Advertising and Marketing Tricks that Use Technology

If you have been a good businessperson these days, you should always have an ear to where the marketing buzz is at. From TV and Radio ads decades ago, to now the information age, marketing focus has always been trending towards where on gets the most exposure and the best reputation. For now, everything is being invested online, with online marketing budgets skyrocketing. Add to that the additional investments for mobile marketing as people get access to smart phones with on demand internet access and you already have a good blueprint of where you want your advertising to be in the coming years.

However, there is no ONE trick with Hi-Tech advertising these days. Its nature is dynamic with lots of trends and fads in advertising. People may have not yet have time to deploy their hi-tech advertising tricks before the next new trend arrives. Things are happening, that fast with little warning.

So how are you supposed to think about your own contemporary high-tech advertising scheme? Well it is about your own creativity and quick thinking really. Of course that is easier said than done, but we do have some great examples that you can take inspiration from. Below is a list of high tech advertising campaigns and marketing tricks with the latest and greatest technology involved. Discover what you may want to do for yourself.

Interactive Billboards

Below, you will find a Youtube Video. If you watch it you will find how Adobe, the makers of Software like Adobe Photoshop and Adobe Illustrator used interactive billboards. These billboards have motion sensors that “sense” people as they go near a billboard. Now, whilst they walk across the billboard, the images move in the billboard, much like how one scrolls a video via the scrollbar.

As you can see with the YouTube video, the animation is pretty amazing and people walking to and from will be able to influence and control the movement of the billboard animation. It is a high-tech trick that people can interact with as they pass along the street going to work. Of course, it might be a little bit expensive to maintain.

“In Game” Advertising

Anyone with a smart phone or computer has played many games on those platforms. They are highly interactive, highly entertaining and of course highly addictive at times. Believe it or not, many companies are counting on those kinds of reactions to video games to garner some sort of hold in the “gaming demographic”.

The word here is “In game” advertising. That is right! This is where advertisements appear in a game world or as a game artifact or even area. With millions of people spending hours in games, there is no surprise that you can do some great marketing with your own logos and advertising copy within certain theme related video games. For example, if you are a restaurant, why not have your logo splashed into a game like “Diner Dash”? There are many examples like this and we have provided one in the video below.

In the video, you will see how the game trackmania does advertising via video game car paint jobs, wall advertising etc. It is basically just normal advertising, but in a virtual world. A very interesting concept, and one that has potential of reaching so many people that play games, casual or hardcore gamer alike.

Interactive Stores

Disney opened their interactive stores just a few years ago. The feature video can be seen below. What they did was integrate technology and the magic of going into a toyshop. The result is amazing as kids and adults alike can see magic mirrors with actual changing and interactive displays. They also have power tools, robotic assembly areas and many other interactive and real life tools that make many of those Disney Cartoons come to life. The result is a truly remarkable store that kids and adults can enjoy as they try out the new advancement sin toy technology.

QR Codes and scanners

We then have Quick Response (QR) codes. The QR code is usually found in printed marketing material. It is a black and white graphic with certain shapes and blocks all confined in a square shape. This graphical code is scanned by a smart phone or table with camera and QR code scanner. Once scanned, the device will automatically open a browser and go directly to the marketing link contained by the QR code itself.

Many marketers use QR codes to direct viewers to discover additional content online whilst they browse an “off line” world. We have a video example of how QR codes work below. This should give you an idea of how you can add Hi-Tech elements in your printed marketing through these codes. Take note though that you will still need a high quality printer to print QR codes in prints such as posters and flyers. Make sure you do this correctly so that the link is indeed scanned correctly by those devices.

Augmented Reality

The term augmented or enhanced reality has been thrown around lately. The basic concept here is to change your view of current realty with digital means. Now there are many ways that this can be done, and for the most part, Google has been researching stuff like the Google Glasses to explore this kind of augmented reality.

In recent times though, Blackberry created a very nice interactive, augmented reality ad for London’s fashion week.  What they did was let the public become fashion models. All they did was let anyone who wanted to walk on a catwalk with black canvass all around. Then the audience in London Fashion Week regalia appears as an augmented reality video. It is a pretty amazing experience that any consumer will likely remember.

There are still tons more examples of advertising like this out there online. Only our imagination really limits how we can use current technologies today for marketing gain. Hopefully all the ideas above have inspired you to create your own brand of hi-tech advertisement.

