MindComet

RE:BRAND: 04 - We’re Not So Different After All

Our creative director has been showing you some of the steps we took to recreate our company brand this past year via our rebrand post series. Today we came across a similar post from BBC, outlining the the nearly two-year process of redesigning and unifying both bbc.co.uk and their mobile website. What we found interesting was how similar our process was to theirs, from conceptual ideas and meetings, to defining their voice and brand, and ultimately a fresh, branded website.

Check it out: BBC Online Rebrand

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Posted by Stephanie Fields on Feb. 17, 2010

Mix of the Month: “The People’s Tribe”

  “ThePeoplesTribe”-Nov2009  by ViddaVein
What’s getting the creative juices flowing this month?

This, as usual, is a very eclectic blend of varying styles. It feels good, real good. The track selections are very in the *now* with hints of old school and timeless influences that everyone can relate to. You don’t listen to my mixes for the expected sounds, you listen because you want to hear new sounds and new inspirations, and at the same time, be moved. Download. Listen. Enjoy.

Tracklist:
1) Gustav Weihrauch (RXTBLS Golt) - tjajajan (Thanks SoundCloud)
2) Front 2 Back (Original Mix) - Playgroup
3) Shottieville (Proxy Remix) - Zombie Nation
4) Feel It When You Know (LA Riots Remix) - VHS or BETA
5) Psycho Thrills (Original Mix) - Cicada
6) Blow [The Bomb] (Tim Healey Remix) - Deekline & Wizard, DJ Fresh, Ivory
7) Les Grandes Vacances (The Sterehoes Remix -Bonus Track) - Man & Man
8) New Experience feat. Total Sound (Dub Mix) - Quet KCR
9) Lets Rock The Party (Fukkk Offf Remix) - Maral Salmassi, Fukkk Offf
10) Droppin This (Original Mix) - Circuit Breaker, B-Phreak
11) The Power (Kanji Kinetic Mix) - Snap!
12) Love in the Digital Age (Original Mix) - Heads We Dance
13) Flat Beat (Tube & Berger Remix) - Dirty Funker
14) Jump Ft. Nelly Furtado (Designer Drugs Remix) - Florida
15) Vista Shit - Vex/Royce Grayer
16) Mr Roboto (Zoltan Kontes Mix) - Martin Villeneuve
17) Burn Down The Disco - Let’s Go To War
18) Dreampieces (Alternative Version) - Headman
19) Your Disco Song (Original Mix) -Vitalic
20) Get Off (Jack Beats Remix) - Switch, Diplo
21) Your Mind Your Passion (Quadrat Beats Remix) - Freerange DJs
22) Rabbit Heart [Raise It Up] (Lionheart Mix) - Florence and The Machines

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Posted by David Martin on Dec. 21, 2009

Finding Inspiration Elsewhere

As designers, we all have our specially-marked creative sites that post fresh-from-the-oven, delectable posts that we enjoy perusing for inspiration on a weekly basis. It’s always exciting to see what other creative gurus in the industry are thinking and doing, what the latest trends are and how we can possibly apply some of that forward thinking in our own work.

While visiting these design showcases can be a good source of creativity, it is important to remember to seek out other sources from multiple mediums to fuel our fire. Our creative team recently participated in a creative exercise trying to do just that. We took a little show we all know and love - Project Runway - and created our own designs based on some of the winning looks. With a little time (and by little, I mean five minutes) and some free flowing thought, we took those fashion pieces and transformed them into stimulating sketches and interesting imagery.

In the last post, David discussed the MindComet re:brand mood boards, with team members pulling creative inspiration from paintings, fashion, sculpture, motion, textures and experiences. It’s nice to take in fresh perspectives on the latest trends, colors and topics from other creative fields.

It’s also important to keep your eyes open all around you. The great outdoors are my favorite place to look for new innovative ideas and creative visual cues. I can be inspired on my run, during my bike ride or while I’m flying down the mountain on my snowboard. Each of these experiences offers a unique view of color, harmony and dissonance, environments and interaction.

Where do you look for your inspiration? Take a step back from your computer and take it all in.

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Posted by Stephanie Fields on Nov. 10, 2009

RE:BRAND:02 - Mood Boards

Previously the rebrand team performed a “keyword” exercise to start establishing common thoughts and ideas about the direction our brand should take. In step 2 of the creative process for our rebrand, we requested the core team to pull images for assembling mood boards that reflected their thoughts and keyword choices for the new brand. These images would include colors, shapes, textures, and photography styles. When reinventing MindComet, we felt it important to represent our creativity, experience, technical expertise, people and culture in the overall image. When thinking about and gathering examples to support the brand image, we asked ourselves a few questions:

1) How do we show our adaptability and flow with the ever-changing market, technologies and trends? 

