Making of Famous Logo Designs – From dream to reality!!

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Posted on 31st July 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Design

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You have done a diploma in Logo designing, fair enough? Everyone can earn a degree, but only seldom are truly talented in the art of developing a successful Logo Design. You can possess the design degree and the tools for logo designing but none of it can ignite the passion to become a logo designer. It is the creator inside you that needs to be awakened. The exceptional talent coupled with degree and tools is the recipe for a great logo designer.
As we all know that behind every creation there is a creator and for every invention there stands an inventor. In the words of Alexander Graham Bell “A man, as a general rule, owes very little to what he is born with – a man is what he makes of himself”.

So, my today’s post display 10 brilliant masterpieces designed by creative souls of Graphic Design industry. Great logo designers share their experience and process of making their best logos.

However, here are some general rules which every designer has to focus while designing a logo:

Inspiration: To research and generate many ideas
Clarification: To have clear concept about your goals
Evaluation: To review your work and learn from it
Distillation: To list the workable ideas
Incubation: In which you leave the work alone
Perspiration: In which you work determinedly on your best ideas
However, to refurbish your logo designing talent, let’s see how top designers created some of the best logos and if any of you want to share your experience of designing a sensible logo, you are more then welcome

This article is from Graphics Design Blog

Which clients are more difficult to deal – Female or Male? Part 2 of 2

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Posted on 30th July 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence

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Annoying characteristics of male clients:

1. Always in a hurry

With men it’s like everything is a piece of cake for them. Male clients often want their designs to be prepared in the least time possible. The problem here is that a professional design requires time to make, which the male clients fail to understand.

2.Poking their nose
One thing about many male clients is that they “view” or “observe” your work and designs on the pretext of a demo and later get it made from someone else at a cheaper cost or free of charge (probably from their kids). This infuriates the designer, since they do all the hard work and someone else reaps the benefits.

3.The “know-it-all” attitude

Another thing about being masculine is the pride of “knowing everything”. So male clients sometimes pretend they know a lot about graphic design, but actually don’t. One can imagine how frustrating it is for designers when their clients try to “teach” them about graphic design.

4. No commitment for payment

Although this problem can arrive with any gender of clients, but as far as I have experienced, male clients tend to make delay in payments. You will get a lot of excuses like “hey, there seems to be some problem with my account, I’ll pay you later.”

5. Busiest creatures on Earth
There is another problem that is persistently found in male clients. They seem to be too busy when called for revisions. They would prefer to discuss over the phone rather than coming to check the designs. This can be really hard for designers to understand on the phone.

6. Evident lack of courtesy
The amount of courtesy is one thing you will find less in male clients that in female clients. I don’t wish to imply that all men are discourteous, but a majority of them deal with the designers with a rude attitude. Come to think of it, there are more chances of getting into a verbal clash with male clients than with female clients.

7.“Do as I say”

There is one thing that you will notice in most male clients and not in their counterparts. Men seem to be bossy while handing out the project to the designers. One day they’l want something done, the other day they’l ask you to stop that and do the other part.

8.“You should know what i want silly”

For male clients most designs are “old” or “dull” They want something “different” something “never seen before”. But the problem is that when asked what exactly they want…the answer is “I don’t know”.

9. “So what if I forgot?”

A very shrewd thing that many male clients do, is keep on making additions to the project without increasing budget. They settle the budget for a simple website design, and then want an upgraded version of the template, then ask for flash in their website and the list goes on in this fashion. This is one thing designers should keep watch of when dealing with male clients.

In the end, i must acknowledge the good attributes of both gender of clients. While women are well-organized when it comes to work, men are quick at decision-making.But what do you think…which gender should be acclaimed of having more negative points as a client?

This article is from Graphics Design Blog.

What matters more for Graphic Design Blogs: Search Engine Traffic or Social Media Traffic??

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Posted on 29th July 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence |Design |SEO |Social Media

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Have the stats on your “Traffic Analytics Tool” ever made you question your blog’s worth without the social media or search engines? Well, the growing craze for social media has dominated the internet world with its viral effect. The bandwagon is growing with the brands discovering the value of social media.

To make big profits and win special place in the busy blogosphere, we are spending endless hours on our laptops, making power accounts on numerous social networks like Digg, Twitter, Face Book and many more to be named. Although there are endless graphic design blogs which completely rely on social media traffic but we can’t ignore the fact that these sites wouldn’t have existed without search engines.

However, with this target of driving big traffic to our blog we are least bothered which traffic is better: social media or search engines?

Therefore, today I have listed the Pros and Cons of Social Media and Search Engines traffic, to help you get a better idea of your targeted customers.

