The Sales Fairy Has Been Good to Me!

The month of June has been an extremely busy one for me. Fortunately it has been due to several visits from the sales fairy! I'm not complaining, trust me, I loved every minute of it. I have had the opportunity to work with some really great shop owners on some terrific and very diverse array of design styles. I had a great time working with all of them and hope to show more in the next few days. Take a look at some of these great shops!

The Q Store was our lucky winner in our drawing on A Giveaway Everyday's Blog. I had so much fun working on her design as I got to see all of her beautiful Q animals.

Fabric Love is a great shop to find the fabrics you love at affordable prices. She has a wonderful assortment of brand name fabrics and she's super sweet. I loved working on this design as I have a love of fabrics and quilting so this one was right up my alley!

Above are some more great shops that I had the pleasure of working with. It's so much fun to take someone's thoughts and ideas and turn them into a reality. Look for more great shops and their new look coming soon!

Marketing Tips - Part 2 - Incorporating Your Design

You've got your banner and avatar, now you need to incorporate your look into business cards, address labels, stickers, product tags, thank you notes, invoices, etc. Some things to keep in mind when you purhase a banner or graphic from a designer...

Get the Original Files

Don't be afraid to ask for either the original files or a .svg (scaleable vector graphic) file. If you ever want to have the design incorporated into printed materials, you will need these files as they will allow another designer to rework the files in case the original designer goes out of business or does not offer these services.

Ask if You Don't Know

A lot of banners are made in Photoshop or similar image editing software. They're wonderful for creating images for the web, but not always for print. The reason for this is the difference between bitmap images and vector graphics, which is a whole separate topic, but basically the difference is bitmap images become pixellated if resized too much, vector graphics retain their clarity. Also, drop shadows, gradients and special effects done in these programs don't always print out the best quality either.

Print Color

Another thing to keep in mind is that print colors are not always the same as what you see on your computer. Computer screens, web and printers all have different gamuts for color. Which basically means the entire range of colors available on a particular device such as a monitor or printer. A monitor, which displays RGB signals, typically has a greater color gamut than a printer, which uses CMYK inks. When a color is "out of gamut," it cannot be properly converted to the target device; for example, to a different type of printer. So the colors may vary slightly on your printed items.

Keeping your look uniform will help your business 'brand'. If you have a banner that has one design, a business card with another design and stickers with yet another design, you may be sending the wrong signal to your customers. Coming up with a look that is unique to you is another step in marketing yourself as a business and not just a hobby.

Thanks for stopping by!