Reddoor Creative

The Count says “Dance.”

DESCRIPTOR
A term used with a brand name to describe the category in which the brand competes, such as “fluoride toothpaste”  or ” online banking.”

DESIGN
In brand-building, the planning or shaping of products, services, environments, systems, communications, or other artifacts to create a positive brand experience.

DESIGNING
The process of design; bringing together strategic and creative processes to achieve a shared goal.

DESIGN MANAGEMENT
The practice of integrating the work of internal and external design teams to align brand expressions with strategic goals.

DESIGN RESEARCH
Customer research on the experience and design of products or communications elements, using qualitative, quantitative, or ethnographic techniques.

DIFFERENTIATION
The process of establishing a unique market position to increase profit margins and avoid commoditization; the result of positioning.

DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION
A new product, service, or business that redefines the market; also call discontinuous innovation. Several years ago, Netflix shook up the movie rental business in a major way.

DRIVE FEATURES
Brand attributes that are both important to customers and highly differentiated from those of competitors.

DRIVER BRAND
In a brand portfolio, the brand that drives a purchase decision, whether master brand, sub-brand, or endorser brand.

This Saturday, Septermber 25th,  is National Museum Day. Museums across the country are granting free admittance! Go, be inspired, take your family, or just take your self. I’ve booked my ticket’s to LA’s Skirball Cultural Center, because they have a children’s play space called the Noah’s Ark exhibit.

“Mingle with hundreds of fancifully handcrafted animals—from cuddly companions to life-sized puppets—all crafted from recycled materials and everyday objects, including bottle caps, bicycle parts, baseball mitts, croquet balls, mop heads, and rear-view mirrors.” Ought to be a blast.

You can find a list of participating museums at the Smithsonian Magazine’s website. There is a required ticket, that can be obtained from the website in order to get free admission. As you can tell from the map below, there are tons of participating museums.

You may have heard of chalkboard paint. You may have heard of magnet paint, but have you heard of IdeaPaint? It’s dry erase paint that can be put on any surface. Wicked smart! And its about time, isn’t it?

IdeaPaint is a fantasy come true for anyone who has ever wanted to write all over the walls (or mannequins for that matter). It’s perfect for the home, the office, or school. Imagine a place that could benefit from some dry eraser-ness and now it can be yours. We heard about IdeaPaint a couple of years ago, when it was just coming to market, but have reacquainted on the web.

Now all we have to do is find a new office space that we can paint the walls into one huge dry erase board. Then, and only then will it be time to splurge for the grand daddy of all dry erase kits: The Expo 18 pack. Oh, the rainbow of possibility…

Here are some action shots from IdeaPaint’s website.

Available Colors:

Check them out. Here are all of their pertinent links:

Website
Twitter
Facebook

I stumbled across this amazing chalkboard animation this morning, and thought it was worth sharing. Since we’ve been dealing with chalkboards a lot the past few years, with The [ b ] School, this earned special spot in our hearts here at Reddoor. It just goes to show you that everything doesn’t have to be digital these days. It’s not super new, but it’s new to me. So, take a moment to enjoy some hand-crafted video delight!

Firekites – AUTUMN STORY – chalk animation from Lucinda Schreiber on Vimeo.

Co-director: Linda Schreiber
Co-director: Yanni Kronenberg

One of our dearest and most creative friends sent us this link to a web video called The Wilderness Downtown. It is a web only music video, it’s interactive and was created by Chris Milk on behalf of the indie super band: Arcade Fire. We’re big fans of Arcade Fire here at Reddoor, so whilst creating this post I’ve been listening to their new album called “Suburbs” on myspace music. I’m particularly enjoyed the song in the video, We Used to Wait. By the way, Suburbs, is a little bit more mellow than the other Arcade Fire albums that we have on regular rotation: Neon Bible and Funeral. Give them a listen, if you never have, I think you’ll like.

Anyways, back to The Wilderness Downtown. The video is incredible. Not because it is shot so beautifully, but because it is highly interactive. You begin by entering the address of the street you grew up on. Your browser uses that address and creates a completely custom music video experience, just for you. The video aggregates and choreographs footage from the street you grew up on, and does it all to some tasty music. It makes me feel like we’re on the brink of major shifts in the direction the web is going. This “experimental” music video isn’t super polished, but it makes you wonder what will be possible (and commonplace) on the web in the next year? the next 5 years?!?

