LTD Creative

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2011-06-13T11:29:28-07:00

COLOR:

This year’s new “hot” color is the 2011 Pantone Color of the Year: Honeysuckle. Although Pantone describes Honeysuckle as “…a vibrant, energetic hue…” the fact is: it’s pink. No matter how it’s described, pink is historically associated with feminine characteristics. So one must ask — is that right for YOUR image?
SOURCE:
http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/Pantone.aspx?pg=20821&ca=4&utm_source=eb20101209

Whether your marketing materials embrace the latest color trend or not, one color rule is universally applicable. Contrasting colors are important and color schemes should be limited to only two or three choices. If a strong base color is used, it becomes easier to infiltrate a contrasting color such as “honeysuckle”.

ILLUSTRATION:

Another design trend is the common use of illustrations based on mobile device graphics, like dimensional icons. The popularity of smart phone apps, and web-based media has changed the way we communicate visually. But again, the question becomes—is that image right for your organization? An association that represents quilt makers in America may not want to appear too cutting-edge in their design.

For those sorts of situations, freehand illustrations are trending, perhaps a backlash to the ultra-techie design elements. Images that resemble a sketch or a doodle may be more appropriate, providing a more personal feel to your materials.

TYPOGRAPHY:

Using web fonts is a creative way to ensure that fonts are always displayed properly on the viewer’s display. Before access to web fonts, designers had to convert unique typefaces into an image. Font hosting services allow users to pay a subscription to host non-web-safe fonts online. Most services host the font and provide the necessary @font-face CSS declaration tag.
SOURCES:
http://mashable.com/2010/05/27/type-and-the-web/
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/fonts-at-the-crossing/
http://webfonts.fonts.com/

WEB DESIGN:

Web designers are less concerned about beauty for beauty’s sake, and are really focusing on increasing the functionality of the sites they design. These new approaches are smart and responsive to the changes in our lifestyles, including designing for touch screens, making designs more mobile ready, integrating Quick Response so that barcode photos via your smart phone will automatically launch the intended web site and using CSS3 + HTML5 and less Flash. Simple color schemes with more white space to allow copy and/or photos to pop, Parallax Scrolling (which allows different planes of graphics and/or animation to scroll at different rates) and the integration of depth perception design to give the illusion of true 3D, a hot feature in movies and TV now. All of these innovations are the direct result of the Internet as mainstream communication.
SOURCE:
http://webdesignledger.com/tips/web-design-trends-in-2011

CORPORATE IDENTITY:

Finally, corporate branding has seen some changes this year as well. Much of the change in this area is the direct result of more sophisticated and readily available printing methods, allowing for more complex use of colors and blending. A more subtle use of typeface for a lighter, more sophisticated approach is popular.

Logo merging has emerged as a way to create a singular logo for two companies that have merged. For example when United Airlines took over Continental Airlines they incorporated the Continental brand mark and typography into the new logo. When AT&T took over Cingular they incorporated the Cingular “orange” into their brand identity.

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At LTD, we stay on top of the latest design trends without becoming a slave to fashion. As with all of our projects, we design printed and online materials that enhance your corporate identity and work to achieve your marketing goals for this year, and beyond. Contact us today for a design consultation and see how we can give your materials a modern makeover.

Creating A Social Media Calendar

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2011-03-29T11:38:30-07:00

If your organization has begun incorporating social media into its marketing plan you need to hunker down and get organized. Social media marketing success revolves around creating an effective and well-planned strategy. Merely posting the occasional blog or sporadically updating your Facebook account will neither develop a strong online presence for your brand, or connect with prospects. The initial time investment will be larger than one might expect, but that investment will produce results if you stick to it.

Here are some tips to help define a game plan, keep you organized and ensure your social media efforts produce the results you want.

1. Pick Your Poison
The first step is to decide which social media platform(s) will work best for you… Facebook? Twitter? LinkedIn? Blog? eNewsletter? You’ll need to figure out where your audience resides, which combination reaches the broadest base and how much time you can devote to social media marketing each week.

2. Content Is King
Finding enough content is always a challenge but remember, the point of social media as a marketing tool is to create a dynamic medium that can deliver YOUR UNIQUE SKILL SET to an interactive, engaged, audience. If you can’t deliver fresh, compelling content 3x per week, scale back your efforts to 1x per week. Make every effort count, don’t get caught up in counting all your efforts.

3. Organize It. Map It. Stick To It!
Just like your personal life, you’ll need to develop a social MEDIA calendar. It’s the only way to ensure you continue to provide reliable content that is valued by your audience.

