Each year, LogoLounge surveys the current design landscape, searching for patterns and similarities amongst the mass of new logos released around the world. After combing through over 20,000 marks, they released their findings in the 2013 LogoLounge Trends Report. Last year, the logo we designed for arts organization SPACES was featured as epitomizing the “Cousin Series” trend. We were glad to learn we’ve once again captured the zeitgeist, as our identity for our friends at Caravus was highlighted as an example of “Bracketing”:

As different as these marks appear, a square in a negative white space is the connecting tissue. Generally, two elements of equal construction are pushed together to create a square- or diamond-shaped center which becomes the unwitting centerpiece of the logo. It’s a bit like two brackets that are uniquely designed and certainly have a message, but it’s never as much about the device as what is between them.

Here, two pieces make a whole and create something greater in the central area. Remove one of the pieces and there is no story, but squeezed together, they envelop one of the greatest of all products, potential. It is the light that is captured between. It is the known or unknown. It is the elusive result that only this firm can define and manifest. The beauty of showing potential is that the consumer is able to dream and fill in the blank with the answer that best serves his objective.

The entire 2013 report is viewable here. (For those keeping score at home, Gardner’s bit about the explosion of the “Crossed” trend is no joke.)

December 9, 2012, marked the grand reopening of the magnificent Central Library in downtown St. Louis, an exciting moment in the St. Louis Public Library Foundation‘s $70 million Central To Your World campaign.

This video, screened for the first time at the Grand Reopening Gala and embedded below, has now been honored with a coveted Telly Award.

The Silver Award — the Telly Awards’ highest honor — won in the 34th Annual competition. Over 13,000 entries from all 50 states and 5 continents were submitted.

TOKY conceived the video and acted as design, script and creative directors. Produced in association with our friends at Once Films. Congrats to Greg Kiger and his team at Once, and to all of our friends at the Library Foundation!

Click here to view the embedded video.

On the list of first-world workplace problems, I place it near the top: how to make valuable use of the unbelievable amount of information scrolling down and up and down in front of our eyeballs every waking hour of the day. We’ve never had more opportunities to read case studies, assess other creative efforts, drill down into data, reflect on an industry white paper that just might prove useful in the months ahead. (Where was it that I read that stat on mobile usage in higher-ed? And what exactly was the stat?) 

As a memory or inspiration aid, archival online bookmarking is far from new. On the visual side, Pinterest is nearing 50 million users, and services like Dropmark have proven very useful for creatives building creative projects. (Many of us at TOKY use Dropmark every day.)

As for bookmarking articles, the recently relaunched Delicious has been around for a full decade now, with the indie program Pinboard claiming a good number of paying customers as well. While I’ve used the latter personally for a few years to build a library of articles I might want to come back to one day — in crafting a presentation, in writing a report or blog post — this was still just my personal account, not something that benefitted the larger team.

The TOKY Team does a lot of internal sharing. New websites, studies, articles, videos … anything one of us thinks might be valuable for the team. One link might be shared over email, another in our private Facebook group, another over IM.

With the goal of establishing a single, shared, private archive of the most essential articles, we recently created The TOKY Research Library, using a service called Kippt. We have “lists” for select key sectors (Architecture, Healthcare) and services (Print and Identity, Digital, Content). Just like with Pinterest, giving a single click to a browser bookmarklet will send an article to our Library, giving us the chance to categorize it how we’d like. Staff can have their own personal Kippt accounts, but as they’re granted “Collaborator” status on the private TOKY lists, the promise of this shared resource comes alive. In addition, without logging in or using the bookmarklet, staff can always email an article to TOKY’s unique Kippt email address; the resource lands in our Library Inbox, and we move it to a list from there.

