It’s not every day you come across a hosting provider that show they genuinely have their customers in mind. So when you do, you feel you just got to let everyone know. Now, don’t get me wrong there are dozens of other similar good services out there, but I feel these guys deserve a mention.

Launched in 2001, Namecheap has steadily developed its reputation as a customer focused service, providing not just domain name registration but hosting, SSL Certificates and other services.

I am no-one new when it comes to domain registration and hosting, especially as I often find myself dealing with such matters on behalf of my clients. There are many good services out there, and there are even more that are good until you are committed and they have your money.

My personal experience with Namecheap started out with my account application denied and suspected of fraud, although I have no evidence, I suspect this was because of my location at the time. It proved one thing though, these guys are alert compared to the many other hosting and domain registration services I have used in the past. Anyway after the matter was cleared up, it has been ‘plain sailing’ since.

The service is well tailored for the user with lots of video help and support and most certainly works in a way that accommodates multiple domains and hosting.

Transferring an existing domain is a painless exercise, unlike with most other services that seem to hold contempt if you decide to move to another provider. Oh yes, I can tell you all about that. There has been cases where I have simply given up and subsequently lost domain names through trying to transfer to another provider.

So, what is it I like about Namecheap ?

Well, to begin with, besides the trust aspect the services are affordable. I also like the idea of the virtual wallet where you can allocate funds to your account as a way of managing your cash-flow budget. I also like the domain name search feature which helps suggest alternative names if the one you have searched for is already taken. Which reminds me, have you ever experienced searching for a name, find that its available but you are not able to immediately purchase it. Only to find that later, either it costs 3 or more times the original price or is no longer available.

Now, not meaning to make any accusations but there are other people who have experienced similar occurrences with the same hosting providers that I have in mind. So with that, here is another good reason for choosing Namecheap.

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Over the years I have heard many people comment on photography and how professional quality photos can be achieved with most point and shoot cameras, and even smartphone cameras.

Now, whilst I agree that the quality can be great for the Internet; which apparently is where most people view photography today, I simply find it difficult to currently accept when people expect quality images for printed material, well sort of…

I say sort of as recently, on an ‘emergency’ job I actually used a point and shoot camera for a music album cover, and although I felt most of the photos seemed a little flat, you know the quality really wasn’t too bad. I am sure if I were more familiar with the Panasonic Lumix which I used, I may have been able to achieve better results. Waiting for the printed results…

Ohh one other thing check out this DSLR lens for the iPad

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In my opinion, all the excitement over Google’s privacy policies and the label given of being ‘evil’ seems a little overblown, I mean take for example the following scenario:

Mary is interested in self-publishing, she inadvertently makes this known to the Google search engine by executing a search for; e-book self publishing…

Later that day, Mary surprisingly notices a series of ads and information related to self-publishing, whilst viewing her messages in her G-mail account.

Hello, but what exactly is wrong with that ?

Video credit: xtranormal

The Aggregation of Mary’s  Google services actually enriched her on-line experience by presenting her with items of relevance and bringing it all seamlessly together ? It is not to say that new personal information about her was gathered by the ‘bad guy.’

OK, you can argue that it makes it easier for the bad guy, that he know what she has been searching for on the Internet, but that all really depends on who you are saying is the bad guy and whether he really exists (granted, there are bad guys out there).

Transparency

Perhaps, or maybe should I say, by rights, the default option to allow for the aggregation of data should always be set to private, so that users can consciously make the decision for themselves. It would seem that people generally have a tendency to want to be in control of what is shared about them, and who can blame anyone for that.

The problem with this however, is that people are likely not to do anything at all and are likely to simply accept the default as it is – i.e. in the proposed case, private. Therefore people will not opt-in, hence the defunct of software, monetization and eventually the capability of offering free services.

