Design the Planet

Plantetary Thoughts

Laughter – The Cheapest Medicine

January 25, 2012 – 8:30 am

At Design the Planet we understand that the long-term success of any brand is dependent on the clear minds and healthy bodies of the employees representing it. Good companies know that their employees are their brand and clients perceive them through the interaction and attitude of their employees. At Design the Planet we know that having happy employees increases our sales.

One of my many tasks here at the Planet is to come up with creative ways for our team to interact, have fun and stay healthy. Recently, while searching for some imaginative ideas, I ran across this wonderful article by Andrew Tarvin called “101 Ways to Create Humor at Work”.

Along with take a nap at work and dance in the elevator, here are a few more of my favs:

  • Be Hularious: Hold a hula-hoop contest.
  • Be Inspired: Start off each day by watching an inspirational video.
  • Be a Storyteller: Pick a story from your weekend to share with others.
  • Be Happy for 60 Minutes: Organize a happy hour with your co-workers.
  • Be Original: Brainstorm your own unique way of bringing humor to work.

Bringing humor into the work place just might be one of the best investments you can make for yourself and your employees. Research shows that happy people are healthier people and laughter creates some mighty powerful brain-altering chemicals. In fact, if you were to buy all the chemicals created by a good laugh they would carry a pretty hefty price tag. And yet you can create these chemicals for yourself and your co-workers at no cost by simply engaging in laughter.

The chemicals produced by laughter have extraordinary positive healing effects on your body and mind.  They boost your immune system, improve your outlook on life and diminish symptoms of depression. Researchers have found that your state of mind has everything to do with the functioning of your immune system. By engaging in laughter, you can boost both your mind and your body.

But what if you can’t find anything to laugh about? Here are some ideas I’m working on: I posted a crossword puzzle on the refrigerator. Now when we take a coffee break everyone gathers around to figure out the clues. I’ve implemented spontaneous 15-minute “fun break” at least once a week – our first “fun break” we played a game I created. I call it the “Treasure Hunt Word Search”. Here are the rules:

  • Pick out a word that is 10 or more letters.
  • Draw the letters on paper and cut them out individually.
  • Hide the letters around the office (outside or inside).
  • Tell everyone how many letters they have to find.
  • Give them 15 minutes to find all the letters and unscramble the Word.

Read my blog post next month to find how Design the Planet continues to make our workplace healthier and happier. In the meantime, visit our Facebook page to see pictures of our latest venture into creative play and health through laughter and, while you’re there, post some of your own ideas for generating laughter at work.

So come on everyone, join in. Find ways everyday to get laughter into your life and work environment, even if it means being a little weird, it will mean a wealth of health.

By Kat | Posted in Design the Planet, Fun, Planetary Thoughts | Comments (0)

Search Engine Optimization 101

January 20, 2012 – 5:00 pm

Nowadays, getting to the top of the SERP (Search Engine Results Page)  means that you need to earn it.  Long gone are the days of tricking search engines, as they’ve grown better at detecting these tricks and their ranking algorithms are continually updated.  If there is a trick that works today, it may not work tomorrow. Using SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tricks may even get you penalized in some cases, resulting from your site being knocked down in the rankings or even removed from the search engine entirely.

So, how can you earn a high search engine ranking?  There’s an entire profession devoted to determining the factors that a search engine uses to rank pages, but there are two main factors that everyone should consider: “votes” and “on-page content”.

The content on your web page is a major factor used to rank web pages. So have really good content! Here are some tips to make sure your web page’s content will rank well:

  • Your site’s structure should make sense, even to a machine.  If your page has sections, make sure each page is in the correct section. If your page has event listings, make sure the listings are in the “events” section.
  • Your pages should link to each other in a way that makes sense.  If you run a restaurant website and you’re home page talks about pizza, link to your pizza menu using this text.  Don’t link to your content using phrases like “click here for the menu”.
  • Content on your website is easy to find.
  • For local businesses: Include your phone number and address on each page.  This will help you rank better for users who are in the city that you serve.

In the next post in this series, we’ll cover what “votes” are and how you use them to improve your search engine rankings.

By steve | Posted in Planetary Thoughts, Web | Comments (0)

Typography 101: Kerning and Leading

January 17, 2012 – 4:37 pm

Type designers use various tools to push text to an elevated level of design. This is a process that starts at simply typing letters on screen, then through adjustments with a trained eye, results in a perfectly crafted and thoughtful design that sometimes transcends mere typed language.

Two measures of adjustments used in typography are kerning and leading. These two aspects of typography are particularly important because their value can offer the greatest amount of customization to a group of text in order to achieve a desired look and feel.

Kerning is the process of adjusting the space between characters in a font, usually to achieve a visually pleasing result. Kerning differs from tracking which is the uniform adjustment of spacing applied over a range of characters. Very often a designer will take advantage of kerning to exploit the individual shape of a letter to create interesting visual relationships between other letters in a group.

