With over 15 years of design expertise, Cloud9 Marketing knows a thing or two about design trends. Check out the Cloud9 blog for design inspiration, tips and industry news.

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Horror in Design: The Most Terrifying Branding Mistakes

It’s October, and while you’re getting ready for all things spooky, there’s one type of horror you want to steer clear of—horrific branding mistakes! In the world of marketing, some blunders are so cringeworthy they might as well belong in a horror movie. So, grab your popcorn and buckle up, because today, we’re venturing into the darkest depths of branding fails that left a lasting mark (and not the good kind) on some pretty big companies.

1. Tropicana’s Disastrous Redesign (2009)

Tropicana thought it would be fun to give their packaging a fresh, modern look in 2009. Unfortunately, this well-intentioned makeover turned into a complete horror show. They ditched their iconic orange with a straw poking out for a minimalist design that left consumers scratching their heads. The backlash was swift and brutal—sales plummeted by 20% in just a few weeks, costing the company a whopping $30 million. The horror was so great they had to retreat and bring back the old design. Moral of the story? If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

2. The Gap’s Ghastly Logo Change (2010)

Ah, The Gap—known for its classic American style and… a logo change that went down in flames. In 2010, they decided to switch things up with a new logo: plain Helvetica font with a tiny blue square. The reaction? Fans of the brand were horrified! The new design was slammed as cheap and generic, leading to such an uproar that The Gap scrapped it just one week later. A spooky reminder that even a well-established brand can stumble by not respecting its customers’ emotional ties to its identity.

3. Pepsi’s Endless Rebranding Cycle (2008-Present)

Pepsi seems cursed with an insatiable need to rebrand every few years, and the results are rarely a treat. The last redesign—featuring a “smile” on the logo—came with a jaw-dropping price tag of $1 million and was met with a collective yawn. Pepsi has since resurrected one of its old logos, bringing them back from the dead with a bold 2023 redesign. This new look is a clear homage to Pepsi’s century-old logos. As for the lowercase logo, it will be buried alongside the rest of Pepsi’s retired designs in the logo graveyard. And who knows, potentially raised from the dead to walk in the branding world yet again. Meanwhile, Coca-Cola has kept a steady, consistent brand image that stands the test of time. The takeaway here? When it comes to branding, sometimes it’s better to be a Coca-Cola than a Pepsi. Consistency is key!

4. The American Red Cross’ Drunken Tweet (2011)

You’d think a venerable organization like the American Red Cross would be immune to social media slip-ups, right? Think again! In 2011, an employee accidentally posted a tweet meant for their personal account, revealing they were “getting slizzered” (a.k.a. drunk) on Dogfish Head beer. Although the tweet was quickly taken down, it was too late—the internet had already grabbed hold of the gaffe. Thankfully, the Red Cross handled the mishap with humor and grace, even partnering with Dogfish Head to turn the embarrassment into a charitable opportunity. Lesson learned: Always double-check which account you’re posting from!

5. Schweppes’ “Il Water” in Italy (1990s)

Sometimes, translation errors can be more horrifying than a haunted house. Case in point: Schweppes. When launching their tonic water in Italy, they didn’t realize their product name would translate to “Schweppes The Toilet.” Unsurprisingly, Italian sales didn’t quite bubble over as planned so they quickly changed the name to Tonica instead. This blunder is a solid reminder of the importance of doing your homework, especially when expanding into international markets!

So, what have we learned from these branding horror stories? Always do your homework—whether it’s testing a new design with your audience, considering cultural and linguistic differences, or simply double-checking before you hit ‘send’ on social media. Branding is not just about looking good; it’s about resonating with your audience, building trust, and standing out for the right reasons. Don’t let your brand be the next one haunting the marketing halls of shame. Remember, a little extra caution can keep your brand from becoming a real-life nightmare!

