ITV gets a new look
ITV has launched their biggest rebrand in 12 years and it's already been ridiculed by some!
Comments like 'it looks like a bum' or 'a child practising joined up writing with crayons'. Another comment says it looks like the marketing assistant has been on a half day photoshop course. Personally, I think this is rubbish.
Most of the comments are about the logo as a standalone item but a brand is much more than that. When you look at the brand as a whole it's fresh, welcoming and there are some great touches on the website. If they had gone with something more simple and sharp they would have instantly been accused of copying the BBC.
The new logo and brand, whilst appealing to the broad spectrum of viewers, really does position them differently to the BBC, which is a good thing! After all they do offer a really different selection of programming and have a totally different demographic of viewers.
The logo feels more fun and friendly than the BBC, which, as we know, needs to stand up for a globally established news and information organisation.
Surely, whatever they did they knew it would get some stick, that's just part of the industry. Everyone is entitled to an opinion but we designers have to be tough to criticism :)
Festival of Nottingham Branding
Festival of Nottingham branding and logo released
In collaboration with Tony Bates from Fast Graphics (and many others), Threerooms are now proud to release the branding and logo design for the great new Nottingham event, Festival of Nottingham.
Gearing up for launch in October, and set to provide a full month of events, exhibitions, music and technology action, the festival is set to go with a bang and set light to the very best that Nottingham has to offer for the whole of the month!
And, being a collaborative event, everyone can get involved :) So, if you are a Nottingham venue, have some to offer the Festival, or are just an avid Nottingham fan, then get in touch and get involved!
Thanks go out to all who were involved in the creative process and production of this branding, and a big thanks to FlexyWeb who are putting the website together and Shake Social for helping out with the social media for the event.
Stay informed on the developments of Festival of Nottingham by following: @FestivalofNottm on Twitter.
So you can get a taste of the branding and how it will look, see the sneaky peek below. You can also check out the Festival of Nottingham portfolio project on this site.
Want to know more about this or any other branding projects then get in touch
Communicate East Midlands
A few months ago I was invited (through LinkedIn) to go along to a meeting to discuss a brand new project aiming to promote the East Midlands region.
Organised by Tony Bates (Communicate East Midlands founder and Managing Director of Fast Graphics Ltd) the meeting, at Antenna in Nottingham, was a real success and very inspiring. Attended initially by a group of 16, all from different business sectors but each having a passion for what the East Midlands has to offer, the group has now grown through LinkedIn to over 250 members and is growing further everyday.
Tony's inspiration for forming the group was an amalgam of witnessing the success of the Invest in Nottingham Club, the imminent closure of the East Midlands Development Agency and the ease of bringing this together by utilising LinkedIn.
At the meeting it was very evident the East Midlands was quite poorly represented as a region but had so much to offer so it was decided then that we would do our best to change that.
Threerooms along with another agency Nick Chaffe Design were tasked with creating an initial logo for the group. Eighteen logos in total were then put up for the vote by asking the Communicate East Midlands group to choose their favourite.
The chosen logo (with an overwhelming majority) was designed by Threerooms which you can see above. We're currently working on the design of the website at present so keep your eyes out for that.
We're very proud to be involved in Communicate East Midlands from the beginning and really hope it is a great success.
If you would like to join the group please click here > Communicate East Midlands
Channel 5 Rebrand...Again
Channel 5 has just gone through another re-brand which for the first time
features the word channel.
One of my favourite comments I've seen about it so far is “it looks like a generic fake news-cast van in the background of a Die Hard film” and to be honest we quite agree.
It doesn't really seem like a progression of the logo, it almost seems like they've gone backwards. Another blogger has likened it to a 'I am 5' birthday badge.
When one of our designers saw the logos above, they actually thought the latest logo was the oldest logo, however channel 5's first logo would definitely take some beating in terms of good design! haha!
To be fair, whenever a rebrand is announced you'll hear the usual "it cost how much?" and "my five year old could have done a better job" - people don't generally seem to like change. However when a logo is seen in isolation it's very hard to see the potential of the full brand.
