Lessons

Lesson Info

Student Hot Seat & Q&A w/ Christine Tafoya

So, um, Christine has done the majority of my branding, but I took some elements she gave me, and I tried to do something myself. Not you. It's okay, but I think it could use some work. I think fun. Little antidote is that Denise and I named each other's companies by accident. When I first did her, what were we doing? I first did her identity for modern love. I think it was just Denise Birdsong photography and I did the tagline, Just modern love. Quite a debate to She kept trying to talk me into Denise Birdsong photography. And I kept saying, I want something else and she did the design and it was Denise Berg tongue. And then a day later, she sent me the tagline to the sport talking water left photography. And I was like, Photography has spotted the photography, so I made her switch it way out of that was awesome. And then a month later, a couple weeks it wasn't too long. She was sending me a little thank you note through email and she said, Dear Miss modern bubble bubble blah, and I j...

ust said, Stop going to go down here right now and get my get the website. That's it. I love that. And that has been that that's been years, like 34 years now. So, yeah, that's a fun. I think that's cool. And so I think the wedding page main pain is the page. That's the problem. You want modern love for Sardinia, so I like some of the elements, but I just I don't feel like it's refined enough. I don't think it's reaching the It's not refined enough. Go ahead. Well, no, I think that, um Well, there's a couple things I know that this site kind of messes funds up a little bit and, you know, we re sizes for different screen. So this one's hard for me to read right here. But I think that I mean, it's super clean the things right off the bat that I can that I notice. Is this too much space here? This does not extend all the way to the edge of the line there, which I would rather see like bigger photos, unless less space here in less space here. But I mean, you want to go out, you're going after that very clean super editorial I think maybe this phone could be changed a little bit. Are you happy with the overall idea of it? And it just needs to be refined. Or do you think that it needs? Because I know you. I know what that means. You're a complete overhaul of it. I just don't feel like it's quite refined enough. I'm not sure that if it fits, I'm not sure that if it's the images, I don't want that we could see your image is a little bit bigger and maybe with a little bit more detail, maybe we have. You know, I love this simple, but I think that, yeah, we could add to it a little bit with some detailed elements, even if it's just a little wine and here maybe a little bit of color. I think that's what I feel like. It's missing element, just a little bit of detail. Can we go to your blog's? There's there's the other photo. Can I stop the slide show? Well, that was quickly. It just flew by, but it was another photo, but a lot of white space off to the side where we can put tax and use for marketing great for postcards, especially for print work. And you know, a lot of people will on their, you know, that's maybe a good idea for your two on their sites. Have the photo with some text over laid to kind of start evoking that feeling right off the bat. I know I've seen you do that before with some quotes and just words that that that might be a good way to sort of customize it and make it look a little more friendly or higher end. Um, and then you have You have a lot going on. You have the three now. I don't mean a lot going on. You have a full plate, you have three different businesses and three different story of the three websites and three blog's that go along. So that's a lot to manage. And it's not cohesive. Well, it's getting that. I think it. I think it's probably getting there. The images were gorgeous. I mean, I just think that they're beautiful. And so these this is a landing page that now links to all of your different ball, different blog's, and I know we just updated and click on that Yes, We just updated this still with a super clean and simple look, but just did a quick logo. And this is agreeable of her images that link Teoh different galleries in I think this I'm very happy with. I feel like it speaks to the clients. I'm looking for their. I like the logo better there. I like the grid. I like this much better than the wedding page. Well, I think it's really I mean, everything is really, really close. So there's just a few things we can probably do to tie all of it together. And then one recommendation I had that you might not agree with, like I mentioned this morning. But, you know, when he said, I don't like to block, I never blogged. I don't get around to it enough. I have too much other stuff going on. And then I say, Well, is it necessary for you to blood? Do you have to have a blogger for each of these different businesses? Or is that overkill? Is that too much for you? Is it better to not blawg at all and just get rid of it than to leave it where you haven't updated it in two months and people see that I love looking at the date when the last thing was posted. Um, I'm you know, I'm not super fabulous as always. Updating my block