Cuddle up to Flash

Talkbackr Logo Process

Shawn Borsky — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 20:09:51 +0000

In this post, I wanted to show some of my process on a logo I just did for a friend’s new site, Talkbackr ( http://talkbackr.com), this was conceived and built by Brian Seitel ( http://blog.brianseitel.com/).

Admittedly this logo did not take me as long as most do. But, I also felt like I had a strong feeling and imagery to work with, which is surprisingly hard to come by these days.

Brainstorming

In my process, I started off with the basics. Identifying the main elements of the name. “talk” made me think of dialogue and speech bubbles. I figured sometimes the obvious option is the right one. So, I started drawing some speech bubbles and since I was trying to convey “back”, I thought an arrow pointed left would work. Since if you read the logo, left to right, then left reads as back. My original idea was a speech bubble with big ol’ arrow pointing out ( seen above). But, it felt bulky and unelegant. So, I opted to create a more trim bubble with less of a tail but still read as pointing “back”.

Since most logos rely heavily on their text, the next thing I did was to look at how I wanted the logo to feel and how it would read. I wrote it out naturally and without thinking I wrote it all in lowercase.

Which reminds me of a tangent… I always find it interesting how we can rely on our inherent approaches and instincts for many decisions. For instance, there are some words that I actually cannot spell unless I type them without thinking about the word. Like asphyxiate, ha BAM! No spell check. ( Trust me). So, I always find it helpful to see what my instinct is. In the case of Talkbackr, it seemed innate to write it lowercase. This is undoubtedly because of my influences in seeing other companies who remove the whole last vowel thing. It’s almost become a convention, and there is nothing wrong with convention.Just to be sure, I wrote it in all uppercase, which I thought, “Wow, the K and R don’t work well together this way.” Although, it was valuable because I saw that the negative space on the K and R almost felt like a speech bubble, maybe if a massaged it a bit…

Next, I started doing a slightly bigger and more detailed write-out of the text. To help me think about what it should feel like. As I wrote, I thought about how I think the word ” talk”, feels much better with a serif, but not a fancy serif, just some nice solid anchors on the text. So I immediately thought, “Hey! Slab Serif or classic serif”. So I thought of two slab serifs and two classic serifs to work with.

Next step, was to tryout my main typeface choices and see how it synced up.

After taking a look at these typefaces ( Geometric SS, Clarendon, Century Old, Garamond Premier Pro), I thought about what the logo was for.

The website is about getting honest and real feedback on artistic endeavors. I also thought about the creator; Brian has got a sense of humor about things and is fun and comfortable to talk to. I thought , “You know, giving real feedback is hard because you cannot be comfortable when talking to someone’s face”. This website is about making the audience comfortable enough to give their real opinions. So, I opted for a Clarendon base, because of its bold friendliness. The serifs curve in nicely, and have a variable thickness that makes it feel more personal ( such as in the C and the A). Next, I decided that the type needed be stronger, so I opted to work with Clarendon Bold. As a note, the friendliness turned out to work perfectly, since even Talkbackr’s FAQs are a bit comically charged.

Execution

So I started with my base and began adjusting the kerning to make it read better. I adjusted the “A”s to line up better and matched up curves where I wanted to bridge the words together. I also connected the K and the R as in my drawings so I can really visualize how close the type mimicked the thought bubble. I even tried a large bubble lined up on the K in talk.

At this point, the form is strong, but I was not happy with the big speech bubble . It was too obvious and not clever at all. Its just a bubble, and the site is not just about talking. The site is about the kind of talking that is less out in the open. There is a bit of subtle imagery to convey that. The speech is not loud or in your face. Much like good feedback, it is more quiet but still immensely helpful.

I went back to my drawings and worked on a possible shape with the negative space which still felt heavily like a bubble, but not enough to read as one. After some drawing and some tweaking I ended up with my solid one color logo type.

I was pretty happy with the form so I went into pairing it with some color and some more volume and form. With some projects I spend a lot of time on color choices. For Talkbackr, I immediately went for a strong grey text placed on a calming color. I thought about what was calm and comforting to me.Light blue was the first thought I had, so I went with it.

I think Talkbackr’s logo is evidence of how sometimes your conventional reactions and instincts are the best guides to follow. As designers there is a lot of pressure to make every project insanely clever and ground-breaking. I think it helps to remember that simple is smart. We shouldn’t be afraid of doing the obvious thing if it solves the problem.

The Budget Question

Shawn Borsky — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:21:05 +0000

This is a short article for client and designer alike, I’d like to tell you about how planning your budget and discussing it with your designer or developer can really help everyone involved.

