Pick Your Metaphors Carefully

Enterprise Florida Inc., a public-private partnership apparently released a new "business brand" last week to promote commerce in Florida. And not everyone is happy about the message it sends, especially some women.

Everything is a metaphor -- especially when it comes to imagery in a logo. Hard to believe no one flagged a men's tie as potentially being off putting to about half the population.

Copyright 2013, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.

Five Design Practices that 
Make Me Cringe

I spend a lot of time reviewing designs for marketing communications. A good deal of that is spent polishing layouts to bring clarity to messages. Following are some things that come up over and over -- things done by both novices and experienced designers -- that can ruin a piece faster than you can say "my nephew can do it, he got PhotoShop for Christmas!" 

1. Make the words pop: Drop shadows on type

It sounds good in theory. The words aren't "popping" enough, so adding drop shadow will add to the contrast. The trouble is, this never works. It only adds busyness to something that for legibility should be crystal clear. If you think you need a drop shadow behind words, you've gotta bigger issue that hasn't been addressed properly (hint: it's the layout). The same is true for logos -- which you should never add anything to. Aside from the likely violation of graphic identity standards, it looks amateurish. 

2. Clutter it up a little: Running words over images

Few things clutter a layout quicker than running words over a busy photo or background. This is even worse when done with text type. As described in above, if you feel the need to do this, you have a layout problem that hasn't been thought through (like changing or relocating the photo). 

3. Color it up more: Color type on color backgrounds

Type should be black on white, white on black, or as close to that in contrast as you can get. The trouble comes when you start decreasing the contrast by making the background or the type a more neutral tone. It is even worse when you do it with both the type and the background. If you're temped to do this -— for any reason, don't. 

4. The 10k Race T shirt syndrome: More logos, more logos 

Ever notice how every 10k run or race feels compelled to print a T shirt with 100 logos on the back? And how they all compete with each other? And how none stand out? And how unattractive it is?  Don't do this with an ad. or brochure, or website, or anything. It might solve a political problem, but it will be at the expense of mucking up your message.

5. Homage to the committee: The dreaded montage 

"We can't focus on ONE thing when we have so many -- let's do a collage of images."  Ever see a collage on a book cover, or a magazine cover, or a poster -- that you remember? Did it have any impact? One good image is better than a dozen outstanding ones. 

It's about less 

These things all create confusion. When the goal is to bring clarity to your message, go toward simplicity. That's what gets people to read. It's not about adding more. 

Whether you're a designer or someone approving a designer's work, avoiding these practices is is guaranteed to make your work better. And if you're a corporate communications manager charged with producing a style manual, feel free to copy and paste this within.

Copyright 2013, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.

Things You Can't Do Digitally

It's kind of fun to run across print samples of work we did a number years ago. This announcement piece stuck out. It's a three dimensional pop-up bouquet of flowers for the floral industry. It's hard to match the impact of a message that opens up in your hands. 

Copyright 2012, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.

Spin: 3 Ways to Tweet the Same News

I was a little excited first thing this morning to see some good news popping up in my Twitter feed. The first, as expected was from The New York Times presenting the facts, headline style:

A minute later, Reuters made the news sound even better, adding "lowest level since January 2009." 

Within seconds,The Wall Street Journal offered its buzzkill version adding that the job growth is "less than expected."

I prefer the Reuters version. But that's just how I look at the world. 

Copyright 2012, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.

Show Me the OMNEY!

Friend and fellow designer Drew Pocza astutely pointed out: "When you look at the logo with the R replaced with an icon, all you see is the scrambled word 'MONEY"  Now I cannot look at it without seeing MONEY.

But maybe that's what it's all about.

Winter in Buenos Aires


I had the pleasure of visiting Argentina this Summer. Buenos Aires is a city of beauty, culture, elegance, and funkiness. One of the highlights was the La Boca neighborhood. It's one of those places so rich with visuals that the photos take themselves.

Copyright 2012, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.

Acronyms:
(EFYHFYC) Easier For You. 
Harder For Your Customers. 

I got another solicitation email from yet another generic and understandably unmemorable company trying to sell CRM services. Is CRM a service? This is remarkable only because they keep sending the same messages, always referencing CRM like I know what it is. Actually I think do know what it is, but it's amazing the senders assumed I am fluent in the corporate techno-babble that referenced CRM multiple times like it's a household word that is only used as an acronym and never spelled out. 

According to Wikipedia, CRM stands for customer relationship management, and "is a widely-implemented strategy for managing a company’s interactions with customers, clients and sales prospects." So this makes me wonder, why wouldn't you just spell out "customer relationship management"? Especially if you're touting your expertise at managing interactions with customers.

Acronyms are a good shortcut that makes some phrases easier to say, or type. But that puts more burden on the reader -- who may or may not know the acronym -- and may have to keep stopping herself to remember what it means, especially when it's part of a corporate techno-babble (CTB) message. They don't add clarity. 

Acronyms make me think of the small business owner who insists on parking his car in a reserved spot in front of his shop at the expense of his customers convenience. They don't make it easy. 

Copyright 2011, Bremmer & Goris Communications, Inc.