99Designs -- Get a New Logo for a Bargain Price

Need a new logo but don't have much of a budget? Turn to 99Designs to run a design contest sourcing your logo or other design challenge from a vast array of emerging graphic designers.All you need is a clear idea of what you want designed and how much you're prepared to pay for it.

Here are some current design contests, and here's how 99Designs works:

1. Craft your creative brief -- The brief articulates all the tough prep work your org needs to do -- brand definition, goal, target audiences, etc. My guide to creative briefs includes an easy-to-complete template.
2. Set your budget -- How much is your org to pay the winning designer to purchase their design (aka the prize)? Prize amounts generally range from $100 to $600 depending on the type of design you require.
3. Work with the designers -- Once your design brief has been posted to 99designs.com, designers from around the globe will submit design concepts to compete for your prize. It’s your job to rate the designs and provide feedback to help the designers deliver what you want.
4. Choose your favorite design -- Consider asking your base to weigh in here as well. At the completion of the design contest (which is typically 7 days) you will choose a winning design and pay the designer the prize amount. The designer will send you their completed design along with copyright to the original artwork. 

Of course, as with everything communications (and most else), what you get out of it is directly proportional to what you put into it. My friend Brian Reich, co-author of Media Rules, shares this guidance for running a productive 99Designs contest:

• Comment, comment, comment: The more you comment on submitted designs, the more designs come in, and the better they get. Makes sense, you're honing your vision so the graphic representations of it are more on target.
• Be brutally honest.
• Eliminate the ones you don't like pronto: That narrows the field and focuses the designers.
• Guarantee payment: It doesn't necessarily matter how much (although I'd say $300 is a healthy average for logo design) but designers do better work if they know a winning entry gets paid.

Remember though, the more detailed and comprehensive your creative brief, the better the submitted logos will match your org's vision and needs.

P. S. Don't miss out on the in-depth articles, case studies and guides on branding, messages and more featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.  Subscribe today.

Pow! Wham! Communicating in a Fresh Way Can Bash Through to Consciousness

DC Jobs with Justice and the Institute for Policy Studies found a refreshing and attention-getting way to communicate on complicated issues in Economic Meltdown Funnies, a comic book about the recent economic crisis. 

The comic is indeed comic. But far beyond that, its format is a welcoming way in to a topic that's confusing and upsetting. It works.

Very reminiscent, actually, of Primo Dinero, my high school intro-to-economics text. Primo was the narrator of a tale of micro-economics on a small island, in comic book format. Believe me, everyone did the reading in that class.

Think about how you can put a comic, or some other non-traditional format to work to get through to your network -- on complicated issues or on simple ones that people think they know everything about already so their eyes glaze over.

P. S. Don't miss out on the in-depth articles, case studies and guides on branding, messages and more featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.  Subscribe today.

Ask Nancy: What's The Best Software for Designing Print Materials?

Q: I've been researching software to use for developing marketing collateral.  I have researched Adobe PageMaker, Illustrator, QuarkXPress and more, but just can't seem to determine the best tool for me, our organization and our marketing goals. 

We currently Microsoft Publisher to design marketing collateral (brochures, one -pagers, etc., but I want to be able to do more with photos and graphics than I am able to do in Publisher. What software, if any, you would suggest for an organization that does not want to hire a graphic artist for all of its marketing needs?
                  -- Talia Piazza, Program Coordinator, Pittsburgh Partnership for Neighborhood Development

NOTE: Since I'm not a graphic designer, I consulted with one of the best -- Susan Edwards -- on this one.

A: Sue says "Adobe's InDesign is the professional design and layout software of choice these days. It's expensive and powerful (code for 'steep learning curve')."

If you're designing for professional printing, I definitely recommend you learn to use InDesign. Professional offset or digital printers require high quality PDFs in order to create high-quality printed pieces. Publisher and Word just aren't designed to create output for professional printing.

A great way to quickly master InDesign is to dive into these modestly-priced online tutorials at Lynda.com. You can sample a few of the Getting Started segments here, at no charge."

P.S. Please send your nonprofit marketing inquiries to Ask Nancy. I promise you that I'll respond to as many of your questions as possible, always sharing the responses with readers of the Getting Attention blog and e-news.

