99 Quotes from 99 Blogs

This month marks our 100th issue of the dRSee newsletter. To celebrate, we’ve grouped together 99 of the juiciest pieces of wisdom the dR team has to offer. 

 

On Standing Out

These 11 quotes illustrate our foremost belief.

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“We all work with the same tools to create a logo that stands out, differentiates, communicates and sets the tone for a brand. Oh, and it needs to be just as effective on a blimp as it is on an iPhone.”

—Why Logos Matter

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“It’s not just WHAT you say; it’s HOW you say it that can make the difference between being seen or skipped over.”

—Special Guest Blog by Jackie Bebenroth: It’s Not Just What You Say, It’s How You Say It

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“People are turning the corner, realizing if they don’t have this branding thing right they may not stay relevant. They can be operationally and clinically great, but if the communities they serve don’t know who they are, they can’t provide care for all the people that need it.”

—Motivation and Madness in March

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“There is no excuse for not helping your brand to shine in every audience interaction.”

—From the Heart, to the Heart

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“People want to know what your organization stands for. They want to contribute to an organization they share a passion and personal connection with.”

—7 Ways to Boost Donations on Your Website

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“Similar to a Nike, Target, Starbucks or Pepsi, your behavioral healthcare brand must cater to distinct and varied audiences.”

—4 Reasons Behavioral Healthcare Organizations Need a Consumer Brand Mentality

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“Stale, unoriginal or sloppy branding doesn’t cut it anymore.”

—Part 1: The Short-Term ROI of a Rebrand

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“Above all else, speak your clients’ language.”

—Once Upon a Brand

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“Imagery is ubiquitous in our world today. Considering its importance, it’s shocking how it is treated as an annoying afterthought by so many organizations we see.”

—Brand Imagery: What it is and Your Guide for Success

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“If you took out or covered your logo on a piece of your communications (website, sell sheet, tradeshow booth, etc.) would your audience still recognize that it’s yours?”

—Stand out by Activating your Visual Brand

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“It’s easy for marketing to become reactive rather than proactive, always responding rather than strategizing.”

—How to Work With a Creative Agency and Why it Will Help

 

On Taking a Position

The easiest road never leads to the most beautiful view. When you take a position, you’re choosing the path most worthwhile. Here are 10 quotes about what taking a position really means.

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“Getting your branding right, even if it takes time and a bit more of an investment at the front end, will help you create consistent revenue for years to come, as well as strengthen your entire organization.”

—Branding for Behavioral Health. Why?

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“Writing is difficult because making meaning is difficult. If it weren’t, there wouldn’t be so many people eager to use an AI program to do the writing for them.”

—The Meat of Meaning: How to Create Rich Content

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“Essentially, positioning is how your organization exploits its competitive advantage. Branding is how you visually communicate that difference.”

—Own Your Position

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“Maybe it’s time to find the right resources, seek out expertise, and uncover who you truly are as an organization. At the end of the day, your brand is all about who you are, what makes you special, what you do, and what you stand for.”

—Maybe It’s Time

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“The position I strive for is real, transparent, committed, full of belief in my people and my clients and, not least of all, scrappy (my favorite).”

—Take a Position

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“Build your foundation, and see how easily the rest of the pieces fall into place.”

—Reflections from NCAD 2017: Branding First

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……….“It’s tempting to just punt, make a snap decision based on what is easiest or least expensive. But is that the strategy that will win the game?”

—Guest Blogger – Jordana Revella: Marketing automation: Let’s get there in one piece

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“I have learned, at an even deeper level, that what we say about healthy branding is true: take a position and hold it, explore it, talk about it, show it, and practice it every day.”

—Reflecting on My 2017 “Take a Position” Theme

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“It may be a simple thing, but ethical credibility adds up.”

—A Healthy Brand Keeps on Giving

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“People relate to authentic conversation, not marketing speak, overly technical jargon, platitudes or bulleted lists of features.”

