Ratilda's Brood by A. Michael Shumate

Outline for "Corporate Identity Design"

SECTION 1: FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES

History of Corporate identity
• Ancient seal cylinders
   - Branding design precedes writing
• Egyptian name cartouches - proto-logos
• Japanese moon family logos
   - patterns on kimonos, flags, swords, etc
   - very modern logo design principles
   - reproducible by different media
• Heraldry - sure identity in battle
   - Coat of arms is inheritable possession
• medieval signs for illiterate population
   - tavern names shown pictorially
• Royal Seals - identity and communication
• Craftsmen and Tradesmen Trademarks
   -Masons marks, goldsmiths marks, paper makers watermarks watermarks for the nobility, and printers marks
   - Medieval trademarks required by craft guilds. By 1700s almost every trader & dealer had trademark or seal. Reinforced in through industrial revolution.
• Change in 1950s with economic expansion and huge national and multinational corporations and the identity programs developed by them. Early identities just signatures (Olivetti, 3M, CIBA, Mobile, Esso,
• Evolved beyond just logo designs to corporate identity programs.
• What is Branding?
• What is Branding or Corporate Identity Design?

General Principles of Design
COMPOSITION
1. Unmistakable dominant element
2. Hierarchy of elements
3. Coincide or contrast in layout
IMAGE
Consistent in style & technique
ART
Creativity solves problems within constraints

Principles of Corporate Identity Design
• Flexibility within continuity
• Simplicity the soul of good design
• Beware J. T. B. D. Design & B. Y. C. Design
• Form Follows Function
• Clarity in all media & variety of sizes
   - Stationery
   - Newspapers / Yellow Pages
   - Brochures / Magazines
   - TV / Internet
   - Signage / Vehicles
   - Forms, Photocopies, Faxes

SECTION 2:
DESIGNING CORPORATE IDENTITIES

Corporate Identity Components
• Terminology:
   - Brand, Trademark, Corporate Identity
   - Wordmarks / Logotypes
   - Logos
   - Monograms
   - Signatures

Knowing Your Client
• Nature of business
• Ideals of business
• Competitors
• Likely applications of identity

Kinds of Identity Concepts
• Only 4 kinds of concepts:
   - Corporate Activity
   - Corporate Ideals
   - Corporate Name
   - Graphic Approach
• Double entendre versus going in two directions at once
• If you can't design, you can't design on computer
• If you can't draw, you can't draw on the computer
• Do your visual thinking on paper
• Conceptualize in shapes, not lines

7 Deadly Sins of Logo Design
1. Scale problems (parts too small)
2. Clarity in 1 color
3. Lack of Mass (clarity at distance)
4. Misleading info/inappropriate mood
5. Overlapping elements/ Unnecessary elements
6. Lack of style, visual sophistication
7. No unique design

7 Visual Processing Options
1. stylize: curvilinear, rectilinear, distorted
2. fragment: stripes, dots, triangles, etc.
3. Silhouette
4. Planar
5. Containment
6. Combinations
7. Pare down, simplify, find essence

Principles for design refinement
• Simplicity is the soul of good design
   - What can you omit?
• Grids help see relationships of size, alignment
• Beware JTBD design
• Overall logo aspect
• Coincide or contrast
• Visual logic on sizes, placement, gaps
• Units of measure from signature type
• Logo not= identity
   - logo + signature = identity
• Logo / Signature size relationships
   - logo on top:1.5 - 2 times sig height
   - logo at side:1.25-1.5 times sig height
• Extra letterspacing counter-productive
• Perfect kerning (view upside down) - ligatures
• Clear Space

Smart Signature Type
• Coinciding or contrasting font with logo
• Coinciding or contrasting shapes in logo
• Extra letterspacing counterproductive,
   - makes letters smaller
• Mass more effective - avoid light fonts & outlines
• Size relationships logo re signature
   - start with signature
• Functional name, not formal name
   - (with return address only)
• Challenging fonts impede legibility
• Fancy fonts token of amateur

Corp ID Color Choices
• Legibility is a function of contrast
   - Contrast is a function of value
   - High contrast draws attention
   - Mid value backgrounds don't work
   - Similar values and hues vanish
   - Similar values different hues vibrate
• Logo colors 40-80% value range
• Logo & Signature should be different values
• one color mid-dark range, one dark
• signature gets greater contrast
• in reverse signatures still gets greatest contrast
• reverse colors keep saturation level
• available in vinyl for signage / vehicles

Identity Variations
• Flexibility and continuity
• FUNCTIONAL NAME VERSUS LEGAL NAME
   - Legal name (Inc., Ltd.) never in identity
• preferred identity and variations
• Horizontal, Vertical
• Extreme Horizontal, Extreme Vertical
• With Corporate Activity Phrase
• TM common law claim or applying
• R only if it is registered

SECTION 3: CORPORATE IDENTITY APPLICATION

7 Deadly Sins of Identity Application
1. Failure to Create Clean Digital Files
   - no phantom shapes-compound path
   - no stroked lines-outline stroke
   - no editable type-convert to outlines
2. Violating the identity's clear space
3. Abusing the identity
   - Fragmentation / outlining (often don't work)
4. Identity parts in place of proper identity
5. Separating or omitting identity parts
   - logo never w/o signature & vice versa
6. Add or delete ® contrary to legal status
7. Treat manual policies as "guidelines"

Non-identity Uses of Logo
• Fragmentation or Outlining
• Step-and-repeat patterns
   - Logo visible, no artifact

Corporate Activity Phrase
• Activity Phrase versus Slogan
• Short descriptive
• Part of identity when out of context
• Alignment Issues
• Subordinate to signature
• Spacing gap between CAP and signature
• Legal name only with return address on stationery

7 Deadly Sins of Stationery Design
1. Insufficient Area for Letter (2 x 1 Rule)
2. Poor Contrast for Letter
   - (ghost images, dark paper, etc.)
3. Bleeds (letterhead & envelopes bleeds make big cost increases)
4. Too Many Colors (Two is common. Every color needs separate plates and separate pass through press)
5. Too Fine Registration (small presses must be adjusted continually)
6. Return Address Too Big
   - (anything over 10 points looks
   amateurish, 8 or 9 points is usually fine)
7. Amateur Paper Choices (parchment or pre-printed papers)

7 Deadly Sins of Vehicle Design
1. No Corporate Activity Phrase
2. Colors not available in vinyl, exceeding vinyl's limitations, cluttered photographics
3. Special truck body colors
4. Ignoring CLear Space
5. Distractions: stripes, extra graphics
6. Sizes: too big, small, parts replacing logo
7. Straddling seams, esp truck back doors

Signage
• Size optimization
• Variations of Clear space
• Corporate Activity Phrase
   - Restaurant, Diner, Italian Cuisine