Post-bowling libations and general celebration happened at a nearby cantina — thankfully, talk of after-after party at Rags-2-Ritchies’s was, indeed, just talk.

We think Jeff Lebowski would be proud.

Kelvinator, Rufus Earle, Bell Pepper, Kleen Sweep and Turner Classic.

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GOODWILL INDUSTRIES OF UPSTATE/MIDLANDS SOUTH CAROLINA WEBSITE

1. DIFFERENTIATE

This is a principle of branding, but can also be applied to logo design. Know what the competition looks like and do something that’s unique — people remember things that are different. If a brand looks like everyone else’s in the segment, then there’s nothing to set that product/service or organization apart. Differentiation takes confidence and courage but can pay off immensely. Once I read that the Nike swoosh logo was a compromise by Nike executives — what they really wanted was stripes (like Adidas).

2. SIMPLIFY

This seems easy enough, but is actually difficult to pull off successfully. If you over-simplify, you run the risk of ending up with something boring, so you’ve got to make sure it has visual interest. It’s tempting to use fancy graphic tricks like gradient fills, drop shadows, trendy type and and 3-D effects, but these tricks tend to get dated and usually end up not reproducing well across various mediums. Avoid including too many concepts in a logo — simple designs that suggest one thing are easier to remember and will not get dated as quickly.

Example: FedEx
When Federal Express was going through a rebranding process in the late ’90s, Landor Associates suggested shortening the name to FedEx. They created a very effective logo and tagline Delivering the world on time. The logo employs a hidden symbol between the capital letter E and the letter x. That simple arrow is a powerful visual device — once you see it, you’ll always remember it. That symbol ties in beautifully with the brand in a simple, elegant fashion.

3. CONVEY MEANING
The best brands stand for an idea or a strategic position. Make sure your logo stands for something meaningful — understanding what a design represents accelerates recognition and bridges the gap between brand strategy and creative design. Logos that have meaning provide context and offer better recall — which makes it much more powerful than a logo that’s just looks good.

Example: Amazon. Although the company initially started selling books online, the name grew with the company as they started selling more diverse products. The design of the logo says it all — we sell everything from A to Z (with a smile). It’s friendly, approachable and looks like it’s easy to do business with. True.

4. CHOOSE THE RIGHT COLOR (AND STICK WITH IT!)

Color has the ability to convey meaning and can offer immediate brand associations. It has the power connect emotionally, but can be subjective — while one person may LOVE yellow and orange, someone else may have a negative reaction because of past associations. I can hear someone now — Oh no! those colors remind me of a sofa we had in the ’70s. Consider color carefully and use that color consistently. Over time, that color can become yours — what we refer to as “owning” a color.

Try this little quiz — when you see these company names, what color do you think of?

1. UPS

2. Sprint

3. Target

4. Ford

5. Tiffany & Co.

See there?

5. BE CONSISTENT

Establish standards that illustrate proper use of all logo variations. Use the logo consistently on everything you produce and use the correct logo for the specific application. You should have one color, two color (or more), horizontal, vertical, CMYK, RGB, JPG, PNG and vector at a minimum. Just be sure to use the logo with care and respect and to use consistently. Over time, this will build equity for the brand.

Check out these links for more information on logo and brand identity design:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3jTSB2ez-g

http://www.underconsideration.com/brandnew/

http://logolounge.com

For years, I’ve collected folders full of old ticket stubs, receipts, catalogs, booklets, invoices, postcards, labels and other printed pieces dating from 1900 – 1975. These items are best defined as “ephemera” — things that were created to serve a practical, short-term purpose — not really meant to be saved (or written about in a blog post some 50+ years later). But being a designer who loves history and design history, it comes as no surprise that these items interest me. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever met a designer that doesn’t like rummaging through shelves of thrift stores or antique malls looking for cool printed “stuff”. I believe that collecting and studying these artifacts is really important — we can learn from the past and can find inspiration for current work.

I realize that some may classify all of this “stuff” as trash, but I see it as treasure. I appreciate the printing process, the craftsmanship, the hand lettering, the attention to detail and the history behind each piece. So I’ll keep on colllecting — I’ll just have to add some more folders to the filing cabinet.

Here are just a few samples I’ve collected over the years:

What a great script — and the perfectly tracked Futura typestyle.

1900 self-promotional brochure for a Chicago architecture firm

Back of an old photo card showing amazing lettering and detail.

Sheet music with hand-drawn lettering

Camera brochure cover. I love the Pilot logo.

A great example of good design for everyday purpose.

Kodak box cover

Great numbering style on a receipt from my grandfather's hardware store (1968)

Citizens Radio cards.

Invoice from my grandfather's hardware store - I forgive the spacing (kerning) between the W and the A in "Hardware" but love the typographic choice.

Beautiful lettering style and attention to detail on the back of this photo card.

What a nice lettering style and a capital "F". c.1925

The Golden Ratio looks like this:

And is defined as the ratio between two segments such that the smaller (bc) segment is to the larger segment (ab) is to the sum of the two segments (ac), or bc/ab = ab/ac = 0.618.

