Updated on Print & Design Product Design

What determines the quality of a hoodie?

Personalized Hoodies

In the past, someone wearing a hoodie was perceived as a robber or a wrongdoer. People used to think that something dodgy is hidden under that hoody. But time has changed. The hoodie is like a uniform for the sportsmen. It keeps them warm and protected. Now hoody is a fashion trend. It is very popular among the young generation. The skaters, snowboarders and anyone adopting the hip-hop culture loves wearing hoodies. Surprisingly, the designers have made every effort to make it trendy among the well-dressed older men as well. So, you will see people wearing a hoodie over t-shirts or even under tailored clothing.

Hoodies are actually sweatshirts having hoods. You can easily adjust these sweatshirts using drawstrings. You will find pullover-like hoodies and hoodies with zippers as well. In pullover hoodies, you will find single pouches in the front. In the zip-up hoodies, there are separate pockets. You can now get personalised hoodies as well. The college teams have same hoodies personalised with the team name or the person’s name. Different sports teams also order personalised hoodies for their players. In case of personalised hoodies, you can choose the type of material, colour, and style. Basically, you get to design your own hoodie.

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digital print
Updated on Print & Design

Printing methods

Thanks to technology, we now have a variety of printing methods that we can use for our commercial purposes. It would be useful to know all the methods for us to choose the most suited for our project. We’ve outlined the printing methods below.

Letterpress

Letterpress is known to be one of the oldest printing methods which were first discovered by a guy called Gutenberg. Although the technique is relatively old, it is still used by many companies today. Letterpress printing are mostly used for business cards or greeting cards.

Screen printing

Screen printing is used for printing any images into any items that don’t have a flat surface. They are normally used for items like clothing, mugs and more. They are also used for printing in large-scale display adverts including billboards or signage.

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Updated on Print & Design

Most Common Logo Design Errors

Creating a logo is an important step in the branding process, which will usually come very near the beginning of a business venture, and perhaps several more times later on. There are many examples of logos which have become synonymous with the brands they represent, and have evolved into incredibly valuable assets.

Other examples, which are far less effective, are equally easy to find. A business with an ugly or uninspiring logo may be much more negatively affected than you might think. But what are the most common mistakes, as identified by professional designers, that make for really disappointing logos? Here are some examples of what to avoid.

Bad font choices

Almost any logo will feature some form of text. Even alongside a symbol, any company name needs to be presented in logo form, and therefore, choosing a suitable font is essential. A great font choice will typically be easy to read and up to date, although the specifics will vary depending on what message you want to put across about your brand. Meanwhile, basic fonts which are overly common, or over-the-top, distracting fonts are usually the worst choices.

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Updated on Print & Design

Top Tools For Any Modern Graphic Designer

To do your best work, you need to have access to the right tools. They say a bad workman blames his tools, but when you’re a designer there is no way you can work as efficiently as possible (and produce the best results) if you can’t use the best tools available to you. We would say that these should include the following.

Step 1: Hardware

Many designers have traditionally used Macs for creative work, but Microsoft has been working hard to catch up and offer a suitable alternative. The end result is that now, it doesn’t really matter which operating system you use. A more important factor is the form of the device that it runs on.

Touchscreens are ideal for drawing and designing, but of course you will normally need the advanced functions and applications that come with a full computer. The answer may be to use a 2-in-1 device, which have rapidly increased in popularity over the past couple of years, since they now offer a great balance of performance, portability and cost.

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Updated on Retail Branding

How to create a customised office sign that catches the eye

Choosing and creating your own custom office signs is vital when advertising your business to your customer. Your signage must represent everything about your business and your aims for when you are showcasing your products and services. So to create a signage that describes your business and at the same time attract your customers, you will need to follow the method and steps that are involved in advertising. Advertising is all about how to advertise yourself to your customers and what they need to know about you and why they should purchase your products and services. One of the most popular methods that are used in advertising is the hierarchy of effects model which tells you the six steps that consumers use before they buy from your business.

Awareness

The first step to the effects model is making your targeted customer aware of your products through your retail signage. If your business doesn’t have a retail signage, then your customers won’t even know that your business exists! A method of gaining a real awareness is finding an area where most of your people will be able to see your signage. For instance, it’s ideal to place your signage in a location where customers can see your sign.

