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Tag: Design

Design Trends for 2019

Posted on by Chris Ames

Friction Builds Character

Friction is one of those words you see in Silicon Valley all the time. Specifically, in technology’s promise to remove it. A frictionless experience is instantly digestible, seamless, clean. The only problem is that in desperately trying to remove the friction from every experience, you can remove the experience altogether. A little friction, intrigue, or mystery is not always a bad thing – especially when it comes to design. As we look forward to 2019, we have talked about trends for employer branding and overcoming strategic challenges. Today, we turn our sights to the world of design. Combining the best elements from nostalgia and futurism, the design trends of 2019 are reinventing the aesthetic movements of the past to create a bold and fired-up vision for the digital future.

Just My Type

They say never use Futura. Well, apparently, everyone listened. This year, all the big brands decided to invest in creating their own typefaces. Airbnb, Netflix, Uber, and Squarespace each took the plunge. And while designing your own typeface can have a huge upfront cost, it will actually save them millions every year on font licensing. Plus, type is an essential building block for creating meaningful connections for your brand. You get what you pay for.

Design Trends for 2019

Think Way Outside the Box

After years of being forced to encase every element in a strict order of circle avatars and content boxes, designers are finally being given the freedom to experiment with open compositions. Akin to the iceberg method of writing, these are designs where you are only given a slice of the picture and are enticed to explore an entire world off-page. As Meg Reid of 99designs says, “Often open-styled, seemingly chaotic, broken, and cut-up, these compositions take a very strong design hand since the placement of each element is anything but random.” Check out the beautiful motion of VIITA Smartwatch, or the typographic playground of Lionel Durimel.

design trends for 2019

Worlds of Opportunity

As technology advances, it seems like we’re wielding entire universes in the palm of our hands. Perhaps it’s only natural that design has followed suit, exploring the use of isometric illustration. In short, it’s about creating visual storytelling through elaborate miniature landscapes or scenarios. The style is especially adept at explaining services that have many parts or stages, which is probably why technology companies like Cryptogoal and Docker have embraced the trend.

design trends for 2019

Brutalize the Web

Though it was written in 2016, Xtian Miller’s essay  “How To Brutalize The Web” continues to be way ahead of its time. In architecture, Brutalism was a movement that exhibited a lack of concern to look comfortable or easy. Web Brutalism continues this trend, exhibiting an intentional effort to be whatever a consumer website isn’t. As Miller says, “A unique journey and experience for the user is more memorable and engaging than the one they’ve seen countless times before. A Brutalist approach can provide the opportunity to create something that is unexpected – even chaotic.” Sites like Bloomberg Businessweek and Drudge Report were early adopters to this movement, which has only led to more experimental and artistic sites like Yale University of Art, The Outline, Indiecon, and Props Paper Magazine.

design trends for 2019

You Too Could Have a Body Like Mine

In HR, we talk a lot about the importance of representation, perspective, and making sure everybody has a seat at the table. Maybe that’s the force behind the recent explosion of retro human illustration among software companies. In all skin tones, proportions, and sizes, brands are becoming body positive for every kind of body. Zendesk, Slack, Headspace, and Airbnb all took part in the mid-century aesthetic of bodies that can move, work, and thrive with jazz-like agility.

design trends for 2019

Bold Colors, Bolder Gradients

Vivid color combinations have been on trend for a while now – but expect these transitions to only get dreamy, bolder, and more futuristic. Ever since Dropbox blew the lid off its blue and white identity, it seems tech companies are getting more and more comfortable with embracing something vibrant.

design trends for 2019

Limitless Opportunities

It would be impossible to list all the ways that designers will push the envelope in 2019, but if there’s one key lesson here, it’s this. Don’t be afraid to visually disrupt your audience. Your technology may be frictionless, but that doesn’t mean your design has to be. As Charles Thaxton says, “If the internet is trending toward commercial consolidation and monopoly, it shouldn’t really surprise us that this would also mean a monopolization of its effect, its look and feel, too.” Don’t feed into the design monopoly. Nothing is harder to grab than your customer’s attention. Design is your first line of defense in disrupting the expected and instilling a sense of true delight.

To discover how your brand can disrupt and differentiate itself through design, contact Founding Partner Tracy Lloyd at [email protected]. Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design firm in San Francisco.

