Two Sisters wins Best of Reston Award?

What a nice surprise to wake up to an e-mail that Two Sisters Creative has won the 2009 Best of Reston Award for Commercial Art and Graphic Design. We have, the announcement said, won this because of our outstanding work and community service.

It's so nice to be recognized for our hard work. It's to bad that the Better Business Bureau has deemed this particular award, issued by the U.S. Commerce Association, a "vanity award" and cautions winners not to get hoodwinked into buying all the trophies. It apparently serves no real purpose other than to generate income for the association.

I supposed that makes sense since I didn't even know nominations for this thing were out, let alone that we were nominated. And I can't figure out how one is selected...to my knowledge, they didn't see any samples of our work.

Still, it was a nice thing on a Monday morning to be called a winner.

Save Brown's Chapel

We love Reston. One of the things we love are the parks and paths that provide opportunity for outdoor recreation. But now there is a proposal underway to destroy one of the best parks in Reston ~ Brown's Chapel ~ and build a huge sports complex in it's place. We want to stop this!

Our friends at Brainwave agree, and developed this video for it. Brainwave is another Reston-based ad agency (that does beautiful work, by the way). Enjoy the video...it says it all.

How to Discuss the Budget

Greetings from the How Design Conference in Austin. Design Girl and I decided to take a few days off and come down here to learn about what's going on in the design world. One of the presenters (Gridiron Software) shared this video in a session on how to thrive in the down economy. I just had to share. While it's very funny, it's also very true. Enjoy!

Sisters Rock

The other day I got a request from News Channel 7...they were looking for siblings in business together. Here is the resulting news story.

Great Resource for On-line Training

I treated myself to a year subscription of on-line at Lynda.com and it has been fabulous. There is a tutorial for anything I want to do. When I'm stuck, I just log on, find the training module that addresses what I want to do, listen for a few minutes, and I'm on my way. It's great!

Happy Birthday Strunk and White

For all you editors and writers out there, today is a day to celebrate...it's the 50th anniversary of "Strunk and White's The Elements of Style." What's amazing is this reference is still aplicable today (mostly anyway).

To learn more, visit Suite101, a literary blog.

Great Resource: Target Marketing

I get tons of e-newsletters, most of which I didn't ever ask for. I regularly read one of them: TM Tipline for Target Marketing Magazine. I always find something in it that I can use for my clients. It's a great little read.

Great Resource: Words that Sell

Clients often ask me how I figure out what to say. The answer is, I brainstorm. And to brainstorm, I go to my resource library. My favorite for brainstorming copy is Words That Sell : The Thesaurus to Help You Promote Your Products, Services, and Ideas by Richard Bayan. It is simple to use and always helps me get in the copywriting groove.

Need Paper?

Do you find yourself looking for just a few sheets of great paper? It seems you have to buy single sheets or thousands...and that's not quite what you need.

Jam Paper is a great resource for those quantities somewhere in between.

Happy Birthday To Us!

We just turned 7! It's hard to believe that Jargon and Design Girl have been working side-by-side for 7 years. It's been great though. And we've learned a lot. Over the next few days, we'll be sharing the 7 biggest lessons we've learned over the last 7 years. Today, though, we're going to celebrate our success by working madly to meet a few big client deadlines.

If you happen to pass a chocolate cake today, take a bite for us.

Tip #5 to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency: Make a Schedule

I’m now going to share with you one of the most important things you need to know about working with graphic designers. They must have deadlines. Over the years, I have worked with many designers and every single one them can only produce on deadline.

If you have specific goals for your piece, then there is probably something specific you need it for, and that thing probably has a date on the calendar. Use that to determine a project schedule and stick to it. If something changes, let your designer know so they can adjust their schedules accordingly.

Remember that if you’re hiring an outside agency, you are probably not the only client they’re working with. Most designers we know have three to ten active projects at any given time. They will always work on the piece with the most immediate deadline.

A detailed project schedule will help ensure you get your piece done when you need it. It will also help you keep your internal colleagues in the loop and accountable for their reviews and sign offs. Overall, a project schedule is a valuable tool for all.

