15 Beautiful and Creative QR Codes [PICS]
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on July 27, 2011
In the same way that bar codes don’t have to be boring, quick response codes can also be creative. Thanks to a 30% tolerance in readability, you can have some real fun with clever designs. Besides looking good, this can also make them more successful.
“Designer QR codes are not only a way to make your 2D barcode stand out, but they also add a more human element to the otherwise cold and techie appearance,” says Patrick Donnelly, QR code designer and expert. “This could be the difference between someone scanning your code or not.”
Take a look through the image gallery for 15 brilliant designs created for a range of businesses from big names such as Disney, little names such as local restaurants and even conceptual ideas. Let us know in the comments if a clever design would make you more likely to scan a code.
Read more here!
The real design trends for 2011
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on June 22, 2011
Everything inside the design world is permanently changing, evolving and adapting into new ways of expression and communication looking to satisfy the new consuming needs and set innovative exchanging channels. 2010 made a huge closure for the final year of the first XXI century decade, we witnessed the rising of tablets (iPad, Samsung Galaxy Tablet among others), the demise of Internet Explorer 6 and the absurd fanaticism towards Flash (though it’s losing a lot of fans), which is going to be slowly replaced by HTML5 (we’re not saying that Flash is dead, only that HTML5 will begin to cover many of its current uses)
Read more here!
HOW Design Live: June 22 to June 27
Posted by admin in Events, Graphic Design on June 20, 2011
HOW Design Live takes off in Chicago from June 22 through June 27 this year. Starting as a print magazine, HOW has expanded towards blogs, books, and conferences surrounding all aspects of life as a designer.
HOW Design Live is an intensive conference of graphic design professionals looking for information, inspiration, and networking opportunities from both industry leaders and peers. The event is comprised of 4 conferences: HOW Design Conference, InHOWse Managers Conference, Creative Freelancer Conference, and The Dieline Package Design Conference. Each conference is targeted towards specific design needs.
For more information: HOW Design Live
Contact Top of the Line Printing and Graphics Services for you Print Design needs in the San Diego, CA Area. We do business cards, brochures, checks, envelopes, flyers, letterheads, and more.
What’s Web Design?
Posted by admin in Uncategorized on March 31, 2011
Web Design is the creation of the web pages, and sites. Some of the programs that are used to create web pages are HTML, CSS, JavaScript and other web programs. When they say Web Design just think about it like how it said, because it’s pretty much the combination lo lines, shapes, texture, and color to go with what your purpose of the page is. Web design is what you do to make a web page look fantastic!
The Use of Illustration in Graphic Designs
Posted by admin in Graphic Design on March 17, 2011
When they say graphic design what’s the first thing that pops in to your head? The first thought that pops in to my head is illustration. Illustration is commonly used in graphic design projects. The illustration can catch someone’s attention easily; it can be graphs, charts and maps. However, the designer has to have a clear concept of what they are doing; it has to be relevant to what the customer wants.
Creating your own illustration can be easy, if you have the skills to complete the job. However, you must know what the client is asking for. Some of the common software’s that are used for illustration are Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and tools that are necessary to complete this work. If you have problems using these programs theirs always the option of hiring an expert.
Hiring an illustrator can be a very expensive option but if you think that you don’t have the skills that it takes to be an illustrator than your better off hiring someone. This way the illustrator will know what their doing and, you don’t have to worry about anything but to pay him.
Another option is to purchase existing graphics. Theirs many stock photography sites that also offer illustration. The images are already there you just have too searched the ideal one for your project. There’s many stocks artwork that can be very expensive but, their also some that can be very economically. This option can be the least expensive for what you are looking for.
