Chicago Graphic Design: Design Elements in Web Design

Chicago Graphic Design

Chicago Graphic Design elements in web design can sometimes be complex. Not only do you need to design for comfort and function, it has to be easily navigated no matter how illustrated or off the wall your graphics are. Use these tips for effective alternative web design using graphics.

1. Don't make all of your images clickable 
First of all, text links are used for identification and if the only links on your website are images, people will get lost on your website. Additionally, some internet connections do not allow for fast loading images and if your only internal linking relies on imagery, your website will frustrate and overwhelm those users.
To combat this, make your images static and use a text-based link to move your web visitors around the page. Chicago Graphic Design

2. Use automatic scrolling with caution
This has to do with scrolling, obviously. When building a website, try to keep your content rich enough but short enough to be viewed with the shortest amount of scrolling. Also, if you've got cool stuff at the bottom of your custom website, nobody will have the patience to get there!

4. Don’t rely on the browser
The sentence “Please use IE to view the site under 800×600 resolution” often appears in many websites. We prefer Firefox, Chrome and Safari because we need them to test the readability of pages when designing websites. But most users will not install so many browsers and will usually only use one. Make sure you view your website in all different types of browsers, most especially Internet Explorer, since this will be the buggiest browser of them all.

5. Don’t forget the copyright
Intellectual property theft is rampant on the internet. With the number of pop-up blogs and personal websites, you need to guard your content and images against internet theft. If you need to reference other's images or content, please do so. To protect yourself, copyright your information.

6. Update timely
This is big for SEO as well. If you've had a website for longer than a year and haven't updated it, it's time to now! It's a waste of html if it just sits there.

Chicago Graphic Design, Chicago Graphics Artists, Chicago Print Designers, Chicago Ad Agency, Graphic Design Companies, Phoenix Graphic Design, Charlotte Graphic Design, Los Angeles Graphic Design, NYC Ad Agency

Schaumburg Designers: More than Meets the Eye!

Welcome to Schaumburg Marketing Company's creative blog. 

Here you'll find a plethora of information on Schaumburg Marketing & Design, Schaumburg Graphic Design, Schaumburg Web Design and Schaumburg SEO.

We Design with YOU in mind.

At SMC, a Creative Agency, we put you first. We listen to your ideas and consider your marketing and business goals every step of the way. We take a personal approach with your projects. We get to know you and your business personally, which helps us accurately interpret your needs and integrate them into your design solutions.

Our design process is a straight-forward approach which is guided by our clients' ideas and objectives. We manage the timeline of your projects by focusing on your schedule so your business needs can be met.

Who are we? 

The Schaumburg Marketing Agency's creative marketing team is comprised of talented Graphic Designers, Web Designers, Programmers, Writers, SEO Experts, Marketing Strategists, and Photographers who work together to create design solutions that work for you and your business.

We have a simple philosophy. Hire the most dedicated and creative people who love to work in a creative environment and are passionate about what they do. The result is a team that loves to design, write, program, and market. This philosophy is what has transformed us into the respected marketing company it is today. We not only create innovative designs and brand solutions, we love having the opportunity to build relationships with our clients.

Our proven track record as a leading Schaumburg Graphic Design Firm and Creative Agency lets us take pride in our ability to create and implement the most strategic and creative marketing solutions for you and your company.

:: Schaumburg Graphic Design

:: Schaumburg Web Design

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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

Graphic Design Firm: 8 Ways to Name a Company

Chicago Graphic Design

There are several ways to name a company, and some of the best known companies in the world have the strangest names. Did you know where they came from though? They'd don't just pop out of nowhere (well...not all of them), and there's usually a premeditated strategy behind their origins.

That's the case with many famous branding solutions behind Google, Pepsi, Ford, Digg and many others. Their names stick not only because they're simple, but they're different. There is no ideal way to choose a company name, but choose from the following 8 styles to shape your new company's name.

Family Names
This is the most common style of naming a company, and many car and manufacturing companies follow this convention. The person is usually the owner, founder, a child or perhaps even a celebrity! For example: Getty Images, Ford, Mercedes Benz, Boeing and Dell are all named after the owner or a family member.

Made Up
A creative way of naming a company is coming up with something that nobody has ever heard before or using a nick name. One reason for this might be to make the company sound foreign or to make it sound memorable. For example: Haagen-Dazs is a made up name with no meaning, and Meebo has absolutely no documentation behind it.

