Post pobrano z: How to Design a Website for the Asian Markets

The first thing to consider is the cultural
differences between continents spaced so far apart. The technical side of
designing a web page for Asian markets is the same as designing one for the
United States or Europe. What will make or break your efforts are these
cultural differences and how you navigate them.

Appreciating the Asian Markets’ Sense of Design

When you talk to someone who has either worked
for or with a Chinese company or who has run a marketing campaign in China,
it’s very clear that their sense of design is different than what you see in the West. Proof of this can be
seen when you look at multinational companies that offer their brand in China.
Look at their website on Baidu or QQ. You’re going to see something that looks
very busy, full of text, full of links, and even animations, which to Western
eye seems impossible to read.

Understanding why websites that target Asian
markets are designed the way they are and learning to emulate this design style
are essential if you are going to successfully market your product or service
for the Asian markets. The following are a few tips that may be beneficial.

North American Web Design

In North America, the current trend in web design
can be summed up in one word – “Clean.” The design is straightforward and
elegant. Large images are the center of the design, with short and concise copy
appearing on the page. It’s common for menus to be hidden away and only unfold
when they are moused over.

Web Design in Japan

Japan’s style is markedly different. Less
emphasis is put on pictures and more is put on text. Images are small, and
menus are prominent, with the categories being listed in a static format. It is
not uncommon to see the site’s complete menu listed in one column.

Web Design in China

The design aesthetics seen on popular Chinese
websites fall somewhere between the extreme text you see in Japanese websites
and the scarcity of text found on many North American websites. There are large
images, but there is also substantial text. Red and yellow are prominent
colors. These colors signify good fortune and happiness to many in the Chinese
culture. Flash-based websites are popular, but their use is on the decline.

The Benefit of Extra Graphics and Sound

In the Asian market, websites flourish when they
are more direct. This is due to the High Context culture they are placed
within. Messages have to be implied and the approach direct. Adding more visual
elements, such as images, do more to talk about the brand and its values than
anything else. Minimalism is not popular in Asia, like it is the United States
and Europe. Remember, you are not designing to your taste but instead to the
taste of your target audience.

Maximize the User Experience

From a Western standpoint, Asian market websites
may seem a lot more complicated than what we are used too. However, the users
are used to receiving information under this structure in the same way that
Westerners are accustomed to receiving information under a Western structure.

They are accustomed to seeing a busy website, so
they do not care how the site looks. What they are concerned about is usability
and performance. An important part of usability is site speed and reliability.
It can be beneficial to use websites that compare hosting data to help your
small business or medium business find the right hosting solution to you.

Our friends at Hosting Singapore put together a
great resource to help people sort hosts via performance tests.

Optimize Your Site for Baidu

Most SEO efforts are directed toward achieving
ranking on Google and Yahoo, and sometimes Bing. However, Baidu is a popular
search engine in China. It has not had a global reach, and that is why many
people do not know about it outside of China. But China has more than a billion
inhabitants. If you rank well on this site and if your target market is in
China, it pays to optimize your site for Baidu.

The algorithm that Baidu uses is different from
Google or Yahoo. It does not have the same sophistication, and it has
algorithms that resemble what other search engines used a few years ago. That
being said, here are some tips on what you can do to rank with Baidu.

Find the Right Chinese Words

Keywords are important for good rankings. Finding
the right Chinese words to optimize for can be a challenge because there are
number of dialects with the same word having different meanings in different
dialects. However, Pinyin Chinese is the language of choice preferred by Baidu.

Structuring a website for Asian languages can be a challenge for Westerners. Thankfully,
there are great resources that can help you design your website effectively.

Produce Quality Chinese Content

Even if the primary language on your site is not
Chinese, Baidu views the Chinese content above all else. Follow the guidelines
for acceptable content in China. Failure to do this could cost you your good
rankings on Baidu and spell big problems for your site.

Use Simple Navigation Structures

Baidu refuses to follow links that are hidden
deep in all kinds of sloppy code. It will not work with code that goes multiple
levels deep within the same hierarchy.

Avoid Flash and JavaScript

Google does not love Flash or JavaScript, and
Baidu hates them. For this reason, you should only use Flash and JavaScript if
you are able to provide the alternative HTML versions of the content.

Understanding the Power of Language

There are more than 2,190 languages spoken in
Asia. Of these, 10 are the most commonly spoken. These include:

1. Mandarin, with 1.2 billion speakers
2. English, with 400 million speakers
3. Indonesian, with 240 million speakers
4. Japanese, with 120 million speakers
5. Filipino, with 90 million speakers
6. Korean, with 80 million speakers
7. Vietnamese, with 80 million speakers
8. Thai, with 60 million speakers
9. Burmese, 33 million speakers
10. Malaysian, with 30 million speakers

Mandarin, English, and Japanese are the most used
languages on the Internet. Creating
quality content on your site in these languages will help you reach the Asian
markets.

Although it may seem overwhelming, adapting your
website or creating a website for the Asian markets is very manageable. You
need to have a solid plan and know what direction you’re going to go in.
Remember, approach China, Japan, and India in their own ways. Understanding
their cultures and their perception of space and color will help you make a
website that will flourish in the Asian markets.

Post pobrano z: How to Design a Website for the Asian Markets

The first thing to consider is the cultural
differences between continents spaced so far apart. The technical side of
designing a web page for Asian markets is the same as designing one for the
United States or Europe. What will make or break your efforts are these
cultural differences and how you navigate them.

