Category: Design

Indus Net Technologies’(INT.) T-Shirt Design Contest, 2015

September 16, 2015

Want to win 5000/- cash right away? Well! You need to be a little creative to facilitate such an opportunity. Indus Net Technologies(INT.) is looking for the best design to grace its company’s T-Shirt. It could be from any of you. So what are you waiting for? Get your pencils sharpened, fire up your imagination and send your sketches to us! We’re excited to see what you’ll come up with! Here’s your chance to show us your creative talent, so don’t miss any bit of it. However, making a design you envisioned come to life on T-shirt requires certain guidelines and attention to details. So your first step is to check the following pointers before you pen down your thoughts –  The T-Shirt must enfold the ‘Indus Net Technologies(INT.)’ Logo and the ‘I Love Technology’    Logo.Click Here to Download Logo  There shall be no texts or visuals apart from the aforementioned logo of the company  It should be a collared corporate T-shirt. Download T-Shirt Template  Both the ‘Indus Net technologies(INT.)’ Logo and the ‘I Love Technology’ Logo contain 3 individual colours respectively. Participants need to exploit these specific colours while designing the T-shirt  All designs must be submitted in .jpeg and .psd/ai format by email only  All design submissions must be within 10 MB  All entry emails should have the subject line – ‘INT T-shirt Designing Contest’  The judging  criteria is based on creativity and originality  Submissions will be accepted from 17th September, 2015 till 30th September, 2015  Participants can submit more than one designs  The name of the winner shall be declared by the second week of October, 2015  No additional materials including videos, samples, etc. will be accepted with your submission  All entries should be accompanied with the participants’ full name, residential address and telephone number  Email us the T-shirt design at: mkt@indusnet.co.in For more information contact us : mkt@indusnet.co.in  Click here and take a look at the contest’s Terms & Conditions. Are you ready to enter the competition? After all, your designs deserve quality exposure.

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Which Should You Prioritize? Design or Content?

July 31, 2015

Social media accounts, belonging to companies, have given rise to a whole new phenomenon in which companies try to design their social media pages in sync with their brands. Most companies still have not begun to make use of this important branding strategy. Social profiles of companies are, usually, the first point of contact for customers and clients. If your social profile is designed well and is attractive enough, people will spend more time on it and read through what you have shared. It is becoming increasingly important to get custom Twitter backgrounds and Facebook pages. While more people discuss designing social profiles, the focus on content seems to be falling back. It is important to focus on content as well as that is as important as design, when it comes to social profiles. Companies often ask if they need to focus more on design or content when it comes to launching their social profiles. In this article, we would evaluate the importance of both content and design, in order to understand which one is better and on which you need to spend more money. Why focus on design? Design has always been one of the primary focus areas of branding. Whether it is the color scheme or formatting or typography, design has begun to take precedence over other aspects of IT and branding. This is a good sign, as psychological research shows that people often judge a website based on its design. Similarly, it need not be an extrapolation of facts, if we assume that people will judge your social profile based on its design. Likewise, many companies have begun to invest in customization of their social profiles. Facebook pages and Twitter accounts can already be customized to suit your branding strategies. What remains important is the way we make use of these various design tools to reflect our core marketing philosophies. At the end of the day, our social profiles need to resemble our main websites and branding strategies, if not an exact replica of the main website. You can probably speak to design specialists and branding professionals to get your social profiles customized to suit your core branding strategies. Steve Jobs famously said “Design is a funny word. Some people think design means how it looks. But of course, if you dig deeper, it’s really how it works.” His argument was quite clear and it worked for Apple. IT is all about how things work. Your social profile has to work. It has to fulfill its functions and be the face of your company to an online audience. On the other hand, Paul Rand stated that “Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated”. Paul Rand brings the importance of content to the foreground. In the next section, let us take a look at the importance of content. Why focus on content? Content always needs to be the primary focus of any social marketing initiative. If you do not have valuable content that people can use, your social profile is simply not worthy enough for people to visit time and again. Moreover, social profiles are not used only for customer relationship management or crisis management. They are increasingly being used to share information, educate and inform customers & clients. It is also a great way to attract prospects and convert them into customers. Whether you share a blog post on Twitter or an entire photo album on Facebook, depicting your recent event, social profiles are an important platform to build your content strategy. Content, on the other hand, is crucial for ensuring that you remain relevant in an ever-changing world. If your content evolves along with the world, you will remain relevant and useful to your audience. This is one of the reasons why people tell you that content is more important than design. You can probably have the best-designed social profiles out there. However, if your content is not up to the mark, people will simply stop visiting your profile. When Howard Gardner said “I believe that the brain has evolved over millions of years to be responsive to different kinds of content in the world. Language content, musical content, spatial content, numerical content, etc”, he couldn’t have been closer to truth. There are far too many kinds of content and all these different types of content need to be available on your social media profiles. The only way it can be made possible is by ensuring that you have a consistent content marketing strategy, which focuses not just on  textual content but also on images, numerical data and other forms of media. All these are important to ensure that there is a cohesion within the content marketing strategy. Content or design? This is a rather difficult question to answer. One cannot replace the other and it would be foolhardy to say that content is more important than design. It is equally foolhardy to say that design is more important than content. Any social marketing venture we undertake needs to involve focus areas of both content and design. In fact, professionals know that content and design are inseparable & you need to try to intertwine both of them as much as possible. When you have your design and content strategies in place, it will become a more holistic way of approaching things & that is what will help you achieve success. Content marketing invariably includes design as well and when it comes to social profiles, both content and design go hand in hand. If you are confused about which one to focus on, you need to really stop where you are and decide to focus on both. One cannot avoid either the design aspect of social profiles or the importance of actual content. Both the factors go hand in hand and help you

