October is welcoming us with a lot of rain and I can hear that more and more people are going mushroom foraging. Probably some people even are taking mushroom foraging courses or willing to attend International Mushroom Festival here in Ireland following week. I continue to enjoy taking part in autumn courses for design and craft enterprises organised by Craft Council of Ireland, Kilkenny and Carlow CEBs.
On Wednesday I went to PR & Branding workshop for design and craft enterprises taking place in Kilkenny. I have to say that my previous understanding and knowledge about these subjects was very poor. During the first half of the day PR expert Noreen D'Arcy founder of D'Arcy Marketing & PR gave us short and sharp introduction what it's all about and before I'm going to approach any of PR communication channels it is important to decide on my core message and have couple standard press releases ready if I need them. The core message in the press release should reflect the story you want to tell and what are the News you want to share. Is it setting up workshop, new collection, winning award or something else!
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| Image courtesy bcmpublicrealtions |
Other important things to keep in mind are good images, media drops and PR activities planned ideally 10-12 weeks ahead.
After enjoying lovely meal at Café la Coco with friend and talented crochet designer Ornat O'Brien from Pure Hooked we headed back to afternoon Branding session with Jordan Ralph freelance design consultant and industrial designer. We looked at some great examples and for the first time I realised that it's not only about sticking your logo on packaging and business card. It can also include letterheads, web & blog, voicemail, studio & retail environment, apps and much more. Valg Studio even don't have a logo so it was great to do some simple tasks and try to come up with some ideas.
One of the starting points was to describe my product in one word and list them. Next task included sketching rough logo ideas and it was surprising what you can come up with if you force yourself a little bit and just follow your visions. It is good to stick all your logo ideas on the wall and see how you feel about them.
Branding is about continuity and united style. Therefore another way making sure it all works together is to lay out all your branded products on the table and see does is give the impression you want. I have been very disorganized with my branding: to many styles, colours and materials. I found it very useful that at the end of the workshop we could have one to one time with Jordan and discuss our branding needs.
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| Zeri Craft Branding on the table, more great examples on Branding, Packaging & Opinion Here |
Now it's time to put all this experience in good use and I hope to introduce you to Valg Studio logo before October is over.
If you would like to have a look at my notes from September Social Media workshop for Craft and Design enterprises click Here.
Take care,
Liga
nice tips...thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteThanks, workshop facilitators were very good, all I have to do was learn from them and take notes.
DeleteSounds exciting, looking forward to seeing what you come up with!
ReplyDeleteIt was great, in the excitement I even wanted to put title for this post Brilliant, Brilliant, Brilliant but then thought that it my not be the best option. :)
DeleteVery interesting.
ReplyDeleteOh Liga I would love to do a course like that ! I have such a particular way I want to market and brand addiebeads and I am only half way there. I have no logo as such but do try to maintain the same 'style' and pics across all the social platforms I use. We can have a chat when I see you at Gorey :) Thank you so much for sharing and I look forward to what you come up with xx
ReplyDeleteHi Mary, isn't it work in the progress all the time, but we will get there! Sure we can talk in Gorey on Oct 26th. xx
Deletegood of you to share this with us.
ReplyDelete