Ladies and Gents – a geeky post for all those who like to dabble in a bit of code now and again! In this post we give 5 cutting edge CSS3/HTML5  tips that really help to speed up your websites but still enable them to look great!

When you create a site one of the major things which help to make it look modern and give a good user experience is Javascript or jQuery. These languages allow design elements to do things like glow, fade and move. While these languages do make your site look amazing, it does mean that there is one hefty file for each viewer to download. Google now looks at site loading speeds so we should try to find alternative ways in which to make our sites load quicker – but still look as slick.

Below are 5 CSS tricks that cut down loading time, as there is no need for images or javascript libraries-just CSS. These techniques use HTML5/CSS3 which is currently supported only by the most recent releases of most browsers (IE 8, Firefox 3.6, Safari 5 and Chrome 5) the latest versions of these will used by the majority of internet users within a year. Earlier browsers which don’t support these techniques will simply not display them and this code degrades gracefully not effecting the user experience. So – lets be forward thinking folks – this is a taste of the future…

Tip 1 / Text Shadow

Some of you may have noticed that the links on Attitude have a faint shadow on them, yet no javascript is needed for this, just a little bit of CSS:

a { text-shadow: 1px 1px 1px #FFF; }

What the above code does is apply some text shadow to the text, here is how it works:

Tip 2 / Box Shadows

If you attempted to add a text shadow effect to a box in the way in which we added a shadow to the text in Tip 1, you will find it does not work. But thanks to ‘box-shadow’ it is possible – meaning no more PNG image shadows, just pure and simple CSS! This is how it works:

.shadow {
	-webkit-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgb(255,0,0);
	-moz-box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgb(255,0,0);
	box-shadow: 2px 2px 3px rgb(255,0,0);
}

What the above code would do, is add a shadow on an element with the class shadow. This shadow would be red and 2px by 2px:

Tip 3 / Transitions

It is possible using CSS to create transitions of effects, for example when you hover over a link it changes from blue to red. Wouldn’t it be awesome if it faded into red? Well with CSS, that is possible!

a { transition: all 0.15s linear; -webkit-transition: all 0.15s linear; }
a:hover { color: rgb(255,0,0); }

What the above code would do is make the text change to red over a period of 0.15 of a second:

That last bit, the linear, could confuse you. Have a look at the W3 specifications page about it. You’ll see how you can choose how the element loads in – for example one option is ease-in which means it would start of slow, then get faster until it gets to the end. I have chosen linear meaning it will not change speed throughout, just take the specified period of time.
This would also work for things rotating (see below).

Tip 4 / Rotating

You all know the scenario, you build a website and then you want the images to be slightly be rotated. You also want the images to be in a CMS and give an administrator the ability to be able to change the image. This can be easy for the hardened coder with some ImageMagick/GD skills, but what if you could do it in CSS? Well you can:

.rotated {
	transform: rotate(9deg);
	-moz-transform: rotate(9deg);
	-webkit-transform: rotate(9deg);
}

What the above code would do, is on any element with the class rotated would be rotated clockwise by 9 degrees:

It is a pretty simple syntax, but this, coupled with the transition effect and shadow could be an amazing website, for example see this Demo by the tutorial website 24 Ways. It blows us away!

Tip 5 / Word-Wrap

So you design a perfectly working website, then you find a reallylongwordinyourcontentwhichbreaksyourlayout. Wouldn’t it be brilliant if you could somehow separate the words, without some complicated PHP scripting, allowing for font-sizes and types etc. Well thanks to CSS3, it is now possible:

.smallbox { word-wrap: break-word; }

In CSS3 there is a new property, word-wrap which is normally set to normal but can be set to break-word which would make a box separate long words:

We hope this list of 5 CSS tricks will help you develop your websites more effectively. Leave a comment or share your own tips below!

Related posts:

1. A guide to writing text for your website
2. Handy Tool / Yahoo CSS Reset
3. Hosting a PHP test website locally

Disclaimer: We are not attempting to take any credit for the above work – we have had nothing to do with any of them. If you have any questions regarding this please contact us.

Related posts:

1. 50 Inspirational Logo Designs
2. Inspirational Policing Pledge Posters
3. Time Machine / Cereal Boxes From the 70s

Why should I worry about what text is on my website?

Writing text for websites is often an area of web design that is overlooked at the start of a website project. It is though, perhaps as important, if not more important, than the website design. If, for example, you have a brilliantly designed website but it contained little textual content that was not relevant to a visitor – the chances are that that visitor will not stick around to simply admire the design. “Content is king” is the saying – and so it is. Add great, well written text, to a well designed website and you are destined for success.

