An inside look at logo creation and development using ourselves as a case study.

To begin working on the new FlashPoint Development logo I immediately ran off to the nearest bookstore with pen and paper in hand to begin researching logos. I quickly found a series of books named “The Big Book of Logos” written by David E. Carter, the books where filled with thousands of different logos ranging from charities, spots events, to bands. I sifted through each book, page after page trying to find logos that would inspire me, once I did find a logo I liked I would quickly replicate it in my notebook and write the company that it was from. After edition 3 and 4 I had about forty logos that seemed interesting. The biggest challenge in finding a logo style was that most of them are extremely unique to the company, that it should be, and it was difficult to envision FlashPoint having a logo inspired by the ones I was looking at.

It was clear from the first round of research that not only was the logo going to change, but the complete feel of the company and what it communicates was going to be affected by the new logo. The goal was to communicate FlashPoint as a quick and efficient company. The style that was already in place was the use of typical shapes to create this metaphorical symbol of two halves being joined by the center circle, so this was the idea I needed to communicate. I first began with simple shapes and quickly built up to layers and different tones. I went back and forth between my notes from the bookstore, sometimes simply making a different version of an existing logo and hoping that would inspire a new direction. After the first round of ideation I created many different styles of logos. I started with simple circles that created a hopefully peaceful relationship between each other but showed unity, I was also very inspired by the idea of cubes coming together and different pieces fitting in with different shapes. From the first batch of ideas the FlashPoint team liked the idea and look of the circles revolving around each other. We made dozens of different versions, with numerous colors and tried it in 3D and all different orientations but could not find exactly what we hoped.

After a few days of sketching “blue sky” logos the team wanted to go in a more creative direction. The FlashPoint name should be incorporated and to really convey the idea of things coming together. From this I began making dozens of different versions of old or even existing logos and picked my favorites. I tried to pick the most bizarre and artsy ones possible as I felt that this was a creative group of people and that should be conveyed through the logo. From this round of ideation we had a broad variety of styles. We had more design like logos, simple and to the point, and more artsy logos, logos that needed to be looked at to really understand. Even after our more adventurous attempts we felt that we could go further.

An original drawing was uploaded for the team to see and it shot us into a new direction. The idea of conveying the meaning of FlashPoint was suggested. The definition of FlashPoint being: The point at which eruption into significant action, creation, or violence occurs. This idea of the point of creation was born. This new direction brought about the themes of combustion, fire, flames, sparks, and explosions. I struggled to find a way to incorporate the symbols of flame and fire into the new logo without it looking violent or scary. I drew up many different logos and slowly worked through it with the team and we decided the idea of a flame was the direction we wanted to go in. I wanted to try and create a few different styles. After a few rounds of ideation we chose to go with a more representative approach. The final logo concept is a flame flickering, this is to represent the idea of the flame being just lit and just coming into existence. The inside of the flame is rendered a different color as that is the hottest and originating point of the flame, which is FlashPoint.

We explored different color concepts to enhance the emotional design elements.  After of 15 variations we reviewed and decided on dark blue and yellow.  Once the concept and the color was decided on we looked into adding different effects like shading and 3 dimensional perspectives.  We decided to keep the logo as 2D but kept the idea of 3D for the next phase: lettering and wording placement.  The process of lettering and wording placement is an abbreviated design process because we had already decided on several boundaries throughout the first phases of development.  Several lettering options included different fonts, colors, location of Flashpoint Development and alignment of the wording around the logo. 

At the conclusion of the process we had our new logo which is then integrated into all of our marketing materials including letterhead, presentation templates and business cards.  We loved the new logo so much that it became the focus of our refined company identity in our new and upcoming website.

By Greg Moore, Flashpoint Industrial Designer and Sam Ruback, Flashpoint Development Product Development Manager

During conceptual design of your product, cost engineering is essential. Once main obstacle that new ventures face is the cost of your product versus desired selling price. Volume can have a huge impact on this. For the gBook e-book reader, you’ll note the cost reduction in total cost from low volume (1000 units) to higher volume (100,000 units) – particularly in the LCD/controller and main processor. This reduces even further when considering volumes of 500,000 to 1M.

However, the entrepreneur should be cautious when selecting features and selling price. Basing selling price on extremely high volume can be tempting – but you may be in a situation of negative margin from introduction until (if ever) you reach the volume estimate. That means negative cash-flow from the onset – which may kill the company before you ever break-even. So, perform your bottom-up and top-down cost estimates – if there is a huge disconnect you may need to cut back on features/capability and/or adjust target market/demographic (higher selling price) to make the economics work. These iterations and cost engineering are essential at the beginning stages of product design.

