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16 Famous Designers Show Us Their Favorite Notebooks

Post author By admin
Post date August 25, 2016

16 Famous Designers Show Us Their Favorite Notebooks
Designers from Ikea, Pentagram, Ideo, and more tell us what makes a great notebook.
Sure, digital design apps might be finally coming into their own, but there’s still nothing better than pen and paper.

It turns out they didn’t. Across multiple disciplines, almost every designer we asked was thrilled to tell us about their notebook of choice and give us a look at how they use it. Our operating assumption going in was that most designers would probably be pretty picky about their notebooks, but this turned out not to be true: While Muji and Moleskine notebooks were the common favorites, some even preferred loose paper.

But what makes the notebooks of designers special isn’t so much what notebook they use, as how they use them. Below, enjoy a peek inside the working notebooks of some of the most prolific designers today—as well as their thoughts on what makes a great one.

GADI AMIT: PRESIDENT AND PRINCIPAL DESIGNER, NEWDEALDESIGN

“[My favorite notebook] is plain, simple tracing paper, (Bienfang’s Parchment 100), and a medium-width felt-tip pen, such as Flair’s PaperMate. Yet I am not picky. Anything goes, ballpoint, pencil, and more.

“It’s just a quick (and dirty!) way of getting to the core of ideas quickly and moving forward.”

MICHAEL BIERUT: PARTNER, PENTAGRAM

“Since 1982, I’ve been using slightly different versions of the same 7-1/2 by 9-3/4-inch school composition book. I save all of them and am now on number 110. I never go anywhere without my notebook. They are so important to me that the first chapter in my new book is dedicated to them, and I reproduce nine spreads from them at actual size. At my recent retrospective at the School of Visual Arts Gallery, an entire room was dedicated to them.

“I like them because they are inexpensive, easy to find, and anything but precious. I could never use a leather-bound notebook. This page is about 20 years old and shows sketches for a logo for my brother Donald’s business.”

JOE BROWN: DESIGNER, IDEO

“I use the Muji thread-bound A6 notebook.

“For under $3, it’s the perfect thing for capturing quotes, notes, and ideas without feeling so precious that I’m afraid to make a mark. It has the added benefits of being a) perfectly pocketable—fitting snugly in the back pocket of any pair of jeans—and b) precisely sized to support a three-by-five-inch pad of Post-its. If you’ve ever tried to brainstorm standing up, it’s devilishly difficult to draw with a floppy pad of Post-its, so having a notebook as a backstop is magic.”

ROBERT FABRICANT: PRINCIPAL, DESIGN IMPACT GROUP, DALBERG

“A number of years ago, I was headed down to Austin for SXSW and realized that I had forgotten a notebook. I happened to be in JFK so popped into the Muji store in T5 and grabbed a storyboard notebook, which has a preprinted grid of eight boxes on each page. The notebooks are super-cheap—around $2—as they are printed on recycled paper. You can also buy a sleeve for them, which is made of the same material as the brown patches on the back of your blue jeans, which I custom silk-screen. I generally go through two to three notebooks a year.

“I used to be one of those people who took copious notes in client meetings, which I rarely referred back to. As I got to be a bit more senior, I realized that there was a healthy digital trail for most meetings—agendas, files, and electronic meeting notes that were far more accurate than what I was capturing. So what was left?

“In most meetings, there are a few choice quotes, metaphors, or data points that really strike me, so I began capturing these visually. They serve as a sort of mnemonic device. For each meeting, I generally fill out a page or two of these little squares, which I can easily skim to remember not just the content but the intent of the discussion. These storyboards also give me license to doodle, which helps me to maintain my focus as a visual person.”

NICHOLAS FELTON: INFORMATION DESIGNER, FELTRON

“My notebook of choice for the last 15 years has been the Muji grid-line B5 notebook [for] several reasons: It has a stitched binding that allows it to lay flat without cracking the spine like a perfectly bound notebook. The notebooks are thin enough to allow a pen to clip into the notebook at any page. I love the size of the page, and the contrast and scale of the grid lines are just right.”

RAUL GUTIERREZ: FOUNDER AND CEO, TINYBOP

“I’ve kept notebooks since I was a kid. I go through phases and swap them out every few years. I buy notebooks obsessively, usually a couple at a time. Right now, I’m using Magma notebooks by Laurence King Publishing. My favorites are from Japan. Marks unknown.

“I like notebooks with graph paper, notebooks that include heavy-weight unruled paper, notebooks with built-in page saver ribbons and elastic closures. I also like notebooks that have some heft . . . 100 pages at least.

“I’m not a morning person, but I have kids, so I walk out the door with them. They head off to the bus and I walk to work. I spend the first 15 minutes of the day in the empty office doodling, listening to music, and thinking about what I need to do that day. The lack of agenda often leads me to my best ideas.”

