Tips, tricks, and inspiration to support your marketing mission
Wonder why you haven’t seen a new post in a few months? We’re taking a break from the blog to better serve our existing clients — but we’re still here to answer your questions. Don’t hesitate to reach out if there’s something you want help troubleshooting!
Got a design in need of a boost? We've got a few monochromatic colors schemes for you!
Don't underestimate the power of a single color. Finding the perfect shade that represents your brand might be all you need to revitalize a stale design.
We've got a few suggestions for you -- test these options out on your design and watch it come to life!
Have success with one of these color schemes? Share a screenshot with us!
Bringing a brand to life is no small task, and a bad working relationship can steer a project off-the-rails before it even gains momentum. As designers, we know that understanding a client's business and personal taste is key to being able to properly brand a business. In order to appeal to potential customers, we need to have all the right information to create effective logos, websites, promotional materials, and social media posts.
If you’re nervous about working with a designer for the first time, or you feel like you aren’t on the same page about a certain project, these 8 tips will hopefully get you back on the track to a stellar end result:
Make sure you’ve found the right fit. Don’t hesitate to reach out to a few different designers -- grab coffee with them and make sure you find someone that’s easy to talk to, is willing to listen, and understands your business goals.
Explain in your own words. Communication is key -- don’t hold back from expressing yourself just because you don’t know what the technical term for something is. Your opinion is crucial to creating a quality final product -- and one skill no graphic designer has is mind reading.
Provide examples. Bring pictures, prints, ideas, drawings, mood boards, color palettes and more to help your designer get a feel for what you want. Lacking inspiration? Hit up Pinterest.
Be specific with your feedback. Ask questions, tell your designer how you feel, and explain what it is you like or dislike.
Trust the process. The first draft is just the beginning. Do not get discouraged when it is not “perfect.” Your graphic designer is there to work with you through rounds of revisions to reach a finished product you love.
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. If you’re ever unsure about why something was done, don’t hesitate to ask. Your designer wants you to have the best final product possible and is usually happy to explain their creative process.
Think about it like a partnership. If a designer explains a technical reason for why they did something chances are you should listen. You hired a designer because you needed help -- acting like you’re the boss might land you with a less than effective final product.
When you love a piece, say it! There’s nothing better than being acknowledged for your hard work and designers want to hear when they're on the right track. When you love the final result be sure to speak up so that they can get you more of what you love!
Have any additional tips? Encountered a particularly difficult situation you'd like advice on? Share with us in the comments below!
If you think Pinterest is just a site to find cooking recipes, think again! Think of Pinterest as a site where at the click of a search button, you can find any and everything you’re looking for. It's perfect for wardrobe tips, photo styling, and design inspiration (of course)! We love to use Pinterest whenever we get stuck or need a little boost of creativity.
Need your own boost? We’ve picked out our top 10 Pinterest boards to spark design inspiration:
What boards do we need to be following? Leave a comment!
The weather in Greensboro is heating up which only means one thing - springtime is coming! And, your house isn’t the only thing that could benefit from spring cleaning. It’s the perfect time to take a second look at your brand, website, and social media accounts, so that you can leap into this new season with a fresh style. Here are five resources to help you get started:
One | Consider refreshing (or creating!) your inspiration board of images, colors, and quotes to keep you motivated for the year. Check out tips for designing an inspiration board for your brand!
Two | Spring brings livelier colors to explore! Consider adding some light pastels to your social media content for a fresh contrast that matches the new season. Check out the top colors of Spring 2016.
Three | For reviving your website, consider using different fonts or even using different colors. This free and easy gold font will add a fresh color to liven up any website!
Four | Are you maximizing your online presence? Here are 10 tips on what you can do every week to increase your presence and engagement online.
Five | Warmer weather means more outdoor activities! When you step outside take advantage of your surroundings and grab some nature pics for Instagram! Here are 13 tips on taking better Instagram pictures.
Enjoy the weather! Have a lovely weekend, and keep calm...spring is coming!
To round out this week, we’re rounding up the best of the links we’ve shared over the last few months. These are just all around, generally good resources that we couldn’t help but share a second time!
One | Good, free fonts can be hard to find. This list of 60 free minimalist fonts highlights a handful of unique + clean + modern finds -- ones that you won’t see on more basic free font lists.
Two | Typewolf is one of the best sources for everything typography + fonts. With carefully curated lists and resources, you’ll find everything from unique ‘top 10’ lists to font profiles (complete with mixing & match suggestions).
Three | No matter what your goals, these eight inspirational TED Talks are a must watch.
Four | This is a great roundup on apps to boost your productivity as a freelancer. We'll definitely be trying a few of these.
Five | Death to the Stock Photo is one of the first sources people mention for cheap + not-tacky + actually useful stock photos. We see it mentioned constantly, and have even highlighted it a couples of times ourself -- but Death to Stock has come in handy so many times this week that we want to give them another shout out.
Six | The Hue & Tone website runs on Squarespace, and I'm a huge fan. Here's a good summary of the reasons why.
