DHR Snowflake Brief Background: DHR is an international Executive Search organisation and Business Consultancy with offices in the US and Europe. Every Year they send a corporate Christmas card to some of the largest companies and most influential people in the world. The card is currently sourced from a paid e-card website, reducing professionalism and personalisation. The standard of Corporate Christmas Cards is low. Nevertheless they are very important as a piece of promotion and can strengthen business relationships and identity. Concise Brief: Design DHR a Corporate Seasons Greeting card that can be used over a wide range of cultures. Brief: The Brief is to design an Ecard for the DHR Christmas mailer that is suitable for the DHR team exclusively. The card has to work for the US and Europe Employees primarily and must also be suitable for business culture in the Far East, Africa and Oceania.
Concept: E-card will go from DHR consultants to their clients, BD targets, candidates. Card will be available for all to use, globally, where the theme is appropriate. Standard wording will be ‘Season’s Greetings’ – keep it holiday neutral. Theme will be holiday neutral too – ‘winter’ theme. Aim will be professional and clean, using DHR colour. (blue) if possible, and incorporating the DHR logo within or under the image. Will be a flat image, no animation included. E-card will be produced in English language. I can create a version in other languages. E-card will be seen in the body of the email by preference, so easy to view by recipient. I am not planning to use any ‘paid for’ images. Deliverables: 1x English Seasons Greetings E-Card. Multiple Language Versions. Tone of voice: Corporate, Seasonal, Celebratory, Multicultural.
DHR Snowflake Development The development of the card was unusually slow for what appeared to be a simple brief. The cause was a lack of fast communication between various factions within DHR as well as starting off without a proper brief at my end. For Example the Head of Marketing would sign off on an idea, just to be followed up by a negative comment from an office in Europe and a change would have to be made on what was the final design. This slowed the process but was not a huge problem for me, once the final design was down any minor changes were simple to make. Something that developed nicely as a response to an uneasy client was a design that could be altered for a range of messages and usages. As the Snowflake developed the design gained the ability to use a variety of languages and even worked for DHR’s sister company, Jobplex at the end of the brief. This was down to a strong concept and its solid links to DHR as a brand through use of colour and shape. To the Right you can see the process of developing the snowflake from the globe section of the DHR Logo. I also took the base colours from the Logo and incorporated them into the design at different tones.
Fails I Made three versions of the DHR Greeting Card. These are two that were in development for a while before being ditched. The Tree on the left was a failure of the brief almost immediately due to its use of a Christmas tree and poor aesthetics. The design on this right got a bit further and I actually submitted it to the clients to gauge their response. They were positive about the card aesthetically but disagreed with the wording and the obscurity of the symbols. In reality the card misses the brief again, and also looks fairly roman, not too corporate America at all.
DHR Snowflake Development To the Right you can see the process of developing the snowflake from the globe section of the DHR Logo. I also took the base colours from the Logo and incorporated them into the design at different tones. This is explained more closely here, with a succession of versions. There was a point in development where the design began to look like a shower company logo, something which I backtracked on as this style began to develop. One of the main factors in deciding which colours to use involved looking at their current brand colours, found on letterheads, emails and website.
DHR Snowflake E-Cards The DHR Snowflake is my concept for the 2013 DHR Seasons Greetings card. I understand that the practice of sending greetings cards at this time of year serves a higher purpose than just well-wishing; it is an important marketing tool, an opportunity to improve relationships and spread a positive message about the company and its values amongst clients and the DHR team. With this in mind, my main focus is to deliver a professional and personalised message. The card achieves this aim by: 1. Incorporating a strong visual DHR identity. The colours of the snowflake are taken directly from the globe segment of the DHR International logo, whilst the typeface I have chosen, Museo Sans, is used extensively on the DHR website. The DHR logo is immediately identifiable as an integral part of the design. 2. Reflecting the DHR business and values. The concept of the snowflake is of many parts coming together to create a beautiful image, celebrating teamwork, diversity and a successful outcome. Like DHR, the various diverse parts interact and support each other, providing a strong yet dynamic structure; the overall shape references the global reach of DHR. 3. Avoiding visual clichĂŠs whilst remaining seasonal. The stylised snowflake evokes an icy winter theme, but also contains warmer colours like pine green. It creates the right emotion without relying on a kitsch Christmas scene. This also facilitates using the card for audiences with a range of cultures and beliefs. 4. Balancing simplicity and detail. The message is direct and straight to the point. The snowflake is recognisable but contains many patterns which offer a level of complexity and depth. In terms of design this allows the card to remain both interesting to look at and professional in manner.
DHR Snowflake As a new identity... In addition to the DHR Snowflake being used In a Christmas card I have also considered its use as a new identity for DHR itself. I believe that the current DHR logo is out of date and that this design would make a great replacement. Here I have included an example of how the next identity could be presented. The new identity not only works as a logo, but as a pattern and shape, it is truly versatile and can be applied to a wide range of objects. In the future it would be interesting to take this idea further and present it to DHR as a complete rebrand.