graphic design

Design Stars Shine at Marcel Wanders Event

Linda Tischler — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:28:54 -0500

The lunch started badly. A waiter spilled a glass of red wine down the back of Dutch design guru Li Edelkoort’s black silk caftan. She was not amused, and stormed out on the balcony with her plate of sesame noodles to dry off in the sun.

A Sustainable Brand Identity

Delia Bonfilio — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 21:05:56 -0500

So, what is a sustainable brand identity? Let's start by defining a Brand Identity. Fundamentally, your brand identity is the visual interpretation of your cause, business, or products. It is the way in which we recognize and distinguish one company from another. A brand identity typically consists of one or more of the following elements:
- a logotype (the typographic treatment of the business name)
- a logo (a graphic symbol or icon)
- a tagline (a short description or slogan)
- a color palette (one or more colors used in the above components)

Grow your brand vocabulary

Kristen Friend — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 15:37:25 -0500

Your brand vocabulary consists of all things that define your brand’s personality. These are the things that are consistently used in your marketing materials from business cards to websites to commercials and other advertising. Several things go into building your brand vocabulary, some of which are often overlooked.

Some examples of items that make up your brand vocabulary are as follows:

A Sustainable Concept

Delia Bonfilio — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:05:04 -0500

Originally, I started to write this entry about a Sustainable Brand Identity. But as I put pen to paper and fingers to keyboard, I realized that my opening paragraph deserved a bit more attention. It's about the importance of a sustainable concept behind the design. Think of it this way – sustainability can be applied to both the tangible and the intangible – the execution of the idea AND the idea itself.

Questions to ask a potential designer

Kristen Friend — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:27:39 -0500

Hiring a design professional is a process - and it should be. You will need to be able to work closely with whoever you hire, and this cannot be done if you are unable to establish a basic rapport with the person or company who will be creating your professional image.

Below are some questions you can ask a designer or design company before hiring them to work on your project.

What's in a niche?

Kristen Friend — Sat, 22 Nov 2008 16:24:21 -0500

The days of businesses trying to be “jacks of all trades” are over. Companies are no longer limited by time and space – that is, by a physical location or “normal business hours.” Online tools and marketing can be leveraged to get brands to a specific audience anytime, anyplace.

Making Sense Of It All: How to Promote Your Brand While Staying Sustainable

Delia Bonfilio — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 19:44:55 -0500

Every evening I come home and walk by a mountain of garbage from my building in this otherwise beautiful neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. It makes me think about my contribution to that, not only on a personal level but a professional one. As owner of a graphic design studio, I know all too well that half of the services we offer involve the design and development of stuff that ultimately ends up in the trash. They're things that are used to promote a product or service.

The Many "About Us" pages

Matt Enock — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:20:47 -0500

I can't count how many "About Us" pages I've read on websites. I'm continually reading them for business reasons. It's likely the first place I turn when learning about a potential client and their products or services. The frustrating part can be how poorly About Us pages typically communicate and describe the company. Many times, we in the design world, are often selling and explaining the visual strategies behind a design, but the copy is just as critical to the success of a piece as the visual design.

Bio and Interests: Calvin Hanson

Calvin Hanson — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 08:17:57 -0500

Just a college student trying to make a buck... That's how Photo Graphics was started. Calvin Hanson opened up shop on January 1st 2005 with a design degree and an passion for design and print. Slowly but surely, people started to notice this college student and his ability to make his customers happy. One of his clients saying that his best attribute is his ability to listen to what his clients need and delivering that result. Calvin graduated in 2007 with a BS in Graphic Communications from Clemson University.

Creative Lunacy

Wm. Juan Roberts — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:54:26 -0500

Creative Luancy

Wm. Juan Roberts — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 13:51:42 -0500

Promote Sustainably

Delia Bonfilio — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:14:05 -0500

A logo, a brochure, the packaging of a product, an email blast: all designed to promote your business, effort or cause. All have the potential to be sustainable in their concept, design and development. Delia Bonfilio explores the graphic designer's role in conscious marketing methods and shares tips on ways to efficiently produce materials that support your business and the environment.

An Intro to Bonfilio

Delia Bonfilio — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:06:03 -0500

A brief graphically animated introduction to what the studio does with slideshows of their work. (55 second runtime)

Bio and Interests: Delia Bonfilio

Delia Bonfilio — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 00:46:43 -0500

Delia runs Bonfilio Design – a graphic arts studio that provides innovative solutions in branding, print collateral, packaging, and on the web. Launched in 1998, the studio was founded on her passion for visual communication and flair for graphic design. Bonfilio offers clients the intimacy of principal driven creative direction. Every project taken on at the studio is guided by her expertise and professionalism.

