Blog

Asking the Right Questions

Of all the vast content you might find here on our website, let’s pull out just a few of the most essential questions...

Video Services

(Videos, Graphics-Based Videos, 3D Videos, Videography / Still Photography, Video Preps & File Conversions, Video Editing / Color Grading / Music Track / SoundFX, Video Graphic Elements, Video Narration and/or Narration Coaching)

  • Did you know we offer great impactful videos starting from $499? Did you know we offer Visualization, 3D Modeling and Animation? And 3D Videos?
  • Did you know survey statistics show that using a video on website or landing pages can and does increase visitor-to-buyer conversion by 80%.
  • Do you have any VIDEOS at all? Did you know anything can be made into a Video?
  • Do you have adequate information about your company, its products and services, in VIDEO format, that is up, easily found, and in a professional format that buyers are compelled to actually buy from you?
  • Do need help with video Script writing or narration?
  • Did you know we offer Visualization videos, 3D modeling and animation, and 3D Videos? Did you know we also offer 3D Animated Logos?
  • Can you use some Video graphic elements? Did you know that added to any video there can be an infinite number of possible visual aids that help convey the message such as Cutaways, Annotations, Diagrams, Charts, Graphs, etc.?
  • Why is Video Editing so very important? Color grading? Exposure? White Balance? Color saturation? Does the Music Track really create the mood, and indeed, make or break the Video?
  • Does my video convey my message and inspire buyer confidence?
  • Any noob with a smartphone camera and one of hundreds of free video editing software can slap together what they call "video," but does it follow good research and survey tabulation of your target audience, have a bright basic message concept, follow a logical and captivating format to enlighten people, have a well-written script, include clear intelligible narration, display memorable footage and visually clear shots, bring up the "Ooo-factor" with intuitive/dazzling/world-class graphics and graphic elements that illustrate the finer details, roll with a catchy appropriate and seamless music track, tell a story with smooth well-paced artistic video editing, and really motivate your audience with known Call-to-Action components?

Graphic Design Services

(Graphic Design, Integrated Campaign Design, Visualization, 3D Modeling and Animation, Presentations, Website Design & Development, Ads, Business Cards, Info Sheets, Brochures, Postcards, Banners, Handouts, Printed Presentations, etc.)

  • Did you know we offer great graphic design and great websites starting from $599?
  • Did you know we offer Visualization, 3D Modeling and Animation? And 3D Videos?
  • Do you need any layout for printed or online marketing including Ads (all shapes and sizes), Business Cards (part of campaign), Info Sheets, Brochures, Postcards, Banners, Handouts, printed Presentations, etc.
  • What goes into better Graphic Design? How do we use graphic design basics and advanced marketing to make marketing promo VISUALLY usable, impactful, meaningful and pleasurable?
  • Why do colors have certain meanings associated with them (red=stop, anger or passion; green=go or growth or renewal; blue=trust or stability or purity, etc.) and how should I use them?
  • What is POSITIONING in graphic design and marketing? Why is it useful and valuable to promo campaign?
  • Why is bad design everywhere in the world? Mistakes or malevolence? Poor education or laziness? Just no artistic talent? Or no quality control? Do you realize just how much bad design costs everyone in time, money, resources, safety and even well being?
  • Any charlatan can show you a few designs that he didn't do in the first place and call it a "portfolio," but does he come with the honesty and the experience of almost 40 years and 2000+ projects with successful results in strategic design savvy that's based on time-proven marketing methods?
  • What is Integrated Campaign Design, and why is designing with recognizable consistency so very important?
  • What is a Graphic Presentation? What goes into it?
  • Will just ANY website do ok? Not really… Did you know buyers will visit your website on average of 7 times BEFORE they decide to buy from you.
  • So what goes into a better website? Is it really a marriage between Art / Technical / Marketing?
  • What Content and what Pages should I have on my website? What are your visitors looking for? What are they EXPECTING to find on my website? What do the Search Engines require of my website? Why would a Search Engine post MY website above others?
  • What is the final USER EXPERIENCE of my website? Did the user find it usable? Was it intuitive and user-friendly? Was it useful?

