elbowruminations | Graphic Design Trends, Tips and Reviews Graphic Design Trends, Tips and Reviews

Today the new identity chosen by the Province of Alberta went live to the jubilation general disinterest of the population.

The new brand is cursive wordmark that aspires to embody a concept described by the tagline, “freedom to create, spirit to achieve.” According to the brand’s official website, AlbertaBrand.com, the identity development process was a 5 month long procedure with a budget of $4 million dollars. This budget was allocated towards the establishment of an advisory panel and focus groups consisting of normal citizens like you and me, oh and graphic design was in there somewhere too.

Let’s take a quick tour of the options that became runner’s up:

The Albertan may have proved unpopular due to it’s mixed messages. It’s certainly not clear what it’s trying to say. It’s very formal and corporate in it’s approach as well.

This version of the logo is very current in the way it uses gradients, just add a little shine and it would pass as a fancy new web 2.0 start-up.

The lowercase square treatment could make this version of the logo the corporate image of any North American technology company. The use of the period in the “t” is such an uninspiring concept and copied from an abundance of non inspirational sources. This could possibly be the weakest of choice in the set.

Meet the rainbow option. Symbolic of Alberta’s Leprechaun pioneers. That may or may not be true, but it would be very difficult to stand by a decision to appoint this logo for the cost of printing alone. It’s difficult to know what the designers were getting at here.

The Conclusion

Overall, the new brand for Alberta seems adequate. It doesn’t amaze and it certainly does not show off in any way. It’s disappointing that more inspiration wasn’t not shown in very many of the choices, there is no attempt at double meaning or any specific geographic mirroring. Ironically, the creation process of this identity, judging from the results, seemed linear and static, with very little motivation to come up with something new. Even orange was recycled and repackaged from the license plates. Perhaps at best, we’ve put a new suit on our old logo, which had much of the same reserved and bland personality the new one has. The lack of inspiration seems ironic considering we are looking to represent “freedom to create, spirit to achieve” to the world.

The Justification?

Sometimes, being a graphic designer and a normal citizen, I can’t help wondering what an invoice for this project would look like and how it would be itemized. If one graphic designer was hired for this project, the government would be paying him or her $50,000 per hour based on a 40 hour work week. If a team of 10 people worked on this project, for forty hours per week, for 5 months straight, tax-payers would be looking at an hourly rate of $5,000 per hour.

If you ask me, this final product does not deserve that kind of financing. The value of graphic design is not based on who the customer is, or what the final outcome is being used for. It’s based primarily on the time it takes to produce a result and the demand for this service. The concept of getting what you pay for in the design industry has very low ceiling and yet the cost of branding and identity development seems to be driven by the insecurity of clients to feel as though their logo must be very expensive to be good. Fueled by the greed of marketing professionals who are happy to propagate these sentiments through excessive fees, makes affording a graphic designer very difficult and trusting one even less plausible.

Do you have any thoughts on the industry or the logo? We’d like to hear them.

Popularity: 27% [?]

At first glance, Marble Slab Creamery is just another ice cream store with an average looking logo. If you do find the opportunity to be a customer, you’ll find such a frustrating lack of attention to good design principles, it may make you feel like your customized ice cream cone has melted all over your hand and down your sleeve.

I’ve been to Marble Slab a handful of times, and each time, the lines were long and the menu boards incoherent. Perhaps the Houston based franchise has a more educated following in the United States, but as an average ice cream cone eater in Calgary, I remain baffled each time I go. To appreciate the issues here it’s important to understand the basic premise of the store which is to select basic flavours of ice cream and choose “mixins” such as popular chocolate bars, gummy bears, cookie dough, or chocolate chips, etc. Once you’ve selected your customized concoction, it’s mixed together for you on some kind of small marble slab by a competent staff member.

From a design perspective, there are several flaws that serve to slow down product delivery time, create long lines, confuse customers, frustrate graphic designers and provide the opportunity for Marble Slab to lose potential revenue when people fail to understand the premise or are discouraged by the wait.

