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Thunderlight Studios is pleased to bring you ThunderBlog™. Presented by Bradley Stone (BradleyStone.com & Thunderlight Studios, Inc.), thus monthly Marketing Blog contains tid-bits and tip & tricks for marketing in a 2.o World.
June 1, 2010
by Bradley Stone
It is a fairly common occurrence for advertisers and designers to hear statements from their clients such as; “I think we need a new look.” What we hear is something entirely different but only on the surface. If even only subconsciously people generally know a logo doesn’t make a company. The “Look” part of it is simply the first thing that comes to a clients mind.
We are very visual creatures and it is not uncommon for business owners to think that they need a new logo or color scheme to “spice things up a bit”. But in the world of brands we don’t like to think of a company as simply a logo/brandmark or color scheme. While often times a brandmark can tell you a bit about the company usually when left alone they offer no meaning whatsoever.
Not knowing Arabic or Chinese when I look at the characters used in these written languages I can only guess at the meaning. However when I read an English word I have the luxury of having a lifetime of experience with it to back me up. Companies should think of their brands in the same way. You are not just creating a logo, color scheme, typeface selection or combination of these but an experience. This is what we like to call a “Brand Experience”.
You don’t need a new look… you need to offer your customers a new brand experience. Most companies around the world are small to medium sized businesses and simply can’t afford the brand consultants that are behind things like The Olympics, Audi, or Nike. You simply can’t “Just do it.”
So how then do you make your company the next Nike or Honda?... You don’t… You are not Nike, you are not Honda, you are _____ fill in the blank… Now you are starting to get the picture. It is your job to continually reinvent yourselves… to tell your own story… to envision your own future. And this is a ride you take your clients on and a ride they enjoy being on. After all isn’t that what drives you?
Even designers and advertisers are on the brand ride every day. When we landed on the moon one of the first things we did was brand it with an American flag. Without the brandmark of the American flag and everything it stands for that experience would not be as significant to Americans. These marks are more than the colors or images but the entire experience that they represent. Think of the significance of experience represented by a cross to a Christian. While these are profound and laden with history they represent something very similar to what every company tries to do with a brandmark.
It is not too difficult to see which companies play a role in your life and what type of brand experience they provide. Simply look around your office, at the shoes on your feet, the car you drive… you are on the brand wagon too. More likely than not when you purchased your belongings you did so out of not only the need for a particular necessity but for the experience that you would get from it. These experiences run deep in every sense. Women buy perfume, men buy cologne, we like the taste of a particular brand of pizza or coffee.
It may seem strange to ask yourself what does your architecture firm smell like but it could very well be a part of your brand identity and your customers brand experience. You may have never taken notice of these things because they are so familiar to your everyday life but as designers, advertisers, and brand consultants these are the things we think about. We carefully craft an experience that people want to be a part of. Brand experience involves as many senses as you can allude to in whatever medium you are dealing with and it is our job and passion to skillfully sculpt this story and experience with you.
If you look to tomorrow and want it to be different than today then… you need to get your brand on! ...and we can help!
May 1, 2010
by Bradley Stone
As creative professionals working in this vast digital design world you’ve probably come across the term “3D” a lot lately. Being the professional that you are you probably even followed up on it. Or perhaps you’ve never heard of it before in your life. Either way this manual will help you understand what 3D is, what sort of things you can do with it, how it’s going to make your life better, get more clients, save you money, and enhance your knowledge of one of the greatest artistic tools since the paint brush. So, even if you think you’ve seen it all give this a read. It covers everything from the most simple forms to Hollywood style 3D.
3D is an often misunderstood art form. Since the term 3D actually stands for “three dimensional” it’s sometimes misconstrued to mean sculpture. This is sort of true but not exactly. The big hype of yesteryear were those red and blue glasses. A lot of people still get that notion popping in their heads when they hear the term. The fact is 3D is not such a tangible thing as either of those but more a method of creating art work. The method involves using software that gives the artist the ability to sculpt in what appears to be 3D space. Unless you’re in a virtual reality simulator the result you’ll end up seeing is going to be shown to you in 2D. That is; you’ll see it in a magazine, on a film screen, or on a computer monitor etc. So you might say “Then what’s the point?” But, if you’ve ever taken a photograph or done an illustration and had the client say “What would the subject matter look like if you turned it this way or that?” Then you’ll really enjoy reading the rest of this manual because 3D allows you to do just that.
Since most of you who’ll be reading this are already part of the creative industry I’ll leave out the kids stuff. I won’t explain horizon lines and perspective points and just give you a very basic description of what 3D does and then let you see examples with a bit of explanation about them.