From everything I’m hearing and reading HTML 5 is the vehicle on which the current web revolution is riding. The Wilderness Downtown was created as an experiment specifically for Google’s Chrome browser using HTML 5. I first watched my custom music video on a Firefox browser, but I wondered “am I missing anything by not viewing this on Chrome?” So in precisely 10 minutes (I timed myself) I downloaded Chrome, installed it, made a shortcut on my toolbar, launched the browser, imported my preferences from Firefox, input my childhood address, and watched the music video. Not too shabby. I can’t vouch for Google’s Chrome browser just yet, but it’s been smooth sailing thus far.

Here are a few screen shots I took from my music video. These don’t really give the video experience any justice, so you have to visit The Wilderness Downtown for yourself. Like I said, this video is a ways from an incredibly smooth user experience, but it feels like you’re dipping your finger in the “future batter” of the web. It makes the webistes of the 90′s with flashing icons, look like ancient history.

If you simply want to see the video of my hometown you can do so here. However, I suggest you create a video of your own. If you’re feeling adventurous, install Google Chrome, and see how this video is meant to be seen.

Sidenote 1: The video did load ~5 times faster on Chrome.
Sidenote 2: I couldn’t get this video to work on the iPad, plus you can’t run Google Chrome on an iPad.

You can read more about this particular Google Chrome experiment here: http://www.chromeexperiments.com/arcadefire/

One cool discovery I made while poking around Arcade Fire’s most recent website was in their lyrics section. Have a look and play around with it for yourself. You can literally make the lyrics come to life. A couple screen shots of my discovery. Before “clicking”:

—————————————————————————————–

After “clicking:”

Visit this address to taste for yourself: http://www.arcadefire.com/lyrics/

We’ve finally collected enough first-hand experience to give you a worthwhile iPad case review. This is the head-to-head competition between the Dodo Case and Reddoor’s one-of-a-kind, highly customized Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad case. Full review below.

The Dodo Case is a hand-made hardcover book style case that is made to resemble a Moleskine classic hardcover sketchbook. They’ve copied the Moleskine down to a tee. And if you’re a Moleskine user, you’ll probably appreciate the Dodo Case’s attention to detail. Since we use Moleskine (or sometimes knock-off) sketch books, we were lured in by the Dodo Case design. After perusing the image gallery and videos, we decided to take the plunge into Dodo world. Word of warning, it did take 4-6 weeks to get our case. Good things come to those who wait.

The case’s interior is red and has proven to have very sturdy construction.

As you can see the Dodo iPad case looks identical to the classic Moleskine sketchbook. This is a bonus if you fit the Stuff White People Like mold.

One of the greatest features is the bamboo hard frame to protect from corner damage. Each of the four corners has a durable foam pad that secures the iPad in place. It holds the iPad much better than we thought it would. If you’re concerned about it staying in place, Dodo recommends some extra Velcro as a security measure on the back of the iPad. We decided to deface our iPad with Velcro, because we do have kids handling it.

Close up of the attention to detail. Cut-outs for the volume and orientation lock buttons. All necessary ports and buttons have the proper access.

You can charge your iPad with the case fully closed and elastic band in place, no speaker obstruction either.

Every attempt to be a look alike was made, down to the blind deboss of the logo. Sometimes it feels like such a rip-off of the Moleskine, but then again, I wish I had the idea… they’ve sold well over 10,000 units at $60 a pop! (I will pat myself on the back, because we ordered ours when the price was $49.95, rather than the current $59.95)

Now onto the challenger. You’re looking at a Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ envelope here (item # S-2356), with custom iPad artist rendering by Reddoor. This is a one-of-a-kind iPad case, and because of its uniqueness, we can’t ascribe a value to it. Although, Uline does sell them for $0.40 (if purchased in bulk).

I felt like it was only fair to give some detail shots to the Uline Stay Flat™ here. The black masking tape was an after-market add-on to reinforce the adhesive that came loose due to the amount of use.

The Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad case was inconspicuous and almost necessitated something that said “Do not throw away.”

Well here’s our final review. Each case had its merits, but we did have had a clear winner rise to the top. Final breakdown for each of our judgment criteria shown below (the winning case is noted after the criteria):

// Price: Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad case
// Durability: Dodo Case
// Aesthetics: Dodo Case
// Uniqueness: Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad case// Functionality: Dodo Case
// Looks like a book: Dodo Case
// Can be confused for an inexpensive envelope: Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad case (could be argued as a security feature)

***Over all winner: Dodo Case***

Just because we love the Dodo Case, it doesn’t mean we won’t produce signed and numbered Uline Kraft Stay Flat™ iPad cases for $59.95. Email us if you want one.

