I once had an Art Director who nicknamed me “Eagle Eye.” She often asked me to look over her color proofs before she released them to the printer. This was before design was done on computers, when any last minute change could cost hundreds or thousands of dollars to make. While it is always good practice to have a second set of eyes review any work before it goes to press, my keen ability to spot things that are out-of-place is not always as appreciated in other areas of my life.

I went to see the movie  “Julie & Julia” yesterday with my husband. What a great movie! One of the main characters is American chef, author and television personality, Julia Child, played by Meryl Streep. Throughout the movie, 6’ 2” Julia competely dwarfs her husband and her unusual height is an issue many times. The studio went to great lengths to create this important visual effect with Streep, who is only 5” 6”. All was going well until the end of the movie, that’s when I noticed the pair of five-inch heels Streep/Julia was wearing while cooking at her stove! When Julia’s husband, played by actor Stanley Tucci, walked to her side, I also noted that he is five inches shorter than Streep/Julia in those heels….hmm. Now the movie has lost it’s “detail” credibility with me.

Don’t lose your credibility over the details. When working with photos never “flip” photos if they contain:

• Buttons. Men’s clothes button left over right and women’s clothes button right over left. Flip the image and they will be buttoned for the wrong gender.

• Trademark moles and scars. Cindy Crawford’s mole is always on her left, if the image is flipped it moves to the right and weakens her brand.

• Wedding rings. Traditionally worn on the left hand, rings will be on the right hand if the photo is flipped.

The secret really is in the details—and they do make a difference.

Image facing correctly on the left. Image facing incorrectly on the right.

Recently I read about a coupon that could be downloaded from a company’s Facebook fan page. Since I suffer from a  “keeping up with the Jones” mentality when it comes to technology, I wanted to distribute coupons, too.

After doing some research, I discovered Wildfire Promotion Builder, an easy-to-use web application that allows designers to create interactive Facebook campaigns. To add to my excitement, I learned that it was much more than coupons—it was also contests and sweepstakes! My head began to spin…the more I learned, the more I had to have it, both to draw traffic to my Facebook fan page and to offer promotions via Facebook to my clients.

I signed up for the free version and installed it onto my fan page. Now I had it and victory was mine! What to do, what to do… I know—what better way to work out all the kinks than to take it for a test drive? Thus, the “Komjati Design FRESH CASH Giveway” was born.

Today is the third day of the sweepstakes and it has had a few touch-and-go moments. Moments that made me glad it was my own personal project. Like the first day when the Promotions tab completely disappeared from my fan page. I removed the Boxes tab, posted the promotion again and all was right in my world, whew!

She’s fresh —

fresh – exciting…

she’s so exciting to me!

She’s fresh —

fresh – exciting…

she’s so inviting to me.

These pop lyrics from the hit song Fresh helped Kool and the Gang top the music charts in the ’80s. Apply the Fresh concept to your advertising and marketing campaigns today and watch your sales soar.

Fresh and exciting advertising attracts new customers and helps to retain the old. When was the last time you took a good, hard, unbiased look at your company’s promotional materials? What worked four years ago may look old and out-dated today. The world is moving fast and your customers need to feel that they are doing business with a company that is on the cutting edge. Show them you are — keep your materials updated using the latest colors, design techniques and fonts or create a social media campaign.

Nothing new to promote? That’s no reason to be dull and boring which in today’s economy could be translated into a company in trouble. Use new photos, liven up the text and change the size of your company brochure. Keep in step with the times by keeping your company image current and something new will begin to happen. Employees will have renewed energy and enthusiasm for their work, sales people will have something Fresh to show their prospects and your business will grow and thrive.

Yesterday I received an email that pushed me right over the edge. It was a request for help in creating a website and included the line “I know it’s easy, but I just don’t have the time to learn how to do it”. Well, does learning how to play the piano make you a concert pianist? It’s the person playing the piano—not the piano—that makes the music great and the playing of  it seem easy. It is also the same way with a designer and the designer’s computer system. 

I guess I’m partly to blame for this all-to-common misunderstanding of the computers role in advertising. Twenty years ago we were working with T-squares and triangles on drawing boards, spec’ing type and doing other creative jobs by hand. When we first heard about the computer we thought it would give us more time to be creative so we all wanted one. In order to get a computer we had to first convince our boss to shell out the big bucks. We eagerly explained to him how a computer would make our work easier and in turn we could work faster and save the company money. This pleased the boss and he bought us computers.

