pinch of salt has moved!

Exciting news, folks – pinch of salt has been redesigned and moved to a new location! Our new address is http://blog.mindsalt.net/

Please update your blogs and RSS links accordingly. And when you get a chance post a comment to the new blog and let us know what you think of the changes.

GreenerWay and mindsalt (not an advertising agency) get shout out in the CJ

Have a read.

http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009306200007

What's inhouse now

Bump-i-doodles
Small bean bag chairs for kids have invaded our space (new project). Occasionally we see one move. Freaky.

Newest member

Congrats to Josh and Julie on their new arrival. Baby Jack arrived safe and sound last week. Now comes the sleepless nights.

Thinkabout... Presentation

When you thinkabout presentation, what comes to mind?

Long, boring, unproductive... the dreaded powerpoint?

Gone are the days of firing off copy-heavy bullet points and the regurgitative read-along that inevitably follows. We challenge you to thinkabout fresh ways to make your point and make it stick – presentations that encourage participating, not sleeping. And no, this doesn't require smoke, mirrors, dogs or ponies. Just a straightforward message with engaging, supportive visuals that connect with your audience.

Ready to see what we mean? Check out mindsalt's abc's of presentation.
Want to know more? Give us a shout.

New Projects in House

Mindsalt is helping one of our clients launch a healthy kids initiative. A program that encourages kids to run, be active and track the number of steps they walk or run for a period of time. Several schools are involved in the project, each competing with one another other. At the end of the school year one will be named a winner.

Until the program launches we are "living" with the materials at our office. Above is a few quick images of our space.

Mindsalt Magic '09 Ball Predictions

If 2008 was the year of turbulence, 2009 looks to be the year of trepidation.

To help cope with this uncertainty, Mindsalt introduces the Magic ‘09 Ball. Give it a shake and you’ll see our predictions for what will drive marketing, business and design in the coming year. We also invite you to add your own predictions for 2009.

Now, if only the Magic ‘09 Ball provided stock picks.

Checkout the Magic ’09 Ball here.

We've also included our predictions for this year below.

Happy New Year.

- Josh

Mindsalt’s ’09 predictions:

Honesty & simplicity drive consumer decisions.
2008 was a year of mixed messages. From politics to business, consumers are being bombarded from all sides with broad claims of little substance. In 2009, clarity will be key. Clear messages served up in simple, creative ways will be essential to building and maintaining trust with consumers.

Time-snippets replace time-slots.
Attention is the biggest hurdle for marketers to overcome. No longer do we carve out specific time for watching TV, reading the newspaper, or even surfing the web. We grab snippets of media throughout the day, 2 minutes here, 20 minutes there. Brands that are able to engage their consumers in short burst are the ones that will get the attention.

Action is essential.
To take a line from FDR, during these uncertain times "we need enthusiasm, imagination and the ability to face facts, even unpleasant ones, bravely. We need to correct, by drastic means if necessary… but above all, (to) try something.” 2009 is a time for 'bold, persistent experimentation' both in business and marketing.

Expert jockeying becomes a pro sport.
Social media has paved the way to make anyone a so called ‘expert.’ This new focus on personal branding will become much more competitive as the overrun of job seekers saturates the already diluted marketplace. What this means is that individuals and businesses will need to do a much better job in positioning themselves as authentic and credible.

Employees become your best marketing asset.
Businesses are all struggling to create strong advocates for their brands, however, the best consumer advocates are actually all around you – your employees. Everyone in your organization is an ambassador of your brand. To create a word of mouth program, start by giving your employees something to talk about.

Businesses must give first.
To get attention in 2009, businesses must give something away first. Now we don’t mean for all businesses to go out and buy stress balls for their customers. We mean that businesses must deliver value prior to a sale through some means of education, entertainment or sample that reflects your business’ product or service offering.

Consumer insight still reigns supreme.
Your business can no longer be all things to all people. In 2009 you must focus on being the right thing to the right person. This starts by engaging your customers and finding out how their needs are changing and focusing your messaging so you are communicating with them on a more intimate level.

Your brand’s story will only matter more.
In 2009, wallets will remain closed for the most part. The meaning behind those fewer purchases will therefore become that much more important. Businesses will have to bring greater purpose to their brands and communicate it in ways that become relevant to their consumers.

Brand Tags

Recently ran across the concept of brand tags via an article in the Wall Street Journal.

"It’s called Brand Tags, and in just a few days the site has attracted more than 30,000 visitors and about 183,000 individual responses, according to Mr. Brier. His thinking: If a brand can be defined as the sum of all perceptions about it, what would he learn by asking people online to give their snap reactions to a bunch of logos?

Mr. Brier decided to show the results as a tag cloud–a format in which the size of the word corresponds to its frequency among responses. Frequently submitted words are shown in giant type, while rarely-submitted ones look tiny on the screen."

We all know that a brand is what your consumers perceive it to be. This experiment is a voluntary gut reaction. Interesting. Just for fun or will corporations use this as yet another resource for focus group chatter?

New chefs

mike and i would like to officially welcome our two newest faces at mindsalt.

ashley revlett. our resident web designer and self-proclaimed youngest person in the group. ashley joins us after several years of freelance and attending school at the University of Louisville.

ashley has picked up many a spilled plate for clients and comes out on top each time. we value what she has done in these first few months.

ashley can be found on facebook, the local coffee shop, listening to a new band that comes to town or relaxing on her couch dreaming of code.

the second newbee is josh beatty. we first met josh at doe-anderson (somehow which becomes our 2 degrees of separation). josh curageously left doe to pursue his own company greener way, which he still manages and runs today. strategic planning and new business are his strengths, but resident barista and smart-ass are close seconds.

thanks to you both for helping push mindsalt to the next level.

