Or I can’t go to sleep without you. Or I can’t eat lunch, take a break, do work, exercise, drive, without you… whatever. I can’t do without you! You get the point.

This is a totally unfair post, because I’m not giving you the magic method.

You’ve got to be as essential as morning coffee to someone, to survive—whether you own your own business, or you’re an employee in a shaky industry, or maybe you’re a blog author.  

We all answer to someone: the buyer, the boss and coworkers, our readers, (even our spouse and kids!). And if you want to survive and thrive, you’ve got to be essential to someone.

Start today. Build your value so that you become essential to one new customer, new reader, or a coworker. Someone just has to have you, your product, or your service, as part of their day, because you __________ .

They’ll tell someone else, and you’ll have a chance to become as essential as morning coffee to a new contact.

Keep it going.

Are you as essential as morning coffee?

Who or what’s as essential as morning coffee to you?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

I liked your post about holiday cards and envelopes.…
Should I be writing holiday cards? Isn’t everybody drowning in meaningless well-wishes from everyone they do business with right about now?
—via email

Every once in a while I like to dig into my mail bag, and with my reader’s permission (thank you!), this seemed like an excellent question to turn into a post.

My thoughts:

1. Those were my personal cards, but yes, I think businesses should be writing holiday cards.

Emphasis on the word writing.

2. Everybody is drowning, but in my experience, a little less every year. That’s a shame because I think there’s something charming about drowning in well-wishes during the coldest, darkest time of the year (well, for northern hemisphere folks… forgive me if you’re reading from elsewhere in the world).

Maybe “everyone” assumes what my reader did when she wrote to me, and that might be why there seem to be fewer cards, gifts, and the proverbial “calendar with the name of my insurance agent on it.” “Everyone” thinks one less greeting won’t be noticed!

3. Don’t let the wishes be meaningless!

SELECT a group of clients and contacts rather than trying to mass-mail 16,000 folks who don’t know you;

THINK about the recipient as more than a revenue stream for a few minutes a year;

WRITE something in every card.

4. If you can’t bring yourself to do a Happy Holidays mailer (and even if you can)—find a holiday at another time of year and surprise your clients and contacts with well-wishes when they’ll really be noticed.

Why not knock ‘em dead with cards for their receptionist on Administrative Professionals’ Day, the Wednesday of the last full week of April? A gift to their favorite charity on Sweetest Day, the third Saturday in October?

I wouldn’t skip the tradition of sending a card at this time of the year, but for Maximum Customer Experience, make well-wishes a fun part of thinking of your best customers and business contacts more than once a year. Create a schedule for keeping in touch, keep your list small, and let your firm’s Vision shine through in your approach. Then your holiday greetings will be eagerly anticipated, even when we’re drowning in tasteful Currier and Ives calendars.

How’s your mailbox these days, at home or at work?

Have meaningful well-wishes become so unusual that you’d sit up and notice a personal greeting from a business contact? Or are holiday cards OUT as a way to send you our best regards?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

Before, during, and after the sale. Beyond your own voice, and your staff’s. Beyond live Customer Service.

What speaks for you when you’re not around?

20 Must-Have Tools

1. Business cards: Come on, small business owners. What are you waiting for???

2. Letterhead. And thank-you notes. Get ‘em. Then use them. You will stand out.

3. Your voicemail message: In my humble opinion, none of us must answer the phone 24/7. But you’d sure better have a pleasant voicemail message. Why not use it to say more than Hello, and give a little tease? At the very least, direct customers to your website, where they may find the answer to their question, or become interested in another solution you have for them.

4. Bio: Printed, for use when speaking, doing press releases, sending promotional kits; on your website, so people who are looking for you online can get to know “the real you” a little better.

5. Capabilities brochures, sells sheets, mini-portfolio: The humble brochure is not dead, but so many folks who create them, apparently, are. Get fresh with the design of yours. Include tips, quips, something to make it a giveaway that’s tough to throw away.

6. Order forms, invoices: Nothing says “we don’t care” like ugly and hard to understand forms. DO something about it.

7. Packaging: For service businesses—maybe not so obvious, but this can include binders or presentation folders for proposals… these days even office-store supplies can be minimally customized for your company. For products—ready for the cliché? Think outside the box. Seriously.

