LATEST MUSINGS

Blog

Tips for making a killer logo

As designers of identity and graphics we must train ourselves to think critically about what works well in creating a logo that is timeless whilst maintaining the corporate message about the company. The way a logo is designed can say a lot about the company you are designing for so it is not as easy a task as one may seem it to be. With many years experience in varying fields of creativity I have been trained to be pretty critical of what works and what doesn’t in many design fields thus in this blog post I will share with you what I believe really helps in making a killer logo that will remain highly identifiable throughout the decades.

The Art of Logo Design


Video from OffBook

Research

First step to creating any magnificent logo design is to spend a little time researching what your industry competition is doing to represent its image & corporate identity. Study what colours are commonly being used, what shapes, symbols & typography.

This is a great starting point but you don’t want to be the same as every other brand, that would just be booooooring! This is just to allow you to gain an insight of what is working ( or not).

I believe it can be important to consider how you can in-cooperate some principles of accepted industry standards whilst adding something alternative that will make you look different from the competition and a forward thinking company not scared to stand out from the crowd.

What works

Look at corporate logos of companies that have succeeded in world recognition. What do you notice about most logos from successfully branded companies below?

 logo examples, logo design, what makes a good logo

Of course, they are all simple, easily recognizable minimalist symbols. Some corporations use typography but the main and most important rule of all successful branding is to keep it SIMPLE.

Foresee the four C’s

Classicality

nike, nike logo, corporate logo, famous logo

Keep it minimal. The most memorable logos are all minimal. Don’t try to be a leonardo here, try and refine your design and reduce it to its basic form and I am sure you will reach at an impressive design.

Colour

colours

The psychology of colour has more power than you think. For instance, everyone knows that red can mean danger but it also can mean passion. McDonalds use it because psychologists believe that red makes you do things on impulse where as yellow can make you fellow hungry thus their colour choice is down to trying to sell as much fast food as possible by making people hungry and act on their impulse to eat a bigmac. There are plenty of books out there that discuss this in further detail ( although I plan to blog about this in the near future ) so if you are a graphic designer make sure you understand the principles of good colour selection & the psychology behind things.

Concept

What seperates a good logo from a great logo? In my opinion, probably a good artistic concept. I argue this case with all art forms, whether architecture, painting, graphics or fashion, without a great concept or theory behind the work it is nothing more than a pretty item. This frustrates me because pretty pictures are not art or at all creative, they are simply technical ability expressed. Concept puts meaning to inanimate objects & things which is all important as we humans try to make sense of the world and surroundings we live in. Designers shouldn’t just be creators of identity they should be thoughtful, society transforming knights to help businesses grow and enhance the lives of others through creative developments.

Craze

fashion can play a part in creating a killer logo design

As previously mentioned, creating a logo that is “timeless” must consider what is expected in the industry but also what is currently in vogue. Logo Design is fashion driven, all creative industries are, from architecture to cars to simple graphic design, there is a set fashion to what is popular and what is currently believed about certain symbols, shapes and styles. These things must be considered in unison with keeping the design simple enough in order for instant recognition from anybody who sees it.

Conclusion

A great logo takes time to develop and it usually isn’t the first thing you produce that is the logo that will be the final product. The best logos are developed and refined many many times. I am a designer of identity and i can help you with your corporate branding if you wish, just ask any questions and I will gladly help you out. Best of luck in your logo design .

 

 

Fiver , a blessing or a curse for professional designers?

Before I started my profession as a graphic / web designer I had come across a website called fiverr.com . On this site people give you things for $5.00…not even £5.00! I knew of this site but never told my boss about it, why would I want to tell him? It was like a chicken that lays golden eggs, if i told him would it put my job in danger? After a while I decided to tell him when he asked me how to increase his twitter following quickly..he didn’t care about who followed him so the niche market didn’t really matter…all that mattered was…he won a bet with his friend! In the end telling him about this website made my boss very happy so I guess that’s a designers job at the end of a day, to make others lives more enjoyable.In this blog post I plan to discuss the good, the bad and the ugly of fiver from a designers point of view.

sunshine, sunrays

The good

Okay lets start from the good, sunshine and rainbows..I am a relatively young designer in terms of career, after studying for over 10 years in varying industries I eventually managed to find a position that allowed me to show my abilities that I have gained over so many years study. I managed to do some free work for family & friends, creating websites, logos & advertisements to increase my portfolio.

