Posts Tagged ‘design’

I don’t think it is a coincidence that we are seeing a plethora of monotone-style designs over the last few years. Simplicity, depression-era styles, a harkening back to our comfort points, denim, cotton, blues faded.  All reminiscent of hard work, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps, a more wholesome time.

What is the recession teaching us?  We don’t need as much stuff, flash, we can recycle, reuse, scale back.  Ralph Lauren is at the forefront of this movement. When watching his Spring 2010 fashion show last fall I saw uniquely American themes emerge.  It was a reminder that we can be as resilient as our grandparents.  That denim is yummy again.

And this seems to be the design that has emerged out of forced budget cuts, looking to save money in any way possible.  Orange on orange, green on green, different shades of gray.  All of this means a 2 color process when printing, instead of a 4 color process.  It means adaptability.  I find I am most creative when I am told to come up with something but I have to abide by major constrictions.  This is how inventions are born and great ideas come alive.

Mondays have that spinny, reeling, to-do-list spitting out tasks kind of feeling, don’t they?  Luckily, VOCO has condensed today’s must-reads into a short and sweet list!

• PR is the new marketing:  A nice vlog on the intersections of two former cousins…now conjoined twins?  [via SmartBrief on Social Media]
• AdWeek has released its Magazine Hot List for ’09.  What’s hot:  Fast Company and Wired.  What’s not:  anything that can’t (or won’t) adapt to changing times.
• Are we “exquisitely, irretrievably f*!ked“?  You be the judge.
• Say it ain’t so:  Google has a “paralyzing lack of design focus”?!

In the crowded world of jewelry and crafting, differentiation is key.  It seems like jewelry designers are a dime a dozen…and let’s face it, there’s a lot of crap thrown in the mix.  Today’s favorite woman-owned business, however, manages to stand out from the crowd with some awesome branding and a real quality product.

EveAndOdd Designs is the brainchild of Olivia McPherson, a brassy, sassy scientist living in Cambridge, Mass.  She creates these clever earrings in her gorgeous studio and really puts some thought and intention into every pair of earrings.  I have four pairs of hers now, which are set to “heavy” in my earring rotation.  They’re the perfect weight, hang beautifully, and are a conversation piece wherever I go.

One thing I love about Olivia’s branding is her product descriptions.  She thinks long and hard about each piece, names it, and carefully photographs it.  The presentation when you get the piece in the mail is breathtaking, and the price is right…a nice splurge item that won’t break the bank in a teetering economy.

VOCO is proud to be a woman-owned business, and we’re even prouder to have made so many amazing friends and business connections in the area.  In an attempt to spread the online love, we’re highlighting the woman-owned businesses we love every Friday.

Today we’re featuring a woman-owned business that truly rises above the rest.  BirdDog Press is a custom letterpress studio that dishes up to-die-for design in a gorgeous, handmade and woman-powered package.

Proprietress Allison Bozeman is a true class act and a real artist…there’s a reason the best of the best in Denver, Boulder, and elsewhere turn to her for custom wedding invitations, calling cards, and stationery.  Furthermore, Alli has a beautiful blogging voice and an eye for every thing of beauty…be it the timeless appeal of a Mason jar or the du jour trend of citron Pantone a la Michelle Obama.

Recently Juli celebrated the Christmas season…and her exciting new family addition…with a splurge:  Christmas cards designed and hand-pressed by BirdDog.  The result was breathtaking.  Talk about a memorable announcement!  Are you planning a wedding or special event?  Looking to enhance your personal brand?  Visit Alli and tell us what you think!

As marketing professionals, we see a TON of really, really bad business cards.  You know the ones:  they have VistaPrint logos all over them.  They list 20 phone numbers and no actual contact information.  Weird, mangled, or outdated imagery abounds.

We’re going to get a chance to evaluate business cards next week, both at the Boulder Business Trade Fair sponsored by the Boulder Chamber of Commerce (November 19, 5-8:30 pm) and the exciting Angel Capital Summit sponsored by the Rockies Venture Club, a group we are proud to sponsor and assist with all things marketing (November 21, 8 am-6 pm).

Here’s the scoop:  Drop your business card in our fishbowl and you’ll get a free business card evaluation, a special business card promotion a la VOCO, and a chance to win a fabulous prize.

Free advice, a fun and useful evaluation, and prizes?  People, it doesn’t get much better than that.

I’m not the design brains of this operation, but I love the stencil-y goodness that seems to be pervading design du jour.

I’m talking the clever vinyl stick-ons available at places like Apple Pie Design and the amazing artwork of Sarah Cihat, whose artwork I featured in the Denver/Boulder Onion (the article got picked up in NYC, too, whee!) and who was featured in the New York Times a few months ago for her superb eye for style.

Viva la stencil!

Kohler.

They make you forget they are selling faucets, but rather investing in a work of art. All of the sudden it is a must have, high-end seeming product.

Never do they mention affordable art, because at that point it cheapens the product. Instead, they pull it off as high-end, but the sheer number of ads they have in magazines and on TV betray the idea that they are in fact marketing for the general populace.

The picture on the right is a brilliant piece of advertising. Of course, I am trying to figure out where to put a Kohler faucet in my already finished house. I feel as if I need one to be the chic, downtown urbanite I claim to be.

Every once in a while a product comes along that baffles, confounds, and makes branding folk salivate. The beyond-hot, beyond-prized, beyond-fun Nintendo Wii is one such product, and it definitely makes the grade for What Works Mondays here at Voco Creative.

First of all, as someone whose video game mojo never seemed to transcend the original NES or Sega Dreamcast, I wasn’t sure any modern-day console could make up for my lack of skills. I’m more into loopy, fantastical graphics and hysterical laughter than blood-soaked first-person shooters, and many more modern games make me woozy with their rotating cameras and fast-paced action.

The people at Nintendo must have been listening to the internal angst of women everywhere when they came up with the Wii. First, they made something that’s sleeker and more visually appealing than anything on the run-of-the-mill entertainment stand (unless you are Juli Dimos, who has made great strides in Mac-ifying her life). The Wii is slim, white, and discreet. Its controller is downright brilliant (a “Wiimote” that can be flipped, shaken, wielded like a sword or fishing rod…the list goes on). And its games have managed to bridge the crucial gender and age gaps that make the video game market so inaccessible.

But what really makes Wii work? Simple: Nintendo created a product that wasn’t just impeccably branded, but was in insanely short supply when it first made its way to American shelves. If you’ve been in the United States for the past year and half, you’ve doubtless heard some friend or family member bemoan the empty shelves in their local superstore.

The international Wii shortage may have been accidental, but it was a stroke of marketing genius. By becoming known as the red-hottest, most-in-demand console of all time, the Wii has achieved a remarkable level of public awareness in a very short period of time. It can command a relatively ridiculous price for new games and accessories, and it continues to push the envelope with games that allow collaboration between players of all ages, locations (it has a great online system that works for free via WiFi), and genders.

I’m not sure if Carmen Electra’s Wii pole dancing will take off any time soon, but I can tell you right now that Wii’s combination of accessibility and tantalizing unavailability will make games like Mario Kart Wii and WiiFit fly off the shelves.