With regards to communication, generally most people tend to ignore notices and other policies or terms, especially as normally these are too long to read and difficult to understand, and often create a delay in the task at hand. After all, who wants to consume half an hour reading and deciphering policies or terms and conditions, when a simple 2 second click of a button will give you entry to your email or whatever service you are trying to access. This is a common problem both on-line and off-line.

Another aspect of the whole alarmist-type response to Internet privacy is due to the disparity of knowledge and understanding amongst especially the ‘ non-power users.’

The video above beautifully depicts this sentiment. What do you think ?

NOTE: Suffered Power outage post may not be complete as intended.

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Education on the Internet has increasingly become more and more accessible to almost anyone, anywhere and at anytime.

Whilst legend Steve Jobs was still with us, Apple introduced iTunes U, which allows you to download a variety of courses from the Open University, Stanford, UC Berkeley Oxford and many other sources.

Subjects range from philosophy, science, marketing, business and more. Educators can easily design and distribute complete courses with added content such as books, audio and video. However, Apple are not the only ones catering for the on-line education arena.

Let me introduce you to Udemy.
Founded in February 2010 by Eren Bali and Gagan Biyani, after being turned down for funding up to 30 times, the business still managed to launch its on-line academy in May 2010. Their goal; to disrupt and democratize education by enabling anyone to learn from the world’s experts.

Eren Bali and Gagan Biyani

So what can Udemy do for you?
Udemy enables anyone to either take, or build courses on-line. As an instructor, simply sign up and select the Create a Course tab; add videos, Powerpoint documents, audio and PDF files. You can even conduct live classes and share your expertise with anyone in the world.

Some courses available include:
- Learn to Develop an iPhone or iPad App in 4 Weeks
- Learn HTML 5 – Crash Course
- Adobe® Photoshop for Beginners
- Adobe® Photoshop for Photographers 

[Learn More]

(above) Create a Course Tool

[Learn More]

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A book that digs deep into the detail and art form of writing effective and engaging white papers. It explains how the term for this underused tool is often mislabeled by other forms of document writing.

So what is a white paper document ? I hear you ask...

A white paper document is an authoritative and official informational paper aimed at decision and policy makers, hence escaping anti-marketing firewalls and resulting in a high success rate in closing sales and implementation of procedures and policies.

As a powerful and informative tool, white papers are used for; detailing problems, suggesting solutions and educating with minimal self-promotion.

Examples of commercial white paper documents may include; promoting benefits of technology or procedures within a business and policies that affect economic, social and environmental aspects both within the business and externally.

Not many people are able, or aware of how to write an effective white paper which has given rise to many documents being mislabeled and described as a white paper.

After receiving a shock response of downloads amounting to well over 40,000 for a document he had previously written, aptly named, “How to Write a White Paper: A White Paper on White Papers.” The inspired Michael Stelzner decided to publish the first ever book on the subject, setting precedence on how a white paper should be written.

Michael describes writing white papers as an artform;

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People have been making comparisons between social network giants Twitter and Facebook for years. Then along came Google+. Which, in my mind, Google has it’s own personal place within the social network arena, but that’s another subject.

The one thing most people found with the early Twitter, was that it lacked the mélange of rich media and content. Many just simply could not see the point of it and made comments such as:

- You can’t say much in 140 characters
- My friends aren’t using it
- Everyone want to speak but not listen
- The lifespan of a comment is too short

Now, whilst Twitter was being used by some, for gimmicky or mundane chatter, others took advantage of the basic offering, and used it as a tool for promoting their business. Something which a lot of people still do not understand today.

I recall reading on Facebook one day – “So how do people make money using Twitter, its pointless?” Well, from a promotional business perspective, one of the things I suppose most people during the early days didn’t get, was that Twitter, unlike Facebook, provided a simple straightforward method or platform for instantly sharing links to external sites. Yes, Facebook could be used in the same way. However, with all the advertising and media, such as video, photos, games, pokes, causes, and all the many other distractions makes using Facebook a far more time consuming activity.

