Design | Inspiration | Musings | A Schnauz Design Blog

How to Increase SEO and Page Rankings

2012-01-01T18:23:00.000-08:00

Great article on SEO and page rankings or how to get to page 1 in Google, or at least close. Please keep in mind these have to be done consistently to ensure results. Google is SMART! Article taken from: LAUNCH Private Label

Clients, (especially those releasing new brands or launching a new business), are always asking me about how they can get on page 1 of Google and other search engines. The answer has always been, well, it's simpler to get on page 1, than it is to stay on it. In this article, I am going to address methods you can employ to get better page rankings and make it better over time, so that, one day you can get on page 1 of Google.
I also want to add that the methods here must be used on a constant basis. Don't expect to see quick results or any results if you just want to put in 1-2 weeks of work. Building your online empire is like building a retail store from the ground up. Get smart, get consistent and be generous with your information and search engines will start to love you.

Content:
You've probably heard this before (or not), but to get great rankings, you have to have great content. Rich, informational content that is full of great keywords and links. Pay attention to the content on your website, your blog, your tweets and Facebook.

Your Website:
Before, websites were just places of static information. Today, websites have become more than that. Attach a blog page in your website where you can add articles, hence making your website more dynamic (plus, people are more likely to visit your site if your content is more dynamic).

Your Blog:
This is the firecracker. A blog, these days, serves as a great tool to dispense information about your products, services, related products, industry information, changing trends, useful links and more. Blogs work especially great if you're in a business where the industry is popular already (food, travel, beauty, health, legal, entrepreneurship etc.). But worry not, if you feel you're in an odd industry no one wants to read about, try starting a blog about something related.

Your Page Titles:
Make certain your web person titles your pages well using short keywords to describe the essence or product/service/location of your business (some pages just need the purpose of the page. Example, "Contact Us | Company Name").

Blog Titles:
Make sure you title your blog posts well.

Linking:
This can be a little confusing at first, but the key is, have lots of great links from your site to other sites. This is the age of shared information, so don't hold everything back! Give and you shall get.
Also, link your internal pages back and forth.

Facebook & Twitter:
Having an active FB and Twitter account with relevant updates can get people clicking and linking to your website or blog! It's all part of building your online empire.

The bottom of the line is the more your share, the more you link, the more YOU will get people clicking and linking to your site. THIS clicking and linking is what search engines love because it shows them your site is popular and active. I'll say it again, get smart, get consistent and be generous with your information and search engines will start to love you.

Revamp Your Branding Every So Often!

2011-12-24T13:13:00.000-08:00

As you can see I decided to give the blog a spruce-up with some lighter colours and freshen things up a bit. Which brings me to an important point- VERY important point. It is crucial to spice up your marketing and design every now and then. That doesn't mean you need to spend half of the year's marketing budget. Just prioritize and allot a fixed amount of moneys for each project.
Here are some pieces you should be reviewing every so often (not some updates need to be monthly or quarterly, some can be annually or every 2-3 years):
1. Your website - this is the most important piece that you need to update as often as possible. Still getting the runaround from your web developer about changes you submitted 2 months ago? Here's how to fix that problem... go to a wordpress platform. A wordpress platform will allow you to make those changes yourself and it's super easy. Who can help you with redeveloping your site on wordpress? ME, of course!
2. Your main brochure or print collateral - revise language, freshen colours without losing the essence of the brand, update any facts.
3. Profile photos & Team member profiles - yes, update this at least once a year or more as needed. This keeps everyone looking sharp (and not so 80s). Plus, people like learning about personalities and who will be working on their projects... share something personal and interesting. If you just got married or had a baby, share it!
4. Logo - I know I know, don't freak out on me. I don't mean change the entire logo from all brown and geometric to pink and flowery. I mean update it. Look at the example of the Schnauz Design logo where I didn't change the essence of the logo, I just updated it. Over time, I updated the logo on various materials, social media etc. There are still some places it needs to be updated, but I don't have unrealistic expectations either. You can visit the schnauz design site to see all the delicious work we've done.

Vintage Christmas & Holiday Advertisements

2011-12-24T11:02:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to share these wonderful and hilarious vintage magazine ads... admit it, you love these too! These come from 1960s and 1970s print magazines (think Good Housekeeping, McCalls, Holiday, Look etc.). Enjoy!

MORE Using Black in Food Packaging

2011-12-19T15:01:00.000-08:00

I remember my old post on using black as a color in food packaging was so well received, that I wanted to do another post of more surprisingly beautiful packages. It's also kinda neat to observe how black goes in and out of fashion- i guess so does white. They all have their own shelf-life. But one thing is sure, adding black to food packaging makes it exquisite, gourmet and upscale.
Oh, and if you're curious about the first post on black in food packaging, please click here.

Marketing Ideas for Graphic Designers & Small Business Owners

2011-12-19T14:36:00.000-08:00

2011 was a great year and I feel blessed. There were lots of small business lessons I learned and it's time to think about what worked and what can use some changing. You'll find this post useful if you're a designer or entrepreneur by heart looking to grow your business. I'd love to hear some comments on what you've learned, what's worked for you and what hasn't, and what new marketing techniques you are wanting to try in 2012. Here's my list of marketing ideas and to-do's for 2012:
1. find one great probono project to unleash my creativity on
2. network more with other creatives
3. find 1-2 niches to target my networking in
4. do more frequent updates on my website and blog
5. learn more about keyword searches and SEO
6. send out thank you notes regularly
7. find more printing, labeling and other related resources in the DFW area
8. send out a summer and holiday promotional item to say thank you

My 2011 list also had some great ideas, especially for those starting their graphic design business. Click here to read my 2011 Marketing & Planning for Graphic Designers.

Email Subjects or Headlines that get Attention!

2011-12-13T10:18:00.000-08:00

I came across this wonderful chunk of information from a marketing company (so sorry I can't recall), but it's called Headline Hacks by Jon Morrow. Incase you weren't aware, the success rate of someone opening your email marketing is highly dependent on the subject line. There are basic rules you need to follow otherwise it will simply go into their spam folder. Common ones are don't use all caps, lots of exclamation marks, SALE 20% OFF (discount phrases like this) etc. But there are some loopholes. This free download will shed some light. Enjoy and share! Click here.

2011 Holiday Window Display & Merchandising in NYC!

2011-12-12T12:01:00.000-08:00

The most fabulous merchandisers in the industry start with plans and sketches months before unveiling. What results is an empty box that's transformed into a winter wonderland... with themes from couture to winter animals, no detail is spared.
Enjoy these amazing window displays! Bergdorf is my favourite... share and tell what's your fav...

Infographics Mania

2011-08-16T11:10:00.000-07:00

In various magazines you will see an elaborate spread (2 pages facing eachother) of colourful graphics and facts. Infographics take a lot of time to conceptualize and design. It is full of detail and wonder. Below are some stunning examples taken from a pool in Flickr. Enjoy!

What Every Small Business Should Know About Graphic Design & Printing

2011-07-29T23:34:00.000-07:00

This is a long article, so get comfortable. I want to make this article as informative as possible so you know what to expect and how to work with a designer, and the basics of design and printing. However, as with anything new, there will be a learning curve.
HOT TIP- Start right-- how you choose a freelance graphic designer or a graphic design studio will make all the difference. Look for section below "How do I choose a graphic designer" for details.

Why is graphic design important to my business?
The quick answer… because there is too much competition and your business needs to look professional and fresh. The long answer… your business is like building a house; start with great materials and you will set the bar high.
Developing a solid visual identity for your business will set a solid base for it to grow on. That first impression your business card makes, or the first impression your customer gets when they visit your website is crucial to them taking some kind of action. You want every piece of paper you distribute and every online page to have your branding… showing professionalism, creating trust and recognition. You may not want to be the next Sony or Google, but you can still look just as great and stand out in your target market.

What design components do I need if I am a start-up business?
Depends on what kind of business you are starting. But most definitely you will need a strong logo appropriate to your industry.
You will need an identity kit (business cards, letterhead, envelopes, thank you notes and envelopes), a mouthpiece item (brochure, postcard, catalog or media kit of some sort), product photography (depends on business), and a simple, well functioning
website design.

How do I build my brand (brand awareness and recognition)?
If you are selling a service or products, everything you do or say or distribute should reflect the brand. How you answer your business phone, consistency amongst your marketing materials and website design, your packaging design and label designs, the quality of your printing, your customer service and more. Develop a simple but well functioning website, showcase stunning product photography, blog or hire someone to blog lots of relevant content, have a Facebook page for your business, remind customers about your new products and offers through an email marketing program like monthly newsletters, email offers and more.

I'm thinking about buying Adobe Creative Suite myself and saving the money of hiring a designer. Any thoughts?
This can work if you answer Yes to the following:
a. Do you have LOTS of time to spare to learn this new software (Illustrator, In-Design and Photoshop are all very different).
b. Are you very computer savvy?
c. Do you have the creative skills to think like a right-brainer and create design-oriented solutions?
d. Can you create a simple and effective message while combining creativity and language skills?
HOT TIP- Focus on what you are best at and leave the branding, design and visual communications to an expert.

How do I choose a graphic designer?
Communicate with your prospective freelance graphic designer a few times via email and phone to see how promptly they return emails and calls. If the designer is local, meet them! Look at their portfolio. If you want labels designed for your vitamins line, but don’t see any previous vitamin clients in the portfolio, don’t worry. Look for overall versatility and style. A good designer will be able to adapt to most styles. Look for how they present themselves and general business practices/etiquette-- were you given a business card? What about knowledge? General attitude of the designer? Ask the designer about their current workload and share your timeline for the project.

What can I expect with logo design? I like a few logos like the Nike and Chanel logo, other than that I am clueless.
It's the simple things that take the most thought. Nike and Chanel are fantastic "marks" or logos, but they were not created overnight. There was a team behind the building of those logos. A good logo must be simple and strong. Preferably not redundant in any way (for example, if your company name is Lightning Bolt Movies it would be redundant to have an icon of a lightning bolt and a movie clapper; perhaps a stylized bolt or a combination of those elements, or just a nice font would be better options. A logo must be easy to remember (think in terms of being a "mark" of some sort). Sometimes a logo originates from the essence of the company. For example, a restaurant wouldn't necessary need a "logo" A restaurant could just use a beautiful font for the name and that itself sets them apart from everyone else-- it creates a feeling, an atmosphere and speaks to the essence of the brand.
When working with a designer in developing a logo provide plenty of examples of ones you like AND don't like. Keep in mind the first round of logos may not hit the jackpot. Be patient and provide constructive feedback.
HOT TIP- Sometimes a logo may not be exactly what you want, but it might be the perfect fit for your business. Remember it's about what is right for your business and customer.

I sent my printer a logo I grabbed from my website. But they said they need a vector logo. What is that?
Images grabbed from the web have a resolution of 72 dpi, but images necessary for printing must be 300 dpi. Hence, grabbing anything from a website will result in pixelated printing (unless the image you are grabbing is a high resolution image to begin with). A vector logo is created in Illustrator and has an extension of .pdf, .ai or .eps. Vector format allows one to scale the logo to very large size without compromising quality in any way.
HOT TIP- When getting a logo designed, ask you designer for the following formats- .jpg, .png, .pdf, .eps, and .ai.

