Finding the right path to launching branded product can be as fortuitous as a writer discovering his next inspired topic. Two weeks ago I was visiting a close friend, mixed martial arts fighter, John Borthwick. He was sporting a t-shirt logo (as he often does) that looked exceedingly familiar. “I think my boss designed that logo,” I said. John replies, “Really? That’s pretty cool.” I started clicking through pages until I found the above link.

Scrolling down we see the print ad created for their branding campaign. John shares, “Yeah dude, that’s one of my [former] trainers [at EKF], Anthony Gomez.” “Well that’s pretty neat. I had no idea,” I say. John tells me to relate to my boss Rochelle that she did a really good job with the logo as most of the other fighting gear logos are “pretty silly.” Her’s stands out. While most fighting brands display dark crosses, skulls or some macabre representation this carefully crafted power stamp features a Native American Thunderbird and proves highly versatile for their international branding campaign. It beats the competition down.

Visiting their website proves they are making an impact from the states to Canada and more. The “N” and “B” of New Blood Fight Gear have been placed as wings for the Thunderbird and remains adaptable for fashioning national colors spanning across Ireland, Mexico and Brazil. If you want more from the brand visit the website for your own fighter’s needs.

Watch the video advertisement for New Blood Fight Gear on YouTube.

Design in Chicago with a fighting chance for victory brings one name in the ring that you’ve heard before and here we are again, Andiamo Creative.

Springtime means the smell of fresh cut grass, feeling the beach sand beneath your feet and watching trees bud and flowers bloom. Speaking of, take a look at one of our creatively designed sites.

Genie in the Garden is a site dedicated to, you guessed it, gardening. Specifically, it is an inspiring gardening blog. Here you can discover Genie Schreiner’s tips for general gardening, cultivating beautiful flowers and controlling pesky pests. I wonder if she sprinkles any SEO on this site? There is no doubt this woman is passionate about what she does; her blog archive shows an average of eight entrees per month. That is not only impressive but it also gives her great opportunity to raise her search engine results status. SEO is like planting digital seeds in the internet. The deeper the roots the stronger chance more people will encounter your site while searching the web. Next month her roots (meaning her website) will celebrate its one year anniversary. Click here to read a recent article by Genie, Rock Cress, Spring Charmer. To charm you into reading we chose to close with a quote of “green therapy” from the genie herself:

It is my desire to share the joy and peace I find in the garden. No matter what my day is like – good, bad or indifferent – after a half hour in the garden, all is right with the world.

And it is our desire to share the joy and beauty of functioning design.

Many other websites have sprung up from the creative hands of your Chicago creative firm including Momentum Communications and Windy City Knitting Guild in addition to a heap of branding campaigns. So, plant an Andiamo Creative seed with your website and look forward to Spring growth.

4. Know more people

Remember that ad from a while back with a little jingle ending in “the more you know?” The more people you know the higher chance you will meet just the right friend, support group, MMA fighter, new band member, fellow video game nerd or even future customers; knowing how valuable word of mouth is, the more mouths the better. Some of you may be the introvert or “shy type” and prefer to have a small circle. Those business types would do well to know of Gladwell’s referenced connectors, mavens and salesmen.

5. Include outside thought

Now more than ever it is simple to include ideas from your consumers. Two heads are better than one so a dragon with many heads must be exponentially better. Even some of the biggest companies, television shows and artists are taking constructive commentary from the world wide audience. Such is offered in an instant with Facebook comments, subscribers on Digg, tweets and retweets alike from Twitter, YouTube, Yelp and more. A vast network of minds can offer ideas you or your company may not have unveiled. A perfect stranger may possess just the fix for system branding, logo updates or a creative, orange, warm color advertisement.

