Design = Connection
One can argue—a lot of people do—that graphic design in the interactive age is developing an aesthetic that’s distinct from print. It’s an intriguing discussion.
Still, as a print guy, I can’t help still digging design rooted in traditional print media.
And really, in a lot of key ways, the ideas of good graphic design haven’t changed all that much since the early ’80s, when Jane Tilka founded her Minneapolis design shop, Tilka Design.
Though she and her five colleagues have certainly incorporated online work into their practice, the work is still rooted in what I’d describe as the dignity and classic architectural directness of strong print design.
(Indeed, one of Tilka Design’s practices is print publication work, notably Architecture Minnesota magazine. Full disclosure: The firm also has done collateral work for Delta Sky magazine, which is published by my employer, MSP Communications.)
“Dignity” might suggest stuffy distance to some. That’s not what Tilka Design’s work is about. Jane stresses how good design actually creates “connecting points” between a brand and whoever it’s seeking to reach, and wherever they can be reached.
That includes (as Jane notes) a quietly bold simplicity that cuts through the visual noise of the modern world. It also means collaboration with clients. (That almost self-effacing sense hasn’t kept Tilka Design from winning awards.) The office itself communicates an air of quiet thoughtfulness rather than hipster-geek exuberance. (Not that I’ve been to any of their office parties.)
The company has designed a number of recognizable logos—or, as Tilka designers would say, “visual systems”—for notable companies including Imation. (And dig the logo for up-and-coming Minneapolis-based film production company Werc Werk Works, which has a touch of ’50s beatnik.)
You can see this idea of intimate dignity in the brand development work Tilka Design did for chemical-dependency clinic and consultancy Hazelden. The old logo was perhaps too dignified—like lettering carved in an ancient Roman monument. In other words, a little forbidding. Not what an organization in Hazelden’s business should project. The new logo, introduced a couple of years ago, maintains a reassuring solidity combined with an open and transparent approachability through use of “lower-case” vowels.
The work doesn’t end with the logo. When Tilka Design takes on a project, it unites the visual definition, informed by the brand strategy, throughout all of a client’s marketing materials, from business cards to Web sites. (Those materials often have grown haphazardly over the years. Articulating the in-house use of a client’s visuals is typically part of Tilka Design’s mission.)
Nor does the work start with the design. Good design, Jane notes, requires good research. What are a client’s customers looking for? What are those customers’ psychological needs? In the case of Hazelden, Tilka Design discovered that Hazelden needed to be more direct about the importance of “lifelong recovery.” Research that delivers a definition of a brand strategy, Jane says, is essential before considering tactics about rebranding and design.
Hey, I dig hipster-geek exuberance. But old-school gravitas can certainly deliver an equally strong brand statement.
BTW’s on hiatus till the first week of January. Peace, love, and understanding to all.


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