Sliced & Diced

Burberry : The Return of The Serif

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 14:53:39 GMT

In today's saturated and highly competitive world of business, it can be all too easy for a company to blend into the background

and become just another generic, forgettable brand. To stand out from the crowd and make a lasting impression on consumers, many international brands are turning to serif typefaces to infuse their branding with a touch of elegance, sophistication, and timelessness.

For centuries, Serifs have been used in traditional forms of printing and typography, such as books, newspapers, and advertisements. In recent years, however, they have been making a resurgence in the world of branding and design, as

companies seek to distance themselves from the sleek, modern sans-serif typefaces that have become so ubiquitous in

the digital age.

One of the most notable examples of this trend is the very recent rebrand of luxury fashion label Burberry. After only a few years on from Peter Savilles rebrand that went down to mixed reviews, Burberry sought to redefine its image once again under new creative director Daniel Lee. The company turned to serif typefaces to help achieve this goal, using a custom-designed serif font as the centerpiece of its new visual identity.

The result is a brand that looks fresh and modern, yet retains a timeless quality that speaks to Burberry's long history and tradition. The serif typeface provides a touch of sophistication and gravitas, while the bold, simple letterforms give the brand a strong and confident voice. This helps Burberry stand out from its competitors, who are often more focused on minimalism and simplicity in their branding.

In conclusion, we feel the use of serif typefaces in branding will become a growing trend among brands looking to set themselves apart or realign with their history. By incorporating these elegant and sophisticated fonts into their visual identities, brands are able to communicate a sense of timelessness, quality, and luxury that sets them apart from the crowd. Whether you're a fashion house,

a car manufacturer, or a cosmetics company, incorporating serifs into your branding can help you stand out and make a lasting impression on your customers.

Design Trends 2023

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 15:11:27 GMT

It's hard to predict exactly what the graphic design trends will be in 2023, but based on current trends and

developments in technology, we can make some educated guesses.

One trend that is likely to continue is the use of minimalistic design. With the increasing amount of information and distractions

in the digital world, clean and simple design is becoming more and more important for grabbing and holding people's attention. Minimalistic design also has the added benefit of being easier to adapt to different screen sizes and devices.

Another trend that is likely to continue is the use of bold, bright colours to help your designs stand out and grab attention. This trend is closely related to the growing use of gradients in design, which can add depth and interest to a design without being too busy

or cluttered.

As technology continues to develop, we may also see an increase in the use of 3D design and augmented reality (AR) in graphic design. These technologies allow designers to create more immersive and interactive experiences for their users, and we are already starting to see them being used in fields such as advertising, packaging design, and even fashion.

Finally, with the increasing focus on sustainability and environmental issues, we may see a trend towards more sustainable and

eco-friendly design practices. This could include using recycled materials, eco-friendly printing processes, and designing with

the environment in mind.

Overall, while it's difficult to predict exactly what the graphic design trends of 2023 will be, we can expect to see a continued

focus on minimalism, bold colours, the use of new technologies, and sustainable design practices.

Branding: It's More Than Just A Logo

Fri, 16 Sep 2022 12:30:42 GMT

‘ In order to stand out, we have to know what we stand for” - Simon Sinek.

The above quote from marketing legend Simon Sinek is something that really struck a chord with me when I first read it. It’s a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with but, as is demanded by a Tweet (the medium that I saw it posted on), it’s been beautifully distilled into a few words here.

The list of clients Slice has helped brand - or rebrand - is ever growing and ‘what a company stands for’ is something

I always try to keep at the forefront of my mind when delivering our Marketing Lab workshops.

So strongly do I believe in it, in fact, that I’ve presented it to hundreds of kids across the region as part of my work with FEO

and their drive to help inspire entrepreneurship in young people.

However, how many brands can really claim to live by this?

As is often the case, the best advice is easy to endorse, embrace and recite; much harder to practice.

We all want to stand out and a flashy logo can help with that but it will only take a brand so far.

Brand is much more than just appearance, it’s the promise you make with the customer.

History is a cruel mistress and we’ve seen many brands build strong customer loyalty, only to see it near-instantly

dissipate over one wrong step.

But I was reminded of how a brand can fully embody this idea - perhaps to a fault, only time will tell - when fashion brand

Patagonia announced big plans this week.

Yvon Chouinard, company founder and owner (until recently) has announced he will give the company away. Future company profits will now be diverted to a non-profit organisation, which will be tasked with investing in projects that fight climate change.

The company itself will continue trading as a for-profit entity.

It’s a remarkable statement by Chouinard who became a reluctant billionaire on the back of the company’s success. As a keen rock climber, he founded the business with the intention of providing quality climbing equipment with a keen commitment to the outdoors and nature.

Now, I appreciate there is a wider statement being made here and ecology is at the heart of the decision. But, perhaps inadvertently on many occasions, Chouinard really does embody the principles of his company, pillars that have remained from inception

to this day.

Early reaction has been almost unanimously positive and demonstrates that constantly reaching for profits isn’t

necessarily the ultimate driver of success.

As Yvon Chouinard put it himself in the New York Times : “Now I could die tomorrow and the company is going to continue

doing the right thing for the next 50 years, and I don’t have to be around.”

However, Ted Clark, executive director of the Northeastern University Centre for Family Business did warn that: “If you take all the financial incentives away, the family will have essentially no more interest in it except a longing for the good old days.”

Personally, I think the family decision transcends profits and capitalism but the irony in this is, in staying true to brand principles, they are likely to increase brand loyalty, PR exposure and perhaps ultimately sales.

In turn, this will drive company profits and, given the new structure, provide further funds to be invested in the former owner’s

true passion.

Consider if there had been a different approach, if the company had been totally profit-centric, even with a view to reinvesting

some revenue into charitable causes, at the expense of their brand principles.

I’d venture it wouldn’t have provided the same returns.

Ultimately, regardless of the motives for your business, it demonstrates just how highly you should value your brand and

certainly how it shouldn’t be mixed up with a shiny new logo.

Why Designers Should Embrace Ai, Not Fear It

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 15:03:43 GMT

Ai has become very well known in recent times and the design world has been no exception to this. I’ve seen a lot of designers fearing the consequences of Ai with the main worry being loss of jobs for hundreds, even thousands of designers but I believe we will soon be co-creating with Ai, resulting in more efficiency and better results.

Speedy design prototyping could be done with an Ai design tool where basic sketches are scanned in, a few details are entered and the sketches are rendered into a prototype in alignment with the company’s design style. Airbnb has been known to already be doing this, generating design components with production-ready code from hand-drawn wireframe sketches using machine learning and computer vision-enabled Ai.

One of the first Ai tools to really catch my attention was the new platform, DALL E 2 that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language.

At first glance seeing the possibilities with this tool I thought it was the death of the traditional artist because the end results that DALL E 2 can produce are amazing. But we’re forgetting the point of art and that’s expression and emotion, something Ai will never be able to replicate. However, in Graphic Design when the main focus is purpose especially in the commercial sector you need high quality results with a quick turnaround.

People who are worried about these tools killing off our jobs need to think about the reaction when tools like Photoshop and even recently Canva came along. Initially there’s backlash but with an open mind you soon realise these tools can be used to extend our skills and produce better work than before. A good example of how AI can assist designers is a recent piece from one of my favourite designs Andrey Azizov where he used Ai to turn a normal stock image into a painting to match the style of a certain project. You can see the results below:

In conclusion Ai is here to stay and those who don’t accept this will most likely fall by the wayside. That’s why our industry needs to be proactive and prepare for artificial intelligence. The designers who are optimistic and positive will be the ones who prosper off this new design tool.

‘Change is inevitable, growth is optional’

What To Do When You’re Uninspired

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 16:09:09 GMT

This week I listened to a TapeNotes podcast with popular dance artist Fred Again and he had some beneficial advice about dealing with those moments when you lack your natural creativity so I thought I’d write this week’s blog with some tips from Fred and some from myself about how you can start creating again.

Discipline

Discipline. A creative’s worst nightmare, hear me out… Fred Again says when you are feeling uninspired, do the groundwork so that when you are feeling inspired you have the foundations to express your instinct quicker. In design this could mean collaging a moodboard of colour schemes, collecting fonts that could be useful in future projects or organising your design assets and work for a more streamlined process when inspiration comes calling.

Take A Break

As a designer, your brain is wired for creativity. While taking a break will recharge you, you’re still in design mode. There is no such thing as a break from design, but taking time away from your routine and work are sometimes all you need to be able to elevate your ideas and output. You can read, write, walk, sleep, watch your favourite show or simply do nothing and allow your mind to rest. Good ideas will come when you least expect them!

Healthy Lifestyle Habits

Healthy lifestyle habits like exercising, decluttering and eating well can improve your creativity. Our body needs good nutrition and sleep. It can be hard to get a good night's sleep, however, when you exercise, organise, eat healthily and go to bed early you naturally sleep better and wake up feeling inspired, positive and productive.