Appreciating the Asian Markets’ Sense of Design

When you talk to someone who has either worked
for or with a Chinese company or who has run a marketing campaign in China,
it’s very clear that their sense of design is different than what you see in the West. Proof of this can be
seen when you look at multinational companies that offer their brand in China.
Look at their website on Baidu or QQ. You’re going to see something that looks
very busy, full of text, full of links, and even animations, which to Western
eye seems impossible to read.

Understanding why websites that target Asian
markets are designed the way they are and learning to emulate this design style
are essential if you are going to successfully market your product or service
for the Asian markets. The following are a few tips that may be beneficial.

North American Web Design

In North America, the current trend in web design
can be summed up in one word – “Clean.” The design is straightforward and
elegant. Large images are the center of the design, with short and concise copy
appearing on the page. It’s common for menus to be hidden away and only unfold
when they are moused over.

Web Design in Japan

Japan’s style is markedly different. Less
emphasis is put on pictures and more is put on text. Images are small, and
menus are prominent, with the categories being listed in a static format. It is
not uncommon to see the site’s complete menu listed in one column.

Web Design in China

The design aesthetics seen on popular Chinese
websites fall somewhere between the extreme text you see in Japanese websites
and the scarcity of text found on many North American websites. There are large
images, but there is also substantial text. Red and yellow are prominent
colors. These colors signify good fortune and happiness to many in the Chinese
culture. Flash-based websites are popular, but their use is on the decline.

The Benefit of Extra Graphics and Sound

In the Asian market, websites flourish when they
are more direct. This is due to the High Context culture they are placed
within. Messages have to be implied and the approach direct. Adding more visual
elements, such as images, do more to talk about the brand and its values than
anything else. Minimalism is not popular in Asia, like it is the United States
and Europe. Remember, you are not designing to your taste but instead to the
taste of your target audience.

Maximize the User Experience

From a Western standpoint, Asian market websites
may seem a lot more complicated than what we are used too. However, the users
are used to receiving information under this structure in the same way that
Westerners are accustomed to receiving information under a Western structure.

They are accustomed to seeing a busy website, so
they do not care how the site looks. What they are concerned about is usability
and performance. An important part of usability is site speed and reliability.
It can be beneficial to use websites that compare hosting data to help your
small business or medium business find the right hosting solution to you.

Our friends at Hosting Singapore put together a
great resource to help people sort hosts via performance tests.

Optimize Your Site for Baidu

Most SEO efforts are directed toward achieving
ranking on Google and Yahoo, and sometimes Bing. However, Baidu is a popular
search engine in China. It has not had a global reach, and that is why many
people do not know about it outside of China. But China has more than a billion
inhabitants. If you rank well on this site and if your target market is in
China, it pays to optimize your site for Baidu.

The algorithm that Baidu uses is different from
Google or Yahoo. It does not have the same sophistication, and it has
algorithms that resemble what other search engines used a few years ago. That
being said, here are some tips on what you can do to rank with Baidu.

Find the Right Chinese Words

Keywords are important for good rankings. Finding
the right Chinese words to optimize for can be a challenge because there are
number of dialects with the same word having different meanings in different
dialects. However, Pinyin Chinese is the language of choice preferred by Baidu.

Structuring a website for Asian languages can be a challenge for Westerners. Thankfully,
there are great resources that can help you design your website effectively.

Produce Quality Chinese Content

Even if the primary language on your site is not
Chinese, Baidu views the Chinese content above all else. Follow the guidelines
for acceptable content in China. Failure to do this could cost you your good
rankings on Baidu and spell big problems for your site.

Use Simple Navigation Structures

Baidu refuses to follow links that are hidden
deep in all kinds of sloppy code. It will not work with code that goes multiple
levels deep within the same hierarchy.

Avoid Flash and JavaScript

Google does not love Flash or JavaScript, and
Baidu hates them. For this reason, you should only use Flash and JavaScript if
you are able to provide the alternative HTML versions of the content.

Understanding the Power of Language

There are more than 2,190 languages spoken in
Asia. Of these, 10 are the most commonly spoken. These include:

1. Mandarin, with 1.2 billion speakers
2. English, with 400 million speakers
3. Indonesian, with 240 million speakers
4. Japanese, with 120 million speakers
5. Filipino, with 90 million speakers
6. Korean, with 80 million speakers
7. Vietnamese, with 80 million speakers
8. Thai, with 60 million speakers
9. Burmese, 33 million speakers
10. Malaysian, with 30 million speakers

Mandarin, English, and Japanese are the most used
languages on the Internet. Creating
quality content on your site in these languages will help you reach the Asian
markets.

Although it may seem overwhelming, adapting your
website or creating a website for the Asian markets is very manageable. You
need to have a solid plan and know what direction you’re going to go in.
Remember, approach China, Japan, and India in their own ways. Understanding
their cultures and their perception of space and color will help you make a
website that will flourish in the Asian markets.

Post pobrano z: Designing the perfect business card for your startup

A great business card should convey the overall motto and images of your business. It is a not an easy task considering the fact that an average business card only measures 2 inches in width and 3.5 inches in length. It is inconsiderate to have the thought that your business card will portray the entirety of your business. However, what it can do is portray a professional image of your business which the other person will remember.

Business cards come in all forms and sizes starting from normal ones to letterpress business cards.

You need to consider a lot of factors before deciding on the design of your business card. These factors include colour, text and typography to name a few. And all of these factors should perfectly align in order to reflect a professional image of your business.

While designing your business card, it is important to use common sense. For example, if you are a business selling children products, the best bet will be to use bright colours and quirky designs. You can consider the typography to be written in child script for the design to stand out even more.

Another example to consider- suppose you are the proprietor of a financial advisory firm. When designing your business card, you should keep in mind that it should reflect the two most important aspects of your business, which are professionalism and integrity. Go for a simple black-gold or a white-beige business card design to successfully reflect the same.

