March 30, 2009   :by Scott Ward

The beauty of a brand with a mission

By Design Partners has been retained by Washington, DC cosmetic’s firm Arbelle, LLC. By Design will provide branding, product packaging, and marketing communications services. We’re excited to be working with Arbelle to build brand name recognition and support the company’s mission to improve the lives of disadvantaged peoples who provide Arbelle product ingredients.

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August 20, 2008   :by Scott Ward

Finally, wings for the cobbler’s child.

I know I am not alone in acknowledging that, as a designer, I find it hardest of all to design and produce my own marketing materials. I am never entirely comfortable tooting my own horn. Between the perennial refinements and my sometimes-painful perfectionism, I am, unquestionably, my most difficult client. Then, there’s the time element. Inevitably, another, more pressing, more time-sensitive project jumps to the head of the line. So, like the cobbler whose children have no shoes, I am – like many of my colleagues – the first to put off this most demanding assignment.

It is always much easier to answer my clients’ needs with a thoughtful, engaging design solution without a moment of hand wringing or self-doubt. By design, I am clear, objective, strategic, focused, timely.

But it is a very different thing to cull through, catalog, and take stock of my work: what I’ve done, where I’ve been, who I am, where I’m going. I’m bombarded with my own questions. Is it good enough? Does it convey everything I want it to, and nothing I do not? How will it be received? Is there nothing I would change or tweak? Did I forget to put the milk away before I left this morning? Is it ready? So many questions. And yet, just a website. Well, my website. Yet like all websites, it is not a static and unchanging thing. Its content necessarily will evolve over time. On that level, it remains a work in progress.

It’s been an illuminating journey. Now, it is finally designed, written, and launched. Like a butterfly emerging from its safe, unexamined cocoon into the public eye. I’m excited, dare I say, ready, to finally give it not only the shoes it deserves, but also, its wings.

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