design for brand

design for brand

Tom Cox  //  tomcoxdesign.com

 
Jun 21 / 5:26am

20 Years of New and Different: My Portfolio

To mark my 20th year in design, I am happy to present my most extensive portfolio ever. This Design Gallery presents many projects I have not been able to show until now. Featured are many designs from my time at The Coca-Cola Company and Brigade Quartermasters. There are also many music event and packaging projects.

http://tomcox.carbonmade.com

 

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May 27 / 8:15am

Microsoft vs Apple: Don't build a business based on all the things you can do.

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Less is more. More is less. Apple is now the most valuable tech company in the world. It has passed Microsoft in market value. The lesson? Simplify your business. Let me rephrase that, SIMPLIFY YOUR BUSINESS! Simplify your product offerings, your brand message(s), your customer service, your product design, EVERYTHING!

Not for your sake. Your ego says, 'We can do more than anybody!' Think about your customer first. Design your business for your customer. Don't build a business based on all the things you can do. Nobody besides you cares! Focus on the one thing you do well and get better and better at it. Your customers will love you for it.

http://www.fastcompany.com/1652843/microsoft-vs-apple-product-line-market-cap...

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May 25 / 7:30am

Design an Island

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The TV series LOST just ended with many saying, 'There will never be another show like it.' Are people saying that about your brand? Wouldn't it be great if they did?

Below is a link to an article titled What TV Execs Should Learn from Life on the Island. 

It's worth the read for anyone interested in creating a brand of any sort that stands out as different, better and special. Because like TV shows, brands should have a compelling story that touches people. Touches them enough that they want to connect with others who are part of that story. Bring others into the story. A brand that crosses media and channels and grows on it's own.

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May 21 / 6:14am

Forgive me @Vonster, I break rules.

My last two post were all about breaking rules. Apparently I broke the rule, 'A designer shall not blog without visuals.' My good friend Von Glitschka pointed this out to me.

@tomcoxdesign You need visuals with those posts that demonstrate what is being talked about.

Now, to continue my rulebreaking, I shall poke my friend Von in the ribs with more words and no visuals. Do you feel the tension? No, not between Von and I, but the idea of a designer not using visuals!

That is what I am trying to convey. Break the rules! I am a designer not using visuals. Sometimes I run with scissors. In a previous post I wrote about how it could be better for a brand not to have a logo. For shame!! See, I did it again. Two exclamation marks.

A brief word picture. As a designer, one of my greatest accomplishments has been the grouping of appropriate words. Eight years ago I was creating a new brand identity for a company that sells tactical gear to the military and law enforcement. In the midst of all the research, sketching, image building, I was looking for a position. Something to anchor all the work to. These are the words I designed. Deliver the Goods to the Good Guys™. I am not a writer. The rules say I shouldn't even try. The rules say I should have hired a writer to create a tag line. When all was said and done, the visuals I created for the new identity seemed to work very well, but it was the words that galvanized the brand. Both employees and customers grabbed hold of that line. Customers emailed and wrote letters thanking them for 'delivering the goods to the good guys'. Revenue tripled in 2 years.

As designers, have we made up rules or allowed others to pin us in with rules that don't really exist? How can we complain about clients, bosses, marketing managers, brand managers, art directors, moms(you know all those people who don't get our groundbreaking ideas) if we will not blow up the rules ourselves?

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May 20 / 6:19am

Break the Rules!

My last post I wrote about rules that inhibit growth. Rules that no longer expand to the boundaries of your problems. Rules that were needed earlier in an organization, but now only serve to thwart new potentials.

Some of the rules can not and should not be changed. Perhaps a rule is, 'It has to be red. It's been red for a hundred years... we are not changing it now.' Maybe the budget is what it is and you are fortunate to have what you have. These types of rules should be relished as welcomed constraints.

 

"Here is one of the few effective keys to the design problem: the ability of the designer to recognize as many of the constraints as possible (and) his willingness and enthusiasm for working within these constraints—the constraints of price, size, strength, balance, surface, time, etc.; each problem has its own peculiar list."

