Proofs are back and new ad design!

We received our proof copy from the printer for the upcoming expansion to True Agenda today. Things turned out rather nicely. The cover design was a new direction for the studio and the theme ran throughout the entire cover; front, spine and back. The inside quality was what we expected since this is our third print project, although there seemed to be a slight discoloration on a couple of the interior art pieces. We believe this is from the print run after we verified our digital art files. Hopefully the full print run addresses these issues, but they are not deal breakers regardless.

Today, we also finished an ad design piece (shown on right) that will be appearing in various advertising campaigns throughout the year, including within the pages of our new roleplaying game releasing later this year.

Holiday Mood

Once again we are deep in the holiday season. Another year is about ready to pass us by. While it has been another good year, I wish they would slow down a little! Nevertheless, this is the time when all of us here at the studios take a breather and enjoy the season. Most people and companies do not schedule any commissions during this time, and it is also between our release schedule so that there is no added stress during the last months of the year. However, that doesn’t mean everything stops, but rather it gives us time to work on our own side projects. The images to the right are a sample of that. It is a color test for a potential Munnin Design logo idea. While there is no immediate plans to use this design in anything coming up, the overall consensus is that the red and purple versions turned out the best. Thoughts?

Commissioned design work

September has been pretty exciting so far with a local business wanting some design work done. They want a “team mascot” idea and over the last couple of weeks I have been working with their manager to determine exactly what they desire in terms of font, size, and applications. This piece could end up on a variety of media that range from banners and signs to more custom work like decorative pins. This has been a multiple-step process and has been very exciting to see the design progress. Next week will be another round of design reviews in the hopes to settle on one particular layout. Then we will discuss final coloration and any other fine tuning before the final piece can be completed. Stay tuned here, and on social media, for a look at the final, approved design!

Summer Advertising Blitz

Work at the studios has been moving along nicely. The majority of the work is focused on the upcoming game release, along with maintaining the various social media sites, Patreon, the Zazzle store site, and others. Advertising is a key element to the success of any business, and overall the studios have had a relatively small advertisement footprint. Part of this is by design, and part of it is by circumstance.

The "by design" part is because a large effort in advertising is going to erupt once the first game design is ready for launch. This is expected to build up hype beyond what information is already out there and really focus on bringing in interested people to take a look at the game system and make the decision to buy or not. The "by circumstance" element is simply because of all of the different methods of getting the name out to the public, and the myriad of forms that advertising can take often leads, as in this case, to trying out one or two options and see where that gets us. For instance, the Zazzle storefront has picked up a trickling of orders all on its own based on the variety of products for sale and people stumbling upon things that interest them. Page hits on Deviant Art are letting people know about the digital art aspect of the business. Facebook keeps those who are following the business there in the loop, even if they do not regularly come to the main website here. Each of these efforts are paying off, even in small quantities, and have cost next to nothing but the time invested in getting the campaigns off the ground. This works only in so far as keeping operating costs low.

Launching an advertisement campaign is both exciting and nerve wracking. The first major effort will be targeting local businesses to know about the design and branding elements that the studio offers. The first mass mailing will look like the image posted above. Additionally, this type of advertising can go into other areas to gain more attention outside of the surrounding area where the studios exists physically. Measuring success is important when committing financial resources to advertise. Getting a good return on investment (ROI) means that a campaign was successful and may prove beneficial to do again in the future.