A few peeks behind the curtain, starting with our “Content” list:

Our “Social Media” list:

Our “Healthcare” list:

Search works very well on Kippt. Here are search results for “Mobile”:

While we spend a great deal of our time here at TOKY crafting concrete deliverables for our clients — identities and websites, videos and books — there’s another strategic role we play, one that’s fairly constant: We read and watch and reflect. We look ahead and recommend. Whether we’re discussing an emerging trend with clients over coffee, or delivering a full boardroom presentation, having organized, at-hand research means our minds are sharper, our thoughts clearer, our counsel more firmly rooted in the real world.

“Design. Content. Insights.”

Those three words hover always up in the TOKY header. They’re central to everything we do.

“Design” might be the most expected word for a firm like TOKY. As for “Insights” — the companies and organizations that have hired us for deep-dive strategic research and comprehensive brand positioning (which come well before design) know why we champion that term. And “Content”? Though this is far from a new area for TOKY, it’s one we’ve amplified in recent years. With this in mind, we thought we’d take a few minutes to unpack the term.

Anyone who’s read this blog has read us on the subject before: on the content trends of 2012, our trip to Confab, and more. But when we talk about content offerings for potential clients, what exactly are we talking about? Here’s what:

1. Books

The bulk of the world’s current content talk — in Forbes, in The Independent, in a magazine actually titled Chief Content Officer — is focused on digital. And for good reason: your organization’s blog and social media channels provide exceptional outlets for distributing daily and weekly content. But the world, blessedly, still needs books.

And at TOKY, we build them. Like many creative firms, we often design books based on content provided by clients. Like so, for the Gregg Museum of Art & Design at North Carolina State University:

But in many cases, a client hires TOKY to start by developing the concept and the content — from editorial elements and structure to the writing itself — before ultimately moving into design. That describes our work creating this deluxe hard-bound book for new owners of The Private Residences at The Chase Park Plaza:

During 2011 and 2012, we spent about 15 months deeply engaged with Washington University in St. Louis professor Dr. Gautam Yadama, helping develop a full-length book exploring issues of energy impoverishment in rural India. As we will detail in a forthcoming case study, we were involved in this book project to what we’d consider an enviable degree — helping define the editorial scope, the chapter structure, and the design of scientific data; developmental-editing the manuscript, suggesting pull-quotes and sidebars; and more. Working with Gautam and his collaborating photographer — the sought-after Mark Katzman — was a thrill. So was holding our own private-run version of the book:

This story’s just getting started: In the fall of 2013, Fires, Fuel, and the Fate of 3 Billion will be published internationally by the prestigious Oxford University Press. When the book hits a global readership this fall, TOKY’s editorial structure and design will remain intact.

Booklets & Magazines

Much of what I wrote above holds true here for smaller print pieces like magazines and brochures, both of which we’ve developed for years. Again, for The Chase, here’s a 24-page booklet focused on the wedding experience that we wrote and designed:

For the University of Chicago Medicine, we relaunched its two chief magazines (including Imagine, below) redesigning the publications and aligning them to the organization’s new brand messaging, which we aided in developing:

•

As mentioned above, when the industry talks of content, it’s the digital they’re almost aways referring to. And while we love our paper and ink, a good chunk of our staff is engaged in this digital world in a major way. And many of our projects have a content component. A few examples:

Content Research & Planning

TOKY recently worked with a fast-growing company in the engineering, architecture, and construction space, helping the Marketing division prepare to transition into a full-fledged daily and weekly publisher. This meant writing a Competitive Review & Analysis document, delivering a sector-specfic Best Practices for Content & Social Media presentation, and developing a Content Strategy & Social Media Plan for the company, which included guiding principles, a site-wide Content Outline, and channel-by-channel advice for Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Online Content Development

When Brinkmann Constructors hired TOKY to launch a new website last year, the company also turned to us to research and write a good deal of new content necessary for launch. After interviewing key Brinkmann leaders, TOKY wrote six in-depth project case studies, each of which would be teased on the front page as “Ideas” the company delivered:

More recently, TOKY was charged with helping Mid-America Transplant Services chronicle its successful 2012, absorbing a range of client-provided materials and writing a cohesive, Web-exclusive Annual Report that captured the spirit and accomplishments of the year:

Video Conception, Script-Writing & Production

There’s a reason online videos have been called the fastest-growing content segment — they’re sharable, emotional, and memorable. TOKY’s been pleased to work with a handful of clients in recent years to produce short films for their respective audiences. Our team is involved in developing the concept and creative direction, writing or editing the script, conducting behind-the-camera interviews, and editing en route to a final polished piece.

