Design to stand out

Some typographic branding work has been pared back beyond its core elements, stripping out parts of letterforms for a more subtle, sophisticated approach that communicates using the least information possible. When the right balance is struck, missing elements in logos leave the viewer to fill in the blanks as the brain automatically solves the puzzle.

In order for a new brand to stand out in an already densely populated market place, it needs to be timeless, clean and communicate clearly. Many consumers are embracing global brands that demonstrate a truly international aesthetic – designers are often achieving this by looking to how great brands of the past were for inspire use of bold color and simple fonts.

One of the companies I found to be utilizing this strategies is Anagrama for the clients they have worked with, the work they did for an architectural firm MTLL, for instance strips out the lines from the M to help convey its dedication to finding simple solutions. This is another creative way of emphasizing what the company does and what it stands for without applying too much information on the corporate image.

What do you all say?

“We developed a typographic logotype in which the firm's initials were as reduced as possible to convey the constant search of simplicity and pragmatism. 

The typography's traces are very robust in order to give the brand strength. However, they contrast with the serif's fine details making the logotype much more legible, giving it a very distinctive personality.”

http://www.anagrama.com/

http://www.typophile.com/node/28625

http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/freebies/free-fonts-best-for-business-logos/

http://webaim.org/techniques/fonts/

Digital Advertising is a noble technique in Marketing

Digital marketing is the advancement of your organisation or brand using one or more of the various digital channels, such as email, cellular phones, social networks and the like. While traditional advertising such as radio, newspaper, magazine, television, and direct mail are still important forms of advertising; new technology has also opened up a vast new avenue of digital advertising.

This type of advertising requires very minimal yet effective messages:

The more complex your marketing message is, the more likely it is to be ignored. This is not because people rare dumb, but it simply because people do not have a motive to become invested in what you are saying or trying to get across to them so a simple strategic message play the role of motivating one to invest time and learn more about what you are saying. Once you have ensnared the reader and have got them onto your website, then you can become a little more sophisticated with your marketing. At that point the reader is motivated to enough to engage with your more complex marketing. Simplicity with digital marketing is also easier to host.

Digital marketing is marketing in real times; it uses advances in technology to keep up with the way people are communicating these days. For anyone who wants their company brand to stay at the forefront of people’s minds I suggest they start utilising this type of a marketing strategy.

Some of the new and different types of digital advertising include:

• Mass email advertising : when done properly, mass email marketing can be a great form of advertisement as you reach those that will more specifically respond to your advertisement such as repeat customers or contacts.  If you are going to use mass email marketing as a way of advertisement consider working with a reputable company such as Mad Mimi email marketing that help you manage every aspect and detail of the marketing plan.
• Social media advertising : using social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter has become an important avenue for advertising.  From creating a simple business or product page to using the actual paid advertisement resources social media sites provide you can not only reach current customers and contacts but thousands of others as well.

Mad Mimi is an email marketing service that allows users to create, send and track email campaigns in a fresh novel way without using templates. Founded in 2007 by Gary Levitt and developed by Tobie Langel, Dave Hoover and Jeff Patton, Mad Mimi was launched in April of 2008.

http://www.crunchbase.com/company/mad-mimi#ixzz2hEAu6JeR

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/digital-advertising-vs-print-advertising-22836.html

http://www.simplydigitalmarketing.com/

http://www.dmma.co.za/assets/DMMA-Research-Report-Trends-in-Digital-in-SA.pdf

Thoughts from other Designers

This article was written by Armistice, a blogger from the GDF (graphic design forum), currently studying. This kind of article succours my Research document in encouraging the reality of Minimalism not a trend instead it is basic foundation of which trend are built. This then gives a vital significant to it as the parent of various design trends.

“Won't simplicity become banal after overexposure? - 07-25-2013, 08:02 PM

Trends come and go, but things as basic as simplicity and ornamentation aren't trends; instead, the spectrum between them forms part of the foundations upon which trends and styles are built. When the Bauhaus set in motion the movement toward simplicity and form following function in Germany between the World Wars, their "minimalist" philosophy wasn't part of a trend. Instead, it was a fundamental re-evaluation of antiquated western design assumptions made obsolete by changes in society, economics and technology. This revolution in thought wasn't based around something as ephemeral as a change in style. It was based on logic, reasoning and what made sense in the modern world.

This new way of thinking about design was practical, economical and functional. In other words, it worked and still works. The foundations of minimalism are so solid that their basis extends beyond the changing whims of style. There is enough room, however, within the general philosophy of minimalist design for trends and styles to exist. In architecture, for example, the "International Style" of minimalism was ubiquitous from about 1950 well into the 1980s when it was undermined by a more decorative and humanist "Post-modern" style. Even post-modernism, however, is firmly rooted in minimalism since its decorative elements are functional in the sense that they address the psychological concerns of the building's occupants. In addition, decoration is expensive, so there's a solid and compelling economic basis for not straying too far from the philosophy of less being more.