Tip #4 to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency: Get a proposal

The project proposal is where you’re going to see the designer’s process—how many meetings will you have, how many design comps are they going to show you, how many revisions do you get? The project proposal (or the creative brief) is a great tool for making sure you and the designer are on the same page.

In our proposals, we outline the above as well as discuss the project schedule—both our deliverables and the clients’. We include the cost as well as any situation that would incur additional charges for the client. Finally, we list all of our terms regarding payment, ownership and rights, and so on. It’s a lot of information, but it ensures we start off with the same understanding of the project as our clients have. And, if something happens, we have a reference.

Often clients who haven’t worked with an outside agency before will have questions about the process and terms. This is great—it means they’ve read the proposal! Your agency will be happy to explain everything to you, so ask if you’re curious. You can also ask me by posting a comment on this blog.

Clear Communications Tip: Write in English

Here’s a fact: Technical experts tend to think that what they do is too complicated to explain in sixth-grade level English.

Here’s another fact: If you can’t explain what your product or service does in plain English, then you don’t actually know what it does.

I probably made some people mad with that statement, but I stand behind it. I’ve been a writer and editor for more than twenty years, with of much of that time spent working on technical information. Without exception, when the technical people I work with really understand how their product will meet their audience’s needs, they are able to explain it in non-technical terms.

So pull out that 6th grade grammar book and see if you can explain your product or service. It’s a great exercise.

IAEE DC Chapter Show Buzz Newsletter

If you've ever spent time with anyone in the expositions and events industry, then you know that they are seriously fun people. They take their work seriously, but the take their fun seriously too.

So, when the DC chapter of International Association of Expositions and Events (IAEE DC) asked us to redesign their bi-monthly chapter newsletter and take over production, we jumped at the chance to work with this crowd.

We started with the newsletter template. The chapter had two goals: they wanted it to look professional, and they wanted a structure that was flexible enough to allow for their varied content. Some issues are full of deep content, while other issues are mostly photos of events.

We created a 4-color template that reflects the sense of fun, but that is also polished and clean. We also provide editorial support, which includes managing the editorial calendar, writing articles, and interviewing members. This new newsletter has been well received, and the National organization has used it as an example of great member outreach.

Tip #3 to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency: Review the portfolio

There are a lot of fantastic graphic designers out there, and many that aren’t very good. And to complicate things a little more, there are designers who do beautiful logo work and designers who can make any big publication look great. How do you know you’re getting the right designer for your job?

The easiest way to assess the designer’s ability to do what you need is to look at their portfolio. If you have a 100-page catalog with more than 300 products, someone who specializes in logos is not the right person for the job (and vice versa). While large design agencies can do everything, boutique agencies usually have an area where they excel and their portfolio will reflect this.

What should you look for when you’re reviewing the portfolio?
1. Make sure the samples are similar in scope to what you need. If you’re bidding out a suite of trade show collateral, you should see some postcards, catalog/registration brochures, and other things you might need.
2. Make sure you like the designer’s style. Independent of talent and skill, every designer has their own style. While they will give you a unique product, their portfolio will give you a feel for what to expect. If you love every sample you see, you’ll love what they do for you.
3. Look for creativity. How is the designer talking about the sample and that project? Did they come up with an interesting way to meet the goals of the project? Are you impressed with their process? If so, then you’ll most likely have a good working relationship.

The portfolio review is a great way to assess the fit with your designer, and its fun to see what your peers have done with their projects. So have a good time with this step…and don’t skip it!

Make Your Communications Clear

ABC’s GADGET is an agentless monitoring solution designed to ensure the availability and performance of distributed Web and VoIP IT infrastructures. This proactive, Web-based infrastructure monitoring solution is lightweight, highly customizable, and doesn't require high overhead agents on your production systems.

XYZ is a leading, full-service provider of information technology solutions based on the rapidly growing Linux computer operating system. Linux is the leading alternative operating system produced by “open source” computer technology and is widely recognized for its reliability, scalability, and cost-effectiveness, especially in the areas of high-performance, internet and e-business solutions.

What?

Those two paragraphs are real examples from real companies explaining their product and value proposition (the names have been changed to protect the guilty).

