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Wanna know how effective branding is? Find the error ... ;-) (source: econova) #logo #branding

The US mogul Apple has lately introduced its new logo. Of course, the famous apple shape remains. However, Apple added colour (again). As Apple works with a lot with white, grey and silver and as the "spirit" of Steve Jobs has to be kept alive, (re-)adding the original colours from the first Apple logo has been a logical consequence. (Steve Jobs had a major influence on the colour selection for the first logo!) Moreover, the new logo follows the latest design trends, whereas the old logo has become a bit old-fashioned already. #apple #logo #corporatedesign

"Pictures say more than a thousand words." - or: "Advertisements that stay in our memory." #advertisement

The Olympic Games in London kick off on 23 July 2012 and the city is preparing well for it. The preparation includes making the approx. 10 million Londoners alternative routes to their work and avoid travelling on or through traffic hotspots - or simply work from home or go on holiday. The Mayor of London promotes that with a good sense of humour - a horse on the tube would indeed be an attraction. #london #olympiggames

There are many different ways of how to make a normal photo look like a high class photo from a catalogue. Here, I want to show you one of those techniques using a truck example picture: 1st step: Repairing the left headlight select and copy the right headlight paste it in a new layer and mirror it horizontally place the mirrored headlight correctly tip 1: reduce the opacity to place it more easily tip 2: orientate yourself towards the street level when placing it Put a mask on the new headlight (layer) and erase unwanted marks around the headlight. 2nd step: Adding a glow effect Reduce all layers down to one layer for making your work easier. Then make the truck glow: copy and paste the layer 2 x lower layer: Gaussian blur – approx. 80-90% middle layer: select „overlay“ top layer: select „soft light“ You can reduce the opacity of the middle and top layers if wanted. 3rd step: Adding a lens flare effect To give the photo a final touch, you can add a lens flare effect where the two mountains in the background go together. insert a new layer from the menu – overlay – fill with neutral colour for mode „overlay“ then insert the lens flare effect (rendering filter – lens flare) – 105mm between 50% and 70% #photoretouching

A study conducted by the APA (Association of Publishing Agencies, London) says that client loyalty rises by 32% because of client magazines. Depending on the kind and number of (potential) customers, establishing a client magazine can be a lucrative thing. Why? - rise of customer loyalty - new approach towards potential customers (client magazines are often handed over to friends and family members) - creation of an additional profit through advertisements - ideal presentation of products/services in the hands of clients - longer reader engagement with products/services compared to online advertisements (confirmed by APA!) - transfer of helpful additional knowledge what makes products/services even more valuable for the reader and thus increases the inducement to buy - increase of sympathy for a business On the other side, you have to calculate costs for desktop publishing, printing and distribution. A thorough calculation is necessary here. But a rise in customer loyalty by 32% is definitely worth a closer look! Send an e-mail to office@hcg-corporate-designs.com to request for a client magazine production offer. #magazine

Here you see 2 e-book designs: Which e-book would you read (disregarding the content as such)? For sure the right one. The cute orange bird is not the reason for it, but the e-book being in line with the corporate design of HubSpot, the company behind this e-book. The smart usage of secondary style elements (i.e. the blue bars Step 1 and Step 2), a reader-friendly line spacing and a wisely chosen typography make this e-book easy and fun to read. In addition to that, the copy in the right e-book has enough space to breathe what is not the case in the left e-book. Nobody wants to read that. The left e-book has only a few pages whereas the right e-book has many pages because the design simply needs it. So don’t be afraid of offering an e-book with many pages if the design needs it! As e-books are mostly pdf files, they are forwarded – only if they are really good of course! So a good design is crucial here. If you need help with your e-book, simply send me an email . #digitalpublishing #editorialdesign

We all know about the trend of big size pictures – you see them in advertisements (online + offline), on websites or in editorial designs. This trend clearly focuses on transporting emotions because a good message alone („buy 3, pay 2“) does not really convince people to buy a product anymore. Emotions sell. This trend has not even reached its peak yet, I believe. Meanwhile, another new trend is getting bigger: The power of simplicity. You see that more and more often in editorial designs for example: A lot of blank space that gives the copy space to „breathe“. As an advertisement that does not look like an advertisement is more promising to companies, print advertisements become simpler too. (Facebook shows how to do it: Promoted posts in between your friends’ posts in your personal newsfeed don’t look like an advertisement at first sight.) A lot of blank space, a short text and a significant product picture or an outstanding graphic – this is all it takes for an advertisement that stands for simplicity at its best. Furthermore, a lot of blank space makes people curious. „What exactly is that? Hm, let’s see, I’ll download this app now.“ This is how simple advertisement works, nice and easy. #advertisement

