Blog - Karen A. Chase

Expanding a Brand

April 13, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Last week on Compositions, I featured my new Church Hill Association (CHA) and neighborhood brand and website. Today, let’s chat about expanding a brand.

On April 22nd, my neighborhood is hosting a lovely springtime event called the Secret Garden Symphony Tour–visitors can tour private gardens and listen to Richmond Symphony ensembles all over The Hill. I’ve been helping with the design of materials to support the event. Having just completed the neighborhood brand, I went back to the new CHA brand standards. We have fonts. We have colors. We try to include color photography when possible. So when it came to building the Secret Garden materials, I had only to build an event-specific logo, and then simply apply the graphic standards.

I viewed the standards not as restrictive, but as a springboard to give me a starting point for the creative for this event. As a result, my probono job was simplified because I wasn’t having to make basic font, color or layout decisions all over again. For Church Hill, the Secret Garden materials look consistent with the CHA website and other collateral, enabling viewers to more easily recognize who we are. They’ll see our brand expanded on our website and now through the collateral for this event collateral: in publications, on banner ads, posters, flyers, tickets, and of course on the CHA site where you can purchase tickets.

As a designer, how do you view brand standards? As a help or a hindrance?

SecretGarden_PosterFINAL — The poster for the event using a percentage of the CHA green, the font Bodoni book, and the CHA logo.

Branding a Neighborhood

April 6, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Building comprehensive brands for organizations is never easy. So imagine doing it pro bono for an entirely volunteer non-profit organization who never had a brand before. Such was the two-year project I recently completed for the Church Hill Association (CHA) with my own neighborhood in Richmond.

The project began with the understanding that a full-blown brand was missing not only for the CHA, but for the neighborhood itself. Church Hill is a very historic, gorgeous neighborhood and we weren’t showing it. It was here that Patrick Henry gave his famous “Liberty or Death” speech in 1775, and Richmond’s first streets appeared. So it felt right to start the brand with the tagline “Where Richmond began.”

From there we developed a brand positioning statement, updated the CHA logo, chose specific colors and fonts, worked with photographers, built communication materials, and most recently completed the website.

Ultimately the main reason for the new website was to give the CHA a place to put all their information–meeting dates, bylaws, programs and events–and ask residents to “Join the CHA.”

The website is now also a major resource for tourists and businesses wanting to come to Church Hill. It provides homeowners with details about caring for historic houses, and provides crucial city and CHA board contacts.

Thank you to Worthington Photography who donated a year’s worth of seasonal images for the gallery, to the volunteer CHA committee who researched and proofed things like crazy, and to Christina Reeser of io studio who programmed the site. You were a gracious and lovely team.

Click to visit the new ChurchHill.org website here.

The Color of Spring

March 30, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Although Spring has come early this year, I can’t say I’m disappointed. I tire easily of the somber gray and black that seems to saturate my wardrobe and the skies during winter. So bring on spring and all it’s wonderful bloomin’ color.

For designers, spring means that Pantone®, the world-renowned authority on color, is releasing it’s spring color suggestions. While the colors are focused on fashion, they’re also a marvelous tool to help guide graphic designers, product developers and even consumers in their choices. Rather than simply setting a trend, the color guide is more of a reflection of the mood or psychology of society. We’ve been “occupied” under drab tents all winter in a recessed economy, and what the masses are primed and ready for is optimism. So hello “Solar Power” yellow. Spring in “Tangerine Tango” orange. And when all else fails, drown yourself in “Margarita” green. Here is the Pantone Fashion Spring Color Report.

If that’s not enough fun for designers out there, how about this new online tool from Sherwin-Williams. My friend Jennifer (a First Friday artist previously featured on my blog) sent me this link for “Chip It!” Let’s say you find a photo online that you love? Chip It! and the little program will pull a color palette from from their 1500 paint chips. That’s a handy little tool for picking room paints, but I can think of a multitude of reasons to use it to pick colors for client projects, too.

Spring_ChruchHill — Spring in my neighborhood in Richmond, and the Chip It! color palette made from it. Ironically, it's mostly grey. I'll have to find Pantone 224 pink trees somewhere.

What’s in a tagline?

March 23, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Taglines. Over the years I’ve written a few and heard all the rules about writing them. Keep them short. Write about the product’s benefit. No, describe its characteristics. No, sell the product. Don’t include the company name. It should be something you’ll keep forever, right? Uh, not quite.

Is shorter better? “Got Milk?” Perhaps. Although I’ve easily recalled BASF’s tagline, “We don’t make a lot of the products you buy; we make a lot of the products you buy better.”

