Hasta La Ideas

David Pache has compiled his second edition of “100 Brands of Interest”. What is interesting about this catalog is that it showcases how creative agencies brand themselves.

David says: It is purely to create awareness within the community and provide some useful insight for any newcomers who may be struggling to create a brand for themselves. It can be said that you are your greatest critic therefore this can often cause much procrastination, especially in this line of work, when trying to pin point the right brand for yourself.

poster design by Andreas Brændhaugen

click on the poster to view a larger size

I’m really excited to present the lineup for this Spring’s David H. Liu Memorial Lecture Series in Design.

All talks will begin at 8pm in building 320, room 105. Every lecture is free and open to the public!

Andy Spade will be speaking on Wednesday, April 15th. Spade had over a decade of experience with top advertising agencies Saatchi & Saatchi, Kirshenbaum Bond & Partners, and TBWA/Chiat/Day managing accounts with companies such as Coca Cola, Evian, Reebok, Lexus, and Coach. He’s the branding and marketing man behind Kate Spade and Jack Spade (the companies that he and his wife created.) He has also been tapped to design the experiences of a number of companies including Delta’s Song Airlines and J. Crew retail experiment The Liquor Store. Spade’s latest project is Partners & Spade. It includes a highly conceptual retail experience in downtown Manhattan. Beyond all these business ventures, Spade is heavily involved in the art world. He is a patron to emerging artists, co-owner of a gallery, and curator of several exhibitions. Spade’s projects merge emotional branding, experience design, brilliant collaboration, and always a touch of surrealism.

Dr. Jonathan Cagan will be speaking on Monday, May 4th. Dr. Cagan is a co-director of the Masters in Product Development program at Carnegie Mellon and also the co-director for the school’s Center for Product Strategy and Innovation. He has the title of Barrett Ladd Professor in Engineering in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon University and holds appointments in the School of Design and Computer Science. He has expertise in product development and innovation methods for early stage product development. Both his design methods and computer-based design research have been applied in a variety of industries. Dr. Cagan is the author of two books: Creating Breakthrough Products (co-authored with Craig Vogel), and The Design of Things to Come (co-authored with Peter Boatwright and Craig Vogel). He has consulted with a variety of small and large companies in diverse areas on product development, brand strategy, and strategic planning. He is co-founder and chief technologist of DesignAdvance Systems, Inc., a company focused on developing CAD software for the early synthesis processes. Cagan teaches New Product Development at Carnegie Mellon and runs executive training sessions in small and large companies.

Alex Wipperfürth will be speaking on Thursday, May 21st. Wipperfürth is a partner at Dial House in San Francisco. He is the author of Brand Hijack, and the upcoming The Co-Creation Myth and The Fringe Manifesto. Dial House is part think-tank and part creative hot shop. The client list is diverse: from fringe (Napster, Doc Martens, Pabst Blue Ribbon, Jones Soda, Red Stripe, Altoids) to cutting edge (Current TV, New Yorker Magazine) to blue chip (Diageo, IBM, P&G/Clorox, Toyota, Coca-Cola). Projects range from innovative strategy, innovative research, meaningful creative expressions with DIY production to brand innovation. In earlier work, Wipperfürth had interviewed actual cult members and people in “consumer cults” (like Apple or Harley-Davidson fanatics) and made fascinating insights about their similarities.

Yes, this image may be a tad bit creepy, but the 2009 ReBrand 100 Global Awards are in. To peep the collection of redesigns, you know what to do.

Jack in the Box a favorite burger joint on the west coast has finally come out and released it’s new logo designed and developed by Duffy Partners. For the last couple of months they’ve gradually introduced the new logo in select locations. Brand New offers a great write-up of the re-design.

Before we pick this particular logo apart, dig this hysterical interlude: Philly folks may find this clip especially amusing:

The new mark for Jack in the Box feels quite unresolved. The primary criticism stems from the separation of the title in and below the ‘box’ which seems to convey two separate ideas and therefore devoid of integration. The techie type treatment of ‘in the box’ is misguided and doesn’t relate to the other elements of the logo. The dimensional box and the script font may work as separate ideas, but the end result is a losing combination.

And let’s not overlook the intimation of a smirk at the tip of the ‘k’ in ‘Jack.’ This new emotive trend that we’ve also seen in the re-brands of Pepsi & Kraft Foods is one we’d like to see end frankly (unless it’s executed with a tad more savvy approach).
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