What makes a great logo?
Posted by michellebuckley in 
What makes a great logo?
Logos are the centerpiece of a company’s brand image. The quality of a logo will give the impression to the consumer how much a brand means to the company. An effective logo can help sell products, and conversely an ineffective logo can potentially hurt sales. So what makes a great logo?
A great logo needs to be the following:
Make your company stand out from your competition
Don’t try to copy someone else. Instead of trying to emulate the competition you should be trying to set your company apart.
Use meaningful colors
Colors carry meaning. For example green is associated with the environment or money, black with elegance or luxury. Think about adjectives that describe your business to find colors that would be the most appropriate. For more information on color association check this link out
Use the right font
Just like colors, font typefaces have meaning. If you have a construction company you probably don’t want a curvy, feminine-looking font.
Keep it simple
Your logo should be simple enough to make a quick impression on your target audience.
Make it memorable
Your logo should make an impression on your customers.
Also, if you need a logo designed for your business you can always contact me.
How to create a Google+ page for your business
How to create a Google+ page for your business
Now that Google is allowing businesses to participate in its Google+ social network, through new Google+ Pages it’s time for you to find out how to create a Google+ page for your business.
Creating a Google+ Page takes only a few minutes. However before you can create a Google+ Page, you must create a Google+ Profile (if you don’t already have one). Read on to find out how easy it is.
1. Log in to your Google Account
Log into your account, If you don’t have one you can create one here. Once logged in click the ‘You+’ link at the top left of your Gmail dashboard.
2. Creating a Google+ Profile
Enter your first and last name, or the name of your business. Click the ‘Add your photo’ link to add the logo of your business. Click ‘Join’ once done.
3. Creating a Google+ Business Page
You will then be offered to create a Google Plus Page For Business. This link will be helpful if you have trouble: Google+ For Business. You will be directed to a page that allows you to create a Google+ Page dedicated to your business,similar to a Facebook Fan Page.
Add any information that you would like on your Google+ business page.
Google Plus For Business will then suggest to you some things for you to do to finalize your page or you can do it later.
If you’d like to see how a Google+ Business Page looks like check out mine.
5 Free ways to improve your website
5 Free ways to improve your website
Your website needs improving. Really though, everyone’s website needs improving. Websites are like living, breathing creatures. If you don’t put anytime into nurturing them they will die. Below are 5 Free ways to improve your website. Even if you only do one of these items on the list it is a step in the right direction.
1. Update your site content
Start with a single page like your Home page. Invest in some copy writing help or photography, a little will go a long way. Write a new blog post. Anything you can do to update your website content will not only let users see that your website is indeed active but it also helps in search engine optimization.
2. Analytics
Get an overview of your website traffic with Google Analytics (it’s free). If you already have Google Analytics, spend time each month looking at them. What are your most popular referral sources? What search engine words are people using to find you? If you find Analytics too confusing you can always ask a professional for help.
3. Add Social Media to your site
Do you have a Facebook fan page yet? If not here’s how to create a fan page. If you do make sure you have a link to it on your website. I like to keep my links to Facebook and Twitter in the header or footer of websites I design so that they will show up on any page a user happens to be on.
4. Revamp your existing copy
Make sure that the copy you have on your website is in small, digestible chunks. No one likes to read a ton of text on websites. Use headings, bulleted lists and white space to help readers scan the page quickly.
5. Navigation that makes sense
Look at your navigation. No really look at it like you are just coming to the site for the first time. Does your navigation make sense? Do you really need to have every item listed or could you put items in a drop down menu? Does the actual text in the links make sense to users? Should you be more specific? Don’t make users think when it comes to navigation or they will just leave.
That should give you enough to work on for now. Do you have any other tips for improving websites for free? Comment below.
Help With Designing HTML emails
Help With Designing HTML emails
I do want to go into more detail about designing HTML emails in the near future but came across a couple of awesome resources that I just wnated to get up right away.
Emailology is a website that guides designers and developers to use good cross-client compatibility code. It is very well-commented, includes hacks and gets you off the ground quickly. There are also tips and tricks categorized for each e-mail client.
This is going to save me and other designers a ton of time in testing.