I've tried to send files for printing before to a printer but did not understand their file requirements. Can you help?
All print files should be in CMYK color, meaning full-color or 4-color. CMYK is a combination of cyan, magenta, yellow and black to create the millions of colors. All files must be 300dpi. Images grabbed from the internet may be low resolution and will print pixelated. If you have color stretching all the way to the edges of the page, it is called bleed. You must add bleed to all your files in that case.

I have a new product line and I need to develop packaging designs for all of it. Where do I start?
Depending on your goals, budget, type of product and market analysis, Schnauz Design can develop and design a dieline for boxes and various packages, do the packaging design or label design, and any illustrations or renderings needed. Moreover, we offer boutique style design for less. We will do a creative consolation with you and walk you through the process.

Where can I print professional labels for my box and jar products?
We have resources for you-- Lightning Labels and SixB Labels are good ones. You can also contact us and we can handle all packaging design and printing for you.

I am attending my first tradeshow to present my product line. What do I need?
Great packaging design and label design to do justice to your product is a must. Additionally, a clean booth with 2-3 pop up banners showcasing some beautiful product photography and your brand! Business cards, plenty of brochures, catalogs and some candy. Also keep a mailing list sheet and offer a drawing of some sort if possible.

My business is eco-friendly. How do you incorporate this into packaging design and printing?
We love doing sustainable design and printing (or eco-friendly design and printing) because there is lots of room for being really creative. When designing for sustainable packaging we take into consideration the dieline of the box/container/bag. Can we revise the dieline to reduce amount of substrate being used? Then, what are the recyclable materials we can use? What eco-friendly papers can we use and what about soy-based inks? These are some of the questions we start answering.

What kind of website should I get?
Depends on your business goals, what kind of service or product you are selling and budget.
Standard 5-page static website- This is best for small businesses wanting a nice informational website without added features like shopping cart and control over back-end. You will still get a good contact form feature and social media links if needed.
E-Commerce website with CMS- This is best if you are selling various products and would like to be able to add/delete products, prices and such yourself. This kind of website will be a little more of an investment initially, but it will save you tons of money down the line because you will have control over many aspects.
E-Commerce site without CMS- Great option if you are selling products but will not need frequent updating.
Wordpress Blog or Website- This is best if you have a business that creates buzz (for example, boutique PR firm, event planning, wedding planner etc). This will allow you to post photos and blog posts, but still have standard website pages like "about"
and "contact."

How do I get good search engine rankings, good search engine optimization (SEO) for my site?
Your designer/developer must use good SEO practices when programming your site, like using good tags, keywords, page titles and more. Additionally, a website with a blog feed or a website (like a wordpress website) where you have back-end access to add articles, photos, titles etc. is an excellent way to keep content fresh. Offer a FAQ page, newsletter sign-up, and useful resources page.
HOT TIP- Search engines love content-rich websites full of relevant information. Make sure you change articles and keep your content fresh. SEO is an on-going effort, not a one-time deal.

Mili Suleman, freelance graphic designer based out of Dallas, Texas, offers small businesses a one stop shop to boutique style branding and design without the agency price tag. Her specialities include print marketing, packaging design, label design, and product photography. She is Owner and Lead Designer at Schnauz Design.
Mili can be reached at mili@schnauzdesign.com or mobile 817.456.6622.

Packaging Design of English Foods (Biscuits...yummmm)

2011-07-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Almost everyday I indulge in McVities Digestive biscuits with milk. I know, I am 12 (actually, i'm a lot older lol). There is something about dipping those biscuits in milk and letting the days troubles slip away (OMG, now I sound OLD lol). So, when I stopped off in Heathrow a few months ago I must have landed in heaven because I saw all these beautiful packaging designs for english foods, especially the biscuit tins! I love their use of themes and elements from the past and their use of colour. Enjoy!

9 Steps to Creating your Personal Brand

2011-07-02T20:38:00.000-07:00

I came across this posting on another blog and wanted to share... the information in in these short points is invaluable. Most business/marketing books these days will take pages and pages to convey the same information. Creating a personal brand is crucial. Everything plays into this- how you dress, how you answer your phone, your website/blog, your business card, the product/service you are selling. Because a lot of personal branding is kinda abstract, it takes a right-brain person to "get it" and turn the abstract into results. Thanks to http://jorgensundberg.net

9 Steps to Creating your Personal Branding Strategy:
1. Who are You? - what are you skills, passions, do you have a niche?
2. How are You perceived? - what do your friends, professional relations and online search results say about you?
3. What do You want to achieve? - create personal products/services in your field, identify the right market, let your communication be clear and consistent
4. Create Your brand - choose a name/slogan that is easy to remember and says something about you, choose colours accordingly, engage/connect with a personal story
5. Create Your ecosystem - make your blog your #1 communication center, use social network and social media to interact and socialize in
6. Create Your network - follow experts in your field, create relationships, participate in groups & forums, visit networking events in your field
7. Create original content - post valuable content on your blog, post valuable posts on your social networking sites
8. Get involved and share - be active in conversations in social media, leave meaningful content, share valuable information online
9. Listen & monitor - keep a watch on your ratings online, accept and learn from criticism, monitor your brand activity (monitor the buzz, sentiment, analytics)

Visit http://jorgensundberg.net/content/way-personal-branding-infographic for a neat infographic on this.

A Designer's Home Office

2011-06-21T09:19:00.000-07:00

FINALLY I have my own space to conduct meetings and design in. It's not completely ready as I am always looking for personal wall art and small touches, but it's a presentable place for now and I've already had 2 meetings! Just to welcome my clients I keep a fridge stocked with iced tea and drinking water bottles. My candle from Anthropologie is lit 30 mins before they arrive and I keep soft, light classical music in the background. Both meetings have been excellent. I can't wait to add to my collection of finds for the office.

Vintage Book Spines Love

2011-06-05T19:04:00.000-07:00

I am completely obsessed with books, especially the typography, design and fine details associated with books. I found some of these images on the great WWW and wanted to share... Enjoy these lovely vintage book spines

Food Packaging in the MiddleEast- Part I

2011-04-09T08:53:00.000-07:00

So, I am holidaying back home in Oman, which is in the Middle East, incase you are wondering. It is about a 3 hour car drive from Dubai, if that helps. It's funny how growing up I obviously didn't pay attention to anything in particular here pertaining to consumer design. But, now that I live in Texas and am a practicing designer, my eyes are wide open (and camera ready), as I troll down the aisles in

Oman's supermarkets and hypermarkets. I noticed a few things-- food styling is not a huge priority like in the States; packages are very colourful; free promotions are a huge push; food comes from all over Europe, Asia and the MiddleEast, so the packaging has a wide influence and pinpointing a style is hard. This is part one in a series of posts. More to come!

New Label Design

2011-03-27T19:37:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show my latest label design. The client wanted a cowgirl/western/retro-ish look, and this is the end product "Crap Shooter." Funny name, but the product smells good. I've also put a detail of the boot I did designed.

Using Black in Food Packaging

2011-02-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

I was working on a project at work that dealt with using a black container for food packaging. We would need to create graphics that looked good on a black background, still keeping it appetizing. I started doing some research and quickly realized the UK market is way ahead on this trend (aren't they generally more ballsy with their design anyway? lol) Here are some great examples...

A Home Office for the Clients

2011-02-11T13:36:00.000-08:00

As much as I love my current place, I'd love even more to have more ROOM... more room to work in, to exercise in, to do my laundry in, and more room so I can decorate it and meet my clients in my home office instead of a coffee shop. I want a space that is client-proud! Something that will wow them. And I am already gathering my ideas...

Google-y-eyed for Google

2011-02-11T09:42:00.000-08:00

I was so thrilled with the ocean/down under periscope theme of the Google logo the other day, that I decided to compile some of my favourite sketches from the past couple of years. Google plays homage to a variety of different events- literary birthdays, national holidays, global mile markers. There is a little something here for everyone- artsy, scientific, mathematical, linguistic etc. etc. Enjoy!

Italian Food Packaging

2011-01-03T12:44:00.000-08:00

Mulino Bianco is an Italian food company that produces biscuits, breads, and yummy bagged pastries. Below are some examples that exude that wonderful warmth that only comes from a glass of milk and a bag of italian biscuits!

2011 Marketing/Planning for Graphic Designers

2010-12-20T12:50:00.000-08:00

So, 2010 is almost out. It has been the best year for my freelance design business. How? What all did I do? Firstly, I actively spent a lot of time networking & marketing my business. Here are some details on what I did in 2010:
* started a FB page & twitter for my business and updated FB at least once a week
* created a signature for my emails with the FB link
* started an e-newsletter that go out to potential clients and current clients
* did 2 probono projects- one of which turned into actual work later
* designed and printed professional stationery
* designed and printed professional brochures
* mailed out sales letters with brochure and business card every couple of months
* I followed up a lot and really well!
* did a thank you/holiday promotion for all my current clients and strong potential clients
* stayed in touch with industry creatives & recruiters i know
* I attended a few professional groups for networking, but not much

For 2011, I want to do some things in addition to what I already did in 2010 (of course, some things I will continue doing):
* continue e-newsletter, mailings of sales letters/brochures, 2 probono projects, FB page and twitter
* update my website thoroughly & get SEO redone on it
* create a new website for my photography
* back up all my work on a new drive (make disc copies as well)
* do a postcard mailout (still pondering the right occasion, audience)
* network even more- maybe attend more professional groups- meet more creative professionals I can partner with
* I really want to attend a trade show, but still researching
* Dedicate one month as "client appreciation month" and offer current clients 20% off on any service.
* Do an even better holiday/thank you promotion

>> My motto for 2011 is GO, GO, GO! There is no stopping you. If you have already been marketing your services well, ask a friend's opinion on what else you can do to make it go further. Even better, invite some close friends over, bribe them with pizza and drinks, and start a discussion on marketing. Ask them for ideas!

Vintage Spin on Social Media

2010-11-18T09:58:00.000-08:00

I totally love this! It is supposedly done by a Brazilian design firm called Moma.

My Homage to Ayn Rand

2010-11-16T14:42:00.000-08:00

Ayn Rand comes from such an intriguing time and writes about such an intriguing time. I am a HUGE fan of the art deco period and how the geometry, design, aesthetics were so "stoic" in feel. Straight edges, serious lines, and sometimes void-looking expressions. The photographs and designs I've come across from that period reeks of industry, hard work and a tough quality. There is something concrete about it, and I love that.
So, here is a collection of beautiful photographs I found of www.shorpy.com that remind me of the Ayn Rand times.

The Magic of HDR!

2010-11-08T12:11:00.000-08:00

So, I found the simplest video tutorial for HDR processing. This is for a program called Photomatix. Photoshop can also do some HDR, but hey, for $100 this isn't bad!
http://www.hdrsoft.com/videos/videos.php?vid=IntroProMac

Mixed Bag of Inspiration

2010-11-02T13:46:00.001-07:00

Disclaimer: I don't remember where these came from, so I apologize if I get anyone mad because there is no credit provided lol.
I was rummaging through my folders and I had one labeled "random inspiration."
Enjoy!

Idea to Market: Great Pointers from Stephen Key

2010-11-02T13:05:00.000-07:00

Lately I have been toying with the idea of coming up with a product (did I already mention that earlier? lol). Well, being a packaging designer and an entrepreneur by heart, I KNOW it's only a matter of time. I came across a great article that gives some great starting points... It's a really long podcast transcript with lots of "well's"

Podcast Interview Stephen Key (AllBusiness.com's Chris Bjorklund interviews Stephen Key.)

