Green screen or Chroma Key technology has been around for years with many people seeing it as something exclusive to big budget Hollywood productions. While it is certainly the case that these productions are top of the class in green screen technology; increasingly companies are using it to create professional, eye catching and entertaining videos. Vloggers, videographers and marketing companies are all using this powerful tool and this article will explain just how easy, effective and affordable it is to use.
Green screen or chromakey allows us to drop a subject, be it an actor, talking head or product into whatever foreground or background you would like to use. This setting can be a still image or video from your shop floor, a digitally generated environment or a creative commons video or any other visual you could think of. Green or blues screens are used because we are not green or blue! These colours do not match any naturally occurring skin tones or hair colours, which means that the subject can be isolated from the solid background and a new background dropped in to replace it.
The most common use for a green screen for marketing purposes is to put a subject in an attractive, appropriate and controllable environment. To do this a green screen is set up behind the subject and is lit completely independently. This is an important point and one that is often overlooked, videographers and photographers will tell you that lighting is one of the most important parts of a good shoot and this goes doubly so for green screen photography. The subject needs to be lit suitably and should be positioned such that they do not cast a shadow on the screen.
Using two diffused light sources positioned behind the subject helps you get an even light on your (hopefully unwrinkled) background and cuts down on the possibility of shadows from the subject playing havoc with colour keying in post-production. I can hear you saying now that “I am not a professional photographer! I don’t have diffused studio lighting! Where am I going to get a green screen anyway?!” You can buy a green screen kit on Amazon for around $100 which contains everything you will need to make sure your footage has a nice, flat, crisp background which will make the next part of the process a dream. If you don’t want to spend the $100, any material of a similar shade to the commercially available screens will do as long as you light it evenly and independently from your subject.
Now for the fun part; taking your subject and dropping it into your ideal background. To do this you will need to use any of a number of excellent software packages available such as After Effects, Premier Pro, Final Cut Pro or DaVinci Resolve to mention just a few. Some of these require some investment of time and money to use effectively but all achieve more or less the same result. Using the in-built features of these programs, it is possible to “key out” the green colour and place your subject in that beautiful background you want.
Image credit: https://www.videvo.net/video/woman-playing-vr-on-green-screen/7819/
There may be practical reasons; it might be impractical to shoot a marketing video on your shop floor as you may not want to interrupt workflow or maybe it is just too noisy. In this case you could shoot some background shots of your shop and superimpose that well recorded, uninterrupted green screen footage of yourself explaining just why your processes are better than your competitors.
Or perhaps you have creative reasons for this shoot; you might want to show your product or spokesperson in an exotic or even CGI background. For the former you can use creative commons video from any of a number of fantastic stock footage websites. The latter requires a little more work but the chroma keying procedure is the same.
Image credit: https://www.videvo.net/video/rotating-globe-with-green-lasers/1634/
https://www.videvo.net/video/cartridge-glitch/4213/
And then crucially, there are financial reasons. In connection to the previous two points there are substantial cost savings to be made through green screen. Not having to travel with a crew to external sets or locations and not disrupting your staff are both clear examples.
TLDR: Green screening technology is an effective, affordable and fun way to make your next marketing video. It can allow you to add visual impact creatively to your scene for a very limited budget. Make a plan, give it a try and get creative!
Having friends or family members get engaged can be a really celebratory time for everyone. If you’re looking for a way to express your joy for their new status, there’s no greater or more fun way than with a bridal box subscription. A bride to be box that helps them kick off this new aspect of their life with cute gifts and surprise packages that multiply their joy and helps lessen the stress of wedding planning. Below are my go to bride to be boxes.
The Miss to Mrs box bridal subscription box is priced at $35 to $39.99, depending on your chosen subscription. This choice is pretty unique in that, each subscriber gets a completely different box, designed with the theme of which part of the wedding planning timeline your bride is at. Whether it’s the beginning of the wedding planning stages, engagement box for the engagement stage, or the honeymoon stage.
With a price tag of $35 to $39.95, depending on your chosen bridal box, The Ring Boxes are a great choice if you believe in supporting small businesses. This company supports a huge number of small and upcoming businesses. Another great aspect is that they deliver worldwide. Each box filled with trendy products that brides can use before, during, or even after their marriage.
For the sum of $70, you can equip your bride to be with everything that she will need to stay organized and also stay excited before her big day. The BoxfoxHappily Ever After box has a number of features, including a wide variety of boxes for bridesmaids gifting’s too. Your bride could select a customized Build a BOXFOX suite gift, or pre-curated boxes for her gals.
With the Bridal Showered in Love box, your bride will receive a myriad of planning effects, cute keepsakes and luxurious goodies. All of this from an $85. This is also a good choice if you have any philanthropic interests, as 10% of the proceeds from the box go to Bridal Showered in Love box partner, Wish Upon a Wedding.
At an average of $44.95 per box depending on your choice, the Something New Bridal Box is one that arrives with hand-picked, quality products for your bride. Each bride box filled with beauty, décor, and planning essentials as well as apparel for the enjoyment and excitement of your bride. All products full-sized and available in monthly bundled deals.