What to write about? Call for sales: Volkswagen’s “Drivers wanted.” Benefit to consumer: Burger King’s “Have it your way.” Description: Carlsberg brewed “probably the best lager in the world.” I’m hard pressed to find one that did all three.

“Always Coca-Cola” included the product name as does Allstate, so I think you’re in good hands using it in the tagline.

Don’t change it? GE did. They first had “We bring good things to life.” The company and product development changed so much, that now their tagline is, “Imagination at work.”

This month a furniture store in the UK, Sofa King, is also changing their tagline. After nine years of ending their commercials with the same line, the Advertising Standards Authority caught on. “Our prices are Sofa King Low,” has been deemed offensive. (But hilarious.)

Regardless of all the supposed rules, my friend Bill Thomasson gave me the best advice. Make sure they’re available, defendable, memorable, and sustainable. Then just do it.

Instead of a photo this week I’m including a link to this “Drivers Wanted” VW commercial: “Cornering.” It still makes me laugh.

Which tagline makes you happy when you hear it?

Prompts for Reluctant Writers

March 16, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

I read a quote by Gene Fowler that said, “Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.”

That’s not writing. It’s writer’s block. That nasty thing is like Beetlejuice: I try not to say it too often or it will show up and it won’t go away. So, how do you get over it? Writing prompts.

I can watch ten minutes of a movie about a writer (Shakespeare In Love) and I too pick up the pen. Sometimes I read back over what I wrote the day before until I have to continue the story I’ve begun. Inspirational quotes help. “I will write my way into another life,” by Ann Patchette is among my favorites.

Christina Reeser, the programmer featured previously here on Compositions, gave me another great idea. She calls herself a “reluctant writer.” Her daughter is encouraging her wordsmithing. Each night she tells Christina to write only one sentence. Who made her happy? What sucked about the day? A quote she heard. Something. Anything. One simple sentence. It doesn’t feel like writing and it’s not overwhelming. It’s a brilliant idea.

To exorcize that writing demon, try writing just one sentence and go from there. One sentence prompts the thinking. One sentence leads to another. Christina may be a reluctant writer, but in a year she’ll have 365 sentences. For novelists, that’s a heck of a great beginning to a full manuscript.

GeorgeClymer — Based upon George Clymer, the man who signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, the photo of this statue in Philadelphia helps inspire me–especially in writing my historical fiction novel about the Declaration.

GreekActor — Although this statue from Jardin du Luxembourg in Paris is of a Greek actor, it still makes me feel like writing. - Photos by Karen A. Chase

Fun with Barbie

March 9, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

This week both Barbie and I had a birthday. The ultimate blond is 53. I’m thankfully, a little younger. Without going too much into her unrealistic proportions, and her on-again, off-again relationships with Ken and GI Joe, I was stunned to discover I actually have a few things in common with miss size-zero.

• Barbie has changed careers as often as I’ve changed jobs and clients
• Her hair has been whacked, curled, primped, fried and dyed about as often as mine
• When she left Ken, he kept the house, she got the car. (Untrusted “news” source)
• We both bought a bad outfit in the mid-80s based on Moonlighting (see images below)
• At our age, we both have nice legs
• Pink (224) is our thing

Things we don’t have in common? Mattel’s marketing budget, blonde hair, boobs, and the ability to change nationalities.

I bring up Barbie, because More magazine–a publication for aging women–put together a fabulous birthday photo montage of “Barbie’s Careers Through the Years.” Hilarious, right? More magazine featuring Barbie who never ages! Despite that, the photos are a lovely time-waster for a Friday, and while looking at them I did indeed learn a few things:

• Our children are playing with dolls based upon what women are currently “known for.” (’59 she was a fashion model, ’85 a business executive and ’04 a presidential candidate)
• My Barbie’s legs wouldn’t bend like they do in the article, so even Barbie gets “Photoshopped” these days
• Barbie clearly likes being a ballerina, as she’s done it more than once
• Maybe Barbie is fit because she works out so much (ballerina, gymnast, Olympic skier)
• Barbie doesn’t stick to doing just one thing, and perhaps that’s what keeps her young

I’ll apply a few of those thoughts to my own life. Enjoy the photos of Barbie’s Career changes and have a great weekend.

MaddieBarbie — Maddie and Barbie dress similarly in the mid-80s. Moonlighting image: mptvimages.com

MaddieMe — My peach outfit based on Maddie's shiny one. Yea, those bangs were a good idea, too (insert eye-roll here). Image: © Lions Gate Home Entertainment

Book Review: Two new Amazon reviews

March 7, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

In the last two weeks, two new reviews have been added in Amazon.com for my book Bonjour 40: A Paris Travel Log (40 years. 40 days. 40 seconds.) As I approach the one-year anniversary of my month-long trip to Paris, it’s wonderful to know the book is still reaching, and touching others. To read the new reviews, visit the Bonjour 40 Amazon page.

