Like a lot of industries, the design and website development world has trends that surface practically daily. Because of new technology and seemingly new design concepts, the trends in the industry come quickly and leave even quicker. So what should be done with “the next big thing”?

With web development it is a lot easier for us to distinguish between the newest items that are good and those that we ignore. We approach this in the same way that we approach design for a client; we approach this with marketing in mind. If the latest development item goes beyond just looking cool and actually helps the client, then it is something that we would use, when appropriate. If the new development item does not perform well across platforms (Internet Explorer as the prime example), or is not read (crawled) well by the major search engines, or just is inappropriate for the audience, then the client would not benefit by using that development.

With design, sifting through trends is a little more difficult. If something is “too trendy” then there is the risk of a design becoming obsolete very quickly. If a design is “too traditional” then there is the risk of the design not effectively speaking to the intended audience.

All design should consider the 5 elements of art, line, shape, color, texture and balance. Each of the elements should be considered and followed (or purposely broken) for the design to be good. There is one more element that i would like to add to this specifically for designing for clients and that would be the purpose of the design. The purpose of the design will help determine goals, audience and the creative direction of the piece. What would work for a contemporary, young brand would probably not work for a corporate established brand. It is all about purpose for effective design.

More could be said about this but just remember this, if design or development is done for a client, then it should be done to better the client. Happy designing.
-jeremy

We recently launched a website for the Fantis Group Real Estate located in Salt Lake City. Part of the challenge with this site was to take what the MLS provides as a feed and making a search that is user-friendly and content driven. Check it out for yourself to see what we think is the most user-friendly home search in Utah. www.saltyhomes.com

It may sound a little odd, but, yes, there is a surf, skate and snowboard event right here in Utah. The skate park and the surf pool are indoors and then the finale is up at Powder Mountain for the snowboard event.

With a younger, active audience in mind, we created a poster campaign that has a lot of movement. We think that this will get the attention that it needs from the appropriate audience that are ready to “shred” (is that what they call it?).

I am constantly amazed how dismal the news is these days. With most companies shrinking with the economy, any talk is business is typically negative.

At first glance, i would agree that things seem a little dire. But, if you think about it, the situation has stemmed from an inflation of perception of prosperity that really wasn’t there. In other words, our perception of how profitable we are as a nation tends to lead to how prosperous we actually are. I think that this holds true, not just as a nation but with individual organizations as well.

My advice is this; even though times may be tough, have a positive outlook for your business. Instead of just focusing on what has changed within the market, focus on what opportunities may have presented themselves within this climate. While competitors may be focusing inward by slashing jobs and costs, you too should be efficient but also look externally to how you may capitalize on what new opportunities are within the market.

jeremy

Say what you will about the economy being in the tank but i say that design will flourish during 2009. There are a few things that lead me to this conclusion.

First of all, color has come back in style. With the 80’s back in style for a little while now, we will now see a muted 80’s style that steps away from the florescence colors but leaves us with a heavy use of color. Use of a broader color palette will also happen due to the fact that more marketers will try even harder to get the ever-needed attention of a audience that may be less apt to spend any money. 

Secondly, since the economy is the way that it is, designers and marketers must be more creative in how how they develop marketing initiatives. I personally think that this is a very good litmus test for designers. If they can still create effective design within a market that is generally apprehensive, then they are thinking outside of the box of normalcy and are moving our industry in the right direction.

Lastly, with a bad economy, some design will inevitably get worse due to organizations’ budgets tightening or disappearing altogether. While some organizations choose that direction, others will realize that potential that this means within their market. If your competition is not presenting themselves well via ads, web or design, then it goes to follow that you will stand out if you do make that effort. A good example of how this works is currently within the fast food industry. Arby’s has recently gone cheap on some really poor-quality commercials without much direction while Wendy’s has stepped it up considerably with commercials and, more importantly, creative direction. There is no doubt that Wendy’s has taken some market share from Arby’s.

So, in 2009, i think that we will see design flourish with broad use of color and with creative ideas that will propel some companies to the forefront while their competition is caught sleeping. 

-jeremy

Working with Powder Mountain, Wolf Creek Utah, Ogden Convention and Visitor Bureau and Utah Tourism, we have come up with a full-page ad that will be running within Backcountry Magazine. This is a comprehensive campaign that will include a few runs of this full-page print ad, online banner ads, partner ads that will run in Telemark Magazine and a landing webpage to capture contact info.  

There is much speculation out there about how our economy is actually doing and where it will be in the coming months and years to come. As a small business owner, i myself have kept a close eye on this to ensure that Wold Creative Group will not only survive but thrive within these financially tenuous times. 

As with all economic shifts, there are two sides to the coin. When some companies are struggling, others are booming. Is this just industry specific? I think that has something to do with it but the companies that are booming right now also know that this is a time of opportunity. 

With some organizations cutting back their spending on advertising or marketing strategies because they think that will save their company some money, other organizations are able to create waves within their industry through advertising and marketing strategies. Cutting back on marketing to save money is often a fallacy due to the fact that it only saves money at present but certainly hurts the potential future revenue stream. As some say, “stepping over dollars to pick up pennies”. 

I am not advocating spending a bunch of money on advertising or marketing, rather, keep on spending something, anything, on advertising and marketing. In addition, i am also advocating to spend your money wisely and not put your advertising dollars in one area (publication, medium, campaign). Keeping up or starting to have a presence within your industry during the time where other organizations may be cutting back is a win-win situation and should allow you to get a leg-up on the competition. In other words, your dollars spent on advertising or marketing will go farther and do more within our economic climate. 

The current state of the economy can be an opportunity for your organization to stand out and get noticed. All you have to do is to make sure that your brand is still out there and wisely placed.

-jeremy

This summer, Powder Mountain is offering off-road tours of the mountain with its Summer Safari. After riding on this beast myself, it is easy to see why the 4×4 open-air off-road vehicle is affectionately called the “powzilla”. It is a chance to do some real off-roading while touring one of the best ski areas.

To help drive traffic to this new summer attraction, we were called in to develop environmental prints as well as online campaign. After creating the photography, attached posters, online Flash banners as well as its own page on their website, they immediately started getting reservations. What do you know…i guess strategic implementation of a cross-media marketing campaign really works!

Enjoy.

It has been a long time coming but we finally have a bit more breadth to our portfolio section. As much as i wish that the portfolio section is now definitive, the fact is that this is still the tip of the iceberg of work that we have done. It shows some of our work from ads to websites to logos to print to…well, you get the idea. Enjoy.

click here to check it out

When thinking about running an ad or formulating a comprehensive marketing campaign, you have to remember that what you are doing is not a complete facsimile of the product or service that you are marketing. In other words, you have to be selective on what exactly you are using for text, image and messaging.

I like to think of marketing and, specifically, advertisements,  as reflections of what you are trying to sell. These are not complete images of your product or service, but a just a glimpse of it.

Part of our job as marketers is to make sure that reflection shows off the best possible features of the product or service so that the reflection is enough to cause the viewer to want to turn their heads and look directly at the product or service. That is the advantage that we have, is that we can pick and choose exactly what to reflect.