Reflect On Previous Work

If you’re like me you probably hate all your old work but looking back on past projects can sometimes inspire you. After some time has passed you have full clarity when looking back and it can trigger your ego to think I want to better this and produce something I’m actually happy with. You may also have projects that never got finished that you could suddenly have the solution for.

Start Scrolling

It may seem unpractical to recommend procrastination but social media can be a great tool to inspire creativity. Follow designers and artists you like and you’ll certainly find something that you like and relight the flame. Obviously as an artist you don’t want to copy someone else’s work but in uninspiring moments going into a project trying to copy something can kickstart your inspiration and lead you to taking that work further by putting your own stamp on it.

The Danger of Minimalist Design

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 08 Jul 2022 15:25:03 GMT

Recently I came across a Twitter thread that was quite interesting discussing the dangers of minimalist design and the death of detail. Being a big fan of minimalist design I was naturally pessimistic about this thread but as I read more I realised that it had some really good arguments so I thought I’d share them with you in this week’s blog.

Most people think a minimal design is a style that just strips everything away. Or does it just require lots of white space? Or just a white canvas with black type? Any of these things can be true. Or none of them can be true.

Minimalist graphic design is a philosophy of creating something where every element serves a purpose. It is simple, clean and beautiful. It is highly usable. These designs are easy for users to understand and engage with. It’s a philosophy I’ve tried to implement in my design work after hearing a quote from French poet Antoine de Saint-Exupery that really resonated with me:

“Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is

nothing left to take away.”

However, as with most things it has a time and a place and over-use of minimal design can strip things of their uniqueness and originality. That’s what the twitter thread tries to explain starting with the architectural choices we see on a daily basis. Minimalism is a troubling phenomenon because of what it represents: a lack of detail.

Why does detail matter? Think of it as identity. The colour, the mouldings around a door and ornamentation at the top give the phone box detail and character something the phone box on the right lacks. This is relevant to Hull also as our white phone boxes are a unique representation of the city and have a part in our history. Something that would simply be lost if we scrapped them and replaced them with minimal corporate boxes.

The thread states that it isn't criticising someone for choosing minimal design - for example if they chose to design their house in a minimal, neutral way that’s their choice - however the social drift to absolute simplification is concerning with the worst crime being how minimal design strips colour away from almost anything. For example the pictures below show how monotone interiors are developing. Both demonstrate the monotone discipling but the more modern representation on the right lacks and real personality of definition.

Suddenly, everything, everywhere starts to look the same.

Absolute neutrality.

No detail. No identity.

What does that say about us? Ironically, perhaps it says a lot!

Are We Heading for a Recession?

Thu, 30 Jun 2022 15:41:45 GMT

It strikes fear into the hearts of us all. And perhaps even more acutely in the hearts of business owners.

Recession.

Are we heading for one?

Honestly, I don’t know. I work in the creative industry and have no desire to masquerade as an economist. But what I do know is that when the economy takes a dip, the marketing and advertising budget is normally the first line item to hit the chopping block.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. If you’re selling a good product/service and you’ve built a strong brand then there’s a strong chance you’ll be able to ride any financial uncertainty. Call me biassed but whilst competitors around you are struggling, this could be a ripe time to twist the screw and grow your market share.

Far from reducing ad spend or even cutting ties with your agency, working closely with them can actually help secure longevity.

A good agency should understand your brand and your audience.

We, at Slice, have a bespoke Marketing Lab program to get inside the mindset of your audience and align your brand with their principles.

Want to know more? DM me here .

In fact, if you’ve been working with that agency for a long time, the likelihood is they helped you develop that brand and curate your audience.

By working with them, your agency can help you keep your current client base and even grow it.

It doesn’t necessarily mean belligerently hammering the same messaging and methods as before. You should be refining your marketing strategy to address the evolving requirements your customers have and developing messaging to demonstrate you understand their needs and concerns.

Let’s take an industry that typically benefits from people’s disposable income and is seen as a ‘nice to have’, such as a restaurant. When budgets are stretched to breaking point, eating out isn’t seen as a priority.

But people still (where possible) want to treat themselves, it might just be less frequently. If you’re a restaurant with a good reputation, making delicious food, then there’s no reason why people wouldn’t choose you. Moreover, when that additional spend comes under even more scrutiny, consumers will choose very deliberately; make sure they opt for you over the competition.

If your marketing isn’t on point, you run the risk of being overlooked.

Whilst no one wants to see a recession, the perfect storm is indicating at least some financial turbulence.

So let’s see the silver lining. It could even be plain sailing.

In-house Vs. Agency: It's Time to End the Argument

Fri, 24 Jun 2022 12:12:36 GMT

No matter what industry you work in, no matter what product or service you provide, it’s fair to say that a harmonious relationship yields the best results.

In the creative and marketing industry, there’s a common, if perhaps rarely mentioned, argument about whether companies should outsource their efforts to an agency or build an in-house team. And as with everything in life there are pros and cons to both sides.

But why not have the best of both worlds?

A common gripe of ours, and replicated across the industry, is organisations advertising for a role that requires a

plethora of skills and extensive experience in all of them.

It’s impossible! Put simply, an individual that is creative, analytical, understands digital/print and a whole host of other disciplines just doesn’t exist.

So what’s the solution?

A committed and harmonious working relationship between agency and client. It’s easier said than done but having a marketing professional on the client-side, supported by a talented agency really does bring the best results.

We know this from personal experience. Clients that employ a marketing manager shouldn’t be seen as

encroaching on your patch, and vice versa.

The clients we work with, that have a dedicated representative responsible for coordinating activities, or at least can report back to senior management and have some signing-off power, makes the process much slicker. It also allows us to produce fantastic creative at a much higher rate.

It makes sense from the client side too. Building a team can be a very expensive process, it can be difficult to find the right people and you need to have the volume of work to keep everyone busy and make it worthwhile.

Of course, we, as most agencies will do, endeavour to provide the client with an excellent service and there are examples where the relationship with a client that doesn’t have a dedicated marketing professional can be highly fruitful too.

But, ultimately, having spent many years in the industry it’s clear that having professionals on both agency- and client-side is the recipe for creative excellence.

TikTok isn’t just for teenagers, it’s for designers

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 09:11:20 GMT

I probably shared the same view as most people about TikTok when it first arrived, thinking it was just a phase that would slowly fade out. As TikTok blew up it was a sad realisation that I wasn’t a young kid anymore and the latest trend just wasn’t appealing to me. I thought this was the new Vine; funny videos designed for endless scrolling, but when I saw the dancing trend sweep across the platform and beyond, I knew this was something different.

As time went on, it became evident TikTok was here to stay. I obviously wanted to see what the fuss was about. Working in the digital sector, it’s hard to be ignorant about things like this. However, as I dug deeper I started to realise there might be some real value to the platform. And it has been a bit of a life saver, because since the lockdown, my attention span has diminished and watching long tutorials or reading books seems like a massive chore.

This might be old news to most people but everyone I’ve told in person didn’t realise how useful TikTok can be for tutorials not just in graphic design but in all sorts of creative professions. I’ve found it easy to just search ‘Graphic Design’ and then you can scroll for hours on 30 seconds videos that almost always add something new to your skillset or design knowledge.

In the last month my knowledge of keyboard shortcuts and how to use different styles in design has improved massively just by spending an hour or so every night watching tutorials. A designer I would really recommend for tutorials and just to follow in general is Andrey Azizov as his tutorials always show styles that are really popular and contemporary. He also gives away free texture packs that are amazing quality and large packs of free fonts that massively boost the diversity of your font arsenal.

The flipside of this, from a brand-building perspective, is that it’s a great way for businesses to build authority and trust; two really key elements in today’s competitive marketing space. The highly visual and easy to navigate UX means that even relative rookies can begin designing and posting creative that will help establish them in their respective markets.

So, it’s much more than just a tool for teenagers to while away the evenings.

I encourage anyone in the creative industry to give TikTok a go and I’m sure you will learn stuff you didn’t think was possible. Have fun!

Creativity

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 06 May 2022 09:46:32 GMT

After listening to Rob Brydon’s new podcast with John Cleese it reminded me of the things I learned from Cleese’s appearance on the Conan podcast and most of all his book Creativity.

John is one of few people who I feel really speaks accurately about the creative process and

the way he views creativity really resonates with me.

I’m constantly anxious about being viewed as lazy or basically bad at what I do but Cleese explains that creativity takes time and a little bit of (good) procrastination. So in this blog, I wanted to share some of his main points which will hopefully encourage any creatives struggling with daily doubts like myself.

