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The Creation of a Brand
42:17 with Christy HarnerWhether a startup company or a new product line for an existing business, Christy will discuss the process of creating a brand identity with a client. From market analysis and "unique factor" discovery to logo and tagline creation, from messaging and web design to social media campaigns and video production, we will walk through a typical brainstorming session and learn how to effectively win a client's heart and give them a product and brand identity that will exceed their expectations and bring to life their dream.
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[MUSIC]
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So today I'm gonna be talking about the creation of a brand.
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I'll start with a little introduction of myself in
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several different brands that I have.
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My name's Christy Harner.
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As a person, I am a UX designer and a film maker.
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I've been doing that for about ten years.
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So, I love making stories, film, designing things and
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my real big passion is to take somebody's story or somebody's idea and turn it into
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a real product or a brand or a business and so, that is really my passion in life.
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I also have another alter ego, Christina Harner.
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I'm an author, and
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I write young adult novels so, that's another one of my brands.
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As a young adult author, I help teenagers with creative writing and
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I've written [LAUGH] several books about fairies and the environment and
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things like that, and I don't normally mix those brands together, but
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that was just an example of another brand that I have.
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My third brand is that I'm a Chinese language student, and
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that's something that I do on the side, it's a passion.
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And where that comes into play in my business is that I work with a lot of
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development teams and some of the mare in China and so
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I'm really trying to understand other cultures and other languages.
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And also when the US isn't as important anymore and
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the world's turned upside down I'd really like to learn some of
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the major languages so that was another goal of mine.
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My fourth brand is Mommy.
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I'm a single mom and I was at three soccer games today so,
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if I seem a little like messy, I was on the ground screaming at a five year old to
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remember to look at the ball instead of at the flowers off to the side and
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I also took him out to the woods to pee once so that's-
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>> [LAUGH].
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This may be my real brand, [LAUGH] but this is the one that I do normally.
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I am the boss, I am the co-founder of Binary Ventures,
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which is actually a company in Charlotte, we've about two years,
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I'll tell you a little bit more about that as I go along because that's really where
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my my speech today comes to play.
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So I'm the creative principal and so I, nobody calls me the boss and
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my UX designers here didn't even want to come to my speech so,
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who knows how important I really am, but that's another one of my brands.
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Just a really, really quick background that relates to the creation of a brand.
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When I was in school I actually didn't study design,
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I actually studied cultural studies.
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I absolutely love how people think, languages, world views,
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religions, it's all fascinating to me.
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And so I've traveled all over the world.
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I would say I've been to 25 countries, but I think it might be 26 now with Scotland.
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I'm not sure what it is.
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My sister and I had a debate, and
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so as of this week, I think I've beat her, because we're both at 25.
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And she's never been to Scotland, so, I think I'm at 26 now.
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Some of the places that I've been the most are things like West Africa,
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I studied in West Africa for a Summer.
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I've been to Europe many times, my sister on the top right is getting married, she,
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she lives in India now, I have a little half Indian niece, so I'm really excited.
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China and my parents live in Pakistan so
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my cultural experience started in college and has gone throughout my life.
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And now I actually run development teams all over the world which is super fun and
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it's awesome because a lot of my teams, you know,
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when you talk to somebody in Indian or Pakistan.
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You know, usually, you, you as the project manager doesn't know them, but
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I can actually say, oh, I've been to your town and it's very fun.
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So, I'm very thankful for my background in that culture.
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So, right now, I work at Binary Ventures and I started that company two years ago
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with my business partner Steve Nolan, who is the Managing Principal.
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So he told me when we started that he would take care of all of the things that
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I hate.
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So he manages things and does the payroll, and the sales, and
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all that and my job is to work with companies and help their brands.
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And so, what we do is we work with startups.
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About 70% of our customers are startups.
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And so what, what we do is we help these people who have this really cool idea,
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whether it's a mobile app, or an online store, or
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maybe it's a web application that doesn't relate to mobile, they have an idea and
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they're very very excited about it and
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they're very passionate about these ideas, but they haven't built anything yet.
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And so what we get to do is come in and listen to that idea and it's really really
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fun because instead of just working with an existing or an existing brand,
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I get to actually hear them pitch this brand from the very beginning.
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They've got nothing,
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they have, sometimes, most of the time they don't even have a name.
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And so I get to hear them pitch their idea and then I get to start with them and
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build this brand for them.
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And it's so exciting.
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And I say for them and I really should say with them, because.
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My job isn't just to take their idea and build what I think is a brand, but
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I need to take their idea and make it them in the best way and
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that will get results as Nora talked about before me, I know.
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She talked about getting the results and not just listening to just the customer,
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but making sure they're going to get results.
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And I have to go back to the very beginning.
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And I have to actually find out who this person is.
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[COUGH] And I have to help from the very,
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very beginning, finding out who they are and how we're gonna build this brand.
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So, before I really get started I wanted to show you a comic that I,
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it's about eight or nine years old.
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But, it perfectly represents the bad parts of starting to create a brand.
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How many of you have seen the How Web Design Goes Straight to Hell comic?
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Okay, I know a lot of you have seen it.
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Its been around for awhile and
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especially when i was starting out this kind of thing happened to me all the time.
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But it's a really, really amazing representation of how a brand can go.
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And so you just take web design and change it to brand or
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change it to anything with design it's all the same.
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So I'm just gonna go over it really quick,
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because it really relates to what we're doing.
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First of all everything's cool in the beginning.
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The client communicates their needs, you set expectations.
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Everyone's like super happy.
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They think you're awesome.
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They haven't seen anything yet, but
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they think you're great, you're a good sales person.
