Alisha Weilfaert

Read more about Yoke & Abundance’s 2021 Digital Planner here.

For the past three years we’ve partnered with Alisha Weilfaert, Owner of Yoke & Abundance, to create a digital planner for the year ahead. Delivered in a digital format, this year’s planner is more comprehensive than our past two iterations and allowed us to get even more creative with our page design!

Alisha is a leadership, creativity, transition and resiliency coach for women. She’s on a mission to empower women to envision living and speaking their truth unapologetically. Her visual brand is earthy, feminine, and grounded. You’ll find watercolors and mandalas stitched through her branding… and this planner design is no exception. We used her rich brand elements as a colorful backdrop for a variety of planning and goal-setting sheets.

From a technical standpoint, we designed this entire book to be easily printed at home – it also works well to send it somewhere like Staples where they can bind it for you. Designing for easy printing means leaving larger margins, having easily readable fonts, and reducing the overall amount of ink used. 

If you’re interested in a testing out a more unique planner, this is the perfect guide to help you asses where you are, where you’ve been over the year and where you want to be. With over 51 pages, this workbook allowed us to flex our design muscles with some fun charts, planning sheets, and mood trackers. Here’s just a few of the things we designed for this download: 

We don’t want to give away too much of a preview because this planner is still for sale (you can purchase it here), but we will show off the cover and a sneak peak at a few of the pages! 

In addition to the digital planner, we also designed a great set of freebie stickers to be given away to the first 15 customers! 

These die-cut stickers were printed on a thick, durable vinyl that is resistant to scratches, water & sunlight! They’re perfect for sticking on everything from laptops to cars windows. 

With fun subject matter and an even more enjoyable client, this project was one of our favorite collaborations of September!

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Hue & Tone Creative

Inbound marketing and digital downloads are driven by great design — whether you need help designing a landing page, a multi-page download, or a free tool, we’re here to help. Set up an initial consult and lets discuss your next project.

We’ve been partnering with Smart Beginnings, a regional school readiness coalition (based in Danville, VA), since early 2017. Last week, the team reached out about designing a series of print appreciation ads aimed at childcare providers who have remained open during COVID.

Looking for more general COVID-19 signage? Don’t miss out on our free poster downloads here.

These childcare providers play an important role by ensuring first responders and other essential workers have the childcare they need. With COVID still causing unprecedented disruptions, this ad was the latest in a long line of COVID appreciation posts, ads, and campaigns that we’ve designed.

For the design of this text-centric ad, we pulled elements and colors from a past campaign aimed at Early Childhood Educators and Professionals. The bright red and orange will pop off the page, and the high contrast between the deep grey and white should translate well to newsprint.

Here’s a sneak preview of one of the ads:

If you’re in the Danville area, you can spot this ad + additional designs in the Danville Register & Bee and the Star Tribune!

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The mission of Smart Beginnings DP is to strengthen the system of individuals and organizations caring for and educating children ages birth to five. Their goal is ensure that young children ages are emotionally, intellectually and physically ready to succeed in school. Learn more at www.SmartBeginningsDP.org. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Let us help you with communication in the time of COVID

Looking to successfully communicate your latest COVID message with clients? Don’t let the pandemic cause your branding and messaging to fall apart. Whether you’re looking for digital, print, or storefront materials, we can ensure you’re creating on brand (and beautiful) messaging.

This week, we’re taking time out from talking marketing to celebrate a few vignettes from our city. From muted downtown streets to the Bicentennial Gardens, we’re finding color inspiration in some of our favorite Greensboro spots.

We’re big believers that every city offers inspiration – sometimes you just have to stop and notice it. With a bustling downtown and expansive trails, Greensboro offers the best of both city and nature views. No matter where you are in Greensboro, we guarantee that there’s a dynamic color scheme somewhere in your view.

Dappled Depot

Soft blues, purples and pinks are diffused by the fog drifting in over the J. Douglas Galyon Depot in Downtown Greensboro. We love the soft hues of this nighttime scene.

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 Botanical Brights 

Great for a short walk, quiet reflection, or reading on a comfy park bench, the Tanger Bicentennial Garden is one of our favorite spots in Greensboro. Rich colors line the pathways, and a variety compelling sculptures can be found tucked among the foliage. For more secluded scenery, pop right across the road to the Bog Garden. 

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Clear Skies over Kress

Crisp blue skies highlight the pristine facades of the Kress and Meyers Buildings’ on South Elm Street. Changing leaves provide small touches of green and yellow to this palette.

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Retro Revolution

Tucked in a quiet corner of Revolution Mill’s courtyard, this retro mural installation is a bright pop of color among a sea of brick. These colors are bright and muted all at once!

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Lite Brite LeBauer 

The sky is illuminated over LeBauer Park by Janet Echelman’s Where We Met installation. Our two downtown parks provide a great place to gather, celebrate, and play while immersing yourself in all the city has to offer. Bright colors are especially present in these fun and family-friendly spaces!

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South Elm Snow

On an all white day, the Green Bean’s bright facade offers a pop of color among an otherwise muted look at South Elm Street.

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Guilford Grey 

On a rainy and grey day, the heart of downtown has mostly subdued tones to offer up. But this mood board is a favorite because you can see the Guilford Building in the upper right portion of the photo… can you spot us waving from our office windows in the top right corner? Just kidding…

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Hue & Tone Creative: Inspiration and Color in Greensboro, NC

Whether you’re based in Greensboro or beyond, we’ll help breathe new inspiration into your brand. Let us help you refresh your visual branding, website, and print collateral today. Schedule a meeting to get your next project started.

In the fall of 2019, we partnered up with local lover Luck Davidson to brand her new blog. Named “SoLocal Life,” her new platform focuses on highlighting local people, places, and indie businesses. With a home-base of Greensboro, Luck builds community while eating, drinking, shopping, dog walking, and asking lots of questions.

We set out to help her build her community with a brand she could be proud of. Before we could start designing logos, we needed to narrow down the feel of Luck’s brand.

The best way to do this? Setting forth a series of five mood boards that all demonstrate a different feel and energy.

The winner? The below mood board… but with one request — we incorporate even brighter colors! Less earth tones and livelier hues.

Once we got to the logo development stage, we kept Luck’s preference for brighter colors in mind. But first, we had to narrow down a concept. We toyed around with a variety of fun fonts, organic elements, and playful ideas. Here’s a sampling of some of the black & white concepts we considered:

Ultimately, we ended up with a seal logo that incorporated the tagline “All Things Local.” Our final logo incorporated a bright pop of pink, a saturated green, and a vibrant blue. Deep grey and a soothing tan ground this color scheme.

Four variations of the logo ensure that there’s a mark to fit every space!

SoLocal Life launched earlier this year into — and while COVID has thrown many local businesses into flux, Luck’s support and online presence haven’t wavered. With local businesses working to make it through the pandemic, there’s no better person to follow for updates on all your favorite Boro businesses.

Follow Luck + SoLocal Life on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. And, stay up to date with her website here!

Cultivating an email list is an important element of any cohesive digital marketing plan. It’s fast, flexible, and cost effective. It allows you to directly connect with past, current, and future customers in a tailored and carefully targeted way. 

Like all digital marketing, email marketing has undergone changes in past years – but it’s as relevant in 2020 as it’s ever been. Reasonably priced and highly flexible, email marketing shows a great return on investment:

• Emails are 6x more likely than tweets to get higher click-through rates (source)

• Email is 40 times more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter (source)

• 81% of online shoppers who receive emails based on previous shopping habits were at least somewhat likely to make a purchase as a result of targeted email (source)

• 72% people prefer to receive promotional content through email, compared to 17% who prefer social media (source)

• Email marketing has an ROI of 3800% (source)

Who should be on your list 

Avoid spamming people – don’t send emails to people who haven’t actively signed up for your email communications. 