If the budget is available we would always recommend going to a professional copywriter – this is not always possible and so many of our clients opt to write the content themselves. This makes alot of sense from a budgeting point of view and also has other benefits because you will always know your target audience and business better than a third party ever will.

So – what is the best way to write content for your website? How do you start and what sort of things should you be thinking about as you go through the process. Also what format should this content be supplied to your designers in? These and more questions are answered in this article…

Where to start

From a branding perspective it might be best to start from the point of view of how you wish to be perceived by your target audience. If your company was a person, how would they speak? Would they be to the point and ‘businesslike’ – or maybe more friendly and jargon free? Setting the right “tone of voice” and writing style for your website should fit in with your overall brand message and placement. Maybe have a look at other companies’ websites which are trying to attract similar markets to see how they are presenting themselves in their web text.

If you are working with a design company such as Attitude Design, you will normally have a “site map” developed for you. This should be a diagram showing all the pages on your website and how they interact with each other.

Before getting into the nitty gritty it might be best to sit down with the site map and to decide what the purpose and function of each page is. Most pages will fall into the following categories:

• Information giving
• Selling
• Signing up / Applying / Enquiring

Each of these pages have different purposes and require different types of writing to fulfill those purposes. Each of these pages may also have different messages which your text will need to support. Have a think about each of your pages in the light of their purpose and maybe mark on your site map your general ideas so that when you get started with the text for that page you have an overall idea of where you are headed.

Humans vs Robots

Most of us are used to writing for humans in emails, letters, text messages etc. Websites, however, are not only visited by humans. There are search engines which have little programs (tenderly called “spiders” or “robots”) which will vist your site and collect the data they find there. They will store this data in the search engine’s database so that when someone searches for keywords, your site’s data will be considered in their algorithms. Depending on how your site does in the algorithm you will appear higher or lower in the organic rankings.

Appearing high in search engines is a powerful marketing tool. You can reach audiences of thousands who are all looking for your product or service so it’s worth writing the content for your website in a way search engine robots can read it and use it.

Writing for Humans

Writing content on websites is very different from writing to people you know. For example if you write an email to a friend or colleague, it is likely they will read every word you put down. This is not the case with websites. People “skim read”. If they are not engaged within a few seconds they will move away from your site to find a site which is relevant to what they are searching for.

Jacob Neilsen, a usability expert has a few articles based upon some in depth research as to how users read the content of web pages. It’s worth going through them to get a better understanding of exactly how website users read text:

• http://www.useit.com/alertbox/percent-text-read.html
• http://www.useit.com/alertbox/9710a.html
• http://www.useit.com/eyetracking/

So how do we write content on our websites which is most likely to get a result? Here are a few tips:

• Use subheadings. Because users will skim read, it’s a good idea to use subheadings so that they can find relevant content quickly.
• Be concise. Use bullet points, clear and simple language which is not long winded. Do not use slang, or technical jargon unless necessary. Try to include one concept per sentence.
• Front-load content. This means that you put the conclusion for what you are trying to say first. This helps users get a jist of what is on the page and hopefully it will capture their imagination. There is nothing worse then reading a few paragraphs and realizing the page you are on is completely irrelevant.
• Make sure it’s interesting. Ensure the text is relevant and doesn’t go “around the houses” to get to the point. Write in an interesting way which will engage your audience.

Writing for Robots

Web designers with any wits will ensure that they code your site in a way which is search engine friendly. There are things which will be “invisible” to humans which will need to be in place to be successful – for example the content of the various tags in your page’s source code (title tags, keyword tags, description tags etc.) These should be in place as default and ideally you should also be able to edit the content of these tags and the content that appears on the page website yourself.

If you have a knowledge of HTML code you will be able to do this by hand. Most people do not have the time to worry about learning this complex language but there are other ways to edit this type of content without knowledge of HMTL. You will need a system to be built to allow you to do this called a “Content Management System” (CMS). It is a good idea to have such a system running your website because monitoring how your website’s pages are performing in search engines is an on going process which may mean continual updating to the site over time.

When a robot visits your website, it will look at the visible text and links on your page. From the words it finds there, the search engine will decide what your page is about and index its findings in its database. When a user searches that database the search engine will then feed your page into relevant searches. But how does it decide what your page is about?

One way is by looking at key phrases. For example if you have a particular phrase (like “hard wearing mouse mats”) repeated many times on the page then you are more likely to appear on a search engine for that phrase.

