The Spark: Getting it Started

A spark has ignited under my rear end. One part passion, one part bottled rage watching people ignore basic advice.

I’m here for you because EVERYONE’S life will be easier if we follow this one basic principle:

Great design always FOLLOWS the function.

For marketing, the function is two things: What the benefit is, and why the customer would buy from you.

For design, the function is the produced marketing asset. Digital and print — especially print.

This is why I’m starting “The Spark”:

Business owners and marketers gain serious leverage when they have a clear understanding of not just the design process, but production. Without solid, functional production, you risk running into:

• • Images that are low resolution, looking blurry or unidentifiable.

• • Cheap looking products with white edges because graphics did not print beyond the finished asset’s size.

• • Text that gets lost in the center of books due to thin margins at the edge of the page.

I want to make businesses better designers, and designers better printers. You’re going to walk away with:

• • The realities of printing: cost, time, and value. People are getting digital fatigue (I’m aware of the irony with this blog post). But knowing more about print and vendors makes the process easier, cheaper, and faster. That’s happier people everywhere.

• • The nitty gritty on how to get the job done efficiently. Not shortcuts. Shortcuts skip steps. Efficiency means changes down the road are done faster with less mistakes. (Sorry Bob Ross, happy accidents are for art, not production)

• • Knowing WHY something is made for your marketing. I’ve worked with companies that asked for a logo, but walked away with a confident and structured identity that sets the tone for their business.

If you’ve got burning questions, or need some solid design advice, I’d love to hear it. Feel free to reach out. I want to know, where has marketing been a pain for you the most?