Hi, I’m Reb Risty, Head REBL at REBL Marketing, and I’m here today with Mike Mance, founder and owner of Mance Creative. And we’re going to talk a little bit about marketing and branding and creative. Mike, for my audience, tell them a little bit about who you are and what you do.
MIKE: Sure thing. My name is Michael Mance. I own Mance Creative. We’re a visual branding and graphic design agency located in San Diego. We do everything from logo design, brand management, website design. You name it, we probably do it.
REB: We met through an accelerator program, a bootcamp, and one of my favorite things on your final presentation was that you’re a big theater buff.
MIKE: Yes, I do not hide that. I find that I just love the magic that theater has, and so that was part of my presentation. And to be honest, it’s quite the same thing we do when we’re doing websites and branding. It is magic. We have to create something from nothing and make it appear out of nowhere. And so that takes a certain talent, and so having a love for theater is also the same thing with graphic design too, as well.
REB: I love that. I guess your clients are a little bit of the characters and there’s a storyline, and you’re trying to tell that story. It’s the same with REBL. We’re always trying to do that too.
MIKE: Oh, absolutely.
BRANDING IS ABOUT TELLING THE COMPANY’S STORY
REB: How do we tell that story in a creative way. And you and I have been able to partner on some projects, which has been really fun. Take us a little bit through your process. You’ve made it so easy for us and our clients, and I don’t think a lot of people understand the whole branding process and it doesn’t have to be complicated, right?
MIKE: No, it doesn’t. And I love that fact that you love what we do, because I love what we do too as well. So I think you have to start from there, a foundational love for what you do. I think that’s really where the magic comes from, honestly. Really, our process is similar to yours. There’s a discovery period where a client comes in, they have a dream. We want to understand what that dream is, whether it’s a logo or a website or something even grander than that. We want to know. We want to know what their needs are, what their objectives are, and why we’re even doing this. So that’s the first step. And the second step is to just really research and see what’s out there, what we’re doing, and then really present something that’s unique to a client, whatever it is, a logo or a website.
I tend to like to push them a little bit beyond what they’re thinking, because there’s something that’s pretty normal with a logo or a website, but I really want to push them a little bit further along. And it’s fun to see the wheels turning with the client like, “Oh, I didn’t realize we could do that,” or, “That doesn’t look like me, but that could look like me in five years.” And so we do a bunch of that, rounds of revisions, and we plan for a launch or a dispersal of whatever it is. And we see how the process ends is just really a nice launch of whatever it is that we’re doing.
THE SCIENCE BEHIND COLORS
REB: I love it. And I think one of the fun things that you’ve taught me and our clients is the whole science behind color. Can you tell us a little bit about that. How do you explain the colors?
MIKE: Right. I have to explain these green walls in our office. They’re like, “Wow, this is really green.” So the psychology of color is pretty fascinating, and you probably know that blue is something that’s very safe and calm. That’s why IBM is blue, and that’s probably why FedEx has a blue color. But they also couple it with orange, which is very urgent. And so it fits well with their logo brand, is having a blue and orange combination of their logos. The green is actually pretty interesting. I chose it for a psychological reason. It’s because it’s the one color that both men and women really agree on.
REB: Really?
MIKE: Men favor blue and steely grays, and all that, and women tend to want more hotter colors, orange, fuchsias. But the color that they tend to agree on the most is green. That’s why I chose that.
REB: I love green. Green is a great color. And what I’ve also appreciated working with you is not just the primary color for the logo or the palette, but those secondary colors, and how you can take maybe a blue and then fire it up with an orange or a green.
MIKE: A lot of times people want to play it safe and say, “Oh, I want blue, and I want blue.” I’m like, “Okay, that’s great.” But for a modern spin, we usually want to introduce some sort of hotter color, like an orange, like yellow, whatnot, just so people can go, “Oh, what’s that over there.” So it really works well when you’re designing a website or a brochure to have a little, if your color scheme is entirely blue or cooler, to put some sort of hot color in there just to draw attention. So it’s a little bit of a psychological thing. If you want attention, give it a little bit of heat.
BRANDING ADVICE FOR 2021: MAKE SURE YOUR WEBSITE IS UPDATED
REB: I love it. Give it heat. Well, Mike, I always love working with you. It’s 2021. What is your advice for company professionals who are going out and thinking about redoing their brand or just updating their brand? What’s something that they should be looking at for 2021.
MIKE: Whoa, that is a big question. Really, since we’re in such a digital space right now, making sure your website is really up to date, it reflects who you are, has the technology to really carry you forward, not only this year, but in years to come. It’s really smart to invest in your website. So if it doesn’t really show who you are or attract the right kind of customer, you probably should really look at that. So digital space is probably where I would recommend you focus your efforts.
REB: All right, everyone, you heard that. Your digital space, work on your website. No, it’s hard because, like I just say, we went from the digital world to the virtual universe overnight, and if you aren’t paying attention to your digital space, you are going to get left behind.
MIKE: You just want to make sure that it looks good, presents well, and people are more interested in you. The power of branding is really something that you should look at it. It’s an asset, really. So if you’re ever going to sell your company or you want to partner with someone, they’re going to want to look at how you built your company, and the visual parts are very important too, as well. So websites are definitely important, but other things that you know are more touch points in your business, you should also look at those things too.
Give Mike a call at, (619) 269-8001 or visit www.mancecreative.com
Want to REBLutinize your brand, give REBL Marketing a call at (858) 848-7325 or message a REBL. You can work with both me and Mike, and we do everything and make your brand look amazing.
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