Corporate Identity Resources

Here is a great collection of the Branding Guidelines for specific companies. It comes to us from
A Website about Corporate Identity This is the English version of a Dutch site that contains lots of examples of real corporate identities.

American Heart Association Branding Guide

My first career was with the American Heart Associaion. I worked for a period of time at the national office in Dallas. That is where I first learned about graphic standards.

I came accross the American Heart Association Branding Guide and it is excellent.

Printers and vendors love it because with a branding guide they have exactly what they need at their finger tips. They also know exactly what is expected of them in a language they understand.

Staff like it because it provides templates for stationary, business cards, fax cover sheets are available in template form.

Stained Glass Prints

Here is a project that we have been working on with Pella Window Company. www.durableprints.com

We actually print on clear acrylic .. which is quite a trick since it has taken us over a year to produce a quality product.

My point is .. that the digital revolution has opened up all kinds of display opportunitites and this is one is hot.

Think about printing one at a time .. and often one of a kind images on clear acrylic .. hum .. how could you use this technology?

Branding

Found this on Adgoodness. It struck me as a creative way to use large format printing in a new way to advertise a brand.

Branding

There are many opportunities to display your brand. On stationary, business cards, envelopes, brochures, web site, shopping carts, point of purchase and trade show displays, print advertising, signs, posters product labels, brochures and dozens of other specialty items like key chains, calendars etc.

On screen within a web site, shopping cart, video production, television commercial, etc.
In audio production as in radio commercial or pod cast.

Branding is something a business does constantly and in a consistent manner in order to be recognized to achieve the recognition of potential customers.

Steps in Creating Brand Recognition

• Create crisp memorable graphics as a part of your businesses visual identity.
• Incorporate that visual identity into a “Style Guide” that tells printers and vendors and your own staff how the logo can and cannot appear in print and on the screen.
• Train key staff in the reasons and use of the style guide.
  
• Supply vendors with access to the style guide at the time that a quote has been requested.
  
• Compare proofs against the style guide.
  
• Inspect the finished product against the proofs/style guide.

Picture This

I found this and several other "views" of the same project posted on the Ad Goddess .. Ad Goddess is one of a handful of excellent blogs on advertising. It delivers the creative, unusual, and often edgy ad design.

What caught my attention was the use of large format print to shape an alternate vision. In this case the Red Cross wants you to see of a “post disaster” situation to remind you that disasters happen and they will be there to help.

In reviewing the comments, the Red Cross message or motive bothers some.

To me the creative display technique was very valuable.

I started thinking of ways to use the same technique on a more positive project on a before and after of a street or building renovation for instance.