Posts Tagged ‘must’

Social Media Most Effective at Increasing and Influencing Brand Awareness

September 29th, 2010

Marketing Sherpa recently released one their famous charts, this time summarizing the Most Effective Use of Social Media. The survey, which focused on B2B users, showed clearly that people are finding social media somewhat or very effective for both influencing brand reputation and increasing brand awareness.

If you’ve made the commitment to use social media as a brand building activity how can you make the most of your exposure?

Use consistent names. Make sure you grab your company’s name on all the major social media outlets (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, FourSquare, etc.) and keep abreast of other social networks that cover niche markets or are just emerging.
Use a consistent avatar. Most social media channels represents each member with an avatar. This is the square icon that represents you, your company and your brand. Try to always use the same or similar photos or logo in these places. If you register through Gravatar it can be done automatically in many places (not sure what that’s about? read this post).
Maintain a consistent look and feel across all channels. Each platform has it’s own interface, but control what you can to make it feel branded to your look. In Twitter, adjust the background and colors. In Facebook customize the sidebar and welcome tab. All of these elements should tie in with your core brand identity that is found on your business card and web site.
Write in a consistent tone and keep content on target. Whether it’s your own blog, your Twitter stream or on Facebook think about what subjects you’ll cover and how you’ll present yourself. Some people present themselves in a very relaxed way and cover many personal topics; other people prefer to keep it all business.

Do you notice a pattern? Consistency is key. Consistency does not need to be boring. You can be consistently whimsical, for example.

As the chart shows, there is an incredible opportunity to increase brand awareness and promote a vision of yourself to others. This type of brand awareness benefits greatly from repetition, always using nuanced change, to create a mosaic of yourself or your company.

Tags: Branding, must, social media
Posted in Branding | 4 Comments »

Web Site Redevelopment Process: Well-Fit Case Study

September 14th, 2010

A web site is a dynamic part of your business that should grow and change along with the business itself. Using some old screen shots and mockups, I’ve put together a chronology of the web site design and redesign process for one of our clients. You’ll see how the design evolved and changed over the course of six years, based on web design trends and the growth of the client’s business. But along with these changes, there was always consistency in the core identity to maintain a recognizable brand for the company.

Our case study: wellfitinc.com

We’ve been working with Well-Fit Triathlon & Training for about 8 years. We’ve designed their brand identity from their logo, to the web site, to ads, uniforms, promotional materials, etc. We’ve watched, and helped, the business grow from a one-person coaching model to a business with multiple coaches, classes, and a training facility. Like many of our graphic design clients who have gone through this type of growth, their web site needed to change as their business did.

I was first introduced to Sharone Aharon, the owner, when he was making the decision to move from a one-person personal-training type of business model, to a larger, triathlon-focused business. It was 2003 and he had been working as a personal training and triathlon coach, but was ready to expand and start offering classes and a more focused approach on triathletes.

After designing his logo, Visible Logic got to work on his web site. At this time, only a few classes and his own triathlon coaching services were offered.

Original web site design (2003)

The home page of the original Well-Fit web site.

Interior page of original web site design.

A few notes about the original web site design: Well-Fit was entering the Chicago market and wanted to be seen as a high-end, very accomplished, and serious coaching company. Sharone, the owner, had this experience but needed to transfer that perception to his company (named Well-Fit) and build the company’s brand image. Therefore, building a highly recognizable brand identity was critical. Pricing was going to be high, but consumers will accept that with the right brand image. Also the customers were going to demand a lot of information to rationalize their purchase, and the imagery needed to appear serious in order to appeal to accomplished athletes.

When I look back at this design, there is so much that we do differently now. Web design as a general field has changed so much in that time, and here at Visible Logic our own web design skills are much more proficient. A few of the items that really stand out to me are: the use of graphic elements for the navigation; a lot of wasted space at the top with the centered logo; too much text; design choices that are very detail-oriented, but hard to update; and the text in the navigation is hard to read. But I also see how were were able to create a compelling visual position for Well-Fit that launched them quickly into being the premiere triathlon coaching company in Chicago. His blue and green color palette is unique, and the design of the web site mirrored Sharone’s attention to detail.

