We had the privilege of working with the salt lake city district of 9th & 9th. Starting with branding, we developed the logo, messaging and brand direction. Here are some examples of how the brand was translated into outdoor banners that we used this winter.

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.

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

I like the use of numbers within design. Both the actual numbers and the written numbers together can create a balance that are not only fun to work with but are also a lot easier to remember. As you know, one of the goals in design for marketing is to be memorable. Can we make a collective decision to avoid any more basic use of numbers in design or use of numbers within words like se7en? Low-hanging fruit people.

Have fun with numbers…they need not be overlooked in the design process.

number design

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?).

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

Business cards are seemingly innocuous. Everyone has one and they all want to give them to you. They don’t have to fade into the woodwork, you just have to be creative about how they are done in order to get noticed and to be effective.

Here are a couple of tips that i think should be standard in this day and age of printing business cards:

1. All business cards should be double-sided. The back could simply be a solid color with your website listed but the point is that this is a mini billboard that could be utilized and should not be left blank.

2. Full color, full bleed. Larger businesses may not need to run at full color since their large quantities can justify printing at 2-color on the press. For most companies though, each card is going to be a shorter run since the contact information will change and thus printing these process (4 color) is definitely more affordable. Plus, having full color gives you some options for potential unique design work. Full bleed in printing is where you print off the edge of the paper. I personally like using this on cards so that design elements can be incorporated within the design that do not take away from the branding and contact info.

3. Simple is okay. An example that i like is actually within the movie Ocean’s Eleven where Daniel Ocean gave a card to Linus that was blank except for his name, “Daniel Ocean” in the center of the card. It is amazing that, with simplicity comes complexity and sophistication within design. 

4. They must fit the branding. Because business cards are an extension of your business, they must be consistent with the branding of your business. Just like every other marketing initiative, business cards have to drive the consistency of your brand which includes your logo and current design elements.

Here is an example that we have recently completed for the Fantis Group. As Realtors, they needed certain items on the card, i.e. photo, RE/MAX logo, but this doesn’t mean that their cards had to be standard or uninteresting. In fact, we are printing these cards with a silk laminate with a spot gloss coating on the logo which is quite unique within their industry.

If i had to breakdown good design in a short phrase, i would say that it is the creative manipulation of the elements of art (line, balance, color, texture, shape). This is art. This is fine art, but it is not design for a business. Like fine art, the elements of art need to be used creatively in a good design for a client but the difference is the purpose of the design.

If a design is good but not useful to meet the client’s goals, then it is not a good design within the business world. This seems like a straightforward concept but it is certainly something that greatly effects how we approach all projects for our 30 or so clients.

Given the purpose and medium of a design, there is a structure in which design must fit in order to be good. This structure is both the marketing end of the piece but also the space in which the design is done. As a “creative”, as people in the industry say, i would admit that this structure is often a challenge.

I love a good challenge.
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