If you want something even more intimate, then you could go for The Bride Box priced at $35. Your bride will receive themed gifts from very unique and carefully chosen wedding vendors. Each box will also contain useful advice for the wedding planning process. What is not to love?
A perfect choice for a summer wedding, the Wish & Pink Style Me Pretty box centers its theme around the summer roses. Your bride will feel romanced and loved with these boxes of luxury products. Pamper your bride to be with this wedding box that keeps every important detail in mind. Each box packed with love and expertly curated with extra care and attention to detail, at $120.
We spent good time during COVID-19 to create the most popular list of 30+ web tools and services.
Find out more about Creative Tim, the fastest growing developer of UI Kits, templates, and dashboards, about 24x7WPSupport, the full and complete service for WordPress websites, about 48hourslogo, the most popular service for launching logo design contests, and much more.
Creative Tim is a super popular developer of high-quality UI kits, templates, and dashboards.
On their website you will find tens of free and paid themes, super bundles for each technology, elements, sections, and much more.
You will be impressed by the quality of these products, including the free ones, and by the support experts that always willing to go the extra mile.
Check Creative Tim and pick what you need, you will save important time this way.
Whenever you need a gorgeous logo, made by a real designer, use 48HoursLogo. This platform will help you launch an affordable logo design contest for only $29.
You post a design brief in a few seconds, and you will receive over 20 gorgeous logo concepts to choose your favorite. If you find the one that you like, you will pay the prize of $99 to the designers.
It is that simple.
If you are looking for a super digital marketing and web design agency focused on WordPress, stay and read more.
UPQODE is a customer-focused quality-driven & web design agency, present in 11 cities, and on the market since 2014.
They are experts in WordPress and they will help you with web design and web development, with the maintenance of your websites, with managed WordPress hosting, and even more.
Discuss the details of your next project with UPQODE.
Total is a super WordPress website, loaded with everything you need, including: 80+ builder modules, 40+ pre-made demos, 500+ styling options, a native WordPress customizer, a drag-and-drop builder and even more.
Everything you need is included in Total; you won’t spend money on additional plugins or extensions.
Creating gorgeous and unique websites with Total is simple and fast.
Check Total.
Codester is a huge marketplace where designers and developers will find thousands of themes, app templates, PHP scripts, codes, and super discounts for lots of items.
Browse it and pick what you need.
Dr. Link Check will help you identify the bad links that your website has in just a few minutes.
Write your website address and click a button, this is everything you have to do to receive a detailed report about the bad links from your website.
Get rid in minutes of bad links, everybody hates them.
Bonsai is a dedicated invoicing software that is used by tens of thousands of freelancers and agencies with huge success.
Being built from scratch for these niches, it is very efficient and fast, and it has all the features you would want to have: automated invoices, global payments, and much more. You can even create your own web design invoice template.
Start for free.
FunctionFox is a leading provider of Timesheets and Project management software for remote creative teams worldwide. Created by an ad agency for advertising agencies, graphic designers, PR, digital, marketing firms and in-house creative teams. FunctionFox is loved by small firms and Fortune 500 companies worldwide for being easy to use, the 5-star service and free expert advice. Easily handle multiple jobs, assign tasks, create to-do lists, and manage resources, including remote workers. Boost your productivity and profitability get your free demo today at https://www.functionfox.com/mekanism.
Mobirise is the most complete website builder, being loaded with over 3,000 awesome website templates, with stunning sliders and galleries, engaging forms and popups, and even more.
It is a piece of cake to build awesome websites with Mobirise, try it.
Goodie is an affordable and professional design to code web development service, mostly used by graphic designers that need a reliable partner, and by customers that need simple websites and email templates.
Get in touch with Goodie, that always go the extra mile for their customers.
To create outstanding products, you need more than just an idea. You need powerful prioritization, clear roadmaps, and collaboration. This is what airfocus will do for you.
The software is loaded with tons of features that will help you. Register for the free trial to see it in action.
Ah, and don’t forget to check their glossary of product management and business terms, it is the most complete in the world.
MailMunch is a brilliant landing page builder that you can use to create unlimited landing pages and squeeze pages.
You will find included a simple to use drag-and-drop landing page builder, that you can use to create any layout you want in just a few minutes. It is simple and quick, and you don’t need any special skills or experience.
Use the fastest growing landing page platform to increase conversions by up to 400%.
Unlayer is the perfect email editor and page builder for SaaS, that you can easily embed on your website. Let your website visitors create superb and engaging landing pages directly from your website.
Sign up now.
XStore is the ultimate package of plugins that you need to create a store that stands out of the crowd.
You will get included the following plugins, worth over $300:
Make a store that stands out of the crowd with XStore, it is a simple mission.
Zento is the future in eCommerce, being the most advanced platform built on Mangento2. Use it to sell like a pro and to create a store that stands out of the crowd.
Find out how it works.
Icons8 Stock Photos is the resource of images for creators. Based on machine learning and professional photography, it goes from a traditional stock photo library to a creative community. Use images with models of different ages, nationalities and body types, photos of various objects and backgrounds. Also, you customize photos together with other creators, just like developers do on GitHub. The photos are free for a link.
How many hours you lose each month for collecting content and files from your clients? I bet that you lose at least 10 hours if you have lots of projects. How much is worth an hours of yours? Do the math and calculate how much money you lose each month.