Great Design Shifts Perception

Posted on by Chris Ames

One of my favorite quotes about identity comes from American architect, author, and designer, Buckminster Fuller. “Ninety-nine percent of you who are,” he says, “is invisible and untouchable.” No matter how much we think we understand, there is always something unseen and overlooked humming beneath the surface.

Great design can function in a similar way. A logo or a car engine each has a tip-of-the-iceberg function that appears obvious. But behind every glyph and gear, there is an invisible force that has the power to fundamentally shift how we think about and move through the world. Great design can empower, provoke, and transform public perception – even if we don’t realize it’s happening.

Today, we’re speaking with Emotive Brand’s Creative Director Thomas Hutchings. With over 15 years of experience in the industry, Thomas has made his career challenging preconceived notions of design by crafting original and innovative ideas. He is the Founder of Studio January, which focuses on creating experimental graphic art pieces, as well as the former Creative Director over at Landor.

The basic definition of perception is “the way in which something is regarded, understood, or interpreted.” How do you view the relationship between design and perception?

Perception is all about understanding. One challenge is that 90% of people don’t really understand what design is. The other challenge is that the world is saturated with bad design. For many people, public or modern art is their first introduction to design. They’ll see a stool in the middle of an art gallery and think, “I don’t get it” or “I could do that.” What art and design share is that both are attempting to make people think deeper. Design is a key tool for making someone stop, think, and challenge their own preconceived notions of what something is or how it should work.

When you think about just how just many brands we interact with each day, there is so much noise. We filter out way more than we take in. As a result, some people think the only way to stand out is by shouting louder than the rest – but that just creates more noise. It’s much more about disruption. Designers need to work harder than ever to make their ideas and applications stand out by disrupting our expectations.

Regardless of what the creative brief says, shifting perception is the number one goal of design. I always tell my clients, “Don’t underestimate the power of intrigue.” Design activates intrigue. It’s the thing that keeps our heart beating and our brains ticking. It can’t be something that merely washes over us.

What examples have you seen of design transforming public opinion?

In my own work, I think about the brand Accenture. We helped transform them from a legacy B2B brand to an innovation brand. Before, they weren’t in the conversation with Apple and Google, and now they are. We really wanted to challenge the B2B space and blow the whole thing up as if they were a consumer brand with a load of color and expression. Within their brand, they had the greater-than sign tucked away in a small corner. We isolated that sign and said, “That’s your call to action.” By bringing it front and center, it instilled that boldness of being greater-than and turned their platform into a call to action for anything.

Out in the world, I think about what Tesla has done for the perception of electronic vehicles. Before them, EVs were thought to be slow or uncool when compared to gas. In addition to the obvious technological advances, their design completely shifted this perception. It’s everything from the sleekness of their design to their naming model. I mean, they have something called “Ludicrous Mode,” which could only have come from the mind of Elon Musk.

Dyson challenged everything in vacuum design and even how they talk about it. They baffle people with science to stand out and gain the head-nodding credibility. Their work completely challenged the idea of a basic commodity from the ground up.

Patagonia, as well. They implemented radical transparency and a no bullshit, honest approach and look to make people think harder about their choices in life. They also use digital designed experiences in an amazing way to take people on compelling journeys. They have some of the best digital experiences I have ever seen, and it’s proof that you don’t just have to be brash in design to stand out and shift. You can be intelligent, witty, or just down to earth courteous.

In our work with brands, we deal with startups that are often trying to get people to trust in a process that is new or potentially uncomfortable. Whether it’s cryptocurrency, data privacy, or tackling mental health in the workplace, how can design help bridge the gap?

For me, that comes down to tonality. Startups have a way of grabbing the headlines, but people want to know, “Is this legitimate? Is this going to disappear next week?” For the last five years, almost every client tells me, “We need to appear credible and trustworthy.” It’s table stakes.

The interesting thing for me is in how you establish that credibility. What’s the tone? Who are you? Are you childish, colorful, ridiculous? Are you serious, professional, safe? The tone doesn’t always correlate in the way you’d think, and a perfect example is the difference between Lyft and Uber. Lyft has this fun and community-driven aspect to its design, whereas Uber went more clinical. Yet at the end of the day, Uber is the one suffering a greater brand discrepancy. There’s a balance you need to strike. You don’t need to be boring to gain credibility. And really, it comes down to how much you invest in the raw talent of your design team. Design is so closely tied to your brand’s reputation. There’s no room for error.