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Feeling a little spooked about your brand’s direction? Don’t worry, you don’t have to face the marketing monsters alone! At Cloud9 Marketing, we specialize in turning your brand from a scary story into a fairy tale success. Whether you’re worried about a redesign that didn’t quite land or a campaign that’s giving off ghostly vibes, our team is here to help! Reach out to us for a free consultation, and together, we’ll ensure your brand shines brighter than a jack-o’-lantern on Halloween night. No tricks, just treats 🎃👻

Get in touch with us today, and let’s take the fright out of your marketing!

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Choosing the Right Fonts

Selecting the right font is more than just a design choice—it’s a crucial element that impacts readability, aesthetics, and the overall effectiveness of your project. At Cloud9 Marketing, we understand the importance of typography in creating compelling designs. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you choose the perfect font for your next project.

Key Factors in Font Selection

When choosing a font, consider the following factors to ensure it aligns with your project’s goals and audience:

  1. Readability:
    • Importance: The primary purpose of any text is to be read. Ensure your font is legible in various sizes and on different devices.
    • Tip: Test your font in different sizes and formats to see how it performs.
  2. Tone and Style:
    • Importance: Fonts convey emotions and set the tone for your content.
    • Tip: Match your font style with the message you want to convey. For instance, a formal report may require a serif font, while a tech blog might benefit from a sleek sans-serif font.
  3. Versatility:
    • Importance: Your font should work well in various contexts, whether it’s in a headline or body text.
    • Tip: Choose a font family with multiple weights and styles for flexibility.
  4. Compatibility:
    • Importance: Ensure your font works well with other design elements.
    • Tip: Pair fonts carefully. For example, combine a serif font with a sans-serif for a balanced look.

 

A close up of an arrange of letters and marks in different fonts, colours, and coloured backgrounds

Understanding Font Categories

Fonts are broadly categorized into several types, each with its unique characteristics and appropriate usage scenarios:

  1. Serif Fonts:
    • Description: Serif fonts have small lines or strokes regularly attached to the end of a larger stroke in a letter or symbol.
    • Common Uses: Print media, formal documents, traditional websites.
    • Examples: Times New Roman, Georgia.

  1. Sans-Serif Fonts:
    • Description: Sans-serif fonts lack the small projecting features called “serifs” at the end of strokes.
    • Common Uses: Digital media, modern websites, minimalist designs.
    • Examples: Arial, Helvetica.

  1. Script Fonts:
    • Description: Script fonts mimic handwritten or calligraphic styles.
    • Common Uses: Invitations, greeting cards, elegant or playful designs.
    • Examples: Brush Script, Pacifico.

  1. Display Fonts:
    • Description: Display fonts are designed to attract attention and are best used in headlines or short text blocks.
    • Common Uses: Posters, advertisements, banners.
    • Examples: Impact, Horizon.

Two people discussing different font styles and colours for their brand

Practical Tips for Choosing Fonts

  1. Limit Your Choices:
    • Avoid using too many fonts in one project. Stick to two or three complementary fonts to maintain a clean and cohesive look.
  2. Consider Hierarchy:
    • Use different fonts to establish a visual hierarchy. Headlines, subheadings, and body text should each have distinct styles to guide the reader’s eye.
  3. Test in Context:
    • Before finalizing, test your fonts in real-world scenarios. Create mockups to see how your text looks in its intended environment.
  4. Check Licensing:
    • Ensure the fonts you choose are licensed for your intended use, especially for commercial projects.

Summary

Choosing the right font can significantly impact the effectiveness of your project. By understanding different font categories and considering factors like readability, tone, and compatibility, you can select fonts that enhance your design and communicate your message effectively.

At Cloud9 Marketing, we specialize in helping businesses create visually stunning and effective designs. If you need assistance with your next project, contact us today.

Happy designing!

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The Importance of Colour in Branding
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The Power of Colour in Branding: How to Create an Emotional Connection with Your Customers

The importance of color in branding cannot be overstated. Color has the power to evoke emotion, set the tone, and communicate the right message to your target audience. It is essential for creating a successful brand identity.

Color is one of the most powerful branding tools available to marketers. It can be used to differentiate your brand from competitors, create an emotional connection with the consumer, and convey a message about your company’s values and culture. Whether you’re creating a logo, making a website, or designing a product, color is an incredibly powerful tool for creating a powerful brand identity.

