Rocking Cello Quartet Wins in Battle of Bands, an article featred in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, offers great coverage of the band, with sound clips and all. Written by classical music critic, Andrew Druckenbrod.

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What is relationship marketing?

I could be here all day coming up with different ideas on the subject. Making use of visuals and writing that personally appeal to a specific demographic; using individuals, symbols, and colors that represent a segment of a certain culture; crafting messages that reach an intended audience to encourage long term, positive relationships between brands and customers. These are just a few elements that I think should go into any marketing and/or design project. Obviously, there are many others.

Andy has demonstrated some of these very components in his work with Boston-based MacTribe Magazine, where he’s doing more than just building its layout in print; he’s building relationship marketing. His involvement has been an ongoing venture for quite some time now. From his days in Cambridge, he has maintained a relationship with the owner and writers throughout his travels. For whatever reason, these pieces really stood out to me as excellent relationship marketing pieces. They speak to a young, artistic, musically oriented group, and they make use of actual people. Really, I just wanted to share this as an example of the design work Andy has done for MacTribe, and I can assure you there will be more featured once the magazine goes live. The shots I chose show some sketches he did for promoting a feature in the magazine. As I mentioned, it uses actual musicians for the piece to depict garage and indie bands who use MySpace.com as a virtual demo for their audiences, rapidly taking place of the age old “demo tape.” The article is sure to be as interesting as the design scheme. Stay tuned for more on MacTribe.

We just went live with Cellofourte’s new site. Head on over to check it out at www.cellofourte.net to see how awesome they are - and to check out the type of work we can do for bands.

It was great to meet this talented group, and we avidly became fans within minutes of hearing their CD, Usung. Since then, we’ve seen them live, and will for sure do so again on June 2nd. Do yourself a favor, and listen to the clips on their site - it’s some amazing stuff.

Inspired by the engagement of one of Dark Oak’s favorite individuals, I’m on a new creative venture to eliminate the whole “ugh, another wedding to attend this summer” feeling that plagues singlefolk everywhere. This friend, a fellow integrated marketing communications theorist, inspired the launching of an all out marketing campaign for his wedding, themed 5.31.08, to keep the date top of mind among all invitees. I want the look and feel of this wedding to be apparent, well before the walk down the aisle, making it look so great that it will be a major anticipated event of the year. If you really think about it, marketing your wedding is a great concept. It’s the one day that you can do whatever you want, and you want everyone to know about it… ahead of time… and you want them to remember it. Taking strategic steps to assure this is brilliant, through corresponding ’save the date’ cards to invitations, email correspondence, web pages, and the wedding day attire and decor - all with a common voice. Who knows, it just might gain some positive return on investment and score some better gifts, too. It’s IMC all the way.

While browsing around as I tend to do, like, all of the time, I came across a site, brands of the world. It contains a horde of brand campaigns that, with the apparent permission of their powers that be, allow for vector graphics of logos to be downloaded for people like us to use. Low and behold, the Steelers logo is second on the home page list. Yet another “world wide wicked” (we’re allowed to say wicked, Andy lived in Boston).

Amazes me that is…

I just got a gift card from my brother-in-law and his wife. (Great folks, even without the gift card.)

It’s an Apple gift card. And you know what? It’ is designed SO well. It’s just some cardboard and a little plastic gift card and MAN is it hot. I don’t know who these people employ as industrial designers but they’re awesome. I’ve got Apple envy. Seriously I do. I work on a PC and I’ve done fine with one for years… But man oh man do I want to switch over to an Apple. I’m a sucker for good design and these people have it down.

I think what drives it all home for me is the simplicity and clarity of design. They identify the items purpose and then they design to make it simple and functional…PERIOD. It’s so…zen like. They take away all the frill and leave only what’s needed to create a straight forward, aesthetically pleasing functional piece of work. Brilliant.

Kinda like a river makes a pebble.

While we’re on the topic of simplicity in design mixed with corporate identity and branding, I found a site that earns the Dark Oak Leaf of Approval. The award goes to Milan fashion designer, Gimmo Etro, for his company’s site at www.etro.com.

