A logo is simply a recognition device, which has been used throughout history to assure people that the product is associated with the company that provides the product. A common misconception is that the logo is the be all and end all of the visual communication of a brand. It is true that the logo is important, as it should reflect the core idea behind a brand with immediacy. However it isn’t simply the logo which displays a brand’s core idea.

If you look at any industry, you’ll notice that mostly there is very little difference between competitors. It is becoming increasingly harder to stand out. The days of being able to judge a brand on rational terms such as price, quality of product and quality of service are gone. Companies must embrace that a brand essentially, is a product, service or organisation with a personality. A personality which overtly differentiates the company, making people become enamoured with the products or service that the brand offers, “become loyal beyond reason”.

The wingspan of a brand has grown considerably in recent times, with the advent of new technology allowing for a myriad of mediums for a brand to communicate with it’s audience. You need to make sure that your brand has a set of effective visual elements. Not simply a standout logo. Think of brand colours, typefaces, imagery and graphical devices. All of the aforementioned (if deemed necessary to promote the brand’s core idea) should adhere to a coherent system across various media (printed matter, web presence, enviroments etc) that gives your brand idea a unique and memorable appearance.

The times are a changing, and it’s not just clients that need to adapt, as a brand communications consultancy we need to move with the times too. Creating brands that come to life in a physical environment is something that we’ve done very well for years – but the world of social media is changing the goalposts for all. Take recruitment – one of our core service areas which has traditionally needed to differentiate itself, work hard and communicate through the printed media first and foremost is now seeing the vast majority of if it’s work being conducted on LinkedIn and Twitter – the challenge of building a personality through social media is a welcome one (so long as the person doing this recognises the fact they still need to be ‘on brand’) but trying to get across the top-end of sector feel of a recruitment consultancy (which a beautiful printed piece with high end production techniques would do easily) through social media avenues is really when the brand messaging needs to be very joined up.

Over the coming weeks we will be exploring a number of areas which will hopefully inform and inspire you to think more in-depth about how you can make your brand stand apart from the competition! Part two coming soon…

References:
Wally Olins: The Brand Handbook Thames and Hudson
Kevin Roberts, Saatchi & Saatchi: Lovemarks – The Future Beyond Brands

Projector are currently: Ticking those to-do lists off, preparing diaries for next week and allowing a small droplet of weekend fever to creep in.

Today sees the launch of the London 2012 Olympic Mascots. Named Wenlock and Mandeville, these two interesting characters have been unveiled as joint mascots, rather than sticking to the norm of having one main character. 

The character’s description/guidelines have been set out in great detail on Creative Review’s blog. There has obviously been a lot of care and consideration taken into the development of the characters, going into a lot of detail on specific elements.  You do have to question the extent to which our country is represented in the character itself. Granted, there is an element of reference to London in the use of the “Taxi Hire” sign which adorns the Black Cabs of London.

It’s easy to knock something (we’ve all been on the receiving end), and we’re not here to do that, however the overall look and feel of the character I feel, is actually quite Eastern and more akin to the likes of anime, rather than something you would assume was quintessentially British. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want a lion wearing a Union Jack Cape with a Bulldog sidekick, or perhaps an large bipedal stiff upper lip, but there should be more of an inclusion of something that separates us as a nation. It doesn’t have to be cliché.

I’m looking forward to seeing how their personality will exude in static media, as they seem to lack the warmth that Javier Mariscal’s Catalan sheepdog Cobi had. The jury is still out until more examples of their use are evident. Cobi proved to be a very lucrative source of income for the olympics, a definite commercial success. I hope Wenlock and Mandeville have similar success.

What are your thoughts? Like or dislike? We’ll have to lump them whatever the choice! I’m still undecided.

Projector are currently: In the studio in somewhat tropical temperatures and humidity.

Adopting a slightly humorous approach can differentiate you from competitors in your sector. Obviously this won’t apply to all sectors of business, as brands like Goldmann Sachs would prefer to be more reassuring and business-like to instill a feeling of confidence in their investment banking. However if suitable, humour can grab the attention of an audience, tease out a smile and make a lasting impression with memorable wit. Humour can make people stop and think about a brand, remembering it’s message.

