Seven Essential Questions To Ask When Designing An Ad
This guest post is part one of a series on ad design written by Nikki Matarasso, a graphic designer and marketing coordinator for Blue Crane Design.
Advertising is to design as a violin is to a bow. Just like it’s impossible to make good music without a bow, it’s almost impossible to have an effective advertisement without incorporating good design.
Good ad design can grab attention, focus that attention, and create action. Bad design will be overlooked entirely or create a negative impression. So what are the most important things to think about when designing an advertisement? What should you avoid? Continue reading
Three Ways To Get A Custom Logo—And Which Is Best
This guest blog post is part two in a series by Nikki Matarasso, graphic designer and marketing coordinator for Blue Crane Design. Read part one, The Five Elements of Really Good Logos. Photo collage courtesy of captcreate.
So you’ve decided you need a custom business logo to catch attention and get customers in the door. Now what? Where do you get one? How much should you pay for one? You don’t have a giant budget, but can you really get a quality logo for free?
Well, you’ve got a couple of options. Each has pros, cons, and associated costs.
1. Do It Yourself
On first glance, making the logo yourself might seem like the cheapest option. But there are quite a few hidden costs associated with creating a custom logo.
Let’s assume you have a computer. You’re going to need software. If you want to put your business logo into multiple formats and create an image which can be used at any size (called a vector) you’re going to need something more than Microsoft Paint. Continue reading
The Five Elements Of Great Logos
This guest post was written by Nikki Matarasso, a graphic designer and marketing coordinator for Blue Crane Design.
How important is your logo to your business?
In a word: very.
People tend to judge on looks—even though it would be nice to believe otherwise. Your logo is the first impression that your business makes. So if you’re not giving the right look, then how do you expect people to want to know more?
Say you’re at a networking meeting and you meet two accountants. You’re in desperate need of an accountant, so you get a business card from each.
The first card has been printed off a free website such as VistaPrint. It has the VistaPrint logo on one side, it’s flimsy, the logo appears to be clipart from MS Word and there is a spelling mistake. The second card is streamlined and well-designed. There is a clever slogan underneath the business name, it’s glossy and has an original logo. Continue reading
Marketing Podcast, Episode 13: Not Bad Graphic Design
Today’s podcast features an interview with Max Phillips of Not Bad Design. (That’s not a picture of him—he would probably want me to tell you that.) The question at hand: just what constitutes good design, anyway? And why is it so important?
During the interview, Max lists the most common mistakes in web design, and how you can avoid them. We also discuss our hatred of the new Pepsi logo, and why no redesign warrants a 50-page manifesto.
I also introduce Nikki Matarasso as One Woman Marketing’s first regular contributor. A graphic designer and marketing coordinator for Blue Crane Design, Nikki will be writing monthly blog posts on marketing and graphic design.
