Experimentation – Color, Digital Marketing, Events – Genius or Amateur?
As a designer and a marketer, this year I haven’t been focusing on design for built environments. I’m actually experimenting – broadening my horizon – increasing my education of several disciplines. Good or bad, it’s where I am at in life.
Color: it’s been an important part of my journey over the last year. I’ve always loved color. I remember in my early training as a designer – color theory. In 2017-1018 I worked as a color consultant for PPG Paints. It’s not a role I ever expected – but it allowed me to expand my interest in color and delve into the psychology of color. People get really funny about how they use color inside and outside their homes. (sometimes, I was actually a marriage counselor – saving marriages one color at a time.) I helped businesses design pathways and master color plans to help them engage their clients. It was really fun. I was able gain education through my completion of a color certification program, too. In my role, I was also able to event plan and manage for retail grand openings, participate in one-on-one consultations and give presentations to customers. It was a great experience.
Digital Marketing: In the age of everything being digital the lingo has changed. No longer are we simply creating campaigns for the masses. We’re creating campaigns that speak to a specific buyer or prospect in the form of “buyer personas”… Campaigns are personalized, truly targeted and engage one specific group. It’s not a demographic, it’s a person. Molly Marketer, Bobby Builder or Sally CEO. It’s actually much more interesting thinking about people rather than demographics. It gives life to a product. It gives depth to a brand. I am continue to educate myself in Digital Marketing – SEO, SEM, AdWords, Google Analytics – it’s all so important to how a business is found, perceived and grows. MUCH to learn!
Events: most recently, I’ve been project managing large events for management consulting companies. Large corporations have much more budget for events – so it’s been fun experimenting and setting the goals and objectives related to one-to-one direct marketing event. I want to expand more in the area of experiential marketing. Experiential marketing is a huge business. It combines creativity, design, video, sales, marketing, color psychology and so much more… I am going to continue on this path for a little while.
So, how do these very separate tasks relate? Reading, learning and absorbing everything I can about life in color, business in experiential marketing and digital marketing. I actually see this path converging at some point, but I’m not sure where. It’s a brave new world…
Think great designers stick to their craft? What about visionaries like Barbara Solomon? She’s had an incredible career. The art of necessity… doing, learning, growing. At 89, she’s a design dynamo.
I’ll keep going. Growing, learning and exploring. You can teach an old dog new tricks. Just give them the opportunity to try.