How you organize your email lists will vary greatly based on your goals, but we encourage you to gather every email you can (even if it’s someone you are not ready to market to just yet). Your email list should consist of email addresses from past/current customers and qualified leads. You can use email to communicate everything from company information and product updates to discounts and exclusive content. 

 In order to derive the maximum benefit from your email list, it’s important that you continue building your list over time. The more subscribers you gain, the more valuable your email list becomes – and the more potential revenue you can gain from utilizing it. 

Places to build your email list

• Call to Action (CTA) buttons/links: Every landing page and blog page on your website should have a CTA for your email list. Embed them in the text of the page and be sure to add a sign-up at the bottom of every post.

• Gather sign-ups through social media: No matter the size of your budget, Facebook is a great place to capture new leads. The advanced targeting allows you to connect with fairly qualified leads and cultivate them over time through email. 

• Cart opt-in: Someone who is already checking out on your website is clearly interested in your product – making it a perfect time to ask them to opt into emails. When a customer places an order and gives you their information, you’ll want to capitalize on the opportunity by asking them if they want to receive promotional emails. 

• Contact forms: Similar to the cart opt-in strategy, allow people who are sending a general inquiry to opt into your email list. 

• Integrate with your CRM: Do you utilize an existing customer relationship management tool like Hubspot? Using an integration with your existing CRM can be a great way to automatically add new contacts to your email database.  

• Free Content Offers: Have gated content or a freebie you could use to drive email sign-ups? Share it on social media! If you have a free printout or digital download you want to offer people, make it an exclusive for new email subscribers and deliver it directly to their inbox (which means you’ll capture their email address in the meantime). 

• Referral Programs: Someone who loves your product is the best ambassador for it – get existing customers to refer folks to your brand. Offer cash rewards, discounts, or points and build a full-on loyalty program that will keep the referrals rolling in. 

• Exit intent pop-ups: This is a pop up that appears right when you’re about to click to a new page or ex out of the tab. As visitors are about to leave, offer them something that will make them become an email subscriber. This will allow you to continue to engage with them. Just make sure to use cookies to track returning visitors so that you don’t repeatedly show them the same pop-up.
  
  

Tailor for maximum benefit 

No matter what stage of the buying process a lead is in, you can create a targeted email that appeals to them. 

Automations that are triggered by a specific action can save you time and allow you to have a more personalized interaction with a customer. Automated triggers also allow you to respond to your customers interest in real-time. Did they abandon a shopping cart full of goods? Send them an email reminding them to check out… or, enticing them with a discount for completing the purchase!

Other Benefits

• Measurable: Tracking the success of a promotion is easy with the built-in analytics that email software offers. Track delivery rates, bounce rates, click through, and open rates easily and effectively.

• A/B Testing: Testing the effectiveness of different elements of your email (like photos, copy, colors, or calls to action) will ensure your email is as effective as possible. 

• Targeted messaging: We’ve already touched on this a bit, but the ability to highly tailor and nurture a lead is a capability almost no other type of marketing can offer. 

• Everyone uses it: Almost 91% of all consumers use email, which gives email marketing widespread appeal. 

• Environmentally friendly: In addition to being cheaper, digital mailings save trees. A huge bonus if your business is sustainably minded! 

One last tip: Do you have a list of older or less interested contacts? Reinvigorate it by sending a message to re-engage these contacts. Let them know you’ll be removing anyone who doesn’t respond – and you’ll be pleasantly surprised how many people choose to opt in and stick around. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your partner in email marketing

Completely overwhelmed by all the emails you have to send out? Outsource the work to an expert and get the full return on investment that email marketing has to offer. We’re here to help you develop a strategy for your digital marketing: from identifying target demographics to crafting emails and targeting social media ads. Get in touch with us today to find out how we can help.

Not designing with accessibility in mind means possibly alienating a ton of potential app or website users. Roughly 15% of the world’s population has some form of disability – which means you could be excluding over 1 billion people from using your app. 

In May, we highlighted 7 tips for successful app design. One of the tips we got the most questions about was the importance of designing for accessibility. Here’s a quick excerpt from that post: 

Designing an accessible interface means thinking about how people with vision loss, hearing loss, and other disabilities will use your app.  

For example, don’t make red and green the only indicator of a successfully filled out form. Add an “x” next to incorrect fields and a check mark by correct fields to serve as additional visual indicator so that people with red/green color blindness can still easily and successfully use your app. Similarly, consider adding transcripts to video or sound clips to aid those with hearing loss.

That quick overview left us wanting to share more about accessible design. Accessibility features should address both permanent and temporary impairments by utilizing simple and intuitive designs that address a wide range of potential impairments. Inclusive design focuses on four main areas: cognitive, visual, hearing/aural, and physical/dysmotility.

There’s a lot of in-depth research available on how best to address the challenges each type of disability may face – but there’s a handful of simple things that any designer can do to increase the usability of their app. 

Keyboard Control

Keep in mind that some users may only be interacting with your site or app through keyboard commands. You want to provide multiple ways to interact with controls. Providing keyboard shortcuts and letting users navigate your app with tab and arrow keys will allow those who are visually impaired to use your app. Once you’ve thoroughly tested the accessibility of the site or app, consider putting instructions or a video online showing people how best to navigate the site with keyboard commands only. 

intuitive navigation

Intuitive navigation will make your UI better for every user, but is also incredibly helpful for those using screen readers or keyboard controls. To increase ease and speed of use, think about what people will need to access most easily and ensure that’s front and center.

high contrast colors

When using colors, make sure you stick to a high contrast color scheme. There should be clear contrast between background and foreground, and any text should have a sharp contrast with the background color. Don’t forget to take your phone for a spin in greyscale to see how everything looks! 

Resolution Options

People with difficulty seeing may view your app at up to 200% zoom. Keep this in mind when you design and be sure to test your design out at multiple different zoom levels.

Limit needed gestures

People with limited physical mobility may have a hard time making complicated gestures. To ensure everyone can use your app, you’ll want to make sure that gestures and button sizes are configurable in your app. 

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“People that have physical motor limitations might encounter problems while navigating a mobile application. Tapping or other forms of gestures need to be configurable so that a user is not bound to a specific gesture. Also, a gesture should never be a mandatory event since physical motor limitations should not restrict the navigational behavior of an app. Both Android and iOS offer users the ability to configure shortcuts for frequently used phrases or words, as well as timing between presses on the screen. The size of buttons (or other touchable triggers in apps) are also configurable.” (Source)

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Visual indication

Don’t rely on colors as the sole indicator on any element of your app. Your content should be perceivable in a variety of ways – for example, hyperlinks should be underlined as well as different a color. Checkmarks or “X”s should indicate if a form field has been accepted. 

Alternate text or descriptions

For images or videos that don't contain information, provide alternative text that briefly describes the content. If the image contains data a user needs to know, include a brief description of the data, chart, or diagram. 

Screen readers

Content can be optimized to enhance the experience of those who use screen readers or will be experiencing a text-only version of your app. Screen readers will verbalize both visible and hidden content and read it out loud to the user. It’s important to keep in mind that screen readers rely on the top-down structure of HTML. 

Informative alt text

For more on how to properly write your alt text check out this guide. 

Screen readers will also read the alt text of your images to help translate a visual experience into a text based one. Alt text is a short label (up to 125 characters) in the code that describes an image for users who are unable to see them. As a bonus, properly tagging and describing images in your alt text can also enhance your SEO! 

Provide alternatives to sound

When it comes to critical audio elements, text alternatives should be provided. Video transcripts, video captioning or audio transcriptions should always be included with video or sound elements. In addition to supporting those with hearing loss, many prefer to view videos without sound or would prefer to quickly skim the content of the video.

