To create infographics takes time, fact. Anyone who has ever had the inclination to design an infographic will know they are not that simple to create, you first have to collect your data, then select how you want to represent that data, is there a particular theme you can adhere the information to? Next you need to create graphic elements that will communicate the date effectively and lastly is there a way you can create a sense of flow in the layout.
Create Infographics faster
As you can tell that really does take time! Luckily for those without graphic design skills do have an answer to their prayers, easel.ly. This website allows you to create infographics from a basic template without the need to have spent time learning the mainstream vector creating programs. Below is a brief introduction into just what is possible with this fantastic infrographic tool.
Although this is a great tool for the novice graphic designer it can be quite limiting to what is possible and that is why an infographic created from scratch by a professional digital designer will always be slightly more professional and detailed than one created via a platform such as this. If you need an infographic quickly, maybe for a blog post and don’t have the funds to hire a designer at the moment this is a great option but otherwise I’d still recommend hiring a designer to communicate your data as professionally as possible.
Have you used easel.ly? How did you find it? Do you know of any other infographic programs? Please feel free to comment in the box below.
It has been two years since I landed my current inhouse design job as a website and graphic designer and (without sounding like a big head, sorry if i do :s) my skills have improved a great deal in since when I. I recently discovered an old CV on an external HD and it was a simple word doc that didn’t really show what I am capable of so decided it was about time I updated it to reflect my advancement in design and to tell my personal story in a more visual way.
I wasn’t sure whether a visual infographic CV is something that was going to impress people who view it or whether I should stick to a traditional written resume. My thinking was that by creating an infographic CV it shows that I am willing to take a design risk whilst trying to show my personality through visual forms.
Digest information quickly
Not only this but infographic CVs are usually easier to digest for the viewer because graphical information is quickly communicated and play a large part in the delivery of my work and educational history and as the saying goes, a picture speaks a 1000 words.
Considering an employer will likely be flicking through hundreds of resumes if yours can communicate your work experience and background in a short space of time it is, in my opinion, a win for the person viewing it and an enjoyable experience for the designer who created it.
Benefit of upgrading to an infographic CV
By updating my resume to an infographic CV I have had to really study my past work, education and personal history in order to be able to communicate this visually and hopefully create a flow of information in the design I have created which makes me see areas I need to improve upon but also where I feel I have done well. Basically this a SWOT analysis of self, a really important thing to do periodically in order to improve your ability as an employee and to be able to give all you can to your employer.
Downside of upgrading to an infographic CV
There are two downsides to creating your CV into an infographic, one is that is a risk as the employer may not like the design or the fact you are breaking traditions and secondly it takes quite a lot of time to create an infographic and if it doesn’t impress your potential employer then the time you have spent creating it may have been for waste.
Infographic CV in the flesh
So here it is, the infographic CV I recently created, I hope you like it.
Advertising has been around for a very long time, from some of the earliest forms in the Roman empire displaying Caesar’s head on a coin to modern website banners. Adverts are all vying for our attention and to influence us, the more businesses that are being founded the need to make successful advertising is growing even greater. Knowing how the human psyche works give advert designers a little head start in creating something that stands a chance of convincing the viewer that they need the product or service in question. This is where AIDA comes in.
Creating a colour scheme for your brand should not be taken lightly, colour has a huge psychological power over its viewer than has been with us in nature from the beginning of time. It’s not simply saying ‘I want it to be yellow’, you need to consider what shade of yellow as a vivid bright yellow has a different feel, mood and meaning than a dark mustard yellow. Here is some basic information about the meaning of the main shades of colour.
Free fonts for use on web are quite useful for the professional or student web/graphic designer using font face css and knowing where to find free fonts to use in your designs is even better! As a man who believes sharing in knowledge with others I have compiled a list of websites with varying free fonts for use on web below. I have also added a few where you have to pay and a couple of other tools for those who are wanting to develop websites to the latest html5 and css3 standard. If you know of any others please feel free to include it in the comment box below the post.
Free fonts websites
Please check that the fonts you are downloading are suitable for web before you use them, I know most of you will understand this but for those just starting to learn about web design check that the font will be a) compatible with all browsers and b) not slow down your site considerably.
So you want to download fonts for free, well then fontsquirrel.com is a great starting point! A font on this site range from the fancy fonts, handwritten fonts to sans serif fonts. You can type in some text to their website and see font examples with each type face.
