Daily Brad, the blog

So I was thinking about the concept of “taking pride in your design” the other day while sitting at IHOP. I was staring up at a sign hanging from the ceiling that was advertising their latest and greatest (mostly sweet) combination of breakfast foods and the thought came to my mind - I wonder if the person that designed that sign is proud of it? I wonder if they see it hanging in their local IHOP and say “I designed that!”.

It got me thinking of the first few things I designed that were actually not school work, and people actually spent money to have them printed. Since my internship was for Salt Lake Magazine (Salt Lake City Magazine at the time), one of my first designs was for a postage paid reply card. You know what these are, those annoying bits of cardstock that are constantly falling out when you’re flipping through a magazine in an airport waiting for your flight. But something to be proud of? Not exactly. But as it was one of the first few things that were actually printed of mine, I glowed when it came out in the magazine, and put a copy in my portfolio.

Now that I’ve designed literally thousands of things, I think back and wonder - am I proud of everything I’ve designed? How about you? Do you glow at every design you see in the world that originated in your head?

I think I’m most proud of the things I’ve designed that are most true to my original concept, and weren’t clouded by excessive client micromanagement. Concepts that seemed to match the clients needs exactly, and resonated with the client as such.

As I’ve been doing some contract work for Omniture lately, I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand how one of my brands has been carried beyond my original creation. After working there nearly 5 years and creating their brand from scratch, it was hard to let it go and send it out into the world. But with talented people, and a CEO who cares about the brand, it’s maintained itself and even grown into an amazing presence. I’m proud of that.

What are you thoughts on this topic?

Since I recently discovered that I’m an egosurfer, I thought I’d share something I found while egosurfing. When googling my name on Google Images, the 4th image showed another guy named Brad McCall who lives in Montana, and runs McCall Development. Since my Dad was a General Contractor most his life, I wanted to see what they “developed” and clicked on over to the article about this Brad McCall.

I noticed a small colorful logo on Brad McCall’s shirt (the other Brad) and wanted to get a closer look at it. So I found the website for McCall Development. I was impressed with their logo, I liked how they incorporated the open door into the letter “M”. Very clean, classy initial-style logo with a strong meaning to what they do and what they stand for.

I’ve always thought that a logo should be more than just a mark or brand, but to tell the story. That’s often the hardest part - is making something so simple tell a story so big. McCall development has done a great job of this - Kudos guys!

I was sitting in a doctor’s office the other day and the only magazine that wasn’t too “girly” for me to look at was In Style Magazine. But as a designer, anywhere you can find a chance to scope out good design, it’s worth the time. On page 178 of their January 2007 issue they had a page that highlighted several card companies under the heading “Thank-You Notes: After the presents and parties, here’s how to show your appreciation.” This page reminded me of a post that I’ve wanted to put together, and with Christmas in a couple days, I think it appropriate.

Every identity with a side of thanks
As an independent graphic design consultant (I’m getting better at dropping that whole “freelance designer” thing, aren’t I?) you should always look for opportunities to say “thanks”. When I first came up with my brand for Brad McCall, designer, I printed thank-you cards along with my business cards. I think every stationery (or “identity system”) should have a thank-you card included with the letterhead, envelope, and business card that comes standard. I’ve recommended this to most of my clients, and even a couple of the companies I’ve worked for. The surprising thing was that it took a little while to get people to use them. Have we been trained not to say thank-you? Or has email replaced the art of the thank-you card all-together?

I remember as a child my mother sitting me down after Christmas and having me write my thank-you notes. “Be sure to thank grandma for the $5 and tell her what you plan to spend it on” she would say. She understood the power of “thank-you”. But we shouldn’t just say thanks after we recieve a gift, but at anytime someone goes out of their way to enhance your life OR your business.