If you want to save money and time, use Content Snare. This powerful tool will automatically get content and files from your customers, in your place, after a simple customization. It is super simple to configure it; you won’t spend over 3-4 minutes.
Start a free trial to see Content Snare in action. Get your life back to normal.
Quanzo WordPress theme features a mobile-friendly layout that would provide for an eye-catching presentation of your portfolio on the screens of handheld and desktop devices. It contains 11 homepage demos styles and a series of ready-to-go blog layouts. Thanks to the full compatibility with WooCommerce, you can start selling your unique digital and physical products right on the pages of your site. The theme is integrated with the Elementor page builder. Use its intuitive visual interface to apply quick changes to the theme’s layout. The theme features full integration with social media options. It also includes a collection of working forms that will let you establish better contact with your audience.
HelpJet will do something very cool for you, it will automate your customer support.
It is the most popular and efficient knowledge base software that you can easily incorporate on your website, with no skills and no experience at all.
Create wonderful FAQ and help customers find quick answers for their questions, without submitting support tickets.
8b is a powerful, yet super simple to use website builder, that is packed with everything you need to create engaging and converting websites.
You want a website that stands out of the crowd? Then 8b is for you.
Try it.
Impacto Patronus WordPress theme is intended to become a quick starting point for crowdfunding, petition websites, activist, social campaign, contemporary social movement websites. It’s based on the fully responsive framework that is enhanced with additional customization options. The theme is fully editable and comes loaded with the intuitive drag-and-drop Elementor page builder. This is the ultimate choice for crowdfunding campaigns. Thanks to the compatibility with the Give Donation plugin, the theme lets you start accepting donations by means of your site. You may feel free to customize the front page by means of 8 pre-designed homepage skins. A wide choice of custom widgets, shortcodes, and inner pages make it possible to bring your site online in a matter of days.
Whenever you decide to launch a new blog or update the existing one, Topper WordPress theme should come to your liking. This is a usable web design that would enhance your media-related web site with an extra level of readability. The theme is intended to be modified without any design or coding skills thanks to the compatibility with Elementor. Additionally, you can work with pre-designed homepage layouts and inner pages. There is also an option to customize the header and footer areas of your site with the drag-and-drop editor. In a word, whatever element of the theme’s design you would like to edit, you can achieve this using the advanced customization options from the download pack.
SuperbWebsiteBuilders.com intends to offer multiple reviews and comparisons of the most popular and feature-laden website builders. Separate section is devoted to the reviews of trusted hosting providers, which are also highly appreciated by website users - both newbies and web design professionals. Each review contains general info about the system, its merits and demerits as well as the list of main features that make it prevail over the competitors.
GraphicSprings.com offers a very simple logo design solution. Their easy-to-use onboarding process and interactive design app lets you create your own logo in minutes. You can also select from thousands of professionally designed vector graphics to get started. When you are finished you can download your files instantly.
So, you want a super creative and unique company slogan right now, but you don’t have money to spend. Then Logaster – free slogan maker is the right solution for you.
The slogan generator is fast and efficient, and the process is simple and straightforward.
Give it a try, Logaster is free to use.
To create high engaging and converting quizzes and surveys is super simple, you only need the right tool. Its name is Opinion Stage- Quiz Maker.
It comes loaded with tons of features and deep customization options. Everything you need can be done with this quiz maker.
And what is even better is that they have a free plan.
Sign up.
uKit is one of the most popular ready-made website builders. Highly rated by its loyal customer base and Internet critics alike. One of the strongest tools for creating an efficient website without any programming skills. With a convenient widget system and a drag-and-drop editor, the creation of a website has never been easier! You can try it out for 14 days for free.
InvoiceBerry is a simple to use, smart, and efficient invoicing software, being highly popular among small businesses and freelancers.
Use it to create professional invoices, to track expenses and payments, to create detailed reports, and much more.
Sign up for the free trial, no credit card required.
stepFORM is a novel service that lets you entice the audience with conversational forms, quizzes or surveys, and increase conversion rate and behavioral metrics. It’s so easy to use that anyone can handle it. The platform has so many features that let you accept instant payments, grow your SEO parameters, get and send email notifications, connect Google Analytics and so on.
Pixpa is a simple website builder but one that is doing its job extremely well.
It is focused on creating an all-in-one website: store, blog, and client gallery. It has everything you need included: gorgeous templates, a drag-and-drop builder, a friendly and intuitive interface, and much more.
Sign up for free.
Have a project in mind? Want to check if it’s workable or not? Test your ideas with the uLanding one-page website builder. It’s perfect for marketers and business owners, newbies and pros. Select a template and customize it. Set up SEO and Google Analytics, integrate your website with amoCRM and publish it. Try out the platform with a free trial period and see for yourself.
You want superb and high performing pictures for your website and social media channels but you lack design skills? No problem, Fotor is the most popular solution that will help you create awesome pictures in just a few minutes.
The platform is loaded with pixel-perfect and engaging pictures that you can modify right away and create high-converting content.
Check Fotor.
