Whether it’s a room, like on an HGTV show like Trading Spaces or a website, the idea is really the same. A designer really moves things around so they best fit a space or serves someone’s needs.

I think many site builders never quite hit the mark because they never really understand both sides of the equation. Look and feel, GUI, navigation and getting around is critical. What’s the point in having a ton of information if your audience never finds it? As art guys, we care about what it all looks like, but as designers, we need to be analytical, and present everything where the right people can see it.

For Sorensen Moving & Storage, an Allied Van Lines agent here in Melbourne Florida, we saw a different way to communicate to their customers. They needed more than a face lift for their public internet site.

For starters, we needed a site that let you know you were at an Allied Van Lines affiliate site. The design is clean and concise, and focuses on your needs. When you need to move, residential or office, what info do you seek on the net? You need to know cost and you need to understand the process. Big buttons on the left address these needs.

Then, by focusing on different audiences, we direct customers to the right place on their site and the right people to contact, be it someone who’s relocating to a new area or a business with serious commercial needs.

And in the process, we talk about the Sorensen’s 50+ year history of serving Central Florida. The result is a streamlined site that gives people what they need. And a happy Artemis client. Longbow often works behind the scenes with a number of partners, providing design and ease of use or big picture strategic marketing.

Visit the Sorensen Moving and Storage site at www.sorensen-allied.com

Tags design, internet, moving

GreenFtLauderdale.com provides a conduit to learn, educate, promote and communicate the benefits of a “greener” community. The goal of the site is to provide communities with the resources and information related to sustainable green living and a more sustainable future.

The site focuses on three main content channels: articles, directory and events. The articles section contains stories and profiles about people and organizations doing good things in the community. We promote the idea of being greener or living sustainably, by showing success stories–people making a difference. Articles are divided into major categories including, technology, sustainability, art, balance, ethics, faith, fitness, nature and teamwork– all which can influence the ability of a community to become more sustainable.

Our local directory provides a resource for the community to find organizations, city resources and businesses that differentiate themselves by being green and offering product and services that indeed make Ft Lauderdale a better place. The directory offers the opportunity for businesses to “Get Listed” and support the efforts of Community Greenhouse Foundation. Sponsoring the site is a tax deductible donation.

And the events section of the site will showcase great things and happenings that go on in the city and area throughout the year.

GreenFtLauderdale.com launched on April 26, 2008 at the City of Fort Lauderdale’s Green Living Expo celebrating Earth day and Arbor day.

Find out more about the program at www.greenftlauderdale.com

For more information, contact:
Richard Evans, CEO, Community Greenhouse Foundation
786.402.5155 tel or email revans@communitygreenhouse.org

The Community Greenhouse Foundation The Community Greenhouse Foundation, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, registered in the state of Florida. The foundation’s mission is to “facilitate a greener America, one community at a time.”

So how do you rise above the noise? How do you get people to notice what your organization is doing? In marketing we call it differentiation. Showing how different you are. Not only do you have to be creative, you need to understand your market, in order to contrast from the other guys.

In a crunched housing market, one builder is doing just fine. It’s not because of a random marketing exercise, but rather through their passion for their trade. Passion is the best differentiator. When you love what you do it permeates every part of your business.

Evergreen Building and Development is a small, custom home builder, working just north of the Jacksonville metro area. What makes Evergreen different is their experience in green building and their will to translate energy efficiency into houses people can afford. With a history of promoting sustainable development and find raising, since 2003, they’ve discovered financing options that make it all possible.

Being different in the residential building space means building what people really need: low power bills and water efficiency, both critical in Georgia and North Florida. It’s not leading edge California home designs, rather applying the best materials, practices and principals. It’s smart building.

We think this budding home builder is on the right track and built an identity and internet presence that connects the right product with the right audience.

Visit evergreenbuilds.com for more info.

Tags green+building, Georgia, Florida, Jacksonville, home+building

How do you show that your business cares? How can you tell your story, spread the word, about the good work, products and services you deliver? Get Green Directory is a relevant, online resource that helps bring together people who are working for a cleaner, greener tomorrow.

“We’ve built directories before.” Eric states. “By adding continual series of Expos to drive the Get Green Directory, creates real value and opportunity for advertisers. Constant promotion gets us in front of customers and keeps us in the public eye. That’s how we raise awareness and promote life changing products and services.”

Other Giant3 ventures, GreenOrlando.com and GreenBrevard.com add to the internet buzz by blogging the events live and writing about exhibitors.

“Like spokes of a wheel, we’ve created a network of sites that cross promote and increase our communication relevancy, building more value to our advertisers,” Needle adds.

Tags green, green+building, green+living, directory

News is a very powerful medium. It can help tell your story and illustrate who you are, who you’ve worked with, and where you’re going. And yet, many organizations don’t effectively use public relations to communicate.

The press release is a simple tool that helps get the word out. Using news as a part of your marketing strategy has many benefits, yet it’s often hard to quantify them or get the bean counters to foot the bill. I tell you today, though, that I’ve found news to be much more effective than advertising.

