By definition, a business card is a small card on which is printed, typically, a person’s name, job title, firm, business address, and telephone number. Seems simple right? But how exactly should you place that information on the card so it is comes across easily for the person receiving the card? There is a lot that goes into designing business cards and I am going to give you a list of topics to consider for your own card.

Color and Images! We all love picking out our favorite colors to represent us and we love picking out pictures even more. When designing a business card, pick out colors that are of interest to you and represent your logo. It is important to match color tones because you do not one some crazy color scheme going on that is going to distract people from really knowing what you are about. Also, it is nice to include a professional photo of yourself on the business card.

Type! There are only about a million different fonts out there in the world right? How do you pick one? First off, I know this may be hard but limit yourself to two fonts and do not use the crazy decorative fonts for the important information on your card such as name & contact. Pay attention to your alignment as well, left alignment is always easy reading. The size of your font is important too, use the same font size throughout and stick to the 8 pt – 10 pt range.

Composition & Format- The format and composition of your business card should be clean and simple. Also, if you have too much information, two sided business cards are an option! Isn’t that great? Most importantly, be sure to strive for that good contrast, good balance and professional look.

Texture! In today’s world, there are many different types of paper. When making your business card, select a thicker paper than your everyday paper. You do not want thin paper because that can give off an impression that your services are thin and crappy. Match the coating of your business card to the type of business. For example, glossy represents beautiful but non-glossy is easy to write on!

So many choices, so many options for just your business card but I hope that the previous tips will help you design that professional business card you have been wanting!

Written By: Lauren Schaefer

1. Become a collector

• Whenever you see some kind of design that inspires you or looks good, collect it, bring it home, and file it away. These can be a great source of inspiration whenever needed. Heck, even Starbucks gives out weekly creative mini-newspapers.

1. Buy books

   • Having a large collection of various books, whether inspirational, educational, or technical, is always essential to learning.

2. Read design-related blogs

   • You would be surprised how much you can learn reading through various design blogs on the web. While also a haven for memes and cat videos, the web is an invaluable resource of information, so take advantage of it and use it!

3. Start a design blog

   • Having a blog can be very useful and educational, as it will make you more aware of the design community at large, but also be more analytical of your own work.

4. Join and be active in the design community

   • A must especially for any freelance designers, not only will this help you stay up-to-date on the design community, but it is also a great way to get feedback and critiques of your work. Of course, since you’re a freelancer, you do not have anyone to answer to, but at the same time, you never really have someone to criticize your work and help you improve.

5. Take lots of photos

   • Especially useful for designs you like but can’t take home, having a simple camera phone can help you get pictures of things like building designs, textures, shapes of shadows on walls, and pretty much anything else that interests you from a design standpoint.

6. Create fake projects

   • Whenever you have some free time, which depending on your schedule might be a lot or little to none, create some fake projects. Work on a fake brand for a company, i.e., designing a logo, stationary, brochure, website, etc. It’s important to keep design fun and go all-out with your creativity without limitations. It can be easy to get caught in a rut when clients dictate what you do and your work is no longer “yours”.

7. Redo other people’s design

   • If you don’t feel like doing a fake project, simply redo someone else’s work. This can help you see what “they” did wrong and what you can do to improve.

8. Redo your old designs

   • While most people want to get rid of their old work, mostly cause they do not think their work is great, it’s better that you hang on to it. Try to redo your older work. It’ll help you to see if you’re improving your skills and getting better at your work.

9. Attend lectures

   • You can always learn something new by attending lectures of other designers speaking at local schools and universities.

10. Network with other designers

    • Another benefit to attending lectures is getting to meet other designers, especially ones with more experience and, possibly, more talent. It can be hard to admit that someone else is better than you are, but if you surround yourself with designers with higher skill will push you to work harder and learn more.

11. Take classes

    • Several colleges will let you attend classes with enrolling full-time. In addition to getting to be in a classroom with your peers again, you can also learn some new things about current design technologies.

