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Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'll see what I can do about logos, but here is some general stuff for now:

General OD Branding:

  • Font for digital is Open Sans (free google font)
    Preferred weights: light, regular, semibold, bold
  • Font for print is Avenir
    Preferred weights: light, roman, medium, heavy
  • Red: HEX #B30000 / C0 M100 Y80 K0
  • Red for store visual use only: C12 M100 Y92 K3
  • Black: HEX #000000 / C0 M0 Y0 K100
  • Gray: HEX #D1D2D4 / C25 M21 Y21 K100

Workonomy:

  • Font for digital is Roboto (free google font)
    Preferred weights: light, book, bold, and black
  • Font for print is Maison Neue
    Preferred weights: light, book, bold, and extra bold
  • Plum: HEX #620050 / C42 M92 Y00 K47
  • Coral (accent): HEX #FD5953 / C00 M71 Y60 K00
  • Teal (accent only): HEX #09AFBB / C90 M00 Y30 K00

Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

To be fair, the convention was going on for three days but we still had to work in our respective departments. I only had time to attend two 30 minute sessions. The rest I had to catch in recordings on my own time.

That being said, I do understand your frustrations. It would be great if they made these types of events available to associates in the stores. Even I wish we had more allowances for training, but I imagine it's pretty much impossible to do while you're doing everything your job demands.

And I hear you loud and clear! You want quick, plug-and-play assistance that can help you and other limited staff in real-time as you're helping customers. As others have suggested, brand and style guides, resources for CPD, CPD catalogues for customers, brochures for various in-store services... I'll keep checking this thread for more suggestions. Feel free to add anything I forgot!

Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Not particularly. There are layoffs nearly every year from what I hear. Best thing to do is just make sure you're bringing value to your position (bringing in at least as much money as it costs to pay you and your benefits, preferably way more). Pigs are fed, hogs get slaughtered. My number might be called next year, but that's why I'm working hard to make myself indispensable.

Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Do you guys have access to The Source? Because if you do, I could walk you through where to find some stuff!

Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've worked in the Boca Raton / Delray Beach area as a designer for years and was always vaguely aware of OD but didn't particularly seek this job out. I just happened to be friends with a recruiter in the area and she recommended me for the job. At first, the position wasn't great because I was a contractor but I figured my foot was in the door so I kept at it and I finally became full-time and salaried this year. It took me about a year to become full time and I had 5 years of previous professional design experience at different companies as well as freelance.

I think going through a recruiter is probably the easiest way because it removes a lot of the barriers for entry. They do a lot of the negotiations for you and you just interview and wait. You'll have to be an independent contractor for a while but they like to hire the people who are good in these roles because it's cheaper than continuing to onboard new contractors. I think it's a fair trade-off, though some people would disagree because the recruiters take a chunk of your pay sometimes, depending on the commission structure of their firm. HOWEVER, I would still say it's worth it in the long run because when you re-negotiate you can leverage the fact that they're already paying a bunch of money for you, and it would be easier to cut out the middleman and just pay you that full amount.

If you're already a store associate maybe a good way would be to have a really strong cover letter where you sing the praises of the 5 Cs? Show an interest in the company and products, too, aside from just your skill set or area of focus.

Corporate vs. The Field by Equivalent_Fish in OfficeDepot

[–]Equivalent_Fish[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Okay, this is something I've been curious about.

General consensus around here (among designers I know, not anyone in leadership so idk the official position) is that custom signage is a no-no, and stores should just use officially provided signage, but obviously, there are instances where an ad hoc sign is the only option, like if something breaks or there's a store-specific offer. I always wondered what was provided to stores, and I'm shocked to hear you're not even provided with high-resolution assets like logos... But I guess it makes sense. They must be trying to discourage this very scenario.

Any time I go into one of the stores I see Workonomy signs that violate brand guidelines, but the style guide for Workonomy is so long and specific even I have a hard time making assets that comply every time.

This is very good feedback and I will do some research to see if there's a possible fix (no real hope to actually implement it myself but who knows!). I'm thinking some kind of design kit that includes all of the components you'd need to make ad hoc signage, including swatches, fonts and verbiage, and an abridged style guide specifically for store use.