Chris Bjorklund: You're listening to the AllBusiness podcast. I'm Chris Bjorklund. If you're getting this through iTunes and RSS feed or an online streaming-media player, you can hear interviews with other experts at AllBusiness.com.

Bjorklund: Stephen Key, a successful inventor with a 20-year track record, has made millions licensing his ideas to corporations around the world. Several of his products have been endorsed by celebrities such as Michael Jordan and Alex Trebek. Steven teaches others his system for selling ideas with very little money through his company called InventRight. Stephen, I suppose when you meet people at parties or on planes and they learn what you do, you must find that they always want to tell you about some great idea they have but it never got off the ground, is that true?

Stephen Key: That's absolutely true, Chris. Everybody, I think, has an idea. Or they know somebody that has an idea. So it's a lot of fun, because I love talking about it.

Bjorklund: Do you find that people actually have a lot of unrealistic notions or fantasies about making millions on the next great thing?

Key: Absolutely. You know, you always read about these stories of someone making millions and millions of dollars from their ideas. It does happen but there's a lot of other stories that you don't hear about and it takes some work. It does take some work.

Bjorklund: Now, Oprah has the feature called Million Dollar Moms. I mean, this idea is really spread through the media.

Key: It's actually become very, very popular now. There's a lot of talk shows and TV shows about bringing your ideas to market so I think it's great. I'm excited about that. People are excited about it.

Bjorklund: Now you don't, you are an inventor but you really prefer to talk about ideas. Why is that?

Key: Well, everybody says, "Steve you're an inventor." You know, I'm just a guy with ideas and they're simple ideas and what I like to do is look at the marketplace and come up with ideas that aren't, let's say they aren't new. I'm not going to reinvent the wheel but I'm going to add value to this old idea.

Bjorklund: Can you give us an example of something that you were, a successful idea that you have marketed?

Key: Absolutely. Currently I'm in the musical-accessory business and we sell guitar picks and of course, people have been selling guitar picks for years. Although we just changed the shape and now we have guitar picks in the shape of like Mickey Mouse and skulls and things like that and we sell millions and we just took an order from Wal-Mart so we took an old idea and we just polished it up a little bit.

Bjorklund: That's amazing!

Key: I am a little surprised too. But I think it's--if you find something that's already working and you can bring some new technology to it or find maybe an old, tired idea and just polish it up a little bit. It's easier to get that to the marketplace.

Bjorklund: So let's say I have an idea now. Now what do I do?

Key: Well, you know, the first thing, well the first mistake a lot of people with ideas is that they go out and they file a patent or they call an attorney. And what we like to do, what I like to share with everybody is say like, "Slow down and let's study the marketplace first." And the first thing I have, people that want to get involved in this is that they go down to the local store that you think your product could sell, where it would be on a rack. Go down there, take a look around and visualize your idea there. And then look at all the other ideas that are close to it. That will give you, you know, a pretty good idea of do you have a good idea, number one, is it different? Does it have the benefits that the other ones don't have? But also that's also going to show you or tell you what you throw with the package. Who are the companies I need to call? So the first step is slow down, don't run out and file for a patent. Do your homework. It's going to save you a lot of heartache and a lot of money.

Bjorklund: I think some people get overwhelmed because they have too many ideas.

Key: Well, you know, that's very, very true. Because if you have one, you going to have more and once you get in this whole process, you're going to see a lot of opportunity or a lot of problems. But you have to be very careful. You have to be very, very selective and pick the idea that it's going to be a little easier to bring to the market.

Bjorklund: What are some of the ways to bring a product to the market that maybe people, they may be familiar with some of the ways, some may be obvious but maybe some aren't so obvious.

Key: Well, you know, that's a great question. A lot of people think that, Gee, I'm just going to start to manufacture. I come up with an idea, file for a patent and I'm just going to start marketing this and sell it myself. Wow! That's hard work. That takes a lot of capital. That takes a lot of experience and you have to wear all these different hats. What I've done in the last 20 years is very, very simple. I come up with an idea. I study the marketplace first. I file up a provisional patent that allows me to put patent pending on my idea. And then I put together a sell sheet which really states the benefit of my idea and I start to show companies. Because, Chris, what I want to get, I want to get a green light from companies that I'm on track. And this is called licensing. Because what I want to do is I want to show a company this idea, show them how to make money, so if they like it they're going to license that idea from me and pay me royalties.

Bjorklund: So you don't need to be an inventor to license products?

Key: No! What you need to do is understand that you're really selling benefits. And if you can look at a marketplace and find some hold and show a company, "Gee, if you change this, you're going to make more money at the end of the day." And then what you're going to do is basically rent your idea to this company and they're going to pay you royalties. That's kind of simplified but that's about how easy it can be. I've had a couple of ideas. One of them was called the Michael Jordan Wall Ball, which is a very simple basketball game that I had shown to a toy company and within three days I had a contract. And I actually didn't have any protection whatsoever and it sold for 10 years at Wal-Mart.

Bjorklund: No!

Key: It was a very, very simple idea but I showed the company how they could leverage the Michael Jordan license that they did have and how they could reduce their packaging a little bit but I gave them something new. And it worked and it was quite successful.

Bjorklund: You can sell other people's ideas then, to a point?

Key: Well, you know, the toy company has a license of Michael Jordan and they also had this product on the market. I actually just freshened it up a little bit.

Bjorklund: Is this where you throw your laundry into the hoop?

Key: Well, you know what you do? You know what's fun about this? And I think, anybody that has an idea out there can play these games. And I play these games myself, you know, what if, or mix and match. These are creative games that I've learned along the way that you can look at a product and just dream and come out with different ways it could be used or maybe if I added this or maybe if I did this. And then come out with ideas and have fun. Find that child and they--you never know what happens, Chris. Because sometimes a good idea pops.

Bjorklund: You know, Stephen, you touched on this a little earlier about, you know, the kinds of things you need to say to a manufacturer to get them to want your idea. One is about the dollars here, right?

Key: Yes it is.

Bjorklund: The benefits.

Key: It's always about the dollars.

Bjorklund: Dollars, benefits, dollars, that's it.

Key: Yes, what you, you know, what I've learned over 20 years is that you need to--you're selling benefits and you need to realize who's going to be in that room that when your prototype or your sell sheet, whatever your idea is, lands on that room and they're looking at it. And you know who's in the room and you want to get all those people to say, "Yes, this is a good idea. Let's go for it."

Bjorklund: Do you find it's hard for people--in a minute by the way, we want to bring on a guest who has some ideas himself so we want to talk about that--but do you find that sometimes people getting back to the really the original, the first step, which is do your homework in the marketplace, do you find that people don't want to let go of their ideas either very easily, that they have gone out maybe not gotten the kind of feedback they had hoped for or they've looked around the marketplace and they realize maybe their competing with a big player and their product isn't that much better or different but they still can't let go.

Key: You know, exactly what happens is that they have so much time and money invested in their idea that once they hit a couple of roadblocks along the way, sometimes they don't know, this is maybe a sign for me to stop and do something else. That's why I think that if you just take a minute and really understand your product and understand the benefits and understand the marketplace, that you will not rush out and spend those dollars on protection and some of the other things or on a prototype. Instead, study the marketplace, understand the benefits and get some green lights first before you invest so heavily your emotions and dollars and the rest of the stuff.

Bjorklund: Let's bring on another guest right now. His name is Ray, he's from Santa Clara, California, and Ray, you have been coming up with some new product ideas, it's sort of a spare-time thing for you, and you're working full time at a major company but doing this kind of thing on the side. Welcome to the AllBusiness podcast.

Ray: Well, thank you very much.

Bjorklund: What are you working on right now? Tell us about it.

Ray: Well, right now, like you said, I do come up with a lot of ideas. I like to invent things in the office organizers and stuff like that and I have a product right, that I'm working on that I'm really excited about. I'm just kind of not sure of what I should do next because, you know, I do have limited time and money but I do feel very optimistic about this product. I'm just not sure, you know, whether to do the licensing route or the venturing-it-myself route but what are some things I should consider when trying to make that decision?

Bjorklund: Stephen, this is for you, you got some free advice for Ray?

Key: That's a great question, Ray. I think at the very beginning, you're right, there's a path. There's actually two roads you could take. And one would be licensing and one would be, you know, manufacturing it yourself. I think if you do your homework first and understand where your idea is going to be placed, how big the market is, how much competition there is, you know, what is it going to cost the manufacturers, some of the real basic stuff up front, that's going to paint the picture for you to decide, Gee, you know, do I want to go ahead and manufacture it myself? Do I have the money to do that or would I rather license? Something that's a little bit less risky? You can always go down the road of licensing first and see what the experts say about your idea and you can use that information then decide if you want to license it or manufacture it yourself. So basically, either road that you take, Ray, the first thing I would suggest is really understand the marketplace and, you know, go to the trade shows that are available out there. Understand everything you can about your idea and how it is sold and who is selling it so you can make some smart decisions at the very beginning.

Bjorklund: Ray, I'm wondering if you have set aside a certain amount of money for this to budget or for your invention or you're just going to sort of see where this takes you?

Ray: Well, that's a good question. I mean, the product, I mean, kind of becomes your baby and you know, you keep throwing at it, trying to hope that something will happen and I'm just in that stage right now where I, you know, I keep refining my prototype and spending more and more money on it. When do know when it's good enough? When should I stop or, you know.

Key: That's a, you know, that's an also wonderful question because what happens is that because you don't have some of the information a lot of inventors or people's ideas just keep refining their prototype. I believe you can actually--you're your idea, or license your idea without even a prototype. Now sometimes you have to build one just to test it out to make sure, yes, it's right. But your prototype or your idea should have the benefits that you should be able to describe your idea in one sentence and that one sentence should describe the benefits. And so you should be able to get some green lights out there, Ray, just try describing your idea to people and see if that wow factor comes up. "Wow, I like that!" And work on that part of it. A lot of it comes down to selling. I know prototypes. I like making prototypes but at the end of the day, sometimes you spend too much time there and you need to concentrate on other areas.

Bjorklund: I'm Chris Bjorklund and this is an AllBusiness podcast with inventor Stephen Key from a company called InventRight and Ray, who is trying to get one of his inventions to market. Ray?

Ray: OK.

Bjorklund: I'm wondering if you can tell us if you've thought of any of the benefits of this product that you could share with us or you don't want to give this kind of thing away?

Ray: Well, yeah, I've thought about it a little bit. It's probably not as developed as it should be but it does help people save time by increasing, you know, how organized they are and that's probably the basic fundamental benefit.

Key: Well, that's a huge benefit and whenever you're saving someone time, energy and effort, right away, it starts to paint the picture for people. "Here, my product will save you time and money." Or, "My product will save you the frustration." Those are, you know, things that are very easy to explain to someone and show them the benefits of your idea. Absolutely.

Bjorklund: Ray, do you find that you have to be, you know, that you want to talk to people about this but you really can't?

Ray: Yeah, that's the classic inventor problem is that I have all these ideas but I don't know, you know, who I can talk to because I'm afraid people, you know, like taking the idea and running with it. I understand that, you know, you shouldn't go into the patent stuff because it's very expensive right off but what about provisional patents?

