Joy Cookery
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Cafe Kubal
Vehicle advertising differs from print collateral, where the viewer can pause, absorb the advertising, and attempt to understand the message. In my research on effective vehicle wrap design, I've learned to focus on a single, primary message the client aims to convey to the viewer, often centered around strong branding. If budget is a critical consideration, design using the car's original color as the background and employ vector graphics and decals instead of a full wrap. Below are some examples of vehicle wraps I've worked on in the past.
TERACAI’s Corporate Vehicle
Kubal Coffee Truck
Bush’s Beans Tailgating Trailer
These are my takeaways from Joe Gebbia’s TED Talk—How to Design Between Strangers and the implications to the business I was helping?
It was two years after graduation, Joe lived in San Francisco unemployed at the time. There was a design conference happening in town. Hotels were sold out so he and his roommate thought of a way to make some money by turning their place into a bed and breakfast. He and his roommate Brian Chesky built a basic website and Air Bed and Breakfast was born. They pitched the business to investors and waited for the rocket ship to take off. But, it didn’t. Time was 2007, and the idea of inviting strangers over the internet to stay at your own home was just not going to fly. Why? Because we’ve all been taught as kids—Stranger equals Danger
So they started to wonder if it is possible to design trust between strangers.
Similarity vs. Reputation
A joint study with Stanford shows that we trust people who are like us. The more different somebody is, the less we trust them. That unfortunately is a bias we all have to some degree, but what’s interesting is when you add reputation into the mix. In this case, it’s the reviews. If there are fewer than 3 reviews, it doesn’t make a difference in people’s bias, but if you have over 10 reviews, things start to change. Reputation at this point beats similarity
Share the Right Amount
Building the right amount of trust also takes the right amount of disclosure. If you share too little or too much, the acceptance rate goes down. So, They use the size of the box to prompt users to share the right amount of text. They also wait for both the host and the guest to write their reviews before posting them so they can be more transparent about their reviews.
Sharing Economy
When Joe Gebbia first heard the term, sharing economy. He thought: How do sharing and transactions go together? And why don’t we just call it the rental economy? Because that would be incomplete. The sharing economy is commerce with the promise of human connections. People share a part of themselves, and the connection beyond the transaction is what sharing economy is aiming for.
The future will be more and more likely to embrace a culture of sharing that brings us community and connection instead of isolation and separation. And trust will play a huge role in that.
There were many other websites like Airbnb at the time it was launched, but why did theirs take off, not others? Luck and timing aside, they were especially thoughtful at taking the component of trust and design for that. And what they found was people are ready to put their biases aside, and when trust works out right, it can be magical.
In the HBR article, Trust Crisis, a study shows trust has a very real impact on a company’s revenue. In a study of Holiday Inns, 6,500 employees rated their trust in their managers on a scale of 1 to 5. The researchers found that a one-eighth point improvement in scores could be expected to increase an inn’s annual profits by 2.5% of revenues, or $250,000 more per hotel. No other aspect of managers’ behavior had such a large impact on profits.
Since Gaylord Archival launched its Amazon store in 2015, buyers in our consumer segments have been leaving our website and flocking to Amazon. There are many implications in that, one of them being the reputation system in Amazon’s user experience. This is especially critical in our industry because selling an archival supply is essentially selling customers a promise that their treasured items will be safeguarded for generations to come. It is as intangible as it can be. Most customers will not reap the benefit of our quality products until many years have passed. That’s why customer reviews can greatly enhance our reputation and serve as a referral in that aspect. Our marketing goal is to increase trust in the user experience whether it’s through customer reviews or resources and continue to establish our reputation among customers.
Design has nothing to do with art…
and that is oftentimes, a fundamental misunderstanding about designers. While the tools of artists and designers look similar, their purposes and goals can be a lot different. A good designer is a good problem solver whose offering should not be limited to just style and appearance. So, when working with a designer, we should start with an overview of our goals before diving into a discussion about design details. This interview with Milton Glaser has been my inspiration as a creative professional.
Milton
Glaser
@miltonglaserinc
Sending warm wishes via a holiday card is a way for CXtec to show appreciation to its business partners. So, I designed something that features our partnership and commitment to the community. For businesses and organizations that have an ongoing relationship with us, this card provides more than just greetings. For those who do not know CXtec very well, here is a way to get to know CXtec outside of the business setting.
I also purposefully made it a postcard instead of a folded greeting card. Reason one: no need to be shy about our corporate commitment, right? Two, more visibility. Who knows? Maybe the office building manager is also looking for a business like CXtec. Lastly, it saves the company $785.00 on the envelopes, prints, and postage. An effective design doesn't have to cost more, and that is the beauty of design thinking!
What is Charity: Water?
At Café Kubal, we believe in the "thank you economy" and giving back to where we take from. We enjoy being involved in the community and receiving the joy and satisfaction that comes from making a positive impact, that’s why we partnered with the charity: water, a non-profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Why Water?
Did you know that quality water is essential for making a great cup of Kubal coffee? The reason why Café Kubal's coffee is good, other than our roasting process and brewing metrics, is the complex water filtration system within our brewing equipment.
