Blog — Page 13 of 13 — Redfire: Branding, Strategy, and Design Agency

March 11, 2015 — Comments are off for this post.

Eight golden rules for Packaging Design

Whether you are looking at new packaging design or refreshing and updating packaging, here are eight golden rules we take into consideration.

Understand your market. We conduct a thorough packaging audit of all competitors in your market before we start, and make sure we understand their respective positioning and attributes.
Trends. We look at what is happening with packaging in other markets, e.g. if you are just considering the NZ, what is happening in Australia, the US, EU or Asia that might give you a point of difference?
Personality. We ensure you are different and ensure your packaging has its own visual equity and has a strong personality and attitude.
Life Cycle. We make sure your packaging works at all stages of its life cycle, from leaving the factory to ending up in the user’s hands.
Protection. We recommend you protect your packaging and design in terms of trademark law and copyright and make sure you’re not infringing your competitors’ rights.
Pop Out. We ensure the packaging and design works and will mock up how your pack would look alongside your competition. We also try and test your packaging design in store and make sure it really does pop out at point of purchase.
Future Proofing. We design with tomorrow in mind. We design and create packaging that is in keeping with current market trends and future trends.
Testing. We promote doing some pre-market testing to make sure your packaging will find a willing audience. Bearing in mind we are careful how we test it as consumers never quite know what they are looking for until someone shows them something new. Henry Ford once said: ‘If I’d listened to what people wanted I’d have built a faster horse!’

March 11, 2015 — No Comments

7 Reasons to Build Your Website in WordPress

WordPress is known for being one of the most popular blogging platforms today. Not many people realise that it is also a simple but powerful Content Management System that you can use to build your website on. In fact 8.9% of all websites in the world are WordPress.

Here are 7 good reasons why you should use WordPress:
1.Usability
The intuitive, user-friendly backend of WordPress means it’s easy to update content without any knowledge of HTML. You can easily create new pages or edit existing ones using a rich text editor.
2.Accessibility
The great thing about WordPress is that it is built on simple and accessible technologies, which means that your site will be accessible across most platforms; ie. iPhones, Blackberries, Android, Windows, Mac OS, etc.
3.SEO
WordPress has good SEO functions integrated into its backend and most of it is free. Even Matt Cutts from Google compliments WordPress on how it is “made to do SEO well.”
4.Plugins
WordPress has an incredibly smooth and thorough implementation of plugin functionalities. They allow you to add functions such as shopping carts, contact forms, photo galleries, sliders, forums, polls, maps and other features without having extensive web development costs.
5.Themes
With thousands of customisable WordPress themes to choose from, you can create an awesome website at a very reasonable price. Also, themes are independent from your content, so you can change your theme at any time whilst maintaining your existing content and functionality.
6.Upgrades
Because WordPress has made it so easy to upgrade new features and security, your site can easily grow with you over the years. You can add a new theme without having to rebuild your whole website, or add new features to accommodate the growth of your business.
7.Security
It is incredibly easy to update WordPress for security and new functionality. When a new version is made available, WordPress sends you a link for an easy one-click upgrade. Don’t forget to back up your site before installing anything.

Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you develop a customised WordPress site that is affordable and will work for your business.

March 11, 2015 — Comments are off for this post.

What is Digital Media?

In a nutshell, digital media is about promoting a brand or service, through electronic connected media. This could be online on the web, through specialist website applications, or through mobile phone applications. Digital campaigns can also cross over into traditional media , either as traditional first – bringing an audience into a digital campaign, or traditional last -by using an existing digital audience as content generators.

Digital Media is the great relationship builder. Humans by their very nature are communicative and inquisitive, and digital channels allow brands to interact with their audience on both levels. The level of involvement required by the audience to engage with a brand, in many cases a simple click of the mouse, shrinks the gulf between interaction and offline brand perception.

The greatest benefit of digital media lies in its ability to forge individual relationships with the audience. Unlike any other broadcast medium, digital channels allow direct engagement with each member of the audience creating dialogue instead of the monologue one way blasts of traditional media.

Digital media offers brands new opportunities that traditional communication methods cannot easily match:
• Digital Media does not obey the line
• Digital Media should be cost efficient
• Digital Media can be broadcast and personalised
• Digital Media should always prove returns
• Digital Media can be reactive as well as proactive

March 11, 2015 — No Comments

Designing Packaging Graphics

With packaging, designers have two key tools to grab the consumers’ attention, graphics and structure.

Packaging graphics must do more than simply look pretty. They must work to cut through the clutter and white noise that is the crowded retail shelves, and attract a potential buyer. Once they attract a buyer’s attention, packaging doesn’t stop working. We make sure the design conveys information about their contents, why they should potentially pay more for it, the ingredients they contain, how to use the product and why the product is unique.

Packaging is also the medium many businesses exploit to convey their brand and often, is the only brand “touch-point” that most consumers engage with. By this we mean they only really see and engage with your brand at point of sale- so packaging is vital.

Important elements for packaging graphics and packaging design include; colour, tonality, illustration, photography & visuals, typography and information hierarchy. Get this right and you are half way there. The rest is up to how good the product performs for the price paid.

‹ Newer Posts