Additionally, branding becomes imperative to gain the support of the public also in standing together with the nonprofit in its endeavors. But since most of the nonprofit founders are not well versed with the intrigues that rule the marketing and branding spheres, they end up creating a logo and think that would be sufficient to meet their branding needs.

In as much as logo is a good starting point for branding a nonprofit, more is required and below are top tips for successfully branding a nonprofit organization.

Differentiate yourself

By differentiating yourself or the nonprofit, you are showing the world how you are different from the other nonprofit organization in your industry. You need to demonstrate what the nonprofit will be offering differently and how you will be doing it so that you convince potential donors that they, indeed, deserve to support your cause and not your competitors. Differentiate yourself by having a clear mission, vision and goals that no other nonprofit is currently focusing on.

Personalize the organization

Personification is something which can no longer be ignored when it comes to branding nonprofit organizations. Personification makes supporters feel part and parcel of the organization, for instance, by allowing supporters to create their pages on the organization websites to post their photos and stories, they will feel more welcome and it will be easy for them to help drive the agenda of the organization forward.

Still on personification, the nonprofit can give donor various options of the projects they would like to invest in. Essentially, this is simply feeding the donors ego by letting them think that they have control and they can choose where to channel their donations, based purely on their personal preferences.

Engage the stakeholders

For you to brand your nonprofit successfully, you must engage those who are truly passionate about your activities or mission. You should learn how to identify the stakeholders in the industry and also other individuals who would be interested in supporting the activities you are undertaking. But this does not meant that you should close the door to any other person who would be willing to talk to you but is not in your industry. Keep your doors open and engage as many people as possible.

Refine your message thoroughly

Just like branding in any other business, you must have a compelling user selling point to attract the attention of the target audience. In charity branding, your user selling point should be your organization’s main message. While branding the nonprofit, the message should not just be a tagline to accompany the organization’s logo. It should be clearly crafted, simple, meaningful, and powerful and compelling enough to tell the potential donors what the organization is all about while at the same time giving them a reason to channel their resources towards the missions of the nonprofit.

Use the power of story telling

Story telling has a way of creating strong connection between people in different places and under different situations. Nonprofit organizations usually deal with global issues, but sometimes they concentrate in certain specific areas or regions. By using story telling effectively, the nonprofits develop the ability to highlight their concerns in a more subtle way and attract the right donors, who are able to connect with the situations or problems depicted in the stories.

Unleash the power of volunteers and the social media

At this current age of advanced digital technology, it goes without saying that every serious nonprofit organization should be participating actively in the social media platforms. Nonprofits can harness the power of social media to build a decent amount of followers, whom they can then ask for volunteers who would be interested in furthering the course of the organization. Definitely, there will be individuals passionate about the organization and who would love to share more about the organization in the social media. If you can get a good number of such volunteers, you can have a social media marketing team that can increase the popularity of the organization in the internet leading to the discovery and acquisition of more donors.

Consistency

Finally, with all the branding strategies you will have in place for the nonprofit organization, implementation must be on a consistent basis. Disjointed branding efforts will just work for the short time, but for longevity and good results in the long run, branding the nonprofit must never stop.

Learn about these top trends in business card designs!

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Referrals

Word of mouth remains to be one of the most powerful brand awareness and lead generation tools your business will ever have. It’s free and it can bring highly targeted prospects ready to purchase your products or services. For small business, you can use word of mouth effectively to raise brand awareness by creating a simple program to reward and empower your current clients for referring their peers to your business. Be sure to let the current clients know about the existence of such a program in your business so that they can make good use of it.

Hold an event

Irrespective of the business or the industry you are engaged in, holding a live event will make you attract the attention of both clients and prospects. The event could be anything, either directly in line with your products or services or something complimentary to what you have to offer to your clients. It can be as simple as a social summer barbecue or a party and for better results, you should structure it to coincide with of a product or a new promotion in your business. If possible, you can run a free workshop to share with the potential clients about your business and the kind of value your products and services can bring to them.