The new Twitter however, displays signs of becoming adequatly multimedia rich and is a definite improvement in my opinion. If it was already possible to do most of the new things I have discovered, then the old version was far from intuitive.The new look is much ‘meatier‘ with a sleeker new menu bar.

Here is what you will now find:

Home – Well, that’s obvious!

@     Connect – Allows you to quickly and easily view your interactions and Mentions you have had over the period of at least a year. I was actually surprised to see how many mentions and re-tweets I was unaware of.

#     Discover – As the name suggest from here you can discover stories, view videos, find friends and other activities all in an easy to view format.

Search - Perform a search for topics, people, keyword #Tagged Word etc

I hope you found this post useful. Please feel free to comment or even follow me
at: https://twitter.com/#!/bjfcreative

Branding Since Ancient Times
Branding is nothing new and has been around since ancient times and can be traced back as far as the ancient Egyptians. The act of using heated metal to burn into the thick hide of livestock such as cattle, in order to indicate ownership, soon spread to branding other commodities such as wood, leather and even slaves. The term Brand which we use today is believed to have derived from the Nordic word brandr which literally means  “to burn”

Brand, Product and Company
Unlike products, brands are mostly intangible and take a while to develop into valuable assets. Believe it or not, there are specialist that deal in calculating the value of brands, but in order to do so the brand must be clearly separable from the actual company. To elaborate, perhaps consider a brand to be the “Soul” of a company. It is the “thing”  that brings about pleasurable customer experience, trust, loyalty and expectation. It is this additional “mojo” that compels consumers to make purchases and gives the company its personality.

Take Apple (Mac) for instance, as a brand, customers have grown to trust Apple as a company and expect products and services that are innovative, intuitive, and deliver a pleasurable user experience. Because of this, besides its popularity, Apple also has the ability to change behavior and the way people do things.

Now think about the clones that mimic Apple products; do they have the same desirability as a real Apple product ? In fact do most people even trust them? I hear a resounding NO! This demonstrates the power of good branding – take the company away from the brand and see if the value still exist.

So You Think You’re a Brand
The idea of personal branding or branding yourself is very common today, especially in the world of Network Marketing. Basically, as an individual you promote yourself as a company gradually developing a network of other individuals and companies you engage with. The aim is to develop trust and popularity amongst other Network Marketers and potential customers.
Good customer service and support is another factor that contributes to a successful brand.

Other important values include:
- Transparency and honesty
- Unique proposition; what makes you different or special
- Passion; position yourself in whatever (niche) you are genuinely interested in

To do this you need to develop a presence, which is far more achievable to do today due to the internet and the ease at which you can set up a website. If hiring a website designer is beyond your budget there are many companies that offer affordable website or blog building services where all you need to do is add the content and perhaps tweak plug-in preferences.

Warning: Be careful not to fall into the wrong company and find yourself joining a bunch of time wasting programs and so called business networks looking to make money from you. They will only make you appear unprofessional whilst you promote their often dodgy products and services there are many of them cropping up each day with offers which at first may seem both attractive and practical – so mind how you go and thanks for reading.

I have always regarded the camera as one of graphic designs important tools. I use photography both for note taking and as part of the process in creating imagery.

That is NOT to say stop using specialized professional photographers, no way!

I have never sought to promote myself as a photographer, at least not until recently. After constantly being introduced as a photographer.
You can view some of my work here.
(Use guest for both the user and password to gain access)

OK, so now, the demand for me to take photos for events, artist, small businesses has eventually lead to my Photographer label sticking. What can I say ?

Anyway, although I did study some photography, mostly black and white; working in the dark-room, developing from film to print, and of course the basic creative and technical skills required for creating decent photos. I can tell you first hand there are still some modern similarities between the conventional darkroom and photo-editing software such as Adobe Photo shop, Gimp, Fireworks and Coral Paint Shop Pro.

