Articles

Archive for the ‘Articles’ Category

From A to Z: Logo Design for Recording Studio

September 21, 2009

Welcome to From A to Z, where I outline all the steps taken in a specific project. In this particular instance, I’ll outline the workflow from initial brainstorming through to delivery for a recording studio logo design.

Recently a friend of mine, Randor, came to me for a logo redesign. He runs an Edmonton-based recording studio called Turnkey Studios (website updating in progress), and their current logo was one he wasn’t fully happy with. Long story short, the previous logo was designed prior to Randor buying out the studio – and now that he was the sole owner, he felt that the logo didn’t properly reflect the new direction of Turnkey. Thus, he needed a redesign and he came back to Paper Leaf (thanks Randor)! We ended up designing him a logo that won Logo of the Day!

Hit the jump to learn how we went about creating this logo. Read the whole article >

5 Cheap Ways to Find Local Design Clients

September 14, 2009

Thanks to this whole “internet” thing, you can have clients all over the world if you’re a designer. Blogs, directories, and software like Skype, iChat and more have completely reshaped long-distance working relationships. However, there is still a lot to be said for local clients.

Depending on your city (or town, or hamlet, or whathaveyou), chances are there are a lot of locally-owned small businesses in dire need of design work. Luckily, you’re a local designer chomping at the bit to provide it to them. But how can you find these clients (without breaking the bank), and how can these clients find you? Read on for the answers to these questions: 5 cheap ways to find local design clients.

Read the whole article >

From A to Z: Creating a Killer Band Photo

September 8, 2009

Welcome to From A to Z, where I outline all the steps taken in a specific project. In this particular instance, I’ll outline a band promo photo project I was commissioned for. Keep reading to see how this shot was conceptualized, shot, and edited – and if you enjoy the article, subscribe to the RSS feed here.

Band promo photography can be tough, especially when the budget is small. It would be great if we all had unlimited budgets and could rent out awesome venues to shoot in, hire makeup & hairstylists all the time, and so forth. Unfortunately, with a lot of bands, there isn’t much coin in the bank. I understand this – I play in a band – so the challenge here is to make a photograph for them that represents them, looks cool, and keeps it in the budget (so they’re happy, and so you the photographer doesn’t end up doing a ton of work for peanuts).

The shot above is of a band called Chasing Jones. They’re a local rock/pop band in Edmonton who approached me for band promos – they wanted something that made them look like every day kinda guys. No rock star posturing. That answers the first step in making a band promo, after the jump. Read the whole article >

6 Characteristics of the Successful Designer

September 5, 2009

New graphic designers often worry about their tangible skills. Am I a master of the pen tool? Am I adept enough at HTML & CSS to offer my services? Can I design a print piece to print specifications? Rightfully so, these are areas that all designers should be concerned about (amongst others). However, being a Creative Suite whiz does not guarantee a successful design career. Much can, and should, be made of efficiency, business sense and more; however, in this article I’d like to focus on specific characteristics that a designer must have (or develop) to truly be successful.

Read on for 6 Characteristics of the Successful Designer!

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For Our Clients: Website Design

September 3, 2009

This is an article in a series called “For Our Clients”. The goal of these articles is to be as transparent as we can with our clients so as to help clarify how we think, what we do and how we do it. We also hope that these articles can become a resource for clients – sort of an FAQ in article form – that will help broaden the understanding of why certain projects have the characteristics they do.

As I talked about in our article The Importance of a Quality Website, having a website is a must for your business. However, having just any website isn’t good enough – I mean, you don’t want your site to end up on the list of The World’s Ugliest Websites, do ya? But, if you’re looking to hire a designer to build your website, you probably have some questions – and you will probably have some more questions later on in the design process. So, with that in mind, I’ve written this article to answer a few common questions clients have – and feel free to use this information for your clients too, fellow designers! I’ve tried to keep this article as jargon-free as I can, so that any and everyone looking into getting a website built will be able to understand it.

Hit the jump for more!

Read the whole article >