A bottle of soda and a toothbrush.  It is hard to imagine that these products can be made to stand out and even be desired above necessity…  I went shopping recently and I was amazed by the pull of two products.  The first a coke bottle, but not any coke bottle…  it was a ball of joy.  Even hidden in the store everyone in my shopping party had to have one, and when the soda was gone it got refilled.

The second product I was impressed with was a new electric tooth brush that was as skinny as a pencil.  It stood out dramatically as being significantly thinner than any high quality electric tooth brush I have ever seen.

What product limitations are you ignoring and following the status quo?  Are you considering what the product will look like on the shelf next to all the others… now, in 6 months, in 1 year?

Many focus on the financial aspect of Superbowl Ads. I agree that $3 million is astonishing for a 30 second commercial, but I think about that differently. If a company is going to spend an amazing amount of money for 30 seconds, it must be a pretty good example of what the top minds in marketing think work these days. So lets see what we can learn from these commercials.

1. Humor. A funny ad catches eyes, sparks word of mouth and makes people curious, although it has a limited life (not funny after 10 times) and the message can often get lost.

2. Animals are great. Think of the Geicko Gecko, the Budweiser Clydesdale/ frogs, the Sobe Lizzard. What animal would work for you?

If nothing comes to mind, review the advertisements from NBC, hopefully inspiration will strike and at a minimum have some laughs.

I spent this past weekend re-reading the past few months of Inventors Digest. A lot of great ideas for blogs popped into my head, but this one article made me stop and check it out immediately. 5 Questions with Charles McCarthy is an interview of a blogger who writes about ideas that he has on his blog Ideas By Chuck. His premise for the blog is faciniating and logical:

“I will be giving away some of my best ideas for inventions, businesses, stories, and marketing ploys. I don’t have the resources or passion to make these ideas reality, but I know that you might. If you use any of my ideas to make tons of money, please let me know and think about sending me a small percentage of your profits. I hope this blog makes the world a better place.”

One lesson might be the free flow of ideas to promote innovation, but I feel that the more prevalent is the way he communicates his ideas.  His blogs are a few paragraphs, but he is able to “pitch” the idea effectively.  He never starts off with so this is my idea and that is it, like so many inventors do.

Tactics:

Experience, he starts off talking about his background…  “Most of you, my millions of readers, would probably be surprised to find out that I have worked for no less than four ice cream franchises in varying capacities. Yes, I have a lot of ice cream experience under my belt.”

Targeting, focusing the pitch on who he wants to hear it… “Do you work for Willy Wonka, Hasbro, Jelly Belly, Tonka, Wham-O, Slam-O, Jack-O, Wack-O, or any other candy/toy company that I didn’t mention? Do you want to bring joy and cavities to millions of boys and girls, while making millions? Are you excited yet?”

Humor, a little joke (not a gut buster) to get people hooked… “Whenever I eat Chinese food, I use chopsticks. Guess what. Billions of Chinese people also use chopsticks when they eat Chinese food. Of course, they just call it food.”

You might notice that there is no mention of his product in the opener.  These are hooks showing the market, problem, experience etc.  Work some of these techniques into your pitches and marketing materials.  Getting the attention of the reader is encredibly important when looking for investment, licensing and everything else.

If you play golf, especially on Linx style courses (not a lot of trees) you will enjoy this invention.  Featured in the January 2009 issue of Golf Digest, the Uroclub is the answer to needing to go and not having a place.  This seven iron look-a-like is actually a cleverly disguised urinal created by a Florida area Urologist.  Floyd E Seskin, MD created this water proof half liter plus container with a privacy towel to “keep you out of the woods”.

While the invention is neat and has a need it reveals an interesting marketing trend that we at Flashpoint have been a part of. Notice hoe the inventor sent the note to Golf Digest, not a random publication. While this may seem obvious, getting your press releases to people who have power in your specific market place, are likely to talk about (or even feature it) and follow up with the internet presence to support it is not easy.

Get you product info to those people and you will get mentioned!

Although the lines between sales and marketing have been blurred recently, the entire action of actually getting the invention sold is the most important function. Especially early in an invention’s life, getting earlier buyers, customers and supporters can be very difficult but if achieved a lot of other operational requirements are easier. I was inspired by Brian Daigle’s recent post on Successful Marketing for Successful Inventions and remembered a section of a sales book I read a while back. Although Zig Ziglar’s The Secrets to Closing the Sale is not aimed specifically at inventions, I think you will enjoy this section, called I Am a Salesman:

I am proud to be a salesman because more than any other man I and millions of others like me, built America.

The man who builds a better mousetrap- or a better anything - would starve to death if he waited for people to beat a pathway to his door. Regardless of how good, or how needed, the product or services might be, it has to be sold.

