Hasta La Ideas

‘Action’ on this, ‘beating’ that: in their naming and branding, charities are becoming much clearer about what they do and why. Michael Johnson of johnson banks charts the development of this new, ‘active’ approach in the sector

15 years ago if I’d told you that in 2013 the charity sector would be one of the most vibrant, challenging and competitive branding sectors, you’d have laughed in my face. Because any notion of ‘branding’ was virtually non-existent. Charities had logos, yes, but they sat meekly in corners. Occasionally ad agencies were crowbarred into doing a poster, but usually in that we’ll-do-you-a-great-ad-that-will-win-us-awards-and-you’ll-be-grateful type of arrangement.

Slowly the market began to change. Charities began to understand that if they were unclear about what they stood for, so were their ‘customers’. And who exactly were their customers anyway?

The first rebrands were subtle rather than dramatic. Ten years ago, when asked to chip in on Shelter’s repositioning, our design route was only intended as a simple update of a 30-year-old logo (with the ‘h’ slipped in for good measure, see above). Their name was never queried – after all, ‘Shelter’ for a housing and homelessness charity couldn’t be beaten.

But imagine if your name actually doesn’t convey what you do? Or can’t be remembered, or, worst still, confuses people. What do you do then?

In 2004, a project by Landor in the USA opened many eyes to a new way of communicating when the impossibly acronymed YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association) adopted a new strapline: ‘eliminating racism, empowering women’. No big surprise there, but the breakthrough was its scale – three times the size of YWCA and above it, not below (see image, top). Overnight, an organization was starting to tell people what they did and why, on every single thing they put into print or pixel.

Macmillan identity and campaign by Wolff Olins

The tipping point in the UK came when large charities began to ‘activate’ their names in a similar way. Macmillan Cancer Research amended their name to Macmillan Cancer Support, then incorporated it into a series of ‘we’ statements. Backed up by a relatively big adspend, we all soon saw ‘We are Macmillan’.

The positioning and questioning language used by their consultants, Wolff Olins, as an internal clarification exercise (‘so what is it that you actually do, and what do you offer?’) had all of a sudden gone public. The idea was that the ‘We’ was all of us. And ‘we are all Macmillan’.

Now you can debate whether this thinking has genuinely permeated, but there’s no doubt that YWCA and Macmillan made people see how charity brands could become active, campaigning schemes in their own right and perhaps negate the need for ‘advertising’ in the traditional sense.

Just a quick skim across the sector reveals a vast amount of activity in the last decade. Many UK charities have looked at themselves, what they do, how they say it, and worked out how to say it better.

The Anthony Nolan Trust changed its name to simply Anhony Nolan, with branding by johnson banks

Sometimes the verbal changes have been minor – The Anthony Nolan Trust has simply shortened to ‘Anthony Nolan‘. But now they talk about matching bone marrow and saving lives, not leukaemia – the difference is in the messages, not the name.

Parkinson’s UK by The Team

Others have taken an easy – but increasingly generic – route of attaching the ‘UK’ suffix to a version of their old name. So the Parkinson’s Disease Society removed both ‘disease’ and ‘society’ (both difficult and sometimes ‘turn-off’ words) and shortened to Parkinson’s UK.

Look around and the ‘UK’s’ have taken over. National Kidney Research Fund? Kidney Research UK. The solution to the merger of Age Concern and Help the Aged? Age UK (promptly followed by Age International). And most recently The Prostate Cancer Charity has become Prostate Cancer UK.

The Prostate Cancer Charity before (l) and after Hat-Trick’s new identity and name change

Some of this activity is debatable, and it’s too early to tell if all these facelifts and all that ‘UK-ness’ will have a genuine effect. But the signs are that when combined with stronger messages and communications (such as Parkinson’s adoption of ‘change attitudes, find a cure, join us’ or Prostate Cancer’s Sledgehammer Fund) it can lead to awareness going up, and more money coming in.

Action for Children by Baby Creative

Another trend is ‘action’ and various ‘action’ prefixes. The London Association for the Blind became ‘Action for blind people’. Then National Children’s Homes finally became Action for Children in 2008 after trying ‘NCH’ for a while. You may not like the ‘action for…’ wording (and at the time, neither did the ‘Action for Kids’ charity who felt it a little close for comfort), but there’s no doubt it’s a much more active phrase.

The RNID changes to Action on Hearing Loss. Design and branding by Hat-Trick

Another organization saddled with a difficult name was the RNID, always confused with birds or the blind, but actually the hard of hearing (as in Royal National Institute for the Deaf). Their problem? Just 4% awareness amongst the general public. Their solution? ‘Action on Hearing Loss’. A bit clumsy, perhaps, but at least it’s less confusing.

