Wall art for a web and graphic design office
I am lucky to have a fabulous office with large windows, wonderful light and enough space “to swing a cat” or two. I keep the decor simple and modern and came across this fabulous wall art today that I think must adorn my walls soon.
I think any graphic or web designer would appreciate this excellent piece by Peppersprouts
© 2011 Chicago web designer
Eye of the Chicago web designer: Nature as inspiration for design
I often turn to nature when looking for inspiration for design elements, everything from color, texture, contrast, focus and shape.
Here are a few examples I have shared over the years.
- Call to action
- Using nature to create a color palette for your brand
- Color Sampling
- Color Palette
- Shapes in nature
As a designer I am am not alone in using nature as inspiration and yesterday, via another designer, I came across this wonderful video, nature by numbers. It is definitely worth a watch.
Eye of the Chicago web designer: Creativity on my Desk
As a web and graphic designer it is my job to be creative, to come up with new a novel ways of presenting things, to create designs that a visually alluring and engaging.
Well the creative aspect of my job tumbles into my everyday life and there is nothing like this little pop of color on my desk to make me pick up one of these lovely home made pens and start sketching out logo ideas or architectural wire frame details.
© 2011 Chicago web designer
Does your web designer do this?
Creating a great web site is only the start of an online presence for many business.
Does your web designer take care of:-
- Domain name registration
- Hosting
- Email setup
- Web Analytics – see how many hits your site is getting, where they are coming from, how long your visitors are staying etc.
- Social Media Avenues – what is best for your business
- Social Media Profiles, setting up Twitter, Facebook YouTube, Flikr …
- Social Media Training
- Search Engine Optimization
- Getting your site listed and ranked in the search engines
- Getting your site listed on local directories e.g Yelp
- Email campaigns
If not then you are using the wrong web design company.
We take care of all the nuts and bolts to make your web presence work for you.
©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer
in Chicago Web Designer, Internet Marketing, SEO, Social Networking
Have you been let down by your web designer?
Isn’t it funny how things come in threes.
In the last day and a half I have had three separate conversations with business owners who have been let down by their web design company. From failing to deliver promised work, shoddy non functioning web elements, to hosting a site with a company who seems to have no concept of up-time guarantee.
It appears these web design companies do not value their clients, a strategy I find hard to comprehend.
Its not the first and certainly not the last time, I’ve heard stories like these. Over the years I have collected quite a few, for example
- My web designer takes too long updating my site with the new content I send.
- My emails and phone calls are never returned
- Something is broken on my site and I need it fixed now
- Google has black-listed my site and I am getting a “malicious” warning
- I have paid a web designer to develop a web site and they have disappeared off the face of the earth
- My web site is always down and I have just discovered my web designer is hosting it on a server in his basement
- My web site looks different when viewed on a MAC or a PC, help!
- I am getting bombarded by spam from my web site
- …
There are a lot of “cow boy companies” out there
If you are looking for a web design company who is with you every step of the way, who measures your success as their success then give us a call: 847 607 8679.
We will not let you down.
The Chicago web designer is refreshed.
There is nothing like a good vacation to refresh the soul and a fabulous week in the UK has done the trick for me. I’d written a couple of blog posts before I left and scheduled their publish while I was away, busy NOT checking my email… not even once. That is a liberating experience I want to repeat …and soon!
I am back on US soil now busy already and following up on a nice bundle of leads generated by some good old fashioned organic Google ranking for my Chicago web design company.
Here is a little photo montage of my trip.
© 2011 Chicago web designer
Sneak peak at Restore North Shore web site
Here is a sneak peak at the new web site I am creating for Restore North Shore, a Chicago home remodeling company.
The site is designed around a palette of cool muted colors. This allows the photographs to pop through and take center stage as they really do most of the talking about the capabilities and quality of workmanship the company offers. The site features a simple slide show on the home page and more detailed portfolio sections within.
The framework of the site is completely built and I am just awaiting copy…
© Chicago web designer
Is your brand image consistent?
I am working on a couple of branding projects at the moment, one is creating everything from scratch ( see the start here) and the other is a brand consistency project.
Is your brand image consistent? Do your customers have the same experience however they interact with you. From visiting your web site, to paging through a brochure or even receiving and invoice, all these interactions offer an opportunity to convey your unique message. Lack of consistency creates confusion and sends conflicting messages to your clients.
For example your web site projects an air of professionalism and trust through design, a well thought out color palette, fonts, imagery and excellent copy. Does that image carry through to your brochures, folders, flyers or whatever other marketing pieces you use, or have they been hastily put together with no thought as to what they communicate?
Here is brand consistency in action, from web site through to presentation folder and DVD labeling the client is getting the same message.
©: 2011 Chicago web designer
in Before and After, Chicago Branding, Chicago Graphic Design, Chicago Web Designer
Building a Brand Image
Full image branding is one of my favorite type of projects and I am delighted to be creating brand and marketing materials for a Chicago home remodeling company, Restore North Shore. The project is moving at quite a pace and there is nothing like a deadline to get things moving along. It is energizing.
The project started on Monday this week and by Tuesday at noon the client needed business cards to hand out at an open house. In that short space of time I designed the logo, established the color palette, selected a corporate typeface, designed a business card and got full client approval along the way via our online project progress system. Phew!
There was no time to get the business cards professionally printed so I took a pdf of the file to a Fedex Office (the one here in Lincolnshire IL is great) where they printed it on card stock using a laser printer and I cut the cards down in their store. While they are only temporary the quality was pretty good and plenty got passed out at a very successful open house in Wilmette.
I will be starting work on the web site tomorrow. It will feature lots of before and after photos showcasing the fabulous work of Restore North Shore. Prepare to be blown away.
©: 2011 Chicago Web Designer
in Chicago Branding, Chicago Graphic Design, Chicago Web Designer, In Progress, Logo Work
Changes in Facebook Feeds: Chicago Web Designer Tip of the Day
Here is the Chicago web designer’s tip of the day.
Facebook has recently introduced quite a few changes, some are easy to see others not quite so.
The default for feeds appearing on your home page are those Friends and pages you interact with most. To change it to all your friends and pages do the following.
© Chicago web designer