Technology has really played a significant role – in making the partnership between the camera and editing software, almost inseparable, at least for most photographers, hobbyist, graphic artist, and other commercial image creators. Since my days of studying, I have to say that I have consistently owned a fairly decent SLR camera from; Pentax, Olympus, Canon and eventually Nikon and of course a set of decent lenses. Currently I use the Nikon D90 alongside my other graphic design tools. Many professional photographers today, also use digital SLR cameras with software such as Adobe® Photo shop and Aperture as their darkroom. .

Does Digital Photography Suck!

You may have heard the argument from purist that digital photography is not the same as traditional film photography, that the capability to manipulate images on screen is a sacrilegious act against the art. Perhaps once I would have stood by them, however when looking around me they have either disappeared or converted.

Learning Photography 

Without experiencing the world of digital photography for yourself you will never truly understand the similarities between the old and new school methods and techniques. So, if you are new to photography or looking for ways of earning from your photos, there are lots of great learning systems available on-line and whilst you are  learning you will have yourself constantly asking the question;

“ So how would they have done this in the old days ? ”

Oh there would be answers, but the methods would not be as quick , accessible or as simple as yours….

Reference:

Learning Photography

Single Lens Reflex (SLR)

35 mm film

Darkroom

Aperture

Photoshop

Have you noticed how often the word free is used to mean something other than free, especially on the internet  ?

The word free, itself, is normally used for expressing the meaning of freedom as in; free from slavery, or being at liberty. Or, free as in gratis; no cost, charge or fee. You could say that both forms of free have evolved over the centuries and both have a story to tell. The free that is most often referred to on the internet however, is the free from cost.

And that is the free that I am currently curious about.

Downloading and receiving stuff on the internet for free is a given expectation, especially amongst the generations raised when the internet has always existed.

So, what does the word free mean to You?

- Does it suggest cheap or poor quality ?
Or does it grab your attention, alerting you of an offer not-to-be-missed?

- Or, does receiving something for free leave you with the feeling of ease?
Believing that you are at an advantage as you have nothing to lose.

Why is the word free, so good at getting YOU to try something-out ?

Many would say that free eliminates the chance of falling victim of a bad deal. Although, one could always argue that your time spent using a free service or product may equate to a form of labour in exchange for free. Because, as a user your activities contribute as promotional and revenue-generating efforts for that service. And you may not even be aware.

After all, the use of the word free as a marketing stimuli or catalyst has been used since around 1870, at a time when saloons would, as an incentive, offer an elaborate free lunch for the purchase of a drink, in anticipation that the guest would buy more drinks and perhaps later become a regular visitor. This demonstrates how free comes with unwritten conditions, one of those conditions often include that you patronize and support the business promoting the free offer.

As you may now know, “free” is a powerful marketing tool that has its own history.

Free can also raise suspicion as in situations where a service may sound, for example, like just what you are looking for. As a cynic, the only concern you may have though, is that as a free service, with lets say, no advertising and no fees ever. You would quite rightly ask…

What is in it for the business providing the free service or product ?
Surely they must need some form of income in order to remain in business…?

Although the service or product is indeed of no direct cost to you, there is an expectation that, as a subscriber or member, providing there is value or benefit, you will at some point:

- Upgrade to a paid-for version of that product or service, which will in turn probably release further features or privileges.

- Promote the product or service by inviting friends (WOMM. Word of Mouth Marketing).

- Subscribe to newsletters, forums and third-party products and services.

- Actively contribute towards the content or exposure of the product or service.

As you can see, there are a number of ways in which a free service can still benefit through its free members, and depending on where, when and how the word is used, ‘free’ can imply both negative and positive things. As a negative, free may suggest something faulty or of inferior quality, especially if ‘that something’ was previously sold at a price. Or, free can simply mean that as a customer you get the chance to try before you buy.

So what does free mean to you now? Do you believe that free is really free? Maybe to you, yes, well maybe…

To answer that in a nutshell, the simplest answer is to say no. Nothing can possibly be totally free, and I know you’ve heard this before. In any case, where there is a free offer, you can be sure that someone, somewhere has made some form of expenditure in order that a free offer is made possible in the first place.

