Virgin atlantic overbrand

Virgin Atlantic is an example or over branding or ego branding. "In isolation, these brand identities might do their work but the problem gets visible when they are placed side by side as shown here".

You tell me?

Logos that make you barf

If I offend, I cannot apologize. These logos really are bad. Thanks to my friend Paul Rapp, who sent me this link http://www.yourlogomakesmebarf.com/

Enjoy ;)

Logos for today's economy

My friend Darrin sent me these logos. Hilarious! Logos for the times. Enjoy.

Where in the world did Namaro go for $55 a month?

No, your GPS isn’t broken. Namaro’s still here. We’ve spent the last year exploring ways to use the internet to help our business grow and decided to go virtual. Technology is at the point where this is not only possible, but can actually help you make your professional & personal lives more efficient.

If you’re considering going virtual, here are a few things to consider for just about $55 a month.

How do you handle business calls with more than one office location?
We settled on Skype.com.We opened a business account for about $20 a month for international calls and set up phone numbers for each virtual office location ($30 a year per phone number). We purchased a Skype phone an option for Nadine (who’s on the phone all the time) to talk to clients when the computers are off.

So what do you get for this mere pittance?
- Free unlimited calls to other Skype numbers (skype-in)
- Unlimited international calls to non-Skypers (skype-out)
- Video calls or conferences
- Private and public chat
- Phone conference
- File and call transfers
- Voice-mail
- Call forwarding

It’s all a breeze. The sound quality is great. The savings are unbelievable. Give us a call at our new number 845 228 8858 (replaces 845-876-3009). Or, if your already on Skype, try us at namaroskype.

What if I need to send or receive a fax?
Set up an account with trustfax.com. We use the $29.95 a year package and you get 150 received pages and 50 Send pages. You can set up an account and receive a fax number in minutes. They notify you by email when a fax comes in, then you can download the file as you would any other email attachment. When you need to send a fax, log in to their site, enter the number, upload a file, and you’re done. Our new virtual fax number is 914 652-2470.

How do I share files with my colleagues?
Since we use Time Warner Cable for our internet access, we set up a dedicated IP address on one main computer for $10 a year. All job files are located on that main computer. He set us all up with Timbuktu software that allows us to access the main computer. It’s highly secure. No one else can access the computer without the precise IP address and password information.

How can we keep track of projects so that everyone knows what everyone else is doing?
There are several sites dedicated to online project tracking. We use BaseCamp.com. It costs about $20 a month. You can map out project milestones, assign tasks, create to do lists, send and store files, chat, create online presentations and post messages to all parties involved with the project. You get emails to keep you up-to-date on changes and check on the status of all ongoing projects anywhere you have an internet connection. And the best part about it is that your clients don’t have to pay for it.

Namaro's new contact info

Phone number is 845 228 8858
Fax number is 914 652-2470
Skype-in name is namaroskype
Twitter is NadineRobbins
www.namaro.com
Namaro.blogspot.com
nrobbins@namaro.com
mahearn@namaro.com

The lighter side: top 10 virtual office advantages

1. No more bad hair days
2. Suntan breaks instead of coffee breaks
3. Go to the Bahamas on the money you save from not paying rent on the office!
4. Live in the Bahamas & check the status of your projects while sipping a frozen margarita.
5. Be home to get your kids off the bus.
6. Work when you’re inspired—5 to 9—instead of 9 to 5.
7. You have access to the fridge. Ok maybe this is not an advantage.
8. Save on gas.
9. Your lengthy commute is a world record.
10. Afternoon delight.

NEF 2008 Year-To-Date Brochure

Our motto this year is to keep it simple. Clean, smart and clever design has more power in this noisy marketing environment. For this brochure, we took the iconic part of NEF’s logo, a house, and blew it up until you couldn’t recognize it on the cover. However, once you open the brochure the house is revealed. (Not giving all the answers to your reader on your brochure cover will entice them to open it up). NEF is offering new services that will secure their future in this business climate. They are getting back down to the core basics, a clean slate. A clean design, a fresh piece of paper and their logo creates a perfect metaphor.

