01 Feb Watch the exclusive Financial Mail interview with BWD CEO
Posted at 10:02h
in Advertising
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xp32vg6RPw&feature=youtu.be
01 Feb 10 Amazing Website Redesign Concepts
Posted at 07:57h
in Website Design
Whether you are looking around for ideas, improving your skills, or updating your portfolio – website concepts are always a great idea to improve where someone has left off.
According to Dr. Brent Coker from the University of Melbourne’s Faculty of Business and Economics, humans are “psychologically hardwired” to trust beauty.
We are going to take a look at some South African and International Sites (Dribbble) to give you an idea on how to improve your concepts especially in websites.
Here are the concepts we’ll be looking into:
The Blue Train
The Blue train concept has a lot of elements to it. The brand is brought forward in a visually interesting and image-based perspective.
Starting with the header, the background behind the logo has a gradient effect using white and blue. The white section brings attention to the logo so that it can be seen easily and stand out.
The menu itself is nicely spaced and suitably sized, which makes it easy to read and navigate. The drop down menu has been enhanced with an image to draw more attention to it.
The next step would be the slider. The gradient effect has been used to follow on with the same look as the logo. The effect has been placed behind the text, by the means of being dark blue on the right side of the slider and than becoming transparent towards the left of the slider. This creates a nice visual effect on the simple slider.
The rounded edged information panels below the slider are overlapping the slider. This creates a connection between the two elements, allowing it to flow smoothly. If you use the words ‘visual gimmick’ you need to explain it first so others understand what it means.
The paragraph below is well spaced with a line separating the heading from the body of text. A pop of colour has been used to continue with theme colours of the website.
The end result giving us a clean, easy to read and navigate site showing us exactly where all our information is and belongs.
Halo Water
The Redesign of halo had the intention of bring attention to the bottles, they used visual gimmicks such as the use of overlapping the bottle over the shape, to allow for the modern stylish look to be displayed through the design.
The bottle colours have been used in the background shapes to help pull through the company colours by using them as dynamic shapes in the background, the shapes have also been used as dividers on the page to give balance. The images of the bottles have been layered on top to give the illusion of the bottles coming out of the page. The viewer follows the diagonal lines which makes them continue to scroll down.
All the text has been centre aligned to continue with the look and feel of the logo so that it can carry across the feel of being at the centre of the halo throughout the site.
Like the idea of the halo in the logo being a line this has been implemented throughout the page as well by the use of line. For instance the circles on the tablet screen and the rectangle buttons on the laptop’s screen, which helps bring out the line work.
The end result being a fresher feel to it’s brand. The smooth texture of the bottle is replicated in the smooth, easy to follow design of the website.
Obscure Technologies
The Obscure site is a wonderful site where they have brought the idea of space and technology together. This is a common and regular relationship associated with space and technology.
Their slider is an interactive control center which they use to navigate their site, creating that an interstellar look and feel as if you are in a ship traveling through space.
The mirror this effect throughout the site creating a space technology exploration the viewer will go on where everything seems to be a virtual window creating a great visual journey through the site.
The use of blue and the visual gimmick of being in a spaceship traveling through space was done well in this modern approach to the website, the use of lines and separating between dark and light helps bring across the technology side of the brand as well as the use of imagery.
The use of a mascot helps us navigate the page as if the robot was a mini guide that helps us through the journey of the page and lastly the use of the watermarks in the background help to tie everything together. Giving the site a overall modern and futuristic feel which is brought forward by the elements and pictures used to bring the site to life.
Ebay
The ebay concept design has been made in a slick open design, where negative space has been used to bring the design together in a fresh easy to read manner.
The main product has been oversized to grab one’s attention on what they are viewing also allowing for the other views below it, which are in a carousel view where the image you Hover on overlaps the previous and next picture.
The colours in the site have been taken from the logo to help represent the brand throughout the page, the main colours used are of the yellow a and green y which is the end of the logo which helps stretch out the idea of the logo throughout the page. Also the use of grey and white have been established as separators for the page allowing easier navigation.
