by Miriam Hara | Dec 24, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design
I will start this post by saying that this is not a jab at technology nor is it a rant on how business is being conducted today. Promise! Over the last 5 years the way business is being conducted has changed significantly, placing a strain on business relationships. Technology has made business accelerate at warp speed… resulting in many of us being strapped for time, overwhelmed and at wit’s end on how to meet expectations. We now have less time available for face-to-face meetings with clients and our vendor/partners. As emails have become the preferred way of business communications, phone calls are a thing of the past! I’m sure you’ll agree that calling anyone that actually picks up the phone, let alone a prospective client is like winning the lottery!
However, regardless of how the day-to-day business is being managed, ultimately relationships and the building of them is the key to any successful business. Through the years we at 3H, have noticed that quality time spent with clients is at a premium; it has increasingly become more difficult to get our clients and potential clients out for lunch, coffee or even a drink after work. That left us with the challenge of how to nurture and cultivate our relationships with our clients and even some potential clients.
Our approach was really a simply one, and one that was very natural – at least for me. You see I love birthdays. Actually, I love celebrating birthdays (I must admit I love celebrating my birthday most of all!). So every year for the last few years, an annual mandate for the 3H creative and design team is to develop, create and design a birthday card theme that would be carried throughout the year. These cards never go unnoticed. In fact, many who are on the receiving end of our birthday cards are quite touched by the thoughtfulness and are surprised that we remembered them on their birthday.
The irony doesn’t escape me either! A birthday card sent by mail is really a very traditional and low tech approach in business relationship building…. but I must say, it has garnered strong relationships for us. It has been the perfect blend of marketing, design and sales! The cards are all created and designed by the 3H creative team, allowing us to showcase our design and conceptual services. Our cards, of course, are very branded – all are purple and titanium. This not only builds the recognition of the 3H brand… it also illustrates to clients that we are effective brand builders.
Some of the concepts we’ve tackled were: Colorology, Destiny Number, Name Letter Profile, Birth Date numerology. Last year the 3H birthday card featured the Celtic Leaf Profile. The cards we send out are all created and designed by the 3H creative team. Each card is personalized. You can see these on our Pinterest Birthday Board. Feel free to download them and read about your Celtic Leaf Profile. It’s really quite accurate!
I’ll like to end this post by another heartfelt, low-tech message: Happy Holidays to one and all!
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Dec 17, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Design
Marketing and Design must work hand-in-hand. It really doesn’t matter if you have the best creative in the world; without a solid strategic plan to back it up, the message won’t see its full potential. Likewise, if the creative is overlooked for the strategic plan, the message won’t communicate what it needs to. Before delving into any advertising pursuit, a clear idea of what you’re aiming to achieve is essential. The following are some questions that many entrepreneurs have at onset for promoting their business venture.
Why do I need marketing?
Contrary to the hype you may have heard, marketing is not dead. Just like everything else, it’s evolving. What is dead is complacency. It doesn’t matter what business you’re in, if you’re standing still you’ll get left behind. By not continually reevaluating tactics and their efficacy, any business will suffer.
Today’s marketing initiatives need to be nimble. The surplus of new channels available to marketers means a greater challenge to find the best combination for each mandate. Determining that combination requires having the experience and understanding of both traditional and new marketing channels. Online marketing is crucial, but as any experienced marketer knows, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket.
Can’t I just crowdsource design?
You can, but why would you? It will contribute no value to your business. On the surface, crowdsourced design has a certain “gloss” of something professional. But it will inevitably fall short on investment. That is, it won’t perform in the long run. And it won’t be effective communication. Similar to marketing, the creative for your communications is an integral part of your business message.
Graphic design needs to be clear. It also needs to speak clearly to a specific market segment. On top of that, it needs to be flexible. Without forethought into how the design will adapt to various media, it could end up being boxed into a corner. Any effective design solution should be able to cross platforms, channels and languages without hindering the message it’s trying to communicate.
Why do I need both marketing and design?