‘Nothing will stop you from being creative so effectively as the fear of making a mistake’

I remember a few times when I’d be drawing around my friends then I’d pass a sheet of paper or a pad to them to have a go and they would just stare at the blank page with a face of fear. I could never understand this as my mind seems to be full of ideas continuously but looking back it’s not the lack of ideas my friends struggled with it was that confidence to draw that first thing and rid the doubt of it being ‘bad’. I feel fortunate that I got that creative confidence early at University where we learned a process where you could avoid that creative block. I know the first idea will probably be a write-off but getting the ball rolling creatively is crucial and to be honest the fun part.

‘If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play.’

Early on in his writing career, John noticed this phenomenon of coming up with ideas overnight. He would get stuck on something in the evening, go to bed, wake up, and generally have it solved, or at least know the next step to be able to progress and move it forward. He continued to use this particular technique throughout his career and still does today.

Once he lost a whole sketch he’d written down. Much to the annoyance of his co-writer, he had to rewrite it from memory. When he eventually found the original version, he realised that the rewrite was better because he’d mulled on it a little more, he’d slept on it, and the idea had evolved for the better as a result.

'To be creative you must create a space for yourself where you can be undisturbed...

separate from everyday concerns.'

He references a particular study about creative architects, or what makes some architects more creative than others. One of the trends they found is that the more creative architects will delay decisions for as long as they were allowed, which gave them the time to play and explore their ideas further. He goes on to talk about how we have to get comfortable with the discomfort of leaving things open and incomplete, in order to make them better.

This also links to a later idea in the book about getting a second opinion. We should allow time for that extra layer of feedback, and the power of collaboration, to help take your idea to that next level. Again, it adds a little bit more time and forces us to slow down, but it will mean a better outcome in the end.

Has Social Media Gone Too Far?

Fri, 29 Apr 2022 08:45:03 GMT

Love it or loathe it social media is a fixture of the modern lifestyle. Or at least it has been for the past decade or so. But is its ever increasing role in our lives both a signal of its success and its failure?

There are many now defunct social media platforms, MySpace being perhaps the biggest giant to fall and, whilst it still exists in some format, the platform we all know ceased to have any real cultural or digital impact around 2009.

Numerous factors drove that decline but one of the major contributors was the rise of a rival; Facebook.

The more user-friendly platform, despite initially requiring users meet the highly niche criteria of having a Harvard email address to sign up, went on to attract billions of users across the globe.

Subsequent platforms, such as Twitter, were quick to follow. And the thirst for social media has continued at great pace and led to the creation of juggernauts like Snapchat and TikTok.

What do all these platforms have in common? Data.

As marketers, being able to understand demographics in detail is invaluable. Knowing an individual’s interests, hobbies, age, location and much more can really help us generate a return on investment for clients.

It needn’t be the scary Big Brother image that some are keen to cultivate for the industry.

I’m a firm believer that the best marketing and advertising is actually helpful to the user. Bombarding potential customers with volumes of ads or things that they’re not interested in is just a waste of time for everyone. The real key is in creating value and improving the experience.

And social media is one of, if not the most, valuable tools a marketer can have in reaching a large number of people in a relatively easy way. It’s what made platforms, such as Facebook, reach astronomical valuations in incredibly short periods of time, often when they had yet to even really turn a profit.

But this only works if those users remain on the platform. In order for users to stay put they need to feel safe, valued and as though they’re getting value. If said platform becomes purely a vehicle for advertising then people won’t hang around for long.

Whilst the vast numbers of users and algorithms implemented on social platforms can have value, they have been guilty of putting the platform first and, in extreme cases, even manipulating the user.

Users are simultaneously a valuable asset for platforms but also incredibly delicate. If users vote with their feet

then the company is left with very little. See the aforementioned MySpace. This has been brought into sharp focus

in recent months.

Facebook was brought into disrepute for the way it allowed its algorithms to be hijacked to promote ‘fake news’

surrounding, amongst other things, the Covid 19 pandemic, Brexit and the US elections.

More recently, there has been resistance to Elon Musk’s purchase of Twitter and what his plans for the behemoth

might look like. We’re yet to see the long term impacts these issues are having on wider social media use, however, it’s fair to say that people are becoming more aware of the negatives. It was only in February this year that Facebook recorded its first ever decrease in daily active users, by a whopping 500,000.

In fact, it’s not even called Facebook anymore! The platform might still go by that name but the company has rebranded to Meta, in an attempt to distance itself from negative publicity and scandals garnered over the years.

Ultimately, social media has become so ingrained in us as a global population that it’s difficult to see it disappearing any time soon. But perhaps it is time for a little reflection. As marketers, as users, as the platforms themselves.

Peter Saville: Pulsebeat

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Fri, 22 Apr 2022 13:15:27 GMT

At the start of last week, something positive came out of Old Trafford and that was the new collaboration with Adidas and legendary Graphic Designer Peter Saville.

If you don’t know who Peter Saville is, he is a designer from Manchester who worked mainly for Factory Records in 1970/the 80s creating some iconic covers for Joy Division, Roxy Music and New Order. His most famous work is undoubtedly the cover of Joy Division's Unknown Pleasures album. He also created The Factory & Hacienda posters and branding that is also widely popular. More recently he helped design the England World Cup Kit in 2010 and has also worked with Kanye West to create a strong personal brand for the rapper.

Peter Saville was one of my favourite designers when I started college mainly because of my love for Joy Division phase, so seeing this collaboration between one of my favourite designers and my team Manchester United is really exciting. It’s great how design can take you from designing album covers for some of this country’s most innovative bands to then designing clothing for arguably the biggest football club in the world.

In the images above you can see the new Pulsebeat collection designed by Saville and in my opinion it’s one of the nicest things Manchester United have released in a long time. Blackout/Black clothing in football seems to be really popular at the moment with even local team Hull City adopting a blackout away kit this season that sold out instantly I believe! I find it frustrating why most clubs don’t put more effort into designing their attire as it’s such a popular market now with shops like Classic Football Shirts being in the spotlight on YouTube and BT Sport. Every team will have a supporter who is talented in design that could be given the opportunity to gain exposure and have a dream come true so why would the sports brands use templates for most teams.

I found this collaboration between Saville & Manchester United really inspiring because it showed me the versatility in design and as someone who gets easily bored it proves how design is the perfect job (for me) because you can keep changing and evolving what you do as you move through your career. It’s great to specialise in one area of design but like most you want to have freedom and have your creativity take you to different places.

An Alternative Guide For Young Designers

Thu, 14 Apr 2022 14:04:44 GMT

As a young creative it's difficult to find a path to employment but hopefully some tips from our senior designer Alex will help you find your way...

In this week's blog post I am going to create an alternative guide for any young aspiring graphic designers which hopefully will help you on your way to landing your first job. When I first started in design I searched the internet endlessly for information on how to get into the industry but all I could find was blogs written by people who expected you to compete with agencies instantly. It’s important to say that design is a very saturated industry so it’s very difficult to get your foot in the door. However if you have the determination and talent you will definitely find a job. So let’s begin this guide so you can hopefully get on your way to landing that first job.

It’s going to sound obvious if you’re already on the trajectory of becoming a designer but you should start your journey at college studying art or design and get the best possible grades to open your options up to different universities. You should also start designing for friends and family early on just to get experience in being a freelancer and build up a portfolio for the future. You probably will look back at your designs during college and hate them but it’s more about getting the experience, dealing with people and handling a brief so when you do get your first job these skills are natural to you.

University is where the work begins though, I may be wrong but I felt the first year of university was quite a breeze compared to the other two (or three). As the modules and briefs in your first year aren’t as challenging and difficult I would recommend focusing a lot of your spare time on creating a personal brand for yourself.

It’s difficult to create a personal brand because you may struggle with option paralysis and have no idea what to call yourself but don’t put too much pressure on your personal brand name being perfect (I’ve changed my freelance name about four/five times during university). Obviously I wouldn’t advise changing your personal brand all the time because you want people you’ve worked for to recognise you and you’d like to build a reputation that will lead to more work.

With your personal brand most people go with their name. For example mine would be ‘Alex Trowell Design’ or ‘Trowell Creative’ or something like that but I always hated my name so that wasn’t an option I wanted to take. My first personal brand name was ‘A7 Designs’ having an A for my name and 7 because it’s my favourite number and it’s what I wore when I played football at school. If you’re struggling you can always use word randomiser websites to find a unique name, that’s what most creative agencies do anyway.

Once you have your personal brand all designed and sorted this is where the fun starts. You can use your personal brand designs to further your skills so get designing a social media presence like profile pictures, cover photos. Then once you have your social media presence on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn you can start designing more formal things like business cards, letterheads and invoice templates. Don’t be intimidated about doing any of this. You tend to learn as you go along and that’s fine because after a year or so you’ll be confident and it’ll be second nature. I only learned to create invoices after clients started asking for them otherwise it would have never crossed my mind.

