All Graphic Design Portal is a directory of resources, articles, & design education links for graphic designers & web designers including a design forum, blog, & directory.
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Creative Graphic Design Templates
Take a look at these creative templates for brochures, flyers, newsletters, stationery, postcards, ads, menus and posters for a variety of businesses. If you're faced with time limitations, budget constraints or simply need new creative ideas, let these designs do the work.
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Business Cards Design Ideas Tips:
How to Beat Your Competition Outside the Phonebook With Magnetic Business Cards
BUSINESS CARD DESIGN MAIN PAGE
BUSINESS CARD TEMPLATES
POST GRAPHIC DESIGNER / BUSINESS CARD DESIGNER JOBS
Coolest Business Card Designs, Part I - Here are the coolest, most innovative business cards that you have ever seen. Here is Part II.
Coolest Business Card Designs, Part II - Here are the coolest, most innovative business cards that you have ever seen.
Coolest Business Cards, Part III - Here are the coolest, most innovative business cards that you have ever seen.
Coolest Business Cards, Part IV - Yet again, more of the most unique business cards around.
by Christopher Brunner
What is it about magnets that draw people to leave dozens of them on fridges and file cabinets for years at a time?
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Many people like to have the contact information handy for common service providers without flipping through a bulky phone book. Magnets are the perfect solution for being seen in this situation. It's a win-win relationship for you AND the customer.
Putting Magnetic Business Cards to Work for You
Any small business can take advantage of the advertising power a magnetic business card holds. This includes:
Pest control
Repairmen & Contractors
Veterinarians
Realtors
Food Delivery
Insurance agents; and
Hair/Nail/Tanning Salons
Hand them out at:
Conventions
Open houses
Tradeshows
Product launches; or
When you perform a service for the customer
You can stick magentic business cards to fridges, filing cabinets, vending machines, appliances, cars, lockers, and just about any other metal surface.
When clients place your magnet, you instantly have an advantage over the competition. Now, all the client has to do is pick up the phone and call when they need you. They will appreciate the fact that they didn't have to spend time thumbing through the yellow pages trying to pick one company to fulfill their needs. With their initial satisfaction comes repeat and referral business for you. It's a snowball effect that can't be beat!
On my fridge, you'll find magnets from Domino's and Papa John's pizza, a heating and air specialist, a massage therapist, a neighborhood veterinarian, as well as the nail salon my wife goes to. I have no idea when these magnets were placed there but I do know that they don't move from the prominent spots they were placed months or years ago.
Creating Magnetized Business Cards
Now that you've discovered the positive effects that magnetic business cards can have for your company, what's the best way to obtain them?
Business Card Design Option 1: Buy stick-on magnets and attach them to the back your current business cards
You can buy magnets of various shapes and sizes at your local craft store at a relatively cheap price. Take a hot-glue gun and glue the magnets at each corner on the back of the cards. The upside is that this is a cheap and easy method of creating magnetized business cards. The downside is that it can be a very time consuming process to attach the magnets and the end result usually looks less than professional. Remember that in this situational type of marketing, image is everything.
Business Card Design Option 2: Buy magnetized business card stock from your local office supply store and print them yourself
Avery is a popular brand that offers these types of do-it-yourself inkjet cards. With these, you print out your card design multiple times on a sheet of paper that already has a full magnetic backside. There is less work involved in creating them; however, magnetic paper can be costly.
Another downside to this method is that inkjet printers don't print well on magnetized card stock because the paper surface is so thin. The ink from your printer will tend to glob on the surface once the paper is saturated making your cards sticky with the possibility of staining clothes and hands. Ink cartridges aren't cheap either, so be sure to figure that into your costs as well.
Using this method, you will end up paying the same, if not more, than the next option...