Springwise

After a tough, old-fashioned winter season, it’s a good bet everyone’s ready for spring. Seemed like a good time to mention one of our favorite sites—Springwise.com. They report on new business ideas from around the world. Many of the ideas are nontraditional, many will inspire a reevaluation of your own business. Whether you’re a budding entrepreneur or a seasoned corporate exec, you’ll enjoy subscribing to their eNewsletter and reading about the hottest ventures.

Here are a few of their latest:
Hyperlocal news from the New York Times The Local, which was just launched by The New York Times, will feature posts by both NYT journalists and community members alike about day-to-day life in five neighbourhoods.

Taco truck with a Korean twist, fueled by Twitter Kogi BBQ serves Korean-style Mexican food from two trucks that are_always on the go to new locations in the LA area. To find out where to get their Korean taco fix, customers follow Kogi on Twitter.

Insurer alerts clients by txt msg when roads get icy As soon as warnings are issued about weather that could make driving hazardous, Dutch car insurer Onna-onna sends its clients a text message advising them to be extra alert or even stay off the road.

Loews Hotels adopt local farmers Loews Hotels recently announced a new 'Adopt-a-Farmer' initiative, aiming to support local farmers while providing customers with locally-sourced, organic and sustainable food.

Short-term mall space for startups and minipreneurs The Oakland Mall in Troy, Mich., is offering small startups and minipreneurs special leasing rates that make it easier for them to test the waters at the mall without entering into a long-term contract.

Free font of the month: Times New Omen

Logos that didn’t make it #5. Rate it. Buy it.

Website design: Does it really affect the bottom line?

Absolutely!

Examiner.com by Stephanie Orma
When startups and established businesses alike are looking to cut corners and save money, graphic design is usually at the top of their chopping block. But what these companies fail to realize is that good website design can literally mean the difference between being in the red or being in the black – it’s that crucial. Click for more.

Twitter Paid $6 or Less for Crowdsourced 'Birdie' Graphic

The bird on Twitter's home page, familiar to millions, is small, cute and fun, and implies communication and anticipation. One might say it's the perfect graphic for Twitter. Yet the company paid its designer at most $6, without attribution.

More at
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/03/twitter-designe.html

Graphic Content | Making Obama’s Marks by Steven Heller for the New York Times

Government-sponsored logos are nothing new: The famous blue eagle of F.D.R.’s 1935 Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.) was designed by the noted advertising art director Charles Coiner. But last week President Obama unveiled the logos for two economic recovery programs of his own: the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery (Tiger). Read more here.

Naive Graphic design

Naïve documents the extraordinary renaissance of Classic Modernism, from the 1940s to 1960s, in contemporary graphic design. For more click here.

Why should I work for nothing? I might as well not work, right?

Meet 99designs. One of the companies that is the demise of the graphic design industry as we know it. What do they do? In a nutshell, they put out a design project for spec designs, a gazillion designers across the world submit designs like a contest, and one is picked by a client for a pittance of a fee.

As a graphic designer, I will never do spec work. Period. Why? Because what I do for a living is worth something, it's my job and it's valuable. The implications of the services that 99designs offers, are devastating. Giving away creative talent will not provide a living and will not help careers to blossom. What it will do is kill an industry I love. It could kill creativity as a way to make a living for us right brainers.

For my critics, I offer you this to respond to comments like "get with the program": Your program sucks. I am young, progressive, open-minded, a tech geek and a passionate creative. But this is the "long tail" approach gone wrong.

Why should I work for nothing? I might as well not work, right?

