Sharing My Crayons

How Crunchy Is YOUR Ice?

 

 

"Today you are You,

that is truer than true.

There is no one alive

who is Youer than You."

 

Dr. Suess

 

 

Been thinking a bit about ice lately – and I think it's something worthy of a little deeper thinking.

Recently I was driving with my family when my wife Kelly pointed something out. It was a billboard for Thornton's Gas Station that was making a claim that we'd never seen made before: "Crunchiest Ice In Town". My knee-jerk reaction was "Really? That's what your hanging your hat on?"

I ask new clients when we're doing Discovery and I'm seeking to learn as much about their business, industry and story as possible: "What is your unique point of differentiation from your competitors? What is the '(insert their business name here) Difference'?" The key, of course, is having a point of differentiation that is valuable, beneficial or desirable to your audience. That which makes you unique needs to be important to your audience, and then clearly communicated in a way that connects with them.

But surely ice composition isn't worthy of a billboard-level investment.
Right?

Well, not so fast, Slick!

I dig a little deeper and find that this Thornton's has ice made from a Scotsman Ice System. Who are they, you might ask? They are the inventors of Ice Nuggets, the "Original Chewable Ice". Chances are light bulbs are going off right now, right? You know this ice of which I speak, no?

I personally live about equidistant between two Chick-Fil-A restaurants. I'm now recalling that I have actually based a decision of which one to visit on the fact that one has chewy ice nuggets (at least at the drive-thru) and one does not. Hmmm....

Maybe there's something to this after all.

More stumbling around online led me to the Scotsman sub-site: Love the Nug (I am not making this up). They even have...wait for it...an app you can download to locate the place closest to you with nugget ice made from their machines. I'm sorry, but that is just eight kinds of fun (and maybe equal parts genius). They even have a Nug Truck (again, not making this up) that travels around exposing the citizenry to the crunchy, chewy bliss that is nugget ice.

So there's this nugget ice revolution quietly gaining steam and Thornton's looks out at their gas pumps, up and down their aisles and lands on a point of differentiation that is actually hidden from sight until used – their ice.

I might have to follow up with them, because I'm curious how the billboard works for them. Interestingly, they are not the only place in town to get this ice (according to the locator on the Love the Nug website). There's more to be had just a little ways down the street. But Thornton's is letting people know about it - and their competition is not.

Whether you give a fat rat's behind about ice is not the point. The point is that every organization has something potentially great to hang their hat on. They may not even be the only place their audience can get it. It may actually not even be right there in plain sight. But perhaps it's something that can create (or tap into) a group of fans already passionate about whatever it might be.

With that in mind, let me ask again:

How crunchy is your ice?

 

One for the Thumb!!

 

 

"Experience isn't interesting until
it begins to
repeat itself.

In fact, till it does that, it hardly is experience."

 

Elizabeth Bowen

 

I remember in the winter of 1980 watching Terry Bradshaw and the Pittsburgh Steelers striving to win "one for the thumb", a catchy little way of saying their fifth championship ring.

The term popped back into my head sometime after walking the stairs at the most recent Photoshop World to receive my fifth Photoshop Guru Award. The other term swimming around up there: ridiculously blessed!

And it is indeed a blessing to have been so successful in this particular competition; one that I feel, more than any other, recognizes Photoshop as a powerful storytelling tool. To date we have won five Gurus and been one of the three finalists in the Commercial category another five times.

Here is the winning piece, the montage design for 3M Fall Protection Training (click to open a larger version in a new window).

 

 Now, for the REALLY cool part of my Photoshop World experience...

I was strolling through the Expo, when I paused at the Adobe booth (the makers of Photoshop) to watch a demonstration. Off to the side of the presenter is a white pillar with a flatscreen mounted below the words "Photoshop Is . . ." that's scrolling through a slideshow of images created by conference presenters – many are widely recognized images within the Photoshop community. Amazing images from the likes of Bert Monroy, Corey Barker, Jim DiVitale and Moose Peterson among others. Then, all of a sudden - Wham! There it is – mine! After a mad scramble for the iPhone and an impatient wait for the slideshow to come back around, I snapped about 5 shots like the one below (I wanted to make sure I got this).

 

 

For my work to be scrolling through alongside such well-known artists was just icing on the cake and such a delight that I can't really put it into words. Again, the phrase ridiculously blessed is the only thing that comes close.

And to 3M – and all of our clients – I can't say thank you enough for the opportunities to create this kind of work, and for entrusting us to help visually tell your stories.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

 

PS. Feel free to take a look back at our last Guru winner HERE.

 

You've Come a Long Way, Baby!

 

 

"Every new

beginning

comes from

some other

beginning's

end."

