The design template problem

"I really, really love it" said a budding entrpreneur when talking about a particular Vistaprint template design she had recently discovered. "I'm going to use it for all my promotional material." I grimaced, knowing I was about to burst her design-happiness bubble.

In case you haven't come across Vistaprint…

Vistaprint is a popular worldwide online printing service [...]

Branding your specialness

Remember how in the previous post of What makes you so special, eh? we talked about your 'unique selling proposition (USP)'.
While the term USP doesn't sound all that riveting, identifying what is it for your business is the key to "happiness and success" (in marketing hype terms, that is) or "what is going to work for [...]

What makes you so special, eh?

I can't believe it's taken me this long to write about the VERY CORE of marketing.

Sure, I've gestured towards it…flirted with it even (namely in 3 things people forget about a new business name). But I can't wait any longer. It is now it's time to 'go there'. It is time to talk about [...]

Briefing your logo designer

Following from my previous post on logo basics even some graphic designers forget, here are some things to consider when approaching a graphic designer to create a logo for you. 
But before we start…
 
Why give your logo designer a brief?

A friend of mine recently approached a graphic designer to create a logo for his new business.  [...]

Logo basics that even some graphic designers forget

A good logo is a simple one.  That doesn't mean designing a logo is simple.  In fact, it's the crème de la crème of graphic design.
Your logo – as simple and sweet as it may be – needs to do a number of things:

reflect your business accurately
work logistically in every format
look different from everyone else
be [...]

3 things people forget about a new business name

A client recently got in touch about finding a name for a new business.  The staff brainstorm had already happened back at the client's office.  You could have called it a tsunami.  
The client wanted my feedback on their ideas. The staff had obviously gone through every thesaurus on the planet. They had also given [...]

Beware of trigger-happy rebranding

 
I did this 'Rebranding Christmas' cartoon (above) for my other blog site: My Cartoon Thing.   But I want to tell you about where the inspiration came from. It was a conversation with a client who was about to make a very serious marketing mistake.
The butt of the joke in the cartoon is the notion [...]