Increase your networking

Networking is another awesome way to meet new people and potential clients to your business. You can attend a local networking event and even the though the results may not be apparent immediately, those whom you will share your business with will have the name of your company at the top of their mind should they need your services or products in the future.

Hold Exhibitions

By exhibiting yourself, you create an awesome avenue to show your products or services to hundreds of highly targeted prospects and it is also very possible to make sales during the exhibitions. Though it might be slightly expensive, the results will be worth it in the long run.

Additionally, you can organize a relevant giveaway or a competition as a means of making more people aware of your products or services. Giveaways and competitions have always performed well because people love free things and if you tell them that you will give them something without them spending a dime, they are likely to register for the giveaway or the competition in multitudes. Just ensure that whatever you will be giving away is relevant and will provide real value to the winners.

Sponsor an event or a product

Sponsoring an event or a product is another nice way small businesses can reach targeted audiences and increase their brand awareness. Through sponsoring such events, the business will have a face-to-face time with attendees and this will give you an awesome chance to get leads which you can follow up once the event is over. Be careful however, when choosing the event to sponsor. It should something related to your business.

Consider the social media

Small businesses can also consider offered by the social media for short term and long term branding options. Social media is a fertile ground for people seeking to raise brand awareness on their products or services since it contains all types of audiences. All that is required is for one to build a large base of active following and interact with them on a regular basis. It is also possible to increase the results from social media by using paid ads which can be very effective if the targeting is done in the right manner. The best social media sites to target for brand awareness currently include Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Snapchat, and Google +.

Invest in promotional merchandise

Promotional merchandise is also a nice avenue for businesses to increase their brand awareness. The merchandise can be given to customers after they make a purchase and also to the potential customers who come to make inquiries about the business. Such promotional items don’t have to be expensive, but they should be relevant and also provide some value to the recipients. Additionally, the items must be branded with the company’s name, logo and contact details. In this manner, those who get the promotional items will continue having the business in their minds for as long as they have the promotional items and they will also have the business contacts readily available should they need to contact the business.

Take these 5 steps to brand a new business

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At its initial stages, social media was perceived to be a fad for the teens and the young lads who had nothing but a lot of time to waste away.

But as it has been proven over the short few years that the platforms have been around, social media is a force to reckon with when it comes to marketing and building brands.

By having a powerful social media branding strategy, you can have the ability to increase your following and fan base across the multiple social media sites and have traffic on demand to grow your online or offline business.

But just with every other aspect of branding, a logo will be at the center of it. However, it is imperative to have in mind that there are certain tweaks you need to make to your logo so that it becomes more effective for social media.

Highlighted here are some of the optimization techniques recommended for quality and high performing social media logos.

Keep the Social Media Logo Simple

To begin with, the logo ought to be simple not only to suit use in social media, but simplicity is the current thing in logo design.

The logo should be of the right size so that you can resize it quite easily for the various social media websites.

Consider the right aspect ratio, since a wrong ratio may make the logo lose its effectiveness when used as display picture or icons in some of the sites.

Also remember not to cram it with all the words and all the colors in a bid to try and make it beautiful.

You’d rather have a simple and functional social media logo than a beautiful and less functional logo.

Always Use the Same Image

One of the aims of your logo is to make your company recognizable each time your viewers sees it.

It should be such that they are able to connect the image on the logo to the company name in their minds instantly.

Though logos adapt over time, the best performing ones such as Apple and Nike use the same image across all their marketing materials and such a dedication to consistency has worked wonders in their marketing efforts.

Similarly, be sure to use the same image as well as colors for the logos you intend to use in social media.

Keep Text and Images Separate in a Social Media Logo

A logo can look very nice when the images and text are intertwined.

The problem with this approach, however, is that the social media websites have issues with dimensions.

Whether you want to have the image displayed on the sidebar, as display picture or on the page, the image will be resized for a couple of times.

If you use a smaller image, as many people use most of the times, things will mesh up all together.

As a result, the social media logo can appear cluttered and unprofessional, rather than help your branding needs in the social media space, it will simply work against you.

