Drowning US Economy? Designers triumph?
October 7th, 2008
Graphic Design, Web Development
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With the economy hurting businesses are cutting costs, from laying off employee’s to rethinking their business plan. But there is one thing that is benefiting on a local level, businesses need to continue to advertise, and continue to be apart of the global market. As a designer and coder I have seen a recent surge in clients, perhaps businesses are realizing that online marketing from PPC / Social Networking, to establishing a presence online, is the cheapest and most effective way to reach possible customers and clients.
Is this great opportunity for designers, marketers, and professions to utilize the problems in the market? If sales are down, there is only a few things you can do as a business or individual to bring in new clients, advertise advertise advertise! If businesses do not have web presences, they are finally realizing that being top on google searches, and having a professional yet simple website is the easiest way to capture a customer base.
You your self begin advertising, create some new media and advertisements which capitalize on the weak economy. How do you do this? Mention that all businesses could use a spike in sales and clients during these tough times, and online marketing or re-launch of their website is the most cost effective way to do this.
Free stock exchanges for designers
August 13th, 2008
Graphic Design, Inspiration
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There is alot of sub-par stock photo exchangs out there, some very costly, others full of low quality unoriginal photos. This list serves the sole purpose to provide artists and designers with a great resource to find stock photography for a variety of different uses.
- stock.xchange - Hands down the best stock exchange website, there is over 50,000 HIGH quality images, easy to use interface, and great features. They provide a lightbox feature so you can search for an image, and sort of ‘add to shopping cart’ and at the end select the best image. If you look to purchase images they offer high quality and original images as well located at the bottom of searches and categories.
- morguefile - Great design, simple interface, and a large variety of unique images. Many of them range in photo quality, but most images are quite unique and differniate from that of other stock photo sites. Minimal and non advasive ad’s make this a well rounded stock site.
- imageafter - This website should definitely be your number 1 location for finding textures and backgrounds, perfect for web design. There is close to 20,000 textures and stock photos you can find on their site. There is minimal ad interference, and the user interface is quite simple but a little lack luster. This website should definitely be in your bookmarks!
- everystockphoto - One of my favorite stock photo sites, their interface is very appealing, but they do search flickr which can create some problems, but the result is very original images. Searching outside pages can be a down fall, because there is some quality issues and badly tagged images, but if you spend time you can find some tottally original images.
Below is a great list of stock photo pages you can try as well, most offer free services but all are above standard and offer something unique.
Stockvault
http://www.freefoto.com/index.jsp
http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/
http://www.freestockphotos.com/
http://www.farmphoto.com/
http://www.sxc.hu
http://www.dieblen.de/
http://www.freeimages.co.uk/
http://www.mediaphoto.com.br/index.php?leng=eng
http://gallery.hd.org/index.jsp
http://gallery.yahoo.com/
http://www.photolibrary.fema.gov/
http://www.visipix.com/
http://www.morguefile.com/
http://www.pixelperfectdigital.com/
http://www.imageafter.com/
http://kepek.creart.hu/index.php?oldal=1&kat=1&nyelv=en
http://www.freemediagoo.com/
http://stock.kriegsnet.com/
http://unprofound.com/pix/
Who to trust with your business printing?
August 12th, 2008
Print Media
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Recently over the last week or so I have been scouting a place to print business cards, and prices online range from 10-20$ for 250, and in person the price ranges from 50-100$. And i understand that online businesses have less over-head, but this price gap is absolutely insane!
I do not necessarily trust online ordering for collateral and business or design materials because the turn around time on a mistake is huge, and costly (And neither should you) And have decided that ordering in person at a local store is probably the best bet in service, the only difference is price varies from 50-100$ for the same service depending where you go.
So over the past few days I have priced out a few major chain stores, and will list the average price, turn around time and some more useful information for those of you who are or will be interested in where to get printing done.
- FedEx/ Kinko’s - Costs ~$1.80 for 1 Sheet of, glossy, single sided full color, with 8 or 10 on a page depending if there is a bleed, additional flat $13.50 for cutting, even if you only have a few. So around 250 would close about ~$65 final price, same day, and reliable helpful service. They offer a variety of packages to save money if you order multiple products.
- Minute Men Press - This is quite a large chain of printing services, and have tons of setores nation wide. They cost from .50-79 cents a sheet depending on paper, with 8 or 10 on a page, full color single sided. They charge an EXTRA 10$ for a RIP fee which they say is mandatory so they can check colors(I asked if i brought in a final proofed PSD or PFD and said they must check colors)..and then a flat $15 cutting fee. So 250 would cost ~50$ They also offer packages for 500 and up starting at $69.99, the service at this location seems adequte and fast turn around.