Content & Consultation

(Creative Direction / Concept Consultation, Marketing Consultation, Content and Video Script Writing. Content Assistance / Content Interview)

  • Would you like a FREE Marketing Questionnaire?
  • What's your basic concept? How is that displayed on your promotion and marketing campaign? Do you need help to VISUALLY convey your idea / message?
  • What is a Creative Director anyway? Do I really need consultation or Creative Direction?
  • Not sure what to say on your promo? Need Content assistance? Would you be open to a Content Interview? What should you say? What Content (verbiage and images) should you put in your promo, website or video? Is buyer-requested information readily available on your promotion (including website and videos)?
  • How do buyers find out about you? Do you ask? Is it just Word-of-Mouth? Did they find you thru the Search Engines or referral? Facebook? What is your Social Networking and PR strategy?
  • How can you attract more of just the right buyers? What IS all this about SEO? How DO I get listed high on Search Engines? Can you get me to the TOP of Google??
  • What steps do buyers take to buy from you? Are they clear and easy steps?
  • Can we write/provide or edit Content FOR you?
  • What's holding up the project??? Do you realize it’s the gathering of Content that’s the thing holding up your project, and the thing that always takes the most time?
  • What about a sense of humor? Life is silly. But shouldn't we see humor in life's little ironies?
  • Want to know just what our work will do for you? If you do spend money on graphic design, promo and video, most importantly, will it be WORTH the money? What will you get back? You want to discover just how much we increase clients’ revenue?
  • We're here to help. You need a hand?

Got more questions? Let us know what you want to know, and we’ll get you the answers.

Why is VIDEO more IMPORTANT than ever?

 

Are current events for REAL?? It’s a whole new world really.

Technology moves entirely too fast. White Pages and Yellow Pages are obsolete long ago. I knew we were heading “digital,” but this year or so took this to a whole new level that most of us never predicted.

Stats don’t lie (if researched correctly). Everything is searched, found and assimilated with your “hand-held device” or “surface device”.

So why are we pushing video, and why is it so important---more so than ever?

Because that’s how society connects and interrelates, more and more.

And people aren’t reading the written word nearly as much as video format.

Why write a text when you can speak an audio message, or better yet, snap out a “selfie” message? So much more convenient, isn’t it?

Business and advertising are no different. What’s the best way to engage digitally? You guessed it, a VIDEO!

Video is more interesting, more attention-grabbing, more visually captivating, more communicative, more engaging, more educational, more memorable, more documentable, more impressionable, more compelling, and ultimately more consumer and revenue building. Ask yourself the same question; which would you prefer? Video, of course. Me too.

We each are truly expecting to see a video to tell us about the subject, a person, a company, an activity, etc. It’s the visual, the sound/audio, the narration, the music, the people, the graphics; It all adds to a better quality communication of your concept, regardless. A better answer to any question. And this trend is affecting global interaction, not limited to your business.

So yes, video is more important than ever!

We’re pushing video as the branding vehicle, the media of business communication, and the very essence of any comprehensive and contemporary promotional campaign. That goes for businesses large and small, including individual business owners.

In fact, here at Endless, we tell everyone to build an entire full CHANNEL with at least 20 videos. The types of videos that can be done are many. Telling your businesses story, product demonstrations, product or service benefits or solutions, interesting achievements or testimonials, etc., etc. And all are a good idea, if not essential to any and all business.

Yes, the medium of video is simple amazing. It’s today’s communication and marketing.

Perhaps in coming years it will be 3D holographic or even telepathy-on-demand. Can’t say. But today, video tells about your business, what you offer, and why people should buy from you.

Still have a little backoff? Sure, it costs. But you’ll thank yourself for the revenue you get in return.