6. Embrace the change

It is coming. The day when your brand identity, offered service or program of choice becomes inundated. New versions for your logos, company names, etc. are not meant to say, “hey, we had an awful thing,” but rather “look how shiny and polished this known thing has become.” Doing such is one of our specialties (such as with the Hipskind case study). Think of it as a website facelift or if that sounds disagreeable we can change that to an updated online presence. Sound better?

Either way, we at Andiamo Creative only want better and better for our clients for whom we continue to know, include and embrace more in successful marketing with a refreshed look of creative resolve.

Read more

• Creative Resolutions (I)
• Creative Resolutions (II)
  



Presented in eight chapters with a fascinating afterword all honing in on the idiosyncrasies of our means and ability to effectively exchange information, this book gives insight to those investigating the why surrounding new trends and epidemics. Among the more powerful points Gladwell shares, included within “The Law of the Few” are three critical characters for successful business: the connector, the maven, the salesman.

• Connectors are the people who have “mastered what sociologists call the ‘weak tie,’ a friendly yet casual connection” (pg 46). These are the folks you have met who seem to know everyone.  A Chicago example making the pages of this topic is Lois Weisberg.
• Mavens are invaluable wells of knowledge.  They are “really information brokers sharing and trading what they know” (pg. 69). Highly interesting fact, identifying these individuals is so key that marketers often lure them into sharing their opinions such as with the case presented later in the book involving a phone number on a box of soap. However influential, mavens do not persuade; salesmen do this.
• Salesmen – Aside from the obvious, these players sell ideas and even emotions through various methods including the most insightful “interactional synchrony” (pg. 89).

With characters in place the author moves into a sticky subject, the stickiness factor. This is the element that makes one retain a message. Such is illustrated through the examples following the creation of the popular children’s show Sesame Street and more recent success Blue’s Clues. It leaves me wondering what makes a creative website most memorable.  Yet, let us stick to the subject.

It would be impossible to make everything in Gladwell’s book “stick” with a short review. So, a few favorite highlights include the rule of 150 given in the second half of “The Power of Context,”  and two intriguing case studies which could not be more unrelated, Airwalks and suicide. Perhaps my favorite line follows the Fundamental Attribution Error introduction or FAE:

Character is more like a bundle of habits and tendencies and interests, loosely bound together and dependent, at certain times, on circumstance and context (pg 163).

While illuminating exceptional business practices, defining VIP characters for success and relating epidemics from inception, to flourishing peeks and faltering valleys The Tipping Point tips in its own way by doing exactly what a good book is supposed to do, keep you turning the pages.

Speaking of pages, Andiamo Creative remains here to help you in your own business tipping adventure through logo design, branding identity, launching webpages and more! And if you enjoyed this review check out some of my earlier reviews including Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

Let me begin by saying founder Rochelle Weiner must be an exemplary time manager as she not only recently launched two new sites but just yesterday held an art exhibit at Phantom Gallery and was elected as one of 60 finalists nationwide to compete in the IWS 28th Annual Art Exhibition. Rochelle, since I know you’ll be reading this at some point allow me to publicly give you props!

Compliments aside, this woman is serious business when it comes to many mediums of art but let us focus in the following on web design. She mentions in her last article that her top three concerns in web development are to “uphold and enhance” brand identity, design a “user-friendly” encouraging interface and “provide an easy-to-use” way for clients to manage their own content. All of these concerns end in summation of one word at the forefront of my mind, unique.

While visiting the two aforementioned sites I witness striking differences that left me pleased… and floored. These differences exist not only in page design but also in advertised content. The first page being for a small family-owned grocery at 414 Linden Ave. in Wilmette, IL highlights the variety of quality product the store offers through a series of full-size background photographs. Vibrant, radiant colors from nature fill this harvesting layout. How good is it? It made me question the value of the products I purchase at my own shop of choice; that’s how good.

The second page is for a Chicago based event planning company. Here the design is sleeker with a more muted pallet centering on the business team, it’s many venues and clients and overall award recognition. It remains evident throughout the delivery of the page content that this is a group of exceptional strategic event specialists with a long line of integrity in the running. How good is it? It made me wish for an event worthy enough of contacting this group; that’s how good.