For my entire career, business specialists and consultants have told me that it is a massive faux pas to talk budget with a potential client on the first meeting or even before furnishing a proposal. I have even had clients tell me, “No, I tell you what I want and you tell me what it costs.” in response to the budget question. This is a difficult place to be when I have done websites for $1,000 dollars and ones for $200,000, and in some cases it makes sense to think like this. But, its a terrible way to approach good customer service and delivering a valuable product.

Designers are creative problem solvers, which means that we know more than one way to skin a cat ( or a website). Most clients who contract with designers simply do not understand the costs or the way that the profession works. That isn’t their fault, they aren’t designers. As a designer, its our job to educate our clients on our profession just as it will be their job to educate us on theirs.

Let me layout a simple guide for discussing budgets:

1) Find out the “Why?”
This is a simple approach that many designers ignore or skip over. Most designers consider the budget irrelevant to their job, so they don’t ask why a budget is where it is. Remember this. Every client has a set budget for a reason, the number is not random and it represents a tangible amount of money they are willing to invest to solve a problem. It is essential to ask the question, “How did you arrive at this budget?”. You should understand why the problem is costing them X amount and how your services will help them solve it and recoup the investment.

2) Understand the Financials of the Problem
Next, you should seek to understand how the problem is actually costing the client money or why they need to increase revenue. Its incredibly hard to build a product with measurable success if you don’t know how to measure it.

3) Make clear delineation between Standard and Premium approaches
Helping your clients understand that design comes in levels of service will do you wonders. Its simple, more budget means more time spent. Most clients don’t understand how much work goes into the creative process and don’t understand that not all designs are created equal. Make sure they leave the meeting with the understanding that just because you can’t approach their problem with no expense spared doesn’t mean that it cannot be handled effectively and within a budget.

4) Use Metaphors
This is more of a personal preference but trust me, it works! If you client can relate to the value comparison it helps them understand where the costs are incurred. Remember to use comparisons that anyone can reference. My personal favorite subjects to draw metaphors to are the hamburger/steak approach and the car metaphor.

5) Directly address their fears
Many clients are hesitant to give a budget because they believe it is like saying “You can charge me this much”. The best approach you can take it to directly address the concern and explain why you need to know their budget and how it will help you offer a more value packed solution.

I hope this has given you a better feel for how to approach this touchy subject. Remember, budgeting is a core element of business and risk. The more transparent and helpful you are, the better your client relationships will be.

Great Designers. Raise Money for Clean Water

Shawn Borsky — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 17:24:05 +0000

I just wanted to make a quick post about something I recently came across which is all kinds of awesome.

A group of great designers who had invites to Dribbble ( a community for artists to share works in progress) got together and decided to use the invites to raise money for a great cause, clean drinking water. If you are not aware of Dribbble then you are likely not aware of how sought after an invite is for designers who love what they do.

I love this approach because it is such a sensible application of value to an otherwise abstract idea. They are leveraging the value of something intangible to make a real difference in people’s lives.

I have already donated and told everyone that I can reach about this, I encourage you do to the same.

You can check-out Chris Wallace’s site here to find out more or go directly to the Campaign for Charity:water

Better Web Design – Part 1 : Fine-Details

Shawn Borsky — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 05:53:01 +0000

Better Web Design : A Series

This will be the first article in a series I will be writing. The goal is to help fledgling web designers work inwardly on their practices to become an overall better web designer.

In general, one can look at a website and think, “Wow, this looks great” or “This is alright”. Many web users are not designers, nor are they aware of how they can make these observations. It is inherent in the way our mind interprets what we see. We are not just seeing it, we are analyzing it, remembering similar experiences, and abstracting the concepts. In this process, we are recalling natural cues of beauty such as symmetry, crisp lines, clean alignment, equidistant spacing, subtle color combination, and practical information hierarchy. We can understand that the same design by a better designer is better, but why is that?

There are clearly a number of factors. Is it good layout? perhaps a well-done logo? intelligent color scheme? Perhaps, but then again. Let’s explore these facets.

A good layout is not to difficult to come by. All you really need is clean and equal alignments, clear gutters and margins, and breathing room for content and text. After all, a nice two column layout can solve many content problems. Further, there are now many great grid systems and layout templates that can provide any designer with a solid foundation.

Then a good logo? It is true that a good logo can make a design better just like a bad logo can make a good design look low quality. A logo is a small piece of identity and in general many of the most well-done designs utilize a logo that is little more than a well-selected typeface with careful kerning.

