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.
Posts on design
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.
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.
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.
A good infographic draws us in and engages us with the data — which is why I love this compelling project that provides statistics about tattoos by Paul Marcinkowski
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What if a bicycle’s tires had ink on them? What kind of pattern would they make? What if we applied this inspiration to a series of notebooks. Check them out along with a video on how they make them at Postalco.
TweetIf you love typography as much as I do, then you’ll like this mini-documentary on PBS with some of the trades best designers.
TweetWhat If Hipsters Designed Brand Logos?
My only comment: 5 stars!
Make the jump to see more hypothetical hipster variations on brands you’ve known and loved for years.
TweetDollar Shave Club, Part II
Last week I shared a video introduction to Dollar Shave Club. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one sharing the video because it became a viral sensation. But the real reason I posted it was because I see the seeds of a very interesting brand. It offers a simple promise: a convenient way to get a quality shave at a low price. It has wrapped that offering into a brand with plenty of personality. The video is only a starting point. Check out some of the other parts of their brand system.
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Need proof that design is having a bigger influence on consumer behavior? Check out this sale on fab.com. Garden hoses with interesting color patterns and design elements.
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Copyright 2012 by Laurence Vincent