will go in spurts, but it is usually pretty up to date. But I don't know how often you blogger, are you saying every couple of months or once a month? Once a month? So and And when you do it, you vlog. You put those images on Facebook, you have him out there. So I think Would it be simpler? Teoh, get just use Facebook as your blood. Would you like to kind of pull back and streamline that angle and really focus on making your sights awesome and focus on that? Sounds great, but they worry about Seo. What? I don't know what I'm doing with. Anyway, um, I'm not quite sure I can I don't know what happened. Um, but I do know I don't feel like they're cohesive. They grace looks beautiful. Um, thes need a little more work now. What am I looking at here? Where this is the wedding blocos wedding block c. And again, this doesn't extend that boat. We need to match up in lineup, but this is beautiful. Now, this is your blawg for weddings. And I can see your images better here within the candle in the website. So this is all beautiful. All right? I think, Yeah, I think you need some more detail. I think it needs to be customized a little bit more for you and to really kind of show the higher. And, um, you know, that's what you want to cater to. And you do City Hall weddings, too. So you have a whole blawg for just that. Um, that's a lot to manage. That's what that's a lot. It's good. It's all beautiful, but it's a lot for you to manage as a business owner. Eso this also also know this has the same look beautiful. So everything is very clean, very white, very, you know, kind of you letting of stars. Well, we're looking at it, you know, on big screens and different different sized screens. I usually I'm looking at it on my computer, but I think that we could make it very, you know, it could be very easy to tile with those elements that you have already existing. This is more of a brand refresh. Instead of an overhaul, make sure that font is consistent across all the platforms. Make sure that everything lines up and squares up, adding, I'm thinking, you know, even just doing something as simple is adding a tagline in a nice script. Want that's very legible? That's going to soften it up just a little bit and just maybe even adding a little bit of color just down at the bottom. I know that we started that we started. I wanted to mention earlier. The Grace brand started out being a very light kind of dusty blue. And, um, she that's what she wanted, That's what that's what I asked you for a ride. That and she just was like, I love everything but the color. It was just cool and it didn't quite work. Use different images, and it just was it was really beautiful, actually love it, but it wasn't quite Denise, and so the minute we switched it to pink, that's all it took. Everything else stayed exactly the same. But just switching that color, switching that you know, the color photos has the right color in it. So that's really helpful. All right, so just a couple of practical questions. One from Michelle in R v A. When you when you give your clients a package, Do you include a style guy? Dio? Yes, absolutely. I should have brought some examples of that, but yes, we give. It's either usually a couple of pages, but almost sort of like what I had for Adam. So it's going to show the fonts. It's going to show the patterns, the logo, anything that we've used in the brand. It's going to show it all on one page, and then we're going Teoh kind of break it down thes with logos these of the colors usually. Also, when I do a logo, it's going to be in more than one set up. We're gonna belong version. We're gonna stacked version. We're gonna have something that works and is again flexible for different, different pieces. You know, you've got web, you've got printing kind after me to get work throughout, so we'll show the different elements there. Actually, I can show you how how a brand guys look. Um, but yes, we include that. And then we includes all the individual elements in little folders, all separated out nice and neat. Gasam. So that's something that I think people out there when they're looking Teoh be hiring. Somebody should be asking for a style guide, but I also feel like what you've created for the post resource kit is a little bit of ah, Pinterest posting style guy. You know, that is, it's a good place to start, and you can be as creative as you want with it. You can change the size crop, cut anything you know make shapes out of any of the patterns. It's pretty flexible. It's fun to use. And again you can change all the colors. You can really make it tie in with what you already have going on. Cool. Yeah, You want a question or comment? Let's go for more questions. All right, Sue is asking a tactical question. How do you showcase your portfolio if your client style doesn't match your style? She has a customer who is a fast food chain, and the items on her site have kind of taken over the look and feel of her sight. Yeah. Can you address? Yeah, absolutely. I think that that I mean, it's probably a big client. If it's a fast food chain, that's like a big deal. And so I think it's a great place. Um, you know, she should definitely have the work on her site. But maybe just not on the front page, not on the home page. Keep