DO:

1) Use it on everything. From your business card, website, leaflet through to your invoices, vehicle livery, franking and signage.

2) Keep it consistent. Make sure it is ALWAYS a true up-to-date logo in the correct colours and with the correct typeface and not something "close enough". Don't let anyone "adjust" or "adapt" the design for a one off, or scan an old copy rather than ask for a correct master file, or worse still, use an old design - consistency is key to your market recognising your company and understanding your values.

3) Use a professional. As well as creating your logo, a design professional can create your advert, or your banner display, or your flyer, and will understand how the brand and core messages need to interact to get the biggest impact and gain you the maximum return.

DON'T:

1) Mix themes: If you have a new brand, don't continue to use any old materials displaying a previous logo or colour theme as this will just confuse your target market.

2) Use an amateur: However well meaning, or how similar their trade may be (printer, signwriter, web-developer or advertising agent), don't let them "knock a design up for you", as they probably won't understand all the nuances of how to use your brand, or won't know how the design should interact with other items in your marketing arsenal, or quite simply, won't have the skills or software to do your brand justice.

Remember: Your brand is an important marketing tool, think of it as an employee that you have paid for in advance for at least 5 years. It should be representing your business and the things your business stands for - all day, every day - even when you are asleep. It needs to be viewed in its uniform colours and styling, and not be poorly turned out. It needs to look professional and to look like it has been invested in and not poorly thought out or badly implemented. If you keep these tips in mind, then your brand will quickly start to repay your investment in it and help boost both your profile and your profit.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Sometimes people compare graphic or advertising design to fine art. They believe that a piece of graphic design should be something of stunning visual beauty that the audience would admire or wish to frame and hang in a gallery. An interesting notion that whilst commonplace isn't necessarily relevant.

Of course as a designer I would love all my work to be universally admired and gazed upon with loving eyes. But let's be realistic, graphic and advertising design in particular, have a job to do and that sometimes means that "beauty" just isn't the way to go. A designer shouldn't ask the question "do you like my design", but should be more concerned with "does my design work." Clients commission designers to fulfil a requirement of their organisation - to inform, to promote or to sell. If the target audience is male over 60's with an interest in motors, then there is little point producing a "beautiful" design filled with reference to the nostalgic textiles of William Morris, the eccentricities of Salvador Dali, or the modernist typographic and geometric forms of the Bauhaus.

The taste of the audience is paramount and designers should be more concerned with appealing to these groups to help their clients receive the best return on investment rather than designing in a manner dictated to us by whatever design style happens to be in vogue or is popularised by peers.

Don't get me wrong, I'm certainly not advocating ugly or dated work or being disrespectful to any particular design style, I'm just stating that each project is unique and one size does not fit all.

A great design should be created with that bespoke brief, that unique client and that target audience in mind and they should not be shoehorned into a formulaic trendy design template just to suit a lazy designer.

A truly succesful design should function on every level - for target, for designer but most of all for the client - after all if a designer wants to be successful then they have to work hard to ensure their clients success first.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

We've seen it happen. If your domain (your web address, for example mycompany.co.uk) belongs to someone else, like a midnight web developer, a flamboyant designer darling, or a holistic marketing guru then it is obviously their property and their responsibility. It is not in your control and this invaluable asset is at the mercy of another party.

What type of problems could this cause?

1) The person responsible could fail to renew the registration of the domain on your behalf, meaning you could eventually lose your domain. This could be for a variety of reasons (they have no cash, the business went bust, or maybe your businesses have ceased working together).

2) This is highly unlikely, but such is their authority over the domain, the person responsible could point the domain at a different website, meaning when someone looks up your web address instead of seeing your site, all of a sudden there's something else there!

3) A more likely scenario is that you build a new website and when it comes to repointing the domain to the new site, you try to do this but realise you don't actually own the domain. You try to contact the person with authority, but they are no longer contactable because they did it 5 years ago, you have no paperwork, your old email account is no longer active, and even if you could find their details, they have moved. Consequently you are stuck with your old website... and remember the domain will need to be renewed at some time in the near future (see point 1).

When it comes down to one of these scenarios it is going to be a real hassle reaching a satisfactory resolution, because someone else has ownership and authority over your domain, and essentially it is out of your hands.