What category or vertical do you think could benefit most from a design-led perception shift?

Marijuana is a very confused space at the moment. Perhaps because of how contentious it is, all of these different brands have no idea who they are. Some look like real chemical companies. Others, upscale apothecaries. There’s no defined role in that space and no one is leading the charge. When you think about the automotive space, you have an understanding of the design parameters. People know you need an emblem on the front and the name on the back. Marijuana has no common understanding of the space. You go from 70s-style psychedelics to something that looks like a tech startup. It’s lacking a point of view, and that’s where design can come in. It can offer that pathway or bridge for understanding something’s place in the world.

To discover how great design can shift perception for your brand, contact Founding Partner Tracy Lloyd at [email protected].

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design firm in San Francisco.

The Key Difference Between Graphic Design and Branding


Posted on by Chris Ames

Graphic Design vs. Branding

Brand is a dirty word. It’s misunderstood and misused by people in and out of the industry. Some people think it means a new logo. Others, an advertisement. And as a company that has “Brand” in its very name, we spend a fair amount of time educating exactly what this word means.

Today, we dive into a key distinction: the difference between graphic design and branding. That may seem basic, but you’d be surprised by how many projects are stymied by this lack of clarification. Understanding this distinction is a crucial first step in creating a visual identity that is both gorgeous and strategically informed.

Graphic Design Is the Skeleton

When thinking about what makes a brand, it’s natural to start with the visual cues: logos, headers, business cards, websites. In truth, these elements are only a very basic skeleton of what makes a strong brand.

Great designers are the guardians of your visual identity, taking great care to make sure that each element – colors, shapes, typography, and yes, the logo – is compelling and consistent across all environments. When done right, graphic design ensures that everything is cohesive and in its right place, like a proper working skeleton.

Branding Is the Body and Soul

But of course, a business can’t run on bones alone. To keep the metaphor going, branding is the entire fleshed out body. Not only one’s muscles and clothes, but one’s beliefs, behaviors, and personality. It’s everything from how your customer support answers the phone to the stock photography in your sales deck. Branding is any action a corporate body makes, and the art of branding is making that movement as deliberate and harmonious as possible.

Graphic design and branding are inextricably linked. Aesthetics mean nothing without a solid strategy, and a solid strategy means nothing if it can’t be expressed. As an agency, we constantly have to balance these two forces. Sometimes, that means choosing between something beautiful and something purposeful. In a perfect world, you’re able to get the best of both worlds, but at the end of the day, every decision must be made in service of adding depth to the brand.

Aesthetic vs. Function

So, how do you navigate those difficult conversations? It can be tough, especially when as many as 80% of entrepreneurs believe that graphic design and branding are the same things. While creative decisions will always feel subjective, it’s important to remember that branding goes far beyond the visual. It handles the entire customer experience on all levels, senses, and dimensions. No matter how technical or granular, no element is ever “just a mark” or “just a logo.” It’s a nuanced, interconnected system that is involved in an active conversation with your audience.

Simply put, graphic design feeds your brand, your brand feeds your business. If your visual elements are competing with one another, you’ll never win the competition for your customer’s attention.

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design firm in San Francisco.

On Creating Resonant Digital Brand Experiences Today

Posted on by Saja Chodosh

Digital Brand Experiences

We asked our design team about their point of view on building resonant digital brand experiences today. Here’s what they said.

Historically, brands used to rely heavily on brand marketing and advertising for awareness of their products and services. But in the digital age, many brands are born solely online or as an app. In essence, screen only experience(s). What makes some of these brands good vs. great?

Great digital brands are true utilities. Once you get into someone’s life and seamlessly integrate into their every day, that’s when you find success as a digital brand. Venmo comes to mind first. It’s a brand that made paying people back—something we do every day or every week—fun. PayPal started P2P payments and acquired Venmo as a next generation digital experience. PayPal is good, but Venmo is great. Fun, easy, fresh, and simple.

A testament to a great digital brand is the number of “super users” the brand has acquired, as in the number of people that can’t imagine not using them every day. Moving beyond marketing and advertising, it’s brand awareness through repetition and word of mouth. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Google are all very prominent digital brands today. Most people are “super users” of all these experiences. Now that’s true utility.

What’s the real value of being a digital brand today?

