Photo Buzz Studios’ Identity & Branding Package

Photo Buzz Studio Logo Design
Photo Buzz Studio Logo Design

When Photo Buzz Studios sought to hire a graphic designer to help them develop their new logo and branding package, they turned to me. Eager to get it right the first time, but also on a short timeline, Kelly Williams shot me an e-mail detailing her needs. In short, Photo Buzz Studios is an exclusive mobile photography studio serving professional, and formal occasions, including classy corporate gatherings and full-service event planning agencies. Photo Buzz needed to be recognized as an creative experiential firm. Quite abstract, yes? That’s okay.

“A graphic strategist is truly what I’m looking for!”

We exchanged thoughts and talked about the process, she shared a mood board with me to help me understand her vision for Photo Buzz. I boiled all this in a cauldron and poured out a feast for your eyes. Their logo focuses its inspiration on the understated, sleek look of exclusive night clubs in New York City, Los Angeles, Miami, and Atlanta. The breaks in the letters are a subtle reference to neon lights and the purple is a color common to high-end nightclubs. The forward slash is a reference to Photo Buzz Studios’ more edgy, after-dark approach.

This is a web-resolution version of the fully printable branding guide book Photo Buzz received. This branding book offers tips for using the elements in the new identity package plus guidance and exmaples for creating a clear, consistent brand.

The Cover
Implementation of the various logos
The Pantone Color Palette
Accent marks

Photo Buzz Studios’ color palette represents colors commonly seen in night life and neon lights. Their colors communicate energy, vibrancy, dynamism, and contrast. The typefaces complement a “feel” Williams sought in our discussions, and each typeface is available for free as part of the Google Fonts project. Using Google Fonts makes the typefaces easily accessible for all her employees and presents no licensing issues. Plus, they are suitable for both web and print applications. Finally, I conceptualized the accent marks for use wherever and however Photo Buzz sees fit.

Photo Buzz Studios also received an easily shareable reference page for their new identity.

This is the branding reference sheet for Photo Buzz Studios. It includes typography, color palette, accent marks, and inspirational imagery.

Featured photo by Gansevoort-Provocateur-Club-NYC, of CityGasm.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

What you need to know about bar codes for beer label design

If you are in the craft beer business, you are quite aware there is no shortage of hurdles, detours, fees, and legalese just to keep on truckin’. Design of your craft beer label is just one (sometimes complicated) step in expanding your packaging. The TTB, distributors, and retailers will look to you for any bar code information, and there can be annual renewals involved in bar code ownership. Therefore, I believe it is best that management of your UPC/bar codes stays in your hands. I’ve helped craft breweries expand their packaging before, and here are the questions I run into most often.

Not familiar with UPC bar codes? Watch this 3-minute video.

Do I even need a bar code? This seems like a headache.

C’mon! Challenges build character! But it is kind of a headache and it takes some patience. Fortunately, there is no legal requirement for everyone to have a bar code. You do not need a bar code if you plan on selling:

  • Through small or independent retailers
  • Directly to your end customers, i.e., the public
  • Online through your own e-commerce website
  • Online through auction sites (e.g.: eBay)

You will need to get a bar code if you sell your product through any retailer that uses the “Global Database.” Mass retailers like Amazon, Wal-Mart, and Kroger will require you to have a bar code.

Where does the UPC code come from? Mars?

It seems a mission to Mars would be less intimidating, but don’t worry your pretty little head! Keep in mind, though, you will have to fill out an application to obtain a bar code no matter where you go. The GS1-US (formerly the Uniform Code Council) is a non-profit agency that governs the assignment of bar codes, and one of their jobs is to make sure that no duplicates are issued. If you’re looking to buy several hundred or thousands of bar codes, go straight to the GS1-US. If you only need one or a handful or a hundred, you can buy them from re-sellers, but there are some companies doing sketchy things out there; be sure to buy from a reputable one. Find genuine companies through the Authenticated Number Registration Directory. Re-sellers must take it upon themselves to register with ANRD, and if a re-seller isn’t listed it doesn’t necessarily mean they are bogus.

There are benefits and drawbacks for going with either the GS1-US or a re-seller, so do your homework, plan for the future, and choose wisely. Here is a good blog post explaining the differences.

Do I have to pay for them (*crosses fingers*)?

Of course you do (*dangit*). The fees depend on who you purchase your codes from, how you answered your application questions, how many products you’ll sell, and your annual sales. The GS1-US does offer lower rates for smaller businesses who sell fewer products but would still like to be registered with the Global Database. Many mass retailers (e.g.: Wal-Mart, Kroger) require your bar code to be registered through GS1-US Global Database.

How do I keep track of my UPC numbers?

The easiest thing for you to do, if you have a small number of packaging sizes or beers you distribute, is to just use a simple Excel Spreadsheet (but I’m not your mother, you can manage them in Braille if you want). If you registered with the GS1-US, you’ll get some free software for managing and creating new bar codes for future products.

