Product and Brand Design Blog by Sanders Design Associates

Mobile phones

5.7.11

And here's another thing what about mobile phones? This is something else that I've never truly embraced.

I reckon that I got my first mobile phone about 23 years ago. It was just before I started the business. I remember it well, it was a Motorola, a really cute product that fitted the breast pocket of my shirt - unheard of in those days. You could buy an 'extended life' battery which just about doubled the size of the product and meant that it would last a whole day without having to re charge it!

You have to remember that not many people had 'mobiles' in those days, certainly not for 'social' reasons.

It was at about this time that I found myself dividing my time between a part time lecturing role at the University and running my fledgling business single handed. The 'mobile' enabled me to be 'on tap' to all my clients at any time, regardless of where I was - in the studio or in the lecture theatre or at home. It is this, that I think has for ever coloured my view of mobile phones.

I like to moderate when and who can contact me, but desperate to always be available to the few clients I had, the phone would remain switched on pretty much as long as the battery would permit. The inevitable consequence being that the phone would ring mid lecture and I would be in the embarrassing position of having to excuse myself from a room full of students to take the call.

Yes, I know, you can always turn them off, but the thought if a client ringing during business hours and receiving answer phone message filled me with dread.

The problem was, that the more ardent clients would ring me during the evenings and at weekends which I found a real intrusion of privacy.

Since then, I've always had a real love/hate relationship with 'mobiles' and never really embraced them as a social tool in the way that most people seem to have. Call me a miserable old git (and many do!) but I don't like being available to everyone all the time. I like to get out of the studio from time to time without being 'available'.

And to this day, the first thing that any new member of staff that joins us here at sanders' is told is "don't whatever you do give out the bosses mobile number"!

Julian Sanders
Managing Director
Sanders
Labels: Design, Technology

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From 'drawing boards' to 'ipads'

29.6.11

The old fart's reminiscing again!

All this talk of 'back to basics' has got me thinking, and I guess reminiscing to some degree. This year, at sanders, we celebrate our 20th anniversary, a point at which its only natural that one should tend to look back and reflect.

I know that I bore the the pants off everyone here in the studio with my tales of how things used to be, but it never ceases to amaze me how much our industry has changed in the course of my career.

I started in professional practice back in the mid 80's working for a consultancy in North London, before moving to South Wales at the end of that decade and helping to establish a design agency, which at one point was employing around 16 staff.

Technology has definitely brought with it speed and efficiency. I can clearly remember the day our first fax machine arrived in the studio. I seem to remember we paid around £700 for it and I can see us all now sat round the table watching this machine in amazement as it spewed out a sheet of paper with a drawing on it that had been sent from our more technologically aware clients. How times have changed!

We still have a drawing board in the studio, which is still used regularly. OK, mainly by me I admit, but the interesting thing is, I've noticed a genuine fondness and fascination for these more craft based processes from our clients too. They seem to have moved beyond the seduction of what often tend to be rather soulless CAD visuals.

Of course some of those skills I guess are, in large part, lost forever, like the ability of graphic designers to understand and visualise type and be able to specify it with the correct kerning and leading before getting it typeset and run of as a pmt before 'cow gumming' it into position on a spread.

When I first started my working career in a small product design studio in North London, there was a very clear demarkation between the designer and the engineer and a very clear mutual respect by both, for each others skills.

The designers' 'visuals' would be passed to the engineer who would magically generate, on layers draughting film, a two dimensional representation of a three dimensional object, complete with details and sections. All done using nothing more than a pencil a ruler a compass and set of stencils. Never did we have the luxury of running a software interference check, or rapid prototyping something over night to confirm fit or function. Instead, the drawings would checked by a colleague (we'd always include a deliberate mistake to ensure that they had been checked thoroughly!), dispatched to the moulder and the next time you'd see anything would be when a brown box arrived in the post containing the 'first off tool'.

I can still clearly feel that potent mix of excitement and anticipation (or was it trepidation?) as the polystyrene chips were discarded and two plastic mouldings would be ceremonially removed from their protective outer and offered up to each other in the desperate hope that they would meet in perfect unity! The relief when they did was palpuble. If they didn't, well....

Things have moved on (thank goodness) but I do hope that we don't forfeit completely all of those hand and eye skills that have served us so well over time.

Anyway, I'm off to find my pipe and slippers!
Labels: Design, Technology

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The Art & Science of Logo Design

31.8.09

Logo design is both simple and complicated.

Successful brand image creation involves both simplicity and complexity. The complexity has more to do with the mechanics, creation and translation of the mark, and the simplicity has to do with the perception of the image itself. There are a variety of technical and mechanical concerns, as well as issues regarding psychology and culture.

Regardless of these limitations, there are also qualities that many of the greatest brand images possess. These qualities can be ascertained. It is not simply a subjective process, there are measurable properties which both define and describe successful logos, and therein lies the science.

A logo should be designed with such great care and attention to detail that it is only necessary to do it once - there is no "logo redesign" later when drop shadows go out of style.

Measure twice, cut once.
So what are these apparent qualities? Some of this I was taught, and some of it comes from experience. You are more than welcome to contest anything. It is interesting to note that often what is good about a logo is what it isn't, not just what it is.

Memorable – It should go without saying that the most important function of the logo device is to cause us to remember it. Basically, everything else that goes into its production is to this end. A memorable logo also serves to support the brand of a company. If the brand is well known, the name may not even be necessary. Brand equity is enough to remind us.

Simplicity – Simple things are easier to remember. Good brand images are simple in form, containing few parts, and very little fine detail. Too many elements, too many colors, gradations, shadows, effects, all contribute to a complicated image. Effects are often used, but to an initially simple image to begin with. Complexity is also not visible at a small size.

Size – The best images are designed to work well equally at the same size small as they do large. Often there is a minimum size for the logo, good for representation on computer screens, and a maximum size which is only dependent upon the printer, material, and budget.

Shape – To the degree that a logo fits into a equilateral square or circle, it will be easier to see and remember. Long, narrow or other odd shapes, can work, but are slightly disadvantaged. One cannot blame the name if it happens to be long - but a good mark can still be made of a long name, if necessary.

Culture – Well designed logos are internationally and culturally neutral. Being aware of symbols and their different meaning in different places of the world can avoid potential pitfalls (The Chevy "Nova" being sold in Mexico is a classic - nova is translated as "no go" in Spanish :(

Color – Great brand images look good in both black and white, and inverse, first. Color is always secondary. A good logo will fair well on a patterned or colored background, but most do not. Many are instructed to be used only on a white field.

Versatility – If all of the above have been taken into consideration, the resultant mark will be very versatile, capable of supporting a brand in a variety of circumstances. It could be large, small, an invoice, a billboard. Whatever it is, the image will survive.

Labels: Design

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