Seneca

 

In case you missed it in the banner image sitting atop this blog, we've been very busy little bees here at Born to Design. Several months ago I had merely wanted to refresh the symbol potion of our logo. I came up with something that I was happy with – but the process had taken me down an unexpected road that I felt led to explore further. That road brought us here, to a new and wholly different brand identity. And it is indeed a long way from where we started.

And yet, this feels like much more than just a new coat of paint. More than just a rebrand. More like a rebirth. It's hard to describe, but there's a renewed enthusiasm around this launch that has me as energized as I was when things were just getting started.

Which is another reason the timing of this feels right; this year we're celebrating 15 years in business. To be honest, that had kinda snuck up on me. But it was back in 1997 that I was blessed with the opportunity to leave my position as Creative Director at Tavel Optical Group and take a giant leap of faith to go out on my own. And what an incredible journey it's been.

As I was processing all of this, I thought it would be fun to launch the new identity with a nostalgic look back at the evolution of the brand.

For starters, back when my now-13-year old daughter Alex was just north of one year old, I sat her on our kitchen floor, grabbed the camera, spread out some crayons by her and started shooting. The image that opened this post (never shown in full color before) was among those shots, and has been a component of our marketing materials and collateral ever since.

But even before that, a baby has been a part of the vision for our identity. That's due to the answer I always gave when someone would ask how long I had known that I wanted to be an artist – "...ever since I could hold a crayon" was always the answer, and the truth.

So in 1997, with the thrill of the leap still fresh, I grabbed my sketchbook and started working out design concepts (the same way I still do today). The sketch to the left was used for a very short time as is, but it's really the genesis of what would become the first Born to Design logo.

 

 

This was the first real Born to Design logo. It was really just a refinement of the initial sketched idea, but it felt much more official. It was also a little indicative of some of the identity work I was doing at the time. Still, in the end (pun intended), it felt like me (other than the fact that I didn't work in the buff... and, for the record, I still don't).

 

 

Around the year 2000, I felt like I had really outgrown the initial logo. My work had grown as well and I felt that, ironically, the first logo was a box I needed to break out of. I needed something that would stretch and grow as I would. My love for 40's and 50's era design aesthetics influenced what would be the Born to Design logo for nearly 12 years.

 

 

Around the beginning of 2012 the typography in the logo was beginning to feel dated. Honestly, I'm not sure if it truly was, or if I had just lived with it for so long that it no longer felt fresh. Either way, I set out to slap a fresh coat of paint on things, while keeping the same visual vibe (maintaining brand equity, as I would tell a client).

 

 

As I explored the new direction that the update process had taken me, it became clear pretty quickly, that this last logo was only going to be a transitional design; a stepping stone to something new and completely different. It's been very encouraging to hear what the few folks that have seen a sneak preview have had to say. It's exciting to finally unveil it to everyone else!

 

The new brand is such a departure from the old one that it required a complete, from the ground up, redesign of our website as well. That has now launched and we'd love it if you hopped over to born-to-design.com and took a gander at that too.

And while you're at it, click over to our Facebook page and give us a "like". That's all freshly rebranded as well.

Thanks for strolling with us down memory lane. It's been fun looking back at where we've been – but not nearly as fun as anticipating what lies ahead!

We have come a long way in 15 years...

And we're just getting started!

 

This Book Is Not For Me . . .

 

 

"Stories are the creative conversion of life itself into a more powerful, clearer, more meaningful experience.

They are the currency of human contact."

Robert McKee

 

 

If the title Gentle Rogue didn't give it away, the barechested Fabio lookalike with his open puffy shirt and windblown golden locks grasping the rope that's falling mysteriously from the sky as he readies himself to carry off the buxom, raven-haired beauty before the oncoming tidal wave sweeps her out to sea should do the trick. This book is, indeed, not for me.

That fact is never really in question. The point is, Johanna Lindsey knows this book is not for me. It's not written for me. Nor is the cover illustrated with someone like me in mind either.

But the author does have a story to tell here. She knows her audience (and at sixty million books sold, it's a large one) and writes with intentionality to it. To assume that because something fails to make a connection with me, personally, that it fails in telling it's story powerfully, is missing the point. More than that...it may even be making a pretty strong case for just the opposite. A story, like a brand, is intended to capture, captivate and compel it's audience. The glistening pecs of our "Gentle Rogue" are not just to better carry away our heroine – they're to carry away the potential reader.

There has been a lot of thought here at Born to Design recently about how we can better communicate what we do to our audience of existing, new and potential clients. As we've worked through this process, the idea of storytelling really started rising to the top. Not by design, or because we thought that would be clever. The truth is, all marketing, design, advertising and communications efforts are, at their core, storytelling. And every brand is telling a story as well – some are just doing it better, more compellingly, and with greater strategic thinking and intentionality than others.