How To Use Icons To Support Content In Web Design

Why use icons? Design is all about communication: it doesn’t matter how important or exciting the information that you’re sharing is if you fail to hook your visitors. When initially viewing a website, most users will first scan the page for visually interesting content, and only after something grabs their attention will they actually begin reading. Icons are a simple, effective way to draw users into the content of your website. Click for more!

Design by Paul Rand

Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. Design is so simple, that's why it is so complicated.

Paul Rand

2008 logo trends

2008 trends in logo design, a review: http://www.logoorange.com/logo-design-08.php

Facebook new Terms of Service. Beware.

For all you designers, photographers, writers, artists, businesses, etc..., if you are on Facebook beware of their new terms of service. According to consumerist.com, they own everything you put on their site. Oh boy!

Stop in the Name of Love!

Love is at the center of everything. Some of the most famous contemporary graphic designs revolve around the idea of love, or the heart symbol.

I Love NY. Well-known graphic designer Milton Glaser designed the I Love (using a heart symbol to represent Love) NY campaign in 1977 as a pro bono project for the NYS Department of Commerce. It has since been one of the most recognized and most knocked-off logos. After 9/11, Glaser updated the logo to I Love NY More Than Ever placing a black wound on the heart.

Virginia is for Lovers David Martin and George Woltz coined the slogan in 1969 to win the Virginia State Travel account. The first year after the slogan was released, travelers spent $800 million in the state. Today, Virginia still uses the slogan and is the 10th most visited state in the nation.


Quaker Oats In 1997, the FDA approved the first food-related health claim to Quaker Oats for the heart healthy benefits of soluble fiber in whole grain oats—reducing cholesterol and increasing potassium which leads to lower blood pressure. Quaker’s advertising campaign for its oatmeal and Cheerios products continues to capitalize on the decision to this day.

LOVE Sculpture, Pop artist Robert Indiana was inspired by a banner at a Christian Science church that said “God is Love.” He reversed the words in a painting to read, “Love is God,” and subsequently shortened it simply to “Love.” The first LOVE sculpture was made in 1966. At a time when the U.S. was at war in Vietnam, this simple icon became the signature symbol for peace.
Photo by Molly Ahearn | Love Park, Philadelphia

Open Heart Jewelry Italian jewelry designer, Elsa Peretti, is best known for the organically shaped open heart for Tiffany now worn by countless women around the world.

Rules of the Road: Love Your Clients

In these hard times, you want to do everything possible to hold onto your best clients.

GIFTS Everybody loves to open presents whatever the occasion. You don’t have to break the bank either. Treat your top 3 clients to a Valentine’s Day gift of those candy hearts with the sayings on them. Send a packet of seeds to celebrate the first day of spring. Mail a birthday card.

DISCOUNTS Money talks. Offer a discount on your products or services. Remember to add an expiration date. We’re currently offering to print 250 business cards or 250 post cards for free when you hire us to design them.

SHARE NETWORK CONTACTS Chances are that business is slow for your clients, too. Offer to assist by sharing contacts in your network, or forwarding information about your clients’ businesses to the people in your network.

GUEST BLOG Blogging benefits everyone in subtle ways. Search engines rank your web site higher the more you broadcast yourself on the internet. Invite your best clients to write guest blog posts for your blog as a way of building higher SEO ranking.

The lighter side: top 10 ways to get out of the dog house

1. Godiva for your diva. http://www.godiva.com

2. Been sleeping on the couch? Sprinkle a dozen roses over the bed and get invited back in. http://www.1800flowers.com

3. When you’ve got hot sand between your toes and a margarita in your hand, you can’t be pissed off about anything. http://www.expedia.com

4. Drop an Elsa Peretti heart into a glass of bubbly and your name will no longer be toast. http://www.tiffany.com

5. Cookies for your cookie. Careful not to leave crumbs or you’ll be hanging with Fido again. http://www.davidscookies.com/

6. If your honey is avoiding sugar, score big with sugar-free treats. http://www.diabeticcandy.com/

7. Nothing tugs at the heart strings more than a hand-written love note. http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/