Many, many thanks to Gregory, author of the blog Writing4Death, and Darlene of Peeking Between the Pages. Merci beaucoup to you both for the lovely reviews.

The Publishing House on the Hill

March 2, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

A fellow blogger, Nathan Bransford, asked a question this week: are publishing houses in the midst of a public perception problem? My response is an analogy of a lovely mansion overlooking a bustling town.

At first the mansion is built to encompass the view and give townsfolk something beautiful to see. It’s so appealing, the townsfolk want to visit. So many people come that the mansion puts up a fence to help manage crowds. But townsfolk keep coming because the fence added mystique.

Soon the mansion hires a gatekeeper or two, or three. Instead of a haven, the mansion slowly becomes a fortress. Eventually no one new gets in without a scheduled appointment and pre-approval.

Tired of the bureaucracy, the townsfolk stop visiting altogether. The fortress seems sinister. The angry townsfolk below make the inhabitants of the mansion feel trapped, too. One-by-one the inhabitants leave to find a place that is smaller. More open.

After a time, the soulless mansion begins to crumble. Soon, no once can remember why it was built in the first place.

Publishers were built in the first place to help writers get their words to readers. That seems to have been forgotten by so many inhabitants–to the point that publishers are rejecting authors based on past sales, rather than the merits of new writing (the Patricia O’Brien story).

As a writer in author-town, the fortress of the publishers seems impenetrable, and I’m hoping someone comes along and remodels it soon before it crumbles completely.

Shakespeare&Co — Finding a way to work around publishing houses isn't new. When a little-known writer named James Joyce wrote a little book called "Ulysses" no one would take it. A little bookshop owner, Sylvia Beach of Shakespeare and Company, stepped in and published it for him. Above is the store in Paris where writers and readers still come together. (Can it be a year ago I first launched Bonjour40 and my plan to visit there?)

It’s elementary flattery.

February 24, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

Ah, Sherlock Holmes. I love it. The books, the old movies. I especially love the two new steampunk films. For me, the very sweet eye-candy of both pictures (aside from Downey and Law) includes the care and detail with which the film credits have been developed.

The sequences built by creative director Danny Yount and his team were purely brilliant. They are a cross-pollination of illustration, photography, cinematography, prepress, old type and paper. They all fade in and out from one another like a dream diminishing as you wake into reality.

This week, I saw a Vicks commercial that used exactly the same method. Are you kidding me? Those beautiful techniques are now used to kill my cough with honey? I choked. But then I pondered….

Isn’t examining a bit of code or a type treatment, and then adjusting it into your own design the same thing? It’s not plagiarism if you can figure out how a photo treatment was applied and then apply it, is it? That’s imitation. Isn’t imitation the purest form of flattery?

The Merriam-Webster’s definition of flattery is “insincere or excessive praise.” While I don’t think the Vicks spot plagiarized the film’s credits, it was flattery. It was insincere because it swiped a technique instead of creating a commercial that felt like the Vicks brand. It was excessive, because it feels over-the-top for cough syrup. After all, Vicks is not a legend like Holmes, my dear Watson.

Watch the Sherlock Holmes end credits then the Vicks spot and decide for yourself. To see how Danny’s team did it, if you want to flatter them, too, visit Art of the Title.

Malaise, Mayle and Malaysia

February 21, 2012 By Karen A. Chase

I first blogged about Peter Mayle in December. Today I received a comment from a Malaysian reader. They found my blog while searching for information on the author because the Malaysian government is considering banning his book “Where Did I Come From.”

I had to add in a mid-week blog about our human regression. In 2012 men are determining women’s reproductive rights, we’re facing legislation about “personhood,” and now Peter Mayle might be considered obscene in some countries.

It’s on the hit list (not because the title ends with a preposition, which always bothered me), but because of it’s explicit content. It’s an illustrated children’s book! Not illustrated like Playboy is illustrated. Illustrated with child-like cartoons of little round naked white people.

As Malaysian officials review the book for it’s “obscene” content, the government has declared that bookstores must pull it from the shelves. If they sell a copy, they could get up to three years in jail. This BBC article has the overview.

Perhaps if Peter Mayle created a Malaysian version, as he did the African American edition, it wouldn’t be so easily banned.

I’m glad it’s not banned here in America because I’m tempted to buy a copy and send it to a few key congressional representatives. Despite the fact some of them have nearly a dozen children, they really don’t understand Peter Mayle’s “version” about how it all happens. At least I have the freedom to read about it. For now.