Aktual Design

03/07/2022

When it comes to marketing, companies often fall into one of two categories:

1. Following their gut.
2. Following a carefully thought out strategy backed by curated research.

At Aktual Design, we prefer the strategic approach.

Which category do you fall into?

Read more about it on our blog.

https://www.aktual.design/post/read-this-before-you-start-spending-money-on-marketing

Marketing your business can be really expensive. But there’s a better way. When it comes to marketing, companies often fall into one of two categories: Following their gut. Blindly putting money towards strategies, content, and channels that don’t connect with their customers and fail to produce...

02/10/2022

Archie is a high-quality food delivery service. They partner with local kitchens to offer fresh, on-demand/subscription meals for your dog(s).

Real dogs deserve real food.

Check out our website to see the full case study on Archie!

02/10/2022

Branding works.

But what about when it doesn’t? Why do some brands fall flat while others launch into the stratosphere?

At Aktual Design, we’ve got some ideas about what works. And what doesn’t.

Check out our new blog to learn more about the three things you should be doing to create a successful brand.

Big shout out to Tristan Sipe for being a killer copywriter and helping us out with this blog!

https://lnkd.in/e7PCkYZ4

Branding works. But what about when it doesn’t? Why do some brands fall flat while others launch into the stratosphere? At Aktual Design, we’ve got some ideas about what works. And what doesn’t. Successful brands: Execute a well-developed brand strategy Stay true to their brand identity Build ...

02/07/2022

Simplicity in your brand is hard to achieve.

Especially in your brand message.

Why?

Because simplicity requires you to:

- Struggle with how to define yourself
- Focus on a handful of pain points
- Completely understand your offering to the market
- Let go of explaining everything on your website
- Write, delete, rewrite, and try again

Simplicity isn’t as easy as it is on the eyes.

Want to have simple and clear messaging?

Shoot us a DM and we have some ideas that could help.

01/31/2022

Some big changes are happening at Aktual Design this year and we are SO excited! 🤗

Through connections, life coaching and just good old fashioned conversations with each other we’ve had (and continue to have) a lot of realizations about where Aktual needs to go to help more businesses.

It’s crazy how much change a business goes through almost daily and sometimes a little scary. But it’s the change that is allowing us to better ourselves and our business.

Cheers to change and growth and all that good stuff! 👏🏼

01/27/2022

Sunny Haven Ranch is a nonprofit organization working to build a community for adults with autism so they can receive the right care and live the happy lives they deserve.

We worked closely with the SHR founder to design a clean visual identity and build out a purposeful site. The site tells their emotional and impactful story so people know exactly what they are donating too and why.

We love working with businesses like Sunny Haven Ranch that have real purpose for what they do. They are striving to make a better world for people with severe autism and we’re honored to be a tiny part of it!

Full case study up on our site!

01/25/2022

Ever had a conversation with someone but they only wanted to talk about themselves and their achievements with no interest in asking you anything?

Fastest way to kill a conversation.

Your website is the same.

If your copy only brags about how great you are and what you have achieved, your prospects will lose interest.

Instead:

Share how you can make their life/business better.

Or fix a juicy problem they truly care about.

Build stories around what you've learnt from your current best clients and how you've helped them.

Make your target customer the hero.

At Aktual it's our job to guide your audience and show them how your solution solves their problems.

01/19/2022

Happy Wednesday!! It’s time for me to introduce myself to all of you here!
Here are 5 things about me:

1. First things first, I’m a mom to the cutest lil girl in the world. She’s 15 months old and filled with 100% sass. Balancing the work and mom life isn’t easy (shoutout to all you moms out there that do both!) but it’s so rewarding as it’s pushed me in ways I never imagined. 👩‍👧

2. I choose sweet over salty everytime. I’ve got the biggest sweet tooth and could live off fruit or chocolate… or chocolate covered fruit. Ok my mouth is watering right now. 🤤

3. I’m passionate about clean living. I haven’t always been like that, but have started doing a lot of research and found that there are so many nasty chemicals and additives in our food/products that are linked directly to physical and mental illnesses. No thank you!! (I could go on a rant about this, but I’ll spare you) It’s my goal this year to find as many organic, clean company’s as I can and support the heck out of them. 🍃

4. My guilty pleasure is true crime. Love listening to crime podcasts or watching crime documentaries. I honestly find the psychology behind it all fascinating. 😬

5. I graduated with a degree in Social Media Marketing back in 2018 and am also a self taught designer. I love working with the strategy behind our designs and seeing real results. 👩🏼‍💻

If you made it this far, thanks for reading. I love working alongside my husband everyday and working with the coolest clients!

DM me if you have questions or just want to chat!

01/17/2022

We’ve been working with MJ Pianos since the start of Aktual Design.

With a new storefront and numerous competitors in the valley, MJ Pianos needed to reposition themselves to stand out visually and strategically while still appealing to their diverse target audience.

Using the qualitative and quantitative data we collected and working closely with MJ Pianos, we created a powerful brand with strategic messaging, a bold visual identity and a user-friendly website.

With their new, improved, and modern brand, MJ Pianos disrupts the piano industry to better serve the families of Utah connecting through piano playing.