Perhaps, it is color scheme? Colors can be attractive and harmonious but most sites have a fairly simple color scheme. There are award-winning fantastically designed websites that are black and white.

Let me present this thought to you.

A major factor that separates a stunning professional designer from an amateur is the fine-details. In a word, craftsmanship.

The decision to make a 1 pixel subtle gray line, when it could just be black. The call to use a subtle arched drop-shadow when it could be just a block or an outline. The addition of a slight texture or a smooth gradient to enhance the depth of a button. Even a 1 pixel 50% opaque line to create a sharp highlight can make a world of difference.

To many, this all sounds like unnecessary fluff. A number of readers may write-off such considerations as useless or unnoticeable and therefore, not worth the time or effort. Humans are subtle creatures, we can detect extremely minute details without realizing it. I guarantee you this; A user will always notice craftsmanship. Think of any product you have used that has a cheap alternative. There is a reason it is cheaper. Many times it is not really important, but when building websites people have little tactile reference or other paradigms to make a mental comparison. Well detailed design is sometimes the only way to prove genuinely that you care about quality. You don’t need to take my word for it, let’s look at an example.

An Example

Let’s take the example of a website that has a simple but professional design. I am going to use Dribbble, because I love the idea of the website. Also, I would love an invite just as much. But, I digress.
I created this basic wire-frame based on the current Dribbble site design.

This step is to help us separate the layout from the design for the purposes of demonstration. The layout is nice, but there is nothing that is particularly professional or outstanding about it.

Okay, let’s take a look at the logo.

My amateur example site will be called “Pupppies”. Below is a side by side comparsion of the dribbble logo vs. my quickly concocted pupppies logo.

I didn’t spend as much time as the designers at Simplebits , but it isn’t a bad logo for a 5 minute investment. Albeit copyright infringing…

Wondering about the color scheme? For the sake of this example, I will be using the same color scheme as dribbble, so that we are on an even playing field.

I give you Pupppies! ( Make sure to open in full resolution!)

Alright, so I followed the layout closely, used similar logo, and the same color scheme. It doesn’t look as professional does it? Can’t see it? Enlarge both mock-ups in full size and then take a look.

You will notice that Pupppies does not look bad. But, it also does not stand out. It feels stagnant, boring, and generic. Let’s look at the actual website now :

That is very nice. Take note that the website feels solid, clean, coherent and overall…professional. This uses the same layout, basically the same logo, and an identical color scheme, and yet… It feels alive and vibrant. The dynamic nature of the site is prevalent and it conveys depth and tactile sensation despite being on a screen. The texture grabs you and helps the content to jump off the screen… ( Remember, open it up in a full window)

But, why? Let’s look.

Let’s first look at the top navigation below. Same layout, similar logo mark, same colors. But, notice how dribbble’s design has a nice soft gradient to create depth, it also has a soft gaussian monochromatic noise applied. Compare how it has a smooth rounded square for the hover state, with a softened drop shadow to give the appearance that the option is indented. An inverted gradient inside of that square helps to make it work with the background. Take notice of how the hovered link is white and bolded, where the inactive links are a slight grey. Many times subtle shifts in color can seem the most drastic when applied to higher contrast.

Next is the call to action button. Let’s check out what we did for Pupppies. The button is a flat pink, inherited font size and boldness. Dribbble took the high-road here with a subtle but still hard lined gradient and highlight to give the button 3d space and depth. Further, it uses nicely rounded corners. These are all great features because users respond to convention. In short, if it looks like a button, they want to click it. The button also uses that contrast of the white rather than relying on a bold or thickness to create readability. To finish it off, there is a white text arrow which helps guide the user to click and implies the “action” inherent in the button.

In the next, example we can see a ton of exquisite detailing. Notice, how Dribbble’s designers have applied an extremely light 1 pixel outline and accented it with an soft arched drop shadow. This makes it pop up ever so slightly. Also, take notice that the background shade is the same in both, but Dribbble ‘s usage of a slight gradient moving down the page and the soft gaussian noise is building a subtle tactile feeling with texture and it is working beautifully.

For now, we have covered a few small examples in this comparison that are representative of some of the details I am speaking of. I challenge you to seek out professional websites and see if you can identify where the designer spent extra time and put special thought into the decisions being made.

Next time you are creating a web design and you think the project is ready to go. Stop yourself, revisit the design and spend an extra hour. Spend time just adjusting spacing, hand-drawing a line, adding smooth or subtle gradients to create depth, add a highlight to a button, even give it a slight under glow. You can watch as the design you thought was good an hour before begins to transform into a polished and finely-tuned piece of work.