Where this thinking will go next is hard to predict: for example there are only a few ‘beating’ charities at the moment (Beating Bowel Cancer, Beating Eating Disorders) but that list will probably grow. Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research should probably really just change their name to their strapline, ‘Beating Blood Cancers’, if they truly want people to understand what they do.

We’re putting the finishing touches now to a scheme for the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, who, whilst well known in the cystic fibrosis community, suffers from low awareness amongst the general public. In early meetings we spotted the ‘is’ at the end of ‘fibrosis’, and suggested a scheme that always explained what it is. This ensures that the logo is always a statement of intent, allowing them to become a well defined, ‘active’ brand virtually overnight.

So we’re artworking nearly 40 different ‘logos’, varying from campaigning (Cystic Fibrosis a fight we must win) to fundraising (Cystic Fibrosis counting on your support) to those explaining it in more detail (Cystic Fibrosis a sticky, painful, suffocating condition). Depending on the tone and message they require, they’ll swiftly be able to adjust each leaflet, poster, web page or banner accordingly.

Alzheimer’s Australia by Interbrand Australia

Perhaps going forward we’ll also see more schemes like the recently developed Alzheimer’s Australia, which places words around the core words to activate them, such as ‘Fight Alzheimer’s, Save Australia’, and so on.

I Amsterdam by KesselsKramer

Be.Brussels by Base Design

There are signs that this kind of thinking is creeping into the cultural and education sectors too. Kesselkramer’s ‘I Amsterdam’ campaign was a great, early example, and now, after a shortish drive you can Be Brussels too or, if you go a bit further, be Berlin. The New Museum’s ‘sandwich’ approach to their name, and what they do, activates in series of different ways, as does The University of Westminster’s (and now The University of Plymouth’s too).

New Museum by Wolff Olins

University of Westminster by Jane Wentworth Associates/Hat-Trick

Plymouth University by Here Design/Buddy

What is clear is that many of these examples are blurring the lines between identity, branding, advertising and communications – the core brands remain central and become the launch pad for entire schemes, never pushed back into the corner and back to anonymity. These changes cost money, but in many cases the funds and awareness raised quickly offset the outlay.

Perhaps soon, the blue chip sector will look at these ideas and follow suit. But that would mean loosening their ‘logo guidelines’ and allowing their brands to communicate…

Now, wouldn’t that be something?

CR in Print
The February issue of CR magazine features a major interview with graphic designer Ken Garland. Plus, we delve into the Heineken advertising archive, profile digital art and generative design studio Field, talk to APFEL and Linder about their collaboration on a major exhibition in Paris for the punk artist, and debate the merits of stock images versus commissioned photography. Plus, a major new book on women in graphic design, the University of California logo row and what it means for design, Paul Belford on a classic Chivas Regal ad and Jeremy Leslie on the latest trends in app design for magazines and more. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

Artist Linder created some of Punk’s most famous imagery. For a feature In the current, February issue of Creative Review magazine we spoke to A Practice For Everyday Life (APFEL) and to Linder herself about how they collaborated, along with architects Carmody Groarke, to design the major retrospective show of the artist’s work currently showing at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris…

When we put the aforementioned feature together (opening spread, shown above), the exhibition hadn’t been installed or photographed but we illustrated the piece with numerous images of Linder’s work and also with images of various elements of APFEL’s graphic design work relating to both the design of the show, and of an accompanying publication, created in the style of a fanzine.

We’ve unlocked the feature online for this week only so even non-CR-subscribers can read it here, and here we’ve posted photographs taken last week at the freshly opened Linder Femme / Objet show in Paris.

The exhibition design features the use of fabric divider curtains to create and separate spaces within the exhibition, and a bespoke typeface entitled Linderama created by APFEL based on the typography on the cover of Buzzcocks single Orgasm Addict (art directed by Malcolm Garrett) which featured one of Linder’s most famous images.

As well as working on the exhibition design with Carmody Groarke, APFEL also designed the exhibition’s accompanying publication, for which Linder created a new artwork to adorn the cover (below), known affectionately in APFEL’s studio as ‘sorbet girl’.

The design inspiration for the publication came from fanzines created by Linder herself in the 70s and also from two packages of material which Linder sent to APFEL early on in the project.

