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14Aug, 2019

Trophy Club of Apalachee Logo Design

Trophy Club of Apalachee is a golf course located along the Apalachee River in Dacula, Georgia, that works with golfers of all levels to improve their skills, training, and overall game. When Trophy Club of Apalachee approached VDG earlier this year about a rebrand that would give the company an elevated, high-end feel, we were thrilled to take on the challenge. To achieve the desired look, we chose a clean, elegant san-serif font for the typography. In a nod to what Trophy Club is known for, we incorporated golf clubs in the logo in a way that felt natural as to not overpower the overall design.

Thinking about a company rebrand or need a new logo? Contact us today!

25Jul, 2019

Meet Our Intern: Madison Coats

Madison Coats is a senior at Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she majors in Graphic Design and minors in Marketing. Although she is about to finish her Bachelor’s degree, she plans to go back to school for a Master’s degree in Marketing in the next few years. When she is not doing her internship here at VDG, working as a framer at Hobby Lobby, or going to school, you can find her playing with her dog or doing some sort of DIY project. 

Who dead or alive would you like to have dinner with?
My grandmother so I can ask her for tons of advice and give her one more hug.

What is your favorite restaurant?
Fast food is super easy, Chick-fil-A. I could eat it for every meal, every day. As far as a sit-down restaurant, I love Japanese food, especially Kuro Shima, which is located in Milledgeville. 

What’s the last great book you read?
I actually just finished a book that I really enjoyed called Leave Your Mark by Aliza Licht. I read this book as a student about to graduate college looking to learn a few extra tips and tricks about the business and marketing world. This book is a super easy read and I found myself laughing at a lot of the stories, while also learning something from them. 

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
I think that just about anywhere with a beach is my kind of place, but recently I have been very interested in St. Augustine for its mix of beaches, rivers, art, and history. I have always felt that living by the beach would make life more enjoyable because everyone seems to be happier.

Do you have a hidden talent?
If I had to name a hidden talent, I would say that I am a big people person. After working customer service for almost 6 years, talking to people and helping them comes second nature to me. 

Name three things on your bucket list.
Skydiving, visiting all 50 states (I’ve already been to 15!), and traveling to Australia!

What is your dream job?
Wow, the answer to this has changed a million times in my life, but currently I want to stay in the marketing industry and work up to the CMO of a company (ideally in an office with a pretty view). 

Why did you want to intern with VDG?
After searching through tons of marketing and advertising agencies, VDG sparked my interest because of the quality of work that they produced. After interviewing and meeting some of the staff, I loved the work environment and sense of friendship within the company. Since being here, I have realized and love how involved VDG is with their clients and community.

17Jul, 2019

Tequila Mama Taqueria Logo Design

Tequila Mama Taqueria, which opened at Suwanee Town Center in March, has completely reworked the look and feel of the space from the previous tenant. The new restaurant boasts a fun, lively atmosphere, and patrons are greeted at the entrance by two giant mariachis from Guadalajara, Mexico. The restaurant has a bright, bold color palette along with an open-air bar and a dog-friendly patio. Tequila Mama also hosts events such as Latin Night, Glow Parties, and National Tequila Day. 

Tequila Mama’s menu is a fusion of Latin American and Asian cuisines. In addition to traditional tacos and burritos, the restaurant also puts their unique flavors into “bowls,” such as the La Cantina, Bulgogi and Cubano, all of which have been extremely popular since their opening. 

When Tequila Mama approached us about working with them, we were thrilled. We started by designing their logo which incorporates their funky, colorful style, while also being simple and memorable. The “TMT,” which is seen in the upper right side of the design, is based on a Victorian shape and has since been pulled out of the primary logo design and is used on its own as a secondary design throughout their restaurant and social sites.  While this acronym primarily stands for Tequila Mama Taqueria, it can playfully be used to mean “Too Much Tequila.” After designing the logo, we began to really develop the feel of the brand while designing their menu; we focused this design around the bright colors, an eclectic style and their iconic “mama.” We are currently still working with Tequila Mama by managing their social media and assisting with their printed media, such as postcards displayed on their tables in the restaurant.

