Kicking off the branding brainstorm

[Brent]

ok, so we need to start this group branding process. We don't have a
TON of time for this process but I want to try to incorporate
everyone, their skills and ideas as much as possible. So lets start
with a font study.

I'm going to assume that GWAZ doesn't have a budget (and not so sure
it needs one since it's more of a consortium of events than an actual
singular event). Anyway, so let's focus on what's available to us in
that perspective. I'm open to using a licensed typeface but only if we
can acquire the license through a donation of some sort (either by the
designer who made it or by enough cash donated to cover it). I'll open
that subject up for discussion. Feel free to weigh in.

Ok so here's some ideas for the study. We know for sure that PCAZ
(http://podcampaz.org) and AZEC (http://azentrepreneurship.com) are
all in and part of the event. There's talk of possibly IgnitePhoenix &
BIL joining the ranks as well. East Valley Friday Nights and Phoenix
Friday Nights are working on a colab event down in the same area as
PCAZ and AZEC for Friday night. So this gives us a rather unique
demographic and widespread group of conferences to try to compliment.
That said, we should try to find a base typeface that won't completely
clash with the logos of those conferences.

I have started things off with the site design at http://azgeekweek.com
using Helvetica, hues of grey with a splash of red but that was just
for initial purposes and I'm not married to that at all. So here's
task number 1 for this weekend:

With the above information taken into perspective, what typefaces do
you suggest as possibilities for our base face?

Let the discussion begin! :)

Thanks,

Brent

[markdudlik]

I'm a huge proponent of "no helvetica ever" but thats just a personal
preference.

For alternates though, I like celeste or themix/thesans (the G w/out
the crossbar is nice.)

also whitney, gotham, archer could be nice.

If its money/license though, sticking with helvetica seems the best
bet.

On Apr 18, 1:30 pm, Brent <bsp...@thecreationshop.com> wrote:
> ok, so we need to start this group branding process. We don't have a
> TON of time for this process but I want to try to incorporate
> everyone, their skills and ideas as much as possible. So lets start
> with a font study.
>
> I'm going to assume that GWAZ doesn't have a budget (and not so sure
> it needs one since it's more of a consortium of events than an actual
> singular event). Anyway, so let's focus on what's available to us in
> that perspective. I'm open to using a licensed typeface but only if we
> can acquire the license through a donation of some sort (either by the
> designer who made it or by enough cash donated to cover it). I'll open
> that subject up for discussion. Feel free to weigh in.
>
> Ok so here's some ideas for the study. We know for sure that PCAZ
> (http://podcampaz.org) and AZEC (http://azentrepreneurship.com) are
> all in and part of the event. There's talk of possibly IgnitePhoenix &
> BIL joining the ranks as well. East Valley Friday Nights and Phoenix
> Friday Nights are working on a colab event down in the same area as
> PCAZ and AZEC for Friday night. So this gives us a rather unique
> demographic and widespread group of conferences to try to compliment.
> That said, we should try to find a base typeface that won't completely
> clash with the logos of those conferences.
>

> I have started things off with the site design athttp://azgeekweek.com

[Brent Spore]

I'm cool with no Helvetica, what do you guys thing about the suggested typefaces?

Mark, maybe some links for easy access? No biggie tho, just might get some more opinions if we can click and look rather than search :)

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com

[markdudlik]

Ah, I totally took screenshots and forgot to attach it.

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwaztypeideas.jpg

md

On Apr 18, 9:14 pm, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com> wrote:
> I'm cool with no Helvetica, what do you guys thing about the suggested
> typefaces?
> Mark, maybe some links for easy access? No biggie tho, just might get some
> more opinions if we can click and look rather than search :)
>
> Brent Spore
> Creative Director
> Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>

[markdudlik]

Ah, I totally took screenshots and forgot to attach it.

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwaztypeideas.jpg

md

On Apr 18, 9:14 pm, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com> wrote:

> I'm cool with no Helvetica, what do you guys thing about the suggested
> typefaces?
> Mark, maybe some links for easy access? No biggie tho, just might get some
> more opinions if we can click and look rather than search :)
>
> Brent Spore
> Creative Director
> Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>

[Andrew C]

What about DejuVu Sans/Serif? It's an open source typeface based off
of Bitstream's Vera. Since its open source there would be no licensing
restrictions and free! Can't get more geeky than open source right?

Alternatively I like Archer and TheMix Sans.

DejaVu Sans & Serif http://www.mezzomind.com/img/ext/GeekWeek-DejaVu.png

-Andrew

[Brent Spore]

I'm diggin the slab-serif style too. Since there's not a lot of chatter just yet on the brand-storming. Let's take what we have for now and make a decision. I vote for Archer, what do you guys think?

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com

[md]

Archer is awesome. The typeface, not James!

[Ms. Herr]

At first I was thinking we should go san serif to avoid the extra
adornment and not compete with the other conference meetup brands. But
then I looked at the other brands/logos/sites and realized, for the
most part, they're all pretty much san serif. So maybe serif is good.

Quick links to other players sites:
http://podcampaz.org/
http://azentrepreneurship.com/
http://barcamp.org/BarCampPhoenix
http://www.ignite-phoenix.org/
http://desertcodecamp.com/
http://bilconference.com/

And I like every part of Archer except the rounded top hook on the
uppercase G.


Heather Lynne Herr
<~ Ms. Herr when online ~>

On Apr 19, 6:34 pm, md <mdud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Archer is awesome. The typeface, not James!
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com>wrote:
>
> > I'm diggin the slab-serif style too. Since there's not a lot of chatter
> > just yet on the brand-storming. Let's take what we have for now and make a
> > decision. I vote for Archer, what do you guys think?
> > Brent Spore
> > Creative Director
> > Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> > Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>

> > On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Andrew C <cour...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> What about DejuVu Sans/Serif? It's an open source typeface based off
> >> of Bitstream's Vera. Since its open source there would be no licensing
> >> restrictions and free! Can't get more geeky than open source right?
>
> >> Alternatively I like Archer and TheMix Sans.
>

> >> DejaVu Sans & Serifhttp://www.mezzomind.com/img/ext/GeekWeek-DejaVu.png

[Brent Spore]

Another really good slab serif IMHO is Caecilia. What do you guys think of that one (seeing that Archer is pretty spendy)

http://grabs.brentspore.com/fc59550016cb7d261c7e24c8c49ae445.png

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com

[md]

I was thinking about caecilla too, but I wasn't sure if a serif plus that caecilla W would be too hard a sell for the san-serif crowd. But yeah, its a nice alt given the budget.

[francine hardaway]

Archer.

--
Francine Hardaway, Ph.D.
Stealthmode Partners
www.stealthmode.com
http://blog.stealthmode.com
http://www.friendfeed.com/hardaway
602.412.3315 fax 602.532.7087
''You don't stop playing because you get old; you get old because you stop playing."


As a personal policy,  all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be three sentences or less. It’s that simple.

[Becky - Podcast Designs]

I like Caecilia and I'm kinda liking The Mix from Mark's link - the
k's are kinda cool - they add a geeky twist to a modern font.

Becky Crockett
ad...@podcastdesigns.com

On Apr 19, 7:41 pm, francine hardaway <francine.harda...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> Archer.
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 6:32 PM, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com>wrote:
>
>
>
> > I'm diggin the slab-serif style too. Since there's not a lot of chatter
> > just yet on the brand-storming. Let's take what we have for now and make a
> > decision. I vote for Archer, what do you guys think?
> > Brent Spore
> > Creative Director
> > Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> > Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>

> > On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Andrew C <cour...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> >> What about DejuVu Sans/Serif? It's an open source typeface based off
> >> of Bitstream's Vera. Since its open source there would be no licensing
> >> restrictions and free! Can't get more geeky than open source right?
>
> >> Alternatively I like Archer and TheMix Sans.
>

> >> DejaVu Sans & Serifhttp://www.mezzomind.com/img/ext/GeekWeek-DejaVu.png

> Stealthmode Partnerswww.stealthmode.comhttp://blog.stealthmode.comhttp://www.friendfeed.com/hardaway

[Marc Collins]

Archer is my choice also, but with being pricey, I definitely would go
with Caecilia. I think it will fit well with the rest of the meetup
brands and give us just that right bit of difference. In response to
Mark Dudlik I think you are right about the W. We could either play
off of it's strangeness or go with a medium/bolder weight. The
difference seems very apparent in the lighter font members. I've
noticed a lot of the other brands involve light and bold styles so
maybe we could combo the two also. Just a thought.

[md]

Well, for the logo itself, I don't see a problem with taking the serif out of the W, I did it here in illustrator:

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwazCAE_adjust.png

I still love Archer. Oh, if only we were allowed to just torrent it. Hoefler and Frere-Jones would be mad though.

md

[Brent Spore]

Yeah that looks pretty good. Maybe a couple little kerning tweaks. I'm good with it. I'm not sure if we need a mark but I'm open to suggestions. What do you guys think?