Traditionally if an artist were to draw a cube on a sheet of paper the cube would always be in the exact same position. You can’t turn or rotate a 2 dimensional object without it appearing to eventually be a flat plane. Right, you probably already knew that. So, in things like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator we’re creating 2 dimensional art. Once we’ve laid the final brush stroke down that’s it. The perspective is “fixed”. If you’ve just painted a beautiful illustration of the front of a house you’ll have to paint another one if you want to see the back. The only way around this used to be actually having an object to photograph. You could walk around it and take as much video/film footage, or photos as you’d like. But what if you wanted a deserted island or an expensive casino interior to shoot in? You either have to build it or rent it or usually fly all over and still, in the end, you’ll wish you’d gotten that one last shot you missed. Hollywood started to use miniature models like the old hobby railroad town’s grandpa used to have. This helped them to overcome the expense and time involved in traveling, researching, and project management. Then finally some brilliant guys and gals invented 3D software which allowed them to make any island or casino etc while sitting at a desk.
The quality of movies, print media, and television has taken great leaps and bounds since 3D software hit the scene. Costs went down dramatically and now we even have entire 3D worlds where movies take place like “Monsters Inc.” Or “Cars”. With the advancement of computer technology and 3D software we’re even starting to see 3D interactive worlds become a “virtual” reality. In fact one such 3D world known as “SecondLife” has opened up avenues for small business owners to have virtual store fronts and as of July 2007 about .75-2.0 million dollars is exchanged by these small business owners every 24 hours. But it’s not just small business owners. IBM, Autodesk, Coke, AOL, BMW, H&R Block etc are taking shelter in virtual paradise now. You may not be planning on cloning yourself into virtual reality just yet but it’s certainly not a fad. It is said that the popular online game of World of Warcraft generates over $100 million dollars per month in subscriptions. Not only is 3D here to stay but it’s growing.
If you read my last blog you know that in June ESPN rolls out its all 3D channel and if you’ve been in Best Buy recently you might have noticed the 3D TV sets being showcased. In the past I’ve had meetings with some of the largest players in the area and they wanted to wait because they thought they were too far ahead of the curve on the whole “3D thing”. In years past they would have been the all black and white channels while everyone else was already in color. Will they last? Who knows… But they are certainly playing catch-up now.
My advice for anyone with a business where television, DVD, film, or even web sites are a part of your marketing or identity is to start learning more right now. If you’ve been in business long you undoubtedly know that you’ll never know everything there is to know about it but you’ve also learned to trust your instincts. The most important thing you’ve probably learned is that you don’t steer your ship as much as you have to just go with the flow.Monday, April 1, 2010
by Bradley Stone
Panasonic signed a deal with Best Buy to roll out their new 3D television sets next year. Nintendo is rumored to be making its next hand held game devices with a 3D screen. Every film in the theater is 3D now. New software companies are joining forces with some of the largest 3D game card makers on the planet such as Nvidia and Intel. ESPN is launching a 3D sports channel this June! What’s next?
On a Discovery Channel interview James Cameron explains that we are in the end part of a very long transition similar to the transition between black and white television and color television. James Cameron believes that the question won’t be whether or not you’re filming in 3D but rather “are you watching in 3D?” With the rollout of next seasons TVs and the host of films that are being played in 3D the answer is probably “yes”.
For a long time people thought of 3D as a cheesy fad. Those days are over. While there are still people out there that believe that 3D adds nothing to a visual experience the vast majority of us realize that we see everything in 3D already. Our eyes are designed for stereo just like our ears are. We don’t listen to music in mono unless one of our speakers is broken. Switching between mono and stereo is an option. I personally liken it to poking one of your eyes out or jamming a pencil in your ear. I can’t see why anyone would want to experience life with only half of what nature has provided us with.
Most of the few naysayers left argue that they’ll need special glasses or that it’s all gimmick or that it lacks a sense of reality. I understand their point for a couple of reasons. One of the reasons people associate 3D with gimmicky tricks is due to the fact that most games are limited by polygon count. In other words games can’t display things as realistically as they should be so why make them 3D to boot? The answer to that is right around the corner with Unlimited Detail. Unlimited Detail is a technology that will make it virtually impossible to lag your computer with even the most demanding 3D realism. Artists are soon going to have their hands on the ability to make anything as visually realistic as reality. Until recently the limitations on the amount of detail people could put into a video game was astounding. As an artist and 3D designer most of my job has consisted of learning “tricks” to make sure a computer could display a close approximation of reality.
The next reason people believe 3D is a gimmick is because many of the films of the past we’re very cheap looking productions with stuff zooming out of the screen at you. The people making these films were constantly reminding you that you were wearing some glasses and watching a 3D film. Today directors, designers, and artists are much more subdued in their visual tactics. I’m glad to say that most of us realize that things that are jumping out of a screen, or simply things jumping out at you period, is simply not a pleasant thing. But to see in stereo like we do every day in real life is a much better experience than simply closing one eye and trying to navigate without depth.
