the Bb blog.

I have been in business for myself {Britta burrus design} for a little over 4 years. And Justin & I acquired Red Rooster Trading Company about 6 months ago. I don’t claim to know it all, my motto is ‘live & learn’ and I don’t think I will ever ‘arrive’. But if there is one thing that I have learned it is that people appreciate customer service and it is a must for any successful business. When people can see the care that you put into your product(s) and/or services, the time you take to just chat or explain things {sometimes the old-fashion way, telephone } & go the extra mile to make things right it really pays off in the end.

Three things I have learned along the way… There are a lot more than three, but thought I’d keep it short & sweet!
Communication is key… I think, for the most part, people understand if you make a mistake or can’t get it done quite as quickly as you had hoped. But keeping the lines of communication open is important. If things are taking a little longer than expected let them know. Some days I am pretty good at this… then there are those other days.

Building a relationship takes time…It takes time to build a good relationship and sometimes the road is a bit bumpy, everyone has a different idea of what will work or communicates in different ways. But if you take the time to build relationships it is a win win for everyone. I have had several clients where the initial start wasn’t the easiest, but by being persistent, keeping the lines of communication open, being honest & listening to their needs/wants has given me some of my most favorite clients & projects!

Pricing… This is always the hardest part for me… I just want to help everyone, but I am in business and this is how I make a living. So I have had to learn {probably still learning, if I am being honest } how to price things. Know your product or service, be confident in your abilities, do a little research and see what others are charging in your field and when you set a price stick to it. But do be flexible… if it is not working you might want to take a step back and reevaluate.

I have thought about this a lot… with every new project I learn something new. One day I think I have been through it all and surprise!

Below are some pics of business cards I did for a client. The end product turned out beautifully… but it took a bit to get there. We used her amazing artwork for her logo, since she hand drew it I thought it would be so cool to have it printed on textured paper. So, that is what we initially did, well they turned out horribly. They looked like the printer was running out of ink. I ended up getting them reprinted on a different stock with a matte/dull finish. The turned out perfectly, showed off her artwork beautifully and most important, my client was happy. I am working on her website right now. She, her daughter & daughter in law have a part in the business. They make & sell jewelry, purses & clothing… they take vintage items and reinvent a piece whether it is a beautiful dress, throw or necklace. You will have to keep an eye on their site {www.shopagirlthing.com}as they will be selling their creations online soon! These girls have talent & an eye for fashion.

Thanks for stopping by!
–Britta

Found this quote today… and I like it.

“She didn’t know it couldn’t be done, so she went ahead and did it.” –Mary S. Almanac

And I wanted to share a pic of some labels I did for my dad & mom… my mom called one day and wanted some address labels for their business & a few for personal. I had fun with these… they look especially nice on a crisp red envelope.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you have a great Thursday.
–Britta

After I posted about an amazing salsa recipe a while back… {find post here} I got inspired to design some labels for my elite ball jars. Just thought I’d give you a peek… and hopefully inspire you to get creative this weekend.

I will leave you with this design quote I found… it piqued my interest and made me think about all the mistakes I do make. Sometimes those mistakes turn into an awesome design… and sometimes they don’t. Haha, guess that’s where we have to learn to let those ones go and move on!

‎”Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Design is knowing which ones to keep” Scott Adams

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great weekend! Isn’t this crisp, fall weather fantabulous! –Britta

So, I have had the same business card for a couple years and decided I would like to try something a little different, but still affordable. This is the end result… I have also added the Red Rooster cards & some bcards I have done recently for Team K Outfitters. I showed the TKO cards to a designer friend (Karri!) and she saw the back and says ‘Nice use of whitespace’ . I love that she noticed that cause that is my favorite part of the card. And I don’t get too many opportunities to utilize the amazing ‘white space’.

Enjoy the pics below and just give Bb a holler {call or text 509.429.1989 email design@brittaburrus.com} if you are in need of a new and affordable business card! I always say it is a most cost effective & powerful marketing tool. Thanks for stopping by!

–Britta

I love hand.painted, hand.made signs! I found a treasure when I found Mike who still hand.paints & builds his signs. He was able to take a Bb design for The Willows Lakehouse in Downing, Missouri and create a work of art that will last for years to come. When I met Mike he told me that the majority of his customers will make many times more than what they will put into one of his signs. Sometimes we look at the initial cost and forget how long the sign {logo, website, business card design etc} will actually last. Especially if you hire someone who cares just as much about your business as you do and puts that into their work.

Signage is just as important as your logo, business card, website etc… when someone walks or drives by your shop you want that sign to reach out and grab them, draw them in. “Ohhh… that is a beautiful, cool, amazing sign, I need to see what else is inside.” Some of the shows on HGTV might call it curb appeal… if we don’t put much into the outside why would someone want to come in and check out the inside. Anyway… you get the idea.

See a couple pics of The Willows sign below… now, you cannot tell me that this sign does not make you want to know more about The Willows. And it definitely gives the feel of a Lakehouse Retreat. The secret is getting out about the Willows… your own private lake and lakehouse with a full kitchen all to yourselves… you gotta check it out. {www.thewillowslakehouse.com} For those of you that live in NEMO… it is perfect for a weekend getaway, think ‘save on gas’, amazing sunsets & rises, fishing on the lake and for those of you who need it they also offer a bigscreen with satellite, there really is something for everyone.

