I just walked away from an $8,000 project. “What, are you crazy?!” Is probably what you’re thinking right now. Yes, I am crazy. Crazy enough to put my sanity and happiness before profits. The reason I want to share this with you is to encourage all other designers out there that it’s okay to say “no” sometimes. In fact, the ability to say “no” is an important part of what we do. But if you’re…
Last week we talked about the importance of avoiding the things which only serve to deepen your creativity rut. This week, I’d like to introduce some ideas which should increase your creativity by giving it a nice little boost. While this is by no means an exhaustive list, feel free to substitute activities for others which sound more appealing. Have fun! 1. Laugh Go to a comedy club Take an improv class Go see…
If you need to be creative, avoid doing these 7 deadly sins Steve Jobs once said, “Creativity is just connecting things.” While being creative can certainly be fun, it can also be hard to find those new connections sometimes. Whether you’re a fellow graphic designer, a student, an engineer or a manager, I’m sure you have run into the problem of trying to solve a problem creatively. And if you’re like most people, you’ve probably…
A-little-known color change/mini history lesson on color psychology. It’s easy to take things for granted. For example, like the obvious given that boys wear blue and girls wear pink. I don’t know about you, but it’s always very frustrating for me when a parent chooses to dress their infant in green or yellow, and I am forced to ask—without using the word “it”—what gender it is. Then they are offended and say, incredulously, “he’s a…
Quick, what does the Apple logo, a seashell, and the Parthenon have in common? They all use the Golden Ratio, also known as the Golden section, Golden mean, or the Divine Proportion. It is similar to the Rule of Thirds and closely follows the Fibonacci sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…) So, what the heck is this Golden Ratio? And why should you care? The Golden Ratio is simply a mathematical number, that…
Small businesses, beware. A longtime client of mine recently told me that he had signed up with a SEO marketing company (you know, the ones who constantly fill your spam folder). He said he was paying $350 a month and that they guaranteed his site will rank number one on Google within a few months. I quickly told him he was probably being scammed and that there is no way to guarantee search rank, especially…
After being around the design block for a few years, I’ve come across some really great resources, usually in the form of books. And after years of reading, collecting, buying, and even returning some, I think I have a pretty solid collection now, of which there are 15 that I consider share-worthy. These 15 books are the crème de la crème of design reads; whether they are the most useful, the most inspirational, or most…
Qualifying clients isn’t easy… But luckily I just recently revamped my process for selecting clients. Revamp as in, actually having one instead of winging it or hoping that the phone doesn’t ring. My problem was, that when it came to dealing with established clients, I was fine. But when someone emailed me or called me out of the blue, asking about my services, I had no idea what I was doing. I froze up. Finally…
So after a long hiatus, you are now ready for the final piece of this branding/logo/identity puzzle, right? Right. I do apologize for the long delay, things have gotten quite busy around here, which is good for me (but bad for you, my readers!). So, let’s jump right in, shall we? Picking up where we left off in this 3 part miniseries, today’s focus is on the third and final “step” in building a comprehensive…
Since you now have a firm grasp on what branding is all about… …it’s time to move on to the all-important topic of logos. I bet you’re wondering: What is a logo exactly? How is it different from branding or identity? In this three part miniseries, I will continue to deconstruct each of these “steps,” explain their differences, their importance, and meaning of each. This week, we are continuing on to Step 2: Logos. …