Depending on your industry, there are armies of people who get paid to point out successes and failures in the business world. Each niche audience has spawned huge assortments of trade publications, newsletters, portals, directories and eZines to talk about trends. From local chambers of commerce to regional and state magazines to national cable news, everyone is hungry for information. In business, a little knowledge on trends, statistics — and what the other guy is doing — can make or break you.

Understanding that media exists, understanding your market and you place in it, how do you take advantage of all this? How can you rise above the static and get noticed?

One company, Amphion Innovations, has done an amazing job at using news to tell their story. Using a focused, hands-on company building approach, Amphion Innovations builds shareholder value in high growth companies in the medical and technology sectors. The people at Amphion “get it” when it comes to PR.

While the newsworthiness of any article or release is important, not every item is meant to get ink. By reading through the News and articles on the Amphion site, we discover who they are. Like a timeline that shows all the people they’ve worked with, you get a glimpse into who they are–and why you would trust them or want to invest in their companies.

I’ve had the pleasure of working with Charlie Morgan and the crew at Amphion since the late 1990’s. Entrusted with their website, we recently rebuilt the entire site and manage the way they present their news online.

To ignore News and Public relations is a missed opportunity. From writing press releases to archiving your history, trade show strategies to placing your news, we can help you promote your organization.

Contact Eric today at e@longbow.net

Visit the Amphion Innovation website here at www.AmphionPlc.com

Tags news, public+relations, internet+marketing

The key to a good sell sheet or product slick is focus. Communicating your message is critical. Working with many technical companies in diverse markets, we see similarities. It’s easy to tell all the things you can do, but how does your product or service fill the needs of the customer? When you can turn around your way of thinking and look what a user needs, you start to get on better footing. Talk to your customers, find out what moves them and you might just discover a new market or ways to tweak your offering for bigger impact.

Working with MEDai we helped create a suite of updated product sheets to better market to the healthcare space. MEDai, Inc. is a leading health information company, offering award-winning solutions to the payor and provider markets. These processes provide healthcare providers solutions that incorporate disease focused severity adjustment, benchmarking and evidence-based processes of care to improve outcomes in a hospital-based setting.

Visit their site at www.medai.com

Tags marketing, healthcare, sales, sales+tool

Many of our clients need illustration and more often and not, it’s in a rushed scenario. Though Photoshop and raster image editors are great in a pinch, the power of vector drawing is worth the extra energy.

Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Freehand and Corel Draw have long been valuable tools in the artist’s quiver. The value and reason for making vector art, though, is in the application.

To avoid technical art-geek speak, you can simply define graphic files as either being raster or vector. A raster file is made of lots of individual squares of color called pixels. Vector refers to a file composed of lines and points, curves and fills. The magic in vector is scalability. Raster is the format of choice for photos, while vector art can be scaled to fit on the side of a blimp, with zero loss of image quality.

When we work for you, we’re most efficient when we can create one creative body of work, and then apply it, in all media. Case in point, Solicore, maker of ultra-thin batteries used in ID, credit cards and other nifty products, needed to show just how tiny and flexible their product is. When working on sales sheets, we realized we had no art to draw upon.

Drawing their product shows prospects what their batteries can do–and helps others see possible uses. And creating it in Illustrator, allowed us to easily use the same graphics on their trade show booth. In a time crunch, having vector illustration also let us email a tiny file, as opposed to having to FedEx a monster-sized raster version.

Another benefit of using this format is that every piece of these images can be moved and stretched, color change and given perspective. This kind of versatility allowed us to make several different versions quickly and simply. Using these files in Flash for some simple animations is also a snap. And because they are vector, they are perfect for anything Flash can deliver.

We’ve been using these apps since 1992… with over 2500 flight hours in Illustrator. Though not perfect for every use, vector is often the right tool for the right job.

Tags vector, illustration, rfid, marketing, photoshop

Better managing what you print and the quantities you use is a good first step. Being intentional about printing less has dramatic results and effects your costs in a big way. A well thought out marketing plan helps you identify your print needs over long periods of time and that can minimize how often you go to the printer. That alone saves dollars for you and reduces cleanup and shipping.

Corporate and product identity can incorporate smart use of materials from the onset. A client with a full color logo has to use the four color process (at a minimum) for every piece of collateral they make. Four inks versus two adds up.

When we designed brochures and collateral for Community Greenhouse Foundation, we first started with unbleached, recycled paper. We opted for two colors instead of full color. And we produced a year’s worth of material in one shot. Our client liked the look so much, when we built their website, we carried over the style to the web and even saved time in the design process.

Visit Community Greenhouse Foundation on the web at www.communitygreenhouse.com

And it’s not just about environmental stewardship. As we worked with Brevard Job Link on their annual report we questioned the desire to make their twelve page spread in full color. Printing the bulk of the report in two color shaved costs dramatically, and in an organization funded by the public, it’s important to show cost-consciousness.

The printing process uses all sorts of resources. From paper and ink to the chemicals used up in the process, and last, shipping or mailing. Being intentional about how you print saves you money and reduces materials. Besides being just smart, it shows your organization’s values. Less is more.

Use Longbow. We can help you print smarter.

Also visit Hopper Press and help us spread the word about greener print.

