All freelancers, WAHMs, SAHMs and well let’s just say *people* in general can benefit from this basic, easy to use template.

Do you know how many people don’t bother to plan their dinners in advance?

I used to be one of them!

Without planning the following will always happen:

• You go grocery shopping and come back with nothing to eat
• You go grocery shopping, spend a fortune, and still don’t know what to cook
• You spend ages in front of an open fridge door wandering what to cook
• You waste even more time on the internet looking for recipes that require 1 egg, three slices of bread, chutney, suspect looking vegetables and half a slice of cheesecake.

Believe me, if you just take a couple of minutes out of your day on Sunday (I do this on Sunday for the week but honestly just do it before you have to go grocery shopping for the week) it will make all the difference in the world to your sanity!

By planning, you will:

• Save all that time formerly wasted on wandering what to cook
• It takes the brainwork out of figuring out if you have all the necessary ingredients
• Kids like to know ahead of time what they’re getting, and it generally changes their attitude to something if they can see okay, brocolli *today* but yummy sweet potato *tomorrow*.
• You save a bundle of money at the check out register, because you haven’t spent a fortune on buying bits and pieces that you may throw out later because it’s gone off before you used it.

If you’re a freelancer, or a work at home mom, you know *just* what a time saving lifesaver a simple menu plan can be, because when it’s just you against the clock, every second counts. Knowing that you can just leap into the kitchen at the right time, know that you’re whipping up spaghetti bolognese, you really can spend every last second finishing that first draft, polishing that website design and actually *focus* on the task at hand rather than worrying about what you’re making for dinner three hours from now.

Take! Download and print off to your hearts content!

Simply click to download the pdf file.

Happy Planning!

So you’ve started your own business and you have a name, and now you want a nice fancy new logo and business stationery for this new venture..and if you have never dealt with a Graphic Designer before, then the following may be helpful to you.

You may not know where to begin, with your graphic design requirements, and you can save yourself a lot of time – and potentially money if you plan ahead and do something thinking before you go and meet with your designer (whether in person, or using VOIP such as Skype etc).

These principles apply whether you are starting a new business identity or brand, or if you are revamping your existing look.

Ask yourself the following questions, and make some notes that you can pass onto the designer.

Doing this will ensure the best possible results for your project, as it allows the designer to continually focus on the end goals for the project which will lead to a far better outcome than if they simply have to *wing it*.

What does your company do?

A basic explanation of what your company does should follow. e.g. We make and sell homemade jam

What are the goals of your project?

Simply state your intended goals here. e.g. We wish to create a line of labels for a new product.

Who is the target market for this project?

In other words, who are you wanting to appeal to? e.g. Restaurants, guest houses, hotels, supermarket chains

What format is required?

Have you thought of all possible designs you may need? Corporate ID, Labels & Packaging?

What other specs are required with regards to size, colours, information, inclusions etc?

This is fairly self explanatory, and all you need to do is consider any existing jars, boxes etc that you currently use, and how they might influence the design i.e. if your jars are conical as opposed to cylindrical  then this would certainly influence the design. You may want to consider use of color as well. If your biggest competitor uses the color green, then it’s probably best to go with something else.

What Quantity do you require?

Of course this will make a huge difference to the cost of producing your product since many print houses offer bulk discounts, and it is best to factor in the additional cost of a small print run if this is a new untested product for which you are only drawing up limited quantities. Knowing in advance approximately how many you will need will also indicate to the designer that there may be additional methods available to you in terms of how the items are printed, and this could influence the design in terms of use of colour etc.

For example if you are only doing a small run for a home industries market, you could perhaps consider a more varied use of color, given that smaller quantities can be digitally produced, whereas a much larger run of thousands could be produced in a different environment that might be subject to the design constraints (albeit at lower costs) making use of spot colors.

What is the deadline for the design elements?

Failing to mention the date at which you require the work – is potentially catastrophic, although most designers will probably prompt you on this one!

What is your budget?

It never fails to amuse me, how when this question is asked, that many folks naturally assume that as a designer, you want to ‘take them for every penny’.  When in reality, we’re only asking so that we know how much time is available to be spent on the project.

For example if your budget is $1000, you’re likely to get a logo design for example, that has thoroughly been researched, verified that it doesn’t violate copyright infringements with the right authorities, looks great, is perfect for your business requirements and well worth the investment. But if your budget is $200, then you have the option to go to one of those ‘logo contest sites’ so that you have a lot of options, or you can expect your graphic designer to spend 3-4 hours (depending on their hourly rate) to imagineer it for you.

I’m not saying either one is better than the other, I’m just saying that you get what you pay for, and sometimes that’s great regardless.

The following is a template that you can print and fill out with your design project requirements.

• It’s Free!
• Who is it for? People who are planning design projects (i.e. needing business cards/brochures/labels etc)
• Any Graphic Designers who need a basic 8 step brief template to ensure they capture the necessary information from the client before embarking on their design project.
• It’s a simple one page pdf that could save you loads of time on your next project
• Just click the purple box below to download.
• You will need a pdf reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader (which you can find for free here).

Enjoy! Please share this with anyone who may find it useful.

With the 2010 World Cup in South Africa drawing to a close, and an Octopus being the undisputed unsung hero of this tournament, all eyes are starting to look forward to 2014 in eager anticipation, even though the final of this years tournament has yet to be decided (if you ignore the Octopus in Germany, and apparently a Parakeet in Singapore who is now also making predictions).

So the logo for Brazil 2014 has been unveiled.

Here is what it looks like:

When I first saw it on Sky News this morning, my first thoughts were…well at least it is not as bad as the 2012 logo for the Olympics being held in London.

