Category: Communication Theory

Hub Concept

Hi everyone! This post applies mainly to web design. Find strength in your structure and harmony in your layout using The Hub Concept.

Composing Experience

The Hub Concept is a compositional structure that creates an effective visual centre of information. By strategically composing numerous content and design elements in a way that reflects the brand’s motives, viewers can become a part of the total, encompassing experience (the experience is a motivating force that captivates the audience).

At VanWhistle Media, this concept was used to develop the website for 360 Integrative Medical Centre. Their modern facility approach focuses on providing customers with an immersive centre of services, so it made sense to parallel  their mission by ensuring that the structure of their website was also, an effective visual centre of information. When used alongside the 3-click rule, The Hub Concept can decrease bounce rate and increase viewer satisfaction (or the motivating forces that captivate your audience).

The Hub Concept can be applied to other areas of advertising and digital marketing. For example: billboard/banner design or social media post formats.

Just Like School

Always think of building fortitude (through strength in your structure and harmony in your layout) with determination. The key is to apply your original ideas in their fullest state. You need to make notes mentally or physically, so that you can remember what your original intention was. Then, research and find connections. Clarify your original ideas, don’t change them necessarily, make practical and structured edits, so that the real (fullest) idea can come into fruition.

Determination builds character and so it will do the same for your website. Don’t think about making things the same as others; think about defining your business’ identity through formatting and careful, structured planning. The Hub Concept represents the full evolution of your content and design elements working together, with integrity + synergy.

Then, you arrive at the next level, acquiring a Simpler & Larger capacity. The way it feels is that things should start to roll off your shoulders and you will probably feel more calm and relaxed. We don’t need to feel pressure or anxious at all. It will come together naturally. Even during the next stage of criticism. The power of The Hub Concept is that, it is all there – explanation and  information. We don’t fall, we slide down! Hear what they have to say, and believe me, room will remain.

Do you have other examples of this idea put to work? Let’s hear about it! 

 

 

Digital Presence

Hi everyone! Let’s get right to it!

Digital  presence. As marketers, we want to talk about it. We want our clients to be aware, so they can be responsible for their own success. We want to give them a model to follow so that they can apply their ideas, optimize process and make streamlined business decisions more effectively. One way to understand how this can work, is to follow a simple model that outlines four core digital marketing services + concepts, working alongside a digital marketing strategy (Digital Presence Business Model).

Here’s a brief synopsis –

The Digital Presence Business Model simplifies the functionality of four core digital marketing services. When I developed this model for VanWhistle Media, the four core services used were – web development, social media management, SEO and branding. Following another model called Simpler & Larger, we connect the services to a few simple ideas as a way to keep a primary focus. Simpler & Larger is a basic notion that work should be easily understood and done, so that the business can consider a greater capacity. The harmony between concept and functionality makes it easier to apply the services each step of the way. And used together, the services become intact, stable and strong. Your brand’s core attributes will become more refined and you will begin to see fluidity and consistency throughout your total business approach.

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The 4 core services and their core concepts are:

  1. Web Development – IDENTITY (analytical, logical, objective); left-brained; efficiency
  2. Social Media Management – IMAGE (intuitive, thoughtful, subjective); right-brained; passion
  3. Branding – CORE (central, definite, overall); heart; innovation
  4. Search Engine Optimization – FOOTPRINT (forward thinking, capacity, evolution); brain; mainstream

I am currently using a variation of this model to explore social media as a tool to establish/solidify brand strategy/identity. Using the brain, we can equalize the impressions we create based on our personalities and emotional predispositions. This is in development, but if you would like to hear more about it let me know! Also, check it out on my Instagram account – @chona_canlas.

Brand Names

Hi everyone! Branding is about consistency. Consistency in the words and language used to describe what you sell and do. Plus, if we can make personal connections to our messaging (visual communication), our audience will see better (think Visual Transparency).

Okay, let’s ride.