Minimize What you Say

There is no need to attempt to include too much text in the logo as if you are trying to explain a point about the company.

That is never the responsibility of the logo, hence you should try to keep the details as minimum as possible.

Don’t try to shove what you do or sell in the logo, but instead use an appropriate image to tell the story.

Besides, your business will appear unprofessional and you may scare away people from interacting with you in the social media.

Consider Recommendations of each Social Media Websites

Most of the social media websites will give guidelines for their social media logo dimensions and the quality of the media they prefer people to share on the websites.

Instead of trying to figure it out on your own, it would be nice and easy if you could just read the guidelines and know exactly what is expected so that you do the right thing the first time.

This will save you a lot of time and energy and will make your logo look great across all the platforms because you designed it just as per the recommendations of the websites.

Test the Logo

The last thing you should ever do is to try and change your social media logo when it is well established and popular amongst your followers.

But since you can’t know beforehand if this is going to happen, it is highly advisable that you take it for a spin by trying out different sizes, colors, images and other design elements so that you know what is working best for you in the social media.

After testing the various components, you can then go ahead and optimize the final design which will have proven to get good reception in social media.

If you need help in designing and creating a Social Media Logo, then download our LogoMaven software, It’s the modern way to design any social media logo.

Check out these famous pink logos!

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The competition in the technology industry is always a cutthroat one, and the companies realize that for them to stand out from the ground, branding is very important, and this begins with the design of the company logo. A beautiful logo won’t just make the company appear professional, but also will be memorable amongst the potential audiences and in so doing, the company has a chance to build a strong and a lasting brand in the minds of their customers. Whereas there are many tech companies with extremely gorgeous logos, some not already famous, below are the ones with the hottest logos currently.

Dropbox

Dropbox is a file storage company providing users with the ability to store and share files in the cloud. The company is relatively new, yet it has become immensely popular because it has negated the need for people to constantly walk with their memory sticks. Perhaps the other reason for the popularity of the company is its awesomely designed logo. It is simple, easily recognizable and a single glance at it will let you know immediately what the company deals in.

Storific

This is an app that allows its users to order food using their phones and they get notified with the food is ready for pickup. The logo features handwritten lettering on a bright blue background. It is beautiful, stylish and elegant, exuding a nice and warm personality.

Jelly

Jelly is a new tech company founded by Biz Stone, Twitter Co-founder. It is a platform where people can ask questions and get responses from other members and it is designed to be used by mobile devices, but allows for seamless integration with the social media websites. Just like Dropbox, Jelly’s logo is ultra clean, stylish and very simple. It depicts a shape of a white jelly fish against a light green background.

Snapchat

Snapchat is now one of the most popular social networks, and it uses a mascot as the logo. The logo is minimalist against a yellow background. The choice of the mascot is derived from the premises of the platform, in the sense that messages disappear immediately after they have been viewed. In this manner, it is like a ghost, since you won’t access the message again, and the choice of the logo has worked very well for the branding and overall success of the tech company.

Squarespace

Squarespace is a startup tech company which allows designers, artists, musicians and other professionals in the creative industry to have easy to build websites. Their logo features a beautifully elegant design, minimalist in nature and it can be easily recognized. The fact that the font is in white against a black background makes it conspicuous enough and it easily stands out from the rest.

Simple

Simple was created with a bold idea of replacing the high street bank. The design of the company logo is as simple as the company’s name – it is a beautiful design which will help you see as you spend your money. The logotype is all in uppercase, looking stern but professional.

Mailchimp

Mailchimp is a tech company that allows businesses and internet marketers to collect email addresses for purpose such as email marketing, and newsletter distribution. It is one of the top autoresponder companies you will ever come across in the present times. Their logo is a very simple logotype with the name with the name of the company written in a playful font against a white background. It is the perfect definition of minimalism in logo design.

Visual.ly

This is a startup tech company dedicated to creating different kinds of infographics to aid in presenting information in a more interesting way. Their logo features a sweetly designed logo mark which relates to its visual approach to data and it is well suited for the company.