—Build Brand Belief Amid Alternative Facts

 

Best Practices

“Best practice” is just a nice way of saying “if you don’t do this, bad things will happen.” Here are 16 best practices we’ve learned the hard way.

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“Through the years, I’ve worked with ridiculously talented designers. The good ones always read the copy.”

—Typography: Floundering in a Sea of Design

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“Save time, money, and aggravation by starting [the trademarking] process at the beginning of brand ideation. Know and use the right tools to do the job properly.”

—Guest Blogger – Sharon Toerek: Content Creation: Legally Speaking

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“Budget envy is a bad way to approach a marketing strategy.”

—Content Marketing World Takeaways

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“Great images have to have heart, something you can really embrace and trust to tell your story or message.”

—5 Great Resources for Unique Imagery

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“Will you be following up post-show? Trick question – it’s always YES!”

—“The List” – Trade Show Edition

 

“When I feel healthy, I’ll do work that’s healthy.”

—My Digital Detox

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“A brand without a logo has no face. A brand without guidelines has no integrity.”

—Brand Guidelines: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

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“Brand conversations are important. Have them.”

—Brand Conversations

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“The typeface, or font, a brand uses is as important as the words it forms.”

—My Google Fonts

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“With a rebranding process, great growth can occur. We have seen it happen.”

—Make or Break a Rebrand: Critical Elements

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“Being ‘unhealthy’ or identifying some risk factors doesn’t mean you’re doomed. Our brand assessment reveals how to earn that clean bill of health.”

—Do I Have A Healthy Brand? Understand Your Strengths & Risk Factors

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“The wrong response is worse than no response, and in many cases goes viral for its tone-deafness.”

—The BA Test Kitchen: When the Backlash Becomes the Story

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“Hiring talent is about more than telling people what you want from them. Finding a good fit is a two-way deal.”

—3 Questions to Ask Yourself When Writing a Recruitment Post

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“Good research is what good reputations are built on.”

—A Reputation for Research. Everyone Should Embrace It.

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“When you have a good idea don’t just chase it. Plan for it.”

—I Have an Idea…

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“Someone once said that in the worst of times, the best plan of attack is to begin to count your blessings – it’s the science of rewiring your brain for resilience.”

—Gratitude by designRoom

 

Color

We wouldn’t be a design firm if we didn’t have strong opinions on color. These 4 quotes only scratch the surface of our love for the visible spectrum. 

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“Every year I can’t wait to check out the color trends for the coming year. Because I love color almost as much as I love black.”

—I Love Black, and Other Color Trends

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“[Color] can be quite a powerful tool in branding. This is why we often present first round designs in black and white. We want to avoid the negative or biased affects that color can have on the client.”

—Colorful Perceptions

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“Color is critical to identifying your brand and differentiating it from your competitors.”

—Need to Know Production: Color Matters

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“Designers just don’t make things look pretty — designers make life easier, more comprehendible, and purposefully more colorful.”

—Designing with Color in the Digital World

 

Words of Wisdom

Although our expertise is branding, these 17 quotes can be applied to design, creativity, and life in general.

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“Inspiration is not just what to think but also how to think.”

—Inspiration in Infrared

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“Gratitude touches everything.”

—Brand Gratitude

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“From technology to mergers and acquisitions to new therapeutic interventions, change is constantly upon us. Preparing for change, then, is one of our most vital challenges.”

—Preparing for Change

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“I take a methodical approach to the technical aspects of photography, same as I would a design project. My photography keeps my mind open while slowing it down so I can see all the possibilities.”

—The World in Infrared

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“Because what is life without hope? What chance do we have of evolving or creating anything new without a little struggle, without those funky disruptions that force us to search for alternatives?”

—Ending Leads to Beginning

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“I’ll leave you all with one of my favorites, one thing you should keep in mind pieces of wisdom — this healthy branding stuff works!”

—Doctor C at State of Recovery

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“Please believe me when I tell you that creativity is a skill, not a talent.”

—Meet My Creativity Mantras: “What if?” and “Why not?” Guest Blogger: Patty Flauto

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“Good branding stands the test of time.”

