Exterior Sign Design, The Four Seasons Residences in Los Angeles and the importance of nurturing your brand

This blog is about exterior signs (even temporary ones) and how they can affect the perceived value of your company.
The other day I happened to be driving by the construction site of the Four Seasons Private Residences here in Los Angeles. Due to open sometime this year, these are luxurious condos reflective of the FOUR SEASONS brand. As I slowed down to check it out, my eyes were drawn to the exterior temporary signs posted on the construction fence. One of them, bore the logo of the owner, GENTON PROPERTY GROUP, a client of mine, whose logo I designed a long time ago. The good thing, the logo looked intact, the colors looked slightly off,  but overall it was used "responsibly." The rest of the sign itself was, how do I say..unbecoming of a luxury property developer. More on that later...

A rendering of the entrance to the new Four Seasons Residences in Los Angeles

The logo of a brand and how it is nurtured (or not) over the years,  can determine the perceived value of your company to consumers. As brand designers, when we design a logo or brand identity system, we pass on the final artwork to the client and we provide a brand guideline book that outlines (in concise detail) the colors, the secondary fonts, and acceptable usage of the new system and how it should be used. We trust that when we give this information to the client, that they follow through with our suggestions.  Some clients do and unfortunately, some clients don't. Imagine if some sign guy was hired to create a Coca Cola sign and decided to replace the red with blue or replace the font with what was available on his computer ... you get the idea.

Nurturing a brand by being consistent is what adds value and cache to your company. The Four Seasons brand conveys luxury because of their exceptional properties and amenities, but also their consistent messaging and beautiful visual communication. 

Consistency. Consistency. Consistency. 

A properly designed exterior sign inline with the Four Seasons brand

Above you see how a sign should look like to keep in line with the Four Seasons Brand.
Back to the local luxury developer sign. (See Exhibit A, below) It seems in this case, the client simply submitted the logo we gave them to the local sign guy, gave them the copy and dimensions and told them to come to install ASAP.  Unless you give these instructions to a qualified designer or branding agency, the results can be quite unpredictable, and much like a botched plastic surgery, not very appealing, In this case, the obvious usage of discordant fonts can create a mismatch that ultimately dilutes your brand.

Exhibit A - Outsourcing graphic design to signmakers not familiar with your brand and what it stands for, can lead to unsightly and arguably botched results. Not to mention the improper hierarchy of information that leads to legibility issues.

The client left their company's image in the hands of a person that could have designed the above sign using run of the mill word processing software. When I saw this, I was quite surprised and disappointed. The client had invested time and money to develop a unique brand identity for their firm, and then to go and do this...Oh well, I have seen worse.

To the average person, this sign may seem perfectly acceptable, but as a branding professional and consultant specializing in luxury brands, I would completely disagree. 

And because I like to put my money where my mouth is, I redesigned the sign, with the exact information and superimposed it on the original photo above. 

How the sign could have been - how even a small seemingly unimportant temporary construction sign could help convey a luxury developer whose emphasis is on modern/luxurious and environmentally conscious buildings.

My take on the identical Construction Notice above. More in line with the branding aesthetic of the company including a hierarchy of information that is legible and easy to understand. 

GPG, you are welcome.