ARE Creative

Using Hard Light and Overlay in Photoshop - Great Graphic Design in 2 Minutes

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 11:22:00 +0000

The potential for creating unique designs in photoshop is unlimited. Previously we used the soft light and gaussian blur options, but this is what can be done with hard light and overlay. When we combined the 3 images below

and added a swirl, this was the fantastic result.

Get Back in the Saddle Again

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:07:00 +0000

This week's Worthy of a Read comes from one of my favourite bloggers Catarina Alexon who has a business blog that we read as often as possible.

In our unsecure economy how we view our business will have a fundamental role on how successful it will be and how much business we can retain and generate.

"you can have a fresh start any moment you choose, for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down................."
read the full article here

Is Rebranding Your Business The Way Forward?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 11:20:00 +0000

A brand is anything that identifies a product, service or business. It can be a strapline (slogan), logo or symbol, jingle or most commonly a name. Branding is how this is seen in the marketplace. The long term aim of a successful branding exercise is to raise brand awareness. This refers to the buyer's abillity to recognize the brand, logo, strapline, jingle etc and identify with the product.

The key to successful branding is to create a certain expectation associated with the brand, that it is unique, with certain characteristics that will be remembered, making a product relevant to it's target audience. Working on the principle that buyer's don't purchase because they view it to be better, but more familiar to them, creating brand awareness and recognition is the key to any new advertising or marketing campaign.

Branding also has an impact on how staff members view the company product and also their ability to promote and sell it within the business and private community. Failure to believe in your branding will show through any sales pitch you make, compromising your business and on the contrary a branding refresh can generate new enthusiasm for your company product.

Is your business branding due an overhaul?

Worth a read...
ARE rebrand to ARE Creative
What is your branding strategy
Does your logo work?

Coles Miller Equine Advert

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 11:21:00 +0000

Parkour Motion Reel

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 11:10:00 +0000

parkour motion reel from saggyarmpit on Vimeo.

This is so fantastic, frame by frame and obviously represents hours of time spent putting the reel together. A pleasure to watch.

Getting 'Volcanic' in Poole

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 13:47:00 +0000

BRIEF:

Re-design and print business cards and compliment slips for Volcano Jewelry, Poole High Street. A simple, arty logo for a great jewelry business in Poole.

Pixels or Pixelated?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 00:00:00 +0000

In Graphic Design, pixels are the backbone to a great finished product. Using images that are too small and then increasing their size will ruin any designers best work.

Pixels are small dots that are the basis for any image. A pixel is split into sub-pixels of red, blue and green. Pixels add together to make a bitmap image, a grid that resembles a mosaic of dots. The size and proximity of pixels will determine the quality of image, smaller and closer together will give a higher quality image. As any image is magnified, the size and proximity of the pixels increases so producing a distorted image with blurred integrity that produces inferior graphic results. You can test this by zooming in on a picure and the pixels or building blocks will become apparent. Take a look at media images of celebrities children and see how the faces are blurred out; a great example of pixelation.

Worth a read....
Pixels, resolution and vector images
CMYK and RGB Colour

Face Silhouette in Adobe Photoshop CS4

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:18:00 +0000

We wanted to use the face only from this photo and used photoshop's linear dodge tool and a large pixel eraser to remove the rest of the image we didn't want. Great results for messing around with photos.

Palmer and Co Post Budget Newsletter

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:15:00 +0000

Even though many companies prefer e-newsletters as a way of communicating with their clients, there is still a place for hard copy newsletters. Palmer and Co use theirs as a library of information for all new clients and are given out in A4 folders together with general information about services.

Whatify - Read of the Week

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 14:59:00 +0000

From time to time, something great lands in the mailbox for ARE Creative. This week's great read is Whatify, an e-mag covering local government and education but very well written and with fantastic designs, we were kept interested until the last page.