Where to start? That’s where we come in. We make it EASY and walk you thru every step of the way. This is what we do, and for a long time.

We also offer a Content interview and script writing to help you fill in the gap of what needs to be said. We ask, you answer. Then we’ll put the finished video together with all the materials in hand.

So………. a video. When do we start?

PS. Please take a few moments for a short survey about your interest or questions, and preferred pricing options.

Graphic Design - The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

You can Quote Me...

“Communication of ideas is the problem. Graphic design is the solution to the problem of visual communication. As is sound and music to audible communication. Art is the solution to communicating it well.”

—Christian Peritore

What is Graphic Design?

The term "graphic design" means to write or express a concept by "writing" VISUALLY (drawing, painting, etc.), according to a plan, organization or structure of elements in a work of art; composition, diagram, chart, etc., etc., etc.

As opposed to written word spoken word, or other forms of communication, graphics have shape, size, color, etc., that can be SEEN VISUALLY.

Graphic design is a skill and art form where the designer creates visual content to communicate concepts and/or messages (YOUR concept/message in this case).

Graphic Designers use shapes, colors, typography, imagery and photos/pictures, with the use of page layout techniques and visual hierarchy, to convey ideas, concepts and communicate a message. Ideally graphic design should be usable, impactful, meaningful and pleasurable.

What goes Into Good Graphic Design?

So what DOES go into graphic design? Is it just making things look pretty?

When we research and approach a new project, we're asking the important questions:
What audience is the message for? What culture are they? What values and ideals to they hold? What idea, concept or message should be conveyed? What emotion should be conveyed? What imagery should be used? What photos should be used? What subject matter should be used? People? Faces? Objects? Places? What straight lines, curves, angles or criss-crossing lines/objects should be used? What shapes should be used? What patterns should be used? What sizes should be used? What hierarchy should be used? Why do colors have certain meanings associated with them (red=stop, anger or passion; green=go or growth or renewal; blue=trust or stability or purity, etc.) and how should I use them? What color palettes should be used? Primary colors? Secondary colors? Warm colors? Cool colors? Aggressive colors? Receding colors? Monochrome? Analogous? Acromatic? What hues? What tints? What shades? What tones should be used? What color gradients? What opacity? What saturation or intensity should be used? What textures should be used? Bright light? Soft light? Subdued light? Evening light? Candlelight? Colored light? Should things be moved left, right, up or down? Should things be close up, or distant? Should things be in sharp focus or blurred? What opacity should be used? Should some things touch other things, or partially cover other things? What POSITIONING should be used (positioning; something along side something else to create a visual association, or juxtaposition; the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect)? What symmetry and Balance should be used? How to display the flow of things? How much, if any, repetition should be used? The Golden Ratio? The Rule of Thirds? What Fonts and Typography should be used? Etc., etc.

And how to use ALL this to make things VISUALLY usable, impactful, meaningful and pleasurable?

Bad Design is Everywhere

Mistakes or malevolence? Poor education or laziness? Just no artistic talent? Or no quality control?

The inability to observe and SEE the obvious is a blindness indeed.

Hierarchy in Design and Information

I once spent 3 weeks on a project where the client INSISTED on "correcting" the hierarchy of the typography and graphics elements of his entire promo campaign to a point of complete destruction. He wanted certain words and elements bigger, bigger, bigger and bigger, and brighter and brighter, and more red and more yellow, and more bold, etc., etc., to a point where there was zero hierarchy and just one big mess on the page. Chunky minestrone soup spilling all over.

We ended up scrapping everything and starting over because I threatened to walk from the project contract unless he let me do a proper version to look at. Which of course with proper typography and graphic element hierarchy, he liked and kept it.

Lesson learned.

