Every so often, we have projects where an envelope needs to be designed to match a letterhead or an invitation. Other parts of a design project can be free from rules and regulations, but the design space on an envelope is much more rigid. The Post Office is very particular about the layout of envelopes due to machines doing most of the processing and sorting these days. There are certain areas on an envelope that needs to be clear of background color, graphics and type. This can be a real challenge for a designer.

The envelope is the first piece that is seen and needs to compel a person to open it, yet space is so limited to convey a message other than a logo and return address. The San Diego Museum of Art Art Alive invitation envelope is a great example of keeping the branded look and feel of this years’ Art Alive, yet still meeting postal regulations. The pink area indicates the space that is off-limits for type and design.

For information and templates on envelopes, go to USPS.com. You can also find the Mailpiece Design Analyst contact information where you can send an envelope design to see if it meets mailing regulations. Do this before the job is printed and rejected by the post office. It will save you lots of time and money.

I came across an article about creative traditional advertising in AdWeek over the weekend that I thought was great. Author Katy Bachman shed light some much needed light on the groundbreaking advertising the L.A. Times debuted last Friday, in which they took the “homepage takeover” concept from web and adapted it to print.

Created to coincide with the launch of  Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, the front page of the L.A. Time’s Friday’s edition was dominated by Johnny Depp’s Mad Hatter character in 3-D.

According to Katy, this is the first time a major newspaper has run this type of ad unit. Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer of the L.A. Times, John O’Loughlin, explains the move as an ‘unusual opportunity to stretch traditional boundaries and deliver innovative ad unit designed to create buzz and further extend the film’s brilliant marketing campaign’.

Though this is the first time we’ve seen a newspaper take this direction, it’s certainly will not be the last. What makes this so cool, is that for a while now, Ad agenceis have been adapting traditional advertising concepts to the online world. Now, for the first time, we are seeing the reverse take place. With the LA Times “homepage takeover” they applied the online concept of re-skinning a page and made it work in print. This is a bold step for the print advertising world that will allow them to stay relevant in these changing times. Kudos the the LA times for getting creative.

What do you think? Will we be seeing more of this in the near future?

Are you familiar with The San Diego Museum of Art?  We work with them on advertising and PR and fortunately for me, I get to work with them on a ton of cool stuff.  Many people have no idea how much activity takes place at the Museum so I wanted to take this opportunity to spotlight a really cool event they throw every other month, Culture & Cocktails.  At this event last Thursday, I interviewed the artist behind one of the exciting new exhibitions, Brutal Beauty:  Drawings by Hugo Crosthwaite. Check out the video to hear Hugo’s own vision for the drawing he’s working on at the Museum until March 14th.  You can also see a really cool time lapse video on his current drawing here, but make sure you check out the exhibition for yourself.

Not only is this Frank’s RedHot Sauce commercial hilarious (I mean, anytime you hear an old lady cuss, it’s pretty funny), but it’s also rooted in great strategic thinking. The commercial marries the funny exaggeration (using Frank’s to grow an award-winning pumpkin) with the culture of hot sauce connoisseur (they really do put that sh*t on everything).

From the media I have seen, Frank’s RedHot “I Put that Sh*t on Everything” is running both TV and Radio.

At the end of the day, this Frank’s RedHot Sauce Campaign makes sense because it gives their expressive audience a funny scenario they can absolutely relate to.

When starting work on a project for a client, the account team always goes through the same process: open the job, put in a work order, write the creative brief, have a kick-off meeting, and then let the creative team work their magic. Being on the account side is fun because I am constantly amazed by the concept(s) the creative team is able to come up with based on just a creative brief.

Recently, one of our clients, Pierce Education Properties, asked us to design a print ad for their Michigan State University property, Chandler Crossings, that would run during March Madness and would focus on their spring promotion. The mandatories the creative team had were as follows:

1) Sign a lease, be entered to win free rent for a year (a $5000 value)

2) Sign a lease between March 15 – April 5 and have your $174 move-in fee waved

3) Call to action: Visit chandlercrossings.com or the downtown East Lansing lounge

4) March Madness/School Theme

The creative team came up with two different ideas for this ad and we presented both options to the client. One really focused on the “Sparty On with free rent idea” and the other focused on “the party you could throw with the $5000 you would save”. Our department was torn on which one we each liked better and which we thought they’d pick. Now, I won’t say which version the client ended up selecting but, if you had to pick the ad to run in the student newspaper and on flyers around campus, which one would you pick?

As I watched the Olympic winter games in Vancouver this year, I kept seeing flashes of green and blue graphics everywhere. Up and down ski courses, around ice rinks and all over Olympic promotional items. Being in the advertising, I of course wanted to know more these outdoor graphics and the design team behind the branding work for the Olympics.

Through my research I discovered that VANOC, the Canadian design firm who created these graphics has a creative process very similar to ours and it reminded me that there are certain steps anyone should follow when trying to come up with a truly creative or noteworthy piece.  Here are just a few of the steps we (and VANOC) follow when creating any new piece of creative:

1. Brainstorm.

Get as many people involved as you can and make a huge white board of ideas. Even if an idea sounds silly, write it down. Sometimes it’s the silly ideas that wind-up inspiring your overall concept.

2. Create a photographic tag cloud.

Find a free wall where you can put your visual inspiration and go crazy. Invite everyone to put up images that inspire them.

