We were recently asked to submit some marketing ideas to the International Baseball Federation (IBAF) for the 2012 World Women’s Cup coming to Edmonton in summer of 2012. The bid called for the creation of an identity for the event as well as some ideas on how the IBAF could market it in Edmonton. The great thing about Edmontonians is they love sports! Oilers and Eskimos’ games regularly sell out and smaller sporting events are generally well received as well. Knowing this, we wanted to create an exciting identity that would stand out among some of the larger sporting events.
A couple of us had played baseball when we were younger and felt a strong connection to the project, so naturally when we were brainstorming this new identity we thought it would be easy to come up with something unique and relevant. However, upon putting pencil to paper, we realized this was going to be a lot harder than originally anticipated. The first thought was to come up with something very sporty feeling, not unlike the Final Four or All Star Game logos. First Shot…not so good.
After a few attempts at this, we realized this wasn’t going to create the impact we wanted. One of the first ideas we worked on was using the shape of home plate, or the shape of the baseball diamond. So we started to think about other shapes that showed up in the sport and one that seemed to really work was the stitching on the ball.
Playing with this idea morphed into working the W’s from World Women’s Cup into the stitching. Getting there…
A few failed ideas later we had finally settled on something. The shape abstractly references the stitching on a baseball, while making the shape of 2 W’s.
Added type (Which also proved to be exhausting…8 words and a maple leaf in one logo! Yikes!) and color and after a bit of tweaking here and there it was done!
Check back later for part 2, where we’ll talk more about logo usage and some of our marketing ideas.
Design Competition. Two words that make designers shudder and shake their heads in disgust. However, it can be a necessary evil in the design and marketing industry and gives smaller firms a chance to get their foot in the door with organizations they’d otherwise have no contact with. Sometimes a competition crosses our desk that just sounds too good to pass up. One such project was the opportunity to create a new identity for CBC‘s hit TV show “Dragons’ Den”
We wanted to create something completely different from what they were currently using. Let’s face it, the old logo felt like it was designed for a video game, a mess of glows, gradients and shine. Not subtle at all.
A lot of the entries were following suit and the competition became less about redesigning the logo and more about recreating the old logo with new fonts and more sparkle. Fair enough, but it felt too easy to us.
We decided to go in a completely different direction. First step was to ditch the black background, get rid of the gold and red, and do away with the dragon illustrations. Bold? Sure, but if you never take chances you’ll never know what you’re capable of.
Some of our first ideas were admittedly pretty weak and lacked any real concept.
We started to research dragons and the myth behind them. One thing we kept coming back to was the idea of Dragons representing the four elements and the protectors of treasure. Sort of sounded like the TV show! Perfect! We had a concept.
Not wanting to lose the “Dragon” in the Dragons’ Den identity we opted for a simplified wing shape, one that would make reference to the mythical beast without using a complex illustration that wouldn’t translate well across a variety of mediums.
For a color scheme we chose primary colors such as blue, red, and yellow and blended them, creating a mix of almost 16 different shades, sort of a visual representation of the 4 elements.
For typography we decided a simple and bold sans serif font would work best. While the urge to use a Gothic looking “medieval” typeface was there, we resisted (and trust me…there were some pretty odd looking ideas floating around the Jungle that day with Old English or Blackletter). In the end we decided on Avenir Bold in all caps. It looked contemporary and strong and we felt it represented the television show really well.
So-after all that-here it is. Urban Jungle’s take on the Dragons’ Den logo. Looking back on it now, we’re really proud of what we came up with. Maybe it wasn’t exactly what the show wanted, but it was definitely a bold look, and one that we stand behind. Unfortunately we didn’t win, but we do take consolation in the fact that after submitting our idea, there was a surge of “anti-dragon-logo” submissions…so maybe we were on the right track.
Love it? Hate it? We’d love to hear your opinions.
Talk about taking a campaign to the next level. Not only did Wear It With Pride encompass web, print, apparel and public events into their marketing plan, they also helped create a hit single and spark a fashion movement in Australia.
When Australia reformed their 85 formerly discriminatory same sex laws, a national campaign called Wear It With Pride was formed to educate the public about the changes. The campaign officially launched February 2nd, 2010.
Wear it With Pride, along with designer/art director Hannes Ciatti, commissioned 85 artists to interpret each law and create a t-shirt graphic around it. These t-shirts would become the centre point of the campaign.
Apart from the shirts there was also an interview/story element of the campaign showcasing various Australian celebrities and public figures battle with discrimination and homophobia. The stories and interviews were published on the site and created into posters to be displayed across the country. Ciatti commissioned a number of typographic artists to work on the posters, and the end result is really eye catching and powerful.
As if the web site, print and t-shirts weren’t enough, the Wear It With Pride Campaign also partnered with Australian pop star, Natalie Bassingthwaighte who dedicated her single ‘Love Like This’ to the cause, donating all the profits to the LGBT community. Within 24 hours the single had reached number 10 on the iTunes album charts.
Alright…let’s start this entry off with a Roadrunner/Wile E. Coyote short, easily one of my favorite duo’s in cartoons.