Feel like your app is accessible to everyone? Don’t stop there! Be sure you do extensive user testing before hitting the market. And, even after your app is released ensure that users can easily provide feedback. Use customer feedback and analytics to continually analyze and improve your app. 

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Hue & Tone Creative

Not sure how to translate your brand into the perfect app or website? That’s what we’re here for. We’ll help you remove the guesswork from developing your brand — and everything you need to communicate it. Contact us today.

Quick tip: Brand guidelines coming in at over 50 pages? Consider creating an abbreviated version that can serve as a quick reference guide.

Brand guides are essentially an instruction manual for how to communicate both your visual and written brand. Depending on the size of your organization, your brand guide may come in at 100+ pages, or you may decide to utilize a more simplified sheet style. No matter how complex your brand guidelines are, we advocate for making them as clear and easy to understand as possible. 

Remember, branding is the personality of a commodity and your brand guide serves to translate that brand to outside parties. You want to include everything needed to communicate the feelings and expectations that are connected to the goods, services and even people your brand represents (read more on that here). 

Further reading: If you want to learn more about all the marketing collateral your new business should consider, check out this post.

If you’re unsure what you should include, we’ve put together the reference guide below. If you’re hiring an outside agency or freelancer to compile your brand elements, this quick reference guide will help you determine everything you should expect to be included. 

The basics:

Brand Story/Mission/Vision: First up, you’ll want to tell people what your brand is all about. This might come in the form of a vision statement, positioning statement, elevator pitch – or, maybe it’s a more fully formed brand story. No matter the form, it’s important to give people background information about your company.  

Quick tip: Always include a table of contents in your brand guide. Trust us, every agency or freelancer that has to use your brand guide will thank you. 

Key messaging: Have a tagline or key message you repeat over and over? This can be word for word phrases or simply big picture ideas you want to see repeated.

Personality: List out all the characteristics of your brand by describing the feeling and impression people will have when they interact with you. One way to do this is to make a list of things that your brand is, and a list of things that it is not. These words will help set the tone for your copy writing and guide the written communication of your brand.

All logo variations: Once you’ve carefully outlined the personality and verbal tone of your brand, it’s time to move on to the visuals. The first (and most obvious) thing you’ll want to include is your logo. But, don’t stop there, be sure to include every version of your logo including horizontal uses, vertical, watermarks, and special stamp versions. 

Logo usage: Once you’ve outlined the logo variations you have, you’ll want to give guidance on how to use them. How close can your logo be to other elements? Is there a minimum size it should be printed in? What version of your logo do you use where? Are there limits on what colors it can be printed in? Think through all the digital and print uses of your logo and do your best to carefully outline the rules for each potential use. 

Color Palette: Outline all the colors that can be used in your brand – this includes your primary and secondary color palettes. Be sure to include guidance on how/when to use each color. For easy reference, include the Pantone, RGB, CMYK, and Hex codes for each color. 

Font Palette (for web and print): Once you’re done with colors, outline which fonts should be used where. We suggest including an example of the fonts in use, details on where people can get the fonts, and any restrictions on kerning, alignment, leading, and color usage. If your fonts are expensive and you don’t plan to provide a license to every external party, we suggest including easily accessible open source alternatives. This will up the chances that your brand guidelines are followed and increase the ease of use.  

Image Guidelines: Whether you purchase stock photos or have your own brand photography, it’s important to include visual examples of acceptable and unacceptable photography. How should photos be edited? How should your staff or customers be represented? What kind of office environment do you want to portray? 

Sample collateral: Even after you’ve outlined all these basic elements, it’s important to show examples of your visual brand in action. The interaction of all these elements together will be valuable samples that designers will need if you want them to emulate your brand closely. The more collateral examples you can include, the better idea they will have of how your brand should look. We suggest including a letterhead, business card, sample ads, website screenshots, vehicle wraps, promotional swag, and social media ads or posts.  

Include point of sales and packaging examples in your brand guide.

Suggested inclusions

Now that we’ve covered the basics, we want to point out a handful of other items you should consider including in your brand guide. Here’s a list of our suggested inclusions:  

Target Audience: This is a valuable inclusion if you ever plan to outsource your marketing. Don’t be afraid to dive into nitty gritty information about your target demographics – this will be invaluable for anyone targeting ads or creating a media plan.

Additional graphic elements: Do you have additional graphic elements besides your logo? For example, do you have an iconic swoosh or divider bar? Include additional guidance on how to use each of these supplementary elements. 

Icon sets: Have a standardized set of icons you use on print or social media collateral? Include the full set of vectorized icons so designers can easily grab and use them. Include usage guidelines and make it clear whether it’s okay for people to create additional icons or not. 

Campaign graphics: Does your business have spinoff brands, specific subsidiaries, holiday campaigns, or additional product lines? Including a snapshot of any ancillary brands will give designers or agencies a more holistic picture of your entire brand.  

Packaging/Store Signage: Do you sell a physical product? Include samples of the packaging, as well as examples of point of sale signage, sample displays and sample promotions. 

Sample social media posts: Including more in-depth illustrations of how your visuals and verbiage are paired together on social media can provide valuable guidance on how you like to communicate with your audience. 

Video/Motion Graphics: If video – prerecorded or live – is a major part of your marketing plan, you’ll want to create some guidelines for how and where it should be shot. Talk about content, tone, guidelines for overlaying text, backgrounds, and filters.

Customer Service Examples: Your brand is a conversation, and your customers need to get to know you as a brand. Including examples of your outward facing dialogue can help get your whole company on the same page about how they should be communicating. 

Website: Is there a phrase or product you never want to see featured on your homepage? Do you have a specific plan for what first time visitors need on your website? Consider getting into more detail about what you should and shouldn’t include on your website. 

This list is by no means exhaustive, but we hope it provides a solid jumping off point for brainstorming your brand guide. See something we should include on this list but didn’t? Drop us a comment and let us know what you think is crucial for a comprehensive brand guide.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your branding partner

Completely overwhelmed by this list? We get it. We’ve worked with numerous businesses to establish clear branding and brand guidelines – and we’d like you to be the next business we support. We can help you get all your visual brand elements organized and easy to use – whether you’re starting from scratch or want to build around an existing brand. 

A NOTE FROM HANNAH POMPHREY, OWNER OF HUE & TONE CREATIVE 

Anyone who has started a small business has probably heard a lot of scary statistics about the chance of their business’s survival. 

20% of small businesses fail in their first year, 30% of small business fail in their second year, and 50% of small businesses fail after five years in business. Businesses fail for a lot of different reasons including lack of demand, limited financial resources, and being outpaced by the competition. 

After five years of owning Hue & Tone, I feel like I’ve learned a lot of dos and don’ts about how to grow revenue and thrive as a small business. Growth doesn’t happen overnight, and it’s important to build connections with your community and nurture yourself as your business expands. 

One of my strongest values as a business owner is the importance of reaching out a hand to those on the same path. If I could give a few pieces of advice to other entrepreneurs – or to myself five years ago! – here’s what I’d share. 

Network, network, network. Even in the digital age, small businesses thrive on word of mouth. Taking the time to build strong connections will form the foundation of your success.  

Never hesitate to set up a coffee or grab a drink with someone (even if it’s digital). It might be a bit awkward at first, but the only way to learn more about someone’s business is to talk to them about it. Start by learning more about what they do… and then let things develop naturally from there! 

Focus on your strengths. Don’t feel you have to offer the same services as your competitors or fit within the mold of other businesses around you. Play to your strengths, and don’t offer a service or product if you can’t add value and ensure quality.

Your unique service offerings are what make your business distinctive to you. While it’s smart to take a strategic look at your competition, don’t be swayed what you see. Offer the services you can really deliver on – and, if you hate doing something, don’t advertise it heavily. Leave services you could offer (but don’t want too) off of your website – if someone inquires, offer them then, but don’t lead with something you aren’t passionate about. 