GitHub

GitHub is a tech company that allows for code storage in the cloud and it’s a service that has grown immensely in terms of popularity. They have made it easier for programmers and developers in different parts of the world to share code with one another and also to work on projects together. GitHub’s logo is an interesting and a quirky one, perhaps to depict the personality of the company, which is now the most preferred for people working on open source projects. Their logo is half mascot and half cat and they have named it as “The Octocat”.

Hall

Hall is a communication app designed for businesses. It has various chat rooms that can only be accessed by the people who work for the respective companies. The Hall logo design is simple, clean and easy to recognize.

Check out why Uber’s head of design quit here!

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A LinkedIn logo therefore, demands serous considerations and should not be designed with the concepts or the mentalities adopted when creating the other types of logos. If you are interested in creating a killer LinkedIn logo to separate your practice or profession from the millions that are already flocked in the site, the following is how you ought to do it right-:

Being unique is not an option

For stellar LinkedIn logo results, being unique is not an option, but rather the only option. There are millions of people and businesses in LinkedIn, all keen on establishing connections with either likeminded individuals, businesses or the right target audiences. By its very nature therefore, the only way to stand out from the crowd and be noticed by potential partners is to have a unique logo to distinguish your LinkedIn business or personal page from the rest. It is important to take your time and do adequate research so that when you finally decide to create the logo, you will be certain it is absolutely unique and there are no chances of finding similar ones in LinkedIn or anywhere else in the internet.

Understand your brand

For the most part of it, LinkedIn is all about branding and networking. You are either branding your business or yourself with the nature of products or services you provide. Unless you have a good comprehension of what your brand is all about, creating an effective LinkedIn logo may forever be a mirage. Once you have known the brand, it becomes a breeze to play around with other design elements such as symbols, fonts, colors amongst others in the creation of the logo. Therefore, be sure to know what your brand is and what it stands so that you create relevant logo that will vibrate well with your potential networks within the social media website.

Use the Psychology of color to your advantage

Color in LinkedIn logo design is not just to appeal to the eyes and make people marvel at your profile or business page. Wrong use of color in a professional social media site like LinkedIn can bring nuisance to your message and instead of attracting potential networks, they will be running away.

For you to get it right with the appropriate colors for your logo, a good understanding of the color psychology is important. This is nothing but simply how the mind perceives different colors and the kind of meaning it attaches to them. Essentially, the choice of color should be dictated by the kind of emotional responses you want to evoke or convey to those who will be seeing the logo. Below is a quick breakdown of the color psychology so that that you know which colors to choose and for what purposes-:

• Yellow – inventive, sunny, optimism
• Purple – royalty, wise, evocative, spiritual
• Green – growth, instructional, organic
• White – clean, pure, simple
• Brown – historical, rural, steady
• Red – sexy, energetic, bold
• Blue – professional, tranquil, trustworthy, medical
• Black – credible, powerful

Simple and Flexible

While branding in LinkedIn, it pays to maintain simplicity and flexibility just as you would do when creating a logo for any other offline business. Your LinkedIn logo should have the simplicity to make it memorable in the minds of as many people as possible, and it also imperative for it to be flexible enough to accommodate the changing needs of your profession or business.

The last thing you want is to have a logo that will look outdated and annoyingly deprecated after using it for just a couple of months. To gauge the level of simplicity desired for your LinkedIn logo, browse some of the top performing professionals or businesses in your industry and see what they are doing right with their logos.

Consider using the services of professional designers

With the advent of the internet and a superfluity of free online logo design tools, temptation to create your LinkedIn logo without professional input might be endearing. If you are a professional graphics designer, then such an attempt may be allowed. But if your profession is something else and you are in LinkedIn to make networks and get business, then it is highly recommended you hire professional logo designers to create the logo for you.

Professional designers have the skills and the experience needed to transform your inspiration into a design and create a functional logo that will meet your branding needs in LinkedIn. Additionally, they are well aware of the current trends and the best approaches guaranteed to give you great results in your specific niche.

Learn how to make a youtube logo here!