CARLA CAMMILLA HJORT: FOUNDER AND CEO, SPACE10

“I think all of my notebooks are favorites in their own right. I go through at least one notebook every month and sometimes have a few going simultaneously. I started doing daily journals when I was seven years old and always used them to document what I dreamed of achieving in life, and notes from everyday matters and meetings. Later on in life, I realized the power of words and visual brainstorms (mind-mapping), and in this context my notebooks have become my own personal life guides.

“I like to buy notebooks and build collections based on covers, paper quality, sizes, colors, etc. What makes a notebook a favorite is based on the content I put into them. Those that become the beginning of bigger visions and dreams that I can almost taste when I do them become favorites.”

GIORGIA LUPI: FOUNDER AND DESIGN DIRECTOR, ACCURAT

“I normally don’t use notebooks. Instead, I sketch and take visual notes on letter-sized blank sheets of paper that I afterward catalog in different folders.

“The main reason I prefer loose sheets of paper to [bound] notebooks is that they give a more natural way to organize and reorganize my sketches over time, especially since I always have multiple projects [and] topics that I need to think about. I simply carry white paper with me all the time (and Muji ink pens!), I sketch or draw whatever idea comes to mind, and I then archive my sketches on transparent plastic folders labeled with the name of the project they belong to. (I indeed have my obsessive method in cataloging my sketches, but this is another story).

“Moreover, I love the beautiful sensation [of drawing] on a white canvas with no binding, and I also believe there is a value in being able to see your five or six sketches in the same place, as opposed to flipping though a notebook’s pages.

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JON MARSHALL: DESIGNER DIRECTOR, MAP

“Because our work at Map is strategic as well as design based, my sketchbooks are usually an equal mix of drawings and written notes.”
“For years I used nine-by-seven-inch Roberson Bushey sketchbooks (inspired by my friend and mentor Daniel Weil). They are nice, thin books with smooth, white paper. However, last year I switched to 10-by-7.5-inch Moleskin soft, extra-large sketchbooks.

“The Moleskin books have it all—the paper is nice, the binding allows them to lay flat. The elastic band and the pocket at the back mean you can carry lots of extra papers and bits and pieces with them. At a recent meet-up with a bunch of other creatives, I noticed more than half were using the same sketchbook.”

MARK ROLSTON: FOUNDER, ARGODESIGN

“My notebooks are all these same-sized little black notebooks that are constantly being given to me at various conferences. I also bought a few in Japan with interesting covers. I ended up with stacks of them in my office dating back to years at Frog.

“I’m not much of a detailed note taker since others who work with me are tasked with that chore. Instead, I tend to create a lot of conceptual maps and little product drawings. Anything to recollect a spark or inspiration that occurs in a meeting.”

MATTHEW SANTONE: DESIGNER, ARGODESIGN

“I’ll grab whatever is in front of me, but I do love the Japanese notebooks that we have in the Argo studio [from Muji]. It’s a nice Goldilocks size [7-by-10-inch]. Slim binding. Faint ruling, so that it’s helpful but not competitive to my sketches.”

ERIK SPIEKERMANN: TYPE DESIGNER

“[My favorite notebook is] from Manufactum. It has lots of pages of very light, slightly yellow paper (60 gsm), it’s very flexible, and it has two reading bands. The edges are painted silver.”

MAX TEMKIN: DESIGNER, CARDS AGAINST HUMANITY

Max Temkin’s notebook, featuring a game he dubs “Destructo.”
“I always have a Field Notes brand notebook in my pocket, and that is my go-to notebook for quick capture and sketching. At work, I use Action Method products (like the Action Method pad) to take notes in meetings and turn that into actionable items in Omnifocus.

“In the shower, I use a pencil and Aquanotes notepad. This is actually a great place for my brainstorming process, and I will often turn to a long shower to work out a tricky problem or dilemma.

“I like Field Notes because it is totally fungible. I never have to think twice about writing in my Field Notes or even ripping a page out to share with someone. In the past, when I’ve used Moleskines or other fancy notebooks, I’ve often questioned whether something was worth writing down or not: ‘Is this thought really good enough to go in the Moleskine?’ That’s not what you want if you’re trying to capture ideas quickly.”

NATHAN WARKENTIN: CREATIVE DIRECTOR, MAST BROTHERS

“[I use] a Moleskine classic hardcover plain notebook.

“It is like a classic white button-down shirt. It never hurts to have a few and it will never fail you. I love the inner pocket for loose swatches or cards and the plain layout allows for sketching as well as note taking.”

TERRANCE WEINZIERL: TYPEFACE DESIGNER, MONOTYPE

“I’m always impressed with illustrated sketch notes and OCD color-coded grid system note keeping. But it’s just not my style. It’s not how my brain works. I keep two specific books. Actually, I have a book for each brain hemisphere, a right side and a left side.

“I’m a casual sketchbook user, usually a Strathmore acid free, hardcover, 8.5 by 11 inches. I naturally draw letters between one- and three-inches high, so I find the larger size better for what I draw most often.