While professional designers always suggest that an entrepreneur shouldn’t design their own business card, most small and cash-strapped business owners are left with few other choices. But don’t lose hope, keep the below-mentioned tips in mind, and you will be all set.

Keep your logo as the basis

Make your business logo the biggest element in your business card. By making it big, you will not attract the attention of your readers on to it, but also utilise the space which would otherwise remain empty.

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Professionalism is best reflected when the design is simple yet unique and convenient. Keeping the entire layout of your business card simple, will ease the eyes of your readers and only attract their attention to the important details of your company. Don’t cramp too much information into your business card.

Include the essentials

The most important aspect of having a business card is to portray essential information about your company or organisation. Include your name, designation, company name, email address and phone number. Keep the font size bigger than the rest of the card and also make them bold to stand out even more. Although there is no standard arrangement on how to portray this information, it is best practice to put your name, designation, email address and then the phone number.

Make it readable

Being excessively creative with your design can take you to a whole different tangent. While in the flow, make sure to keep the entire font very readable. People don’t have the time to stretch their eyes and invest a lot of time into figuring out what you have written.

Stick to one or two colours

While some creative prefer keeping the colour scheme as a rainbow, it is usually not a good choice. First, it makes the card look unprofessional and moreover the cost of printing them will be very high. The more the number of colours the more will be the price of the overall card.

Try different papers and printing techniques

If you are in the creative industry, or a person who is very creative, you can surely out the various papers available in the market. Starting from pure cotton paper to recycled kraft or even corrugated cardboard, there are a lot of choices to choose from. Combining few different printing techniques like letterpress and hot foiling or engraving and silkscreen you can get really impressive results.

Break the norm

While traditional cards are surely more common, business cards in non-traditional shapes like oval, cuboidal or even round are super attention grabbers. Not only does the shape stand out and with the above-mentioned designs, they will look good to both you and the receiver. Designing a business card is fairly easy, and owning one will surely make you look more professional in the eyes of your business associates. Check out for more beautiful business cards samples on Elegante Press portfolio.

Post pobrano z: 5 Common Mistakes That Can Kill Your PowerPoint Presentation

Many people actively use PowerPoint to create presentations. But very few of them know what requirements must be met in this case and what kinds of mistakes must be avoided. So, consider the main mistakes that the authors make when creating a presentation:

Mistake One: Too Much Information

Almost 90% of presentations suffer from this common mistake, so it’s almost impossible to understand anything in them. An overloaded presentation is easy to be recognized by long and unstructured texts. As well as by the abundance of graphic objects on one single slide. Most often, both of this issues can be found together. Sometimes, the overload of information occurs because of the limitations put on the maximum number of slides.

For example, an investor who asks for no more than a dozen slides. But much worse is the situation when the author limits the number of slides by his own initiative. Most people seem to understand that the content of the presentation must be laconic. But instead of limiting the content, many tend to reduce the number of slides. And also, very often confusing and overloaded presentation comes from the desire of the speaker to look like an expert. For example, in an academic environment, presentations with huge text arrays on slides are very common when presenting information.

How To Avoid

It’s necessary to carry out preparatory work first. To clearly formulate the purpose of the presentation, to write its script, and to compose the main themes for each slide. You can’t come up with a plan on the go and write everything that comes to mind. The brain can’t handle too much information changing in the fast sequence. And it’s almost impossible to correctly spread all the necessary information on the slides at the last moment. If the purpose of the presentation is to get someone to make a decision, then it should be made in a simple and understandable manner. And always remember the following formula: one slide equals one idea. In addition to the main thesis, use a maximum of five sub-paragraphs. Anything that doesn’t fit must be transferred to the next slide.

Mistake Two: Too Many Styles

A mess and disorder of styles is a sign of an inexperienced beginner. Who believes that the audience can be surprised by the cool design. And therefore thinks of how to apply his design skills in the best possible way in the first place. The task at hand is pushed into the background. And most people don’t even keep in mind following the same design principles. All the time is spent on choosing the elements of the layout, backgrounds, fonts, and types of animation. As a result, the design starts to change from slide to slide. The more experienced guys know that the main elements should look the same everywhere. But in their case, the details usually do not. And even such a small detail as a customized design of headings on each slide can sometimes cause confusion to the audience.

When creating a single style, one must build a visual hierarchy of each slide (the order of readable objects) and create a rhythm and repetition. In this case, the same design from slide to slide helps the audience to quickly get the meaning. Another type of such mistakes is found in presentations which are created on the basis of different materials. A piece of the report from the Internet, a piece of colleague’s presentation, a screenshot from somewhere. Such data pieces are really difficult to be brought to a single work.

How To Avoid

The absence of a single style leads to chaos in the visual hierarchy of objects. When the design jumps from slide to slide, the viewer’s mind can’t connect all the seen elements into a single system. The brain doesn’t adhere to already familiar things, as each time it has to interpret new ones. This definitely doesn’t help the information to be better absorbed. You need to learn to perceive one single style as a system. In this system, any design element contains a certain meaning and obeys the general logic. Start with the basic things: headings, texts, backgrounds, and colors. Identical elements will immediately increase the chance for a normal assimilation of information.

Mistake Three: Lack Of Focus

Lack of focus is noticeable when behind the presentation there’s a weak story. The one that was not built around one particular idea. The other common mistake happens when a good and logical story is already there but the author begins to think in a dangerous direction “what else to improve”. It happens that the author first goes on the right path but at the very end suddenly realizes that it has turned out to be poor and boring. Then he starts to play with the design. The white backgrounds turn blue. Headings and explanatory text change fonts and inscriptions. The slide layout is re-arranged. A series of such ambiguous decorating decisions can lead to a shift in emphasis. The result is the slides on which it’s impossible to get the key idea in a few seconds. Too many accents on the slide graphics lead to the fact that its logic is violated. And so you obtain the scattered blocks of information that the viewer reads in an arbitrary form.