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The Designing Ingredients to Build Mobile E-Commerce

The Designing Ingredients to Build Mobile E-Commerce

March 30, 2015

Approximately 7 out of 10 consumers prefer to use mobile website over mobile application. There has been a splurge in the number of mobile shoppers in the last three years. With a number of avenues of online shopping including laptop/PC, mobile and tablets; it is interesting to find that maximum sale conversions in a local purchase occur via mobile. Marketers must explore new ways of marketing their products through mobile. Using mobile coupons, promo code and offering discounts will attract more users to visit your website through mobile. It will reduce load on your servers and minimize your server capacity and server maintenance cost. Clearly, marketers can’t ignore mobile e-commerce if they want to succeed in e-retailing. You must have a mobile e-commerce website to cater to mobile shoppers. The design ingredients of a mobile are different from that of a laptop. You have to make sure that consumers have a smooth experience on your mobile website starting from loading a page, searching a product and placing an order. This article will highlight the crucial elements to build a mobile e-commerce website. 1. Is your search box clearly visible? Usability factor has a major role to play in mobile. Consumers expect a much simpler interface for mobile unlike desktops. Mobile is so handy and convenient to use on-the-go that consumers don’t even need to give entire attention towards mobile while shopping. Most often, mobile shoppers are indulged in multi-tasking. Whether they are travelling, reading a book, working in the office or chatting with their friends, mobile shopping can transpire simultaneously. In such a scenario, you can’t expect your customer to locate the search box hidden in a cluttered page. Use a magnified search box so that they don’t have to magnify the mobile page every time they visit it. It is a big turn off. Furthermore, search box should be present on every mobile page to allow the visitors to enter a search query from whichever page they land. 2. Let your happy customers engulf social media space Majority of the consumers today are active on Facebook, Twitter etc 24×7. They get real-time updates and notifications about anything happening on their social media profile. There is nothing better than a satisfied customer talking about his mobile shopping experience on their social media profile. After they complete their transaction, you can always request them to share their experience on their Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest etc. Ask them to like and follow on different social media websites. Don’t leave any opportunity unused to expand your social media presence. Consumers love to listen and follow first-hand experience as it testifies your authenticity and mobile-friendly approach by your company. It says that you care about mobile shoppers. If their friends are satisfied with your mobile shopping experience, they will definitely give it a check. To hear about good shopping experience is convincing and generates a lot of traffic to your mobile store. Though conversion may not happen on first visit, you have opened a line of communication and exposed yourself. 3. Mobile is synonymous to speed Consumers have always been impatient when it comes to page loading. Mobile shoppers are even more impatient. Their primary reason for shifting to mobile shopping is that it is convenient, fast and accessible on-the-go. Speed becomes the deciding factor here. Getting your PC shoppers to mobile is not going to work for you, if your mobile page takes a long time to load. It is even disastrous if the page closes automatically during navigation due to a large size. Customers could be in the middle of a transaction. So, you have to be careful what you are promising. The response time of a mobile webpage has to be quick. Don’t clutter your page with a huge number of search results. Spread your results across pages. Remove unnecessary elements that reduce the speed. Also, remember to add a filter criterion. Due to space constraint, mobile users are stickler about what they see when they enter a search query. Limited information will help you to maintain desired response time. 4. Is your webpage responsive? Mobile today is available on different operating platforms including Blackberry, Windows OS, iOS, Android etc. Is it designed to operate on all the leading platforms? Can your page adapt to different screen sizes, screen resolution and visual quality? Test your mobile page on all the frameworks before you release it. Customers are scattered across all platforms. You don’t want to lose any Android user. Do you? A responsive design arranges the text in a fashion that viewing is comfortable irrespective of the amount of text on the page. Customers don’t have to scroll from left to right and right to left to read the text. It should be the first thing that comes into your mind while designing a mobile webpage. 5. Finger-friendly design It is touch screen everywhere. Smartphone users are used to using their fingers for tapping, browsing and performing other functions on mobile. Make sure ergonomics is taken into account. There is no mouse in case of mobiles. So, the fingers should be able to operate the page smoothly. All the links on the mobile webpage should be easily clicked through the finger. Fat fingers should be easily able to access the links. Understand the difference between tapping and clicking. The experience of using your mobile webpage should be at least equivalent to that of desktop. Additional tools like drop down and auto-fill should be incorporated into design so that users don’t have to type too much for searching a product. 6. Incorporate instant customer service support into design Consider your mobile customers as standalone. Consider that they have no laptop or desktop. Mobile is their only source to access your website. In such a case, you have to make sure that customers get instant customer support during their stay on your page. Use a clickable phone number or request for a phone call. Use live chat and instant feedback reply to answer

