Introducing Kevin T. Lowery to Expand Management Division
Introducing Kevin T. Lowery to Expand Management Division
Ok, ok, you’ve got us! ?
Over the last couple of years, we’ve focused on equipping you with creative assets to keep your website, social channels, and various brand initiatives up-to-date. Via photo and video we’ve produced for you, we were able to leverage this process and skillset with multiple clients, creating a unique, raw and straight-forward marketing tool to power our business.
You ate it up! Content development is one of our hottest services!
I know you’re probably saying,
“What are you talking about Iquan?”
The Question: How can THE ARTOHOLIKS add value to my business?
The dark side of our business has been size and management. Because we are a the go-to choice, we get pretty busy. What happens to the other moving parts of the business when the designers are busy designing?
Are you following?
Here’s a quick scenario… We all love food, right? We know a few great spots that serve great food. And 9 times out of 10, we don’t complain about the food. We complain about the service. If the service is bad, the food becomes bad.
So…
If we provide awesome creative services, but miss deadlines and etc., just like the restaurant scenario, clients won’t be satisfied.
In an effort to continue to grow and deliver best-in-class, nimble service, I’m happy to announce we’re now in the management game.
“How Iquan?”
Introducing Kevin T. Lowery, the latest addition to the Artoholik team. Kevin is here to save the day with his management and business background. His professional experience includes retail management, finance, and account management. Kevin’s day to day within the office will be to oversee the management team and support our creative group.
Dedicated solely to management and planning, he will have the resources and time – yes time is a resource, but we can never put too much emphasis on time – to impact our projects in a major way, streamlining them so you not only get great results, but great service as well. 🙂
Together, Kevin and I plan on pushing THE ARTOHOLIKS to the next level with dope design, rich assets, and now, strategic planning and management.
Please welcome, Kevin T. Lowery!
Respect the Process
Respect the Process
I walk into work, make my way to my desk and wiggle myself into the perfect spot in my seat. The rest of the day speeds by at a warping speed, dancing on its toes on the fine line between a phenomenal day and a crappy one. The acknowledgment and respect I give to the process determines the fate of my day. It’s an undeniable fact that there is great value in a plan, a compass, a blue print. The implementation of processes and procedures are a necessary element of not only operating a business, but life. How do you go anywhere if you haven’t a clue where you’re going?
I did some research. I was trying to find the cold hard facts on failing businesses. Nearly every publication has a different statistic, incorporating different samples, different indicators, blah blah blah. For example, an article posted on Forbes.com, states that 8 out of 10 businesses fail within the first 18 months. Successharbor.com asserts that according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 400,000 businesses are started each year in the United States and 470,000 die. Long hard pause. In a nutshell, studies show that startups fail at a highly alarming rate. It is commonplace, most businesses fail due to the lack of money. As entrepreneurial spirits, we would do well to value time as much as — possibly more than — money. I caution equating time to money (let’s talk about that later, in a different post), they are not the same but both are a necessary resource for any business.
What is a sure fire way to make the best use of time and in turn generate more revenue? Processes. You knew where I was headed with this, after all, the title of this post is “Respect the Process.” Logic would tell us, if we were able to develop processes and systems that allowed every aspect of our businesses to run with euphoric synchronicity, there would be more time, resources and overall capacity to sell goods and services. It may be slightly naive of me to suggest that all systems will flow seamless always, but I am one of those “aim for the moon and fall among the stars” types. Although we may not be able to immediately reach perfection, there is great benefit in developing processes and systems to sustain your business’s operations.
- As you approach each day, week, month, etc, you will have a clear plan of where you’re going and how you’ll get there. Another kind of planning that is essential, take your business through a strategic planning process, in order to identify who you are, why you exist, what void you are filling, and where you are headed.
- In the process of laying out plans, you are able to identify holes and areas of your business that require special attention, less attention, and/or a new process.