Give a follow. They’re always sharing funny stories and great insights! Best of all, they’re local to Utah. 📍

01/12/2022

How can I get the most out of my company’s mission, vision, and values?

Companies often make the mistake of talking about “things” they value, versus framing values as actionable behaviors.

Your vision should describe where you’re going.

Your mission explains how you will get there.

And the values depict how you are going to behave along the way.

Your brand heart should be used as a strategic management tool to make important business decisions. If you have a business problem, use your brand heart to guide your decision.

Ask yourself:

• Does this decision align with our mission/vision statement?
• Will this decision interfere with our core values?
• Will this decision help pave the way for the future of our company with the vision in mind?

Your brand heart is POWERFUL. Use it as a guide and you’ll succeed.

Have questions about brand hearts? As always, drop us a DM. 👊🏼

01/10/2022

Hey friends, it’s been a minute! I Just wanted to take some time to introduce myself to the new faces here. First, here are 5 facts about me:

1. I am bald by choice… I started balding a little in late 2020 and decided I didn’t want to go through the painful process of losing my hair. So, I cut it off and I’m looking forward to a hairless life.

2. I married Haley in 2018 and in 2020 we had our daughter. It's been awesome, but raising a kid is tough. (Maybe that’s why I’m losing my hair?)

3. I try to bike at least 3 times a week, even during the winter here in Utah. I recently got into gravel biking and have a goal to plan a few trips this year.

4. I love listening to educational podcasts. I listen to a few a day. My favorite are 99% invisible and The Design Better Podcast.

5. I graduated with a degree in project management and I’m a self taught designer.

During the weekdays, you can find me at my desk managing our remote team and building Aktual Design. I love what I do and I have a passion for solving real business problems through strategy and design.

At Aktual, we help businesses diversify and grow through branding, web design, and business strategy.

Have a business problem, DM us today to start a conversation!

01/06/2022

Lane from Financial Fast Lane approached us ready to refresh his brand and build a user-friendly site where his audience could find free educational resources.

Through research and strategy we created a solid visual identity and simple messaging that stands out from his competitors.

Check out the full case study on our website! Link in bio. 👌🏼

01/03/2022

Number one goal this year: Don’t disappear from social media for 3 whole months. 😂🙈

All jokes aside. 2021 was a year to remember.

We celebrated 1 whole year of Aktual Design! We hit milestones we never thought we would hit within the first year. We helped 25+ business owners grow their businesses. We watched our daughter turn 1 (which is easily the highlight of 2021). We had emotional breakdowns and sleepless nights, cause running a business is hard, not going to sugarcoat it! But it’s all been so worth it.

We are so excited for the new year and have some big things planned so stay tuned!

Let’s go 2022!

📷:

09/29/2021

Before we design a new brand identity, we create 3 mood board options specifically styled to connect with your target audience.

Mood Boards help us define a clear direction when creating your logos, colors, icons, patterns and typography.

They also are your first look at how your business can diversify and grow.

DM us today to learn how we can help your brand.

09/27/2021

Even if you are unfamiliar with the term brand voice, it's something you experience on a daily basis.

Brand voice is the personality of a brand, or the language a company uses when interacting with customers. The tone of messages, choice of words, and flow of sentences all combine to create a memorable experience for your customers, and we want to help that impression be a great one.

Brand voice is applied to several aspects of your business including:
- your website
- newsletters
- social media posts
- internal official communications
- advertising

We help you figure out the personality you want your company to have and craft that into a brand voice that is perfect for you and your customers.

09/22/2021

Want to know what your customers are thinking during the buying process?

After countless hours of research and experience, we discovered the customer journey every human being takes when they go through the buying process:

- What is it?
- How can it benefit me?
- Why should I choose this product/service?
- How much does it cost?
- Is it any good?
- What are other people saying about this product/service?

Through strong messaging, social proof, web layout, and more,
We can ensure your customers' journey leads to a purchasing decision.

At Aktual Design, we focus on these basic questions and needs of your customer as we are designing to build brand trust and brand loyalty that keeps your customers coming back for more.

Shoot us a DM or visit our website to learn more.

09/20/2021

Does your website solve real problems for your audience?

More than a place to showcase your products and services, your website can be a place to serve, educate, and guide your visitors toward the products or services aligned with their needs and goals.

At Aktual, we don’t believe in FLUFF. ❌

Meaning we don’t add unnecessary words, sections or images to confuse your site visitors.  

We discover your customers needs and ensure every page has a clear purpose and goal.

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Congrats to Hilbre Doula] and her new website! We can’t wait to see you diversify and grow!

Here is what we did to make Hilbre Doula] stand out from the crowd:

    ⁃    Competitor analysis
    ⁃    Brand strategy (brand heart, target audience discovery, personas, messaging structure)
    ⁃    Visual identity (logos, colors, patterns, typography, Iconography)
    ⁃    Web design
    ⁃    Brand messaging

Ready to get started? Shoot us a DM or visit out website! www.aktual.design

09/13/2021

We don’t believe in fluff.

Have you ever clicked on a link and the title was misleading which made you frustrated and clicked off? We have 🥴and we want to make sure that never happens for our clients.

At Aktual we design everything with intent and strategy behind it. Our designs are simple, to the point and don’t make people frustrated.

We don’t believe in fluff because design should solve problems not create them.