Google web fonts are totally free and really gaining in popularity. When choosing a font from the google fonts website make sure that its size isn’t going to effect the performance loading speed of your site. Google have also gone to the trouble of comparing different fonts with the google fonts making it easier to see google font combinations as not every font will match easily and it might look quite strange if too different but also if they are too similar this can be a problem also. google fonts google fonts download google fonts
NOT free fonts for use on web
Although its great getting free fonts sometimes paying a little fee can help you get fonts that really perfect the look and feel of your website’s brand image. Obviously there is is only so far free fonts can go and sometimes paying just a small fee for a custom font may not be so bad especially if you have many clients. The following websites are fee based but still worth a look.
Webtype is another place where you can download fonts for a fee.
http://www.webtype.com/
Other things to consider when selecting fonts for use on web
There are several things you must think about when selecting the fonts you use in your design and these are as follows : –
Readability
The mood the fonts give
Font Compatibility
Tracking/letter spacing
Vertical Rhythm
Readability
Readability is all about how easy it is to read the font. At the end of the day it is important that the user feels that they can read the font easily, if they can’t then its kind of defeating the object of the task at hand. Make sure the free font you choose is easy to read.
The mood that the font gives
Even though readability should always be the number one reason for choosing a font ( in my opinion ) different types of typography give a mood or feel. Ask yourself is the font you have chosen given the appropriate mood or should you keep on looking for an appropriate typeface?
Font Compatbility
Font compatibility is also an issue, the modern way of typography expects two or even three different fonts to sometimes be used on a website. Making sure these fonts are compatible is really important. When I talk about compatibility I am talking about how they blend together. It is said that two font types shouldn’t be too different but at the same time they musn’t be identical either, there needs to be a good balance and on the likes of the Google Fonts website they give some suggestions of how you can pair certain fonts together.
Tracking/letter spacing
Tracking or letter spacing of a font is also important, if it is too close together it can look too cluttered and if it is too exposed it can be hard to read. I suggest that having a large space between each letter should only be used in titles if possible.
Vertical Rhythm
Vertical Rhythm is the hidden lines that make up a composition in a piece of writing. By using a vertical rhythm you will create a better UX and more likely to get the user to read your text. To find out if your website has vertical rhythm you can use a free bit of code from this website basehold.it
Earlier last year I did make another blog post about free fonts for web. Please visit the blog post here for more suggestions. I hope you find this post useful, please do share it and feel free to leave a comment in the box below.
Strategies and techniques used in marketing today have almost taken on a life of their own, especially with the use of the Internet as a substantial tool in any company’s marketing arsenal. While you are worrying about effective link placement, properly designed landing pages, lead generation, blog content, and how to increase your visitor-to-customer conversion rates, don’t forget about the often underutilized marketing tools that still pack a powerful punch.
As my Twitter following has slowly began to gain in size in 2013 I have been connecting with people of all business varieties and from all corners of the world, one of whom was two lovely American ladies who were in need of an identity for their new business.
Fran and Hannah work in construction and wanted a logo concept and design, they already had a good idea what they wanted to call the business ( a combination of both their surnames) so they simply required a way of putting their startup idea into a visual form and that is where connecting on Twitter led to me helping with their logo.
International connection
This was my very first international design proposition I had ever been given but any hesitation to work for someone thousands of miles away was blown away with just how easy it was to communicate and work with Fran and Hannah.
Beginning the design
Once we had discussed the brief, I’d understood their business and background and discovered what they were looking for I set myself to working on creating some Identities.
To begin the logo design I created over twenty variations of a logo, I didn’t include any colour at this stage as it is important to not let colour influence design decisions. Above is the very first stage of playing with shapes and concepts. Being contractors communicating this in the logo seemed quite important, so a font that was quite bold and structured looking was the initial decision.
Also, with the business being owned by two ladies the idea to differentiate the typography would help re-enforce this message clearly, in the fourth column this message is further enhanced by the inclusion of two stars.
First Response to initial logo designs
After a few days Fran and Hannah gave some feedback about the ones they liked the most and four in particular where the ones they wanted to take further into development ( see four images circled below).
Their responses where always very positive and they were very pleased at how many different varieties of logo they had to choose from and this was only the first stage! I could tell this was going to be one of the most enjoyable freelance jobs I’ve had thus far.
Stage 2 : Developing the logos further
Once I knew which logos to experiment with, combine and explore I asked Fran and Hannah if they had any idea what colours they liked as a work around. They informed that green and charcoal are the colours they envision their business in and thus I began stage two redeveloping the logos with these two colours in mind.