The product information has been placed next to the main image allowing for correct spacing and giving each and every part of the page enough breathing space, which makes sure that nothing competes, allowing a easy view of the product and its information.
The related products that people viewed from the main product are shown below it in a image based carousel where the price and product is show in a clean manner.
The overall feel is easy to read, clean and has a nice modern design to it where the product and what it relates to are shown in a modern stylistic manner.
GTI
The GTI RS concept has one thing in mind and that is to play on the theme speed, and that is exactly what they have achieved with this look and feel of the car.
What they have done here is used sharp imagery and overlapping to achieve their desired effect, the blurred background image helps bring out the effect that the vehicle is moving at a very high speed as well as the ability to not see the cars rims.
The use of lines in the background as well as the buttons helps bring out the idea of the slick car and traveling on a track mimicking almost a race track.
The car itself overlaps from its background into the white and grey one to give the effect of it coming out of the page, to give us the impression that it is moving out of it’s own reality.
The use of subtle text helps bring emphasis on the vehicle itself, which would be the main focus of the site.
The triangle effect helps bring a sharp dynamic to the looks and feel where it brings in a fresh and modern feel which helps bring the car into perspective.
Overall creating a slick way to present the GTI to public by showing that it is a stylish, modern way to travel.
Vans
The VANS concept has been made to represent their culture of outdoor sports (skateboarding) where the first thing you see is a man doing a trick on the one side of the screen while on the other the ad caption for the shoes themselves to help establish what is going on.
The slider has made use of a 3D like effect with the title going behind the skater but with him stim behind the heading text give a impression movement within the site.
The use of the brands red colour is very dominant and where it is placed it overlaps onto the artwork or consumes it’s space to show it’s dominance, which helps push the brand froward in the design.
The use of dark and light colours to separate the elements from each other to help navigate through the page as well as using them as grounding points for the site.
The shoes themselves further down the page have made use of the negative space around them effectively so that they stand out well and are not competing with their surrounding elements.
The style is simple and uses a modern pull to it where the elements overlap each other but do not bring down their design in the process helping for a good relation between the elements so that the brand can be brought forward in a none competing design but instead of a design of elegance.
Pandora
This music site concept gives you exactly what you need from a music site, you have your music player at the top and what your playing and have played right below it, with the accompanying tool bar on the left where you will find everything else you need to navigate the site.
The site uses light and dark colours well to bring forward the relevant information as well as to show separation between the elements on the site allowing for a quick and easy read. The site itself has been laid out in a simple 1 column set up so that one can have all the needed information of the artist in one easy view. The use of grey and white has used a separators for the information of the tracks.
A dark overlay at the bottom of each track picture to help bring forward the tracks name and artist, which is than accompanied by the track information on the right.
The use of rectangles throughout the site is established well and helps bring forward the brands look and feel with a easy to navigate platform.
Overall the site does not compete with itself allowing a easy flow through the site making it nice and easy for whoever is using it.
Rolling Stones
The RollingStones concept has been made with a simple yet effective tone to it’s design, whereby they used a man image banner, which incorporates a newspaper styled text format, that goes over the picture of the man but does not go over him in a way that will take away his effect on the design.
The use of line in the form of simple separators as well as rectangular objects, have been used to show separation between headings and titles in the page to help one navigate between the main points. The imagery has been used to help the viewer have something else look at besides text, so that there will not be a lot of strain on their eyes.
To break away from the image they have gone with an eclipse approach to help bring out a small extract from the artist before going into a column styled hard copy, where the main information is placed in a magazine style so that the information comes across the way the brand establishes itself in the world.
The page uses the white space to it’s advantage showing the reader an escape from the other elements on the page, allowing us to connect with all the elements safely and easily, giving the overall effect one of relaxation and calm.
Overall the page takes a magazine like feel, which makes use of it’s negative space and imagery to bring the page to life.
Virgin Active Makeover
This concept takes on a large image where we see a girl running and the caption sweet sesh.
She also has her shadows which seem to be her previous times chasing her so to add to what going to gym means, which is improving on your old self.
The style of her meshing with the caption creates a nice overlapping effect allowing the image to come together with the words creating a relationship between the image and the text.
