06 Jan 12

Experience matters

Steve was interviewed for an article that ran in Photo District News on why photographers need to create a strong brand image to communicate who they are and what they stand for in the most convincing way possible.

Our clients, Steve Grubman and Jeff Kauck were both featured in the article as examples of photographers who have invested in their brand to reach target audiences.

Photographers Steve Grubman (top) and Jeff Kauck have both worked with Liska on their brand identity and communication materials.

Whether it’s for a creative individual or a global corporation, building positive awareness is about carefully communicating every aspect of the audience’s brand experience. To ensure this experience is clear and consistent, establishing a comprehensive brand foundation–one that addresses business goals, competitive advantage and guides all communication decisions–is critical. Creating and maintaining the foundation requires a careful, strategic process:

  1. Core essence: Define who you are and what you stand for, your strengths, audiences and the market you compete in.
  2. Positioning: Determine how to clearly express your essence in a clear and memorable way.
  3. Create the tools: Establish a set of tools that can be used to create a consistent image. Make these tools–from logos and language style to brand guidelines and templates–available to everyone involved in marketing and branding.
  4. Repeat, then repeat: Establish a brand management program to promote the brand, protect its integrity and move it forward. Have a process. Be consistent. Keep reviewing.
  5. Grow and evolve consistently: Review the full array of experiences that enables the outside world to quickly understand you, know what to expect and aspire to become involved with your brand. Do it often, listen to feedback, but stay consistent.

What works for a photographer works for Nike–strategy, design and managed delivery.

by Katherine Bucar | Brands , Chicago , Clients , Design , Photography , Tips | No comments
23 Nov 11

LiskaHaus

As we move into an office space once occupied by Maholy-Nagy’s New Bauhaus school, we have been thinking about the continuing influence that the Bauhaus style has had on modern design in Chicago.

Bauhaus, the German school of art, architecture and design, was open for a mere 13 years. Its teachings were based on the union of form and function, reduction to essentials and a belief in the efficiency of geometry. When the Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis in 1933, the students and instructors brought the Bauhaus principles to the U.S., western Europe and Israel.

Ground-breaking photographer and Bauhuas instructor Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, moved to Chicago and in 1937 opened a school–the “New Bauhaus” which later was known as the School of Design–based on the curriculum of its German predecessor. The school still exists today as the Illinois Institute of Technology’s (IIT) Institute of Design, a school at which many of the most influential designers of the 20th century have taught or studied: Walter Gropius, Alvar Alto, Buckminster Fuller, Richard Neutra, Mies van der Rohe and Massimo Vignelli. The works that emerged from the school’s instructors, students and their protégées have changed the way we think about modern design–and dramatically influenced Chicago’s skyline. Some examples include:

Many of Chicago's best graphic designers have ties to the Container Corporation of America (CCA). Chief Executive Walter Paepcke, was a champion of design and helped set the standard for corporate design in America. The company's “Great Ideas of Western Man” ads became one of the most famous advertising campaigns in history (above left is a 1955 Herbert Bayer illustration paired with a quote by Alexander Hamilton, above right is a 1956 George Giusti illustration paired with a quote by Jane Addams.) Paepcke also helped finance the reopening of the school as the School of Design in 1938.

The "House of Tomorrow" and "Crystal House" designs shown at the 1933-34 Century of Progress fair in Chicago, were created by George Fred Keck and William Keck (Keck + Keck), who helped bring Moholy-Nagy to Chicago to open the New Bauhaus.

Mies van der Rohe, the last director of the German Bauhaus, moved to in Chicago in the 1930s and became one of the pre-eminent architects in the world. His Chicago works reflect his signature style and include the master plan for IIT's campus, Chicago Federal Center (pictured) and Lake Shore Drive Apartments.

Florence Knoll, a former student of Mies, licensed Bauhaus and other modernist designs for mass-production. Knoll is still one of the only distributors of genuine Bauhaus furniture. No longer in production, the Rapid Rocker (pictured), was created for Knoll in 1945 by Ralph Rapson, who was in charge of the design curriculum with Maholy-Nagy at the New Bauhaus.

After graduating in 1945 from the Chicago Bauhaus (known then as the Institute of Design), Angelo Testa began designing textiles for Knoll and other major manufacturers. Testa's Campagna fabric (shown), was produced by Knoll in the early 1950s.