There are many other factors and each search engine differs in its algorithms but for the sake of this article we will give you a few tips on creating content which will help you to get higher in the search rankings. We would of course recommend you speak to professional SEO experts who can research what phrases or words would be best to include on each page of your website, as well as other strategies and techniques you could employ to gain higher rankings. A few general tips:

• Find a phrase. Consider what search engine users might type in as a search phrase/phrases to find the page.
• Use the phrase in your content. Ensure this phrase is used in the headings and content of the page. It might be an idea to repeat the phrase several times throughout the copy as well as in the main heading and sub-headings of the page.
• Use your meta tags. Add the phrases to your page title, description and keyword meta tags. You will need to do this through your CMS system or by coding the page with that information yourself.
• Use links. Add links in the body of your site to other pages within your website. This will encourage the search engine robot to crawl through these other pages of the site.

Conclusion

So – we hope this guide has been helpful. It’s all about balance and being aware of the different types of visitors to your site. Don’t go overboard with writing for humans and neglect the search engine robots – likewise don’t just write for robots and forget the humans! Get the balance right and you’ll have a great website!

Related posts:

1. SEO Tool – Who links to me?
2. A Guide to Practical Typography
3. A Bite Of The Apple / Apples New Website

1 // Produce a focused mini-website

Create a “mini site” for a special product or service your business is offering. This mini site should be focused – and where possible “fun”. Maybe use a flash animation or game to gather some interest and communicate in simple terms what the product is about. The benefits of a dedicated website for a specific product is that visitors get a target message. Be sure to link back to your main corporate website for users who wish to see more of your products. For examples of some mini-sites we have done see:  iWeekend  » Bonded Broadband »

2 // Produce an effective brochure

For many years businesses have been producing take away brochures for potential clients. Such a brochure should say all the right things about your business. It should look professional and be printed on good paper stock. It should be something your sales team is proud to leave behind and allow clients to flick through. It should be a “gift” to potential clients. You could also have it produced as a PDF for the web and allow visitors to your website to download it.

3 // Send out email newsletters

Add functionality to your website to allow users to add their email address to your mailing list. If this is set up to add the email addresses to a database you could also set up a admin area to enable you to send out emails to all the users who have signed up automatically. To take it a stage further get the emails to be designed specifically for your business in your brand style – this will ensure brand recognition. Be sure to allow users to unsubscribe if they do not want to receive further emails.

4 // Join in with Social Media

If your business is not connecting with people on Twitter or Facebook then they are missing out on a trick. Connecting on these platforms is useful because they are visited on a daily basis by users who might not visit your site at the same routine – thus you are getting more opportunities in reminding your client base about your business. If you have a blog why not set it up so that when you post a new article it automatically posts it on Twitter and Facebook – this will save your team time as they then won’t have to update each platform.

5 // Fresh logo design

A business needs to be recognizable. reconization Building a brand image is everything and allowing your clients and potential clients to recognize your business is essential for repeat and business. Acquiring a reputation is essential. Does your logo do this? Is it being used consistently? Does it need a refresh? A logo should be the emblem, the banner, that everything else sits behind. If you have products they also might benefit from having a logo design which sits underneath your main brand identity. This will bring them specific – this is especially useful if your products span different industries and target audiences as you can tailor the look and feel for each respectively.

6 // Bespoke christmas cards

With that time nearly upon us again it may be an idea to think about your company christmas cards. Why not commission a design agency to produce a Christmas card that says all the right things in an effective way. A bespoke Christmas card that stands out may ensure that customers see your business in anew light. How about taking your christmas card and making it more effective by running a promotion with it – something like: “To say thanks for working with us this year we offer 10% off of your next order”

7 // Consistent stationery design

Ensuring all of your stationery is consistent is good for recognition. For large businesses this can act as an extension of campaigns that are running and for small businesses it can acts as a campaign in its own right. Do your business cards and letter heads look like the come from the same company?

8 // Advertise effectively

Many small businesses don’t advertise because they don’t make the budget to do so. When they try it they only do it half heartedly and are not focused or targeted and when it doesn’t work they are normally put off by the whole idea. Try thinking about industries which use your services or products and advertise in their industry news magazines – or find out what your customers are reading and place adverts in those magazines. Ensure the advert is well designed with a clear message and call to action so that you can measure how well a campaign is doing.

9 // Let your vehicle signage work for you

Ensure your vehicle signage is effective. Your lorries and delivery vans should at least have your logo on them. You could look at making them effective adverts by adding well designed images and messages to them. A clear simple message that can be taken in in 3 seconds is ideal. Be sure to have an easy to remember call to action – a simple phone number or web address so that people who see them can write it down or memorize it quickly.

10 // Provide an incentive for people to refer you

Set up a referral marketing campaign. Offer a percentage of the first sale to anybody who recommends your business to someone. This inspires them to work as your agents without you having to do any further work! Advertise this within your brochures or on your website. Maybe even produce a leaflet for your sales team to give away on visits to potential clients.