2) How can we represent our creatively crazy, fun culture and vibrant personalities?  

3) What about the fact that we all obsess over the details and will work all day and night in order to deliver a product we are proud off? 

4) How do we envision ourselves in the next year, 3 years, 5 years? 

5) Where have we already been as a company and how can build from that image? 

Here are some of the favorite options from the exercise:  

Organic, Intelligent, Versatile, Impact, Interesting, Flowy, Graphic, Sophisticated 

Electric, Cutting Edge, Edgy, Elite, Flowy, Organic, Personality, Morphing 

Fun, Bold, Fresh, Compelling, Fun, Thoughtful, Dreamers, Tactile, Unique, Customer Focused, Alive 

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Posted by David Martin on Nov. 06, 2009

RE:BRAND:01 - Keywords, “All Aboard!“

In this one of several series, I discuss the step by step process I used to re:build the creative components for our brand. So, to get everyone “All Aboard”, how do you collectively incorporate every team member’s point-of-view and get them involved in the process of re:building a brand at the infant stages? 

It’s been extremely busy in the labs at MindComet for the past several months. Though the Executive team all agreed to maintain our brand recognition and loyalty with our current Identity mark, we have been redesigning ALL of our entire brand materials while maintaining a consistent flow of client work. Many of late nights, long weekends, beer and coffee drips have been part of this long process, but the biggest and most important part has certainly been our collective team’s drive and dedication. Not every team member could be involved in every step of the process, but we did encourage everyone in contributing their point-of-view of what, ideally, the new MindComet brand should represent. An effective exercise that I have used in my career on several occasions is establishing a “Keyword” list. This is a great way for multiple parties with different skill sets to get involved in the creative process without getting into the minutia of immediate details and wants. You can easily assemble feedback and obtain a better “unbiased understanding” of where everyone fits into the puzzle, and what is ultimately important in their eyes.  
 
To get this started, I asked two simple questions…  
1) “What qualities do you feel the MindComet brand represents?“ and  
2) “In the future, how would you like our current clients and new clients to feel about MindComet?“ 
 
On a sheet of paper, I had everyone write down a series of words to help mold and shape their thoughts as it relates to the questions asked. One at a time, everyone read back their list and described what each word meant to them and why they ultimately chose it. The lists were collected, and consolidated into a single list to be referenced throughout the re:branding process. This was our final keyword “thought cloud” (See Image Above) supporting and molding the new direction MindComet’s visuals would be taking moving fowards. 
 

Below is a list of the team’s original keywords: 
 
 

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Posted by David Martin on Oct. 19, 2009

up&up. Successful Launch or Failed Mission for Target?

A visit to Target will have you wondering what happened to the Target brand line of products. The infamous red bullseye has disappeared from the shelves and a new, chunky arrow in various solid colors has taken its place. There are images - some cheeky, some fun and some boring - clipped on stark white backgrounds.

The always hip and exceedingly marketing-savvy Target has redesigned its in-store brand:

I’m on the fence for this one. I am a huge fan of clean design and white space, so I dig that. The grid-like layout and white space provides a more modern feel than the previous dated wave look. It’s clean, not flashy, and expresses quality without seeming expensive. On the other side, the design seems to have been born from laziness. Any good designer (and not for that matter) can drop a photo in and add some plain colored text. I get that the arrow goes with the bullseye, but will consumers get it?

There are mixed thoughts throughout the design community, as well as consumers. Some say the design is phallic. Some say it’s too similar to the Publix brand imagery. Some say it’s brilliant, and others disagree. Some just want to know where the bullseye went.

Consumers have expressed confusion and frustration when trying to find the products from the in-store brand. Should Target have provided its consumers with more of a warning about the new look? Several employees have said they didn’t even know up&up was the Target brand. Interesting.

Is up&up economy-based advertising, like so many other companies are providing these days? Does it appeal to consumers looking to stretch their pennies further? Does it tell us Target is doing just fine in this economic slump?

I’d like to hear your thoughts on this one.

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Posted by Stephanie Fields on Oct. 08, 2009

Creative Exercise 3: Camera Phone Typography in 10 Minutes

In this exercise we explored elements in our work environment that contained the shape, angles, and lines that represented any form of typography.

As simple as it may seem, typography combines communicative and artistic elements, and we are constantly surrounded by it in our daily lives.

The goal was to find as many letters as we could find in 10 minutes or less.

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Posted by Joe Tucker on Oct. 07, 2009