How To Avoid

The main difficulty is that presentations that suffer from this mistake often look good. But the pleasant design doesn’t work. The viewer wants to quickly scroll further. There’s a feeling that he’s looking at a fuzzy picture in which colors and contrasts came out successfully, but it’s impossible to recognize the main subject. Clear signs of poor focus are differently designed large objects on the slide, the backgrounds that are distracting an attention from the main topic, and some unnecessary explanatory texts. To get the focus back the first step is to get rid of all this.

The attention of the viewer should be pinned to the content of the slides, not to their appearance. Be guided by the principle that the casual spectator must be able to fully understand what you wished to convey in a few seconds. If it takes more time, then the probability of losing the viewer’s attention is high. It’s especially sad when the focus is lost in the presentation and it becomes necessary to struggle for the attention of listeners. And with their constant desire to talk with a neighbor. The poor level of focus is easy to determine by the high number of headings that are present on the slides.

Mistake Four: Disorder

The slide looks as if its contents were gathered by pieces from different presentations. The arrangement of the elements is not logic, as if each of them is here by chance. The disorder of elements of the slides is often based on the author’s desire to approach the matter “creatively”. But the layout of the slides is a technical, not a creative process. While working on the slides you should forbid yourself to look for ideas. In addition, the author must perceive the presentation as a system. Each element must not exist in isolation.

How To Avoid

To achieve harmony you need to sort objects by importance to create a visual hierarchy on the slides. After that, you need to distribute elements along it, arrange them, and then align the objects шт a smart way. So the slides will be clean and neat and an understandable and readable composition will be formed.

Mistake Five: Wrong Decoration Of The Slides

Decorating the slides with any abstract elements is another sign of the beginner. It’s caused by the fear of white space. Many beginners are sure that to look like an expert and feel confident, the one needs to fill the slides to the edges. Therefore, they see nothing wrong with using the basic PowerPoint templates. Only to avoid the white color anywhere. Wrong decoration can be both semantic (explaining the unnecessary details), and visual (too many graphic elements that are “improving” visual perception). The last one is particularly common among beginning graphic designers.

How To Avoid

Any visual details require additional time to get their meaning. Therefore, excessive decorating always works against understanding the presentation by the audience. They usually don’t make any sense but they absorb a lot of attention. In the presentation, one should respect and appreciate free space. Thanks to it, the slide stays alive. All visual elements should be informative. Everything that doesn’t make sense is a white noise which is better to get rid of.

Conclusion

Each of us makes mistakes. This is normal. It’s important to learn from them, to gain the experience, and never repeat them again. So, I tried to describe the most common mistakes people make while creating presentations and I hope that this will help all of you avoid them in the future.

Post pobrano z: Designing the perfect business card for your startup

A great business card should convey the overall motto and images of your business. It is a not an easy task considering the fact that an average business card only measures 2 inches in width and 3.5 inches in length. It is inconsiderate to have the thought that your business card will portray the entirety of your business. However, what it can do is portray a professional image of your business which the other person will remember.

Business cards come in all forms and sizes starting from normal ones to letterpress business cards.

You need to consider a lot of factors before deciding on the design of your business card. These factors include colour, text and typography to name a few. And all of these factors should perfectly align in order to reflect a professional image of your business.

While designing your business card, it is important to use common sense. For example, if you are a business selling children products, the best bet will be to use bright colours and quirky designs. You can consider the typography to be written in child script for the design to stand out even more.

Another example to consider- suppose you are the proprietor of a financial advisory firm. When designing your business card, you should keep in mind that it should reflect the two most important aspects of your business, which are professionalism and integrity. Go for a simple black-gold or a white-beige business card design to successfully reflect the same.

While professional designers always suggest that an entrepreneur shouldn’t design their own business card, most small and cash-strapped business owners are left with few other choices. But don’t lose hope, keep the below-mentioned tips in mind, and you will be all set.

Keep your logo as the basis

Make your business logo the biggest element in your business card. By making it big, you will not attract the attention of your readers on to it, but also utilise the space which would otherwise remain empty.

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Professionalism is best reflected when the design is simple yet unique and convenient. Keeping the entire layout of your business card simple, will ease the eyes of your readers and only attract their attention to the important details of your company. Don’t cramp too much information into your business card.

Include the essentials

The most important aspect of having a business card is to portray essential information about your company or organisation. Include your name, designation, company name, email address and phone number. Keep the font size bigger than the rest of the card and also make them bold to stand out even more. Although there is no standard arrangement on how to portray this information, it is best practice to put your name, designation, email address and then the phone number.

Make it readable

Being excessively creative with your design can take you to a whole different tangent. While in the flow, make sure to keep the entire font very readable. People don’t have the time to stretch their eyes and invest a lot of time into figuring out what you have written.

Stick to one or two colours

While some creative prefer keeping the colour scheme as a rainbow, it is usually not a good choice. First, it makes the card look unprofessional and moreover the cost of printing them will be very high. The more the number of colours the more will be the price of the overall card.

Try different papers and printing techniques

If you are in the creative industry, or a person who is very creative, you can surely out the various papers available in the market. Starting from pure cotton paper to recycled kraft or even corrugated cardboard, there are a lot of choices to choose from. Combining few different printing techniques like letterpress and hot foiling or engraving and silkscreen you can get really impressive results.

