tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-202436932009-07-14T09:53:32.682-04:00a discussion of design, branding, business, and culture...Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.comBlogger36125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-3957155601234599682009-07-11T17:50:00.010-04:002009-07-14T09:52:30.387-04:00

Are you a little leery of jumping into Twitter? I think that's a common feeling among many high-end attorneys, accountants, architects, engineers, and technical consultants that we've spoken to over the past few months. It's not that these professionals don't have anything valuable to say, they're just not sure how best to get started.All you need to do is jump online and post what you had for

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-37533501494127541982009-05-10T15:18:00.006-04:002009-05-20T11:21:22.129-04:00

Last night I was at a major grocery store outside of San Diego. Most of the aisles looked like what you see above... After experiencing this, I'm considering writing a series on visual hierarchy. This same problem applies to branding, website design, and marketing in general. My premise: if all of the products on the shelf are red, bold and tagged, then is anything actually important? If

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-78145601116215114772009-05-10T14:54:00.004-04:002009-06-08T10:56:17.314-04:00

I stumbled upon this pirate-themed hostel (Pirate Haus Inn & Hostel) a few weeks ago during a weekend trip to Saint Augustine, Florida. I don't know much about their business, but we did meet a young guy who was staying there for the week. He said group rooms were about twenty bucks a night. Unlike traditional western hotels, hostels generally have room for more people who share a group room.

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-4598184139051352402009-04-19T15:02:00.003-04:002009-05-20T11:19:55.180-04:00

Miles Design was proud to participate in "The Public and the Personal Design Views" show at The Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Gallery at the University of Indianapolis. Here's a little background on the show:"Visual Communication Design professionals work in the public milieu producing work for clients, solving problems and creating solutions and strategies for an array of projects. In addition,

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-53335562833378305942009-03-10T16:07:00.003-04:002009-03-10T16:50:47.303-04:00

We were proud to participate for the fourth consecutive year in the American Heart Association's Indianapolis Goes Red for Women Luncheon. Miles Design was the featured design partner for all of the print collateral and we were pleased to partner with Indianapolis photographer Tod Martens for the great imagery. Thank you to all of this year's sponsors. I'd like to offer special thanks to designer

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-42198587575190833322009-03-10T15:35:00.006-04:002009-03-10T19:36:02.486-04:00

We were very excited to learn that Logo Lounge had selected three of our recent brand identities for their inaugural Master Library Series book, Initials & Crests.What is the Master Library series? We had the same question. Here's what Logo Lounge had to say, "Like our existing (and continuing) LogoLounge book series, the new Master Library books will bring you plenty of exemplary logo design

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-7399441483922288822009-03-04T14:07:00.013-05:002009-03-10T15:33:25.866-04:00

Miles Design had ten entries selected for the Graphic Design USA American Graphic Design Awards Annual. As much as we love GDUSA their site is a little on the impossible side to link directly to our winning entries, but feel free to peruse if you're interested. Or if you prefer to cheat, here's a quick run down of what was featured from our shop.Identities:Brochures:

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-20591635629821127322009-01-24T16:10:00.013-05:002009-01-24T17:43:54.441-05:00

Since my last "book club" post I've wrapped up my book for January: The Designful Company: How to build a culture of nonstop innovation by Marty Neumeier. And if you're a brand fanatic like myself, I can't recommend a better use of two hours of your day. Marty has some spot-on insights regarding design thinking, and manages to make it neither over-simplified, nor ridiculously cerebral.I also

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-79411932186524241522009-01-20T20:58:00.007-05:002009-01-20T22:10:18.463-05:00

Take a moment to think about your "competition". You probably immediately thought of one or two competitors. Your clients-to-be often ask you about them. They pitch all of the same accounts that you're pitching. Even the not-for-profit world has competition. You're kidding yourself if you don't see those other charities as competing for the same donation dollars.What if you could make them go

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-35214269607395144552009-01-11T16:42:00.007-05:002009-01-11T18:05:24.457-05:00

In theory, I'm a part of the Smaller Indiana Business Book Club, which I think is a great concept. In reality, I have my own stack of books that I'm cruising through and haven't actually made it to a Smaller Indiana Book Club meeting, or even picked up all that many books from SI's list. I may not have had much success reading from the other list, but I am reading, so I thought I'd share what I

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-48457561156161498892009-01-11T16:36:00.005-05:002009-01-11T18:09:33.178-05:00

Welcome to 2009. With my impressive powers of deduction, I have surmised that next year will be 2010... Yikes. So my question is, when 2010 rolls around, where do you want your business to be? Of course if you're paying any attention to the media, you may have noticed things in the marketplace these days are potentially challenging at best. People often ask me "Is the downturn affecting your

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-62090075483441150312009-01-11T14:33:00.007-05:002009-01-11T18:02:51.971-05:00

If you're not on our mailing list then you probably haven't received our New Year's card. Don't be too disappointed if you're not on our mailing list... that probably just means we've never sent you a check or an invoice. But we'd be happy to add you, just send us your info here.Or if you'd prefer a digital copy of our New Year's card because you just can't wait for the USPS to come through, or

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-90000676139680090572008-12-20T22:14:00.007-05:002008-12-21T16:21:44.714-05:00

We're pleased to report that we have successfully shopped, wrapped, and delivered all of the gifts over the past week. Here's a little of the "evidence" shall we say? If you want to see the photos, you're going to have to click to read more! To close out our 2008 Christmas Shopping Odyssey, here's a few photos from our adventures:Nothing brings the office together like the holidays...Surveying