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Then they show you the current website, and you're like, oh,
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my god, that's the ugliest thing I've ever seen.
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[LAUGH].
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Everybody's laughing, like this is a si,
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this crime is a site to humanit, a site is a crime to humanity, it's horrible.
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Our last designer was an idiot.
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Note to self.
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Whenever they say that, they're gonna say that about you in about five years.
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So, just be really careful what you say.
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We're all idiots five years, like looking back, right?
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So, anyways we're all laughing.
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Oh my God comic sans.
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And then you redesign the website or you rebuild the brand or
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you redesign the logo, whatever it is.
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It looks awesome cuz you're designing it.
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So it looks really amazing.
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And so, that's where the best part of the whole brand comes into play.
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Ta da, you've got this awesome brand.
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So then they come in and they say, oh, just a few minor changes.
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Because what's happened is you didn't want them design it.
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So, you designed it, and now they feel like they need to design it.
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So they're like I feel obligated to make changes, and so
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they start adding, making pop, more edgy, doesn't feel right.
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And so, this comes with these weird feelings and
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they start suggesting I want the color blue here and brown here and
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it's just, you have, you start making the changes for them.
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So then we go switch back to the,
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you know, comic sans, and then make it less liney.
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I love when he writes under here that this is happened to me,
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I've had the weirdest suggestions and they've all happened to everybody.
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And then it gets really bad because, you know,
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he gets other people involved, co-workers, pet hamster, uncle.
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You know, I love, I've looped my mother to this conversation.
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She designed a bake sale flyer back in '82, so
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you could say she has an eye for design.
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>> [LAUGH]
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>> That has so happened to me, and I'll talk a little bit more about that later.
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So you know, the design needs to,
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you put together needs some colors, perhaps a little pink.
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Throw in a kitten, everyone loves kittens.
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I actually did just do a kitten in this presentation, I realized.
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So anyways, throw a kitten in it, yeah, that's great.
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So, then, all hope is lost.
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Seriously, you begin to fantasize about other careers.
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You know, you've got miffles,
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the stream of consciousness dog that's going to end up on this presentation.
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Just gets really, really bad.
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You are no longer a web designer, now you're a mouse cursor inside a graphics
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program which the client can control by speaking, emailing, and instant messaging.
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It's so bad.
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Finally, at the end an abomination's born and
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you really do think, I think this looks like it originally did.
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And you really just want to quit your job and go somewhere else, and
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they're happy, which is the scary part because they don't know.
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And so you've failed at your job.
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They may think that you've won, or you've done a good job, and
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it's just [LAUGH] everybody's sad.
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So, that [LAUGH] is the intro to my presentation because I, this really,
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really represents how things can go south quickly.
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So because of that, my motto is, or one of my mottoes is the brand starts with
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the founder, or the client, or whoever it is, that is where the brand starts.
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It is in their head, especially for a new client,
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a new product whether it's a new product for a company or a new product,
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especially if you have more of an open table, the brand starts with the founder.
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Scary thing is that the founder can be anybody.
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So, I get people doing all sorts of things, I've got clients who you know,
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an older lady, 75 years old, came in wants to start a new clothing line.
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And she's you know in her 70's.
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That's one of my challenges.
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I've gotta work with her.
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I've got, you know, a 50 year old guy that wants to do a Christian online store which
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is there's so much competition.
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You know, and I've gotta work with it.
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I've got all different people, young, old, everybody.
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And you've got to work with the person that you've got.
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And you can't make them somebody they're not.
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So, the first thing you need to do,
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is make no assumptions when that person comes in.
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Whether it's by looks or the crazy idea they have.
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Don't make any assumptions.
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And so, what I wanna do is I wanna give you some tips.
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For how to make that brand session go really well.
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And what I do when I first start a brand is, I'll give you an example,
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the other day I had someone call me on the phone, so I, first of all,
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I know no idea who this person is, I don't know how old they are, I know it's a guy.
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I don't know what race they are, I know nothing.
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So he calls me up and he says I want to start, this is a guy says,
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I want to start an online Christian accessories and gifts store.
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And I'm thinking, like, okay we're going to make it, like really hipster and
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it's going to be reaching toward young adults and okay, I can do this,
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'cuz I already, you know, I kinda grew up real fundamental so I, I totally went to
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these Christian bookstores, but I don't want to make it like that.
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I want to make it really cool and I have this whole idea in my mind, and
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then I have to remember I don't know who he is.
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I don't know if he's my age, I don't know if he's 50.
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I don't know who he is.
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And so, I have to start by, when I go and
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meet with him, I have to really start from ground zero.
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And, oh, yeah, here's the cat I threw in.
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So. >> [LAUGH].
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>> When you start talking to your clients,
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you need to remember that you're basically asking them all about themselves.
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And so, what I'm gonna do is give you a bunch of questions that we can ask.
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And this presentation is really going to be questions that, I ask.
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And when I do, when I do meet with that client.
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For example, when I talked to him on the phone, I said, let's meet in person.
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And he had agreed that he wanted to have us build a website,
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do his brand and do his initial marketing.
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We don't do on, ongoing marketing, but we build the brand and
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then give you the tools and hook you up with a marketing team.
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And so, I came with an 80 slide questionnaire where we were just going to
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sit down and ask questions.
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And I made no assumptions whatsoever.
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And that made it so that I could create a brand that he felt really good about.
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So, when you go and sit down with this cat meme, you think, this guy is just
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somebody that's just coming to me and he's going to tell me his whole life story.
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And you gotta be really interested him, and really get to learn about him.
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So, the very first question I ask is, why are you creating this brand?