Chicago’s Marina City complex (pictured) was designed by Bertrand Goldberg, a student of Mies who also worked at Keck + Keck.

The lakefront marine mammal complex addition to Shedd Aquarium, the Adler Planetarium's Astronomy Museum Sky Pavilion and 353 N. Clark Street (shown) were designed by Dirk Lohan, Mies van der Rohe’s grandson, who studied architecture at IIT.

The United Airlines Terminal in the O’Hare Airport (pictured) and the new Mansueto Library at the University of Chicago were designed by architect Helmut Jahn, who studied with Mies van der Rohe at IIT.

Credits: CCA ads courtesy of Sandi Vincent.

 

by Katherine Bucar | Chicago , Design | No comments
25 Oct 11

Day of the Dog fundraiser

Found is a Chicago animal shelter devoted to rescuing, rehabilitating and finding homes for pets with treatable medical or behavioral problems. The shelter held its second annual Day of the Dog festival on Sunday, October 16 and we designed materials for the event that helped raise both awareness and money. Some of our favorite photos from the festival are below; the entire collection is on Found’s Facebook page.

If you want to help a great cause by donating or volunteering, visit Found Chicago at www.foundchicago.org.

 

by Katherine Bucar | Chicago , Clients , Design , Photography | No comments
19 Oct 11

Typography matters

The New Yorker's print magazine fonts are a recognizable part of the brand. Through Typekit's services, they can integrate these fonts with their iPad and website editions.

Careful use of typography is an important part of a brand experience. But in web design, typography is typically restricted to a few web-safe fonts – Arial, Georgia, Times, etc. – that reliably display on most computers. Limited font options means many web designers choose function over form. As a result, most web typography suffers.

One way to work outside of the defacto web-safe fonts is to utilize (for a fee) a third-party font service that allows integration of a wider variety of interesting typefaces into a website. Adobe has acquired Typekit, one of the most popular of these font services. This move signifies Abode’s recognition that typography is a fundamental web design element – one that can differentiate one site from another and allow for consistency between a company’s print and digital materials.

by Steve Liska | Brands , Clients , Design , Media , Tips | No comments
17 Oct 11

Chicago Board Options Exchange’s Investor Day

The trading pit of the largest U.S. options exchange – CBOE.

We recently completed materials for the Chicago Board Options Exchange’s (CBOE) Investor Day, its first since going public in June 2010.

These materials help CBOE convey information to their investors clearly and directly. We’re fortunate to be working with this great institution.

by Kim Fry | Chicago , Clients , Design , Photography | No comments
19 Sep 11

Top ten list (from Dieter Rams)

I just went through As Little Design as Possible, the new book about industrial designer Dieter Rams (by Sophie Lovell, Phaidon). Rams has always been a design hero – I bought the Braun coffeepot, clock and calculator before I knew who he was.

Dieter Rams’ 10 principles of good design are as clear as his work.

1. Good design is innovative
The possibilities for innovation are not, by any means, exhausted. Technological development is always offering new opportunities for innovative design. But innovative design always develops in tandem with innovative technology, and can never be an end in itself.

2. Good design makes a product beautiful
A product is bought to be used. It has to satisfy certain criteria, not only functional, but also psychological and aesthetic. Good design emphasizes the usefulness of a product whilst disregarding anything that could possibly detract from it.

3. Good design is aesthetic
The aesthetic quality of a product is integral to its usefulness because products we use every day affect our person and our well-being. But only well-executed objects can be beautiful.

4. Good design makes a product understandable
It clarifies the product’s structure. Better still, it can make the product talk. At best, it is self-explanatory.

5. Good design is unobtrusive
Products fulfilling a purpose are like tools. They are neither decorative objects nor works of art. Their design should therefore be both neutral and restrained, to leave room for the user’s self-expression.

6. Good design is honest
It does not make a product more innovative, powerful or valuable than it really is. It does not attempt to manipulate the consumer with promises that cannot be kept.

7. Good design is long-lasting
It avoids being fashionable and therefore never appears antiquated. Unlike fashionable design, it lasts many years – even in today’s throwaway society.

