Sarah Parmenter’s talk was about branding and how, because so many of our sites look almost indistinguishable, brands aren’t as strong on the web as they once were.
The work that I do is more form and app related, but Sarah’s talk made me really think about the ways that I might be able to enforce the brand from within a form/app related website. So that’s a good thing. Plus, I have other project sites where a strong brand would probably be a really good thing :)
An Event Apart 2017 Practical Branding by Sarah Parmenter (pdf)
Time for @sazzy’s Practical Branding and I cannot get a quality pic of the cool pink/grey of her opening slide which gives me a sad #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Before responsive design, we have lots of very character-heavy creative brands… while converting to responsive we lost that #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
We’re still designing our sites as if they’re big boxes with more little boxes in them. (Guilty!) #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Every company is now a media company #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
As responsive design came along, we lost the uniqueness around different brands and visual design. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
Websites have become homogenous thanks to frameworks like bootstrap and patterns #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
The web is a primary artistic medium. We should treat it as such. –@zeldman in @sazzy's talk at #aeasea
— Erin Walker (Joyce) (@E3Writing) April 3, 2017
It’s time to start bringing design back into the foreground #aeasea
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Everyone is looking at what everyone else is already doing. There’s no need for the skins of what we do to look the same #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
We tend to be self-indulgent: how can we use X in our next project? Instead of is this right for the brand I’m working on? #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Waiting for permission stifles innovation. @sazzy #aeasea
— jared bishop (@bishopart) April 3, 2017
People are on “flat” design because “this is what google’s doing” – we have to bring gradients in because apple did – #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
There’s no logic to trying to apply someone else’s brand to our own. Don’t apply Apple’s branding to your projects! #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
If you’re buying someone else’s design elements, that’s a red flag for branding. Do your own brand #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Find inspiration beyond the boundaries of your profession to put design back in the drivers seat. #backseatdriverframework #aeasea
— Rebecca Watson (@RVivusArtDesign) April 3, 2017
"Branding is the product of deliberate conception." – @sazzy #aeasea
— Conor 👨🏻💻 (@conrmahr) April 3, 2017
"Branding is not a pattern library or mood board." – @sazzy #aeasea
— Conor 👨🏻💻 (@conrmahr) April 3, 2017
Pattern libraries should have the design decisions around the spacing, typography elements, etc in them. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Lots of designs happen as a happy accident – ooh! I like that! That’s perfect! Crap, that only took 5 minutes. How to explain? #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Pure design research (pitting brand elements up against each other) isn’t generally useful. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Sara made a point here that we fall back on tools like The Golden Ratio to explain our design decisions, but we have to be honest about the fact that those tools aren’t the be-all and end-all of the decisions. (But I missed it in the tweets.)
This is also the golden ratio. It's not a silver bullet #aeasea pic.twitter.com/x1hAbuHOCk
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
A lot is happening by gut instinct especially if the designer’s been in the business a long time. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Design research is like jury duty, it only takes one dominant person to throw everything out. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Note though that competitive research and accessible research still need to be done, they’re not the same as design research #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
a good reminder from @sazzy that contradiction isn’t something to run away from #aeasea pic.twitter.com/dwnnjDQpQ4
— A Brave New (@abravenew) April 3, 2017
Hamilton – a rap about the founding fathers. AEA at Disneyland. Contradictions can create interesting elements #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Facebook audience insights (free tool) can give really great deep dives in where competitors lie in the marketplace #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Where do customers also go if they’re going to this brand? Can show unexpected connections #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Work with a copywriter! They have the most important pieces of information about the company #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Copywriters can talk to people on your behalf when you need distance from the client #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Refreshing a brand: it’s really throwing out the old meaning of a company and creating a new one #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Most companies do great things with 3-4 spokes of this brand wheel #AEASEA pic.twitter.com/Hi66R1nKP5
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Just deciding which spokes you’re going after is an activity around shaping the brand. What’s important? What’s not? #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
A logo should be simple enough you can draw it in the sand with your toes #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
An app icon (or logo) should be a single defined silhouette of what your brand represents #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Spotify has simplified their logo, Vox, airbnb, all simplified a logo #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Sometimes interviewing a CEO and one of the lowest paid employees gives insight faster and under budget #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
TOTALLY NSFW: google “airbnb logo parody” and wow, the research didn’t quite work the way they wanted #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Companies are afraid of simplifying their logomark, feeling that without the wordmark, their company is not identifiable. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
The color Tiffany Blue was a happy accident. IMO probably one of the most recognizable brand colors in existence. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
When Airbnb did their redesign they created their own color (it’s a bit salmoney orangey warm red) #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/caughtexception/status/848955349264605184
Spotify is using some unusual color mixes for their gradients. Gradients can hide terrible quality photos #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
(Una tells us later that the gradients can also be a great way to save on file size too. Notes to come!)