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Updated on Retail Branding

Small Business Branding In 5 Easy Steps

A brand is really essential in today’s marketplace if you want your business or organisation to stand out and get attention. With so much competition in almost every area, nobody can thrive on a name, product or service alone.

A brand supports everything you do, providing a common visual style and message for all of your communications. It tells people something about who you are and what you do every time they interact with it. But how do you create a brand? Here we aim to break the process down into five simple steps.

1) Establish your brand values

To define your brand in words before you move onto the visual style, you need to make sure you have agreed on some basic principles. Decide what you want to achieve as a brand, who your audience is going to be, and what qualities or feelings you want them to associate with your brand. You can then find ways to incorporate these factors into your actual designs.

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Updated on Print & Design

How Designers Deal With Difficult Clients

If you work as a designer, whether you are freelance or directly employed by a company, you will most likely have to deal with difficult clients (or bosses) at some stage. In a fast-paced environment, tricky customers may actually become something you handle regularly.

Communication is usually a major problem here, because typically a client will have ideas and requirements for their design, but lack the required skills to bring these to life. That’s why they need your services, after all. The problem is that a non-professional needs to explain what they want from their design, and later, the professional often has to explain to them why they have made certain decisions and why certain things may not be possible. This can lead to a lot of tension, and not all clients will handle this well.

The best solution for communication problems is usually to try and keep all communication channels as open and transparent as possible. As a designer, you need to make sure that you and the client have an agreed method for contacting each other, and a suitable alternative is arranged if this doesn’t work out. Make sure you keep records of everything that has been discussed and agreed so you can refer back to these notes if necessary.

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brochure
Updated on Print & Design

Using Printed Promotional Materials To Your Advantage

It’s a common misconception that due to the growing importance of digital marketing and the success of many businesses using online channels exclusively, all other media must be irrelevant for advertisers. Nothing could be further from the truth, and in fact we would suggest that print advertising could give your business a massive advantage over the competition. If your competitors are putting all their eggs in one digital basket, perhaps it’s the perfect time to seize your opportunity?

Another mistake people often make when it comes to printed advertising is that we’re only referring to one particular channel. In fact, there are many options you could choose to explore. Here are just a few of the main tools you have at your disposal to boost your marketing efforts.

Business Cards

A simple option that requires little investment, but can potentially make a huge difference to sales and help you spread the word locally about your brand. A business card creates a first impression when you meet a potential contact, and provides a potentially long-lasting reminder of how and why they should contact you. Even a basic business card can be much better than nothing, but they’re also perfect for showing some creative flair. (more…)

Updated on Visuals & Displays

Using Lighting To Create An Atmosphere In Retail

Lighting is an often-underrated aspect of the complete retail experience that retailers would do well to consider more often. It’s all part of the physical factors that influence the look and feel of a shop. These directly feed into the minds of your potential customers, whether you or they realise it or not. Even if you haven’t planned it, and the customer doesn’t know it’s happening, you’re sending a message that’s either encouraging them to make a purchase or putting them off. This is why it’s vital to be in control when it comes to lighting.

neon

One option to consider may be an elaborate bespoke lighting design that really creates an impressive feature in your shop. This could be a large illuminated element of your branding, or even your brand name, or alternatively something more like contemporary art to attract attention.

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Logo design
Updated on Retail Branding

Tips For Creating A Great Business Logo

A logo is one of the most basic aspects of a company’s branding. How hard can it be, since everyone does it? It might be worth considering that plenty of people get it very wrong, and the impact of this mistake shouldn’t be underestimated. Your logo could help you make sales, encourage people to put trust in your brand, and ultimately turn your business into a genuinely iconic image. Alternatively, it could create the wrong impression and raise questions about your professionalism. Which route do you want to take? Maybe there pointers will help you avoid some common mistakes.

1) Be as unique as possible

Although there are limitations here, and some people may believe it’s impossible to create a truly unique logo at this point, it’s a vital element of any successful brand’s visual appeal. Your logo doesn’t have to be a literal representation of your product or business – it’s much better to make it different from anything else on the market.

2) Reflect and introduce your brand

While we stand by the above point that you should avoid being too literal, you still need to find some way of translating what matters about your brand into image form. Think about what emotions you want people to feel when looking at your logo, and what you want them to assume about your brand from the second they see it. A tiny detail can be loaded with important meaning.

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