- Vista Print - This is an online store that seems quite successful at what they do, there is a promotion going for new customers and you can get business cards for ‘free’ or 3.99 for custom loaded. They claim this price, but their shipping costs are extremely over priced, from $8-25. A final price for a one sided, matte, full color business card with a custom loaded image was about $18 with shipping, the major down fall is 7-14 business days of shipping, and if you want it sooner the cost will range anywhere from $18-40. I have read many bad things about Vista print claiming their images are of low quality, and sometimes prints come out looking mediocre-the last thing you want to do is hand out and embarrassing business card or flyer.
- Various local print shops - I priced around at a few local print shops, and most of them charged a $25 set up/proof fee, then similar rates to the ones above. I love to support small businesses, but when their costs are 25-50% higher than that of others it is hard to justify.
The conclusion is I’m going to order my business cards locally from Minute Men Press, they seem to provide a lower cost, and offer the ability to proof and test the images / final product in person. For future use in printing collateral I will most likely order them online in large bulk, or go with one of FedEx’s printing packages. My business does provide logo and print design and will reccomend the services listed above.
Artist/Designer MUST Have Sources
August 10th, 2008
Graphic Design, Inspiration, Logo Design, Web Design
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All designers and artists need tools, some are more effective than others, and there is always new tools to use. This list is about tools at your basic finger tips, things that could change your designs and portfolio with just a few different clicks.
- If there is one website and resource all designer and artists should have it is COLOURlovers.
The ability to find absolutely amazing color Palettes, and Patterns which are up to date with trends. This resource provides absolutely amazing resource for web design, graphic & logo design, even artists. You can find some simply amazing things from this website, with a great community of people, an active fourm, and constant updates. - Every great designer needs inspiration, and Web Creme provides a great way to stay inspired and on top of trends. They feature a few different sites each week, and have a huge archive of websites. If you are ever in a design rut, this website can prove as a life saver-with designs from simple and effective to breath taking and innovative.
- DesignBoom provides a great home to artists and designers, providing competitions, interviews, opinions, and inspiration. The website is UK based, but still very relevant information for designers nationally.
- A community which is full of help, work, inspiration, and rants and raves-designer talk is perfect for all artists and designers alike. There are alot of design communities online, from deviant art to hundreds of smaller ones, but designer talk really is the best. The community of people are very relevant, offer great information, and many top designers and artists are active on the forum.
Waking Life inspiration
August 9th, 2008
Inspiration
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Waking Life is truly a great film, with some high and low points, but some very inspirational and thought provoking theories and ideas. The following quote from the clip really represents to take what life has given you, its about what you do with what you are given-It can lead artists and creative people, or the less creative alike, to forget the social norm, and express your self, be who you want to be.
“Its like you come on this planet with a crayon box. Now you may get the eight pack, or the sixteen pack, its all what you do with the crayons the colors you are given, don’t worry about drawing within the lines or coloring outside the lines, i say color outside the lines, you know what i mean, color right off the page, DON’T BOX ME IN”. Below the movie is a link to the whole movie and its entirety, i highly suggest checking it out.
3 Tips for a great Business Card
August 7th, 2008
Print Media
2 Comments
This post is on a small, yet very effective and powerful-must have for all business men/women. This typical 3.75″ by 2.25″ piece of plastic, paper, or metal, is used to provide information to possible clients or customers about your business. Many people use a basic template for their business cards, and under-estimate how truly effective a good business card can be, so below i will offer 3 great tips on how to leave a unique impression with possible clients and customers.
- Provide something extra: Most business cards provide just basic contact information, and not much more. Though this is their purpose, many people over look at how useful all that space truely can be..Offer a powerful quote which relates to your business or your self, offer a quick few word summary on what you or your business provides. Do something which will remind them of what you and your business does.
- Be unique: Make your business card stand out from the rest, whether it be the material you use or color and theme you apply. One very unique idea for this would be to use metal business cards, not only would many clients and customers respond with “Wow!” but they will surely remember YOU over competitors when it comes to your services. This same idea applies to ordering clear or plastic business cards, all can be used to leave a great impression on others.
- Do not print two-sided: Many people print something on the back of their business cards such as extra information for appointments or sales, I cannot stress how NEGATIVE this is. Many people use the back of business cards to jot down extra notes, and would rather not have it be cluttered with something you choose. If you want to put something on the back, hand write the information before you give the business card to the individual.
First blog post.
August 7th, 2008
Rightside News
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First post for Rightside Creative’s new blog…Some really neat’ things are on their way. I look to provide insight and comments on web and design industries, as well as offering complimentary tools and tips for others like me. I plan to update this blog 2-3 times a week, i want to focus quality, and not quantity.