So what? I can just get a new domain can't I...

Consider, what cost marketing a new domain, the loss of years of search engine presence, reprinting packaging, changing the TV advert you just commissioned.

Some might say 'We can cross that bridge when we come to it'.

It might not be an option, the bridge could have been swept down the river a long time ago.


So who is in charge of all this domain stuff then?

Different domains are controlled by different authorities in different countries.

Nominet is the UK Registy for domain names, that being domains ending .uk (including .co.uk). You might think of them as the appointed guardian, an authority on, or the wholesaler of uk domains. You can't buy domains from them directly, you need to purchase them from a Domain Registrar, for example someone like 1and1, 123-reg, Webfusion, Dataflame etc... there are countless other providers available.

Nominet have fair procedures and systems for settling any disputes or issues with domain ownership. This doesn't mean you'll always win your case of course, as I say they have fair systems and procedures, so don't bother trying to claim amazon or ebay .co.uk addresses.

The main problems arise when we look into ownership of a .com, a .biz, a .de, or similar, ie any domains that are not registered through Nominet in the UK. Instead the domains mentioned are registered via different bodies in different countries. Nevermind the call charges to the US to talk to the domain registry there - ICANN, what are the procedures for dealing with disputes, and if it does get awkward, how does a uk citizen exercise legal action in foreign territory. You may need to look into contesting domain names through WIPO (World Intellectual Property Organisation). What a load of hassle!


Who actually owns my domain then?

Well its actually straightforward to find out if its a .uk, simply search the web for 'WHOIS'. This will return a number of websites where you can enter your domain (web address) and find out who owns the domain name.

If it is a .uk you should be able to see who owns it (registrant), which domain provider it is registered with (registrar), and when it is due for renewal.

With other domains you may or may not be able to see the above mentioned detail, for example with a .com the WHOIS record doesn't have to show the domain owner's details.


BEWARE, if you OWN your domain.

If your name is down as the registrant then legally any transfers or changes to the domain will need to be (should be) authorised by you. Great on the face of it, but you must also check the contact details held for you. One example might be the domain provider responsible tries to contact you when the domain is due for renewal, but the contact details are wrong, therefore you miss the email and miss out on renewing the domain... it then becomes available on the open market and someone else snaps it up.


BEWARE, if you DON'T OWN your domain.

If you don't own your domain, someone else has ultimate control over it.


I dont own my domain! OMG!

Don't panic! That midnight web developer, flamboyant designer darling, or holistic marketing guru you appointed is probably a thoroughly decent, responsible person, if you just kindly ask them to talk you through how you could transfer the domain over to yourself, there is a good chance that they would see no problem in doing this whatsoever.

If after a time they refuse to do so, or if they prove uncontactable, and if its a .co.uk then you may wish to consider looking at contacting Nominet and seeing if they can help you. It's best to start with a phone call to them and it may turn out that you need to go through their Dispute Resolution Service (DRS).

If its a .com, .biz or .net, then disputes will be dealt with in the US and you may need to go through ICANN's Uniform Domain-Name Dispute-Resolution Policy (UDRP). For any other domains in other countries you will need to go through the relevant bodies and processes.

If this fails then you may need to consider legal action to obtain what you believe is your domain name, and at this point you weigh up the cost of legal action and potential outcomes of this, against the costs and implications of changing domain name altogether.

Please note that on the nominet site they say for every 2000 domain names, they have a dispute.

Going by these figures there is a good chance you might expect the current owner of the domain to assist you in transferring ownership of the domain to you.

Just be sure to make contact with the owner of your domain, sooner rather than later.

Samuel Manley is the Multimedia Designer at Aawen Design Studio, Cornwall, UK, working on projects from design for Print and Web, to front-end Web development and on-page SEO.

Despite the difficult economy, Truro based design agency Aawen Design Studio has seen profits rise through three successive quarters.

The last three quarters of trading in 2011 has seen an increase in gross profit by an average of 56% per quarter when compared to the previous three quarters in 2010.

In fact Aawen has seen positive growth during the challenging economic climate despite holding their prices for the past five years. The agency's gross profit is on average 6% higher when compared with the pre-recession quarters.

