Top 10 Tools for Designing Explosive & Responsive Marketing Images

Shannan DuShane |  August 19, 2016

Each and every day millions of people Google just about everything you can imagine and some that you can't, but the point is that you have limitless information at the tips of your fingers. So let me ask you, if you were to search for image tools on the internet; you can imagine there are perhaps hundreds of search results that would pop up. So which ones will you use and how do you know they are any good, free or paid, if they will waste your time when you create something for free, but to download your image you have to fork out a monthly subscription – waste of time. I love being referred to a list of proven tools, I undoubtedly have 100+ lists saved of different types because they are addicting, so I save them for when I really need them. Believe me it saves a lot of time when you’re looking for something that works and don’t have a ton of time to look around and test.  Top 10 lists or 20 tips or 100 tricks, whatever they are, these lists are worth the time because they are already tested and you get tips, and insider information before you waste your energy. From my experience and some from friends and colleagues that swear by them, here are my Top 10 Tools to Design Explosive and Responsive Social Media Images. So give them a try and check out all of the cool features they can provide you.

1) www.home.coverphotomagic.com Simply drag and drop your FB album pics into a template and get a unique Timeline Cover.  Hundreds of free interactive designs available.

2) www.Insta-cover.com Instant Facebook covers with your Instagram photos.

                                   

3) www.fotojet.com/features/social-media-design/facebook-cover.html

Simply add your photos and edit freely to customize your cover photos for Facebook.

4) www.facegarage.com Filters and Effect to their Photos, providing a TiltShift Effect Maker for Photos, a large Gallery of Cover Photos, galleries of ASCII Codes (Text Images and Smileys), a Stylish Text Generator.

5) www.coverjunction.com The place for creating, sharing and discovering the highest-quality Facebook Covers online.

6)www.timelinecoverbanner.com  You can combine your profile picture and cover and a powerful editor with photo effects.

7) www.pixabay.com  Free images and videos you can use anywhere.

8) www.picscatter.com Picscatter automatically organizes your photos into beautiful collages!

9)www.trendycovers.com 1000’s of premade covers for a huge variety / Just download and save

10)  www.canva.com Easy to use design program that lets you customize and be the designer

Branding Tips in an Automatic Need It Now Digital World

Shannan DuShane | September 15, 2016 | /spectrumnetdesigns | /socialshannan

You wake up one day and get the idea of re-branding the company that hasn’t been updated in 75 years and the look is stale; you probably have no idea where to start.  So what do you do? The last thing you will do is sit on your computer and try and design a logo yourself!

People often have a misconception differentiating branding and marketing, they think they can just tweak their logo and throw it out there for the world to see and slap it on everything from their website to letterhead.  While that might work a small percentage of the time with a smaller mom and pop shop, that is 100% wrong direction and thinking for most companies that has a more noticeable reputation or corporate image to uphold.  Re-branding is changing the face of the company, sometimes a name change, mission, vision, website, advertising, logo modification, graphical elements, marketing material and much more.

Start the process by meeting with the managers, owner, and anyone else that will have a say in the project itself, and ask these crucial questions before anything else, especially contacting and interviewing marketing and ad firms.  The art of branding a company is not just a process, it is a lot of work and needs people who are motivated with initiative! Which piece will you play in the process?

1. What’s the reason for our re-brand or need for change in the logo?
2. What is our objective and goals with the re-brand or revamp of the logo?
3. What is the company mission and vision statement? Is that still correct or does it need changed completely or just modified?
4. What is our geographic target audience? What locations are we trying to reach?
5. What is our demographic target audience? Who are we trying to reach?
6. Evaluate the current logo, as well as all of the compilations of the logo, company name, website, gauge if it reflects your brand or is a change needed?
7. Where will the new logo/brand go and how will it impact all of the business mediums including company vehicles, website, letterhead, business cards, advertising, etc.
8. Create a feasible and reasonable timeline of what you were thinking. Once you talk to the ad firm you will have a better idea, but it gives you a start. Make sure they k now about any product launches or other events taking place so they don’t coincide with each other.   You want the launch to be its own event and nothing crowding it.
9. Fill out a design brief that asks questions that you might not think of now but will impact it later.

Do your research into same industry related companies, inside and outside your geographic location, look at what you are up against to get an idea where your brand is heading.  The last thing you want is a similar logo to your competitor, or a bad logo that resembles a pile of crap – literally if you don’t believe me check out what happened to Hershey’s new logo back in 2014, it resembled the Emoji Poo – you know they didn’t do their homework.  Hershey’s new logo looks a lot like the Emoji Poo?!

Keep in mind you have other avenues you don’t want to forget about, including social media and advertising needs that will impact your brand and how your ads are perceived, you might have to change up your marketing strategy to support the company more effectively.