Web site design, version 2 (2005)

As Well-Fit grew, the number of classes and clinics increased, group training programs were launched, and additional coaches and teachers were added to the staff. We now had two types of web site visitors. The first who wanted to spend a lot of time and learn more about Well-Fit before making a purchase and returning visitors who wanted to quickly register for a class or training session.

Home page design, version 2.

Design of an interior web page from the site, version 2.

In our redesign we added a lot “quick links” to the home page. We also moved to a horizontal version of the logo to better use the top area of the site. On the interior pages, we re-worked the side, sub-navigation to be be able to handle more items and sub-menus. We improved the readability of text in the navigation bar (although they were still images). And more photos were available of actual clients. The client worked on editing and reducing content to make pages more readable.

We also got rid of the “resources” page and “online store.” The site had been e-commerce enabled since the start, but ideas for these two areas were no longer a focus for Well-Fit. This is a common phenomenon for entrepreneurs and new business owners. You may not know what parts of your site will be valuable to you and your visitors. More importantly, you may not know which parts of your businesses are most profitable and therefore grow, and which need to be let go so that you can better focus.

A few critical items worth noting. As I mentioned, the site was e-commerce enabled from the start and we used Miva Merchant to handle the class registrations and other purchases. However, the site did not have a content management system in place. When we launched the site in 2003, Well-Fit was small and so it was easy for Visible Logic to make web site updates on a regular basis. Also, at that time there was not the free and low-cost CMS platforms available that are so common today. It made financial sense at the time to have us handle the web site updates, but the writing was on the wall: Well-Fit would soon need a content management system of their own.

Web site design, version 3 (2007)

The third version of Well-Fit’s web site design was spurred by the continued growth of the company. Well-Fit was ready for a content management system so that they could easily update their own web site. As we completed this third redesign, we continued to work within the brand identity we had built for Well-Fit.

Home page, redesign 3

As their offerings continued to grow and change, the navigational items were adjusted so that visitors could quickly find what they were looking for. We changed the navigational items to true text so they were searchable by Google and updateable in the new CMS. Well-Fit also started working with business partners and sponsors who needed to be featured on the site.

This version of the site is actually a bit of a painful memory for me. In an unusual move we decided to work with a developer who had been selected by our client. Generally we do our own development work (by either using our internal resources or partnering with an outside developer of our choice). But for various reasons, we agreed to work with a web developer who had been recommended to our client. Neither of us really knew him or his work. The site was developed in Dot Net Nuke and the whole thing, quite honestly, was fairly disastrous.

This was the first time I had been forced to make significant concessions in my design to fit into the limitations of a CMS. I still don’t know if it was the tool or the operator, but it took a lot of wrangling to get the design to look even close to the mockups that the client had approved. Worse yet, was the problem that the CMS was so not-user-friendly that my client ended up turning over at least half of the web updates to us. So, instead of saving on the costs of web updates (but investing it in a CMS) he had paid dearly for a web site that didn’t look right and was too hard for him and his staff to use.

Web site design, version 4 (launched in 2009, currently live)

In 2008, Well-Fit decided they were going to open their own training facility. Up to this point, they were juggling their classes in numerous private gyms and university pools. There was no unified, physical place to host the classes and training. This was a huge capital investment and a real change to the business model.

The web site had to updated to include this offering. However, as I described above, we had just been burned by a poor choice of CMS and web developer. As expensive and painful as it was, we had to rebuild the site in a better platform.

Design of web site home page, version 4

Interior page from the third web site design

Interior page from the fourth web site design.

As you can see, the design continued to evolve. We did away with the green background altogether to make text easier to read and so that logos could be placed on the white background. The company experienced a legal name change and the logo was adjusted accordingly. The quick links on the side became very open-ended so they could be about a class, a training program, or any type of announcement. The new CMS (SiteFinity) works really well: the design is not compromised and the editing tool is easy to use.

Planning a successful web site redesign

As you can see, a web site is a live and growing thing. On the small scale this means updating content with current news and events. On a larger scale, it means redesigning and redeveloping your entire site.

