The multidisciplinary trend spotting group, Trendincite Xchange, will be making a visit to MSLK’s studios this evening for a presentation and round table discussion on the future of social media. Trendincite Xchange is an independent group of professionals in the fashion and beauty industry who meet once a month to discuss trends they see emerging in product formulations, scents, colors, fabrics, materials, marketing, retail, and overall consumer behaviors. Participants include qualitative researchers, trend spotters, product developers, retailers, independent brands, and marketing professionals. If you’d like to join our round table group tonight, or in the future, please contact us at mslk@mslk.com.

Scrap the idea of getting a celebrity to endorse your next campaign. Instead, consider puppies, kittens, baby pigs and butterflies. Oh, and throw in a few rainbows and roses for extra points. The newest trend to work it’s way up from the blogosphere is the use of cute animals to market and sell everything from lotto tickets to high end fashion.

MSLK put our party and chef hats on to host the 3rd annual Spark BBQ. Spark, an organization made up of independent designers, holds a summer and winter event open to everyone, allowing for networking opportunities in addition to its monthly events specifically geared for creative professionals.

While I manned the grill for the most part, it was great seeing Old Guard members mingling with new members, who mingled with printers, copywriters, and business coaches.

One of the things which made this event so successful was the idea of name tags which had a pre-printed “Ask me about…” to spark conversations. A perfect fit for an organization named Spark.

Favorites “Ask me abouts…” included

“my new book”
“environmental graphics”
“learning to surf”
“Elvis” (which turned-out to be work-related)

and…

“California”

Maybe you’ll drop by for a veggie dog (or two) next year?

This poster series for the Bronx Zoo seems like a case of a great concept that probably never saw the light of day. The concept is so simple, yet captures the spirit of the Bronx Zoo so well. The designer simply uses the textures of the city to bring simple silhouetted die cuts of animals to life. The result creates a beautiful play between the city and the animal. It’s a great example of a designer considering context as part of the total design. Even better, it’s timeless and can be hung essentially anywhere.

My guess, however, is that these are only concept sketches and the design did not get produced. The downside to the concept is the cost of production. The design is deceptively costly, since a series of large die cuts can be very expensive.

Your chair is always there for you, day and night, 365 days a year. It never gives you any lip when you toss your coat over its back after a long day it without so much of a thanks. Think of all those times it’s supported you when you were feeling tired.

What about all the times you’ve strained it by forcing it to sit on its hind legs while you brag to your mom about how sweet your Facebook wall is looking these days? Nary a complaint from the stoic chair, the most loyal of  our four-legged friends.

So why do we make these poor things live out their days standing naked on a hardwood floor?

I’ve become HD-obsessed. I refuse to watch anything on television unless it’s at full 1080 resolution. I’ve also recently purchased a digital camera which shoots HD movies and have become so enamored with all the detail it captures, that can barely care what it is that I am shooting. (So much so, my hard drive is petitioning for an upgrade).

The flip side to seeing everything in crisp resolution is that you see, well, everything… especially the flaws. I’ve heard stories about famous actresses who cannot be cast because their bad acne now shows up clear as day on everyone’s living rooms due to the HD Revolution.

Naturally, there is a line of  make up to capitalize on this new reality and try to remedy it…

MSLK recently completed rebranding local, non-for-profit, arts festival, Figment. Held annually on Governors Island in New York City, the festival encourages people to find their inner artist and participate in any way imaginable.

The immediate task was to create a poster and supplementary materials for this year’s festival. In the process, we developed a simple yet flexible system for Figment to use in years to come that would help strengthen their identity and presence and still allow them to tap into a new creative theme each year. Read more about our process and see the results after the jump.

Websites have become the most essential marketing tool for businesses. One click from a customer is a valuable opportunity that can make all the difference. If created properly, a Website should instinctively lead visitors where you want them to follow.

In spite of the known value a good Website can bring, take a moment and think about just how many poor Websites you encounter every day. While not every business needs their site to be a high-budget multimedia extravaganza, every site should be effective, and properly targeted to a company’s audience.

Too many times people rush into putting up a quick site, thinking this will hold them over until they get around to the big launch. This is a fallacy—it is almost always far more difficult to rebrand an existing Website than to start with a good one.

In many industries there seems to be a huge gap between resources devoted to “old-world” marketing strategies and newer forms of media. Great Websites result from an ideal combination of marketing, branding, fresh content, and matching the right technology to the right design.

The biggest—and most common—mistake we see is that people begin their redesign without clear goals for the initiative. Most sites are redesigned for purely cosmetic reasons, overlooking the more crucial content, navigational, and marketing challenges that lie underneath.

Here are nine tips that can help ensure that the site you design today will be an effective investment for years to come.

1. Start with a plan. Just like blueprints in architecture, a properly executed wireframe shows you how the new site will function before it’s built. As you know, it is far easier to move a wall during the planning stage, as opposed to an actual wall during the construction phase.