After you’ve figured all of the above out and sorted through the company, the next thing is to interview marketing firms that specialize in the task of re-branding business, because even the big dogs can crash and burn after spending thousands of dollars on their re-brand.  Check out The 15 Worst Corporate Logo Fails. It is an interesting read and gives you a different perspective to think about when going through the process yourself. Some are not as obvious as other but look closely and you will see some surprising stuff.

The one piece of the puzzle I see companies overlooking is neglect of the white and negative spaces within and just outside their logo, and the secret objects that aren’t caught right away, but too late to catch before the public attack begins.

It’s true that some companies do not need to go through a whole re-brand process if it’s a small logo change, color or object, by keeping the same company name and philosophies you can probably trust a graphic designer to do the deed and save the money of a costly ad marketing agency.

Just remember that this is not an overnight project that will be done in a couple weeks, you will want to take your time.  This process requires a dedicated team, weekly meetings, an experienced agency and patience to get done properly.


Did you like this article? Check out more below.
Evolution of 12 Classic Logos

Check out the 10 Best Corporate Logo Changes of 2013

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Color in Marketing

Marketing in Color!

Shannan DuShane | September 12, 2016

For most individuals we see colors around us every day, all day long, everything is a shade of this or hue of the familiar color we’ve seen our entire lives. But have you ever thought how those colors affect how you perceive or feel about a specific product or service?  How a different color can make you feel over another color of the same object, why you choose the blue bear over the red, or the yellow vehicle over the black? Colors play a major role in your daily perspective of both personal buying and business brands, and each one of us have had different experiences, so it goes without saying the affect would be wide ranged as well. When we take in to perspective, logo’s and branding, most companies will take color into heavy consideration depending on geography and demographics of their audience. That’s why you don’t see many pink logos for vehicles and a lot of brands for nature/outdoors using greens – everything relates to your target audience, and relative to your brand.

Image Credit: The Logo Company

We’ve all heard the un-original cliché – a picture is worth a thousand words,” well if you were a travel firm would you have a green and brown logo that’s dark or would you use bring vibrant colors with images of travel to attract the right following for your business. Images say it all – so use that to your advantage and take control of your professional image and keep it in front of people, get that brand recognition, and while your logo is super important and the basis of your identity, the color of your logo are always noticed before anything else, so don’t go changing it every month- that is unless you have a great brand recognition like Coke or Pepsi who can get away with that.

Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of human behavior. Color influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colors can also enhance the effectiveness of placebos. (Wikipedia)

Colors can affect every industry from farming to pharmaceutical products and services and while there is no solid evidence that white vehicles will sell better than green, or McDonalds is better because their hue of yellow, but when you consider male versus female and age you can normally get a better grip on what they would probably purchase with industry standards.

Every person has a trigger; whether they know it or not; the trigger can be result of a past event or action or how they perceive that color in relation to the brand.  In an appropriately titled study called Impact of Color in Marketing, researchers found that up to 90% of snap judgments made about products can be based on color alone (depending on the product).  Additional research has shown that there is a real connection between the use of colors and customers' perceptions of a brand's personality, and while no one can tell you what color to use for your brand and marketing, do your research and know how the colors make your audience feel and perceive the industry you represent.  That single concept that you market to the world can tell your story, even a small logo with a single color can yield a lot of information about your profession.

Marketing research indicates that over 80% of visual information is related to color. In other words, color conveys information and/or provides the user with some other operational benefit. Think about your own habits, what persuades you over another candy bar the name or color of the packaging? Have you noticed that generic companies are starting to use the like similar packaging as the name brand in the grocery stores, ever wonder why? They know the larger companies already have half the work done so why not go with what works and catch the eye of the unsuspecting shopper.

In 2000, Glasgow installed blue street lighting in certain neighborhoods and subsequently reported the anecdotal finding of reduced crime in these areas. (Wikipedia)

When you really get down to it, there are no right or wrong colors to use, it depends on your research and audience – who is looking to buy your product.  I know that when I am out shopping and there are two products of likeness, I’m likely to pick up the one that has the more eye-catching visual affects to it – why do I do that? Color is persuasion! So take a trip to the mall and see what catches your eye and what about that persuades you to buy or to avoid the results might surprise you. Happy shopping!

  

If you liked this Read These

5 Ways Store Colors Can Influence Shoppers

How to Use the Psychology of Color to Increase Website Conversions

Interactive Color Wheel to Find Your Complementary Colors

This week is All About Complementary Colors in Websites & Marketing!

Check out this cool tool if you ever have a hard time finding complimentary colors for your website or marketing material this is the tool for you! this is an interactive color tool that goes over and above you can expect. Don’t forget to write down your color combinations or print them off for later.

Click Here!  to go to the tool you see below! I promise you'll love it!

Even if you aren’t in the market to find your colors because you have them already then that’s great, but you can still try it for fun, you never know when you might need complimentary colors for your business, new material or website.

Happy Hunting!