12. Interview other designers and studios

    • Back in 2007, a friend of the author of this article held a national studio tour, wherein he toured and interviewed with 100 different design studios. He later said it was an amazing experience and he learned more from touring than he ever did from design school. Plus, he got a few useful contacts.

13. Travel

    • Going to another country can help inspire you. Whenever you find yourself designing all day long for several weeks straight, it can be a good idea to go to a new country. You can experience new cultures and see artwork from those country, opening your mind to a whole new world.

14. Learn something new

    • If you ever find yourself in a creative slump, sometimes it’s a good idea to try something new or do something unrelated to design. It can help you get your mind off of things and into something new.

15. Grab a sketchbook

    • Without the limitations of design software, having a sketchbook handy can help you work through ideas quickly. In addition to the author, who says it has helped with his designs significantly, you can read up on other designers who will say the same thing.

Written By: Matthew Lowery

With an increasing job market, people are trying to put themselves out on the market to try and find a job. An easy way for people to get noticed by employers is to create a personal brand for yourself. Not only can it help employers find you when you’re looking for work, it can also show the employers what kind of employee you’re like. Essentially, you are taking control of your career, as well as making yourself easy to find on Google. For example, you immediately recognize Pepsi by its logo, or think of Mazda when you see their brand, or know what “golden arches” refer to. On Workopolis.com, Colleen Clarke published an article on how to create a personal brand, where she outlined a few steps to get started with your personal brand:

1. Extract and identify your key strengths

• Since employers are looking for people who have unique strengths, highlight what makes you stand out from the rest to convince employers why you should get hired.

1. Know your target audience

   • Be sure you know who you want to work for and where you want to work at. Once you find someone, do some research, i.e., visit their blogs, follow them on Twitter, join their LinkedIn group, etc. It’ll show the employers that you have connections and motivation.

2. Express yourself

   • To get more credibility and heightened visibility, get your message out there. Start a portfolio of work by writing insightful posts, blog articles, or opinion pieces. In addition, you can share other people’s articles on social media, so long as they’re consistent with your brand message.

Get your brand identity happening. Consider making a business card, acquiring a signature style to your attire, i.e., how you dress and present yourself, and find out what appeals to your potential employers and use that to your advantage.

4. Exude your brand

   • Once you’ve established your brand, be sure you stay true to it through and through. Be sure others can see your brand image in everything you do, where you go, and how you present yourself to the outside world.

It can be a fun and creative process. Ask a friend or colleague to help put a plan together. Also, try looking at this exercise as your own professional make over reality TV show. It may take some time, the exercise will have you acting and thinking like a career-focused professional.

 Written By Matthew Lowery

Magazines are everywhere and if you are a designer, you probably have thought about designing them! Here are some tips on Magazine Design.

Get Inspired: The first thing you need to do to get inspired is go out and actually buy magazines. Then decide on WHY you chose the ones you chose. Was it because you like the layout? color? pictures? fonts? Use those elements to start the inspiration of your own magazine.

Use a great masthead: A masthead is your magazine’s logo. It should always be at the top of the cover so it is first to be seen. Your logo should be legible and able to tell you about your magazine. Another thing to consider is that unless your magazine is in the first row, the readers are only going to see the top two inches of the magazine.

Cover Photo: Whatever you do, do not try to save money on the cover. A well designed cover is more likely to be picked up than a cheap one. It is important to use high quality photos. Choose photos your reader will recognize. Remember that a magazine only gets one good first impression! Make it good!

Fonts: It is important to choose professional looking fonts. Also, if you use too many different fonts, it will be confusing to the user. With that in mind, it is important to keep to one or two font families! Also, beginners in design may think it is better THAT IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A STATEMENT IMPORTANT TO USE ALL CAPS! Now wasn’t that a little overwhelming? Try bolding your font instead of coming across like you’re yelling. Lets try this again! Also, beginners in design may think it is better that if you want to make a statement important to use all caps! Now, isn’t that a little easier on the reader than seeming like you are screaming?

