7 Social Media Trends

In this day and age social media is everywhere. So many of the trends are hard to understand and even harder to do. Here are some do and don't when it comes to these new social media trends.

{ Content Repurposing } Using existing content in a different form

Do

• have a plan to repurpose content on a different platform
• repurpose only relevant content
• consider the platform and the audience

Don't

• copy and paste the exact same content
• repurpose the same content again and again
• post the same content on all your platforms

{ Social Customers Services } Offering customer service on social platforms

Do

• offer the same custimer services online and offline
• hire a trained professional to manage social media profiles
• ensure helpful responses in a short span of time

Don't

• mix advertising and customer service
• neglext negative customer feedback or comments
• forget to incorporate customer feedback about products and services

{ Video Marketing } Incorporating videos to promote your product or services

Do

• create an interesting storyline around your product or services
• try making the story as relatable as possible for your audience
• invite stories on customer experience

Don't

• create cliche storytelling themes that have been used countless times before
• sell your product or services directly in your content
• divert your story to be something different from that of your brand's story

{ Social Advertising } Use of advertisment on social media platforms

Do

• ensure that your ads are location based on target audience better
• make your ads moblie friendly as more than half the traffic comes from moblie devices
• ensure your social advetising strategy is in sync with your overall strategy

Don't

• ignore your audinece demographics
• forget to be informative
• place too many ads together

{ Instagram Marketing } Using Instagram to promote products or services

Do

• provide exciting updates about your prodicts or services
• encourage your cutomers to engage with your brand by using a unquie hashtag
• occasioanlly carry out contests to maintain interests from your followers

Don't

• ignore your customers feedback or comments
• use INstagram only for advertisment
• repost your instagram photos across all other social profiles

{ Pinterest Marketing } Curating and posting pins realted to your product or services

Do

• make use of rich pins for business
• add a personalized description to each pin along with a relevant hashtag
• add a pin it button to all the images on your main website

Don't

• forget to promote your Pinterest account on other social profiles
• forget to engage with other pins that are related to your business
• follow user board just to gain followers in return

{ How to Fix a Bad Design }

When it comes to designing, we all have created things that we may not have been so happy about. So here are some tips to fix a bad design.

{1} Scrap Bad Photography

This single step can have a huge impact on a design. Modern, on-trend photography is the only kind of photography that should be included on a website. If it isn't good, it's better not to use images at all. Cheap and tacky imagery makes the website look cheap and tacky. Unless you can replace your photographs with a professional's work, scrap them all and rely on your font choices.

{2} Make Navigation Simpler

Your users won't stick around unless your website is easy to browse and navigate. Surfing the Internet is all about doing something fast and getting it done without obstacles. Clever, easy-to-use bars, straightforward menus and clearly demonstrated buttons ensure that site navigation isn't a problem.

{3} Choose Better Fonts

Fonts can present all kinds of problems in your site's design. Is the font size consistent with the site as a whole? Does the color of the font clash with the background or other text? It is almost always best to go for a unified appearance. It is a novice's mistake to choose more than is absolutely necessary. Use no more than two font sizes and one, or at most two, font styles.

{4} Declutter

Your site's layout can always get better by getting rid of the clutter: minimalist design wins in most cases. Try to eliminate anything that stands out in a distasteful way. You don't want your users to be overwhelmed. Eliminate badges, links and networks, and if you absolutely must include them, put them on the About page.

{5} Fix Bad Call-to-Action Buttons

Call-to-action buttons are a tricky business. They're needed, but when used badly, they can make the site look more like a cheap advertising setup than a classy service. Be discreet. Make them evident but not overwhelming. Camouflage them subtly. Find appropriate positions for them and make sure they work correctly and don't lead the user anywhere irrelevant.

{6} Use a Grid

You make think alignment issues have gone the way of the dinosaur because of grid systems, but amateur site designs almost always suffer from this problem. Sometimes a seemingly cluttered site design can be drastically improved by imposing a much-needed grid layout. Also, if the client's site isn't responsive or at least optimized for mobile, there's a serious discussion to be had on that front.