Every time you think of switching from WordPress to Wix, consider using the assistance of WordPressToWix.PRO experts. This fully-automated platform was created with the needs, requirements and objectives of web designers in mind and, thus, it guarantees smooth and easy website assets transfer. The team of qualified web developers practices individual approach to each and every client to come up with personalized website transfer offers.
WrapPixel is used by almost 200,000 creatives, being a popular place to get admin and dashboard templates, and UI kits, built on top of Bootstrap, React, Vuejs, and Angular.
Browse it and pick what you need.
Looking to quickly add a moderated group chat for live Q&A and web events on your website? With RumbleTalk you can do it in less than 2 minutes, and without any coding skills or any experience.
The tool is loaded with very cool features.
Sign up for free and see it in action.
WhatFontIs is a free software that will identify any font (both free and paid; it is the only system so powerful) from any image, in 40 seconds and 3 easy steps.
Its database has over 600k indexed fonts and it works with all font foundries, including Google fonts.
Upload the picture, crop it if necessary, write down the font characters that the software identified, and right after you will get all the info you would expect and also more:
Use WhatFontIs, it is free.
37. pCloudy
pCloudy is a cloud based continuous testing platform which can be used remotely for testing from anywhere and anytime. It implements end to end continuous testing. It supports the testing of Real time Android and IOS devices. With more than 5000 device browser combinations, it can perform testing over multiple simultaneously. It also works on futuristic technologies like AI and predictive analysis.
Conclusions
I suggest you read more about these solutions and try them. All of them will make your life easy and help you automate your business in a way or another.
Let 24x7WPSupport handle all your WordPress issues, WhatFontIs to identify fonts from any given picture, Creative Tim to help you with the best UI Kits in the market, and so on.
Get more time for your hobbies or so you can handle more customers.
Are you searching for efficient but not expensive wedding video editing services? The popularity of wedding videography is growing every day. More and more couples are hiring photographers and videographers to capture the happiest moments of their Big Day.
As a result, there is a demand for outsourcing wedding video editing companies. In this review, we’ll talk about 5 different platforms that offer services for busy wedding videographers.
Graphic designer working on computer in creative office
Price: The minimum cost is $89.
Services: Basic Level and Additional Services (Every Next 30 Min + 60$, Up to 50 Photos Adding + 50$, Animated Text/Titles Adding +50$).
Average turnaround: Individually discussed.
FixThePhoto is a professional video editing service for beginners and experts who don’t have time for post production. A friendly team of photo and video editing specialists efficiently performs a wide variety of manipulations with any raw clips.
FixThePhoto is a reliable wedding video editing service that guarantees excellent results at affordable prices and fast. They accept any type of file for video editing. You can shoot with any device including camcorders, DSLRs, tablets, smartphones, etc.
If you want to add a soundtrack to the footage, you can send your audio or entrust FixThePhoto professionals to select the right music. They have a huge archive of audio files that are copyright free. The team will stabilize your wedding videos, enhance colors and adjust them according to your style and modern trends. You can also order adding transitions and titles to your footage.
Fixthephoto has been in this industry for over 15 years. Experienced specialists monitor the development of modern techniques and methods of video editing and use them in their workflow.
They provide an excellent discount system for customers. You can save from 15% to 30% when ordering wedding video editing for more than $1500.00 - $3000.00.
Price: Price starts from $189, FREE Quote round the clock.
Services: Highlight, Feature, Full Length.
Average turnaround: From 1 week to 15 days.
This video editing team can improve video in various styles from classic clips to specialized projects such as cinematic storytelling or documentary. All specialists have been working in this field for more than five years. The studio has over half a thousand professionally-edited videos.
Despite the experience and good results, we believe that the service is overvalued and the price is very high. For this type of standard wedding video editing, it took too much time to complete the order.
Price: Starts from $80, they require 25% prepayment of the total cost.
Services: Newlyweds, re-edit existing videos, wedding Filmmaking.
Average turnaround: About 30 days.
This video editing company has vast experience in working with various projects. The only but the biggest minus is the time they spend to complete your order.
ViddEdit’s services are too expensive for such a long turnaround. They hear your wishes, take into account your personal style and all preferences to produce average quality videos.
Price: You pay $12 per hour for basic video editing.
Services: All types of video editing.
Average turnaround: From 10 days up to 30 days.
This service belongs to the Flatworld Solutions network of websites. Cheap but not high quality. The employees of the VideoCaddy team, despite their experience in editing a wedding video, continue to develop their skills and expand their knowledge. You can be sure of their ability to cope with any tasks but not in the best way.
Price: Min price is $351. You have to pay 50% as the prepayment for the digital file. Sending a hard-drive by mail will cost $20.
Services: Short and full-length videos.
Average turnaround: From 10 days up to 30 days.
WeddingWorkflow is considered to be one of the most expensive video editing services. The team includes cinematographers, video editing specialists, and production managers.
Their wedding video editing workflow is not long and the results are great if the price doesn’t scare you.
Wedding ceremony at the beach
If you still doubt the need to use online wedding video editing services, we suggest you check some reasons why it can be a smart decision.
We’d like to note that hiring an editor or videographer will be more expensive than entrusting video editing to online services. An average wedding video editing price is lower as the manipulations are less expensive. Since the company specializes only in online video editing, it is quite cost-effective.
