Comedy Central Rebranding

Today I was watching Tosh.0 on Comedy Central when I noticed something new and distinct in the corner, a new Comedy Central logo. First let me voice my opinion that I thinks it's clean and simple, easy to read, distinct and unique.

However, most people especially brand critique would be quick to tear this logo apart. First of all most people would make complaints such as, the logo looks like the copyright logo, looks like close captioning, it's too simple, too plain, and most importantly they would complain to no end that the Central is upside down. How can people read that, they will get a headache, it is confusing, etc.

However, I applaud them for taking that stance, if we know anything about Comedy Central, it's that they don't care what other people think. Secondly they aren't aiming towards a lowest common denominator audience who can barely comprehend sarcasm and satire. They don't want to convert the large population of people out there who still think that Stephen Colbert is a Republican. Their logo basically says, "if you can't read upside down, you shouldn't be watching this channel" and I say I commend that. We need to stop making the assumption that people are incapable of comprehending even the slightest complexity. We should design to challenge their intellect and always expect more of them and they may just surprise us and rise to the occasion. I'm just saying, assume they are smarter than you think and they will figure it out.

What's in my everyday bag (Hard Graft 2Unfold Laptop Bag)

What’s in the bag?: Apple iPad, HTC Conductive Stylus, AViiQ Portable Laptop Stand, 15” MacBook Pro, Business Cards, 1 Nurse Pen, 1 Cross Fountain Pen, Two Rings, Klipsch Image S4 Headphones, Griffin iPhone Battery Pack, 1TB Western Digital Passport Hard Drive, Case Logic Portable HD Case, 2 Durex Condoms, Travel Pack Imodium AD & GasX, 4 Spare SD Memory Cards, 6 Cross Fountain Pen Refills, iPad USB Connector & SD Card Reader, Case Logic Cable Organizer Case, Check Book, Casio Exilim FH-100 Highspeed Camera, Micro Tripod, Panasonic Lumix 100-200mm Telephoto Lens, Olympus Pen E-PL1 with Panasonic Lumix G 20mm Lens

Mad Men, what works what doesn't.

Over the last few weeks, I've finally had a chance to catch up with AMC's Mad Men to see for myself what all the hype is. Lately at our office, signs of it's reach seem to be creeping into our office such as the occasional 3 piece suits, trench coats, meetings, meetings, meetings, smoking and sparingly alcohol. The question that often raises in my mind is can the ad agency culture of the 1960s still be relevant today? Do they still exist and can they still be useful or are they are archaic as segregation. Luckily or Unluckily, depends on your point of view, our office isn't rampant with scandalous affairs, wrought with personal problems, and cut throat internal competition and conflict. However some of the way we differ is clearly in the broadcast media department since most of our client focus primarily on print and digital media.

I think one of the things I find most interesting is the ratio of departments, Creative making a small part of the firm, followed by a large number of accounts managers and an even larger number of copy writers and most notably, every one has a secretary. I often wonder how valuable it is to be able to just dictate ideas, meetings, recaps on a dictaphone and then just hand it off to a secretary to transcribe. It seems to save a lot of time and allows the creatives to just be free to think freely with out need to attend to the tedious task of organizing and disseminating that information afterwards. Also in our fast pace atmosphere of the internet age, everything seems to be due yesterday which has stolen from us the opportunity to make real, well planned and presentations allowing us to have face to face meetings with our client. Most of our presentations are done via email and phone which in a way has made us lost the art of the pitch. There is so much value in a face to face, allow us to feel the clients mood and behavior first hand, and allowing us to react immediately to work together to develop a solution. Instead I feel people hate to type and read as it is, and thus response are often a limited to simple directions to get the job done.

What I'd like to see is more meetings among key staff, creative, accounts, and copy writing to discuss direction. I think with the pressure of a pitch eminent, everyone is more inclined to create more complete creative directions presentable to the client. The pitch is also a process that allows the team as a whole to feel more confident and reassured of their direction as well as over time better understand the client's mentality. Some of the things we will begin implementing here at Crisp will include more internal presentation, even if it isn't to the client, this open venue of discussion with build a stronger creative culture.

Crisp Taipei Taiwan Trip 2010

This video was filmed on an Olympus Pen E-PL1 with a 20mm 1.7f Lumix Lens and the high speed footage was filmed on a Casio Exlim EX-FH100 at 200FPS.

Crisp Compound 2010

This video was filmed on an Olympus Pen E-PL1 with a 20mm 1.7f Lumix Lens and the high speed footage was filmed on a Casio Exlim EX-FH100 at 200FPS.