With so much marketing taking place through a multitude of different mediums and applications, the tendency is for messages to become ever more fragmented — and more easily forgotten. start with a vision Don’t think of standards and consistency until you have a clear vision about why you are important to your audience and are able …
Framing marketing communications in terms of experience opens up new opportunities for engaging your audience. Our Be in Bellingham campaign is one example of this thinking at work; another is a thank you promotion we recently completed for Shew Design. The purpose of the project was to say thanks to clients and collaborators in a …
A paradox of destination marketing is that while each destination is unique in its own way, the materials and messages people use for different destinations are often indistinguishable from one another. In promoting Bellingham Whatcom County, we wanted to subtly rethink destination marketing to create work that departed from these expectations. We started by making …
Years ago, my initial interpretation of the phrase “victory has a thousand parents, but defeat is an orphan” was a cynical one. My take on it was that if a project goes well, people will claim responsibility. The same people will disavow their role if the project meets with a less favorable outcome. As I …
Despite all predictions to the contrary, print communications still play a crucial role in how organizations reach out to their audience. Print has changed, though. It is now more an elective than a requirement, and like any choice it benefits from planning and thinking ahead. You must print intentionally. This can include details like a …
Most things are more complicated than they need to be. Navigation is no exception. You can fairly easily see what links people use on your website using traffic evaluation tools such as Google Analytics. More importantly, these tools can show you which links people don’t visit. This can help you make informed decisions about revising …
While developing a packaging concept for a high-end manufacturer, we encountered some feedback from a friend of the client who recommended we take an alternate approach. His advice was, literally, “dumb it down.” The product was a gourmet food item (chocolate) for a discriminating, college-educated audience. The argument was based on a perception of the across-the-board, ever-dwindling intelligence of …
Research plays a crucial part in creating good design, and so a designer’s life is essentially a never-ending series of opportunities to learn. The best designers are really the best at learning. That’s what I like to say as I help myself to a generous handful of research. My third. “That’s Callebaut, 54%,” Kevin informs …
For over a year now, our company has been working with RE Sources for Sustainable Communities and Climate Solutions to create messaging and graphics about the coal train issue. An overview of the issue can be found here. It has been a challenging project. Challenging in the sheer complexity of the issue: the impacts of …
Recently, towards the end of a branding phase for a client, we were finalizing page designs for their website. The site was essentially a reproduction of the paper materials. While they liked the design on paper, the same design on screen felt cool to the touch – overly so. We agreed with their perception. …
While reading Making Ideas Happen by Scott Belsky, I ran across a quote by designer Michael Bierut. “The problem contains the solution.” Often what seems like an obstacle in a creative project ends up inspiring brilliant designs that would not have been explored were the obstacle not there. In Michael Bierut’s case, the challenge was …
Event graphics and messaging are great opportunities for organizations to capture interest by exploring different ideas and flavors in their communication. Shew Design takes a branded approach to event graphics, creating a few simple elements that can be easily repeated in any number of other materials. We think of this as our toolkit, with the …
Shew Design is by no means an anti-Microsoft company. We have used (and enjoyed) Microsoft products for years. I think Windows continues to get better and better and my Windows-based design computers are, despite the occasional hiccup, wonderful, remarkable contraptions. No creative person in the history of the world prior to this point has had …
Hidden messages, conveyed through optical illusions, puns, subliminal messages, riddles, and in jokes, have always played a unique role in visual communications. They raise questions that are fun to ask, but often impossible to answer. More than anything, they appeal to a childlike delight we all share in finding things ‘hidden in plain sight.’ I’ve read that Amazon …
speak friend and enter A fundamental principle about marketing communication relates to making it easy for the audience to understand what you’re trying to say. A message that requires serious thought is almost certainly going to be upstaged by less demanding messages. Yet, as I see marketing as the strategic breaking of rules, I can …
“I would have written you a shorter letter, but I didn’t have the time.” — Mark Twain The process of developing meaningful content for websites is sometimes a bigger challenge than the technical construction of the website itself. One reason for this is that there is essentially no limit to need. The freeform nature …
Thinking about where I invest my time and energy, I look at other artists and see what I can learn from the decisions they’ve made. Without a doubt, the best creative people I know are people who have made a life choice of doggedly exploring new ways of working and thinking about their craft – whatever …
For the past year or so, our company has been gradually using more web-based applications as part of our daily work. So far, the process has been an unqualified success. Cloud computing not only allows us to work more efficiently but it has given us new resources that open the door to a whole new …
Thinking about structure in your marketing materials is about how you decide to use visual relationships to reinforce your message. It means thinking beyond what is being said, and exploring the how. As always, the process begins with focusing on your message, ideally your one message. Deciding on a core message is often the biggest …
A recent project we recently completed for our longtime friend and collaborator Christina Wright became a little object lesson in the art of being invisible. The project was a monograph of the paintings of Ann B Kobdish (Christina’s late mother). The quality of Ann’s work is impressive, and we immediately understood that we would be …