Want to learn more? Here is a crash course on GS1-US. It’s a 16-minute long video, but I highly recommend watching it (and going the restroom first).

Other Questions that come up:

from Wikipedia.org

How big does a UPC code have to be?

They should be 1.469 inches wide by 1.02 inches high. You can crop the lines so they are shorter in some cases, and there are exceptions if your product is itty-bitty…but no one buys a 1-ounce can of beer. Width is from the outermost side of each exterior numbers, height is from the top of the lines to the bottom of the numbers.

Does it have to be black and white?

Short answer: no. Safe answer: it should be. If you have a vector image of your bar code, I can change it to dark blue or dark green and the background to pale yellow, but to guarantee that your bar codes scan, I strongly recommend black and white.

Will you do all this bar code registration malarkey for me?

Yes, for the price of my hourly design rate plus any and all costs obtaining the code.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Fort Walton Brewing Company Logo

As you may (or may not) already know, brewing, serving, and educating others about craft beer is one of my favorite hobbies. The people I met in craft beer are some of the best folks I know.

Fort Walton Brewing Company's logo
Fort Walton Brewing company, a new craft brewery up-and-coming to Fort Walton.

That being said, you can imagine how honored I felt when I was hired to produce Fort Walton Brewing Company’s logo. Fort Walton Brewing company intends to be a central location where homebrewers, small-batch craft brewers, and beer lovers can congregate to brew and sample beer. I did some research on Fort Walton, asked locals what they thought about the city, and considered my own intuitions about it. The consensus was that there was no consensus; Fort Walton Beach is viewed by many as a somewhat difficult to define. And I put that in the logo.

This logo focuses primarily on the city of Fort Walton Beach. Being a historic city built on military, tourism, and a dash of pirate folklore, the variety of typefaces in this logo take root in the variety of experiences one finds in Fort Walton Beach. The word “Fort” gives a nod to the U.S. Air Force with the use of it’s official typeface, Berthold Akzidenz Bold Extended. “Walton” takes on and older, more established yet whimsical look in honor of the town’s 1838 name, Camp Walton, and its pirate folklore. “Brewing” uses a font with terminals that are reminiscent of germinated malts: where the hull splits. Some letters are slightly out-of-place, recognizing that Fort Walton Beach refuses to conform to any singular idea.

You go, Fort Walton Brewing. You go.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Text versus Iconography in Logos

A logo is your story in a single mark: the essence of your business, if you will. Some folks can get away with text-based logos. Other people need some sort of icon or visual cue to help them remember who the logo belongs to or what the business does. Not all logos need icons. Not all text-based logos are successful. It’s not my job to tell you what to choose, but it is my job to dig into the meat of your business, find out what you like, what’s already out there, then present you with well-informed and meaningful logos that you’ll enjoy using.

Let me illustrate (I swear that was the only pun!).

Imagine a business that says everything it does in the name: Pensacola Pressure Washing, for example. The words already say everything that needs to be said, so additional information might seem redundant or unnecessary. Sure, it’s a pretty generic name, but it’s an easy one to remember. It could be also argued that a highly-stylized or uniquely arranged text-based logo itself becomes an image to the brain; the brain no longer reads the letters for what they literally represent and instead sees a shape or a picture. A prime example of this is “Disney.”pensacola-pressure-washing-01

Now imagine a business with a person’s name or unclear mission, such as Jack Dawson, M.D., or UprightPro, Inc. Studies agree that imagery paired with text helps people with recognition and recall in memory tests. That’s why lots of logos include icons, imagery, or objects in place of or in addition to words. This approach makes sense in cases where names are forgotten, or what your business does or sells is ambiguous. In these cases, it would be prudent to consider imagery, icons, or some other visual cue for onlookers.

pensacola-pressure-washing-02
You’ll likely remember that Dr. Dawson is a pediatrician.

 

pensacola-pressure-washing-03
OH! Upright makes chairs, not bicycles or tanning beds.

 

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Things to consider when re-designing your website

It’s 2016, and some folks are still using table- or or Adobe Flash-based web design. What is that, exactly? Well, here is an example of table-based design:

website-redesign
Table-based web design

Table-based web design is a boxy layout, with a clear separation between content, background, and images. Adobe Flash sites flicker, move and exhibit large, full-screen animations–difficult to convey with a screenshot.

What, exactly, do viewers think when they see table-based layout web design? The general consensus is, “outdated.” This style of web design was popular 10+ years ago because it enabled designers to control–with absolute certainty–the arrangement of the page elements with respect to a viewer’s desktop monitor. And, most influential, smartphones were not nearly as ubiquitous, so mobile-friendly websites were barely a twinkle in our eyes.

