Corporate Design Standards

A sandal is just a sandal. A strap, a buckle, a sole. Not the kind of thing you expect copyright to cover. But it can, if the design shows clear creative choices, not just function. Here is a case. In 2021, GANNI launched the Buckle Ballerina, designed by Emmelie Karlström. The concept took about two weeks from first sketch to final form, followed by over 100 refinements. It gained popularity quickly and built a clear market presence. In 2023, Steve Madden released a similar shoe. GANNI sued, claiming the design had been copied. Steve Madden argued that the design used common features and that branding made confusion unlikely. In 2024, the Danish Maritime and Commercial Court held that Karlström's design met the threshold of originality, qualified as a work of applied art, and that copying had occurred. The court prohibited Steve Madden from selling or distributing the shoe in Denmark. In 2025, the High Court of Eastern Denmark upheld the decision. Designers and brands, when entering new markets, make sure you are aware of the local copyright and design laws. Understand what counts as original and how infringement is handled. Keep a clear record of your design process, including dated sketches and versions, to show your authorship and how your design developed. Finally, check your designs before launch and address risks early. It’s much better than dealing with disputes later.

🪴 Golden Rules of Web Typography. Useful techniques to improve legibility — from font size, line spacing and line length to small-caps and ligatures, both on mobile and on desktop ↓ 🚫 Avoid centered text — at least for more than 3 lines of text. ✅ Desktop font size for large headings: 40px/2.5em — 64px/4em (max). ✅ Mobile font size for large headings: 32px/2em or smaller. ✅ Desktop font size for body: 16px/1em — 24px/1.5em (max). ✅ Mobile font-size for body: min 14px, at times 10% smaller than desktop. ✅ Desktop: 50–75 chars per line (25–37.5rem), line height 1.5–1.6. ✅ Mobile: 40–50 chars per line (20–25rem), line height 1.3–1.45. ✅ If you have to use one line-height value for desktop/mobile, use 1.5. ✅ Larger headings work better with smaller line height — e.g. 1.1. ✅ Ideally, make the line height fluid and locked to the column width. ✅ Always reduce font weight for text on dark backgrounds. ✅ When using uppercase, always add letter-spacing up to 5%. ✅ If possible, use lowercase/old-style figures for numbers. ✅ Apply small-caps to acronyms and abbreviations. ✅ Use tabular, not proportional, figures for numbers in data tables. In typography, font size, line height and line length are always tightly connected. Once you adjust one, you will probably have to adjust the others as well. Change typefaces, the type scale and the background of where the type will be set, and chances are high that the rest will need to be adjusted as well. Probably the most common issue that makes text difficult to read is text lines that span over 100 characters and have a small line height. Limit length to 75 characters, and increase line height to 1.45, and legibility goes up dramatically. Getting typography right isn’t easy. But the fine details listed above can go a long way to dramatically improve legibility — potentially with just 5 mins of work. ✤ Useful resources: What’s The Right Font Size For the Web?, by Oliver Schöndorfer https://lnkd.in/e6GqEbPn Ideal Line Height and Line Length, by Oliver Schöndorfer https://lnkd.in/e8pgqZaQ Practical Techniques For Remarkably Better Typography, by Matej Latin ↳ https://lnkd.in/eVTbMKwV ↳ https://lnkd.in/et8SW5qm Effective Ways To Combine Typefaces (+ Cheatsheets) https://lnkd.in/egHq5ZyA Golden Rules of Typography on The Web, by Richard Rutter https://noti.st/rar/BgtJDk --- ✤ Useful tools: ⦿ Good Line-Height Calculator: https://lnkd.in/dW3KJ-f7 ⦿ Proportional scales: https://proportio.app ⦿ Fluid Type Editor: https://lnkd.in/epGn3FuA ⦿ Utopia: https://lnkd.in/eqHmy8zC ⦿ Typographic Scales (Figma, Adobe XD): https://typescale.io/ ⦿ Typography Variables Starter Kit (Figma): https://lnkd.in/degSAKBU #ux #design

