It’s no great surprise that AOL has taken a pretty good beating in blogs around the world the past few weeks, after introducing their new…um…logoish thing. I was one of MANY, MANY people who took the time to comment on the logo and almost all of the commentary has been negative. It seems that almost everybody has a reason to hate the logo.

Alissa Walker wrote an article for Fast Company, allowing branding firm Wolff Olins to tell their side of the story. While I am not sold on the somewhat tongue-in-cheek explanation that the new AOL logo is the logo of the future, I think that AOL’s management and Wolff Olins make a good case for themselves. I don’t buy AOL chief of staff Maureen Sullivan’s explanation that scrapping the old name is “the lazy consultant answer,” I can certainly appreciate the idea of hiring Wolff Olins at least in part because they were in the very small minority who advised them to keep the name.

Have you ever heard the old saying about when you’re in a panic situation and everybody is heading for the exits, you’re better off heading in the direction they’re coming from because you stand a better chance of getting out alive? I can appreciate that. I think, were I asked, I’d advise AOL to keep the name simply because AOL is an icon, so I agree with keeping the name.

Again, I don’t care for the changing imagery behind the logo, but the imagery isn’t supposed to be the logo. The logo is the Aol. wordmark in front of the image. If you go to the Wolff Olins home page (linked above), watch the video. It’s a good demonstration of how the logo “works” in a motion environment. The videos produced are, as Walker says in her piece, quite good and make a strong case for the “invisible wordmark.”

I still think they’d be better served by having identified one image as their flagship logo for print purposes, but I at least get what they were going for. I don’t know that it’s the future of design, but I have to admit that I like their out-of-the-box thinking.

Even if you don’t care for the new logo, Wolff Olins certainly gets an A for process and creative thinking. So kudos there, Wolff Olins.

What I’m most curious to see now is how many people start mimicking the style? I only wish I could put together a graph correlating the number of mimics with the number of critics, because you can bet your ass that there is going to a lot of crossover in those two groups. We hate it today, but we can’t wait to steal it.

I’ve been working with Jenna Schrumpf of Dobson Home Health Care the past few weeks and our pet project is creating an informal networking group for professional-types. We initially started talking about it because we were both surprised that the Bay Area Chamber of Commerce didn’t offer a young professionals group similar to the groups in Midland and Saginaw*.

Jenna and I decided that we’d go ahead and start a group of our own and see if anybody was interested. As we started talking to a few people about it, we were surprised that a number of people were more interested in a non-Chamber group. It isn’t anything against the Chamber, but people seem to want something a little bit different. So we created Bay City After 6.

My beef with many YP groups is that they all have an age requirement of something like 25–40. Maybe it’s just me being overly sensitive since I will be 40 years old in a few days, but I think putting an age limit—even if it’s just a guideline—is discriminatory. What happens when I turn 41? Do I have to go to Carnival? It’s kind of like refusing to call your group the Old Boys Club, but requiring a Y-chromosome to belong. 

Bay City After 6 is focused on the social aspects of networking. Maybe it will benefit your business, too, but that is only because growing your group of friends and acquaintances will benefit your whole life. Initially we are just planning on having a couple of happy hours and talking to everyone who shows up (assuming anyone shows up, that is) about what it is they would like to see happen both with the group and in the Tri-Cities (I still can’t bring myself to use the other name).

We aren’t planning any business functions, but if people seem interested in having meetings with actual speakers and such, we can do that (in fact, we’ve already had one professional speaker/motivator offer his services). It’s our group, we can do anything we like. 

Our first meeting will be held this Thursday, April 2nd, at Midland Street Jack’s (formerly Lumberjack’s) on Midland Street in Bay City. Anybody and everybody is welcome to join. Also, the link above takes you to our Facebook page. We are probably going to get a blog going in the next couple of weeks, so we’ll keep you updated.

Hope to see you on Thursday night.

It’s awards season. In the past five weeks or so, we’ve seen the Grammys, Independent Spirit and Academy Awards shows all come and go. I didn’t win anything.

Awards aren’t limited to the entertainment industry, though. There is also a local award called the Ruby Award. It goes out to like a dozen or so local people who are all making significant contributions to the community. I didn’t get one of those, either. And I never will because it’s only for people under 40 and since I am turning 40 in about a month, this was the last year that I would have been eligible. Shut out of the Ruby Awards? Was it because I don’t make a significant contribution or am I just not under 40 enough? I guess we’ll never know.

