Banking in style.

Banking in style. Today's financial marketplace is very competitive. Banks inCanada GovernmentBank of Canada (Central Bank) Business Development Bank of Canada "Big six" banksRoyal Bank of Canada Bank of Nova Scotia Toronto-Dominion Bank Bank of Montreal Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and the United States United States,officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. entice consumers by offering incentives anda variety of services to potential customers. Accordingly, many banksinvest substantial sums of money to keep its logo current with populardesign trends and colors. Graphic designers commissioned to do this kind of work are facedwith an interesting dilemma. Banks in Canada have had a fairlytraditional image profile. In many cases, the conservative element wasfavored as bank officials felt that classic symbols gave the consumer afeeling of confidence. The corporate logo must somehow connect to abank's existing history, but it also must be flexible enough for avariety of print applications in black and white and in color. It mustbe functional in a variety of sizes and also be suitable for use inelectronic media such as automated tellers and Web sites. NEW SYMBOLS DESIGNED BY STUDENTS Most of my senior informationdesign class now use automated tellers and are familiar withCanada's mainstream financial institutions from advertisingcampaigns as well as their sponsorship of sporting and community events. Students were asked to visit their neighborhood bank and examinehow the corporate image is applied to a variety of services. The classwas then assigned the task of developing a new symbol for an existingfinancial instituti on and supplying visual solutions for a number ofapplications. The class had the option of using traditional media of electronicmedia to create their designs. In each case, all artwork had to beconverted to digital form (tiff or eps) at the proper resolution forfinal assembly in QuarkXPress[TM] desktop-publishing software. All students were required to supply a black-and-white and colorversion of their logo as well as a letterhead, #10 envelope, businesscard and a check, deposit or withdrawal slip. Templates of existingchecks and deposit slips were created in QuarkXPress and left on theschool bulletin board for downloading, along with the dimensions ofletterhead, envelopes and business cards. AMBITIOUS, OUTSTANDING SOLUTIONS Several students contributedoutstanding solutions to this difficult problem. Warren Wheeler'sBank of Nova Scotia incorporates a stylized version of theprovince's provincial flower along with an ambitious color schemethat retains traditional elements b ut brings the tired existing logointo the 21st century. Corinne MacIntosh elected to redesign one of several internationalbanks with offices in Canada. Her solution for the Bank of Hong Kong Hong Kong(hŏng kŏng), Mandarin Xianggang, special administrative region of China, formerly a British crown colony (2005 est. pop. 6,899,000), land area 422 sq mi (1,092 sq km), adjacent to Guangdong prov. wasthe result of traditional pen-and-ink calligraphy calligraphy(kəlĭg`rəfē)[Gr.,=beautiful writing], skilled penmanship practiced as a fine art. See also inscription; paleography.European CalligraphyIn Europe two sorts of handwriting came into being very early. that was scanned andcondensed in Photoshop. Michael Short's work combines the shape of Canada'sfamous maple leaf maple leafof Canada. [Flower Symbolism: Jobes, 283]See : Flower Or Plant, National with a ripple filter in Photoshop to produce a logothat is active and dynamic. DON'T FORGET THE ATM T hose that completed their work earlywere encouraged to build a mock-up of a wall-mounted automated tellercustomized with the logo they were developing. One interestingconsequence was several humorous LCD options added to the messages oneusually sees on the ATM splash screen An introductory screen displayed by an application after it is loaded and just before it starts. It generally shows the software company's name, logo, copyright and other related information. Either it goes away by itself, or it requires the user to press escape or click the close button. . Duncan Prestage of On-Line Embossing Services in Toronto donatedbankcards with a series of numbers and the words "ConfederationHigh School" raised on white plastic. These were colored andgraphics applied to make a very convincing ATM bank card. Our ATM models were built using a simple wood frame covered withbristol board Bristol boardn.A smooth, heavy pasteboard of fine quality.[After Bristol, England.] fixed into po sition with an electric glue gun. They weremodeled after an existing automated teller at the Centrepointe branch ofthe Royal Bank in Nepean, Ontario, with the permission of theBank's manager. I have found that sign vinyl often works better than paint whenmaking models. Off-cuts of vinyl adhesive material in a wide variety ofcolors and foils are usually available from sign makers and art supplystores. Adhering the vinyl can be tricky but if one exercises cautionand plans properly, this material makes rendering large areas of colorpossible with a minimum of trouble and expense. All projects were presented at the school's annual art show.The ATM mock-ups were a big hit with all students and staff. At the time he wrote this article, Irv Osterer was Head of the ArtDepartment at Confederation High School in Nepean, Ontario, Canada.Currently, he is Department Head of Fine Arts/Languages at Merivale HighSchool Merivale High School (MHS) is a secondary school owned by Steve Szakow ski, located at the intersection of Merivale Road and Viewmount Drive in Nepean, Ontario, Canada. The school is known for its gifted student program, but also runs French Immersion programs and extensive visual , also in Nepean.