Having a designer, a stranger, attempt to define your business for you can be a jarring prospect. You’re asked to allow an outsider to tell you what’s best for you. To take your medicine and allow them to work their magic by creating something that is meant to encapsulate everything about your company or organization. That’s a concept that’s not all that easy to digest. You know your company, but this person, who you’ve likely just met for the first time just a few short hours or days ago, can’t possibly know what you know.

I do get that. It makes sense to feel that. But all I ever ask of any client during the logo re-design process is one simple thing. Two, actually, with the first being “trust me.” I’ll do my homework and learn about what you do. That part is easy. The second thing, which isn’t quite so easy to accept is “live with it.”

Here’s the problem: Logo re-design, as it relates to a brand, is all about nostalgia. It’s the nostalgia of something you know and love because you’ve experienced it for a long enough time that you have an emotional connection with it.

Nostalgia doesn’t happen instantaneously. It doesn’t come in a vacuum-sealed package straight out of the factory. The nostalgia you ultimately feel for a brand doesn’t attach itself to the logo until some time has passed. It needs time to mature, to sink in and become one and the same with the logo. Without nostalgia, Nike is just a clever swoosh loosely related to ancient Greek mythology. Without nostalgia, seeing that logo in a print or television ad doesn’t spur memories of sweating during a long run, picking up a game basketball on the neighborhood court or any other association you might have when you see it. Without nostalgia, that particular logo is just a meaningless, though nicely designed, swoosh.

The problem is compounded when it’s your logo that’s being re-designed. There will almost assuredly be a sense of disconnect between what you know your brand to be and the completely foreign symbol that you’re seeing for the very first time. You know your company from the inside out. You gave birth to it. You know what it feels like to feed it every day of your life, to stay awake late into the night to keep it growing and to make tough decisions along the way. Of course a new symbol that just landed in your lap isn’t going to seem correct at first glance. It’s alien. It’s an other. An outsider. It has zero connection to what you’ve created because it doesn’t contain any of your experiences or feelings. Not yet.

That’s why you’ve got to live with it. Nothing, no matter how great the design, is going to come pre-loaded with nostalgia. You have to give it a chance, even if just for a few days, to see if the design is strong enough to absorb the brand like a sponge. And you should expect your staff, and your clients, to have the same misgivings you might have had. All of us are resistant to change. When something feels comfortable, even when it’s imperfect, we tend to stick with what we know out of convenience and complacency. Any adjustment, no matter how seemingly insignificant, can feel blatantly wrong based on the mere fact that something changed, even when that change is an improvement. But that’s not a good reason to not do it.

Can you imagine if Amazon had decided that a redesign would have been too difficult? How would you perceive that company today if they chose to keep things the way they were because the process became unpleasant or because the customers didn’t like it?

How about Apple? It’s hard to imagine Apple with any other logo (never mind the Rainbow Bright edition), but when the company was first formed, they used a complex illustration of Isaac Newton sitting beneath the infamous apple tree about to get bonked on the head. They very easily could have listened to any naysayers who felt ill at ease with the idea of change by deciding to keep things as they were. What would the company look like today if they never changed out of fear, mistrust, worry or reservation?

That resistance that you, your staff and your clients might feel is not a valid reason to keep with the same old way of doing things. If there’s room for improvement, you need to take the initiative and improve already, and trust the people you’ve put in charge of the process. The nostalgia will come with time.

Jon Edwards is our Chief Creative Officer. Read his bio here.

Here’s a short stats lesson to help you better understand polls – ALWAYS LOOK AT THE “MARGIN OF ERROR.” It’s typically written as “MOE +/-“at the bottom of the reported results.

I’m going on a tirade today because I just saw a poll on TV with a +/-8% MOE…this means if the survey was given to a random sample, the answers would all be either plus or minus eight percentage points from the current answer. For example, if 50% of the sample supports a candidate, if the pollsters administered the same survey to another equally sized random sample in the same population, they should expect support between 42% and 58%.

Oh, and I guess I should also mention that a +/-8% MOE means they only surveyed 150 people. This was a major news source reporting the likely results of a Republican Primary outcome as if Moses himself walked down from the mountain with the information chiseled on stone tablets.

Here’s the problem with the whole thing. First, true random samples are tough to get. That’s what the whole “MOE” measure is built on. The standard definition of a random sample is, “Each individual is chosen entirely by chance and each member of the population has an equal chance of being included in the sample.” Most of the polls are not truly random. Just think of how many times you’ve been called to give your opinion, and you chose to hang up. Congrats, you screwed up a random sample. Are you happy with yourself now?