Bad Design Examples

Bad design is a poor use of, or outright violation of the basic principles of good design (outlined herein). Beyond a misspelled word (or a bad haircut in a photo), a casual look around reveals that our lives are surrounded with blunders, errors, faults, goofs, oversights, bungles, flubs, muffed ups, slip-ups, faux pas and truly dumb moves that are too evident to ignore. Bing, Verizon, Pepsi, KFC, Starbucks, AirBNB, Hillary Clinton, and that's just logos, let alone traffic signage, caution lights, and so much more.

Examples are many. Yet we don’t push to rectify them. Why?

Because we aren’t the ones committing those mistakes? Because we're not in charge? Because the companies bearing those offensive graphic design uglinesses are too big to write to someone and let them know how you feel? Because the city and government offices are indeed staffed with minimum wage sloths on depressant drugs?

Perhaps. So why do they matter?

Bad Design Cost Time, Money, Resources, Safety and Well Being

They matter because they’re forcing us to expend more time on a deciphering the message than what should be required.

You doubt that statement? Ok, Let’s find out.

  • Ever notice the accidents and long lines of traffic jams start right at the confusing highway signs before a major exit? You curse the traffic jam, but have you ever pondered how it starts? It's not just the bad driver who doesn't drive well.

  • Airline Passenger Safety Procedures? Efficient safety procedure? Not if your life depended on it.

  • How about the building Fire Escape Plan? The fire is raging out of control, and you find yourself tilting your head reading the escape plan floor layout to figure out which way to run out of the building.

  • Parking signs? Shouldn’t parking signs be readable at a glance? Parking signs are not at all designed to be read at a glance. Instead parking signs are more like the fine print at the bottom of an advertisement— they require intense focus, and people get parking tickets all day. It's not just driver neglect.

  • How about your airline boarding pass. Have you noticed the poor layout? Most normal users find the essential numbers terribly hard to locate. Sure, attendants will guide you in the right direction, and your problem is solved.

  • Ever tried reading the assembly instructions on IKEA furniture? That's a project.

  • Clock has 12 numbers? Dare I hold as an example the simple Clock face that society has used for thousands of years? ...9, 10, 11, 12, 1, 2, 3... Try to teach a young kid how to read a clock face... "the small hand is this, and the big hand is that." There's still many adults that can't read time. The Babylonians divided the day and night each into 12 hours. Living in a mid-latitude and not yet needing the accuracy of a train time table, a twelve hour day was sufficient. They then chose to divide each hour into 60 minutes and each minute into 60 seconds.

I’m sure you’ve experienced the torture of mistakenly misunderstanding so many graphic design blunders in our world, and those few seconds of severe frustration till you realize the mistake! You quickly realize your mistake, correct it, lesson learned and move on with your life. But at the very least you're left disgruntled, for sure.

Your Customers and Clients / Your Revenue

Now the above examples may not have been as obvious at the time, but imagine YOUR clients and customers and new prospects trying to decipher your promo for the the answers they seek.

What is it? What does it do? How much it is? How do I get it?

They struggle. They get frustrated. They give up. They move on... to your COMPETITION!

Why not hire a good graphic designer?

Perhaps we're being too dramatic? But let me ask you this; If mistakes are to be learned from, why not hire a good graphic designer?

Bad design is all around us and in fact, more visible than good design. As human beings, when we are exposed to good design, very rarely do we stop to absorb the full weight of it. That is because good design is so seamless, so invisible that its presence is only felt, not realized.

Bad design, on the other hand, is screaming at you, demanding to be noticed, costing you time, customers and revenue.

If you have to search and hunt for details on how to use a simple product, know that its GRAPHIC DESIGN materials have failed in their function and purpose to VISUALLY EXPLAIN the instructions. The message. Any concept.

As a business person, it is vital to recognize and prevent your promo and materials from bad design. Because how else will you build a better future for your business if you don’t first remedy the present bad graphic design?

And I promise you, once you’ve had a taste of good design, you’re never tempted to go back to bad design just to save money.

Video Trends - Another Great Google Article

Here is another great article from "Think with Google" on Videos Trends and how certain target markets are using Video to interact on mobile devices.

