reactions

We are happy honored, and humbled to receive word that MSLK won two out of the nine awards in the AIGA’s Making The Case competition! More than “just another beauty pageant” this competition emphasizes substance over style.

In their own words:

You know from experience that good design is effective design. But how do you prove it? Through case studies, this competition provides an opportunity for design firms to show not just what they make, but how they think. “Making the Case” recognizes narratives that demonstrate the value of design in a clear, compelling and accessible way. A discerning and qualified jury will identify submissions that serve as an effective tool to explain design thinking to clients, students, peers and the public in general. The case studies selected will be published on AIGA.org

Our two winning projects are our eco-art installation Watershed, as well as the 360° branding we created for the Figment Art Festival. It’s truly an honor to be recognized for the thinking that went into these two projects. This is often the most important — and overlooked — part for brands to leverage when seeking a design partner.

By popular request from clients, colleagues and friends…

On December 10, 2010, MSLK Principals and Co-Founders Marc S Levitt & Sheri L Koetting welcomed Maxwell Grey Levitt (“Grey” as he likes to be called”) — a beautiful, healthy boy into the world. For the past seven months, Baby Grey has been “beta tested” thoroughly, exceeding the rigorous testing of all MSLK projects. By now, he’s  been to more design critiques than most design school seniors, and — just like his parents — has shown a strong preference for sans serif typefaces.

Recently, Julie Gang (unquestionably the world’s most talented children’s photographer), took some incredibly cute portraits of Grey which we wanted to share with everyone.
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NYC is thriving despite this crazy heat. MSLK has rounded up another fab list of things to do this summer.
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At MSLK, we’re constantly working to improve our own social media presence while helping you improve yours. We’re big fans of practicing what we preach, and social media is no exception. We want to make sure that whenever we recommend something, that we have thoroughly researched it, tried it out ourselves and have seen results. Read more to learn about the ways we’ve applied the social media strategies that we’ve been talking about and how they’ve affected our own social media stats.
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Yesterday afternoon, MSLK broadcasted our third webinar for marketing professionals, Customer-Centric Social Media for Fashion + Beauty. If you’re struggling to create relevant content for social media platforms and are wondering how to connect with your customers while increasing your brand reach and equity, this is the webinar for you. In case you missed the presentation or wanted to return to a specific portion, the recording is presented here for your convenience.

You might have a company Facebook page, Twitter profile, Linked-in profile, YouTube channel, and/or Flickr page with a fairly decent following. Or you might just be getting started. Whatever the case, when thinking about creating content for these platforms, there are three questions you should ask yourself:

How will I increase my fan-base?
How will I keep my current fans interested?
What’s in it for everyone?
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The “like” button is everywhere these days, but you’d be surprised how difficult it is to entice people to like your Facebook page. A Facebook fan gate is one very effective way to provide people with a call to action to like your page. It acts as a welcome screen for a Facebook page that encourages non-fans to like the page in order to access exclusive content.
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Every fashion and beauty business is keenly interested in expanding their marketing into social media platforms. The natural inclination as a marketer is to approach these platforms as yet another media for traditional messaging and campaigns. However, this is not the most successful approach. Although brands should maintain a brand image on these platforms that is consistent with other traditional media, the conversation on social media platforms should not be a one-sided ad campaign. Social media should be regarded forums for customers, customer communication, and customer service.
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Hiring a graphic designer to create something isn’t an easy task. The best design is a custom-tailored solution that could only work for that specific brand. Therefore you can’t expect to go to the store and simply pick up a pre-made logo, package or website that “fits” your brand.

But if you aren’t buying something that already exists, how do you know what design team is right for you? How do you choose?

Over the years I’ve come to define a few telltale signs and measuring tactics. I  follow these principles when hiring a designer myself.
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Most packaging projects pose the same marketing and design challenge: How do you present a large amount of information within a small area, while simultaneously conveying your brand’s voice?

We know you have many stories you want to tell, such as your brand’s core messages, the product’s purpose, ingredients etc. Since you have limited time to engage with consumers, it’s important to eliminate the extraneous and be clear about the hierarchy of elements.  It’s all about balancing branding with information design. The brand is the macro story and is the first thing that should be noticed about the package. Following that should be the purpose, and the micro stories which could include benefits, ingredients, technologies etc. MSLK has found that the best way to examine these issues is by playing the role of the consumer in the retail space. What do I see when I’m 20 ft from the package vs. 10 ft vs. 5 ft vs. 1 ft?
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