Consumers today expect a lot from the brands they buy from and/or show loyalty toward. They expect brands to understand them perfectly. They want personalized experiences and brand experiences that are tailored to their every moment.

And digital brands have the opportunity to give just that—to get down to that person, that place, and that unique moment. They have the data to serve up relevant content and experiences in a personalized way—essentially wrapping around a person and his/her environment at the perfect point in time. That’s what it’s all about. And when you pair that kind of deep knowledge of the audience and what they’re doing with utility, you have a very powerful thing.

The question every digital brand should be asking is, “In today’s busy world, what value does this thing add to a person’s life, right now?”

Where do you see digital branding headed in the future?

There’s absolutely no doubt that digital experiences are going to become way more powerful over time. That means less paper, fewer stores, more connectivity, more automation, and more machine learning. But it’s important to remember that as brands get more advanced and even more connected, they also need to behave more humanly. We see a lot of attempts to humanize the digital customer experience for a reason. Chat/Messenger bots are an example. People, for the most part, don’t want to talk to computers or be trapped in a world that feels separated from their own.

Moving beyond sites and apps, VR/AR is here, but not here yet. It’s going to be a long transition to truly integrate these digital experiences into our lives at scale and in meaningful ways. No matter what the form factor, digital brands can champion the human side of technology as it gets more powerful. SnapChat is a perfect example of using AR in a fun and simple way before we even knew what AR was.

Another fast-moving area is IoT and AI-connected devices and services. Think Amazon’s Alexa—she’s basically becoming a brand within her digital self. The Amazon brand has a digital voice that can have real conversations with us. Apple’s Siri has new friends. Our TVs are smart and we can control things in our homes like our cable, thermostat, light bulbs, door locks, etc. from anywhere. Brands will need to be confident, trusted, and safe in their design, feel, language, and approach.

What are some tactics that brands succeeding in the digital space are adapting?

Today, with more mass in the digital space it’s harder for people to remember who to go back to and why. It’s a crowded space and building brand equity is a big challenge. Everyone’s advertising and spending and it sometimes seems near impossible to gain that mass adoption. That explains why loyalty programs are finding a lot of success in the digital space.

The Nike Plus platform is a great example of this. It basically lifts a physical act such as a sport and surrounds it with a digital layer of data, engagement, competitive feel, and game aspect. It’s a non-commerce loyalty play that can eventually lead to commerce. It can also be considered a utility as well—your digital companion to your everyday fitness.

In the end, it’s the brands who’ve figured out strategically how to make people feel good and give them some sort of differentiated value that end up on top. So it’s about the emotional coupled with the rational.

Speaking of challenges, what are some other challenges brands trying to build resonant digital experiences are facing right now?

A lot of the times when brands fail in the digital space it’s simply about too many people trying to do the same thing. Like circling in on too small of a segment or trying to solve something that never really needed solving. The home delivery meals category is a good example of a category that is simply too competitive and brands are struggling to stand apart.

As designers, the big challenge is creating a brand story and experience in these predefined, digital spaces. The brand needs to work and be compelling screen after screen, frame after frame, pixel after pixel. And the thing is that people don’t look at it for very long. We have very short digital attention spans. Our hands are moving faster than we can even process. It’s a real challenge to stop a user in their tracks, but that’s the goal.

Then there’s also the challenge of balancing how much you push your digital experience into the future. Digital brands always have to be one step ahead. But at the same time, the experiences have to resonate with people. You can’t push too far or not far enough.

As a designer, what’s the most exciting part of building digital brand experiences?

The digital world is in a perpetual state of redesign. Think about how often Facebook updates its platform. There’s more opportunity for change when everything is happening digitally.

As designers, we constantly fiddle and shift—continually tailoring a brand moment to better fit a person and his/her world. And that’s exciting in a brand world where consumers are at the center of everything.

Also, digital always looks forward. It never looks back. It doesn’t even stay the same. And it’s not slowing down.  It’s a big, growing train, moving forward—full speed. That’s both an inspiring realization and an exciting challenge we have to accept and let fuel our creativity, innovation, and design approaches moving forward. 

Emotive Brand is an Oakland brand strategy and design agency.

Educate, Activate, Accelerate: Three Tips for Bringing Design to Life

Posted on by Chris Ames

Working on a brand project can feel a lot like being back in school. You do your homework, you research, you drink coffee late into the evening. And just like graduating, there comes a crucial moment at the end of the journey where the agency hands off the assets. This hard-earned diploma might be a new visual identity, a new website, or even just a new logo. As far as the SOW is concerned, the “work” is over — but of course, this is where the real work begins: activation.