Our internal endeavors landed us here – a fresh answer to the question "So, what does Born to Design do?":

Our gifts lie in visual storytelling
that connects your audience to your brand.

I like it. But, as mentioned, it's not something new we created. It's simply a better telling of the story of what it is we were already doing.

Robert McKee (quoted above), knows a thing or two about storytelling (he's spent 30 years educating writers of all stripes in better storytelling). He states: "Storytelling is the most powerful way to put ideas into the world today." I would, perhaps, add the word "Good" to the beginning of that quote.

Sometimes it's easier to spot the ones getting it wrong, than it is the ones getting it right. For some time I've wanted to write about the gigantic missteps of Netflix this past year (and still may). The mistakes they made weren't in their marketing efforts (at least not directly), but they still told a story about the Netflix brand – one that actually undermined the story they wanted their audience to hear.

The lesson? It's not enough just to have a good story to tell.

The story needs told clearly, continually reinforced and protected from sabotage – even from the brand itself.

 

Cranking it up to 11

 

Does that mean it's louder?

Is it any louder?

Well, it's one louder,

Isn't it?

 

Nigel Tufnel
This is Spinal Tap

 

Call it upping the ante, raising the bar or just kicking it up a notch, but we've been busy little bees here at the Born to Design World Headquarters. The past couple months we've been quietly toiling away behind the scenes – all so that we can be ready and able to take our game to another level.

What exactly have we been up to? I'm excited to finally spill the beans . . .

Photography Capabilities Upgrade: Invested in a new Canon 7D and two high-end lenses (one especially well-suited for product photography). Likewise, we've upgraded our product photo boxes and lighting considerably.

Computer Equipment Upgrades: OK, I've read for years about RAID setups and how fast they are, but, until now, never dug deep to unpack what they are, how they work and whether or not they're worth the investment. Likewise, I researched the new Solid State Drives (SSD) that Apple is using in the new MacBook Air. They are ridiculously fast. No, really. Ridiculously. After an almost unhealthy amount of research, I took the plunge and not only upgraded the primary workstation to an SSD for system and applications, but added two more SSDs and created a 100 GB Striped RAID that is designated solely as a Photoshop Scratch Disk. Adding another 8 GB of RAM (for a new total of 21 GB) was the icing on the cake.

Now, I understand if that's too techno-speak to follow. Suffice it to say that we have created a Godzilla-esque beast of a workstation. I'm chomping at the bit for a big Photoshop project to really put it to the test.

Office Reorganization and Purge: Maybe not as immediately impressive as the other upgrades, but I can assure you that finally getting to some long overdue organizational issues in the office leaves me a happier lad – and frees me up to be creative with fewer distractions.

New Blog: In an ongoing effort to grow the fine art photography facet of the business, we launched Photoplay, our infrared and color photography blog. It's much less wordy than this one, and has "purtier pitchers" (a new one posted every week). A more robust store for purchasing prints is planned, but til then, we'd still love for you to stop over and check it out.

New Ways to Stay Connected: In addition to an updated LinkedIn profile, we've finally launched the Born to Design Facebook page. Check it out and give that little "Like" button a click – we welcome the opportunity to connect with clients and friends there as well as here.

The New Guy: OK, easily the most significant new change is the addition of Chris Settimi to the Born to Design team. We hired Chris a few months back and are extremely excited by what he brings to the table. Chris is an exceptionally talented designer with over 20 years experience. He has worked for clients in health care, financial, high-tech, packaged foods and manufacturing industries, creating and developing advertising campaigns, web and e-communications, presentations, annual reports and other creative products including branding and communications materials for Clarian Health, Cook Medical and Purdue University. He also provided creative direction for Eli Lilly and Company’s brand launch, development of RealMed corporate and product materials, as well as interactive media, 3D animation and collateral services for Hughes Aircraft (see why we're just a teeny bit excited to have him?).

Chris has received recognition from Wired and New Media magazines as an innovator in interactive media, and greatly expands our interactive capabilities. My man can whip up a PowerPoint that'll make you weep! OK, maybe that's a little oversell – but he is quite good! I'm sure you'll enjoy working with him as much as I do. Welcome Chris!

While there have been a few other little wrinkles, this comprises the bulk of what we've been up to. Not only do these changes get me excited, but they also bring a measure of quiet confidence that we are doing what's necessary to perform and deliver for our clients at an even higher level.

We want to continue to provide design solutions that "go to 11".

And that's one louder . . . isn't it?