If you're looking for a graphic designer that is both reliable and experienced and creates excellent graphics then keep reading this short article which will list a few key points from the above title.
The first thing when looking for a graphic designer is to decide why you are looking for one in the first place whether you need just a custom ebook cover, a header graphic, logo, blog, or even a website template. Once you have decided why you need the graphic designer you then need to search for one on Google or maybe try asking your friends if they have any recommendations for any designers they have used in the past.
When you find a graphic designers web site you then need to study the sales letter, the portfolio if they have one, if not then maybe try asking for them to show you some work and any testimonials they have, also their prices depending on your budget.
If you come across the graphic designer’s web site and you like their style of work, they have good testimonials, price is right then should you order straight away. Possibly! What I would do is search for a few more graphic designers because every graphic designer is different, you might find that you actually like maybe two or three different graphic designers so it’s always best to search out graphic designers for all of the above; portfolio, testimonials, price.
Once you're happy that you have found the right graphic designer and the price is right you then need to follow their instructions on their website to order your graphics some graphic designers make you pay first then they deliver your graphics usually a rough draft within so many hours or days. Other graphic designers create your graphics first and then after you have seen what they have dawned you then pay them, both ways have their advantages.
Also you need to find out if they offer a guarantee or a refund if you're not happy with their work, most designers will work with you until you are completely satisfied, and some even offer a 90 day money back guarantee, there are even some designers that will create your graphics, you then put them to use on your website and if you don't generate any sales within a certain period you can then get them to redo your graphics or you can ask for your money back.
So make sure before you even hire a graphic designer that you do some research.
Sean John is a fantastic graphic designer that’s just hit the market, but don’t let the fact that he’s new put you off. You really should see his work; he offers professionally designed graphics at affordable prices, book covers, header templates, & many more… not only that but Sean also offers great customer service and the fastest delivery of your graphics. You really need to see his work you will be pleasantly surprised. Visit http://www.ecovergeeks.com/adtrackz/go.php?c=reliablegraphicdesigner
By: Sean John
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Friday, September 7, 2007
"Google Friendly" Solutions to Graphic-Intense Sites
We all know that the search engines can’t “see” or “read” the graphics on our pages. We also know that we need to provide text on a page, so the spiders will have something to crawl and index.
After all, we have to prove to the search engines without a shadow of a doubt that our pages are about what we say or claim they’re about if we want to achieve top rankings. That’s why I believe so strongly in focusing each page on one single keyword phrase only. As soon as a spider hits a page, I want the spider to know exactly what that page is about.
But, many sites out there are graphic intense, often by virtue of their very nature. The sites may sell prints, wallpaper, pictures, graphics, or posters. Or, the sites may sell hats, for example, so that each page is full of pictures of a particular type of hat.
Many Web site owners don’t want to add text to those pages, because they want to highlight exactly what they’re selling. They’ve created the site with their audience in mind, which is as it should be. After all, when visitors stop by a wallpaper site, they want to see loads of pictures of the different wallpaper samples. They don’t want to read about them!
So, being careful to adhere to Google’s Guidelines that prohibit hiding text, what options do we have with our graphic-intense site?
Let’s look at some possible solutions.
1. Can you put visible text above or below the graphics on the page? If so, this is your best solution, because you’re giving the engines some content to crawl.
Simply add a paragraph of content above the graphics, and then a paragraph or two of content below the graphics. Make sure the content focuses on your keyword phrase and that it describes the page accurately.
If you don’t want to add a full paragraph of content above the graphics, try adding a heading tag containing your keyword phrase. Then, add content beneath the graphics.
The bottom line is: you want to start the page with text if at all possible, not graphics.
2. Be creative! Can you add descriptive text about each graphic under or beside the graphic? Can you add little “Tips” or “More Info” boxes on the page that contain valuable information for your users and keyword-containing text for the engines? Can you include testimonials from happy customers that will add valuable keyword-containing content to your page?
3. Leave your existing graphic-intense pages the way they are, and create some new text-based interior pages that are full of valuable content related to your graphics. Pull in traffic through those pages, and provide text links to your pages full of graphics. Be sure to use your important keyword phrase in the link text that links to the pages of graphics.
Keep in mind that these new pages are interior pages, which means that they should provide a link to other pages on your site, and your site should provide a link back to those pages. If you’ve done your homework right, these new pages are providing value to your users, therefore providing value to the search engines, so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to link to these new interior pages.
Can you use redirects from the text-based pages to the pages of graphics? I highly recommend not doing so. The engines have never been fond of redirects for one thing. But, even if your redirects aren’t “sneaky” (as Google says in their Guidelines), if you don’t use text links with the keyword phrase in the link text, you’re missing out on one of the most valuable search engine optimization strategies available to you: using your keyword phrase in link text pointing to your pages.
4. You can leave your existing graphic-intense pages as they are, and instead concentrate on “off page” factors such as building link popularity to those pages and making sure that the pages linking to the graphics pages use link text that contains your important keyword phrase. In other words, you can work on your “link reputation.”
After all, you can compete with the big boys using almost any strategy that is detrimental to search engine rankings if your link popularity and link reputation is strong enough, and if the sites linking to you describe your site using your important keyword phrase.
By “strong” enough, I mean that the links should be from popular, authoritative sites in your topic area. Sheer numbers aren’t what we’re after here. We’re after links from popular and authoritative sites in our topic area. We’re also after links that use our important keyword phrase in the link text describing our pages.
In Conclusion
Though the best solution is to add text to your pages of graphics, sometimes you (or your client) won’t want to go that route. They may want to keep the existing pages just as they are.
In those situations, it’s important to have some “Google friendly” solutions that will give you the best chance at achieving top rankings for your pages, while making sure that you’re following the guidelines as stated by Google.
About The Author
Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander. They teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive "hands on" search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and she’s a member of Wordtracker’s official question support team. With partner John Alexander, she's co-authored a series of e-books called, "The Totally Non-Technical Guides to Having a Successful Web Site." And, they opened a networking community for search engine marketers called The World Resource Center for Search Engine Marketers.
robin@searchengineworkshops.com
After all, we have to prove to the search engines without a shadow of a doubt that our pages are about what we say or claim they’re about if we want to achieve top rankings. That’s why I believe so strongly in focusing each page on one single keyword phrase only. As soon as a spider hits a page, I want the spider to know exactly what that page is about.
But, many sites out there are graphic intense, often by virtue of their very nature. The sites may sell prints, wallpaper, pictures, graphics, or posters. Or, the sites may sell hats, for example, so that each page is full of pictures of a particular type of hat.
Many Web site owners don’t want to add text to those pages, because they want to highlight exactly what they’re selling. They’ve created the site with their audience in mind, which is as it should be. After all, when visitors stop by a wallpaper site, they want to see loads of pictures of the different wallpaper samples. They don’t want to read about them!
So, being careful to adhere to Google’s Guidelines that prohibit hiding text, what options do we have with our graphic-intense site?
Let’s look at some possible solutions.
1. Can you put visible text above or below the graphics on the page? If so, this is your best solution, because you’re giving the engines some content to crawl.
Simply add a paragraph of content above the graphics, and then a paragraph or two of content below the graphics. Make sure the content focuses on your keyword phrase and that it describes the page accurately.
If you don’t want to add a full paragraph of content above the graphics, try adding a heading tag containing your keyword phrase. Then, add content beneath the graphics.
The bottom line is: you want to start the page with text if at all possible, not graphics.
2. Be creative! Can you add descriptive text about each graphic under or beside the graphic? Can you add little “Tips” or “More Info” boxes on the page that contain valuable information for your users and keyword-containing text for the engines? Can you include testimonials from happy customers that will add valuable keyword-containing content to your page?
3. Leave your existing graphic-intense pages the way they are, and create some new text-based interior pages that are full of valuable content related to your graphics. Pull in traffic through those pages, and provide text links to your pages full of graphics. Be sure to use your important keyword phrase in the link text that links to the pages of graphics.
Keep in mind that these new pages are interior pages, which means that they should provide a link to other pages on your site, and your site should provide a link back to those pages. If you’ve done your homework right, these new pages are providing value to your users, therefore providing value to the search engines, so there’s no reason why you wouldn’t want to link to these new interior pages.
Can you use redirects from the text-based pages to the pages of graphics? I highly recommend not doing so. The engines have never been fond of redirects for one thing. But, even if your redirects aren’t “sneaky” (as Google says in their Guidelines), if you don’t use text links with the keyword phrase in the link text, you’re missing out on one of the most valuable search engine optimization strategies available to you: using your keyword phrase in link text pointing to your pages.
4. You can leave your existing graphic-intense pages as they are, and instead concentrate on “off page” factors such as building link popularity to those pages and making sure that the pages linking to the graphics pages use link text that contains your important keyword phrase. In other words, you can work on your “link reputation.”
After all, you can compete with the big boys using almost any strategy that is detrimental to search engine rankings if your link popularity and link reputation is strong enough, and if the sites linking to you describe your site using your important keyword phrase.
By “strong” enough, I mean that the links should be from popular, authoritative sites in your topic area. Sheer numbers aren’t what we’re after here. We’re after links from popular and authoritative sites in our topic area. We’re also after links that use our important keyword phrase in the link text describing our pages.
In Conclusion
Though the best solution is to add text to your pages of graphics, sometimes you (or your client) won’t want to go that route. They may want to keep the existing pages just as they are.
In those situations, it’s important to have some “Google friendly” solutions that will give you the best chance at achieving top rankings for your pages, while making sure that you’re following the guidelines as stated by Google.
About The Author
Robin Nobles is the Co-Director of Training of Search Engine Workshops with John Alexander. They teach 2-day beginner, 3-day advanced, and 5-day all-inclusive "hands on" search engine marketing workshops in locations across the globe. She also teaches online search engine marketing courses through http://www.onlinewebtraining.com, and she’s a member of Wordtracker’s official question support team. With partner John Alexander, she's co-authored a series of e-books called, "The Totally Non-Technical Guides to Having a Successful Web Site." And, they opened a networking community for search engine marketers called The World Resource Center for Search Engine Marketers.
robin@searchengineworkshops.com
Flow Text Around a Graphic in Microsoft Word
Flow Text Around a Graphic
Question: I have inserted a photo in my Word document but when I try to make my text go around the photo, it will only go above and below it. How can I make it go around the photo?
Answer: Once you have inserted your photo or clip art, left click the object to select it, then right click it to open the shortcut menu. Left click Format Picture. Left click the Layout tab at the top of the dialog box. You will see a row of dogs. They represent how the text will flow around the graphic. To flow the text around the object in an evenly spaced square, click the dog above the word Square. Then left click Left, Center or Right under Horizontal Alignment. This tells the program where you want the photo to appear on your page (at the left, center or right side of the page).
Now left click Advanced in the lower right corner of the dialog box. Left click the Text Wrapping tab at the top of the dialog box. Under Wrap Text, left click beside the way you want your text to wrap around the graphic: Both Sides, Left Only, Right Only or Largest Only. Click OK, click OK again. Voilà. You’ve wrapped text. If it isn’t exactly the way you want, start over and try various other wrapping formats. Congratulations! You’re an expert!
Barb Walker is known as The Computer Lady in the Denver, Colorado area where she provides in-home computer training for senior citizens. She has written two computer manuals for seniors, Taming Your Computer -- The Simple Basics, and Taming Your Computer -- Beyond The Basics. Both books have received rave reviews from readers who have been searching for computer instructions they can understand. They are available on her website, http://www.TamingYourComputer.com. Her patient, laid back teaching style makes her a favorite among seniors. "I think I get along so well with seniors because I'm one too. I'm working with my peers. Most of them have had adult children and grandkids try to teach them how to use their computer, but they don't have the patience to explain and demonstrate slowly."
By: Barb Walker
Question: I have inserted a photo in my Word document but when I try to make my text go around the photo, it will only go above and below it. How can I make it go around the photo?
Answer: Once you have inserted your photo or clip art, left click the object to select it, then right click it to open the shortcut menu. Left click Format Picture. Left click the Layout tab at the top of the dialog box. You will see a row of dogs. They represent how the text will flow around the graphic. To flow the text around the object in an evenly spaced square, click the dog above the word Square. Then left click Left, Center or Right under Horizontal Alignment. This tells the program where you want the photo to appear on your page (at the left, center or right side of the page).
Now left click Advanced in the lower right corner of the dialog box. Left click the Text Wrapping tab at the top of the dialog box. Under Wrap Text, left click beside the way you want your text to wrap around the graphic: Both Sides, Left Only, Right Only or Largest Only. Click OK, click OK again. Voilà. You’ve wrapped text. If it isn’t exactly the way you want, start over and try various other wrapping formats. Congratulations! You’re an expert!
Barb Walker is known as The Computer Lady in the Denver, Colorado area where she provides in-home computer training for senior citizens. She has written two computer manuals for seniors, Taming Your Computer -- The Simple Basics, and Taming Your Computer -- Beyond The Basics. Both books have received rave reviews from readers who have been searching for computer instructions they can understand. They are available on her website, http://www.TamingYourComputer.com. Her patient, laid back teaching style makes her a favorite among seniors. "I think I get along so well with seniors because I'm one too. I'm working with my peers. Most of them have had adult children and grandkids try to teach them how to use their computer, but they don't have the patience to explain and demonstrate slowly."
By: Barb Walker
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
How to Create Your Own Website in Eight Easy Steps
When I first decided to learn how to create my own website I had no clue on how to go about it. After floundering around for many years I finally came up with these 8 steps that I use each and every time I design a website, whether for myself or a client.
1. Brainstorm Ideas
I found that just a plain piece of paper, a pen (or pencil if you prefer), and searching the Internet through places such as Google Hot Trends, Digg or StumbleUpon is the best way to gather ideas. When I first tried this technique I was quite amazed at just how many ideas I came up with after a half hour of browsing.
Now if you already know your website's purpose, then just move on to the next step.
2. Which Pages?
Once you know your website's purpose, the next step is to decide if it's purpose warrants pages or not. If your website is going to be for your business then you'll definitely need a certain amount of pages to start with. If your website is a personal one you might want to consider setting up a weblog instead of a website.
All website's should include a home page, an about page, and a sitemap.
Weblogs are different as they're more of a time line into your life and/or your thoughts. If you go the route of a weblog you might only want to include an about page to tell people more about you.
3. Brainstorm & Create Layout
A layout constitutes of how your content of your website going to be presented to your visitors. A great place to get ideas for layouts (also referred to as templates) is Open Source Design, or do a search in your favorite Internet search engine for free templates or open source templates. There are litterly thousands of great websites that offer layouts for you to use. Just be sure to read the fine print before you use any template, as some template creators will allow you to use their template if you keep their copyright information intact.
4. Write Content for Pages
Once you know which pages your website will include, the next step is to write the content for those pages. I find that doing one of two things works best for me; writing an outline and then writing the content, or just writing the content as it flows through me. Choose what works best for you.
Always remember to proofread your content, bad grammar and/or spelling can turn some visitors into "never to return visitors". This isn't so important if it's a personal website, though if it's a business website this is extremely important. I would go far as to say it's mandatory to proofread your business website content.
5. Add Content to Website
Now that your website content is written it's time to add it to your template. If you have never created a website or edited source code before, your best bet would be to open the template you chose in Step 3 within a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This will allow you to see where all your page elements (menu, graphics, etc) are located, and where you need to place your content.
When I first started out, I found the best WYSIWYG editor for learning to be Microsoft FrontPage as it came installed on my computer already. You might want to check in your Programs folder/directory to see if you have this also.