Don’t be afraid to take the lead. Whether it’s teaching a course, serving on a board, or lending your expertise to a local non-profit, the opportunity to lead in your community is one of the best perks of running a local business. 

Don’t hesitate to build some flexibility into your schedule so you have time to partake in things you’re really passionate about. Volunteering is a great way to give back – but also a great way to make new connections with industries or organizations you’re passionate about. 

Keep seeking inspiration. Working 24/7 without taking time to nurture your personal life drains you of the inspiration that led you to start your business in the first place, especially if you’re a creative entrepreneur. No matter what fuels you, be sure to set time aside for yourself. 

Keep taking time to travel, cook, create – whatever fuels your ingenuity and imagination! Block off time or days on your calendar to do the things that inspire you and you’ll come back to the office even more productive than if you never left. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your partner is business and marketing 

Overwhelmed with all the functions of owning a business? Let us take the marketing off of your hands. Outsource your creative work and get more time back to do what you really love. We’re here to help you get your time back, help you maximize your bottom line, and increase your reach. Let’s connect and work out the specifics of how we can help.

The internet is a crowded space and it can be hard to make your brand stand out. But one of the best ways to stand out is to create authentic connections on social media. 

A key element in forging these genuine connections is establishing your brand voice. Your brand voice makes your brand feel like a person that your customers can connect with and allows you to build a deeper relationship with your audience. No one likes to feel like their favorite company thinks of them as just a dollar sign – and when people feel valued by your brand, they tend to spend more and be more loyal.  

Formalizing this brand voice in a set of guidelines ensures everyone posting from your account is using a consistent tone to communicate with the audience. This ensures that you stay on brand in even the stickiest customer service situations… and they can even help you turn an aggrieved customer into a loyal follower. 

Finding your social media voice is not one thing, but rather a set of defined characteristics that come together to establish your overall brand voice. 

• Character: Who does your brand sound or talk like? Are you an expert informing a customer, or do you talk to a client like they are your friend? 

• Tone: What is the general vibe of your brand? How does your voice change based on audience, situation, and channel?  Are you fluffy or direct, personal or professional? 

• Language: What kind of words do you use often? What kind of words do you try to avoid? Do you speak in a complex and jargon-filled way or do you like to keep things more simple? 

• Purpose: Why are you on social media? Do you want to engage, inform, sell… or something else altogether? 

Why social media voice matters 

Creating a consistent tone lets people get to know your brand and allows you to build a strong relationship with customers and clients. Delighted customers talk positively about your brand, which means them creating new content, driving leads your way, and spreading your brand message. 

Establishing your voice can be complicated and require some trial-and-error. Unlike tracking your web analytics, this marketing project won’t be a one and done task. If something isn’t connecting with people, don’t be afraid to do more research and reorient your tactics. 

Steps to get started 

Stumped on where to get started? Here are a few simple steps to get you going when developing your brand guidelines. 

1. Research your audience’s habits online. What platforms do they use, what words do you see often, and what do they seem to value? 

2. Examine your existing brand guidelines. What brand resources do you have to work with? Do your guidelines for print work for social media? Do these words fit with what you’re seeing from your audience?

3. Determine your purpose. What do you want to do for your audience online? How will you achieve these goals? 

4. Brainstorm words you want your audience to associate with your company. Make a list of adjectives you want your audience to use – and then words that you think will help elicit those feelings.

A few tips as you develop your voice 

Now that you’ve got a jumping off point, here’s a few additional tips to keep in mind as you put your brand voice to work online. 

• Define your audience. It’s important to keep in mind that certain types of messaging resonate with certain audiences. Taking your audiences communication style, interests, and online behavior into account will help you better connect with them. Be sure to explore how your customers act online before solidifying your brand voice. 

• Be transparent and admit mistakes. Instead of trying to hide mistakes, use transparency and openness to your benefit. Admitting when you make mistakes and letting people see behind the scenes at your business will build trust and loyalty from your customers. 

• Trust your customers. Whatever you do, don’t delete comments from people who are criticizing you – this will just make them angrier and may push them to launch a full-scale campaign against your brand. Instead, comment on their posts and show your other customers how reasonable and responsive you are. Your customers are smart enough to distinguish between a rightfully aggrieved customer and a lunatic. 

• Keep it consistent. If your brand voice isn’t usually funny, don’t suddenly try to make a joke. Trust is built through keeping a consistently high-quality presence. Think of your brand like a person – you don’t want to leave users feeling like your personality is anxiety inducing or erratic. 

• Be clever with purpose. It’s okay to be clever or sassy with your social media voice, but only if it fits your brand. Don’t try to emulate Wendy’s unless there’s a well rationalized reason for it. Use funny or clever responses sparingly – and be aware that they may fall flat (and create a secondary issue). 

• Don’t forget it’s a conversation. Social media shouldn’t be used to talk at your audience – it should be used to communicate directly with them. Authentic interactions can create lifelong loyal customers – and ignored messages can lose them. 

• Take customer service seriously. Put time into developing a plan for customer service and responding to inquiries. Ensure consistency and timeliness by creating sample responses for your team and empowering them to take action when there is a valid complaint. 

• No platform is exempt from your brand voice. Your brand voice isn’t just important in your posts – it should be consistent across every element of social media. This includes Facebook message replies (including the automated ones), calls to action, Instagram captions, direct messages, cover photos, bios, and post graphics/visuals. 

• Keep responses usable. Responses to people’s questions or inquiries shouldn’t be long or overly complex – keep in mind that users are most likely responding from their mobile device. Answers or responses to people should be short, to the point, and easily accessible. 

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 Hue & Tone Creative: Social Media in Greensboro, NC

Completely stumped about how to connect with your audience? Let us take the work out of it. We can help you put a social media strategy in place – or we can take over the posting and day-to-day management of your channels. Reach out to learn more about what kind of plans we offer. 

Picking the right color palette is important — whether you’re looking to refresh your logo or just design a social media graphic, selecting the right hues can have a huge impact on the effectiveness of your graphic. Certain colors evoke feelings of action, while others are often identified with calm and serenity.

In a past post, we covered what color theory is and why it’s important to consider it during the design process. Today, we’re putting the rules of color theory into practice with a handful of sample color schemes.

These 8 color schemes are suitable for a wide range of businesses and can serve as a frame of reference for what colors connect with what customers. Copy these colors directly or use them as a jumping off point for designing your own scheme!

For interior design businesses

Light, neutral colors provide a versatile canvas for any room you want to showcase.

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For businesses who deal with women’s health

Make your female clientele feel cared for with soothing hues of purple. A dusty mauve grounds this scheme, keeping it from feeling too girly.

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For businesses who want to give off a corporate feel

If you’re in a corporate or service business, you can never go wrong with basic blues. A pop of orange adds contrast and elevates this scheme to feel more modern.

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For businesses whose clients are tweens

When appealing to a younger clientele, keep things fun and vibrant with lilac, an aqua blue, and a pear green.

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For businesses who deal with art

If you deal with an elevated clientele, these unexpected shades are neutral yet a bit adventurous. Earthy and understated.

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For businesses who deal with tech

If you’re looking for something bold and clean, yellow and a deep grey speaks to an action oriented and bold brand.

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For businesses whose clients are young kids

If you work with young kids, keep it fun and bright with azure blue, a grassy green and a vivid red.

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For businesses whose clients go outside

If you sell outdoor equipment or experiences, branch out from earthy browns and greens and dig into some more unexpected colors. Burgundy, a muted Prussian blue, and a papaya orange are an unexpected but organic combination.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your branding partner

Looking to develop just the right color scheme for your brand? Don’t leave the process of selecting the perfect colors up to chance. Bring in our expert team and we’ll ensure you create a brand that connects with your customers. From naming your business to creating a polished website, Hue & Tone is here to help. Book an initial consultation now to get started.

