The Cost of Design

Happy International Women's Day

Background photo created by denamorado - www.freepik.com

Landing Page for Toshiro Robatayaki

Project
Landing Page for Toshiro Robatayaki
 
Client Toshiro Robatayaki
Landing Page design

According to Unbounce, "a landing page is any web page that a visitor can arrive at or “land” on. However, when discussing landing pages within the realm of marketing and advertising, it’s more common to refer to a landing page as being a standalone web page distinct from your main website that has been designed for a single focused objective.
 
This means that your landing page should have no global navigation to tie it to your primary website. The main reason for this is to limit the options available to your visitors, helping to guide them toward your intended conversion goal."

We created a responsive landing page for Toshiro Robatayaki, a Japanese restaurant located in Bogotá, Colombia. The focus of the landing page is to introduce people to their Nikkei (Japanese Peruvian cuisine) festival and get visitors to enter their email address to receive information on upcoming festivals and events. 

The landing page has had a successful response rate and the restaurant has been able to capture valuable leads in a short period of time. 

Landing pages are a great tool for promoting a new product, event, webinar, creating specific inbound advertising campaigns and capturing leads. If you are interested in finding out how your business could benefit from a landing page, let us know and we will be happy to help. Email us at hello@arangostudio.com, call us at 57 314.394.6302 or skype me at laura.arango.m.

What is wrong with Crowdsourcing a Logo Design?

Many of you are probably familiar with crowdsourcing which is defined by Merriam-Webster as the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, and especially from an online community, rather than from traditional employees or suppliers; a portmanteau of "crowd" and "outsourcing,".  In some circumstances, it is actually a very useful approach to solving certain problems, however that is certainly not the case in design (especially logo design). 

This letter written by AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts) to the Tokyo Olympic Committee explains what is wrong with crowdsourcing logo design: 

"Competitions that ask designers to contribute their creativity and hours of work without remuneration in the hopes of their work being selected are against the global standards of professional practice for communication designers. In essence, a compromise of the ethics of the profession that protect the interests of designers, clients, and the potential for extraordinary outcomes. The reason for this is that any remarkable design is the result of a designer working with the client to create an outcome that captures all of the interests and needs of the client and the messages to be illuminated. This cannot be done without a collaborative engagement with the client in advance of designing the results.

Secondly, if the competition is open to the broader public rather than trained and experienced professionals, it demonstrates both disrespect for a universally respected Japanese profession and also suggests that the interests of the committee are served as easily by those with little experience as those with judgment and skill."


Click here to read the complete letter.

Thankful!

For those of you who celebrate this event, you want to wish a very Happy Thanksgiving and even if you don't, we think it's a great opportunity to reflect, give thanks and be grateful. At arangostudio, we give thanks for the opportunity to create a wide range of work for our clients and ourselves, the chance to express our creativity and to strive to become better every day.

What are you thankful for? Let us know.

In the meantime, here is a great Ted talk on gratitude and happiness that is worth watching.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month

We wanted to do our part during Breast Cancer Awareness month by sharing the award winning campaign created for Worldwide Breast Cancer not only because of the great concept and design but also to create awareness and remind people to take certain steps in order to prevent or detect the disease.
 

New Logo for Google

If you haven't seen Google's new logo yet you can see it here and will soon see it on all of their products.

See how it has evolved.


According to Google, these are the reasons why they updated their logo:

"These days, people interact with Google products across many different platforms, apps and devices—sometimes all in a single day. You expect Google to help you whenever and wherever you need it, whether it’s on your mobile phone, TV, watch, the dashboard in your car, and yes, even a desktop!

Today we’re introducing a new logo and identity family that reflects this reality and shows you when the Google magic is working for you, even on the tiniest screens. As you’ll see, we’ve taken the Google logo and branding, which were originally built for a single desktop browser page, and updated them for a world of seamless computing across an endless number of devices and different kinds of inputs (such as tap, type and talk).

