Seeing Color

One of the things that I like best about my job is COLOR!  I've been told that I have an eye for color.  I would love to become a “Color Namer”.  Wouldn’t that be a great job title?  Color names tell you the color without seeing them.  Here are the new colors for fall.  With over 10,000 colors to choose from, Pantone has forecasted the Fall 2015 color palette.  This season is a display that weaves earthy neutrals with a range of bold color statements.

Book Cover

Your book cover is one of the most important aspects of marketing your book. However much time you spend on getting people to your book sales page, they won’t download a sample or buy the book if the cover isn’t enticing.

It’s either going to grab and hold someone’s interest just enough to get them to read the sales copy, or it’s a complete failure and waste of space. Let’s be honest, we all judge a book by its cover most of the time. Books with good graphics, eye-catching font and good quality covers sell more copies than those without – simple fact. Despite what some people say, book covers are not in decline.

Generate excitement. Grab attention. The main goal of every book cover is to generate excitement. The cover is one of the best tools in your marketing arsenal. That’s why you should create something that will stop people in their tracks and evoke interest. The book cover is the hook that will help you to promote your book.

The book cover should show what genre the book is. A really good book cover “talks” to its readers through choice of typography, imagery and metaphor.

Minimal style is timeless. It helps to focus on the book’s title and authors name.

The cover is an important marketing tool. Do not leave the design to the last minute!

Be bold! The design should draw people in, providing just enough intrigue that they just have to buy it… now!

I recently worked with a customer to design his book cover. I think we hit the mark. Check out “Dirt” by Scott James.

Here is an article about the author in The Newberg Graphic newspaper. 

http://portlandtribune.com/nbg/144-features/257622-128866-book-reflects-a-different-era-of-police-work

The Art of the Card

The practice of sending love messages developed into people sending special cards expressing their affection. These cards were beautiful creations handmade by the sender and individually designed to show how much they loved the recipient. Cards would usually contain sentimental verse, proclaiming the beauty of the receiver and how much they were loved. Valentine's Day is most commonly associated with romantic love, with millions of Valentine's Day cards being exchanged each year. Gifts of flowers or a single red rose are sent with romantic messages to loved ones and couples spend special time together.
Saint Valentine's Day cards were decorated with pictures of cupid, hearts and flowers and trimmed with lace and ribbon. These images are still used today to symbolise love and are recognised all over the world. So make this Valentine holiday special and let your loved ones know you care through giving them a card that expresses your admiration! 
Valentine's Day isn't the only time to use the art of the card and tell people how much you care about them! Here at KAP Art we create custom cards for many occasions. Whether you have something in mind or you want to start from scratch, we can help you create just the card, stationary, invitation you are looking for! 
Enjoy Valentine's Day with the ones that you love and remember to keep KAP Art in mind the next time you want to send a creative card or invitation for any occasion!

KAP Art Supports the Community 

One of the signs of a strong community is how we come together and support in times of need.  While KAP Art is known in the community as a graphic design business, we are a part of the Sheldon community.  Sheldon is one such “community” that exemplifies support, time and time again.  It ‘s hard not to feel a connection to all that have been a part of the Irish  family, whether in the four years that your child attended and participated or all those that came before.

We have an opportunity to show this support to the Embery family on January 26th.  Austin Embery is a 2008 Sheldon graduate and member of the 2007 State Championship team.  His sister Elyce is a 2012 graduate of Sheldon.  Their father, Ken, unexpectedly passed away over the Christmas break, from complications of heart surgery.  If this isn’t enough for a 20 and 24 year old to endure, they lost their Mother, Julie, 10 years earlier.

While many of you may not know the Embery family, you can imagine what they are going through.  The Embery Memorial Fund has been established to help them work through all that losing their father has created, and Papa’s has graciously agreed to hold a fundraiser all day on Monday, January 26^th.  All food & Papa’s Bucks proceeds sold with this flyer, going to the Memorial Fund.