Creative Director of Aawen, Adrian Taylor, is delighted.

"Aawen's sales and profits are both up despite the challenging economic climate.

During this time we have seen a steady stream of website and brand development work. Most significantly, we have seen a return to favour of traditional printed literature, as many companies return to this tried and tested method of direct communication with their market."

Adrian continues.

"We are driven to make sure that we give ourselves the best chance of success for many years to come. The only way we know how to do this is to ensure that we keep delivering a great return on investment for our clients, giving them an easy decision to make when it comes to reinvesting in design in the future. The last few months have been some of the busiest and most satisfying in our existence - if this is a sign of the future, bring it on!"

This last year has seen Aawen recruit another designer and move from Penstraze Business Centre near Chacewater to a larger studio in the heart of Truro's business district, Lemon Street.

Aawen offer design services for corporate identity, websites, digital media, advertising and displays, printed publicity literature, illustration and packaging. The team provides creative and targeted designs for clients including Visit Cornwall, Cornwall Air Ambulance, Atass, Cornwall Council, National Maritime Museum Cornwall, British International Helicopters and Truro School Enterprises.

For more info, please visit www.aawen.com or call 01872 264274.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Google has recently launched its '+1' service, users of Facebook will be familiar with the underlying principle of Plus 1. Google's new button is similar to the facebook like.

Website owners can embed the Google +1 button on their website, alternatively it will be found in Google search results next to the page title.

(To see how to embed the button click here)

Once you have clicked the +1 next to the search result, or on the embedded button on the actual web page Google will remember this and everytime you see the link it will be highlighted that you have '+1ed' it.

I would assume, and it is indicated in Google's documentation, that Google will obviously use this information accordingly for its advertising purposes, for targeting adverts, and perhaps for prioritising organic content to you (as it does already based on browsing history), but it will quite likely have an impact on your sites SEO, for example some form of correlation as such that the more +1's you have, the higher your ranking for a particular term.

Where it gets smarter and has more of a social element to it is the fact that you can see your google contacts liked content. Just ensure that you have enabled this feature.

(You need to be signed up and logged in for this - click here)

To help you see which pages your connections on Google may have +1ed your google profile will need to be made public.

Whether this will be a success or not I suppose depends largely on the uptake of Googles new social tool, it'll be interesting to see how the +1 and Google Plus compare with Facebook and Twitter a year from now.

In the early 90's, I was fortunate enough to work for a prestigious design company in Cheltenham which specialised in packaging design. Amongst their clients were Bulmers Ciders (who at that time also acted as distributors for many international beers), Smiths/Walkers Crisps (primarily their Pepsico owned sales division Action Impulse), United Biscuits (McVities, Carrs, Penguin etc.) and Coca-Cola/Schweppes Beverages.

During this time I worked on packaging design, labelling, promotional packs, point-of-sale displays, posters, sales literature and slide presentations - each project offering me a great experience which has been a fantastic foundation to my career.

I quickly realised that it was label and wrap design that I most enjoyed however. Of course I loved the variety of the other projects, the typography in a catalogue, the impact and minimalism required on a poster or photo retouching needed for sales leaflets - but the draw of a label or packet was always the greatest design challenge for me.

I worked on many drinks labels, some alcoholic some not. Some targeted at the mainstream, some at a specific audience. Some where I was part of a design team with a huge budget, some where I had sole control and responsibility and a much smaller budget and timeframe to work with - all however made me extremely proud when I saw them complete and on the supermarket or pub shelves.

Whilst now I concern myself with how well my designs perform (have they increased the sales for my client, have they appealed as hoped to the targeted market), at that time my concern was purely vain - did they look good in my portfolio and can I boast to my friends when I see them drinking a product with my design emblazened on it.

I have never lost that passion for packaging that began way back then, and each time an opportunity arrises for Aawen to tender for a packaging project, I must admit I hope even more than usual that we are succesful in our bid. Of course we don't always win, but on those occassions where we are commissioned to design some packaging, I once again fill up with the nervous excitment and anticipation that can only be compared to that of a small child on Christmas morning.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Ask yourself whether you would choose an Aston Martin or a Skoda if you had a free gift to choose from, or a bottle of Channel or Tesco Basics perfume?

