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Posts from the ‘Design’ Category

The Three Factors Behind Great Creative Work

As a business owner you are ultimately the person responsible for how your company is perceived. At the same time you are ever mindful of finances. The market is flooded with quickie design solutions that can be bought for a dime. But will they communicate to your buying public effectively? Big decision.

To help navigate the waters it helps to understand the makeup of creative professionals and the range of their ability. Being informed will help you to make wise decisions, and know when to settle for solutions that are okay (inexpensive), and when to invest in creative genius.

“What is professional work these days? In fact, it’s quite easy to tell by the work itself.” – Rand MacIvor

On his blog Rand MacIvor states that the three factors behind creative work are Play, Skill and Passion. He says, “It used to be easy to distinguish between professional and amateur work. I’m talking design, writing, art, photography, film – heck, anything that you sell that you create for clients. The advent of digital cameras, fairly intuitive design programs and online publishing sites means the line between pros and wannabees has become blurred, especially for clients. Technologies allow for many more smaller at-home businesses and entrepreneurs, some of whom are truly excellent. But where everyone appears to be a Creative Director or worse, a Creative Guru, it becomes très confusing.”Read more of this very insightful and revealing article written by our friend Rand MacIvor.

Be wary of the unseen risk of poorly conceptualized solutions, the unintended perception of what it is your company does. Work with an ad or design agency that demonstrates the just-right mixture of Play, Skill and Passion, and takes time to flesh out a rockin’ strategy with you. It’s better to invest more capital upfront in great creative work to ensure that your brand is received the way you want it to be.

29 Mar 2012

Memories Forever Photography logo / watermark

Often when clients come to us they have already determined what they do and don’t like about their existing logo. As a photographer Sue Burnett of Memories Forever Photography had determined that she needed her logo to function as a subtle watermark on photos, and that it needed to be simpler than what she was currently using. She liked the flowing descender and ascender of the initial f, so we gave her new logo more panache. Since camera lenses are round we chose to integrate the initials into a circle rather than a rectangle. The resulting mark can stand alone or be paired with the full company name depending on the application.

See other examples of Before & After logos in our portfolio.

9 Nov 2011

Steve Jobs, a designer at heart, liked peeling onions

“Look at the design of a lot of consumer products — they’re really complicated surfaces. We tried to make something much more holistic and simple. When you first start off trying to solve a problem, the first solutions you come up with are very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, and live with the problem and peel more layers of the onion off, you can often times arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don’t put in the time or energy to get there. We believe that customers are smart, and want objects which are well thought through.” - Steve Jobs

6 Oct 2011

Facebook Timeline – revamped for show offs

Opportunity for creativity abounds via Facebook’s anticipated release of Timeline. One striking new change in the profile page layout will be the “cover photo”. Like a huge blank canvas we can foresee this space being filled imaginatively by everyone hoping to get our attention. Especially everyone with something to sell. As of this writing it’s unclear just how similar the new Brand Pages will be to the new personal profile pages of Timeline. But you can bet that if the change is as radical as anticipated the Big Brands are already positioning themselves to use the cover photo compellingly.

Mashable Social Media asked some advertising and design pros to imagine the ways in which the new layout might be used by big brand companies. Check out this gallery of ideas.

Mashable Social Media also asked the question of its readers, “what would you do with the space?” See that article and gallery here.

5 Oct 2011

green

Ewing Creative was informing clients of environmentally conscious paper options long before “green” was a buzzword. Our paper cabinet is chock full of illustrative printed samples provided by paper mills and suppliers, which we’re happy to share. We specify paper, inks and print shops that best suit each client’s project. When appropriate we encourage clients to choose paper that is made from FSC certified, and 100 percent postconsumer fiber.

Read more…

5 Apr 2011

Copyright as it pertains to logos.

A question I am often asked is “who owns the copyright to a logo?” It was explained to me by a lawyer friend that it is helpful to understand that copyright refers to a “bundle” of several different exclusive rights. Certainly someone who has just had a logo designed for their company (or organization) wants to be free to legally trademark their mark. Does the designer retain any rights to the design? The answers to these questions should be clearly spelled out in a contract between the designer and the client. Read more…

21 Oct 2010

Is it OK to use clipart in a business logo?

The legal snag that occurs when using clip art, whether it is free or Royalty Free, is that a business cannot copyright their logo. The reason for this is because the intellectual property rights of the art belongs to someone else.

Usage permissions at popular stock image agencies are spelled out in the licensing agreement. Be sure to read license restrictions, or prohibited use clauses that one must agree to before downloading art from stock houses such as iStockphoto, Getty Images and Corbis Images. They clearly state that such art cannot be used for trademarks and logos. These companies want to sell the same art over and over again, as many times as they can but they can spot a potential legal infringement and want to avoid that for themselves, their artists and the end users of the art – the buyers. Read more…

12 Oct 2010

To design, or redesign a logo?

Sometimes there are excellent reasons not to change. Subtle face-lifts are common among big brand companies who update their logo every 5 years, more or less. Corporations who have made huge investments in their brand and are profiting from loyal, repeat customers don’t want to risk abruptly altering their image and getting lost on the shelf.

Sometimes a business is basically happy with their “look”, but recognize that it is outdated. They may be concerned that their competition is looking more contemporary then them. These companies are good candidates for a design make-over.

Design make-overs are a good choice when after carefully analyzing the effectiveness of the current logo no compelling reason can be found to change it. If however, a company’s current identity design isn’t making a clear connection with it’s intended audience it’s time to rethink, regroup, and start anew.

See Ewing Creative’s Before & After examples of logo design.

3 Oct 2010

Consumed – A Design Campaign for Bananas

If you’ve ever wondered why it seems impossible to fill a grocery cart without adding at least one item whose packaging has been redesigned, the answer to your question is the fact that you’ve asked it. “New look! Same great taste!” openly confesses the blatant goal of catching your eye for no substantial reason. Humans have always noticed novelty, but it’s harder to get our attention in the multicolored and abundant context of a megamart, where one heap of bananas looks much like another.

[Excerpt Consumed - A Design Campaign for Bananas - NYTimes.com.]

See the Chiquita stickers: Read more…

21 Aug 2010