Author: creat585_wp

AI in Graphic Design

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Artificial intelligence (AI) has become an indispensable force shaping various aspects of our world, extending its influence into industries far and wide. In particular, the graphic design sector has not been immune to its transformative power. As highlighted in the CompTIA IT Industry Outlook 2024 report, companies are actively embracing AI integration. With 22 percent aggressively pursuing AI implementation across diverse technology products and business workflows, and 33 percent engaging in limited adoption, it’s evident that AI’s impact is substantial. Additionally, 45 percent of firms are in the exploratory phase, signaling a growing recognition of AI’s potential. In this dynamic landscape, the role of AI in graphic design is evolving rapidly, presenting both opportunities and challenges for designers and businesses alike.

In the dynamic landscape of digital creativity, the role of AI in graphic design has evolved into a game-changer. As we move through 2024, the impact is more profound than ever, redefining how designers visually conceptualize, create, and innovate to meet corporate and client expectations.

Generative design AI programs create images based on prompts provided by the user in a matter of seconds. Already, many human designers are changing how they approach content creation. Instead of developing everything from scratch, they use AI to create mockups, work out the typography and color scheme, or generate templates they can personalize.

Benefits

Save Time: AI can automate menial tasks like removing backgrounds from pictures or handling basic photo editing, which used to take hours for an average person but can now be done in minutes.

Remove Guesswork: AI doesn’t rely on human perception but on datasets and machine learning, enabling it to select colors based on numerical values quickly. It can create complementary or analogous color sets much faster than designers.

Save Money: Many AI programs offer competitive pricing and can save money compared to hiring a professional graphic designer, especially for sporadic graphic needs.

Challenges

Data Bias: If the data used to train AI is biased or incomplete, the AI-powered tool may produce suboptimal results, perpetuating stereotypes or discriminatory practices.

Limitations in Creativity: AI-powered tools are currently unable to replicate the creative intuition and expertise of human designers. While it excels at repetitive tasks and data-driven decisions, it struggles with nuanced artistic choices.

As we anticipate further advancements in AI and potential changes in image copyright laws, it’s essential to focus on how AI can save time and automate parts of the design workflow rather than solely relying on it for generating art, especially for commercial purposes. Finding the balance between leveraging AI for efficiency and preserving human creativity remains a key challenge and opportunity in the field of graphic design.

4 Types of Email Campaigns

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Email marketing proves over and over that it is highly effective. More than 91% of consumers open their email on a daily basis and 58% of consumers check their email before doing anything else. Brands get a return on investment 42 times the amount they invest in email marketing. That being said, what is the right tactic for you to take on creating and developing an email campaign.

First of all, let’s explore and understand purposes for the five most used email campaigns. There are many different types of emails to send and sometimes it is hard to cut through the hype to understand which one (or ones!) might connect with your target audience the best. Creative Vortex synthesized the 5 most popular types of emails below:

  • Promotional emails
  • Newsletter emails
  • Transactional emails
  • Dedicated emails

Promotional Email

The most common type of email, promotional emails main job is to tell consumers about your product or service. The role of a promotional email is to provide something, including coupons / discount codes, enter a contest, access to exclusive content, or the ability to register for an upcoming special event.

Examples include:

  • Limited-time offers
  • Exclusive deals for subscribers and/or customers
  • Seasonal/holiday promotions
  • Product launches
  • New arrivals
  • New subscriber/customer welcome offers
  • Contests and giveaways
  • Coupons or promotional events

Newsletter Email

The second most popular type of email, a newsletter provides a lot of informational content, including:

  • Company updates
  • Event information
  • Promotional announcements
  • Links to blogs
  • Product or service tutorials

This type of newsletter is good for new and existing customers, but is often customized for either audience. It has more longevity than other email designs as people will save them to come back for more information. It definitely keeps your brand top of mind for consumers!

