graphic design santa barbara

New starts - Best practices to starting a new project

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Congrats!  You're starting on a new project, yahoo!  Now put that energy in to planning and doing.  

 - Building a road map on how you are going to tackle any new project allows you to prioritize and later on better explain how you got to your final designs with your client. 

 - Documenting and saving appropriately. Remember, you eventually will be sharing your work with the client, who will eventually be sharing that information with other vendors, media, and customers so name and save your work appropriately. 

 - Each variation of your work submitted matter.  Don't think that just because your first go at a new project was not approved for the final artwork that you wont reference the original version down the road.  Do NOT delete or overwrite any submitted project version, you never know when it will be reference later on, and who wants redo their work.

 - Enjoy the dialog.  Listening and expanding to a current design is all part of the fun, challenge yourself to listen and engage in the dialog.  Don't be afraid to ask questions!

 - Finish with finesse.  Be grateful for the opportunity to have had the chance to work on this new project.  You probably learned a little something along the way and the client trusted you with their project.

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Have Friday brain? Getting to the core of a project quickly so you can get to the weekend.

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Do you ever start a task and then realize you have been thinking of something far down the line which doesn't actually relate to the current task at hand?  Overthinking a project is normal, so get over it.  Write down all of your thoughts or concerns for the project, that way you don't have to spend time and energy reminding yourself of what the concerns are.

Cutting through all of this mind clutter is how to get to the core of your project.  Always ask yourself, what is the goal? Does "x" help me achieve this goal?  Even as a designer, it can be overwhelming when you think of all of the possibilities available for you to create.  Clear your mind and keep going back to addressing the goal, it will help navigate in the right direction.

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Viva La Fiesta! - Life is Vibrant

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Living in Santa Barbara County has many benefits.  One yearly reminder of just how beautiful living on the Central Coast is, is Fiesta.  Color fill the flag lined State street, and muti-colored confetti seams to rain from the balconies above.  It is a time to remember Santa Barbara's heritage and also to embrace the people and cultures which settled the Central Coast.  Dancing, costumes, food, art and craft are all on display and it's time to party.  The vibrant colors that fill the streets are my personal favorite part about Fiesta.  The amount of color everywhere just makes me smile, and I'm not alone in this feeling.  Showcasing vibrant colors actually makes people genuinely happy.  The evidence is right on the street.  I think this is why color is my favorite part of fiesta, people are just happier. Viva La Fiesta!

calle bonita studios

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Feeling Moody - Essential Mood Board Training

Santa Barbara Graphic Design

Great design don't always just pop out of nowhere. Mood boards cultivate ideas, and when trying to develop, nothing helps bridge the gap between the idea person and person who creates like a mood board can.

Mood Board Essentials :

 1. Name - give your mood board a name that excites you about the project, and what it can become.  If you start with a boring name, the project will be come boring.

  2. The Hunt - Finding objects, colors, tones, language, lines, photography, filters, applications that inspire you for the project at hand.  Specifically identify the aspects of these items which you would like to bring into your new project.  The idea is not copy, but to use items from all aspects relating to the project to inspire you to create something new.

  3. Edit - Once you have collected all of the elements which inspire this project, edit them.  When you started hunting for inspiration, you may have been going in one direction but realized somewhere along the way there were better paths to take.  So delete or separate all of the items that no longer belong in this project.

  4. Implement - You may not use every idea that you found will on your inspirational journey.  Actually, please don't use every aspect in your mood board all at once.  Save some of the goodness that remains in your mood board for a rainy day, you never know when a few extra assets will need to be created.

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Page Density - Web design 101

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Density - the degree of compactness of a substance in an outlined area.

Some websites have a lot to say; and they should be able to say all of the things they would like to say.  When websites say too much, the page becomes too dense.  When a website become too dense with text or graphics, the messaging can be too overwhelming for the viewer.  Finding the balance of text, graphics, imagery, and blank space is tricky.  That is why most businesses hire someone like me to create their website.  

An easy rule to page density, is to create a small amount of copy which is rich in content.  Catching the viewer's attention with a short "want to learn more" tone leads people to continue reading and learn about all which your business has to offer.

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Sit, Stay, Rollover... Ad Rollovers

calle bonita studios

Sit, Stay, Rollover... or something like that.

The rollover action is all so popular in online advertising.  A rollover is the action of a graphic changing when your mouse scrolls over the graphic.  

If you actually took the time to count how many rollover actions you encounter in a day using the internet, you may be surprised.  I was actually pretty shocked at how desensitized I've become to rollovers since I unconsciously encounter them so often online.  Does that mean they're not affective?

Rollover's are still an affective way to grab attention, but creating a rollover that is unique is much more affective than a simple color change or copy change.  As always though, the rollover that you create should still match the look and feel of the business that you are advertising for.  If it makes more sense not to have a rollover graphic in an online ad, that ad would probably be avant-garde at this point.

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CONTRAST - Opposites Attract

Light/dark, rough/smooth, thin/fat, why are we so attracted to contrast? Contrast draws us in and makes us compare.  Contrast can bring out the best in a design or the worst depending on how it is executed.  Evaluating how contrast can pull the eye in or define the space allows contrast to be an asset to the final design.

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CREATE & STAY WILD - California In The Springtime

Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being wild.  Harnessing wildness into a cohesive thought is so tough, so embrace it and create!  Wildness gives us an outlet to express the energy that isn’t used or exercised in day-to-day life.  So create & stay wild.

www.callebonitastudios.com

www.nelsonexcavation.com

 

 

 

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