6. Find Platform to Use
Now that you've got your own website created you need a place to host it so all the world can visit. If you're using a weblog for your personal website I would recommend you check into WordPress.com to host it. WordPress.com makes it verily easy to step up and maintain a weblog, you can litterly have your weblog up and running within 5 minutes with their service.
A business website will need more than just a weblog platform host, you will need to find a website hosting service that meets your needs. I highly recommend looking into LotsMoreHosting.com. I have used their services since 2003 and have always found their prices to be very reasonable, and their support exceptional.
7. Getting Those Pages on Your Hosting Account
Moving your website files/pages to your hosting account for your visitors to view your website isn't a huge chore as some people make it out to be. You have two options to uploading (moving) your files, either through the cPanel of your hosting account or through an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. Both of which offer tutorials to help you use them, and most FTP programs these days have wizards built in to walk you through the steps.
I recommend using FileZilla, not only will not not cost to use it, it is pretty straightforward to use and does offer a wizard and great tutorials to help you through understanding how to use the program.
8. Validate Your Website!
This is one step that most non-professional website creators don't do, though it is vitally important step. Validating your website will mean that your website will be able to be viewable by anyone using any web browser. Not all browsers are created equal, and until such time that the browser creators decide to join forces to come up with standards that all browsers will conform to, we're stuck with having to make sure that our websites conform to their own browser standards.
The only place I highly recommend to validate your website is with the W3C Markup Validation Service. W3C is a non-profit organization that is helping to set standards for the world wide web. If the validation process comes up with errors, you will need to go back into your WYSIWYG editor to correct those errors.
Conclusion
I hope that by sharing my own process to creating a website, you'll find that creating your own won't be very difficult. If you continue to follow these eight steps, creating your own website will become a simple process in no time.
Tina Stephen is the owner of DesignNewbie.com that offers a wide variety of website design and development resources (article & resource directory, online courses, weekly newsletter) for those wanting to learn how to create their own website. She has been designing websites for 6 years and owns her own web design business.
By: Tina D Stephen
1. Brainstorm Ideas
I found that just a plain piece of paper, a pen (or pencil if you prefer), and searching the Internet through places such as Google Hot Trends, Digg or StumbleUpon is the best way to gather ideas. When I first tried this technique I was quite amazed at just how many ideas I came up with after a half hour of browsing.
Now if you already know your website's purpose, then just move on to the next step.
2. Which Pages?
Once you know your website's purpose, the next step is to decide if it's purpose warrants pages or not. If your website is going to be for your business then you'll definitely need a certain amount of pages to start with. If your website is a personal one you might want to consider setting up a weblog instead of a website.
All website's should include a home page, an about page, and a sitemap.
Weblogs are different as they're more of a time line into your life and/or your thoughts. If you go the route of a weblog you might only want to include an about page to tell people more about you.
3. Brainstorm & Create Layout
A layout constitutes of how your content of your website going to be presented to your visitors. A great place to get ideas for layouts (also referred to as templates) is Open Source Design, or do a search in your favorite Internet search engine for free templates or open source templates. There are litterly thousands of great websites that offer layouts for you to use. Just be sure to read the fine print before you use any template, as some template creators will allow you to use their template if you keep their copyright information intact.
4. Write Content for Pages
Once you know which pages your website will include, the next step is to write the content for those pages. I find that doing one of two things works best for me; writing an outline and then writing the content, or just writing the content as it flows through me. Choose what works best for you.
Always remember to proofread your content, bad grammar and/or spelling can turn some visitors into "never to return visitors". This isn't so important if it's a personal website, though if it's a business website this is extremely important. I would go far as to say it's mandatory to proofread your business website content.
5. Add Content to Website
Now that your website content is written it's time to add it to your template. If you have never created a website or edited source code before, your best bet would be to open the template you chose in Step 3 within a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor. This will allow you to see where all your page elements (menu, graphics, etc) are located, and where you need to place your content.
When I first started out, I found the best WYSIWYG editor for learning to be Microsoft FrontPage as it came installed on my computer already. You might want to check in your Programs folder/directory to see if you have this also.
6. Find Platform to Use
Now that you've got your own website created you need a place to host it so all the world can visit. If you're using a weblog for your personal website I would recommend you check into WordPress.com to host it. WordPress.com makes it verily easy to step up and maintain a weblog, you can litterly have your weblog up and running within 5 minutes with their service.
A business website will need more than just a weblog platform host, you will need to find a website hosting service that meets your needs. I highly recommend looking into LotsMoreHosting.com. I have used their services since 2003 and have always found their prices to be very reasonable, and their support exceptional.
7. Getting Those Pages on Your Hosting Account
Moving your website files/pages to your hosting account for your visitors to view your website isn't a huge chore as some people make it out to be. You have two options to uploading (moving) your files, either through the cPanel of your hosting account or through an FTP (file transfer protocol) program. Both of which offer tutorials to help you use them, and most FTP programs these days have wizards built in to walk you through the steps.
I recommend using FileZilla, not only will not not cost to use it, it is pretty straightforward to use and does offer a wizard and great tutorials to help you through understanding how to use the program.
8. Validate Your Website!
This is one step that most non-professional website creators don't do, though it is vitally important step. Validating your website will mean that your website will be able to be viewable by anyone using any web browser. Not all browsers are created equal, and until such time that the browser creators decide to join forces to come up with standards that all browsers will conform to, we're stuck with having to make sure that our websites conform to their own browser standards.
The only place I highly recommend to validate your website is with the W3C Markup Validation Service. W3C is a non-profit organization that is helping to set standards for the world wide web. If the validation process comes up with errors, you will need to go back into your WYSIWYG editor to correct those errors.
Conclusion
I hope that by sharing my own process to creating a website, you'll find that creating your own won't be very difficult. If you continue to follow these eight steps, creating your own website will become a simple process in no time.
Tina Stephen is the owner of DesignNewbie.com that offers a wide variety of website design and development resources (article & resource directory, online courses, weekly newsletter) for those wanting to learn how to create their own website. She has been designing websites for 6 years and owns her own web design business.
By: Tina D Stephen
Irish Graphic Design Industry
Although communication, not aestheticism, was the primary concern, one can still argue for the overall visual design of the prehistoric artists. With the 1584 Gutenberg Printing Press, graphic design took on a whole new meaning. Now, text, coupled with visual appeal, could reach a wider audience than ever before. Although the use was – at first – primarily for Biblical and other important writings, the trend would soon spread to visual-appeal. Graphic design, as we know it, didn’t reach its boom until the computer era. With companies finding it increasingly necessary to have a corporate identity solution, visually-pleasing logo, and an online presence, graphic designers are definitely getting all the work they can handle.
Today, graphic design and website design are two separate but closely related entities. Most all websites offer some visual appeal – that is, they include graphical elements. When one understands this, they can really begin to grasp the widespread effect that graphic design can have. Creating something with aesthetic appeal is a laborious task, when one considers all the elements of graphic design, along with the viewing audience. Attempting to convey an emotion or theme is especially difficult. Special consideration to the following principles is necessary – mood, style, message, and hierarchy.
Moreover, one must consider the audience. Although anyone can view a website, logo, or corporate identity package, only a few are really in the ‘target audience.’ With graphic design’s worldwide appeal, designers have developed geographic markets in which to showcase their talents.
With Ireland’s technology boom, a widespread graphic design industry has developed. A Google.com search for “Irish Graphic Design” yields almost 2 million results, a true testament to this unparalleled growth.
David Davis, is the lead developer and project manager of Redfly Studios LTD. Graphic Design Ireland. For more information visit http://www.redflystudios.com
By:David Davis
Today, graphic design and website design are two separate but closely related entities. Most all websites offer some visual appeal – that is, they include graphical elements. When one understands this, they can really begin to grasp the widespread effect that graphic design can have. Creating something with aesthetic appeal is a laborious task, when one considers all the elements of graphic design, along with the viewing audience. Attempting to convey an emotion or theme is especially difficult. Special consideration to the following principles is necessary – mood, style, message, and hierarchy.
Moreover, one must consider the audience. Although anyone can view a website, logo, or corporate identity package, only a few are really in the ‘target audience.’ With graphic design’s worldwide appeal, designers have developed geographic markets in which to showcase their talents.
With Ireland’s technology boom, a widespread graphic design industry has developed. A Google.com search for “Irish Graphic Design” yields almost 2 million results, a true testament to this unparalleled growth.
David Davis, is the lead developer and project manager of Redfly Studios LTD. Graphic Design Ireland. For more information visit http://www.redflystudios.com
By:David Davis
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
Graphic Artist
Graphic artists create art and layouts by arranging images and text to communicate a message in print and electronic media such as magazines, newspapers, books and websites, as well as for corporate branding, exhibitions and advertising purposes. Most graphic artists specialize in a number of fields including television, film and computer graphics, exhibition designing, corporate branding, book and magazine designing, advertising and illustration. A graphic designer can rise up in the creative world through his vivid imagination and hard work, and can acquire the post of design directors, art directors or creative directors in his career.
The profile of a graphic artist usually requires him to talk to clients to get a better understanding of their visual communication requirements and, on that basis, develop rough designs or sketches for approval. Once the client approves the idea, a designer prepares layouts of the sketches by using modern techniques like photography, illustration and computer-generated imagery. The layouts, once approved by the client, are printed and then set up for exhibitions or for advertising purposes. Although a graphic artist is only supposed to prepare designs for his clients, it is also imperative for an artist to interact with his client on a regular basis to understand his requirements, and supervise the design production stages to ensure a quality product for his client.
Graphic artists mostly work as a member of a team in design studios or advertising agencies, and after gaining considerable experience one can also undertake freelance work. Although a diploma in creative design is a plus for an artist, personal aptitudes like a creative and imaginative mind, good sense of color and form, good communication skills, good marketing abilities, the ability to work under pressure and ability to work in a team are some of attributes which are essential for a designer to succeed.
Graphic design is quite a rewarding career, and one can gain not only monetary wealth but can also amass fame through hard work and creativity.
Graphic Artist provides detailed information on Graphic Artist, What is a Graphic Artist, Graphic Artist Salaries, Find a Graphic Artist and more. Graphic Artist is affiliated with Graphic Design Jobs.
By: Jimmy Sturo
The profile of a graphic artist usually requires him to talk to clients to get a better understanding of their visual communication requirements and, on that basis, develop rough designs or sketches for approval. Once the client approves the idea, a designer prepares layouts of the sketches by using modern techniques like photography, illustration and computer-generated imagery. The layouts, once approved by the client, are printed and then set up for exhibitions or for advertising purposes. Although a graphic artist is only supposed to prepare designs for his clients, it is also imperative for an artist to interact with his client on a regular basis to understand his requirements, and supervise the design production stages to ensure a quality product for his client.
Graphic artists mostly work as a member of a team in design studios or advertising agencies, and after gaining considerable experience one can also undertake freelance work. Although a diploma in creative design is a plus for an artist, personal aptitudes like a creative and imaginative mind, good sense of color and form, good communication skills, good marketing abilities, the ability to work under pressure and ability to work in a team are some of attributes which are essential for a designer to succeed.
Graphic design is quite a rewarding career, and one can gain not only monetary wealth but can also amass fame through hard work and creativity.
Graphic Artist provides detailed information on Graphic Artist, What is a Graphic Artist, Graphic Artist Salaries, Find a Graphic Artist and more. Graphic Artist is affiliated with Graphic Design Jobs.
By: Jimmy Sturo
Graphic Design, Direct Response Ads - Make Your Ad Jump Off The Page in 3 Easy Steps
Step #1: Keep The Message Clear.
Despite what some have been led to believe, no-one is in the business of spending a fortune to sell acres of white space or pretty pictures to art-starved consumers.
Your mission is to make a sale.
Don’t cut sales copy for massive margins, vast areas of empty “white space” or ponderous photographs. You’re just asking for trouble and, quite possibly, you could blow the sale.
Step #2: Great artwork doesn’t always sell.
This isn’t about art. It’s about business. Specifically, it’s about selling a product or service.
Art is subjective. Certain techniques have been proven over many years to be more effective at generating attention, readership and response than others.
The first lesson that great designers have learned is that design does NOT sell products. Copy sells the product. Great design helps the copy do its job. Bad design gets in the way of the sale.
You only have a limited amount of space in each promotion. Every element that gets through to final draft displaces something that didn’t.
Every unnecessary graphic element you add means crucial sales copy has to be smaller, shorter – or worse, cut altogether. That means you sell less. Bottom line.
Step #3: Recognize that your design only has to accomplish two, simple but essential tasks.
Graphic designers’ first job is to help the copy grab the prospect’s attention. Do this one thing well – and yes, that usually means big, “ugly” headline and deck type – and you’re 60% of the way there.
Their second job is to convert that attention to readership and to help keep the prospect reading until he responds.
Do these 3 simple things well, and you’ll create more responsive ads and bigger winners, more often!
Clayton Makepeace is a direct response consultant and copywriter whos marketing brainstorms and copy have sold over $1 billion worth of products for his clients in his over 33 years in the business. Clayton's e-zine THE TOTAL PACKAGE shares his billion dollar copy, design and marketing secrets for direct response professionals FREE in your in-box every Monday. To sign-up and claim your FREE copy of Clayton's latest guide "Beat the Blank Page Blues - 3 beginning outlines for every type of copy you'll ever write" visit: http://www.MakepeaceTotalPackage.com/?s=M151&e=63030
By: Clayton Makepeace
Despite what some have been led to believe, no-one is in the business of spending a fortune to sell acres of white space or pretty pictures to art-starved consumers.
Your mission is to make a sale.
Don’t cut sales copy for massive margins, vast areas of empty “white space” or ponderous photographs. You’re just asking for trouble and, quite possibly, you could blow the sale.
Step #2: Great artwork doesn’t always sell.
This isn’t about art. It’s about business. Specifically, it’s about selling a product or service.
Art is subjective. Certain techniques have been proven over many years to be more effective at generating attention, readership and response than others.
The first lesson that great designers have learned is that design does NOT sell products. Copy sells the product. Great design helps the copy do its job. Bad design gets in the way of the sale.
You only have a limited amount of space in each promotion. Every element that gets through to final draft displaces something that didn’t.
Every unnecessary graphic element you add means crucial sales copy has to be smaller, shorter – or worse, cut altogether. That means you sell less. Bottom line.
Step #3: Recognize that your design only has to accomplish two, simple but essential tasks.
Graphic designers’ first job is to help the copy grab the prospect’s attention. Do this one thing well – and yes, that usually means big, “ugly” headline and deck type – and you’re 60% of the way there.
Their second job is to convert that attention to readership and to help keep the prospect reading until he responds.
Do these 3 simple things well, and you’ll create more responsive ads and bigger winners, more often!
Clayton Makepeace is a direct response consultant and copywriter whos marketing brainstorms and copy have sold over $1 billion worth of products for his clients in his over 33 years in the business. Clayton's e-zine THE TOTAL PACKAGE shares his billion dollar copy, design and marketing secrets for direct response professionals FREE in your in-box every Monday. To sign-up and claim your FREE copy of Clayton's latest guide "Beat the Blank Page Blues - 3 beginning outlines for every type of copy you'll ever write" visit: http://www.MakepeaceTotalPackage.com/?s=M151&e=63030
By: Clayton Makepeace
Monday, September 3, 2007
How To Make a MySpace Layout That Stands Out
If you are a MySpace user, you have learned what an easy to read and fun profile looks like. The only problem is, you may not know how to create or find out. Most of the time when you see an awful MySpace layout, it's because its sloppy, hard to read, or has annoying links you didn’t even see. That is because since MySpace has been growing so much, so have the layout sites. In fact, MySpace layout sites have been generating tons of revenue through advertising. This advertising can even be through hidden spam in your own profile.