Seven | It’s easy to fall into a rut and start using the same colors -- so when you need a little inspiration check out these 50 creative color schemes.
Which of the links we’ve shared over the past few months have you found the most helpful?
*See all of our link roundups here, or check out our personal favorite -- our Greensboro link roundup -- here.*
Inspired by the chill in the air, these winter color schemes are light, celestial and a little ethereal. Check out the hex coordinates below to use these colors in your own graphics, branding, or website.
Which of these color schemes is your personal favorite?
Color Breakdowns:
Image One: #6D6CA7 | #A5789C | #D2BAC0 | #E5E2EB | #F6DAC6
Image Two: #828189 | #B2B5C4 | #FBF1E8 | #D8CDD1 | #A28E8D
Image Three: #535D69 | #87A4B1 | #C4D1DA | #E5E2EB | #D2BAC0
It's Friday once again! Here's our weekly roundup of links on a few of my favorite things: design, creativity, and entrepreneurship...plus anything else that strikes my fancy!
One | Love this rundown from Fast Company on six myths about creativity. I love number five (click on over to see what it is).
Two | Good design is really about solving problems. Here's how to solve them like a designer.
Three | Maybe it's a little meta to mention this on the blog, but I love this guide to blog post ideas. It's not a list of pre-formed ideas (those are helpful, but everywhere) -- it's a framework for developing your own.
Four | Another on the service-y/helpful side of things: how to change your domain name without losing SEO.
Five | Can we talk about this gorgeous lettering?! Love.
Roundup of this week's blog posts:
Working for yourself is not the same as working by yourself -- it takes a ton of meaningful connections with smart, creative people to make it happen. I'm all about in-person connections, but blogging provides a powerful way to learn from people all over who are walking a road similar to yours.
With that in mind, today I wanted to share a few of my favorite design blogs! check these out if you're looking for new bloggers to follow. And, while you're at it, let's be blog friends. Follow Hue & Tone on Bloglovin'.
The ladies of Braid Creative -- who obviously nailed the search for a fabulous name -- share smart, easily applicable tips on branding, entrepreneurship, and all things creative.
Favorite Post: When Everyone is Doing the Same Thing
2. Paper & Oats
Kelsey of Paper & Oats puts a bold, personal spin on posts about productivity and entrepreneurship, and is unapologetic about finding and sticking to her own creative niche.
Favorite Post: Why I'm Scrapping All My Design Services
3. Elembee
When it comes to blogs about nitty-gritty topics like branding and design, there's fun and then there's comprehensive. Elembee is both. It's jam-packed with ideas but never a chore to read -- and the weekly emails are great, too!
Favorite Post: It Will Never Be Good Enough. Do it Anyway.
In addition to a clean, colorful blog design that makes my day every time I see it, Love Plus Color is a great stop for unique, easy-to-consume posts on all things visual.
Favorite Post: The Mood Board Monday series
What are your favorite blogs? Bonus points if they focus on design, branding, or entrepreneurship.
Since it's a holiday week, we'll be around a little less here on the blog...but I did want to share these Thanksgiving-themed color palettes with you. You really can do Thanksgiving without relying on a ton of oranges and browns. These palettes build in hints of turquoise, cranberry, and peach so they still look like the holiday, without blending in with every other Thanksgiving graphic out there.
Color Breakdowns:
Image One: #b95825 | #0a5946 | #2b8472 | #d1c863 | #745b47
Image Two: #5d1e4d | #960844 | #d8be8d | #be8335 | #b95825
Image Three: #d1a29c | #324e59 | #ded8c8 | #cc8664 | #644737
At first glance, design seems expensive. You have to buy $300 fonts and high-end photography equipment and expensive suites of software if you're going to create anything attractive, right?
Actually, not really. I try to communicate to clients that there are plenty of free and cheap resources available to help them maintain a consistent brand, without pulling in a designer for every edit.
Here are a few of my favorites:
DaFont & Google Fonts | In almost every case, it's unnecessary to drop top dollar on type. These are two great sources for free fonts - DaFont is hugely varied and frequently updated, while Google Fonts is your best source for a clean, high-quality web font.
Canva | This web app bills itself as "the easiest design program in the world" -- and it's completely free. When I'm working with clients who don't have access to professional design software, I'll whip up a few Canva templates so they can update graphics easily.
Graphic Burger | Need a simple line icon (or a background texture, or even a logo template)? It's here, and it's free for personal and commercial use.
Creative Market | This site offers free or very cheap (in the $2 range) graphic assets -- think textures, brushes, presets, etc. Sign up for an account to receive regular emails with deals and free downloads.
Adobe Single-App Subscriptions | You can now purchase a single-app Adobe Creative Cloud membership for as little as $30 a month, giving you access to a professional-grade design application like Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop. If I had to pick one, I'd go with Illustrator, but it all depends on the type of work you're doing.
Again, design can seem like an expensive pursuit, but with a little creativity, you can find the tools you need without breaking the bank.
What are your favorite design tools? Let me know in the comments below.