It’s important to have a portfolio ready at all times to help show potential clients how good you are. I’d suggest creating an InDesign file where you have a portfolio template set out so as you're creating new stuff you can keep adding to the same portfolio. Make your portfolio fun, show your character and add some personal projects in there as this will help to fill it out. Personal projects can be what you’re interested in like mine was designing football shirts or music posters.

Now you’ve got the portfolio and personal brand now it’s time to start posting on social media so people can see you’re active and working. I would advise having something like open to work or open to commissions in your bio so people who view your profile know they could hire you if they wanted to. Your social media is going to be very quiet at first so don’t be disheartened when you don’t wake up to 1000s of likes.

The important thing to remember is that you’re not aiming to get loads of likes, you're aiming to get a job once you graduate so be smart in how you use social media. There’s a maximum number of people you can follow on social media per day so you might have to work at it over some time but I would get following local design agencies, local businesses and popular people in your area. When I started I went on to Hull Live’s social media (local newspaper) and went through the followers they had to find local businesses. Then from there you can find local businesses and look at their followers and you’ll never run out of people to follow.

Now here’s the secret that landed me my first paid commission and ultimately led me to my first job. I would scout out local businesses that had really poor branding or none at all, then I would design a new logo for that business and direct message or tweet them the new design. I would do this every night hoping I’d wake up to some interactions and replies. It takes a while to get going but even if they don’t go for the logo you definitely gain interactions and followers from doing this.

You have to be thick skinned and understand the more you do the more chance someone will want your design. There will be a lot of rejection and some people can be insulting. I've had replies like ‘Awful’ or ‘Please delete’ but internally you just got to know you’re going to be the best designer there is and nothings going to stop you. This is the main way I made financial gain from freelancing because it was hard to land bigger jobs as companies would much rather choose an agency but don’t worry all these little jobs will add up to a decent monthly wage.

A week in slice #2

Fri, 08 Apr 2022 15:17:35 GMT

Two months later, ‘A week in slice’ is making its return to the blog. And this time, Megan, who has spent the week in the office on work experience, shares her thoughts with us…

This week I had the opportunity to do a work experience placement at Slice which gave me an incredible insight into the world of marketing and graphic design.

Throughout the week, I completed various tasks in different areas of design.

From the first day alone, I quickly realised that I had greatly underestimated the amount of attention given to even the smallest details in every aspect of design.

Whether they are creating engaging websites or unique branding that makes a business stand apart from its competitors, the designers consider every detail from which colour would work well in a logo to which font combinations will look best together on a website.

I started my week by creating a poster to be put on the slice instagram account. Before my placement I had very limited experience in using Photoshop and Illustrator but the designers were always keen to help and guide me through the whole process.

I also wrote a social media plan for each day in April so that social media posts can be scheduled in advance in order for the company to have a consistent social media presence.

I then completed a web design course and certification, which again I had very little knowledge about but it is definitely a useful skill that I will take away from this week.

As well as learning how to actually create my own website, the course taught me about lots of elements of web design that I hadn’t even considered before. For example, I learned about how to layout the site in the best ways and how to use the right colours and images for different brands.

On Wednesday, I spent most of the day designing some Easter themed greetings cards using Photoshop. I researched different Easter related images and created background designs.

Although Easter is next week, this experience has taught me how important it is to plan ahead within the creative industry especially when it comes to designing anything for a specific holiday.

The most difficult task I did was the negative space challenge where I designed icons using only a black square and white cut-outs. I tried to use the black space within my images to create a new image.

Overall, my favourite part of the week was creating my own personal branding. I admit that I had never heard of the concept of personal branding before and the importance of designing my own branding to promote myself within the creative industry was completely new to me.

I decided to design some business cards in my own style with colours and fonts that I felt best represented my own personal brand.

Beyond the creative aspects of personal branding I also made a plan for how I can develop my brand and promote myself on social media. I decided that Instagram and Pinterest would be the best platforms to use as they are more visual than many of the others.

Reflecting on the week as a whole, I have learnt a number of new skills and developed others as well as learning a lot about the marketing industry and how businesses promote themselves. Lastly, I would like to thank everyone at Slice for their support and advice throughout the week.

Having multiple links on your Instagram profile

paul@slice.marketing (Chris Jacobsen) — Fri, 01 Apr 2022 12:36:26 GMT

It's unquestionable that e-commerce changed the game for small and medium-sized businesses across the globe and today many artisan shops only exist online and have done away with the fixed costs that come with operating out of a "bricks 'n mortar" store.

The demand for small and medium businesses to sell through Instagram has grown steadily over the years and one of the biggest innovations in Instagram selling is the ability to add more than one link in the bio. From a technical point of view the single link option hasn't changed, but thanks to a number of available tools, the link in your Instagram bio can now take your customers to a landing page that holds a variety of products.

The challenge is that Instagram doesn’t allow clickable links to be added into the captions of your individual post and there is only one spot for a link in the bio section. These limitations make it difficult to sell the products you're trying to highlight in your posts.

Why do I need more than one link in my bio?

Remember that the bio link doesn’t take your audience directly to the page mentioned in each post. Instead, it takes them to a landing page that can look like a new grid or a list of customised links that are related to the post.

Avoids having to constantly update links - Using tools that help create multiple links in your bio means they no longer need to be switched out with every new post.
It shortens the buying process - Instagram is distracting, but you can turn your followers into customers by giving them a link which takes them to a new grid or list of customised links. From there they can immediately make purchases from your website without leaving the Instagram page.
Drives growth for your business - By using link in bio tools you will drive more traffic to your website or online store through Instagram. Having multiple links is proven to increase the number of qualified leads and e-commerce conversions.
Drive Instagram followers to your website - Link in bio tools can be used for selling your products and services, driving followers to your website, and directing prospects to a sales lead form, registration form, or any other website content.

Top tools for adding multiple links to your Instagram bio

For most people Linktree is the first service that comes up on search results. However, there are a number of other options that are more customisable and have a different look altogether. Some come with the use of a platform that includes much more than just a link tool for Instagram.

Linktree

Linktree is one of the better-known tools, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best in the business. However, it serves its purpose well although the free version does lack the ability to customise the theme. To do that you must take up one of the paid options available.

Clickable.bio

Clickable.bio is a service that comes as part of the Social Marketing product that we offer here at Slice and allows you to to quickly turn followers into customers in three easy steps.

It turns your Instagram posts into a gallery of images which have individual links that can redirect to your online store or any page on your website.

Just set a custom URL for your Clickable.bio page (ours is slice.clickable.bio ), add your business name and logo and you're all set. Finish the process by pasting your custom URL in to the link field on your Instagram bio. If you're using our Social Marketing product it's really easy to add a website or product link to every new Instagram post.

Your Clickable.bio page is automatically updated every time a new Instagram post with a link is published.

Lnk.bio

Lnk.bio has a landing page feature that is easy customisable. You can choose from either a classic Linktree style list of custom links or a picture grid that corresponds with your Instagram post images. This tool also has the ability to temporarily disable links if a sponsored link needs to be featured.

Depending on the amount of features you need there are four different pricing options available.

Linkin.bio

Linkin.bio is the Later.com version of our Clickable.bio product. Later.com includes social media post scheduling and a visual content planner in its platform for all Linkin.bio users. To compare free plans, this tool limits each account to ten posts whereas the Lnk.bio tool has unlimited links.

There are 3 pricing options from $15 to $40 USD per month and there is also a free plan.

Tap Bio

This tool works as a card-based system. Depending on the your goals, you can choose from a number of different cards that range from a simple card for a single call to action to the classic list style or mock picture grid. Most businesses tend to stick to using either the list or the grid cards.

The Tap Bio option requires more attention to personalisation details than some of the previous tools. Each card has analytics available that can be used to evaluate the performance of the information on that card. The card system is a bit complicated in comparison to the other tools, but that doesn’t mean this isn’t an option worth looking into.

Link in Profile

The setup for this tool is quick once your Link in Profile has access to a your Instagram account.

Similar to the other tools, to add a post to your Link in Profile landing page, paste a URL into each Instagram post’s caption and it will automatically appear. Alternatively you can add links through the Link in Profile dashboard. This tool starts at $9.99 rather than with a free version.

Jack of all trades or master of one?

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 14:56:13 GMT

At the start of this week I, unfortunately, got ill and had to spend a few days in bed which feels like torture especially when the sun is beaming outside.

I’m the type of person who struggles to watch television for long periods, from the guilt of not being productive combined with a very short attention span. However, being bed-bound I had no other choice than to indulge myself in something on Netflix (other streaming platforms are available).

As I scanned through the options I scrolled straight through to the continue watching section to carry on with something familiar and as I worked on the dilemma of Shameless or The Office (US) a vibrant cover hit my peripheral vision and I knew instantly that I would not be watching the drunk ramblings of Frank Gallagher for the next few hours.