Your packaging design affects formula stability and texture. In beauty, specially at skincare the container directly affects formula stability. Exposure to oxygen, light, moisture, and repeated contamination can degrade active ingredients, alter texture, reduce efficacy, and shorten shelf life. That’s why airless pumps, opaque packaging, UV-protective materials, and vacuum systems are becoming strategic differentiators, not aesthetic upgrades. >>Your consumers notice it! In Europe, 66% of consumers say packaging influences their perception of a product, and 85% consider climate impact during purchasing decisions. >>QUALITY perception. Consumers often interpret packaging quality as product quality. Research from marketing and consumer psychology studies shows that texture, finish, weight, color, and material cues shape perceived effectiveness, naturalness, safety, and premium value before the product is even used. Matte packaging, for example, has been scientifically linked to higher perceptions of “natural” products. +72% consumers say packaging design influences purchasing decisions. +67% say packaging materials matter when deciding what to buy. +81% shoppers have tried a new product simply because the packaging caught their attention. That means packaging changes EXPECTATION → and expectation changes experience. In skincare specifically, packaging directly impacts formula integrit. This is why premium beauty brands increasingly invest in packaging engineering, not just branding. +Vitamin C oxidizes faster in transparent or oxygen-exposed containers. +Retinoids degrade with light exposure. +Open jars increase contamination and instability risks. +Pumps and airless systems help preserve active ingredient potency over time. >>SUSTAINABILITY effect. Even refillable systems, while sustainability-forward, introduce technical challenges around hygiene, oxidation, moisture exposure, and formula consistency. Some refill systems cost up to 15% more to manufacture because maintaining stability and premium user experience is technically demanding. +79% consumers say environmental claims influence purchasing decisions, while unclear sustainability messaging actively reduces trust. >>The PSYCHOLOGY of it. Consumers make snap judgments in seconds. Packaging becomes the first signal of trust, quality, and desirability before ingredients are even read. Reddit discussions from packaging professionals and beauty consumers repeatedly show the same pattern: people describe identical products as “more premium,” “more effective,” or “higher quality” after only packaging upgrades. The FUTURE of packaging? It’s about preserving formulas, shaping perception, increasing repeat purchase behavior, improving unboxing experiences, supporting sustainability goals, and creating emotional attachment, simultaneously. #beautyindustry #beautyprofessionals #beautybusiness #beautypackaging #beautyformulation

Design With Lineage. Most packaging lives fast and dies young. Opened, emptied, flattened, forgotten. A few pieces slip through that cycle because they're either too useful or too well considered to throw away. Hoja Sagrada begins with that afterlife in mind, not the unboxing but what happens once the product is gone. The project draws from Guaraní traditions where objects are made to last, travel and carry meaning over time. Patterns, colours and textures act as memory, shaped by landscape and daily ritual. Every reference comes straight from place. Reds and ochres from earth pigments and seeds. Deep browns and blacks from charred wood and plant dyes. Greens and yellows from leaves and roots. The palette reads like forest, fields and river translated into colour, forming a visual culture that grows, gets harvested, woven and worn. That logic extends into the product itself. Created for Paraguayan yerba mate, a traditional South American infusion shared socially from a single vessel, Hoja Sagrada builds from Guaraní mythology and the ritual around drinking it, then lets that structure define the object. The pack echoes the calabash gourd used to serve mate, keeping opening tied to drinking so the packaging folds into the ritual instead of interrupting it. What emerges is packaging designed to be handled, kept and reused. Once empty, it stays useful and continues life as a kitchen container. Reuse is embedded in the object rather than added later as a sustainability gesture. Longevity is reinforced visually. Facial expressions shift across SKUs to signal energy levels, while secondary markings reference indigenous tattoo patterns to communicate intensity and volume. The pack carries enough character to justify staying in circulation instead of heading straight to waste. Clarity comes from the order of thinking. Myth and ritual lead, structure follows, graphics arrive once the object has purpose. Sustainability appears as the outcome of those decisions, grounded in use, meaning and durability. The Guaraní made things to travel and to last. A basket wasn't just functional, it carried a piece of someone's life. Continuity mattered more than disposal. Modern sustainability counts grams of plastic and CO₂. Their measure was simpler. Does this object deserve to exist. Every item linked people to time instead of passing briefly through their hands. Today we design for recyclability and market it like redemption. If a product needs a recycling symbol to justify itself, maybe it shouldn't have been made in the first place. The lesson is simple. Make fewer things and make better things. Design something people want to keep and reuse takes care of itself. 📷@Vasily Aleev