Clean water is essential to life. 90% of the 30,000 deaths that occur every week from unsafe water and unhygienic living conditions are children under five years old. Additionally, In Africa alone, people spend 40 billion hours every year walking for water. Women and children usually bear the burden of water collection, walking miles to the nearest source, which is unprotected and likely contaminated.
Since Africa is one of the continents that Café Kubal sources its coffee from, it gives us great pleasure to give back and bring the farm-to-cup relationship closer.
On to the Water Ball
Kubal Water Ball is a kick-off event we put together for the charity: water to raise awareness and funds throughout 2015. Through an evening of camaraderie, inspiring ambiance, and great food (and coffee), we hope to draw in the community with this event and better educate others and ourselves on the need for clean water. There were silent auctions, a cash bar, a live band, a photo booth, video presentations on charity: water, a water walk for the guests to experience the lives of those who live without clean water nearby, treats and beverages by Cafe Kubal and cuisine prepared by Sky Armory‘s executive chef. With much help and generous donations from the community, the Water Ball project manager, Nate Palumbo, and I delivered a successful event on the night of January, 30th. Our guests were entertained and educated at the same time.
Check out the media coverage from Syracuse.com and the photographs of the event. These great images were captured by the most talented, generous, and hardworking photographers: The Story Photography by Chris and Anatoli Photograffi by Anatoli. Read on and feel the vibe of the night of Kubal Water Ball!
I recently had a chance to speak in the SU AIGA class. When I was preparing for my speech, I asked myself, "What is it that I have to offer to the young designers?" "What is considered a critical quality to stay competitive in the industry I am in?" Diplomas and portfolios aside, is it intelligence such as the ability to conceive insightful marketing strategies, or the skills such as proficiency and being up-to-date with all the Adobe Creative Suits and current trends? Or is the inner strength in coping with the fast-paced and high-pressured workforce such as multi-tasking and project management? I am still searching for the answers myself as well. Getting a design job is hard, but thriving in it is harder. So, I consulted the Great Internet and found the interview series by this Irish Designer—David Airy truly inspiring.
In the interview with Eric Karjaluoto, partner and creative director at smashLAB:
“Design isn’t like other jobs. In order to be any good at it, you really have to put in your time. For experienced designers, the result of doing so is typically reflected in their portfolios... I encourage you to be the first one in, the last to leave, and while you’re there, work your ass off. ”
And the interview of Simon Manchipp from SomeOne.
“Think — what’s going on right now? What is topical. What are they up to? How can I be useful? Then do it.”
There is a general misconception about choosing a career: choose a profession you love and you will never have to work a day in your life. (Is it one of your Pinterest quotes? If so, delete the pin before it messes you up.) I hate to break the news, but there is more to that. Doing what you love is not what defines work. An amateur does what he loves doing, while a business professional does what she must do when she must do it to bring value to his customers. A professional learns to love what she must do because she takes his profession seriously. Once a young designer comes to this realization, it marks the passage from an amateur to a professional.
Are you a business owner? What is the most important quality that you look for in your associates?
In the summer of 2014, Peter, Kubal's rock star roaster, and I looked into the sales report and found that Ethiopia; although tastes great as an iced coffee, doesn't have the best appeal to coffee drinkers. So, we did a little market research and found that many customers feel clueless when the coffee is labeled by the name of its origins. So, we renamed the product to “Summer Roast” and launched it with an iced pour-over recipe, and it was a hit. It was such a successful collaboration that we continued this process into the fall and winter seasons (Autumn Roast and Fireside Roast).
One of the many privileges of being in New York is its beautiful winter scenery whether it’s a ski trip to the mountains or a weekend at the cabin. Wherever the scenery, it usually involves cuddling up by the fireside with a hot beverage in your hand, hence the name, "Fireside Roast" for the winter's blend.
Packaging is only one of the many ways we communicate with customers. Besides that, we have a holiday campaign: #12daysofcoffee to talk about each coffee every day in the stores and on social media. The customers can not only hear about the coffee we carry but also read it on social media and taste it in the cafes. Best yet, take it home at a special price.
The Fireside design is also making an appearance across the board on our holiday merchandise.
Brand merchandise is a cost-effective way to promote the brand, building brand loyalty among customers and appealing to potential buyers.
Bistro chalk is prominent throughout Cafe Kubal's theme in print and interior design. The birth of the graphic is simple and straightforward: choose the wording and how many folds for the banner to fit in --> sketch --> scan --> clean up the artwork in Photoshop --> and vectorize!
Now that the artwork is there, what color should it be? This time, instead of letting the corporate staff choose the color, we posted three of our favorites on social media and let our followers choose. The feedback we received on social media was beyond my expectations! We reached a total of 4856 people with the Facebook vote so the T-shirt was well marketed before it was even for sale. Thanks to Custom Logo USA—a Syracuse local business, the shirts were quickly and nicely executed.
Invitation
Wedding invites are always my favorite projects because I love learning about each couple's story and designing something that speaks to their personalities. Think of a wedding as the first "branding opportunity" for them as a couple. What an honor to be the "marketer" for their new identity!
Videography