We/Me --Gore's We Campaign 5-Star Launch

Al Gore and team just launched the We Campaign -- the centerpiece of his Alliance for Climate Protection -- with a media blast featuring high-impact full-page ads in key newspapers including The New York Times. The campaign is a 5-star model of effective nonprofit marketing.

The simple ad -- mostly text with a lot of white space (making it easy for readers to digest), highlighted with the green (but, of course) logo at left -- introduced the Alliance's beautifully simple construct, built on the constitution:

• No one else can/will solve the climate crisis
• But you can't do it on your own
• You & me (we) are the ones to do it
• We (our org) will help organize and guide you to...
• Effectively pressure our political and business leaders to make and maintain critical changes.

The Alliance does a fantastic job of:

• Appealing to "me," the modus operandi of many of us (and especially Millennials)
• Simply but clearly connecting multiple "mes" into "we" (they're using the Web address "WeCanSolveIt.org."
• Positioning the Alliance as the critical organizing body, with subject expertise, policy knowledge and relationships, can to guide the "mes" into the vocal force of "we," and to effectively pressure leaders for change.

This last point is a great model for nonprofits who are concerned (as they should be) about displacement by self-created, issue-focused communities of interest (like those building on MySpace or other social media). No better way to engage your base.

I do believe there's significant value in nonprofit orgs that offer subject expertise, organizing, advocacy and service provision experience, and the strategies to reach and build relationships with key influencers in making systemic, issue-focused change. The Alliance is the first org I've seen that's making that value loud and clear to the climate-concerned community.

PS Take a look at Steven Heller's insightful analysis of why the We Campaign's logo works, in yesterday's Times.

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit marketing.

How to Make Better Design Choices for Your Nonprofit -- Take this Free Webinar at Your Convenience

Take an hour to learn all from this comprehensive webinar (training seminar available via the Web) available at no charge from The Communications Network (a professional association of foundation communicators). It'll give you great value for your 55-minute investment.

Your Challenge--What's the right medium, message and (especially) design? Nonprofit and foundation communicators alike are constantly working to pinpoint the right medium, the right message, the right design to make the greatest communications impact. However, when it comes to evaluating design, most of us rely on little more than our own taste.

But there is a better way...as graphic artist Charlie Hess shows you in this webinar. You'll learn:

• How a few basic page design techniques can make text more readable and interesting (hint, you'll learn about hierarchy design-wise -- the relative importance of each element on the page or screen and how to guide audiences accordingly)
• Why black-and-white photography may be preferable to color
• What different choices in typography communicate beyond what the words themselves are saying
• And much more.

P.S. Remember that this webinar was developed for foundation communicators, to help them make better graphic design choices for their foundations and be more informed advisors to grantees. But it's very valuable to nonprofits as well, and may give you a toe up in your quest for foundation funding.

Click here to strengthen your design skills in 55 minutes. (Note--you may wish to fast-forward about 6 minutes to the point where the presentation begins.)

While you're at it, take 15 more minutes to power up your graphic design through these tutorials:

• 5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Your Nonprofit
• The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process: From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers

Missing out on the Getting Attention e-newsletter? Subscribe now for in-depth articles and case studies on nonprofit communications.

A Picture Says a Thousand Words -- Free, High-Quality Photos for Your Nonprofit Communications

Photographs are a vital tool for engaging overloaded audiences. And when you're publishing online -- be it a blog, e-newsletter or Web site -- it's easy to cut and paste in just the right shot. Presentation skills experts emphasize the impact of photos too -- ideally screen size with text overlaid, rather than those deadly text bullet points. Unfortunately, photos can be very expensive, and rights issues a mess to deal with.

My solution of late is Stock.xchng for no- or low-cost photos. Some photos have restrictions in terms of type of use (e.g. not in pornography) and requests to contact and/or credit the photographer. But with those few steps, there are thousands of great photos here, yours for the taking.

Flickr is another great resource. Lots of great photos with few restrictions.

