Archive for June, 2011

BZZZ of the week: Plain Language

Tuesday, June 28th, 2011

A weekly post of catchwords that buzz around today. The BZZZ for this week is: Plain Language.

We recently picked up an award at the National Institutes of Health Plain Language Awards. Did you know that plain language is in? President Obama even signed a Plain Language Writing Act in 2010. This movement isn’t about dumbing down copy. Instead, it celebrates clear, to the point writing that is a joy to read. Federal agencies are stepping up to meet the requirements. What a welcome change!

Photo by Matthew Lester

Our award was for a video on Tai Chi and Qi Gong we helped to produce for NIH’s National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine. I wish I could claim the writing, but our role was art directing the shoot and designing the packaging for the CD. We’re still proud to be part of such a sane movement.

Here’s to plain language!

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Why Apple gets it right with more than product design

Thursday, June 23rd, 2011

I like to fiddle around with new gizmos, but I’m also the kind of person who wants a guide to answer questions and deal with my low tolerance for frustration. As a recent iPad owner, I decided to sign up for one of the introductory classes that the Apple Store offers. I came away with good tips on syncing up my calendar, taking photos and using maps, but the biggest lesson was more about marketing than my iPad.

Delivering the product is the start of the real marketing, not the end.

The Apple Store staff never chased me, or made me feel uncomfortable with aggressive up-selling tactics. They were accessible and helped me set up my iPad in an hour long, one-on-one session. They demonstrated how their products work together and how to use them smartly. I trust their advice and keep coming back for more. Finishing a contract or making a sale is the opening for an ongoing relationship with a customer. This is the time to offer assistance, trouble shoot problems and help plan next steps. If our design firm launches a web site and walks away, we’re leaving future work on the table.

Offering free content and service leads to more sales than paid advertising.

The class I took for my iPad was free. There were at least two other classes happening at the same time in the store with probably 30 people involved. That’s 30 customers coming back to the store, learning to use Apple products with greater satisfaction and ultimately becoming the brand’s best advertising. The classes take staff time in a store that is always packed with shoppers. But Apple knows it’s a smart investment. Social media gurus like Jay Baer, Ann Handley and CC Chapman preach about the value of giving away good information to win business. Apple is proof that this works.

Customers (and clients, members or constituents) want attention, respect and honesty more than anything else.

I bet the average age of my class was 60, and the instructor was a college student. No matter how obvious the questions were, he never once gave anyone “the look” that said, “OMG, you don’t know that?!” He was the epitome of patience and support. I don’t know how Apple trains its people, but they’ve got the message right. If we treat our clients of our design firm like idiots because they don’t know or fully appreciate the process for a web launch, we’re making a big mistake. It means we aren’t listening to them, and the quality of what we deliver will suffer because of it. We’ll also lose that client’s future business.

By the way, I love the iPad and am going back to hang out at the Apple store again with another class…and maybe start looking a those new laptops. Do your customers feel the same way about you?

 

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BZZZ of the Week: Peek

Tuesday, June 21st, 2011

A weekly post of catchwords that buzz around today. The BZZZ for this week is: Peek.

Apple’s product and packaging design always impress the heck out of me. The smart cover of the iPad is one more amazing solution: simple, classy and works like a charm. How does that magnet know exactly where to attach so the cover is in place every single time??

My admiration just rose to a new level with the app from Evernote, the group that is making it socially acceptable to take your iPad to business presentations. This learning tool incorporates the cover’s flip section functionality into use of the iPad itself. Peek, as the app is appropriately named, turns the iPad into a Q&A book. I can’t wait to try it out at test study time with my grandkids. This is going to make those vocabulary quizzes a whole lot more fun.

Apple may be all about mind-boggling technology, but it’s also the design that sets this company apart. Thanks, Apple, for confirming that design makes good business sense.

