“LESS IS MORE!” are the words that spring to mind for office manager/optician/paraoptometric assistant Morgan DiMaggio when asked to describe the ethos behind the stately, refined, mostly two-toned branding at Taylor Eye Care in Carmi, IL. To that she swiftly adds “clean, professional, modern, industrial, neutral colors, and minimal.”
The starting point for the brand is a bold logo built around a gold diamond. “We use our Taylor Eye Care logo on everything. We look for things to be neat and clean, but modern enough to stand out,” she says. Taylor Eye Care’s signature black and gold currently adorn an impressive array of items including business cards, dispensing bags, cups, pens, name tags, hand-outs breaking down glasses and contact lens purchases, T-shirts, lens cleaning bottles, branded social media posts, gift cards, and postcard appointment reminders.
While the primary market for the practice, located in Carmi, a town of just 5,000 or so in southeastern Illinois, is middle aged men and women, Taylor Eye Care strives to make everyone feel included, DiMaggio says. “We don’t want the brand to seem too out there that our elder demographic can’t appreciate it, but we also want our younger demographic to know we’re committed to staying on trend in our optical.”
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The branded materials are also an outlet for DiMaggio’s creative talents — she produces all of them using Canva. “Canva helps me create all our social media posts as well as any materials we hand out. It’s been an essential tool in my marketing tool belt,” she says, adding that she draws particular inspiration from State Optical, the Chicago-based luxury eyewear brand, when creating social media content. “The simplistic and modern feel they have is really aesthetically pleasing.”
To other eyecare business owners and managers looking for an image refresh, DiMaggio suggests following as many other successful optical companies as possible. “Watch their posts on Facebook and Instagram — they’re going to be sharing their branded items as well as good content to create from your own brand’s perspective.” And don’t be afraid to let non-optical businesses influence you, she counsels. “We are in retail after all! Look into your favorite stores’ branding and marketing strategies for some outside inspo!”
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