But if it doesn’t work, it isn’t pretty.

Design has to serve two purposes:

Contribute to achieving your strategic objectives.
Create an attractive, cohesive look that helps reinforce your business identity.

This isn’t an either/or proposition.

Some designers create whatever pleases their senses—regardless of whether the result serves its intended purpose or fits into a cohesive plan.

We don’t have a lot of patience with that.

Yes, design criteria can be incredibly subjective. We all make choices about what we do and do not like. But having a variety of choices doesn’t make them all equally appropriate.

Results are the best test of any product, service, strategy or design. Does it work? Does it stick in your memory, answer your questions, add an item to your shopping list? If the answer is yes, that’s a sign of success.

In our business, results take many forms and success can have just as many faces. Whether it’s increased sales, better-informed consumers, a productive product launch, an enhanced company image, or any other marketing objective, we design our work to do something our clients can measure. We also strive to produce good-looking work. But looks—and results—aren’t the same thing in every case. We don’t have a one-style-fits-all approach. That philosophy only works for people who have one client: themselves. Our focus is a little broader than our own desktops.

For us, the bottom line is very simple: If it doesn’t work, it isn’t good.