I encourage you to just try it once.

Attention to detail is the mark of a great craftsman and the signature of a more solid designer.

Thanks for reading and I hope this is helpful for you and please let me know what you think, leave a comment or shoot me an e-mail.

FIGO Pasta! Matching great marketing with a great website.

Shawn Borsky — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 06:22:39 +0000

Hello again, everyone. I’m back with another Theoretical Brand and Web Project.

My subject this time is: FIGO Pasta.
FIGO is a a name you may not be familiar with unless you live in and around the Atlanta area, but it is an fantastic Italian restaurant that focuses on the right things.

First, I would like to start off by saying that whoever is currently handling FIGO’s marketing, branding, interior design and customer experience is doing a wonderful job. FIGO has a relaxing, authentic Italian, smooth ambiance, their logo is solid and classic, the menus are laid out nicely, they use professional and clean typefaces, the staff is always pleasant, and their tag-lines are great (“Be Yourself. Be FIGO.”). So, I am by no means worried about FIGO’s ability to do business, do it well, and do it in style. All of this just makes it that much more shocking that their web presence is, well, downright reprehensible.

Great Sign and Logo

Fantastic-looking-and-tasting food.

Great Atmosphere

WAIT?! This last one doesn’t fit.

We need to take a closer look. Let’s zoom in:

As you may have figured out, this is FIGO’s website. It doesn’t match the rest of the experience at all. You are probably thinking that if everything is all right, then there is no need to worry. Who cares if they have a crappy website and good everything else, right? Wrong.

I say this a lot and will continue to mention it: A brand is the sum of the experiences that people have with your company. With companies that are exemplary, it can only hurt them more to have a weak link in the chain. As a brand specialist, I tell clients that part of a good brand is looking good (that’s your identity), and the other part is delivering on your brand promises (things and expectations you create when people interact with your company or its identifying factors).

So, what’s wrong with this website besides not being too pleasing on the eyes?

1. Bad First Impression | The first and most important sin of this website is that it is lying to me about FIGO. Let’s say that I have never heard of FIGO; perhaps I am a tourist, visiting family, on business, or a new arrival in the Atlanta area. Many people use a quick Google search and website look-up to evaluate a business, and this goes double for restaurants. So, I land on this page. What does it tell me about FIGO?

a. Well, for one, I will not think they care much about the details, because their text is abrasive and all jammed up against the edges of the website, the menu is noticably blurry and the website is a light shade of yellow, which makes it hard to read.

b. The pictures are slim, not very descriptive and not consistently placed. Does not make me hungry, it actually makes me feel like they are not confident about their food, because they aren’t showing it to me in its full glory immediately.

c. The menu section is just a PDF download, which is fine to have, but I am an American, and I am all about convenience: I should be able to read the menu in HTML text, and not be forced to download an actual menu to skim and look through the food.

d. The links are default blue links, no spacing or placement, and most of the things they tell me in type or say in copy are very haphazard. It’s easy to type in on a web-page that you care about quality, but if you don’t demonstate that, then it doesn’t really work. Imagine if I walked into a job interview 15 minutes late and told you I cared deeply about being punctual? That would not establish any kind of trust in your mind.

2. Not encouraging interaction with the brand |
It is certainly true that the current website of FIGO is practically functional. While it may not speed across the finish-line, it does achieve all the basics that a website should have. Location information, access to a menu, specials info, contact info, about them, Twitter and Facebook links.

I don’t care who you are; you could be the best restaurant in Atlanta or you could be the worst. No restaurant business does not want even more customers than they have now. And unfortunately, the exact thing FIGO’s web presence does right now is only engage people who already like it on a basic and practical level. Which is fine, but that doesn’t get you more customers, make you more money or increase the amount of times people will go to FIGO, and that’s the problem here.

a. First, the social media links have taken an EXTREME back-seat to everything on the website. They are only accessible via the homepage, are not promoted at the locations, and are not visible anywhere else. I did not even know FIGO had a Twitter account until tonight, when I was looking hard at their website. That’s a big deal. In our current society, social media is extremely important, especially when brand exposure is everything and marketing copy gets you nothing. Not only should I be able to find Facebook and Twitter from anywhere on the site, but I should be encouraged to join and interact. People are lazy: they need easy-to-find , easy-to-use tools. Otherwise, they will focus on something else.

