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Monday, November 23, 2020

Five Things Every Graphic Designer Should Be Doing to Promote Themselves

Five Things Every Graphic Designer Should Be Doing to Promote Themselves      



1. Create a Brand for Yourself

Before you do anything else, you need to brand yourself. This includes identifying your style, specifying the types of designer you are (e.g. print designer, web designer, etc.), creating a logo and more. Think about what makes your designs special, and why you design at all. Then translate that into your branding, whether it’s in your slogan, design portfolio,business cards, or anything else.

An established brand helps potential clients (and current clients) identify your business and understand why they should choose your services. Perhaps they identify with your values or find your style a perfect match for their business.

2. Create a Website

This is your “real estate” where you can get creative. We recommend creating your website on a platform that gives you traffic insights (e.g. WordPress). Your website is where you can take your branding to its highest level. Tell your story, show your designs, and make contacting you easy. Ensure that it is user-friendly and that it includes a quote form.

3. Promote on Social Media

Social media is also a great place to showcase your brand and drive traffic to your website. Many designers already use it, but make sure that you’re one step ahead by maximizing social media’s potential. First, separate your personal account from your business account to keep it professional. Many social media platforms also allow special features for business accounts, so be sure to take advantage of them.

Second, join groups—not just groups for designers but also groups related to potential clients and business partners. For example, if you specialize in designing for print, considering joining a print-related group. Not only will you get valuable information that could help your designing process, but these groups could also hook you up with some good deals in the future.

4. Network at Social Events

Networking online is important, but so is networking in person at social events. These include not just traditional networking events but also job fairs, trade shows, conventions, and more. Attending in person helps build trust between you and your potential customers or business partners.

Networking events are especially important for graphic designers because your clients will often be people who are a little less tech savvy. That’s why they need your help. So instead of interacting with you on social media, they may feel a lot more comfortable talking to you face to face.

Tip: If you design for print, social networking events are a great opportunity for handing out printed samples of your designs.

5. Start a Blog

When you create a blog packed with informative content, appealing designs and unique branding, you demonstrate that you’re a knowledgeable professional who is consistently producing high quality designs. Don’t forget to use SEO to increase your online presence, so that those searching online can find you.

Having a blog also gives you more things to post on social media. Link back to your blog when you repost the content on social media. And finally, interact with other design blogs to expand your professional network. 


Promoting your graphic design business is a step that every freelancer needs to take, from branding yourself to updating your blog frequently. Make sure your promotional strategy includes at least these 5 tactics so that you can expand your client base and grow your business.

Tuesday, November 10, 2020

Getting Your Design Work in Front of the Right People

Getting Your Design Work in Front of the Right People

Share Your Expertise

Whether you’re targeting individual businesses or agencies that will provide steady work, it’s important to show that you are an expert in your field. Here are a couple of easy ways to get the word out:

Blogging

The simplest way to show that you’ve got the goods is through your blog. The good news is that you don’t have to be an expert writer in order to share what you know. Just writing short, simple posts about topics your target audience cares about will do the trick. If you’re targeting small business, then write about the things you can do to help make their website a success. If you’re looking for a long-term relationship with an agency, focus on the technical and design aspects of your work.
Of course, you’ll want to share your writing through social media channels. If your site was built on WordPress, you can even automate the process of sharing your new posts. Your content doesn’t necessarily have to go viral in order to be of great help. The random person who finds your site may be the one who really needs to hear what you have to say.

Meetups

While web design is a global industry, you’ll often find great opportunities right in your own backyard. A local meetup is a great place to meet people who share an interest in web design or related topics. But it’s not just professionals who attend these events. From my own experience, I’ve met several business owners who want to learn about how things work or what makes for a great site.
These events are usually pretty informal and are really about getting together to share knowledge. Once you’ve been to a few meetings, you might consider volunteering to make a presentation yourself. Again, it’s a low-pressure atmosphere. Just be yourself and share what you know.



Build Your Reputation

This one has absolutely no shortcuts. But it is perhaps the best way to get your name out there. A great reputation will get you everywhere in this business.
The key to building one is really about doing great work and providing clients with a great overall experience. Beyond building beautiful, functional websites, it’s often the little details that make a big difference.
Really, it’s all about the basics of customer service. Responding to requests in a timely manner, for example, affirms that you care about the needs of your clients. Even a simple reply stating that you’ll get back to them shortly projects a positive image.
Being honest and realistic about pricing and deadlines are also traits that clients value. Nobody wants to be told that their project costs much more than the original estimate, nor do they want to wait for days/weeks/months past a promised deadline.
There have been talented designers who have failed because they weren’t responsive to their clients’ needs. Don’t be one of them. Clients who value you and your work will gladly tell others about how great you are. This is how you build your reputation, one project at a time. It’s a process that may take some time, but can really pay off in the long run.

 

 

Show Them Who You Are  

Here’s a little secret: The “right person” is the one looking at your portfolio, reading your tweets or latest blog post at this very moment. That doesn’t necessarily mean that they’ll become a top client – they may never become a client at all. But they’re the right person in that moment because they’re looking at what you have to offer.
Your goal is to let them know who you are and how you can help them. Accomplish that and you will find the success you’re after.

http://store.printcafeli.com/blog/Print_Cafe_Blog.html 

Wednesday, November 4, 2020

 

      Why Promotional Products Are

     Crucial For Any Business

Click Here: https://printcafe.dcpromosite.com/

Low-Cost Effective Marketing

Many small enterprises can only dream of an overwhelming advertising campaign of a large scale, spreading all over the divergent media. But they can still achieve their marketing goals with low-cost promotional products campaign. There are many low cost promotional items for startups.

Most of the manufacturers of promotional products keep the prices very low for mass distribution. Prices of the gift items are low but the impact is high on the recipients.

According to Sageworld.com, Personalized Coffee Mugs, in particular, are effective advertising as 57% of people were able to recall the advertiser on a mug. The products thus deliver a great value for your investment. You will win your customers with a simple giveaway.

Instant Brand Recognition

Brand recognition implies that the consumers can identify your company and its products or services immediately when they spot your logo. For example, people can immediately recognize McDonald’s fast food business on seeing its yellow arch logo.

Your gift of promotional items to the customers helps them in remembering and recognizing your business. This is one of the key reasons to distribute promotional items. An article published in technomarketinginc.com states that 89% of consumers can recall the advertiser of a promotional product they’d received in the last two years. The gift remains in their homes and offices or cars etc. for a long time, reminding them of your business and company. In fact, consumers hang on to promotional products for an average of 6.6 months. Next time, when they see your logo they instantly remember the gift and your business. The customers will remember your business even more if you gift them a branded item. They will reward your business by recognizing your products when they go shopping.

Greater Exposure Of Your Business

An advertisement on TV, announcement on promotional sites such as Joy of Android or billboard passes through your eyes immediately in a few seconds. But, gift items are in use for most of the time and are in front of eyes. For example, the consumers will wear your gift of a trendy t-shirt design for many days. Or, they will sip from your tea or coffee mug more often. Such freebies are an excellent way for increasing your business exposure on daily basis. According to Ppai.org, 76.1% of participants could recall the name of the advertiser on the promotional product that they received in the past 12 months. In comparison, only 53.5% of participants could recall the name of an advertiser they had seen in a magazine or newspaper in the previous week. Businesses also take the help of marketing service providers like WebtrendSites to promote products or services online. 

Works As Your Business Card

Business cards introduce your company and its products to the consumers. Your promotional products also function more or less in the same way but with better results. When distributing your gift items related to your business and industry, you are actually introducing your business to the potential consumers. According to Marketingsherpa.com, 71.6% of attendees who received a promotional product remembered the name of the company that gave them the product.

Remember the promotional giveaways also have your contact information just as business cards have. The gift items have your company logo, images and a slogan depicting your business message. The tangible branded product thus works as a useful business card that the consumers can use daily.

Promotional products also work as part of your social media campaign. You can use promotional products as part of your social media campaign. For example, you should print your QR codes on a promotional bottle. You can also put your hashtags on t shirts and other promotional items.

Customer Loyalty

Your customers’ should be purchasing your company’s products frequently when needed. Marketers spend more additional resources to build a solid base of loyal customers. They use promotional products to drive customer loyalty in a short period.

However, make sure that your promotional merchandise is of high-quality standards and preferably branded. People will associate premium quality of the gift items with your quality of business. This will help a lot in keeping the first time buyers of your products forever. An article published in Risinghillmarketing.com reveals customers who received a promotional product scored 52% higher than a letter only. 

For A Wide Selection of Promotional Products Go To: https://printcafe.dcpromosite.com/

 

 

 

 

 

Tuesday, October 27, 2020

Be a better designer in 2018

        Be A Better Designer In 2021

Make 2021 the year you take your design skills to the next level with these tutorials and tips.

For designers, the start of a new year sees us setting fresh goals and pledging to experiment with a new piece of software, master a tool or technique, brush up on creative theories and knowledge, and look to land new clients. 

So to help you to up your design game, we're lending you a helping hand with this round-up of the best design skills, theories, and practical tips to ensure that you become a better designer in 2021.
All of our guides and tutorials have been broken down into easy to navigate sections, so whether you want to improve your software skills, master a new design theory, or even start that side project you've been sitting on for ages, you'll find something here to help you on your way.