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5 Ways Jim Morrison Can Be Your Business Mentor

5 Ways Jim Morrison Can Be Your Business Mentor

January 5, 2015

Jim Morrison was probably the least “corporate” kind of person to ever have existed. He seemed to lack discipline, led a chaotic life, was addicted to substances and was uniquely talented. And he was the original rockstar, with no real exaggeration except for a few of his other contemporaries. Tragically, he also died very young of an overdose at the age of 27. Yet his short life can teach us life’s valuable lessons and how we can better manage our businesses. In this article, we need to take a look at some of the most unique qualities of Jim Morrison and how his qualities can help you to run your business better. 1. Jim was an attention seeker Though seeking attention is widely believed to be a negative quality but for someone who runs a business, it is not. You need to, however, attract the right kind of attention, which means your work needs to draw attention to you and not your antics. No matter how unconventional Jim was, it was his music that grabbed everyone’s attention. He knew his talent would grab attention and it did. Make use of your talents and help your talent to grab attention for your business. 2. Jim had real talent, which he used well Jim’s talent can hardly be disputed. He was one of the most talented rock musicians and his style influenced countless other musicians. He knew how to create music that appealed to the youth across social classes. His music and his poetry became a unifying force against social evils & general alienation that people faced at that time. Likewise, if you use your talents well and monetize them, you will be able to run a business successfully. If you are starting a new product or service, make sure that you have the actual talent to do so. Do not jump into certain services or products because your business rivals are doing it. 3. Jim knew how to create a cult of personality If you would like to be a serious entrepreneur, you need to build an image for yourself. The more you meet your clients and the more you network, it becomes increasingly important to have a consistent business image. Jim was successful in building a cult of personality for himself. All his antics were forgiven because he had a strong fan base. If you can manage to build a personality, which is even a fraction of what Jim’s was, you can be quite sure that you will be a charming networker and business leader. 4. Jim Morrison was original and authentic In spite of all his antics, Jim was truly authentic. His originality and uniqueness made him popular even among his critics. Likewise, if you want to build a business that is successful, you need to be authentic and original. Do not copy others and do not try to stay away from your original personality. Strengthen your existing talents and build from there. The more you are authentic about your products and services, the more people will begin to trust you. Jim knew that very well. 5. Jim Morrison cared about his surroundings It is often said that Jim was so kind-hearted that people thought he was almost saint-like. Of course, he had his vices and his weaknesses. Yet he took a great interest in the world he lived in and his immediate surroundings. That made him a very likeable person. If you wish to be successful, pay attention to your immediate surroundings. That is part of corporate social responsibility and the more you do it, the more respected you will be. Learning from musicians It might sound strange that rock musicians have much to teach corporate professionals. In reality, we can learn something from everyone, no matter how different their lives or professions are from our own. Jim Morrison led a very short life but in that very short period, he taught us how to use our talents, build a loyal fan following and spread ideas. That is what a good marketer needs to know and learn; and if you run a business yourself, it is all the more important to follow Jim’s qualities we have described above.

