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Blog

FIA Formula-E Championship in Miami Florida

Figment is happy to be a part of the FIA Formula-e Championship in Miami Florida. Working with Andretti Sports Marketing, Virgin Racing, Venturri Racing, Formula-e and other sponsors of the race. Figment is full service in every sense of the meaning. For this event we have designed, engineered, permitted and produced the large Starting line structure and the Large Finish line Structure. These huge structures are framed in metal and built over the roads during the night, then dressed with graphics printed on large format. The majority of the signage that is displayed around the track, in the E-village, Emotion event, and other events around Miami were produced, installed and handled by Figment Design. From Design to installation we’ve got you covered.

Started working on the FIA Formula-e track in Miami.

Track Testing:

Working on the track for Andretti Sports Marketing and FIA Formula-e for the Miami race. Probably not supposed to be driving on the track..but hey, it’s me what do you expect.

Garage Set-up

Adhesive printed and ready to assemble onto the pit garages. Rainy day, but the work must go on.
The final look once they are up and installed.

E-Village

Building structures for the E-village. Yes, the boss does know how to swing a sledge hammer.

Finish Line

Large metal structure behind AAA arena. Build and installation… it’s all in a days work.

March 12, 2015
How WordPress Is Changing The Fashion Industry
WordPress & The Fashion Industry

People often make the mistake of classifying WordPress as just a blogging platform. Although that used to be true in the past, WordPress has evolved throughout the years into a versatile content management system (CMS). While you can still use WordPress to create a simple blog, now it also allows you to create fully functional websites and mobile applications.

The best part about WordPress is that it’s easy to use and flexible enough for just about anything. That’s the main reason why WordPress has grown so much in popularity. WordPress and CMS platforms have changed the world of Fashion. It has taken the place of the old Flash sites and static HTML to bring together interactivity and easy of use for the Fashion Industry. Some time ago WordPress was associated with just blogs. Today it has boomed into a strong tool for just about any type of website.

Flash sites were the norm and the #1 choice when it came to fashion designer’s choice. This was due largely in part to the animated graphics which Flash has been largely identified with. One of the main problems that it had was ease of use/editing and SEO. Flash made it difficult for users to show up in search engines like Google, Yahoo or Bing.

Advantages of WordPress vs Flash Websites
1. Save Money– You can make most changes to your site or even have your own staff add new pages for you. You can make the edits yourself whenever you want to save time and money especially if these changes are urgent and do not have time to wait on emails.
2. Greater Accessibility– Make changes or add content from any computer in the world with Internet access and a browser without the need for additional software.
3. Speed of Communication– At least for simple changes, you don’t need to wait for your webmaster or designer to make those basic changes, the content on your Web site can be altered immediately by you.
4. Consistency – By following a basic structure or design, no matter how many pages you add the site can keep a consistent look and feel.
5. Better Time Management– Add content and then schedule those pages/posts. You could write an entire season worth of posts on the site and automatically have them scheduled for a specific day or time.
6. Ease of Membership Site Rollout– With the addition of a few plugins, a WordPress blog can evolve into a full-service membership site with as many levels as you would like.
7. Social Network Friendly– Integrate your sites posts with social media like Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram, YouTube.
8. Engage with Current Media– Easily add audio and video to posts and pages.
9. Creative Welcoming– Integrate new designs faster in comparison to other CMS (Content Management System).
10. SEO Friendliness– The construction of WordPress is streamlined without excessive HTML code that Google finds very attractive for indexing. With the right setup, you’re able to customize every page or post you make to give you the highest advantage of getting your pages in search results positions.
Another reason that WordPress is great for the Fashion industry is that it is written using standard compliance high-quality code and produces semantic mark up. What does that mean? It makes your site very attractive to search engines such as Google. By design, WordPress is SEO friendly, and you can make it even more SEO friendly by using additional WordPress SEO plugins.