Related posts:

1. The Future of Connected Marketing
2. What Your Logo Doesn’t Say About Your Business!
3. Recent Graphic Design Work Completed

The effect above is created using Spot UV. “What on earth is Spot UV” we hear you cry! Spot UV is a print finishing expression which allows you to print an area of Ultra-Violet Coating onto your printed material. In English this means you can print a clear glossy vanish instead of an ink over a specific area.

This can be extremely effective and add that little bit of extra class to any print project!
It really is an attention grabber which catches the eye and helps to highlight key features of a design. It works especially well on business cards and in helping to differentiate your business above competitors. You never know, it could be the difference between winning a client and selling a product or missing out completely…

Want to know more or have us design something for you using Spot UV? Why not contact us »

Related posts:

1. 10 Design & Marketing Ideas for Your Business
2. Make the most of your business card
3. Brand Design Complete – Red Venture Logo

Do you need to get the key messages of warmth, nature and friendliness across in your website? If so – be inspired by wood! Here is a show case of some of the 14 best websites using this wooden trend to assist their design:

Audrey Kawasaki

Austin Town Hall

Pensacola Blues

Cottonseed Oil Comeback Tour

Cyclops

Delicious Monster

Earnest Hemingway Collection

Edu Search

Tischlerei Klehn

Lanikai Properties

Little Silver

Lucy Blackmore

Quality XHTML

Sandra Thomae

Disclaimer: We are not attempting to take any credit for the above work – we have had nothing to do with any of the designs shown. If you have any questions regarding this please contact us.

Related posts:

1. 25 Sites We Can’t Live Without
2. Attitude Twitter update for the week (2010-04-02)
3. Attitude Twitter update for the week (2010-01-22)

Marks are essential to any logo design – getting a powerful mark like the one above means that the concept of your logo can remain timeless even though it may be displayed differently with every re-brand which comes along…

Related posts:

1. What Your Logo Doesn’t Say About Your Business!
2. Soul Beaver Logo Design
3. Handy Tool / Yahoo CSS Reset

Disclaimer: We are not attempting to take any credit for the above work – we have had nothing to do with any of them. If you have any questions regarding this please contact us.

Related posts:

1. 50 More Inspirational Logo Designs
2. Inspirational Policing Pledge Posters
3. Graphic Design Portfolio Update

Some examples of business card designs taken from our graphic design portfolio.

The irreducible minimum

It is so important because your business card holds the minimum, irreducible amount of information about your business. The card is a reflection upon what type of company it has come from. It needs to stand out next to your competitors and it needs to hold all of the relevant information to allow somebody to contact you. At the same time it must not look too busy or desperate.

So what information needs to be there?

Well, we always think the following are necessary:

• Logo
• Slogan – saying what your company does.
• Name
• Job description
• Address
• Office Telephone number
• Mobile Number
• Email Address
• Web Address

Most of these things are pretty obvious, but the first two we find are often overlooked. Your logo is your identity. If applied consistently it stands as the banner of your business and brings recognition and trust. When it comes to business cards we always feel that it needs to be one of the most prominent things. We would normally recommend a double sided business card and give one whole side solely to the logo. This brings impact and enforces confidence.

A slogan – why, you may ask, is this part of the irreducible minimum? Well, logos have become very aspirational, reflecting the values of a business rather than literally what the business produces. If your logo was literal then this might not be so relevant but if your logo doesn’t really say what you do exactly, it is worth coming up with a slogan which does. The reason for this is because if this business card sits in somebody’s drawer for a few months (as most will) when it is taken out, bright eyed and blinking at the sunlight, if the person cannot remember what you do and doesn’t have the inclination to check your web address, the chances are it will find its way into the filing cabinet of doom – namely the bin! If however you have something on there which jogs the memory or re-ignites an interest, then you might get an unexpected call.

Design

The first thing to consider in the design is the ease at which the basic information can be seen. Is it accessible and clear? Is the typography slick and easy to read? You do not want to make it complicated for somebody to get in touch. If that’s your telephone number – label it “tel no”. It’s got to be clear and simple.

The next thing to look at is the over-all ‘feel’. Does it fit in with your corporate image? Does it look consistent with your website? This is important because as we’ve already mentioned consistency builds trust. Is it cramped? Is there breathing space around your logo?

Colours are also important, as they help to bring impact. We often like to flood one side of a business card, (usually the side which holds the logo), with the company’s corporate colour. The other side we normally keep white – this gives greater impact when the card is turned over – from which ever side the viewer sees first.

