Is your brand message too complicated?
When you believe in your brand, it’s easy to come up with a list of reasons and messages explaining why your customers need your product or service. So why is a singular message better than many?
Thoughts
October 9, 2024
May 23, 2024
Brand Strategy Pillar #2
Brand perspective is thread that connects your positioning to your personality. People buy the intangible, not the tangible. They buy the way you see the world. Your perspective and point of view encompass how your firm sees opportunities and challenges.
May 9, 2024
Brand Strategy Pillar #1
Strategically positioning your professional services agency will attract your target audience on your terms, resulting in fulfilling work and increased profitability.
April 23, 2024
Brand Pillars of Professional Services
An effectively developed brand strategy requires three key components. While each element alone may not distinguish you, together they can create distinction and uniqueness.
April 4, 2024
Service or Product
Crafting a strategy tailored to your offering—whether it's a product or service—is essential for your business' success. Knowing the difference, makes a difference.
March 7, 2024
How To Hire For Strategy
Hiring an agency for brand work shouldn’t be a quick and easy process. Since branding is a long game that will matter beyond the budget, how should your company evaluate who to partner with and hire?
January 30, 2024
2024 & The State of Your Brand
Your brand is not what YOU say it is, it’s what THEY say it is. Customer perception is everything, but most importantly, it is within your control.
December 11, 2023
Gifts for Designers
As design-centered people, we know the importance of well-designed gifts. We've curated a list of gifts for designers.
November 30, 2023
How to Create a Brand Purpose
Creating a brand purpose involves a deep dive into your organization’s culture, values, stories, and defining moments.
November 8, 2023
Why Create Purpose-Driven Content
Purpose, or the “why,” is what gives your business heart. Heart is what drives the emotion, and emotion is what gives your brand life.
October 17, 2023
How to Create Your Brand Archetype
In brand marketing, understanding the significance of a full-fledged personality is just the beginning. Create a persona that resonates.
September 28, 2023
Why a Brand Archetype Can Shape Your Personality
Having a brand personality is a vital brand pillar that guides content creators in their marketing efforts.
September 20, 2023
There is Only One You
It is important to recognize that crafting a brand personality is not a sprint but a long-term investment. Make your brand personality the one in a million.
September 19, 2023
Why develop a Brand Voice?
At A8ency and Modern8, we perceive brand voice as the amplifier of your brand's identity.
August 23, 2023
Crafting a Memorable Brand Look and Feel
A strong brand encompasses a memorable and carefully crafted look and feel powered by thoughtful design and aesthetics.
August 7, 2023
That Design Feeling
How Brand Design Builds Credibility and Emotional Connections with Your Audience In today’s competitive business, good design and a good brand is just good business. “While design was once largely thought of as a way of making products more attractive, it is now a way of thinking: a creative process driven by the desireContinue reading "That Design Feeling"
March 1, 2023
How to Create a Newsletter Strategy
How do I create a newsletter strategy?
February 15, 2023
Why A Newsletter Strategy is Important
How effective are newsletters?
February 2, 2023
Redesigning a Website
How often should I redesign my website?
February 2, 2023
It's a Site for Sore Eyes
Hello, we have some news—we’ve made a big update to our website. From our values and beliefs to our methods and work—it’s all there for you to see.
January 25, 2023
By Subject
Marketing podcasts in Silicon Slopes
January 18, 2023
CRO and Messaging: Science Meets Art
In recent years the topic of CRO, or conversion rate optimization, has grown in popularity and become a pillar for many businesses serious about their online marketing effectiveness and strategy. While the importance of composing proper website messaging with an authentic brand voice has been embraced since the beginning of the digital age, focus onContinue reading "CRO and Messaging: Science Meets Art"
January 18, 2023
The 4 Pillars of a Successful Website
Regardless of a business’s industry, online presence has a massive impact on its success. At the forefront of that presence should be a website that is memorable, easy to navigate, and a place that can generate leads and revenue. In our present day, the world has become a smaller place. Information is easily available andContinue reading "The 4 Pillars of a Successful Website"
October 28, 2022
Branding Marketing
We define branding as a strategic and emotional foundation that builds customer loyalty over time.
April 21, 2020
The (Imperfect) Brand Story We Tell
Every chance a brand gets to show its personality and tell its story is vitally important, yet many brands waste the opportunity.
August 11, 2018
Why Do You Need A Competitive Advantage?
Reasons you need to identify your competitive advantages
March 4, 2016
ten commandments of the brand bible
To make the most out of our efforts and provide the most comprehensive return on our client’s investment, we stress the importance of a brand bible.
February 17, 2016
more than a meltdown
When the Brooklyn chocolatiers known as the Mast Brothers started making headlines recently, we couldn’t help but notice.
February 9, 2016
holiday t-shirts
Our annual holiday edition of T-shirt swag for clients and friends went out last month featuring another testament to our love of downtown...
February 9, 2016
salt lake building posters
Another in the series of posters we design of Salt Lake buildings, reflecting our long-term love affair with our downtown office location.
February 9, 2016
pentad gets extended
When Pentad Properties engaged us for brand strategy and design, we didn’t realize that we were dealing with partners who self-described themselves as “alpha-dogs”...
February 9, 2016
ritual
We're working on a video to tell the whole story, but for now, we’re very excited to see the packages we designed for Ritual Chocolate as they roll off the presses.
February 8, 2016
the science of taglines
To the untrained eye, this is just a line—barely even a sentence. Why is it such “big” news?
