September 16th, 2009 § Add a comment
Greetings and welcome to the weblog and online portfolio of Rowan Design, based in Ashland, Oregon. I will be posting anything and everything here, from samples of my work to marketing and design tips. A small sampling of my work is already loaded onto the site. As time goes by, I will be adding additional work, links of interest, and writing articles related to design and marketing.
Enjoy.
March 9th, 2010 § Comments (1)
Business cards are more than just a Rolodex entry. They are a foot in the door with potential customers. They are your most affordable piece of printed marketing. They are a reflection of your business in the eyes of the customers.
Your business card should be attention grabbing, easy to read, and something that people will want to show off … something that people will pick up several of so they can give some to their friends. A good card gets calls. A great card gets passed around.
These four business card designs were each created for maximum impact within the client’s budget. Although all the cards are art related and the layouts are relatively similar, the differences are astounding. The choices of typeface, color, and graphic elements create a unique personality for each.
Your business card shouldn’t just be a piece of paper with your contact information. It should be a design that makes people stop, look, and remember.
January 27th, 2010 § Add a comment
The hyphen, en-dash, and em-dash are often misused. Here’s a quick tutorial to give that added bit of class to your letters, forms, and flyers.
The Hyphen: Used for compound words, and to indicate that a word continues on the next line. Here’s a real-world example.
The En-Dash: About the length of the letter “n”. Used to indicate a range (distance, duration, scores). 10–20 meters, 1:00–1:30, Sat–Sun, 7–10 in favor of Player One.
The Em-Dash: About the length of the letter “M”. Used to denote a sudden shift in thought, a parenthetical comment, or an afterthought. A parenthetical comment—like this one—should be enclosed in em-dashes. However, an afterthought just has one at the beginning—like this.
A good typeface will already have a little space built in on the sides of these punctuation marks, so there is no need to add space.
January 6th, 2010 § Add a comment
Red Hibiscus will soon be packaging and selling their Kimchi. I’ll have to try it to find out if I like it, but I do like the label I designed for them. The idea is to have a simple label design that can be modified slightly for future products. Red Hibiscus closed for December and January, but I eagerly await their re-opening so I can get one of their fabulous sandwiches.
December 18th, 2009 § Add a comment
This time of year, I always get depressed. The idea of having one day out of three-hundred and sixty-five to celebrate love and kindness is like using a bandage to cure a cancer patient.
I hereby propose that December 25th become Love and Kindness Day. And December 26th. And December 27th. And every day of every year.
Each day, when you greet someone, greet them with “Happy Love and Kindness Day”.
October 7th, 2009 § Add a comment
A friend of mine was so inspired by my starting up a business, that she decided to go freelance with her bookkeeping. We bandied about name ideas, and while her first instinct was to avoid using her last name, she quickly turned around when I suggested “Bookkeeping is as easy as ABC…Agostino Bookkeeping Co.” Here’s the first draft of logo design and color scheme.
Logos aren’t just about looking good. They need to project an image to the public. If you are thinking about a new logo, or a revision to an existing one, you are welcome to stop in and chat with me. Often, just throwing ideas around can end up in a billowing brainstorm.
September 23rd, 2009 § Add a comment
Many people think they can’t afford graphic design, especially in these tough times. But good design doesn’t have to be extravagant. Here’s a few reasons to either hire a designer or spend some time learning about graphic design yourself. Personally, I recommend doing both.
If your name is on it, it should look good.
I don’t know about you, but it’s pretty easy for me to get a negative impression about a business based on something small. If a plumber has an invoice that’s a 5th generation photocopy, it makes me wonder if they put the same effort into the plumbing. But just having a clean and crisp invoice makes me think that they understand that even small details are important…and I assume that they put that little bit of extra effort into fixing the pipes.
Good doesn’t necessarily mean expensive.
A new order form, invoice, or simple business card can be put together quickly, especially if you take the time to plan out what information needs to be there. Then, all your designer has to do is take the information and organize it so that it looks good, is easy to read and understand, and maintain the look and feel of your business.
Content means nothing unless people read it.
You may think that you are saving money by making your own ads, poster, or signs, but you may actually be wasting it. Just as many people only read the first paragraph of a newspaper article, they only glance at an ad unless it can draw them in. A good designer has made it a point to study color, word choice and placement, alignment and proximity of elements, and other design fundamentals that can alter the effectiveness of your materials.
Prioritizing.
Choosing what to have designed or redesigned can be difficult. My recommendation is to look at 2 aspects. First, the exposure of the material. Second, the current quality. If it is only seen by a few people, and it looks more or less okay, leave it for now. If it is seen by half the valley, or it looks like it was last updated 20 years ago, it should probably go near the top of the list.
The same goes for choosing what to have professionally designed and what to do yourself. If it is only seen by a few people and you can make it look pretty good, go ahead and do it yourself. But if it circulates to all your prospective clients, you want to make sure it looks excellent.
September 16th, 2009 § Comments (1)
Candy Wooding creates books, boxes, and other keepsakes, and can customize them for any event. Since a great deal of her work utilizes her handmade pastepapers, I scanned in a sheet and turned it into the short-end border. Her handwritten name was also scanned and smoothed to use as her logo. Future cards may have different pastepapers and a revised color scheme to match.
September 16th, 2009 § Add a comment
Dale’s creations are colorful and whimsical, and her card needed to reflect that. I spent some time working on a basic logo, then Dale and I sat down to tweak it until we were both happy with it. Once that was done, it was time to scan in the photos, adjust the color and contrast, and add them to the business card. A nice thing about artists’ business cards is that you can turn a basic card design into multiple cards just by changing out the images.
September 16th, 2009 § Add a comment
The grand opening for Ashland Art Center is coming up, and I put together a flyer for them. The design went through several incarnations, as did the specifics of the event and ticket locations, but in the end, it was worth it. Please come check it out, and stop by my office (behind the main stairwell) and say hello.