The researchers and scientists of the German Gruppe Nymphenburg have conducted a study about „quality eating“. The result: More and more people (especially in middle and higher education classes) are becoming „quality eaters“ and are willing to pay more for quality food. This is not surprising when thinking of food scandals. Dumping prices used to be super cool a few years ago, nowadays they are not that cool any more. Food giants have understood that and not only the steadily rising number of quality eaters had an impact on that. Many companies (no matter what business) have calculated against themselves and put their dumping price competitors’ price politics above their own accounting. Adding that to decreasing sales in the economy crisis of the past years, it resulted in many businesses going bancrupt. Dropping prices for being more competitive often had a negative influence on quality (worse resources, less motivated employees that make more mistakes and offer worse customer service, employees with poor education) - clients had to swallow all this. And clients had to swallow a lot of it. The trend towards more quality awareness is thus a logical result – this accounts for many businesses, not only for the food industry! Clients are desperate to get quality again and understand more and more that quality has to have a fair price. This is a good sign I think and „quality eaters“ are just the beginning! #quality

The amount of graphic designers out there is huge. It is not always easy for companies to choose the right graphic designer. One of the main problems is: Many who bought a Photoshop license (or downloaded it illegally) call themselves a graphic designer nowadays. I think I don’t have to go into too much detail about the drastic differences between them and professional graphic designers who have expertise. I think this flood of „graphic designers“ is damaging the value of this business. But let’s face it: A graphic designer has a design mission. The job is to use know-how and expertise to create a design that makes the design consumers feel or act a certain way. This is the job of a graphic designer. The design shall work and lead to the desired outcome. It is not the job of a graphic designer to draw nice pictures that look good but don’t serve the purpose of a good design. The client would invest into something that has no ROI (Return of Investment), meaning: wasting money for nothing. If a client says „but I (!!) have to like it because I pay for it“, it clearly indicates that he wants to have something beautiful for himself but completely ignores the target group. Such a client should invest into an artist or painter to create something nice for his living room wall. A good quote of a graphic designer: „People have to walk through shit to understand how much shit smells.“ I think, that quote is very true. When speaking with designers, I often hear that clients working with dumping price graphic designers and/or ignoring the design mission explained above, come back to them moaning about the outcome and the waste of time and money. Companies can save time, nervs and money if they work with professionals right from the start and understand the design mission.

Photoshop and colour selection effects of modern cameras make it possible: The black and white photography is having a comeback (or was it ever even dead?) and combined with smart colour selection. This creates a great photo look and the viewer’s eye is led towards a specific photo area (or the product on a billboard). Here you see a few examples: #colour #advertisement

Today I would like to talk about three good creativity methods (no, we all know brainstorming already) that help break thinking barriers. These techniques are really useful here and there. SEMANTIC INTUITION The semantic intuition makes you go from the end to the start. Words related to each other are combined in an unusual way until you have a name for a product that does not exist yet. Once you have the new product name, it is time to think about what this product can actually be and how it can look like. This picture gives you an example of a new product for the kitchen area (left: food, right: kitchen devices): THE OSBORN'S CHECKLIST The US-American Alex Osborn invented a checklist with many questions that make you think very thoroughly and in detail about an existing product. This shall lead to ideas for new products. Here you see a short excerpt of questions for a new product coming from the computer mouse: The Osborn’s Checklist contains many more questions. You can read more about it here . THE DISNEY METHOD The Disney method goes back to late Mr. Walt Disney. A Walt Disney biography written by Robert B. Dilts speaks about three characteristics of Mr. Disney: the dreamer, the realist and the critic. The Disney method makes you see a problem or a product from different perspectives. 1. How would a dreamer (enthusiastic, creative) think about this? 2. How would a realist (analytic, practical) think about this? 3. How would a critic (looking for error sources, critical) think about this? 4. To make this creativity method work in practice, you need to add a fourth person or a fourth point of view: the neutral observer. You can work with the Disney method in a group or – when you have some imagination and acting skills – as a single person. #creativity