Deal from InkyDeals - Colossal Bundle

If you are in the design business, then you should check out InkyDeals. Right now, they have a deal going that has this package available for $49-$79 and is worth $4,355-$10,063. 

InkyDeals wanted to create a huge bundle and with good discounts, this Colossal Bundle deal proves they were serious. With the bundle, you get: 

The New Colossal Bundle

• - 117 Vector Sets worth $1,755
  - 425 Vector Illustrations worth $1,700
  - 40 T-shirt Designs worth $600
  - 18 Texture Packs worth $265
  - Tatianna Font Family worth $35
  DesignTNT Massive Library
  - 233 Vector Sets worth $2,290
  - 101 Web & Print Resources Packs worth $1,070
  - 109 Photoshop & Illustrator Addons worth $1,036
  - 69 High-Resolution Texture Packs worth $729
  - 67 Brushes Sets worth $486
  - 10 Premium Tutorials worth $97
  With the bundle, you get an extended royalty license, which is a big deal since it means you can use the stuff in the bundle for unlimited personal and business reasons; go ahead and use it for sales and merchandise. 
  You get a money back guarantee that features a no questions asked return of your money and you can even keep the bundle. 
  If you like a tasting, then you can download a freebie version. 
  Check out the page for InkyDeals here. 
  **Note, this was not a paid endorsement. Opinions and reviews are from Integraphix. This is a cool product worth checking out. If you have any questions, contact Integraphix. We are a Chicago based graphic design firm that also works in marketing and web design; we work nationally. 

25 Creative, FREE Social Media Icon Sets For Graphic Designers

Have you ever noticed the creative icons that link to social media pages on web pages? Website icons and social media icons are designed to make your viewers intrigued to look more in depth in your webpage. As a marketing company, we always add social media icons to our websites and our client websites. Whether you own a 15 page website or only a blog, utilizing social media icons will definitely help drive traffic to your different web pages. You even have the option to add social media icons to your blog template websites such as blogger.

As a Chicago Web Design Company and a Chicago Graphic Design company, we like to be able to utilize all of our skills in single projects. As a creative agency we are always intrigued by projects that allow our designers in Chicago to let their creativity flow, and creating custom social media icons is definitely one of them. From simple black and white icons to detailed 3 dimentional social media icons, there are many options and styles for creating an appealing icon on your page. If you are creating your own social media icons, approach the project as if it were a logo. Create the icons in illustrator and use them as vector files. This file format will be beneficial to you in the long run if you are looking to use these images in the future. For more information on creating logos and custom icons, visit our logo design blog that features posts specifically on logos.

Some social media web pages you may want to consider when creating social media buttons are: Facebook of course, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, Pinterest and Youtube.

There are also many websites that provide free or commercial social media icons for free. Of course, these icons won’t be custom to your website, but still have a very big impact on the traffic of your webpage. If you are looking for social media icons for your own website design, below are a few sets of our designers in Chicago’s favorites.  Check them out, and let us know your favorite!

3D Vector Social Media Icons

Circular Stamp Social Media Icons

Classic Gray Social Media Icons 

Ice Icons

Social Media Bubbles

Bottle Cap Social Media Icons

Burnt Wood Social Media Set

Blueprint Social Icon Set

Social Media Balloons

Social Media Stars

Social Media Hearts

Dark Social Media Circles

Social Media Icons - Stained

Origami Social Media Icons

Retro Social Media Icon Set

Handycon Social Media Icons

Sleek Social Media Icons

Social Buzz Buttons

Paint Splattered Social Media Icons

Scribble Social Icon Set

Glossy Social Icons

Pagepeel Social Icon Set

Hand Drawn Social Media Icons

Social Media Stamps

Colorful Social Network Icon Set

Choosing a Font

As a Chicago design firm, we cannot stress the importance of choosing the right font enough.  When we are working with a client on creating logos and design pieces, one of the first things we take into account is the font choice. The font chosen for your advertisement or design piece has a huge impact on the way people will view your brand. As a marketing company we rely on techniques to make viewers more interested in your products and services through advertisements and creative pieces.  Believe it or not, but there are tens of thousands of existing fonts with new ones being created on a daily basis.  With so many choices out there, what prompts graphic design companies to choose one font over all the others and why are so many generic fonts overused?  It's a tough call.

Font choice is crucial when creating an advertisement or design piece.  Typography is a great way to set a mood or compliment branding in an advertisement or design piece.  It may not be the first thing you notice, but the font you choose for your pieces can either make or break your design. The content of the material presented in your design and the purpose of the design are main factors when deciding on a specific font.  A corporate look usually falls with more traditional, clean and straight fonts while something less formal can benefit from utilizing stylized fonts.

When choosing a font, there are many aspects of design that we, as graphic designers, think about.  With so many fonts in existence its crazy how overused certain fonts are.  It is very easy to fall into the trap of using default fonts.  The fonts that are standard with software setup are not always the best choice depending on what you’re trying to achieve with your advertisement or design piece.  It is very typical to see people using common, simple fonts such as Arial, Helvetica and Times New Roman.  When working on an advertisement or design piece, use a good portion of your time to look at font to find the perfect fit.  Our Chicago design firm uses multiple font books and agents, but there are also  many different online resources with free downloadable unique fonts. If you are interested in searching for creative, unique fonts check out these sites:

Dafont.com

Fontspace.com

Addictivefonts.com

Now you’ve searched for the perfect font and have finally chosen one.  Awesome!  What’s next?  Consider the size of your font and color choice.  Size and color alone can make or break your choice.  Some fonts look totally different at a small size then they do at a large size, so make sure you check out how your font looks at various sizes. 

