Graphic Design Tips for the Non-Designer - GUEST BLOGGER Chandra Willard

“Can you take a quick look at this? I made it myself.” If you’ve asked a graphic designer this before, these tips are for you. Maybe it’s for a last minute corporate presentation, event invitation, or concert flyer that had little or no budget to hire a professional graphic designer.

Here are some basic graphic design tips to help you create an attractive piece that communicates clearly and effectively.

Keep in mind that these are the basics. A professional designer can purposefully and effectively break these guidelines and achieve a successful piece.

Determine hierarchy
What is the one message you need people to walk away with? Pinpoint it and then emphasize it using the techniques below. Groups of information will fall beneath this according to importance.

At the same time, keep similar information in close proximity to one another. It’s your task to direct the reader through the piece effortlessly. For example, if you tell the reader to RSVP, immediately tell them when and how.

Keep it simple & consistent
Use only the necessary elements to support and enhance your message, rather than distracting from it with extraneous icons, graphics, or images. The main goal is to develop a piece that communicates your message. Too many items can distract.

Once you make a decision regarding type treatment, color choice, or image use; apply the same formula throughout the piece. This will make it feel like a solid whole versus bits pasted together.

Color
Effective use of color is an easy way to add character and draw attention to important information. For example, consider a specific color for the headline. Keep it simple by using a limited color palette that suites your event, presentation, etc.

Fonts
Choose one or two fonts and use them in same manner throughout the piece. Ten plus fonts on one page have been known to cause migraines. If you want to use a font with some additional character, use it for headlines and then a simpler, complementary font for body copy. Be deliberate and consistent with font choices. Avoid all too commonly used typefaces like Comic Sans or Times New Roman. Instead try something like Helvetica or Garamond. Here are some free fonts to consider: http://www.alvit.de/blog/article/20-best-license-free-official-fonts

Images
One strong, appropriate image can quickly communication your message and grab a reader’s attention. If in search of an image, take a few minutes to visit a stock photography site, such as www.istockphoto.com. A unique image will add some authenticity to your piece. Avoid using computer clipart that screams “Don’t look at me, you’ve seen me before.”

Align
For a quick, basic, clean layout keep everything aligned to the left. Don’t be afraid to tab in some key information, but keep the variations to a minimum for consistency sake.

Let it breathe!
You have the headline, copy, possibly an image­­–now make sure it all has room to breathe. Leaving white space around elements allows the reader to focus in on an area without getting immediately distracted by another item. A cluttered, over-filled design feels chaotic and is likely to be skipped altogether by the reader.

Print & review
Once the layout is complete, take a step away for a few minutes before reviewing. Next, pass it on to a fresh set of eyes for a second look. Focus on important information: dates, names, web address, or contact information. Have a number listed? Give it a call! Might sound crazy, but you never know what you’ll catch.

Be proud! You just finished a piece that won’t make a designer cringe. Don’t forget to have fun too and before you know it applying these tips will be second nature.

** Oh, you thought I was done? Please note that there is only one space after all periods above and you should do the same. Easy, right?

Guest Blogger Chandra Willard lives in Boston, MA and works as a graphic design artist for Boston University, her alma mater. In her spare time, she does freelance design work. Chandra is a preferred designer for Starfish Creative Events.

LA Hot Spots: Oscar Viewing Parties 2009

It’s that time of the year again, folks! The 81st Annual Academy Awards are coming our way this Sunday, February 22nd. Since not all of us are lucky enough to get a ticket to the Kodak theatre for the big show, I compiled a list of open-to-the-public Oscar viewing parties taking place around town that are sure to put you right smack in the middle of the glitz and glamour, and may even help you land some Academy-hopeful celebrity sightings:

“Night of 100 Stars” Party at the Beverly Hills Hotel
You'll find some of the celebrities who don't have tickets to the Kodak Theatre for the Academy Awards at the annual "Night of 100 Stars" party in the Chrystal Ballroom of this famed hotel. $1,000/person gets you a reserved table seating, dinner and open bar. Tickets are limited. Call (323) 874-0716 or email nightof100stars@aol.com for tickets and information.