Grabbing Offline Markets to Online Campaigns

If you have been a smart businessman or businesswoman in the past five years, by now your business should have a website, social network profiles and probably a small dedicated team of content producers, SEO specialists, link builders and web developers constantly maintaining and improving your online presence. They might cost a bit, but the traffic they bring in is the lifeblood of your online marketing campaign.

Now, what if I told you that promoting a business website, or an online marketing campaign does not end in the realm of cyberspace? Some people do not realize that even online marketing campaigns need that offline component. Your markets are never online “all the time”. They still go to work IRL (in real life) and at those times you have the opportunity to bring them to your online landing pages, interactive portals or fan pages.

You of course do not attract that “offline market” with just a website URL. Grabbing offline markets for online campaigns takes more than just a link. Since they are offline in the real world, you need a couple of tricks to encourage them to go for your websites.

Luckily for you, we will give you a couple of the best tricks that will help you grab those offline markets. There are several tools and special deployment schemes that you will have to know about to effectively do this. Take note though that these are localized tools for your target communities, cities, towns etc. While limited in scope, believe me, it will be worth it knowing all these tricks.

The Coupon Codes
Coupons have long been a big draw for customers since the days of print advertising. Now, this has gone to cyberspace with the invention of “e-coupons”. These are just simple random letter and number combinations that you can enter into a website where they will give you special content or of course discounts. These e-coupons have been proven to increase sales.

Now how do you get offline markets with these coupon codes? Well it is pretty simple really. You just publish the online coupon code in all your printed promotions. Add the link where they can “claim” the coupon and you get people going to your website to claim the coupons. This will give you a fair amount of hits in that particular landing page. It will be good to write up good marketing copy in that landing page and if you have other online marketing campaigns, this page would be the one to put the links as you filter the offline market landing here to your other online campaigns. Pretty easy and nifty trick.

Local Flyer Teasers
Flyers have long been an easy and effective advertising platform for local promotions. It will never win any nationwide marketing campaigns, but it will excel at the ground level local promotions for any small business. Its advertising potential really is simple. It is a simple direct contact marketing tool that your market can read. All you need is an eye-catching image and you already can attract people to go to your shop. You can even place coupons or other kinds of customer value offers that will invite people to go to your shop.

Now, how does this factor in website promotions? Well it is pretty simple. You also attract people using those flyers, dangling something of value located in the website.

You will want to make sure the quality of the flyer is high to impress readers. From there, it will be up to the creativity of your layout, plus probably your ad copy for the flyer to be effective. However, when adding the link to your website, make sure the link is easily memorable. The shorter the better of course, and make sure there are no weird characters needed. Just a simple domain and page should do such as “mywebsite.com/offer”.

Local Artwork
Art itself is a big draw for many people. However, our idea here does not have you creating paintings and going to art galleries. A very neat trick to advertise your website via “ART” is to create some local pieces of art in your target community.

Take this nice image from Julian Beever for Coke. It is pretty impressive right? Julian Beever is a very talented “street artist” and he paints amazing real-life paintings on the street that people appreciate. NOW, imagine having your website URL there? Would not that give your website some attention? Since the experience of wonderful street art is very memorable, having an associated URL there will give you that extra exposure. Everyone passing by the local artwork will get curious and go to your website. It is a simple marketing dangle that works.

QR Codes and Mobile Devices
Do you know about QR codes? If not, then let me explain. QR codes stand for quick response codes. These are the interesting black and white block graphic codes that you see in many magazine catalogs and posters. These are special ink codes that mobile devices can read through a special App. When scanned these codes redirect the mobile device internet browser toward the promoted link.

The marketing premise is simple here. From something physical in real life such as a magazine, newsletter or poster you can lead readers and passers-by to your site through those QR codes. The “trick” is enticing them enough to scan the QR code of course. There are many things you can do here. You can dangle a discount coupon, an interesting video or something free such as a free mobile App.

Real World Stunts
Finally, we have so called “real world stunts”. This is the simple and actually old concept of just “making a scene” or doing a publicity stunt. a great recent example of this would be here. In summary, though, Vodafone paid a man to streak during a soccer match. That of course gets tons of coverage in the media. While they are sorry for the “stunt” it does get them some attention quickly.

