Here is my Cultural Forum logo for Marketing, Media and Communication I class.
CF Logo (PDF)
‘aad610’ Category
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Logo!
October 30, 2013 by arichard@uoregon.edu
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Protected: Media Inventory-Marketing, Media and Communication I
October 29, 2013 by arichard@uoregon.edu
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Organizational Questions – MMC I
October 14, 2013 by arichard@uoregon.edu
I will answer the below questions about the organization I have chosen to rebrand for Marketing, Media, and Communication I: the University of Oregon’s Cultural Forum.
1. What is your organization or company. Give background history including who, when, and why it was founded.
2. What do they do or make – describe the products and services and what makes them unique.
3. Describe the culture of the organization or company. What is the work environment like – the atmosphere? What is the building like – exterior/interior, architecture, fittings and furniture? How do the employees work together? What are the jobs and roles of individuals? How are they treated by management?
4. Who is the targeted audience? What are their demographics?
5. What is the organization or company mission statement?
1. The Cultural Forum is a student program board of the University of Oregon. Operated under the ASUO (Associated Students of the University of Oregon), it has been providing arts and cultural activities and presentations for students of the UO since 1948. Programs reflect a wide range of diversity and artistic expression in the entertainment, art and political worlds. Cultural Forum events are conceived of, initiated, negotiated, booked, promoted and carried out by student coordinators with the support of dedicated staff members. The organization was founded both to bring arts programming to students, and to give student coordinators real-world booking and presentation experience.
2. Student coordinators program content for a given academic year in these areas: campus art galleries; contemporary issues; late night activities; regional music; national music; performing arts; production assistant (helps run events); other visual arts; an annual music festival; and film. What makes the Cultural Forum unique is the sheer breadth of their offerings. Because there is one coordinator each dedicated to twelve specific content areas, it is guaranteed that during the course of the academic year, the Cultural Forum will present everything from speakers addressing issues like prisoners’ rights, to hip-hop shows, to a festival showcasing queer filmmakers. Each year is totally unique, as coordinators choose content that reflects their individual tastes. Programming does not have to fall in line with a particular sensibility, so it’s a real pastiche. Additionally, since coordinators are always programming for their peers, they are likely to know what their demographic will like. There is a big opportunity there for responsiveness to the consumer. Finally, since each coordinator is given an allotment of cash to work with for the year, there’s no pressure to write grants (or satisfy grant makers), or necessarily even charge admission for events. This provides a lot of flexibility in programming.
3. The Cultural Forum is a presenting organization, rather than a venue. The work environment is a large office located in the Erb Memorial Union; however, this fall, the Cultural Forum and all ASUO student groups will be temporarily moving to Mac Court while the EMU is renovated. Currently, the office space is shared with these employees: three professional staff positions of Program Coordinator, Office Coordinator, and Technical Support Coordinator; and twelve stipended student positions, each of which programs different content areas. In addition, there are several part-time student Office Assistants. The Program Coordinator works with each student coordinator to help him or her program the content that he or she wishes. Structure and guidance is provided, while students are given a large degree of autonomy over their work. The work environment is casual, exciting, and full of learning, if a little hectic and sometimes fragmented. The office is clean, organized, and is full of resources for student coordinators to use. At any given time the office has between three and ten individuals present, sometimes engaging in event planning together, sometimes working alone. There are weekly staff meetings, which all employees must attend. These meetings are fun and offer an environment of mutual support and teamwork.
4. The targeted audience is the student body of the University of Oregon, which would be young adults aged 18-24 with little discretionary income. Occasionally, student coordinators will actively target a non-UO audience. Marketing for many events does reach readers of Eugene Weekly, and posters are put up all over town. Sometimes CF-sponsored shows take place off-campus, such as at WOW Hall or Cozmic Pizza. However, generally coordinators book and design events with mainly or only UO students in mind.
5. The mission of the Cultural Forum is to provide University of Oregon students, and the campus community, with exposure to and experience with the breadth and depth of human expression through productions focusing on contemporary culture, film, performing arts, music, late night programming and visual art in the Adell McMillan, Buzz and Aperture Galleries and management of the EMU permanent art collection. The Cultural Forum supports the efforts of other on campus organizations serving students through advisement and collaboration in accordance with this mission.
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Learning Goals for AAD 610 Marketing, Media, and Communication I
October 5, 2013 by arichard@uoregon.edu
This term, I take the first of a two-part course called Marketing, Media, and Communication. This class combines the principles of marketing, applications of media (and criticism of media) in relation to the arts sector, and the use of various graphic design software applications. Some of the curriculum will be a repeat for me (I took two of the classes that fed into this new hybrid class), but I am looking forward to gaining an understanding of the connections between the different content areas through this multi-modal approach.
Learning Goals:
1) Increase proficiency with Adobe Creative Suite software.
2) Create a rebranding strategy for Cultural Forum (where I currently serve in the position of Performing Arts Coordinator). In the second part of this course (M, M, and C II in Winter 2014) I hope to create a marketing plan for one of the shows I am currently planning for the Cultural Forum.