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It therefore requires ideal service and proper strategy on how to find and win new clients if you want to enjoy the full benefits of being a graphics designer. Here are some of the great places where you can find new clients in graphic designs that you have an endless flow of clients and also make a lot of money in the process-:

The Social Media

The rise and growth of social media have provided a wide arena for getting clients in any industry you may ever think of. Millions of potential new clients in graphic design promote the social sites to connect with friends and families. Since they spend a lot of their time in the social media, it is the best place to catch their attention. With the various platforms, it will be important for you to learn how to use each one effectively. This way you can attract the attention of potential new clients in graphic design and convince them to throw your work way. The following are the top social media platforms you can consider using when searching for new clients in graphic design-:

Facebook – Facebook is a social media giant with endless possibilities of getting design clients. You can choose to use the free methods, or you can invest in Facebook advertising for faster results. With the free option, all you have to do is to let your presence be known in Facebook by having a professionally designed business page. With the page, you will use it to share useful design content with your followers as well as respond to any concerns or queries from them. Through the page, you will establish yourself as a real authority in the graphic design field, and your followers will be more than willing to send lots of work your way.

Twitters – Twitter works in almost a similar manner as Facebook when you are searching for new clients in graphic design. It also allows you to have a profile, telling your followers what you do as well as share with them useful content about graphic design. Once you establish a good following and create trust between you and your followers, it will be easier for them to give you graphic design projects.

LinkedIn – LinkedIn is a social network mainly targeting professionals. This is a must use platform if you want to establish yourself as a real professional in the graphic design industry and get people to support you for a variety of skills. It offers advanced options for showcasing your work and advertising your business. Just like Facebook, you can opt for the free methods or you can go the paid way for faster and more powerful results.

Freelance Websites

With the presence of the internet, there is a expansion of freelance websites where buyers meet sellers in a wide variety of niches. To get graphic design clients from these websites, you need to sign up with only the top ones with reputation for good experience for both the buyers and the sellers. Once you have an account, you will have to create a complete professional profile indicating your skills, experience and if possible upload some samples of your work. The potential new clients in graphic design will go through your profile and if they like it, they are likely to hire you for various graphic design jobs.

Personal Graphics Design Blog

As a graphics designer, it is necessary that you have a blog to showcase your skills and the kind of services people can get from you. Your blog offers you more power than the social media websites and the freelancing websites. This is because you have all the flexibility to use it in the manner you like without any restrictions. Other than being a powerful branding tool, it will expose you to high quality new clients in graphic design when people go on the internet to search for graphics designers. If you optimize the website well for the search engines, you will have the benefit of getting free, quality and targeted traffic from those who search for graphic design services in search engines like Google.

Finally, you should not forget about your past graphic design clients. Also remember to form strong networks with fellow designers where you can share more on how each one usually lands their new clients in graphic design. Additionally, you should become an active member of the top graphics design forums. This is because this is where both the professionals and new clients in graphic design come together to discuss industry issues.

Check out this required reading for graphic designers!

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Enhancing your creativity is one of the ways to separate yourself from the plethora of designers around the globe. You must have a strong desire to improve continuously your design skills and levels of creatively with every project that leaves your desk. There are several ways through which you could achieve these and reading is one of them. With the advent of the internet, there are several sources where you can get quality design materials to increase your knowledge, skills as well as creativity as a graphics designer. But with all the available sources, design blogs are one of the best you will enjoy using.

Why design Blogs

Blogs are more educative, current and “friendly” than the traditional books. The blogs are updated on a regular basis. Hence, you are guaranteed of finding fresh and updated content each time you visit. This will not just enhance your creativity, but also will make you have the current news and knowledge about graphics design right at your fingertips. Additionally, the blogs offer a means of interactivity, where readers can make comments and contribute to the blog posts they just read. This is extremely beneficial since it gives designers a chance to engage one another in a constructive manner.

Also, with the blogs, you can sign up for their newsletter and monthly publications and through this, you will continue to get useful and inspiring content from the industry leaders from time to time on your inbox. Therefore, any designer serious about enhancing their creativity will find every reason to be a friend to the blogs and utilize them to improve on their design skills.