3. Get out of the office.

Staying in the office is not a productive way to get to know your client. Go on a field trip, take pictures, conduct interviews—whatever helps you understand your “product” better.

4. Decide on a concept.

Go back to your idea wall and evolve it. Pick the ideas that have gravitas and make them work. For VANOC they decided to create graphics that combined images of the Canadian countryside and Canadian city life—like this image of a stop light combined with a tree and a hydro plane combined with a dragonfly.

5. Live and breathe your idea.

To make their concept come to life, VANOC incorporated their concept into every part of their design. Even the colors they chose came from the colors of Canada itself.

What do you think about the design for the Olympics this year?

I was excited to watch the snowboarding in the Olympics last night.  Just before the first boarder took to the half pipe I watched him pull out his ipod, quickly pick a song, and slide it back into his Burton jacket.  I turned to my husband, “He’s listening to his ipod  while he competes in the Olympics.  I wonder what he’s listening to.”

But the attention last night was on Shaun White, the second boarder of the night.  He’s the biggest name in snowboarding and it was his packaged feature story that led into the evening’s competition.  Anyone who was making a point to watch the Olympic snowboarding had their eyes on Shaun White.  So when he pulled out his iphone just seconds after ending his run, I had to ask, “what could be so important right now that he would need to look at his phone!?”

So I wonder, was apple behind all of this?  If so, I applaud their creativity and I recognize that this is where advertising is going.  Product placement has been around since before Elliot brought Reeses Pieces to ET but what’s changing is that products no longer just have to show up, they have to influence the viewer.  When Louis Vito pulled out his ipod, I made the association that his ipod helped him perform.  He NEEDED his ipod.

A recent Adage article talks about product placement and how common it is becoming in our everyday TV, movie and gaming content.  While it used to be stealth, a Pepsi can in the background of the set or a pair of Nike shoes on the main character, it’s now become a more influential part of our content.  Rather than being built into the content, content is being built around it.  The article claims, “At some point, ads and shows might blur so much that the notion of a ‘commercial break’ becomes a silly, antiquated thing of the past.”  If you ask me, it will be a very long time before commercials cease to exist but without a doubt, product placement will prevail and in more creative and brilliant ways than we’ve ever seen in the past.

We are served advertising continuously in so many forms. But whether advertising gets our attention or not can depend on an undervalued element: white space. This is the areas between type and images in a magazine ad or web page, etc., that is blank.  And when it is used well, white space can automatically increase the design aesthetic.

White space provides a balance in the design, a place for the eyes to rest, and accentuates the product and messaging in the layout.

This VW campaign was launched in 1959 by ad agency Doyle Dane Bernbach and uses white space brilliantly. Some advertisers want to fill every square inch of purchased space with type and graphics because they have the inaccurate idea they are getting the most bang for their buck. Trying to wedge too much content into a layout can lead to advertising that gets little or no attention, basically a waste of ad dollars, since building brand awareness and moving people to buy products is the goal in advertising.

We’ve seen that it takes creativity and courage to say yes to white space but that it can pay off. Sometimes less is more.

Dave Taylor, blogger extraordinaire,  came to BG for a visit last month, and I took the opportunity to conduct a short interview with him. In this video he provides background information on his popular tech support blog, askdavetaylor.com and why it continues to attract a growing number of visitors.

Dave’s 2 keys to successful blogging include:

• Help people
• Provide value

He also gave us a few tips on how to monetize a blog using affiliate marketing. These included:

• Crystalize your purpose for blogging (get specific)
• Produce new content frequently to keep people coming back (grow traffic)
• Complete a competitive analysis on bloggers in your space (what works/doesn’t)

Check out the rest of what Dave had to say here:

The past few years, we’ve seen an increase in companies that haven’t necessarily been known for their eco-friendly ways jumping on the green bandwagon.  While some may call this greenwashing, is it really such a bad thing?

During the Super Bowl, Audi released their new “eco-themed” commercial featuring their latest car (and winner of Green Car Journal’s “Green Car of the Year”), A3 TDI.  The ad follows a squad of “Green Police” that obsessively seek out and arrest regular Joes for their environmental ignorance.  My personal fave is the scantily-clad gentleman running away from a SWAT team-sized crew of green police chasing him down for having the hot tub temperature too high.  The commercial is timely, humorous, and informative in its own way.  However, there are mixed feelings about the ad, as seen in the comments of this popular green blog, Ecorazzi.  So, what are the issues?

1)  Is it greenwashing?  While A3 TDI sets itself apart from other Audi vehicles by being more eco-friendly, Audi is not adjusting its branding to fit this one product.  It can be a step in the right direction for the luxury car industry, raising the bar when it comes to responsibility, and raising awareness about simple changes that can be made in daily life.

2)  Is it demeaning to green-enthusiasts?  While this is an extreme case of environmentalism and it may seem to poke fun at die-hard eco-savers, the ad also offers comic relief when a lot of other brands may take a more “shame-on-you” approach to environmental education.

3)  Is this A3 TDI REALLY green?  As consumers, we all want options.  Whether or not a Hybrid car is the greener alternative, Audi is opening the door to competitors, which means companies will begin working harder to decrease their carbon footprints.  And marketers will get a lesson in sustainable marketing.

So, do we applaud this large-name brand that’s spreading the eco-friendly message or do we disregard them because we would have chosen an alternative way to get the message across?  Please share your thoughts/feelings on greenwashing in the comments.