8. Wrap a bottle of KamaSutra’s Oil of Love in sexy panties or shorts. http://www.kamasutra.com/

9. Candlelight, mood music, and a pair of flutes filled with quality champagne. Try the Heidsieck. http://www.piper-heidsieck.com/

10. Send the kids to grandma’s for Valentine’s weekend—it’s a Saturday this year!

Namaro Portfolio: Canon Host Print Solutions

The simplicity of curled pieces of paper overlapping can make for a fresh, lively and unique design that conveys the concept “converging” subtlely and effectively.

Free font of the month

The "Jules Love" font has a sort of Keith Haring feel to it; sweet without too much syrup. Download it.

Just remember, its for personal use only! H&M used it for a t-shirt design and didn't pay the designer for the use of it. See the news story

Logos that didn't make it #4. Rate it. Buy it.

Top 15 email marketing design & content tips

1. Keep it simple and short
2. Let users know what the email is about
3. Insert low resolution graphics to capture their attention
4. Have a call-to-action
5. Personalize it
6. Your corporate identity should drive the look and feel
7. Use the same font family for all the copy and limit the use of bolds and italics to headers and proper names
8. Underscore links and make them in a different color.
9. Avoid too many colors. They tend to fight each other.
10. Emphasize call-to-action so users will focus on it
11. Emphasize other content sparingly
12. Offer useful information
13. Make the content relevant to the user and the subject in your email
14. Use the same newsletter design template for at least 4 months at a time to benefit from brand familiarity
15. Target your best leads, email to a select few to get a better response

BONUS 16. For a better response, connect your content to events and mailings that are taking place.

Local Local newspapers: The Printed Blog

Blog driven publishing is born. The Printed Blog is the world's first daily newspaper comprised entirely of blogs and other user generated content. The Printed Blog seeks to change the way people share and interact with news from the world around them. They hope to play a pivotal role in reversing the fortunes of the sinking newspaper industry with this new media project.

We like the possibilities to potentially create local, local, local newspapers that inform, promote and celebrate what happens in our physical community or business environments.

How to get your name out there: New Facebook Page

At Namaro, we have dedicated ourselves to learning and applying social media. There are many ways to get your business or non-profit, or graphic design studio :), out there for all to see cost effectively. As an example, check out our new page on Facebook. Comment or contact us if you want to see more samples of social media communications that are applicable to you.

Four great Mac Icons

We love logos, icons, and symbols. Graphic design at its best. A trip down memory lane to celebrate 25 years of the MAC, see the article about 4 great mac icons.

The mac is 25 years old

In 1985, I was at a conference on British design in Aspen and I wandered into a small booth and saw my first Mac with what looked like a photocopy of Princess Diana on the screen. No one seems interested in this beige box but me. I stretched her face wide and waited a good 20 minutes to get a print out. My first taste of a mac. I was hooked.

I have been working on a mac for 23 years. I worked in Pagemaker 1.0 and my first mac cost me $10k. I struggled with Photoshop 2.0 until layers came in 3.0. I hated floppies and Syquest disks. I learned to stay away from Microsoft Word. I never touched a mechanical board or rubylith again :)

It seems hard to believe that it has been 25 years since Steve Jobs revolutionized the creative industry with a small box that said "Hello". It's pretty incredible.

Mac world put together a great article. Check it out.

Logos that didn't make it #3. Rate it. Buy it.

Got a bookstore? Know someone who has one? Give this logo a home :) Available at a reasonable price.

From the archives: So what is Graphic Design?

My definition of graphic design is to visually combine groups of information into a clever and original concept by using elements such as photography, illustration, and typography for the benefit of my clients. From the design of a subway map, to a logo, to a menu, to an annual report, graphic design creates a structure for information so the audience can better understand it.

Graphic design is how to creatively and visually connect client and audience. If done well, it stand out from the noise.

