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Avoid 6 Common Logo Design Mistakes

A logo is the ever-present face of your company. Words, type, colors and shapes –these attributes help a logo to communicate a message to potential customers about what your company does and how your company is different from the competition.

Many logos fail to communicate, which eventually creates barriers to successful marketing and advertising. For brand messaging, a company should have cohesive marketing approach of all points – logo, website, brochures, advertising, promotions, etc. If something as seemingly small as a logo lacks the communicative punch, you’re your company is surely missing a huge opportunity to reach out to your customers.

A poor quality logo suggests inferior products and it puts a bad impression in the minds of your customers. Find out if your logo is suffering from any of the six common logo mistakes mentioned below. If you can successfully avoid these common logo blunders, then you are on your way to a successful logo.

1. The Clipart Logo

Many clipart images are widely distributed. Most of us are familiar with the software providing the clipart and will instantly recognize your ‘borrowed’ logo. This is one way to loose credibility of your business.

2. Special Effects Logo

First, strip off all the special effects to get at the heart of the design. A great logo should be able to stand its ground in black and white, without any effects. Draft your concept on paper first. Think about what to present before you decide how to present. After you are pleased with a one-color concept, then produce it digitally. At this point you may not like to add any effect to enhance your logo for web use. Eliminate any effect that does not add value to your design.

3. The Banner Logo

A logo is not your web banner advertisement. You are doing your company more harm than good by forcing your logo into a banner shape, especially if your logo is crammed to fit the entire rectangle.

4. The Text-Only Logo

These types of logos restrict the ability to express your company’s uniqueness. A large established company can pull off text-only logos with exorbitant marketing budgets. Test of your logo’s effectiveness by altering the letters and see if your logo is still recognizable. If not, then you need to seriously consider the visual element of your logo.

5. Monogram

Monograms (company initials) are very difficult to use effectively. It will take a long time to build credibility with a monogram logo. Also, logos consisting of several overlapping letters generally do not do well, and very often they speak too little about your company and the products.

6. The Complex Logo

Logos with complex photos and layouts make poor logos. If you insert any additional information, then it becomes an extra detail for your customers to remember. A simple logo design with solid shades and minimal lines will definitely have greater impact and memorability.

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Check out these adobe tips images:

All That Love All Those Mistakes


Image by Thomas Hawk
Robert Scoble put our Second Episode of Photowalking up over the weekend. In this episode Robert and I hit Half Moon Bay, the pumpkin capital of the universe, and shoot a pumpkin patch. While there we go through a demonstration of how to clean a sensor (yes I know you shouldn’t clean a DSLR sensor in a dusty pumpkin parking lot, but it was for demonstration purposes , we talk a lot about photography, show off my new Flickr Moo cards, almost get kicked out of the pumpkin store (but talk our way out of it), do some macro photography and much more.

To watch the episodes you can click through here for Part I, here for part II, and here for part III.

You can check out our first episode of Photowalking where we shoot the Golden Gate Bridge here.

To see a SmartSet of all of the shots from our pumpkin patch you can click through here.

Stay tuned for more photowalking with Robert Scoble. We recently shot one with Photoshop Pro Jan Kabili where she walks me through my workflow and gives me all kinds of great photoshopping tips. We’ve got lots more great photowalks planned. If you have any good ideas for locations for future episodes let me know!

Thanks!

Liz Blends In


Image by cobalt123
A "Hemidactylus turcicus Mediterranian gecko" at my home tonight. This nocturnal creature sure blends into the adobe wall of my home. This shot is with a different camera than I used last year to try to get the portrait, seen here. This year’s image is not so macro or detailed but it does represent how I most often see these lizards scurrying around in the night. See the photo from last year for a better view.

Day Ten | Christmas Eve Outtake


Image by Jeff Rivers
This is an outtake from the photos I took on Christmas Eve. I figured I’d share some information about how I touch up photos after I take them. Click here to see what the photo looked like out of the camera.

