There are 3 main types of linear composition: The grid, diagonals and curvilinear. Here’s a small crash course on each.

1. The Grid

You probably know that a steady beat or rhythm is used to compose any piece of music. That basic “1-and-2-and-3-and-4-and” count is one of the first things you’re taught when you learn an instrument. The evenly-timed cadence is pleasing to the ear.

Your eye works in much the same way. Just as a composer or musician uses beat and rhythm to divide sound, an artist uses vertical and horizontal lines of a grid to divide a visual space because equal divisions of space are pleasing to the eye.

Let’s use Georges Seurat’s famous Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte as an example.

What makes this painting so remarkable is the grid composition underpinning the placement of all of the elements. To the casual observer, the scene looks like randomly-placed people, but nothing could be further from the truth.

Let’s start by overlaying 3 vertical lines, dividing the painting up into 4 equal parts:

The vertical lines show the woman in red is purposefully placed in the center, giving us the focal point of the painting. The line on the left is used to place the tree and provide a compositional guide for the placement of the men sitting on the ground. Also take note of how the right vertical line is used to place both the couple in the foreground and the couple walking off in the distance.

In this painting, Seurat ultimately divided the painting up into twelve parts. Look closely and see if you can spot all of the elements and edges that fall along these lines:

But we’re not quite finished. Not only can the space from left to right be divided, we can also find horizontal lines of composition. Again, pay attention to the elements that are placed along these equally-spaced lines:

And here’s the complete grid overlay:

2. Diagonals

The second type of compositional line is the diagonal, the two most common lie from the top left corner to the bottom right corner and from the bottom left corner to the top right. Any square or rectangle naturally has this X composition and you’ll see artists throughout history employ it.

But the natural X isn’t always the strongest compositional line, as we’ll see in Emanuel Leutze’s Washington Crossing the Delaware:

Washington Crossing the Delaware has one of the most iconic lines of composition in all of American painting, uniting Washington and the American flag in a dramatic effect:

This single diagonal dominates the composition of the painting. The line runs through the staff of the flag, provides a compositional placement for Washington (almost like he’s sitting on this diagonal) and then terminates where the paddle hits the water at the edge of the painting.

A secondary diagonal is one of the two corner diagonals:

Notice how this line guides the pose of the man in red rowing the boat and provides the angle for the flow of Washington’s red cape. The intersection of these two diagonals is intentional, not only to make the grouping of Washington, James Monroe and the flag the painting’s focus, but also to serve as an intersection point for the horizon of the landscape (which also happens to be the center line):

3. Curvilinear

The third and final type of linear composition is the curve. This is by far the hardest to spot, but it is no less important to composition. Almost always, this curve enters from the left side of the painting, loops once, sometimes more, and exits to the right. If a piece of art or design has a “flow” to it, it’s most likely the result of a curvilinear composition.

Let’s take a look at an easy example of a curvilinear composition with Raphael’s Small Cowper Madonna:

In typical Renaissance fashion, the centered, restrained pose of the Madonna and Child is achieved using a single looping curve. This curve guides the tilt of the heads, the placement of the Madonna’s shoulder, hands, and blanket, and contains the Child to the mother:

Now compare the quiet, restrained Renaissance curve above with a more dramatic Romantic period double curve composition such as David’s The Death of Socrates:

The next time you find yourself looking at a painting, building or design that you like, try to pick out its linear composition. It’s there, doing its work by giving form and purpose to what you see. You’d be surprised how often it’s used.

Bill took on the role of principal at Ford Elementary School where his son Zach attends.

When Zach, 10, was asked about his father’s role as Principal of the Day, he said,  “It was the most horrifying experience of my life.”

You’re standing atop a grassy cliff overlooking an expansive ocean that rises to meet the sky in a perfect horizon. You hear the call of seagulls between the gentle honking of traffic and melodic mists of surf crashing on the rocks beneath. The sun is shining and its warmth is nothing short of rejuvenating. The wind blows and you feel alive.

Did anything seem out of place in that paragraph?

Right! The traffic. Take away the honking of traffic, no matter how gentle, and the picture becomes that much more spectacular. Book me there, sans traffic. I’d go in a heartbeat.

