I oversaw merging the TSI template with the Joomla CMS, troubleshooting and optimizing the site for Joomla. I’ve done a lot of work in Joomla and was able to help ensure smooth operation of the site.

During development, we realized that TSI’s template wasn’t fully fleshed-out with its styling, so I was able to design new CSS type styles and Joomla module styles, as well as an accordion AJAX menu and other extensions.

It seems to have worked, because the TSI staff has taken our training and continued to update the site. Hopefully they’ll continue to grow!

Our message to clients is to not be content with simply following trends. Don’t be trendy! Be steady, strong and confident in who you are. This will lead you into a place where you set the standards—where you set the trends for others to follow.

I was inspired by this slogan to create a personal art project which conveyed it. If you’re curious what I used, it was done in Photoshop using a photograph of an old grungy cafe tabletop taken by Caleb at Lost and Taken, a photo of cracked concrete taken by Jay at Bittbox and a photo of a ladybug that I found at iStock Photo. The font is Bree Extrabold from Type Together. I made adjustments/changes to all the source elements, for instance making Bree into a stencil font, adding a leg and doing some dodging/burning to the ladybug, plus lots of tweaks to the coloring of the concrete and tabletop photo.

I ended up using this as a free giveaway on Twitter & Facebook, making it into a computer desktop wallpaper and a printable greeting card.

You’ve probably noticed at your local grocery store or gas station that Pepsico has come out with a new corporate identity.  It’s clearly an attempt at an evolutionary (vs. revolutionary) change, with a similar color palette and predominantly blue background on the flagship product, Pepsi.  I think it’s a bad identity.  Find out why after the jump.

A logo refresh, and certainly a new corporate identity should push a company forward into it’s growing vision.  Branding should reflect where a company will be in ten years, and if properly done, will propel the company into that vision.  It should never be done to fit in better with “the crowd” or to better adhere to a current design trend.  Here’s the first thing that pops into most people’s minds when they view these:

“So Pepsi voted for Obama?”  At which point the Pepsi executives would say, “No, that’s not the Obama logo – it’s a stylized smiley face!  Isn’t that fun?”  Well, it sure doesn’t look like a smile to me, and I’m all about symbolism and implied meanings.  It looks like a bad print job of the old Pepsi logo.

There’s a lot that’s bad about this, from the nauseating “e” in “pepsi”, to the clinical, cold layout, to the fact that it looks like the packaging for an mp3 player more than a food product.  Plus, the logo changes depending on the drink!  Come on, guys!  That aspect seems to have been an afterthought, since with the pepsi max can, the logo has a much larger “grin”, depicting the higher caffeine amount in the drink, but the rest of the pepsi max can is bland, boring, grey, clinical and sterile.  If you’re going to change the logo to depict a more exciting customer experience, you have to follow through with the entire package – which they have not done.

This new look seeks to set itself apart from the competition, which it does indeed.  I’ll give them that: they stick out like a sore thumb, or like a medical appliance in the frozen foods section.

Feel free to comment, especially if you disagree with me.  I know there are mixed opinions on this out there.

My pricing is based upon the exposure that the finished design will have.  For instance, if you are a small business needing a new logo, business cards and letterhead, and you only have a few hundred customers, I may only need to charge $500.00  If you are a large multinational corporation with five hundred employees, needing a full corporate identity system, I would charge anywhere from $8,000 to $15,000.  The reason for this is that good design breeds good business.  If you have a great logo that effectively communicates who you are and what your vision is, while simultaneously reaching your target demographic, that logo will reap tremendous benefits for your business.  Your image among the target demographic will be improved, your name recognition will increase and the rewards that you will reap will continue for the life of the business, even if the logo is changed down the road.  That well-designed logo then is an excellent investment, and the price you pay for it should reflect that.

Therefore, the more exposure my design will get, the more it will benefit you, and the more it is worth to you.

Contact me with the information below, and I’ll be more than happy to give you a no-cost consultation to help you find out what your needs are, and how to fulfill them.

Joseph Cotten
Trend Setting Design
trendsettingdesign@gmail.com
(336) 471-3104