And can be calculated like this (adding 1 to the ratio is phi, yielding the same basic geometric relationship):

More examples of the Golden Ratio:

Fascinating! Is it an inherent aesthetic preference or is it a design technique turned tradition? How do you explain the proportion found in nature? However you decide to answer those questions, it’s hard to argue that it has had an enormous impact on art and design over the years and continues to influence design today. Next time you see something that just “feels” right, or that you just can’t take your eyes off of, take a look at the proportions and remember – Ahh, it must be the 0.618!

Why doesn’t everyone in our industry do CreateAthon?

The simple, truthful answer has to do with resources. If only we had the time to put more into CreateAthon. If only we had more money to spend on marketing it. If only we had the resources to hire someone to run the program, full-time, we could recruit more people into the program to do more good for more nonprofits.

For as long as we’ve faced this conundrum, we’ve known what we had to do to address it. So I’m thrilled to announce that CreateAthon has become a 501(c)3 in its own right, joining the ranks of the organizations we’ve proudly served over the years. As a 501(c)3, CreateAthon is now in a position to pursue funding opportunities that can help us build much-needed organizational capacity — with a goal of adding full-time personnel and other resources to help the program grow.

When this sheet of paper arrived in the mail the other day, there was a collective gasp, immediately followed by parental-caliber squeals normally reserved for a child’s college acceptance letter. Proof again that our little idea is growing up.

Back in the day, barbers used to perform medical procedures, including tooth extractions and bloodletting services. Apparently, they would hang the bandages on a pole outside to dry and the wind would wrap the bloody bandages around the pole. Yes, disturbing, but we’re talking the Middle Ages here. Leeches are part of the story, too, but I’ll leave that out for now. The pole represents the staff that was used for the patient to grip to encourage blood flow. The color red is symbolic for arterial blood, blue represents venous blood and the white symbolizes the bandages. It’s also possible that the blue was added when the signs were used in the United States, to honor the national colors.

And a note of caution: If you’re in certain parts of Asia, the barber’s pole design could be used to advertise and disguise a completely different type of business establishment, but I’ll choose to steer clear of that story.

What would your job be if it weren’t this one?

Maria Fabrizio
one of the following : maker of handmade greeting cards / museum curator / figure painter

Kevin Smith
architect

Kathryn White
editor of a top literary review

Julie Turner
architect

Pete Anderson
sportswriter

Cathy Monetti
English professor at a snooty private college

Rebecca Jacobson
psychologist

Teresa Coles
landscape designer

What about you? What would your job be?

Downtown Columbia scored a major economic victory last week with the opening of Mast General Store.  With their vast selection of shoes, clothing, home goods, gifts, ole-timey toys and barrels of candy, it’s a fun, feel-good kind of place to shop, and city leaders and residents alike are all hoping it will be the catalyst for change in downtown Columbia.

What we believe makes Mast Store an even more exciting addition to Columbia is the fact that they are a company with values deeply rooted in corporate social responsibility (CSR).  All the way back to their original store in the late 1800’s, Mast Store has always maintained a culture of contributing to their local community.

If you just consider their business philosophy of locating in cities where they believe the store can be a catalyst for Main Street revitalization, as was the case in Greenville, SC and Knoxville, TX, that in itself is a pretty significant way to make a difference.  They are an employee-owned company, supporters of United Way, very active in promoting community events, and they hold several annual projects to benefit local food banks, shelters and others in need.

What I’m really excited about and energized by is Mast Store’s commitment to the environment.   Their sense of environmental stewardship runs deep and is evident in these very progressive programs:

• Green Power – the company purchases carbon credits in North Carolina and Tennessee to help offset the impact made by their delivery trucks.
• Recycling – all stores recycle plastic, glass, paper, aluminum, bi-metal cans and cardboard, and their shopping bags have a special additive that quickens the decomposition process (I mean really, who does that?)
• Mast Transit – employees earn incentives for carpooling, riding their bike to work, walking to work or taking public transportation (If only I could get an incentive for carpooling my daughter to school the past couple of years!)
• Local Land Trust Day – the first Saturday of every June, Mast Store donates 20 percent of the day’s sales to their partner land trust in the community of each of their stores; think about it, on this one day, 20 percent of the sales from every store goes back into the local community specifically to support land conservation – I’d say that’s some pretty impressive CSR.

The Columbia partner for Local Land Trust Day is the Congaree Land Trust (CLT), a small organization that has conserved more than 27,000 acres of land in central South Carolina.  CLT board members, volunteers and staff will be on hand all day to educate shoppers about land trusts, conservation easements and the status of land protection in central South Carolina – something you might not have ever considered it weren’t for Mast General Store and their tremendous sense of corporate social responsibility.

If you’d like your shopping dollars to have an impact on the local community, head downtown to Mast Store this Saturday, June 4 and see first-hand this great company that has moved in on Main Street in Columbia.

– Rebecca Jacobson