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Serif vs Sans Serif Fonts
Serif vs Sans Serif Serif and sans-serif fonts are two distinct typographic styles that differ in their appearance and usage. Serif fonts are characterized by small decorative lines (serifs) at the ends of characters, such as Times New Roman or Georgia. These serifs create a [...]
Optical Alignment
What is Optical Alignment? When your composition is aligned via math, but something about it still looks off and it drives you completely insane. That's when Optical Alignment comes into play. By using what? You guessed it, your eyes. Apply these principals to things such [...]
RGB / CMK / SPOT COLOUR
RGB / CMK / SPOT COLOUR! What's the Difference? RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is used for screen, web, digital CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black) is used for print SPOT COLOUR (Pantone Matching System - PMS) is used for print
CMYK vs SPOT COLOUR
CMYK vs SPOT COLOUR: Which one should you use? CMYK - CYAN / MAGENTA / YELLOW / BLACK Also called 4 Color Process, these colours are mixed together and applied on paper with thousands of tiny dots on a paper to create an image. Endless [...]
Where to Find a Really Good Logo Designer
Where to Find a Really Good Logo Designer Here are 6 places to find good Logo Designers. 1. Word of Mouth Nothing beats the traditional word of mouth referrals! @yourfriendwhohasreallygooddesigntaste 2. Dribbble Dribbble is an online community of graphic designers, web designers, logo designers, [...]
What is Dummy Text / Lorem Ipsum?
What is Dummy Text / Lorem Ipsum? Dummy text or what is more commonly known among designers as ‘Lorem Ipsum’. It is text that is used in the publishing industry or by web designers as “filler content” until they get actual final copy from the [...]
Breathing Room
Breathing Room The space that is in between design elements. Just like a cluttered living room full of tchotchkes can make one feel anxious with the dire need to run away 🏃🏻♀️, so can a cluttered layout. Easy to read layouts are easy [...]
Why a Client Might be Hesitant for a Logo Change
Why a Client Might be Hesitant for a Logo Change Sometimes a client will come to you for a complete overhaul of their website. But… then they will send you their logo that was designed in the 60’s. Depending on the size of their company [...]
Types of Logos
Lettermark, Wordmark, Combination Mark, Pictorial Mark. What's the difference? Pictoral Mark Just a symbol, icon or pictorial. Nothing else. Rome wasn't built in a day and neither were these brands. It can take decades to be instantly recognized by a mere symbol. Wordmark Just [...]
JPG or PNG? Which one is better?
JPG or PNG? Which one is better? THINGS TO CONSIDER BEFORE CHOOSING: Is it a complex image? Is it going to print? Is it being used on the web? Does it need to be transparent? JPG The quality of the image will be compromised. This [...]
My New iPad Pro Has Kidnapped Me
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 [...]
Selling on Etsy vs. Creative Market
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 [...]
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org
WordPress.com vs WordPress.org Confused between WordPress.com and WordPress.org? Here is a simple explanation: wordpress.com - WordPress will host your website for you for free but it comes with a hefty price tag of a horrible looking domain like thisdesigngirl.wordpress.com. wordpress.org - You host your own website. [...]
Should I Have My Logo Redesigned?
Should I Have My Logo Redesigned? The question of the century to every business owner who needs to keep up with the ever changing current times. The 5 most common reasons I find where business owners often shy away from a logo redesign / [...]
6 Designer Tools to Have in Your Arsenal
6 Designer Tools to Have in Your Arsenal As a designer, there are resources and tools that you gather throughout your career to make your life easier. Here are my top 6 Designer Tools that I use (some for years and in no particular order). [...]
Using the Mockup Scene Creator to Create Flat Lays
Using the Mockup Scene Creator to Create Flat Lays Sometimes you just want to have control over your entire Flat Lay! Look no further! This Mockup Scene Creator features everything that The Sophisticated Entrepreneur has on their desk. Sometimes less is more! I love the [...]
Everything You Wanted to Know About Print Bleeds
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 [...]
Flat Lay + Styled Desktops / flatlaystudio.com
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, [...]
How Much Does a Logo Cost?
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 [...]
Design 101 ~ Negative Space
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. [...]
Design 101 ~ The Design Grid
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 [...]
Case Study ~ Creating a Product Label 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 [...]
Is Your Ad Design Ugly?
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 [...]
Design 101 ~ The Psychology of Color
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. [...]
How to Effectively Design a Web Banner
How to Effectively Design a Web Banner In my previous post, I discussed which Web Banners are Considered the Top 5 Most Effective Sizes according to Google. In this post, I will show you how to effectively design a web banner that is both eye catching [...]
Top 5 Most Effective Web Banner Sizes
Top 5 Most Effective Web Banner Sizes Below are the standard web banner sizes that you can implement on any website. The ones that are highlighted in Pink are considered the top 5 most effective web banner sizes according to Google. Leaderboard (728 x 90 [...]
