As mentioned in an earlier post, I volunteered to facilitate the Photo Interest Group for my residential college this semester. As a culmination of the Artist-in-Residence programme, we organized a night photo-trail of all photographers’ works.
The format of the photo-trail was unique because we used light projections rather than printing out the photographs. The different medium meant that photographers had to make sure that their photographs had a stronger narrative. For me, I chose to take photographs of how a typical day in my residential college would be like, from rising to sleep. Continue reading →
I recently agreed to facilitate meetings for the Photography Club in my residential college in University. At the end of our first session with the artist-in-residence, Samantha Tio, I asked for advice on how to make my photographs look coherent; like they belong to the same narrative. Her reply was simple: “Use the same equipment”.
This is exactly the same way we achieve a consistent brand image and brand voice.
By using the same design elements such as fonts and colours, different parts of an organization can be tied together to present a unified image to the world.
One immediate example I can think of is that of my University’s branding. Simple elements such as the corporate colours of blue and orange, together with the corporate font, Frutiger, makes anything instantly recognizable as part of the National University of Singapore.
NUS Open Day 2013. Image Credit: NUS.
Take the recent NUS Open Day. 16 faculties and schools with separate visions and missions are tied together with only those elements to form a larger corporate body. A visitor who goes down for Open Day would not notice anything jarring because various groups are synchronised through the brand elements.
That’s why most branding agencies would propose only one primary font and one secondary font, together with limited brand colours. This also means that the more unique your brand colours (Tiffany & Co.) and fonts (Saks Fifth Avenue) are, the more you are able to stick out in the minds of your customers. Of course, these elements would also have to be coherent with your business and the image you want to portray.
If you are tempted to vary your fonts and colours, be it for variety or for catching the attention of your customers, DON’T. You will be doing your brand more harm than good.
Pope Benedict XVI will hang up his signature red shoes, and enter into quiet prayer and meditation behind the Vatican walls as “Pope Emeritus”. It is a new position created just for this moment, once-in-900-years resignation.
What struck me about this piece of news as it broke was how a simple pair of red shoes became such an integral part of the brand of the Pope. The tradition of wearing red shoes supposedly harked from the times when popes wore robes and shoes fitting the liturgical colors. From then on, red shoes stuck on with the official dress and brand of the Papacy. Only the Pope can stir up so much attention with just his choice of shoes! This shows how potent a symbol of the Papacy the shoes are. Strong brands would often have distinctive characteristics and signs that are unique to them and stand out in the minds of consumers just like what we see here.
The current Pope restored the use of red papal shoes even though his predecessor Pope John Paul II opted for brown shoes. The Pope’s red shoes are specially made by his personal cobbler, Antonio Arellano from Gammarelli in Santa Chiara’s District, Rome. After his resignation, the Pope will keep his white cassock but would have to give up his red papal shoes. The Pope would be wearing brown loafers that were given to him by artisans from Mexico after his resignation.
TODAY‘s iPhone app icon caught my attention today while I was travelling on the bus. It looks a whole lot sexier than the flat chilli red that it used to be. The red almost seems to be hiding something it’s not telling you, tempting you to open the app for more Continue reading →
It’s been a hectic few weeks for me. We just managed to push out our cards a few days before Chinese New Year at Pretty Frivolous and we had to take a break because of the holidays. Kicking into high gear tomorrow since it’s the big V Day! It’s going to be quite exciting to see if more people would buy from our booth at NUS Business School. Continue reading →