If you have a small, but growing company, you need to expect to redesign your site as your business grows. Some people think of web site design as once and done. Others think that with the right content management tool, you’ll never pay for professional web design or web development help again. But that is not realistic.
As your business grows, the content on your site will change. Obvious additions will be increased staff and changing products or services. It is not always enough to just add or delete pages, eventually you will need to reorganize content. This generally means working with your web designer. As an example, when you are essentially a one-person firm, your “about us” page may be nothing more than the founder’s bio. But as your firm grows, you may want to separate company history from your own biography. Once you add enough staff, sub-navigational systems may need to be developed.
A change to how you organize content should not necessarily mean a re-branding. You may be sick of your web site, but there are many customers or potential customers who are just getting to know you. As part of any web design changes, you’ll want to maintain some design elements so that you continue to increase, not dilute, your brand identity. It can be tempting to re-do everything when all you need to do is focus on improving your navigation, for example. Also, if you jump around from one web developer to another it can be difficult to maintain the brand experience.
Do use web site redesigns as an opportunity to improve the design. Web standards change, and web trends change. When you go in to make a functional change, it is a good time to make adjustments to the web look and feel as well. Just remember that web design and development changes are not brand identity changes.

As you can see from the evolution of the Well-Fit web site design, specific design elements can change and functionality can change, but brand identity should remain steady. That doesn’t mean nothing in the look and feel changes, but there is a always a consistency in your visual position. In fact, new functionality or business offerings are often highlighted by a change in design (even if the two are unrelated), but there are threads that weave through all the design iterations that build a strong brand identity for your business, product or service.

Tags: must, Web Design, web site redesign
Posted in Branding, Design Trends, Portfolio, Recent Work, Web Design | 3 Comments »

10 Reasons To Be Your Designer’s Best Client

July 22nd, 2010

Yesterday’s blog post was a bit of a pity party and I wanted to turn the mood around and start by thanking all the wonderful clients we work with.

Most of our clients are a joy to work with, and we’re proud to say that several have been clients for many, many years. We especially like the relationships we’ve formed with: Educational Endeavors, Global Citizenship Experience, New England Breeze, The Project on Civic Reflection, Chicago Review Press, Narrative Pros, New Leaf Project Management, New Chapter Press, Cream & Sugar Bakery and Well-Fit Triathlon.

We’ve watched their businesses grow and have helped in their growth.

We were able to do this for our clients by working closely with them on project after project. We’ve been allowed to be more than just creative hands, but true business partners. We’ve learned about their business goals outside of the specific design job at hand. In addition to the graphic design and branding expertise, we find ourselves helping with: organization and editing of copy to communicate more effectively; finding more cost effective solutions for print jobs; researching better vendors; offering and receiving general advice on running a small business.

Great clients make for great work. Here’s why:

True partnerships use everyone’s talents. If you find a designer you like and trust and give them some room to run, you will be amazed by the results. If you hold too tight to the reins you’ll probably never see all the value he or she can bring to your project, to your business and even to your bottom line.
The designer is involved early in the process. Providing a steady flow of work to your favorite designer not only helps their business, but it will help yours. Because you are in continual contact with them, as new ideas for your web site or marketing come up you can start to involve them in the process, even very informally, early in the process.
Respect and courtesy gets reflected back to you. This is just basic human nature: honey catches more flies than vinegar. A positive and comfortable relationship will generate the most trust and best work from everyone involved.
We go the extra mile for those we like. We are all pressed for time and stressed out. Extra requests can seem annoying, but we’re all willing to do favors for people who are pleasant and flexible to work with.
We’ll use your resources wisely. If a designer has the big picture of your goals, he or she can help you figure out where to spend money and where to save it. If you go to your designer when you already have a preconceived idea of the structure of a project he or she may just follow your instructions rather than thinking outside the box.
Your designer will be invested in your success. If you have great working relationship with your designer, and they know and understand your goals, they will work extra hard to ensure your success. When you look good, they look good. This could mean doing an extra proofread of some copy, or going on a press check even if it’s not necessary. It can also mean promoting your business when they promote their own via their online portfolio, etc.
Networking and referrals for one another. I love to be able to introduce clients to one another, and it’s a great feeling when a client refers someone to me. We all know we’re doing work that we’re proud of. There are other times when I forward technology-related information or business opportunities to my clients.
Open communication means easy communication. When I see an email or voicemail from one of my favorite clients, I get excited—new projects, more fun! When I see an email or voicemail from a toxic client, I start to get defensive before I read the subject line.
Paying on time means no one is uncomfortable about money. When bills go unpaid, a sense of dread grows in your designer. Unfortunately, nearly every designer I know has been stiffed by a client. Sometimes the client goes out of business, sometimes they are just late paying. The warning signs start firing and we move from wanting to help you to wanting to protect ourselves.
We often do our best work off the clock. If you have designer who is thinking about your business, and not just an individual project, they’ll be finding opportunities to help you out, whether it’s improving a current project or listening for opportunities for you.