It doesn’t simply tell you that you’re using Google, but also shows you how Google is working for you. For example, new elements like a colorful Google mic help you identify and interact with Google whether you’re talking, tapping or typing. Meanwhile, we’re bidding adieu to the little blue “g” icon and replacing it with a four-color “G” that matches the logo.

MTV Popland Event

Project
MTV Popland! Event
 
Client
MTV Invitation Design
In collaboration with Mirona/Nube Dreams Come True


arangostudio is known to collaborate on many projects with different partners and allies. We believe in coming together to provide solutions for our clients or those of other small businesses that can benefit from our joint effort. 
 

One of our most recent collaborations was for MTV Networks and the launch party for a new soap opera style show called Popland that was taking place in Bogotá. Mirona, the company in charge of organizing the event, contacted us so that we could develop a concept for two sets of invitations. One set that was to be sent to the general public and the other to VIP guests.

The show tells the story of a girl who becomes a paparazzi and how her life evolves around celebrities and gossip. We decided to focus on the paparazzi aspect, creating two invitations that played on the concept of making the guest either a paparazzi taking the picture or a celebrity having his/her photo taken.

One of the original concepts was to create a pop-up card that would resemble the flash of a camera when opened.

For VIP guests, we used point and shoot disposable cameras with the logo and look & feel from the show.

3A Ingenieria SAS

Project
3A Ingenieria SAS

Client
3A Ingenieria SAS
Updating of logo
Brochure, business card and letterhead redesign
Corporate presentation design
Corporate ID Manual

Brochure redesign
Eliminated and simplified a lot of the original copy
Created graphics that were clean, making information easier to read
Used shapes that remind reader of logo
Established a color palette that would help identify 3A Ingeniería and would create a more organized look rather than using a random color palette
Incorporated larger and more relatable images

 

Business Card and Letterhead redesign
A simple, clean and corporate design was used for the new business cards ensuring that the same font and colors were used throughout all of the communication pieces.

 

 

Corporate ID Manual
arangostudio created a manual to ensure that the logo is used correctly each time in every communications piece. Previously, the logo had been used in several sizes, sometimes making it difficult to read, the color of the logo changed and was not always the same blue and there wasn't consistency throughout the marketing material making it difficult to easily recognize the brand. The manual explains how to properly use the logo, color palettes and applications to different pieces, uniforms and merchandising.

Hillary Clinton's Logo. Love It or Hate It?

Many of you have probably already seen Hillary Clinton's Presidential campaign logo and you most likely have heard about the mixed reviews.

If you haven't seen it yet, here it is:

And here are some of the comments found on twitter and from design and branding experts:

"Hillary Clinton's logo doesn't make me think of her campaign as much as "take a right to get to the hospital". - Joe See? @inturnaround

"From a communication perspective, I have two issues with it. First, as the arrow crossbar runs horizontally, it suggests an even keel or 'business as usual.' If an arrow was mandatory, it should been angled up to connote optimism and the sense of a new agenda." - Lindon Leader, designer of the FedEx logo

"That's a terrible logo. Subliminal message is vote for Hillary Clinton to move the country sideways." - Richard Hornsby @RichardHornsby

"In politics, a big RED (Republican) arrow pointing RIGHT is probably not what a LIBERAL candidate wants," he said, adding, " - Karl Gude, a graphics professor at Michigan State University


Our initial reaction was that we liked it simply because it was somewhat unexpected when comparing it to traditional and previous political campaign logos. It stands out in that respect. However, when looking at it as a logo, we agree that the red arrow is a big mistake and that as a whole it does seem to have a generic and static feel to it.

While we see some positive aspects of the "H" version of the logo or the icon. We are having a more difficult time with the above configuration of the logo. It just doesn't work.

What are your thoughts? Love it, hate it or just don't care?

Source: Twitter, Creative Bloq, Business Insider.

arangostudio wishes everyone Happy Holidays, Happy Hannukah and a Merry Christmas!

The details are not the details, they make the design

"If you think good design is expensive, you should look at the cost of bad design"

Happy New Year from arangostudio!

