noises from dog n’ moon.

We were approached by Azusa Pacific University to create an invitation for a symphony that featured pieces by a Finnish composer. The look was to be relatively sophisticated and had to obviously signify the importance of these Finnish pieces and their creator. This is where our creative side kicked in a little bit and can obviously become a little “case study lite”. A diet case study?.. case studette?

One of the first artistic principles that many of us learned in art classes in high school was the idea of closure. We reference it when we end a relationship and we allude to it in other parts of our lives where we need all the pieces to connect and be organized. In art, closure is the process by which our minds fill out the missing pieces of the artwork. You can imply images with half-drawn shapes, you can imply whole ideas with half-fleshed out ideas, and you can lead the mind of the viewer to drink when led to water. To me, this is the fundamental basis of creativity as an idea. We create images that make allusions to a a full range of ideas and we create simple words and pretty pictures that imply a much larger message. Maybe this post has turned into a bit of rambler, but I’m smitten with this thing called Dog n’ Moon and the opportunities for creativity that it brings.

In the designs below (particularly the photo-based one), see how the horizontal cross and royal blue coloring of the national flag of Finland are implied. Whether you’re creating in playful vector art or conservative classic photography, the principles of closure can push you into that creative place that sets you apart from non-creatives. And frankly, one of the most evident differences between creatives and non-creatives is that non-creatives believe that to fully communicate an idea, one must spell it out letter for letter, line by line. 

I have this friend who is steeped in the world of interesting images. He’s like that utility guy that always seems to see what’s cool long before the rest of us. The crazy moped advertising guys from this older post? My buddy was hired to train them. Who knew? On September 11, 2001, he happened to be living in an apartment just blocks away from Ground Zero and has painted a beautiful tale of what that day looked like. He’s got experience working for a Manhattan advertising firm, experience building cars for the motion picture industry (Transformers, anyone?), and a life-long love of cars, motorcycles, and lives that go too fast for the rest of us. So it shouldn’t surprise anyone when he started Frequent Flyer Productions while spending months-at-a-time on the road, traveling around doing nationwide advertising research. Frequent Flyer Productions is a full-service pre-production, shoot, and edit house for any video needs. When he wanted to update his identity, he called us to see if we could help. The twist is that many of his clients are Southern California females planning their perfect weddings, so the “go-fast, greaser, skull-n-crossbones” imagery wasn’t going to fly with the wedding crowd. We had to find a way to still be edgy, but not too scary for a princess. He settled on these (two alternate versions of the same brand):

And- as always, we created a few other marks that we thought were cool, so we don’t feel guilty sharing those with you.

Feel free to get a hold of us to see if we can hep you with your own branding needs. And do us a favor and head over to Frequent Flyer Productions for your video needs. They’re good people.

About a year ago, we were contacted by a group who wanted to launch a coffee venture. Being addicts ourselves, of course we jumped at the chance.

The initial pitch was that the coffee venture would act as a retail front for global social change. The principals were all professional church workers, but were hoping that this would act as more of a generic move for global change instead of a fancy public relations move for their respective churches. It was doing good for the right reasons instead of doing good to strengthen the individual congregations. Originally, the product was named Impact Coffee. They had a name, a tagline “Do You Have One”, and a graphic that showed a water droplet making a circular wake in otherwise still waters. Immediately we went to work trying to fulfill the need of creating a Corporate Identity. One of the first roadblocks we encountered was the fact that Impact is a fairly common name for coffee products. Small, independently owned coffee shops across the nation are called Impact and the name was even registered for a coffee distributor in the Northwest. Time for a plan B.

While working through the ideas, we tried to concentrate on the mission of the coffee. To be honest, a retail coffee shop, distributor, or roaster being used as a means of public awareness and social change is not a unique concept. Behind petroleum, coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity and with the popularity of Starbucks, many have taken notice of coffee’s penchant for being woven into the day-to-day tapestry of American behavior. So, in short, we weren’t going to be first or second to market with this idea. We wouldn’t even be 30th to market. But when you’re talking about improving social conditions, it’s okay to copy the idea, as long as the end result is more people affected by positive change. So what do you do when you’re 31st to market on an idea but you still want to be considered as a legitimate venture? Strengthen the presentation. For a story to be successful, both the content and the delivery have to be great. Hollywood has proven that even a less-than-unique story can see success if the presentation of that story is eye-catching. So we set our sights on strengthening the presentation.

The first step was to rename the venture with something more complex than “Impact”. Not only does the word “impact” have a harsh and abrupt ending with the letter “t”, but the definition of the word points to a singular and fixed moment in time. Once an impact is over, there’s nothing left to see. We wanted a word that not only carried on audibly, but pointed to a process more than an event. After doing some research, we found that the english words “amend” (where we get “amendment”), and “emend” come from the latin word “emendare” which means “to go back and make right”. Originally, we were pronouncing it Ah-men-DARE, but the scholarly Latin pronunciation is AY-mun-DAR-ay. It was less perfect because it added a 4th syllable and dropped the implication of the phrase “Men Dare”, as in “Brave men dare to do great things”, but it was still a good fit and a strong improvement over the original title.

We pitched a few visual ideas, but settled on a coffee cup that had a gentle and subtle arrow created from one of the lines. Not only does the arrow imply a counter-clockwise movement and flow from right to left, but the cup itself shows the handle on the left side, which would seem awkward to those who are right handed (no offense, lefties). The whole concept was to show the product, state the mission, and explain the name all in one brand mark.

This past weekend, we finished the in-store signage for the retail shop and we’re pretty proud to have been part of something that will be of benefit to the community.So what can we learn from this process?

1. One must be careful when choosing a name. It’s easy to go to one of two extremes: too much concentration or not enough thought. After having named three of my own children and one business, I understand the stress that goes into trying to see 15 years down the road to see if the name still stands up after so much time has passed. I also understand that each of us has baggage about names, whether it be for our children or our business ventures. But find some peace in Act II of Romeo and Juliet where Shakespeare writes, “…what’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell just as sweet”. Spend enough time on your name to make sure that it’s not already taken, forgettable, or inappropriate. But keep in mind that your product is the smell of your rose. Labeling it flower or cheese is just to give people a way to find it again after they’ve enjoyed it once.

2. If your product isn’t unique, you must focus your efforts on your presentation of the product. Don’t forget, the iPod was NOT the first mp3 player on the market. Actually, it wasn’t even the second or third. But it was the one that was presented to the public as a lifestyle product and the gateway to cool.

3. Be prepared to take calculated risks. MANY businesses fail for a number of reasons- some foreseeable, others out of the hands of the principals. But the one thing that ties successful ventures together is that the drivers of the project took calculated risks on an idea, a market, a marketing strategy, or a business practice that might otherwise seem ludicrous on paper.

And now, I’m taking my ideas with me and heading out for a cup of coffee.