Sure, you may have a framed degree on the wall, but if you’re not taking active steps to bring those lessons to life, all you’re left with is student debt. So, how does a company truly activate its new design assets so that they become something useful?

We spoke with Senior Designer Robert Saywitz on the subject, and in his mind, you need to educate, activate, and accelerate.

Educate

“First things first, a general education of branding and design will lead to an appreciation of the process. Because of time constraints, many clients don’t understand the amount of work and thought that goes into creating something so simple. This misunderstanding can lead to conflict or mismanaged timetables down the line. One of my favorite quotes is from Charles Mingus. ‘Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity,’ he said.

A quick primer creates a shared understanding that leads to a stronger partnership. When both parties understand what’s happening, the dynamic changes from the mechanic who knows everything to a shared sense of involvement. In addition, it gives the client a framework for evaluating the work you create. It’s so easy to get hung up on terminology if you’re not familiar with things like wordmarks or typefaces.

When you take the time to equip your client with the right context, you empower them to take ownership and feel more invested in the brand. People can’t invest in the brand if they don’t understand it.”

Activate

“Often, a client isn’t exactly sure what they need. So, when the time comes to hand off the assets, they might request a super minimal brand guidelines document as the end deliverable. It’s only as you go through the design rounds together that they start to think critically about what they actually need. Suddenly, this simple PDF they requested starts to grow. You start to ask, ‘What would be the most meaningful way to bring this to life for each department?’ Maybe it’s sell sheets, marketing collateral, or even an entire microsite that serves as a brand hub with templates, assets, and explanations.

At the end of the day, activation will only ever be as meaningful as you make it. Design assets can be a thing that sits untouched in a folder on a server, or valuable tools that solve real-world needs. The biggest mistake I see is when an agency rushes to hand everything over. Activation is not some tiny part of the pie, it’s a process that should permeate to all aspects of the brand. From brand guidelines to workshops to education sessions, there are many ways to activate your brand internally.”

Accelerate

“When everyone is educated and bringing the brand to life, things accelerate fast: design has the assets they need, sales understands the story, messaging is aligned and consistent with the aesthetic, everything is unified and connected. Your brand starts to work for you instead of the other way around.

As an example, my first experience with jetBlue incorporated this type of holistic design thinking. From the moment you walk into the terminal, you’re greeted by their specific color palette and clever messaging that guides you through the experience. Every interaction is purposeful and deliberate — the messaging on the walls, the napkin at the airport bar, the uniforms of the flight attendants and how they interact with you, the graphics on the actual plane — it’s all connected and telling a singular story. People are being walked through an experience with a level of care and detail that goes beyond mere functionality. It’s an end-to-end experience where design elevates the highest possible value of a brand. When it feels like a single hand crafted every touchpoint, people fall in love with your brand. A company is a complex thing, but peoples’ experience of the brand should be a simple, unified interaction.

When you’re firing on all cylinders, everything becomes a useful tool. Assets, guidelines, strategy, writing, the tone of voice, it all gets funneled together and draws people in. That’s why it’s so important not to bifurcate the process. You don’t want to simply hand off a document and say, “Hey, good luck.” Educate the key players, make them understand and fall in love with the story — so they are compelled to go tell it themselves.”

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design agency in San Francisco.

Emotive Design Is Felt in the Gut

Posted on by Chris Ames

This week, we had the pleasure of adding Beth Abrahamson as a Senior Designer to our team. She is a multidisciplinary graphic designer whose practice challenges the distinction between art and design. Constantly shifting in and out of different mediums – collage, ceramics, photography, drawing – she’s an expert at imagining how these forms can live in the digital world. With an MFA in Design from California College of the Arts, Beth has recently worked with AirBnB, Southern Exposure, San Francisco Art Institute, and many others. We sat down with Beth to discuss her work, the importance of collaboration, and the definition of emotive design.

Tell us a bit about your background.

I came here seven years ago to attend the San Francisco Art Institute for a design and technology program. After graduating from California College of the Arts, I hopped between freelancing at design studios, companies in-house, and building my own client base.

What brings you back to a studio environment?