When I work on projects I like with clients I like, I always become extremely invested in the outcome. There have been times when I’m falling asleep at night and I think about design projects and remember small details that will improve the project.

There have been times when I’m in bed and realize we didn’t check to update the copyright date on some materials. Or, I just visualize a much better design solution, or a more economical solution for my client.

Face it, I’m only going to do this when I’m jazzed about a project. When I just feel like I’m “executing” someone else’s orders, or feel there is a lack of respect, there is no reason for me to put my most creative resources into the project. While that work will be satisfactory, it may not be as effective as it could be.

Tags: client, clients, graphic design, must
Posted in Business, Design Basics | 6 Comments »

5 Tips to Make Your Web Site Say: “Open For Business”

July 2nd, 2010

As we head into the three-day weekend, many of us are focused on taking some time off from work. I know our office will be closed on Monday and it will be a pleasure to enjoy a scheduled day off.

Your web site, however, will not be taking time off. And in fact has been out there promoting or detracting from your business’ image from the day it launched.

A bricks and mortar comparison

A couple of times a week I walk by the Portland Chamber of Commerce office, and it always gives off a very “closed” and impenetrable vibe to it. As I walked by it the other day, I realized why.

Portland, Maine Chamber of Commerce Office with their always closed blinds.

I realized that in the nearly five years I’ve lived in Portland, Maine, those blinds on their windows have never been opened. Yes, you can go around the corner and find a door and see they are open, but the side of their building facing the busy street is always shuttered behind blinds.

It made me wonder why. Probably it has something to do with the glare and the computers. But why not at least take some of the window space and figure out a way to make it look open and inviting? Show us that someone in there is working for its members.

Does your web site show a vibrant business?

For many of us, a peek at our web site will be the first impression, rather than your office. Obviously securing your companies domain name and having a web site presence is the most basic first step. Having a web site that is live and functioning is like being open for business. But it is more subtle things (like the blinds on the windows) that show whether you are really a thriving and active business.

Keep generating high-quality content. The best way to look alive and to attract people to your site is to develop content they want to read, share, and come back for more. Have a system for writing, posting and sharing this information. A blog is the primary vehicle for this, but an article library, case studies or recent work sections can also be a vehicle for posting new content.
Keep your “news” section up-t0-date. If you’ve built a “news” section on your web site, make sure you update it regularly. When the economy was rolling it was easy to boast about new hires and contracts won. With this recession, it can be hard to find good news to share. But that is exactly why people are so curious. They want to see that you survived and hopefully even gained in this tough environment.
Keep your directories, locations, hours, and specials up-to-date. Retail businesses need to make sure that their current hours and specials are listed and out-of-date information has been removed. For other businesses, the employee directory and biography area may need attention. If someone who knows your organization sees incorrect and out of date listings, it makes them question the validity of the whole site and possibly your company in general.
Clean out the abandoned sections. You tried a blog and couldn’t keep it up. Or, you’re featuring an inactive Twitter feed on your home page. Or, you no longer do business in an area that is listed on your site. These graveyards and junkyards of old, unwanted content just reflect poorly on you. Get rid of them. It’s better to have less content, but ensure it’s accurate and fresh.
Check your copyright date. This is a quick way I use to tell if someone is paying attention to their site. If a business is actively updating their site, this won’t get overlooked for long. Or, you can use some coede to help you keep it up-to-date.