Therefore it would not be unreasonable to expect that, in most cases, any labour undergone is usually in exchange for something of monetary, or an agreed value. There are businesses which thrive on this phenomena.

But…

Let us not forget! the role that the internet plays in the evolution of free.

Within its nature, the internet conveniently allows speedy distribution of digital products and services worldwide, and it’s this capability that free uses as a platform. Rather than attempt to ‘crowbar’ an old business model into the way in which the internet is used, a many businesses developing of maintaining an online presence is more likely to adopt a ‘Freemium’ business model, one that flows naturally with the technology available and the expectations of internet users. This is especially effective and beneficial if the product or service falls into demand.

This is where the power of free can again play a big hand. Allowing customers to first experience a product before parting with any cash, whilst providing the business with interested prospects.

Industries, such as the gaming industry, as a good example, have taken advantage of this fact by providing customers with state of the art experience from purchase to download.

The games industry provide services which tick most of their customer requirements, for example, it would not be uncommon that the following would be expected as a given;

- Can I try it for free ? Yes
- Can I download it ? Yes
- Can I interact with other users ? Yes

The user experience is near to, if not, seamless. Minimizing any gaps between the user first showing interest, and actually using the product. You see,  it is between these gaps that people often make decisions and if a gap is too long or inappropriate, the users interest may wonder.

To elaborate, imagine promoting a digital game on the internet, that was neither available for online purchase or download.

Let’s face it (excuse the pun), but Facebook is, and will continue to be the most prominent internet social meeting place for some time. With well over 800 million users by the time you’ve read this, it’s difficult NOT to believe that every existing business worth mentioning, from tiny to ginormous, will not be using Facebook in some way or the other.

So, there is no time better than now to start taking advantage of what Facebook can offer, especially as the one thing that is a common notion; is that Facebook is the place to reach people that exist in your everyday life, these very same people may also be your potential customers or collaborators. And they can be anywhere in the world (well, almost).

I take it that you already have a Facebook account which you use for engaging with your existing and potential prospects. But, how effective are your methods ? Do you run contests or provide coupons ? Do you have people subscribing to your business for updates ?

Do you have the XFactor ?
Again no pun intended, but do you have the tabs to first of all, capture your visitors and have them say yes, I “Like”, before gaining access to your wares ? And what’s about the general look and feel of your page is it saying what you really want it to say ? Does it have the pizzazz of say the Coca-Cola Facebook page ? What was that, you’re not a multi-billion dollar company?

So! you can look like one it’s easy…(not that that is something I should be encouraging if you haven’t really got what it takes).

Anyway, you want to look professional on Facebook right ? Then check out the FB XTABS Apps…

In a nutshell
XTABS APPS is a collection of  advanced easy to use facebook tools tailored for maximizing and enhancing your presence on Facebook. If you manage a business Page on Facebook then this is for you. It allows you to add extra functionality to give your Pages that professional edge.

Create download pages, contests, and much more. Capture your vistitors and keep them engaged with special bonuses or have them subscribe to your mailing list.  There’s so much you can do with XTAB it’s worth taking a look, even if just so you know what is possible.

Officially launched on the 20th December 2011, FB XTAB is a Social Media Suite for Facebook Page management and will have you quickly up and running with a professionally organized Facebook Page for your business or organization. Add a special bonus download as a gift to encourage visitors, or allow your visitors to enter contests and more…

Oh yes, you’ll like this too.

The eCommerce Store tab
You can even have an eCommerce Store right inside facebook to sell whatever you want and apparently from what I hear there is more coming. Imagine having the capability to employ your Facebook Page to perform the tasks most people once only wished was available, right there at your disposal.

FB XTAB APPS

iCloud is finally here but are you ready to make the transition from MobileMe?

Do you even have the latest Operating System installed on your Mac ? And what’s about your existing iDisk and all that data you already have stored ?

