Laura Foley has over twenty years' experience in creative design, graphic production, project management, and marketing. Ms. Foley has experience in crafting in a wide variety of visual communication projects, including corporate identity, marketing materials, and PowerPoint presentations. When needed, she works with her team of copywriters, videographers, and printers to provide her clients with all the services necessary to create a successful campaign.
Here is a little something you can put together in your spare time: an origami folding box. I've given you all the instructions you need and three sheets of decorative paper. Feel free to forward the PDF file to your friends and coworkers.
(Just in case you're wondering, I drew all the technical diagrams and designed the three decorative papers. Betcha didn't know I did that kind of thing!)
Charities have a tough time fundraising during a recession. With people scrambling to make ends meet, it's hard to think of giving money to others. But one independent charitable organization, GreaterGood.org, has found a way to make giving easy. They've made it free.
GreaterGood.org currently operates six interrelated Web sites:
At the top of each page is a large button that reads "Click Here to Give - It's Free." Just click on the button, and your donation is made; all of the funds come from the site's commercial sponsors. In addition to the free donation link, each site offers jewelry, clothing, crafts, health and beauty products, and other merchandise from around the world. A portion of your purchase goes to the charity from whose page you bought the items.
Not only are these Web sites beautifully designed, they're very effective. Since its inception ten years ago, the Hunger Site has provided more than 657 million cups of food; the Breast Cancer Site has sponsored more than 11,000 free mammograms; the Child Health Site helps an average of 1,000 children every day; and last year the Literacy Site donated 489,367 books to children in the United States, the Rainforest Site preserved 517,475,013 square feet of rainforest, and the Animal Rescue Site provided 67,054,500 bowls of food to animals in shelters.
So with just the tiniest effort on your part you can make a big difference to improve our world. Click on the links above to get started today.
Here are two examples of creative typesetting done for the Christmas season. Note that even the bank, with its dry data, has managed to inject a little humor and creativity into its advertising.
Have you ever sat through a lousy PowerPoint presentation where the speaker basically reads the slides to you, or the colors are so loud they give you a headache, or there is so much stuff packed onto each slide that you don't even know what's going on? Or maybe you're guilty of creating your own bad PowerPoint...? If you want to avoid making "Death by PowerPoint" presentations, this workshop is for you. This discussion of PowerPoint design will help you transform your presentations into powerful marketing tools.
In this free workshop you'll learn about some common PowerPoint mistakes and how to avoid them. You'll also learn how to create effective leave-behinds that will reinforce your message long after your presentation is done. At the end of the workshop, you'll view some participants' PowerPoint presentations and use your new skills to brainstorm ways to improve them. (If you have a PowerPoint presentation you'd like the class to critique, please send it to laura@lauramfoley.com by November 13.)
I have been making PowerPoint presentations less lousy since 1989 for organizations such as Atlas Venture, Kodiak Venture Partners, Polaris Venture Partners, and Tufts New England Medical Center. As the principal of Laura M. Foley Design, I help my clients communicate their messages visually with effective branding and marketing materials.
Behold the majesty of PowerPoint! This is what you get using templates out of the box.
Stop & Shop, Walmart Roll Out New Package Designs
A couple of months ago I told you about the new logos that Stop & Shop and Walmart unveiled this year. Now they both are rolling out new looks for their store brands. Here you can see some old vs. new comparisons:
The old-style bags are on the left and the new bags are on the right. Notice the inclusion of a silhouetted product photograph on the new packaging, a hot trend right now.
The old box is on top, the new one on the bottom. I told you that silhouetted photos were a hot trend! Although I like the redesign overall, I prefer the typography on the old packaging. Come on, Stop & Shop...Palatino? Really?!?
Best. Vending Machine. Ever.
Have you ever had a hankering The MooBella ice cream vending machine for freshly-churned, custom blended ice cream? If you have, then head on over to Worcester Polytechnic Institute, because they have the most amazing vending machine I have ever seen!
With the MooBella ice cream vending machine, people can select from among 96 possible combinations of flavors and mix-ins to get the ice cream of their dreams! After you make the flavor selections on the touchscreen, you only have to wait a short time for your customized dish of ice cream to be ready. Here are some close-up photos of the machine:
You make your selections with this touchscreen.
Here's what the machine looks like on the inside.
I really like the graphics on the machine, especially how the cow face logo wraps around the corner. I also think that this technology is just plain cool!
"Red"box at Walmart
Normally I wouldn't devote two articles to one company, but I couldn't resist this month. Walmart is a retail poThe blue Redbox at Walmartwerhouse, with the power to make its vendors jump through incredible hoops for the privilege of being able to sell their products in its thousands of stores worldwide. Nowhere is this more obvious than at the Redbox kiosk at Walmart.
As the name implies, the Redbox kiosk--a vending machine that allows people to rent popular DVDs at a low nightly rate--is a red box. Its entire brand identity rests on the fact that it the vending machine is a red box. Redbox. Are we clear?
