"Identity Crisis!" - recovery from being "flogged"

To have a design of which you are proud rejected is to have been "flogged." flogged magazine, the brainchild of editor/designer Jo Mulga Bill, is a website and digital download publication that provides a home for unwanted designs and unappreciated art. Creatives are asked to submit rejected work for showcasing in the PDF format magazine. Jeff Fisher Logomotives was invited to share some flogged past identity design projects in the recent November 08 issue.

Non-flogged work is also presented in each issue of the magazine, in an effort "to help our welts heal" as forms of inspiration. The November issue offers my book, Identity Crisis: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands, as a prescribed antidote for the bruises, scrapes and cuts from being flogged. It is suggested that readers take a look at the "teaser" spreads from the book.

Download the current issue of flogged magazine, and discover additional distractions from flogging injuries, at the magazine's website. You may also submit flogged designs, and subscribe to notifications of upcoming issues, on the site.

'Designer' takes a look at 'Identity Crisis!'

In the upcoming issue of Designer, the magazine of the University and College Designers Association (UCDA), editor Kirsten Ruby takes a look at the book Identity Crisis! 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities Into Successful Brands in her The Designer's Bookshelf column.

Ruby writes:

If browsing before-and-after logo designs fascinates you (and it does most designers), Identity Crisis! should be just what you need for a creative boost. UCDA Designer magazine advisory board member Jeff Fisher explores 50 logos from colleges, universities, restaurants, businesses, nonprofit organizations, and foundations, and shares the detailed creative background about each. The old and new identities are dissected and discussed, and Fisher provides eaxamples of the new logos as stand-alone art and in application. Especially interesting are the descriptions of the redesign process from both the clients and designers' perspectives.

Create Magazine features Identity Crisis!

The January/February 2008 issue of the design industry publication Create Magazine features the book Identity Crisis!: 50 Redesigns That Transformed Stale Identities into Successful Brands among its recommended books for creative professionals. Create Magazine provides creative professionals with an insider's perspective on the people, news, trends and events that influence the local advertising, design, printing, photography, film & video, animation and new media industries. Published in five regional editions, the publications has approximately 45,000 readers nationwide.

The Create Magazine web presence provides creative individuals with additional pertinent news, the opportunity to post an online portfolio, industry blogs, a job board, networking opportunities through a community forum and more.

It's Ilise Benun's fault...

When people ask me how I got into writing articles about design, and eventually writing books on design topics, I will sometimes jokingly tell them it's Ilise Benun's fault. Back in 2000 HOW Books released her book Self Promotion Online: Marketing Your Creative Services Using Web Sites, Email and Digital Portfolios, and my own marketing and promotion efforts were featured several times in the volume. While my design work had been featured in a number of books prior to that time, Ilise's book brought my self-promotion methods and writing to the attention of a lot of people. Opportunities to be interviewed by other writers and authors, write articles for magazines and websites, and eventually write my first book, followed.

Fast forward seven years and Ilise Benun is known as one of powerhouses behind the Marketing Mentor. Ilise and I have kept in touch since she first interviewed me back in 1999. We usually have the opportunity to catch up in person at the annual HOW Design Conferences, where we both will speak again in 2008.

This morning, Ilise gave my new book, Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands, a great mention on The Marketing Mix blog. Thank you, Ilise!

By the way, Ilise and Peleg Top (her Marketing Mentor "partner-in-crime") present the first of HOW Magazine's Grow Your Design Business From Your Desktop Webinar series - "Get Rich in a Niche" - tomorrow, September 27th.

'Identity Crisis!' contributor making his mark

Every once in a while I do a Google search to see where Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands is popping up. Tonight I was pleased to find a mention attached to one of my favorite design people - and an Identity Crisis! contributor - Steve Gordon of RDQ - Rdqlus Design Quantum. Steve's re-design for Vickie Lea Designs, Inc. adds a unique identifying mark, and some vibrant color, to my book.

The mention of Identity Crisis! appears in Gordon's contributor bio for the online design magazine Graphic Define. Check out his article Your Creative Collective.

By the way, Identity Crisis! W.O.W. contributor Debbie Millman also has a piece in the current issue - an interview will James Victore with the title How To Think Like A Great Graphic Designer.

Image: Courtesy of Graphic Define.

Major corporate identity crises reviewed in book

At times major national and international corporations will have very public identity crises. Last year, along with Howard Belk of Siegel+Gale and Bill Gardner of Gardner Design (and LogoLounge), I was asked to comment on a variety of logo redesigns for a Fortune magazine article with the title "Logo-Licious or Lame." Our comments on the identities of Kodak, Intel, Sprint & AT&T were published in the magazine and online.

In addition to a great foreward by Jack Anderson of Hornall Anderson, "words of wisdom" from leaders in the design industry, and identity redesigns from contributers around the world, my book Identity Crisis!: 50 redesigns that transformed stale identities into successful brands includes my expanded comments on the new logos of those major corporations. My reviews of the Quark, UPS, Unilever, USA Network and Visa revamps are also featured.

Yes, each time I see the latest USA Network logo I still see images of male genitalia...

Image: Article from February 2006 Fortune magazine.

Dynamic Graphics hosts Re:Design Competition

The focus of my upcoming book, Identity Crisis!, is the redesign of corporate identities for businesses and organizations from around the world. Designers interested in that specific topic, and doing such work on a daily basis, may want to consider entering the Dynamic Graphics Re:Design Competition.

The Dynamic Graphics competition gives participants the chance to have their best redesign work showcased in print. Because entries will be judged according to the quality of the redesign work plus how much improvement it demonstrates, you will need to submit both before and after materials. Entries must be postmarked no later than August 6, 2007. Winners will be notified by September 14, 2007. Winning entries will be published in the December/January 2008 Dynamic Graphics magazine. A maximum of 10 entries will be selected for inclusion. All submissions must have been printed or published for the first time between September 1, 2006, and August 31, 2007.

Additional details, entry fee information and entry forms are available on the magazine's website.

Good luck!