About 36 hours before hosting a holiday party for almost 40 people from my business group Million Dollar Ladies, my hot water heater sprang a leak — of course, perfect timing right? When your hot water heater leaks there's no patching it up, you have to do a complete replacement.

Luckily, one of the members of the group is the owner of a plumbing company that does superior work and was someone I trusted. So I called them and they came to my rescue replacing the unit in a just a ... Continue Reading

There are many warning signs when it comes to spotting a rogue design firm.

We've heard of horror story after horror story and stepping back to take it all in there are a few commonalities that seem to come up more often than not.

Below are some key red flag indicators to help you realize if you've been or are in the process of being punk'd by your current design firm.

MIA

Your design firm all of the sudden has gone missing in action right in the middle or within the final stretch ... Continue Reading

The short answer is no. No they can't. If they want something of yours they can get it or know someone that can.

This comes up quite often actually with our clients and we tell them the same thing. Sure there are deterrents which I'll describe below however that's all they are.

Here's a great story for you:

After a year or so telling our client that you can't lock down your photos so no one steals them, they came to me one day and said: "Rob, I know you said ... Continue Reading

For the second consecutive year, LogoLounge has recognized Effusion for brand design excellence.

OK so we're tooting our own horn, but we're proud of what we do here and being recognized in your industry to what a panel of international judges judging over 30,000 logo submissions and considering your work "solid design" is worth a mention. Below is one of the two logos that made it into the book.

When you think streamlined/concise content, this trickles down to the very essence of your brand — yes your logo.

In the beginning when we first started our company, we were open to creating what we refer to as the "FrankinLogo" — meaning, we presented 4-6 logo concepts and let the client decide what they liked best, if that meant creating a hybrid of 2 or 3 logos then so be it. Well, what we came to find was that this method seemed to yield the ugliest logos that consistently never ... Continue Reading

What seems second nature to designers isn't all that intuitive for clients when it comes to creating the right type of content for a brochure, website or something as simple as a logo.

We refer to "content overload" as "Kitchen Sink Design."

Here's the scenario, a client comes in and is ecstatic about their rebranding ranging from their logo to a new website, brochure, the whole nine. When we discuss the project scope and what we're looking for in terms of content (this is before the design process actually starts) more often than ... Continue Reading

Sounds like something Arsenio Hall's announcer might have said back in the day (just dated myself 10 years by saying that).

I think House Ind is the typography equivalent to Apple and all that they do. If you've ever seen or purchased their House Ten Year Book: it's something to behold. Everything (and I do mean everything) about the book is over-the-top. The book is so over illustrated, so jam-packed with typefaces and designed in such a way that with any other company you'd say no way this will ... Continue Reading

Many clients are resistant to change.

When we have a client approach us for one type of project we often will suggest the idea of rebranding if a mark looks unprofessional or just isn't inline with today's standards of logo design. The first thing we hear is "oh no, can't do that — our logo is everywhere and. . .my wife created this years ago and everyone loves it."

Yes but is it effective? Does it do for you now what it did 5 or 10 years ago when your business was in its infancy?

Can your brand be carried through to every ... Continue Reading

When it comes to reputation and longevity in the business Pentagram is clearly a design deity. Clean and well thought out design is something that precedes their work. You hear the name and think yes. . .pure quality and creativity without compromise. Their talents run the gamut from branding to architecture and they've left their mark on giants like Saks 5th Avenue to Harley Davidson. If there's ever a design firm (and that term seems a disjustice to their organization) that Effusion aspires to ... Continue Reading

We’ve all heard the term “spring cleaning,” but being a transplant from the East Coast to the Phoenix, Arizona area has altered my schedule for this ritual of clearing out closets and deep cleaning. Here, we wait for cooler weather to set in, which is right on the border of the start of the holiday season (Halloween through to the New Year). It made me think of some of our past and in-progress clients who have taken action to update and “refresh” their branding, and with it their ... Continue Reading