Continuing our annual tradition, we designed our Christmas card in-house.  This year's card was designed by Erin Kipps Brown, and the front is touched off by cotton to create 3d clouds.

We hope you have a wonderful holiday, and here's to a great 2013!

We were recently selected to design the logo and website for a new regional economic development group in Virginia, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance.  Last Friday, Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling was in town to kick off the alliance and to introduce the group's new Executive Director, Leigh Cockram; the new logo was unveiled to the public at the event.

If your website doesn't have a mobile version, you must correct that!  Too many sites either display poorly on mobile devices, or even worse, don't display at all.  Recently I tried to visit a site on my iPhone, but it opened up to a blank white page; when I got back to the office I browsed to the site on my laptop and found that it's built entirely on Flash.  That results in nothing to display on the iPhone!

Luckily, when I initially tried to visit the site I wasn't looking to buy or researching a company I may want to do business with; if that had been the case, they would have had a lost sale.

It's time to start thinking about your company's mobility.  No, not upward mobility - how you can take advantage of the fast-growing mobile device market to promote your brand.

The key with mobile apps is to come up with an idea that's helpful or fun, making people want to use it, all the while discretely promoting your brand.  I love an app that a friend's company developed for the iPhone, that showed the UV index for your current location - the precise location, of course, thanks to the GPS in  the user's iPhone.  It was developed for a suntan lotion company.  Helpful - yes.  Blatant advertising - no.  Branding promotion - yes.

There are tons of good apps out there, but a great idea is just waiting to be dreamed up and developed for your brand!  What is your product or offering, and how might it relate to a mobile device?  How can you make life easier or more fun for your customers?  Put on your creative cap and let's start dreaming.