15Jul, 2019

Atlanta Sprout Film Festival Invitation Design

Hi-Hope Service Center presented its fourth annual Sprout Film Festival on May 4, 2019. The annual event presents films that cover areas of artistry and intellect produced by and for people with developmental and intellectual disabilities.

The goal of the Sprout Film Festival is to accurately portray people with disabilities in order to make the general public more aware of the important issues in and around this population. There were 11 different stories featured at this year’s film festival, each highlighting the brilliance, uniqueness, and talents of these individuals. 

For this event, Veugeler Design Group designed the invitation that was distributed to event attendees. The design was informative and the visuals focused on a few of the different stories included in the festival. This simple illustration allowed the audience to immediately know that the event was a film festival, while the top half of the design featured detailed information about the event. We enjoyed working with Hi-Hope to create this invitation and help spread the word about this special event and the talents of those whose stories were told. 

26Jun, 2019

Bowman Fly Fishing Handout Design

Bowman Fly Fishing is a one-stop shop for everything fishing! Booking a trip with Bowman Fly Fishing gives customers all the fun of fishing with none of the hassle of having to purchase supplies or choose the right locations. Simply pick a date and Bowman will confirm and suggest a location based on your level of expertise and what you want to catch. On the day of your trip, they will provide all the gear you need — just show up and reel ’em in!

VDG recently worked with Bowman Fly Fishing to produce a 4” x 9” card to be used as a handout. The back of the handout details the different trips the company offers, along with their corresponding prices and contact information. The front of the handout shows several customers holding their prized possessions after a fun day of fishing. This handout was created as a quick reference guide for potential customers to be able to easily review the trip options offered, as well as have a visual of some previous fishing experiences hosted by Bowman.

18Jun, 2019

Meet Our Intern: Kelsey Sheridan

Kelsey Sheridan is a rising third year at a math and science-focused college, where she’s studying neither math nor science. She is majoring in Interaction Design and Communications at Georgia Tech and loving it, and hopes her internship at VDG this summer will provide her lots of insight into what it means to be a graphic designer. When she’s not in class or doing homework, you can find her rollerskating in Piedmont Park with friends or with a camera in her hands. She’s also involved on Tech’s campus in her sorority Phi Mu, where she paints banners, designs T-shirts and edits pictures for their Instagram account.

Who dead or alive would you like to have dinner with?
I would love to have dinner with Queen Elizabeth II. Besides the fact that I love British royalty, I really admire her as a person.

What is your favorite restaurant?
Without a doubt, I’m going to have to go with Peking, a Chinese restaurant in Suwanee. My family eats there for every special occasion we can think of because the owner is so friendly and the food is delicious.

What’s the last great book you read?
The Martian by Andy Weir. And yes, the book is in fact better than the movie.

If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’ve always said you could find me retiring on an island in Greece. I love the whitewashed walls and vibrant flowers and cobblestone streets, and something about the place just makes me want to pull out a canvas and start painting the views.

Do you have a hidden talent?
I’m really good with faces, especially remembering actors in movies and their previous works.

Name three things on your bucket list.
Exploring Australia to scuba dive in the Great Barrier Reef has been at the top of my list since I learned what a bucket list was. It’s followed closely behind by skydiving and riding in a hot air balloon.

What is your dream job?
Any career that I can get paid to be truly creative in, whether it’s a graphic designer or a traveling photojournalist, would be a dream for me.

Why did you want to intern with VDG?
I admire VDG’s wide portfolio of work and their atmosphere of collaboration and creativity. I want to learn the ins and outs of the professional graphic design process and how to be successful in this industry because I can see myself working somewhere like this in a couple years.

What do you love about design?
One thing I love about design is the unbounded, limitless nature of it. With a blank artboard in front of you and the tools to create at your fingertips, there’s no telling the amount of new designs you can make. I don’t believe I can ever truly be done creating, because there’s always another idea, another iteration, another combination of possibilities swirling in my head. Being able to translate the various ideas from mind into reality, to show a tiny piece of how I see the world, is really what I love.