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What is it that you're doing?
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And this is such a good question for anybody to ask, especially a start-up.
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Because they may not have a really good reason for creating the brand.
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It's, there may be a nugget in there somewhere but something like,
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I wanna make a bunch of money isn't really a good reason.
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And, although it's not my job to tell them not to build a business,
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it's my job to take that idea that they have and
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that reason, and turn it into a really good reason.
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And a really good window a really good product that will actual have a,
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a chance in the market.
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So I need to know why he's doing it.
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Because I don't want to veer off too far from the brand that he's done.
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And I'm gonna try to focus more on the design side of things.
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So the first example is this, this christian accessories and gift store.
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He wanted to call it godlygiftshomedecorandmore.com and
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I said that no one would ever remember that name.
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So, we do have that URL and
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you'll be able to check it out, but lovethelordinc is what we went with.
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Because we are gonna be building some products for,
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and I wanted t-shirts to look really nice and the other name was kind of long.
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So, when I started and
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he told me he wanted to build this I had this idea in my head that he was maybe
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like 80 years old and he wanted to do like a you know Joel Osteen kind of bookstore.
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And that was just a bad assumption so, I had to really sit down and
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say okay, what do you actually wanna do and when I met him I found out
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he pretty much looked like this guy, early 50's although he looked a lot younger.
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He came from corporate America.
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He had been recently married was a very strong Christian and
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this was a dream that he'd always had.
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And I had none of those assumptions in my head when I first started.
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So, I was really excited to meet him because then I thought okay,
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awesome, I've got a blank slate, I have no idea what this guy wants but
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he seems really cool so that's, that's good.
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Started with my like are you okay with hipster question?
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The guy said it always helps me with design.
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Anyways, it was really awesome to meet with him and just say oh,
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okay, this is who you are now let me ask you more questions about yourself so
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I found out you know how old he is.
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I know that's crazy but
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it helps with kind of figuring out his pop culture references, his style and taste.
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And then, you know,
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his, where he came from, and even his relationship, I know that's crazy, but
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those are all things that really help me when I'm building a brand.
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The other thing that I found out during this,
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which is the answer to the why question, is this verse, and yes,
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he wanted this entire verse on the homepage of the coming soon website.
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So, it made it, I had, it made it so I really needed to make sure that when I
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built this brand that this verse was prominent, or
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at least was represented in design.
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And so, we've been able to cut down the verse a little so
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that it's not the entire love the Lord with all your heart commandment but
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the entire design of the website is going to be represented in this verse, or
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this verse will be represented in the design kind of both ways.
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But basically, he really wants to make sure that every part of
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this website is refle, reflection of the fact that people who
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have the faith that he has will want to live God in every part of their lives.
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Whether it's at home, whether it's at school, whether it's at work.
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And so what we decided to do is really take all these pictures and
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accessories and gifts that he's gonna be building and in the final site,
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this is just the coming home site.
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As you can see we still have the full verse down there.
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But this the coming soon site and in the final site,
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what we're gonna do is the homepage is gonna have these giant pictures
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real beautiful pictures of a living room and a kid's room, and a classroom.
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And throughout the page, you will see all the different gift items and
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accessories and things that will really represent God in that room.
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So that was his passion and so what we wanna do is make sure that the design,
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that his passion comes out in that design.
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And so, that was an example of a why, why are you doing this, and
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there are so many different reasons why.
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That was just one example that I really liked because it was a challenge, taking
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that, he was a, this is why and here's my verse now make it into the design.
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So now it can represent inside of the name, and inside of the homepage and
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inside of all of the photography that we do.
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Another question that's very important is, what is your background?
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This really mostly comes into play when you're starting a new company but
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it's very, very important.
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So, one of the examples that that I wanna share is Paradine.
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And Paradine is a new mobile app.
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And what Paradine is, it's an app for businesses.
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And so, let me tell you a little bit about Jake.
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Jake is the owner of Paradine and he, he started this business,
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he was working for Goldman-Sachs.
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And he was a sales guy.
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So he was travelling.
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All over the world selling.
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And so, he was always going to these new cities, and he would say, he
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would show up in Seattle and he wouldn't really know what to eat or where to go.
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And then if he had a client that he needed to meet with,
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he wouldn't know where to take them for dinner.
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And so, yes, there's Yelp, and there are other things like that,
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but what he found was that there was no app that really said, okay,
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I'm gonna pick out the best places.
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And so if he goes to Seattle, he can actually click on
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the different filters for a restaurant say, that he took his client to.
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And then the next time somebody else from his business goes who
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is linked to him from LinkedIn, they will go and
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they'll see that there's a really good restaurant for taking a client to, or for
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having an evening with somebody, or having, going to a coffee shop.
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And so his entire goal, and
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his entire reason for building this app was to solve a problem.
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And that was because his background was in sales.
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And so, I was very excited when we got to start working with him
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because he actually was solving a problem.
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And the problem was that, you know, this 97% would
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rather get a recommendation from a friend or a colleague, rather than going to Yelp.
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And so, when you're solving a problem and your background is in something.
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Whether he had a background in you know,
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technology, or a background in sales, I love that he had a background in
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sales because he was passionate about solving that problem for sales people.
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And so, the reason that plays into the design is that because he
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knew that Paradine was a solution for sales people and there are hundreds of
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thousands of sales people that travel all the time, all of our designing and
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all of our branding was directed straight toward the sales people.
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17:36
It wasn't directed toward everybody.
-
17:38
It was directed toward people just like Jake.
-
17:40
And so, as we went through our Twitter, and our social media, and
-
17:44
out videos and even you know, banners for tech crunch, and things like that.