- Accountability! A clear plan for how work and business will be conducted will allow for increased accountability between you and: (1) your customers/clients, (2) your colleagues and staff, and (3) yourself. When you’re winging it, there is more room for justifying your crap and a constant avoidance of accountability.
- Build it and they will come. Laying the foundation to support and sustain the magnitude of work to come is a smart move. We wish and hope for more business and increased revenue, but are we really in a position to provide the same great services and goods if traffic tripled? The development of processes that work now and are able to withstand growth are ideal.
- Processes that work allow for great customer experiences. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you what this means. 🙂
Get started creating processes by focusing on general areas, such as communications, workflow, client/customer experience, etc. Consider every level of every interaction. Anticipate resources and assets and fully utilize the tools you have available. Create templates of communications and other essential documents that you anticipate using periodically. Taking the time to understand how pieces of your business fit together will serve you well. For instance, understanding how clear levels of communication inform weekly goals and workflow will eliminate confusion and increase productivity. As you work, you will be able to respond, find solutions and create in a manner that serves the whole. Decisions will be well informed and over time will become more seamless. Remember, failing to plan is a plan to fail. Identifying and outlining your processes will save you time, money, and stress. That’s all for now folks.
What I learned: Reasonable Doubt
What I learned: Reasonable Doubt
and another one...
when you never listened to 90's hip hop...
One day at the studio we were having a conversation about music. During the conversation Jay Z’s and Biggie’s albums came up and I mentioned that I never heard a full album of either artist. As a Brooklyn native I should have heard at least one album right? But that was not the case due to my mom being strict on me listening to rap music in my younger days. And if I was caught I had to write a one page essay on what the song was about and because of this I was not a big fan of rap. This is one memory from my childhood that I do not miss. Listening to a whole rap album is not ideal for me unless it’s Drake (singing rap, lol), but I decided to give Jay Z’s album “Reasonable Doubt” a try. To my surprise, I actually liked it!
Some of Jay Z’s lyrics required extra research because he raps metaphorically but for the most part I was able to understand his music and the picture he painted of his lifestyle. While listening to “Reasonable Doubt” I picked up on the obvious, he was rapping about his time as a drug dealer. Through his raps, I realized that he’s very smart, and he did not let distractions catch him off guard. Jay Z seemed to be very meticulous in how he conducted his business and he was always a step ahead. As a graphic designer, I was able to relate to his flow; just as Jay says, you have to think ahead to get ahead, the same is true in design. In his music, he is very confident, often comparing himself to big time drug dealers before and during his time. I came to the conclusion that even though, for obvious reasons, his life was very different from mine it was also relatable. Anyone can learn a lot from the life and times of Jay Z.
Being that I am a creative person I am also a visual person. I tend to go off the deep end with my imagination and that’s what drew me to his lyrics. His storytelling paints such a vivid picture, allowing me to live life vicariously through his music. This album gave me an appreciation for the 90’s and early 2000’s music, unlike today’s music — no shade intended, because I still listen to it — which only consists of mumbling and words that make NO sense. There’s clearly much to be learned from classics such as “Reasonable Doubt”, it definitely has lasting artistic merit.
SMBNYC x IQUAN Winter 2017
Randomly our Artoholik crew members Steve Cancel @smbnyc & Iquan Worthington aka @iquanw get together at least twice and year and document their hangout through photos and video all just for the fun. With Spring closely approaching, we decided to compile a batch of images from their recent Winter campaign titled smbnycxiquanwwinter. This is the first time that the duo, systematically edited and posted their images together with a proper hashtag and timeline. Oh, and there’s a vlog to go with it if the images don’t tell the story of their day completely.
MY 10 RULES OF BRAND-BUILDING
You know I used to beat that block, now I be’s the block.
Iquan shares some of his experiences to form a down and dirty version of how to grow your small brand.