So if you consider the luck of discovery you can achieve by starting or revamping an online presence I encourage you to contact this awesome Chicago design firm, Andiamo Creative. It may just be your pot of gold.

Top three concerns when developing a website:

1. Uphold and enhance the client’s brand and message through the use of fresh, modern and engaging graphic design
2. Build a user-friendly web environment that encourages browsing and sharing and improves search engine rankings
3. Provide an easy-to-use back end admin tool (we like WordPress) so clients can manage their sites themselves.

Now, on to the sites:

Artisanal -  This is a new gourmet, organic, locally-sourced grocery store opening soon in Wilmette Illinois. We wanted to capture the feeling of their mission through photography and used full screen image backgrounds throughout the site. With this site, it’s all about the photography.

Total Event Resources was looking to revamp their brand to reflect the upbeat culture of their business and showcase their award-winning work. We first rebranded the company with a new logo and color palette to reflect their new message and then built a dynamic and content rich site highlighting their many amazing project photos.

Other sites finished recently:

• The Ambler – Central american travel digest
• Amble Resorts – Luxury eco-resort developer
• Zophora – Costa Rica resort
• PhD Pipeline – PhD program aimed at minorities
• Isla Palenque – Panamanian resort
• Excelsis – Business coach
• Fish Inc – Marketing firm
• CTS Holdings, Inc – Consulting firm
• Sweet Pea Studios – Yoga and massage for pre and post natal mothers and babies
• Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is – Reality TV
• Truluv Gifts Online gift store
• Eagle One - Medical case managemenet

Considering that last notion we decided to make our 1,2,3′s even more specific:

1. LEARNING something new allows rewards to come through the avenue of knowledge. So, pick your avenue. Last time our hypothetically mentioning “web development,” was completely intentional (after all, it’s what we do). If this is your undertaking a good beginning is to visit www.wordpress.com. Here you should create an account, maybe watch an instructional video or two and then just play around for a while with different templates and widgets. Remember, you cannot break it. It is O.K. That said, for those who do not choose this avenue and need a creative web-page for their company we will do it for you!
2. TURNING your learning lucrative will prove more efficient if it is not just you in the equation. Take our last point and think, “hmmm, if I learn website development maybe my partner can focus on SEO development and or social media.” It all connects folks (such as with an earlier two-part article Connect Your Connects) and you need more than one dot on a graph to make a line of profit. Yet, you may be ahead of the financial game and completely capable of outsourcing both your SEO and social media control. If that is the case you should check out one of our recommended books, The 4-Hour Workweek.
3. FINDING your niche of happiness originates with one thought, “I love it!” Yet, can what you love turn a profit? Chances are the more specific that lovely thing is the greater the potential return of investment. Regarding your product or service, this heightened specificity is known as the niche within the niche. You can learn more about this through The Challenge or various other online learning modules. In short, if drawing mythological creatures was your niche, drawing unicorns would be your niche within the niche and you could even take it a step further by drawing, say, quadracorns… oh, wait, somebody already uses that idea commercially.

After all that is said and done what about unique branding, logo design or needed correspondence for which you have no time?! As always when you are reading our blog you are on the right site cause we have been providing those services and then some since 1997 and we can do it for you… creatively!

Read more:

• Creative Resolutions (I)
• Creative Resolutions (III)

The heart of an article can be illustrated through staying true to the core, keeping it spicy and by sharing the love. What we mean by “staying true to the core” relates to subject matter and delivery. For example, in our blogging efforts we stay on point by offering SEO tips, marketing strategies and reminding our readers of the services (i.e. starting businesses, updating brands, launching new stuff) and products we provide (i.e. logo design, branding packages, etc). However, just like any relationship one should consider “keeping it spicy.” By adding the occasional fun poll, related book reviews and venturous articles involving community events and neighboring businesses we deliver the spice all while “sharing the love.” And by this last part we mean hot linking to other worthy, related reads or pages (as seen above).

