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The challenge of this project, how to express a varied mix of products for a company whose name didn’t portray this variety. I was approached by Michigan based Musical Instruments Supplies International to design a logo that would appeal to all of their potential clients. While the company’s name implied a fairly limited clientele, in reality, the company supplies imported wood for musical instruments, furniture and flooring… a fairly diverse market.
For the first round of logo designs, I provided one design that very overtly showed each of the target markets and then focused the other designs on what was a commonality among each product (exotic wood). Three logos were designed with a stylized version of a rubber tree and one with images of musical instruments, flooring and furniture.
For the second round, he wanted to focus on the logo that displayed all three uses. I changed the violin image to a guitar and then offered a variety of color options.
After considering the logo for a few days he decided to go back to the idea of the stylized tree. While he was originally not happy with the logo of a tree in a circle, this logo had grown on him. For the final logo we decided to merge logo #3 and #4 together and came up with a stylized rubber tree, confined within a circle with the words, “musical instruments, flooring and furniture” as well as only the initials MISI for a company name. Completed within 5 days from start of project to delivery of the final logo, this logo portrayed the commonality among his products, and didn’t limit him to only musical instruments.
Everyone likes new stuff. And this applies to marketing materials as well. I’ve worked in the marketing department of companies here in Michigan where we get the box of new brochures, or even pens with our logo on them and get all giddy at the newness of them. And I see this continue in my own business.
When I first started my Brighton basead graphic design business, I immediately got to work making a logo, and then got a couple clients and stalled on putting out new marketing materials. Then I finished the work for those clients and saw myself losing some of my enthusiasm as no new clients came in. Which could have been a death spiral. The less enthusiastic I was, the less chance of getting new clients and the less enthusiasm I would have.
The thing that eventually broke this cycle was when I got that push from my husband and actually put together my website, a new leave behind and other marketing materials. Seeing my information in a new light made me feel better about my company. It gave me new confidence to go out and get more clients and thankfully that has kept going.
I’ve seen this enthusiasm work for my small business clients as well. I can see the glint in their eyes when they get those new business cards or leave behinds – that new found pride in their company. And even if they aren’t in the horrible cycle I was, that new boost to their enthusiasm can be seen when they talk about their company. And when prospective clients see that excitement, it can be contagious.
What do you think? What could updated marketing materials do for your company? For your enthusiasm?
I get a lot of people at networking events here in Brighton, Michigan who ask me why I named my company Green Otter Graphics. I keep thinking I need to come up with a great story… Something about how green is a color signifying growth, rebirth, freshness, newness and prosperity. And an otter is not only a very cute mammal, but also a very industrious little bugger. In fact, otters are one of very few mammals to use tools (rocks to break open clam shells).
The reality though, is that I wanted a name that was catchy, and gave me the opportunity to create a cute logo. For some reason, I was stuck on animal color combinations and Green Otter was the one that stuck and wasn’t taken. Now a year and a half later, I can’t imagine it being named anything else!
The moral of the story… if you’re trying really hard to come up with something serious and instead end up stuck on animal and color combinations, go with it. You never know what you might come up with!
Do you have an interesting story of how you named your company?
A few years ago I was dieting and read that I should eat my food off of blue plates. Turns out I already had blue plates, and was still needing to diet – for me more to do with sheer will power than psychological color cues. But regardless of whether or not blue helped me lose weight, it is still true that colors do, in fact create emotional responses. And these emotional responses have a ton to do with graphic design and marketing. And as you may have guessed, blue is up for discussion today.
Blue is a very popular color, both in marketing and if you just ask a bunch of people what their favorite color is. Blue is also very versatile, because there are so many variations. From baby blue to a solid navy, the word blue describes a very large number of colors.
Generally, blue is a very soothing color. It creates a sense of calm and serenity. In fact, blue can actually lower your pulse and blood pressure. You will see blue used a lot in healthcare materials. Meditation centers and spas would also do well with blue.
Go with navy blue and you’ve got a very safe color. It still has that calm, but also with a very stable connotation. You will see blue in the logos of many, many large corporations for this reason. If you are starting a new business that needs to project a stable, safe image, blue is good for you. However, if you are looking to start a hip new club, or any type of business that is meant to shake things up, blue might be a little too safe, unless it is mixed with other, more energetic colors.
Blue can also have connotations of sadness. Think the blues. I’m feeling blue. Generally, this can depend on what shade of blue you are going to use. Warm hues of blue have a much more “sad” feel than a vibrant cool blue. Again, if you are starting a business that needs to portray energy, blue might not be your best choice.
Going back to dieting and plate color, blue is generally one of the least appetizing colors. It is believed this has something to do with the fact that very few foods are naturally blue, and that when we do see blue in food it is often because of spoiling or some sort of toxin. Restaurants and food related industries would do well to avoid the use of blue.
Like with any colors, if you have a business that needs to project an emotion opposite of what blue creates, you can still use blue. But consider what shade of blue you use. Again, there is that huge range of blues, from warm to cool, pastel to navy. Also, consider making blue a smaller part of your branding, perhaps as an accent to a color that does create the emotional response you want your customers to have.
How does blue make you feel?
The internet is a wonderful place for business. I’ve recently been using it with some success to bid on graphic design projects across the country – opening up my customer base by leaps and bounds as I can compete for clients outside of the Brighton, Michigan area.
In doing this, I have also been researching the other graphic design companies who are bidding on these projects. I came across one company that had been bidding on every possible logo design project, at what seemed like an impossibly low price. I went to their website and was immediately hit with the line, “Over 10,000 logos designed.” And I momentarily freaked out. How on earth was I going to compete with someone who not only designed a logo for almost free, but also had over 10,000 logos in their portfolio?
Once I finished freaking out, I realized that I wasn’t competing with these guys. These guys were a huge company, with designers based overseas, and many of the 10,000 logos were very very similar to each other. I doubt they’re giving their thousands and thousands of clients very individualized attention, and whoever hires them probably doesn’t know exactly which of the logos in that massive portfolio were actually designed by the designer assigned to them. And… Turns out the logo that they were offering for this unbelievably low price was in one format, suitable only for a website. If a company wanted a resolution suitable for print, or a vector image, they would have to spend additional money. And for many people who aren’t particularly graphic savvy, this wouldn’t be obvious up front.
Sure, this company will get some of the projects that I bid on. But they won’t get them all. There are people who will appreciate what they get from working with a smaller company and actually knowing who it is that will be doing their work. There will be people who see unbelievably low prices and… gasp… not believe them. There will always be people who want to be an individual instead of one of 10,000. These are the clients I want and am competing for. Which means I am not competing with firms like this one. I am competing with all the other designers out there who provide their clients with personalized attention and a unique final design at a price they can make a living at. And I’m okay with that.
As small business owners have you found yourself trying to compete online with companies that made it seem impossible to compete? What have you done to compete with them?
There’s a cute commercial for a paint company where two kids are tearing through the house at full throttle while their parents paint a room this very cool color of green. Suddenly it’s quiet and the parents turn around to see the kids in the new green room, sitting quietly and reading. While there is in reality no color that will suddenly tame children, it is true that color elicits emotions and can have an effect on our mental state.
This is important in graphic design and marketing. You want the colors you use for your branding and marketing to elicit the right emotional response from your customers. Let’s take red as our first example.
Red is a strong color with a multitude of associations. It can portray danger, love, passion, aggression, heat, strength,urgency, excitement or debt. The color red can stimulate your appetite – for food or for more sexy pursuits. It is a high energy color.
If your company specializes in something relaxing like massage or meditation – red is a bad choice, not relaxing enough. If your company is involved in finance – red is a bad choice, since red in finance means negative. In healthcare, red means emergency. If your company is trying to appeal to patients and make them feel safe, red is a bad choice.
If you are a restaurant, red can be a good choice since it stimulates appetite. A high energy entertainment company can use red to very good effect. A sexy clothing line or jewelry shop can do well with red.
Does this mean that you have to entirely avoid red in all your materials if it doesn’t entirely fit with the emotions you want your customers to feel? Not necessarily. Just use it in small doses, tempered with other colors that do elicit those feelings.
How does red make you feel?
Wouldn’t it be great if all small businesses had the budget to just redo all of their marketing materials at once, creating a completely new look for the company every time it was time to update? In reality, a lot of us need to do this updating piece meal. To be honest, even for those of us who are working on our own materials (and at least don’t have the added cost), the very thought of doing them all at once can be pretty daunting.
So how do we update our materials if we can’t do it all at once? If we can’t update everything, why bother? Won’t it be bad to have some items updated, while others are behind?
Having worked with many small and medium businesses in southeast Michigan and beyond, I can tell you that even larger companies with big budgets don’t always update everything all at once. So don’t be discouraged if your materials are in need of a major overhaul and you’ve only got the time or resources for a minor makeover. The most important thing is to not be so overwhelmed that you just leave everything as is.
If your materials need that revamp, start with the materials that are most important. What are seen first by your clients? Where are you getting the most work/traffic? If you get the bulk of your work from your website, start there. If you are a bigtime networker, perhaps your business cards are the first thing for an update. If you need a complete overhaul of everything, maybe you need to start with your logo.
The key is, once you pick where to start, make sure you get that piece right. Whether using a graphic designer or designing the materials yourself, you want to be happy with the look of your first updated piece, then you can base the changes of everything else on that piece. It is vitally important that you don’t update one piece to look one way, and then do something completely different with everything else. As you go about systematically updating all of your materials, they all need to coordinate, or match. They all need to have your “new look”.
Another consideration is timing. If you can’t do it all at once, try not to drag it out too long, especially if the new look is drastically different from your old one. If you know it is going to be a long process, maybe the new look should be something that doesn’t stray too far from your existing image. Much more of an update than a complete redesign. This can accomplish two things… First it can help maintain your brand identity, and second it can make it so that if a client gets two different pieces of your marketing puzzle, they at least look like part of the same company.
What would you change first if you were updating your materials? How long do you think is reasonable to update “everything”?
Many small businesses or entrepreneurs now have a substantial online or digital presence – and not just with their websites. There are your blog site, Twitter, Facebook, email newsletters and a multitude of other online directories and listings. The goal is that if anyone pulls up your company from any online source, they can instantly relate it to any other place your company appears. With so much of ourselves spread all over, how do you maintain your corporate identity and image – especially when other companies control the design of the outlet?
Many online homes and email newsletter creators provide a variety of templates to choose from when creating your page or listing. Don’t just pick a template because you like it. Take the time to look through these and find one that can coordinate with your existing page. If nothing really coordinates, pick the most neutral so that if it doesn’t coordinate, it at least doesn’t detract.
Try to pick a flexible template if possible. There are templates that offer you the ability to include your own logo or images. Use these. In fact, take every opportunity you can to put your logo or images on the site. This applies with sites that offer templates, as well as those that don’t. Use your logo, headshots, any other images you’ve been using to brand yourself.
In the end, you want to make it as easy as possible for your potential clients to recognize you, however and wherever they find you.
What do you think? Have you found it hard to maintain a consistent image throughout your online identity?