The Importance of a Client Design Brief
The Importance of a Client Design Brief Grab my free resources which includes a Client Design Brief! Enter your email on the right sidebar. In my previous post, I spoke of the Importance of a Client Agreement and Policy. The next thing to do when starting [...]
A Must have for any Designer: Client Agreement and Policy
Client Agreement and Policy Grab my free resources which includes a Client Agreement and Policy! Enter your email on the right sidebar. As with any type of service related job, it is only common sense to have a client agreement and policy. This ensures that [...]
Why is Fiverr Bad?
Why is Fiverr Bad? I just paid $5 for this horrible logo at horriblelogos.com. This guy gets paid $5 to design ugly logos to feed his beer habit. I think the premise of his site is to make fun of other sites that charge $5 for logos. [...]
How to Determine your WordPress Sidebar Width
How to Determine your WordPress Sidebar Width Here's a quick video where I show you how to determine your WordPress sidebar width so that you can design all of your banner ads with a consistent width. For a more in-depth post on how to design and [...]
How to Design and Add a Banner to Your WordPress Sidebar Widget
How to Design and Add a Banner to Your WordPress Sidebar Widget In this video tutorial, I am going to show you how to design and add a banner to your WordPress Sidebar Widget along with the HTML code. What should you put on your [...]
Kerning, Leading, Tracking, Widows, Orphans, Rags and Rivers
Kerning, Leading, Tracking, Widows, Orphans, Rags and Rivers Ya, the title of this post is pretty funny. What on earth is that you say? Well, if you are a typography guru, then you will understand. In my third year of University, I took a mandatory course in Typography. [...]
What is Mechanical Paste-Up?
What is Mechanical Paste-Up Mechanical Paste-up refers to a method of creating or laying out publication pages that predates the use of the now-standard computerized page design desktop publishing programs. Completed, or camera-ready, pages are known as mechanicals or mechanical art. Wikipedia Here. Way Back [...]
Best Free Cloud Accounting for Freelancers
Best Free Cloud Accounting for Freelancers I was recently asked by an industry leader in cloud accounting to write a non biased view on what my thoughts were regarding cloud accounting, my experiences with it, any ups, any downs and any tips. So here is my write [...]
How to Design Business Cards + Downloadable Template
Download my Free Business Card Templates below: Landscape 3.5" x 2" (.ai file) (.0125" margins) (.0125" bleed) Portrait 3.5" x 2" (.ai file) (.0125" margins) (.0125" bleed) How to Design Business Cards + Downloadable Template In this video, I teach you how to set up a [...]
How to Design a Book Cover Mockup in Adobe Photoshop
How to Design a Book Cover Mockup in Adobe Photoshop Watch my video tutorial below which shows you how to Design a Book Cover Mockup in Adobe Photoshop. A great resource I found was at a website called Covervault. He has a variety of different [...]
5 Best Places to Get Free Digital Assets
5 Best Places to Get Free Digital Assets In any designer's arsenal, lies a stack of digital assets. These can range from social media icons to stock photos, to vector art. If you are a fellow designer, I'm pretty sure that you have your own [...]
My 4×6 Foot Roy Lichtenstein Painting
My Roy Lichtenstein Painting Roy Lichtenstein is one of my favourite artists. You can tell because I painted another one of his paintings here called "Girl with Hair Ribbon". About Roy Lichtenstein American artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923 - 1997) was born in New York City [...]
How to Paint Roy Lichtenstein’s Girl with Hair Ribbon
How to Paint Roy Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon Check out the painting I did below of Roy Lichtenstein's Girl with Hair Ribbon. I toyed with the idea of doing actual Benday Dots on her face by using circular stickers, and then thought an easier way [...]
Romero Britto Painting Inspiration
Romero Britto Painting Inspiration I first encountered a Romero Britto painting aboard the Disney Dream Cruise. It was a showcase of his Mickey Mouse project. After that, I became smitten with his work and ran into his stuff again at a local Christian bookstore where his [...]
Screen Resolution vs Print Resolution Infographic
Screen vs Print Resolution Infographic If I had a nickel for every time a dear client sent me a 48 kb file photograph to insert into their business card, I can confidently say that I would be taking a yearly trip to Fiji. Here is my [...]
Hosting an 800 Person Dinner
Hosting an 800 Person Dinner Q ideas Inc. is a company that my husband had started in 2007. Over the past few years, I took on the role of Marketing + Administration for the company as it expanded. Q ideas specializes in live event AV Technical [...]
Vector vs Raster Infographic
Vector vs Raster Infographic Many of my clients are a bit confused on the difference between Vector and Raster. Just like when my accountant tells me there's an easy calculation to do payroll source deductions. Um no thanks. Find out what the difference is below in my Vector vs [...]
Aspiring Designer?
Hey! My name is Marina. And I am here to help Seasoned Creatives, Entrepreneurs, Marketers, and Anyone Else who wants to dabble in the wonderful world of design. Go ahead, grab a coffee, come back and start learning!