Go here for more information from Whatify

Andy Rapkins Photography Branding

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 16:29:00 +0000

This was a project we thoroughly enjoyed. Andy is a Dorset based photographer with a very clear vision for his business and branding his company was not difficult. As always any branding takes place by considering how fonts and colours represent the business ethos and how they will work across all media. With a seasonal variation in photography, it was important to also consider a variety of colours for different seasons of the year.

Please click Andy's logo to connect with his great new website.

Aspen Design Stationary Print

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 10 Mar 2011 16:30:00 +0000

Having good quality stationary printed is essential in portraying your business in a sharp and professional manner. Don't be tempted to opt for a cheap option when it comes to printing your letterheads, a digital printer will burn the logo onto paper and if your office printer works at a higher temperature, it will pull the logo off.

Always choose lithographic printing for your stationary.

Marketing Your Business @ ARE Creative

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 13 Feb 2011 19:08:00 +0000

...because people will only see what they are looking for.

Whatever the type of campaign or the medium, we can help you to maximise the effectiveness of your marketing budget. Most great marketing ideas are inexpensive and easy to implement, marketing often just takes commitment.

At ARE Creative we don't just want to achieve maximum exposure for your business, but to target those most likely to respond. We are experienced at devising simple and effective strategies to harness your talent, the unique qualities of your business and convert that to an increase in sales.

For more information on your marketing needs contact us here.

Cute Inset Typography in Photoshop CS4

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 11:16:00 +0000

Inset typography is a fantastic way of making graphics look as though they are 3D and implanted within the background. This technique uses the gradient overlay, inner shadow and drop shadow blending options in varying degrees to achieve a great effect. Perfect for web work.

Did You Just Lose a Sale?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 14:52:00 +0000

The answer is yes if........

You don't thank a customer for his business
Every penny you put into advertising does not tell you whether your ads are working
You don't have email addresses or contact telephone numbers for your existing clients, to get repeat business
Everyone who contacts you by telephone or email is not converted into a customer
Every letter you write, invoice you send or payment you make does not open an opportunity for a sale
A person visits your website and you don't hear from them again
4 months go by and your existing clients haven't heard your latest news and offers
Potential clients who make enquiries by phone, email or website leave having no clear idea how you and your company can benefit them

Pantone Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Sun, 21 Nov 2010 11:37:00 +0000

A pantone is the description given to a particular shade of a colour used in design and printing.

Pantone is an American company that founded the Pantone Colour Matching System in the 1960's. The idea was to create a uniform colour measurement grid that would allow designers to successfully match and replicate individual colours in the production stage of any design, no matter what equipment and programme they were using. It is now recognised world wide as the standard colour system for design and print.

Pantone hold the intellectual property to their colour numbers, pigment values and system usage and it is generally not available to most 'over the counter' design packages. It is possible to obtain a pantone palette from most printers and restrictions on use will vary.

For more information go here

WORTH A READ - GIF VERSUS PNG, WHAT IS A JPEG

Graphic Designs @ ARE Creative

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 21:47:00 +0000

Design is the face of your business and says a lot about what you do. It can show professionalism, quality and motivation or unfortunately the opposite. Your business attributes should be reflected in all design work produced for your company.

At ARE Creative we are experienced in producing Graphic Design work for small to large businesses. We work in Adobe Indesign, Photoshop, Illustrator and Quarkxpress, in PC or Mac format to provide high quality design relevant to your business needs.

So whether it's a simple advert for a local Bournemouth or Poole magazine, logo, company brochure, our concise and impactful designs will speak for your business.

For more information on our Graphic Design service please contact us here

How Good is Your Networking?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 05 Nov 2010 01:22:00 +0000

Would you walk up to a stranger at an event and demand something from him? And if you did, what would the result be? Yes, most likely failure. So why do so many people think they can do that online where chances of succeeding are even slimmer?

