The Next Marketing Tool: DesignWritten by Kyle Neath
Design sells. It’s something that all of us know, but few of us consciously acknowledge. There is an age old adage that warns people not to “judge books by their cover.” In other words, we shouldn’t judge people or products by their appearance. But this isn’t true in America. We do judge books by their cover – in fact we spend billions of dollars on products that have prettier “covers.”Many people are aware how easy it is to create a web page and put your business online, but you have to ask yourself: is it going to be enough? Sure, you can get all vitals of your business online and available for whole world to see, but will your visitors remember your site? Will they trust it? More importantly, will your site cause them to contact you after leaving web site? iPods, cargo pants and cell phones Oh my! What do these three items have in common you might ask? Design, of course. Back in 2001 Apple Computers unveiled their new offering to tech world: iPod. This smart looking little gadget was an MP3 player, one of thousands already on market. Against all odds, iPod has risen above its vast competition and become a common household term. What can we attribute to Apple’s success? The iPod did not offer any features that other MP3 players were already offering, except a sleek design, stunning advertising and Apple’s clever branding. Great design has obviously paid off for Apple. In first quarter since releasing iPod, Apple more than tripled its net profits and sold nearly 900,000 iPods! Some may even speculate to say that iPod has taken Apple from a failing company to leader in portable music. Old Navy started off as just another value clothing store spawned from successful Gap Inc. While this company had advantage of already having a multi-billion dollar brand backing it, it had no incentive for customers to actually buy clothes. Old Navy has since become one of leading clothing retailers in America becoming a multi-billion dollar brand on its own feet. Old Navy’s president, Jenny Ming, attributes this success to design. Old Navy has taken a new approach to advertising and clothing style relying on fresh, new design. It seems to have worked, attracting millions of customers to their cargo pants, PJ bottoms and fleece jackets.
| | Graphic Design Using ColorWritten by Kelly Paal
Color is everywhere and conveys a message even if we don’t realize it. While this message can vary by culture it pays to know what colors “say” in your own corner of universe, and even what color means to your target market. If you don’t think that color speaks just complete this sentence, “red means ---- and green means –“ even a child will know what red means stop and green means go. If such simple ideas work for all of a given culture or market what could it mean to graphic design of your website, brochure, or product if you know some of this information. First let’s start with basics. The color wheel. We’ve all seen it. The color wheel shows basic colors, each wheel is different in how many shades of each color is shown, but they are essentially same. Color harmony, colors that go together well. These will be colors that are next door to each other on color wheel. Such as blue and green. In reference to clothes these colors match each other. Instinctively most of us know which colors go together when we dress ourselves every morning. Color complements, colors that set each other off, they complement each other. These are colors that are opposite on color wheel. Such as blue and orange. Color depth, colors can recede or jump forward. Remember that some colors seem to fall back such as blue, black, dark green, and brown. Other colors will seem to step forward such as white, yellow, red, and orange. This is why if you have a bright orange background it may seem to fight with any text or images that you place on it. The orange will always seem to move forward.
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