Philips Launches New Logo

Last week Philips revealed the re-design of their logo after having launched www.uncover.philips.com, a website created to encourage people to participate in the "uncovering" of the logo by claiming a pixel. Each pixel claimed is a small part of the logo.

Here is the final result. 

We happen to agree with Armin form the underconsideration website, "Going with a color-filled shield also helps establish a bolder presence. It’s hard not to like it, because most changes have been made for the benefit of the “physicality” of the logo — they may not make for an iconic and historic piece of logo design but it functions."

 New tagline

Business Card

Website

Ad

As Amin states, "Overall, no surprises here: it’s a safe and smart evolution for an extremely large brand."

What are your thoughts?

More Infographics

Infographics allow us to easily understand and interpret data and information visually. Rather than show complex data, research, text and graphs in a traditional and often cumbsersome format, they are transformed into appealing images that can be easily understood. Infographics have become widely used in publications, newspapers, reports, corporate presentations, advertisements and even signage.

Here are a few examples of infographics from Fast Company:
 

If you or your company can benefit from an infographic, we can create it for you. We will help represent your data in a dynamic, colorful, clear and concise manner that will your viewers will appreciate and understand.

Action Center to End World Hunger

Once again, I am somewhat behind on my blog but I wanted to share my experience with Mercy Corps and Ed Schlossberg last Monday. Our class headed down to Battery Park to visit the Action Center to End World Hunger which was developed for Mercy Corps by Ed Schlossberg's design firm ESI Design.

"Mercy Corps works amid disasters, conflicts, chronic poverty and instability to unleash the potential of people who can win against nearly impossible odds." Their Action Center was created to educate and empower visitors by allowing them to experience many of the challenges faced worldwide via interactive programs. The center consists of several stations that inform the visitor and then encourage an inmediate call to action by providing ways of helping if you only have a few minutes, days, weeks or years to contribute and help the cause.

I ended up giving "one minute of my time" by becoming a fan of Mercy Corp via facebook but there are many other simple ways in which we can help. I intend to go revisit their site http://www.actioncenter.org/ and make a more substantial contribution and so can you.

Ed Schlossberg and Michelle Milleneux explained to us the thought process behind creating the Action Center and Ed walked us through many of the stations to show how each one worked and the problem that it addressed. Perhaps, what I found most interesting is that he mentioned that the aim was "less education, more action". I guess sometimes we get bogged down in trying to educate everyone that we forget to create important and effective solutions that will engage us and cause to act right away.

I was also very interested in the comment made by Robert Sherman's, Executive Director of the Action Center, where he mentioned that Mercy Corps sees each country's instability as an opportunity for grass roots efforts to rise. I couldn't agree with him more. It is the challenges that force us to think differently and come up with solutions that probably hadn't been though of in the past. It also forces those who had left the problems for others to resolve, to take action and ownership of the problem. I was also happy to hear a comment that emphasized positive thinking rather than that of defeat.

NOTE: My camera's battery had died and I had to find a replacement for the charger, therefore I was unable to take photos for several days. Peyton, who is also participating in this course, has taken some great shots and is sharing them along with her experiences on her blog http://whatcanyoucreate.wordpress.com/. She has been very gracious in allowing me to post some of her photos on my blog as well.

Impact! Design for Social Change

I am currently attending a 6-week intensive course at the Visual School of Arts in New York. This program focuses on social change and how it can be created through design.

Today is our fourth day and already we have had the opportunity to attend classes with amazing instructors and professionals in the fields of design, social advocacy, marketing and business. We have also had the chance to meet several non-profit organizations that are working hard to improve certain aspects of people's daily lives in one form or another.


Some of these organizations include:
www.IOBY.org
www.democracynow.org
www.enterprisecommunity.org
Healthy Bodegas
http://theblkprojek.wordpress.com/


I have chosen to work with Enterprise Community Partners along with two other students from Brazil. "Enterprise is the national leader in making affordable housing happen. Their mission is to create opportunity for low and moderate-income people through fit, affordable housing and diverse, thriving communities."

More on the challenges and focus of our project later...

Milton Glaser will be giving us a lecture very soon!