Featured Project: Advanced Vein Institute

Advanced Medical Imaging is one of KDesign’s longest clients! They are starting to introduce new services, like varicose vein treatments, that they wanted to brand separately, but still be attached to the AMI umbrella. The solution… a microsite for their new ‘Advanced Vein Institute‘. With a totally different look, this site enables a fresh, natural vibe to target women interested in ‘getting their legs back’ with vein treatments and other cosmetic aesthetic solutions. The website lives with its parent, AMI, on Vipa Suite where it can be easily updated and maintained by the client. Features include a before/after gallery, collapsible content and contact form. I think we all know someone who could benefit from these services! Check it out! www.advancedveininstitute.com

Featured Project: Agribusiness Management

Agribusiness Management Company needed a fresh redesign of their website to accommodate their ever-changing business! This fascinating company is a leading global private equity firm that is focused on investing in agribusiness and ancillary businesses in the emerging markets, with primary focus on the Former Soviet Union. The new website better shows off their past portfolio (scrolling logos on the homepage) and better organizes the complex information provided on the website. Besides a couple of nice galleries, the site utilizes some ajax for content as well.

Featured Project: 3D Floor Plans

These were so much fun to do and just different enough from my regular work that I had to show them off! Tabitha wanted to spice up their communities pages, and 3D floor plans seemed like the appropriate action. This was my first time experimenting with 3D software and I (and the client) couldn’t be happier with the results! Can 3D elements be used on your website? Or marketing materials? There are the obvious markets for home builders, architects, real estate firms, and apartment communities, but let’s think outside the box… what about a 3D tour of your office space, or a 3D model of the product you sell? Interested? Contact KDesign.

Featured Project: Tabitha Website

Tabitha launched a beautiful new logo and desperately needed a beautiful, fresh new website to go with it. The website design was created by KDesign and built into the always-fabulous Vipa Suite by Vipa Solutions. (Vipa Suite is a state-of-the-art content management system that allows Tabitha users to easily update content and photos for their website.) Vipa Suite offers a lot of great features that are utilized by the website including the content slider on the homepage, expandable content on many pages, adjustable text sizes, tabbed content on communities pages, social media feeds and many others. Currently working on some 3D floor plans to spice up the communities pages as well!

What is branding?

While this isn’t necessarily a website question, it’s a question that comes up often nonetheless. Branding is one of those mysterious buzz words that people throw around, but what does it really mean? Like the term ‘marketing’… you could ask 10 different people for a definition and likely get 10 different answers. To some, marketing is sales. To others, marketing is advertising. How about branding… well you might want to compare this to 9 other responses, but here’s my answer!

To ME, branding is having one cohesive, consistent look and message across all marketing efforts. And of course, the look and message of these efforts should represent your company’s purpose. A brand starts with the logo which really sets the tone for all materials. The colors, fonts, and graphic elements all should contribute to that message/purpose or at the very least not fight with it! Then the other materials (business cards, website, stationery, brochures, advertisements…) should carry the same colors/fonts/graphic elements through all of them, and of course the content of all these materials should be consistent and again represent the purpose of the company. An example of branding would really be an entire suite of materials… not just one thing. Think of Ford vs Lexus. “Ford Tough” = dirty, powerful trucks climbing through mountains and off-roading with tough dudes driving them to construction sites or ranches. Lexus = luxury, sophistication. Sleek, sexy cars for sleek, sexy professionals. Their targets are totally different and their brands are consistent and speak to those targets. From the logos to the materials to the commercials… their brands have consistent looks and messages that represent their ‘tough’ and ‘sophisticated’ purposes.

So why is branding important? The simple answer is for consistency. If all of marketing efforts deliver different messages with different looks… it’s confusing to the public. Imagine if Coca-Cola decided to change their colors to green instead of red… or if McDonald’s ditched their golden arches for new blocky-font ‘M’… it would mess up the whole universe! Well not really, but people would complain about it. Not that it really affects their daily lives… it’s the inconsistency that creates confusion and therefore unhappy customers.

So… does your company have a brand? If so, does it represent your purpose? ‘I don’t know’ probably equals ‘no’! Seek branding help immediately!