Maybe I should represent this post with a printing press.
Recently, I’ve been struggling to get my head around how we, graphically, represent our work. I work at an accounting firm, and was asked to assist with the design of our new trade show banners. There are a lot of schools of thought as to what should go into a trade show display, but they all seem to agree that, within a second of looking at your booth, someone should be able to understand what you do.
I wanted to find an image that was shorthand for accountant – the way a wrench means a mechanic and a stethoscope means a doctor. So, I thought about everything that we do and tried to match each task up with an image. Turns out, they’re all the same image: someone hunched over a computer. For anyone who works in my company, from a tax preparer to someone in HR, a pictographic representation of their work would be the same – for me, in the marketing department, too. I didn’t want to put a picture of someone staring at a computer screen on our banners (didn’t seem too inviting), so I copped out and put “CPAs and business consultants” in big letters with pictures of our shiniest, happiest team members. Continue reading