The difference between a successful app design and a failure isn’t just an app that looks sleek and well-designed. When it comes down to it what makes an effective app is user experience.  

Before we get into specific design tips, it’s worth sharing our biggest development tip of all: focus your app on doing one thing well. Overloading your app with features makes it hard to market to potential users. Home in on the one thing you want your app to do really well, and once you’ve achieved success there you can begin to add on additional features. 

Once you’ve determined the sole focus of your app, you’ll be able to determine who your audience is and design for them. But no matter what your target demographic, there’s a few design considerations you’ll want to keep in mind during the development process. 

1. Keep navigation simple 

If your app has a narrow focus, this tip will be easy to execute. You want to keep your app navigation streamlined and intuitive for users. Limit the number of options people have available and use common terms and design elements. Avoid thinking outside of the box on your navigation design – you want to stick to easily recognizable symbols.   

Most importantly, navigation should be available at ALL times, not just when you think the user might need it. 

2. Accessibility is important 

Designing an accessible interface means thinking about how people with vision loss, hearing loss, and other disabilities will use your app.  

For example, don’t make red and green the only indicator of a successfully filled out form. Add an “x” next to incorrect fields and a check mark by correct fields to serve as additional visual indicator so that people with red/green color blindness can still easily and successfully use your app. Similarly, consider adding transcripts to video or sound clips to aid those with hearing loss. 

3. Use familiar icons

Familiar icons work best when designing an app with widespread use. Use a magnifying glass to represent your search feature, a house to represent your home page, a printer to represent printing. Whatever you’re trying to communicate, your icons should have universal recognition from users – icon design is simply not the place to get creative. 

In addition to familiar visual icons, stick with simple text labels. Use intuitive terms like “Home, Search, and Back” to avoid confusing users.  

 4. Minimize user input and error

No one would willing choose to write a novel on their phone – it’s hard to see, hard to type and people typically end up misspelling a lot of words. 

If your app includes a form or survey element, be sure to keep it as short as possible. Think hard about what fields you really need to include and ask the bare minimum you can without losing effectiveness.

Make sure you use smart features (like autocomplete) to help reduce user error and ensure accuracy. You’ll also want to make sure the correct keyboard type will pop up when a user goes to fill out a form – they shouldn’t have to navigate to their number keyboard when filling out a phone number, the numeric keyboard should just automatically pop up.

5. Respect platform guidelines 

Each mobile operating system has a set of standard guidelines to help you provide a high-quality app. Your app users are already familiar with the standard operating guidelines of each system, so it’s important to keep your design in line with customary procedures. 

Keep in mind that these guidelines constantly evolve – it’s important to stay on top of the ever-changing trends and guidelines for mobile app design.  

• Apple’s Human Interface Guidelines

• Google’s Material Design Guidelines

6. Include screen titles

 Users often forget what page they’re on, or they might just not have a good sense of where they’re at in the app. Including a simple title at the top of the page is a great way for users to get a better sense of the app and helps avoid them repeatedly navigating to the same page. 

And as an added bonus, screen titles often give a page design a polished look! 

7.  Keep branding consistent 

Your mobile app should share similar characteristics with your main website. In addition to being an important extension of your branding, visual inconsistency may lead users to be suspicious of your app or cause them confusion. 

You not only want to match the look of your app to the rest of your branding, but you also want to keep elements in the app cohesive throughout your interface. For example, typefaces, buttons, and colors should be consistent on every page of the app. Every element should have both a native and branded feel to encourage user trust. 

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About Hue & Tone Creative

Hue & Tone helps businesses of all sizes build credibility and connection with intentional design. Whether you’re looking to create a mobile app or a traditional website, we’re here to help your business grow through thoughtful design. Contact us to get started. 

Preparing for your employees to gradually start returning to the office? Posting helpful reminders about appropriate social distancing measures can help create a safe environment.

Select from 5 designs, or download all 5 of them. These signs are formatted to be 8.5x11 so you can easily put them in standing sign holders, or tape them up.  

If you’re looking for more detailed posters, the CDC has a selection of downloadable signs. Or, if you’re looking to share custom guidelines with your office, reach out – we can help design any signage you might need.

Click the sign you would like to download, or download all five designs here.

A note from Hannah Pomphrey, Owner of Hue & Tone Creative 

Five years ago, I took a deep breath and hit publish on this blog’s first-ever post. I was announcing that I was chasing my dream of opening a small business and founding Hue & Tone, a creative-services firm focused on all things design, marketing, multimedia, web and social. 

A half-decade later, we are facing an uncertain, deeply challenging time throughout the world. As I continue to work on behalf of my clients – from a safe social distance – I am reflecting on all the last five years have brought.

It’s been quite a journey: we set up shop in Revolution Mill, one of the most exciting reclamation projects in Greensboro’s history, and later made the move to the vibrant center of downtown Greensboro (once we’re able to be safely out and about again, you can find us at 301 South Elm Street). 

We’ve helped major corporations, small businesses, startups, nonprofits, government and advocacy organizations, and individuals upgrade their branding, hone their message, reach their audience and tell their story. We’ve created everything from brochures to bus wraps. 

But during this time of physical distance and social solidarity, what matters most to me are the relationships we’ve been able to build. 

From working with the Chamber to volunteering for nonprofits I’m passionate about, seeing Hue & Tone become part of the fabric of this community has been the most rewarding part of the job. We’ve had the privilege of providing design assistance for organizations that do enormous good in the Triad and beyond. 

We’ve been able to participate in the growth and revitalization of this city we call home, working with clients like the Self-Help, Greensboro Downtown Parks, and Triad Local First. On a personal level, this has been a time when I’ve put down roots – I purchased my first home in Greensboro in 2017 – and Hue & Tone has put down roots in Greensboro, too. 

It’s been our honor, for the last five years, to work with Greensboro business owners and nonprofit leaders of all stripes – from law firms to ASL interpreters to our local universities. 

I am so proud to be part of Greensboro’s business community and, despite the many uncertainties of this time, I am confident this city full of creative, adaptable, and open-hearted people will rebuild and rebound from the challenges we’ve facing.

We’re looking forward to the next five years, and being part of that rebuilding along with our friends in Greensboro’s business community.

The view from Hue & Tone’s office.

It’s easy to spot a bad logo once it’s been created, but what should you be on the lookout for before the design process even begins? 

We see poorly designed logos every day – sometimes as a result of shoddy design work and sometimes as a result of miscommunication between client and designer. No matter what the reason, it’s important to know what makes a good quality logo before the design process even begins. 

If you’re just beginning to consult with a designer – or, you’re a novice designer just getting into brand design – we’ve got 7 common mistakes for you to look out for. 

1. Not considering black and white

If your logo relies heavily on gradients, 3-D effects or a specific color then you’re setting yourself up for failure. No element of your logo should only be distinguishable or in context when the logo is in full color. A properly designed logo will have a strong form and be recognizable as your brand even when printed in black and white. 

You don’t want to embroider your logo on hundreds of shirts only to find that it’s no longer identifiable. If you make sure to create a black and white version of your logo in the very early stages of the branding process, you’ll save yourself from any unhappy surprises down the road.

2. Not designing for all formats 

Every good logo needs to work for something as large as a billboard, but should also be able to printed on something as small as a lapel pin. 

Your logo should be future-proofed – meaning that no matter where it needs to be printed in the future, it will still work well. If your business needs a new branded product, you shouldn’t need to engage a designer to update the logo to make sure it works well on a new product. 

 However, designing for all formats may mean that you have multiple variations of your logo. That doesn’t mean your main logo isn’t effective, it just means that your designer has thought through all the possible applications and designed something that will work for every medium. 