Once you start seeing all the nice profiles on MySpace, you instantly hit Google and start searching away for a great free MySpace layout site. What you don't realize that the ones you are going to find the easiest will most likely have the most spam. As a website publisher myself, I understand why this spam is there, and what it accomplishes. But as a MySpace user, these hidden links can get annoying. So you have to know what you are looking for in a layout.
MySpace layout designers will put hidden backlinks to their site in all of their layouts. What this does for them is 2 things. 1. It creates free advertising for them and possible hits from all over the MySpace world. 2. These backlinks help their page rank in Google. The more links to their site, the more important their site looks to Google, therefore the higher up it will rank when MySpace layouts are searched for. The site MySpace Trends goes into great detail about this, and how web marketers use this.
Now all hope is not lost when looking for a good layout. These backlinks that MySpace layout designers use is not all bad. In fact, it does help keep your favorite MySpace layout site in business. But knowing what you are looking for is important.
Try and stay away from the layouts that have lots of links and menu bar modifications. I have found that most of the back links will come from modifying the menu bars. The good MySpace layout sites you will find are the ones that let you "hack" your MySpace profile. This will let you edit one aspect at a time instead of just throwing a new layout on your profile all at once. This will also let you control any unwanted layout designs, and you will also become familiar with the coding.
These tips will help you create a great looking MySpace layout without much hassle.
Add up to 500 MySpace Friends, automatically send comments, messages, and bullitens all with The Official Friend Adder
PaulG is an expert on internet social groups, especially MySpace. Check out his blog MySpace Trends for more great tips and ideas about MySpace.
By: Paul Giordano
Once you start seeing all the nice profiles on MySpace, you instantly hit Google and start searching away for a great free MySpace layout site. What you don't realize that the ones you are going to find the easiest will most likely have the most spam. As a website publisher myself, I understand why this spam is there, and what it accomplishes. But as a MySpace user, these hidden links can get annoying. So you have to know what you are looking for in a layout.
MySpace layout designers will put hidden backlinks to their site in all of their layouts. What this does for them is 2 things. 1. It creates free advertising for them and possible hits from all over the MySpace world. 2. These backlinks help their page rank in Google. The more links to their site, the more important their site looks to Google, therefore the higher up it will rank when MySpace layouts are searched for. The site MySpace Trends goes into great detail about this, and how web marketers use this.
Now all hope is not lost when looking for a good layout. These backlinks that MySpace layout designers use is not all bad. In fact, it does help keep your favorite MySpace layout site in business. But knowing what you are looking for is important.
Try and stay away from the layouts that have lots of links and menu bar modifications. I have found that most of the back links will come from modifying the menu bars. The good MySpace layout sites you will find are the ones that let you "hack" your MySpace profile. This will let you edit one aspect at a time instead of just throwing a new layout on your profile all at once. This will also let you control any unwanted layout designs, and you will also become familiar with the coding.
These tips will help you create a great looking MySpace layout without much hassle.
Add up to 500 MySpace Friends, automatically send comments, messages, and bullitens all with The Official Friend Adder
PaulG is an expert on internet social groups, especially MySpace. Check out his blog MySpace Trends for more great tips and ideas about MySpace.
By: Paul Giordano
6 Quick Steps to Make More Profit with Web Site Design
Web site design does not have to be a frustrating exercise. Nor do you need a degree in graphic design to make a good one. A little common sense and a user friendly attitude will go a long way to help you. Here are 6 steps to help you with profitable web site design.
Step 1: Analyze Your User
Is your goal to attract professional in the baby boom generation? Then don’t fill your page with bright graffiti-styled lettering. However, if you’re attracting a young urban user, then the graffiti is fine. You can figure out what the color preferences are for your target group by looking at other websites that appeal to them.
Step 2: Know The User’s Word Choices
Much in the same vein as Step 1, you would not want to try to appeal to home gardeners by the using language of an architect. Web site design targets a user carefully.
Step 3: Write for Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing
Either that or hire it done. SOE and SEM techniques are designed to get a website noticed by telling the search engines that your site is relevant to the search terms the customer has just entered.
Step 4: Get Email Lists
Use your website design to convince people to send you their email address. Use squeeze pages, check boxes, and other means to get new contacts.
Step 5: Use Hooks
When you’re writing your content, say things that will make people want to continue reading your other pages, like, “For more information, simply turn the page.”
Step 6: Keep Track of Links
Whether it’s someone else linking to your site or you linking elsewhere, make sure they all work. It’s frustrating to a potential customer to click on a broken link.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
Step 1: Analyze Your User
Is your goal to attract professional in the baby boom generation? Then don’t fill your page with bright graffiti-styled lettering. However, if you’re attracting a young urban user, then the graffiti is fine. You can figure out what the color preferences are for your target group by looking at other websites that appeal to them.
Step 2: Know The User’s Word Choices
Much in the same vein as Step 1, you would not want to try to appeal to home gardeners by the using language of an architect. Web site design targets a user carefully.
Step 3: Write for Search Engine Optimization and Search Engine Marketing
Either that or hire it done. SOE and SEM techniques are designed to get a website noticed by telling the search engines that your site is relevant to the search terms the customer has just entered.
Step 4: Get Email Lists
Use your website design to convince people to send you their email address. Use squeeze pages, check boxes, and other means to get new contacts.
Step 5: Use Hooks
When you’re writing your content, say things that will make people want to continue reading your other pages, like, “For more information, simply turn the page.”
Step 6: Keep Track of Links
Whether it’s someone else linking to your site or you linking elsewhere, make sure they all work. It’s frustrating to a potential customer to click on a broken link.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
Graphic Design Companies
Graphic design companies specialize in producing images, layouts, and other designs to promote a product or present a work of art. As the world becomes more competitive, the need for communication grows. Graphic design is useful in communicating a message. Graphic design deals with the arrangement of images and text to communicate a message, or facilitate understanding. Since it is not possible for every company to have a team of graphic designers, the work is outsourced to specialized companies.
There are many advantages of outsourcing such tasks. It simplifies the task and minimizes the time and money spent on it. It not only reduces manpower but also makes it easy for an organization to invest resources in other projects. The experience of the graphic design companies is also beneficial to the client company. As these graphic designers work with clients in various fields, they know the trends in the market. Considering their past experience and learning, they do the work better than the clients. These companies perform tasks in web development, branding, advertising, other promotional tasks, and management of portfolio and printing.
The selection of a graphic design company is the important task. The company may be full-service or a part-time agency. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. The selection of the company depends on the type. The selection is also made on the basis of compatibility, the company’s methods of working, their team of designers, the age of the company, the stability of the company, service provided, credibility, creative ability, and problem-solving ability.
Graphic Design provides detailed information on Graphic Design, Graphic Design Schools, Graphic Design Jobs, Graphic Design Companies and more. Graphic Design is affiliated with Graphic Artist Salaries.
By: Marcus Peterson
There are many advantages of outsourcing such tasks. It simplifies the task and minimizes the time and money spent on it. It not only reduces manpower but also makes it easy for an organization to invest resources in other projects. The experience of the graphic design companies is also beneficial to the client company. As these graphic designers work with clients in various fields, they know the trends in the market. Considering their past experience and learning, they do the work better than the clients. These companies perform tasks in web development, branding, advertising, other promotional tasks, and management of portfolio and printing.
The selection of a graphic design company is the important task. The company may be full-service or a part-time agency. Each type has its own advantages and disadvantages. The selection of the company depends on the type. The selection is also made on the basis of compatibility, the company’s methods of working, their team of designers, the age of the company, the stability of the company, service provided, credibility, creative ability, and problem-solving ability.
Graphic Design provides detailed information on Graphic Design, Graphic Design Schools, Graphic Design Jobs, Graphic Design Companies and more. Graphic Design is affiliated with Graphic Artist Salaries.
By: Marcus Peterson
Graphic Design Opportunity
The opportunity for a graphic designer to express creativity in a unique prosperous way has been discovered! Hand painted window ads is an untapped avenue of expression and requires no artist talent to implement. It has been proven that graphic designers can be highly successful at this business by either creating these ads on their own or hiring others to implement the display layouts that the designer has created.
As any graphic designer knows, the ability to display information in a balanced enticing way is extremely important to achieving the results that marketers are searching for. The way an idea is presented has far reaching abilities, and implementing this talent into an untapped industry has success written all over it.
Window painting is a specific form of sign advertising done on a client’s windows. Its potential to draw desperately needed attention to retail outlets is incomparable to any other form of marketing. Most retailers spend the majority of their marketing dollars on advertising avenues such as radio, TV, and print adds. Although their importance in generating traffic is undeniable, there is a financial sacrifice to be made and it is high. As an example a half page black and white ad in a local newspaper may run around $1000. If you were to add color, plan on adding an additional $500. The distribution is one time. How many of those people will actually take the time to read the ad, remember the ad, and act on the ad?
For a mere fraction of the price, window advertisements work 24 hours a day, every day for the duration of the ad. It provides direct attention not only to the storefront, but also up front, no nonsense information about in store promotions. All information is readily available to the potential customers right in front of their store.
Due to the demand of the well-informed consumer, the retailer has to offer far more than good deals. They must offer an experience, a felt experience. Graphic designers have the ability to create this needed felt visual experience through creative, enticing window design layouts.
An unrealized opportunity has been discovered that will enable graphic designers to express their talents through an amazingly lucrative business. The launching of the the website http://www.wildways2ads.com offers a graphic design idea that is lucrative as well as rewarding. It has proven to be a most profitable start up business!
By: Darcie Zackowski
As any graphic designer knows, the ability to display information in a balanced enticing way is extremely important to achieving the results that marketers are searching for. The way an idea is presented has far reaching abilities, and implementing this talent into an untapped industry has success written all over it.
Window painting is a specific form of sign advertising done on a client’s windows. Its potential to draw desperately needed attention to retail outlets is incomparable to any other form of marketing. Most retailers spend the majority of their marketing dollars on advertising avenues such as radio, TV, and print adds. Although their importance in generating traffic is undeniable, there is a financial sacrifice to be made and it is high. As an example a half page black and white ad in a local newspaper may run around $1000. If you were to add color, plan on adding an additional $500. The distribution is one time. How many of those people will actually take the time to read the ad, remember the ad, and act on the ad?
For a mere fraction of the price, window advertisements work 24 hours a day, every day for the duration of the ad. It provides direct attention not only to the storefront, but also up front, no nonsense information about in store promotions. All information is readily available to the potential customers right in front of their store.
Due to the demand of the well-informed consumer, the retailer has to offer far more than good deals. They must offer an experience, a felt experience. Graphic designers have the ability to create this needed felt visual experience through creative, enticing window design layouts.
An unrealized opportunity has been discovered that will enable graphic designers to express their talents through an amazingly lucrative business. The launching of the the website http://www.wildways2ads.com offers a graphic design idea that is lucrative as well as rewarding. It has proven to be a most profitable start up business!
By: Darcie Zackowski
Friday, August 31, 2007
Digital Photography Tips for Beginners and Experts
Do you own a digital camera? Have you started to make the most out of it? Without really starting the features of a digital camera, one can start using his or her digital camera to take beautiful pictures because of the technology embedded into that small little device.
A digital camera can help movies like me to autofocus I do on a mountain view, or a small little beautiful flower. When I first bought my camera, the salesman was very persuasive. And I quote, all you need to do is point and click. I was instantly sold on getting that wonderful camera.
As the days and weeks go by, I began to be familiar with the digital camera and suddenly digital photography became a passion for me. I wanted to take more than just ordinary pictures! I dug through my old closet and found the manual to this digital camera and started reading it. I learned about quality, that a 300 dpi will produce a better quality than a 72 dpi resolution. If only I have learned this much earlier! I learned about shutter speeds and exposure, white balance and how to remove red eye effects... digital photography is becoming very interesting!
Do you have problem taking pictures through a window? every time I take a picture to a window, there is always a reflection on the picture. Sometimes the reflection is so small I can only is it after I transfer it onto my computer. If only I knew to stand closer to the window, I would have reduced the reflection that reflects on shiny surface of the glass.
Have you tried to take pictures in the dark? if you try to use the flash with the camera, the picture could look too bright. Especially if you use it in a jungle, you will scare away most of the animals. There is a way to use the camera to take pictures without flash in the dark. That is to increase your light exposure. You can control your shutter speed by decreasing it. By decreasing the shutter speed, you allow more light to go your camera and brighten up the dark picture.
In addition to the light present, the amount of light that is reflected from the image is then absorbed into the shutter. The longer the shutter close its lead, the high exposure and brighter the image. Have you wonder how cats can see very well in the night? Their eyes are so sensitive to light, a candle in the dark can lid up a whole room for them. It takes some practice for you and I to learn about the shutter speed. Experiment and testing is crucial to know what is the correct speed.
As digital camera is getting cheaper and cheaper these days, digital photography is being picked up by many amateur Digital photographers. The younger generation to be able to pick up on softwares in many leading pictures past digital photography is a growing hobby.
Are you a beginner or seasoned professionals in digital photography? There is always something new to learn isn't there? Visit David Chong's http://digital-photography.for-free.com
A digital camera can help movies like me to autofocus I do on a mountain view, or a small little beautiful flower. When I first bought my camera, the salesman was very persuasive. And I quote, all you need to do is point and click. I was instantly sold on getting that wonderful camera.
As the days and weeks go by, I began to be familiar with the digital camera and suddenly digital photography became a passion for me. I wanted to take more than just ordinary pictures! I dug through my old closet and found the manual to this digital camera and started reading it. I learned about quality, that a 300 dpi will produce a better quality than a 72 dpi resolution. If only I have learned this much earlier! I learned about shutter speeds and exposure, white balance and how to remove red eye effects... digital photography is becoming very interesting!
Do you have problem taking pictures through a window? every time I take a picture to a window, there is always a reflection on the picture. Sometimes the reflection is so small I can only is it after I transfer it onto my computer. If only I knew to stand closer to the window, I would have reduced the reflection that reflects on shiny surface of the glass.
Have you tried to take pictures in the dark? if you try to use the flash with the camera, the picture could look too bright. Especially if you use it in a jungle, you will scare away most of the animals. There is a way to use the camera to take pictures without flash in the dark. That is to increase your light exposure. You can control your shutter speed by decreasing it. By decreasing the shutter speed, you allow more light to go your camera and brighten up the dark picture.
In addition to the light present, the amount of light that is reflected from the image is then absorbed into the shutter. The longer the shutter close its lead, the high exposure and brighter the image. Have you wonder how cats can see very well in the night? Their eyes are so sensitive to light, a candle in the dark can lid up a whole room for them. It takes some practice for you and I to learn about the shutter speed. Experiment and testing is crucial to know what is the correct speed.
As digital camera is getting cheaper and cheaper these days, digital photography is being picked up by many amateur Digital photographers. The younger generation to be able to pick up on softwares in many leading pictures past digital photography is a growing hobby.
Are you a beginner or seasoned professionals in digital photography? There is always something new to learn isn't there? Visit David Chong's http://digital-photography.for-free.com
Website Creation and the Eye of the Spider
Picture, if you will, a Rocky-style montage. A team is involved in website creation from the ground up. A driving, inspirational song begins. The first scene is a highly contentious meeting, with a sweating and nervous marketing executive frantically drawing away at a whiteboard in front of a hostile audience. Flash to copywriters, fingers cracked and bleeding, churning away at their keyboards. Jump to web designers, sporting blurred eyes rimmed with dark circles, peering into their monitors in obvious discomfort. Finally, we see signs of it all coming together. A beautiful home page briefly appears. The music ends. A bell rings. And...