Fractal is a web application (beta) for validating HTML-CSS code across 24 most-popular e-mail clients. It not only tells you what is wrong with your code, it also suggests fixes too. It works by pasting the code into the application and running the validator.
Two new resources in the battle for HTML email design. Anyone else try these or are there even better ones out there? Let me know.
5 SEO Tips for WordPress Websites
SEO Tips for WordPress
In a previous post I covered 5 SEO tips for beginners. Those tips still apply to SEO and WordPress so make sure you check out that post as well. So in no particular order here are 5 SEO Tips for WordPress websites.
Use Images in Your Posts
Using images serves multiple purposes:
Write Compelling Titles
The title of your page or post should contain the keywords that you want to rank highly for. Once you get your content to rank well in Google or other search engines you also have to get the user to actually click through to your website. Look at the titles of other similar websites in SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). Which ones are getting you to click through? Ranking high will get you nothing if nobody actually clicks on your link.
Use Tags for Extra Keywords
After WordPress 2.3 was released you have the option of including tags. This allows you to assign keywords to your blog posts. Each tag gets its own webpage so you’ll be generating your own keyword-oriented internal backlink pages.
Install the WordPress SEO Plugin
This plugin by Joost de Valk is just awesome. It really makes Search Engine Optimization super easy.
Once installed the plugin:
Use “Pretty Permalinks”
Pretty permalinks changes the default file structure of WordPress from numbers in your URL to basically keyword URLs and it’s super easy to do.
To enable or change them, first login to your WordPress website, then go to Options > Permalinks.
Never have them set to “Default” or “Numeric”. You should set them as either:
SEO is a huge topic so I will be covering it some more in the future. If you have another tips you’d like to share please feel free to comment on this post.
Common Design Mistakes To Avoid
Below are some common design mistakes you should try to avoid when designing a website.
Designing for yourself instead of for your clients
One of the biggest issues I think that happens is that website owners put too much of their own style into their websites. Remember that you are not the one using the site, your potential clients are. Just because you may personally like a certain style does not mean it solves your website’s design problem.
Lack of Consistency
Make sure your layout is consistent throughout the website. A radical change in layout could confuse the user into thinking they have left your website.
Content That’s Not Written for the Web
Writing for the Web is different then writing for any other medium. It means making content
Poor Layout and Design
You do not need fill every available pixel on the page with something. Open white space is a good thing. It allows the eye to travel around the page. Leave plenty of white space between your text and images.
Restrain yourself when using color
A sign of inexperience is someone that uses every color in the rainbow on one page. Pick two or three colors that represent your business. If you need more then that you can use different shades of those colors but take it easy. A good designer knows when to stop.
Those are just a few mistakes you should try to avoid. Agree, disagree, have more to add? Let me know.
Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers
Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers
As a web designer you need all the help you can get to make sure your sites are working and as an added bonus they are free. Below is my list of the Best Firefox Extensions for Web Designers in no particular order. These are just the ones I use the most in my day-to-day production.
1. Firebug
Indispensable and deserves to have the number one spot! Highlights of this extension are:
- The ability to view and edit HTML and CSS on any webpage live (Note: this will not effect the actual pages just what you see on your screen.)
- The Inspect tool allows you to click on an object on the webpage and see what styles are effecting it
- A powerful JavaScript debugger
I could go on and on but enough already, download it!
2. Web Developers Tool Bar
This extension has a 5-star rating on the add-ons page and rightly so. This is just ever so slightly behind Firebug but not by much. It is awesome. You can validate your HTML and CSS with one click, you can measure items on your screen, you can resize your screen to whatever dimension you like and more!
3. Xmarks
Once you create an account with Xmarks and download the extension and sync you can get your bookmarks anywhere you have an internet connection. Great for those of us that work on multiple computers.
4. FireFTP
This extension turns your Firefox into an FTP client where you can upload and download your files from remote servers.
5. ScreenGrab
Another great tool! From their description:
Screengrab! saves entire webpages as images. Just right-click on the page you want to grab and look in the “Screengrab” menu.