Earlier today I received a phone call from a friend stating that she needed some inspiration. I thought, “Cool, how can I help you”. She then rambled on about an idea she has and a commitment she needed to make in order to pursue that idea. Turns out, she didn’t really need inspiration, she just needed to vent. I get it, everyone wants to do things their own way. Unfortunately, today a lot of people want it their way and very quick too. What saddens me about my friend’s rant, was that she had already made up her mind and didn’t sound confident at all about the decision she arrived at.
Somehow, everyone in my age group is an entrepreneur. I call this the Puffy/Jay Z era. They made it cool for us to want to start our own, which is very dope! Over the last 10 years, I’ve seen my friends who were rappers start music labels, artist and designers start clothing lines, cooks become chefs, and so on. We all jumped aboard of the Entrepreneur Express, with the strength of our talents but forgot the knowledge of business; but perhaps we never had the knowledge to begin with.
You know i used to beat that block, now I be’s the block. The truth of the matter is, you can be more talented than the next person — the better DJ, Chef, or Artist — but unless you’re super awesome and can pretty much sell water to a fish, you need to learn a few things that will transform you from hustler to entrepreneur.
I’m still very active in the struggle, everyone knows I can design, take a pretty photo, and build a decent website. But what good is all of this if I’m not generating the money I want to make for myself and the team? After 10 hard years I’m finally here and I decided to write this post to help my friend I mention above with her decision.
Here are the 10 biggest lessons I learned while building the artoholiks:
number 1
Be clear about what you want. Have an idea on what you want do, who you want to do it for, and why. With the resources we have at our fingertips, anyone can make a t-shirt or two. A friend of mine, a martial arts instructor created a line that inspires other martial artists. That’s a voice! He’ll get support from the first tier of supporters which is friends and family; the second tier, is the Martial Arts industry. He’ll be in Dojo’s all over if he follows the next 9 steps.
number 2
Adjust… Find your industry competitors and know their next steps. Also, know your customers! With this knowledge, you will always be able to craft your business to grow with the times.
number 3
Consistency… Being consistent sounds easy but it’s not. In the process of changing up in order to keep up, you could easily lose you core VOICE or make it confusing and nearly impossible to identify. Do everything in your power to maintain steadiness. Do not lose your voice.
number 4
Stay Hungry! Not Thirsty… Just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. You’ll be tempted to expand or try something else. Chances are, if you didn’t perfect your initial idea, adjust well or maintain a level of consistency with your original idea then there’s no way you’re going to get it right in your expansion. Stay put for a moment, and master what got you here.
number 5
(infiltrate) OK, I may have slowed you down, that’s good! That was my goal. Here’s where being the best that you can be comes into play. Educate yourself, work for or put yourself in the presence of someone who is doing what you aspire to do and get schooled. Take this info and use it to get your business over the hump and into that next step.
number 6
My Favorite… If you have passion, then you’re doing the right thing, because without it, at this point you would have given up. If you had time to infiltrate, then you aren’t making real money. But that’s OK, you have passion, you’ll figure it out! Be patient, take the money you are making and reinvest it back into your business and you’ll be fine.
number 7
At this point, you’re not in it to make friends, you’re in it to make ends. You gathered some info, sacrificed the new Jordan release to get that new piece of equipment, and you’re almost there. Meanwhile, shorty is over there stepping on your toes trying to do what you do. You’re not hating if you keep your resources to yourself, you’re not hating if you choose to keep your next move to yourself. You learned everything you need to know by working hard, getting up early and staying up late to research, and building relationships; you earned it, you keep it.
number 8
Manage your growth… You might feel a little successful at this point because you are starting to break even and may even have a team, some support, or a little help. Stay put, chillax, just like everything else it will grow, don’t rush your fate. Continue to work with it and have faith, before you know it, that shiny storefront won’t be out of your price range.
number 9
STAY LEARNING… The girl above, didn’t ask me one single question. See she’s aware that I’m successful and have being going at it for 10 years. However, she didn’t ask one question. Me, I am the complete opposite, I ask MAD questions. Like a whole bunch! So many questions, you might be lowkey annoyed. Read, ask questions, find a mentor, and never stop wanting to learn.
number 10
You may laugh at this but I mean it when I say it… Have FUN! Having a job is WHACK and it’s probably the reason why you decided to start your own business. Remember that! Hire people who love working with you, people who will ride with you. When you’re having fun, it makes that empty bank account less depressing. People will want to be down, to buy from you, and to support you, because good people love happy people. #FACTS
KEEPING CONSISTENCY WITH BRANDING
a quick lesson on brand consistency
our creative director, Aaron Brand is ready to school you!