Transactional Email

The transactional email gives readers the opportunity to either track a transaction or see packing/shipping progress that has already occurred. It can include:

  • Order confirmation
  • Shipping updates
  • Refunds
  • Return confirmations

The transactional email has a higher open and click rate from people because it contains critical information customers are highly interested in. They are closely branded, but don’t generally have a lot of images because the information is the most important part. Additionally, the email typically has a prompt and clear line to customer support.

Dedicated Email

These are usually informational and have a singular focus. A dedicated email may be used to let subscribers know about:

  • New resources
  • Company updates
  • Special offers
  • Virtual or in-person event registration
  • Special activities or events
  • New blog
  • Event recaps

These emails have a very specific call to action, but can be diverse in subject matter. Visuals may be balanced between photos and videos and point people to longer form content, as well as social media.

Step up your email marketing outreach with an executable strategy! Getting the right mix of emails in front of current and potential customers will help you engage your audience, grow leads and strengthen relationships. Give Creative Vortex a call to get started on an email marketing strategy that will identify new opportunities, improve your targeting and streamline your messaging.

Using Visual Assets on Social Media for Better Engagement

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Visual content on social media matters. According to Hootsuite, LinkedIn posts with images have a 98% higher comment rate and Twitter tweets with visual content are three times more likely to get engagement. And, on Instagram the more visual content the higher the engagement. According to 2022 Statista data, the average engagement rate for an Instagram post on a business page is 1.94% and carousel posts have a higher engagement rate of 3.15%.

Plus, the type of visual makes a big difference for marketers and consumers with a big focus on high-quality video and images. Hootsuite reports that 47% of adults like to see content in the form of images. 35% said they like to see brand content in video form, as found from a 2021 Swedish study conducted by Statista.

Different types of visual content on social media include:

  • Photos
  • Videos
  • Carousel posts (multiple photos or videos)
  • GIFs
  • Illustrations
  • Infographics
  • Animations
  • Memes

Below are my top four tips for incorporating visuals into your brand and social media strategy.

1. Color Palette

Create a color palette that represents your brand and follow it all the way through your feed. Not only does it develop a stunning look, but it creates brand recognition and connection with all your followers. Make sure to alternate how you use color by creating different templates, as well as pictures and video.

2. High Quality Assets

Use high quality assets that have the right specifications for each platform, so they can display without being stretched out or pixelated. When using a link to fill in an image make sure that what is being displayed is accurate and tells the right story. Lastly, when posting a video be sure to choose the thumbnail that is represented in the feed when it isn’t playing.

3. Image Copyrights

It is so important to give credit where it is due. If you didn’t create, film or buy your image/video be sure to highlight and/or tag the person or organization that did. Other than it being basic courtesy, there are legalities surrounding using an image or video from other creators that isn’t from a free stock image site.

4. Brand Your Content

Don’t be afraid to leverage your brand logo with your images.  However, don’t overuse it or let it take up too much space. Use it enough to create recognition and to ensure you get proper credit when people repost.

In closing, we encourage you to pay close attention to social media trends. Social media platforms tend to reward handles with higher engagement when they are leveraging the latest practices. Also, use a scheduler to manage your social media strategy! The surest way to fail at this is to not plan out content!

There is so much to know about social media! Want to learn more? Reach out and schedule a free 30-minute consultation today.

 

4 Signs It Is Time For An Updated Logo

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We all know that having the perfect logo is good for business. It defines your business and helps your brand stand out next to the competition while creating an image that resonates with consumers.

As with all things, logo design and trends change with time. So do consumers, competitors and business scope. If your brand has been struggling in places they haven’t before it might be time to consider an update for your logo and brand presence.

1. Changing Consumer Market

If you have been in business a while, most likely your consumer market has been evolving and to stay competitive you need to open it up. Perhaps you are trying to connect with a younger consumer or are trying to appeal to female buyers. If your previous consumer market was older and male, then the logo you have might speak directly to them but not anyone else. How your target audience is changing and what visually appeals to them is critical when leveraging a logo.

