It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and as such, I’ve just launched Identity Designed — a showcase and forum for those involved in the design of brand identities.

There are five case studies to read, with plenty more lined-up:

• Believe in
• Wright Brothers
• Miller & Green
• Channel 4
• Offsetters

If you like what you see, grab the RSS feed, or get updates via email.

Obligatory Twitter and Facebook pages:

• on Twitter
• on Facebook

I do hope you enjoy.

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Although logos can be hugely creative on their own, they’re rarely used in isolation (if at all), but a visual identity system, with the logo (or brandmark) playing an important role, creates an entire atmosphere around a brand, and when done right, can build customer relationships, increase sales, maximise profits.

Although there’s no rush to sell, I’d like to launch a new blog — one with a clear emphasis on “identity.” That’s when the fun of finding an available domain comes into play. I was thinking about something like Thoughts on Identity or Identity Designed (the domains are reserved just in case). Any ideas?

I’ve never sold a website before, and could do with a little advice.

An auction site’s a possibility, but Ian made a point worth considering — should I sell to the right person, or the one with the most money? And then, if I don’t use an auction, how do I set a value?

This is all assuming there’ll be enough interest.

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With 17,116 comments on 452 blog posts, it’s good to step back from time-to-time and republish what you’re saying. Here’s another quick round of reader comments.

Ewan of edu.blogs.com, on The myth of constructive criticism?

“In education, we use the analogy of “two stars and a wish” – tell me two things you like about what you’ve seen and the one thing that would make an immediate, important improvement.

“Often on a second draft looking at just one piece of work needing retouched, you’ll hit on several others yourself, without the need for a client (or teacher) to come out with masses of red ink.”
— EWAN MCINTOSH

Rob, on The “I Love New York” logo:

“One of the reasons this logo has lasted so long and remained as popular as it has, is that the New York tourism board had the good sense not to change it, add things, make it look “more contemporary” etc. How many logos don’t change AT ALL in 30 years? Someone in this thread mentioned Paul Rand’s brilliant UPS logo… which the company has recently thrown in the trash and replaced with a generic, meaningless shield/gradient/bevel-thing that looks like the “Raid” insecticide package.

“It’s not all up to the designers… a great design results from a collaboration with clients who are not idiots. Which seems to be more and more rare.”
— ROB

Lee of Designed by Good People, on What makes a good logo?

“Do not use free fonts.

“You can’t use them commercially. They are for private use only (most of the time). This means you can’t use them for a client, paid or otherwise, which renders them useless.

“They are a pain and often don’t work or are corrupt.”
— LEE NEWHAM

Duane of Logobird, on Self-employment advice for designers:

“Not only will you make mistakes, making mistakes (and learning from them) early on is absolutely vital to your growth and potential for future success.”
— DUANE KINSEY

Mark of Mark McCorkell, on Improve your portfolio with pro bono design:

“When I was in my final year [of formal education] I wanted to learn a bit more about the print process so I managed to get a job in a local printers. I was in there a day or two a week helping out, and was getting paid, with some really good perks for coursework printing too, as you can imagine. Even If I wasn’t getting paid though, I reckon I would have at least put in some time there to learn the stuff you don’t get taught in class.

“Most students aren’t aware of opportunities that are out there for them, but if you look hard enough there are always some options to better yourself – you just need to have that spark and itch to want to work.”
— MARK MCCORKELL

Thanks for the continued chat. It helps keep me motivated.

Microphone photo credit.

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There are very few design blogs I’ve been reading since starting my own in 2006. One of them is Noisy Decent Graphics, written by London-based designer Ben Terrett of Really Interesting Group.

Ben’s been kind enough to write a review of my book, Logo Design Love.

But that’s not the only post you should read on his blog. These are great, too:

• I’m a designer. Use me better.
• Long overdue kerning homework
• Britain’s Greatest Graphic Designer

You can subscribe to Ben’s blog here. I recommend it.

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I’m frequently asked for advice about starting a blog. Many of you will know I use the freely available service WordPress to power both davidairey.com and Logo Design Love, but very few of you will know what WordPress plugins I’ve installed to help make the most of the publishing platform.