The logo bleeding into the image shows us that the site connects together well and creates a nice relationship between on the images allowing the picture to bring up what the brand stand for which is to sweet out the old you.
The site uses imagery as well as light and dark colours to separate it’s elements allowing a easy navigation throughout the site. The use of red is very prominent so that the company colours can stand out well, allowing for an impression of the brand throughout the site.
The site is a very slick and modern feel to it, where everything is a easy view and easy to navigate through allowing customers to get where they need to be without any difficulty.
Thule
This brings us to our last but not least site; they have used images to represent themselves in this concept playing around with the box effect to bring forward their style, from the header to the products page everything has been laid out in a neat square and rectangular fashion.
The main slider has been made in a simple yet effective manner by basically allowing the artwork to tell the story and than just helping the viewer along with a small caption followed by a way to navigate to the products page.
Using center alignment for the heading, they also use light and dark colouring to separate the elements from each other allowing for a nice comfortable read through the site.
The use of checkered effect to help allow us to have a nice view of the products and as well giving us a easy navigating view. The use of light and dark colours to bring separation throughout the page.
The elements make use of the space correctly so that they do not compete with one another and take away from the design.
The site has a simple yet effective finish, where they make use of rectangular shapes as well as light and dark colours to bring the site together, helping us navigate easily and freely through the world of Thule.
These are just some of the concepts out there today, there are many for us to go through and have a starting point or just to get some inspiration from the world today.
31 Jan 13 Common Website Mistakes.
Posted at 12:00h
in Website Design
It has become common knowledge that it is necessary for businesses, even the small ones, to have a website. The online presence the business will almost immediately open up their market. Reaching people who may not have initially wanted your services but learn that they may actually need them. What is not considered when a business decides to invest in a website is the overall functionality of the website and the user experience. These are just two highly potential business killers. Consider how you experience various websites using the points to come. This will definitely lead you in the correct direction. We are all ultimately consumers.
The Non-Negotiable:
1. Under-Planning Your Website
A website is like a restaurant. One would not open a restaurant without extensive planning; this applies to the design and development of a website.
The planning begins with content, particularly high quality content that has researched and refined prior to any designing. Content marketing is the starting point to greatness
2. You Need a Clear Call to Action
Gathering leads or subscribers is not even close to leaving an impression. Now, it’s time to entice them and pull them into your website. This can be achieved with the use of clear Calls to Action. One can use colour, shapes or images to get the users’ attention and ultimately getting them to click that button.
3. Being Tempted by Keyword Over-Optimization
Keyword are just a small part of increasing your Google ranking. Overloading your site with keywords can be detrimental to your business. Google is so incredibly effective when it comes to isolating websites that abuse keywords. If you happen to be doing such, dial it back. A lot. Google will end up removing your website for the Google Search Results.
4. Including Unnatural Links
We all know using links on a website can be highly beneficial when it comes to your Google ranking. However, this only applies to inbound links that come about naturally, such as guest blogging. I seriously advice that you make use of them because Google will know where the links come from and it is not found of unnatural links. These are the links people purchase with the hopes of increasing their Google ranking. Google will remove your website from its search results if it is aware of all the unnatural links with which you have populated your site.
5. Learn About Google Analytics
Get serious and make Google Analytics your best friend. It is going to supply you with the information that could make or break your website. One route to failure is publishing low quality content. If you don’t know how your audience is receiving your content, how can you possibly improve on it? This is just one piece of information Google Analytics can provide you with and there is still so much more. Find out how many clicks your pages are receiving, the type of audience that’s viewing your pages and even how much time a user spends on various pages. The cherry on top… It’s FREE!
6. Starting a Website Without SEO
Let us consider SEO as the foundation of your website, it is definitely not the roof. Consult an SEO expert before uploading your content to make sure you maximise on the site’s capability to be discoverable online.
The Basics:
1. Using Headlines That Directly Talk About Your Product or Service
You need to lure your users into your content. It is useless to just give the headlines a generic name or the name of the brand/product. The user is on your site hoping to find a solution to their problems. How you present the product to the user matters. The title should appear to be the solution.