Role reversal

It's not easy being account manager in any size firm.  It is a delicate balancing act of client approval and expectation management mixed with in-house loyalty and honesty.  In other words, account managers work all day not to tick anyone off.

Recently, however, I went from account manager to client here at Mindsalt with my suddenly booming side gig -- Little Treasures Kid's Sale.  We needed re-branding from top to bottom and of course, I trusted no one but Mindsalt.  You must understand that I am a PR person here, but Little Treasures is my baby.  We've grown this business from as small and insignificant as you can imagine to now regionally recognized and drawing people in from 4 states.  

So that being said, I now have a much greater appreciation for what it's like to be in the client seat.  We have to trust branding professionals, designers and the like with truly knowing our business from the inside-out so that it can be captured across all mediums.  

I'll have to say, I'm 100% satisfied with my client experience at Mindsalt.  It was somewhat difficult to muster up the courage to ask my employee for some tweaks here and there (as the client).  But in the end, we were all happy with the result...designers, client (me) and account manager (me).  Check it out:  www.littletreasuressale.com.  Response to the new brand is excellent.

Convenience

It was on a recent trip to France and Italy that I realized how far behind America is in reducing its footprint in the world. What do these two country's do that we don't? The simple design of convenience. The convenience in having recycling bins on the street next to garbage cans. The choice to do the right thing and throw your plastic and paper in a recycling bin rather than a garbage can that gets sent to a landfill. Businesses use larger bins that were placed on the street to recycle wine bottles and plastic. Come on America, take a cue from France and Italy.

acoustic guitars: phase one

at long last, the acoustic guitars (and my bass) from the first two harlan guitarworks lutherie classes have been completed (end of last year) and photographed (a special thanks to videobred: jamie, kara, chad and kirk, thanks for the use of the studio; and brian for letting me break his D100). looking back at the last year-and-a-half and the photographs of everyone's hard work, i'm beiginning to realize the significance of our efforts.


we started shortly after the newport guitar festival almost two years ago. after seeing some of the crazy stuff independent makers were trying (and after a beer or three), ted harlan (www.tedharlan.com) and i came back to the shop in louisville with an amplified entusiasm and few crazy ideas. after extensive designwork, tons of jig-building (my favorite part) and a little trial and error, we got under way.



learning (and tap tuning) every step of the way, we prepared tops and backs; bent sides; cut bracing; kerfed, bound and built the boxes; hand built the necks, bridges and tailpieces; inlayed, detailed and finished everything in clear laquer; strung and tuned them up and – what-do-you-know, they all sound great.



now we have two enthusiastic new classes, a much improved process in place and a new body/neck design. we're sending files out this week to have very precise plexi-glas pattern parts made in the hopes that we can continue improving the efficiency of the classes and, we've been looking at the work of lloyd loar so that we might gain a better grasp of acoustics.


can't imagine how guitar-building/woodworking relates to graphic design? as far as i'm concerned, they're identical in every way. they both require an ability to understand complex ideas, to pay attention to detail, to recognize process efficiencies and, most importantly, it requires an innate understanding of the visual language of design. are we there yet? maybe not, but we get a little closer and we improve every day.

my thanks to ted. working in the woodshop has always been good for providing useful knowledge and valuable perspective.

trash everywhere

Mike and I participated today in an event today that is part of our beliefs at mindsalt – taking care of the world we live in. We spent the morning cleaning up trash along the Ohio river. The event was started by Living Lands and Waters and was sponsored by Athens Paper and Sappi.

We were boated to a spot in which 22 volunteers, some college students on spring break, packed garbage bags full of soda bottles, tobacco containers, shoes, styrofoam, plastic oil cartons. Plastic, plastic and more plastic.

Our thanks go out to Living Lands and Waters for their efforts and dedication to an overwhelming task.

Hands on design

An appreciation for great design goes far beyond the office walls. Rely on a computer for a corporate identity and you'll take your client down the all-too-common-cookie-cutter path to bad design. Great design exists in the head, hands and gut.

Take away our computers and, believe it or not, we're still great designers, craftsmen, sculptors, builders, thinkers...do-ers.

Take Casto. One of the most intuitive designers around. When it comes to thinking outside the box...well, he's never been in it, can't even fathom it. He listens. He understands. He blows clients' minds. But after the 9-to-5 (more like 7 or 8 in his case), Casto shuts down his computer and picks up a chisel and a spokeshave.

His most recent "mock-up?" A guitar. Yep. Casto is fascinated with wood-turning and the fine art of guitar-making. Just imagine what he can do with brochure design.

And Brian. When the need arose for a new conference table at the office, the notion of typical business furniture never crossed his mind. He went home and made one himself from pressed plywood pieced together end-to-end. That was just after he crafted their guest bathroom sink. And a while before that project, he designed beautiful, letter-pressed birth announcements for the arrival of his tiny new daughter. For Brian, typical is unheard of.

So when we think about design at mindsalt (which is all the time), we're not just thinking logos. Don't get me wrong. We think a lot about logos. But we eat, breathe and yes, even sleep design. Most of all, we practice design.

We live in a world of design...a rather cluttered world, but one we intend to improve one client at a time. And that world extends to our homes, our hobbies and everything we touch.