Improve portfolio

Unpaid work is good to some degree but to get $5.00 rather than nothing for your effort will make it a bit more worth your time than a free project for a friend plus working with friends and family is never a good idea as you might end up destroying your relationship with them if things don’t go according to plan.

Keep the creativity flowing

Fiver gives you a platform to allow you to get your designer tastes buds flowing, increase your portfolio to give you more cv power when applying for jobs and making sure that your imagination doesn’t dry up if your jobs are becoming less creative and more technical.

Oil your freelance wheels

As a freelancer, if work is pretty quiet , its a good way to bring in a few extra pennys into your account because although it says $5.00 you can sell things for more than that value. I have often seen extra items priced over $20.00 which is a little more reasonable seeing how long it takes to create a good logo design.

Other Services you may need

There are all kinds of professionals on this site, from seo specialists, website analysts, performers, musicians, photographers & more! They may have skills you need but you can’t afford the mainstream professionals. Good for those starting up a small business on a budget.

 The Bad

The thunderclouds have gathered, the rain has started and fiver starts to show its ugly side..

Not everyone is a professional

The first problem with hiring someone on fiver is that although a lot of people will be professional on the website some will just be trying their luck to try and earn a few extra pounds. There is a little risk that you are not going to be happy with the finished but  am a strong believer that you do “get what you pay for”..

Minimal Risk

For a designer, someone selling their services for $5.00 that you may charge $500.00 for is really undermining the industry you work for. It is devaluing important creative skills that not everyone has and with the client only risking 5 dollars they arent too worried about loosing the price of a burger on a logo.

The Ugly

Whether we western designers like to admit it or not, Asian Cultures can charge a lot less than us and more often than not, do just as good a job. The value of 5 dollars in developing countries is a lot higher than in the west so we do have to compete with other nations but the advantage we have over these competing talented folk is that we are local, so if problems do occurt, it is easier to contact us and rectify any issues…but, I guess this argument is really just clutching at straws..we creatives best emigrate to these hotter climates :-).

Is Fiver giving designers a high five?

When we think of fiver, we think cheap cheap services and products! Bargain basement and with bargains usually comes lack of quality..will you find a pair of Armani sunglasses in a high street pound shop? I think not.

Higher level clients with money will still look for agencies and talented freelancers. What fiver does is give the starting designer a platform to showcase their skills and work the way up the ladder into an agency or create a greater awareness of their freelance portfolio.

It is also good for start up businesses that really can’t afford really flash services so all in all , i think fiverr.com is a great website especially in this economic climate.

 

Which Social Media is best for me?

Knowing which social media is best for your purpose can be tricky. With so many social media platforms out there it has become quite difficult to decide which ones to use for your business or personal progression. Using them all may not be as beneficial to your company as you may think. It is probably better to harness the power of one than dribble only a little bit of great information out to the public realm. In this post I will discuss various different social media tools and what type of account it is most likely to benefit.

Twitter

twitter

For B 2 B , B 2 C, fans & industry news

If used correctly, Twitter is the most broad ranging tool, that is so easy to get found for those wanting to connect with people in their industry and keep abreast of what is happening. I recommend when you start using twitter to find users that have the same interests as you so for example, i follow artists, designers, marketers, architects, gamers & spiritual people. These are my main interests and so they will also be interested in those areas of my own thoughts thus a follow back process will begin. You will then be able to exchange and share, retweet and make some virtual friends in your little old community! Nothing like meeting those with like minds ay! 🙂 This is why this is my preferred social medium.

