Design the Planet

Plantetary Thoughts

Ad Placement is Everything

January 28, 2010 – 11:25 am

A recent ad in a local mall. When I first saw this giant ad at the local mall, I wondered why would you advertise Gatorade in the mall. The target demographics were way off. When you think of the typical mall shopper you have soccer moms, tweens, and teenage girls. The teenage guys at the mall are usually looking at the teenage girls so the impact on them is muted.

The placement was dead on actually. Gatorade hung 2 or 3 huge banners  from the rafters that read, “Available here at vending machines throughout the mall” with a large, impactful image of their bottle.

I spent the rest of my time shopping looking for the machines, which, for the first time, were easy to find thanks to their signage on the machines. I had never really paid attention to the drink machines prior to this day. After finding the first machine, I saw numerous shoppers drinking Gatorade at the mall. This was ingenious.

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Comments (1)

Who Dat in the Super Bowl?

January 25, 2010 – 9:12 am

ESPN.com put it best, “Who Dat in the Super Bowl?”.

Believe it or not, the New Orleans Saints are in the Super Bowl. Oddly enough, they’re facing New Orleanians QB Peyton Manning & WR Reggie Wayne. Many believed the Saints would never make it to the big game. In fact, WWL’s sports legend, Jim Henderson, called the game winning field goal as, “Pigs have flown. Hell has frozen over. The Saints are on their way to the Super Bowl.”

We’d like to show off our Who Dat Nation design for Daiquiris & Co. Check out the flash mugs for this incredible season.

Daiquiris & Company's Who Dat Nation mugs.

Daiquiris & Company's Who Dat Nation mugs.

Detail of Who Dat Nation mugs.

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , | Comments (1)

5 Branding Secrets of Apple & Lady Gaga

January 18, 2010 – 6:35 pm

I recently found a great article on BNET.com that epitomizes building a brand community and how to cater to that community. The article entitled Five Branding Secrets of Lady Gaga & Apple, go through how the eccentric singer and the innovate computer company create their brands.

A picture from Lady Gaga's website.1) Cultivate a Fanatical Fan Base: Fans of either Lady Gaga or Apple can be considered a cult by many measures. The article suggests a niche market that is catered and fed to, the gay community and the artist/music community respectively.

2) Be Technically Competent: Once you wow people with your marketing and style, you need to have something substantial for them to stick around. You can not build a community without providing a valuable product or service.

3) Got Vision?: Find a place where you can be the best even if it is a narrow piece of the market. Lady Gaga mixes glam rock with simple melodies and Apple builds innovate machines that creates a better life. Even here at Design the Planet, we’ve developed a division that specializes in construction website design & brand marketing – The Brand Constructors.

4) Simplicity Sells: Lady Gaga keeps her beats & melodies simple and Apple has a clean look and their advertising is just as clean and simple. Their brand communities known who each brand is even though they have surprises with different wardrobes or products.

5) Packaging Matters: Every time we purchase an Apple product, we are amazed by their simple, well-designed packaging. Apple’s packaging is direct and stylish no matter the piece. Lady Gaga says that she is thinking about her wardrobe on stage when writing music. She even has her own design team called the Haus of Gaga.

I would only add Be Different to the list. If you do not offer a service or product that is different than your competitor, than you are only competing on price and that is a losing battle. Lady Gaga and Apple both stand out when looking at their peers.

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Brand Marketing, Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , , , | Comments (0)

The Process of Designing a Logo

January 12, 2010 – 9:00 am

Whether you’re a logo designer or a client in need of a logo designer, you should be aware of the processes that help make a logo successful. People unaware of the design process think a logo is something designers can create in a few hours when really, a few hours is enough time to research the client and/or industry. For a logo to be great, phases like research, brainstorming, and sketching all happen before a designer ever opens a design program. These phases are necessary for the logo to be unique, memorable and meet the clients needs. If every designer created a logo from his/her first thought or idea, most logos for any industry would look the same (and this already happens enough).

I’d like to share some of our processes in making a logo great – to the designer and the client:

1. Research & Development Phase


Get to know the client – meet with them to discuss their needs, find out who their competitors are, find out who their audience is, find out what makes them different from their competitors, and summarize these answers up into a ‘design brief’. A design brief will help the designers, project managers, art directors and clients start out on the same page which helps save time (clients money) and achieve a better logo.

If you’re the client

Let loose! This is your chance to tell the design studio exactly what you’re looking for. The more information you give them, the better. Do your own research ahead of time – everything the design studio is asking from you will be a good refresher of your goals, audience, and how to stand out among your competition. Personal preference only goes so far – of course, you should like the logo as you’re paying for it, but above all, think about your audiences tastes.