There are numerous ways the content and look of your site are presenting an image of your business as either alive and thriving, or stale and stagnant. Web site first impressions are hard to overcome: make it a good one.

Tags: must, tips, Web Design
Posted in Web Design | 3 Comments »

Get the Right Logo Files from Your Graphic Designer

May 6th, 2010

If you hire a graphic designer to design your logo, make sure that you get the correct files once the logo is finalized.

Vector vs. Pixel Based Graphics

Generally, designers will work in Illustrator to design your logo. Adobe Illustrator is a vector based program, rather than a pixel-based program like Photoshop. Vector-based images can be resized both larger and smaller without diminishing the quality. On the other hand, pixel based images do not resize well. As you can see in the example below, the vector-based Illustrator file (top) is created with just a few points and a mathematical formula determines the curves and lines in between. The pixel or bitmap based Photoshop file (bottom) looks digitized and has blurry edges when resized from a low resolution file.

The vector version (Illustrator eps files) of the Visible Logic logo.

Visible Logic logo resized from a pixel-based program such as Photoshop.

Your final logo artwork will probably be an Illustrator eps (Encapsulated Post Script) file. Now it’s likely that you do not have Illustrator, so you will not be able to open the file. But that’s OK. You only need to be able to place the finished eps file within documents or provide it to vendors for such things as business card printing, signage, etc.

File type: eps

An Illustrator eps file is the gold standard for your logo files. In fact, if your logo designer says they are working in Photoshop, you are probably not going to get files that will be universally useful for you, your printers, your other vendors, etc. And it will in fact cause problems for you in the future, if not immediately. Whenever you have a reason to pass along your logo to a professional, give them the eps version, unless another format is specifically requested.

The benefit of an eps file is that it can be sized up or down without restriction and without deteriorating the image quality. It also has a transparent background so that the logo can be placed in any situation without a problem. A jpeg, on the other hand, will always have a white box as the background of the logo. Professionals such as graphic designers, web designers, printers and sign makers can convert the eps file to whatever size and format they need.

The problem is often that you may not be able to place an eps file in documents such as Word or Powerpoint files. Whenever you are working on something that requires your logo, always try to use the eps file first. If the software does not let you place or import an eps, then you will be forced to use an alternative format.

File type: Jpeg

Jpegs are the most common image types that many of us are familiar with. They can be easily placed within Word and other software programs. There are two common problems with jpegs files: they do not resize well, and they have a background fill (such as white). Therefore jpeg images need to created with their end use in mind.

Here are some examples. If you are creating a jpeg for a large, printed poster, then the file should have a resolution of 300 dpi, it should be set up four-color (CMYK rather than RGB), and should be at a large enough size that it does not need to be resized very much upon placement in the layout program. On the other hand a web graphic should be saved at 72 dpi, and in rgb format. The size should be close or exactly what it will be on the web page. If you are placing your logo on a black background, for example, you’ll need to create a jpeg with a black background.

As you can see, it’s easy to end up with a large library of these images because you need one for every specific usage. And, you may not have the tools to make all these variations. You’ll need to start with the eps file to create the jpegs in these various formats, and your designer may need to be the one to do that for you.

File type: gif or png

Gifs and png files are an alternative to jpeg, but allow for a transparent background. However, they have essentially the same limitations because they are also pixel based. You will again need to create the file with the correct size and resolution for the end usage.

Developing a library of files

Whenever we design a logo for a client, we provide a large library of final electronic files. The key files are the Illustrator eps files, and we usually provide them in Pantone (PMS) color, four color, grayscale, black, and white versions. That handful of eps files are the most critical.

Then, we build a whole library of jpeg and gif files. We create a wide range of files in different sizes and resolutions to span most of our clients needs. As you can imagine, this is a large library of files. It is not uncommon for us to provide up to 100 different variations for them.

What kind of files did your logo designer provide you? Were they sufficient?