“I always keep a daily planner, and have been for more than 10 years straight. My middle school teachers would be proud. I use this to track things like to-do lists, appointments, and notes. I’m in love with Passion Planner because of the layout, focus on goal planning, and the little Zen tidbits. This is pretty meta, but it’s a goal of mine to have one of my typefaces used in a daily planner.

“As a bonus, I take those tiny little pocket-sized notebooks with me to AIGA talks or conferences for quick notes. In general, I find taking notes with a computer or phone too distracting for me. Something always comes up.

“I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer when it comes to notebooks. You just have to figure out what works best for you, and what you’re working on. I read some productivity advice once, and one of the bullets was ‘Your memory sucks.'”

LISA WOODS: INTERACTION DESIGNER, ARGODESIGN

“This spread is for a personal project I’m working on—an interactive sculpture. I was trying to figure out how to embed fiber optics in a cement mold and what effects I could achieve. Truly thinking on paper.”
“I love my Miquelrius journal. It has a soft leather-like cover, which bends without getting damaged whenever I put it in and [take it] out of my bag or purse. I take my journal everywhere, so it has to be able to handle the daily abuse. My notebook isn’t precious; it’s a workhorse. This one has held up really well, especially considering the price point (under $12). After half a year of use, I can still bring it into client meetings without being embarrassed. I love its small grid pattern (although I mostly ignore it) instead of lines that encourage writing over drawing. The grid pattern allows me to write, sketch, or diagram with ease. This notebook seems to have an infinite amount of pages! My current notebook is six months old, and I’ve only filled 75% of it.

“I capture anything I’m thinking about or working on. Thus, my notebooks are an unfiltered documentation of my professional work, personal projects, lectures I attend, people I meet, recommendations from friends of things I should check out, and doodles. I save all of my journals. It’s great to flip through old journals and see what I was thinking about on any given day.”

Article by JOHN BROWNLEE

Tags brand, branding, corporate brand, design, design agency, entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, graphic, graphic design, IOM, isle of man, logo, logo design

Business

5 Ways to improve Your Content-Marketing Strategy in 2016

Post author By admin
Post date December 14, 2015

Content marketing has evolved from a buzzword into a major component of marketing strategies for companies of all sizes. Thirty-seven percent of business-to-consumer (B2C) marketers have a documented content marketing strategy, and 61 percent of the most-effective business-to-business (B2B) marketers meet daily or weekly with their content marketing team.

Content marketing can produce amazing results when done correctly, and with 2016 right around the corner, it’s the perfect time to make sure your strategy is mapped out. While you plan and adjust, consider these points.

1. Think beyond just a blog.

Don’t assume that a blog alone will satisfy your content marketing efforts — infographics, eBooks, vlogs, webinars and podcasts are all examples of different forms of content that you can mix into your strategy.

Last year the amount of video from people and brands in Facebook’s news feed increased 3.6X year-over-year. Video is easy to share and a form of visual content that end-users love to engage with. The popularity of vlogging continues to rise as well, and I feel it’s a great way to let your prospects and target market into your world. I’ve got a vlog in development that will be launching mid-year in 2016 that I’m extremely excited about.

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2. Don’t be afraid to give out information for free.

Content marketing is a great way to position your business — and yourself — as an expert. Don’t be afraid to give your audience valuable information for free. When you provide pure value time after time, without asking for anything in return, some those people that have been absorbing your content will begin to convert into warm leads and then sales.

Market Domination Media, my online marketing agency, maintains a blog full of helpful information for business owners. A recent blog post we did about getting found on Google’s local 3-pack is an example of content that provides value without asking for anything in return. If the reader wants to join our newsletter, there is an option at the bottom of our blog posts, but we never gate content or write advertisements disguised as blog posts.

3. Every business — B2C and B2B — can benefit from content marketing.

Content marketing can work for everyone — both business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketing efforts. While the concept is the same, you need to tailor the approach for each a bit differently.

A business-to-consumer customer can be won over with compelling stories that trigger specific emotions, but a business-to-business customer needs to see value and data-backed information in your content.

B2C example: Budweiser’s Puppy Love commercial that debuted during Super Bowl XLVIII won America’s heart by using a puppy to trigger emotions. It has been viewed millions of times and delivered incredible branding exposure for Budweiser without even including their product in the video.
B2B example: An infographic from a VoIP provider that highlights the benefits of switching to their cloud-based service. Performance benefits, money saved and features can all be highlighted in a fun, easy to digest visual piece of content that’s packed with data.

4. Identify the key performance indicators (KPIs) that will help you gauge the success or failure of your content marketing.

