11:53 p.m. - 2009-11-21
Stuff i've learnt during today's branding workshop
I went to the Noise Singapore workshop today for a talk by Chris Lee, the creative director of local design/branding company Asylum.
He was quite informal and funny; in between swigs of beer, he gave a pretty informative talk, and i shall try to write down some points here in case i forget in the future.
The first portion of his talk consisted of some recent branding/design/interior design and consultation work they've done. The clients include
Chocolate Research Facility - Their own product, a new brand of chocolates sparked by the idea of having many flavours, priced mid-range between Royce and supermarket Cadbury's, and a schizophrenic half-serious, half-zany branding. He got his team to brainstorm and come up with as many chocolate flavours as possible (result: more than 100 flavours), and for 6 months, he went to confectionary conventions to source for chocolate makers, because there's less than a handful in Singapore, and he managed to get a choco factory which makes chocolates for a hotel here.
He also mentioned that the wall at their shop was grey in the initial design but after looking at it at the actual space, they decided to paint it white. A note about making changes to your design at different stages because sometimes what you visualised in your head might not work when you actually see it.
Frolick yogurt - Can yogurt be politically incorrect? Yogurt targeted at 15 to 25 year olds, most of them are probably less concerned about health at this stage, yogurt to them is a snack just like ice-cream and chocolate. Hence they came up with the concept of a little bit naughty, edgey and colourful branding for the store, with a colourful logo and upbeat badges with funny slogans.
4 Fingers - 4 friends loved the bon mot fried chicken (voted by New York Times and Esquire as the best fried chicken in America) in NY so much they decided to buy the recipe and set up their own brand and shop in Singapore. The design was raw and edgey, looking like the NY subways, and with a certain scenester exclusiveness to it. As in because it's so good, you don't want others to find out about it, you don't want too many people to know about it.
The strategies for the above shops seemed to have worked, because he reported that they are opening more outlets and there have been offers from overseas interests and venture capitalists to franchise the stores in other countries.
After his slides presentation, there was a Q n A session and some members of the audience, a pretty young crowd, asked him some questions.
Some points i remembered were:
When you first started out, how do you handle doing bread-n-butter work and work that you like? Bearing the fact that now Asylum is successful enough that they can choose to reject certain work and clients.
As a primer, they refuse to work with unreasonable clients (e.g. clients who call in on friday evenings requesting changes to be done by monday mornings); they don't work for the client, they work for the brand (e.g. some middle managers who want to play safe and keep their jobs thus only endorsing "safe" work). These are some of the clients and work they have tactfully rejected.
He answered that when they first started out in 1995, they accepted all kinds of work. But even then, the idea was to do their best, to give what they think is right for the projects.
Sometimes it might result in a compromise of their ideas or the client pushes their own ideas, they sort of let it rest. But he admits funnily, this is the kind of work where you just take the money, and you don't tell your friends you did this work, just hide it somewhere.
And then they will also take up other more exciting projects which might not pay as well, but they will gladly do it because of the creative freedom they are allowed to go with it.
So each year, the company reviews the work they have done, the amount of bread-n-butter work versus work they are proud of, and they try to tilt the balance towards more satisfying work that they are proud to say it's theirs.
He also mentioned something about finding good clients and sticking with them.
About rejecting bad clients
Sometimes, after several intial tries to work with a bad client, it feels good to be able to reject and walk away from them. It's a sort of self-respect and sometimes you really have to do this.
He gave a funny example. The client says change this, change that, then in the end, the client thinks, "Hey i'm doing all the work. I hired you for what? You might as well charge me cheaper!"
And so, you're stuck with two bad things: you have a work you're not proud of and you're shortchanging yourself.
About the amount to charge for your work
Quote the amount you think is right, for your effort and all. There is no set rule.
Sometimes, clients just like to bargain, and you might give a discount, but perhaps give only up to 10%. Because anything more, like 50%, might seem like you're being dishonest with them in the first place.
About working with clients and explaining your work in easy to follow terms
It is important to guide the client through the thought process of how you approach the brand concept and how you came up with your end result execution.
For e.g. the client comes to you with a brief to do a brochure, but after thinking about the communication message, you feel that it would be better expressed as a stress ball.
But you do not just go back to the client and say, "Here, you asked for a brochure, but we think a stress ball is better. Here you go."
That's just certain death.
The better approach would be to say, "You mentioned that the message is this this this, we found out that this this this, so the brochure would not work and hence... wouldn't... a... stress... ball... be perfect?"
This way, the client can understand and follow your logic, and be more inclined to take up your suggestions.
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That's about all i can remember now...
i find that the advice he gave is quite useful and can be applied to our lives or other work situations that we all encounter, like dealing with unreasonable demands, presenting ideas to superiors or how to balance doing things you like versus things you hate.
It would be great if we can find work that we like to do but i guess the search is an active process... you have to support yourself financially and at the same time, also review what you've done once in a while...
Seeing it from the perspective of realising your dreams, if you're not satisfied with your life now, it's good to make little changes that will steer you towards your goal, much like how a canon will strike its target faster if it adjusts itself accordingly after each shot, rather than by random shots.
Also, when you have suggestions or good ideas to present to your superiors or clients for approval, it's better to take the time to explain it to them, to let them go on the same thought journey as you, so that your good solutions/ideas can be accepted without being shot down early. At the same time, while you're explaining your thought process to them, if you see that they are already disagreeing, you can withdraw and not present your idea.
ok that's it.