The Memorial Fund has been established at Oregon Community Credit Union if you would like to further donate.

Thank you for your help and support

Re-Branding With KAP Art

I recently spoke at my Lane Leaders group and one of my topics was Re-Branding.  Many of you may have similar questions about your company logo and I decided I would share some of my thoughts on this topic.

Re-Branding Questions to ASK!

Companies will at some point come to that milestone known as “the rebrand.” For some, it happens early on once they’ve discovered who they really are while with others, it occurs after many years of having grown (or outgrown) their brand. And while a brand is so much more than a company’s logo, the logo is one of the key ambassadors to any brand. Yet, there are a number of questions that routinely come up when I start with a company to rebrand them. Here (in no particular order) are questions that need to be answered to keep the brand.

Why should I change? Because a brand is struggling or just needs a refresh.

How far do I go? “With most logo designs, the continuity between the old and the new has to be seamless so the customer will understand you’re talking about the same company, except, of course, new and improved.”

Is my logo outdated? “If you find that stylistically and visually, you see elements within your logo that appear dated, and if you feel like it has a very consistent vibe with a time period, that’s usually a good time to question it.”

What do I want my customers to “feel”? “One of the first things that I advise a small business to do is to figure out what the emotions are that you want to convey and how we can roll that into the presentation of your logo.”

Then and Now

You’ll discover that some brands go along an evolutionary track that one could basically follow. Check out Old Dominion.

http://www.olddominioncollision.com

It has been a while since our last blog post but what better way to kick the summer off than with a post about beer! As the fourth annual Eugene Beer Week is approaching next week, KAP Art has been hard at work designing new ads and menus for The Bier Stein. The Eugene Beer Week is a highly anticipated event that Eugenian's along with out-of-towner's can't wait to get the beer pouring next Monday! The Bier Stein is featuring a new chef and KAP Art has been working with their owner to help recreate their menu that provides new offerings. Make sure to look for the new menu design the next time you stop in to The Bier Stein! On top of the new menu, KAP Art has also been working on a new ad that is being featured in the Eugene Weekly Newspaper and the Eugene Magazine. KAP Art has been a key contributor in helping The Bier Stein advertise their participation in the Eugene Beer Week and we can't wait to see their art work all over town to help promote The Bier Stein and Eugene Beer Week! Below is a quick glimpse at some of the events going on next week for the big event and we hope that you take the opportunity to let The Bier Stein pour you a beer!

Wedding Celebration @ KAP Art

On July 4th KAP Art was the site of one of our bride and grooms wedding celebrations. Odessa Wozniak became Odessa Siegel when she exchanged vows with Jake Siegel right here in our back yard. The weather was perfect the yard looked beautiful, and the KAP Art office became the bridal party changing area. The place where all the pretty happens.

We were involved from the beginning with the creation of the wedding collateral: the invitation, RSVP, information card, and thank you card. The grooms’ hobbies became the inspiration for the initial design. Jake is an avid fisherman and bow hunter. One might even describe him as bow aficionado, so we created their joint initials using a combination of an arrowhead and fishhook, which became intertwined as one. The arrowhead and fletching were carried throughout each piece of collateral.

Katy’s involvement didn’t stop with the printed pieces. Brad and Katy spent many hours prepping their yard, going so far as to put in a new lawn. Yah, that’s right, hours of ground prep prior to spreading grass seed. It seems some of the hottest days of summer happened in the midst of the seeds sprouting so careful attention had to be given to keeping the ground moist. Katy would often disappear from the office only to be found moving the hoses. All the hard work paid off, the yard looks awesome! I think we’ve all decided our children should have their weddings at the Putnam’s, the groundwork has been laid and the landscaping is beautiful.

Not sure if Katy’s willing to have her home, and KAP Art become a venue for weddings in the future but it certainly served Odessa and Jake well. The celebration went off without a hitch, and the happily ever after continues on.