I saw the following data from research2guidance about the growth of smartphone applications posted on TechCrunch. I thought it was worth posting.
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Every designer should understand, and have the ability to create an effective logo design. In general, design is about coming up with a concept and then following a few simple guidelines in order to execute it in an attractive way. Fairly often, I hear designers say, “I’m not a logo designer” or “Logo’s aren’t my strength” but I disagree with these statements. Just like everything else we design, it’s always about the concept behind it.
Most often in design, typography is considered a necessity, but is typically overlooked as a design element. It is sometimes made as small as possible just to try to get it out of the way to allow for “real design”. Most people overlook how interesting and creative typography can get across the message/concept even further, as well as create beautiful design patterns and visual interest. I personally find myself drawn to designs with a lot of type because it allows me to not only focus on the words and message, but also forces me to see the beauty and creativity that went into the design. Well thought out typography can speak volumes and have such an emotional impact on the viewer, which is why I wanted to focus on that this week. Here is a collection of typographic posters that are innovative and beautifully designed. It would be easy to dive right in and begin talking about how to write for the web—things like keep copy concise and scannable, use bulletpoints, and other pieces of “conventional” wisdom that many of us have heard before. But first, shouldn’t we understand how users read on the web? According to Jakob Nielsen: “On the average Web page, users have time to read at most 28% of the words during an average visit; 20% is more likely.” This week, Ad Age published an article Why Large Online Ad Formats Aren’t Industry’s Silver Bullet, which discussed the results of a recent Dynamic Logic Study. One of the key findings from the study concluded that effective ads begin with strong creative. In fact, the study demonstrated that an ad with good placement and shape can be completely undermined by poor execution. “The economy” seems to be all we hear about anymore—and the constant repetition of bad news doesn’t just make people panic, it makes companies panic too. They begin looking for ways to cut back, and typically one of the first cuts they tend to make is to the marketing budget. And so begins a vicious cycle: the marketing budget gets cut so sales drop, as sales drop the marketing budget gets cut even further, and I think you can see where this can lead. In a previous post, Digital 101 for B2B Marketers, I talked about how to get started in digital B2B marketing. The basics of marketing is understanding your customer and how you can deliver your key message in a way that will get their attention. This is even more true of digital communications, because the customer can decide to abandon the activity before they receive any message, if it isn’t tailored to their goals and behavior. So this leads us to our next best practice which is conducting user research. Never heard of it? Thought it was something from the future? Think again. 3DTV is here. 3DTV allows content to be rendered and displayed on special high definition TV screens in a life-like 3D manner, without the aid of any special glasses. Snickers recently launched the first 3DTV ad on a storefront at 750 7th Avenue at 50th Street in New York. The 42-inch screen displays the logo and catchphrase in 3D, giving the impression that the ad is jumping off the wall at passers-by. |
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