Holy Trinity Parish is one of the oldest Catholic parishes in Indianapolis. My Slovenian grandmother along with her parents and grandparents were members. For Slovenian American history it’s a wonderful landmark for the city.

Since Holy Trinity is like family to me and they do pay for my services normally, every once in a while they ask for me to help out when the budget just doesn’t have the stretch it needs for posters. The events that Holy Trinity have been putting on lately are used to raise money and awareness for the restoration of Bockhold Hall (the event hall used at Holy Trinity parish) and to keep the parish going throughout the year. In my eyes it’s a good cause.

This is an instance where as a designer I can give back to the community with a pro bono project.

I can’t afford to donate my services all the time, so deciding what are important community contributions I want to make, drive my choices for pro bono projects. What can make the deal worthwhile for me is negotiating with the client for the following four things (number four should be yours no matter what):

1. Credit for the work created. The logo of my company is branded onto the piece along with web site listing. Often the organization/client will have you listed as a sponsor so don’t forget to ask about sponsor listing on any other printed event materials (programs/tickets/t-shirts)  as well as on the client’s web site – especially if promotion will be occuring several months to a year before the date of the event.

2. Tax write off. I keep track of the time and place a dollar value to the project, then let my accountant know that I will be writing it off as a donation. (Donations = tax breaks)
NOTE: Beware of how much time you spend on a pro bono project and set expectations with the client that you cannot go over “x” amount of hours or revisions to finalize the project. Your time is still money, so if you need to push back and ask them to make a priority list or keep their revision changes to two rounds-be polite but communicate this in the beginning of the process.

3. Free admission to the event. In exchange for doing the poster I also get tickets to the event, which by the way has the most amazing sausage you will ever eat in your lifetime.

4. Portfolio work. You have a wonderful piece to show off in your portfolio.

So really giving back to the community can be a win/win situation if you have these four items.

Well we’ve had a blue moon and now you can see a blue angel, this week is looking pretty awesome for being snowed in and bone chilling cold. Stay warm and have a good time!

Events
1. The Blue Angel: One of Von Sternberg’s greatest German films of the thirties, (before Goebbels took over the German film industry). This film made Marlene Dietrich into an international star. It’s more than a Barry Manilow song, come see what Lola Lola was all about in this particular German Cabaret.

Friday, January 8
WINTER NIGHTS FILM: The Blue Angel
The Indianapolis Museum of Art
4000 Michigan Street
The Toby
7:00 pm
Tickets: $9 Public/ $5 Members/ $7 students with ID

2. Happy Birthday Elvis: Elvis’ Birthday Bash at Locals Only featuring local Rockabilly faves The Danny Thompson Trio, Mandy Mare and the Cool Hand Lukes and Indy’s favorite Zombie rock, Harley Poe.

Friday, January 8
Locals Only
2449 E. 56th Street
9:00 pm
Admission: TBD

3. Gather around the fire for a listening party: Twinpeaks, MOKB & NUVO Present: Vampire Weekend “Contra” Listening Party. As an added bonus you can win some free swag via Nuvo

Thursday, January 7
Upland Tasting Room
4842 North College
8:00pm – 11:00pm
Admission: Free

4. Chill out and LET GO! at The Lockerbie Pub.This is the first of a series of Tuesday nights that features A SQUARED INDUSTRIES DJS, DJ SCOTT MATELIC and DJ ACTION JACKSON. Also the Naptown Roller Girls are swinging by to drink Sun King Beer with y’all.

Tuesday, January 5
Lockerbie Pub
631 East Michigan Street
10:00 pm
Admission: FREE

5. We want the Funk–gotta have that funk now: SO if you ask for it than you shall receive, Super Funk at The Jazz Kitchen this Friday.

Friday, January 8
The Jazz Kitchen
5377 N. College Avenue
8:00 & 10:00 pm.
Admission: TBD

Quick Links
1. Urban Photography tips

2. I’m toying with the idea of an e-newsletter, it’s a lot of work…. But if you are in the market to do it check out some of the pro’s for email marketing.

3. Getting back into the routine: Coming back to work after the holidays doesn’t have to be a drag.

4. Fun with found objects and Visa Cards: Visa Arts on the Go Campaign.

I hope you are cozy, warm and relaxed from all the holiday cheer. Have a wonderful New Year-hope 2010 is good to all of us!

Events
1. A Hipster New Year: Otis Gibbs, America Owns the Moon, The Academy and Vess Ruhtenberg. Local music faves and the lovely Otis Gibbs (Nashville) are playing NYE at Locals Only. It’s predicted that this show may sell out, so call ahead and get your tickets before Thursday.

Thursday, December 31st/New Year’s Eve
Locals Only
2449 E. 56th Street
Cost: $12 Advance / $15 Door
Doors at 8pm
No one will be allowed in after capacity hits.

2. Staying in before New Year’s Eve? Relax at home and watch Steven Sebring’s documentary, Patti Smith: Dream of Life on PBS.  Nuvo has a great inteview with Smith that discusses her career and the doc. It’s also Smith’s birthday on Dec. 30th.

Wednesday, December 30th
9:00 pm EST
PBS
Check your local PBS channel listing for times.

3. This is the last week you can see the Sacred Spain Exhibit at the IMA. The exhibit it free, so if you haven’t seen it yet, you must take advantage of the holiday slowdown this week and get on over there.