“One package was full of images of nice things like roses and cakes,” recalls APFEL’s Emma Thomas, “and then the other one was full of 70s porn mags.” It was these magazine layouts, particularly the typography in them and the way images bleed over the edges of the pages that helped inform the look and feel of the exhibition publication, spreads below:

Read our feature on the exhibition design either in our February print issue or on our February iPad issue or online in the current issue section of the site, here.

Linder Femme/Objet runs until April 21 at teh Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, mam.paris.fr.

Linder fans should also note her forthcoming exhibition, The Ultimate Form, at the Hepworth Wakefield gallery in May. More info at hepworthwakefield.org.

See more of APFEL’s work at apracticeforeverydaylife.com.

CR in Print
The February issue of CR magazine features a major interview with graphic designer Ken Garland. Plus, we delve into the Heineken advertising archive, profile digital art and generative design studio Field, talk to APFEL and Linder about their collaboration on a major exhibition in Paris for the punk artist, and debate the merits of stock images versus commissioned photography. Plus, a major new book on women in graphic design, the University of California logo row and what it means for design, Paul Belford on a classic Chivas Regal ad and Jeremy Leslie on the latest trends in app design for magazines and more. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

The cover of D&AD50, designed by Planning Unit, features a clear dust jacket printed with the numerals 10 to 50

As part of its 50th birthday celebrations, D&AD has put together a history of its half century as told by its presidents. Together, they remember the good, the bad, the arguments and the annuals. And a few take the opportunity to grind some axes too…

Cover without the dust jacket

Each year D&AD appoints a significant figure from the creative industry to act as a figurehead for the organisation. In the past, the task alternated between a designer and someone from advertising but in recent years ‘digital’ has provided a third constituency for representation. The full list of 50 past presidents (only two of them women, by the way) consists of many of the great and the good in the creative world. For its 50th birthday book, D&AD invited each past president to recall their year in charge and the work chosen for the awards under their stewardship.

It would be fair to say that D&AD has, at times, endured something of a stormy history, particularly when it comes to financial matters. Many older readers will therefore turn first to the chapter dealing with 1992, surely D&AD’s most inclement year, when Tim Delaney was at the helm. Typically, Delaney does not mince his words in remembering this time.

He begins his chapter by recalling the mutinous mutterings of the design community which was threatening a schism (something it has periodically returned to over the years). “They wanted a different Dinner,” Delaney writes. “Design Awards were always less respected by the rowdy crowds at the Awards evening, apparently … Secession was in the air. In our meetings I reminded the rebels that approximately 75 per cent of all of D&AD’s activities were paid for by the advertising community in one way or another, and that if they did, for instance, organise a separate Dinner for the Design Awards, it would most likely take place in a B&B off Praed Street.”

During this process, Delaney reveals, “one of the staff at D&AD divulged the misdeeds that led eventually, via an evenhanded and formal hearing, to the suspension and exit of the executive chairman and the financial director”. The effects of the ensuing crisis were still being felt by the following year’s president, Aziz Cami, who had to endure an investigation by the Charity Commission and go cap in hand to the industry in order to stave off bankruptcy. D&AD was saved by a total of £40,000 in loans from four leading ad agencies (underlining Dempsey’s point about the ad industry’s importance to D&AD).

Ths stormclouds of this period did however prove to have something of a silver lining as it was during this time that two figures who would lead the revival in the organisation’s fortunes came to be involved: David Kester, who became a passionate, effective and hugely enthusiastic chief executive, and Anthony Simonds-Gooding, who, as chairman, would prove to be exactly the kind of father figure D&AD needed.

While many most of the advertising presidents confine their comments to the inevitable anomalies of the judging process and their fears that the year of their reign wasn’t a ‘vintage’ one for the awards, as well as picking out creative highlights, quite a few of their design counterparts take the opportunity to loose off a few potshots at both the organisation itself and their erstwhile advertising colleagues. Derek Birdsall (president in 1965) complains about the ‘advertising guys’ taking over and that his ‘kind of work hardly ever got a look in’ while dismissing the awards dinners as ‘pretentious nonsense’. Michael Wolff (1971) bemoans the “torrent of meaningless, unoriginal and superficial work” which drowns the few good pieces in D&AD these days while Mike Dempsey (1997) is concerned that many young designers think D&AD “expensive and irrelevant” today.

My favourite grumpy design contribution has to be that of Rodney Fitch (1984), however. His opening paragraph fulsomely lists the achievements of his own business (“Our work was winning everywhere … Fabulous, clever, talented people at every desk”) before having a dig at D&AD for not giving them any awards, complaining about the Presidents’ Dinner and taking a shot at the design of “later Annuals where, for some egotists, the book design became more important than what was in it”.