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How to Develop a Keen Sense of Aesthetics to Drive Design Innovation

How to Develop a Keen Sense of Aesthetics to Drive Design Innovation

December 29, 2014

Design professionals need to constantly innovate and strive for perfection. Innovation or perfectionism isn’t enough for a good design. It requires a burst of creativity and an appreciation for what is considered aesthetic. However, developing a sense of aesthetics cannot be taught in schools or training programs. It is something that a person cultivates over a period of time. Developing a sense of aesthetics not only helps one to appreciate beauty around us but also create beauty as well. Designers know very well that their work will only be appreciated when they create beautiful products or services. We recently came across a paper written by Neera Parekh at the Gnostic Centre, New Delhi. It specifically describes what an aesthetic sense is and elaborates on the specific skills that are required to develop a sense of aesthetics. What impressed us about the paper is, it takes examples from real life situations and explains how we can use those situations to develop a keen sense of aesthetics. On that note, we shall list a few pointers that should help you to develop a sense of aesthetics and improve your design ideas as well. 1. Look for beauty around you Though we live in crowded and polluted cities where the green cover has drastically reduced, there is still beauty all around us. Look for those charming old buildings or find beauty in the perfection of a bird’s feathers and plumage. This perfection and natural beauty need to inspire you to create ideas that are lasting & aesthetically pleasing. Find inspiration in all things that you see and apply that beauty to your own design products. 2. Appreciate all forms of art What human beings create can be just as beautiful as nature. Music, painting, literature, films etc. can all teach you about aesthetics. Art forms always teach their connoisseurs how to appreciate beauty and how to develop a sense of aesthetics. Slowly over a period of time, you begin to develop a more refined sense of what is beautiful and what is not. That will help you to create products and designs that are aesthetically pleasing. 3. Look for beauty in yourself and others Qualities like kindness, generosity, affection and nurturing are all forms of beauty. They might not be tangible but can certainly be perceived. These forms of beauty will help you to become a better person and that is required to create things that are beautiful. Appreciate all the good qualities that you have and that others posses. Translate those qualities in great design ideas. For instance, appreciate the simplicity of your friend; and apply that simplicity to your website. Simplicity and minimalism are some of the most important qualities of a well-designed website. 4. Reject what is unpleasant or unnecessary including shallow appreciation of beauty In the paper that we previously mentioned, Neera Parekh asks us to reject vulgarity where we find it. We couldn’t possibly agree more. When Steve jobs created the iPhone, he probably rejected everything that was not required on a phone. All those features which added to a device’s crassness were removed. Similarly, learn to reject what is not required. Beauty naturally forms because of the lack of unnecessary features. At this point, we need to also state that what is beautiful is not necessarily beauty. A person who looks great need not be a great person. Learn to discriminate between shallow appreciation of beauty and inherent beauty. Hollow appreciation of external beauty is vulgar; and that is not aesthetics at all. 5. Learn from all things beautiful When you notice beautiful things and appreciate beauty in nature, you will observe that we are hard-wired to appreciate things that are perfect. Perfection can be described as a cognitive schema that makes us more attentive to geometrically uniform patterns. Such geometrically uniform patterns can be found all over the natural world. An example would be a snowflake. A flake of snow contains geometrical patterns that humanly can’t be reproduced. If you want to create a design that is beautiful, make sure that it is microscopically patterned and perfect. Develop an aesthetic sense slowly but surely Learn to appreciate beauty around you but do not fall into the traps of noticing only external beauty. Beauty needs to be matched with perfection, whether perfection of design or perfection of human character; and in fact, it is the perfection of design or of human character that creates beauty. Painting random colors on a canvas will not make it a beautiful painting. The creative thought and the intention behind a painting and the context make it beautiful. With that in mind, developing a sense of aesthetics does not happen overnight. It is a cultivated quality, which helps to create great design as well.

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Modernism and Postmodernism: A Web Designer’s Guide

