Outside the “box”.

Inspiration can come in a shape of a shadow cast on the wall or from a word you hear in a conversation. The first time I truly felt inspired was at the age of seven. I remember looking through my parents’ lawn, searching for my neighbor’s Pittsburgh Steelers pin that fell off his jacket. While weaving through the lush blades of grass, I saw amazing shapes and patterns. I couldn’t wait to draw them. I ran into the garage and retrieved my container of chalk and began to draw on the sidewalk. I soon ran out of chalk and went into the house to grab my old shoe box of crayons and continued to draw for hours. I had filled the sidewalk, the walkway to the porch and the driveway. I was so proud of all my hard work that left color everywhere. Unfortunately, my father thought differently and grounded me for two weeks for using crayons on the concrete. Later that night I watched from the porch as he poured lighter fluid on my work to melt and burn off the crayon. The color of the flames and melting wax inspired yet another project I couldn’t wait to start.

Now that I am an “adult,” and in a career where one is expected to be inspired all the time, I have found myself staring at the four walls that create my office or my “box.” And I begin to ask myself: what in here is inspiring to me? What will make me think outside the box, while being contained inside one. Sure, I could use the old standbys and look at what others have done to inspire me. But I wonder what would become of an idea if we were to set aside the standbys, and have a brainstorming session during a walk surrounded by nature, or look for inspiration on the walls of a museum, or while staring at the drawings of kindergarteners. What would happen if we let ourselves out of our boxes to create something outside of one? Let’s fill a stuffy board room with music, or have a meeting outside in the sun. I think that during this stage in my life that is so full of tight deadlines and schedules, I forgot what once inspired me, and could again.  Inspiration is still all around me. I just have to allow myself to step out and see it again.

Color, Color, Color Chameleon

As designers in this new century, we are often crafting projects that may be seen on the global playground. In this global mix we aren’t always aware that colors we associate with symbols, events or customs in the west may not have the same meaning in other cultures. For example, in the United States red connotes love, danger or stop, black symbolizes mourning or evil, yellow means happiness and green, money or growth.

I recently had an opportunity to visit India in January and had a front-row seat to observe how another culture views and uses color. The color of love and passion in the States is red but is rarely worn as bridal attire. In the East (India and China), it means purity, fertility and brings luck, so brides wear it often. India is not afraid of color and it’s infinite combinations. The number one selling beer, Kingfisher often uses a red background for their bright blue and orange hummingbird logo. An electric combination in the west, but eye-catching amidst the jumble of outdoor advertising in Indian cities.

The deceased of India are attired in white while the mourners wear white to symbolize their grief and to deflect the uncleanliness of the dead body. Our western custom requires black or dark colors to reflect the somber nature of the occasion.

Green in India has many of the western associations but is also a sacred color for the religion of Islam. It is said that the green stripe in the Indian flag represents the Muslims in India as well as growth and prosperity. In parts of Indonesia, green is a forbidden color. This could stem from the story of the sea-goddess Nyai Roro Kidul. Legend has it that she dove into the Java sea following a premonition in her dreams. The baptism of the water made her immortal and she choose to live in the sea forever more. Her favorite color is green, thus anyone on the beach wearing green will be surrounded by waves and taken to live with the Queen of the Seas.

As with all design and advertising, color choices should be made with a number of considerations. We need to honor the message our client is trying to achieve and also be aware of who the primary audience will be. See links below for more information about color meaning in various cultures.

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2010/01/28/color-theory-for-designers-part-1-the-meaning-of-color/

http://www.myuniversalfacts.com/2005/12/meaning-of-colors-color-symbolism.html

http://webdesign.about.com/od/colorcharts/l/bl_colorculture.htm

View Kingfisher logo

http://www.kingfisherworld.com/corporate/corporate-brand.htm

Who controls the face you present to your customers in social media?

Does your company have a Facebook page? A twitter account?

Surprise! You do.

It’s possible a customer that is passionate about your brand built one on his or her own. Or perhaps a well-meaning employee took it upon him or herself to create one

Either way, are these creations everything you want them to be? Probably not. Of course you don’t want to discourage this display of brand or employee loyalty. However you don’t want your only presence on this large and still growing community to be something completely out of your control.

I recently looked for one of our customers Facebook pages. What I found was really disappointing. Clearly they did not have a plan. Lots of good discussion and information was completely missing. Lots of opportunity lost.

You need to create an official site dedicated to your company. Have a plan and keep it a vibrant site with lots of information updated frequently. This doesn’t happen on it’s own. Put someone in charge of it. Have a plan.

And if your company is lucky enough to have a number of passionate customers talking about your company, engage with them also. Friend them, follow their twitter posts and join in on the conversation. Be a part of the community and you will be rewarded with an even greater following of passionate customers.

Refresh…

I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I enjoy playing online solitaire. The games with many decks to play with. I love the feeling that I’m solving some sort of puzzle. I know, I know, get a life, right? But when I’m tired and have some down time and don’t feel like doing anything brilliant, like, say scrub my bathroom floor or clean my oven, it’s just mindless fun.

Except when I don’t feel that I have any more moves to make. Then I can either hit the refresh button and get a brand new game… or step away from the game for a few minutes. When I return, I’m always surprised at what a fresh view of the game I have. Moves that were invisible to me five minutes prior are suddenly crystal clear – sometimes I can even finish and win the game!

I find this process helpful while designing – whether for print or web. Sometimes, I have everything that I need: excellent copy and great input from the account executive on what the client’s needs are, my computer is ready, and with my notepad next to me, the ideas come together beautifully. Other times…not so much. I struggle or, even worse in my opinion, second guess my viewpoint. I can’t seem to get anything on paper that I like or feel is right for what the client is looking for. At these times, I wish I had that little handy refresh button that we have on our computers. However, good design doesn’t happen by hitting a button and coming up with an idea instantaneously. We need time to think about what we’re doing, and how it works for the client and their branding – all the while thinking about the work that will be representing our agency. It’s a fine line to be able to satisfy all of these criteria while also staying within the budget and timeline. And we do it. And we do it well. But sometimes, well, it can be more difficult to do than at other times. Do we not understand the project/product? Is the input received not good? Is the timeline too tight? How about that budget? Do we want our name on a project that doesn’t quite work? Sometimes we just need to walk away and look at the project differently. Hit that refresh button in our heads and view the project in a different way. There are all sorts of ways to do that and I think each person handles it differently. Finding out what works for you is so important. Stepping away and getting a breath of fresh air works for me. Coming back gives me the opportunity to look at it with fresh eyes – and sometimes I even win the game!

Cybersquatting on Twitter.

Have you checked? The name you want may already be taken.

What is Cybersquatting? Back when the web was new, many large companies had not thought to secure the domain names to their own company. Cybersquatters had acquired the domains in the hopes of reaping a profit from these companies when they got around to building their corporate web sites.

Is something similar happening on Twitter?

I think many e-savvy companies have already staked out some of their territory. That is their own names. However, I have noticed others have secured a number of user names with pretty good strategic value as well.

askthedoctor
medicalhelp
kitchendesigner

You get the idea.

Do you have a plan on how your company or brand is going to use Twitter? If not perhaps you should start to craft one now. Securing the appropriate user name may be more difficult than you think.