Surely though it is the sign of a confident organisation that such criticism is allowed in what is a celebratory book, so good for D&AD in letting it stand. And elsewhere, there is much for D&AD to be proud of, particularly as the presidential narrative shifts from the looming disaster of the early 90s to careful rebuilding under Kester and then on to today’s pre-eminence and global reach.

And there’s some great work in there too. Although any history based on awards entries is by its very nature partial (more so in the case of graphic design than advertising), D&AD50 provides a fascinating overview of the shifting nature of the creative industry and many of the landmark pieces of work produced in the last 50 years.

D&AD50 is published by Taschen, £34.99. Book designed by Planning Unit

CR in Print
The February issue of CR magazine features a major interview with graphic designer Ken Garland. Plus, we delve into the Heineken advertising archive, profile digital art and generative design studio Field, talk to APFEL and Linder about their collaboration on a major exhibition in Paris for the punk artist, and debate the merits of stock images versus commissioned photography. Plus, a major new book on women in graphic design, the University of California logo row and what it means for design, Paul Belford on a classic Chivas Regal ad and Jeremy Leslie on the latest trends in app design for magazines and more. Buy your copy here.

Please note, CR now has a limited presence on the newsstand at WH Smith high street stores (although it can still be found in WH Smith travel branches at train stations and airports). If you cannot find a copy of CR in your town, your WH Smith store or a local independent newsagent can order it for you. You can search for your nearest stockist here. Alternatively, call us on 020 7970 4878, or buy a copy direct from us. Based outside the UK? Simply call +44(0)207 970 4878 to find your nearest stockist. Better yet, subscribe to CR for a year here and save yourself almost 30% on the printed magazine.

CR for the iPad
Read in-depth features and analysis plus exclusive iPad-only content in the Creative Review iPad App. Longer, more in-depth features than we run on the blog, portfolios of great, full-screen images and hi-res video. If the blog is about news, comment and debate, the iPad is about inspiration, viewing and reading. As well as providing exclusive, iPad-only content, the app will also update with new content throughout each month.

New York’s Grand Central Terminal turns 100 this month, kicking off a year of tributes to the beloved “cathedral of transit” that escaped demolition in the 1970s by way of a legal battle that went all the way to the Supreme Court. Sam Roberts offers a historical and cultural perspective in Grand Central: How a Train Station Transformed America, newly published by–of course!–Hachette’s Grand Central imprint. Centennial souvenirs can be found at the post office, where the USPS is now offering its Grand Central Terminal Express Mail stamp, featuring Illinois artist Dan Cosgrove‘s illustrated update (note the man with the roller suitcase) to Hal Morey‘s famous sunlight-streaming-through-the-clerestory-windows photo of the 1930s. The top of the stamp art includes the edges of the terminal’s famous sky ceiling, painted with a mural of constellations and figures of the Zodiac (fun fact: the constellations were accidentally painted backwards on the ceiling, so don’t rely on them for celestial navigation). And mark your calendar for March 25-31, when Nick Cave brings dancing horses to Grand Central. The artist will trot out an equine twist on his Soundsuits in a project co-presented by Creative Time and MTA Arts for Transit.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

When Chevrolet was preparing their new Corvette sports car in the early ’50s, the task of designing the logo fell to Chevy interior designer Robert Bartholomew. Bartholomew’s design (above) featured two crossed flags: One, the checkered flag that symbolized race victory, the other, the American Stars ‘n Stripes.

However, using the American flag to promote commercial products was illegal at the time, and Chevy execs reportedly decided at the last minute to nix that part of the design. (It’s not clear why they waited until four days before the car’s unveiling, but you can practically picture Bartholomew sitting at his drafting table going goddammit.) Bartholomew’s last-minute replacement was a flag sporting both the Chevrolet logo and a fleur-de-lis, a French symbol that was reportedly part of Louis Chevrolet’s family crest. (See our post on heraldry here.)

New badges were whipped up based on Bartholomew’s drawings, and the Corvette debuted in 1953 at New York’s Waldorf-Astoria hotel.

Sadly, after that story, all mention of specific designers associated with subsequent logos are nil. What we do know is that Bartholomew’s design stuck around until 1957, then underwent multiple tweaks and changes throughout the years. Amassing a photo list has proved trickier than expected, as there were multiple emblems for the hood, tail and fenders, but we’ve tried to put together a visual chronology focused on the nose badges.

In 1956 and ’57, a Chevrolet chevron was added to the design:

In 1958 we see a typographic update that persists until 1961:

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