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2. Design & Layout Phase


Take everything you’ve researched, word listed, brainstormed, and sketched and start creating digital comps of ideas you feel worked more successfully. Think quantity vs quality (quality comes later) – try to produce as many different ideas as you can. This will allow you to review your entire workspace to rearrange typography, rotate out different icons you’ve created, and work on new ideas that may spring up in hopes to create a handful of logo comps the client may review. We typically wait on color comps as color sometimes influences clients to pick their favorite color over a more successful idea.

If you’re the client

Sit back and relax… but not for long. You can be critical, but also have an open mind about the logo comps you’re about to review. Let the design studio give any explanations of what you’re about to look at – they may have taken a different angle on the design since they’re on the outside of your company, looking in. This may be completely different than anything you imagined you’d see, or it may be exactly what you were hoping for. Either way, take your time to review each logo comp and choose the best one that fits your company, goals, and audience.

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3. Modification & Color Phase


Time to make some client revisions, or maybe you nailed the design on the first shot! After final revision(s), it’s time for color. Think about printing processes, stationery materials, promotional items, website, emails, etc. Choose color options that fit the clients needs and give the logo you’ve created some extra zest. No matter how many colors end up in the final logo, it should work well in one or two colors (ie. black and white ads, promotional items, etc).

If you’re the client

Personal taste on color aside, try to think of your company and audience. If your favorite color is lime green, and you own a law firm, you may want to consider other color options. Carefully review the color comps you’ve been given and decide which options best suit your company.

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4. Finalization & Celebration Phase


Now that color has been decided, it’s time to put the finishing touches on the logo. Make sure the logo is knocked out where needed (so there are no obtrusive white shapes that could potentially obstruct other elements), final PMS, CMYK and RGB colors have been determined, and any icons or custom lettering are polished. Then, make sure your client has all the proper formats of the logo to use when printing (.ai, .eps, .pdf) and for web/internal document use (.jpg, .gif, .png). If applicable, a logo spec guide should be created for the client and/or vendors to reference before printing any job. This will ensure consistency in the clients brand.

And, pat yourself on the back. You’ve (hopefully) produced a great logo for a client that fits his/her audience!

If you’re the client

Do a final review of the the logo you’ve been given, make sure you understand the logo spec guide so you can hold your vendors accountable, and review the file types you’ve been given (so you can use/distribute as needed). Having a consistent brand and understanding the product you’ve been given will help keep your audience familiar your brand, company, goals, and future endeavors – and you deserve it!

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Hopefully, this has helped you gain a better understanding of the processes involved in designing a logo. As a designer, what are some processes you have the most trouble with? Or, what steps would you add? If you’re a client, what would make the processes more streamlined?

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Links

Logo design process via Just Creative Design (Jacob Cass)

Logo design process via Web Designer Wall (David Pache)

Logo design process via David Airey

Logo design process via The Design Cubicle (Brian Hoff)

Logo design process via Idea Book (Chuck Green)

By Ryan | Posted in Planetary Thoughts | Comments (2)

Spending Money on Designers Must be a Waste of Money

January 6, 2010 – 12:30 pm

I’ve been a designer for the better part of a decade. I’m certainly not the best designer around, and I certainly can’t say I always come up with the best ideas. But one of the first things I learned way  back when was that certain fonts were just inappropriate for certain situations. Some fonts were over used, and still, some fonts were just plain ugly.

I could go through an almost infinite list of fonts that should never be used, but for this particular blog post, I’m going to talk about only two.

At the top of the list resides Comic Sans. If you don’t know the history of Comic Sans, I’ll give you a brief overview. Basically, Comic Sans was created by a Microsoft engineer in 1994 for a program called Microsoft Bob. The geniuses at Microsoft thought it would be a good idea to use Times New Roman in the talk bubbles of cartoon Characters. Vincent Connare thought that was ridiculous, so he designed Comic Sans for a more fun interaction.

In the mid 90s when Comic Sans was shipping with Windows, there weren’t really many font options for the average Joe. The internet was still young and it wasn’t a simple to search for a new font online. Even installing a new font took a Doctorate in Computer Science.

Comic Sans seemed like a great choice for you new born’s first birthday party, when you wanted a “hand written” look, something playful, etc. I’ve also seen some pretty terrible uses over the years. Here are just a few.

A graphic designer’s job is to choose an appropriate type face for the message they are trying to get across. The font face should have the desired impact, and issue the correct response from the message reader. These previous examples did not take their message, or their message’s impact, into account, and they ended up looking completely ridiculous.

The second worse font created by man is Papyrus. Papyrus is probably more overused these days than Comic Sans. No scientific research was done before making that claim. I only base that on the amount of times I see Papyrus each day, which is about a thousand.

Papyrus is the font of choice for day spas, organic grocery stores, hair salons, frugal engaged couples looking to save money by designing their own wedding invitations, but most recently by James Cameron and his bloated budget blockbuster, Avatar.