Update
Nonprofit tech experts TechSoup has just released its list of free and low-cost photo sources.  I hold with Stock.xchng as my source of choice, but find some of these recommendations great for specialty images. Take a look at the Yellowstone National Park digital photo file for no-charge nature shots (just inlude the "NPS photo" credit) and Mayang's Free Texture Library of over 3,000 images of walls, signage, fabrics, nature, stone, plants and more.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-news today. 

Nonprofit Marketing Resources Worth Your Attention -- October 2006

Email Marketing Metrics Report Summarizes Trends in Your Audience's Habits and Preferences

E-news service provider Mailer-Mailer tracked all messages sent through its system in the first half of 2006 to generate these key findings:

• Open and Click-Through Rates - Overall open rates remained relatively steady compared to the last half of 2005.
• Take away: Don't give up on email. It remains an important marketing channel for your nonprofit organization, but you have to do it smarter.
• Best Days to Send - Mondays, Tuesdays, and the weekends earned higher open and click rates.
• Take away: Reconsider when you launch your e-newsletter, and even all-organization or all-customer/client emails. Despite these findings,
  I'm not a fan of Monday e-blasts, as I feel audiences aren't as receptive as they are later in the week.
• Subject Lines - Emails with shorter subject lines outperformed emails with longer subject lines.
• Take away: Less than 10 words is best. If you go longer, make sure that the key message is captured in the part of the subject line that's visible to recipients without opening your email. Read more about email subject lines here.
• Personalization - Emails that used personalization received higher click and open rates.
• Take away: Remember to capture nonprofit e-news subscriber names (first and last, in separate fields) so that you can personalize. You'll already have names for clients and members.
• In addition, capture subject interests (via a clickable form) so you can customize content, in addition to addressing each reader by name.

Fast Company's 2006 Masters of Design

Here's Fast Company's annual design round up, one of my favorites as far as design trends. You'll find sage advice on what design can (and can't) do for your nonprofit -- and get an eyeful of some amazing examples of the craft. The To Read the Consumer's Mind article, on the importance of in-depth audience research, is just one of the many highlights here.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

For Best Results, Find A Graphic Designer Who's A Decent Writer

You know all that copy that goes on your website, in your brochures and in your nonprofit's emails?  Who’s writing it? Derek Powazek explains why it’s important for web (and print too, as I see it)  designers to sharpen up their writing skills. And in his web article "Calling All Designers: Learn to Write," Powazek asserts that designers should start considering themselves as "creators of experiences." And that includes content as well as design.

Powazek asserts that any designer who prides himself on really creating the user experience for that blog or brochure has to be concerned with the content too. And recommends that you ask prospective designers what they like to read. Maybe even give them a crack at writing your brochure intro or website About page.

Any GA readers using designers who can write or edit? Let me know.

More about strengthening your graphic design here:

• 5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Your Nonprofit.
• The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process -- From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers.

The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process – From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers

 I recently spoke with three nonprofit communicator colleagues and four graphic designers who outlined this three-fold path to a process that will ensure high-impact design for your nonprofit. But your even get to the design process itself, remember to follow these five pre-design steps to effective graphic design, from finding the right designers to crafting a creative brief.

Your colleagues advise:

• Be clear, comprehensive and realistic
• Build a solid, candid, ongoing relationship with your graphic designers
• Don't try to be the graphic designer

For the complete story, and the nitty-gritty of the how to, read the full article.

And don't forget to download the Getting Attention Creative Brief  template.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.

This Creative Brief Template Helps Ensure Powerful Copy and Design

Many creative marketing projects get underway without a clear sense of expectations between a nonprofit's marketing and organizational leadership, and the creative folks (whether in-house or freelance) delivering it. The result? An extended and expensive creative development process with many revisions – not to mention chewed-up nails, bruised egos and depleted momentum.

Taking the time and energy up front to craft a thorough creative brief will save your nonprofit time and money, and ensure you get the fundraising brochure, campaign website or annual report you envisioned. And, in going through this process you may realize that another medium or approach will work better than the one you had in mind.

Click here for the nitty-gritty on how to use a creative brief and downloadable template ready for your use.

Are you Getting Attention? Subscribe to our free e-newsletter today.