I admit, as a proud UCSB alumni, I was one of many caught up in the campaign to stop the new University of California logo that was meant to represent all the campuses. That thing was horrendous, and I’m thrilled they listened to public opinion and trashed it. How did they reach a point where they would defend such a crappy logo? I don’t know for sure, but I can make some educated guesses what led to this truly offensive piece of design that even got Lieutenant Governor Gavin Newsom to chastise the University of California for wasting students’ money on designing this new logo. Read more…
All posts in Design
I’m not a huge fan of sites such as 99 Designs and Logo Tournament, in part because I’ve often been asked to put some lipstick on some pretty ugly pigs my clients got through these services. Cutting corners on the branding front early on can be much more costly in the long run.
That said, I think it’s possible to get a professional design done cheaply if you understand how to get the most out of these designers. Check out a recently workshop I did for the Women’s Initiative (a very cool organization that supports women entrepreneurs) that will help you learn how to do it yourself. Hopefully you’ll have a pretty piggy. Read more…
A brand is much more than a logo and hiring a “branding agency” only gets you half-way there.Often you need a team of designers, writers, attorneys, etc. to make sure you have a everything in place to launch your brand. You need to manage the big picture. Here are the minimum 8 things I believe you need to launch your brand. Read more…
I’m taking a short break from my Infographics articles, to return to a topic I started writing on a few years back – product game changers. I recently attending a talk put on by Inc. Magazine that featured Dan Heath Read more…
Often I find myself trying to work with existing brands that weren’t really thought through before they started design and as a result we end up making lots of design compromises to accommodate a poorly-designed logo. The first thing a lot of start-ups do is run out and hire someone to design a logo before they’ve had a chance to think about their desired brand identity and marketing plan. The logo design process can’t effectively be done until you’ve got a very clear picture of who you are, why you are in business, and what are your business objectives for your brand. Read more…
While I would think that by now, I wouldn’t have the publish an article on this subject, but I’m still seeing sites that are a) built in flash and / or b) have image-heavy design, which is super irritating. Not to point fingers, but I’ve found that the most these sites tend to be for design agencies (showing off their skills) and for some reason bars and restaurants. There are millions of reasons why sites built in flash or image heavy are bad, here are my top 7. Read more…
Continuing series of Top 10 product innovations of the decade.
Product Innovation # 2: Silicone Baking Materials. 
Unless you were a French baker, until about a decade ago, you probably hadn’t encountered silicone baking materials. Today, if you are a baker, you’re surrounded gadgets such as cake pans, moulds, hot pads, trivets, and endless more products made from this material. Silicone (not to be confused with silicon which goes into computer chips) is a class of polymers that are generally flexible and translucent and have been used in a wide variety of products from adhesives and lubricants to surgical implants. It’s a great material for baking because it’s a poor conductor of heat (thus preventing burning), can withstand a huge range of temperature, and it’s flexible (thus easy to remove your baked good from the mold). Read more…
As we near the end of the 2000s, it’s time to take a look back at some true product innovations of the past decade and how they have changed our lives. Over the next couple of weeks, I’ll be blogging about some of the products that have really been game changers in the market place. While major corporations have released some great innovations such as the iPhone, Guitar Hero, and the Prius, I’m going to focus on more products that have been created by entrepreneurs and didn’t have a team of engineers building the products. Read more…
“What’s Your Budget?” That’s typically one of the first questions most vendors (designers, writers, printers, etc) will ask when you start talking about engaging them in a creative project. I don’t know if this is a really great business strategy as they can milk the client for as much as they have available or they just don’t know how to price their services and they’re hoping the client will give them directly on this. This can be to your advantage or to your extreme disadvantage. Read more…