InstagramYouTube
14 March 14, 2019

My New iPad Pro Has Kidnapped Me

2023-05-04T12:57:59+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Photoshop, Procreate|

My New iPad Pro Has Kidnapped Me I have literally dropped off the face of the earth, maybe for a few years.... I blame it completely on my new iPad Pro. Rest assured I am back in the land of the living. But ever since I bought this as a little Christmas present to myself, I cannot put it down. After doing lots of research, I settled on purchasing the 3rd Gen 12.9 inch iPad Pro along with the 2nd Gen Apple Pencil. I mean besides everything else any iPad does, I'm going to specifically talk about drawing on [...]

6 December 6, 2018

Selling on Etsy vs. Creative Market

2023-05-02T12:57:27+00:00By |Art, Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Photography, Photoshop, Website Design|

Selling on Etsy vs. Creative Market This post will feature selling on both Etsy vs Creative Market as a Digital Designer. I opened up my first Etsy store back in 2007 and since then have ran a few shops on there. This one is technically still active but I have not had time to dedicate to it at all which is why you will see no listings) Within the last year, my side hustles was opening up 2 Stores: Typemaven (Etsy and Creative Market) and Flat Lay Studio on (Etsy and Creative Market). Primary Differences Etsy primarily sells physical goods and handmade [...]

4 October 4, 2017

Everything You Wanted to Know About Print Bleeds

2023-05-04T00:21:54+00:00By |Graphic Design, Illustrator, Photoshop|

Everything You Wanted to Know About Print Bleeds Don't forget to also reference my other post on How to Design Business Cards which also includes a downloadable business card template. What is a Bleed? A bleed is when the artwork extends PAST the edges of your paper. This is to ensure that when the printer cuts your artwork to size, that the colour goes to the edge. My Business Card Here is an example of my business cards. The front only has my logo and nothing else. No colors go to the edge. So in this case, there is no bleed [...]

6 July 6, 2017

Flat Lay + Styled Desktops / flatlaystudio.com

2023-05-02T13:06:42+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Website Design, WordPress|

Introducing Flat Lay + Styled Desktops at flatlaystudio.com I'm so excited to announce that I have added Flat Lay / Styled Desktops to which is available for purchase Flat Lay Studio. What are Flat Lay + Styled Desktops? They are styled stock photography that every blogger, online creative or business savvy entrepreneur can use to beef up their marketing brand or image. These styled photos are great for any blogpost, sidebar widget, or slider graphic that you may need as a graphic accompaniment to your website or promotion campaign. My style is geared towards minimalist desktop design. I have included a [...]

27 June 27, 2017

How Much Does a Logo Cost?

2023-05-02T14:59:34+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Photoshop, Website Design|

How Much Does a Logo Cost? Logos can go anywhere from being free to $1,000,000 to apparently $1.28 billion. But let's stay a little more realistic shall we? Depending on how much experience the designer you hire has, logo costs can usually be summed up like this: Your Nephew or Yourself: Free Fiverr: $5 + Offshore: $100 ~ $250 Logo Design Contests: $299 ~ $499 Freelancers: $399 ~ $1000 Agency: $1000 ~ $5000 Super Duper Famous: $1,280,000,000 Examples of famous Logos and what they cost But just to give you an idea of some famous brands and what they cost, [...]

18 May 18, 2017

Design 101 ~ Negative Space

2023-05-04T00:21:23+00:00By |Art, Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Website Design|

Design 101 ~ Negative Space In my previous articles, I speak many times that a good design will consist of several things. Good typography, use of images, relevant content, color theory etc. But we must not forget the glue that holds it all together. Negative space. What is Negative Space? You may have heard it before. White Space. Negative Space. Both are the same thing. It is essentially the space that is NOT used in a design. Basically it's "The Nothing". It does not have to be white. It could be any color. So for the sake of simplicity, let's call it negative space [...]

15 May 15, 2017

Design 101 ~ The Design Grid

2023-05-02T14:43:08+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Photoshop|

Design 101 ~ The Design Grid A Design Grid is an invisible grid on your art board. If you follow the rules of a Design Grid, then your design won't look like this. I have overlaid a grid on top of it and if you look at the ad closely, you can see that NOTHING lines up anywhere. There are several things gone wrong with this ad, like use of color, typography and of course, there is no Design Grid. Why are Design Grids so important? There are several reasons: Final design will be aesthetically pleasing. Changes will be easier. Your content will [...]

11 May 11, 2017

Case Study ~ Creating a Product Label Design

2023-05-02T14:39:29+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Website Design|

Case Study ~ Creating a Product Label Design Going back to my last post on where I ask If Your Ads are Effective, this post will now show you how to bring your message to life through design. Taking the product label from my previous post, I am going to redesign the front of the label only. As mentioned, the problems with this design was complete information overload . This needs to be streamlined and alot of the information should be housed on their website and is not necessary on the product label. So, what are the most important pieces of information? Front [...]

9 May 9, 2017

Is Your Ad Design Ugly?

2023-05-02T14:36:43+00:00By |Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Illustrator, Marketing, Photoshop, Website Design, WordPress|

Is Your Ad Design Ugly? Is your ad design ugly? What truly makes a great design? An effective design or ad is not just all about looks. There are 3 main components when designing anything whether it be a simple web banner, a lead sales page, a corporate brochure, or even something as simple as a business card. Message Delivery Aesthetics Message Define crystal clear what message you are trying to convey. Do not leave anything up for assumption. Why? Because people don't have time to waste and by 8 seconds, they would already have moved on. Is this sad? Yes. But [...]

4 May 4, 2017

Design 101 ~ The Psychology of Color

2023-05-02T14:34:02+00:00By |Art, Entrepreneurship, Graphic Design, Home Design, Illustrator, Photoshop, Website Design, WordPress|

The Psychology of Color in Marketing and Branding If I were to play a song for you that you listened to while growing up, there is no doubt that you would remember all the words AND the feelings and emotions that were associated with it. For example, assuming you are my age, and I say "INXS, Never Tear Us Apart", what fond memories do you have? OMG! I remember when I slow danced in Grade 6 to that song! Am I right? Well, imagine that with color. We know that Red is Love, Purple is Royalty, Blue is Calming and [...]

Go to Top