2010 has been a great year for music -- and album design. Most of the time, its the first image you associate with the music behind it. Because of this, the way an album looks can also influence how you feel about it.

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When you're in an overcrowded marketplace, your best strategy for building a brand is not to try harder but to find a niche that will differentiate you from everyone else. It can be either an industry niche that you serve in many ways or a service niche that goes across many industries.

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Choosing a great name for a business can be a tricky and uncertain process- almost like naming a baby.

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Don Draper being who he is - Creative Director of the Manhattan Advertising Firm, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce - I thought it would be interesting to interview him about some of the changes that have happened in business since his heyday in the 50's.

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I can’t remember seeing any in my lifetime, but Italian automaker Fiat sold cars in the United States from 1908 until 1983. A reputation for poor quality led to their exit from the U.S. in 1984. But at the end of this year, Fiat is coming back.

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There is never just one way to build out a family of brands. Companies have had great success doing it all sorts of different ways.

Yesterday, I spend some time with a good friend whose business is expanding and we were discussing how to extend the brand into new products and offerings.  We talked for a while about all sorts of ways to build the brand architecture, the effects of building it each of the different ways and the questions to ask in order to get to the right answer for their business.

At the end of it, I commented that there are several different options for how to build out this family of brands and while there is no technically "right" answer, there is one that fits their business model best.  He commented that there was still some fuzziness about what the goals and vision for the overall business is and so that made answering the questions about the brand more difficult.

If you first answer the questions about what are you goals, plans, and vision as a business, then it's a whole lot easier  to answer the questions about how to build the brand.

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Imagine an occasion where heaven arrives on a plate, arousing devilish cravings. It’s sinfully sensational… Treacherously tasty… Mischievously mouthwatering… Scandalously savory… So shamelessly scrumptious, you’ll be sorely tempted to dive right in. Welcome to A Divine Event and it's new brand identity.

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Introducing new ideas into the market is brave. Copying what successes others have had to get a slice of their pie...not so brave.

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Meet Alana Dy, Matchstic's Fall Intern. This recent SCAD graduate, young designer extraordinaire, and lover of chillwave effectively doubled the office Asian population last week.

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There are different philosophies and methodologies on how brands should be built and more specifically, who should build them. I figured I'd outline a few ideas on the subject.

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