The Designer Network

What does a graphic designer have in common with a real estate agent? Not much when you compare the details of their job requirements.

However, chances are pretty good that graphic designer knows one and because most graphic designers are obsessively concerned with their reputation, that real estate agent is probably one of the best.

Why is this important?

If the design businesses you partner with aren't sharing their networks with you, something may be off about your relationship with them.

Likewise, if you aren't tapping into your designer's professional network to enhance and grow professionally and personally, you may also be missing out.

Instead of calling when you need a logo design, call and find out if they can be a resource for something else…like a real estate agent.

Graphic Design Candidate

Someone looking for work sent us this email and thought I would share it.

Dear Sir

I am writing this letter to enquire as to any available positions at Cosmic.

I see that Cosmic’s goal is “to deliver superior design solutions to clientele looking to explore contemporary design styles and marketing strategies”. I have viewed the excellent awards received from numerous companies and have noticed how creative your designs have made an impact on the success of companies. My immediate reaction was “Now, this is a team I would like to join!”.

In March 2010, I will graduate with a Bachelors Degree in Graphic Design. During the course of my studies, I have learned to use my creative skills to design logos, business cards, Annual Reports and posters. I have received two certificates for Academic Recognition, and I believe that the skills I have acquired over the past four years will help your Company produce even more fresh and creative designs.

I am an honest, personable, diligent worker who takes personal satisfaction in my work and recognize the importance of meeting all deadlines. My main objective is to get each and every job accomplished to the best of my ability, within the required timeframe while satisfying the client’s needs and wants.

Once you have reviewed my resume, please contact me at the number above to discuss my candidacy in further detail and how my skills might be utilized within your Company. I am confident in my ability to make an immediate and long term contribution to your company.

I would be happy to answer any questions you may have and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Yours sincerely,

CT

Sometimes flattery will at least get your foot in the door.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Graphic design and budgets

I've always been an artist. I was the stereotypical hyperactive child drawing on the walls even when mom told me not to do it. I was even doing in my 20's and 30's.

One thing I can tell you about most artists is that we make crappy business people. For the most part, we have our heads so far in the clouds, the mere thought of creating a sales process or an operations manual or accounting forces us to run, hide and put our heads somewhere where even the sun can't get at us.

Nevertheless, I've finally succumbed to the notion that if I want to keep my head in the clouds, I'm going to have to spend a little time here on earth.

Coming back to reality started last week when I began to work on our company's budget for 2010. This is the first time I have ever done this and the artist in me began throwing in numbers and creating these lofty projections for next year where I was making a quarter million dollars by the end of 2010!

When I looked at year's past however, reality set in and I realized there was definitely a mismatch.

A lot of people question our prices. They often claim they are too high. I would say that's the price you pay for high-quality graphic design work.

After studying our company budget, however, I realized it takes a lot more than a big ego to run a business. Do you know that it costs just over $10,000 for our St. Petersburg office to break even every month? Considering very modest expenses and a staff of one, that's a shitload of money! The reality is I can't have my head in the clouds when when we're talking that kind of money each month.

I love my job and if I could do it for free, I would. Truth is folks, I need to eat and pay the rent just like everybody else. If you are looking for a good deal, please ask someone else, because I'm not going to give it to you. However, if you are looking for a graphic design team to deliver premium marketing solutions for your company, then let's talk business.

Aradia Massage

If you are ever in the St. Petersburg, Florida area, be sure to look up Aradia. Who's Aradia? She's not only one of our clients, she's also one of the most skilled massage therapists you'll ever have the pleasure of knowing.

We launched her new website this week. You can see it here.

The site is pretty basic right now and will be a nice staging point for all the other work we have planned for it in the coming months including an online booking system and storefront.

If you want to read more about it in the news, click here.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey, the artist who was initially known for his 'Obey' guerrilla street art featuring Andre the Giant was behind the infamous 'HOPE' artwork created for the Obama campaign. Little did we know, but his artwork caused quite a stir with AP who claimed that the image was property to the news organization and breached copyright laws.

Fairey sued the AP claiming the image used was not AP property but in fact was public domain. He went on to say he never used the image the AP claimed is rightfully theirs.

This week we found out that Fairey misled his lawyers and did use the image in question. You can read about it here.

My question is why would someone who has one of the highest reputations in the art and design world risk it for some pointless lie?

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Candle Tag

My wife brought home a candle the other day. It looked a lot like most candles: colored wax in a rounded glass container with a matching glass lid.