It will capture what you can see in the window, the entire page, just a selection, a particular frame… basically it saves webpages as images – either to a file, or to the clipboard.
You can download it from here.
Your Turn
Do you agree with my choices or have any to add? Let me know!
5 SEO Tips for beginners
5 SEO Tips for beginners
I know there are tons of SEO articles out their but I’m going to throw my hat in the SEO ring anyways. Below are 5 SEO Tips for beginners that should help you out.
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization and is defined by Wikipedia as “the process of improving the visibility of a website or a web page in search engines via the “natural” or un-paid (“organic” or “algorithmic”) search results.”
Search Engine Optimization is not something that happens over night. Once you optimize your site you can’t just “set it and forget it”, you have to work on it on a regular basis.
1. Figure out what search terms you want to rank for
You need to figure out the keywords that you want to rank high for in search engines. You probably will not rank high for every search term but if you put some thought into it you will rank high for the terms that are most relavent. Think like your clients or customers. If you were them what would you type into Google’s search box to find your business?
2. Create Content that is relevant to the keywords you want to rank for
Over and over you will here from web design professionals that content is king when it comes to SEO. Not only should you be writing killer content, you should also tailor that content to the keywords you want to rank highly for in search engins.
3. Use Your Keyword in the Title
Once you know what search term you want to rank highly for in search engin results pages (aka SERPs), you should craft your title to include that term. Take this article for example, I would like it to rank high for SEO Tips for beginners. You can see that I have my search term in the title as well as in the url, a heading, the actual content and in my meta description. That’s about as good as it gets.
4. Make sure your code validates
You should always aim to have your HTML and CSS code validate. That being said if you are using a CMS like WordPress this might be unavoidable due to plugins that your site is using.
If you’ve never looked before you should type in your website address and see if it validates. Here’s the link.
5. Don’t try to trick search engines
Search engins are smart. Don’t try to trick them with keyword stuffing, hiding links in the background, or any of those other SEO bad practices. You are just going to do more harm then good to your site.
That’s It!
That’s my 5 SEO Tips for beginners. Let me know what you think. I’ll be doing more SEO articles in the future.
Why you should not use Intuit Website Builder
Why you should not use Intuit Website Builder
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You may be tempted by the advertisements to use Intuit Website Builder but before you sign up for an account you should read this article. Some times things just sound to good to be trueWith the promise of your own website up in minutes and a low monthly fee it’s tempting to dive right in without taking into consideration all the options available. It’s even doubly hard to make a decision like that if you are laking in the computer/design skills area. Do you really have the time to be making a website?This is a do-it-yourself service. This is fine for those that are interested in learning website building, but for the majority of clients I’ve worked with they only have a basic knowledge of computers, let alone all things web. |
Before buying this service you should ask yourself the question, “Do I really want to spend the time and aggravation setting up my website on my own, or do I want to focus my efforts on my business?” There are some things that are better left to the professionals.
You may actually end up spending more than you thought
Intuit Website Builder charges monthly depending on the plan you buy. I’m going to focus on their “Professional” plan which at the time of this post goes for $49.99/month. (The other cheaper plans are even more of a waist of money and this plan is he only one that might be comparable with a professionally designed website) With this plan they offer Website + Domain + Email + Traffic. Looks awesome right? Wrong.
If we do the math you would spend $599.88 PER YEAR for a template website. You can get your own original, custom built website for not much more then that and for a one-time fee. Which one now seems more reasonable in price?
Your turn!
Do you agree, do you think I’m off base? Let me know your opinion!
How to Create a Facebook Fan Page
How to Create a Facebook Fan Page, Step-by-Step
With the popularity of Facebook still rising, more and more business are looking to connect with their potential clients through Facebook. Every business should have their own Facebook Fan page, it’s the perfect place to announce events or deals and interact with people.
The best thing about creating a Facebook Fan page is that it’s 100% free and relatively easy to set up. (although if you need help you can always hire me)
I’m assuming that you already have some working knowledge on how to use Facebook. You can use your personal account or set up a new account just for your business, it’s up to you.