Candies always sweeten the deal even where blog entries are concerned. It is always best to give your reader a little something extra that he or she may not have anticipated such as a quote of the day, trivia question or random fact. Example, did you know that the Valentine’s Day origin can be traced all the way back to the times of “those wild and crazy romans,” and contains some not so sweet facts? Men once physically hit their women as sign of their interest (see, that is another way of sharing the love).

Remember, keep it creative with Andiamo Creative. Hoping everyone had a great Valentines Day and continues to have many more days full of post love.

1. Learn something new. Maybe you have wanted to learn how to play an instrument, speak another language or a unique skill like web design for some time now but have yet to give yourself permission. No time like the present to present yourself with the opportunity. Who knows? This new skill just might reveal a fresh avenue of your life.
2. Turn your leaning lucrative. Everyone has some card up their sleeve that they have yet to play. Use that knowledge (and maybe that something new you’ve learned) to find an idea surrounded by dollars. Money may not bring happiness but it can sure come in handy. And if you are fortunate enough to not need that extra buck pass it off to your favorite cause.
3. Find your niche of happiness. No matter the idea, in today’s market specificity is key. If you are going to turn your learning lucrative, identifying a unique product or service will assist in taking direct aim at your target audience. Speaking of assist here is where we come into the picture of your new year!

Let’s face it folks. No matter how you decide to turn your new skills lucrative while finding your niche it is going to involve some online presence. That said, why not make that online presence awesome? Most people will agree that looking at a creative site is preferable to the alternative. Would you rather have a flat, pallid, impersonal template or pages with spiffy, original design, complementing colors and easy to navigate menus? Let us help you have the latter and just like a crazy infomercial host pitching their product, we “won’t stop there!”

With our branding package you will have a fantastic logo design, a business pack with business cards, printed stationary, electronic stationary, envelopes and look at all these ad-ons!

Read more

• Creative Resolutions (II)
• Creative Resolutions (III)

While shaking thoughts of conventional wisdom and offering what some consider to be controversial data, these authors tie everything up with the thread of incentive, the why leading to the how one gets what one wants. Prepare for fascinating comparisons from the rogue economists!

Chapter one discusses the similarities of sumo wrestlers and teachers! What? Cheating is across the board both in the classroom where teachers use a number two pencil to change their students’ answers and during a match when wrestlers find themselves in a 8 vs. 6 scenario. Caution! Claiming sumo to be rigged is more than taboo for some. Two men were killed for just that.

Chapter two relates real estate agents to the Ku Klux Klan. Now, you might be thinking at this point, what radical comparisons. You haven’t read anything yet! Both parties use fear tactics and specific language. Is the property “granite” or “spacious” and what are the meanings behind these euphemisms? If you are in the market for a home it would be wise to know what information asymmetry means (and stay away from “Klaverns!).

Chapter three introduces us to another familiar name, Sudhir Venkatesh, author of Gang Leader for a Day, as the authors delve into why gang members live with their mothers, while chapter four focuses on reasons for the lack of criminals. Some points of discussion include capitol punishment, innovative police strategies and the aging of the population. The core of the argument is Roe vs. Wade.

The final two chapters elaborate on parenting and name trends. Here’s a favorite line:

…anybody who bothers to change his name in the name of economic success is–like the high school freshman in Chicago who entered the school-choice lottery–at least highly motivated, and motivation is probably a stronger indicator of success than, well, a name (pg. 189).

Readers living in Chicago should know that Steven D. Levitt teaches at the University of Chicago. Find out more about him by clicking here or you could click here to visit the Freakonomics blog.

In short I ask, topics aside, what make a book a good book? A good book will keep you turning to the next page. I enjoyed every turn the writers created in this highly recommended read, Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner.