Smith Design Co.

A Green Resolution

Snowflakes, dazzling white lights, family—and a lot more catalogues, cards, wrapping, and packages coming in the door. It’s that time of year when the amount of paper we use seems to kick up a few notches. And for every print piece, the environment takes a heavy hit.

As I sat surrounded by our own stacks of mail and paper, I found myself digging a little into the numbers on the print-happy world of marketing: over seven billion metric tons of carbon dioxide-equivalent greenhouse gases (which contribute to global warming) were emitted into the atmosphere from printed marketing materials. It’s an energy-intensive process that begins with a chainsaw in the forest, goes through production, ink, and delivery, and then ends with landfill disposal. Consider it from the perspective of a single campaign: a one-page ad in a popular consumer magazine represents seven tons of carbon dioxide.

It occurred to me that as a design firm serving businesses and other organizations, we’re somewhat complicit in this cycle. And yet, our role offers a small amount of influence, too. Designers are the link between production and organizations, and we can guide our clients toward solutions that not only save them money, but also lower the impact of their communication needs.  Because most organizations aren’t necessarily looking for more print projects—they’re looking for creative solutions. And a good designer relishes a creative challenge.

At Smith, we enjoy taking this broader view and getting to the root of what our customers are trying to do and whom they’re trying to reach. In fact, one of the first questions we ask is:  how can we carve out waste from this project? Whether it’s an on-site installation, or interactive annual report, we’ve found that there are a lot of ways to get your brand message out there with as much, if not more, impact than a print piece can deliver. And even within the print world, fresh thinking can go a long way—there are solutions that involving size, paper and ink sources, and user experience design.

We find that our non-traditional approach aligns nicely with our customers’ internal plans to do things in a more green-friendly way. Not just because it reduces operating costs—but because it’s what their customers and shareholders are starting to demand.

So here’s to a new year, and a new way of thinking about marketing.

Opportunities In Plain Sight

As I stood with raised champagne glass to celebrate the unveiling of the installation work, it occurred to me how incredibly powerful a well-conceived installation project can be. Here I was, surrounded by respected leaders and highly educated men and women, who were experiencing career validation in a way that no salary increase or publicity campaign could match. And not only did this installation serve, in a way, to thank and recognize achievements, it also served as a breakthrough branding effort. Employees, new and old, were reminded of how National Opinion Research Corporation (NORC) had achieved such prominence in its field, and clients and vendors were educated about the pivotal moments for the organization. What better way to brand your organization than by influencing the captive—and highly influential—audience that walks through your hallways day in and day out?

Installations are a high visibility and high impact branding opportunity for companies and organizations looking to make an impression that pays dividends. In our experience, installations are true memory makers and excitement builders. Over the past 13 years in this business, people remember the exhibits that were installed on their walls and in their halls—and can even recite key facts that were highlighted on the pieces—much more than the print brochures.

We’ve found the most successful installations focus on historical context, significant achievements, timelines, visionary leaders, brand attributes, organization goals and initiatives, profiles of customers, employees and leaders and product breakthroughs. You want to reinforce what your organization stands for, what you have achieved and where you are headed. Installations can be designed in a myriad of ways—they can be permanent or movable, interactive or static. We’ve found that our client installations typically have a much longer “shelf life”—beyond that of brochures and web sites—thereby offering a cost advantage, over time, that these other materials cannot match.

In addition to the brand building opportunity, an installation that is thoughtfully created serves to enhance your workspace. The most optimal time to plan an installation project is when your organization is planning to move to new office space. To achieve the right solution, we’ve worked alongside interior designers and architects to ensure that our client’s brand is infused into their workspace in a smart, meaningful way. We’ve also tackled projects in existing client workspaces, in which the end product transforms the space to take on new purpose and power. Just think of the lost marketing opportunity currently on your blank walls! The opportunities are endless.

Finding Your Way

How many of us have been frustrated, confused and lost when wayfinding signage has led us astray? This phenomenon occurs regularly in buildings, on highways, across cities, in train and bus stations, throughout airports—anywhere where people need to find their way. It’s a pervasive problem that wastes time and energy and, as all of us know, getting lost and potentially being late results in high stress and can ruin a perfectly good day. The most ironic part of this situation is that we’re annoying and frustrating our customers—the ones we’re supposed to be solving problems for!

Unfortunately, the reason this occurs is twofold. First, when buildings are planned, highways are built and airports are expanded, too often than not, the notion of wayfinding is an afterthought. Those charged with building, approving and planning spaces are experts in how best to structure space—they are not communication experts adept at helping users locate space once it’s built. Wayfinding is an essential usability and communication issue that needs to become more integrated into the design of all things.

Now here’s the funny part. When signage fails, the typical response is to add even more signage in an attempt to clarify what the original signage intended to convey. Why not just get the signage part right the first time, or spend the time to rectify the entire signage problem rather than piecemeal a half-baked solution together.

If you think that wayfinding only refers to directional signage, allow me to clarify. For clients of ours, we focus on everything involved in signage—from ensuring brand standards are incorporated, to selecting appropriate typography, to recommending and standardizing nomenclature usage, to designing appropriate aesthetics for the signage.

When planning a new building or new space buildout, spend the time and hire experts who can work alongside your architect and space planners to organize your office numbering system, to develop the wayfinding plan with usability at the forefront of the recommendation, design the style of your signage, and draw up a nomenclature guide that corresponds with your brand standards. Make your brand experience immersive to anyone who works in or visits your space, and you’ll reap rewards.

Lake Forest Hospital Case Study

Lake Forest Hospital asked Smith to help them reposition and strengthen their brand spanning web, print, advertising, wayfinding and environmental installations.

Download LFH.pdf

190 South LaSalle Case Study

As part of the recent flurry of law firms moving to new construction in downtown Chicago, 190 South LaSalle’s anchor tenant—Mayer, Brown & Platt—decided to move to a brand-new office building. This decision created an enormous vacancy for 190 South LaSalle, and posed a serious leasing challenge to the ownership and management team. They needed a powerful marketing and positioning strategy to keep occupancy levels high and the owners’ investment secure.

Download 190-casestudy.pdf