APLA Fundraiser at The Abbey
Join celebrity host Jennifer Love Hewitt and party with the fun boys at APLA’s 8th Annual Oscar® viewing party at the Abbey Food and Bar in the heart of West Hollywood. Guests will enjoy a classic, red-carpet entrance, cocktails, buffet dinner and plasma-screen telecast viewing inside the city’s hottest nightspot. Proceeds will benefit APLA programs and services in Los Angeles and beyond. Limited number of seats available. To reserve your tickets or tables, or to get more information, please call (866) 679-0958.

AIDS Healthcare Foundation Party at the Beverly Hilton Hotel
Entertainer Connie Stevens will be honored by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Large screens and television monitors will show the awards program. Presenters are Jeff Trachta, Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna and Merv Griffin. For $150/person, you get reserved seating, open bar and a elaborate buffet dinner. Call (213) 860-5200 for tickets or more information

PAL Fundraiser at the Hollywood Museum
This fundraiser for the Hollywood Police Athletic League is just about as close as you can get to the Oscars without being inside the Kodak Theatre – the museum is just a few steps from the red carpet. For $100 a person (plus service charges), the event includes museum admission, a champagne bar for the first 2 hours, a dinner buffet during the screening, and dancing after the awards. For tickets and Info call (323) 464-0808, ext. 10

“A Taste of Hollywood” Party at the Hollywood Entertainment Museum
``A Taste of Hollywood'' features a menu of food from various well-known LA restaurants, including Water Grill, Chasen's, Louise's, Wolfgang Puck Cafe, Hamburger Hamlet, Tidal Wave Seafood, Fabiolus, Fenix, Pangaea, Ocean Avenue Seafood, Fix and Ritz Carlton Marina del Rey Hotel. With giant screens, a montage of foods and prizes for game winners at $100/ticket for nonmembers, you can’t go wrong here. Tickets and more info at (213) 960-4806.

Viewing Party at The Bistro Garden
Located at 12950 Ventura Blvd. in Studio City, The Bistro Garden is setting up large TV monitors all over the venue and serving a grand buffet dinner. All inclusive price is $48/person. Call (818) 501-0202 for reservations.

Oscar party at Busby's East
Hosted by the Socal Movie Fanatics, fans who didn’t make the Kodak guest list will gather for the 2nd annual Oscar viewing party. $26/person will get you admission, a self-serve appetizer buffet, soft-drinks, and a chance to win prizes in the Oscar Ballot contest. The only thing not included is the booze, but luckily Busby's has a fantastic bar. For more information, call (323) 525-2615.

If you can’t get in to any of the above-mentioned parties, then sneak your way into any bar on the Sunset Strip. Check out the brand-new Andaz Hotel (formerly the “Riot” Hyatt), where Kate Bosworth is hosting a party Friday night or the infamous Sunset Tower Hotel, the venue for Vanity Fair’s post-Oscar bash.

Of course, if you’d rather judge the stars’ lavish looks from the comfort of your own living room, never underestimate the power of a house party. Download some Oscar ballots and bingo cards, invite over all your friends, and have a low-key night. Then smile knowing your feet won’t be killing you by the time they announce Best Picture winner, Slumdog Millionaire (don’t fret – it’s just my voteJ).

Strategic Partnerships – The Best Kind of Marketing

In today’s economy, strategic partnerships between brands are more than added value – they’re now a necessity. Strategic partnerships are formed when brands with similar demographics partner to share in the budget of a marketing campaign, as well as extend their reach by tapping into their partner’s customer base.

I’ve noticed that a lot more of our clients are asking us more and more about partnering them with other brands. It just makes sense promotionally and economically. When forming a strategic partnership, make sure to cover these bases in your cross promotional campaign, tying in all elements for one large marketing push:

Retail displays or on-pack marketing: Whatever consumer brand you are partnering with, tap into their retail displays or packaged goods. Get creative when promoting within their retail locations: have store employees don pins featuring your product and a website to enter a cross sweepstakes, get trailers to play on their in-store televisions, tag their retail displays featuring your products and endorsers interacting with theirs. If your partner is a consumer packaged goods company, place coupons inside the product, tag the outside of the box announcing a cross sweepstakes between brands, or have consumers send in the product UPC code to redeem points for your products.