I really value the ability to see so many different types of environments. It’s so interesting to be able to be a fly on the wall. Every place is different, and sometimes as a freelancer, you’re treated as an outsider. I came here because I was seeking the kind of collaboration and diversity you only get with a studio.

What advice would you give to studios on how to best integrate freelancers so they feel embraced?

It sounds simple, but all anyone wants is to be treated as part of the team. Fostering a healthy team dynamic is super important, and it can make all the difference. You want a place where everyone brings a different skillset, knows their role, and has a seat at the table. There’s such a big difference between “sitting in close proximity to other people” and actually collaborating. As a creative person, I thrive on variety – in projects, clients, and mindsets. With a studio, the sum is greater than the parts.

At Emotive Brand, strategy drives everything. Have you had experience working with strategists before?

It’s so crucial for design, and it’s an area I really want to learn more about. Good design always has to be backed up by good strategy. I value the environment that Bella and Tracy have created here. Both their authenticity and their approach. It’s very rare to have this female-led dynamic, and whether or not you want to admit it, it makes a difference. Just in the approach to empathy, emotional intelligence, and communication. It’s about achieving that perfect balance of everyone having a role and everyone feeling like their voice is heard.

How would you describe your approach to design?

I am a firm believer in the concept defining the aesthetics, and not the other way around. It’s about the process. I take a lot of inspiration from the world around me – from physical things, from mundane forms, or things that may seem mundane at first glance. A big part of my process has been about translating ideas across mediums. Not just working on the computer but working by hand – building things, cutting things. All of that informs what then becomes the digital graphic. With a lot of my work, you can feel the artist’s hand. I try to create a simplicity and accessibility.

Outside of the 9-to-5, what are you working on right now?

I’ve been teaching myself ceramics for the last two years and I’m totally obsessed. There’s a very strong relationship to graphic design. Right now, I’m working on vessels that have different geometric forms as handles. Those forms are coming from some 2D work that I’ve done, and vice versa. An idea will often move from a blind contour drawing, to a screen print, to a ceramic shape.

How would you define emotive design?

For me, emotive design is felt in the gut. It inspires others, draws them in. It’s about translating passion from the maker to the viewer – and in that transfer of ideas and feeling, there is a deep connection. When it works well, that connection – between people or brands – is unbreakable.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy and design agency.

How to Bring in a Branding Agency (And Still Thrive as a Creative Director)

Posted on by Chris Ames

Agency or Enemy?

If you’re a Creative Director, chances are you’re some lovely mix of imagination, diplomacy, market knowledge, and damn good design sense. You bring focus to every project. You know how to communicate across disciplines and departments. After all, that’s why you were hired. So why in God’s name would you ever need to bring in an outside branding agency? And if by some cruel twist of fate you’re forced into this position, how do you avoid effectively hiring your replacement?

If You’re Reading This Creative Brief, We’re Already Behind Schedule

Here’s a common scenario. You’re the Creative Director of a small design team. You’ve been tasked with a top-to-bottom rebrand with aggressive deadlines and even more aggressive stakeholders. There’s so much day-to-day client work that your team is stretched super thin.

It’s normally here, somewhere in-between the third revision and the second missed deadline that a decision maker mandates we need fresh eyes. The team is apprehensive to bring in outsiders and start from square one, but no one has any real bandwidth to argue against it. By the time the outside agency is brought in, everyone is exhausted, the work is stalled, the printer is out of ink, and someone keeps stealing your phone charger. Who’s ready for a design kickoff?

An Extension, Not a Replacement

When it works well, an outside branding agency is a natural extension of your design team, not a replacement.

“Ideally, you get an external agency that’s smarter than you are,” says Robert Saywitz, Senior Designer at Emotive Brand. “You’re looking for a true collaborator and extension of the team. No one wants to be manhandled, and no one wants to hear just tell us what to do. They should have an informed perspective and deliver creative ideas beyond the obvious solutions. Otherwise, why wouldn’t you just hire some freelancers?”

So, how do you set yourself up for success? It’s all about education.