In Lightroom, I bumped the Clarity, Vibrance, Saturation, and Blacks up a bit. I also adjusted the white balance and added a little bit of fill light. Then, using the Adjustment Brush, I increased the exposure on Cooper (the dog on the right) so we could see more detail on him. I also increased the exposure on the wall in the background. I dropped the exposure and added some saturation to the sky and trees in the background to bring some warmer color out of the sky and add some contrast between the subject and the background.

Then I moved the photo into Photoshop. Using the Clone Stamp tool, I touched up the grass to cover up the bald and off-colored patches. When I viewed the photo at high-resolution, I noticed a bit of a halo along the border of the background area that I had used the adjustment brush on to under-expose and raise the saturation. I used the Blur tool to make the halo effect less noticeable (but it’s still there).

I think the result is a better picture overall, but tastes vary so you may disagree. Anyway, I certainly have a long way to go in developing my Lightroom/Photoshop expertise, but one of my goals for this project is to share what I’m learning along the way. There are lots of great tutorials out there to help you retouch your photos. I’ve found Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Killer Tips to be very helpful.

ISO200 | ƒ4.0 | 1/250 sec | Handheld

Strobist: SB-24 camera right through an umbrella | Vivitar 2600 camera left through an umbrella | Triggered by Cactus V4s.

Follow me on Twitter: jeffrivers

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I’m happy to tell you about a quick and easy process to download a switchable graphics driver without going to the trouble of visiting your driver’s official site or any other site for that matter. Most pc users who encounter problems with their windows haven’t realized the fact that in many cases it is because of problematic drivers. It happens to be that i can help you with what you really need to know; you can avoid losing precious minutes (or hours) and avoid trouble.

Click here to download a switchable graphics driver now!

All too commonly, the general public, without knowing any better, rely on faulty driver(s); this is a common cause for them to begin noticing numerous and varied system troubles. Even though a good number of driver developers will provide periodic, unprompted updates to your drivers, lots of them don’t include this convenience and it is a task you’ll have to handle on your own. Conveying required information between your system and a device, a driver is an important program, since the lack of it means you can’t operate the peripherals that you need. Fortunately, there is a time-saving new tool which scans all your software and hardware components, and when required effortlessly installs or updates the drivers that your components need to run properly. My personal results were amazing – it only required a few seconds to locate the particular driver that needed updating.

Your drivers are essential parts of a pc and need looking after, exactly the same way that you keep your windows fully operational. Easy, fast, and reliable, this method is terrific for those among us without much experience managing such crucial files alone – who wouldn’t be? I would strongly advise you to get rid of archaic drivers since they may cause various errors and even worse troubles.

It’s clear to me that many pc users would prefer to download a switchable graphics driver by employing such a user-friendly technique instead of blindly searching online. It’s important to realize the risk for one little driver, if it is corrupted or incompatible, to produce some significant difficulties and oftentimes end up crashing your operating system. This information is based on what i have learned, therefore, if you want to see what they can do for you, i’d advise you to begin right away and download one of these handy utilities. Most of us like to increase our computer’s arsenal of hardware and software on a regular basis, so it’s of great importance to always maintain them in their optimal state. We’ve come to the conclusion of this quick guide; i hope that you found it interesting and that it helped you to find information about this important issue.

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I’m happy to tell you about a quick and easy process to get a graphic driver for Windows 7 without even having to visit the driver(s) maker’s website or whatever sites you used to look through. No doubt you realize that many software and especially hardware components can’t be used unless the crucial drivers are installed, too. In the next few minutes we will soon be modernizing your approach to locating drivers, so be sure to read this lesson in the latest technology.

Click here to get a graphic driver for Windows 7 now!

A word of caution to start with: if you install improper drivers for a component, it may cause compatibility issues and may even cause serious windows errors. While some driver manufacturers make sure to supply instant, trouble-free updates to their drivers, a large number don’t and it’s up to the user to look after that. Many of you probably don’t understand what a driver does – a driver is basically a software program that acts like a translator between a printer, memory stick, keyboard, etc., and the software that controls it. I’m happy to report that a recent innovation is now available which spontaneously seeks out, fixes, and updates just about any driver(s) on your system. By using these tools, you can effortlessly take care of almost any problem which can be attributed to your computer’s drivers.