Metaphors

The most trendy and often used way of branding a company is using a metaphor or analogy. It's a term that is used to imply or to bear resemblance to something else. It may have no relation to your actual business, but that could be a selling point. Example: Apple, Adobe, and Fuji. Steve Jobs isn't selling apples, you can be sure of that!

Abbreviations or Acronyms
Most convenient, but perhaps not the smartest is using an abbreviation. It should be used only in cases of longer company names. When doing this, you should brand yourself based on how you want it pronounced, individually or as a single word, example: DKNY or BeBo. Example: FCUK - French Connection United Kingdom, and BMW - Bayerische Motoren Werke. Didn't know that one didja?

Conjunctions
When you're running out of ideas, just mash two together. Microsoft? Microcomputer and Software. Skype? Sky and Peer to Peer. This naming convention is helpful when your business does more than one thing.

Mythical Origins or Derived
Many company names are formed from reading books, mythology or from a product they sell. Popular names have come from Greek, Latin and Gods and Goddesses such as Nike, Xerox and Volvo. Coca-Cola's name comes from the leaves and nuts used for flavoring.

Word Jumbles
When words aren't enough, combine numbers and letters instead. It adds a little bit more to the company name and can express a hint of techy vibes if needed. Examples are 3Com - a network technology producer, and 20th Century Fox, a film and movie studio.

Be Playful!
Sometimes company names are a mistake, or the owner having a little fun with word play. Sometimes the name comes out of the original idea being taken! Call it a twist of fate, but I call it pure genius. Some of these funny examples are (go figure) - Google, a mispelling of the word Googol, Digg.com - dig.com was already taken, Harpo Productions, Oprah's name spelled backwards.

So the next time you're coming up with a new company name, look through the dictionary, or read a good book. Perhaps you can even take a few of your favorite words and screw around with the spelling. You never know what's going to stick and take off!

Chicago Graphic Design: Is your logo design killing your business branding

Chicago Graphic Design 

Exceptional Brand Identity Solutions: Chicago Graphic Design

Most businesses have a logo, but the vast majority of businesses have not used that logo to its full potential, or have even left their logo design and branding to an amateur designer or even having one of their staff make up a logo using clip art (gasp!). This is done without any real research into how a logo effects consumer perception, and is done without thinking about the entire branding concept. This is killing your business online and in person.

When was the last time you got someones business card and saw a little clip-art dude that you can get free on Microsoft's website? Probably not too often. Then why are YOU doing it? Take a little time to read through this post to see exactly how your logo effects your business, your target market, and what a proper logo design and branding solution could do for your company for years and years and years...

Logo Design:
Logos and trademarks make up the most creative international language in the world. An excellent logo can cross barriers and provide your organization with an avenue to deliver your services and products to customers in a uniform way. Without this, you’re effectively flushing your business down the drain.

Every successful company has a distinct personality, just like humans, and a successful brand and logo design are essential to attracting multiple types of personalities and markets. If you’re business doesn’t have these things, it’s time to invest in them. When you embark on this journey into branding, company identity, and logo design, you should be aware of several points of interest:

1. Your logo and branding needs to IDENTIFY your company/product/service.

2. Your logo and branding must DIFFERENTIATE you from the masses.

3. Your logo and branding must COMMUNICATE the value of your services and products.

4. Your logo and branding should ADD VALUE to your company by creating a benchmark for quality and reputation.

5. Your logo and branding must REPRESENT your products and services as valuable things. If your logo isn’t doing these things, choose to update and seek advice from a professional graphic design firm.

Brand Identity:

Branding can be technically defined as a name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of these things intended to identify one particular seller or a group of sellers and to differentiate them from others. This sounds important right? Well it most definitely is. One thing to note is that branding is NOT about getting your target market to choose you over your competition…it’s getting them to see you as the only solution to their needs and problems.

A good brand has the following:
1. The ability to deliver your message clearly
2. Give your company credibility and strength
3. An emotional connection to your target market
4. The ability to motivate buyers and consumers
5. A distinct knack for keeping your target market loyal to your services or product

To succeed in this, you need to understand your target market, your customer’s wants and needs, and the ability to project what they’ll want and need in the future. You can do this by integrating brand strategies through your company at every public contact point.

A strong brand is as valuable as gold as the battle for loyal customers gets more and more intense. It’s important to spend time investing in research, and an effective Creative Firm to help your marketing communications strategies be the best they can be. Your brand and logo are the foundation of your company.

So the next time you even think about making a Microsoft Word clip-art image your logo...STOP.

Contact a real Chicago Graphic Design Company and schedule a meeting.

/// Integraphix, a Creative Agency in Chicago, Illinois

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