It’s not always easy to track the return on content marketing, as only 21 percent of content marketers say they are successful at tracking return on investment (ROI). Every business is going to have different key performance indicators — it’s important that you identify yours before you start. Some examples of content marketing KPIs include:

Number of website visits: Total number of visitors you attract to your website via a particular piece of content or a specific campaign. Use Google’s URL builder and Google analytics to help you with this.
Content asset downloads: If you are using multiple pieces of content to push visitors to a download offer, make sure you track the number of downloads that originate form each content referral source. Pull poorly performing pieces of content and take note of what your audience responds to better for future campaigns.
Number of social shares: When determining what content is performing best for you, take a look at the number of social shares each receives. Use content that receives a high number of social shares as a benchmark — these are the styles of content and topics that your audience responds well to. Remember, Twitter has eliminated share counts, so your overall counts won’t include shares from that social network.
Bounce rate: A high bounce rate means that your visitors are landing on your content and leaving right away — and not visiting other pages of your website. This is an indication that your content needs to be a bit more compelling to trigger conversions and additional page visits.
Inbound links earned: Great content is shared and linked to by other websites. These are the types of natural links that benefit your search engine optimization (SEO) while staying within Google’s Webmaster Guidelines.
Time on page: If you publish a large in-depth blog post and your analytic data shows that the average visitor stayed on the page for 15 seconds that tells you they didn’t find it interesting at all. Now, if the average time on the page is three minutes, then you know that piece of content is a hit with your audience, and it would be a good idea to make sure you have a very strong offer built into that particular page.
Cost-per-click (CPC): Let’s assume you spend $2,000 to promote a particular piece of content through multiple channels — SEO, pay-per-click (PPC), social media, email, etc. If you generated 8,800 website visitors your CPC would be just under 23 cents.
Number of leads generated: It’s important to track leads from every piece of content. For example, you might find out that blog posts that feature infographics generate three times the number of leads that your regular blog posts produce.
Cost-per-lead (CPL): You need to know exactly how much your leads are costing that you generate through content marketing. When you have this number and your conversion rate then you can quickly determine whether or not content marketing is a viable (profitable) options for your business.
Conversion rate: Out of all the leads your content marketing is generating, what percentage of them are turning into paying customers?
Revenue generated: One of the most important — how much revenue did your content marketing produce?

5. Make sure you diversify your online marketing.

Content marketing can produce amazing results, and it’s an incredible way to grow your business, but that doesn’t mean you should put all of your eggs in one basket — you should never do that.

You should be building brand awareness and generating website traffic, leads and sales from multiple channels — social media, email, pay-per-click, SEO and display ads are additional sources that you should be tapping into. This ensures that your business doesn’t come to a dead stop if one of the channels suddenly dries up.

Written by By Jonathan Long, Market Domination Media

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Business Web Solutions

4 Marketing Tips for Making Your Social Media Presence Stand Out on Mobile

Post author By admin
Post date November 14, 2015

People now spend more time on their smartphones than desktop computers, according to KPCB’s latest data on Internet trends. Though many users rely on mobile devices to check email and text, many also use mobile devices to connect with their social networks. In fact, a study conducted by IDC and Facebook revealed that 70 percent of all Facebook users surveyed interact with social networks on their mobile device at least part of the time — and 61 percent do so each day. Similar research by comScore reveals that 92 percent of Pinterest users are mobile, as are 86 percent of those on Twitter.

Here are a few ways businesses can incorporate mobile marketing into a social media strategy to reach new customers, and deepen engagement with existing ones.

1. Customize your social media profiles for the mobile user.

If you haven’t checked out how your social media profiles look on desktop platforms, and iPhone and Android devices, it’s critical that you do so. Not only will this research allow you to gain a sense for the current user experience, you’ll see how your profile layout, content and format may be better optimized based on the specific social media network.

While many social media channels automatically make business profiles mobile-friendly, they don’t know which aspects of your business are most important to prospects and customers based on your unique brand attributes, and the competitive landscape. Customize your social media profiles to ensure that mobile users form the impression you want them to about your business. On Facebook, for example, this may mean “pinning” your most relevant post to the top of the page, so that content is always featured. Additionally, social media users place high value on referrals and recommendations from people they “know” — even if that relationship is limited to social media. Structure your social media profiles so mobile users see the recommendations and “check-ins” that others have left.

2. Optimize profiles so mobile users can find you.

Research by Google reveals that three out of four mobile searches result in some kind of customer activity — more than half of which takes place within an hour from the mobile search. Because so many mobile users check social media to find suggestions about nearby businesses based on their need and location at any given time, the ease with which your prospects and customers can find you on social media is key. Confirm that all of your social media profiles include your correct business location, hours of service, price range, and business category. Because customers may not know to search for your business by name, the accuracy of your category listing can act as a breadcrumb path that leads them to your business.

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3. Tailor your social media posts to a mobile user’s day.

Google research reveals that the majority of mobile search activity takes place from 3 p.m. and midnight. Tailor your social media activity to involve mobile users during these hours based on their search activity and location. Not only will the content be actionable for the mobile user, it can help you overcome your own business hurdles in the moment. If your restaurant experiences a lull in between lunch and happy hour, for example, a “flash sale” on social media that’s valid only for the next hour and targeted to users within a certain radius can help you drive traffic when you need it most.

4. Monitor social media engagement and react appropriately.

Social media listening tools allow you to monitor what’s trending on social media, and know when customers comment on your business. Track what your audience is talking about so you can be part of the conservation in a way that’s highly relevant. Use social media tools like Instagram and Vine to capture images that create a sense of place, mood and ultimately, familiarity for your mobile audience.

