Design Theory is an Orlando based design firm that provides services in web design, graphic design, content writing, and social media.
Lead by Jean Perpillant, and a team of six other creative, we are proud to play a big role in the 2012 Orlando WordCamp. We have found that WordPress to be a fantastic content management system, and offering it to our clients to manage their own sites once we’ve built them have landed us many great reviews.
By using the open sourced WordPress platform, Design Theory is able to create brilliant websites that are not only aesthetically pleasant but also functionally sound. We’ve created websites for dentists, radio talk show hosts, clothing retailers, non-profits, and many more. Integrating social media and Google analytics allows us to take our client websites to new heights in SEO and social engagement, and we look forward to sharing these insights and more at the 2012 Orlando WordCamp Conference.
With WordCamp being such a well-known conference in the web community, and Orlando quickly growing as a technology force on the East Coast, we feel it really sets the stage for a great time for learning and networking with others in our community. The scale of this event is quite large, and we anticipate the take-a-ways that all the attendees will have from it will be exponential.
For more information, please visit the official website of the 2012 Orlando WordCamp website. Be sure to reserve your tickets today, as space is sure to fill up quickly.
While there are key classic practices that should make your designs safe every year in terms of projection and content, you will not be able to guarantee its effectiveness if it stays static. The key to continuous success with your work, is for you to always develop them with the current trends in mind. In this special guide, we will go through some of the most important trends that you will want to include in your custom designs this New Year 2012. If you can integrate this properly enough, there should be little issues and more success.
Design trends for this year are bold and aim to grab audience attention.
Logos: Create streamlined logos and graphics – For 2012, all designers are upgrading their logos and graphics to more streamlined variations.
Simplicity rules: Simple designs are in right now, and the reason for that is, well… simple.
Type can be design: In the absence of complicated visuals, typography is playing a larger role in design. Those designers who know how to put typefaces to work to their best advantage will come out on top.
As we move together into a new year, we are promised some amazing advances in the world of technology and design. Evolving your brand through web design, print design and even architectural design are ways that you can stay ahead of the competition and encounter new demographics in your market.
2011 just flew by and you still contemplating how to start your own Graphic Design business. Now 2012 is here and you’re thinking you really want to start the year off with your skills and talents in hand with a new business venture. Aside from being a daunting situation if you’ve never started a business before, it can be a mix of emotions and aspirations that can and will change from day-to-day. I wanted to give you some of the tactics and tricks I’ve learned. Here are 5 common keys that will make the difference on your jump-start.
Word of Mouth: It doesn’t matter in what stage of your graphic design business is, word-of-mouth is one of the most effective ways to land more jobs. First, impress your client with your design skills and business sense, you will be amazed of how word will get around. Belonging to professional organizations is another way to spread the word and meet other designers
Have your portfolio ready: Companies will choose a designer based on his/her previous work and how this is presented. There are several choices for what type of portfolio to build, and each has their own benefits and drawbacks. Search for options and decide which apply to your case.
Manage your projects like a pro: It’s very important that you keep in constant contact with your client and follow the project schedule so the job is finished on deadline. Staying organized is another way to keep projects running smoothly, this is a great key to be successful in your new endeavor.
Marketing your design business: Fortunately, these days there are plenty of ways to market your business. Take full advantage of the Social Media; Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and many more are great options to position your design business on the “know”.
Never Leave a Client Unhappy Even if it Means Losing Money: This one is hard but you just need to deal with it, finish your job, and send them on their way. Satisfied clients will tell a few friends how awesome you are – unhappy clients will tell the whole world how much you suck.
The secret to a successful long-term design business has little to do with design itself – it’s how you handle your business, how you deal with your clients. Is definite that your design skills matter, but if you don’t get your business end together, it won’t matter how good you are. People simply won’t want to work with you.
What are your plans for 2012? Are you ready to launch your design business?
