New Art Director, Posters, And Icons Oh My!

Feb04

New Art Director, Posters, And Icons Oh My!

My first task as the new Art Director at MindComet was to help update the original MindComet branded posters in the front of the building. I was originally introduced to these posters by David, our Creative Director when he took me on my first tour of the office a few months prior to being hired full time. Before being hired I felt a good way to show that I was ready to be a part of the team was to create the new posters without even being asked. (See the original set below).

My original impression was only based off of a memory of the office looked like and looking at the MindComet Web site. Which was a great way to get to know and understand a company’s brand, but you really don’t get to know anyone from a one hour meeting. Which is why it’s so important to spend time with them to truly get to know and understand who they are. Person or business, for a Web site or for a business venture. You need to know and understand who they are so you can offer a solution they will be happy with as well as yourself.

On my first version I think I was just trying to create something that “looked cool” and had a similar look but was just my interpretation of the brand. David was excited to see the work I put in prior to getting the job, but he knew it needed a bit more pushing before it could be hung up on the walls. I honestly didn’t mind. After all I was doing this to get my foot in the door and show that I am a team player and open to communicating to make something better then what it was initially. As painful as it can sometimes be, it’s better to go with your 20th idea and not just your first or second.

So what is the MindComet brand? Well that is what I had to learn for myself. At first glance most would see globs of blue, pink, and greenish jell-like colors overlaid upon one another. This is understandable as it was close to the initial thoughts I had and decided to follow through with on my initial poster designs, only with a bit more oomph and and a little something extra here and there. I did not truly take in the subtle strengths our brand has. It looks simple, but it also feels like there’s a lot going on. The power of this is control. While it is a cluster of shapes they are controllable and allow you to create more compositional elements than you would expect. I had a hard time of wanting to put too much in when first working with the shapes. I lost control, and had to learn to scale things back. Once you learn to control the shapes they become very powerful.

Printing finally!

Most people also fail to see the simple motion and flow the brand carries with it. The brand shows a very dynamic power with an easy unforced feeling. The tiny details of line patterns that are in the blues and whites are also a reminder that there is a lot more going on then what you see at first glance. If you pause and really look at the shapes their is an amazing amount of details. It’s not enough to distract users and make them feel color / pattern overload, but just enough to show some time was dedicated to this design. This ebb-and-flow branding that was laid down by David has empowered myself and the entire creative team to give their own interpretations of what they feel the brand can be at any time. Of course it took me a few days to understand this but after asking for feedback and constructive-criticism of my designs I was able to push the concepts and at the same time fully control the style without making it feel cookie cutter or identical to everything else that had been created before it. I was able to put my own visual interpretation of what I felt the design could be.

The icons were a very different challenge. The icons were something that David wanted to introduce over 2 years ago when the new brand had initially been introduced. However, due to time constraints and client deadlines sometimes your wants have to be pushed to the background for your client’s needs. Each icon represents one of the MindComet Services. Initially these icons were not meant to be part of the poster designs. They came from feedback during one of the critiques of my original designs. James, another Art Director here at MindComet, had mentioned that David had always wanted to create these icons to represent each one of our core services. So from that a whole new project had emerged within the original posters project.

The goal of the icons was to show each service in a visual way without actually having to show something that was a visual trigger for each element. For example, “Mobile” we didn’t show a mobile phone, nor did we show the traditional “wifi” wavy bar lines fading off into infinity. We dug deeper and thought of the feelings you get from being mobile. You can move into any direction without feeling tied down. And at the same time we introduced motion by making the shape circular and allowing the wavy lines to curve and twirl as the extruded out. With “Mobile” you have the power to always be in motion.

We wanted the icons to each have a unique design and story without feeling that they had to be similar to ever other company’s iconography. They are probably some of the most creative icons I’ve ever had the chance to work on. Currently the they are being used within most of our new company presentations and collateral. It was a great honor to see them being hung up and to be accompanied with 2 of our new business pitch meetings.

Below you can see the progression of the designs as I worked on them along with our giant HP printer spitting out the final print outs. It was a fun first project and I’m looking forward to the next challenge and working with my new family of creatives. If you’d like to know more about the designs or posters feel free to hit me up and we can talk design. You can reach me at: jeremyc(@)mindcomet.com

Posters Version 1