Challenge(s) Accepted

In honor of our company’s 20th anniversary, we’ve launched the second edition of the Blue Daring Creative Challenge. As with our first Creative Challenge in 2018, three teams of creatives and strategists are each provided three months and $10,000 to concept and create a unique work of art (in partnership with others) inspired by our… Read more »

The Entrepreneur’s Journey: A Daring Balance

At Melissa Ballate’s desk there’s an illuminated display of ever-changing math equations. After some deciphering, it becomes clear it isn’t a game, it’s a clock, creatively communicating time. It’s just one of many clues that Ballate is always thinking differently. As the founder and president of Blue Daring, Melissa partners with people with vision to bring… Read more »

Blue Daring likes a Challenge

For 15 years, Blue Daring has been connecting strategic thinking with world-class design. It’s how we bring vision to life. So, what happens when we give life to this innate dichotomy through the arts? Presenting the “Creative Challenge,” a year-long, three-part celebration of creation and connection that beautifully intertwines branding and strategy through the arts.… Read more »

More than Sauce: Branding Diversity

The perfect ad—you’ve seen it before. A group of friends or a family; one brown, one yellow, one white. A utopian mix of races, genders, even lifestyles. For decades, brands have approached diversity (and inclusion) in this way, and it makes sense. In fact, a 2016 study found that 80% of millennial parents enjoy seeing… Read more »

How to Give Effective Design Feedback

3 simple tips for communicating actionable, honest, and objective feedback. Gathering and implementing client feedback is a huge part of a designer’s job, but it can sometimes prove a frustrating process for both designer and client. The internet is filled with designer-made memes like this poster series capturing the creative community’s favorite worst feedback: While I… Read more »

Blank Paper Syndrome

The importance of structure in the creative process You’re staring at a blank page. A cursor is blinking, taunting. Or perhaps your pen is feebly hovering just centimeters above a notebook, a thousand half-formed ideas popping in and out of your head. They drown each other out, and you are left with nothing more than… Read more »

Let’s Get Physical

At Blue Daring I’m known for my ability to view things in a dimensional form. By that, I mean creating prototypes during the design process as well as always trying to infuse multilayered elements to enhance a simple idea. Earlier this year, our team embarked on a new project to celebrate the New Year–a customized… Read more »

How to Create a Logo

Every designer has his or her own way of designing a logo. This year, I’ve paid particular attention to my own creative process. Partly to see if I could establish a more systematic way of creating, but also to archive the experience from start to finish. Most people only ever see the finished product, but there is so much… Read more »

What is your brand’s song?

This year I decided to fill my time with more “passion projects”—uber creative and liberating experiences (or experiments) that will challenge me to be more creatively well-rounded and energize my work. One of my most recently inspired undertakings was to learn to play a new instrument. I chose ukulele because, coming from Hawai’i, I already had… Read more »

Seen on the Street

As I heard a personal branding consultant say last week–branding happens. Question is, are you going to control it? With that in mind (and really all the time since it’s what I know, breathe and love), I always look to my environment for both lessons and inspiration. Here are three lessons on branding from three… Read more »