Business Card Design Option 3: Have your magnetic business cards professionally printed by a commercial print shop
While you may pay a few extra dollars for this method, in the long run, it will save you time and earn much more business for your company. Your magnets will be printed on glossy, full sheet, magnetized card stock paper specially formulated for high-resolution press printing. The magnets will look and feel professional to your customers, and will have a better chance of getting placed in a prominent spot on the fridge or file cabinet.
With recent breakthroughs in online printing technology, you can design or upload full color magnetic business cards online, and have them printed for less than it would cost you to print on your inkjet. Take advantage of the marketing power of magnetic business cards, and start seeing long-term results today.
Christopher Brunner is interested in helping you gain more clients with your business cards. Browse one of the web's largest collection of business card networking articles and create eye-catching business cards online at http://www.greatfxbusinesscards.com
This part II of a never-ending series of the coolest outside ads, billboards, and public advertising.
Best Clever & Unique Billboards and Outdoor Advertising I have found tons of the coolest billboards, outdoor advertising, and transit ads ever. I am listing many of them today but I have found many others (and I am still searching for more) that I will list soon. I am listing them in a gallery [...]
This is part II of a multiple part series of the coolest logo designs. You can use this list as a source of logo inspiration or just look at it because it is fun to do.
Within this article, I am going to detail the ?six steps? that I took to design the logo for the ?Seventh Congress of Zoos and Aquariums?
I saw some really beautiful logos today so I thought that I would share some with you and then make a series out the idea. This is part I of a multiple part series of the coolest logo designs. You can use this list as a source of logo inspiration or just look at it because it is fun to do. Either way, enjoy the following list of beautiful / cool logo designs.
This is the 4th part of our Coolest Business Card series. This time, we are including the printer (when we can find out the information) who printed these business cards.
This article was written by the very talented, Mark Misenheimer of Misenheimer Creative, Inc. Mark is an expert freelance graphic designer who has been in the design business for years. He has documented the design of a logo from start to finish in order to help other graphic designers. I know that you will learn something from this tremendous logo design article.
The Graphic Design industry is very competitive, and trust me, it can certainly get stressful and frustrating at times. However, it doesn?t always have to be that way. Here, I have broken down my design process. This is how I create my design layouts from start to finish. Basically, with some focus, structure, and a little bit of talent, creating rewarding and professional design work can be produced more efficiently and with less stress.
As a designer everyone has experienced a point where they just can no longer think of anything worth while. It?s in these situations when you have to reevaluate your perception of what works and what doesn?t. Use the following 20 tips to avoid and get through a tough designer's block.
Graphic Design and Typography are deeply connected. For that reason, I figure that most of you are going to love these free online font and type tools. Most, if not all, of these are very useful and I recommend that you use them when you have a chance. Below you will find the huge list of free browser-based font and type tools.
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Some of My work
Transparency Issue Indesign CS3
Restaurant with a bathroom theme.
Unusual question...
True type versus, Open face type..
Need an online store to buy printer cartridges!!!
Looking for a good suggestion...
look at my new $5249.95 baby!
newbie needs advice
Steven from Ann Arbor(ish) Michigan
New Member...
Mac or PC?
trade gothic
What do you think of Fireworks?
Constructive Criticism Wanted
6 Million Downloadable Clipart Images for Graphic Designers
The Clipart.com collection of more than 10 million royalty-free clipart images, photos, illustrations, fonts, sounds and Web graphics provides creative professionals with the most choice at the best price. With a Clipart.com subscription, you pay one fee and download what you need.
May 27A New and More Accurate Search Engine for Finding Free Clipart
As graphic designers, we are always on the hunt for quality free clipart images to use in our designs. The problem is that often searching for clipart often brings back very inaccurate search results. Well, thanks to one of my friends, I have found a new site called Find Free Clipart which will make my life much easier the next time I search for clipart online.
Apr 26Podcast for Freelance Graphic Designers
Lindsay Marsh, owner of Marsh Graphic Design has created several audio and video podcasts she calls the Freelancer. They cover various topics related to the freelance graphic designer. She plans on doing these pretty regularly and from what we see there is a lot of potential here. I suggest you check them out. The [...]
Mar 7Hot in Graphic Design - A Superb Guide to Designing With Black
A Superb Guide to Designing With Black Many of the people who visit All Graphic Design are Graphic Designers and many of you are Web Designers. If you are a Graphic Designer, than you most likely know that many things can go wrong when sending your files to be printed. For one thing, colors never look [...]
Mar 6Hot in Graphic Design - Find Out if You are a Lousy, No Good Graphic Designer
Find Out if You are a Lousy, No Good Graphic Designer Hey, I bet you think you are the best Graphic Designer around, don't you?! Well, if you are brave enough, you should take a look at an article which will hit you where it hurts (if you are doing any of the 13 tell tale [...]
Mar 5Hot in Graphic Design - Examples of Good Graphic Design Portfolios
Examples of Good Graphic Design Portfolios This is a post on Astheria Design Blog that is in response to a previous post called "?My Last Portfolio Sucked, Yours Might Too"?. This articles includes pictures and links to Design portfolios that were designed with a goal in mind. All of these design portfolios have one thing in [...]
Mar 5Hot in Graphic Design - Some Online Printing Services I?ve Used
Some Online Printing Services I've Used - Personal Commercial Printers Review Whether you are a Graphic Designer or a Web Designer, we all need to use commercial printing services every once in a while. All freelancers, in fact, need to use printing services to print items such as business cards, printing labels, envelopes, letterhead, marketing materials, [...]
Feb 29Hot in Graphic Design - Should Graphic Designers Use Design Elements in Their Resume?
Should Graphic Designers Use Design Elements in Their Resume? I have always been told that utilizing design within a resume is the wrong thing to do, Graphic Designer or not. So when I saw this article title, it caught my eye and I had to read more. However, the author of this article doesn't agree with [...]
Feb 29Hot in Graphic Design - List of 120+ Free Photoshop Actions for Cool Designs
List of 120+ Free Adobe Photoshop Actions for Cool Designs I was excited when I found this huge list of free Adobe Photoshop actions, and I am guessing that you will be excited as well. Actions are the best way to speed up Photoshop tasks that you do on a regular basis, such as change an [...]
Feb 29Hot in Graphic Design - Logo Design Trends for 2008
Logo Design Trends for Graphic Designers in 2008 As a Graphic Designer, you might not think that trends are important when it comes to designing a logo. However, as you can see if you look at design archives, the art of Graphic Design changes. As a designer, you will need to keep on top of these [...]
Feb 27Hot in Graphic Design - Which Mac Should You Buy if You are a Graphic Designer?
Which Mac Should You Buy if You are a Graphic Designer? As a graphic designer, you might be in need of a new computer these days. If so, and you are interested in buying a Mac, which Mac should you buy? This is a question that is consistently posted on every design form across the net. [...]
Website Design for Online Bridal Guide
I prefer to work with designers located: houston texas Number of pages (approx): about 10-15 My Industry: commercial wedding Will need graphics, content management, and members areas with forums.? Client is in Freno, TX
Website Redesign: Fencing Lessons
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Web Design: Financial Consultants
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Front End Web Design for Consumer Produc
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Line Cards and Signage Design
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Web Design for Startup IT Company
Design Type: Informational for Startup IT Company 20 pgs Flash Intro, Flash Banner, rest all static pages, except for Feedback form No functionality.? Client is in ,
Web Design: Children's Author
I am an author who needs a 1-3 page website that will link to my publishers, booking agents, and possibly book wholesellers. Possibly a flash sideshow for the books. Minimal graphics. ? Client is in Pittsburgh, PA
Web Design for Hosting Company
Number of pages (approx): 10 pages My Industry: web hosting Would like graphics created if possible within budget. No functionality. inmotionhosting.com, iweb.com, hostatree.com. - i want the feel a? Client is in Trichirappalli,