On a positive, I like the use of bright colours, reminiscent of the Brazilian flag, however, I am NOT keen on the use of gradients.

Furthermore:

• It’s clever the way it mirrors the shape of the actual World Cup Trophy
• The use of hands coming together to form the shape of the ‘world’ and a ‘ball’ is rather clever, and I like it. Having experienced a bit of world cup fervor first hand in South Africa during this world cup, there is no denying the power of ‘The Beautiful Game’ in bringing diverging identities together.
• I’m not wild about the use of bubble type text sort of squished in there in contrasting red.
• However, on the whole, it is a lot more visually pleasing than the logo for the current world cup finishing up in South Africa right now.

Here is what that one looks like…

My opinion on the Fifa 2010 South Africa logo is that the initial part of the log (the shape of Africa, the figure in black and the text are really quite fun, but I have NO idea why they chose to latch on the additional blue section to the right?

Why the repeat of the sphere?

What is it’s purpose? With the sharp blue corner, bottom right? Was this something that FIFA insisted on to keep their name front and centre?

The logo has received some flack from more eccentric corners, and has even been called the eye of Horus (if viewed by turning your head 90 degrees to the right) by some religious fundamentalist groups who actually believed that the world cup was the start of the apocalypse. Seriously.

So! Who are you supporting for the final? The Netherlands or Spain?

Do you believe their is any credence to be put in ‘Paul the Octopus’ ‘s predictions?

Here is that London 2012 logo, in case you missed the monstrosity the first time around.  I still can’t get over *that* one.

All logo images courtesy of Wikipedia.

One of my favourite types of work, is label design.

Particularly when that label design is for a new brand that is launching, for a small business owner, or new entrepreneur.  The reason why I love it is because it is all so fresh and new, and naturally the client is also super excited to be launching their own brand which means that interaction is positive, and peppered with bursts of inspiration. In fact it’s far easier to design for this type of project (in my experience) rather than producing a new product design for a brand that is global, and entrenched in 50 years of existing design guidelines.

Here are a couple of things to remember for when working on Label Designs

• Get the exact specs and measurements of the label design as required by the client, remember that this is for label design, not packaging design – there IS a difference
• Obtain any preferred colour requirements from your client, or have fun suggesting new ideas if your client is open to that
• View the product on which the label is to be placed and confirm exact orientation details from the client before heading off to design
• Discuss the type of material on which the label is to be printed, i.e. paper or vinyl and obtain any printers guidelines with regards to use of colour as well
• Design and have fun!
• Remember to ask for any additional details that need to be included on the label, i.e. client contact details, any legal requirements such as barcoding, ingredients etc – failure to do this, can severely hamper design time if you don’t consider it from the start!

About the Label Design itself

• It should reflect the look and feel as required by the client, and in line with their brand guidelines which you would have established during early discussions, or in the process of designing preliminary logo’s etc.
• The product should reflect it’s own quality, that is if it is a premium product, the design should tend towards rich colours, and possibly some embossing or foiling etc, naturally the opposite is necessary of a brand which is considered a budget brand.
• It should be easily recognizable, and aesthetically pleasing, and if there is a range of the similar products from the same brand, then it should be easy to tell that they are part of the same range, albeit variations on the same product
• It should not be too similar to a competing brand
• It should contain all necessary information as required by law
• One of the best ways of mocking up a design to see if it will *work* or not, without having to print (let’s be paper efficient here, and planet friendly) is to simply have a photograph of the products in question, and doing a little Photoshop magic with it and superimpose the image onto the photograph of the product in question, to give you an idea of what the final product will look like. You would be amazed how often this can make a big difference in your ‘minds eye’.

Happy Designing fellow creatives! Thanks for reading and please share if you have found this post helpful and interesting.

Many places in the world will be celebrating Mothers Day on this Sunday 9th of May.

So I am proud to release this custom designed digitally downloadable Mothers Day Card.

Please note that two files are included in the download, one, is a hi-resolution .jpg, allowing you to either print from home or at a local printer, or email this card to your Mother, or Mother in law in time for Mother Day on Sunday! (Instead of a mad rush around the shops).

The other is a fully layered editable .psd file, for the graphically inclined amongst you who may want to customize the file. If you’d like to have the file customized, but possess neither the skill or the inclination to do it yourself, simply email me, and I can do it for you for a small additional charge.

Enjoy!

Price $1.99

Please note:

To edit this file you will need a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop, as well as a working version of the software.

This file has not been tested in versions of Photoshop earlier than CS2. Fonts are not included due to copyright restrictions.

I have been working with this client for some time now, first for a logo redesign, then later on a business card design, label design and lastly on a brand new website using WordPress as the CMS (content management system).

The blog design journey has been fraught with interesting and fun challenges, and the site has had many incarnations,  fascinating exercise, as a designer to leave personal taste out of the equation. After all, if we always insisted on forcing our clients around to our way of thinking, all our work would begin to look the same, and the client would probably  not be as satisfied as they tend to be, when they have been an integral part of the design process, and had a hand in most of the decisions. As a designer, I find that the best role for me is to advise, suggest, provide samples, and then leave the final decision up to the client.

Here is a series of images, showing how this particular blog design developed.

[View with PicLens]

What you will notice is the abrupt departure from the original design about three quarters of the way through. My theory is that when you feel like you’ve been looking at the same design for too long, and made too many changes and tweaks sometimes it helps to throw a brand new design into the mix, keeping those original elements that the client liked initially. What you end up with is a cleaner, less fiddly design, that works all around, and that the client is happy with!

The content is still being loaded, but if you want to stop by and check out some of the best looking cupcakes I have ever seen, then check out Yummy Mummy Cupcakes!