Awesome Designs for Valentine’s Day
During my planning phase for my own Valentine’s Day self-promotion, I checked out some ideas as to what other designers had done for a similar marketing effort. I came across so many well-designed pieces I thought I would share them here. Click on the images to see the source and to get a better look at the cards.
Finished Valentine’s Day Self-Promotion
Recently I wrote about the self-promotion I’m currently working on; a set of three design-related Valentine’s Day cards designed by me and printed on letterpress for each client. I thought Valentine’s Day seemed like the perfect opportunity to show my clients from the past year how much I appreciate them and their business (for more info on my concept and thought-process on this, click here).
The cards each have their own saying relating to web or graphic design such as, “You’re just my type,” “Let’s tighten the kerning between us,” and “You make me happy when skies are #CCCCCC.” I’ve just received the finished cards and have packaged and labeled them. Below is a photo of the finished promo:
Each packet of cards will be inserted into a red envelope and labeled with a custom-designed address label. They’ll ship sometime this week and my hope is clients will receive them in plenty of time to make use of them for Valentine’s Day.
Oh, and if you like the cards, they’re also available for purchase on Etsy.com here.
Shop Now Open on Etsy!
In my last post I talked about the new self-promotion I’m working on for Valentine’s Day; a three-pack of reusable Valentine’s Day cards for my clients to pass on and share with their friends/family. When having these cards printed, my printer took some snapshots of the pieces in progress and shared them on his Instagram account. Shortly thereafter, he received an inquiry as to whether the cards were for sale. After posting the pics on my blog just as a general post, I too received some interest about purchasing the cards. This got my wheels turning and I decided it was time to take the plunge and to open an Etsy shop.
I’ve been thinking about custom designing and selling items on Etsy for a while–nothing in too high of quantities nor anything too elaborate. This just might be the perfect opportunity for me to try out being an online seller. So I’ve listed only 25 sets of the three-pack of cards. We’ll see how it goes!
Sneak Peek: Valentine’s Day Self-Promotion
When sending out self-promotional pieces to clients, I try to stay away from Christmas, New Year’s and Thanksgiving. Why? This is the time of year when lots of clients focus on year-end initiatives and closing their books plus I just don’t want my promo to get lost in the holiday shuffle. In past years I’ve done a couple of Earth Day promos to emphasize the eco-friendly side of my business but with my move coming up to New Jersey, I thought I’d get on the band-wagon now than just put it off later and miss it.
For the first time ever I create custom Valentine’s Day cards for my clients. The idea is that the cards are graphic or web design related so as to promote what I do. I wrote the sayings myself and designed them with letterpress printing in mind. Each client will receive a package with three cards in it for their own use. In keeping with being green, my thought is that the clients can reuse the cards and share the love. Here’s a sneak peek at my promo with some photos my printer (Angel Bomb in Minneapolis) sent me yesterday. I guess he posted them on his Instagram account and they were well received; someone even wanted to buy them! Now there’s an idea…
Once they’re packaged, labeled and ready for sending I’ll be sure to post the full after pics!
A Mind-Shift for Business
I mentioned in my 2011 in Review post that I had a number of goals for my business in 2012. One of my priorities this year is to successfully make the transition with my business between where I am now in Hudson, Wisconsin to operating out of New Jersey. How do I define “successfully?” I want to disrupt the service to my clients as little as possible. While I plan to take a week to cover the physical move part, my hope is to help those not used to working with me long-distance now to being comfortable and just as efficient with projects in the future. I also need to file the paperwork for my business registration, tax numbers and all that fun stuff.
Another intention I have for operating my business this year strays from the typical financial goals and marketing initiatives but I feel it’s just as important. I plan to approach each client, each project and even each conversation with the mindset of “how can I assist you?” It’s unfortunate, but I read an online article a couple of months ago about approaching client interactions and relationships with this question in the forefront of your mind. I can’t find it for the life of me, so I’m unable to credit the source (nor pull further tips from the article), but I found this idea in itself very powerful. The overall concept is that by handling client services and interactions with this mindset, you’ll be more likely to offer them a service they need while strengthening your worth and overall image from the client’s perspective.