Eli Whitney was laughed at when he showed his cotton gin. Edison had to install his electric light free of charge in an office building before anyone would even look at it. The first sewing machine was smashed to pieces by a Boston mob. People scoffed at the idea of railroads. They thought that even traveling thirty miles an hour would stop the circulation of blood! McCormick strived for fourteen years to get people to use his reaper. Westinghouse was considered a fool for stating that he could stop a train with wind. Morse had to plead before ten Congresses before they would even look at his telegraph.

The public didn’t go arounding demanding these things; they had to be sold!

- Author Unknown

The peice does go on to talk about how the everyday actions of salesmen around the world keep businesses turning, but I think you get the point. The best time investment for an inventor is to learn how to sell.

I attended the Yankee Invention Exposition this past weekend and was saddened my the many inventors who had traveled a long way, invested heavily in their product and had given up their time to go to a show that they were unprepared for. There are many companies that sell trade show services (for a hefty price), but that is not how we do things. We’ll share some low cost effective methods to help your next show be great

Consistent Message

One of the most important aspect is to deliver a consistent message. We will talk about engaging the senses, but if the brain gets confused by different messages the effectiveness will be lost. Having a consistent method will help prepare materials, pitches, responses to questions and all in all make for a better show.

Senses Matter

A trade show attendee, whether a visitor, buyer, investor or product scout experience the show through all 5 senses, so use them! Use color in your booth! You don’t need fancy banners, color printouts can be stitched together and be very effective without spending hundreds on a display. Pitch Loudly. Be excited and enthusiastic about your product. Make people who are walking by your booth want to stop and hear what you have to say. Think about walking down a city, (for me it is Harvard Square) and hearing a street performer that has a crowd and is making noise, I always stop and check it out. Try and get attendees involved with demos, let them try the product.

Represent Your Product

I don’t mean no fighting, but be at your booth mentally and physically. The best way to do this is to have atleast two people at the show. You are going to need a bathroom break, eat lunch and want to see other booths but if you leave your booth unattended, you might as well not be there.

Memorable Materials

Shows are somewhat hectic by nature. So when the attendee sits down later at home and is thumbing through the materials, make yours stand out. Have a brochure, make it in color. You can design your own easily and get it printed up very cheaply. Include your contact info and have a website behind it that builds on the same message. Giving out business cards is not really worthwhile, they just get lost in the mess. I still have a few of the materials from my first invention show, three years ago. That is memorable. Remember to protect your materials with a copyright notice.

Proven Message

Make sure that your message works. Practice pitching and make sure you are making sense. If you are not the person to make these pitches, then get someone else to help. A bad pitch can kill an show, especially if all of your materials are consistent with the pitch. A good pitch is a longer topic, but as a rule of thumb listeners should be engaged, and when it is over (yes pitches should have endings and not ramble on) you should be getting questions. The old saying about giving a talk and not having any questions means that no one understood (or is asleep) is true with pitching too. Being audience focused can be difficult, because there are many different types of attendees which is even more reason to keep practicing, revising and practicing some more (on real people)

Have a great show!

This past weekend I attended the Taste of Rhode Island festival in Newport. Besides leaving with a full stomach, some great pictures and I better appreciation for different seafood, I left with a backpack full of promotional products (even the backpack).

The basics of promotional products from wikipedia: One of the most notable means of promotion today is the Promotional Product, as in useful items distributed to targeted audiences with no obligation attached. This category has grown each year for the past decade while most other forms have suffered. It is the only form of advertising that targets all five senses and has the recipient thanking the giver.

While we all enjoy these souvenirs, they do serve an important function for the company MARKETING.  These products create an experience with the brand for free.  Very notable at this festival versus other promotional product give away events was the existence of the competitions / games.  These games like spinning a wheel similar to The Wheel of Fortune (Southwest), Bags similar to horse shoes but with bean bags (Naragasset), Putting / Mini-golf (Mirassou winery) and audience voting (Sam Adams) are just the beginning of the experience.

Besides the experience the customer enjoys, they provide exposure for the brand.  All of these products feature the brand name prominently on a related item (or just a high use item).  In order to get exposure they need to be used a lot or stand out.  The blow up airplane hat from Southwest is noticeable, acceptable to wear at the event (somewhat) but won’t last much farther than that.  I doubt I’ll ever use that Frisbee, but the cozy will get some use.  I’ll probably use the ball marker, because of the magnetic aspect and all my golf gloves no longer have the button.

Could your product be a promotional product?

Does it feature a spot to show off a brand?

Is it noticeable?

Is it a variation of a high use item?

Does it supply an experience?

Can you make it for a few dollars?