Whether your brand has been around for years or your brand just recently launched and hit the market, brands usually strategize to maintain brand consistency. For example, Heinz is one of the most famous condiment brands in the world, not only have they kept their brand consistent, but they have managed to also have fun with the brand’s packaging at the same time.
A good brand is built over time and requires thought, strategy, and consistent implementation. Let’s take a look at Heinz, a great example for taking your brand to the next level!
From the name to the logo, from the product to the messaging, everyone knows Heinz. It has been said that Heinz Brand is one of the most widely recognized brands worldwide.
Interestingly, their logo has remained largely unchanged since the 1900s. The Serif font and classic shield with green and gold stripes remains consistent.
A few helpful tips to help you maintain brand consistency:
- Don’t associate consistency with boring. Do you think working on Heinz ad campaigns is boring? Consistency actually paves the way to creativity with impact.
- Communicate to your team the importance of your brand. Start the conversation by asking them to name a few companies they admire and why.
- Create a Brand Standards Guide – the guidelines that map out how your logo, fonts, colors, tagline, etc. will be used. Make it visual with proper and improper usage examples. It has to be simple and easy to follow, or it won’t have the intended impact.
- Go through the Brand Standards Guide with your entire team and provide print and PDF copies for them to reference as needed.
- Provide access to the proper logo file types to anyone who needs them. Your team members shouldn’t be recreating your logo on the fly.
- Hold your people accountable and retrain if necessary. It’s okay to appoint some team members to be the “brand police” who flag down offenses and keep the peace.
Now that’s how you maintain brand consistency. I’m just saying.
MIGGY SMALLS: Here's what I learned...
from intern to jr. designer
a heart warming story from our resident millennial and her Artoholik journey.
They say, “Results happen over time, not overnight. Work hard, stay consistent and be patient.” That pretty much explains my journey with The Artoholiks agency. Let’s take a trip down memory lane to when I first met Aaron and Iquan at my Kean University portfolio event where we discussed my projects and they started giving me great advice to move forward in my design career. Fast forward to my first day, I had feelings of excitement and nervousness because it was a new experience and I did not know what to expect. A few months into the internship I had already learned a lot about the design world.
Each week I come in, I am introduced to new techniques and different avenues of design such as tracing, using a Wacom tablet, color correcting photos, assisting in designing logos, social media, designing for commerce sites, doing photo shoots and being social at creative events, just to name a few. I remember before graduating, my professor explained to the class the importance of having good mentors who invest in your growth. The best part about working for a small agency is that they are able to spend time with me to help me grow. From the many wise words of Ike — that’s Iquan — “There should be more to a designer than just sitting at the computer designing for hours.” Those are the very words that have shaped my experience working for them and in turn helping me to be well rounded in the graphic design world. Every day I leave the office having learned something new ranging from real life stuff to design to even being inspired to go home and be creative! The Artoholiks agency has the best office morale which makes it even harder to leave at the end of the day.
This experience has taught me that I need to work smarter to become better at designing, staying consistent, trusting the process, and being patient because crafting one’s gift takes time. And because of this I have been promoted from Intern to Junior Graphic Designer. This promotion shows that despite my feelings I am
still making progress and I can’t wait to find out what’s in store for my future at this amazing agency!
