Archive for April 2010

Aviation gets moving again in Europe

29th April 2010 by Dan Gilbert

After the recent Volcanic Ash crisis thankfully European airspace is now returning back to normal.

Whilst researching a regional campaign for one of our aviation clients, we came across this amazing video which illustrates clearly how and where the air traffic started again, which routes became active first, and how gradually it all got back on track.

It also shows how busy European flight routes are normally, so it’s easy to understand the level of disruption that absolutely no flights at all would have caused!

The flight data is courtesy of aviation video specialist flightradar24.com.

Click here to see the film.

3D Photography

23rd April 2010 by Dan Gilbert

Achieve amazing photographic results with HDR

As part of a photography proposal currently being written, Design Inc are suggesting this rather interesting, but widely underused photographic technique which really brings images to life.

HDR (high dynamic range) imaging, gives a larger dynamic range of luminances between the lightest and darkest areas of a photo and combines them. This offers a larger dynamic range and visually represents evenly all the intensity levels found in any one scene.

This technique can be constructed either by the photographer using camera at the photoshoot, or by merging and photo manipulating images of the same scene taken with varying dynamic ranges back at the studio.

I hope it is considered, as it would create a very individual brand style indeed. Let us know what you think!

Website Design Services – Derrick Offshore Ltd

20th April 2010 by Frank Norman

Derrick OffshoreDesign Inc has recently completed a new multipage website design project for Surrey-based Derrick Offshore Ltd.

Derrick Offshore is a leading international shipbroker in the offshore oil & gas and subsea cable industries and approached Design Incorporated earlier this year for high-quality website design services.

Upon initial consultation, it was understood that Derrick Offshore’s website should be designed in such a way to:

  • Compliment the company’s high quality service levels
  • Attract new clientele through effective SEO tools
  • Display a more industry-led content
  • Be easily navigable
  • Be fully content managed

Effective search engine optimisation procedures (keyword research, site optimisation, Google-led copy, Blog facility, RSS feed) were carried out.

Our team comprised:

  • Website design by Design Inc Creative Director, Paul Munday
  • Website programming & blog by Jonathan Murdoch
  • Website SEO services by Rob Dobson
  • Website hosting by Design Inc
  • Client & Project Management by Frank Norman

See more examples of our work within this industry.

Does your venue act as your brand?

16th April 2010 by Frank Norman

The Gherkin venueIf you are a venue marketing person, then the answer is most definitely yes.

Of course, the events are your clients and they bring in the money. If you have no events, whether they be celebratory, conference or expo, then your venue can sit empty. As a venue you need to market all the forthcoming features and events, where permission is granted. As a venue marketer it is so important to market the venue as a brand.

Some may say that venues are only as good as the events inside them. This may be true but prestigious client, events and shows like to host in prestigious venues. How you brand the venue can help you sell to host the events that you want.

Understand that your venue is an unique brand and needs an individual approach to market it. Your venue requires unique branding, message & design throughout all your communications. So what really is your unique selling point?

Could this be your;

  • Location
  • Style
  • Size
  • Architecture
  • History
  • Blank Canvas appeal
  • Clients
  • Theme
  • Food
  • Experiential and sensory experience

Events and venue marketing specialist, Darren Scurville reports, “Once distilled and defined as the single-minded proposition, venues can then tailor a targeted, results-driven creative campaign. The key is to know your own strengths within the saturated market and to deliver a differentiated marketing communications package based around this.”

“Of course,  once the message is understood internally, it can then be promoted externally through new or tried and tested channels such as website and email promotion, direct mail, advertising or a combination of all of these. Differentiating your venue brand and setting your values, profile and identity is the key to engage interest from your audience.”

It is true that we cannot all have the same USPs as

  • 30 St Mary’s Axe- for its icon appeal
  • The Crypt at St Pauls for it’s architecture
  • Altitude 360 for the view

But, understanding what you do have to offer and how to turn this offering into a strong brand is vital in these times. Perhaps, more importantly, is whether this brand can be strong enough to be also applied for London 2012 marketing. More on that later.

What’s in a logo? Check out these 5 cleverly designed logos

15th April 2010 by Frank Norman

A logo is not just a mark – a logo reflects a business’s commercial brand via the use of shape, fonts, colour, and / or images. A logo inspiring trust, recognition and admiration for a company or product and it is our job as designers to create a logo that will do its job. The 5 main rules branding agencies work to are that:

1. A logo must be simple.  A simple logo design allows for easy recognition and allows the logo to be versatile & memorable. Good logos feature something unexpected or unique without being overdrawn.

2. A logo must be memorable. Following closely behind the principle of simplicity, is that of memorability. An effective logo design should be memorable and this is achieved by having a simple, yet, appropriate logo.

3. A logo must be timeless.  An effective logo should be timeless – that is, it will stand the test of time. Will the logo still be effective in 10, 20, 50 years?

4. A logo must be versatile.  An effective logo should be able to work across a variety of mediums and applications. For this reason a logo should be designed in vector format, to ensure that it can be scaled to any size. The logo must work in just one colour too.

5. A logo must be appropriate.  How you position the logo should be appropriate for its intended purpose. For example, if you are designing a logo for children’s toys store, it would be appropriate to use a childish font & color scheme. This would not be so appropriate for a law firm.

Of course, some logos are extremely clever in their design and simplicity, incorporating extra elements that backs up the values of that brand.

Check out the following 5 logos to see what I mean.

Toblerone Logo< Toblerone

Do you see more than the Swiss Alps here in the Toblerone logo? Take another look and see if you can find a bear in the logo design. The story behind this is relatively simple. Toblerone originated in Bern, Switzerland – A city whose name is rumoured to mean, “City of Bears”.

Amazon Logo

Amazon >

Amazon has gone through many logo changes since opening to the public in 1995. By 1998, the logo included a curved line underneath the company name so it looked like the web address was sitting on top of the world.

Two years later, the company changed logo again and the curved line was changed to an arrow starting from the a and ending at the z, obviously suggesting they offer everything from A to Z. In addition however, the arrow has been deliberately created to form a smiling face. Genius.

FedEx Logo< FedEx

And, keeping with the theme of an arrow, how many of you have really noticed the arrow embedded in the heart of the FedEx logo. Take a look between the E and the x to see how this has been designed.The logo has been designed this way so as to use the arrow to help convey speed, direction and reliability.

Sun Microsystems Logo

Sun Microsystems >

Look closely at the designed logo icon, what do you see? Does this say Sun to you? Look again, more closely this time.The logo has been designed using just one simple shape and duplicating this 8 times in different positions. The logo does not say ‘Sun’ at all, but you believe it does, from all 4 directions. Clever.

Kingfisher Logo< Kingfisher

My own favourite is the simple and delicately designed logo of Kingfisher, where the F and I in the centre of the word have been subtly designed and coloured to create the shape of the kingfisher bird. A kingfisher sitting perfectly within the word ‘Kingfisher’. Beautiful, simple, perfect.

Of course there are many other logo designs we could talk about. We would be keen to hear your thoughts on other cleverly-designed logos that you have seen. More information regarding branding services.