December 17, 2014

There is much confusion over the terms “modernism” and “postmodernism”. We must remember that both of these terms are used in academic circles to refer to a certain period in recent history. Associated works of art, literature, science and even music can be broadly clustered around these two terms. Both modernism and postmodernism have had a lasting effect on computers & especially, web design. When we study design professionally, it is often impossible to not come across the concepts of modernism and postmodernism. In this article, we shall take a look at both the terms and see what they mean & how they can help you understand the specific category of design. After all, design is a curious mixture of science and art. It is common to come across these two terms in the fields of philosophy and psychology as well. Thus, both modernism and postmodernism have an influence on the way we design our websites. The guiding philosophy of any modernist or postmodern project needs to be to understand the context and place the design principle in a way that is closely related to these fundamental principles. A brief history of modernism At the turn of the 20th Century, things had begun to change considerably in almost all areas of academics and thought. Science began to progress rapidly and there was a focus on geometrical shapes & how classical and antique civilizations came to influence contemporary ideas. There was a specific revival of ancient Greek and Roman cultures & it began to be represented in architecture. For instance, neoclassical buildings began to spring up in cities like New York, London and Paris. The word neoclassical suggests that it is a new way of representing what was essentially classical; and added to this, there was also a pride and optimism in the capability of science as something that can save human civilizations. All these ideas put together came to be known as modernism. Modern era lasted from 1900s to almost the World War II. During this period, a great advancement in the field of science including computers took place. However, the loss of human lives during the World Wars led to a gradual disappointment with science and geometrical shapes that had come to dominate modern thought. What followed was postmodernism. A brief history of postmodernism Postmodernism was a reaction to modernism and it tried to question the grand metanarratives that had come to dominate modernism. For instance, people began to understand that one single school of thought cannot explain away everything that we might encounter in life. Existentialism or the belief that we are all fundamentally free and independent & we are responsible for our actions did not really strike a note with postmodernists who questioned its all-encompassing nature of explaining things. Instead, they believed that there are smaller narratives which can be altered depending on the context. In fact, postmodernism was one of the reasons why cyber culture began to grow. The advent of Internet too helped a postmodern movement. It was now possible to read about news in Japan, follow musical trends in Brazil and effectively have a conference with “friends” from a mining town in South Africa. This haphazard nature of Internet made it possible for postmodernism to survive and even question the validity of singular narratives. A simple example would be a movie like Kill Bill. Quentin Tarantino uses Japanese folklore, Western cowboy movie settings, jazz, classical music and even 60s pop in a curious mix of art, culture & movie making. Contemporary websites too have begun to follow postmodern ideas. Now, let us try and understand both modernism & postmodernism from the perspective of web design. Geometric design and the Internet – vestiges of modernism As mentioned earlier, adhering to a strict layout and a format is quite geometrical in nature. This tendency to fall back upon the known lines and patterns on a blank digital canvas is a sign of modernism. Most websites that are conservative in design often fall back upon modernist theories. While excessive use of formats and layouts can make your website look outdated, it is quite important to retain the importance of lines & geometrical principles. Thus, we can say that modernism really has not left as far as web design is considered. In fact, it might be necessary for web designers to read up on modernism and the various design movements that were part of it. For instance, realism, expressionism, impressionism and even surrealism can be thought of as modern art movements. Incorporating these ideas into how you play with color and design will help you to remain true to modern ideas. Is it all just about symmetry and lines? Moreover, modernism is not all about symmetry and geometry. It is also about adopting scientific theory. In the case of web design, this only means that we need to focus on theoretical principles which are continuously updated, thanks to design researchers and strategists. On the other hand, sticking excessively to modern ideas might make our websites look dull and drab. The freedom to question existing principles of design might be lost and that is never a good thing. Thus, web designers need to focus on modern design elements and yet be open to that which could occur later on; and that is being a little postmodern. In the next section, let us take a look at how postmodernism influences modern web design. Finding comfort in chaos and divergent thinking – postmodernism in web design As discussed earlier, postmodernism is the school of thought that is skeptical about metanarratives. That means, you are, usually, skeptical about any theory that claims to explain away all existing problems. For instance, HTML5 cannot explain away all the problems that we encounter in modern day web design. It does not solve all the problems of mobile and web app design. Yes, it certainly is a huge improvement from previous versions but there are situations and exceptional cases that need the help of something

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Social Influence: Incorporating Social Identity Theory into Design