Key: You know, Ray, provisional patents are a wonderful tool especially if you're starting out and you have to do some more work and more homework and you want to test the waters with your ideas. And you can file a provisional patent yourself or I think under $150 or so. It's very, very affordable. There's some great books and software out there that you can follow. You can actually do it yourself and you'll learn a lot by doing it. But you're right, that's a great tool and it will allow you to share your idea and get the feedback that you need and feel like you've got some protection. And that actually, when you file a provisional, you can actually put patent pending on your idea. So it is powerful and it does give you the protection or the security that you need. But you're right. Every inventor is a little scared that someone's going to, you know, take my idea. And I think this will help.

Bjorklund: Now, Stephen, I've heard that 97 percent of all patents never make more money than the inventor spent on the patent?

Key: Yes. And so something is very, very wrong and that's why I think it's important to get this information out to people and say, look, the old method of filing a patent doesn't just work. You have to do some work up front and that's studying the marketplace, do your homework first, file a provisional, get the green lights. But everybody, you know, there's this fear thing that, no, I need the protection. And that's, you know to bring the product to market, the protection part of it is such a small part but most people really get hung up there. And you know, that costs a lot of money.

Bjorklund: Ray, have you been to an attorney yet with any of your previous inventions or have you had to put money out for a lawyer yet?

Ray: No, I haven't gotten to that stage yet.

Bjorklund: And is that necessary, Stephen, that when do you involve an attorney because you can do this patent stuff yourself, right? File patents?

Key: You know, I'm not an attorney and you know, connective legal advice, I stay away from some of those questions. But I can tell everybody this: learn as much as you can about patents and provisional patents. All the things are available to you for protection from trademarks to copyrights before you call an attorney. It will save you so much time. Educate yourself. There's some great books out there. So no, I would say, don't just pick up a phone and call an attorney. Half the stuff that he'll be telling you will sound like it's a different language and he's trying to sell you on his services so like anything else, do your homework up front. Find an attorney that if you want to hire one, find one that can work within your budget and ask them, you know, how do they work? Working with attorneys, that's a whole other topic that you need to manage like you would manage any other part of the process.

Bjorklund: Well, let's pretend that Ray's idea is getting some interest. Can we take it to the next level? Stephen, someone is interested now.

Key: OK.

Bjorklund: I mean, let's play out this fantasy.

Key: That's great. OK. You do all your work. You send it into a company. They call you back and say, "Ray, we like what you have." Now Ray, maybe he's done some of the correct steps. He has filed for a provisional himself but now he's got a big company that's interested. You know, what I have done, once I get those green lights. I have some attorneys now that I do call and say, "Look, I've got someone on the hook and they're interested. Please look at my provisional. What do I need to do to take that provisional and possibly turn that into a regular application?" That's how I use the system. So I can get some green lights from somebody first.

Bjorklund: I would imagine if you're negotiating with a really large company, you're at a huge disadvantage if you don't have that kind of backup.

Key: No, you know, you are in that, if you filed a provisional, that's still a great tool. I never tell the companies that I have a provisional. I share with them that I am developing my intellectual property protection and then I get my attorneys online and we start developing that. The last thing you want to do is show a company your patent application and the claims. So you always are holding things back from them to play this game and that's a very interesting topic of how to cut those deals and how to play that game because it's a big game.

Bjorklund: It's a dance.

Key: It is a dance and it's--you don't want to step on anybody's toes but it's a long dance so you just need to be careful. You need to find someone out there that you can trust. You need to get some good information. You need to find someone who has done it before.

Bjorklund: What about licensing agreements, let's say, you're approaching that kind of thing with a company. Are there typical terms for licensing agreements?

Key: You know, yes, yes. The most important to an inventor is a royalty right. That's one of the terms. There is a list of terms such as minimum guarantees, royalty rates, territory, length of contract, all these things are very, very standard. But at the end of the day, you have to think, What do I want from this? What's going to satisfy me? And so, that's where it becomes a business decision to like give them an exclusive where they're the only ones that can use my product or then give them a nonexclusive. Or what is the royalty rate? Or is that that important? Maybe the minimum guarantees that guaranteed incomes, that's more important to me than a higher royalty rate. These are questions you're going to ask yourself and this is the time you need to find someone that has done the dance. Because they're going to share with you some of the pitfalls, some of the things to be aware of. And it doesn't have to be complicated but it's going to seem like a whole new world that you just live it so you need some help.

Bjorklund: Ray, have you thought about any of this part yet or you're still focused on that prototype?

Ray: I'm still focused on my prototype.

Bjorklund: Alright. Well, and Stephen, in your 20 years, you've done a lot of dancing here?

Key: I like, this is the part I enjoy the most because what I've realized with the experience I have with licensing that most of the companies I'm dealing with don't have that type of experience and so I understand how to reduce the risk for them to get them to say yes even when it comes to a contract. Because at the end of the day, you need for someone to take your product, champion your idea and bring it to market. So you have understand the dance and you have to be able to reduce the risk.

Bjorklund: Where does good faith enter into all this? I mean, you know, you want to keep them honest and you want to act in good faith, does that play into--I mean, there's got to be a relationship here too. I mean, it is business but...

Key: Well, it's very--you know, they're not your friends, OK? Let's make that a lot clear.

Bjorklund: OK, that's true.

Key: OK, a good business deal is good for both parties and so I think the attitude that I always have when I walk into a situation like this is: "Look, we've got to make this work for all of us." And the question you always want to ask them is that, "What are your needs? What are you looking for?" And that's the best way to start that conversation up. That way, you're getting the clear picture of what their needs are and you try to make that fit. And my attitude is always we will find a way to make this work.

Bjorklund: So Stephen, what is your next best idea coming up? Can you share that or you don't want to say?

Key: No, you know, I think what's interesting about it. I am very open to sharing my ideas because I've realized that, you know, ideas, it takes more than just an idea to bring it to market. So I'm very open with my ideas and sharing them because I know how hard it is to bring it to market. What's my next idea? We're just very excited. We've just landed our product in Wal-Mart. That's for the learning curve. I'm a Disney licensee, so now I'm on the other side of the fence. So there's always new things to learn. I love bringing a product to market. If it's either my product or even somebody else's, just to watch it. It's exciting. It's an art and it's a wonderful dance if it works. It's beautiful music if it works.

Bjorklund: Ray, do you have any last questions for Stephen?

Key: Yeah, I do, I mean, the information here has been like really, really helpful and how can I learn more about, you know, the dance and the art of getting the product to market and dealing with these vendors?

Bjorklund: The first thing I would suggest for anybody that has an idea: go on the internet and find people that are in the business of bringing products to market but be careful because as everybody knows there's companies out there that I don't think they're really helping. So like anything else, kick the tires, do the research but don't this alone. You don't have to and, you know, go out and join an inventor's group. They're in just about every city. If not, if you cannot find one, Google some information on the internet and find people that are doing it and ask a lot of questions.

Ray: OK.

Bjorklund: I can see why inventors need support groups. That's for sure.

Key: You know, they really do.

Bjorklund: They do!

Key: But they--I think, my father gave me some advice many, many years ago. He said, "Look, whatever you want to do in life, find something that you love but also find someone that's doing it and get as close as you can to them. That will help you on your road because they've already traveled it." So don't travel down this road by yourself. You need a road map and you need a travel guide and find one. They're out there. They're out there.

Bjorklund: And your company website?

Key: My company website's called inventright.com and we do have programs where we educate people with ideas and how to do it and how to avoid the pitfalls. Yes, and it's a site that will help people with ideas.

Bjorklund: inventright.com. Thanks, Stephen and Ray for talking to us and especially good luck to Ray.

Ray: Thank you so much.

Bjorklund: Alright.

Key: Thank you very much.

Bjorklund: You've been listening to an AllBusiness podcast with Stephen Key, an experienced product developer who teaches others his system for selling ideas through his company, InventRight. If you have comments on this show or want to recommend guests for future podcasts, send your emails to podcasts@allbusiness.com. I'm Chris Bjorklund, thanks for listening.

Studio Spotlight: Cartolina cards

2010-10-26T09:54:00.000-07:00

Cartolina Cards are designed and produced in British Columbia by graphic designer Fiona Richards. These have the "Papaya" cards look to them, but more simple. Which is why I love the cards so much. And now they have an iPhone app where you can send a beautiful card/message to someone! A beautiful combination of colour, ephemera-style work. Check it out www.cartolina.com

Guerrilla Tips for Direct Mail Success

2010-10-19T12:01:00.000-07:00

Taken from Jay Conrad Levinson's site www.gmarketing.com. Great tips for direct mail success:
1. Before you write, do a couple hours of research. Ask a handful of your current customers to tell you in their own words what they like most about doing business with you. Use those words when you ask them. What they will tell you will be the most important benefits they perceive. Use those benefits to start your letter.
2. Come up with a really dynamite reason for someone to respond to the letter. Make an extraordinary offer. Find a new and appealing way to bundle together a number of your product or services. Or offer special payment terms. Or an unusual guarantee.
3. When you start writing, use short words and short sentences. People can't, won't, and don't read long, complicated stuff. Not if they don't have to. They won't read your letter unless it's EASY to read.
4. Count the number of "you's" and "your's" in the letter. Your letter should have at least twice as many "you's" and "your's" as "I's," "we's," "me's," "our's" and your company's name. A ratio of four to one is even better. When they read your letter, your customers like it when you talk about their dreams, their problems, solutions you can provide to their problems, and the benefits they will receive. And they will show their appreciation -- with sales!
5. Whatever you do, DON'T mail it out the minute after you write it. No matter how good a writer you are! Let it sit a day or two. Then, rewrite your letter to make it simpler, clearer and more compelling. After that, read it out loud. Then, show your letter to some customers. If their reaction is "interesting" or "well written," you may have a loser on your hands. A sales letter isn't an essay. It's a sales piece, first and foremost. So, after reading, if your customers say, "How can I get one of those?" -- they want to buy what you're offering -- you've got yourself a guerrilla letter.
6. Check to see if it's clear what you're offering and how a reader can take you up on the offer. One great way to find out is to have a child read your letter. Children often see the obvious that adults -- caught up in the more abstract problems and distractions of life -- miss.
7. Do a test mailing and measure the results. Don't send out all your letters at once. Just send out a few dozen. Or a few hundred. When the results come in -- when your mail is good, they'll come in fast -- then do the math.

Silhouette Packaging

2010-10-15T07:18:00.000-07:00

Sometimes something as simple and elegant as a silhouette can enhance the design of a package. But silhouettes aren't limited to the black coloured side profile picture of the little girl we so often think of when we think of "silhouette." Here are some great examples taken from www.dieline.com showing the application of silhouettes.

Creative Home Offices in Small Spaces

2010-10-01T14:44:00.000-07:00

I love looking at creative spaces where people do their daily blogging, hash out those weekend budgets, or whatever else they do at their computers everyday. Being a designer, it's important to have a creative space. Even a small desk with a computer on it can be made more inspiring by hanging a simple art print over it. Or a shelf with a line of books. Heck, even a succulent would do! I am totally going to re-do my area this weekend and I will post my pics to this collection. These lovely inspirations are from various users on Flickr!
From user "It's great to be home"

From user "liza-monette"

From user "byron edwards"

From user "zoo press"

From user "define 1 lady"

From user "Paper & Ink Studio"

From user "Steppie"

Winning Books!

2010-09-16T11:46:00.000-07:00

I am always on the hunt for a damn-good read on business, motivation... anything to keep me going. These are my winners... some are classics, some are recent. But all are really, really good.