Below is the results of stage 2 and again the logos have been circled that the client liked best, their response was humbling…
[quote name=”Fran and Hannah” ]….I wanted to attach the logos that were our FAVS!! As always, you TOTALLY OUTDID yourself! We love them all!! HAHA [/quote]
The client really liked the second stage logos, they liked them so much they wanted to use three! Obviously having variations of the same logo is quite a common occurrence when designing an identity, but I advised them although they could have three logos that they need to be slight variations of each other to maintain a clear brand.
They agreed and so I moved onto stage 3 of refining the design.
Stage 3 : Refining the logo design
What my international clients wanted was now becoming clearer. So I played around a little more sending two variations of the house within the moon and the two stars.
I had also decided that including trees within the moon would also be appropriate as on further research Ibarra can mean meadow and with the client based in an area that is very wooded it seemed quite appropriate and made a more welcoming feel to the design.
Even though the logo was developing I didn’t feel it was quite hitting the right mark, maybe there was too many gradients and in the logo below, too many colours. Using the feedback given I further developed the logo and took elements from each of their favourite ideas to make it into one consistent branded logo…
Stage 3 : Finalising the design
This was the final stage, bringing it all together in different file formats for both print, screen and vector for enlargements.
The charcoal and green I felt were good choices for the logo, charcoal for a nights sky and part of the gradient for the moon and the green for the meadow, building mostly out of wood and green is symbolic of growth which is perfect for erecting new properties.
Looking at their favourite logos rather than having a moon literally how it looks in story books by putting it on its side it looked less like a story book and more conceptual as well as having the double edged concept of also being similar to a smile.
Hearing that the client wanted to use three logos , one being the text on its own for letterheads and the others for their vans and uniform I adhered to their requests and below is the finished product.
It was an absolute pleasure working with my first American clients, I learnt a lot from the job and I wish them all the success in the future.
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Please feel free to leave feedback in the comment box below. Thank you for visiting this blog and don’t forget to subscribe to my blog by leaving your email address in the box at the top of the page! Many Thanks 😉
Finding out that the infamous Adobe suite costs thousands of pounds can be quite depressing to the newly qualified or budding designer, being able to afford these packages, even with the new monthly £50 cloud platform is still too expensive for many. Alas, there are several programmers in the world that realise how big a problem it is for the creatives with limited funds and thus several free programs to download have been born!
If you know of any others please do share them by commenting in the box below and if I find any others I also will comment too!
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Photo/Graphic Manipulation
Gimp
GIMP is a photo manipulation program that is totally free but has quite a different layout to Photoshop. If you have used Photoshop before it can be a bit of a learning curve, learning how things are placed differently and what tools are and aren’t available..for me it doesn’t seem to flow as well as Photoshop but then if you can’t afford Adobe this is the best alternative!
Audacity is a great free audio recording program. It can be really useful if you want to create podcasts or even record sounds on your computer. A great little tool for all your sound needs.
Blender is a free 3d modelling program that can be used for animation or still 3D imagery. It has a very similar feel to that of the infamous 3ds max program and can really produce some stunning results if mastered.
Fancy yourself as a bit of a games producer? Always had games ideas? Then download this free program…admittedly…it does also have the feature of upgrading to more advanced versions for a small fee but if you have the next mario world idea it could well be worth your time!
Please bookmark this page as I will be updating this page regularly with free software the more I come across…if you have any software you know of please contact me and I will review it and add it to this section of the website.
Photo Dater Stamper
This program is used to add dates to digital photographs. You can use the properties of the photograph to make sure the correct date is added. This can be useful for you if you want to not only remember the fun you had but also remember when it took place.
Recently I had a message from a young Graphic Communication students about to graduate in need of some current designer’s viewpoints on her dissertation topic. Being someone who likes to help people whenever possible I answered her questions. This is the conversation that unfolded : –
Hi there! I was wondering if you would be able to answer 4 quick questions for me if you have a spare moment? I’m a third year Graphic Communication student and would really benefit from designers like yourself answering a few short questions to help me with my Dissertation!!Hope you can help! Thank you
Can you describe what ‘persuasion‘ means to you in terms of design?
Sure, persuasion for me is a subconscious effort when it comes to design, you don’t necessarily persuade people consciously through design you simply create a desire that is so immense that it becomes so unavoidably attractive that you are persuaded to act on the design whether it is a new product, a message or an interesting new architectural design. Persuasion is about tapping into our human emotions of desire and/or the hunger to improve our lives :).
Can you describe what ‘manipulation’ means to you in terms of design?