The Fashion industry is a fast-paced and media heavy industry. It needs to be on the cutting edge and have the latest and the greatest as fast as possible. WordPress is not just limited to writing text only. It comes with built-in support to handle images, audio, and video content. It can also easily be used for document or file management. WordPress supports embed YouTube videos, Instagram photos, Tweets, and Soundcloud audio by just pasting the URL in your post. This helps manage the amount of media that the Fashion industry is accustomed to.
March 11, 2015
Advertising
What is Advertising, really?

Advertising is a form of communication for marketing and used to encourage or persuade your audience (viewers, readers or listeners; sometimes a specific group) to continue or take some new action. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering. Advertising messages are usually paid for by sponsors and viewed via various traditional media; including mass media such as newspaper, magazines, television commercial, radio advertisement, outdoor advertising or direct mail; or new advertising media such as blogs, websites, banner ads, PPC or text messages.

Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through “branding” and brand building, which involves associating a product name or image with certain qualities in the minds of consumers. Non-commercial advertisers who spend money to advertise items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies.

Figment Design, an Advertising Agency located in the heart of Coconut Grove (Miami) – We love what we do and it shows in our work and our dedication.

At Figment Design we realize that clients are our partners and that we are an extension of their internal sales and Marketing & Advertising team. As a creative advertising agency, we don’t just produce the work and walk away, we care about the results for our clients, and we work hard to ensure the results generate business both local and online.

Whether it’s to develop your brand through new and exciting creative design, web design, internet advertising, conventional advertising or to develop effective media campaigns that reach the right target, Figment Design has a team that will focus on you and meet your needs. We pride ourselves in being hands on. This is a professional advertising agency that will actually listen to your advertising, marketing and website needs, work diligently in collaboration with you, your thoughts, ideas and concerns, with the ultimate goal of generating powerful results both online and using conventional methods. We work with all local business in florida both large and small customers as well as national and international clients for their advertising, creative and marketing needs.

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We Truly are a FULL Service Advertising Agency that specializes in Design, Branding & Marketing

We offer our expertise in all aspects of advertising

Though our advertising, marketing and design services are expansive and cover a lot of ground within this industry, the professionals at Figment Design (Coconut Grove), Miami Advertising Agency have been working in their respective fields for many years successfully and can easily navigate our clients/partners through the various aspects of the advertising / marketing / design process.

We offer our advertising, marketing and design expertise in all aspects of advertising including: graphic design, web design, website development, wordpress development, wordpress design, online advertising, web marketing, full service printing, direct mail, brochures, fulfillment and distribution. Additionally, we proudly offer photography, aerial photography & video, media planning and buying, promotional items, vehicle wraps and trade-show displays. With an industry that is always changing and making technological advances, additional services are being added every day in order to better service our clients and their advertising, marketing and design needs.

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SERVICES

We Truly are a FULL Service Agency Though services are expansive and cover a lot of ground within this industry, the professionals at Figment have been working in their respective fields for many years successfully and can easily navigate our clients/partners through the various aspects of the advertising process. We offer our expertise in all aspects of advertising including: graphic design, web design, full service printing, direct mail, brochures, fulfillment and distribution. Additionally, we proudly offer photography, media planning and buying, promotional items, vehicle wraps and tradeshow displays. And with an industry that is always changing and making technological advances, additional services are being added every day in order to better service our clients and their needs. [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Media’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

MEDIA • MARKETING

Your brand and message may be great…but who is seeing it? No matter how good your message is, if it doesn’t get in front of the right audience, then it is just a waste. Our CEO likes to say, “don’t advertise a pork chop sale to the pigs, advertise it to the pig farmers!” We not only focus on your message, but that its getting to the audience that will respond and be interested. The days of throwing mud at the side of the building and seeing what sticks is gone, now it is all about the ROI. Let us show you what our media department can do for you: research, planning, placement and management. Click here for more about Media Marketing [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Brand’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