A social media calendar is just what it seems, a spreadsheet that maps your social media strategy over the course of time. You can create your own spreadsheet or you can use some available online tools such as the Google docs-based social media calendar template.

A. Start by tracking industry events such as conferences, release dates, association or industry events etc. Define content and frequency around those important dates.

B. Create a schedule for your content… Tuesday for personal commentary, Wednesday for industry news, Thursday for best practices, etc.

C. Select your medium by day… Tuesday for Facebook and Twitter updates, Wednesday for eNewsletter releases, Thursday for blogs and Twitter, etc. Plan to use the same content topic per day per medium to re-enforce the message.

D. Define Your Content—But Be Flexible
Decide in advance which topics will be discussed on which days. Regularly annotate the calendar with interesting factoids, relevant links or photos, and keywords as you gather them, so when the time comes to write up each topic, you’ll have reference notes on the calendar itself. Taking the time to put together an editorial calendar every 6 weeks, and updating it on an ongoing basis, will save time in the long run and ensure you spread the content evenly over time.

Most importantly, be prepared to change your planned content calendar to accommodate breaking industry news, guest bloggers, etc.

E. Remember To Interact With Your Audience
Initiate polls, ask for commentary—create a forum for discussion. Often, your audience can provide better content than you can.

SOURCES:
• Communications Conversations by Arik Hanson
• Basics of the Social Media Editorial Calendar by Stephanie Schwab: Socialologist
• Social Media Examiner: 5 Easy Steps to a Winning Social Media Plan, By Emily Soares Proctor

Fashion Trends in 2011

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2011-03-29T08:12:04-07:00

Men’s fashion in 2011...think classicism and masculinity. These are two qualities that any modern suit you invest in should aspire to have. Think Mad Men, skinny detailing of the 1960s and apply them to a modern well tailored silhouette. Click here for the full story.

Women’s Fashion in 2011 is all about pant suit trends. Glamour tailoring meets feminine sex-appeal. These uber-flattering outfits are perfect to bring out your curves and create the illusion of a perfectly proportionate silhouette. Take advantage of the comfy and voguish style wave to become a real seductress both on your date as well as at the office. Click here for the full story.

What the Heck ARE “Algorithms” and “Analytics”

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2010-12-02T09:05:41-08:00

Associations have a unique role to play—and an inherent “leg-up”—in the burgeoning social media landscape. A built-in constituency and easily accessible demographic information provides trade organizations with a vast array of marketing statistics that a consumer-driven organization can only dream about.

Possessing the information, however, does nothing to serve your members more effectively or increase your value to them. It’s what you DO with the information and how you USE it that increases value.

This is where the value of algorithms and analytics become clear to association marketing professionals.

How Associations Can Benefit
An algorithm in today’s e-world, is any kind of search engine. Examples include Google/Yahoo, Amazon/Netflix/iTunes recommendations, social media filters, etc.

A proactive association intent on stepping ahead of the curve, can use algorithms to help them serve their membership on a number of fronts:

Recommending trade show/annual meeting seminars
Suggesting continuing education courses and useful publications to purchase
Connecting members within same cities or when traveling
Providing vendor and consultant information, links and databases

Algorithms provide both short-term benefits (i.e. better seminar registration numbers) as well as long-term gains. Capturing the information generated over time produces enormous amounts of data that can illustrate industry trends and provide more accurate member profiles. Click-through rates, where members come to your website from/where they go next and other online behavior can provide associations with a much more accurate picture of how and where to find new members and how to serve existing members better. This process of reviewing web-generated data is called analytics.

Like It Or Not—It’s Here To Stay
It is important to remember, young workers (aka. your potential members) have cut their teeth on e-media. The 30-something generation prefers to receive their news and information in an electronic format. Facebook and Twitter are simply part of their lexicon and are fully integrated into their lives. Marketing professionals who want—and need—to reach younger professionals MUST employ these tools. Facebook and Twitter refer a ton of traffic to host sites across the board. Once your membership is “friending” your site and tweeting your members, gathering information about their likes, dislikes and online activity is a valuable tool to ensure your organization remains relevant.

Where Do You Start?
To make better use of algorithms, analytics and the benefits of social media, you’ll need a webmaster who fully understands these concepts, and/or an on-staff employee charged with both managing your social media and maintaining your database. A first step that requires minimal investment would be a third-party vendor or consultant who can help determine your needs and design a blueprint for moving forward.

At LTD we provide a full-range of marketing services, including online marketing assistance. Call us if you have questions and we will be happy to sit down with you to discuss your online marketing needs.