These qualitative or emotive desires will always affect our buying habits, regardless of the product that you are considering purchasing.

As for myself, I know I get defensive, even snobbish when I talk about owing a Mac rather than a PC - an odd, petty and illogical "loyalty" to a box of electronics, but true none the less.

When you are presented with a breadth of options, your choice is governed by cost, value, features, benefits, convenience, quality and oddly the unquantifiable 'X' factor. When you market your product or service to the business community, is it enough to be just another option for them to choose from, or should you try to be seen differently. A USP (unique selling point), is often quoted as a means to distinguish yourself from rival brands, but I believe that having a USP is just not enough - you need to promote it, shout about it and include it on all levels of your communication.

A successful brand conveys all the values of your business, it is easily identified and positions itself amongst rivals in a unique manner, but most importantly it does this always and consistently to get the best momentum possible. Once established a brand can command a level of loyalty, desire and admiration that is difficult to understand or quantify. Someone once told me that if all the trucks, machinery, factories and materials owned by Coca Cola disappeared over night then the company would still survive, but if their brand loyalty disappeared they would be out of business very quickly.

It doesn't matter if your business is small or you don't have a huge budget to invest, you can still use this principle to great effect and get a great return for your effort.

This article was written by Adrian Taylor, Creative Director at Aawen Design.

Any thoughts or comments? Ade would love to hear from you ade@aawen.com or call 01872 562090

Firefox - 38.7%

Chrome - 32.3%

Internet Explorer - 21.7 %

Safari - 4.2%

Opera - 2.4%

Back in April 2011, Google Chrome overtook Internet Explorer by 1.3%, now just 6 months on Chrome is a whopping 10.6% ahead of Microsofts browser. What's more, it is closing in on the fashionable Firefox, just 6.4% off the top.

WHO CARES!!?

What does this matter? Why should we care which browsers we use.

There are new standards emerging in the vein of HTML 5 and CSS 3, as these new standards have not yet been ratified, the support for them varies from browser to browser. HTML 5 and CSS 3 allow for greater functionality, visual effects animations and more.

These standards are supported to some extent by the latest versions of web browsers.

But we must remember to make our sites accessible, backwards compatible to browsers which don't support HTML 5 and CSS 3. It's great your site uses the whizziest technology on the latest browsers, but its important to know that sites should 'degrade gracefully' in older browsers.

For example we could use rounded corners on our sites using css3, but its important to understand that these would not be interpreted by older browsers, unless we were to spend time writing browser-specific code. Time spent writing code for old browsers could be spent elsewhere.

Essentially there has to come a cut off point in the development of a site, how far back in time do you go back, making your site look perfect to browsers from 10 years ago?

Do you make it perfect in IE6? A browser that even Microsoft urge people to ditch.

It is something you should discuss with your developer, and be aware of the cost implications of making the site backwards compatible, and to what level the site is developed for older browsers.

Statistics courtesy of W3Schools

The last two years has seen a shift in consumer activity, and the retailers are having to adapt to meet changing expectations.

The budget of the consumer has generally tightened, and the impulse purchase has been in decline. People are considering purchases more carefully and planning spending more diligently.

For example, the downturn(lets keep this positive) in 2008 saw an increase in turnover for the lower end of the retail sector for brands like Lidl and Aldi.

So this does beg the question; Are the recent rebranding processes undertaken by the likes of Argos, Waterstones and Walmart, lead by a simple design trend, or by a need to cater to changing behaviours in the market place with a 'back to basics' approach.

A design-led rebrand, reshaping, restyling is nothing new, it is in fact a constantly evolving process, year on year the large multinationals will tweak and adjust their brand, but in 2010 the above mentioned have made a rather more noticeable shift than usual.

Some take the view that the high street at present is competing more on price than quality and it could be seen that these rebrands are distancing themselves from the high end, and appealing to larger sectors with less to spend per head (a case of economies of scale being the only option?).

Lets be honest, Walmart and Argos have never appealed to the high end of the market, that is what Harrods and Marks & Spencers are for. But by mirroring the change in the customers pocket with a simpler, rounder brand, Walmart and Argos may just be reaffirming the bonds with existing customers.

