What color says "creativity" to you?

Does the word “duty” seem green, blue, purple to you? Color is an incredible tool that designers use to evoke emotion, create connection and promote action to audiences through our work and messages. A new web site Cymbolism is creating a tool that designers can use to further enhance the color choices that designers select. Providing data in some sense to back-up a selection. 

I can remember not so long ago hearing “I don’t like red” of which my response is, does your audience also hate red? Messages that design gives a voice to “passes through” from the client who authorized the work to the audience that it is intended and created for. Color is a major tool that we use, and thought about its intended audience is a “key” to its success. My hope is that Cymbolism will be a designer and client tool to further fine-tune our messages to audiences.

Take care,

Myspace lands a "first"

The Non-profit, Commission on Presidential Debates, has signed an agreement with Myspace to provide real-time video of the three presidential debates and vice-presidential debate.MyDebates.org is now live, through not officially active until September 27, and will be ad free. In hopes to generate a larger audience, viewers will be able obtain an application, as a download, to embed it in their own sites. Voters will be able to even submit questions via the site. To read the full article, click <here>

When it comes to re-engaging lost donors, what's the best way? Make it personal, but not "over-customized."

I get a lot of mail and because we are a design firm we often see postcards, letters, etc… with marketing messages that are personalized to us. “Hey…. Kym, we have this great new thinga-ma-gig” along with a personal url for me to go to respond. At first I was impressed at how far technology has come. And to an average recipient a piece like that might just give it a second glance. But after a few 100 of these things stroll through the door, I thought this is starting to become overkill. And how can these technologies effectively help non-profits reach out to donors that are new or lost? 

Unlike selecting a mailing list and putting custom fields in to capture name, favorite color, etc… a lapsed donor supported you before, and they believe in your mission enough to send you gift(s) in the past. That means its worth reaching out to them again. This also means the success rate of winning them back is high. But before jumping head-first into a customized campaign, take some time and think about your donor. This is a personal decision they made, and you need to make your letter or “ask” as personal as possible. Research the donors gifting habits, are they a one time donor or a yearly donor who has been routinely been giving? The message to each would be entirely different. Could there be any logical reason for their lapse? Take all the data into consideration before crafting your message. 

Then consider how much customization your donor audience will accept and how much is too much. In an older audiences, to much customization might feel invading. Where as young audiences may embrace it. And above all, make sure your data is accurate. There’s nothing worse than mailing to Jane Doe and calling her Sally Doe (who the gift may have been in memory of). Triple check everything before signing off. And remember not to cross over the lines of making it feel line a chain letter with their name inserted into tons of spots. 

The goal when talking to lapsed donors should be front and center. You must reach into their hearts and minds and allow them to know how much their gift meant and what efforts your organization was able to achieve because of their kindness. Make sure that they know you miss them. Technology will assist you, but your message must overall be the most personal part. 

<insert first name> kym

Hire a Hero...

Combating the high levels of unemployment as they return to post-war life, Hire a Hero, has built a social networking tool with upwards of 10,000 active members. Visit www.hireahero.org

IOU... S....A

A Grove Plants a Better Way!

Outreach International (Sustainable Good ^TM)

With about 900 sign up’s for the old Facebook application, Outreach set out with the help of Convio to launch a new application that would embraces the full potential of Facebook site and engage audiences in a more tangible manner as a “badge for the cause.” Not only can people add the application to their profile, but people also interested in recruiting others to add the application (“It’s the Grove, Not the Orange.”) As a person adds the application, Outreach pledges to add a tree in a developing country community. To speed up the reforestation process, people can add more trees, for a $5 donation you plant 10 trees. People are then ranked in order of how many trees they had planted and it would appear on their Facebook profile.

Outreach’s goal is to gain 1,000 people giving $5 each. Click here for more details and to add to the grove!.

The Girl Effect...

Nothing feels better than changing the future of humanity… one of the organizations behind this effort is the Nike Foundation. Watch the video below…
www.girleffect.org

Daily Design Reflection

Creativity + Risk =
The answer to which is calculated from the designers perspective, (note: implemented by their unique skill level) coupled with the natural free will of a consumer/audience reaction. Indeed, design is the process that links these two words on many levels. Recently, I read Design, Risk, and New Product Development in Five Small Companies by Robert N. Jerrard, Nick Barnes and Adele Reid. An interesting study/research into the processes and level of risks noted for five organizations undergoing the development of a new product. Themes that gathered from the data outlined something that interested me a great deal. From the smaller organizations that participated, some of the results showed that companies placed a higher value on the personal/entrepreneurial benefit of producing a product that “left their mark” over the “financial gain” of the organization.

Which made me think about size and complexity of a larger design operation vs. a smaller firm. Naturally as a firm gets bigger, does it lose the focus on the true role of a designer? Does design become yet another system to just plug data into when housed inside a larger organization vs. a smaller one? Design as a process is personal and intimate—and I trust my gut-reaction and intuition. However, no designer is the same, we each uniquely bring to the equation/answer our own understanding of culture, psychology and human nature. The outcome of which is inheritantly part of assessment and risk at every turn of the process. Is that that understanding lost when the process doesn’t allow designer’s innovation to flourish at their own risks?

While the paper on design and risk caught my interest, I am not sure that my conclusions from the study didn’t wander a bit off course. I have been spending a lot of time lately thinking about processes, right-brained minds and the off-shoring of left-brain skills. So my departure may have taken some key points, thoughts and reflected them back onto the importance of design, the designer and our processes.