Nothing happens. The website would seem to have tripped over its own shoelaces and fallen right through the canvas, disappearing into cyberspace. The credits roll, to the eternal shame of those whose names appear.
What went wrong?
The team engaged in website creation without any regard for the role of the search engine spider. You see, there is quite a difference in what is seen by humans on a website and what is seen by a search engine "spider" (a program that routinely combs the Internet indexing websites). There are an untold numbers of expensive websites out there that are beautiful to behold from a human perspective, yet all but invisible to search engine spiders (and thus searchers), just as there are untold numbers of expensive, beautiful yachts silently and pointlessly resting on the ocean bottom in the Bermuda Triangle.
What follows is a small list of common website elements, broken into two categories: what search engines can see, and what they can not.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can't See
Graphic text - Most professionals involved in website creation take great pride in their work, which is obviously a desired trait. Occasionally, however, this can present problems. When a web designer decides to use text in a graphic form (meaning that the text is actually an image), the search engine spider can not read what that text says. A common reason for a designer to use text in a graphic is because he or she wants to use a rare font that most visitors won't have on their machines. Another reason is that the designer wants to have absolute control over how the website text renders. When faced with the choice over which kind of text to use, it is important to weigh the aesthetic choice against the potential loss of search engine visibility.
Images - As touched upon above, a search engine spider is not yet able to look at images or pictures and determine what they are (although you can and should attach a tag to them which the spider can read - commonly referred to as an "alt" tag). A spider will skip directly over your logo and masthead, any pictures, and most other graphical ele
ments.
Flash - Search engine spiders will not read through the text in any Flash animation on your site (or any other animation). This does not mean that using Flash elements will render your site invisible; it merely means that you should not count on the text that appears in any Flash animation on your website to be indexed. If the team responsible for your website creation decides to build the entire site in Flash, however, you will encounter unique problems. While some search engines are getting better at trying to index websites built entirely on this platform, it is still an overall rankings killer. If you must have a website created entirely in Flash, it is wise to also have an alternate HTML version for search engines and people who prefer HTML sites.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can See
HTML text - A search engine spider relies heavily on HTML text to determine what a web page is about. Spiders, therefore, index HTML text and will even make distinctions between differences in how the text is presented. For example, text that is in a headline or is bolded is assumed to be slightly more important than regular text.
Links - Outgoing links on your pages are easily understood by the spider, especially if they are text links. The wording of these links (or the alt tags attached to them) can, like HTML text, give the spider an idea of what your page is about. However, there are certain types of links that are not easily indexed. If your website creation team embedded your links in a pull-down menu that utilizes JavaScript or other scripting language, most search engine spiders will not see them.
Tags - There are many kinds of tags, but not all are important for search engine optimization. Meta tags include the "keywords" tag, which should list keyphrases that describe the page. Another meta tag is the "description" tag, which should be one or two brief sentences that describe the page. Another tag, which is not actually a meta tag, but which has significant importance to search engine rankings, is the "title" tag. This tag contains the words that you will see in the blue bar at the top of your web page.
This list is by no means comprehensive - there are many other attributes that aren't mentioned in this article. The primary message here is that companies should do their homework before engaging in website creation. There are thousands of resources available on the Internet that can answer your questions about any element you are considering adding before you build (or redesign) your site. Take the time to study each so that you can be sure you aren't sacrificing your search engine rankings for the sake of something largely unnecessary.
As for the downtrodden website creation team mentioned earlier in the article, let's remember that Rocky has been known to get beat down in the first fight but then to pull himself up from the floor and triumph in the end. The team will go back into training and eventually understand the Eye of the Spider. Cue the music...
Source: isedb.com
Nothing happens. The website would seem to have tripped over its own shoelaces and fallen right through the canvas, disappearing into cyberspace. The credits roll, to the eternal shame of those whose names appear.
What went wrong?
The team engaged in website creation without any regard for the role of the search engine spider. You see, there is quite a difference in what is seen by humans on a website and what is seen by a search engine "spider" (a program that routinely combs the Internet indexing websites). There are an untold numbers of expensive websites out there that are beautiful to behold from a human perspective, yet all but invisible to search engine spiders (and thus searchers), just as there are untold numbers of expensive, beautiful yachts silently and pointlessly resting on the ocean bottom in the Bermuda Triangle.
What follows is a small list of common website elements, broken into two categories: what search engines can see, and what they can not.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can't See
Graphic text - Most professionals involved in website creation take great pride in their work, which is obviously a desired trait. Occasionally, however, this can present problems. When a web designer decides to use text in a graphic form (meaning that the text is actually an image), the search engine spider can not read what that text says. A common reason for a designer to use text in a graphic is because he or she wants to use a rare font that most visitors won't have on their machines. Another reason is that the designer wants to have absolute control over how the website text renders. When faced with the choice over which kind of text to use, it is important to weigh the aesthetic choice against the potential loss of search engine visibility.
Images - As touched upon above, a search engine spider is not yet able to look at images or pictures and determine what they are (although you can and should attach a tag to them which the spider can read - commonly referred to as an "alt" tag). A spider will skip directly over your logo and masthead, any pictures, and most other graphical ele
ments.
Flash - Search engine spiders will not read through the text in any Flash animation on your site (or any other animation). This does not mean that using Flash elements will render your site invisible; it merely means that you should not count on the text that appears in any Flash animation on your website to be indexed. If the team responsible for your website creation decides to build the entire site in Flash, however, you will encounter unique problems. While some search engines are getting better at trying to index websites built entirely on this platform, it is still an overall rankings killer. If you must have a website created entirely in Flash, it is wise to also have an alternate HTML version for search engines and people who prefer HTML sites.
Three Things a Search Engine Spider Can See
HTML text - A search engine spider relies heavily on HTML text to determine what a web page is about. Spiders, therefore, index HTML text and will even make distinctions between differences in how the text is presented. For example, text that is in a headline or is bolded is assumed to be slightly more important than regular text.
Links - Outgoing links on your pages are easily understood by the spider, especially if they are text links. The wording of these links (or the alt tags attached to them) can, like HTML text, give the spider an idea of what your page is about. However, there are certain types of links that are not easily indexed. If your website creation team embedded your links in a pull-down menu that utilizes JavaScript or other scripting language, most search engine spiders will not see them.
Tags - There are many kinds of tags, but not all are important for search engine optimization. Meta tags include the "keywords" tag, which should list keyphrases that describe the page. Another meta tag is the "description" tag, which should be one or two brief sentences that describe the page. Another tag, which is not actually a meta tag, but which has significant importance to search engine rankings, is the "title" tag. This tag contains the words that you will see in the blue bar at the top of your web page.
This list is by no means comprehensive - there are many other attributes that aren't mentioned in this article. The primary message here is that companies should do their homework before engaging in website creation. There are thousands of resources available on the Internet that can answer your questions about any element you are considering adding before you build (or redesign) your site. Take the time to study each so that you can be sure you aren't sacrificing your search engine rankings for the sake of something largely unnecessary.
As for the downtrodden website creation team mentioned earlier in the article, let's remember that Rocky has been known to get beat down in the first fight but then to pull himself up from the floor and triumph in the end. The team will go back into training and eventually understand the Eye of the Spider. Cue the music...
Source: isedb.com
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Brochure Printing and Persuasive Brochure Design - 12 Ideas
Be it through the allure of the product’s beauty, through an idea or fantasy or through a promise of better solution, brochures and brochure printing do all these things and much more.
Brochures are effective for promoting causes, ideas, products, services and even companies. Yet, more commonly, brochures used in marketing are made to steer customers towards a particular product or service. This, as designed, prompts the customer to avail of such products.
Yes, brochures are ingenious products of persuasion and creativity. And whether through individual effort or team ideation, the results are always geared towards making effective concepts and effective brochures.
Here are some tips on how to make your brochures stand out and capture your target audience:
Prepare your images
Images are made up of photos and illustrations. Combined, they will form the backbone of the brochure design. These images will be the first thing that prospective customers get to see.
• Use lively colors to indicate the exuberance of your brochure’s message.
• Likewise, the illustrations and images should complement each other. Along with the choice of color, these three could already reveal what the message of the brochure is.
Meaty Content
Your content are made up of text and statements representing your company or organization. It too holds the necessary information that will persuade and sway your clients towards your side. Hence observe the following in your content writing:
• Choose your words and sentences carefully. Words can help select and shape your target market. Use of certain words such as slang and lingo to embellish and add character to your tone.
• Slang and lingo can communicate well to a selective audience. It, however, limits itself and the general public may not understand or appreciate your brochures well enough.
• Make sentences short and catchy. Brochures are most often than not read on the go. So make it easy for your readers to grasp even complex ideas by exercising brevity.
• Brochures are, after all, a piece of literature, a very short literature that can occupy time waiting for the bus, standing in line and the like. Use bullets and numbering to organize information that clients can digest easily.
• It would also do well to provide clients with a short overview or outline as to what your product or service is all about.
• Highlight product features, it strengths and the solutions it provides that makes it different from other products.
• Provide useful product information as well as your company details and contact numbers.
• You have to put yourself in the position of your target customer and try to ask yourself questions that you as a client would want to know firsthand.
Brand Recall
Make your product more memorable. Use colors that maintains the integrity of your brand logo. Also, ensure that your colors make your brand logo stand out not just for the whole brochure, but against competition too.
• Provide customers an alternative name to remember. Include your company logo to accent and expose yourself better. Doing this builds your image and gains you media mileage. Doing this makes your presence felt among your clients and potential ones as well.
• And to end on a final note, a brochure printing company is necessary to fulfill all your desired goals for the success of your brochures.
With a professional brochure company, things can be fairly simple. With little research you will be able to find out about lots of sites offering online brochure printing Learn to compare what you read regarding the services they offer. From turn around times to cost of print jobs and folding options available, you will be able cut your list short and pick out the best printer for you.
This composition is projected to give the readers information about Brochure Printing and on how brochures can help you in your marketing schemes and provide you a higher sales rate. For more topics and tips about Brochure Printing please refer to Catalog Printing Experts
By: Carla San Gaspar
Brochures are effective for promoting causes, ideas, products, services and even companies. Yet, more commonly, brochures used in marketing are made to steer customers towards a particular product or service. This, as designed, prompts the customer to avail of such products.
Yes, brochures are ingenious products of persuasion and creativity. And whether through individual effort or team ideation, the results are always geared towards making effective concepts and effective brochures.
Here are some tips on how to make your brochures stand out and capture your target audience:
Prepare your images
Images are made up of photos and illustrations. Combined, they will form the backbone of the brochure design. These images will be the first thing that prospective customers get to see.
• Use lively colors to indicate the exuberance of your brochure’s message.
• Likewise, the illustrations and images should complement each other. Along with the choice of color, these three could already reveal what the message of the brochure is.
Meaty Content
Your content are made up of text and statements representing your company or organization. It too holds the necessary information that will persuade and sway your clients towards your side. Hence observe the following in your content writing:
• Choose your words and sentences carefully. Words can help select and shape your target market. Use of certain words such as slang and lingo to embellish and add character to your tone.
• Slang and lingo can communicate well to a selective audience. It, however, limits itself and the general public may not understand or appreciate your brochures well enough.
• Make sentences short and catchy. Brochures are most often than not read on the go. So make it easy for your readers to grasp even complex ideas by exercising brevity.
• Brochures are, after all, a piece of literature, a very short literature that can occupy time waiting for the bus, standing in line and the like. Use bullets and numbering to organize information that clients can digest easily.
• It would also do well to provide clients with a short overview or outline as to what your product or service is all about.
• Highlight product features, it strengths and the solutions it provides that makes it different from other products.
• Provide useful product information as well as your company details and contact numbers.
• You have to put yourself in the position of your target customer and try to ask yourself questions that you as a client would want to know firsthand.
Brand Recall
Make your product more memorable. Use colors that maintains the integrity of your brand logo. Also, ensure that your colors make your brand logo stand out not just for the whole brochure, but against competition too.
• Provide customers an alternative name to remember. Include your company logo to accent and expose yourself better. Doing this builds your image and gains you media mileage. Doing this makes your presence felt among your clients and potential ones as well.
• And to end on a final note, a brochure printing company is necessary to fulfill all your desired goals for the success of your brochures.
With a professional brochure company, things can be fairly simple. With little research you will be able to find out about lots of sites offering online brochure printing Learn to compare what you read regarding the services they offer. From turn around times to cost of print jobs and folding options available, you will be able cut your list short and pick out the best printer for you.
This composition is projected to give the readers information about Brochure Printing and on how brochures can help you in your marketing schemes and provide you a higher sales rate. For more topics and tips about Brochure Printing please refer to Catalog Printing Experts
By: Carla San Gaspar
Corporate Logo Design
A corporate logo design is essential in today's corporate world. If used effectively, it will be highly instrumental in building your corporate identity and should successfully exude the company's attitude. The viewers must have some idea about the disposition, character, or fundamental values of your company through your logo.
Following certain basic principles can ensure that your corporate logo design is professional easy to remember and creates a great impact on its viewers while successfully expressing the nature of your business.
Go for Professional Logo Designers You might save a few dollars doing your own logo or getting it done from the next door boy who knows the basics of designing but if you are serious about your business you should always go for a professional logo design firm. Your corporate logo is your identity, your customers recognize you by your logo, so the more professional and sophisticated your logo is the better will be your customer's impression about your company.
Though most of the logo design companies charge exorbitant rates to create a corporate logo design but the industry is changing. These days there are companies that offer excellent professional logos for nominal charges ( e.g., corporate logo design
Simplicity – Keep it Simple An ideal corporate logo design should be simple and memorable. Corporate houses spend thousands of dollars to ensure that customers remember them at all point of time and a simple logo is the key to that. Think about the Nike logo, it's simple and memorable—once you see the Swoosh, do you ever need to think twice about the company name?
Colors Colors you use for your corporate logo are a very important factor in your brand establishment. If you already have your corporate colors ask your logo designer to use those colors for the logo. If you don't, suggest the colors that you think might give your prospective clients some idea about the type of business you do. For example, a company working in the fields of forest conservation might like their logo to be in green. At the same time, you also need to consider which colors will go well with your corporate stationeries as well.
Black and White version While emphasizing the colors we must also remember that it is important for a corporate logo to come out well in black and white. A corporate logo design is used in all corporate communications including fax and photocopied document where they will be in black and white and the logo design must be such that it holds the same impact even in black and white.
Minimize Colors this is more important from an economic and usability point of view. Corporate logos are often required to be printed for stationary and corporate literature. Using a one or two spot color logo can save a lot of cost compared to printing a full color logo.
Logo Format It is advisable to always use a vector format for your corporate logo design. A corporate logo may be required to be reproduced at any size for different purposes in the future. A logo design done in vector format can be expanded to any size without any loss of image quality, where as a corporate logo in raster format will loose image quality, if scaled up. Also it is easier to convert a vector logo design to bitmap than vice versa.
If you get a professional logo design firm to do your corporate logo and brief them about these basic tips (most of the knowledgeable firms are well aware of these principles) you are sure to get a satisfactory corporate logo design that would go a long way in helping you establishing your brand.