-
17:49
We designed everything with the business, the business guy in mind, or
-
17:52
the business girl in mind.
-
17:53
We wanted to make sure that we represented Jake.
-
17:57
And that Jake's background and passion and need for an app that helped him as he
-
18:02
was going through his day would be represented in the design.
-
18:05
But I wouldn't have necessarily have know that because if I hadn't really asked Jake
-
18:09
why he was doing this and what his background was in.
-
18:12
Because honestly Paradine could be an app for people,
-
18:15
just anybody who wants to learn about new restaurants, and
-
18:19
wants to hook up with there friends and find out where friends like to eat.
-
18:22
That's also a solution but Jake really wanted to make it a solution for
-
18:25
sales people.
-
18:26
And so our first round in our first year campaign of design for
-
18:31
Paradine was specifically for those people like Jake.
-
18:36
A third question that is very helpful to ask and is
-
18:40
honestly as you all probably know one of the most important is, what is your story.
-
18:46
Now, you could say that it's part of that is their personal story.
-
18:52
Like, for example, Jake's story, pretty much anybody that I'm working with,
-
18:55
their personal story is very, very good for actually giving the brands some,
-
19:00
some some personality, right?
-
19:03
So the story can come out and
-
19:04
design through video that shows how this app works or it can come out as
-
19:08
simple as a logo where you've got the little tassel to show that it's for
-
19:13
schools because schools is spelled wrong so you have to give a hint to that one.
-
19:16
And [LAUGH] then there's things like a video where it just explains information,
-
19:21
but when I talk to a client sometimes they don't really know that their
-
19:25
story is important.
-
19:26
And so I, I want to tell them ev, even more things.
-
19:29
So I'll, I'll honestly spend a little more time explaining to
-
19:33
them that their story's really important.
-
19:35
And I wanna know everything about their story because there might be something in
-
19:38
there that's, a really interesting item to focus on.
-
19:42
So I tell them, I give them this list of things.
-
19:44
These are some of the most, the reasons why I need to know your story.
-
19:48
Improves the brand image and industry authority.
-
19:50
And then it expands added value for websites.
-
19:53
And it increases time on the site,
-
19:55
increases the social-share and cross-promotion.
-
19:57
Increases visits and leads, widens the competition gap and decreases cost and
-
20:02
intrusiveness in advertising.
-
20:05
And where this plays into the actual design can be very different,
-
20:09
whether it's a video or a website or an illustration.
-
20:13
And one example that I have was a company called Derwent.
-
20:15
Now, the name Derwent will probably be changed with the,
-
20:18
the website's launch, but we're still working with this company.
-
20:21
And when he came to me this guy Tim, he's the owner of Derwent.
-
20:26
He actually wants to start this company where they work,
-
20:30
they address the technology readiness levels.
-
20:32
And I'm probably not going to explain this quite right,
-
20:35
cuz it was a little confusing to me, too.
-
20:36
But basically they're, there's this arc of innovation, and
-
20:39
when somebody has an idea that something maybe the construction industry can use,
-
20:44
they have to go through various levels.
-
20:45
And so he sent me this dial and he's like I drew up a dial for you.
-
20:49
You can use it on the website.
-
20:50
[LAUGH] So, like okay.
-
20:53
So we did kind of and but I did, I did love this and this was very important
-
20:59
to him and he said, people don't know all of the, the different readiness levels.
-
21:03
But when I,
-
21:04
after I talked to him for a while, he didn't really want much on his website.
-
21:07
He really just wanted to explain what the technology readiness levels were.
-
21:12
And then where they fit into it.
-
21:14
And so that he could then talk to them in person.
-
21:17
And say, we fit between seven and nine.
-
21:19
And that's where they fit in.
-
21:20
Where they're going through the actual commercial application and
-
21:23
real world trials.
-
21:25
So he's the trial guy.
-
21:27
So I had to learn his story and that's a different kind of story where it's
-
21:30
an actual just kind of showing how it works.
-
21:34
So when we actually did the website, it's a little different than a site that I
-
21:37
would normally do because I did it in illustration because I didn't have
-
21:40
any real case studies because he was brand new.
-
21:43
So what I did was I just did illustrations for it and
-
21:45
we started by talking about bridging the gap from innovation to application.
-
21:49
And if you want you can just click on one of the circles like I am an investor,
-
21:53
I am in industry, I am an innovator, and you can go and
-
21:56
learn just a little about what those three different people do in this industry.
-
22:01
And then you're supposed to call him or you can actually read down this list and
-
22:05
learn about it.
-
22:06
And so on the website I was gonna do like a video of it but I was scared that it
-
22:09
might not work here so what I did was I was just gonna show you some examples.
-
22:12
You scroll down and you see the list of exploratory research concept development,
-
22:17
proof of concept, laboratory testing, laboratory validation.
-
22:21
And they just kind of animate it and
-
22:22
then you see where we can help which is six, seven, and eight.
-
22:25
And then why is this important and you go down and
-
22:27
you learn that as you scroll down these things animate in you learn that US is
-
22:31
actually not doing as many patents as China, and so we are really trying to
-
22:35
really increase our patents and increase our innovations and invention.
-
22:38
Especially in this industry, so that was very important to him.
-
22:42
So I included that as a design.
-
22:43
And then we went down thru the ten and so.
-
22:45
As you scroll down you can see number one is the basic idea.
-
22:49
An innovation starts with an idea, and then it goes to concept development.
-
22:53
And you know you can see what you know really little bits about it because I
-
22:57
didn't want to overwhelm anyone with the design.