This is why whenever we are asked to do a new logo design we never show the options on there own but always create them with brand visuals to get an overall feel of how the complete brand will look.
AS for the Channel 5 rebrand I think I'll reserve judgement for the moment until I've seen the full roll out of the brand.
The case for bad design
On a journey to work I was studying a company’s van. I forget now but it was something to do with solar installations. The layout of the information on it was brash, unclear and obviously created with only an average understanding of effective layout; there was too much information on there and the logo ran over an image, distorting it slightly.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t the worst I’d seen, they had a decent logo at least, and, while you might not call it a design crime, it was certainly a misdemeanor.
Well, I started thinking: “Based on what I saw, what did I think of that company?” Putting myself in the shoes of potential customer, and assuming I was interested in their service, I probably would have given them a them a call for a quote; while they didn’t look the most professional and premium, they did look reputable and probably competitive on price - of course this is just my opinion. Am I the type of person they want to call them? Well, that I might never know.
All this from 45 seconds sat at traffic lights? Well, yes! Maybe other people might not break it down in this way but the same psychological processes will be happening, the same quick decisions being made.
Every aspect of a company’s brand communicates to the outside world on a continual basis. Every aspect must be considered and designed for the right market, positioning the company in the right price range, projecting the right values. All this has a huge impact for the company, and this goes for small businesses, SME’s, right through to the blue chips too.
And finally, to link back to the title of the post. If you apply this same kind of thinking but with ultra-budget, low-cost services, does bad design work? What I mean is: does someone look at a rusty transit van with a dodgy home-made logo on the side (written in Comic Sans or Copper Plate, no doubt) and think: “Hmmm, I’m looking for cheap and they just might have it on offer”. Maybe they’ve got their branding spot on after all.
It was certainly worth a spare thought on a drive to work. What else was I going to do?
How do brands become icons?
I was recently asked to answer some branding-based questions for a university student’s dissertation and thought it might be nice to share them with you. On many of the questions there is plenty of room for personal opinion and I’d love to hear your thoughts too, so comment back.
1. In your opinion, what is more important to companies/corporations the brand or the product?
Ultimately the product is the king. There is nothing that has more importance than the product or service a company is offering, without this the brand means nothing (or very little). Despite this, brands do have a huge value in themselves, but only when established with a product or service that is desired by buyers.
2. How are the ideals of marketing techniques altered during times of brand hardship?
I think brand development and priorities in developing brands for their own sake shifts to a concentration on marketing the specific products. Many companies make a shift to sell product and keep their income at an acceptable level, maybe seeing brand development as a luxury for the good times.
3. In your opinion, are iconic brands created through unique marketing or are they a branding phenomenon?
Surely, the only answer to this is ‘both’. There many instances, especially in more recent years, of branding successes that are not achieved through the normal channels, maybe they grow through interest in social marketing environments or via clever viral marketing. There is still no doubt that good sustained brand growth comes from continued marketing after the ‘phenomenon,’ stage.
4. Briefly, in your opinion, what would you highlight as the key issues that enforce and sustain a brand?
It always boils down to customer option and perception. You need to keep people feeling positive about your brand to ensure that message is passed around. Consistent marketing is essential but it may also involve focus on customer service, product development or achievements in other customer facing business areas.
5. How would you distinguish the difference between brand iconicity and brand popularity? (For example; Coca-Cola could be observed as iconic, whereas Pepsi could be observed as popular).
Both could be seen as going hand-in-hand. Nothing becomes an icon with some degree of interest by the masses. An iconic brand is often one that stands out from the crowd and acts as something new, original or different in the marketplace, something that has a more unique story to tell. Both brands provide Cola yet one clearly has a back-story and more interesting history that helps support the iconic status.
6. Would you agree that effective branding/marketing techniques are developed off the back of cultural anxieties and economic issues?
Clearly, some techniques could be developed due to economic difficulties. In terms of marketing, companies are forced to manage their budgets better to get more out of their pound (or more bang for their buck). Maybe they forget the costly press advertising and move their focus to the email marketing or social networking. Those who understand the need to adapt, and then take action to do so, will ultimately be better off.