Use your Logo: Once you are ready with your corporate logo start giving it maximum exposure possible. Not only on your business cards and letterheads but also on your packaging, uniforms, pens and all possible goods should contain your logo. This gives wider exposure to your logo and people gets familiar with the corporate logo much faster. With all these you are on your way to establish your brand. Take leaps with your new corporate logo.
www.LogosArea.com is one of the largest logo design firms in the world. We've created a unique business model designed to eliminate the hassles and uncertainty of traditional logo design. Customers appreciate our streamlined, simplified process, talented designers, and personal service. That's why over 45,000 clients have chosen LogosArea to design their logo .At LogosArea, our mission is to make small businesses look great. We do this by providing small businesses with graphic design services that inspire you and enable you to emotionally connect with their customers.
By: Imran Adrees
Following certain basic principles can ensure that your corporate logo design is professional easy to remember and creates a great impact on its viewers while successfully expressing the nature of your business.
Go for Professional Logo Designers You might save a few dollars doing your own logo or getting it done from the next door boy who knows the basics of designing but if you are serious about your business you should always go for a professional logo design firm. Your corporate logo is your identity, your customers recognize you by your logo, so the more professional and sophisticated your logo is the better will be your customer's impression about your company.
Though most of the logo design companies charge exorbitant rates to create a corporate logo design but the industry is changing. These days there are companies that offer excellent professional logos for nominal charges ( e.g., corporate logo design
Simplicity – Keep it Simple An ideal corporate logo design should be simple and memorable. Corporate houses spend thousands of dollars to ensure that customers remember them at all point of time and a simple logo is the key to that. Think about the Nike logo, it's simple and memorable—once you see the Swoosh, do you ever need to think twice about the company name?
Colors Colors you use for your corporate logo are a very important factor in your brand establishment. If you already have your corporate colors ask your logo designer to use those colors for the logo. If you don't, suggest the colors that you think might give your prospective clients some idea about the type of business you do. For example, a company working in the fields of forest conservation might like their logo to be in green. At the same time, you also need to consider which colors will go well with your corporate stationeries as well.
Black and White version While emphasizing the colors we must also remember that it is important for a corporate logo to come out well in black and white. A corporate logo design is used in all corporate communications including fax and photocopied document where they will be in black and white and the logo design must be such that it holds the same impact even in black and white.
Minimize Colors this is more important from an economic and usability point of view. Corporate logos are often required to be printed for stationary and corporate literature. Using a one or two spot color logo can save a lot of cost compared to printing a full color logo.
Logo Format It is advisable to always use a vector format for your corporate logo design. A corporate logo may be required to be reproduced at any size for different purposes in the future. A logo design done in vector format can be expanded to any size without any loss of image quality, where as a corporate logo in raster format will loose image quality, if scaled up. Also it is easier to convert a vector logo design to bitmap than vice versa.
If you get a professional logo design firm to do your corporate logo and brief them about these basic tips (most of the knowledgeable firms are well aware of these principles) you are sure to get a satisfactory corporate logo design that would go a long way in helping you establishing your brand.
Use your Logo: Once you are ready with your corporate logo start giving it maximum exposure possible. Not only on your business cards and letterheads but also on your packaging, uniforms, pens and all possible goods should contain your logo. This gives wider exposure to your logo and people gets familiar with the corporate logo much faster. With all these you are on your way to establish your brand. Take leaps with your new corporate logo.
www.LogosArea.com is one of the largest logo design firms in the world. We've created a unique business model designed to eliminate the hassles and uncertainty of traditional logo design. Customers appreciate our streamlined, simplified process, talented designers, and personal service. That's why over 45,000 clients have chosen LogosArea to design their logo .At LogosArea, our mission is to make small businesses look great. We do this by providing small businesses with graphic design services that inspire you and enable you to emotionally connect with their customers.
By: Imran Adrees
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
How To Rescue Your Graphic Design Project When All Else Fails
Whether you're giving a critical sales presentation to a client, producing visuals for a meeting, event, trade show or seminar, or unveiling the new company logo before an audience of shareholders, top-notch graphics will help ensure that you, your products, and your message receive the attention they deserve.
Yet when you decide to do the graphics in-house to reduce turnaround time or cut expenses, those logos, photos, charts, graphs, pictures, timelines, illustrations, etc. can be a source of frustration, embarrassment, stress and perhaps lost business. Following ten simple tips to surefire do-it-yourself graphic design, however, will help maximize your visual punch, minimize your mistakes, and give you the professional-look your graphics deserve. Not to mention, cut down on the headaches.
1. -Take a deep breath
Especially if you have a key presentation looming that needs charts, graphs, and visuals and all you have are loose papers and a migraine, first take a deep breath. Put on a fresh pot of coffee. Clear your workspace. Handle those last minute telephone calls. In short, you are going to need to focus your attention on your design project, so prepare yourself. You're about to solve your graphic design problem in classic, do-it-yourself fashion.
2. - Outline your project
Make a simple list of the presentation graphics you think you'll need. Don't get into details at this point. For example, you might list: opening-- photo of young couple with product and company logo; midpoint-- new market piechart and bar graph of financial growth; close-- photo of new satisfied customer using product. You just want to create a rough outline that can help steer you through the project.
3. - Define what you're trying to say
To keep your audience visually interested you must keep things simple and avoid clutter that will confuse your focus.
Communicate one concept at a time with your graphics. Your message can contain various parts, but your communication as a whole must concentrate on the key concept you want to get across. To shoot for more is to court disaster. At all costs, avoid making everything important, as that's the surest way to create visual anarchy. When you attempt to give great importance to more than one message (or visual item), you introduce confusion and succeed only in dispersing the viewer¹s attention instead of directing it where you want it.
4. - Keep it simple
Visually, simple is better than complex, especially when images will only be seen a short time. Avoid the complex since it obscures your message rather than clarifies it.
Use pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc. to punch up an important point, and to make complex ideas simple. However, avoid literally mimicking what's said in the text. The graphics must enhance and play on variations of the text to make it more interesting - but never stray from the spirit of the message. At their best, graphics add humor, emotion, reality, believability, and playfulness to help bring about understanding and agreement in viewers.
Keep text simple and readable, without overdoing emphasis. Use changes of size, style, color, and position, including bullets, symbols and other devices to highlight and organize your text in moderation. To avoid distracting the reader, limit the number of fonts to two or three in no more than three or four readable sizes. Keep the background simple, and use contrast to ensure legibility. Contrast is the noticeable difference between things, and can be as simple as bolding or underlining text in some cases. But don't fill every bit of "empty" space, as well-chosen space can serve to "frame" graphic elements you may want to emphasize.
5. - Lay out your type, graphics, and photos
Look at how the elements blend together. Lay out the type, graphics, photos, etc. in rough format similar to how they will be presented. If you know how, use computer formatting on programs such as MS Word or Excel to experiment with layout. Or you may want to lay out the physical materials on a desk or conference table. Similarly, you may want to tape or pin them to a wall or cubicle to see how vertical display affects their visual impact.
Now, here's where a little strategic thinking can set your graphic design work apart from the norm:
Visually group graphics to show similarity and build interest. Try to visually group objects using similarities of theme, color, direction, position, alignment, etc. Show what goes with what, so your viewers will draw the proper conclusions. For example, a picture of worn-out old shoes could depict a potential client's current database management system (DBS), and brand new track cleats could depict your DBS product. Of course, things that belong together must have characteristics in common, and must be similar enough to be perceived as a group or set.
Also, make visual order part of your message. For example, decide WHEN the viewer should notice your logo: Before reading the copy? After reading the headline? Should the viewer note your company name before or after the product you're selling? These strategic distinctions can boost or detract both from your credibility and ability to persuade.
6. - Add emphasis with a little color and contrast
The graphics of your piece must be easily seen and attract more attention than anything around it. If not, your audience's attention will go elsewhere: to a competitor's ad, booth, flyer, banner, etc. To improve the odds of getting your audience's attention, use color and contrast in moderation to create interest. Remember to use emphasis sparingly, like spice in cooking, because a little goes a long ways but too much simply overpowers.
That said, attention does gravitate toward the area of greatest contrast. (That's why print is usually black-on-white, which makes the letters stand out for easier viewing, instead of say, black-on-brown). For example, in a visual ad or billboard, a single sentence on an otherwise empty page demands attention. You can't help but read it. Other examples of good, eye-catching contrast: a white spotlight in a dark theater; a 3-D object jutting out of a flat wall; a moving object among motionless ones (or a stationary object among moving ones); and a bright, colorful poster over a dull, monochrome background. Similarly, at a trade show you'd want your signage to run horizontally if you're competitors' signs run vertically. In each case, your audience is visually attracted toward what stands out or offers contrast.
Here are a few types of useful contrast to consider using in your graphics: large/small, light/dark, flat/3-D, high/low, short/long, strong/weak, smooth/course, one/many, full/empty, warm/cool (colors), before/after, complex/simple, straight/winding, round/angular, continuous/interrupted, horizontal/vertical/diagonal, etc.
For a series of visuals, use contrasting sequences to build interest as well. Contrasting sequences such as before/after, young/old, or gradations of color can guide and build the viewer's interest by suggesting degrees of importance, recognizable patterns, or consequences. When establishing what the viewer should notice first, second, third, etc., control the order in which he perceives the various items, using a scale of contrasts from most different to most similar. The greater the contrast, the more importance a visual item is given.
7. - Get a fresh perspective
After focusing on your graphics project, it helps to get a fresh perspective. Ideally, you should ask someone with art or design experience a few questions. How do these graphics strike you? Do they support the message? What would you change? The less they know about your presentation, company, or product the more helpful their opinion, as it will more closely approximate your audience's reaction. But really, anyone's opinion helps to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in your designs, so don't be afraid to ask. And don't be afraid to accept criticism. If no one is available, take a break from your project if at all possible, so you can approach your graphic project with fresher, less biased eyes.
8. - Put on the finishing touches
Then adjust your graphics project according to the objective feedback you received. Here's where you may brighten or lighten colors, change font sizes, or rearrange graphics for better overall layout.
Also, round out your pictures and graphics with carefully chosen words. From caption to headline and story, words are a critical part of the message you're visually communi-cating, so they must be chosen and arranged carefully for the whole to work. Include only what's important, so as not to dilute your carefully crafted message.
Along these lines, speak your viewers' language in a way that addresses their problems and answers their needs. For example, if your picture shows a healthy Mr. Jones tussling with grandkids after successful bypass surgery, mention how your new medical product reduced recovery time to three weeks from the normal three months.
9. - Take one last look
No matter how careful you are there's always last minute mistakes to catch: misspelled words, misaligned margins, or graphics that still need to be rearranged to lessen distracting "white" or trapped space. Use spell and grammar checkers, then print out sample copies to test overall visual effect until you're satisfied with the results.
10. 0 - Print out and mount your final presentation
Since all your previous work counts for naught if the final graphic product isn't displayed and mounted properly, it's critical to prevent the wrinkling, bubbling, warping, and peeling that can sink an otherwise impeccable graphic presentation. To this end, I have long used and recommended Pres-On products. Well known amongst professional graphic artists and photographers, Pres-On has a broad line of do-it-yourself, self-stick mounting board products for just about every application. I've mounted everything from extremely large oversize prints like architectural renderings and giant logos, to small decorative items, and consistently Pres-On mounting products makes it very easy to do and gives me professional results.
Their newest mounting product Score & Snap, is made of a thin, surprisingly strong, plastic material that's coated with self-stick mounting adhesive. It was designed to mount logos, photos, charts, signs and other graphics quickly and easily, with the capability to correct mistakes, but with subsequent permanent positioning. Once a graphic is mounted, the protective plastic can be easily scored with an X-Acto knife, then snapped off into the desired shape. Because of the consistency of the plastic material, its versatility in positioning graphics, and its clean edges, it makes it easy to produce a spectacular looking finished product that won't come undone at the worst possible moment.
With a firm grip on your graphics project, you can now look forward to the presentation deadline without knots in your stomach. Who knows, with the knockout graphics you cranked out, on a shoestring budget to boot, you could be in line for a promotion. As a parting tip, ask for a raise, as you've just added polished graphic presentation to your list of job skills. Just keep your Graphic Design Rescue Tips handy because the next project might not be so easy.
Call Dali Bahat at (818) 765-6635 or email at ot_artist@earthlink.net for more information about Master Design. For more information on Pres-On "Score & Snap", and other Pres-On Self-Stick adhesive mounting products contact Pres-On Corp. at 21 Factory Road, Addison, Illinois 60101; Phone (800) 323-1745; Fax (888) 543-9406; www.Pres-On.com.
By: Dali Bahat
Yet when you decide to do the graphics in-house to reduce turnaround time or cut expenses, those logos, photos, charts, graphs, pictures, timelines, illustrations, etc. can be a source of frustration, embarrassment, stress and perhaps lost business. Following ten simple tips to surefire do-it-yourself graphic design, however, will help maximize your visual punch, minimize your mistakes, and give you the professional-look your graphics deserve. Not to mention, cut down on the headaches.
1. -Take a deep breath
Especially if you have a key presentation looming that needs charts, graphs, and visuals and all you have are loose papers and a migraine, first take a deep breath. Put on a fresh pot of coffee. Clear your workspace. Handle those last minute telephone calls. In short, you are going to need to focus your attention on your design project, so prepare yourself. You're about to solve your graphic design problem in classic, do-it-yourself fashion.
2. - Outline your project
Make a simple list of the presentation graphics you think you'll need. Don't get into details at this point. For example, you might list: opening-- photo of young couple with product and company logo; midpoint-- new market piechart and bar graph of financial growth; close-- photo of new satisfied customer using product. You just want to create a rough outline that can help steer you through the project.
3. - Define what you're trying to say
To keep your audience visually interested you must keep things simple and avoid clutter that will confuse your focus.
Communicate one concept at a time with your graphics. Your message can contain various parts, but your communication as a whole must concentrate on the key concept you want to get across. To shoot for more is to court disaster. At all costs, avoid making everything important, as that's the surest way to create visual anarchy. When you attempt to give great importance to more than one message (or visual item), you introduce confusion and succeed only in dispersing the viewer¹s attention instead of directing it where you want it.
4. - Keep it simple
Visually, simple is better than complex, especially when images will only be seen a short time. Avoid the complex since it obscures your message rather than clarifies it.
Use pictures, illustrations, graphs, etc. to punch up an important point, and to make complex ideas simple. However, avoid literally mimicking what's said in the text. The graphics must enhance and play on variations of the text to make it more interesting - but never stray from the spirit of the message. At their best, graphics add humor, emotion, reality, believability, and playfulness to help bring about understanding and agreement in viewers.
Keep text simple and readable, without overdoing emphasis. Use changes of size, style, color, and position, including bullets, symbols and other devices to highlight and organize your text in moderation. To avoid distracting the reader, limit the number of fonts to two or three in no more than three or four readable sizes. Keep the background simple, and use contrast to ensure legibility. Contrast is the noticeable difference between things, and can be as simple as bolding or underlining text in some cases. But don't fill every bit of "empty" space, as well-chosen space can serve to "frame" graphic elements you may want to emphasize.
5. - Lay out your type, graphics, and photos
Look at how the elements blend together. Lay out the type, graphics, photos, etc. in rough format similar to how they will be presented. If you know how, use computer formatting on programs such as MS Word or Excel to experiment with layout. Or you may want to lay out the physical materials on a desk or conference table. Similarly, you may want to tape or pin them to a wall or cubicle to see how vertical display affects their visual impact.
Now, here's where a little strategic thinking can set your graphic design work apart from the norm:
Visually group graphics to show similarity and build interest. Try to visually group objects using similarities of theme, color, direction, position, alignment, etc. Show what goes with what, so your viewers will draw the proper conclusions. For example, a picture of worn-out old shoes could depict a potential client's current database management system (DBS), and brand new track cleats could depict your DBS product. Of course, things that belong together must have characteristics in common, and must be similar enough to be perceived as a group or set.
