What You’re Reading: Top Five Blog Posts of 2015
As the year winds down, let’s take a look back at some of the blog posts that caught your attention in 2015.
On Culture
Earlier this year, Atomicdust was featured in an St. Louis Business Journal article about millennials, and how companies are catering to this generation as they enter the workforce. Specifically, they wanted to know how we had adapted our environment to be more attractive to millennials.
The truth is, we really hadn’t. Shortly after the St. Louis Business Journal issue came out, Mike wrote this post discussing our company culture, how we work and why we do what we do.
Rebranding After a Merger
It’s natural to feel apprehensive about a brand in transition. When companies merge, cultures collide. One-time rivals are told to act like best friends. Sales departments feel disjointed, and marketing managers struggle to fold existing products and services into a cohesive brand story.
After guiding clients through similar situations, we’ve learned a thing or two. In this post, Mike shares tips to make one unified brand from two conflicting company cultures and along the way, build a brand that’s strong enough to gain preference in your customers’ eyes.
Watch the Edge: The Slippery Slope of Brand Standards
We’re not debating the importance of brand standards. In fact, they’re often a key deliverable in our own Branding Program. These documents provide guidelines for how a logo should be used, which color values are on brand, when and where to use the tagline, and so on, and so on. They’re rule books for how designers should interpret the brand when creating anything on behalf of it: a website, a brochure, an ad – even an email signature.
But – as the title suggests – it’s a slippery slope. Overly rigid brand standards limit the thinking to only “what’s been done before” and stifle innovation on behalf of the designer. How can we expect new, creative approaches when attempts at new are viewed as “off” brand?
Tips on Getting Your First Design Job
We receive job applications our inboxes every day. What makes one stand out from the others? Senior Designer Katie Werges shares her tips on applying and interviewing for design jobs – from the best sites to share your work on, to what file format to save your resume in. Her advice is geared towards young designers, but will serve job-seekers in any industry. (Oh, and there are cute illustrations, too.)
The Role of a Marketing Firm
One of our oldest and most popular blog posts – it’s from 2010, back when we were still located downtown and had just a dozen employees. This post has stood the test of time, and still resonates with us (and with readers, apparently).
In it, Mike discusses what we believe the role of a marketing firm to be, and it isn’t to sell you a website, produce a bunch of brochures, or push the latest social media channel. We believe that the greatest role a marketing firm can play is that of inspiration. Inspiration for clients to see their business in a new light. To discover their strengths (and weaknesses). To find news ways to communicate.
Thanks for reading in 2015! We look forward to sharing even more insight on marketing, design and social media in the coming year. Make sure you’ve signed up for our newsletter and are following us on social media for the latest from Atomicdust.