Apparently, Walmart wasn't. Maybe the red color of the box was too close to the signature color of their arch rival, Target. I can only guess. All I know is that the Redbox at my local Walmart is blue, just like everything else there.
Excellent Subway Maps in NYC
When it comes to the Boston subway system, I'm an old pro. But facing the New York City subway was like being a freshman all over again. Luckily, the NY Metropolitan Transit Authority has anticipated that many visitors won't have any idea where they're going, so they've made things a little easier with their dynamic subway maps.
There were two dynamic map styles I saw in use on the trains. In the first kind, the next station is clearly marked as the "Next Stop" on the far left, and you can see upcoming stops as you look to the right on the map. It also lists the last stop so you can see where the train is ultimately headed. Every time the train leaves the station the map updates. The most interesting thing about this map is that it seems fully programmable so that if this particular train is moved to a different line the information would change, too.
This second type of map is for a specific train, since the names of the stops are printed on it. Lights below each station name show upcoming stops. When the light goes out, it indicates that the train has visited that station. Illuminated arrows show the direction of the train. Incidentally, the poster of the "fish subway" pictured below the map was commissioned by the NY Metropolitan Transit Authority as part of its Art for Transit program. This illustration is by Chris Gall, and prints of the poster can be purchased here.
The 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint
Last month, I attended a networking event and saw a number of PowerPoint presentations. Unfortunately, most of them suffered from "too-much-information-itis." You know what I'm talking about: hundreds of bullet points on a slide; tables with a million columns and rows; weird, arcane graphics with swooping arrows meant to illustrate interoperability/cycles/continuous improvement. Yikes.
Another attendee told me about Guy Kawasaki's 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint for entrepreneurs, which I'd like to share with you:
Your presentation should have no more than 10 slides
Your presentation should last no longer than 20 minutes
Your type should be no less than 30 points
These are some pretty bold statements, but they come from a man who, as a venture capitalist, sees hundreds of pitches.
Kawasaki maintains that his 10/20/30 rule "is applicable for any presentation to reach agreement: for example, raising capital, making a sale, forming a partnership, etc." This approach is not for every kind of PowerPoint presentation. But it's always a good idea to limit the amount of stuff on your slides so that you, not the deck, are the main source of information. If you need to give your audience something to take home, a printout of the presentation with detailed notes can be produced.
To read Guy Kawasaki's blog where he describes his 10/20/30 Rule of PowerPoint click here.
Public Works Signage, Now and Then Everyone knows about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, designed to stimulate the economy in part by funding public works projects.
Signs like these are posted near Massachusetts road construction projects that are funded by the ARRA. They do an OK job of advertising the source of the funds, but they're not pretty. Unlike the advertising signage produced by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) in the 1930s-1940s.
The WPA was established in 1935 to counter the effects of the Great Depression, employing millions and funding a great many public works projects. Among the people given jobs were commercial artists, whose advertising posters are themselves works of art. Take a look at these images and see how they compare to today's public works propaganda.
Gristedes is a New York City-based grocery store that has been in business for over a hundred years. But although the business is old, the signage is definitely modern.
Ceiling over the produce section at GristedesIn the produce department of the Brooklyn Gristedes, some of the ceiling tiles have been replaced with oversized photographs of a variety of fruit and vegetables, creating an interesting checkerboard pattern.
Gristedes posters seen from the streetAnd these posters, visible from the street, demonstrate a strong, flexible branding system that can be adapted for every department in the store.
Overall, the store had a bright, open, and modern feel. It was almost like shopping at the grocery version of IKEA!
The Servant Becomes the Master
My younger son, Jack, approached me the other day clutching a Transformer head in his chubby little hand. He asked me, "Is this a good guy or a bad guy?" So I looked it over and, not wanting to go by appearances, I examined the markings on the back. Since I can't tell a Decepticon (bad guy) from an Autobot (good guy), I handed the toy over to my older son, Henry. He instantly read the symbol as the Autobot logo. "You're a graphic designer!" he crowed. "That's a logo! You should have known that!"
I was served.
Just for the record, the Autobot logo looks like this:
And the Decepticon logo looks like this:
Don't confuse the two, because you never know when this information will come in handy, such as knowing which 50-foot tall autonomous robot to befriend and when you need to show up a seven-year-old.
IKEA, the Swedish furniture and houseware giant whose name is synonymous with clean design, has angered many customers by changing their house font from Futura to Verdana. According to IKEA, Verdana is more efficient and cost effective. But just because something is free doesn't mean it's good.
If there are too many warning signs, maybe the cause of the dangerous situation should be eliminated. That was my thought when I came across these signs at the edge of a raised dining area in a Massachusetts restaurant. Although you can't see it in the picture, there were in fact three signs telling people to watch their step, the two seen here and one off to the right. Also, the front of the raised area was marked with yellow and black warning tape.
Obviously, there have been some mishaps or else why would there be so many signs? Kudos to the restaurant for warning patrons of the danger. Boo to the restaurant that it's an issue in the first place.