b. Next, FIGO banks very much on the idea that they are about good friends, good times, and good food. Just like any marketing copy, that’s easy to say or type and easy to ignore. Not so easy to ignore if I can engage the viewer’s attention with proof: people interacting with Facebook, posting pictures of themselves enjoying FIGO, posting beautiful food, and getting excited about being involved with FIGO!!!!!! (Sorry, got myself excited about it.)

c. Which brings me to the Locations page. Right now, it’s a grid table with a link to pages with no photos, and a link to MapQuest. Again, functional, but does not ENGAGE the user. First, you need pictures. It makes it easier to find and it makes people excited. I found 20+ pictures of all the locations online with simple searches, so it is worth the time to just snap a few pictures of each location. Next, we should have an embeded Google Maps, Bing, or Yahoo! Maps. Linking is a thing of the past; show people without a click,exactly where the location is.

d. The Menu page. I don’t know about everybody else, but I HATE downloading PDFs on the internet. Especially on my iPhone, even though I know the phone can do it. I don’t care: I want to be able to peruse and browse, even see a few juicy, delicious pictures to whet my appetite. Again, pictures are not hard, and the effort is worth it. Right now, I can ONLY download the print PDF, which is just not as easy to look through on a screen or on a tiny phone screen. The meny should be appetizing, easy-to-use, and ALSO offer a PDF download.

So, what can be done about it?

I present you, The NEW FIGO web presence (the Homepage anyway):

Click the picture above to see the 100% full size mock-up.

So, while I did not address any of the interior pages, you can already see what I am talking about. This jives much better with FIGO’s brand. It engages the user, reflects the restaurant, makes you hungry, and makes you want to go to FIGO!

So, just a re-cap of the some of the changes.

1. First, we need to make the site feel warm, friendly, and exciting. I did this by mimicking the lighting in the FIGO locations: a stucco Italian-style freco wall texture with a very warm splashed light on it.

2. Immediately, I focus the user on a vivid, close-up, delicious rotator picture of the food. Next to this, I can see the active Twitter feed, with a BIG follow button, and a call-out to show me Specials.
Behind that, we have piles of dry pasta (Another decor element mimicked from the locations). Immediately, we are establishing the character and personality behind the brand, so people are getting a very positive first experience with FIGO on the web.

3. We got rid of that pale yellow and used the vivid orange color from the logo. The navigation is now on top, bigger and more bold.

4. Right below that, we use bold, classic-style call-outs to bring attention to the Story, Menu, and Locations (probably the 3 main things people will look for when they come to the site).

5. Below that, we have a cool feature I came up with to really engage the user: using the great tagline, “Be Yourself. Be FIGO,” we encourage interaction and engaging behavior by parsing Flickr for the Figo Pasta tag and returning a grid of all the AWESOME that ensues. (To note, I designed the grid, but every picture in the mock-up is actually from a Flickr search of Figo Pasta.) Now that is convincing. How hard is it believe that this restaurant is great when I have dozens, even hundreds of pictures of proof!

6. Below that, we have a classic footer with omnipresent social media links.

Conclusion

So, does FIGO NEED a new website?
Well, it’s a loaded question. I cannot pretend to know how well they are doing, but I am going to guess reasonably well, and it is good that FIGO has established a Facebook and Twitter account.
However, the current website is a really weak link in their otherwise impeccable brand. It is an absolute fact that with a more professional, more engaging, more brand-centric website, FIGO would get EVEN more customers than they do now and potentially more repeat customers. Right now, their website is effectively a dud: it just sits there and occasionally gives directions, but I doubt it turns decisions around or convinces new customers to come. A website is an interactive experience and it has objectives. Right now, FIGO is getting the basic, bare minimum of simple objectives when they could be leveraging their website as an effective asset in gaining more repeat customers, more new customers, and overall an even more complete and even better brand experience.

FIGO is great. I love going there, as my colleagues, employees, and friends do, too. But I guarantee you, if the brand was more engaging and present to us on the web, we would be going there twice as much as we do now, and that’s lost sales. I suspect we are not the only example.

There is always room to do something better and excellence is always worth it.

Marvel vs. Capcom 3 Poster Fixed.

Shawn Borsky — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 18:45:54 +0000

As an artist and designer, I push myself to insanely high standards and I find the most finely tuned details important. Also, since I am good and fast with photoshop and overall design, I always feel the need to just fix problems when I see them happen in professional design. So, today I have decided that I am going to make an effort to share all of my “fixed” and speculative designs.

First up, I would like to show my Marvel vs. Capcom 3 logo and poster edits. As many of you may know, me and Anthem have been working hard on a fansite effort to build a great social media marketing effort for the upcoming Marvel vs. Capcom 3. When we started MvC3 did not have a logo released, so I designed one.

