Saving the Oval

saving the ovalhow social media has gotten us half way there10 lessons in marketing a causejeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

some stats• opened early December • over 8,500 have signed• can handle over 500 people petition at once • more than $3,000 raised• centrally located privately• free to the public, including • more than 15,000 visitors to rental gear savetheoval.ca in <3 weeks jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

*about the typography It has been brought to my attention that some people were upset that my talk wasn’t going to be about type. I shall endeavour to also provide notes about the typography in these slides. I have no idea if this will work or simply be confusing as hell. I apologize in advance if it’s the latter. This typeface is FF Meta, I once heard Erik speak at designed by Erik Spiekermann Carnegie-Mellon University. He for the West German Postal compared Helvetica to Univers Office. It became the Helvetica by saying “It’s like comparing of the 90s. shit to crap.” I tend to agree. jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 1: see the signsTens of thousands of people used the oval over theholiday season. Three supportive Facebook pagesshowed up at once. Recognize an opportunity tocontribute and act on it.Adrian Frutiger designed his It’s a friendly sans serif, andnamesake typeface in 1968 as a exceptionally capable as asignage face for Charles de Gaulle signage face. Legible from aairport in France. great distance, with lots of space in the counters and many weights. Some find it a bit bland though. Such are the woes of a humanist sans.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 2: own your mediaYou need a real homebase for your issue. Register adomain. Use social media platforms for outreach. Freetools abound. Use them, but be cautious.Gill Sans is a popular typeface Given that Eric Gill sexuallychoice for some reason. It has molested his own childrensome interesting features, but I though, I have a hard time using itthink it’s particularly ugly. for anything. Be my guest though.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 3: move fastThe advantage of having such great tools widelyavailable is that you can have a platform up and runningin minutes. Get it live and iterate.Futura is an incredibly popular Design students love to usesans serif typeface. It’s very Futura because it’s so modern.geometric in appearance, but is Except that it was designed inactually carefully modulated to 1924. Grab a clue, designmake it look that way. students.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 4: share share shareIt doesn’t need to look messy like TechCrunch, butprovide sharing tools that people will actually use.Know your networks.Ah, Arial. The bastard child of Here’s a cool party trick: thea Microsoft that didn’t want to easiest way to tell thepay license fees for Helvetica. difference between Helvetica and Arial is the upper case R. Helvetica has a little hook on the leg of its R. See?jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 5: get politicalFind out what politicians have to say on the matter.Get one of them on your side. You’ll have an insidetrack and it will be easier to access those in powerwith their help.Gotham was designed by the It’s been used frequently buttalented duo of Jonathan most notably by Obama as aHoefler and Tobias Frere- large part of his brandingJones. and social media campaign. Some would say the poor typeface has jumped the shark.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 6: fightBe prepared for some vocal opposition. Be smart when yourespond, no matter how wrong or ill-conceived the otherparty is. Opposition means you’re doing it right.Designed by Chris Costello in Papyrus is nearly as hated as1982 for Letraset. Even the Comic Sans and that’s sayingdesigner thinks the face is something. If you want youroverused and incorrectly documents to look ‘old’ therechosen by people who don’t are far better ways.know better.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 7: money changes thingsWhen money starts to get involved, you need to getlegitimate, and quickly. There will be vocal opponents to thisand you’ll be called a scammer. Nothing talks like cold hardcash though.Optima was designed by The trouble with Optima isHermann Zapf. Yeah, the that it’s bloody wishy washy.Dingbats dude. It’s both sans serif and serif, and it’s not particularly good at either. Shouldn’t your message take a stand on something?jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 8: be preparedWith a campaign like this, you’re always working. Beprepared at all times with up to date stats, know youropponents and have counter arguments ready. Don’t comeout swinging but stick to your core message.Otl Aicher designed the Rotis Having a broad family to workfamily with four variants: sans, with allows for lots of differentserif and semi versions of each. intonations in your work. FontThe type family also has design is incredibly difficult andnumerous weights and italics. it’s worthwhile to pay for typefaces you use, especially for commercial purposes.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 9: go old schoolYou need the help of traditional media.Without it, you’re only talking to thefishbowl. Be remarkable enough that TV,radio and newspapers notice, then makeyourself available.Carol Twombley designed While it’s gorgeouslyTrajan to look like the designed, it’s overused,characters on the Roman especially on movie postersTrajan column, constructed and wine labels. There arein AD 113. better, more interesting choices like Warren Chappell’s Trajanus, which also has a complete set of lower case characters.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

lesson 10: ask for helpYou can’t do everything alone, so know when to ask forand accept help. So, I’m asking for your help. Blogabout this. Set your FB and Twitter statuses to askothers to sign the petition. Write your councillor. Joinus Tuesday on the Oval.Typefaces like Verdana and Leave them there, it’s whereGeorgia were designed they are best. Using web andexplicitly for on-screen screen fonts in print is alegibility. surefire way to make your printed documents look amateur.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

discuss.There’s lots of things we could talk about now. Over to you.Are you for or against the Oval? What’s your favourite ampersand?How else could Social Media beused to promote this cause? Only one space after a period. This isn’t actually open for discussion. I don’t care how your typing teacher taught it.jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011

thanks.http://savetheoval.ca@brightwhitejeff@kulapartners.com902.478.4989jeff white | kula partners | #podcamphfx 2011 Background by Flickr user Peter Kaminski

Saving the Oval

by Jeff White

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Saving the Oval

by Jeff White

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