On top of all of these awards which I will not be winning, there are graphic design and advertising awards—hundreds of them, maybe even thousands—and I won’t be winning any of them, either. 

Do I feel bad about it? No, not really. I just got thinking about it because almost every day I get another mailer from another organization reminding me of the deadline to enter a design in this contest or that. Some of the awards are legit—I’m looking at you Clio, Addy and Communication Arts—and some are not. Well, it isn’t that they aren’t legit, but many of them come from organizations you have never heard of before. And every year there are more and more of them. They are like award factories.

The business of charging people to enter design competitions in return for an award is becoming a very big business. It’s starting to remind me of the Who’s Who scam…you get a free listing in Who’s Who in Animal Husbandry or whatever. And for just $15 you can include a photo. $25 more and you get a copy of the book. It’s the pay-to-play aspect that I don’t care for.

If you go to many designers’ sites, you will to see them trotting out their awards. And I don’t blame them, they’ve earned the awards. Moreover, they paid for them. With entry fees running $85 and sometimes more, it gets expensive pretty quickly. That’s part of why you see the bigger agencies winning more awards—they can absorb that cost in their overhead because it’s a much smaller percentage of their monthly budget. Even a couple of entries a month would be a big chunk for us—realistically the $150 covers my electric and internet bills for a month. 

Don’t get me wrong, trophies are nice to look at, but does anybody really pay attention? If you go to a large ad agency, one of the first things you see when you walk in the front door is the trophy case. At Integer we had a big case filled with Addys and Clios and so forth. It makes for a nice show if you’re doing the dog-and-pony, but does anybody really know what these trophies are? Maybe I will go to the thrift store and buy a bunch of old bowling trophies and just put them up on display in the studio.

I only mention any of this because if you are looking to hire an award-winning designer, I’m not your guy. 989 Design is a small studio and there are just the two of us working here. It’s not like a few entries is going to break the bank, but I don’t see that the benefit outweighs the cost. What’s the best thing that happens when you win an award? You get the respect of your peers, which would be nice, but I don’t really need that sort of approval, except from my clients. And I suppose that if someone were hiring a designer based on how many awards they’ve won, they probably aren’t the right fit for 989 Design. Seems a little uptight and that’s just not our style.

I’d rather just keep doing good work and doing our best to keep our overhead low. Our goal isn’t to be a cheap design studio because that isn’t what we are, but keeping our overhead low gives us a little flexibility when it comes to pricing our projects.

If a no-cost competition comes along, maybe we will send something in. In fact, now that I think about it, I have entered one design competition in my career. It was a no-cost-to-enter competition sponsored by a paper manufacturer. I have never printed on a particular stock just to be able to enter a competition, but I happened to use the right stock and I was really proud of how it came out. A few months later I received a package in the mail that informed me that I was, in fact, not a winner. I thought maybe I’d get an honorable mention or something, but not even that. I remember being really disappointed about it, too. 

Regarding the image above: I did not draw or create the bottle cap image. I came across it years ago and was not able to find the original source of the art. I wish I had because I’d like to give credit where credit is due, but I guess I’ll just have to settle for not taking credit for someone else’s work.

Part of what has been keeping me so busy is that we are getting more projects in the studio that require both writing and design. I feel pretty comfortable with my writing skills, but when it comes time to write for somebody else it just takes me longer to get my mind around it. Part of it is that I have to learn about their business so that I can write about it intelligently. Plus, it takes me a little time to really “get into character,” so to speak. It takes time to find the right voice for a project, the right words, and so forth. I’m enjoying the challenge it brings, but it also makes it harder to shift gears back to the blog. 

I’ve also been spending a little more time reading, which is part of what I wanted to write about today. There is a very nice article in the current issue of Wired. The article is all about designing within boundaries and making that work for you instead of against you. The link above will take you to the intro to the article, which mentions the constraints of the page in graphic design. There are linked pages in the article to short pieces about design electric cars, antenna-less cell phones, and building a better plastic bottle. 