As 2011 starts to get closer to end, we as entrepreneurs and self startups all start to think of what we will improve on for the coming year. We reflecting on all of our accomplishments for this year, as well as any pitfalls that we learned from. As a designer, 2011 had many new apps, design improvements, and devices that helped contribute to our creativity. For all the small businesses out there, here are some great items you should implement to your website for better engagement and ROI.
Video – Having a 30-90 second video on your homepage is a great way to briefly talk about your products and services. It gives your visitors a great visual look at your products in action or how truly effective your services are against your competition. My only suggestion is to turn off the auto play option on your embedded video. There’s nothing more frightening than a loud video that automatically starts playing even before a website loads and your visitor scrambling for a mute button or just closing out of your site all-together.
Call To Action – Most everyone who is on the internet has an email address. They’ve got a Twitter handle, a cell, phone, and a physical address. Though they have all of this, it doesn’t mean they’re just going to hand it over to you for nothing. Give them a reason to give you their contact information with something they are looking for too. Could be a short e-book on how to make their own business card out of clip art for starters. Or how to find the best hosting company with the most options for a WYSIWYG editor. Change your CTA maybe each month and see which “gimmick” lands you the most leads. And tailor to suit after that.
Google Analytics – I can’t stress enough how having data is vital to your website. Knowing how many people view your site with some free site-hit button at the bottom of your page is so 90’s. How about knowing which pages people view the most; or how long people stay on each of your website pages; or what buttons and links they click on. What browsers they use (mobile, Firefox, IE, etc). There’s so much more Google offers you for free in data it will blow your mind. What’s key about all that data is that you continue to use it to tweak your site.
Social Media – I don’t need to beat the horse on this one, but your newer potential clients are out there talking about your products and services. They’re talking about you and your competition. If you want free crowd-sourcing social media will give it to you in a lot more than 31 flavors. Your business needs to join and be part of the online conversations that are happening right now. Take advantage of using specials with FourSquare Check-ins or Facebook Places. Check your listings on Yelp. Promote a one day sale with Twitter. Host a webinar and post it on YouTube and inspire people to watch and share it.
You – Yes you, you need to be on your website. For those of you that think a website is only important just to have and not to monitor and keep up with, you’re wrong. I’ve seen too many websites (good and bad) fail to keep updated. Plan a date with your website at least once a month. Our team at Design Theory make it a point to reach out with our clients at least once a month to discuss their website performance, things learned from the previous month, and new ideas and tactics we’ll try for the following month(s).
So what do you plan on doing with your website for 2012? Anything more than what we’ve listed above? Share in the comments below. We’d love to dialog with you.
So we’re pretty excited about the upcoming year. It would seem as though this year flew by pretty quickly now looking back. We’ve learned so much about the design industry yet feel there is still way more to learn. We’ve learned and met a lot of you readers both online and in person and look forward to meeting more as the next year rolls in.
There’s a couple of reasons for the excitement. Aside from it just being a new year and a sense of renewal in life and business; we are expanding the content we’re going to be writing about in this blog. It will be a bit more personal, transparent, and more diverse. We’ve brought on a new intern and look forward to her contributions to the blog as well as the Design Theory brand. I won’t get into that too much just yet until we’re ready to officially introduce her. As for the personality, you’re going to hear a bit more about the team. Who we are and more of what we do individually to contribute to this firm. The transparency I think will be interesting. Giving you an in-depth look at what we really do, what programs and apps and tactics we use, and honesty on things we feel need to be said in terms of reviews and strategies.
Video interviews are coming! We’re going to get out there among our business partners and find out what makes them tick. What makes them successful, and what makes them stand apart from their competition. We’ll also be highlighting some firms that are doing it right in the fields of
IT and Technology
Social Media
Marketing
Design
and more
So we’d also like to hear from you. If there’s something you’ve been looking to get a real answer on that can help you and your business, feel free to ask us. You’d be surprised at the questions we get via email and phone from our clients each week that sometimes are similar between them. We’re hear to help!
