DS Blog
Jaclyn Learns the Ropes, Summer 2011
Editorial by Jaclyn. Edited to fit your screen:
I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know what tipped me off that my experience as Designsensory’s summer intern was going to be a good one, but “sausage and biscuits” doesn’t exactly sound like the most legitimate answer, does it? I swear, though, at my interview, when Joseph Nother and Lindsay Miller were offering me a tasty breakfast as we discussed the “fine pieces of art” in his office (I’m referring to a children’s plastic buzzer-emitting wand and other “figurines” on his shelves) before actually discussing my portfolio, I knew this place would be great for me.
Designsensory has so much character. Even art on the walls is largely staff-created. The staff is so stylish that I practically have to wear a prom dress to keep up! You should see the stellar shoe collections belonging to Alison Ashe, Paula Solomon and Lindsay Miller. It puts my 54-pair stockpile to absolute shame. Everyone at DS has such great taste, with the occasional exception of the controller of the satellite radio. Ha!
The Designsensory kitchen is another story entirely. Something ridiculous is always going on in there: Josh Vittetoe is scrambling eggs; Sarah Mills is baking cookies; Alison Ashe is roasting pumpkin seeds; Susan Napier-Sewell is microwaving frozen spinach; Joseph is pan-cooking a T-bone. The community food table is one of the funniest (and best) phenomena. My already awesome office experience was further heightened by Anne Brogdon arriving with some insanely delicious homemade Magpies’ mini-cupcakes (demolished in under 5 minutes, no lie); another day, Susan Napier-Sewell brought in 4 dozen delectable vanilla thumbprint cookies from VG’s Bakery. It took a bit longer for the staff to work through a gigantic box of peanuts (from University of Tennessee Medical Center), but those, too, are gone.
However, all is not fun and games. Work is the constant, I promise. And, I learned, of course. To be honest, I didn’t go into the internship expecting to be a ninja designer by August. For me, this experience was about discovering and understanding the dynamics of a professional design firm, and Designsensory completely surpassed my expectations. Each person who works here contributes something more than the job that they were hired to do. I’ve always thought that the bestpart of a job is the family that comes along with it, and these fantastic people definitely have that. (Staffers Sarah Mills and Josh Loebner embodied this philosophy, getting married recently!)
This blog post may not be very telling or specifically indicative of my work at DS but, overall, I think the most important thing that I take away from Designsensory has little to do with the new portfolio items that I’ve acquired. Rather, if my time here is any indication of my future life and career as a designer, then it’s definitely something to look forward to, not stress out about. I also have learned to be more cautious with enormous cups of coffee around costly electronics.
Thanks very much to the very talented, creative, friendly staff at Designsensory. You guys made this experience what it was.
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Well, Jaclyn, thanks for being the super cool, super fun, super talented intern we knew you'd be. - JN
Comments (0)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 19 August 2011 at 1:14pm
The start of the school year signals a new season of amazing cheer and dance competitions, but our work with Varsity Knoxville begins long before August. For weeks, we've collaborated on ideas for the upcoming season. It's exciting to design for kids and teenagers but, make no mistake, these cheerleaders and dancers are dedicated young athletes. We had to fuel our inner Sasha Fierce with a few 5-hour Energies, but we were able to get our creative ideas rolling.
The challenge was to develop new ad creative for 5 brands--giving each its own unique style and personality. Here's the process that helped us get it all done:
1. Select themes that differentiate each brand
We started by focusing our creative ideas to one key theme per brand: Futuristic, All-American, Hero, Dreamlike and World Innovators.
2. Develop our themes into concepts
Each theme had an associated look and feel, sketches, photo shoot direction with poses and props, headline ideas and notes documenting the personality of the ads.
3. Get client approval
We took our themes, concepts and sketches to the idea paint wall, charting the course for all ad creative for the upcoming year.
4. Acquire assets needed to create the ads
Varsity Knoxville recruited active cheerleaders and dancers from across the country to join us for three days of a strategically planned photo shoot extravaganza at Jean-Philippe's studio.
5. Deliver finalized ads
The final ads prove our process pays off! We're looking forward to extending these themes throughout the year.
Design or cheer, it takes a team working together to be competitive.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Lindsay Miller, 18 August 2011 at 12:01pm
Helping PetSafe Promote the Launch of a New Product
Here, at Designsensory, visual design is at the forefront of what we do, but our capabilities go well beyond creating what is seen, to where, when and how it will be seen via media planning.
PetSafe partnered with us to develop a strategy, media plan and media placements for their Stay + Play Wireless Fence campaign. Regionally launched in Birmingham, AL, Nashville, TN, and Richmond, VA, the integrated marketing included print advertising, television commercials, online, social media and public relations.
Strategy and research are central to media planning before, during and after the campaign. Awareness, attitude and usage studies were conducted, revealing what people knew about PetSafe in each market prior to the advertising.
Also, before we launched the campaign, separate A/B testing and focus groups were conducted on the print ads and TV commercial. Once the creative was adjusted and approved, we met with the PR and social media teams to make sure there would be a consistent message throughout the campaign.
Here is a 10-step process to developing a solid media plan:
1. Learn about the product and campaign goals
2. Develop creative
3. Know the customer
4. Agree on a budget
5. Determine markets
6. Gather media info
7. Develop media recs
8. Negotiate rates
9. Place media
10. Monitor campaign and refine tactics
Media planning can often be an intensive process but, if properly executed, well worth the effort for publicity and profits.
Learn more about our how our media planning, strategy and marketing capabilities integrate and augment the value of our world-class creative, design and technical services.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 26 July 2011 at 9:57pm
Awesome work, Team Designsensory! All Designsensory entries won—with a total of 11—gold, silver and bronze awards. Here's the breakdown:
2 Gold ADDY Awards:
- Goodwill Industries - Integrated Print Campaign
- Goodson Brothers Coffee Company - Brand Identity and Packaging
7 Silver ADDY Awards:
- City of Maryville - Foothills Fall Festival Website
- Jefferson County Chamber of Commerce - Corporate Identity Rebranding
- Jersey City Economic Development Corporation - Website
- North Carolina Outward Bound School- Website
- Tennessee Wesleyan College- Website
- Secret Safe Place for Newborns - Integrated Campaign
- Wesley House - Corporate Identity Rebranding
2 Bronze Citations of Excellence:
- FlipFest - Print Publication
- Ober Gatlinburg - Website
Other highlights of the evening included recognition of American Advertising Federation local board members, including two of Designsensory’s staff, Sarah Mills, designer, and Josh Loebner, strategist. Paula Solomon, business development director for Designsensory, was in attendance, stating, “Our agency is growing by leaps and bounds, and these wins affirm to our clients and staff that we’re one of the best agencies in the region.”
The Knoxville ADDY Awards is the first tier of the three-tiered National ADDY Awards, the advertising industry’s largest recognition of creative excellence. Founded in 1959, the American Advertising Federation of Knoxville is a professional organization that promotes excellence and awareness of advertising in the greater Knoxville area.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 28 March 2011 at 11:19am
Unveiling their new website with fanfare and friends, the Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation hosted a launch party in the Sunsphere. Media, city and county officials, area business leaders and the Designsensory team helped celebrate the site as a new way to connect with Knoxville and all that it has to offer. A short video supplementing the launch party’s in-person walk-through highlighted all the robust features and visitor interactions offered by the new site.
Momentum for the site continues to grow with media coverage and interviews of top KTSC officials.
Check it out at Knoxville.org.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Josh Loebner, 28 January 2011 at 1:03pm
Case Study: Athletic Championships
Updating the Logo
One brand that we've had the pleasure to work with for a number of years is Athletic Championships. Athletic Championships is a brand of cheer and dance competitions that are as high-energy as they are full of fun.
Each year brings a new season for Athletic Championships, and each year we become involved in producing banners, ads, forms – you name it – to set the look and feel for the year. As a part of last year's efforts, we also refreshed the Athletic Championships logo.
The previous logo (shown below), while well intentioned, wasn't communicating the premium experience provided by Athletic Championships. In addition, it was hard to read and couldn't be easily reproduced in 1-color. By simply rearranging and tweaking some of the elements, we were able to fix these problems and align the logo with the premium quality of their brand.
Also, by moving the "A" symbol above the words instead of behind, the "A" is empowered to stand on its own and become a true symbol of the brand. Although a seemingly small change, it has laid the groundwork for allowing this brand to expand and blossom in the past two years.
Expanding Applications
Below are a few samples of the early applications of the new Athletic logo. In the year the logo was changed, it was applied it to banners, large event displays, registration forms, name tags and a myriad of other things.
The ability of the logo to be rendered in white on top of colorful and vibrant imagery has been taken advantage of in the pieces we created.
Going Big Time
For this year's season, Athletic Championships asked us to create a new backdrop for their live events. As you can see below, the backdrops they were using still featured the old logo and lacked the visual punch and energy of the performances going on in front of it. Bouncing ideas back and for with Athletic Championships, we pushed the logo even farther, adding dimensionality to allow it to come alive in a futuristic space scene radiating with energy beams.
To top it off, the finished background was 120 feet wide – talk about visual punch! We couldn't be happier with the way it turned out and there is even talk of adding LED lighting to it in the future. All of this would not have been possible without the improvements we made last year to the logo. It just goes to show the importance and value of building your brand on a strong visual foundation.
As a parting shot, check out this video of the backdrop in action:
Comments (0)|Posted by: Mark Schafer, 21 January 2011 at 6:34pm
If we’ve learned nothing else over the course of 2010, design, advertising and technology is in a continual state of flux, and we believe the changes that have taken place, and those yet to come are important to our profession, clients and most importantly, to our client-partners’ many customers.
Here at Designsensory, we’ve asked our team to gaze into the future and share some predictions for 2011. Here’s what a few people have to say:
Technology Sync
Start a checkout or plan on your phone, finish it on the regular website or app later, share your experience with a video from your phone while your friends stalk you with geoawareness.
– Brandon Rochelle
Mobile Contexts
According to an article I read in their in-flight magazine; Someone from Google was quoted as saying 2011 is going to be the year of “mobile” applications. Using your smart phone to decide what can I do right here right now at this moment in this location. Using your phone as a boarding pass is one example.
– Kelly Raines
Web Standards Evolve
From a technical point of view (albeit technology that will eventually effect function of sites in a profound way), HTML 5 and CSS 3 are looking closer to becoming a reality. They still probably won’t become commonplace in 2011, but with the launch of Internet Explorer 9 we’ll get closer to that, and hopefully see an end to wasting countless hours of development time for IE 6.
Something I’m particularly excited about too is the melding of ecommerce and social media platforms. That JC Penny has their entire inventory on offer on Facebook, without the need for the shopper to ever leave the Facebook environment, is astonishing. We’ll see much more of this, I’m sure.
This is a major company apparently talking about how one day they won’t see a need for a website at all, they’ll conduct all their online business via social networks – while I don’t agree quite to that extent, I think this is something we need to keep a particular eye towards: http://vimeo.com/15632643
– Samuel Clarke
Web Design Evolves
This article from Webdesign tuts+ has some great predictions for 2011.
– Sarah Mills
HTML5
More HTML5 use, especially around geo-positioning and video playing
– Michael Pryfogle
Pervasive Tablet Support
As this Mashable article pointed out at the end of 2010, “more and more web developers are designing their web apps with the tablet form factor and features, like multi-touch, in mind.” This trend will gain more ground in 2011 and will likely bleed into general website design as well. The importance of providing users with custom-tailored mobile experiences will also grow this year, both web and apps.
