12 Days of R&R

The stores were all out of Turtle Doves and Leaping Lords this year. So here at Rhyme & Reason Design, we chose to craft our own 12 days of sharing that we are certain will be more useful then seven Swimming Swans.

Twelve email newsletters

Eleven Twitter tweets

Ten convention banners

Nine cups of coffee

Eight page brochures

Seven campaign strategies

Six lines of copy

FIVE WEBSITE PAGES

Four months of programming

Three design directions

Two Facebook fans

& A lovely logo mark

Wishing each and every one of our amazing clients, fans, friends and family a very Happy Holiday Season & A Creative New Year!

Work-ation

Ahhh December, the month for eating too much, spending too much and donning clothes you wouldn’t normally be caught dead in. This past week, I was up in Atlanta combining work with play. On my mini “work-ation,” Karen and I had the opportunity to brainstorm our holiday greetings (look for yours in the mail soon), work side-by-side with our friends over at Highgroove studios and don some pretty epic Christmas garb for Big Nerd Ranch’s Tacky Sweater party.

Highgroove studios is a software development company that focuses on building a lean, agile and elegant back-end application. We met them a while back at Ignition Alley (the co-working space we can often be found toiling away at in Atlanta) and have since had the opportunity to work with them on the inlaw|.me project. Although we can’t talk about the project (it’s not yet in Beta), we can certainly talk about HighGroove’s sweet digs. Their office space comes complete with a espresso machine that would make Starbucks envious, a vast array of organic goodies to snack on and work stations decked out with a multitude of Apple gadgets – it was love at first sight. Outside of their material possessions, they have an impressive manifesto that they strive to follow and which makes them a pleasure to work with. In essence, I am sure you will hear us talk about them many times over in the years to come.

Spreading the holiday cheer at Big Nerd Ranch

Big Nerd Ranch is our super cool client that is dedicated to broadening the intellectual canvas of the world through teaching, consulting and application development. Now, these may be some of the smartest people I have ever met, but they also are the least likely to take themselves too seriously and the most likely to jump on a good time. Therefore, in true Nerd spirit they gathered the office (and a few lucky business associates) together for a Tacky Sweater party. Let me tell you, or you can see for yourself here, there was no holding back on the tacky, the festive and the gender-bending sweater display.

Alright, so it may sound like I did more playing than working on my visit, but I promise you’ll see the fruits of our labors in the next few weeks. Oh, and I forgot to mention, Karen had me put in some sweat equity at the Atlanta Beltline’s 10k, she came in second in her age group, as for me, we won’t talk about that 🙂

Karen making 6.2 miles look easy

Thankful for…

As any good social media consumer knows, the month of November is filled with trends about why people are thankful. This year, Facebook encouraged people to write down one thing that they are thankful for per day, so by the end of the month the user would have 30 things to be thankful for. Not a bad plan. Here at Rhyme & Reason Design, we didn’t follow the trend, not that we aren’t thankful for a plethora of people, places and things more because time got away from us. Therefore, we want to make it up by listing out the 30 things we are thankful for right here in this blog.

Day 1: We are thankful for our amazing clients, without whom we wouldn’t have any Rhyme or any Reason.

Day 2: We are thankful for the unconditional love and support our families have bestowed upon us since we opened our virtual doors. Their words of encouragement both written on Facebook and said in person have buoyed us through every up and down.

Day 3: We are thankful for our friends who never complain about the multitude of “likes” we request, e-newsletters we fill their inboxes with or tweets we force upon them. Their good natures and willingness to meet us for a drink at the end of a long day have brought smiles to our faces many times over.

Day 4: We are thankful for our iPhones and Macbooks, their technological prowess allows us to communicate in every way shape and form, 24/7.

Day 5: We are thankful for our hobbies, whether lacing up our shoes to breath in fresh air on a run or saddling up to go for a ride, our health and sanity are better for them.

Day 6: We are thankful for caffeine. Particularly the kind that involves chocolate or coffee, because really no day is complete without either.

Day 7: We are thankful for our vendors. Those that make our designs shine on paper and those that bring our websites to life through code.

Day 8: We are thankful to Denmark {the agency} for not only introducing us, but providing us with a strong foundation on which to grow.

