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New Collections and Trends for the Coming Season

Posted: Tuesday, December 28, 2010

This time of year all high street and designer stores are launching new ranges and ‘collections’ of all sorts of products and goods available to everyone on the high street. But what womens boots to choose? With so much choice on the high street a little help is needed!

With the hot new look at the moment being jeans tucked into mid high boots, this creates a fashionable and sassy look with the comfort of being warm in the harsh weather conditions of the UK. When wearing smock tops and t-shirt dresses, add shape to the outfit by co-ordinating a wide belt around the waist to add curves and to make the waistline evident, also add a patent black oversized bag will create the perfect feminine look for any occasion. Wear this look with patent black shoes-boots and block colour tights to give your outfit the perfect dose of wow for the chilly season ahead!

Fringes, straps, buckles and embroidery are all fashion must haves for this season. Fringed suede boots, jackets and bags, embroidered shoe-boots and court shoes can all make the look complete. The detail on shoes, boots and accessories and will make you look and feel visually stunning!

A. Fashion Designs and Womens Styles
Fashion Designs and Women’s Styles
See through clothing, shorter hem lines and contrasting colours. The latest fashion trends and women’s seasonal styles are often defined by celebrities. And the fact of the matter is, celebrities are often dressed by renowned fashion designers. It’s all about taking ideas from the fashion designers and being unique and comfortable in your personal fashion sense.

Chanel is one of the best known and renowned fashion brands in the fashion and haute couture world. The brand started off with a no-nonsense approach to fashion. The evening wear and formal collection of Chanel tends to have an understated sex appeal, not blatantly revealing, yet exudes luxury, feminism and delicateness. The Escada fashion collection, spearheaded by Margarethe Ley, is known for innovative fabric and colour combinations. Escada is all about creativity in fashion, and their use of the most updated technology in creating fashion is testament to that fact.

Prada wraps old-world Italian luxury into a new world fashion design. It is innovative yet classic, understated yet unique. Its upside down triangle symbol is now famous in the fashion circles and fashionistas sporting Prada accessories are indeed in a league of their own. d’Italia is a designer fabric store in Melbourne, Australia. d’Italia boasts a range of material and fabric that are often used for the creation of uniquely tailored evening wear, bridal wear and professional wear.

B. Dolce Gabbana Fashions are About Luxury and Style
Dolce and Gabbana Fashion is a recognized entity in the fashion world and is famous for their creative and coy Italian aesthetics. The latest luxury to embrace the fashion world from Dolce and Gabbana fashion house is the custom-made crocodile bags that feature a host of black crocodile products. If people require knowing the popularity of Dolce and Gabbana Fashion, pay a visit to Milan Fashion Week.

The collection of Dolce and Gabbana includes of sunglasses, light fragrances, shoulder bags, weekend bags, and total wardrobes for everyone. The stylish collection of Dolce and Gabanna Fashion has a design that is inspired of the culture and color of the Mediterranean Region. Every Dolce and Gabbana Fashion collection has amazingly sexy and fetish approach that gives a vision of Fellini movies.

The products of Dolce and Gabbana Fashion are showered with unique vision of Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. Their theme that centers on common individuals rather than models makes the products of Dolce and Gabbana Fashion fascinating. Dolce and Gabbana Fashions have made Milan Fashion Week their own.


How to become a Professional fashion photographer

Posted: Friday, December 24, 2010

How to become a fashion photographer and Professional photographer
A career in fashion photography doesn't have to be an impossible dream. With its huge audience, high pay-checks and glamorous international lifestyle, fashion photography may seem like one of the world's most sought-after professions. But for every fashion photographer who makes it through the door of a top magazine, a thousand others find their niche fashion advertising, art photography, celebrity portraiture or even paparazzi work to make a living.

Sydney photographer Eva Mueller agree that breaking into the industry can be hard. But they have some tips for beginners on setting up a portfolio, submitting work to magazine picture editors, choosing the right photo agency and even getting shown in a gallery.

Setting up a portfolio
"Having been around, I know how hard it is to get in the door," says Allure magazine photo editor Clio McNicholl, who receives around 50 unsolicited portfolios a month. Many photographers find that websites offer an inexpensive way to showcase a relatively large quantity of images. Eva Mueller a Munich-born fashion and beauty photographer who has been living and working in Manhattan for ten years, points out that computer editing is also a method of keeping down retouching and printing costs.