Do you honestly have any clue what these companies do and what problems their products will help you solve? Where is a statement about you: what kind of problems you face, and how what they provide can help?

Poor marketing copy is epidemic. We are so accustomed to seeing it we barely register how bad it is. What can you do to make sure your copy is good?

1. Know what matters to your clients and focus on that. Your copy should be about them and their needs, not you.
2. Tell the audience what they need to know to make the decision to get more information from you.
3. Be consistent in your message.
4. Give your audience credit for being smart.
5. Hire an experienced marketing copy writer to develop your content.

Amphora Catering Menu

We love a challenge, so when the Amphora Restaurant Group asked us to design a menu for their high-end catering service without using pictures of food, we said "no problem."

Why not use images of food? Because they provide custom events and knew from experience that if they showed pictures of specific food items or past events, then that's what people would want.

The solution? We helped Amphora set a mood for their different menus with beautiful pictures from the regions each of their menus represents. Then we had the menu printed on gorgeous paper, giving the whole brochure a very rich feel.

The result? The clients loved it...the menu reflected the high-quality service they provide and let the clients know they should expect a creative solution for their event.

The Amphora Catering Menu placed in the Art Directors Club of Metro Washington Annual Show in the menu category.

Tip #2 to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency: Share Your Budget

“Share the budget, are you nuts?” Sure, most of my prospects don’t actually say that, but that’s what they’re thinking. There are two main reasons why my prospects are reluctant to share their project budget with me:
1. They don’t know what their budget is.
2. They think if they tell me, that’s what I’ll propose…even if we could do the work for less.

I understand the desire to hold budget numbers close to the vest, but I promise you, sharing your budget up front can make the whole design process go so much better. Why? Because if the designer knows what the project goals are and the budget allocated to meet those goals, they can help you think strategically about the best way to approach the project. Often there are ways to design a piece that reduces printing and mailing costs. Most often, we can meet budget requirements by slightly changing the format of the piece. But we can’t make those recommendations if we don’t know how much you can spend. Without accurate budget information, the agency will likely propose something at the high-budget end, meaning you may not be able to hire the agency you really want because their costs are too high when, in fact, they could probably have proposed something to meet your requirements.

Many times, people don’t know what the budget is because they have no idea what to expect in terms of pricing. Most designers will be happy to have a frank conversation with you about that, sharing general project costs on similar work. This will help set your expectations for what you’ll need to budget for the piece you want.

We like to compare project budgets to cars—do you want a Mercedes, a Honda, or a Hyundai? If you want a Mercedes, do you have the budget for one? Knowing the answer to that will help the designer give you a proposal that works for your project. And if they can’t do the work you need for the price you want to pay, you can establish that before they spend the time developing a proposal for you—and you spend the time reviewing proposals that don’t really address your needs.

Xpertcolor Direct Mail

We've been working with Xpertcolor for many, many years. They are simply one of the best printers in the DC area. They're a small shop that does extremely high-calibur work. They're customer service is exceptional, and they proactively make sure the work is done right every time. The only problem is, nobody knows about them.

Xpertcolor came to us to help fix this. We helped them develop a direct mail campaign targeted to graphic designers who are looking for high-quality print, good prices, and great service. This series of 12 postcards plays on the fact that people don't know where they are..."X marks the spot." Each piece includes a postcard of a place in the DC area (some obvious, some obscure) with a bit of trivia about it. Of course, we also talk about the quality Xpert delivers.

They launched the campaign in July of 2008, and have had a terrific response. The purpose was to open the door to an target group that is hard to reach, and the piece has done that. In just the first few months, the campaign paid for itself. And, Xpertcolor is beginning to get the notice they deserve.

Tip #1 to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency: Know your goals

For your marketing efforts to be effective, you must know what you want to accomplish. That may sound obvious, but I estimate that only 25% of my clients can answer that question when I ask it.

The answer doesn’t have to be complicated, but you do need to know whether your goal is to get people to pick up the phone and call you, to get people to go to your web site to register for an event, or something else.

Each of these outcomes requires a different design approach, and may help you decide who you should hire for the job. Discuss them with the designer during the scoping meeting. You’ll get a feeling from the discussion about their ability to design a piece that will help you meet your goals.