If your brand delivers quality products and/or services, creates exceptional digital exposure and aligns with your customers’ values, then we will begin to associate your brand with positivity (reciprocal awareness, ideology, experience, emotion etc.).

Wow, this website shows their products in a sensible order / the product descriptions are detailed and personalized / this makes me think of the wool bucket hats my Grandmother made / I want to contact the store right now to see if they have the hats in stock. And so on and so forth. The buyer’s process is attentive. What we need to ask is – is the seller’s process absolute?

Timing differs from various perspectives. In marketing sales, process and planning may not always be aligned. We need to find ways to guarantee customer conversion, but how can this be done?

Like the beautiful calico print top you wore when you were three or like the rain splattered window you peered out of on your way home from piano lessons, our audience develops brand identity in the same way we develop thought processes. Hup 2 3 4, hup 2 3. I would even argue that the buyer’s process is creative and the seller’s process is technical.

Can we then leverage creativity in a technical way to ensure customer conversion? Perhaps a topic for Kevin David!

For example, we (Sellers & Buyers) make the same, dedicated connections when observing a special life experience. Then, this can be observed through products and services. We recall brand names and in the long-term, we remember who you are for what you can bring to the table. Then, the name you have chosen to attach to your products and/or services will become synonymous and eventually engrained in time.

Time is of the essence and proves that business can have longevity! Seems really obvious, but it isn’t.

This is the importance of material and conceptual brand development (transparency) — when our audience can automatically associate a brand name with positive things, they become our friends for life! And that’s the brand speaking. This is the beginning of things of ‘internet of things’ (IOT) or one aspect of artificial intelligence (AI) – visual communication, visual transparency and straight-up old transparency.

Post brought to you by the McDonald’s and Tim Hortons billboards on McBride Ave (heading north). 

🙂

Sensational Language

Hi everyone! What you see is what you get. Or is it?

C3E132CA-A3DC-45F2-8249-EBFDE04FE314Design will always suggest a certain power. As marketers, incite wonder and change. Use words, use language. Have us look, have us see. Sensational marketing. What would it be?

Questioning guys, questioning!

She Saw Him First

Hi everyone! Try to decipher the duality I refer to throughout this story. It will make complete sense…both ways!

In university, I was fervently attached to impermanence and how it spoke to love and the meaning of life. My creative process started with a blank canvas, although it did not have to be canvas, it could have been anything.

Definition: Complete; sheer.

Purpose: To feel everything; to be whole. 

And with that, I commenced. Commenced a process of removing completeness; commenced a process of covering up visibility – to reveal something different. I utilized a very special skill set that I have discovered and use fervently today.

What is this very special skill set you ask?

I’m not sure, you tell me.

Identity?

I am simple. I am me. I am beauty in everything. I am everywhere you need to be.

Pushing down non-artistic capabilities; denying intellectual understandings. It was easier to pretend that I didn’t have drive, than to begin the self-exploration required to achieve bigger and better things. I hated that I lacked moral support. I loathed that I was just an ‘artist’. If only I had been shown empathy and was equipped with real world survival skills, everything could have been so different.

Thus, laziness could be defined as such –

Everything should be unique. The space-time continuum moves forward and does not evaluate past failures, previous motivations or work.

My struggle with identity began as a young woman. I felt completely transparent and to make matters worse, my mom would try to help me by uncovering my supposed weaknesses – piano, French, public speaking, pretty much everything. I just wasn’t at the receiving end. I did not know how to define it or how to get there with her help or by myself. So, where did this laziness come from? Was it genetic? By the time it would have mattered (from high school to university) my mom did not have the energy or input abilities to output my success on top of everything she was dealing with (likely mental health issues and more severe complexities). She struggled with many things, and so I struggled with the same. So is that it? I was lazy to take care of my mom? Growing up was about resisting and playing, if safe.

We both lived in fear.

Fear of being; fear of leaving.

Fear is weakness. Be passionate. Be real. Be able to tackle everyday things with insight, knowledge and strength. Who I am today.

The past can come back to haunt us, but we choose to live in the present. We must.

