You may hear your designer say to you the importance of having a professional design your logo is because you will have a vector graphic that you will be able to use for all of your branding and marketing purposes. And then the question like what is a vector and why should I care comes up? The vector file is a file that is created by professional in highly expensive drawing software like Illustrator, CoreDraw or Freehand.  I use Adobe Illustrator. The vector file gives you ability to use your logo as small to print it on a pen or as large to have it on a billboard. No matter what size you use it it will always be readable.

You may think OK, but how does that help me? You may not be able to open your vector file which by the way might be saved as an EPS file, but your designer, printer or anyone you hire to do your graphics will love you for it because it will save them tremendous amount of time and ultimately save you money because they will not have to reproduce your logo again.

If you have a JPG or GIF file they are called raster graphics, these files are created out of little dots called pixels. And if you go to enlarge your logo to lets say use in on a billboard your logo will come so blurry that you will not be able to make anything out if it.

Another benefit that vector fils provides is that your logo will remain consistent and you will be able to use it alway in the way it’s suppose to be used.  So next time you hire a designer to do your logo ask them if the vector files comes as part of the package.

Check this out! What a great concept for this sophisticated cafe place. Little Beans is a family cafe and an imaginative playspace for kids of all ages. Their cafe boasts a delicious assortment of coffee drinks and snacks where parents can enjoy the ambiance of their comfortable cafe with their tiny tots. This is totally something we need here in the Capital Region unless we have one and I don’t know about.  Little beans is very well branded as well, I love their playful logo and the theme of their website.

The Inspired Health Coach is one of those clients who understands the importance of branding and marketing in order to have a successful business. When they came to me they already had branding in place, they wanted to make slight changes, but not too much so they don’t confuse the audience. They wanted their branding to reflect more of what they are all about.

Jan Hempstead is the owner of Inspired Health Coach and is a registered nurse and certified health coach through The Circle of Life Coaching™, a holistic Mind/Body Health and Wellness coaching system. She also pursued advanced coach training through CoachVille™, the Center for Coaching Mastery. She integrates her diverse nursing experience working in a trauma center and as a case manager with her years of studying health and nutrition into developing best practices that assist her clients with achieving and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Jan combines her traditional medical knowledge with complementary and alternative medicine and her clients’ own inner strengths. Thus, she named her company Inspired Health to embrace all of the wealth of experience, knowledge and approaches that she combines into one practice that allows her clients to overcome their health challenges and finally enjoy a lifestyle that they can easily incorporate into their daily routine.

As you can see Jan has a powerful story and we wanted her branding to reflect the professionalism but also the vitality she coaches. At the end Jan has received materials that she is proud of showing, she has a consistent look and feel in her business card, brochure and online. This helped Jan position her company in professional way and give her the confidence to promote herself to the world.

This is what Jan had to say about working with me:

“I just wanted to let you know how happy I am that I decided to come to your Meetup Group and meet you! You do such incredible work, so professional. I foresee a great partnership, as I move ahead and develop more programs. You are going to be wildly successful… hold on to that vision. Thank you, thank you for the great work you created for me.”  Jan Hempstead, Inspired Health Coach, LLC

This is one of those foods that I could I think eat every day if I wasn’t watching what I eat all the time. Because there is no way that I could explain what exactly bosnian cevap is I searched google and found a wonderful blog that explains the recipe very well. Enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 lb lean ground lamb *
1 small yellow onion (1/2 cup finely chopped)
3 large cloves garlic
4-5 sprigs parsley (2 tbsp finely chopped)
1/4 cup hot water
1/2 tsp baking soda
salt and pepper to taste

Read this post for a detailed explanation on how to exactly make bosnian cevap.

Brand discovery process is necessary to every business success. The brand discovery process involves extensive amount of research that helps you:

• 1. Categorize your audience and find out what their wants and needs are.
• 2. Discover your competition and find out how they are branding themselves so that you can differentiate yourself.
• 3. Create your brand positioning based on strengths you may already have.
• 4. Define your business model and promise you want to keep when working with your audience.

In order to start off with an understanding of who you are and who your audience is this is a step that you must go through before even starting to think about marketing and branding your business.