Many fashion photographers find the sharp, bright imaging of 4 x 5" transparencies show off their work to best effect. Tear-sheets (literally, pages ripped from a magazine) are great if you've been published, but good quality, 8 x 10" prints are also OK.

Picking your picture editor
"Most people who cold call me haven't done their research, which is the world's biggest mistake," says Clio McNicholl. When you submit work to photo editors, remember that you're "showing" rather than "selling". Editors almost never buy the specific image they see before them; they're looking for a photographer who can execute future commissions. The best way to grab an editor's attention is to show previously published work. "Because there's such an over-supply of photographers, a lot of magazines really take advantage of that fact," says Eva Mueller. McNicholl says Allure's rates start at $350 a day for unknown photographers, up to $130,000 for a fashion spread.

If your work speaks clearly, you'll stand a much better chance with picture editors than with vague or ambiguous images. When you're submitting your work, remember: Call the magazine ahead and get the name of the person to whose attention the submission should be marked. Label everything with your name and telephone number. Send working prints or transparencies, not originals. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want the work back. Some clients really take advantage of the fact that there are so many photographers out there: they make you pay for the whole shoot, they alter your pictures and don't tell you when they drop the story. Sometimes they're just really disrespectful toward the photographer." There is a way to avoid having to deal with photo editors, however: and that's to have a photo agency do the selling on your behalf.

Finding a photo agent
Photo agencies exist to liaise with clients and sell photographers' work on their behalf. They benefit everyone from start-out photographers, who may not have many industry contacts, to seasoned professionals, who are too busy to take care of business dealings themselves. Usually the photographer doesn't have enough time to take care of everything."

Agencies can also re-sell your work in several different markets, acting as a mini publicist and giving career advice. "The young photographer has to understand their target, in terms of their personal goals the direction the photographer wants to take," she says. Agents recommend treating your first contact with them as seriously as if it were a job interview. A photo agency is not the only place that can sell your work. If you're more interested in concentrating on your personal vision than taking commercial work, you can also considering exhibiting in a fine art photography gallery.

Getting a gallery
While gelatin silver prints are the staple of fine art photography, you'll find a healthy interest both in contemporary photos using antique methods (such as Chuck Close's daguerreotypes), as well as modern printing methods, including Cibachromes and C-prints.

Like any artistic undertaking, art photography is unlikely to pay you a living wage for many years. Although many artists sell their work directly from the Internet, critical attention and the strongest sales come from a relationship with a Gallery. While there is now at least one photo gallery in most major cities, the center of the world art photo market is Sydney. Sydney boasts around 100 galleries dealing in photographic prints, and prices there tend to be strongest. A comprehensive list of Sydney and international galleries is available at the websites of the bimonthly listings guide Photography in Sydney , as well as the Association of International Art Photography Dealers.

Before approaching any gallery with your work, you should telephone and request details of their submissions policy. Many galleries review new work only at set times of the year, and even to get in the door of some places you will need the recommendation of somebody known to the gallery directors. If a gallery is interested in taking you on as an artist, they'll probably want to see a representative sampling of your work. Even if you have one or two knock-out images in your portfolio, a gallery will want to know that you have a mature body of work with a consistent standard throughout.

The most important thing to remember about working with a gallery is to maintain a proper business relationship. You should also discuss whether you are free to have relationships with other galleries, or if your gallery expects exclusivity. If you have a New York gallery, for example, but then arrange to have a show in Los Angeles, sometimes the New York gallery will expect a cut (typically 10%).

A. The Boost of Digital Photography And How It Has Affected The Fashion Industry
The big improvement in shutter speed and photo resolution, make it convenient and easy for both beginners and professional photographers to take good pictures. In addition, photo editing can now be done to create a more creative and artistic photos.

Digital photography has also been a huge plus for many online and offline businesses. A stock or image is used by a photographer to purchase images. Today, digital photography is known to boost the fashion industry. Digital fashion photography far off different from doing television footages and taking photos on films. For digital photographers, it is a more challenging field to work on.

The ultimate purpose of digital fashion photography is to capture every detail in the ramp. Digital fashion photography will capture the various outlooks essential to gratify the acceptance in world wide fashion trends. While digital fashion photography is a meticulous field, a photographer should be creative enough to know the hottest craze each year.

Like fashion designers, digital fashion photographers should also work in high end ease, filed with beauty and glamour. Further show contrast by giving blurry parts and sharp emphasis over your photos, organize your subject, put weight on the shapes and lines of interest as well as create good impact that you are giving information on your audience.

