Annie came to us in January looking for a fresh design for her business.  She liked the idea of something that looked hand-sketched, and she also wanted something elegant and feminine without being too girly.  Add to that a fresh interpretation of the traditional Asian culture and you have yourself a recipe for Annie’s new brand.

PROJECT SCOPE:
- Custom Logo + Watermark
- Custom Stationery (Letterhead, Envelope, and Business Card)
- Custom Pattern

Her old brand (Paper Kite Photography) looked like this:

And this is the final result:

Happy Thursday!

I took Sampson’s older siblings outside for some quick shots upon my arrival, and then we spent the rest of the shoot sequestered in the master bedroom.  (If I’m shooting newborns, nine times out of ten, I request to shoot in the master bedroom.)  There’s something about a congruency throughout an entire portfolio of a shoot that just tells a story better.  And I love the story that these photographs tell.

Happy Friday!

The search is on for new, undiscovered talent. NAPCP is looking to shine a spotlight on one of our industry’s brightest rising stars. And we need YOU to help us.

We all know how challenging those first two years of running your own business can be – learning best business practices, juggling marketing, branding, finances, equipment, workflow, all while consistently producing gorgeous portraiture for clients. We love the spirit and tenacity of those future greats in our community, and we are here cheering them on.

To give them a little push in the right direction, NAPCP is honored to host the very first Best New Emerging Child Photographer Contest! In a few easy steps, you can help us recognize those talented newcomers who you find inspiring. Nominate your favorite(s) here by midnight (PST) on April 11th. Our panel of awesome judges will narrow the field to five. You vote for your favorite finalist April 16th – 23rd. We tally up the votes and spoil the winner.

Qualities that NAPCP looks for in the next Best New Emerging Child Photographer:
- Passionate with the ability to inspire
- Consistently produces technically strong, breathtaking work
- Strives to learn and foster best business practices
- Exhibits commitment to community
- Displays a creative and unique vision

The winner of our 2012 contest will be handsomely rewarded with the following:
- 2 year membership into NAPCP
- $500 gift card to Adorama
- $150 gift credit to Design Aglow
- $200 gift credit to Jane Johnson Branding & Design
- $200 credit to use at Simply Color Lab
- Giclée Book from Album Crafters (valued at $300)
- Title of “NAPCP Best New Emerging Child Photographer 2012″, with exclusive official seal and bragging rights

The Rules:
- Nominee must be a professional photographer who currently operates a licensed photography business and is able to provide a Tax ID Number.
- Nominee has been a professional photographer for less than 2 years.
- Nominees & Nominators do not need to be a current NAPCP member to be considered.

We have a distinguished panel of judges that we are absolutely thrilled to have joining us for our 2012 contest. Our judges include:

Lena Hyde, founder and owner of Design Aglow - For the last 15 years, Lena Hyde has been transforming the way people view photography through her stunning philosophy of life as art, and by creating memories of childhood for clients around the world.

A hailed and respected professional in the portrait industry, Lena specializes in photographing families and children, “clients commission me to create their portraits because they want to collect fine art depicting their family.” Lena is well known in her market, and even nationally, for discerning clients who value the unique experience she offers. Her 3000 square foot studio is a beautiful oasis in the heart of downtown.
Also frequently published and internationally exhibited, Lena speaks as a respected expert in the field of contemporary childhood photography and teaches 1-2 national workshops per year. Lena is also the founder of DesignAglow.com, the premier online resource for information and products created for the success of portrait and wedding photographers.

Marsha Mifsud better known as the Savvy Photographer – Marsha Mifsud is an international photographer who has been behind the lens for the last 15 years. Marsha quickly caught the blogging bug when started her own blog in August of 2009. After creating this  fabulously popular photography blog~ The Savvy Photographer~ her small little blog quickly became a favorite place for photographers who desired to learn while being inspired.

Rachel Devine of Rachel Devine Photography - Rachel Devine is a commercial photographer who works in kid’s fashion and media. Her work has been featured in many places from Time Magazine to Target ads. She has recently released Beyond Snapshots, a book she co-wrote with her business partner Peta Mazey through Random House Publishing. Also wrote an e-book, Click! for Digital Photography School. Rachel continually photo blogs and chronicles life as an American ex-pat mom of 3 little kids in Melbourne, Australia.

Mariam Naficy, founder and CEO of Minted.com – Mariam is the Founder and CEO of Minted, a global community of independent graphic designers and an online store that prints and sells the best of their designs in the form of paper goods. Mariam loves building the Minted brand, during the Christmas season, she is very often picking up the phone in customer service herself. She has pioneered consumer Internet models since 1998, when she co-founded Eve.com, which was sold for over $100 million.

In addition to founding Eve.com and Minted.com, Mariam has worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co. as a financial analyst and at The Body Shop International as VP, E-Commerce. Fortune Magazine named Mariam one of the 10 Most Powerful Women Entrepreneurs of 2010. Mariam received her BA from Williams College and her MBA from Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. She sits on the Board of Directors of Polyvore and RealSelf.