Last day of Exhibit is Sunday, January 3rd
The Indianapolis Museum of Art
4000 Michigan Road
Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday 11 am to 5 pm
Thursday and Friday 11 am to 9 pm*
Sunday noon to 5 pm
Closed New Year’s Day

4. Leisure Kings, Born Again Floozies and The Playboy Psychonauts: New Year’s Eve at Radio Radio. Well, if you are in the FSQ neighborhood or looking for a great place to chill out and get your 2010 on-come on down. BTW, you can bet Mike Wiltrout will be spraying fire from his mouth at some point .

Thursday, December 31st/New Years Eve
Tickets: purchase at Future Shock and Radio Radio or online
Advance: $15/at the door $20

5. Dean Johnson Gallery: They are open on New Years Day, so stop by and view contemporary design by Nick Allman, Morgen Bosler and Lauren Zoll. All local designers who have re-interpreted objects like vases, urns and various furniture.

Friday, January 1st
646 Massachusetts Avenue
Fri 11–5
Admission: FREE

Quick Links
1. Ten start up questions: Jason Cohen has ten questions to help you assess your business self for the new year.

2. French Puppets confuse the hell out of me: This site represents the musings of a French puppet who really loves hip hop, I don’t understand a word of French (*le sigh*). I wish I did ’cause the wallpapers are aces!

3. Not sure what sort of laptop you should buy? Should you work for free? The gentlemen of Freelance Switch can help you decide.

4. Typography is Everything:The portfolio of Simon Page makes me green with envy.

5. Do you know how to properly focus a camera? Well, I received a few new lens for Christmas and I’m learning all over again.

6. Best of Photoshop Tutorials from 2009: Here’s something to do while killing time before 2010 arrives.

I’m working on slight upgrades to my identity. That includes short run business/promotional cards. It’s fun to update your brand’s identity from year to year. You just have to decide how much you are willing to change. A slight upgrade in color or logo appearance keeps the recognition of your company consistent.

However, there are examples of identities completely revamping  their  appearance  (like brand identities for food, soft drinks or equipment). It can work against the company brand, depending on the strategy. The strategy for Pepsi products is to refresh/re-invent their soft drinks for more consumption. Which does not seem to be working since Coca Cola is still the top soft drink in the world and their logo and bottle shape has relatively been the same for over a hundred years.

For creative agencies, there is a little more freedom. Some agencies like Space 150, redesign their identity every 150 days. Re-branding does have environmental and brand equity questions about whether it’s worth it for paper resources, design-work and promotion to do it so often. Space 150 does this as a way of showing off their specialty in reinventing brands and their client list is impressive as a result. Either way, if you want to grow steadily with your brand identity, make gradual changes until you feel you are ready to launch an all together different appearance.

This can also coincide with any changes within your services.  For instance if you have been a print designer for a number of years, but recently your clients are more and more relying on your e-commerce and social media web development for campaigns and websites. At this juncture you may want to rethink how your logo and brand identity reflect your evolution.

My suggestion is to keep it simple.

Think of the following three to help you simplify:

1. Color
2. Fonts
3. Message/service visual representation

(ONE) Choose a simple color scheme to identify your presence. You can be subjective to a point with chosing colors. If your service is pet grooming and you love purples, pinks and oranges – choose one of those colors and pair it up for contrast with black or white. This way you can play with the negative space black/white create and add a bright color for quick attention. For Cleis Design, I’m in love with black and a this crazy blue (PMS 7459c). Choosing Pantone Colors at the beginning of this process will save you the time of having to convert web or cmyk/rgb mixes.

How many colors you choose is up to you. Just remember more than two colors and you may have to start thinking of what these colors represent for your business, services or market and how you visually will use them. Larger corporations often use multiple colors to represent service distinction (one or more services can be identified selectively by color) or sector organization (this is used if you happen to own several different companies/franchises that offer different products/services while carrying your brand name). More than two colors and it gets complicated, possibly manageable..but complicated.

(TWO) Fonts, use consistently one or two fonts. And for clarity, choose one of the fonts from a sans serif family. As much as I love the ornate scripty/serif fonts, legibility is extremely important, so a nice Helvetica, Arial or tons of other unique sans serifs will mix well with presenting the most important messages and services you offer. Make the Sans Serif your dominant font and either use another style from the same font family or only use your serif font strategically (and minimally) to break up large chunks of information on a web site or in a brochure. Always create a style guide (branding guide) to help you and others you work with understand when to use these fonts in relation to emphasis.

(THREE) Message/service visual representation. Create a simple icon, type treatment or visual representation of who you are or what services you offer. You don’t have to visually represent all three, you can expand on the service portion within your support materials (web site/printed materials).  If you are unsure, ask yourself the following questions:

Who are you and what do you represent?
Take the time to list what kind of business you are and what do you want to tell people about your business/self.

Are you literal about representing yourself?
Meaning, if for example you were a landscaping business, do you want to be represented by flowers or garden shears? Or are you open to creative interpretation like abstract shapes, objects that can be worked into type treatments, flourishes or fonts from classic time periods that refine your identity.

Once you have figured out these three elements out you can keep expanding and evolving. Just remember keep it simple.

I took some time this weekend to address and mail out my holiday card. I felt a quirky, 5″ x 7″ card would be fun and a little different from the normal holiday fold over card. As well as it gave me an opportunity to promote to different groups and businesses who and what is Cleis Design.

I had a blast coming up with fake holidays as well as researching real holidays. I’m ready to kick off 2010 with a bang!