Tighter kerning or tracking can compliment the overall shape of the word, forcing the viewer to see the word as a whole shape rather than individual letters. Tighter kerning can also help illustrate interesting negative spaces between letters, and other spacial relationships which can become a design element in itself.

Loose tracking gives a sense of airiness and openness. It brings more attention to the individual letter instead of the overall shape of the word. Loose tracking can also express boldness and expansiveness, commanding a large area to communicate an idea.

Leading refers to the distance between the baselines (bottom) of successive lines of type. The word comes from lead strips that were put between set lines. When type was set by hand in printing presses, slugs or strips of lead of appropriate thicknesses were inserted between lines of type to add vertical space, to fill available space on the page.

Closer leading fits more text on the page, but decreases legibility. Looser leading spreads text out to fill a page and makes the document easier to read. Leading can also be negative, in which case the lines of text are so close that they overlap or touch, creating a desired design.

There is rarely a time when a designer uses a software’s default values as the finished text. Creative use of kerning and leading can result in a variety of emotions and drama in type design. Kerning and leading are just a part of what develops into an overall type treatment that will successfully brand a business. When type treatments are consistent across a business’ branding, a visual continuity is achieved throughout products and services, providing the desired effect of the type to all aspects of branding.

Here are some inspiring resources and examples:

www.typophile.com
www.ilovetypography.com
www.smashingmagazine.com/tag/typography

By Ren | Posted in Planetary Thoughts | Comments (0)

3 Fonts You Should Never Use To Represent Your Brand

January 9, 2012 – 5:01 pm

With so many fonts to choose from, it can be a tedious task to find just the right font for a brand or branded document. There are different styles, characters, and variations to peruse, yet there are fonts that should never be used. Whether the font is being used for a logo or tagline, body copy for a printed brochure, content for your website or even an in-house document, the fonts below should be avoided.

#3 Curlz

Curlz is a font you see on invitations for events that are supposed to be fun and exciting, but its overuse has caused it to look silly and amateur.

#2 Papyrus

With its rough edges and antique look, you’ll notice Papyrus used in the massage and spa industry, for (Mediterranean) restaurants and menus, representing jewelry shops, and on organic food packaging. Papyrus has become so commonplace that it’s a poor choice for any company wanting to stand out.

#1 Comic Sans

Originally designed as imitation comic book lettering, Comic Sans is one of the most overused fonts created—there are even sites dedicated to banning the font. Comic Sans is childish, immature and never taken seriously.

The fonts listed above should never be used to represent your brand, but the list goes on… Click here for a full listing of fonts to avoid »

Why does it matter what fonts I use?
Choosing an unsuitable font makes your brand:

  • convey the wrong message
  • look unprofessional
  • illegible and unreadable
  • look too generic
  • confusing and unmemorable

What if I can’t find the perfect font?
Hire a design firm, because:

  • design firms have tens—if not hundreds—of thousands of fonts at their disposal
  • designers are aware of trends and fonts that may soon look dated
  • if a perfect font can’t be found, a custom font or type treatment can be created
  • design firms work hard to make sure your brand is unique and conveys the proper message

So, whether you’re flowing content into your website or typing up a document to be used in-house, refrain from using the fonts listed above and you’ll find yourself a few steps closer to a more professional, memorable brand.

By Ryan | Posted in Brand Marketing, Planetary Thoughts | Comments (0)

Visitors from Afar (Florida)

October 21, 2011 – 8:50 am

Yesterday 42 students from the University of Florida visited Design the Planet as part of their tour New Orleans design firms. Over about an hour and a half, the Design the Planet team toured them through the office and showed the students some of our work, did some Q&A, and then lead them through a group brainstorming activity.

We enjoyed having Florida visit us and look forward to hearing about their visit to New Orleans.

By admin | Posted in Planetary Thoughts, Planetary Updates | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Lunch at Fresco Café and Pizzeria

September 2, 2011 – 3:01 pm

The team enjoyed a rainy day lunch at Fresco Café and Pizzeria Uptown near Tulane & Loyola University.

By admin | Posted in Planetary Thoughts, Planetary Updates | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Links of the Week

July 19, 2011 – 4:44 pm

At Design the Planet, we’re always passing interesting links and resources between each other. Here are a few noteworthy links we’d like to share with you:

1. Your online presence, captured in a single QR code
There’s more and more talk of using QR codes these days. This short video shows a great way to put QR codes to use.

2. The Fold Exists but Does it Matter?
What do you think of “the fold” when it comes to websites? Are you a designer or strictly a web user?

3. iClip lite
A super handy widget that allows multiple clipboards for all your copy/paste needs. Especially useful when flowing content from a client or storing various links and images to reference throughout a project.

4. Five Copywriting Errors That Can Ruin A Company’s Website
A great article that discusses ways to improve your website and blog by focusing on quality content.

