Alberta Design Blog

Well, here we are starting off 2012. Hopefully with a bang.  I’ve read a few reviews of 2011, and it was a good year for a lot of businesses. But what is coming up now? This article pretty well sums up the tech side, but what about us mere mortals in central Alberta?

2012 will clearly be the year of the mobile device, that much is clear. From apps, to having a mobile version of your website – the amount of internet bandwidth now being served to mobile devices is growing (I’ve seen it might be 7% in the US). More than that though, social media is the soup de jour, the buzziest buzzword we’ve had in a long time, and everyone wants to know how to, what to and when to.

It’s about engagement people!

A wise woman, who luckily is now a client, said recently: “it’s about engagement”. This should be a cornerstone to everything we do. You don’t market with social media. You engage with social media. It’s an act of contributing, adding value and living your life in the social sphere. Engaging with your customers is finding something they want to talk about, and talking about it without being a salesman.

Sadly, this might be too much for some people. Having twitter bleep on a iPhone six times a day can be daunting. Really. Even annoying. (we can help with that)

So here it is, in. Nutshell:

How to

Get a smartphone or tablet. Write short quick posts for twitter and SMS, and more personal posts for Facebook, resist the temptation to syndicate your posts as a one size fits all. Different tools need different levels of detail. Do things on the fly, as they happen. Social media is where you share the human face of your organization, not the many benefits of your proprietary technology. Share links and interesting bits from your industry that you feel your network would benefits from.

When to

When you have something to say that is relevant. A couple times a day, or more if you’re into it. One might argue there are times where there are more listeners, and if you can define a time your network has some downtime, post then. Early morning, noon or early evening for most things.

What to

It could be something a staff member did to help a customer, big news, traffic update or other timely lifestyle note. Be a human, earn the right to plug your widgets. In the old days, sales people used to shoot it over coffee everyday to get leads, this is like that. “Hi Bob, how are the kids?”

At a recent Paul Brandt concert in Calgary, there was a display with the twitter hashtag and an encouragement to tweet during the concert. This also was prevalent at the Grey Cup in Vancouver, BC. Why? It pushes the immediate, excited responses of the people out into the public sphere! Non-participants can then partake in the events and feel included and engaged.

Why?

Your customers are there. That’s reason enough. Scott Stratten at unmarketing has endless reasons if you need more. Social media humanizes your brand. Westjet is a large company, but they almost always answer questions on twitter. They are meeting people where they are, with wit and personal responses, AND they offer blue tag discounts to twitter followers. That’s giving everything and a bag of chips to your customers.

Do I have’ta?

For anyone is sales or marketing, you don’t really have an option, this is part of your job description whether you like it or not. I’d even go as far as saying anyone who refused or otherwise avoided this method of communication was putting their job in jeopardy. Look at it this way – you can pressure your boss for an iPad just to “do your job”!

Going Viral

A lot of companies covet the idea of going viral. It’s funny, but most things that “go viral” are either very relevant, very cool, or right-place-right-time captures. In many ways, going viral for a company means producing Super Bowl quality material, since most of the time, doing exploratory creative work isn’t high on the priority list.

A great example is the Vancouver Stanley Cup riot kiss photo (esquire’s photo of the year for 2011). A chance grab shot has become one of the top editorial photos for an entire year.

I have to admit, I follow the kiss principle with marketing. It generally goes something like this: do something and don’t look like and idiot. Heavy on the simple, light on the stupid. But social media is not a regular marketing product. It’s not distributing brochures and watching the sales pile up. Social media about adding value to the world around you. The sales will come later.

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In this age of social media, apps, click ads and online networks, a once immovable bulwark of business is slowly disappearing–the business card. In the “olden days” the mighty rolodex would sit on the office manager or salesperson’s desk–the all-powerful gatekeeper to leads, key contacts and everything to keep the greasy read more

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Yes. Mistakes happen. Yes. We make them. Mistakes teach designers what they’ve missed, and what they don’t know. Mistakes also give us the opportunity to show integrity, and to make things right. I think mistakes are the single greatest opportunity to show you care about clients. Will you abandon them or make it right? Will you take your lumps or be indignant? Heroes don’t often rise when nothing is wrong. read more

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Today I went to McDonald’s in Red Deer for the first time since an emergency stop on the I15 in Salt Lake in 2003, which was arguably one of the most terrifying experiences of my life – an American McDonald’s – I shudder at the thought even now. It was pretty scary almost hitting a herd of Elk or Moose or something near Delburne in 2005, but Salt Lake was life changing terror.

But I digress… It has been nearly 7 years since my last mono et mono with Ronald. A birthday party drew us today. I was utterly shocked. The restaurant, Red Deer’s first, looked more like Earl’s than McD’s – wood trim on  everything, new booths, even easy chairs and a fireplace! This place has gone uptown! New menu boards tout a myriad of new healthy products – photos of grilled chicken and salad have replaced the Quarter Pounder and the Big Mac.