Today, with the variety of screen sizes and devices used to browse the web, we don’t want a rigid design like that. You want a layout that will cater to your user’s device. Not only is a responsive site easier to navigate, but it’s also a much more practical design. Responsive sites also use open-source coding, such as HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. You want to avoid certain things in today’s web design. Here are three of them:

Adobe Flash

If you have an iPhone, you know it doesn’t play nice with Flash video and animations. Google Chrome and Firefox disable Flash by default. Even Steve Jobs had an opinion about its use back in 2010. If that wasn’t an omen, I don’t know what is. Flash is a vulnerable plug-in, prone to security issues, reliability failures, and bogged-down performance. Sure: a slick animation looks great, but be sure your designer doesn’t rely on Flash for that. Further, full-Flash websites are difficult and expensive to update.

Auto-Play

Whether background music or an embedded video, let your users decide if they want the noise. They could be riding on the subway, shopping while nursing a newborn, in a public restroom–or not paying attention in a meeting! I always strongly discourage background music on websites because it’s often disruptive or intrusive for viewers.

Contact Forms

You might think I’m nuts, but if you don’t plan to monitor and respond to the e-mails that come through that web contact form, don’t bother adding one. Not only will your lack of response hurt the professionalism with which people view your business, but also your pocketbook–you’ll pay for it in lost sales leads!

I’m always happy to offer free evaluations of your current or prospective website. If you’d like to have a no-strings-attached chat, gimme a shout.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Creative Writing Samples

Yes, I write. And I write well.

It’s taken me a long time to admit that, but I exercised my writing chops on ZenDestin Vacation Rental‘s website, where I wrote every word. ZenDestin was a rental condo in (surprise!) Destin, and the blog offered reviews of places to eat and things to do in Destin. I also wrote about vacation memories and condo improvements to get guests excited for visiting. The condo is no longer a rental, but I keep the site up as a reference.

Here are some of my favorite entries on ZenDestin’s blog, along with creative writing samples from other times.

Favorite vacation memory
Reasons to visit ZenDestin in August
Jester Daiquiris Review
Cabinet transformations
Calling all Fishermen: Drop me a line in “reel” life

 

These are two e-mails I actually sent to distribution lists when I worked for a company. I spiced them up with some creativity to elicit better responses since most e-mails they received were pretty boring or unfriendly. It worked.

I Sent This E-mail to I.T.
Carpooling Buddy Needed

In the event you’d like to see other writing samples, like product reviews, press releases, and casual writing for lifestyle magazines, drop me a line. I’m sure I can help you develop content for your website, brochure, or sales flyer.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Survey Results: How do you use e-mail?

In September, I shot a survey out to friends and strangers to gather information about how my peers use e-mail. The results were interesting, and even had some surprises.

Age ranges of the survey respondents.
Age ranges of the survey respondents.

Here’s the age breakdown of the respondents.  As you can see, 54% were in the 18-25 range. You may think since “Millennials” comprised the bulk of the respondents that you could predict them, but you may be surprised. Let’s go through some of the main takeaways.

84% of respondents are still checking their e-mail at least daily.

No surprise here! Many people still check their e-mail multiple times a day, even the generational groups that purportedly don’t use e-mail. If we add those who said they peek at their inbox “a few times a week,” nearly everyone in the survey is included. E-mail is still widely used, and people are checking it.

People use throwaway e-mail addresses.

Think visitors who sign up for an account on your website are giving you a monitored e-mail address? Think again. When asked why they had more than one e-mail address, the top three responses were for work/school, personal use, and one…to send spam to. A throwaway.

“To register multiple accounts on the same website; to send emails that aren’t from my email address; to register accounts that aren’t connected to my email address; gmail likes to link to a second account as a security measure”

Further, if businesses are sharing the e-mail addresses they collect, customers get pretty darn clever to avoid be bought and sold.

“I have my own domain with which I use different addresses for each site or service e.g. for reddit I use reddit@mydomain.tld and for a bank I use bankname@mydomain.tld. That way, If I start getting spam, I can see who leaked/sold my address, and decommission that address to stop the spam.”

It isn’t that the elusive 18-25 and 26-34 age range doesn’t use e-mail, it’s that they don’t use the one they gave you. 

87% of people don’t give out their primary e-mail address because they don’t trust or need you.

The 13% that does give out their primary e-mail address includes the 2% of respondents who only have one e-mail address. Largely, the 18-25 group only gave out their primary address if you are providing them with something they need, such as electricity, rent, or insurance. Rarely did anyone answer that, yes, they give out their primary address regardless of whether or not they trusted you, needed your product, or were subscribed to your service. Often, respondents of all ages wanted to both trust your business and need whatever you were selling.

The TL;DR.

People have more than one e-mail address, and they probably aren’t giving you the one you want most: the one they use most. So while, yes, someone might boast a large collection of e-mails in their subscriber list, it doesn’t necessarily mean anything.

This absolutely supports my previous entry about building relationships with your customers, avoiding cold sales, and providing them with relevant offers. I’d recommend using a different platform to build your relationships, and using e-mail as a more personal form of contact after you’ve established a level of trust with the customer.

But that’s another entry for another day.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle