Archives of Blog

We’re all familiar with the idea of the “fun quirky office.” Maybe you’ve seen a friend from high school posting things on Facebook and wondered to yourself (or commented, if that’s your thing) “does this company ever get any work done?” Generally, this type of environment is reserved for tech companies or creative industries, but […]

What do most charity events, art fairs, business conferences and internet cat video festivals have in common? Unfortunately, the answer isn’t Lil Bub. These drastically different types of events have one major thing in common – the support of corporate sponsors. An event doesn’t have to be huge in order to benefit from a sponsor […]

Everyone knows the expression “rules are made to be broken.” Depending on the circumstances, the phrase can be used in a positive or negative way. But what about when it’s used in marketing and branding? Setting guidelines is a crucial step when branding a new company and following these rules when a brand is established and […]

If you’ve found yourself anywhere near the Internet over the past few years you’ve inevitably been made aware of a company rebranding controversy. Everyone seems to have a strong opinion when it comes to these design critiques, and it doesn’t seem to matter whether the critics have any design background or not. On one hand, […]

“But everyone else is doing it!” We’ve all heard or even personally thought this phrase before. Sometimes in business following the crowd is a good idea because the choices are based on forward thinking trends. Other times, it can be dangerous to blindly follow the example of other brands, especially knowing some marketing trends have […]

It’s no secret most designers (myself included) get excited when we run across a great book cover. I’ve even written about them in the past and recapped some of my favorites and why I think they were so successful. I’m one of those odd creatures who despite it being 2016, still prefers a physical book over an […]

I don’t do resolutions for the new year. Besides being a pessimist and somewhat of a contrarian, I just don’t like setting unrealistic and/or cliché goals for myself. I do however, like starting the year off with a little bit of design research and thinking about ways to improve my own process and expand my […]

So, you found yourself in the presence of a graphic designer? Congratulations! (or apologies?) I’m sure you’ve noticed we can be a little odd and neurotic. Our habits tend to get so deeply ingrained we have a hard time turning them off, and that can get pretty irritating for the innocent bystanders we call friends […]

You know it’s time to change a light bulb when you find yourself sitting in the dark. You know it’s time to throw out food when it’s past the expiration date. Unfortunately we don’t get such obvious signs when it’s time for a design to be replaced. There’s no alarm that goes off, so it’s […]

Everyone loves an occasional road trip, right? Sometimes it’s nice to just hop in the car with friends or family and travel to a new location. I know plenty of people who have gone on road trips to see natural parks, historical sites and even breweries. But I know far fewer people who have gone […]

No one wants to say “I was wrong” or “I don’t know how to do that” in a professional setting. No matter what industry you’re in, admiting your own shortcomings is really difficult and frustrating. We don’t want to present ourselves as anything less than perfect, especially to the people paying for our services. Why do so […]

Every time I turn around it seems there’s another site or app making it easy for just about anyone to do their own design work. This isn’t strictly a graphic design thing of course. Sites like Pinterest are filled with tutorials on how to DIY everything from simple crafts to major home improvements and renovations. The […]

I recently had a rare glimpse of what it’s like to be on the other side of the designer/client relationship while working on a freelance project. I wish I could say I had a wonderful experience and everything went perfectly, but unfortunately that was not the case. Rather than going on and on about my […]

It’s a great day! Your branding project is finished and you’ve given your graphic designer final approval. You’re excited about the results and will be able to grow your company in the coming years using your brand new aesthetic. But what do you do now? Hopefully your designer is putting together a brand package for […]