Bio and Interests: Carmel Perales

Carmel Perales — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:26:19 -0500

Raffles Education Corporation is listed on the Mainboard of the Singapore Exchange as the largest private education group in Asia. Since establishing its first college in Singapore in 1990, the Group has grown to operate three universities and 25 colleges across nine countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Singapore, China, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Mongolia, Australia and New Zealand, with a total student population of over 30,000.

Bio and Interests: Tia Jackson

Tia Jackson — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 10:50:25 -0500

The BrandMakers is a Communication Design firm that specializes in building brands and marketing solutions for small businesses and entrepreneurs. By designing everything from logos and websites to full-blown advertising and online marketing campaigns, we brand our clients' products and services into the hearts and minds of consumers.

Good marketing and design practices can help your brand succeed even through tough times.

Kristen Friend — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:33:51 -0400

A good brand strategy is more important than ever during hard economic times. You must be uniquely focused and on-target so that customers will choose to spend their more limited resources on you. Here are some tips about how to make your brand recession resistant without breaking your own budget.

Internal branding and brand evaluation: what you can do to reinforce your brand.

Strike a balance between design and function.

Kristen Friend — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 13:25:43 -0400

When planning your website design and overall online strategy, it is important to consider what balance you need to create between the looks, or “wow” factor and the useful substance that you provide your users. An effective way to achieve this is to create an online destination – a site that both stands out as well-designed, unique and memorable, and that contains content that holds a user’s interest beyond the first few lines of the home page.

Pop!Tech: What Can Innovators Learn from Pirates?

Linda Tischler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:29:26 -0400

Matt Mason, author of The Pirates’ Dilemma, spoke at Pop!Tech this morning about what we can learn from pirates.

1. If you want to beat pirates, copy them. If pirates are adding values to your customers, it’s an example of market failure. Look at it as an opportunity to learn and do better.

Pop!Tech: Is Larry Page the Ben Bernake of the Internet?

Linda Tischler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 12:11:56 -0400

Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, spoke this morning at Pop!Tech about non-monetary economics -- a cheery idea, given the current state of monetary economics.

Non-monetary economics, he says, are things like reputation and attention -- valuable properties, but traditionally hard to quantify. That is, until Google came along.

Pop!Tech: Cellphones Used to Fight AIDS in South Africa

Linda Tischler — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 11:48:02 -0400

Is the cellphone the most promising new weapon in the fight against HIV/AIDs? A group of designers, tech companies, health care providers and AIDs activists are betting that mobile phones can help crack one of the world's most intractable problems: delivering health care information to one of the world's most severely affected regions.

Bio and Interests: Penny Haywood

Penny Haywood — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:24:01 -0400

Penny Haywood runs PHPR, a small UK-based results-orientated PR agency dedicated to high quality B2B client service.

PHPR has international reach through a network of like-minded 'boutique' PR agency associates in many parts of the world, thanks to attaining membership of PRBI (www.prboutiques.com). PRBI can put a network of top people in every country onto an international PR project, rather than rely on a bigger agency's duty staff in various countries led by the home country team.

Pop!Tech: Scarcity and Abundance in Camden

Linda Tischler — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 11:17:01 -0400

In a world where both the bottom and top of the pyramid are reeling as markets melt down and tectonic economic shifts are shaking the planet, a conference dedicated to the theme “Scarcity and Abundance” seems stomach-churningly appropriate.

Pop!Tech: Live Long and Prosper

Linda Tischler — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 10:38:15 -0400

Is there an upside to the current recession? Well, maybe, if it means we travel less, turn down the thermostat, and think deeply before flagrantly consuming more stuff. The combined effect of that parsimonious lifestyle is likely the best thing that could happen to our planet -- a huge brake applied to the rampant energy consumption fueled by a bull market, says Saul Griffith, co-founder of engineering think tank Squid Labs, and founder of Makani Power, a high altitude wind company. “A recession would be great for dolphins,” he quipped.

Designing for the short term memory.

Kristen Friend — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 11:06:24 -0400

In an increasingly cluttered marketplace, it is critical to make an immediate, meaningful and lasting impression. You only have seconds to do so, and if you fail it could mean the loss of customers and revenue. Just think about all the information you are asked to retain every day - and remember everyone else is being bombarded with the same amount of stuff. Give their minds a break by making your materials simple, striking and memorable.