Jane Johnson of Jane Johnson Photography and Branding Design - As an established graphic designer and art director, Jane Johnson brings a depth of media expertise to her work.  In addition to being a highly sought after photographer, Jane has extensive advertising and publication design experience.  Her current focus, logo & brand development and custom blog design for photographers, has added another genre of creativity to her growing list of successes.

Jane’s client base is internationally spread, representing countries that include the United States, Spain, Australia, and Dubai. Based in Bend, Jane splits her time between Central Oregon and Scottsdale, Arizona.

Nominate your favorite new emerging child photographer on the NAPCP Facebook page here.

Interested in holding your own marketing promotion or contest for your business?  Contact us for more information on our targeted social media strategies!

A few months ago, we debuted the brand new logo that The Creative Mama commissioned us to design:

Just a few weeks after it’s debut, Bree contacted us to create another logo for her.  This one would be for her other baby: Baked Bree – A Recipe, Food, and Cooking Blog.  Because our niche here is photographers, we love getting outside of that world to design for other genres.  So, of course, we jumped at the chance.  This was the logo she had been using:

Just like last time, Bree knew exactly what she wanted and designing for her was a dream.  Since she works with national brands she wanted a brand that not only represented her as a person, but also clearly conveyed what her brand stands for.  Her belief is that cooking should be fun and accessible to all people.  And since she loves all things lemon (whether it be in a dessert, decorating with it, or filling her home with the scent), the mark was a natural choice.  With that in mind, here is the new brand for Baked Bree:

Doesn’t it just make you smile?  And make sure to check out the Baked Bree blog.  Not only  does she love to cook, she also loves to take pictures.  Be prepared to drool.  And then don’t be surprised at the sudden urge to bake something.  Happy Thursday!

Facebook’s recent addition of the timeline for business pages was shocking at first but, now that it’s settled in a little bit, we think it’s genius.  The beauty of custom apps is that anything can be built in them.  You can recreate your entire website if you really wanted to.  From custom galleries that show off your work a little flashier than your competition, to monthly client features and custom marketing strategies, the possibilities are endless.  So what are you waiting for?

(P.S., in case you missed it, we posted a breakdown of what the timeline looks like for business pages.  You can read it here!)

It shouldn’t be a surprise that after the few projects we worked on, we were hooked.  We loved it so much that we recently partnered up with the amazing Miss Connie Gabbert to make hand-lettering a regular part of our logo design and branding offerings!

While we make a point to uniquely modify all commercial fonts we use for our standard logo designs, they are still at their core commercial fonts available to anyone at any time (if people are patient enough to hunt them down).  The beauty of hand-lettering is (aside from the fact that it truly is beautiful) that it can’t be replicated by universal commercial fonts.

So we’re thrilled to announce the latest extension of our branding services.  Here’s a peek at some of Connie’s handiwork.  We can’t wait to get it into your hands.

Our brand new hand-lettered logos begin at $850, with custom illustrations available as an add-on to your custom project.

Happy Wednesday!

Most of you are concerned about the welcome tabs (and other custom tabs) you’ve invested in having us design and implement for you.  Don’t worry – they won’t go away.  They will just be moved here:

And any extra tabs that don’t fit?  They’ll be tucked into this little drop-down section:

Custom tabs now have a wider space and will look like this:

The older, narrower designs will still load the same way, they will just be centered in the page:

Now, on to cover images:  I’m sure you’ve heard by now that Facebook has very specific Terms of Use for Business Pages:

- no contact information whatsoever (website, email, phone number, etc)
- no “like us” call to action graphics or “share us” icons
- no pricing or purchasing information, discounts, or purchasing information

Cover image size: 850 pixels wide x 315 pixels high.  (Hint: use unsharpened images for the best quality upon upload)

And finally, some marketing tips:

- Custom apps: tabs can be rotated as often as you like to be front and center.  One day you might want your welcome tab.  Another day you might want to feature a new product or special offering.
- Pinning posts: while you can no longer specify a landing page for your business, you can set an older post to be pinned to the top of your page.  This is where your call to action items can come in.  Upload a call to action image and pin it to the top of your page.
- Use the timeline features to build the history of your brand, telling quirky facts that aren’t normally included in a bio.  Clients love behind-the-scenes information!

There are plenty of articles online that explore all the new features further (including the new analytics content), so take your time to really get to know every nuance.  After all, Facebook is your best free marketing tool.  Happy Tuesday!

- 5×7 card template
- custom photoshop pattern
- pre-designed newsletter template
- Facebook cover image compatible with the new timeline layout for business pages

(Speaking of the new timeline layout for business pages, check back tomorrow for an in-depth look at what that means for your custom tabs!)

The Spring Marketing Suite is available now in The Bee’s Knees!