 

- Charles Eames

 

So yes, as a problem solver we should recognize constraints. Take it as a challenge to create great solutions within those constraints. Talented problem solvers can do that all day long. But if the focus is on growth. If you need breakthrough ideas. You have to be willing to break some rules.

 

If you are in a position of rule keeping, then I suggest reviewing your system of rules to find potential innovation roadblocks. Reward those who attempt to find new solutions by questioning or challenging the rules.

 

If you run into resistance from rule keepers, be prepared to prove the rule is no longer needed because it is an obstacle, not an asset for growth.

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May 19 / 7:20am

When rules increase, growth decreases.

Some rules are good and needed. They mean to protect us. They aim to help us. However, a lot of rules in the business world are only successful at impeding creativity and thwarting opportunities. Commonly they are instituted within a company to control outcomes. Operational principles, practices and disciplines guide behaviors and actions based on the experience and culture of the organization. The problem is your problems don't stop changing. Your target customer's life doesn't stop changing.

Been in any meetings where an idea was not even considered because of preexisting irrelevant rules? When things are going well for a company, often rules are not as strongly enforced. When things go bad common reaction is to tighten the grip on the rules. That is what people without answers do. That is where the freak in control freak comes from. When everybody freaks out, they seek control - not solutions. Rules are a control freaks best friend. Freedom is a solution's best friend.

The age old truth is rules create rulebreakers. And in this economy that is what a lot of companies need. Creative, innovative thinking allows you to expand the boundaries of your solution to the boundaries of your problems. Rulebreakers look at the existing state of affairs and see past the status quo to find creative, rulebreaking solutions.

As a leader, call a meeting, send out an email, display a poster that says "What if there were no rules? What could we do then?"

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May 18 / 7:14am

LOST is the Art of Creativity


Lost

Exceeding expectations is more important than doing things the same ole way they have always been done, isn't it? If that is true, then why does so much of the noise in our culture look and sound the same? What is the point of spending time and money on any marketing, advertising, publishing, entertainment or creative endeavor unless you disrupt this cluttered world of sameness with something new and different.

The last regular season episode of LOST airs tonight, before the grand finale this Sunday. LOST appeared on TV in 2004 and stuck out like a sore thumb. There was nothing else like it on network TV. ABC wanted a show about people who survive a plane crash. JJ Abrahms, Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse and their team took that little sliver of direction and took a huge creative risk by creating a TV show full of industry standard "dont's". Carlton Cuse, writer and executive producer, "we violated a lot of rules of television. We have a large and sprawling cast, we have characters who are inherently unsympathetic — there are murderers — we have complicated storylines." Six years later, the plane crash is a distant side note to a story full of mystery, suspense, life, death, redemption, science, faith, love, destiny, free will, and so much more. This series has been a phenomal success because someone greenlighted an incredibly risky and original piece of art that disrupted the same ole, same ole.

 

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May 17 / 5:46am

The Secret to Building a Great Brand

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Scene from City Slickers:

Curly: Do you know what the secret of life is? [holds up one finger] 

Curly: This. 

Mitch: Your finger? 

Curly: One thing. Just one thing. You stick to that and the rest don't mean s*%#! 

Mitch: But, what is the "one thing?" 

Curly: [smiles] That's what *you* have to find out.

Serious about building a great brand? Then follow Curly's advice, and also read the following short article from the Harvard Business Review. The article is focused on presentations, but read it in the context of how you should "present" your brand to your target market.

Your target market is not sitting in your conference room. They don't have 20 extra minutes for your data dump of info about your brand. Crash into your customer's world on an emotional level. Fight the urge to tell them everything about your brand. Know who you are talking to and to keep it simple in all things such as your packaging, web, advertising, catalogs, direct mail, events, etc... 

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May 14 / 7:18am

Friday Folio | That Panda's Got a Big Ole Butt

 

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A quick post today featuring work I have designed to promote various events for Friends of the National Zoo, which is part of the Smithsonian Institution. The Zoo Lights logo was selected and published in "Animals and Mythology", the second book in the new Master Library series from Logo Lounge.

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