Imagine now having your website URL there? That would probably also get you some hits overnight. Of course, you do not have to get into trouble doing these stunts. You can find lots of creative ways to get attention for your website.

A prime example of a correctly executed campaign is grasshopper.com’s chocolate grasshopper stunt. They sent chocolate grasshoppers to bloggers as well as other media influencers like politicians and media celebrities. The result is a lot of buzz in twitter accounts and blogs discussing the unusual stunt. They in turn got tons of hits on their website. Now, all you have to do is think of your own stunt like that for the real world.

With that, you should have some real great concepts to grab those offline markets. Offline markets are still a big opportunity for websites. Any online campaign would benefit from an offline counterpart to compliment it. So never forget to implement some of these offline marketing ideas for your website.

Hi-Tech and Low-Tech Networking Tools for Businessperson

While we have seen so much innovation in terms of science and technology these past years, one thing that has remained the same for business is the fact and function of business networking. While there are digital social networks, outsourced support and online teleconference meetings, if you want to get real partners and reach great clients and customers, meeting people and doing networking still remains the same.

A good businessperson such as yourself should value, networking. While people need suppliers, services and products, they usually will only buy these things comfortably if they trust the person giving it to them. Hence, even now, business networking is and should be one of the major concerns of any business person.

Now, the purposes and concepts of networking may be the same, but some of the tools have changed. There is more to it of course than just handshakes and small talk. Let me give you some of the more important tools (both hi-tech and low-tech) in business networking that you will probably need today to achieve your business networking goals successfully.

1. Mobile Phone (with business networking abilities)

Of course, every businessperson needs a mobile phone. Without one, you might as well be living in the “stone age” of business. However having just a mobile phone is not enough. More likely than not, it should be a smart phone now, with an IOS, Android or Windows8 operating system (yes phones have OS’s too). Finally and perhaps most importantly for a businessperson with a phone, that mobile phone should have business networking abilities.

Now, I am not talking about a “phone book” or contact list here per se. Of course all phones have those already now. What I am talking about here are special business apps that actually simulate business cards in a sense, but in a digital manner. Apps like “Bump” and “Jump Scan” offer special features that let people exchange contact information quickly, just like giving each other’s business card.

The process really is simple though. When you find a potential partner or client, you can ask them if they have a smart phone and business card application. You can then just send your contact information through your phones via Bluetooth, but with better and more advanced details. In a conference or meeting, this can be a quick and hi-tech way to swap information. So it is a good idea to have these apps ready in your smart phone.

2. Business cards (upgraded)

Now, I know we have been talking about hi-tech business card apps in mobile phones, so you might be asking why do you still need real printed out business cards? Well the answer is actually very simple. They still work, and in fact they work beautifully.

Printed color business cards still work today, but they ONLY work if you customize them and upgrade them correctly. First, when it comes to customization, you should really go all out and create something original. The boring black and white business card with clip-arts or built-in fonts is something you should AVOID. Add creative colors, textures and be creative with your logos and background. You can even experiment with different business card shapes. Most importantly, go for high quality materials in printing. A professional business card printer like printplace.com can help you there. Better quality means more memorable business cards.

Beyond printing upgrades, you may want to do hi-tech upgrades for business cards. That’s right, you can actually turn a paper business card into a hi-tech tool. All you need is to use NFC features embedded in the card. “NFC” stands for near field communications. These are special device features embedded in paper that can be scanned by an NFC capable device (which is more likely the new phones coming out).

What this does is that instead of bothering to activate blue tooth for 2 phones, and then doing the waiting, the NFC chip can easily be scanned by a phone enabled to scan it. It is a bit quicker, and of course people can still keep the business card. Beyond that, another great feature is that you can update the data within the business card. So if you want to change the number or maybe some other information that NFC chip can be updated as you need it.

3. Social Network “Packages”

Another important feature that your business cards should always have are social network details or packages. What I am saying here is that it should have ALL your social network page or profile links. To be more specific, it should have social network links that can be easily remembered. From the twitter account, to the Facebook page, that LinkedIn profile to maybe a Google Plus Author profile, all the important social handles should be present.

This not only to make you look more “connected”, but it also helps people easily see where you are and eventually interact with you in a quicker manner through online social media space. Any businessperson with at least one of these social media links will usually be considered a bit backward and you will not get any additional business leads because of it.

