Did you there are two types of black? There’s a rich, deep black that includes a heavy dose of cyan, magenta and yellow inks into the black ink and then there’s a true-black that is slightly less rich but only uses the black ink. It’s important to figure out which type of black your program [...]
Posts Tagged ‘color’
October 15th, 2012
Design Tip: Two Types of Black
Posted in Business Talk, Design Tips 
Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, mail, marketing, photos, print, small business, technique, technology
Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, mail, marketing, photos, print, small business, technique, technologyOctober 12th, 2012
Printer FAQ: What is a Bleed?
Posted in Business Talk, Design Tips Tags: artwork, color, design, images, mail, marketing, photos, print, small business, technique, technology
Tags: artwork, color, design, images, mail, marketing, photos, print, small business, technique, technologyYou know how you might have a beautiful full-color all the way to the edge pdf and when you print it out on your printer it has a white edge? That doesn’t always look the most professional. Sometimes you want that very polished color-to-the-edge-of-the-paper look. That’s not a look you can get with a normal [...]
September 7th, 2012
Photography Essentials
Posted in Design Tips, Digital Revolution, Marketing Ideas Tags: color, emotion, images, photos, print, social media, technique, technology
Tags: color, emotion, images, photos, print, social media, technique, technologyI’m not a professional photographer, but I get asked a lot why so many people’s photos come out looking awful. So here’s a few tips and reminders for us novice shutterbugs. Lighting is Essential If you’re indoors chances are your lighting it so dim two things are going to happen. First your photos will blur [...]
June 7th, 2012
Design Tip: Gradients & Textures
Posted in Business Talk, Design Tips Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, images, mail, marketing, pdf, print, small business, technique
Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, images, mail, marketing, pdf, print, small business, techniqueWhen designing a marketing piece, gradients and textures can be excellent eye-catchers. The rich colors and busy movement can bring the ambience of virtually any location from the regal office suite to the chaotic kindergarten room. Darker, richer colors help support a more professional feel while brighter, more pure colors convey energy and pep. If [...]
June 1st, 2012
Two Cupcakes, One Easy Choice
Posted in Design Tips, Marketing Ideas Tags: advertising, branding, color, design, development, emotion, family, images, logo, mail, marketing, photos, planning, selling, small business, technique
Tags: advertising, branding, color, design, development, emotion, family, images, logo, mail, marketing, photos, planning, selling, small business, techniqueWhen I was growing up, cupcakes were a staple thing in our house. Boxed cake mix, muffin liners and cylinders of frosting were kept in stock at all times. That said, our cupcakes were never anything fancy. The liners were functional; the frosting was lathered on haphazardly. It was about the taste – not the [...]
May 16th, 2012
Inspiration Wall
Posted in Design Tips, Marketing Ideas Tags: advertising, artwork, branding, color, design, development, images, marketing, mind, persistance, photos, planning, print, small business, technique
Tags: advertising, artwork, branding, color, design, development, images, marketing, mind, persistance, photos, planning, print, small business, techniqueDesign is visual in nature. I’ve mentioned before it’s a good idea, if you’re looking to learn some basics of design or if you’re a designer looking to keep creativity flowing, to collect clippings of ads and images that strike you as interesting, impactful or otherwise desirable. However, just stuffing them in a folder sometimes [...]
March 23rd, 2012
Logo 101 (Part 2 of 2)
Posted in Design Tips, Marketing Ideas Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, emotion, images, logo, marketing, planning, selling, small business, technology
Tags: artwork, clip art, color, design, emotion, images, logo, marketing, planning, selling, small business, technologyCommunicate a Clear Message: Speaking Through Color & Design I can’t cram 4 years of fine arts classes into a simple article, however I will try to give some basic tips on the hows and whys of logo design. By now you’ve made up a mission statement and tagline (your ‘superpower’). If that is all [...]
March 12th, 2012
Cultivating the Creative Eye
Posted in Business Talk, Design Tips Tags: artwork, branding, clip art, color, design, images, logo, marketing, photos, selling, small business, technique
Tags: artwork, branding, clip art, color, design, images, logo, marketing, photos, selling, small business, techniqueOne question I get frequently from non-designers wishing to create nice brochures or fliers is: How do I make it look good? You might as well ask how can you learn how to paint like Picasso. That eye for shape, color, contrast, form and movement isn’t something you just turn on or turn off. It [...]
January 17th, 2012
Think Warm Thoughts!
It takes a good designer to bring summer to winter. Anyone can drum up visions of warm sunlight, a cool breeze and green grass during the season, but it takes a really good imagination and expressive ability to bring those feelings to a customer in the middle of a blizzard. Many in-depth seasonal brochures have [...]
December 12th, 2011
Review: The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber
Posted in Book Reviews, Business Talk, Marketing Ideas Tags: books, branding, color, communication, customer loyalty, development, experts, marketing, morale, persistance, planning, selling, small business, stress, technique
Tags: books, branding, color, communication, customer loyalty, development, experts, marketing, morale, persistance, planning, selling, small business, stress, techniqueDown and Dirty: 4 out of 5 E-Myth can be a great starting point in calming yourself and finding your business’ new path, however some of its concepts are worth adding onto with other more current books. E-Myth was one of the first books I read regarding starting, running and marketing a small business. Gerber [...]