See more at Phoenix Design Week on October 23rd. As a founding supporter I plan on being there!

WHO?

You. Everyone! All businesses big and small need a brand.

WHAT?

A brand sets you apart from everyone else in the world.

WHERE?

Your brand will be seen all over! On business cards, letterhead, flyers, websites, etc

WHEN?

Why wait? Start today.

WHY?

Have you ever Googled your industry [such as "shoes"]? Out of all those millions of companies, why should they choose you? That is where brands come in.

Okay, now that I have convinced you, you are asking one question…

HOWWW!!!

Here are some helpful questions and tips to help you create a brand.

1. Think of who you are as a company and what you want people to know before they even meet you

a. Don’t have a brand? See how four very different businesses built theirs, and how you can, too.

b. Already have a brand? Click here to see how your brand measures up in your industry.

2. Create a mission statement

Think about what you would want if you were a customer looking for the product you are selling. Think about the service, the product, and the first and last impression you’d like to make.

3. Describe what you are branding

This includes not only the product you are selling, but also your competitive advantage.

4. Find out who your customers are

Any marketing guru will call this your “target market” but it simply means your customer. Are they young? Old? Male? Female? In school? Middle Class? Upper class? Retro? Contemporary? Vintage?

After these 4 steps, you are well on your way to creating a successful brand.

Now is the fun part! Take all that hard work that you did and put it to use.

1.   Make a logo.

Logos should REFLECT the brand you create, not BE the brand. Bring your ideas and mission statements to me [or some other designer not as super-fantastic ;)] to bring your brand to life.

2.   Use it EVERYWHERE.

Keep it consistent! You want people to be able to recognize your brand whenever they see something of yours.

3.   PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE!!

Pretty simple, get your name out there for people to recognize.

That’s it! Good Luck with your branding brainstorming!

Ecopaper.com organic papers are created using a special blend of 100% post consumer waste and tree free agricultural bio-products. That’s where the bananas come in, discarded stalks of banana trees are mashed up and transformed in to sheets of paper, envelopes and even notebooks. This all-natural paper is smooth, uncoated and great for printing. But wait there’s more! Banana paper isn’t the only delicious flavor; others include mango, coffee, and lemon. By purchasing paper from ecopaper.com a percentage of each sale goes towards an orphanage in San Jose Costa Rica.

Giving back to the environment and the ones living in it.

Neenah Paper offers a variety of “green” paper for your printing pleasure. Not
only green in color [see Green Tea], but also green as in environmentally
friendly.

Environment Premium Recycled Papers have four recycled options.

1. 100% Recycled Fibers-also known as paper produced without the use of
chlorine and recycled paper material.

2. 80% Mixed Resources-which is made up of 80% post consumer ber and even
better, the paper pulp comes from well-managed forests, certied by the FSC
[Forest Stewardship Council].

3. 50% Recycled Alternative Fibers-here we have a combination of fibers such as
bamboo and bagasse [a fancy word for sugarcane] and 50% post consumer
ber. This process uses less chemicals and energy than the others. Bonus!

4. 30% Mixed Sources-a blend of 30% post consumer fiber and 70% FSC certied
fiber.

Take your pick!

These days, time is money.

And while many companies are encouraging creativity in the workplace because they know it will have a positive long-term effect on their bottom lines, other companies are simply tightening their belts and asking employees to work longer and harder than ever.
If you subscribe to the latter philosophy, then here are 20 surefire ways you can douse that pesky creative revolution once and for all.

1. Whenever a creative thinker offers an innovative idea, look at them like you smell dog poo. This will signal to everyone how much you value creativity in the workplace, and should go a long way toward eliminating it altogether. In fact, be sure to belittle anyone who looks even slightly artistic. They might give your company a reputation for diversity and creativity.

2. Reward sameness. Hire people with the right “look” who will impress clients with their excellent choice of suits and ties (or pantsuits), the whiteness of their shirts, and their MBAs. Clients may think you’re as boring as heck after awhile, but at least they won’t think you’re different from the rest of the suits.

3. Never think outside the box. It’s much, much safer inside where it’s nice and warm. Of course, you’ll have to be prepared to grow your company very slowly (if at all) and watch other more innovative companies pass you by.

4. Never, ever encourage curiosity or questions! This may lead to innovation (see #3).

5. Along the same lines, always discourage play. Play leads to having fun, and having fun will make people enjoy coming to work. And who knows where that might lead! Perhaps to more creativity in the workplace.

6. Maintain a “your-butt-is-mine-if-this-doesn’t-work” mentality.This absolutely ensures that your people will keep their heads down and just do their jobs.

7. Have lots of unnecessary meetings with strict agendas and lots of charts and graphs. If the agenda doesn’t discourage discussion, then the charts and graphs should confuse everyone into silence. 

8. Above all, never hold a brainstorming session! These are notorious for producing creative ideas and encouraging creativity in the workplace!