Here are the top five inspiring design blogs to keep an eye on-:

Onextrapixel

Onextrapixel should be your first port of call if you are looking for design blogs to boost your creativity. It has a good reputation for being one of the oldest design blogs as well as having some of the well-seasoned contributors in the field of graphics design. The blog provides you with lots of resources including tutorials and a wide variety of freebies on different design subjects. No matter what you would like to learn, so long as it is within the field of graphics design, you will surely find it in this blog. Due to the nature of its content, therefore, Onextrapixel is ideal for both beginners and experienced designers.

Creative Nerds

Just as the name suggests, this is the place where you find all the creative nerds in the graphics design world (pun intended). It is an awesome blog with lots of fonts, free icons and Photoshop brushes that will help you enhance your creativity as a graphics designer. It is also among the few design blogs that come along with a complete YouTube Channel where you can further enhance your creative skills by watching videos and following along through live design projects by the experts.

You the Designer

You the Designer is another terrific design blog ideal for designers at all levels. It has a wide range of inspirational design works in almost any niche you can ever think about. In addition to the inspirational design works, you will also find lots of educational materials, freebies, tutorials and ninja tips both for web and graphics design. You the Designer is conclusive and is guaranteed to give you all the inspiration you need to get started to get going as a graphics designer. Additionally, the layout of the site is quite intuitive making it easy to use to the benefit of the users.

Inspiration Feed

At this design blog, you will find the same resources as the other blogs named above, but they have additional stuff for you. Inspiration Feed brings you a lot of articles covering different topics in various niches as well as relevant industry news that you ought to know as a graphics designer. This is also the one of the best places on the internet to go to if you are a graphics designer in need of great resources for startups, social media services, and general business motivation. Just as the name suggest, this should be your favorite place where you get your daily drip of inspiration as far as graphics design is concerned.

Graphic Design Blender

If you are a freelance graphics designer, or you are aspiring to become one, then you will find the Graphics Design Blender to be very resourceful. It is dedicated to offering freelance graphic designers with great tips on how to ply their trade in the turbulent but lucrative freelancing industry. Discussed in this blog are all matters relating to the freelancing industry such as dealing with tough clients, how to overcome your fears and start your business, where and how to land your first graphics design clients and many more.

Be a regular visitor to these inspirational graphics design blogs and get the fuel and the nourishment to be your best every day as a graphics designer.

Check out whether it is worth entering graphic design competitions here!

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This is because your graphics design resume is the first thing the potential employer will look at before asking you anything. If they don’t feel impressed by the presentation of your resume, they may not invite you for an interview to give you a chance prove yourself and your skills in design. Therefore, be very vigilant when working on your resume to increase your chances of being hired. Here are a few tips to help you polish up your graphic design resume-:

Use the correct verb when writing about your skills

It is recommended that you use action verbs rather than using personal pronoun, “I” when writing about your skills in your graphic design resume. Preferably, you should use active verbs and tenses when making reference to your skills, duties and accomplishments.

Short but to the point bullet points

If you use bullet points in the graphic design resume, they should be short and precise. There is always a temptation to use lofty and redundant language hoping to fill up space so that your resume looks packed. Unfortunately, this will work against you. Those who will be going through your resume will have dozens others to go through and if they are unable to find what they are looking for in yours, it will find its way into the recycle bin faster than you can spell your mother’s maiden name. Therefore, ensure that the bullet points are used clearly and concisely as it will also show your ability to communicate effectively.

Format your graphic design resume chronologically

Some people seeking graphic design jobs are fond of stating their experience by grouping them or listing them according the job functions. This is ill advised since managers would like to see a progression on your development from the time you started out as a graphic designer to the present.  The best method would be to format your graphic design resume in a reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent jobs as you work backwards to your earlier assignments.

Customize your resume for each application

Have something like a template graphic design resume upon which you will tailor each resume according to the specific applications you will be making. This is so that you find it easy to give highlights to the particular qualifications that are directly related to the positions you are applying for. Sometimes, this might mean that you will have to reorder the bullet points or you do away with certain skills which might not be very relevant to position you are applying for.