Finally, do not forget contact information. What are your readers suppose to do if they love your magazine and want more! Be sure to leave your contact information including: your physical address, web and email addresses, subscription price, and how to subscribe.

Written By: Lauren Schaefer

At TriLeaf Designs, we do a wide variety of different things. Two of which are Print Design and Web Design but what is the difference?

While both fall under the category of graphic design, they are both very different! Print Designers are people who work on hard copied pieces. Some examples of print design are magazine advertisements, product design, packaging, business cards and logos. Web Designers on the other hand, obviously work on web based pieces. Those are HTML websites, Flash websites, Email newsletters and banner advertisements. This is just a short list of what Print Designers or Web Designers, the list is actually quite huge for what we can accomplish.

When working in these fields, you are more than likely helping your client out by advertising their product or service. In print design, you want your target audience to stay on the page long enough to get the point or service across. In Web Design, you want the audience to stay on the page as long as possible. The amount of web pages for a certain website is unlimited.

Everything in this world normally has a layout to which it was made and the same goes for print and web design. It is equally important in both categories to have a clear and effective layout. In print design, the document is measured in inches. Web on the other hand is measured in pixels. When working with print, it is important to have bleeds and safety areas while with web it is important to be consistent.

Overall, there is big difference between the different types of graphic design. Do not underestimate your graphic designer, he or she is capable of a lot!

Written By: Lauren Schaefer

Zanola Company

The Challenge

Many companies have charts or presentations that they use on an everyday basis or at least weekly basis. This was the case for the Zanola Company. They have what are called Visio Charts. These charts are use to help Joe, the owner explain the packages that his company offers about growth and building/development studies. Typically, these are created within the office, which works well as you can change them fairly easy and have access to them. But what people don’t think about is the impact that those have on the clients. Zanola realized after working with clients that these were not working as great sales pieces for Joe.

Take a look at what Zanola Company was using. 

As you can see the information is some what hard to follow, doesn’t flow with their current branding identity, and is not visually appealing. When Zanola Company approached us with these charts, they told us they wanted them to be more like an infographic and be more visually appealing. From talking to Joe and Rachel we figured out the best way to use these pieces to help Joe be more efficient at this job.

The Solution

What we decided to do was create an icon for each type of development that was available. This would bring more recognition as well as add a visual element. The residential was created based off Zanola’s current logo with the additional of the family. The same brand color was taken into the next icons with the same elements of design. These icons were then used within the charts to make them more visually appealing. The icons added more interested while giving visual examples of the type of development on each chart making them more easily recognizable.

The Need to Know charts, as you can see are more paragraph/text heavy. The originals had even more text but after looking over them Joe decided he was explaining a lot of that information in more detail anyway so for cleanliness we could cut down on the text some. The same layouts for all the need to know charts are used throughout to again spread the brand recognition. 

Moving onto the Focus Chart. These charts were harder to layout as all the information was important, needed to be easily readable, as well as needed to include the new icons. We tried several variations of charts, one of which was more like a line graph. This particular design was the easiest to read, had a great flow, and allowed the use of other colors to spread the Zanola Brand. It also stayed with the horizontal layout of the Need to Know Charts.

The Results

As you can see the designs now have more brand recognition using Zanola’s colors as well as more recognition within each development area. Zanola asked not only for the charts, but for us to give them each icon separately so they could use them on other materials that were related to each development. By creating these icons, and updating these charts TriLeaf added to Zanola’s brand identity. These are now marketing pieces that are recognizable as Zanola Charts instead of a chart that could be created anywhere.

Overall, Joe said he has found many uses for the new icons and has found that his clients are having an easier time following his charts.

Written by: Kim Tomiser

You want your color to represent what your trying to say. Here are some things to think about when choosing colors for your design. If you still aren’t sure about what color to use, tell your designer what your trying to convey.

 As described in more detail in Smashing Magazine here is the major breakdown of color feelings.