December 10, 2014

Social identity theory plays an important role in all sections of the society. This theory, developed by Henri Tejfal in 1979, proposes that every human being tries to identify himself or herself with a group. It is a three-phase step – social categorization, social identity and social comparison. This theory is responsible for the behavior of every human being. Every person tries to categorize himself to become a part of a group. The group, which he or she becomes a part of, is known as in-group while all the other groups are termed as out-groups. This social categorization comes naturally to human beings and leads them towards social identity. Understanding social identity through an example For instance, a cricket fan will try to categorize him among all the cricket fans of the world by joining an online cricket forum. Social identity is the ability of a human being to identify himself with a social group and adopt the behavior common to the group members. All the members in the cricket forum will try to relate with each other by showing common interests and sharing common excitement towards the game. This helps them in strengthening their social bonding by interacting with each other. Social comparison is the phenomenon with which a social group tries to compare itself with another group. Here, the group feeling strengthens further as the in-group members see all the other groups as out-groups. This helps them to take solace in their superiority and in their ability to being different from others. So, the cricket forum members might think that football fans are a bunch of idiots. This negative feeling is natural to develop and creates an elevated feeling of pride within the in-group. The same phenomenon is responsible for extreme cases of communal riots and hatred within two communities or even two countries. For instance, the historical hatred between the Bosnians and the Serbs etc. had cost the lives of millions of people. How do designers and marketers use Social Identity Theory into design? Marketers study behavior of their customers to give significant input to designers. Whether it is a website designer or a car designer, Social Identity Theory forms the basis of their design. User experience (UX) design is the process that takes all aspects into mind to simplify the interaction between the users and the product. The idea is to enhance the value, convenience and usability of the product to the users. The UX design is frequently used to create product prototypes, simulated models for research and market testing purposes. While developing a website, web designers engage themselves in A/B testing to enhance user experience and ultimately improve conversion rates. Let us consider the following examples to understand the concept better: 1. Facebook/Twitter The social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter are excellent examples of user design considering the use of Social Identity Theory. Facebook reflects a group where the group members have a common need for social identity. Facebook allows its users to see friend suggestions from the existing group of friends. Users like a post, which is seen by their friends. If their friends like it, share it or comment on it, it is further seen by their friends and the cycle goes on. What’s more, users can share, tag, like and comment on pictures and videos as well. The key to Facebook ideology is that users will like what their friends like. This is the formation of a strong in-group. Though the visibility of the post depends upon the users’ personal settings, it offers a huge potential for the marketers to target their customers. Many online marketers track the user data to find out their interests and likes. This allows them to fine-tune their online advertisements and display the relevant ads to the user. For instance, if a group of Facebook friends like an NGO’s page to help quit smoking, it is highly likely that they will start campaigning against the cigarette lovers group. Here, marketers will pick up the lead from NGO’s page to target users with dislike for tobacco. Such users might then be targeted by marketers of products that help to quit smoking like nicotine chewing gums, e-cigarettes etc. On the other hand, the cigarette lovers’ group members might be targeted with books on the history of cultivation of tobacco, fancy cigarette lighters and tobacco-flavored colognes. Similarly, Twitter has shown a huge potential for marketers to promote their events and products using hashtags. Marketers often link real-time offers with the use of a defined hashtag. Hashtags enable them to talk about a specific subject and seek their consumers’ feedback at a common platform. 2. Amazon Amazon is a well-known online shopping platform, which allows users to share their purchase decision with their friends through social media networking. This generates further sales due to a strong social influence of friends in the group. If a user visits Amazon to look for a product but does not buy it for some or the other reason, Amazon marketers make a note of it and they target the same individual by advertising the product offer through his social media profile. It also allows users on Amazon to exchange product reviews helping subsequent consumers to take a purchasing decision. 3. Mercedes Benz/Harley Davidson The same strategy is adopted by an automobile or a two-wheeler manufacturer. A luxury car designer Mercedes Benz will make sure that their design is classy and is identified with the upper crust of the society. Thus, besides the in-built features in the car, the outer look and the comfort of driving the car play a significant role in appealing to its high-profile target audience. Consequently, marketers design their marketing messages like “Designed for the upper crust” in line with their target audience. Product branding is motivated by the product itself and the target audience. Seek consumer feedback on a periodic basis to innovate your design. Find out if you are able to meet their expectations. 4. Apple v/s Others Apple boasts

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What Van Gogh Can Teach You about Design

