The Business of Design
Joseph DeSetto, author of Flash MX. Rich Media for the Web was recently in Charlotte interviewing designers for his new book: The Business of Design, due out today.
The Business of Design will cover topics including legal and ethical issues, assets such as fonts and photography, and pricing and bidding on new jobs. DeSetto interviewed designers of various levels to glean opinions, advice, and words of wisdom. A great big kudos to Addison Whitney’s very own Visual Branding Department for being interviewed for this publication, specifically for inclusion as a supplemental DVD that will be packaged with the book.
Congrats to the Visual Branding team for their hard work which has earn them well-deserved recognition within the industry, and best wishes to DeSetto for this new venture. We’ll definitely have a copy or two on our shelves!
Big Hearted Brands
What do TOMS Shoes, The Gap, and the United Nations Development Group all have in common? These organizations, along with many others, are making an earnest effort to make the world a better place.
"Cause branding" is becoming a popular medium for companies, organizations, and their customers, to show support for humanitarian issues and promote social responsibility. Stay tuned for posts about new products you can buy that not only look good, but will make you feel good too!
Contributed by Laine Beyerl
Back to Basics
More companies have recently returned to their roots to re-direct their focus on their product and the customer experience. Most people are aware of Howard Shultz’s return as CEO of Starbucks and his new initiatives to return the focus of the brand back to coffee. How many caffeine-thirsty customers were shocked when every single Starbucks location closed for a few hours so all employees could be trained?
Wikimania 2008
Wikimania 2008 is underway in Alexandria, Egypt this week, lasting through Saturday, July 19, 2008. This is the fourth Wikimania, a regular conference for all Wikimedians who contribute to one of the many Wikimedia Foundation projects.
According to Webster's Dictionary, a wiki is a collaborative Web site set up to allow user editing and adding of content. The community encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is one of the best-known wikis.
For those of you who are wondering, Wiki- comes from the Hawaiian word for quickly. The name Wikipedia is a portmanteau of the words wiki and encyclopedia.
Contributed by: Maghan Cook
Juicy Naming
Always Anonymous. Always Juicy.
Admit it. Even though you know there is no chance that this blog will contain anything “juicy” enough to require anonymity, you read on . . .
Sure, www.JuicyCampus.com does what a provocative name is supposed to do; it draws attention to itself. Thousands of students across college campuses log on to the website each day. But is the risqué name somehow inspiring risqué content on the site?
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Queen's Feast
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Beginning tomorrow, all of our Queen City readers will have the opportunity to “dine like royalty.” For $30 per person, you can enjoy a 3-course prix fixe dinner at some of Charlotte’s best restaurants. If you go here, you can check out the restaurants that are participating and see what menu options are being offered. I suggest checking out the menus before making your restaurant selection as some are definitely better than others.
Since I work at a naming firm, I also have to give kudos to the clever name that was given to Charlotte’s inaugural restaurant week: Queen’s Feast. Playing off of Charlotte’s nickname, the Queen City, the name Queen’s Feast provides ample opportunities to extend branding and promotional efforts directly from the name.
Don’t miss out on getting to eat at some of Charlotte’s best (and my favorite) restaurants at a fraction of the price! (Reservations Highly Recommended)
By: Rebecca Parker
Think Before You Ink!
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Addison Whitney employees are taking steps to make the office lean and green. Kristin Everidge and Maghan Cook enlisted the help of intern Kelsey Bryant, from Elon University, to design a poster encouraging everyone to reduce, reuse, and recycle print paper. The posters are displayed at each printer station with instructions on how to print on the reverse of unneeded printouts and a bin for collecting scrap paper.
Want to use this poster for your workspace too? Just follow these simple instructions.
1. Download the poster and accompanying instructions sheet
2. Open using Adobe Reader
3. Print the large format poster (page 1) on 11” x 17” (Tabloid) or scale to print on 8.5” x 11” (US Letter)
4. Print instruction sheet (page 2) on 8.5” x 11” (US Letter)
5. Hang by your printers and start to make a difference!
This resource will also be available on the DOWNLOADS tab on brand salsa.
Visual Branding Team Recognized in American Corporate Identity 2009
The Visual Branding Team at Addison Whitney recently received recognition from the American Corporate Identity national design competition for their work on the LiquiSoft visual brand, created for Banner Pharmacaps. LiquiSoft is a new chewable, liquid-filled softgel designed with pediatric and senior populations in mind.
The team was also awarded for their work with Parker Hannifin on the Parker Brand Book. This extensive brand standards program explains and defines numerous brand related topics ranging from brand strategy and messaging to logo usage, packaging and tradeshow graphics.
The awarded designs will be published in American Corporate Identity 2009 to be released in the fall of 2008.
IKEA: You buy it, you pronounce it
The ground has been officially broken: IKEA (pronounced "eye-KEY-uh") is coming to Charlotte.
The Swedish mega-store is known for its affordable home furnishings, tasty meatballs, and distinctive Scandinavian names. And while the word-nerd in me gets jiggy at the sight of products named POÄNG and BESTÅ ENÖN, some may think that IKEA simply enjoys seeing us clumsy Americans struggle with three extra letters in the alphabet.
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Nickname it!
I’m going to hop in my Beamer and grab some Mickey D’s for lunch!
I guarantee that you understood exactly what I meant when you read that sentence. In today’s world, we’ve become accustomed to using nicknames in place of brand names, but have you ever stopped to wonder HOW these brand names become nicknames? Sure, we all have a natural tendency to abbreviate, but do certain nicknames have a meaning?