Day 9: We are thankful for Harry Potter, Twilight, Fast Company, Glamour Magazine, Mashable and Smartbriefs for providing us with hours of entertainment; the educational kind and the not-so-much.

Day 10: We are thankful to our kick-butt intern Virginia, who not only uploaded ridiculous amounts of content for us this summer, but enjoyed it so much that we were able to convince her to help us out each week throughout the year!

Day 11: We are thankful for wordpress and joomla, because who doesn’t love content management systems!

Day 12: We are thankful for Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linkedin for keeping us connected, because how else would we find out that our brother’s best friend’s sister got married or that Tebow was trending?

Day 13: We are thankful for networking events that allow us to connect with a variety of people who can enrich our knowledge base.

Day 14: We are thankful for every client, every friend and every acquaintance who has mentioned our name or our work to others – essentially becoming a brand ambassador for Rhyme & Reason.

Day 15: We are thankful for vacations where wi fi does not exist, because sometimes being constantly on can become overwhelming.

Day 16: We are thankful for the opportunity to not only open a business at the beginning of the economic crisis, but to stay in business throughout.

Day 17: We are thankful for globalization because the world really is our oyster. But, we are also thankful for localization because buying local keeps small businesses in business.

Day 18: We are thankful for the professors, the teachers and the instructors who cultivated our minds and assisted us in finding our career paths.

Day 19: We are thankful for our failures. Without the roadblocks we would never have the chance to learn and better ourselves.

Day 20: We are thankful for our business partnerships. As a small business, we can’t do it all, so having reliable business relationships enables us to provide the best possible product and service.

Day 21: We are thankful for Google analytics, Google Alerts,  Google Blog Search, SocialMentions, Facebook Insights and the dozens of other tools out there that allow us to monitor how our business and our client’s businesses are doing in the digital world.

Day 22: We are thankful for the University of Florida, for providing us with a great education, several diplomas, a love of all things orange and blue and unhealthy obsession with college football.

Day 23: We are thankful for free wi fi in airports, because how else are you supposed to get work done when you travel.

Day 24: We are thankful for our laptop bags and our Otterboxes because it is necessary to protect our must precious possessions with 17 layers of rubber, plastic and padding.

Day 25: We are thankful for Ignition Alley, Panera and the numerous coffee shops around Orlando and Atlanta that allow us to set up shop for a day, a week or even a year.

Day 26: We are thankful for holidays that allow us to spend quality time with the people we love (and thank them for all that they do).

Day 27: We are thankful for the 268 followers we have on Twitter and the 411 fans we have on Facebook, because at least we aren’t talking to ourselves:)

Day 28: We are thankful for the organizations that we have worked with (and those that we haven’t) that are working to make the world a better place.

Day 29: We are thankful to love what we do and have the chance to share it with the world.

Day 30: We are thankful for all of you who read through this entire list. Have a happy and healthy Thanksgiving!

A brand new layout, Alpha Sigma Alpha’s Phoenix magazine is born anew

Assisting Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority in establishing an aesthetic that will carry them through the next generation of sisters has been a truly tremendous experience. We immersed ourselves in their history, took part in their present and helped carve a path for their future. In so doing, we designed a great deal of materials for the organization starting with a logo mark and growing to a full suite of materials. Many of you have already clicked through the website, liked them on Facebook and even followed their tweets, but the latest design only just recently hit the “newsstands”.

The Fall 2011 edition of the Phoenix landed in physical mailboxes across the U.S. last week and since then we’ve been flipping through the pages, checking out our handiwork. Not only did we design the new layout of the magazine, but the featured article, “A Brand New Beginning” was designed and written by members of the Rhyme & Reason team. The article itself looks as if it jumped straight off the pages of the website into a printed format, while the copy describes the re-branding process, from start to finish, offering greater insight into each phase of the re-design.

Looking beyond the featured article, you will notice that elements of the new brand are carefully interspersed to create a design that seamlessly integrates into the new aesthetic. The badge emblem, a vital component of the new brand, adds subtle graphic details throughout the pages of the Phoenix, while other design elements have been incorporated into this edition, such as the swirls to create differentiation between pages as well as a bit of youthful whimsy.

