Emily creates exceptional design solutions for a wide variety of brands, both online and in print. She uses the latest design tools and trends to exceed the expectations of our clients. Her ideal is to create quality work that not only meets the communications objective, but also is aesthetically pleasing — after all, if it doesn’t look great, why bother?
Good web developers break everything into three key layers: structure, presentation and behavior. Understanding the difference between these layers will enable you to organize your web content for a more flexible process across multi-platform tactics.
Structure (HTML) <- content goes here
Structure is the organization of your content into a clear hierarchy of information and differentiating its types, such as title, headline, paragraph and link.
A good structure should not change across different platforms and maintaining that consistency will save you a lot of time and money. Keep style and interaction out!
“What’s your problem?” If you’ve worked with Go East, you may have heard this question from your account executive.
But don’t worry; if you know anything about us, you know that we don’t mean it in a snide way — we truly want to understand your brand’s problem. Communicating problems is sometimes difficult for people. In the realm of marketing communications, the tendency is for proactive marketers to communicate the solution — but that’s putting the cart before the horse.
You wouldn’t tell your doctor that you need surgery to remove your appendix. Or, if you did say that to her, let’s pray she wouldn’t just go ahead and do it! How frightening. YOU’RE not a doctor (and your doctor isn’t an “order taker”) — what if you misdiagnosed yourself? Instead, your doctor would likely say: ”Why do you think you need your appendix removed? What are your symptoms? Let’s see if there are other options.”
The next time you’re working with Go East (experts at solving complex challenges via integrated marketing communications solutions), bring us your challenge — in terms of the marketing problem that needs to be solved — rather than the solution. It gives us the opportunity to use our vast experience solving similar challenges. Leveraging those experiences, along with fresh new thinking, we’re able to quickly find the right solution for you, which means you’ll get better results. In the end, your brand will be more successful and you’ll look good, too!
So, what’s your problem?
The fine folks over at Visual Literacy created the above Periodic Table of Visualization Methods. Their e-learning site focuses on “the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations.”
This is just the kind of parsed out pattern-finding that designers love. Whether you are looking for metaphors or trying to convey information, the periodic table is a great starting point for developing visual language. Add a little atomic creativity and — boom! You’ve got all the elements of a successful visualization.
Image courtesy of Visual Imagery
Today marks the beginning of Fashion Week in New York and Pantone has just released their Fashion Color Report for Spring 2011. Fashion colors dictate future color trends in marketing and design, but today I’ve got clothes on my mind. By the looks of things, get ready to sashay down the office hallway in punchy, complementary warm and cool color tones.
My read on this palette is that as we slowly dig ourselves out from this depressing recession, consumers will want cheery, optimistic colors to liven up existing pieces in their closets. Retailers know that consumers can’t afford to buy all new wardrobes each season, but they will want a few new things. I’ve got my eye on corals and lavenders to transition my favorite fall color, olive, into spring. Happy shopping!
The problem is that we attempt to solve the simplest questions
cleverly, thereby rendering them unusually complex.
One should seek the simple solution. –Anton Chekhov
Perhaps it is human nature to overcomplicate things. As we consider all the causes, influences and relationships inherent in any problem we often get overwhelmed and paralyzed. Communication, branding or marketing problems are especially complicated by distribution, product, political and cultural issues that make clarity difficult.
Luckily, design is always beneficial when a problem is so complicated or intricate that it is hard to understand. Designers and writers find patterns, craft structures, define the ambiguous and sort through the details for insights and opportunities that solve problems. They find order and order leads to understanding.
One of our strongest tools for problem solving is visualization. For years we have been using our visual communication skills to outline complex problems and gain insights from responses. We visualize and let the user come to her own conclusions.
Visualization helps us see patterns in masses of data. The best infographics simplify information to inspire conversation and action. Design encourages interaction with data through visualization, which in turn encourages problem solving, finding opportunities and better communication.
Systematic methodologies, business processes and other heady aspects of marketing, like brand architecture models, are also critical paths that are best expressed visually. We will create everything from full-blown concept models to simple diagrams to communicate the problem that needs to be solved. Sometimes those visualizations are so successful that the visual ends up in the final product.
In every case, leveraging visuals and language to define the problem helps all stakeholders come to agreement. And agreement at the beginning of a problem-solving endeavor is a great place to start.
At Go East we define “tagline” as “a short, distinctive, easily recognizable phrase that accompanies a brand, conveying its promise in a few very memorable words.” Sounds simple enough, right? I mean, think about “Got milk?” It’s not like you need a degree in an astrophysics to come up with that gem. It is simple — simply brilliant.
The most successful taglines share a few common traits:
1. They make sense. Okay, this should go without saying, but the other day I saw a TV commercial for a big box home improvement store (I am withholding the name to protect the guilty) and they used the tagline: “Turn your to-do list into a to-done list.” Fail.
2. They’re simple and succinct (e.g., Nike’s “Just do it.” and 7-Up’s “The uncola”). People are busy and attention spans seem to be getting shorter and shorter. Get your point across in as few words as possible.
3. They’re original. Your brand is one of a kind. Your tagline should be, too. In fact, a tagline should point out what makes you different from your competition. UPS’s “What can Brown do for you?” is a good example.
4. They’re memorable. The most successful taglines stick in your head, long after you’ve read them. “Got milk?” was created in 1993 for the California Milk Processor Board and it’s still making impressions.
5. They’re funny or clever. This last trait is optional but I think it goes a long way to aiding and abetting #4. Plus, if you can entertain someone and sell your brand or product at the same time, everyone wins. Some of my favorites include: John Deere’s “Nothing runs like a Deere,” Taco Bell’s “Think outside the bun.”
One of the most complicated challenges marketers face today is determining whether new media is relevant for their brands and, if so, how to implement it.
In my role as a certified social media strategist at Go East, I work with clients to address this challenge.
Two things we consider when determining if new media is relevant for a brand:
When you engage with Go East, our social media methodology dictates that these are the first things we explore. And since integrating new media with your existing brand and communication objectives is the most important aspect when moving forward — it’s imperative to work with an agency that is passionate and driven enough to tackle the complexities of your brand, not just someone who will set you up with a Facebook page.
Like