Studies have shown that people make snap judgments about a product within 90 seconds, and up to 90% of those judgments are based on color alone. This means that choosing the right colors for your brand is incredibly important. Different colors can evoke different emotions, from trust and reliability to excitement and energy. Therefore, it’s essential to choose colors that will create the right feel for your brand and appeal to your target audience.

When it comes to choosing colors for your brand, it’s important to consider the psychology of color. Different colors can evoke different feelings. For example, blue is often associated with trust and reliability, while yellow is associated with energy and optimism. It’s important to consider the emotional impact of the colors you choose, as they will create an immediate impression on your customers.

The right color can also help set the tone and mood of your brand. Colors can be used to create a specific atmosphere and evoke certain emotions. For example, a calming blue can create a sense of relaxation, while a vibrant red can create excitement and energy. Color can be used to create the perfect atmosphere for your brand and create an emotional connection with the consumer.

In conclusion, the right color can make or break your brand. It has the power to evoke emotion, set the tone, and communicate the right message to your target audience. Choosing the right colors for your brand is essential to creating a successful brand identity. Consider the psychology of color and the emotions it evokes, and use color to create the perfect atmosphere for your brand.

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How Good UX is Designing a Better Future for Online Shopping

As online shopping continues to grow, so does the importance of having a good user experience (UX) design. From navigating complex web pages to providing customers with the best possible product and service options, UX designers are creating a better future for online shopping.

Good UX design helps customers find the products and services they need more quickly and efficiently while providing them with an enjoyable shopping experience. UX design can also offer customers personalized product recommendations and tailored information, helping them make more informed decisions.

Good UX design can lead to higher conversion rates for businesses, as customers are more likely to complete a purchase when their experience is pleasant and intuitive. UX designers also create a better shopping experience for customers by ensuring websites are secure, fast, and user-friendly.

Good UX design is also helping to make the future of online shopping more sustainable. By providing customers with personalized product recommendations, businesses can reduce their carbon footprint and help conserve resources. Designers are also focusing on creating more efficient shopping experiences requiring less energy and resources.

The future of online shopping is being shaped by UX designers creating better experiences for customers and businesses alike. By focusing on creating more efficient, user-friendly websites, designers are helping to create a brighter future for online shopping.

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2022 Graphic Design in Review

Every year, we see certain graphic design trends rise to popularity, and others barely gain traction.  As we move into this hungry post-pandemic world, styles from across the decades are being given a second life. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the curve in the world of branding design, it’s important to know which trends are on the rise.

Here are four design trends to inspire your next creative project:

1. Childhood Inspired 90’s Vibes

Let’s go back in time to 90s graphic design for an aesthetic inspired by MTV, 90’s rave parties, Saved by the Bell, bold colour blocks and your family’s first computer. Millennials in particular will feel drawn to these nostalgic digital playgrounds. The typefaces in this decade were eye-catching, to say the least. They were characterized by a sense of not taking themselves too seriously. Perhaps this playful approach had something to do with the Comic Sans MS font, which debuted in October 1994. Its sans-serif script aesthetic captured the carefree approach of the decade.

 

2. Warm and Fuzzy Candy Colors

There are so many ways to ensure that a design is visually appealing and will stand out. Using Candy colours in your designs evokes a playful, youthful vibe. They work particularly well in 3D illustrations and character design. Understanding colour theory is central to knowing the right way to create bold and striking designs with candy colours. Triadic colour palettes will capture your audience’s attention, whether your tool of the trade is web design, animation, illustration, or typography.

 

2. No More Rules With Anti-Design

Whether you love it or hate it, in 2022, you’re sure to start seeing designs that are liberated from traditional design principles. Anti-design is an expression of rebellion – bending, stretching, and re-interpreting the rules of graphic design. The idea runs parallel to the rise of the ‘ugly’ aesthetic in furniture, product, and fashion design. Anti-design requires real confidence and skill, ironically.

