Novaurora Blog

A little bit of font humor…

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 13:05:21 -0700

A little bit of font humor…

"All of these brands seemed to have realized that mass marketing and media spending is not enough in..."

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 14:29:49 -0700

“All of these brands seemed to have realized that mass marketing and media spending is not enough in a new consumer-controlled world. Making products that are worth talking about is the key, and their focus on product innovation is attracting more and more people to their badges.”

- David Rabjohns, AdvertisingAge

Type Anatomy

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 16:36:31 -0700

Type Anatomy: — Gotta have it.

A Few Good Ad People…

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:14:00 -0700

A Few Good Ad People…

The Design Constitution

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:35:00 -0700

The Design Constitution: —Another primer for the client/designer relationship.

How to (and not to) work with designers

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 16:35:00 -0700

How to (and not to) work with designers: —A classic from Will Harris. Highly recommended reading for designers and especially their clients.

"When I did all my stuff with the Apple designs, I was always a designer for a market of one. Here is..."

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:26:17 -0700

“When I did all my stuff with the Apple designs, I was always a designer for a market of one. Here is what will do exactly what I want. I think Steve Jobs works very much from that philosophy. Skip a lot of market research and just be in the market yourself and know exactly what’s right.”

- Steve Wozniak

New Walmart Logo! Thoughts?

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 14:56:32 -0700

New Walmart Logo! Thoughts?

Google Website Optimizer 101

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 12:51:37 -0700

Google Website Optimizer 101: – If you are involved in a business that relies on conversion of some kind online, whether it’s a sale, signup, or some kind of goal, you need to read this article. Very light and easy walkthrough on how to use metrics in the post-launch design process.

What's Your Brand U.0?

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:18:00 -0700

What's Your Brand U.0?: David Armano beat me to this one. I’ve said before how you are a brand, and your interactions and associations are a part of it, either they will influence people to like you or dislike you, either they will be memorable or not. Here’s a nice starter guide on getting your message out, just make sure your authenticity is palatable by the masses. Word to the wise: be very careful blogging/twittering about politics and controversial issues. Keep it positive. Don’t alienate people who may disagree with you, you’ll leave a bad taste. Put your best foot forward.

Tracking Buzz in Real Time

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:13:20 -0700

Tracking Buzz in Real Time: is a great read from AdAge. Although Twitter is still nascent, it’s an amazing way to glean reaction from your customers and address their concerns. Remember in branding, there are only positive and negative experiences, see how many are +1 and -1 to get a nice read of how you’re doing out there.

"Lewis and Clark were lost most of the time. If your idea of exploration is to always know where you..."

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:47:23 -0700

“Lewis and Clark were lost most of the time. If your idea of exploration is to always know where you are and to be inside your zone of competence, you don’t do wild new shit. You have to be confused, upset, think you’re stupid. If you’re not willing to do that, you can’t go outside the box.”

- Nathan Myhrvold

Linotype FontExplorer™ X

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:15:00 -0700

Linotype FontExplorer™ X: is the best font management application I’ve ever used–period. Before Linotype I just learned to deal with the crashes that all the other font apps seem to suffer from. No more. It is to your fonts what iTunes is to your music– get it now.

13 Essential Typefaces

Mon, 30 Jun 2008 14:04:00 -0700

13 Essential Typefaces: – “It’s nice to see the Beatles of the font world all laid out on one page,” says Justin Maxwell. (via creative)

Be a Photoshop Hero

Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:49:00 -0700

Be a Photoshop Hero: – Definitely a worthwhile collection of cutting edge Photoshop techniques, I don’t normally care for these sites, but… this one is nicely done. (via creative)

Nothing Sells Like Celebrity

Fri, 27 Jun 2008 14:56:00 -0700

Nothing Sells Like Celebrity: – A very deep study of the impact of celebrity in advertising by the New York Times.

"The big mistake people make is that they believe advertising is the time to earn people’s..."

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:46:53 -0700

“The big mistake people make is that they believe advertising is the time to earn people’s trust when it’s really just the time to get their attention. Trust will be earned through consistency of trustworthy behavior. Trust will be earned by delivering on your brand promise. Trust will be earned over time. Hard to do if no one ever knows you exist.”

- Travis Norris, Creative Director, Fitting Group

Why FriendFeed (or Its Successor) Could Be the Next Google

Sat, 21 Jun 2008 15:43:00 -0700

Why FriendFeed (or Its Successor) Could Be the Next Google

"On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that..."

Thu, 19 Jun 2008 16:41:00 -0700

“

On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy. It follows that unless your headline sells your product, you have wasted 90 percent of your money.

The headlines which work best are those which promise the reader a benefit–like a whiter wash, more miles per gallon, freedom from pimples, fewer cavities. Rifle through a magazine and count the number of ads whose headlines promise a benefit of any kind.

Headlines which contain news are sure-fire. The news can be the announcement of a new product, an improvement in an old product, or a new way to use an old product–like serving Campbell’s Soup on the rocks. On the average, ads with news are recalled by 22% more people than ads without news.

If you are lucky enough to have some news to tell, don’t bury it in your body copy, which nine out of ten people will not read. State it loud and clear in your headline. And don’t scorn tried-and-true words like amazing, introducting, now, suddenly.

”

- David Ogilvy, Ogilvy on Advertising

"The old marketing funnel, in which the goal was to achieve widespread awareness with the hopes of..."

Wed, 18 Jun 2008 11:25:00 -0700

“

The old marketing funnel, in which the goal was to achieve widespread awareness with the hopes of converting a few into customers, has been turned on its head. In today’s world of clutter and choice, potential customers are either engaged or not. So marketers need to focus not just on increased agility, speed and strength but also engagement, which, as Forrester Research points out, is made up of four behavioral elements: involvement, interaction, intimacy and influence.

Engagement measures not just the quantity of time spent with your brand, but the quality of time spent. Quality, as in what are the most productive things a marketer can do that ultimately affects what a customer does at the moment of truth: buy or recommend a brand to others.

What this means is that engagement is the mentality needed to drive short-term marketing performance. And its metrics are also leading indicators of value creation for the long-term.

What’s the best way to achieve engagement? Adopt the marketing mind-set of a retailer. I mean retailing in its broadest sense: a unique shopping situation selling goods directly to the individual or business that’ll actually be using them.

Success only comes from thinking like a marketer — developing a strategy to differentiate you from competitors in a way that is relevant to your target — but then applying it with the speed of a retailer, launching with partial data and improving things based on real-world results.

”

- Marsha Lindsay, Build Your Brand by Thinking Like a Fighter, AdAge