Connectivity
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I had to share this! A regular email I receive on design LiquidTreat often has points of interest on the web for great design and this week I can not resist passing along a link. “Democracy is the Helvetica of politics.” is a show featuring posters from 60 famous artists and designers
For over 10 years, Connection Group has been providing quality print marketing materials to clients in Michigan, and throughout the United States. I started the graphic design studio in Lansing, Michigan offering primarily corporate branding systems, original logos designs, print marketing materials, etc. I have always approached design so it can quickly and easily be adapted into all media and still maintain the integrity of the brand. I continue to educate clients on the importance of quality, consistency and creative with everything released externally and internally. Unfortunately, over the years more and more art comes to us that is not suitable quality for reproduction.
Since the invention of the internet many people feel they can go to a web site, grab a logo or a photo or graphic and “wahla”, they have provided their graphic artist (me) with great help and content for their publication, brochure, newsletter, etc. Not so much. Although I appreciate the effort and the need for companies to save dollars and have staff do as much as possible in house – internet graphics do not reproduce in print! If I did a search in my email sent folder for that exact term I could probably walk away and get two mochas made before all of the emails I have sent would come up.
If you don’t have Adobe Photoshop or other imaging software (is there anything else? 🙂 ) which allows you to view the dpi (dots per inch) and actual dimensions of the image, try printing the image on your desktop printer. Most of the time you will see an image that looks huge on your screen is actually only a half the size or smaller when printed full scale. Or, it is still huge but it is blurry and has an alien glow around the edges. If your desktop printer allows you to select the dpi, select 300, or print quality. With an internet graphic it will show a blurry or pixelated image. This will be enhanced on an offset press. It will look worse – not better.
Monitor resolution, graphics for web and email, etc. are 72 dpi. Print resolution graphics need to be 300 dpi at actual size. Any less and you begin losing quality and clarity. If you are going to the expense of professional offset printing, make sure your publications and promotions are designed in the highest quality. Let your image speak highly of you, even when you are not there. Please, spare your graphic designers the emails “Will this photo of Norman Rockwell I snagged off of Wikipedia work for my full color annual report cover?” No. Not so much…and don’t get me started on the copyright use laws….
Tips: Stay connected with your address book…
Sometimes we are too close to our day to day business to realize there is room for improvement or maybe we have a feeling change needs to occur but need the data to support our concerns. Connect with those you know…
Connections: Does anybody really like SPAM? Where does it really come from? Since so many of us are bombarded with unsolicited emails daily we thought it may be helpful to be familiar with the laws in effect for email campaigns… For more information on this,
Click here to read the complete article
Downloads: Recently Added…If you have not been lucky enough to win our printed version of these fun notecards you can now send them to friends from our site for free….
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” – Norman MacEwan
TIPS:
Can you detect a FRAUD?…Take the quiz we developed and test your online and email savvy. No time? Maybe you can help Prince Nomaney who has an inheritance he would like to send you….
CONNECTIONS:
Truth or Paranoia? Ever wonder if an email you have received from a well intentioned friend or relative is accurate? Check the validity of the urban legends you receive before you forward hoaxes to your entire address book…
www.hoax-slayer.com
www.truthorfiction.com
www.about-the-web.com/shtml/scams.shtml#current
DOWNLOADS:
If you receive our snail mail calendars you should have butterflies flying on your desk by now! Download a desktop background of it here…don’t forget to check out our new e-card designs!
“When flowing water meets with obstacles on its path, a blockage in its journey, it pauses. It increases in volume and strength, filling up in front of the obstacle and eventually spilling past it . . .” – I Ching
Okay this has nothing to do with design…it does apply to writing and publishing though…even better it is about helping others and having fun while doing it! Learn a new word, test your knowledge, play the game, feed the people!http://www.freerice.com
Greater Lansing Business Monthly
Connection Graphics, LLC announced membership with the Graphic Communications Conference of the Brotherhood of Teamsters. Connection Graphics, LLC is united in support of fair wage and labor practices worldwide. As the only local union web site design firm, they are working with associations and unions in mid-Michigan building and updating Web sites and union communication and print materials.