Obviously, windows comprises a large number of drivers and as you no doubt understand, maintaining them manually is unimaginable – who has that kind of time? You will soon discover that you will locate the best drivers for all your components in just a single click and without even opening a web browser. Pc users should be sure to avoid using outdated drivers as it may cause various errors and slow down your work.

Thus, by using these solutions, finding a safe way to get a graphic driver for Windows 7 is not a long and laborious and often worrisome task anymore – it takes care of itself! Take a moment to consider the problems down the line that will be sidestepped by having your current and future drivers effortlessly revised as needed. As they say, don’t knock it till you’ve tried it – put it to the test and prepare for it to detect your drivers – just what have you got to lose? Technology is constantly advancing and pcs are becoming more intricate than ever before; but this complexity and power leads to additional potential problems and lost time for you and me. An additional tip – should you be using an older pc that’s undependable see what new drivers can do for it – this can be quite helpful.

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Do you have an item, program or report however struggling obtaining income? Wish to improve your sales or signups then the thing you need to do is continue reading this article to learn how to make a book cover.

It’s a proven reality again and again that individuals judge books by their covers, that is why creators make certain their books use a cover that can be quickly observed from a long distance and get picked up faster than a book cover with no design.

How to make a book cover – listed below are my personal easy actions to creating a fantastic looking book cover.

Initial you have to choose if you want to create a book cover your self or perhaps if you wish to spend somebody to design it for you freeing up your time and energy. You’ll be able to spend anywhere from $20 – $2,000 for a book cover to be designed for you.

If you are going to create a book cover yourself then follow the rest of this information.

Step 1:

You’ll need some software program, the gurus utilize Photoshop which is very costly but worthwhile if you’re creating lots of book covers.

Free of charge software is GIMP that is a Photoshop alternative, I haven’t used it as I use Photoshop however its free of charge so will list it here for you.

Step 2:

You’ll need eCover Action Scripts, should you research Search engines with regard to ecover action scripts you will find numerous outstanding ones, you need to find one that will match the book cover design your searching for. I make use of ecover pro and cover action pro. Both are fantastic products.

Step 3:

Photos – Right now you need to locate royalty free photographs that you’ll be looking to add to your book cover design, again you are able to research Search engines, but allow me to share my top 2. Istockphoto.com and bigstockphoto.com – you will need to understand their terms on utilizing them to ensure you’ve the right rights since many images vary.

Step 4:

Utilizing Fonts – so you have got your pictures, you need to seek out many quality fonts that you could use on your book cover. I love these fonts – Impact, Century, Arial, Tahoma, it’s also possible to search Search engines for free fonts and you may find a large number of superb looking fonts to go on your book cover.

Step 5:

Colours – choosing the correct colors for your book cover style, here are some concepts, green for capital, red for debt, blue for internet marketing. Yet again Search engines is actually your greatest buddy look for colour combos and you may find lots you should utilize.

So these are it 5 speedy steps which you can get prepared to create a book cover on your own, once you have the above five you’ll then need to add the factors together.

Just what I would recommend carrying out is taking a look at additional graphic artists book cover designs to find suggestions and see just how these people create the text, photos as well as colors together to produce magnificent book covers. Simply keep practising and you’ll improve and better at creating a book cover or ebook covers.

Want more useful tips and tricks on how to make a book cover, or want ideas on how to design a book cover visit us at http://www.howtomakeabookcover.com/ – Also get an in depth review of ebook cover generator and other reviews.

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There are several mistakes that have been identified when several sites have tried to implement the special software that handles the online transaction; every designer of the online store is likely to be familiar with the common problems that may come along with the constant use of a particular interface. The errors will be related to the fact that this interface plays the main role when it comes to the visitorâ??s interaction with the content of the site. This interaction is critical and it can influence the future online purchase. If the user is frustrated with the way a certain site works, he is not likely to use the site anymore. Every designer should pay attention to this aspect because actual buying is mainly related to the degree to which a visitor is pleased with the way an interface works.