December 5, 2014

Vincent Van Gogh is probably one of the most famous post-impressionists in the world. Though he died almost 125 years ago, his work continues to inspire people till date. His life was full of difficulties but his art persists and the way he led his life, probably, shaped his style of art as well. Van Gogh was known for paintings that were rough in their beauty, bold and emotionally honest. His art had a far reaching influence on the 20th Century art and surprisingly, on design as well. When we talk about design, we cannot be very distant from web designing. The way he used colors, light techniques and the way he created images on the canvas can all be sources of inspiration for modern web designers. Moreover, his life itself has a lot to teach us and inspire. Though he led a very difficult and tragically short life, his style of working continues to inspire and challenge us when we encounter difficulties ourselves. Van Gogh was an enigma who produced more than 2,100 artworks. He painted self-portraits, landscapes, portraits and a whole lot of other things that are closely related to the school of impressionism. In this article, let us take a look at what his work and life can teach us about design and web design in particular. Choice of colors and light Van Gogh was a proponent of impressionism. Impressionism was a school of art that questioned the need for specific lines and outlines in paintings. The paintings were not mere replicas of what were seen but, instead, used color and light to create “movements” within paintings. Thus, the slightly distorted images within a painting came to represent how our identities are continuous and that they overlap with other people’s or our environment’s outlines as well. Impressionism was not very popular in the late 19th Century and received considerable criticism. However, towards the end of Van Gogh’s life, his style became very popular. Web designers can pay attention to how lights and colors can create a sort of movement within images. With the help of modern software programs, we can easily create logos and websites that are a reflection of impression. If not blatantly impressionist, we can at least create logos and websites that are inspired by impressionism. Facing challenges in life Van Gogh’s life was not easy. He suffered from a number of physical and psychological issues. He even cut off a part of his ear and gave it away to a streetwalker; and in the midst of all these challenging and troublesome issues, he persisted and created some of the most magnificent pieces of artwork ever created. He took his difficulties as a challenge and continued to create works of art that were unparalleled. If you are a web designer and are looking to create something phenomenal, you can choose to read about Van Gogh and his life. His life will surely inspire anybody who is into design and art. Thinking out of the box Van Gogh was not someone who stuck to traditional ideas. He was as unconventional as artists can possibly get. This nature of thinking out of the box helped him to create paintings that were met with stiff criticism initially but later on, were recognized as masterpieces. If you are a web designer and create something challenging, expect to be criticized. However, if you really have talent, you will sooner or later be appreciated for your uniqueness and unconventionality. Unconventionality and uniqueness are always important while creating design, whether virtual or real. If you create logos or websites, you will know how important it is to create designs that are unique. Learning from other’s life stories The example of Van Gogh needs to be taken as a lesson to learn from the life stories of stalwarts. Famous artists and designers always had challenging life issues and they persisted with their talent. If you want to make your mark and leave a legacy behind, you need to be as inspired as they used to be. Take all your problems as challenges and create phenomenal designs that will last for a long time. That needs to be the lesson to learn from Van Gogh’s life history.

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Building Blocks of a Successful Business Card

Building Blocks of a Successful Business Card

October 29, 2014

As a small business owner, you might have often wondered what is the right business card, which will impress your clients and customers. While a great design always attracts people, a business card goes beyond that. It must tell people where you live, what you do and how they must contact you. A business card is not rocket science and is just a simple and uncomplicated method of people to get in touch with you when they need your services. A great business card should have all the information that is important and must exclude everything that is unimportant. It is common to come across business cards that have a number of details and also ornate designs. Such business cards are not really warranted and people do not care whether a business card looks like a piece of art. Of course, it helps that it looks like a piece of art but if it does not contain the most important information such as where you live, how to contact you and what your job title is, a business card is almost useless. In this article, let us take a look at all the important building blocks of a successful business card. 1. Your name: This is obviously the most important part of your business card. Make sure you have spelled your name right. Do not include titles such as “Mr”, Mrs.”, etc. We see a lot of people still doing that. IT is not required and makes you look unprofessional. 2. Company name: Ensure that your company name is spelled right. Also, do not abbreviate your company name unless it is required. Use the full name of your company. 3. Address: Your address must be accurate. If you are the kind of businessman who does not step out of New York City, do not include “U.S.A.” in the address. It is redundant and looks awkward. Just the city and the state where you practice should be enough. However, if you tend to meet clients who visit the city from where you operate, you probably would want to mention your country as well. 4. Phone number: Write your telephone number accurately. Mention the country code as well. Most of the times, it is important to do so. The correct format for a number is country code-area code-your telephone number. A telephone number that is not properly printed may cause a lot of confusion. 5. Email address: It is no longer possible to not include your email address. Everyone sends emails and thanks to smartphones, emails are the next big thing, though they have been around for ages. Do not make the mistake of not including your email address. And do check your inbox often. 6. Website URL: If you have a website to flaunt, mention it. Do not provide links to websites that are incomplete or have no content. You obviously do not want to surprise your clients or customers. 7. Your job title: Your job title is very important too. You could mention what your job title is, such as, Graphic Designer, Chemical Engineer, etc. 8. Description of your business: This is something that is not really required. If you must, try to finish the description in less the 3-4 words. Your job description should be enough. If you choose to write company description, then try not to include your job description. 9. Logo: This is one of the most important parts of a business card. Make sure that your logo is placed in a place that is recognizable but is not tawdry to look at. 10. Decorative graphic images: Avoid decorative graphic images. They are not interesting and distract the person who is holding your card. Your business card should only contain what is necessary. 11. Your products and services: It is not necessary to mention your products ad services on your business card. We have come across business cards that list all the categories of products offered by the company. Such business cards look very unprofessional. Whatever you do, just ensure that your name, telephone number, email address, logo, job title and postal address are mentioned. These are the only important information that are required in a business card.