The Outside Branding Agency Checklist

  • Rally as an internal team. First things first, by the time you hire an outside branding agency, chances are you’re battle worn. Take a breath, rally the troops, and view this as an opportunity to get back on track. We’re all on the same team and we’re fighting for the same thing.
  • Educate the agency. No one knows the intricacies, politics, obstacles, personalities, and past iterations better than you. The more you embed and educate your agency, the faster, better, and more invaluable they’ll become. No one will benefit from keeping them in the dark.
  • Educate the decision makers. Get your decision makers aligned, informed, and available. Nothing is more frustrating than uncollated, contradictory feedback. Everyone needs to have a say, but at the end of the day, there should be one voice making the final call.
  • Set expectations early. If you’re going to set design guardrails, do so in the very beginning. Everyone must have clear delineations of what to keep, what to kill, and what can be reimagined.
  • Realistic deadlines. This one speaks for itself, but unless you want your external team to get sucked into the same whirlwind of chaos, they need time to operate and produce amazing work. If the rebrand was due two weeks before the agency was even hired, it’s time to rethink the schedule.
  • Turn the Creative Director into the missing link. No one is better suited to the needs of the internal company than the Creative Director. They can work as a bridge between designers, marketing, and the C-suite.

“When you’re the link, you’re the best way to facilitate what’s happening,” continues Rob Saywitz. “You speak the same language, you know the process. You know where the silos are and have the best chance at breaking them down. No one wants to enter a room excited to pitch new ideas only to discover the direction was already decided in a private meeting.”

Partners in Crime

Outside branding agencies can be a phenomenal tool to bring in fresh perspectives, accelerate projects, and spot the glaring inefficiencies that you’re too close to see. But without a champion on the inside, there’s a very real possibility that their best intentions will be mistranslated, misheard, and only add to the cacophony. Agencies don’t replace Creative Directors — they are a vibrant new dictionary for the Creative Director to read, take inspiration from, and translate to the internal team.

Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design agency based in Oakland.

On Design, Branding, and Where the “Brand Magic” Happens: Interview with Emotive Brand Creative Director

Posted on by Saja Chodosh

Interview with Jane Brown, Creative Director

Jane joins Emotive Brand with over 20 years of experience developing corporate and brand identities ranging from global corporations to startups – bringing both agency and client-side, as well as print and digital media expertise to the table. Jane has built a reputation around delivering high-level thinking and design systems that enable new brands to compete in crowded marketplaces and venerable brands to deepen their relevance.

In this interview, Jane shares her point of view on branding challenges, client-agency relationships, collaboration, and what gives brands that extra “magic.”

What drew you to Emotive Brand?

There are a lot of different understandings of the term “brand.” I’ve been following the agency for a long time and I think the way Emotive Brand defines brand is so smart – and completely aligned with my thinking.

Emotive Brand gets it. Brand isn’t just about customers, it’s also about employees. It’s built from the inside out. It isn’t just about a logo, it’s about the people who work within the company. That’s where it all starts – getting to the heart of what the company stands for and why it matters.

I admire the attention Emotive Brand puts on process. The agency has created a very smooth, buttoned-up, articulate, and clear methodology. And they’ve worked hard to build a culture of collaboration with the client where this methodology works.

What excites you most about your role here?

To assist EB’s understanding of our brand and our place of differentiation. I’m excited to build upon what’s already been created.

What inspires me the most about my job is the utilization of design to explain transformative ideas. My goal is always to leverage this power, and I’m excited to do that with Emotive Brand.

What do you bring to the table that is unique?

I bring an understanding that can fill the gap between agency and client. I can pivot. I understand the pain points and cultures on both sides, and I know how to negotiate the two so that Emotive Brand, as an agency, delivers what is going to make our clients most successful.

Speaking of your in-house experience, how does that inform your agency-side work today?

In a lot of ways, in-house and agency-side are often contradictory worlds. There’s a lot of pressure that internal teams face daily to get work done – now. On an in-house team you’re valued for your collaboration, cooperation, positive attitude, and ability to get things done.

In contrast, in the agency world, we tend to be valued more for our skills and aesthetic. Agencies create the highest aesthetic standard.

There’s a sweet spot. I’m known for delivering delight to clients, and everything I do is always implementable. My in-house experience has taught me that you have to create tools that clients can actually use.

So what do you believe successful design systems should enable for clients?

Transformation – for the employees and the business. The brand must support and align with business goals.

For employees – to live that brand. For customers – to truly understand who the brand is. And that the brand can live up to the standards we’ve defined at every brand interaction.

Visually and verbally, the brand must ring true. It must be authentic. Authenticity is super important to me when measuring success.

What are the biggest challenges you see brands facing today?

