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icogradaIDAleading creatively

Founded in 1963, Icograda (the International Council of Graphic

Design Associations) is a voluntary assembly of organisations

concerned with graphic design, visual communication, design

management, promotion, education, research and journalism.

Icograda promotes communication designers’ vital role in soci-

ety and commerce and unifies the voices of graphic designers

and visual communicators worldwide.

The vision, mission and core values of the council are collective-

ly embodied in the statement ‘leading creatively’ and manifested

through our Members’ diverse activities to use design as a

medium for progressive change.

Communication design is an intellectual, technical and creative

activity concerned not simply with the production of images

but with the analysis, organisation and methods of presentation

of visual solutions to communication problems. The Icograda

Foundation was established in 1991 for the advancement of

worldwide understanding and education through the effective

use of graphic design.

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Dying To Look Glamorous 002

Brand Commandments 006

Is Respect And Reward For Creativity Too Much To Ask? 011

Image Gallery 015

With All Due Respect 019

Design For Social Impact - Is It Activism? 023

The Role Of Graphic Design In International Development 027

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Dying To Look Glamorous

While a new designer brand launches in Russia and Asia to entice more people to smoke, the government of Australia seeks to erase branding and make cigarette packaging highly unappealing.A critical reminder of packaging design’s impact on consumer perception.French fashion brand designs new luxury cigarette pack as Australia goes in the opposite direction. Until about three years ago, one of the first things to greet passengers arriving at Paris airport was the acrid stink of cigarette smoke every where. France took quite a bit longer than many other Western countries to institute smoking bans in public places, but new measures, allied with significant cigarette tax increases, caused a measurable dent in smoking rates and may eventually help decrease the death toll attributed to smoking in France.

According to a report by the European Journal of Cardio-vascular Prevention & Rehabilitation in December 2010, French smokers are currently estimated to die at the rate of around 66,000 every year from smoking-induced cardiovascular diseases alone. A ‘declining market’ is not what the tobacco companies want to see however, so in the face of increasingly stricter legislation on advertising in the Western world, they’re turning their attention to new markets in Asia and Russia, and women in particular.

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Yves Saint Laurent’s cigarette

Yves Saint Laurent cigarette line to be launched in Russia and Asia targets women.The house of deceased French fashion designer Yves Saint Laurent has just released a newly designed cigarette pack design bearing his name, sporting the ‘luxury’ colours of black and gold. In doing so, they join the likes of quite a few other fashion labels that have licensed their name and prestige to a deadly product, including according to Wikipedia - Givenchy, Versace, Pierre Cardin, Christian Lacroix and Cartier. All that is in stark contrast to the efforts of the Australian federal government, which recently revealed plans to compel all cigarettes sold in Australia to be packaged in a new, deliberately repellent design of drab olive green. In addition to the unattractive colour, there will be no cigarette company logos allowed, printing of tobacco company names must be in a specific font and size, and the new packs will feature prominent health warnings and large images of smoking related diseases.

If passed, the new Australian laws will be the first of their type in the world, coming into effect 1 January 2012, with cigarette companies having a further six months to alter their package designs.

Predictably enough, the tobacco companies went into orbit, thereby proving the old adage that the effectiveness of any proposed anti-smoking legislation can generally be measured by the level of opposition from the tobacco industry.

DavidMellonie,fortheDesignInstituteofAustralia

“WhileanewdesignerbrandlaunchesinRussiaandAsiatoenticemorepeopletosmoke,thegovernmentofAustraliaseekstoerasebrandingandmakecigarettepackaginghighlyunappealing.Acriticalreminderofpackagingdesign’simpactonconsumerperception.”

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Yves Saint Laurent’s cigarette

Australia was quoted as saying that the Australian government might have to pay billions of dollars in compensation for ‘infringing international trademark and intellectual property laws’ - a claim promptly rejected by most corporate legal experts.The tobacco companies also threatened to start a price cutting war, and said that the new packaging design moves would lead to an increase in the ‘black market’ - presumably unaware of the irony in that term.

Australian Federal Government Health Minister Nicola Roxon said that research had shown that cigarette packs in an ugly olive green was the least attractive colour for smokers. A comprehensive study by the Victorian Cancer Council released this month said that “the cigarette pack has become the key marketing tool employed by the tobacco industry to attractand retain customers,” that “current pack colours and imagery can dilute the impact of graphic health warnings,” and that “unregulated package colouring and imagery contribute to consumers’ misperceptions that certain brands are safer than others.“Removing colours from cigarette packs and misleading terms such as ‘smooth’, ‘gold’ and ‘silver’ would reduce false beliefs about the harmfulness of cigarettes,” said the report.“Adults and adolescents perceive cigarettes in plain packs to be less appealing, The proposed new Australian cigarette packs might be one of the very few examples where design deliberately aspires to be ugly and repellent, all in the name of a good cause.