Social media and mobile now work in hand in hand — to the great benefit of small-business owners. By combining the mobile insights you have about your audience with your social media activity, you can customize your marketing messages to reach the exact audience you want in ways that are relevant, personal and strategic.

Written by By Kristen Gramigna, BluePay

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Tags Android, comScore, desktop, entrepreneur, Facebook, google, IDC, iPhone, KPCB, Pinterest, Smartphone, Social Media, Twitter, Vine

Business

How to Create a Killer Instagram Ad in Under 10 Minutes

Post author By admin
Post date November 14, 2015

Instagram’s launch in 2010 was the equivalent to the new popular kid, “Ian,” moving to your high school at the beginning of the year.

Girls couldn’t stop commenting about his good looks and guys were thrilled that he’d compete for the starting goalie position in hockey.

Even though students had their loyalty to “Tyler,” the starting goaltender from the previous year, there was excitement in the air about Ian, the new kid in town.

When Ian led his high school team to the state championship in Buffalo, people didn’t forget about Tyler, they were just very bullish on Ian.

Instagram recently hit the 400-million-user milestone, which is 80 million more than Twitter. People haven’t forgotten about Twitter, but the mobile photo-sharing app is all of the rage.

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Fast forward to 2015, and Instagram has just rolled out advertising for all businesses. The photo-centric network is slated to pull in $600 million in advertising revenue by year’s end, according to eMarketer.

Just as Instagram matured over the years, so, too, had Ian. The goaltender went on to have a successful college hockey career. After graduating, he moved back to his hometown of Buffalo and became an entrepreneur by opening up a hockey shop, Ian’s Ice Shack.

Ian wanted to utilize Instagram’s social network creatively to grow his brand and bring in more business. He had used Facebook for advertising before but wasn’t sure how to set up an Instagram ad.

By following the nine steps below, Ian was able to become the first hockey shop in Upstate New York to start advertising on Instagram:

1. Connect your Instagram

On your business Facebook page, click on Settings at the top of the page. Within Settings, you will see “Instagram Ads” on the left-hand side. In order to get started, you will need to click on this tab and connect your Instagram account to your Facebook page.

2. Login to Ads Manager

You will need to be logged into your Ads Manager account within Facebook. If you have not yet set this up, you can simply follow these easy steps outlined by AdEspresso.

3. Download Power Editor

This is where a lot of people get lost. They try and set up the ad directly through Facebook’s ads manager, but you have to actually download Power Editor in order to create your Instagram advertisement. (Power Editor is in the menu at the top of the page, under the Ads Manager platform.)

Note: Make sure you are using Google Chrome, since this is the only supported browser for Power Editor.

4. Create Campaign

After you download Power Editor, you are one step closer to creating your first Instagram ad!

Facebook perfectly outlines the next couple of steps, but within Power Editor, click the Manage Ads tab at the top of the page on the left. You will see an option right underneath that to “Create Campaign.”

5. Reach Your Target Audience on Instagram

During this set-up phase, make sure you choose an objective that is compatible with Instagram, which would include Clicks to Website, Mobile App Installs and Video Views.

You will want to take the following steps:

Create new campaign
Create new ad set
Create new ad

Note: These are the steps to create a brand-new advertising campaign. If you would rather place your Instagram ad in an existing ad set, be aware that you will need to go in and check “Instagram Placement” in that ad set’s settings.

6. Edit Ad Set Options

Under Ad Sets, you can set your budget, ad schedule, audience (for targeting purposes) and placement. Placement is where you will see the option to choose Instagram advertising. Make sure you select “Instagram Advertising” and deselect the other options, because this will be crucial for the next step.

You will then have the option to select which type of mobile device to serve your advertisement on.

Instagram recommends serving the ad based on link clicks to website/pay per impressions. For the sake of this article, we followed their recommendation.

Example:
Ian’s Ice Shack has a $250 monthly budget. For his audience, he would choose mobile users who live within a 15-mile radius of his store in Buffalo who are interested in hockey, the NHL and the Sabres.

This promotion is slated for a November 20^th game, so his ad schedule would run three days prior to the big matchup.

Ian likes to come up with fresh creative that is time-sensitive, because he has seen that running the same ad for a long period of time can get very stale with users.

7. Syncing Facebook and Instagram accounts

After you have set up the parameters in your Ad Set options, on the menu to the left-hand side, you will see “Ads,” where you now have the option to select your business page that you will serve the ads from. After you select your business page, make sure to click “Use the Instagram account connected to the selected Facebook page.”

8. Creating the Ad

Now you are getting close to the finish line! You simply need to enter your website URL and text that will accompany your image. You have up to 300 characters, so make sure to create a memorable message.

Below the text fields, you will be able to upload your photo. Since Instagram is a photo-sharing app, visually appealing imagery can increase your click-through rate and lower your conversion cost. Take the time to strategize on a picture that will properly portray your brand along with the promotion you’re trying to market.

