Menu
    'Primary Menu', 'container' => false, 'menu_class' => 'menu main_menu', 'items_wrap' => '%3$s', 'link_before' => '', 'link_after' => '', 'depth' => 2 )); ?>

Archives for July 2016

Summer—The Perfect Time to Add Some Sizzle to Fall Projects

July 25, 2016 by

Summer To-Do

 

It’s mid-summer. You’re probably thinking about your toes in the sand or lounging poolside. While it may be difficult to maintain your focus on work, the summer is actually the perfect time to get a jump start on fall projects like your organization’s annual report, membership campaigns, and fall conferences.

Get cracking on your annual report
Tracking your organization’s achievements over the course of the year, locating the best photos and highlighting donors can seem like a daunting task. But it doesn’t have to be! Take advantage of a quiet office and slower summer pace to gather and organize news and photos from the year. This could be a great project and resume builder to pass along to the summer intern.

Think about themes that encapsulate the past year or the spirit of your organization. You can also build a theme around a large-scale event or major strategic organizational push. Talk to your design firm early to clarify what you’re trying to achieve or convey with your report. They will be able to share your organization’s story through format, graphics and production techniques.

Boosting membership
Yes it’s hot outside, but before it starts heating up in the office, begin coordinating your fall membership campaign. First, look at the data and outcomes of previous membership drives to see what methods were most effective. Plan a mix of print, digital and social media marketing. It’s important to reach out across multiple channels to ensure your audience is being reached. An email message could potentially be overlooked, while a colorful postcard may be just the piece of collateral to capture your audience’s attention. Want to target a new demographic? Try to reach them on a medium where they are actively engaged.

Fall conferences
Your big conference might take place in the fall, but it’s never too early to begin brainstorming and planning about brand collateral and more. Slow summer office days are the perfect time to work with your design firm on “Save the Date” notices you can send out ahead of schedule to keep your conference front of mind for your target market. Keep in mind it’s going to take several touches to keep guests intrigued and excited about your event. Start planning a branded email, e-newsletter, post card, etc., that clearly highlights the value of your event. Some organizations are even creating apps to communicate regularly with attendees and keep them in the loop about conference events and activities.

In addition to alerting your audience about the event, you’ll also need to create collateral to distribute to attendees once they arrive. Begin working with your designers in advance to create clear and organized programs and onsite guides that highlight speakers and workshops and offer a general awareness of what your conference has to offer.

And don’t forget the giveaways! Conference attendees get excited about tchotchkes, particularly useful items such as T-shirts, USB sticks, tote bags, hats and other apparel that your design firm can help brand to your event. Remember, the better the experience your guests have at your event, the more likely they will be to attend next year.

Dever Designs is happy to help you with your planning process. Visit deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: , ,

Creating a Client Media Kit—Why Less Is More

July 19, 2016 by

IACP.blog_View.02.Dual

 

You’ve all heard the saying, “less is more.” It’s a useful concept in the world of graphic design and one we have often applied to best serve our clients.

When we were hired by the International Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) to design their new media kit, one of the first things to be addressed was the text-heavy nature of the content. Too many words made the information seem overwhelming and left little room for visual relief. Paring down the text allowed us to repackage the most salient points as
•    Interesting Statistics
•    Colorful Infographics and
•    Powerful Testimonials

The updated presentation improved the overall clarity of their messaging and better engaged readers and advertisers.

Removing all dates and time-sensitive material from the main portion of the kit gave the piece a multi-year shelf life; date-specific information was presented in a separate rate card housed in a pocket at the back of the kit. This approach enabled us to provide our client with additional cost savings by not forcing them to update the entire media kit annually.

While this redesign was not intended to be a complete rebranding effort, our client did share the challenges they faced in having many different departments that each presented their own look and feel. So, working within our budget, we designed this kit with imagery and visual cues that served as a foundation on which they could build their brand. For example, photographs of flashing police cruiser lights were manipulated and cropped to transform a literal symbol of policing into an abstract texture with color and energy. Using this art as a gradient stripe elevated a traditional visual into something less intimidating and more modern. Repurposing the various elements and colors in other applications helped establish a sense of cohesiveness in subsequent IACP messaging.

The overall result? We transformed an information-heavy piece into an attractive and engaging kit and set the stage for a stronger, more enduring brand.

Check out what we did for the IACP here. To see what Dever Designs can do for you, give us a call at 301-776-2812.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With:

Branding Part 2: Don’t Just Throw Around The “B” Word—Do It!