Software skills
Since its release, Illustrator CC has become the go-to tool for plenty of designers. Learn how to make the most of this premier graphics design tool with these tutorials – covering the basics, tools and features, text effects, illustration techniques, logo and icon design, advanced techniques and more.

Photoshop continues to be the design software of choice for millions of designers. We've rounded up the best Photoshop tutorials for everyone from beginners to expert users – covering tools, techniques and effects – so you're bound to learn something new!

Cinema 4D is one of the most popular 3D animation, modelling and rendering platforms. Master the basics of modelling and animating simple characters with the software and work your way up to advanced animation techniques with these Cinema 4D tutorials.

Adobe's Creative Cloud 3D motion graphics and animation software, After Effects, is a popular way to bring your work to life. These tutorials will show you how to get started with After Effects and work your way up to creating special effects.

It's easier than ever to implement responsive web design thanks to a wealth of useful tools. We've rounded up 10 of the best, to help you make your website look amazing on any device.

Have you always wanted to make an app but not known where to start? It's an increasingly vital skill, so make sure you crack app-making for iPhone, iPad, Android and desktop with the help of this tutorial.


http://store.printcafeli.com/blog/Print_Cafe_Blog.html

Friday, October 16, 2020

Tips On How To Ensure Versatility Of Your Logo Design

 



A company’s logo design is used on various marketing strategies. A logo appears in various sizes ranging from as big as billboards to tiny ones like on a business card, pens and stickers. Therefore, a logo must be scalable. It should also appear impressive in both color as well as black & white versions.
All types of businesses use logos as an effective marketing tool. People usually recall a business by seeing its logo on products and on advertisements. We can say that logos take business messages to the people and help the companies in converting the viewers into potential buyers.

However, success of a logo design largely depends on its quality of being versatile. This means that the logo must look equally great on all sizes of products. So, the logo must look impressive not only on big scales of large billboards to the size of a stamp. The logo must not lose its shape, size, colors, fonts, and other vital elements in all sizes. This is one of the basics of logo design.

A logo is printed on larger billboards or on fairly smaller advertising products such as pens, stickers, rubber stamps and business cards. In addition, the same logo must also look impressive on pixel based media such as websites and web banners. Business owners can use such versatile logos on a wide range of ads and products or services. Clearly, the businesses should be able to reproduce the logo in its varied sizes.

Versatility is one of the most essential quality of a good logo design. In the 21st century, brands are highly visible. They are exposed to a wide range of media. Most of the brands are actively projected on social media pages. This means that a logo should appear great on all the social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram.

Another reason why your logo should be versatile is that it helps create your brand identity. So, a logo should look good when printed on the top of a letterhead, business card, mobile app icon, etc.

A versatile logo is cost-effective. It saves you money and time as you do not necessarily have to create separate logos for different media ads and products. Since, the same logo goes for all ads and promotion ranging from large billboards and smallest stamp size ads; you get to save a considerable amount. Additionally, your printing cost decreases manifold when you use fewer colors in the logo.

Here Are Some Tips To Create A Versatile Logo

01. Consider The Details

While designing your logo, consider how much detail should go in it. The details of lines, colors, fonts etc. are necessary to convey the business message. But too many details may create printing troubles for a logo.


If the details are minute such as delicate or skinny lines and too many colors, then these may disappear when printed. These details may appear as broken shapes when printed in small sizes. So, it is advisable to keep only fewer details that are extremely necessary for the logo.

A logo with fewer details will save your production cost of graphic design items. For example, your overall cost of a business card design will be lower to produce it if the logo that you print on the card is also a simple design.

02. Pay Attention To The Space

If a logo design has the white space, or negative space, it must be created carefully. The white space between the two elements should be consistent. This means that the space should not be too close as it may lead to elements overlapping each other when the logo is printed. And if the space distance is too big, the viewers may not find an association between the elements and the logo may fail to communicate well with the viewers.

03. Use Gradients Selectively

Opt for gradients only when they can contribute to the overall quality and appeal of the design. Avoid choosing too light tints as such tints usually disappear when printed and the logo appears in white color scheme only.


Do not necessarily opt for too dark tints as they may appear too solid and patchy when printed. In fact, too dark tints create a muddy look for the logo when printed on a newspaper. Take note of the fact that some reproduction processes do not accommodate use of gradients very well.


04. Create Logo Without Colors

Another sign of a versatile logo is that it appears impressive in both colors and without colors. This is because a logo is printed on newspapers, magazines, faxed copies, etc. in black and white. So, the logo must retain its uniqueness when printed without colors. This will ensure better logo and brand identity design of the business symbol.


A trick to create a versatile logo that looks impressive in black and white is to create it first without colors. When designing the logo, first create it in black and white only. It is only when you are satisfied with the design that you should fill colors in it. As a graphic designer, you should take a logo and get approval. Then, incorporate colors after getting the approval.
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