WAMU’s Kavitha Cardoza spoke to Robb Springfield, former head of the Graphic Design department at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for his critique on DC’s mayoral candidate’s yard signs. Kinda cool and pretty accurate in my opinion. Take a listen.
Under Review critiques creative involving Washington area businesses. If you see work that you think deserves a closer look, please drop a note in the suggestion box.
Watch Where You Vote
August 11th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
Angels In America Redesigned
July 27th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
The NY Times posted this “first look” at Signature Theatre’s poster for Angels In America designed by Milton Glaser. Glaser also designed the original Broadway poster on the right. Far be it for me to criticize Mr. Glaser’s work but what the hell — I don’t like it. It looks like a rough sketch and I can only hope that this is indeed the case. The typography is a poor choice and off in scale and the muddy watercolor looks more like a rough costume sketch than an iconic piece of art worthy of promoting a modern masterpiece. Thoughts?
http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/07/21/the-new-angels-in-america-poster/?ref=design
Something Bland This Way Comes
July 26th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
I’ve noticed a disturbing trend in communication design the past year or so. It’s almost the opposite of branding and seems to be a willful desire to not stand out and to appear as generic as possible. It’s appearing in a collection of trends including what one PR agency referenced of their website redesign, “The European Look” and a group of design students when discussing logos called the “Monotype” approach. Essentially meaning to strip out any effort to establish a unique identity and instead apply what looks like a generic blog template to the company website or in the case of a logo, like the entrepreneur casually typed out their company name on an old PC and ran with it.
Is this a backlash to a mediascape crowded with brands and marketing messages? Or perhaps the sign of a world grown weary from the broken brand promises of trusted companies like BP, Toyota, and JP Morgan? And if so, what’s the big deal?
If the trend continues it will make MY efforts to build recognizable brands for my clients easier but there are consequences for those who do choose this approach which is far worse than anything else in our business and that is banality. It was bad enough when Tropicana downgraded to the generic look (and was so publicly lambasted for it) but in a city just beginning to embrace how branding and good design can help it build business and promote programs, I fear it provides an easy pass back into the closet.
We need to understand and learn from trends, not simply adopt them. If a client says they want it, try to understand their motivation and work to provide the best counsel and design possible. Remember, it is very difficult to build a business case for blending into the background of your industry.
I would like to remind our readers (and hope you do the same for your colleagues) that we are working in a world power center, crafting national campaigns that truly affect change as well as launch businesses and sell products to an eclectic and multinational local audience. We should all be part of a more important movement and that is raising the bar for design in the Washington area and setting trends, not following them.
DesignWorkshops
July 7th, 2010By Nancy Bratton
From left to right: Calendar design by Linda Beatty, Antonio Alcalá and Linda Beatty during class critique, Poetry poster sketches by Nancy Bratton
8-week sessions offered in spring, fall, and winter in Old Town, Alexandria.
Sometimes we creatives need the collaboration, encouragement, and yes, structure of a class to help push ourselves outside of our creative comfort zone. But finding a post-graduate, open environment class can be difficult without investing the time and money for a masters program. I found the DesignWorkshops offer the right balance. The workshops are taught and organized by Antonio Alcalá, who has 20 years of teaching experience at the Corcoran College of Art and Design and is the owner of Studio A, an award-winning design firm in Alexandria, Virginia. The small class size (usually 4 or 5 students) allows for individual attention and interaction among students. Students come up with their own project and choose a design area to focus on such as identity or publication design.
After years of working solo, DesignWorkshops was just what I was looking for to help me refine my typography skills, to think more critically, and to share ideas with my peers. One unexpected bonus were the impromptu design history lessons and access to Antonio’s vast library of design books. Once during a class critique I mentioned that I was thinking of having the type dance around on the page—something that would evoke sound and movement—and just then Antonio dashed out of the room and reappeared a moment later, presenting me with a book on Filippo Marinetti and a thoughtful commentary on futurism and how it might influence my poster design.
Yes, it’s never to late to continue learning and it helps to have someone encourage your exploration of ideas.
For more info on DesignWorkshops, please check out www.DesignWorkshops.org
Celebrate Beer (and Typography) with Churchkey
June 28th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
This article submitted by Matthew Stevenson, Fathom Creative
Finally, a local pub design that doesn’t use stale Germanic typefaces and ruddy woodcut imagery. A sigh of relief can be heard among the DC design community.
