Last month, a team of BB designers and developers participated in the NYC DCA Financial Empowerment Hackathon to help empower New Yorkers to achieve their financial goals.

After meeting with the DCA's Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) counselors to discuss some of the biggest obstacles they and their clients face, our team identified long-term engagement as being the right focus area for our hack project. Based on the belief that financial empowerment is an everyday commitment and on the importance of being able to visualize future success, we created a website called On Track.

On Track is a proprietary, goal-oriented service that allows OFE clients to set monetary goals, visually track progress, and share their success with others. Counselors are able to log in as administrators to check in with clients and receive alerts when their clients make progress or reach goals. When a goal is completed, users can share their success on a safe, private community page, where they can also get positive feedback from peers and share tips with each other. On Track is easy to use for clients with basic computer skills and uses clear and friendly visuals to communicate.

At the first OFE session, clients will create their first goal with their counselor. After this, it is in the client’s hands to define their own goals as they take control of their financial future. We believe that self-directed goals are an important aspect of empowerment and developing good long-term habits.

When returning users log in, they can quickly see the goals they’ve set on their dashboard. In-progress goals appear in grey boxes, which turn to green as they get closer to reaching their goal. Completed goals are displayed as a badge, acting a reminder of success.

Future extensions we foresee with the site include adding opportunities for users to challenge peers with competitive financial goals, filtering and search options for the community pages, crowdfunding, and integration with online banking accounts.

I recently read an ad on the subway that was so ‘on target’ that I felt like someone had quoted me directly.

As a potential customer of the product, I was intrigued. As someone interested in copywriting, I wished I had written it myself. Legendary advertising executive David Ogilvy called that envy the sign of a “big idea.”

To learn how to create more “big ideas” through copy, I signed up for Bob Mackall’s Continuing Education course at the School of Visual Arts. Six weeks into “It’s Copy, Not Brain Surgery,” I’ve taken away a 3 fundamentals of copywriting as a discipline.

#1 Write for the “bullseye”

The ad was for local catering startup Cater2.me and it worked so well because the writers focused on a specific person. The headline read:

“Don’t worry about my nut allergy – I’ll just eat around the cashews.”

– No Employee Ever

Anyone in our Bureau Blank crew will tell you how much of a fuss I make about my nut (and sesame) (and shellfish) allergy when it comes to team lunches, so these writers’ process struck gold. Here’s how they could have thought about the center of a bullseye:

People who work in the Cater2.me service area > people who work in teams > people who have allergies > people with nut allergies who typically feel overlooked when their teams order lunches.

Nice work, Cater2.me!

#2 Even a sketch can sell an idea

In the first class, Bob showed us a pen drawing of a winning pitch from early in his career. Today’s digital era has made Photoshopping and forced snark so common that simple ideas and clear communication can really stand out. Check out Bob’s sketch for a Bulova ad in the slideshow above.

#3 Write, revise, and revise again

While it’d be awesome for copy to come in “Eureka!” moments where the first idea is the best idea, it’s important to keep writing and challenge whether the message will truly move the person in your “bullseye” to take the action you want.

Each week, we receive briefs for three different products and are asked to come in with mockups of both copy and art direction. Take a look at one of my pitches above.

Inspired by the 3DEA Pop Up Shop in Midtown around the holiday season this past year, Bureau Blank has delved into the world of 3D printing in a "rewarding" way! We've recently completed a unique, 3D modeled and printed award for our client, Living Cities.

Although our knowledge of the field was limited at the time, we decided to jump head-first into the world of 3D printing by creating the commissioned award through Shapeways, one of the leading manufacturers of 3D printed designs. The chosen design for the award was designed as a cube with an interesting typographic display. The key words, Innovation, Leadership, Collaboration and Impact, were cut out from the hollowed–out cube in order to maximize their impact. The remaining words were then printed at a shallower depth of .0625" in order to provide contrast and interest between the two types of typography.

We slightly inset the top panel of the cube in order to fit a custom made silver engraved metal plaque with the award name and recipient details. The piece was then finished off with a protective clear coating spray that will deter any yellowing and prevent any debris build-up. The final result is a conversation-starter and truly original award design!

Keep checking our website for more examples of 3D printed pieces we complete throughout the year. There's no way we're stopping after this one.

Bureau Blank has designed a suite of packaging for North American Limestome Corp. (NALC), an Indiana-based company producing a range of high quality limestone products.

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From their quarry in Cloverdale, NALC supplies a diverse group of Midwest consumers and industries including animal feed production, electric power generation, coal mining, manufacturing and construction.

With both retail and industry focussed products standing out is an important consideration for NALC. Their first multi-purpose product, NALCbrite, launched to great success thanks to visually distinctive graphics promoting strong brand recognition, while Rock Dust is easily identifiable for miners working underground.

Related Link

http://www.nalimestone.com/

With all the speculation about the U.S. economy’s comeback, there are still many low-income families and individuals who need to move up the ladder of economic self-sufficiency.

Using a model successfully piloted by New York City to help residents reduce debt and increase savings, the Cities for Financial Empowerment Fund (CFE Fund) will be scaling similar efforts in additional cities across the country.