Second, you need to understand the numbers behind the margins of error. If the polls are reporting MOE, here are the sample sizes they used, which are basically the number of people the pollsters spoke to:

• +/-10% – 96 person random sample
• +/-9% – 119 person random sample
• +/-8% – 150 person random sample
• +/-7% – 196 person random sample
• +/-6% – 267 person random sample
• +/-5% – 384 person random sample
• +/-4% – 600 person random sample
• +/-3% – 1067 person random sample
• +/-2% – 2401 person random sample
• +/-1% – 9604 person random sample
• 0% MOE – you have to interview the whole population

Big red flag: If they don’t report a margin of error, you should be questioning the validity of the poll.

Most political polls presented in the media fall in the margins of 3% to 5%. Yep, you read that right. All of the hoopla is being based on the opinions of approximately 400 to 1,100 people. And just think. You hung up on them when they were trying to get you to be part of this tiny group.

Come on people. We need to be smart about our use of research, especially when we’re trying to decide who’s possibly going to lead our country.

Educate yourself beyond polling. As a researcher, I think if polls are done well, they can be a great tool. Ultimately, though, nothing should act as a substitute for your own education on a candidate or on an issue.

The LeMoyne Center for the Visual Arts, a Tallahassee-based nonprofit art gallery and education center, asked Taproot Creative to help promote its 47th Annual Holiday Show. With memberships and private donations dwindling, LeMoyne sought to use this opportunity to demonstrate its cultural and economic value to the community and promote art as a legitimate business.

Solution

After evaluating the Holiday Show marketing strategies implemented in years past, Taproot Creative developed an integrated communications plan incorporating media relations, social media, grassroots outreach, e-mail marketing, and cost-effective print, radio and online advertising tactics aimed at increasing Holiday Show revenue and attendees. The firm began by designing a recognizable symbol to represent the Holiday Show, and then applied that symbol and pertinent information to brochures, posters, flyers, billboards, direct mailers, signage, advertisements and a one-page website that served as a central source of information. The effort also included a media blitz that resulted in interviews with LeMoyne representatives on all major local television and radio stations. In all, Taproot Creative donated more than $30,000 in branding, design, digital and public relations services, while LeMoyne invested just over $9,000 in printing, mailing and ad buys.

Results

The Holiday Show generated more than $130,000 in net revenue from ticket sales, retail sales and related private donations. This represents a 23% increase from the previous year’s revenues. In addition, the art gallery saw a 7% increase in the number of attendees compared to the previous year, and an 8% increase in membership. The president of LeMoyne’s Board of Directors expressed her genuine appreciation for the marketing effort and considered the event an undeniable success. “The amazingly talented and creative professionals at Taproot Creative knew exactly what this event needed,” she said. “From devising the overall strategy to implementing every piece of the campaign, they delivered in a big way. I can say without hesitation that had we not heeded the firm’s advice to invest in this marketing effort, we would have kicked off the New Year scrambling to keep our doors open.”

The Florida Chamber enterprise consists of three separate entities that work together to lead Florida to a new and sustainable economy: the Florida Chamber Foundation, the Florida Chamber of Commerce and the Florida Chamber Political Operations. In 2007, the enterprise launched three distinct websites – one for each of its three functions – plus a social sharing site known as OneVoice. After receiving negative feedback from members, and in realizing that OneVoice never became the hub of conversation it was intended to be, the Chamber enterprise hired Taproot Creative to investigate the problem and implement a research-based, results-driven solution.

A series of interviews, focus groups and surveys of key stakeholders revealed that website visitors were overwhelmingly dissatisfied with their experience, primarily due to their inability to find relevant information. Visitors were also confused by the four websites and were unsure of which to visit for what purpose. Finally, a comprehensive website audit revealed that the lack of a consistent layout, poor aesthetics, technical flaws, circular navigation and unclear content jeopardized the Chamber’s brand in the minds of target audiences.

Solution

In just three months, Taproot Creative designed and developed one, all-inclusive website complete with a robust content management system that effectively addressed the Chamber’s challenges. The site launched days prior to the start of Florida’s 2012 Legislative Session, the most important time of the year for the Chamber. The new site features a revised information architecture that incorporates all three arms of the Chamber enterprise and organizes content in a logical fashion. This makes navigation far more intuitive for visitors. We also incorporated a search feature, enabling users to find specific information quickly and easily.

The new aesthetic offers a more modern and sophisticated appeal that appropriately embodies the Chamber’s brand. The website also utilizes responsive design, which ensures a seamless browsing experience for users accessing the site via portable devices, such as tablets and smartphones. Full integration of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube now helps create cross-traffic to and from those platforms, rather than forcing stakeholders to use OneVoice to share ideas.