WordPress plugins installed here

1. Akismet
   Comes as standard with all WordPress platform downloads, and checks reader comments against the Akismet web service to see if they look like spam. Those comments that do are automatically filtered into a “spam” folder.
2. All in One SEO Pack
   Automatically optimises page titles and META tags for search engines. Easily override the predetermined titles and tags using form fields. In effect, you can have your post headlines say one thing e.g., “Are you serious?” and your page titles (usually the same as your headlines) say another e.g., “David Cameron new Prime Minister” for search engine rankings.
3. cforms II
   Effortlessly creates easy-to-use web forms, sending the results to your chosen email address. I use this on my contact page, and when supplying potential clients with a few initial project questions.
4. Facebook Like Widget
   I started testing this one a week or two ago. It adds a little “like” button beneath posts and pages, so if a reader is logged into Facebook, clicking the button will display the link on his/her wall for others to see. Not sure how well it’s going.
5. Feedburner Feed Replacement
   Directs all feed URLs from WordPress to Feedburner (the third-party subscription service I use). It’s by Steve Smith of Ordered List, but the plugin is no longer available for download, so I’m curious if I should just deactivate this one. The FD Feedburner plugin looks like it does the same job, though, so maybe it’s worth keeping.
6. Google XML Sitemaps
   Another for the search engines. It automatically generates and updates your sitemap, so search engine robots can easily and quickly crawl/index your content.
7. Highlight Author Comments
   Allows me to self-style my own comments in every post thread, so mine appear slightly different from other commentators. Good for those who scan the threads looking for post-author replies.
8. PostPost
   Particularly useful, and lets me add text and/or images to the foot of my RSS feed. I’ve added a line of text saying, “Published on David Airey, graphic designer” where the David Airey, graphic designer part links back to my homepage. This means all those splogs that scrape my feed and republish it without permission are giving a continual stream of links back to my site (it’s something, at least). I also display a banner advertising my book.
9. Subscribe To Comments
   Adds a checkbox so commentators have the option to receive email updates when new comments are added after theirs. Hugely helpful for generating chat and a sense of community.
10. WordPress.com Stats
    Google Analytics is great, but it’s too much for getting a quick look at where site visitors are coming from. This plugin puts an extra tab in the WordPress dashboard, and a single click shows the sites from which visitors arrive, what search engine terms are being used to direct traffic my way, popular posts, what people are clicking, and any new links to my site from elsewhere.
11. WP-Cache
    Stores a static version of every page visited for a user-set time frame (up to one hour). This means that if I’m getting a sudden flood of traffic, the burden on my web host is greatly reduced (helping to prevent my site from going down).
12. WordPress Related Posts
    You see the “Related posts on David Airey dot com” section below? That’s automatically generated by this plugin, helping increase clicks to other (normally related) pages on my site.
13. WP Page Numbers
    Shows clickable page numbers at the foot of the homepage and category pages (instead of next page and previous page)
14. WP Twitip ID
    Adds an extra field in the blog comment thread, allowing commentators to enter their Twitter ID for display. According to the plugin page, this one’s no longer supported, and has been replaced by the newer TwitterLink Comments.
15. TweetMeme Button
    Adds the “retweet” button in a place of your choosing (before, after, manual). Also shows the number of “retweets” already, giving an indication of the post’s popularity with readers. You’ll see a green button below each of my posts (down and on the right). Give it a wee click.

It’s important to keep in mind that each plugin used will add to the loading time of your site. If I was half-decent at coding I’d probably do away with “WP Twitip ID” and “Highlight Author Comments” plugins, adding a piece of code to my blog theme instead.

Hopefully this short list has given the WordPress users out there a new idea or two.

Can you recommend any plugins you think would improve my collection?

WordPress buttons photo credit

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Use other people’s content.

Don’t give credit.

Pretend you’re something you’re not.