Introducing the CLAV
We got that good good, we call it the CLAV. After over 278 trips to outer space, we’ve got it figured out; to produce results for your brand, you need the CLAV method: Confidence, Look, Approach, and Voice. We’ve been killing it, beaming light and life into brands for over ten years now. If you do anything for an extended period time, you get good at what you do, you perfect your craft and you notice themes and commonalities throughout. For us Artoholik folks, we started to realize that we were consistently slaying them (translation: we were producing great results).
We noticed that our confidence in our abilities were rubbing off on our clients — good vibes are difficult to ignore — some of whom came to us during the infancy stages of their branding and others were well established. What we noticed was, our clients were being fueled by our excitement to dive into their brands and produce the results they sought us out for.
Not everyone gets the CLAV; but those clients who do, we manage them all around in their confidence, look, approach, and voice. It’s like a full-service car wash, undercarriage, wheel shine, vacuum, and air freshener included. Lol. The CLAV method is a framework for building a strong brand. These four components add up to a solid brand identity. Every client that comes to us is different. Undoubtedly there are many clients to whom we apply our handy dandy CLAV method but there is a small population of those who are already confident in their look, approach, and voice and exude confidence in their product. The confidence these cocky brands flaunt is what we aim to equip others with when we slap them with the CLAV.
As I mentioned above, many walk in the place with CONFIDENCE but may lack in other areas, such as look, approach and voice. This is where we come in. A little swag can make all the difference in the world. We take that confidence and apply it to the new look we create, the approach we plan out, and the voice we craft. An example of a brand we’ve worked with that has extreme confidence is Scotch Porter, a men’s grooming product line. When we began our relationship with Scotch Porter, they had confidence in their product and what they were on a mission to accomplish. In crafting the perfect look, approach and voice to communicate the SP brand message, their confidence went through the roof, leaving very little to be desired. Our work on their brand identity has made them whole by giving them a new tier of confidence, confidence in their look, confidence in the approach, and confidence in their voice, allowing them the space to flourish as a premier men’s grooming line.
Moving along to LOOK, this has proven to be a common struggle for a lot of brands. Many struggle with creating a cohesive look that gives them the distinction they are seeking. Leading up to a recent political election, we worked with a local politician, Councilman Jerry Guarino. His look at the time he hired us left much to be desired. There was no evidence of any effort put into the look of his brand (image), a critical component in solidifying his candidacy. We took the time to craft a look that expressed the confidence he already had in his political platform. Needless to say he won the election. Afterall presentation is everything. Although we don’t have a correlation analysis to prove it, we can say with great confidence that the look we equipped Councilman Guarino with played a large role in securing his seat at the table. We gave him a look that matched his voice and confidence, something the people could believe in.
APPROACH is critical, it’s the plan. Failing to plan is planning to fail. A brand can have confidence, a great look, and a voice that communicates the brand but all of these minus an approach that works is like having peanut butter and no jelly, bread and no butter, spring roll and no duck sauce (I like sauce), or all looks and no substance. Venturez, a record label we’ve been CLAV-ing out, came to us with vision, an approach that just needed some finessing and of course some correlating C, L, and V. Venturez had some knowledge on the direction they were going in and an idea of how to get there but just needed a comprehensive identity and some coaching surrounding their approach and how to mesh their approach with this new identity.
We recently finished a project, thefivewards.com, a HYCIDE magazine project. This project resulted in a resounding VOICE and overall confidence, culminated in the site we developed for them, showcasing the look and approach we meticulously crafted. For a project like this, mission heavy and community oriented, their voice is essential, with this in mind, we made sure the voice we brought out hit every necessary pitch and frequency.
In the delivery of proposals and pitches, we developed and continue to develop looks that WOW, utilizing approaches that work. Our style of active communication with our clients has resulted in strategic plans that lay out phases and actions that we get behind and our clients have no trouble believing in. In developing an identity for their brands and an approach for delivery and engagement, our clients subsequently develop a brand voice that speaks in tandem with their newly crafted look and approach. Kind of like the first day of school, you roll up in the place with your new outfit and fresh kicks, ready to flex on cats, that’s the swag our clients walk away with. So to recap, remember:
If a dope brand is what you desire…
Try spittin that CLAV Method fire.
