Impossible deadlines made possible – by us.

Sometimes clients have a rush job. And sometimes clients need something done so quickly you won’t have time to shower or eat. When First Look Solutions approached us with a deadline that made our heads spin, we said: “Yes, we can do it.”

Was it a momentary lapse of sanity or just good all gumption? We’re going to go with the latter. Because we developed the rest of their website from a mere two templates they sent at a speed unbeknownst to mankind. But we weren’t just fast. We were good. Ask them. They’re happy to tell you.

While building those pages, we also found some time to help a Kentucky Law Firm brand their company with shiny new marketing materials.  Now they’ve got a brochure as sophisticated as they are.

It was a busy few weeks, but the website and the brochure were all in a day’s work. And since tomorrow is another day, we need to get cracking.

While we have your attention, please feel free to check out our environmental friendly digital brochure.

Recognition: Gotta Love It.

At Aranzamendez Design, when we get an opportunity to tout our own horn, we like to blast it from the rafters. That’s because we’re proud of all the work we do for our clients. And while they say “thank you” and “great job”, it’s always nice to hear these things from perfect strangers. Like LogoLounge.

LogoLounge is a collective of designers who share concepts and ideas to further the art of logo design. The organization puts out a Master Series Book highlighting the best logos they’ve received that year. We’re thrilled to announce our “Baby Bookwork logo design will be printed in the upcoming Master Library Series. Check it out here.

Master. Now that’s a heady title.

But we’ll take. We’ve been at this logo business for a long time. We know what works and we know what could possibly spell disaster for your brand identity. These days with so many crowdsourcing websites offering logos for less that a venti latte, it’s nice to know there are people out there that still recognize the skill involved in creating a logo.

Thanks logolounge.com. We look forward to your next book.

2010 is the Year of the Client

The end of 2009 hit us like a freight train full of dynamite. And as we tidy up all the loose ends and start to unwind from all the food and festivities, we thought we should create a resolution list for our office. These are things we’d like to do to help make 2010 a great year for Aranzamendez Design and for our clients. Sure, some of the items seem frivolous. But creativity needs a muse, and sometimes that muse is a white sand beach.

Here it is:
1. Arrange to have Starbucks delivered intravenously.
2. Get a client that allows us to take pictures of cute little dogs.
3. Double our client roster.
4. Do lunch more often.
5. Take on a new pro bono project.
6. Create outstanding work that propels us to the top of every award show category.
7. Get a client in Hawaii.
8. Stop moonlighting as a female rock band.
9. Organize one office Happy Hour every month.
10. Impress every one of our clients.

Holiday Chatter

It’s winter in Cincinnati and, more importantly, it’s the holiday season. Colorful lights are strung about the office. We’ve got a tree outside the window striving to stay upright in the wind. And we’re munching on cookies for breakfast. Typical Season of Joy stuff.

And to spread some of that joy, we’ve got a playful holiday gift for our clients and friends that’s sure to become the talk of the town—which is exactly what we do for our brands. We create buzz. And our gift this year is all about endless chatter. Pretty appropriate we think.

So what is it? Well that’s between us and Santa. But if you’d like to get your very own Aranzamendez Design holiday gift, visit us at www.aranzamendezdesign.com or send an email directly to info@aranzamendezdesign.com. We’ve got a limited supply, but we can accommodate a few folks from the nice list.

Warm wishes everyone!
Aranzamendez Design

Go digital. Trees like it.

It’s that time of year again. When ad agencies and design firms around the country tweak their portfolios in a continual attempt to showcase their new work. Of course, the big question is: how do you put your best foot forward? Leather books. Steel cases. A walk down the portfolio aisle at any art store is enough to send a creative director’s head spinning. Plus, there’s all that e stuff to consider. Mainly, how best to electronically share your work because, let’s face it, leather books and steel cases not only burden the environment, they can burden the pocketbook, too. And PDFs feel like, well, PDFs.

So we’re trying something new.

Something that talks like a book, walks like a book, but isn’t really a book. It’s our new web portfolio featuring digital flipbook technology. You can view it on your computer just as if you were reading a book. It even sounds like you’re flipping pages. Plus it’s super tree-friendly, too.

We’re the only Cincinnati agency with a digital flipbook portfolio and we’re quite proud of that. So check it out—and think about all those trees still swaying in the wind.

View Aranzamendez Design’s new digital portfolio here.

We won a Middy – what’s a Middy?

A Middy is the award given out annually by the Ohio Association of Convention and Visitors Bureaus for the most creative, innovative and all-around fabulous attempts by local agencies throughout Ohio to attract more tourists to the Buckeye State. It’s the second year we’ve won. So we get to continue our unstoppable reign as champs of city branding.

This year we were charged with promoting Northern Cincinnati. We strove to enlighten visitors about all the wonderful, engaging and offbeat things to do in a city best known for a certain radio station sitcom starring Loni Anderson.

Our idea: the Book of Fun. A vibrant visitor’s guide chock full of Cincinnati goodness. Like roller coasters and restaurants. Shows and parks. No tourist can do without one.
And while we’re proud of it, it’s nice to know others not related to us are proud of it, too. The Book of Fun was a team effort. So kudos to the entire staff.

Check out our Book of Fun here.

Friends with (design) benefits.

Introducing Aranzamendez Design’s new incentive referral program.

Help us spread a little design love. Recommend Aranzamendez Design to your friends and colleagues. After all, you like our stuff and you like how we work. Chances are, they’ll like our stuff and like how we work, too. Plus, if they hire us, we’ll happily help your business along with some free design makeovers.

You can choose from:

A business card re-design
Twitter Page design
A custom digital template for newsletters

Essentially, you help us and we help you. Consider it good Karma. A little tit for tat. Or just a friend giving another friend a hand.

Reading Web Content

Do you know how people view content on the web?  Fast, very very fast.

According to Jakob Nielsen’s articles “F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content” and “How Little Do Users Read,” very little content is actually read on a web page, in fact he claims that on the average web page, users read only 28% of the words.  For users to read just half of what is on the page, he speculates that you need to have less than 111 words on the page.

An eye tracking experiment Nielsen conducted studied how the eye moved across different web pages.  He found a vast majority of readers read in an “F” shaped pattern.  They read the top of the page all the way across, then they scroll down a little, and read horizontally again, but at a shorter distance than the first time.  Then they tend to scroll up the left side of the page.

These studies allow us as web designers to judge the amount of content a page needs, and how the content should be placed to insure users see the information businesses need them to see.  This means that bold headings and sub-headings get attention, and important eye-catching words need to be first.

How Little Do Users Read?  http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html
F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content  http://www.useit.com/alertbox/reading_pattern.html