it a little bit in the background. Also have a testimonial from that client. Kind of make a big deal out of the fact that you have that client, but that it's not the only thing you dio keep it, you know, back in the back pages. And, uh, maybe you have a list of, like clients we've worked with if you work with other big clients, but yeah, just just kind of keep it off the front and center. I understand. Or, you know, some clients you don't have to add, but that was probably great toe have on there. All right, this is a fabulous question from animal artist Christine. What do you What do you ask a person when they are working with you? In other words, what should we be asking ourselves? Sure. Absolutely. What we dio You know, I actually one of the questions I just started asking as I started getting more personal with people. So you know there's the general. What fonts? What color is there anything that you love? Is there anything that you really don't want to see here on day? I asked him for the keywords. I asked them to start thinking about those mood words, and then I asked him, What's your perfect outfit? What's your favorite? You know, what's your favorite thing to wear? If you could just get up and put on anything, how would you spend your day? If you could just do whatever you wanted and it gives me a lot of insight, you know, I get Oh, I would just wear, uh, breezy kind of flowy dress. And I'd spend my day at the beach with my husband and kids, or I get, I'd love, you know, pair of skinny jeans and heels and a leopard top and be at a cafe in Paris. So those are two different people s. So I kind of make them look at themselves and then also one of the things I do is I have them create a Pinterest board and that we do the secret Board and everybody pins to it. But instead of looking at that secret board before anything else, I'll go look at the rest of their Pinterest boards to get an idea of their style and who they are because they're painting that with just their brand in mind just me in mind, and they want to really focus, which is great. But then that way I can kind of see rooms. They love outfits. They love other areas of their life, that kind of tie into their personality. So hopefully that answers Great, thank you so much. Really helpful to know what we should be asking. Absolutely, absolutely so a question from Natalie Hickson as wondering, Do we need to use the same font in our pins on our Pinterest page that we use on our websites? Or can we use different fonts for pin? I think that that's an awesome question. I think that for if you're if you're promoting your website through that pin, yes, absolutely. Use the same phones and keep them consistent. If you're I mean, I know it's kind of tricky. I think that keeping your phones is consistent throughout all platforms is really your best bet try to do that. You can add the little fund funds as an accent to some things, especially for Pinterest. But I was still try to keep true to your brand as much as you can with the funds Jennifer Kent is asking as a solo preneurs. What's a good starting point when it comes to creating your brand? Say that the 1st 3 things that you should do, Um, look at other people, be inspired by other brands. Start pinning other brands that you love or that you just feel inspired by you. Maybe don't have to know why you love them, but just start, you'll start seeing a theme as you as you do that it is. It's not like I said, You know, I get a lot of graphic designers of people saying, I don't really know where to start to do this for myself and it's hard. It's not a one answer question, but I think that, you know, looking for gathering as much inspiration. And also don't try to sit down and do that all at one time. I don't think I'm gonna sit down this afternoon and figure out exactly what I want by going on Pinterest. Look through magazines, look through design magazines, go to the bookstore, look at other photographers. Look at other designers. Look at brands, clothing, fashion, started gathering. You know, what is it that I like to? I like a lot of white space, So I love black and white and I always sort of attracted to that, and you'll just really start to see a repeating pattern. That's that's, you know how I do it anyway. So question from Linda Travels and the question is, how do we change fonts on board titles in Pinterest? That's a Melanie question. No, I don't think you can. No, no. The one thing that Melanie was saying and I've seen done as well and I kind of have to thoughts on this. But some companies will go in and create little covers for each of their photos to keep it super uniform and super nice. And that's the way that you could introduce Ah, font that resonates with your company by creating a little image. Or I've seen colored people do just blocks of color and then a font over it. But I kind of feel like pinch arrest is supposed to be about seeing those images you've pinned right off the bat. And that's why I want to go look at someone's, you know, pin boards, because I see Oh, that's a pretty dress. Oh, I love that flower arrangement. I'm attracted to that. And now I'm gonna go look what they have to offer and follow them. Might be less likely to do that if they're sort of ah, face