Category Archive: Neon observations
Time. And time again.
The value of time. In the creative world everything seems to be getting faster. Faster tools. Faster expectations. Faster decisions. And we are all good with that. That acceleration is good for business. But one thing has not changed. Great ideas, conceiving them, nurturing them and developing them, still take time. When discussing new projects […]
The value of joy. Or perhaps J.O.Y.?
Joy. It rarely appears in a branding brief. But it plays a part in almost all the most successful projects. True, on the surface branding and campaign conversations tend to focus on serious things: data, strategy, performance and objectives. But bubbling away just below that, if you’re lucky, there can be something less formal, less […]
The curious value of curiosity. The value of “Ooh… look over there…”
Why human curiosity counts for more than ever, creatively and strategically. Creativity and curiosity have always gone hand in hand. In our branding and design work at Neon, curiosity takes different forms. Sometimes it can be structured and methodical, the leave-no-stone-unturned research that helps us gain an in-depth understanding of organisations, audiences and markets. At […]
Variety in creative work isn’t just interesting. It adds real value.
The value of variety. One of the pleasures of working in branding and design is the wide range of challenges that come across our desk. Over time, that variety proves valuable not just for us, but for the brands we work with too. It does more than keep things interesting. It becomes a genuine creative […]
The Arundel Bee Project still buzzing…
Lovely to see on walk back home from London that the Arundel Bee Project is still going strong – a charming little pro bono project Neon completed a while back. The projects purpose is to help raise awareness of the benefits of a thriving bee community, support bee keepers and champion bee friendly planting initiatives […]
07 – Brands that really speak to you…
Branding is all about communication – and linking brand ID to copy can smartly solve all manner of brand and communication issues as well as super charge brand awareness. For example, Corner & Barrow were struggling to communicate their experience and knowledge – and had a brand ID that was dusty in feel and impractical […]
06 – When not being clear is clearly the answer…
Thought we’d throw in a little “Throw back Thursday” project that we used this week as part of a pitch… ‘Clarity Matters’ typographic conundrums… Communicating clarity by… er, confusing people. Well, not exactly confusing them – let’s say, giving them something to enjoy puzzling over. That was the idea behind this little series of typographical […]
05 – Beautiful brand marks big and small…
Branding has so many constituent parts… We love the cerebral challenge of brand strategy, positioning, experience, tone of voice etc. But we also love the challenge of creating the humble brand mark, which can communicate so much… We’ve all read and loved ‘No Logo’, equally we’ve also read ‘Yes Logo’ which champions brand icons. Over […]
04 – When the problem is about many things, lots can be the solution…
04 – When the problem is about lots of things, lots of things can be the solution… Many aspects of branding, marketing and campaign work is all about distilling down and finding that single aspect or story to focus on – and then having an idea to bring it to life. However, sometimes when the […]
02 – Collaborate to elevate a project…
02 – Collaborate to elevate a project We feel collaboration is an essential ingredient to elevating work and an enjoyable project experience – both with our clients and when working others to bring our ideas to life. Over the past 15 years we’ve collaborated with all manner of people on all manner of projects, from […]
01 – When details matter, geek out on them…
There’s a lot of healthy discussion about Burberry’s new brand ID, moving away from a trend it helped start of flat minimal sans-serif sanitised word marks. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for the new – and using the odd bit of sans serif. However, I do still enjoy the challenge of doing something based […]
The creative brief.
The importance of the creative brief, for both the client and the creative, is vital in any collaboration to help achieve the desired goal. Of equal importance is the understanding that any creative brief should not be viewed as a box ticking exercise, but rather as a springboard for the creative leap, to access the […]