Great example: 2 pages of logo design “thoughts” for Spectrum Sports Academy and Hackett’s Meat Market.  These doodles encompass ideas, emotions, scenes, tools, and products.  Hard to believe anything presentable would come from that mess, huh?

So, if you’ve ever thought that all graphic designers insist on working with a bunch of glamorous high-tech machinery to crank out all their design work, guess what?  Some of us are still just overgrown kids scribbling on a tablet.

- Pen and Pixel are One

Recently finished up work with an exciting new client who’s doing a bit of remodeling with his business image as well as his storefront. He’s decided to take the logo design I did for him and translate that into a full-scale outdoor sign. An excellent web designer I collaborate with – Matt Williams – sent me this shot of his new sign. As I’ve mentioned in past articles, I don’t usually get to see the end result of the designs I put together on a computer screen, so I’m pretty happy to see how this came out. This is especially the case since you can see more of the hand-drawn element that gets lost on the small applications sometimes.

- Pen and Pixel are One

There are literally hundreds of ways to build and customize a business card, but one of the more interesting effects is the use of metallic foil.  There are metallic inks as well, but nothing comes  close to the shine and brilliance of actual metal.  For Prospectors Pouch, I built the card around the look of a gem they discovered, and mine, called Georgia Midnight.  It has a dark, onyx-like appearance and is speckled with silver and gold.  We used not one, but two colors of foil which is unusual, but was necessary to produce the gem’s likeness.  In addition to the use of metallic foil, we also used spot-gloss, which is the application of a gloss coat to certain areas of the artwork.  This gave me the ability to enhance certain features of the card without sacrificing a defined color palette.

We ended up with a visually interesting, classy, and unforgettable business card that will be part of an even larger graphics suite to help Prospectors Pouch refresh their look and bring in new sales.

- Pen and Pixel are One

Large sign artwork outside Falafel King

The family that runs these chains are great folks, and they can cook some excellent Mediterranean food.  If you’re in Athens, Decatur, or Atlanta GA you should stop in!

- Pen and Pixel are One

Sorry, nothing smaller than 800×600, but if you want something in particular, let me know and I’ll do it.

Click to open / Right click Save As / Enjoy

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- Pen and Pixel are One

I also received an email from Tom Heath, Web Content Manager at Grassroots Motorsports Magazine.  He really liked my design and told me that although he’s not a judge, I have his support.  Rock on!

Check out the weekly winners, and other contest details on Factory Five’s site.

- Pen and Pixel are One

I would have liked to have done a second entry, but I put all I had into these and it just took too much time for a second.  I don’t know how much I would have done differently a second time around anyway.

I can’t wait to see the 818 regardless of how it looks when it comes to life.  Considering the response Factory Five has gotten, the judges have their work cut out for them now!

- Pen and Pixel are One

One thing I hadn’t explored yet is showing a view with the targa top removed. This is a roadster after all! This rendering is to show the car is typical street trim. No number plates, air spats, tow hooks, or the like.

- Pen and Pixel are One

I’ve seen a few entries so far, and I think where I diverge from the typical entry is in the use of a lot of organic curves.  I really like the sports car designs from the 60′s and 70′s…very swoopy, curvy, and undeniably sexy.  I hope that my design would impart a special, exotic feeling to anyone who’d be driving it.  The best part is through the addition of some practical, modern touches, it would be entirely livable (although basic) for day to day driving and work well at high speeds on track.

I’ll be updating the blog over the next few weeks with teasers and limited views until the full design is submitted in June.  Believe me, I’ll be up against the deadline to finish…I’m going as far over the top with detail as possible!

This is the original sketch:

And here are the finals so far.  I love seeing how designs evolve over time, whether through conscious choices or not.

- Pen and Pixel are One

Structure and Content of Your Call

I’ve spoke about it before, but it becomes really practical here – before we get started, you need an “elevator speech” (and should have one handy for any meeting anyway)!  An elevator speech is going to allow you to quickly convey the basic, distilled version of what you do to someone in a minimal amount of time so that they have a clear idea of what the heck it is that you provide.  It should last the length of your average elevator ride; hence the name.

You may not necessarily need to recite your ES, or at least all of it, during a call.  After you introduce yourself, if the person on the other end is interested in what you’re offering and wants to talk about it, its at that point you’d dive a bit deeper into your services and give them an ES.  Your ES is like your virtual business card – you don’t shake a stranger’s hand and then immediately stuff a card into it, you talk with them, try to understand their position, and then ascertain if it’s appropriate to hand over your info.

So we’ve got a nice part of the “meat” of your call in the form of your ES, but what about the rest?

Call Content

Call during business hours, and if you think you’re calling a cell or home number, call after 10AM and before 5PM so you aren’t too intruding.  Afternoon is usually the best, although you probably want to call a little earlier on a Friday.

Put yourself in a comfortable state of mind and be yourself.  Odds are you will get a machine, which is fine because its usually less pressuring.

Dial up and after the line picks up, offer a friendly “Hi” or “Good morning/afternoon”.

