Kiss Kreativ is Born

»My progress has felt very inspired and I have been more than excited to work on this project. It’s starting to take over most of my thoughts as I think through different aspects of the branding and product I want to sell. One aspect of my inspiration has come from just brainstorming words I feel describe the essence of my brand. Words like the following:

Unique·Smile·Inspire·Creative·Contagious·Genuine·Original·Spark

Delight·Charm·Enchant·Flavor·Passion·Fresh·Free·Whimsy

A few of these words will show up on my business cards to further detail this project, that for me, has become a living, breathing entity. I feel so blessed to have it in my life. If I haven’t said this before, I have decided to start my brand by designing and selling notebooks with my artwork/design on them. Theo Davis will print them and do the finishing work. I still need to experiment with papers for the cover and text pages, as well as continue to explore options for binding. We (as in Theo Davis) can do several types of unique binding that would highlight our capabilities as a company well, but I also need to think practically on what would be easy to use. I want the notebooks to be convenient to use, while holding onto their uniqueness. As soon as I get a product nailed down, I’ll put a few designs on Etsy and see what happens.

»Research can be very helpful when trying to determine production and price points, as well as just to see what people are buying. So, I did a bit of research to see what people were selling and what my competition would be, especially on Etsy and I made a few interesting observations:

• Moleskines: The number of people selling decorated Moleskine notebooks far outweighed any other notebook type. It doesn’t surprise me though—Moleskines have very strong quality paper that feels good to write on. The paper I choose will emulate their feel.
• Kraft paper on the covers of notebooks is now very popular because it has a DIY feel to it—which is all the rage now. Just go on Pinterest and it’s all over the place. I am definitely a fan.
• The artistic nature of the design is crucial in decision-making for this market. The product needs to make a statement and carry value further than just something to write stuff in. If it has value that is recognizable, people will buy it.

»My brand name for my product design/potential business is:

kiss kreativ

The idea behind ‘kiss’ being my identifier is that, to me, this word inspires a feeling of light-heartedness, fun, and affection. Something that gives back and adds charm to the mundane. Plus, I wanted the name to be short and sweet. My notebooks can be called kissbooks…one word. Kreativ is ‘creative’ auf Deutsch. In my first post I listed German as one of my interests and I want it to be part of my brand as much as it is a part of me.

The first version of my new business card for kiss kreativ is complete. My title on the card is Chief Creative Mind…we’ll see how much I like it once I see it printed on a card. J The tagline that will be printed with my logo for kiss kreativ comes from a line I wrote earlier with a word change: kiss kreativ ·Infusing Charm Into the Mundane·. This is what the logo looks like:

I am running a few proofs of the business cards on different papers to see what looks best with the color/design I chose.

So… Step 1 is coming to a close—I’ve almost got some business cards that I can be handing out as I work on this project. What’s next??

»These are my next goals:

• Choose paper/finishing touches for business cards.
• Print business cards.
• Nail down papers, binding, etc for notebooks.
• Send out blog link to 30 of my friends.

»You can get involved by either sending me an email or commenting below with an answer to the following question:

What is the first word that comes to your mind when you think of paper? 

Noun/Adjective/Verb...whatever works!

Thanks for reading everybody!!