Corporate Identity

Creative briefings that clients provide us with these days typically mention target audiences consisting of men and women aged 18-25. Apparently, in this period of age consumers are willingly to connect with a brand on a more sustainable base, which is the perfect ground for brand loyalty. As creating brand loyalty is of vital importance to a brand, it seems highly important to know about the occupations of this particular group of people.

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To enable strong brand communication on such a small spot, it seems wise to keep a few rules in mind. At CARTILS we have defined three golden rules to make your brand ‘AppReady’:

1. Define your visual brand essence

2. Create a K.I.S.S.able execution

3. Ensure consistent use

Gaston van de Laar is the Client Services Director at CARTILS, an international brand design agency with offices in Amsterdam and London.

Since announcing the schema.org project two years ago, little has changed with the markup. That changes today as Google announceda new schema that supports company logos.

The logo designation is part of the Organization markup within schema.org. Using it will allow Google algorithms to understand which image on your server is your preferred logo. If you used such a file on your home page, you can designate it directly from the same IMG tag you use on your site.

The tag markup looks like this:

<code>
<div itemscope itemtype="http://schema.org/Organization">;
<a itemprop="url" href="http://www.example.com/">Home < /a>
<img itemprop="logo" src="http://www.example.com/logo.png" />
</div>
</code>

From their example code, it also appears that Google is advocating for site owners to link their company logo to the home page, a practice not every site implores.

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Established in 1963 as Pinault — later Pinault-Printemps, later Pinault-Printemps-Redoute, most recently PPR, and completely renamed as Kering this past March — is one of the most comprehensive parent company of luxury brands, including Gucci, Bottega Veneta, Saint Laurent, Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga, Brioni, Christopher Kane, and Stella McCartney among others as well as sports brand Puma. Family-owned since its inception, Kering is present in more than 120 countries, it employs 33,000 people and generates 9.7 billion euros in revenue. The new name was created internally with help from Havas Lifestyle, who are also credited with designing the logo and identity while Dragon Rouge is credited with brand strategy and the signature.

Red Bull Studios are a series of unique recording spaces that allow talented artists around the globe to be truly creative by providing free access to a network of state-of-the-art recording and production facilities. We were invited to create both the new official website that would act as a portal to the local studio sites and develop a distinctive new visual identity supported by clear guidelines for all design work keeping quality and clarity easily attainable.

We found inspiration from the ethos of the studios as a place to promote storytelling and excellence in music and used this to drive the creation of a tailored, content rich site featuring quality photography and adaptive design to develop a highly responsive and detailed experience on any device. We also made use of web technologies such as CSS3 animations and SVG rendering for icons and used Drupal for the CMS.

Both the visual identity and the website were designed to reflect the originality of the Red Bull Studios concept and as such, highlight the exclusive character of each city and each individual studio.

Instagram has a new logo, and it's lovely. In particular, the "I" at the beginning looks more like an "I," but the company kept a script-style font (a nod to the brand's love of all things nostalgic) and generally cleaned it up a bit.

Sanoma is a leading media group in Finland where it owns several newspapers, magazines and television networks. Over time its has expanded through acquisitions and is now active in Belgium, the Netherlands, the Nordic countries and several countries in Eastern Europe. Earlier this month it launched a new corporate identity under the tagline "Get the World". The identity was developed by Danish agency E-Types.

The logo can be presented as a puzzle where the six letters that make up the name are separated from each other. It comes with a re-imaged colour palette and a custom typeface called The Message (sanoma is Finnish for message).

The previous symbol was introduced in 1999 when the current conglomerate formed through a merger, initally named SanomaWSOY. The name was shortened in 2008, and the logo adapted accordingly.

You might not have noticed, but Facebook has rolled out a new main logo and refreshed the design of other icons for the first time in years.

Facebook's logo no longer includes the faint blue line at the bottom of its "F" icon. The letter is also pulled closer to the edge of the box.

The US operations of the Dutch financial group ING are about to be spun off into a separate company. As part of the that spin-off, it was announced last Thursday that ING U.S. would change its name to Voya Financial.

The name Voya was chosen through a regular naming process involving hundreds of names. It sounds a bit like the word "voyage", a the press release revealing the new name starts off by talking about how the company can help its costumers on a "voyage toward greater financial preparedness". As for the logo, its goodbye to the ING lion, but the signature orange color remains.

The new name and logo won't launch until the company has become independent, and that isn't scheduled to happen until next year. Interbrand reportedly aided in the name selection (awaiting confirmation that they were also behind the logo design).

Established in 1067, Minsk is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Belarus with nearly 2 million people — about 20 percent of the population of the country. Today, as described by the Minsk City Executive Committee, Minsk is “a modern, dynamic city, the largest transport and logistics center, a cultural and scientific center of the country” with high education standards, positive diversity, clean and green (as in parks and stuff), and mostly as a city on the rise. “Minsk,” however, share London- and Moscow-based agency INSTID, who have been working with the city on its new identity since August 2012, “lacks a clear identity. Its residents define themselves mostly by nationality, and admit that Minsk does not have a particular culture or tradition of its own.” Commissioned by the city’s tourist information agency, INSTID’s task was to “help improve international recognition of Minsk to help it attract foreign investment, visitors, and talent” and “help residents feel proud of Minsk and develop a unique city culture based on their distinct character, and create a powerful platform for city’s future development.” The new identity will begin to be implemented this summer.

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Google Unveils Redesigned Google+ And Maps - DesignTAXI.com

Turns out something as simple as tweaking the color of a button changes user behavior or endears people to your product. Buffer's Leo Widrich explains...

Publishing behemoth Condé Nast, owner of Vogue, recently launched its very own fashion school in London, the Condé Nast College of Fashion & Design.

In line with its stylish, high fashion visual identity, the college has teamed up with London-based graphic design studio to create a stripped back but striking branding that echoes Vogue’s signature logotype.

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The American multinational hygiene products company Procter & Gamble long held on to one of the world's oldest logos still in use. Originated in the 19th century as a star painted on boxes of candles, it was eventually developed into a complicated wood print emblem of a man in the moon overlooking thirteen stars. This lasted with only minor changes until 1991, when it was finally replaced by a P&G lettermark.

Late last year, the company introduced a new look, created by Landor Associates that came with a new version of the corporate logo. Taking inspiration from company heritage, it moves the existing lettermark into a blue circle with a crescent shape. Procter & Gamble has started increasingly facing consumers as one company, and the new identity system is a part of that effort.