-
23:00
But there's just that story, the proof of concept, the laboratory testing,
-
23:04
the laboratory validation, and then how can level seven help.
-
23:08
Which was the other name we were going to do for our company.
-
23:10
So this was kind of a test on the names.
-
23:12
I don't think we're going to do either of them.
-
23:13
We have like a, some Greek god now it's about technology,
-
23:17
which was a lot cooler name.
-
23:18
And then the initial commercial application defined.
-
23:21
And then you just keep scrolling down basically.
-
23:24
And you see this is another example of how to take someone's story and
-
23:27
turn it into design.
-
23:29
But it really requires sitting down with them and
-
23:31
asking all these questions, you know, what is your story and why are you doing it?
-
23:34
So that's part of my initial brand with somebody, is just finding that story so
-
23:38
that I can figure out how we're going to represent it in a design.
-
23:42
The next thing you do is, the next thing I address is what is your style?
-
23:47
So this can be a little more elusive and difficult for people.
-
23:52
Because you know, I kind of know my style and, well you saw all my different people,
-
23:56
you know, things that I am.
-
23:57
I'll wear like a moon lawn t-shirt and then I'll wear, you know,
-
23:59
nice clothes and I'll wear mommy clothes and those are different styles and
-
24:02
a lot of people don't really know what their style is.
-
24:05
So what I end up doing with this one is I start showing them different styles.
-
24:10
Like, for example, this is funny and witty.
-
24:12
And the reason that you want to ask them about their style is actually very
-
24:16
important, because when you start designing their logo and their website and
-
24:20
their videos, you don't want to go off and
-
24:23
do something that looks kind of like Instagram and is really cool and, and,
-
24:28
I don't know, young, fresh, if they really want something that's very.
-
24:31
For example, like, Paradigm, which is very business-y and, and elegant.
-
24:34
And so I have to ask these styles and I show them different designs.
-
24:38
And I really recommend doing this with a client when
-
24:40
you're working through a brand, is just showing them different types of design and
-
24:43
different types of style.
-
24:44
So I say this one's really funny cuz it says the journey of
-
24:47
1,000 miles sometimes ends very, very badly.
-
24:50
And [LAUGH] I, they love it.
-
24:52
If they love it, you kinda write it down like,
-
24:54
ooh they really liked the funny stuff.
-
24:55
And you go through it and then this is youthful.
-
24:58
And do you like bright colors and are you trying to reach out toward teens?
-
25:01
And we will talk about target audience.
-
25:03
But as far as the style itself goes, that,
-
25:05
you kinda need to help them along with this one.
-
25:08
And just show them different ideas of things that maybe they would
-
25:11
really like to do.
-
25:11
[COUGH] And hipster [LAUGH] I don't know I keep saying hipster cuz I'm.
-
25:15
I'm like a wannabe hipster.
-
25:16
I'll never hipster but like are you hipster?
-
25:19
Do you like this kind of stuff?
-
25:21
Do you like the minimalistic, whatever it is and, and then there's something like
-
25:24
clean and personal and that's again on the story side.
-
25:28
Are we really focusing on the photography and what are we focusing on?
-
25:31
And then, then you can start giving a list, because you know,
-
25:34
it's kind of just to get an idea of things that they say absolutely don't want to be
-
25:38
silly or friendly.
-
25:40
I don't know.
-
25:41
But you just go through and figure out what it is that they really like and
-
25:44
what's their style and so
-
25:45
this is an example that that was kind of a fun one for me which is SpendBoss.
-
25:51
And SpendBoss was a company that I've been working with for a couple years.
-
25:53
I was actually one of the founders of it.
-
25:56
I wasn't the, I had I was one of the founders of it and
-
26:00
it's this software for retail industry.
-
26:03
So, basically, high end ret, retail like well Coach,
-
26:08
Jo-Ann Fabrics big companies like that.
-
26:10
They, they will use this software a the highest level to adminit,
-
26:15
to be in charge of, all of the different stores throughout that company, and tell
-
26:19
each store how much money they're allowed to spend every month on everything.
-
26:22
So they can spend x amount on buying new refrigerators might be once a year.
-
26:26
They are allowed to spend x amount on toilet paper.
-
26:28
And it's basically anything that's not retail, so anything in their store,
-
26:32
the, the carpeting, the lighting, the you know, electronics, anything.
-
26:36
They have to regulate through the software.
-
26:39
And, so, we built the software and helped, we actually helped name it, SpendBoss,
-
26:43
because they wanted to be, kinda, kinda cool and kind of about the fact that
-
26:47
you are in charge and you are the boss now, and this helps you take over.
-
26:50
So, when I was talking to the guy who was their marketing person.
-
26:55
And as we were kind of starting this team, but they had some ideas, and
-
26:58
I had some ideas.
-
26:59
I was letting him come up with the ideas.
-
27:01
Because he was the one that after I exited the company,
-
27:04
he was gonna be really running the marketing department.
-
27:07
So, I wanted to make sure that anything we designed for
-
27:11
our overall concept would be something that he really owned as a person.
-
27:15
And so he came up, he came to me and he's a super awesome person.
-
27:19
He's like 55, he's crazy.
-
27:20
I think he's ADD.
-
27:22
He's probably like 10 inside and he's just 55.
-
27:24
He's just awesome.
-
27:25
And so he's like, I have this idea.
-
27:26
We're going to be Mad Men because it's like the boss.
-
27:29
And so like, okay, like I love Mad Men.
-
27:32
That's, that's fun.
-
27:33
Let's do it. And so he's like,
-
27:34
we're going to be Mad Men and we're going to be bossy and
-
27:36
snarky and professional and clever and.