Churchkey is not just any pub. It’s a classy, cask-laden bar found above its sister establishment Birch & Barley on the corner of 14th Street and Rhode Island Avenue. This purveyor of sudsy sophistication is giving every other swanky cork bar around a run for their money and helping make beer the new wine in DC. Churchkey opened in 2009, giving the design team at Alexandria’s The Neighborhood Restaurant Group roughly 4 months to develop a tasteful look that compliments their palatable stock and excellent service.
From the first sip, the graphic style of the menus, labels, and signs melt the heart of typographiles and symbolists alike. Simple yet strong lettering cast against neutral colors brings Churchkey’s bold persona to the forefront. The visual style reminds me of old New York subway signs but is kept current with a dash of whimsy in the graphic arrangement of type and beer iconography.
Much of the kudos goes to Kris Mullins, Director of Marketing at The Neighborhood Restaurant Group. When asked about the inspiration behind Churchkey’s unique brand, Kris said, “We wanted to give weight to beer history… reference classic 1940s design, and keep things a bit ambiguous. It was a great project because we got to start fresh, from the bottom up.”
As a gift for us fellow design geeks, Kris allowed an exclusive look at some of the never-before-seen preliminary layouts and some of the original typographic inspiration.
It’s always inspiring to see into the creative process but even more rewarding to see good design followed through and executed so well.
“We have many great ideas coming down the pipeline.” Kris added. And I for one can’t wait. In the meantime though, I’ll be enjoying a cold one at my new favorite pub.
Cheers!
Painting the Town Gold
June 22nd, 2010By Todd Metrokin
Have you noticed the Golden Triangle’s marketing lately? Does it seem more polished? More modern? That’s because the team at Golden Triangle Business Improvement District enlisted some stellar creative to help them rebrand the neighborhood as a vital and welcoming business and entertainment destination in our city. The effort began over two years ago when the group, headed by Executive Director Leona Agouridis and Communications Manager Sloan Carroll, underwent a rebranding initiative with the goal to better serve local businesses and visitors. As with any kind of destination branding, the touchpoints are many including the ever helpful street ambassadors, website, publications, events, vehicles, and wayfinding signage—all of which needed to be reevaluated. This was no small feat. When asked about the support needed for the scale of this project, Leona replied, “You need to have a great board to be successful.”
Another key to her success was hiring the creative teams at Design Army and Threespot to leverage the new positioning for a refreshed identity and brand experience.
The change was subtly cosmetic at first. I noticed the street banners were swapped out, then the maps on the bus shelters were redesigned. More recently I came across the website, newsletter, and event posters and couldn’t help but see the change was greater than a logo refresh. It was altogether more appealing—more current in design and more relevant in content and experience.
The brand’s style is now well established. The newsletter is fresh and bright. The website, which so easily could have been limited to a simple business directory is instead a useful, mobile friendly site with neighborhood news and specials. The site seems to capture the pace and flavor of the locale through smart design and cool photography.
“We wanted the branding to manifest online in a meaningful way,” said Tim Cripps, Art Director at Threespot. “We conducted a thorough audit to help them define where they wanted to be, what the offering to the user is.”
Gwydion Suilebhan, Threespot’s Account Manager added, “We were very invested in the success of this project—for promoting Washington. Threespot is a DC-based company and we love it here.”
Kudos to Golden Triangle for promoting local business as well as hiring local creative. If I have anything critical to say about the program (and this is a critique after all) it’s that the summer event promotion is the only piece that seems out of place. While it’s okay on its own, the folksy illustration style of the guitar and drab color scheme don’t promote the hip, urbane aesthetic I would expect. That minor hiccup aside, the Golden Triangle rebrand gets a big gold star from me.
www.goldentriangledc.com
www.threespot.com
www.designarmy.com
Color by the Yards!
June 16th, 2010By Nancy Bratton
What better way to be inspired than to check out other design disciplines, such as textile design. A slight curiosity brought me to the Art by the Yard: Women Design Mid-Century Britain exhibition at the Textile Museum in Dupont Circle. I know that you’re thinking drab rugs are not your thing, but this current (and other past exhibitions) have really surprised me. Immediately when I walked into the simple, yet spacious, and well designed exhibit space I was struck by color—yards and yards of vibrant, varying color. Then I noticed all of the organic, whimsical, and futuristic 60’s patterns—how delightful. If you have the budget, some of these antique textiles are even on sale in the gift shop.