The traffic jumped out because it was out of place. It was inconsistent with the image that was being described. And because of that one inconsistency, the whole tone of the description suffers.

But consistency isn’t always about having the same details. I could’ve described the scene above a thousand different ways, but as long as you – the audience – perceive the same spectacular vision, it would maintain consistency.

Brand consistency works in the same way. In branding, a consistent brand is a well-toned brand. It’s about managing perception. It’s always painting a compatible picture of your company in the minds of your customers – and getting rid of the elements that are out of place, and ultimately, being consistent with your brand idea.

Here are 3 steps you can take to tone your brand:

1. Define how your company views itself. Now define how your customer views your company. Compare the two. Be honest with yourself! Are there any inconsistencies? If there are, take steps to tone that area of your brand.

2. Are there any areas of your brand that are inconsistent with your brand idea? Any honking traffic in an otherwise picturesque brand? Trim it.

3. Is your brand trying to say too much? It’s best to focus a brand on one consistent message. Try to be all things to all customers, and your brand will inevitably become inconsistent, lose its flexibility, tone and effectiveness.

Your brand feeling a little softy around the middle? Give us a call. Think of us as your brand’s personal trainer.

I don’t remember who said that. Maybe a 4-star general or Lincoln or somebody. The point is that we have limited control over the big events in our life. Or the large, sweeping changes in the world for that matter. We can, however, try to excel at the little things. Because it’s those small, overlooked parts that over time compound, add up and multiply into something big.

I know this concept has all kinds of positive applications in your daily life (exercise, career, calling your mom more than once a month, etc.), but that’s not where I want to go with it. Let’s talk about ads.

Take a look at the ad to the left.

It’s a one-column ad from 1991 in the back of an issue of The Village Voice, a weekly, alternative New York culture pub.

Now, I don’t know if this little ad got any more pull than the standard “SUBSCRIBE NOW!” approach. I don’t have the data on that. To be honest, I don’t know if I would’ve done anything different myself.

But what I can tell you is that the current, alternative-minded subscribers who read this ad loved the magazine that much more. So much so that it created enough buzz to catch the ear of Communication Arts, an advertising/design magazine, which promptly picked it up for a 1991 issue. It was so well received among the Communication Arts readership that it then made the 1991 Advertising of the Year Annual.

But the little-ad-that-could wasn’t done.

It went on to make a return appearance in the 50th Anniversary Communication Arts issue 19 years later, which sits on my desk next to me as I write this.

On a side note, readership of the Village Voice did go up.

All of this from a small subscription ad. All of this because someone had the initiative to take something small, overlooked and passed-over, and make it into something great.

Now that’s thinking big.

And this got me thinking. Your brand is a lot like breakfast. It’s the starting point for your company. It’s echoed in all of your company collateral, it gives you the basis for your marketing, defines the corporate strategy and influences the choice of business partnerships. Or to say it more accurately, the idea behind your brand drives everything your company does.

Let me use Apple as an example. I know everyone uses them as an example for everything, but hang with me.

Apple’s brand, like all good brands, is based on one powerful brand statement. But this statement doesn’t appear in any of their brochures, nor will you find it anywhere on their oh-so-tasty packaging. It isn’t even in their tagline (wait…they don’t have a tagline). Yet it’s the reason behind everything they do as a company.

Ready for it?

Apple Computers wants to be the center of your digital life.

It’s a simple statement, but as a company, Apple has it for breakfast everyday. It has literally affected every major business decision since the late 90s. If a product or business venture doesn’t support this brand statement, then it doesn’t get the Apple logo.

Now I know you’re thinking it’s easy for him to sit there and point to a brand icon and say “be like them.” It’s much more difficult to go out and do it when you’re not Apple. But no one said it was easy. However, if you’re looking to build a strong brand, the best place to start is your brand idea.

Start by taking some time to analyze your company’s brand message. Is it something you and your company can eat for breakfast everyday? Can you own it? Is the idea meaningful to your customers or clients? Is it hearty enough to be the basis of an entire company strategy?

Sometimes the idea presents itself as if by magic. Sometimes it requires digging. But whatever you do, don’t build a brand without it. Don’t skip breakfast.