The Approach :

Capcom has usually had fantastic , classic logos, so I decided to keep in tune with the previous MvC game logos.

Elements I thought were needed. A strong, bright and colorful feel, an equal footing of both company logos, and emphasis and singular connectivity of the number to the game. ie. the logo should feel like one unit. Further, I wanted to play with the idea of it using a strong comic style, hence I added small hints of halftones. Further, the number needed to look sleek and 3d but not feel rendered. So, I opted for sharp, and bold highlights. I chose a bold, modern sans-serif typeface for the words such as VS. and Fate of Two Worlds. Overall, I then wanted to unify it with a strong black outline that helps both contrast, readability, reference to comics and coherency. And what you see is my final logo approach.

The logo :

I have also know that its important that logos are legible and appropriate in context, so I did a few mock-ups with official art. First up is the first piece of Shinkiro Art.

Looks good, but I thought the logo needed more. So, I added more to it( seen above).

Recently for E3, Capcom released a poster with a logo, which seemed to say the least, lazy and uninspired. So, I edited it, this time it was only a photo, so I made sure it looked real.

Below is a side-by-side of the official logo on the left and my design from March on the right.

Capsule CEO launches!

Shawn Borsky — Sun, 30 May 2010 06:04:17 +0000

Hello everyone, I wanted to dedicate a post to Anthem’s new iPhone/Android app.

Anthem has been doing tons of work for other clients in terms of web apps, iphone games and apps, and now I am insanely proud to announce we have launched our first ALL Anthem internal app on iPhone.

Capsule CEO is a business satire. As many people ( including myself) who do business with different companies on a regular basis are aware, buzz words and business speak are a necessary part of selling products and services.

My favorite thing about business speak is who sometimes you can get so into it that you can sound like you said something awesome, but actually said nothing.

So, we ventured ( no pun intended), to create a likeable character who could give you awesome advice at the tap of a button.

The CEO’s design is a fantastic combination of a few well known CEOs, plus some elements that are common among all of us ( CEOs). We did exhaustive research, right down to the hand-gestures and hand-in pocket style. We watched and studied tons of keynote speeches, recalled hundreds of powerpoint presentations, and compiled every great buzz term or useful business-ism that we could think of. I am proud of the result and I am excited to see what our team comes up with to continue making Capsule CEO a great app and character.

So, I would like to introduce you to Capsule CEO!

He was designed and animated by one of our amazing staff members Darius Hill

Also check out the logo I designed for it.

You can also check out the app website here:

Archer Farms Case Study | A Branded Web Presence Strategy

Shawn Borsky — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 03:10:08 +0000

Everyone is familiar with generic grocery store brands. My guess is, you don’t like them very much. While there are exceptions, general public opinion is that the big brands are better. Which, to be fair, is the entire point of their multi-million dollar branding, but I digress. I recently felt compelled to write about my favorite generic store brand: this brand is actually not so generic, but with their current web presence, you would never know. I believe it’s high time they get with the program, Archer Farms, so here it comes!

The screenshot you see above represents all of Target’s Archer Farms’ online presence. I found this to be both upsetting and deplorable.

As a huge fan of Archer Farms’ products, I firmly believe that they have found an ideal compromise between budget and quality. It is important to note that Archer Farms is not Target’s cheap alternative. Market Pantry fills that role, which is fine in its own right. Archer Farms is much like Kroger’s Private Selection: it is a secondary higher-end brand, a stepping stone between big brand and generic. This position and inherently higher quality actually leaves tremendous room for sales growth.

A generic brand is a concept that banks on the fact that a conscientious buyer will make quick decisions to save money. This is largely a point-of-sale interaction and it works great for Market Pantry, Kroger Brand or Publix Select. However, that is not what I see here. Target has created a private label brand that sells quality, unique and attractive products. Archer Farms actually hits the higher-end store brand vertical in some extremely important and unique ways:

1) They have memorable branding that is clean, attractive and does not feel like a generic brand, yet maintains an attractively low price-point.

2) They do not just offer cheap alternatives. Instead, they offer unique and interesting product lines, flavors and fun twists on other products and goods.