Who remembers the wallpaper in their baby bedroom? Who recalls the vibrant tones of shag rugs in every ‘box’ throughout the house – intense violet, indiscernible mustard, Oscar the Grouch green, rusty red and so on and so forth. Do these memories matter? Yes and yes!

Definition: He has a green body, no visible nose, and lived in a trash can.

Purpose: To love my body, my style and the way I write. 

Outcome: Writing is code, it is a system we are creating for ourselves and more importantly, for others.

Who recalls bubblegum pink mohair, fresh brand T-shirts from The Body Shop or Le Chateau. Things have changed so much in fashion; things have changed so much in our world.

We are united, we are technological. We are happy and we are digital. 

Really?

Yup, listen to me. I still need to figure out how to convert everything! How do I realistically explain our digital way of being? Not there yet. It will come.

Rewind.

In university, I obsessed over process to the point where I think it became my source of envy. I didn’t understand how he (Bradley Harms, artist, Calgary, AB) could make prints nothingly-ly.

How did he do that?!

I do not know; I am so worried.

Are you sure?

Listen, at the time, my inner artist screamed. It didn’t matter that I was making things with my own hands or that I was taking things that were already whole, erasing them and reconstructing a sort of murder scene using Exs and Ohs. It didn’t matter that I was mapping. Or napping even. What mattered is that I could have turned out. What mattered is that my mom loved my art. But it wasn’t enough. It will never be enough until I succeed!

I was meditating, frowning worries and heartaches away from medicated pens and BIC Wite-Out. In my mind, I was substantiating Gilles Deleuze…and I quote:

“Writing has nothing to do with meaning. It has to do with land surveying and cartography, including the mapping of countries yet to come.” ― Gilles Deleuze

Definition: The technique, profession, and science of determining the terrestrial or three-dimensional positions of points and the distances and angles between them.

Purpose: There is already a movie about language saving the world. It’s called Arrival. Can we really still cure cancer with letters? Bubble letters at that (Blocks speaking of Bubble + Blocks, Calgary, AB, 2005)? This was my original thesis, you see.

Outcome: Today, I do not know the answer or I am tired. That is the thing with Global Comprehension. It involves too many things. The only sure thing I’m certain of is, I will be the one to figure it out and communicate it to the masses. Just wait and see! 

Mapping the continuum can spark regret; so better focus on real world debacles.

This is already occurring.

I am something out there.

As per Greenpeace.

My trek is long and arduous.

Bold and filled with assumption.

What matters however, is living continually knowing that I am loved and spectacular.

And must I reiterate. No thanks.

All of this work transmutes the power of love and the power of regression through ignorance.  Still, we get tired of things. Always.

They all say: she is trying to objectify life; she is avoiding subjectivity.

The beauty is in interpretation!

Thanks to you, Chonie (my mom with depths greater than the sea).

❤

The Homeless Men

Hi everyone! Sometimes you just have to use  an expert’s voice!

I shall embark on this challenge to pull myself out of slumber…yet again, my God I know.

(Seth Godin’s challenge consisted of 100 blog posts a day – this story is a post about x amount of homeless men having one conversation with me the expert. Can you identify them?)

TODAY

My vigor is lost and it must be reinstated. So, here goes two months-ish of creative and technical credit. Perhaps some continuation of Daisy’s adventures in. Or should I say, at Elevententeen? Some free photos, you know. For days when I’m feeling too lazy. And what about samples of graphic art? Is there anything else worth more? I’ve been developing at the rate of a rabbit, gosh darn it!

I’ve been introduced to a multitude of applications, which seem to be more about bunnies reproducing. Interesting? Practice. And concepts (of principles and ideations). It’s effective. This is the glory of creation! Making things to build things; systems to make duties simpler (they do that though). I will also be throwing in my work (templates, sales documents and the sort), which I may add, are becoming more and more succinct every day. La la. So keep working, they’re supposed to evolve and eventually become fit!

