Brand Design Blog, News and Ideas

Over the last few years, the Console and PC Gaming industry has become big business.

With PC gaming alone, making over $10.7 Billion in revenue for 2007.

While those playing Computer Games on a regular basis have been watching this trend rise for some time, the world at large is starting to pay attention with Brand names such as Grand Theft Auto, Halo and World of Warcraft hitting prime time news this year.

With the increase in revenue, there has been an increase in spending in the marketing space.

Companies such as Blizzard (World of Warcraft) has been spending time and money on amazing trailers and pre-promotion for some time - but with their success (over 9.3 million payed subscribers last year), other game creators are starting to see the light.

The up coming ‘Rock Band 2″ is one such example. A game intro and promotion definitely worth watching (Not your average commercial).

The Computer Game industry is starting to take it’s strides up along side the Movie industry in revenue and the audience is growing so it’s certainly worth keeping your eyes on.

You can view the Rock Band intro here.

I’d love to read your thoughts about the trailer or your impressions of the gaming industry as it is today and in the future, so feel free to leave a comment.

Here’s a cute little video that helps to remind us that doing everything on our own can often feel like bashing your head against a brick wall.

Don’t forget to ask for or employ help to get the job done much faster.

You can check out the great little video at youtube.com.

As the post on toxel.com shows - logo design does not need to be complicated to be effective.

You can see all the logos here.

In fact I would suggest that if you look at the majority of high profile brands their logos are actually quite simple.

That doesn’t mean that no effort needs to be applied to the design. In fact, it often takes more effort to remove the unnecessary elements of a design to find the core design that will be the most effective option.

Simplicity, also allows a logo to be positioned easily on promotions and printed cost effectively.

Check out the full range of high profile logos here.

Business cards are a great way for clients and customers to receive your contact details, as they usually accompany a face to face meeting.

Unfortunately, because everybody has a business card, it can be hard to stand out in the crowd.

So having a business card that grabs people’s attention and makes an impact is one of the most useful marketing tools you can have at your disposal.

Check out this list of creative and inspirational business cards over at Toxel.com.

How does your business card stand up against the competition?

Trades people, including builders, carpenters, plumbers and electricians are finding that the online space is really where advertising dollars are needing to be spent to get results.

We’ve seen some great results from customer website, including $480,000+ client work coming directly through search engines and websites.We’ve just completed work on a new project for Glenrich Builders, a Building and Construction Company in the Northern Suburbs of Melbourne.

Glenrich builders specialise in New Homes, Renovation and Extensions and the task here was to get that message across through the use of text that would later be indexed by Google Search Engines. We we’re also required to include all content from the existing site while rebranding the look for their new corporate identity.

The new site design, copywriting and back end structure should lead to some profitable results for the year ahead.

If you’re a trades person looking for a web solution including online advertising, web design and search engine optimisation, give us a call to discuss the possibilities.

Do you love spending hours playing with new and unusual fonts and type faces?

Well here’s a bit of fun for all you design geeks.

Click here to watch the video

What’s the personality of your favourite font?

Designers and their clients often have trouble seeing eye to eye.

Why is that?

Because designers are pretentious, elitist, know it alls?  Well some are…but no.

Is it because business people are paying, so what they says goes…again, somtimes - but mostly, this is not the case.

The problem is that both parties are looking at the problem from different points of view.

So what is the solution?

The solution needs to come from the designers side. When explaining design decisions, a graphic or web designer needs to put on their business hat and see the project through the eyes of their client.

If you are a designer, you need to explain your design decisions from a practical stand point.

“I did it that way because it looks good” - isn’t a good answer.

‘I designed it that way, because the style I’m using is currently reflected in our target markets popular culture (state examples). Your potential customers will be drawn to this style because of these examples, which should help increase sales” - this is an answer that a client can understand.

When you are designing, make sure to always have client problems and objectives in mind, so that when asked you can explain your design choices in a way that means something to their business.

If you’re employing a designer and the same issues crop up, make sure to take a deep breathe and ask the question - how is that going to help my business.

It will save both designers and clients a lot of time and frustration, while giving design work more potential to do what it was intended for.

You’ll appreciate how it will lead to a happy working relationship going forward.

So remember, two hats. One for your design flare and one for your business brain.

Optus is running a new business promotion for an online TV series.

The chosen businesses will receive free business coaching advice with the winner gaining a $10,000 prize.

I think it’s definitely worth looking at if you are in a grow stage of business or are just looking for a little help.

I’ve added my business to the mix, so if you’d like to help me out. Click this link and vote for Crimson Fox. Thanks.

For everyone else that would like to join - entry is free (though I’m sure you’ll pay in junk mail) so have a look today.

Add a link to your businesses submission in the comments and I’m sure people will be happy to vote for you too.

We’ve just completed work on the base branding for skinsaviour, a great new range of skin care products designed for both men and women.

Their inital logo concept reflects the Punga - a native fern in New Zealand, where the inspiration for skinsaviour was born.

Using the Punga as a base we’ve expanded on the idea to create a brand image that reflects the natural feel of the New Zealand forests.

The website at www.skinsaviour.com.au draws from this imagery as well as combining cool blue colours and imagery that describe the fresh clean feel that the skinsaviour products create.

While we’re still completing the finishing touches to the site, it’s fully functional and receiving orders.

When you get the chance visit www.skinsaviour.com.au for a closer look.

Here is a very interesting experiment being undertaken at brandtags.net.

It’s the equivalent of a word association test.

Simply view a brand logo and type the first word that comes to your head.

Don’t feel you need to finish the test, I think it goes through hundreds before you reach the end.

You can see the results so far here.

Click on any of the brand names to see what people said.

The larger fonts are the ones that were typed most often.

Let me know if you find any surprises.