Small design additions are nice to see, but what the sisterhood really wanted was a shift towards a more sophisticated and modern piece, with stories that beg to be read. To create such a magazine, we added more white space to allow the words to become the center of attention, design pages specifically to house larger photos and worked with the font sizes and typefaces to make the headlines really pop. As for the stories, the sisterhood is doing a great job of making them happen!

Still want to know more about the Fall 2011 Phoenix, but can’t get your fingers on the actual magazine? Check out the digital version, it’s the same as the printed piece.

Cool by Association

I may be biased when I say that we have some of the coolest clients in the business, but seriously, we work with some pretty impressive companies. However, even I must admit that one of our clients takes the cake when it comes to being cool. Big Nerd Ranch, the unique software engineering and training company that utilizes monastic principles in their technological developments, happens to count Apple (yes the company founded by Jobs himself and the developers of the iPhone) as one of their clients. So technically, if we were to use the six degrees of Kevin Bacon theory, we could say that we do work with Apple, but who would do that?

Kevin Bacon associations aside, our work has made a few appearances at Apple Headquarters. In fact, this past Monday, Big Nerd Ranch’s Director of Corporate Training gave a big presentation to the Apple Enterprise team. The presentation, although kind of a big deal, was not a definite go until a mere seven days prior, which meant we not only had to come up with an idea that could be produced in time, but it also had to be smart enough to impress the epi-center of Nerds. No big deal.

Luckily, we didn’t have time to think about the fact that our work would be seen, and possibly judged, by Apple folks; we had a project to design, print and program. The initial idea was to create an easily accessible, digital brochure. However, the light bulb went on when we heard that the Nerds were planning to pass out their newly released book, Objective-C Programming: The Big Nerd Ranch Guide at the presentation. What better way to utilize the book as a vehicle to drive the audience to the digital brochure, than with a bookmark complete with a custom QR code. It proved to be an excellent way to create a tangible leave-behind that provided a gateway to a specialized online presence.

With the bookmark idea a go, we laid out a design that would seamlessly match the Big Nerd Ranch aesthetic. Incorporating the QR code was easy, once we gave up on the idea of fitting a square QR codes into a rounded cowboy hat logo.

Once the bookmark was signed, sealed and delivered to the printer, our next order of business was to create the complementary landing page that was to link to the QR code; a pretty vital component. The one-page site didn’t need to sing and dance, but it did need to perform. In essence, the site had to act as the introductory hand-shake of the Big Nerd Ranch, and what better way to do that then mirror the look and feel of the current Big Nerd Ranch website and then sprinkle in bite-sized information about the products and services they offer.

By Sunday afternoon, the day before the big event, the bookmarks were traveling across the country, the programmers were inputting the last lines of code and we finally had a chance to sit back and ponder how cool we now are by association. Just kidding, we actually were thinking, ‘Oh man, I hope they don’t think we could have left more white space!”

To be honest, just having the opportunity to work with Big Nerd Ranch and our other amazing clients, means that we are pretty cool, associations or not.

Charting a Year

To some, it might seem a little early to begin the conversation about annual reports, the year in review. But as we’ve discovered while working with the Greek community and higher education institutions, fiscal calendars do not always coincide with the holidays, December 31^st and ringing in a new year.

In early September, we had the privilege of again partnering with Alpha Sigma Alpha Sorority on a design project: their annual report. Most designers probably cringe at the phrase, but I have to admit, I LOVE them. Charts, graphs, tables; they all offer a plethora of details that need to be organized and styled into clear and concise, visual information. Infographics, as they’re popularly called, can range from simple to complex and can illustrate a variety of information.

Aside from the design aspects, I also find them incredibly inspiring. It’s always amazing to see the progress an organization or company can make over the course of 12 months. In Alpha Sigma Alpha’s case, they donated more than $163,000 and 100,000 hours to charity, increased their membership and had their highest retention rate ever (94%!). Not to mention, they completed a thorough rebranding including their logo, website and all their print materials. We may have played a small part in that last item!