10 Guerrilla Marketing Tactics for Designers

2010-09-09T10:15:00.000-07:00

I found this article on Guerrilla Freelancing's website. Some are great, some are eh, not that great. Of course, it's all a starting point... pick one and run with it.

1. Offer free hosting for every 1st time client meeting – The main goal is to get time with the prospect and sell them your services right? A 2-3 minute conversation might not get them to buy, but a 30-60 minute meeting with them could definitely persuade them into hiring you. So offer every prospective client free hosting (3 months, 6 months, your choice) just for having the meeting.
2. Give something else away for free – Do you create custom wordpress designs? Why not create a free theme and give it away? The publicitity from it, the link backs and the traffic are sure to land you some new leads/sales. The same can be true for texture packs, brush sets, free fonts, ect.
3. Cover your car in vinyl – You’ve got the design skills right? You’re a designer afterall, so why not create the design for a kick ass vinyl piece to cover the back half, side or entire car! It’s inexpensive and will be advertisement for you wherever you go.
4. Business Cards in Library Books – Find the beginner xhtml/css or web design for dummies books and put your business cards inside them in every library you can get to. This way, anyone looking for them books to do their own website will instantly be met with a way to get out of reading the book and trying to do it themselves.
5. T-Shirts for the homeless – Take your design skills and create a design for some t-shirts, get them printed and then go pass them out to the homeless. If you’re able to do 100 or so t-shirts you could probably even get media coverage for doing it.
6. Stickers EVERYWHERE – Bands and record companies use stickers a lot – and for good reason. They’re relatively cheap, easy to place and can be everywhere you want them to be. Pass some out to your friends/family and have them put them up as well. Have family in a different state? Send them some in the mail and have them place the stickers around town.
7. Customer of the Month vouchers – Design some nice coupons you can print out (use a business card printer as they’re perfect size for people to carry around) and allow them to use it for a discount or pass them out to others so their friends/family can get the discount.
8. Display your toolbox – Taking a tool box (a real one for hammers, screw drivers, ect) and placing it open in an area your target market will frequently come with different tools of your trade (ie: business cards so they can contact you, pencils & paper, computer mouse, ect). This will work especially well if a toolbox is something not found normally where you have it (ie: coffee shop). Inside the top of the toolbox thats open and facing the people coming up to it, you can have a note similar to “The tools of my trade – Custom Web Designs”.
9. Show off your package – No, not that package ;) For those of us who design packaging for clients (ie: boxes for products, ect), why not create a mock up box and get a bunch of them printed up and place them inside different grocery stores or places where your target market will frequently visit.
10. Free web consulting – Allow potential customers to have 30-60 minutes of your time for free. Absolutely free, no questions asked. Do not push your services on them at all. Leave them with a business card and notes from the conversation and be on your way. This selfless giving will leave an impression on the potential client and will also showcase your knowledge of the web and what you COULD be doing for them – if they were to hire you. They’ll most likely feel so happy with the conversation that they almost feel obligated to hire you for their web design as a way to pay you back for your time you gave them.

Photographer Spotlight: Burcu Avsar

2010-09-08T14:20:00.000-07:00

I just drool over some of the photography and layouts in Real Simple and Blue Print (back when). I came across Burcu Avsar's work (born and raised in Turkey and moved to NY in 1998)... I shot her an email and after a few brief emails back and forth, I started to follow her work (I said follow, not stalk lol). I am always looking for great ideas in photography; what kind of layouts to do, backgrounds to use etc. Here is some delicious inspiration from her work....

Saying Thank You to Clients

2010-08-25T13:59:00.000-07:00

Today is the first cloudy, rainy, sneak peek of fall day in Dallas. To me, that is unfortunate, 'cause I love the scorching heat. But most people love Fall; a reminder that the season of giving is approaching. I am thinking wayyy ahead... on how to thank my clients during the holiday season. And if you're not big on holiday gift giving and want to stand out some other time of the year, do a Client Appreciation month and send your gifts out then. You can even throw in a coupon for a discount if you do that.

Here are some things to consider when tailoring gift giving for your clients:
-You can either go "one size fits all" or individualize the gifts
-How much has each client spent with you and how much business do you anticipate with that client in the next 3 months?
-Determine your budget- keep a low number and high number (the least and most you want to spend)
-How large is the clients own network of influential persons?
(The previous two questions determine how much you ought to spend on that client if individualizing gifts).
-What is the client's business? What are his or her interests/hobbies? This should also help pick choosing a gift if individualizing.

Some neat ideas:
Two gift certificates to the Angelika movie theatre or any independent theatre
Wine bottle with a label designed by you
Almond bark, cookies or such holiday confections wrapped with a special tag designed by you
A great business audiobook
A great coffee table book related to their industry
An interesting and related magazine subscription for a year (one you know the client probably doesn't already get!)
Harry & David goodie bag
Crate & Barrel holiday champagne glasses

Eye Candy for Small Spaces

2010-08-24T14:56:00.001-07:00

I came across a most wonderful site http://www.smallplacestyle.blogspot.com
It's FILLED with the best small space ideas I've found on any website! I like collecting small things like glassware, vintage random objects and books of course. All this collecting, looking, surfing, only adds to my inspirations. It really makes me a better designer ultimately.

Do Not Eat!

2010-08-21T14:58:00.001-07:00

You know those bath & body products and candles that are packaged like little yummy edible treats and smell like a pastry shop? Well, I found another one of those brands called FarmHouseFresh Goods and their bath & body products are delicious looking.
I was asked to shoot some of their products this weekend and here are some of the results. Visit their site and check out the publicity they've gotten.

A Great Option for In-Store Signage

2010-08-05T14:17:00.000-07:00

I recently did a new logo for a company selling baby shoes... Wee Squeak. Ya, I know... it's cute :-) The shoes DO squeak and I learned that the squeak valve can be taken to stop the squeaking. I contacted this company called Signs of Perfection who turned my logo into a beautiful in-store sign. It's good depth, it's a lot more substantial than foam core and they colour matched my PMS colours.
Take a look...

Launching a Product Line on Etsy

2010-07-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

So, have you ever dreamed of creating a line of products that you've poured hours of your time into and setting up a brilliantly successful shop in cyberspace? Whether it be through your own e-commerce website or through something like Etsy, it's a pretty neat thing to see come to life. From the idea to the implementation, it's a wonderful thing if you have the time, imagination and a small amount of money to start it.
I get that itch to DO even more than I am right now every now and then. To make that line of products, brand it, market it and finally see the smile on someone's face when they pick it up to buy. And Etsy is my favourite haunt to see this process come to life. Their blog had a great article on launching a product line. Here are some great tips:

Seller "laigrai" on Etsy: "Don't forget to keep your story in mind while creating. I started projecting and imagining where the pieces live, ideally almost from the beginning. I was picturing log cabins and rustic settings. You need to make sure the 'set' suits and highlights your first descriptive words and your actual completed pieces' aesthetic. It helps to purchase props that enhance the mood of the line. It helped me to do a few shoots with just props, essentially to see if they were working to flush out my concept (rather than cluttering)."Seller "FallenAngelBrass" on Etsy: "Having a clear presentation of your product is essential. So is presenting a shop vibe. Our product is new but aged, so our whole shop look is antiqued, from the font of our shop banner to the background papers used for our product photos. You want people to just 'get it' without having to read a thing."
Seller "Artmind" on Etsy: "Blog about the work in progress ahead of time. It piques people's curiousity and interest. When creating a line with fellow Etsy seller LilaRubyKing we decided to keep our collaboration secret and started referring to it as ‘the secret project' on my blog. I started making samples in my studio, showed pictures and shared processes on my blog. We made people guess who was my collaborating partner and the first one to guess right got a creation from our collaborative work."
Seller "thestapeliacompany" on Etsy: "Design packaging that goes with the new products and photograph the products in that packaging so it ties everything together. Come up with a name for your line that carries through all your packaging. Also, I design a promo product photo that uses the same colors and has text over it describing the new items briefly. I use this on Facebook and I send it to blogs to quickly announce the new items."

Rethinking PRICE

2010-07-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

I came across a great little article from the Toilet Paper Entrepreneur blog (yeah, you read that right). It's quick little tips and short articles... perfect for that juice in the middle of a busy day.

Rethinking PRICE

Here is a little food for thought. Price is always the last consideration when making a purchase.
Customers only care about the price once they know, or better said THINK we know, what they are getting. I mean, have you ever said “How much does it cost?” when you didn’t even know what “it” is. Of course not. You first have to know the “it” before you ask the price.
For example, if I said, “it” costs $25 dollars. You would say, what costs $25 dollars. But, if I said the “it” is a can of Spaghettio’s and it costs $25, you would then know what you are getting. And you would probably conclude $25 is a rip off. If I said that the “it” is a can of Spaghettio’s that was found behind that stage at the original Woodstock festival, and Janis Joplin autographed it, then you might conclude $25 is a steal.
Same Spaghettio’s, different details, resulting in a different price consideration. Consumers justify spending money based upon their understanding of what they are getting. I mean, duh! The next time your customer asks “what’s the price?” they are telling you they believe they have all the information they need.
The thing is, if they don’t know much, they won’t be willing to spend much. If you want to sell for top dollar (and you should), you must first share all the details on what makes you unique. Then and only then explain the price.
Don’t just be a can of Spaghettio’s. Be a once lost, but now found, autographed Janis Joplin can of Spaghettio’s.

The Baby Shoes Shoot!

2010-07-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

So, I am not a baby fan, but I am a baby shoes fan... especially these ones. I did the styling and photoshoot today for a client in Lakewood. These are sooo adorable!
Finding the right surfaces and props was a challenge. I spent almost a day looking for the right things. "Curiosities" in lakewood had exactly the kind of antique toys I was looking for, but they were super expensive. So, I settled for "Froggies" on Knox/75. For surfaces, I bought papers from Paper Source.

Why a Logo?

2010-07-18T09:56:00.000-07:00

Very nice article on how to talk to your clients about WHY they need a QUALITY logo
Article written by Claudia Winifred
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Claudia_Winifred

"I own a small business. Do I need a logo design?"

This is a question you are likely to hear from an entrepreneur who hasn't yet realized the importance of a quality logo. Tell me something: How do people (family and friends) recognize you? They, of course, look at your face and know who you are. You recognize them the same way i.e. by looking at their face.

So, how do you expect your business to become memorable? How do you expect people to recognize your products? How do you expect people to know that you created a particular product? To achieve recognition, your business also needs a face, so people can look at it and know it's yours.

How do you give your business a face? The answer is simple: You do it by creating a logo design to represent your business. Now, if you start walking around in untidy clothes, what will people think of you? They will say you are not professional. The same way, if you don't give a nice and attractive look to your logo, then your business will not look reliable and trustworthy.

This is the reason why you need to work hard to create a top quality logo design to give an attractive face to your business that people will like, admire and trust.

Let's take a look at big organizations and see how important logo design is to them. Tell me, have you ever seen a famous business without a logo? When you watch a commercial, you recognize the business by its logo. So, all the big and famous businesses have a logo.

Let's talk about Pepsi's logo now. They don't need any introduction. They are known worldwide, but they still changed their logo and spent millions of dollars on changing the stuff that had their logo imprinted on. This is a clear example of the importance of this small piece of design. If a company like Pepsi is paying attention to it, then it means it is not something that can be neglected, especially by small businesses.