To a case in point. “serious**” as a brand treads this line very well. Waste is something that people either get embarassed about, or laugh over. In choosing the latter and taking a light hearted approach  basing their brand around being “serious about sh**” “dealing with sh**” and that “sh** happens”. Sales proceeded to rise by 90%, giving them a strong platform to further build their brand upon. 

A recent example would be Magners cider, introducing their new campaign in light of the onset of a (hopefully) sunkissed English summer. The campaign features insights into the people who work at Magners. It shows them to be ridiculously relentless when it comes to procuring the apples and it is this commitment that makes the cider so distinctive. In amidst the humour however, is the underlying message that Magners are solely focussed on producing the best tasting cider, alluding to complete dedication to the quality of their product. It is early days but I’m certain that this new campaign will push Magners into the forefront of drinkers’ minds.

Adopting any kind of tone of voice gives you another chance at having something extra in making your brand that little bit different. It could be humour. Your brand could be the one you could imagine going for a cheeky pint with on a lunchtime. It could be the stalwart you can always rely on. Copywriting can really bring your brand down to earth giving a much more engaging experience, making you feel like you have a relationship with the brand, rather than simply using it’s service or products.

Projector are currently: Voting with the back of their hand on this website.

After the successful re-brand of their parent Lettings company we were asked by Cathedral to develop a new brand for their Estate Agency which has just launched this very month.

We worked with Cathedral for several months to clarify how best to position the new business alongside the existing company. Implementing a naming and branding analysis process we talked to clients and staff with an aim to firming up how the company should be perceived and whether or not a complete new brand, moving away from the ‘Cathedral’ label, would be beneficial. The outcome of this was to keep the ‘Cathedral’ title, which meant that the new brand was at an advantage straight off the mark, being seen to have the backing of the parent company. 

It was then a case of differentiating the new business which we did through the use of colour, variation of the logo shape, new copy and the simple introduction of the ‘Estates’ name to the logotype.

Projector are currently: Looking forward to the bank holiday weekend.

We recently heard back from Mark Westerby, who we’d previously worked with on a showcase of his expansive high profile photography. The news was not good, it was great! With the brochure having been a resolute success in attracting new business, Mark wanted us to work with him on developing a newer version. The focus of the showcase would be fashion lead, showing off Mark’s stylish and dynamic compositions.

We put forward the concept of the brochure being white throughout, to further emphasise the already vivid colour tones within the imagery. The format would also change to landscape, which would allow for more scope with the shots supplied. By doing this we would differentiate the two brochures in terms of format and colour but  still maintain the Mark Westerby brand identity through the overall use of his black and white brand colour.

We hope this new brochure heralds as much positive clamour as the one previous. Our congratulations go out to Mark for being recognised as one of the top 200 Advertising Photographers in the world as credited by the International Advertising Review, Luerzer’s Archive.

Projector are currently: In the early stages of the re-designing our website.

We recently completed a brand refresh project for one of our longest running clients - Positive Solutions. The fruits of several months labour can be seen across all elements of communication, ranging from printed items to online media and various marketing materials. A new colour scheme, design style and guidelines were the result of an extensive research and development process which involved close collaboration with our friend; brand guru Mark Johnson (themanwith3heads). We talked to all facets of the company in order to pave the correct route for the brands strategic aims. We were also commissioned to do a nationwide photo shoot of PS clients to show the personal service the companies 1700 IFA’s offer. We captured a range of personalities from various backgrounds and occupations that could convey the variety and breadth of the companies reach and ‘positive’ effect. Big thanks go out to Mark Westerby for the fantastic photography! Keep your eye’s peeled for more details of this and more of our latest work on the Case Study pages of our main website which we’ll be updating soon!

Projector are currently: Enjoying the fact Calvin Harris “Ready for the Weekend” hasn’t come on the Squeezebox first thing on Monday, as it has for the previous three weeks.

And now for the concluding part of last week’s screenprint blog epic. After much enjoyable and laborious work at the North’s finest screenprinting studio, Northern Print, over the weekends of the and the 30th of Jan & 6th Feb a final 3 colour screenprint was produced! The character conjured up can only be described as a gene splicing experiment between Jeremy Beadle, a monkey and a Mexican Lucho wrestler gone terribly, terribly wrong. Next time I think I’ll prepare a design in advance! I can’t recommmend the course enough to anyone who wants to dabble in screenprinting as this is an excellent crash course, or a great refresher to get you back into hand printing your work. Hopefully this will be start of a fruitful printing career.