Abandoning certain shopping cart software is quite common among the online buyers; the occurrence of this process is quite common because there are several primary reasons that can lead to this negative result. For instance, the potential buyer may not be satisfied with the high shipping costs thus choosing to drop the possible demand. The items can be too expensive too and this aspect can also keep the potential customer away from the services that are provided by a certain site. The online buyers are pretty familiar with the differences that are likely to appear between the costs of the same product that is being offered by many different sites. He will be used to comparing these prices in order to find the reasonable one that can fit his budget. The online store can also be accessed in order to save different items for being purchased later and the potential buyer can even be annoyed by the fact that a certain site requests too much information about him. All the previous issues can be regarded as genuine reasons for abandoning a certain online store.

Another aspect that should be taken into account by any web designer, namely that the potential buyer should be informed that he is accessing shopping cart software; if other piece of information is being used instead of the necessary one, confusion may appear and this confusion can prevent the potential buyer from purchasing the items he is interested in. Many users are likely to be accustomed to the so-called cart terminology and the designer should stick to this common language in order to convince the potential buyer; consistency is to be maintained in order not to confuse the buyer and the designer should stick to the cart terminology. Quick access can also be improved by adding a certain graphic that shows a shopping card in order to convince the potential buyer that he has come to the right online location.

Every user should be required to use the â??buyâ? button in order to add the chosen item to the so-called shopping cart; adding the items to this cart should be quite noncommittal and effortless because the user is likely to just put items into his own chart in order to purchase the in the future. But the future purchase is only possible; the designer has to make sure that he has created the proper site that is able to convince its users that they have to purchase items from this particular site. Buying will be regarded as the final step of the entire shopping experience but the user should not presume that he buys certain items just by adding them to his cart; on the contrary, adding items to the cart does not stand for a genuine commitment in order to buy these items. In fact, the users are quite hesitant when it comes to pressing the â??buyâ? button and they are also likely to look for the â??addâ? button instead.

The visual feedback is another important feature that should characterize every online store; the user has to be allowed to see the image of the items he has selected for his cart. Actually, some of the sites are not providing the users with this necessary feature; for instance, a site may not take its users to the required shopping cart as soon as a certain item was added to the cart. This feature may allow the user to continue his purchasing without paying attention to what is already in his cart.

No interruption will be encountered in the case of such sites. But most of the sites are likely to display a sort of special indicator that will inform the buyer about the amount of money he has to pay at a certain moment. The pages will be updated according to the buyerâ??s choices thus summarizing the current content of the cart. The visual feedback is highly necessary because the buyer has to be perfectly aware f all his purchases in order not to overcharge his own budget.

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Having personal notepads is great right? Whether you will use it for your business or practice, or even for your own personal use it is a nice tool to have for your notes, letters and memorandums. However, before you go start investing in notepad printing; it is first good to know the mistakes that you should avoid in printing them. Notepads may seem simple enough to design and print, but there are a few factors that you need to know about lest you create notepads that cannot be used properly, or can deteriorate early on. To help you out and prevent this from happening here are a few of the common mistakes in notepad printing that you should avoid.

1. Too many elements
Some people can really get carried away with their personal notepads. They put in their name, the company logo, some creative accents contact numbers, watermarks, borders, footers etc. Some may even put their own images and other clip-arts to add that extra personal touch. While all of this may sound nice, it actually clutters up a notepad design. So you should really avoid it. Notepads are meant to be written upon and not just read. So make space and do not include too many elements.

2. Color use
Another thing that you should avoid is having too loud and distracting colors. Now, you may think that a personal notepad should project your personality (which is actually true), but you must also take into consideration the people who will read your notes in your notepads. If you place in colors like neon colors and bright colors, some people might actually get distracted by them. Some might not even take the note seriously since it will look like a festive advertising notepad rather than a personal communiqué. So choose your colors wisely and use something that can appeal to all.