Also, make visual order part of your message. For example, decide WHEN the viewer should notice your logo: Before reading the copy? After reading the headline? Should the viewer note your company name before or after the product you're selling? These strategic distinctions can boost or detract both from your credibility and ability to persuade.
6. - Add emphasis with a little color and contrast
The graphics of your piece must be easily seen and attract more attention than anything around it. If not, your audience's attention will go elsewhere: to a competitor's ad, booth, flyer, banner, etc. To improve the odds of getting your audience's attention, use color and contrast in moderation to create interest. Remember to use emphasis sparingly, like spice in cooking, because a little goes a long ways but too much simply overpowers.
That said, attention does gravitate toward the area of greatest contrast. (That's why print is usually black-on-white, which makes the letters stand out for easier viewing, instead of say, black-on-brown). For example, in a visual ad or billboard, a single sentence on an otherwise empty page demands attention. You can't help but read it. Other examples of good, eye-catching contrast: a white spotlight in a dark theater; a 3-D object jutting out of a flat wall; a moving object among motionless ones (or a stationary object among moving ones); and a bright, colorful poster over a dull, monochrome background. Similarly, at a trade show you'd want your signage to run horizontally if you're competitors' signs run vertically. In each case, your audience is visually attracted toward what stands out or offers contrast.
Here are a few types of useful contrast to consider using in your graphics: large/small, light/dark, flat/3-D, high/low, short/long, strong/weak, smooth/course, one/many, full/empty, warm/cool (colors), before/after, complex/simple, straight/winding, round/angular, continuous/interrupted, horizontal/vertical/diagonal, etc.
For a series of visuals, use contrasting sequences to build interest as well. Contrasting sequences such as before/after, young/old, or gradations of color can guide and build the viewer's interest by suggesting degrees of importance, recognizable patterns, or consequences. When establishing what the viewer should notice first, second, third, etc., control the order in which he perceives the various items, using a scale of contrasts from most different to most similar. The greater the contrast, the more importance a visual item is given.
7. - Get a fresh perspective
After focusing on your graphics project, it helps to get a fresh perspective. Ideally, you should ask someone with art or design experience a few questions. How do these graphics strike you? Do they support the message? What would you change? The less they know about your presentation, company, or product the more helpful their opinion, as it will more closely approximate your audience's reaction. But really, anyone's opinion helps to pinpoint strengths and weaknesses in your designs, so don't be afraid to ask. And don't be afraid to accept criticism. If no one is available, take a break from your project if at all possible, so you can approach your graphic project with fresher, less biased eyes.
8. - Put on the finishing touches
Then adjust your graphics project according to the objective feedback you received. Here's where you may brighten or lighten colors, change font sizes, or rearrange graphics for better overall layout.
Also, round out your pictures and graphics with carefully chosen words. From caption to headline and story, words are a critical part of the message you're visually communi-cating, so they must be chosen and arranged carefully for the whole to work. Include only what's important, so as not to dilute your carefully crafted message.
Along these lines, speak your viewers' language in a way that addresses their problems and answers their needs. For example, if your picture shows a healthy Mr. Jones tussling with grandkids after successful bypass surgery, mention how your new medical product reduced recovery time to three weeks from the normal three months.
9. - Take one last look
No matter how careful you are there's always last minute mistakes to catch: misspelled words, misaligned margins, or graphics that still need to be rearranged to lessen distracting "white" or trapped space. Use spell and grammar checkers, then print out sample copies to test overall visual effect until you're satisfied with the results.
10. 0 - Print out and mount your final presentation
Since all your previous work counts for naught if the final graphic product isn't displayed and mounted properly, it's critical to prevent the wrinkling, bubbling, warping, and peeling that can sink an otherwise impeccable graphic presentation. To this end, I have long used and recommended Pres-On products. Well known amongst professional graphic artists and photographers, Pres-On has a broad line of do-it-yourself, self-stick mounting board products for just about every application. I've mounted everything from extremely large oversize prints like architectural renderings and giant logos, to small decorative items, and consistently Pres-On mounting products makes it very easy to do and gives me professional results.
Their newest mounting product Score & Snap, is made of a thin, surprisingly strong, plastic material that's coated with self-stick mounting adhesive. It was designed to mount logos, photos, charts, signs and other graphics quickly and easily, with the capability to correct mistakes, but with subsequent permanent positioning. Once a graphic is mounted, the protective plastic can be easily scored with an X-Acto knife, then snapped off into the desired shape. Because of the consistency of the plastic material, its versatility in positioning graphics, and its clean edges, it makes it easy to produce a spectacular looking finished product that won't come undone at the worst possible moment.
With a firm grip on your graphics project, you can now look forward to the presentation deadline without knots in your stomach. Who knows, with the knockout graphics you cranked out, on a shoestring budget to boot, you could be in line for a promotion. As a parting tip, ask for a raise, as you've just added polished graphic presentation to your list of job skills. Just keep your Graphic Design Rescue Tips handy because the next project might not be so easy.
Call Dali Bahat at (818) 765-6635 or email at ot_artist@earthlink.net for more information about Master Design. For more information on Pres-On "Score & Snap", and other Pres-On Self-Stick adhesive mounting products contact Pres-On Corp. at 21 Factory Road, Addison, Illinois 60101; Phone (800) 323-1745; Fax (888) 543-9406; www.Pres-On.com.
By: Dali Bahat
Graphic Design Help: Will A Freelancer Be Enough Or Do You Need A Large Design Firm?
There is a little greasy spoon in my neighborhood that always has a line out the door on weekends. The fried eggs are so greasy they could stop your heart, there isn’t a single homemade pastry or muffin in the joint, and the 99-cent cup of coffee tastes like coffee tasted before the American cuppa joe morphed into a gourmet addiction for the masses. The flowers are fake, the tablecloths are plastic, the cheese is of the fluorescent variety, and the silverware has spots. Yet there’s always a line.
People love the restaurant because they know what to expect, get what they expect, and the service is consistently friendly and efficient. Customers do not expect homemade bread served with homemade butter and fresh-from-the-grove OJ. They don’t come for lunch expecting panini with goat cheese and oven-roasted anything. They don’t come expecting to be served a seven-course meal. They come with a friend expecting to leave full and happy for less than twenty bucks including tip. The bottom line is this: if you want a couple of fried eggs and toast, don’t go to the Ritz for Sunday brunch. You’ll have to pay for the extra food, live music, puffy chairs, perpetual water refills, refined wait staff and crisp linens. On the other hand, don’t go to a diner if you want it all.
This analogy works well for design services. On one end is a freelance designer; at the other end is a large multinational design firm. Somewhere in the middle is probably a service provider to suit your needs.
I have developed a handy reference chart illustrating a range of service providers, what they do, and what they charge for a logo project and a brochure project. When you are looking for design help, if you need a simple brochure, avoid a large design firm; you’ll end up paying for a copywriter, account manager, administrative task master and one or two executive salaries that will not benefit you. On the other hand, if you need diligent project managing, extensive strategy development, copy, and cross-media implementation of a new brand, a freelancer will not give you the services you need. Bottom line: know if you need your eggs fried or coddled.
View the handy reference chart here (PDF file).
Audrey Nezer is an award-winning graphic designer in Seattle, Washington. Her company, Artifex Design, creates playful, edgy and effective marketing and communication materials for companies and organizations throughout the United States. Visit http://www.artifex.net to learn more (and win a prize!)
By: Audrey Nezer
People love the restaurant because they know what to expect, get what they expect, and the service is consistently friendly and efficient. Customers do not expect homemade bread served with homemade butter and fresh-from-the-grove OJ. They don’t come for lunch expecting panini with goat cheese and oven-roasted anything. They don’t come expecting to be served a seven-course meal. They come with a friend expecting to leave full and happy for less than twenty bucks including tip. The bottom line is this: if you want a couple of fried eggs and toast, don’t go to the Ritz for Sunday brunch. You’ll have to pay for the extra food, live music, puffy chairs, perpetual water refills, refined wait staff and crisp linens. On the other hand, don’t go to a diner if you want it all.
This analogy works well for design services. On one end is a freelance designer; at the other end is a large multinational design firm. Somewhere in the middle is probably a service provider to suit your needs.
I have developed a handy reference chart illustrating a range of service providers, what they do, and what they charge for a logo project and a brochure project. When you are looking for design help, if you need a simple brochure, avoid a large design firm; you’ll end up paying for a copywriter, account manager, administrative task master and one or two executive salaries that will not benefit you. On the other hand, if you need diligent project managing, extensive strategy development, copy, and cross-media implementation of a new brand, a freelancer will not give you the services you need. Bottom line: know if you need your eggs fried or coddled.
View the handy reference chart here (PDF file).
Audrey Nezer is an award-winning graphic designer in Seattle, Washington. Her company, Artifex Design, creates playful, edgy and effective marketing and communication materials for companies and organizations throughout the United States. Visit http://www.artifex.net to learn more (and win a prize!)
By: Audrey Nezer
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
The Best Page Layout and Design for Content Websites
I was chatting to a veteran print publisher, who had been producing magazines for over thirty years.
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. Good examples are some of the most read websites on the internet including:
- BBC (www.bbc.com)
- The Financial Times (www.ft.com)
- The Economist (www.economist.com)
- The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
Don't be the person that puts a vertical title on the front cover!
SubHub provides an all-in-one solution to enable you to rapidly design, build and run your own content website. Publish for profit on the web. Website: http://www.subhub.com SubHub Articles Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SubhubStartASubscriptionOrMembershipWebsite-OnlineMagazineOnlineJournalOnlineNewsletter?format=xml
By: Miles Galliford
He shook his head in despair, as he told me that every year he sees new magazines hit the newsstands with the publications' titles placed vertically on the magazine cover.
"Whenever I see this," he said, "I know it has been produced by a new publishing company that does not understand the industry. Anyone with any experience of periodical publishing knows that publications with vertical titles fail, or at least have to change quickly to survive. The market has taught us this lesson hundreds, if not thousands of times, but still people make the same mistake."
This message is just as relevant to website layout as it is to magazine design. The web has been around for long enough that rules and best practise have emerged from years of trial error by thousands of website owners. You can either go with the flow and be grateful that you can learn from the experience of others, or you can swim against the tide and try to convince the market that you are right and they are wrong.
I would suggest that swimming downstream is far easier and will give you a much greater chance of success.
To understand which layouts work you only need to look at the industry gorillas. These are the online content publishers who have been around for years, and who have tested just about every layout combination. Good examples are some of the most read websites on the internet including:
- BBC (www.bbc.com)
- The Financial Times (www.ft.com)
- The Economist (www.economist.com)
- The Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com)
You will quickly start to recognise elements of the page layouts which are common across all these sites. Just as with print newspapers and magazines, these are the layouts that have proven to sit most comfortably with the reader and with the way online users want to consume content.
The key design and layout elements which should remain constant are: Masthead across the top – the masthead is where the logo goes and usually imagery that supports the subject matter on the website.
Left hand column should contain all the primary navigation, which should remain constant across the whole website. It should list all the main categories of the website, so users can find their way around from every page.
Right hand column on the homepage should provide navigation to individual pages in the site which you want to highlight. Or it can be used for small applications, such as email newsletter sign-up, scrolling news headlines, links to the forum, etc. This column tends to disappear on the content pages to leave more space for the article and images.
Top menu bar – some sites have most of their navigation in the top menu bar which goes across the page under the masthead (take a look at www.guardian.co.uk or www.forbes.com as examples). I don't like this for two reasons. First it restricts the number of menu links that you can have. Second it usually means that the site has flash based drop down menus to enable them to accommodate more links. Flash menus are not user friendly. They force your reader to search for links to the content they are looking for. Don't make your user work for their answers. Also search engines find it harder to index sites with flash menus
Bottom menu bar – This strip at the foot of every page tends to contain links to the sites terms and conditions, privacy statement, sitemap, etc.
The central column contains the content. On the homepage this can be a combination of an introduction to the website and teasers to articles. On the content pages, the articles and images sit in the central column.
Search top right on every page – this is the search box used to search the content of the website. This is a less rigid placement than it used to be, but you can't go wrong if you place it top right.
Time and date – usually placed on the right hand side under the masthead. This is optional, but does give readers the impression that the site is up-to-date.
Within this layout there is a great deal of flexibility to add your own personality and styles, particularly when you overlay your design on the basic page structure. However, at all times your number one goal should be constant; that is to make your website simple and intuitive, for every reader that visits. To achieve this learn from those sites that have a lot of experience.
Don't be the person that puts a vertical title on the front cover!
SubHub provides an all-in-one solution to enable you to rapidly design, build and run your own content website. Publish for profit on the web. Website: http://www.subhub.com SubHub Articles Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/SubhubStartASubscriptionOrMembershipWebsite-OnlineMagazineOnlineJournalOnlineNewsletter?format=xml
By: Miles Galliford
How To Avoid 10 Minisite Design Mistakes That Is Hurting Your Website
Here are 10 common minisite design mistakes most web owners or webmasters make and how to fix them. Web design factors overlap with design elements and principles in general.
1. Not sitting down to plan your overall minisite structure and site layout including linking and navigation. This is also the best time to start thinking about your search engine marking.
2. Not doing your keyword research from the get go. Don't assume anything; get it right from the right start. Keyword is your rootword or the foundation of your minisite structure. If you miss this crucial step, every other part of your building structure falls apart including search engine optimization. Don't spend time, money and energy on a keyword nobody is searching for. That's a sure way to have a failed web business. Or, some people don't even have a specific keyword or phrase that will attract prospects to their site. Use keyword tools like wordtracker, goodkeyword, overture or google keyword suggestion tool.
3. Don't clutter your minisite with too many distractions like graphics, flash animations, bells, and whistle. All these are good if you want to impress a kindergarten child but bad for your traffic flow and cashflow. Minimize the use of Java scripts, flash animations and graphics. Search engines don't index them well. Just know that search engines love words and keywords or key phrases is what counts and thats what sells. Words are what your visitors use to querry the search engines.
4. Your minisite should load in 8 seconds or less. Beyond this time frame, most visitors lose patience. Sorry, we are in an instant, microwave society and nobody wants to wait. Besides, there is over information and too much to see and navigate, so your visitors are happy to hit the back button.
5. Don't go beyond 750 pixels in your minisite width if you don't want your visitors to scroll from side to side. It is annoying and jars your readers. To solve this problem, use percentage of the screen instead of pixels. Don't make the width too narrow by going less than 650 pixels, either.
6. Don't rely too heavily on WYSIWYG HTML editors like frontpage or mozilla firefox. They tend to draw you web pages to one side of the screen instead of being positioned at the center. It is still necessary to know basic HTML tags or at least what is it that you don't know. One way to correct this error is: div align="center" enlosed in angle brackets as other HTML tags. Or, you can use percentage instead of pixels to center the abnormal shift. More professional coders use cascading style sheet. However, Dreamweaver doesn't normally give this problem.
7. Not knowing and applying "the rule of 3" in minisite design. This rule is like a guide that should be at the back of your mind while doing any design work in a given space. The more you apply this rule, the more dynamic, lifelike and professional your design becomes. Three is the number of trinity. It states that it is safe to use 3 colors, 3 fonts, 3 tables rows, and three design elements in any given space. This rule also applies to your graphic panel design, banner ads and ecovers.