If you own a small business, you must be cautious about how you spend your funds. You don't want to waste any money and, actually, this is how it is supposed to be. You should wisely spend your money on things you really need and avoid those things that are not necessary.

Logo design is an important part of your business. It helps you achieve recognition. Hence, you can't afford to neglect this important part of your business.

The best part is that logo designs are not expensive now. If you didn't bother looking into it because of high price, then you made a big mistake. A little research on Google will help you find dozens of affordable companies.

After you find an affordable company, ensure that you check out their portfolio. You just don't want an affordable logo, you also want a top quality logo. Hence, it is crucial to judge their credibility by analyzing their portfolio.

What is Strobe Lighting?

2010-07-17T10:49:00.000-07:00

So, I know it appears like this is becoming a photography blog only, but it's NOT. I am temporarily in a learning zone with many aspects of photography, which is why it's showing up more here. What good information I am coming across, I am sharing :-)
>> This brings me to a confession: I was too ashamed to ask anyone what on earth strobe lighting was and I looked for a good explaination for a while. Finally, found one:
http://askville.amazon.com/strobe-lighting/AnswerViewer.do?requestId=64276194

Shooting Tethered with a Canon Rebel XTi

2010-07-12T08:50:00.000-07:00

I came across an awesome article for shooting tethered using the exact camera I own.
Shooting in this manner is something I am just getting into, so this has been immensely helpful. Here is the site: http://pixellevel.com/thoughts/?p=5

Cheaper Options to Lighting for Beginner Photographers

2010-07-11T20:49:00.001-07:00

I am on a crazy hunt for some easy, but decent lighting solutions. I am looking for the best lighting setup within budget that is easy to use and move but can also provide some durability and versatility.

SOLUTION 1:
This is The Lowell Ego Lights solution (under $400) from http://steamykitchen.com

SOLUTION 2:
This is the Lowell Tota lights with umbrellas solution (under $400) from http://www.laraferroni.com/2010/02/05/mailbag-budget-lighting-options/
And she has some great articles by the way!

SOLUTION 3:
This is an awesome product photography setup solution in a closet! (under $200)
Read full article here: http://www.telovation.com/articles/closet-photography-studio.html

A Day of Food Styling and Photography

2010-07-10T18:55:00.000-07:00

A couple of days ago I attended my very first full day one-on-one (totally awesome) food styling and food photography workshop with Paul Schiefer in Dallas (also starring Molly Donohue and Stephen Smith). I learned a whole bunch of things I had always wanted to learn... how to do daylight-style lighting inside a studio, how to recreate soft/golden images that give that feeling of warmth and how those perfect splash photos are taken! I took some quick photos to show the kind of lighting set-ups Paul demonstrated.

Lighting for daylight style food photography & the result:

Lighting for soft/warm style food photography & the result (camera was on the right of the table):

Doing it Betty Crocker style!

2010-07-09T08:51:00.000-07:00

We did a 50s shoot yesterday for program book for the Culinary Celebration in Southlake this year. The organizers wanted an Andy Griffith "Mayberry-ish" theme and we figured Little Bundt Cake would be the idea location. We bought the dresses from ModCloth.com and spent about 2 hours on location styling and shooting. What do you think... convincing enough? What else would you have done?

Kanzashi in Bloom

2010-07-01T07:29:00.001-07:00

My mom recently bought this book which has the most lovely fabric treasures in it. So, I went online and found a whole pool of crafters on flickr who found themselves inspired by the "Kanzashi in Bloom" book and craft. Not that I have the patience to do this lol... but can you imagine the wonderful combinations of fabrics, buttons and jeweled nick nacks you can use!

Dallas Trade Show Designs

2010-06-26T16:37:00.001-07:00

I attended the Dallas Summer Trade Show today and saw the candle packaging designs I had done all boxed and finished... they looked great.
The line is for Bec&Chelle candles and their focus is faith based candles. The packaging had spot varnish on it too so there was a nice matte + gloss feel to it.
The silver box line is the holiday line which looked spectacular. The boxes were full gloss with and ornament balls are available in jewel tones- opal, seagreen, magenta and amethyst.

Using a Creative Brief for Graphic Design

2010-06-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

Here is the brief I've developed to use with my clients.

CREATIVE BRIEF
Design is a process and a subjective process at that. This brief helps bridge some of that, and helps us develop design that will resonate with your customers. Please be as detailed as possible.

COMPANY PROFILE
Sometimes companies assume people are aware of their purpose. Don’t assume because incorrect assumptions can lead to wasted time. Be as detailed as possible as this is crucial to getting us started in the right direction.
1. Company name
2. Full Address and tel. number
3. Website
4. contact person for this project (name, tel and email addresses)
5. brief intro about your business
6. brief history about your business

MARKET POSITION
It is essential we know about what your position is in the market and what your competitors are doing. This will help us with the designing process.
1. Who are your main competitors? (give websites)
2. What differentiates you from your competitors?
3. What is your biggest marketing tool to gain new clients and inform existing clients about updates at present?

CURRENT SITUATION
1. What is happening in your company at present that brings a need for this project? (Example: new product launch? new ingredient added? etc.)
2. What do you feel is your number one issue with your product communication with your audience now? (no Spanish translation on product, design is too male-oriented etc.)

TARGET MARKET
1. Describe your target market, demographics, etc.
2. What appeals to your target market?

OBJECTIVES
1. What do you want to achieve with this design? Any specific messages for your audience?
2. How will these objectives be measured? (Example: number of units sold in a test market)

TIMELINE and BUDGET
Giving us a timeline and budget will tell us if we can do the project realistically within the parameters.
1. When do you need first proofs? And final?
2. What is your available budget for this project?

STYLE
We use our expertise in the areas of design, consumer markets and marketing to reach a design we think will resonate most with your clients. But, sometimes you may already know the direction you need to be in. This section is crucial. Please be as detailed as possible.
1. Describe some keywords that identify the style of the product (fun, contemporary, bright etc.).
2. List at least 3 adjectives to describe how your audience should perceive this product? (casual, serious, energetic etc.)
3. List at least 3 companies whose look you like, or feel that is similar to what you want to achieve.
4 List any specific colors you want
5. List any specific colors you don’t want
6. Are there additional graphic elements (photography, renderings etc.) you need to enhance your design?
7. Does this design need to incorporate your current marketing materials or website feel?
8. If you have any real examples of what’d you’d like (a competitor’s media kit, brochure etc.) please share those with us.

PRINTING
1. Do you have a printer you will be using? If not, would you like us to source that for you?
2. Do you have specific papers, finishes you want considered in your project? (gloss finish, matte finish, texture paper etc.)

ADDITIONAL ELEMENTS
1. Please list any additional needs you may have- product or lifestyle photography, copywriting, illustrations, website design etc.

EXTRA
Did we miss anything? Please let us know.

Bag Design that makes you wanna go Ahhh...

2010-06-18T08:03:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am tooting my own horn... isn't that what blogging and tweeting and facebooking is all about anyway? lol
So, here is a bag design I did that I just couldn't resist discussing... The concept of the bag is feminine and luxury, but unique. Originally these started as candle boxes, which are still being developed, but the bag quickly become a great accessory.
The logo design is something simple to complement the large floral. The sides of the bag have purple stripes in various shades and tints of purple.

Designer-Client Conversations

2010-06-14T20:14:00.001-07:00

Typical designer, client conversation:
Designer: "We think this package design will really resonate with your consumers. It's clean, but it'll still stand out on the shelves."
Client: You're on the right track, but it's not exactly what we're looking for.
Designer: Not a problem... design is a process. Why don't you guide us a little on what you have in mind.
Client: Well, we really don't know what we want. Just come up with something.
Cycle continues at least twice lol (kidding) This happens only rarely.

For more hilarious conversations, check out www.clientsfromhell.net

Essential Pointers in Food Photography...

2010-06-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

So, what's the key to great food photography?
Simple... Does it jump out of the page and make your stomach growl?
I did a food shoot for kelloggs recently of various breakfast-like items. It was fantastic. Behind the camera is where I lose myself.
How did I shoot these? here are some pointers-
*I shot all of them indoors (at a window sill) except for the cereal photo, which was shot outdoors.
*I used a canon rebel XTI with a 50mm 1.4 portrait lens
*I had a co-worker help me style each dish... we took about 30-40 mins. for styling each dish
*I shot in full manual mode (ISO 100, shutter speed 1/80 and 1/60, f5.6)

Studio Spotlight: Wallnut Studio

2010-05-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

I came across the most beautiful work by a very talented Columbian designer Cristina Londoño... her studio is called Wallnut Studio. Take a look and see for yourself.

Roadtrips are Inspiring!

2010-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend and I took a short half day roadtrip to Thurber, Texas (a small ghost town near Stephenville). We drove through some very small, quaint, authentic Texan towns like Gordon, Natty Flat and Thurber of course. We came across quail happily walking on the roads, the best BBQ, poisonous roadside flora, quaint structures hundreds of years old and time together, of course.

Networking 101

2010-05-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

When I started to teach myself how to network, it felt uncomfortable at first, but started to grow on me in time. Especially being a "guerrilla" I had took it up as a challenge to get better at this much needed skill. Here are some basic tips:

1. Keep in mind that networking is about being genuine and authentic, building trust and relationships, and seeing how you can help others.

2. Ask yourself what your goals are in participating in networking meetings so that you will pick groups that will help you get what you are looking for. Some meetings are based more on learning, making contacts, and/or volunteering rather than on strictly making business connections.

3. Visit as many groups as possible that spark your interest. Notice the tone and attitude of the group. Do the people sound supportive of one another? Does the leadership appear competent? Many groups will allow you to visit two times before joining.

4. Hold volunteer positions in organizations. This is a great way to stay visible and give back to groups that have helped you.

5. Ask open-ended questions in networking conversations. This means questions that ask who, what, where, when, and how as opposed to those that can be answered with a simple yes or no. This form of questioning opens up the discussion and shows listeners that you are interested in them.

6. Become known as a powerful resource for others. When you are known as a strong resource, people remember to turn to you for suggestions, ideas, names of other people, etc. This keeps you visible to them.

7. Have a clear understanding of what you do and why, for whom, and what makes your doing it special or different from others doing the same thing. In order to get referrals, you must first have a clear understanding of what you do that you can easily articulate to others.

8. Be able to articulate what you are looking for and how others may help you. Too often people in conversations ask, "How may I help you?" and no immediate answer comes to mind.

9. Follow through quickly and efficiently on referrals you are given. When people give you referrals, your actions are a reflection on them. Respect and honor that and your referrals will grow.

10. Call those you meet who may benefit from what you do and vice versa. Express that you enjoyed meeting them, and ask if you could get together and share ideas.

Carnival Perspective

2010-05-08T11:07:00.000-07:00

I visited a traveling carnival last night at Preston and 635 in Dallas and came prepared with my camera and trusty tripod. After processing the photos, this is exactly the look and feel I wanted them to have...
A feeling of carnival memories, slightly haunting and retro; like something clipped out from an old paper.

When the Weather Inspires...