Make your thank-you special
Some of the thank-you note stationers that In Style recommended had some beautiful handmade and letterpress cards. Cards that not only are beautiful but also have a tactile quality that enhances the experience of anyone receiving them. Here’s who they recommended:

Keep it business, but keep it fun
Whether your print your own custom cards, or choose one off the shelf, don’t forget a couple key ingredients to add:

1. Throw a couple business cards and don’t miss this opportunity to remind your contact that you’re still in the business of doing good business.
2. Never send a thank-you card without a handwritten note. Short and sweet is fine, but the “handwritten” part is critical.
3. Show them you have a sense of humor by using a funny stamp or card. My most recent thank-yous went out with the “SuperHeros” stamps the Post Office recently put out. In the past I used “Scooby-doo” thank-you cards, since I’ve always been a fan of the mystery-solving dog.

And thank-you to all who read this blog. I’d be happy to send you a card, if I only had your address. Snail mail rocks!

My friend Jonathan has been working on getting me to put together a new design for a custom snowboard for myself. He found a local manufacturer named Revolution that offers a design your own snowboard option. In fact, I think the snowboard that I currently ride was manufactured by them. I don’t recall exactly, because the agency I worked for at the time (Studeo, Inc) gave it to me as a Christmas present back in 1997 or 1998. (All I had to do was pitch in $50 as I recall for bindings). Studeo had done some work for them, and in trade they got custom Studeo boards. I still ride that board, and will continue to ride it until I feel that I’m good enough to deserve a new one. (And perhaps the time has come, as I’m becoming a much better ‘boarder) In fact, it’s that ‘board that I’m clutching in one of my portfolio website pictures.

So what about snowboard design and snowboard art? I looked around to see what I could find…

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I read this in a recent press release:

MyFamily.com, Inc., the leading online network for connecting families across distance and time, today announced that it is changing its name to The Generations Network, Inc., effective immediately. The company will continue to serve families online through its portfolio of leading brands and websites.

Hu? The Generations Network? Hmmm. I don’t get it. I wasn’t a big fan of the name “MyFamily.com”, though I’ve gotten use to it over time. The company has proved itself as a long-standing member of the Internet community despite their name; the company’s combined properties form the No. 1 network of family history websites in both the United States and United Kingdom.

But “The Generations Network”? It doesn’t quite rub me right. It doesn’t even sound like the name of a company. I’m sure that the acronym TGN will be thrown around, to avoid having to say the whole thing (they already registered the URL), I mean can you imaging saying “I work for The (capitalize “The”) Generations Network”?

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Back in early April of 2001 I went out with Morgan Lynch. I had known Morgan from when I worked at Studeo and he worked at Insurquote and used Studeo’s graphic design services. Morgan had this idea for a company that would design logos on a fixed budget and fixed time frame. I remember thinking that the market already had a couple players, and as an occasional freelance designer myself, I wondered how could he do it? And then I saw his business plan. It was flawless. He asked me if I would come up with a couple sketches for his logo, the company’s name was Logoworks.

I watched Morgan as he grew Logoworks from its small office on Mountain Way Drive with 1 employee to the office on Center Street near the freeway with a couple employees to their current location in the Center 7 Building in Lindon. It has been quite a ride I’m sure. The company has not been immune to controversy with some Internet discussions claiming their designers “borrow” from other logos because of “sweat shop” payment for their services. They respond to these claims the way a business should and move on. The growth and the creations of Logoworks has been phenomenal, and they’ve produced some fabulous creative.

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My friends think it a little funny that every time we pass the IKEA being built in Draper that I get a little excited. Why’s that you ask? Well duh, it’s the big Okland Construction logo hanging from the side - another Brad McCall design.