We also had Mike build a sign for the Red Rooster, all I can say about that one is WOW! … so come back soon for that post. And if you are interested in getting a quote for a hand.built, hand.painted sign give Bb a jingle {509.429.1989} or shoot me an email {design@brittaburrus.com}

Thanks for stopping by…
–Britta

Bb design had a great opportunity to design and program a website for a Department of Energy National Laboratory – Future of Instrumentation Workshop (FOFI) that will take place at Oak Ridge National Laboratory {Oak Ridge, Tennessee} at the beginning of November. Who would have thought that I would get an opportunity like this way out here in Bible Grove. God is so cool!

Thanks to Peter Fuhr for sending it this way… I have had the opportunity to work with him on several projects and I am so thankful for these… as they are not Bb’s typical websites or projects. Sure has been fun to get outside of my design box and work with people that are in fields totally different than mine. I think we have made a pretty good team thus far… check out the snapshot below… and visit the site {www.futureofinstrumentation.org} for more or if you are interested in attending.

Since it’s Friday, I thought I would share a fun baby announcement I got to do a while ago. Our dear friends, Nate & Jessi, had one of the cutest little babies ever. Her name is Anne… I had the privilege of designing her baby announcements. Nate & Jess pretty much gave me freedom to do whatever I wanted… Jess does love flowers & one of her favorites is the daisy. So, I took that and ran… of course I found the cutest pink envelopes with a string to close it & added some coordinating thank yous! When you have such a sweet face to design around… you really can’t go wrong. See pics below.

Thanks for stopping by & have a great weekend!!

You might imagine that Bb goes through a ton of ink and you would be right. I have two printers that I use, both HP. I have used a few different types of printers through the years and have been really happy with my hp printers. I use an all in one for copy, fax & standard printing… though it also prints my cards great, so I use it as a backup. Then for my main card printing I use a large format HP. For ink I go to hp.com … they reward loyal customers and shipping is FREE. On top of this I learned something new today… I googled ‘hp ink coupon code’ and found a coupon for $25 off of $125. I was so excited and just wanted to pass this Bb tip along. Keep checking back, cause I might just learn something else that I will be able to pass along.

Have a great week! — Britta

Hi there… thought I would leave you with this for the weekend. I was asked by a friend to design an invite for a bridal shower they were throwing. She told me the bride to be’s colors were navy & copper, flowers were Calla Lilies & Blue Hydrangeas. Oh… how that got my mind spinning! I love both those flowers & was excited to see what I could find to bring in the copper… I was able to take a photo of each flower, stylize them & create a beautiful bouquet to use as the main design element for the invite. And oh my goodness… I found the coolest copper envelopes ever! Check out the end result below.

You know… custom invites & announcements {whether for a wedding or baby} might be a little more expensive than the bulk pack you can get at walmart… but do you know the joy of getting such a piece of art in the mail. I get so excited when I receive a hand-written note, letter or a beautiful custom baby announcement or wedding invite — it makes me feel special… that they would take the time & effort to put something like that together or pay someone else to do it. A lot of times people cherish these pieces and don’t just throw them away. They keep them to remember that special occasion, some might even frame such a thing of beauty.

Anyway… I will stop rambling & let you enjoy the pics below. Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! — Britta

As a designer when I look at a logo I always wonder how many steps it took them to get to the final. I am sure that others go about getting there in a different way than Bb design, but this is how it works around here. {As all designers will know, not every story goes quite this smoothly… sometimes it might take a few or several more steps to get to the end.}

Step 1. Initial meeting with client — in real life or virtual — get any ideas client might have, colors, style, what they want their logo to say about their business etc.
Step 2. Dream, pray & think about ideas. Seriously, praying for me is a big part of the story. After all God is so big and look at His creation… talk about a creative! His supply of creativity is limitless and He knows my client even better than I do! Ideas and concepts sometimes come at funny times, while I am supposed to be sleeping or while I am out on a run. I love this part of it!
Step 3. Research — see what’s out there for the client’s profession or business. How can we stand out from the crowd? Get outta the box, yet still remain professional & true to their profession or business.
Step 4. Concepts — Depending on the package we come up with 2-3 concepts for the client to choose from. This is always fun, cause I get to work with fonts, colors and the mark.
Step 5. Client chooses one or a mix of all the concepts and it is revision time.
Step 6. Present final logo to client & it’s time to use the new logo in all promotional materials!

Benefits of a custom Bb logo: a.} You will get what you want. b.} Each logo is a custom design. NO clip art here. c.} You are part of the team, it is important for Bb to get to know each client and from there build the logo they want & need. d.} Each logo is built as a vector-based file, so you will get all the file formats you need whether for a website, billboard, tshirt, business card, signage etc.

The latest logo project Bb got to work on was for the Scotland County Pharmacy. This is the story…

Client said he likes old time apothecary, blue, and mortar and pestle, but maybe the mortar and pestle was used too much? { Do you know how excited I was when I heard old time apothecary?? }

After the initial dreaming, praying & researching Bb presented 3 concepts to SC Pharmacy… and we mixed a couple of them to come up with the final logo. Even if other pharmacies are using a mortar & pestle as part of their logo I haven’t seen it used quite like this and we added an old time apothecary bottle to make it stand out that much more. One of the fun parts of building a custom logo is reinventing an idea. After all … there isn’t anything new under the sun, but it sure is fun trying to present it in a different way!

Check out the images of the initial concepts, final logo & business cards below… we were all very happy with the end result! What do you think?