25Jan, 2019

5 Ways a Branding Agency Can Help Your Business

Veugeler Design Group is approaching 13 years in business as a digital branding agency, and during that time we’ve worked with a number of businesses, cities, nonprofits, and other organizations to help build their brands — whether it’s starting from the ground up or contributing to a brand refresh. During this time we’ve helped clients develop compelling brand visuals and positioning messaging that tell their story and help them stand out from their competition. Through strategic branding, we help to lay the groundwork that forms an emotional connection between the company and its customers in all areas of its branding.

In 2018 alone, we designed 453 logos, built 42 new websites, and logged more than 15,000 hours of client work. We take pride in building and strengthening brands, and we have the knowledge and experience to do it well. But what exactly does it mean to “build a brand”? According to Boundless, a brand is a personality that identifies a product, service or company, including a name, term, sign, symbol or design, and also represents the relationships between customers, staff, partners, and investors.

YIR new

Building a brand doesn’t necessarily stop at designing a new logo or website. We work closely with clients to build the foundation of their brand, from design work (logos, websites, and marketing materials) to big-picture projects like marketing strategies, brand guidelines, identity packages, content development, package design and more.

With more than a decade of experience, we’ve learned what it takes to develop not only a strong brand, but also a cohesive message across all branding. We believe that working with marketing and branding professionals is imperative to take your brand to the next level and see growth. And while there’s really no one who knows your business quite like you do, most small-business owners lack the full knowledge and understanding about branding to tackle building one on their own. In addition, managing a brand identity can be overwhelming while also balancing other tasks that come with running a successful business. But that’s okay, because this is where professionals can help.

For these reasons, more and more businesses are turning to agencies to help manage their branding and marketing strategies. In this post, we’ve highlighted five ways that teaming up with a digital branding agency can benefit your overall efforts.

1. They have hands-on experience and knowledge

When you hire a branding agency, you are gaining a team of experts who have experience helping to create marketing materials for a wide range of businesses. According to Responsify, some of the biggest challenges businesses face when it comes to marketing are limited internal resources, lack of strategy, and lack of content. An agency will have experience creating and working with business strategies that are similar to yours. At VDG, our team of branding gurus helps to develop a variety of clients’ brand strategies by providing them with what we deem are important “services for success.” These include content development, brand guidelines, copywriting, logo and identity packages, typography, photography, and even package design.

As a branding agency with a strong background in design, we take all measure to ensure a client’s brand aligns with what they want to represent. This is especially important when it comes to logo design. Some questions we ask ourselves when approaching a new logo or logo refresh include: Is the logo an accurate depiction of the company? Does it clearly suggest what they do, the customers they want to target, and the reputation they want to uphold? What’s the best way to visually carry that through a design?

“Your brand is the most important investment you can make in your business.” – Steve Forbes,
American Publishing Executive

2. They can differentiate your business from others

The purpose of branding your company is to make it easily recognizable in a fiercely competitive market. Today, the internet is cluttered with businesses trying to get their brand out there. This means that the way your logo, voice, and business values are packaged are some of the most differentiating factors between yourself and the competition.

According to Action Card, although consumers form a first impression of a brand’s logo within 10 seconds, it takes 5-7 impressions before a consumer will actually remember that logo. An experienced team can help to make sure your business is getting the attention it needs.

We take our time to meet with clients, learn their story, and discuss their expectations to create an exceptional design and strategy that will target all of the areas they hope to tackle. Taking it a step further, the accompanying conversations with clients will ensure the materials we’ve created are appropriate for their audience and goals. As perfectionists, we are always striving to create the best foundation possible for our clients: Should we suggest a different way to display this information? Should we recommend a different outlet to reach a higher number of their potential customers? Is there a better way to do what’s currently being done? Should we redistribute our time and resources? Do they need our help with the bigger picture? These are important questions that should be included in any conversation regarding brand identity, and essential when working to make your brand stand out.