Interior design can be a very important part of a business's branding strategy, especially when the business is open to the public. Interior design errors can interrupt the normal flow of traffic and, in this case, actually pose a risk. I'm sure the designer of this restaurant didn't envision the white letters stuck to the wooden knee wall, just as he didn't foresee the need for them. If the idea was to separate the dining area from the bar, this could have been done simply by changing the floor covering from wood to carpet.
Just as marketing materials need to change to meet evolving needs, so too should interior design change if the original idea isn't working out as planned. In some cases it's a problem of aesthetics, but in this case it is definitely a safety issue that should be dealt with.
A company called MailAgain sells envelopes that can be used twice, once for the outgoing mail and again for the reply. By rethinking the traditional way envelopes are constructed, Gary Emmot, president of MailAgain and inventor of the new envelopes, was able to come up with several different designs for applications such as CD/DVD returns and direct mail.
Besides being reusable, these envelopes also encourage interaction. The conspicuous "Open Me Now" labels on the flaps both instruct people on how to open the envelope without damaging it and tells the recipient how to respond. Plus, some envelope designs offer more marketing opportunities by revealing printing on the inside of the envelope.
When I was signing the credit card slip at a restaurant, I saw that I had been given a pen imprinted with the name, address, and phone number of the business. Promotional giveaway items like pens, magnets, calendars, key chains, and the like are a good way to get your name out there in front of customers and prospects. But this pen had a cartoon image of a man jumping in surprise with a word balloon stating, "This pen once belonged to..."
I felt conflicted. Should I take the pen, thereby cementing my reputation as a petty thief, or should I leave it behind and prove my honesty? I decided not to take the pen, and that's when I realized that this kind of humor can easily backfire. Accusing people of theft might not be the best way to generate goodwill for a business.
Am I overthinking this? Maybe. After all, it's meant to be funny. And it's only a pen that probably cost the restaurant less than 50¢. But the message kept me from taking it and sharing the information with others. And that's bad for business.
Get a designer look with customized Word templates
Microsoft Word is great for text-only files and quick communiques. But what if you want to create something with a bit more sizzle? Documents with graphics are more eye-catching, but unless you're prepared to learn some page layout techniques and wrestle with floating text frames it can be a big pain to create them. Or is it...?
By placing a full-page image in the background of a Word file, it's possible to create documents that look like they were laid out by a professional designer. Because, in fact, they have been.
Two of my clients recently asked me to create custom Word templates. One is a site visit announcement where the headline, copy, stock photo, and contact information remain the same; the meeting location, date, and time can be changed for each site visit. The other is a template for a memo that has a background similar to the company's data sheets. The background on the data sheets bleeds off the page, however, so I modified it so that it will still look good and not be cut off when printed on a standard office printer.
With custom templates it's easy to produce memorable, well designed documents without knowing anything about graphic design. Documents can be edited by anybody with even just a basic knowledge of Word. And the custom elements are placed in such a way that's they're impossible to edit and difficult to move.
Custom templates also have another advantage--cost. Once you own the template, you can use it over and over again, changing your message while keeping the designer look. So not only does it look like your documents have been professionally produced each time, your turnaround time is as fast as you need it to be.
Here's an example of a very negative message being used in an attempt to attract customers. Pictured here is one of three signs in the parking lot of a bank in Springfield, Massachusetts. It's the "good cop/bad cop" scenario played out in two dimensions. The bad cop tells you that you're going to be towed, really, you will! The good cop chimes in to let you know that if only you were a customer of the bank, you'd really love it! Although it doesn't explicitly state this, the sign implies that customers can park for free.
The use of Helvetica on the sign--a no-nonsense, highly legible font--shows that the bank really means business. ALL CAPS, boldface, and underlines are used for emphasis. And black and yellow are traditional warning colors seen everywhere from crime scene tape to radiation warning signs to yellowjacket wasps.
Is there a bank employee whose job is to periodically scan the parking lot, comparing the numbers of customers inside the building to cars outside? With ample metered on-street parking and a 75¢/hour parking garage next door, is parking in the bank's lot that much of a problem? True, the bank is close to a major arena, but when the bank is closed they could just secure the gate.
The threat of having one's car towed should not be a major factor in choosing a banking institution. This message just puts me off.
When I am faced with a big copywriting job that requires in-depth research, interviews, or industry knowledge, I turn to one of my partners, Gail Anastas of GMA Writing Services. With her years of experience in a variety of industries--education, hospitality, legal, retail, manufacturing, insurance, and more--she provides the right balance of knowledge, experience, and neutrality.
I mention neutrality because often when a company attempts to write its own marketing copy it can become bogged down with messages that may be important to management but which don't resonate with the consumer. Although a company has solid information about itself, that doesn't always mean that they are equipped to tackle all of the subtleties of attracting their prospects' attention, drawing them in for more information, and making them irresistible offers they simply can't refuse! As Gail puts it, "To convert a prospect to a client you need more than just an information dump. You need a good, clear, compelling marketing message to be truly effective."