BRAND

Who Are you?…Really!! If your branding is not consistent, then how are your customers going to recognize you in a sea of competition. You have to know who you are, before you decide what you look like. If you need help with branding, we have a team of professionals ready to create a new brand or re-brand what you have. Let us show you a look that says who you are; we can help you find yourself, or re-define yourself. Click here for more about Branding [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Print’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

PRINT

Yes, we still print on that white stuff… Even though the industry has changed; printing has also evolved and now there are new papers, new inks and different types of specialized printing styles. With so many different types of printing, it’s always reassuring that your agency knows the methods inside and out. We not only understand it, we specialize in it. From Sheet Fed, to Web, to large format, to shirts and promotional items…it all falls under printing. So let us work with you on your next project and show you the difference. Click here for more about Print [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Web’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

WEB

Everyone is using it…even you! No matter what you do, it seems that somehow or someway you have to use the internet. The first thing you do to “check something out” is to look them up on the web. Make sure that your web presence is searchable, but then make sure your future clients are just as comfortable on your site as they would in your lobby. Make your site inviting. Figment has your solution; from initial design, development, programming, mobile devices and much more. Click here for more about Web [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Photography’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

PHOTOGRAPHY

A picture is worth a 1,000……yes, we all know that one! But it’s still true. If you are looking to promote a product, food, hotel, business, anything, you have to have something to show the customer that is appealing. In today’s world where everyone has a camera, you find a lot of “Photographers”, but when the final shots come in, this is when you find out the truth. So many details go into a real photo shoot: Lighting, time of day, location, models, travel…we plan according to the clients final production and we make sure our client has peace of mind all along the way. Click here for more about Photography [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Aerial Photography’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

AERIAL & PHOTOGRAPHY

HD Aerial Photography & Video All of our helicopters have functioning gimball mounts that are stabilized using the latest technology to eliminate as much vibration as possible. This is especially important when using smaller version cameras that don’t have the stabilizing lenses. All of our ships will fly with GoPro Hero II cameras. These are known for their quality, color enhancements, and just an all around great video camera for the size. These cameras are small enough that our helicopters can maneuver quickly and have good flexibility in the air. Click here for Aerial Photography [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [cudazi_tab title=’Video’] [wc_row][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”first”] [/wc_column][wc_column size=”one-half” position=”last”]

Video & Production

This is not your family or wedding video we’re talking about. Today there are so many different ways to create commercials, documentaries, webisodes and more. And each of these has a different budget that varies according to quality and production. At Figment we have experience in shooting large scale productions to small viral video sequences. We can create storyboards for your project, plan the shoot, organize locations, directors and videographers, and edit in-house; from pre to post, we’re ready to roll. [/wc_column][/wc_row] [/cudazi_tab] [/cudazi_tab_group]

[rev_slider_vc alias=”work”]

Some examples of our work. Below you will find several pieces of our work including large format printing, design, marketing, advertising, print, web, development, animation, logo design, wraps both for vehicle and windows as well as outdoor signs, billboards, videos and trade show displays. Simply click the icons below to view our advertising, marketing and design examples.

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We realize that clients are our partners and that we are an extension of their sales and marketing team. As a creative agency and marketing agency, we don’t just produce the work and walk away, we care about the results for our clients, and we work hard to ensure the results generate business.

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March 3, 2015
Design Tips For Branding & Brand Building In Web Design

Branding is a complex process that is performed across all types of media, from Print and Outdoor Media to Window Wraps and Logo Design. Of course brand building also applies to web design and development.

Branding is very important!

Brand building helps you acquire customers and it also help you to keep them. Your website plays a vital role on people’s first impressions of your company, your products and services. As a result, your site represents a critical component of your branding. Brands set expectations, and when faced with doubt people tend to pick the safer option. People know what to expect from a brand they know and trust. It’s up to you to build that trust!

Here are some tips to help in building a brand with web design.

