Blu Mountain Expressions: October 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011

8 Self Motivating Tips for Graphic Designer to Stay Creative

The quality that distinguishes graphic designers from other professionals
is the ability to think creatively. Designers are best known for their design
aesthetics and sense of identity development. Now imagine if a graphic
designer runs out flat of this exceptional trait…what would happen? Just
consider for a second that your creativity and resourcefulness depletes to
the extent that you cannot think of a single idea.

A graphic designer without creative instincts is like a locomotive without an
engine. Your concept generation skills are paramount to your profession and
you must make sure your creativity doesn’t dries out. So how does a graphic
designer keep his creative juices flowing constantly?

Here are 8 simple yet effective ways of boosting your creative level in the
field of graphic design:

1. Do Away With Pessimism:

The first thing that we need to do as graphic designers is stay optimistic. We
must learn to believe in ourselves and our ability to think creatively. Most
designers fail to think resourcefully because they lose their inner confidence.
They fear that they might have reached a level of maturity where your creative
skills diminish. But the truth of the matter is…creativity has no age limits.

2. Be an Entrepreneur – Take Risks:

In order to try something new, you must be daring and ready to take risks.
Much like an entrepreneur, who never shies away from challenges and is
willing to take risk in establishing a novel business venture. Likewise, graphic
designers should also be willing to take risk in trying out new and different
design concepts. So don’t be afraid, let your creativity run wild and you will
find loads of fresh and novel logo design ideas and concepts.

3. Keep a ‘Creative Circle’:

There is a common saying “If you can’t beat them, join them”. Another
easy way of staying creative is by surrounding yourself with a ‘creative circle’.
A creative circle would include all the people and associates who are known
for their dexterity and design intelligence. It is said that man learns from
whatever environment he is exposed to. Hence, make sure that your
environment is a creative and resourceful one.

4. Always Keep a Pen and Paper:

Many a times, you are sitting somewhere and a great idea pops into your
mind. But you decide to work on it later and eventually forget it afterwards.
In order to avoid wasting your creative thinking capacity, always carry a pen
and paper with you. Or even more convenient in the age of technology is to
use your notebooks and iPhones to jot down the bits and pieces of brilliance
that come into your head.

5. Make Mistakes:

Another thing that stops most designers from thinking imaginatively is fear
of making mistakes. Their apprehension is that if they think excessively, they
might end up committing a major error. But in reality, one learns from his
mistakes. It is well said that “The person that doesn’t make mistakes
is unlikely to make anything.”

6. Be Liberal with Other’s Opinions:

Creativity is not always inherited or inborn. Sometimes you have to learn
from your environment and peers by listening to their opinions and
suggestions. Some designers have a knack of not keeping an open-mind
when it comes to other’s views. In order to stay creative, you must be
welcoming and liberal to client criticism and feedback.

7. Don’t be a Workaholic:

I remember my early days as a graphic designer when I used to be an
extreme workaholic. Being relatively new to the professional graphic design
world, I used to panic a lot and work day in day out on my assignments.
It used to drain the creative juices out of me. Hence, my advice is never to
be a workaholic as your mind needs adequate rest to think productively.

8. Get Inspiration from Design Galleries:

Sometimes a little inspiration is what you need to get your creative
spark back on track. In order to that, there is no dearth of inspiration
spots on the internet these days. There are many sites like Behance
and deviantart that showcase inspirational designs from aspiring graphic
designers. These sites will help you get your creative engine running
back again.

Post by: Graphic Design Blog

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

7 SEO Tricks

To any online business, SEO, or search engine optimisation, is essential. Using SEO techniques can make the difference between a few visits to your website per week, or hundreds.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) are methods that aid in the improvement of a website’s ranking in the listings of search engines. There are different kinds of listings that are displayed in the results pages of search engines, such as paid inclusion, pay-per-click advertisements, and organic search results. Utilizing SEO can increase the quantity of site visitors that acts on the activity that the site intends.

Sites have different goals for search optimization. Some sites search for all kinds of traffic. A SEO strategy that is broad in scope can be advantageous for sites that cover broad interest, such as directories and periodicals. On the other hand, majority of the sites attempt to maximize their pages for a high quantity of very specific keywords that radiate the possibility of a sale. Usually, focusing on well-chosen traffic produces sales leads of desirable quality, and allows advertisers to pull in more business.

The importance of having a high rank for an advertiser’s site cannot be emphasized enough. Unfortunately, many site owners believe that their site has a high-ranking, when the truth is exactly the opposite. Others who are aware that they do not possess enough presence in search engines do not know that it is possible to achieve the ranking they want, and that they can get it through means that are a lot easier and more efficient.

So what are the techniques that advertisers must employ to maximize their optimization and garner the site activity and profits that they seek? Here are some of the most useful ones.

1. Title tags should be written in a creative way. It should be created with the strongest keyword targets as the basis. It is the most important tag of a web site when it comes to optimization. The specific keyword of the web site that is being optimized should be the one that is placed in the title tag. It goes without saying that every site should have its own title tag.

2. Carefully select the words and phrases to be assigned to Alt tags. Alt tags are not really mandatory, but they are provided for text browsers because images do not get displayed in web browsers, and it is the Alt tags that give information to the users about its significance. The rule in Alt tags is fairly simple: only key phrases or key words should be put in Alt tags, overdoing may cause a site to disappear in search results or get banned from it indefinitely.

3. Manage keyword density. Keyword density is the percentage occupied by keywords or keyword phrases in a web page. Ideally, keywords are used once in the title tag, the heading tag, and in bold text. Keywords should be placed at the top of the page, and phrases can be inserted in every paragraph, depending on how long the paragraph is.

4. Determine the appropriate page size for the site. Speed is a vital element to the success of a site, and it important to both online visitors and the search engines. It is recommended to limit web pages under 15K.

5. Create rich themes for the pages. Search engines are increasingly getting particular about themes. Content should be created as often as possible, and the pages should be maintained to 200 to 500 words. The content should be created in relation to the market, and should be linked to the other related content present on the site.

6. Make the site’s design attractive to the viewer. All efforts in optimization will be in vain if the site is poorly designed and if its contents are hard for viewers to read. There should be more text content than HTML content in the web site. Viewers should be able to use the pages in all major browsers. It should be noted that most search engines veer away from JavaScript and Flash.

7. Stay away from the bad techniques. Utilizing them could get a site blacklisted from the search engines. Spamming is a no-no, and the following techniques are considered spamming: doorway and identical pages, tiny or invisible text, cloaking, usage of keyword phrases in author tags etc.

Advertisers should keep in mind that simplicity is the basis of a successful SEO campaign. Sites should be easy for viewers to locate, follow, and read, and should contain relevant content. Following the techniques above will prove worthwhile for site owners in the future.

By: Guest Author of skyje.com

Monday, October 3, 2011

30 Brilliant QR Code Business Cards

A QR code is a type of matrix barcode designed to be read by smartphones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded may be text, a URL, or other data. The QR code is one of the most popular types of two-dimensional barcodes. So in today’s collection we have compiled 30 amazing and creative business cards with qr code. Enjoy!!

If you like these business cards you might also want to check out our previous post below.

50 Beautiful Letterpress Business Cards

70 Beautiful Vector Business Cards