Those same principles apply to Websites. Intense focus should be placed on a site’s functionality and content before the more subjective design phase begins.

2. Don’t be seduced by technology. A Website that is well thought-out and easily navigable will always outperform the latest technology in the long run. Hot technology features should be integrated only if they serve the needs of the site.

Don’t feel that you need to include the latest feature du jour just because everyone else is doing it. Forget about dancing babies and dazzling light shows. In the end, it’s the clarity and overall “stickiness” of the content and ease-of-use that will make the best impressions.

3. Get buy-in from all stakeholders. Too often we see one person or division within an organization pushing for a Website overhaul without seeking a buy-in from their colleagues.

Website redesigns are an enormous investment of time, and the late entry of a key decision maker almost always undermines the intentions of the group. Anyone worth getting feedback from at all should be involved during the planning stage.

4. Consider the writing on the wall. This is no time to go it alone, and certainly not the time to rely on gut instinct. Take a look at the statistics on your current site traffic. What pages are visited most frequently? Where are visitors becoming disengaged and exiting?

Seek feedback from your audience about what is and is not working on your existing site. Send out a questionnaire, conduct a phone interview, or form a focus group–whatever it takes. You need to hear what the people who use the site are saying, even if it’s not what you want to hear. Again, it’s far better to know this now, rather than after a costly overhaul.

5. Guarantee freshness. One of the biggest challenges with any Website is to keep the content fresh and encourage repeat visitors. Plan specific areas on the site that will be updated regularly, along with designated areas that can be freshened-up seasonally. This flexibility will allow your site to evolve naturally over time without changing its fundamental structure.

This can tie into larger marketing plans as well. When refreshing your messaging to match current trends, your Website will be able to round-out campaigns, and connect the dots.

6. Be memorable. Our philosophy is that Websites should give something back, rewarding the visitor with every click. That means turning the ordinary into the extraordinary. In the online world, it’s all about first impressions. In the minds of Web users, a better impression translates into a better reputation.

Be aware of this notion and strive to stand out. This can be an interesting navigational element, an engaging feature to set the tone, or simply the way the content is written with soft sell techniques. If people are looking at your site, they’re probably also looking at your competitor’s. Be better.

7. Plan to promote from the beginning. If you don’t tell people about your new site, trust me, no one will ever hear about it! We have seen others invest significant funds to launch a great Website, only to see no results.

A detailed marketing plan will enable you to create innovative promotions, online and off, that will drive traffic towards the new site. A Website is the mere beginning to a chain of marketing tactics and while engaging features on your site will spread the word, marketing in other medias will help drive them to your site in the first place.

8. Search and succeed. These days we search online for information about anything and everything under the sun. That’s why your site needs to be in the top 10 when people are searching for you. The best Websites are ones making effective use of search engine optimization practices.

The Internet has a plethora of information out there, and the higher ranking you have on a search engine, the easier it is to get noticed. Scoring higher rankings on search engines is an elusive art, although there are standard practices which should be considered from the outset, as it can affect the site’s very content.

9. Hire a professional. Your Website will likely become your most important marketing tool. So why would you hire your nephew, ask an intern to learn HTML, or in general trust your success to anyone other than the very best?

Websites are very complex pieces of software requiring an ever-increasing level of expertise to build. That’s why you should interview qualified teams to lead this initiative. The best way to evaluate their work is to see examples of their sites, and speak to their previous clients. Search for someone who best suits your needs and personality. The time it takes to find the right fit will pay off in the long run.

Following these steps will ensure that your investment of time and money is successful, generating income for you, and interest for your audience. Your Website is the greatest opportunity to engage and educate consumers about your products and services. Now, more than ever, you cannot let poor Web design and navigation cost you sales.

 This article originally ran in iMedia Connection, and has since been picked-up by a number of other publications in print and online, including Multichannel Merchant, Melissa Data, Business Management Daily, FuelNet, Cool Life Systems, X-Cultural Marketing, Commercial Investment Real Estate, and Lead Masters USA.

I realize that picking on Tropicana’s ill-fated new branding has become as common as picking on AIG’s improperly compensated managers. However, I’m choosing to lambaste Tropicana here not because of aesthetics, but because of their incredibly poor and inconsistent graphic system.

A few weeks ago, Tropicana announced that they are pulling their controversial new packaging that hit the stores earlier this year. When we first saw the redesign, we had the same reaction much of the public did: yikes. The rebranding seemed to strip Tropicana from its identity and positioning in the market and leave us with a product that felt very generic, lacking an emotional connection.

As a designer, I’m interested in how the brand ended up in this spot. I stumbled across a video of Creative Director Peter Arnell, from the Arnell Group, defending his design to the press. In my opinion, he gets a bit too cerebral about what the design elements represent and loses site of the big picture (a very common design error). Click here to see how he defends his design (a.k.a. a designer’s worst nightmare).