Business card material

DO NOT print your own business cards from your inkjet office printer! It looks – and is, cheap. Business card printing is not as expensive as you may think (if you don’t believe us contact us and we’ll prove it to you!). If your business card is a reflection of your business and you cannot even get a professionally printed card produced, then it doesn’t look great for your business!

Get your cards printed on card! We would recommend around 250gsm. We would also suggest a laminate, gloss or matt. This gives it that superior finish that gives your card a ‘quality’ feel. Remember everything needs to reflect your brand values and so if you are offering a quality service all of these things help to reflect that.

To give your cards something extra, you could get your cards dye cut – this allows you to cut shapes out of your business cards. For example you could cut the corner off, or round the corners. This really helps to differentiate your card from competitors because it makes it completely unique. One thing we would not recommend though is for a card to be outside of the normal size – remember these have to fit into the business card wallets of your potential clients and they do need to be able to be easily stored in a conventional way. This is why we rarely recommend folded, or even 3d, business cards – although fun, these are bulky and we would suggest they don’t have a long life span and are not practical.

Taste my brand / brand chocolates

We came across a great strategy the other day. To our utter surprise, when we asked our new accountant if she could give us her business card – she took it out of her bag with 2 wrapped, high quality chocolates on top! What a positive way to introduce your business! When we commented on this, she also said that people tend to leave the chocolates for a while and then eat them when she has gone – keeping the memory of her business lingering on. We also feel that it uses another sense in the brand introduction experience – taste! This again helps to enforce recognition and all works in a positive way to get you business (although of course, you need to keep wrapped chocolates in your bag at all times?!). So, maybe arm yourself, and your sales team, with little treats!

Conclusion

Who would have thought there is so much to think about in just a simple little thing as a little business card! Well there is – and there is probably more. Do you have any thoughts dear reader? Please leave a comment below:

Related posts:

1. 10 Design & Marketing Ideas for Your Business
2. What Your Logo Doesn’t Say About Your Business!
3. UK Law Changes | Website Requirements

So why is that? Why is it that females don’t seem to be as prominent in web design as they are in say fashion design? Is the graphic design industry sexist? How can we balance the sexes in the industry and do we need to?

To open up this debate and to get an insight into what it’s like for female web designers we contacted four notable designers who kindly agreed to answer the questions below. I’m sure you may have heard of some if not all of them so I’m sure there will be no need to justify their presence here. If you do wish to find out more about these professionals check out their websites below.

Larissa Meek
www.larissameek.com

Tanya Merone
www.tanyamerone.com

Rina Miele
www.honeydesign.com

Veerle Pieters
veerle.duoh.com

Now the intros are over let’s get into those questions…

1. Do you think there are less female designers than male? If so why do you think this is?

Larissa Meek
I know without a doubt that there less female designers in the interactive medium but I don’t think that it will be that way forever. I’m not 100% sure why, but I suppose it has to do with misconceptions. Ultimately it’s a relatively new industry and in the past many women were not into computers because it seemed a bit too technically complicated. After all, how many women do you know that are into fixing cars? Many women are creative but the technical fears of computers can seem intimidating.

Tanya Merone
It just so happens that I personally know about the same amount of male and female designers. However, from my online experience there appear to be many more male designers out there.
I believe this is rooted in the tradition. Computers were brainchildren of math and engineering minds, where men held most of the jobs. From there, bits and pieces of design emerged and were mostly self-taught by computer techies. Schools didn’t begin offering computer design courses until very recently.
Coming from a technical school myself, I have learned most of what I know about design on my own and not in school. Only towards my graduation I started hearing about courses teaching computer design. But before then – a few of those who were interested in computers (mostly guys) self-taught themselves the art of web design.

Rina Miele
I was asked a similar question before. There are definitely less female designers, though I’m not sure the reason. Design isn’t the kind of thing males would have a better aptitude for. I can’t seem to put my finger on it. Perhaps women aren’t interested in design as much as men are, much like with video gaming. Most women don’t care for it. It’s not to say that women can’t be better players… it just doesn’t appeal to them in the same way perhaps. Maybe this is a similar scenario.

Veerle Pieters
Depends on what kind of designer you are talking about. If you mean a traditional designer then I would say there are a lot of female designers out there. If you mean web designers than it becomes the opposite and that’s probably because the traditional designer isn’t too fond of making things technical and it scares them.

2. Do you feel that there is a stigma associated with females within the industry? If so please describe it.

Larissa Meek
No, I don’t feel that there is a stigma at all. I have never had any issues with being a woman in the industry. I feel that I have had equal opportunities just like anyone else. If anything, I have a stigma from being on Reality TV.