Professionals can easily cope with editing wedding videos and make your footage perfectly balanced and eye-catching. An experienced team will use their knowledge, creative techniques and unique ideas to make your videos look breathtaking.
Modern technology allows you to record great wedding videos even without a professional videographer. You can save a lot of money if you capture everything yourself.
If you have footage shot by your friends or relatives with a GoPro, smartphone or other device, you can still get great videos. Send your materials to pro video editing firms and you will be pleasantly surprised with the results.
As a rule, a draft version of the finished video is sent to customers in 2-3 days. Online wedding video editing takes less time than traditional footage editing services.
In this wedding video editing services review, you will definitely find a suitable option to get edited marriage clips in the shortest possible time. If you have a rush order, you can additionally discuss the deadlines.
A video editor, who will work on your footage will learn all the details, your requirements, and preferences. Therefore, you can be sure that you will get what you want. Experts with extensive experience in video editing business will offer you their ideas and give professional advice.
The opportunity to have free revisions will give you more confidence in the company. You will be satisfied with the final video. If you have any questions or requirements after viewing the draft videos, we will make all the adjustments very fast.
Thanks to excellent communication, you get what you need. You pay the full cost for wedding video editing only when you get the result you want.
Designing a website can be fun for some, yet seem tedious and unimportant to others. This is how we get the difference between well-designed and badly designed sites. You can see who put in more effort into the visual appeal of their website, and who simply wanted some mild version of an online presence.
With the modern age of technology and the digital-based lives which many now lead, the visual design of a website has become a much more important factor to consider, and ensuring that your website is visually appealing can create a much better visitor to customer conversion rate. So what are the exact reasons for great visual website design?
While the phrase “don’t judge a book by its cover” may have some great teachings morally, when it comes to visiting a website, in most cases, people will do exactly that - judge the credibility of the website based on the way it looks. First impressions matter, and the design of your website plays a major role in the way that people perceive your brand.
The first impression is often the deciding factor as to whether they will stay on your website or look elsewhere, so designing your website well will provide a better chance for you to retain customers and create a lasting impression. Other than that, when it comes to the visual design of a website, you need to consider that not all of your customers have access to fast internet, which can increase loading times and potentially lead to client loss. A study by Internet Advisor showed that only 71% of American households have high speed internet.
On the note of retaining customers and brand credibility, another aspect which will improve your chances of actually keeping visitors interested is consistency. Bad websites are inconsistent with brand messages, as well as are often inconsistent in terms of the physical design; you know, all the fonts and colours? All that stuff. When you are trying to portray your brand as consistently as possible (to deliver a brand personality which resonates in everything that you do), this, of course, should also be reflected on your website.
It not only feels great to create a consistent brand image, but customers will feel familiarity when visiting your site, allowing you to build trusted relationships and give them comfort when interacting with your brand. Brand consistency has always played a big part in success for brands, this isn’t anything new, the same concept just needs to be applied digitally as well.
Usually, well-designed websites go hand-in-hand with great navigation. When users visit your website, they want a clear view of where they need to go, to get what they want from being on the website. And they want the process of actually getting what they want to be simple and unobstructed.
A well-designed website will offer them an easy way to find where they are going, and get them there without anything getting in the way. If a user has to search for too long through multiple different pages of your website just to try and find something simple, chances are they will leave and look elsewhere. (Have you started to notice the pattern? Good design = good user retention, bad design = users leaving your website).
On the note of navigation with good design, we should point out that creating a good website design is also knowing when to stop designing. You don’t want to over-design to try and stand out as much as possible, as this can often create a complicated environment for users to navigate and again, they will probably leave your website. As we said before, the route to where they want to go on your website should be clear and easy to find, with nothing stopping them from getting there quickly and efficiently.
On top of the actual interactions with your website, there are many design elements and practices which can actually affect whether or not your website is even displayed to users. This is something which will be very important from the get-go, and will determine how difficult your fight for visibility will be in the future. There are a few different things which can affect SEO strategies and your site’s statistics but, for the purpose of this article, we’ll look at the importance of two website design aspects which affect it: design elements and code.
Firstly, web design elements and practices have a direct effect on the way that you will be publishing content onto your website. This will obviously determine the interactions which your website has with search engine software and how this software will index your site. So design elements therefore play a role in determining if your website is even seen by users at all, let alone their actions when interacting with it.
Secondly, the code of your website also needs to be considered. To put it simply, your website code needs to be SEO-friendly as it has a direct impact on SEO indexing. When you choose a web designer, make sure that they understand the importance of SEO-friendly code. In most cases, those who understand this importance will also be able to design a good website for you, but be sure to do your research first just in case.
Alex Williams of Hosting Data found that changing colors makes a huge difference. On his blog he experimented with changing font colors, background images and even the icons on various buttons. Results showed anywhere from a small 3% change to a 40% change with button size and icon having the biggest results.
As you can see, great web design plays a big role in both customer retention as well as SEO. Great web design not only allows you to deliver a consistent brand message that people can trust, but gives your website a better chance of actually being found in the first place. While some might look the other way if your website is designed badly, in most cases, people will not appreciate an outdated or visually unappealing design. So, try to do the best that you can when strategizing for web design. It may seem unimportant to you individually, but when it comes down to it, well designed websites are the ones that thrive in the digital age in which we live.
