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Font Fail: How Not to Design a Wedding Invitation

 

(source)

An interesting print/design item from the gossip world… Levi Johnston’s wedding announcement. You remember Levi – former fiancé of Bristol Palin, father of their son Tripp. Well he recently wed Sunny Oglesby, mother of his second child, Breeze. And while we wish them well in their new marriage, there’s not a lot of hope for their wedding invitation – a textbook lesson in bad design.

Now, I have to admit it’s much easier to be critical than creative. But at the same time, a sound critique is a great tool for identifying and learning from what does NOT work well in print and typography. The Johnston/Ogelsby union unfortunately gives us a great learning tool. Looking more like a page from a type reference book than a formal announcement, I’m counting NINE different fonts on only nine lines! (I don’t know what’s behind the black box used to cover up the contact information, but I’m willing to bet it’s another font.) I’m a little disappointed they didn’t use Comic Sans or Papyrus.

Aside from the font disaster, the first two lines form a sentence fragment; the word “famalies” is misspelled; and I’ve never heard the term “join marriage” used quite that way. Throw in a crazy clip art spree and you’ve got Exhibit A in Typography 101’s course on how not to design. Lesson learned, right? Go easy on the fonts.

Big thanks to Rafi D’Angelo’s awesome blog So Let’s Talk About ______ for showing us this design fail, and of course the source for all things gossipy, TMZ.

 

Rely on your printer for advice and direction. They should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement and advice to complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing and distribution of your marketing outreach. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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3 Logo Makeovers: 3 Reasons for a Brand Refresh

Autumn must be the time of year for updating brands – there seem to be several high profile changes recently. As companies evolve and markets change, brand gurus try to reflect new attributes and appeal to new market segments through relevant upgrades to their corporate identities. Often companies that are approaching a milestone, such as an anniverary, will deem it time to update their image. Changes in the nature of the business, the marketplace, public perceptions, trends, or the company’s mission also can justify a change. Below are three recent examples of corporations that recently responded to change with just such a makeover.

Changing Consumer Demand: Arby’s

I recently wrote about Wendy’s upcoming image remake and their accompanying planned changes to their restaurants and menu. Arby’s, in the same fast-food market, has similar updates planned in their attempt to appeal to health-conscious consumers looking for fast food choices that are also healthy, organic and interesting. Responding to competition from other chains, both Wendy’s and Arby’s see the importance of updating their menus and the importance of reflecting positive changes in their image. (Read more on these changes at Arby’s in a great article from NPR.)

I’ve always enjoyed the cowboy hat in the Arby’s logo, but am not a fan of the new bevel or extruded filter on the shape now. It seems unnecessary and a little dated. The typography of the name “Arby’s” has changed to all lower case, and the apostrophe now has an odd design in it, one I assume MIGHT be representative of a meat slicer? It’s hard to tell. The new tagline, however, is “Slicing Up Freshness™.” All this emphasis on sliced meat is perhaps due to the popularity of fresh-sliced meats such as Boar’s Head and an appeal to the postive image of fresh deli sandwiches.

 

Changing Technology and Marketplace: USA Today

USA Today, approaching its 30th anniversary and in the midst of a comprehensive sea change in the very nature of newspapers and print media, has redesigned its logo/masthead in a fresh, minimalistic remake that references the original logo yet moves ahead in a versatile, modern and concise way. I really like the simplicity of this change and the appropriateness of the symbolism. The new mark evolves the dated blue globe of the original logo into a simple, large circle that will vary in color to encompass diverse news sections and topics. It has a sleeker look, similar to many website icons. The new brand and the fresh page design reference a future for the newspaper that is open to all the electronic avenues into which media will flow. (Read an excellent review of the USA Today changes at The Branding Source.)

 

Changing Internal/Corporate Structure: Duke Energy

A third inspiration for a brand redesign is when a corporation’s structure changes and grows. Duke Energy is updating its logo to reflect the acquisition of another power company, Progress Energy. You want an image that remains comfortable to consumers of both brands but relevant to the evolution of the overall business. When you view these two logos side by side with the new one, you can see the attempt to retain characteristics from both marks. The most drastic change overall is in the color palette – moving to blues and greens, probably to reflect a more earth-friendly, sustainable image in a marketplace that is increasingly attentive to such concerns.