8. Hang tags: For products—some people keep these as if they’re business cards. Make sure yours has plenty to say.

9. Website: Think I shouldn’t have this on the list? Check it out—Over 45% of small business owners still don’t have a website. Jump now!

10. FAQs: A subset of your website, but too crucial not to get its own mention. Answer your customers’ questions, not the things you wish they’d ask.

11. Email: This is duh! to many of you, but I’ll say it anyway. A professional email address uses your business’ domain name. Like kellye@visionpoints.net —no gmail, yahoo, or hotmail for your business purposes, please? (What you use after dark is your own affair.)

12. Blog: The ultimate communications tool for small business. If you can write interestingly, and can develop a consistent pace, you should do it. Even if it’s only once or twice a week.

13. Press releases: Go modern and e-release for free with prlog.

14. Get interviewed: A fast-growing site to help you become a resource for reporters is Peter Shankman’s If I Can Help a Reporter Out. If you’re the expert in your field, and you want others to know it, mix this in with traditional methods, building relationships with local reporters.

15. Traditional advertising: Why is everyone more excited to get customers from around the globe than from around the bend? (In case you missed it, click here to visit our talk about this earlier in the week.)

16. Coupons: Next to “free,” nothing grabs attention like “% Off.” Use it, sparingly. You don’t want to be the low-price leader, but if you can grab attention with a coupon and hold it with your amazing product or service, there are times when you take the attention.

17. Traditional articles, in traditional newspapers and magazines: If you’ve got a blog already, you know you can do this! If you haven’t, try having a friend interview you to loosen you up. Then ask what he or she found was nugget in that interview that’s going to get others interested, and write—as if you’re simply continuing the talk. Focus on providing information the reader can put to use right away. Start with your small local rags and specialty/ industry magazines that your customer is likely to read—not your industry, theirs!, and work your way up.

18. Great photography: Of yourself, your place of business, your products, your results. Photography gets a separate mention as a communications tool because you’ll need it in so many of the other tools. A picture really does say a thousand words, and a crummy picture never shuts up. Do yours make customers say wow?

19. Public speaking: If there is a better way to communicate with prospects than to, umm, communicate with prospects, I don’t know what it is. I didn’t say 20 easy tools! Try to find a luncheon to speak at, a workshop to teach, a panel to be a part of… get out there and talk about the problems your potential clients face every day.

20. Referrals: A tool? Yes, referrals are your clients or other partners doing the communicating for you. You need this tool most of all! You have less control, but there are infinitely more benefits to word-of-mouth. Make actively encouraging referrals part of your everyday client discussions… as a P.S. on your letters, as part of your email signature, and even with small rewards. Don’t forget to write a thank-you for their referral!

+ 5 Takeaways

To make sure your tools are communicating effectively:

Be engaging! Be witty if that works for you, be thought-provoking, tug emotions. Be yourself.

Stay sharply focused on the customer’s needs and wants.

Get on the web. Most of your clients are, and many of your competitors still aren’t. BUT, don’t forget to reinforce your offline marketing communications. A lot of people still aren’t online, and web surfers themselves are notoriously blind to marketing messages.

Go with traditional, tried-and-true methods: Zig when everybody else wants to zag. Twitter’s great, but I buy my pizza with a coupon. Think about what works for you.

Make it remark-able.

Got a business communications tool to add to this list? What do you think every business owner should have, or have done better, to speak for them when they’re not around?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

“What have you been doing with your summer?” your competitor across town asks you oh, so innocently at the Chamber of Commerce brunch.

“Nothing much,” you say. “I took some time to—

Clear Out the Cobwebs

Smile for the Birdie

Have a New Logo Designed

Get My Kids Involved

and Read at the Beach all about how to knock my competition flat.

“How about you?”

If you’re burnt-out, antsy, and need to revitalize your attitude as much as your business, this is the series for you. Experience Design for beach-dreaming business owners comes to your summer Mondays.

Summer Is a Great Time to Walk the Grounds

Overheard at a local office:

Client: Have you stopped paying the bill for your landscaping service? It’s nothing… hardly anything. The lawn’s a jungle and there are weeds in every planter outside…”

Professional: [nervous laughter] Gosh I never noticed. Heh heh. That’s my job—what do you think I do on weekends? … I’d better call the building people, huh?”

Client: It’s pretty ugly. I’m surprised you’re here every day and you never see it.”

