Who Are You?

What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

• who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
• what are their major concerns and issues;
• what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
• what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
• which clients/industries make up the largest portion
  Managing Garment Merchandising
  IntroductionThe textile and garment industry is booming in India, especially after elimination of the global quota system. Presently India is exporting garments to more than 100 countries including US, EU, Latin America, and Middle East. Last year, garment export was nearly $5000 million and about 1200 million pieces. The main competitors of India are countries like China, Korea, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and Sri-Lanka.The Indian garment industry is gaining ground in the world market at breakneck speed, but still not flourished at its fullest extent. Although the resources are available plentiful with a powerful foundation of fabric and spinning sector to support. The key factors behind this are low technological development, lower output, cut throat competition, high raw material cost, inadequate infrastructure, traditional productivity, unfavorable regulatory policies, and globalization impact. However, there is a fair list of the producers, suppliers, and exporters that are fully acknowledged with regulatory policies and formalities, international marketing policies and procedures. The only concern is in executing their productivity initiatives, and meeting with order deadlines.Now days, major companies are adopting merchandising concepts, which comply with all procedures to execute and dispatch the s
  Let’s say you’re the marketing director of a professional services firm, the director of corporate communications, or the company president. You know you’re good at what you do and that your company provides outstanding services. What’s troubling you is the dissonance between these outstanding services and the level of corporate marketing collateral and the web site. You’re worried that marketing communications are sending mixed messages and thwarting business development efforts. In fact, corporate literature design has become a reactive process, often driven by the need for a piece for an upcoming event. With clients and prospects savvier than ever, you’re concerned that the right image for business has not been created.

  Creating image is the job of a visual identity system. It is the result of the integration of business goals and creative design. It defines the use of typography, image, color, layout and logo to reflect your business, making certain that all communications send a singular message. A system will provide the underlying architecture for all external and internal communications, ensuring a consistent presentation from corporate literature design to signage.

  Musical Chairs

  Creating a visual identity is a process that begins by switching seats with clients and prospects to view your business from their perspective. As seen from your former seat, the variety of ways to interact with your business can look like a series of unrelated events. On the surface there doesn’t appear to be a relationship between corporate collateral, public relations initiatives, interior office space design, and the web site. To an individual client or prospect though, these internal and external touchpoints combine to create a single picture of your business. More than passing impressions, these imprints become one’s collective ‘Experience’ of your business. There is no official port of entry into this world. Where someone may enter your sphere cannot, and should not, be controlled. Having many points of entry is optimum. Therefore, it is crucial that the Experience be consistent from portal to portal. Clients and prospects will find it confusing if different encounters send different messages about your firm. The danger to business is that your Experience is spinning without thoughtful input, creating a hodge-podge world of mixed messages and images, all featuring the corporate logo.

  Let’s apply this Experience principle to corporate literature design. In this scenario, you’re the marketing director of a mid-sized law firm. Each of your firm’s clients works with a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys who solve a variety of legal needs across a spectrum of issues. This forward-thinking structure is the unique factor that distinguishes your firm from among the top 10 in your city. Is it enough to state this in the firm brochure or in each practice area brochure? What type of design approach would visually reinforce that message to a prospect looking for a firm of conservative risk-takers? If the content says conservative risk-takers, but the presentation says only conservative, dissonance has been created. If the content says creative and forward-thinking, but the presentation says stodgy, or, if the content says high level of expertise and the presentation says low production values, message and presentation are not aligned. Design and message need to reinforce one another. A seamless integration of content and presentation is a winning combination. Anything less will result in confused prospects.

  Who Are You?

  What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

  • who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
  • what are their major concerns and issues;
  • what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
  • what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
  • which clients/industries make up the largest portion
    Accounting Outsourcing is a Profitable Business Strategy
    Outsourcing is a business process through which one can handle their excess workload without too much of a hassle. Each business has specific requirements and that is why specific work must be done in the direction of achieving those results and goals. Setting deadlines is not only a necessity, but priority for all business undertakings and business owners must take special care of this aspect. Accounting outsourcing is a simple method through which business owners can take care of all their business needs. Mostly business owners are not people who can take care of the accounting and financial aspect of their business. So in such a scenario the best thing which one can do is opt for accounting outsourcing, a business process which will benefit them.Undertaking any method that is new will not be a difficult task, if you gather all the knowledge regarding the process. So this means that you must do proper homework and research on accounting outsourcing as a business process. The web is the best source for gathering information of any kind and accounting outsourcing is no different from the other methods. Read about the news reports that you can find about the whole process of accounting outsourcing and you can find a clear picture of the going ons in the market. Find out all the statistics that you can about the whole process
    f typography, image, color, layout and logo to reflect your business, making certain that all communications send a singular message. A system will provide the underlying architecture for all external and internal communications, ensuring a consistent presentation from corporate literature design to signage.

