More Than Just Ink On Paper

Networking is an invaluable, inexpensive, and effective tool for building your business. Despite the digital age, people prefer doing business with companies they know and trust. Networking provides potential clients the connection and trust they need to later make a purchase. According to Oxford Economics USA , 80% of professionals find networking essential to their career success. Because of this, 41% want to network more often. Networking may seem daunting, especially for those not naturally inclined to talk with others, but a little uncomfortableness outweighs the benefits. A First and Lasting Impression Before getting started, it’s important to look the part. First impressions are important. After all, people are constantly judging and forming opinions of others. Once the initial opinion is made, it can be challenging to alter it. Before networking, practice creating a good impression. This means focusing on a professional style of dress, creating good posture, pr...

Just like any muscle in the body, the brain can also get tired. According to Medical News Today , a human’s ability to make decisions can worsen after making many decisions, as their brain will be more fatigued. This can lead to an emerging phenomenon called decision fatigue, which can cause mental fatigue, increasingly worse decision making, impulse buying, procrastination, decision avoidance, lack of focus, pessimism, and lapses in judgment. And it could be the reason you find it hard to get stuff done. It’s not your fault. It’s just your brain’s natural defense mechanism. When the brain becomes depleted, it shuts down non-essential services, including the prefrontal cortex, which is the area of the brain responsible for complex decision-making. Unfortunately, entrepreneurs can be affected by decision fatigue because they make many decisions throughout the day, feel greatly affected by the decisions they make, and make stressful and complex decisions. ...

Not long ago, scanning books or groceries by a rectangle barcode seemed quite novel. It was fast, convenient, and just a little fun. But as society’s pace accelerated, so did our need to read barcodes efficiently. In 1994, Japanese auto-makers adopted “Quick Read” QR codes (square matrix barcodes that could be scanned from any direction) that stored a hundred times more information than conventional barcodes. Enter QR Creativity In this micro-attention age, QR codes can catch the fleeting attention of your audience by adding both efficiency and quirkiness to your designs. Today’s customers love to actively participate – not just passively consume – so why not take people on a “digital scavenger hunt” you’ve created by leading them to a URL for your landing page, a direct link to your social media page, or to retrieve personalized texts from your team? While many QR codes are bland, they don’t have to be. Here are just...

Ready to stop traffic with eye-catching displays? Spectacular banners and backdrops ensure a competitive edge. Researchers estimate it takes only one-fifth of a second to evaluate a brand image, and 94% of that is design related. If you want to get all eyes on you, large-scale displays bring a big statement with a smashing style. Here are four fun possibilities to consider for your next conference, sidewalk display, or community event. 1. Rigid Signs When you want to provide classy directional signage or a beautiful lobby accent, rigid signs offer many versatile options. Consider rigid metal, acrylic, or plastic signs to post store hours, prominently display your logo, or spruce up your welcome space. Rigid signs can be displayed using wall clamps, bolt spacers, and easels, or fitted to a steel plate base that uses hook and loop connections to make graphic changes quick and simple. Try shapes like an arrow, beveled oval, or a contour customized to your logo.   2. Full...

Presidential campaigns are a time when passions run high and candidates jostle for the spotlight. Avid supporters of each candidate put signs in their yards, wear buttons, or put stickers on their bumpers. Politicians who use simple, repeatable slogans have a higher success rate and a longer shelf life in the public square. Can you finish any of these popular mantras? Tippacanoe and __________ (Tyler Too/William Henry Harrison) A Chicken in Every Pot and __________ (A Car in Every Garage/Herbert Hoover) Happy Days are ________ (Here Again/Franklin Roosevelt) I Like ____ (Ike, Dwight D. Eisenhower) Make America ________ (Great Again/Donald Trump) A good presidential campaign slogan is memorable, meaningful, and highly quotable . More than a phrase, it builds a heart connection with the dreams and needs of listeners. And it is often a candidate’s key to victory. Why Confusion Scares People Voters and prospective customers aren’t so different. Both ar...

It happens. The design deadline looms, your mind is adrift, and your page is blank. How can you generate creativity and move out of this slump? Two resources to leverage are your time and your team .  Often the longer you spend on an idea, the less productive you become. Especially if you are working alone. With an open concept and no firm timeline, designers may sit at their desks for weeks, spinning endless variations of a vague concept or completely losing sight of the project goals. This is a dead end that can drive everyone mad. Instead, apply a simple process to prompt stunning ideas efficiently: 1. Gather a team Everyone has good ideas, not just designers. Who could you pull – account assistants, content writers, a family member – to brainstorm for a brief stretch of time? Use a pen and paper and spend time thinking aloud together about names, word pictures, or image ideas. Keep it short and sweet but have fun! 2. Review the design brief and projec...

For every Olympic Games, there has been an accompanying logo that brings a unique identity to that particular year while allowing the host country a special place in the global spotlight. A good Olympics logo should reflect both the host country’s culture and the time period of the games. The 2012 Olympic logo caught a lot of flak for failing in both of these goals. Composed of bright pink and yellow colors, weird shapes, and a jagged, angular typeface, it smacked of an 80’s funk vibe rather than British culture or the London lifestyle. When it was revealed in 2007, a petition circulated Great Britain (signed by over 48,000 citizens) to have the £400,000 logo scrapped a redesigned. Ije Nwokorie, managing director at the design firm that created the logo, defended the bold look : “We wanted the logo, in particular, to make people reconsider Olympics, to think about them in a different way,” he said. “London is this kind of dissonant place that you disc...