I’ve already started trying to work daily with this shift in attitude. For example, I recently provided proofs to a client for a project that’s been in the works for a while. The client didn’t like the overall approach though I tried to explain the concept and the solution as best as possible. Rather than start from square one, I asked myself, “how can I assist this person?” I took the opportunity to repeat their project objectives and goals in the conversation and offered alternative solutions. While the first series of concepts I came up with weren’t approved, the client decided their objectives weren’t as direct as they’d thought and we decided on a slightly different course of action for our next steps. I was able to help the client pin-point their marketing objectives better and showed that I had knowledge and brought value to what they were trying to achieve.
At the end of the day, as designers, I think it’s important to remember that we are service providers–we are there to help our clients achieve an intended goal. Even in those touchy scenarios where we may feel the client is “wrong” in their desired approach and direction, it’s not worth arguing over or criticizing. It is worth working to better assist them in achieving their design needs (while educating them) without compromising our ethics and professionalism–after all, in the end, the client can always choose to take their business elsewhere.
The Best of 2011
Around this time (although I think I’m on the late-end of things), a lot of blogs look back at their favorite posts or features from the previous year. I thought it might be fun to do the same, but to put a post together summarizing my favorite projects from 2011. Below are a number of pieces I’ve developed over the past year that range from larger-scale efforts to smaller ones. Why are they my favs? Check out their descriptions below:
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Air Motion Systems Corporate Brochure
In 2011 Air Motion Systems asked me to help with the redesign of their corporate brochure. The company had been using a version that was several years old and wanted to not only update the featured product content, but also the look to a cleaner more simplified design. I enjoyed working on this brochure so much because I had a lot of creative freedom with this design. Being an LED-UV printing manufacturer, the client also wanted to employ UV coatings and effects throughout the piece to show off what the product can do. The paper is a high-quality coated stock and the images are spot-coated offering a nice sheen.
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MOKA™ Identity and Collateral
I love working on MOKA collateral as the client truly appreciates the value of simplicity. After the logo design was established for this new coffee company (with six stores in the upper midwest), it was time to establish a clean and unique brand. Rather than focus on heavy graphics or illustration, I proposed using witty phrases pertaining to the client’s service offering. Sayings such as “Mochas so good we named our business after ‘em,” and “Finally there’s a tea-time that doesn’t require golf clubs” helped to clearly state the types of drinks that MOKA offered while giving the brand a personal and slightly playful feel.
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Whisper® Veterinary Stethoscope Packaging
Most of my client projects are based strictly around print collateral design, identities or web work. I was thrilled at the chance to brand and package the Whisper® Veterinary Stethoscope. The client came to me requesting a look that was medicinal but very clean. The founding company of this project are using blue and gold as their color scheme and specifically asked to carry these colors over into the product brand. Along with employing these specific swatches, I brought in Helvetica as my font of choice for a very clean and simple look, while approachable and modern. Grid lines were used throughout the package design to suggest an EKG-like idea. Without images provided, I set up my own photo shoot and digitally enhanced the images for optimal color and contrast. Finally, I created illustrations to work with the packaging instead of just using images only (as seen on most healthcare-related products).
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LED•UV Association Identity and Website
I was asked to help create a logo with an international look for the US- and Japan-based LED-UV Printing Association. The organization wanted to promote their dedication to eco-friendly printing with LED-UV technology. I thought it best to keep the mark very simple and straight-forward so as to keep the logo as universal as possible. I created a leaf to suggest the idea of environmental awareness and sustainability. The leaf then fades into a dot-pattern communicating the idea of printing. The logo was supplied to the client in various color swatches for variety within the usage. Shortly after the logo design was established, the website was created. Again, the overall look is very simple and international with an emphasis on being green.
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Personal Project: 2011 Holiday Card
Each year I design my own holiday cards for sending to friends and family. I wanted to do something different this year and settled on the idea of an annual-report-like design. I chose to highlight our home renovation progress, trips we took, etc. and created a series of infographics to aid each topic. I actually received so much positive feedback about the card that I just might take this same approach for next year’s.
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Un-Used Graphics: MOKA™ Political Campaign
To promote new specialty drinks for the store, each season MOKA creates a new campaign. This may have to do with the season, an idea or just a plain self-promotion. During the fall of 2011, MOKA had the idea to create a political-related marketing effort. The idea was to create a subtle commentary on the political discussions going on within local politics and to create a peaceful approach by saying “everyone could agree on coffee.” I started the campaign by creating a series of stickers first. Coming up with illustrations and headlines for each, I thought this might be a good way to brainstorm ideas for the marketing effort and to branch off to other collateral materials from there. After seeing the idea in motion, MOKA decided to not pursue the political campaign effort. They decided this may be a touchy area for some and didn’t want to unintentionally offend any prospects or customers.