4. Hi-Tech Catalogs or Brochures

It is never a bad idea to always have a catalog or brochure in your file case. Beyond just paper prints though, you may want to use Hi-Tech Catalogs and Brochures. You may of course have online catalogs, but a printed catalog and brochure can also be a very powerful networking tool. Why? Because you can already show people a feature of your products and services at a moment’s glance. No firing up the tablet or connecting to the internet and loading pages. It is ready and can be given to people which of course they can keep.

The only thing you have to worry about is the Hi-tech part of these prints. No, we are not using NFC chips here (though it is possible). The best way here is to use QR codes. These are graphics that can be scanned by smart phones via a QR code reader App. Akin to a bar code, QR codes can be scanned and a URL or a link will be sent to the phone. This will then direct the person’s phone to a webpage.

Now that webpage (optimized for mobile) can have a landing page, an image, a video or even a coupon code. This gives the print catalog an extra digital dimension as people can scan and see more information simply by scanning the code. Some magazines and catalogs have found success in it.  Whatever the case,  catalogs and brochures with QR codes can help you network easily with the quickness by which you can showcase your products.

5. Hi-tech Freebies and Data (USB Drives)

Finally, you can never go wrong with freebies. People always remember something free that they from you, and of course by consequence remember you as well. There has been some talk about “flash drive” marketing, and the premise is that flash drives are perceived with a bit of a high value due to it being technically a support gadget for computer users (which is most of us).

The premise is that USB flashdrives are now very cheap to make. Add some customization and you already can create a useful marketing freebie that people almost always like. Whatever the case, giving out hi-tech freebies like USB drives give you an extra marketing edge, ensuring that you do get remembered, adding that open opportunity for more business in the future.

Great! So before you go ahead and do networking, make sure you have some of these business networking tools to aid you and help you become successful in the Job.

Coca-Cola vs Pepsi: The Cola War in Vintage Ads

Pepsi or Coke? Next to Microsoft and Apple, the Coca-Cola and Pepsi rivalry is among the most legendary brand rivalries in the world. Theirs is a long-standing battle that has been going on for more than a century. Coca-Cola was first introduced in 1886 and Pepsi some 12 years later. Since then these two cola companies have been slinging mud at each other.

Often, the fight involved billions of advertising dollars spent in offering incentives that will coax people into buying their cola over the other. Money is not an issue to them as long as they get the top spot in the Cola industry.

There’s a lesson to learn, though, from this war. For a start, Coca-Cola and Pepsi set the stage in shifting design trends. For instance, from elaborate logo and print ads, both companies saw the beauty of simplification. They stripped their brands and magnified it to the core image they want people to see of their product. This is a trend widely use in the graphic design industry today.

Also, creativity is promoted. Advertisers have to put all their creativity on the table to develop ads that will turn heads and push people to buy. This has led to several re-branding strategies from both companies. Redefining a brand, though, is not always as easy as it seems, and both Coca-Cola and Pepsi learned that the hard way. When Coca-Cola replaced their classic Coca-Cola with a reformulated New Coke in April 1985, consumers went crazy. The company was forced to return to its classic formula and original brand just three months after the release of the New Coke. Pepsi, on the other hand, recently suffered from bad re-branding. The company spent $1 million on its latest logo design , but the result was a “real waste of time and money, especially if you’ve seen the design spec document… An amazing, purposeless document that has no brand value at all,” says Frankel.

Interesting enough, both companies have good reputation in terms of advertising. They both have colorful and thought-provoking ads, which added color to their long-standing rivalry. Even in their vintage ads one can see the heat of the competition.

Pepsi ads, 1900-1960s

1909 vintage Gibson girl tin serving tray

1950s Pepsi ads targeted the figure-conscious, classy, upscale women.

 

 

 

1960s ads were for the young generation with different values, thus the catchphrase “The Sociables prefer Pepsi”.

1964 Pepsi ad carried the slogan “You’re in the Pepsi generation”

Image credit: http://www.retronaut.com/retronaut-cat/ads-and-brands-rtc/; http://www.adbranch.com/timeframe/1900_1930/?brand=pepsi

 

Coca-Cola ads, 1900-1980s

1900 This ad featured Hilda Clark in a formal 19^th century dress

1918

1933

1936

1947

1949

1954

1956

1960

1986

Image credit: http://www.beautifullife.info/advertisment/history-of-coca-cola-in-ads/

 

There’s no clear indication that the Cola war is ending. To consumers this is a great advantage as price war will continue which will force both companies to reduce their prices and improve their products. To the advertising industry this is also great news as designers and business owners can pick up important lessons in branding and advertising strategies. We can, thus, expect Pepsi and Coca-Cola to battle each other in the years to come.

