I have to be honest, at Bourn Creative we were so excited to start working with Millionaire Marketing Coach Kendall SummerHawk on her design projects. (I had been following Kendall and her work off and on since early 2009 and had heard wonderful things about her!)

We jumped right in with the design of four different information products! From the workbook front and back covers, to the CD wrappers and CD labels, to the design of the workbook content, Bourn Creative created four beautiful foundations to showcase the in-depth content inside each of these products — I know because I read the all of the workbooks and transcripts included in each product as I was laying out the content… and I learned a TON just from reading them!

Read More About Kendall SummerHawk’s Success Story

As a business owner or entrepreneur, your corporate identity is a part of your overall branding. It is an extension of your your visual brand and includes everything that has your logo and contact information on it.

Your corporate identity adds consistency to your brand and uplevels your professionalism.

Also sometimes referred to as a stationery package, a corporate identity package, or the identity and visual graphic design of your business encompasses things like:

Learn What Is In a Corporate Identity Package

A study I recently read stated that an average person only gives a website 10 seconds before deciding if a site is worth their time, which means you have less than ten seconds to:

1. Attract the viewer
2. Declare your message
3. Get them to take action

With so much noise on the web today, and the natural ADD nature of most web surfers, your worst enemy is the browser back button. After someone lands on your website from a search engine, status update, marketing promotion, Tweet, or email link, you have a very short window of opportunity to keep them on your site, so let’s cover each step.

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Face it. Your audience is already bombarded with and overloaded by marketing message after marketing message, day in and day out. There is such a huge amount of constant marketing noise, that many people are beginning to simply tune it out. Your audience is becoming more and more desensitized to marketing and advertising everyday.

Imagine a room full of people all trying to market their products and services and sell to the same person at the same time. The room is packed with people talking at the prospect. The prospect is looking out into the crowd and he is getting frustrated because everyone is talking at the same time and he really can’t hear anything.

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When you hand a client, prospect, or potential strategic partner your business card, brochure, rack card, or note card, you are putting your brand right in their hands. You have an opportunity to make an impression through touch that is not always possible when connecting online.

You only have one opportunity to make a first impression, and trust me, you don’t want to risk making a bad impression with an unprofessional marketing piece or confusing your audience with items look like they are from completely different companies.

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We’re shaking things up over here at Bourn Creative! With Brian stepping in as CEO and Operations Manager and the addition of two new team members, Bourn Creative isn’t just about me and my expertise anymore!

We’re updating and upgrading all of our materials and will continue to do so over the next few months as we continue to build the business not only around our clients’ needs, requests, and desires, but around our growing team’s amazing talents and expertise!

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A website is a basic business requirement. Second only to establishing your brand, creating your website is the most important task you must accomplish when starting a business.

What bothers me the most is that most smart business owners blindly turn to a graphic designer or web designer to design them a site that makes them “look cool” to their competitors.

Here’s the problem with that approach: Your competitors aren’t going to buy from you or hire you.

Website design isn’t about your designer adding another edgy piece to their portfolio that pushes the boundaries and makes them look cool to other designers.

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As a graphic designer, I often provide the design files for the projects I am contracted for to the client or to a printer for final output. Many times I get a call or an email from a frantic client worried that they can’t open one of the provided files or they don’t know what the file type is for.

Typically the files types the average person will not be able to open are the files with the extensions AI, EPS, and PSD. Each of these three file types require a special software program used by designers, printers, signage manufacturers, and promotional product manufacturers.

Here is a quick list of the different file extensions you may come across when working with a graphic designer, what each of them stand for, and how the file format is used.

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While design is my specialty, I can’t create a logo or design that represents you without your help and your insight. After all, no one knows you better than you! The logo and graphic design development process is an interactive process and I encourage you to be fully present when we are working together to ensure you receive a logo or printed piece that fits you or your business perfectly.

Here is a brief outline of the seven step logo design and graphic design process that I use for each project:

CREATIVE BRIEF.
In this first step, I gather all of the information possible from you. I ask questions and get to know your needs, desires, and expectations. The information gathered in this step is then compiled into a creative brief to be reviewed and approved by all decision-makers.

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Whether you are a business owner or a service professional, I can bet that when it comes to marketing, you’re feeling more than a bit overwhelmed.

I can also bet that even though you may be an expert in your niche, keeping your marketing pipeline full of new customers isn’t your specialty.

That is why I want to share with you three things that you always need to think of when you are working on your marketing materials.

1. Think of Your Mother.
Write the content and design the piece with your mother in mind. Your mother represents a great cross-section of your audience. Would she understand the message? Would she understand the action that you are asking her to take?

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