    Musical Chairs

    Creating a visual identity is a process that begins by switching seats with clients and prospects to view your business from their perspective. As seen from your former seat, the variety of ways to interact with your business can look like a series of unrelated events. On the surface there doesn’t appear to be a relationship between corporate collateral, public relations initiatives, interior office space design, and the web site. To an individual client or prospect though, these internal and external touchpoints combine to create a single picture of your business. More than passing impressions, these imprints become one’s collective ‘Experience’ of your business. There is no official port of entry into this world. Where someone may enter your sphere cannot, and should not, be controlled. Having many points of entry is optimum. Therefore, it is crucial that the Experience be consistent from portal to portal. Clients and prospects will find it confusing if different encounters send different messages about your firm. The danger to business is that your Experience is spinning without thoughtful input, creating a hodge-podge world of mixed messages and images, all featuring the corporate logo.

    Let’s apply this Experience principle to corporate literature design. In this scenario, you’re the marketing director of a mid-sized law firm. Each of your firm’s clients works with a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys who solve a variety of legal needs across a spectrum of issues. This forward-thinking structure is the unique factor that distinguishes your firm from among the top 10 in your city. Is it enough to state this in the firm brochure or in each practice area brochure? What type of design approach would visually reinforce that message to a prospect looking for a firm of conservative risk-takers? If the content says conservative risk-takers, but the presentation says only conservative, dissonance has been created. If the content says creative and forward-thinking, but the presentation says stodgy, or, if the content says high level of expertise and the presentation says low production values, message and presentation are not aligned. Design and message need to reinforce one another. A seamless integration of content and presentation is a winning combination. Anything less will result in confused prospects.

    Who Are You?

    What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

    • who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
    • what are their major concerns and issues;
    • what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
    • what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
    • which clients/industries make up the largest portion
      Dime 'n Ring - Only Ten Dollars!
      My mother used to tell me ..To always tell the truth. Of course, I kind of thought ..That all the rest would, too. The items that I ordered ..From fast-talking radio ads Led me to believe that ..Perhaps I had been had. The lesson to be learned is ..That ads should make you wary. One claim you can be sure of ..Is to trust in no truth fairies.Did you ever buy something advertised on TV or in a magazine and was disappointed with the quality or the performance of the product? While it is impossible to change the way some companies advertise their products, here are a few clues that will warn you away from being cheated.Over-the-counter medications are prime examples of the old carnival pitch. If words like 'sometimes', helpful', bigger', or 'more effective' are used, then you know that without a comparative study and the percentages to go with them, these modifiers serve only to put a positive spin on the product. When a medication is helpful, does that mean one per cent of the time or ninety percent of the time? How often is sometimes and bigger than what? Products touted as 'amazing' or 'fantastic' get your adrenaline going, but don't let it get to your wallet. Personal recommendations are purely anecdotal and have nothing to do with a comparative blind study. Adjectives like 'incomparable', 'inc
      a single picture of your business. More than passing impressions, these imprints become one’s collective ‘Experience’ of your business. There is no official port of entry into this world. Where someone may enter your sphere cannot, and should not, be controlled. Having many points of entry is optimum. Therefore, it is crucial that the Experience be consistent from portal to portal. Clients and prospects will find it confusing if different encounters send different messages about your firm. The danger to business is that your Experience is spinning without thoughtful input, creating a hodge-podge world of mixed messages and images, all featuring the corporate logo.

      Let’s apply this Experience principle to corporate literature design. In this scenario, you’re the marketing director of a mid-sized law firm. Each of your firm’s clients works with a multi-disciplinary team of attorneys who solve a variety of legal needs across a spectrum of issues. This forward-thinking structure is the unique factor that distinguishes your firm from among the top 10 in your city. Is it enough to state this in the firm brochure or in each practice area brochure? What type of design approach would visually reinforce that message to a prospect looking for a firm of conservative risk-takers? If the content says conservative risk-takers, but the presentation says only conservative, dissonance has been created. If the content says creative and forward-thinking, but the presentation says stodgy, or, if the content says high level of expertise and the presentation says low production values, message and presentation are not aligned. Design and message need to reinforce one another. A seamless integration of content and presentation is a winning combination. Anything less will result in confused prospects.

      Who Are You?

      What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

      • who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
      • what are their major concerns and issues;
      • what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
      • what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
      • which clients/industries make up the largest portion
        RFID in Rochester
        What is the current state of RFID deployment in Rochester?In general, local companies describe a high degree of interest, but only a modest level of integration.Why the discrepancy between what local companies want to do with RFID and what they are actually doing? I spoke with some of Rochester’s early adopters to put a local face on track-and-trace.Leading folding carton manufacturer Diamond Packaging(Henrietta, NY) is currently evaluating available technologies for in-line applications of RFID tags. “Without question, RFID is one of the hottest topics in packaging”, says Dennis Bacchetta, Marketing Manager at Diamond. “Companies are moving from ‘Does it make sense?’ to ‘How can we implement RFID?’ ”Indeed, RFID seems to make sense to many of the markets Diamond serves. Interest in item-level RFID tagging has been driven primarily by the pharmaceutical, personal care and cosmetic industries, which are particularly vulnerable to theft and counterfeiting. RFID tags are virtually incorruptible and almost impossible to counterfeit. Other obvious benefits include impeccable accountability from the point of manufacture to the point of sale, and precise, real-time inventory control.If a company decides that RFID makes sense for them, what are some of the implementation issues they may deal with?
        f attorneys who solve a variety of legal needs across a spectrum of issues. This forward-thinking structure is the unique factor that distinguishes your firm from among the top 10 in your city. Is it enough to state this in the firm brochure or in each practice area brochure? What type of design approach would visually reinforce that message to a prospect looking for a firm of conservative risk-takers? If the content says conservative risk-takers, but the presentation says only conservative, dissonance has been created. If the content says creative and forward-thinking, but the presentation says stodgy, or, if the content says high level of expertise and the presentation says low production values, message and presentation are not aligned. Design and message need to reinforce one another. A seamless integration of content and presentation is a winning combination. Anything less will result in confused prospects.