The web created a lot of possibilities, but also, a lot of challenges. I see the danger when you look at the heap of templates available online. As a result of this mass availability, everything is starting to look and behave the same. Developing a unique and proprietary brand is a lot more challenging now and more important.

Is that where the value of bringing in an external agency comes in?

As an outside agency you are paid to be critical. It’s easier to diagnose and solve problems because you aren’t living them every day – internal teams can be too close to potential issues.

What does collaboration mean to you?

Shift from me to we-centric. Collaboration means we are all on the same team. You just want to create the best work – together. And on the agency side, this is all about creating the best solutions for the client. It has to be what’s right for the client.

What do you believe defines great, meaningful brands today? Where does the “magic” happen?

How does the brand make you feel? The magic has always been there. Emotive Brand was founded on the idea that feeling is transformative for brands. And I’m right there with them.

When teams pivot from logic to feeling and begin to reimagine and visualize what is possible, that is where the magic happens and where I get super excited.

Emotive Brand is a San Francisco brand strategy and design agency. 

Brand Identity. What’s Your Type?

Posted on by Miguel Ramirez

Brand Identity, typography, typeface… it’s all part of your brand and its story

A brand identity is critical to get right. A typeface helps shape the stories a brand tells. It sets the tone of a brand. Typography is in many ways the first impression and introduction to your audience. According to Sarah Hyndman, “Typography is like the clothes a person wears; it tells the world who they are and who they want to be.”

Typography, in other words, is one of the most important aspects of your brand.

A few things to consider when selecting a typeface for your brand:

Align with brand strategy

A typeface should reflect what your brand stands for: your brand’s personality and promise. The more a typeface aligns with the brand strategy, the clearer and stronger the message becomes.

Typography sets the tone and voice of a brand. The use of bold vs. light type weights or serif vs. sans serif fonts can radically affect the way a brand message is perceived. For example, Google’s recent brand redesign of their logotype – from a serif typeface to a san-serif typeface – helped align the brand with an even more forward-looking vision. This shift refreshed Google’s brand image and helped the company transition from looking like a start-up to a modern tech company with cutting-edge technology, while still maintaining its whimsical personality.

Keep it consistent

The more consistent the application of typography is across applications, including digital and printed materials, the more recognizable and approachable a brand becomes. By using consistent weights and relative point sizes for headers, sub-headers, and body copy across all brand messaging, a brand develops a strong visual language that becomes ownable. Brands often stray from this consistency when developing applications independently. The overall ecosystem of the brand should always be considered when developing any application. Consistent use of the brand’s typeface will help the audience connect quicker with the brand and help the brand stand out from competitors.

Make it versatile

In today’s world of constantly evolving technologies, a typeface’s adaptability is important. Digital screens have created the need for a wider range of flexibility within a typeface. A typeface should be appropriate for both large and small scale print and digital materials, ranging from applications such as a large billboard down to a tiny smartwatch display.

Consistency of use within a typeface is key to developing a brand’s personality, but different type weights and sizes can be adjusted to best suit the application. For example, a thin weight might work well on a large printed poster, but is unreadable on the web. Selecting a typeface with a variety of weights will allow for flexibility, while producing a range of applications. It’s also important to consider a brand’s growth and trajectory when selecting a typeface. Make sure that the typeface can support not only the brand’s current applications, but also the applications of the future.

Make it feel right

In the same way that a typeface can elevate a brand, the wrong typeface can also damage a brand. The wrong typeface can sever consumers’ emotional connection to a brand, creating feelings of confusion, mistrust, or even betrayal. For example, consider Tropicana’s 2009 brand and packaging redesign. Tropicana’s brand was known for being friendly, approachable, and a sense of nostalgia. But the redesign showcased a generic san-serif logotype that lost the brand’s human and approachable attributes. Although the logotype and packaging were well designed, it did not match Tropicana’s brand personality. According to Business Insider, Tropicana lost 20% in sales due to their redesign. Customers lost their emotional attachment and loyalty to the brand.

Because typography plays a crucial role in how people identify with a brand, taking the time to examine all aspects of how a typeface aligns with brand strategy is critical. Because typefaces are easily accessible today, it can be easy – too easy! – to select one quickly without taking careful consideration of how it affects your brand. There’s no use putting effort towards building a brand if you don’t choose the right typeface to support the brand.