Brand Dictionary “D”

The Count says “Dance.”

DESCRIPTOR
A term used with a brand name to describe the category in which the brand competes, such as “fluoride toothpaste”  or ” online banking.”

DESIGN
In brand-building, the planning or shaping of products, services, environments, systems, communications, or other artifacts to create a positive brand experience.

DESIGNING
The process of design; bringing together strategic and creative processes to achieve a shared goal.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT
The practice of integrating the work of internal and external design teams to align brand expressions with strategic goals.

DESIGN RESEARCH
Customer research on the experience and design of products or communications elements, using qualitative, quantitative, or ethnographic techniques.

DIFFERENTIATION
The process of establishing a unique market position to increase profit margins and avoid commoditization; the result of positioning.

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
A new product, service, or business that redefines the market; also call discontinuous innovation. Several years ago, Netflix shook up the movie rental business in a major way.

DRIVE FEATURES
Brand attributes that are both important to customers and highly differentiated from those of competitors.

DRIVER BRAND
In a brand portfolio, the brand that drives a purchase decision, whether master brand, sub-brand, or endorser brand.

Brand Dictionary “C”

CATEGORY
The arena in which a brand competes

CHALLENGER BRAND
A new or rising brand that is viable in spite of competition from the dominant brand in its category

CHARISMATIC BRAND
A brand that inspires a high degree of loyalty; also known as a lifestyle brand or passion brand

CLUTTER
The conceptual noise of the marketplace; a disorderly array of messages or elements that impedes understanding

CO-BRANDING
The purposeful linking of two or more brands for mutual benefit. Can be seen with many car manufacturers, here are some I can remember: VW Jetta and Trek, Ford Explorer and Eddie Bauer, Ford F-150 and Harley Davidson. I did a quick search and found this little slideshow. How could I have overlooked the 1984 Cadillac Seville by Gucci?!?

CONCEPT MAP
A diagram showing the connections among a set of concepts

CORE COMPETENCIES
A set of capabilities (typically two or three) that gives a company a strategic advantage

CORE IDENTITY
The central, sustainable, elements of a brand identity, usually the name and trademark

CORE IDEOLOGY
A combination of core values and core purpose

CORE PURPOSE
The reason a company exists beyond making a profit; part of the core ideology

CORE VALUES
An enduring set of principles that defines the ethics of a company; part of the core ideology (see image below).

CORPORATE IDENTITY
The brand identity of a company, consisting of its visual identifiers such as the name, trademark, typography, and colors; a company’s trade dress.

CREATIVE BRIEF
A document that sets the parameters for a brand-building project, including context, goals, processes, and budgetary constraints.

CULTURE JAMMING
The act of modifying advertisements or grand messages to subvert their original intent, also known as subvertising or adbusting.

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS
The anticipated benefits of a brand, whether explicit or implicit.

Brand Dictionary “B” (part 3)

Brand Police

BRANDMARK
An icon, avatar, wordmark, or other symbol for a brand; a trademark.

BRAND METRICS
Measurements for monitoring changes in brand equity.

BRAND NAME
The verbal or written component of a brand icon; the name of a product, service, experience, or organization.

BRAND PERSONALITY
The character of a brand as defined in human terms, for example, Virgin = irreverent, or Chanel = refined.

BRAND POLICE
Manager or team responsible for strict compliance with the guidelines in the brand manual.

BRAND PORTFOLIO
A suite of related brands; a collection of brands owned by one company.

BRAND PUSHBACK
Marketplace resistance to brand messages or brand extensions, often leading to changes in brand strategy.

BRAND STEWARD
The person responsible for developing and protecting a brand.

BRAND STORY
The articulation of a brand as a narrative; a coherent set of messages that articulate the meaning of a brand.

BRAND STRATEGY
A plan for the systematic development of a brand in order to meet business objectives.

BRAND VALUATION
The process of measuring the monetary equity of a brand.

BUZZ
The current public opinion about a product, service, experience or organization. (see The Anatomy of Buzz, Emanuel Rosen)

Brand Dictionary: “B” (part 2)

BRAND AUDIT
A formal assessment of a brand’s strengths and weaknesses across all of its touchpoints.

BRAND CHAMPION
Anyone who evangelizes or protects a brand; a brand steward.

BRAND COMMUNITY
The network of people who contribute to building a brand, including internal departments, external firms, industry partners, customers, users and the media.

BRAND CONSULTANT
An external adviser who contributes to the brand-building process, often in a strategic or advisory role.

BRAND COUNCIL
A committee formed to assess and guide a company’s brand-building process; sometimes called a creative council.

BRAND DESIGNER
Any person who helps shape a brand, including graphic designers, strategists, marketing directors, researchers, ad planners, web developers, PR specialists, copy writers and others.

BRAND EARNINGS
The share of a business’ cash flow that can be attributed to the brand alone.