Soon every designer had a computer. The boss, seeing that we also had a keyboard, handed over the job of the professionally trained typesetter to us, plus many copywriting and proofreading assignments. Wow, this computer really was saving the company money—they no longer needed typesetters or proofreaders. Both the boss and his boss were pleased.

The computer could also handle production work so the production department was the next to go. Designers had to learn technical production skills and shoulder the additional responsibilities of an entire department. Crunch-time changes? No problem, designers could do this too. With our speedy computers, we could also handle more work—our workload increased and turnaround times were shortened. All these improvements in productivity pleased upper management.

Today, ineffective advertising is everywhere, much of it created by secretaries and students who know the software programs and are cheap labor. What are the designers doing? Typesetting, copywriting, proofreading, retouching photos, production and most of all—still wishing they had more time to be creative.

Not every business can afford a big-name advertising agency but not all businesses need one. If you have professional designers on your team consider yourself lucky. Take them to lunch and ask them if they need supplies, computer upgrades or training. They will love you for it and reward you with quality work done in a timely manner. I am always amazed when I learn of large creative departments that don’t have the basic tools they need to function efficiently.

If you don’t have a creative department of your own—freelance creative directors (like me), designers, copywriters and photographers can be found through advertising clubs and associations. Professional freelancers aren’t cheap but they cost much less than an advertising agency. As a matter of fact, many freelancers have ad agencies as clients. 

Here are five tips to help save time and money when working with your creative team. Inhouse, freelance or agency, these tips will keep the creative process flowing smoothly.

1. Involve the designer in your project from the start. This will give them valuable insight into your goals. The designer may even be able to suggest alternative ways to meet those goals that can save money on paper, printing and mailing.
2. Always provide correct information to the designer. Revisions caused by wrong information are a complete waste of time and money and happen all the time.
3. Involve as few people as possible in the approval process. Office and family politics often play a very expensive role in which everyone suffers, including the final product and budget.
4. Allow time for production. Designers all too often hear “it’s approved, send it to the printer NOW because they’re waiting.” The digital proof used for the approval process can’t be used for professional printing. A new file must be created and this can sometimes be very time consuming because it involves specialized knowledge of the production and printing process. This process varies with every print job and from printer to printer. Rushing here causes mistakes that result in the job having to be reprinted at an additional cost. 
5. Check with the post office during the design process or sooner about mailing rules, regulations and costs. If the direct mail piece needs to be hand-sorted because it was designed with the fold on the wrong side, there will be an additional cost for each piece. Iron out these costly details before it’s printed.

Businesses that stop advertising during slow periods allow their competitors advertising to have greater visibility. Prices have been reduced recently on advertising space, why not ask your print sales reps about these discounts? With a little planning, communication and the right team, you really can afford to advertise.

I’ve lost count of the number of times that I have been out walking my dog and people have stopped me and asked for directions to the old Chippewa Lake Park. The amusement park operated from 1878 through 1978 when it was closed for lack of attendance, so they say. As a local, I have heard rumors of other reasons why it closed but that’s of no consequence now. Chippewa Lake Park has stood forgotten for 31 years, many rides frozen in time exactly as they were on that final day. 

Most of the curious drivers looking for the park are over the age of 50 and have a few quick memories of the park to share with me from their car windows. Having been raised in Medina County and now living and working here at the lake I have my share of these memories too. Dad worked at Ford Motors in Cleveland and they had their yearly company picnic at “Chip”. Mom worked at Medina’s National Disposal and they had theirs here, too. It was THE place to go.

Growing up, Mom was always telling me stories of living here when I was 6-months-old. She worked at the park for 75 cents an hour selling tickets to ride the Caterpillar and about Nickel Day, when admittance was only 5 cents. Now I’ve lived here for 10 years and my husband for almost 30. We’ve hiked the overgrown trails and picked blackberries on the abandoned park land. Like our neighbors, we have a passion for the area.

Recently I’ve been asked how I feel about the old park being sold. In 2008, Chippewa Partners LLC purchased the land and plan on turning it into a massive resort called “Chippewa Landing”. The $100 million proposed development will include a hotel, spa, five-star restaurant, theater and Biltmore-style manor house. I tell friends that I’ve taken a “wait-and-see” attitude especially since I’ve read that as many as 300 full-time jobs could be created. That would be a great thing for this area and our economy. As I get older, I am learning that change comes whether you like it or not and sometimes, looking back, things really are better. I’ll just have to wait and see.

Chippewa Partners deserves kudos for ingenious public relations work for opening the park to visitors on the weekends. Kids have been sneaking in there for years. Adults like myself who knew the danger, now get to go in and safely see everything. Check out my pictures taken in April 2009 on my Facebook fan page and become a fan of Komjati Design, Inc., too.

