Instagram is the social media platform of choice for many marketers and it shows no sign of easing up on its popularity any time soon. While it does seem fairly straightforward, especially for people that have been using social media for years, there are some unspoken Insta rules that can make or break your channel. When you make a mistake online, it can live forever. Thankfully most of you don’t have millions of followers that will instantly screenshot any embarrassing moments that may happen, but like any digital marketing platform, making an Instagram mistake can seem like an old-school public humiliation. When you are trying to grow your online influence via Insta, it is best to know those unspoken Instagram rules. Thankfully, we have our friendly social media marketing team here with a list of common insta marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. Using Low-Res Images If nothing else, […]
Creating a Captivating Logo
Great logo graphic design should do many things. It should transfer you to a good place, bring a smile to your face, remind you of great times you’ve had, all in the blink of an eye. There are tons of online services out there that offer dirt cheap design, sure you’ll get a passable logo for your business, but it won’t help build the brand and it won’t have the impact that your company needs. Essentially, brilliant graphic design should captivate the audience, but the big question is, how do you create captivating logos? Research It all starts with the why of it all. A really good graphic designer worth their salt will take account of all the outlying factors. What does the company do? What does the client envision? What has worked in the industry? What hasn’t worked? Why? A solid logo design starts with a thorough analysis of […]
The Perfect Recipe for Menu Design That Stands Out
We have been in the graphics industry for long enough, that we have graduated to the honour of being asked to do menu design for restaurants. But there are a ton of restaurants out there that need menus designed, why is it such an honour, you ask? Because, any restaurant, bar, or catering company that is looking to have their menu designed by a professional, is a meticulously planned and thought out establishment. How many times have you been to a random pub and complained about a poorly laid out menu or spelling mistakes throughout it? The really top-notch restaurant teams know the devil is in the details so they had better have those details right. That’s where we come in. We have designed some truly spectacular menus for some of Calgary’s most talked about restaurants, we have learned a few tips along the way that our lovely design team […]
How to be Productive Working From Home
Anyone that has worked with the talonX team for a while may have realized that we are not always in the office or maybe you haven’t noticed because it hasn’t affected our clients at all. The web design and marketing field are (obviously) highly creative. The team here is constantly collaborating and have created an environment where we are always chatting, joking, and developing concepts. Collaboration may be a necessary ingredient for our success, but without our work-from-home days, it would start to get in the way of our productivity. We hire skilled and passionate graphic designers, web developers, and marketing experts. How do they all manage to work seamlessly together, on-site or off? Communications is key. When we are working remotely, that means having a great instant messaging system. Chat a lot Working off-site is a great way for our staff to focus and get their work done with […]
Make the Most of Your Brand Guidelines
If you open your brand guidelines and start to feel overwhelmed or stifled, you are not alone. Interpreting and following these standards without comprising creativity can be tricky business. Believe it or not, there are a ton of formally trained graphic designers who were never taught how to properly follow guidelines, which means having to follow a defined framework is not second nature to them. To the uninitiated, brand guidelines can be decidedly tricky to decipher. Depending on the size of the company, they can be cumbersome and complex documents that can be unclear or contradictory (at least the shitty ones can be). If it is your first time working with guidelines or you just want a refresher, check out our tips for navigating them like a pro. Cover to Cover This may seem very simple, but you’d be surprised how many people don’t sit down, get comfy, and read […]
So You Want to Work in Web Design
You’re about to graduate from some form of post-secondary school or you’ve already crossed that stage with cap in hand and you’re trying to get your foot in the door at your first web design job. Sure, there are a few web related jobs out there, but there are tons of people coming out of school with the same skills and qualifications you have. We are getting to the point where having a really killer design portfolio just isn’t going to be enough, you are going to have to find other ways stand out in a sea of applicants. So, the question remains, what can you do to set yourself apart from your competitors? Round Those Edges It always pays to be a well-rounded person. Communications is an all-encompassing field. It can literally be about anything and everything. You may not think of being a web designer as being a […]
Green Light – Tips for Getting More Web Traffic
If I had a dollar for every time a client said they wanted to build a really cool website that everyone will want to visit, I would be a very rich woman. Unlike Field of Dreams, with a website, just because you build it doesn’t mean they are going to come. You could have the coolest, smoothest, fastest website ever but unless you are actively driving traffic to it, no one will see it. If I had another dollar for every time a client said they wanted to ‘drive traffic to the website’ I would never have to work again. Why does everyone want to drive traffic? Because your website is the best digital conversion tool there is, so let’s help you get people to visit! Get Social After Facebook’s super fun announcement January 11, 2018, that they are tweaking their algorithm to downgrade businesses in viewers newsfeeds, it is […]