Knowing what you want your marketing pieces to do, and including your design team in the strategic thinking about how to accomplish it, will lead to a better finished piece and a good working relationship with your designer.

5 Tips to Help You Hire the Right Design Agency

My days are filled with meeting people and learning about what kind of marketing materials they need. The meetings are interesting and I learn a lot about their organizations and missions. Then I pull out our portfolio to tell my prospects about our services. At about the time I pull out the third sample, I often notice a look of pure terror on their faces.

At first this baffled me because, frankly, I don’t think I’m a particularly frightening person. Then I realized it’s not me, but rather the notion of hiring a design agency that has them quaking in their shoes. I don’t blame them. Paying for something when you aren’t really sure what you’re buying is scary.

Unless they’ve worked in a corporate communications department, many of our clients don’t know what exactly they are buying when they hire a designer. Or, I think more accurately, they don’t know what they should expect from working with the designer.

Relax. Hiring a designer is not really complicated or scary if you know what to look for. The following five tips are guidelines that will help you choose the design agency that is right for you.

1. Know what you want to accomplish with this project and share that goal with the designer.
2. Share your project budget.
3. Look at the agency’s portfolio to make sure they do the kind of work you need.
4. Get a detailed proposal that clearly states what the design costs include, and ask for clarification if there is anything you don’t understand.
5. Map out a schedule.

In the following weeks I’ll post with more detailed explanations of each of these five tips. Feel free to comment or call with questions if you can’t wait!

Greater Reston Arts Center

One of the challenges many of our clients face is figuring out how to convey the feel of their organization and explain everything they do in a very limited space (such as a 4-pg brochure). That was the challenge facing the Great Reston Arts Center when they asked us to develop a brochure for them.

They needed the brochure to do several things: it needed to convey the quality of the programs GRACE offers, it needed to show prospective members the variety of programs (that GRACE is a center for arts education as well as a place to showcase fine arts), and it needed to have the usual information about membership. This was a tall order for a small brochure!

We came up with an Accordion fold brochure that is actually as series of five postcards, each with one word that describes the mission of GRACE. The back has information about the center. The best part, according to the client, was that the brochure fits in a shirt pocket. Prospects liked it too...it gave them a feel for GRACE and what their membership would mean.

Design Tip: Collecting Print Bids

Jar Gon and Design Girl are on a quest to help the marketing community keep design projects on budget and on time. This month, the Terrific Twosome tackle printing costs. . .

Molly Marketer doesn't understand why the three print bids she diligently collected are so different. We suspect two factors at play: the printers specialize in different kinds of jobs and they specified different paper. The paper you choose and the press the job will run on are the two biggest factors in print pricing. Don't go to a printer who specializes in letterhead if you're printing an annual report.

GWU Graduate School of Political Management

How do you get a Gen Y person to choose your graduate program over any other? Wait...the first question is really how do you capture they're attention? Those are questions many graduate schools are facing. Competition is tight, and the school needs to capture the potential students fancy immediately in order to even be considered. For many universities, that means completely changing how they reach out to students.

The George Washington University School of Political Management (GSPM) came to us to redesign their recruitment materials. Together, we help them rethink what students need to know to make a decision to imply. We conducted focus groups with current and potential students, interviewed faculty, and researched competitive programs. The result was a the development of a new tagline: Politics from a New Perspective. We then developed an 8 page brochure that captured the energy of the students and the expertise of the faculty, using photos of actual GSPM students. We created separate brochures for each program, which are inserted in a pocket folder. A die cut window on the overview brochure allows the folder to "change" depending on which program brochure is included.

The result is a versatile piece that prospects can identify with. A bonus is a tremendous savings on mail costs (since the brochure drives prospects to the web site for complete course descriptions and degree requirements).

Feedback from the GSPM Marketing Director: “Two Sisters Creative really partnered with us from start to finish on each concept and project. They have taken the time to understand our audience and create materials that reflect our organization and speak to our audience. They have shown infinite patience and true professionalism through all the ups and downs of developing an identity and implementing creative solutions.”