White Space

When you look at the magazine or newspaper, the messages on the words and images are the major things. Designers not only deal with visual elements but also have to consider the readability. Therefore, foreground and background need a good integration. Because the background will effectively influence the vision of reader. In the same way, the rest space is as important as text and image.

White space is often referred to as negative space in graphic design. In fact, there are many logos that applied negative space in design, such as WWF, USA Network, Carrefour, Guild of Food Writers logo. It can be seen that they all present an interested secret and connect with the surroundings.

Images from Logo Design Love

According to John Maeda said on Laws of Simplicity,

The opportunity lost by increasing the amount of blank space is gained back with enhanced attention on what remains. More white space means that less information is presented. In turn, proportionately more attention shall be paid to that which is made less available. When there is less, we appreciate everything much more.

It means negative space can lead the audience to give more notice on logo. In visual psychology, Kanizsa triangle also uses the characteristics of human vision to attach the background. People can recognize the shape without the line.

In addition, I do an exercise to testify the negative space in typeface. The typeface is Arial font. Because Arial font is one of common font now. Firstly, putting the font into square and using the background to illustrate the letter.

Then, it can be seen that the black background look like white letter in black background. I use the white background with black line to make the word. In addition, cooperating two ways at one word to see the result.

Although the letters lack some lines, the audience still can base on the shape to see the letter. Designers can use this advantage to create any outline for their concept. Additionally, negative space in logo design shows the simplicity and gives the audience to see a symbol in two ways.

Brand Nickname

The word “brand” is derived from the Old Norse brandr meaning “to burn.” In order to identify, the owner make an animal with unique symbol at a later date. Nowadays, brand presents the reputation of a company. Furthermore, it has developed a relationship between the audience and corporation. Brand can show social status and personality. In fact, it already integrates into our normal life. For instance, the situation can be seen on the short film “Logorama." People also try to give the nickname for a company. It could be referred to the original name or the product. For instance, the Volkswagen Beetle is called “bug” or “buggy.”

According to Kevin Roberts said on the book “Lovemarks”,

They forget all about the intimate dimension of relationships. They loved Customer Relationship Management. They honed their skills assessing the benefits from sponsorships, entertainment partnerships, and al l the other "ships." But if you attempted to get up close ...they dashed to the other side of the boardroom table. They ignored the power of Intimacy. They neglected to look at the intimate responses that illuminate the great Lovemarks.

Therefore, it is not a bad thing for the corporation. When someone gives you a nickname, it means they want to have an affiliation with you. Then, the audience does the same thing to their favorite brands. The company also redesigned logos in order to adopt nicknames. For instance, “FedEx” comes from Federal Express.

Many companies don’t only change their name for the intimacy. Additionally, the nickname is easy to keep in mind. It usually uses the initials for substitution, such as HP, HBO, P&G and AT&T.

There is a quotation below by William Bernbach.

Nobody counts the number of ads you run;
they just remember the impression you make.

In the same way, the audience will not remember the full name of company at first sight. If the company uses the nickname, the state of affairs will be different. Therefore, the audiences are very important for a company. They reflect the problems and help the corporation adjust for a better condition.

Further information:
You Took My Name by DOROTHY - Can you name all the brands?

[Book] Simplicity

Edward de Bono (born 19 May 1933, in Malta) is a physician, author, inventor, and consultant. He thought that the major problems in thinking are perceptual. There were many mistakes which quickly jump to the wrong conclusion. Therefore, he made a term which is lateral thinking. In addition, he continued to invent many ways of creative thinking. Nowadays, the six thinking hats already is a thinking tool in schools.

From the book “Simplicity”, he shows different kinds of thinking ways about simplicity. For instance, he uses another way of thinking to express how make things simple and practical.

If you have to learn a sequence of ABCD you would usually learn A first and then B and then C and then D. This means that you are always moving from an area you know very well to an area you do not know. The chances of making a diversion or a mistake are very high. Much learning time is spent unlearning mistakes.

When you learn backwards, you learn D first and then C and then B and finally A. In this way you are always moving forward into an area you already know.

Furthermore, he points out the major use for thinking. It shows the purpose of simplicity.

The major use for thinking is not in problem solving but in improving what we are doing and finding new things to do.

In order to convey the simplicity, he also invented a simple game which called the L Game.

