A logo. To have, or not to have? That is the question. Numerous times we’ve had people ask us if investing in a logo for their business is worth it. We’ve also had people with established companies looking to refresh their brand ask us whether changing their logo would be a good idea. Our response to both… absolutely! Imagine if Apple, IBM or Windows all used a little computer icon as their logo, or if Reebok, Nike, New Balance and Puma all used a sneaker – how boring and confusing would that be? And, in recent years, large, well-known, multi-million dollar companies like Walmart, Pepsi, Burger King, Starbucks and most recently JCPenny, have changed their brand logo looking toward the future and evolving with the times.

Why would you not want to have a custom logo designed uniquely for you? A logo says so much about your company, what you offer and who you are. Think about it, it’s the very first thing that people see on your business card, on your website, on a brochure, even on Facebook and Twitter. It leaves a lasting impression and could catapult your business to new financial heights or make you a household name like those companies listed above. It’s actually the most exciting part of starting your business because once you have a logo, everything suddenly becomes real and you now have the beginnings of your unique brand. As designers, it’s exciting, challenging, fun and the important part of our job, because we have the opportunity to create your future with you – here are some of the logos we’ve created for our clients. The same emotion can be said about our work in re-vamping the logo for the Global Business Council. Our recommendation? Work with a professional design company who listens and can capture your vision of the icon or logo that best represents you and your company.

So, if you’re questioning investing in a logo for your company, just look around and see which logo or brand leaves an impression on you. Perhaps it’s that mermaid in a green circle that has you craving a tall caramel machiatto at Starbucks, that apple with the bite on it’s right side on the back of the Apple iPad where you’re reading a NY Times article or that swoosh which reminds you to “Just do it” as you lace up your Nike’s at the gym–then, you’ll have your answer. And, THAT is the power of identity.

Lucky Girls Here…

We wanted to take a moment to wish you the happiest of holidays – sometimes it’s nice to stop and receive a well wish to brighten our busy day. Whether we know you personally or in passing, we wanted to acknowledge you for who you are and what you provide for your family, friends and business. May this holiday season have an abundance of love, joy, health and of course much success in 2012!

As 2011 winds down and 2012 peeks it’s head around the corner, this is usually the time when we start reflecting on the past year and looking ahead to the new year ahead. We’ve started doing some reflecting as well, and wanted to share with you what we’re doing for the new year – and by all means feel free to steal it from us. 

Between now and December 31, we are making a list of everything that we did or didn’t accomplish in 2011 {personally and career wise}, acknowledging our accomplishments and also what we didn’t get accomplished. Now that we have a clean slate, we can begin 2012 by writing down all of our new resolutions, make two copies of it, keeping one that we can use to build from and seal the other in an envelope and put it away with our holiday décor or somewhere we know to open at the end of 2012. Then we can see how awesome we did in December of 2012. Create a plan for following your resolutions with your other copy, put it in a visible place, and let er’ rip! Have fun with it – cross things off, add things that happen, use post-its for things you come up with on the fly, be creative!

Here are 3 great resolutions for your business this year:
1) “Brand” New Year. Take a good look at your brand – is it well known? Are you happy with it? Is it time for a brand update? As business owners, we cater to our clients first and sometimes we forget our own brand – maybe this year is the year to get your brand noticed, and it could be as simple as a logo revamp, new advertising, or collateral. The best investment you can make is in yourself!
2) Blog Away. You’re an expert in your field and believe it or not you are a resource for others. We were very resistant at first, but look at us now. We, like you, can provide really great information to people and in turn, you also get your brand noticed – it’s win-win. If you don’t have a blog, send out emails on a monthly basis – Constant Contact is a great resource to use for this.
3) KISS. Not that kinda of Kiss – Keep It Simple Silly! Keep the new year simple but productive, make a list of old friends or colleagues who you haven’t spoken to in a while and give them a call. It’s that simple. You never know what it may lead to – a new client, a renewed friendship, or just a nice lunch to catch up. This is the simplest way to introduce your business or share information about your business to someone you know personally and keep your name in their mind for the next time someone asks them “Do you know of anyone that can help me?” you are the first person they will call.

We’d love to hear your feedback, share with us which resolution you took on or came up with yourself {we may steal it too} – email us or post it on our Facebook wall! Feel free to visit our portfolio on our website to see our award winning work and know that if you need some help or ideas, all you need to do is send us an email or give us call {305.308.3930}!

So long 2011… 2012, here we come!

Lucky 3 Girls here…

Who doesn’t love the holiday season? We sure do – us kids are excited {and the little ones too}, we look forward to spending time with loved ones, and ok, who are we kidding… PRESENTS!!!! It’s also that time of year when opening your mailbox every day is actually exciting as you look forward to see another holiday card – now that’s some cheer!

So you’re super busy at work and so caught up that before you know it it’s already Thanksgiving week and you don’t have time to order those custom designed holiday cards you swore you’d have this year… and now your stressing {talk about a holi-daze}.

Here are 3 great tips to relieve some that holi-daze:
1) E-cards. Custom designed e-cards are a great alternative to a custom designed greeting card. It will still have that special message and visual that is uniquely yours and it can be produced in about a week. Also, using a resource like Constant Contact to send to all your contacts at once saves you a ton of time.
2) Edible Art. Forget Harry and David, how about some edible pieces of art? Everybody loves to get treats at work… don’t get me wrong, we love us some Harry and David pears, but there’s nothing like a memorable gift that will leave people talking about it for days on end. We sent our clients some edible pieces of art back in 2007 and to this day it’s still talked about {we even won our very first Gold ADDY® award for it} Romanicos Chocolates. The great thing is that the chocolate box art can be customized. Add a fun little postcard to complete the package
3) Yay Green! Gifting a plant to your clients could be a really great treat – it livens up any desk and you’ll be remembered every time they look at it. Every year, we give our new clients our lucky bamboo plants and they love it. Make sure that the plant is easy maintenance, makes a statement and represents you.

Hope this sparked some ideas in thinking out of the box for holiday gifts! Feel free to visit our portfolio on our website to see what other things we’ve done and know that if you need some help and a little more sparks… all you need to do is give us a send us an email or give us call {305.308.3930}!

Lucky 3 Girls here…

Wow… our first blog entry, how fun! Thanks for checking out our website and blog ~ we really hope you liked what we came up with and we’d love to get your feedback ~ send us a message at the Lucky You page. As we launch today, we’d like to send a special acknowledgement to Nick Nathaniel {web designer and code master} and Andi Speedy {copywriter extraordinaire} ~ you are part of the dream team that made this happen and we thank you for your partnership, creativity and magic you provided.

2011 marks a milestone for us, five years with lots of ups and downs, but through it all we’ve created a boutique design studio where we can be fully self-expressed doing what we love, working with and meeting really awesome people along the way. So, when we decided to rebrand ourselves starting with our new website, we wanted it to showcase what we do best – great design + great personality + lots of fun {believe it or not, we do have fun at work}.

Whoever invented the phrase “all work and no play” should get their butt kicked so bad! The way we look at it there’s a bit of magic that happens when you combine both, so go ahead, we dare you… get creative, have some fun at work today ~ we are! If you do, we’d LOVE to hear what fun and crazy things you did {even if you were, as Outkast would say, “shaking it like a polaroid picture” in your office}. Who knows, you may make it on our next blog post

Here’s to the next milestone!