2. Exclusively Focusing on Your Products or Services
It’s understood that the website will be used to share your products and services and the relevant prices. This basic outlook will ensure that you fade into the background. If you intend on standing out, you need to look into how to differentiate yourself. Make your site unique. Just one way of doing this is by focusing on your branding. Inject your personality into the website. Personalisation makes the user experience far more enjoyable, IF executed well.
3. Write for All 100% of Your Website Traffic
If you would like to turn your website visitors into conversions, then pay attention to your target market. Writing for everyone will not work in your favour. The content may come out unfocused and unpleasant to read. Focusing on your niche target, will help you make more conversions.
4. Being Anti-Social When It Comes to Social Media
Bring your website to the party, how else will users be exposed to it. Social media is very helpful when it comes to pulling users into your website. These users probably wouldn’t have found you through the convention searches. Social media is an aid, use it.
The Experience:
1. Falling Victim to the Poor Navigation Trap
You will lose a potential customer if you don’t take note of the navigation of your website. Your sitemap should be accessible, preferably at all times. The Bounce rate will hurt if your users get lost.
2. Overlooking the Importance of Your Site’s Blog
This is the easiest place to embed your personality as well as the company’s brand. Ensure that the content is written well and the content is engaging, informative or even entertaining. Schedule these updates regularly. If possible, have your blogs researched, written and prepared for the next few updates.
If the idea of blogging rattles you, then make use of a copywriter. They should be able to write engaging and meaningful content while hopefully making use of SEO when writing the content.
3. The Users Value: Need for Speed
Anything that’s not necessary on your site, remove it. One of the worst things you can do to your site is to overload it with high resolution graphics or animated images – particularly long videos. If that animation is there because it looks “cool”, remove it. A slow loading website can be detrimental to the ROI of the website. There’s no reason to hinder yourself so just optimise so that your users enjoy engaging with your website.
So there you go! Stay clear of these mistakes and you will definitely be on the right track regarding the success of your website. For those who already have sites which happen to be struggling, take these points and implement them. Positive results are pending.
30 Jan 5 Tools to Help Make You An Efficient Growth Hacker
Posted at 15:03h
in Digital Marketing
Tools are meant to simplify your processes. Growth hacking involves a lot of analysis and key points which play into the bigger picture which is your ranking. For quality results, you need to have a smart way of doing things. Below are some of the most effective tools which can help make your life as a marketer easier and improve the quality of your reporting.
30 Jan 2018: The year for Making 6-Second Video Ads
The High Diver: 6-second video ad of a person diving into a pool. Changes to the scenery happen as the person dives.
Through the years video ads have become shorter starting with standard 60-seconds and moving to 30-second videos in the 1970’s. Since the mid 1980’s video ads were predominantly 15-seconds long.
In recent years video has become more prominent and as a result is an effective tool in digital marketing. Due to the increase of competition, brands have chosen to create shorter videos to grab their audience’s attention. Six-second videos or less is an up and coming trend that brands can’t get enough of. YouTube has named this snackable content ‘bumper ads’.
Considering that the general attention span of audiences in 2018 is around six seconds, this snackable content is evolving with 21st century consumers. This is particularly true for the younger demographic. This content is small enough to engage with during multiple times of the day and across multiple channels.
We are living in an increasingly mobile world. Many people do everything on their phones, from social media, emails, and most recently video streaming. With the shift in the digital landscape, ads have more flexibility on social media platforms offering shorter videos which entices brands to become more interested in six-second videos.
This recent change in the length of video advertising has been recognised by technology and social media platforms including Facebook, YouTube and Google. Facebook intends to use plenty of video advertising on their platform, with a greater focus on short form ads.
Here is why you should take the move and make short six-second ads.
Short Format Captures Younger Audiences
Brands have the responsibility of crafting their videos, creating an impact as well as making it memorable for the young viewers. Brands must also be aware that ads are being viewed across multiple platforms, on different devices and apps.
Samsung Galaxy India S8 and S8 Plus: A club scene with the samsung recording with the feature of infinite display.
