Featured Student Work From Russia!

I love featuring student work from around the world! It shows me that creativity is not dead and that design is still a huge part of the world.

Design student Marina Volodina who attends Stroganov Moscow State University of Arts and Industry has designed a beautifully simple concept for LED lightbulbs. Her concept can be found on the website called Packaging of the World. You can see more of her work by clicking here.

Marina explains her concept "The range consists of E14 and E27 screw bases and 5 bulb shapes which are clearly visible through the transparent packaging that helps immediately understand what type of a LED bulb you need. The packages are coded with 3 colours depending on color temperature in Kelvin: white packaging colour is for natural light, yellow colour is for warm light and the blue one is for cold light. Also the typography on the front side of the packaging supports the idea of transparancy and includes the short main information about the LED bulbs: a LED type, color temperature, a screw base and watts. On the reverse side all the technical characteristics are written in detail."

John Miziolek, Sales Leader at Reset Branding says "This concept is a wonderful use of materials that really adds some visual interest to a commoditized category. It simplifies consumer choice and provides clarity for sku differentiation."

John is also the host of Design Masters Canada, an iTunes featured free podcast that focuses on the best design and branding talent across North America. John regularly features student work on his design website dedicated to the practice of design, called The Next Gen Designers.

John Miziolek to Speak at the CMA Creative Conference on May 7th, 2015

Canadian sales expert John Miziolek, from Reset Branding, will be speaking at the CMA's Creative Conference on Thursday, May 7th, 2015.  John's speech is entitled "Magic Sauce and the Death of the Creative Brief". John will focus on establishing standards for the creative brief and then blowing them up.

At CMAcreative, attendees will spend a day with the leading creative minds in marketing and beyond, exploring the standout ideas and newest ways of thinking to help inspire and motivate them to triumph over the challenges that the new purchase journey demands.

From the latest content creation to experiential phenomena to creative thinking and problem-solving, the CMA will gather experts from across the continent to share how they created and deployed imaginative campaigns.

CMAcreative will focus on the development process and results. This conference includes content marketing, experiential marketing, creative development, new ways to reach creative solutions, new creative tools and platforms and showcase examples of great B2B and B2C marketing campaigns both home and abroad.

John is the co-founder of the D Event, and the Host of Design Masters Canada, a podcast devoted to elevating the practice of design. He is also a part time Professor of Design at Humber College and devotes significant time to mentoring the next generation of design talent.

Design Professor John Miziolek Featured by Humber College

John Miziolek, Canadian branding expert, sales leader at Reset Branding, and Professor of Design at Humber College was recently featured by the school. John was featured for his teaching methods, accolades and experience in the branding and design industry. John has been teaching Design for 5 years and is consistently ranked amongst the top instructors in the design programs at Humber College.

In the video John talks about his new best-selling book "Breaking Through" and the reasons he enjoys teaching.

To learn more about John please visit:
johnmiziolek.com
resetbranding.com

John is also the host of Design Masters Canada, a national podcast dedicated to elevating the practice of design as a strategic business tool. You can learn more about DMC by visiting:

designmasterscanada.ca

Or follow him on Twitter:
twitter.com/resetbranding

John Miziolek from Reset Branding Organizes Student Design Competition

After almost 6 months of planning and 10 weeks in the classroom, the Humber Student Design Competition finally concluded on Friday, November 28th, 2014. The event was a huge success and the quality of work presented by the students was outstanding. Special thanks to our judges from Kraft, PepsiCo and Reckitt Benckiser for graciously donating their time and providing great feedback to the finalists.

The event was organized and sponsored by John Miziolek and Franca DiNardo. They believe strongly in giving back to the design community and mentoring the next group of talented young designers. Both John and Franca are part-time instructors at Humber College in the Package and Graphic Design Program. Over the course of the project John recorded a weekly video to keep the judges up to date, and the students excited (and awake).

To learn more about the competition please click here.

John Miziolek Designs Custom Awards for Student Design Competition

Custom designed and hand-crafted awards for the Humber Student Design Competition

John Miziolek recently developed and organized the 2014 Humber Student Design Competition. The final judging event took place at the Lakeshore Campus of Humber College on Friday, November 28th, 2014. To honor the judges who graciously volunteered their time to be part of this great event, John designed and hand-crafted commemorative awards. The judges represented a cross section of companies from the consumer packaged goods industry. PepsiCo, Reckitt Benckiser and Kraft Canada were all represented and the judges did an amazing job providing feedback to the next generation of designers.

These awards utilize solid alternating blocks of Walnut and Wenge wood. Wenge is a beautiful hardwood found in the African Congo and Walnut is a stunning hardwood from North America and Europe. The awards were designed to convey strength and stability and were customized with each of the judges names. The awards were finished with a satin varnish to accentuate the grain in each of the woods. 

The awards were presented to the judges at the end of the event.

Beauty, Beliefs and Buffoonery: 3 Ways to Creating a Magical Magnetic Brand

5000 a day.

That’s how many marketing images and messages researchers estimate the average consumer is exposed to in just one 24-hour period. And, by the way, that number is from a study done five years ago.

Think about it.  Marketing messages are coming at you everywhere you go.  When you’re standing in line at the supermarket, when you’re driving down the street, when you’re watching TV and, of course, whenever you’re online, someone is always trying to sell you something.  It all leads to what some have called “communication fatigue” – we’re getting bombarded by so many different messages that we increasingly end up ignoring more and more just to keep our heads from exploding.   

What does this avalanche of advertising mean to your brand?  

It means crafting and funding the best marketing campaign in the world may not do the trick anymore, if consumers are not interested in what you have to say.  In other words, it’s not enough to stand out in a crowd – your brand also has to draw that crowd in.  

That’s why I’m a firm proponent of what I call Magnetic Branding.  Magnetic Branding actually causes the consumers to pursue your products and services.  Rather than desperately trying to get the average person to view your marketing, you put into motion strategies that will attract them to it.

Of course, if you’re lucky enough to be an iconic brand like Apple or Google, virtually anything you do is already pulling people towards you; everything you do is relentlessly tracked, analyzed and utilized.  Of course, most brands don’t have that kind of mystique – but there are ways to create it.  Just as the best of the online posts have specific strategies designed to make them go viral, your brand can also find ways to turn everyone’s overburdened eyeballs your way.  Here are three incredibly effective ones:

1. Piggyback on Popularity
2. Bolster Buyers’ Belief
3. Meet Compelling Needs in Compelling Ways

A true Magnetic Brand not only has a bulletproof marketing strategy to get buyers in the door, but also a quality-driven and distinctive product line that will keep their interest and, most importantly, cause them to become an advocate that spreads the good word about you.  

And of course, it always helps if you also, to quote Ron Burgundy’s signature phrase, “Stay Classy!”