Tags: design, file type, logos, must
Posted in Design Basics | 8 Comments »

8 Essential Elements to a Comprehensive Brand Identity

April 1st, 2010

Does your company have a brand identity that is more than just a logo? While a logo is a good place to start, you should consider building your “visual position” to be something larger. Building a system for your brand allows you to meet the demands of different media, while still presenting a cohesive identity.

For example, web site design only allows a limited number of font choices, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a corporate typeface for printed marketing materials. In fact the more elements you can establish as your basic look and feel will mean that variations from that scheme won’t make your brand identity disintegrate.

Logo or wordmark. A logo is a graphic symbol, whereas a wordmark or logotype is just the words of your company or product name set in a specific, fixed way. These elements should be professionally designed and set.
Different logo “lockups”. While your logo should always be rendered consistently, you will need variations based on placement and usage. For example, you may need color and black and white variations, you may need versions for horizontal and square applications. But they all should have the same essential qualities.
Key colors. A corporate color palette is usually defined by the colors in a logo. Often these are one or two colors only, although some are more complex.
Additional color palette options. In addition to the colors in your logo, what other colors complement them? This can be loosely defined such as: bright and bold, pastel, or cool colors. Or, they may handpicked from a color swatch book. These additional colors are often what really brings together (or makes a disconnect) from one point of contact to the next.
Corporate typefaces. Choose just a handful of fonts to be used whenever there is printed materials. Make sure these are available on all the computers that will create these documents.
Standard typographic treatments. Your typographic identity should include ways of handling key types of text, perhaps a consistent way of styling headlines or pull-out text. Work to make these similar from one application to the next. It may be the way you write your URLS, or the way you capitalize your headlines.
Consistent style for images. You don’t need to use the same photos over and over again, but all imagery should have a consistent look and feel. Maybe the photos are brightly lit and the subject is looking right into the camera. Or, the photos have a subtle color palette and the people never look at the camera but are engaged in their activity. Photos could be close-ups, soft focus, or crisply detailed. You don’t need to use photos! You can use line art, illustrations or just charts and graphs. Whatever you choose, use a consistent style in all materials, whether printed or online.
Have a full library of graphic elements. These are all the small details that really build a branding system. It could be a background texture, a line style treatment, a use of white space or color blocks. These are the areas where do-it-yourself-ers start to suffer, and where a professional graphic designer can pull together a cohesive look for you.

When you have a comprehensive and broadly built graphic identity, it creates a foundation for a rock solid brand identity.

The truth is, that once you start making things, your identity standards are going to be tested.

For example, item #5 (choose a corporate typeface) is not going to be fully applicable on your web site (unless you’re Ikea and choose Verdana for everything). But if you have seven other branding elements that are strongly apparent in the web design, the site will still be able to promote your recognizable brand. If on the other hand, those other graphics are not well-defined and well-used, each application you create dilutes rather than builds a comprehensive brand identity.

Tags: Branding, color, font, must, typography
Posted in Branding | 13 Comments »

Who Are You Online? Personal Branding vs. Corporate Branding while Social Networking

November 1st, 2009

Social networking and branding are both hot topics for people who are trying to promote and build a business, or their own career. And I’m hearing a lot of confusion from people who are small business owners or sole proprietors about how to brand themselves while they build their online networks. Should they promote themselves with a personal brand, or build a corporate brand?

Sole proprietors, entrepreneurs, consultants, solopreneurs, freelancers, and small business owners often have one person who is the public face of the company. For a consultant or freelancer who intends to stay as a one-person shop there really is no company behind the person, it is all about that person. However, some small business owners that are single owner-operators now, may hope to grow. And they are eager to use branding on the social web as an integral part of their marketing plan.

Let’s take a look at some different business models and also the popular online networking sites—LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter—to see how branding works on the social web.

Consultants and freelancers

Consultants, freelancers or others working alone and under their own name should focus on personal branding. You may not need a traditional brand identity that includes a logo, but you should have a consistency in the look and feel to how you present yourself. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter accounts should all be set-up under your name. It’s a good idea to be consistent with your domain name (if you have one, and you should) with your Twitter account.