Movies don’t have to be cartoons or done with expensive 3D software to be 3D. They simply have to be filmed with stereo camera gear and processed correctly in production. This means that a simple television commercial with no Pixar characters and instead real actors can be 3D as well. And with the TVs that are rolling out next year a lot of people who have turned a cold shoulder to 3D will have to step up their game. While I won’t go into every aspect of 3D in these blogs I do plan on giving you the
Once the new 3D TV sets are in countless homes your company is going to be asking “who can we get to make sure our TV commercials, educational DVDs, and promotional material are up to snuff?” Knowing the Art, Design, and Video community in Indianapolis my unfortunate answer is that your choices are going to be pretty limited. The problem is that most of the Ad Agencies, Design Firms, and Video Production facilities around Indianapolis should have been asking themselves, “ who’s going to provide customers with up to date style, technology, and design?” Let’s face it… It’s our job to make sure we’re keeping you up to date. Every day business owners turn to the art and design community to get what they think is the standard stuff.
Customers have been savvy enough to realize that designers tend to get pet projects or technologies stuck in their heads and then just go nuts trying to get a client to pay them to play with their new technology. But the fact of the matter is that while many of these technologies of the past that have come and gone 3D has only evolved. You don’t see as many Flash websites today as you did in the past but every day you see more and more 3D. It’s only logical. I mean, if you were recording audio for a project it wouldn’t even be a question. Nobody asks “should we record this film or album in mono?” And although it shouldn’t be a question people are asking “should we do this in 3D?” Well, the answer is YES! If you’re not planning for the future you’re going to be left in the past. The sad part is that we’re not even talking about a “future” technology here. But like most technologies we’ll only see it really utilized at the last minute. When every movie at the box office is filmed with stereoscopic cameras, every game is in 3D, and all the TV sets in the land are 3D will some people finally figure out that they should be at the very least giving it a shot.
Unless you were the type of person making black and white mono television commercials last year you should be looking for a company that will be able to provide content for all the new television hardware that comes out this year.
We’re not asking you to make the next Avatar. We know that being a true service provider means informing you that the age of 3D is upon us. While the scope of 3D is far too broad, and it’s applications too expansive to cover in a simple blog be sure to check out my blog on the Thunderlight Studios web pages. We will be trimming down the fat and categorizing all the information you need to know to be on top of your game.
Here are a few links to get your wheels turning.
If you are an investor you might want to watch these guys. And if not you’ll still want to watch these guys!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THaam5mwIR8
http://unlimiteddetailtechnology.com/
ESPN Launching 3D Sports channel in June 2010:
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=4796555
Best Buy selling Panasonic HD 3D TVs:
http://on.bestbuy.com/node/97
Want to hear what I’m talking about in the words of a real wizard? Listen to James Cameron:
http://news.discovery.com/videos/tech-avatar-science-behind-pandora.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1886541,00.html
All this should get you thinking. Don’t forget to check out the blogs on http://www.thunderlightstudios.com/thunderblog/marketing-blog.html
Monday, March 1, 2010
by Bradley Stone
The state of color in the digital world of modern graphic design. Well, it could use some help. As we've transitioned from the old days we've come into the realm of computers and software. Although calibrating your computers with your hardware can be a pain in and of itself software is starting to present the big problem.
Today designers are asked to deal with a host of color schemes. In the good old day we used to just have to deal with Pantone color but today everyone has a color scheme. Over the years I've done a lot of painting. Both traditional and actual house painting and decorative finishes and murals. This is actually where the problem presented itself for the first time.
Although I've done a lot of architectural modeling most people assume the color to only be a close representation of the final color. But that is slowly changing. People are starting to ask for custom palettes for various materials in applications such as Photoshop, Painter, Autodesk 3D Studio MAX and others.
My problem presents itself first in Adobe Photoshop. I'd like to have some sort of palette management similar to what has been accomplished in font management with Extensis Suitcase and Fusion.
A search feature would be nice too. I've posted this request to the Photoshop Feature Request Forums so hopefully we'll see something from them. If not programmers... run wit it!
These days everyone has a color palette and they are often times in proprietary formats or some obscure software format. So a lot of work is involved in getting... say a paint companies palette into photoshop.
Color Exchange Format is starting to work in the right direction. Tools will be needed to format these into other programs or support will need to be adopted by the software manufactures. I think that would be the best idea. More information about CxF can be found at ColorExchangeFormat.
Another place that seems to be developing a database of color palettes is ColorCharts.org. Unfortunate even though they have a wide database they still charge for their palettes. You'd think that the manufactures that they represent would put out palettes for free use for their patrons. This is what wins designers over.
While we wait for someone to attack this issue there are still a few free palettes and some cool color utilities out there. It'd be great to see these integrated into our favorite software but at least they are around.
http://www.visibone.com/ - Has tons of cool web color stuff, some free website palettes and a few other interesting things. Check it out.
