WHEN: Wednesday, April 11, 5 p.m.

WHERE: Brookside, 3500 S. Peoria Avenue, Tulsa

Shirotokuro – is a shortened form of ‘Shiroi to kuroi’ which is Japanese for ‘black and white’.
Shirotokuro is a curated gallery of exquisite design, illustration and photography distilled to it’s purest monochromatic elements of black and white. Designed by Benjamin Verlomme.

If you like these, you can find them and other cool stuff at: I Need Nice Things.

Have a great Monday.

Staying at the supposedly haunted and architecturally beautiful Skirvin Hotel tonight in OKC. The exterior lighting is incredible. It was designed by Architect Solomon A Layton for Bill Skirvin an Oil Tycoon. The legend is a fascinating one of oil, money, architecture, power, adultery, death and the supernatural. Why hasn’t this place been made into a movie? If you want to read about it go here: Haunted Skirvin

Hope to get rejuvenated and emerge with some great ideas going into 2012. Great ideas are scary. Bad ideas are terrifying. After tonight, it might take on a whole new meaning.

Great excerpt written by Sarah Britten:

“To come up with a great idea you’ve got to come up with a lot of stupid ones,” said FNB CEO Michael Jordaan at the YFM event I attended the other night. His comment struck a chord with me because as it happens, I’d been thinking about ideas all day. Not so much ideas themselves, but the idea of ideas: the concept itself of a new thought germinating, then springing to life and changing the world. Or not.

The truth is that ideas are terrifying.”

And that is why we love great ideas. They are exciting, terrifying and full of adrenaline. I guess you could call us idea junkies.

Wish us luck.

A friend of mine recently posted this on Facebook. I thought it was great. Typically, I have one or two New Years Resolutions and they are forgotten within two weeks. Woody Guthrie had 33! Wonder how he faired in keeping them. Love the illustrations along the side – visualization is powerful. I think we would all be better off if we kept Woody’s resolutions this year.

Woody’s Resolutions:

1: Work More and Better
2: Work By a Schedule
3: Wash Teeth if Any
4: Shave
5: Take Bath
6: Eat Good – Fruit – Vegetables – Milk
7: Drink Very Scant if Any
8: Write a Song a Day
9: Wear Clean Clothes – Look Good
10: Shine Shoes
11: Change Socks
12: Change Bed Clothes Often
13: Read Lots of Books
14: Listen to Radio a Lot
15: Learn People Better
16: Keep Rancho Clean
17: Don’t Get Lonesome
18: Stay Glad
19: Keep Hoping Machine Running
20: Dream Good
21: Bank All Extra Money
22: Save Dough
23: Have Company But Don’t Waste Time
24: Send Mary and Kids Money
25: Plan and Sing Good
26: Dance Better
27: Help Win War – Beat Fascism
28: Love Mama
29: Love Papa
30: Love Pete
31: Love Everybody
32: Make Up Your Mind
33: Wake Up and Fight

Do you have a resolution for 2012 that was listed above? Leave a Comment.

Photo: Original photo was on BoingBoing

A few months ago, we at More Branding were in the process of replacing our desks with desks that we concepted, designed and constructed using only a single sheet of plywood. But something happened. As we got into the concept phase we found ourselves overwhelmed by the possibilities even though the materials list was so restricted and confined. We began to think – what would other Tulsa creatives do that we still haven’t thought about doing? What about Tulsa architects? What about Tulsa interior designers? What about local woodworkers or the garage hobbyist? We wanted to see the possibilities and that is how this creative competition – or more properly worded  – Tulsa Creative Exercise was birthed. We began to brainstorm – how can we as a community develop this idea to raise the level of creativity, critical thinking, problem solving and create true design innovation here in Tulsa? Below is all of the information that you would need to have to participate in the competition.

On the first day that this Call for Entries went out we received 15 commitments. The number of desks committed by local companies and individuals continues to climb. Some architecture firms are using them as internal team-building exercises by dividing up teams of engineers, architects and interior designers. Other creative firms are pulling all of their resources together to create one desk that represents their creative agency. Others are simply inspired and creating their own desks independently. One person has even asked if he can use plywood that he makes himself? The answer was – absolutely!

We are excited about how this has been received and to see creatives get jazzed about doing something that raises money to reinvest in our creative community’s education infrastructure. It is going to be a blast and we want you to participate.

If you decide to participate please email us so we can gauge how many desks to prepare to have and where we will need to have the event and silent auction.

Some Questions We Have Had:

1. Can we use any type of plywood?
Yes. Oak Veneer, Decking Board, Particle Board – as long as it is plywood it is game.

2. Can we use other materials in conjunction with the plywood?
The goal is to stay as true to the native material as possible but don’t feel stifled by the restrictions. We want you to be creative – there are no eliminations – or first, second or third places. This is purely about seeing the vast array of possibilities in one location so we can say – damn why didn’t I think of that.

3. Who owns the rights to the submissions?
The creator owns the rights. This is your intellectual property.

4. Does it cost to enter?
No. We want the money to go into your desk.

5. Where does the money raised from the silent auction go?
It will go wherever you decide it to go as long as it has a local Tulsa area impact. The only stipulation is that it needs to go back into developing young creatives locally. Examples would be: OSU School of Architecture, Intern that Needs Funds to Continue their education, a local girls school for art or a nonprofit that uses art and design to transform young lives.

6. How many desks can we enter?
As many as you want.

7. Where will the silent auction be held?
It will depend on the number of entries we receive.

If you have any other questions please submit them to my email in the information below.

More Branding, Tulsa, Oklahoma | www.morebranding.com | www.facebook.com/morebrands

The BRANDrank initiates a decision making hierarchy.

The brand must be managed by a leadership team with a long-term commitment. The BRANDrank must be mandated from the top. If management doesn’t appear confident and the time resources allocated are minimal, the original investment will most likely deliver poor returns. Creating the brand is only the beginning. Managing the brand is much more difficult.

Your brand is a visual and strategic extension of the long-term vision established for your company, organization, destination or product. Generally, the vision of the company is driven by the executive leadership team and/or owner. The endorsement of the Chairman, CEO or leader of the company is critical in sending a powerful message to everyone involved impacting the overall success of the brand internally and externally. During the research and strategic brand development phase executive leadership must be engaged. Once approval is granted on the big idea and concept that will be implemented – then the day to day tasks can be handled by the Branding Firm, Corporate Design Manager or Marketing Manager. An open door to the executive is still necessary but execution of the brand campaign can be delegated to free the Executive to tend to other important matters regarding his/her business.

As we continue down through the branding process you will see that managing and measuring the brand is important to ensure that the brand continues to articulate the agreed upon vision and is getting tangible results for the company or organization.

Rushing. Rushing. Rushing. Pulling everything together for my 9:00a. Jumped into our 2001 Volkswagon Jetta named “George Jetta” in honor of George on the Jetsons. Turned the key. Nothing. Disbelief. Our car had been sitting idle in the garage since Thanksgiving since I had a lot of time off around the Holidays and Erin my wife is a stay at home “executive.” After jumping the car and being on my way I unexpectedly started thinking about how this parallels many nonprofit brands.

Oftentimes, we get a shiny new brand for our organization, we are proud of it and show it off to all of our friends and everyone tells us how amazing it looks and how they love the story we are telling. Then it gets put away in the garage just to exist. Sure it is on our materials but we fail to take it for a spin every now and then. It becomes stale and fails to move anyone from point A to point B. At some point we decide to get it back out but it lacks the spark, juice and excitement that it once exhibited. It leaves employees, volunteers and donors dead and unenergized.

Brands are like cars. They need to be maintained on a regular basis. When was the last time you took your brand for a checkup? How many miles does your brand have on it before you decide to get its oil changed? A good brand powers the entire organization. A bad brand will eventually destroy the things that drive it. Brands especially need cleaned as they continually get muddied up with things that are off message or don’t work with the brand guidelines.

