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Free Websites for Small Business: You Get What You Pay For

Free Websites for Small Business: You Get What You Pay For These days, every business knows that they need a website.  At the very least, it serves as a digital business card to advertise on your actual business card, or to use as a tool in your advertising campaigns. Most small to medium sized businesses, agencies, organizations, and committees will need to decide whether to use a free website builder, learn to build it themselves, or to hire a professional development company, in order .... read more
Jan 16, 2014 3:30pm by Kanner Michael

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, CMS, Design, ecommerce, Graphic Design, outsourcing, Professional Web Design, web design, web projects | Post Comment

7 Tips for great logo designs

Simple and powerful logo will be better than anything for your brand. Here are some tips to create great logo designs.   1. Make sure the logo looks good in black and white. Color give lots of things to tell for your company, but the logo itself has to be recognizable without any color. 2. Not all the logo need 'mark.' People usually think logo is a combination of a symbol mark and a logotype, but only the logotype can be the logo. For example, the logo for Samsung has logotype on the .... read more
Jan 14, 2014 10:21am by Sonia Yang

Posted in Graphic Design | Post Comment

Budgeting for SEO: 3 Secrets (Most) SEO Companies Won’t Tell You

Best Practice SEO
‘Humbling’ isn’t often a word you hear people associate with marketing, yet having worked in online marketing for the past few years has proved to be an extremely humbling experience. In the minds of many, SEO (aka Search Engine Optimization) is believed to be an exact science. Reality paints a picture showing SEO as being as much a science as meteorology. In other words, it’s predictable to a certain extent; however, there will always be those instances in which you find yourself caught in a d.... read more
Dec 10, 2013 5:01pm by Kanner Michael

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, blogs, branding, Content Writing, Design, Graphic Design, Online Marketing, Productivity, Professional Web Design, SEO, Utah Search Engine Optimization, web design | Post Comment

A Website Without a Logo - A Very Bad Idea

A Website Without a Logo Ideally before you build a website, your logo/brand should be designed first.  Then all other designs should compliment the brand/logo you've just established. Here's a few logo tips to consider before jumping in and building your website. Have a Cohesive Brand.  If you have a logo and a brand style - your website will look more cohesive and established.  You want your logo to look professional, and to fit the overall feel of your site. Think abou.... read more
Jun 18, 2013 5:24pm by Jerron Ames

Posted in branding, Design, Graphic Design, Professional Web Design, web design, web projects | Post Comment

Spring Cleaning: 4 Simple Steps for a Clutter-Free Website

What's the one thing we all know about, have, and most likely use until our secret is out? A junk drawer. Sure, it holds plenty of necessary information, but if you have to sort through a mess every time you want to find it, eventually, most of us give up. The content of your website is no exception. If you want users to take in more or your content, you’re going to need a way to clean up the information. That’s where info-graphics come in. They’re the IKEA organizer of content. Spring clean.... read more
May 21, 2013 9:26am by Hannah Stout

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, Content Writing, Design, Graphic Design, Online Marketing, organization, web design | Post Comment

Great Idea: Adobe Makes Popular Touch App Available for FREE (And It Kinda Rocks!)

Adobe Ideas, is a professional vector drawing Touch App for iOS. Following a sweet update, Illustrator's tablet-based app companion has been made available for FREE, courtesy of Adobe, for iPhone and iPad users. Sure, the former $10 price tag is essentially next to nothing in the world of Adobe software, but who doesn't love free stuff? So, what features can you expect in the latest version? Toolbar customization, allowing you to add your 'I-Can't-Live-Without-Them' brushes Capabilities to .... read more
May 13, 2013 1:48pm by Jay George

Posted in apps, Design, Graphic Design, iphone, mobile | Post Comment

The 7 Commandments of Photoshop: How to Avoid Messy PSDs

Messy PSDs (aka Photoshop files) are a nightmare. While it may feel daunting, it is critical that web designers understand how to keep clean PSDs in order to facilitate a smooth process for all involved. Ready for a crash course in Photoshop etiquette? Let's get started! Photoshop Commandments 101 1. Thou shalt name thy layers. You must name all of your layers. Why? Because if you don't, you end up with a PSD that contains numerous layers that simply say, layer copy... and let's be honest, wh.... read more
Apr 04, 2013 3:05pm by Jay George

