Design in the Nations Capital

I received notice that the local chapter of Registered Graphic Designers is getting together to look at how to improve the buying practices of the federal government. The plan is to have a "town hall" meeting later this week. I have been invited along with other representatives from different firms here in Ottawa to take part in this forum in order to establish what can be done to raise the perceptions about the importance and value of design. The intent is to get advice from a hired lobbyist who will present the designer audience options on how to best appeal to the Fed's on better rates and more competitive hiring practices.

I was notified that the underlying issues that are impacting our design community include the very low rates that our profession has to compete against. This is primarily due to "low ballers" who regardless of how low the bar is set will bring the hrly rate even lower. The policy is to accept the lowest offer. This is a threat to anyone who is competing on cost and has difficulty differentiating with other capabilities or service lines. I gather the freelancer is likely exposed here to some slugging it out with aggressive costing offers from others who are either new entries into the market or the opportunities have become very slim from the client side and this has caused extreme downward pressure on those competing for fewer opportunities to slash their rates to maximize their chances to sustaining business.

Both scenario's point to an unfortunate environment for individuals who rely on engagements and have become accustom to a standard of living based on government procurement . I have been fortunate working over the years with many clients within government. We have a good grasp of the demands on our clients to act in the interests of the public to ensure the Crown receives value.

Three areas of risk that have set the criteria for this low rate/hiring debacle.

1. The organization has to make an investment in the "design imperative" and understand "design value". Where within this administration is design leadership? We know pockets exist but the idea of central design leadership is absent from the organization. Who is our government's "brand manager"?

2. Design versus technology. This gets at the core of the problem. The technology faction has smothered the value and importance of design. This may be the Mac versus Microsoft metaphor. Technology has
put very clear silos around design. Design for example is the "skin" on a web site. This suggests the designer is responsible for the elements on the cover not the architecture, development and technology aspects. These competencies fall to the technologists.

3. Designers today need to be on a team because clients want integrated solutions.

Education has to be a core objective going forward. Designers need tp assert two or three core reason's that clearly inform and impart to their market what the value of design means. Consensus on what value design brings is the first step in re building the market. Combine design education from the private sector with a central design Czar or program that is in charge of the public service brand and extends to industry recognition for excellence and celebrates great achievements in all things design in Canada.

The board for this program would be made up of industrial design leaders, graphic design, fashion people, architects, brand experts and others who make their living in the design community.

Two countries that celebrate design as a core value:
http://www.danishedge.dk/visForside.asp?artikelID=1573
http://www.designmuseum.org/

Brand Building

Trying to think of a useful piece of info to share when so much is flying around is always a challenge. From the point of view of design new opportunities unfold weekly and I'm always amazed that under the umbrella of brand and design so many different types of assignments come our way.

One assignment that is presently underway required the utilization of our "brand leadership model". As a designer turned marketer, turned business owner turned representative to the team. I've realized that brand for organizations is the natural extension of the designers tool box. Design is the great differentiator and will always serve organizations effectively in terms of competitive advantage. If you bring your brilliant design skills together with a core understanding of brand strategies you will certainly strengthen what you have to offer your prospects and clients. You will have stronger skill sets and a distinct advantage that will drive more opportunities to your door.

The aspect that most designers know but may not have framed for themselves is the notion of "Brand Building" . Designers contribute to this core function within the brand spectrum and to their credit assert a very powerful level of expertise.

This extraordinary expertise is a proven means to leverage investment and grow the client's organizational profits! (shouting)

The visual assets the designer develops and imparts to clients and in turn their audiences form an arsenal of tools that channel emotions and meaning. This skill is in great demand today in a visual literate world. Sound bites, MTV and You tube dominate. These are but a few examples of the new era we've entered and they are the new paradigms of communication today. We have certainly engaged in a time when the visual is king.

Design and brand building go hand in hand. The designers portfolio is an archive of products and visual assets that probably contributed to brand building in one form or another. The designer that understands brand management, brand architecture and identity framework systems combined with brand building will begin to assert brand leadership solutions on behalf of their clients.

Group and individual interplay inside the market driven organization.

Many factors contribute to growth in the organization. Our individual aspirations and references in life tend to be governors of what we as individuals experience. These two drivers: aspiration and reference, will determine what paths we will pursue, how we relate to one another, what value we contribute to the greater good.

The good news is that if you’ve demonstrated any modicum of leadership, you’ve set some standard for others to witness and you may have actually inspired within a segment of those onlookers a desire to accomplish similar heroics.

This, for me gets at the essence of why group dynamic is such a wonderful and fascinating case study.

Team growth relies on leadership. The brand of leadership adopted within the organization and how that is demonstrated drives performance, creates opportunities, provides a quality of life within the organization environment. Freelancer Enterprises or Empires depend on a balanced and careful execution on leadership that grounds for all participants trust and rewards.

Reflecting on events, it's apparent we can frame systems that will result in a higher level of positive interplay in support of growing the business.

Design for primal impact

"Moon Mask"
Fredrick Baker, Coastal Salish, First Nations, British Columbia Canada


When one looks at storytelling as a method for persuasion you begin to unravel how successful organizations have captured the imaginations of their intelligent teams, stakeholders and markets.

Storytelling is a primal function and code of communication built into human nature. In our world today a good story can be used to control the masses, build a community or create a cult. The story gets read, offers an experience in turn creates action.