Best time to use :

1pm to 3pm

Traffic Builds after 11am

[divider style=”1″]

Facebook

facebook

B 2 C, fans, industry news & younger market

Facebook has the largest audience which you may think is probably the best social media platform to choose for any business but you would be wrong. Why? Well the majority of people who currently use Facebook are young people ( mainly women ) up the ages of 29. These are the people who have little in the way of equity  I would only recommend using this social media platform if you are confident that you are targeting the younger market generation such as music sales and awareness, gaming, fashion & other youth products. In my opinion its a bit harder to get your facebook page found without advertising.

Best time to use :

1pm to 4pm

Wednesday at 3pm is the best traffic time

[divider style=”1″]

LinkedIn

linkedin

B 2 B, Industry news & Job Hunting

LinkedIn is a great tool for those who do a lot of business with other businesses such as those that offer services. Consultancy firms, building maintenance, builders, engineers & such like would find this very beneficial. It is the social network for professionals to create links. It is also a fantastic place to find work. When you enter your skills to your profile LinkedIn use these tagged keywords to bring you jobs that match your ability and to jobs local to where you live! Could you ask for anything better?! If you ever get tired of your job you will never have far to look even in this terrible economic climate.

You can also show how competent you are in your profession by joining groups & answering  questions, posing questions & more! You will make new connections & start to become a recognised voice that obviously loves their industry that way.

Traffic is always best before working hours and just after 5pm Tue – Thu . Mon & Fri aren’t as good for traffic

Best time to use :

7am -9am & 5pm – 6pm

[divider style=”1″]

Pinterest

pinterest

B 2 C, fans, great for e commerce

The majority of Pinterest users are female living in rural areas with middle to high incomes. It is a social networking platform initially set up to find inspiration to for your next major project but it can also be a great place to showcase products particularly if you are an e commerce owner selling things like jewellery, artworks, fashion or gifts. What is also interesting about pinterest is that out of the current users 50% have children. Sell something children might like? Pinterest is the place for you to be!

Best time to use :

 8pm – 1am & 2pm – 4pm

Traffic is highest of a Saturday morning

[divider style=”1″]

There are many more platforms for social media ( of which i know quite a few for creatives ). I will be sharing them in the very near future on this blog so don’t forget to check back shortly for more tips and tricks on using social media.

 

How to use the Twitter Hash Tag in 3 easy steps

The hash tag for many has proven to be quite an elusive tool for most to understand. I often hear people say “what is it for?” or “should i use it in my tweets?” and even “how do i use it?”. Hash tagging in your tweets can really help you use twitter more effectively and in this blog post I will tell you just how you can make the most of the hash.

Don’t make a hash of it

1. Hash tag relevant keywords

If you are not very familiar with internet search engine optimisation you may not know what a keyword is ( sorry web gurus just helping everyone out! ). A keyword is basically how you get something found by a major search engine. So for example you may target “plumbing” if you are in the building trade. So when you write a tweet…study it! What keyword might really stand out to your potential consumers. Who do you want to find you on twitter?

Here is an example of one of my tweets with the use of hashtags : –

I was tweeting about a really interesting marketing article by market gravity. The two keywords I have selected here are marketing and gamification so if anyone use the discover tool and types in either of these keywords then they may appear in the results for people searching.

[divider style=”1″]

2. Be hip with the hash

Twitter does you a little wee favour and informs you on the homepage of what is currently trending ( another words what most people are looking for and also talking about ). if you can inco-operate this into your own tweets then  you may reach a larger audience with your tweet.

3.Experiment & make it 2nd nature

Once you get the hang of spotting keywords in your tweet it will become second nature to you to do this every time you tweet. Just try experimenting, maybe look over your tweet once or twice before posting, replacing any word with the important keyword or a word you may think is more likely to be searched for. Really Twitter is meant to be enjoyed, a place to share your thoughts without any judgement and connect with those who think similiar to you.

[divider style=”1″]

Do you think the hash tag has much worth? Do you use it ? what are your tips to using it more effectively? Please feel free to share in the comment box below and keep on hashing!