Posted in Design, Graphic Design, web design, web projects | Post Comment

The True Cost of Being #1: Maintaining Perspective in a Rank Obsessed World

I want to be #1 on Google! If I had a dollar for every time a client or perspective client has said this to me over the past 3 years, I'd have purchased one of those private islands being advertised in Dubai. I hope you caught my humor, but here's the thing... I'm not really kidding. It's okay; you can admit it: you want your website to be number one on Google and every other search engine. I get it... If you've read some of my recent blogs, you may already be familiar with some recent SEO in.... read more
Mar 14, 2013 2:15pm by Jay George

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, branding, Content Writing, Design, Graphic Design, internet, Online Marketing, SEO, web design | Post Comment

Design Advice from the Pros: Why Simplicity Works

By now you've heard about the 'less than 5 seconds' rule when hooking visitors to your website. Unfortunately this leads many businesses trying to cram a single page with as much information as possible. Bad idea. Let's take a look at some simple (and not so simple) sites and we'll explain why simplicity really is more effective.   Not-So-Simple The Problem: Too much information! Most will likely agree that there's just too much going on here. In order to avoid this common mistake, it'.... read more
Mar 12, 2013 2:39pm by Jay George

Posted in branding, Design, Graphic Design, internet, Online Marketing, organization, web design | Post Comment

Reflecting Back on 2012

Did you accomplish everything you wanted to this year?   Perhaps you didn't - but I'm sure the year had many highlights.   We recently looked back on our year and found we did indeed accomplish a lot. Did we do everything we wanted to. Probably not.  But that's ok. Taking inventory allows you to reset, make new goals and see how great the year really was. Here are Luna's top 10 of accomplishments during 2012... Worked with Many Great People to Launch Many Great Websi.... read more
Dec 21, 2012 8:03pm by Shad Vick

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, branding, Content Writing, Design, email, Graphic Design, hosting, Online Marketing, opinion, politics, SEO, server administration, social media, Social Networking, web design, web projects | Post Comment

How to Spice Up Your Website with Free Images

Creating content for your website is really important. It helps ensure your website will get "indexed" by search engines like Google and Bing.  Fresh, unique and regular content is a must for a healthy website. But don't just build out content for the search engines and ignore your users. Your website visitors will enjoy your blogs and articles more if you provide graphs, infographics, photos and videos. You can even get free high quality photos if you do a little be of research. So where .... read more
Oct 31, 2012 4:08pm by Shad Vick

Posted in Advertising/Marketing, blogs, Content Writing, Copy Writing, Design, Google, Graphic Design, Online Marketing, social media, tutorials, web design | Post Comment | 3

Adaptive User Interfaces

Have you ever created a screen to display data for selection only to come back a month later and realize that the amount of data showing makes the interface unwieldy or too slow? You sir may require some adaptive user interface programming. In the programming world we try to create interfaces to allow the most direct way to access the data with the least amount of work. Let's examine an example to understand a little better how adaptive user interfaces work and how they could benefit our situat.... read more
Jun 12, 2012 10:34am by Mike Vandenberghe

Posted in Graphic Design, technology | Post Comment | 1

Use google webfonts in your designs

You may have come to know about google webfonts api, you may have also used a google webfont here or there in a project. However you may not have known that you can get access to a great majority of the google webfonts as TTF files that you can install to your OS and use for design mockups. Using google webfonts in your mockups will help you decide on a font before it comes time to implement the HTML code. It will also allow you to create images that can use the same google webfont as you may u.... read more
Apr 09, 2012 6:12pm by Mike Vandenberghe

Posted in Graphic Design | Post Comment

How Well Do You Know Your Online Audience?

Fact: Internet searchers judge a website within five seconds of visiting it. This means that your site has to snag the attention of your audience the first time they see it. You may have the best looking website on the planet, but knowing what makes your audience tick can make or break a potential conversion. Ask yourself this question: Exactly who is your online audience? Mothers? Middle-aged men? College students? Is your site something this audience would find attractive? The Breakdown.... read more
Jun 05, 2011 9:56pm by Kristyn Porter

Posted in Graphic Design, Online Marketing, web design | Post Comment

CSS Text Effects: Text Shadow

The CSS text shadow property has been around since the release of CSS2, but has not been supported by mainstream browsers until recently. The level of support is still limited, but with time we will start seeing it more and more.Basically text shadow allows you to render text with a blur, glow or off-set shadow without using an image. Benefits of this include: The ability to allow text to be searchable by popular search engines like Google or Yahoo. Reduce load time by eliminating image file.... read more
Feb 16, 2011 8:27am by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in CSS, Google, Graphic Design, html, Microsoft Windows, snippets, tutorials, web design | Post Comment

