The importance of graphic standards / identity systems

October 25, 2007 at 2:27 am · Filed under thoughts

Graphic standards… they are expensive, they are complicated, they are time consuming and they are 100% necessary. You will not find a major company without a strong identity system. Why? Simple, they want their image to be clear and consistent across all media.

A logo not only represents the company, it also represents all that it stands for. When a good graphic standard is established and followed the message and meaning is consistent across all levels of communication. This helps ensure that all branding efforts are remembered and tagged to your logo/brand mark.

This is the main principal behind having a consistent identity, and it can be found in many other aspects of marketing as well. In PR you have talking points, things that you say over and over as many times as you can to get your point across. In media buying you have frequency to touch the user with the same message as many times as possible. Even in SEO you try and get as much content relating to a similar topic so search engines see your site as better than the next.

This same core principal applies to your identity system. Think of what happens when presidents contradict themselves or when a company like Albertson’s runs an ad campaign that says you don’t need a membership card to get good prices and then you go into the store and they offer you a membership card. You loose all trust and you no longer know what they actually stand for.

This is no different than seeing a print ad with a logo set in a blue script font and then watching the same company’s TV spot with a purple logo set with a san-serif font. You send a mixed message and that is always bad.

With all that said, it is important to understand that not all companies need a 30 page graphic standards. A two pager with color / size / tag specs will suit most small companies just fine. This should be sent out when ever they have a logo request. Check out a few that I have had a major role in developing.

Saint Mary’s • Sierra Arts • (soon to come Reno-Tahoe International Airport)

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Line lengths - Print vs. Web

October 16, 2007 at 7:01 am · Filed under thoughts

Recently Casey and I had a discussion on what the best line length for readers is and it got me to thinking about the web and if the readers had different preferences for online reading vs. print. The following is what I uncovered:

For print, the shorter the line length the easier on the reader, however, longer it takes to read. So the longer the line length, the faster the read the faster the reader gets tired and stops reading. In terms of actual widths, many say 4″ wide is optimal or approximately seven words long. This seems to be based on lateral eye movement and the fact that the more your eye has to move the faster you get tired of reading.

For the web, the consensus seems to be almost the same except that read time is a bit more important. Readers want information faster and therefore a bit longer line lengths are preferred.

So when designing ask “do you want it read fast, or do you want it read all the way. Just a little info to help keep the world of design a bit more strategic and a little less by gut.

~rg

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You can’t trust anything these days

October 12, 2007 at 5:44 pm · Filed under thoughts

I was going through some old work a couple days ago and stumbled upon this retouching job I did for one of our clinets. At the time it seemed harmless but when I look back on it I’m not really sure how harmless it actually was. Because this shot wasn’t use to sell the building, more to show off the company there really isn’t any harm in making it look sweet, but if it was to sell the space, might be a different question. Can you count all the changes…

~rg

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