Joseph and Jessica Cotten

What would you like to know?

My name is Joseph Cotten, and I’m what’s known as the Principal of Trend Setting Design.  I’ve been breathing air for 30 years now, been married to my wife Jessica for 9 of them, owned an Australian Shepherd + Golden Retriever dog for 6 of them, and have been a lover of good design for at least 20 years.  Jessica is active around here as well.  You’ll see her touch on just about everything we do; she is the Trend Setting Design copywriter, which means she’s in charge of making sure everything is said the best way possible. She also works with me on branding and marketing jobs.

[begin awkward self-promotion]You could say we’re both just really good at coming up with creative ideas. We are frequently described by metaphors like “break the mold” and “outside the box”.[end awkward self-promotion]

The Team

Joseph Cotten is the main artist. No matter who does the sketches, brainstorming and consulting, Joseph will have his mouse clicking in Photoshop & Illustrator to get the ideas visualized. Joseph also provides business coaching and consultation. He’s driven by a passion for branding, also known as corporate identity design, so whether he’s doing a brochure graphic design, a logo design, or developing a website, it’s really all just avenues for branding.

Jessica Cotten is the main creative force behind Trend Setting Design as a business. She came up with our name and continues to push us forward. She is the copywriter, which means when you get your design and it reads like an engaging & creative story, you can thank her for the well-crafted verbiage. Jessica also works on corporate identity & branding jobs as a creative consultant and creative director. She’s also the quality assurance department for all of Joseph’s designs.

Sub Contractors are pulled in from Joseph’s art school contacts, other business friends, and his brother Ben when necessary. We’ve come to the realization that we should focus on our strengths instead of being a Jack of All Trades operation. When our clients need something that we can’t do, we call our friends to join in on the fun!

Pippen Cotten is the world’s best dog and our faithful pal. Pippen lays around the office all day with occasional spurts of activity. He offers the following services to visiting clients: cuddliness, overly-excited affection, joyful whimpering, belly rub access and foot licking.

So what makes a good designer?

One thing: that designer’s command of the Visual Language.  Just like English, Japanese and Icelandic, the Visual Language has it’s own grammar, punctuation and syntax.  A high-saturated bright red will communicate a thought, emotion or idea differently than a light grey; a traditional slab serif typeface will instill a number of impressions upon it’s viewers that a modern sans serif can either counter or compliment, depending upon the skill of the typographer.  The degree to which a designer can use those visually linguistic elements to communicate ideas, the better his or her designs will be.

My goal is to make life easier for my clients by really providing solutions for them. The word “solutions” is kind of a buzz word right now in America, but it remains an accurate description of what I try to create.  For instance, my web sites come with a content management system so that my clients don’t have to pay me for future updates – I empower them to take on the future updating of the site themselves.

So…if you’re in the Greensboro Triad area, or anywhere in the world (thanks to the magic of the internet), we’d love to help you with any graphic design, website design & development, branding, corporate identity, copy writing, business consultation & coaching, or marketing strategy needs that you have. You can read more about our services on a special page called…Our Services.

Accreditations:

Better Business Bureau Member

Graphic Artists Guild Member

Trend Setting Design is proud to be an accredited member of the Better Business Bureau and a member of the Graphic Artists Guild.  Both the BBB and the GAG promote high quality, standards-based business practices, with the GAG specializing in arts-based businesses.  The Graphic Artists Guild publishes the only national “blue book” of pricing guidelines for graphic arts companies.