The Full Noise

Blenhiem Graphic Design and Website Designers

The Blog

I Love Apple

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Unpacking my Mac from it’s box almost brought tears to my eyes… ok a slight exaggeration, but it’s so extremely cool.

I love the way Apple do things. Right down to the slick packaging, every aspect is taken care of. Even the plug that fits into the back of the screen looks carefully thought out.

And you know what? It’s so simple. And they have us eating out of their hands because in terms of design and innovation they are always a step ahead. The consistency in the design style and it’s marriage with their equally clever ad campaigns, has the brand almost perfectly tuned. And by making their products so aestheticly pleasing the buying public are completely won over.  

The customer experience seems a major priority for Apple. They want you to COVET their products above all others (lets face it, often imitations, to varying degrees). Even the process of unpacking them feels special. It’s like coming home with a new baby. You’re super careful with it, gaze at it often, marvel at it’s beauty…

In casting such a spell it’s no wonder Apple can command higher prices from it’s devotees… not to mention, the newly converted.

How does your customer feel?

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The local Smith City department store here in Marlborough recently held celebrations for one year in their ‘new’ premises.  They turned it into a great event with amazing bargains to draw in the crowds, a festive atmosphere with barbeque, balloons, and media coverage with two radio stations present.  All in all they did a great job of turning an occasion into a PR event.

One of the bargains was a baby carry pack at a massive discount of close to 70%.  We have a wee man, and love the outdoors, so sent Nana off early to grab us a pack.  The marketing had worked so well that there was a substantial queue of people and baby strollers outside the shop and as soon as the doors opened, the shop was flooded with customers.  Only having 10 packs in stock, they sold out in less than 3 minutes…  As the lucky 10 people happily carried their bargain packs home, many more customers left disappointed and annoyed that they had wasted their time, effort and in some cases money (I know at least two people who took time off work).  This situation left me wondering –

“Do you really want disappointed customers?”

With such limited stock, it was guaranteed that some people would miss out.  Smith City set themselves up to disappoint.

How your customers FEEL about your business, affects your Brand.  In fact, I would go so far as to say, that how people feel about your business IS your Brand.

What’s your opinion?

Your brand is more than just a name and logo

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Your brand is the sum of every interaction and communication your customers have with your business.

Too often I see people who name their business, get a logo and a business card, thinking they have a brand.  When really all they have is a name, logo and a business card. Obviously these are the important visual elements in a brand. However they need to fit into a broader framework of communication with your target audience.

When you need to buy business shoes, which shop do you go to first?  Why do you think of these shops?  Do they have the cheapest shoes, or the best quality?  Are the salespeople friendly, professional, knowledgeable?  Do they run a loyalty scheme?  Have you heard good things about them from others?  Maybe a store is running a sale?

All of the above factors, along with many more, are aspects of the shoe stores’ brand.  Often, as customers we are not even aware of these individual factors and we instead assimilate them into a single view of the business.  We then subconsciously use this view to make our shopping and buying decisions.

When branding our own business, we need to ensure how all of these factors express our brand.

Less is more…

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Sometimes the most effective visual devices are the most simple.

I was reminded of this over the weekend, as I read to our wee 16 month-old son, and we poured over the illustrations of some of his favourite books.

The ones he enjoyed the most had loads of white space, bold illustrations and simple catchy text.

This is a formula often overlooked in printed media.

The saying, “Less is more” was often overheard where I studied. A reminder to keep students from over-working drawings, or adding too many elements into a design. A bit like the ‘too many chiefs’ analogy; building in too many elements can create confusion.

Giving the eye less to decipher and making the most of the choicest components in a design offers the most impact in the shortest amount of time.  Lets not forget that amongst the hustle and bustle, thousands of businesses compete for those precious split seconds where a glance from a potential customer is the door to a sale.

It’s well worth considering how you can say as much as possible with as little as possible.