• Red: Passion, Love, Anger

• Orange: Energy, Happiness, Vitality

• Yellow: Happiness, Hope, Deceit

• Green: New Beginnings, Abundance, Nature

• Blue: Calm, Responsible, Sadness

• Purple: Creativity, Royalty, Wealth

• Black: Mystery, Elegance, Evil

• Gray: Moody, Conservative, Formality

• White: Purity, Cleanliness, Virtue

• Brown: Nature, Wholesomeness, Dependability

• Tan or Beige: Conservative, Piety, Dull

• Cream or Ivory: Calm, Elegant, Purity

 It’s just some food for thought the next time your working with your graphic designer. 

Written by: Kim Tomiser

When I came across this article, first, I rolled my eyes in disbelief, then decided I should talk about this because it is something that needs to be seen to be believed. Honestly, I had a really hard time coming up with a title since, well, what else can you say about this? So, get this, back in 2012, the Ukrainian Navy brought back a project from the days of the USSR, wherein dolphins were given pistols and knives attached to their heads and trained how to use them. If you’re still there, thanks, since I highly doubt after what I just stated, most would probably start.

According to The Atlantic, some of these battle-trained dolphins have escaped from their trainers, of course, and have gone into the Black Sea. Also expected is the fact that both this program and story are controversial. From RIA Novosoti, “Ukraine’s Defense Military denied the reports, while refusing to confirm the navy makes use of dolphins, despite the frequent appearance in Ukrainian media of photographs of dolphins with military equipment strapped to them.” The UKR have said that these stories are fabrications, and it is being discussed if the dolphins actually were armed, despite whether or not they exist and actually escaped. Oddly enough, this is not the first time someone has had their own answer to Flipper. The Ukrainians have also trained dolphins to sweep for mines, and even the US navy has trained dolphins for such a purpose, though the navy has retired them.

Honestly, the minute I saw the headline of this article on Popsci.com, I just had to check out this article to see whether or not it was real. This, to me, sounded like either a fake article or even a weird conspiracy theory some crazed nutjob came up with. I can understand that the military wants to try out different kinds of ideas for how they could combat enemy forces, since different militaries will have different ways in preparation for a certain situation. Still, there is something to be said about training live animals to attack in the same way a human soldier would, or even being used to do something like sweeping for mines. Personally, I think that no one should have to test something out on animals, especially if it is for something that is potentially harmful. While I can also understand that the military does not want to endanger their soldiers, there has to be a better way to test out ideas for combat than this.

 By Matthew Lowery

With people trying to be more eco-friendly in this day and age, one of the most difficult aspects is trying to decide whether or not something is recyclable. In addition to determining some thing’s recyclability, it can also be difficult knowing how to recycle materials. Luckily, there is a website known as Time-To-Recycle.com, a website based in the North Central Texas region designed to help people know both how to and where to recycle materials.

• Glass

• First off, the site lists some guidelines on recycling glass materials. Be sure to remove lids and caps, and dump out any food residue and lightly rinse the insides of bottles. It should be noted that it is ok to leave neck rings, paper and plastic labels, since they will either be burned or blown off during the recycling process.

• Plastic

• With plastic containers, what makes it especially difficult is being able to identify the type of plastic the container is made of. Most containers will have the number type of plastic it is made from printed on the bottom, but while certain products will be in containers made from a certain plastic, that does not mean the product will always be in a container made from just that plastic.

1. PET (polyethylene terephthalate): clear or slightly tinted; has high melting point; found in soda bottles, peanut butter jars, salad dressing bottles, and sheeting used in microwave food trays; also used to make carpets and clothing out of polyester

2. HDPE (high density polyethylene): translucent/colored; found in milk jugs, juice bottles, water and detergent bottles, margarine tubs, cool whip containers, bleach bottles, lotion bottles, shampoo bottles, and bubble bath containers

3. Vinyl – PVC (polyvinyl chloride): has shiny surface; sinks in water; found in vegetable oil and shampoo bottles, laundry detergent containers, cooking oil bottles, window cleaning products, and fresh meat wrappers