Gail writes effective copy for brochures, newsletters, Web sites, and other marketing materials. So the next time you need to come up with some sizzling copy that gets your customers and prospects motivated, let GMA Writing Services help you to generate copy that sells! Contact her by sending email or by calling (508) 936-0521.
"I don't like the new box. These Lunchables took over the other Lunchables."
That's what my six-year-old son Henry had to say about the new packaging for Lunchables, a complete box lunch for kids put out by Kraft Foods. Now, as a parent I'm thrilled that Henry thinks the new packaging stinks, because maybe now he'll ask for them less often. After all, Kraft's idea of a wholesome lunch includes candy and corn syrup sweetened punch. But as a graphic designer I'm baffled as to why Kraft would make the packaging for this unabashedly kids' product grow up. Isn't having kids go nuts over the product part of the sales strategy?
The Lunchables brand has continued to evolve over time since its launch in 1988. The most recent packaging before this latest redesign was characterized by bold, dark colors, custom-designed lettering, graphics and type on an angle that imply movement and speed, and prominent tie-ins to stuff kids like: movies, theme parks, etc. In other words, the old box was a kid magnet.
The new packaging is much more subdued, with lots of blank space, more prominent treatment of the Lunchables logo and the food photography, a simple listing of the contents, and no visible product tie-ins. This looks very much like an effort to appeal directly to parents rather than to the kids, since now there is more emphasis on nutrition. Or maybe they're trying to ease the embarrassment of those grown-ups who actually bring Lunchables to work. I don't know.
To be fair, Kraft has worked to make Lunchables more nutritious than they used to be. But they remain a treat for my kids that they only rarely enjoy. The fact that they've redesigned the packaging to make them less appealing to kids can only help my cause. Now, if only I could get a LEGO tie-in to my box lunches...
These are examples of the previous Lunchables packaging. The design practically smacks you in the face! What kid could resist?
And here are the new Lunchables. Henry just about fell asleep when he saw the new packaging. Yawn.
Lunchables is a registered trademark of Kraft Foods, Inc.
My husband Mike is an engineer with years of experience in computer hardware and software. The other day he received a package in the mail from IBM promoting Cognos, a business intelligence software tool that enables users to pinpoint and analyze corporate data in order to make better informed business decisions. Although he is not really the target user for this kind of product since he is not responsible for any business flow reporting, the package is a remarkable example of eye-catching direct mail with a solid call to action that even rewards the user for responding. Heck, it even rewarded him for opening the box!
This package had to have been pretty expensive to produce and distribute. The box is custom designed, with gloss full-color printing with a map theme, cut and folded in such a way that it only needed to be printed on one side. Inside, there is a small brochure glued to the package (so that it remains in the optimal viewing location) describing the software, and a small die-cut window that reveals a real, working compass. Finally, it was sent via FedEx ground, not the least expensive shipping option.
What makes this direct mail piece so much more compelling is the fact that it was customized specifically for Mike and offers him a chance to earn a valuable free gift. Using variable-data printing, the brochure reads "Dear Michael" instead of "Dear Purchasing Manager. Plus, a special Web site containing his name in the URL was set up for Mike to respond to the offer of attending a software demonstration. To thank him for 20 minutes of his time, they will give him a free GPS. Notice that they're rewarding Mike personally with the compass and the GPS. The marketers at IBM know that they do business with people, not companies, and that special offers that benefit a company as a whole tend not to be as effective as those that benefit an individual.
Why go to such great lengths to get Mike's attention? Because the software and all the support services are expensive, and a sale will more than offset the costs of the mailing. Although I was unable to find out exactly how much Cognos costs, I'm assuming that the price to customers such as TD Banknorth, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and Lufthansa must be pretty high.
As I mentioned earlier, Mike isn't really the person in the organization who would buy such software. It's important to remember that the more targeted the mailing, the more accurate the database needs to be. But since no database is 100% accurate, I give this direct mail piece very high marks. It might be a sales tactic that you could explore with your company.
Here's the outside of the box..
Here's the box, opened up. Note the real compass inserted into the box.
I love a well-designed Web site. When everything comes together--cool graphics, easy access to information, no big blocks of text to slog through--it's a beautiful thing. The one-page Web site for Old Navy's brick-and-mortar stores carries out the brand's hip, irreverent image very well with its bright colors, Flash interactivity, and downloadable PDFs of the adventures of their latest spokespeople, the SuperModelquins. But the best part of the site in my opinion is the coupon game.
It's not obvious that there are any coupons to be found on the site. But if you click around on what the SMs are holding or on suspicious looking items on the site, a Flash animation is enabled. For instance, one time I dragged a tube of suntan lotion from one SM to another. It started painting a tan on the second SM.When the tan was complete, a pop-up appeared telling me that I'd found a coupon. There are several hidden coupons on the site, and each one you find is worth a discount at the cash register. What's more, if you're not satisfied with the amount of the discount, you can save that coupon and keep searching for more. If later on you decide to go back to an earlier coupon you found, you can do that too. Of course, while you're trying to find the hidden coupons you reveal other popups advertising the weekly specials.