As I read the piece it dawned on me that this isn’t just about design, but it’s about everything. Through the limits placed on us by ourselves or by external forces, we are forced to adapt to these constraints. It’s either adapt to them or be crippled by them. With the current state of the economy, we are staring into an abyss that could change our way of life for generations. At the same time, though, there’s an opportunity there. Not just for the country as a whole, but for many individuals who are choosing to try something new. 

I’ve had three or four new businesses contact me about designing logos and stationery and each new startup excites me. Will every new business be a success? No, they won’t. It’s a sad fact, but statistically speaking, it is true. The people I’ve met with know that they are taking a chance by starting a new business, but they aren’t willing to let their current constraints dictate how they choose to live their lives—how they design their lives, if you will.

Look at your current situation. What constraints are there upon you? How can you work within or around them? How can you make your situation work better for you? Try to discover the opportunities that are out there that you might be able to take advantage of.

Image above: From Wired, Bryan Christie Design

The downside of having these great relationships is that sometimes you just quit bothering to comparison shop. When is the last time you quoted your job at another printer? Don’t misunderstand me, I’m a very loyal client when it comes to print shops, but different shops have different equipment and may or may not be the best fit for a job. There are many shops who can print an oversize poster, for example, but some of them are better-suited to it than others and the shops who are better-suited for a job, generally can offer better prices as a result of economies of scale. It’s rare that your print rep is going to tell you that maybe another shop is a better fit for a job (although it does happen from time to time). Who can blame them? They’re paid on commission so they have a vested interest in keeping the job in their hands, no matter what the cost is to you.

In an economic environment like we currently find ourselves in—especially in Michigan where so many businesses are hanging on by a very thin thread—we need to be sure that we are making the most of our money. 

Take the time to have another shop quote your next project. It’s sad to say, but some shops are really hurting right now and they are very aggressive in their quoting. They are more interested in keeping their presses running, so they are offering great deals.

I recently designed a brochure for one of my larger clients and, as is my practice, I quoted it at the two shops who were the best fit for the project. I knew that either shop would do a great job, so no matter which direction I went I would not be sacrificing quality. I was really surprised, though, when I got the quotes back. One shop was almost double the price of the other shop (at lower quantities). At the quantity we ended up printing, the cost difference amounted to over $700, which was about 30–40% lower than the other shop. In the end we got a product that everybody was very happy with and I saved my clients a chunk of change all because I took the time to send one e-mail. 

Time to write one e-mail: 2 minutes.
Cost savings: $700

If you don’t have a sales rep from another shop, feel free to e-mail or call and I will give you names and numbers for several shops.

About a month ago I was approached by Aaron Bolt, the new owner of (the former) Harvest Coffee House in Bay City to design a new logo for the coffee house. The new name is Brewtopia Coffee and Aaron wanted the new logo to have a classic look and to reflect the café’s downtown location.

At the top you can see the logo we came up with. We played with a few different versions of the type until we hit on something we were all happy with. As a backdrop for the logotype, I created a few generic buildings and some quick drawings of a few downtown Bay City landmarks—the fountain in Wenona Park, Delta College planetarium and City Hall. So far, we have received a lot of positive feedback on the logo which is really gratifying. 

Brewtopia is not just a coffee house, it’s a community center. A place where people get together for meetings or to just relax and talk. I’m sitting in the café right now and there is a group of young guys working on something. I’m not sure if it’s homework or their fantasy baseball draft, but they are just hanging around and having a good time. Toward the back there are a couple of people working, a couple and their baby buying some fresh-roasted beans, and another couple who are really enjoying being together (don’t worry family folks, they’re not canoodling or anything, Brewtopia isn’t that kind of place).

It’s a little after 8PM on a Tuesday night and there are about 15 people here—that’s not too bad for a weeknight in Bay City.

Clearly, Brewtopia Coffee is the place to be. So the only questions is this: Where are you tonight and why aren’t you here?

 They are staying open until 9 or 10 every night of the week (except Sunday, when they close at 6). There are always several different coffees fresh and waiting for you as well as a wide variety of specialty drinks, many of which exist here and nowhere else. 

You know what else is great? They roast their own beans right here in the coffee shop. They aren’t buying beans that were roasted weeks or months ago, they are buying fresh beans and roasting them themselves to be sure that you are getting the best cup of coffee in Bay City.

If you are out and about in downtown Bay City, be sure to swing by and say hello to Aaron and the gang. 

This has been an unpaid advertisement.