Manipulation is similar to persuasion as every time we design something we are trying to manipulate people to act, we want to almost control the actions and thoughts of the viewer with our designs. Designers want to convince consumers through their own emotional experiences in life that they simply cannot live without our design, knowing it may correct a problem they have or have had,make them become more desirable or simple make them feel happier with their life. As designers we try to manipulate the customers to buy our product or service to enhance their experiences of life, albeit sometimes artificially.
Describe a situation where you think you have been persuaded & manipulated by design
I am not sure when or if I have been persuaded by design. Being trained to think creatively, artistically and analytically you are constantly aware of design so it is difficult as a designer to be persuaded by ‘concious’ persuasion as we know that we are trying to be convinced to buy. Saying that, if a product is well designed ergonomically and I can see it is manufactured well then I am drawn to it more rather than through clever branding such as apple.
Maybe I have been persuaded or manipulated by design but without actually knowing about it because the best graphic design will only subtly persuade you without the viewer actually realising it is doing so. An example of this subtle manipulation is the marketing message in the Budweiser advert.
Example of subconcious manipulation in advertising
Budweiser used to sell mainly to white middle class Americans but they wanted to expand their market to include the young ethnic market so they released the wassup advert.
In this video every actor has a funny conversation where each friend says wassssuuuup and every one of these people are from the new market group targeted. The fact the advert is funny attracts everyone regardless of race and subconsciously makes it acceptable for people other than the white middle classes to drink Budweiser, a clever design by the advertisers of Budweiser.
Conclusion
There are many times when I look around and can see many manipulations and persuasive messages on billboards and shop windows that are so consciously trying to persuade that they have no effect on those who are creatively trained but like the advert above I found it fun and remember saying wassup to my friends yet didn’t realise the subliminal message that the company wanted to portray that their beverage was for everyone.
Therefore it is possible to suggest that we are being manipulated and persuaded to every day, whether a small advert on a website or a poster on the tube or told a believable marketing messages such as ‘Apple is the best in creating technological advances’, all things that we have been persuaded or manipulated into believing by advertisers and marketing firms.
So next time you are out and about just take a moment to study what you are looking at and be more prepared to analysis what the message is that is trying to be communicated to you to make you act in a certain way.
What are your views on persuasion and manipulation in design? Please comment in the box below.
Freelance designer work in different roles depending on the skill set they possess. These days most of the designing jobs are advertised for freelance work. In this competitive industry it is not only your skills that matter. You should be alert to other aspects of the business. Although you can hire other people for help but it will take a heavy toll on your budget. Generally freelancers commit many mistakes when they are relatively new in this field. Some of these mistakes can be devastating for your career and reputation. To follow are some of those mistakes and ways of avoiding them.
Dealing Blunders
Freelancers have to deal with clients in acquiring the project, contracting and payment collections. It is suggested to bid around the average value. While contracting make sure the paper work is done. In contract deed ask for running payments from the employer i.e. paying after each phase of completion of the project. Asking for down payment is not a bad ploy provided that you have a good standing in the industry, no matter you are new in the freelancing mould.
Ignoring the Audience
This mistake is mostly committed by amateurs in this field. It is easy to forget about the target audience when you are concentrating on other design aspects. Whether you are designing for the website or a logo for a certain company the paramount factor for your success is the viewer. Take into consideration the age, gender, culture and in some cases the geography of your audience.
Not Updating Yourself
One of the dilemmas of freelance jobs which generally are home based is the lack of learning opportunities. It is very important to keep yourself updated with the latest trends in the industry. Join discussion boards, subscribe to technology newsletter and read e-magazines to keep in touch with the latest trends and practices in the industry.
In effective Communication
In freelancing the main hurdle is lack of communication. If your client can’t understand your demands and see the output then your relation can deteriorate. So don’t shy away or presume yourself to be perfect in whatever you are doing.
Absence of Planning
The basic skeleton of website design is pretty important in deciding the course of your work. You should have a clear mind about the needs of the client and how they fit into the design you made. Don’t allow for excessive information on a single page, especially on the main page. Use links to direct the user to such information.
Compatibility Issues
Another problem the cyber world faces is compatibility between hardware and software. You might have designed a website which runs perfectly in one browser but poses problems in another. Similarly it is better to work with vector format that .png or .JPEG in graphics designing.
Wrong Color and Font Combination
Choosing the wrong color mix or format will affect your design badly. Use non irritating colors to eye. Similarly use simple fonts which are easily readable. Most of the websites allow for a lot of white spaces just to improve readability.
Freelance designers who are new in the field commit certain errors in dealings and working. With the passage of time they learn from such mistakes but it is better to know them beforehand to ward off any losses.
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