Consulting
January 19th, 2012
By Peter Clark
Last fall, then Denver-based photographer Steve Temple came to me looking for feedback on his website and promotional materials. Steve was about to move out west—to Portland, Oregon—and wanted a solid new look for his business. After reviewing his work, I recommended he join Wonderful Machine to start (which he did). Steve then expressed interest in having a new website and identity designed. I was happy to oblige.
Steve’s original online portfolio design felt bland and uninspired, to say the least. He desperately needed a website and identity to complement his bold still life photography. When it comes to choosing a portfolio template, it’s best to find one that offers at least some form of customization in terms of colors, typefaces, image size, and editing layout options. You don’t want a template that only lets you upload a logo and change a few minor details. After recommending a few new templates to Steve, he decided on Virb.com, which offers customizable, html based templates that are scalable and come with a their own blogging feature.
After the template service was settled, I suggested to Steve that he get rid of the word “productions” from his name. To me, it sounded like a multimedia company that offered photo and video production services. This meant changing everything from his URL to his email addresses. However, he was more than happy to go along with my recommendations.
Steve’s old website:
Steve Temple's old website design.
While we were hashing out the new website, we also started on Steve’s new graphic identity. He was actually working on a “visual marketing statement” for himself at the time, so that helped me get a sense of what “Steve Temple Photography” is all about. Soon after that, he graciously sent over a few logo examples he liked with comments attached to each one. I took all this into account as I began my design process. I believe that it’s important to start off any project like this in black and white. Delving too deep into color too soon can sometimes breed so many ideas and concepts that you’re sure to waste time. After obtaining all the information I need from a photographer, I first explore my personal database for inspiration—currently over 6,000 images. They range from anything like a type treatment to a favorite color palette. If needed, I do a bit more research online or find materials in our office. Most of my consulting projects have an inspiration folder that I reference throughout the process.
After a week, I presented Steve with three black and white word mark/logo concepts so that I could get a better sense of where he wanted to take the project. A few days later, he sent back my comp with red squares and notes around all the ideas he liked. I agreed with his choices and started brainstorming in my head on how to get them to work together as a single identity. I spent another week refining the design before sending him back another b/w version. This time, I had also started to explore distressed/grunge effects since Steve had expressed interest in that look. Again, Steve offered some valuable feedback which I took into account.
The next step in the process was to introduce color. After presenting a few different concepts, we agreed on a final execution for the palette. From there, the design progressed further, adding minor tweaks here and there, until the final result (below).
Part of Steve’s new identity:
Steve’s new website (stevetemplephotography.com):
Steve's new website with Virb.com
When working with a designer on an identity, it’s always good to make sure they supply you with an identity guide at the end of the project. What is an identity guide? It’s basically a document that you can reference that explains your identity. So say two years down the line, another designer has to help you out with a promo design, they can reference your guideline and easily follow the standards set within it. You want your identity to be as consistent as possible. An identity guideline can come in several forms such as a simple visual overview to a super descriptive document that spells out everything from logo sizing to image placement. Your identity will always evolve through time, but it’s good to have this base to work from. At the very least, it’s good to make sure your designer includes a description of any typefaces and color palettes used.
Part of Steve’s identity guide:
In addition to working on Steve’s identity, I had the chance to create some business cards for him. Steve can now take his brand new identity and run with it. He’ll be using the identity package to create some great material to promote his photography business. Steve’s next steps are to get his Portland studio space in order and begin to foster relationships with creatives in the local scene. He’s been to a couple social events this year and the talk of projects has already come up.
Steve’s new business cards:
If you’re looking for design help or to just want to learn more about our consulting, please check out the consulting section of the Cog.
December 8th, 2011
By Peter Clark
A week into October, Austin-based photographer Jody Horton began preparing for November’s NYCfotoworks. He soon realized that he was in dire need of leave behind materials for the big event. This would be Jody’s first portfolio review event, so he wanted to make sure he presented himself in the best way possible.
After signing up for Fotoworks at our photo editor Sean Stone’s (who would be attending as well) recommendation, Jody filled the rest of his New York schedule with meetings at magazines he’d shot for in the past. He was hoping to have stand-out leave behind promos and business cards to give to everyone he meet along the way.