A digital photographer should also be conscious that whatever output he delivers will uncover the care, readiness and awareness of the many vital points to remember in taking pictures. The photographer should use curtains and reflectors. Never expose the entire photograph, try underexposing other parts. Use reflectors, filters, see-thru transparency, and diffusers to neutralize colors.

B. Causeway Mall: Why it is Wise to Shop Fashions With Them
The Internet has become part of people’s everyday lives. People talk through the Net, people work through the Net, people express themselves through the Net, people find other people in the Net, and of course, people source things or shop through the Net. CausewayMall understands what the women want and need especially when it comes to fashion. Online shopping at CausewayMall is a lot more comfortable. Unlike the hassles of going to a regular mall for your wholesale shopping, CausewayMall.com is accessible with a few clicks of your mouse and some taps on your keyboard.

Unlike regular malls, in CausewayMall you don’t tire yourself looking around for all the wholesale dresses and designs that you want to buy for your fashion wholesale business. CausewayMall offers you everything in one whole page—from ladies apparel wholesale to designer clothes wholesale, from cheap ladies wholesale clothing to wholesome women’s apparel—you name it, they have it.

With CausewayMall, one need not daydream and imagine hard what their wholesale women’s apparel looks like. CausewayMall caters not only to the needs of cute trendy clothes wholesaler or sexy tank halter tops supplier, they also provide excellent service even to individual who intend to start out in the wholesale clothing business internationally. And with the great variety of wholesale women clothing from a wide network of clothing suppliers made available by CausewayMall, you are definitely sure to start out with the right stocks to meet the never-ending demand of your prospective clients.

And of course, CausewayMall is the best online wholesale fashion mall that will win your heart as wholesale clothes sale run not only for a couple of days or weeks but forever.




How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer

Posted: Monday, December 20, 2010

"Hi.. Thanks!"

Which got me thinking about how difficult it was for me and some of the fellow graphic design students I studied with to get a job in the design industry back in 1999 (yes that long ago!) straight out of design college. I snapped up a job with a Central London design agency in Soho within 2 weeks of leaving college but looking back it wasn't really the right job for me then. Though just 13 months later I changed positions and worked for a great design agency based in London Bridge and learned a huge amount as well as working on lots of different types of projects as a designer.

Anyway competition was fierce then BUT the amount of graphic design and other design courses available in art colleges and universities up and down the college has grown hugely since then.

So here are a few tips on (like Adam asked) "how to get into the UK Design industry"

The Portfolio:
Having a great design portfolio is a must. Think about the kind of work the agency your applying to does and try to tailor your portfolio towards that. For example if they specialise in corporate identity and branding work try to include work of this kind.

Be ready to talk about your design work, what inspired you, why you approached the project in the way you did, even choice of typeface, colours, imagery etc. Show them some of your sketchs and development work, some agencies what to see your scribbles more than the finished work as it shows your design process and how you think!

Before taking your portfolio along to job interviews, make sure you show it to a people (tutors, other design students) talk them through it, get them to ask you questions about your design work and respond with suitable answers.

Work Experience:
Offer to do some work experience with a design company who's work you really admire (for free if you have to!), even if its just a week then spend that week wowing them, making the tea, producing great work, take an interest in everything relating to that design company. If the company really like you during your work experience they might offer you a full time job!
This worked very well as they got me a new job within 2 weeks. Remember what you wear can be seen as a reflection of yourself and your design style or preferences.

Behaviour:
Be yourself, be calm and open to discussing your work and the work of the design agency. Remember to ask questions about what work they produce and what your role would be. If you go for an interview and they don't give you a job, don't worry, your work just might not be suitable for that particular design agency.

A. Diversifying and Personalizing Your Modular Set Design
As a pioneer of modular set design and construction, Uni-set Corporation offers our current users not only a variety of total system packages and news settings for every size studio, but also a number of great modular products with which to enhance each modular staging system. By incorporating such enhancements into an individual set design, the ultimate goal of establishing "program identity" is served.

Users Uniset's full-size modular products including geometric shapes that stack for walls, risers,and steps, triangular risers for multi-level sets, talent tables, pre-finished walls that match talent tables, modular cyclorama modules for green/blue walls, corners, ground row, and floors, and more. One product that does just that is Chroma Key. Lighting plays a key role in the look and feel of any set, and lighting professionals know that any tone and/or mood can be established in mere moments through the use of soft color lighting gels.

