Category : Branding

Last year the Arch Diocese of Indianapolis (ADI) re-opened two of its Catholic schools as charter, elementary academies. These new public schools, Andrew and Padua Academy, are focused on providing a college preparatory education for students living on the West and East sides of Indianapolis.

After being in session for only a few short months, ADI reached out to KA+A for help to develop a brand for each academy that could identify with and garner support from their surrounding communities.

Identity

We began building a foundation for ADI, by developing a parent brand (logo, tagline, and identity system) for their organization. The brands for Andrew and Padua, would then nestle under this system, featuring…

The other night I stopped by a convenience store near the office to pick up a couple of pints of ice cream for date night with my wife. The person checking out in front of me was an older guy, shuffle-footed, who could barely breathe but was buying two packs of cigarettes anyway. I’ve also waited in line behind people who couldn’t step aside until they’d scratched off their lottery tickets. As I paid for the ice cream (which I don’t need), I asked the cashier if she’d ever noticed that all the convenience store sells is vice.

“Totally. Lately I’ve really hated myself for working here,” she said.

That sucks. Hating yourself for being part of something that gives people what they want.

I get it…

Pirates – probably not the first thing that springs to mind when contemplating successful branding. Yet in reality they are responsible for one of the most successful and recognizable identities of all time – the skull and crossbones. In her New York Times article, Alice Rawsthorn writes about the pirates’ adopted emblem and its undoubted success as a branding tool.

Like all brand identities, there are three factors that contribute to the skull and crossbones’ success:

Clarity of Message

Using the skull and crossbones as a visual representation of the outcome of resistance (certain death), pirates found that they could remotely instill fear in target vessels’ crews. This use of visual…

Recently we had the opportunity to work with David & Sarah Castor to help design and develop the visual identity and website for JabuAfrica. Although we typically work within the technology industry, we are always excited to work with clients from various verticals, and couldn’t pass up the opportunity to support the growth of this organization.

JabuAfrica is a non-profit organization that is focused on financially and emotionally supporting grassroots organizations in Africa, that are dedicated to working with orphanages. The Castors have personally participated in a variety of these organizations as they have grown their family of five through adoption from Ethiopia, South Africa, and Kinshasa.

Branding
We began our process by solidifying the organization’s name, JabuAfrica, a seemingly perfect…

Do you offer your customer products, services, or solutions?
 Can your customers clearly understand what you do and self select where they belong?

Typically, most tech startups begin with a core product or a service. A singular idea that they test, market, and sell to early adopters. It becomes the foundational product/service the business is built on. As they gain traction and customers, they naturally transition from startup to the next stage of the business life cycle, growth.

At this point, most companies have developed additional products, services, and features from what they originally offered, and it’s here that their foundation enters a state of change. Growth is the time to…

Our recent brand work with Slingshot SEO reached an exciting milestone this week with the launch of the company’s new logo and website. Working with the Slingshot SEO team has been great fun, and we’re super happy with the results.

Slingshot SEO is a leading provider–that’s stating it modestly–of search engine optimization consulting and marketing services. They serve an impressive list of clients and do an incredible job of, as the new tagline says, creating Digital Relevance for Deserving Brands.

We’ve still got some Slingshot SEO stuff cooking, but in the meantime, here’s a quick run-through of the new identity and website.

Visual Identity

The updated logo is more of a re-imagining than a redesign. The old logo had been used as an avatar across…

“Do Agencies Need to Think Like Software Companies?” Yes – I think they do, and at KA+A we have for sometime. As an outfit that works almost exclusively with high growth tech/software companies, and even spins out our own startups, we’re well-versed in the software culture. However, at least one a-ha! moment was tucked into this panel featuring: Allison Mooney, Head of Trends & Insights, Marketing Google; Ben Malbon, Directory of Strategy, Creative Lab Google; Matt Galligan, Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer, SimpleGeo; Rick Webb, COO, The Barbarian Group; and Rob Rasmussen, Chief Creative Officer, Tribal DDB.

During a discussion about platforms and campaigns, the panel discussed American Express’s new program with Foursquare, that was premiered at SXSWi. During…

Recently I had the experience of a KA+A client, when our designers took on the branding and design of IndySpectator, a venture I co-founded with Jenni Edwards. The goal of IndySpectator is to help people discover new ways to love Indy. The medium? Email.

If you think Email is dead, let Doug Karr persuade you otherwise:

“There’s no better medium to carry a message like this than email. It’s exclusive, it’s private, and it’s classy. A blog is a great medium, but broadcasting to everyone puts the content in a different perspective, and wouldn’t be consumed or reacted to the same way.”

After launching in April, we were able to prove that there was an interest in our content. We gained several hundred subscribers…

When building a brand where do you start? Do you design a logo and choose a name? Do you begin by exploring who you are, who your target audience is, and what their desires are?

Branding and identity are words I use daily, but I’ve realized they can be perceived quite differently, based on context, especially if you are unfamiliar with design. Yet, they are important terms for any company that is in the process of building, developing, or rebranding themselves.

Branding
Here at KA+A we define a brand as “a collection of perceptions in the mind of your consumer.” The point of a brand is to articulate the unique value of a product/service to the consumer. What is delivered, how its delivered, and the customers’s ultimate…

On August 29, 2010, Indiana’s most talented chefs paired with local growers, and made their way to the White River State Park to showcase their high quality, locally produced dishes, and welcome over 3,000 Hoosiers to Dig-IN: A Taste of Indiana. Indiana brewers and vintners poured plentiful tastings of their beers and wines, expertly crafted from the fruits of Indiana agriculture. Accompanied by a speaker series, urban gardening exhibits, live local music, local artisan treats, and the Food for Thought exhibit, attendees were led on an immersive journey from field to table top (and everywhere in between) by Indiana’s agricultural and culinary expert and were reminded that there is much more than corn in Indiana.

Dig-IN – A Taste of Indiana from…