Sounds a little scary, and very intriguing, so to get everyone pumped for this first-time KC event, here’s a video from the website to explain a little more about how it all works.

I have yet to learn all the rules myself, but basically a few designers get on stage in front of the booze-crazed crowd, and they’re given an assignment to be completed in a short amount of time on the provided computers, all while being watched and projected onto the screens behind them. It sounds like there may be a ‘People’s Choice Award’ for this event, which would be a real honor to receive.

When, Where, How Much?

KC Design Week will be at the end of February, and the Cut & Paste event in particular will take place on February 29th, 6-9pm. It will happen at the Vox Theater, 1405 Southwest Blvd, Kansas City, KS 66103. Tickets at the door will be $15, but you can purchase advance tickets now for only $9: BUY NOW! See you there!

View the whole email (complete with shimmer action) here

Here at Adcuda we’ve implemented the animated GIF throughout a few of our email campaigns, and while we can’t see any staggering statistics either way, as a user who’s received countless store emails, seeing some ‘pizazz’ in the design makes me pay more attention and keep it open long enough to read the entire message (and that could mean a world of difference for your click-throughs).

If you’re new to the animated GIF, you can check out one of my older posts about them, or you can check out this handy tutorial:

www.creativetechs.com

** Outlook users will only see the first frame of the animation, so be sure that can stand alone.

First on my cool-list, this is a website that uses photography as their background, which almost always looks rad. Keep in mind though, if you want to attempt this you need to size your images down so they won’t slow your load-time, and make sure it doesn’t distract.

www.sheltonfleming.co.uk

Secondly, here is some inspiration to think outside the box..or rather the square in this case. Although using obscure shapes in your printing can jack-up the price, it’s certainly worth every penny. You’ll always get an awesome product, and people will want to keep it around, even if it’s your business card or a coaster. And isn’t that the point?

Thirdly (..sure, it’s a word), here’s some fun typography mixed with some illustration. Not only is it funny, but the craftsmanship on the lettering is perfect. It looks like it’s being sucked into the fish’s mouth, and the fish appears to be moving really fast, all captured in a still image. Plus, the colors are nice!

Now quite surfing the web and create some stuff yourself! Feel free to share your works-in-progress for some feedback, or just to brag.

Either way, we’d love to see it! And now, a iconographic depiction of Bill Murray’s movies:

As much as I love Trader Joes the store, I hate hate hate Trader Joes the newsletter. Why? Well, first off:

Here is the link to the actual email

1) Make it Legible
I’m fairly new to the store (they just opened up in KC a few months ago), but every newsletter I’ve received so far has been a headache to read. As I’ve said before, I love the store, so I want to hear what they have to say. I expect that their newsletter will have tid-bits about how to use their products in new recipes, products on mark-down, etc. But when I open their email, it’s just teeny-tiny ‘print’ with crap covering half of it. That’s all fine and dandy if it’s just a background or supporting graphic, but this is their main event!

I’m not asking for live-text (as far as email marketing goes, we’ve been using image-only emails for quite some time with little backlash), but I am asking that you put yourself in the user’s shoes. “Hey, I want to read that Turkey Roasting Chart! What’s that say? 3 hours Unsalted? Oh, Unstuffed!” In the words of Steve Krug, don’t make me think. If you can’t read it in a split-second, neither can your customers.

2) Make it Clickable
Since I can’t read that Turkey Roasting Chart, I try and click on it to see if they have more information on their site about it. But it doesn’t click..nothing clicks!! What am I supposed to do with this?! The first link is over 650 pixels down, but my inbox is only 460 pixels tall. For most customers, that’s a deal-breaker. Make every single image clickable. You’re always trying to send people back to your site. No landing page? Make one. No excuses!

3) Size Matters
The rule of thumb with email marketing design is 600px by 400px. If you don’t have your main message and at least one click-through within that box, you’ve pretty much failed. Sorry, buddy. 600px wide covers most email provider’s windows, so use as much of that space as you can. Unfortunately, this Trader Joes email was only 580px wide, and 80px of that was just plain ole’ white padding on the left and right. They’ve lost out on 100px to make that image larger and more legible.

So now that I’ve ripped apart poor Joe, I offer up this quick summary. Care about the user-experience, because if they don’t care about you, then what have you got?

You (or whomever handles your professional web design) need to consider your brand and your customers’ interests. You don’t want to distract from the main content on a page; instead you want to subtly reinforce your brand through appropriate textures and colors. That means your brand-spanking-newly-designed website needs a good background.

You can go two routes: you can design the background yourself using Photoshop or Illustrator, or you can download a free repeating background.

HOW TO: Design Your Own Repeating Background

First: I like to make my backgrounds in Illustrator, because you can have more precision, but it depends on the look you want to obtain. For this professional web design tutorial, I created a 20×20 pixel square and gave it a light gray background. Then, I drew a white circle with a light gray border, so from far away it looks like it has some depth. Copy and paste this multiple times to make a grid.

When working on such a small scale, ‘Snap to Grid’ unfortunately won’t be much help (the grid is much larger than the 20×20 square you’re working in), but if you have ‘Smart Guides’ on, you’ll be able to align the circles to each other.