2. Shifting Competitive Landscape

Entrepreneur.com predicted that 2023 is a great year to start an online business. During the COVID-19 pandemic millions of people started new businesses and side hustles. In 2022 that trend stayed strong with 5 million new businesses and this year has been no different! With this significant influx of competition, how does your logo and brand stack up? To stay competitive your brand needs to be visually compelling and easy to find in a crowded marketplace.

3. Expanding Business Focus

Most likely as your business has grown, so has your strategic approach on what niche market (s) to target. Perhaps you have grown from a local shop to a national presence. Or perhaps, even grown your business to an international brand. Better yet, if you have added additional products or services to your brand than your logo or family of logos needs to reflect that. Your logo needs to grow along with your business!

4. Current Logo Doesn’t Show Up

Having a successful business is about being seen in all the right places! Is it easy to see your logo in digital communications? Consider the following:

  • A logo bug for online profiles that is easy to see and connects with your bigger logo.
  • Bright and vibrant colors that illustrate and relate to your brand.
  • Logo on all digital platforms are consistent and recognizable
  • Logo makes sense to your target audience on signage and print and digital communications.

The next step in this process is deciding whether to redesign or refresh your logo. How to handle your logo should not be taken lightly. Changing your logo directly affects your brand recognition and your loyal customer base and requires a strategic approach. However, this can be a fun and necessary process that will ultimately build strong brand presence and increase your sales!

Looking for some more branding support related to your logo? Creative Vortex is here for you! Reach out to us to learn more about our team and how we can help.

Brand Refresh & Rebrand: Understanding The Difference

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People often get a rebrand and refresh for a brand confused. Or they don’t even know what any of it means. So, they just keep doing what they have always done and eventually start to lose customers because they aren’t offering anything new … or just aren’t reaching people.

Both are centered around a need for change to evolve within a marketplace and stay competitive to a target demographic. A rebrand is a completely new look and feel, while a refresh simply cleans certain elements up but still looks and acts the same.

Change is hard, but necessary! Follow along as we dissect a rebrand and a refresh!

REBRAND

As mentioned previously, a rebrand has a completely new look and feel. It entails changing the following:

  • Logo
  • Font typeface
  • Color Palette
  • Tagline
  • Key Messaging
  • Market Position
  • Brand Values
  • Brand Guidelines
  • Mission & Vision Statement

Be prepared to ask and answer some hard questions from your internal and external audiences. Conduct market research to learn more about how to be competitive within your marketplace and with your chosen audience. What do customers think of your company/brand now? What is your competition doing better than you?

A rebrand will take an investment in time and financial resources to do a thorough job. It is also possible that you might lose some longtime customers because your brand is evolving beyond them. However, if done correctly, your brand will be positioned to stand the test of time and continue to grow for the long-term with the marketplace.

KIA

In 2021, this Korean carmaker decided to go for what’s been called a “dramatically different logo”. The slogan was also changed (now it’s “Movement that inspires”), as well as the company’s name (KIA ditched the word “motors” from the name to show a full-on transition into electric mobility). As the company’s CEO, Ho Sung Song, put it: “Kia’s new logo represents the company’s commitment to becoming an icon for change and innovation.”

(source: https://admindagency.com/blog/rebranding-examples-worth-your-attention/)

REFRESH

A refresh is a simpler process and doesn’t entail changing the core of how a company looks. It typically just includes adaptations to the following:

  • Logo
  • Font typeface
  • Color Palette
  • Tagline
  • Key Messaging

At the end it still looks and feels like the original design but is smoother and more polished. Typically, there is less of a time and financial obligation, but input from internal and external audiences is still critical to it being successful. Some market research is also a good idea to get aligned with buyer personas and market expectations.