A couple of the hands-on summer arts workshops of particular interest are The Printed Pattern: Silkscreened Pillowcase, let by D.C. based artist, Kristina Bilonick on Saturday July 24th and Digital Textile Design and Printing on Saturday, August 7th and Sunday August 8th, led by associate professor Hitoshi Ujiie from the Philadelphia University School of Engineering and Textiles.
For more information on the current exhibition and programs see http://www.textilemuseum.org
Pitango Gelato: Tastefully Branded
May 16th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
After visiting the locally-owned Pitango Gelato on P Street, I knew I needed to write about the experience. I use the word experience quite deliberately because the product, store environment, service and identity all seem choreographed into a pitch-perfect performance. The all-organic product itself is enough to rage about (I recommend the classic Gianduja or seasonal orange-dark chocolate sorbet) but the staff’s customer service deserves equal praise. The visual identity is sophisticated yet friendly and the store environment is clean and well-matched to the brand.
The only piece of traditional marketing I could see was a brand statement poster on the wall, no loud graphics or boastful announcements to be seen. It was in the details—like the carefully sourced gelato ingredients—where I found the mastery.
“I wanted the the logo design to be Italian without being too much,” says CEO and Founder Noah Dan. “To reach a level of sophistication while still being comfortable.”
The beginning of the Pitango brand story starts with Noah who spent his childhood summers visiting Italy and its famed gelato shops and who has now meticulously perfected his own recipe for Pitango. But his approach doesn’t stop there. The store materials are all quality, “We eliminated unnatural materials like laminates. I think our customer recognizes something is different here, and we don’t need to shout it out.”
Chris Lester of Rock Creek Strategic Marketing led the branding project and having known Noah for quite a long time was well tuned to his aesthetic. That doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges. “We wanted the perfect shade. Bright but not artificial,” according to Lester, “The unique green (PMS 361) that differentiates the Pitango identity needed some selling.”
The entire package shows a restraint rarely seen in the confection business. But that’s just one more reason I love Pitango Gelato. I just hope this post earns me some customer points on my well-worn frequent visitor card.
I use a four-point evaluation scale for consumer brands and this one has succeeded on all.
Leadership — Are the company’s mission or brand values clear and upheld by leadership and business practices?
Yes. The store’s mission is clearly tied to Noah Dan’s personal story and ethics.
Interface — Do the policies, store environment and customer service reflect the brand values?
Yes, and kudos again to the great staff.
Product — Does the product or service live up to the brand promise?
Mmmmmmmmmm yes.
Identity — Do the materials communicate the brand and are they aligned under a coordinated system?
Yes. Simple, concise, fresh and consistent.
Rock Creek Strategic Marketing
www.pitangogelato.com
Death Rides a Banner Ad
May 11th, 2010By Todd Metrokin
This post is less review and more OMG. You may have seen these banner ads lurking in the corner of your favorite website. Don’t be afraid, they can’t hurt you. The first is just a little over the top with it’s “I Know What You Did Last Summer-esque” pic of a girl collapsed over a grave. (Is she really mourning in a denim mini??)
I find the second ad for Medifast even more disturbing. That ghostly girl looks like she should be in an ad for The Ghost Whisperer, not a weight loss drug. I think it reads, “Take our drug and you’ll fade to nothing and be stuck in the in-between world of a straight-to-video high school horror movie.”
Thanks for the laugh Medifast.
Dragon Wars
March 31st, 2010By Todd Metrokin
If you’ve been through the Pentagon City metro recently you may have noticed the Agility ads — looks like they did a station buy-out with their dragon logo emblazoned across the walls.
But I couldn’t help but think of another logo I’d seen. I remember being a fan of the Hong Kong tourism logo launched several years ago by BrandsNation so I had to look it up and see. Hmmm… similar but not the same. One points East and one West. And the styles are admittedly different. But I was still a little disturbed by the encroachment on Hong Kong’s natural affinity with their mark. What could this logistics company have to do with a dragon? Are dragons naturally associated with agility? With logistics?
Investigating a bit further I found their 2006 press release in which they announce PWC Logistics has changed their name to Agility and taken on the new identity, “The word Agility describes the culture of the organization, its speed and dexterity in responding to customers’ needs; while the icon, a dragon is a powerful metaphor, common across different cultures of the world. It symbolizes wisdom, independence, heritage, empowerment, leadership, trade, strength and speed. “Within the PWC Logistics group of companies we had many well known and leading logistics brands,” said Sultan on the selection of the new brand name.”
Personally, I think it’s a stretch — dragons represent trade? This fight goes to Hong Kong.