So there it was ‘The Andy Warhol Diaries’ the bright vibrant pop art cover instantly drew me in, I pressed play hoping that the next five minutes would capture my attention so I could feel like an intelligent aesthete as opposed to a sniffling slob. Three episodes later I was captivated and inspired, seeing someone take risks and not be afraid of who they were or what they wanted to do made me feel like I had so much freedom with creativity.

It’s difficult to compare an artist and a graphic designer because as a designer you’re always designing for someone else’s needs and don’t have the freedom to create whatever you want and experiment. As a Graphic Designer, you’re trusted with someone else’s reputation so the thought of taking risks can be daunting.

After finishing the series I’ve been thinking about my profession and how I could push on further in my career and improve my skillset. I’ve been wondering if just being a graphic designer who does his job well is enough or do I want to go that step further and become an artist. As a graphic designer should I try and be a great photographer, videographer, editor, painter, artist, typographer, web developer, or copywriter.

Is this just wishful thinking hoping you could be a master of them all or will you be stuck with the tag of jack of all trades, master of none? It’s taken around five or six years to get to a competent level in Graphic Design and I am still way off where I’d like to be with the constant insecurity of seeing young design students on Behance designing things I could only dream of. I think if you aren’t aiming to be the best at what you do what’s the point and would someone rather hire a great graphic designer or a good graphic designer who is also a good photographer, videographer, or artist?

As a freelancer, you are stuck with the responsibility of being a jack of all trades but the great thing I’ve noticed about being employed by a marketing company is that I have the luxury of working in a team of masters. Having the time and space to focus on your own expertise definitely results in the final product being the best it can possibly be.

Delegating can often be seen as a negative trait but trying to conquer everything yourself will almost always result in failure or one aspect failing. So having confidence in your own skills and colleagues allows you to collaborate within a team to ensure the perfect result.

We can dream of being the perfect creative and being the master of everything but today, right now it’s probably best to delegate…

Don’t Forget Your Old Friend; Print

Fri, 18 Mar 2022 14:39:40 GMT

We live in a digital world. From social media, ecommerce websites to NFTs, there’s no getting away from the fact that digital rules our lives.

Perhaps marketing and advertising is one of the industries it dominates most heavily. And for good reason too, it’s a great way to track your spend, reach a huge number of people and can be an incredibly cost-effective way to advertise.

The interactive nature and ever developing medium also makes it a great way for a company to showcase their products and services. Short of physically being able to hold the product in your hand, digital perhaps offers the next best thing.

So let’s abandon analogue and embrace the world of digital…

No! Not entirely. Don’t forget your old friend; print.

It’s easy to get swept along by the virtual juggernaut of digital media and the almost endless opportunities it offers. However, allow me to present the argument for something a little less pixel-driven.

Print is a fantastic medium that, when done well, offers a huge sensory stimulation both tactility and visually. The simple action of opening a well appointed and beautifully designed print item can be, without wanting to be accused of hyperbole, a dramatic moment.

And don’t think that just because print isn’t ‘clickable’ it’s less interactive. There’s huge scope to do some really exciting things with print to engage your audience and make it stick in the memory. Of course, if you do want to complement your print with a more immersive digital experience you can always use a QR code to direct them to exactly where you want them.

Longevity is also a huge advantage that print can have over more modern alternatives. If well executed, it has the potential to hang around in a physical form much longer than the fleeting effects of a social media post: scrolled past once never to be seen again.

Don’t get us wrong, we’re huge fans of digital. But there’s still a place for print in this land bathed in blue light.

How to sell using your Instagram feed

paul@slice.marketing (Chris Jacobsen) — Fri, 11 Mar 2022 11:45:03 GMT

Seventy percent of shoppers find new product ideas on Instagram. By using Instagram’s shoppable posts , it's easier than ever to link directly to your posts to your E-Commerce website to drive sales and conversions.

In the UK you can use e-commerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, BigCommerce and Ecwid amongst many others which means you probably won’t have to rebuild your website to use this great feature.

To get started, follow these steps.

Step 1. Create your Instagram business profile

Whether you’re creating a new Instagram account or using an existing personal one all you have to do is click on your profile and select Edit Profile . Then click on Switch to Professional account and follow the setup instructions.

As well as allowing you to use Instagram Shopping a professional account for your business will also give you greater insights into your content, activity and your audiences as well as giving you additional fields to fill to describe your business in more detail.

Step 2. Optimise your business profile

i) Make sure your username or “handle” is one that will be easy for your potential customers to find or tag. You can change your username even if you’ve switched from a personal to a professional account, just go to your bio, tap on Edit Profile and again on the Username field, tap in your new handle name, then click Done .

ii) Write a clear and concise bio about your business and fill out all the contact information fields available.

iii) Remember to upload a profile picture, you can use your company or brand logo.

iv) As a minimum add a link to your e-commerce website in your business profile but if you want to also have the flexibility to link individual posts to external links like a blog post or product page then you can use our Clickable.bio service which comes part of our free Social Marketing Express product.

v) If you’ve created a brand new Instagram account add five or six posts so that your followers will have some content to browse through.

vi) Connect your professional account to your existing Facebook page so you can easily access paid advertising for Instagram. Follow this link to see how to do this.

Step 3. Get Instagram Shopping approved

Businesses in the UK are unsurprisingly in one of the market regions supported by Instagram so the only other criteria to meet is to make sure you own your e-commerce website and that as outlined earlier, you switched your profile from a personal account to a professional one.

Once that’s confirmed then just go to your profile and access Settings > Business and tap on Set up Instagram Shopping .

If you're not using a e-commerce platform supported by Instagram Shopping then the team here at Slice can help sort that for you. Click here to get in touch.

Step 4. Add product links to your Stories

Product links in your Instagram Stories are added as a sticker from the top right corner of the screen. You will need to select the product sticker and then the matching product from your catalogue. You can change the colour of the text by tapping on the sticker.

A shopping sticker appears on your story post with the small Instagram shopping symbol before the text and Instagram will prompt potential customers to click on the link like what is show below.

Step 5. Adding Shopping Tags

You’ve probably already encountered shopping tags on Instagram, over 130 million people tap on posts to reveal them every month!

To add a shopping tag to your post you just need to create a post as normal and then tap on Tag Products. Then just tap the photo, search for the product you want to link to and select it.

Step 6. Start posting!

And that’s it! You’re now set up to sell on Instagram. Remember to post regularly and use features such as reels to stimulate engagement with your potential customers.

How Effective Can Humour be Within Marketing?

alex@slice.marketing (Alex Trowell) — Tue, 08 Mar 2022 12:10:19 GMT

As someone who is a huge fan of comedy and doesn’t take themselves too seriously, I always love when we have the opportunity to choose a more informal route with our marketing campaigns and are able to incorporate humour.

I feel that with the market becoming so saturated and younger audiences being tech-savvy enough to consume content whilst avoiding advertising (streaming, playback, ad blockers) marketing campaigns have to be engaging and unique and I believe humour is a good way of achieving that.

The the book A Smile In Mind: Witty Thinking In Graphic Design argues that humour is big business and when done right it can help companies win favour and form an emotional bond with customers more easily than hard-sell tactics. But wit can deliver more than personal amusement. Citing the management expert Jean-Louis Barsoux’s 1993 book, Funny Business: Humour Management and Business Culture, they explain that a well-executed visual joke can induce a relaxed and receptive frame of mind. For new or skeptical customers, “getting the joke,” incites a shared flash of insight that somehow forms a complicit bond. ”This is like persuading the goalkeeper to stand aside before you shoot at the goal,” they wrote.

“Wit can be a structural idea that underpins a whole brand,” he says. “It works for global giants like Google, Amazon and Coca-Cola. And it works for grassroots ideas, as a tool of political protest or spreading environmental and health messages.”

Beryl McAlhone from "Smile In The Mind"

Humor is also proven to have a beneficial effect on memory—funny information is easier to remember than non-funny information. For this reason, it can be beneficial to add bits of humor to elements of your storytelling, such as in the imagery on your landing page. The story you tell your users will be a memorable one.

However humor is a double-edged sword. It can bring delight when used appropriately, but it can cause a lot of harm when it’s implemented without tact and foresight. Humor is contextual. A joke that can be funny in one situation can be terrible in another.

Virgin America learned this, when they unveiled a new fake logo—a pair of pendulous boobs, referencing Airbnb’s accidental (and real) vagina-shaped brand mark— which managed to offend many.

Not all projects have a place for fun. For example, when it comes to government organizations, adding humour to sites and apps that represent such organizations can interfere with user expectations. One of the challenges with adding humour into your design is knowing when to stop. The right amount of fun can create a memorable experience, but too much can have the opposite effect—it can drive users away.

