eicolab: design thinking for business innovation

Branding

Which graphics file format for logos

Have you got a folder full of electronic files of your logo and other branding material? Are you about to engage a designer and want to know what file formats to get your logo delivered in?

The table below aims to enable you to quickly learn when to use which file format to get the best results. It is distilled from my 15 years experience in design and print …

Why is every big retailer like a (somewhat) glorified warehouse?

Kmart, Bi-Lo, Coles, Woolworths (supermarket, departmental)
JB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith, Harvey Norman, Bing Lee, Good Guys (electrical, whitegoods, computers)
Dymocks, Angus and Robertson (books)
JB Hi-Fi, Dick Smith, Sanity, HMV (music, movies)

Their common characteristics appear to be:

Huge open space full of racks and racks of stuff to buy. And often with actual stock stored on the floor.
Often uses “screaming at you” TV commercials and brightly coloured sales flyers printed on thin …

Which would you bank with?

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Which of the above is a serious bank?
Which would you leave your money with?
Can you guess their respective website URLs?

Note the definition of “nab” on dictionary.com.

Ethical iPods?

We have fair-trade coffee and various other ethically sourced and manufactured goods such as non-sweat-shop clothing.

Given most electronics manufacturing is now done in countries like China where labour is cheap and plentiful, and where sweat shops have most opportunities to grow, far from the eyes of Western consumers; is it now time for ethically manufactured electronics?

Read the article about Apple’s iPod factories on MacWorld UK.

Read the …

A little slip of paper can say a lot

My friend Stil posted a rather succinct and amusing breakdown of a local politician’s flyer here. There’s a nice photo of the article in question too.

Anita Roddick on planning a career in business

Anything that we can do well, that we enjoy doing, and that there is a demand for, is worth taking seriously as a skill to develop.

Anita Roddick; when asked what advice she would give to a young person who was planning a business career: “…don’t even say the word ‘business.’ Bury it. … Talk about a livelihood you can create for yourself, an honourable livelihood that gives you …

Real voices hard to silence

The IOC is worried that they many not be able to “manage” what athletes say about the Games through their personal blogs. They are concerned that blogs “could lead to scurrilous rumours being broadcast on the Internet”.

Welcome to the real world! The Internet gives us (ok, those of us who have the means of accessing it) the power to say exactly what we want to. To express our …

Is this shop closed?

openorshut.thumbnail.jpgThis is the shopfront of a large electrical retailer in central Sydney. Every time I walk pass this shop my first impression is always “oh, they’re shut.”

The blue strips are actually and intentional “design feature” - sticky vinyl applied onto the fixed glass panels. The shape of the holes and the regularity of the pattern strongly suggest a shut gate.

The actual doorway …

External perceptions, marketing and integrity

We use marketing and PR to influence how people perceive us. We create profiles and elevator speeches. Knowing how people perceive you is always interesting. That’s why we seek out feedback on our marketing material.

It is useful to know how you come across to people; but such insights should not be relied upon as absolute gauges to base your actions upon. You cannot count on marketing and PR …

First impressions … oh poo!

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Walking off a packed train into this gushing forest of brown liquid is not good! Snapped at Sydney Central station. The same imagery is also available for your enjoyment at other quality locations city-wide.

Is this the first time a Coke ad showed the actual product? As opposed to showing desirable and “valid” people in the throes of enjoying life, with the product…

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