Tags printing, green+print, green+building, design

Not for profits face a different set of issues than business clients. A volunteer-based group has to continually keep it’s information flowing. Program info has to be accurate, timely and then sell the idea to staff, supporters and newcomers. NPOs require more communication management than corporate clients, often with little or no budget and strained staff. Events range from public affairs and fundraisers to seminars and workshops. Bingo night, the annual 5k walk, training session and small group classes all require communications to make them work.

How do you get the word out? For TSA, The Tourette’s Syndrome Association of Florida, we’ve begun by building a simple website. Often we work in stages to help get an NPO where it needs to be. Just gathering general info can be a huge task–keeping it current is an ongoing challenge.

Internet is a great place to begin, as costs to distribute are almost zero. The ease with which you can change information is also a huge factor–and why your site should take precedance over print and other media. Often with an NPO we’re doing all the work in one fell swoop. The net allows for changes, refinement and correction. Once we’ve built a firm foundation, then we can ellaborate, add features that increase outreach.

We’ve got a soft place in our heart for not for profits. Serving any NPO is a daunting task–the need never ends. Find someone who is willing to partner with you for the long term and is vested in your community. For us, we’ve found the experience challenging and rewarding… and in the end everyone wins.

Visit a few of the sites we’ve built for these NPOs.
> Tourette’s Syndrome Association of Florida
> United Way of Brevard
> 211Brevard
> Keep Brevard Beautiful

Tags NPO, communications, community, internet

Who is ATD? We began work with Automated Trading Desk, (ATD) with illustration that distilled down the technical process upon which their business is founded. How can you compress the intellectual property, genius, and thousands of man hours into one picture? It’s a daunting task, but one that proves the adage, a picture is worth a thousand words. That’s what ADT needed–a way to quickly communicate why they were so innovative. In addition, we helped wordsmith their content throughout the process, culminating in their tag line, “ATD is technology for smarter trading”.

As we worked on their corporate brochure, we built from this, and stating what differentiated ATD from competitors, built the piece on these lines: ” ATD is opportunity. ATD is expertise. ATD is experience. Leveraging technology for smarter trading.”

In relation to their identity, we simplified the existing logo, and applied it as seen in the brochure, and then extended this to their public internet site. We also visually created the rising stock ticks which carry through their pieces.

While we certainly can’t claim to be the reason for ATD’s rise to a $40m annual company, we’re proud to have been part of the equation.

Tags branding, brand, marketing, messaging, message

We mark our company, our products and our services with a brand. We call these ideas about visual icons, logos, styles and cues–your identity.

Branding is the consistent application of your identity. And it can mean more than just that mark, your logo. It can mean all your organization is, its mission, its goals and vision. Well crafted branding goes beyond the logo.

In the promotion of your business, your branding efforts really makes marketing and promotion a lot easier. Every document that leaves your office should bear the same mark, the same branding. From printed material to internet, from business cards to tradeshow campaign, from direct mail to presentations, they all need to project your image. When, in unison, all your departments speak the same message, the public hears an organized chorus. When everything is different, it’s a jumble, a din, and confusion sets in.

For NPC’s HealthePay, we created a strong identity, and then projected it across all their materials. In the crowded healthcare financial space, we clearly and concisely projected our brand. As added benefit, the work was built from one body of creative work, significantly lowering costs to produce.

Tags branding, brand, marketing, healthcare, tradeshow, hipaa

With any new client, our job is to discover who you are and where you want to go. Defining your positioning is critical. Position describes your market, the segment you live in, and identifies not just you, but everyone else who occupies that space; Yes, the competition. Often we have preconceptions or misconceptions about our competition. Knowing your competition allows us to build upon your strengths and differentiate them. While some of this goes beyond the scope of a print project, it’s all relevant.

The next critical cog is understanding your audience. Again, a little research now pays off big, making your campaign, the reason for the brochure, that much more successful. Not knowing who we’re speaking to can negate all this work.

Your brochure speaks volumes about you, on many different levels. By tieing into your strengths and connecting to your audience, we increase it’s value; We make it worth the effort.

We recently designed this twelve page brochure for Consumer Bankers Association, based in Arlington, VA.

Tags design, print, marketing, branding, brand

Where to begin? The most difficult part in working with a designer, especially with your image, is educating, communicating who you are. Most companies can barely verbalize who they are to their staff, never mind an outsider. Your identity must, first and foremost, be built by consensus and direction from your leadership. Until you can identify who you are–not who you think you are, you can hardly begin the process.

At Longbow, identity is at the core of what we do. Since 1994, I’ve personally been involved in identity for many organizations, corporations and the products and services they provide. Our experience results in an inclusive process, where you have input at every stage.

WEDI, the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange, is a national member-based heathcare organization focused on electronic records in healthcare, their use and legislative compliance. Their core focus is to improve the quality of healthcare through effective and efficient information exchange and management.

For WEDI, it was imperative to retain ties to the past, yet look forward to the future. In their new identity we took cues from the original and refined the logotype, ever conscious of the healthcare industry and their relationship to it.

Tags identity, image, marketing, brand, branding, healthcare