 

3. The Human Touch With Doodle Desing

These meandering drawings inject a feeling of bespoke individuality to a sea of sameness. Doing so can bridge the gap between digital tools and the human touch, creating designs that are approachable. Doodle makes your story both powerful and comical. By combining, you have a compelling comic narrative to pique the audience’s interest.

 

4. Bring Stories To Life With Motion Graphics

The world of motion graphics has experienced a big boost over the last few years. While in-person events took a hit throughout the global pandemic, video creators turned to stock footage and animation and began experimenting with motion graphics to come up with fresh ways of delivering content. From subtle in-app motion graphics to looping gifs and animated collages, motion draws attention and brings stories to life.

 

Have fun with design.  If you are looking for help harnessing new techniques, we at Cloud 9  would be happy to get involved!   For help with services like digital marketing, SEO, and content creation, contact us for a free one-hour consultation today.

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Top Design Trends of 2021: Year in Review

This year we embarked on a journey through the top design trends of 2021. We carefully selected trends that were being heavily utilized for UX, UI, social media, websites, and branding. Each month we did a deep dive on our social channels, carefully creating and curating graphics that portrayed the design concepts. If you didn’t happen to see the entirety of the collection, we wanted to share with you a high-level overview of this past year. Of course, if you want more, take a browse through our 2021 blog posts to get a more in-depth look at each trend. Or… just scroll.

Dark Mode

Dark Mode took the UX and UI worlds by storm this year. Besides the obvious cool factor of being dark and moody, this trend excelled because its fonts and elements stand out significantly more on a dark background, increasing the accessibility for sight-challenged people. While this is a good enough reason alone, there were a few more that caught our eye. Dark mode is great for captivating the attention of users, easy on the eyes (literally), and saves the battery life of your phone or tablet.

Natural Design

Natural design originally made its way into web design via eco-conscious brands. However, it made its way into the top trends of 2021 since growing in popularity across different industries. The natural imagery, calming colours, and soothing fonts aren’t just for eco-friendly companies anymore. Due to the pandemic, the past two years resulted in more of us spending more time indoors and on screens. It’s no wonder we wanted a more soothing and natural user experience online, bringing the outside in.

Monochromatic Minimalism

monochromatic minimalism - less is more

Monochromatic Minimalism was the cleanest design trend we highlight this year. While this style of graphic design isn’t new, over 60 years in the making, we’ve seen a huge growth in its presence today. The increased use of monochromatic minimalism in design is possibly a reflection of what users are desiring more in their own lives: simplicity. We found that not only does this speak to users, but when there’s less visual information vying for the user’s attention, what does remain has more of an impact.

Socially Conscious Design

Socially Conscious Design has been one of the most powerful design trends in recent years and had an incredibly strong presence in 2021. This design trend focuses on showing solidarity and support for social, environmental, and justice issues through graphic design. Essentially, it is artists using their talent and voice to promote the betterment of society. The need for social and environmental change has reached a tipping point in recent years, and creators and brands have stepped up to the plate to show support and create awareness.

Contemporary Boho

Contemporary Boho is a modern twist on Bohemian style. While bohemian style is known for opulence and excess, in current graphic design, the trend is dialled back a bit – accented with clean, modern lines, fonts, and empty space. The combination of the flowery excess of the bohemian style with modern touches can result in visually stunning and appealing graphics.

Duotone & Colour Monochromatic

Duotone & Colour Monochromatic has become more and more popular in recent years, and we have loved the resurgence of this throwback. This design trend implements a simple palette, but with a strong presence. This style of branding is creative, eye-catching, and customers love it.

Geometric Design shape up with geometric designs

Geometric designs have been at the forefront of design trends this year and have the staying power to be around for years to come. The clean appearance of geometric shapes, coupled with the subconscious psychology of shapes, creates impactful graphic designs that connect with clients. You can learn more about the psychology behind the shapes here.

Gold

While gold has been a timeless design trend, it definitely worked its way into the ranks of the top design trends of 2021. We’ve consistently seen the rise of this trend over the years, and frankly, it’s not going anywhere. From delicate accents to elevate a brand’s sophistication to bold eye-catching metallics front and center, gold takes the cake.