Greater Lansing Business Monthly www.lansingbusinessmonthly.com – May 2008
COVER YOUR BASES From simple customer contact information to multi layered applications, company databases come in all shapes and sizes. What size fits you? We’ve outlined some questions to get you on the right track…
CONNECTIONS: School’s Out…forever?….As difficult as it is to listen to adults, if graduates take even one piece of advice from this list and use it, they’ll have a much better chance of leading a full and happy life. Congratulations… Click Here to Read the List
DOWNLOAD: It is bittersweet as another school year ends… Looking back with pride on years of studies and ahead with confidence to future successes we celebrate graduates achievements. Send Congrats to your friends and family and find other newly added card designs….
“We must be the change we wish to see in the world.” – Ghandi
Someday these blog entries will be a regular habit! Then I may add more than anybody cares to read. For now I am lucky to get in an entry a month! I decided to share this entry I offered in another industry blog. Hopefully you will find some value in the info.
Our time at CG is dedicated primarily to designing marketing materials for various clients, service companies, retail, wholesale, etc. Frequently we find our time is spent being advisors to our clients and friends for “all things internet”. We can’t answer “all things internet” but I do have answers to some of the web marketing questions many people have.
Ecommerce and any marketing is just like running a business – you have to balance the cost, value, time and appropriateness to your message for your service or product. For instance this blog, currently I don’t add to it daily. I knew I wouldn’t when I launched it. I also know I am a person who needs to have deadlines and consistency. So, for keeping in touch with my clients and sharing information I think they will find useful, and possibly even entertaining, I committed to a monthly e-newsletter. Being a small shop I know we can’t do it all, so I focus on what I am most comfortable with and what my staff is best at – plus what meets our target audience best.
What I stress to my customers after the nuts and bolts of content, price and value is, fit. A blog component for some businesses may work best with a more organic approach. If it feels more authentic to just post and promote the blog through current connections rather than blasting other blogs to link to and from, I say do what fits your style for your service or product. It needs to feel right, not forced. If you really want to market that blog, get out there and do it all.
I have also put together a list of questions and outlined some advise for those who are not familiar with hiring web design too. Please check back on the tips page for “What to Ask a Web Designer” in the near future. Because there is so much confusion to pricing, what content is important, who is doing what, etc. there is a lot of fear and confusion out there hiring a Web site designer.
One last thing…watch for choosing Web site designers based on price alone. Heed the warning, you often get what you pay for and some times three months late! Even those of us in the industry who know what to ask for with programming or production have been burned. Do yourself a favor and work with someone you can speak to on the phone prior to hiring them and be sure to check out samples on their own Web sites. If they don’t have published samples (real clients) OR their own site. or their site is functioning poorly – be wary.
HAPPY EARTH MONTH! The tip this month addresses the Greening of Print. In celebration of Earth Day April 22, it is with pride we share an article recognizing the environmental efforts of one of our clients, McNaughton & Gunn, Inc. (M&G), Practice your R’s! REDUCE REUSE RECYCLE…
CONNECTIONS: We are also very excited to share another client Web site design. Woldumar Nature Center in Lansing, MI. is dedicated to Environmental Education & Preservation. CG supports them through the design of logos, publications and marketing materials. Please support this wonderful center.
DOWNLOAD: More new ecards this month for Earth Day and in other categories too. Also download and print some of the coloring pages for your kids from the Woldumar Kids section! April desktop calendar is posted for download too!
“The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.” – Native American Proverb
Animal lovers, this is pretty simple… Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free fooddonated every day to abused and neglected animals. It takes less than a minute to go to their site and click on the purple box “fund food for animals” for free. This doesn’t cost you a thing. Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donatefood to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising. Here’s the web site! Pass it along to people you know.http://www.theanimalrescuesite.com
