Client Spotlight: The Hive

When the owner of Sugar Bee Sweets came to us with the idea for a new lunch spot called The Hive, we were over the moon excited to brand it! We started with a simple and clean logo in navy, mustard yellow, and white. We set up the ‘H’ icon to be able to stand alone as a brand mark in any combination of the three colors as well.

A few of our favorite pieces we've designed so far for The Hive include a floral tray liner, their website, menu, a mural of their logo and other graphic elements shown on the outside of the building (our concept flawlessly executed by Luisito Design), two embroidered hat designs, a sponsorship ad, and outdoor A-frame signage.

Remember from the Sugar Bee Sweets brand spotlight that the owner loves to blend masculine and feminine design elements? You’ll see that style echoed in The Hive’s decor - walls of hexagons on navy surround the tables and chairs, with a wall of air plants and a live-edge wood lunch counter across from the sandwich line, and white subway tile with black grout on the other large walls, behind the line and the drink area, which houses their large menu. The room is finished out with floral touches and ingredient packaging/overstock on open shelving. There’s even an outdoor patio to enjoy!

We’re so proud of the branding we’ve developed for The Hive, and can’t wait to watch the buzz continue to grow!

Call Me, Maybe (or Not)

My parents would tell you I had a phone attached to my head much of the time as a young girl in the 80s and especially as a teenager in the 90s. I wasn’t allowed to have a phone in my room, but what we DID have was probably a 20-foot coil cord on the kitchen wall phone. If I wanted to have a private conversation, I could pull the receiver all the way to the garage and very nearly shut the door on the cord. This was helpful to talk about all the social politics of who liked whom with my girlfriends, and occasionally to request a late-night ballad on Delilah (which I listened to nightly on my little pink Sharp QT radio of course).

Sometime in the last ten years though, my love affair with the phone simply died. Maybe I’m over being “connected” all the time since the rise of the smartphone and social media. Maybe I got all talked out. Maybe it’s my personality type. Maybe I’m just part of a larger societal shift… which could be a reflection of the general current of anxiety running just beneath the surface of everyone these days, as a symptom of our hurried lifestyles. Maybe it’s generational. Maybe it’s because I have a job that depends on my creativity (when designing), and being 100% focused (when strategizing or working with website code). The ring of a phone can yank me right out of “the zone,” sometimes unrecoverably so.

The Guardian says:

Perhaps it’s not phone calls themselves we object to, but the feeling of being ambushed by them. One worker in their 20s told the Wall Street Journal: “Calling someone without emailing first can make it seem as though you’re prioritizing your needs over theirs.”

That’s right. The millennial attitude towards phone calls is actually about manners. We’ve grown up with so many methods of communication available to us, and we’ve gravitated towards the least intrusive ones because we know how it feels to be digitally prodded on a range of different channels. Speaking on the telephone is an event, and we don’t want to avoid it – we just need to be sure that both parties have a chance to prepare for it. We want a chance to compose and edit our thoughts, in the way we do when we’re writing them down.

No matter where it stems from, there’s clearly no shortage of folks online who have feelings about phone calls:

 

Note: We did not create these graphics; they were saved from various social media outlets over several years: bustle, squaresayings, dauntless infj, and others (please let us know if we’re missing any and we’d be glad to provide a link)

 

These memes are really just for fun. Phone calls are a necessity sometimes: they’re the next best thing to a face-to-face meeting when a face-to-face meeting isn’t possible to talk through an idea; they can convey feelings much better than an email or text; and they’re the fastest way to relay information on a tight deadline or in an emergency. Reasons we dislike phone calls: they’re only quick if both parties are available right then and there (hence the reason we prefer to schedule our phone appointments); they’re only effective if both parties are undistracted and actually understand the messaging accurately; and there’s no official record of the conversation to fall back on. The bottom line is, I’m a grown-up and I run a business… I can pick up the phone when I need to. But the phone is no longer attached to my head (or even my hand).

It will be interesting to see how feelings around phone calls continue to evolve in the next few years, and to see what effects Gen Z workers will have on office phone etiquette as they continue to grow into a larger part of the workforce. Stay tuned!

Conference Swag & Promotional Merch Recommendations

It’s almost 2020… people are drowning in stuff, the planet is drowning in plastic, and no one needs more logo-printed:

  • plastic water bottles or cups

  • stress balls

  • toys

  • crappy knock-off lip balm

  • tote bags

  • USB drives

  • spirals/journals/notepads

  • keychains

  • eyeglass cleaners

  • pop sockets

But from a marketing perspective, you still need giveaways for your trade show booths, conferences, and award shows though, right?!

Our first recommendation for conference swag is to MAKE IT USEFUL, otherwise you’re just spending a fortune on trash.

What’s in demand now:

  • Consumable product samples or snacks (much appreciated by attendees – it’s your job to make your brand memorable when they come get ‘em!)

  • Stainless steel straws (either singles or kits, with or without carrying case, brush, etc.)

  • Portable bamboo utensil sets (typically with a roll-up wrap to store them in your purse or bag)

  • Glass, ceramic, or double-walled metal tumblers and bottles (expensive but cool; and we wavered on including this one because we don’t need any more of these either)

  • Wireless anything (bluetooth speakers, phone chargers, headsets/headphones; for high-end events only because otherwise, in order to make it inexpensive enough for a giveaway, it’s likely not high-quality, and will eventually become trash)

These tried & true conference favorites are not sexy, but people are likely to keep and use:

  • Pens/pencils

  • Hand sanitizer

  • Tissue packs for pocket/purse

  • Webcam covers

(though we don’t love that most of these items are plastic)

Our #1 Recommendation:

Sponsor an Experience!

  • device charging station

  • water bottle filling station

  • coffee bar

  • chair massage station

Your brand will be associated with something truly helpful in a clutch situation and “if you wrap the event in your branding, there’s a good chance your target customer will remember that experience” long after a tote bag would end up in a landfill somewhere, says Fast Company. We couldn’t agree more!

Read more here: “It’s time to stop spending billions on cheap conference swag”