Branding and logo design, in particular, can tell a lot about business and even define its success in the future. Hopefully, most entrepreneurs have accepted it and got away from the idea that a font is a logo. Instead, they find themselves more and more demanding looking for that perfect visualization of a brand, company, and its values. And that is the good news.
The bad news is that I still meet people who don't have a clue where the design for a logo comes from. Is it from a stock website? Then how do they find the one they need? Is a freelancer or a design studio to elaborate it? But will this logo be worth the money?
Apparently, my best solution remains LogoAI, logo maker service that deliver quality design assets, along with client support when necessary and intuitive UX. No need to look for a font, emblem, or color palette as all the elements are already provided.
Let's say you are an IT company focusing on outsourced coding services, and your goal is to show off your professional approach, the team of experts, and a deep understanding of the tech market.
After you've entered your company's name, slogan, and the keywords describing it, you get a whole lot of variants that might be a good fit. So, before I make my choice I've scrolled through over a hundred variants.
Hint: you may check the ready-made logos to get some inspiration or pick a ready-made template. I've gone through the Internet category, which has helped me realize I want my logo to be monochrome.
This AI logo generator allows editing the fonts, colors, logo marks as well as different layouts. Since I'm mostly bothered by the supportive font, I've started with this one.
LogoAI comes with ten fonts categories, each featuring numerous types, so there is what to choose from. Though I found it quite tricky that the first image displays your current logo, and to check the alternatives, I have to scroll right. I'd prefer to have live modifications.
I've finally picked one of the handwritten fonts for my slogan. Fixed the font size and spacing (that was easy). I also checked the premade color palettes since there are pretty nice variants to give a try to.
And just before I was about to complete the logo, I tried a different layout and found it a more winning solution.
It involves many components. Some of them aren't even physical, so you're unlikely to design them in an AI logo maker. The rest includes your business card, templates for documents and presentations, social media posts — and even the mockups with your branding elements that you can use in printing products or as a part of your website design.
For some of these, like Word and PPT templates, you only have to pick a template and download it for further use. For others, like the signature or business card, you can follow the customization process, slightly similar to the one for the logo constructor (but frankly, I found it more straightforward and enjoyable).
For the business card, color modifications are available right as you are choosing a template. For the rest, like moving the objects or editing the texts, you have to edit them separately.
I might have told you that all your branding wanderings will be permanently attached to a single app, like LogoAI or any other. But they won't. In this case, there are brand guidelines available.
The brand guidelines include the information on how you can customize your logo and locate the logomark on the page. You also get which fonts and colors were used. It might not be clear how an entrepreneur who's not doing design professionally can profit from it. But won't you charge yourself with merchandise someday? Packaging? Branded stationery?
Nothing stops you from checking an AI logo maker trying your hand in logo design. Finally, you might not design anything in particular, but you'll see what exactly you want. And then it's up to you whether you prefer to keep doing it yourself or get a custom logo.
Image Credit: StickerGiant Via Flickr
Stickers are fun and effective – that’s why we see them everywhere. A well-designed sticker can easily convey important information through the text, imaging, styles and colours.
Designing your very own colour stickers is easy if you are sure of what you’re going for and you know what you want the finished product to look like. It’s not necessary to be a pro designer for this, but if you have some basic working knowledge of any mainstream design tool/software, it helps.
Here are important things to keep in mind before and while you design your colour stickers.
This is the very first thing to consider. Many designers get it wrong at times, and that can seriously impact the final quality of the design. If you’re an amateur designer, we recommend understanding the common mistakes designers make and how to avoid them.
Ask yourself what you’re designing the sticker for. Is it for your own personal use or is it going to be used professionally?
If it’s for personal use, you should make sure that it carries your personal brand with it, even if it’s something as casual as a laptop decal. Most such stickers are used for personalization, and that’s why it’s vital to make them look personal – stock designs won’t cut it.
If it’s for professional use, understand the message perfectly well before actually starting the work. Two aspects are the most important in this context – branding and message.
When you’re sure about what message you want your stickers to convey, it becomes much easier to pass it on in the design. There are no lines set in stone here – it’ll all depend on your creative ways. Just be certain of what it is that you’re trying to say and the whole process will become smoother for you.
Understand the colour scheme before you start the design. Many designers wait until the design is actually ready to decide on their colours. If that strategy works for you, well and fine. If not, be sure about all the colours well in advance.
Professional colour stickers don’t have much wiggle room here as the colour scheme is dominated by the branding guidelines. So, the job of choosing colours becomes that much easier.
There’s another angle to this discussion – the sticker material. It’s important to know how the sticker will eventually be printed and what the technical limitations of the process are. Designing a small sticker with dozens of colours makes little sense. In the same way, using complex colour gradients that will not come out as you intend them to in the final product is counterproductive.
It’s easy to understand why complex designs require higher resolutions. Most designing software out there will let you output the design in 300dpi, a common benchmark used by printing companies. Sticker It Die Cut Stickers, for example, require your design to be either in a 300dpi bitmap format or a CMYK coded vector format. These requirements are more or less similar across the board in the industry.