Some favorite tips:
• Set a “word budget”
• “A well-written category-level product page talks a bit about features, a little more about benefits and a great deal more about the experience.”
• Highlight your lead sentence
• Add some meta data
• Create a call to action

5. How to Make WordPress Easier for Clients By Removing Unnecessary Menu Options
This article explains ways to make WordPress more efficient for you and your clients by removing extraneous menu items.

6. A Graphic Design Primer, Part 1: The Elements of a Design
Even if you’re a pro at design, it’s necessary to re-review the basics from time-to-time. This refresher course contains lots of great examples to browse as well.

Noteworthy Resources:

7. Letter Count
Simple, but useful. Great for pre-tweeting and also includes character limits for various online tools, e.g., Google AdSense. The Word Counter is great for practicing your word budget too.

8. Convert Case
Ever get content from a client that’s in ALL CAPS? You can thank us later.

What interesting links/resources have you run across recently that you’d like to share?

By Ryan | Posted in Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , , , , , , | Comments (0)

Logo Design – Generating the Idea

July 12, 2011 – 12:00 pm

Logo ideas usually come from a practical source such as a business plan,
taking inspiration from the target audience and tangible attributes from
the product or service being branded. Sometimes the original thought is
a sketch by the client or their “artistic” 7-year-old family member.
However, the best visual branding designs pull from many unseen
influences. A good designer will pull from a variety of pop-culture,
life-experiences, and current events. This isn’t surprising, taking into
account that most designers are like a sponge when it comes to sources
for inspiration.

Professional designers shouldn’t be overly influenced by their personal
interests when considering a logo design. Designers get paid to solve
other people’s problems, not chase down our own artistic pursuits. On
the other hand, designers who become indistinct from business people run
the risk of losing a creative dominance, so finding a balance is essential.

Attempting to describe the process of logo design is similar to trying
to answer the question, “How long will it take to generate a good idea?”
Some designers wrangle with a visual branding project for almost a year
or longer. Other designers will have a workable solution in mind after
the first client meeting. Because timelines can be dubious, designers
learn to trust a creative method. Usually, this method starts with the
knowledge and appreciation for the project’s vision and context. Then
the designer draws from research, goal-oriented creative briefs, and
industry trends.

Good designers prefer to not touch a computer until the idea in mind is
mostly resolved and crafted, instead sketching dozens, up to hundreds of
thumbnails. Creating many ideas throughout the creative process can be
an effective way to reach a great solution, but quantity doesn’t assure
quality. Visually and conceptually refining the idea and/or initial
artwork will follow this period of brainstorming, providing a period of
careful evaluation and resolution before being considered for a logo
design option.

By Ren | Posted in Brand Marketing, New Orleans Logos, Planetary Thoughts, logo design | Tagged , | Comments (0)

The Creative Process from a Different Point of View

June 16, 2011 – 1:49 pm

Having an administrative background, I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to engage in the process that happens behind the scenes to create great design concepts. But, since coming to work for Design the Planet, I’ve had some first-hand experience at seeing the process in motion. It goes something like this:

When we get a new project, the first step is research and brainstorming. We look at a client’s competition, trends in their target market, what sets them apart, their history, their future, their current brand, and the one they aspire to become. When all this information is gathered a brainstorming meeting is scheduled. Everyone is given the basic scope of the project with the research information gathered and asked to bring his or her design ideas to the “table”. Whether a concept is hand drawn, printed, presented in text or verbally expressed, every concept is fully vetted, kneaded and molded into some fashion and no matter how bizarre or mundane received with equal enthusiasm. And yes, even I, the office administrator, am invited into the process. Once all the ideas have been fleshed out, they are worked through again and the basic concept (what says it best) begins to form. Once the basic concept is chosen, all of the various design elements that were brought to the table are gone over once again to see what needs to be fleshed out, eliminated or set aside as possible options. When the brainstorming process is done, our illustrators and designers head off to the drawing board to put all the ideas together and create a rough draft of the agreed upon concept.

Depending on the size of the project, several more meetings may be in store before the client is given 1-2 concept ideas for their own vetting process. Then, with the client’s input, it’s back to the process – fleshing out ideas and elements, what works, what doesn’t, colors, textures, photos, drawings, fonts, and styles – every detail is looked over carefully to ensure it’s place in the overall design and then, suddenly (that is suddenly after hours of labor), there it is, the finished product – whether it’s a website, a logo, a billboard, an advertisement or a box design – there we are all gathered around like new parents – oohing, ahhhing, congratulating each other on another job well done. Another design concept carried from conception to birth and handed over to its new owner.

As the celebration and congratulations are coming to and end… wait, what is that I hear, the phone is ringing, and yes, it’s another client, hey everyone, we got the contract … and we’re off on another adventure, another journey from conception to birth.

By Kat | Posted in Graphic Design, Planetary Thoughts | Tagged , , , | Comments (0)


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