Kalico Design Featured on Want2Dish.com

Yay! We were recently featured on want2dish.com, a "hyper-local online news magazine that serves up comprehensive and trusted local coverage of community-specific information and happenings." I'm thrilled to be featured in want2dish's Business: Best Practices section. The article discusses how I got into the business, what we do, and what sets us apart—check out the full story here. (And, again, my dog Kai makes it into the main photo…he's so photogenic!)

The Real Super Bowl Highlights

So, last night's Big Game was pretty good, but the real highlight of the evening was the commercials! Was I the only one glued to the tv during the game's breaks...opting to go grab a drink, eat more food or take a quick break once the game actually came back on? Is that a bad thing? I just didn't want to miss any of the great commercials! Here is a list of my favorites (not necessarily in any order):

1. Audi. Vampire Party.
What can I say, I'm a Twilight fan, I'll fully admit it. And this commercial had me cracking up as soon as the two vamps started climbing the tree (which is at the very beginning). View the full commercial here.

2. GE + Budweiser.
This ad caught my eye right at the get-go simply because I have family in Schenectady, NY. But, I also thought the cross promotion of two super large corporations during the Super Bowl game was just interesting. Apparently this spot is not getting a lot of positive feedback, but it still stood out to me. View the full commercial here.

3. Volkswagon. Dog Strikes Back.
I'll admit it, I think I was most looking forward to seeing VW Super Bowl commercial, especially after catching some of the teasers they released online last week including this one. (cracks me up, every time!) And, I actually really liked the VW Dog Strikes Back commercial, although I could've done without the Star Wars ending. (I get they were trying to reference their successful Star Wars commercial from last year's SUper Bowl...just don't know if they needed to). View the full commercial here.

4. Chrysler. It's Halftime in America.
There's just something about Clint Eastwood's voice that captivates me. I thought this commercial was smart, and took on a very different tone than most of the typical, expected Super Bowl commercials. So therefore, it stood out. It's definitely one I will remember. View the full commercial here.

Some other things I liked about the commercials: I liked that Coca Cola brought back the polar bears, and I loved that Bud Light added the promotion  "Help Rescue Dogs" at the end of their Weego commercial, even though these commercials didn't make it to my favorites list.

So, what were your favorite 2012 Super Bowl commercials?

Holy Hell, Where Did January Go!?

Seriously! How is January over already! Historically, January tends to be one of our slower months at Kalico, usually a nice and quiet month— a breath of fresh air after the craziness of December. But, not this year! This January we have been extremely busy with lots of fun projects such as magazines, logos, custom invitations, conference materials, etc. (see some examples above). Trust me, I'm definitely NOT complaining, I just don't know where it all came from!

As I've met with fellow designers and other creatives in my hometown, it seems to be the same across the board. Everyone is uncharacteristically busy for this time of year! What does it mean? Are companies getting smart and starting to put money back into their design, advertising and marketing budgets? Or is this just a surplus from last quarter (which, according to multiple economic reports was one of the fastest growing quarters in the past year...).

What do you think? Did it just happen to be a busy January, or is it a forecast for designers and related professionals in 2012?

What If…

Last week I attended a Women's Business Lunch at the Frederick Chamber of Commerce. It was wonderful to be in a room full (as in jam-packed full!) of strong, intelligent business women of varying ages, backgrounds and professions! The meeting format was pretty informal, where each attendee got a chance to "Beg, Brag or What If". (I, of course, bragged about Kalico's new office location...i know, i know, I still have to do a post on that and get some photos out!)

But, it was one women's "What If" question that struck me. She posed the question "What if you didn't have to worry about getting paid, and could do any profession you wanted, what would it be?" So…what would it be? At our luncheon, we actually went around the table and everyone got to give their answer. It was great, some of my favorite answers included:

• Adventure Travel Agent
• Interior Designer/Decorator
• Starting abusiness pairing animals with disabled children
• Opening up a shop selling their own homemade jams and jellies
• Painter
• Rock Star
• And many other great answers!

My answer? I'd be… wait for it… a graphic designer! Honestly, I really love what I do! But, it would be cool to be a graphic designer without any deadlines! LOL! Or, my second choice, maybe to be a writer or blogger, that way I could experience a variety of adventures and activities and share them with everyone!

So, what would your "What If…" answer be? I'd love to hear them, it'll be very inspirational! Please leave your comments below!

Looking Back, Thinking Forward…

Every year I try to write New Year's resolutions for my business, as well as reflect on my goals from the previous year. When I looked over last year's goals, I realized how much my business had changed throughout 2011, in ways that I honestly hadn't anticipated. Um…like, big changes. Changes like hiring my first full-time employee and moving out of my home office into a studio in downtown Frederick!  (More to come about this in the New Year!)