Thanks to the user-friendly content management solution provided, designated Chamber professionals maintain complete control over the site, which hadn’t been the case previously. Finally, the new website is fully optimized for search engines, validates across all modern browsers and platforms, and complies with Priority Level 1 ADA accessibility standards – none of which was achieved by any of the original four websites.

Results

A follow-up survey revealed:

1. Chamber members rated ease of finding information an 8 out of 10, nearly double their rating of the previous site.
2. Chamber members rated the site’s usefulness as a tool to take action on pro-business issues an 8 out of 10, a 100% increase over their rating of the previous site.
3. Chamber members rated the site’s effectiveness in conveying the Chamber’s mission and purpose an 8 out of 10, a 66% increase over their rating of the previous site.
4. Chamber members rated the attractiveness of the website an 8 out of 10, a 45% increase over their rating of the previous site.

Furthermore, compared to Web traffic during previous Legislative Sessions, the average number of visits per day increased by more than 15%. Pageviews increased by more than 10,000, or 26%, and the average time spent on the site with each visit increased by more than 30 seconds. These statistics indicate that more people are visiting the site and staying longer than ever before, generating positive exposure for the Chamber’s brand.

The Florida State University College of Social Work hired Taproot Creative to asses its existing brand and develop and implement an integrated marketing campaign to raise its profile among target audiences and attract top-notch students to its on-campus, online and distance learning programs.

Solution

We began by facilitating group discovery sessions with faculty and staff to evaluate the college’s brand from an internal perspective. We then facilitated student focus groups and conducted a comparative analysis of aspirational universities to evaluate the college’s position in the external marketplace. We rounded out the research and discovery phase with a thorough audit of all existing marketing materials and conducted a usability analysis of the college’s website. After presenting our findings and recommendations to the leadership team, we drafted a brand positioning statement and developed a comprehensive, results-driven integrated marketing plan that incorporated public relations, advertising and digital media components, among others. As part of this plan, we developed a new tagline for the college and coupled that with the design of new collateral that reflected a cleaner and more refined aesthetic. We also developed a new website for the college, since research revealed that the previous website did not meet the needs of external stakeholders and therefore required a complete overhaul in design and functionality.

Results

As a result of our branding and integrated marketing efforts, the college has received numerous accolades from current and prospective students, faculty, alumni, and even from competing programs across the country. More importantly, the college has witnessed a steady increase in applications to its various programs, especially its MSW program, which was a key focal point of our promotional efforts. In fact, nearly 40 percent of all traffic to the new website navigates to pages related to the MSW program. As a further indication of campaign success, website tracking data indicates a drastic increase in visitors to the site, all of whom are staying longer than ever before – nearly five minutes per visit.

Fans don their favorite team’s colors week after week and relish in the inevitable emotional roller coaster ride that characterizes a season. Fanatics, on the other hand, experience emotional extremes that distort their worldview and compel them to think and act in ways that often defy social norms.

Fans innocuously paint their faces and wear foam fingers. Fanatics subversively throw punches and set cars on fire.

Fans opine around the water cooler. Fanatics call in sick after their team misses a game-tying field goal that could have ultimately landed them in the Super Bowl (sorry Ravens die-hards).

Fans would agree that college football lost a great coach this past weekend. Fanatics would claim the sport lost a great man.

Again, there’s a difference.

Former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno died on Sunday. As word of his death (for real this time) spread, the news feeds of popular social networks were littered with heartfelt reflections on the life of the winningest coach in major college football history.

“He inspired so many,” wrote one Facebook user. “He made the world a better place,” posted another. And countless others chimed in with, “He was a great man.”

But was he?

Paterno’s 61-year career at Penn State ended abruptly in November 2011 amid allegations that he didn’t do enough to stop a sexual abuse scandal surrounding a former assistant coach, who now faces more than 50 counts of sexually abusing young boys. Paterno’s inaction stands in stark contrast to the high moral standards he preached to his players, and for which he was most widely revered.

Reminds me of the way many people continued to lionize Tiger Woods even after they learned of his multiple extramarital affairs, which, by his own admission, violated the very values that supposedly governed his life.

I understand that people make mistakes. However, it’s one thing to repeatedly cheat on your spouse. It’s quite another to turn a blind eye to the continued sexual abuse of young children. And that’s exactly what Paterno did. Obviously, even borderline fanatics will allow the allure of a legend to cloud the reality of a situation.

