What is the first thing you see?
We get data from our senses. Our eyes see, and then the brain makes meaning of the information collected. In his book, The Brand Gap, Marty Neumeier explains that out eyes quickly find the contrast in what we are viewing, and then the brain takes over. We see the difference between subject and ground, big and small, rough and smooth, motionless and moving – then we determine the importance of those differences.
Take the “no-header test.” Go to your website and scroll down so that the header is out of view of the browser window. Now take a look at what’s left. Is it easy to tell what your company does? Will a first-time visitor to your site know what you do, have any sense about what makes you unique, or care? Now put the header back in. Uh-oh, that might not help either?! Here’s the point: you have about six to eight seconds to make an impression, which means you need to give visitors something to latch on to right away so that they will continue to learn more. If they can’t even discern what it is you do, there’s a problem.
In his book, The Advertising Concept Book, Pete Barry explains that a good ad communicates its message, but a great ad “stops you, hooks you, and hauls you in.” Further, a great ad will make the viewer react in at least one of six ways – SLIP IT. This concept also works for email marketing, web landing pages, direct mail, and more.
Brand Identity: NFRC Logo, Print Materials and Emailer
Our logo design, print design and emailer design for NFRC
Brand Identity: The Harbinson Group Logo
Our logo design for The Harbinson Group
Insight180 would like to welcome Michelle Loeb to our team. Michelle will be interning with us over the summer, and we are happy to have her on board. Michelle is a recent graduate from University of Baltimore’s School of Communications Design and has an interest in marketing and advertising. She is especially looking forward to working on some brand research and content strategy for both insight180 and some of our clients.
Aside from being a great Rolling Stones refrain, that line is a great intro to this blog post. Have you done a “word cloud” lately? There are some wonderful tools out there to help demonstrate in a visual way, what your web content, resume, or blog post is really focused on. When working on web content, or any content for that matter, we are constantly reminding clients about key words. While we don’t want articles or content to be overbearingly key word rich, we do want our content to be energized, if you will by terms for which someone might search. Enter wordle.net, a word cloud generator. You can enter in an article or resume, or web page text, etc. and create a word picture that shows what words are emphasized most. Artistic and smart. . . or at least a good way to check your content.
Brand Identity: Rugs to Riches
Our logo design for Rugs to Riches
I’m a logophile, I admit it. I love words and language and communication. I love getting a particular message across to a particular audience, and I love helping clients do the same. It serves me well in my career as a brand consultant, as the visuals and the message are equally important.
What is it about some companies? You know the ones . . . the companies that you want to see do well, that you love working with, that you’re loyal to, or that you’re rooting for because they are special in some way. Sure it probably starts with a good product or service—but it’s way more than that, because lots of businesses offer good products or services. Is it good marketing? Well, sometimes good marketing helps, but it goes more to the core of an organization. We believe that these are the companies that have a clear and specific vision about why they exist (and it’s not just about making money) and are able to articulate it beautifully.
I’m a basketball fan by default. Having a son who could quote very detailed NBA player stats since he was about eight years old made it so. And in the throes of March Madness, that now 18-year-old George Mason freshman got me at least paying attention to this incredibly exciting March ritual. So, GMU was out early, but so were many of the top seeds. From the teams that make up the final four, only Kentucky was ranked in the top 10, with UConn, ranked 11th. But two teams, the no. 37-ranked Butler and no. 50-ranked Virginia Commonwealth have surprised pundits and upset many an office pool. What can businesses learn from this year’s March Madness?
I came across this link in a recent emailer from Applied Arts Magazine and thought it would be neat to share it with everyone.
