When people come to a creative company they don’t look for the latest editions of Photoshop or Illustrator. In spite of what schools may tell you, there is a surplus of talented software wizards. People pay creatives to think for them. We solve their problems by knowing how to implement ideas. We iterate potential directions until they find the one they can proudly stand behind. We exist to mediate bad decisions. In effect – we’re their outsourced brain.

If creating were as easy as using software proficiently, everyone who knew Word would have created novels in their spare time. Those who knew Excel would have balanced their budgets with aplomb, and skilled Outlook users could send Html emails to their family without batting an eye.

And so more important than learning the tools, a young designer must accept that their first job is rooted in psychology: How do you lead a team through a series of open-ended decisions?

We’ve found that the greatest obstacle to decision-making is fear. It crops up in emails, or in conference calls, veiled through feedback, or tucked away in a hurried voicemail. Giving up control even for a moment is hard. It takes trust and respect and asks you to forget the potential failures that could lie ahead. Most people invite fear in for dinner. And once inside your heart, fear doesn’t leave easily. It makes itself home and infects choices and undermines your ability to act. How can a project possibly move forward when filled with so much doubt?

“I’m afraid for my job.” “I’m afraid my board won’t like this.” “I’m afraid the president will hate that.” “I’m afraid customers will dislike it.” “I’m afraid we went too far.” “I’m afraid we didn’t go far enough.”

We’ve worked with hundreds of start-ups. Every single start-up that had a problem deciding on a design for a logo or business card has failed. Not one, not five, every single one.

And the reason is that small decisions are reflections of larger decisions. If you are filled with fear and doubt when it comes to pointing at a brand you admire, you’ll see this same fault amplified 100x when the important business decisions arrive. After all, the color of your logo won’t matter if you don’t satisfy your clients in time.

So a note to the young designers: When looking for good clients, find the fearless. They don’t have time to mull over doubt. You’ll see them by the trail of success they’ve left behind and the strength to trust over worry.

And a note to entrepreneurs: Your job is to stare fear in the face and keep moving forward.

1. SPEAK CLEARLY
Just as an actor is valued by how they deliver their lines, your logo speaks too. When potential customers see your new brand they should get a glimpse at your worldview. Logos are more then a name: they establish the flavor of the company. Does your company speak like a Brad Pitt or a Steve Buscemi?

2. ENGAGE EMOTION
People are addicted to stories. Frame your logo in a way that shares a bit of who and what you are. Walk them through the parts that make this business unique. Excite new customers before you’ve even said a word.

3. CHALLENGE YOUR COMPETITION
If your competition uses black, you should use white. If they position themselves as a global leader, then you should be the neighborhood helper. If they preach, you should listen. When the contrast between companies is clear then they have to really think to make a decision.

4. THINK IN SILHOUETTES
Would your logo be recognizable in silhouette? The best logos are. The more we depend on make-up instead of relying on form, the more lipstick we put on our pig.

5. THINK TEN YEARS OUT
Change happens quickly. Owning an outdated brand can be a big burden for a small business. Accept that building a brand is a long journey made better by ignoring current business design trends.

BONUS RULE: FEAR KILLS GOOD IDEAS
The shortest path to a safe logo is caving into fear. Safe doesn’t inspire or lead. It lets others know immediately you didn’t have the guts to be yourself.

“Don’t think. Thinking is the enemy of creativity. It’s self-conscious, and anything self-conscious is lousy. You can’t try to do things. You simply must do things.”
- Ray Bradbury

Let’s be honest – you wonder about the true value of design, right? And as long as we’re speaking confidentially, every designer heavily wonders this exact question too.

The benefit of working with so many talented companies is that we’ve had a chance to watch brilliant minds at play. And over the years one can see a downright unsettling pattern among the experts of brand. It isn’t confined to giant budgets, or worldwide teams, but it does span the globe to reach every company with hopes to differentiate itself from the masses.

The secret is: People don’t consciously process design.

Marketing’s job is to cultivate trust and design breaks through barriers to speak to an individual on a personal and emotional level before they are even aware they are having a conversation. It works because in order to see how effective it is you have to really pay attention. Most people don’t take that time.

But what don’t believe us…we’re designers!

• Have you ever judged a business from their website?
• Does a mangled PowerPoint presentation reflect on the presenter?
• Is there a product you won’t buy at the Grocery Store because of the way it’s packaged?

Design works because we don’t believe it does. Simple as that.

What happens when you take four of the world’s best Wordpress template designers, combine their skills, and allow mortals like you and I to enjoy the results? Introducing WooThemes.

Last week we were honored to write a guest article for WooThemes. It covers how to take one of their exceptional products and begin to customize it for your business. Click here to read our WooThemes’ Tutorial.

Thanks to Adii, Magnus Jepson, Mark Forrester and Elliot Jay Stocks at WooThemes!

Behold, the future of web browsing! Fear its almighty powers and forward thinking omnipresence.
Or, um, maybe not. According to it’s creators:

This is Part 1 of Aurora, a concept video created by Adaptive Path in partnership with Mozilla Labs. With Aurora, we set out to define a plausible vision of how technology, the browser, and the Web might evolve in the future by depicting that experience in a variety of real-world contexts.

Here are five things Aurora got wrong about the future user interface of the web browsing…
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