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10 Design Books Every Web Designer Must Read

October 23, 2014

If you are a web designer, you must have already looked up for a lot of resources online. Sometimes, there is nothing better than a physical copy of a book. Thus, it is important to get hold of some books which will help you to sit in peace and read. These books that we have listed below are great resources for web designers who are looking for go-to-resources to help them build great websites. Web designing as a profession is an amalgamation of technology, design and art. Thus, the books listed below explore all the 3 domains and will also help you to get acquainted with emerging technologies. If you are unable to purchase all the books at once, you could request a few of your colleagues to buy some books as well, and share the burden of cost. 1. The Best American Infographics 2013­­ The Best American Infographics 2013 by Gareth Cook is a great book that tells its readers what infographics are, and why one must be specializing in them. Web designers often discount the importance of infographics in today’s world and the results can be dismal. The fact that the human brain processes more visual stimuli than textual content is reason enough for web designers to concentrate on infographics. The Best American Infographics 2013 lists a number of great infographics and provides thoughtful explanations for each of them. This book is a great resource for any web designer who is looking for some inspiration. Click here to purchase The Best American Infographics 2013 by Gareth Cook. 2. The Principles of Beautiful Web Design Whether you want to understand the process of good design or you want to discover what great websites are made of, The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird is a great book that will help you to understand your profession better. It helps you to understand how you can use color effectively and develop color schemes. It also teaches you how to create pleasing layouts and employ textures in websites. It gives you information about grid-based design and how you could design better for mobile resolutions. This is one book that you would want to carry everywhere you go. Click here to purchase The Principles of Beautiful Web Design by Jason Beaird 3. Designing Interfaces Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell is a useful book that you could even read before going to bed. Most web designers know that there are a number of UI toolkits available today. Yet, it is not easy to design great interfaces and people end up designing shoddy websites that do not attract a number of visitors. This bestselling book is a great resource for those who are attempting to learn more about design options. It teaches you how to design engaging and useful interfaces without compromising on anything. It also goes deep into design concepts that are easily misunderstood. All in all, this is a great book that is a must-read for all web designers. Click here to purchase Designing Interfaces by Jenifer Tidwell 4. CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions by Simon Collison, Andy Budd and Cameron Moll is a great book that teaches web designers how to use CSS. It is meant for advanced learners who already know what they are doing. Yet, it can be used by novices who are trying to learn and grasp the concepts of CSS. CSS is one of the most important technologies of today in order to design websites. Whoever is serious about designing websites will need to know at least a little bit about CSS. With that in mind, this book helps those who are looking for information on CSS. Click here to purchase CSS Mastery: Advanced Web Standards Solutions by Simon Collison, Andy Budd and Cameron 5. Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Niederst Robbins is titled rather lengthily. However, this is a great book for designers who are looking at learning all the technologies predominantly required of web designers to succeed in their fields. It teaches how to use HTML, CSS and Web Graphics in order to build formidable websites. It also teaches readers how to use web graphics to create attractive websites. This book is meant for beginners but is a good resource for advanced professionals as well. Click here to purchase Learning Web Design: A Beginner’s Guide to HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and Web Graphics by Jennifer Niederst Robbins 6. Responsive Web Design (Brief Books for People Who Make Websites, No. 4) Responsive Web Design (Brief Books for People Who Make Websites, No. 4) by Ethan Marcotte is designed for those who are still wondering what responsive web design is. It teaches beginners and advanced web designers about CSS techniques and design principles. It is a great book to learn more about fluid grids, flexible images and media queries. Whether you like it or not, responsive web design is here to stay and is one of the most important methods to build websites. This book will only help you to do that better. Click here to purchase Responsive Web Design (Brief Books for People Who Make Websites, No. 4) by Ethan Marcotte 7. CSS3 for Web Designer CSS3 for Web Designer by Dan Cederholm is specifically designed for those who want to specialize in CSS. CSS, as we all know, is an important part of web designing. The fact that CSS is more important in responsive websites makes it an important technique to learn. It teaches you how to use CSS and what to do when browsers do not support CSS. This book clearly explains CSS3 code and makes designing websites a fun activity. By reading this book, you can rest assured that your website will always look great and function great as well. Click here to purchase CSS3 for Web Designer by Dan Cederholm 8.

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