It is a social justice game because you cannot win by winning.
If you try too hard to win you lose.

In addition, there are 14 formal methods of lateral thinking introduced in this book. In my opinion, every method is very useful for understanding the simplicity. “Historical Review” let the user to think about the necessity of object at the beginning of process. “Modules and Smaller Units” presents the organization are built by small units. It could be simpler for repair. In other way, the thing is more complicated than before.

Finally, he talked about the simple life. Everyone should understand the values, priorities and considerations to control the complicity in our life. In last chapter, he gives the ten rules of simplicity to remind the readers.

Further information:
Edward de Bono - discusses his Simplicity workshop

The Future

How many compositions can one logo have? There are 40,000 logo shapes in 12 different color combinations for MIT Media Lab's New Logo. In order to celebrate the 25th anniversary, two Brooklyn-based designers, E Roon Kang and Richard The, created an innovative logo for MIT Media Lab.

From the article on Co.design

The basic idea here is that the logo has three intersecting spotlights that can be organized in any of 40,000 shapes and 12 color combinations using a custom algorithm. The spotlights tip a hat to the Media Lab’s rakish spirit of cross-pollination, with each spotlight symbolizing a single individual.

MIT Media Lab Identity, 2011 from readyletsgo on Vimeo.

The algorithmic design produces a unique logo for every teacher, staff member and student. In addition, it can give each new student a fresh logo for the next 25 years. The logo is just like the social security number.

Furthermore, Stefan Sagmeister created the logo of Casa da Musica in 2007. The Casa da Musica, a concert hall in Portugal, was built by Rem Koolhaas in 2005. Stefan Sagmeister used every aspect of the architecture as its corporate identity. In addition, his friend invented the software to make the logo flexible.

According to Stefan Sagmeister talked on TED,

The Casa da Musica logo generator which scans any image and transfers the colours of this image onto the logo to create an individual colour logo version that has the same colour information as the given image. So the logo changes constantly its colour spectrum to present certain events or people of the Casa da Musica.

In this way, every event in Casa da Musica can have their special poster. Furthermore, the logo can really incorporate with different kinds of media. For instance, the logo can grow under the skin.

In fact, these two logos all based on a big frame and created an individual identity. MIT Media Lab's Logo shows a large number of arrangements by changing the color and position. Additionally, the Casa da Musica logo has more variations on the texture. The frame presents the corporate and brand value has different meaning.

It changed the former way of thinking in branding. The logos really become a part of their audience. In this way, the brand will effectively have an emotional relationship with their audience. Applying new media and technology creates an innovative prospect for the future. Although the concepts are just a beginning now, I still can see the unlimited possibility from these logos.

Further information:
Pentagram's Luke Hayman on How Multimedia Is Transforming Branding

Taiwan Tourism New logo

Taiwan, a lovely place, has different kinds of food and friendly people. It contains enriched cultural and recreational activities. In the 16th century the Portuguese vessels at sea through Taiwan, the sailor saw Taiwan from the sea and shouted "Ilha Formosa!” It means “Beautiful Island”. Taiwan is a small island situated in East Asia in the Western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. It has the advantage of location for the travelers. Taiwan reportedly had 5 million visitors last year.

From the press release on Taiwan Tourism Bureau,

Tourism will become a vehicle for driving the development of a variety of new industries such as health care, agriculture, and green industries, giving them a channel for transforming their resources into tourism products.

Therefore, the Taiwan Tourism Bureau introduced a new identity designed by London-based Winkreative in 2011. According to the article on the official website,

The new “Taiwan – The Heart of Asia” logo is succinct, and consists of a newly created typeface. It represents the sincerity and innovation of Taiwan’s communications with the world. Taiwan is a fusion of tradition with new trends. Its special characteristics and diversity present what is precisely a microcosm of Asia. Asia’s heart and Taiwan’s warmth are what Taiwan tourism wants to offer tourists from around the world.

Image from Brand New

Then, the brush calligraphic strokes change to a newly created typeface. It seems to be lack of energy and becomes another western brand. The blended orange color might want to imply the warmth. But the former color is much easier to show the variety of Taiwan. Furthermore, the whole logo can’t strongly feel the meaning of the slogan “Taiwan - The Heart of Asia.”

Wally Olins said in Branding the Nation - the historical context,

Rebranding is OK for a corporation but not for a nation. In other words corporations change, merge, divest, invest and rebrand and reinvent themselves but nations don’t change, they are immutable. Their verities are eternal.