{7} Correct Broken Links

If a client hands you an aging site and is looking for a refresh, you can bet good money that you'll find some ancient links floating around that no longer work. Checking all the links on a site can be a dull, tedious task, so be sure to use a tool like the W3C's Link Checker.

{8} Coordinate Colors

Another mistake amateur web designers make is choosing terrible color schemes. If the site your client hands you makes your eyes bleed, your first task should be to update the colors. Like everything else, the rule here is to simplify. Like removing ugly wallpaper from an old house, you might find something decent under that bad color scheme!

{9} Harmonize the Text-Background Relationship

Don't let the background harm the readability of your content. This kind of mistake is considered the ultimate crime by professional website designers. Browse your site and pay close attention to any background choices that don't complement the text entirely. Your best bet when it comes to your website's background is almost always white.

{10} Is It Worth The Effort?

The most important consideration to put forth when attempting to fix a bad design is whether or not it's worth the trouble. Always give your honest opinion to a client and let them know when starting from scratch will be faster, easier, and/or better than putting a band-aid on an ultimately doomed project.

https://creativemarket.com/blog/2015/01/09/how-to-fix-a-bad-

{ Spot the Designer }

When it comes to finding a graphic designer it can be like finding Waldo, so here are some ways to find a graphic designer out in the real world. Good Luck!!!

{1} In a restaurant - the one analyzing everything except what is on the menu. You may even hear the following words such as " The layout is all wrong" or "Why would they use that font."

{2} In a cafeteria - the one buying the weird drink only because they like the packaging. You may hear them say the following, " I don't like red wine but this bottle is to well designed to put down."

{3} Up close - the one with circles under the eye due to the lack of sleep. Cutter cuts or paint stains on almost every finger. You may hear about how long their last design took, or even the color scheme they have under their nails.

{4} In a library -  the one judging a book by its cover design. You may hear something around these lines "I love the artwork, so I'm reading it".

{5} At the mall - uncontrollable excitement when Apple store is spotted. You may see the same reaction when a new Apple product comes out. You may hear the following "Sorry guys, I'm going to the Apple store to wander around for hours and buy nothing".

{6} On the street - the one looking through the garbage certain that something can be used. You may heat them say " This is just what I've been looking for".

{7} Anywhere - the one doodling on any surface available, tables, napkins, cups, bodies, walls and really anywhere we can find a place. You may hear them talking to themselves



http://visual.ly/spot-designer?utm_source=CMblog&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=funnydesigninfographics

{ 10 Myths About Graphic Design }

When it comes to graphic designers there are a lot of myths and things that are not true so I'm here to set the record straight. Here are some of the biggest 10 myths about graphic design.

{1} Graphic Design is Easy - one of the biggest misconceptions about graphic design is that it is easy to be a graphic designer. Just because we graphic designers sit in front of the computer most of the time, people have thought that designing is easy and less stressful. But in reality graphic design is just the same as other jobs that require experience, knowledge and dedication.

{2} Graphic Designs Can Make You Rich. Fast. - as much as we want this to be true, getting rich with graphic design is never easy. More often than not only 10% of the profit goes directly to our pockets and the rest goes to paying the bills, putting food on the table and using it as a capital for another design project.

{3} Graphic Designers Know Everything - having the ability to read minds sounds great but unfortunately such skill does not exist. As graphic designers we love to hear what people wanted for their design but there are those who give out completely vague and sometimes indecipherable instructions. The design process would be easier and less painful if clear objectives were given.

{4} Customers Are Always Right - Unfortunately unlike myth #3 people think that clients are always in total control of the output just because graphic designers are paid to do their demand. Graphic Designers make use of styles and techniques to create a design and apply what we have learned from school, books, and seminars in order to make a good and effective design in each project.

{5} Education Stops After Graduation - students think that once they have graduated they will no longer need to listen and to study. They will just rely to what they have learned in school or just wing it. The truth is even after graduation they still need to study, attend seminars and read books because in the fast paced world of design they have to keep themselves updated from time to time.

