Designer sources

Inspiration vs. Working Hard: Why Working Hard Always Wins

2011-04-14T14:40:00.000+05:00

The world is surrounded by people who are willing to sell you inspiration. And you know what? Chances are high that you are buying into it.
Even worse is that it might be destroying your potential to do and create great things.
Go to any bookstore and you’ll see a “business” section. It’s a popular place these days, particular for today’s professionals, who go in seeking validation. The promises of hopes and dreams are high. But it’s a trap.
Instead of providing you with motivation to start working, this inspirational material acts as a substitute to performing work. It becomes a distraction that prolongs the efforts that you should already be putting into new and existing projects.
The authors get richer while your hopes and dreams grow, but are you working on things that really matter? Maybe… maybe not.

When All Else Fails, Working Hard Prevails

If you want to save yourself time, money, and much grief, come to realize the following things:

Inspiration is only useful if you are willing to work hard.
Inspirational material is not a substitute for work, and it could be a distraction.
Doing hard work doesn’t mean you are working hard.
Working hard is difficult, but it’s possible and necessary to accomplish great things.
Eliminating distractions is key to working hard and maintaining focus.
Working harder will, in most cases, produce better long-term results.

In the future, if you need a book, blog post, image gallery, podcast, television show, or movie to get you to sit down and do something, you have a serious problem.
Realize that you already know the solution — you always have. The question is, however, are you willing to put in the long hours to make it work?

Tips to Design Flyers Effectively

2010-11-21T07:37:00.001+05:00

A good flyer can serve as one of the effective tool that can take company sales growth high. Printing large quantity of flyers can just take organizations business to new heights. There are different ways in which you can distribute the flyers like you can handed it out individually to the people or they can be given out to a large crowd like how you scatter confetti in the air and they can even be pasted on the walls. Whatever be the way you choose to distribute them can serve as a rewarding experience. The creation of flyers with specific messages can serve as a way in increasing the amount of investments. But it is important to note that the company needs to very creative in the creation of themes; the application of message with the usage of images and text.

It is good that you go in for good simple designs that are not much complex. Involving too much of content, pictures in the design can make the flyer appear too crowded and in this fast moving world to make the people know what the flyer conveys we need to give them something that is light and simple, they will have more scope to focus on the message what it wants to convey more than anything else. A good layout can make the designs stand extra ordinary even without much of complex stuff; it is more than enough that you use two to three images that are very interesting.

Further keeping it simple also has another direct advantage of reducing the money that you incur on these flyers, the cost of the printing remains reasonable because there is not much usage of specialized inks. There are assumptions that the four color printing is quite expensive but it will good to know that four color printing is available at affordable rates. Flyers are cheap advertisement material but talent lies that you extract the best out of them through careful planning.

Some tips that can help you to generate attractive flyers are as follows:

1. Write a snappy headline or title.
Make it memorable, unusual or provocative using a few carefully chosen powerful words. Popular titles contain one or more of these words: Easy, The Secrets to, Unlock, Finally, Insider, Time Sensitive, How to, Free Bonuses, Now You Can, Discover, Proven.

2. Use colorful or striking graphics.
One large image will have more impact than many smaller images. A stunning photo or illustration grabs attention, creates a mood, and supports your story. This image is your "focal point" and will draw your readers in. You can purchase inexpensive but quality stock photos on the Internet. Download individual photos or purchase a CD with hundreds of images.

3. Focus on the benefits of your product or service.
Your prospects will ask the question, "What's in it for me?" Write from the their perspective using the words "you" and "your." Avoid using the following words: we, us, I and our. Be sure to keep your text short and to the point. Some of the most powerful words to use are: free, save, love, new, results, and guarantee. Break up long paragraphs with bullet points and place them in a separate box.

4. Use compelling testimonials and case studies.
Nothing strikes a chord like an endorsement from a happy customer, especially if it demonstrates the results they've had with your product or service. Be sure to include the first and last name, company name and location of the person providing the endorsement.

5. Organize your page with boxes, borders and areas of contrasting colors.
You don't need to fill your flyer with wall-to-wall text and graphics. Incorporate some white space to make certain elements stand out and to make the flyer easy to read.

6. Make your points easily identifiable.
Highlight titles and subtitles in bold, but avoid using ALL CAPS because they are more difficult to read.

