Where to find contextual image templates for your brand identity presentations

Henri Ehrhart logo design

When it comes to client presentations, contextual imagery is key. The use of digital mock-ups allows your clients to visualize how their new brand identity will tie-in with the products they produce, the premises they occupy, the vehicles they drive, the clothes they wear.

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The Designful Company

The Designful Company

The Designful Company: How to build a culture of nonstop innovation — the latest book by Marty Neumeier. Here’s a short excerpt.

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Graphic design bookstore

graphic design bookstore
Image courtesy of NYTimes.com

I’m often asked what graphic design books I recommend, so to save a little time in future I’ve launched a graphic design bookstore.

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When vanity is good for business

vanity mirror

We’re all interested in what others say about us. Especially when it’s about our work. Now if, like me, you act as your own PR team, discovering these snippets and citations rests solely on your shoulders. And in today’s business environment, it’s not just vanity. It’s a necessity.

Cue the ego search.

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Logo trademarking tips: A legal perspective

Toyota logo design

This guest post has been republished and edited with the kind permission of author Steve Baird, Chair Trademark & Brand Management with Winthrop & Weinstine Attorneys, Minneapolis, Minnesota.

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Imitation vs differentiation

red pencil

Starting a business isn’t easy. That’s a given. But when people have tread the path before you, it’s tempting to imitate. After all, if they’re successful, why not do it just like them and be successful too? Thing is, you’re not like the others. People don’t do business with you because you work like someone else. They choose you because of who you are.

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Measuring the success, and failure, of branding

success and failure

With design, a failure is much easier to measure than a success. Especially when the cock-up costs your company tens of millions.

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The true cost of rebranding?

Norwich Union logo

You can only estimate the value of a brand that has lived through four centuries, so at what cost is a name-change from one established more than 200 years ago, to another born this decade?

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Are freelance designers really suckers?

expert freelancer

When someone tells you they’re a freelancer, be it freelance graphic design or another profession, what are your immediate thoughts?

Does the freelance job title portray an impression of expert, or of someone who is new to the field, perhaps picking up some earnings to make ends meet? There’s an excellent discussion happening here in the reader comments.

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Advertising to children: right or wrong?

McDonalds apple

To a kid, everything’s better in a McDonald’s wrapper.

Are your kids McDonald’s brainwashed?

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