At the same time, they are appealing to consumers who may have depreciated a pay grade or two, looking to spend a little less week in, week out on compulsory purchases.

This is indicated particularly in the case of Walmart, the previous brand tailored to a certain audience with the slogan 'ALWAYS LOW PRICES. ALWAYS.' The new brand maintains the element of cost-saving, but additonally appeals to transitional audiences "yes we're cheaper, but save money with us and you can afford to live a little better". This shift in visual and strapline may be all that is required to nudge the transitional consumer standing at the supermarket crossroads.

The shift for Waterstones then, is a little more dramatic with a move from a Serif typeface to a Sans Serif. Not only given the typical educated, aspirational, audience the brand once targeted, but especially given the typographic implications of such a move. Pick up any novel you care to read, you will find the copy in the main to be a Serif, surely the serif is in the lifeblood of book culture?

With Waterstones we see a possible shift to appeal to, and to cater for newer markets, perhaps those looking to buy books by D-List glamour celebrities like Jordan, whilst trying not to alienate the mainstay consumer of the book world. A rounder friendlier W and typeface is a subtle change, but one that may endear the masses a little more.

We must remember though, a logo a company does not make, the shift in brand needs to be reflected in customer service, marketing, and of course product and price. But what better way to signal a change of intention than with a rebrand?

I think in these instances we have seen three strong indicators of a general change in an overall philosophy by retailers, making the brand more friendly, simpler, rounder, and more accessible to wider audiences. Whether the intent is to consolidate with existing customers as with Argos, to actively pursue new audiences as with Waterstones, or a little of both as with Walmart, the changes are clear for all to see.

If anything these examples show the interaction between a brand and its market as something not driven by branding or market behaviour alone, but in fact a codependent relationship between the two.

Do you think the changes are simply a natural course of the brand cycle? Or have they been heavily influenced by the current financial climate? Please let me know if you've seen any examples of recent rebrands that concur or oppose the above. Answers on a postcard to sam@aawen.com

Samuel Manley is the Multimedia Designer at Aawen Design Studio, Cornwall, UK, working on projects from graphic design for Print and Web, to Web development and SEO.

Translating a great design from print, or an artwork file to an accessible HTML/CSS website can be a little tricky, especially when it comes to Typography.

As a client or graphic designer when working with a developer its important you know the limitations of what can be achieved, but its also handy to be armed with a few tips to get the best visual for your site from the developer.

Using CSS there are a variety of properties you can use to control your website typography. Read below to give yourself some background knowledge and get the best for your website;

1) Using the font-weight: property you can set the strength either numerically (100, 200, etc...) or by description (bold, normal lighter)

2) For something similar to adjusting kerning, there is letter-spacing property, this can be set in px (or ems for scalability within the 'beloved' internet explorer).

3) To adjust line spacing there is the line-height property.

4) To adjust word spacing there is the word-spacing property.

5) When specifying a font for your web page, your web developer will set a list, by which the end users browser will render the first one it comes across... this is probably easier explained with an example;

The code goes a little like this    font: 100% Georgia, Helvetica, Arial, Sans Serif;

In the above example we have used Georgia as the primary font, if the browser can't see this then it will try to substitute to read Helvetica... if not then Arial and so on.

6) There is a term bandied about - 'web safe fonts' - fonts that are deemed to be safe because they are generally assumed to ship as standard with mac and PC. When researching web-safe fonts you may see discrepancies but there is a general consensus on those that are deemed 'safe'.

So what about other fonts? Well by all means you can list them.

For example if we wanted to use Helvetica Neue as our primary font we can pop it in the list by all means, but when Joe Bloggs goes to see the site he may not have Helvetica Neue so it will jump down to the next font in the list.. AND bare in mind the effect swapping fonts can have on layout.

Its difficult to create print standard typography with CSS but with a little effort you can make the pages very respectable.

UPDATE 29/07/10 - Google have a great online tool for playing with type, allowing you to edit the above mentioned properties! http://bit.ly/8XrFeN

Sam is the Multimedia Designer at Aawen Design Studio, Cornwall, UK, working on projects from graphic design for Print and Web, to Web build and SEO.