2 DAYS PRIOR

I am still testing things out and I’m not really sure insight selling is working. Or maybe it’s eating eggs Benedict and strawberry covered waffles 4 x per week. But maybe it is? I will give it another year or so to see. Theoretically, it should take minutes to develop. Sort of like walking away. If you are telling me you’re in, that’s what I’m saying! And, I’m sorry if I come across negatively, it’s my army suit and optimism. Let’s start one thing, here goes something! It all dissolved as soon as I weighed myself and saw the dreaded number I was ever so in denial about.

MAKE SOMETHING EVERYDAY does not equal to EAT WHATEVER YOU PLEASE. Seriously though, it’s funny but it’s not.

The outcome of this assignment will be –

  • Improved voice in messaging
  • Happier disposition
  • Greater appreciation of my worth

PS – My intention with this post was to work on said skills above, but it is now (August 15, 2019) to express the right in the right should the right come through. What I mean to say is: Universe, you sure throw a lot of coincidences and happy lookin’ faces my way. Is there a proprietary patent pending that I’ve developed, developing? Sunshine and 80s music all the way? Ya expert, that’s the outcome/result of you going on a diet!

It commenced on December 4, 2019. I had crashed. Tired and done with my STEEZ. I just wanted to change absolutely everything about my life. It had felt like everything that could have possibly went wrong did. And everything about myself and my surroundings was suffering. Failing relationships. Wandering marriage. So, on that fateful day I told my husband of said suffering and he booked an appointment with my doctor and specialist. In the specialist appointment I was instructed to start a chart, so he built one for me in Excel and put it on my phone. The next step was the one I had been dreading for the past year – you have to weigh yourself Chon. And that was it. The end of it. The end of my demise. The end of my ignorance and futility. So, since then I am now on a lifelong mission, to actually commit to the most important thing anyone can do – to be happy and healthy.

This is, creative writing. Delving into the unknown, because you know it like the back of your hand. It’s confusing, but works well for developing a screenplay!

Ta-ta for now!

Technical Writing

Hi everyone! How technical can you be with creative content? This is a good question. Let’s start by looking at how we can define a technical writer.

A technical writer is an organized communicator for a company. They present the company in specific ways and focus on areas that require clear and succinct communication. They also work on creating and formatting material effectively to increase overall communication efficacy.

A technical writer for a communications company would be responsible for the below (and later on can assist with other areas like research, project management and customer advocacy):

  • Creating/formatting proprietary documents (i.e.: emails, meeting minutes, customer welcome packages, social media posts, blog and website content etc.)
  • Developing instructions, guidelines, training material, strategies and plans
  • Creating templates, marketing collateral, brochures, promotional materials, ad copy and presentations

Higher-level roles:

  • Writing contracts, proposals, RFPs, white papers, reports, feasibility studies and reviews
  • Acting as an interviewer, trainer, organizer, facilitator or mediator
  • Designing visual communication strategy, information graphics and/or data interpretation

Another advanced role is analytics (excerpt from Wikipedia):

The use of computer skills, mathematics and statistics, combined with descriptive techniques and predictive models to GAIN valuable knowledge from data. The discovery, interpretation, and communication of meaningful patterns in data; and the process of applying those patterns towards effective decision-making.

In other words, analytics can be understood as the connective tissue between data and effective decision-making, within an organization. A technical writer also observes and collects data from customers that suggests the product and/or customer experience can be changed or improved in a way that customers would prefer or benefit from.

So, technical writing can be used to enhance communication to a specific audience and can create simplicity from abstract or conceptual ideas. These specifications can improve user experience, time management, levels of customer satisfaction and other customer-centered metrics. 

Desirable traits of a technical writer: 

  • organized and able to optimize process
  • detailed and extremely focused
  • able to portray different styles and perspectives 
  • a leader and team motivator
  • easygoing and confident personality
  • insightful, intelligent and innovative
  • transparent, accurate and responsible

Blox. Communications would like to define technical writing as it specifically relates to creative entities. What traits (quality) and aspects (quantity) do you think would be important to operating a technical creative company?