up. So I'm not sure, But that's a good way to introduce once. I don't think you can do it. Otherwise, yeah, Earl named Michael is asking if you can offer any tips on taglines. That's a hard line. I just it just don't Don't think too hard. Don't think about it too much. Just kind of Let it come to you as you are putting your branding together. Think about that person who you, you know, are talking Teoh and what what they want from you and what you're giving to them. But yeah, don't overthink it. That's that's kind of my advice on everything. Everything thing. Tell everybody again where they can find you online. We've been dropping it like crazy deluxe modern design dot com and that's links to our blawg. Our shop, basically anywhere 30 is kind of. And Melanie, do you have any parting words with regard? Teoh working with somebody like Christine or how people should go about finding somebody like Christine in their local? They want to work with somebody local or what have you? Absolutely, and bringing it back. Teoh optimization, right? I mean, this is beautiful. We can all look at these gorgeous images and forget the rial results that he's a cheat. I mean, it's obviously emotional. It's pretty. We appreciate it. But this does increase conversion rates. I mean, I'm gonna come here and drop that conversion rates after we talked about you know, all this beautiful inwards and imagery. But it's true the reputation your brand has, the people that will want to work with you and your company, the people that will want to hire you when your brand looks this way. And that's why we're talking about visual marketing. It is a very effective form of marketing. I'm sure you can all tell just how differently feel about artful gentlemen after seeing the way that Christine has created this gorgeous imagery and this this idea and this person that you want to be a part of. So I think in terms of working with someone like Christine, it's very easy to see why it's a great investment and again I will push you. It took us a long time to invest in hiring the right designers and the right people. And in fact, Christie and I were talking Thio thio. But it is something I can really relate. Teoh, where you think when is the right time to invest in my logo? And it's funny, cause a lot of the times I do teach that, you know, sometimes your logo isn't the most important first place to start and particularly its gonna hold you back. And you think, why don't have $1000 spent on logo designer? I don't have this. You can always start with something, and then when you're ready, when you can make that commitment again, it's always probably going to be a little bit earlier than you're quite ready for. But when you take the leap and you invest, you partner amazing photography with incredible design, you have a brand looks like a 1,000,000 bucks and a brand that is going to get attention and get people who want to work with you, who want to buy your products and they want your services. So I think this does ultimately come back toe open optimization and in terms of where you can find someone, I mean, obviously they're scaling across the board. You can work with someone like Christine and start with something like logo design and then move on to bigger things, like website and social media and see where your priorities are. But it is something that I think I have tried to not hire professional before, But you are a lot of heads. Get what you pay for. Yeah, and it does. I have had clients say I have doubled my business and would not say that if if I haven't heard that more than once because you're confident putting yourself out there, not only are the clients no attracted and you're attracting the right kind of clients that you want by creating a brand that you love, but they can feel it and there's there. They're spending the money, and you will increase sales by doing it. I wholeheartedly believe that from personal experience, I know that to be true as well. So our final segment is going to be really breaking down and optimizing your website. And, you know, Christina's on a beautiful job, doing some of our hot seats talking about design, but I've been off to the side like way segment is is we're going to talk about, you know, obviously, design is so important. But then also the layout, the way you have things, organized ways, the perfect the perfect product page talking about different pages on your site, how to optimize them. It's going to be a lot of fun. It's also going to be our closing segment, so we have some very special surprises lined up for everyone, and we are going to be doing some very cool before and after. So I want worldwide. I didn't start thinking about. If you've seen some results during this three day workshop, maybe you thought more followers. Maybe you've gotten just incredible clarity and what you want to use your Pinterest page for. Maybe you started with no boards, and now you have 10 boards were going to be hearing from our in studio audience, and also we want to hear from all of you about the results you've seen around this workshop. So we can all inspire and support each other through that. So come back after the break and you will learn my personal and tested proven strategies for optimizing your website.