I’m one of those people who refuses to decorate for Christmas until Thanksgiving has passed. One holiday at a time for me please… But there is one exception. When it comes to holiday promotions, and corporate Thank You Gifts, I start talking Christmas as early as July. Such an early time frame stems from my days designing…
Branding is one of those funny subjects that most people have an idea of what it is, but few truly understand how it works. In short, your brand is the pattern that establishes your company’s identity. So it’s more than a logo. Brand is more than a color palette. It’s more than a tag line.…
Picture an onion. Or, if you prefer space to produce, think of a solar system. Your logo is in the center, and everything else spins off of it. In fact, at least for the first couple of layers, everything should also be inspired by your logo. Center: Logo Ring 1: Colors and Primary Fonts Ring…
So you’ve mapped out your company’s solar system… or brought to tears with the onion model. Either way, you’ve more or less defined the elements of your brand. What Now? Now it’s time to write it all down in an brand standards manual. It can be a simple as a couple of pages of “this…
So your logo is settled, your solar system (or onion) is constructed, your manual is in place. What now? Now you need to think about collecting your resources and building your library. So where to build it? There are a couple of good options. For one, you can place it on a backed up server…
We’ve all been exposed. The charming British lizard, perky customer service insurance reps, hamburger clowns, pink-clad cell phone hotties… we see them everywhere, hear them on the phone, in the tv and even on Facebook. This is because of a standard marketing approach that tries to reach you in as many different ways and as…
Recently I created a logo for a web-based business. In the course of our discussions I asked the standard question, “Would you also like me to design letterhead and business cards as well?” “Nah. I don’t think we’ll need it.” That response is becoming more and more common — and I can understand why. How…
3 Creative Decision Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them. Even straightforward decisions can be tough. Weighing the options, examining all the factors, finding the “right” choice can be difficult. Creative decisions can be just as tough if not tougher for the very simple reason that “right” and “wrong” are subjective — it’s not necessarily math…
No one is going to argue with maximizing you bang for your buck, and in tough economic times, it is absolutely essential. So for many companies, the question becomes: Why bother with printing? After all, between a website and social media marketing departments just don’t need that huge print budget anymore. Besides, now it’s easy…
When we think of logos, we think first of the business card. In fact, usually when someone calls me about a logo design business cards are usually mentioned in the first sentence. And that makes sense. Logos are the cornerstone of branding. From that mark comes the inspiration and direction for every other material that…