EMOTION

What feelings and emotions do you want people to experience when they visit your site?

What sort of things do you want them to associate with your brand? More and more, companies are focusing on building a personality and story into every website and product. This arouses an emotional reaction from a visitor. Personality turns a lifeless product or soulless corporation into more than sum of its parts. Conveying the company’s personality helps create an emotional connection with the audience.

CHARACTER

Does your brand have character? Introducing your brand with a little personality can help you define what it stands for. Between logos, taglines and color palettes, companies invest a lot in their brands, yet many ignore the quality of character. That charisma is precisely what transforms a brand into an icon. Structure your brand’s character to something which your audience will identify themselves with.

COLOR

The choice of a good color palette is key in branding. Color stimulates various emotions and carries with it subconscious associations to various things and characteristics. For example, the color red is the most emotionally intense color. Red stimulates a faster heartbeat and breathing. It is also the color of love. It’s usually a suitable color choice for brands in the entertainment industry. Other colors carry different associations and effects. Green symbolizes nature, money and health. It’s also a calming color, which is why hospitals tend to paint their walls pale green. When picking a color for your brand, examine its effects to see if it’s an appropriate fit for your brand.

A Strong Brand

Building a strong brand is important for any corporation, no matter the size, even a personal website. Branding helps you step out of the common website and into the light of the distinguished website. By following these 3 steps you’re on your way to casting your own unique light in the World Wide Web.

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February 27, 2015
Tips that can lower the likelihood of having your WordPress site Hacked

WordPress is one of the easiest content management systems to set up and use. That’s why people like it. It’s easy to add functionality without having to know how to code php because there is such a large developer community that makes tons of free plugins. WordPress is the largest self-hosted blogging platform in the world, powering more than 60 million websites worldwide.

That fact may be a key reason why WordPress is in the news right now as the subject of a large-scale attack from a huge number of computers from across the internet – known as an automated botnet attack – attempting to take over servers that run WordPress.

WordPress’ popularity comes at a price in a situation like this, as a perceived vulnerability in the platform’s ease of use is weak security by users. If you or your company have sites that use WordPress, there are two things to consider. First is to avoid having your own site hijacked and second is to avoid becoming part of a larger problem. Think childhood immunizations.

So what can you do to make your site secure enough right now to deter such attacks in the future?

Avoid Obvious Passwords: Hackers mostly go after novice Web users who don’t take the time to switch from their default login information. A secure password is a mix of at least eight upper and lowercase letters, numbers and special characters (^%$#@*)!

Loose The Admin Username: The attackers are in possession of 90,000 IP addresses from which they are trying to crack the default “admin” accounts on WordPress installations. So if you are still using “admin,” create a new user with admin privileges (you will need to use a different email address than the one attached to the current admin) and give it a strong password as defined above. Then log back in as the new user and delete the old admin account and assign all of the posts in that account to the new user. Five minutes, tops.

Use Two Step Authentication: Take advantage of two-step authentication which assures that you are a human logging in, not a bot. To enable Two Step Authentication, head on over to the new Security tab in your WordPress.com account settings, and go through the setup wizard. The wizard will help you make sure that everything is configured correctly.

Update WordPress: Many hackers exploit holes that have been identified in older versions of WordPress, so keeping your install up to date is another easy way to avoid trouble.

Don’t let spammers, hackers or botnets mess up your presence on the web. You can be secure.

There’s a lot more you can do to protect your site. Figment Design has amazing security packages to protect your WordPress site from hacking attempts this includes reports on your website security.

February 26, 2015
What is Marketing? How is it different from Branding?

What exactly is marketing and why is it important to your business?

Marketing is everything you do to place your product/service in the hands of potential customers and clients.

It includes diverse disciplines like sales, public relations, pricing, packaging, and distribution.

You might think of marketing this way. If business is all about people and money and the art of persuading one to part from the other, then marketing is all about finding the right people to persuade.