—Top 4 Back-to-Basics for Digital Branding

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“What’s inside your mind is unique and sheltered. Open it up to everyone who cares.”

—That Awkward Moment Before You Write

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“Be more fearless.”

—Brand New Inspiration

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“Abraham Lincoln once said, “Give me four hours to chop down a tree and I’ll spend three hours sharpening the axe.” The point being — planning is everything.”

—Curiosity? It’s Just a Button.

 

“If we can’t see the forest for the trees, and all we look at is our little screens, we’re in trouble.”

—Digital Detox III

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“Our decisions are not rational. They’re emotional.”

—A Healthy Brand Helps a Dress Decision

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“You can have the most sound rationale in the world, and research to back it up, but there is always an element of subjectivity with design. You either like it, or you don’t.”

—What a Good Fit Looks Like: Our Journey with Allendale

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“Belonging is the outcome of intention with inclusion.”

—Our Q&A with DEIB Specialist, Zina Rodriguez

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“Love and compassion don’t need grand gestures.”

—A simple lesson for the season!

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“People love lists.”

—5 Steps of Messaging

 

The Nitty Gritty

Not all advice has to be some grand maxim. Over the years, we’ve written a number of posts about how the sausage is made. Here are quotes from 9 of them.

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“Putting something new on your website every month is like adding money to a savings account—it accumulates over time and lends credibility and trust to the expertise of your business.”

—Email Newsletters, the Unsung Hero of Brand Engagement

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“If I didn’t design your logo, I always believe I can do it better. If I designed it three years ago, I think I can design it better today. Most designers are built that way. However, a smart designer will understand that not every logo needs a complete redesign. It just might need to be tweaked.”

—A Logo Refresh can Refresh your Brand!

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“But fret not, traditionalists. These mobile platforms [on tablets] have a long way to go before they replace the trusty desktop workhorse and convince me to stop using my iMac.”

—15 Design Apps For Your Consideration

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“Before any website goes live, it deserves a careful set of eyes to make sure the worst nightmare doesn’t occur — people leaving the site.”

—7 Quality Assurance Website Tests

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“If you want to increase engagement, you invest a little in creating thoughtful and fresh content. The key is to dig into your analytics and determine where your visitors come from, where they go, and where they spend their time.”

—Digital Design Q & A With Shaun

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“Our team reviews Google Analytics for a single purpose. How are people engaging your brand?”

—3 Key Google Analytics Reports We Assess

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“If there was one simple suggestion I would make, it would be to hire or work with a designer who can visually create and build your emails for you.”

—5 Reasons You Need a Designer to Build your MailChimp Emails

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“Today is the dumbest version of AI you will ever know.”

—Exploring the AI Revolution: Highlights from MAICON 2023 and the Future of Marketing

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“Debranding is delusion powered by allusion.”

—Debranding? Deconstruction.

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“Coffee helps. Coffee always helps.”

—A pandemic doesn’t have to inspire pandemonium.

 

Values

Our values lay the foundation for all the work we do and why we do it. Here are 14 quotes that prove we practice what we preach.

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“Being nimble and scrappy means doing what you need to do, even if it’s in a different way than you’ve done it before.”

—We’re Scrappy

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“When we follow our process, a client brand will look right.”

—Step Three in Our Branding Process: Design

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“Since everyone is different, there is no single solution. We design to fit.”

—We Opened Some Eyes (I Hope) at Open Minds!

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“There is no magic bag that we reach into and pull out logo ideas. The ideas are guided by homework, strategy, and the visual associations we make with words.”

—The Leap from Words to Images

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“I am grateful to be able to see the possibilities in serving a community that is so underserved. There is a ton of good work being done, and I’m blessed to have met the people I have this year.”

—Showing Brand Gratitude

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“A logo refresh was actually quite difficult for us. Why? Because it’s what we do for a living. It’s true what they say about the shoemaker’s children always go barefoot.”