My haute couture buddy, Zach, pointed it out to me today, and I just couldn’t help but use it as an example of the very topics we’ve been talking about. This site makes wonderful use of a simple visual layout (although enhanced with some intense flash design), while at the same time it is super creative and presents a clear cut brand identity. Just thought I’d share. Ciao!

Identity these days is huge. From ID required to buy a bottle of your favorite white merlot; to credit card companies and the endless threat of identity theft; to employee ID badges, we see it everywhere. Don’t think business management is left behind. Corporate identity has become essential in our culture’s saturated state of media abundance. I know you’ve heard about it, but do you really know what it is? It’s far more than a pretty logo design. It’s everything you do and say to represent your brand and secure its own identity. It’s assuring that, at a glance, prospects not only know who you are, but know what you stand for. How is it done?

First, we break it down. Corporate Identity is composed of three parts: Corporate Design (logos, colors, fonts, etc.), Corporate Communication (integration, public relations, advertisements, information, etc.), and Corporate Behavior (internal values, norms, etc.)

A well-designed corporate identity combines elements of each and can serve as an organization’s “persona” which is designed in accord with business objectives, and is executed by way of branding. Generally, this is created with a strategic logo design, along with supporting marketing collateral that is assembled and communicated within the parameters of the original design scheme. This, let’s call it creative strategy, exists as a set of guidelines to govern how the identity is presented to the world by means of consistent, designated color palettes, fonts, page layouts, copy writing, and any other feasible methods for maintaining visual continuity and brand recognition across all physical manifestations of the brand.In other words, the creative strategy amounts to this: eat, sleep, breathe, think, and live it in everything you do. (For instance, I want the leaf of approval tattooed on my forearm - now that’s love!)

The point is this: a great logo is a must have… solid information is crucial… but if you can’t tie it all together to communicate your message with synergy, then you may be missing the boat.

You’ve got it, so flaunt it… you know what you’ve got, but you need to let others know. Ask of your brand, “who are we, where do we want to go, and how do we want to get there?” Then find a way to make people recognize it. Isn’t it nice to have someone tell you that it’s ok to show off a little?!

Browsing around the web reveals a strong trend in the industry these days : Simplicity. More and more design is being created to support the content of the site, not just to look pretty. Makes a whole lot of sense, especially since that’s what the print industry has been up to for years. How is it the we “webby” folks lost our way? That’s a topic for another post perhaps.

There’s a great article over at webdesignfromscratch.com that talks in depth about a more concise approach to design and why we should all be in favor of it. Let me give you a break down of the reasons it’s beneficial.

1 : Immediacy. Keeping things simple and relevant will help your page will load quicker, increase it’s responsiveness and help land you higher in a search result for your niche. Loading faster means less time waiting which alternatively means more time looking. Additionally, if you’re not adding lots of “fluff” for search engine spiders to sift through your site is going to look better to them and help you get indexed. We like more immediate search results.

2 : Communication. The less you pull away from your info with flashy distractions, or the more your support your content with simple, intelligent, graphic cues the easier it is to find what you’re after. In the end, isn’t that what you’re viewer is there for anyway? Didn’t they come to find out more info about you? Keeping things well structured and simplistic accommodates the fact that most of us “scan” a page instead of read it. Lets face it, everyone is a in a hurry these days. (Whether they need to be or not.) Providing a clean layout of info with “white space” to set it apart enables your users to pick it up with their wandering eyes faster. They’re drawn to it. If the site is easier to scan that should mean it’s easy to find your way around and navigate too, leading us into…

3 : Ease of use. Keeping things within reach of your audience at all times and designing a visual flow of info to help guide your users around your site will only make the experience more enjoyable. This should serve to boost not only an audiences desire to return to your site (and maybe bring friends) but the credibility that you offer as a brand. “Oh Jack’s Widgets.com? Yeah they’re great, and so easy to use!” *Should be translated as cha-ching!*

There’s a plethora of other reasons simplicity is storming web design and they’re proving to be beneficial to everybody involved in the process. Even we designers reap the benefits; easier maintenance, quicker turn around time, easier to swap out visual themes, more time to invest in development, more time for playstation… err… I mean more time for… outlets for creative energy… Yeah…..