Break the norm

While traditional cards are surely more common, business cards in non-traditional shapes like oval, cuboidal or even round are super attention grabbers. Not only does the shape stand out and with the above-mentioned designs, they will look good to both you and the receiver. Designing a business card is fairly easy, and owning one will surely make you look more professional in the eyes of your business associates. Check out for more beautiful business cards samples on Elegante Press portfolio.

Post pobrano z: Designing the perfect business card for your startup

A great business card should convey the overall motto and images of your business. It is a not an easy task considering the fact that an average business card only measures 2 inches in width and 3.5 inches in length. It is inconsiderate to have the thought that your business card will portray the entirety of your business. However, what it can do is portray a professional image of your business which the other person will remember.

Business cards come in all forms and sizes starting from normal ones to letterpress business cards.

You need to consider a lot of factors before deciding on the design of your business card. These factors include colour, text and typography to name a few. And all of these factors should perfectly align in order to reflect a professional image of your business.

While designing your business card, it is important to use common sense. For example, if you are a business selling children products, the best bet will be to use bright colours and quirky designs. You can consider the typography to be written in child script for the design to stand out even more.

Another example to consider- suppose you are the proprietor of a financial advisory firm. When designing your business card, you should keep in mind that it should reflect the two most important aspects of your business, which are professionalism and integrity. Go for a simple black-gold or a white-beige business card design to successfully reflect the same.

While professional designers always suggest that an entrepreneur shouldn’t design their own business card, most small and cash-strapped business owners are left with few other choices. But don’t lose hope, keep the below-mentioned tips in mind, and you will be all set.

Keep your logo as the basis

Make your business logo the biggest element in your business card. By making it big, you will not attract the attention of your readers on to it, but also utilise the space which would otherwise remain empty.

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Professionalism is best reflected when the design is simple yet unique and convenient. Keeping the entire layout of your business card simple, will ease the eyes of your readers and only attract their attention to the important details of your company. Don’t cramp too much information into your business card.

Include the essentials

The most important aspect of having a business card is to portray essential information about your company or organisation. Include your name, designation, company name, email address and phone number. Keep the font size bigger than the rest of the card and also make them bold to stand out even more. Although there is no standard arrangement on how to portray this information, it is best practice to put your name, designation, email address and then the phone number.

Make it readable

Being excessively creative with your design can take you to a whole different tangent. While in the flow, make sure to keep the entire font very readable. People don’t have the time to stretch their eyes and invest a lot of time into figuring out what you have written.

Stick to one or two colours

While some creative prefer keeping the colour scheme as a rainbow, it is usually not a good choice. First, it makes the card look unprofessional and moreover the cost of printing them will be very high. The more the number of colours the more will be the price of the overall card.

Try different papers and printing techniques

If you are in the creative industry, or a person who is very creative, you can surely out the various papers available in the market. Starting from pure cotton paper to recycled kraft or even corrugated cardboard, there are a lot of choices to choose from. Combining few different printing techniques like letterpress and hot foiling or engraving and silkscreen you can get really impressive results.

Break the norm

While traditional cards are surely more common, business cards in non-traditional shapes like oval, cuboidal or even round are super attention grabbers. Not only does the shape stand out and with the above-mentioned designs, they will look good to both you and the receiver. Designing a business card is fairly easy, and owning one will surely make you look more professional in the eyes of your business associates. Check out for more beautiful business cards samples on Elegante Press portfolio.

Post pobrano z: Designing the perfect business card for your startup

A great business card should convey the overall motto and images of your business. It is a not an easy task considering the fact that an average business card only measures 2 inches in width and 3.5 inches in length. It is inconsiderate to have the thought that your business card will portray the entirety of your business. However, what it can do is portray a professional image of your business which the other person will remember.

Business cards come in all forms and sizes starting from normal ones to letterpress business cards.

You need to consider a lot of factors before deciding on the design of your business card. These factors include colour, text and typography to name a few. And all of these factors should perfectly align in order to reflect a professional image of your business.

While designing your business card, it is important to use common sense. For example, if you are a business selling children products, the best bet will be to use bright colours and quirky designs. You can consider the typography to be written in child script for the design to stand out even more.

Another example to consider- suppose you are the proprietor of a financial advisory firm. When designing your business card, you should keep in mind that it should reflect the two most important aspects of your business, which are professionalism and integrity. Go for a simple black-gold or a white-beige business card design to successfully reflect the same.

While professional designers always suggest that an entrepreneur shouldn’t design their own business card, most small and cash-strapped business owners are left with few other choices. But don’t lose hope, keep the below-mentioned tips in mind, and you will be all set.

Keep your logo as the basis

Make your business logo the biggest element in your business card. By making it big, you will not attract the attention of your readers on to it, but also utilise the space which would otherwise remain empty.

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Professionalism is best reflected when the design is simple yet unique and convenient. Keeping the entire layout of your business card simple, will ease the eyes of your readers and only attract their attention to the important details of your company. Don’t cramp too much information into your business card.

Include the essentials

The most important aspect of having a business card is to portray essential information about your company or organisation. Include your name, designation, company name, email address and phone number. Keep the font size bigger than the rest of the card and also make them bold to stand out even more. Although there is no standard arrangement on how to portray this information, it is best practice to put your name, designation, email address and then the phone number.

Make it readable

Being excessively creative with your design can take you to a whole different tangent. While in the flow, make sure to keep the entire font very readable. People don’t have the time to stretch their eyes and invest a lot of time into figuring out what you have written.

Stick to one or two colours

While some creative prefer keeping the colour scheme as a rainbow, it is usually not a good choice. First, it makes the card look unprofessional and moreover the cost of printing them will be very high. The more the number of colours the more will be the price of the overall card.

