Rebranding Issues

[bhambruiser]

As I have undertaken the task of re-branding the face of my design services, several things have come into focus for me. I have my wife as a pretty good sounding board. She is design savvy as well, being an interior designer. She has a pretty good eye for design and is good with colors and all of that fun stuff. So she has basically been the only one to critique my latest effort at re-branding (including a new layout for my website). As my web concept has evolved, she has been giving me a critique about something that I don't believe is necessarily a "design faux pax". She, however, disagrees and says that it is not very consistent.

The new name in question is a name of unquestionable goofiness. It is intentional and I believe it fits with my personality well- so in short- it works. It is different and unique and will stand out in a world of "Xtreme Designs" and "==your name here== Studios". It will certainly be memorable and unfortunately I can't reveal it just yet since it is a work in progress.

As it is, I am learning more and more that simplicity in design is really a good way to go. So I want the layout of my professional site to be simplistic, fun and sophisticated all at once. Herein lies the clash of design minds. My wife seems to think that with a company name like the one I have chosen- a sophisticated "professional" design will not work. She contends that a silly name should mean a silly, fun and quirky site. Now don't get me wrong, the idea I have in mind is somewhere in between professional and fun, but at its core it leans towards professional.

Here is my theory on the issue. Colors go a long way in making someone viewing a design or a website feel a certain way and get a certain idea about that particular site. You can keep a fun feel in the design by using fun colors. The design itself can be straight laced and professional as they come, but the colors are what really give the site/design a mood.

Adding a few little fun details (images, icons, etc) can make the same professional design bridge the gap between professional and fun.

So what are your thoughts? Professional and Fun - can they co-exist?

[fiasco!]

they most certainly can, especially when it comes to design firms...shoot, i have a rocketship that looks like a penis for my logo.

if that's not fun, i don't know what is.

[Mac the Knife]

My wife seems to think that with a company name like the one I have chosen- a sophisticated "professional" design will not work. She contends that a silly name should mean a silly, fun and quirky site.

To an extent, she's right - but only to an extent.

A site generally should reflect not only the company's services and talents, but also its culture. With an off-beat name, the culture is assumed to be off-beat as well, and its site should reflect that in some fashion. Can professional and fun co-exist? Sure. It's a hard balance to strike, but I've seen it done, and there's no reason to think you can't do it as well.

The key with any web site design is simplicity of navigation - can your potential customers get the information they're looking for quickly, without going through a labrynth (sp?) to do so?

[logodawg]

"Fun and professional" can co-exist, just ask Pixar, those guys are friggin' crazy.