The Samsung Galaxy S8 India video ad is a great bite-sized piece of content that creates brand awareness specifically towards the younger audience. The ad has stunning visuals of a club scene combined with the Samsung phone, showing off the latest specs and seamless screen (infinity display).
Businesses can still create long form ads to play on traditional media channels and tie them in with short form digital content to help reach the younger audience.
Short Format Can Be Used On Multiple Platforms
When a longer ad has been created it becomes easier to create a six second format video from that material. The longer video can be segmented or used in different channels such as Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter or Facebook.
Mom’s Touch Chicken 15s Video Ad: Sheep tastes the food and react to the heat.
Mom’s Touch Chicken 6s Video Ad: Sheep tastes the food and react to the heat.
Mom’s Touch created two video ads: 15-seconds and 6-seconds. Their humorous video ad could easily be adapted to fit into 6-seconds, only keeping the most important part.
Even if you have invested in long form ads, start thinking about the crux of the message and think about how you could create multiple short videos. It’s a good way to boost your video ad presence on different platforms such as Instagram.
Short Format Can Tell A Longer Brand Story
Okay this might not seem possible but because you have carefully narrowed down the video to 6 seconds your brand will benefit. Repurposing a longer ad into very short video ads is needed in today’s as consumers have less tolerance towards interruptive ads.
This doesn’t mean that you have to produce many 6 second story arcs to meet the ever changing digital demands. Instead of watching a 2 min video, consumers will now be able to watch multiple short videos throughout the day, keeping them engaged. This way over time these short video ads will combine to tell a larger story.
KFC Malaysia Chizza Duo Combo: Movie type introduction to new items on their menu.
KFC Malaysia recently created this six-second ad to promote their new menu items. KFC Chizza Duo Combo ad is inspired by movie trailers with the high impact titles and fast transitions of the images of food. This is just one example of how brands can create suspense by creating a series of short video ads to tease their audience and entice them, making them want to watch the next ad.It builds up anticipation of the new product and a series of videos creates the telling of a larger story.
Are 6 second ads right for your company?
A test was formulated where different length ads were made from the same material, namely 6 second, 30 second and 45 second.The test revealed that the six-second ads performed the best, leading to better consumer recall and brand recognition. Short form videos are ideal to test out certain variables for a clients products. It allows the brand to see what customers like and dislike about their products, branding or messaging.
There is an assumption that the video length affects the quality of the video. However the industry is not used to shorter videos as the creative thinking approach is different. Brands that tell unique stories with this short form will benefit as creativity, multiple channels and purpose are all necessary regardless of the length of the video.
If you think your brand and it’s story may be too long and complex for short video, you should still take into account this format. Think about the story you want to tell, start to break it down to the key components into smaller pieces to create snackable content for today’s digital consumer.
Have a look at our video process. Have a look at video animation pricing. Get a quote from us for an explainer video. Here is our video and animation work and processes.
Why not add the explainer video onto your website landing page? It is a good way of increasing your conversion rate plus a video captures the viewer’s attention for longer periods of time and decreases the bounce rate of your site. For more information go here.
If you would like to view our other creative processes and see how we work go here.
If you are in need of any Video Marketing needs, feel free to contact BWD Advertising and Breeze Website Designers.
Here are some more examples of 6-second video ads:
Corona Extra Ad: Jumping and living care-free.
Duracell: Durability of the battery and No 1 trusted brand.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZbtH2rEQ6M
Coolish: Dance about a refreshing cool ice drink.
24 Jan Speculative Work and How It Affects the Design Industry
Imagine this scenario.
“I took my car for a service quotation yesterday. After the mechanic inspected my car, he advised that I bring my car in as soon as possible to prevent further damage to the engine. I told the mechanic to go ahead, and if the servicing on the car was satisfactory I’d be more than happy to pay. He said he wouldn’t be able to do that because he normally provides a service when a fee is agreed and paid for in advance. I said I’d let him know after I checked in with other local mechanics.”