2010-05-03T18:15:00.001-07:00

Cultivating Good Habits for the Creative

2010-05-02T18:10:00.000-07:00

Any creative knows that to remain on the top of one's game, there are habits that must be cultivated; ways of thinking, ways of "looking" at life, that will hopefully make one better in what one does day by day (apologies for the over-use of the word "one" lol)
I thought about my own habits that make me a better creative and here is my list:
1. Meet other creatives. Mingle. Look at their work.
2. Help eachother- give inspiration, get inspiration. Exchange resources, job information, good deals on books, technology etc. etc.
3. Browse the bookstore. I go to my favourite bookstores at least 2-3 times a month and spend a couple of hours looking at design, cooking, interior design, photography & marketing books.
4. Start a blog. I don't care about what... Even having one will kick start that creativity because you will actively think about what to post on. It will also make you more aware of your surroundings. For example, when I visit a new restaurant, I will pay even greater attention to the service, ambiance and food because I know I will be blogging about it in my food blog later (www.dfwfoodies.blogspot.com)
5. Go ahead... Show off a little! I don't have to exactly spill out how working as a creative can sometimes feel like a slow death. For the non-creatives, imagine getting a review every week instead of every 6 months. Our work is constantly being judged. So, sometimes, it's necessary to SHOW OFF. To be your own mouthpiece and utter "ahhh....I love myself."
6. Immerse Yourself.
7. Freelance outside of your normal work. Not only will you make money, but you'll feel empowered and stay fresh in the field.
8. Attend creative workshops, happy hours every now and then. I know those association fees are pricey and then it sucks when you go only twice out of the year; see if they offer a pay by the event kinda thing. And just attend the events you want.
9. Do a probono project.
10. Pick up a new creative hobby. I started with graphic design and picked up photography.
11. Take a community college class. The BEST class and professor I had (ever) was at Collin County Community College (Prof. William Byrd). I didn't pick up much technical instruction in this beginner photography class, but I was left completely inspired and I haven't stopped photographing since then.
12. Exercise. It gives me energy to keep going mentally and otherwise.
13. Talk about business, marketing and money with your friends. Listen to business audio books.
14. Be ridiculously curious. Take that how you may.

Spread This

2010-05-02T17:59:00.000-07:00

A huge source of inspiration for me... editorial design. The moment I crack open a magazine and smell that new print smell, feel the paper and see the amazing layouts out there, I am all consumed. Since I work on a monthly community magazine layout for a client, I need the "fuel" to draw inspiration from. And I constantly purchase unique magazines from Half Price Books- Good, Paste, Martha Stewart titles, Real Simple, photography magazines, skateboarding magazines are just some of them.
Here is a brief trip into some of the simple pages that I enjoy...

Book Covers... Inspiration Galore!

2010-04-30T13:24:00.000-07:00

So, by now you probably know I am obsessed with bookstores and libraries. The tactile and visual allure of book covers is a large part of what draws me. Here is a collection of truly inspiring book covers... Feel free to email me yours at mili@schnauzdesign.com
I'd love to make this a larger series. Enjoy!

Brochure Sneak Peek

2010-04-23T20:09:00.000-07:00

I finally designed and printed brochures for Schnauz Design. Waiting for the stationery set to come from the printer so I can do my mailings. Hooray!

Do a Resume Revamp!

2010-04-18T18:17:00.000-07:00

I think creatives may sometimes forget the importance of having a resume that stands out. It's not enough to have a great website... you've got to brand the whole package.
The resume. The blog. The website. Twitter. I know, it's tiring...
Here's some bad-ass resumes... maybe a little too much, but very creative nevertheless (and of course I had to add mine in the end of the post).

Artist Spotlight: Anna Tovar

2010-04-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

I was cruising the wonderful bridges of Etsy and came across a local from the DFW area whose works I instantly fell in love with. Anna is a photo-realistic painter, a fellow creative who picks up the simplicity of life and paints it! Just like Wolfganf Tillman for photography, some people just love the everyday things and scenes. Me included. her blog is: www.annatovar.blogspot.com
Enjoy!

Here and There and There: Wolfgang Tillmans

2010-04-08T12:14:00.000-07:00

He is my favourite photographer... because he captures the random, sometimes beautiful, sometimes gross side of life. He photographs a lot of everyday life, rubbish (literally) and STUFF. It's avant garde and beyond post modern. It's refreshing. Honest and simple.
Download his Wako Book 4 Japan here: http://www.tillmans.co.uk/

Flossingles Design

2010-04-01T06:50:00.000-07:00

I recently did the logo and package design for a client introducing a very useful product- floss! Flossingles are a new twist on a not so new idea... little individual pouches of floss. Being a new dental product, I wanted to keep the design almost "sanitary" and fresh (the design equivalent of minty toothpaste!). The logotype is simple, with a gradient in the red stripe to make it "sparkle." The box itself has a white to light teal gradient with information kept clean and easy to read. Product will be sold in dental magazines and specialty offices.

Inspiration Around the House

2010-03-28T08:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes all it takes is a walk around the house and you'll find pretty packages with the perfect typography, a great colour palette etc. In just 5 minutes, I found items I loved (maybe that's why I bought them :-P

What Do You Spend On?

2010-03-25T15:04:00.000-07:00

Since my new obsession is marketing, I had to share this hilarious dissection written by Seth Godin, a guerrilla marketing guru. This is taken from his blog http://sethgodin.typepad.com

Here's a $20 bottle of soap. Functionally identical to a $3 bottle, so what's the $17 for?

1. The hang tag. It's special because most soap doesn't have a hang tag. Hang tags come on things that are a little more special than soap. And hang tags beg to be read. This one says a lot (and nothing, at the same time.) It reminds us that it doesn't contain SLS. What's SLS? Is it as bad as SLES?
2. This isn't soap. It's mineral botanic. Both words are meaningless, which means the purchaser can attach whatever feelings they choose to them. In this case, the marketer is hoping for old-time, genuine, down-to-earth and real.
3. It's not made by a soap company. It's made in a Dead Sea Laboratory. Laboratories, of course, are where scientists work, and the Dead Sea is biblical, spiritual and really salty. The company has a name (Ahava) that is onomatopoeic and reminds you of breathing. Breathe deep and find calm. [Even better, I'm told it means 'love' in Hebrew].
4. My favorite part is that it's made from bamboo and pansy. At least a little. Bamboo because it's fast growing and Asian and gentle and wood and grass at the same time. And pansy... well... pansy is for girls.
5. Two really good things here. First, it's for very dry skin. This is brilliant. If your skin is dry, you don't want to hear that it's sort of dry, kind of dry, not as dry as that guy over there... No, you want to hear that it's extremely dry, really dry, so dry it's like sand. That kind of dry. This bottle understands how very dry your skin is, and it's here to help.
Also, it's in French! I love that there's the language of love and sophistication and diplomacy right here on the bottle. I can imagine that models for Chanel are using it on the Rive Gauche as we speak.
6. Did I mention the part about velvet?
It took guts to take this packaging so over the top. It doesn't match my worldview, but it might match yours.

Guerrilla Marketing...Grrrrrr!!!

2010-03-14T08:16:00.000-07:00

So, I have become the spokesperson of the month for the Guerrilla Marketing for Startups book i'm reading by Jay C. Levinson. Once I started doing research on the internet for free g-marketing tips, I found tons of great information. So, I had to share. These are taken from the Bootstrapping Blog:
http://http://www.bootstrappingblog.com

1. Money Stamping – grab a stamper from your local office supply store and stamp a funny phrase along with your website address on it. Have a make money online blog? Stamp something like “Learn how to make thousands of these online: sitehere”.
2. Sticky Notes – Another way to use your stamper or even your printer. Sticky notes are noticable anywhere because people know what they’re for; notes. Put these on local business doors, offices, cars, or above mail boxes in apartment complexes and people will take notice.
3. So many stamps – Looking for a way to get noticed in the huge pile of advertising mail potential clients get? Send your promo material in a big manilla envelope and put 39 – 1 cent stamps on it. Out of 100 envelopes, who’s do you think will catch the eye first?
4. Do Not Disturb – Heading to a blog expo anytime soon? Get some door hangers printed up with your business information on it and possibly a link to something free on your site. Get the attention of everyone in your market this way, and it’s super cheap as well. Noone else I know has been doing this so you’ll stand out for sure.
5. Pay it forward – when you’re heading into the movie theater, pay the persons way behind you and tell the cashier to give them your business card. You’re not guaranteed that the person will become a client but I bet the word of mouth on that one would be pretty big.
6. Fake publicity stunt – you could have people picket your storefront with signs that read “This business is too nice” or “Company X is too good at their job”. Theres a million fake publicity stunts, use your imagination and I bet it’ll work no matter how weird or out of the box it seems.
7. Guest blogging – This is for the bloggers out there, or even the freelance writers. Guest blog on other blogs largely related, or semi-related to your websites niche. Opening other peoples eyes to your name and your website is always good promotion, especially if you’re an awesome writer. Not to mention networking with other bloggers is great for business as well.
8. Business Cards – STOP! Don’t skip this one. So many people see this and think you’re going to tell them to print cards and hand them out. I’m not! What you do with these cards is head to every library or book store in your city and find the section that relates to your business. Open each and every book and place a business card somewhere in the book. This is great targeted marketing and only costs you a few bucks for the cards and an afternoon of placing the cards. If you need some great business cards, check out UPrinting.com
9. Bumper Stickers – These are great because they can go anywhere, not just on your car. Bathroom stalls, street poles, ect. Get creative with where you place them, they can grab peoples attention when placed in the right spots.
10. Temporary Tattoos – I seen a post on some guerrilla marketing ideas over at Daily Bits and they talked about this as well. These tattoos will last for X amount of days and would be perfect for blog expos or other events where tons of people will be. Placing it in a weird place (forehead, neck, full back, foot, ect) is also a great way to get it noticed. Hey, if people talk about it, thats the whole point right?
11. Help Home Based Businesses – most HBB owners try to keep their records hidden from local housing authorities so they’re hard to reach. head over to your local chamber of commerce and suggest a HBB committee. They might appoint you head of it (you can even ask to be) and you have a bunch of HBB owners who will come to chat and you can promote to with business cards, flyers, booklets, ect.
12. Anything Else? – No, the list isn’t done yet. These are two words to say right before you exchange money with a client/customer. This will make them think and could open doors to a larger pay day.
13. Top 10 reasons to choose YOU – instead of leaving business cards or other promo material at a business or in someones email box, create a list of the top 10 reasons why the prospect should choose your company. Make them 100% true, humerous and memberable.
14. Demonstrations – got a service business? this is perfect for you. Find a local store that pertains to your services and put on a free demo of your services. Your service involve outdoors? Contact news stations and let them know you’ll be offering a BBQ and free service demonstration. The BBQ could get a little costly, but the amount of press and promotion could really pay off.
15. Print Calendars – These could be given to each of your clients or left in a store for people to take for free. Print your website address and a little slogan or client testimonial on each months picture for exposure every day. The people using your calendars will even help you out when they have company over who will see the calendar, especially if the images you use are high end and visually appealing.
16. Window decals – get a custom printed window decal on your car with your logo/website and possibly a slogan. looks professional, and is great for red lights.
17. Fish Bowl Business Cards – You know the fish bowls at stores offering to choose a random card for a free lunch? Well, theres two ways to benefit from this. – 1. put your card in the fish bowl (hey, a free lunch is a free lunch, and who knows, the owner of the store might need your services) – 2. ask the store to let you have the losing cards each week/month which will generate a ton of free leads for you.
18. Sponsor an event – doing this is at most times, very inexpensive and also GREAT for publicity, especially if its a big event. You normally get your logo and business mentioned in all of the events promo material which is tons of publicity you normally wouldn’t get. Be at the event to add extra stickiness to your business name and interact with the guests.
19. Holiday Greetings – send emails or snail-mail to your past clients wishing them happy holidays (Christmas, Thanksgiving, New Years). This helps them keep your name/business in their head as well as standing out from the other people they’ve done business with before.
20. Charity Donations – Donate some of the profits you generate every month to charity. Great for promotion in the media and clients to feel like they’re helping out the charity by purchasing from you.
21. Hold a Contest – This could have 1-10 winners which helps the word-of-mouth promotion everyone needs and wants. You can gain free press for starting the contest, plus publishing the winners is great for more press coverage.
22. T-Shirts – This is great for turning yourself or others into walking billboard. You can give the t-shirts away as prizes which is also another great way of gaining word of mouth promotion. Your t-shirts for the prizes don’t need your website address on it. Just give away a great, fashionable shirt and that’ll have people eager to tell friends and family where they got it from.
23. Partnerships – Do you run a web design business and want to find more potential leads? Try partnering with a web hosting company. Do you have a lawn-care business? Try partnering with a window washing company. Any partnership which benefits both companies is a great idea and a great way at grabbing the attention of new potential clients. Also a great way of giving your business targeted marketing.
24. Blood Drive – Host a blood drive, contact newspapers, tv news, radio, ect. have 1-2 banners up with your website information and also have business cards at the sign in table. Everyone loves to help their country, city, state, ect. and giving blood is the easiest way for some people to do that. Putting yourself in the forefront of your cities next blood drive would make your business very visible to a whole range of new potential clients and word-of-mouth advertisers.
25. Client Appreciation BBQ – Invite your past clients to a BBQ and let them invite 1-2 friends to come with them. This will help your customers LOVE you even more than they already do, as well as bring some new faces into contact with you as potential clients.

