graphic design, freelancing, illustration, advertising, web design

Sarah Talbot who owns a Cornish Design Company called DesignStudio has an innovative way to promote her design company through a cook book she has designed. I asked Sarah if she would consider an email interview for Graphic Design Blog and she kindly agreed. My thanks to Sarah for taking part.

1. Please could you tell us a little bit about you and your company and the type of design work that you do?
I run a graphic design company called DesignStudio, we typically work with small to medium sized businesses helping them to strengthen their ID within their marketplace. We build open and professional relationships with all of our clients, in light of this we are able to understand and pinpoint their needs, likes and dislikes which has led to producing the best possible design solutions to meet individual requirements, from a simple brochure or a much broader campaign.

2. The idea of creating a cookbook as your design company’s brochure is very unusual, what gave you the idea?
The recipe book has come from a very unique service that we offer our clients, we bake them their favourite cake and take it along to development meetings. So popular has this service become I decided to make it a feature of my new brochure.

3. Has cooking always been a passion of yours as well as design?
I love cooking, anything foody and I’m there. The fact that I now combine two of my passions in life is fantastic!

4. I understand that some of the recipes came from your existing clients, how did they respond to your unusual request for recipes?
They loved the idea, most of the recipes are mine, but some are from clients. Some of my suppliers have pages as well as initially they were upset that they weren’t in the book. It’s also a thank you to my clients for their support for my first 2 years in business.

5. How has your book been received by potential new clients?
Brilliant, people’s eyes light up when they see it. It has been described as ‘porn for foodies’. It’s great because, although at the end of the day I’m selling my business and looking for new clients my new brochure contains nothing about my company, no services, no features, nothing. People’s guards go up when you try and sell to them - this does exactly the opposite.

6. How do you plan on distributing the brochures, will they be used as a direct mail piece or handed out at meetings and events?
They are being handed out at networking events, they will be used as a direct piece of mail and followed up with cold calls. They will also be given to my existing clients to hand to possible referrals.

7. Have you any further plans for spin offs of the brochure ( e.g. recipe postcards as marketing material)?
Yes! I will be starting my own networking event by the end of the year. Called ‘afternoon tea with sarah’, this will be informal, invite only and instead of having a guest speaker we will have a guest baker who will cook their fav cake, with my help, live in the DesignStudio kitchen! I can’t wait…

8. Do you think you will do a follow up design cook book next year?
With out a doubt, I can see a whole series of books, maybe one day I’ll do a Delia style ‘all in one’.

9. Has the concept been successful in terms of generating new business, or increasing the profile of your design company ?
I have only had the book for a week, so too early to say as yet. But I think absolutely, it had already increased my profile, I have 2 live studio radio interviews this week I will be appearing within the Cornish press. And I think because the book so interrupts the traditional selling, I think it’s a certainty of not only generating new business but attracted exactly the types of companies that I’m looking to work with.

10. Have you ever done any other unusual marketing campaigns for your design company?
Not really for my company but I have sent out live penguin boxes containing clockwork penguins for one of my clients John Richards Shopfitters. http://www.penguinholiday.com hopefully should explain it!

Guest post by Bryan Zimmerman

First allow me to introduce myself. My name is Bryan Zimmerman, and I reside in the USA about an hour and a half West of New York City. I just graduated from college with an AS in Visual Communications, and am in dire need of some advice. I came across this site a few days ago, and was overwhelmed by the close knit community. It seems that here in the United States we “think” we know it all, but the only thing we are really good at is putting others down when they ask what they call a “stupid” question. This community is the exact opposite, which is why I will come here from now on to read “intelligent” posts and replies.

With that said, here is my dilemma. When I began college a year ago, I had my eye on becoming a web designer. As the months passed and I learned new and exciting techniques and software, I began to sway toward other mediums. I have written poetry since I can remember, and when I took my composition classes they opened up a whole new world to me. The same happened with photography, video, illustration, etc.

I guess what I am getting to is where to start? Suddenly, I have basic knowledge to manifest my thoughts and ideas into real world solutions. My problem is that now I want it all, and having just turned 41 I feel like my time is limited. One day I may be on a Flash kick, and the next day it’s Photoshop. I am currently dabbling in Apple Final Cut and Logic (I have been a guitarist for the past 25 years, so some of it comes natural).

What does one do when one is so excited by all of the possibilities, yet has no logical path to follow? Do I just pick one thing and become the best I can? It seems the job market wants you to be everything. Also if I pick just one, I know the others will call out to me until I pay attention to them as well. I thought about putting a website together showcasing everything, but then I am not dedicating myself to anything.

I’m not sure if I am making any sense, but if anyone can relate and offer suggestions I will be eternally grateful.

Thanks you for reading this post, and thank you for this community. You guys are awesome!

Best Regards,
Bryan Zimmerman

I am a bit of a fan of TV invention programs, if your from the UK you’ll know of Dragon’s Den which is one of my favourites. I am a bit of an “Inventor Wanabee” always trying to come up with new ideas some completely daft others OK. I have never quite got an investor/company to sign on the dotted line though (almost, but not quite). Anyway back to the point - as well as looking at design related blogs, I take the odd look at inventor ones.

At Inventors Garage I found an interesting lead to an article on the Wall Street Journal. Essentially the article explains that keyword searches are now being used by product developers and designers to find out what the consumers are searching for. For example a company that made hardware for engineers sold products where the user had to install circuit boards in their computer. By checking what keywords were being searched for alongside their product they saw that users were attaching the word USB to it. This led to it designing and selling versions of its products with USB interfaces, one of its most successful product launches.

Next time I have an idea I think I will try it as a keyword to see if there is any demand. I wonder if there are any other ways that keywords can be used too?