Dunkin Donuts

For its brand refresh, Dunkin’ retained the familiar pink and orange colors and iconic round sans-serif font. However, the brand simplified its name to “Dunkin,” which is how their customers have affectionately referred to the company for years. This name change builds on rapport with their audience and portrays the brand as friendly and familiar. The departure from their previous branding also reflects their expanded menu—the modern Dunkin’ is more than a place to get coffee and donuts.

(source: https://www.yakketyyak.com/brand-refresh-examples/)

LAUNCHING A REBRAND OR REFRESH

Be strategic about how you launch a new look and feel for your company and make it exciting! Additionally, make them feel like you did this for them (which you did!!). And, most importantly, create a plan that ensures that new look is incorporated across all multi-channel platforms, marketing materials, signage, and key messaging. Tell your customers why you did it, what it means for them, what it means for the company and its products/services.

Looking to take a deeper dive into a rebrand or refresh for your organization? Contact Creative Vortex to schedule a free consultation!

Small Business Hacks For Busy Entrepreneurs (and Solopreneurs!)

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The year is still pretty new and, personally, I am still working some kinks out! This made me think about being a small business owner and how over the past 16 years I have learned some lessons on how to be successful. In the spirit of wanting to support the next generation of up-and-coming entrepreneurs and solopreneurs, I have listed my top five hacks for making it.

1. Focus on Meaningful Projects

Make sure you are investing your time in projects that have real potential for making it to the launch pad. Your success is based on the success of your clients and putting a lot of time into a project that isn’t well researched, funded or doesn’t have a real strategy could mean a big waste of time and effort, as well as a paycheck that doesn’t materialize.

2. Free Up Your Time with Technology

Typically, entrepreneurs and solopreneurs are trying to wear a lot of different hats to save money. But make sure, you are saving TIME too! Use technology to automate your billing, manage your calendar, organize your projects and meetings and even support your actual work. Four of my favorite pieces of technology include:

  •  Dropbox – file sharing and storage
  • Asana – project management
  • Office Time – time tracking
  • Keeper – password management and sharing

It is also important to note that you should limit time spent surfing social media to less than 60 minutes per day. Nothing kills productivity more than getting sucked into mindless scrolling!

3. Leverage Your Network

Use your network to find clients, talk through best practices, support client work and, most importantly, open doors. Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to ask them about anything and everything. Most times people want to help and love it when asked for a resource or opinion. Just make sure to reciprocate the support in the future!

4. Be Smart About Meetings

There is no doubt that meetings are a necessary part of running and building a business but be smart about it. Here are few recommendations:

  • Only go to the part of the meeting you need to be a part of
  • Use Zoom to cut back on travel time
  • Limit the number of meetings per day
  • Be prepared and have an agenda
  • Be clear about your availability
  • Have a firm start and a hard stop

5. Take Real Breaks

We all need to recharge our batteries at some point. So, whether it be a daily work out, meditation session, lunch, or vacation, be sure to take time to shut the laptop and silence the phone notifications. Even taking 30 minutes a day to go outside for a walk or to sit in the sun goes a long way in keeping you mentally sharp to handle all ups and downs of small business ownership.

So, there you have it! Let me know if you need any more small business hacks.

CIELO Community: Night Market

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Brand Project

CIELO hosted the in-person fundraiser and interactive experience A Night Market to present an updated brand and formally launch their OC MicroFund to the public, which aimed to raise $250,000 for BIPOC small businesses in Orange County. The event featured many of the small businesses that the nonprofit had supported and helped to build. Attendees included donors, corporate and nonprofit executives, community members, and small business owners.

The Challenge

This was a new event and the first large-scale community event for CIELO. Many of the marketing materials used to execute the event needed to be developed and be based on event branding.

