You wouldn’t plan to start a business if you planned to fail. Yet it is surprising how many businesses skimp out on logo, brochure, or web site design, figuring they can get that done “later.”

The problem is, as a newcomer, you are competing with established businesses who also have solid marketing and identity materials—and established reputations and customer bases. While superior service will speak for itself, you need clients to get that business, and it’s your logo, brochure, and web site that do the talking.

So how can you afford a great image on a limited budget?

Get a solid logo for less. Recent studies show that people will make conclusions about your business in just the first three seconds. Only a logo can talk that fast! Great logo design doesn’t have to break the bank, and is worth every penny you invest in it.

Fathom has extensive experience creating logos for new businesses and offers multiple, solid logo options for a set price. Contact us and we can provide complete details. Fathom is also able to modernize an existing logo from a purchased business or work logo development in with other materials. There’s no use getting a new brochure or website only to drop an unprofessional logo on it. Our goal is always to maximize the impact of your investment.

Do we really need a brochure? Imagine a computer that weighs 1/100th as much as a laptop, is shock-proof and water-resistant, and is powered by solar energy. Imagine that its screen can be folded and can even warp to show dimension or texture and that you can produce these computers for under $1 each. Wouldn’t you want to put a presentation on one and send it direct to a potential client? You can…it’s called a brochure. And if designed well, your brochure can capture attention and hold it; it can provide a talking piece as you discuss your services, or it can be a tangible leave-behind.

Print is far from dead. But bad design is dead on arrival in any medium!

The nice thing about a professionally designed brochure is, the more focused it is, the more effective it is and the less expensive it becomes. Consider what you want it to accomplish and how you will get it in prospects’ hands. Then contact us. We can print low quantities digitally, larger quantities conventionally…we can even do some printing in-house.

We’ve created direct mail pieces that are so large, they can’t fit in the trash can as well as brochures as small as business cards. Odd sizes and shapes attract attention as does limited color and a pointed, honest message. We are happy to tailor an approach that fits your needs.

Web sites that don’t break the bank. Web design should be updatable, affordable, and great looking. Yet start-ups rarely have a resource that can deliver all three. As a result, their sites often look sub-par compared to existing competitors, and their sites are difficult to update at the very time when the company is evolving and changing most rapidly! Fathom can help.

Fathom recently launched a new product offering: web sites that can be updated by our clients using a web interface. Log in from any computer, anywhere and update your staff bios, news, portfolio, etc. Normally, that kind of service entails higher development cost AND a proprietary hosting service that costs more money. But our method can be hosted most anyplace and is priced competitively with a normal “.html” site.

The advantage here is that you can do updates yourself—so once you’ve paid for the site, you won’t get nickled and dimed on updates. Another advantage is that you control the process, so you can modify your site in seconds rather than calling a programmer and waiting for edits to be completed.

But the biggest advantage is that sites designed by Fathom look better than sites designed by programmers (would you hire a contractor to design your house?). We design the template in-house and then work with the best programmers in the business to execute the approved vision. Then, we hand you the keys.

Phasing it in. Fathom is flexible. We can start with a logo and go from there. We don’t make all-inclusive contracts that lock you in; it’s à la Carte. So once you have your logo, we can apply it to interim materials and a placeholder page or embark on more lasting solutions. It all depends on your immediate needs, your ultimate goals, and the funds you have on hand.

Fathom has remained a trusted resource to its clients for many years, always ready to create an ad or other item in support of their ongoing needs. We understand that serving a startup well helps to create a client of substantial means down the road.

As a startup, look for an agency that is flexible, affordable, and provides materials that look great. Because, at the end of it all, when you have those three seconds to make an impression, looks really do matter.

The basis of graphic design is ink on paper. And without fiber, there would be no paper. (Yes, designers who specialize in the web might say they have no need of paper and therefore fiber. But graphic design as a whole would not have come about without paper.)

It is easy to take fiber for granted. Its importance was made crystal clear to me just recently. A few weeks ago, a client requested recycled paper for a brochure. We tracked down the most environmentally sensitive paper we could…not only 100% post-consumer recycled paper, but created using all wind-power to boot! We thought we’d hit a home-run. Problem was, when the brochures were folded, the folds weren’t smooth at all. They looked like somebody took a piece of plywood and bent it in half. The whole job had to be reprinted (on the printer’s dime) and scored front and back to make it work. Those fibers just did not want to cooperate.

Apparently, 100% recycled paper lacks the longer virgin fibers that are in “new” paper. Without the longer fibers, paper breaks instead of folding. So, get the wrong fiber and the paper doesn’t fold. Yikes! The livelihoods of graphic designers depend on good fiber!

Of course, you don’t have to use wood to make paper. I have some 100% cotton business cards in my pocket right now. Beautiful impression when letterpressed! You can even make paper out of the same stuff as linen: flax. Crane & Co. uses flax to make some very durable paper used in America’s paper currency. We gave up the gold standard years ago…we’re on the flax standard now!

But paper isn’t the only stuff fiber is used for.

Fathom designed a logo for a hair salon called Abaca. Turns out, abaca is a plant that grows in the South Seas. It resembles a banana tree. The leaf of the abaca, with its long fibers, was found to make some pretty strong cordage for ships plying those waters. That cordage enabled the spice trade which connected our world and gave rise to Empires which in turn led to quite a number of wars. All from a humble, shrubby plant that offered…fiber.

Ever been in England and brushed against a stinging nettle? That little plant can almost knock you to the ground in pain. But scrape off the microscopic teeth that make it sting and you have a nice source of fiber, also good to make rope. Which is a handy thing when you need to move 25-ton stones 160 miles over the Salisbury Plain to Stonehenge.

Abaca and even stinging nettle can be used to make paper, too. We’ve even seen paper made from (I kid you not) elephant dung.

Fiber is wondrous stuff. And not content to just find it in nature, scientists have conceived of nano-engineered strands of super-strong fiber called buckytubes (named after Buckminster Fuller, inventor of the geodesic dome). Made of carbon molecules arranged in geometric structures resembling Disney’s Epcot Center, buckytubes are extremely strong and will enable suspension bridges with cords the thickness of pencils rather than foot-thick ropes of steel. Buckytubes may even be used to make microscopic machines…and maybe even pantyhose that don’t run. And are, um, bulletproof.

Maybe they will even use it for paper. Maybe they already do (explaining all those secret agents holding newspapers).

Well, it all starts with fiber. The graphic artist’s most important asset.

—Jason Smith

Two thousand nine was a challenging year across the economy, and for Fathom as well. Compared to the Federal deficit for 2009 (see below PBS Frontline graphic; 2009 is the red bar on the far right, 1.7 trillion), Fathom is looking pretty fine! We actually expanded our services and served a growing number of clients, even through the downturn. But we have tied our renovation plans to economic reality, and so plan on completing the new Fathom offices in a more reasonable timeframe.

Economic downturns force us all to take a hard look at priorities. For Fathom, we would prefer to invest in our image while working from temporary quarters into next summer. After all, a polished image is what entices new clients and reassures existing ones. We are providing top-notch service to our clients now, so the renovation, though exciting, is less important than a solid image and successful work.

We would encourage all businesses to consider investment in their image to be a first step to a successful 2010!