Just keep in mind that everything you do online affects your brand, and gives others a strong opinion about who you are. If you want to be known as a content thief, as someone who never gives credit, or for having a hidden agenda, then go right ahead.

But if you want to be known for your original content, for offering praise when it’s deserved, and for being honest, do something about it today. Express your thoughts. Talk about designers you admire. Expect nothing in return.

It’s your blog. Your brand. You choose how we see you.

(Photo credit)

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Fancy going to the Social Media World Forum? I’ve got a two-day conference pass worth $850 that needs an owner.

There’ll be speakers from Google, Ford, Coca-Cola, Ogilvy, Starbucks, GM, Walmart, Kodak, Technorati, LinkedIn, and plenty more.

The two-day pass includes:

• Entry to the conference and presentations
• Access to the pre-event online meeting planner Conference Materials
• Refreshments throughout each day including full buffet lunch
• Entry to networking drinks reception
• Post show digital access to speaker presentations

For a chance to win just leave a comment saying something you’d change about my blog (the design, topics of chat, frequency of posts—anything really). I’ll list a randomly chosen winner on my Twitter page this Friday (October 9th), along with collection info.

You’ll obviously need to be in California in November (I can’t unfortunately), and there’s more event info here.

Oh, and if you can’t make it, but still have a suggestion, I’d love to know. Just remember to tell me not to include you in the draw.

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It’s been a while since I put the focus back on you. Too long, in fact. So here’s another batch of your thought-provoking comments.

Lee Newham on, “The true cost of rebranding?”

“So what’s in a name anyway? If you recognize it’s the previous product, and it tastes the same as the previous product, then do you really care that the name has changed?

“Brand names get swallowed up and disappear. In the UK, Austin, Morris, Riley, Rover, Wolseley, Triumph, BSA, Woolworths, Timothy Whites, Lagonda, Vanden Plas. Only MG survived and that was gone for many years. How many people miss the passing of these names? I have nostalgic memories for some of these, but in reality, has it made may life worse not being surrounded by these names?

“I’d argue that design and graphics are more important than a name. A name is a bit like pasta. Often boring on it’s own, but add some sauce and it’s unique and appetising.”

Douglas Bonneville, of BonFX, on, “Agency vs freelancer — your take”

“Some marketing directors choose an agency because of a personal friendship, need to impress a CEO, need to score brownie points with a firm they might join someday, etc.

“Another big one is the need for corporate marketing departments to have to spend the budget they are allocated or they lose funding in the succeeding fiscal year. There are so many layers, but agencies serve the needs of corporate marketing departments because they make it possible to spend large amounts of money and keep the wheels greased. This isn’t bad per se, it’s just a simple fact of how things at the corporate level work.

“One project I worked on as an employee working with another design agency had a flash banner of seven rotating images that cost (I saw the invoice) close to 5 figures because it involved “project management”, several meetings (that we didn’t need), several rounds of changes (because the agency interactive department didn’t follow the 3 bullet points I laid out), etc. etc. But hey, that Flash banner fed a lot of people that week, and is the reason the hot dog vendors on the streets of NY can stay in business, parking valets can make a living off of tips, and restaurants booking business meetings can keep the single working mom’s in the kitchen employed. Strange how these things work. But I could have made that banner in half a day (with blog breaks) for piddley-cents on the dollar! Maybe I should stop thinking like that, and start thinking about how my more-inflated fees might just help working-class.”

Cat Wentworth, of NO!SPEC, on, “AIGA President Debbie Millman on spec work”

“Opting for the pro bono route may give you some experience, but it won’t put food on the table.

“This is another misconception, as a lot of non-profits do have a design budget. You just need to ask.

“Basically, it is up to each designer to decide just how much of their time will be donated – probono. I used to cut my charges in half, and the non-profits had to get donations to cover the rest.

“Also, designers are usually allowed to approach companies to donate money to cover a part (or all) of the design costs. This is how the real world works when you become a full-fledged designer, so might as well use a system that is already in place.”

Steve Morris, of WebMojo, on, “Do you follow logo design trends?”