 

I want to change my life for the better

Sometimes we can get really down in life when we focus on the economic gloom, read & watch the negative news about the few very mentally disturbed people doing terrible things to other human beings, the dwindling amount of work in the ever increasing competitive markets and personal difficulties that life can throw at us, we can easily become depressed and feel the world is becoming worse rather than better. You want to escape from it anyway you can…believe me…i’ve been there! If you are thinking like this then you are likely thinking “i want to change my life for the better”.

[line]

The truth is what we focus on we become. What we give out we get back.

It is never too late to change your life from a negative to a positive, it is simply a matter of choice.

If we think with our hearts and realize everyone is striving to be happy we can all help one another make this world a great place to live once again for everyone not just ourselves. Creating happiness in others is the greatest wealth anyone can have. I guess that is why they say..money won’t make you happy.

I am going to try my best to follow the message of the video as much as I can , be positive and spread positive vibes. Its never too late to change your attitude  : –

Don’t ever buy Twitter Followers

As my Twitter following has slowly increased from a few to many I keep getting people ask me to buy some followers. Okay so I could feel really important and popular online, i could look like i have 10,000 genuinely interested people in my thoughts which would surely be a great way to boost any marketing we need to do but at the end of it all is it really worth it?
[divider style=”1″]

Zombie Tweeters

You may as well be tweeting out to a bunch of zombies if you pay for most of your following! Those you pay for are going to be inactive or just after a large following themselves so once they have your refollow they will more than likely stop following you after a short while, they won’t truly be interested in what you have to say. They are all vying for twitter following brains, only these zombies don’t eat brains they eat your businesses marketing cash!

Do things the right way and create a great network

Twitter, if used correctly can be a great marketing platform to connect with like minds to keep you informed of what is going on in your industry, allow your customers to see your latest news and increase your brand awareness to others who may not have even known you existed before Twitter!

I have mentioned before in my blog about justunfollow.com. Not only can you discover people who unfollow you but you can also follow people that are also interested in things you are. So for instance I follow photoshop…this is a hugely followed twitter account by other digital artists and such like.


Look at the info you can find out with this great tool! Oooooooo Lovely!
[divider style=”1″]
If you copy followers of the Twitter accounts you find influential those followers are also likely to be interested in what you have to say. Who knows, if they need an extra pair of hands or advice they may just come to you for a little bit of help which will in turn boost your business turnover.

Build some Kred

Doing things properly will give you a better standing in your digital social society but how do you know how well you are doing socially if you have no way to measure things other than how many followers you have?

Kred.

Kred is a fantastic little tool that gives you an insight into how you are seen across the three major social platforms, Facebook, Twitter & LinkedIn. You see how you are being talked about, where in the world you are most influential, as well as various other features ( see image below ). If you do sign up to this great tool please give me some kred for recommending it :D.

Kred

So tell me again why shouldn’t I buy Twitter Followers?

Even if your account has 10,000 Twitter followers if they are not relevant they will not retweet your message, they will not make anything go viral, they are not powerful marketing and they will not generate new leads or revenue, it will just become an ego boosting excercise for yourself even though you know they are fake friends…might as well call them your “imaginary friends”.

Anyway don’t be a Twit and spend money you don’t need to, be a tweeter!

More tools on how to use Twitter more effectively

The Gift of an Image

Something I am quite fond of seeing in people is when I see compassion, love & a genuine interest in wanting to help others better themselves. On Twitter I stumbled across a tweeter that has created a very nice concept.

Children + instuctions + Cameras + Develop + Print + Exhibit = Gift

Their concept is simple. To stimulate & cultivate creativity in youngsters through the power of photography. Now how is this innovative you may say? How is going to make a difference? There was a famous guy that you may have heard of, Albert Ironstein, that once said “Imagination is more important than knowledge”, which to some degree is very true, you can be extremely good at remembering facts and learning new techniques but unless you can put the facts and knowledge you gain together with the special ingredient of creativity then the experience remains quite useless.