 

Small Business Logo Creation Process

Is it time already to get a new logo? If it has been years since you updated your logo, or if you are just starting out now to create one, you should note that things are very different nowadays. Besides the usual need for artistic creativity, logo design today also has science, technology and even some psychology involved.

If that seems a bit more difficult than you imagined, do not worry, everyone goes through it. Even if you are a small business, it will be important for you to do these, because your competitors big or small will be doing the same thing. The better you create your logo and maximize brand impact even on a small scale, the greater the benefits on the long term.

Luckily for you, there is no need for you to take dozens of courses to know how to create a logo. We will cover for you some of the basic and most important steps for logo creation here. I will also give you some great resources links for further learning for each step so that even you, as a small business owner can develop the right logo that will give your product and business the best chances of success.

The steps

To give you an overview, there are 10 steps that we need to cover to give you the basics. This will range from initial research phases such as brand profile discovery and to audience research, up to logo testing and full launch. As you should note, we are going to be thorough with this. Do not worry even if we throw big words like audience research at you. It will not cost a lot and it will be well worth your effort in logo creation when you do so. Let us start.

Brand profile discovery                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

You will be telling yourself now, I know my brand already! I do not need to discover my own brand! Now, while this may be true, a lot of times many small businesses do not have the “right” idea about their brand. This is because the brand image is shaped both by you as a business owner, and then ultimately the market itself and their perception.

As the logo designer too, you will need to totally immerse yourself in what your brand is and how other people perceive it. What is the philosophy and passion beneath the brand? What does it stand for? What makes it different? What lifestyle does it promote? How do other people perceive its image? These are the important questions that you would want to ask as you rediscover what your brand truly is. Here is an article for more in depth insight into knowing your brand if you want to delve in more detail.

Audience profile research

The next step is to actually know the market for the brand. As you may have learned in the past, even though your product might cater to a wide array of people, there will always be that core “audience” or market demographic that you will be gunning for. You must determine your target market’s tastes, preferences, cultural leanings and even their overall psychology. Knowing more about the audience gives you a better idea of how you present your logo to be more catching to them.

To do this, you will need to do some real research. Now there are many things you can do here, but if you are more of a local brand or need to focus on local markets, the best way is either a survey or focus group discussion with some “sample customers”. You need to discover what type of people your customers really are, and the typical locations and areas where you can contact them. This can also apply to your online audience research, as you will want to discover which sites they frequent which you can advertise to.

Here’s an article from about.com that should help you ask more of the right questions to answer once you get started to your audience research.

Competitive research

Knowing thy enemy is of course a given in business (as is in war), and even as a small business it is prudent for you to know your competition as you create your logo. While a better logo is not necessarily the sure way to beat your rivals, it will give you an extra edge you need to fully realize a better and more recognizable brand.

Competitive research will require you to know a couple of things. You have to know who your competitors are, where they are advertising, how they are presenting themselves and ultimately how their logo of course compares to others. The importance here is for you to know how to differentiate your logo design against that information.

So basically what you do here is to actually “consume” your rivals’ material. Record their logos, record where you see their logos etc. etc. In terms of online research, simply do a Google search and see where they are appearing. The more you know about them, and the more you see the art of their logo, the more informed you should be.

If you want more resources for competitive research, this article from inc.com gives you further steps on how to correctly do your analysis.

The brainstorming

Good, now let us take a look back at what we have done already. By this time, you should already immerse yourself in your brand. You know yourself. You should also have done your market research, helping you know your customers. Then finally you should also have done your competitive research, giving you insights on your rivals.

Collect all the information you have done, graphs, text, images and all other data. These will be your basis for your brainstorming session. It would be good to have other people with you as you discuss ideas and concepts. Remember, first list down the features and themes you want to be included in your logo. Once you have the whole list, you just have to go and start sketching different ideas that you can think of.

Collect all those sketches, see what looks great and those will be the ones you pass on to digital processing.