Additionally, it is advisable that you mention the specific terms you find in the job description and for which you are making application. These might include terms like “project manager, lead graphic designer etc”. The reason for doing so is because with the current digital age, there are some companies who will scan applications for such keywords and if you used them, you shall have increased visibility to your graphic design resume.

Send resume by mail

Most applicants have been crippled by the digital age such that they can only send their graphic design resumes to recruiters via online only. The applicants who send such applications by mail usually end up standing out from their online counterparts. For increased chances of your resume getting noticed therefore, it would be a good idea to also send your resume by mail. But while doing so, you have to careful about certain things like ensuring that you use high quality, 100% bond stationery and with appropriate colors.

Also, if you are sending your resume to an advertising agency, consider using a shade different from the traditional ivory. If the application is going to a conservative organization, however, it would be okay to use the normal ivory. Additionally, remember to use a typography that is simple and easy to read, irrespective of where you are sending your graphic design resume.

Using these tips and of course giving clear references in your graphic design resume should be sufficient enough to land you an interview where you will have a chance to show the employer that you are the right fit for the job. But ignoring them won’t give you any competitive edge amongst your fellow applicants and your resume will never be recognized by any serious employers.

Learn how to give a brand personality!

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One way of enhancing personal and professional networks is to be around like-minded individuals. Conferences and events offer magnificent opportunities for professional to get together and share on a number of issues affecting them in the industry. From such a event, professionals can find creative inspirations, learn about the recent happening in the industry, make new friends to expand their professional networks, meet mentors and also have an experience of the local hospitality provided by the host city.

If you are a designer, then you need to mark your calendar for some of the events that will be happening in the design world. These design events are extremely valuable and should never be missed by any serious designer. Though it might not be possible to attend all of them, you should strive to attend the maximum you can afford. Here they are-:

Design Indaba

All roads in the design world lead to Cape Town, South Africa, for the Design Indaba Event. This is an annual event held on every February between 17th and 19th. The event is characterized by the impressive international roster of experienced designers, speakers, and attendees from all corners of the world.

If you have ever wanted to meet design legends like Michael Bierut and others of his caliber, then you have every reason to attend this event. This is not to mention the African made products and projects that will be on display during the design event. It will also be a time to sample the humility and the hospitality of the African people.

Interaction 16

Interaction 16 is a four-day annual design event which takes place in Helsinki, Finland. This conference is known to feature the best of the best in design. Not only designers are expected to attend but also key industry players in the international design arena. It is usually expected to have over 100 speakers from industry leading organizations such as BBC, Uber, Frog Design, Huge, and MIT Lab. The event takes place at the iconic Finlandia Hall, designed by none other than the legendary architect Aalvar Alto.

Offset Design Conference

In the month of April, all designers pack their bags for a trip to yet another exciting design event in Dublin, Ireland. The Offset Design event is an inclusive design conference covering a wide variety of professions in the design world. These include animations, graphic designs, photography, film, fashion, arts and industrial design amongst others.

This event is taunted as one of the best design events in the world as it brings together all players including students. It is thus a fertile ground for the young professionals to get contacts and mentors to hold their hands as they embark on a journey in the design world.

99U Conferences

The 99U Conference is one of the numerous design events held in New York every year. It is principally a doer’s conferences, and it is scheduled for the first week of May. The presentations during this design event are characterized by tips and insights from some of the leading world designers and entrepreneurs.

It is also a good place to get motivated owing to the teetering speeches that are given by some of the speakers. Additionally, there is always time scheduled for attendees to have a word with their role models or coaches in the design world. This is an awesome design event, especially for the young professionals who are just starting to get their bearing in the design world.

TYPO Berlin

TYPO Berlin is another annual design event that has been gracing the event’s calendar for the last two decades. It is Europe’s biggest design event and just as the name suggests; it was formed purposely to discuss issues to do with typography in the design world.