[divider style=”1″]

Sharing our world

For me, creative professions of all shapes and sizes try to make sense of the world through communicating our experiences to others in various forms hoping to improve the lifestyle or mind of the participant who is interacting to what we have created. By giving children cameras it allows them to communicate their view of the world to people and realise that their voice does matter.

the gift of an image

Helping others live better without wanting anything in return is the most rewarding thing you can do

When you are a creative and you have been trained to be harness the creative potential of your mind ANYTHING is possible. I was trained for over 10 years to develop creativity. From the ages of 14 to 26 I pursued a greater interest in the arts. Beginning in Graphics, pursuing a dream of architecture when the big bad recession pushed the dream down & then realising that creative skill sets are transferable to just about any profession I retrained myself in the “creative” IT world.

[divider style=”1″]

Why is what I am saying about my life experience relevant to the The Gift of an image scheme? I understand that developing young peoples creativity can vastly improve their lives and help them to dream, realise what they have to share matters & give them the skills to develop their creative genius.

View more about this scheme on Behance & see some of the images that the children have taken

[medium_button color=”dark” url=”http://www.behance.net/gallery/The-Gift-of-an-Image/5239267″ target=”_blank”]Read More[/medium_button]

Follow them on Twitter

[divider style=”1″]

Please note, all Pictures belongs to Gift of An Image

 

The marketing sharks in the online water

I have made many websites for people over the years & the amount of cold calls and poaching emails that they receive trying to take unnecessary money from them claiming to be able to magically improve their seo and reach to their audience is baffling. They prey on the company wanting to get their exposure out to as many clients as possible and the sound of this unbelievable solution is very enticing. I recently received an email from my current manager with 3 points that was raised by the marketing company. I will discuss for and against each point in this blog post

[divider style=”1″]

They said…

1.Your website Migsolv.com is not ranking top in Google organic search for many competitive keyword phrases

My argument : –

mountain

SEO is an ongoing process of creating new content ( thus why CMS are so valauble to businesses) and making sure you create more pages that relate to longtail  keyword phrases will increase your reach. It all depends what your company sales target is and what you think your potential clients are looking for. ( Don’t understand longtail keyword? See here ). Any seo company can claim that we are not ranking highly for keywords because every single website on the internet won’t be targeting every area of the long tail keyword for their industry. What interested me most was they informed us “...I found your site using Google search…” so obviously our seo is working, bit of a shot in the foot my friend :-).

[divider style=”1″]

They said…

2. Your company is not doing well in most of the Social Media Websites.

My argument : –

To attract potential new clients through social media you have to select the right social media tools ( as we know ) . Although social media is free if you want to use effectively as a marketing tool you have to spend money with it.

Look at this infographic below it will help you in choosing the correct social media for your target market : –

 

[divider style=”1″]

I have already spoken about using twitter. Twitter encompasses every industry and every person you can think of so is a useful tool for anyone. Follow people in your industry and with similair interests will create greater awareness of your site. NEVER pay anyone to give you more followers, it is pointless and a waste of money as they are unlikely to purchase your products.

LinkedIn again a great tool for business owners to connect ( I will discuss this social media platform in a future post ) and more likely to create sales for my particulary industry I am working for at the moment.

Pininterest is quite irrelevant for the IT business man as you share things you are interested in and most users are not people who will deal in my industry.

Using Social Media effectively is about selecting the right social media for your needs.

[divider style=”1″]

They said…

3. Your site is not user friendly on mobile devices.

mobile friendly websites

My argument

Most internet users are starting to use their mobile to visits websites more and more and this is a relevant point BUT as most of our audience is over 40 they are more likely to do things the traditional way through a desktop and Google Analytics prooves that.From 4,000 visits this month alone,  3,611 people accessed the website from a non mobile device and 319 from a mobile. This issue they have raised is minor. Even over the last year the stats also proved to be a similar story..

Out of 7,952 visits –  7.341 people use desktop to access the site & 611 people access the site from their mobile. Relevance of mobile sites for our clients? Right now, its minor but it is something I am definitely going to work on as user experience is highly important to me but it won’t make a huge difference in terms of conversion rates of visitors right now.

