In the considerable number of years I’ve been producing brand identities, one aspect of the process has been fairly consistent. Time. It takes time to fully comprehend a brand in order to communicate its visual direction. It takes time to explore creative possibilities on the journey to find the solution. It takes time to present, discuss and finalize a design. It takes time to get it right.

But working with Mark Ellwood from getmoredone.com once again I realized that time would be precious and limited. Productivity is his passion and procrastination is prohibited. In fact, procrastination is the target of Mark’s latest productivity endeavour; Buddy Hive.

Buddy Hive might best be described as an online Alcoholics Anonymous for procrastinators. It’s aimed at people who need a little motivation to knock something off their to do list. Members of the site post tasks they want to complete and get paired with another member who is also seeking help. Each encourages the other to achieve their goal.

Mark’s goal for me was to create branding for the new company. After reading the design brief, I started immediately.

When you work with Daryl – as I have for many years – you will appreciate his approach to design as a process. He begins with a thorough discussion of needs, and is careful to consider the target market, what his client is trying to achieve and the different strategies to get there.

Mark Ellwood
President, Pace Productivity

You can’t rush the research and exploration process. As with any branding assignment I sketched numerous thumbnails, evaluated, improved and advanced the designs with greatest potential to finished comprehensives. Fast forward to the presentation.

I was extremely pleased with the work I showed. Each concept had strong rationalization and could have succeeded in being the final selection. In situations like this I look forward to the discussion with my clients to determine which solution is strategically the best.

Mark was very focused during the presentation. Favoured design concepts were short listed quickly. More discussion and then a decision. A minor tweak to one of the designs and the process was complete. I can’t remember ever concluding the identity design process so quickly. No procrastination here.

What differentiated the chosen design from several of the others was that it uses two heads in profile as the basis for the design. They face each other and appear engaged and encouraging, reflecting the core service of the website. The colours are busy bee black and yellow. The addition of an umbrella shape over the heads creates the overall shape of a hive. The heads have also been used separately as graphic elements on the website.

Got a nagging task on your to do list? Check out Buddy Hive. Buddy up and get stuff done!

Related post: Get more done with a social website.