8. Not knowing color contrast and harmony. In other words, your design did not consider color theory and emotion of colors. Never use a dark color on a dark background. Even a light color on a dark background is suspect. It does not print well if you decide to download it. The best contrast is dark on a white background like black or blue on white background. This offers great visual appeal, and readability.(Details about colors are treated in my other articles). Also red is a warm or shouting color--use with caution and use sparingly because it call for attention that why red healines tend to convert better than other colors. Yellow is best suited for highlights. Avoid the use of blacks or gray if your are not advanced in minisite design. Use a lot of white space (negative space) for blending, color contrast and harmony.
9. Don't use welcome in your minisite design. Not only is it overdone and meaningless in your search engine rankings. Go straithttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif to your offer or what your website is about. The visitor has 3 seconds to figure out your site (from your headlines), otherwise they are gone. So, don't confuse them with unnecessary platitudes and pleasantries.
10. Not inserting an opt-in box or lead capture pop-ups in your minisite could make you lose potential customers and money. Even people don't buy, capture their names and email address for follow-up, and relationship building. This is a powerful marketing strategy and lead generation that could be of mutual benefit down the road.
Find how you can avoid minisite design mistakes and learn to design your minisite right from the right start by watching minisite creation videos. Afterall, your ministe is the foundation of your web business. This minisite video tutorial is loaded with design principles, SEO, ebook compilation, PPC ads, testing and tracking your ads, sales letter writing and much, much more clik to find out.
By: Uzo Onukwugha
1. Not sitting down to plan your overall minisite structure and site layout including linking and navigation. This is also the best time to start thinking about your search engine marking.
2. Not doing your keyword research from the get go. Don't assume anything; get it right from the right start. Keyword is your rootword or the foundation of your minisite structure. If you miss this crucial step, every other part of your building structure falls apart including search engine optimization. Don't spend time, money and energy on a keyword nobody is searching for. That's a sure way to have a failed web business. Or, some people don't even have a specific keyword or phrase that will attract prospects to their site. Use keyword tools like wordtracker, goodkeyword, overture or google keyword suggestion tool.
3. Don't clutter your minisite with too many distractions like graphics, flash animations, bells, and whistle. All these are good if you want to impress a kindergarten child but bad for your traffic flow and cashflow. Minimize the use of Java scripts, flash animations and graphics. Search engines don't index them well. Just know that search engines love words and keywords or key phrases is what counts and thats what sells. Words are what your visitors use to querry the search engines.
4. Your minisite should load in 8 seconds or less. Beyond this time frame, most visitors lose patience. Sorry, we are in an instant, microwave society and nobody wants to wait. Besides, there is over information and too much to see and navigate, so your visitors are happy to hit the back button.
5. Don't go beyond 750 pixels in your minisite width if you don't want your visitors to scroll from side to side. It is annoying and jars your readers. To solve this problem, use percentage of the screen instead of pixels. Don't make the width too narrow by going less than 650 pixels, either.
6. Don't rely too heavily on WYSIWYG HTML editors like frontpage or mozilla firefox. They tend to draw you web pages to one side of the screen instead of being positioned at the center. It is still necessary to know basic HTML tags or at least what is it that you don't know. One way to correct this error is: div align="center" enlosed in angle brackets as other HTML tags. Or, you can use percentage instead of pixels to center the abnormal shift. More professional coders use cascading style sheet. However, Dreamweaver doesn't normally give this problem.
7. Not knowing and applying "the rule of 3" in minisite design. This rule is like a guide that should be at the back of your mind while doing any design work in a given space. The more you apply this rule, the more dynamic, lifelike and professional your design becomes. Three is the number of trinity. It states that it is safe to use 3 colors, 3 fonts, 3 tables rows, and three design elements in any given space. This rule also applies to your graphic panel design, banner ads and ecovers.
8. Not knowing color contrast and harmony. In other words, your design did not consider color theory and emotion of colors. Never use a dark color on a dark background. Even a light color on a dark background is suspect. It does not print well if you decide to download it. The best contrast is dark on a white background like black or blue on white background. This offers great visual appeal, and readability.(Details about colors are treated in my other articles). Also red is a warm or shouting color--use with caution and use sparingly because it call for attention that why red healines tend to convert better than other colors. Yellow is best suited for highlights. Avoid the use of blacks or gray if your are not advanced in minisite design. Use a lot of white space (negative space) for blending, color contrast and harmony.
9. Don't use welcome in your minisite design. Not only is it overdone and meaningless in your search engine rankings. Go straithttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif to your offer or what your website is about. The visitor has 3 seconds to figure out your site (from your headlines), otherwise they are gone. So, don't confuse them with unnecessary platitudes and pleasantries.
10. Not inserting an opt-in box or lead capture pop-ups in your minisite could make you lose potential customers and money. Even people don't buy, capture their names and email address for follow-up, and relationship building. This is a powerful marketing strategy and lead generation that could be of mutual benefit down the road.
Find how you can avoid minisite design mistakes and learn to design your minisite right from the right start by watching minisite creation videos. Afterall, your ministe is the foundation of your web business. This minisite video tutorial is loaded with design principles, SEO, ebook compilation, PPC ads, testing and tracking your ads, sales letter writing and much, much more clik to find out.
By: Uzo Onukwugha
Monday, August 27, 2007
How to Make a Book Cover Design that Flies Off the Shelf!
According to "The Wall Street Journal", “The average bookstore browser who picks up a book spends eight seconds looking at the front cover and 15 seconds reading the back.” You can’t tell — but you can sell — a book by its cover.” Here are a few powerful book cover design techniques that professional book designers use:
The essential elements for your front cover
The front cover presents your book title, subtitle, and your name. Golden opportunities often overlooked are including endorsements and short testimonials from VIPs.
Think of your cover like a billboard. The best designs communicate the book’s message at a glance, with simple, uncluttered design. Unique, distinctive, bold, colorful graphics work well. But keep the graphic style consistent with the content and personality of the book. Make sure there is a central focal point to your design.
I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the front cover. When choosing colors, consider how these colors will look when converted to black and white so your cover will reproduce well in black and white ads, catalogs, and flyers. Also make sure the font you use for the title is legible from a distance and appropriate for the book’s subject.
Covers that scream “amateur” and have a “made-at-home look” make it difficult to sell your book at all. If you lack talent in this area, seek the services of an experienced book cover designer. A professional designer has the creativity, skills, software, access to stock photography, and printing knowledge that will make your cover stand out above others in the marketplace.
What should you put on your spine
Your name, book title, and publishing company logo show up on the spine. Make sure the information on the spine is clean, uncluttered, and legible. I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the spine as well.
Critical items you should include on your back cover
Place the category name in the upper left-hand corner to help bookstores shelve your book properly. Write a headline that clearly addresses who should buy the book. It should be followed by sales copy explaining what the book is about. Then provide a short bulleted list of benefits to readers.
I recommend including no more than three testimonials and endorsements, as well as your bio and photograph. Close to the bottom, put “sales-closer” copy in bold print. Position the price in the lower left corner of the back cover. Also include the 13-digit ISBN number for cataloging and the bar code in the lower right corner (below ISBN number), which stores use for scanning information and price.
Don’t forget to include credits for your book cover’s illustrator, photographer, and/or designer.
What goes on the inside flaps (If Applicable)
- Sales copy
- Short “teaser” description of the book
- Your bio and photo
You now have a good idea of what makes a strong book cover design. Remember, book cover design is a form of packaging—and good packaging attracts buyers to products. That’s why successful organizations spend millions researching and developing the best product packaging possible.
Copyright 2006 Karen Saunders
Karen Saunders is the author of “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools!” Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! FREE audio classes, articles and an eCourse on design and marketing tips are available at http://www.macgraphics.net
By: Karen Saunders
The essential elements for your front cover
The front cover presents your book title, subtitle, and your name. Golden opportunities often overlooked are including endorsements and short testimonials from VIPs.
Think of your cover like a billboard. The best designs communicate the book’s message at a glance, with simple, uncluttered design. Unique, distinctive, bold, colorful graphics work well. But keep the graphic style consistent with the content and personality of the book. Make sure there is a central focal point to your design.
I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the front cover. When choosing colors, consider how these colors will look when converted to black and white so your cover will reproduce well in black and white ads, catalogs, and flyers. Also make sure the font you use for the title is legible from a distance and appropriate for the book’s subject.
Covers that scream “amateur” and have a “made-at-home look” make it difficult to sell your book at all. If you lack talent in this area, seek the services of an experienced book cover designer. A professional designer has the creativity, skills, software, access to stock photography, and printing knowledge that will make your cover stand out above others in the marketplace.
What should you put on your spine
Your name, book title, and publishing company logo show up on the spine. Make sure the information on the spine is clean, uncluttered, and legible. I recommend using bold, contrasting lettering on the spine as well.
Critical items you should include on your back cover
Place the category name in the upper left-hand corner to help bookstores shelve your book properly. Write a headline that clearly addresses who should buy the book. It should be followed by sales copy explaining what the book is about. Then provide a short bulleted list of benefits to readers.
I recommend including no more than three testimonials and endorsements, as well as your bio and photograph. Close to the bottom, put “sales-closer” copy in bold print. Position the price in the lower left corner of the back cover. Also include the 13-digit ISBN number for cataloging and the bar code in the lower right corner (below ISBN number), which stores use for scanning information and price.
Don’t forget to include credits for your book cover’s illustrator, photographer, and/or designer.
What goes on the inside flaps (If Applicable)
- Sales copy
- Short “teaser” description of the book
- Your bio and photo
You now have a good idea of what makes a strong book cover design. Remember, book cover design is a form of packaging—and good packaging attracts buyers to products. That’s why successful organizations spend millions researching and developing the best product packaging possible.
Copyright 2006 Karen Saunders
Karen Saunders is the author of “Turn Eye Appeal into Buy Appeal: How to easily transform your marketing pieces into dazzling, persuasive sales tools!” Hundreds of business owners have used her simple do-it-yourself design system to create stunning marketing materials that really SELL their products and services! FREE audio classes, articles and an eCourse on design and marketing tips are available at http://www.macgraphics.net
By: Karen Saunders
Web Design Tips: How to Increase Sales with Effective Online Brochures
Do you have an online business? If you would like to drive traffic to your website you can do so with proper web design. Even if your actual business is not online you can inform people about what your business is and what you can do for them. It doesn’t really matter what type of business you have, online brochures are a great way to go, and simply one of the most effective marketing tools. An online brochure can be a simple set up that incorporates color that will grab the attention of those online, and will be informative. Many small business owners find that this drives traffic, even if they do not run an online business but want to take advantage of the web and market their offline business online.
If you don’t know how to create online brochures on your own you can have a professional do it for you. There are many web design experts out there that can create a great look for your website that will tell your visitors exactly who you are and what you can do for them. It’s important that your web design lends itself to easy use and an understanding of what is offered there online or if it is also an online business what can be done online. Many online publishers make their websites too busy and this affects their sales because the website is not focused, so the client is not focused.
If you have your web page redone, you might want to think about a brochures printing services. You can have brochures made that can be put in places where your target buyer frequents so that they know about your website and your products. For instance, if you provide computer based business you can put up your brochure in computer stores, if you are allowed. Thinking about your target customer when brochure printing is important, whether you plan to have an online design, an offline paper design, or a little bit of each.
When you create your brochures and you do so in a manner that will attract people, it will be like your products and services are selling themselves. You won’t have to struggle to explain things and you won’t have to worry about the impression you are giving, because the customer will have already gotten this information from the brochure. Start driving traffic to your business with the help of online brochures today.
Caitlina Fuller is a freelance writer. If you have your web page redone, you might want to think about a brochures printing services. You can have brochures made that can be put in places where your target buyer frequents so that they know about your website and your products. Thinking about your target customer when brochure printing is important, whether you plan to have an online design, an offline paper design, or a little bit of each.
By: Caitlina Fuller
If you don’t know how to create online brochures on your own you can have a professional do it for you. There are many web design experts out there that can create a great look for your website that will tell your visitors exactly who you are and what you can do for them. It’s important that your web design lends itself to easy use and an understanding of what is offered there online or if it is also an online business what can be done online. Many online publishers make their websites too busy and this affects their sales because the website is not focused, so the client is not focused.
If you have your web page redone, you might want to think about a brochures printing services. You can have brochures made that can be put in places where your target buyer frequents so that they know about your website and your products. For instance, if you provide computer based business you can put up your brochure in computer stores, if you are allowed. Thinking about your target customer when brochure printing is important, whether you plan to have an online design, an offline paper design, or a little bit of each.
When you create your brochures and you do so in a manner that will attract people, it will be like your products and services are selling themselves. You won’t have to struggle to explain things and you won’t have to worry about the impression you are giving, because the customer will have already gotten this information from the brochure. Start driving traffic to your business with the help of online brochures today.
Caitlina Fuller is a freelance writer. If you have your web page redone, you might want to think about a brochures printing services. You can have brochures made that can be put in places where your target buyer frequents so that they know about your website and your products. Thinking about your target customer when brochure printing is important, whether you plan to have an online design, an offline paper design, or a little bit of each.
By: Caitlina Fuller
Friday, August 24, 2007
5 Top Design Tips to Help Your Site in the Search Engines
It seems pretty straight forward. You are designing a website because you want people to look at it, maybe participate in it, maybe buy from it. You will have spent a lot of time thinking about color schemes, headers, and pages. Your website might be an original idea that looks set to make you a million. What you need to do before you even make a single click of your mouse in your favorite HTML editor is think about your website marketing strategy.
I am not going to go into the realms of advanced search engine optimization techniques in this article, but rather look at the very basics needed to get your site in the search engines. Believe it or not, web designers don't always pay attention to this. There are some amazing looking sites out there with no visitors because nobody can find them.
This is not an exhaustive list of tips nor are they in any particular order, but they should give you a sound basis with which to get your website out into the world.
1. Decide what services or products you want people to use you for and use these as your keywords. Keywords are single words or phrases that people use to find things on the net.
2. Put your keywords into your meta tags in the header of your page. Nowadays some search engines don't put too much importance into the meta tags but it is still worth putting them in for the ones that do.
3. Make sure that all of your keywords are mentioned in your main content. This may sound silly but a lot of people pad their meta tags out with keywords that they never write about. Search engines don't like this because it can be seen as an unethical technique to get high rankings for a broad range of subjects and could get your site banned.
4. Use your title tags to tell people what your site is about. I see lots of sites with title tags that are so wishy washy, it's no wonder they don't get many visits. It is simply not enough to put your business name. Try and get into the mind set of the searcher - think about what they would type into the search box to find a company like yours. Unless they know your company name and what you do, they will not search for it. If your company is called Visage and is a hair salon, don't just put 'Visage Hair Salon' in the title. Think about what people want from you and what they would search for to find you. Things like 'hair cuts' or 'hair colouring' is a much better bet. Use your imagination and get results.
5. Use your H1 and H2 tags as a headline to tell the people on your site and the search engines exactly what the page is about. Forget about catchy tag lines or intriguing marketing wizardry, tell it as it is. If your page is about 'Rainbow Trout in the River Trent' put 'Rainbow Trout in the River Trent' in your H1 tags. Then all things being equal and you have followed the other points, a searcher or a search engine will know what your site is about because it says so in your meta tags, content, title tags and headings. In fact it will be so obvious that it would be a crime not to include it in the search.
Now you may be thinking that it all seems a bit obvious but take a look at some websites and check out the source code. There are plenty out there not following the tips mentioned above.
If you want to know where to find these sites - go to the last page of a search listing.
Andy Stocks is a web designer for http://www.wheresyourbusiness.co.uk a website design company specialising in web development, search engine optimisation, hosting and corporate identity. You can email Andy direct at andy@wheresyourbusiness.co.uk
By: Andy Stocks
I am not going to go into the realms of advanced search engine optimization techniques in this article, but rather look at the very basics needed to get your site in the search engines. Believe it or not, web designers don't always pay attention to this. There are some amazing looking sites out there with no visitors because nobody can find them.