These marketing changes illustrate the importance of keeping your brand fresh. A total redesign is generally not necessary, but unless your logo is established as a thoroughly iconic image (by that I mean you are Coke or McDonalds!), most logos and marks need to consistently be evaluated and evolve over time to avoid becoming stale and giving the public an impression you do not want. Time to get started?

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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Weird Media: Art Created from 9 Strange Raw Materials

Art and sculpture created from unusual media

 

If you can paint with it, paint on it, sculpt it, or in any way configure it into an image, someone has probably already done so. At times inspiring and at times revolting (the woman who paints with vomit seemed a little too extreme for me), strange and weird media are being used by artists to create both interesting art and interesting discussions about what art can be. The list below piqued my curiosity about how such items could be used and what the results would look like. Which ones intrique you enough to follow through to the image? (Click on the link within each item to see what the artists have created and to read about their reaons why!)

Pantone® Swatches

British graphic desginer David Marsh recreates iconic album cover art using Pantone® swatches – interesting results for Nirvana’s 1991 album “Nevermind,” Patti Smith, U2… many favorites.

Bacteria

Zachary Copfer developed a photographic process that uses bacteria in a petri dish as the emulsion. Don’t worry, the photos are irradiated when finished to kill the bacteria and placed under a layer of acrylic for display.

Chewing Gum

Italian artist Maurizio Savini creates sculptures out of chewing gum. Unchewed. The pink artwork is supported on fiberglass frames, and has been exhibited all over the world.

Hands

Turning the tables on the hand creating the art, Guido Daniele uses hands themselves as the canvas to create amazing images. Daniele, an artist working in Milan, is famous for his technique of body painting, and his images are used in advertising, commercials, fashion events and art exhibitions.

Blood

Dr. Rev Mayers, an Australian tattoo artist, has created artwork done completely in his own blood.

Rat Poison Packaging

American artist Jason Clay Lewis uses d-CON rat poison and its yellow packaging to create three dimensional works of art.

Ants

Chris Trueman used over 200,000 ants to create ‘Self-Portrait With Gun’, an art work that has had offers of over $35,000.

Human Ashes

Val Thompson mixes the the ashes of a cremated body into her paint to add texture to a memorial painting. Her business is called “Ash 2 Art.”

Toast

New Zealand-based artist Maurice Bennett converts ordinary slices of toast into art. The images and portraits are striking.

As it turns out, MANY artists have been inspired to create artwork from food –– you can check out an interesting list of such ventures here. This is not a new trend.: in the 1500s, Italian painter Giuseppe Arcimboldo created portraits by forming collages of fruits and vegetables and then painting them onto his canvas.

And on a less savory note – someone, somewhere is using or has used just about every fluid the body can produce as media for their artwork. They are also using just about every body part as their brush (We’re not including the link on this one, but you can use your imagination and google what you decide on).

 

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

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5 Tips for Customized Holiday Greeting Cards: Keep Up the Tradition

Personalized Holiday Cards

E-cards make an impression – often not the one intended. Email messages lack the physical impact of a traditional, printed holiday greeting card sent the old-fashioned way through good old snail mail. Even with a dancing flash elf that sings your name, an e-card generally says, “This is easy, cheap and (worst of all) impersonal.” The traditional mailed greeting card can be viewed as just another piece of “junk mail,” but with personalization and a targeted approach, will be a pleasing personal reminder of gratitude during the holidays. Here are a few tips to encourage you to print and mail your holiday greetings rather than e-blast them – and hopefully save both time and money in the process since both are at a premium during the holiday season.