Improbable, isn’t it? When you visit a mechanic you expect to pay for a professional service. Yet every day, professional designers are asked to provide free services in the impractical hope of being paid.
What is ‘speculative work’ or ‘spec work’?
According to the Professional Association For Design AIGA (2017), speculative work is design work that is done prior to engagement with a client in the anticipation of the designer to get paid, but payment becomes incoherent, this type of arrangement occurs among clients and designers. Yet not all unpaid design work is considered “spec work.” Spec work is considered as free pitching and is considered unethical among leading graphic design associations. AIGA acknowledges that unpaid work may take five forms of practice:
- Speculative or “spec” work: work done for free, in hopes of getting paid for it
- Competitions: work is done in the hopes of winning a prize—in whatever form that might take
- Volunteer work: work done as a favour or for the experience, without the expectation of being paid
- Internships: a form of volunteer work that involves educational gain
- Pro bono work: volunteer work done “for the public good”
Not all of the above are considered speculative work, and in fact, many designers choose to do unpaid work for a variety of reasons. Students and professionals may draw different lines on what constitute unacceptable practices. In each case, however, the designer and client make the decision and must accept the associated risks.
For an example, I spoke to a South African graphic designer who was willing to share her experience. Telita Esterhuizen wrote:
Working in the design industry can be really tough. Everybody’s second cousin is a “designer” nowadays and people that went through years of formal education cannot keep up with the pricing of these pop-up so-called designers. I was sceptical of catching the attention of “big” client, asking myself What would I do if I waste time preparing a proposal and never get contact again? A few years back, I did a proposal for a “big” client (who shall not be named). I spent a lot of time and effort on the proposal, just for it to be ignored and received no response regarding the graphics I had worked on. I wrote it off as hours wasted but almost a year later the client contacted me and within a week deposits were paid and the work was rolling in. The point of emphasis was that no work is ever truly a waste of time. I made an impression. I don’t know why they didn’t contact me back soon after the proposal (perhaps it was due to the pricing) but I do know that I left a good impression in their minds and they contacted me as soon as they could with a new project. The most important thing to remember is to never give up and do not overprice your rates to ridiculous amounts in order to make ends meet. The “big” clients will come and find quality in your work.
From Telita’s experience, I gather that as a young designer in her time, she had reason to undervalue her pricing practice; this type of thinking could cost the young designer his/her actual rate of return. When clients or companies notice the affordable rates provided by young designers they want to exploit them to do their work for minimal payment of either monetary compensation or their favourite designer currency, which is exposure. Telita not once questioned her client for the inconvenience caused due to the late response, the effort calculated as hours wasted were considerably regarded as a loss to the designer; and for the mere fact that Telita had thought her quotation was over-priced for her client to respond back. Instead, she had to conform to the client’s needs without active response or resistance as soon as the client decided to render her services, and with optimism, she still had the patience to produce new artworks.
Con Kennedy states that a more effective and ethical approach to commission work is for the client to request a panel of suitable designers to submit examples of work from previous assignments accompanied with a statement of how they would approach the assignment in question. This way the client can assess the quality of the designers’ previous work and their way of thinking without the designers having to supplement the costs and overheads of producing speculative work. The selected designers can then begin to work on the assignment by producing an original solution to the client’s brief, while under contract and without having to work on speculation up front. Ultimately it is up to the designer — to end this practice and to educate and inform clients about the best way to commission design. There will always be designers willing to produce speculative work and designers who fear that they will not win business if they do not participate in these competitions, but it is a risky path for both the designer and client.
What are the risks of spec work?
Designers and clients should consider all of the potential risks before entering into speculative work. AIGA (2017) states that clients risk compromised quality. The little time, energy and thought can go into speculative work, which forestalls the most important element of most design projects such as the research, thoughtful consideration of alternatives, development and testing of prototype designs.
On the receiving end, designers risk being taken advantage of. Some clients may see this as a way to get free work; it also diminishes the true economic value of the contribution designers makes toward client’s objectives. There are legal risks for both parties should aspects of intellectual property; trademark and trade-dress infringements become a factor.
Is spec work an aspect of the intellectual property and how is it included in the copyright of the South African law?