Projector are currently: Having a bit of a desk reshuffle.

This week we had a special visitor. Liam from Progress Packaging came in to show us their portfolio of work. To put it simply, the print and packaging work which they produce is top draw. The bee’s knees. The cat’s pyjamas. The dog’s testes. We’re very glad to have them as a print contact and will no doubt have an example of work to show you in the future which will have been put together by their fine fair hands.

To take a quick peek at some examples of the service they provide, then look no further than;

www.progresspkg.co.uk

As the creative sector grows ever more in demand, it’s skill, ideas and a client’s satisfaction which have become further challenging as new boundaries are being set. This has lead to creative studios working together in an intersection of common goals, by sharing knowledge, learning from one another and building relationships. In particular, creative studios that work together have greater resources at their disposal. This means collaborating between studios is undoubtedly a bonus.

Having a network of creatives, which you can call upon at any given time depending on the project’s demands, saves your client time, cost and effort. Engaging the correct creative at the right time will not only create a stronger message across a piece of media you are designing for but it will also give the project it’s cutting edge and success. Having and using other reliable creative studios with complementary skills is a valuable source for any company to have. These relationships will bring their own rewards in return. You can then build good and fruitful relationships, which can bring new business opportunities. Furthermore, you will learn from the experience of working with designers who have a different skill set from your own.

A prime example of this ethic is Matt Pyke (aka Universal Everything) The Guardian newspaper listed the studio as one of the Top 50 designers in the UK. Matt operates out of his garden shed in Sheffield yet manages to snare clients such as Nokia, Adidas and London’s 2012 Olympics. This is due to his ever expanding network of modular team of designers, programmers, animators and musicians. This allows Matt to offer a large array of solutions for his clients. This allows him to think freely as a designer, allowing him a limited amount of boundaries. Limited boundaries in terms of creativity certainly and also in attracting clients, allowing him to morph to fit their needs, whatever sector they operate in. In addition the client is amazed a startling amount of possibility and scope for their brand. 

Projector Brand Communications also has first hand experience of this, working alongside many notable creatives and the creative support network. We have have grown from learning. Not only do we share the same studio space as Union Room Web Design, many of the projects we work together on are for the same client, making the seamless transition between both online and offline media. We also work with a range of Marketeers, Planners, Researchers, Photographers, Illustrators, Printers and Motion specialists to assure that you get the utmost quality for your business.

The Creative Industry will always thrive on one important rule, communication. It is essential the information you are giving must be inline with your brand image. So having a consultancy with a structured network of creatives at hand will only encourage and increase the success of the your businesses’ visual communications.

If you’d like to hear more from us about the solutions we can offer your business then simply give us a call. We’d be more than happy to listen to your requests.

It’s been busy times at Projector recently but I thought it about time I’d step back into the shoes of the man-in-the-press-box. Last week three of the crew of the good ship Projector took out a few moments from being consummate professionals and trundled down to Dance City. Despite the enormously alluring contemporary dance class, we opted to attend a Parkinson-esque interview of Michael C Place by renowned design lothario, Adrian Shaugnesssy.

For those of you who don’t know Michael is an outstanding contemporary designer (“I heard he’s the best in the world’ – overheard whilst getting a glass of wine, not exactly sure how that’s voted for?!) who treads on the cusp of art in his graphic design work. He is a definite favourite of mine and it was fantastic to see how he’d developed over the years, from placement work, to TDR moving onto his work under the name Build.

One question raised from the interview was what inspired Michael to start designing, which he replied with the albums covers of seminal designers, such as Vaughn Oliver’s sleeve designs for the Pixies. This led to me to think of what had started me on the path to becoming a graphic designer. Michael Johnson has recently written an excellent article on the same topic, which goes into a lot more detail.

The main point I derived however, from the display of his work and the seemingly relentless, but undeniably good, questioning from Adrian, was that hard work gets you where you want to be. Also obviously being given the gift of immense talent helps too. It’s definitely made me think that despite being diligent I can and will be working a lot harder starting right…………….now. Maybe then that incredible talent might slowly cultivate and begin to manifest itself.

Projector were inspired to become Graphic Designers by: Many things, but for me it was to not be an artist and have a stable income. Very Radical.