As far as the Greek community is concerned, I’m going to have to wait 12 whole months to get my hands on another annual report. But for those of you who are quickly approaching the end of your financial year, keep us in mind. Did I mention that we love annual reports?

Love Pink, Hate Cancer

It’s a little more than a week into the month of October, and by now you have probably noticed that the color pink is showing up in some pretty unlikely places. Well, for those of you who don’t know, pink is the color chosen to represent breast cancer awareness and subsequently Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Since its founding in 1985, as a partnership with the American Cancer Society, Breast Cancer Awareness Month has grown to include a variety of local, national and international events. From the Susan G. Komen 3 Day “For the Cure” walk and Estee Lauder’s Global Illumination to Pink Days and the National Football League, the month of October is awash in shades of pink.

Having had cancer personally affect my family, I have always been a big proponent of cancer support, awareness and fundraising initiatives. However, now that Rhyme & Reason is working closely with Moffitt Cancer Center, I have even more of a reason to wear my pink proudly. In fact, two Monday’s ago, I had the opportunity to spend my evening with 300 men, women and children who either work for Moffitt Cancer Center or have been affected by breast cancer. While in Tampa for a design meeting with the Moffitt marketing team, they asked if I would like to attend the Tampa Bay Bucs vs. Indianapolis Colts, Monday Night Football game and pre-game tailgate to show my support for breast cancer. I immediately obliged and found myself clothed in a pink Buccaneers t-shirt surrounded by patients, survivors, families, doctors and friends. Although I was aware that it was a Monday Night Football televised event and that Moffitt Cancer Center had created a partnership with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, I did not realize that our group would be one of many proudly displaying the color of the month. Players on the field caught footballs in pink gloves and ran plays in pink cleats, cheerleaders danced in pink uniforms and shook pink pompoms, stadium employees pinned pink ribbons to their lapels and fans from all over could be seen with a hint of pink. I have to say, I’ve never loved the color pink more.

The Monday Night Football game won’t be the last thing I do this month to show my support for breast cancer awareness. There are plenty of things to do, from simply buying a pink ribbon bagel at your local Panera to changing your Facebook profile picture pink to clocking miles for the “For a Cure” 3 day walk or donating time or money to your local cancer hospital. Keep in mind that even if pink isn’t your thing, creating awareness about cancer of any variety is something we should all be doing, no matter the month or the color.

A logo worthy of an “I Do”

With October just around the corner, we’ve wrapped up yet another wedding-filled summer. Having just celebrated my one-year anniversary, each ceremony and reception has been a fun reminder of my big day and also an opportunity to observe the choices made by my friends in their flowers, dresses and cakes. Would I change a thing about my own? Never! But, it’s a fun exercise nonetheless 🙂

Just last weekend, to wrap up the summer season, we ventured to Fripp Island for a wedding at the beach, celebrating our good friends Alex and Kara. In the spring, Kara had approach me about creating a fun, custom mark for her wedding that combined the bride and groom’s initials. Happy to help, we quickly crafted a logo mark that joined the letters in a way that was flowy and fun, befitting a South Carolina beach wedding. At the time she wasn’t QUITE sure where and when she would use the mark, but I packaged up the files for her and she went on her merry little, wedding-planning way.

Over the course of their engagement, I was continually surprised by the fun places the logo popped up. It made an appearance in their save the dates and then again in their engagement shoot. At the wedding, as I approached the bar I was pleasantly surprised to find it on the coasters (although I couldn’t bear to put my drink down on them!). And then I discovered the most delicious execution of all, she put it on cookies! City Girl Cupcakes did a fantastic job combining the logo into adorable, (and tasty!) beachy shortbread cookies, complete with sugar crystal sand and a complementary wave. Determined to snap a photo of our work in action, I grabbed a couple boxes on my way out the door, which seemed to disappear rather quickly after the shoot! Many cookies, and one sugar high later I just have to say, kudos to the bride and groom for getting creative. Graphic design mixed with baked goods is always a winning combination!

The importance of in-person communication

Like many companies, we have fully embraced the digital workspace, oftentimes hosting Skype-based conference calls and following client activity via their tweets, blogs and posts. Not to mention, the majority of our services involve creating dynamic communication online. However, after spending three weeks in Atlanta shaking hands, passing out hugs and catching up with clients on a face-to-face level, there is something to be said about connecting offline.