3. Getting too trendy 

A properly designed logo might not look exactly like everyone else’s – and that’s a good thing. Your designer should be creating an original graphic based on your business and it’s unique appeal to customers. 

While you might want an ultra-sleek mark that mirrors what you see Google or Facebook doing, that doesn’t mean it’s the right look for your business. Your logo should be distinct and unique to your business and you shouldn’t get caught up in what everyone else is doing. If you do, chances are you’ll have to update things a few years down the road when the rest of the design hivemind sets its sights on a new trend. 

4. Utilizing raster images 

A professional logo requires professional software – any logo you’re able to create using freeware or that is delivered to you in a JPEG format isn’t going to work down the road. 

When you engage a designer be sure you request your logo in a .EPS or .Ai format – these are vector file formats, meaning they can be scaled to ANY size down the road. Beware, a Photoshop file is a raster image, meaning there’s a limit to the size it can be scaled. 

5. Tacky symbols and excessive inclusions 

There’s no need to include copyright symbols, “LLC”, “Inc.” or registration symbols in your logo. They clutter up the final design and are often distracting from the rest of the logo. Other than on tax forms, you should leave these designators out.  

6. Not investing in a quality designer

Whether you hold a contest, ask a friend to design your logo, or utilize somewhere like Fiverr, you can expect to get what you paid for…. or didn’t pay for. 

Logos are important, which is why they typically cost thousands of dollars. If you don’t budget accordingly, you can expect to cost yourself money down the road when you run into problems with your file formats, scaling… or even issues like plagiarism. 

7. Creating a logo, but not a brand 

While your logo may be a crucial building block for your brand, it’s not your whole brand. Don’t make the mistake of stopping the design process after your logo has been created, because it’s just one piece of the puzzle.

A well thought out set of brand colors, typography, alternate marks, and brand symbols are all crucial to creating a full brand identity. Before you engage a designer, make sure they can help you with the whole branding process and don’t intend to send you on your way with just a logo.  

We suggest asking for a brand guide or brand sheet that outlines all the elements of your brand and how to use each. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your logo and branding partner 

Your logo is a major investment – so pick the right design firm to invest in. Hue & Tone Creative is a boutique design firm specializing in all things visual, and we would love to partner up with you on your next big rebrand. 

Negative social media reviews can feel like a nuisance – but if they’re mishandled they can turn into a much bigger problem. But, handle them properly and you can even turn a doubter into a return customer. With the right response, you’ll have the opportunity to turn a bad situation into an opportunity – and you’ll be able to keep negative reviews from harming both your reputation and bottom line.  

It can be easy to get emotional when your business is being slammed online, but these days it is just part of doing business. Ghosting negative reviews or retaliating with something less-than-business-like just won’t do, and here’s why:

• 97% of customers read reviews before buying

• 89% see them as an essential pre-purchase resource

• 85% of all consumers actively look for negative reviews

• And 91% of consumers 18 to 29-year-olds look for negative reviews 

1. Take the emotion out of it

The bad review isn’t a personal attack on you and thinking that it is will only rile you up further.  So, put on your business cap and get in a good frame of mind before you start typing. 

We suggest thinking of online interactions just like you would in-person customer service interactions. Just because you’re not face-to-face with a customer, doesn’t mean you should treat it as any less important of interaction. In fact, your digital comments have much more potential to amplify than your in-person discussions, making it that much more important to treat them carefully. It’s not just the customer who sees your response, it’s their friends, your friends, and people who like your page. 

2. Act promptly

Want to take your good reviews one step further? Here’s how to create a killer case study.

We get everyone is busy, but it’s crucial that you make time to respond to your negative reviews -- and the sooner the better. This is important for a couple of reasons: 

1. It gives the customer less time to stew on their complaint and get even more worked up

2. Fewer people will come onto your page and see just their side of the story

3. It shows that you’re responsive and invested in their thoughts 

Don’t replace quality with speed of response though: It’s better to take 10 minutes to put together a well-thought-out message then it is to publish the first thing you think of. 

3. Restate the complaint

One of the first things the reviewer wants to know is they’ve been heard, so be sure to rephrase their complaint in your response. For example, if their review was something along the lines of “I was really unhappy with how long it took for my package to arrive.”

You could start yours with “Hi [name], We’re sorry to hear you weren’t happy with the delivery time for your package…”

4. Don’t play the blame game

It’s natural for your first instinct to be to give a reason behind why. Avoid responses like this:  

• “We were short-staffed because John was feeling poorly.”

• “One of our vans broke down so we were playing catch-up.” 

• “It was an unexpectedly busy period for us.” 

The reality is people don’t usually care why it happened and if you go down this road, they might think you’re just making up excuses. Instead, counter with something like: “This isn’t the standard of service we’re known for and we’d like to do everything we can to make up for it.”

5. Weave in some positives

It’ll give onlookers a reason to still choose you. Sticking with the delivery issue, this could be something like “We pride ourselves on timeline delivery – in fact, we delivered over 100,000,000 packages on time last year. We’re sorry to hear you didn’t receive the same punctual service we’re known for and we hope it won’t stop you from trying out our service again.” 

6. Offer a solution 

Tip: So that people don’t think you’ve gone silent, reply in the thread saying “We’ve heard your complaint and are going to send you a private message so that we can collaborate on a solution for this issue.”

Take the discussion offline to work out a resolution -- you don’t want to air it in public and for everyone to think that your answer is standard. And, if you say you’re going to do something, do it, otherwise, you’ll just end up with another angry review.

7. Ask them to edit it

If you’ve worked the situation out with your customer, it may be worth the risk of asking them to edit or update their review. We don’t suggest asking them to remove it completely, because you run into the risk of them broadcasting that you tried to keep them quiet. 

Also, remember to make this kind of request in private too, it’s not necessarily the type of thing you want either existing or prospective customers to see.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Partners in social, design, and marketing

Need some social support? Just can’t handle one more bad review? You can count on us. From planning out your content to boosting your online presence, we’ll get your social media pages back on track. Get in touch at (336) 365-8559 or hannah@hueandtonecreative.com to figure out how we can partner together.

The old adage that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression holds particular relevance when applied to the world of business.

Company representatives are continually vying for the attention of prospective clients and business cards are widely regarded as a quintessential tool for both seasoned pitchers and entry-level rookies, as they strive to broker deals with new customers.

The lure of a well-designed business card shouldn’t be underestimated; a suave, stylish product can instantly grab the attention of a prospective client, while an uninspiring, drab design will be confined to the trash.

Despite digital platforms dramatically altering how businesses communicate, the popularity of business cards has shown no signs of stagnating. There are a staggering 27 million business cards printed daily, with many acknowledging their capability to successfully connect businesses with clients when designed in a compelling, engaging way.

How Can Business Card Design Instill Client Confidence?

Want your logo to convey a feeling of creativity? Color can help you do that. Find out what colors convey a what emotion here.

Trust is an indispensable element to any business relationship - if a brand doesn’t convey reliability, then this will have a detrimental impact on conversion rates.

A well-designed business card has the potential to set the tone for how you treat your customers, what your business is like, and how you professionally conduct yourself.

When considering the design of a business card, meticulously plan each detail and consider how they reflect both you and your core values. For instance, what are the connotations of the coloring and fonts used? Is the typeface reflective of your personality?

Every detail should hold relevance, communicating to your intended audience what they can expect, should they decide to join forces and collaborate with your firm. 

2020 Business Card Design Trends

While business cards of yesteryear paid homage to simplistic ideas, modern-day entrepreneurs and professionals are continually opting to embrace a variety of cutting-edge designs, using their business cards as a medium to convey their brand identity, as well as communicate their personal contact information.

