About the author:

Doug Fuller is a partner in Grasp Creative, Inc. (www.gograsp.com), a Washington, DC-area design firm specializing in corporate identity. A graduate of Syracuse University, Doug started Fuller Designs in 1993 and brought on partner Aaron Taylor several years later. Last year they changed the firm's name and acquired a new focus, something that had always been their strength: building successful corporate identities that communicate. Grasp Creative clients range from small start-ups looking to make a good first impression to established companies ready to move to the next level.

Don't Knock Opportunity: Go Grasp It!

A Good Press Success Story

By Doug Fuller

Last year my partner and I worked with a copywriter friend to develop a new stationery package for him. Our solution was copy-oriented and featured 10 different business cards, each with a provocative statement that started on the front and was completed on the back.

For example one card read

on the front and

on the back. Another card stated

followed by

on the reverse. The cards fit perfectly with his good-natured personality and his target audience of designers and art directors.

This stationery package went on to win a number of awards. It appeared in HOW Magazine twice, winning Merit Awards in HOW's 2000 Self-Promotion Competition and 2001 International Design Competition. Critique magazine awarded it with a Certificate of Excellence in the Big Crit 2000. The AIGA Washington DC chapter will include it in its 7th Biennial Design Competition, the AIGA50, and it was included in AIGA's Communication Graphics 21 competition as well. It also won an ADDY award and was exhibited at the AIGA national headquarters. To enter these contests we invested roughly $1,700, from January 2000 to date, on entry fees and related expenses (FedEx, hanging fees, and so on).

One day last fall, I received a rather strange e-mail from someone saying that their California-based company had seen our work in HOW and we were "the one" to help them out. This company specialized in events, putting on corporate and private parties, such as holiday gatherings, employee recognition functions, and themed parties of all kinds. Correspondence ensued and my firm was asked to provide an estimate for an identity for them.

Nothing happened for a few weeks; then I got a call from my partner at work saying that he had received an urgent e-mail message from this prospect. It was a Friday and I was on my way from a press check to Home Depot. I sat in my car talking to the client and found out that they were changing their focus and needed a new name by Monday! A little leery of this sudden change of events, I hesitantly told the client I would provide them with an estimate later that evening. That night I discussed the job with the client as she was doing the Macarena at a sweet sixteen party she was throwing for the daughter of George Zimmer, owner of the Men's Wearhouse!

We got the job. One week and over four hundred name ideas later, we had a winner. Incidentally, the concept we used was developed while trying to get my infant son to go sleep. I was walking in circles with him strapped in a backpack. I found that was a really good time to get some thinking done, although I don't recommend it to everyone. I ended up jotting down ideas on a napkin, and I had trouble reading my writing later.

Because of the time difference (we're located in Virginia), there were many late night calls from home. One occurred while I was at home power washing my deck! The client was always in a hurry and the logo and stationery that followed the name were equally as intense. Ultimately, everyone was happy, but eventually the relationship cooled down.

While working on some follow-up projects we got a hint from the client that something was up. One day on a hunch I decided to look at the client's website. Much to my surprise, the beautiful logo we had created had been replaced by the company name in Helvetica. After some sleuthing we found out that the client had decided to change the focus of their business (again) and felt that the logo we had worked so hard on no longer worked for them. What could we do but shrug and go on with our work?

It's good to know that somewhere out there potential clients are looking at the design magazines and that that our entry fees for contests might actually pay off in real work. The client we landed has brought us around $10,000 in billings. We also have an interested prospect who saw the work in Critique and a lawyer in Minnesota who saw the AIGA show exhibited in New York and is thinking about having us work on his identity. In this past month, we received an e-mail from a German design professor who saw our work in HOW and wanted to include it in an exhibition he is doing for his students. Eric Stewart, our copywriter friend, has reported receiving calls from around the country from people who have seen and liked his stationery. Recently, he may have picked up a large local client who saw his stationery published somewhere. Besides the motivation inspired by winning the awards, we got some good work out of it, got paid, and can now say we have a "national" client base!

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• Top 10 Tips for Growing Your Graphic Design Studio with Direct Mail Postcards
• Do You Have What it Takes to Survive the Dot-Com Bomb?

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