January 27, 2016
d1: discovery
There are several activities in our discovery phase we might recommend to your organization to assist us in our brand strategy process...
January 8, 2016
social media for aec
Like the printing press, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Snapchat and others were created with the goal of changing communication.
December 15, 2015
infographic: the naming process
Every once in a while, we get the opportunity to integrate naming strategy with our standard 5D process. Our experience has acquainted us with renaming businesses, labeling products, and more frequently, generating original names for new ventures. Each scenario has helped us refine our approach to assigning monikers to various entities, so we thought we’dContinue reading "infographic: the naming process"
December 8, 2015
8second news
Shain Wiederholt has joined modern8 as a copywriting intern, following a recent stint doing the same thing for Tether, a Seattle-based firm.
December 8, 2015
salt lake building posters
We helped our client Impartner with the design of a tradeshow booth that correlates with the brand identity and website we created for them recently.
December 8, 2015
chocolate in the mountains
This summer, modern8 began a relationship with the best of two worlds: chocolate and Park City.
December 8, 2015
myriad
modern8 was engaged by Myriad Genetics Laboratories, to design literature that explains the benefits of using the myChoice HRD product.
December 8, 2015
people buy why
People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.
November 20, 2015
why perception branding?
Have you stopped to think about what your consumers say your brand is?
November 9, 2015
our future is bright
Never trust a skinny chef.
October 29, 2015
salt lake building posters
The offices of modern8 (and its predecessors) have always been downtown, so the urban landscape is part of our daily experience.
September 2, 2015
impartner: the site
With a tight timeframe, we pulled of a mini-version of our famed d5 Perception Branding process, interviewing the new executives and researching competitors.
July 15, 2015
ptc: swords, fiddles & drama
We’ve been creating design and marketing and communications materials for Pioneer Theater Company since the 1990s.
July 15, 2015
ustar: utah's tehnology catalyst
USTAR, the Utah Science and Technology Research initiative is a technology-based development initiative funded by the State of Utah.
July 15, 2015
arch nexus' re-brand launch
The challenge this time was to create a site with the same visual impact, while making it accessible from any device, and easily manageable internally.
July 14, 2015
spotify makes me sick
Sure it still looked like the Spotify logo, but I could feel it in my gut that something was wrong.
April 23, 2015
aiga 100 recognizes modern8
...we’ve been selected for two awards in the annual recognition of the AIGA SLC 100 Show.
April 23, 2015
abc
“Size does matter, small jobs need not apply”
April 23, 2015
jacobsen launches
From luxury condominiums to religious temples, the projects section of their site shows off work they’ve completed throughout the entire country.
April 23, 2015
the core of brand culture
Signal Peak invests in people, not technology. It’s one of a distinctive set of values held by Signal Peak.
February 26, 2015
lds church tests messages
“God used beautiful mathematics in creating the world”
February 10, 2015
sincerity in marketing
...“clickbait”; a sensationalist online advertising ploy designed to attract click-throughs.
December 31, 2014
2014 t-shirt
How are you today?
December 31, 2014
signal peak ventures
We took the venture capital firm through our Perception Branding 5d Process.
December 15, 2014
new wave christmas tree
I was a brash young designer at the time; out of school about eight years and thought everything needed (post) modern design...
September 15, 2014
greatest bits
When Randall Smith, modern8 Creative Director, was young and foolish, he started a band.
September 15, 2014
peterson stationary
We designed a new Peterson Wealth Advisors identity based on the image and metaphors associated with the bristlecone pine, the oldest and most durable of all tree species.
September 15, 2014
aesthetic vs. functional attraction
Great design attracts you, literally.
July 31, 2014
nic gets with feds
We designed a site for the Pre-Employment Screening Program for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
July 31, 2014
words of wisdom
The Salt Lake letterpress printer, The Mandate Press, puts on an annual exhibition of invited artists to create work around an interesting theme.
July 31, 2014
abc takes fun seriously
We’ve been working with Associated Brigham Contractors since the turn of the century.
July 3, 2014
coming up with names
“Man gave names to all the animals.”
May 2, 2014
less is less (sometimes)
We understand the appeal of minimalist design. But as the minimal logo trend grows, so too does our appreciation of a quality identity...
March 26, 2014
website evaluations: think before proceeding
...a good website can become a game-changer.
March 10, 2014
the importance of mockups
“You want the typeface to say that you sell grapefruit without saying you sell grapefruit?”
July 5, 2011
brand design, brand strategy
...in most companies, brand strategy is separated from creativity by a wide gap.
May 26, 2011
worth the paper
...the overall effect, as Michael Beirut said, “is a cake that has been decorated to within an inch of its life.”
April 27, 2011
launch your brand internally
Employees don’t just represent the company, they are the company.
March 21, 2011
subconscious stimuli
It was as if I had been teleported from home to my office without any effort on my part.
February 24, 2011
logo is not brand
Your logo isn’t your brand, your identity, your product or service.
January 20, 2011
don't name it that
When you’ve been in design as long as I have, you become jaded by the ubiquity of mediocre design.
December 23, 2010
how branding stole christmas
Ah, yes — the power of good design and branding. It just makes you wonder how far people will go.
November 22, 2010
stupid questions
The first thing that comes out may in fact, be obvious—but it can get deep very quickly.
October 14, 2010
the typeface spoke to me
Design is the language that a society uses to create objects that reflect it purposes and its values.
January 30, 2007
faster horse or model t?
“If I had asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.”