Research has indicated that over 80% of business cards get thrown away in less than one week, a quandary that can be rectified by paying attention to emerging design trends.

With a whole host of designs available for your company to choose from in 2020, here are a select few that are sure to catch the eye of potential clients at networking events and meetings this year.

Interactive Business Cards 

The days whereby business people are forced to settle for a conventional business card are long gone, with many embracing an interactive alternative.

While contact details are undoubtedly the most significant part of a business card, offering an interactive product is a wonderful opportunity to convey your character, ingenuity, and flair.

From branded seed pouches for gardening companies to perforated designs for divorce lawyers, there are a variety of ways that an interactive card can represent your craft - all it takes is a sprinkle of imagination! 

QR Business Cards 

In 2019, a mind-blowing 5 billion people owned a mobile phone, with many gaining access to the QR code feature.

Given the dramatic growth of digital culture, more companies are deciding to incorporate QR codes into their designs and acknowledging the benefits a QR business card brings to the table.

QR codes enable the distribution of essential information to customers while saving space on the card itself; more information is offered in digital format, without compromising the sleek design. For example, by simply scanning the code, clients can gain access to informative videos about the services that a company offers.

A common downside associated with business cards is the difficulties associated with tracking their effectiveness or their impact on the customer journey. However, QR codes can be tracked with a series of online tools, providing valuable insight into audience behaviors, etc. This data can then be evaluated and used to influence future marketing campaigns, and so forth.

With mobile phone users on-screen time amounting to an average of 35 days per year, stats such as this bode particularly well for businesses who are bridging the gap between reality and the virtual world.

Perforated Cards

The business world is shaped by competition, so what better way to oust your rivals than offer customers an immediate business incentive upon receiving your business card?

A quirky design that’ll grab the attention of potential clientele, perforated cards are split into two parts and are a fantastic way to entice customers with introductory coupon offers that can be torn, without compromising the essential information printed on the other half of the card.

Deviate from the Norm… 

Rule of thumb dictates that business cards are traditionally rectangular, but in the world of design, rules are made to be broken.

Previous years have seen designers create cards that come in a range of shapes and sizes. These alternative designs are set to continue into 2020 and introducing subtleties within your design can introduce an elegance that’ll set your business card apart from the competition.

For instance, rounded edges give a card a sophisticated finish, while a more daring die-cut can make your card particularly striking. 

Furthermore, simple amendments to orientation can make a notable difference, presenting an opportunity to experiment with new typefaces and formats.

Minimalism 

While some may favor the innovative approach when designing their new business cards, a legion of traditionalists will argue: Why fix something that isn’t broken?

A design trend popular during the 20th Century, minimal business cards have survived the test of time and continue to prove popular amongst many businesses, so much so, that this design trend is expected to continue into 2020.

Minimalistic business cards convey key messages in a condensed, yet effective manner. This design is often used to increase visibility and readability, whilst also creating a sense of intrigue, in turn, prompting potential clients to get in touch for more information.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your Business Design Partners

Whether you're a traditionalist or an innovator in need of inspiration, Hue and Tone Creative has a wealth of creativity, ready to be unleashed. Call (336) 365-8559 or email hannah@hueandtonecreative.com and we'll be delighted to help you get your brand back on track. 

Check out our favorite posts from 2018.

Every once in a while we like to take a break from sharing a new post to recap some of our most popular posts. For the last few years, we’ve kicked off January with a rundown of some of our best posts from the previous year.

To start off 2020, we’ve compiled our 5 most read posts from 2019!

Top Read of 2019: 5 Ways to Incorporate Social Media Into Your Placemaking

It’s time to figure out how to marry your social media strategy with more traditional placemaking efforts. That’s called Digital Placemaking – and PPS defines it as “the integration of social media into Placemaking practices, which are community-centered, encouraging public participation, collaboration, and transparency.”

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More Great Free Fonts to Download

Finding the perfect font is no easy feat. For starters, there’s an unfathomable number of options to choose from. Even once you select a font, there’s a ton of variables that can interfere with what does and doesn’t work - but if none of those are speaking to you, we’ve pulled together another list of ten great free and easy to download fonts.

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Belief In Business: 2019 is the year of Woke Advertising

Is there a place for advertisers to take a moral, ethical, or political stance in their marketing? Historically, brands have avoided contentious topics for fear of upsetting, disgruntling, or outright alienating their audience. But, in an increasingly polarized political climate, playing on identity and political belief can lead to a big buy-in. 

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4 free welcome email templates

Why are welcome emails so important? If done right, they engage new customers straight away by prompting recipients to start the next stage in their customer journey -- and they also provide a means for you to follow up on any value propositions you promised (a new customer discount, for example). 

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Back to Basics: Google My Business

Need a new way to aid your organic traffic efforts? Then look no further. Google My Business is a free, easy, and proven method that will help improve your site’s visibility in search results, make key information more accessible, and enable your company to cut through the crowd with a competitive edge.

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Most read of all time: 7 Squarespace Font Pairings

This post has made our lists of favorite or most read posts quite a few times! Still the number one most read article of all time, is our article on Squarespace font pairing suggestions. Although it may be tempting to stick with the default settings of your template, taking the time to select the right fonts adds depth and personality to your site.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Creative consultants in greensboro, nc

We specialize in all things design and color-related. Let us help you set up your marketing plan and then execute each piece of it with precision and accuracy. Hue & Tone is a creative graphic design agency specializing in logo design, web design, social media management, and more.

Don’t let your website slow down because of incorrectly sized images!

Sizing images incorrectly for your website can have a number of negative ramifications. Size them too small and they might look pixelated, but size them too large and they might impact the SEO for your site. Images that are too large can lead to slow load times, a higher bounce rate, and a lower SEO ranking.  

Putting time into figuring out the correct image resolution is worth your time, because high-quality visuals and a high-ranking site can say a lot about your brand. 

The trickiest part is there’s no such thing as a set size. Your feature images won’t necessarily match the dimensions of your homepage banner, full-width visuals won’t mirror blog post images, carousels will differ from collages...and so on.

 So, here are a few helpful hacks to help you figure out just what size your images need to be:

Use an extension

Tip: Chrome’s favored by most web developers and designers – if it’s not already your default browser, we suggest giving it a try! It’s especially handy if you’re in the process of building a new website.

For this trick, you’ll have to download and utilize Chrome as your Internet browser. If you don’t already use Chrome, you can download it here!

Once Chrome is downloaded and installed, you’ll also need to download Chrome’s image size extension. Once installed, you’ll be able to find out the size needed for every single element of your site.

Use the inspector tool

Another way to determine image size using Chrome is the inspector tool. This tool is built in, no extension or download needed. 

Step 1: Hit F12 or right click your mouse and go to “Inspect Element.”  

Step 2: Click on the image you’re looking to determine dimensions for, and you’ll be shown the information you need. Note that the first number is always the width.

 If you’re using another browser, you can still use this method, the process might just vary slightly -- here are a couple of video tutorials for Safari and Firefox users.

Bigger isn’t always better

 New to resolution? Read up on it in this blog.

Not sure which file format to use? Get the lowdown here.

In the world of print, the higher the image resolution the better. It results in a high-quality end product and has zero negative implications. When it comes to web that philosophy is flipped on its head. 

In the online world, large file sizes can hurt you --  they can slow your page load speed down, interfere with your visitors’ user experience and even damage your organic SEO rankings. You’ll want to use an image size that still appears crisp and clear – but isn’t so large that it negatively impacts your site. Here’s a few tips for striking that balance: 

• Find out the exact dimensions you need, and resize your images in Photoshop or Canva for a tailored photo size. 

• Try not to let large images or full-screen backgrounds exceed 1MB -- if it does, it could be a sign your dimensions or resolution are unnecessarily high.

