THE SAVORY OBSERVATIONS AND USEFUL ANECDOTES OF AN
Artful Realist
My name is LAURENCE VINCENT. I'm a brand strategist, author, speaker, photographer and lovable nerd based in Los Angeles, California. When I'm not writing here about brands and things that inspire me, I look after The Brand Studio at United Talent Agency. I believe brands must stand for real value; and that people value brands that fulfill a promise through artful experiences.
Whenever I need a little design inspiration, I return to the great ones. This tribute to the title art of Saul Bass usually does the trick.
TweetBig Brands in Small Business
This morning, I had the opportunity to chat with Jim Blasingame, the Small Business Advocate, on his syndicated radio talk show. I actually enjoy talking about branding for small business because, in my experience, some of the biggest brand ideas and most innovative brand experiences unfold in the small business community.
TweetOne of the interesting things about success is...
We must act with purpose, and commit to a meaningful promise. To do this, you have to look deep inside and understand what motivates you. What is your cause? This is true for brands as much as it is for you and me. In fact, the strongest brands are built around a culture that shows up for work every day because they believe in the cause. This excerpt from Maria Popova’s excellent exp.lore blog quotes philosopher Alain de Botton, who reminds us why purpose matters:
TweetWe should focus in on our ideas and make sure that we own them, that we’re truly the authors of our own ambitions. Because it’s bad enough not getting what you want, but it’s even worse to have an idea of what it is you want and find out at the end of the journey that it isn’t, in fact, what you wanted all along.
I really like this new Topps Pennant app for iPhone. Mostly, I love the way infographics are integrated. Here’s the clever way Topps shows me the action from Monday’s Angels game.
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Missed Connections Illustrated: Visual Paeans to Modern Love
by Maria Popova, brainpickings.orgReverse-engineering serendipity, or what ice skating collisions have to do with fish market romance.
You might recall Sophie Blackall, known for her distinctive children’s book illustration, as one of the brains and brushes…
I often say that brand identity needs to do more than paint a picture of the obvious. It has to tell a story. These stunning illustrations and inspired visual translations of otherwise pedestrian copy (Craigslist missed connections) demonstrate how to use art to convey the meat of an idea.
TweetWhat Avon Can Learn from Instagram
With most of the business press focused on the $1 billion acquisition of Instagram yesterday, you might have missed the big news surrounding a 126 year-old social networking company that generated more than $10 billion in revenue last year. Avon Products announced a new CEO: Sherilyn S. McCoy, who was previously a senior executive at Johnson & Johnson. McCoy has a big job ahead of her. Avon has struggled with declining sales, unsolicited takeover offers, and decreasing consumer relevance. What can this dowager brand do to become strong again? I suggest that McCoy look sideways at three relevant brands who have focused on their promise to develop fierce customer loyalty.
TweetGood Design Is Good Business: Master Lock and the Battle Against Myopia
Reblogged from aigalosangeles:
What happened was that Wal Mart came up to the folks at Master Lock and said, “We can make this same product in China for dirt-cheap. Either cut your price by 30% or we won’t give you shelf space.” Monday’s AIGA Los Angeles event at the A+D Museum ‘Master Lock and the Battle Against Myopia’ was a study of a company in crisis that found relevance through selling a brand over a commodity.
Scott Williams, tonight’s speaker, is a brand consultant whose work deals within industries where creatives are not the top dogs, and where designers have to consistently prove a return on investment. Master Lock had a product with no customer loyalty because their strategy had only been to produce padlocks. Consumers didn’t care if they bought a Master Lock or their next cheapest rival. Unlike other companies that found themselves in a similar crisis, they decided to build that loyalty.
there’s a bluebird in my heart that wants to get out but I’m too tough for him…
This beautiful video treatment of one of my favorite Bukowsi poems is part of a series posted on California is a place, a blog that celebrates California culture. Do yourself a favor. Watch it in full-screen mode.
TweetThere’s an interesting trend at work in our culture. In spite of the most amazing advances in technology, a lot of people are craving a sense of authenticity, history and craftsmanship. It’s a growing interest in “old school” approaches. You can see this in our love affair with Instagram, where a high quality photograph is deliberately roughed up around the edges to look vintage. Or in the revival of the Moleskine. How about the surge in the growth of vinyl albums? This video from photographer and filmmaker Ian Ruhter portrays an extremely beautiful variant on the trend with his quest to capture ever larger wet plate photographs. “I didn’t just build a camera. I created a time machine.”
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These posters represent some of the best thinking in branding. A visual identity should provide only a cue, be it an artifact, a plot point, or a character trait. We just need the simple cue to let our imagination do the rest of the work. In fact, research has shown that we enjoy graphic identity more when our brain is engaged piecing together the story from the cue.
TweetFrom Rapunzel to The Little Red Riding Hood, beloved fairy tales as minimalist posters.
Copyright 2012 by Laurence Vincent