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Posted in Bzzz of the Week, Design Talk | 2 Comments »

New work: Marketing for schools

Thursday, June 16th, 2011

“Education is the civil rights issue of our generation.” —Arne Duncan, Secretary of Education

How true! The Nativity Miguel Network of Schools asked Graves Fowler to develop new marketing materials that would help them open doors to education for underserved students across the country and make clear this organization’s leading role in the field.

Here is the outcome of our work.

 

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BZZZ of the week: mCommerce, mmm good?

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011

A weekly post of catchwords that buzz around today. The BZZZ for this week is: mCommerce.

First came the “e” words; email, ebooks, ecommerce. Then the “i” words iMac, iPhoto, iWork, iCloud. And now the “m” words; that’s “m” as in mobile.

It’s a mobile world, folks. We’re reading, buying, donating, downloading, facebooking on the go. Look at these trends from Neilsen, Gartner and the Pew Research Center:

  • Wireless Internet usage grew by a whopping 51% from May 2009 to May 2010.
  • By 2013, more people will use a mobile device to access the web than a desktop computer.
  • 90% of 18-29 year-olds now own a cell phone.
  • By the end of this year there will be more smart phones in the US market than feature phones

Forrester Research is hosting a webinar for retailers on selecting and implementing an mCommerce offering. Last week after Steve Jobs announced the launch of Apple’s iCloud, Paul Saffo, managing director of foresight (love that title!) at Discern Analytics said, “The whole idea of a stand-alone personal computer with a big processor is going the way of the VCR…”

Wow. If you’re not into mMarketing, mGiving and mCommerce, go there now! My prediction:  Mobile is going to be the word of the decade for marketing and communications.

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Posted in Design Talk | 1 Comment »

Graduation day for Anya

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Congratulations to Anya Kholodnov on another milestone reached. Anya is the first person who greets you when you call Graves Fowler Creative. She’s the chief organizer, moral booster and all around support for Graves Fowler’s team and clients, too. No problem is unsolvable, no challenge too big.

Now, on top of her graphic design training, she has earned a masters in social work. Here she is on graduation day with her proud parents. Way to go, Anya!

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BZZZ of the week: Crowdsourcing

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011

A weekly post of catchwords that buzz around today. The BZZZ for this week is: Crowdsourcing.

The Department of the Interior is crowdsourcing the design of its new logo. What’s that mean?

According to Jeff Howe, a contributing editor for Wired Magazine, crowdsourcing is when a company takes a job that was once performed by employees [or specialists] and outsources it in the form of an open call to a large, undefined group of people, generally using the Internet.

The Department of Interior has posted a creative brief on crowdspring.com inviting any interested party to submit logo concepts, not for a sub-level program or one-time event, but for the agency itself. If your logo is chosen, you receive $1,000. You also can’t claim public credit for your work.

The design community that I’m a part of is buzzing with indignation (and fear?) about the prospect of a major government agency so commoditizing the brand development process. We spend years developing the skills to create visual branding founded on thorough research and a carefully honed process. Now the masses get a one-page creative brief, $1,000 carrot dangling in front of them and two weeks to do the job on spec. It’s a slam to our profession and a threat to our businesses.

Well, welcome to the club. Jeff Howe’s recent article shows how crowdsourcing is impacting everything from software development to scientific research and development to photography.

There’s a petition circulating that urges the Department of Interior to reconsider and withdraw its posting, but I don’t have much hope that it will happen. Hundreds of people have already submitted concepts. Some are horrible, some not bad visually. None are based on any depth of understanding about the Department’s audience and what the agency needs to accomplish with this identity.

Crowdsourcing is a practice that is not going to go away. For me, it’s sounding a death knell for quality, not just in my profession, but probably yours, too.

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Q&A: What are QR codes and why use them?

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

First the definition: QR, or Quick Response, codes are those digitized boxes that are popping up on ads, merchandise signs and billboards these days. They provide links to online resources, text messages, contact information and more. You access the information with a smart phone app that will read them and make the connection.