Tanya Merone
Although slowly changing, a stigma certainly exists in the wider computer industry, but I don’t think it’s much of an issue in graphic design field. Rather the issue seems to be lack of awareness that graphic design is not the same field as development.
Companies will often rely on their development gurus to produce applications and websites – but chances are the resulting product will not be appealing to the user. iPod is an excellent example – if it wasn’t for the appeal of its design, it would have fared much worse when competitors introduced technically superior models.

Rina Miele
I’m not sure it’s a stigma with women in design, or with women in the workplace altogether. I think that women definitely get taken less seriously by some men. I don’t think it is a problem that is getting worse, however, but quite the opposite. I think that this mostly happens in older generations, and as time passes this “stigma” will fade.

Veerle Pieters
I certainly don’t think so and to be honest I never think in terms of gender when it comes to work. I strongly believe any woman can mean as much in this business as her male counterpart if she sets her mind to it.

3. Do you have any examples of sexism you have personally had to suffer – with clients or within the industry?

Larissa Meek
I’ve never experienced sexism in the industry.

Tanya Merone
I have been fortunate enough not to experience any obvious signs of sexism, but I did wonder on more than one occasion the basis for certain decisions.

Rina Miele
As I was mentioning above… seriousness, accepting women are professionals and are as fully capable as men. Some men just can’t do those things. Personally, I’ve experienced a trace of this (with clients and within the industry), but nothing to stifle my career completely.

Veerle Pieters
I never had that problem, in fact the opposite.

4. How do you think this lack of female designers could be changed?

Larissa Meek
With time, more and more women will enter the industry because of girls whom truly were born in the computer era. These are girls who had a mouse in hand before they could say their first words. As more girls learn design, code and user interactions on the web; more will come to find passion for the industry. This medium is the future and there are new opportunities every day.

Tanya Merone
I think it’s great that there are now classes which teach computer design – I sometimes get emails from students telling me they’ve been asked to analyze my website by their professor Like I mentioned before, I haven’t had the chance to take many of these while I was a student. But I believe that this is a big step towards establishing computer design as a distinct field, separate from technical computer fields, thus drawing more females to it.

Rina Miele
At least in the industries I work in, I’m not even sure it needs to me changed. Would it make a bit of difference? Perhaps on some levels. The female perspective may be played down a bit. Though, I haven’t felt the dominance by an overly masculine design aesthetic guide my mouse clicking hand. Good work is good work. At least that’s how I see it. Maybe my experiences have led me to be a bit blindsided about the rest of the industry. But in any case, I don’t feel a strong male dominance impairing my work or my career.

Veerle Pieters
That depends on the person in question if she is willing to learn and experiment and grab an opportunity. It isn’t like men are holding us back, it’s up to you to set up a goal and go for it. This isn’t a gender issue in my eyes.

5. What would your message be to any females wishing to enter the industry?

Larissa Meek
Work hard and never stop learning. Technology is always changing. To quote Leonardo da Vinci, “Poor is the pupil who does not surpass his master.”

Tanya Merone
I often get emails, many from females, asking me how I got to where I am and what steps should they take to get there. Ultimately, you have to love doing it. It is the most important part, in my opinion, regardless of which industry we’re talking about. If you love what you do, you’ll find a way to be great at it.
There was a point in my life right after I graduated from college where I had to decide between two paths: getting paid descent money for doing something I don’t enjoy, or doing something I love for a very minimal salary. Luckily I have chosen the second path. The low wage was only temporary, and now I’m earning good living doing what I love most.

Rina Miele
Don’t feel threatened or intimidated by the (potentially) overwhelming amount of males in the industry. Just focus on being the best artist you can be and doing what you love, because in the end, that’s all that’s going to matter.

Veerle Pieters
It isn’t a scary male world, in fact most men are glad to see a women and her fresh new ideas.

Moving Forward

We’d like to thank the interviewees for their time and the interesting insight they’ve given.

So do you have anything to say dear reader? Any suggestion as to why women are few in number in our industry? Do you have any comments or questions for the above ladies? We’d love to hear from you so leave a comment below…

This article/interview was undertaken for Fadtastic

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I have been championing InDesign, the Adobe desktop publishing software for a while now. Heres a few reasons why:

• Its easy to use – with a great help section just in case
• Its hotkeys and interface are familiar as they are almost the same as Adobe Illustrator & Photoshop
• Its really easy to export PDF’s from it
• You can drag and drop items from Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
• It previews colours and images extremely well
• It gives you superb control over effects and transparency
• Its bundled with the Adobe creative suite and therefore very cost effective

In my view Quark, the traditionalists desk top publishing software, falls flat on its face when confronted with the above. There are many things which Quark just hasn’t been able to keep up with – simple things like an “eye dropper” tool seems to be lacking.