-
27:38
So I"m thinking like, you know.
-
27:40
Also we'll do like cigar smoking and whiskey and
-
27:43
all this stuff and so we did we even went as far as doing like photo shoots.
-
27:47
And it got a little out of hand in some ways because started realizing first of
-
27:52
all it was a little chauvinistic and there were females.
-
27:56
I was the only female in the company.
-
27:58
It's like so you need to wear a bright red dress Christie and
-
28:00
like be standing there and I'm like, is this kind of like sexual harassment.
-
28:04
I'm doing it to myself, I'm not sure what's going on.
-
28:06
So I'm cool with it, but then you started really thinking about it
-
28:08
because you have that first crazy idea right?
-
28:11
So kind of had to reign it in.
-
28:14
But that allowed him to have the idea and then it was my job to
-
28:17
make it actually marketable because I didn't want to get in trouble.
-
28:21
And so my job is to make sure that, that guy owns the brand, owns the idea,
-
28:25
but I'm actually managing the brand and making sure that we stay on track.
-
28:30
So, we kind of pulled back a little and went very classy and elegant, but
-
28:35
still with the boss name.
-
28:36
And I think the tagline is get bossy and take control of your spend.
-
28:41
So.
-
28:42
I did a couple of things.
-
28:43
We started with the logo and just kinda picked some really classy clean colors.
-
28:48
Made it real simple.
-
28:48
And then started with this whole suit thing.
-
28:51
So everything's got the suit on it.
-
28:53
And, and that worked a lot better because there wasn't the whole
-
28:56
cigar whiskey thing anymore.
-
28:57
It was really just about like I'm the boss, real classy, clean.
-
29:02
And everybody loved the business cards because every single person on the,
-
29:06
on the C level execs has like a different suit.
-
29:09
So like I got a little necklace instead and somebody else got like a little
-
29:13
girl's scarf thing and then they had pockets and everything was very unique.
-
29:18
So this was a way to represent that Mad Men idea without going too far into it.
-
29:23
And representing a brand that could, could transcend some time.
-
29:26
It would just be you know while AMC was still running Mad Men.
-
29:29
And then we also brought in girls so you know, we have a little bit more,
-
29:33
the girl was actually doing boxing gloves and she's the boss.
-
29:36
So that was very, that was a way to balance the, the cool idea of
-
29:39
using Mad Men and bring in the less chauvinistic, more modern times design.
-
29:45
So, as an example of knowing your style.
-
29:48
And this was very much a style piece where everything was style.
-
29:51
And in fact, the CEO, even today, when he goes and does a sales pitch, so
-
29:56
if he travels to another country, I mean another state.
-
29:58
He will actually wear his black suit and
-
30:00
his little you know, whatever that thing is in his pocket.
-
30:04
And he looks just like the guy in the business card.
-
30:07
So then he gets to hand out his business cards and its, it's very styled.
-
30:11
So that was a really fun brand to create and so that's an example of
-
30:16
going a little too far but letting them come up with the idea and the style.
-
30:20
That was their style and then I kind of made it more mainstream.
-
30:24
Another thing that I, you only really have to deal with when you're a new company,
-
30:28
but it's really fun and
-
30:30
a little nerve-wracking to do is come up with a name.
-
30:34
And so, everybody has a name when they start.
-
30:36
One of our companies I'll talk about a little bit later was called Mobile Money.
-
30:40
And it was about local merchants and
-
30:43
so, we really didn't like the name Mobile Money, so we changed it to Localtopia, and
-
30:47
that's an example of changing a name.
-
30:49
And it's very important to do at the very beginning if you have something where you
-
30:52
feel the name isn't a good example.
-
30:54
Fit Race is one of ours.
-
30:55
When they came to us they were Sociercise.
-
30:58
And I'm not even sure if I spelled it right, to be honest, just now,
-
31:01
even though they're one of my clients.
-
31:03
And you know, the,
-
31:04
the dot-com is available, so it was really awesome for them.
-
31:07
But, we, you know, I met them and they said, oh, our name's Sociercise and
-
31:11
they really didn't have like a game plan exactly, but they had built an app, and
-
31:16
I couldn't find a, a screenshot of it cuz they took the website down, and
-
31:19
I forgot to screenshot their original app.
-
31:20
But basically the, this is a applica-,
-
31:23
we application mobile app for
-
31:25
people who want to have you ever heard of Charity Miles?
-
31:28
Where you can run and every mile you go you're donating?
-
31:31
Well what they wanted to do was one step further where instead of just a company
-
31:35
that already had basically allotted money to to people who wanted to run for
-
31:40
charity miles.
-
31:41
And then you would basically be giving that money that they had already allotted.
-
31:44
It was you actually going out and
-
31:45
finding sponsors from around your friends, online, Facebook, social media.
-
31:50
And then and then every time you ran they would sponsor you.
-
31:54
And then it would show up on your Facebook and show how, how many miles you'd run or
-
31:57
how much you'd bike.
-
31:58
So the name Sociercise was nice because it was social and exercise, but
-
32:02
we really didn't.
-
32:04
It just didn't work.
-
32:05
Because no one remembered how to spell it, and what the name was.
-
32:08
So we had to change the name.
-
32:09
And so, when we were working on the design itself and
-
32:11
really asked them what else is the point?
-
32:13
What's the purpose?
-
32:14
He said we really want people to get fit.
-
32:16
We want people to be healthy and we want to raise money.
-
32:18
So, to be honest, they came up with the name fitRaise after we
-
32:23
helped them come up with the idea and the brand and the words fit and raise.
