Whether you run a large corporation or own a small mom-and-pop shop, having a style guide is a key to business success. It acts as your company’s style bible, creating a cohesive identity that guarantees a consistent look and feel for your brand as you create new marketing materials. What’s In A Style Guide? A style guide, also known as an identity guide, sets out the design specifications for the conveyance of your company’s overall brand appearance and messaging. You can include every attribute that’s important to the integrity of your brand. Depending on the size of your organization, a style [...]
Category: branding
Sales and marketing go hand in hand. Without effective marketing, there are no prospects to sell your product to. Without sales people to convert those prospects into customers, marketing efforts are wasted. In a small company, sales and marketing functions are often the responsibility of one or two people with blended roles so the communication of goals and priorities is often simpler and clearer. But as an organization grows and teams begin to form, the lines of communication often begin to break down. It’s not uncommon for marketing teams to have very little knowledge of the sales process, and for [...]
Looking for that great Thai restaurant in town, but don’t know which one to pick? Tough decision, but, like most things in life today, there’s an app for that. And it’s called FourSquare. If you’re unfamiliar with FourSquare, you’re really missing out on an easy way to find the best restaurants, art galleries, stores, museums, and nightspots – to name a few. You know they’re the best, because FourSquare selections are based not only on what your friends think, but also on expert opinion. FourSquare For You Let’s say that you own a restaurant. When a customer walks in the [...]
Earlier this week Twitter launched a new profile page design in an apparent effort to stay abreast of the current visual trend. Following the lead set by fellow social media giants Facebook and Google+, Twitter is turning its focus to images. Both Facebook and Google+ recently rolled out new profile designs featuring cover photos as the primary visual component of the page. The new Twitter profile similarly features a prominent header photo centered over the tweet stream at the top of the page. According to Twitter’s blog, the new profile will “help you get to know people better through their pictures.” Not only is the header [...]
If design concepts seem like Lorem ipsum to you, take our crash course with these great design tips! 1. Spacing Less is more! The basic mentality for most people is “fill the space”, which leads to things looking messy and cluttered. Allow images and text to breathe. White space in your design will draw the eye to more important components. If your layout is unorganized, the reader won’t know what to focus on and you run the risk of losing your main message. Essential as it is to leave space amongst design elements, it is also important to stay clear [...]
Client overview: ASK Interfaces is a software startup from three young entrepreneurs dedicated to assisting people with disabilities. The company has developed an innovative app for Android tablets which allows someone to communicate without having to locate and press small buttons or keys. The Accessible Messaging application grew from a collaborative effort between a group of University of Michigan students, Mott Children’s Hospital therapists and their patients. The app has evolved from a messaging platform to have much broader application as an entire user interface. Client goals: As a small start-up, ASK Interfaces originally had a simple website that they [...]
Client Overview: Creative Windows is an innovative manufacturer of OpenLight manual and motorized window shades designed for solar protection, energy savings and glare control while providing aesthetic options with visibility at desired levels. Client Goals: Creative Windows needed to establish a new brand identity for their OpenLight product line and launch a website to help clients understand the features and options of the new line. Key Challenges: Previously, the company’s only sales tool consisted of printed flyers. Creative Windows needed a way to display the entire range of OpenLight options to designers, which includes hundreds of choices. Smart Marketing Solution: [...]
Read Part 1 So how can I create positive links? While you can’t control what others say about you, you can control what you put online about yourself. Take a look at your existing social media profiles, and ask yourself if you would be okay with how they appear to potential contacts. If you are not happy with what they would see, take a few moments and do a clean sweep of your profiles, or consider making them private for friends and family. Private pages are most often seen with Facebook, and even Twitter. Create a personal splash page to [...]
(Part 1 of 2) There are many reasons for businesses to embrace social media – to increase sales, customer service, branding, and reputation management, to name just a few. This is a service that is very important to us at the Whole Brain Group. We regularly work with businesses to brand themselves – whether through blogging, social media, website design, etc.But how often do you think about the personal brands of yourself and employees? In this case, when we say personal brand, we are talking about a merging of two concepts – branding and reputation management. For many of us, [...]