Don’t get me wrong – I’m not slating it for the sake of it. I do respect Quark and I use it all the time, o a day to day basis with my full time employer – I just find it lacking compared to InDesign.

Whilst browsing the web one day I came across a site called Quark Vs InDesign. This site deal with all the issues I’ve raised above and is reporting that Quark is at an all time low.

Whilst speaking to a friend who works as a designer for a London based PR agency – he is also in contact with a lot of freelancers which he outsources to – he was supprised to hear I still use Quark in my day job, claiming that most agencies and designers in London have made the switch.

Adobe does seem to be very switched on in regards to InDesign giving loads of reasons to make the switch – and with the new CS3 suite now out it seems that quarks time may finally have come to an end. For some in depth tutorials regarding InDesign CS3 head down to the Adobe Developer Center

So is Quark Finally Dead…

Over to you.
Do your use quark dear reader? Anybody not a fan of InDesign? Is there somehting Quark does that InDesign can’t do? do you want to moan or groan? Leave a comment below…

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I find that brand portfolios are always a tricky subject. You find that with any large organization who develop a brand portfolio that they normally start off with little or no regard for the over-all styling in regard to each other. New products or services (shall we call them “ventures”) develop as a law unto themselves.

Suddenly, one day a marketing manager wakes up and realizes that the umbrella brand identity (in this example the “bbc brand”) seems alien to its children. Then steps are made to bring the portfolio into line so that a consistent style is met across all of them.

I often find Its a tricky process with each brand having people who care patiently about it. Also each brand has its own audience and messaging and so if done incorrectly can really upset peoples perceptions.

However I always think that when a brand portfolio is brought into line, it can’t be measured in the short term re-action but on the long term.

Before & After

Below is a before (left) and after (right) of the BBC’s branding:

Good Things

Overall when you look at the before and after of the BBC’s radio brand you can immediately see that they were in a complete mess when they sat next to each other. There really wasn’t any common theme which ran through them. Now they are cleaner and more consistent with each other. The most consistent elements being that they are all circular and a BBC RADIO brand sits in the same place in regard to the main identity.

They are also not boring and still have elements of uniqueness. I particularly love these minute unique elements. The Radio 3 “clef” mark is really clever as well as the “speech” mark on the radio 4 identity. These really help to subtly distinguish the target audiences and to some degree help you understand what each station does.

One thing that has been carried across is the colors of the old logos. I guess this still lends a little familiarity with the old and keeps some recognition.

Bad things

A few things I’m personally not keen on is the italic text in the 5 live logos – italic text does not line up very well and seems to unbalance things. Personally I try to steer away from using italic text using it only to emphasize areas in block text. It is harder to read and as we mentioned above is terrible to line things up with.

One of the weakest is the BBC RADIO 7 logo – I guess the weird thing that eats into the “7″ is a smile which is carried through from the old logo. Doesn’t do it for me. It needs to be more obvious.

Overall

Over-all I don’t think things are two bad though. It’s solid and consistent and compliments the main BBC identity. They are all in line and site nicely together. What are your thoughts readers? Leave comments below…

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What I want to ask you all is this; will software ever catch up those of us who code from scratch? The main reasons our jobs are safe at the moment is simply because:

1) The current ‘website building software’ is not very good. Dreamweaver and Front Page are ok, but still don’t seem to have got it right with terribly messy code, poor accessibility considerations and cross browser bugs.
2) We can use our ‘web developer’ intellects to problem solve these issues or, if you’re like me and you got so fed up with these programmes you code from scratch.

What would happen, fellow developers, if a piece of software came along which was about easy to use, taking coding out of the way and simply allowing the user to design his sight from a visual perspective. What if it did all doing all the coding for him (or her if we are being PC – don’t shoot me girls)? What if the code, which this masterful piece of software chucked out, was accessible and worked across browsers. What if this super piece of software made it easy to work with databases and MYSQL, using a slick desktop interface to allow you to make decisions and develop a site without ANY knowledge of HTML CSS, PHP, ASP or whatever. Is this possible? Surely it is. I’m sure there are probably some boffins working on it right now.

If ever such a piece of software was developed suddenly our jobs might be a little less secure than they are now. The emphasis would go back to the visual side of things. Those of us with print and marketing skills will be ok but the industry which is the web might suffer.