So, maybe I didn't reach all of my goals for 2011, but to be honest, I think I ended up accomplishing way more—and I'm totally happy with that! After all, your business goals and plans are just a guideline, something that needs to be tweaked and changed throughout the course of your business, right?

Some of the goals I did reach included:

1. Switching to a smart phone. (I seriously can't imagine living without my iphone now. Check out a previous post about this…)
2. Blogging weekly (ok, well, almost weekly!)
3. Increasing blog traffic, and integrating Kalico's facebook and twitter accounts better. (seriously, if you're reading this and haven't liked us yet on facebook or aren't following us on twitter...what the heck are you waiting for!?)
4. Adding 3-4 new clients in the health & wellness industry (not to mention a lot of other really great new clients ranging from magazines to small start-ups to national associations!)

All in all, 2011 was a year of big changes for Kalico. Stay tuned for a list of our resolutions for the New Year, and let us know what your big business goals are for the upcoming year! I look forward to what 2012 has to bring and I wish everyone a very Happy (and safe!) New Years!! See ya on the flip side!

Incredible, Insightful, Intelligent & Interesting. INFOGRAPHICS!

OK, so I'm not gonna lie. I really love infographics. You know, the really good ones...i literally get mesmerized by them and just can't get enough. Infographics are one of the purest forms of graphic design—they're strictly visual representations of information and data. Data Visualization, or "data viz", as the "cool kids" are apparently calling them. (Guess I've exited the "cool kid" pool, because I just read about this terminology…[sigh] )

So, I'm going to assume that everyone has probably seen an infographic here or there, even if you didn't realize that's what you were looking at. Top brands like The New York Time, USA Today, and even The White House have been using infographics to deliver data. Whether you're a designer or  your company is thinking of hiring a designer to create "data viz" for your next project, please ask yourself 3 important questions first:

1. Why? What is it for? What is the goal? Will your data need to be visually represented? (please, no infographics, just for infographic sake). Determine whether you will be able to clearly tell your story or represent your information through visual graphics, or if tradition text and copy will work better.

2. How? How will you refine and organize your data to work in cohesive, informational graphic. What will be the visual metaphor you'll use?

3. Does it Work? Does it reach your goals? Is it easy to understand. Is the data represented in a clear and readable manner? Will it make sense to the viewer?

Here are some wonderful, additional resources for creating effective infographics:

The Do's and Don'ts of Inforgraphic Design
10 Tips For Designing Better Infographics
Infographic Designs: Overviews, Examples & Best Practices

And, of course, this blog post wouldn't be complete with examples of some of my favorite infographics! (just click on the image caption to view the full graphic)

U.S. Data Consumption in One Day

The Very Many Varieties of Beer

How the Internet Works

The Greening of America's Companies

Do you love inforgraphics too? What are some of your favorites?

Keys to Effective Self Promotions

As mentioned in a previous post, a few weeks ago I participated in International Freelancers Day, an online conference exclusively for solo professionals. Here is another recap of some of the insightful information I gained during the webinars.

Next up, is a recap of James Clear's session "The 10 Keys to Effective (and Ethical) Self-Promotion for Freelancers" (but, I'm just going to highlight a few of the primary concepts). James focused on some of the fundamentals for self promotion—not the tactics, but more about the strategies. Here's a list of some important things to consider when considering your next self promotion campaign:

1. Value First. This is a very key point to make. Be sure you provide value to your target audience before you promote your work to them…otherwise, it's kind of pointless, huh? Don't wait until money exchanges hands before giving something of value. This way you'll create fans and then you'll have a much easier time selling your services. Examples are: samples of product, blog posts or white papers of information, coupons, etc.—be sure it is something relative to your field that is  thoughtful and/or useful.  "Giving is better than receiving because giving starts the receiving process".

2. Build Relationships. Effective self promotion never starts with the pitch, it starts with the relationship. Build relationships with the right people that can help accelerate your growth. Everyone is valuable, but try to find relevant people to you and your business. So, get out there and network! But, remember, it is about making relationships, not just making the sale. Be sure to be genuine and just get to know someone, don't bombard them with sales tactics…nobody likes a pushy salesman (or woman)!

3. Research. A more, specific, targeted audience is usually more effective than a blanket pitch the everyone. Research your target markets, and cater or tweak your promotions to them. Research gives you the content to make connections, and also will allow your promotions to create a maximum effect in a minimal amount of time.

After you've worked on the above three tasks, be sure to make your self promotions simple, yet powerful—and, focus on being consistent! And remember, this is a cyclical process that you will have to do over and over again throughout the course of your business, it's not a one time thing and you're done. In order to grow your business, you need to grow with your business!

Do you have any advice on good self promotion? I'd love to hear it!