However, not just typography is usually discussed in the event. It covers a broad range of design topic, including but not limited to graphics design, animation, film, fashion, branding and advertising. This awesome design event takes place in the month of May.

SEGD Conference

If you are a designer, and you happen to be in the Seattle in the month of June, make all attempts to be one of the attendees at the SEGD Conference. This is the conference to attend if you are curious about several design spaces. It features a broad range of topics ranging from how to create signage for towns to how museums are adopting technology to give visitors memorable experiences.

The event is attended by almost all the specialties in the design world including graphic designers, architects, fabricators, brand strategists, exhibition designers and other specialists interested in the design world

What Web Design Can Do

The What Web Design Can Do is also another design event that takes place in the month of June in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The event’s main focus is on the efficacy provided by design solutions in solving social problems.

Watch out for these events and make the necessary arrangements to attend as many as possible if you have the time and the resources.

Learn how to build a portfolio from scratch!

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Survival in the graphic design industry can be elusive if you don’t have a portfolio to show your work. Clients will in most cases want to have a look at your previous designs to gauge your competency and suitability of you doing them a great job. Without a portfolio, you will have nothing to show, and it will be tough to land a gig in this highly lucrative and equally skeptical industry.

The good news, however, is that it is possible to have a graphic design portfolio from scratch that you can use it to market your design services. This is ideal when you are new in the industry and still struggling to win new clients. It is also applicable when you have been in the industry for some time, but you need to attract high-end customers who will pay more for your services. Use the tips given below to build your graphic design portfolio from nothing.

Start with what you have

As a new designer interested in building a portfolio from scratch, you need not look further than to begin with yourself. Your main reason for building a portfolio is to market your design skills to get a stream of clients for continued work. Since you are essentially running businesses, start by creating various marketing materials for your business then display them on your online profile.

For instance, you can make business cards, logo, brochures, and marketing flyers for your graphic design business then tell people that you are the one who made them when displaying them on your profile. Though you may not have handled any paid projects, potential clients will see what you did for your brand if they are convinced, they may be interested in hiring your services. This is the easiest way to start building your graphic design portfolio from scratch.

Redesign other projects

Your aim here in building graphic design portfolio from scratch is to display your skills and what you can do when given a real assignment. To do this, redesign other works, adding in your unique design intuition to make such look fresh and unique. You can then display such redesigns on your website or portfolio to show to the potential clients. This won’t just expose your artistic prowess but also will speed up the process of building your graphic design portfolio from scratch.

Target poor designs and make them look great

The other way to hasten the process of building your graphic design portfolio from scratch is to target local business with poorly designed logos and other marketing materials. Make a list of such businesses and dedicate your time to making their designs look great. Once you finish, approach them and show them that you can improve on their designs and give them a better image to the clients.

If your work is good, most of them will be pleased and might consider hiring your services. With this approach, you will have chances of landing real clients while at the same time adding to your graphic design portfolio paid project you did to your customers.

Volunteer free services for the very first clients

Offering your services for free is another method you can use to create a graphic design portfolio from scratch. With this method, you agree to offer free services for a limited number of clients, especially those who come first or those who order multiple services. If you already have some cool designs in your portfolio, clients will be tempted to take in your offer of free design services.

Make perfect designs for these clients; add them to your portfolio. Besides this method helping you to create your graphic design portfolio from scratch, you will increase your chances of getting hired by the same clients if they are pleased with your work.

Consider Community involvement

The community is a great non-digital dimension you can use in building your graphic design portfolio from scratch. For instance, you can create a poster for your local meet up group or a church event or just about anything that will be taking place around you. Once done, all you have to do is to include the piece of work in your portfolio and make reference to the community activity. This is an awesome strategy if you are targeting local clients with your services.

Additionally, you may find other participants in the event who might be pleased with your design and consider using your services for their marketing materials. These will be good clients for you since you are in the same group already; they will feel more comfortable in dealing with you as opposed to approaching new designers for their design works. When used wisely, community involvement can make building your graphic design on steroids due to the exposure the trust you can get.

Take some inspiration from these recognizable brands while building from scratch!

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