We have done a large number of what I call “brand revitalizations” but now I am thinking about calling it a “brand recharge.” You see large corporations doing this more than ever. (Starbucks did it just this week, below for reference) The essence of the brand is the same except the look has been updated, the logo has been tweaked, the website made more mobile/social, the mission statement made easier to remember and the employees re-educated about the brand and organization. Once we have done that we make it our responsibility to care and maintain your brand so that it is always running smooth and never just existing.

Ask yourself these 8 questions:

Is my brand moving people to volunteer, donate and become more involved?
When was the last time I made a point to talk about our brand?
Do our employees understand the brand and the organization?
Does our staff tell the same story when someone asks them about the organization? Ask them, more often than not they tell it inconsistently.
Do our employees know the mission statement?
Are you as excited about the brand today as when it was first unveiled? You should be.
Is our brand just existing?
Is our brand muddied by inconsistent materials and messaging?

To wrap this up, spend some time kicking the tires on your brand. You may discover you need a recharge, jump or a good cleaning. Trust me it is much better to check it out in advance than when you are rushing around to get to your 9:00a appointment.

For reference here is the Starbucks “brand recharge.” Great 1minute video by Howard Shultz, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks.

If we think about architects, we think about people that design some of the most beautiful structures that we can feel, touch and move through. We think of form and function going hand-in-hand. We think about magnificent spaces that create interaction between people, people and space and people and materials. Yet when we visit the majority of architecture firm websites we see very little, if any, of that carrying over to the web.

1: Architects create buildings that evoke conversation: Architecture websites almost never utilize social-media or foster any kind of conversation or communication. It would be great if people could comment about the projects on the site – even get a group discussion going about the LEED qualification of a building. What about your blog? Is it easy for people to communicate, leave comments or ask questions? Can people share your projects easily online via facebook, youtube, linkedin, google+ or twitter? Why not?

2: Architects are concerned about form and function: A large majority of architecture websites are built with flash, flash templates and flash galleries. These no longer function in today’s mobile environment. People hate flash. Why? Because it is slow and you can’t view it on the iPad or iPhone. Even if you are a Blackberry or Android user you have to take into account that the Apple ecosystem is becoming a large portion of the population. I would equate this as ADA for your site. What if the buildings you designed eliminated a portion of the population? You would be fined. So, why is it  okay for that to happen on your website? HTML5 can do many of the same things Flash can do. Also, a word of caution, Flash doesn’t generate individual page URL’s so it is difficult to point someone to a specific page on your site by emailing them a link. They always have to go to the homepage and then click through until they get to the page you want them to see.

3: Architects create structures that focuses on moving people through space: Architects have been navigating people through space for hundreds of years,yet, when we get to cyberspace their sites are composed of bad structure and moving through the space is a user’s worst nightmare. People get lost in the space, frustrated and confused. Other times the site is just boring and fails to move people emotionally. Have you done user-testing studies on your website to see how people interact or move through the space? Lead the audience through the space in the way you want them to experience it.

4: Architects create entries that take your breath away: Not so with the entry to their website. On occasion the entry is interesting but once you cross the threshold the rest of the site is a visual and functional mess using outdated coding and technology. It isn’t uncommon to see an architecture firm’s website take nearly a minute to load thanks to Flash animations and gimmicky rollovers.

I expect to see a younger generation of architects embrace digital and social media beyond a simple portfolio. I expect to see more conversation, more inspiration and a higher degree of mobile functionality. I expect to see architecture firms create sites that move people through the space so they can experience the firm in exciting new ways. The firms that are on the forefront of this technical evolution will emerge as top architecture firms. Unfortunately, this sector is behind and catching up will be one of their biggest challenges over the next few years.

More Branding, Tulsa, Oklahoma | www.morebranding.com