This is not an exhaustive list of tips nor are they in any particular order, but they should give you a sound basis with which to get your website out into the world.
1. Decide what services or products you want people to use you for and use these as your keywords. Keywords are single words or phrases that people use to find things on the net.
2. Put your keywords into your meta tags in the header of your page. Nowadays some search engines don't put too much importance into the meta tags but it is still worth putting them in for the ones that do.
3. Make sure that all of your keywords are mentioned in your main content. This may sound silly but a lot of people pad their meta tags out with keywords that they never write about. Search engines don't like this because it can be seen as an unethical technique to get high rankings for a broad range of subjects and could get your site banned.
4. Use your title tags to tell people what your site is about. I see lots of sites with title tags that are so wishy washy, it's no wonder they don't get many visits. It is simply not enough to put your business name. Try and get into the mind set of the searcher - think about what they would type into the search box to find a company like yours. Unless they know your company name and what you do, they will not search for it. If your company is called Visage and is a hair salon, don't just put 'Visage Hair Salon' in the title. Think about what people want from you and what they would search for to find you. Things like 'hair cuts' or 'hair colouring' is a much better bet. Use your imagination and get results.
5. Use your H1 and H2 tags as a headline to tell the people on your site and the search engines exactly what the page is about. Forget about catchy tag lines or intriguing marketing wizardry, tell it as it is. If your page is about 'Rainbow Trout in the River Trent' put 'Rainbow Trout in the River Trent' in your H1 tags. Then all things being equal and you have followed the other points, a searcher or a search engine will know what your site is about because it says so in your meta tags, content, title tags and headings. In fact it will be so obvious that it would be a crime not to include it in the search.
Now you may be thinking that it all seems a bit obvious but take a look at some websites and check out the source code. There are plenty out there not following the tips mentioned above.
If you want to know where to find these sites - go to the last page of a search listing.
Andy Stocks is a web designer for http://www.wheresyourbusiness.co.uk a website design company specialising in web development, search engine optimisation, hosting and corporate identity. You can email Andy direct at andy@wheresyourbusiness.co.uk
By: Andy Stocks
Online Website Design Builder - Web Site Builder Tools
Have you ever used an online website design builder? If so you may have been left with a less than professional website. Most of these tools are not what you would call a professional solution for designing or building your website. No matter how hard you try they are not going to turn out a professional website.
These tools will insert poor code and a lot of time your website will suffer from "code bloat" in other words there will be a lot of extra code that you are not even using. Although this is behind the scenes and your visitors can see it unless they do a "view source" and look at your code this causes serious problems concerning load time and it can affect your search engine rankings. Think about it, if you have all this "extra code" in your website then the search engine spiders have to dig through this junk just to get the relevant information they are looking for.
Online website design tools are just programs written by people, they cannot think, they cannot make recommendations or tell you that some element in the design you are creating is not going to be best for you. These programs will do exactly what you tell them to do so unless you are an experienced website design professional you will probably be in trouble and besides if you were a website design professional you would not be using a tool like this.
Is your competition using some online website builder? If you think so then think again. How will you expect to outsell or out rank your competition on the search engines if you are driving a Volkswagen and they are driving a Ferrari? It's just not going to happen.
What is the difference between online website design builder tools and Content Management Systems or CMS? A lot! The online website design builder tools are for designing the layout of your site, the code behind your site and the elements that will make your site usable by your visitors and viewable and rank able by search engines.
Content Management Systems will allow you to update the content of your website and keep it fresh for your visitors and for the search engines. Unlike online builder tools a good Content Management System fits inside an already designed professional website layout.
The content you place within the pages of your website will affect your sales and your search engine rankings but there is little danger that you will destroy your website by using a good CMS.
Anthony McMurray is the owner of Proimpulse Website Design a 6 year old professional website design and marketing firm offering website design services and website marketing services. Contact us today before you spend money on an online website design builder program or if you already have an existing website that was created with one of these programs let us show you how much more is possible if you have a website designed the right way.
By: Anthony McMurray
These tools will insert poor code and a lot of time your website will suffer from "code bloat" in other words there will be a lot of extra code that you are not even using. Although this is behind the scenes and your visitors can see it unless they do a "view source" and look at your code this causes serious problems concerning load time and it can affect your search engine rankings. Think about it, if you have all this "extra code" in your website then the search engine spiders have to dig through this junk just to get the relevant information they are looking for.
Online website design tools are just programs written by people, they cannot think, they cannot make recommendations or tell you that some element in the design you are creating is not going to be best for you. These programs will do exactly what you tell them to do so unless you are an experienced website design professional you will probably be in trouble and besides if you were a website design professional you would not be using a tool like this.
Is your competition using some online website builder? If you think so then think again. How will you expect to outsell or out rank your competition on the search engines if you are driving a Volkswagen and they are driving a Ferrari? It's just not going to happen.
What is the difference between online website design builder tools and Content Management Systems or CMS? A lot! The online website design builder tools are for designing the layout of your site, the code behind your site and the elements that will make your site usable by your visitors and viewable and rank able by search engines.
Content Management Systems will allow you to update the content of your website and keep it fresh for your visitors and for the search engines. Unlike online builder tools a good Content Management System fits inside an already designed professional website layout.
The content you place within the pages of your website will affect your sales and your search engine rankings but there is little danger that you will destroy your website by using a good CMS.
Anthony McMurray is the owner of Proimpulse Website Design a 6 year old professional website design and marketing firm offering website design services and website marketing services. Contact us today before you spend money on an online website design builder program or if you already have an existing website that was created with one of these programs let us show you how much more is possible if you have a website designed the right way.
By: Anthony McMurray
Wednesday, August 22, 2007
Color Help: Color Theory and Design Psychology
Color theory is an entire science unto itself, and to get a full picture of how it all works, I'd suggest picking up a few art books. In this article, however, we're going to take a brief look at the essentials of color theory, in light of the concepts of Design Psychology. we'll first list a term, and then offer a short summary of how the term relates to Design Psychology.
Hue
The base name of a color without any white, gray, or black added. The terms hue and color are interchangeable.
Color wheel
A color wheel contains twelve colors, based on primitive pigments. The three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. Three secondary colors (composed of combinations of the three primary colors) follow: red and blue make purple; red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue make green. Six tertiary colors (comprised of combinations of primary and secondary colors) form the remainder of the color wheel: yellow-orange, red-orange, violet, blue-green, and yellow-green. Black is the total absence of color and white is the reflection of all colors.
Value or Lightness
This denotes the degree of lightness or darkness of a hue, in relation to pure white or black.
Intensity, Saturation, or Croma:
This term describes the degree of purity of a hue as compared to neutral gray of the same value. This is the freedom from added white or gray; how bright or dull a color appears in relation to the basic hue.
Shades
These are deep tones, in which black is added to a color.
Tints
These are pastels, in which white is added to a color.
Tone
Adding gray of the same value to a hue or adding its complement creates a tone.
Saturation
The intensity or depth of color, such as dark or light.
Monochromatic Color Schemes
This term is used to describe rooms with only tints and shades of the same color. Neutral color schemes are usually monochromatic.
Analogous, Side-by-Side, or Related Color Schemes
These rooms use adjacent colors to the principal color on the color wheel. This is considered a friendly scheme, because the colors blend well and create a soft effect.
Complementary or Opposite Color Schemes
Rooms that use colors from opposite sides of the color wheel. This is considered to be a power and action scheme.
Triad
Consists of three colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Triad color schemes can potentially cause glaring and confusing feelings when all the colors are intense.
Tetrad
Consists of four colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Tetrad color schemes create interesting effects because of the potential variety available. They are best when two colors dominate.
Topographical Color Schemes
These schemes contain colors from nature, such as rocks, earth, sky, sea, and plants.
Floral Color Schemes
These schemes use brilliant or pastel colors found in plants and flowers.
Colorways
Fabrics and wallpapers come in different combinations of colors, or colorways. A fabric pattern will have several selections of colorways to choose from. A pattern may be available in colorways of: yellow, blue and green, red, blue and green; or purple, burgundy and blue.
Visual Vibration
This occurs when neighboring colors appear to clash and vibrate in our vision, creating a dizzying effect that adds to nervousness and tiredness.
Cusp Colors
These are colors on the edge of two colors that take on different values under different lighting situations, such as, dark blue/purple (periwinkle), orange/red (terra-cotta reds), and blue/greens (teal). Periwinkle may appear more purple than dark blue at night or under different lighting systems.
Simple Color
This is a true color, without additive colors, such as sky blue, grass green, or apple red. A simple color is a pure color.
Complex Color
This is a combination of colors, such as silvery blue, or lichen (grayish green-brown). A complex color is a color that requires a long description, such as “sort of a grayish-blue with a hint of pink.”
Palette
The entire range of colors used in a design project.
These are the basic terms used to describe color schemes within the concepts of Design Psychology. Learning them is the first step toward creating dynamic spaces for both the interior and exterior of your home.
(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.
Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm
By: Jeanette Joy Fisher
Hue
The base name of a color without any white, gray, or black added. The terms hue and color are interchangeable.
Color wheel
A color wheel contains twelve colors, based on primitive pigments. The three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. Three secondary colors (composed of combinations of the three primary colors) follow: red and blue make purple; red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue make green. Six tertiary colors (comprised of combinations of primary and secondary colors) form the remainder of the color wheel: yellow-orange, red-orange, violet, blue-green, and yellow-green. Black is the total absence of color and white is the reflection of all colors.
Value or Lightness
This denotes the degree of lightness or darkness of a hue, in relation to pure white or black.
Intensity, Saturation, or Croma:
This term describes the degree of purity of a hue as compared to neutral gray of the same value. This is the freedom from added white or gray; how bright or dull a color appears in relation to the basic hue.
Shades
These are deep tones, in which black is added to a color.
Tints
These are pastels, in which white is added to a color.
Tone
Adding gray of the same value to a hue or adding its complement creates a tone.
Saturation
The intensity or depth of color, such as dark or light.
Monochromatic Color Schemes
This term is used to describe rooms with only tints and shades of the same color. Neutral color schemes are usually monochromatic.
Analogous, Side-by-Side, or Related Color Schemes
These rooms use adjacent colors to the principal color on the color wheel. This is considered a friendly scheme, because the colors blend well and create a soft effect.
Complementary or Opposite Color Schemes
Rooms that use colors from opposite sides of the color wheel. This is considered to be a power and action scheme.
Triad
Consists of three colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Triad color schemes can potentially cause glaring and confusing feelings when all the colors are intense.
Tetrad
Consists of four colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Tetrad color schemes create interesting effects because of the potential variety available. They are best when two colors dominate.
Topographical Color Schemes
These schemes contain colors from nature, such as rocks, earth, sky, sea, and plants.
Floral Color Schemes
These schemes use brilliant or pastel colors found in plants and flowers.
Colorways
Fabrics and wallpapers come in different combinations of colors, or colorways. A fabric pattern will have several selections of colorways to choose from. A pattern may be available in colorways of: yellow, blue and green, red, blue and green; or purple, burgundy and blue.
Visual Vibration
This occurs when neighboring colors appear to clash and vibrate in our vision, creating a dizzying effect that adds to nervousness and tiredness.
Cusp Colors
These are colors on the edge of two colors that take on different values under different lighting situations, such as, dark blue/purple (periwinkle), orange/red (terra-cotta reds), and blue/greens (teal). Periwinkle may appear more purple than dark blue at night or under different lighting systems.
Simple Color
This is a true color, without additive colors, such as sky blue, grass green, or apple red. A simple color is a pure color.
Complex Color
This is a combination of colors, such as silvery blue, or lichen (grayish green-brown). A complex color is a color that requires a long description, such as “sort of a grayish-blue with a hint of pink.”
Palette
The entire range of colors used in a design project.
These are the basic terms used to describe color schemes within the concepts of Design Psychology. Learning them is the first step toward creating dynamic spaces for both the interior and exterior of your home.
(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.
Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm
By: Jeanette Joy Fisher
Targeted Web Site Design - How To Go For Web Site Design
Web site designing is a very important art and science these days. The basic reason is that the world of online business and communication is growing at a very fast pace. The number of web sites existing on the World Wide Web has increased manifolds in the past few years. Every one wants to have a web site designed for his or her business. There are many advantages of doing business online. You cut your over head costs to almost a minimum.
There are many other advantages of doing ecommerce as well. All these factors contribute towards the growing importance of web site designing. A well designed web site supports you in getting maximum business. It supports you in promoting the products and web based business. All these factors add to the importance of a proper web site design.
If you want to get your web site designed, you can hire the professional web designers for this purpose. It is important that you remain involved in the complete process. No one can understand your business better than you do. You must be sure about your requirements from your web site before you actually get it designed.
The web design should be according to the latest technology being used in this field. A web site should be designed in a way to makes it user friendly. These are very important points. If you pay all due attention towards these points, you will be able to get your web site designed according to the exact requirements of your business operations. A use friendly web site will improve your chances of getting more business. Web site design is very important to the success of your web based business. Pay all due attention towards it.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
There are many other advantages of doing ecommerce as well. All these factors contribute towards the growing importance of web site designing. A well designed web site supports you in getting maximum business. It supports you in promoting the products and web based business. All these factors add to the importance of a proper web site design.
If you want to get your web site designed, you can hire the professional web designers for this purpose. It is important that you remain involved in the complete process. No one can understand your business better than you do. You must be sure about your requirements from your web site before you actually get it designed.
The web design should be according to the latest technology being used in this field. A web site should be designed in a way to makes it user friendly. These are very important points. If you pay all due attention towards these points, you will be able to get your web site designed according to the exact requirements of your business operations. A use friendly web site will improve your chances of getting more business. Web site design is very important to the success of your web based business. Pay all due attention towards it.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
Profitable Web Site Design - 7 Best Ways to Web Site Design
Web site designing has become one of the very important sciences and art related to the web presence of businesses. There are millions of web sites which currently Exist on the web. The competition in the online world of business is increasing on a very fast pace. The huge number of web sites are in competition with each other to get a reasonable share of web traffic. No website can survive without a proper flow of web traffic towards itself. This is the reason that all the web sites pay due attention towards promoting their web site. If you want your web based business to be a success, you need to make sure that your web site is designed properly. A well designed web site supports those who want to promote it. Thus it is important for a web site owner to be involved in a web site design if he or she wants it to be successful.
The most important way of doing it is to hire a professional web designer. Discuss the importance of your web site to your business with him or her. It is better if the web designer knows the basics of your business. As no one else can know your business better than you do, it is better that you stay involved in your web sites design. Be sure about the target market. Try to make your web site user friendly according to the nature of your target market. State of the art technology should be used. This is a very important aspect. These are the ways which will help you in designing a really impressive web site. If you follow these steps your web site will be a success.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
The most important way of doing it is to hire a professional web designer. Discuss the importance of your web site to your business with him or her. It is better if the web designer knows the basics of your business. As no one else can know your business better than you do, it is better that you stay involved in your web sites design. Be sure about the target market. Try to make your web site user friendly according to the nature of your target market. State of the art technology should be used. This is a very important aspect. These are the ways which will help you in designing a really impressive web site. If you follow these steps your web site will be a success.
Do you want to learn more about how I do it? I have just completed my brand new guide to article marketing success, ‘Your Article Writing and Promotion Guide‘
Download it free here: Secrets of Article Promotion
Sean Mize is a full time internet marketer who has written over 1574 articles in print and 11 published ebooks
By: Sean R Mize
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