I do not pretend to know how well Archer Farms is doing or where they spend their marketing budget. I do know this, though: I love the brand, but I only buy it when I remember to. I personally do not use social media as much as many of my friends and colleagues, but I cannot avoid it. I know that my parents, my grandparents and most people I do business with will immediately turn to a quick Google or Yahoo! search to quantify their expectations, beliefs or hearsay rumors about a product, good, service or company. If I had heard from a friend that Archer Farms had the best chips with cool flavors like Jalapeno Cheddar (delicious, btw), I would immediately jump on Google to check it out. Currently, with Archer Farm dismal presence, I would have lost interest and not pursued it any further. BAM! Lost sale. As well as all the sales my enjoyment of trying the chips may have generated.

Imagine a general scenario… If I were impressed with Archer Farms, then with my enjoyment of the product, I would create a network of potential sales leads that exponentially increase. I will tell 10 people how insanely tasty Jalapeno Cheddar chips are and my friends will tell 10 of their friends and so on. In this case, I believe that Archer Farms makes a delicious product. But at least half of the friends that are told about it will be using the internet to follow-up on the claims of their friends. In this case, Archer Farms has just fallen short 50% of its potential sales and that is quite a big loss.

It is my belief that Archer Farms could increase their overall sales if they invested in a more substantial web presence.

Now the fun part. I will layout a theoretical marketing initiative implementation plan for Archer Farms. In this exercise, I will assume that our target ROI goal is to increase total sales of Archer Farms products by 5%. I will make a number of assumptions and not address information that I cannot know due to my lack of metrics and insight into Archer Farms’ actual costs.

This strategy will be laid out in the following manner :

1) Overall online presence

2) Building relevant content and imbuing online value into the brand

3) Theoretical implementation

Archer Farms Overall Online Presence

As of right now, Archer Farms web presence is virtually non-existent. As previously mentioned, lack of a strong website even to the smallest degree could result in a signifigant amount of lost sales or potential sales. So, why does food need an online presence? Who actually looks up these brands, right? While it may be ridiculous to think that an average consumer would want to look up Archer Farms, that assumption is costly. Let me present to you this food for thought: food is something that is relatively universal. Everybody needs it, most people enjoy it, and it is a strong part of modern living. Don’t believe me? Take a look at Food Network’s rebranding success.

If you search around, you can find few great blog posts reviewing Archer Farms products. But they stop at short reviews, no links or further brand exposure. What a wasted opportunity! With a proper web presence, a website with relevant focused content and the already strong brand promise, Archer Farms could be spreading their brand and product lines 3 times faster than they do now. It is important to have an overall presence because the online culture is on the fast track to becoming the absolute mainstream way to share and communicate. Think of how many times Archer Farms has come up short because there is no destination, no brand-focused approach to receive attention on the internet. Let’s say, for example, that I have a personal blog and rave about all my favorite Archer Farms foods that made my house party rock.

Situation A-

I rave about it, some people comment on it, it possibly gets shared with a few people, they get excited and search and find the landing page and possibly Amazon. In general, these users will forget the interaction because there is no engagement with the brand or its value. In short, tons and tons of lost opportunities.

Situation B-

I rave about it, but I am able to find an Archer Farm microsite, so I link to all the products I used, plus recipes on Archer Farms site, and coupons. Now for every potential user I am theoretically extending the brand exposure exponentially. Even if they don’t click on the link in the blog, they may search for it and BAM! an attractive website that gives affordable great recipes, touts the benefits of organic and healthier gourmet food and I can get some coupons or find other deals. In general, if I am a consumer who is attracted to affordable meals, healthy and organic food, and just plain gourmet food (such as the vein of Harry and David, or Fresh Market), I’m now hooked. I will likely check the website again for recipes and coupons. Not only that, but I have now started to tie in affordability with unique healthy food. This is a staggering way to step over the major brands.

So, my point into an overall strategy is this. Since Archer Farms is part of a larger corporation (Target), they are bound to mentioned, and since the food is unique, cheaper and enjoyable, it is likely the brand exposure will be positive, rather than wasting all that delicious brand exposure and conversion opportunity. A website that inherently offers value and re-enforcement of the brand promises a POWERFUL conduit for more brand exposure and repeat customers.

Imbuing Value and Relevance

Okay, so we have decided to build an Archer Farms micro-site, but that is no magic bullet. In order for this web presence to actually be powerful, we need to make it in such a way that it does three things:

1) Attracts new consumers

2) Retains and maintains the attention of said consumers

3) Provides a useful and relevant reason for a consumer to return and share the website, preferably something that reinforces the brand promises.

Solution? Exciting, Healthy and Affordable Recipes!