Last summer a horror movie was filmed in the old park and it is due to be released this year sometime. Check out the movie trailer for “Closed For The Season”. You’ll recognize lots of scenes of areas that are also in my photos.

This week I attended a Canton Advertising Federation luncheon to hear Mark Daddario of the Cleveland USPS talk about “Green Marketing”. In 2007 I’d researched eco-friendly design for a lecture I gave at the NE Ohio Regional Parks Conference. My information had been supplied by a paper mill (Monadnock) and it was written from their perspective. Now I was going to have a chance to view it from a different angle.

Mark is an excellent speaker and gave a very informative talk. He explained how the USPS works with mailing list owners to “Green Clean” lists to eliminate waste and save both money and energy. Mark can be reached at 216.525.0355 and is always happy to answer questions about “Green Marketing”.

Did you know that paper manufacturing alone is the third largest use of fossil fuels worldwide? Mark and Monadnock both stressed the need for designers to work closely with printers. Wise printer, paper and ink selections will work together to help reduce pollution and protect the environment.

Designers going green can choose to use: 
• a printer who has an environmental management system in place and recycles
• vegetable-based inks and water-based glues

Concerned designers can decide not to use:
• foil stamping— it renders paper non-recyclable
• metallic and fluorescent inks—they contain heavy metals

For more information download Monadnock Paper Mills  Field Guide. It’s message is that eco-friendly design can be cost-efficient, environmentally sensitive and beautiful. I highly recommend this 24-page guide for both it’s beauty and content.

I have been enjoying my copy of Deliver, the USPS magazine for marketers that Mark gave us. You can find the companion website at www.delivermagazine.com. While there be sure that you visit The Green Room, Deliver’s Complete Coverage on Eco-Friendly Marketing.

There’s a recent trend for designers to use very small, light weight fonts. While it may look nice and allow for more content to be displayed, it doesn’t always work. With the average American being bombarded with up to several hundred messages every day, the hard-to-read messages are ignored, especially by older Americans.

The following age-related factors should be considered when selecting fonts and colors: 

• One in four Americans is a 45- to 63-year-old Baby Boomer. This is the largest population group in U.S. history.

• Near the age of 40, the lens of the human eye begins to harden and small type becomes difficult to read. 

• Around the age of 65, the lens of the eye thickens and yellows. Things begin to look more yellow and it becomes hard to distinguish between shades of green and blue. 

Much like a fine pianist, a designer’s personal style, talent and knowledge determine the quality of the finished piece. For advertising to be successful, the designer must know and understand the target audience.

A coworker once walked into my cubicle at Sterling Jewelers and informed me that she could do my job if she had the software. My reply was that I had been a designer long before they had even thought of the software (see my 1983 hand-drawn newspaper ad layouts above).

Today this “anyone can do it” attitude runs rampant among advertisers. I can’t stress it enough, design is more than pretty pictures and cool software. It’s a complex tool used to change consumer perception and behaviors and I’ve yet to find that keystroke command on my keyboard…

Why is it that new business owners will spend thousands of dollars on inventory, buildings and equipment only to neglect advertising and marketing? 

A couple of years ago I attended a Chamber of Commerce networking event. It was held at a new, upscale furniture store and the husband and wife owners were our hosts. As I roamed about the store, drinking wine and greeting other Chamber members, I met the husband’s mother-in-law. She confided in me that her son-in-law had invested everything in the store and that she prayed it would be a success.

When I met the store owners and questioned the husband about advertising, I learned that he had assigned all advertising and marketing to the Store Manager. As I ate my way across the room, sampling strawberries from the chocolate fountain, and cheeses and veggies from the buffet, I finally found the Store Manager. He quickly let me know that he had their advertising under control and he happily showed me the Grand Opening ad that he had just ran in the local paper that day. The ad was one-half page of white space with a very small store logo in the center. Under the logo, in very small type it said “Grand Opening”. I can’t remember for sure if the address was even listed.

I was horrified when I saw this “Institutional Ad”. An Institutional Ad is fine for well-known companies trying to increase brand awareness – not for stores like this one without name recognition. As a matter of fact, many large, well-known companies don’t have the budget to run an ad that’s not driving home some critical selling feature or encouraging the consumer to act.

It was no surprise to me when this store closed in less than two years. Why would someone invest everything and then turn something as important as their advertising over to an unqualified employee? With the relatively recent invention of the computer, anyone who can learn the software programs can produce advertising and they do! But not the kind that inspires and motivates the public to take action – that takes an experienced professional.