After you upload your photo and insert text that will hit on your marketing message, you will also have the option to create a “call-to-action” button that will be associated with the Instagram ad. For Ian’s sake, he wants to drive people to his website where they can download a coupon to redeem his special offer, so he will select “Download.”

Example:
Let’s stick with our hockey-shop example. Imagine an awesome picture of black Bauer skates contrasting perfectly on the white ice at the local rink. This is an example of a stellar photo that would do well on Instagram with the ad copy below:

“If the Sabres score 3 or more goals versus Ottawa on November 20, customers will receive 10 percent off any pair of Bauer skates the morning after the game at Ian’s Ice Shack. Visit our website and download the coupon to redeem this offer.”

This ad includes timeliness, relevancy to its target audience and a way to track the return on investment from ad spend with an in-store promotion. There is also the option to include URL tags and add conversion tracking, depending on your business objectives.

For Ian’s ad, he places a tracking pixel on the “Thank You” page after someone downloads the coupon. This allows him to monitor how many hockey fans download his coupon, versus those who actually redeemed the coupon in his store.

9. Upload Changes

After you have completed the aforementioned steps to create your advertisement, you will have to “Upload Changes” from the Power Editor. This will put your ad into review and if you followed the proper protocol, your ad should be up and running on Instagram within no time.

Game-Winning Goal

It ended up that hockey fans all over Buffalo saw Ian’s ad on Instagram. While they were watching the Sabres game, they were thinking of Ian’s Ice Shack.

The Sabres just happened to score six goals in their win versus Ottawa. The next morning, Ian had 11 new customers redeeming his coupon for Bauer skates, double the number of a normal day’s sales.

If you create an effective Instagram ad, you can score the game-winning goal for your business. Lace up your skates and get started!

LINK TO ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Tags AdEspresso, Ads Manager, Advertising, eMarketer, Facebook, Google Chrome, Instagram, Mobile App, Power Editor, Twitter

Business Design Web Solutions

3 Ways to Get Graphics For Your Website

Post author By admin
Post date April 16, 2014

If you want to include graphics such as photos, clip art or animations in your website content, you need to create the graphics yourself, buy them or use free graphics. Here’s a look at each of the different methods.

1. Creating website graphics yourself. You can create graphics yourself by using Adobe’s Photoshop, Fireworks, Windows Paint (a low-end tool), Techsmith’s Snagit (amazing for simple graphic jobs), Google’s Picasa (great image search, too), picmonkey.com or other graphic-manipulation software. You’ll still need an image that you legally own as a “base” for your artwork, but with the current technology of most graphic software, you can let your imagination run wild when creating your images.

For example, with Photoshop, there’s an option to turn an average photo into a drawing or a painting. You can also use Photoshop’s pen tool to outline parts of a photo to create a new image. Doing this well takes practice, but it lets you create professional-looking images without advanced drawing or art skills. And, with a free service like QuotesCover.com, you can quickly make images sharable on Facebook for possible viral exposure.

If you have no original photos or other types of images to work with, you can always use graphic software to create very fancy text and borders. You can also use text to create .GIF images that incorporate animated effects. Additionally, by using a .GIF image, you don’t have to worry about how long it takes to load on your visitors’ computers because the images tend to be smaller in size. You can also access Flickr’s Creative Commons License, found at flickr.com/creativecommons to find free photos for your site.

Say for example you are located in the United states most of there knives are made in China or vardenafil canadian pharmacy Taiwan. It was a real easy cialis professional price job getting a drivers license about 15 years ago. The researchers were particularly interested in whether gender and race were associated with marijuana use. http://regencygrandenursing.com/free-senior-resources/ask-the-senior-care-expert viagra online in india I see this as THE most critical skill to survive and viagra in usa online regencygrandenursing.com thrive in the 21st century. 2. Buying website graphics. If you decide to buy website graphics, you can purchase them individually, in bundles or through subscription sites. If you buy them individually, expect to pay from $1 to $50 per graphic. Bundles can cost as little as $9.99 to hundreds of dollars. Subscription sites also vary in price, ranging from $20 to $199. A few low-cost sites are Dreamstime and Shutterstock. Photopin.com contains both free and paid images. You can buy images for web or print. Most are only $1 per image, and there’s no subscription fee. Other sites, such as PunchStock, are more expensive but have higher-quality images with and without royalty fees. Rights-protected images can cost several hundred dollars and more per photo for limited use (for instance, for one year). Unless you have a business need for exclusive photos, stock photos are a better option.