During my recent vacation, I decided to scan every QR code I could find and answer the “why” question for myself. Here are three lessons I learned in my downtime research.

1.  Some QR codes substitute for home page URLs
Many of the codes just took me to a main landing page for the company web site. Several of the sites were difficult to view on an iPhone. A magazine ad (yes, I had time to read a good old-fashioned magazine!) for Arkansas tourism used this approach.

Lesson learned: If you include a QR code in your marketing, use it to provide something of unique value, and make sure that the destination is mobile-friendly.

2.  QR codes can carry branding or act as design elements, but be careful
My reader wouldn’t recognize one code that I found on a sports bar coaster . Was it my reader? Was it because the code was white with a dark background? Figuring out an answer was a hassle, so I didn’t bother to find out where the QR code would take me.

Lesson learned: You can do a lot to customize a QR code with branding, etc., but test to make sure it will still be scannable by standard readers.

3.  QR codes are still new
This is an emerging marketing tool. I predict that they will become a standard as more and more people shift to smart phones. Just plopping a QR code on a sign or ad at this point isn’t enough, however. A little more information is needed. At the California Amgen Tour, the Radio Shack team did just that on their promotional t-shirts. The QR code took me to their Twitter feed of the race and helped me follow the Team RadioShack real-time.

Lesson: Give a little help to people so they understand what the QR code will do for them.

I ran across a good, non-technical explanation of QR codes at MyQRad.com. Check it out. Ready to get into the QR code marketing? You can create your own for free at sites like zxing.appspot.com. Remember though, just like all good marketing tools, QR codes are only as good as the strategy that drives them.

Have a question about print and online communications in today’s world?
Email it to cindy@gravesfowler.com. We’ll answer you directly and may add it to our weekly Q&A on SmartThinking/GreatDesign.

 

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Posted in Design Talk, Q & A | 3 Comments »

BZZZ of the Week: Planking

Thursday, June 2nd, 2011

A weekly post of catchwords that buzz around today. The BZZZ for this week is: Planking.

This word has a slightly X-rated sound to it. If you look in the Urban Dictionary, some definitions of planking are pretty out there. But the current fad, or meme, is more about lying prone in crazy places, having someone take your photo and posting it online. The possibilities range from mundane to silly to really creative. Just Google the word and you’ll find plenty of examples. Unfortunately, the practice also is turning dangerous.

I first heard the word in a tweet last week by @markwschaefer about a man in Australia who fell from a building balcony while planking. A new Web craze that’s gone from fun to sick. Too bad.

The word doesn’t have much to do with quality design, but more about the quality of our time online.

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Come to the Open House — Virtually!

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Tuesday, June 7, 2:00-3:00 pm EDT

Graves Fowler Creative and Blue Atlas Interactive invite you to visit our offices without ever leaving your own.

Join us for this virtual open house with:

Expert insights on the shift to mobile and how to use it well
The open house includes a round table discussion about how the explosion in smart phone and iPad use is changing web and marketing strategies. You’ll learn about:

  • Launching a mobilized web site today and planning for tomorrow
  • Designing a mobile site that really works for your organization
  • Incorporating the mobile world into an effective marketing strategy

Panel participants are LuAnne Bell from Blue Atlas Interactive, Jeffrey Everett from Graves Fowler and our marketing partner Laura Pasternak of MarketPoint, LLC.

A mini-tour of our new space
Now that Blue Atlas and Graves Fowler are settled in just across the hall from each other, we want you to see our creative co-op and meet the whole team.

The food and drink are virtual, too
What’s an open house without a spread? When you RSVP, we’ll send you a coupon for a Starbucks drink and treat on us. We invite you to pick up a latté and cookie so you can munch away while we broadcast.

“See you” at the open house!

Register for the virtual open house  >>

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Posted in Design Talk, Happenings, News | 1 Comment »