Lighting standards exist for meeting rooms. Wonder why video can still look terrible? ANSI/IES/AVIXA RP-38-17 is the joint standard between the Illuminating Engineering Society and AVIXA specifically for videoconferencing lighting. It provides measurable lighting performance criteria to optimize lighting for cameras, improving images transmitted to remote sites. The standard requires around 500 lux on participants' faces for optimal video quality. Many meeting rooms only actually deliver 150-300 lux. The gap is massive. And it shows. When you're designing hybrid meeting spaces, poor lighting degrades even the most expensive camera systems. Your expensive PTZ camera can't compensate for fundamentally inadequate illumination. The standard wasn't written for videoconferencing rooms in isolation. Meeting rooms have become videoconferencing rooms by default. Most meetings now have remote participants. Every room needs to perform on camera. Yet we're still designing meeting room lighting as if it's 2019. The ANSI/IES/AVIXA standard covers spaces with 3-25 participants, but its principles apply to any space where people appear on camera. Which is most meeting rooms now. CIBSE guidelines also recommend 500 lux for meeting rooms with video conferencing considerations. The standard exists. The guidance is clear. The question is: why aren't we measuring and implementing it? Usable meters cost from under £50. The difference between 200 lux and 500 lux can be the difference between participants looking washed out or professional on camera. Your hybrid meeting experience depends on lighting design as much as your AV kit. Lighting falls within Environment in GJC’s EASE framework for meeting space design. EASE = Environment, Audio, Screens, Equity, our methodology that makes hybrid workspace design systematic instead of accidental. Please see link in Comments section below. What's your experience? Are you measuring lux levels in your meeting rooms, or just hoping the lighting works?   #microsoftteamsrooms #avtweeps #EASEmethodology #hybridmeetings #avusergroup #ltsmg #schoms  #avixa

Are you creating amazing 3D models using AI tools like Gemini AI and excited to share them with the world? Hold on for a second! Before you hit that upload button, here are some important Intellectual Property considerations you must keep in mind. 🔸 Who Owns the Rights? When you use AI tools to generate images or 3D models, check the terms of service of the platform. Some tools claim ownership of the generated content, while others may allow you full rights. Always clarify who holds the copyright or license. 🔸 Originality Matters Even if the images look unique, if they are derived from existing copyrighted works, uploading them publicly can lead to infringement claims. Be cautious if you modify existing works. 🔸 Trademark Issues Avoid using recognizable logos, brand designs, or famous character likenesses in your 3D models without proper permission. This can attract trademark infringement problems. 🔸 Right of Publicity If your model resembles a real person, their consent may be required before commercial use. As a Media & IPR lawyer, I always recommend being informed to protect your creativity and avoid legal troubles. Stay creative, but stay safe! #IntellectualProperty #IPR #GeminiAI #3DModels #AIContent #DigitalCreatives #LawTips #MediaLaw #Copyright #Trademark #CreatorsRights

Trademark isn’t just for logos — it can protect your frosting too! Nothing Bundt Cakes recently sued a Texas bakery for allegedly copying its signature frosting pattern. While it may sound unusual, this case highlights an important principle: intellectual property isn’t limited to brand names or logos — it can extend to distinctive product designs that consumers immediately recognize. The iconic frosting pattern — long tubular strips radiating from the center of the cake — serves as a source identifier. In other words, when customers see that specific design, they immediately associate it with a particular brand. That’s the core function of trademark law: protecting features that distinguish one business from another in the marketplace. This type of protection is often referred to as “trade dress,” which can cover the look and feel of a product — including packaging, shape, color schemes, and even decorative elements — so long as the design is distinctive and non-functional. The takeaway? If your brand has a unique visual element that customers instantly recognize, it may be more than just aesthetic — it could be legally protectable.