– Mark Schafer
Don’t Be Evil
So companies are going to be less evil in 2011? Trust me. Google’s unofficial motto “Don’t Be Evil” is something many companies are embracing and sharing. Corporate citizenship and relationships between brands and their communities will continue to grow as an important element in sharing company and brand stories. Communication has long ago moved beyond product differentiators to a world where transparency and immediacy of dialogue can take place between brands, their customers and the community at large.
– Josh Loebner
Innovative, Designed Experiences Lead The Way
Consumers continue to crave and demand well-designed and not only functional but pleasant experiences. These experiences are blurred and pervasive now too:
An engaging conceptual print ad with a QR code leads to a easy-to-use mobile website that facilities an ecommerce order. The user can track on an easy to use website or phone app. The product comes with elevated, easy-to-open packaging. The product is tactile, and pleasant to use. The manual is small and environmentally sustainable deferring to usage videos on the website and Youtube. An email confirms successful delivery and cements the pleasant open-box experience with a human touch. The email also links to Facebook and Twitter to allow the user to open a dialogue not only with the company but other buyers of the product. And onward…
Technology and thoughtful design power this but what remains important is business planning that puts human-centered, empathic experiences first.
– Joseph Nother
By the way, we’d also like to hear from you on upcoming trends, predictions and forecasts.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 20 January 2011 at 10:28am
The Intersection of Design & Business
In his latest book, Design Is How It Works: How the Smartest Companies Turn Products into Icons, author Jay Greene shares insights from designers, CEOs and strategists. Case studies of Porsche, Nike, LEGO, OXO, REI, Clif Bar, Ace Hotels and Virgin Atlantic provide separate yet similar looks into design cultures of the companies and their customers.
A key element of these successful design approaches is for the company to truly listen and empathize with their customers, to understand their needs and how the products and/or services fit into the context of their lifestyles.
Rather than stay inside safe and conservative parameters, company leaders were also willing to take risks that might result in failure, and were able to accept, admit and grow from those failures when they happened. In other words, they employed Design Thinking.
Design Thinking is a way to solve any problem.
A hallmark takeaway from the book is the rise of Design Thinking as an approach to overall business strategy and consumer engagement that extends well beyond traditional ideas of where design is supposed to fit within the model.
Design Thinking combines empathy, creativity and rationality to solve problems in a balanced way.
Most folks think of design as an applied art, as an action or expression that occurs after someone else analyzes, deduces and solves a problem. The issue with this approach is that analytical thinking does not bear much innovative fruit. The act of design is then reduced to simply translating and expressing a derivative idea, product or experience.
Last year, Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, presented on this very subject at the annual AIGA Design Conference. His presentation (watch the video, download a presentation PDF) delved into contrasts between two dominant styles of thinking: Analytical and Intuitive. He argues that the process of design (Design Thinking) balances the two approaches and confers competitive advantages to businesses.
Design not only concerns itself with the expression of things but can and should play a central role in actually defining them (that's the "thinking" part). What's required is:
• a skilled designer/strategist that can understand the language of business,
• a willingness to engage in an exploratory design process,
• an openness by business managers to challenge deep-seated conventions with insightful questioning.
Here at Designsensory, Design Thinking is something we are very passionate about. It is our design process and something we advocate to prospects and deliver to customers. Design Thinking infuses creative ideas seamlessly into all aspects of our process---business planning, visual communications, technology, strategy and content development---allowing us to deliver greater value to our customers and their end-users.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Josh Loebner, 27 October 2010 at 9:51am
After months of work, we completed one of the largest, more interesting internal projects to date. Determined to hang something meaningful on the walls of our new office, we embarked on a journey to create an 8-by-4-foot wall art composed of ordinary golf tees and a modified piece of pegboard. Check out the end result. . . .
The Process
In line with how these things seem to go, the process was neither as easy nor as brief as first anticipated. We needed a high enough resolution to clearly display letters of this size, so we began by doubling the number of holes found in an ordinary sheet of pegboard. Put simply, we drilled about 4,000 holes. For the geeks out there, the resolution of our board ended up being about 1.9 hpi (holes per inch).