{6} Total Reign Over The Design - it may sound too good to be true if a client let us designers do what we wanted to do, but in reality no clients is like that. Sure they would be lenient but they wouldn't let you have all the decisions with the design. Working in the design industry is a collaborative process between the designer and the client to achieve the desired output.

{7} Fixing a Design as Fast as a Flick of the Wrist - with the help of computers, designers can execute their work faster and with more efficiency, but asking for a designer to do a design or fix a design in just a matter of hours is a fallacy. No good design comes from rushed work because designers carefully make plans and research before starting a design project. We designers think about the process and the method that should be employed in the production and simultaneously doing quotations, answering emails and marketing ourselves to other prospective clients.

{8} Graphic Designers Are Natural Born Creatives - there is no such thing as a natural born creative, Everyone starts in a clean slate and though out their formative years being exposed to the right influences and environment, they develop this knack of creating extraordinary things that makes people go; "Wow! I wish I have thought of that idea".

{9} Design is Only Done on the Computer All the Time - most student designers tend to undervalue creating rough sketches on paper because they would rather design directly in the computer. But what they don't know is that the greatest design ideas start off with a sketch and letting them flow though in a sheet of paper.

{10} Anyone Can be a Graphic Designer - this perhaps is the biggest fallacy of all. Graphic design is not just some mumbo-jumbo where playing with Photoshop entitles a person to call himself a graphic designer. Being a graphic designer is a lifestyle. We have to live and breathe art and design. We need to be up to date with the latest design trends and technology. We have to do extensive studying and research before presenting a design proposal to clients. Moreover, we need to be a well- rounded sociable person who can deal with people from all walks of life not to mention that we must have the knowledge in handling our finances.



http://www.youthedesigner.com/graphic-design-resources/graphic-design-myths/

{ Marketers and Designers }

Marketers and designers are increasingly working together these days. Together we can help one another in all degrees of our field in Graphic Design. We all need to work together and here are some things that marketers a can learn from designers.

{1} Care about the details. Designers care a lot about the details, the term "pixel perfect" isn't an exaggeration. Caring about the details means putting in the extra dash of love. Mailchimp's Voice & Tone is an example of not just brand and design piece, but a marketing piece that obviously has a ton of love and care put into it. The small things really can add up and as a result your work will have a completely different feel to it.

{2} Understand where we're coming from. You should dabble in anything that comes in contact with your line of work. Things like layout, composition, color theory, and typography might not be things you use in your day to day duties, but being able to understand the choice that designers make is important in helping you make better informed decision for your team. As a designer, I do my best to learn about sales, lead generation, marketing, and content strategy to help make my work easier to do and more well informed.

{3} Get nerdy with it.  Designers are nerds. We argue and debate about the smallest of details across the far reaches of the inter net. Everything from hamburger menus to mobile forms; we dig deep and learn as much as we can in order to improve our craft. By analyzing every aspect of our skill set, we're able to push the boundaries and constantly evolve our work flow to be as efficient as possible. Online there are plenty of blogs, pod casts, forums, and communities that talk about these things so there's no excuse. There's also nothing wrong with finding other like minded people to talk nerdy with about what you're passionate about. So get out there and hit up those meet ups and online boards! It'll make you better at whatever you do.

 {4} Find the right tool for the job. Along with design, another thing we love to talk about are the tools that help make our job easier. There's a tool for almost anything in the design world - from creating prototypes, to finding color schemes,  to designing websites, and even generating forms. As a marketer, you should be aware of what's out there, what's in the works, and what's being used - some of these tools will not only put you ahead of the game but they'll help you save time, money, and headaches down the line.

{5} Be creative. Our job as designers is to think outside the box to create compelling executions. Why do the thing everyone else is doing if there's a better way? As humans are bombarded with more and more digital junk every day, we have grown to ignore anything that isn't authentic or creative enough to get our attention. As a result, it's even more important to get creative and think of unique ways to capture the audience that we're going for.

http://blog.newscred.com/article/5-things-marketers-can-learn-from-designers/85e92f427f107d695d7c00b347af4f41