It’s a familiar scenario for many organizations: the marketing website feels outdated, confusing, and disconnected from what the organization truly represents. The straightforward solution seems to be a new website. Tangible engagement metrics on Google Analytics make it easier to persuade leadership to set aside funds to fix your primary channel for marketing and communications. But, what if the root of the problem lies deeper, in the very essence of your organization’s brand? Deciding what to invest in first should be based on the root cause of your symptoms. With several hundred projects un ..read more

This perspective comes from guest contributor Huitzilli Oronia, a Chicana designer based in Denver, Colorado. As a designer at the award-winning creative production agency Hook, Oronia focuses on helping people and communities tell powerful stories that challenge conventions. My heritage is a rich, vibrant tapestry woven from the traditions of the Pueblo people of the Southwest and the Nahua/Mexica of Mexico. It’s an identity steeped in pride and longing, a strong fabric of interconnection and reciprocity that also bears the scars of displacement and detribalization.  As an adult, I’ve em ..read more

Yesterday a colleague asked me for my perspective on this issue. His question, “Would you happen to have a proof point that you would tell your clients on why not to intermix their logo branding into user interfaces?” That question gave me pause, and then I jotted down a few thoughts, hoping I could help. After my colleague’s enthusiastic reply, I thought, ‘when one person has a question, so do others,’ so I took my off-the-hip response and decided to turn it into an article. I work in a very competitive landscape of legal and financial services, and the articulation of brand identity through ..read more

Extreme Reach has long been a cornerstone of the entertainment industry, offering essential services in asset management and payroll assistance for advertisers. However, its role has transcended traditional functions. Each day, Extreme Reach mines its vast reservoir of industry data to uncover valuable insights, shaping the trajectory of entertainment. Their recent rebranding initiative signals a significant shift in focus, positioning Extreme Reach as a platform and a forward-thinking technology partner poised to transform the industry with insightful data-driven solutions. The rebranding of ..read more

Stereolabs, renowned for its cutting-edge cameras and software empowering autonomous robots, unveils a dynamic visual identity crafted by Pentagram. The company propels robotics beyond basic navigation to execute complex tasks by integrating stereo cameras seamlessly with AI-driven software. Originally founded in Paris, Stereolabs emerged as an AI vision company with its sights set on equipping robots with human-like perception. With their cutting-edge cameras and software development kits (SDK), Stereolabs has empowered over 200,000 developers and 1,000 companies to harness the power of 3D vi ..read more

Coming up with new creative ideas is tough enough, but what happens when you work in a sector filled with legal restrictions and tight regulations? Constraints are a tricky issue for anyone designing for healthcare brands who face the challenge of balancing creativity with compliance. Invariably, many healthcare brands opt for safe, uninspired creative (think upbeat or defiant people of a certain age at a farmer’s market or a yoga class). But why should the healthcare sector, with its profound impact on our everyday health and well-being, settle for anything less than beautiful, ground-breakin ..read more

Everyone remembers a moment when history truly becomes immense and personal. Not having grown up with the internet, my moment only struck once I stood under Brunalleschi’s dome in Florence, well into my twenties. Now, we don’t need to stamp our passports to experience history over, under, and all around us. Legacy institutions are using technology to rethink how to engage and inspire us, creating truly borderless experiences. Museums and libraries are going through a rebirth, using their collections and archives in new ways for new audiences. I recently spoke to YuJune Park, a designer, speake ..read more

If you have not read Part 1 of my AI series, please do so now, or some of this will not make sense to you. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Society of Illustrators (@soi128) I have mixed feelings about this statement. I do value the importance of copyright (unlike some people who feel that it only serves corporate interests and should be abolished). I have threatened to sue on three occasions and been compensated in all three instances. Two of those were clear and direct lifts of particular images, but one of them was merely a infringement of style, which my lawyer enume ..read more

We live in an individualistic digital world where we’re often so locked into our personal screens that we forget to look up and appreciate what’s around us. Wish Fountain, a new project by San Diego experiential design firm SOSO, doesn’t necessarily see this as a bad thing. This digital water fountain inspires people to enjoy moments of surprise and delight while still honoring the relationship with personal screens. Visitors virtually respond to prompts displayed on screens throughout the space by communicating their wishes as an image or text message. Each wish is a secret between the sender ..read more

Someone in the “AI Art Universe” Facebook group called it “art harvesting.” It’s an interesting analogy: sprouts planted by many other people are ‘scraped’ into a giant blender that sorts and readies them to be grown into exotic new gardens. But it’s more than a poetic analogy— it’s a worldwide phenomenon, way bigger than a garden. It’s a jungle of fields and plantations, meadows and forests filled with fantasy characters and creatures, scenes and settings that could be in the distant past, the far future, or another galaxy. And it’s springing up, morphing, regenerating before our eyes. Some o ..read more