Brand books are awesome. As proof, we submit the Skittles brand book created by TBWA.
This strange and inspirational manifesto crystalizes the personality of a brand whose average consumer is “12–17 years old,” “wears large hats and other popular clothing,” and “fears long-limbed animals, such as giraffes.”
Sadly, TBWA recently lost the Skittles account, but not before producing some of the most memorable oddvertising the world has ever known.
More images after the jump.
We’ve just received our copy of the brand-new inspiration book by LogoNest. The book was an outgrowth of the popular logo website, and we were asked to lend our voice to this first collected volume. Hexanine partner Tim contributed the case study/tutorial “Marrying Symbol And Metaphor.” It’s at home among other great writing by Steve Zelle (of Processed Identity), Leighton Hubbell, and a slew of other design authors.
Below is an excerpt from “Marrying Symbol And Metaphor.” For the rest of the story and more great logo inspiration, you can purchase the limited-edition book at the LogoNest website.
Defining The Symbol
A symbol is roughly defined as an image, object or depiction that represents something else. Understanding the basics of symbology is at the core of what we do as designers. It’s crucial for identity designers to absorb the basic symbols of culture, whether they are derived by association, resemblance, or convention. Symbols are super-valuable, because they communicate a vast amount of information with simplified visual depictions. Think of a stop sign’s associations, or the cross that represents a broad array of religious thought. These symbols don’t tell a complete story, but they stand in for much more complex thoughts or concepts. So, the first step of crafting an excellent logo is to generate a library of relevant symbols.
The redesigned website for Green Energy Reporter is now live. You can visit the new site itself, and read more about its creation on the Hexanine site.
We’re sure this has never happened to you, but sometimes brands misstep and the results aren’t pretty. Whether it’s because of bizarre weather patterns, changing stylistic trends, the rise of American Idol style voting, or slow news cycles, some logos just aren’t well-received. And to be fair, some logos are crappy, objectively. But assuming the work you and your team have launched isn’t a horror show, chances are that it’s decent, solid and professional. But that doesn’t mean everyone will like it. Sometimes the Internet brings the hate.
We’re squarely into 2011, and as we contemplate the year gone by, we thought it’d be appropriate to share some inspiration based on the weather. So, here’s a post to keep you warm at night as winter marches on: 10 great snowflake-inspired logos.
Squaw Valley 1960 Winter Olympics
Our identity work for the online news site, Green Energy Reporter, is now live on the Hexanine site. Project details are here. The identity will go live (along with more of our work) at Green Energy Reporter soon, so stay tuned.
As Thanksgiving approaches, we’ve been reflecting on the many creative people who’ve inspired and challenged us to grow, stretch our limits and be the absolute best designers possible. In the spirit of thanks and sharing, below are (in no particular order) 14 designers of all kinds who’ve influenced us throughout our careers. Whose inspiration are you thankful for? Let us know in the comments below.
Syd Mead
The concept designer and futurist behind visuals in films like Blade Runner and the original Tron, Mead’s forward-looking designs have brought the future to the present.
“It’s supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard, everyone would do it. The hard … is what makes it great.” -Tom Hanks, in A League Of Their Own
Here’s one of the reasons why I love baseball: Even the very best players, the absolute pinnacle guys — Mickey Mantle, Tony Gwynn, Ryne Sandberg, they all failed basically 70% of the time. Hitting .300 for a career pretty much gives you enshrinement into the Baseball Hall of Fame, but that works out to only getting a hit about 1/3 of the time. That’s a 70% failure rate. These players are the cream of the crop, but they have to learn to live with failure. They breathe it. It follows them around, sleeps in their beds. A 70% failure rate is pretty high, but these guys endure it and push through to levels of greatness, even though failure dogs them at every turn.
We are big fans of Steve Zelle’s design blog, Processed Identity. He digs in deep with identity designers on how they strategically solve clients’ logo issues, highlighting the inherent value of custom logo design. It’s all about the process, and we’re excited to once again be featured on PI, with a case study of our work with BevReview.
Thanks to Steve for his great continuing work.
A Gap In Understanding
By now you’ve heard from many corners of the Internet about Gap’s failed rebranding effort, their response, and eventual recanting. Large corporate rebrandings, their challenges, and failures are nothing new. But the particular way in which Gap presented, backpedaled and reversed leaves our heads spinning. The drama has played out in the blogosphere, on Facebook and in the media. Hopefully Gap has learned something and closed what seems to be a (pardon the pun) gap in the understanding of their own brand.
Read on…