Optimize Your Photos for the Web

Pixels
In an age of high resolution phone displays and widescreen desktop monitors, it is important to have quality images on your web site – but don’t make them too big. The amount of time it takes for a page to load can have an effect on your website’s credibility with search engines as well as drive away users if it is slow. Luckily there are some easy ways to make your images look great on the web without sacrificing quality. Most photo editing software gives you ability to ea.... read more
Jan 21, 2011 1:22pm by Steve Anderson

Posted in Graphic Design, tutorials, web design | Post Comment | 1

Measure | An Overlooked Element of Typography

You may be asking, "What is measure, and why is it important when it comes to typography?". Those who understand and use typography know what leading and kerning is, but measure is an element that is often forgotten or overlooked. A simple definition of measure or "the measure" is the width of a block of text. Considering this when designing, especially for the web, is important because it has a major affect on how legible the text is to the user. Common mistakes involving measure include. T.... read more
Jan 05, 2011 9:24am by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, internet, web design | Post Comment

HDR Photography on the iPhone

The latest software release for the iPhone contained a little nugget that most people have overlooked. They introduced an HDR setting for the built in camera. For those of you who are unfamiliar with HDR it stands for High Dynamic Range. High Dynamic Range (HDR) photos contain a wider range of luminance. I am sure you have noticed when you take a photo it just doesn't look totally right. This is because the intensity levels are decreased because of the limited range the camera can capture in on.... read more
Oct 07, 2010 8:46am by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, Inventions, iphone, Miscellaneous, mobile, technology | Post Comment | 3

Design Tip: Know Your Message

It is easy for web designers to just jump into a design without knowing the specific goals of the website. The "message", as i like to call it, is what the website is all about. It encompasses the goals, target audience and main objectives. Knowing this information before you start to design is critical. It will influence the graphics, layouts and calls to action. This is an important step that must not be skipped during the design process. If you don't take the time to discuss this with the cli.... read more
Aug 24, 2010 8:52am by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, internet, opinion, web design, web projects | Post Comment

Design Trends - Serif Rising

It would be a true statement to say 95% of all websites use Sans-serif fonts. They are everywhere Arial, Trebuchet and Verdana have become the go to font for web designers for years. There is good reason the web has gone this direction. Sans-serif fonts are very professional, they render clean in Windows and Mac, and they have a modern feel. With the benefits come some disadvantages, they can feel rigid, color can look odd on them, and everyone else on the web is using them. In the last year we .... read more
Apr 13, 2010 8:24am by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, html, internet, technology, web design | Post Comment | 1

Logo Redesign

logo redesign
When you mention a logo redesign to any business owner most of them begin to get a little nervous. Everyone understands how powerful a brand can be, and businesses are scared to touch that brand. In many cases they are justified in their fear, but there are many advantages to giving your logo a face lift. One of the main advantages is to improve an outdated or a downright ugly logo, but even logos that may be considered "good" can sometimes use an overhaul. Over the last two years I have been no.... read more
Sep 25, 2009 12:31pm by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design | Post Comment

Need a logo? That will be one billion dollars please.

Obama logos
"How much does a logo cost?" That's a question we hear a lot. Of course, the answer varies according to budget and design needs. But what if you are the US Government? How much would you pay for a logo? I recently saw a press conference where President Obama was introducing two new inituatives to "save the country". The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the U.S. Department of Transportation's TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery). Obama went on about how .... read more
Mar 13, 2009 5:02pm by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, Miscellaneous, news, opinion, politics | Post Comment

Cross browser work around for min and max height

Wouldn't it be great if all the capabilities of css were supported thoroughly across all modern web browsers? YES! it would be but unfortunately we live in a world where that cannot happen, call it politics, lazyness or outright stubbornness but it is a sad truth that we still have to code browser hacks or work arounds in order to get the desired effects acrosse all web browsers. Min-height/max-height is one of these things that some browsers support and others do not. If you have a website that.... read more
Dec 12, 2008 11:16am by Mike Vandenberghe

Posted in Graphic Design, html | Post Comment

Most Influential Film Title

Amongst many design circles Saul Bass is considered a role model. His work in film and on paper have become design classics. One of the most influential works would have to be the opening sequence of the Hitchcock film "North by Northwest. The use of line and movement is unprecedented. You can see many of the techniques used in this title in some of today's films. My favorite part is the movement of the credits with the rush of the pedestrians. . read more
Oct 10, 2008 4:24pm by Jeff Nicholson

Posted in Graphic Design, technology | Post Comment