Radio and television promotions: Design a substantial prize package including your products and your partner’s products to give away on top radio and television stations. Find creative ways to run these contests within top programs. Examples for radio giveaways include having radio DJs mix top 40 hits into one song, and listeners have to call in, naming all of the songs in the mix mash up in order to win; or listeners have to call in whenever they hear a featured song of the day – the 100th caller wins. An example for a television giveaway include having viewers “watch-and-win”: when viewers see a specific item on the station, they enter the name of the program onto a dedicated website and those with the correct answer are entered into a pool. Winners are chosen at random. Further, all radio stations have guerilla marketing teams that attend events around that market. Have these promotional teams hand out product samples and coupons at targeted events.

Online cross promotions: Online exposure is one of the most easily measured return-on-investment. Through number of hits and impressions, it is easy to justify spending marketing dollars promoting online. The most cost-effective tactic is to tag your partner’s website with a banner ad, and have them do the same to yours. If there is a little more money in the budget, you can both set up a microsite to promote a cross sweepstakes. This is a great way to capture your audience’s data (name, age, phone number, postal address, email address) to add to your mailing lists.

Sweepstakes: Depending on the type of brand you are promoting, find a great way to tie in both yours and your partners’ products into a great sweepstakes that creates buzz and captures a lot of attention. For example, our good friends at Konami partnered with quick service restaurant chain Subway. Konami publishes a video game called “DanceDanceRevolution”, where players dance on a real dance pad and follow steps on the screen. It’s a great way for kids to exercise while still enjoying playing their video game. One of this video game’s big initiatives is to help fight childhood obesity. Konami partnered with Subway because of Subway’s cause to help encourage children’s health. They ran a great cross promotion together where children were encouraged to record the number of hours each day they spent exercising, which they recorded on a dedicated website for the promotion. Those that participated were entered into a sweepstakes for a chance to win prizing from both Subway and Konami. What a fabulous way to promote both brands, to their target demographic, through a creative and press worthy way.

Joint Press Release: If partnering with a major brand, work with their PR team to issue a joint press release announcing the partnership and the details of the promotion, as well as the promotional dates. Even if neither of your companies have official PR reps, write up your own press release and post it on your company website and distribute via a free press release service, such as www.pr-inside.com. You’ll be surprised how many other outlets pick up the feed and re-post the press release on additional websites and news sources.

And of course, think outside the box in discovering new ways to partner your brand with others! Nothing is worse than just following a formula – find your own creative partnerships and make them work for you.

Happy partnership hunting,
Gail

Event Recap: UC Irvine Hospital Grand Opening

Greetings Everyone,

We're now fully recuperated from one crazy week of events down in the OC, where we executed all of UC Irvine Medical Center's Grand Opening events for their new University Hospital, including their Employee Open House, Donor Reception and Dedication Ceremony. The event was a huge success, even with those nasty Santa Ana's dancing around us! We are so proud of the final results - the Hospital CEO even told us it was their "best event yet" - and at the same time sad to see yet another project come and go...

Here are the event details:

Client: UC Irvine Medical Center

Event(s): New University Hospital Grand Opening – Employee Open House, High-Level Donor Reception and Dedication Celebration

Location: UC Irvine Medical Campus & University Hospital, 101 The City Drive South, Orange, CA 92868

Date of events(s): Thursday, January 29th (Open House) & Friday, January 30th, 2009 (Donor Reception & Dedication)

Guest Counts:
o Open House: 800 guests
o Donor Reception: 150 guests
o Dedication Ceremony: 400 guests

Event Goals:
o Celebrate Grand Opening of new, improved hospital
o Unveil new hospital branding and tagline: Discover, Teach, Heal
o Gain Recognition within business & university community for state-of-the-art facility
o Recognize Donors and Employees who helped see the project through
o Allow all guests to see a sneak peek of the new facility (through guided tours)

