Wisdom From the Stars

A quote on my Starbucks cup:
It's relationships, not programs, that change children. A great program simply creates the environment for healthy relationships to form between adults and children. Young people thrive when adults care about them on a one-to-one level, and when they also have a sense of belonging to a caring community.

~Bill Milliken
Founder and vice chairman o Communities in Schools, author of Tough Love and The Last Dropout.

It is possible that applies to more than children.

I love woot!

For those of you who have never wooted before what a joy. They even have fun 404(ish) errors. Went to check out today's product and got the enclosed image.

Imagine you were creative. What would you do?

Let's face it I'm not creative. Yes, I am employed as a designer, sort of. Yes, I do make things that people later see in print. But I'm not creative.

I think my designs stink. I think other people think my designs stink. I wonder if it hurts my printer to actually produce my designs.

Flashback to the other day at the HOW conference in Atlanta (I want to post on that but I'm not sure what is worth writing). I was sitting in a session with Sharon Werner, the brains behind brands like Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day and 10 Cane Rum. She was speaking on packaging and how to give packaging personality. She said that at her agency they personify a project, to the level of defining what kind of shoes it would wear. Then everything they do gets tested and compared to that persona.

I started thinking about that. I've always personified everything. I used to personify the letters of the alphabet. I always felt sorry for U because it seemed so isolated from the other vowels. OK, maybe I'm telling a little too much about myself.

Never the less I started thinking about personifying things. During one of the breaks I needed to work on a logo for a client that had a tight turnaround. As I was working I asked myself this question: Imaging you were creative, what would you do?

It seemed simple yet profound. If I were a creative person would I add a flourish here, would I let this go to print, would I take this client? All of a sudden I began to give character to my creative self. I manifest a whole new personality (any psychiatrists reading this can contact me via email). This was my creative persona.

I've now gone so far as to use an inflatable Jerry French as the visual representation of this character.

I was surprised in one other the HOW sessions when the speaker asked how man of you are really good designers and a majority of the room raised their hands. This is not for them. They know/think they are good. But many people I know question the validity of their creative ability.

Many times I've considered giving up design, it's too frustrating. I can't though. I'm an addict. I love it. This idea of portraying the creative part of me as something outward has had an amazing impact on my work thus far. I don't feel the pressure or the rejection like I may have in the past. It's not me, I'm just doing what Jerry said.

I may not be creative but Jerry is.

Four ways to train people to ignore you. (borrowed)

I was reading a post on CZ Marketing's website that I thought was interesting.

For the complete text follow the link.

Top Four ways to train people to ignore you.

1. Send out something for the sake of it. (press release anyone?)

2. Everything is urgent.

3. Not understanding how to properly utilize your website for you constituents.

4. Expect branding to generate sales.

Who can define branding? (the same way twice)

The concept of branding may be one of the most talked about, misunderstood, and debated topic in the world of communications. To some it means creative collateral, advertising, logos or slogans.

I've been looking around for resources that describe what branding is really about. Even as of a year ago I thought branding was a good logo that was used correctly. I found an article (which I can't seem to find on a webpage anywhere and is copyrighted so I won't reproduce it) where Roland Jacobs is being interviewed by CZ Marketing. Roland is the managing director of Aprire!One, a branding agency specializing in church branding.

In the article Roland breaks down branding to a key message that directly reflects your mission. The brand is in the message and every touch point you have is part of that message.

So it isn't the creative although that supports it. It's about taking a clear look at the mission of your organization and determining how to convey that message to your audience. You can immediately recognize when a company is doing that poorly, their message seems frayed. If you can't quickly identify what you at least think they are about then there's a problem with the message.

Volvo seems to be a great example of good branding. What are they about? Safety right? I went to the Volvo cars USA site and the first text I saw was "The luxury car that treats life like the greatest luxury of all." They have clearly defined who they are and everything they do supports that.

Creative is a huge part of what a brand is. A great design can inspire feelings and emotions that can't be conveyed through a text tagline. Supporting your message with graphics is important. What if Volvo told me they were about safety but had a cheap pixelated website. I'm going to think they make cheap cars and they've lost my consumer faith.

To see some of the article I've been reading check out the links to CZ and Aspire!One.