3. Maintain design consistency

Being consistent is probably the biggest struggle for businesses when it comes to branding. According to a recent study by NJIT, 90% of consumers expect their experience to be consistent across all channels and devices they use to interact with a brand. Being consistent with your name, strategy, tone of voice, social media, website, logos, etc., is vital to making sure your branding efforts are effective.

An average revenue increase of 23% is attributed to always presenting the brand consistently. 
— Lucid Press

Once the design element of the branding is established, we stress cohesiveness. As we’re producing pieces to frequently be displayed across numerous outlets (from print collateral that lands in residents’ mailboxes to digital boards plastered in an airport, for example), it’s vital that the creative material is consistent and cohesive to strengthen brand awareness and familiarize audiences everywhere with that brand. Marketing materials often serve as a first impression for companies today (and in turn, is also a reflection of us, the branding agency partner).

4. You get a team of experts helping to make your ideas come to life

Agencies have teams of brand strategists, designers, and writers who work together to stay within deadlines and produce compelling work for yourself and your clients. Research by Statistics Brain reveals that 34% of companies outsource to gain access to a resource not available internally, and 31% of them do so to free up internal resources. A digital branding agency provides you with a team of experts who can collaborate with you to help bring your ideas to life while also providing added support when your in-house team is already busy with their daily tasks.

5. Agencies help your overall business grow

How your target audience perceives you and what they think of you can make all the difference when trying to grow your business. According to Source Economist, 90% of businesses cited outsourcing as crucial to their overall business growth.

As a digital branding agency, we know that maintaining a positive brand image is one of the best ways to retain your existing clients and attract new ones at the same time. If you’ve been second-guessing the value of your design — don’t. Great design gives you a competitive edge, drives marketing results, and allows your business to stand out .

We hope this post has been helpful. For more insight, schedule a consultation with our team.
17Jan, 2019

10 Tips to Increase Engagement with Your Facebook Content

Why social media is important to help to grow your business.

From tweets and blog posts to status updates and live video, there are a lot of ways to build engagement with your followers.

With more than a billion daily users, Facebook is a major piece of the social media marketing puzzle for most companies. But how do you know that the content you’re posting on social media, especially Facebook, is increasing engagement with your business? Here are 10 tips to help grow engagement using Facebook content.


Tip #1: Treat Facebook differently than Twitter

While using other social media sites is important, be sure to remember that each platform is unique. Unlike Twitter, Facebook allows you to post longer content with a longer lifespan, meaning your content can often show up in people’s timelines over a period of several days. This ultimately increases your opportunity for engagement.

Tip #2: Share information about your business

Your audience is following your page for a reason, so keeping them up-to-date with what’s going on behind the scenes is a great way to increase engagement. Information that is specific to your business such as news coverage, job openings, promotions and milestones, make for great behind the scenes posts. Numbers also stand out to people, so posting things like “We have reached over 1,000 followers on social media” helps to draw their attention to your page.


Tip #3: Post at the Right Time

The trick to increasing engagement isn’t necessarily posting when most users are logged in, but instead posting when engagement is the highest. But what’s the difference Although you can see that most people tend to be logged on to social media during the day, you’ll find that most engagement actually happens at night. It’s a good idea to schedule your Facebook posts ahead of time to be more efficient. This also gives you the opportunity to test different times during engagement hours to find what works best for your company.

Tip #4: Study your previous posts that have received greater engagement in the past

“If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” is a good motto to live by while figuring out what social media strategies work for your company. Sometimes the best way to help increase your engagement is to publish more of the same type of content you’ve had success with in the past.

Tip #5: Be sure to tag other companies and groups in your posts

For increased engagement and cross-promotion, it’s helpful to tag companies and people appropriately in your posts. This allows your followers to access more information regarding what you’re posting about, as well as to help drive the audience of the people you tag to your page. In other words, it helps to create more entry points to your page.

Tip #6: Tag People in Photos

On Facebook, photos are the most engaging type of content. Posts that contain real people tend to come off as more personal and organic. So, the friends of the people you tag will also see those photos. So again, it’s another way to create an entry point for new audiences to see your page.