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Proposed cigarette packaging with minimal branding designed to

dissuade smoking. Courtesy of Government of Australia.

YOUR

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A lot of companies are stuck. They find marketing bewildering and unpredictable and just don’t know how to connect with customers. So they look to big companies and start imitating. Most times this goes over like a lead balloon. Fact is, the big guys have more firepower. Pretending you’re one of them only makes you look like an also-ran. Worse yet, it forces you to give up a power those guys would kill for.

Being small makes you fast, agile, and responsive. Most importantly, it allows you to get personal with your customers in a way no multinational can match, using tools that have never existed before. As natural as it should be for you to take advantage of them, it’s not easy to know how to start.

After a lifetime of ridiculous ads, phony marketing, and outrageous exaggerations, we need to step back and relearn how to

communicate... in a way that actually works. This isn’t a textbook with a complicated marketing plan. It isn’t a marketing checklist either. It’s a one-on-one conversation full of zigs and zags. In it, I share many stories that are practical and sometimes personal. I believe they’ll help you find a way to take advantage of your small, smart, strategic advantage. Ultimately, this book is about finding your own voice, articulating it clearly and using it to connect with your customers. My hope is that when you finish it, you’llfind yourself excited by the astounding opportunities that have only now become available to you. Get ready to do something with them. All you have to do is SpeakHuman.

Chapter 8: Brand CommandmentsThere are a number of consistent traps that cause brands to fumble. Most of these are avoidable, and remaining mindful of the following cautions can help temper the pains faced in building a strong brand. Let us begin:

Outmarket the Big Guys , Speak Human by Eric Karjaluoto

Brand Commandment

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Fools try to be something they are not, or to mask their true character. The best companies align their appearance, interactions, and voice with the values, motivations, and the spirit of their organisations. You shall do this as well. The key to your brand is in aligning how you present yourself with your passions. Done effectively, you can connect with those who are looking for a company just like yours. 1 3

2 5Honoryourbrand

We commonly take on more than we should and this comes back to haunt us. Many reason that, “If we add another thing, we’ll do more business.” In actuality, each addition multiplies the complexity of their messaging and operations exponentially. Imagine being a veterinarian who also dabbles in civil engineering, product design, and international relations. In each area there is opportunity. Together they become a mess.This would likely be easy for them, and they’d probably have good reason to do so. Instead they’ve suppressed the desire to be all things.

Some companies look only to price as their key point of differentiation. I think this is a foolish misstep. Although you can buy an inexpensive knockoff, most would prefer an authentic Louis Vuitton handbag - even with a cost of many hundreds of dollars. Similarly, no-name pharmaceuticals (often materially identical to their branded counterparts) can be had for a fraction of the cost. Still, you probably buy NyQuil when you have a really bad cold.

Youshallnotimitateasmorgasbord

Youshallnottakeyourtruevalueinvain

Rememberyourpurpose,tokeepitholy

4Plans are easily made but harder to stick with. Many seek to redefine their purpose at the first sign of hardship. I don’t propose maintaining a fruitless course of action, but I do believe that the impetus to change purpose should be contemplated carefully When you change direction, you lose momentum and have to rebuild it all over again. This is costly, and it can become a pattern. Those who hit “reset” every time the path gets rough find it awfully tempting to repeat this action indefinitely.

I used to go to an upscale Italian restaurant with killer risotto. At around the same time, I would spend Friday nights with friends at nightclubs and bars. After one evening out, we decided to grab a slice of pizza at a generic franchise. While seated I noticed a familiar face; the maître d’ from that great eatery was ending his night here with some greasy low-grade pizza.

Youshallbeyourself

9876Youshallbehonest

Youshallnotconfusealogoforbrand

Youshallnotoverusesuperlatives

Youshallnotmakeitcomplicated

Every day we find countless opportunities to embellish, misrepresent, or entirely fake what we do. We have to build trust with our patrons. The only way to do so with lasting effect is to behave in an ethical and transparent manner at all times. While some truths may not always endear us to others, speaking mistruths can prove doubly damaging. It’s easier to just tell it like it is, particularly as your organisation grows and you need to ask others to speak for your company. To achieve meaningful communication we have to get the mess out of the way and face brutal facts. If you’re bullshitting your clients, you’re clouding your own vision too.

The lines between design, brands, and marketing are fuzzy, so it’s understandable that we sometimes get confused. A logo is not and never will be a brand. It is simply an icon. An identity is just a system used to lend a clear and consistent voice for your organisation. It doesn’t change who you are; it just augments how you are perceived by others.A brand is a bigger and vaguer sort of thing. Largely, it’s the over-all perception of your company. Some refer to it as being what others feel or say about your organisation, which is partially accurate. It’s a number of other things as well. I like to think that it ties into the soul of your company.