State who you are and what you are.  Are you local?  If so, make sure you note that when you describe yourself.  Any time you can make it clear you’re in the neighborhood, you’re capitalizing on an advantage from a customer service standpoint.

Quickly move into why you’re calling.  Inquire as to whether you can be of service to their business.  Don’t ask if you can help them with their graphic needs though, you run the risk of insulting them if they already have a logo and other design work already being done.  What I would recommend is asking if you can “offer assistance” with their needs. This will make you appealing to those who need design work from the ground up, but also to those who already have graphic design work done for them, but could use additional work or help with overflow.

At this point its been about 10 seconds into the call.  Time for you to step back, and the person on the other end is pretty much going to tell you they either (A) aren’t interested, or (B) that they could use you.

(A) Thank them for their time, and wish them a good rest of the day.

(B) Here is your chance to deploy the ES.  Tell them “great!” and take the opportunity to explain in more detail what you do, so that they know exactly what you’re offering them.  Remember, you don’t need to cover everything, just the main points.  They’ll find out more about the details later in the follow up discussed below.

After your elevator speech, they should have a clear idea of the overall service you provide.  Its hard to say where a call will go at this point, but once a future customer has conveyed that they are interested, usually you will get 1 of 2 responses:

• They need artwork now.  You may get information as to what kind of artwork they’re looking for, and you can let them know how that fits into the service you offer.

• They just need your information to hang onto for a later time, when they’re ready to proceed with their project.

Either way, you need to be ready with your Follow Up Information which we’ll cover below.  A follow up will be the point where the person you’re speaking to wants more information about you, typically in the form of pricing and portfolio samples.  If they don’t ask, you should offer anyway as a way of making yourself open and approachable.  It’s a good sign!  You have their attention, interest, and now you have a chance to further market yourself.

The follow up will give you a chance to show off your work and pricing by providing an information tear sheet, as well as another form of contact through email.  The email will reinforce the call, give you a chance to convey your thanks for the chance to talk with them, and make it easy for that person to get back in touch with you later.

At this point the call is pretty much over.  The person you called knows who you are, what you do, has let you know what they need, and you’re going to provide further information to them so they can assess your service at their leisure (unless they decided on the phone that your hired right then and there!).  Again, thank them for their time (make sure you got their email!) and that’s it!

Practice and Templates

So, you’ve looked at all the information above on what to include, but there’s just too much going on.  How you do actually get started with saying all this when you call?  Here is a good “template” I use, which you can get going with.  Don’t worry, after the first few weeks you’ll have your own version that fits your style and delivery.

“Hi, I’m calling for [business name]?  My name is __________ , and I’m a graphic designer from __________.  I’m calling to see if I could offer assistance with any graphic design or artwork needs that your business may have. “

Notice we ask for the business first.  We are calling numbers that could be someone’s home, so the person you’re calling may not be expecting a call for their business.  Remember to state where you’re from and if you’re local.

That’s it.  That’s really all you need to open with.  Minimal fluff, but concise, and it’s not so much at once that someone will want to say “Whoa…back up.  What?” It’s hard to practice where the call could go from here.  Just know your ES, be confident in your product, and be yourself.

In the case of getting an answering machine, just go through your main template above, but add the following after the above:

“If this is a service that would interest you, please call me back at __________”

Finish by restating your name, and wish them a good day/evening.

Call yourself a couple times just to get used to hearing a ring tone on the other line and then pick up.  Control how fast you speak.  It should be a smooth, controlled pace (if you’re nervous, you’re going to talk quickly or stammer).  Have the lines in front of you to recite.  It will be burned into your memory after about an hour’s repetition.

Follow Up Info

As we noted earlier, toward the end of the call you’re going to want to make sure you can either follow up with their request for more information, or offer it to them if they didn’t ask so that they have something to reference.  Ask for an email and send a short, polite message thanking them for the chance to talk, and noting the following information so they can review your work and contact you:

• Phone (cell and home if you have ‘em)

• Website or Business Facebook page (you should have this already, but if not, an online album from a provider like Flickr can work).  If possible, be sure to have an “about” page that gives people some background on who you are!  Your future customer isn’t just investing in your work, but also the experience of working with you.  They should know how cool you are.

• Price sheet.  Here’s a chance to design something interesting that people will see as not only an information sheet about your service but a little piece of your artistic ability as well.  Outline your payment style and pricing on popular items on an easily printable sheet such as 8.5×11, letter size.  Don’t go too crazy with the ink colors and graphic techniques, because you don’t want to drain their toner if they print it out and it should be small enough in file size to email without crashing their server.  Take time to think out your pricing strategy if you haven’t already.

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I hope this information was helpful to you.  I’m certainly no expert, and I’m not what you’d call a great public speaker.  The fact is, this has worked for me, so I’m confident it will work for you too.  Give it a shot and make yourself known.

If you have any other great tips to share that I’ve missed, please let me know and I’ll add them with your permission.

- Pen and Pixel are One