Great New Business Advice for Second Life & Beyond

April Looming of Wildstyle Fashion has a long blog post of excellent advice for people launching businesses, and while it's written for new SL entrepreneurs, it's about as applicable to other realms, including IRL.

Take, for example, this collection of logos on the right:

Think about these logos. Without even seeing the merchandise... which brand do you think will have the highest quality merchandise? Which brand would you choose to shop at first?

Make your guess and read on:

In my classes, given to over 500 residents of SL, the popularity of these 5 came as follows: 2,3,1,5,4. Every class was different, but those were general trends. Note that logo #5 here represents a type I see a lot in SL, but seldom in RL for real stores... Note that high-end RL stores do not have "Creations" in their name. This is a common SL business name construct, but I think it should be avoided. I could have named my store "April Looming Creations"; but that doesn't have the same "Brand Mystique" as something like "Wild Style Fashions".

Much more savvy advice here.

Hat tip: Indigo Mertel.

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Comments

[Cube Republic]

As a general rule of thumb layer styles, drop shadows and stuff that can't be reproduced in black and white should be avoided.

[Pussycat Catnap]

On the drop shadow / black & white note: When I was thinking that I would run a brand in SL - I made my logo first in black and white, and then produced a colored version as well. I agree that your concept needs to be reproducible in black and white.

I'm not so sure I agree about drop shadows. Right now the current fad is flat colors, no bevels or drop shadows - but this is the sort of thing that is a fashion that changes over time. 10 years ago everything had a bevel on it, even bevels had bevels within them it seemed...

- If you can still get it to work in black and white, then go for it.

Also note that logos and design are highly cultural. What works in the USA is not what works in Japan or India. I'd presume the same for Europe having its own ideas on the ideal layout and color palette.

I have a great design book on colors, that (rephrasing because I can't find the book right now) begins the chapter on Japanese colors with a note that everything in the following chapter is considered very bad design in the US... and then proceeds to show some color schemes that make my eyes hurt. But then I go to Japanese brands and... its all over the place. I have an anecdote of working in a design firm when I was young that paid to bring over a top-notch Japanese pop designer on a work visa and then... quickly sidelined him until he left because they couldn't use any of his work.

Design is both seasonal and very culturally specific. Something to remember before complaining about somebody else's bad design: check their culture against your own and make sure you're not just being jingoistic. Maybe what they're turning out is perfect in Mumbai, where they happen to live, but not Soho, where you are (or vice versa).

[Pussycat Catnap]

This note from the linked blog is a good one:

"✪ Your hunt item should be representative of your skill level"

- Lots of stores in the past that I didn't bother to go back to for a year or more because the hunt item was some cheap prim or sculpty or even test item. On going back, I'd discover the place was very different in quality. But by then my preferred brands in that market segment were set and instead of kitting out a whole collection, I'd just grab a thing or two.

The same applies to freebies. You can really kill my impression of your brand by using your freebies to give out that stuff you made in 2006 in an NCI class on how to link prims... I love those NCI classes, but your noob stuff from years ago, don't associate with your now top-notch brand. :)

(heh... I need to clean up my own stuff on this score...)

...
Slightly off-topic:
But on the freebies section... Its actually bad right now to stay in large groups because of CHUI causing texture thrashing when avatar profiles load in. If people start talking in group chat... your graphics can quickly be overun by 1gb or more of video-ram being set aside for profile images that... won't leave memory until you relog.

I recently left all of my large groups that had chat in them to avoid this...

When I see group freebies, I'll join the group, grab the freebie, then leave. Looking for a subscriber thingy to get my updates...

LLs "fixes" to make groups more friendly have actually made them a nightmare to be in...

[Pussycat Catnap]

That great new business advice is a blog post from 2013. I started wondering as I read down and noticed how old some of the shops looked compared to what I thought they were like now (or places that I had thought long gone).

The advice is good, and yet to get dated. But the screenshots might be in need of some updating. :)