BRAND ESSENCE
The distillation of a brand’s promise into the simplest possible terms. For example:

Chrysler: Nostalgic American Cars
Hewlett-Packard: Inventive Technology
Ikea: Cheap Modular Furniture
Kodak: Family Memories
Porsche: Performance Sports Cars
Oil of Olay: Younger Skin
Wells Fargo: Historic Bank

BRAND EXPERIENCE
All the interactions people have with a product, service, or organization; the raw material of a brand. Go ahead, get lost in this concept map explaining the brand experience, it is super thorough and informative (via Dubberly Design Office):

Click image to download hi-res PDF.

BRAND GAP
The gulf between business strategy and customer experience. (see The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeir)

BRAND IDENTITY
The outward expression of a brand, including its name, trademark, communications, and the visual appearance. (see Designing Brand Identity, Alina Wheeler)

BRAND IMAGE
A customer’s mental picture of a product, service or organization.

BRAND LOYALTY
The strength of preference for a brand compared to competing brands, sometimes measured in repeat purchases.

BRAND MANUAL
A document that articulates the parameters of the brand for members of the brand community; a standardized set of brand-building tools.

Brand Dictionary: “B” (part 1)

Here’s the second part of our on-going series sharing some brand-related definitions from The Dictionary of Brand. This is part one of the letter “B.” The second half will be up later this week.

BACK STORY
The story behind a brand, such as it’s origin, the meaning of its name, or the underpinnings of its authenticity or charisma.

BENEFIT
A perceived advantage derived from a product, service, feature, or attribute.

BHAG
A “Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal” designed to focus an organization. (from Built to Last, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras)

BOTTOM-UP MARKETING
Customer-driven marketing, as opposed to top-down or management-driven marketing. (from Bottom-Up Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout)

BRAND
A person’s perception of a product, service, experience or organization; the art and science of brand building.

BRAND AGENCY
A strategic firm that provides or manages a variety of brand-building services across a range of media.

BRAND ALIGNMENT
The practice of linking brand strategy to customer touch points.

BRAND AMBASSADOR
Anyone who promotes the brand through interactions with customers, prospects, partners, or the media; ideally, every company employee.

BRAND ARCHITECTURE
A hierarchy of related brands, often beginning with a master brand, describing its relationship to sub-brands and co-brands; a brand family tree.

All definitions taken from The Dictionary of Brand, edited by Marty Neumeier, published by AIGA
Design by Willoughby Design Group, [email protected]

Brand Dictionary: “A”

We have a handy-dandy little resource in our possession that was created by the AIGA Center for Brand Excellence. It’s called The Dictionary of Brand, and it’s just too darn good not to share. We’ll regularly post subsequent letters of the alphabet to further your branding toolkit. So, without further ado allow me introduce you to the letter “A.”

ASPIRATIONAL POSITIONING
One or two words which declare what the brand aspires to be in relation to competing brands (also: mission statement or positioning)

ATMOSPHERICS
The identity of a brand environment, represented by its architecture, signage, textures, scents, sounds, colors, and employee behavior (also: experience design)

ATTITUDE STUDY
A survey of opinions about a brand, often used as a benchmark before and after making changes to it

AUDIENCE
The group to which a product, service, or message is aimed; also call the target audience

AUTHENTICITY
The quality of being genuine, often considered a powerful brand attribute

AVATAR
A brand icon designed to move, morph, or otherwise operate freely across various media (also: icon)

AWARENESS STUDY
A survey  that measures an audiences familiarity with a brand, often divided into “prompted” and “spontaneous” awareness

All definitions taken from The Dictionary of Brand, edited by Marty Neumeier, published by AIGA

What It Is and What It Isn’t

As with any new endeavor, we’ve been learning a ton as we get Red off the ground. We want to keep you informed so you know precisely what we’re offering. So today’s post is all about describing what Red is, and what it isn’t.

///WHAT RED IS:
It is template-driven branding.
It is professionally designed.
It includes a comprehensive offering of printed stationery items.

It is branding based on typographic solutions consistent systems.
It uses your business name in a template to create a completely consistent brand.
It is printed professionally.
It is affordable professional printing.
It is easy, we’ve pre-coordinated design, color and coordinating print pieces to make your decisions simple.
It is creative and will give you confidence when handing out your business card.
It is specifically geared toward photographers, because we know what you need.
It is easy to see what you’re getting when using our site.
It utilizes the latest web-to-print technology.
It is way better than a cheap mountain biker template card from FedEx/Kinko’s. Actual card below.

It is regularly updated with fresh design (not including stock photos of mountain bikers).
It will help take your business to the next level.

///WHAT IT ISN’T:
It isn’t custom logo design. You can get that here.
It isn’t as cheap as mountain biker FedEx/Kinko’s business cards. But frankly, you get what you pay for.
A specific design isn’t going to be over-saturated in your market. We’re developing a policy for discontinuing once they’ve crossed a certain sales threshold.
It isn’t hodgepodge and unprofessional.
It isn’t complicated.
It isn’t run by some behemoth printer. Red was created by designers, so you know we’ve kept a close eye on the design and production details.