To conclude there will always be risks and potential negatives when creating new ideas, especially in a society now that is getting stricter with political correctness with many people out there to ‘cancel’ you. However the greater the risk the greater the reward so I feel we should embrace humour and try and make advertising as fun and exciting as possible.

Putting a Price on Creative

Fri, 25 Feb 2022 12:00:21 GMT

Recently, advertising’s annual shangri la showcase, the Superbowl halftime show, happened again.

It’s an event that splits opinion between those on both sides of the advertising industry.

Some see it as a chance to flex creative muscle to a global audience, whilst others consider it an expensive and extended ceremony of pomp.

But regardless of opinion; one thing that can be agreed is that it certainly creates a talking point. And perhaps the sharpest point to pique the zeitgeist was delivered by a relatively unknown (or at least they were relatively unknown) crypto company, Coinbase.

Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best and so it proved again.

Remember the little icon that used to bounce around your TV screen when you plugged your DVD player in but weren’t actually playing a movie? (Remember DVDs?!) Well, it was based on that. Only substitute that icon you’re imaging for a QR code, ironically another form of technology that had seemed to be reaching its expiry date before Covid restrictions gave it a new lease of life.

When scanned the advert took you to the website of the aforementioned Coinbase.

Why did that ad work? Because it harnessed that feeling of familiarity and mixed it with a healthy dose of FOMO.

Not to mention the concept is something that has already broken through into mainstream pop culture.

But this isn’t about great advertising, unfortunately. Basking in the glory of a successful campaign, the Coinbase CEO took to Twitter to explain how he and his team had come up with the idea and give them some kudos.

What a great boss, right? Wrong! Or at least kind of wrong…

Cue Martin Agency CEO, Kristen Cavallo, who was ready to rebuff these claims and, if not offer definitive proof, at least nod to the existence of it…

Anyone who has worked in an agency before will understand the true value of creative. It can be hard to come across but even harder to quantify, particularly in terms of monetary value.

Struggling to prove creative worth to a client: it’s an age old tale.

It’s important not to tar everyone with the same brush here. Some clients fully understand, appreciate and pay for good creative.

But there’s always those who think they can engage an agency, steal an idea and call it their own. Because there’s nothing tangible about an idea, the act of not paying for it seems completely alien to some. It certainly doesn’t feel like stealing.

Even some agencies struggle with the concept of creative ownership and value, see Madbird .

Unfortunately, it’s an issue that agencies of all sizes across the world have encountered. And having it done in such a high profile way has merely brought all of these experiences to the fore.

The Coinbase CEO’s Twitter thread was awash with others recounting their own similar tales and offering support to Kristen.

In fact there’s a company running with a campaign brief that was supplied to them by Slice right now, despite them opting not to work with us.

This is a huge issue for the industry and will continue to blight creativity as long as clients keep diminishing the role of creative.

Does anyone really doubt the importance of a well thought out campaign?

Think of those ads that stick with you forever.

The pounding hooves of white horses chasing down a lone surfer. A full page car ad that only used a fraction of the space. Got milk? Belly’s gonna get you. You just got Tango’d. Wassup!

Call me biased but the world is a duller place without creative advertising. Maybe we should pay it its dues.

Reviews : Don't Hide Away From Them

paul@slice.marketing (Chris Jacobsen) — Fri, 18 Feb 2022 13:00:04 GMT

In today’s world your online reputation is critical .

This can be measured in a variety of ways but one of the most effective methods of managing your online reputation is through online reviews.

Actively sourcing and acquiring good reviews is key to building a positive online reputation. This can be split in two parts.

Firstly: acquiring them. This is the hardest part, as even customers who are overjoyed with your product/service can be reticent to leave a review. Taking five minutes out of their busy schedule, lack of familiarity with the process and not know what to say can all be barriers. Don't be afraid to ask customers directly, send them reminders or leave prompts in areas that your customers might congregate, such as waiting rooms.

Secondly: once you've got them, respond to them! When new reviews are submitted it's vitally important that you reply, regardless of whether they're positive or negative. This shows you value customer feedback and opinions. Additionally, your responses and timings are measured by Google, which can give your online presence a real boost when done well.

Having the ability to deal quickly with negative reviews is really important when reducing the impact they can have on your reputation. Often, a simple conversation with a disgruntled customer can be enough. And any review should always be viewed as great sources of constructive criticism to help you improve your business.

It’s not uncommon for business owners to feel afraid when managing customer reviews; they're worried about zero star reviews or negative feedback. But , let's be honest, if you've got poor products/services then reviews aren't your biggest problem.

In fact, businesses that shun the opportunity are actually hurting their business.

Ready to get some reviews? Here's are the top five platforms in the UK...

Google Business Profile (aka Google My Business)

As explained in my previous blog post your Google My Business Profile should be the cornerstone of your online presence and every business should claim their profile without delay!

If someone is searching for your business on Google then the first thing they’ll notice is your stars. If they’re searching for a product or service you provide then they’ll see your business name and all the info from your Google My Business profile, so make sure it's accurate and up to date.

Google also provides a handy link for you to send out to customers, which can help get you over the aforementioned barriers.

Facebook

Lots of businesses use Facebook to reach out to new and existing customers. As well as presenting details about your business, Facebook is a platform where people can leave leave reviews and comments but also where conversations about your business can take place.

That’s why it’s important to have constant visibility through new reviews. When a customer has left feedback this is a great opportunity for you to step in and own that conversation. There's nothing stronger that third part, independent endorsement for a brand.

Amazon

Amazon is the other goliath of the online world. If you sell products online and you’re also an Amazon Marketplace partner then this is a vital spot where potential new customers are eyeing up your products.

It’s important that you use Amazon to ask for new reviews and to offer customer support to build consumer confidence in the items you’re trying to sell.

The comments made about your product from previous purchasers is also the first thing many new customers will look at. It can be the difference between making a sales to a lifelong customer and losing them instantly.

TripAdvisor

The favourite platform for visitors and tourists and that can mean big money for restaurants, retail and entertainment venues. TripAdvisor has the highest business review volume in the entire tourist and travel vertical so don’t let your business miss out.

As an industry leader, having a stack of positive TripAdvisor reviews really lends weight to your product/service.

Yell.com

Yell.com is the digital listing directory version of the old Yellow Pages books and this site is much different today from what it was five years ago but still remains a trusted source for local businesses to build their trust. Creating or claiming your listing there is free.

Whilst accessible to all business, like its previous iteration, it remains a valuable resource for the trades.

Ready to get some reviews? Tell us!

Why is Branding so Important for Your Business?

Fri, 11 Feb 2022 13:49:14 GMT

When you mention branding most people assume this just means logo but branding is much more than that.

The businesses in the world that have strong branding are instantly recognisable without even using their logo. Branding can consist of a colour palette, typography, photography and much more that combine to give your business a unique look and feel. Most startup companies neglect branding, opting to make a quick logo on Canva or some other free to use app. Without any design experience the logo most likely will look amateur and this is unfortunately the image you’re projecting to the public.

In my opinion you could get away with a poor logo before the digital age because it was not as exposed as now. For example if you needed a plumber you’d check the yellow pages and pick one of the top ones or go on word of mouth. Now as consumers we scan the internet relentlessly stalking each website to find one that appeals to us the most.

I personally always opt for the businesses with the best branding and most easy to use website and this isn’t just because I’m a designer and appreciate aesthetics it’s because I feel the companies with the best branding and website are the most active and competent at what they do and I believe other people especially the younger generations are the same.

Colour improves brand recognition by up to 80%

Presenting a brand consistently across all platforms can increase revenue by up to 23%.

The statistic above from Forbes proves that your presence and look online can definitely influence your customers and convince more to choose you. Having strong branding and being active on all platforms with a clear identity makes people think you know what you’re doing and you appear more competent and trustworthy to potential customers.

If you do opt for a rebrand or brand refresh with a design agency all good agencies will supply you with a brand guidelines document that basically acts as an instruction manual to keep your brand consistent through all platforms so you don’t necessarily need a full-time experienced designer at hand 24/7 although it does help massively.

89% of shoppers stay loyal to brands that share their values.

Most of the blog has been about the importance of visual branding but branding is also about your values and tone of voice too. As a business you should be well aware of who your target audience is and hopefully you have an understanding of the values that set you apart from your competitors. Branding is a way of ensuring that’s visible to your customers so you can build a bigger audience. You could create this visually or communicate with your customers in a specific tone of voice and make this consistent throughout your business.

It’s hard to condense the importance or even the concept of branding into one blog post but here’s a brief look at branding's importance and hopefully you will have learnt something from this post. To end this post I’d like to leave you with some other interesting facts and statistics surrounding branding.

