What are some books to help me improve my business?

I currently run a small business, and lately I've been looking for ways to stretch, grow and make it better. Can you recommend some books to improve business?

Around the Strong Design studio, reading is one of our favorite past-times. I always am surprised by the new things I've learned by the time I've completely a new book. Often I've gleaned all sorts of tidbits that might not even relate to the true thesis of the book—tips on process, procedure, culture or the way people think. This just goes to show how you can learn a new business lesson in the strangest of places. Here are a half-dozen of my favorite business books, and a quick synopsis of what I learned from them:

Get Lucky by Lane Becker and Thor Muller

This is a brand-new book that looks into the idea of serendipity and its role in business. It carefully hits home the message that most of what businesses attribute to "luck" is often a long time of preparation that led them to be able to capitalize on a chance opportunity.

Setting the Table by Danny Meyer

At first glance, this book looks like book about Danny Meyer's path to becoming a restauranteur—and it is. But it is also a manual full of real-world examples of how to provide world-class hospitality. It doesn't take much additional imagination to start to see how one could apply the principles to their business to really spoil their customers and capture their hearts.

Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

This book is an incredibly quick and easy read as Tony Hsieh, the CEO of Zappos, chronicles the thought process that has driven him to build an entire brand upon service to their customers. The book is a perfect example of how having a higher purpose behind simply peddling your wares leads to loyal fans and paves the way financial success.

The Millionaire Next Door by Tom Stanley

This might seem like a strange addition to this list, but hear me out a little. This book chronicles the true life of a millionaire in the United States—not the ones reality TV likes to push down our throats. It illustrates with dozens and dozens of stats, facts and tables that hard work, planning, wisdom and frugality are the building blocks of a strong financial house, and always serves as a reminder to me of how to approach not only my personal finances but also my business finances. After all, you can have the best business in the world, but if you can't pay the bills to keep the doors open, what good will that be?

Rework by Jason Fried

This is another weirdo on the list, but I've added it for a reason. By nature, I'm a "doer" and I've always struggled with that fact. However, this book helped me understand how much of an asset that is to running a business. The whole premise of the book is that nothing will ever be perfect, because perfection is unattainable, and that what matters is doing the best with what you have and getting the product "shipped" out to customers so you can afford to continue to refine it.

Crush It by Gary Vaynerchuck

This book claims itself to be a "how-to manual for turning your passion into a business." Although Gary V gives plenty of insight into that topic, the lessons I honed in on in this book were about how important it is as a business owner to have a strong personal brand to help fuel your business.

Anything by Malcolm Gladwell

So I said I'd outline six books for your reading pleasure, but I couldn't resist adding this last recommendation. If you haven't read anything by him yet, Malcolm Gladwell is an absolute genius when it comes to presenting research and conclusions on why people behave as they do. If the dots aren't instantly connecting for you, people are the core of any business—people in the customer role, the staff role or even the vendor role—and gaining the understanding to get a glimpse inside of their heads is absolutely invaluable to your success in working with them, serving them and delighting them. My favorite books by Gladwell are Blink, which investigates the split-second subconscious thoughts that often drive our decision process, and Outliers, which chronicles how "overnight success" stories are often not so much overnight, but typically the product of thousands and thousands of hours of committed devotion to one's craft.So that's it! Over a half dozen books for your reading pleasure and fuel for business' success. Go pick one up or check one out from the library and see what lessons you can extract from it. Happy reading!

The 21-Day Drawing Challenge

A little over a week ago, I attended the HOW Live Design Conference, and attended a session by Von Glitschka entitled "Drawing Conclusions: How Drawing Improves Design." At the end of that session, Von challenged each of us to a 21-day drawing challenge.

In the past couple of years have become obsessed with hand-drawn type. I'm not sure if it's my impatience with learning something new, need for perfection, or the intimidation of a blank page, but I haven't been able to wrap my head around drawing type myself. When Von made that challenge, I began to wonder if maybe this scenario was a good opportunity to start drawing more type. I decided that 21 days was a pretty short period of time, and I should just give it a shot.

The parameters I set for myself were as follows:

1. The drawing should take no more than 10 or 15 minutes, tops.

2. I'll work in a tiny sketchbook to minimize any "fear of the blank page."

3. The goal is to be rough. Perfect is intentionally not part of the plan.

4. No pen, and as little eraser as possible.

Week 1

So far I'm having a good time with this little project. I've been drawing various phrases or lyrics that have meaning for me that day. Here's a peek at the first five days.