Now that your brain is thinking cartoons, I want to talk about the Art Gallery of Alberta’s Warner Bros. exhibit that opened up last week. While I personally have not had a chance to see the actual exhibit itself, some of the promotional pieces and events promoting the exhibit are definitely creating a lot of excitement and buzz.
AGA commissioned local illustrators Keith-yin Sun and Judi Chan to do a post card series, where they took classic Warner Bros. characters and gave them an awesome retro-minimalist spin. Check some of them out below…
If the beautiful postcard series and an art gallery exhibit about cartoons isn’t enough to entice you, how about a full blown opening gala? On July 10th, AGA will be hosting a Late Night Art Party, part of their Refinery party series. The event will feature performances from Alberta artists and DJs including interactive live drawings by local designer Sarah Jackson and a limited edition graphic novel penned by Josh Holinaty, an Edmonton illustrator. Sounds like it’s going to be a great time! Come hang out with Urban Jungle that night!
One of the things about design that is sometimes misunderstood is that it’s more than putting a pretty cover on something. There is a great deal of thought and planning that goes into every project. Whether it’s a postcard design or branding for a multinational company, there is hours (Sometimes days…sometimes MONTHS!) of research that happens before the completed design is presented. Things like “Who is the audience?” and “What are we trying to convey” must be considered if it’s to be successful. It’s always great to see behind the scenes of a project and get a feel for the creative team’s thought process.
Design For Fun (The portfolio site of the amazing Bernard Barry) recently put up a great case study on the work that went into branding Facebook’s semi annual Developer Conference, f8. The study covers everything from logo design to signage to conference attendee experience. No rock was left unturned on this project!
This is the kind of stuff that elevates design beyond being simply pretty images. It’s informative, thoughtful and communicates confidence and competence. Take a few minutes to read through the study, it’s incredibly interesting and awe inspiring to see a project go above and beyond simple branding. (Personally I’m smitten with the printed glass tables, especially the one by Frank Chimero…a bit of a design hero of mine!)
Although I’ve never been there, I’ve always held a special place in my heart for Iceland. They devote so much time and government spending to the arts, they produce amazing musicians (Sigur Ros and Bjork anyone?) and it’s just a damn beautiful looking place with beautiful looking people.What’s not love?! I’m also married to a travel agent and as a result have seen my fair share of tourism campaigns…some great, some terrible. That’s why it was so great to come across the Inspired By Iceland tourism campaign.
Lately Iceland has been hit pretty hard. The global recession lead to some of their major banks collapsing and as if the threat of national bankruptcy wasn’t enough, in the last few months a major volcano, Eyjafjallajokull, erupted causing wide spread flight cancellations and massive damage to the country’s rural areas. So much emphasis was placed on the impact the volcano had on European air travel that people seemed to forget that it severely impacted Icelanders way of life.
Anyways, it’s great to see something as positive as the Inspired by Iceland campaign come out of all this hardship. It really shows how beautiful and optimistic the country is. The campaign successfully integrates beautifully shot videos, web marketing and interactive features like user generated stories and galleries. The Inspired by Iceland video is fantastic, showing off the amazing landscapes and the fun loving spirit of its people (beware…tiny bit of nudity…not unlike a Sigur Ros album cover. *blush)
The Website is fantastic looking (Although I do have to say the background images weren’t big enough for my 27” monitor…but that happens sometimes) and has a ton of great content and links. I love that they included a “Book a Flight” link in the top corner, capitalizing on people being absolutely awestruck by the imagery. The user generated content is a great place for people to add photos and stories about why they loved their trip to Iceland and the live video feeds of various locations around the country are a nice touch.
I love that Inspired By Iceland understood that tourism is more than generating sales for local businesses. It’s about creating a memorable and emotional connection with the visitor, one that they will never forget. All in all a really great campaign that raises the bar for other countries looking to market their destination.
I thought for my inaugural Urban Jungle post I would talk about stuff that I really like. T-Shirts, Fancy Typography, Branding and Baked Goods! Johnny Cupcakes does not, contrary to popular belief, sell cupcakes rather an awesome looking clothing line….but let’s be honest, the clothing is great, but the branding is what really gets my motor running.
Johnny Cupcakes is definitely taking the baked goods theme and running with it. Their stores look like bakeries, their print collateral looks like it’s adorned with sprinkles, and although I don’t own any of their clothing I imagine it smelling like birthday cake the first time you wear it (Doubtful, but wouldn’t that be AWESOME!!) The activity book from their LA store has some fantastic illustrations and typography and really conveys how much fun the company is.
Speaking of fun, check out the video Johnny Cupcakes made with video geniuses Kamp Grizzly. Cupcake Cannon? You betcha! Really inspiring to see a company taking their branding to the next level and being incredibly successful at it.
Branding Home Run? World Women's Baseball Cup Part 1
Venturing into the Dragons' Den
Remember when you were a kid?
Edmonton City Council - Please Approve the EAD
Edmonton Loses the Indy! (Part 2 of 2)
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