Tolerants, working around the problem

My business coach wants me to keep clearing out those things that I put up with, that I tolerate.

My version of Word, for example, doesn't do the sub-menu thing. For example, I can't insert a picture using the menu. So I insert a picture from the drawing toolbar.

I just had to make a page break. Yep, can't do it from the menu. But I can write the word "break" and then do a find and replace with the special characters (it's a "^m" if you don't already know).

If I used Word more, I'd certainly take the time to re-install it.

A stack of logos

Logos! When I custom design a logo, I slip between the roles of coach and designer. "Why are you in business?" I'll ask my client. "What makes you passionate about what you do? What makes you unique? What do your clients expect of you?" I help my clients understand that a great logo is designed for their clients. A logo is the initial aha! connection between them and their best customers.

Another stack of logos

These logos are more or less square, while those above are more or less rectangular. Many of these logos use color. I certainly have a "style," but not as much as some designers. I work very hard to create the imagery and visual communication that works best for my client. I'm very aware that what works great for someone who is intuitive doesn't work for someone who is more concrete.

A tale of three logos

[image removed by request]

Whew! I had to really stand my ground with this client. Thankfully, I did. I realized he was a powerful selective listener, so I quickly switched over to exclusively emailing back and forth.

I negotiated a very clear starting point, and so I was able to design this logo for under $300. Yes, I know, it's a fabulously good value. But I really kept my time down. Interestingly, the client feels he paid a premium, and spent some time trying to convince me he was doing me a favor, paying "so much money!" I wonder if I bought a property with him and paid him a 1% commission, would he feel like he'd been fairly compensated? Perhaps he would, if he'd done as much as he could to limit and control the mechanics of the transaction.

He's still trying to get some free work out of me, too. It's sort of fun to note all the negotiating tricks, and see through them.

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This client used an online tool to combine some clipart with her business name. Her first run of cards was sort of mundane. She asked me to dress it up.

She has a tagline, "Get give and go green." We agreed to come up with a set of images to fit each of these ideas, but "give" gave us some trouble. I finally realized the problem: we needed a single, cohesive image that captured all three values, not three icons. This tree in the dawn's mist worked out fine; it suggests the dawn of a new day full of hope, spirit, and productivity, because you get to focus on your passion while she handles the drudgery of your payroll. Her testimonial:

I LOVE IT!  You are truly amazing and have a great gift.  Thanks for sharing it!  Let's go with this one.
Thanks
Cheri

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And finally, in the "Don't let this happen to your friends" category, I've been sent this self-designed logo. Yikes! The restaraunt owner might be an excellent business man and chef, but he's sure not a designer. If you have a friend, husband, wife, brother, sister or cousin, who shows you the logo for their business that they designed themselves, please love them enough to educate them that their logo is the public face of their business. It's got to communicate the attraction of the business. It needs to be professionally designed. Things to watch for if you can't decide if they need help: use of Times Roman (or any other Windows font: Copperplate, Papyrus, etc), drop shadows, and coastal outlines are all indicators that the logo isn't going to attract customer's attention.

One thing this logo does have going for it is the rouge/red thing. It's obvious, but obvious is a good thing when you're competing for peopple's bandwidth.

Sally Ann Jessie of Petlane™

One of my BNI compatriots is Sally Ann Jessie. She is a pet advisor: she helps people to play with and take care of their companion animals. The product line is designed by the smae lady who founded Discovery Toys, and they are so cool I almost wish I had a pet just so I could buy some! There's an elephant toy, for example, that is amazingly adorable and rugged, for playing with your medium-sized dog.

She got this cute VW Beetle, and it had someone else's contact info and a bastardized version of the Petlane™ logo. We put her contact info on the car, and of course I had to change it to use the correct logo. Branding, baby! Keep the "corporate" identity consistent!

I'm not like the logo police or anything, though.

The Glassman, Truck Graphics

There's a vinyl graphic product that 3M created, and licensed to vendors all over the country. It's a large, colorfast print, with an adhesive on the back that is wrinkle and bubble free in the hands of anyone with patience.

I love using it.

This fleet of vehicles all got either magnetic signs or graphics applied directly to the trucks or vans. I merely duplicated the design the client made for herself some years ago. While my real strength is in design, I acknowledge that some people need me for my project management and production skills. And that's fine, just not as exciting.

What IS exciting is what I'm writing about over at my other blog.

Illustration, cover art

I love this kind of project. This is a cover for an artist directory. Donna Layburn is a client and friend from a few years back now. She got onto the board of directors for the Frank Bette center, and then commissioned me to make this cover for them. They'd tried using artist volunteers, but with limited success. So under huge deadline pressure, she called me up and gave me the job. She told me, "It's got to be something that looks like it could sit on a coffee table. It's got to be about the art." The time was so compressed that no one was sure if my cover was going to make it to the press, so there was some confusion. But I pressed on! When she saw what I made, she left me this message for me.


donnastestimonial.wav
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I like doing one or two pure-design type projects each week. More than that I think I might begin to feel chained to the computer.

Perhaps I AM very good

The client wants his favorite tattoo as his logo.
So, an hour later, I've recreated it as a print-capable bit of art.