If none of these options are what you are looking for. There’s the last option which is buying the CD. The CD offers a collection of thousands of graphics at one cost. It has a variety from where to pick from. You must check the rights on such collections, because there is the risk of them having a restriction including forbidding the resale for products that incorporate the illustrations.
http://graphicdesign.about.com/od/elementsofgooddesign/a/find_illustrate.htm
10 Misinterpretations about Graphic Designing
Posted by admin in Graphic Design on March 7, 2011
1. All graphic Designers are Rock Stars
It’s a common mistake to think that graphic design makes big money. Thought of because of fashion designer’s lifestyles.
2. Graphic Designing is Simple
Takes a lot of work and experience to learn about the graphic design software and most of the time it is easier said than done.
3. Your Born With Creativity, you can’t Learn it
You have to gain the creativity based on your surroundings and use the opportunities you will have. No one is born with just certain skills and be unable to learn new ones.
4. All of the Graphic Designing is Done on Computer
Your very first thoughts of a design usually go on paper as a sketch. After you have done the brainstorming and such, it will go onto the computer as the finalized work.
5. You Need to go to School to Know Graphic Design
It is based on ones creativity and natural talent than just having a degree.
6. Graphic Designers are Psychic
Clients think that they will know everything there is about graphic designing. Designers need design brief that contains outlines of the project.
7. Graphic Designers are Never Wrong
It can cause a lot of damage to their reputation. Not every designer has a big ego.
8. Logo and Brand are the Same Thing
Logo is just the picture and just a small part of the brand. A brand is the reputation of the company.
9. Graphic Designers can Fix your Computer
Graphic designers revolve around graphic software rather than fixing computers.
10. A less Detailed Design Takes Less Time and Money
Takes the same amount of time as a more complicated design would take. Both have complicated concepts and ideas behind them.
http://www.graphicdesignblog.org/evil-myths-of-graphic-design/#more-7457
The Effect of Color can Affect your Business
Posted by admin in Graphic Design on February 23, 2011
Choosing the right color is essential to communicating and doing business with your clients. By determining what color trends and shades are popular, we can determine what will persuade customers into purchasing a product or pay more attention to your message.
The use of color is often associated with meanings and emotions; they help to bridge connections and generate attention. Certain shades and hints can dramatically affect how your message is received. People are conditioned to link certain colors like lighter and brighter tones with energy and youth so your audience may be intended for younger groups. Certain colors may appeal to a either women or men specifically and some colors which were thought to be specific now may be used interchangeably such as the growing popularity of feminine colors with men.
Just as the latest product and fashion the use of color and what is popular should be examined before attempting to appeal to your target audience, for what may have been popular in the past may not be in the present.
Deciphering Web Analytics
By Matt Jackson (c) 2007
Want to optimize your online sales? Improve your understanding of your target market demographics? Need to improve your marketing ROI? What right minded webmaster or online entrepreneur doesn’t, right?
Your web analytics are your gateway to measurable success and provide a lot more information than most people give them acknowledgment for. Yes, they track the number of visitors you receive and indicate your most and least popular pages. However, they also guide you towards your best performing keywords, the countries that provide you with the most active visitors, and essentially provide you with a blueprint of the exact steps each visitor takes on your website.
Armed with this kind of information you should be able to improve the overall perförmance of your website and your online business. You can also improve your marketing efforts, enabling you to concentrate on the more effective, and ignore the least effective.
Keywords, Search Engines, And Popular Landing Pages
For many sites, the search engine is the leading producer of traffíc. An SEO campaign can produce excellent levels of highly qualified leads with comparatively little spend. The key to a good SEO campaign, though, is to continue the optimization process.
Good analytics packages provide detailed information that is vital to your SEO campaign. You can view a líst of the keywords that visitors have used in order to find your site. This information can be used to identify those keywords that are providing the most traffíc and any that can be improved upon.
By reading the referrer of each visitor it is also possible for most analytic programs to determine the search engine that directed visitors to your site. Again, it is possible to use this information in order to improve your optimization efforts, with a little online research.
