Oooh that’s Pinteresting!

Are you on Pinterest yet? If not you should be, and if you haven’t heard of it – where have you been? It’s the hottest new social media site to hit the web and we’ve wasted no time jumping on the bandwagon. It’s an online take on the old corkboard where you can “pin” your favorite images found anywhere on the web, follow other pinners to see what they’re pinning and share ideas/inspiration for just about everything. I’ve found countless recipes, decorating ideas, hair-styles, fashion, and all around great ideas (I’ve included just a few of my favorites). As a designer it’s also an incredible way to collect inspiration for projects. Here at Creativello, we’ve each got our own personal Pinterest profiles and we’ve recently created a company profile, check it out and follow us: http://pinterest.com/creativello/

If you’re not a yet a “pinner” go to pinterest.com and invite yourself to the party!

 

Here’s a related article about how Pinterest can benefit your business:

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/222740?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+entrepreneur%2Fsalesandmarketing+%28Entrepreneur%3A+Sales+and+Marketing%29

Design Inspiration: Vintage Pinball Machines

Over the weekend, I finally got to check out the Seattle Pinball Museum. I had been wanting to go for awhile now and it did not disappoint! They have over 40 pinball machines, mostly of the vintage variety, which you can play (as much as you want) after paying admission. I was totally blown away by the playfields – intricate illustrations, hyper-saturated colors, and superb typography. My favorites were the 60′s and 70′s machines, because they had the best themes (circuses, dinosaurs, cowboys, race cars).

How fun and challenging would it be to design the playfield for a pinball machine? It’s a truly interactive piece. Much like designing for the web or an infographic, you have to direct players, using visuals cues to help them guide that silver ball for maximum points, as well as engaging them with graphics, lights, and sounds. The amount of detail that went into these is truly amazing!

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Gamification, Doggie Diapers and Wings . . .

Word of the day: GAMIFICATION – brought to you by Matt Shobe, speaker at today’s Creative Mornings meeting here in Seattle.

We started the morning off right with free coffee and bagels, an informative talk on Gamification and most importantly the million-dollar idea for Doggie Diapers. That’s right, I stepped in some dog doo this morning on my way to the meeting and when prompted to write my next startup idea on my nametag, diapers for dogs was the obvious choice. Unfortunately someone else thought of it first . . . seriously, check it out:

http://www.petdiapers.com/

Next stop—Wing Dome for lunch, after putting in some hard work at the office of course! We crammed four of us into David’s Mini and took the scenic route out to West Seattle for some hot food and BIG FUN (as promised by the Wing Dome logo).

All in all a Friday to put down in the record books!

Think about it, Doggie Diapar-ello . . .

OPEN HOUSE!!!

OPEN HOUSE!!! Are you here in Seattle? Come join us tonight for our open house and check out or new digs, enjoy good food, good drinks, and chat with cool people.

WHERE: 3931 1st Ave. South, Seattle, WA 98134

WHEN: TODAY! October 6th @ 4pm.

 

 

 

Make Your Employees Smile

I found myself browsing the Fortune Magazine 100 Best Companies to Work For list this morning and it occurred to me – ALL businesses should strive to make this list. Big or small, every company has so much to gain from treating it’s employees well.  I’m inspired to follow the lead of these amazing examples. Why not? Having a work force that feels fulfilled, inspired and dedicated can only help in so many ways.

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Lets Get Creative!

I’ve been thinking of new ways our clients…and future clients, could me more unique and fun when marketing themselves. I think being creative and personable is a sure-fire way to get noticed.

Magazine ads are always a safe bet for marketing, but instead of spending money on a full campaign spread, ‘spread’ your campaign out a bit more. Have us create a campaign that takes a couple quarter page ads into an advertisement that builds though out the publication. You’ll get noticed more than once and you’ll look as though your on top of the game.

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Design & Business – The ongoing tug-o-war.

Being in the design industry this topic is always one that fascinates and challenges me. Can good design make or break a company? Apple, JABRA, Method Home, Ferrari, and many more.

Is there a quantitative way to measure this?
Can’t the business and creative units all just get along?

Ok sorry about the length of this post but a great read if you find time. I recommend.

Here, then, are the seven biggest challenges facing the design community today:

Let’s start with the term that forms the basis of this very conference: design thinking, the exciting new phenomenon that has swept the pages of the business press, including my own alma mater, BusinessWeek, over the past decade. Well, first thing’s first, the terminology may be recent but design thinking itself isn’t new. I recently started working with Doblin, founded in Chicago in 1972 by Jay Doblin, who specifically started the company in order to apply design methodologies and ideas to different and larger contexts and problems than those traditionally tackled by or offered to designers. Before that, back in 1959, Doblin had even advised Japan’s Ministry of International Trade and Industry on creating a national design policy.

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PPAI Expo 2011

We just finished up a great week in Las Vegas exhibiting at the PPAI Expo. Met with a lot of distributors who were excited to freshen up their brands and use us to help with creative for their clients.

It was really interesting to hear feedback about our offering, Creative Services. It’s such broad terminology but everyone immediately thinks, graphic design. Graphic design can be creative service, however it can also be a production service where there is little to no creativity involved. Graphic design is medium of representing creativity. There’s also video, animation, brand strategy, and just plan creative thinking. It can be difficult to recognize the value of creativity before it’s delivered. But once it is, it makes all the difference in the world.

The Me Brand

Regardless of age, regardless of position, regardless of the business we happen to be in, all of us need to understand the importance of branding.  We are CEOs of our own companies: Me Inc. To be in business today, our most important job is to be head marketer for the brand called You.

It’s that simple — and that hard. And that inescapable.

Are you spending enough time on the You brand?  Here’s a few items to consider when evaluating your identity:

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iPad in Retail Stores

Last week I was doing some holiday shopping and found myself at one of my favorite apparel stores in Boulder, Weekends.  I think of them as a boutique Nordstrom.  Although I was supposed to be shopping for my family and friends, I just so happened to be lured by some of their new arrivals.  A pair of shoes and jeans later I was at the register with the sales associate.  He asked if I wanted to be on their mailing list for email updates on specials, trunk shows, and the like.  Absolutely.  It’s rare I want to receive email newsletters but I give exception to a few companies I am truly interested in.  The sales associate hands me a small, square sheet of paper with areas to fill in my name and email.  Wow!  Here I am at this high-end fashion retailer that strives to exude the cool factor, and they want me to give them my email on a piece of paper.  Come on, people!  Get with the times.  If you want to associate your brand with cool, copy paper is not going to do it.  I suggested they spend $500 on an iPad and ask customers to type it into the iPad.  It creates great brand association, it’s memorable, and above all, you don’t have to interpret my awful handwriting!

Are there opportunities in your business where you can use an iPad to gather information or convey a story?  Soon every business will be using tools like this.  But for now, use them to stand out and differentiate yourself from the me-too competitors.