To support the new organization, we created a visual identity system, website and pitch collateral to support its launch and ongoing marketing efforts. As the CFE Fund continues its replication efforts, the website will serve as both a public information outpost and a central hub for the organization’s partners in other cities to access resources with a private login.

Learn More

Press Release: "Bloomberg Philanthropies and Living Cities’ CFE Fund Announce Five Cities Selected for $16.2 M In Financial Empowerment Center Grants"

New York Times: "Leading the Way Out of Debt"

If you’ve spent any time in New York City, you’ve seen how peppered the landscape is with businesses of all sizes, from the pushcart on every corner to the department store chain.

The NYC Department of Consumer Affairs supports over 78,000 businesses in all five boroughs to fulfill the rules and regulations that apply in 55 different industries. As part of an outreach campaign, we provided art direction, messaging, and design support to help clearly explain the resources the department offers and drive traffic to the department's online Business Toolbox. This included a redesign of the 10 Things Every Business Should Know guide in two languages and copywriting for a series of ads in subways, bus shelters, and phone kiosks.

Learn More

Crain's New York: "City offers businesses personal help via chat"

NYC 10 Things Every Business Should Know Guide (PDF)

It's back to school season - well, at least for Bureau Blank it is!

The new "Made in New York" Media Employee Training Program has selected our team as one of the first two companies to receive an education grant offered to local small media agencies. The city recently introduced this $500,000 grant program with the intention of stimulating NYC's media and entertainment sector and increasing revenue for participating businesses.

This opportunity will allow our 14 staff members to enroll in classes that will advance our technical and managerial skills. By increasing our capacity, we will be able to provide our clients with both a wider range of services and greater specialization.

We're looking forward to starting classes and hanging our straight A's up on the fridge! Stay tuned for updates on the courses we're taking and what we're learning.

Related Links:

NY Daily News "New York City launches $500K grant program for local media and entertainment small businesses"

Crain's New York "First two firms get Made in New York grants"

NYC.gov Press Release "Media Employee Training Grant Program Awards $65,000 to Local Businesses, $500,000 Available to Help Small Media Businesses Train Employees and Grow"

When your organization is tackling large, systematic problems how can you know if you are making any progress?

This question is a recurring one in the social sector and familiar terrain for our client, PolicyLink, a national research and action institute. As an organization dedicated to advancing economic and social equity for America’s underserved communities, PolicyLink has a direct channel to organizations with “boots on the ground” around the country working in areas from financial stability to fresh food access.

With such a broad base of expertise and over a decade of experience, the PolicyLink team was able to develop a framework for the process of creating an equitable society – one in which all can reach their full potential. This framework is called Getting Equity Advocacy Results (GEAR).

We worked closely with the team to first create an infographic representation of the framework then develop a way for community advocates to interact with the graphic online. Three key factors were critical to making this a successful project.

Storyboarding

Several rounds of sketching designs and collaborative storyboarding helped both of our teams gain a deep understanding of the nuances of the framework, which is essential for subject matter that is abstract.

Rapid Prototyping

With so many moving pieces (literally!) in the web graphic, it was important to show our work in progress early and often both internally and with PolicyLink so that every element had a chance to be tested.

Technology

End users for GEAR will range from advocates in environments from rural to urban and in organizations big and small. To develop the most accessible graphic while also employing the latest web standards, we used a suite of technologies – including Raphael.JS, HTML5, and CSS3– for maximum engagement across screens of all sizes.

In the one month since its launch, feedback from the field has been overwhelmingly positive on this “GPS navigation system for equity advocates” and the tool has been distributed widely in the sector.

See for yourself on PolicyLink's website: Getting Equity Advocacy Results (GEAR)

Bureau Blank has designed two reports for The Fund for Public Advocacy’s Balancing New York City’s Fiscal Responsibilities project:

Balancing New York City’s Fiscal Responsibilities—Long-term Liabilities: Public Employee Pensions & Retiree Health Costs

Balancing New York City’s Fiscal Responsibilities—A Report and Roadmap for Action

Following the project’s discussion series held between October 2011 and March 2012, these reports aim to inform New Yorkers about the city’s pension and benefits systems as well as encourage informed conversation among citizens about the long-term liabilities affecting the future financial stability of the city.

Bureau Blank designed the two reports with complementary design elements chosen for the project, including consistent color, graphics, and art direction.

Learn more about The Fund for Public Advocacy and read the Balancing New York City's Fiscal Responsibilities reports here.

Related Links
Living Cities: The Integration Initiative Brochure
PolicyLink makes the case for why place and race matter

Office or no office – the Bureau Blank team gets it done!

Like many NYC small businesses, Sandy threw major challenges our way last week. Suspended MTA service prevented more than half of our team from getting into Manhattan and power was knocked out in our beloved Chinatown headquarters.

From borrowed office space in midtown, we linked up via conference calls, Google Hangouts, and kept on top of tasks through e-mails. The team quickly adapted to working remotely and even had a little fun! Sandy may have put us to the test, but we think it’s safe to say we passed and proved our resourcefulness, efficiency, and morale.

Good luck to all other small businesses dealing with Sandy’s effects and aftermath.

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