I know... torrents are tempting, but not for something like this. We'd all get crucified :)

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com

[Heather Lynne Herr]

For the uninformed idiots like myself, what are torrents?

Heather Lynne Herr
<~ Ms. Herr when online ~>

[Chuck Reynolds]

the LAST thing anybody is worried about is a real lic on a font...
jeez. U know how many illegal copies of adobe stuff there is and they
don't do anything? a FONT? please... but that's just me ;)

Heather... welcome to the internet! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BitTorrent_(protocol)
;)

[md]

Chuck. Its a typeface not a font. come on!

 and heather, re: "what are torrents" i was going to say "better than sex" but chucks link probably explains it better.

[Marc Collins]

I like Mark's idea. I played with the kerning and center of the W a
little on these matching it to the x and cap height. Could just leave
it like Mark's with some kerning.

http://www.marcmadethis.com/wp-content/uploads/AZGeekWeek-Logo.png

[md]

It ends up looking a lot better if the adjustment of the W is level with the x-height.

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwazCAE_adjust1.png

The kerning is tough because it starts making this strong underline on the end.

md

[Marc Collins]

Mark. You are correct about the underline. I like the 1st because of
the closeness of Geek and Week in relation to the touching of Week and
AZ. I think I would like the 2nd more with a bit more space between
Geek and Week. I like both. lol

[md]

Yeah. I tried to make the AZ a small caps to see if it reduced the underline that was happening. its a little better I think. Maybe color variations would help.

Brent, where else do you see the typeface being used beyond the logotype?

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwazCAE_adjust2.png

md

[jerrythepunkrat]

gotham gets my vote

[francine hardaway]

This is a fascinating discussion, but isn't this the last question you ask in branding--"how best to visually represent this?" I believe we don't have the messaging clear yet, or the "story" (ex: how azentrepreneurship ties to some of the others, how Ignite fits,), and we need to get that done and then ask who the audiences are and develop a message for each: for argument's sake, developers, designers, investors, service providers, economic development officials, press, curiosity seekers, job seekers.

Then develop a message for each and then, when the matrix is done, ask how to give it a real visual representation that applies to all and is distinct from each and from other things on the web.

THEN pick a type face? Or am I old-fashioned?

--
Francine Hardaway, Ph.D.

Stealthmode Partners
www.stealthmode.com
http://blog.stealthmode.com

[Jeff Moriarty]

Better than sex? I like torrents, too, but either you need to get out a bit more, or you've found some links you need to be sharing.

I am the last person to ask on the typeface selection issue, but definitely think we need to be in the clear on anything we do, licenses we use, etc. in the biz side of things. 

Jeff.

[Brent]

Ok Francine,

Then let's open up the convo for some of those definitions. I agree we
need that clarity for sure. I don't think the typeface discussion is
irrelevant though as we have been focusing on a typeface that could be
semi-dimentional and complimentary to the other brands. I think these
conversations can take place in tandem. But we do need the message/
mission/etc defined before we go into the next phase of visual
branding. So...

Francine has raised some really good questions, let's work on 'em

I can start off defining on behalf of PodCamp. Obviously, if you have
attended podcamp az before, you know that our main crowd is
podcasters, bloggers, video bloggers and social media enthusiasts. We
have begun to walk down the road of what we call "Relevant Media"
meaning that each individual defines their own relevancy and it should
be the #1 question on everyone's mind (especially producers). Our goal
is to focus on all forms of media production and consumption in the
technology mainstream. How it's made. How it's utilized. How to
produce it for yourself and how to use what's available to you better.
We do this through our semi-open forum of sessions as well as various
ad-hoc formats throughout the 2 day event. This, in my opinion makes
PCAZ a perfect fit for participation in GWAZ. It is our desire to
educate, stimulate and inspire all forms of communication. We are very
happy to be on the 14-15 behind AZ Entrepreneur Conference on the
12th. I think this is a really good fit for us. Squeezing the
different Friday Night's events in between is great as well and offers
a nice break between the events. I can't wait to see who else links up
and fills out the week's events. It really is going to be a great week
to be in AZ!

Is this what you were looking for?