Click to read the article: 5 Online Video Trends

Here are some questions for you:

  1. Is your current website mobile friendly or able to be viewed on all mobile devices?
  2. Does your company have a marketing video?
  3. Have you listed your company in all of the major search engines that allow you to create information about your business? Yelp, Google My Business, Yahoo, 411, Yellow Pages? (also referred to as Directory Listings or Citations)
  4. Did you know that doing these actions will greatly improve your Local Search Results?

GOOGLE MY BUSINESS

This is THE most important business directory for most businesses. You will first need to claim your business. If you go to Google, look for your business, then you will see a link to "claim this business". You can edit and create an account for your business there, but before it will be accepted they will send out a postcard giving you a code which you will then use to go online and confirm your location.

Best to add lots of information about your company, including images and ideally a video if you have one. Use your best Key words in your business information.

ENDLESS CAN ASSIST

Endless has a great service to get you listed in Local Directories and I am accepting 6 more companies for a very low price of $99/mo. Call me and I'll explain more about it to you, 323-369-8778.

As you know Endless Marketing Group, also Endless Graphics, specializes in full campaign design. We are also creating Professional Videos and doing Video Editing. We would love to sit down with you and see how a video could be used in your promotional campaign to help you target the mobile publics.

Visit our Portfolio...

Local searches make it possible these days to get some great search results and traffic especially with a video attached. This is GREAT advice! Act on it!!

I will be doing a more regular series about the different Location Based Directories and how utilizing these and Videos in them can really help your business to be found on line!

Videos - Great Article from Think with Google

Here is a great article from Think with Google on Videos and creating a campaign strategy on YouTube.

https://www.thinkwithgoogle.com/articles/building-youtube-content-strategy-lessons-from-google-brandlab.html

I highly recommend this read!

One point that I agree with is this: "Video is what consumers want on mobile."

Users these days prefer watching a video that is concise, visual and tells them about your company or offer quickly and eloquently. We can help and will do so cost efficiently.

Amoung all of the usual Campaign Graphics Services that we offer, Endless is now also doing Videos and Video Editing. We would love to sit down with you and see how a video could be used in your promotional campaign to help you target the mobile publics. You can see some of our work here in our portfolio.

Local searches make it possible these days to get some great search results and traffic especially with a video attached.

I will be doing a more regular series (bi-weekly) about Location Based Directories and how utilizing these and Videos in them can really help your business to be found on line!

Would love to discuss with you how we might help you get started!

Videos - Communicating Concepts: Science Fiction to Science Fact

If you thought the Technical Climate was interesting to keep up with as a small business this passing year, just wait!

As I mentioned in my last Newsletter, Endless Graphics is mainly focusing on Videos and the promotion of these videos. Of course, we still welcome any work we are skilled in.

WHY VIDEO??
To give you some insight into why we shifted, and re-focused; well SEO with Videos is getting amazing results currently and Video Design is alot of fun to create!

These companies below launched thier Powerful Ideas and New Products and services using VIDEOS!!! “A minute of video is worth 1.8 million words” according to Dr James McQuivey of Forrester Research. (Forrester, January 2009)
These videos I personally found to be particularly effective in getting their messages across!

I made a playlist for you here as well: Endless Marketing Group You Tube:

ENJOY!!

Science Fiction to Fact- New Level of Technology:

Microsoft HoloLens (Holograms!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aThCr0PsyuA

Lexus Hoverboard:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwSwZ2Y0Ops


Pipedream (Motorcycle on water!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDi9uFcD7XI


Shifting Broad Views On Humanity:

Slap her!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2OcKQ_mbiQ

About what really matters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Me9yrREXOj4

Being whatever you want: (Barbie commercial, very cute)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1vnsqbnAkk


These videos are examples of why WE are doing videos! I believe that everyone should see these videos. Using High Quality and well thought out Video Techniques, Graphics, ​Scripting, Imagery, Creativity, Technology, Actors, Music and Overall Editing helped these videos really hit the mark!