Second: Make sure the circles are equidistant from all boundaries of the box, because if the left side has more space than the right, when the pattern repeats, it’ll have an awkward gap. Now ‘Save for Web’ as a JPG or PNG.

Third: To see how your pattern looks as a repeat, open up Dreamweaver and write this simple code in the < body > tag:

Save the file, then preview in a browser for the full effect!

Congratulations! You’ve just created your very own (and unique!) repeating background. If you don’t have access to Illustrator or Photoshop, or would just rather download a free pattern, there are a plethora of sites to choose from. One in particular that I really love is www.subtlepatterns.com: there aren’t many colors to choose from, but the textures and patterns look great and will certainly give you that professional web design you’re looking for.

Zurb has created an online ‘screen-capture and share’ application called Notable, which allows you to pick and choose elements from websites that you admire. You no longer have to copy and paste a URL, email it to yourself or a colleague, then try and write notes explaining where to find the parts you liked or what you want to take away from it. Something is bound to get lost in translation. Now, Notable takes out the guess-work: you simply paste the URL into Notable’s site (or use their handy-dandy Bookmarklet), and then it creates a screen-capture. You can then draw boxes around the parts you like and mark it up with your own notes. If there’s something you really don’t like, you can just crop it out.

Anyone can use the free tool — whether you’re a web designer yourself or wanting to share something cool with your friends. You’re allowed to keep up to 10 captures at a time, or if you want to bust out the big guns you can pay $19/mo for unlimited captures and added features.

I may sound like a Notable spokesperson, but this is really an awesome tool. Our team of web designers here at Adcuda has already filled our free account to the brim. We will certainly be back for more, and we look forward to seeing you on there! Happy Noting!

This beauty came from the website undrcrwn.com, and look! It doesn’t have a flag! Or even the colors red or blue! Immediately, this is the best Memorial Day sale design I’ve seen because it is missing those elements. Every website this week has had red, white, and blue waving in your face so your bound to glaze over – but bright pink sure captures your attention. A nice ‘outside-of-the-box’ moment.

Another ‘different’ design comes from Bloomingdales, which decided to not go the ‘Hey, tell everyone that owns a calendar that it’s Memorial Day Weekend!’ route. No where on the ad does it mention those two words, and it doesn’t involve those patriotic colors. It catches your eye and still says ‘Sale’.

And so you don’t all think I’m not patriotic, here is a nice ad from Foot Locker that brings those elements I just bashed and wrap them up in a nice design. It definitely screams Memorial Day at you, but with muted colors and a fun typeface it comes across as playful, just like this weekend should be.

That being said, Adcuda will be taking a highly appreciated break this Monday to celebrate Memorial Day. We’ll be back at it on Tuesday, May 31 – see you then!

A fairly new website has sprouted that has taken all of this into account, and fixed it Pinterest is an invitation-based forum of sorts (you can request an invitation and get on the waiting list) where you can curate your own board of cool awesome beautiful stuff and see other people’s boards. Even if you’re still waiting on an invite, you can peruse the boards that people have put together and browse by theme.

Pinterest takes the extra step out of having to bookmark a website that you would like to go back to eventually (and never do) by providing you a toolbar that you use to ‘pin’ something you like, and then it feeds back to your board. Easy and simple, and your inspiration board grows and grows. You can add a caption so both you and the others looking through will know where you found it, or what it reminds you of, or whatever you’d like to say about it.

While you wait on your invitation:

Simple
Simple logos are perfect for any brand, because they’ll work on all surfaces and get the brand across quickly.

Traditional
Using a serif font, like the Victoria and Albert Museum logo below, is a sure-fire way to look traditional. They’ve modernized it by incorporating the ampersand with the A, yet it still holds as vintage. Seals or plaques are also a great way to appear traditional.

Modern
Using the high gloss look of the web is an easy way to make your logo appear new and fresh, but be cautious of overdoing it. Rounded corners and fake glare can look forced when not done correctly. Simple and elegant lines are another way to appear modern while staying simple.

Some Quick Suggestions
A logo doesn’t necessarily need to have an image to accompany the brand name. If you’re pinched for time and cash, try searching for a beautiful typeface that will look great big or little (and logos always look great little). Veer.com is a great place to look for typefaces at any price.

If you’re looking for some more inspiration, I suggest this other blog post. Your logo should always speak to exactly what your company does, and these are all perfect examples.

Thank you to www.logodesignlove.com for most of these wonderful images.

This layout is actually from a template that I found while searching for some inspiration. It has a ‘Mac’ quality to it, so anything that’s not white will certainly stick out. The grey bar just below the rotating images pauses the flow of your eye, so you’re forced to read the text and the button. Chances are you’ll want to ‘Get Started’.

There’s a lot going on with this website, but they do a really good job with a simple conversion bar (“Small Projects, Big Impact”). As long as you juxtapose simple with busy, or bright with dull, etc etc, you’ll be able to catch your customer’s eye and push them through the site.

What Not To Do:

Usually Apple can do no wrong in the design department, so I’m surprising myself by saying this is not what you should do. Apple is so entangled in their own brand and ‘sleek’ look that they don’t have much of a hierarchy below the main message. The boxes all have the same look, and the photography and text are the same, too. If they had just one box with a background color, it would pop like crazy.