Hmmm…. any thoughts?
kym

A seat at the kids table...

(inspired by my conversation this morning with Suzanne from Picture This by Suzanne)

Our office is our home. Sometimes I find myself thinking about this from time to time as I meet professionals in the local area. I find there is a stigma about “home-based” and it is one that can be a bit disheartening. “Home is where the heart is” isn’t that the old adage? Then why the stigma? In my opinion, a business should be the best of your heart and soul—so I couldn’t think of a better place to have it. For eight years, we have held onto the heart of our business. We surround ourselves in it, and we have found that business on that “personal” level means more to us and to our clients. But does mean that we should be given a seat at the kid’s table? Does it mean that we are not a force in our industry or our community? I think not. But I am a bit biased :) I like sitting over my garage and spending time with my deck furniture at lunch. And I outgrew the kids table, when I passed 5 (thanks mom and dad for the 6 feet…in height.)

Looking at today’s trends, the cost of gas ($3.84 thanks to my handy gas widget) and the time/waste of productivity of commuting—it seems that more and more people may jump on the home-based band wagon. Whether its working from home a day or two a week, entirely remote or a fully-operational business. A walk into any local coffee house will show you that the new face of the entrepreneur is that of a person with laptop and coffee in hand. Business can to be conducted anywhere and everywhere. Who needs bricks and mortar when you can have grass, trees, your dog and sky?

Sure office space is great, but it comes with a few negatives. It means “increases” across the board. “Citizen Space” in San Francisco is may be onto an incredible idea. Offering levels of residency, they are a providing an outlet for the co-working by combining the best elements. Forget about the nail-trimming man in the cube next to you {gosh, I wish some people had more manners :) }.

So just because we are home-based (we prefer “heart-based”) — remember that work done from the heart is… better.  

Take care,
kym

The Power of the SEND Button

With the ROI statistics on email marketing its no wonder that the amount of mail we recieve in our inboxes everyday and night.
The DMA, (Direct Marketing Association) source, 2007, estimated that spending on email marketing will grow at a compound annual rate of 14.95% over the next five years. Email delivers the highest ROI of any form of direct marketing—$57.25 for every dollar spent in 2005. Commercial email generated $16.5 billion in U.S. sales in 2005 and $7.7 billion in consumer sales.

And reaching the right people at the right time—couldn’t be more right. With over 50% of professionals checking email after 5 and even on weekends the window of opportunity to get your message to the right person is dramatically increased. 48% of business professionals are even checking their personal email accounts everyday. Almost half of consumers have more than two email addresses. (Source: DoubleClick , Sixth Annual Consumer Email Study). With multiple email accounts, you just have to make sure to reach the right inbox with the right message.

Some tips for successful emails:
1. Stay out of the junk mail box. Reading from left to right aside, readers are more apt to read further when they recognize who is sending them a message. Options could be to use the company’s name, product name, brand name or market.

2. Don’t subject your audience to a guessing game. Compelling subject lines further assist recipients to take the action one more step to opening the message. From personal experience, with the hundreds of messages that flood my inbox, the subject line critical for proper filing on the fly. Seconds are precious to busy professionals, so be clear.

3. Measuring isn’t just for recipes. Open rates, click-through rates, pass-alongs, bounces  and unsubscribes. Select a service that allows you to verify and measure rates effectively. Popular programs are Constant Contact, Emma among others.

4. Comply with all regulations. Laws is crystal clear on SPAM and opt-in policies are mandatory. Permission is an constant process to stay on top of. Keep unsubscribe features easy to find (because recipients can change their minds), allow for format preferences, frequency and additional subscription options available on all emails. Don’t forget to also include a refer to friend link.

5. Be it simple and be direct. Eliminate unnecessary words or elements. In today’s fast-paced world, readers tend to scan emails—so keep paragraphs short and direct.

6. Use it, its free. Spell-check… typo’s are a personal pet-peeve of mine. Word and most programs will perform this function as you type so it couldn’t be any more simple to ensure that your message is correct.

7. Size does matter. Keep your html files small and consider not only monitor size average application window sizes. Media such as the NYTimes prefer advertisers limit html emails to 580 pixels wide with a max height of 1000 pixels.

Update on Tuesday, May 20, 2008 at 12:36PM by [kym or kristyn norris]

New CAN-SPAM Act..!

The Federal Trade Commission approves new rule under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. “The provisions and the Commission’s Statement of Basis and Purpose (SBP) will be published in the Federal Register shortly.” Source FTC.

The new rule provisions address four topics. Following are the new provisions:
• An email recipient cannot be required to pay a fee, provide information other than his or her email address and opt-out preferences, or take any steps other than sending a reply email message or visiting a single Internet Web page to opt out of receiving future email from a sender.

• The definition of “sender” was modified by the FTC to make it easier to determine which of multiple parties advertising in a single email message is responsible for complying with the Act’s opt-out requirements.

• A “sender” of commercial email can include an accurately registered post office box or private mailbox established under United States Postal Service regulations to satisfy the Act’s requirement that a commercial email display a “valid physical postal address.”
A definition of the term “person” was added to clarify that CAN-SPAM’s obligations are not limited to “natural persons.”

Source: Federal Trade Commission. Read the full press release here.