Posts Tagged ‘Branding’
A Healthy Brand Helps a Dress Decision
A healthy brand helps. In fact, a healthy brand helped me make a wedding dress decision. I am more convinced than ever that a healthy brand helps everything. Our decisions are not rational. They’re emotional. We like to believe that we are in control of our decisions – analyzing facts, assessing prices, comparing features, to…
Read MoreBrand Conversations
Brand conversations are important to the ongoing health of your brand.
Read MoreBranding to a Brander
I work as a brand designer and a brand builder, and I’m fascinated by how branding affects me as a consumer. Are the effects different than on a non-designer? Or am I like everyone else when I’m outside of my design cave? Sometimes I’m hyper aware of how branding affects me, and I make mental…
Read MoreBranding is Good Medicine
Branding is good medicine. But sometimes, to help it go down, you need to add a spoonful of sugar. A couple weeks ago we held our annual designRoom strategic planning/branding workshop. It’s for the whole staff, and everyone prepares and contributes. The sugar I provided was lunch for everyone from L’ Albatros restaurant in University Circle,…
Read MoreLove What You Do, Your Brand Shines Through
When you love what you do, your brand shines through. It might seem a little touchy-feely, because for me in this case, it is. My daughter started her freshman year in college this past August. During this hectic, bittersweet transition I’ve had quite a few internal freakout moments. Did I prepare her well enough? Did…
Read MoreEvidence-Based Branding
I hear a lot about evidence-based treatment as I travel. Over the past ten months I have been fortunate to attend behavioral health and addiction treatment trade shows and conferences across the country. These shows are pivotal for my personal growth. I am able to engage with experts in the field, current and potential clients,…
Read More5 Brand Features That Give Me Goosebumps
Every time I walk through the doors of a well-positioned and branded behavioral health organization I get goosebumps. And as I visit with more of them, and speak with the incredible people that do the good work, the source of my goosebumps is clear. They all share some key traits. I’ve identified five brand features…
Read MoreA Healthy Brand Keeps on Giving
I say it all the time — a healthy brand just keeps on giving, adding value way beyond a cool logo or tagline or website. A great example of this popped up just a few days ago. Healthy Brand in Testimony I listened to Marvin Ventrell, Executive Director of the National Association of Addiction Treatment…
Read MoreHave you heard? People are talking about healthy branding!
Trade show season is in full swing. And I love it. I just got back from my first two shows of the season – The Admissions & Marketing Symposium and NATCON18 – and am continually humbled and honored by my experiences. The people, the energy, the conversations. They get me going and keep me going. Upon…
Read MoreNot a Brand Guru
I am not a brand guru. I don’t claim to stand at branding’s burnished edge. Our offices don’t overlook Madison Avenue, or the Thames. I don’t sit in an Eames chair, or play ping-pong in the office. (That would be cool, though…) From where I sit in our gritty brick building, this Healthy Branding…
Read MoreA Reputation for Research. Everyone Should Embrace It.
Embrace the research. There are good reasons why you should. After eight months of brainstorming sessions, meetings, assessments, and everyday interactions – I’ve acquired a reputation for research. I never asked for this “researcher” title; I don’t go around shouting “I love data”. But I am curious. I ask questions. The answers aren’t all I’m…
Read MoreHealth, Branding, and Helping Organizations that Help People
Health. Far too often we take it for granted. It’s never a problem, until it’s a problem. And when it becomes a problem it can be all consuming, hoping we can be healthy again. Nothing else matters when dealing with mortality. There comes a point when it is out of our hands. We need help.…
Read MoredesignRoom’s New Typeface | Part 1
designRoom is getting a custom typeface! As part of our efforts to refine our brand typography, I will be creating a typeface from scratch exclusively for use by designRoom. When designing anything, it’s hard to know where to start sometimes. With fonts that can be a particular problem. So, before I start the design process,…
Read MoreReflecting on My 2017 "Take a Position" Theme
Take a Position. It was my theme for 2017. And my promise – to you and to myself – was to share content and thoughts and ideas that would help others grow and sustain a healthy brand. My goal in taking a position was to open up and share: • Our studio • Our process,…
Read MoreYou Have a New Logo. Now what?
Launching Your New Logo: Six Critical Steps After months working with your branding agency, you just approved a new logo. You are excited, and maybe a little impatient, to show it off to the world. We get it. But now is not the time to be hasty. There is more work to do. Here are…
Read MoreFrom the Heart, to the Heart
Brands that market from the heart will create strong, enduring bonds. I have seen it work. It has been over a week, but I am still feeding off the energy from the Admissions & Marketing Symposium in Los Angeles. My first-ever west coast presentation went well. It won’t be my last! I was challenged by…
Read MoreMake a Promise. Then Keep It!