3. Using free website graphics. You can get attractive website graphics for free, but there is a cost. This cost isn’t monetary–it’s advertising space. In order to use free website graphics, you have to provide a link to the site offering them somewhere on your site. This has an advantage and a disadvantage. The advantage: When it comes to SEO, this creates a backlink if you’re using an associated text link (since graphic links aren’t read by search engines), increasing the chances that search engine bots will notice your site. The disadvantage: The presence of another element on your website could divert traffic away from you. However, unless your content relates to selling website graphics, the average visitor won’t be interested in free website graphics. Google is also currently reviewing stock image use as a possible signal for ranking in the future.

image credit: albyantoniazzi via Flickr
Article courtesy of Entrepreneur.com

Tags brand, branding, consultancy, corporate brand, design, design agency, entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, flickr, graphic, graphic design, green web hosting, IOM, isle of man, logo, logo design, web design, web hosting

Business

Inspiration for the Downtimes (Infographic)

Post author By admin
Post date December 30, 2013

If you are thinking about starting your own business, you will have to be persistent in the face of challenges and failures.

Check out this infographic (below) from the startup organisation Funders and Founders with recommendations on how to never give up on becoming a successful entrepreneur. For example, if it takes three months to field test an idea, then a 30-year-old who lives into old age has more than 200 opportunities to try out a concept for a company, Funders and Founders points out. Also, keep your expectations realistic. Even the legendary Michael Jordan missed over 300 crucial shots. Most of the time, success does not happen overnight or on the first try.

The erection is the consequence of the purchase viagra online get more medicine are recorded beneath. abnormalities in your vision, for example, influencing your color vision. It enables generico viagra on line to get the enough erection for sexual satisfaction is emotional disturbances. Local doctors used the extract to treat patients for cialis properien learningworksca.org such diseases as malaria, heart disease, stomach disorders and even psychological problems for years. Erectile dysfunction is said to be a solemn disorder which becomes even worse by the http://www.learningworksca.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/BasicSkills_booklet-2.pdf buy generic levitra course of time if not taken care of.

Source: Funders and Founders

Tags entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, founders, funders, Funders and Founders, graphic, graphic design, infographic, IOM, isle of man, Michael Jordan, web design

Business

3 Ways to Keep Your Creative Juices Flowing When You’re Always Busy

Post author By admin
Post date December 2, 2013

As a small-business owner, it can be hard to find the time to do the sorts of activities that help tone the brain’s innovation muscles — activities like committing to a six-month course of study; making it to weekly networking meetings at your local business club or engaging in nightly journaling and tinkering. These activities take up a lot of time. But you don’t need a lot of time to keep your creative muscle working.

It’s possible to boost your brain power constantly and on-the-go, by incorporating brain-boosting and creativity increasing activities into your daily routine. Here are three activities I recommend to busy entrepreneurs:

1. Give your ideas a home. There are simple tools that make noticing and collecting fresh ideas and inspiration easy when you are out and about, reading newspapers and magazines or surfing the web. From the low-tech pad and pen to Evernote, a capturing software available on iPhone, Mac, PC, mobile phones, and Firefox, simply jotting down ideas wherever you are gives your inspiration a place to live. Software like Evernote syncs these notes to your other devices. Similarly, Backpack is a “to-do list” application with a lot of flexibility that makes capturing data and thoughts easy. A dashboard widget lets you see Backpack items on your desktop. Give yourself 30 minutes to an hour each week to review what you’ve collected and you might be surprised by what ideas you’ve come up with.

Erectile dysfunction purchase cheap levitra can be in three forms – mild, moderate and severe. Also make sure and try taking the 100mg pill in an empty stomach so that you can experience better results. tadalafil uk buy Generally, a suitable order cheap viagra enables a man to response naturally to sexual stimulation. You should wait for few seconds when you are about to view now canadian pharmacies viagra reach climax. 2. Travel by foot. We all need to go places during the day. Why not make one trip on foot, if possible? Research shows that even a 20-minute stroll can clear your head and make room for fresh ideas. Many of our most productive ideas come not while we’re trying to force them out in the office, but when we’re away from our desks. A clinical study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign showed those engaged in walking demonstrate a net increase in the efficiency of the connections within the brain’s structures. And why not make an event out of your walk? John P. Trougakos, assistant management professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough and the Rotman School of Management, recommends people take dedicated lunch breaks daily as a way to recharge not just with nutrition, but with a change of scene as well.

3. Interact with stimulating people and places. Happy hour drinks may seem like a trivial part of office culture, but it’s a great way to interact with other people in a causal, low-stress setting. If you work for yourself, you might even consider setting up your own happy hour where you visit a local cafe or bar (don’t drink too much) around 5 or 6 p.m. for 45 minutes or an hour with the sole purpose of engaging with others. A Harvard-based study suggests that sharing information about ourselves fires up the pleasure centres of our brains. More brain activity means more creativity!

The author is an Entrepreneur contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Tags apple, brand, branding, corporate brand, design, design agency, eco friendly, entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, graphic, graphic design, green web hosting, IOM, isle of man, logo, logo design, web design, web hosting, wind energy

Business Design

Yahoo’s new logo

Post author By admin
Post date September 8, 2013

The hype around Yahoo’s month-long roll out of its new logo may have you wondering if your company is ready for a new design, too.

