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It is a rare thing, working as a designer, to have the opportunity to brand a friend. It’s a strange concept in of itself. The idea of branding a friend is an odd one, without doubt, not to mention a challenging one. None-the-less, it can be a rewarding experience and a true test for the designer.

the little MONSTER in all of us

Faced with the challenge of branding a friend, I suddenly recalled a post by Mark Bixby, that articulated the underlying essence behind brand, in one short, sweet sentence.

Just being something specific can sometimes be a powerful brand differentiator.Mark Bixby

Be something specific. A no brainer, right? There was no doubt about it, Mici is something specific. My task, was to try and capture that “something” and make it a brand?.

Branding a person, in of itself, is an odd concept, but giving yourself 3 days to do it, is absurd. At the same time, it was for me, a fantastic window, through which to explore my wonderful, witty and terribly loving friend, Mici. I am very please to introduce littlest MONSTER.

It’s a lazy Saturday morning. I woke up, brewed some coffee (helping myself to some more right now), sat down at my computer and started browsing through my RSS feeds. That’s when I came across an article by Adrian Shaughnessy, on Design Observer, Look and Feel / Nip and Tuck.

It’s kind of a silly thing to write a follow up on, at least at first glance. I set out for a languid read and then found myself involved. So the question, to unjustly reduce the article to a sound bite is this.

Today, the term [”Look and Feel”] has seeped into everyday usage, and it has become widely used by commissioners of graphic design. Why?

The speculation goes on to consider its’ increase use, on the importance of usability in modern design, to referencing overall branding within design. Needless to say, “look and feel”, as a term to describe anything, is vague at best (unless of course you are talking about a car, and even then, it begs for articulation).

In scanning through some of the responses to Brian’s article, one jumped out at me with a poignant questions:
Are we trying to keep this shit a secret?

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The search for new sans-serif fonts is always a chore for me. Finding a sans-serif font, that has the right balance and play in its characters and does not assign meaning or dominate the stage, is perhaps the great challenge of the graphic designer. This is why, time and time again, I return to Helvetica.

That said, I thought I’d share three new fonts I acquired, that definitely show some promise and got me excited (and they are all free, which is a bonus).

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