-
32:28
And so they came up with this.
-
32:29
And the exciting part about that is that,
-
32:31
we were able to guide them toward that name but they came up with it.
-
32:35
So they felt very much like, been team effort.
-
32:38
And they had that, the idea themselves.
-
32:40
And that's the best, that's a win because we helped them get there, but
-
32:43
they really owned the brand.
-
32:45
So our job was really just to design it.
-
32:48
But we, and to guide them toward getting the right name and
-
32:50
the right look and the right feel for their company.
-
32:54
we, we rename probably half the companies that come to us because it's very,
-
32:58
very important, as part of your brand, to, to come up with the right name.
-
33:01
And then your logo's gonna be easier to figure out, and
-
33:04
your design, and all of that.
-
33:05
So, asking them about their name is part of branding something and
-
33:09
don't be afraid to ask them.
-
33:10
Cuz to be honest I've talked to companies who, if they're maybe six months old or
-
33:14
a year old and they have some customers or they're in beta.
-
33:16
And you say do you like your name?
-
33:19
Do you think you need some help with your name?
-
33:22
They're, they're very willing to look at it,
-
33:24
because they want to make, they want results.
-
33:26
They wanna get more customers.
-
33:27
And if they haven't had customers.
-
33:29
And changing the name is not always a bad idea.
-
33:30
So that's something that I ask at the first meeting,
-
33:33
is just throwing it out there do you like your name and if they like it and
-
33:37
that's you know, godly gift to [INAUDIBLE] home to [INAUDIBLE] or more.
-
33:39
You know, sometimes you fight it a little more cuz you wanna make sure that they
-
33:43
make, they make money and they, they get results that they want.
-
33:46
So it's important thing to do.
-
33:49
Who do you listen to?
-
33:51
This is basically who are the people that are going to be in,
-
33:54
influencing this brand.
-
33:55
Now it can widely vary from the uncle and pet hamster that we mentioned on the comic
-
34:01
to you know, a spouse because that one is actually more common than you think.
-
34:07
One example I have, and I don't have any like, visuals for
-
34:10
this, but I had a customer who I started working with the brand and design and
-
34:14
I showed him, you know, went through do you like this kind of design or this,
-
34:17
do you like these kind of illustrations, this, what colors do you want?
-
34:20
We went through this whole exercise.
-
34:22
And he got back and showed his girlfriend what he decided and
-
34:25
she was like, oh hell no, and then she started Skyping me and
-
34:28
saying, I think I wanna do this and I wanna do that.
-
34:30
And it's like, oh my God, we were halfway through designing.
-
34:33
And so, what you have to do and what I do now up, up front is, do, are you married?
-
34:38
So always ask like, what's your wife like?
-
34:41
Is she going to be part of this?
-
34:43
And if they say, oh,
-
34:43
she's, she wants nothing to do with it, you're like, okay are you sure?
-
34:47
or, you know, if she, oh, yeah, she's super excited about this brand.
-
34:51
If she says that.
-
34:52
[LAUGH] Anytime you send them a design just ask them to run it by the person.
-
34:57
[LAUGH] Because it's gonna really matter in the end.
-
34:59
You know, and, and even include them.
-
35:00
If there's other people, and, and wife is just one example.
-
35:03
But if there are other people that are like you know, another boss or
-
35:07
a partner or something like that,
-
35:09
make sure they're there when you're making decisions about that brand.
-
35:12
Because otherwise they're not gonna listen.
-
35:14
And also remind them that you were the expert in this and so
-
35:17
you need to have everybody that's gonna be part of that brand to make decisions, but
-
35:22
also be able to establish with all of those people that this guy or
-
35:25
this girl hired you to design this brand.
-
35:28
So they need to be part of that as well.
-
35:31
Another thing that you need to talk about is what are your unique factors, and.
-
35:35
So one example of this would be a company that's called Dance for Good and Dance for
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35:40
Good was a unique factor because what they did was they had an online online music.
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35:46
It was like American Idol on the Internet and that's a little more common now.
-
35:49
This was several years ago when they came up with this idea.
-
35:51
It's crazy how things change.
-
35:53
And so we had this idea where, well, they had the idea and
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35:56
we were supposed to design this for them.
-
35:58
So we designed their logo and their website.
-
36:00
And the goal was that every time that a new musician came on,
-
36:03
there'd be a contest every six months or so.
-
36:05
And there'd be about 30 to 50 musicians and
-
36:07
they would all perform songs online and then you could vote once everyday.
-
36:11
And if you voted more than once, you would buy votes.
-
36:13
And so you would actually be buying votes and the votes though, and
-
36:16
I know that sounds kind of weird, but the votes would actually go toward a charity.
-
36:19
And so because that was their unique factor, no one was doing that where you
-
36:23
could donate to a charity in order to help your artist get get more votes for
-
36:28
the contest and so we really focused on that.
-
36:30
Every, every design that we did, everything that we did we
-
36:33
focused on the charity and the fact that hey you can add more votes and
-
36:37
this is really about the about veterans.
-
36:39
The first one was veterans.
-
36:40
So we really focused on that.
-
36:41
And our branding and our designing was that, that was you were doing good and
-
36:46
the doing good network was what they were kinda their overarching company.
-
36:49
And so we focused on that do good and that this is for charities.
-
36:53
So it's important to find that unique factor and
-
36:56
everybody has a very different one.
-
36:59
So as, as important as that goes there's also the fact that
-
37:05
the brand continues with the audience.
-
37:07
And we all know that, because as you know the, the founder, the client is important.
-
37:12
And their style, and their tastes, and their desire, and their naming.