Make a promise you can keep. Then keep it. This is something we recommend to clients, and is a quintessential part of healthy branding. The first part of the process is to assess the brand. What sets the brand apart from similar organizations? How is it special? What does it offer? This is positioning, and…
Read MoreBrand New Inspiration
Recently, I attended the Brand New Conference in Chicago, a “two-day event on corporate and brand identity with some of today’s most active and influential practitioners from around the world.” I’ve been to countless design conferences, but it had been quite some time since my last. To me they had become tedious portfolio reviews offering little…
Read MoreReflections from NCAD 2017: Branding First
My reflections from NCAD? Branding first. Web next. While at NCAD, I noticed there is more chatter around branding today than there was two years ago, which is great! Though branding is part of the conversation today, many still aren’t sure where branding fits within the process of marketing a new or evolving organization. CEO’s…
Read MoreThere and Back Again: Hi Lauren Miller!
Hi there! I’m Lauren Miller, the new Business Development Manager at designRoom. My story is one you have likely heard many times before – the young Ohio girl venturing to the big city to find herself, only to realize that Ohio is where she was meant the be all along. I spent my formative years…
Read MoreBusiness Card Brand Assessment
Every time I come back from a conference (and I go to a lot) I am more convinced that our brand assessment process is vital. The inside job — the uncovering of what makes an organization special and what the brand stands for — helps an organization become more efficient, productive and sustainable. Here’s a…
Read MoreDesign Debt: 3 Things that Create it and How to Avoid it
Design debt is very much about wasted time and money. That’s why we refer to it as debt. And why it’s a good idea to avoid it. Almost everyone has experienced a design process of some sort. Whether through a marketing plan and a design firm or an interior design solution for your kitchen, design spreads across…
Read MoreA Logo Refresh of Our Own
In case you haven’t noticed, designRoom recently completed a logo refresh of our own. Why? Because its easy for us! It’s what we do, when there’s a good reason for doing it. LOL Just kidding. A logo refresh was actually quite difficult for us. Why? Because it’s what we do for a living. It’s true what…
Read MoreSeattle Typestyles Explored
How does Seattle typestyles end up as the topic for this blog? I’ll tell you: Kelly and I were in Seattle a few weeks ago for NATCON17. I swear this show gets bigger and better every year. We were thrilled to connect with inspiring behavioral health professionals and attend some insightful sessions. But, as with all…
Read MoreBehind the Design: Ohio Travel Bag Logo
Ohio Travel Bag (OTB): established in 1908 as a manufacturer of traveling bags and coin collection bags. The Industrial Revolution, with its locomotives and steamships and motorcars, had opened up travel to everyday Americans. Ohio Travel Bag outfitted those travelers with their luggage. As larger manufacturers took over the market, OTB transitioned to sourcing and providing…
Read MoreFresh Food. Fresh Logo?
As I teased in my social post, I have some thoughts on Aldi’s fresh logo. First, let me tell you my impressions of Aldi and their old logo. For a long time, I had driven by Aldi’s and had no idea what they were. It sounded and looked vaguely automotive. When I finally heard it…
Read MoreBuild Brand Belief Amid Alternative Facts
Brand belief is important. Belief leads to brand loyalty, which leads to sustained brand success. I believe it’s being threatened. A while back I wrote a blog about how a healthy relationship equals a healthy brand. I stated that the number one tenet of a healthy client/agency relationship was “belief”: “Simply put, you have to…
Read MoreMessage in a Needle
A message in a needle. It’s not quite the kind of messaging I’m used to. Normally I’m cobbling together the right words for a client, to capture the essence of a brand, a promise, a benefit, a selling proposition. Or writing a clumsy, but heartfelt, blog. This is different. It’s not a bottle floating in…
Read MoreBrand Guidelines: The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Tis the season for a little song about the gift of brand guidelines: On the twelfth day of branding, the sales and marketing guy sent to me: Twelve colors clashing Eleven photos blurring Ten fonts a fighting Nine voices shouting Eight files crashing Seven typos grinning Six sub brands missing Five bro-ken links… Four mission statements…
Read MoreSimple Ways to Fall
I know a lot of simple ways to fall. Here’s a selection of my current favorites. I didn’t include the song I wrote, titled appropriately enough, A Simple Way to Fall. Perhaps I will in a future blog. Feel free to share your own simple ways. Fall Classic Indians and Cubs in the World Series. An…
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