The Power of Branding
An Interactive Presentation at Orinda Intermediate School
I s there any place as chaotically creative as a middle school classroom?
Halfway between a think tank and a shark tank, middle schoolers are a unique breed. They have the excitability of children, the budding sarcasm of adolescence, and above all else, surprisingly fine-tuned b.s detectors. They have short attention spans and no patience for bad ideas. In other words, they’re perfect for the world of branding.
Last month, Emotive Brand’s senior designer Rob Saywitz and writer Chris Ames traveled to Orinda Intermediate School to give an interactive presentation on the power of branding. After a crash course in logo design, the students were asked to function as agencies and execute on a creative brief.
Building off of their curriculum of ancient studies and Greek mythology, Rob and Chris gave a brief primer on the evolution of logos. From cave paintings to heraldic coat of arms, the students were shown how today’s brands borrow and build upon the past.
Beyond creating a singular logo, students were asked to think deeply on how their designs would live across various environments and brand architectures.
And just in case you were wondering, the hidden arrow within FedEx’s logo is still a moment of pure delight for the uninitiated. In all six sessions, the room bubbled with excitement at this discovery. “That’s like magic,” one student exclaimed, “I can’t unsee it.”
In addition to creating something aesthetically pleasing, students were encouraged at every step to think about how they would bake history and meaning into their work. From Mitsubishi to Nike to Apple, the connective thread of the presentation was that nothing is on accident. There’s a narrative behind everything, and you’re only as good as your story.
After the presentation, the students had to function as a small creative agency. As a team, they would have to pick a project, decide upon a direction, and showcase their designs across two sheets of schematics. Their options were as follows:
Option one: Amazon Rebrand
“ On November 27th — otherwise known as Cyber Monday — we beat our own sales record. Customers ordered nearly 140 million items from small businesses alone. In light of our massive success, we’re looking to invest in a new branding project. As you know, we started out as an online retailer for books, but have since expanded into just about every field imaginable: cloud computing, streaming services, film production, drone delivery, and yes, still books. We feel we have outgrown our brand, and are seeking a new logo. We want a design that conveys the diversity of services we provide. Whatever you create, it should build upon the idea of our current logo: we have everything from a to z.”
Option two: Educational Startup
“ Hey there. We’re a startup from Silicon Valley that just secured our first round of funding, and we’re ready to launch our brand. We’ve designed an app that streamlines the interaction between students and their classes. In one easy app, you can communicate with teachers, turn in homework, check your grades, schedule when you’re going to be out of class, and have your parents electronically sign permission slips. Anything that’s annoying or complicated about school — we’ve solved it. The only problem is we need a name and logo. That’s where you come in. Whatever you should create, it should convey the idea of simplicity. Above all else, we make things easy.”
And just like that, the classroom transformed into a whirlwind of sticky note brainstorms, heated debate, and begrudging compromise. In other words, a fully functioning creative studio. Students were figuring out firsthand that it’s not enough to come up with an idea — you have to be ready to fight tooth and nail if you want to see that idea survive.
With only about 30 minutes to execute on their deliverables, the teams that performed the best were the ones that utilized the power of delegation. Who’s the artist at the table? Great, you’ll work on the schematics. Who’s clever? Alright, you’ll work on our tagline. Some enterprising teams even took it upon themselves to create little jingles for their brand.
♪♩EZskool makes school so cool! ♪♩
♪♩You want it, we have it! ♪♩
♪♩Locker Buddy: the combination to success! ♪♩
“How do you get everyone to agree on the same thing?” one student asked, surrounded by a small sea of crumpled up papers.
“How do you design something that means everything? asked another, drawing a series of infinity signs.
“If we say, ‘A-B-C, easy as 1–2–3,’ are we going to get sued?” asked a team working on the tagline of their Accurate Based Curriculum app.
And perhaps the most universal question of all, “Can the client, like, give us a little more time?”
Over the course of the day, Rob and Chris met with the entire 7th grade—about 300 students. And on some level, they experienced the same creative tension, quick thinking, and innovation they see back in the office.
“We were blown away by the level of engagement,” says Rob. “They had a real interest in where brands come from and how it’s relevant to what they care about, whether it’s clothes, sports, or online apps. More than just sitting through a lecture, they were excited to get involved and tackle the creative assignment.”
With 120 pages of designs, we unfortunately don’t have enough room to show everyone’s work — but the breadth of creative problem-solving on display was truly impressive.
If all goes to plan, Rob and Chris will be returning to Orinda Intermediate School to expand upon the exercise and have the students present their designs in a pseudo pitch meeting. As anyone in the industry knows, design is only half the battle—convincing the client is where the real work begins.
Emotive Brand is a brand strategy and design agency in San Francisco.
