Like the Sans of Time: The Importance of Font Selection

To most people, fonts are just another useless choice in their Word document, 'gimme a default typeface and let me type'. To designers however, fonts are an integral element in communicating ideas and emotions.

There are thousands of fonts, thousands of beautifully created fonts, each designed with a feeling or purpose in mind - some are very versatile and some are very pointed as to their use. When a typeface is used in design, an association is made by the consumer on the look of the product or brand and how it makes them feel about it. Consumers when presented with a consistent looking visual that is associated with a brand will come to remember it and the feelings they have of that brand will be rekindled, in some small way.

 The image above contains 9 words all with different word marks. Most of these word marks have been derived from actual fonts and then modified by a graphic designer to better suit the brand and what it represents. What's cool about this, is that without even saying the brand (or band) names on this document, most people could tell you the names of all 9 brands represented here.

If this does not demonstrate the importance of proper font selection and graphic design as part of brand building, I don't know what does. A good graphic designer should take great care and spend a good amount of time in learning about your brand and what it represents in order to craft a word mark or logo.

One of the first things that a designer will do is select the fonts to be used on the project (for use in logo, stationery, packaging etc.) this can take several hours to select the right fonts for each of these.  The result of this meticulous time in font selection, is an effective part of your communications strategy - putting across information is important, but good design and proper font selection can associate emotions to that information.

Graphic designers are trained to communicate ideas and information in a visual way, utilizing fonts is part of this process.

So, please remember this the next time a designer presents you with a design or word mark for review; ask them to explain why they chose the one they did - you may be surprised what went into their descision. As a client, you should challenge the rationale behind the design to ensure the designer really understands what he/she is communicating - with a professional creative team and good creative direction, a design is rarely wrong unless the rationale and understanding of what needs to be communicated behind it is wrong.

Bottomline: A well crafted brand comes from understanding the customer then taking the time to ensure all visual elements align with what needs to be communicated.

Please note that I found the image above online and it appears to be credited to Headlineshirts.net, however, I left the file name intact so that whoever put it together can find it on my blog and request proper credit.

There's No Eye Without Team

Communicating your company image effectively and professionally is not only important, it is crucial to the success of your brand and your company. We all know this. So, why do so many companies try to cut corners when approaching design and creative for their marketing campaigns?

I believe this can be broken down to one key element, they don't understand the value a creative team brings to the table.

Value comes in many ways, and most creative firms have trouble explaining this value to their clients. Clients assume that a designer can 'whip up' something quick and it will be effective. Good design takes time, it takes research and it takes an understanding of what the goals of any project are. Couple this with how the interaction between the 'target' and the 'message' is formulated and you could have a well thought out campaign.

Creative teams work together to look at all angles of a campaign - each member of the team bringing expertise and years of experience. This 'collective eye' on a campaign is what ensures it is resilient and effective. This is how you get results. You'll find that most creative teams are composed of a number of disciplines; creative director, copywriter, illustrator, designer and a project coordinator... each working closely with the client.

What confuses some clients is design creative, they believe that the design is what they are paying for, when it's only a portion of what they get when hiring a creative team.

Generating design creative the last part of the equation and is quite often the easy part of coming up with a proper campaign. Of course, that is if the discovery, ideation, brainstorming, research and analysis is done properly. When a creative team is involved in this process, a creative brief can be generated and given to any designer to complete the design process. This provides clarity and focus on the deliverable. This is how you create a campaign that generates results.

Creative teams need to be better at communicating their 'collective eye' - they can't assume that clients understand the difference between hiring a creative team and hiring a designer. Design is important and designers have a role in the creative process, but don't mistake the plate for the food - design is the by-product of a creative process, not the process itself.

The real value for your marketing dollar is in the creative process, the thought, the ideas, the expertise, the execution... that is what you are buying when you hire a creative team.

Award Winning Blog

Is what you're reading right now. That's right, folks. Tales from the Expedition, the Francomedia blog has won a Gold Hermes Creative Award!