Starting with shapes

With sketches in hand, you should now be ready to start out actually creating your logos using digital image processing software. For shapes, it would be good to start with vectors. Tools like Adobe Illustrator should help you create the shape in your sketches. If you are of course not an expert in creating vectors, it might be good to get some stock vectors. You won’t believe the amount of FREE VECTORS that you can get from the Internet. Here is a nice list of resources for you for vector art. You can use parts of these vectors to fully form your logos.

• http://www.youthedesigner.com/2010/02/23/40-absolutely-free-vector-pack-collections/
• http://all-free-download.com/free-vector/free-vector-shapes-to-download.html
• http://www.freevector.com/free-vector-shapes/
• http://vector.tutsplus.com/articles/web-roundups/60-free-vector-graphics-for-digital-art-pros/
• http://all-silhouettes.com/

Deciding the typography

Of course many types of logos need text. In fact some logos are Text only. In any case, the next big decision that you have to peg is your logo’s typography. Typography may actually define your logo, and a good font style might just be the difference between looking professional and formal versus just being plain wacky.

Now, there are two things you could do when choosing a font style for your logo. Either you can have your own font created and designed, OR you can get a well designed free font. Luckily for you, we have a list of both options that you can choose from.

Custom font design

These are some firms where you can have your own fonts designed.
• http://davidocchino.com/portfolio/typography/custom-font-design.html
• http://www.terminaldesign.com/customfonts/fonts/
• http://www.fonthaus.com/corporate/corporate-font-consulting
• http://silasdilworth.com/type.php
• http://www.avenuelondon.co.uk/custom-font-design

DIY Fonts

If you want to create your fonts yourself, you can also try out these tips for DIY fonts.

• http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Create_Your_Own_Font
• http://www.yourfonts.com/

Free font sites

These are a list of free fonts that you can download and use. You may want to check the licenses of each fonts if it is good for commercial purposes.

• http://www.1001freefonts.com/
• http://www.ffonts.net/
• http://www.fontspace.com/
• http://www.dafont.com/
• http://www.fontsquirrel.com/fonts/list/mostdownloaded

Color and balance

At this point, you should have the Logo’s shape, and the typography. Now it is time to decide on the colors. Now, you should already now know your brand and of course will know which colors to use. However, it is important to do another review of your colors to determine if it is actually ok. It is not just about what represents your brand. You should take into consideration your competitor colors and the different areas where your logos will be displayed on.

If you are not an artist, or have little eye for color though, do not fret. Here are some online color harmony generators that give you suggestions on color combinations that you can use from a basis of one color

• http://www.colorschemer.com/online.html
• http://pourpre.com/colordb/?l=eng
• http://colrd.com/
• http://www.colourlovers.com/
• http://colorschemedesigner.com/

NOTE: Some of the latest versions of design software like Adobe Photoshop CS6 also have their own color harmony generators that can help you with balancing the right color hues for your logos.

Combination and finalization

Once you are all done with the practical elements of your logo, it will be time now to actually combine and finalize the design. From your initial sketches and digital processing you should have at least one or two good concepts that you like. Lay those out and of course combine both the shape, typography and color elements to make it a whole logo.

Note that in combining these elements, try to test out a few variations just to see what looks the best. Make sure everything is balanced, and more importantly, see if the layout combination can easily fit all the different places where the logo will be placed. For example, will the logo look good in a letterhead, product box or a poster for example. Usually it is best that they have a more or less uniform and balanced dimension as logos that are too tall or too wide can cause issues with some publishing layout elements.

Also, review the early concepts and themes that you started with and see if those themes correspond correctly with your draft logos. This should keep in your goals with your logo design.

Testing

Now it is about testing. You do not want to just launch your logo outright without some kind of testing. Believe me. The best testing you can do is to do a private survey or again a focus group discussion presenting the different logo drafts that you have. Take a sample audience and run them through the logos. Test which logos they remember most, and of course gives them the more meaning. It is good to have a bigger sample size here to be sure of the general opinion.

I would also recommend actually PRINTING your sample logos into real paper. You can have some good quality letterheads and poster examples printed from places like printplace.com.  Having the logo actually printed gives you a better sense of how that logo will appear in the real world of course.

DO NOT let the managers take over the decision for the logo as it is the consumers’ opinion that you should be most worried about here. In the end there should be a clear winner of what looks the best usually.