94% of people said they’d be highly likely to recommend a brand they were emotionally engaged with.
Brands that blog generate 67% more leads.
Over 70% of brand managers consider building an audience more important than converting sales.
Social media (47%), company career website (21%), and marketing and advertising (12%) are the top three investments for growing an employer brand.
The top 4 qualities people use to describe why they are loyal to a brand are cost, quality, experience, and consistency.
10 seconds are enough for people to form an opinion about a logo.

A Week in Slice #1

Fri, 04 Feb 2022 11:55:22 GMT

New month, new(ish) year, new website. And now a new feature; welcome to the first in a recurring - if what’s likely to be fairly sporadic - feature we’re introducing to our blog, A Week in Slice.

So, whether you’d like to know what we do, get a better understanding of the inner workings of an advertising agency or you’re just here out of curiosity, thanks for stopping by!

Our focus in the early part of this year has been on re-positioning ourselves. Using our Marketing Lab platform that we have developed to create winning campaigns for our clients, we have undergone a brand refresh and changed the way we present ourselves to the world.

Put simply: Slice are your go-to agency to develop your brand and campaigns.

Whilst we pride ourselves on the work we do, self-evaluation can be hard and - like any good agency - we’re busy working on our clients’ projects.

As a result, it’s been a busy month or so balancing getting results whilst practicing what we preach!

But the changes made have been outstanding and already started to get a positive reaction across social and other marketing channels.

Ready to see what we can do for you? Call 01482 014304.

Before you get a website, get your Google My Business listing sorted

paul@slice.marketing (Chris Jacobsen) — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:30:02 GMT

Business owners, especially those operating in a local market, often worry about getting their website up and running but it’s equally - if not more - important to make sure your Google My Business (GMB) listing is live and up to date with accurate information.

With the majority of web access now taking place on our phones the phrases “near me” or in the town or city you live like “in Hull”, “in Leeds” or “in York” are being increasingly used in search engine requests.

And if your business is not on the first search engine results page (SERP) then your chances of acquiring new customers drops dramatically. Having an accurate and well populated Google My Business listing can help make sure you are found on page one.

Google dominates the global search market, in April 2021 it accounted for 92 percent of all searches globally.

Other uses for your Google My Business (GMB) listing

As well as increasing your chances of appearing in the all important first SERP, your GMB listing can always help improve your Local Search Engine Optimisation in other ways.

Get and respond to reviews - collecting reviews (both positive and negative) and responding to them quick is something that Google favours and will give your business an edge over ones that don’t.
Answer Frequently Asked Questions - Pre-empt time consuming phone calls and emails from customers by uploading a set of FAQs for your business. Again Google will favour a business that uses this feature over one that doesn’t.
Speak directly to customers - Great customer service is the key to repeat business so start off as you mean to go on and use Google My Business Messaging to speak to and respond directly with your customers. As well as being good for customer relationships, this too will help improve your local SEO.
Create social posts - If you’re adding social content to Twitter, Facebook or Instagram then replicate that to your Google My Business listing with a post. Doing this is super easy, helps show Google your business is active and improves your local SEO reach.
Add offers - Put your latest offers front and centre of your Google My Business profile by using the 'posts' feature.
Upload photos - Make it easier for potential customers to find you by uploading photos of your premises or shop front. If you have something special to show off inside then don’t let the world know how good it looks! If you operate from premises that customers can visit, such as on the high street, it will also help customers recognise you when they're out shopping.

Other uses for your Google My Business (GMB) listing

As well as increasing your chances of appearing in the all important first SERP, your GMB listing can always help improve your Local Search Engine Optimisation in other ways.

1) If you haven’t already got one then create a Google Business profile and fill out all the necessary information.

2. Check to see if someone has already created a listing for your business. You can either claim this listing or create a new one.

3. Add as much information as you can about your business

4. Once you’ve added as much information and photos as possible, Google will want to verify your business’s location to make sure you are legitimate. This usually takes the form of a postcard sent to the address, which has a verification code printed on it. Once your address has been verified your listing will go live!

Need help with your Google My Business listing?

If you need assistance getting your Google My Business profile setup the team at Slice is ready to help. As well as getting your profile up and running we can help create a Local SEO Plan for your business using our Local Online Business Toolkit

Click on the link above to find out more or email hi@slice.marketing

The Importance of Niching Your Business

Wed, 19 Jan 2022 16:23:21 GMT

As the acclaimed designer Joseph Abboud once said: “you can’t be all things to all people.”

And in such a competitive and varied economy, never has this been more true. The explosion of technology has allowed companies and individuals alike to diversify and collaborate at a rate that we haven’t seen before.

Where once huge bloated enterprises used to rule, the agile business that can adapt to market demands has become king.

However, a by-product of this increase in access to expertise has been a tendency for businesses to act beyond where there key skills are.

My prediction is 2022 will be the year of niching.

Something of a sea-change to what has gone before, then.

But by really drilling down to what’s important to your customers and discovering what you do that is of most value and doubling down on that will bring the biggest rewards for both you and them.

As a company, we only want to work with experts (as clients or suppliers) to ensure the best possible results can be achieved.

So, you might be thinking, what is Slice’s niche?

We’ll we’re the go to agency for companies looking to build killer campaigns.

You see, we’re not a straightforward transactional company. We don’t just offer social media, websites or any other service you might associate with a marketing agency. We’re here to build your brand. And the tools we use to do that are almost incidental.

When a client approaches us, they almost always ask us for a service, which is great, new business is always welcome! But that’s not the start of the journey.

We have to take a few steps back to find out exactly what that client wants to achieve. Because we’re selling our expertise, not our services. So we would be short selling our clients if we didn’t then deliver that expertise in its fullest form.

By fully understanding the goals, we’re then able to build a campaign that meets all of the requirements and squeezes every last drop out of the budget, to deliver maximum returns.

Interested in finding out what we can do for your business? Check out some of our success stories.

My 5 Favourite Design Resources

Tue, 18 Jan 2022 10:37:28 GMT

Before I started designing I virtually knew nothing about resources that were available online and I primarily stuck to what was available within the Adobe programs.

However as I became more experienced I discovered different websites that have really helped develop and improve my work. There are a lot of design resource websites out there that offer free and premium photography, icons, vectors and fonts.

The more websites and resources I have found while designing the more my work has improved and it’s been easier to overcome creative blocks. In this blog post I’d like to share some websites that have really helped improve my work and hopefully they can mprove yours too. I will share sites that have a high quality collection of Mockups, Fonts, Photography & Illustrations.

Unblast - www.unblast.com

Unblast is one the websites I use the most as it’s collection of really high quality mockups help showcase my work on different products or touchpoints. The quality of the final mockups in a project is crucial as they can really improve your presentations and proposals and make them more likely to be approved.

Another feature of Unblast is that it holds a free collection of modern and unique typefaces and icons. It’s really useful to have all these free resources in the same location and with large thumbnails you can quickly browse through and find what’s right for your project. There is also a page with free to use illustrations and colour palettes which I haven’t used too much as I prefer other websites. (Vecteezy & Coolors).

Vecteezy - www.vecteezy.com

As a Graphic Designer who primarily studied minimal design, Illustration has never been one of my strong points and if you don’t have the budget to commission an Illustrator you can struggle to create what the client may want. Vecteezy has a great collection of free to use and premium vector illustrations in all different styles.

With the Illustrations being in vector format you can easily open them up in Illustrator and tweak the colours or shapes to work cohesively with your existing design. This is by far my most used and favourite website for vector illustrations and it quite often helps me overcome creative blocks with its wide range of templates.

Unsplash - www.unsplash.com

My third favourite design resource is Unsplash which has a collection of 1000's of high quality free to use photographs. I’m not usually a fan of using stock photography as I mostly think of the really standard staged stock photograph which is used in a lot of popular memes.

However Unsplash has a collection of images that are really unique and interesting. I use this website a lot for projects that don’t have the budget to have original photography and it never diminishes the quality of the final designs because Unsplash’s collection is so vast that you can always find suitable images for your project.

I used to use Pexels for all my stock photography but after trying Unsplash I much prefer the categories and catalogue of images you can choose from. Pexels can still be useful in the rare times that Unsplash doesn’t have an image that fits within my project.

Displaay Type Foundry - www.displaay.net

Starting as a designer I only used websites like DaFont and 1001 Fonts because I never knew of any other options for free typography. After using these sites for a while a lot of the fonts I downloaded were missing characters or became faulty so I switched to using Google and Adobe Fonts.These sites have a large collection of web friendly fonts that can work for professional projects.

Google & Adobe can become predictable after a while so if you want your designs to stand out it’s best to source independent type foundries and invest in some premium fonts. I’ve tried a few type foundries for projects but my overall favourite is definitely Displaay which has a large collection of premium and some free fonts. The other positive is that all the fonts have a free trial option so you can test if the typography is right for your project.

