What does this sign say? Some designers try too hard to be clever. They miss the point–they’re not creating art. Design is a tool to help a company sell something. Many designers get so caught up in being fancy artistes that their…
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A logo is just a marketing tool. It’s one of many marketing tools firms use to convey your message to the marketplace. A logo is the first contact many prospects will have with your firm, for example, on a…
I collect legal marketing memorabilia. I’ve been collecting them for 25 years, and I have hundreds of historical pieces, dating back 225 years, to 1794. Sometimes I come across really unusual examples. I thought this matchbook was a bit surprising….
I have another least-favorite law firm ad. Some time ago, an advertisement with a crayon-colored scales of justice logo caught my eye. It used that faux-child-artwork style, like a first-grade teacher asked the children to draw a picture of what…
Lawyers love having their names in the law firm’s logo. Hey, who wouldn’t? It’s the gold star, the brass ring, the highest honor law firms bestow, our industry’s Oscar. But it can get ridiculous, as over time more and more…
I was saddened in 2020 to learn of the passing of Steve Susman of Susman Godfrey. I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to suggest that he was known as one of the nation’s top 10 trial lawyers. I had the…
Initials aren’t helpful. Words are. Names are. We know that for many professional-services firms (e.g. law, accounting, consulting, etc.), using initials is simply a necessary compromise — a less-controversial way to abbreviate the firm’s name. You get to shorten a cumbersome…
I love a good logo. There have been lots of lawyers on TV. Occasionally, especially in the cartoons, we get a quick glimpse of their logos or business cards. Most of them are comically bad, like these, for “Harvey Birdman,…
I collect hundreds of business cards every year. Under non-Covid conditions, I typically speak at dozens of conferences each year, attend a dozen more, and interview hundreds of lawyers in branding and website projects. So I have the occasion to…
Six-Word Stories (NPR) Awhile ago, I heard a fascinating NPR piece discussing “Not Quite What I Was Planning,” a book that compiled six-word stories. It’s amazing how much depth and detail you can convey in just those few words. “For…