Some Harmonies: http://freephotoshop.org/more/swatches/
Sherwin Williams paint color Photoshop palettes
Benjamin Moore palettes for Photoshop AutoCAD and more.
Some good skin tones but you have to sample them. Images here.
Great Adobe Color product site here: http://kuler.adobe.com/ Make your own custom harmony swatches.
Very cool online color harmony picker... exports palettes for you: http://colorblender.com/
Another cool one similar to the one above: http://colorschemedesigner.com/
Cool freeware color app: YS Instant Color Picker: http://youngsmarts.com/index.htm
Pull color scenes from photos at ColorHunter
Enter a URL of a cool image and pull a palette from it at: http://www.degraeve.com/color-palette/
This one is interesting.. enter a feeling, emotion, etc and get a matching color scheme: http://www.gpeters.com/color/color-schemes.php
There is an interesting javascript that allows you to enter hex codes in some input boxes and change the background color of the page in another location on my website. You can find that here. Nothing terribly useful but fun to play with... though the sites above make it feel a little lack luster ;)
Have any more links? Let me know!
For more information, contact Brad at Bradley.Stone@ThunderlightStudios.com or MagicHappens@ThunderlightStudios.com
Monday, February 1, 2010
by Bradley Stone
Well if you have email or a website you’ve probably received some amount of spam with the infamous 3 letters in them. So let’s break the secrecy and mystery around this right here and now.
SEO stands for “search engine optimization”. The basic premise of search engine optimization is to use keywords that the target audience for your website might type to find your site. For example, I’m an artist who does 3D work and on my site lots of people find me by typing “3D artist for hire” into Google. How do I know this? Because I’m also a web developer/designer and when you do this type of work you HAVE to know stuff like that. Yes, is amazingly fun to do… (cough, cough)… seriously though it’s necessary in the world today. It used to be that nobody ever “searched” for a company, unless you count a few seconds in the yellow pages.
Today however, quite a few people just type in what they are looking for into Google, Bing, AOL, or one of the other popular search engines on the internet. Everyone I know does this pretty much every day with the exception of my dad who still types with his index fingers only. Well if you’re anyone other than my dad you probably are familiar with at least the fact that people tend to search for things on the internet these days. And if you are a website owner then you KNOW that people can find you via a search engine. What you don’t know that? Ok, you know it but you can’t prove it because you haven’t gotten any phone calls saying, “I found your website on the internet and...” As “spammy” as it may seem SEO is actually a real thing. You do have to optimize your website for search engines.
Ok, let’s say you own a store that sells croutons, well when someone types the word “croutons” into Google and they find whoever has the most pertinent site for that word right? Well, that is the hope of Google but they don’t go out to every website and figure out which one is the most pertinent by hand. They use algorithms and other highly painful math like things to figure out just who should be shown when someone types in “croutons”. So as painful as it may be the guys sending you those spams telling you that you need SEO are actually going to attempt to make that person you. I say attempt because many of these companies “guarantee” a front page insertion for your particular keyword.
What if you are selling cars however?... Yeah, ok everyone on the planet is selling cars so I’d be willing to bet that they can’t get you on the front page of Google for the search term “cars” unless they pay an unreasonable amount of money. I’m not going to go into this guarantee and the legal mumbo jumbo of how they can twist that around to not get in trouble but the fact is that the real guarantee is that if you don’t do some search engine optimization you certainly won’t be found unless you are really, really lucky to have some uniquely named thing that everyone wants and the domain and copy on your website to match it. Most of us who are out on the net selling things need some form of optimization because we have competition.
If you’re like most of us you have some reason to get your name in search engines but no idea how to do it. Well that is where those emails actually come in handy and also one of the main reasons I’m writing this blog. I know it’s painful because I’ve done it multiple times and you could learn more about it as time goes by or you could pass it on to some spammer you don’t know and get some impersonal guarantee that you’re going to be on page one. But you’re probably like my other customers and smart enough to know that search engine optimization is only good if the people on the other end really know your business, your audience, and you. That is why we urge you to give us a call and let us handle the nasty business. Let Thunderlight Studios do the 'dirty work' and help optimize your wesite AND your sales today!
For more information, contact Brad at Bradley.Stone@ThunderlightStudios.com or MagicHappens@ThunderlightStudios.com
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All design, graphics, mock-ups, logos, artwork, concepts & other intellectual properties contained (herein referred to as, 'Content'), including but not limited to the design, structure, selection, 'look & feel' or arrangement of such Content, contained or attached is owned by or licensed to Thunderlight Studios, Inc., and is protected by applicable copyright, patent & trademark laws. This content may not be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, publicly displayed, or distributed to any other computer, server, web site or medium for publication or distribution or for any commercial enterprise, without the prior express written consent of Thunderlight Studios, Inc. |
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