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-10495866595290217852008-12-05T09:28:00.004-05:002008-12-05T10:08:23.759-05:00

We've been holding off to share our latest updates... mostly because a few of the details were still up in the air. So as of this week, Miles Design is officially adopting two families this Christmas. And today is our shopping day! Both families appear to be single mothers. Our first family listed the mother and two boys (eight and twelve). Our second family listed the mother, two girls (eight

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-89737848826432990912008-11-23T20:03:00.005-05:002008-11-24T09:08:30.897-05:00

The Department of Public Works is committed to doing its part in taking the lead to support Mayor Ballard's City-wide Food Initiative "Pack the Pantries." Please join in our efforts to assist those less fortunate than us in filling a DPW truck with NON-PERISHABLE food to be donated to Gleaners Food Bank. Indy residents need your help! The City of Indianapolis asked us to help design a logo to

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-15008211789893914512008-11-23T19:45:00.004-05:002008-11-23T19:59:48.014-05:00

So far, our first annual Miles Design adopt-a-family for Christmas program has been a success. Or at least it seems that way to us. We're currently attempting to adopt a family of eight, or two smaller families. I'll let you do the math of all the possible combinations. We're awaiting paperwork this week to get our official confirmation. Our plan is to block out December 5th as our "shopping day"

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-88239345128132533482008-11-12T20:04:00.005-05:002008-11-13T09:58:55.539-05:00

For those of you who have enjoyed our past holiday cards and fun little excursions like HolidayCow.com, we're excited to let you in on a little secret. This year, we're taking a different spin on holiday gifts. We're giving your gift to someone else.With the roller coaster news from Wall Street this season, we thought this would be a great year to share with those less fortunate. We're still

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-75331544072293302982008-11-12T19:36:00.006-05:002008-11-13T09:59:52.044-05:00

I don't think we've ever been busier than we have been this fall. And boy do we ever appreciate all of your support. Here's an attempt to catch everyone up with all the latest:07.08.08 - MD helps develop and launch a new brand, product line and website for Wheeltags.09.01.08 - MD is excited to welcome intern Amy Hollrah for the Fall semester.10.01.08 - MD begins work with Reach More Strategies -

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-43948806424826621292008-09-08T09:46:00.005-04:002008-09-08T11:25:31.558-04:00

I recently had the privilege of presenting an activity at a local networking event for the Keystone at the Crossing Rainmakers meeting. The activity revolved around the concept of identity and how taking time to learn more about someone at a networking event could positively impact your business. And while my presentation at Rainmakers was specific to that event, here's a slightly edited version

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-85172251855976421352008-08-11T15:55:00.007-04:002008-08-11T16:11:40.882-04:00

Did you by chance see the opening ceremonies of the Olympics? Did you sit there in amazement and awe as the pageantry of events unfolded. The music, the costumes, the choreography. How it all blended together seamlessly bringing traditions of old into the world of new. Spectacular.As I was sitting there with friends watching this, I overheard one of them say, "Who thinks of this kinda of

Adam Siurekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04169913364304663884noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-17560262596529311962008-07-28T14:29:00.007-04:002008-07-28T14:56:10.212-04:00

I had the privilege of accompanying Oasnet on a recent mission trip this past June. Our group traveled to Tampico, Mexico to meet with local pastors, and help pour concrete floors the old-fashioned way. Among the many amazing thing I was able to experience in Mexico, I was intrigued by the hand-illustrated Typography that was present in some of the smaller towns. In a time when "contemporary"

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-15021293786788166462008-07-14T20:02:00.004-04:002008-07-14T20:52:43.301-04:00

Ockham's Razor is an age-old principal that suggests the most simple solution is usually the best. If you take a complex solution and peel away all of the unnecessary layers, you'll eventually get down to the essence of the idea. That one, pure, simple solution.This works great when we're developing a trademark for a brand. It applies to business problems, and as I recently found, it also applies

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-53895334177755705932008-07-07T20:57:00.006-04:002008-07-07T21:56:48.182-04:00

Once again, I've been too busy to blog... So in the interest of catching everyone up quickly (again), here's a fresh recap in bullet point format:02.29.08 - Driving Miss Debbie Millman (to the airport) after her great AIGA presentation on Leap Day.03.15.08 - MD awarded RatioArchitects.com redesign.04.01.08 - MD begins rebranding for BRAND PHOTODESIGN.04.10.08 - MD has nine business card designs

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-8859196540042858182008-07-02T10:22:00.010-04:002008-07-07T22:00:49.027-04:00

Of course there is a Holiday weekend that is lurking and we all are waiting for that late Thursday afternoon appointment *wink *wink, so we can get our Independence groove on. What does this weekend hold for most of us? Hanging around a lot of people you swear you are not really related to, bratty kids, setting fire to food and calling it a feast, drinking too much really cheap beer, and of

Adam Siurekhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04169913364304663884noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20243693.post-59914796890609660712008-01-14T14:15:00.000-05:002008-01-14T15:54:57.081-05:00

Not since The Blair Witch Project has a film so extensively launched a viral marketing campaign like this... (Back then, a website alone was enough!) I'm bound to get some of this backwards, since I haven't seen the film, but here goes... Cloverfield is a story about some kind of monster/alien/sea creature that attacks New York. Much like it's occult-themed predecessor, the story is said to be

Josh Milesnoreply@blogger.com1