In graphic design, Helvetica became the typeface most closely associated with minimal design through the '60s, '70s and '80s. But as you mentioned, people and designers get tired of overexposure to the same thing. But rather than abandoning minimal design, we just started using new minimal typefaces, like Myriad. Along the way, we all experiment with trendy things like grunge or old woodcut typefaces, but since these styles lack the solid, broad and functional underpinnings of minimalism, they really amount to detours that always seem to lead back to a more minimal and functional approach.

Helvetica is one the most popular type-face since 1957.Yes it’s been more than 50 years and developed by a Swiss typeface designer Max Miedinger and Eduard Hoffmann.

Myriad pro is an Adobe Original font designed by Robert Slimbach (a type designer, who has worked at Adobe Systems since 1987) and Carol Twombly (an American calligrapher and typeface designer in 1992. The range had bee4n arounf since 1990’s. Pro is a sans-serif font with Regular, Bold, Italic, Condensed, Bold Condensed, Condensed italic, Semibold and Semibold italic

The opposite of all this, of course, is decorative and ornamental styles that form an ever-present counterweight to minimalist design. For that matter, I think one of the defining themes in design for the past 100 years has been these two opposing currents of thought and the interplay that exists between them. I guess my bottom line, though, is that minimalism isn't a trend; it's far more basic than that since it forms part of the foundation upon which modern design exists.”

“I agree minimalism is not simply a trend, nor it new. It is a principle or philosophy of design and is the inverse of horror vacui”. 

Scribe (graphic design forum) ­- 07-25-2013, 12:25 PM

The images below are examples of how the fonts have been used in the minimalistic principle

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/member/60312-skribe

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/member/76452-armistice

http://www.graphicdesignforum.com/forum/forum/graphic-design/general/1526060-minimalism

http://www.adobe.com/products/type/font-designers/robert-slimbach.html

http://store1.adobe.com/cfusion/store/html/index.cfm?store=OLS-US&event=displayFontPackage&code=1706

http://www.linotype.com/606/caroltwombly.html

http://bluefaqs.com/2010/05/60-amazing-typography-based-posters/

None Minimalist can become minimal

The most exciting factor about Minimalism is that it keeps making its way within a design when the authentic design is not categorically designed for the trend, In my understanding i can simply say designers make use of this trend's principles without consciously doing so.

How one's design ends up being minimalist, You may find that in beginning any design, the designer clearly layout what it is they want to accomplish within the design. They can include whatever content necessary then cut what's necessary down to what's really necessary, it's always less than you originally think. Of course, a design can start by including as little as possible, but it's much easier to get to the absolute core of the content by seeing its entirety first. White or blank space will naturally evolve when content is eliminated. The whole idea behind this negative space is to put more attention on the content that the designer deemed absolutely essential to include. By isolating content, the designer ensures that the viewer's attention is drawn to it. That's the beauty of simplicity: less is more.

Any detail that's off will and can stand out like a sore thumb when the owner looks at it. It's these little things that turn an average design into a great design of minimal content yet the designer's intentions were not based on that but just a great design, this I what makes the trend survive within design, what do you think?

Minimalist Advertising or Marketing

It’s easier to communicate in a straightforward approach when advertising or marketing.

When is comes to advertising or marketing in an over populated market Minimalism has a strong impact, when a message is kept simple and straight forward it becomes easier for consumers or the mass target audience to interpret, understand and remember with a remarkable attitude towards the product or services. More often customers don't have time to wait read and make sense of a long complicate ad they are likely to have a maximum of 10 to 20 seconds to look at the ad, so creating visual communication that will leave an interest in a customer's intellect requires minimal yet effective design. Paring a single word, logo, image or bright hue with a catchy slogan - creates memorable work that is both eye popping and intriguing.

The same thing happens in packaging the Design firm Antrepo recently undertook an experiment that they called a “minimalist effect in a maximalist market”: They took the existing packaging designs (left) for a number of products, including Pringles, Nutella, and Red Bull, removed some of the clutter and gratuitous graphics (center), and then, for maximally minimal impact, stripped away even more to create a “more simple variation” (right). Sometimes the center picture looks better than the ultra-stripped down design on the right, but in almost every case both beat the cluttered, noisy packaging that actually exists. By Robert Quigley

Social network sites also play a substantial role in the effectiveness of this manner of advertising. An eye catching minimal design creates traffic on social net works, people online are there for t heir on reasons they’ll either be chatting or reading something and for an ad to catch their attention it must first grab their attention and draw some interest in wanting to have a look at it so with minimal elements used the ad is oblige to have an impact on sales of the product or services.