Click here to read a great article on social and internet networking from Catarina Alexon

Firefox Gets a Double Toolbar for Bookmarking Your Sites

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 01:39:00 +0000

If you are anything like us, you will have hundreds of bookmarked pages and a toolbar groaning with the weight of the tools you use most frequently. We tend to have all our clients' blogs, Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator all open together with social media platforms like TweetDeck and those web tools suck as bit.ly that are invaluable.

For our PC work we use Firefox, this is a great add-on, a double bookmark toolbar making life just that bit less complicated.

Go to Firefox add-ons page here to find out more and download

Worth a read...

Firefox and bit.ly team up for easy social bookmarking

Blogging As Part Of Your Online Marketing Strategy

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 28 Oct 2010 07:00:00 +0000

Blogs have been around for many years, with several sites offering the facility for free design and hosting. Originally one of the first social media platforms, blogging has found it's way from the private and personal domain into the business community with many believing that having a blog adds credence to their business.

Why has the business community gone nuts over blogging?

In comparison to a standard, static website, a blog offers the opportunity to continually update your content. This is far eclipsing the standard SEO of using meta-tags, now it is content, content, content that will determine placing in any online search. With a static site, editing content, images and adding special offers can be difficult for the lay-person, and can prove expensive to have a web agency update your site several times each week.

If you are an innovative business owner wanting to share your products, ideas and portfolio with the online world, a blog is the platform to use. Quick to set up, often free to host and easy to edit means that having a business blog need not be all time consuming. For those who use social media sites such as twitter, facebook or linkedIn, having an updated blog is a fantastic resource to direct your followers to.

How Google Helps

Recent developments from Google make getting your blog publicized even simpler. Analytics will track your visitors, trends and keywords will help you provide target rich content, and blog search will put your blog post on the map.

Blogging with ARE Creative

We have over 8 years of blogging experience and have introduced blog design as part of our portfolio for clients. We can design your blog, host to blogger for free, even link to a .co.uk domain name for a professional look and if you would rather not edit it yourself, we will do that for you. It really is very simple. Prices start from £250 for a blog design....

....isn't it time you added a blog to your online portfolio?

Worth a read....
Where are you directing your social media contacts
Google Analytics - Worth It's Weight In Gold
Be Business Smart with Google Alerts

Glass Looking Text in Adobe Photoshop CS4

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Wed, 20 Oct 2010 07:29:00 +0000

Another great 'fun' typography using the Bevel and Emboss blending tool. We used the A.C.M.E. Secret Agent font, one of the new and free fonts available to download. This font is perfect for web work, graphic design and blog banners, sadly does not transfer that well to printed copy. The beauty of the blending tools in photoshop mean that with a simple font, the options to 'create' are limitless.

Worth a read:
ARE Creative Graphic Design Articles

Where Are You Putting Your RSS Feeds?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Thu, 14 Oct 2010 08:08:00 +0000

As we all know it's is all very well having a fantastic website or blog with great visuals and content....but putting our site out there for others to read can prove challenging and take considerable time and resources.

It took me 10 minutes to submit ARE Creative site to 10 blog directories and RSS feed sites other than the standard facilities that Google offer. Fore more information go here.

Hospitality Services and Advice from Coles Miller

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 10:52:00 +0000

Brief:

Design an A5 flyer advertising legal services for the hospitality/leisure/hotel trade as employers of casual staff.

Visit Coles Miller here

Do You Brand for Success?

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 16:24:00 +0000

Everything and everyone is a product. A country, a city, a company, a product, a service a person – yes you and me included. And how the market perceives the product determines its value. It’s sounds cynic, I know. But if you want a high value and be sought for on the market you have to create a brand that is in demand and sells.

Recruit, Retain and Grow with Rock Recruitment and Dorset Employers Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Rachel) — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 15:54:00 +0000

We are pleased to announce our first event as Dorset Employers Forum, designed for employers who have an interest in learning more about recruitment issues, employment law and employee engagement. This is a free event hosted by several Dorset-based businesses. Please read the invite and click at the bottom to reserve your free place.

To confirm your place go here