Week 2

The challenge got a little tougher this week. It seems like the initial excitement of this project wore off this week, and I'm left with only my commitment to fuel me. The ideas weren't flowing as freely and I really had to work to push through. The good news is that by the end of the week I felt like my ideas were getting stronger, and I feel like I'm beginning to improve at envisioning how the words and letterforms balance one another and interlock. Additionally, I've realized that the concepts I feel are strongest are the ones where I have a personal stake in the message. It seems I might be more driven by illustrating a positive message than a perfect letterform.

Week 3

This final week's drawings remained challenging—my struggles from last week must have spilled into this week. Although I diligently practiced my drawings each day, I'm not overly thrilled with any of them, but I intend to keep keepin' on.Normally I'd say something like "I hope you like them!" at this point in the post, but honestly that's not what this experiment is about. Whether anyone likes them or not doesn't matter. This challenge is about drawing regularly, no matter the outcome, and hopefully improving in the process.

Trending: Logo systems

Whether you're just starting your business, or you've been in business for years, you understand the importance of your logo. As we'd explained before, a great logo design serves as an identifier for your company—a visual shortcut—and sets the proper tone for what it is like to work with your business.

But what if your logo was more of a set of elements, rather than one single item? That's exactly what a lot of businesses are turning to in place of a single logo.

So what exactly is a logo system?

A logo system is exactly what it sounds like—a system of elements that make up the logo identifier for your company. It typically still includes a base logo form with several variations upon it, so as to create a much more dynamic effect that means the logo has the ability to change as needed across applications. Typically one element of the logo stays the same—usually the shape or the color palette—while another element is specifically designed to change within set parameters. It almost makes the logo system come alive.

When is a logo system a good idea?

A logo system could potentially be used in an logo design, however, if your brand has several arms or related product lines it could be an especially good fit. Before you consider choosing a logo system, it is also a good idea to consider how you intend to execute the brand collateral. If you had intended to do so in-house, it might be tougher to execute the strategy well, than if you intend to maintain a long-term relationship with your designer. Executing a logo system is slightly more complex and usually requires a professionally-trained design eye to make the best use of the system. 

What are some recommendations for creating my own logo?

I just started my own business, and I need a logo design however, I can't afford a professional design yet. Do you have any tips for creating something that can get me started?

Sometimes, as much as you value the idea of having a professional logo designed, it just isn't in your budget yet. Never fear, here's a few tips you can take to develop your own logo design that can hold you over until you're ready to have a professional logo designed.

Stick to type treatments

Developing a great icon or a mark is a challenge for even the most seasoned designer, and is probably a task you don't want to take on. It is tempting to fire up Microsoft Word, locate a clipart image and call it your logo, but the problem with this is that any one of your competitors can do the exact same thing. Not to mention that clipart typically looks like, well, clipart. It doesn't look custom, it doesn't communicate any emotion and it isn't very ownable at all. Instead, stick to a simple type treatment. Here are a few tips to creating a nice type logo to help you get by.

Don't use a font that came with your computer

Remember how we warned about looking to Word's clipart gallery for an icon or mark? The same thing goes for fonts. Stay away from any fonts that come standard with your computer. The problem with this is that these fonts are much too commonplace to act as the visual hook to your business. Instead, search out something more unique by using one of many online font websites. Fontsquirrel.com is my favorite site for free fonts, and myfonts.com is my favorite for fonts you can purchase. Both of these sites have hundreds, if not thousands, of fonts to choose from, and if you go with a purchased font, the likelihood that someone else might choose it for their logo is reduced.

Consider the feeling the font creates

Right now you're probably wondering how in the world you're going to pick a font from all of the options available to you. Before you start your search, write down 2-4 feelings that the typeface should evoke. That way, as you are searching for typefaces, you can cross-check the look of the typeface with your list to determine wether it feels the way you want it to feel.Here's a quick reference guide below that explains the general feelings associated with common types of fonts:

Err on the side of simplicity

Once you've started searching for fonts, and have a few possibilities, we'd urge you to err on the side of simplicity. So basically, if you are trying to choose between two fonts and one is more elaborate and the other is slightly less ornate, it would probably be in your best interest to choose the simpler option. The benefit of choosing a simpler option is that a simple solution will create a more sophisticated look in the short term, and will also give you the ability to transition to a custom logo in the future.