Marketing is your strategy for allocating resources (time and money) in order to achieve your objectives (a fair profit for supplying a good product or service).

Marketing – the management process through which goods and services move from concept to the customer.

It includes the coordination of four elements:

identification, selection and development of a product

determination of its price

selection of a distribution channel to reach the customer’s place

development and implementation of a promotional strategy

Marketing is based on thinking about the business in terms of customer needs and their satisfaction. It is not concerned with the values that the exchange is all about. And it does not, as marketing invariable does, view the entire business process as consisting of a tightly integrated effort to discover, create, arouse and satisfy customer needs. Marketing has less to do with getting customers to pay for your product as it does developing a demand for that product and fulfilling a customer’s needs.

What is the difference between marketing and branding?

There is a spectrum of opinions here, Marketing is actively promoting a product or service.

It’s a push tactic.
It’s pushing out a message to get sales results
This is oversimplification

This is not branding

Branding should both precede and underlie any marketing effort.

Branding is not push, but pull
Branding is the expression of the essential truth or value of an organization, product, or service
It is communication of characteristics, values, and attributes that clarify what this particular brand is and is not

A brand will help encourage someone to buy a product, and it directly supports whatever sales or marketing activities are in play, but the brand does not explicitly say “buy me.” Instead, it says“This is what I am. This is why I exist. If you agree, if you like me, you can buy me, support me, and recommend me to your friends.”

Branding is Strategic. Marketing is Tactical.

Marketing may contribute to a brand, but the brand is bigger than any particular marketing effort. The brand is what remains after the marketing has swept through the room. It’s what sticks in your mind associated with a product, service, or organization—whether or not, at that particular moment, you bought or did not buy.

The brand is ultimately what determines if you will become a loyal customer or not. The marketing may convince you to buy a particular Toyota, and maybe it’s the first foreign car you ever owned, but it is the brand that will determine if you will only buy Toyotas for the rest of your life.

The brand is built from many things. Very important among these things is the lived experience of the brand. Did that car deliver on its brand promise of reliability? Did the maker continue to uphold the quality standards that made them what they are? Did the sales guy or the service center mechanic know what they were talking about?

Marketing unearths and activates buyers. Branding makes loyal customers, advocates, even evangelists out of those who buy.

This works the same way for all types of businesses and organizations. All organizations must sell (including non-profits). How they sell may differ, and everyone in an organization is, with their every action, either constructing or deconstructing the brand. Every thought, every action, every policy, every ad, every marketing promotion has the effect of either inspiring or deterring brand loyalty in whomever is exposed to it. All of this affects sales.

Branding is as vital to the success of a business or non-profit as having financial coherence, having a vision for the future, or having quality employees.

Media & Marketing

Your brand and message may be great
…but who is seeing it?

No matter how good your message is, if it doesn’t get in front of the right audience, then it is just a waste. Our CEO likes to say, “don’t advertise a pork chop sale to the pigs, advertise it to the pig farmers!” Media & Marketing is a main focus here. We not only focus on your message, but that its getting to the audience that will respond and be interested. The days of throwing mud at the side of the building and seeing what sticks is gone, now it is all about the ROI. Let us show you what our media department can do for you: research, media planning, marketing, placement and management.

Outdoor Media & Signs

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Promotional Items

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Window Wraps

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Vehicle Wraps

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February 24, 2015
What is Branding?

Who Are you? Really!

If your branding is not consistent, then how are your customers going to recognize you in a sea of competition? You have to know who you are, before you decide what you look like. If you need help with branding, we have a team of professionals ready to create a new brand or re-brand what you have. Let us show you a look that says who you are; we can help you find yourself, or re-define yourself.

People frequently misuse the term “brand” by interchanging it with advertising, marketing, naming or design. These improper applications have caused much confusion as to what branding is and how it works. Business consultancies, marketing companies, advertising agencies, public relations firms and graphic/web design studios each define brand within their own frame of reference and expertise. As such, “branding” has become a bit of a buzz word. But, what does it really mean and how does it work? Where did all start and how can it create value? To benefit from the effects of branding, a common understanding of “brand” must first be established.