Try different papers and printing techniques

If you are in the creative industry, or a person who is very creative, you can surely out the various papers available in the market. Starting from pure cotton paper to recycled kraft or even corrugated cardboard, there are a lot of choices to choose from. Combining few different printing techniques like letterpress and hot foiling or engraving and silkscreen you can get really impressive results.

Break the norm

While traditional cards are surely more common, business cards in non-traditional shapes like oval, cuboidal or even round are super attention grabbers. Not only does the shape stand out and with the above-mentioned designs, they will look good to both you and the receiver. Designing a business card is fairly easy, and owning one will surely make you look more professional in the eyes of your business associates. Check out for more beautiful business cards samples on Elegante Press portfolio.

Post pobrano z: Designing the perfect business card for your startup

A great business card should convey the overall motto and images of your business. It is a not an easy task considering the fact that an average business card only measures 2 inches in width and 3.5 inches in length. It is inconsiderate to have the thought that your business card will portray the entirety of your business. However, what it can do is portray a professional image of your business which the other person will remember.

Business cards come in all forms and sizes starting from normal ones to letterpress business cards.

You need to consider a lot of factors before deciding on the design of your business card. These factors include colour, text and typography to name a few. And all of these factors should perfectly align in order to reflect a professional image of your business.

While designing your business card, it is important to use common sense. For example, if you are a business selling children products, the best bet will be to use bright colours and quirky designs. You can consider the typography to be written in child script for the design to stand out even more.

Another example to consider- suppose you are the proprietor of a financial advisory firm. When designing your business card, you should keep in mind that it should reflect the two most important aspects of your business, which are professionalism and integrity. Go for a simple black-gold or a white-beige business card design to successfully reflect the same.

While professional designers always suggest that an entrepreneur shouldn’t design their own business card, most small and cash-strapped business owners are left with few other choices. But don’t lose hope, keep the below-mentioned tips in mind, and you will be all set.

Keep your logo as the basis

Make your business logo the biggest element in your business card. By making it big, you will not attract the attention of your readers on to it, but also utilise the space which would otherwise remain empty.

KISS- Keep it Simple, Stupid!

Professionalism is best reflected when the design is simple yet unique and convenient. Keeping the entire layout of your business card simple, will ease the eyes of your readers and only attract their attention to the important details of your company. Don’t cramp too much information into your business card.

Include the essentials

The most important aspect of having a business card is to portray essential information about your company or organisation. Include your name, designation, company name, email address and phone number. Keep the font size bigger than the rest of the card and also make them bold to stand out even more. Although there is no standard arrangement on how to portray this information, it is best practice to put your name, designation, email address and then the phone number.

Make it readable

Being excessively creative with your design can take you to a whole different tangent. While in the flow, make sure to keep the entire font very readable. People don’t have the time to stretch their eyes and invest a lot of time into figuring out what you have written.

Stick to one or two colours

While some creative prefer keeping the colour scheme as a rainbow, it is usually not a good choice. First, it makes the card look unprofessional and moreover the cost of printing them will be very high. The more the number of colours the more will be the price of the overall card.

Try different papers and printing techniques

If you are in the creative industry, or a person who is very creative, you can surely out the various papers available in the market. Starting from pure cotton paper to recycled kraft or even corrugated cardboard, there are a lot of choices to choose from. Combining few different printing techniques like letterpress and hot foiling or engraving and silkscreen you can get really impressive results.

Break the norm

While traditional cards are surely more common, business cards in non-traditional shapes like oval, cuboidal or even round are super attention grabbers. Not only does the shape stand out and with the above-mentioned designs, they will look good to both you and the receiver. Designing a business card is fairly easy, and owning one will surely make you look more professional in the eyes of your business associates. Check out for more beautiful business cards samples on Elegante Press portfolio.

Post pobrano z: 5 Common Mistakes That Can Kill Your PowerPoint Presentation

Many people actively use PowerPoint to create presentations. But very few of them know what requirements must be met in this case and what kinds of mistakes must be avoided. So, consider the main mistakes that the authors make when creating a presentation:

Mistake One: Too Much Information

Almost 90% of presentations suffer from this common mistake, so it’s almost impossible to understand anything in them. An overloaded presentation is easy to be recognized by long and unstructured texts. As well as by the abundance of graphic objects on one single slide. Most often, both of this issues can be found together. Sometimes, the overload of information occurs because of the limitations put on the maximum number of slides.

For example, an investor who asks for no more than a dozen slides. But much worse is the situation when the author limits the number of slides by his own initiative. Most people seem to understand that the content of the presentation must be laconic. But instead of limiting the content, many tend to reduce the number of slides. And also, very often confusing and overloaded presentation comes from the desire of the speaker to look like an expert. For example, in an academic environment, presentations with huge text arrays on slides are very common when presenting information.

How To Avoid

It’s necessary to carry out preparatory work first. To clearly formulate the purpose of the presentation, to write its script, and to compose the main themes for each slide. You can’t come up with a plan on the go and write everything that comes to mind. The brain can’t handle too much information changing in the fast sequence. And it’s almost impossible to correctly spread all the necessary information on the slides at the last moment. If the purpose of the presentation is to get someone to make a decision, then it should be made in a simple and understandable manner. And always remember the following formula: one slide equals one idea. In addition to the main thesis, use a maximum of five sub-paragraphs. Anything that doesn’t fit must be transferred to the next slide.

