Who others in marketing?
Companies go to design agencies for brand identity - logo, letterheads, invitations, envelopes, store front, signage etc.
To advertising agencies for print ads and TV/Radio commercials.
Like Ogilvy and JWT.
And to search engine marketers to make their presence felt online through banners, search engine results, Adwords, social networking sites, blogs.
Like envigo and Vendlab.
To event management companies (models, lighting, equipment, inviting, celeb in front row, flowers, food etc)
They also keep in touch with a PR agency for contacts, keeping in the loop.
Like Simran Singh and Associates
For store window displays, individual Visual Merchandisers are hired.
Like Manu Mansheet.
Hmm.. that’s a lot of people.
Trade Secrets
Repeat an element in an interesting way
Let the negative space create another image
An element doubles as another element
Using initials of the words in the name and using them to make a graphic.
One 3 D take-off in a 2 D graphic
"Oh, you know what that is!" reaction with a hidden image/ image noticed on second look
Intersect two elements and see what forms in the intersecting portion
One element formed from many. 1 dolphin formed out of 3 dolphins
Marketing spirituality
After making complicated Audio Visuals, I am unable to tackle this simple AV, almost just a slide show of correctly chosen images, some layering, no voice-over, no sound. The topic is sattva, or enlightened existence and spirituality that goes with wisdom. A topic I can’t tackle just now. My head refuses to budge. And how do I tell this to my boss who informed me this morning that the deadline went by yesterday. The boss who sits hour after hour at his chair handling multiple projects. One thing that he does not have is: Mood swings.
Spirituality is so different for different people. I don’t have to go so deep into the topic for the AV but it’s crazy to have to go deep enough and not too far to create a film that sets the mood, conveys the message but is not the most mind boggling piece ever.
I am having a hard time differentiating spirituality from escapism. One kind of spirituality would be in nothingness. Nothingness in mind, in vast empty landscapes of Ladakh, in a landscape capped and levelled by snow – all white, all same. Spirituality in homogeneity, in not looking for anything, in the absence of clutter. In the absence of a lot. In not wanting anything so that there are no disappointments. In just being. Might as well have cyanide and die. Dumb kind of spirituality huh.. Reducing oneself to an unfeeling slab of slate.
The other kind would be of controlled involvement. Participation in life but not taking any blow too hard. Kind of like the content shopkeeper who sees street dogs playing in front of his shop, his wife cooking monotonously, unconcerned by adulterated grains and pulses in gunny sacks among which rats run in his shop. A benign smile and you’re set.
Or the hedonistic kind of involvement in life where everything must be enjoyed to the fullest, explored. Attaining peace in life by jumping into life. No holds, No bars.
I don’t know. I have meandered. Spirituality may or may not be connected to this post now. I am just making excuses to not do the AV. You know what, great words are spoken by lazy people.
When the font represents you
From http://www.typography.com/ask/showBlog.php?blogID=79 by Hoefler & Frere-Jones
A journalist recently asked what it is about Gotham that we think suits the Obama campaign. We'll defer to designers John Slabyk and Scott Thomas to make that call — they selected the font for Obama for America, we merely provided it — but one thing we can say as type designers is that Gotham isn't pretending to be anything it's not, which makes it an unusual and refreshing choice for a campaign. Political typefaces have a way of being chosen because they underscore (or imagine) some specific aspect of a candidate, working hard to convey "traditional values" or "strength and vigilance," or any number of graspable populist notions. The only thing Gotham works hard at is being Gotham.
2008 is clearly a year of unusual thinking in political circles, because none of these familiar approaches can explain the utterly confounding typographic dress chosen by Senators Hillary Clinton and John McCain. Hillary's snooze of a serif might have come off a heart-healthy cereal box, or a mildly embarrassing over-the-counter ointment; if you're feeling generous you might associate it with a Board of Ed circular, or an obscure academic journal. But Senator McCain's typeface is positively mystifying: after three decades signifying a very down-market notion of luxe, this particular sans serif has settled into being the font of choice for the hygiene aisle. One of McCain's campaign themes is "Making Tough Choices:" is this the one you would have made? — H&FJ
IntRusting BraAnding
I just read Kyoorius and it sparked off thoughts. Jump into my head.
“The brand is the visual identity of the activities and everything that a company stands for in the geographies it operates in. Brand activities may relate to how you want to be locally present or globally present. Apart from standard print applications like brochures, the brand colours get translated to everything – from their logo, products, livery, t-shirts for events, office interiors, their fleet of trucks…everything!”
~Latika Khosla (Freedom Tree Design)
Word
Hey, this is fun. I was writing about a fashion collection and when one writes about clothes that are supposed to reflect a very particular attitude, one cannot confuse 'pretty' with 'beautiful' or 'chic' with 'smart'.
I just made a list of words. Consider the fine difference in meanings in each pair. Have fun and use the most befitting word!
elan and panache
verve and vigour
fad and trend
style and fashion
art and design
personify and embody
majestic and magnificent
evoke and evince
inquire and enquire
Starts Copywriter with a capital letter
I am a Copywriter at IllumDesign these days. And here is what a Copywriter does -
Fine combs text for errors
Rethinks every word to think how it could be said better
Knows whether she is persuading, opening the mind to imagination or simply imforming
Understands layers and sublayers and subsublayers of the message
Revises style - elegant informal, elegant formal, elegant snooty, classy but approachable
Rolls up balls of paper and resolves not to think too much and write spontaneously and fluently
Balances mood-creation with information
Differentiates between messages to be sent implicity and explicity
For example, 'This restaurant is not visited by riff-raff' has to be implicit
The decor of the restaurant has been done by an Italian designer would be explicit
Dresses and undresses words
Tries not to write in a flow of cynicism
Tries not to sound like the noise and clutter of consumerism
Sits and wonders if the experience being created about a restaurant is really true
Hopes to seek truth and write it
Remembers the deadline, no time to seek truth, opens MS Word and types away furiously
Wants to say the most cliched stuff in the most uncliched manner
Steers clear of cliched uncliches - like writing in third person
Tries never to be apologetic while balancing it all in one sentence - "Inspite of the large restaurant, every customer gets personal attention"
Wonders what the target reader wants to be identified as - customer, client, person, patron ?
Flatters
Always writes one true draft of copywriting that never makes it to the client
Thinks a lot about where hyphens are used and where not
Wonders how 'Need Not' is preferred to 'Do not need to'
Dumbs down
Dumbs down
Dumbs down
Refrains from putting in quotes and well-spoken words by British politicians and American poets
Is worried about using adjectives as nouns, even if the dictionary allows it. Example - Microsoft, IBM and other majors
Tries not to call shops shops, stores stores, outlets outlets
Hates exaggeration but is ok with hyperbole
Sets homepage to thesaurus.com
Adheres to American spelling without wanting to
Hates sentences like 'creating creative spaces'
Enjoys poetic license but hates purple prose
Takes out sting or anything that hints at negativity in a sentence robbing it of stance and personality and making it such that it couldn't displease any fucking body (any-fucking-body?)
Always finishes at a nice conclusive note
Enjoys exploring different worlds of cheeses, real estate, fashion collections and writing about them succinctly
Professional Inquiries
Two important questions when you join work
1 Where is the bathroom?
2 When do you guys break for lunch?