Pantone postcards can be found on amazon for like $14 and you can pin them to the wall #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Here’s a link to those pantone postacards #aeasea https://t.co/wzduwq0Iit
— Jacob Wayne Smith (@j8ke) April 3, 2017
You don’t need to work with a copy writer to set a tone. Define, then work with them to refine. (Get them involved early…) #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Voice & tone of voice for your brand needs to be defined by you, and then refined by a copywriter. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
Nebulaskin was very corporate and hard to understand. Changed the tone to casual, normal conversation, easier to understand #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
There are 4 channels that make up the basic social ecosystem that a brand should have. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
Social ecosystem: publishing channels, aspirational/inspirational channels, follow-up channels, support channels #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Main channel: blog, website, tumblr. Aspirational channel: where images get posted. Not everyone should! FDA, for example #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Support channels: users will pick a channel for you if you don’t pick one: twitter, Facebook, etc. What will you do for support? #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Follow-up channel: content from 1st channel is republished for the sole purpose of driving traffic. Blog post rewritten for Facebook #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
You don’t need to be big on all the social channels. You can pick one and concentrate on it. Where does it make the most sense #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
If you’re in a meeting where someone says “we need to dominate everywhere” you need to ask if it’s the right format #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
It’s better to be master of one than jack of all social media. @sazzy #aeasea
— jared bishop (@bishopart) April 3, 2017
Typeface equity: we need to look at what makes the most sense for our brand. Use the same font pairings across everything #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Vox – Harriet Display & Balto, which they dominate. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
A Book Apart: Titling Pro, FF Yoga are associated with them in this industry #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Fonts In Use – https://t.co/MgcqOLTPhi – to make sure you’re not going head to head with someone else’s typefaces #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Hey, hey, it’s the Fonts! https://t.co/8cOtWW5dDt @sazzy #aeasea pic.twitter.com/dlbMc2AZjk
— zeldman (@zeldman) April 3, 2017
Art direction is a huge part of our job but we don't necessarily allow ourselves to do that because it's not our title. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
Art Direction – there’s no excuse for using stock photos when we’re all carrying fantastic camera(phone)s in our pockets #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Illustration is being used even on news websites #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Airbnb made a critical decision to employ professional photographers in apartments. Looks very professional #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Professional photos both build confidence with the customers and provide a professional look to the site #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Company values will always be unique to your company. There’s always something that can help inform the brand #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Talk to the people who’ve been at the company the longest and ask them stories about the company #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
I don’t think that it’s coincidental that this is consistent advice between Jeffrey Zeldman and Sarah Parmenter. The people who have been at your company the longest are the ones that have most likely most internalized the beliefs, behaviors, goals, and culture of the organization. Their voice is authentic.
Authentic storytelling – value is less about brand attributes and more about brand meaning #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/lingokid/status/848959291591544832
Stubhub swaying toward authentic storytelling. Selling what you can’t get online, getting out from behind a screen #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
#aeasea #sarahparmenter good talk on brand https://t.co/79OCgvFhET
— G Bernard (@g_dibo) April 3, 2017
Layout: Vox breaks out of the grid, unlike most news websites that are very tight and boxy #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Spotify is nailing all areas of branding. Everything about their brand is strong. #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
Slogans: @sazzy hates them. If you need one, it’s a red flag that you’re not telling the story in a better way #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Case study: Frank Body. selling coffee scrub. You could make it yourself except their branding is so strong you want to buy #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Tone of voice, art direction, social ecosystem. Instagram is their most successful social media channel. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Frank Body seeded their social accounts with the type of imagery they wanted to encourage others to add #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Engaged a lot of bloggers and influences with a style guide for the bloggers #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Created a male persona called Frank that is frank and honest in all communications. He’s a bit abrasive, they’re ok with that #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Tried to move their communications to a PR agency but the agency couldn’t emulate their tone of voice #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Everywhere that frank body works they’ve converted things to their brand #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Their website didn’t work in the US at first because their video of almost-naked women looked naughty, had to be redesigned #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Personal branding – authentic storytelling, art direction, and social ecosystems. #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Super huge celebrities might dominate across platforms, but that’s very very rare. Pick one channel (twitter, etc.) #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Direct marketers are excellent at personal branding. @zeldman also has a great personal brand #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Consistency is important and really high for personal branding #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Find your authentic story within your company. Then look at using it to create other visual elements #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Consistency is key to personal branding. Can your content be relied upon to be there? #aeasea
— Stephanie 🔮 Web Witch (@seaotta) April 3, 2017
What equity can you create from typography, color, other elements? Can users make content for you via seeded content? #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Create tension by playing with contradictions. Think about every single touch point of the business and design that experience #AEASEA
— Anne Gibson (@perpendicularme) April 3, 2017
Deep research and cultural understanding enables designers to find and tell a company’s unique brand story. #aeasea pic.twitter.com/6ttbZDXQJE
— christopher hincks (@chincks) April 3, 2017
Authentic stories, design element equity, user involvement, tension through use of contradictions.All strategies for image branding. #aeasea
— Rebecca Watson (@RVivusArtDesign) April 3, 2017
https://twitter.com/itsnotdayna/status/848965071023755269
Also check out Krystal Higgins’ sketch notes from the talk.