What makes this site so engaging? For one thing, it rewards you for interacting with the site; in essence, Old Navy is paying you to click. And there are a limited number of coupons available, giving you a sense of urgency. Finally, the site is updated once a week, so there's always the chance that if you didn't win today you might win next time. In short, it's a game, and people like to play! Especially if they can win prizes.
This is, as they say, a very "sticky" Web site, one that engages users, encourages them to stay a while, and invites them back to visit every week. It's an excellent example of how a Web site is supposed to work!
Steve Krug, a Web usability consultant, has distilled his years of experience into my latest read, a wonderful book called Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Now in its second edition, it offers easy-to-follow advice on making a Web site communicate the things about a company that users really want to know. His writing style is approachable and his advice is practical and easy to implement, making this book a must-read for anybody involved at any level with Web site creation.
Two of Mr. Krug's main messages are that Web sites should be ruthlessly edited and tested early and often before launch. Often, it's difficult to edit your own copy, but it's vital to keep users interested in your site. Say what needs to be said in as few words as possible. Don't wax nostalgic about the awesomeness of your company, or what the view out your window is like. Find out what users are seeking on your Web site and write to that. How do you find out what users want? Testing. It's not expensive to set up an in-office usability lab where people are brought in to field test new Web sites. They are given a certain task ("Book a flight," "buy a pair of shoes," etc.), then they tell the tester what they're thinking about as they complete it. This type of testing reveals whether or not a Web site design is working.
We all have experienced poor Web site design: the interminable Flash intro, the huge images that take forever to download, dense blocks of text, hard to find or nonexistent information. In fact, I ran into that last problem this weekend when I was trying to learn more about a local recreation area. All I wanted to know was how much it costs to rent boats and camp out. Instead, I found a laundry list of recreation opportunities available, with no vital information such as hours of operation and pricing.
After reading this book, you'll view the Web in a whole new way. You'll start taking notice of what works and what doesn't. And hopefully it will lend you some insight on how your own company's Web site could be improved. I know it made a big impression on me and gave me many ideas for how to improve lauramfoley.com!
Picture a man dressed to the nines in a snappy business suit, crisply ironed shirt, impeccably knotted tie, with a pocket square completing the dapper look, and...scuffed brown shoes. With all that planning of the perfect outfit, he had to go and ruin it by putting on those worn-out kicks. Well, the same thing can happen to your marketing materials. You spend lots of time crafting the perfect copy to sell your product or service, plan elaborate photo shoots, work with a designer to achieve the ideal look for your collateral, have it printed...then stuff it into a plain envelope and mail it to your customer.
Presentation is everything! If you don't consider how your collateral is delivered you lose control over the all-important first impression. Fortunately, there are lots of ways you can make your marketing collateral stand out in a crowd. Here are three ideas:
Use a custom-designed pocket folder to present your marketing materials.The folder itself can act as a brochure if you include information such as industries served, featured products, and success stories. Or you can give it a longer shelf life by just printing your logo and some basic contact information. By varying the collateral you include in each folder, you can customize your message to each customer.
Interesting folds can make your marketing collateral stand out from the crowd. An excellent resource for folding inspirations is foldfactory.com. Click on "ideas" on the left navigation list, then explore the site as you view videos of many different folding techniques. Be sure to discuss specialty folds with your print vendor at the start of the project, since some are more complicated than others to produce.
Custom-designed envelopes can get your marketing collateral noticed. These days, I get so many white #10 envelopes in my mailbox that the bills have "THIS IS A BILL" printed in red ink on them so that they don't end up in the recycle bin. Why not use oversized envelopes printed with fluorescent ink or made from a specialty paper?
With so much information and so many marketing messages being directed at consumers, you need to be creative to make your collateral pop! Let Laura M. Foley Design help you get noticed.
April 29, 2009 Do Over! Tropicana Rebranding Flops
The image of a red and white striped straw sticking out of an orange is the classic, iconic look of Tropicana Pure Premium juice. Simple as it is, it's a brilliant way to convey the idea of fresh juice. The most memorable advertising images are often the simplest because they enable consumers to make an immediate, familiar connection with the product.
So when a company has a great image that instantly relates the core attributes of their product (freshness, purity, etc.), why in the world would it want to rebrand? That was the question many people asked when PepsiCo, which owns the Tropicana brand, launched a new look for the Tropicana Pure Premium juice line in January 2009. The new packaging eliminated the straw-stuck-in-the-orange image in favor of a photograph of a clear glass filled with juice. The logo was redesigned and all the text on the carton was set in a sans-serif font. The plain screw cap was replaced by one that looks like half an orange. The different types of juice used to be distinguished by solid color blocks with matching or complimentary colored caps. With the new design, the different types of juice were written on the carton within the photo of the glass.