Or just give us a call.

In the realm of marketing, customers usually get lumped and categorized and generalized. We throw this customer in the 32-40 year old group. This one gets put in the 75-100K income bracket. This group spends X amount eating out every week and will travel X miles for entertainment. And so on and so forth until our customer becomes a meaningless pile of data.

Well, it’s not totally meaningless. I don’t want you to toss out all that customer data. It can be useful, just realize that it’s only half the story. It can help us define our customer, but it can’t help us to get to know our customer.

When we lose sight of the person on the other end, our marketing efforts stall. And as a result, our business stagnates. The next time you feel like you don’t know your customer, I want you to stop.

Drop.

And give me 20.

Take 20 minutes to consider the part of the customer that data isn’t revealing. Remind yourself that they’re not some cold statistic. They’re grandmothers, sons and daughters. They have passions, fears and hopes. They’re your best friend from college, the family that lives down the street, your boss or your coworker. They remember their first concert, their first crush, and the last time they saw a really great movie.

And they’ll remember a really great brand if you give them a reason to.

It doesn’t matter what kind of marketing you’re doing — B2B, B2C, B2Whatever — in the end you’re talking to a person. Don’t ever forget that. At its core, that’s what marketing is all about.

Question is, though, what do you want to say?

No, I’m not saying we should start counting carbs, start eating 15 grapefruit a day or cut out caffeine (that wouldn’t go over well here).

I’m saying we should go on a marketing diet. Cut out the empty calories and get back to health food that does a body good. Get back to marketing that’s smarter, leaner and can carry a business further without fatigue.

I think there’s a tendency among businesses – and even seasoned marketing folks – to take an “anything that’s cheap” approach to marketing when the economy is tough and budgets aren’t what they were in the past. There’s a fear of doing anything too large or too bold, so doing a lot of small stuff seems safer.

So we go in without a plan.

We say “well, I’ve got to do something” and then execute without a real thought of the sum total of the little things we’re trying to pull off.

The problem is that in the mish-mash of direct mail, tweets, newsletters, e-blasts, take-ones and two-column ads, the brand message gets skewed. It gets out of focus. It gets sluggish. Fillers and empty calories replace its healthy routine.

At a time when we should absolutely be smarter about how money is spent, we end up being more wasteful than when the budget included room for risk. When pressures dictate a leaner marketing plan, the focus needs to be on marketing with some nutritional value (as it should always be).

It’s time to be strategic, meaningful and precise. It’s time to go on a diet.

A new study tracking online user trends released by Nielsen finally puts some hard numbers behind what everyone suspected: social media is the next big thing. Compiled from data gathered from December 2007 to December 2008, it reveals a few surprising details:

1. Social media is now more popular than personal email
According to Nielsen, social networks and blogs are now the fourth most popular online activity – rocketing ahead of personal email for the very first time – putting it just behind searches, general interest sites and PC software. Overall, it accounts for almost 10% of online time, globally.

2. Time spent on social networking sites grew at three times internet growth
That’s a staggering statistic. What’s more, the insight behind the statistic is even better. People aren’t only visiting social media sites in a greater number, they’re visiting those sites – and staying longer. The numbers show they’re poking around and exploring content, and overall seem more engaged online than ever before. For businesses looking to take advantage of the social media space, this is an encouraging statistic.

3. Social media isn’t just for the young’uns
As social media becomes more mainstream and the early adopters give way to the majority, we see an expansion in audience ages; a trend that will certainly continue. Facebook, which saw an increase in traffic of 566% in 2008, reports that the greatest overall growth came from the 35-49 crowd. Even more surprising is that Facebook added almost twice as many 50-64 year-old users as under 18 users. The Facebook phenomenon, while remarkable in itself, is an indicator of the overall social media expansion. And this tell-tale statistic means that businesses’ ability to effectively reach customers will continue to expand as well.

All signs point to a solid future for social media on the mantle of marketing. The statistics are very exciting, and will give businesses another tool in the marketing tool belt. As it matures and marketing methods become more polished and effective, look for breakout companies to define and standardize the role of social media. But until then, it’s anybody’s game.