9. If anyone in your organization suggests a retreat or any team-building activities, tell them in no uncertain terms to pack up and get out. These foster camaraderie and increase our comfort levels with each other, which set the stage for creative thinking.

10. Install rows and rows of cubicles that all look the same, and don’t let your people personalize them with pictures or toys.

11. Do not attend (or cause anyone to attend) any creative thinking seminars, or read any books on creativity, creativity in the workplace, or creative problem solving. In fact, fire on the spot anyone who even suggests this!

12. Promote your yes-people and make sure everyone knows about their expense accounts, company cars, and platinum credit cards. At the same time, be sure to let your creative thinkers know that when they choose to play the game they, too, will be rewarded.

13. Resist change - any change - and make sure everyone around you does the same.

14. Never trust anyone’s gut instincts…especially not your own.Always insist instincts be backed up with months of research, focus group findings, and surveys. If you catch anyone reading, or talking about reading, the book Blink, dismiss or publicly humiliate them.

15. Make sure everyone is at their desks working by 8 a.m. every morning, regardless of how late they worked the night before. Being sympathetic and flexible when your people are pulling late shifts will only encourage alertness, which may once again lead to creativity in the workplace.

16. Send threatening emails to your most creative people promising bodily injury or dismissal should they infect other employees with their nonsense.

17. If you discover you’ve mistakenly hired any risk takers, be sure to either beat it out of them by sending them to a time management seminar, or fire them immediately. Do not let this risk-taking behavior take root in your company, as it will inevitably lead to innovation, which in turn will lead to greater profitability.

18. If anyone tries something risky or creative and fails, be sure to remind them over and over that you told them so, and make them an example to the rest of the company. Never mind that learning from failure ultimately leads to success, and that the biggest success stories result from the biggest failures (remember Edison and the light bulb?).

19. Strongly discourage competitive analysis, or best-in-class research, as this will lead to curiosity and questioning, and perhaps even…shudder…creativity in the workplace.

20. And if anyone ever comes at you with an idea that could remotely be construed as creative, be sure to tell him/her the idea is stupid. Preferably in front of a crowd of their co-workers.

Thanks for playing!

So, there you have it…20 simple things you can do to guarantee any creativity in the workplace is beaten to a pulp before it has time to take root and grow.
After all, you wouldn’t want to have to deal with all those messy profits, now, would you?
 

Well, one thing that affects all of us is printing, especially if we have a business.  The good news is that there are a ton of ways that we can become more sustainable by making certain printing choices.  The bad news is that there are a lot of ways, meaning that things can get confusing. 

Here is an excellent article that shows how to take some basic steps to make more sustainable printing choices.

http://www.grist.org/article/printing/

Happy Hunting!

MDD

When I say proof, I don’t just mean glance I mean, check that your name and phone number are correct. Walk away from the document and then re-read it AFTER you have spellchecked it. If you meant to write “patties” and somehow you types “panties,” spellcheck isn’t going to catch it. You can bet that once your article is published everyone else will!

This mishap made many of my friends laugh, but I just cringed. It just goes to show that everyone makes mistakes, and that you need to proof EVERYTHING even uniforms. See the Washington Nationals uniform below.

Washington Nationals

If you have a second, please help me out by taking an anonymous three question survey. 

Just click here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=iJbWLukdkUkmujnruzmffA_3d_3d

Thanks!

Miss Details

The mere thought of hiring people can cause business owners to sweat. It costs money, time, and businesses screw it up all the time; costing even more money. Why is this? Well, because hiring people is hard and we make mistakes in picking people. So, why not outsource instead of hiring bad employees?

Fear. Owners hate uncertainty, and we think outsourcing is full of it. We immediately think we can’t afford it. Or, that the person or company won’t be accountable. Or, we simply want an employee down the hallway to go talk to. But the truth is that most owners simply don’t know much about outsourcing. And because of the economy, it is more important than ever for owners to understand all their hiring options. 

For example: On average, the cost of hiring, training, and employing people is 30% of their salary. At $50,000, this adds up to $15,000. So, your total employee cost is $65,000. Think about that the next time you think outsourcing is too costly. Chances are you will receive better service for about the same costs.

Here are some more potential benefits from outsourcing:

• Excellence:

Experience at an affordable price point means better work product in less time

• Reduced overhead:

 Administrative expenses, payroll taxes, benefits, and other overhead

• Efficiency:

During busy times, act on new opportunities without overwhelming one employee

During slower times, control costs by reducing contract work

• Improved management :

Supervision of employees diverts management resources

Use the extra time to build your business

• Sustainability:

Outsourcing reduces your company’s carbon footprint because workers often have virtual offices

The point is that even if outsourcing is not ideal, you owe it to your business to at least look into it. Chances are you’ll be able to find some easy and cheap opportunities to reduce your costs while increasing your overall productivity.

We work with many companies as their outsourced graphic designer, and have made the design/printing process more efficient. They have an experienced designer on call and know that all of their designs will be ready on time.