Month: March 2012

Brand Logos

Sports Celebrity or Global Brand?

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Corporate mar-com managers, ad agencies and designers talk endlessly about “their brand” — building a brand, protecting a brand, creating brand distinctions, proving brand integrity, winning brand loyalty, etc.
The world’s top brands will attract consumers who trust that any products that bear their name and logo is reputable, and they will aggressively pursue any entity that tries to knock-off or pirate their brand or in anyway damage their brand’s reputation or steal their market through misleading lookalikes. That is why NBA superstar Michael Jordan recently sued Chinese sportswear and shoe manufacturer Quiodan (the way Jordan is pronounced in Chinese) for using his name and playing number without authorization. Jordan makes a compelling case for why this isn’t simply about the misuse of his name but about infringing on the proprietary rights of a respected global brand.

Illustration

Noma Bar Goes 3-D for Wallpaper* Magazine

By Delphine Hirasuna |

With London-based Israeli illustrator Noma Bar, viewers have to look at his work at least twice — once to see the image in the positive space and again to see how the shape of the negative space creates a whole other picture. That’s the way Bar likes it. “Most of my images are not immediately obvious to readers. Most of them require a second reading or take a minute to interpret.” Irresistibly drawn to making viewers do double-takes, Bar extended this approach in another direction on the cover of Wallpaper* magazine, painting in 3-D and incorporating real objects.

Bar was commissioned by Wallpaper* , an international authority on cutting-edge design and style, to create eight newsstand covers for its Global Design issue, one for each of the world’s top design territories –Germany, the U.S., France, Italy, Spain, Japan, Belgium and Scandinavia (Norway, Sweden and Denmark). Tony Chambers, Wallpaper* editor-in-chief, says, “Bar entered a new dimension just for us. His cover designs are, in fact, room sets, painted in a three-dimensional studio space and integrating actual products from each of the territories.”

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Humor

Breaking News: Murder, Cover-Up, Public Outrage, Riots…the Pigs Confess

By Delphine Hirasuna |

The Guardian, the UK’s leading media organization, just launched a major brand repositioning campaign with a TV ad that reenacts how its “open journalism” approach works. Created by ad agency Bartle Boogle Hegarty (BBH) and directed by Ringan Ledwidge, the two-minute TV spot follows a breaking story of the Three Little Pigs being arrested in a police raid after boiling the Big Bad Wolf alive. It goes on to show how The Guardian coverage invites interaction with readers and internet users through the newspaper, website, blogs, tweets and video. Eyewitness reporting along with participatory analysis and opinions are facilitating an open exchange of information that has the potential to bring about real change — and The Guardian wants the public to know that it is leading the way.

Packaging

Mexican Pop Culture Branding

By Delphine Hirasuna |

For the packaging of Mexico’s premium craft beer, Cerveceria Sagrada, Mexican designer Jose Guizar built a brand identity around the nation’s legendary luchadors enmascarado (masked wrestlers). A beloved pop icon, the masked wrestlers were the first superheroes of Mexico. The colorful stylized masks they wore were designed to represent ancient heroes, deities, and animals — sacred identities that wrestlers assumed during their performance. The ferocious-looking masks reinforced the impression that the wrestlers were more than ordinary mortals. The most famous luchador, known simply as El Santo (the Saint), never removed his mask in public even in retirement. He was even buried wearing his silver mask.

In the 1950s, masked wrestlers became Mexico’s first pop culture icons, with El Santo turned into a comic book hero by artist Jose G. Cruz. The popular comics quickly led into a series of lucha libre action films in which the silver-masked El Santo defended the common people against supernatural creatures, evil scientists, vampires, secret agents and other villains. To this day, the masked wrestlers of Mexico embody the mystery, mystique and machismo of the culture.

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Sustainability

A Sunny Annual Report

By Delphine Hirasuna |

Via Behance

No, this isn’t an annual report for a spy company. German design group, Serviceplan, came up with a memorable way to help its client, Austria Solar, demonstrate the power of its business by printing its annual report with a special ink that is invisible until exposed to sunlight. Shipped in a lightproof foil wrapper, the perfect-bound document looks completely blank, except for the blind-embossed title on the cover. Viewed under ultraviolet light, however, the words and images magically appear. It’s a neat idea, but it must drive printers nuts to press check.

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