Step 1: Create the Facebook Fanpage
Click on the Create a page link. It’s usually at the very bottom of all Facebook pages in the footer. You should see something like this:
Click on the category that you want your page to be in and follow the instructions. It’s really straight forward and easy to follow
Step 2: Adding your info
Once the page is up and running you’re going to want to change your default photo. Often a company or brand logo works best.
There is an “Info” tab located on the front of your profile. This should have information about your company, event or whatever you are trying to market. For Google and other search engines try to have keyword heavy and unique copy.
Step 3: Add In-Page Apps
In-Page Apps allows functionality to be added into any page. These are turned off by default and only an administrator can place one on the page.
Some examples of apps you could have would be ones that pull in your blog’s RSS feed (the Social RSS app is a good example of this) or YouTube videos, or you could develop your own.
Step 4: Promoting Your Page
Now that you have your page up and running you need to get the word out. You should have a Facebook Page button on your website to help others find it, spread the word on Twitter if you’re there (and you should be), sending out an email notification, and put a link to your Facebook page on your business cards.
Borders Bookstore closing and what it means for graphic designers
Today is a sad day in downtown Boston. As I was heading into work I saw workers hanging a Borders bookstore closing sign.
Boston is still suffering the huge gaping hole that once was the Filene’s building. Now to have this huge landmark of a store pack up shop will probably turn this area of Boston into a ghost town.
It was inevitable that Borders would eventually close, thanks to the popularity of the Kindel and iPad. I fear this is just the tip of the iceberg of an already in full swing trend away from print media. So what’s a print designer to do you may ask?
Well, there’s no need to go into a full on panic yet. There will always be a need for print graphic designers for some time to come, just probably a lot less book, newspaper and magazine ones. There will be, however, an ever growing demand for web designers and web developers. If you haven’t already, start learning at least the basics of web design and at the bare minimum how to hand code HTML and CSS. The more you know as a designer, the better off you will be in this field.
Some links to get you started
Top 10 Websites Every Designer Should Bookmark
This is just my own personal top 10 list for design in general. There is no order to the list and I get no financial gain from anyone on the list (but please, feel free to send me something if you’ve liked what I’ve written.)
1. Smashing Magazine
I love Smashing Magazine. I look forward to their articles and their newsletters. They cover everything design related be it print or web.
2. Net Tuts+
This site is soooo good. There are tons of free tutorials from basic HTML to Ruby on Rails and if you can afford their membership you can have even more. Highly recommend checking this site out no matter what level you are at.
3. Adobe Browser Lab
If you can’t afford to have a Mac and a PC running all the versions of web browsers (past and present) then I suggest you head over to Adobe Browser Lab Here you can view a rendered version of your site on multiple platforms and browsers for free.
4. DesignMoo
This is a site where designers share psd, vector files and more for free.
5. Six Revisions
Another website that publishes useful articles for designers and web developers.
6. 24 Ways
24 ways describes itself as “the advent calendar for web geeks. Each day throughout December we publish a daily dose of web design and development goodness to bring you all a little Christmas cheer.” Believe me, it’s worth the wait.
7. Boagworld
I just adore Boagworld. It’s the blog of web strategist Paul Boag, who also does a podcast, along with Marcus Lillington, under the same name. A real wealth of information and done in a very entertaining way.
8. Blog.SpoonGraphics
Very good site with fantastic tutorials and articles.
9. Hongkiat
Lots of design tips and inspiration. I feel like I see the same “inspiring” pieces on a lot of sites, but on Hongkiat I’m always surprised at what they find.
10. N.Design Studio
I Just think Nick La is an amazing Illustrator and his site is always great to visit. Along with illustrations he also does some great tutorials.
And there you have it
Do you feel I’ve left any out, disagree with my choices or want to say I got it spot on? Leave me a comment below.
Paper Record Wedding Invitation
Just came across this wedding invitation design this morning and I just had to say something about it.
Take a look and if you have some time check out the video too. What a great idea! Must have been so much fun to design. Awesome designs get me so excited, great Job!
Where to find your next freelance job
Here’s a small list of places you could find your next freelance job in no particular order. I mostly focused on places that specifically cater to freelance positions only, although some do have full-time listings if your interested.
