This little parody video really makes the point that usability and simplicity should always be the cornerstone of good design and marketing. Oftentimes, we create briefs, talk about the target audience, and eventually over-complicate things only to find out that our designs are trainwrecks when they hit the wild. One of my favorite lines in this little video is near the end says, “Guys, we’re a little disappointed in how this thing is testing so we’ve got some minor changes.”

I find this little video to be a all too important call to simplicity and function as the bedrock of good solid design. We should always be asking the question, “Can we make this easier and clearer to the user.” Also, it makes a good point in the addage, “test early, and test often.”

The rub has been, and is continually going to be how to direct the client into simplicity and convince them that complexity just befuddles the user. This is where doing user testing – informal or formal – is important to getting buy in.

Hope you enjoy.

I recently received a copy of my local “Homes and Land” magazine in the mail. For those of you who do not know, this publication is a listing of homes for sale in any given area. It’s a large company with magazine publications in many local markets throughout the United States and Canada.

Having worked in Real Estate advertising I always thought pretty low of these types of books, because statistically they accounted for an absurdly low number of actual real estate transactions. 2006 statistics showed that less than 1% of home buyers found the home they bought using these types of publications – which is especially ironic for the magazine called “Homefinders.”

That statistic was enough to convince me that these were not the right way to go for Realtors who wanted to spend their advertising money wisely. However, I’ve just recently started to wonder why these publications have such low numbers of success. Is it simply because people look elsewhere for their home purchases? Or might there be a usability problem with the design layout of the particular magazines which inhibits buyers from finding a home? After some thought and examination of the “Homes and Land” I received in the mail, I realized that the design has nothing to do whatsoever with selling homes.

We’re currently in the market for a new home, and as a consumer and a designer, I’ve been really attentive to the way in which I search for home listing information, and how I interact with the ways in which it’s presented to me by marketers. Information architecture is everywhere, and these magazines are no exception. Information, whether intentionally or not, is presented in a form or fashion which conveys meaning, usability, and intended audience.As a home buyer, I want to be able to search by many criteria – such as price, location/neighborhood, number of bedrooms/bathrooms – NOT by Realtor. “Homes and Land,” and similar publications like “Homefinders” and “Homeseekers” all provide individually designed (or as they would suggest, “market differentiated”) ads, which are hard to read, entirely different from ad to ad, and more focused on the Realtor than the homes they are selling. While looking at the information design (if I dare call it that) for “Homes and Land” magazine I had to ask myself “who do the publishers believe their readers are and how is this conveyed in their design choices?” It is apparent that the answer to this question is not the Realtors coveted buyer, but the magazine’s coveted consumer – the Realtors themselves. Indeed, if the design was truly for a buyer, it would have a completely different information design.

Now, I know that for Realtors there is an incredible need to differentiate themselves from the “competition.” It is a dog eat dog industry, and many in it stress the need to set themselves apart from one another. It is evident, based on the design of these magazines and their low success rate, that the real reason for their existence is not to sell homes, but to meet the felt needs of Realtors for differentiation in their local markets. A magazine which was focused on meeting the needs of the home buyer would be thoughtfully laid out with their needs in mind and the structure would mimmick their user process in finding, selecting and buying a home.

“Homes and Land” is a perfect example in how the way design information structures convey a certain truth in advertising. It undermines our words and shows true intentions. While magazine publishers like those at “Homes and Land” wouldn’t necessarily say they are being deceptive with Realtors, the design of the magazine conveys one of two things: (1) the magazine designers have no clue as to the actual consumer process of a home buyer, or (2) they are not designing for the home buyer, but rather for the people who butter their bread.

This happens all the time, in many different ways – company politics, inattentive copywriters, and other factors make us stray from the intentional focus on the needs of the user and decrease the effectiveness of a design at meeting it’s stated objective.

The irony of this whole thing is that while these print publications fail miserably at conveying information in a helpful fashion for the buyer, many of the company websites get it right. With the ability to search by zip code, price range, beds and baths, and myriad other helpful filtering search choices, Homes and Land does a great job of being focused on the consumer.