From Microsoft's new HoloLens a fellow said ​" Science Fiction to Science Fact". I envision this new year to exemplify this concept! From Mars Exploration to Hovercraft to Hologram Designing! Wow!

I will modify this well-stated observation from a Marketing Perspecitve and say that, "Videos are Revolutionizing how Ideas and Technology move from Science Fiction into Science Fact by influencing action across the world!"

I predict this year that video communications will be a fundamental "space" for unprecedented positive progress in the field of Humanities and Technology Adaptation through powerful ideas with visually stimulating video presentations!

Add Periscope with a Live international video launch and you have one special campaign!

We can definitely get you set up with some great Sales and Marketing videos for your own business or idea. We can also help you get them out to your publics.

For our Video Promotion area we ran into the challenge to find an easy way to establish and monitor large amounts data and videos for Client Directories and Social Media.With extensive research and excitement at finding a way, we are now adding a special service into the mix of our services. I'll share this with you in great detail very soon. This will really make Video SEO alot easier! It will increase marketing efficiency and results!

Enjoy these above links and, call anytime to discuss. Happy Holidays if I don't hear from you!

Importance of Campaign Design in Branding

In creating Brand recognition for your company it is important to have integrated graphic design, or in other words the same design and logo being used throughout all of your promotional materials.

Repetition of your logo and a “look and feel” begin to create such recognition. As you build your company and interact with your clients, you create goodwill by producing a product they like and want to buy. The trick is in creating recurring business.

How many times have you yourself wanted to find that company that did such a great job for you, from cleaning your car to delivering you a pizza..., but then you could not actually find them again? Certainly you kept their business card …what did it look like?? Now you have a drawer full of them. Which car company card is it??

How can this company be found again easily?

Keep this in mind when creating your own company. How will those satisfied clients dig up or recall who you were? Was it that blue business card with the car on it or this white one with a black font on it?? One needs to differentiate onself from all other companies which is becoming more and more trying as the internet becomes increasingly far-reaching.

One client I ran into actually has a very successful company. They negotiate shipping companies to save large corporations money. The company was unique and was also pretty popular. But, now I actually don’t recall their name. I did recall the two different styles of business cards the two reps had, the completely different look the catalog had to the presentation folder and leaflets…yes, DIFFERENT logos (!!) on all these promotional items I was given. This company had NO design integration. Out of curiosity I checked their website, same trouble-dissimilar to biz card and flyer. This company with huge potential is loosing business by the truckloads. Would-be referrals and those seeking such a wonderful service will likely rarely find a way to their door, as they have not understood brand recognition as a subject. An exceptional and valuable company, yet unable to be easily recognized or found.

Lost income will be the result of such uncoordinated design in a campaign of promotional items.

Company deliverables and promotional campaigns should be created so that a recognizable Brand is created for your company. This applies no matter the size of your company. Your Company name and logo should be strong in that it is easy to remember and shows at a simple glance what your company does. You have very little time to get attention in this world today (a portion of a second). Design should be professional and show your company to be what it is and not something else than it really is. Your logo should be on all of your deliverables as should your website address, so people can find you. Your site, presentation pack, flyers, postcards, business cards should tie in with the same logo and the same overall look in design. In this way people can remember you more easily and find you again in a crowd of others!

Social Networking sites should also follow the same rules as should your mobile websites and texting campaigns. Bar Code campaigns in advertising peices or storefronts again follow the same concepts, as do E-commerce websites. While Retail stores are closing wholesale around the globe, internet sales are increasig which are increasing in income nationwide while retail stores close all over the world. So, consider keeping your online sales branding also integrated so your public is not confused and they KNOW they are buying from you!

Endless Graphics is always here to help with low cost packages and our high-end custom work. We can do integrated design in all promotional pieces from websites to business cards, flyers or even BillBoard design!