Landing Pages And Referrer Pages
A good avenue of pertinent information is the líst of landing pages and referrer pages. The landing page is simply the page that a visitor first lands on when they reach your site, while the referrer is the page that directed them to your site.
Don’t be fooled into thinking that all of your traffíc emerges on your home page. At least, for most websites this shouldn’t be the case. Each page on your site is a potential source of search engine traffíc, and if you have well categorized pages then PPC campaigns should also be page dependent.
Alternatively, if you use any kind of advertising, it will pay to keep track of how each campaign performs. The referrer statistics will help you determine this very fact. If you have links all over the Internet, then this can point you to the more beneficial of those links so that you can attempt to gain more, similar ones.
Visitor Experience
How your visitors reach your site shouldn’t be your sole fascination. Once a person reaches the fold of your domain, you should attempt to learn whether they had a positive experience, and, if not, then why not. Fortunately, web analytics typically provide some very good statistics to help you with this.
Visitor and page load statistics. Whenever a page is loaded in a browser it is logged as a page load. However, any single individual can open numerous pages or may even open the same page numerous times. The unique visitor figure is the number of individual people that have accessed your site.
Visitor paths. You can track the actions of a visitor from the landing page to the exit page. This includes every page they visit in between, the amount of time they spend on each page, whether they make a purchase or click any links while on those pages, and more. This information is crucial to determining any problem areas on your site. If a particular page is leading to a lot of people exiting your site, then address it immediately. These statistics can also provide you with hot spots you weren’t previously aware of.
Translating The Results
Translating the results need not be any more complicated than actually reading them. Doing so, though, can seriously improve your profits. Here are a few guidelines that can be used when next viewing your analytics.
Lots of Visitors But No Conversions
A lot of people place too much emphasis on driving traffíc to their site, and not enough emphasis on actually converting those visitors to customers. If you find that the pages of your site are frequently being visited, but surfers are leaving without becoming customers then you need to take action quickly. Typically, your site content may need improvement or the traffíc you are gaining is not targeted to the topic of your website. Look at visit lengths and paths to determine which is the case for you.
Visitors are Leaving From a Specific Page
Again, this can usually be combated with improved content on that page. If the content of an individual page is poor, but the rest of your site is good, then you will usually see that your visitors are navigating happily around your site until they reach this one page. Look for broken links, inappropriate content, or just poorly written content.
Traffic From a Specific Source is Particularly Inactive
If you look at your referrer statistics and note that one source of traffíc is sending a lot of inactive visitors to your site there may be one or more explanations. Review where the visitors are being directed to and ensure that this page is well optimized for conversions. Also do some digging on the referrer’s end. A banner or link placed on an irrelevant page is unlikely to yield the positive results you are looking for.
These are just some of the ways that analytics can help you and your website. Experiment and look for trends. Question anything that you notice until you find the most reasonable answer, and then take action accordingly.
About The Author
Article by Matt Jackson. WebWiseWords, website content that sells.
Web Site Marketing Strategy Hints And Tips
Your web site marketing strategy is the essential factor that determines the success or failure of a business web site. This is true whether your web site is an extension of an offline business, or you run an completely online business. Web site marketing is unlike any marketing you may have done using other media.
However, marketing your web site on the internet shares many common core marketing foundations that underlie your marketing efforts regardless of the media you use. I am a strong believer that for a small business, all marketing should be based on the old direct marketing mantra of attention, interest, desire, and action. In this article I am going to discuss those aspects in terms of how they are crucial in marketing your web site on the internet.
Regardless of the media you choose, nothing will ever happen if you don’t attract the attention of prospective buyers. This is one of the very basic tenets of successful marketing. On the internet, this concept is evaluated by the traffic that you receive on your web site. But there are a lot of factors that affect how much traffic you get, and only part of it is the actual content of your web site. There are two ways you can get attention in any media: you can earn it or you can buy it.
All the major search engines (Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.) show up two different types of results when a customer uses them.
