Branding YOU Better! Making My Clients Look Great!

Posted on May 15, 2010 by itees

In my last post I wrote about attending the all day event of Rock The World, given by Savor The Success. Listening to the speakers and meeting other women entrepreneurs, I have learned so much.

Michael Gerber of Origination asked us to write this down: “What do I want?”

For about a week I walked around saying different things to myself and it finally came to me.

I want to make whatever I come across better, whether it’s by creation, design or spreading environmental awareness.

I started thinking about how that is reflected in my company, SNDI.

Before when visitors came to my site there was a splash page and I had you select a link to go inside, but unless you dug deeper, visited my profile page or company page, you didn’t see me, the site was all about design and the portfolio.

I realized that what separates me from other design firms is ME! It’s my visions and conceptuality. What I come up with to brand a client or their product, is what makes me unique. It’s also what helps me retain clients year after year, they trust me, respect my expertise and know that whatever I create is solely for them, to help them shine.

New Branding YOU Better! Logo

So, I have started revising my site by branding the new phrase geared toward clients, “Branding YOU Better!” I removed the splash page and put my photo and a quick animation of a few client projects showing the branding I created for them. This is more direct and immediately separates me from other design studios. Next, my plan is get new headshots, create more graphics that show the continuity and style from print to web for many of my clients, and to add photos and video of my clients with their testimonials and perhaps new shots of them surrounded by the materials I created for them.

I also registered the new domain for Branding YOU Better! and will build a new site there, that is simple and direct. It will have just enough branding samples to make the point, and will use the latest javascript animation or programing techniques so I’m showing by example that I can create whatever a client wants or needs.

I also learned that when you have a design and logo that you’re using, you must make sure that you’re using it throughout your social media as well. I had been using my logos of course but forgot about the backgrounds. So I took that splash page and dropped it into Twitter (@sndinc), and did the same for our Frog Blog, you’ll see that the background on Twitter (@greeninnature) is now the same as Frogs Are Green. All banner ads I create are also using the same appropriate graphics.

This all helps to support my brand and creates trust for clients who know me and for new clients who have just discovered me.

Working For Friends, Family and Keeping That Website Current

Posted on December 16, 2009 by itees

In my last post, I wanted to highlight that in many cases I’ve seen websites and print marketing done by individuals and small companies without hiring a professional designer. In various group discussions on LinkedIn, artists from all over are commenting with their experiences. In these comments, some artists have brought up a few very important points, which I’m going to pass on now.

As designers, many times, friends and family ask us to “help them out” with a project. Depending on who this is and the scope of the project, we may decide to help. One artist reported that after creating various materials for a friend and gratis of course, the friend didn’t use any of them and instead got a family member who just happened to have a computer and “Word” & “Photoshop” to create something.

Now, I suppose the big question here is, why wouldn’t you use the materials created by the professional designer, and instead use the amateurish piece by the family member. Instead of using a professional printing company, it was printed out on their home printer. The end result did not look professional. Secondly, wouldn’t the friend realize how rude that was, after asking the professional to invest time and effort in the project.

In addition, they have said that it always seems to be the non-paying, non-profit clients who they’re “helping out” who send the most changes or edits. It’s interesting how when someone has to pay, they understand the rules a bit better.

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Clients change their look and their logos. As artists we understand this, we do as well. I had changed my company logo a few times over the years, until I settled on the (sndi) I have now and the current color palette. I also previously wrote about how I changed this (i-tees) site into a blog, and I’m sure at some point, I’ll change the look again.

One thing an artist just reminded me of, is when you’ve created a wonderful website for someone and they seemed to be very happy with it… then a short time later it has been replaced with a totally different design. The most important part to remember, is not to be too disappointed. With the web, this is bound to happen, hopefully not often, but face it, it will. I suppose what bothers us most, is that it happened and the client didn’t tell us or come back to us for the new design. We wonder about whether they really liked the original or just said they did, so they’d have the site up, (urgency again, content over design and style) who knows? I always wonder about this. I remember a magazine site I did a few years ago, and about one year later there was a new site up. It didn’t really have any new features, or e-commerce, it just had a different look.

It’s also important to realize that if they do create a new website with new features, they may not realize you can do what they want. Always be sure that your clients know about all your capabilities. I have a current client who’s website I update and he never knew I designed books, good thing I mentioned this, and was able to design his book cover.

What you need to do, is check all the links you’re featuring on your portfolio website, perhaps once a month. I sometimes forget to do this, but will this week. You don’t want to have an image or link up and a potential client goes to see it, and it’s a different site. I’ve also had sites disappear or go down for one reason or another. So be sure to update your portfolio and site often.

You Call THAT A Website?

Posted on December 11, 2009 by itees

Okay, I may be in a lousy mood, and this is going to sound like a rant, so get ready!

If one more person builds a website without caring that it looks like crap, I don’t know what I’m going to do!

Recently, an artist friend contacted me because he wanted to start a new business. I was hopeful, because what I’m best at is a new business start-up, logo design and giving them, their identity… that all around consistent look. I also love working with the arts community. I spoke with him and we discussed various things, but… today I got an invite, and realized he had just pushed ahead with the site, without me. Now aside from losing a potential client, I went to look at the site to see what had been developed. To say I was disappointed and horrified is an understatement.

There are (links) pages that don’t even apply to his company. So does this mean he copied or worse, another site’s pages and is planning to just update the content when he has time?

What could he be thinking?

Why do people feel so urgent? Pushing their information out there, without any control to how it looks, or if it will attract an audience. This has really sent me into a depression, and the realization that on the web, content will always win over style. I suppose only on the web this may be true. When I’m looking for something or shopping, functionality and directness will always win over pleasing design and pictures. But don’t we want to push our content out there in a pleasing way?

There has to be a balance between the content being current and wanting it to look nice. We’ve got to make any client, whether an artist, musician, author, small business owner or fortune 500 company understand that these things go hand in hand. And an artist should know better!