However, I immediately spied the hang tag around it's neck. Upon closer inspection, I realized the tag is made out of a thin shaving of wood and tied to the candle with a fibrous twine. The graphics are well designed and presented. It was small and beautiful.

Lots of companies think you have to pay a fortune to get great packaging design. I would venture to guess that this tag cost mere pennies to produce. Equating quality design work with a high expense is a myth. In fact, a limited budget can often times force an effective creative outcome like this one.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Cosmic's experiment with product design

We were just got hired to design a series of very fun Christmas tree ornaments plus the packaging. This is beginning to become a commonplace occurrence for Cosmic: packaging and product design, which is funny because it isn't what we've studied. That's not to say we aren't experienced with it.

There's a shift in the marketplace for businesses. Those that start have the tools available to them to create advertising and design work for themselves. We don't recommend this route and yet, it is something we are seeing a lot of.

The other side of it is we are seeing a shift in what clients are requesting. We just finished project work on the design of a software interface for a custom website application. It was a combination between web design and product design and proved to be a very interesting and rewarding learning experience.

For the future, Cosmic is looking towards new aspects of design beyond print collateral and website design to accommodate our customer's needs.

What new unexpected shifts have you seen in your industry?

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Mini Blog: What do You Need Me to Do?

is reading "What do you need me to do?" http://ping.fm/Xg9Kp

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Mini Blog: Art Quote

There is no must in art because art is free. WASSILY KANDINSKY

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Cusp Conference

Next week, the Cosmic team will be heading up to Chicago for our annual meeting and conference. This year, we'll be attending the Cusp Conference, which proves to be inspirational for creative professionals of any kind.

The two-day conference will be held in Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art and will discuss future trends related to art, music, graphic design and architecture to name a few, presented by some of the world's leading creative professionals.

We'll hopefully come back with lots of pictures and stories and ideas to share, because that's really what creative work is for, yes? To share with the world?

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Gap Between Sales and Marketing

I recently came across an interesting statistic. A study by the Chief Marketing Officer Council stated that most salespeople view up to 90% of sales materials created by marketing as valueless.

I have even met some of these salespeople. They hand you a brochure and say something like "Here's some information about our company. You'll have to excuse the brochure though. It's hideous."

One business owner I've met touts his company as an upscale business. He claims to be able to bring your company to a whole new level. He's very inspiring. Take a look at his brochure, however, and not only does it look like a five year old designed it, but it features a photo of a stressed out business man holding his head in his hands right on the cover. The brochure design and the photo contradicts everything he speaks about.

We constantly see a lack of consistency in the design of most business marketing materials. Many just want to do it themselves and others don't want to spend the money. So, how much does it cost you when your sales force is out in the public demoralizing your company through your own marketing materials?

So, what do you do about it? You hire a professional graphic design team that works not only with the company's marketing team, but your sales team as well. Spending a little bit to put in the time and care into your corporate identity program is a critical component to promoting your business in the best light. It is not as much money as you would think and pays off big in the long run.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

$19 Room. No Bed.

This »news story about a luxury resort is classic recession desperation.

There are businesses (including those in hospitality and tourism) that are doing well right now despite all the talk about the state of the economy. The problem is the news keeps feeding us 'facts' that we're not.

There are two types of businesses. Those that believe in their product or service and those that believe everyone else. If you market yourself as a luxury resort, do more luxury marketing. In fact, market your resort as über-luxurious.

The trouble businesses are having is that their old marketing efforts are no longer working. When you drop your price, you confuse your target market. Don't change your price. Change your marketing strategy.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Respect

Try this experiment.

Walk into to your local grocery store. Load up your cart with groceries and then go find the manager. Tell him you'll pay him at the end of the month or better yet tell him you'll pay at the end of the month and then ask for a 15% discount on everything, y'know…because of the 'recession' and all.

How do you think this scenario would pan out? Sound silly?

»Watch this video.
It illustrates perfectly what many of us deal with on a daily basis.

Graphic Design is a business and it fascinates me that some folks don't get that. We have employees. We have overhead (I'm going to guess that our overhead is a great deal more than one might think it is). We also have families.

Speak to other graphic designers and advertising professionals and what you will probably find in common is that many of them sense a lack of respect for their work from their clients and potential clients. Speak to the clients and they may say they don't see the value in the service.

While finding statistics on ROI for graphic design is near impossible, you can't look at companies like Apple, Target and Starbucks and say that graphic design has had no impact on their sales or customer traffic. Granted these are huge organizations but they also have a huge respect for graphic design.