We also sanded, framed and painted the board to achieve a finished look. After moving the board to our office, we soon discovered that the 10,000 golf tees we had ordered to fill the holes were too large. Actually, Brandon discovered this in an afternoon of epic frustration as he attempted to hammer the ill-fitting tees in the board.
After ordering appropriately sized tees, the tedious process of creating the design ensued. A full-size template of the design was created on the computer, and then tile printed onto letter-sized sheets of copy paper to create a full-size template. After several weeks of team effort—pushing tees into the board—and with Lindsay’s motivational mantra of “at least 5 tees a day,” we’re finally done!
The Design
One of the underlying virtues of this piece is in its ability to be changed. The tees can be rearranged to create a new design. That said, as we put a lot of thought into what we wanted the “first” design to be, it won’t be changed anytime soon.
You’ll find the same design on the back of our business card. It says it all: we help our clients connect with their audiences by combining world-class design and technology across a variety of outlets. Not only that, we provide the strategy to integrate a client’s message across all touchpoints.
If you haven’t seen the golf tees yet, be sure to drop by and check it out.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Mark Schafer, 11 October 2010 at 1:05pm
Inside out & outside in, part one
Creativity effects creativity.
Regarding Designsensory's latest digital launches and our ongoing decorating-our-new-space fervor, one could ponder a conundrum worthier than the proverbial chicken and egg: Are we so inspired along the pathway to fulfill our clients' dreams that original ideas billow over into our personal space, or is it the other way around? Riddle you not, we will leave the question where it lives, between furrowed brows, and initiate a reveal of those client pathways we've traversed of late.
Fall 2010, for Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development (TDTD), aptly themed Fall Into Adventure, is an enticing riot of colorful images and myriad pursuits for Tennessee travelers.
That Evening Sun, shot in East Tennessee and starring Hal Holbrook, met with critical acclaim, the site evocative of the brilliant production.
Nature & Outdoors (TDTD) presents Tennessee au naturel, ethereally yet earthily, covering parks, recreation, waterways and sports, plants and wildlife, natural wonders and the "Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways" initiative.
Down-home, Maryville’s Foothills Fall Festival floats like a butterfly, alive with concerts, art, and adventures.
Summer 2010 (TDTD) colorfully embraces the Sunny Side of Life, offering up lighthearted summer sojourns, tasty Tennessee fresh edibles and contemporary events.
Further south, Premier Properties of Southwest Florida can now kick back and bask with MarcoIsland.com, BonitaSprings.com and Naples.com.
The new Attractions (TDTD) section packs a wallop, as it explores the fast, fun, quirky, amusing and naturally appealing in the Volunteer State.
Onward and upward to Destination Jersey City, where the site literally sparkles with nightlife sizzle when viewing after the sun is completely down.
And, coming soon to this blog near you: what we've been up to in the world of print and our spirited decorating projects in the Designsensory batcave.
Comments (2)|Posted by: Susan Sewell, 3 September 2010 at 12:34pm
Category Tags
Authors
Alison Ashe
Alison solves visual communication problems through a process of research, concept exploration, and original thinking.
Sarah Loebner
Sarah worked for agencies in Ohio and Boston before coming to Knoxville seven years ago and burnishing her reputation as an innovative designer and fresh thinker. While inspiring design is her form of communication her passion lies in client partnerships,
Josh Loebner
Josh combines research and strategic thinking as the foundation for powerful, goal-oriented marketing experiences.
Lindsay Miller
Lindsay is dedicated to the unrelenting pursuit of delivering unique, effective media solutions that bring a company's message to life.
Joseph Nother
As co-founder and creative director for Designsensory, Joseph oversees teams that deliver award-winning and compelling design.
Brandon Rochelle
Brandon, co-founder and technical director, oversees technology development spanning interactive work through online marketing.
Susan Sewell
Susan brings a background as a writer, senior editor, promotion specialist, and project manager.
Erin Slattery