I have been a designer for corporate America since 1987 and graphic design has not been an easy medium to explain to my clients or convince them of the value. It’s not tangible like photography or copy writing.

Lately, it seems to me that graphic design, to a certain extent, has become dispensable and undervalued at a critical time in communication history. The creative presentation of information is as important as the content itself.

Writing this blog and sharing my experiences are my attempt to create a better understanding of graphic design, its value and my love for this creative medium.

Comments are welcome!

Portfolio: Check out our new website!

So for the past year, we have gone on and on about search engine optimization (SEO) and keywords. So why did we design our site in flash which doesn’t work so well with SEO or keywords? Simple. After analyzing the usage of our site over the past year we established that SEO and keywords didn’t work for our service-oriented business and 90% of people who visit our site go to the portfolio page.

We decided to make our site match the look and feel of the type of design we offer and match what our visitors want to see: just our work. But never fear, we still can use SEO techniques on our blog. It’s a perfect combo for our business.

Visit the new site and your comments are most welcome!

GET SET? Get Free business cards from Namaro

Get ready to take on the marketing challenges of 2009 by redefining your company’s personality. Send a confident message to your customers that you are ready for business by refreshing your existing logo or designing a new one.

Our process for logo design begins with careful consideration of what your company does, how you’d like your company to be perceived by your customers and how to differentiate your company from the competition. Armed with this key information, we will create several sketch designs, review your feedback and refine one sketch into your beautiful new logo.

Hire us to design or update a logo and we’ll print 250 business cards for you for FREE! Call 845-876-3009 or email us (Subject line: Free cards) at nrobbins@namaro.com

Font of the month: Ecofont

A font that uses less ink. It’s a free download. Very interesting concept. Go green baby!

The lighter side: Top 10 things to do with your spare time when you're unemployed

1. Get a Valium prescription
2. Go to Jersey for cheap wine
3. Form your own happy hour networking club (I already have one and you are welcome to join)
4. Become a comedian
5. Submit your cocktail recipes to nrobbins@namaro.com (Subject line: recipes)
6. Tell us what type of job your looking for and we will publish it on the blog (hey you never know? 700 contacts may know someone) send to nrobbins@namaro.com (Subject line: my job)
7. Perfect your Van Halen Guitar Hero imitation
8. Resurrect your love for the Macarena and dance with your sweety
9. Put that crazy business idea to work
10. Go to you tube and watch this "Evolution of dance" video

READY? Get a free 1 hour marketing consultation from Namaro

Go ahead and take your business in a new direction. In the face of these challenging economic times, it’s hard to know how to create an effective marketing campaign. At Namaro, we can give you a new set of directions.

Benefit from our experience. Set up an appointment with us, bring an overview of your current marketing communications and a set of your most important questions and we will help you develop a new road map for your business.

Take advantage of our offer for a FREE 1-hour marketing consultation. Call 845-876-3009 or email us (Subject line: Free 1 hour) at nrobbins@namaro.com

GO FOR IT. Get Free printed postcards from Namaro

Get set to send your message out there in more ways than one. You cannot limit your marketing to the internet. Your customers will respond positively to an eye-catching postcard. It will lead them to your online presence and it will also give you something to hand out, other than a business card, when you are networking.

Hire us to design a postcard and we’ll print 250 standard (4-1/4” x 6”) postcards for you for FREE! Call 845-876-3009 or email us (Subject line: Free postcards) at nrobbins@namaro.com

Green-minded font uses less ink

Green fonts are cool. I think this is a great idea. Please comment or share.

http://springwise.com/eco_sustainability/green-minded_font_uses_less_in/

Inside Out Magazine

Inside out needs your help. Please subscribe to keep them in business.

http://www.insideouthv.com/Subscribe/subscribe.html

A mystery

Not sure why an older post was sent out last night at 2am? Have to check in on this. Sorry for inconvenience. Happy new year!