How would you apply Frankel's Prime Directive to a Plumber?
Frankel's prime directive, first of all, would be best described as making a brand all about the customer, and making sure the impression you leave with them is that your business is the only choice. This means that your mark has to be distinctive - that is, it captures the imagination and intrigue of potential clients in an instant, while at the same time, setting you apart from your competition.
In order to do this, the first thing any designer should do is get to know the company they are designing for, who their clients are and what their competition is doing. With this background, along with the goals of the client, the branding can begin - and this branding should incorporate all aspects of the business, not just the logo.
So, if we were to apply this to a plumber, we would first have to research as mentioned above, as well as look at how the logo will be applied - will it be in Yellow Pages ads? (Definitely.) Will it be on the side of plumbing vans? Uniforms? Letterheads, business cards, pens, gifts....is there something special that the service likes to give its clients? A free toilet plunger with every toilet unblocked? Why not!
Perhaps delving deeper into this can reveal a character that is endemic to the company that no one else has - a humour or character - perhaps the face of this character can become the face of the business - a cartoon character to go on all company merchandise, equipment and stationary.
It's impossible to say here and now what the design might end up looking like before all of the research is done, but suffice to say, of course Frankel's directive can be applied to a plumber - it can be applied to any company that wants to get its message out well beyond a logo, and extend it's branding philosophy to every aspect of the company, from pipes to apprentices.
In this case, it would be interesting to consider the differences between logo and logotype. If, for instance, we went with a cartoon character (anyone know of Jim's Mowing, just because of the huge logo plastered on every company van?), then there would be more weight given to the character, but not so much in that the name of the company was hard to read.
Also, the logotype would be very important if you decided to use the company's URL instead of the name, which is increasingly happening these days, especially on the side of vans! Whatever the balance, using a typeface that supports the idea behind the logo is very important.
Lastly, there really shouldn't be a difference between logo design, corporate identity and branding. If there is, then one of these factors has not been taken into consideration properly: either the company has not considered the deeper applications of branding (such as staff training), or the designer has failed to get enough information on the company's profile and future goals to ensure the logo speaks of the entire organisation.
No comments:
Post a Comment