Confusing Store Presentation
Firstly, the store is presented in such fashion that leads you to believe that this is a standard ice cream store where you line up to look at the flavours and select based on what they have that day. I find myself waiting in line, frustrated that the people in front of me are preventing me from making an informed flavour decision. Instead of presenting basic, common and consistent ice cream in glass cabinets, why not use this space along the glass to help customers understand the ordering process? For example, Step one, choose a flavour, step two, choose your mixins, step three choose a cone. It might also help to have a sign outside the store, clearly stating that making your own ice cream flavour is the reason you are lining up. This concept needs to be spelled out in order to speed up the decision making process and reduce line up times. At the location I was at in Market Mall, there were signs all over the place advertising cakes, quarts, and bonus offers. This certainly doesn’t help with basic customer comprehension or streamlining the purchasing process.

Mysterious Menu Board
The menu board at Marble Slab is a modern wonder of confusion. Chock full of text, devoid of photos and blocked by ice cream cones, cameras and shelving. Every time I’ve ordered, I’ve paid without question because I had no idea what I had ordered or how much it cost. There are so many types of waffle cones to choose from, some chocolate dipped, others vanilla or cinnamon. Even now, having a photo for reference, I cannot calculate the price of a typical ice cream cone. To remedy this problem, step one: remove obstructions from the customer’s view of the menu board. Step two: simplify. Depicting choices with photography is the easiest way to convey a concept. Make sample concoctions easily available closer to the front of the store, and define the ordering process here as well. Perhaps it might be a wise idea to have a separate menu board to outline other products like cake, pie, and milkshakes. Ice cream cones, because of the complexity of the ordering process should be front and centre. Step three: list the mixins! Incredibly, there is no mention of these on the menu board.

Purposeful Advertising
I’ve received coupons for Marble Slab at various events which was the reason I went for ice cream the first time. Strangely enough, the main message in any advertising I’ve seen is “the freshest ice cream earth”. It’s baffling to me why Marble Slab does not make it more clear their mission of providing customized ice cream solutions. Fresh ice cream seems gimmicky and absurd. We are talking about frozen food here after all. The opportunity to separate ones self from the competition by advertising what makes Marble Slab different has so many appealing benefits, it’s simply strange they haven’t chosen this marketing route in such a customizable world.

Ice cream is fun and easy to eat and perhaps mixed with some practical design sense, it won’t have to be so hard to order.

Popularity: 28% [?]

When I hear the word catalogue, I think of two things: Sears and libraries. Both are notably old-school institutions, and don’t bring to mind spunk, hipness and vigour. Calgary-raised stock photography & typography supplier Veer has pretty much changed all that.

Since 2002, Veer has been hawking their wares via a mail-out booklet. It showcases Veer’s products and ideas: photos, illustrations and fonts you can buy from their website. Beyond that, it delivers montages, layouts and concepts that are so blisteringly unique that it can’t help but inspire.

This summer’s catalogue is a handbook full of games, called “The Amazing Summer Activity Book for Creatives and their Pals.” It’s stuffed with over 100 pages of games, puzzles and riddles you can play in your spare time. Each game incorporates Veer’s photos and fonts, and details are provided in the margins or footers about how to buy the elements featured.

Admittedly, the whole catalogue is unfairly tantalizing for designers. Veer doesn’t really have any limitations placed on their catalogue. Unlike the rest of us whose brochures and pamphlet need to be well-married with content and function, Veer’s only mandate is to be cool. While some folks might presume that’s an easy mandate to fulfill, at least Veer does it very, very well.

If you’d like to be inspired further, you can download the Summer Activity book, browse old Veer catalogues, shop for stock elements, and check out Veer’s blog The Skinny right here.

(Did you just see that, Veer? We didn’t even get paid to do that.)

Popularity: 14% [?]