A good design program like Illustrator will let you resample lower resolution designs into a higher resolution output while also letting you adjust pixels and colours as you need. This is, however, best treated as your last option. It’s always easier, less time consuming to start out your designing process with a higher resolution in mind.
Do consider the physical size of the sticker while you deal with its resolution. The same resolution cannot be used in different sizes as the size and resolution are inversely proportional.
While it’s not your job as the designer to worry about the costs of printing (at least, as far as professional stickers are concerned), it’s always a good idea to optimize the design for the downstream costs.
This involves going with easy to print ideas that can – wherever possible – employ less complex elements. Keeping the finer details limited in scope and choosing fewer colours can also bring the final costs significantly down.
The material that these designs will be printed on will also play an important role. It’s common practice to use the same design on multiple materials and/or in multiple sizes for various purposes. For example, product labels use the same design in a variety of shapes and sizes.
Your design should take the costs of printing in multiple sizes and on multiple materials.
Most stickers are either die cut or kiss cut. There’s not much difference in the quality of the two.
We are all prone to making mistakes, even in areas we are experienced in. Approaching a task without the fear of making mistakes is the best attitude, and if and when they occur, they teach great lessons. For designers, some may be as simple as forgetting a small detail to bigger ones that would require a redo of the whole project.
Mistakes should not prevent you from being creative and designing that system or software for your client or business. Instead, they present you with a great chance to improve your skills and career. Here are some of the most common mistakes that a designer is prone to make and how you can avoid them.
Logs are an essential part of every system. They oversee system events as well as storing user actions like passwords and file renaming. They act as watchtower lookouts alerting you when there’s a security breach in the system.
Using logs when designing a system is therefore essential to ensure the security of the data and also spend more time-solving problems rather than looking for what is wrong. You might require the services of a log monitoring company for proper log management. Papertrail offers you an all-in-one cloud based log management solution to ensure your data is safe.
Having too much work to handle may mean more income and sometimes an overworked brain. The divided attention plus the tension of not meeting the deadlines may result in reduced output and a less than satisfied client. Imagine the quality of a project that you have given your focus. It will definitely improve your portfolio.
Solution: Even though it means less income, learning to say no to work you can't handle, is a virtue. You will have more time to concentrate on the tasks at hand and deliver quality work that can earn you referrals and recurrent clients.
This happens especially when you are handling a group project. If there's no project manager, then individual tasks often overlap, some tasks may be left unattended to, or worse still other team members may be less concerned about their roles. The client will notice the mistakes in the work delivered, and whether or not you did your part excellently, the mistakes lie on every team member since there were no guidelines and expectations laid down at the start.
Solution: The best way to handle this would be clearly stating what is expected of every member of the team and tasks that each individual should handle by a project manager assigned to the project. According to the National Institute of Corrections, teams function more successfully when everyone understands their roles. That way, everyone will be answerable about their tasks.
Some instructions sent by the client weren't clear, but you did not seek clarification. Or it may be a question you should have asked during the meeting, but you did not because you feared been seen as dumb. The deadline draws near, and because you cannot avoid it anymore, you ask, and you are forced to correct parts you had already done or worse still, start the whole project again.
Solution: You can avoid all these problems by communicating all the relevant information with the client. Ask for clarification where you don't understand, sort out any uncertainties. It's better to over-communicate and avoid mistakes than not communicate at all and end up with a load of errors.
Doing everything yourself is a recipe for making mistakes. You love to think you’re the solution to all the problems. You don't ask someone to proofread your work or their insights, and you end up delivering work that is full of errors. Some of these details are very minute, and it'd take a different person to notice them.
Solution: Design is a collaborative discipline. Learn to involve other people, look for a variety of perspectives, and different insights. Most importantly, learn to tame your ego. There is no harm in looking for an editor to correct the errors. Design is inclusive or else it won’t work out.
Learning how to avoid these mistakes or even fixing them may take some time and sometimes even more investment. But in the end, it will pay off in other forms like client retention, increased income, more referrals, an excellent reputation, and reduced reworks.
Websites are the pillar of every online business nowadays. The Digital era we are in is mainly composed of a massive cluster of websites and other online portals, covering every niche possible till date. From pets niche, to specific tools, there’s a website for every niche.
Just like every other niche, websites of Dog niche also have some perfectly complementary Website designs. These website designs go well with the niche of Dog and are created for the specific application.
And if you're thinking of writing reviews like this nature's logic dog food review and earn affiliate commissions but don't know how to find the best converting web design for your Dog niche website, you're at the right place.
We have listed 4 best website designs that will look perfectly awe-inspiring along with any Dog niche website.
1) DOGLIFE
As the name implies, Doglife is one of the best website designs to compliment your Dog niche site. The template is designed explicitly by keeping pets, especially dogs, in mind. Relying entirely on HTML and CSS code structures, this template is highly secured and makes use of the Bootstrap framework. The latter makes it compatible with all the latest browsers.
Besides being cross-border compatible and SEO friendly in nature, this template can actually create an astounding visual impact on the visitors with precise texts and fetching font styles. Opting this template for your website will get you access to functional contact forms, testimonials, sliders, and whatnot.