The successful story has five elements:

1. Passion
2. Hero
3. Antagonist
4. Transformation
5. Awareness

The organization that offers design solutions then has a story to tell.

Design is about passion. A visual word mark symbol or logo can effectively develop into iconic proportions. A careful combination of strategic brand planning that extends and integrates with powerful visual elements is proven to drive competitive advantage. The challenge for the organization is to inject the proper amount of business acumen, storytelling and design brilliance into the identity development to ensure the launch will sustain and gain momentum.

A good designer knows about primal response. Paul Rand's legacy is about an individual who within his design career made a seminal contribution to Corporate America's design movement his passion for storytelling and scripting of rationale for corporate identities is the stuff of legends.

His book A designers Art is an excellent primer for anyone inclined to develop a vocabulary around design. Paul Rand designed many of the great corporate identity systems of the 20th century his book has enshrined for readers the logic applied to these corporate brand systems.

Much of what he defines of course is universally practiced today.

One of the examples he touches on in the book is the metaphor of the mask. He refers to a Aboriginal Corn Mask. The mask through the ages has been a spiritual element used as a powerful visual communications device. The mask was used and integrated into a variety of ceremonial events, medicinal cure's or shaman chants. The mask was always present to followers and owned space in their memories either for better or worse.

Within the ceremony the mask charged passions about specific rituals and effectively convinced followers that some extraordinary paradigm would unfold and impact on their lives. (Politicians today attempt this stuff)

Paul Rand draws very profound analysis between the mask used during primitive times and corporate identities that are ubiquitous today. We can presuppose the theater experience and tribal drama associated with how the mask was central to driving emotions and ensuring memorable events. The mask is known as a powerful element for transformation and community building. Organizations today use powerful visual metaphors and effectively brand themselves. They create and build large community followings.



Rand explains visual logic for example primal elements including the circle, the cross, stripes, human elements in the form of caricature. He touches on the human interest in puzzles and problem solving. Colour application and humor is also reviewed from the perspective of design.

Storytelling is central to strong brand. Identifying what you have within your organizations offering that generates primal response is an effective starting place toward brand leadership.

Experience Cree Community

Photography: Fred Cattroll Lac Mistissini Quebec, Canada

Looking up at the sky on an island in the middle of a lake. The lake is enormous. No urban elements in sight. One exception transatlantic jet planes soaring along in the foreground still extremely distant but lower then satellites and not audible above nature sounds close to the lake. No single man made property or flicker of light on the horizon. Distance here is visually hard to predict especially after dark but the lake is known to be 200 hundred miles long and at least fifty miles wide. The island in the middle where I happen to be at the waters edge is like a continent dividing this magnificent lake. The sky here at night is a beautiful experience. You see the northern lights and hear the ripple on the shoreline with a smooth spiritual beat of wind pushing the water up against the rock edge. The rock is worn from the effects of the water. The rock at the waters edge has been painted by years of natural elements edging a texture layering abstract forms. Bursting out of the rock seams evergreen trees hold their perch they appear to be new growth their small size disguises their age. These are small trees growing slowly next to the lake emerging out of the seam a century ago.

The rock is sandwiched by water and moss, constant water that endlessly themes a magic song that cannot be authentically reproduced by artificial device. Beyond the rocky waters edge a wonderful spongy surface emerges and spreads back into the old growth forest away from the rock. This base of growth is very thick it transforms the hard rock surface and carpets the forest.

Trying to describe the experience on Lac Mistissini is a kind of folly. Like the sound water makes lapping on the shore. This place can’t be described by words it is truly a utopia that must be lived and experienced to understand and then you can only begin to appreciate.

The people who make this part of the country their home, have invited me out onto the lake. The opportunity to come here has been extended to me by my clients and friends the James Bay Cree.

When we think about brand and corporate identity we look at capitalistic model organizations that are market driven. The language we use to define the essence of the brand should have a glossary to support everyone’s collective understanding.

The Cree of course have their own language and syllabic forms for writing, these special brand elements are important components of the unique world of the James Bay Cree community.

The experience during the last twenty years engaged in communications with the Cree has been about working closely with the client and being witness to their leadership in the development of a world-class identity. I have difficulty using brand lexicon to describe the Cree Nation. But it is true the Cree have succeeded not without major challenges, today they face their share of issues like any modern society. Their identity is known nationally and internationally based on their successful brand of leadership.

Influential people who form part of the Cree Leadership have engaged us. Based on this we have benefited and collaborated meeting Trappers, Chiefs, Guides, Elders, Teachers and many others too many people to mention. All of this has provided us an appreciation for the traditions and culture that is evident within the James Bay Cree.

The Cree leadership has fought exhaustive battles asserting their rights and defending themselves against governments insistent on extracting resources and exploiting what has been time immemorial Cree.

We are thankful to have had two decades of friendships and relations. We have been witness to many breakthroughs and we’ve learned many life lessons from the James Bay Cree in Northern Quebec. A person whom I hold in extremely high regard and who has co traveled extensively across and up and down this nation on many shooter junkets Fred Cattroll a great photographer (did you get the shot Fred?) and friend introduced me to the Cree Naskapi Commission in 1988.

From that first introduction the experience is unfolding.

Thanks Fred!