        Who Are You?

        What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

        • who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
        • what are their major concerns and issues;
        • what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
        • what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
        • which clients/industries make up the largest portion
          South African Mining Companies and Mining Houses are Being Reevaluated
          South Africa holds the world’s largest reserves of gold (35%), platinum group metals (55.7%), manganese ore (80%) chrome ore (68.3%) titanium metals (21%). It also produces a large share of the world’s diamonds and mineral deposits.Lucrative opportunities exist for downstream processing and value adding of iron, carbon steel, stainless steel, aluminium, platinum group metals and gold.Beneficiation of minerals before export is a major growth area. The Department of Minerals and Energy has embarked on a small-scale mining programme aimed at encouraging and facilitating the development of economically viable small-scale mining and mineral-based industries, in line with the government's desire that small miners gain access to mineral rights suited to small mining activity.Relationships between individual mining companies and the controlling mining houses are being reevaluated. Mergers, restructuring and unbundlings have created much optimism for the industry in recent years, driven by the need to develop black ownership, to expand abroad and by a languishing gold price.Mining and minerals in South Africa:South Africa is a world leader in mining. The country is internationally renowned for an abundance of mineral resources, accounting for a significant proportion of both world production and reserves,
          will result in confused prospects.

          Who Are You?

          What Experience do you want to create for clients and prospects? The answer to this question begins with a definition of your business. This groundwork needs to be in place before a designer can determine how anything may look. Many professionals find the following questions a good place to begin:

          • who are our key clients, existing and targeted;
          • what are their major concerns and issues;
          • what skills, resources, strengths, experiences do we have that will address these concerns;
          • what do we want clients/prospects to know about us (exclude the obvious: we have a combined 100 years of experience; we provide fresh, creative solutions; we provide top-notch support and follow-through; we listen to our clients…);
          • which clients/industries make up the largest portion of business now; how do we want that to change;
          • how would clients describe us;
          • is there a discrepancy between how the company is perceived in the market and how we perceive ourselves;
          • is there a discrepancy between current perception and how the business looks to us in 5 years;
          • what messages about the company, positive and negative, are being delivered by current corporate literature design?

          Try thinking of the business as a ‘who’ rather than an ‘it’ and sketch a personality. Start with obvious adjectives (casual, formal, friendly, quiet) to get them out of the way, allowing for more idiosyncratic and differentiating descriptions to emerge. Anything goes during this stage of the process. Leave the editing for later.

          Honest and thoughtful answers will drill below the surface, where unique ideas are born. A definition of your company will emerge that truly distinguishes it and its Experience. All creative decisions to come will support this definition as a designer translates it into a visual statement. When linked with business goals and objectives, these creative decisions become strategic rather than capricious. For example, a monochromatic color palette will send a different message than one that features bright, primary colors. Additionally, just because your computer system has 200 fonts, doesn’t mean it makes sense to use them all. Depending on the messages to be supported, a family of traditional fonts may be selected over those that are contemporary. Or a sophisticated combination of traditional and cutting edge typestyles may make the best visual statement. What about imagery? Would it be better to use photos or would illustrations best reflect the message? Architecture firms often prefer large site photos and minimal copy, allowing the work to speak for itself. In this scenario a flexible layout grid would need to be created to accommodate a variety of projects. Creative options are endless; consistency is the key.

          As a dynamic entity, the Experience must be defined with care given to the messages it will deliver and the type of responses they must generate. Provide value by crafting content that illustrates your working knowledge of the major issues for clients and prospects. While it is good to know that a company has many years of experience, these ‘we’ messages, (we have 100 years of experience, we have won many awards, we understand) will not resonate like messages that mirror a situation that a client or prospect is facing. The former is a monologue, the latter mimics a dialogue by demonstrating knowledge of issues, understanding of consequences, and an ability to envision and craft solutions.

          The same principle applies to web site design and content. Several years ago there was widespread panic to get a web site ‘out there.’ Many companies did just that: got something out there. They mistook action for progress. Today these sites are being gutted because they cost a lot and generated little. Listing resum? content is acceptable, but shouldn’t drive the site design. It creates a monologue where there should be dialogue. Visitors to the site must be able to pick up their issue thread on the home page. A web site is not confined by binding or page count. Take advantage of the medium to let prospects easily find exactly what they are looking for. This is how to avoid creating a digital brochure. Refer back to the definition exercise and review your list of client issues. Demonstrate to users that not only do those of