It’s when you’re there every day that you don’t see things. Our brains are designed to filter out sameness and only pick up on change—significant change. Growing weeds doesn’t count as significant, so we have to purposely train those powers of observation.

Noticing the outside of your building is an easier task in the summer, for your clients and for you. They’re not running to get in out of the weather, and they’re hoping for a bit of cheer in your landscape (especially if you have planters like the hapless fellow above).

You may run just the same, since it’s your business, but this week, get off the treadmill, get out in the warm weather, and walk those grounds to see what your customers are seeing.

Exterior inspection checklist for your small business

Look for:

Cigarette butts

Gum on sidewalks

Neglected landscaping

Burnt-out lighting

Peeling/ fading/ filthy paint on signage or building

Cracked sidewalks

Parking lot with cracks, stains, or potholes

Clogged gutters and drainspouts

This isn’t exhaustive, but these are some of the biggies that your customers will notice in a hurry. (I added the last one after I was deluged with water coming off a roof during a fairly light rain last week, and realized that the store’s gutters were overflowing with leaves and debris. My suit was stuck to me for an hour.)

What would you add to this list?

Be honest—do you notice exterior maintenance issues a lot more when you are a customer, than when you’re running in to your own business in the morning? What will walking a mile in your customer’s shoes out-of-doors show you?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

The beach or the mountain was beautiful. It didn’t last long enough and you need a vacation from your vacation. It’s Monday and you’re trying to be raring to go.

There’s still a shine around the office from the day you got to Clear Out the Cobwebs; you looked hotter than the weather when you went to Get Your Picture Taken; you’re making plans to Have a New Logo Designed. These steps are making a visible difference, but you’re longing for a more personal connection to Maximum Customer Experience.

If you’re burnt-out, antsy, and need to revitalize your attitude as much as your business, this is the series for you. Experience Design for beach-dreaming business owners comes to your summer Mondays.

Summer Is a Great Time to Hire a Little (or Big) Assistant

Though I’d planned to write this post for a while, in Philadelphia’s Chinatown recently I began thinking seriously about the subject. Some cultures, and some professions, have a tradition of involving their children in the family business—so much so that reading an article like this might seem silly. If you were a farmer I wouldn’t need to mention the subject, but, dear reader, you are not.

Get your kids involved with your business—the earlier the better. Whether they’re toddlers, teens, or twentysomethings, there are benefits to taking them to work with you this summer. Give them firsthand knowledge of how your business works and you may plant the seeds of their own entrepreneurial Vision—or begin to form your exit strategy.

Will work for résumé

Adult children can get on-the-job training the same way any employee would. If you hope to groom them to take over your business one day be sure to have a frank discussion about this with them—no one wants to be told what their future holds without discussion. If the plan is near-term, you may need to discuss this with key staff, too.

What’s great about having your older child learn the ropes of your business, getting their hands dirty in every corner of the company? You can ask them for feedback and know you’ll get it in your kid’s own, very honest way. Want to know how to improve your processes? Let that bright college freshman work with your shipping department. You’ll get an earful.

Will work for cold, hard cash and car keys

If your teen needs a little extra cash to buy the cutest bikini she saw the other day, start small. Make it an opportunity to spend time together, and also give her some space to discover the ins and outs of what you do on her own. Nobody questions the status quo like a teenager. Trust what you hear.

Let your teen learn along with you—being open about the challenges you face as well as your successes provides important lessons in Mom or Dad’s fallible humanity, as well as offering an opportunity to put that creative mind to work with some real-life problem solving.

Will work for hugs

What about your younger children? Sure, you can take them along for the day to help with filing, mailings, packing orders. The littlest assistants will learn by doing, and they’ll love that very grownup time with you.

To see them shine, let them sell. These are the best darned marketers on the planet. Didn’t you just take the little darling for ice cream last week even though you were exhausted and it was past bedtime for at least one of you? And how about that stuffed toy that just had to come home with you, to join the other thirty in the bed?

Younger children are both curious about and proud of what their parents do. They probably have a limited understanding of your work, so hiring them for a portion of the summer will expose them to the ins and outs of your business. They’ve got no fear of failing in this situation, and they’re very persuasive. Let them go with the customer, whether it’s selling a muffin or a refrigerator. Tell your precocious dear (a little bit about) what you’re hoping for in the encounter, and you may find a laughing client, ready to sign on the dotted line!