1. Freelance Switch
2. Programer Meet Designer
3. Authentic Jobs
4. Smashing Jobs – from Smashing Magazine
5. Craigslist
Do you know of any other places to search out there for freelance work? Leave a comment below.
Stop using free email for your business
I always think twice when, in business, someone gives me an aol or gmail email address. There are usually 3 reasons why people do this:
1. Not technically inclined – these people are usually afraid of computers and hate that they even have to use email.
2. Lazy – They already have a perfectly good email address and see no need to have another.
3. Cheap – Why pay for something when you can get it for free.
For all these people here’s why you need to get a new email address:
Professional looking email is not expensive. You can find domain names and hosting for next to nothing. If you want to play with the big boys pony up.
Added bonus – As Far as advertising and marketing goes, websites are cheap. In later posts I’ll go into more about how you can use your site to advertise your business.
Start using an email like yourname@yourdomain.com not yourname@gmail.com. If you want, you can always forward your email to any address you want. It just looks way more professional with your very own email address.
The one thing a designer has to design well – YOUR RESUME
In my time as a graphic designer I’ve seen many a resume and I have to say about 70% of them to put it bluntly, sucked. Any resume that was designed in (shutter) Microsoft Word were pretty much overlooked. The others that has some kind of style went right to the top. Look, your applying for a DESIGN job, your resume is your first impression, for God sake’s DESIGN IT! Show off your layout skills, I guarantee your resume will get a second look.
Cover the basics
Start of by making sure that you include all the basic information.
Your vital information
1. Full name
2. Permanent address
3. Telephone number(s)
4. Email address
5. Website address
Major headings
1. Objective/Summery
2. Education
3. Computer Experience/ Software Knowledge
4. Work Experience
5. Awards/Organizations
Now design it
Your resume is as important if not more so then your portfolio. A well designed one will get you a second look even if your Experience is a little thin. Some things to consider:
Layout
The ultimate goal is for someone to read this so make sure your layout is clean and draws the eye around the page. Make use of grid systems and sticking with a color palette that makes sense.
Typography
Try to stick with some classic fonts that are easy on the eye to read. Serif fonts are always easier for the eye to navigate body copy, San Serifs are good for headers. Play with light and bold face type, extended and condensed, you get the idea. And remember NO COMIC SANS!
Imagery
If you have your own logo – use it – consider yourself a brand. You could also consider including some choice pieces of your portfolio – but limit it to about 3-4 at the most.
Do you agree?
Yes, no way? Let me know!
How to customize your Flatpress blog site
In a previous post I explained why I’m using Flatpress over WordPress for my blog with step-by-step instructions on how to install it.(Note: I have now switched to WordPress for a variety of reasons but thought I would keep these posts up incase it would help anyone still looking to use Flatpress)
Ok, so your at the point where got your flatpress blog up and running and you should see a screen that looks something like this:
This is the default theme of Flatpress, you probably want to change it. You have a few options:
1. Get a new pre-built theme and install on your site
Sounds more complicated then it is. There are a few (and I mean a very few) pre-built themes here.
And a few more here from other users.
Step one
Find a theme you like and download the files to your computer somewhere that’s handy (I usually save to my desktop so I can see the files right away).
Step two
Once the files are downloaded you need to put them on your site through your FTP program of choice (I use Fetch but any one will do).
Step three
Place all downloaded files into your public/blog (or flatpress)/fp-interface/themes folder.
Step four
Log into your admin area of your blog and click on “Themes” you should see what themes are now available to use. Here’s what mine looks like right now:
I wanted to try out a few so I have the Studiopress theme I’m using now as well as one called Deckay 3.0 and the default Leggero theme. All you have to do know is click the one you want to use and your blog should update automatically. Pretty Sweet!
2. Taking a pre-built theme and tweaking it to fit the rest of your site
Follow all steps above. Next comes the fun part. I’m assuming that you already know HTML and CSS at this point although I may go into those a little in the future. If you don’t your stuck with the pre-made stuff.