Marketing and design are a yin yang combination. In other words, their differences combined strengthen each other. Marketing creates the plan for the messaging while design delivers the right message. You could also say the tactics dictate the playground, while the creative shows it’s a fun place to visit.
Speaking of playgrounds, let’s use that as an example. Its marketing plan will take into account who will be using the playground, how they will interact with it and where to place the messaging. The design will address what the playground has to offer, how it will appeal to those using it and why they should check it out. Ultimately, you need to know not only where your market will hang out, but how to speak to them.
What am I investing in?
I used the term “investment” earlier. That’s what good design and marketing is. They don’t represent a cost rather an investment towards your business success. So, if you plan on communicating the benefits of your business to your market, that plan needs to be strategic. And, if you want your market to hear the right message, you need strong creative. What’s more, since you only have one opportunity to make a first impression, by all means make it professional. Effective marketing and design together equals successful communication that will produce results. You can count on it.
by Miriam Hara | Dec 4, 2012 | Branding, Design
Developing packaging starts with the size and shape of the actual package. The format adds a point of differentiation that is key to consumer pick-up and sales performance. Product packaging is a marketing art. It must speak to the product it houses, tout its benefits and engage the passerby with attractive graphics – enough to pick it up and persuade them to buy it!
It’s a tall order for even the biggest package. Yet, taking a walk down the aisle of a grocery retailer, mass merchandiser or pharmacy retailer, I find that a lot of packaging doesn’t make the cut. Too often I see packages that have “lazy” design. They don’t work hard enough to earn my interest or more importantly, gain my trust in the brand.
Here are 3 brand packaging requirements:
Packaging design is about more than just a pretty on-shelf face, it’s about originality. It requires a lot of design sense to organize all the necessary information on what is usually very little real estate. And no, it’s not about slapping on a stock image to tell a story. I believe in original photography or illustration. How can you show your brand is unique if the one image on its package can be seen in an ad or POP for another brand? It’s about layering design elements to make the package more unique and appealing. Understanding and treating the type to give it propriety, while allowing for design trademark only adds cache to the product. Equally important is the placement of information. It needs to lead the consumer to read the relevant content and assist them in making the right purchasing decision.
Package design must have Brand Charisma. Just like TV campaigns, print ads or any other brand communications, brand packaging must carry the brand character, personality and voice. It has to be all about the brand persona. It may very well be the first piece of communications that your target market sees of your brand; therefore, it must establish its brand style right away. Packages that slap on stock photography to tell the story or don’t pay enough attention to visual and written messaging miss a huge opportunity to stand apart.
Packaging must sell. Getting my attention is half the battle, now you need to talk to me… in the way that I wish to be spoken to. If the product is premium priced (targeting a more affluent consumer), the packaging must reflect that. There’s nothing worse than demanding an elevated retail price for a product while not supporting that emotively! Purchasing decisions, small or large, require cognitive reinforcement. Packaging must speak effectively to its intended consumer.
Ultimately packaging design shouldn’t be viewed as ‘cost of goods sold’. When you are designing your package, seek expert counsel. It’s a marketing initiative, so it’s not the place to start cutting costs. Packaging shouldn’t be viewed as a cost, it should be viewed as an investment.
What are some good examples of solid brand packaging design that you’ve seen? Please share them here.
by christine | Nov 9, 2012 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Design
As a creative person, passionate about digital media, graphic design and the visual arts, colour has always been an important factor in my work.
How colours interact with each other or to a specific object can be significant especially in design. The same can be said about how colour relates to your brand and its impact on the consumer and what emotive feeling will be identified with your brand. Will the perception of your brand be a positive or negative behavioural reaction?
Pairing the wrong colour palette with your brand can kill your identity. It’s important to know your target audience, culturally, geographically, gender, age, and also the purpose for your campaign so that you launch your business in the right direction.
Just by viewing a colour in a design, and how it interacts with your brand can completely change or send out a false representation of your brand to the viewer. Colour is such a powerful and important communication tool that it should not be neglected; it is part of our daily actions in life represented in religious, cultural, political and social influences.
