Blog
How is AI Affecting Design?
I’m sure you’ve seen loads of articles on how AI, or artificial intelligence, is already changing our world. Its abilities aren’t only impacting those in the tech industry. AI has been transforming e-commerce customer service through (vastly improved) chat bots, enhancing predictive target for digital advertising, diagnosing medical issues early through wellness trackers, and lowering…
Branding Basics
What the heck does ‘branding’ actually mean? Just the word ‘brand’ or ‘branding’ can bring up a lot of questions. Well, have no fear, we’re here to help break down the basics. Welcome to Branding 101! Please take your seats and take out your number 2 pencils. (We promise to keep this short and to…
Brand Rollout: How to Do it Successfully
So you’ve got a new brand… It’s an exciting time! Hopefully your new brand is something you love and feels like it represents your business in exactly the right way. But with your new brand in hand, now what? It’s now time to take that beautiful new brand and share it with the world! Doing…
4 Steps to Crafting Your Brand Personality
Today, we’re talking all about pizza. You may be asking: what does crafting my business’ brand identity have to do with pizza? Good question. So let’s get into it. How to craft your brand identity – pizza edition! Step 1: Understand Your Goals Defining goals is a great way to capture what your business…
Visual Communication: What the Heck Is It and Why Should I Care?
We’re going to dive right int this one because it’s a big topic. Visual communication is the practice of graphically representing information to efficiently and effectively create meaning. Since that may have many of you thinking, “thanks for the nerdy textbook definition”, let’s break it down a bit. In layman’s terms. Communicating using just words…
Get Out of Your Box
Your brand needs to be flexible enough to show up everywhere your business is present. That means on your storefront, website, social media, print and digital ads, vehicle wraps, you name it. Your brand, especially your logo, shouldn’t be confined to a box or leave you feeling restricted. We end up working with a lot…
We’re Hiring!
That’s right. Our future is looking very busy so we’re hiring a part-time graphic designer! Interested in joining our team? Take a look through the position’s roles and responsibilities below and apply today if you think you could be a good fit. Position Overview We are hiring a part-time graphic designer to help our team…
Ways to Kill a Brand
Now, we’re not in the business of creating sub-par brands. Far from it. We aim to create brands that truly represent the businesses they serve, ones that create a connection to the intended audience, and are flexible enough to be used across multiple mediums while still maintaining a strong, consistent presence. That said, there are…
So Much More than Just a Logo
Most of our clients come to us knowing they have a problem with, or at the very least disliking something about, their current brand. They may not know what they wanted fixed or even what needs fixing, and that’s fine by us. We’re here to do that heavy lifting. For the Duluth Children’s Museum, what…
See What We’re All About [Video]
As story tellers, we understand the impact video can have on quickly and succinctly telling a business’ story. While we and our clients know what makes our design studio unique, we wanted to be able to showcase who we are with the rest of the world too. That’s why we partnered with Old Saw Media.…
Design: Bringing Unity & Flexibility
Great design will be both visually and conceptually harmonious. It’s not rocket science, but on the visual side, the colors, fonts and style used should all work well together. However, having conceptual harmony is a whole other side of the design coin. Design that has strong unity will combine things in a way that brings…
A Peek Behind the Curtain
There’s no better way to learn why Šek started and the inner workings of the business than by chatting with the person who runs the show – Mike Smíšek! We hope you enjoy this interview style blog where Mike, Šek’s Founder and Creative Director, gives you a look into his back story all the way…
5 Branding Misconceptions
Branding. It brings up a lot of question marks for people. Is branding only for companies that have brand influencers? Can I check it off the list if my business has brand guidelines? Once I have a logo I’m good, right? There are countless branding misconceptions out there. Today we’re going to cover some of…
Humanize Your Brand
Raise your hand if you’ve ever had to call in for customer support and been talked to like you’re just another faceless transaction. We’re going to assume 99% of you raised your hands. If you’ve never had a call like this, consider yourself lucky. They’re the worst. The hold music is usually horrible, but the…
Paint Your Front Door
Did you know that painting your front door has the potential to increase your home’s value? It sounds a little outlandish at first, but think about it. A freshly painted front door can change the whole look and feel of a home. It can increase the curb appeal and bring a unique flare to the…
With You, Every Step of the Way
Outsourcing work to a third party firm can be daunting. While it’s a great way to effectively get work expertly done, there can be a lot of unknowns. How will the agency or freelancer spend their time? What exactly will I get in the end? Am I getting a fair price? At Šek, we’ve intentionally…
Wait, We Didn’t Cover This
With school back in session — in all sorts of forms these days — we’ve been picking, Šek designer and current University of Minnesota Duluth student, Kasey’s mind about all sorts of things. We won’t share her thoughts and challenges with an ever changing high ed landscape due to Covid-19, but we did ask her…
What Your Space Says About Your Business
We’ve all sat in a restaurant where the tables did match, maybe the paint on the wall was chipping, or the whole meal felt a little like being in your grandma’s basement. When an experience has a disconnect from a service it leaves a lasting, negative memory. And we all know how negative experiences get…
Why Invest in Branding
Before we get into the impact an investment in branding can have, let’s start at the beginning… What is branding? Branding is the process of giving meaning to a company, product or individuals by creating, and shaping, how a brand is perceived by consumers. Branding is a strategy designed by organizations to help people quickly…
Your Website May Not Be The Problem
Why is my business not growing? I bet it’s my website. If only it looked like company X’s site, I’m sure I could get more sales. Sound familiar? Businesses often think that just a few changes to their website will be the elixir to their bottom line troubles. Websites are commonly seen as a business’…
Informing Safely and Intentionally
Over the past several weeks, many businesses have been able to turn their closed signs to open; DLH Clothing being one of them. With the reopening, came the addition of various procedures to safely welcome back both customers and staff. One of the ways to do that? You probably guessed it because you’ve seen it…
Designed to Help
Designers are problem solvers by nature. We can help simplify a message, visually communicate a feeling, or inspire an action. While we can’t, however, solve the number of larger, more devastating problems we’re facing right now, we’d like to at least help in some way. That’s why we created the Šek Design Grant. We’re offering…
Frenchie Cocktail | Behind The Design
INTRODUCTION It’s 5:20 on a Wednesday afternoon, Thunderstruck is blaring over the speakers inside the gym, and I’m just about to start my second set of dead-lifts when I have to stop myself from laughing out loud. Here’s what happened. I just imagined what all of these mostly macho classmates would think if they knew…
You Serve People, Not Potatoes
You serve people, not potatoes. Your clients and partners know how hard you work and how much you do for the community but what does the general public see? How will a potential partner view your organization or business if they don’t know you? They’re likely not looking for a ‘dive’ adventure. I love a…
Buy The Sharper Knives
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…
Selective Focus: Perfect Duluth Day
We were very excited to be approached by Brian Barber of Perfect Duluth Day, who wanted to learn a little bit more about our background in a regular segment called ‘Selective Focus’. Click here to view the full segment. Mike Smíšek: I primarily work as a graphic designer but my background is in drawing and…
The Šek Name
Why in the heck would we call it Šek? Other than being able to use it in awesome phrases like, “Šek us out!” or “Šek the halls with balls of holly.” there’s actually a very logical reason for our unique name. To fully explain, let’s start by looking inward. If our job is to use design…
Our Space
If you find yourself traveling along Superior Street in Duluth, look above the Electric Fetus and you’ll see our logo on the windows of the upper level. We installed them on the windows of Šek’s studio space on a 20 degree day with a little help from our friends at Radiant Window Cleaning, who graciously…