—A Logo Refresh of Our Own

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“I’ll never compare myself to a surgeon or a therapist. We aren’t on the front lines. But we help those on the front lines help more people.”

—Health, Branding, and Helping Organizations that Help People

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“The other day I was working away in my office when I overheard Kelly tell a coworker, “I love what I do!” I didn’t hear the context, but without any hesitation I thought, “I do too!” And I kept on working.”

—Love What You Do, Your Brand Shines Through

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“Software applications are no replacement for creative genius. They’ve simply helped us be more productive and organized – so we can invest our time and energy where it matters most.”

—The True Story of an Agency That Moved Out, Moved On and Moved Forward

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“We open eyes by creating something special—and that requires going deep, asking the tough questions, building the right strategy, coming up with a big idea, executing flawlessly and going beyond the ask.”

—Open Eyes

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“You’re not just working to get the job done, you’re working to get it done right.”

—We Are Committed

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“We’ve all worked together so long you know that each of us has a reason for being here. It’s easy to believe in each other knowing we’re all here for a reason.”

—We Believe

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“For nonprofit businesses whose target audience is a local population, the highest possible traffic on social media isn’t exactly the goal.”

—No Chasing Shiny Objects: Our Approach to Social Media

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“This year was all about trying to find safe ways to see my loved ones and not turn into a grizzled hermit.”

—dR Inside Out: A Year in Review

 

Rise

All roads lead to Rise. These 7 quotes embody what we mean by this year’s theme.

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“My goal is to give everyone goosebumps from the very first moment they interact with a brand – from the name and logo to the website – all the way through to when they walk through those doors.”

—5 Brand Features That Give Me Goosebumps

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“[Marketers often] forget to pause, take a step back, and be mindful of the bigger picture, the vision of the brand — what it stands for, who it speaks to, its future, and how all of its facets are connected.”

—Be Brand Mindful, Too

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“Open up to what’s possible, and try to include at least one kind of off-the-wall idea in your strategic plan.”

—Branding is Good Medicine

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“We’ll take what comes, and we’ll work with it.”

—Engage Purposefully

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“Sometimes when you just throw an idea out there, things work out.”

—Special Moments on the Road

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“Rise connects everything, so let Rise happen.”

—2024: Rise

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“We try to make it easy for clients to Rise above the horizon and see the garden they’ve planted, the wider view of the organization they’ve built.”

—4 Ways We Help Our Clients Rise

 

Chad

Chad’s insight defies categorization. Here are 9 quotes that can only be described as “Chad.”

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“Yes, your logo is stupid.”

—Your Logo is Stupid. Love, Chad

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“The days of boring, every-thing-looks-the-same stock imagery are over! Viva la skull baby on the rocks!”

—Random Wacky Image Search Results

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“In a concerning trend over our last few hires, the designer submissions have become more and more… pathetic.”

—Designer Job Applicants: I Am Concerned

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“Despite our best strategy, research, creating, and crafting, people react to ideas on a personal level. We can’t plan for someone seeing a Cheeto.”

—The Ins and Outs of Falling Up

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“Design is everywhere. Unfortunately, good design is not. There are reasons for that.”

—Design Debt: 3 Things that Create it and How to Avoid it

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“I even have a hard time remembering my brand of toothpaste. I just can’t differentiate. I’m pretty sure it’s Colgate. Or Crest. I don’t know. Both brands look and feel too much the same to me, which makes me really not care about either one.”

—Branding to a Brander

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“If you ask ten people what a brand is, you’ll likely get ten different answers (with one of them saying, “it’s my logo.”)”

—Brand Guidelines: Critical for Successful Branding

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“For a designer, creating a logo and visual identity for a client is a labor of love. It is like giving birth (without the labor pains).”

—After the Rebrand: NAATP, 7 years later

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“Kelly hates when I mention the years (if she makes me edit this out, you will never know!), but I’m proud to say that 2022 was my 30th year at designRoom.”

—That Fire and Ice Feeling (Reflections on a Journey Through Iceland)