3) Do some further research into market segmentation. Although I understand the basic concept, I would like to understand how to actually conduct the research that allows an arts marketer to market in a targeted manner to varying populations. I will especially use this skill as PA Coordinator at Cultural Forum this year.
4) Gain a better understanding of how to leverage social media for marketing purposes. Although I use social media, I have an inherent distrust of it, and I hope to get over that in this class–and fully embrace its incredible potential for marketing within the arts nonprofit realm.
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Logo/Branding Awareness
October 16, 2012 by arichard@uoregon.edu
Two of the companies I picked for logo/branding analysis (Rose City Rollers and Feel the Music!) are smaller organizations that have nonprofit status. Feel the Music! requires professional look, as it is an organization that works primarily with children and relies on philanthropic donation and grant money to sustain its programming. While Rose City Rollers, Portland’s roller derby league, is also a nonprofit, it relies mostly on member dues, ticket sales, and advertising partnerships for its support. Therefore, they are more able to showcase their slightly wild, rock and rock attitude in their branding. I chose also to look at Billboard magazine, which is a huge company. Although rooted in the artistic (musical) realm, Billboard is definitively corporate. Their logo represents their gravitas in the music business while maintaining a sense of fun.
#1 Feel the Music!
The actual name of this organization based in NYC has an exclamation point, and I am curious as to why they didn’t include it in the logo. I have always heard that exclamation points feel to the reader like shouting and are to be avoided. If the exclamation point in the organization’s title is meant to convey excitement and inclusion, I feel like both of those sentiments are more or less expressed in this logo. The way the stems on the letters “f,” “l,” and “c” extend to the circle evokes musical notes on a staff. The manner in which the eye must follow around the twists and turns in the words “feel” and “music” creates a playfulness that engages the reader. Another reason this logo succeeds: the extension of letters to meet the circle creates a shape, almost turning the logo into a symbol rather than merely a name in a circle. If the same font had been used but the letters didn’t meet the edge of the circle, this logo would not be very captivating. I am also interested in the choice of using a font that is reminiscent of neon tubing in a sign, or the pathways of a Pac-man game. I don’t think either of these references was intentional, but it creates a great maze-like feel of continuity. The choice of using the one color is wise, I think, as there is enough going on in the image without adding the complication of multiple colors. This logo is just about perfect for all applications- web or print. Even if the resolution is low, it’s still going to look great, and would be fine in black and white.
#2 Rose City Rollers
I absolutely love this logo. It’s more complex than most logos though, so I could see the amount of detail and number of elements working against it in smaller printed pieces, like business cards or a letterhead. This version would also not work well in black and white, as the rose would look like a blob. That said, it works great on the web and on merchandise. I have a t-shirt with this logo, and it always invites questions from strangers. What I appreciate about it are the strategic pops of red, the idea of motion in the fists and the wheel in “Rollers,” and the juxtaposition of cursive script and tattoo-style font. Black and red are colors that, when used together, often connote political radicalism. While Rose City Rollers is not politically affiliated, the use of the arresting color combination was wise for a tough, nonconformist sport. Also, in some of the league’s promotional material, the red is echoed (repetition!) in blood splatters. The use of a roller skate wheel for the “o” in “Rollers,” as well as the swoosh of wind behind the wheel is ingenious. It’s an efficient use of space, reminding me of the arrow in the FedEx logo. Of course, in FedEx’s logo the arrow was more or less subliminal and here the wheel figures prominently. I like the contradiction of cursive script with tattoo font because it alludes to a sort of subversive cheekiness, which is a pretty prevalent theme in the world of roller derby.
#3 Billboard
This is an established company, founded in 1894. They publish a trade magazine and two websites—one for the consumer/music fan, and a “B2B” site for music business professionals. All three outlets use the above logo primarily, but the company uses another logo (below) for Twitter, Google +, Facebook, and other social-media outlets. I don’t know if this is common practice, but I think it’s really smart for a company to brand itself differently for social media usage. I’m not going to discuss the below logo here, but just wanted to include it for comparison’s sake.
The primary logo with the full name of the company is very simple, the main defining feature being the filled-in body of the letters “b,” “o,” “a,” and “d.” I think it’s interesting that the designer did not choose to fill in the first letter of the word with a color as well. I imagine that was actually tried before this version was settled on. Perhaps if the first letter was filled in, it would look too cutesy. As it is, it is verging on cutesy, but I think escapes that due to the graphic, thick, sans serif font. The kerning of the characters is worth noting, too. I don’t know how or to what extent the character spacing was manipulated, but it seems significant that the “b,” “o,” and “a” are touching, and none of the rest of the letters are. This is also where the color is concentrated in the logo. This increases the readability of the word, which might otherwise jolt the eye too much, with the tall “i” and “l”s. I think the choice to use primary colors all in a row is a good one, but to decrease the risk of calling to mind a children’s toy (maybe that’s why I think this logo verges on cutesy), the unexpected lime green is used in the outlier “d.” Overall, this is the most sophisticated and bold of the three logos.
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