Overall, it's a very clean, modern design. I like it a lot! But the public hated it, so much so that Tropicana sales plunged 20% and PepsiCo returned to the old packaging less than two months after launching the redesign. What went wrong?
There were many missteps. Forcing consumers to read product descriptions made them work that much harder to choose the type of juice they wanted. That's a big deal in a product line that includes 15 types of juice! Another criticism is that the new design made Tropicana look like a generic store brand. But probably the biggest mistake was trying to revive a brand that already had 40% of the market. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The lesson here is that design for its own sake is never a good idea. Unless real data gleaned from market research and field testing reveal that a brand identity is actually hurting sales, just leave it as it is!
As you can see, it's a very crowded playing field in the orange juice aisle. Here, the new carton design is rubbing elbows with the old one while it's being phased out. Take THAT, progress!
Today at the gym as I was staring at the bank of televisions that constantly
barrage exercisers with mass-media images of bodily perfection, thus reinforcing the need to be at the gym in the first place (but I'm not bitter...), I saw an interesting commercial. It was for GM Goodwrench, and it was quite striking. Not for the obvious reason of GM trying to win back the confidence of we Americans who are bailing them out with our tax dollars (but I'm not bitter...), but because their new logo looks exactly like another recently developed logo.
Staples, the office supply chain, has a division called EasyTech. EasyTech encompasses all aspects of office technology, from purchase and ongoing tech support, to hardware and software purchases, to disposal and recycling of products once they've reached the end of their useful lives. The EasyTech logo incorporates a clever interpretation of the symbol that appears on the power button on every electronic product from computer towers to DVD players, a circle with a vertical line that cuts through it at the top. In the logo, this circle has been rotated about 45° so that it becomes an "E" and it appears to be glowing (or "on," if you will). It is an excellent logo that effectively communicates and reinforces the idea of technology that works.
The GM Goodwrench logo, strangely, also employs the power button symbol, but with much less impact and for reasons that are unclear. For this logo, the power symbol has also been rotated 45°, but the line that cuts through the circle has been shortened. Now the power button symbol resembles a "G," which I suppose is the point. It also kind of looks like a wrench twisting a thumb screw, though where you'd find one of those in a car is anyone's guess.
I don't know which logo was designed first, and since the technology and automotive industries are significantly different there's probably not much basis for any copyright infringement claims. But I think that the EasyTech logo is more successful than the GM Goodwrench logo because it capitalizes on a symbol that already is synonymous with technology and electronic devices. The logo doesn't have to work as hard to get its point across.
Every once in a while I come across Web sites that are just so fun to use that before I know it I've spent an hour playing instead of working! (Admit it, you know you've done the same thing.) So in the interest of creative time wasting and celebrating your inner artist, here are three free, arty Web sites that will be sure to keep you busy and get those creative juices flowing!
Tartan Maker This site does just one thing, but does it very, very well: it lets you design tartans. Having trouble finding the pattern for Clan Your Name Here? Design your own! Choose colors, band widths, orientation, and yarn size to create the tartan of your dreams! Download your creation as a PNG file or log in to share your pattern with the world. Och, aye!
Flowers of the Central Park Conservatory Garden's Virtual Bouquet Now that spring has nearly sprung, thoughts turn away from multiple layers of clothing and toward sweet smelling flowers. This site allows you to choose a vase, fill it with a multitude of beautiful blooms, then send your finished bouquet to a friend. If you've ever wanted to dabble in flower arranging without incurring any expense, this is the site for you.
Jackson Pollock Does your inner turmoil need to be released through expressive abstract drip paintings? Then visit this site, where you'll create the same sort of random masterpieces as the master without the smelly mess (cigarette optional). If you want to take your art on the road, for 99¢ you can download an app for your iPhone. Gone. Real gone.
March 4, 2009 "Sherman, please set the WABAC Machine for 1996!"
For those of you of a certain vintage, the title for this week's Design Dispatch was spoken in your head by Mr. Peabody, the horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing dog that starred in the "Peabody and Sherman" segment of "The Bullwinkle Show." The WABAC Machine (pronounced "way-back") was a time-travel device that enabled our heroes to travel back in time to witness great historical events. But did you know that there is a modern WABAC Machine that enables you to travel back in time to the dawn of the Internet age?
The Internet Archive's Wayback Machine is a collection of 85 billion Web pages dating from 1996 to more or less the current day. It's fascinating to chart the progress of a company's Web site from its inception to what it is today, or what it was before it shut down.
I've used the Wayback Machine to find old company logos to place into PowerPoint presentations, which I often need to do in my work with venture capital firms. Sometimes, a VC firm's portfolio companies are bought out by larger companies (a very good thing!). After the buyout, the portfolio companies' Web sites assume the corporate identities of the purchasing companies, or are just redirected to the purchasing companies' Web sites. However, the logos for the original companies are needed to illustrate points in the presentation. I just enter the old URL into the Wayback Machine and click on a date before the company was aquired until I find a page that uses the old logo. Bada-bing!
