This document outlines Michael Esordi's project to create a million dollar style on a $100 budget. It details the various free and low-cost design tools and resources he used, including Adobe Capture CC, Pantone Studio, WhatTheFont, and Hipstamatic photography app. Esordi explored color psychology and palettes. He analyzed typography, imagery, composition and used photo filters, lenses and film to achieve a luxury aesthetic. Working within the tight budget, Esordi was able to achieve a million dollar style and had $999,900 in savings remaining.
I wanted to start this evening with a story of when I first realized the roll a consistent style had in selling an idea to a global audience.
About 21 years ago, before blogs and well before iPhones, I set off on a trip in order to prove what amazing things you could do with a digital camera, laptop and this new internet craze. While biking across both islands of New Zealand, my friend and I took photos, wrote stories and found the nicest people along the way that allowed us use their phone lines for our modem. It wasn’t live, but close to it. We had to send the files back to a team in the US who wrote the html and posted the images. We had no budget, just an idea and some bartering to make it happen.
I guess it was the fact it was picked up by news outlets like The New York Times and CNN, along with dozens of international papers gave us the feeling it truly had impact. Proof that money isn’t always the answer. A good idea and a world class style will go a long way.
Which explains tonight’s talk on creating a Million Dollar Style… asterix…. On a hundred dollar budget.
My name is Mike Esordi and I run an agency in New Orleans called Duotribe where we focus on providing creative solutions for any size company. So this presentation for those of you that have a small business or maybe running your own blog and don’t have a huge marketing budget. Now I’m not promising to turn you all into instant design experts, since I’ll still need a job after this, but we will get you close.
Why do you need to do this, besides just looking good. You have to – to compete.
You can’t escape this! Stats like this are everywhere we look. It is rather obvious that we need we need great visuals to compete. However, you just might feel like you can’t afford to or have even the ability to go it alone.
So I want to share with you today some tips and tools that will allow you to develop your own visual look that will give you that Million Dollar style without making you go broke.
Content with relevant images gets 94% more views than content without relevant images. Tweet this stat! (Source) https://blog.kissmetrics.com/visual-content-you-need-to-use-in-your-marketing-campaign/ http://www.jeffbullas.com/2012/05/28/6-powerful-reasons-why-you-should-include-images-in-your-marketing-infographic/
1) Researchers found that colored visuals increase people's willingness to read a piece of content by 80%. Tweet this stat! (Source) http://www.office.xerox.com/latest/COLFS-02UA.PDF
So when I was talking with Scott about the topic we thought it would be fun to turn that idea into a challenge.
Let’s say we want to start a site or a blog. For this experiment let’s pretend we are starting a site from scratch to document a roadtrip we are all taking with me back to New Orleans.
The catch we only have $100 to spend and it needs to launch quick– we are leaving tomorrow.
Sure this isn’t breaking news but let’s make sure we cover all the steps. Even the basics.
We can quickly run through these easy ones and check them off the list. Let’s get started… Here we go…
Step One buy a domain..
Project-NOLA.com $11.99 done. Next step.
Let’s get some hosting... Look at that I found a special for the first year. $11.88
If you don’t know, most hosts now have a few buttons to click and it installs wordpress for you. I’m confident you all can do it. Let’s continue.
We have our domain and wordpress setup on our host. One more item. A template.
Now you can get one for Free, but we want million dollar style so let’s splurge and get a template that is really user friendly and very customizable. Off we go to our friends at themeforest and pick up this template.
It’s called Avada. I have used this template before and know you can create something amazing!
I see you are all freaking out that we just spent a big portion of our budget and are almost out of cash.
It’s Ok. Time to dig in and be creative.
We can do this!
Moving ahead. Let’s say we have our wordpress site all set up with the new template just waiting to look like a million bucks. What’s next.
If you were a huge corporation you would go out, hire a design firm and begin your branding. This is what we are going to do. You have to think like the big guys. Only I’m going to show you how to do it yourself.
The main thing with branding is consistency. In order to to make sure you maintain consistent with what you are putting out to the world – you will need some branding guidelines.
If you’re not familiar with everything that typically goes into a branding manual let’s take a look at some examples of a few companies I am sure you are all familiar with.
To give you an idea of a more traditional set of branding guidelines - I found a copy of Adobe’s online – You get the slides so you will be able to click the link and really explore what these documents cover.
Few pages from the inside. Their color system and corporate photography. Including what to do if stock images are necessary.
For google I have their design framework for Material Design. It’s not a typical branding manual like Adobe’s – but it’s interactive so I thought you would be interested in playing around with the pages.
Again a quick look at what’s included. Here we see a section on product icons as well as section dedicated to typography.
If you were paying attention you would have noticed I highlighted two areas in the previous slides. Adobe had a section on Visual Identity. While google called it style. Call it what you like, but for our purpose visual style is what we are going to focus on for our project.