Supply Family - www.supply.family

My final favourite design resource website is Supply Family which I’ve only started using recently for bigger projects but I think they provide the best premium mockups. Although some packages are quite expensive you can purchase individual mockups for a more reasonable fee.

This website has some of the best mockups available for showcasing your work and the collections allow you to display different designs within mockups that stay within the same theme. This can really make your final presentation or proposal look really professional. Another great use for this site is the different premium textures available, you can also get high quality textures from Unsplash and Pexels but Supply Family textures in my opinion just look and work alot better and can add a lot of depth to your designs.

New Year, New Slice

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 16:23:21 GMT

We’re fully into the cut and thrust of business in 2022. But after taking some time out for introspection at the end of 2021, we’re delighted to be unveiling a slightly remodeled and vastly improved Slice Marketing.

Having assessed what’s important to our customers, what we do that provides the greatest value to them and how we can offer that to a wider group of businesses, we’re ready to hit the ground running.

Simply put; Slice Marketing is your agency for campaigns that will blow you away.

From knockout creative, incisive copy and unrivalled knowledge on how to build a campaign that really works.

It’s what we do best and where we add most value to our clients.

Interested in how we can add value to your business? Drop us a line using the contact form on oursite, or just give us a call.

Until then, keep your eyes peeled for loads of industry insight across our social feeds and blogs.

Here’s to a successful 2022 for everyone!

5 Examples of Companies Rebranding

Sat, 01 Jan 2022 10:26:03 GMT

Slice Marketing's Graphic Designer, Alex, looks at 5 examples of rebranding that helped companies to modernise their brand identity.

The Two Types of Rebranding

There are two forms of a rebrand, in some projects the designer will start from scratch and this is certainly more difficult because if the new brand isn’t accepted by the business’s audience then it can have a damaging effect on their reputation. The other form of a rebrand is called a ‘brand refresh’ and this is more common as a designer will modify the existing logo to feel more modern and more suitable, often for the online and digital world.

There are definitely design traits from the late nineties and early noughties that are still common in brands to this day. These are most commonly heavy stroke lines on the logo or a drop shadow effect (which is the worst of them all!) As design has progressed, designers are minimizing their logo designs and most big brands have condensed their logos into simple icons. This is mainly due to apps where the logo needs to be easily recognizable and visible when you only have a small square canvas to work with.

That’s enough small talk for one blog post so let’s jump into the aesthetically pleasing before and after photos.

1. Mastercard

When Pentagram and more specifically Michael Bierut get their hands on a brand the outcome is always going to be amazing. Pentagram is the biggest design agency in the world hiring only the best designers with Michael Bierut being one of them. After a very unsuccessful attempt at a brand refresh in 2006 MasterCard decided to change again in 2016 and this result was much more accepted by MasterCard's customers and the design community.

Bierut decided to stick with the iconic two circles which represent the overlap of commerce between international powers, in particular, the East and West. However he modified the colours to make them appear warmer and more suitable for the digital age. Bierut also removed the interlinking lines between the two circles and placed the brand name below the circles as opposed to in the middle of them.

The typography is one of the main reasons that I love this brand refresh so much. I feel the choice of typography and the use of all lowercase letters really gives this brand a modern feel. Reinvention in the digital age calls for modern simplicity and that’s why the new typeface FF Mark does it’s job with the font weight being slimmer with curvature and spacing giving the text more legibility.

Recently, MasterCard evolved the brand even further by removing the type altogether and having the two circles as a standalone icon. In my design career I’ve always tried to follow this quote from french writer Antoine de Saint-Exupery: ‘A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away’. I feel brands are also following this quote too with most companies wanting just one simple icon or symbol to represent them.

2. BT

This rebranding first came to my attention when it was being ridiculed A LOT on Twitter with many people saying they could have done it in Microsoft Paint. Well that’s like saying you could write a novel in Microsoft Notepad.If you gave anyone a piece of paper I’m sure they could draw the Nike swoosh but then we all pay a lot of money to have it on our clothing. A good brand isn’t about being flashy; most inexperienced designers try to use every effect or design trick imaginable in Photoshop or Illustrator, whereas there’s no substitute for experience, which usually results in more refined and precise work.

Before BT went for this re-brand they had countless different logos and identities and it just felt a mess but this rebrand gave BT a strong icon that was the umbrella for all their services like TV, Broadband etc.

"Some people looked at it and said 'it took four years to do a logo that's two letters and a circle', but really it takes four years to go around a business of that size, and to make sure everyone's happy and comfortable with it, and to show why it's right for them," said Franklin (the designer for this project), a sentiment we strongly agree with here at Slice.

"It sounds silly talking about two letters and a circle, but the real thinking behind the design was that we wanted to create a symbol – something that would appear like a quality mark or Kitemark."

Ultimately, less is more in this digital age and a flat simplistic icon will serve BT for many decades.in my opinion the colour scheme of BT’s new icon is already recognisable. This rebranding has to be deemed a success so hat’s off to Paul Franklin and Red&White for having the confidence to be so simplistic.

3. Brentford Football Club

When I was around 16 years old, I remember doing a logo for Scarborough FC and obviously I wasn’t that experienced but I felt the outcome was an improvement on what they had - but wow there was uproar! I remember having to mute my Twitter app from the abuse from the fans. It didn’t help Scarborough FC tagged my personal Twitter account in their launch post but this was for a club with a relatively small following!

Football clubs are a tricky one to rebrand with fans having a strong affection for the current badge and all the history that goes with it, so this rebranding deserves more respect than the typical business rebranding. As a designer with OCD I can say in my opinion that most football badges are a design disaster, including the old Brentford badge. That said, they are so ingrained in our minds and we just accept them,usually rejecting any sort of change. That’s why this rebranding is such a rarity because the transition seems so smooth. I can’t recall seeing or hearing any backlash from this change.

I think the reason it was successful is due to the bee remaining on the logo, therefore maintaining some identity and club history. They also made the logo brighter and more friendly by using red as the dominating colour and using black as more of an accent colour.

The bee has been drawn in a isometric symmetrical way, which is very satisfying for us OCD-ers out there. The typography works well too; it’s an underrated skill finding the perfect typography for a circle logo. In my early days designing I can’t tell you how many hours I spent trying to find fonts for a circle logo without it looking off balance. The spacing of the type complements the logo too giving all the elements of the badge room to breathe unlike the old badge, which had everything squished together.

4. Burberry

Having got to the fourth logo of this rebranding blog I’m quite worried that I’ve exposed myself as a very boring guy with my choices but I just love clean design. My dream is a bright white utopian world with sans serif fonts and maybe… just maybe... Burberry heard my dream and made it a reality. Their new branding is clean, WHITE and minimal. This rebrand was a big inspiration for my personal branding that I had to create for my university degree. Some may argue that the old Burberry logo is a classic and they have spoilt their legacy but in my opinion the new logo is just so much better.

The old knight and equestrian-themed logo, symbolises purity, honor, pride and grace, which is all well and good, but in my opinion any horse logo just reminds me too much of Ralph Lauren. I also feel like the typography looks warped and stretched which obviously triggered this overwhelming OCD of mine so, of course, I welcomed the balanced and aligned sans serif font in the new logo.

The new type sits tight together and has a nice spacing between the brand name and sub line ‘London England’. This logo fits well into the new branding overall too with the website being very fresh with large high quality images and a white background. I really love the new direction Burberry have gone in and this has been followed by other famous brands like Yves St Laurent and Balmain.

*Disclaimer* I didn’t put this rebrand in my list for free clothes but Burberry if you do want to send me free clothes as a thankyou for my kind words my email is alex@slice.marketing

5. Starbucks

I can assure you this isn’t a mistake. I have put a logo that doesn’t include a sans serif font in my top 5 list. I really didn’t think it was possible but here we are. My OCD has been satisfied by a logo with character and uniqueness.

The old logo for Starbucks just felt too squashed together so I am a big fan of removing the Starbucks name and making the mermaid larger. However, this was only possible because the brand is so recognizable I wouldn’t recommend a logo without the brand name to a startup or small business unless the icon makes it totally clear what products or services they offer.

This brand refresh has also had a slight colour modification with the green being made lighter and friendlier in the new logo. Many brands have adopted the approach of lightning their colour schemes in the last five years or so. This has been driven by phone and computer screens being brighter and having better resolution, making brand colours of 10+ years ago feeling dull.

The illustration has also been modified with the face feeling more spacious, clearer and the lines being more symmetrical and balanced.

Conclusion

Simplicity is the future of design. However, the complexity of the customer’s perception is something that designers and marketers must always consider.

At Slice, we do everything to ensure branding is modern, effective and aesthetically pleasing. If you are interested in a rebranding, call us on 01482 014 304 or email hi@slice.marketing