What are some inexpensive, do-it-myself website options?

I just started a new business, and as much as I'd really like to have a professional website designed for it, I just don't have the budget yet. Do you have any tips to create your own website?

Although web design has become quite affordable, the cost can still be too much for a brand-new business. Thankfully, there are a lot of options available to create a great starter websites that can hold you over until you can afford to make an upgrade. Although I haven't used many of these do-it-yourself website platforms, I did a little research into some options—and tapped the minds of many of my friends and colleagues—and have outlined some solutions and suggestions.

SquareSpace

SquareSpace describes themselves as "a fully hosted, completely managed environment for creating and maintaining a beautiful website, blog, or portfolio." From doing a little digging around, they seem to offer some standard layout options, and pricing starts at about $12 per month. Learn more at squarespace.com

WordPress

More often than not, if you hire a design firm to create your site, they will probably use WordPress as the engine that drives the site, and then create a completely custom design theme that perfectly accommodates your content. You can take the first step yourself and create your own WordPress site, using a stock theme. Unless you know a pretty hefty amount of HTML, CSS and PHP you probably won't be able to customize the site to the point a web design shop would be able to, but WordPress has a lot of cool themes and plugins that could get you off on a good foot. The only downside of WordPress is that, as a novice, there are so many options (in terms of themes, plugins, etc.) that it can get a little overwhelming, so it is wise to keep it simple. WordPress offers many themes for free, which means you would simply need to purchase your own hosting (which typically runs around $10 per month) for the site. If you choose to go this route, you may with to contact your hosting provider for help installing the WordPress software on your hosting. Learn more at wordpress.org

Virb

As they put it, Virb allows you to "choose a theme, add your content, customize and launch!" They seem to offer a lot of theme options, and pricing starts at about $10 per month. Learn more at virb.com

Wix

Wix positions themselves as a very easy-to-use platform, explaining their services as "Drag & drop. No programming. Search engine friendly." They do offer a free plan, but to get the site to direct to your own domain name (which is advised in order to appear the most legitimate and professional) you would need to upgrade your plan to one of their packages that start as low as $5 per month. Learn more at wix.com

Shopify

If you need an ecommerce site, Shopify seems to be a popular way to go. Their feature set claims "easy-to-use online store builder, fully customizable store design, secure shopping cart provided, and ecommerce hosting included." Their plans are a little more expensive (as ecommerce solutions always are) and start at $29 per month. Learn more at shopify.com

Other things to consider

Once you've selected the option that feels right for your needs, there are a few items you'll want to consider when putting the site together. Taking these items into consideration will help your do-it-yourself site look as polished and professional as possible.

Think simple

With most any site option you select, you'll be able to select some sort of base design template. You'll probably have dozens of options to choose from, which will feel really, really exciting. It will be tempting to select something wild and flashy, just because you can. However, flashy templates can look a little cheesy, unprofessional, and often give themselves away as being a stock template design. Instead, select something clean and simple. You just can't go wrong with a simple design. A clean, straightforward design will blend with almost any image you wish to portray, and is likely to be taken more seriously by your customers. This recommendation also goes for your font and color selections. You don't need a bunch of fonts and dozens of colors—one or two fonts and two to three colors will do just fine. Just make sure to make selections that blend with the other fonts and colors you are using across your visual design (logo, business cards, tags, etc.) so that your business doesn't look like it has a split personality.

Consider readability

Likewise, when you are selecting your template, fonts and colors, always be checking for readability. Make sure your background colors and images don't make your text hard to read, and make sure you select colors that contrast enough that they don't blend together, or create an optical illusion. When in doubt, make sure your text is placed over a solid color that is much darker or lighter than the text color so that it is readable.

Edit, edit, edit

With setting up your own website comes the challenge of writing your own content. More often than not, people think there is no such thing as too much information. This is not the case. Most people don't want to read any more than they absolutely have to. When using a do-it-yourself site, you'll be given large areas you can fill with copy, not to mention endless amounts of pages for no additional fee. Be careful not the be charmed by these open parameters, and be sure to curate your content carefully. Don't drone on—saying the same thing over and over again—and be careful not to add more pages than are really necessary to your site. Constantly ask yourself whether you customer really wants and needs this information, or whether you're just adding it because you can.