Here’s one short film from the TOKY portfolio: “Carrole’s Story: Dealing With Multiple Sclerosis Symptoms,” which we made for the MS Center for Innovations in Care:

Click here to view the embedded video.

In response to the Center’s wish to tell a patient story, we concepted the animated approach, produced the patient interview and recording, directed the animation, and edited the final piece.

•

So at least in part, that’s what we mean by Content. While we might be writing or planning, launching books or websites, this focus on story is one we’re genuinely at home with and passionate about.

It’s been said often in the past few years, including by us: Every company is now partly a publisher. The question is what content you’ll offer your waiting audience.

For the past 10 years, TOKY has been proud to support Food Outreach as a sponsor of A Tasteful Affair, the organization’s annual fundraising event.

As the event’s official design partner, we’ve been able to create unique branding to truly reflect the fun and festive (and often themed) mood of the afternoon. A Tasteful Affair is a party for those who support Food Outreach, but more importantly, it celebrates their mission to provide nutritional support to enhance the quality of life of men, women, and children living with HIV/AIDS or cancer.

A few past TOKY-made A Tasteful Affair event brands

To celebrate the organization’s 25th anniversary, we started with the tagline “it’s time to bring out our good silver.” That would be the base from which to create the visuals, and it would be the connective string throughout all the event’s collateral. It was a nod to their work providing meals and also to the traditional 25th anniversary gift. Foiled elements and silver metallic ink elevated a simple accordion fold invitation.

This year TOKY wanted to go above and beyond a well-designed invitation set. Our goal was to pay homage to the extraordinary work done by making the organization’s efforts visual. So we planned, designed, and installed a physical piece to be featured at the event, held this year at the Four Seasons.

Using more than 6,000 forks (each representing two of the 12,000 clients served), we created a glittering wall of silver near the entry. It was finished by black and silver platters with the messages of how many people have been impacted by Food Outreach, and a timeline of the organization’s achievements throughout the past 25 years.

Installation images courtesy of Jess Dewes Photography

At the TOKY Studio, we documented as much of the process as we could and made a quick behind-the-scenes time-lapse video of the work done:

Click here to view the embedded video.

This was a great project for our team. It was a challenge to translate a message into something very physical — a challenge we enjoyed. It was a lesson in logistics, and, best of all, a chance to work with our hands.

We’ve been proud to help bring awareness to Food Outreach over the years, and we congratulate them on this milestone in their organization’s history.

TOKY was pleased to be asked by one of our longtime clients, Mid-America Transplant Services, to help tell its story of 2012. For three and a half decades, MTS has served as the regional organ and tissue procurement organization for eastern Missouri, southern Illinois, and northeast Arkansas, serving 4.5 million people in 84 counties. While many organizations like this one produce a traditional annual report, MTS was interested in taking a fresh approach in chronicling the exceptional year they had, working together with Donor Families and critical partner hospitals.

Following some initial discovery meetings, we decided on a browser-based, single-page review, one that mixed key data, narrative highlights and achievements, and photographs of individuals involved with the organization. TOKY conceived of the overall structure, wrote each section based on a variety of materials provided by MTS, and designed the full piece.

Visit the full 2012 MTS Annual Report to learn more about this organization, which plays a critical role in the lives of many families.

Congratulations to our friends at MTS on this collaborative project — and on such a successful year.

Many of us who follow emerging content news were bummed to hear that Tumblr’s David Karp just lovingly axed its in-house Editorial team — in the process shutting down its admirable Storyboard blog. No, Storyboard wasn’t “journalism,” as some have tried to suggest. But as brand content, it was ambitious and compellingly presented. (If you happen to be nostalgic for a certain wonderfully dank Berlin ping-pong bar you used to frequent — like you and your friend Mike played ‘around the world’ there with loads of strangers to a live DJ — then Storyboard’s April 10th piece touched an especially tender nerve.)

The Tumblr news ricocheted around the Web immediately. While this was surely in part due to Karp’s You’re Awesome, Goodbye approach to the announcement — Gawker: “If Tumblr ‘Couldn’t Be Happier’ With its Journalists, Why’d it Just Fire Them All?”; it even prompted a New Yorker humor piece — I bet it’s also because those still in journalism are fascinated by what’s professionally possible for those so trained.

More recent content news came yesterday, from another megawatt online property. Here’s Wall Street Journal technology blog All Things Digital, writing yesterday afternoon:

LinkedIn announced on Thursday it has acquired mobile news aggregation startup Pulse, as Kara Swisher reported last month that it would, signaling another step by the massive professional network toward becoming an online content powerhouse.

It’s a big buy for LinkedIn, costing a cool $90 million, according to the company.

The most interesting quote about this news comes from LinkedIn itself, in the blog post announcement from senior vice president Deep Nishar (italics mine):

We believe LinkedIn can be the definitive professional publishing platform — where all professionals come to consume content and where publishers come to share their content. Millions of professionals are already starting their day on LinkedIn to glean the professional insights and knowledge they need to make them great at their jobs. We believe we can help all professionals make smarter and more informed business decisions leveraging all the great business knowledge flowing through LinkedIn in the form of news, Influencer posts, industry updates, discussions, comments and more.

A few of us here at TOKY were just discussing this yesterday — social networks transitioning from offering and sustaining relationships to serving as conveyers of more official content. Including their own.

In a December 2012 post about the year’s content trends, I noted how LinkedIn had introduced an original publishing series, inviting a few heavy-hitting ‘thought leaders’ to write original material for the site. At the time, LinkedIn’s Ryan Roslansky had said the following: “We think that content is one way that we can make users more productive and successful on LinkedIn. When you come on LinkedIn, we show you stuff that you need to pay attention to, to be better at your job.”

While Forbes and Inc might be psyched that LinkedIn will soon be able to more effectively serve up their content via the Pulse technology, they shouldn’t forget that LinkedIn’s also in the original-content game. They’re not just a conveyer; they might one day turn into a competitor.

•

Reading this LInkedIn news reminded me of “Friends Don’t Let Friends Curate (FB’s Redesign),” a post written by Levi Mills and published on Medium. Here’s one bit, which explores how people use Facebook not just to connect, but to consume:

Larger photos and a cleaner interface are great changes aesthetically, there’s no argument there, but the bigger change is functional. Content is now the center of the Facebook experience, not relationships. It’s been shifting that way for a few years, but while Facebook’s professed purpose remains grounded in being the #1 network for connections between you and the people you know in the ‘real world’, the novelty of an online forum/scrapbook/messaging site has worn at the edges. ‘Content is King’, the now terribly clichéd saying goes, and content created outside of Facebook, content outside of photos of your friend’s newborn child or ex-girlfriend’s wild night out, has taken up more and more of the average feed. The network that was built to connect people is transforming from a communication platform with sharing ability into a content platform with communication ability.

And later:

Facebook’s own Jane Justice Leibrock recently posted in the Facebook User Experience Lab blog about the process Facebook went through in redesigning the new News Feed, and they found that I’m not alone in that sentiment. Despite users saying they wanted posts from companies, news stories, and music filtered out of their feed, they interacted with this content significantly more than their own friends’ posts. Facebook’s solution? Take the power away from your friends. Subscribe to more curated content by publishers, by influential people in topics of interest, by news outlets.

•

When I’ve heard the phrase “social network” over the years, I’ve long aligned that second word with only one version of its meaning — a group of connected people. One’s “network.”