Studies have shown when users are shown a bright red hue; it will create a physical feeling of anxiousness and an increase in heart rate. This would not be a good use of colour if used on the interior walls of an emergency room, but if the colour red were associated with food, it would be a positive action to a reaction. You want the consumer to feel hungry and in a response really need to go out and purchase your product.
There is so much more complexity to colour and colour theory and I could go on, but maybe I will save that for another blog.
*Just a note you may want to check out a few of my favourite artist’s that were really the pioneers with colour theory– Wassily Kandinsky and Franz Marc to name a couple.
Marc
http://www.franzmarc.org/The-Red-Horses.jsp
http://artsconnected.org/collection/111185/franz-marc
Kandinsky
http://www.wassilykandinsky.net/
by Lindsay Sleightholm | Nov 8, 2012 | Business Success, Creative, Design
There are many questions in life that we are faced with that have yet to be answered. Some of those are: What came first, the chicken or the egg? Is the sky blue? And, is graphic design art? Most people have an opinion on all of these, but there remains no definitive answer. Ignoring the first two, let’s just dive into: Is graphic design art? This question has been debated for a long time. The following is a little food for thought.
What is art?
Art – specifically visual art – is difficult to define. Not simply because of its artistic nature, but also because what is deemed as art is constantly changing. And we as a society have never quite been able to make our minds up about what art really is.
In fact it wasn’t until just before the 20th century that anything other than fine art (that is, painting, sculpture and architecture) was actually considered to be art. Then came the Arts and Crafts movement, resulting in the shift to include the applied arts, decorative arts and crafts into the mix – meaning that everything from painting to interior design was termed as art.
So what is visual art today? Well Encyclopedia Britannica describes it as “a visual object or experience consciously created through an expression of skill or imagination.” But that’s a little broad, isn’t it? So let’s add the intention behind the process. Then we could include the artist’s motivation to create for the purpose of communicating a message.
What is graphic design?
Similar to art, graphic design lacks a satisfactory definition. Graphic design is also visual, has a process and a purpose. Design involves the use of various forms of visuals – illustration, photography and even “art” – combined with text to communicate a message to a specific audience. It speaks through a visual language. The purpose of graphic design is to solve visual problems. When successful, it communicates a very clear message.
Now that’s not to say that it lacks expression of skill or imagination. It is the role of the graphic designer to bring a unique visual aesthetic to any problem they solve. However, their end goal is for effective communication. The message is paramount and trumps individual creative expression.
So what’s the difference?
Both art and design have rich histories that illuminate many transformations to their standings within society. Historians have written volumes on it. And like any history, it involves a great deal of flux. Art has played a crucial role into the development of graphic design – there is no question about that. Without the leaps of great artists and art movements of the past, there would be no such thing as graphic design.
Although, it is the here and now that is the concern. Before entering into their creative careers, most graphic designers start out as artists of a sort. Through their earlier education (or individual endeavours) they’re first introduced to exploring creativity through art. That’s where it stems from and it’s a fundamental seed to what graphic designers do.
So yes, both artists and graphic designers are inspired to create, have creative processes that allow them to produce compelling visuals, and are intent on communicating a message. Although, it is the purpose behind their contributions that distinguish one from the other.
Art is subjective, while design is objective. In other words, art can be open to interpretation, whereas design requires complete clarity in order to be effective. What’s more, art involves a degree of self expression. Graphic design expresses in order to aid communication – if not, it fails to do its job. Consequently, art and design can no longer be considered the same thing.
What’s in a name?
So if graphic design and art are different, then what’s all the confusion about? Well it all boils down to a name game. And graphic design needs to be better defined. Many simply don’t understand what it is. The general public, clients, as well as the industry need more clarity.
A lack of clarity breeds a lack of respect. Graphic design – like art – has been through its ups and downs as a profession. And though it may not be art, it’s an incredible medium that takes a great deal of talent, passion and creativity to execute successfully. Now more than ever, graphic design needs to stand apart and keep hold of its status by having little room for misinterpretation on what is stands for and where it’s going.
