With the holiday season upon us, I’d like  to draw attention to a very important practice:
crafting the corporate holiday greeting.

Tailored corporate greeting cards can:
• Show appreciation to supportive clients, employees and partnerships
• Attract and bring about new business opportunities
• Remind lapsed clients that you still exist
• Promote the corporate brand image

Here are 3 tips and examples for executing memorable corporate holiday messages:

1) DO IT IN PRINT
Create a custom printed holiday greeting card – traditional or in a highly contemporary style – that is unique and specific to your business. Stand apart from the overflow of other generic holiday greetings by exploring innovative themes, materials and formats that will deliver your message with impact.

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Check out our holiday card:

I’m a relatively new Dad with one toddler and one newborn. I’m also a graphic designer, so naturally, I would consider myself fairly brand-conscious. Or, at the very least, brand “aware.” Whether it is out of loyalty or mere observation, I constantly find myself not just observing but perhaps subconsciously critiquing brand identities all around me.

The visual identity for the 1972 Olympic games is a remarkable design achievement, and any organization could learn an important lesson from this body of work. From posters to signage to a cohesive icon program, it is a classic brand program across many platforms.

images from http://www.1972municholympics.co.uk/ All works are copyright of the credited artist (Otl Aicher plus design team)

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INC Design and International Securities Exchange (ISE) have been jointly recognized with a Bronze Award in the 23rd Annual International ARC Awards Competition. The achievement was in recognition of excellence on behalf of ISE’s 2008 Online Annual Review  http://www.ise.com/Annual_Reports/2008/ISE-2008AR-final-release/index.html

http://www.ise.com/Annual_Reports/2008/ISE-2008AR-final-release/index.html

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INC Design, in partnership with its client, International Securities Exchange (ISE), has won 3 creative achievement awards in the 39^th Annual Creativity Awards Competition. Creativity Annual Awards is one of the longest running independent, international advertising and graphic design competitions which focuses on design applied to print, web, and advertising programs. The Competition’s categories include print, publications, new media, television, radio, and more. INC Design’s entries and recent award status’ in collaboration with ISE have been recognized with two Honorable Mention achievements for ISE’s 2009 Calendar and the Company’s sponsored 2009 Reform Campaign; and a silver award for ISE’s 2008 Online Annual Review.

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Like most New Yorkers, I ride the subway to and from work every day. I find that having reading material to accompany me on my daily commute is a must. I prefer books to magazines – mainly for the constantly evolving story lines and the pure escapism that books often provide. I have been known to also read classic works of poems and plays during some of these interborough journeys. As a matter of fact, the great works of William Shakespeare have frequently been amongst some of my favorites as I’ve traveled along the winding NYC underground.

This graphic was designed by Kit Grover for the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), entitled “Greater Shakespeare.”

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I’m the passionate type. Two things I happen to be passionate about are cycling and art. As an avid cyclist, I must admit that it is rare to have these two passions ever meet in a way that truly excites me. Perhaps this is why I opted to make my first blog entry about a recent campaign by none other than American cycling legend, Lance Armstrong.

2009 was Armstrong’s comeback year after a 4-year hiatus, with the intention of riding primarily to bring attention to his global cancer initiative with the LIVESTRONG cancer research campaign.

However, this entry isn’t about Lance nor his condition. It’s not about his team or even the drama that has followed him all season. This entry is about the bikes he has been riding throughout the season. Lance and TREK have teamed up to create a series of “art bikes” which were designed by some of the world’s leading contemporary artists, such as Kaws, Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst.

Shepard Fairey for STAGES. Photo Credit: Trek Bicycle Corporation

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Any information design project is a combination of data gathering, pattern-searching, and clear communication. When looking at a plain excel spreadsheet, raw data can appear overwhelming, disconnected, and difficult to interpret. This is true whether we’re discussing financial figures or sport statistics. Let’s take a look at a unique way to interpret a rather basic statistic:

This graphic was designed by Craig Robinson. See more of his work at http://www.flipflopflyin.com

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