Bold Design

bold because of the message graphic

 

The striking design trend of bold design stepped into the spotlight this year. Bold design is a multi-faceted design concept – it can be your messaging, colourway, typography (or absence thereof), graphics or photography. Bold Design isn’t simply eye-catching graphics or typography – the essence of bold design is captivating creatives and tactics that not only catch the eye of the user but hold their attention.

Typographic Chaos

Typographic Chaos might be the most symbolic trend for this past year. It perfectly embodies the chaotic nature of 2021, but at the same time, provides beauty, creativity, and inspiration. This trend breaks all the rules, and we couldn’t love it more.

 

 

 

 

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search engine optimization SEO digital marketing
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10 Interesting Marketing Stats Not to Ignore

Marketing has come a long way in the last few years, if you ask people in the industry many would probably agree there have been more changes in marketing in the last 5 years, then there has been in the 50 years prior. With the explosion of the internet, uptake of mobile and ability to seamlessly track and monitor advertising spend and ROI online, it’s no surprise businesses around the world are diverting their budget to digital in 2016. Here are some key Marketing Stats that are so important to the way a business markets their products and services in both the B2B and B2C space, they simply cannot be ignored.

  1. In 2016 67% more leads will be generated by companies with an active blog

Content marketing is essential for optimal SEO performance and is the best way to drive traffic to your website. Blogging about useful, informative and engaging information that is relevant to your target market will drive traffic to your website, ultimately increasing conversions for your business.

  1. The average person now spends more time online then TV and all other media combined

This should come as no surprise. Smartphones, tablets and computers have become an extension of people’s bodies and people now turn to the internet instead of traditional media like TV, print and radio to get information.

  1. Total spending on Internet advertising is predicted to grow 12.9% next year. The Internet will become the largest medium for advertising in 2016 (ahead of TV)

Internet advertising is cost effective, highly targeted and traceable. These three features along with potential reach have seen the internet surpass TV for total ad spend.

  1. Social ad spending has doubled over the past two years.

Social media advertising is easy, cheap and effective. With platforms like Instagram now offering ad functionality, total social ad spend is expected to continue with double digit growth over the coming years.

  1. By 2019 mobile advertising will represent 72% of all US digital ad spending

As smartphones become more functional, and websites more mobile-friendly consumers will increasingly use their mobile to research and purchase products and services online.

  1. Digital marketing spend is forecasted to account for 35% of total budgets in 2016.

How much has your business allocated to digital marketing this year? Companies have noticed the value of online marketing and larger portions of budget are being spent on digital marketing.

  1. The top four channels for increases in digital marketing spend last year were email marketing (61% of marketers increasing spending on this channel), social media (49%), mobile marketing (40%), and SEO/PPC (38%)

Most businesses have a combination of email marketing, social media, mobile marketing and PPC as part of their digital marketing portfolio. It is getting rarer for companies not to leverage all four of these components to varying degrees.

  1. Mobile commerce is growing fast, 87% of internet users now have a smartphone – mobiles are revolutionizing business

Around the world smart phones and mobile uptake is becoming the norm presenting an enormous opportunity for mobile advertising.

  1. 93% of shoppers buying decisions are influenced by social media

Although social media is not known as the best conversion platform it is absolutely essential for brand awareness and influencing customers to choose your company over the competition. To increase conversions, social media advertising is very effective.

  1. Marketers who have prioritized blogging are 13x more likely to enjoy a positive ROI

Content marketing is commonly agreed by marketing experts to be the most important SEO element and those who commit to prioritizing blogging are seeing results.

There is no longer a question of having an online presence or not, and a website that’s not producing fresh content, or a social media presence that’s sitting stagnant, can do more harm then good online. The question now is having the right mix of online marketing components for your business to ensure you are reaching clients with the right message at the right time.

At Cloud9 Marketing we specialize in creating customized digital marketing strategies for our clients in Whistler BC and around the world. Whether it’s social media, SEO, web design, graphic design, content marketing and blogging or branding, we deliver results-driven, customer-centric and highly engaging digital marketing services communicating unique brands to the right people at the right time.

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