clients Archives - Washington Media Services

January 17, 2019January 17, 2019

New Year, New You?

The new year is here, and we at the Washington Media Services office have noticed a trend that seemed to start last year: businesses reinventing themselves through new logos or identities. Is it needed? Sometimes, yes. Are they successful? Well…

As with all things, this subject is highly subjective, meaning what we may see as a less than successful logo/branding update you may find decent. That’s fair and such discussion is healthy. Our purpose in writing this piece is to point out a few patterns we’ve noticed and give our opinion and advice when considering such a change.

First, the most recent change: Slack. Slack is a tool for work teams to use to collaborate on projects, or just generally keep in touch. They unveiled their new logo, which didn’t seem to make sense to us. The old logo (a multi-colored hashtag with gradients where the lines intersected) was somewhat fitting. After all, in this current social situation, a hashtag represents a way for people to communicate on a subject. Their new logo, however, doesn’t immediately convey anything. As pointed out by one Twitter user, it seems to echo the design used by some medical groups. Now, this isn’t necessarily bad. The new logo definitely creates conversation and makes the viewer ask questions (though, the first question we asked was why this was chosen).

The other large trend we’ve noticed for some time is large brands becoming more clean looking. Professional design is a blessing, especially with so much media constantly in our faces. However, we’ve noticed more brands coming out with updates that remove their individuality (Spotify is the first example to come to mind). With Spotify’s original logo, the viewer saw something a bit quirky and odd. It was something that stuck in your mind. The serif font wasn’t anything too different, but the “o” was unaligned with the rest of the lettering and seemed to be sending out sound waves, indicating what the service provided: streaming music. In 2013, the company dropped the misalignment and serifed font for something san serif and cleaner, more Helvetica-looking. They further refined the coloring in 2015. While the change goes with the trend we mentioned, this is a successful one because they kept the icon from their original logo, thus retaining part of that identity that set them apart when the original logo was first seen in 2008.

While Spotify was a good change, we also have a fairly recent example of a company’s less-than-great change in their logo: Kickstarter. Kickstarter is a crowdfunding-style site to allow people to “back” or fund projects others come up with. The new logo (released in 2017) looks like someone rediscovered bubble letters. Granted, their old wordmark used a similar letter style, but that one was much easier to read. The new wordmark is so thick that the words start to flow together as it is sized down.

These are just a couple examples of some recent brand updates. As we’ve pointed out, some are at least fairly successful and some fall flat, in our opinion. With some logos, it’s apparent that they’re updating to keep up with shifts in design practices, while others seem to mostly be making the change to seem “hip” (looking at you on this one, Dropbox). So what should you do if you’re thinking you need a change in your brand? Talk to a company you can trust. Washington Media Services specializes in logo design and branding development. We always work to make sure our clients are happy with the design we hand them. Contact us today for a free half-hour consultation meeting.

November 8, 2018November 9, 2018

Do We (Designers) Hold Projects Hostage?

So, I thought the days of this practice were long gone, but stories about this horror still surface from time to time. We at Washington Media Services thought it might be a good idea to make sure this practice is clear to all you readers so you’ll know what to look for, or ask, before signing a contract with a design firm. Spoilers: Washington Media Services does not participate in this practice.

What exactly is this practice? Holding a project hostage basically means that the client does not own their project when it’s finished. The design agency makes the client pay for their services, then demands another payment (or “ransom”) if the client wishes to have access to the raw files for any reason. As you can imagine, this practice causes more problems than anything else. It is stressful for the client on so many levels.

But, is it legal?

Sadly, yes, if it’s in the agency’s contract. If you sign a binding agreement that includes giving ownership of the project to the agency, then they can hold the project for whatever their release terms are. In some reports I’ve read, clients have stated they had to pay 50% of the design cost (after they already paid off the full design cost) to have the raw files released to them.

That is insane. We wanted to address this for anyone reading our posts, and especially for our current and prospective clients. Washington Media Services will NEVER hold a project hostage. Why? It’s simply not good for anyone. It isn’t a way to build or maintain a healthy working relationship with your clients. Washington Media Services believes that local businesses and organizations should thrive and we pride ourselves in doing everything we can to help you. Anytime we finish a project, and the project has been paid in full, the client owns the files. We will keep a copy of the files in our offices in case of technical difficulties, but we don’t believe in causing distress in our clients. If you partner with us to build a website, we will offer to purchase the domain and host your website, but you still own both.

So, what should you do? When you are looking for an agency, you should make sure to ask them what their policy is on ownership of projects. If the agency doesn’t explicitly say that the client will own the project, then I would say that this is not a partnership you want to jump into. Another thing you should do is read the contract and ask any questions you have (no such thing as a stupid question here). While it’s a good idea to know what you’re signing, anyway, asking questions is healthy and can give you an insight into how willing the agency is to communicate with you as a client. If you don’t get an answer you understand, or one that doesn’t completely answer your question, don’t hesitate to ask again or reform your question!

Remember that, at the end of the day, you’re hiring the design agency to create something for you. Make sure they won’t cause this unneeded headache for you.

August 8, 2014September 7, 2018

Qualities of a Successful Design Firm

You know, there’s a lot of “noise” out there and sometimes it’s hard to figure out what works and what doesn’t. So, what makes a successful (and consequently an easy-to-work-with) design firm? Well, in my humble opinion, here are three traits that successful graphic design firms employ:

Listen to the client.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it is so easy to get carried away and phase out after a client shares a few details about a project. It’s always exciting to be presented with a new challenge and sometimes designers get distracted really fast. I can’t tell you how many times my mind turns inward and I start building the site right then and there while they’re still talking. A designer should always remain present before beginning to plan.

Know your client.

This harkens back to the first point. In order to design effectively for a client, designers must first know whom they’re designing for. Before meeting with a client, do some research; find out what they’re all about (existing color theme, logo, business model, their clients, etc.). You probably wouldn’t design a bright and colorful website with loud music and large headline fonts for a funeral home. Chances are you’d go for something more subdued and professional.

Stay up-to-date.

Continually educate yourself!!! While Web 2.0 and clip art was “hip-to-the-now” a few years ago, web design is tending more towards flat UI that is content-focused and highly adaptable to mobile environments. Design trends change so rapidly that it is easy to fall behind; it’s important to always be reading and researching what’s new. Clients are smart…they can spot who isn’t keeping up.