Font can truly become a huge focal point of any advertisement or design piece, especially when it is done creatively.  Creating headers of different colors and sizes can draw a large amount of attention to the font on your piece and help intrigue viewers to read your content and learn more.  Make sure with an ad or creative piece that you design that you balance out your images and text.  A successful ad or design will have text and images that compliment each other, not overpower one another.  

Want to know more about choosing font?  Leave us a comment below or contact us.  

Creative Printing Techniques

A great way to bring variety to any marketing collateral or design piece is by switching up the printing technique.  Over the last few months, graphic designers everywhere have been preparing for the holiday season.  As Chicago graphic designers always looking to do something unique, we like to consider a variety of different print techniques. As the holidays approach us, we are getting more and more requests for fun and exciting greeting cards and print materials.  We strive to create new ideas and love to utilize new techniques.  There are many different printing techniques that can bring variety to your designs.  Below are a few of our Chicago Design Firm’s favorite printing techniques:

1- Foil Technique:

With the foiling technique you can create a brilliant, shiny finish to almost any print piece for a reasonable price. The process is simple and affordable and can turn a wide range of CMYK colors into multi-colored foils.  Everyday we are bombarded by marketing collateral and as a marketing company, we create prints that stand out from the crowd.  Foil colors bring shine and sparkle to a design and are very appealing to the eye. 

2- Embossing/Debossing:

Embossing and debossing are both similar techniques but produce the opposite effect.  Embossing produces a raised impression on your print materials, while debossing creates a depressed impression.  We recommend using a technique like embossing for special print materials.  Embossing looks great and stands out, but the process does manipulate the paper stock and printed items are often only one-sided if embossed or debossed.  When embossing or debossing it is very important to remember to keep an adequate amount of space between items on your piece, especially any text. Embossing is very easy and can even be done from home. Embossing can easily be preformed by stamping an image on to a piece of paper, sprinkling store bought embossing powder over the image and applying heat. 

3- Thermography:

Another interesting printing technique we’ve seen graphic designers and printers use is thermography printing. Thermography printing is obtained by heating a powder into the ink.  When the powder is heated it causes the ink to rise above the paper. The effect is often times compared to the appearance of engraving. Thermography printing has become one of our favorite techniques, as it stands out but is still very simple and subtle.

4- Silk Lamination:

Silk lamination is a water-resistant form of printing.  The look is very soft as it provides a silk-like-finish.  Similar to the foil technique, silk lamination is produced like any other CMYK document, but an additional step is needed to create the look and provide a unique texture. The silk lamination technique is great if you want to create a soft look with a durable quality.

Comments or questions on creative printing techniques?  Leave us a comment below or contact us. 

Choosing the Right Graphic Design Firm is Critical

Chicago Graphic Design

Most businesses start out with a business idea with the very best intentions. They have a great idea do a lot of research, they get the necessary funding but when it comes to choosing the right graphic design company they do not do their homework. This can lead to some big problems later on down the road.

We're going to use a real life example to best convey this example. Take a new law firm starting up in the city of Chicago. They chose a location, and got the best design minds working on their offices. But, when it comes to the image that they want to portray to the public, they are quite blaze about this subject and will often let their new logo design and branding be designed by either themselves, or a friend of a friend. This logo and branding will then go on their marketing materials that are seen by clients and prospective clients.

From letterheads, business cards, email footers, all the way to their website, this unprofessional branding will be implemented with no thought or understanding of the business or what the business and owners are trying to communicate.

Because people do not really undersatnd the benefits of strong graphic design and they think that creating a logo design or brand identity solution is extremely easy they are not willing to pay a good price to get this done. If they had hired an established design comapny in the first place to create a brand for their company; a brand that will last a life time, as the company grows and expands it wouldn't have to face the issue of an identity crisis and be forced to re-design their logo all over again.

So lesson being: Your branding and logo design are just as important as your office location, the chairs in your reception area and the services you provide.

Chicago Logo Design

Advertising Online with Website Banner Ads

Chicago Advertising

Chicago and Schaumburg businesses that are considering marketing and advertising to boost their company's sales should consider banner advertising along with other options. This is essentially putting up an ad on a related, or newsworthy website that will show your ad to readers who may be interested in your services. If you can believe it, people will drive by a business for years and never go inside. It may be because they don't know what the business offers, or simply don't like the name. 

A great advertisement, on or offline, will bring in traffic. A web banner needs to show exactly what you do within seconds, so it's incredibly important to have a Chicago advertising agency design these ads for you. They'll also know exactly where to place them, how to link them, and how to track visits to your website through them. The cost of these services can be surprisingly affordable, and are designed to bring in a lot more business than the cost of the banner itself. 

Online, the typical banner is around 1'' by 6'' or 150 pixels by 600 pixels. That's no a lot of room! Choose your words wisely, offer something, or promote a current sale to get people to come to your website and either make a purchase or send you their information. It's as easy as that!

At our company, we offer a full range of services from graphic design and branding to web design and search engine optimization, and everything in between. We recently designed and produced an entire trade show booth for one of our clients along with all the handouts, business cards and 30 second video to boot! Point being? You don't have to go to two separate agencies to get your website banner advertising up and generating leads!

Call us today at 847.537.0067 or visit our website, Chicago Graphic Design, to read more about advertising, logo design and web design services.

//Creative Agency