In my opinion, it doesn’t mean rebranding a nation is forbidden. When the brand connects with nation, it must be careful to manipulate this image. Because it attaches with the culture. In addition, the former logo was promoted for ten years. The impression was already built on every tourist’s mind.

Finally, this is a clip by D1 Production from Malaysia. You can see the beauty of Taiwan from a foreigner and testify the new logo is good or not.

PassionRepublic Taiwan Trip from D1 PRODUCTION on Vimeo.

[Book] The Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda is a Japanese-American graphic designer, computer scientist and author, grew up in a tofu factory in Seattle. He is the current President of the Rhode Island School of Design, At RISD. John Maeda also is a MIT Media Lab.'s professor (director of the aesthetics + computation group). People who are interested in digital art design must have heard that John Maeda is the pioneer of digital art and design.

The Laws of Simplicity which are written by John Maeda has ten laws and three keys. In the book, he used different kind of examples to explain each law. For example, he used the sushi master and the refund policy to testify Law 8 Trust. At the beginning, the reason he wrote this book is according as two words, simplicity and complexity. They both have three letters, M I T. This evidence convinces him to advocate "simplicity” and balance the "complexity".

Each law in the book is generally independent and can be used together. There are three sets, which are 1 to 3, 4 to 6 and 7 to 9. You also can find that John Maeda apply the law in his book. For example, he suggested that the reader can read 1 to 3 and then skip to Law 10. Because Law 3 is talking about Time.

So, what is simplicity? In the area of architecture, there is a theory called minimalism. Less is more. The beauty of building is generated in the contact of light and shadow. In technology, simplicity sells in High-Tech gadgets. Products not only have high performance but also need to use easily. In graphic design, simplicity is important for a logo. A simple logo design is easy to remember and recollect for an audience. It can easily catch the attention of a target customer towards product or the advertisement or the company itself.

On the lecture in TED, George Whitesides: Toward a science of simplicity

He talks about complexity have different layers of simplicity. On the other way, Simple idea contains complex process. Finally, he adduces two quotations to explain the simplicity.

Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler. - Albert Einstein

Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away. - Antoine de Saint-Exupery French writer (1900 - 1944)

On the lecture in TED, Eric Berlow: How complexity leads to simplicity

He said that the more you can zoom out and embrace complexity, the better chance you have of zooming on the simple details that matter most.

Everyone has their thought about simplicity. For John Maeda, he thinks simplicity is life. In my opinion, I think simplicity is complexity. So, what is simplicity for you? Hope you can share your opinion with me.

Further information:

The Laws of Simplicity - website
John Maeda on the simple life - TED Talk

Our Community

This lecture is about a vision for sustainable restaurants by Arthur Potts Dawson. He talked about how much food, water and energy can be wasted in our normal life. In this lecture, you can see the ideas to practice on his own restaurants. This is an excellent prospect about creating recycling, composting, sustainable engines for good.

In 2010, he started new co-operative supermarket in the London Borough of Camden, inspired by the Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, New York. Its name is The People’s Supermarket. The concept is “for the people, by the people.” The members in this supermarket have to work four hours volunteer time per month and obtain a discount on their each time shopping. It looks like a small ecosphere and create a best benefit for the local residents.

From the website of The People’s Supermarket, you can see the Brand Value.

The Supermarket is a sustainable food cooperative that responds to the needs of the local community and provides healthy, local food at reasonable prices. To this end, we believe in a series of key values, which guide our philosophy and management approach.

The visual identity contains the reason that the supermarket is not-for-profit and production budgets are consistently low. Unreal, a London based branding and advertising agency, use the ‘Euroslot’ as a symbol of The People’s Supermarket.

From the article on Identity Designed

The slot can be easily cut through anything from letterheads to in-store packaging, creating a simple, clever and cost-effective branding device that can be consistently applied across all communications.

The colors that they choose are black and yellow. The audience can obviously see the brand. The staff can simply make the posters with low-cost. In addition, you also can find some color similarity on Selfridges' yellow shopping bag.

Finally, The People’s Supermarket has a series of documentary on Chanel 4. You can see many problems at the beginning of a brand. For instance, the customers consider the afforded price. Besides, it can be found how to create and sustain a really co-operative community.