, May 7th, 2009
Categories: Branding | No Comments »
Designed by Vancouver-based Karacters DDB—in fact the entire brand and integrated marketing program has been developed and rolled out by DDB Canada, with their local partners Tribal DBB creating the website component—the logo is meant to represent "the inspiring play of light and water one experiences" when in the nearly all glass building surrounded by mountains and water, according to Karacter's Creative Director James Bateman.
While I understand that the design team wanted to avoid any literal references to the city, mountains, or even the building itself—which I think could have been done quite subtly actually—I found my initial reaction kind of mixed, feeling that the graphic language was rather busy and not entirely feeling the connection to the inspiration of nature. Either way, it's certainly a brave use of visual language to use dynamism in an attempt to capture and communicate the inspirational feeling of the location of the conference centre.
I've already heard various opinions being bandied about—some positive, saying they think it is a fresh expression of the Vancouver experience not seen previously. Others have been more critical, claiming it looks sloppy and already dated—my favourite being the comparison to a blood splatter pattern (which seems almost apros pos these days). But what I'd really like to know is what the public think—they are the target audience, not a bunch of design wonks.
Sometimes I think that some of us with designers' eyes get distracted by issues like complexity of a graphic (ie. a logo made with photographic elements) and the difficulty of its application when flat vector shapes are commonplace, rather than enjoying the clever underlying layers of meaning. I will say that struggling for words as I did trying to explain the identity might be OK. Doesn't that happen sometimes when we're awe-struck by nature's beauty, the very thing that inspired the logo in the first place? I'm just saying.
So? What do you think of the new Vancouver Convention Centre identity? We'd love to receive your thoughts as comments below.
PS - Readers of this blog seldom agree on all things design, but I think we can all agree that this was a huge project for the team at Karacters and we offer our congratulations on its launch and offer our best wishes of luck that it becomes an enormous success for them!
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Last night I visited the the brand new Vancouver Convention Centre for the first time. While there I took special notice of the convention centre’s new identity and its applications. At first I must admit the logo baffled me a bit as [...]
Posted by: Mark Busse on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009
Categories: Branding, Design, Inspiration, Vancouver | 6 Comments »
If you know what the difference between grilling and barbequing is, then this sauce is for you.
After launching this coffee company's new identity we take our morning coffee much more seriously.
Some projects can really be both exhausting and very rewarding. After weeks and weeks of hard work, numerous revisions, and a couple of late nights putting the finishing touches (while eating bad delivery food)….we are very proud to h [...]
Posted by: Mathilde Salvert on Thursday, March 5th, 2009
Categories: Branding, Featured Project, Industrial Brand | No Comments »
