Tag Archives: Montgomery County

5 Tips to Stay Within Your Project Budget

When tackling a new project, you’re usually conditioned to think things will be straightforward: get project done by deadline and stay within your budget. Simple, right?

Not always.

More often than not,  we run into issues that both lead us to going way past our deadline and over our budget. It doesn’t have to be like this. Regardless of the size of your project, there are many ways to keep things on track.


1. Stay organized

All projects need a proper project manager – someone to maximize time, budget, and resources that’ll lead you to the finish line. Have a proper upfront meeting that can clearly establish the goals of the project – either laying out what kind of shots you want or what story you want to tell.

2. Know your scope

While successfully finishing your project is the end goal, you have to take into account all the steps it takes to get there. Each step is equally important as each step in your project depends on what came before it. Managing the scope of your project helps your stay on track

3. Proper feedback

Provide feedback that contains your input as well as a solution. Giving feedback that simply says that it’s not working for you or not what you want, makes moving forward toward your goal much harder than it should be. Providing next steps and ideas to make the project more to your liking, and reasonably so, will keep you on the right track. Adding more time to figure out what works best will ultimately cost more money.

4. Be prepared.

Have content ready to be implemented in order to finish out your project and meet your deadline. Let’s say you’re creating a brand new website. Not having content ready during the development phase of your project can easily put you behind. What good is a pretty website without the copy and photos to fill it ? Stay on track.

5. Know how to use your rounds of revisions

Make use of your rounds of revisions to either edit or improve the content already provided, not add additional content. Adding additional content which will also probably be revised only extends the project, rather than meeting your original deadline. For instance, if you decide that after x amount of revisions that you want to start over with, say, different colors and fonts, that will end up costing you more. Another example would be going into a fifth round of revisions, when your scope only included three rounds. This will not only extend the project, but will also end up costing you more.


Having a less-stressful, easy and successful project is not always a reality, but is a possibility. Document the time and steps taken throughout your project and you’ll already be one step ahead. Stay organized and revise accordingly, knowing full well how you’re project should be progressing. It’s always a learning game and will be an experience that’ll keep you on track for the next project you undertake.

Ready to get started on your next project? Contact us today!

Art Installations: Spruce Up Your Workspace

Office spaces are slowly, but surely, moving away from the typical boring white walls. These days more companies are heading in the direction of colorful decor that brightens up company moral and makes a statement about one’s business. Companies like Google and Facebook inspire visual effectiveness when it comes to office decor and a sure fire way to do that is getting creative with art installations.

The Benefits of an Office or Retail Art Installation

Art Installations boost moral.

In general, visual elements create an exciting atmosphere in the workplace. Colorful custom installations create a new boost of energy and can positively impact employee performances. In addition to that, it influences productivity levels, moods, and employee behavior. They also become an instant eye-catcher for new and existing customers.

Art Installations work anywhere.

We’ve discussed office spaces and installations on office walls but that doesn’t necessarily restrict your creativity to just that. You can spruce up outside walls that can attract the attention of an entire community in addition to your office space. Think big!

Art Installations can send a message.

Installations are always custom and unique and can provide a statement about your company and what your brand represents. As a design company, the Bright Light office art sends the message of “Create Your Future” as we create productions and solutions for companies that ensure the opportunity for businesses to grow and evolve. Depending on what your brand stands for, there’s always a creative outlet that will allow you to stand out.

Check out some photos of art installations we’ve done below.

Ready to spruce up your office space? Contact us today!

When is it Time for a New Website?

Your website is your greatest asset for attaining new business. Especially in this day in age where people walk around with the internet in their pockets, constantly thinking of what businesses they can use for their needs and necessities, having a fully-functioning website puts the ball easily in your court. But not any website will do. Having a website that is outdated, or poorly designed, or isn’t responsive, works against your more now then it ever did. If this is the case for your, it’s time for a new website.

But my website is just fine! I don’t need a new one. Yes, you do.

If you’re on the fence, ask yourself these questions:

Is my website servicing my current needs?

Businesses continue to grow over time and that means you could easily be outgrowing your current website. Does it have features you need to showcase your brand new call-to-action? Does it showcase your up-to-date portfolio? Technology also grows and evolves in addition to your business, and it happens that things that were “super awesome” and “flashy” back in 2011 are just not ideal in 2016.

A new website just might be the thing you need to grow and evolve with the future.

Is there functionality I’m looking to have that my current website does not provide?

It’s 2016, if you’re website isn’t optimized for mobile aka Responsive Web Design, then you’re doing it wrong. In the last year, mobile searches have already surpassed desktop search, so if you’re website isn’t mobile-ready, you are missing out on a huge market of potential customers on the prowl for you business.