Typography is not an aesthetic choice. It is an accessibility filter. We obsess over inclusive language, yet we ignore inclusive design. We demand people bring their whole selves to work, then hand them documents their brains cannot process. If your strategy document is written in 10 point Times New Roman, fully justified, on a stark white background. You have statistically locked out a massive portion of your workforce before they read the first word. You are not sharing information. You are creating cognitive friction. Corporate documents often act as a dense, impenetrable canopy. Good typography is the trellis that actually supports the reader. Here are 9 ways to build an inclusive visual trellis for your team. 1/ The Serif Ban → The Rule: Default to sans serif fonts like Arial or Lexend. → The Impact: Removes decorative visual noise that exhausts dyslexic readers. 2/ Strict Left Alignment → Rule: Never use justified text. Always align flush left. → Impact: Creates a consistent visual anchor and prevents distracting rivers of white space. 3/ The Contrast Shift → Rule: Use dark grey text on an off white background instead of pure black on pure white. → Impact: Prevents the strobe effect and reduces sensory fatigue. 4/ The 1.5 Spacing → Rule: Set line spacing to 1.5. → Impact: Breaks up the dense wall of text to prevent accidental line skipping. 5/ The Emphasis Strategy → Rule: Use bold weight for emphasis. Avoid italics and underlines. → Impact: Italics deform letter shapes and underlines cut through descending letters, causing cognitive strain. 6/ The Format Reset → Rule: Always paste as plain text to prevent mixed font styles. → Impact: Stops the ransom note effect that distracts the nervous system. 7/ The Agency Protocol → Rule: Share editable documents instead of locked PDFs whenever possible. → Impact: Allows the user to change the font, size, and background to fit their own visual ecosystem. 8/ CamelCase Hashtags → Rule: Capitalize the first letter of each word in a hashtag. → Impact: Ensures screen reading software can actually pronounce the words correctly (#InclusiveDesign). 9/ Descriptive Hyperlinks → Rule: Write descriptive links instead of just saying click here. → Impact: Provides navigational safety and context before the user leaves the current environment. Typography is policy. If your team has to spend energy decoding your message, they have no energy left to understand it. There are so many more nuances we could add here. What is one typography barrier you wish would permanently disappear from corporate communications?

Your packaging is not your creative expression. It’s how you get chosen. Most early brands design for how they want to be perceived. Not how people actually shop. That’s a mistake. Every packaging decision is a trade-off. You choose what to emphasize... and what to sacrifice. I spoke with Stephanie Doyle, Director of Design & Implementation at HBX Branding, about the 5 packaging patterns showing up across CPG: 🏷️ Brand-led or product-led: Are they buying you, or what you make? 🟦 Color blocking or rainbow wall: Do you want to own the shelf or help shoppers navigate? 📸 Photography or illustration: Do you want to clarify the product or add character? ⚡ Disruptive or functional: Do you want to drive attention or improve usability? 🌿 Sustainable or embellishments: Do you signal values or premium? You don’t get to do both. Trying to blend them is how packaging becomes diluted. And diluted packaging doesn’t move. Which pattern best fits your brand?

OSHA STANDARDS FOR ILLUMINATION & VENTILATION: Ensuring Safety & Productivity Proper lighting and ventilation in workplaces are not just compliance requirements, they are critical for safety, efficiency, and employee well-being. OSHA has set minimum standards to ensure that work environments remain safe and conducive to productivity. 🔹 Illumination: Adequate lighting reduces accidents, enhances visibility, and improves work accuracy. According to OSHA 1926.56, minimum illumination levels range from 54 Lux (5 foot-candles) in construction areas to 538 Lux (50 foot-candles) in high-detail shops. 🔹 Ventilation: Poor air quality can lead to fatigue, respiratory issues, and increased health risks. OSHA 1910.94 & 1926.57 outline proper ventilation measures, ensuring workplaces are free from hazardous fumes, dust, and airborne contaminants. 💡 Why It Matters: ✔ Reduces workplace accidents and errors ✔ Improves employee health and comfort ✔ Enhances overall productivity and efficiency Employers must conduct regular assessments to ensure compliance and maintain a safe, well-lit, and properly ventilated environment. Investing in these measures is an investment in safety and success. #WorkplaceSafety #OSHACompliance #IlluminationStandards #Ventilation #EmployeeWellbeing #HSE #ConstructionSafety