In your HTML editor of choice (I use Dreamweaver) you can open and edit any files that came with the theme. You’ll find them in:
public/blog (or flatpress)/fp-interface/(the theme folder that you downloaded)/
For example I used the Studiopress theme and edited the files header.tpl and footer.tpl and the css files found in the /res folder called globals.css to fit with the rst of my website. I also replaced some of the images.
Just re-upload said files, refresh and see what you get. If you really mess up you can always start over by re-downloading the theme and replacing the page with the original!
When should a designer redesign thier website?
You made this awesome site back in 2006, everything is up to code. You got some rockin’ portfolio pieces and your feeling pretty good about the situation. So when should a designer redesign their website?
In my opinion, every 2-3 years minimum.
What?? But what about brand loyalty and people being scared that they are not on the old site they were so familiar with.
A site that was designed 2-3 years ago, looks it. This is pretty much your business card so make it stand out.
Look I’m not saying scrap the whole thing and start over – unless it sucked in the first place – You should keep your logo consistent but I feel that the rest is up for grabs. And hey, if your CSS is good it should take that long.
When your a designer your website says a lot about you before the potential client even gets to your portfolio or about page. You’ll notice on my site I have a few pieces of my work on the homepage, I want the user to be hit with visual pieces off the bat, it’s intentional, so that they want to look for more.
This may not be true for other types of business – ebay and amazon probably don’t want a face lift anytime soon since they rely on people feeling comfortable enough to actual purchase something from them online – but in the design field you gotta go for the gusto!
Is print design dead?
This is kind of a sensitive subject for me. I’m in a dying industry, they are announcing giants in my field falling, practically everyday. You see, I’m a newspaper designer. When I started at my job about 10 years ago, fresh out of school, I couldn’t have imagined what I am seeing today. Small weeklys going down as well as big dailys biting the dust. Luckily for me I’m in what they call a nitch publication, but yet I can’t help but feel that my days may be numbered the more we move to the web.
I do feel fortunate that I took that one web design class back in ‘96. I took it on a whim, to get the credits and I thought it would be cool to know how to make a web page, whatever that was. I had a great teacher and became very interested in the subject. Over the years I’ve developed my skills more and more, learning CSS and PHP on my own and now, hopefully Ruby on Rails!
Where am I going with this?
I have a backup plan, and you should too. I see a lot of designers focus too much on one discipline and I think this recession is a good opportunity to broaden your skills. If your in print learn the web – like yesterday. If your in web, learn print or development.
How to add a Flatpress blog to your site
A little background
When I originally started this blog I needed to have a blog that didn’t require a database (for various reasons) and I come across Flatpress. NOTE: since then I’ve switched to WordPress but thought that this post still might be useful. Now Flatpress has a wiki with instructions on how to install but I thought I could make it a little simpler for people to understand exactly what they should do. If you’re in the same situation as me and want this stuff explained as straight forward as possible then keep reading.
Step 1. Download Flatpress
It’s free, just like WordPress so just do it. Go to: http://sourceforge.net/projects/flatpress/files/ and grab the latest version.
Step 2. Unpackage the file
Just double click on the file and all should be well.
Step 3. Upload Flatpress files to your website
Once the package is opened a folder should pop up called, surprisingly, flatpress. Using your FTP program of choice (I use Fetch but there’s a ton out there) place this folder in your public folder – or in my case, to make my life easier I created a new folder called blog and placed the contents of the flatpress folder in there.
Step 4. Set up Flatpress
Next you need to set this baby up, so what you want to do is to make sure the folder fp-content should have “777” permissions. What?!?!
All that means is that in the permissions for the folder fp-content, all the check boxes should be checked.
Next the easy part:
Once that’s done you need to go through the setup. To do this you need to type in your domain/flatpress. i.e. http://www.mydomain.com/flatpress. This is pretty straight forward, there’s only 3 steps:
1. Welcome dialogue
2. Enter user name, password (these you give yourself to login to your site so just make something up that you’ll remember and is pretty secure), URL and e-mail address
3. Provided, setup was successful, you are then asked whether you want to login or view your blog.
Make sure, for security reasons, that you delete the folder setup and the file setup.php once you have your blog up and running
And that’s it!
Your done – unless you want a theme or have it match your site.
I’ll go into that in detail in a future post.
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