3. Proper adhesives
Also, to protect the integrity of your notepads, always choose high quality adhesives for your notes. If you use your run of the mill standard adhesives, there is the possibility that the notepad can deteriorate early on before you even get to use all of its pages. One of the best things that you can use today is those paper integrated adhesives like the ones used in post-it notes. Since adhesives like that are integrated in the paper itself, you should have no trouble with them.

4. Correct sizes
Lastly, many people make the mistake in printing personal notepads of the wrong size. Some print too large that they are only really useful for printed letters and notes, while others may seem too small that you cannot fit anything important in them. The key in deciding the correct size is basically to decide early on the primary use of your personal notepad. Is it for official notes, or is it just for casual reminders? Will you place them in printers, or will you use it mainly with pens. Once you know the main use of the notepads, you can pretty much decide on what size you may need for them.

Remember these mistakes, and remember them well. You should try to avoid them always once you get your turn in notepad printing.

For comments and inquiries about the article visit: Notepad Printing

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When companies want to advertise a new product, service, or event, they will often use flyers to make their announcement. Another form of advertising is with business cards that the company will give out to just about anyone that will accept one. This is because business cards are another very effective form of advertising. When companies decide to embark on business card printing or flyer printing, it’s very important to take a few things into consideration. Just as these types of advertisements may draw people in, the wrong look or feel can drive customers away and cost the company thousands of dollars. Read below to find some of the most common mistakes that are made during flyer printing.

The first thing to remember is that you want everything that has the company name on it to be extremely professional. Many people believe that the company can save a lot of money by doing the flyer printing and business printing on their own. While this method may be cheaper, it’s important to consider that the look will not appear as professional as it would if the flyers or business cards had been taken to a professional printer. The increase in cost is only slightly higher and the company will reap many of the benefits for years to come. This doesn’t mean that you won’t have any input on the final look of the flyers and businesses and because of that, you still need to consider what you want the design of the flyer or card to look like and for this aspect of flyer printing as well, there are some things to take into consideration.

The first thing to remember with your flyer or business card design is to use color but be smart about using it. Colored stationery makes a much larger impact than black and white. It will catch the consumer’s eye and the right color can pull the whole thing into place. That being said, don’t use so much color that the eye doesn’t know where to go when looking at it. The color should definitely not overwhelm but shouldn’t be so subtle that it can barely be seen either.

Another design element that will grab a customer’s attention is to use photography for visual effect instead of clipart or other computer generated images. This will not only make the business cards or flyers more unique and make them stand out among many of the competitors but it will also give the printing a more personal feel. Keep in mind however, that images and visual effects can also be overdone. Keeping it simple is very important with your flyer printing or business card printing and will not overwhelm your consumers.

If there is a photograph or image that will be perfect when doing your flyer printing, place the image in the middle of the page and everything else surrounding it. This will focus all of the attention on the center of the page and really make the flyer stand out. This is a trick that professionals use when flyer printing or business card printing and is why the business name usually appears in the very center of the business card with images in the corners or on the sides.

There are some things that need to be considered carefully when you are about to print flyers or business cards. Making sure that the stationery is unique and grabs attention are the two most important things to remembered when flyer printing.

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There is absolutely nothing wrong with today’s trend of brides making or assembling their own wedding favors.  With the cost of weddings skyrocketing, it’s no wonder that she and her groom will want to trim a few dollars from the cost in any way they can.  And many companies sell beautiful supplies that require just a bit of effort to make your own wedding favors, the end product being just as stunning as any store-bought item.

But there are some words of warning that should be shared with any bride that is considering making her own wedding favors, as there seems to be some common mistakes that many brides are making these days.

For one thing, while you want to be conscious of your budget, you don’t want to skimp too much on your wedding favors.  Remember, these items are your way of thanking your guests for being there, and while it’s your special day, these guests did to through some effort to be there and to share in your day.  Not to mention the fact that they probably got all dressed up, paid a sitter, and sat through your father’s teary-eyed speech of how he remembers his little girl’s first day of school … and so on.  They deserve a small token of your appreciation for how they’ve made your day all the more special, and wedding favors are your way of expressing that appreciation.  So yes, keep your budget in mind but still plan on spending around a dollar per favor, at least.

