Category: Design for Business

I only have so many nerves left. And a designer friend hit one: design abuse. Remember, 50% of people who approach me for work are not qualified clients. My designer friend was showing infinitely more tolerance than I would for a request to surrender all of the work she had done for a client. What they’re…

Here is information on the reverse thematic process, let’s assume you’ll use Photoshop and do your Pantone conversions there to save time: 1. Run the image through an online image-to-palette converter. 2. Convert the colors to Pantone. 3. Choose a theme using the reverse lookup tool. In this case, I chose Serene. Normally, with so many…

I wrote my own single-page design agreement (Terms and Conditions). I send it as a PDF email attachment. The scope of the project is usually defined in the email. Below is the “web design” version. All my “contracts” are fixed-bid with time limited expiration. I’ve never had a legal dispute. I mainly supply this to the client so they understand…

On a design forum I asked, “What are iMatch Designers anxious about?” iMatch is their client who wants a rebuild of their website. Their reply: “That the visuals don’t connote the value. They believe the current visual impression on the site doesn’t say ‘You get extraordinary outcomes and the experience of working with a professional who…

Marty Neumeier always said the best team was a designer and a copywriter. I really agree with that whenever it’s possible. Then the final design needs to be reviewed by at least 5 people (doesn’t really matter who they are so much.) It’s just been shown that 5 people will catch 80% of the errors.

I saw a nice web page layout in a PDF tutorial. The page was laid out in quadrants and my first reaction was, “I wonder if you could build that using HTML Frames using percentages for the individual frames instead of fixed widths.” So another experiment was born. I do not advocate usage of Frames because of the mantra…

One of my favorite papers to design with is “Kraft”, a strong brown paper or cardboard made from wood pulp.Not only can you use recycled materials like cardboard boxes and grocery bags but you can also buy kraft paper for sheet-feed through laser printers. It is also available as a crack-and-peel stock for laser or…

I renamed a number of companies and products that would otherwise have misled or confused the potential customer. Do not underestimate the power of a good business name. I refer you to this book. These principles, since 1980, have been a key part of marketing. Positioning the Battle for Your Mind. Positioning Wiki A designer…

My brother, Brad Teare, and I identified 12 main Photoshop action effects to build. This sparked the idea of discovering if I could design 12 CDROM packages using short-cuts. Another weird experiment for web images! These were never used commercially. Just design thrill-seeking again. Being a nocturnal beast, my goal was designing them all in…

If you study the work of good graphic designers, you’ll find they have favorite font pairs. They may have as few as a dozen families of serif and sans serif faces, they really work with on a regular basis. This knowledge is acquired by examining portfolios of your design mentors and peers. Then start collecting…