I read a great blog recently, “An Open Letter to James Cameron,” written by Papyrus himself. It’s an obviously satirical letter, but it brings up a lot of great points.

Avatar is the most expensive movie ever made. James Cameron has been working on Avatar for more than ten years. The production company basically invented a new technique for filming movies. A process so advanced, that James Cameron had to wait for the technology to catch up. Obviously, a lot of thought and planning went into the production of this movie.

A comment was left on the blog that sums it up perfectly for me.

Posted by Jordan:

Just unbelievable that they spent as much as they did on this movie, and yet COULDN’T spring the minuscule extra cash to get something more suitable selected or designed.

Easily for a comically miniscule amount of money you could have had a unique custom typeface designed to use solely for the film marketing and subtitles, designed by any number of the worlds top typographers or type foundries. Plus, I’m sure most would have loved to jump on the opportunity to be part of this epic titanic-sized movie.

AND, it’s not like there wasn’t an insane attention to detail to begin with. They created an entire legitimate language for the Na’vi to speak, enlisting the help of top linguists! Really, an entire language… from scratch… and a default font pulled off your secretary’s computer?

I can’t believe on a production that probably had at least a thousand different hands touch it at some point, not a single person ever had the ability to speak up, at any stage in the game, and point out this gross typographical monstrosity. So sad.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that the movie is intrinsically bad, or that no one should see the movie simply because of the font choice. What I am saying is that with so much money spent, and with so many other finer details gone over, how does something as important as the movie title’s font choice not get more scrutiny?

How does one justify spending so much on a movie, only to skimp on something as important as the movie’s logo, using a font that’s found on every house wife’s computer across the country. What is the rationale for not thinking about this further?

It’s beyond me. It really is.

By Jeremy | Posted in Planetary Thoughts | Comments (3)

The Power of Imagery

January 5, 2010 – 12:01 pm

We are all wowed by great images. We buy photo books, look at pictures of the year in review, and send postcards of outstanding photographs. The old saying is that a picture says a thousand words and it is so true.

Many times clients and even designers forget the importance of good photography. Personally, I’ve seen client’s balk at photo shoots or even stock photography because it costs money. Because of the internet, we have access to millions of stock photos ranging from one dollar to hundreds of dollars, but clients sometimes will not pay $50 for a great image. Because of Google and other search engines, people think everything on the internet is free and not copyrighted.

The image in these email from the Audubon Institute is powerful and says more than 8 words in the headline because of the beautiful picture of Menari, the baby orangutan at the zoo. What would this same email look like with a poor image or no email at all. You would probably forget you’ve ever seen the email without the image. Not very powerful without the image is it? Would you forward this email to a friend without the image? I didn’t think so.

When working on design projects such as website, brochure, tradeshow displays, and advertisements remember how you feel when you look at those same pieces from other companies. What ads captivate you, what websites do you talk about, what brochures do you keep? Think about these questions. What captures your attention, most likely, it’s the photography.

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Google Hints at Speed Requirements

December 29, 2009 – 11:52 am

This past week, in an interview with Web Pro News, Matt Cutts from Google hinted that the load time of your page may become a factor in page ranking.

Google hasn’t released all of the details, and they probably won’t (we still don’t know the exact algorithms Google uses to determine page rank – it’s a closely guarded secret).

I think one thing everyone would agree with is that a fast website is preferable to a slow website. Waiting over one minute for a web page to load is pretty much unacceptable by anyone’s standards. Most web users have gotten used to quick internet connections, and waiting more than ten seconds for a page to load is probably too much for most people to stand.

However, there could be deeper implications for smaller web shops and hosting companies than what might appear at first glance.

On the surface, it seems like a reasonable thing for most web developers to strive for anyway. If your page is that slow, chances are your user experience is going to end up being pretty bad. You probably won’t get many hits, and after a while your views will start to decrease. You really shouldn’t be on the first page of Google anyway. It’s a good idea to keep speed in mind anyway, right?

Of course it is.

Here are the concerns some people are having with this concept hinted at by Google. 

Many small e-commerce sites, web shops, and hosting companies rely heavily on page ranking for their business to succeed. It’s an extremely cost effective way to advertise, and for some tech savvy companies, they can do all of this internally and not spend an extra dime for the increase in business. What happens to these companies when Google starts putting the pages that load faster on the top of the list?

If Google starts implementing this scheme based solely on page load times, Amazon.com or Ebay.com, or any companies with the financial capitol to do so will quickly upgrade their servers, connections, hardware, software, etc. to the newest and fastest technology at their disposal, no matter what the cost. Some big companies might even be able to finance development of new technology to increase speed.

For the smaller companies, however, with servers costing thousands of dollars, the likelihood of smaller companies being able to compete with larger firms becomes harder and harder, and much less likely, nearly impossible.

