Daikin America recently asked me to create a trade ad to promote their “Surface Modification Technologies” (SMT). These products bring different characteristics to the surfaces of paint and coatings applications. While Daikin is a major player in the worldwide air conditioning and fluorochemical industries, they were fairly unknown in the paint and costings industry. So, a key point Daikin wanted to communicate to the audience is their commitment to the market.

The creative solution was a composite image showing a deep sea diver in a water droplet on a painted surface with the headline, “We’ve gone to great depths to bring functionalities to the surface.”

To broader express Daikin’s overall commitment to (and love of) fluorine chemistry, an icon was created that combines the fluorine chemical symbol with a heart.

A note about the ad layout. Like a lot of larger corporations, Daikin has a set of corporate graphic standards that must be followed whenever a new piece of visual communication is designed. So beyond solving how to communicate Daikin’s message creatively, writing the copy and developing the secondary icon, it was also necessary to make all that fit and work within the provided graphic standards. These standards included guidelines on acceptable use and positioning of things like the color palette, corporate logo, slogan, color bars above and below the photo, and more.

Beyond the ad, the creative concept was additionally used on other marketing pieces. A special landing page with more in-depth product details was designed for Daikin America’s website. A business card sized promotional handout card was created for distribution at events. Trade show booth graphics were also designed.

Promotional Card and Landing Page

Trade Show Booth design mockup

Trade Show Booth