CATEGORY
The arena in which a brand competes

CHALLENGER BRAND
A new or rising brand that is viable in spite of competition from the dominant brand in its category

CHARISMATIC BRAND
A brand that inspires a high degree of loyalty; also known as a lifestyle brand or passion brand

CLUTTER
The conceptual noise of the marketplace; a disorderly array of messages or elements that impedes understanding

CO-BRANDING
The purposeful linking of two or more brands for mutual benefit. Can be seen with many car manufacturers, here are some I can remember: VW Jetta and Trek, Ford Explorer and Eddie Bauer, Ford F-150 and Harley Davidson. I did a quick search and found this little slideshow. How could I have overlooked the 1984 Cadillac Seville by Gucci?!?

CONCEPT MAP
A diagram showing the connections among a set of concepts

CORE COMPETENCIES
A set of capabilities (typically two or three) that gives a company a strategic advantage

CORE IDENTITY
The central, sustainable, elements of a brand identity, usually the name and trademark

CORE IDEOLOGY
A combination of core values and core purpose

CORE PURPOSE
The reason a company exists beyond making a profit; part of the core ideology

CORE VALUES
An enduring set of principles that defines the ethics of a company; part of the core ideology (see image below).

CORPORATE IDENTITY
The brand identity of a company, consisting of its visual identifiers such as the name, trademark, typography, and colors; a company’s trade dress.

CREATIVE BRIEF
A document that sets the parameters for a brand-building project, including context, goals, processes, and budgetary constraints.

CULTURE JAMMING
The act of modifying advertisements or grand messages to subvert their original intent, also known as subvertising or adbusting.

CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS
The anticipated benefits of a brand, whether explicit or implicit.

I was watching the Colbert Report (pronounced “repore”) recently, where one of his guests was artist, Chuck Close. I was vaguely familiar with his paintings, but found out he dabbled in photography too. I wanted to know more. He is an artist who began painting portraits in a photorealistic or hyperealistic style. His work has evolved, now he experiments with varied grids or cells, and creates mini abstract images that work together to convey a larger image. His paintings are large and in charge. When I say, large, I mean it. See below! In the Colbert interview, he said he gravitated toward large canvases because they take longer to walk by, so they have a better chance of being noticed. Nice work Chuck, you’ve got my attention.

Here is one of his first self-portraits. “Big Self-Portrait,” 1968. It measures 108 x 84″, unframed. Dang!

“Mark,” 1978-1979, 108 x 84″. This painting took 14 months to complete.

“Frank,” 1969, 108 x 84″

Chuck Close, self-portrait, 1997

Detail of the above photo.

Bill Clinton’s portrait by Close, is on loan to the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery in Washington D.C.

This photo of Kate Moss by Chuck Close is a Daguerrotype, which was the way the first successful photographic process. A Daguerreotype is a method of creating photographs that is no longer in general use. A man called Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre invented the daguerreotype process in France in 1839. The new type of photography became very popular very quickly as it was capable of capturing a “truthful likeness.” By 1850, there were over seventy daguerreotype studios in New York alone.

However the popularity of the daguerreotype was short lived as other cheaper processes were invented. By the late 1850s faster and less expensive processes such as the ambrotype, became available. A drawback of the Daguerreotype was that there was no negative from which to produce lots of images. Each picture was therefore unique, the only way to get a copy was to rephotograph the image.

Kate Moss was photographed here in 2005. Close reports that “She wore no makeup; she hadn’t combed her hair and she never even glanced in the mirror…”

“I’ve had enough pretty pictures made of me.” says Kate.

Very interesting and inspiring work.

Brand Police

BRANDMARK
An icon, avatar, wordmark, or other symbol for a brand; a trademark.

BRAND METRICS
Measurements for monitoring changes in brand equity.

BRAND NAME
The verbal or written component of a brand icon; the name of a product, service, experience, or organization.

BRAND PERSONALITY
The character of a brand as defined in human terms, for example, Virgin = irreverent, or Chanel = refined.

BRAND POLICE
Manager or team responsible for strict compliance with the guidelines in the brand manual.

BRAND PORTFOLIO
A suite of related brands; a collection of brands owned by one company.

BRAND PUSHBACK
Marketplace resistance to brand messages or brand extensions, often leading to changes in brand strategy.

BRAND STEWARD
The person responsible for developing and protecting a brand.

BRAND STORY
The articulation of a brand as a narrative; a coherent set of messages that articulate the meaning of a brand.

BRAND STRATEGY
A plan for the systematic development of a brand in order to meet business objectives.

BRAND VALUATION
The process of measuring the monetary equity of a brand.

BUZZ
The current public opinion about a product, service, experience or organization. (see The Anatomy of Buzz, Emanuel Rosen)