If you'd like to give the Wayback Machine a whirl, visit the Internet Archive (the Wayback Machine is in the top center of the page). While you're there, explore some of the amazing resources the Archive has to offer, such as the Live Music Archive where you can stream or download shows and the Text Archive, where you can read scanned version of old publications.
Imagine you created a static ad for your local access cable channel. You're watching TV one night, then see your ad. Yay! But when you look a little closer, you notice that you've made a typo. Oh well, no big deal, right? It's not like the whole country saw it.
Now imagine that you work for Pizza Hut and your static ad appears during one of the breaks on the Discovery Channel's wildly popular show Dirty Jobs, which your company sponsors. Your blood runs cold as you spot not one but two typos. Ouch. Guess what? It happened last week.
In its "The Real Dirt" series of commercials, Pizza Hut offers up factoids relevant to what's being featured on Dirty Jobs that week. Last week's episode was about a couple who harvests spider venom, which it sells to researchers. Here's what appeared on The Real Dirt:
"Spider silk is one of nature's most extraordinary substances. It is exceptionally flexible, elastic, and lightweight, yet tough - three times as stong as Kevlar and five times as strong as steel."
Granted, the first typo--using a hyphen instead of an em-dash between "tough" and "three"--isn't an end-of-the-world kind of error, just the kind that makes professional typographers cry quietly into their beers at night. But misspelling the word "strong"...that's another story!
It just goes to show that no matter how large or small your business, you should always, always, ALWAYS proofread your materials before going public. And let other people proof your stuff to get a fresh perspective. Meskimen's Law states, "There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over." Make time to proofread. You really don't want to pay for a reprint or have your Web page fixed after it goes live. And you certainly want to avoid having whole United States think that you don't know how to spell, as in Pizza Hut's case!
If I told you that the number of Walmarts has grown from a single store in 1962 to more than 4,100 in the United States (and more than 3,100 worldwide), you'd probably be impressed but not really wowed by the information. But I've seen a Flash animation of the same data that really brings the message home. It shows a map of the United States, the year, and the number of stores. Each store is represented by a green dot, and by the end of the animation the eastern half of the US is blanketed under a nearly solid mass of green.
Everyone knows that a picture's worth a thousand words. That's why presenting data graphically can be so persuasive. It's possible to tell a whole story with a simple informational graphic, instantly communicating ideas that might take a whole paragraph to describe. What makes informational graphics work, aside from the illustrations, is that extraneous data aren't included and that each graphic is used to communicate facts about a single statistic.
USA TODAY Snapshots are an excellent example of effective informational graphics. Snapshots communicate data on statistics having to do with current events and trends, allowing viewers to take in most of the information at a single glance. They often incorporate trend lines as a part of the graphic, or use pictures instead of bars in graphs.
So, the next time you have to incorporate data into a PowerPoint presentation, report, or marketing communication, consider using an informational graphic instead of the default Microsoft Graph settings. This will ensure that your audience is getting the information you want them to receive, rather than becoming confused by dense tables or overly detailed charts.
This graphic, from the Worcester Telegram and Gazette, instantly communicates how the winter of 2008-2009 compares to the average. Plus, they've used apostrophes and inch marks correctly!
Here we see numbers of people represented by carry-on bags.
Before: Here is a default PowerPoint chart. Yawn.
After: I redesigned the chart to communicate the information more effectively.
January 21, 2009 Freelancers a Good Value in Tough Times
During economic downturns, creative directors have to get lean and mean, and that often means laying off full-time design staff. But where do these same creative directors turn when a design job comes up and there's nobody in the company who can handle the work?
They hire freelancers.
According to a recent article on CNN.com, companies are increasingly becoming more project-based, calling in freelancers to complete individual assignments rather than keeping designers on-staff. The advantages to such an approach are many: a company doesn't have to pay benefits, work space and new equipment purchases are often not required, and it's sometimes easier to get approval for a freelancer to complete a project with specific beginning and end dates than for a full-time position.
Hopefully you haven't neglected your marketing during this economic crisis. If you have, then you have to ask yourself why. Did you get rid of your design department? Do you imagine that retooling that old brochure would be too expensive? Are you OK with sticking a new address label on your old business card? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, it's time to give Laura M. Foley Design a call. Let me help you communicate your message in a way that's cost-effective, efficient, and that makes sense in today's marketplace.
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Everyone knows about the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, designed to stimulate the economy in part by funding public works projects.
Gristedes is a New York City-based grocery store that has been in business for over a hundred years. But although the business is old, the signage is definitely modern.
Ceiling over the produce section at GristedesIn the produce department of the Brooklyn Gristedes, some of the ceiling tiles have been replaced with oversized photographs of a variety of fruit and vegetables, creating an interesting checkerboard pattern.
Gristedes posters seen from the streetAnd these posters, visible from the street, demonstrate a strong, flexible branding system that can be adapted for every department in the store.
Overall, the store had a bright, open, and modern feel. It was almost like shopping at the grocery version of IKEA! 