Also, it’s tempting to use your computer to make up something personal such as bookmarks or personalized candy bar wrappers as wedding favors.  But be honest with yourself – how skilled and artistic are you with the computer and the creation of this type of thing?  Anyone can slap some clipart and fancy lettering on a page and call it a bookmark, but what does it really look like?  Most people who create those things professionally go to school for years to learn about how to balance things on a page, how to use certain fonts to complement certain designs, when certain styles are too busy versus those that need some more decoration, and so on.  Remember, your wedding favors are going to express to your guests your appreciation for their participation in your special day, and if you give them something that looks like your child created it, well, what will this say about how much you appreciate them as guests?

This isn’t to say that you can’t do this type of thing yourself, but might it be better to approach a friend or even someone you work with that is experienced in graphic arts and that can give you some assistance in this regard?  Or consider just purchasing these types of items online.  Most printed items that are sold as wedding favors such as bookmarks and personalized candy bar wrappers are usually very affordable even when you buy them from a professional company – usually a bit less than a dollar each.  With personalized candy bar wrappers, you can buy your own chocolate bars and assemble them at home, saving you even more money.

To avoid the mistakes of making your own wedding favors look a bit too cheap and even downright tacky, consider dressing up your choices as much as possible.  For example, if you buy candy in bulk and put it in tulle or net bags, purchase some ribbon at the fabric store that you can tie those bags with for a very festive and unique touch.  If you purchase individual bonbons to put in small candy boxes, wrap those boxes with beautiful wrapping paper in gold or silver or some color that coordinates with your wedding colors.

Again, there’s nothing wrong with making your own wedding favors but keep in mind that your guests will remember your wedding even after the day is over, so giving them a beautiful and thoughtful favor to take home is always preferable to anything that’s too cheap or simplistic.

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Using web graphics on printed material.

With many young designers coming from a pre-dominantly web design background the transfer over from web design to traditional design for print can bring with it a multitude of design sins. Images supplied at 72dpi and crunched down to load fast on a website are going to reproduce very badly in print you can get away with small thumbnails but blowing things up to any appreciable size is going to be pushing your luck. There are a number of online sites offering free or very cheap quality hi resolution images which are a good source for suitable imagery.

Forgetting about or not allowing enough bleed.

A very common error is to send to print a document or flattened image that has no bleed at all. Generally speaking you should allow at least 3mm around every cut off edge. Failing to do so will give the printers no leeway and will either crop off the side of the page or give you a white border. It is always a good idea when supplying image files to save layered psd files then if things need extending or cropping you can do this on the background layer and hopefully cut down your work

Using obscure fonts and not embedding or outlining them for output.

We’ve all been guilty of this at some point and things are generally fine if you are going to be the only person accessing your artwork or documents. However if someone else needs to amend the files or use your vector logo on one of there publications. Unless you package up the used fonts, they are not going to be able to open the files correctly and some software programs may replace any unknown fonts with a default. This is a particular problem when you need to dig out stuff that was created several years previously and you no longer have your old fonts installed.

Supplying print ready artwork using spot colours or rgb

There are valid reasons for using spot colours in artwork, logos that need to reference particular pantone colours for example. In general design work however most print is sent through on 4 colour presses CMYK with occasional 5th colour for luminoius or metallic colour or for spot UV varnish. It is very common for lazy designers to just place rgb images into files and expect the vibrant colours seen on screen to reproduce in print.

Allowing design illiterate clients to lead you round the houses

The customer is always right, goes the old adage. However it is often said with gritted teeth and a sense of patience that recognizes that these morons will at some stage be handing over a fat cheque for your troubles. It is often a good idea when first submitting visuals to throw in a couple of stinkers to hopefully get them to appreciate the design you would like them to accept. There is the very real danger of course of them loving the piece of absolute arsewipe that you knocked up in five minutes to make them think you’ve been earning your money. Still it’s a living.

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