2) PETS-PAW
The name that is most deserving to get the second place in our list is definitely Pets-Paw. With all of its neat and clean HTML and CSS codes, the template is specially designed for dogs as well as other pet niches. Its elegance, professional-looking fonts, various icons, and customizable options make endless possibilities.
It is highly modifiable, and you can get as creative you want with this template. The ultra-responsiveness and flawless appearance with site security make this template a better choice than any other designs in the list.
3) DOGGO
If you’re looking for a content-centered website design for your Dog niche site, then Doggo should be your first preference. It is another stunning design with an impressive interface. This template has been designed to have a smooth transition and fast responsiveness. The site is based on CSS and HTML coding.
Since this design is meant for a Content-Centric website, this template has an added advantage of customizable testimonials, newsletters, registration forms, fonts, CTA, and more.
4) BREED
What’s your thought on having a Website template specifically for Breeding pets, especially dogs? If you can resonate with this idea, then beyond doubt, Breed is going to be the best pick for you.
But why?
With an efficient bootstrap framework, this design will give you the exact flexibility you would require. Besides being built on CSS, HTML, and jQuery coding, this template is lightweight and absolutely fast loading. The interface is just what a Dog breeder would like to see on his website. Customizable navigation and carousel at the top add the cherry to the cake!
For most of us, dogs are a crucial part of our family. They secure us, save us, and cheer us during our bad times. They are nothing but loyal— everyone’s dog is their fido.
And for all the faithfulness they bring in this cruel human world, they don’t ask for anything. But as a pet owner, you owe them to give the best you can. Like the Nature’s logic food review you read last night, you should give an equal amount of thought while building their shelter— the dog house.
For that, all you need to do is read this article because we will be recommending a few elements to consider and the color-combinations to use for building one. Without further ado, let’s start with recommendations.
If you’re painting a dog house, it’s obviously a wooden one; however, if you haven’t started yet and are thinking of buying one, refrain from buying plastic ones because, well, it’s bad.
As for the wooden one you intend to paint, use safe & non-toxic products. Meaning, no lead or similar element because it may poison your dog. Also, to keep the house safe from weather, apply linseed oil on the wood before painting. Another way to weatherproof the dog house is by using a weatherproof primer. You can get it in a nearby home improvement store.
However, if you want to save some time, you can purchase non-toxic paint that already has a primer in it.
You must choose the paint color considering the environment you live in.
If you live in a hot & humid place, a dark-colored house will only worsen things for your dog. A light-colored house will not absorb as much heat a dark one would, so choosing light paint will be the wise thing to do.
Also, talking about the climate, raise the house’s foundation a bit. This is better for air circulation, keeps safe from occasional water runoffs, and prevents the pet from having direct contact to the ground during the extreme temperatures in winter.
If you consider these two things along with the size and design of the house, you are good to go. Now, pick up the paintbrush/spray and get going.
Here are few of our favorite color-combination you should consider if you haven’t made up your mind yet:
All-wooden is our personal favorite color. It gives the wooden house a raw look. Especially if your dog house is in the front yard or backyard with green grass & tree(s), this is a perfect color to choose. You can either fancy a matte finish or shiny finish— that’s up to you.
One way to display your affection towards your pet is by painting their house with the same colors as yours. If yours is pink, paint it pink; if yours is brown & yellow, pain it the same.
Another benefit of using the same color is you might have a color can or two lying around if you didn’t buy but built your house. Just use them— works perfectly given that’s the same quality you need for the dog house.
If the dog’s house is painted with a color contrasting to your home’s, it will add to the overall dynamic. Similar to clothes, contrasting colors between the houses look amazing.
Here's a few contrasting color schemes to give you an idea:
Overall, pick a color contrasting with your house for a vibrant look.
If the dog house is going to be a separate entity, you can paint with whatever color you like. Just make it a two or three-color contrasty look. For e.g., You can have a blue roof and white walls or a fuschia and grey combination.
Building and painting your dog house can be tricky. You need to consider the outer circumstances, the overall look of the dog house, and the general dynamic it adds to your home. However, if you read this article-cum-guide, you needn’t worry. Just plan accordingly, and you will have the dream dog house.
That’s all from our side. Let us know which color you will be using to paint your dog house— we might have a few recommendations if you like.
Posted in __PRIMARY-CHANNELS, _OTHER-CHANNELS, CHANNEL-DIGITAL-ART, OTHER-DIGITAL-ART, Fashion, Print
Posted in __PRIMARY-CHANNELS, _OTHER-CHANNELS, Color Theory, Design, DIY, Fashion
Posted in __PRIMARY-CHANNELS, _OTHER-CHANNELS, Design, Home, Interior, Home
We’d like to inform you that we have updated our Terms of Use. The most substantive changes are:
This platform was acquired by a joint venture in Israel.
changes have been made to the relevant jurisdiction for disputes which may arise out of your use of the platform.
Changes made to the monetization of users’ creations and the ability to opt out from your account settings.
Please view the revised Terms here. If you don’t mind anything there, then you don’t need to do anything. Your continued use of the platform will constitute your acceptance of the latest version of the Terms. If you disagree with anything there, you can terminate your account within seven days from today.