[divider style=”1″]

It is nice to get feedback from a fellow professional now and again as it does help me to improve on what I am doing and increase my skill set but due to my experience I can recognize when a company is just trying to squeeze a bit of cash out businesses that don’t really know what they are doing when it comes to web design, so when you get one of these emails or phone calls my friend just remember…think wisely and ask for a second opinion from a qualified professional before agreeing to anything.

 

How do I improve my wordpress website security

Before we begin, hackers are very intelligent folk. I have a lot of due respect for these guys as not all of them have bad intentions, like all things in the world it contains both the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the kind and the mean. I am writing this blog post as my hosting provider recently had a brute force attack and thought it was about time security of websites was brought to the forefront of all our minds to help you in improving your security. Whether using Joomla, WordPress or Drupal a lot of these recommendations can be applied regardless.

7 ways to increase your security on a CMS website

1. Improve your password & Username

The first thing to do is make sure your username is not “admin”. This is the standard username and makes it so easy for any hacker to access your account easily.

Next, creating a strong password is so important. Never use words that can be found in a dictionary, there are many bots now that can access all these words in thousands of different combinations within seconds. Watch this short video and it will give you all you need to know about creating a much stronger password for your login page putting that first stage of access for hackers at a more difficult level.

2.Update your plug-ins

When you install plugins they are created by fellow programmers that are also trying to keep ahead of the darker side of hackers so when a new update is available make sure to update those plugins. It is worth your time and effort to do this, you want to close all the doors that could prove a place that compromises your security.

3. Delete plug-ins & themes

Not using a theme or plugin? Just delete them. If they are laying their dormant it could be a ticking time bomb. Don’t leave anything to chance!

4. Choose plug-ins that are updated regularly

Some plug-ins are not updated as regular as others. Study the plugins before you install and use them, you may find that a plugin that does fantastic things may not be as secure s you like so just be careful.

5. YubiKey

[image]http://www.jawilsondesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/yubikey_2.jpg[/image]

YubiKey is something I discovered recently. it is a device that puts a 2 step verification into your wordpress login page ( but also for other things you log in to online such as gmail, amazon etc) It gives a 2nd password that is only accessible if you insert this usb device into your computer making it virtually impossible for hackers to hack you through your login pages..they will need to find another way in. It isn’t a cheap device but it is high tech that is worth having if you are serious about your website.

Purchase your YubiKey

6. Backup

If your website is hacked the worst thing would be that you loose all your hard work and would have to start a fresh. Most CMS websites have a lot of hours put in to their creation so it is important to do this and not just to rely on your host to be able to provide an earlier version of your site. There are a few ways to do this This blog post on Brainshare says it better than I ever could > Check it Out

 7. CloudFlare

Cloudflare identifies regular threats from around the world as well as speeding up your loading time of your site ( in theory…sometimes it has proven to be slower ). Check out this cloudflare video below to see if it is suitable for you or not and maybe do a bit of research first. I have tried this product out and it has stopped a lot of nasties from getting to my site. You can even block whole countries from coming to your site, useful if you are certain that you will never do business with those locations and they are a place where many of the nasty hackers come from.

[line]
Obviously this list is not exhausitive, this is just the tip of the iceberg. I will be writing another blog post in the future but if you want to make that first step in securing your data this is a good place to start. If you have any other tips or links to relevant content please do share in the comment box below.

Another 2 Tweeting good websites

Want some more twitter related websites to boost your super tweeting powers? Check out some of these websites. They offer some fantastic features to enhance your usability of social media platforms.
[divider style=”1″]

Social Bro

social bro

Brings into clear focus your target audience of clients, customers and influencers and helps you to define the right people to engage with, at the right time, a great little tool with big talent. This is my personal favourite at the moment.

[button url=”http://www.socialbro.com” target=”_blank”]Visit Site[/button]

[divider style=”1″]

Crowd Booster

Crowdbooster helps you achieve an effective presence on Twitter and Facebook. We show you analytics that aren’t based on abstract scores but numbers that are connected to your business and your social media strategies: impressions, total reach, engagement, and more. We then give you the tools and recommendations you need to take action and improve each one of these metrics.

[button url=”http://www.crowdbooster.com” target=”_blank”]Visit Site[/button]