Launch

With the logo actually done, it will now be time for launch. For this, it is best to prepare everything before hand and due the switch on all your branded elements simultaneously. This way it would be totally obvious and people will notice immediately the change. So make sure you create the necessary digital and print materials with the updated logos, preparing them first for deployment. In this step you may see how the colors and dimensions will work on different environments. Launch on all avenues that you can stick your new logo into when you can. The on just one day, do the change. This will give the necessary immediate impact that everyone likes for your logo and brand itself.

Summary

So that is the full basic process for logo creation that covers research, development and eventual deployment. All these steps help you cover the right issues early on with your logos so that you do not have to worry too much about them in the end. The more careful and scientific you are with logo creation, the better results you will usually have.

What Women and Design have in Common

 

 

Women are fickle creatures, say researchers from Exeter University. By nature, they are more indecisive than men. John Gray, the author of Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus even describes women like a wave. According to him, a woman’s self-esteem rises and falls like a wave. One minute she feels good and her wave reaches sky-high and the next she changes her mood and her wave crashes down. This is the very reason why men are often regarded as more consistent in personality than women.

However, though often type casted as unpredictable, there are few things designers (web or print) can learn from women. There’s something in a woman’s fickleness that can prove to be valuable when it comes to designing. Here are some of these valuable women traits that can be emulated in design:

 

1. It’s good to be the oddball. A woman’s mood changes are often due to her desire to be unique. 20-something single women who want to be attractive to the opposite sex are not afraid to be eccentric and unique just so they will stand out from the crowd. In designing web pages or business cards, you don’t have to always go with the flow. You can choose to break some rules so you can make your design more interesting and gripping.
2. Focus on what you know. Though women are stereotyped as unpredictable, the one thing admirable about them is that they know and understand what they want. When they set their mind on something, th
   ey see to that it gets done right on time. The same thing should be applied in design. If you know and understand your project, the easier and faster you’ll be done with it. Just make sure you gather enough details to be effective on your project.
3. Don’t be a diva. Women who act like a diva don’t get far, so don’t even think about being one. If you want to go far, be humble and patient. If you aren’t seeing eye to eye with your client, find something you can both agree with and start from there. Remember that you don’t want your clients’ opinion of you to crash down, so learn how to compromise with them.
4. Contrast is highly recommended. Women may be fickle, but they are great friends. Often, they choose friends that aren’t in the same league as them—different race, nationality, hobby, etc. These differences don’t hinder their friendship rather keep them stronger together because it’s these differences that keep things interesting between them. Contrast is also important in design. If you can make full use of the right contrast in design elements (color, size, etc.), there’s a greater chance of creating materials that will leave a lasting impact on people.

Women may be much more inconsistent than men, but there are good sides to this fickleness that can result in unimaginable opportunities, especially in design. If you know how to use these women attributes in design, you’ll surely find better and more efficient ways of creating valuable materials that’ll put your message and your company in front of people.

Star Wars Business Cards: How to Network like a Jedi

In a world dominated by computers, the Internet, and high-tech gadgets, you wouldn’t expect business cards to still exist. They are rapidly becoming relics of the past meant only as nice collector items. People these days would rather get your Facebook or Twitter account than be stuck with a paper business card which can get torn or lost in time.

However, there’s something sneaky in business cards that let them manage to still exist even in today’s highly digital world. They are tangible, simple, easy to access, handy and will allow you to exchange contact details with everyone especially those who aren’t present online yet. Add to that the fact that people still do ask for a printed business card in networking events these days, so it will be unwise to go out your home without your trusty cards with you.

Mary Sue posted a variety of Star Wars business cards that were created in the 1970s. These are old collector items, but there’s a thing or two that we can learn from them. Their simplicity and witty titles create captivating pieces that are sure to entice receivers to keep them. Perhaps you can include Luke Skywalker’s “Professional Hero” or C-3PO’s “Human/Cyborg Relations Specialist” in your own card to spice it up a bit. Just a thought.

Below are some of the Star Wars business cards posted in the site. Take a close look at them and one day you might come across one of them.

This is a good example of a professional Jedi business card. It highlights Luke’s abilities including his background in moisture farming. It also describes Luke as a professional hero, something you can consider adding in your own card.

Princess Leia’s card indicates her diplomatic duties as a senator, but also mentions about her ability to insult and organize rebellions.

Here are the rest of the Star Wars cards: