A Creative Year

After bidding on a recent web design project, the potential client decided to hold off on creating the web-site in favor or other marketing avenues that would produce a more ‘immediate impact.’ The current economic slow-down was a major factor in the decision. Perhaps you are facing the same decision in your business, as the economic downturn puts the squeeze on your bottom line.

I thought it was worth a post, since there are still business owners out there who don’t understand the vitally important role a website plays in the success of any given business. I can’t say it any plainer than this: if you own a business, and do not have a well designed website leveraging all the web has to offer, then you are hurting your business!

I think most savvy business owners understand this, but it won’t hurt to list a few very good reasons why you need a web-site, yesterday! So, without further ado, and owing greatly to common sense and many other great articles available online, here are my top 5 reasons for having a website for your business:

1. Money: Business is being done online. Believe it or not, people go online and buy stuff. A LOT of people. And they buy a LOT of stuff. If you are not online, they will find your products and services from another company.

2. Search: The internet is the go-to place for information. Your potential customers are looking for more information online about products and services that you offer. They may even be looking for you specifically (and instead they find your competitors when doing local searches). Wikipedia says Google was doing 400 million queries a day… in 2006! Without a website you are not attracting these internet savvy customers.

3. Convienance. The internet is a great way to find what you want, and find it NOW. You can make it easier for both potential customers (that you didn’t even know existed, or would never otherwise attract), and your existing customers, to find what they are looking for from you, without having to call you, run down to your store front, and without having to wait. This can save you time, and it’s a great way to build loyalty with existing customers as well.

4. 24/7 Salesperson. A well designed website that is attracting search engine traffic will produce more bang for your buck than any other marketing tool, attract global traffic, and make things happen for your business every hour of every day. A website is the best return on investment you will ever make.

5. Credibility. The internet is the great equalizer. A start-up can look like one of the big boys. A great website doesn’t have to be expensive, and it makes your business legitimate.

So, there’s a few good reasons - and there are plenty more. Don’t miss out on the myriad of ways a website can help grow your business. You can’t afford NOT to have a great online presence. Need a site, or need to improve your existing one? Shoot me an email - I’m here to help.

Scott Kelby is a well known name to Photographers and Photoshop users everywhere. His blog is a great read, and he regularly features guest writers. The most recent post, by Rick Sammon, really struck home for me. He talked about his son and not forgetting what’s important - about the richness his son brings into his life and his work.

My son, Dillon, recently started playing soccer. In fact, yesterday was his second practice and he is playing in his first game on Saturday. He is a little late to the game, because of his surgery a year and a half ago, but he is catching on quickly and puts every ounce of effort he can into practice. It’s a kick watching him run around, all smiles and determination.

One particular moment he found himself in the middle of the action, at his own goal, during a scrimmage game against his own teammates. They were about to score and he found himself in the right position at the right time. He managed to block the ball and it immediately went rolling the other way. The crowd of kids rushed after it, sending it toward the other goal and leaving him and his coach in the dust. He was smiling ear to ear  and after a moment turned to his coach.

“I blocked it with my knee!” he said, and he pointed at his knee for good measure.

His coach enouraged him and Dillon turned back to the game. It was a perfect moment, and it reminded me of our basic needs and desires - of working hard and wanting to share in our success with someone else. Of our wonder, surprise and contentment when we succeed. As a father, there’s few things better than watching your son run around, trying his best, improving, and most importantly, enjoying every minute of it.

Sometimes, as artists, photographers, designers, we’re so concerned with producing something great, that will stand tall against our peers, that we’re missing some of the best work we could ever do. Sometimes the best images are the ones no one else will ever see or care about. Sometimes those are the ones that mean the most.

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Every now and again I like to give something away. You may find these brushes useful this summer - feel free to use them both in personal and commercial projects.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Author Anthony Muchina contacted me regarding several creative projects he needed for the launch of his new business, appropriately called ‘Muchina’. The company will be selling various luxury items, and the client was looking for something stylish, that would work no matter what type of product he was selling. Initially, the leaning was toward a script style lettermark, and I kept that in mind as I sketched. However, after brainstorming and sketching, we ended up going a different direction. Here is a scan of a few of the sketches:

I typically come up with as many ideas as I can and try not to limit myself in any way through the sketching process. Then, after I’ve exhausted that and have a few ideas that stand out, I like to quickly mock-up a couple of them. At this point I send everything to the client, with an explanation of various stand-out ideas and the thought process, if it needs explanation. I’m not shy about showing them both the good and the bad - you never know what will spark some inspiration. There’s some debate about this, as some designers fear the client will pick out something that really should not be used, but when that happens I find that you can explain why it would not be a good choice, and also find out what attracts the client to that particular design and try to take that aspect of it and carry it into a something that will make more sense.

For the Muchina logo, right away the client saw one he liked and we went to work perfecting it. There were many experimental changes using slightly different shapes and fonts. We went back and forth a few times, and all told there were 26 variations of the chosen logo sent to the client. The final logo was shown at the beginning of this post, in black and white. You can see some of the spacing relationships here:

The type face used was Gill Sans. The shifting of the ‘Muchina’ name to the left helps to offset the weight in the symbol above - even though it is technically not truly centered, moving it left looks right to the eye. The amount of spacing between each letter (tracking) equals the amount of space from the right edge of the circle to the right edge of the sliver, and the space from the symbol to the type is 75% of that space.

Next we will be designing the packaging for the initial product, with the client indicating the box will be purple with 1 color printing (an undetermined golden hue). After that, I will be working on the website design. We’ll highlight those projects in a future post and also include a testimony from the client.