There is a fair amount of excitement in Utah that we’re finally getting our own IKEA. They officially broke ground just south of Salt Lake City, in the City of Draper back in early April of this year. (Near 1-15 and the Bangerter Highway) The 310,000 square-foot Draper location will open in Spring 2007 and will be the first of its kind in Utah. (There are 230 IKEA stores in 33 countries, including 27 in the U.S., where IKEA plans to open three to five stores a year.) For those unfamiliar with IKEA, there’s always IKEA.com where I personally have ordered plenty of things and had them shipped. But for those of us in-the-know, we knew that the 63 year-old Swedish store would eventually make a grand appearance in Utah. We’ll swoop in and grab from their range of home furnishings and accessories all with “good design” and function, at low prices. (Utahans LOVE a good deal.)

But as for now, the sweet spot for me is this:

See that? It’s my logo hanging on the side of the concrete structure going up. Call it a “sighting” if you will. It’s one of two logos of mine that can be spotted from the freeway.

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Here’s a logo I recently finished for Zensterz. (The URL won’t really go anywhere right now as the official site won’t launch for another couple months.)

Click image to view larger

Zensterz is a subscription-based online portal where family groups can share events, coordinate activities, brag about recent trips or promotions, etc. They can do all this within a password-protected site that’s packed with Web 2.0 features (ie Software-like functionality). There’s more to Zensterz which I can’t talk about (which gives it an extra punch to stand out in a fairly crowded space of “family websites”), since it’s still under wraps for the time-being, so you’ll have to be on hold until it goes live.

The selected concept that was taken to completion was based on and illustration of two individuals (one green, the other orange) who are conversing through the letter “Z”. The blue circle and relative roundness of the shape behind them represent the wrapping of the two individuals from around the globe where they arrive at the “Z” (representing zensterz) that is made from the negative space from their faces. I used an all-lowercase version of the font Gill Sans, to emphasize the ending of zensterz (with a “Z”). Gill Sans has always seemed like a “friendly” font with its mixed chunkiness, but still have a professional appeal. Seemed appropriate.

Paris Hilton. Even the mention of her name elicits some kind of response in most everyone. You either like her or hate her. But either way, as a graphic design and developer of brands, I’ve gotta hand it to the girl - she’s a brand powerhouse.

I recently read a blog post by the folks over at Strategic Name Development about Paris Hilton launching a new Heiress brand fragrance which prompted me to write this post. I got curious about the brand “Paris Hilton” versus the hotel chain her grandfather started. So I headed on over to Google Trends and entered Paris Hilton vs. Hilton. Since the search term “Paris Hilton” contained “Hilton” the search wasn’t as dramatic as I’d liked. So I thought of one of Hilton’s (the hotel) biggest competitors and entered them. Paris Hilton versus Marriott.

It’s interesting to see how one individual’s popularity (in searches anyhow) nearly equals and sometimes surpasses the popularity of an entire hotel chain with over 499,165 rooms world wide in almost 3,000 properties. The large spike in the graph reflects one of the many scandals that have either been caused by or put upon the hotel heiress. This one happened to be when her cell phone was hacked and all her famous friend’s personal emails and phone numbers were exposed.

Okay, so she was born an heiress, so have a lot of girls. But what has Paris done with it? (more…)

Here’s a logo I recently completed. I can’t talk much about the company or what they do as yet (since it’s a bit of a new product that’s got to be kept under wraps) but it has something to do with producing unique CD-R and DVD-R products. The name of the company is “Therty Brand”, and since there was an odd spelling for a common word, I wanted to somehow put emphasis on the “e”. Since they also dealt with CD-R and DVD-R products, I wanted to use that as part of the concept without making it too trite or silly. Here’s what I came up with:

I chose a bright blue to keep it fresh, but I’m working on adding a rusty orange to the pallet (and maybe a chocolate brown - though the blue and chocolate thing is kinda trendy right now…)

The concept I came up with was a very simple text treatment centered in a circle of color that represents the CD or DVD Media product. Without being to obvious, the “e” at the center makes the center of the media. Smallest possible use of this logo may separate the “blue dot” from the text treatment… but I still haven’t settled there.

Thoughts? Comments?