December 10, 2018

Design creation: Retracing the steps from 2018

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A wise man once said that “Good design is good business”. That wise man, Thomas Watson Jr., was tech giant IBM’s second president, and a political figure, American businessman and philanthropist. Since then, designers from all disciplines across the world have treated his statement as an adage, and several industries have caught up to the truth in his words. Evolution of design as a discipline has been a continual process in several fields such as architecture, graphics and art. Even advertising and marketing design have become a very popular branch for designers to channel their creativity in; each year has brought us campaigns that stand out for varying innovate accomplishments.

As we see the end of this year closing in, we’ve put together 6 design-led solutions that caught our fancy. Here they are, in no particular order:

1. Nike’s: Epic React

Nike revisited the concept of a spongy, comfortable and light-weight sole for running shoes, branding the line ‘Nike Epic React’. However, from a marketing standpoint, the challenge lay in bringing out the effort that was put into creating this style of footwear.

In came art director and designer, Santi Zoraidez, who contributed to the well-rounded multi-format campaign through the creation of bright visuals of the shoe supported by a foam-like sponge.

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Another visual highlighted the shift from the concept to the final product—

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This goes to show that it is often the first thought associated with a product that can become its best design description.

2. McDonald’s: McDelivery Packaging

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Fast-food giant McDonald’s launched its McDelivery Service in Germany and wanted to convey it to all its franchisees. They decided to do so through the use of clever packaging design.

Advertising agency Leo Burnett’s Munich office borrowed motifs from popular delivery brands (FedEx, DHL, UPS, Amazon Prime) and incorporated them into McDonald’s product packaging.

Just a glance at the design on the packaging was enough to communicate what the brand wanted to convey, making it onto our list of brilliant marketing design.

3. Uber’s new logo 

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In September this year, Uber did away with its two-year-old logo for a simpler, cleaner font, featuring just its name.

The ride-sharing giant claimed that the old logo wasn’t connecting very well with its customers and driver partners; an ambiguity that was done away with in the new version.

Uber used ‘Uber Move’, a custom typeface that it doesn’t have to spend on licensing or sharing with other companies.

We think the new logo is much cleaner, proving that marketing design doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective.

4. Volvo’s: Family Parking

The ‘soccer-mom drive’, Volvo, has always catered to those who place family first. 

To announce the release of Volvo V60 family estate car, they recreated and diversified the parking spot symbol to represent differently comprised families.

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A rather innovative way of ensuring that their design always ‘stays with you’!

5. Tom’s: ‘Flip The Switch’ Interactive Emailer

81% of content marketers believe that emailers with interactive content effectively grab more eyeballs than static emailers. Wondering how brands have leveraged that insight?

Earlier this year, shoe brand Tom’s came up with a simple interactive design for their emailer promoting glow-in-the-dark shoes for children.

Users could get a glimpse of how the shoes would look simply by flipping an interactive switch right within the emailer.

This kind of clever marketing design gives potential customers a chance to virtually interact with the product, resulting in a higher and quicker chance of making a purchase.

6. Stabilo Boss’: Highlight the Remarkable

Last few years in the marketing world have been about bringing out the contribution of women in various social spheres. Some brands have gone about it in an unsurprisingly direct way. And then there’s Stabilo Boss.

The highlighter brand found an apt link between one of its iconic shades and the oft-forgotten women of history as compared to their male counterparts.

They literally highlighted with their marker the few yet prominent women captured within black-and-white photographs from the past.

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Parting words on marketing design

Watson Jr.’s words ring truer after going through these successful examples of simple and intelligent design. They prove that great design isn’t just about looks, but also about effectiveness. It should attempt to solve human problems and strive to make lives better.