Retro Illustration Themes For Identity Design
You know the formula; buildings are invariably glass clad, futuristic, and not where the company offices are located. Stock photos of models pretending to be employees stare from site after site. As formulaic as any template, such sites create invisibility, not a business identity in the customer’s mind. Retro illustration style can create a different kind of web site theme.
Retro illustration contrasts stock photos
of high–tech (faux) corporate offices
One web site created a beautiful animation based around the theme of balance. Even though the animation used the word balance, web site copy never made use of the promising theme. As you can guess, there wasn’t a business proposition expressing much more than open for business. Without matching business tactics and stratagems, what could have woven a thread of meaning throughout the site was reduced to a beautiful gimmick. Another site used the image of a tree, never again to make mention of it in word or deed. As superficial as they are, these examples represent themes as most web sites implement them. Information–based themes work to identify and communicate what the business really stands for. Disconnected generic elements can occupy a common container and look good together. (Technicians call these containers layouts). In contrast a theme is a coherent idea images, text and other media focus on getting into the customer’s mind.
How A Theme Makes A Site Visible
Want to use balance as a theme for a business consultancy? Fine, then use the site to talk about what in business seems out of balance. Want to use the image of a tree for the site of a web designer? A good idea, provided you use the tree as a figure of speech for explaining your approach to business. For example, a tagline could be “we build sites designed to grow as organically as your business does.” Don’t stop with a tagline, think of the visual as illustrating a concept for the ways a business website has to grow. Use a theme to set your site apart from those who shoehorn stock photography and a color scheme into a layout container.
Symbolic imagery combined with the
five harmonies philosophy of great
oriental themed restaurants
Retro style isn’t just about decoration, but a certain set of values. For example traditional foods or a craftsmanship–based business proposition seems quaint today. In the post–modern world, actually standing for something can be quite retro. And while cold, sterile high–tech style dominates the web, being refreshingly retro can become an important business differentiator for you.
The term business identity suggests there be something substantive to identify; above and beyond the cute logo and clever slogan. It has become trendy to use good looking filler content and assume the user will find meaning because the elements all fit within a layout container. Yet fitting together does not mean the whole becomes more than the collection of website elements making it up. Business identity happens where business image, action and speech cohere to each other in the customer’s mind. Often designers focus on the iconic symbol and forget to work on the symbolism. So rather than identify a unique business proposition, most users experience themes as business camouflage.
Contact Design Crux to design a business identity which creates an identity in your customer’s mind today.
Resources
- How Starbucks is using a special retro logo in a strategic move to restore goodwill for the brand. Refreshing when your competitor’s only tactic is chasing this week’s graphic fad.
- While industrial designers often make funturistic product designs, cars like the New Beetle, PT Cruiser and Prowler use retro design, merging old and new.
- The Geek Squad created a business identity in a field of “me too” companies. The story of the Geek Squad offers a practical tutorial for how to design a business identity and for what not to do when designing a solid business identity.
- Everywhere girl is the template to follow for using stock photography clichés to make your site into a laughing stock. For a quaint, if retro, contrast check out Wendy The Snapple Lady — who looks nothing like a stock photography model — but was crucial for building business identity.
- Doc Fizzix uses retro style to sell a retro product line: (mousetrap powered vehicles). Steak ’n Shake takes the retro diner style and applies it to its menu and advertising. The Altoids retro style web site design creates a consistent theme across ads and branding.
- The new identity design for the YWCA turns dogma on its head. An example based on the concept of identity as what you do for customers first, image after. Lasermonks manages to fuse the old values and modern office technology in a way which creates a theme.
- Intriguing article which argues greater competition for scarce resources in a mature industry makes design aesthetics more important. Another article, Smash Your Web Site plainly states “Every element of your site counts.” Removing company name and logo, would the remaining site elements communicate your unique identity to customers?
- Jewelry stores have a standardized image. Buyarock.com uses a retro illustration style which is a little campy, but still sells jewelry. In other words, buyarock.com saw what competitors were doing and did something to differentiate. A survey of the competition can find the background noise of look alike, talk alike competition against which a signal (your message) must distinguish itself.
- To convey meaning in context – designing a business identity theme – try telling a story about business values or concepts. The narrative process is a traditional way to build shared identity among a group of people. Leadership Through Storytelling and Managing by Storying Around are part of a hot new trend in business: Context.
- The recipe for a site which looks like a template is simple. Stock photography of clean–cut models staring vacantly off into the ether (real employees, posed or not, look different). Buildings are invariably glass clad, futuristic, and not where the company offices are located. Emotionless filler content for the faceless masses instead of communicating with a real person who can be visualized. Building from scratch means nothing if content and imagery are as formulaic as a template.