Adjectives, adverbs, and descriptive terms flow freely when we market our companies. It’s all too easy to casually toss superlatives around and feel like we’ve clarified our position. Descriptive terms don’t necessarily change how you are perceived; just like a new paint job on an old El Camino won’t turn it into a BMW.

Don’t expect your audience to give your product even a moment of thought. We’re all too busy for that. Instead, go the other way: limit what you say to one spectacular thing about what you offer. (This of course, necessitates doing something spectacularly.) If you need more than a sentence to do this, you might be in trouble. Smart people can make complex things seem simple - it goes the other way too. When you make things complicated, you scare people away. The best plans and brands can be explained quickly without added verbiage, complexity, or defense.

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Youshallnotcovetyourneighbor’sbrand,norhisox,norhisdonkey

We humans are predisposed to following. Even when given the choice between a busy lane of traffic and an empty one, we tend to choose the more congested option, reasoning that there must be a cause for the increased activity. 10

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The growth of digital file sharing and more recently the increase in the number of brand owners using open innovation to draw in creative ideas may only increase the vulnerability experienced by creative people with no option but to expose their creative work, pre-contract. The traditional fees-for-services model will continue to exist; however brand owners are trialling procurement models such as licensing, royalty and shared risk, more commonly associated with industrial design, graphics, service design, packaging and digital disciplines.

Sohowwillthecreativeindustriesadaptandrespondtoprocurementandremunerationchanges?

And crucially how will they protect their creativity and the value of their knowledgebased solutions? The answer may lie in trust-based engagement models In an ideal world such vulnerability issues would not exist if trust were an automatic assurance during business negotiations. However, it is not. That does not mean to imply that most people are purposefully disingenuous in their business dealings.It means that without clear guidelines in place, misunderstandings between the negotiating parties can result in one party feeling exploited if the unspoken terms they believed they were operating under differ from that of the other party.

Ads now regularly carry barcodes

Is Respect & Reward For Creativity Too Much To Ask?

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Sowhyhasthatpowernotbeengalvanisedandutilisedtodate?

Possibly because concept protection is viewed as a complex issue and no one party or sector has commercial benefit to gain from providing a solution - other than the creative industry itself. However creative people still struggle to speak with one voice. It’s the nature of the beast that many have described as trying to herd cats. That may be true, but if there is one predominant area where creative people do agree, it is a need for their creativity to be respected and valued.

WhywerentEasytoprotectundercopyrightlaw?

For several reasons – the first is the confusion that has steadily grown between ‘inventive’ ideas, which can be protected via patent applications, and those solution-based ideas common within professional 2D and digital industries. There is the common truth that multiple parties might generate the same or a very similar idea - although of course it is how an idea is articulated and commercialised that determines the value If one party could exclusively protect a ‘business’ idea, issues would arise with anti-competitiveness and creation of monopoly. For example, one Bank, one car share club, one travel agent. There are firmly held beliefs that idea ownership would restrict innovation and even world progress.

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MaxineJHorn,CEOofCreativeBarcode

“Foraslongasmostofuscanrememberissuessurroundingtheprotectionofcreativeworkswhenpitchingconceptsorsubmittingtenders&proposalstoindustryhasbeenfraughtwithproblems.MaxineJHorntellsusaboutCreativeBarcode’ssolutiontotheseissues”

Outmarket the Big Guys , Speak Human by Eric Karjaluoto

Sowheredoesthatleavecreativeindustriesprofessionals?

Potentially creative industries could fight to differentiate between ‘ideas’ and solution-led creativity to prove their work is as valuable or more so than any other creative interpretation such as photography, illustration, novels, music and fine art. They could legally argue that they should hold the same rightsHowever, changing IP law is complex and could take a decade or more to achieve. A faster and more realistic approach might be for creative industries to unite under a system that denotes fair and non-complex terms of engagement based on agreed principles of trust and permission-based use. In other words, create an ethical trading standard that becomes the norm by critical mass.If every creative person barcoded their work then the creation dates, creative-solution and visual interpretation could be identified and tracked to its Creator. When, why and how it was exposed to another party is also tracked. Further, should such breach occur, any dispute pursued would not rely on potentially weak copyright but that of breach of trust agreement. The simple agreement is that written and creative proposals submitted under the prospect of genuine new business opportunity, may not be commercialised without permission of the Creator. Recourse becomes straightforward, pay for the use of work retrospectively or it is withdrawn from the market.

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Outmarket the Big Guys , Speak Human by Eric Karjaluoto

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JAGDA Poster Grand Prize © Katsumi Asaba

http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1752.htm

UNFPA corporate identity

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Above- While Hunt Design initially proposed a colour-coded wayfinding

system, the CFA-approved pylons will be in shades of dark grey. Frutiger

and Rawlinson typefaces are NPS standards. Source- Hunt Design

Sketching for CBB

http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1752.htm

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Head and Pockets Full

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Things to Buy in Singapore

http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/articles1752.htm