Tip #7: Share Links to your blog posts

Although photos have a high-engagement percentage on Facebook, links tend to have more reach. So what does that mean? While engagement shows the interactions with your posts, reach measures how many people have seen it. Because links to things like blog posts have a greater reach, it presents you with the opportunity to get more of those people to engage with them.


Tip #8: Reply to your Audience

You are working really hard to create engaging content for your audience, but are you ignoring them when it actually works? It is important to not just make a post and move on, but instead continue checking the comments on your post throughout the day. This way you can respond to your audience and build a relationship that keeps them engaging with your content.

Tip #9: Ask your Followers’ Opinions

One of the best ways to learn what type of content your audience is looking for is to simply ask them! Create a poll or other form of call to action, such as “Comment below with what you think,” that allows your viewers to voice their opinions. You can then use that information to continue creating engaging content that you know your audience likes.


Tip #10: Have an engagement strategy

Whether you are trying to increase engagement on Facebook or another social media site, having a strategy in place is imperative. If you are blindly publishing posts and hoping someone likes or comments on them, you’re not exactly being effective or efficient. Be sure to outline exactly what you want to post, when the best time to post is, and the steps you plan on taking to get more engagement. We hope these tips have been helpful! Follow VDG online for more helpful tips. And for more insight on your company’s social media strategy, schedule a consultation with our team.

25Oct, 2018

Integrating your Sales and Marketing Teams

Why it’s important for your business to integrate its sales and marketing teams.

Both sales and marketing are working toward a common goal of generating revenue and earning a profit.

For a long time, there has been a thin line dividing what “sales” and “marketing” means for a business. Some may argue that there would be no sales jobs if it weren’t for marketing teams, and others may argue that marketing would be useless without a sales team.

In some cases, there are those who think the two are the same, and we can’t really blame them when even the businesses themselves are confused.

In reality, the argument seems pointless since both are working toward a common goal of generating revenue and earning a profit. This is where the term “smarketing” comes into play.

Smarketing is the process of aligning the sales and marketing teams around common goals focused on improving revenue.

So how do you align your marketing and sales teams?

First, start with defining both team’s goals.

Marketing goals tend to be long-term, such as focusing on increasing brand awareness while sales teams generally focus on short-term goals that are usually geared to meet their monthly or quarterly quotas. By taking time to communicate and understand each other’s goals and progress, you are helping both teams to generate more revenue for the company as a whole.

You also need to make sure your buyer personas are clearly defined. Defining your buyer persona is vital for marketing success. It’s important that both your sales and marketing teams have a clear understanding of who your company is targeting, so they know who to market and sell to.

After you define your goals and buyer persona, you’ll need to put the great debate aside and begin integrating your sales and marketing teams.

Here are 5 tips on how you can integrate smarketing into your company in order to best focus on generating revenue and making a profit.

Tip 1: Define your Sales and Marketing Funnel

In order to get everyone on the same page, it’s important to have a mutual agreement on who is responsible for each stage of the sales and marketing funnel.

The funnel is divided into three different sections: the top, middle and bottom.

The marketing team is responsible for the top of the funnel, with the middle of the funnel having shared responsibility between both teams, and the sales team being responsible for the bottom of the funnel. Within each section, it is imperative that each life-cycle stage is defined in order for both teams to be on the same page.

Tip 2: Install a Closed-Loop Reporting System

Some of the problems that occur between the sales and marketing teams are generally created because they fail to implement a closed-loop reporting system. Closed-loop reporting is the feedback loop between both the sales and marketing teams. This is when the marketing team passes information on to the sales team and in return, the sales team provides feedback on that information.

This communication helps both teams to understand what marketing efforts are working in each stage of the funnel, as well as how many leads are actually being converted into customers.

Tip 3: Define your Lead Quality  

As your teams are generating leads, it is important to keep them ranked within the funnel according to the type of lead, capability of that lead, and their level of interest. Usually in the middle of the funnel, leads can be defined as either Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL) or Sales Qualified Leads (SQL).

MQLs are contacts who have shown the highest level of interest in your business and can then be passed on to your sales team, while SQLs are leads who the marketing team has defined as great fits for your business and are worthy of a follow-up.

