Digital Design Advice

It’s that time of year again. The third annual Earth Hour is to take place on Saturday 28th March at 20.30, and it seems the organisers have stepped up a gear with both their online marketing campaign and branding.

Earth Hour was created by WWF and Leo Burnett advertising agency in 2007, and this year they have teamed up with Shepard Fairey (Famous for his “Obey Giant” a 1989 street-art project and the more recent “Obama Hope” campaign) to re brand for Earth Hour 2009 and you can immediately see Fairey’s influence in the design. Read the rest of this entry »

Hi, I love guerrilla marketing I think it is an effective marketing strategy because it is usually unexpected marketing that catches your eye and almost shocks you.

Having been around since the early 1980s it has proven it self to capture and engage peoples attention and be an inventive way to promote your brand. Guerrilla marketing can be used by large organisations or small start up companies. Read the rest of this entry »

This week I thought I’d take a look at photo manipulation, namely high dynamic range imaging (HDR) HDR os a way to ‘digitally develop’ photographs using tonal information contained within multiple exposures of the same shot.

I’m sure everyone has seen examples of HDR images around the web or used in adverts and movie posters. Why is HDR so desirable? A composite image can retain the interesting details from all exposure settings within one image.

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Hello,

When you start your initial design concept there are areas of the design that you don’t always consider initially, as the site is designed around what concepts the client needs to get across on the homepage.  Most websites follow the same page structure throughout having the nav and content positioned in the same place to maintain a consistent design throughout the site.  There are one or two exceptions to this consistent design where you are able to think outside the box and one of those is a 404 page. Read the rest of this entry »

With social networks popping up left right and centre at the moment, and every mogul in the industry saying that social media and social networks are the way forward, what makes a social network unique? When Myspace first launched back in August 2003 it was pretty much the only social network available, and it had a monopoly on the market up until September 2006 when FaceBook opened it’s doors to the general public. Many people said that it would never catch on the way that Myspace did, but in April 2008 FaceBook overtook Myspace to claim the Social Network crown. Read the rest of this entry »

With the Oscars out of the way with for another year and the Hollywood Glitterati having suitably patted each other on the back for a job well done, this week I thought I’d look at Movie Poster design. I’ve always been a big fan of the Japanese Film industry, and have been irked for many years about the poor quality remakes that have been released. (not really poor quality, just dumbed down for the mass market and not as good as the originals!)

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Hey Everyone,

Welcome back to DDA, we have an excellent post today with a few friendly tips about logo design. Logo design is, without a doubt, one fo the most important areas of design from a business point of view and if you’re good at it it can be both profitable and fun.

There are certain rules however to developing a good logo, especially if you want to provide value for a business.
Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve finally been dragged into the world of microblogging and signed up to Twitter. It seems to be the buzz word on everyone’s lips at the moment, crashing sites left right and centre with recommendations from Stephen Fry and Pete Cashmore the power of Twitter as a marketing tool is clear.

But so many companies aren’t using it to their full advantage. Whilst searching for people to stalk… I mean follow… I was amazed by the amount of businesses not capitalising on their twitter presence.

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Hello

I have always been a huge fan of encouraging design and just generally being creative from a young age, afterall this is where the future of design lies.

With the finalists of Doodle 4 Google in Ireland picked for each age group from juniors to 6th year students now is the time to vote.   Contestants enter from different schools within Ireland and then the competition (I think moves to English entries)

You can vote for your favorite on Doodle 4 Google online with the voting ending on Monday 16th February 2009.

Here are some that caught my eye:-

Age 5th/6th year

Evan O’Sullivan Glynn, aged 16

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Hello, I thought for a change I would look at some offline design in the form of brochure design.  It is  important to match your online and offline in quality of design and represent what you are trying to achieve.  I have seen some really good websites before and then been dissappointed when I received their brochure.    Receiving some folded A4 sheets of paper is not good brochure design.

I have found some great brochure designs for you and if you have come across any that you have seen leave me a comment with a link.  I really appreciate interactive and interesting brochure design.

The brochure below is a great use of illustrative photography showcasing Boundless’ core services.  It is also nice to see the designers have integrated into their design a functionality of a pocket folder for any additional information.

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