You will need to decide how personal and how strictly business you want to be with those accounts. On the one hand, showing a human side is important, but if you find a lot clients or potential clients following or linking to you, you may want to limit the amount of personal information you share. A good thing to consider is how you act at an in-person networking event. Do you keep conversations all business, or do you prefer to get to know people outside of their business roles?

Small, but growing businesses

Sole proprietors, entrepreneurs and small business owners are often led by one key person, but they may be working under a different name. Whether they are set up as a DBA, an LLC or a corporation there may be one key individual who is the face of the business, especially when it is young and in the start-up phase. However, if you hope to grow your business with employees and become a company that is bigger than just the founder, you want to make sure you use social networking to promote not just yourself, but the company’s brand.

On Facebook, you should consider starting pages under your business name in addition to (or instead of) your personal name. This would allow communication to be business-focused and keep your personal life separate. On Twitter you could either post as the company, or you could use a combination of your name with the company’s name. I do recommend you grab your company name on Twitter even if you just have one post directing people to another Twitter account.

One person, multiple companies

I’ve had several people ask me about this recently. Especially in this economy, it’s not uncommon for one person to have built several small revenue streams for themselves. Sometimes they are closely related: internet marketing and web hosting. Other times they are much more disparate: jewelry design and motivational speaker. In either of these cases, you have two options: you can brand each company individually; or you can brand yourself and make each of your businesses sit under that brand.

Using the examples above it could look like this: To individually brand the internet marketing company and the web hosting company would mean individual names, logos and brands. Those brands would roll into domain names, as well as Facebook and Twitter accounts. On the other hand, an individual who is a jeweler and speaker may find that branding themselves is a better idea. There are some high-level synergies including: creativity, energy, a connection with people, great taste, etc. In this case, the personal brand should try to be the “Midas touch” so that everything that has the personal name attached to it (even in a wide range of places) should promise a certain quality and distinctness.

Let your goals (not your current place) guide you

When you work to create a brand identity, the goals and aspirations for your business should take the lead even if you are not exactly where you hope to be. While you may only be one person right now, is that where you want to stay? If yes, than you should work to build a personal brand. Your personal branding and personal connections is what will fuel your growth.

If you want to build something bigger than yourself than both your branding and online social presence should reflect that in name, look and content. You should start by working under a company name that is different than your own. Then, make sure that a business name is presented whenever it makes sense. Set up separate online accounts where applicable.

Emily Brackett and Visible Logic

I’m Emily Brackett. You can find me personally on LinkedIn or Facebook. But with my business name, domain name and Twitter account I work to promote Visible Logic, Inc.. While I am the public face of Visible Logic, I am no longer it’s only employee and I’m looking forward to watching the studio grow more. Currently, I am the only one who writes for this blog, but that may change as well in the future.

I sometimes wonder if I should have gone with some mix of my name and company name for the Twitter account, as Twitter is still usually an individual’s viewpoint. I could have done something like VisibleLogicEmily. One big reason I didn’t is because it’s so darn long.

Because I use Twitter with my business brand I stick to business. I keep 98% of my posts as things related to design. On Facebook, I link mostly with friends and my content is much more personal. I definitely add some business info, because that is a big part of who I am and what I’m doing, but I also share family and non-work related stories.

I don’t currently have a Facebook company fan page. I think that model is much more important for a B2C business, rather than a specialized service like high-end graphic design. I may revisit this, someday.

Who are you?

Would love to know who’s reading this. Here’s your chance to shameless self-promote, or just connect with others reading. If you are a small business owner, how are you handling your brand on the social web?

Tags: Branding, Facebook, must, personal branding, social networking, twitter
Posted in Branding | 8 Comments »

Graphic Design 101 for Marketing Professionals

October 28th, 2009

I had the opportunity today to present to the Maine Marketing Assocation on Graphic Design Fundamentals for Marketing Professionals. I have converted my slide show into a slideshare presentation. If you prefer to download the PDF you may also do so, but please note the file is large (7.4 MB).

Graphic Design 101 For Marketers and Business Owners

View more documents from Visible Logic, Inc..