Let’s begin with the etymology of the word “brand.”

According to the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins: “brands/trademarks. The practice of branding animals for the purpose of identification is so old that its exact origins are unknown. We do know, however, that brands were first used on humans—criminals and slaves. According to the Oxford Dictionary, the practice of branding animals to indicate ownership was well established in England before Shakespeare’s time and the term trademark for the word or symbol chosen by a manufacturer to identify and distinguish his product was in use before 1838. Official registration of trademarks by the U.S. Patent Office did not begin, however, until 1870.”

Why A Brand Matters

A brand is a promise. Think of some top brands and you immediately know what they promise: McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Budweiser, Ford, Apple, MetLife. You know what you’re going to get with a well-branded product or service.

A brand is a specific combination of logo, words, type font, design, colors, personality, price, service, etc. It’s also a bundle of attributes. Think of Volvo, for instance, and your first thoughts are probably going to be something like “well built, comfortable, Swedish” and, most of all, “safety.”

The Brand, The Promise, The Look, The Personality and attributes can eventually acquire a special impression or appearance of what is called “the me” appeal. Buying a certain brand says something about the person who buys it! If you’re going to develop your brand, the last thing you want to do is follow the beaten path. You want to head down your own path. Your brand has to plant itself in the hearts and minds of clients and future customers. Your brand is the focus of all its marketing efforts. When you think about your brand, think about all its parts like promise, personality, look, voice, service, attributes and memorability.

“BRAND” DEFINED AND PRACTICED

From a Legal Perspective

A brand is a trademark. It can be defined as a name, sign, symbol, device, or a combination thereof, intended to identify and differentiate the goods and services of one seller from those of other sellers, or group of sellers, within the same category. The owner or licensee of a trademark (brand) has the right to exclude others from using that trademark by being the first to use it within the marketplace and registering that trademark with the U.S. patent and trademark office.

From a Business Perspective

A brand is a tool by which the company promotes goods and services to secure future earnings. As viewed by consumers a brand is the promise and delivery of an experience throughout every point of contact. When managed properly brands create sustainable long-term value for the organization.

In Everyday Practice

A brand is an experience living at the intersection of promise and expectation. Here’s how it works. A company expresses its brand as a promise, both overt and implied. That promise lives in consumers’ hearts and minds as an expectation. When brand promise and consumers’ expectations reflect one another, the brand holds tremendous value for both parties. It is through this co-creation (consumer and brand) that true brand value is created. Yet, business and consumer each see their brand from their own point-of-view. Brand expression verses brand image, seller verses buyer. Without brands there would be no signals to illustrate the differences between the vast array of choices other than size and price. No name, no unique package, nothing.

We live in a world where consumers have a system for differentiating products and services as well as tracking their experiences. Brands provide a method of classification, differentiation and identification which allow you, as the consumer, to simplify your buying decisions and experience.

The Brand Value

It is important to note that “Value” is defined differently depending on how you measure it. Businesses measure brand value in terms of margin, market share and goodwill. Consumers place value on many factors ranging from emotional to rational, from exclusivity and rarity to the safety of commonality. No matter how brand value is measured, if your brand does not deliver its value, it is merely an empty promise. Without a trusting customer base, a brand is nothing more than a legally-protectable name, sign or symbol.

By defining a realistic and manageable promise of what your brand will deliver and what consumers can expect of your brand, branding has become the backbone of modern business strategy. “Brand” drives consumer purchase decisions and affects nearly every functional area of a business.

February 23, 2015
TYPOGRAPHY War of Helvetica vs. Arial

ARIAL VERSUS HELVETICA

Every typeface, like every one of us, has its distinguishing features. You might be forgiven for thinking that some fonts are clones, or identical twins. However, closer inspection reveals subtle differences and nuances that simply escape casual perusal. Something that can really help heighten our sensitivity to those differences is getting out our magnifying glasses and really taking a closer look.