For more information on these topics, suggested readings include:
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=52634

http://searchenginewatch.com/2167961

http://searchcrm.techtarget.com/definition/Web-analytics

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/09/30/like.button.web.traffic.mashable/index.html?iref=NS1

Lose Weight — and Save a Tree

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2010-12-02T09:08:56-08:00

At LTD Creative, we're all about efficiency. Getting rid of excess paper results in a leaner, cleaner operation...whether you're a design firm, an association, or something in between. Plus, it's good for the environment. (We're big fans of trees.)

We really noticed a reduction in clutter when we started using Adobe^® Acrobat^® to its fullest capacity. Here's how you can do the same...

With Adobe Acrobat, you can combine edits from multiple people into a single document. That means no more shuffling through different electronic versions or piles of hard-copy edits to see who changed what. At a glance, you can ensure that everyone's edits were made correctly.

Let's pretend you need to have multiple staff members review the designer's proof of your annual report. You can email one PDF to each individual with instructions to share revisions and comments using Adobe tools such as a highlighter, sticky notes, pencil, strikekthrough, and more. As you receive the edited PDFs, you can track which reviewers have contributed feedback and compile their comments into a single PDF with the touch of one button. That's right, one button.

Your design team can then print out the PDF with all the changes. Revised text is built right into the PDF and, if you input the correct text, the design team can copy and paste it into the document, eliminating the risk of those pesky typos. (Is it any wonder why we LOVE Adobe Acrobat?)

Using Adobe, you can sign your documents digitally—great protection from the "blame game" when requested changes don't get made and someone has to take the fall. You can even save PDF files into Microsoft Word without losing the layout, fonts, formatting, and tables.

If you're looking for more advanced options, you can collaborate in real-time using another Adobe product—Acrobat Connect^TM—which provides web conferencing through online personal meeting rooms that anyone can access instantly.

The Power of Social Media

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2010-03-02T07:58:52-08:00

During our most recent winter snowstorm, Frederick's "Top Chef" restaurant, VOLT, wanted to get the word out that they are not only open, but that they have a “Snow Fixe” menu – $35.00 for a three course, custom-prepared dinner. They had food they didn't want to spoil and all of their food delivery trucks were cancelled and absolutely no reservations because everyone cancelled!

Co-owner, Hilda Staples put the shout-out on Facebook, the Volt blog, Bryan's Twitter and three other local bloggers who posted the special adding their own special twist.

The result? Volt went from all reservations cancelled to 90 guests...during a blizzard! To put that in perspective, 100-115 seated guests is a great Saturday night.

The power is amazing if you know what to do with it!

Vancouver 2010 Graphics were truly inspirational

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2010-03-02T07:57:10-08:00

The Vancouver 2010 imagery is progressive and youthful, conveying Canada’s personality and adventurous spirit. Look closer and you'll see that each graphic contains an image of a dynamic athlete (like the snowboarder above) that captures the heroism and beauty of sport.

The Graphics are inspired by the dynamic energy of Vancouver, Whistler and Canada, and creates a space where nature and culture transform and grow — like the power, speed and spirit of the athletes. Look closely at the graphics incorporated within the larger swooshes. These are representations of water and vegetation and serve as a symbol of nature’s nourishing and rejuvenating powers.

To hear more, click here. click here.

Can Associations Think Like Coach Leatherware?

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2009-09-15T09:56:52-07:00

—Louanne Welgoss

I began my career in the marketing department of Coach Leatherware at their headquarters in New York City. When I started, I wasn’t even aware of who or what Coach was. (My mom told me they made handbags.) However, I quickly became an expert on these well-known handbags and gained an appreciation of just how much time and care went into creating each bag—from the leather selection to the final touches on the binding to the metal-stamped logo tag that is always stamped inside each bag. “It isn’t a Coach bag without a Coach tag,” they say.

It was the most expensive job I’ve ever had. I started buying the famed Coach purses back then, and now I only buy Coach purses. Coach gave me my first start after all, so I feel like I’m buying from family. My most recent Coach purchase has the letter “C” printed on it, and it’s purple and grey. However, one of our young hip designers at LTD pointed out that the letter “C” on my new bag is not the traditional Serif letter type. It’s now a San Serif letter type. This made me think about how the Coach brand has evolved over the years, and how this relates to associations and their marketing and design provided by LTD.

Like many associations, Coach was conservative and traditional for many years. Over time, their organization wasn’t growing, the older generations weren’t buying new handbags, and the younger customers were going elsewhere for their bags. Faced with declining sales, Coach decided to reach out to a new audience and to update their look. With the introduction of a more eclectic blend of fabric and mixed materials and a signature line of bags with the repeated letter “C" print, sales increased by almost 10% in 2002 and sales continue to soar today.