July 11, 2016 by

Paper_Torn_Take3_1920x932

 

So your organization is going to rebrand; you’ve gathered and heard all stakeholders, assessed your motivations, determined your goals, and built consensus. Now what?
 
Timing is Everything
It’s always tempting to unveil something new at major conferences or events. What better way to show membership how their money has been spent than to launch a new website or present a new logo to an attentive crowd? And you CAN build a lot of buzz for your organization by doing just that—IF you’ve allowed enough time to do it right. As you’ve already learned, your brand is the composite portrait of who your organization is and the perception customers will have of you. Creating a new identity can take anywhere from three months to more than a year depending on the scope of the project, so it’s essential that companies plan ahead in order to best capitalize on the launch. Ideally, your design partner has been involved in your decision-making process thus far, but if not, now is the time to integrate them into your team. A good design firm can help you develop realistic timelines and set achievement targets to monitor progress along the way.
 
What to Expect
This is where the rubber meets the road. Whether you’ve decided to take your brand in an entirely new direction or evolve it by building on existing strengths, the process should include several key elements.
• The Logo—Using the knowledge gleaned through focused discussions, logo options can be presented to decision-makers. Through constructive feedback, ideas can be narrowed down and refined to arrive at the right solution for your organization.
• Language—What you say and how you say it is a crucial part of your brand identity. Your design team can advise you on adding or amending a tagline to support the logo, maintaining consistency of language and tone in your messaging, or energizing marketing copy.
• Visuals—Will you use photos or illustrations to share your vision with the world? What colors and fonts best reflect your corporate culture? In an increasingly visual and digital environment, ancillary graphics can speak volumes about your organization. Thoughtful curation of these elements by your designers can propel your brand to the fore of public awareness.
• Branding Standards—Launching your new identity is just the beginning; for a brand to resonate, it has to be nurtured and reinforced. Developing style guidelines that define what the elements of your identity are and how to use them arms your staff with an invaluable tool to consistently implement your brand and foster institutional buy-in.
 
Having helped numerous organizations develop lasting identities, Dever Designs has the experience to guide organizations through the process of creating or updating their brand. Ready to start? Visit deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ,

Branding Part 1: The “B” Word and What It Should Say About Your Organization

July 5, 2016 by

Paper_Torn_Take2_1920x932

 

If you were to open a magazine and see an entirely blank page that contained only a swoosh image, you would likely immediately recognize the “Nike” logo.

Seeing the symbol may trigger thoughts of Nike’s “Just Do It” slogan or cause you to picture sweat-laden celebrity athletes training intensely.

That’s the beauty of a brand. It’s not just a logo. It’s not just a tagline. It is a composite portrait of who an organization is and the perception customers will have when they think of the elements of that brand.

Picture your brand as the face, voice and mind of your organization. The face is the visuals or graphics, the voice is your tagline identity, and the mind is your messaging and vision.

As a company reevaluates its branding, it must first consider if it’s trying to be evolutionary or revolutionary. In other words, is the company refreshing a brand with a strong history or legacy, or is their existing brand fatally flawed and in need of a complete overhaul?

Many organizations with well-established brands have modified their logos to make them usable across a wider range of mobile applications. Telecommunications leader AT&T has an iconic globe-shaped logo that was originally launched in 1983, then underwent updates in 1998, 2005 and 2016. In its most recent iteration, the AT&T logo incorporates a brighter blue, smoother curves, and improved positive/negative balance to better reflect its positioning as a global leader with powerful new acquisitions and partnerships.

 

If your company is evaluating its branding, we suggest following these essential steps.

  1. Companies first need to slow down enough to have an awareness of who they are and who they want to be. Identify your vision and mission and make sure employees have a clear understanding of this. Uber recently rebranded in an effort redefine its reputation as a company that serves not only the luxury customer, but people from all walks of life.
  1. Involve all key stakeholders in the initial meetings to ensure everyone is heard and is on the same page. When we were hired by a major university to save their floundering rebranding efforts, we made sure the president and vice presidents were all in the room at the inception of the project to ensure a consensus vision.

 

As a design firm, our goal is to visually represent your company’s mission. What we design for you should be a reflection of what we have heard from you.

A collaborative approach is essential, because we want our clients to feel vested in the process and have a sense of ownership.

Is your company interested in rebranding? Visit us at deverdesigns.com or call 301-776-2812.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: ,