Our “what it is and what it isn’t” list is an attempt to begin answering questions about exactly what Red by Reddoor Creative is offering. We’re excited for the way a Red Identity system will completely elevate the look and professionalism of your business. We’re excited to share everything with you. Stay tuned this week for more exciting info…

We’ll be heading to Vegas in less than a week, and we’d love to meet you, and tell you more about Red if you’re going to be at WPPI. Follow us on Twitter here, to keep up with our whereabouts in Vegas next week.

Ampersand or Ampers&

I’ve been doing a little bit of research on ampersands (you know, the thing that means “and”) for a client project, and thought some of it may be blog worthy.

So a brief history of where the ampersand originated:
The ampersand is a combination of  the letters “e” and “t,” the Latin word for “and.” Some ampersands are still clearly e-t ligatures, and others are merely suggestive of e-t ligature. The earliest known ampersand is from 45 A.D. It was found on papyrus (the paper, not the unpleasant font) written in the style of the early Roman capital cursive.

Ampersand usage varies from language to language. In English and French text, the ampersand may be substituted for the words “and” and “et,” and both versions may be used in the same text. The German rule is to use the ampersand within formal or corporate titles made up of two separate names; according to present German composition rules, the ampersand may not be used in running text. In any language, the ampersand’s calligraphic qualities make it a compelling design element that can add visual appeal and personality to any page. Some consider the ampersand to be the most beautiful character of them all. You can read a ton more on Adobe’s website about the ampersand.

In my research, and through MyFonts twitter feed, I heard about a special collection of ampersands. The Society of Typographic Aficionados (SOTA) is proud to announce their release of Coming Together, a font created exclusively for Font Aid IV to benefit the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. The font consists entirely of ampersands, to represent the idea of people coming together to help one another. Type designers, graphic designers, and other artists from around the world contributed artwork to the font. The font is available for $20 from MyFonts. All proceeds from the sale of this font will go to Doctors Without Borders, to help with their relief efforts in Haiti.

It’s about time the ampersand mustache made a comeback.

On the lighter side of ampersands. Surprisingly, there are whole blogs dedicated to the ampersand. I found this one called simply The Ampersand. It has all things related to the beautiful ligature. I couldn’t resist sharing the “Spampersand” and the “Amperbunnies.” (For the record, I’ve never seen as many ampersand tattoos in my life, as there are on this blog.)

H&some.

Basic Rules of Type

We have this handy-dandy little Typography Primer laying around that we reference every so often. Here are some juicy little tips for when you’re faced with basic type decisions for your document layout:

• Long lines of text are hard to read. A line should have ~9-10 words. Try multiple columns to keep your line length down.
• White space on the page makes your document cleaner-looking and easier to read.
• Use bullets and indents to highlight important points. Use headings and subheadings to help your readers find the information they’re interested in.
• Avoid using more than two type families on a page. Generally one serif and one sans serif make a nice mix. Using the sans serif for headlines and the serif for body text is a common and effective formula.
• Use italics or bold to highlight words and phrases, rather than using all uppercase. All uppercase is hard to read.
• Left justification can be easier to read and looks less formal and full justification. Pick the alignment option that matches the tone of your document.
• Graphs, pictures, and charts add interest to your documents and clarify your text. Horizontal and vertical lines can be used sparingly to break up blocks of text.

If you are really serious about brushing up on your typography, click the link below and pour over the whole Adobe Typography Primer.

I’m really serious about my typography!

How do you describe colors?

Let’s develop a little bit of a color vocabulary today. Please note this is different than a colorful vocabulary. We’ll start by defining three words that are essential in describing color. I’ll try to use examples for each definition with the traditional “primary colors,” which are red, blue and yellow. Class is in session…

HUE
The first of the three properties of color we’ll be looking at today. Hue, typically, is the name we associate with a color (i.e. red, blue, or yellow). The hue describes only the color itself. Describing hue can get you close to the color, but using words alone is an impossible way to describe all colors accurately. You’ll find there have been many systems to developed to identify color, quickly and accurately. Here are the variations between three examples, I’ve tried to get as close to the primary colors as possible in each system:

top–RGB values: (red 255, 0, 0. blue 0, 0, 255. yellow 255, 255, 0)
middle–Behr Paint color names: (red hot, jazz blue, and lemon zest)
bottom–Pantone Matching System: (PMS red 032, PMS reflex blue, and PMS yellow)

SATURATION
The second of the three color properties. Saturation refers to the amount or intensity of the hue in relation to a completely neutral (colorless) gray. Saturation is a sliding scale with fully saturated color at one end, and completely neutral gray at the other end. When you consider paint, desaturating a color is achieved by mixing the color’s complement. For example, mixing green with red, in the proper ratios will result in a neutral gray, demonstrated below:

VALUE
The last of the three properties. Value is a property that describes a color (or gray) that falls between white and black. The lighter or closer to white something is, the less value it has. Conversely, the closer to black something is the greater value it has. When a hue is fully saturated, it has it’s greatest value. (how about that for a sentence using all of our vocab words!) Here is a black value scale compared to a yellow value scale.

Notice that even the yellow at 100% is somewhere near the 10% black. The moral of the story, different hues, when fully saturated, have different values.