& you get to embarrass them for free!

Don’t be afraid to introduce your newest staff member to customers with a gleam in your eye. No matter their age, your children will always be proud to be singled out by you—and your customers will have one more reason to be a fan of your company.

When your children learn more about how you follow your dreams every day, you become more than the person who helps put food on the table. You become an inspiration and a guide to pursuing their own Vision. Show your kids how to enjoy the hard work behind the Big Dreams this summer.

Don’t just nod and think about this one—make it happen, whether you work from home, shop, or office. Summer’s slipping past. Create this experience, for both of you to carry into the fall. What special talents can your summer hire bring to the job?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

P.S. My little person, who gets involved in Mama’s business and her grandparents’ business whenever possible, is the real inspiration for this post. And she knows it.

You’re looking out the window every five minutes. The summer sun is tugging at you. You bit the very hot bullet to Clear Out the Cobwebs on a grey day; you took that fine summer tan of yours to Get Your Picture Taken. Your place of business looks like a million bucks and that executive photo says “Leader.” Still you stare out the window, wanting to do more to expand your company’s Presence.

If you’re burnt-out, antsy, and need to revitalize your attitude as much as your business, this is the series for you. Experience Design for beach-dreaming business owners comes to your summer Mondays.

Summer Is a Great Time to Have a New Logo Designed

Rebrand (verb): To change the brand name, logo, or image of a product or company. (Wiktionary)

Ask me about naming tomorrow. For today, let’s concentrate on that logo—the graphic representation of your company—which is an important part of your image in a customer’s mind.

I know. I told you that you do not need a logo. It’s still true, but you’ve got one, haven’t you? If you haven’t, your wordmark (that’s your company’s name, in its unique, standalone type treatment) may be screaming “dull” under the summer sun.

It’s time for something new. Your business cards, brochures, stationery, signage, website, and blog, will all thank you. Heck, even your Mom might thank you.

Why during a slow season?

You have a little free time to put into researching the change.

Summer=Fresh. Folks expect new rollouts right about now, so it’s not as jarring.

Ease customers into the new design now; as business picks up again, it’s a done deal.

What should you expect from your intrepid designer?

A partner in change. Your designer should ask you tough questions to help you Pinpoint your goals, Vision, and audience for this logo (your Ideal Customer).

A written contract. It doesn’t have to be complex, just what to expect and when and what they will deliver, so everyone is on the same page.

A guarantee. Many designers charge in stages, so that the research and design work they do is paid for (only fair), but the last payment waits until you okay the final design. Of course, so does delivery, so if you’re not satisfied and decide not to pay, the designer doesn’t give you the completed files. Only fair.

Research, BrainStorming, and sketching. Lots of each. The behind-the-scenes processes. You won’t usually see this, though it is where most of the time and work goes.

1–3 concepts for your consideration.

At least one revision. Then they can make good on their guarantee to produce the design you both agreed on.

One final design, with electronic files for sending to your printer and for online use.

Most important things to expect:

Your logo should “feel like” your company (all the preliminary work you and your designer did is reflected here).

Your logo should NOT feel like something you’ve seen before! Yes, with an exclamation point! At revision time, if something is wrong, SPEAK UP. Too many design clients pay for work that is way off the mark or that feels common as muck, but never say a word. To the designer. Badmouthing afterwards is not being a good client. Your designer wants you to grow with your new logo. If you’ve got a bad feeling about the work, don’t just assume they know more than you do. You’ll be unhappy, and you’ll be looking for a new designer within months.

What does good logo design cost?

I know you want the bottom line, so even though the answer is “It depends,” I’m going to give it to you straight. Round figures: $300 USD and up for a good custom logo for your small business. Sometimes, way up. If you see significantly lower price (and you will) on the Internet, the designer is not spending quality time on your project nor making sure that your logo is unique. Can’t. Be. Done.

So, what’s “good”? You know it when you see it, right? What makes a logo design work for you?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

P.S. If you’d like to begin a rebrand with a new logo, you can contact VisionPoints. We’d love to hear from you—long summer days give us our best ideas for your business.

You’re roasting. You’re cranky. Yet last week, you used that bright summer sun to highlight and Clear Out the Cobwebs. You’re feeling fresher already. What else can you do to ramp up your business this summer?