According to Legal Risk Advisor, Samantha Baleson of Aon South Africa, the copyright law in South Africa is governed by the Copyright Act, 98 of 1978. “The Act provides protection against the unauthorised copying or reproduction of certain ‘works’. Infringements of Intellectual Property (IP) or copyright are also dealt with in the Act and the main remedies which can be sought to obtain relief are an interdict and an award for damages,” says Samantha. Speculative work in this instance is regarded as the ‘works’ of the considered intellectual property.
“Copyright generally vests in the author of work except where the work is made by the author in the course of his/her employment, in which case the employer is usually the owner in terms of the contract of employment. For this reason, copyright vests in the professional practice or firm and not in the actual employee who created the document or drawing,” Samantha explains.
In the terms of client and agency or designer aspect, Samantha states that a client may use the copyright or intellectual property for the sole purpose of a project for which they have remunerated the service provider that created same. Ownership of the IP, however, still vests in the service provider, unless the agreement with the client stipulates otherwise.
Although a client may be entitled to the use of copyright on the project for which they remunerate the professional, certain clients may attempt to use such principles and designs improperly to their own advantage while they undertake the work themselves and/or re-invite tenders based on these ideas of the professional. The risk of the problem becomes twofold:
- The professional is at risk of being sued in terms of his/her designs for projects he /she wasn’t even aware of;
- The professional is not remunerated for the use of his/her intellectual property.
Can Speculative Work Influence the Economy Through Professional Collaboration?
It is important for both parties to be aware of the risks involved in paid and unpaid speculative work. Some clients may argue that all work is speculative work and the ideas that belong to the professional are just that, ideas until the professional has to prove his or her work practices for remuneration. Undoubtedly, spec work may govern innovation but the true factor is a respected collaboration between the client and the professional to maintain high industry standards with minimal flaws of which uplift the South African economy.
In conclusion, there must be a collaboration between the client and the designer, for design to be an effective business asset. For some clients, speculative creative work often works against a marketing plan, unless there is a proper assessment of the objectives. Clients will benefit from a professional designer’s approach, which can help meet client marketing goals more successfully and more economically.
A BWD certified member can make a client stand out, motivate potential customers, cultivate brand recognition, and influence public perception of companies, services or products. Experienced graphic or communication designers understand how to extend clients’ reach into the marketplace and help clients achieve their full market potential.
A professional graphic or communication designer is a business connoisseur, seeing projects from the planning, concept development and budgeting stages, through to production, quality control and the finished product. A BWD certified designer exposes you to expertise in communication strategies, effective problem solving, and showcase highly specialized design skills. A designer will help articulate business objectives and crystallize ideas, and reward clients with thoughtful visual communications that make their messages clear.
Graphic or communication design should display a company image that represents a high-quality business profile because a quality design is an effective design. As Anthony Dunne and Fiona Raby have once said, “We believe that by speculating more, at all levels of society, and exploring alternative scenarios, reality will become more malleable and, although the future cannot be predicted, we can help set in place today factors that will increase the probability of more desirable futures happening.”
Zulu Alpha Kilo – Say No To Spec
22 Jan How Content Can Help Improve Your Google Ranking
In today’s digital landscape you here a number of marketers talking about content marketing and mentioning the buzzwords “content is king” how does it relate to your service, product, and Google rankings.
22 Jan How to Make Social Media Work for your Business
Posted at 09:44h
in Social Media
The gradual growth in the number of people who sign up for new social media accounts suggests that people are catching on to the benefits of having active social media accounts. There are various reasons to why people may choose to have social media accounts. Below are 6 ways in which you can make social media work for your business.
19 Jan Photographers: Improving your Online Presence with SEO
Posted at 14:20h
in Photography
“It is more important to click with people than to click the shutter.” – Alfred Eisenstaedt.
“Now its time to click with Google.” – Mosa Qhobela
14 Jan How To Run A Successful Website Project
When you see any website you need to appreciate the fact that the is a process behind getting the website up and running effectively. This are just some of the factors that you need to consider to have a successful website projects.