7. Don't get too complicated.
Make it simple with two typefaces, and align items to a grid. Your page layout program will provide non-printing guidelines. Use the "snap to guidelines" function to align items easily to the grid. Be aware of printing margins. I suggest you create your layout with 1/2" margins on all sides, or add 1/8" for bleeds on items that print off the edge of the page.

8. Don't forget to proofread.
Have someone else proofread your work. Check your contact information. Dial the phone numbers on the flyer to make sure they are correct, and type in the URL of your website to make sure it is correct, too.

9. If you are on a tight budget, try this.
Select bright-colored or unique paper, and print with black ink. Use shades of grey to provide tones and contrasting background areas.

10. Offer a discount or special limited-time price.
Design a coupon on the bottom quarter of the flyer. Be sure to clearly state the deadlines and limitations of the offer. If it is a mail-in coupon, be sure to include the payment specifications with areas for filling out credit card information, mailing address, etc.

Securimage CAPTCHA -Telling Humans and Computers Apart Automatically

2010-10-16T12:37:00.004+05:00

A CAPTCHA is a program that can generate and grade tests that humans can pass but current computer programs cannot. For example, humans can read distorted text as the one shown below, but current computer programs can't:

Guidelines

If your website needs protection from abuse, it is recommended that you use a CAPTCHA. There are many CAPTCHA implementations, some better than others. The following guidelines are strongly recommended for any CAPTCHA

Accessibility.
Image Security.
Script Security.
Security Even After Wide-Spread Adoption.

reCAPTCHA | http://www.google.com/recaptcha

reCAPTCHA is a free CAPTCHA service that helps to digitize books, newspapers and old time radio shows. Check out our paper in Science about it (or read more below).

Capthas.net | http://captchas.net/

A CAPTCHA image shows a random string which the user has to type to submit a form. This is a simple problem for (seeing) humans, but a very hard problem for computers which have to use character recognition, especially, because the displayed string is alienated in a way, which makes it very hard for a computer to decode.

ProtectWebForm | http://www.protectwebform.com/

Insure yourself from spam! The Anti Spam Insurance Company - ProtectWebForm!

Spam is not delivered manually. There are many so-called spam robots (bots) which are spidering the web in order to find the form. Whenever such robots find the web form it tries to post a spam message to it. The only solution to protect your form is to add a verification image. This method will not protect you from spammers that are delivering their spam manually, but it will stop all the spam bots. Statistics show that spam delivered manually is less than 0.01% of all web form spam.

Classic ASP Security Image Generator (CAPTCHA) http://www.tipstricks.org/

Generate images with letters and numbers to make a CAPTCHA test.

Completely FREE Classic ASP VBScript.
The secure code is completely random.
Dynamic image processing.
No image file requires.
No components require.
Create a cross browser compatible BMP images.
You can use a custom color palette for image.

Clear And Effective Communication In Web Design

2010-10-12T23:18:00.000+05:00

Communication is one of the foundational elements of a good website. It is essential for a positive user experience and for a successful website that truly benefits its owners. All types of websites are affected by the need for good communication in one way or another. Regardless of whether the website in question is an e-commerce website, a blog, a portfolio website, an information website for a service company, a government website or any other type of website, there is a significant need to communicate effectively with visitors. read more

Logo Design Software Pros and Cons

2010-10-10T08:32:00.002+05:00

When it comes to creating a logo design for business, a lot of people start searching for free logo design software to do the job. Yes, they don’t even want to pay for it. Well, there is nothing wrong with free stuff and if you can get a quality product without any cost at all, then there is no reason to spend your money on an expensive product. However, when it comes to logo design software, it doesn’t matter whether free or paid, there are certain pros and cons. You have got to know them to ensure that you make a smart decision. Otherwise, you will end up creating your brand identity in a very unprofessional way.

top ten logos

Now, let’s talk about logo design software now. See, logo design software make it easy for designers to create eye catching and attractive logos. With numerous options at your disposal, you can give the logo kind of look you want. However, you’ll first have to learn to use the software. Otherwise, you won’t be able to fully utilize the power of the software. So, it’s ideal to go through the manual or guide that comes with it to explore what sort of functions are available and how you can create your logo.