So, where do you draw the line between art and graphic design? Or… this there one?
by Miriam Hara | Oct 9, 2012 | Advertising, Business Success, Creative, Design
Sparking creativity or what is most commonly referred to as brainstorming, when you’re alone is far more difficult than when you’re within a group. The onus is all on you. You can’t pass the reins to anyone else and passively listen. Nor can you follow or jump on someone else’s thought train (as I often call it) to move an idea forward.
I equate ‘Lone Brainstorming’ to Meditating. You need to find your happy place, a place that will set you up to make it easy for you to meditate. In my case, my happy place is my personalized HUGE Black sketchbook which one of my colleagues (thanks Gloria!) gave me as a Birthday Present.
When I open this book, it’s my mind’s cue that I need to be calm and patient with myself so I can start the idea concept generation (ideation). There are many brainstorming techniques out there. There is no right way or wrong way of brainstorming, but it’s important to find techniques that work for you.
Prior to sitting down to meet a creative challenge, as a brainstorming strategy it is necessary to get all the information required to provide a solution. This means reading briefs or provided Powerpoint presentations, if available, doing store checks, understanding the space in which the brand lives (investigating the industry) via the internet or whatever other means, checking out the competition and researching the target market (niche, psychographics, demographics). Armed with all the background, you’ll be on firmer ground when you start.
In the 24 years of being a Creative Instigator (!), I have found the following steps have enabled me to streamline my conceptual thinking and provide me with a loose structure that allows me to… well, think freely!
Be specific. It’s key to set the parameters before you start. This allows you to focus and ready your mind to work efficiently, providing you with a sifting mechanism for the ideas you will generate. Just like doing the prep work, it’s really important to define the mandate to stay close to the marketing or creative challenge.
See the big picture. Don’t get caught up on the details. That often stifles creativity and you start getting so wrapped up in the minutia. Don’t worry about the details, if an idea has validity then the details will often take care of themselves with a tweak here and there.
Make a time commitment. If you give your brain a challenge, you need to stay with it. The key here is remaining focused for 90 minutes, a solution often appears!
Take strategic detours. I can’t emphasize enough the value of allowing your mind to wander strategically! It’s an art that takes time to develop but the importance of having creative freedom in generating creative solutions within specifics can’t be touted enough. This is what makes any brainstorming session efficient. When flying solo it’s important to:
- Follow the connections: This is conceptualizing at its finest. Make mind maps, word maps or doodle maps… whatever is most comfortable for you. And follow them where they lead. It replaces the team of creative minds that you don’t have sitting around the table with you.
- Dare to fail: Go onto a path that may or may not lead to a dead end. It’s not important at this juncture to have a particular destination. It’s about taking the journey to discover what’s around the corner. Often the sidetrack will lead you to a better place!
Take five or a lay-over: And don’t think about it. You need time to digest. Occupy your mind with something else, like creating a meal, taking a walk, going to a museum or even reading. It’s not an old wives’ tale when they say “sleep on it”. The creative mind is exceptional! I have often found the next day leads me to a better solution than I had thought.
Don’t sell yourself short. It’s easy, especially for creative types when left on their own to often doubt that they can find the solution. Without a creative team around you providing you with a comfort zone and a way out, it’s easy to get overwhelmed. So don’t! Rid yourself of all these comprising thoughts, and just set yourself to the task at hand… awesome conceptual solutions for your clients… it works every time!
I will start this post by saying that this is not a jab at technology nor is it a rant on how business is being conducted today. Promise! Over the last 5 years the way business is being conducted has changed significantly, placing a strain on business relationships. Technology has made business accelerate at warp speed… resulting in many of us being strapped for time, overwhelmed and at wit’s end on how to meet expectations. We now have less time available for face-to-face meetings with clients and our vendor/partners. As emails have become the preferred way of business communications, phone calls are a thing of the past! I’m sure you’ll agree that calling anyone that actually picks up the phone, let alone a prospective client is like winning the lottery!