Design Details - October 2007

October 15th, 2007

Volume 01 // Number 10

October 2007

In this issue

• The Last Quarter of 2007
• Making Distinctions with Design
• Find of the Month

Hi,

This email newsletter comes to you in HamiltonBerchman’s never-ending pursuit of helping our clients and friends succeed because your success is our success.
The Last Quarter of 2007

As we enter the last quarter of 2007 most of you are undoubtedly preparing for, or at least thinking about, the inevitable coming of 2008. We here at HamiltonBerchman are preparing a new marketing campaign as we look towards taking steps to grow and serve our clients. With our upcoming marketing plan in development we are looking at the design of everything and it partly inspires this months feature.

We wonder what plans you have in action in this last quarter and if you have any design-related, or web-related questions we would love to start a dialog. Perhaps something you share could become a topic in DesignDetails and help other readers.
Making Distinctions with Design

Design is all around us. As noted design consultant, author, and public speaker Ralph Caplan stated “the fact is we live in a designed world and we will never live in any other kind.” Design affects our everyday lives and informs us in ways that are both obvious and subtle.

This month I want to focus a bit on how important design is in the process of informing people simply through appearances. In other words, how can the “look” of something create an emotion, feeling, or assumption and therefore influence people’s decision making process.

A couple of visual examples will help illustrate what we are referring to. Below we have two objects, two boxes of tea to be exact. One is a box of Tazo tea, the other is a box of Springfield tea.

Tazo Tea
Tazo Tea Packaging

Springfield Tea
Springfield Tea Packaging

Questions

• If you were shopping for tea, which would you select were you faced with these two options?
• Were you looking for savings?
• Were you looking for a superior quality product?
• What package looks more expensive?
• What package looks less expensive?

You will now be thinking “well that one, the Springfield brand, looks cheaper” and many people will agree with that statement. People can easily make the assumption of one looking cheaper than the other, but can many people explain why?

No. Why?
Because they most likely lack the language and vocabulary of a designer. However, what is important here is that even though they lack the language to explain, they get it! They understand what is at play, they just cannot put it into words. The appearance, image, or design is communicating vast amounts of non-verbal information about the object.

How do they get it?
Assume you know nothing about what is inside any package, or in this case these teas. What elements of design informed your conclusions and ultimately made your decision?

• Color
• Shape/Form
• Line quality
• Typesize
• Typeface (or font)
• Prominence of product description–it says what it is
• Prominent use of an image of the product

Both of these boxes designs are intentional. I am not saying one design is better than the other. They are both effectively communicating by generating their desired responses. The Tazo packaging wants to evoke a high-end sophisticate feel to its teas, the Springfield wants to say “I am a good value, inexpensive tea.” Again this is about the distinction the design is playing in getting you to pay attention to it. If you were to blind taste test these teas, who knows what one might actually taste better? It’s not about the tea, its about the packaging–the wrapper–the design.

Note: The Tazo packaging is an award winning design.

What about you?
These subtle issues with a simple box of tea are brought to bear on every piece of communication you exchange with anyone in contact with your business. A business card, a website, a newsletter, a brochure, anything bearing your company name and its identity does exactly what the tea boxes do. They create a emotion, feeling, or assumption people have about your business simply through their visual appearance using principles of design. So, This all happens without having to even read a word on the boxes, or a word of your content on your business card, brochure, or website. Have you heard of the saying “make your first impression the best one?” Once an impression is made thoughts are in place and your brand in the eyes of the beholder takes shape. You can change perceptions, but it takes effort, time, and diligence.

So, are the visuals your business uses to communicate sending the impression you want to make? Are customers, clients, and people in general getting the right impression?
Finally, Find of the Month

In every issue of DesignDetails I share an Internet destination I have come across that has some application to doing business, getting things done, or just plain cool. This month it’s something cool. I am subscribed to a variety of blogs and in one there was a post about the “perfect” iTunes setting. For those of you who may not know what iTunes is, it is a piece of software you can download for free from Apple. It allows you to digitize your own music and play it on your computer, purchase music online, or subscribe to podcasts and videocasts.

The original post from MacOSXhints goes into a bit more detail, but suffice it to say that it does produce a decent range of sound.
‘Perfect’ iTunes Settings

HOWTO and specific settings from the original article:

Open the equalizer, and from the pop-up menu, select “Make Preset.” Call it “Perfect,” because it is, and set the following levels, from left to right (skip the Preamp section):

db +3, +6, +9, +7, +6, +5, +7, +9, +11, +8 db

Hat tip to Merlin Mann @ 43 Folders.
That’s all folks.

That’s it for this month of DesignDetails. Let me know if you have any questions about any of this content.

We are always on the lookout for article ideas. If you have a challenge you are facing and would be willing to share, let me know.

Do you know a friend or colleague that may find the content of this newsletter interesting? Please forward to a friend, and thanks.

I’ll talk to you again in November.

Bert Mahoney
Publisher, DesignDetails
Principal and Creative Director,
HamiltonBerchman Design Group, Inc.
details@hamiltonberchman.com

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