Not sure if you’re site is responsive? Use Google’s Mobile Friendly Test to find out.

Are you selling products physical or digital? Why not sell them online with your own easy-to-manage online store? It’s easier than ever to incorporate a an e-commerce store like Woocommerce into your website. Take orders, make customize your product, manage stock — there’s an array of flexibility without the hassle of an actual store.

Have my marketing efforts changed?

As your company ages, so can your branding and marketing efforts. If you’ve changed either of these things, it’s also probably time you redesign your website too. As said previously, your website is one of (if not the most) important business assets. If your current brand isn’t lining up with your website, your audience isn’t going to connect. It’s time to update.

Why can’t I make changes and updates to my website?

There’s no excuse to not be using a content management system (CMS) to manage your website. Systems like WordPress have come a long way in making it so much easier for you to be in control of what goes in and out of your website. Long gone are the days of having to edit lines of code to make a simple text edit, or upload some new photos.

Circling back to outdated and poorly designed sites, it’s time to redevelop your site to a fully-functioning and easy to use CMS that will allow you to keep up with the times and keep your website looking fresh.


If any or all of these apply to you, it’s time for a new website.

Ready to take the leap? We can help. Contact us today!

Behind the Scenes: Cushman & Wakefield Washington DC Metropolitan Video Portfolio

We teamed up once again with our clients over at DTZ and Cushman & Wakefield, for a property shoot in and around Montgomery County, Maryland. Our purpose for this shoot was to showcase 9 (nine) different property listings available to be used for various marketing materials aimed toward future tenants.

Over three days, we made stops all over the Rockville, Bethesda, and the Downtown Silver Spring area, capturing beautiful shots of each of the properties, various floors that include the lobby, tenant spaces, and aerial views from the property rooftops. In addition to this, we captured several surrounding amenities that capture the desirable features available for each properties in the heart of each city (restaurants, shopping, etc).

Below are some behind the scenes images of the shoot.

Event Branding: Pumpkin Rock N Roll

Bright Light Media, along with GIGS, Headfirst Summer Camps, and Georgetown Events came together to throw the first annual community event, Pumpkin Rock N Roll in Kensington, MD.

Warner Circle Park was transformed into a full-blown Halloween extravaganza, filled with tons of family-friendly attractions, festival-style music performances, costume contests, and the main event: The Pumpkin Roll, a derby race of Halloween pumpkins-turned-boxcars.

And with over 2,000 attendees, the event was definitely a success! 

BLM was responsible for branding the event, putting together a logo and all the marketing materials to share with the community. We put together an event website, designed posters, flyers, volunteer t-shirts, and event banners.

We couldn’t have asked for a better time, weather, or turn out. Let’s do it again next year!

Need branding for your next event? Contact us today!


See photos from Pumpkin Rock ‘N Roll below.

Why Your Brand Should Be Utilizing Instagram

Instagram, the platform used every day by users to share their stories visually with images, has become a powerful force in social media. With an average of 55 million photos uploaded each day on this vast and fast-growing social network, it’s a tool that, if used correctly, can benefit brands and grow their audience.

Why should your brand use Instagram?

While it can’t be said for all social media, Instagram is a platform for everyone. Whether you’re a small business starting up in the world or a well established brand, Instagram is a visual force to be reckoned with, allowing just about anyone the option to tell (and sell) their story. Coming up with content for your feed can be challenging, especially with seeing what works and what doesn’t on the platform. But that doesn’t mean potential users shouldn’t try and keep at it. In the last couple years, mobile media has surpassed online media consumption and will continue in that direction. So take advantage!

Don’t have thousands, or in some cases, millions of followers? Don’t sweat it. Instagram users are eager to connect with brands on a personal and inspirational level, and finding the right visual vision for your brand can make all the difference. Here are three points to get your going:

Brands that are doing it right

65% of the world’s top 100 brands are using Instagram. Here are a few of them and examples of how they use visual images to push their brand.

Ben and Jerry’s: 510K Followers

Starbucks: 4.8M Followers

GoPro: 5.3M Followers

National Geographic: 21.5M Followers

Red Bull: 2.8M Followers

Taco Bell: 553K Followers

You Graming Yet?

Looking to get your brand on Instagram? Take a look at our monthly marketing package that takes your brand and provides it with a steady online presence on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions about successfully marketing your brand across the different social media platforms.

A Killer Kickstarter: Mixtape Massacre

It’s been a crazy ride but we’re proud to announce that our latest creative project, Mixtape Massacre, was successfully funded via the Kickstarter platform.