It’s not rare for me to get into a nerd conversation or two. Especially late at night. Nighttime on the Internet is when the only people stirring are other social media pros and bloggers. Google Chat has become the hub for me during this time to bounce ideas off of people while I prepare for a speaking engagement, big presentation or am simply catching up on my never ending email box. One such night, a message came through that read: “Do you think a brand message can be conveyed in 140 characters?” This was a prep question poised to a [...]
Sales and marketing go hand in hand. Without effective marketing, there are no prospects to sell your product to. Without sales people to convert those prospects into customers, marketing efforts are wasted. In a small company, sales and marketing functions are often the responsibility of one or two people with blended roles so the communication of goals and priorities is often simpler and clearer. But as an organization grows and teams begin to form, the lines of communication often begin to break down. It’s not uncommon for marketing teams to have very little knowledge of the sales process, and for [...]
Looking for that great Thai restaurant in town, but don’t know which one to pick? Tough decision, but, like most things in life today, there’s an app for that. And it’s called FourSquare. If you’re unfamiliar with FourSquare, you’re really missing out on an easy way to find the best restaurants, art galleries, stores, museums, and nightspots – to name a few. You know they’re the best, because FourSquare selections are based not only on what your friends think, but also on expert opinion. FourSquare For You Let’s say that you own a restaurant. When a customer walks in the [...]
Earlier this week Twitter launched a new profile page design in an apparent effort to stay abreast of the current visual trend. Following the lead set by fellow social media giants Facebook and Google+, Twitter is turning its focus to images. Both Facebook and Google+ recently rolled out new profile designs featuring cover photos as the primary visual component of the page. The new Twitter profile similarly features a prominent header photo centered over the tweet stream at the top of the page. According to Twitter’s blog, the new profile will “help you get to know people better through their pictures.” Not only is the header [...]
If design concepts seem like Lorem ipsum to you, take our crash course with these great design tips! 1. Spacing Less is more! The basic mentality for most people is “fill the space”, which leads to things looking messy and cluttered. Allow images and text to breathe. White space in your design will draw the eye to more important components. If your layout is unorganized, the reader won’t know what to focus on and you run the risk of losing your main message. Essential as it is to leave space amongst design elements, it is also important to stay clear [...]
Client overview: ASK Interfaces is a software startup from three young entrepreneurs dedicated to assisting people with disabilities. The company has developed an innovative app for Android tablets which allows someone to communicate without having to locate and press small buttons or keys. The Accessible Messaging application grew from a collaborative effort between a group of University of Michigan students, Mott Children’s Hospital therapists and their patients. The app has evolved from a messaging platform to have much broader application as an entire user interface. Client goals: As a small start-up, ASK Interfaces originally had a simple website that they [...]
Client Overview: Creative Windows is an innovative manufacturer of OpenLight manual and motorized window shades designed for solar protection, energy savings and glare control while providing aesthetic options with visibility at desired levels. Client Goals: Creative Windows needed to establish a new brand identity for their OpenLight product line and launch a website to help clients understand the features and options of the new line. Key Challenges: Previously, the company’s only sales tool consisted of printed flyers. Creative Windows needed a way to display the entire range of OpenLight options to designers, which includes hundreds of choices. Smart Marketing Solution: [...]
Read Part 1 So how can I create positive links? While you can’t control what others say about you, you can control what you put online about yourself. Take a look at your existing social media profiles, and ask yourself if you would be okay with how they appear to potential contacts. If you are not happy with what they would see, take a few moments and do a clean sweep of your profiles, or consider making them private for friends and family. Private pages are most often seen with Facebook, and even Twitter. Create a personal splash page to [...]
(Part 1 of 2) There are many reasons for businesses to embrace social media – to increase sales, customer service, branding, and reputation management, to name just a few. This is a service that is very important to us at the Whole Brain Group. We regularly work with businesses to brand themselves – whether through blogging, social media, website design, etc.But how often do you think about the personal brands of yourself and employees? In this case, when we say personal brand, we are talking about a merging of two concepts – branding and reputation management. For many of us, [...]
It’s not rare for me to get into a nerd conversation or two. Especially late at night. Nighttime on the Internet is when the only people stirring are other social media pros and bloggers. Google Chat has become the hub for me during this time to bounce ideas off of people while I prepare for a speaking engagement, big presentation or am simply catching up on my never ending email box. One such night, a message came through that read: “Do you think a brand message can be conveyed in 140 characters?” This was a prep question poised to a [...]