A generous philanthropist? No doubt. A role model in many ways? Perhaps. But a great man? More like a great man who made a grave mistake that no one should be a fan of.

Stacey Getz , APR is our director of strategic communications. Read her bio here.

What did that feel like? I don’t mean your emotional response, if you had one, to the content or the design. I mean what did the physical response feel like when your finger interacted with the screen? “Smooth” is probably a fair word to use. Maybe “greasy” if you haven’t wiped the glass lately. Maybe it was “slick” or “cold.” What it probably wasn’t, was “textured,” “interesting,” “compelling” or “different.” It probably wasn’t anything other than a universal experience that is the same to everyone, every time.

And that’s okay. A screen can only be a screen. It’s meant to be homogeneous and only do one thing while doing that one thing well. That slick little aluminosilicate screen is an entry point. It’s a conduit. It works just as it should. The same is true for large ISP monitors and relatively small laptop screens (though probably without the touching part). They’re all, within their own type, uniformly perfect in accomplishing their tasks. But they are, from a purely tangible standpoint, all the same. That’s the way they’re made. That’s why they work as well as they do.

Much like an audiophile mourns vinyl, it pains me when we shuffle ever farther away from paper. It’s true that the convenience of having everything with you at all times trumps the benefits of paper in most instances. I wouldn’t argue that. I’m addicted to my iPhone in a legitimately unhealthy way, and I enjoy website design just as much as I do laying out a complex grid for a multi-page printed publication. The screen of my computer monitor is my canvas for just about everything I do once I’ve moved on from my sketch pad, so I’m not knocking it.

But there’s just something about paper.

Paper is analog. It’s imperfection is what makes it perfect. The choice in paper can mean the difference between your audience keeping a brochure or tossing it in the trash before they’ve even bothered to read the lead-in. It can create, diminish, improve or reinforce the perception of a product, a business or an entire movement by touch alone. There is a visceral experience between the audience and the object that is, at the very least, different, than any interaction with a screen. As a medium, screens are always just screens. Paper, on the other hand, can create a connection. It can set the tone for the beginnings of a story and guide you on to the first building blocks of the design and the content. Paper has a soul in a way that a screen does not and cannot.

Fortunately, despite the continuous surge to an all-digital, all-the-time way of life that makes paper less necessary, there will always be a place for it. If anything, the evolution from ink to screen is a good thing for the craft. It makes printed design that much more valuable. Just as letterpress is so uncommon that it’s striking when you see it and touch it, print, in general, will likely be relegated to the peculiar in the best possible way. The lack of its commonality will transform it into something impressive and desirable if only because it stands out from the pack and looks different than everything else.

With that said, it’s eventual rarity won’t change the fact that not all paper is equal. Paper should work in harmony with design, not against it. The type of paper you select can be the difference between making a good design better, or devaluing a great design into something that is predictably passable. Things like subject matter, the call to action and, more than anything, the brand, are all deciding factors in what paper is right for the job. A thin sheet of cheap, glossy paper just doesn’t feel right if you’re trying to convince someone that a high-end, expensive neighborhood is oozing with sophistication and wealth. Heavy, expensive card stock won’t send the right message to your audience if you’re asking for monetary donations to keep the doors of your struggling non-profit organization open. And linen… linen is never a good idea, really, for much of anything.

The type of paper you choose for a project can make a design sing or fall to the ground in a clumsy, unfortunate mess. It’s as important as any part of the design or the message, and it should never be an afterthought. It’s not something to be thrown into the mix at the last second, or reduced in quality to marginally lower the budget. Paper is a design choice, along with typography, color, form, layout, illustration, photography… all of it. It matters.

Next time you grab a business card or sort through a handful of direct mailers, pay attention to the paper. Go by feel alone and see what stands out and what falls to the bottom of the barrel. See what works with the design and what works against it. Because here’s the thing: your target audience is already doing that, whether they realize it or not. So make it count and choose a paper that isn’t as forgettable and ordinary as the screen on your phone.

On its face, fear is neither good nor bad. It’s simply part of our biological makeup. It can be beneficial in that fear warns us of potential danger and is a key component of our self-preservation. Fear also serves as a reminder of the repercussions of our actions, causing us (ideally) to think before we act. However, if allowed to run wild, fear can also sabotage our long-success and stifle us. It can rob us of one of the most important experiences we stand to gain in life: failure.

I came across a great quote today that reminded me of this:

“Our greatest glory is not in never falling but in rising every time we fall.” - Confucius

Managing fear of failure is crucial to running a successful business. On the one hand, acknowledging the ever-present potential of failure keeps you on your toes — aware, sharp and agile. It motivates you to plan and strategize. However, when the time comes, you must put “fear of failure” to death and commit yourself fully to your cause.