-
37:15
Their passions are very important.
-
37:17
But they obviously, it actually continues with the audience.
-
37:21
So, I know you know all this about target audiences and ROI and
-
37:24
the people that you're reaching out to.
-
37:25
So, I'm not really gonna go into that.
-
37:26
What I'm gonna go into is more talking about how you would talk to your
-
37:29
client about this.
-
37:31
[APPLAUSE] And so when you, when I,
-
37:34
when I go through all these things with the style and the ideas and the passions.
-
37:38
I have to tell them as well, especially with a new person.
-
37:40
But remind them even if they're, they've been around doing branding for a while, or
-
37:44
new products for a while is that you need to remember who your audience is,
-
37:48
because this plays into the design as well.
-
37:50
And as I mentioned Localtopia before.
-
37:53
Localtopia is kind of like Groupon but or an entertainment book.
-
37:58
Basically what it is, is that any local merchants in a city that are on
-
38:02
Localtopia, they will give maybe $2 or
-
38:04
$5 a month to anybody who's subscribed to this Localtopia app.
-
38:09
So I will have a, I will have a Localtopia app for $5 and
-
38:12
I will pay $5 a month and then 100 local merchants will give me discounts.
-
38:17
Not buy one get one, but like an actual genuine discount every month.
-
38:21
And so it's, it's not a unique, but
-
38:22
it is a unique thing because it focuses on local merchants.
-
38:27
And so the real question was when we started this brand and
-
38:30
we started our marketing, were we reaching out to the end consumer or the merchants?
-
38:35
And the real answer was this first launch is really all about the merchant.
-
38:39
Because the merchant is the one that's going to actually make the brand
-
38:42
happen because they need to be on this platform in order to get consumers.
-
38:46
So who is that merchant?
-
38:47
And we began to talk about who the merchant how is this gonna be
-
38:51
played into the design of the website and the brochures, and the print materials.
-
38:55
And so everything we designed and
-
38:57
everything that we built was around that merchant.
-
39:00
And even the actual app itself, we wanted it to be very pleasant for merchants.
-
39:04
So they felt like.
-
39:05
Great. I want to get my name on this platform
-
39:07
because I think this is a quality platform that encourages local use and
-
39:12
that's why we had to change that name from Mobile Money to Localtopia and
-
39:15
we said it's all about local.
-
39:17
And so that's very important is just figuring who your audience is so
-
39:20
that when you design, your designing with those people in mind.
-
39:23
And we're almost done, I promise.
-
39:25
So one of the last things is who's the competition?
-
39:28
People often when their starting a new product are like, oh, I'm a lone wolf.
-
39:32
I am the only person doing this app in the entire world.
-
39:35
And so one of the things you have to remind them when you're working on
-
39:38
that initial branding and design is you say no you're not.
-
39:42
These are all the people that I looked up on Google in like the first two seconds.
-
39:46
That are doing exactly what you're doing, And then here are like 13 award
-
39:49
winning e-commerce sites that are doing exactly what you're doing.
-
39:53
And then I go through and explain these people are doing it and
-
39:56
these people are doing it, these people are doing it, these people are doing it.
-
40:00
Amazon's doing it, you're screwed.
-
40:03
And so they say.
-
40:04
>> [LAUGH].
-
40:06
>> And you know, it's kind of cuz I'm almost at the end of my presentation and
-
40:09
I never really had like, a good answer exactly, but how can I compete?
-
40:13
And the answer is, and so when I do talk about the audience and
-
40:17
like, this is who you're gonna be competing against, the answer really,
-
40:21
really is all the things we just went through.
-
40:24
If you, you know, you, you know who you are, and you know what your name is and
-
40:29
you know your message and you've got that design down, you know what your story is,
-
40:33
and what you're trying to do, and why you're doing this.
-
40:37
And then you have us help you create that brand directly around that, you know,
-
40:42
that idea and that passion and that love and we figure out your style.
-
40:46
Then you're actually going to do a good job and
-
40:49
you're going to be able to compete, because I've been able to listen to
-
40:54
you tell me all about yourself and all about your brand of what you want.
-
40:57
And now I'm going to be able to, if I'm a good designer, listen to all of that and
-
41:01
create something that really is unique in the marketplace and
-
41:06
actually has a chance and is, is personal and awesome.
-
41:09
So, that's kind of the answer.
-
41:11
I mean, it's the very beginning of the whole process of building a brand, but
-
41:15
if you can go through those steps and learn all about the client and
-
41:18
figure out all those different parts of the brand you won't have that,
-
41:21
you know web design goes to hell experience because you will
-
41:25
know everything about this client and when you come back to them.
-
41:29
And you say here's your logo and here's your web design and here are your colors.
-
41:33
They are going to be, like, oh my God, you perfectly understood me.
-
41:37
And I'm telling you when I've gone through this process and
-
41:39
I listen that hard to a client, they are just blown away.
-
41:42
And they trust you now,
-
41:44
because they know that you know just as much about them as they do.
-
41:47
And I also say to them, this is your baby.
-
41:49
This brand is your baby and I'm gonna take care of your baby.
-
41:51
And I said that to someone the other day and they were like, oh my god well
-
41:54
you're like the mommy and I hope that you can get that baby out really well and
-
41:58
take care of it and love it.
-
41:59
And I'm like, okay, this is weird but yes.
-
42:03
We'll do this together and
-
42:04
so that is the way to make a brand that really makes that client happy and
-
42:08
actually has the chance of being a real honest, awesome brand in the marketplace.
-
42:13
So, thank you very much.
-
42:14
[APPLAUSE]
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