Of course, none of this is set in stone, and it really all stems from an interview with an employee of Google, albeit very high level employee. Google has yet to release more information about what they plan to do.

It is possible they could base rankings on scores from applications such as Yahoo’s YSlow or Google’s own speed tester. If that is the case, smaller firms would be able to optimize their websites to compete with larger firms.

At Design the Planet we optimize all of our sites using these tools, which help us get quick load times. The problem, eventually, will be that companies with billions of dollars to spend will always be able to out spend smaller companies.

Is it fair they should be out ranked only because of lack of capital to invest in better technology? Is it possible that Google isn’t the gentle giant after all?

By Jeremy | Posted in Planetary Thoughts, Web Design, Web Marketing | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)

What The…

December 29, 2009 – 10:47 am

This commercial caught be by surprise this past holiday weekend. I was watching a movie on Comedy Central and I thought it was a spoof like Saturday Night Live’s fake commercials. This time it was not a spoof. The commercial is of Vince Offer, better known as the Sham Wow Guy, rapping in the recent commercial for the Slap Chop. The rap is actually really good for a spoof and the remix was done by DJ Steve Porter of NewArt Miami from what I can find out. (He also did a remix of John McCain’s commercial too.) What surprised me is that Sham Wow and the Slap Chop are using the remixes as their commercials including cut up testimonials. It is definitely causing a buzz among my peers and on Facebook and Twitter, but does it reflect the quality and professionalism of the product? It is a gamble I guess those companies are willing to risk. I thought with the passing of notorious pitchman Billy Mayes, that the competition would get easier and need less risk to stand apart.

What do you think about the rap remixes? Does it generate positive word-of-mouth or buzz? Would you buy a product from them now?

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Holiday Cheer

December 23, 2009 – 11:00 am

I thought we’d share the Holiday Cheer by taking a picture of our door with the Christmas Cards that we’ve received this year. We’ve received fun ones, serious one, cards branded, and some New Orleans and Saints cards too. Enjoy!

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , | Comments (0)

How to Hire a Web Design Firm (part 2)

December 10, 2009 – 7:51 pm

We left off on the original post about about this great article “How to Hire a Web Design Firm” (original article) at number 5 (read part 1).

5 ) How will you incorporate search engine optimization principles into my site?

This question is vitally important for your website, especially if you are a new business or in a competitive market. (Remember online, your market is more than just your geographic location many times.) Simply ask, what they & you can do to improve your search engine rankings. The answer can be a litany of things including coding in CSS (Cascading Style Sheets), title tags, meta text, real word link names, more pages, more links to your website, little to no flash, pdf downloads, and now fast downloading speed. If the firm you are interview fumbles on this question, they don’t understand the larger picture.

6 ) Do you work with or have a business relationship with any small business consultants?

Honestly, this question surprised me at first. I have never had a client or prospect ask me this one. After thinking about it for a minute, I realized how important our relationships to business coaches, referral strategists, and business consultants are for our clients. We are consistently talking to these professionals about the market, different industries, and upcoming trends which is a invaluable information for our clients. On the flip side, a web design company that does not have these relationships probably does not have many good business relationships which can be a telling sign.

7 ) Pricing

They don’t list this as a question, but this is vitally important. For the most part, you get what you pay for. A firm that is selling a website for $500 is using a template or won’t be in business next year because they priced themselves too cheap. Other firms have minimum amounts of $10,000 or more because they are more established, offer more features and should have more talented creative and programming teams. Find a firm that fits your budget and where you want to be. Do you want to be the big firm’s small client or the small firm’s largest client? Their are pros and cons to both scenarios.

8 ) Can you develop my site in a content management system?

This is huge and generally not mentioned in the front end, but how are you going to update your website? We have multiple solutions from $250 – $10,000 depending on your needs, skill level, and budget. This website actually uses WordPress for the CMS (Content Management System). Another question to ask is if the firm will do web maintenance. Some of our clients update their own website, some we update and many have both them and us update their website. If you go with a freelance designer that travels and moves from city to city often, you will be left in the cold with no way to update your website. I am amazed the stories I’ve heard over the years about designers disappearing for months and years at a time.

9 ) The Most Important Thing You Should Know:

Your website design firm should be accessible. This means checking email, answering the phone, returning phone calls and talking your language. Many times designers speak a different language with each other and programmers, but they need to be able to speak to you so you feel comfortable. Overall, you should be comfortable with who you are working with, what you are receiving for what you are paying for, and enjoy the experience. Launching a new website (and brand) is exciting and you should be proud of being a part of it.

Please post any comments or questions you have about the process of hiring a web design firm. If we sound like a good fit & you like our portfolio, give us a call. We do some incredible work and we don’t bite.

By Planetary Perryn | Posted in Brand Marketing, Planetary Thoughts, Web Design | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)


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