Requirements

  1. Must follow precise brand guidelines determined by CIELO
  2. Leverage current logo while working to launch a new logo
  3. Leverage event brand assets already developed
  4. Must hold the new brand in confidence until launch at the event
  5. Marketing collateral needed to be conceptualized, developed, and distributed in a timely manner to meet print and mailing deadlines
  6. Brand messaging, colors, fonts, and tone must be consistent across all print and digital channels
  7. Work seamlessly with an events management team, CIELO employees, and vendors

Deliverables

  • Brand Identity Development
  • Social Media Post Management (Image Development, Scheduling & Posting)
  • Event and Booth Signage
  • Two PPT Designs
  • On-site Support
  • Event Program
  • Promotional Items (source, design and print)
  • Printing Management
  • Email Campaign Design & Management
    Social Media Kit for sponsors and featured clients/vendors

Outcome

CIELO’s Night Market hosted 100+ people from local nonprofits and corporations, the OC community, ticket buyers and donors. The organization raised $80,000 from sponsorships and ticket sales that was used to seed and launch the OC MicroFund. CIELO received positive feedback from all who attended on the impact of the event and grew its own awareness in the community.

Creative Vortex successfully finished and executed all the requested deliverables, as well as provided support for additional items as they came up.

Settle Into Your Zone of Genius

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Ever get a feeling of energy and flow that is effortless when performing a task or activity? I am talking about pure Zen! That is a Zone of Genius and it is your own unique power. It can be described as the sweet spot between skills, strength and talents.  Most times, this is where entrepreneurs and small business owners are at and the reason they went into business in the first place. It is the passion that drove them to set out on their own and create a product or service that nobody else could!


What does this all mean? The activities you participate in typically fall within one of four zones:

  1. Zone of Incompetence – things other people can do better than you
  2. Zone of Competence – Things you can accomplish and other can do too
  3. Zone of Excellence – Things you can do better than others, but you don’t enjoy it
  4. Zone of Genius – Things that you are uniquely good at and thoroughly enjoy doing

As someone inspired to start and run your own company, it is important to recognize where your Zone of Genius lies and when you start to drift into incompetence, competence, and excellence. What are the activities that you are spending your time doing that you aren’t very good at or are not enjoying? Could someone else be doing it better? Finding the right workflow means understanding what you want, what you are good at and what the organizations needs to grow and thrive.

Working in your Zone of Genius is all about finding joy and energy in a task. Anything that falls outside of that in Zones 1 – 3 needs to be considered carefully and then outsourced to people that find purpose in the job. The task could be overhauled or even eliminated. The Zone of Excellence can be tricky because you will do it well but not enjoy it. This is exactly how people end up in jobs they hate for 20+ years! Be transparent about how you feel about tasks and responsibilities … to yourself and to the people around you.

What is the best way to realize our Zone of Genius? Consider leveraging these exercises:

  1. Monitor work related tasks for a set period … two weeks is usually a good baseline
  2. Put each task into the Zones 1 – 4
  3. Tally up what went into each Zone

This is the fun part! For all the tasks that went into Zone 1 – 3 figure out ways to either eliminate (most of the time it is not feasible to completely eliminate a task, but it is possible periodically!), outsource it or rework the task to make it enjoyable.

Understanding your Zone of Genius means embracing your natural talent, which often can go ignored because you feel pressured to “like” another job or task better, a negative and subjective work evaluation or simply because you are overwhelmed trying to be everything to everyone.

Want to learn more about finding your Zone of Genius? Check out this YouTube video!

Brand Case Study: InspirationALZ Gala

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InspirationALZ Gala
August 13, 2022

Brand Project

The Alzheimer’s Association, Orange County Chapter was hosting their inaugural InspirationALZ Gala on August 13, 2022 in Newport Beach to bring awareness to their mission, drive awareness, connect with their community and raise critical funds for their mission of advancing research and supporting those impacted by the disease.

The Challenge

This was an inaugural event for the organization and followed 2.5 years of a global pandemic that kept people from hosting and attending large scale in-person events. The brand identity and promise for the InspirationALZ Gala needed to be explored and developed from scratch with the organization and Board of Directors to set the tone for the project. The event committee was composed of business leaders from across the community volunteering their time and expertise.

