Archive for the ‘Day of MediumFour’ Category
MediumFour Managing Partner featured in the cover story of Entrepreneur Magazine’s quarterly Startup issue
Wednesday, October 26th, 2011
Managing Partner, Michael Hall was featured on the cover of Entrepreneur Magazine’s quarterly Startup issue. The chance to show a voice to the passion behind the creative energy of MediumFour. Look forward to more exciting news in the next few months!
Check out the entire article http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/220439
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MediumFour Blue
Friday, October 7th, 2011
As a designer, its always the little things. Click on the image to learn about the MediumFour Blue and how you can own a colour. Click the arrow below to visit the site. (That color is the MediumFour Blue)
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What pressing challenges is your industry facing?
Wednesday, August 31st, 2011
I would say the biggest overall battle of all businesses right now is the price of competition for service. The service industry is suffering because someone is always willing to do the same thing cheaper, but it doesn’t assure you they will do it better. In the field or marketing and graphic design, there is always someone that is just starting, has recently got a copy of Photoshop or they just did some marketing for their children’s school play. With any compliment or ounce of success they automatically feel they are now a professional. The industry is so large and watered down the beauty of the talent is being lost. More people look at how simple or quick a process can be, but have no respect for the years of talent, research and exposure that goes into being great graphic designer or marketing guru.
Design, specifically, no one wants to pay for custom websites. I would say out of the last 10 websites we have designed, they are all template based sites. Simply, no one wants to spend the money to stand out or be creative, they just want to follow the trend of having their site look like someone else. Its quick money for us, but at times it can be depressing because you are no longer being creative. Then you have the logo competition sites, where the logo has no research, personality, meaning or anything deeper beyond a generic image and some text. Its hard to compete with a company doing logos for $250 when you are use to doing logos for $1,500 to $5,000 because of the time and research that goes into them, before they are even designed..
Social Media marketing is impeding on true marketing talents, because there are very limited measurable results with social media marketing, besides that a lot of people are on it. No large company has been able to say that their numbers or company bottomline has been able to increase by social media marketing. So now companies have to implement it and make it a part of their marketing strategy rather its working or not. This leads to $5,000 – $150,000 of a budget to be cut from something that isn’t proven to work.
Technology has surely made things easier and quicker but it hasn’t just given millions an absurd amount of talent. Its kind of how I feel about steroids in baseball, it may make you stronger but even if I took steroids I would never hit as many homeruns as Barry Bonds, there is a certain amount of talent in front of this iMac, not just cause I have an Apple I became a good designer.
Michael Hall
MediumFour, LLC
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M4: Ditch corporate life and start your own business!
Thursday, August 4th, 2011
I think the most important thing is to make sure you are not chasing money, but you are chasing a passion. The passion has to be something instilled in you because you will experience many ups and downs with business. If it comes to just being about money, you have a better chance of giving up when things get rocky. You are going to have to reach deeper when the checks are not coming and the payroll or rent may not be paid. Its like having the perfect relationship, when things aren’t great that love inside is what will help you get through.
This comes from my story of being a graphic designer of many corporate companies. Deep inside, I am a visual artist, just being a graphic designer allowed me to secure a job but also be artistic. Then as I grew, I realized I had a true passion for the craft, but I wanted to be more creative than most. I was always in a bubble of restraint while doing corporate work, so starting my own agency was my only option to make sure I was giving clients my vision. I was also able to guide clients with my guided vision of the true love of art.
The best thing is to make sure you look at what you are pursuing and that it can be your life. MediumFour is a marketing energy + design agency. I live my life in augmented reality. Everything is always about marketing and brand psychology. Driving down the street, I analyze billboards and the benefits of them. If the company could have used the money in a better way? Could they have possibly placed a call to action instead of generic information. Everything becomes a part of my business because this world is filled with marketing and design, so every day I awake from the moment the tv comes on, its business as usual. My life is surrounded by my work and I am comfortable with that, furthermore I LOVE IT. Love what you do don’t just do it for money. The more you love it, the money will come.
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