With the New Jersey Nets finally making their move to Brooklyn next season, the organization recently unveiled the storied franchise's rebrand.

Voila, and there it is.



I'm really not sure how I feel about it. The minimalist in me completely appreciates the simplified design approach but at the same time I feel that in some iterations of the logo – it almost looks oversimplified to the point of feeling rather unfinished and lazy. I'm specifically referring to what looks like the primary team logo (with the crest). If it were up to me, I would've made a complete departure from the crest – which feels like a rather forced artefact from the New Jersey era. I think it only makes sense since the team is entering a new chapter in its history.

I can say however, I do love the circular logo because of its vintage quality – not to mention the shape better lends itself to the B & ball imagery. In keeping with the minimalistic approach, their colour palette seems to only comprise of black and white. This makes Brooklyn a unique team as no other team in the league currently utilizes only a black and white palette (San Antonio is close but they also use silver).

I'm pretty excited to see how the rebrand is applied to the team jerseys and court design.



Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative

A lot of tools have been created to fix holes in Twitter's functionality – here’s some to try out...

Slipstre.am
Slipstre.am is a plug-in for Chrome that allows you to hide certain status updates on Twitter.

For example, if like me you think Foursquare-based tweets are irrelevant, then simply add ‘Foursquare’ and / or ‘4sq.com’ as a term. You can also mute specific users.

Mute.ly
If you’re just looking for a simple tool that mutes a Twitter user then here it is.

Buffer
A scheduling tool for Twitter. Rather than sharing lots of content in a short space of time, you can click the Buffer bookmarklet to add it to your tweeting schedule. Tweets will then be staggered. You can plug in your Bit.ly account to use a custom domain and monitor analytics. Try Buffer.

PostPost
A tool that helps you to discover interesting tweets that might otherwise have been buried. PostPost identifies standout content from the people you follow, and aggregates it on one page (embedding watchable videos and full size images, as opposed to links).

Tweetwally
A tool for creating a ‘tweetwall’. Choose hashtags, keywords or users and Tweetwally will display them on a dedicated web page. You can embed tweetwall onto your own website.

econsultancy.com



Frank Beecham
Mystique Creative

A study by Backbaud indicates that despite limited budgets, nonprofits are able to find value using social media networks.

Findings include:
• 98% have a Facebook page with an average community size of over 8k fans.
• Average Facebook and Twitter communities grew by 30% and 81%, respectively.
• Average value of a Facebook Like is $214.81 over 12 months following acquisition.
• 73% allocate half of a full time employee to managing social networking activities.
• 43% budget $0 for their social networking activities.
• The top 3 factors for success are: strategy, prioritization, dedicated staff.




Frank Beecham
Mystique Creative

A lot of tools have been created to fix holes in Twitter's functionality – here’s some to try out...

Slipstre.am
Slipstre.am is a plug-in for Chrome that allows you to hide certain status updates on Twitter. 

For example, if like me you think Foursquare-based tweets are irrelevant, then simply add ‘Foursquare’ and / or ‘4sq.com’ as a term. You can also mute specific users.

Mute.ly
If you’re just looking for a simple tool that mutes a Twitter user then here it is.

Buffer
A scheduling tool for Twitter. Rather than sharing lots of content in a short space of time, you can click the Buffer bookmarklet to add it to your tweeting schedule. Tweets will then be staggered. You can plug in your Bit.ly account to use a custom domain and monitor analytics. Try Buffer.

PostPost
A tool that helps you to discover interesting tweets that might otherwise have been buried. PostPost identifies standout content from the people you follow, and aggregates it on one page (embedding watchable videos and full size images, as opposed to links).

Tweetwally
A tool for creating a ‘tweetwall’. Choose hashtags, keywords or users and Tweetwally will display them on a dedicated web page. You can embed tweetwall onto your own website. 

econsultancy.com



Frank Beecham
Mystique Creative

Relogo is a branding initiative developed by designer Matt McInerney.

rel="logo" is a proposed standard for serving and maintaining up-to-date logos for use in various media. By including a line of code on your site that links to a scalable vector logo, you make it very easy for other websites, applications, readers, clients, and stations to ensure that they are using an approved logo directly from you.
– relogo.org

This is a brilliant proposal and I really hope that it gains the recognition and support it deserves. Gone will be the days of bitmapped client logos for print. This is good for all, designers and clients alike. Let's make this happen!

Say goodbye to moments like this ...


Kudos to those progressive companies such as foursquare for showing their support.



Rene Tan
Graphic Designer
Mystique Creative