Confidence in your Look, Approach and Voice
will make sure you never feel a void.
drops mic…
HOW TO RE-BRAND A PRODUCT: BK Chicken Fries
When a brand is reshaping how to sell one of its products, they usually come up with a strategic marketing plan to have it compete with other rival brands. For example, fast food chain Burger King not only gave chicken nuggets a cooler name by calling them chicken fries, but they re-branded this product making it fun, yet nondisruptive once it re-entered the market.
According to Food Business News,
“Comparable sales at Burger King increased 5.4% for the year and 3.9% for the quarter on a constant currency basis, behind successful new product launches and promotions, including new Chicken Fries.”
Now that’s how you re-brand a product and take it back to market. “I’m just saying.”
Following The DJ: Nick Wiz
"HOW PERFECT. I'M JUST FINDING OUT ABOUT THIS NOW."
THE RESEARCH
I read a tweet today from a hip-hop music producer I follow named J-Zone that said “Cool shit about being a crazy late bloomer with so many things is being hyped about shit everyone around you gave up on already.”
This quote stood out to me because I can relate to it. I too feel the same way about discovering music that I love well after its release date. There are so many records that have come out over the years that I’ve slept on or never even knew existed.
When so much music gets released every week, how can you possibly stay on top of everything anyway? When I fall in love with music that hits me, I can listen to it on repeat for months, sometimes years. I’m still listening to Nas’s “Illmatic” debut.
This brings me to Nick Wiz, an underground hip-hop producer born in NYC and raised in Teaneck, NJ, whose appeal lends itself to fans of raw, uncut, jazz-laced, bass driven, mid-tempo, 90’s hip-hop. If you dig the sounds of DJ Premier or Buckwild, you can definitely get down with Nick Wiz.
Nick Wiz first made an impact on the 90’s hip-hop scene with his beat contributions to Ecko Unlimited’s “Underground Airplay” cassette series, which are now highly collectible. He is also considered to be an integral part of the early Lyricist Lounge movement. His most notable work can be found on the Cella Dwellas 1996 debut album “Realms n’ Reality” on Loud Records.
I didn't realize it at the time, but I first heard a Nick Wiz beat on the Rawkus Records mixtape Soundbombing 1 back in 1998, on one of my personal favorites, Shabaam Sahdeeq’s “Arabian Nights”. His unique choice in samples, low-end filters, hard hitting SP-1200 drums and dense bass lines can also be heard on records by Mad Skillz, Chubb Rock, Chino XL and Rakim.
THE DISCOVERY
Recently I discovered two full-length albums of nothing but Nick Wiz instrumentals from that same era and I couldn’t be more hyped.
The first one was actually released in 1997 on a compilation series called “Hydra Beats Vol. 12” while the other one was just released a couple of weeks ago, simply called “Unreleased 90’s Hip Hop Instrumentals.”
Through my constant journey as a DJ, searching for that 90’s sound I’ve come to love, it’s always a challenge finding a certain flavor that I can listen to on repeat for lengths of time. It might be dated but it takes me to a place that satisfies my ears and soul.
Some highlight tracks from the two albums include “Mind Crusher”, “Starlite”, “Four Elements”, “Hermano”, “Hey Man”, “Xylophone” and “Ride Out”. Check out these dope tracks yourself and help support underground hip-hop by purchasing Nick Wiz’s music on Bandcamp.
THE SOURCE
BANDCAMP Nick Wiz Unreleased 90's Hip Hop Instrumentals
YOUTUBE Mind Crusher
ARABIAN NIGHTS Watch It
STARLITE Watch It
WORDS by LAYTON W. // CREATIVE by IQUAN W. (another Ike & Laytonic collaboration 2013+)