Hello friends!  We have a lot of banding projects wrapping up this week, and one in particular was wrapped up yesterday that we couldn’t wait to share with you.

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!

Happy Monday, friends!  We started the year strong with aspirations of a regular Quick & Easy Business Tip series, and then we published three of them in about eleven weeks.  Not terrible, but not what we were hoping for either.  Liz spent a good chunk of time on Friday getting us organized and scheduling out the next handful of marketing tips, and if it’s on the calendar I can’t not do it!  So, we’re back with Quick & Easy Business Tip #4:

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!)

Good morning, friends!  We have a little mid-week update for you in our world of logos and branding for photographers.  You may have noticed that we’ve recently been dappling in the world of hand-lettering with these logos:

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!

Once again, Facebook is changing things up.  And since the new timeline for business pages will be required across the board at the end of the month, I thought I’d break things down for you a little bit. We all are now familiar with the timeline feed.  It will be identical for business pages:

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!

Happy March, friends!  It’s time to think about your spring marketing and we’ve just launched a brand new product that will make your seasonal marketing efforts a little bit easier. Introducing Seasonal Marketing Suites! With a new set released each season, we’ve made it easy to keep your marketing new and fresh without changing your branding!  Our inaugural set features:

- 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!