If you’re burnt-out, antsy, and need to revitalize your attitude as much as your business, this is the series for you. Experience Design for beach-dreaming business owners comes to your summer Mondays.

Summer Is a Great Time to Get Your Picture Taken

You’ve got a tan (well, as much as you plan to get). You’re feeling skinny (hard to eat when you’re so darned hot). Now’s the time: Book an appointment with a real photographer.

If you are the guy I saw with the twenty-year-old photo on the web yesterday, hurry up. No kidding, we can all tell that outfit is a relic. And the hair! We can’t hire you while wondering if you lost your comb. In 1987.

How to choose a business photographer

I recommend a look at your local business newspaper (not the daily paper, now, the business news). There are usually some fine head shots of local leaders, which often have credits. If you like what you see, look them up. There are often a few ads in the paper for folks who do executive portraits, as well. Check their websites and find one with a style you like.

I love the executive photos of Terence Roberts, here in Wilmington. I insist you check out his portfolio whether you are nearby or not, because if your photographer can get a shot demonstrating your expertise as well as your dental work (as he does), you really should. (No affiliation with Mr. Roberts, if you’re wondering.)

If you don’t have a local business paper, do an Internet search for your town and “executive photography” or “business photography.” Click around.

Take some time before the big date to think about the mood, the surroundings, the trappings of your business that should provide the backdrop for this photo. Think about your clothing. It also sets a mood (casual or relaxed), and if not carefully selected, it can date you faster than you can say “Bob Newhart in flannel.”

Last: ask your photographer’s advice, and take it. He or she knows how to bring the best out in you.

What are you going to do with this photo?

Freshen up your website or your blog (redid mine here at MCE a couple of months ago, in spite of my photo-phobia). Writing this has me thinking of doing it again, actually.

Put it on your brochures.

In some fields, putting your photo on your business card is becoming the norm (Real Estate comes to mind).

If your business hangs on you, the individual, a well-conceived photo may belong in your advertising.

Include it in your press kit.

Hang it in a hallway of your offices along with photos of the rest of your staff.

Give it to your Mom (she likes that kind of stuff).

How long has it been since you had your photo taken by a professional? If the answer is, “not since high school,” stop considering it an indulgence. This is a business expense to brand you, dear reader, as a pro worth contacting…. and paying.

What do you think when you see an obviously dated photo in a brochure or on the web?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

Let’s face it, folks. For some of you, summer is slow. For most of you, summer is hot. For me, at least, summer can get me a bit crazy, wanting action… or a nap. Either one could work.

If you’re burnt-out, antsy, and need to revitalize your attitude as much as your business, this is the series for you. Experience Design for beach-dreaming business owners comes to your summer Mondays.

Summer Is a Great Time to Clear Out the Cobwebs

How long has it been since you really, truly, got down and dirty in your business?

Throw open the windows the next time the thermometer gives you a five-degree break, and declare it supercleaning day. Get the supplies ready (lemony stuff really does give you a psychological lift), and prep your staff in advance. Tell them the target temperature, and make it a bit of unpredictable fun waiting to see when that day will come.

Get out the toothbrushes. Everybody pitches in. (Yes, yes, you’ll be working around your customers. That’s why you’re choosing a slow time of year!) I want you to do the jobs your cleaning staff misses, so your whole store or office will sparkle. Do the gross stuff, like around the toilets, and the why-don’t-we-ever stuff, like the phone receivers. If you all pitch in (home-based entrepreneurs—this is what you had kids for, as my Mom used to say), you’ll find that the little neglected stuff will make a big difference in your pride, you’ll get a peculiar burst of camaraderie, customers will notice “there’s something different,” and they’ll appreciate it; best of all, it will not take you all day.

Last but not least: Buy a quart of paint. Something a little… different. Do one small touch—the obnoxious pole in the center of the room that you can’t move; the door frames; the front of the receptionist’s desk; the men’s room walls. You don’t have to be an artist to add a special touch with a bit of paint, and it will cap off your cobweb-clearing day with a visual reminder for everyone to walk by: a totem of the pride you all have in your work.

When you’re done, head on home, and take that nap. You deserve it.