In this presentation I discuss design fundamentals, terminology and skills for both print and web design. Whether you need to better communicate with an outside designer or want to sharpen your skills so that you can do some basic design work yourself, this presentation will give you the essentials of graphic design. It is essential information for any marketing professional or small business owner doing their own marketing.

Topics include:

Typography
Tools & Software
Color Systems
Layout
Choosing a Design Firm
Communicating with a Graphic Designer
Impact and Visual Hierarchy

If you have any questions, please use the comments below and I’ll try to clarify any points for you.

Tags: graphic design, Maine Marketing Association, marketing, must
Posted in Design Basics | 4 Comments »

The Logo Development Process: New England Breeze Case Study

October 22nd, 2009

If you’ve never worked with a professional graphic designer, you may have no idea what goes into designing a logo. Even if you have worked with a designer, you’re probably curious about what goes on behind the scenes of developing a high-quality logo for a small business owner.

Below is an outline of the typical process that we take at Visible Logic for the design and development of a logo. We’ll be using New England Breeze, LLC as our case study.

Project Summary

Create a logo for a new business—New England Breeze. The company sells and installs wind turbines and solar panels for business and residential customers. The owner wanted to make sure both energy sources —solar and wind—were obvious in the logo, especially because the name of the business only suggested wind.

The logo should be one-color so that it is easily applicable on a variety of items and economical to print.

The target market is individuals interested in the environment and specifically alternative energy sources. Buyers would be buying systems for both business and residential usage.

Key words

To help me understand their brand position, I asked the client to provide adjectives or phrases that described the personality of the business. The following list was provided:

Approachable
Patient
Excited
Knowledgeable
Concerned
Flexible
Creative

Additional words and thoughts:

Willing to teach
Concerned for the environment
Amazed by nature’s power

One thing that I found interesting about this list was that their was nothing about technology or being cutting edge or anything in that area.

Sketching, generating ideas

I believe in sketching both on and off the computer. Each format uses the creative process differently, and therefore the forms that emerge from each tend to be distinct. Each process suggests new shapes, connections and direction. Whether it’s done with pencil and paper or using Adobe Illustrator both are considered “sketches”.

The goal is to explore as many different thoughts, avenues, forms, ideas, etc. is possible. Because graphic design is a commercial endeavor the designer does have to be conscious of how much time to spend in each phase of creating a logo. Several focused brainstorming sessions can be very fruitful.

Sketches for the New England Breeze Logo. (click to enlarge)

Refining the preliminary designs

The process of refining the logo options take several steps. I begin by sorting through the sketches to highlight the strongest options. From there, each design is translated into Adobe Illustrator.

Then, I edit, alter, and adjust to create multiple adaptations of each initial idea. I believe that—in most situations—the strongest logo is the one that reduces the design elements to the most essential. It should also work at a very reduced size.

Finally, I want to show a broad range of styles for the client to choose from.

Refining the logo sketches (click to enlarge)

First round of logo designs to client

After narrowing down the field of options and refining each, these five logo designs were presented to the client. I generally work only in black in white at the beginning because introducing color can be confusing. If all the options are black/white/gray we all can focus on the ideas and basic graphic elements.

The first round of logo designed presented to the client. (click to enlarge)

Finalizing the chosen logo design

If all goes smoothly, the client chooses one logo and then we make some refinements to finalize the logo. In this case, the client choose the logo in the bottom right (above), however he asked to make the wind streamers more elongated. Additionally, I felt that the thin areas in the center were going to be too thin in some reproduction techniques. So I refined the logo, and below are two options that were presented.

Further refinement and finalizing of the logo design. (click to enlarge)

Adding Typography

In this case, the logo was designed to work separately from the type, sometimes type is incorporated into the logo at a much earlier stage. Below are the type options I showed to the client.

Adding typography to the logo. (click to enlarge)

The final logo

Because the client specifically asked for a one-color logo from the start, I decided not to introduce color until the very end. More frequently, color options are introduced earlier in the process. Once the black and white version was finalized and approved by New England Breeze I showed a variety of color options. A bright blue color was chosen. Below is the final logo.

The final logo design

Tags: Design Process, logo design, logo development, must
Posted in Branding, Design Basics, Portfolio, Recent Work | 18 Comments »

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