8. Good design is thorough, down to the last detail
Nothing must be arbitrary or left to chance. Care and accuracy in the design process show respect towards the consumer

9. Good design is environmentally-friendly
Design makes an important contribution to the preservation of the environment. It conserves resources and minimises physical and visual pollution throughout the lifecycle of the product.

10. Good design is as little design as possible
Less, but better – because it concentrates on the essential aspects, and the products are not burdened with non-essentials.

by Steve Liska | Architecture , Art , Books , Design , Media , Tips | No comments
14 Sep 11

The value of original thought

Originality is almost always part reinvention. We sample from cultural and lifestyle trends, from global and local influences, from history, from nature. Hemlines get long (again). Furniture designers reference the Bauhaus. Graphic logos resemble the symbols from Lascaux. Digital cameras sound like manual cameras. Ebooks mimic their paper counterparts. Sometimes it is practical to make such references: it makes things feel comfortable and familiar; it helps communicate important information quickly and clearly.

There’s an echo of the familiar in almost all that we do. But there is a clear difference between making reference to something and ripping it off. Making reference requires imagination; imitation does not. But imitation is easy and profitable. We see this a lot in the fashion world – copycats send digital images from the Paris runways to a factory and have knockoffs manufactured, shipped and in stores weeks after the original look debuts.

So why would anyone come up with something new when the original is so easy to copy?

Maybe because the quick buck isn’t the most valuable one.

LogoGarden.com was selling a rip off of a logo we had designed. We saw it and made them remove it.

Designers (and America) need to be leaders in innovative ideas, not leaders in stealing ideas.

We need to continue to create with the highest quality, design with integrity and ensure there is meaning and purpose in everything we do. We need to think big. To take risks. To be open to new ideas. If we value original thinking, we may just change the world for the better – or at least the economy.

 

by Steve Liska | Brands , Design , Media , Tips | 2 comments
17 Aug 11

Good Design – Who decides and how?

IBM has traditionally been a company that understands good design. Their Smarter Planet series has re-invigorated the brand and is a perfect example of form and function working together. Clear, direct messaging paired with smart graphics equals impactful design.

Like many of the applied arts, the end product of communication design work is visual. It is the form people see, not the function. That form is a logo, a package, a website, etc. For architects it is a façade or a lobby. For industrial designers it is a cup, guitar, medical devices, etc.

People’s opinions of the success of these designs are often based on aesthetics alone. So how does someone decide what are good aesthetics? Is it based on popular taste? Good colors? Cool features? Nice typeface? The reality is that opinions on appearance are subjective, personal and derived from a person’s sphere of influence – what they see and experience on a daily basis. One person loves what another hates.

Aesthetic sense is like a sense of humor – everyone thinks they have a good one. We once had a meeting with a client who needed a new identity and insisted the colors be black, gold and shiny. We tried to explain our process – we would start by evaluating the company’s objectives before making visual decisions. They wanted glitz, regardless of whether it was appropriate or represented their company well. (We didn’t get that job.)

Style matters – good design uses appropriate aesthetics to support the end result. But looks alone won’t solve a design problem. There are tangible goals to be met. If the end product is designed to educate, inform, clarify complex ideas, direct you through a city or guide you to the egress, and it accomplished that goal, it’s a well-functioning design – even if comic sans is used.

The best designs are a marriage between form (aesthetics) and function (goals) – the IBM ads, for example. Experienced designers ensure what they create is appealing and useful by adhering to a creative strategy and a strategic process. We think our company mantra says it best.



IBM Smarter Planet credits: Advertising Agency: Ogilvy, Paris, France; Creative Director: Susan Westre.

by Steve Liska | Brands , Design , Media | No comments
29 Jul 11

Wait, where did I save that file?

We live in a digitally chaotic world. We are constantly creating and saving data. We tweet. We post. We upload photos. We migrate anything we can – books, music collections, tax forms, patient records – to our computers. We record a huge amount of information and back up the back-ups.

A lot of this data is re-discoverable and re-findable; a lot more will be lost, forgotten or dismissed.

(Graphic by Sasha McCune and research by Josh Catone for Mashable)

Last week we found a screen shot of the first iteration of the Liska website from 1996 on web.archive.org. It was interesting to see the similarities between today’s site and the old one and remember how technically sophisticated it was way back then. We have a copy of this website on a zip disk in the basement, but we threw out the machine that reads zips years ago. If it wasn’t for web.archive.org, our site would not have survived.