Requirements

  1. Must follow precise brand guidelines set forth by the Alzheimer’s Association at the national office for chapter offices.
  2. The brand identity for the InspirationALZ Gala still needed to be unique in order to be appealing to the unique culture of the Orange County community.
  3. Marketing collateral needed to be conceptualized, developed, and distributed in a timely manner to meet print and mailing deadlines.
  4. Brand messaging, colors, fonts, and tone must be consistent across all print and digital channels.
  5. Incorporate the theme “Mind, Music & Memories” and the name “InspirationALZ Gala” across all marketing platforms.
  6. Social media assets that coordinated with event theme and branding guidelines.
  7. Sponsorship packet development to drive attendance and general awareness of event.

Deliverables

  • Brand Identity Development
  • Event Logo
  • Save the Date Postcard
  • Sponsorship Package
  • Print Invitations
  • Print ads for OCBJ
  • Social Media Assets + Post images
  • Signage
  • PPT templates
  • Event Program + Live Auction Program Insert

Outcome

The first annual InspirationALZ Gala was a star-studded event that included performances from singer/songwriter Andrew Cole, American Idol finalist Janelle Arthur, and Nicholas Petricca of Walk the Moon. Vicki Gunvalson of Bravo TV! And CEO of Coto Insurance served an emcee and shared her personal inspirational story with Alzheimer’s disease. The event was attended by more than 300 people from the Orange County community.

Creative Vortex successfully finished and executed all of the requested deliverables by working closely with the executive team at the Alzheimer’s Association. The theme resonated with the organization’s mission and was created in a way that it will serve the Gala for many years to come.

Deemed an amazing success by committee organizers and staff, they have already kicked off planning the 2023 InspirationALZ Gala. The beloved theme will be the driving force for booking talent and securing sponsors for next year’s event.

Disruptive Branding

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“The customer is always right”

This is what drives brands to look beyond the status quo and shake up the marketspace through innovation and disruption to reach new customers. A truly disruptive brand works to consistently develop products and services and marketing methods that rise above the noise.

What Is It Exactly?

Being a brand disruptor is not just about doing something differently. It is about actually changing the game. To make an idea (whether it be a new idea or a reinvented process) or a marketing process truly disruptive it needs to be so significantly better that it completely shifts how people think and steers the market in a new direction. AirBNB and Uber are great examples of this. Not only did these companies give people an opportunity to make money but they made it easier for customers to go and stay places cost effectively.

Key to Success

Pulling off a successful disruption is a perfect mix of market research and risk. It is important to understand the following:

  • Customer experience gaps
  • Insight into customer journeys
  • Current brand perception
  • Consumer market research and data analysis
  • Scope of threat from competition
  • Competitive pricing structure
  • Customer engagement strategies

Be sure to determine the unique customer benefits and experience for customers. Is it really going to disrupt the marketplace or potentially completely miss the mark and damage your brand reputation?

Customer Technology

Consumers relationships with brands are driven by technology, whether it be through social media, websites, digital advertising, or apps. These customer experiences are more interactive, discernable, and reactive given the accessibility and ease of technology. This provides brands the opportunities to learn more about what their customers need and want, along with how they want to be engaged by a business. It also gives them ease of access to what their competition is doing.

The technology also allows brands to conduct market research and test strategies that allows them to find market anomalies and hone in on what could serve as the greatest disruptor for the consumer and marketplace.

How to Be a Disruptor

To be a great brand disruptor, think big! Think about an innovation that seems impossible but then do the research to back it up. Maybe it is about creating a product or a service. Or maybe it is simple about how a marketing and/or advertising campaign is executed to get in front of people and create a positive memorable impression.  At the end of the day being a disruptive brand is all about the belief that customer experience needs to change. Remember, the customer is always right!