Then we had the birthday party, and we even had a personal server! Super fun – terrific Playland! Wow! This is clearly not the McDonald’s I remember. Is it? Then the food came for the kids: same happy meal (with milk and apples for an option, mind you). Same branded toys trying to imprint on the kids.

read more

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The recent Vancouver 2010 Olympics was quite a ride for just about anyone Canadian. We’ve seen an Olympic result that is record setting and hard not to be proud of. We indeed owned the podium. Canadians banded together in a way I’ve seldom experienced – The most notable example of this is the absolute avalache of “Canada” branded apparel appeared on every street corner, office lunch room and crowd shot on TV. I’d like to see the margins that the Bay gained for the last month. The pandemonium at the local Bay store was astounding. I’m pretty sure I got the last zip-hoodie in Red Deer and have been offered money in the street for it.

There is some incredible lessons to learn from the 2010 Canadian Olympic experience. We want to belong – to a nation, a team a sport – to something that inspires us, even as customer of a great company.

So what does that have to do with Graphic Design in central Alberta? A lot when you really get into it. Marketing is becoming more and more “social”, not just the tech kind with tweets and diggs and flickrs, but people want human contact. read more

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In the end, you may get something printed beautifully that is a close, but not exact match.

An interesting thing has been coming up lately: how to deal with identity standards. Specifically, colour in relation to identity standards. Many of our clients are now in possession of thorough identity standards manuals produced by ourselves, or by another agency such as Focus Design Group. These guides give specific information about what colours can be used, what size logos should be and what colour the logo should be in various applications.

Let’s start by emphasizing that these manuals are invaluable tools for central Alberta companies to use in managing their brand.

Let’s continue by de-bunking some myths that might arise while using such a tool.

Imagine you’ve just gone through the process of creating a brand, watching it grow and develop, learning about it, and seeing it come to life. Then imagine being handed a cd, a pdf of guidelines and sent on your merry way to bring that brand to the world. Very exciting!

Now imagine your dismay to see boxes of printing delivered to your door with out matching your ID guide.

What you likely did:

• You probably got the appropriate files and the ID guide with the standards to the service provider (a designer or a print shop);
• You probably assumed they’s use the appropriate colours & follow rules outlined in the guide; and
• You probably saw proofs either via email or laser prints–two mediums that have almost no hope of matching true printed output.

What they likely did:

• They probably read the colour information and input the appropriate information into their software;
• They probably quickly reviewed a swatchbook to see the match was close; and
• They probably output a final product to the best of their ability.

So what happed? The answer is not a simple one, I’m afraid. Many things affect printing output. Sadly most of the factors can reduce the most diligently produced product to a close match to a standard at best. Several factors will affect the output:

• The paper stock affects the output–uncoated stocks are often a bit lighter in hue and darkness than coated stock;
• The pressman had to mix the ink using a formula–since it is often done by hand, there will a difference from job to job, though for larger projects printers often order the ink pre-mixed; and
• Different shops pay more or less attention to these types of matches unless explicitly told to do so.

In the end, you may get something printed beautifully that is a close, but not exact match. This should usually be counted as a victory, given the non-exact nature of the design & print industry. Keep in mind that if you want the closest match possible, always, always provide a sample to match to, and always, always emphasize at all stages that the match is critically important. Ensuring the suppliers know is your best tool for accuracy. And then be prepared for variations in stock and ink mix and bad weather and all sorts of things to throw monkey wrenches into the process.

Here at Redpoint we always pay attention to the colour numbers and try our best to match everything we can, and I’m not saying clients should accept anything, but the more attention paid to the standards (and the emphasis put in them) will result in more accurate results. If you want a match, make sure you bring it up with us.

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It was hot in Alberta this weekend. Really hot. Likely the most important weekend in the entire year for Tim Horton’s to have Ice Capps for the world. We, like the rest of Alberta, wanted and Ice Capp on Sunday afternoon. But the first Timmies we went to offered only “the machine’s broken” and an offer to wait for an hour while it was repaired. Another Tim’s replied “well, ok, but they’re very runny.”

Promise Less, Deliver More. Your brand will thank you.

Reluctantly, since I already had 45 minutes invested in the runny Ice Capp, I ordered one. Ironically, it was totally fine–nice fluffy, frosty, tasty… just what I wanted.

So here’s the point: The marketing: a succulent, refreshing drink that turns any hot day into a day a the beach. The Reality: A mediocre slurpee that is either not available or “too runny”.

I’ve been reading a book called “Selling the Invisible” by Harry Beckwith, and aside from some prophetic predictions in 1997 about technologies we enjoy today, it focuses on marketing service companies (90% of companies in Alberta), with a key point being “assume your service is terrible”. Why? Two reasons: It forces you to assume you need improve, and it prevents “runny ice capp” syndrome.

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Some look at designers as being psychologists… able to weave a complex web of messages to promote a behavior in viewers. Sure there’s a bit of that, but I’d like to believe that communicating well will get the point across well enough without being tricky. So if designers out there have the ability to influence the subconscious, what about the designers? Is the designer brain impervious to influence? Are they operating at a higher level than mere mortals? Or are they influenced by the very messages they create?

• Find out by watching this  video.

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