What tips would you suggest for clearing out the cobwebs? What other benefits are there in having a supercleaning day?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

I’ve never been to Paris. Then again, a lot of people I know who’ve been to Paris have never been to the city they expected. No encircling fog, no Gene Kelly and Leslie Caron (or at least Keanu Reeves and Diane Keaton). I’ve heard the experience was hollow for some: Yes, the cafés, the cigarettes dangling from mouths, the trying-too-hard-to-be-unhurried elegance was there, but no deep, soul-tugging romance. Such high expectations, and then the experience is that of a city like many others (with a unique style, mais oui).

Perhaps this is the fault of those expectations.

When I was a young adult, living in New Jersey, I used to go to New York City to party with friends on a semi-regular basis. Since this was usually more about the friends than about the party itself, there were plenty of grungy low-rent apartments (“arty” of course), dive bars, and long walks (who could afford a cab?). They weren’t “the best days of my life,” but they were great days, the sort of memories you are supposed to store up for nostalgic looks in the rear-view mirror.

I remember one breezy night in October. It was a rare night when we drove everywhere: windows rolled down, music perfect, full of ourselves. We began the evening at a friend’s favorite bar on Staten Island; made our way to Soho and drank some more; went on to an after-hours club in Brooklyn, and after that we drove around, looking out at the silent streets of 3 a.m. for the next thrill. (Hugh McLeod could back me up on this. I think he has similar whisky-soaked memories of foggy New York streets and after-hours parties with delightfully spy-like ways of getting in.)

In spite of the hour, the lights were blazing in a little shop on a corner, under an elevated train track. It was a bakery, and through the open windows it filled the whole car with the scent of fresh bread. We parked, and four of us got out. I think we just wanted to have a look, but who am I kidding? After the night we’d had, we were starved.

There was a small door propped open, and a baker dragging a cart of bread through to a waiting truck. “Go on in,” he said. Their display shelves were only partly stocked, but with the kitchen door open the scent was incredible. Typical of New York, you could hear conversations in several languages going on back there, none of which we could understand. It was like a scene from a movie—a dozen employees, rushed but happy, smiling out at us but far too busy to stop and ask what we were doing there.

The baker, a small man with a thick eastern European accent, came back in with four smallish loaves of bread. “Two dollars,” he said, “and have a beautiful morning.”

We left the car there for a while, walking, warming our hands with the hot loaves, and munching away. When we came back their shelves were nearly filled with all sorts of goodies, and the little man waved at us as we piled in and drove away.

I never drove back to that area with those three friends again. Wouldn’t I love to tell you that I became their most loyal customer, and give you their name! It was absolutely a Maximum Customer Experience, after all. Over the years I’ve tried on my own to locate that corner under the tracks without success. If you reach back I think you’ll find you also have a memory like this one. The Experience was created in part by a lack of expectation; by desires we didn’t know we had, being fulfilled. It was all the wonder and discovery and the romance of Paris—our own “secret” discovery right there in NYC.

Welcome and truly understand all your customers.

Q: When Is the Experience of New York All You’d Expect From Paris?

A: At 3 a.m., in the rear-view mirror.

How can you create an Experience for your customers that lasts like this?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

I saw the most beautiful delivery truck today. Gorgeous, current colors, striking photography all over, eye-catching layout.

Probably for a local business. I can’t tell you.

At fifty feet, I couldn’t read a thing on it, or this might be a whole different post.

What Is Being in Business For? This truck failed utterly. Beautiful, striking, money out the window. I hate that. I want your business to grow and thrive!

Outdoor legibility* rules for trucks, billboards, and other signage:

1. Clear and readable at 100–500 feet: large, bold type (not this kind of bold—bold in the sense of “prominent, standing out”)

2. Short copy (including contact info for trucks!)

3. High contrast colors

4. Simplify, simplify, simplify (must be easily understood and remembered, at a distance, in under 5–10 seconds for motorists)

5. Well-lit (if applicable… not your truck, please!)

Go ahead and be beautiful! Market your business! Just make sure I can read it, okay?

Grow and be well,

Kelly Erickson

*Legibility vs. Readability: There is some debate as to precise definitions, but to rudely gloss over the subject: Legibility concerns letterforms of a typeface (“font”), and how easily recognized they are, which is generally the critical factor in a near-instant read such as outdoor signage; readability concerns the ease of reading a typeface through a longer passage. There are many excellent resources on- and off-line that walk through historic and current preferences, and understanding of legible and readable type. It’s my article and I’m not going to go there with you right now.