FEATURE: REAL WORLD MARKETING
Miscellaneous observations from an educational communicator’s perspective
If legibility is a requirement of a good logo, then London 2012 fails miserably. The numerals are too distorted and fractured to be easily read. Style inconsistency is also a problem, as the classic five-ring Olympic symbol appears awkwardly elegant within the roughly styled mark.
If capturing the essence of the event is a goal of the logo, then it fails again. The Olympics are a showcase of physical strength, endurance, grace, and energy. The logo may capture some of these attributes, but its rough shapes do little to capture the grace and precision of athletic competition.
A good logo should be memorable, and this is the only category in which London 2012 wins the gold. The mark is unlike any Olympic logo that has preceded it, and the stew of comments, petitions, raves, and rants is testament to its commanding presence. The logo challenges the notion that a brand should be harmonious or beautiful. Just as Olympic athletes strive to break previous records, this logo falls into the category of record-breaking achievement. But good branding is not just about breaking records. In the effort to create a splash, the mark ignores the importance of the host city, and the needs of a global audience.
Apparently, the Scottish tourist board forgot the Gaelic roots of “slogan” when they announced their new marketing campaign. After spending $250,000 and six months of time, the Board unveiled airport signs that read, “Welcome to Scotland.” Neither distinctive nor innovative, the slogan (if it can even be called that) seems an afterthought rather than a research-based battle cry.
Contrast that with a slogan we recently encountered at Xavier University: “The Power of X.” Now that’s a motto that succeeds beautifully as a springboard for elaboration on the educational experience at the University. The phrase reminds us that carefully chosen words are memorable and strong, giving the community something to rally behind.
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Her architect. Loving Frank weaves together turn-of-the-century manners and morals, the birth of the women’s movement, the shameless sensationalism of the press, and the artistic and cultural roots of a singular architectural vision into a fictionalized account of the love affair between Mamah Borthwick Cheney and Frank Lloyd Wright. The result is an engrossing portrait of two unconventional people caught up in a tumultuous time—definitely a book to curl up with. |
First of all, communicators need to understand what’s so exciting about YouTube and the videos posted there. People like YouTube because it shows real life. The clips are raw, unedited (for the most part), and genuine. Today’s prospective students are media savvy, and they can spot scripted or posed fakeness from a mile away. If they’re looking for your institution on YouTube, it’s because they seek the truth: what it’s like to be a student there, what the dorm rooms and cafeteria food really look like, what kinds of students attend, etc.
How can your admissions marketing department get involved? Make it known across campus that your staff is seeking videos showing real life at your institution. When students submit clips, you and your staff can review them and decide which ones to use. Fight the temptation to edit the video clips to perfection. Again, viewers are looking for reality, so if the camera work is shaky or a “discouraging word” slips in, resist the urge to fix these blemishes.
As with any online tool, YouTube can also help you share current events on campus. Did your college just receive three feet of snow? Have students videotape themselves blowing off steam in a snowball fight. Did a famous author just visit? Have students videotape themselves talking about what it was like. Keep in mind that most students have cell phones and digital cameras that take decent video footage, and they’re the ones most likely to capture candid moments as they happen.
It then becomes a marketer’s job to determine what’s on message. If you’re familiar with your target audience and the messages you want to convey to its members, then it shouldn’t be too hard to identify the clips that build your institution’s brand.
Every year we visit and evaluate hundreds of college websites. In this issue of Cram, we launch a series of observations on college websites that we admire. First up—Carnegie Mellon’s fabulously redesigned website (www.cmu.edu).
Home page Carnegie Mellon’s refurbished home page features selective news items that demonstrate the University’s relevance and importance to the outside world. And the stories don’t miss the opportunity to link visitors to the appropriate school or division for more information. Most importantly, these stories alleviate a widespread homepage problem—the predictable formula of logo/links/campus beauty shot that many colleges rely on. By choosing to go this route instead, CM must maintain an institutional commitment to regularly update the feature with thought-provoking writing and interesting images.
Admissions We also admire the prospective student section (which can be easily reached from a prominent link on the home page). Here, a brief synopsis of the institution is followed by an invitation: “Tell us who you are & we’ll help you get started.” Visitors can choose from a drop-down list of visitor types. Click on Parent/guardian, for example, and you find a page with links addressing how to pay for a CM education and what the admissions office looks for in a candidate.
Academics The Academics section opens with a strong introduction to the mission of the university and the goal of its academic structure. Each succeeding link took us exactly where we expected to go.
Communications Design The Communications Design page under the Faculty and Staff link was also carefully considered. A staff member can click a link to learn who to contact for design services and what services are available. This is a great way to encourage branding consistency across all departments.
Navigation Throughout the site, with few exceptions, we were able to click back to CM’s home page without using the frustrating back button.
We commend Carnegie Mellon on catching up to good 21st-century web design. After all, the institution’s research has been shaping the future for generations, so it only makes good branding sense that its website finally shows off its forward-thinking methodology.
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Carnegie Mellon’s site showed little change over the years. At left is a homepage from 2001 and at right, a homepage from 2007, just before the redesign. |
With the variety of web browsers, PC platforms, and application versions, web designers have a hard time knowing how their designs will actually look to audiences. Browsershots, an open-source online service, allows you to find out. The website offers a screenshot of your web design in different browsers, giving you a heads-up how that font will look in Firefox vs. Internet Explorer.
One man’s trash—if looked at from a different perspective—becomes another’s amazing art:
Slightly Warped
Do you love super large and super busy logos? Here’s the product you need:
Make my Logo Bigger Cream
No need to yell it from the rooftop, typophiles; this website does it for you:
I Love Typography
Curious about how your eye moves when reading online vs. reading on paper? Review the results of a study tracking eye movement:
The Poynter Institute Eyetrack 07
How blogs can change the world:
Blog Action Day 2007
Looking for candid comments on your college’s website? Have you admired a site that you’d like others to see? This site has you in mind:
eduStyle Inpsiration for campus web designers
See what 201 students at Kansas State University have to say about technology, learning, goals, hopes, dreams, and change:
A Vision of Students Today
Love all of those cool design savvy gadgets, but not too fond of the large ugly logos stamped on them? Here’s a DIY website about how to remove unsightly logos from the gadgets you love:
How to remove Logos from your PDA/cell phone
...in Baltimore
The Business of Design Series #2
February 20, 2008
University of Baltimore
Marketing and Branding your Design Business
Brenda Foster and Aaron Moore will discuss issues and trends in business marketing.
FEEDBACK
Do you have comments, questions, or story ideas that you’d like us to cover in an upcoming issue
of The Cram Quarterly? If so, send an email to Brenda@GCFonline.com or give Brenda a call at
410-467-4672.