IKEA, the Swedish furniture and houseware giant whose name is synonymous with clean design, has angered many customers by changing their house font from Futura to Verdana. According to IKEA, Verdana is more efficient and cost effective. But just because something is free doesn't mean it's good.
If there are too many warning signs, maybe the cause of the dangerous situation should be eliminated. That was my thought when I came across these signs at the edge of a raised dining area in a Massachusetts restaurant. Although you can't see it in the picture, there were in fact three signs telling people to watch their step, the two seen here and one off to the right. Also, the front of the raised area was marked with yellow and black warning tape.
A company called MailAgain sells envelopes that can be used twice, once for the outgoing mail and again for the reply. By rethinking the traditional way envelopes are constructed, Gary Emmot, president of MailAgain and inventor of the new envelopes, was able to come up with several different designs for applications such as CD/DVD returns and direct mail.
When I was signing the credit card slip at a restaurant, I saw that I had been given a pen imprinted with the name, address, and phone number of the business. Promotional giveaway items like pens, magnets, calendars, key chains, and the like are a good way to get your name out there in front of customers and prospects. But this pen had a cartoon image of a man jumping in surprise with a word balloon stating, "This pen once belonged to..."
Microsoft Word is great for text-only files and quick communiques. But what if you want to create something with a bit more sizzle? Documents with graphics are more eye-catching, but unless you're prepared to learn some page layout techniques and wrestle with floating text frames it can be a big pain to create them. Or is it...?
you're going to be towed, really, you will! The good cop chimes in to let you know that if only you were a customer of the bank, you'd really love it! Although it doesn't explicitly state this, the sign implies that customers can park for free.
Steve Krug, a Web usability consultant, has distilled his years of experience into my latest read, a wonderful book called Don't Make Me Think: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability. Now in its second edition, it offers easy-to-follow advice on making a Web site communicate the things about a company that users really want to know. His writing style is approachable and his advice is practical and easy to implement, making this book a must-read for anybody involved at any level with Web site creation.
So when a company has a great image that instantly relates the core attributes of their product (freshness, purity, etc.), why in the world would it want to rebrand? That was the question many people asked when PepsiCo, which owns the Tropicana brand, launched a new look for the Tropicana Pure Premium juice line in January 2009. The new packaging eliminated the straw-stuck-in-the-orange image in favor of a photograph of a clear glass filled with juice. The logo was redesigned and all the text on the carton was set in a sans-serif font. The plain screw cap was replaced by one that looks like half an orange. The different types of juice used to be distinguished by solid color blocks with matching or complimentary colored caps. With the new design, the different types of juice were written on the carton within the photo of the glass. 
Staples, the office supply chain, has a division called EasyTech. EasyTech encompasses all aspects of office technology, from purchase and ongoing tech support, to hardware and software purchases, to disposal and recycling of products once they've reached the end of their useful lives. The EasyTech logo incorporates a clever interpretation of the symbol that appears on the power button on every electronic product from computer towers to DVD players, a circle with a vertical line that cuts through it at the top. In the logo, this circle has been rotated about 45° so that it becomes an "E" and it appears to be glowing (or "on," if you will). It is an excellent logo that effectively communicates and reinforces the idea of technology that works.
The GM Goodwrench logo, strangely, also employs the power button symbol, but with much less impact and for reasons that are unclear. For this logo, the power symbol has also been rotated 45°, but the line that cuts through the circle has been shortened. Now the power button symbol resembles a "G," which I suppose is the point. It also kind of looks like a wrench twisting a thumb screw, though where you'd find one of those in a car is anyone's guess.
Tartan Maker This site does just one thing, but does it very, very well: it lets you design tartans. Having trouble finding the pattern for Clan Your Name Here? Design your own! Choose colors, band widths, orientation, and yarn size to create the tartan of your dreams! Download your creation as a PNG file or log in to share your pattern with the world. Och, aye!
Flowers of the Central Park Conservatory Garden's Virtual Bouquet Now that spring has nearly sprung, thoughts turn away from multiple layers of clothing and toward sweet smelling flowers. This site allows you to choose a vase, fill it with a multitude of beautiful blooms, then send your finished bouquet to a friend. If you've ever wanted to dabble in flower arranging without incurring any expense, this is the site for you.
Jackson Pollock Does your inner turmoil need to be released through expressive abstract drip paintings? Then visit this site, where you'll create the same sort of random masterpieces as the master without the smelly mess (cigarette optional). If you want to take your art on the road, for 99¢ you can download an app for your iPhone. Gone. Real gone.
For those of you of a certain vintage, the title for this week's Design Dispatch was spoken in your head by Mr. Peabody, the horn-rimmed-glasses-wearing dog that starred in the "Peabody and Sherman" segment of "The Bullwinkle Show." The WABAC Machine (pronounced "way-back") was a time-travel device that enabled our heroes to travel back in time to witness great historical events. But did you know that there is a modern WABAC Machine that enables you to travel back in time to the dawn of the Internet age?