As the granddaughter of a highly regarded optometrist, I could probably write a very dry dissertation on how optical illusions work, but for today let’s just say static motion illusions are cool. For example, the image above isn’t a rotating GIF or a Flash animation, it’s an ordinary still JPEG. I  know it looks like it’s moving, but that’s just tiny adjustments in your eyes assimilating that movement. Pretty cool, eh? I could look at this one for hours. And while this is captivating online, image how impactful it would be in print.  Nothing says 21st century innovation better than a printed image that moves! Perhaps this should become the next campaign for Apple?

Let’s look at some more.

We’re big fans of Valentine’s Day here at MSLK. In keeping with tradition, we’re sharing some of our favorite things to set your heart aflutter. Whether you’ll be spending the 14th with your sweetheart or rocking it solo, we’ve found a little something for everyone to love.

MSLK prides ourselves on helping our clients stay top of mind with their customers. With a challenging economy adding to an already crowded and competitive marketplace, it’s more important than ever to stand out from the competition.

We’ve developed our favorite “Top 9″ clever tactics to get people talking about your brand — adding a positive shock value coming from companies that consumers would least expect.

I love cake and I have to confess, I especially love cakes from a box mix, which I think is a virtue because my mother never had to bake me one from scratch. With this in mind I’m sure you can imagine why I was freaking out to discover these instructions for how to use a box mix, to bake a rainbow cake. I can’t tell if I love, or if I am frightened by, the fact that the recipe calls for all diet products to make it ‘fat-free’, but I can assure you I’m going to have to try this masterpiece soon. Maybe I’ll bake it for Allison, who sent me this hot tip!

Japan, was amazing….
LEDs everywhere
rabbits everywhere
no sushi anywhere
low level electricity in my bath water
both of my friends are a foot taller than their mothers
I ate a fish head
our friend, Aaron Meshon, is big in Japan
love hotels are amazing
cat cafes are for crazy people
we are never allowed back at the karaoke bar

Sit back, relax, and take a trip to Japan, without the 17-hour plane ride and 2 weeks of jet lag. View our photo journal here.

MSLK was just featured in the January 15th issue of Investor’s Business Daily in article titled,  “Never Stop Learning: Retool to Lift Your Firm,” by Adelia Cellini Linecker.

During an hour-long conversation with the reporter last month, she picked our brains on everything from cost-effective marketing tips and strategies to time management practices. This resulted in a nice piece on the front page of the Leaders & Success section.

I was recently thinking about the “stuff” we surround ourselves with, and the degree to which good design plays into our lives, making it better or worse. Some designs are brilliant, rewarding the user — while others become dated, or were simply ill-conceived, resulting in disappointments.

In an effort to bring clarity to the “Form vs Function” debate, I asked the designers at MSLK to make a list of the items they encounter every day, grouping them into four categories:

1) Beautiful  &  Useful
2) Beautiful  &  Not Useful
3) Ugly  &  Useful
4) Ugly  & Not Useful

Click below to read what we came up with…

I just came across an article titled “Some Scared by Design Firm’s ‘Box’ Ad” which leads with the following:

“EAST PROVIDENCE – A graphic design firm’s offbeat marketing campaign backfired when a few of the company’s clients mistook test-tube vials they received in the mail for a terrorist attack and called the police.”

New England hadn’t seen this much action since the Boston Bomb Scare of 2007.

Two things are notable here:

1. While life has seemingly returned to normal post-September 11th, there are occasional reminders that “normal” may just be a relative term
2. There is a subtle, yet crucial difference between “shocking” and “awe-inspiring.”

MSLK is always recommending clever, memorable tactics to help our clients stay top-of-mind with their customers. However, choosing humor or fun as an attention-getting tool should never come at the sacrifice of conveying actual messaging about what your company does.

I was recently asked by USA Today to share my New Year’s resolutions for 2009 as well as my thoughts on New Year’s resolutions in general.

As you may know, we are just returning from an inspirational trip to Japan where we spent New Year’s with some local friends observing the Japanese traditions for the holiday. The Japanese version of New Year’s is far more reflective than the raucous good time Americans associate with the occasion. Gone were the streamers, noisemakers, balloons, champagne, and expectations of the “night of my life” and instead I spent a spiritual evening looking backwards, and then forwards.

It’s that time of the year.  MSLK is winding down and closing our doors for a little winter respite and regeneration. We hope you too will be enjoying a little R&R with friends and family so that we can all return in 2009 refreshed and ready. With the winter solstice behind us, I’ve been thinking a lot about how each day from now on will be getting just a little bit brighter. I am optimistically looking forward to a new year, a new administration, and a birth of green innovation to lead us out of this rut of global warming and recession.

In the spirit of regeneration, and with great appreciation for our fair city, our friends and our clients, MSLK has made a donation to the New York Restoration Project.