Campaign Statistics


Click image to view in larger format.

What is Mixtape Massacre?

Mixtape Massacre is a new board game with a killer blend of all the classic 80’s horror archetypes you know and love mixed with so much 1980s pop culture, you can practically hear the gum snapping and the Cyndi Lauper playing. In the classic 80’s horror genre, far too often we are asked to sympathize and identify with the vulnerable and, let’s face it, often dimwitted victim. In Mixtape Massacre, you enter the shoes of some of your favorite horror archetypes and bring the pain all while breathing in the references to 1980s music, film, and pop-culture.

Setting Up the Kickstarter

We did a lot of research before our initial launch on Kickstarter, but quickly learned that the entire campaign would be a learning process. Prior to the launch we had to create a social media presence on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. We also needed to figure out pricing from different manufacturers, shipping rates for places all over the world, advertising expenses, and then settling on a budget.

Also in the time leading up to the Kickstarter we prepared all the advertising images we would need for our Kickstarter page, as the images are really what is going to sell the product. We also produced an animated video as most, if not all projects with a video perform better than ones without.

Before launching we spent the month leading up to the launch doing social media posts to gain attention, followers, and people interested enough to spread the word during the campaign. Then we sent out our first press release to multiple outlets and began the Kickstarter.

The Kickstarter Campaign

There was plenty of feedback from the backers throughout the 30-day campaign, pointing out things like foreign shipping costs and availability as well as their own ideas for extra characters and gameplay mechanics. This lead us to do further research in order to make our game and product easily accessible to international audiences as well as more appealing for different types of players.

From the beginning to the end, we were able to lower shipping costs, become EU-friendly (allowing our product to be shipped from within the EU without any extra customs charges to our customers), add Australia to our international list, and much more. We took a lot, if not all, of the feedback into consideration, trying to make everything work for our backers and deliver the best product possible.

 

Behind the Project

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Broccoli City Festival 2015

Photos by Purple PPL Media / The District Insider 

The cool kids united in SE DC for Broccoli City Festival 2015!

If you weren’t at the Gateway Pavilion last Saturday, you were obviously missing out. Local lifestyle group, Broccoli City’s mission is to promote environmentally stable, healthier living lifestyle in cool, more relevant ways. Each year they throw a festival that features music, arts, lifestyle activities and more. The lineup this year for the festival included acts like Erykah Badu, Joey Bada$$, Jaden & Willow Smith, Tink, Kali Uchis, Kaytranada, Tiara Thomas, and many more.

As mentioned in our blog Event Branding: Broccoli City, Broccoli City reached out to us to do the branding for their Broccoli City Festival event that took place this past Saturday, April 25th. We started with a logo that branched off onto several forms of press and marketing tools leading up to the event itself. Our branding was felt throughout the entire festival, from press badges to the entire stage backdrop and more.

Check out photos via Purple PPL Media below.

Event Branding: Broccoli City

Branding is the corner stone of any business or entity, whether big or small, and can be very beneficial against competitors if your brand is effective enough. Local lifestyle group, Broccoli City contacted Bright Light Media as they were seeking a new branding strategy for their very popular annual music festival in Washington, DC.

And so it all begins with the branding. We came up with several different concepts for the festival’s logo. We worked with ideas to find the one that would fit their style, their company, and what they represent. Below shows you just a sample of some of the ideas brought to the table before we arrived at the final logo.

The Broccoli City Festival is on Saturday, April 25. Get your tickets here!


Branding Process

Ideas, Ideas, Ideas


Refining Ideas


The Winner

Using the Brand

Looking to brand your next event? Contact us today

Building a Community: Takoma Park

We recently launched the Old Takoma Business Association new community website. They were looking to upgrade the site for the city of Takoma Park (Maryland, Washington DC). From upcoming events, to a list of local businesses and available resources, the website is a central hub for all and any needed information pertaining to the community of Takoma Park. We implemented a custom, easy-to-use calendar that allows site users the convenience of submitting upcoming and recurring events, helping to keep the site fresh and up-to-date with content and happenings. In addition, we created an easy navigation for the site, dividing it into five main areas: Explore, Events, Business, and Live, accompanied by tertiary menus under each to add the ease of finding what areas apply to each site visitor.

For community websites, it’s sole purpose is to relay necessary information whether it’s needed or wanted. Now Takoma Park does just that with a clean and easy-to-use web presence that’s easily accessible on any device (desktop, tablet, and mobile).


Site Features

+ Responsive Web Design
+ Custom Event Calendar
+ Custom Event Submissions for Users
+ Custom Featured Event Page
+ Tertiary Dropdown Menus
+ News/Blog Feed