Rediscovering our old site made us think about what else has been forgotten or lost. Permanence depends not upon the quality or uniqueness, but upon the distribution, durability and findability of the media it is saved to. This has always been the case. For example, the film “The Kings’ Speech” is based on the real story of King George VI and his speech therapist Lionel Logue – a story largely unknown until archival material, including an actual copy of the King’s speech addressing Britain’s involvement in World War II, was uncovered by Logue’s grandson Mark. Another chance rediscovery occurred 11 years ago, when 700 photographs of post-bomb Hiroshima were found in a suitcase left in the trash.

As we now record everything digitally and the amount of digital data grows, it is critical the mediums we work in have the ability for long-term access. But there are many challenges with preserving digital information:

. Media fails – VHSs, CDs, DVDs, can deteriorate over time.

. Technologies change  – The introduction of new media storage technology (floppy disk, DVD, flash drive, the cloud) means items saved to older media will be difficult or impossible to retrieve.

. Even if data is backed up, it may not be findable: With tens of millions of documents scattered around it’s tricky to know what digital files exist between multiple file systems, databases, email accounts and shelves of CDs. Couple all those files with infrequent access and remembering where you put that photo of Grandma is not going to be easy.

. Not all information is equally relevant, yet most of us don’t have a system for what to save because we don’t know what will be important in the future. (“History never looks like history when you are living through it.” – John W. Gardner.) So, we save everything; or nothing at all.

. Facebook is not a storage site, but we use it like one. While at dinner a few weeks ago, dessert was so good that my friend Greg took a picture of it with his phone and immediately posted it to Facebook. This picture was easily accessible the moment he posted it, but I wonder if we will ever see that cake photo next year?

Everything from MIT’s research records to Frank Gehry’s digital renderings to reports of celebrity rehab represents part of our history and knowledge. Without a doubt, things are getting lost. Maybe it is time to rethink how we save our information. Long-term access and curated data collections should be a priority. The conversation on developing systems, software and solutions to help document our digital world for the foreseeable future is underway. We recommend the following articles and resources (and hope the links are good for a while):

. Can information be saved? A great article on information preservation. The Rosetta Stone analogy is terrific.

. The UK based Digital Curation Center (DCC) was established to help people tackle data curation needs. Their glossary of digital curation terms is a good place to start exploring this web resource x

. UNC Chapel Hill offers a Digital Curation Certificate Program to prepare professionals for the curation of digital collections.

Might be a good time to print this out, stick it into a folder, mark it “digital history,” put it in a box in the garage, then move it to a storage space and eventually throw it out. This is not the king’s speech.

by Steve Liska | Design , Media , Tips | No comments
28 Jun 11

Bringing packaging back to the future

It’s okay to be nostalgic about certain things: an influential time in your life or music that prompts an old memory. And, yes, the shoulder pads. They really did look good on you.

One thing I don’t feel nostalgic about is consumer goods packaging. While retro designs may appeal to some people, they seem disconnected from the current product to me.

When Pepsi re-introduced a limited-edition line of sodas containing real sugar (not corn syrup) they resurrected their previous packaging. Does this confuse the consumer?

With an overwhelming number of choices available for products like shampoo, cereal, deodorant, soda, laundry detergent, you name it, is retro packaging really going to inspire in me thoughts about the good old days and compel me to buy the product? Not likely. For me it just confuses the issue.

Package design should represent product attributes, business goals, the retail environment and target audience and function for the long-term. Over time, shoppers come to trust certain brands and associate them with their distinguishing visual characteristics. It’s easy to identify Tide’s bright orange color, and everyone is familiar with the Quaker of Quaker Oats.

Brands and packaging should evolve to reflect, participate in and contribute to current trends and tastes. Below are examples of big brands we think have done a great job maintaining their original equity while evolving to accommodate contemporary shoppers.

Pepto Bismol 1960s and today; Mr. Clean 1960s and today.

Comet Cleanser 1960s and today; Quaker Oats 1950s and today.

Tide 1946 and today; Noxzema 1940s and today.

Liska Designer Katie Schweitzer contributed to this post.

Retro packaging photos courtesy of Flickr: Museum of American Packaging Set.



 

by Steve Liska | Brands , Design , Media , Packaging | 2 comments
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