Nearly 1.4 million Liked Apple Inc.’s Facebook page in February, according to the ChannelAdvisor Facebook Commerce Index. That’s a 56% jump from January, which is particularly impressive because the retailer doesn’t use the social network to promote its new products or to interact with consumers.

The Apple Facebook page is mostly untouched. It features a single image of the Apple logo and no content-based  posts to its wall.

“Apple is so popular it doesn’t even have to engage consumers to be Liked,” Channel Advisor Corp. notes in its report. Channel Advisor helps retailers sell through online marketplaces such as Amazon and eBay as well as comparison shopping sites. Published: Jan 26, 2011 References: kfc and adsoftheworld

http://www.trendhunter.com/trends/kfc-ad

http://www.a2591.com/2010/12/minimalist-effect-in-maximalist-market.html

Church Branding

I feel that Churches should visually be represented in a unique way as compared to the way they universally represented.

Branding for Churches has never been important, as effective as it can be churches are still not branded, I feel that as a result of the age we living in (a media driven age) churches should be branded. Normally churches use the basic Christian symbols as logos namely the Cross, Bible, Dove, Star, Angel, Chalice, Christogram, Fish (Ichthus), Crown of thorns etc, this could be because of the common beliefs that churches share because each of this symbols can be traced in the bible and linked to a story that narrates a certain significant historical event of the Christian religion yet the weight they place upon the beliefs or their values varies, every church edifies the Christians to seek the kingdom of God,  the truth and love but each of the would place greater emphasis on one over the other.

With that being said a church brand is so much more than just a logo, it’s the language that is used, the visual look and feel around logo. A logo should portray the key things about what the organization wants the audience to be recognized for, yet this doesn't mean all churches must use the symbols as they are, there should be concepts behind the icon and it should fluctuate from other churches’ because of what the church mainly stands for or focuses on. With our key values depicted on a logo we are really bringing forth what really makes us tick as a congregation.

I say church branding should be taken more important, even if the Christian symbols are used they should be used more creatively with original concepts. That way one can be able articulate the value of their church to non-members in ways that will make sense to them, for them to also see your church worth a while. 

Minimalism in Design

Both as a Trend and as Movement Minimalism has ascertained its influential prompt in the Design Industry.

Minimalism in various forms of Art and Design is where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features; this is done through using a limited or minimal amount of essentials to a maximum effect.

In all cases, Minimalism is eliminating elements that are considered to be unnecessary and allow the fundamental features to function in a weighed down fashion. It is the tendency to reduce to essentials. It also applies to groups or individuals practicing asceticism and the reduction of physical possessions and needs to a minimum; it also aims to simplify everything to a minimum. (Ad Reinhardt – November the 29^th 2009)

Trend: Tendency in a particular field where a group of people are focused on a common ideology. The main principle of designing will be based on minimal concepts.

Movement: This is the gradual change in technique, the change that the Movement goes through as a result of the latest technology. As we are introduced to more digital equipment design has also moved from focusing on hard copy to dominating in the digital world.

The survival of this movement or trend results from its most indispensable principles.

-          Grids

-          Typography

-          Space

-          Color

-          Basic Design Elements

This Principles are more fundamental in the Design field in general, when designing the above elements become your most basic tools of coming up with a high-quality design.

Grids - in graphic design is a way of organizing content on a page, using any combination of margins, guides, rows and columns to create alignment and unity.
Typography- the practical and artistic arrangement of type, the way in which type is laid out on a page to suit achieve the desired visual effect and best convey the meaning

Legibility	Readability
A measure of how easy it is to distinguish one letter from another in a given typeface. Legibility describes the design of a typeface. How legible a typeface is designed to be depends on its purpose. Legible typefaces usually have larger closed or open inner spaces (counters). They generally have a larger x-height, though not too large.	How easy words, phrases, and blocks of text can be read. Readability describes how a typeface is used on the page. Good typography (more readable) encourages a desire to read the copy and reduces the effort required to read and comprehend the type. The reader should not even notice the type. She should simply understand the words.

 Steven Bradley 

On May 24, 2010                                                                                                                                                                                   Archived in Web Design

Space – separation or connection of elements in a design, it creates groupings of elements, emphasis and hierarchy and improves readability and legibility in a design. Wider spaces separate elements from each other and narrower spaces connect elements to reveal relationships between them. 
Color- the response of the eye to differing wavelength of radiation within the visible spectrum.
Basic Design elements- Point: an element with a position but without an extension.
                                                Line: an element characterized by the length in direction.

Shape: an element defined by its perimeter or the shape and structure of a dimension within a    given composition.

Color: the response of the eye to differing wavelength of radiation within the visible spectrum.

This is the only trend that utilizes the most basic elements and principles, namely shape, line, space etc which then materializes to designers the affiliation it has with the elements and principles of design, the affiliation best illustrate that the trend only consist of elements and principles of design.