It’s 5:45 on a Friday night, we have company coming over in 15 minutes and I still have to prepare food for our guests. Luckily, we’ve got beautiful farm-share veggies and greens for the salad and it’ll only take me five minutes to chop the ingredients. I reach for the Epicurean cutting board with my right hand and pull the chef’s knife out of the block with my left. Like a punctuation mark on my next task, I confidently toss a ripe tomato from one hand to the next before setting it on the cutting board. In my head, I look like Tom Cruise in whatever that bartender movie was from the 80’s. The blade reaches the delicate red skin of the tomato and SQUISH, the knife expertly mutilates a once proud tomato. Now I’ve got to take the time to sharpen the knife and start over again. My inner pre-guests-coming-over voice is saying,
“We don’t have time for this Mike! Didn’t you just sharpen this knife two days ago?”
I grab the sharpener and carefully hone the blade to the best of my ability, knowing that I’ll be right back in this same position sometime next week. I shouldn’t be surprised either, like many young adults, they were a hand-me-down set from a parent and it’s never been replaced. I mean, they’re still skinny metal objects that can make food smaller, right?
The rest of the salad and the evening go off without a hitch and our guests graciously thank us for the hospitality and politely comment on the quality of the food, like all good Minnesotans should. The next time we invite friends over, we’ll forget about our shitty knives until it’s crunch time and we really need them to work. Maybe it’s time to invest in something that we can rely on, something that’s high quality and will stand the test of time. A knife set that we don’t want to pass down to our child because it’s still an investment that we’re proud to call our own.
“Mike, what’s with this obsession over knives and what does it have to do with design work? …And that movie was Cocktail.”
When you own a business, you only have a finite number of times to make a connection with people and I can guarantee that they won’t all be as polite as our friends who tell us how good our meals are. Customers are picky, they’re motivated by feelings, experiences and value.
“My logo and marketing is just fine - they all have my name, what we do, and I really like the colors.”
The problem with ‘just fine’ is that most businesses don’t pride themselves on doing anything, ‘just fine’. A deliberate, thoughtful and proactive brand identity can be your new set of knives. Sure, my old chef’s knife still cuts stuff, but I’m constantly giving it unnecessary time and attention for very little payoff.
When you invest in thoughtful design with Šek, we provide all of the elements you need to be successful and to keep moving forward without having to stop and re-sharpen your approach every time you need a new marketing piece. Solid identity design works as a system within your business and translates into a sort of language that your customers and clients can understand. They recognize your values, your expertise and what makes you stand out, all within a small mark.
We take the time to fully understand your business, your ideal clients and your long term goals so you can continue to do what you do best while we create tools to share your story with your target audience. As an added bonus, when you work with our design studio, (along with getting the highest quality design elements) you can also be confident that you helped to keep me from selling knives door-to-door for a little while longer. After all, I’m an OK salesman, but I’m much better with a pencil and a blank sheet of paper.
Future buyer of a fine knife set,
Michael Smisek - Owner/Designer at Šek
Check out some of our 'sharp' work!
Photo Credit ScienceMag.org