The unique design of the blog surely swayed the judges as it really is a compelling design (thanks Francomedia design team!) - it was not an easy design to work with, but we have the technology (thanks Francomedia development team!).

Through weekly(ish) updates, we try to keep our customers and the viewing public aware of what's new in advertising, marketing, design and of course, Francomedia.

Updating a blog does take significant effort and many of our staff contribute to Tales from the Expedition. So, thank you for reading our blog and don't be shy, hopefully there are posts you feel worthy of sharing, go ahead - we're down with that.

Over the last couple of years Francomedia has been on the receiving end of many awards for their creativity, design and marketing - this is thanks to a great team of creative thinkers and doers - and I thank you for that, Francomedia team.

Keeping Busy in Cowtown

How fortunate are we to be working on some of the coolest projects in Calgary?

Some may say, that we are really making a name for ourselves as a go-to-shop for creative goods... and this is resulting in us being very, very busy. Winning a gaggle of awards over the past 12 months may have been a contributing factor, but I like to think it was more about our reputation than anything else. Busy nonetheless.

But, busy is good - and being busy on creative projects is really good, so, life is really, really good at Francomedia.

So far this year, we have done some great branding projects, some cool web projects and some great print projects. To new clients we are super heroes, to existing clients we are consistent and always ready to take on whatever they throw us. Our challenge these days is all about scheduling - getting new work into the mix is harder than ever, but we manage and manage well.

We are breaking new ground with a very cool project that will be released sometime before summer - we believe it will set the future standard for marketing in the publishing industry, all while showcasing the true power of Apple's new iPad.

Another project that we are passionate about is TEDxCalgary - which is happening on April 29th and we are playing a part in helping them market the event online and on-site. You can watch it live from 9:00am - 6:00pm (MST) at live.tedxcalgary.ca.

We've worked on some really high profile web sites over the past year, Cabinets by Hayley, Ronmor Developers, United Nations, Calgary Council for Advanced Technology... just to name a few - there are a few others that we can't name yet, at least not publicly or prior to launch.

Since December we've branded a custom fly rod maker, an engineering firm, a home builder, a realtor, an oil service company and a publishing corporation.

Most of our blog posts are helpful and offer advice in marketing... this will continue, believe me - we like to share. I guess, we just needed a forum to say that we're happy to be working with some great customers on some great projects. Thanks for reading.

A Day at Francomedia

I thought I heard the Brother's Gibb, light strains about the room,
At first I thought it was a ruse, it’s such a catchy tune.

This is the place to work, I thought, where laughter is the norm,
And jeans are cool to wear in here - for those who won't conform.

We even have a brew machine, for coffee, that can judge,
Exactly when it should shut off, before to turns to sludge.

Then there’s the vinyl Kevin brought, it’s not the stuff that drones,
The music that we’re apt to hear is usually the Stones.

Where Facebook is the business plan, and Kick-Ass is the brew,
And often inter-office notes include a new YouTube.

Not all days here are quite this good, and this I must impart,
cause round and round my brain is going “Eclipse of the Heart”.

There is one thing we mush eschew, in case you didn’t know,
You can have juice but just don’t touch the bottled H2O.

Now Sandor, he’s the man for lunch, and Dave he’s quite the cook,
and Ryan he’ll do Arnold quips, and Colin’s got the looks.
(Actually they all do but hey, it rhymes.)

Now where has Kevin gone to now? I need to get some stuff,
Perused and answered, tweaked, and cropped, but finding him is tough.

I think he's gone to get supplies, and this just might make sense,
(For Bonnie Tyler tunes you know, he's got to recompense.)

Now all in all we have it good, we groove to different tunes.
It is a shame, we can’t complain, like all the other goons.

Cause working here is pretty sweet; I know it could be worse,
I’ve learned new words, and catchy tunes, and even how to curse.

Now I’m not good at writing blogs, but thought I’d try my hand,
To say how nice it is to work right here at Francoland.