Well, with Apple’s new iCloud, your email, contacts, calendars, and bookmarks are all taken care of, whilst you continue using your existing me.com and mac.com email addresses.

In a nutshell, iCloud basically replaces the MobileMe service and is considered to be a more seamless format, with efficient syncing, and comes with 5GB of free storage. Changes to your content on one device is updated automatically and wirelessly to your iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, Desktop Mac or PC, whilst integrating iTunes and other software. Windows users will need to install the Windows Control Panel.

Your devices will also need to be updated to iOS5 through iTunes and it would be a good idea to back up all your MobileMe data by dragging the files you want to keep directly from your iDisk window to your desktop, your MobileMe photo galleries may probably already exist within iPhoto on your Mac.

What about iWeb I hear you whisper under your breath, If like me you actually find iWeb a useful website design or web building tool, what will be the fate of the beloved iWeb ?

The iWeb and MobileMe integration is said to continue up until June 30th 2012, so you can perform the migration to iCloud and still use the service up until then. After this date however, you will need to upload your iWeb files using the File Copy option into a folder on your desktop and then finally to another web hosting service. I personally already do this by incorporating some of the features available in iWeb, such as the blogging feature, with my main website.

Notes:
- You will need to have OS X Lion v10.7 installed

- If you require an Apple ID or have problems with your current Apple ID go here

- To move your MobileMe Account go here

- The MobileMe service which will no longer be available are as follows:
1. iWeb Publishing
2. Gallery
3. iDisk

- New services that will be available are as follows:
1. iTune in the Cloud
2. Documents in the Cloud
3. Backup and restore
4. Photo Stream
5. Auto-Downloads and Purchase History

Small Biz Success Summit 2012 is a live online conference that will empower your small business to grow faster in 2012 with social media. Twenty-five of the world’s leading small business social media pros will show you how. Instructors include John Jantsch (author, Duct Tape Marketing), Anita Campbell (founder, Small Business Trends), Michael Stelzner (founder, Social Media Examiner and author, Launch), Mari Smith (co-author, Facebook Marketing), Jesse Stay (author, Google+ for Dummies), Hollis Thomases (author, Twitter Marketing), David Siteman Garland (founder, “The Rise to the Top” and author, Smarter, Faster, Cheaper), Joe Pulizzi (founder, Content Marketing Institute and co-author, Get Content, Get Customers), Brian Clark (founder, Copyblogger Media), Lee Odden (founder, TopRank Online Marketing), Ramon Ray (founder, Small Biz Technology and author, Technology Solutions for Growing Businesses) and Lewis Howes (co-author, LinkedWorking)–just to mention a few. Fully online. Click here for sample class: LINK

AutoBuildIt in my opinion is a website builder suitable for both beginners and experienced marketers. Depending on how ambitious you are, AutoBuildIt can be used as your Single Internet Marketing hub for multiple campaigns and projects, allowing you to significantly cover many areas of marketing promotion.

To start with you will need to buy or have a spare domain name available and point it towards the AutoBuildIt servers, there is no need for any external hosting.

Quickly create Opt-in Forms that are linked to your existing Auto-responders, create Sales Pages and split tests, create Affiliate Pages, Video Squeeze Pages, Membership Pages, Enable Comments and so much more.

On entering AutoBuildIt simply click the Build A Site option from the menu bar, enter your domain name and submit.

Once you have done this you will be taken to the Dashboard, now don’t be scared off by the multiple icons you will be faced with, for now just concentrate on the Home Page Settings and preparing a Video Squeeze Page, just to get a quick feel of what you can do, of course you can always build any type of page you like.

Now that you have completed your Home Page Settings i.e completing the Main Headline and Header Description (see image below), plus adding your video URL and opt-in code. This is the quickest I’ve seen yet, where in just a few clicks and submission of an opt-in code and video URL a web page is ready for use. Oh, one more thing, you can also adjust the theme and choose one to your liking, with the capability of adding your own logo and images.



