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developing zoom's brand identity
ZOOM is a boutique marketing and positioning firm specializing in technology clients, where I was Creative Director for 15 years. As a small fish in a pond full of big fish, it was critical to have a distinctive and immediately recognizeable voice which reflected the company's philosophy of clear and simple communication. I established a unique style based on clear informational design and playful stick figures. My work included:
Modifiying the logo. The logo was in place when I arrived, and I saw no need to redo it. But I did change the shapes and emphasis to make it more dynamic, and readable at smaller sizes.
Using stick figures as avatars. ZOOM's driving philosophy was about keeping your message simple. As a cartoonist I could relate to this, so I developed these little guys to populate presentations, printed collateral, email blasts, social media posts and everything else. I eventually amassed a library of hundreds of drawings that could be quickly modified for any need.
Color and design: After some experimentation I settled on a simple palette, referencing the purple and green of the logo in shades that were a little easier on the eyes. For a similar reason I adopted gray instead of black for linework and text. I applied this approach consistently in all formats, including Office templates, web site and email newsletter.
Marketing collateral: ZOOM had a strong desire to position itself as a different kind of company from the bottom up, and we pushed that envelope with a wide range of esoteric shwag. For example, I designed the company's brochure as a small superhero comic, where every story, ad and text page reinforced ZOOM's messaging.
Read the full comic.
Great Moments in Marketing: To help position ZOOM as a witty thought leader in tech, I created this ongoing cartoon to satirize historical events and current trends. It was included in quarterly emails blasts and the web site, and we put together two printed collections as client giveaways. I also did special cartoons (like the one on the right) for specific clients to immortalize their positioning strategies.
See the Great Moments gallery.
And so on... Fifteen years is a long time to play in one sandbox. Here are a couple other items created for various events and purposes.
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