There’s a story I’ve shared with my team at Taproot Creative about jumping a bicycle ramp as a 9-year-old boy. It was a large ramp — too big for my age, in hind-sight — and narrow. I thought I had it all figured out. I was going to jump the ramp slowly and cautiously the first time, just make sure I could do it. This event was one of my earliest lessons in physics. I didn’t build enough speed… The front wheel came off the ramp and went straight down, the back wheel went straight up, and I sailed straight over the handlebars, ending up with a mouthful of gravel and dirt. The lesson: When fear of failure causes you to only partially commit, failure is guaranteed.

We forget that failure is just part of life. It’s how we learn. Don’t get me wrong, I hate failing and I hate losing. My staff can attest to this. I am fiercely competitive. But, earlier in my career as a designer, and now as president of an agency, I have to admit that most of my successes are due, at least in part, to previous failures.

So, as we enter a new year and folks are making resolutions, most of which will be dropped before spring, consider this: Commit yourself fully to whatever you have in front of you. Recognize that the potential for failure is a requirement if there’s to be an opportunity for success. Kick ass. Take names. And if you fall, rise.

 “It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

They would taunt me with their overstuffed pages filled with impressive, mostly high-quality work that would hint at the promise of inspiring me to do great things; to reach a precipice of creative brilliance and achieve final, absolute perfection.

And then I would open the first page. And then I would get irritated. Then annoyed. Then, sometimes, angry.

I let envy get the best of me. I repetitively mumbled “Why didn’t I think of that?” as though it were a mantra while flipping through page after page of remarkable work. Any and all work of my own that I was pleased with just moments ago was suddenly discarded as less than. Secondary. Coach class. Expected. Boring. But this other stuff? This stuff in the magazine? That was good. I should be that good. I should be better.

The same thing happened when listening to other creatives give brilliant presentations or when a killer TV commercial surprised me by actually being so obnoxiously good that I’d grit my teeth and leave the room in response. It was the stuff that I didn’t think of but felt like I should have that gave me the most grief. I confused that reaction for passion for years.

Not all that long ago while watching one of those aforementioned brilliant presentations, I realized that I’d rather be inspired than envious. As great idea after great idea was shown on the overhead, I realized that that’s the stuff that made me want to be a creative in the first place. That’s the stuff that sticks with you and keeps you up at night.

Inspiration should get you excited about what’s next, not what isn’t. It should add a shot of raw caffeine to your tank and make you want to be even better, while still being appreciative of your skills (assuming you’re any good). It should be a jet pack with multi-colored streamers on it that pushes you to the next level, not a boulder tied around your ankle (also with streamers).

I’ve already tried the alternative. The bitter, old man syndrome does not work. Ever. The folks who tear down everything around themselves in order to feel taller and more capable than the competition are deluding themselves. The reality is that the time and energy spent on mentally softening the foundation of those around you isn’t doing anything to harm your competition. While they’re moving forward, you’re stuck in first gear, waving your fist in the air and coming up with unconvincing excuses for your potential failures as well as your competition’s successes. That approach doesn’t work. It’s stifling. It’s a dead end.

I still say “I wish I had thought of that” when paging through design annuals. I still feel the twinge of envy when someone other than myself creates something that impresses me. But I use it now. I look forward to it. It’s downright inspiring.

Keyboard Shortcuts work like chords on a piano or a guitar in that, just like playing an instrument, with enough practice and repetition, you won’t even need to think about what you’re doing. Your fingers will do all of the work for you, like little autonomous digits that can get things done without your careful attention and care.

The following Keyboard Shortcuts for Adobe Photoshop come in handy no matter what your skill level. Be warned that they’re based on an Apple keyboard, so don’t blame me when your Windows machine starts billowing smoke and melts down into a small, compact ball of plastic and metal.

Commands

Show/Hide Grid
cmd + ‘

Merge Layers
cmd + E

New Layer by Copying a Selection
cmd + J

Move Selection in 10 Pixel Increments
shft + Arrow Keys

Reselect
cmd + shft + D

Select Next/Previous Layer
opt + [ or option + ]

Apply Most Recent Filter
cmd + F

New Layer (no dialog)
cmd + opt + shft + N

Hyphenation (on / off)
cmd + opt + shft + H

Clear Guides
cmd + opt + shft + ;

For a more thorough, and downright exhausting, list of shortcuts, visit Adobe’s help page.