It’s the visual elements that, when used consistently will truly give you that million dollar style.
So let’s dig into the 3 main areas that together will determine our design style.
Color. Typography. Imagery.
Let’s start with Color.
There is no doubt that color can set a mood and there are certain aspects of color that can actually influence the viewer. Yet, you have to take this with a grain of salt. Color theory is extremely complex. Different people perceive colors in different ways. Gender, experiences, cultural influence, and context can all play a role in how that color is perceived. This a good rule for all the marketing we do – the better you know and understand your audience the better informed your decisions will be. So use color psychology in your development, but also trust your gut in what feels right.
Let’s get back to our project and create our color palette.
There are lots of color tools out there to help you create custom palettes. I like Adobe’s color wheel. Completely interactive. Here is a screen shot from when I was in there getting a palette for us. I picked a red to help evoke excitement then played around with the different rules until I landed on a set of colors I thought really worked well together.
Also if you have an adobe account you can save this palette right into your apps so you can apply the colors directly into your work.
Now if you’re thinking sure that’s easy for you – you’ve studied color theory and have had years of practice. Well here is an easy tool you can add to your phone and get color inspiration on the go. The app is called Adobe Capture and you simply point your lens around your surroundings and the app will select a color palette directly from an image or live scene. So you can let nature pick your color palette if you want.
Note This can also work on the desktop version of the color wheel we just talked about. Just upload an image it will gather the color from your photo.
Now if you’re thinking sure that’s easy for you – you’ve studied color theory and have had years of practice. Well here is an easy tool you can add to your phone and get color inspiration on the go. The app is called Adobe Capture and you simply point your lens around your surroundings and the app will select a color palette directly from an image or live scene. So you can let nature pick your color palette if you want.
Note This can also work on the desktop version of the color wheel we just talked about. Just upload an image it will gather the color from your photo.
Now that you’re feeling better about color, let’s discuss one of my favorite areas… typography.
Much like color or any other visual element, when you think of type as image you’ll see that it too can set a mood for your design.
Design really has no rules, but it does have some general formulas that usually work well. One of which is using only a few typefaces in a project. 2 or 3 is very common and can help keep your design looking professional.
Again there are many tools you can use to help you establish your typography set. I recommend you try looking at google fonts, especially since your selections here can easily translate over to your site. With this tool you can sort all the fonts in many different ways. Once you pick a few you like you can even drill down to find out who the designer was and what the characteristics are of the face. For our project I select a popular font named Open Sans. I like this one because it was designed for legibility and since we are going to be blogging about our trip – I want it to be easy to read.
You can also see recommended pairings so I went ahead and selected Merriweather to use for our headlines.
Some templates, like the one we bought for our project have a tab for typography where you can even select google fonts to be used on your site. Here is an example of that part of our dashboard. Simple just select the font you want, for the areas you want like body or the menu and now your site will match your brand.
Like the capture app that we talked about that will pull colors from your surroundings. Here is one to help you identify a font when you see one that you really like when you’re on the go. Simply snap a pic of the type you like - might be a poster or a menu.. Run it through the WhatTheFont app and it will help you identify what font it might be. Or at least give you something close. It’s also free so why not?
WhatTheFont by Myfonts.com FREE
If you noticed we have been taking advantage of those free options.
So we are in good shape holding at $17.13 left in the budget.
So I’ve saved the best for last. Don’t get me wrong, color and typography are extremely important parts of your visual identity – they just don’t stand out as much as an image.
Imagery is an area that people can feel intimidated. Don’t. While creating graphics or drawing does take lots of practice. We are all well practiced in digital photography thanks to our smartphones.
In fact, let’s have a little fun… I need a new cover image and it would be really cool to have one from tonight. So if you all could take out your phones and snap a photo of me up here on stage then hashtag it for the event. I’d love to see the talent we have here in Dallas!
Ok. You did just fine with that. So let’s focus on Photography and talk about how to make your photography match your style. Finishing off that million dollar look.
There is really no reason you can’t utilize your phone to create images for your site. With a few tricks you can create great looking shots and start your visual style. There are a million different apps for photography – you may already have a favorite – that’s great. One of my favorites happens to be one of the originals. It’s called Hipstamatic and only $2.99 on itunes. With tools like this you can play around and find that look that you feel fits your brand. Filters, exposures, cropping, depth of field… Save the settings and then stick close to that look for your shots. Let’s talk a little about these things that will make your images stand out.
Now just incase you forgot why this is important – I found this section of an infographic I thought would spark your memory with why you need to pay attention to your images.
