Author Archive

April 10, 2012 2

The Startup Myth: Thinking Big vs. Acting Small

By in Business Skills, Entrepreneurship, Small Business

Where to begin. It’s been almost a year since I have posted to this blog. It’s not that we have quit working on our startup business idea. We’ve been working but perhaps not all that effectively. I recently realized that I have been stuck “thinking big” and “acting big” and losing valuable time in the […]

April 29, 2011 1

The Habits of Highly Effective Designers: Habit 1. Have a Vision, Create a Concept

By in Design Skills

I have decided to write a series of post on habits that can help designers improve their craft. I write these tips more as therapy for myself and a way of documenting the lessons that I learn each and every day about what it takes for me to become better at one of my principle […]

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April 19, 2011 0

Five Reasons not to Freelance

By in Business Skills

It’s easy to romanticize being in business for yourself and being a one-man (or woman) show. But it’s more difficult than it sounds. To borrow from the 17th Century poet John Donne, “no man is an island.” People are just not born to work alone. Here are just a few reasons why: 1. It’s very […]

April 18, 2011 0

All typography business card

By in Branding, Business Cards, Business Identity, Design, Inspiration

This purely typographic business card belongs to Jos Buivenga, a typographer, owner of exljbris type foundry and creator of the popular Museo family of typefaces. The minimal design allows the “type” to speak for itself and represents the principle business activity of the company.

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April 5, 2010 1

What’s Your Vision?

By in Business Skills

“The trick in life is to decide what’s your major aim. … Once that’s settled, you can get on with the happy, orderly process of achieving it.” -Stanley Goldstein Our vision is to give owners of very small businesses and self-employed professionals like accountants, lawyers and architects cutting-edge identity design and marketing support via a […]

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April 2, 2010 0

The 3 Basic Ingredients of a Successful Web Presence

By in Branding, Business Identity, Design, Web Design

SearchEngineWatch.com is great source of information on online and search engine marketing. An article by Mark Jackson from 2009 makes three points on having a successful Web presence that should be repeated. Most companies worry about getting into the top three positions of Google search results related to their product or service. Most don’t worry […]

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March 11, 2010 0

How Much Do We Love Black and White Business Cards?

By in Business Cards, Business Identity, Inspiration

Let me count the ways: black and white business cards are simple, elegant, minimal, beautiful, bold, classic, handsome, etc., etc. Here and here are some galleries of minimal business cards. I can’t argue with the author on one post who says: Why go too crazy when you can keep it simple and elegant with black […]

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March 8, 2010 0

Black and White, and Red All Over

By in Design, Illustration, Inspiration

Here are two things that that caught my eye today and are rather inspiring in their own right.

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March 5, 2010 0

Be Excellent, Dude

By in Design, Web Design

I recently saw an article by the owner of a company that sells Website design and marketing services to accountants that offered some sound advice for small business owners and self-employed professionals. For instance, the article argues that small business Websites should be friendly: Rather than trying to dazzle the visitor with slick images and […]

March 3, 2010 13

Does Website Design Really Matter? Does Design Even Matter?

By in Design, Small Business, Web Design

Wired magazine ran an article not too long ago in its printed and online editions entitled: “Why Craigslist Is Such a Mess.” The story outlined all of the problems with the visual design—and what Web designers like to call “usability”—of the hugely popular classified ads site. Wired notes that in spite of a design that […]

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