The most relevant results based on the search algorithms used by the engine are called ‘free’ or ‘organic’ since they are the natural result of running a search.
The second type of result are actually paid advertisements, and they can be very difficult to distinguish from the results that are actually relevant to you query.
It is important to keep in mind that no matter how good the engine, the results are still hit or miss. It is a computer program sorting web pages based on mathematical formulae, not live people helping you select the best results, so as a person hoping to be indexed, you must be willing to put the time and effort into checking how you rank on the major engines and tuning your word choice to optimize that. If you can’t make it onto the first (or second at the very least) page of results, your traffic will drop dramatically! Most people don’t bother to wade through the hits on the pages after that. Even second-page ranking will hurt your ability to attract new users.
One of the most effective ways to increase internet traffic is buying some form of advertising. One of the most pervasive forms is banner advertising. Originally, these were very popular forms of advertising, but as they became more prevalent, their effectiveness waned. They can still be effective as long as you have a clear marketing strategy and are able to track your advertising statistics.
Text advertisements are probably the most common form of internet advertising today. Google has paved the way, and if done correctly, your internet traffic can multiply quickly by using Google ads. MSN and Yahoo also offer text advertisements on their sites. One downside to text advertising is that the cost can add up fairly quickly, depending on how many hits you receive for your ad. Each time a searcher clicks on your text ad, the provider charges you a set amount. Another way to increase traffic to your site is to buy traffic from someone who has an e-mail contact list or has a lot of traffic on their site already.
Any approach to publicizing your website or portal must begin with the aim of grabbing attention of the web surfers and internet addicts. To grab attention, you must deliver your message to surfers on websites they frequently visit. You can publicize your website by doing the hard work yourself or by availing expert help, or a mix of both.
Doing it yourself means you will have to commit your time, energy and money. It might sound daunting but ultimately proves to be cheaper as well. Availing expert help can get your results without eating your time. To set the cash registers ringing, it is suggested that you develop your own mix of both ways suited to your own needs and resources.
About the Author: You can get more information about Business Marketing at http://www.BizRave.com. Eric Menzies writes about Search Engine Marketing Firms and other topics.
Pantone Unveils New Color Specification System
Posted by admin in Graphic Design on September 10, 2007
The Goe System offers an expanded palette, while simplifying color selection and enhancing printed color consistency.
If there’s a single item that you can count on finding within reach of any graphic designer, it’s one of the many color matching guides that Pantone has been providing well before the digital era. At the center of a broad product offering, PANTONE FORMULA GUIDES have long provided a consistent method for selecting, matching and specifying the 1,114 solid PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM colors on coated, uncoated and matte stocks.
The Goe System provides a dramatically new approach for designers, by including 2,058 new colors arranged in chromatic order for easier selection and specification. The colors are based on a smaller set of 10 PANTONE Mixing Bases, plus PANTONE Clear, which are said to be globally available. The inks are compatible with aqueous and UV coatings, and have been designed for printing uniform ink film thicknesses, resulting in equal drying times and more control when matching color on press.
Users choose colors with the PANTONE GoeGuide, which displays seven colors per page in fan-guide format, employing a new naming system that’s designed to prevent confusion with the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM. A two-volume set of adhesive-backed color chips, dubbed PANTONE GoeSticks, allows designers to peel off a chip and place it as desired, easing the creation, sharing and saving of color palettes. Also provided is myPANTONE Palettes, an application for selecting and working with colors, which is said to integrate into any application that supports system-level color pickers.
Color specification systems rely for their success on comprehensive adoption by industry hardware and software suppliers. So far support has been announced by such firms as Xerox Corporation, Hewlett-Packard, Electronics for Imaging, Heidelberg, Corel and notably, Quark, which will make the system available within XPress via a download in the Quark resource center in October, 2007.
The complete PANTONE Goe System, for Windows and Macintosh, will be available October 1, 2007, for $499 on the Pantone site.*
* from Graphics.com