We are proud to announce our first published magazine cover that we have had the opportunity to photograph. What started out as a photography project for Brach Design Architecture has turned into a great example of how decent photography can help exposure.

Brach Design Architecture recently completed the first Passive House in the western United States and is one of only a few in the world. For those that aren’t sure what that means, Passive House certification is hard to come by since it means that a structure was built to passively use things such as the elements (sun, angles, wind,…etc.) to passively warm and cool the house. It is roughly is about 75% more energy efficient than traditional contemporary architectural design. That is no easy task and that is why this Passive House is a big deal.

Chesapeake Home, a mid-Atlantic home magazine with a circulation of around 300,000, heard about this and wanted to write an article about it for their next publication. After submitting our photos to the magazine they informed me that, in spite of the fact that they have already shot their cover for that publication, they would like to use one of my photos instead.

What started out as a small article that may have been lost in the publication turned into the cover story with five additional photos and a two-page spread because of quality photography and open communication with the magazine.

If you aren’t familiar with Monster Energy, just watch any extreme sporting event in the world and you will see the ever-present bright green “M”. With hundreds sponsored events throughout the world, Monster Energy helps take competition to the next level.

Wold Creative Group will help promote some of these events through the print and web mediums. We are looking forward to getting a little more “extreme”. Welcome guys. Now, let’s make some epic ads.

Mobile gourmet food trucks have been very successful in LA, New York and other major cities and now it is Salt Lake City’s turn. With the introduction of the Chow truck, Salt Lake City foodies can follow this truck at its host locations to pick up a coconut-lemon grass chicken taco, pineapple-ginger pork or asian spiced root chips. With great food and affordable prices, this has already proven to be popular and successful. Even with our splash webpage up for their website, they received multiple articles from the likes of Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune.

Now we have launched their new website. This is the place to find out where they are going to be and to see the latest. Working with a local designer, Traci Overy Covey, we helped design and then construct a web presence for the Chow truck. Starting with their Twitter page, we then created an integrated blog with widgets that will allow them to update the site regularly. Check it out by clicking below.

We have recently launched an updated website for a neurologist (doctor that works with movement disorders). This is an update of his previous site with a new logo, look, and the ability for him to manage his own content.

Enjoy! website link here

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 are currently in the process of re-inventing how marketing, websites and hosting are implemented. I can’t say too much about this yet but look for Wold Creative 3.0, you may just like what you see. Look for updates as they are available. This will save you money while creating something that will make you more money. i’ve said too much.

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?).

This is all over the news and so i figure that it is a good thing to discuss. Twitter, like facebook or other Social Networks, is merely another way for people to communicate. Twitter allows you to put in 140 characters to say your latest thoughts and then people “follow” you so they can get a constant stream of your latest posts. This sounds a little journal-like and not-so-business-like at first glance.

Admittedly, i still have my doubts as to the marketing benefit of using twitter. Partly because it seems like this would be hard to translate into actual business and partly because this seems like a lack on continuity between thoughts that you share to the world (remember that you can only use 140 characters per post).

That being said, this may also be another tool for reaching an audience. This will allow you to have direct access to an audience, and therefore, to either a potential market or a peer group. This means that this may not effect sales directly, but over time, this could lead to your expertise in a field which would translate to sales, finding competent employees or problem-solving through twitter. I am current checking twitter out myself to see it this holds any weight. Feel free to check out my page. http://twitter.com/jeremywold

Try it out, but try this with the expectation that is a very small avenue for getting your marketing message out in a very ADHD sort of way. This is still it in its baby stages.

jeremy

For some reason, lately a lot of people have asked me about cheap websites for the smaller business that isn’t looking to spend a lot of money on a full website. Perhaps it is the shade of the looming financial situation that is causing some to want small, cheaper sites, but regardless, we just need to talk about what this really means to the balance sheet.

Cheap website options. Firstly, there are a few options to choose from. The most obvious choice is a template. Templates are pre-constructed websites that are already designed and developed where you just take the files (flash, dreamweaver, CSS, HTML) and work within them to change your site to your liking. This could be good for some that are already familiar with code and the programs mentioned before, but even then, there are a few things to consider.

A template is not branded for your business, it is, well, a template for anyone to use. This not only effects how your brand (company image, logo, identity) is perceived within the public, but it also has a adverse effect on how easily your website is found (search engine optimization). There are elements within a website from the meta tags, page titles, alt tags, header tags, html links, html text, xml site maps to submission of site maps to google that greatly effect how "visible" your site is to the greater public. This effects how people find your website through the search engines (organic search is what it is referred to). Having a template site usually means others out there will have the same site (structurally speaking) as you and google and the other search engines discount that.

Another cheap, small option is to use a web-creation online service. This is a step down from templates since you have to relinquish some elements of control. Generally, these options require you to host the website through them and then you can update some text on the site. These are not optimized sites for your business and i cannot recommend any that i have seen to-date.

Blogs are another cheap option for those do-it-yourselfers out there. In fact, instead of a template or an online website creation option, i would and have recommended a wordpress blog as a cheap/free option to those that have asked. The reason for this is that a blog can be expanded and added to over time and, thus, add to your visibility over time. That is one of the reasons that we often incorporate a blog within a website.

The final option is to have a basic site created for you. This would require some expense to have this designed and developed. As stated previously, it is a choice of whether to spend little to nothing on branding or have a site that is branded and easier to be found online.

Over time, i think that you will find that you get out of a website what you put into the website. In other words, if you are looking for the cheapest option, you will get less of a return. This is a basic marketing principal but one that is often thought about for websites, for some strange reason.

Another principle for websites is that a website that is not found doesn’t do a lot of good for you. This means that both the creation of the site as well as some marketing afterwards should be considered so that you ensure traffic to the site.

Good luck!
-jeremy

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