Cadbury loses its case for the color purple. A recent trademark case caught my attention and reminded me again of the power of color: Cadbury, the eminent British chocolate maker, lost an appeal to keep its exclusive right to use the color purple on candy bars and drinking chocolate. Cadbury …
May I say something about Word? It is not a layout program; it has no connection with graphic design. No designer wants to produce collateral in Word. It may be in their tool kit, but it’s located at the very bottom, among the dusty dregs. Yet companies frequently ask us …
Logo design is like solving the best puzzle ever. Essentially, it is distilling a company’s story into a simple graphic. Like all good art, the simplicity is a cover for a deeper complexity. There’s a mystique and a sense of cleverness about logos; upon closer inspection, you can find hidden …
We recently completed a long-term web design project for BerkleyNet, a leading provider of workers compensation services. Our task was to completely revamp their heavily-used agent and policyholder web portals. The client invited us to meet at their newly decorated offices, which reflected the feeling and colors they wanted to …
We recently designed a corporate logo for Compel Visuals, a medical-legal illustration company that provides custom illustrations of surgical procedures, disease and injuries to medical malpractice attorneys. These drawings are are fully researched and highly detailed; they’re usually presented in the courtroom to a jury. The client asked that, ideally, …
Make It Part of Your Business Strategy The first step in branding is developing a corporate logo. Many companies jump into that process before thinking it through, and one of the risks of not planning ahead is the possibility of trademark infringement. Have you researched your choices for company name? …
Our clients ask: How important is it to show our faces on our website? Should we post photos of the executive team? I always answer “yes” to this question. Viewers like to see the faces of the company leadership alongside their biographies. However, if you’re not willing to hire a …
We see it all the time: A dynamic, great-looking website is launched, and then . . . sits there. Why have a website if it’s not being used to bring in new customers or service the current ones? It’s a head-scratcher for any web developer, and certainly for any marketer. …
An envelope from Paris arrived in the mail. My brother and sister-in-law had been traveling in Europe and they sent me a charming 3-D postcard-puzzle. It arrived in pieces, with scored areas for folding and tabs for tucking, and a photo showing the final result: A miniature paper model of …
Have you noticed there’s a trend toward the generic in logo design? We sure have. The still-popular ‘swooshes’ from the ’90s, overused fonts, people as nature objects – all are cliches. Granted, thousands of business are started every year, so we’re bound to see copycat logos. But the dumbing down …