and get some FREE Design and Marketing advice

We have deemed November “Free Lunch for Pi Month.” In order to score as many free lunches as possible I am willing to offer up all of my design and marketing expertise in exchange for a meal at the restaurant of your choice. You can pick my brain for the entire lunch. We can talk about how to integrate Social Media into your marketing, brainstorm about email campaigns, and figure out new target markets for you to explore.

There’s only one caveat – It must be a sit down and order restaurant because we will need a table large enough to spread out papers and work (the little paper place mat they give you at In-N-Out just won’t suffice). Also, I am trying to stay away from fast food joints at this juncture in life.

WHAT’S ON THE MENU:

1. An assessment of your existing marketing materials – I will look them over and we will discuss them. I will let you know, in my humble opinion based on 20 years in the industry, what I think works, what doesn’t work, and what could be improved.
2. Brainstorming session – Together we will throw around ideas on how to generate new leads, better communicate with your target market, and drive more traffic to your website.
3. Development of your target persona – I have a quick and fun way to help us understand your customers better and figure out what influences their interactions with you. By analyzing demographic and psychographic information we will create a fictional representation of your targeted buyer. This persona will allow you to create more tailored marketing strategies.

At the end of lunch you will have a better focus on where and how to direct your marketing attention. I will email you a “wrap up” document to remind you of all that we discussed along with a list of recommendations. This information will inspire you and allow you to keep your marketing fresh and relevant. I guarantee that you will be amazed how one lunch can increase your marketing ROI.

So call me (805.383.0054) or email me and let’s make a lunch date!

You’ve seen those funny little patterned squares. Maybe you’ve ignored them, maybe you’ve wondered about them, maybe you’ve even used them. Well, you’re going to start seeing them more and more. QR Codes are quickly becoming a force in marketing. They connect the physical world with the web. It’s a great way to engage people in your message immediately.

“QR CODE?!?! What’s that?” I hear you cry. Basically, it is a two dimensional bar code in which you can embed information like web URLs, videos, and contact information. People can access that information by simply scanning the codes with their smart phones. They are free to create and they hold a lot of information.

So next time you see a QR (Quick Response, in case you were curious) code, simply take a picture of it with your phone’s camera using a QR Code Reader application and you’ll be directed to the embedded information in that code, such as a website, video, or text message.

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Presenting data with boring old charts and graphics is out. INFOGRAPHICS are in. This new buzz word means fusing your business or other message with conceptual visuals to create a concise and instantly understandable graphic. Representing data in a visual fashion is not a new idea, it’s what we do here at Pi Design for a living. But I find it funny how many people are taking advantage of the age old Periodic Table to create visual rankings of all kinds of crazy things. One of our office favorites is Camdon Wilde’s Periodic Table of Typefaces. (Available for purchase here)

I have put together a fun collection of these “new” infographics for your viewing pleasure.

The Periodic Table of Awesoments

This is a hilarious Table of truly awesome stuff that most of us geeks can relate to. Please notice that the number one element is bacon. This guy must know what he is talking about. Am I right?

The Periodic Table of Rockin’

This funny, interactive musical Table will keep you entertained for quite awhile.

The Periodic Table of Irrational Nonsense

The Periodic Table of Cartoon Characters

How many can you name without cheating? More than 40? More than 80? Seriously? All of them? Grow up.

The Periodic Table of Cars

In case you can’t get enough of these tables then try this shirt on for size.

After all that if you still want some more periodic-ness in your life, memorize this song and then tell me if you have had enough.

Alright! I devoured his book like I would a snack sized Butterfinger. LOVED IT! Of course, I did. He’s Gary Vaynerchuk. For those of you who have no idea, Gary Vaynerchuk, is the creator of Wine Library TV and author of Crush It! He is a vivacious (to say the least) and inspiring speaker. Watch and learn how Social Media will make or break your business. It really IS that important.

Here’s another of his keynotes. It’s a bit raunchy and in-your-face, but brilliant all the same.

Now go and get excited about what YOU do and CRUSH IT!

There are so many changes happening in our industry these days that I find myself reading several books at time. Following are my three favorites from the past year.

“Six Pixels of Separation” by Mitch Joel

If you have been putting off taking your business into the world of Social Media, hoping the silly time sucking craze will just go away, then you must read this book. Even if you have gotten your feet wet on Twitter, you still need to read this book. “Social media is not a fad,” says Mitch Joel. He guides you through the world of Wikis, Twitter and blogging and explains the necessity of getting involved in the conversations going on out there. Take control of your company’s messaging and branding through the great internet tools available now. READ THIS BOOK TODAY!

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A Tale of Two Cards

There are a constant barrage of business cards left on my front porch from tree trimmers, cleaning folks, landscapers, gardeners and others insinuating that I am not doing a very good  job of these things myself. I don’t take offense because I am busy and don’t put as much attention into my house as I probably should. Hopefully my friends and family get that and don’t think less of me. But, as I am sort of in the market for a cleaning person, I kept two cards in particular from last week. (more…)

In order to help the designer truly capture the essence of your company when designing or redesigning your corporate identity it is necessary to provide them with some background material. This is often done with a design brief but simply answering these questions should give any designer a great head start in the right direction.

1. What services and/or products do you offer?
2. How would you describe your corporate culture?
3. What makes your company unique? (more…)

Good design doesn’t always require super creative genius. Armed with a basic understanding of typography, you, the non-designer can create well-designed, professional looking business documents that can carry your brand image to the next level. Note here though that great design, however, does require a certain level of genius and professionals like us should be hired for the really complicated stuff.

Typography involves the selection of appropriate typefaces and their arrangement on the page. Bad typography practices can negatively affect the reader’s view of your company. Good ones should be invisible, placing the focus on the content of the document and not the totally cool typeface you chose.         (more…)

12 Reasons Why You Don’t Need to Redesign Your Website…Yet

1. The flashing, pulsating, blinking bright yellow boxes with the red text on your home page look pretty.
2. No one ever contacts you from your site anyway…or at least they don’t stay long enough or dig deep enough to find the contact information which was supposed to appear on the home page but for some reason shows up on the third page of services and you have to scroll to the right to see it.
3. Your site loads rather quickly. By the time you make a cup of coffee and get back to your desk the home page is almost completely up.
4. It doesn’t matter that your site is all messed up when viewed in IE6 or Firefox because it looks just fine in Netscape. (more…)

1. You really, really like Comic Sans and think it is perfect typeface for all your business documents.
2. I don’t need graphics. I just want a company logo, brochure, website and trade show booth.
3. Joe, the IT guy, knows how to stretch and squish photos and place them into PowerPoint to make cool trifolds we can just print out on our desktop printer.
4. Because you KNOW that people will look at your ad longer if you fill every inch of it with all the information they ever needed to know about your product.
5. You have all the special effects you could ever need in Microsoft PowerPoint. You know, like rainbow gradients and bevel emboss. (more…)