What Goes Around Comes Around

If you think this is impossible consider what happened in the print world. The only people who could print things were those who knew how to use the early printing presses. They did the designs, they were the developers (like web developers today). Then computers and software came along which left a lot of these printers out of work – no more a need for typesetters and machine workers (apart from on the maintenance and set up side of things – I’m talking design here). I couldn’t work a printing press but I can develop and artwork up a brochure for print. What if this happens to web? The developers getting there hands dirty with code will get left by the wayside and their only use will be set up and maintenance. These two things unlike print can be done with software also so I doubt if they will even be left to do!

So what I’m saying is simply this. Enjoy it while it lasts. Continue to learn new things and try and develop skills which software cannot do – eg, marketing tactics, branding, creativity etc.

Does anybody else have these views. Have I got it wrong. Maybe it is impossible for software to get that advanced, share your views below…

I hope I haven’t pushed anyone over the edge with this! Stay with us and vent your views below!

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Any comments or questions either ask over at fadtastic or leave a comment below. Would love to hear from you…

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Bit Of Intro Blurb

The mobile (or “Cell” for those in US!) phone industry is a fast growing and competitive market place. Consisting of network providers and product manufacturers it is one of the most exciting and profitable markets around. We all want mobiles, we all seem to need them in today’s modern life. The statistics are amazing, with over 80% of people using mobiles in the world. In the UK it has been reported that there are more mobiles than people! These are unbelievable statistics considering the fact that before the 1990’s you couldn’t fit a mobile in your pocket and needed a few harnessed elephants to transport it around!

The future “looks bright” with manufacturers trying to get internet ready mobiles and 3G (third generation using video) technology into our pockets. After this there is the potential to improve voice recognition and satellite navigation features. Now apple has entered the market with a software focused phone and upped the competition, more innovation looks set to follow. This industry looks solid with demand and productivity walking hand in hand.

In this article we hope to take an overall look at the branding of some of the companies involved in this market. Bearing in mind that most do not have a heritage past 1990 (although there are exceptions) and have to appeal to a vast global audience this article hopes to peal back some layers and see if these industry leading companies can teach us a thing or two about branding. What do these following logos actually say about the companies behind them:

No Product References

One of the first things to notice is that we see no images depicting anything literal. I often come across clients who wish to have a very literal link between their products and their logo. You could say that the most obvious thing to do when sitting down to design a logo for a mobile phone manufacturer, would be to include and image of a mobile phone. That would be great, albeit lacking in creativity, if the mobile industry wasn’t as fast changing as it is now. The shape of the mobiles today will probably not be the shape of a mobile in 5 years time so to depict a product would probably be a bad idea. This mistake can easily be made and the principle can carry through to many product manufacturers and retailers.

Text Based

One thing you will notice is that most of these logos are all text based, using typography and font to communicate their brand image. In today’s logo infested era, fonts and typography are getting more and more important, (may I even suggest more important than a logos “mark”?) and this is more so the case if a logo is relying only on text to create a personality.

Colours

A way in which these companies distinguish themselves from each other is by using colour. It seems there are no rules in this regard. From T-Mobiles rather brash magenta, to Oranges orange, to Motorola’s black the market is open and very widely appealing colours have been used.

3D

Vodafone, Sony Eriksson, 3 and a few others, have 3D elements in their logos. It is an interesting fact that because of improvements in printing technology, gradient logos are now easily achievable working across both print and screen media. Since all of these logos have been designed in the last few years, could this be an indication of the way we are going to be perceiving logos and brand identities. Also could we suggest that animated logos might also be a part of branding projects as well – these 3d logos are animated on the screens of the devices that use them so I think we can so we will

Wide Audience Appeal

All of the above leads us to see that the companies in this industry are aiming themselves at the widest possible audience. These logos are very “safe” and carry across global cultures and nationalities without causing offense. It is always an important thing to consider when marketing globally, what different cultures will think of your brand. The wrong translation of phrases and the wrong perception of an image can really damage potential growth in a new country, offending, upsetting and enraging viewers. It would be interesting to see what would happen if a company emerged with a specific audience in mind, say at teenagers from the age of 13-16, whose branding and products were specific to that demographic. Splitting the focus into niche markets might prove profitable instead of using the scatter gun strategy and hoping that a wide audience will happily purchase products. Anybody got any vies on this? Add a comment below…

Conclusion

So to conclude these brief considerations then we feel this young industry is showing the way in regards to 3D logos, but is lacking in the creativity of marks and iconic identity. The reason for this is the fact that companies are appealing to a world wide audience of all ages and so seem to be locked into using this “safe” option, relying on advertising to promote their brand and product personalities.

Do you think this works dear reader? If there was a company directing all its assets a you, would that make you think before purchasing a mobile? Do you feel this open branding is useful or does it limit a company? Discuss…

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