Along with effectively creating a branding campaign centered around a logo and suitable for the industry and lifestyle of the target audience, companies and organizations oftentimes will choose to add a tagline, or motto to describe or create a feeling surrounding their product. Almost anyone can come up with several of these off the top of their head. From “I’m lovin’ it” to “Just do it” we are constantly hearing and seeing complimentary catch phrases to further a company’s brand. One organization that has done an outstanding job of using a tagline is the US Army and their “Army of One” campaign. Let’s take a look at some keys to creating a great tagline:

Taglines should be simple and concise

A tag cannot be too long, nor too complex. If they become too long or complex they run the risk of (1) overshadowing the actual visual identiy of the brand, or (2) become white noise, and thus lost space, in the design. Generally a tagline should be less than 5 short words, however, 3 is even better. “Army of One,” “Just Do It” and “I’m Lovin’ It” all exist as statements. There is enough mass and sentence structure to push an idea. Each one provides a noun, verb and direct object but are concise enough to engage the audience and simple enough for them to remember.

Taglines must be Descriptive

A misnomer regarding a tagline is that it should in some way describe the product itself. The truth, however, is that a tagline is most effective when it describes the target audience’s interaction with the product or organization it represents. In marketing the simple matter of it is that it is not enough to get people to like your product, you want them to buy it. By using descriptive words regarding the product, you have the opportunity to move the target audience into a position of interaction with the product, and you frame that interaction. “I’m lovin’ it” is a perfect example of this.

Taglines should point back to the company identity.

Taglines should not only point back to the company identity, but they should only be used if they reinforce it. Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign is a perfect example of this. The tagline calls and the company identity answers. That is, the tagline suggests an “it” and the company identity, which is less name and more Swoosh, affirms that Nike is “it”, or is the portal into which the consumer attains “it.” In this manner, Nike’s “Just do it” mixes user experience, product purchase and Nike’s products ability to enable the athletic consuer to “Do.”

The tagline must also be evocative and in tune with Social Psychology
A company tagline invites the target audience into participation with the company identification. “Army of One” invites the post-modern young adult into what they are most interested in: a community of individuals. This brings up another very important point regarding taglines: they must take into account the demographic they are intending to reach. The US Army marketing team understands the young adult’s (their target audience, no doubt) cultural mindset and plays on their social psychology to engage them. Many older adults do not understand the “Army of One” campaign, because it does not speak to their cultural mindset. However, the Army speaks directly to the generation they are most interested in reaching, using language that resonates with them and in so refines their marketing energies.

There are many other important aspects when deciding on a tagline, but these four are essential.

In my last post on Branding, I mentioned that a “great logo must encapsulate the very essence of a company.” Exploring more on this topic I’d like to take a look at how a branding campaign is effected not only by the essence of the company, but by the visual standards for the industry as well. Visual identification clues the viewer into not only the ethos of the business that it is representing, but also the framework of the industry it is a part of. For example, a children’s clothing store will choose to use playful fonts, with primary color schemes. They do this to represent their industry and their product. It would be completely inappropriate and unhelpful for a children’s clothing store to choose a visual identity reminescent of athletic apparel, or even some industry outside of textiles, like banking, or insurance sales.

The question then must be evaluated as to why industries have developed distinct visual identities. Oftentimes this is because an industry leading or industry innovating company has set the marker for the industry identity. This is the case, in part, with companies like Nike and Apple Computers. Another reason industries begin to develop visual identities of their own is because of the demographic of their end user. In the Children’s clothing store example, their end user (parents/children) are perceptually drawn to primary color palettes and soft/rounded edges because of their environment, age, and developmental stage. This is vitally different from a sports apparel company whose end user is inevitably attracted to a dynamic, energetic, young and vibrant visual identity because it encapsulates their motivation for purchasing such apparel.

All in all, branding must take into account not only company ethos and product dynamism, but it must also be reminescent of industry visual standards and reflect the target audience’s use of product and lifestyle (or intended lifestyle). Once these issues have been addressed, the designer is ready to begin designing.

When I was in college we used to sit around and talk about how it was the logo that defined a company. But since then I’ve come to the understanding that a logo is yet a single part of a brand. While painstaking detail and care must go into the development of the logo, the logo will lose its power if not set apart by a strong parallel branding campaign that reflects everything that the logo is visually. That said, a great logo will encapsulate and express the very essence of a company. Thus the logo acts as the center of a branding campaign which creates a visual image for a company, service, or product. The logo cannot exist outside of a company, and a logo should not exist outside of a well developed supporting branding campaign.