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Spent the whole day rushing around, not stopping and all of a sudden, the day is over. Time has escaped you and you have nothing substantial to show for it. Sound familiar?? Well you aren’t alone. Interruptions in the workplace can be catastrophic to an individual’s productivity. 

In 2002, it was reported that, the average worker is interrupted seventy-three times every day. After each interruption it takes around 20 minutes to resume to the same level of concentration prior to the disruption, this means that we are never concentrating very well. ¹

As a small design agency, it’s safe to say that our days are constantly full of unanticipated events. So how do we look at improving our productivity and remove those bad distractions. 

Here are our top 5 tips.

1. Get a good coffee machine!  

Obviously, caffeine isn’t the answer to all, but who says it can’t help? Especially when 9-5 is a thing of the past. We all need our fast juice!

2. Set achievable goals

Prep the day before, write a to do list that can be split into achievable sections, being prepared for your day means you can be more productive from the start as you have a goal to reach. 

3. Prioritise your workload 

Got so much work on you feel overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin? Then prioritise. What tasks will take the longest? What tasks can be achieved sooner and when are they needed by? 

4. Take a break 

This may seem like a counter-productive tip for getting shit done however if you’re constantly running at full steam, you’re eventually going to burn out. Having a dedicated break to eat, reflect on the day or just turn off for 5 minutes will ensure efficiency and in the long run will keep you running for longer. 

5. Remember you’re only human 

Having too much work can lead to suffering from stress and create an imbalance between your work & social life. Having a healthy balance can elevate and reignite your passion for work, making you that much more productive come Monday morning.

Herbal Labs are a small business selling CBD Oil products both online and offline. They pride themselves in using the highest quality organic products and aim to be dominate the market whilst keeping a reasonable price tag. 

The Project 

We worked closely with Herbal Labs to create an elegant brand that not only stands out from their competitors but also appeals to a wide audience. Once we built the brand we moved on to the marketing side. 

Print Media:

Starting with the labels we created a simple design that is easy to read and gets straight to the point. 

From this we were able to create a Counter Display Unit (CDU) that complimented the overall theme they were going for.

The rest of the print designs such as the business cards followed suit, using the labels we were able to create CGI bottles to showcase on the front of the cards. 

Website:

Next the e-commerce website. We designed and built this on a CMS that enables the Herbal Labs team to easily update and monitor orders with a secure payment gateway (which is incredibly hard with this product). As well the standard keeping it mobile friendly and inline with the brand. 

NEC Expo:

After Herbal Labs got them selves established they were invited to The NEC Hemp Expo in Birmingham. Where we created large posters, pull up banners and leaflets as well as help set up the stall. They got some incredible feedback and I’m extremely proud of where this brand is going. 

Changes are inevitable over the years, especially for an online ecommerce business. With luck you’re getting busy maybe too busy and planning on developing and expanding your business. 

An Outdated Brand

Your potential customers will notice when your brand is looking outdated, its something that can sway decisions and they may go to your competitors. A rebrand will refresh your companies image giving it a modern day look, standing out from your competitor and appealing to your target audience.

New Customers

Expanding your business in to a new or existing market can be tough so you need to make the right impressions. Having an outdated brand is only going make you look out of touch and result in holding you back. You need a brand that represents your product and service at its best. Look at the biggest companies in the world such as Google, Pepsi, Shell or even Mercedes and see how their logo has progressed. 

Could you imagine having a shrunk down version of your website on your phone? Possible, but irritating for the users rite? If that isn’t reason enough google changed their algorithms which now factor how mobile friendly your site is. 

Your website should include:

• A Fluid Grid
• Readable Flexible Text and images
• Horizontal Scrolling 
• Space for Buttons

Website that don’t include these basic elements can experience a dramatic decrease in search engine ranking as well as fed up users. You need to create a website that can guarantee the best and consistent experience for any users.

A responsive website is also a great way to cut down information on your site so the mobile users are getting refined information that gets straight to the point. Catering to these users will potentially increase traffic and dare I say sales. 

For your online presence to be at its maximum value, your website must be part of the top hits of all search engine platforms. Have you ever really been further then page 3 on Google? If you use Google to search something and everyone you know uses Google, don’t you think your business should be there too? 

Without SEO, your website wont be on the first page of Google, even if you type in your business name. Search engines rank your content on its value. The more value your content holds, the higher you are ranked. In other words, the more you focus on quality content, the more likely it is for your website to placed on the front page of Google.