Mistake Two: Too Many Styles

A mess and disorder of styles is a sign of an inexperienced beginner. Who believes that the audience can be surprised by the cool design. And therefore thinks of how to apply his design skills in the best possible way in the first place. The task at hand is pushed into the background. And most people don’t even keep in mind following the same design principles. All the time is spent on choosing the elements of the layout, backgrounds, fonts, and types of animation. As a result, the design starts to change from slide to slide. The more experienced guys know that the main elements should look the same everywhere. But in their case, the details usually do not. And even such a small detail as a customized design of headings on each slide can sometimes cause confusion to the audience.

When creating a single style, one must build a visual hierarchy of each slide (the order of readable objects) and create a rhythm and repetition. In this case, the same design from slide to slide helps the audience to quickly get the meaning. Another type of such mistakes is found in presentations which are created on the basis of different materials. A piece of the report from the Internet, a piece of colleague’s presentation, a screenshot from somewhere. Such data pieces are really difficult to be brought to a single work.

How To Avoid

The absence of a single style leads to chaos in the visual hierarchy of objects. When the design jumps from slide to slide, the viewer’s mind can’t connect all the seen elements into a single system. The brain doesn’t adhere to already familiar things, as each time it has to interpret new ones. This definitely doesn’t help the information to be better absorbed. You need to learn to perceive one single style as a system. In this system, any design element contains a certain meaning and obeys the general logic. Start with the basic things: headings, texts, backgrounds, and colors. Identical elements will immediately increase the chance for a normal assimilation of information.

Mistake Three: Lack Of Focus

Lack of focus is noticeable when behind the presentation there’s a weak story. The one that was not built around one particular idea. The other common mistake happens when a good and logical story is already there but the author begins to think in a dangerous direction “what else to improve”. It happens that the author first goes on the right path but at the very end suddenly realizes that it has turned out to be poor and boring. Then he starts to play with the design. The white backgrounds turn blue. Headings and explanatory text change fonts and inscriptions. The slide layout is re-arranged. A series of such ambiguous decorating decisions can lead to a shift in emphasis. The result is the slides on which it’s impossible to get the key idea in a few seconds. Too many accents on the slide graphics lead to the fact that its logic is violated. And so you obtain the scattered blocks of information that the viewer reads in an arbitrary form.

How To Avoid

The main difficulty is that presentations that suffer from this mistake often look good. But the pleasant design doesn’t work. The viewer wants to quickly scroll further. There’s a feeling that he’s looking at a fuzzy picture in which colors and contrasts came out successfully, but it’s impossible to recognize the main subject. Clear signs of poor focus are differently designed large objects on the slide, the backgrounds that are distracting an attention from the main topic, and some unnecessary explanatory texts. To get the focus back the first step is to get rid of all this.

The attention of the viewer should be pinned to the content of the slides, not to their appearance. Be guided by the principle that the casual spectator must be able to fully understand what you wished to convey in a few seconds. If it takes more time, then the probability of losing the viewer’s attention is high. It’s especially sad when the focus is lost in the presentation and it becomes necessary to struggle for the attention of listeners. And with their constant desire to talk with a neighbor. The poor level of focus is easy to determine by the high number of headings that are present on the slides.

Mistake Four: Disorder

The slide looks as if its contents were gathered by pieces from different presentations. The arrangement of the elements is not logic, as if each of them is here by chance. The disorder of elements of the slides is often based on the author’s desire to approach the matter “creatively”. But the layout of the slides is a technical, not a creative process. While working on the slides you should forbid yourself to look for ideas. In addition, the author must perceive the presentation as a system. Each element must not exist in isolation.

How To Avoid

To achieve harmony you need to sort objects by importance to create a visual hierarchy on the slides. After that, you need to distribute elements along it, arrange them, and then align the objects шт a smart way. So the slides will be clean and neat and an understandable and readable composition will be formed.

Mistake Five: Wrong Decoration Of The Slides

Decorating the slides with any abstract elements is another sign of the beginner. It’s caused by the fear of white space. Many beginners are sure that to look like an expert and feel confident, the one needs to fill the slides to the edges. Therefore, they see nothing wrong with using the basic PowerPoint templates. Only to avoid the white color anywhere. Wrong decoration can be both semantic (explaining the unnecessary details), and visual (too many graphic elements that are “improving” visual perception). The last one is particularly common among beginning graphic designers.

How To Avoid

Any visual details require additional time to get their meaning. Therefore, excessive decorating always works against understanding the presentation by the audience. They usually don’t make any sense but they absorb a lot of attention. In the presentation, one should respect and appreciate free space. Thanks to it, the slide stays alive. All visual elements should be informative. Everything that doesn’t make sense is a white noise which is better to get rid of.

Conclusion

Each of us makes mistakes. This is normal. It’s important to learn from them, to gain the experience, and never repeat them again. So, I tried to describe the most common mistakes people make while creating presentations and I hope that this will help all of you avoid them in the future.

Post pobrano z: 5 Common Mistakes That Can Kill Your PowerPoint Presentation

Many people actively use PowerPoint to create presentations. But very few of them know what requirements must be met in this case and what kinds of mistakes must be avoided. So, consider the main mistakes that the authors make when creating a presentation:

Mistake One: Too Much Information

Almost 90% of presentations suffer from this common mistake, so it’s almost impossible to understand anything in them. An overloaded presentation is easy to be recognized by long and unstructured texts. As well as by the abundance of graphic objects on one single slide. Most often, both of this issues can be found together. Sometimes, the overload of information occurs because of the limitations put on the maximum number of slides.

For example, an investor who asks for no more than a dozen slides. But much worse is the situation when the author limits the number of slides by his own initiative. Most people seem to understand that the content of the presentation must be laconic. But instead of limiting the content, many tend to reduce the number of slides. And also, very often confusing and overloaded presentation comes from the desire of the speaker to look like an expert. For example, in an academic environment, presentations with huge text arrays on slides are very common when presenting information.