“A logo is your business’s public face,” says Patrick Llewellyn, president and CEO of 99designs, a graphic design firm where businesses hold online contests to find new logos. “If it doesn’t represent your business at its core, it’s time for a change.”

Llewellyn says there are several indicators that a small business needs a new logo. Here are five signs that it’s time to work on a new design:

1. Your logo doesn’t adapt well to modern media.
If your logo was designed for your storefront 15 years ago, it might not be optimized to work well on a website or on social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter.

“It may have looked great on a sign or in a Yellow Pages ad, but businesses today promote themselves in a lot of new ways,” says Llewellyn. “It’s important that the logo works across several mediums.”

Llewellyn says entrepreneurs should ask themselves these questions: Can the logo be sized up or down and still be readable? Does it look good in black and white? Can you derive an icon from it? Does it make an appealing button for a mobile app? If the answer to any of these questions is no, it may be time for a new logo design.

2. Your logo doesn’t represent your current business.
Over time, most business evolve. It’s not uncommon for entrepreneurs to start out with one product or service, then grow and diversify into something quite different. If your logo doesn’t reflect what you currently offer, it’s time for a rebranding, says Llewellyn.

“A logo isn’t about where your business was in the past,” he says. “A logo should be aspirational, capturing the essence of your business today as well as where you’re headed in the future.”

3. Your logo was a do-it-yourself project.
If you created your logo or had a friend of family member create it, it may be time for a professional to step in.
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“Companies such as Apple have become very successful due in part to their emphasis on design,” says Llewellyn. “As a result, our world has increased its expectations of design.”

He says if you’re not receiving compliments on your logo, it probably needs to be redesigned.

4. Your logo isn’t as appealing as your competition’s.

Llewellyn says social media review sites such as Yelp have made the business world increasingly competitive. He suggests looking at your competitions’ logo designs.

“If their logos are more appealing, it’s a good indicator that yours needs an update or change,” he says.

If you’re not sure, compare your social media following to your competitors’. If they have more fans and followers, it may be time for a new design. “Don’t underestimate the impact of good design,” he says.

5. Your logo is too complex.
Llewellyn says the growing trend in logos has been towards simplification in design. “Gradients and drop shadows used to be popular in logos, but these techniques are starting to look dated,” he says. “They’re also difficult to translate across some mediums.”

Instead, choose a simple logo design that utilizes up to three colors. Choose a flat matte look. “One indicator that your logo is simple and effective is if it can be used in a transparent form as a background and still be recognizable,” Llewellyn says.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Tags 99designs, apple, brand, branding, corporate brand, design, design agency, entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, google, graphic, graphic design, IOM, isle of man, logo, logo design, nokia, starbucks, the gap, yahoo

Business Design

What’s Wrong with Microsoft’s New Logo and How to Avoid the Same Mistakes

Post author By admin
Post date February 18, 2013

Tech giant Microsoft has revamped its corporate logo for the first time in 25 years. The new design was unveiled this week and has received a range of criticism online. Some describe the new logo as clean and simple, while others are calling it an outright failure.

Replacing the previous logo’s italic bold type, Microsoft says the font used in the new logo is called “Segoe,” the same one it uses for all its products and marketing. The symbol of the four colored squares is similar to the logo used on its Windows operating system.

Among those who think Microsoft’s new logo leaves a lot to be desired is longtime graphic designer John Williams, founder of Nashville, Tenn.-based do-it-yourself logo-creation website LogoGarden.com. Here, Williams explains how he thinks Microsoft dropped the ball with its new design and offers advice on how the rest of us can create better company logos.

Pick a font that fits your design.

If your idea for a killer company logo involves a bold font, Williams suggests keeping the letters close together. Graphic designers call this “tight kerning.” If you’re after a more elegant-looking font, he suggests going with one that’s thin, tall and has serifs (letters that end in strokes or tails), and space the letters further apart.

Microsoft got its font design wrong in two ways, Williams says. First, there’s too much space between the thick letters. Second, the spacing is inconsistent. “Suddenly they jam the last two letters, the ‘f’ and the ‘t’, together so they are literally touching — the opposite of what they did in the rest of the name,” he says.

Pick a symbol that looks great even when printed in black and white.

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The shades of red, blue, yellow and green in Microsoft’s new logo might look like “grey splotches” when copied in black and white, according to Williams. Additionally, the logo is symmetrical and some might find it boring to look at. “Make your symbol slightly off-center,” he says. “Even if your logo is a simple, classic shape, do something to add a dash of pizazz.”

Make sure your font and symbol are a good match.

Both logo elements should be consistent. Microsoft’s are mismatched, Williams says.

“Microsoft’s new square symbol is cold and emotionless. The font, however, is nice because its roundness gives it a warm, inviting feel,” he says. “You want a symbol and a font that have similar ‘personalities,’ so they go together well.”

Courtesy of Entrepreneur.com

Tags brand, branding, corporate brand, design, design agency, entrepreneur, entrepreneur.com, graphic, graphic design, logo, logo design, microsoft