I’ve came across Mealeo and thought it would be wonderful to share it with everyone. Not only this site is wonderfully designed but actual founder is from the Capital Region and I think that is just wonderful.

This site helps you Find the restaurant you want to order from, place the order and pick up the food without waiting in line. Amazing!!!

Check them out I think it’s worth giving a shot.

Your personality, your values and the story you want to communicate to your clients makes your brand. Also your packaging, your customer service, voice mail message all fall in the story of your brand so your job is to make sure your customers are always thinking the positive thoughts about your brand. The easiest way to find out what your brand stands for is to ask your clients or customers what they think of your brand.

Many people confuse the brand with the logo. Your brand is not your logo, tagline or your website. These items are a reflection of your brand and that is why it is extremely important to keep them consistent so they communicate the message of your brand. The reason you need to invest in branding your company is because it will help you send a clear message to everyone you get in contact with to what your message is. Also, you can’t communicate with every single person that hears about you or your company, that’s why you need to have a set of cohesive and consistent marketing items that help you communicate your message even when you are not there.

I love how Curtis Stone‘s meals are so easy to make. His presentations are to die for and he makes every meal to just want to lick the plate and fingers after you’re done. The presentation is the key to a delicious meal. Hope you try to make this one on your own.

Makes 2 pizzas

Ingredients

Roasted Tomatoes

12 cherry tomatoes with stems
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pesto

2 garlic cloves
1 1/2 bunches fresh basil leaves (about 1 1/2 cups lightly packed)
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Pizzas

All purpose flour, for dusting
2 8-ounce balls purchased pizza dough
6 ounces buffalo mozzarella cheese
4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper Read more

Here are the logos that were developed in 2010. You will be seeing more of the process evolvement for each logo down the road. I just wanted to share with all of you the sum of these since my post of the accomplishments in 2010 didn’t touch up every single client I worked with. Enjoy and feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below. Read more

This is one of the most common questions I am asked so I am going to try to break it down in the best possible way for you so that you can get a glimpse of what you can expect when we start working together.

1. Introduction: The first step in the design process is to sit down and get to know each other. I ask you bunch of questions that pertain your business, product or services. I really try to dig deep to help you get an understanding of who you are and who your target audience is and what type of message you are trying to send them.  This first meeting usually takes 1 to 2 hours depending of how much of initial research you’ve done in advance.
2. Proposal: After our meeting I like to go back to the office and put together a proposal that breaks down all of the things you are looking to do and all of the things I will help with. The breakdown of deadlines and payments so that we know exactly how the project is going to evolve.  This is emailed together with the agreement that must be signed.
3. Research: After the initial signed agreement is received and 50% down payment I start the work.  The first thing is the research of your competition and your audience. We want to find out what your audience likes and where they hang out. We also want to find out what is your competition doing and how are they promoting themselves. Then I like to make your materials different then your competition which makes you stand out in the crowd.
4. Design: At this stage I do a lot of brainstorming and idea sketching. This helps with letting the mind go and something usually comes out of it. Once I see where the repetitive ideas are created, I usually refined them and let them go for a day or two. I want to make sure that this is really something that is going to work for you and your company.  Letting it go for a day or so lets the brain recover. Once I see it again I’ll know if the ideas are set to stone. For logo design I usually develop five different concepts to choose from. You can only choose one as the final but you can pick the elements from each and ask me to mix and match them.
5. Review: The ideas are usually emailed in PDF format for your review. I usually ask of you to sit down and go over your ideas and let them sit in front of you for couple of days so that you can see what draws your attention when looked at. Also, what connects you on an emotional level and speaks the most of your personality or your brand personality. I also want you to narrow down your likes and dislikes and come back to me with a clear explanation to why you don’t like what you see and the other way around.
6. Revision: After initial phone conversation or email is received with your feedback I make necessary changes and get the files ready for you to be used.
7. Finalization: This process usually takes 2 to 4 weeks and you get all of the necessary files you need for print and web use. You also receive a logo specification guide that will help you maintain consistency of your branding. This guide explains what fonts are used, what colors are used in CMYK, RGB and Pantone numbers.
8. Continued Relationship: After the project is completed, I like to stay in touch to see what the feedback has been from your clients. I like to be there as your design partner and help you grow your business and it’s brand.