The recent Black Lives Matter movement has reignited conversation about historic statues and other symbols across the United States. The passion sparked when discussing statues of leaders who perpetuated racism and colonialism demonstrate how significant and powerful symbols can be. They represent the stories we decide to tell and become an extension of the community. […]
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How to Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say When You Write – And Maybe Move Some Hearts and Minds The Iceberg Ernest Hemingway’s short story Hills Like White Elephants begins: “The hills across the valley of the Ebro were long and white. On this side there was no shade and no trees […]
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What does Showtime’s hit TV series, Weeds, possibly have in common with the business of online design and brand marketing? Let’s start with a song. Malvina Reynolds drove through the suburbs of 1960’s Daly City, California and saw rows upon rows of identical tract houses. Struck by the lack of visual distinction among houses and […]
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The last few years have seen an explosion of long, scrolling home pages. You know the kind we mean: Nike (their betterworld site). Hubspot. Even the Milwaukee PD. Not only can they look cool, they often make it more likely that a visitor will see more of your site. A scroll requires far less commitment than […]
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Yahoo’s new wordmark has been out for a few days now, and it’s been widely panned by branding pros and laypersons alike. Is the logo any good? We have an opinion, but there’s a more fundamental question that merits discussion, and that other brands embarking on a potential logo redesign should answer first. Why did […]
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At yesterday’s Apple Worldwide Developers Conference, the company unveiled laptops with longer-lasting batteries, high-powered desktops that look like sleek rubbish bins and evidence that the era of light flares and drop shadows may be mercifully coming to an end. Apple didn’t invent skeuomorphism but boy did they ever embrace it. Here’s a typical iOS 6 […]
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Yes, this is really an actual quote from the Pepsi press release about their first bottle redesign in 16 years. “The etched, grip-able bottom allows consumers to have a more stimulating, tactile interaction with the bottle itself.” And yes, we were tempted to end this post there and let Pepsi speak for itself. But soldier on we […]
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As we have noted ad nauseum, brands and logos are not the same, and a logo does not a brand mak
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The American Red Cross has rolled out a refinement to their logo. What they should have done is refine their brand architecture. Making the logo look like a pin is a cute (if contrived) idea, and 3D effects are a little 2005 for us. We'll l
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The current uproar over the Susan G. Komen Foundation got us thinking. Not about politics. Not about crisis communications. Rather, it got us thinking about colored ribbons, blue circles and what brands can learn from them. <img class="aligncenter" title="Disease awareness ribbon designs" src="http://media.npr.org/assets/img/2011/11/21/2081455_hires_
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