As the Orlando-based partner, I often become a Bosley-esque figure, whose un-embodied voice is the only recognizable feature.  Therefore, it was a pretty big deal when Karen and I had the opportunity to set up in-person meetings and lunches with clients who had yet to put a face to a name (or a voice). Our new bookkeeper, Kim, was the first handshake of the week and let me tell you, if it hadn’t been our first meet-and-greet, I would have bypassed the shake and gone straight for a hug. You would too if you saw her Quickbook skills. After a three-hour financial tour de force, I learned a lot about our new billing process and definitely feel lucky to have Kim on our team.

Not nearly as brain-intensive as Kim’s finance 101, but just as smart are our favorite Nerds, who we met for lunch (and a meeting of course). Now to be honest, I have been lucky enough to meet this team in person on several occasions, but I’ll never pass up a chance to spend some time in their presence. In fact, despite our previous meetings, this was the first time I got to step foot into their new digs. The space is pretty fabulous and I think the next time I’m in town, I might insist that we take up residence in their loft area for a day.

Next on the agenda was a quick popover to the Alpha Delta Pi Headquarters to meet with the wonderful women of the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation. The sprawling Georgia mansion is quite a sight to behold. From the statuesque white columns to the window-encased walkway, I felt as if I was walking through history. However, the impressiveness of the architecture was dimmed by the fabulous personalities of the Foundation women of whom I became acquainted. Yes, I have sent them a multitude of emails and chatted with them on the phone quite a bit, but again I couldn’t tell you anything more than they use proper punctuation and have friendly voices. In person, they are a blast!  Beyond discussing the potential project at hand, we swapped stories about our favorite football teams, movies and books (I even went so far as to admit my love of Harry Potter World and Butterbeer).

Lastly, Karen and I headed out to meet our contacts at Stateside Capital. We’ve been dialoguing with the two women for the past three years, yet neither Karen nor I had actually ever met. The lunch, as much as I’d like to say was a business meeting, was really a chance for the four of us to meet in person. Over sandwiches, we learned more about the company and its industry, but we also developed a familiarity and a connection that emails or phone calls alone could ever forge.

Although my trip has wrapped up, I have no doubt that I will be planning many more excursions to continue fostering the personal connections with our amazing clients. Because no amount of tweets, likes or comments can ever accomplish what a face-to-face meeting can.

Bringing Bedside Manner to your Keyboard

Hospitals, although conservative in nature and often slow to adopt new ways of communicating, are testing out the social media waters. In fact, as noted in his blog, University of Maryland Medical Center’s web operations manager Ed Bennett records that there are currently 548 hospital YouTube Channels, 1,018 hospital Facebook pages, 788 hospital Twitter accounts, 458 hospital LinkedIn accounts, 913 hospital participating on Four Square and 137 hospital blogs. With these statistics, it’s becoming apparent that even though there is still trepidation and fear of creating hospital-related social media platforms, many organizations are willing to take the plunge. One such hospital is the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute located in Tampa, Florida. The Cancer Center opened its doors to patients in 1986 and has since created an environment where research, education and patient care thrive. From 2009 to 2010 they saw admissions increase from 7,742 to 8,616 and outpatient visits grow from 289,502 to 320,558, proving that they are continuously striving to provide the best possible programs studies.

Although Moffitt Cancer Center is well known throughout the Tampa community and consistently garners attention within the healthcare industry, there is a push to promote the organization to a wider audience and connect with a variety of audience members from patients and caregivers to volunteers and referring physicians. Which leads me to the reason for this blog post, Rhyme & Reason Design, LLC has recently been awarded the opportunity to assist  H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center and Research Institute with their social media activities. As social media partners, we will be working closely with the onsite marketing team, as well as the website agency of record, Bridgeline Digital. Through combined efforts, we will help establish a strong social presence through customized design, a strategic plan and consistent, dynamic communication.

At this point in time we are merely scratching the surface of the social communications platform we will be developing for H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, but we hope that you, our loyal readers, can celebrate with us as this exciting opportunity unfolds.