Infographic by https://webdam.com/blog/brand-marketing-infographic
60% of the top brands on Instagram use a consistent filter (tweet this stat) – Contently http://contently.com/strategist/2012/08/27/filter-marketing-how-the-top-brands-use-instagram/
It takes less than 50 milliseconds to form a first impression (tweet this fact) – B&T https://www.bandt.com.au/marketing/managing-brand-reputation-online-2015
Posts that include images produce 650% higher engagement than regular text posts (tweet this stat) – Adobe http://www.cmo.com/content/dam/CMO_Other/ADI/SocialIntelligenceReport_Q42013/ADI_SocialIntelReport_Q413.pdf
First thing you should do is establish a look for your brand. You can accomplish this by doing a few things consistently so overall you will have a look that is distinguishable to your brand.
Example of Coke ads
Speaking of looking like the big guys. I really like the campaign Coke is doing with a very distinct look. You’ve seen these right? You know what it is as soon as you see it.
Let me give you a couple examples of things you can play with to establish that look. With the popularity of instagram, filters have become a standard for phone photography and most social platforms. I’m sure you’re all familiar with them. If you remember that app, Hipstamatic, we just talked about. It has tons of filters and combinations of lenses and film that you can play with to your liking. Once you got it down. Save those presets to shoot your pics.
Now filters are not the only trick in the book. Besides you may decide that not using a filter is part of your look. That’s fine to.
Some other ways to define your style are how you frame the shot. Try different points of view. Maybe shoot from a above….
Cropping and depth. Are your shoots in tight or at a distance. Exaggerate either to make your statement.
Finally think about color or the lack of. Now you can do this with filters, but think beyond the filter part. Perhaps you only take shots that are predominantly red… you get the idea.
Composition is by far the most important part of a shot. It’s the way you position your subject in the shot and is what will truly make or brake a photo. So practice on really seeing what is in the frame of your pictures.
One of the most common techniques is the rule of thirds. Using this rule will often produce a far more pleasing photo than one with a centered subject. Most cameras even have a setting to turn on this grid in your viewfinder to make it easier on you. I have it turned on on my iphone. The trick is to take what you feel are the most important parts of the subject and position them near to the gridlines or where the lines intersect.
Another technique to create a more interesting shot is to remember that odd numbers tend to work better than even.
Which is why this would be a better choice for taking this shot.
Diagonal lines can create movement and extremely dynamic shots. I am using some obvious examples to make a point. But subtle traces of line work just as well.
Over all, what you really want is good ol’ fashioned story-telling. Use emotion to create compelling images will make your audience pause and draw them in. Tell them a story with your photos to really make the connection you want. Using a person in your shot is the easiest way to convey emotion. Are they having fun, are they sad, what just happened?.
As always color also plays a part of emotion. Vivid colors with lots of contrast can create tension or excitement, while muted tones can calm your senses.
Now that I have given you all those tips I’ll give you one more…. Break the rules. The first step is to always understand the rules and what makes a great shot, but then use that to push the limit and create visual tension to knock ‘em dead. A few ways to accomplish this is demonstrated with this example. Embrace the negative space and ignore the rule of having your subject face into the active area. Everything about this photo makes you a bit uncomfortable. So if you want to capture attention – go for it!
Quick note on photos since you can’t always take the shot. Now I took some of the photos in this presentation but wanted to show you what could be done with stock photography too.
There are some great sources for free photos. Don’t rip off photographers on google. At least go to a site like unsplash.com if you’re in a pinch.
However, shooting the images yourself will give your site a more honest look.
Best part is we did all that for only $2.99 on one app. the rest is just being creative.
Now we will put together all those visual elements into a nice format that we can print out and always have on hand as a reminder.
Now you have a brand sheet you can work from to maintain a consistent style. Add to it as you build.
Another popular trend in design is the mood board. Here is an example of one we did recently. The idea is to give a visual representation of what mood you’re trying to set. So if you have time you can add one of these to your brand poster and really keep things looking great.
All that’s left now is to put it to work and prepare it for the world to see.
First you will need a program to work with your images. You've done most of the work on camera, but you'll need to do things like crop and size according to where you plan to post.
There are some free programs you can use for this. Like Canva and PicMonkey. For some projects I’ll even skip photoshop and jump right into canva for a quick image to use on social media.
It’s great you can select a pre-set size to many popular specs like a facebook cover, pinterest post or other standard marketing materials. Once you have your size you can upload an image or use one of the free images they offer. You can add type, elements like shapes or illustrations. Size things move things all drag and drop. When your done – download the finished piece for sharing.
I played around with a shot of New Orleans for our project and they even had our type face. Keeping it on brand!
So you have mastered the image and getting it all set up for your site, but you’re feeling unsure of setting up your site since there is more to design than a nice photo. Lucky for you. Our template comes with a pile of demo sites. You can click around and see what you like – you can even download it and swap out all the copy and images leaving the design in tact. They couldn’t make it any easier.
There you have it and if you remember anything from this presentation – please remember that consistency is your ticket to success.
But wait… we are done and we have money left over.
So let’s kick off our blog and buy a few facebook ads.
You’ll learn about that next month.
I just saved you nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand, nine hundred dollars.
You can thank me later on.