How To Avoid

It’s necessary to carry out preparatory work first. To clearly formulate the purpose of the presentation, to write its script, and to compose the main themes for each slide. You can’t come up with a plan on the go and write everything that comes to mind. The brain can’t handle too much information changing in the fast sequence. And it’s almost impossible to correctly spread all the necessary information on the slides at the last moment. If the purpose of the presentation is to get someone to make a decision, then it should be made in a simple and understandable manner. And always remember the following formula: one slide equals one idea. In addition to the main thesis, use a maximum of five sub-paragraphs. Anything that doesn’t fit must be transferred to the next slide.

Mistake Two: Too Many Styles

A mess and disorder of styles is a sign of an inexperienced beginner. Who believes that the audience can be surprised by the cool design. And therefore thinks of how to apply his design skills in the best possible way in the first place. The task at hand is pushed into the background. And most people don’t even keep in mind following the same design principles. All the time is spent on choosing the elements of the layout, backgrounds, fonts, and types of animation. As a result, the design starts to change from slide to slide. The more experienced guys know that the main elements should look the same everywhere. But in their case, the details usually do not. And even such a small detail as a customized design of headings on each slide can sometimes cause confusion to the audience.

When creating a single style, one must build a visual hierarchy of each slide (the order of readable objects) and create a rhythm and repetition. In this case, the same design from slide to slide helps the audience to quickly get the meaning. Another type of such mistakes is found in presentations which are created on the basis of different materials. A piece of the report from the Internet, a piece of colleague’s presentation, a screenshot from somewhere. Such data pieces are really difficult to be brought to a single work.

How To Avoid

The absence of a single style leads to chaos in the visual hierarchy of objects. When the design jumps from slide to slide, the viewer’s mind can’t connect all the seen elements into a single system. The brain doesn’t adhere to already familiar things, as each time it has to interpret new ones. This definitely doesn’t help the information to be better absorbed. You need to learn to perceive one single style as a system. In this system, any design element contains a certain meaning and obeys the general logic. Start with the basic things: headings, texts, backgrounds, and colors. Identical elements will immediately increase the chance for a normal assimilation of information.

Mistake Three: Lack Of Focus

Lack of focus is noticeable when behind the presentation there’s a weak story. The one that was not built around one particular idea. The other common mistake happens when a good and logical story is already there but the author begins to think in a dangerous direction “what else to improve”. It happens that the author first goes on the right path but at the very end suddenly realizes that it has turned out to be poor and boring. Then he starts to play with the design. The white backgrounds turn blue. Headings and explanatory text change fonts and inscriptions. The slide layout is re-arranged. A series of such ambiguous decorating decisions can lead to a shift in emphasis. The result is the slides on which it’s impossible to get the key idea in a few seconds. Too many accents on the slide graphics lead to the fact that its logic is violated. And so you obtain the scattered blocks of information that the viewer reads in an arbitrary form.

How To Avoid

The main difficulty is that presentations that suffer from this mistake often look good. But the pleasant design doesn’t work. The viewer wants to quickly scroll further. There’s a feeling that he’s looking at a fuzzy picture in which colors and contrasts came out successfully, but it’s impossible to recognize the main subject. Clear signs of poor focus are differently designed large objects on the slide, the backgrounds that are distracting an attention from the main topic, and some unnecessary explanatory texts. To get the focus back the first step is to get rid of all this.

The attention of the viewer should be pinned to the content of the slides, not to their appearance. Be guided by the principle that the casual spectator must be able to fully understand what you wished to convey in a few seconds. If it takes more time, then the probability of losing the viewer’s attention is high. It’s especially sad when the focus is lost in the presentation and it becomes necessary to struggle for the attention of listeners. And with their constant desire to talk with a neighbor. The poor level of focus is easy to determine by the high number of headings that are present on the slides.

Mistake Four: Disorder

The slide looks as if its contents were gathered by pieces from different presentations. The arrangement of the elements is not logic, as if each of them is here by chance. The disorder of elements of the slides is often based on the author’s desire to approach the matter “creatively”. But the layout of the slides is a technical, not a creative process. While working on the slides you should forbid yourself to look for ideas. In addition, the author must perceive the presentation as a system. Each element must not exist in isolation.

How To Avoid

To achieve harmony you need to sort objects by importance to create a visual hierarchy on the slides. After that, you need to distribute elements along it, arrange them, and then align the objects шт a smart way. So the slides will be clean and neat and an understandable and readable composition will be formed.

Mistake Five: Wrong Decoration Of The Slides

Decorating the slides with any abstract elements is another sign of the beginner. It’s caused by the fear of white space. Many beginners are sure that to look like an expert and feel confident, the one needs to fill the slides to the edges. Therefore, they see nothing wrong with using the basic PowerPoint templates. Only to avoid the white color anywhere. Wrong decoration can be both semantic (explaining the unnecessary details), and visual (too many graphic elements that are “improving” visual perception). The last one is particularly common among beginning graphic designers.

How To Avoid

Any visual details require additional time to get their meaning. Therefore, excessive decorating always works against understanding the presentation by the audience. They usually don’t make any sense but they absorb a lot of attention. In the presentation, one should respect and appreciate free space. Thanks to it, the slide stays alive. All visual elements should be informative. Everything that doesn’t make sense is a white noise which is better to get rid of.

Conclusion

Each of us makes mistakes. This is normal. It’s important to learn from them, to gain the experience, and never repeat them again. So, I tried to describe the most common mistakes people make while creating presentations and I hope that this will help all of you avoid them in the future.