Graphic Design Services - London, UK

What would you expect for around $1 million investment on a rebranding excercise? And how risky is it tampering with a classic, well known logo in an attempt to engage the general public?

 

The questions which have to be asked in a project like this - is exactly who is being targetted? Will the rebranding affect the current Pepsi lovers? Or - does anyone really care? After all, tampering with a globally recognised brand is a risky business. By putting it up for public scrutiny, end trying to engage the market through various social media sites using sites such as You Tube and Flikr to reach out and, try to generate some buzz around the new loo, they have to be commended for moving into new ways of interacting with customer base.

 

A quick look at the redesign quickly brings to mind a multi-colored Pac-man. Some of the comments from the last few weeks on their flikr site give an insight into some possible perceptions, including "Wate of money!", "Miliions over Millions goin to the trash" to "I love it, it is totally minimilistic".

 

Whataver your opinion might be, the lack of sustained excitement or interaction around the released pictures is not surprising given that the US was going through the throes of a presidential election and in the opening stages of a severe economic downturn. The Pepsi strategy of trying to engage through social media using the proposed new design as a focal point for discussions, is pretty innovative for such a large corporation, and though the timing may not have been perfect it was a brave move. We'll have to wait and see whether any of the criticisms, advice and comments are taken on board, and what there plans are for moving this forward.

 

 

 

 

 

In times of doom and gloom - revitalising your services and sales could be vital to survival

In these times of projected economic hardship - the initial instinct of many businesses is to batton down the hatches and try to ride out the storm. At the same time, we know that people become more particular in what they need in terms of services and products, and being able to differentiate yourself from the competition is vital in order to make sure that you survive in the increasingly difficult market conditions, which is why we are going to be seeing many large brands relaunching/ rebranding themselves in the coming months. 

 

Proof from the Design Council that businesses that utilise design do better than those that do no, based upon the Value of Design Factfinder which shows the positive impact of design on practically every measure of business performance in terms of market share, growth, productivity, share price and competitiveness. Here is a brief list of some of their finding - 

 

• Two thirds of companies who ignore design have to compete mainly on price. In companies where design is integral, just one third do so.
• More than eight out of ten design-led companies have introduced a new product or service in the last three years, compared to just 40 per cent of UK companies overall. 83% of companies in which design is integral have seen their market share increase, compared to the UK average of 46%.
• Design is integral to 39% of rapidly growing companies but to only 7% of static ones.
• 80 per cent of design-led businesses have opened up new markets in the last three years. Only 42% of UK businesses overall have done so.
• A business that increases its investment in design is more than twice as likely to see its turnover grow as a business that does not do so.
  

 

 

How do graphic design services tie in with a company's positioning? We can take a look at a large corporate as a case study, to see what importance they attach to their logo design within their brand image.

According to the CISCO creative standards handbook "Positioning is how our company is viewed by others in our target marketplace. While we have goals for positioning ourselves, ultimately our position is what others think and say about us. We can, however, greatly influence how we are positioned by communicating to our external audiences in a clear and consistent way."

Within the handbook guidelines are given with respect to the writing style you should use when communicating with your customers, how the company tag line fits into the overall branding and positioning. And of course, the logo -

 

"The Cisco Systems logo is our signature to the world and must not be compromised. It is integral to our worldwide corporate identity."

"Good graphic design tells a visual story. Good graphic design is a visual expression that functions in optimised interaction with communication and strategy. This makes heavy demands on the designer's ability to integrate design into the whole. It also calls for considerable insight into the customer's firm, the purpose of the message and the underlying strategic thinking. Because like communication, design must reflect the customer's profile, appeal to the customer's buyers/partners, and also distance the customer from his competitors.

A good designer must therefore be able to be creative within the framework laid down by the customer. Bubbling creativity is of no use without a sense of context and economic realism. A designer must be capable of focused working within financial and time limitations. This is the challenge, and it is one of the areas a good designer gets paid to master."

Jan Nielsen, Creative Manager, Kuhl+co

 

There are many great designers out there with artistic flair, creativity and innovative thinking - after all, we're some of them :)

 

An important challenge is to be able to manage that creativity and innovation within a business context. Though creativity is an important attribute, it is of no use if left without focus and not harnessed in a productive manner. It is important that any project involving heavy elements of graphic design should have clear milestones and agreed deliverables, set within fixed timescales. This type of management of talent comes with experience across several clients and industry types.

 

So not only is good graphic design about delivering an effective message, but for it to be practically viable in a business sense, creativity and innovation need to be managed within a controlled environment to ensure that the client's business goals are met.

"When you want graphic design services such as logo design, web design, annual report design, etc. appointing the right design company to carry out the work will be a big decision". 

 

What kind of design company?

 

Design companies vary in the provision of services and variety of design disciplines available to clients.

 

Design companies broadly fall under four categories: those which provide services specific to certain industry sectors, e.g. for charities or financial institutions; those providing a limited specialist range of services, e.g. web design or corporate identities only; freelance designers often specialise their design work to a particular style, e.g. they may use a particular style of illustration which they would utilise for all design projects they are assigned to, and finally multidisciplinary companies provide a host of services for a wide range of industries.

 

If your company is launching a campaign, for instance, that requires a particular approach then you may work with a company that specialises in that approach i.e. illustration. Many large companies tend to follow design trends and commission a particular designer or company to apply their style to a specified campaign. This is common with companies like Nike who have so many products and like to stay in touch with trends as this helps them reach their specific target audience.

 

There may be benefits to commissioning a design brief with specific requirements to a specialist design company due to the experience and knowledge they possess in their field. There are also disadvantages due to the risk of narrowing your project brief to a pre-determined solution and not having explored all the possible avenues available to it.

 

Generally it is a good idea to work with multi-disciplinary companies if you are looking to establish a long-term relationship for your design needs. A broader design approach will be utilised to facilitate a more thorough exploration of the project brief. This also helps to eliminate additional costs of trial and error when approaching different design companies in order to obtain your desired solution.