Dusty Miniature Treasures

2010-03-13T20:03:00.000-08:00

So, I realized that I not only love real buildings and structures, but I also love miniature structures. The South Side Lamar Lofts in Dallas had an "upscale flea market" day today, which was not much to rave about, but I did wander off and notice this wonderful encased project of miniature trains, buildings and that sorta thing, all depicting a nostalgic decade... possibly 50s or earlier. What was even more wonderful, was the dust that was collected over everything, making it even more nostalgic. Yet, kinda sad that no one has worked on this project for a while. I'm in love with the details :-)

Scarbie Typography

2010-03-07T18:42:00.000-08:00

Ok, so these photos are almost a year old... Since the Scarborough Faire is coming up fairly soon, I figured there is still time to get all you typography fanatics in the mood! Enjoy!

Too Funny!

2010-02-08T13:31:00.001-08:00

Sometimes Simplicity is Good

2010-02-04T09:10:00.000-08:00

I did a probono invitation design for The Fashionistas. In return, I get to partake in the festivities! :-) Yeah, I'll trade design for parties!

Inspiration! I want MORE Inspiration!

2010-01-21T09:57:00.000-08:00

A collection of some fascinating websites I came across... inspiration is always welcome! and it comes in a gazillion forms as you'll see in these links.
http://www.gingkopress.com
the best, unique books on design, art, culture etc.; originally from Germany, but has it's office windows in other parts of the world

http://www.super7store.com
strange, quirky, expensive toys, prints and paraphernalia only creatives appreciate!

http://www.lifeiscarbon.com
super cool collaborative blog on fashion, art, design, urbanacity and more. Nordic Heaven!

http://www.sacherpunch.com
blog on the cool, obscure, fascinating world of design, art, culture

http://www.designer-daily.com
the perfect blog for the designer- daily inspiration

A Winner!

2010-01-19T06:53:00.000-08:00

My package design won the 2009 American Package Design Awards hosted by GDUSA and Neenah paper. Category: Most Innovative Cereal Packaging/Self Promo
I am quite excited! :-) And the design firm I work for "The Vital Design Group" produced the physical bag in-house. Two flavours were developed for The Good Bag cereal- Morning Light and Evening Hearth.

Studio Spotlight: P&W

2010-01-07T08:39:00.000-08:00

P&W is the fame behind many of Tesco's awesome concepts in design/packaging. Based out of London, they have that obvious British sense of blaring imagery, clean lines and phenomenal typesetting.

Art Deco Series Spotlight: Elgin

2009-12-23T12:17:00.000-08:00

So, I got a beautiful Elgin watch from my boyfriend for Christmas. It's the most beautiful little treasure ever! The numbers are hand painted and reflect the art deco style. So naturally I Googled Elgin and read about its history. Below are some other Elgin beauties.

Food Packaging Galore!

2009-12-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

Creating packaging for foods is one of my favourite areas of work, and luckily where I work, I do come across that every now and then. Since a lot of my work is inspired by European design, I figured it would be nice to do a food packaging post from 2 studios in Europe- Amore in Sweden and Stromme Thorndsen Design in Norway. Enjoy!
Amore - Sweden

Stromme Thorndsen Design - Norway

Wine Inspired

2009-11-30T11:49:00.000-08:00

I love the soft, misty, feel most wine/winery collateral has... and all that beautiful imagery mixed with beautiful typography. Some are harder edged and have a crisp modernity to it. I found these on various sites including Google and Flickr. Be inspired!

Salute to Barfoot Worldwide

2009-11-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

With several wins in the Print Regional Design Annual (2009), Barfoot Worldwide certainly stood out. With brilliant concepts and immaculate design, Jeff Barfoot, principal of Barfoot Worldwide stands tall and proud in Dallas.
www.barfootworldwide.com

Velvet Design Studio

2009-10-30T06:38:00.000-07:00

Every now and then I'll come across a studio that blows my mind away... Velvet Design Studio's genius Pamela does all those beautiful Starbucks illustrations. I can't help but share these with everyone...
www.velvetdesignstudio.com

Ahhh... Coffee Packaging!

2009-10-28T06:28:00.000-07:00

Don't you love walking into Starbucks and just staring at all the packaging design? Well, I DO! I don't drink the coffee, I really do walk in, buy a pastry and grab all their new brochures. Coffee packaging has come a long way and I wanted to do a special entry showcasing all the cool packages out there (some may be just concepts).
Starbucks

Studio 43

Studio 43

Mille Soli Espresso

TBD Advertising

Taxi

Green Mountain Coffee

Vintage Typography Love

2009-10-15T11:58:00.000-07:00

This doesn't really need much of an introduction- you either "get" vintage typography or you don't. Some of these are taken from old women's/house magazines (60s). The rich, ornate bills are authentic checks/ account ledgers. Others are taken from Smashing magazine's article on retro/vintage typography.

The Work of Quatre Mains

2009-10-14T13:01:00.001-07:00

Quatre Mains is a branding and packaging agency that creates some explosive work. Located out of Belgium, the pieces I've chosen to show on my blog are not "extreme European" looking, but still have a strong sense of European design in it.

My Secret Blythe Love Outed

2009-10-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Being a good designer means being able to look for and appreciate beauty in various aspects; meaning drawing inspiration from various things in life. Even if it's dolls :-) What I enjoy looking at in the Blythe Doll galleries, is all the people that take these creative photographs- how they place the dolls, where they shoot the dolls, dressing them, using contrast levels in photoshop to make the photos more/less kitchy. All that lends itself as design inspiration to me. It's all a trickle down effect, isn't it?

Taken from nami*&Chitaki's flickr stream

Taken from *Oink*'s flickr stream

Taken from fascinating girl's flickr stream

Insert Copy Here

2009-10-07T06:24:00.001-07:00

Veer did a nice compilation of images for one of their galleries titled "Mock it Up." When in a crunch, using one of these blank canvases, and simply inserting copy/imagery into it, can give a nice boost to your print advertisement or whatever the project is. Images available here: veer's mock it up

Have a Good Laugh

2009-10-07T06:00:00.000-07:00

My senior showed me this video and I was in splits... it's a bit long, but you can forward through some bits. Must see for every designer!
www.makemylogobiggercream.com

Letterpress Love

2009-09-28T06:08:00.001-07:00

Hello! Lucky

Studio on Fire

Springtide Press/Anagram Press

Designer: Sara Janssen

Shine Advertising Co.

Designer: Jennifer Hanlon of Bluebird Design

Vintage Love

2009-09-23T13:53:00.000-07:00

I love ephemera- old stamps, old postcards, old books etc. As a designer, I find it crucial to maintain a library of various images from different time periods. Here are some images from my vintage produce label collection. Enjoy!

Honey Creative (UK)

2009-09-23T12:25:00.000-07:00

Honey Creative creates stunning packaging for several top names in UK-- Tesco, Harrod's, BHS and more. Below is some packaging for Harrod's. http://www.honey-creative.co.uk

Music to Design By

2009-09-22T13:40:00.000-07:00

Sometimes when I am designing, I need utter silence. But once I have my creative juices flowing and a partial design in place, I go into a more semi-automatic zone and the music then actually works well as background sound. And of course, it's always better when the background sound is beautiful. These are some of my favourite music picks that evoke a sense of something, but aren't very distracting to me.

L: In a Safe Place by The Album Leaf R: The Magic Dragon by Caia

L: Carboot Soul by Nightmares on Wax R: Safe Trip Home by Dido

L: I-Empire by Angels & Airwaves R: Pursuit of Happiness by Weekend Players

The Urban Forest Project

2009-09-22T12:27:00.000-07:00

The Urban Forest Project, as the name suggests, is all about saving the trees and spreading the message in various cities. The project is a visual statement that consists of displaying banners from actual designers and design students in cities like New York, Baltimore, Denver and more in the works. Your city can get involved.
http://www.ufp-global.com
Below are some banners from designers. There is lots more inspiration on the Urban Forest Project individual city websites.

Rob Alexander

Clarissa Tossin

John Pirman

Chad Miller

Ultimate Poster Love

2009-09-18T12:27:00.000-07:00

I came across Methane Studios http://www.methanestudios.com and instantly fell in love with the mixture of silk screened and letterpress posters.

Urban Dilapidations

2009-09-16T17:51:00.000-07:00

My love for photography has focused on some odd subjects like old, crumbling, decaying buildings. I cannot really explain what draws me to them, but I could guess it's the mystery and the stories my mind concocts of what went on in there, and around there.

Photographs from My South Dallas exploration.
Gear: Sony Cybershot 7.1 and a Manfrotto tripod.

By The Tracks

Johnny's Club

For Sale

Street Signs

BookLove

2009-09-16T11:24:00.000-07:00

The second I walk into a bookstore or library, I feel as if I've shed every single bother brewing in my head. I am instantly intoxicated by the design and typography on book covers, the textures of the various papers, and the possibility of finding something brilliant. Here are some of my recent design favourites:

Create: Eating, Design and Future Food (ISBN: 3899552318)

Like a breath of fresh design air

Excellent typography puts it in a class of its own

Doves Farm Organic

Packaging design for Waitrose Cooks'. Designed by Christian Stacey and Mary Lewis.

Photo essay in the book: Typologies

Packaging design from Nusa kitchen in London. Designed by Thirdperson.

The End.

Unique Packaging (ISBN: 0061144223)

Packaging design for Somerfield. Designed by London's Taxi Studio

Packaging design for Labatt. Designed by Amen Epoxy