Some people bemoan the widespread use of texting and Tweet-style communication as the death of true writing. While spelling and correct grammar might be taking a hit, I’d argue that limiting yourself to 140 characters challenges any writer to get straight to the point — quickly. Maybe these short bursts of text don’t signify the death of nuance, but a rebirth in editing. After all, with such little space, every word counts.
When I was a kid, my mom would chuck my sister and me into the car and take us to our local library. While she disappeared upstairs to seek out the new Dean Koontz thriller, we’d explore the children’s section — a giant labyrinth of shelves and racks stretching on into infinity. It took me years to learn the layout of that place, but by the time I had it down, my favorite spots were permanently committed to memory. Walk in, straight back, right, then left. End of the aisle, three shelves up from the bottom: The drawing books. Specifically, the Ed Emberley ones.
Dear Vinyl,
I honestly didn’t think I’d ever see you again. It’s not like we’ve kept in touch much the past few years. But it was surprising to bump into you the other day while shopping. And then I saw you again online and it brought back a flood of memories. I just have to be blunt and honest—I wondered to myself, what are you doing in my world again?
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This is the second of two parts on Zombie Brand. If you haven’t, check out yesterday’s Part 1.
While it’s impossible to hard-wire the possibility for resurrection into a brand or product, there are lessons to be learned from the best Undead Brands. So, let’s do a brand autopsy of Atari to discover the signs that might have led to its second and third lives. These characteristics are also good checklists for new, growing companies, as well as those looking for some supernatural longevity.
Sometimes a company taps into an existing ethos so deeply that nothing–irrelevance, poor management or even lack of product–can keep it from rising again. Today in part 1, we’ll look at the story of one such zombie brand. In part 2 we will find out if there’s a magical ingredient that allows brands to crawl back from death.
There’s no silver bullet to fend off death in the marketplace. Brands cease to innovate, fail to evolve, or simply meet the end of a natural life cycle. But looking at the story of one particular brand’s resurrection might provide clues to the ingredients for a Lazarus-like return.
(This is part of an ongoing series of posts, “50 Lies About Clients”, revealing the truth behind some of the sacred cows designers and marketers hold dear. )
Shepherd your ideas through the approval process
Originally, I had titled this post “Protect your ideas through the approval process”. And with that, I unintentionally revealed a tension designers and marketers face when working alongside clients. Underneath the talk of strategic partnerships and client service, many of us still harbor an “us versus them” mentality. We walk into presentations skeptically trying to figure out how the client will mess with our babies, our beautiful designs and airtight concepts.
It’s been circling through the design community online—iStockphoto will soon be offering “stock logos” for sale on their site. Much digital ink has been spilled in outrage, disgust, indifference and excitement. But what does this really mean for the design industry and the creative marketplace of the future?
Why this will be bad for iStockphoto
The move hurts their brand. iStockphoto has been good at what it does—providing inexpensive stock photography for designers and marketers with small budgets. Its high-quality photos and vector illustrations are miles beyond its competition. But much like BMW’s entry into the SUV market, iStock is venturing into untested waters where maintaining the same quality level will be much more difficult (and expensive).
Is iStock biting the hand that feeds it? Their primary buyers are graphic designers, art directors and marketing people looking for affordable photos and illustrations. Up to this point, these creative types saw themselves as customers and partners with iStock, and their offerings were a useful creative resource. But that strategic friendship will probably be strained as the company seems to be competing with its customers. I can foresee many designers boycotting iStock in an effort to fight the perception that the company wants to take away their business.
In her blog post on Fast Company, Ellen Lupton (author of Thinking With Type) talks about the curious habit of piling up papers. This particular quote gave me a bit of hope, as it exactly describes my working style:
She describes her work style as “managing through piles.” MacLear assigns each project its own stack of papers. “If I don’t see them (they are in a cabinet) then the project might as well be in cold storage,” she says. Many productivity experts agree that documents should stay more or less visible until you are finished using them. At that point, most papers can either be recycled or banished to closed filing cabinets.
How does everyone else arrange their workspace?
Way back before we started Hexanine, I commuted out of the city to a design firm in the Chicago burbs. My drive averaged 70 minutes each way, and gave me plenty of time for brainstorming and podcasts. But while motoring to the Kennedy Expressway, I saw things I might have missed if it weren’t for the gridlock. One of them was this van: (Photo taken with my old cellphone.)
In the 2+ years I made that drive, this homemade billboard of a van was parked on the same 3-block stretch (moving occasionally) right near the highway. That was almost 5 years ago. And guess what? It’s still there. That old van even has a spot on Google Maps street view. For those of you who don’t get the funny syntax English, the author of this vinyl lettered rage (applied to all sides of the vehicle!) doesn’t like American Family Insurance. It’s obvious to anyone who drives or walks past this Hate Van that for whatever reason (“Didn’t fix this Car!”) American Family did something to absolutely piss off the owner.
Welcome to the official launch of the Hexanine website, as well as this blog, Zeroside.
After many late nights, sweat and tears, we’re live and worldwide, comin’ at you.
In the coming weeks and months we’ll be posting a variety of bits–insight and inspiration in the form of articles, case studies, relevant links & more. We look forward to beginning the conversation with you. More very soon.
Excelsior!