In spite of being very simple to use and the instant gratification of the view tab the software does require a bit of getting use to, especially as there are so many options to choose from, but with the online video tutorials for each of the different areas and modules you just cannot go wrong.

The other thing to consider is making sure that you have all your media files, and URLs  at hand, plus any notes or details like your opt-in-code html, video URLs, and so on. It all really depends on what type of site you are building. AutoBuildIt has more or less everything you’d ever need today as a marketer and will allow you to quickly prepare your promotional material. You can create multiple pages of different promotions, or better still simply focus on a specific niche product and build your pages around that or related products, and always be able to make changes.

Above: Sample Page created using AutoBuildIt
1. Add your logo (97 pix height)
2. Have your Opt-in code ready so that you can incorporate with your existing autoresponder service
3. Add you video URL (note: NOT YouTube, but one hosted or provided by your affilaite program…)
4. Ad different modules here I have used the Headline module
5. Enable comments

So far this is perhaps the most comprehensive and marketing industry focused website builder I have reviewed yet. Although AutoBuildIt was still being developed  during my testing of the software, I  did feel there was still room for even easier navigation, complete customization and branding, plus more control of page layout.  But hey, that may already be the case…

Video: You can find out more AutoBuildIt

Affilorama is one of the most comprehensive, easy to digest, online collection of affiliate marketing lessons I have come across yet. There is a vast range of free lesson available too. The site is easy to navigate, has tons of useful resource and you’ll get to learn some of those hush-hush methods used by professional affiliate marketers. You certainly will not regret your visit.

<< Click here to get a feel of what to expect from the free introductory lessons >>

Affilorama is ideal if you’re just starting out in affiliate marketing, but still a really great resource for experienced marketers, who are likely to find something new, or a useful reminder.

<< Click here to get a feel of what to expect from the free introductory lessons >>

Oh, and please feel free to come back here and  leave comments below on what you think of Affilorama.

Thanks

When asked the question – Why complicate things using a grid or graph paper for drawing a logo, and what purpose does it serve, especially as you have a computer ?

At first I was stumped, as the words; proportion, balance and standards automatically came to my mind. I wasn’t exactly sure what I meant by that, my reply was more impulsive than anything else. So It was for that reason I decided to take it upon myself and recap on the fundamentals and importance of the almost forgotten use of the grid in design.

To start with, designs exist in their completed state without the grid being visible, where  the grid is the underlying frame on which elements are positioned and shapes are formed, as in the case of say, the pages of a magazine or a logo. In short, the grid aids in the structuring and conceiving of shapes, proportion, balance and symmetry.

Grid systems have been in use by architechs and artist alike since pre-Christian times. The term ‘grid’ derives from the Latin word for rake, rastrum, which is also the name given to a five-pointed writing instrument, a little like a fountain pen with five nibs. This was used for producing the 5 lines of a musical stave or staff. The meaning was born out of the fact that when these lines are drawn both horizontally and vertically over each other, they form a unit of squares.

So, what makes this grid thing so important ? Well, any professional designer who has worked in the industry where designs are produced for mass consumption will tell you of the importance of standards and consistency. Take for instance the typical 3-pin plug, which is designed in such a way that it will fit any power socket it was intended for, wherever in the world you are. Each pin is purposely positioned a given distance apart that allows the plug to be easily inserted into a wall socket. Underlying its structure is a grid , which determines the exact relationship between each pin.

A good example of the grid in action can be experienced with the building kit – LEGO ®, which irrespective of the elaborate contructions that can be made from these simple pieces, note how each component will readily fit any adjoining piece.

There are even special grids or graph paper that have been scaled to match LEGO ® elements, these special sheets of graph paper enables individuals to plan their own original LEGO ® models.

The grid may look complicated, but in actual fact it simplifies things. Its use is as an aid to creating designs that consider proportion, symmetry and conststency.