In this edition of our Cutting Room Floor series, we’re taking a look at brand identities that never made it beyond the studio walls (or screenshare if you’re into technicalities)....
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We had an incident the other morning that almost derailed an entire day’s worth of productivity in the studio. The coffee was bad. Not, gross but I can-power-through-it-bad. Spoon dissolving as you stir bad. This wasn’t the first time this has happened. In fact, it’s a fairly regular occurrence.
Like our startups clients and the Harvard Business Review ¹, we believe that iteration leads to innovation. As with great companies and ideas, great brands require trial and error, market testing and continuous evolution over time. Yes, consistency is important in creating a great brand, but you can be consistent and still evolve and grow.
With over 275,000 shows a year – and 87 million attendees in the US alone* – tradeshows are a vital part of a complete marketing plan. Since these events bring entire industries into a single space, it’s critical for companies to approach tradeshows differently in order to stand out and maximize the impact of their investment.
We do our fair share of B2B work, though, in fairness to our clients, we use that distinction only for the purposes of this post. Philosophically and in practice, we see no distinction between B2B and B2C, or between any industry, market or segment – how we approach their challenges and opportunities are the same regardless of whether it is a consumer brand or an industry trade group. So why the longstanding stigma against B2B? Why the complaints, usually loudest near the creative department, when an upcoming project has the dreaded “B2B” label affixed to it. It’s boring. It all…
Identifying the opportunities for differentiation is essential in creating a brand that is distinct and stands out from the competition. Where are the holes in the market? What are the areas of opportunity for positioning the company visually and tonally? Understanding these questions ensures we’re helping our clients reflect their perspective and approach in a way that is actually unique or demonstrably different. Working with a client on a new brand or brand refresh, this process of learning about the company, the marketplace and competitive set is crucial to the success of the project and for the long-term prospects of…
User experience design is an essential part of any digital project. It’s crucial to the success of any website and app. It’s a critical component of any software or application company’s approach and product. What it’s not is a place where a great brand is conceived or built.
Among our group of thinkers and doers who live the phrase “work smarter, not harder”, productivity apps have become somewhat of a competition in the office. From the latest work-hacking Chrome add-on to communication streamlining applications, here are a few of our latest and greatest productivity apps (click any of the images to get the app for yourself!):
We often work with companies who need us to take an established brand and rethink or reimagine it for a specific execution or opportunity. Whether it’s creating physical presence for a software company or working with an R&D team on the next generation of a brand or product, we often surprise our clients with just how far their brand can extend while still retaining the core elements and essence of their well-defined position.
We extolled the virtues of small earlier, but one of the consequences of our decision is that there is less body to absorb the blows when changes hit our studio. No matter how meticulous our planning, it’s inevitable that things will shift and we’ll have to retool on the fly to adapt to the new parameters we’re working within. While it would be nice at times to have extra resources at our disposal to ease the pressure of compressed timelines, new deliverables or shifts in direction, we have learned to live without and even thrive.