Today we’re going to de-robe two popular typefaces, namely Arial and Helvetica — faces that are often confused, and often the subjects of mistaken identity. But first let me re-introduce you to these two popular faces:

Helvetica

Designed in 1957 by Max Miedinger, Helvetica’s design is based on that of Akzidenz Grotesk (1896), and classified as a Grotesque or Transitional san serif face. Originally it was called Neue Haas Grotesque; in 1960 it was revised and renamed Helvetica (Latin for “Swiss”).

Arial

Designed in 1982 by Robin Nicholas and Patricia Saunders for Monotype (not Microsoft), it’s classified as Neo Grotesque, was originally called Sonoran San Serif, and was designed for IBM’s bitmap font laser printers. It was first supplied with Windows 3.1 (1992) and was one of the core fonts in all subsequent versions of Windows until Vista, when to all intents and purposes, it was replaced with Calibri.

Arial and Helvetica share a more consistent, even stroke width. I guess it depends on whether one is looking at the form or the appearance.

A number of the glyphs are almost identical, and even an expert would have difficulty telling them apart. However, there are a few that stand out as being quite different; namely “a”, “G”, “Q”, “R”, and “1”. Did you spot any other differences or identifying marks?

In fact if you wish to quickly differentiate any font from from another, it’s usually best to begin by looking at letters like “J”, “Q” and “g”.

What it’s wrong to do is criticize Arial as a clone or rip-off of Helvetica. If Arial is a rip-off of Helvetica, then Helvetica is a rip-off of Akzidenz Grotesk; or we could simply say that they are both rip-offs of earlier Grotesque faces. The whole rip-off debate is a rather pointless one, I feel. Every face should be considered on its own merit. (We don’t criticize a daughter for looking like her mother). And, if you want to criticize Arial (it certainly has its faults), then do so, not because everyone else does, but do so with your own critical eye.

February 20, 2015
Understanding Google Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for begginers
Found several great articles on getting started with SEO and some of the basic ideas/techniques behind search engine optimization.

Create unique, accurate page titles

A title tag tells both users and search engines what the topic of a particular page is. The <title> tag should be placed within the <head> tag of the HTML document. Ideally, you should create a unique title for each page on your site. If your document appears in a search results page, the contents of the title tag will usually appear in the first line of the results. Words in the title are bolded if they appear in the user’s search query. This can help users recognize if the page is likely to be relevant to their search.

The title for your homepage can list the name of your website/ business and could include other bits of important information like the physical location of the business or maybe a few of its main focuses or offerings.

Accurately describe the page’s content
- Choose a title that effectively communicates the topic of the page’s content.
- Avoid:
  - choosing a title that has no relation to the content on the page
  - using default or vague titles like “Untitled” or “New Page 1”
Create unique title tags for each page
- Each of your pages should ideally have a unique title tag, which helps Google know how the page is distinct from the others on your site
- Avoid:
  - using a single title tag across all of your site’s pages or a large group of pages
Use brief, but descriptive titles
- Titles can be both short and informative. If the title is too long, Google will show only a portion of it in the search result.
- Avoid:
  - using extremely lengthy titles that are unhelpful to users
  - stuffing unneeded keywords in your title tags
Page titles are an important aspect of search engine optimization.

Make use of the “description” meta tag

Summaries can be defined for each page

A page’s description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about (1). Whereas a page’s title may be a few words or a phrase, a page’s description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google Webmaster Tools provides a handy content analysis section that’ll tell you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for <title> tags). Like the <title> tag, the description meta tag is placed within the <head> tag of your HTML document.