  • Order EARLY for the best prices AND to free up your busy schedule. Your time is even more valuable during a rushed holiday season so plan ahead, ordering by the end of October. You can also reliably schedule when the cards will be mailed out to avoid any last minute confusion.
  • If time permits, consider actually SIGNING your cards. I know, that could be a lot of work! But if your list is not up in the hundreds, a signature is manageable if you decide there is not enough time for a personal note. The extra effort can go a long way in making a card memorable and appreciated. Maybe just think of yourself as a celebrity signing autographs!
  • DESIGN a customized card that is uniquely your own. You can choose online from many high-quality cards and personalize them with your business name and your own message. If you want to invest more, design your card from scratch to fit your brand perfectly and even include variable data where each card is individualized for its recipient. Also consider branded gifts for your best customers to show your appreciation.
  • For large LISTS, save time and money by mailing with your printer or a professional mail service. You can send your snail mail at First Class rates, or realize even more savings with bulk rate postage. For a more personalized look, ask your printer or mail house about using precancelled stamps in lieu of a preprinted bulk mail indicia – the cards will look more personal and less automated.
  • CONSIDER the public’s wide variety of feelings about religious holidays. Some folks will be offended if you assume they would appreciate a card with a Christian, Jewish or other specific religious sentiment. A safe way to avoid any unintentional offense when sending to a large number of people is to choose a card and greeting that simply wishes gratitude for their business at the close of the current year, or a wish for good health and happiness in the new year.

To browse customizable designs and place your order online, visit www.imagesmith.cceasy.com, or give us a call at (828) 684-4512 to discuss more money-saving holiday options.

Print is a vital component of any successful integrated marketing campaign. It works in tandem with your website, email, signage and other outreach – yet the unique power of print lies in physically reaching the hands of your potential customers. Rely on your printer for advice and direction in the creation of all your marketing materials. They should be able to guide you in everything from copy writing to the latest technology to help get your message out… if they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.
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The John Lennon Letters: When Your Whole Life is on Paper

Lennon and Life on Paper

“I don’t keep a diary and I throw away nearly all the paper I might have kept. I don’t keep an archive. There’s something worrying about my make-up that I try to leave no trace of myself apart from my plays. “
– Tom Stoppard

 

Our lives on paper live on after we are gone. And if you are famous, every scrap of paper will be saved. A newly released collection of correspondence entitled The John Lennon Letters, edited by Lennon biographer Hunter Davies, contains over 400 pages of annotated correspondence from Lennon. (Hardcover, Little, Brown and Company,  list price 29.99) Most reviewers, however, note that practically all informative correspondence from Lennon had already been published, and Davies collection is being skewered by the critics as a “scraping of the bottom of the barrel” – an attempt to profit from anything written by the hand of the famous Beatle. Here is a painstakingly organized collection of letters, notes, post-its, postcards and paper scraps that seems in total to reveal very little others than mundane details of the former Beatles’ daily life and some not-so-flattering personal qualities. Reviewer Neil McCormick of The Telegraph says all we really learn about Lennon from this mountain of paper is: “Well, he couldn’t spell. He liked to doodle. And he had way too much spare time on his hands.”

Not exactly a glowing review. Often the correspondence of famous people, whether writers, musicians or politicians, contains a wealth of valuable insight and factual data about the person’s life, private thoughts, emotional state and philosophy of life. Successfully published collections include the letters of Emily Dickinson, Winston Churchill, Ernest Hemingway, Graham Greene, Richard Nixon… and a long list of works that have made many publishers very happy. In many cases, the only hard evidence we have of the private thoughts and feelings of these luminaries are in the archive of their journals, correspondence and personal papers.

However, we are leaving less and less of a paper trail through life. I wonder how in the digital age the role of paper will be different for the famous and infamous. Libraries and historical societies collect the correspondence of great thinkers, artists and politicians to serve as a primary source for further research. Even bar napkins, margin notes scribbled in books, newspaper clippings or anything bearing the subject’s handwriting is considered significant. But we put less of those things onto paper now than ever before. As our ‘footprints’ become increasingly virtual rather than physical, will these archives be data banks rather than stacks of paper? Will they catalogue blogs, emails, Twitter timelines, social media connections and text messages? Will people, wary of a lack of security when “writing” on a computer, still keep private handwritten journals or diaries?

And what about the rest of us? Are we leaving behind us a trail of thoughts, words and feelings that can be accumulated, researched and categorized without our control or input? The days of tossing the diary into the fire or shoving documents through a paper shredder to hide them for eternity seem to be gone. It will take newly refined skills in research and interpretation to assess the changing archive of information we leave behind as everything from our important documents to our shopping lists live on in computer memory.

 

Printer’s love paper. They also love the exciting new means of communication and marketing in an interconnected world. Your printer should be able to provide you with everything from encouragement all the way to the complete design, layout, copywriting, production, multi-purposing and distribution of your marketing outreach. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.