Event Themes: “Opening Doors to Advanced Medicine”, “A New Hospital, A New Era”

Highlighted Event Features:
o A historic photo wall lined the guest entranceway, showcasing old hospital photos dating back to 1904 and highlighting the progression into the new era of healthcare.
o Created open-air ceremony stage area with blue carpet and hedge-lined perimeter for a first-class view of the hospital’s innovative architecture
o Incorporated hospital’s new tagline “Discover, Teach, Heal” into 3 food buffets:
§ Discovery Buffet featured exotic ingredients like Octupus, Sturgeon and Quinoa Chard Pilaf
§ Teach Buffet included made-to-order sushi with sushi preparation tips handed out by the chefs § Heal Buffet incorporated items with healing power, including figs, avocado and fresh seafood
o Incorporated citrus into the décor using lemons and oranges to indicate a “fresh start”, represent Orange County and utilize UCI’s colors of gold and blue
o Conducted professional guided tours of the facility highlighting innovative and progressive techniques such as the DaVinci Robot Surgical System

Well, it's on to the next big event!

Thanks for stopping by,

Stephanie

Enhancing Your Brand Through Music Marketing - GUEST BLOGGER Rayne Gasper

Brand involvement in music and new media can be a tricky proposition. Nobody enjoys the pre-roll ad before his or her favorite artist video, but it’s a necessary evil to keep the ship afloat. Still, the ideal collaboration between brand and music should enhance the consumer experience rather than interrupt or cheapen it. With the developments of Web 2.0 and the music industry exploring new ways to do business, brands are looking beyond pre-roll ads to engage users through music in more dynamic ways.

Take Playboy for example. To celebrate the holidays in 2008 the magazine commissioned French producer, remixer, and DJ Don Rimini to put together a 23 track mix tape simply titled “Playboy DJ Mix.” The mix was available for download on the Playboy website (http://www.playboy.com/magazine/music-reviews/index.html) and the hipster dance scene blogs picked up the story driving traffic. Now followers of Don Rimini might view Playboy in a new light, perhaps asa digital venue for new music, creating a more positive brand association.

Nike is another brand that uses mixes and playlists to enrich the consumer experience. In the Nike Sport Music section of iTunes users will find everything from a distance run set to a 45 minute original album by The Crystal Method to an interval work out driven by Queens of the Stone Age, Weezer, and Beck featuring motivational tips and instructions by Lance Armstrong. Nike capitalizes on the motivational strength of music while providing the consumer with something they want, click and go playlists designed specifically for their workout.It’sgreat because its so natural. I’m going to purchase songs on iTunes and I’m going to use my iTunes to create a playlist for the gym, so why not let Nike, masters of the athletic universe, pick just the right tunes to keep me going.

Brands are thinking creatively in and out of the box. Some are taking advantage of advertising space as opportunities for consumer engagement and interaction. Take Epson’s current campaign on www.pandora.com. An interactive sidebar asks visitors to discover their “Epsonality” by selecting their preferred levels of funkiness, popularity, and BPM in a song. Upon completion a station tuned to their preferences is automatically generated along with the type of printer best fitting their Epsonality (I’m an NX, what up). I love this campaign because it doesn’t hinder or distract me from my original purpose for visiting Pandora, listening to music. In fact it enhances the experience by creating new stations for me and providing hours of entertainment (ok, maybe I’m easily entertained…).

At the end of the day there are countless ways for brands to reach consumers in the digital space and through music, but a focus on enhancing the consumer experience will start them on the right path. The opportunities are limited only by their creativity and vision, which makes this a very exciting time to be working with music, brands, and the new media.

Guest Blogger Rayne Gasper lives in Los Angeles and works in the music industry, focusing on brand relations with a diverse group of musicians in a variety of genres. She is a pioneer in her industry, connecting brands and bands through event and new media marketing. She works closely with Starfish Creative Events on multiple projects.