So there’s my favorite projects from 2011. Do you have any favorites to share?
2011 in Review
I love putting together and looking back at year-end review posts; it’s a great way to see what areas my business may have thrived in and where there might be room for improvement. Just as with 2010′s review, I created some infographics as a way to take a look at 2011.
There’s no doubt 2012 will be a big year for 1331 with registering my business in a new state, moving the business itself and maintaining client relationships from afar. Rather than get tied up with financial goals and project numbers this coming year, I have decided to shift my focus to maintaining high-quality service and design solutions throughout the moving process and on creating better client relationships. This means strengthening those I already have and being sure to create solid new ones. For example, I read an article the other day that focused on asking the question, “How can I be of assistance?” when it comes to interacting with clients and prospects. Approaching client relations with this mind-set promotes a more helpful attitude and stronger interactions. More on those 2012 goals to come.
Portfolio Samples Made Easy
As you know, I’ve been working on rebranding by business which means a website redesign and new portfolio samples. I took the opportunity to program my website heavily with CSS instead of being so HTML reliant. I also tried working with jQuery for the first time and programmed a great website slideshow-style portfolio. I was really happy with the functionality and the look, but being a jQuery novice, I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to add more than the seven default samples. With no luck in the code forums, I decided to abandon the slider following the old rule of “form follows function.”
I searched around online and found this awesome tool called PhotoSnack. It’s a website which allows you to upload your images or work samples, pick a template and it spits out the code for embedding the portfolio in your site or blog. I’m sure this would make some custom programmers cringe, but after trying to develop my portfolio section for weeks now, this quick fix was just what I needed. The quality is great and the template options for organizing and presenting the photos are large in number. Check out what I created in just a few moments below:
Perhaps it’s new to just me and you may already know about it, but if you’re looking to save yourself some time and a headache, be sure to zip on over to PhotoSnack.
Oh, and there is a free option for embedding your portfolio, however this comes with a little logo and watermark. To avoid this, I chose the paid plan which allows me to embed and download the code for the portfolio without those features. It looks a little more tailored to my site that way, I figure.
Featured Work: MOKA Spring 2012 Collateral
I’ve just finished the 2012 spring campaign for MOKA; a theme based on the idea of spring as an awakening or a renewal. MOKA came up with the theme themselves as they wanted to stray from the usual daisies, butterflies and grass blades seen in most spring-related marketing. My job was to come up with some of the phrasing and the graphics for this project.
Each season, MOKA creates four new featured drinks that aren’t usually seen on the menu. MOKA came up with drink options and then keywords for each as to show how they pertained to the renewal theme. In trying to combine all of these elements together, while still keeping the brand simplicity of MOKA in mind, I came up with the following menu topper sign. Four feature drink stickers were also created along with another that captures the initial phrasing.
Much of MOKA’s branding is based on short pun-like phrasing with simple, almost icon-like graphics. To see some additional work I’ve done for MOKA, please visit the portfolio section of my website.
And The Moving Process Begins
This weekend the transition to New Jersey officially started; Saturday I moved my business home. Shedding my studio was the first step in moving to New Jersey in February. I wanted to be out before the end of the year and it made the most sense to make the transition before the holidays roll around. After 3.5 years of running 13thirtyone Design out of my downtown space I’m now operating out of my home office.
My home office is a great space and I still love the way we decorated it. However, transitioning from a three-room office suite to this little room is a big shift, though I know it’s temporary. Right now I’ve got half of my belongings on a shelf in our bonus room; I guess walking back and forth makes for good exercise, right? I do like that my commute is even shorter than my five-block distance from before and I don’t have to move my car every four hours. Here’s a look at what the “new” home office looks like now that I’m operating my business out of it:
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t get a little misty-eyed when I closed my office door for the last time. Having a studio space downtown was a huge goal for me so I am sad to see it go. Here’s a few photos of my office in its prime:
I didn’t want to take any photos of the office after the all the rooms were emptied; something seemed a little sad about taking pictures and remembering it that way. Instead, I took some pics near the end of move-out day.
So that recaps the first in a series of steps when it comes to the moving process.