Perhaps now I’ll more frequently think of another. (See “ESPN,” last word.)

We’ve written more than a few times about how TOKY’s John Foster moonlights as a well-known collector of vernacular photography. Having been named one of the “Top 100 Collectors” in the United States by Art & Antiques, and with snapshots moving from his collection to the International Center of Photography’s, John is a go-to source on the subject.

A few more publications have come calling so far in 2013. This spring, he was interviewed at length for Hunter Oatman-Stanford’s article “Take That, Instagram: The Enduring Allure of Vintage Snapshots,” published in Collectors Weekly. Just a few excerpts from the in-depth piece:

Few vernacular photographers considered their work a creative pursuit; for most it was simply a form of documentation. “Birthday parties, weddings, funerals, new cars, moving into the new house, holidays, and vacations. These are times that the camera came out,” says St. Louis-based collector and folk-art scholar John Foster.

During the early 20th century, as ordinary people learned to take photographs, discarded prints became a necessary by-product of the camera’s democratization. “In a sense, the American people documented the 20th century themselves,” says Foster. “There are millions and millions of these pictures, these artifacts of the 20th century.”

… Although the images in Foster’s collection weren’t originally created as art, he only chooses those which meet his particular aesthetic standards. In the late 1980s, Foster discovered a photo that opened his eyes to the beauty of vernacular imagery.

“It was a portrait of two people standing in front of a fence, and you could see over the fence into a housing complex or something, with the grandmother looking over the fence. Then even further back, someone’s in the window. They were all perfectly posed and arranged in a way that I knew was not intentional, but they’re photo-bombing this image in a really wonderful way. I’ve always loved things that happen unintentionally, accidentally.”

Closer to home, John was also featured in the March 2013 St. Louis Magazine. In “Perfect Mistakes: The Accidental Masterpieces of John Foster,” writer Byron Kerman has John walk SLM readers  through four of his favorite snapshot finds. I encourage a click-through. It’s a fun piece.

We’re excited to announce the launch of the Graphite digital catalogue we recently completed for the Indianapolis Museum of Art. Graphite is the first scholarly art publication of its kind, and we were honored to be selected to lead the design for this project, collaborating with an institution dedicated to and known for pioneering new technologies within the museum community.

From the IMA’s catalogue page:
This exhibition presents a glimpse into recent and innovative uses of graphite. The first major museum exhibition to explore graphite as a medium in works beyond drawings, Graphite includes sculpture, drawing, and installations created over the past decade — including several newly commissioned works — by emerging and established artists.

Throughout the project we were deeply involved in researching the best model for releasing such a scholarly tool for digital catalogues. We brainstormed innovative ways not only to present diverse content types, but also to push the boundaries of digital publishing and even try to improve upon the rather restrictive user interfaces of iBooks and iBooks Author. (We examined this process in greater detail last year during our joint presentation with the IMA at the MCN Conference in Seattle late last year. Read more about this presentation here.)

Click here to view the embedded video.

This video provides a quick walk-through of some of the book’s features and interactive content. To read what one art publisher recently wrote about the publication, see Greg Albers’ “The power of well-considered publishing” at Beyond the Printed Page.

Graphite is now available for download from the iBookstore for $4.99. And for those able to get to Indianapolis, there is still time to see the exhibition itself: Graphite runs until June 2nd, 2013!

We’re guessing the TOKY Blog doesn’t have many readers who are still skeptical of social media. You’re likely in.

But if you’re ever talking with colleague who hasn’t yet recognized that Twitter and Facebook can in fact be outlets or listening posts for substantive and/or consequential information — that at heart they are content vehicles, with giant reach — you might reference these two articles, published during the past few days:

• At Bloomberg: “SEC Approves Using Facebook, Twitter for Company Disclosures”
• On the Wall Street Journal’s All Things D blog: “After SEC Decision, Bloomberg Integrates Tweets Into the Wire”

Bonus points to the New York Times DealBook blog for the highly meta Bloomberg Terminal photograph.