Brent


On Apr 20, 6:49 am, francine hardaway <francine.harda...@gmail.com>
wrote:

> This is a fascinating discussion, but isn't this the last question you ask
> in branding--"how best to visually represent this?" I believe we don't have
> the messaging clear yet, or the "story" (ex: how azentrepreneurship ties to
> some of the others, how Ignite fits,), and we need to get that done and then
> ask who the audiences are and develop a message for each: for argument's
> sake, developers, designers, investors, service providers, economic
> development officials, press, curiosity seekers, job seekers.
>
> Then develop a message for each and then, when the matrix is done, ask how
> to give it a real visual representation that applies to all and is distinct
> from each and from other things on the web.
>
> THEN pick a type face? Or am I old-fashioned?
>

> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 12:10 AM, jerrythepunkrat <jerrythepunk...@gmail.com

> Stealthmode Partnerswww.stealthmode.comhttp://blog.stealthmode.comhttp://www.friendfeed.com/hardaway

[md]

I don't think thats old fashioned at all.

I haven't explicitly talked about these things, but me and the Thaper were talking about the same things yesterday afternoon.

For me, I was thinking about what I though Geek Week was going to be and how its positioning itself related to the events that will happen under its umbrella naming.

So for me, I thought it should be more quirky, more commanding in appearance than a Helvetica or standard sans-serif.

I also think that since its representing the other groups, it should stand out from them a bit and not blend in completely. A lot of the other events happening all have a similar typographic treatment. (This isn't a bad thing btw) and so I was leaning towards serif's or unique thick & thin weights.

The G in Archer I thought could be a great symbol unto itself, on buttons/stickers. The same goes for the G in TheSan/TheMix. The end strokes of the k, A and W in whitney were also a bit of quirk to set it apart from others.

These are all aesthetic things, but chosen around the ideas they can represent I guess, and the visual separation from the others. Its more reactionary typography than I'd usually play around with though.

So as for the "how to best visually represent the ideas of geek week" my approach to the typography was "seperate the identity so that the others stand together more, and the title is offset in a similar way to how the Geek Week AZ is really just an offset naming for the events already happening"

md

[Ben Leivian]

This sketch of mine may stir up some ideas for a mark:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bleivian/3462057720/

On Apr 19, 9:32 pm, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com> wrote:
> Yeah that looks pretty good. Maybe a couple little kerning tweaks. I'm good
> with it. I'm not sure if we need a mark but I'm open to suggestions. What do
> you guys think?
> I know... torrents are tempting, but not for something like this. We'd all
> get crucified :)
>
> Brent Spore
> Creative Director
> Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>
>
>
> On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 9:08 PM, md <mdud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > Well, for the logo itself, I don't see a problem with taking the serif out
> > of the W, I did it here in illustrator:
>
> >http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwazCAE_adjust.png
>
> > I still love Archer. Oh, if only we were allowed to just torrent it.
> > Hoefler and Frere-Jones would be mad though.
>
> > md
>

[md]

http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwaz_CAE_adjust3.png

A coworker commented that the W on caecilia is too wide. I adjusted the W in a bit and i think it looks better.

I'm not sure where everyone stands on the typechoice yet? I'm just messing around w/ things to see what works, but I'm not sure where we're at.

md

[Brent Spore]

I really like the tweak... I think we're close. I'm still pumping the pavement to see if we can get a sponsor or donor to get us a license to Archer but it's still kinda early (and a bit steep) for anything like that. I do like how CAE is shaping up though. Great job!

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com

[markdudlik]

Well, let me know what needs work. I am just messing around in a few
free minutes I have in the evening, any in depth analysis/changes
would be helpfultimes.

On Apr 20, 11:00 pm, Brent Spore <bsp...@thecreationshop.com> wrote:
> I really like the tweak... I think we're close. I'm still pumping the
> pavement to see if we can get a sponsor or donor to get us a license to
> Archer but it's still kinda early (and a bit steep) for anything like that.
> I do like how CAE is shaping up though. Great job!
> Brent Spore
> Creative Director
> Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ
>
> Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com
>

> On Mon, Apr 20, 2009 at 10:58 PM, md <mdud...@gmail.com> wrote:
> >http://www.markdudlik.com/uploads/gwaz_CAE_adjust3.png
>
> > A coworker commented that the W on caecilia is too wide. I adjusted the W
> > in a bit and i think it looks better.
>
> > I'm not sure where everyone stands on the typechoice yet? I'm just messing
> > around w/ things to see what works, but I'm not sure where we're at.
>
> > md

> ...
>
> read more »

[Brent Spore]

I vote to finalize the wordmark as you have it in CAE (if you want to do one last round of tweaks, go for it). Let's start talking colors taking into consideration Ben's sketch.

Brent Spore
Creative Director
Synergy | TCS | iBAM | PodCamp AZ

Who is this guy? Find out more at: brentspore.com