Once you learn about all different nice and cool options, you may then go ahead and start creating your own logo design for your business. However, there will still be a problem that you will face. Even though it will be an easy to use software and you will become familiar with the tools, but without the knowledge of design and branding, how will you be able to create an attractive logo design that will correctly represent your business and also make you look professional? This is something you don’t get with the software.

When it comes to playing with text and images, software are really cool. But when it comes to creativity, then your software won’t be able to help you at all. See, your software will be able to guide you how you can rotate an image or make the text bold, but it won’t tell you that what sort of image and font style will be suitable for your particular industry. Thus, only knowing how you can use a software is not enough, if you don’t have any knowledge of design and brand identity.

Another thing that logo design software can’t do is that they can’t conduct a research for you. They can’t analyze the logo of your market and then determine how your logo should be designed. So, you will be all alone with your software and you will have to use your limited design knowledge to create your brand identity.

Whereas, hiring a professional logo designer will give you tons of benefits. A designer will be able to guide you that what sort of image and colors will be good for your particular industry. He or she will also conduct a research and study the logos of your competitors. The designer will also use his creativity to create your brand identity in a powerful way.

So, now you know the pros and cons of logo design software and you can now make the right decision.
by: Sha Amen

A Good Brochure Design

2010-10-02T15:23:00.003+05:00

A Good Brochure keep on selling to potential clients long after you've left the sales meeting. a bright, communicative brochure that instantly shows what you do in pictures and text to establish your company's credibility and professionalism. With the vast amount of information experienced by the average person daily, it is essential that the brochure design is:

Attractive to the eye,
Easy to understand
instantly able to communicate the benefits of your products

Brochure Types

There are two type of Brochures are common booklet and flyers, because it raises the public’s awareness for the company or the brand name. flyer may be small, but it should never be underestimated as many businesses have thrived thanks in no small part to the awareness raised through the distribution of flyers.

A Good brochures act as your remote salespeople. Brochures and flyers are important in order to let people know of the service or product that they provide. For small companies and businesses, it is ideal to utilize the great response and feedback these materials provide.

There are some more types as well like:

Bi-fold brochures
Folders
Inserts
Catalogs
Pamphlets

Flyers and brochures are also important because they help in associating an image with a company, product or service. A good, brochure that stands out will help in the retention of a company or product’s name in the mind of a consumer.

Corporate Brochures

2010-09-25T08:36:00.004+05:00

Are Yours Helping or Hurting Your Company?
Do you find yourself reluctant or even a tad apologetic when you hand out your company’s brochure? Are you unhappy with it, but not sure why? If so, chances are you need a new brochure. But before you leap into that project, consider some of the points that follow. A little thought and planning now will go a long way in the creation of a brochure which both projects your corporate identity and image positively and is a brochure of which you can be proud.

How to Make a One Page Brochure

2010-09-15T15:41:00.000+05:00

Brochures often come in half-fold, tri-fold, or four-panel fold. But if you want to try something new for your business, a one page brochure is your best option. A flat page brochure allows clients to read your marketing copy without having to turn the pages; exposing your message right at first glance.

Sample Brochure Design for Security Company

2010-08-30T10:26:00.003+05:00

add-ons that enable you to personalize Internet Explorer instantly.

2010-08-26T14:38:00.000+05:00

add-ons that enable you to personalize Internet Explorer instantly.This add-on sits right in your Internet Explorer browser and alerts you when new deals arise for your departure airport, even if you're not on the ...

5 Tips for Creating a Successful Social Media Contest

2010-08-19T14:45:00.000+05:00

One of the best ways to drive engagement and build word of mouth traffic about your brand is to run a contest via social media channels. Not only does it engage consumers with your brand in a fun and exciting way, it results in a treasure-trove of customer information, preferences, and feedback you can then mine to improve your business. And, best of all, launching an online contest can be very inexpensive.

10 Reasons to Use Drupal

2010-07-14T16:26:00.001+05:00

If you are interested in developing search engine friendly Web sites with a content management system, you should be taking a close look at the open-source Drupal CMS.
Here are 10 reasons why you should seriously be considering Drupal for your SEO-based Web development projects.

Advanced URL Control
Custom Content Types and Views
Revision Control
Taxonomy
User Management
Page Titles and Meta Tags
Excellent Documentation
PHP Template
Drupal Cookbooks
Large and Friendly Community