Category Archives: Branding

Did Someone Say Tangerine Tango?
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Spring is in the air, the flowers are blooming and the weather has turned from crisp and cool to a slight warm breeze — ahhh San Francisco. It’s also the time of year when thoughts of Pantone’s fall colors dance through every designer and artist’s head. Think of it like that unopened box of colored pencils on your desk just begging to be opened. A glimpse of this fall’s hottest colors brings inspiration and endless possibilities to our work.

This fall boasts versatile neutrals and bold, spirited hues that create a well-balanced palette. Retro colors like Tangerine Tango (the color of the year) and Pink Flambe bring a vivacious, flirty feel to visuals. Meanwhile, when paired together, Olympian Blue and French Roast offer sophistication and sensibility. Pantone’s fall color choices have something for everyone!

For a more in-depth look at this fall’s colors, check out Pantone/Fashion + Home

Which Came First—UX or UI?
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It’s a question that has plagued many designers and developers over time—I still find myself getting into heated debates over it. While it’s important for a website or app to look stellar, it’s equally important for it to function well and provide a seamless experience for the user.

We’ve all encountered poorly organized websites. You know the ones: you click on what you think is a button and nothing happens, all because someone decided it would be cool to use the same color as the active links elsewhere, leaving users lost over where they can click. Or there’s the dreaded app that requires ten touches or swipes to download a song or post a comment. While the UI may have been brilliantly designed, there was clearly a lack of UX planning behind the scenes.

So which did come first? For years we’ve been designing magazine-worthy user interfaces without a whisper of the letters UX. Often, user experience seems to be an afterthought—and it isn’t until countless emails from frustrated developers flood the inbox with 25 questions about what happens after x, y and z do we realize that hey, maybe we should have thought through the UX a little more carefully.

The moral of the story is: it really doesn’t matter which came first. There is no UI without a clearly planned UX—every interface needs to make sense and be aesthetically pleasing.

This feature presentation by Kai Brunner is a humorous look at the UX vs. UI conundrum.

New Facebook Ads Target Mobile Users
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When clients invest in Facebook fan pages they want to see their “Insights” stats climbing in the upward direction daily — and at a healthy pace. Growing the page followers organically by posting fresh, relevant content daily is a no-brainer. Unfortunately, that does not always produce the quick results clients want to see. Investing in Facebook ads to increase your reach is one method of growing a brand page. The social networking goliath has just announced a new mobile ad offering — “Premium on Facebook — this week at its first marketing conference to serve ads to its 425 million mobile users in a tactic to monetize a key revenue source.

Mega brands like Coca-Cola, Starbucks and Macy’s, who invest in Facebook ads to increase their already huge followings, will be able to extend their reach by paying to put their campaigns in news feeds. While brands may give this the thumbs up to increase their “likes”, it could potentially annoy users. In the past, the text ads were always on the right side of the page. If you wanted to ignore them, you could. The new ads can also appear when logging off your account on your mobile device. So which is it for you, thumbs up or thumbs down? For users who don’t like what they are seeing in their feed, they can now let the company know. For brands trying to broaden their reach via social networking, they can engage with their customers and have a conversation about what they’re selling.

Crazy for Pinterest

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The social media world is abuzz with the media wonder Pinterest, founded in 2008. It’s the latest and greatest in the social media realm — a visually-pleasing “virtual pinboard” of photos, videos, and comments on various topics of interest; organized by users like you and me. Being a visual person, my boards are filled with eye candy galore: branding, information graphics, beautiful packaging, fashion, mouthwatering foods, travel destinations and pretty much anything else that catches my designer eye. In the process of playing on our virtual pinboards, users are also generating buzz and increasing traffic for brands like Whole Foods and Etsy, just by linking our pins to their websites.
 
So why all the fuss? Traffic, traffic, traffic! Pinterest attracts more traffic than Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined. It’s growing like crazy and if you haven’t started using it, you should really consider asking for an invite. It could just help you or your company increase traffic — and potentially — business.

Step Up With Stand-Out Apps
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It’s no secret how inundated mobile app stores have gotten — the App Store features about 500,000 apps and Android Market 300,000. So how do you get yours to stand out in front of consumers against all the rest?

A recent report by Distimo showed that featured apps receive increased revenue: 41% on the first day and 22% on the second for the App Store. In the Android marketplace, the numbers were 7% on the first day and 29% overall. The same study gauged what discounting an app can do for sales. Surprisingly, the report showed that it actually lowered revenue. Find out more here

So how do you get your app featured? Although you can apply for the honor, the best approach is just to make your app good. Make it pop, make sure it works well, create a compelling user experience, make the design incredible and plan your marketing in advance. In short, build it well and they will come.

A few elements that successful apps share are a recognizable name (often), a clear benefit or purpose, eye-catching design and a smart interface. They also work as promised. Hey, you stand out visually and conceptually, but it won’t get you anywhere if your product doesn’t work well.

A few words of advice about app marketing from the experts out there: plan ahead so you’re prepared when your app launches, promote via social media channels, have a website to back up your offering, and ensure your app is a recognizable part of your brand. Positive buzz, good reviews and sales or downloads are sure to follow.

Boosting Brand Trust With Social Media
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In this era when social media marketing is hot, the thing, king — companies have a grand new opportunity to communicate directly with their customers. And one of the real benefits of this personalized, day-to-day contact is the chance for brands to respond to customer questions and concerns, and gain their trust.

Online, judging trustworthiness is a complicated venture. For most consumers, it boils down to how real and respectful the messages are, how the company listens to feedback, and how fast it responds. According to Fleishman-Hillard’s 2010 Digital Influence Index, consumers trust brands that provide “real-time responses.” So when communicating with your public via social networking sites, remember that time is of the essence. Delays can have the opposite effect you’re going for; pushing away the customers you’re trying to reach.

A social media presence can also personalize your brand, get excitement going and let you show off your expertise. When venturing out, you may want to avoid these pitfalls: curt responses (you don’t care about the customer), neglected pages (you’re not on your game), a too-formal tone (you’re old-fashioned).

So by all means, start that blog! Post those clips. Get a conversation going with your customer-base and let them see what your brand is about. As a consumer yourself, you know—the brands people are crazy for may start with a great product, but they’re nothing without service you know you can trust.