Why Should my Site be Designed in WordPress
Web Design in WordPress and Not Just HTML? Yes. What is WordPress? For those of you who don’t know, WordPress is a site that you can host your blog with, but more importantly, you can build any website on the WordPress format. It’s a free package of software, templates, and plug-ins that you can install […]
My Current Web Design Job will be Obsolete…Kinda
There are great resources out there for small businesses and start-ups to build their own websites. There are templates and content management systems that are easy to use and look great. Sound like if companies can build their own sites, graphic designers won’t really be needed? Yes and no. Yes. For some companies, they just […]
What's Wrong with Email
Don’t get me wrong, I love email as a tool. Attaching files, giving a list of changes, and connecting with a client in their own time are just a few reasons why email is great. Still, email is the death of communication, especially with a creative process. I’ve made the huge mistake of just emailing […]
The Secret to Success: Return Calls
OK, it is such an obvious point, but I think the world needs a reminder. CALL PEOPLE BACK WHEN THEY CALL YOU. EMAIL PEOPLE BACK WHEN THEY EMAIL YOU. If I call you and don’t get a reply, I get nervous. My clients react the same way. I had a client call me recently about […]
Don't Give us the Solution.
A great tip for clients when dealing with graphic designers is to present the problem, not the solution when giving feedback. For instance, we hear “Make the logo bigger” because it isn’t standing out enough. We need to hear “The logo isn’t standing out enough.” Perhaps the logo could be moved, the layout could be […]
The Big Ten's New Logo
Here’s the new logo for the Big 10 conference…Everyone pretty much agrees that this sucks. This looks like it was slapped together in 10 minutes for a presentation of initial comps. Don’t blame the design firm! The old logo was clever. The “11” in the negative space represents the fact that there were really 11 […]
Anatomy of a Website Redesign
As a web designer, it’s crazy that we’ve had the same site for years without an over-haul. We’ve always gotten compliments on it, so we’ve just been revising and adding to it as it is. Finally, enough is enough. What is wrong with the old site Sure in 2005, this was the state of the […]
Email Campaign – Part 2
I didn’t get any new clients. I didn’t get any calls. I got only 4 clicks to my site (.5%). OK, I only sent this to 787 people and 54 folks did open it. I’m not thrilled with this low response rate. My marketing goal is to get one new, good client, so I need […]
Don't Make the Mistake of Looking at Successful Branding if You are a Start-up
Designers and marketing experts all bow down to Nike, Apple, and others due to their great branding that has lead to their success…Don’t make that mistake. The logos we all know and love are not the logos companies had as successful start-ups. Apple’s original logo was Newton sitting under a tree. Nike was a brand […]
Chicago Graphic Design Firm
Chicago graphic design firm. Chicago marketing firm. Why repeat “keywords” online? It’s called search engine optimization or SEO for short. Chicago graphic design firms and chicago marketing firms are keyed into these terms as the will drive business to your site. As you can see, I’m repeated the terms chicago design firm, chicago graphic design […]