1) Social Media Traffic – The Positive Aspect:

It brings in loads of traffic in short span of time by making your posts viral;
Your blog is exposed to more unique visitors, readers, clients while early adopters find it more appealing;
You get more advertisement offers for your blog;
A single post with huge exposure on any of the famous social media sites gets good ranking of your blog on search engines;
It helps you find people of the same industry and then share direct messages;
Social media is a strong channel for communication & branding.

2) Social Media Traffic –The Negative Aspect:

You have to put in lots of time and effort to have power accounts on social networks.
The traffic coming from social media sites is not stable…you might receive highest visitors in one day but the next day you might have least traffic.
Social traffic is made up mostly of webmasters and geeks…these sorts don’t click ads, and when they do, they don’t buy things . . . social traffic doesn’t convert.
The sudden increase in traffic eats up lot of bandwidth with almost nothing in return.
Social media it’s a valuable, powerful tactic, but the time investment often makes it much less valuable

3) Search Engine Traffic – The Positive Aspect:

If you rank well in one of the major search engines (Google/Yahoo/MSN), you will most likely show up in the majority of the search engines worldwide.
You get visitors which soon turn out to be potential customers.
The traffic is more converting, though less in number.
Search Engines bring targeted visitors to your blog.

Unlikely, the social media traffic, the search engine traffic is unwavering and predictable.
Visitors coming from search engines usually spend more time on your blog and explore it thoroughly. They stay longer to deeply analyze the company’s worth so they can pack a deal
With visitors staying more on your blog, the bounce rate of your blog stays low.
The smaller doses of traffic help you earn healthy subscribers on daily basis.

4) Search Engine Traffic – The Negative Aspect:

Frankly speaking, we rely so much on search engine traffic but if your blog is not searched on first 3 pages, it’s more likely that you won’t be found.
Results (rankings and traffic) start slowly. You will normally see results within 3-4 months.

The ranking your blog earns through search engines is very unpredictable. As the search engines have the final say so you never know for how long your blog stays on first pages for a particular term.

To cut the long story short, one single interesting post on social media can give life to a dying blog while on the other hand Search Engine traffic is a long term productive strategy.

This article is from Graphics Design Blog.

Which clients are more difficult to deal – Female or Male? Part 1 of 2

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Posted on 28th July 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Business Intelligence

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No matter what field you are in, be it graphic design, you must know how to tackle difficult clients. But there is a vast difference in handling a male client and a female client. Now don’t get me wrong here, I do not intend to lay down a gender prejudice here. What I intend to establish is which clients are more difficult to satisfy…male or female?

You might remember my earlier post invigorating the battle of genders with male female logos. But this time around the focus is to differentiate between male and female clients. What are the traits that distinguish the male clients from female clients? Is their concern more on quality or money? Which are harder to convince? Both the genders have their own share of annoying little traits that make them difficult for designers to please. For graphic designers, it is imperative that they understand the attitude and traits of their clients beforehand, so they can handle them accordingly. Let us examine the selective traits of male and female clients.

• Annoying characteristics of female clients:

1. Too finicky or confused?

The first thing about women clients is they are choosy. And by choosy I mean really fussy. They will keep on making multiple revisions of the design and won’t be able to decide on which is perfect. In other words women clients are not easily satisfied.

2. “My heart is on the left but it’s always right”

The longest that I have ever worked on a design project was for a female client. When it comes to making decisions, women clients take much longer than men. This is because they combine emotional factors with their rational decisions. Although their head tells them it is right, their heart keeps telling them there is something missing. God knows what the missing thing is anyway.

3. “Pink suits my complexion”

Although the song goes like “boys will be boys” but I believe “girls will also be girls” no matter how old they get. They will always prefer gaudy and decorative designs over the simpler and sophisticated ones. Just because they have a wardrobe full of pink or it matches their complexion, they’ll insist on having a shocking pink design for their corporate identity. Regardless of how much you persuade them, they will stick to their choice even if it doesn’t look professional enough.

4. Heads I win, tails you lose:

I once played this trick with my nephew, “heads I win, tails you lose”. It took him a week to figure out that he was never going to win this way . The same is the case with female clients…If it’s good, “I did it” – If it’s bad, “You did it”! If they don’t reply, they are really busy. But if you are late in submitting the design, you are irresponsible!

5. “It’s my right to fight for every penny”

Another trait that is found more in women is that they tend to bargain a lot. When you work with women clients, you can be sure of defying inexhaustible bargaining, because they will fight for every penny. The difficulty for designers is to make female clients understand the value of design project and make them realize the costs attributed in it.

6. “No big deal if you did it”

There is one thing that graphic designers should remember while dealing with women …don’t expect acknowledgment since you may never get it! Women can be really rigid when it comes to appreciating someone’s work. This can also be frustrating for designers who desire some recognition and praise for his/her efforts.

7. Questions galore:

When you are working with women clients, you can be sure of one thing…questions galore! Although it is a natural habit for women to ask too many questions, but it becomes a real headache for graphic designers to attend too many questions, some of which are illogical and meaningless.

8. “I am right, you are wrong”

Another pesky trait that I have experienced working with female clients is that no matter how incorrect they are or how illogical they might sound, they are always right. For them it is you who is wrong. Imagine how annoying it is for graphic designers to be assumed incorrect in their area of expertise by a laywoman.

9. “Let me ask my hubby, granny, Mary……”

“I think I’ll have to consult my husband for this”…this is one of the common statements that women clients say to graphic designers. The difficulty is that women like to involve family or friends in their choices. They want to consult their close ones for finalization of the designs. This becomes really difficult for designers who have to refute each and every foolish advice that the client is given by her relatives or friends.

10 Tips for Graphic Designers to do BIG wonders in short time!!

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Posted on 27th July 2010 by Krishna Gupta in Design

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While working on net, there are so many things which make us loose our concentration and it becomes more difficult if you are a freelance graphic designer. The overly hyped social media has made it more challenging to achieve maximum targets in limited time. Don’t get me wrong when I blame “social media” here, I have given my reasons below Actually, I personally believe social media to be a huge world and one can easily be lost once in the territory. As a graphic designer, I have an idea how easily graphic designers get distracted, failing to give best results. Therefore, today I bring some useful tips to help you keep yourself focused and more productive.

In a typical job, it is not that difficult to keep attentive but for freelancers it is very tough to stay dedicated and be on schedule. Here I have to confess that many times I end day dreaming, failing to achieve my targets

Still, I am working hard to make improvements and would like to share this list of tips which I aim to follow. Not to forget, many times graphic designers follow crazy tips to be creative. Therefore, don’t stick to this list and share your innovative ways to be productive.

Let’s begin here:

1 ) Line up all your tasks: Before you open your laptop, pick up a piece of paper and a pen. Roughly list down your tasks. Don’t forget to prioritize your to-do-list, so you know clearly which things should be taken care first. The biggest disadvantage of not having a task list is that you spend all day working on things that seem to be benefiting your business, but in the end you realize that you are not focused in the right direction.

2 ) Finish your pending work: For me this tip is the most effective and important one…rather than starting new assignments, try to complete your pending tasks before you start with a new task. The biggest responsibility as a freelancer is to finish all your projects on time….grabbing number of projects at the same time, can get you into trouble.

3 ) Explore your most energetic hours: One cannot be active and creative round the clock. There are certain hours when we are able to give our best performance in short span of time. Explore yourself and try to identify your most energetic hours. Early morning when you are not in real work mood, start with tasks that are less demanding mentally. Save your most energetic hours for your important projects.

4 ) A nap or lunch break won’t harm: No book of rules recommend working non-stop to be productive and efficient. After working for consistent hours, there is no harm if you take a short nap or go for a walk to regain your senses. Don’t be harsh with yourself; be flexible with the changing circumstances around.

5 ) Fix an alarm to buzz you: Place a huge alarm clock on your work desk to ring you when it’s winding time. Always fix a dead line for yourself and make it a target to finish up your work within the time assigned. This way you will know which project takes most of your time, so then you can readjust it with other errands.

6 ) Define time for social media: Social media is the most happening thing on the net and one of the biggest resources to get tons of traffic. It always happens with me that once I begin with the social media, I completely lose my check on time and usually end up reading interesting blog posts, with my work left incomplete. So always beware, confine your social media to limited time.

7 ) Multitasking: There are so many different things to do, therefore it’s better to categorize them. Try to do bigger projects first and line up similar things aside to be done all at once. In short, divide your day into small parts and be clear when to do what. Don’t dedicate your full day to a single project…try getting smaller things done along with an important project.

8 ) List your resources of research: We all have some timeless resources which always strike you with creative ideas. Always bookmark these resources of your daily use and have them on your desktop so that every time you don’t have to waste your time searching them.

9 ) Checking Emails:Limit your time for checking and replying emails, networking with friends: Checking email many times throughout the day may lead to more time than necessary. Maintaining email boxes, is a never ending work for freelancers. Getting a little bit behind for a few days can quickly lead to an unmanageable amount of email. Therefore, do check your emails regularly but restrict yourself to limited time.

10 ) Eat healthy and exercise regularly: One of the biggest disadvantage of working as a freelancer is that we get very irresponsible with our eating habits and body maintenance. If we are into any 9 to 5 job, we make an adjustment to stop by the gym on our way back. However, working from home makes you careless about yourself. Don’t forget, you will be more productive and creative if you are healthy.

This article is from Graphics Design Blog.