As designers, it is becoming increasingly important to educate clients and potential clients alike on the value that our service brings to them. We can no longer be just 'cool artists'. We must become research junkies. If you can find facts and figures about how design has helped a business, send it to your clients and you'll start to see value show up.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Big Book of Self-Promotion

We were recently featured in a new book by Harper Collins called the Big Book of Self Promotion. They featured our promotional campaign for the SPCA's Wine for Whiskers event last year. Read more about it here.

You can get the book through Amazon.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Creativity 38

Cosmic's creativity featured in new book by Harper Collins written by David E. Carter titled Creativity Annual Number 38.

The book, a 400 page hardcover distributed worldwide by Harper Collins, features more than 1000 color photographs and illustrations, covers dozens of categories in both the consumer and trade markets, including advertisements, annual reports, posters, billboards, brochures, catalogs, calendars, promotional items, corporate identity, magazine covers, websites, and much more. Creative professionals looking for inspiration or anyone with an interest in quality graphic design will find "Creativity 38" an invaluable resource.

All entries were judged by a panel of professionals from some of the most prestigious design firms in the United States. Cosmic received silver awards and was recognized for its outstanding design for both the 2007 Sovereign Risk Insurance and Oil Casualty Insurance Limited annual reports, which were co-produced by Sean Collier and David Scott of Cosmic.

"We are honored and thrilled to be recognized for such an award on an international scale," says Scott. "It’s really a testament to the creativity and hard work we put into these projects."

Cosmic was one of over 2,800 entrants from 45 states and 44 countries, according to the editor and awards director.

Carter, the author of Creativity 38, is a noted authority on the subjects of graphic design, logo design, and corporate branding. He has produced over 100 best-selling books in those fields, including The Big Book of Logos, The Big Book of New Design Ideas, and The Big Book of Business Cards and is currently working on several new corporate identity books.

Creativity 38 is available through Amazon.com.

A delicious new look

Cosmic's very own Sean Collier was featured in the Bermuda Sun for his rebranding work for H20 Café.

Read about it HERE.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Projects: OCIL Annual Report

Cosmic recently completed work on the 2008 annual report for Oil Casulty Insurance Limited (OCIL). The book features custom photography, illustrated graphs and vivid six-color printing. OCIL is a major provider of Excess General Liability insurance and services energy companies worldwide.

©2009 \\ COSMIC \\

Incredibly powerful photoshop

Sean sent me this site by Maciej Mitzer, a graphic designer and digital artist out of Poland. BY far some of the best work with Photoshop we've seen. Who says you can't create art on a computer?

Image: ©2009 Maciej Mitzer

©2009 David Scott | Cosmic: Advertising & Design

Getting in touch with our feminine side

Recent invitation design for Women Who Care Society.

The Women Who Care society recently tapped Cosmic to help create an invitation for their spring lunch social. Custom invitations, RSVP cards and envelopes were created for the event.

Women Who Care is a group that allows likeminded women to come together and pool their charitable gifts to sustain vital after school youth enrichment services at the Homeless Emergency Project, a non-profit organization located in Clearwater, Florida.

©2009 David Scott | Cosmic: Advertising & Design

Do you want to be really good at graphic design?

Seth Godin asks why aren't you really good at graphic design?.

As Godin points out, there are a lot of really great resources out there that make design easy for the non-designer.

Perhaps the reason the non-designer is NOT really good at graphic design is that maybe they are better at numbers than they are at art. Maybe they spent 4, 6, or 8 years in college studying economics and not design. Simply put, they are not designers and I would assert that most business people have no desire to be.

When your focus is on saving nickels over enhancing your brand image, your result is usually a formula for poorly executed marketing.

Godin makes a point that it is important to hire someone when it counts, but when does it count for the business owner uneducated in the importance of good design? Does this mean you should be spending $100 an hour to have someone put together a sign up sheet for a golf tournament or a fax cover sheet. No. What about business cards? Absolutely.

Business cards are sales tool. It is usually one of the first interactions a customer has with your marketing. If it doesn't make a powerful impression through design, you haven't done anything to gain trust with the customer.

What about brochures or annual reports? It is best to consult with a professional first to see what your options are. Getting a second and third opinion couldn't hurt. Ask them how hiring them for the project would enhance and grow your business. The answer should determine whether you want to do it yourself or not.

©2009 David Scott | Cosmic: Advertising & Design