Take Yourself out of the Equation
As a graphic designer, I ask my clients to take themselves out of the equation and let me look at their marketing from their client’s point of view. Don’t tell them what you want to say…tell them what they need
Don't Make the Mistake of Looking at Successful Branding if You are a Start-up
Designers and marketing experts all bow down to Nike, Apple, and others due to their great branding that has lead to their success…Don’t make that mistake. The logos we all know and love are not the logos companies had as
Graphic Design Chicago
Graphic design firm Chicago. Marketing firm Chicago. Why repeat “keywords” online? It’s called search engine optimization or SEO for short. Chicago graphic design firms and chicago marketing firms are keyed into these terms as the will drive business to your
Chicago Graphic Design Firm
Chicago graphic design firm. Chicago marketing firm. Why repeat “keywords” online? It’s called search engine optimization or SEO for short. Chicago graphic design firms and chicago marketing firms are keyed into these terms as the will drive business to your
Starting a Business – With No Design Budget
Ideally, you have a good sized marketing budget when starting a business. Getting clients is what starting a business is all about…it’s a given that you can do the work or provide the product, or you wouldn’t be starting a
A Second Opinion?
If your doctor told you that you had an illness, you may want to get a second opinion. You get that second opinion from another doctor, not your mom. When it comes to design, people feel it’s perfectly fine to
Law Firm Website 2.0
We love designing a website when the client has a terrible website or no site at all. We come out looking like geniuses. What do we do when the original site is good…or worse, a site designed by us? Here
Why do you have a career page on you website if you aren't hiring?
I’d advised clients to put a “careers” page on their websites even if they aren’t hiring. Why would you do this? Why do you want job hunters calling you just to turn them down? The answer is simple…The page is
Do Your Own Homework
My wife is a high school English teacher. From time to time, she asks me help her check papers handed in for plagiarism. 90 percent of the time, I find the original source online in under a minute. It may
Sometimes it all comes down to design
We’ve done a lot of brochures for real estate development companies. The marketing must be created before the property is built or even rehabbed since developers can start selling the properties before one even exists! Sure, the buyer may go
I'll Know it When I See it…Maybe Not.
We aim to go beyond our client’s expectations but stay within their budget. We want them to be thrilled, but clients need to understand what the design process is and what it is not. “This isn’t right, but I’ll know
A Word About Word of Mouth
I’ve asked businesses how they get their clients and they say “We get most of our business word of mouth, so I don’t think a marketing campaign will work for us.” If you don’t do any real marketing, the only
Logos from Both Sides
I recently posted a question on LinkedIn asking what companies paid for their logos. At first I only got responses from other graphic designers…Then I posed the same question to small businesses: Here’s a typical response from a designer:
How Dandruff Shampoo Hurts your Marketing
We all know the slogan “You Never Get a Second Chance to Make a First Impression,” from the Head and Shoulders ad campaigns of the 1980’s. Playing on our fear was a great way to sell shampoo, but that crap
Design Bang for the Buck
I want clients to get the most for their marketing dollar. At the same time, I want to present them in a high-end, professional manner. How to solve this? Many times, the solution is…CHEAP PRINTING. The trick is to design
Bad Logos
On April Fool’s Day, I sent a fake HTML newsletter with my “new logo.” When you click on a link, it takes you to my site to let you in on the joke…Or to let you know that I’m in
Do you need a license to be a Graphic Designer?
This is a question I was recently asked by a high school student who is interested in becoming a graphic designer. It’s been on my mind ever since I read it. I agreed to answer the questionnaire because I remember
8 Mistakes to Avoid when Designing a Website.
The web is an ever-changing landscape for marketing and presenting your company’s message. I’ve seen my share of missteps and learned big mistakes to avoid when designing a website. Here are the big Eight: 1. Not making your site search
Do it yourself directory submissions
A service we offer, and one that is often overlooked, is submitting your website to directories. There’s more to it than just telling Google and Yahoo that you’re there. The good news is that you can do it yourself with
Selling Your Ideas
So you’ve brainstormed, sketched, executed, tweaked and perfected your designs…..now time for the big reveal. The client may hate it, they may love it, they may be on the fence. But what should you do or say before the verdict
Building an HTML Email
One of the first projects I worked on here at Brad Miller Design was an HTML email. I had never actually created one so I was starting from scratch. With a little research I ended up with an HTML document
What are your potential customers searching for…online?
It’s easy to set up website analytics, track traffic that comes to your site, and find out what keywords are driving visitors to your website. It’s nice to know who is finding your site, but who is not finding your
Who Owns your Website?
I generally try to leave the hosting of websites to the clients. I don’t want them to feel like they’re held hostage and I can shut them off at any time unless they yield to my demands. Definitely, register your
Why Bill by the Hour and not Per Project?
I’ll quote a job however a client wants, but generally, I bill by the hour. It’s just an honest value that the client can appreciate. If I work less than estimated, I bill less. The other way to go is
The Biggest Tip?
I wanted to post some tips to help clients when working with graphic designers. The biggest tip I can think of to limit the rounds of changes to a design is to not blow the budget. Generally, I estimate the
Graphic Designers Have it Easy
With this downturn in the economy, we as designers are lucky because we can do something about it. We’ve got it easy. Faced with a slowdown in business, most look to cut costs, maybe cut staff, or deal with making
Good Design/Bad Design
Here is a lousy ad: I’m sure Brian paid good money to publish this horrible ad. Make my logo big! Use a larger font! Make the background white so it’s readable! My website has to be big! Make everything big…It’s
I’m blogging
OK, I’ve been telling clients that blogging is a good idea. It helps build traffic to your website. Of course, I’ve never bothered to do it myself. Let’s see how easy this is…So far it’s a piece of cake, but