“Design seems to be a regurgitation of ideas with your own spin. Is there any originality? And if you did produce something totally original, would it be accepted in the mainstream?”

FG, of ION FreshStart, on, “The design pricing formula”

“Another factor that effects pricing: fear.

“Being both a freelance designer and business planning consultant for almost eleven years, I’ve found that both the client and I, the service provider, are in vulnerable positions. The client wants a fair price (or a great deal) and wants the end-result to reflect their request or surpass their expectations. The service provider wants to receive a fair price (and get paid timely) and create something wonderful for the client. The client fears they may get ripped off; the service provider fears they may get the run around and never be compensated properly, aka ripped off.

“While these things are not actually discussed, I do believe this is an underlying tension that adversely impacts the pricing game. Each side can act defensively without even realizing it. Knowing a client’s budget, timeframe and expectations usually helps ease the pain of this awkward situation, but in my experience, when I’ve asked the client these things, they either don’t know or the answers change after project initiation. Even with a great deal of confidence and experience, every new client brings a new-found vulnerability.”

Jon Liebold, on, “Creativity for a moving world”

“Here in the US we are seeing the rise of people suing their employers because of the prevalence of this “always on, always connected” world society we have created companies are expecting their employees to be at their beck and call 24/7 and in some cases on an unpaid basis.

“While I do agree with the people suing their employers for being forced to work off the clock unpaid (which is a violation of US federal law), we are a lawsuit happy society. My favorite are the injury lawyers. Whenever I see one of those commercials I hear this in my head:

“I was recently involved in a slip and fall because in spite of the fact the sign was written in both English and Spanish, I could not comprehend what ‘Caution: Wet Floor’ meant and fell on my bottom. Because of my bruised ego and sore bottom I got $5,000,000 thanks to (insert blood-sucking lawyer name here)”

Thanks again to everyone who takes time to comment. Although I don’t reply to each and every one, it doesn’t mean I’m not appreciative. I am. Very much.

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We judge people by how they look. It’s an everyday occurrence, no matter how unfair. But what if appearances didn’t matter? What if we could just say what’s on our minds and not worry about clothes, hair, makeup?

Okay, so if I told you to turn up for your next job interview wearing pyjamas, you’d think I was nuts. Rightly so. On the Internet, however, appearances count for a lot less.

Steve Pavlina, Matt Cutts, Seth Godin. Between them they author three of the most popular blogs on the Internet, each with an Alexa rank under 10k. Now I’m sure you’ll agree that their site designs aren’t anything to write home about (although in Steve’s case, you might actually want to write something). Yet this doesn’t stop an increasing number of people flocking to read what they’ve written.

“But these guys aren’t the norm.” you might say. Or, “I don’t have the voice to attract their numbers.” Steve, Matt, and Seth are no different from either of us. Set your mind to it and you can go wherever you want to go.

The next time you’re putting off a blog post until you get your design “just right”, scratch that idea. It’s what you say that matters most.

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Image by Mykl Roventine

Design agencies and studios on Twitter

160over90

Twitter: @160over90
Website: 160over90
This Philadelphia-based branding agency “tweets” news, thoughts, and links that you wouldn’t find through their website. Nicely done. Their award-winning identity for Woodmere Art Museum also gets a thumbs up.

300million

Twitter: @300million
Website: 300million
Think of The Royal Parks logo, or the NHS identity. This studio in London produces stellar design work. Very friendly people, too, they’ll be featured in my upcoming book. After two months of fairly regular tweets between June and July, they’ve now stopped updates.

Brandient

Twitter: @Brandient
Website: Brandient
Established in 2002, this is the first dedicated brand consultancy on the Romanian market. Not all tweets are in English, although it’s clear they actively engage with followers, which is a good sign.

BrandLogic

Twitter: @BrandLogicNY
Website: BrandLogic
An award-winning brand agency in New York and Los Angeles, showing case studies from Pepsi, Texaco, IBM and many more. Mainly self-promotional tweets on an occasional basis, with some “retweets” of brand-related news.