So, those are some broad and obvious things we need to achieve. Luckily, we have powerful and effective brand promises to leverage here. As I previously mentioned, Archer Farms has 2 major promises built into their branding. To refresh, 1) Attractive branding that does not feel cheaper. 2) Unique flavors and value rather than just being a cheap copycat of major brands. This gives us all the ammunition we need to get off to a running start. Since Archer Farms can offer both fun and new flavors plus affordable pricing, food recipes that aim to stay in a budget and taste good are the ticket. I know what you are thinking… Everyone has recipes; hell, Target.com even has recipes. This is true, but they are basic, usually run-of-the-mill recipes with no focus, unique flavors or twist.

It is proven that customers who enjoy Archer Farms highlight their unique flavors and foods as a positive point. All we are doing is running with that. Start off with attractive packaging, fun and well-named recipes, and I almost forgot, Archer Farms offers tons of healthy and organic foods. WHOA! A bit of investment into creating exciting sounding recipes would be well worth the money. I’ll do one right now. Cilantro Lime Mango Tilapia on Red Curry with Organic Flatbread Dippers. Sounds great and healthy! In this case, I have just paired some Archer Farms products together to make an affordable gourmet meal. (Cilantro Lime Rice, Mango Lime Tilapia, Red Curry, Lemon Ginger Juice, Organic Sesame Flatbread crackers.)

Now with our new microsite, I can go on to get recipes, I can price them and plan them out… All this time, I will be on Archer Farms website. I’m not even a crazy cook, but I share recipes online with friends and family all the time. Imagine, if it were easy enough to find great meals, plan the prices and incredients, and then look for coupon savings, too.

We have just taken a brand with nothing to speak of online and developed it into a robust, genuinely relevant way to drive traffic and brand exposure.

Implementation

All right, so now we have talked about a plan to solve the web presence issue. But, how will it look and function? This all sounds great, but, in reality, how do we make sure the recipes and site design really does its job? Well, this is my favorite part (and accordingly, the part I am really best at) so without further ado, I present to you my homepage mockup approach for a re-designed microsite for Archer Farms.

Click for full size. I present the NEW Archer Farms Mini Site!

Watch out iPad, The HP Slate is coming.

Shawn Borsky — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 06:17:39 +0000

Recently, with the announcement of the iPad, people were really looking at Apple technology and being amazed. My comrades and I at Anthem defintley see some great potential for apps and games that would work perfectly for the iPad. Honestly, being iPhone/Android and emerging technology nuts we wanted to jump right in. For the most part I had set my radar to ignore all the posers or copycat type products that were bound to come out to oppose the iPad. Until I saw the HP Slate and a somewhat revolutionary marketing decision on HP’s part. Let’s watch.

As a developer and a branding strategist, I have always been in love with idea of AIR (Adobe Integrated Runtime). AIR is a fantastic opportunity to deliver high-octane branded user experiences on the desktop. For desktop computer this has been generally not worth the investment for many smaller companies. The HP Slate’s support of Flash and AIR means that powerful, brand faithful, and effective user software applications are within reach for many companies who cannot afford to develop such approaches with traditional software methods. Tools such as the Slate or the iPad are poised to make some heavy marks on the internet culture and the industry of web development. The Slate’s support of Adobe technologies is highlights to me a more forward thinking approach than Apple. While Apple products are user friendly, attractive and useful, as a developer many of Apple’s policies and restrictions are starting to weigh heavily on the business of developing for their technology.

I am in support of HP completely in this move and further of Adobe, however I believe the real importance here is not that there is now a hand-held computer that support fantastic technology like Flash, but that it will continue to put pressure on all the front-runners to push their technology and pave the way for better and more outstanding developments.

Intelligent Branding

Shawn Borsky — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 16:39:19 +0000

If you are coffee lover then chances are you have heard of Intelligentsia Coffee. Intelligentsia is a company based out of Chicago, and have a particularly good line of coffee and tea products. Their branding and overall marketing approach is solid and every bit as delicious as their coffee.

So, what makes their branding so good?

A lot of people seem to forget that branding is not about representing your product in a logo or telling people what you do immediately. It’s about building a memorable and accurate attachment and feel that conveys the sum of all the experience you will have with a particular company. Intelligentsia understands this. While the name is not completely unrelated to their company ( Intelligentsia is a social-standing of creative people dedicated to spread idealism or cultures, usually people like artists and intellectuals.). It does not scream “WE MAKE GOOD COFFEE!”, because it does not need to. Their solid branding symbols like the coffee cup with wings, their bright and distinct packaging, solid illustrative symbols , comfortable shops, and of course the well-made coffee all add up to the experience of “We make a good coffee”.

Now, that looks comforable and well... intelligent.

Check out their website : http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/