• The recommended width for full-screen backgrounds is 2000px.

• Smaller images around your site - like thumbnails, blog headers and in-content pictures, should be no more than 300MB.

• If you’ve got the option in Adobe Suite, always ‘Save for web’ -- this will ensure your image’s saved at a web-friendly resolution by default. 

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Hue & Tone Creative: Websites for Greensboro and beyond

Already feeling overwhelmed? Let us handle your web design for you. Whether you want support finding the right photography for your site, resizing what you’ve already got, or building your website from the ground up, we’ve got the solution. Reach out at (336) 365-8559 or hannah@hueandtonecreative.com to get the process started!

New to shoppable posts? Head over to our step-by-step guide here.

Month-over-month and year-over-year, more and more consumers are making purchases directly on social media. One digital marketing company found that in the last 12 months, there’s been a 38% increase in the number of users who placed high importance on being able to discover and purchase products directly through Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.

When it comes to social shopping and visual content, here are a few stats you need to know:

• 91% of brands agree visual content creates more engaging shopping experiences

• 86% say their imagery enhances their discoverability

• 73% said visual content increases conversions

• 77% confirmed it deepened brand trust

Allowing users to buy directly on social media should be part of an integrated, multi-platform approach. When used in conjunction with good data, well-targeted ads, and great organic social content, you’re sure to have a winning strategy in place. 

One of the most important elements of that winning strategy is strong images. And, while the guidelines for each social platform are a little different, there’s one thing that’s true across every platform: high quality photography is a must. 

With that in mind, read below for details on how to tailor your images to each platform. 

Facebook

Regardless of what you’re selling, there are a couple of requirements your images must follow:

1. Each product must be supported by at least one image

2. The photo you use has to be of the product itself -- no creative interpretation allowed!

Once you’ve met those two guidelines, we also recommend you:

• Make sure your images are easy to understand and that they capture the whole of the product. That’s not to say you’ll be penalized if the corner of your wallet is cropped out of the picture, but clarity is key and consumers want to see exactly what they’ll be buying. 

• Use an image resolution of 1024px x 2024px or higher for a clear display resolution.

• If you’re worried your images don’t have a cohesive look, consider placing your photo on a white background. It’s a clean and simple approach that works well for almost every product.

• Take shots of your product in real-life scenarios. For example, someone wearing a handbag gives an idea of scale and also provides the opportunity to show off your brand aesthetic. It’s a win-win!

• Use the following image ratios to ensure your ad will display properly: 

  • Ad images on the computer: 470 x 246 pixels.

  • Images of ads for mobile: 560 x 292 pixels.

  • Images in ads with a vertical column: 254 x 113.

Instagram

Next up is Instagram – and whether you’re dabbling in shoppable posts or stories here’s what you need to know to ensure your images convert:

•  Consistency is key so make sure your photos reflect your brand’s personality. Users should instantly know it’s you when they scroll by! For example, here are two feeds that have a clear and recognizable look: 

Hubspot

Starbucks

•  Brush up on different composition techniques and experiment with them in your shoots. You’ll want to establish your own style over time, but if you’re just getting started there’s a few things that are usually a hit on social: 

  • Rule of thirds: Divide your photo into thirds (horizontally and vertically) and sit your product on the intersecting lines. More on that here. 

  • Rule of odds: Put five bracelets in the frame instead of four, it’s usually more appealing. 

  • Negative space: Ensure the space surrounding the product takes up more space than the product itself. 

  • Centered composition: Place your product in the middle of the frame. This will ensure your image crops well no matter where it’s being previewed. 

• Play with your exposure until your photos find the right balance. Or, play around with under and over exposure to give your images a signature style!

Photo source

Pinterest 

Need tips on creating a branded look? We can help with that – check out this post. 

On Pinterest, image quality reigns! Like Pinterest, Instagram is a visual platform – but Pinterest offers even less context than an Instagram post. Think of your picture as the preview for your whole webpage – even though you can create a long pin, you’ll want to get key text and a few grabby images up above the fold. 

• Pinterest recommends a 2:3 aspect ratio (ex: 1000 x 1500 pixels). Other ratios may cause your Pin to truncate and may negatively impact performance.

• Just like Instagram, you’ll want to bring consistency to your feed by establishing clear and consistent branding. 

• The images you pick should help people understand why your product or idea is the right fit for them. Pick images that show context and bring your topic to life. Clearly show how someone might use your product, try your project, etc.

• Text overlay can make your Pins stand out, adds context, and enhances your message. Keep text concise so it’s easy for people to read on their phones.

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Hue & Tone: Let’s Get Social Together

Need help overhauling the look of your social media? Whether it’s your creating custom images or finding the perfect photo, we’ve got the solution that fits your needs. Get in touch at (336) 365-8559 or hannah@hueandtonecreative.com to find out more.

Drive’s mission statement: Current and future women business leaders, connecting and building community through networking, mentorship and education. 

 More information here. 

When we connected with our friends at Triad Local First about their new women’s networking group, we couldn’t wait to be a part of what they were doing. Not only have we gotten to be a part of this amazing group – but we were also brought on to design the program’s new logo! 

Completed in May of 2019, we worked with the TLF team to create a logo, color scheme, and font palette that would speak to women entrepreneurs. Feminine, but not girly, TLF was looking to create a versatile and simple brand mark. 

Our logo design process typically involves 8 main steps: 

1. Initial Consultation 

2. Branding Questionnaire

3. Moodboard Design

4. Initial Logos (in black & white)

5. Tweaks and revisions (typically, 2-3 rounds)

6. Color Options

7. Tweaks and revisions (typically, 1-2 rounds)

8. Compilation of all final elements in a brand board or brand book (this includes the logo in multiple formats, patterns, web elements, icons, color palette, and font palette)

Quick tip: The moodboard a client picks can serve as a helpful visual guide for when you are selecting imagery for your website or social media.

One of the most underrated steps of this process is the creation of the moodboards. The moodboard stages helps us turn the adjectives the client has been giving us into a visual and helps ensure we’re on the same page. By designing them as the first step in the process our client has a chance to give us feedback before we get too deep into the designing process. If we’ve had a miscommunication during the consultation or questionnaire stage, we’ll know before we even start designing the first round of logos. 

After the TLF team had completed our initial client consultation and branding questionnaire, we were ready to jump into designing a series of moodboards for TLF to respond to.  

We typically present 2-3 moodboards to our client: each with a different look, feel, and color scheme. During this part of the process, we're looking to nail down which of the options feels most on brand -- it's about figuring out the general feel and energy that the logo will have. 

The four moodboards we presented to TLF incorporated a wide range of colors, textures, and wording that all related to the adjectives we received on the branding questionnaire. We weren’t sure which look was our favorite – and neither was the client! After a few days of deliberation, they finally landed on their favorite moodboard:  

Featuring bold women -- and even bolder typography – this moodboard connected with the powerful and playful vibe that the team was looking for.  

Here’s a sneak peak of the other three moodboards that were in the running: 

Using the chosen look as guidance, we started designing our first round of logos. Rather than interpreting the chosen moodboard literally, we used the feel of the imagery to help guide the first step of our logo creation. 

From there, we completed the other stages of the process: logo options, tweaks, color choices, more tweaks, and the final branding sheet. While we want to focus this blog specifically on the moodboard part of the process, we’ll go ahead and give you a sneak peak at the final logo: 

Have a question about the process? Want to see how we ended up at this final logo?

Don’t hesitate to email us and ask! We love sharing what we do with past clients, potential clients, or even just interested individuals. To connect, contact us here.

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Hue & Tone Creative: Your Branding Experts

Whether you have a new business — or are looking to rebrand your existing business — we can help. From logo development to creating custom social media packages, we’ll work with you to create a brand you can be proud of and brand elements that are easy to use.