Being able to clearly define which lead is which will help you navigate the hand-off point between your sales and marketing teams.

Tip 4:  Apply a Service Level Agreement  

A Service Level Agreement (SLA) defines what both the sales and marketing teams commit to accomplishing to support the other in reaching their shared revenue goals. A marketing to sales SLA is based on how many quality leads the sales team needs in order to meet their quota, while a sales to marketing SLA is based on how many follow-up attempts are required to generate the necessary revenue.

Essentially, both teams are defining what they want to accomplish in order to support the other. The key word here is “Agreement,” so you want to make sure the Service Level Agreement is clear and concise, as well as monitored regularly to continue to hold everyone accountable.

Tip 5: Maintain Regular Communication and Monitor your Metrics

Last but not least, smarketing requires constant communication and feedback monitoring to make sure everyone is on the same page. It’s a good idea to hold weekly smarketing meetings with both teams for everyone to stay updated on campaigns, product revenue, and qualified leads. It is also helpful to hold monthly management meetings to go over metrics for that month, and to keep everyone accountable.

It is important to remember that integrating your sales and marketing teams is an ongoing process that takes place for as long as you are in business.

We hope these tips help you integrate smarketing into your business. For more insight, schedule a free marketing consultation with our team.

17Aug, 2018

What is a Responsive Web Design and Why Does it Matter?

Responsive web design is critical to your business’ success.

User experience is more important than ever – more searches are performed on mobile than desktop.

When was the last time you updated your company’s website? Five years ago? Possibly more?

If this is the case, chances are your website is outdated and a contributing factor to why you’re not converting as many leads as you’d like.

Whether you’re just launching your business’ website or embarking on an overhaul, it’s important to have the necessary building blocks in place before investing time and money into other features like content and video.

Responsive design is necessary to ensure an optimal experience for all users no matter how they’re viewing your site.

So what exactly does it mean to have a responsive web design?

A responsive website responds well to all of the different devices a person will use to view your website. This includes mobile devices, desktops and even tablets. It is designed to adapt to all screen sizes so the user experience is good no matter what device they’re using.

But why does this matter?

There are a lot of reasons responsive design matters in today’s digital landscape.

Customers are viewing your site on a number of devices and screen resolutions and they need to be able to properly view, use and navigate your website no matter which device they choose to use.

Your site’s design and navigation must flow seamlessly between all devices or else you risk driving customers away.

According to Adobe, nearly 8 in 10 customers stated that they would stop engaging with content that doesn’t display well on their chosen device.

Before 2012, businesses would build separate designs for both desktop and mobile. These days, that line of thinking doesn’t cut it.

There are many web-capable devices on the market and it isn’t practical to create a separate design for each of them. This is why having a responsive website design is so important.

After a survey by Impact, 83% of mobile users say that a seamless experience across all devices is very important.

With that being said, aside from its necessity, there are many benefits of having a responsive design for your businesses.

Responsive web-design will save you money because you only need to create one version of your website. And since you’ll only build one website, SEO will be easier and less time-consuming than if you had to create multiple websites.

But the biggest benefit will be to your visitors because responsive design ensures a better user experience. The design and content will be optimized for their device, so they’ll be able to navigate your website and use it in the way it’s intended. This also means they will be  more likely to return to your website in the future.

If all of this isn’t enough to convince you of the importance of having a responsive web design, keep in mind that google takes responsiveness into account when it ranks your pages. This means that if you want to rank well organically, your website must incorporate an optimized, responsive design.

Most web development companies and web designers will implement a responsive design from the get-go. We here at VDG always keep responsive design top of mind when creating websites for our clients. So if you feel in the dark about how to implement a responsive design to your site, it’s worth reaching out to a professional for help and guidance to ensure your site will be successful.

We hope this video helped you to see the importance of a responsive web design, for more insight please click the link below.

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Veugeler Design Group is an award-winning, digital marketing and design agency focused on delivering compelling work that gets you noticed, tells your story, and attracts and converts the customers you want.
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