Description meta tags are important because Google might use them as snippets for your pages. Note that we say “might” because Google may choose to use a relevant section of your page’s visible text if it does a good job of matching up with a user’s query. Alternatively, Google might use your site’s description in the Open Directory Project if your site is listed there (learn how to prevent search engines from displaying ODP data). Adding description meta tags to each of your pages is always a good practice in case Google cannot find a good selection of text to use in the snippet. The Webmaster Central Blog has an informative post on improving snippets with better description meta tags. Words in the snippet are bolded when they appear in the user’s query. This gives the user clues about whether the content on the page matches with what he or she is looking for.

Accurately summarize the page’s content
- Write a description that would both inform and interest users if they saw your description meta tag as a snippet in a search result.
- Avoid:
  - writing a description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page
  - using generic descriptions like “This is a web page” or “Page about baseball cards”
  - filling the description with only keywords
  - copying and pasting the entire content of the document into the description meta tag
Use unique descriptions for each page
- Having a different description meta tag for each page helps both users and Google, especially in searches where users may bring up multiple pages on your domain (e.g. searches using the site: operator). If your site has thousands or even millions of pages, hand-crafting description meta tags probably isn’t feasible. In this case, you could automatically generate description meta tags based on each page’s content.
- Avoid:
  - using a single description meta tag across all of your site’s pages or a large group of pages
Use description meta tags to provide both search engines and users with a summary of what your page is about!

Hope this gives you a basic idea of how to get started, there are many steps to SEO and many techniques out there impossible to list them all but if you at least understand the basics it’s a great start! If you need help with your sites SEO or do want to do this on your own please do not hesitate to contact us today.
February 19, 2015
The Short Run – Advantages of Digital Printing

How Can Digital Printing Advantages Like Short Run Make Your Business More Efficient?

Many people do not understand the advantages of digital printing, especially in Miami. To help clear up some misunderstandings and misconceptions we put together this article for you. Sometimes, the latest and coolest concepts in printing are appropriate to save you money, get a better response rate, or otherwise improve your ROI. Other times, you just need something printed as quickly and efficiently as possible, and there are solutions for that as well. You’ve probably heard or said many time; “These have to look professional, but I only need a few!” What do you do when you only need a small quantity printed, but you need so many that the cost of ink and glossy paper for your inkjet would be insane? Too many to print on an inkjet, too few to have professionally printed? This is where Digital Printing comes in.

What is Digital Printing Really?

Digital printing refers to methods of printing from a digital-based image directly to a variety of media. It usually refers to professional printing where small-run jobs from desktop publishing and other digital sources are printed using large-format and/or high-volume laser or inkjet printers. Digital printing has a higher cost per page than more traditional offset printing methods, but this price is usually offset by avoiding the cost of all the technical steps required to make printing plates. It also allows for on-demand printing, short turnaround time, and even a modification of the image (variable data) used for each impression. The savings in labor and the ever-increasing capability of digital presses means that digital printing is reaching the point where it can match or supersede offset printing technology’s ability to produce larger print runs of several thousand sheets at a low price.

We’ve given businesses in Miami, FL and around the US a perfect solution.

That solution is a “short run” using digital printing. What does short run printing entail? We prepare the art and we can usually turn it around the same day, regardless of how small your quantity needs may be. It’s sort of the equivalent of shared office space – you’re only paying for the portion of the printing you use, even if the press is running all day. You don’t have to buy unnecessary quantities anymore and with a low minimum printing quantity.

Short Run Digital Printing Is Accessible to Every Business

Do you need overnight posters? Do you need table tents or door hangers? Or something entirely different? Since we mentioned it, table tents are a perfect example of short run digital printing. Say an average restaurant has fifty tables and changes their specials posted on the table on a monthly basis. During that month, customers steal, damage, or otherwise render unusable one per week, per table. So we’ll take the fifty tables times four weeks in a month, and we find the restaurant needs 200 table tents. That’s not much to most printers. You only need to purchase the quantity you need, on a just in time basis.

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February 18, 2015