Coudal Partners

Twitter: @Coudal
Website: Coudal Partners
Branded with the surname of founder Jim, exciting projects have sprung from this Chicago-based design, advertising, and interactive studio. Tweets are often personal in nature, and there’s a good level of interaction with followers. How it should be done.

CoreBrand

Twitter: @CoreBrand
Website: CoreBrand
Specialising in corporate brands, the Twitter profile is seldom updated, and then it’s simply to highlight their web articles. With that said, they’re doing more than some.

Duffy & Partners

Twitter: @Duffy_Partners
Website: Duffy & Partners
New entry to the list, on 30 September 2009. Duffy is just getting into the Twitter game. I’m sure others will follow suit.

FutureBrand

Twitter: @FutureBrand
Website: FutureBrand
FutureBrand has a huge global presence, offering brand strategy and experience. Their profile is a placeholder with no updates (not even a hello). Two thumbs down.

Hoefler & Frere-Jones

Twitter: @H_FJ
Website: Hoefler & Frere-Jones
Not your typical design studio, and more specifically a type foundry. Hoefler & Frere-Jones works with leading brands to develop original typefaces, also licensing some fantastic fonts from a library of nearly 1,000 designs. Tweets are engaging and personable. Nice.

Interbrand

Twitter: @InterbrandNY
Website: Interbrand
What started in 1974 has grown into a 40-office brand behemoth. This is the Twitter profile for the New York office, and I like what they’re doing.

Landor

Twitter: @landor_dot_com
Website: Landor
Creators of the gorgeous visual identity system for Melbourne City, one of my favourite recent works. Friendly tweets, helping add some online social character to the organisation.

Moving Brands

Twitter: @movingbrands
Website: Moving Brands
Controversially creating a call for spec work for their London identity pitch, Moving Brands might not be everyone’s favourite, but there’s no denying their calibre of work. RTs, @replies, and friendly chat. A great example.

Pentagram Design

Twitter: @pentagramdesign
Website: Pentagram
A bastion of design, the Pentagram partners have collaborated to create visual identities we see around us every day — Citi, Nissan, The Guardian… Their tweets are one-way, but the stream is regularly updated sharing some high quality links.

Siegel+Gale

Twitter: @SiegelGale
Website: Siegel+Gale
With a client list similar to a “who’s who” of the business world, the firm employs more than 200 people in the US, UK, and UAE. Very infrequent updates, but a few interesting links.

smashLAB

Twitter: @smashLAB
Website: smashLAB
Headed by Eric Shelkie and Eric Karjaluoto, I’ve grown particularly fond of the latter’s personal blog ideasonideas. Friendly updates, although not very often. “Karj” has a personal profile worth following @karj.

Sterling Brands

Twitter: @SterlingBrands
Website: Sterling Brands
Design intelligence personified. Experts in strategy and global positioning, with AIGA president Debbie Millman one of the partners in the firm. The Twitter profile is relatively new, but like with smashLAB, there are personal profiles on the go e.g. @debbiemillman.

Wolff Olins

Twitter: @WolffOlins
Website: Wolff Olins
140 people in London, New York, and Dubai, Wolff Olins have worked on strategic projects for the likes of GE, Sony Ericsson, and Amnesty International. Friendly, regular updates about branding and topics of more general interest.

Social media management

The rate at which social media tools are are being adopted for business is phenomenal. “Social media management” is incorporated into specific agency job descriptions, detailing responsibility for ego searches, profile updating, online communications etc.

Sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, take on lesser importance, operating a “closed”, permission-based system that requires you to “know” the people you interact with. Twitter, on the other hand, is an “open” platform where anyone can see what you publish, and they don’t need their own account to do so. It’s infinitely more transparent, helping to build trust, relationships, and drive web-traffic.

As yet there’s no Chermayeff & Geismar. No Minale Tattersfield. No Johnson Banks or Lippincott. At the very least, they should be “listening” to what’s happening on Twitter, and I’d be surprised if they aren’t.

Any other notable absentees, with or without a profile?

You can find me @DavidAirey and @LogoDesignLove

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