4. LDPE (low density polyethylene): found in margarine tubs, mustard, and coffee can lids

5. PP (polypropylene): found in squeezable jelly, syrup bottles, and ketchup bottles

6. PS (polystyrene): found in styrofoam containers

7. Other: refers to all other plastics

• In recycling plastic, be sure to wash out all containers, remove non-plastic lids, don’t mix different types of plastics unless allowed by collector, and remove the containers from bags

• Metals

1. Aluminum

• Usually, most recycling centers will only accept aluminum cans and foil, but will not accept other products like siding and guttering. To recycle aluminum, remove any and all food, liquid, and other contaminants from cans and foil, don’t mix in with any other materials, and remove all non-aluminum materials like grocery bags

1. Steel

   • Items made from steel that can be recycled include household items, i.e., folding chairs, fencing, broken tools, play equipment, plumbing fixtures, bike frames, garbage cans, etc. Items made from iron can also be recycled with steel.

• Paper

• While these tips are generally accepted by many recycling centers, be sure to check with your local center on how to prepare newspapers for recycling. Be sure to keep the paper dry, it’s ok to leave the glossy inserts, and don’t recycle newspaper that’s been used for birdcages, housebreaking your pets, and painting/art projects.

1. Other

   • Clothing hangers can be recycled, but be sure you call first since most will not take them. You can also try selling them to dry cleaners and second hand stores. If you have questions on certain metal items, such as appliances, check out Corporate Recyclers.

In general, when it comes to what you can recycle and how to recycle such products, be sure you check your city and the recycling programs available.

 By Matthew Lowery

Whenever you’re starting a business, be it a stay-at-home business or a small office-based business, one part of it that can be difficult is trying to find office supplies for a price that won’t sink your business. Luckily for those of us who want to enter the business world, in an article published by David Mercer on

SEO-Entrepreneur.com, there are plenty of office suppliers are willing to get you the supplies you need for less. The article specifically mentioned five stores that not only have bargain-priced office supplies at their stores, but they also have a great online presence should you want to save gas on a trip.

1. OfficeMax

• Well established and widely known as a retailer of office supplies, office technology, and office furniture, OfficeMax has a huge selection of basically any sort of office and business supplies that you may need. What makes them especially good is that they offer regular specials, deals, and discounts, so it’s a good idea to keep checking their site every now and again to see what deals they have at the time. You can also get free delivery on orders over $50, making ordering online a good idea in the long run. What also makes them popular is their great customer service, especially with their online customer service facilities being easy-to-use.

2. Stamps.com

   • What sets this site apart from others and is getting them more and more attention is that they do one thing many small and home businesses need well: saving time, money, and effort on postage. They do this by providing a way to buy and print valid USPS stamps and shipping labels online. So, if your business uses postal services, it might be a good idea to check out this site. Some of the sites other main features include domestic/international USPS potage, savings up to 80%, one click package tracking, and no trips to the post office being required.

3. Office Depot

   • While not really needing much of an introduction, Office Depot still gets attention because of their low prices, huge selection, and a strong online presence for ordering and receiving office supplies. As expected, their online ordering system is comprehensive, offers tracking, and has other ways for you to manage your online orders. This is a great option for businesses looking for an affordable and reliable office supplier in the long run.

4. Suppliesoutlet

   • With a focus on providing high quality ink cartridges and toner for office printers, Suppliesoutlet provides supplies for major brand printers, including Cannon, Dell, HP, Lexmark, and more. Not only can you compare their prices to those at other stores, but they also deliver new printer supplies to 75% of the US within two days.

5. PrintPlace

   • If your business needs something printed right away, you can look to PrintPlace for your printing needs, especially if you need high quality printed products like booklets, business cards, calendars, posters, etc. Sine their focus is on online printing jobs, they have great customer service facilities to make sure your print orders come out just the way you want every time. While other business service companies can be fly-by-night types, be assured that PrintPlace provides a reliable, world class printing service from several facilities, giving them extremely quick offset print capabilities.

So, to those of you wanting to start a business or have one already and are in need of supplies, you can check out any of these places to see which have the supplies your looking for at a price you want.

  By Matthew Lowery