Jody realized he was too busy with shoots to tackle the project himself in time, so he contacted me. As always, I was more than happy to help him out. Jody said he felt lucky to work with me since I was able to offer advice on the design, layouts and printers (we ultimately used Paper Chase Press, who I’d received some nice samples from recently and was hoping to try out).
After going over the basics with Jody, I began the initial design process. I started by looking over some of Jody’s past leave behinds and improving on their design. The overall layout of his old cards would stay the same, but we revamped his logo and contact info so it would stand out more.
As for the images, having an iPad portfolio, Jody wanted a tactile promo that highlighted work that wasn’t totally contained on his digital portfolio. He also hoped to include some of his commercial-based work, that demonstrated a natural, editorial feel. After dropping the image selects into the final design, we sent them off to the printers. Paperchase offers short print runs of postcards, so we were able to come up with four different layouts with images on both sides, which came out great.
Leave behinds
Once we’d tackled the leave behinds, I moved on to the business card layout. I started these from scratch but made sure they worked together with the leave behinds and Jody’s brand identity. We were on a tight deadline to get the layouts to the printer and the finished prints shipped in time for the reviews. After everything was said and done though, we managed to get all the materials to Jody a few days early.
Business cards
Jody says he got a lot of good feedback from reviewers (as well as fellow photographers) on his new leave behinds and his portfolio. He’s now looking to send out his remaining postcards as mailers to clients.
If you’re looking for design help or to just to learn more about our consulting, please check out the consulting section of the Cog.
November 21st, 2011
King Lawrence. Yes, King. It was his mother’s maiden name. He wishes the story was slightly more interesting than that. Especially since he’s asked almost every day the origins of his regal title. Sometimes he even has to whip out his driver’s license just to prove he’s not lying. Cool name aside, King is a fantastic portrait photographer. However, great photography isn’t always enough. So when it came time to start promoting himself to a larger audience, King came knocking (figuratively) on our door.
King's existing print promo
In the past, King had solely been sending out print promotions, but now wanted to venture into the email promo world. He first spoke with our production director, Jess Dudley, to decide on an audience to target. Together they came to the conclusion that King should send his email promos to clients in his region—mainly Texas and Arizona metro areas—so he could begin to get his name out there. Jess advised sending out a new promo every two months. This way, King wouldn’t be over saturating potential clients’ email boxes but would still keep them updated with his latest work. Once the details were all hammered down, King and our design director Peter Clark begin talking about the email design.
For King, less is more. His existing brand is clean and minimal—the photos taking center stage. His print promos and portfolio are printed on high quality matte paper, with large images, giving the impression of a fine art print while still working commercially. He was hoping his new e-promos could follow that same clean style, and also somewhat visually resemble the fine art print fashion of his print promotions. After a few rounds of comps and revisions by Peter, they mutually agreed on a final design.
Final email promo design 1
Since art buyers and photo editors are inherently busy, and often inundated with promos, it’s essential to create something both unique and memorable. Promos need to quickly pique the viewers interest and compel further investigation. This needs to be accomplished through good design.
After the design is established, the next important aspect of email promos to tackle is the subject line. King needed to get people to care about what they’re about to look at. Time and time again we’ve been told by art buyers and photo editors that a simple subject explaining what they’re about to see is what they want. And most importantly, they hate subjects like, “Urgent! Open immediately!” and other equally misleading (and annoying) lines. For these promos, since we were trying to promote his sports portraiture work, Peter and King decided on the subject line “Latest Sports Portraiture Work – King Lawrence.” This told the viewer in one line what they’re about to see with no big surprises. This way, if an art buyer was looking for sports portraits, they would immediately open his work. Also, it makes it easy for his promo to be categorized in a folder and searched by either his name or specialty.
Final email promo design 2
View the final email promos here and here.
King loved the final product and soon started sending it out to the targeted list Jess put together for him. Two months later, we put together a second promo for him, which was also sent out. King is now due for a third email promo to be sent out…so keep your eyes peeled art buyers!
If you’re looking for marketing help or to just to learn more about our consulting, please check out the consulting section of the Cog.