Has your association experienced significant growth in the last year? Are you adding members of the younger generation? When Coach embraced changing trends, they realized that they were missing out on a younger market that could keep them in business for years.

Ask yourself these questions: Has your association embraced changing trends? Is your logo the same logo that was created when your association was formed? Do you have an interesting tagline or a fresh campaign theme? Are you using the same ad agency or design firm you were 10 years ago? Are you encouraging new creative ideas to help your association grow?

If you answered “no” to any of these, then it may be time to think about a change. Don’t worry about the costs. I realize you're not a handbag company. Just brainstorm what you could do with an unlimited budget.

Recently, Coach introduced Coach Poppy, another extension of their brand that uses a fun scribble etched script with the logo and appeals to young women. The possibilities are endless. When it comes to your association’s marketing, stop for a moment, and think like the Coach corporation. How can you market your product to a broader audience? How can you extend your brand in a new way? How can you increase your association’s membership for years to come?

LTD Creative Partners With “Shop Frederick: Get It Downtown” Campaign To Promote Local Commerce in Frederick, Maryland

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2009-09-16T07:26:16-07:00

LTD Creative and the Downtown Frederick Partnership have partnered together on a new campaign to promote local commerce in Frederick, Maryland. The “Shop Frederick: Get It Downtown” campaign will launch in November 2009 to promote downtown shopping and dining and boost interest in local merchants. In support of their fellow Frederick merchants, LTD Creative volunteered to design the new “Shop Frederick: Get It Downtown” logo that will be placed in and around downtown shops and restaurants in hopes to visually spread awareness of this effort.

“The theme of this effort is fun and vibrant with a bit of humor,” said Louanne Welgoss, Principal of LTD Creative. “Downtown is a hip place to be, and the logo has been designed to portray this same energy.”

The new logo can be seen on window stickers and clings and gift bags in downtown Frederick stores and restaurants. The Downtown Frederick Partnership anticipates the campaign will grow to include T-shirts and apparel with the phrase “I Got Mine Downtown”, an additional play on words developed by the Partnership to promote downtown shopping.

“There is a special quality found in Frederick’s downtown shops that LTD Creative has conveyed through the look and feel of our new logo,” says Kara Norman from Downtown Frederick Partnership. “Soon, every store will be participating in this effort, and come together to bring a new excitement and demand to downtown Frederick shopping.”

For more information about “Shop Frederick: Get It Downtown, visit the Downtown Frederick Partnership website www.downtownfrederick.org.

About Downtown Frederick Partnership
In 2001, the Partnership was designated the managing organization for Frederick’s Main Street Program. The Main Street Program is a preservation-based, downtown revitalization approach sponsored by the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Maryland Department of Housing and Community Development. The goal of the Main Street Program is to strengthen the vitality of Maryland’s traditional main streets and neighborhoods. Downtown Frederick received the prestigious Great American Main Street Award in May of 2005 from the National Main Street Center for the community’s exceptional accomplishments in revitalization. (www.downtownfrederick.org)

Is twittering undermining productivity?

noreply@blogger.com (LTD Creative) — 2009-09-15T10:01:25-07:00

—Louanne Welgoss

Tweeting is all the rage now. It allows people to find connections and meaning in societies where the core fabric of community isn’t as prevalent. I'm just now getting on the bandwagon and I've started tweeting in order to share information with others about what is happening in advertising, what LTD is doing and information our clients might benefit from. I've literally been doing this for 2 days and I feel like I'm Instant Messaging to the world. Instead of sharing my thoughts with a single person, I'm shouting if off the rooftops. Does anyone really care or even read them?

The Instant Message craze caught on when AOL introduced it. Today just about all of the email providers offer it. You can even IM through Facebook. And you can send "direct messages" through Twitter. Now, a step further, you can tweet just about anything that's on your mind to anyone who wants to follow you. And on top of that, everyone is blogging their minds too...including me! Did you know there are live Tweet-ups too? I'm still trying to figure that one out. Remember, I'm only on day 2 of tweeting.

Marketers today are sending fewer emails because the end users are either blocking them or they have found they aren't being read. They are now using new social media trends to get their messages out. Many companies have even hired a full-time employee to work exclusively on social media.

So I ask this question of anyone who wants to respond. Is anyone really listening and are they valuable listeners? Who really has the time to monitor their Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn accounts while at work? Do you find any of these resources to be a valuable benefit to your company? Do you wonder if companies will start sending defamation suits to individuals who say negative things about their companies?

As for me and LTD Creative, we will continue to embrace these social media trends, as long as everyone else is doing it too. But don't be surprised if you get a phone call or request for a face to face meeting or lunch from us. That's what being social is all about!