SOCIAL ADDICTIONS

Giving back is a great way to show you’re more than talk and it can serve to reinforce your brand’s identity while you serve your community. We aim to talk the talk AND walk the walk. After all, a successful company is only as strong as the communities and people it cares about. Some brands, like TOMS shoes, are building charity right into their business model. A lot of brands are giving back in other ways, whether it’s part of the way they do business or not. Using their powers for good has become a trend that we can definitely get on board with.

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To say Loui Pacheco is passionate would be an understatement. From the moment we had our first meeting, it was obvious the amount of work, emotion and passion Loui has put into his company and career. His success is a testament to this as he has become one of the most sought after Los Angeles based personal trainers and an ambassador for Lululemon. His energy and passion are contagious, to say the least. Team Oblique was beyond excited to partner with him on his branding efforts that are so close and dear to his heart.

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Your logo is not your brand…… but it’s still an important piece of the brand. That is to say, branding goes well beyond your logo. It is a mark of your brand, a visual representation, but the brand itself goes much deeper. Your brand is the emotional response that it creates in a person. Your brand is your voice, your mission, your values and the stronger these are the stronger of a brand you will have. In order to cultivate this emotional connection your brand needs clarity, distinction, and trustworthiness. 

Clarity in your brand’s voice means consistency. As we’ve mentioned in our last blog, being genuine is important for a brand as well as being consistent. The key to consistency is clarity. Having a clear vision as to who you are and the values that you carry are the cornerstones of building a successful brand.

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As another pride month comes to a close with a culmination of celebrations this past weekend, it’s wonderful to see some familiarity coming back into the world. Public spaces are reopening and rainbow flags and signs can be seen all across the city, inviting guests in to join the festivities.

 Over the last few years we’ve seen heated discussions about corporations changing out their normal brand colors for rainbows. With many in the community questioning their intentions and authenticity it certainly begs the question: Is this truly creating visibility and representation for the LGBTQ+ community? 

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2020 saw a massive shift in, well, everything. As COVID-19 spread across the globe many cities issued shelter-in-place orders in an effort to curb transmission of the virus among its populations. Almost instantly, previously packed city streets and offices became quiet, eliciting a feeling of the uncanny formerly reserved for surrealist art. Many businesses were forced to close their doors to the public while office buildings and studios lay vacant as the acronym WFH (Work From Home) became commonplace in our vocabulary along with the phrase “unprecedented times” being beaten into us in an attempt to sell anything from pizza to cars.

 With the times slowly becoming “precedented” again a lot of companies are looking at WFH as more of a permanent solution rather than a temporary setback. A big part of this push is coming from the tech industry with jobs in development, it’s curious to see how remote work affects the creative process in a highly collaborative field. Now many are wondering whether it’s the future of the design industry. There are certainly both positive and negative aspects to working remotely and creative agencies–both in Boulder, CO–and all over the world–will need to adapt to the changing workflow of the graphic design industry.

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Every agency should have a roadmap for clients to refer back to in order to ensure that the agency will deliver the right end product. These methodologies are developed over time and experientially based so that the agency can recognize clear progress markers as they work with an array of clients. 

At Oblique, the SLNT (slant) Method™ is our roadmap to lead brands down an actionable, strategic path so you can get the clarity and results you want. Our approach is purposefully linear and methodical as we fully immerse ourselves in your brand’s objectives, giving your values the proper context to shine. Each step along our path builds on the previous in order to create and sustain momentum for your brand for years to come. 

Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty.

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You know that moment when you go to a website and can’t figure out how to navigate it, and then all of a sudden that business is dead to you?

Well, that’s a dramatized version of what happens when you encounter bad user experience (UX). Your attitude about the whole product or business in its entirety is shifted by a friction-filled, almost antagonizing website. No one wants that.

In order to avoid that worst case scenario, you need a plan in place to ensure a consistent, seamless, user experience across all of your platforms and products. This plan, or UX Strategy, is the conceptual roadmap for how and why your products and website are going to keep people coming back for more.

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If 2020 has taught the world anything, it is that change is constant and innovation is continuous. You have to keep your brand fresh and current.

About four years ago or so, we launched our current site and since then, Oblique has changed quite a bit. If you really think about all that’s happened in the brand world, 2015 was a long time ago. Since then, we’ve transferred to a remote-friendly working model, our team has transformed, we offer slightly different services, and we have collected a bunch of amazing new clients. Our website needed a slight update to reflect our changes.

With that in mind, we did what we do best for our clients and applied it to ourselves. We put our SLNT Method into action and did a complete website overhaul. SLNT stands for Strategize, Leverage, Narrate, and Target.

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This is a meta blog post- we’re talking about the importance of maintaining a company blog as part of building your brand. You’re currently reading the proof that we practice what we preach.

Blogs serve multiple important functions in terms of brand building and growing your online presence. They are certainly a worthwhile investment in creating an organic audience and maximizing your SEO rankings.

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Our client Cause+Medic has a special place in our heart. The mother of Founder, Hugh Huffaker, was suffering chronic pain due to multiple sclerosis, and Hugh wanted to create a CBD cream that would help alleviate it. What resulted was Cause+Medic, you may have heard about them in Forbes, Organic Spa Magazine, or Dope Magazine. 

Upon product launch, Oblique was asked to do the original creative package design oriented towards the ‘everyday’ consumer. Our designs were colorfully eye catching and dynamic. As Cause+Medic began to gain more clout in the massage world, high end spas started to pick up on all of the hype. Soon enough, the Four Seasons wanted in on the action and requested that these massage oils be used in almost every one of their spas worldwide. This called for a complete packaging redesign. Oblique was on the case again, this time redesigning the original packaging to be more sophisticated and sleeker to appeal to high end clientele. 

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