Limited budgets, studio space, and staff no longer have to be an impediment to producing quality programming. Discover the endless variety of modular set designs available to you. In the process learn how set designing via modular pieces can create video content that draws in viewers by virtue of its unique identity.

B. Modular Set Design Brings an Identity to Programming
Think of the last time you watched the television news, a talk show, or an instructional video. Enter Uni-set Corporation, the solution for entities searching for TV set design and construction of a modular products and total system packages that provide each and every program with its own unique identity.

SettingsUniset incorporates the assemblage of modular pieces to create a large variety of TV set designs including news settings, interview and talk show sets, and sets for instructional videos. From our original four foot modular system to a 30 inch modular system to news settings and beyond, we offer a variety of settings built to meet the individual needs of different clients and industries. Our clients include local networks, cable access stations, public television, college television, school districts, government and military installations, productions house, and corporations including AT&T, Kodak, Sears, J.C. Penney, IBM, and more.

TV set design and construction begins with the use of scale models in the planning stage. This ability allows for more productions, each with its own unique set design. In an era consisting of more and more viewing outlets and shorter attention spans, video content has a finite amount of time consisting of a few short seconds to grab viewers and reel them in. Discover the unlimited possibilities inherent in modular set design, and how they can benefit you.



Career in Fashion Designing

Posted: Thursday, December 16, 2010

Does your creativity work unabated when you look at textiles, fabrics, embroidery? Does your adrenalin run high when you see the coverage of fashion weeks on television? If you experience all this, a career in fashion designing is just right for you.

A fashion
The fashion industry has seen a surge in the recent years in India. In India, especially, a fashion designing job holds vast opportunities. There is a huge garment and textile industry in India which gives ample scope to fashion designers to innovate with fabrics, styles, embroidery, motifs and designs. It is not just garments that it is limited to although garments form the major chunk of our fashion industry.

There are not just garments that one can design but also footwear, bags and other accessories that come under the purview of fashion designing. If you have an eye for detail, a good observation of trends and likings and the penchant to create something new and visualize colors and cuts, you will thrive well in the field of fashion designing.

Those who take up fashion designing jobs get to do what they love and love what they do. It is a glamorous and exciting job that also pumps your adrenalin. There are tight deadlines that fashion designers work under if there is a fashion week going on or if there is demand from the customers. Fashion designers are expected to come up with original concepts and design in fascinating colors and cuts in limited time. Since a fashion designer has to take charge and supervise from conception to execution of a design, it is required to have that managing ability.

Thus, summing it all up, to succeed in fashion designing jobs, one has to be artistic and creative with good sketching and drawing skills, original and innovative with design and ideas, a good aesthetic sense, ability to synchronize well in a team, good management skills and an acute awareness of market trends and events in fashion.

As a fashion designer, at the job, you would be required to design and create stylish outfits and accessories to match. It is always better to work with a senior designer to get a feel of ho things work in the industry. If you are good at your work and hard-working, you would surely be noticed. Each designer has different work ethics. There are ample job opportunities with professional designers, manufacturing units, export houses, boutiques and fancy stores and in TV and films as costume designers.

A. You Better Work: the Grueling Glamour of Fashion Design
If you answered yes to these questions, you may want to consider a career in fashion design.

Beyond the glamour lies an intensely competitive work environment that demands not only great creativity, but also knowledge of current trends, proficiency in sewing and patternmaking, and a flair for self-promotion.

Fashion Design Job Overview
Every year, fashion designers create billions of clothes, shoes, and accessories for a discerning and fickle body of consumers. They stay up-to-date with fashion trends by conducting research and attending trade and fashion shows. Many others create mass market deigns, open their own stores, or sell their designs to other retailers. Some even work for the entertainment industry, researching period pieces and creating costumes for films and television shows. Whether self-employed or part of a large design team, all fashion designers must be prepared for frequent travel and the occasional all-nighter.

Fashion Design Education and Other Qualifications
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) notes that most employers seek designers with 2- or 4-year degrees. Basic coursework for a bachelor's degree typically includes textiles, sewing, CAD training, and fashion history. Fashion design students may also want to supplement their core curriculum with classes in business, human anatomy, and psychology. Aspiring designers can also gain valuable experience from internships or retail jobs, and should always maintain an impressive portfolio.

Job Outlook & Salary Information
Predictably, many are attracted to the glamour and artiness of fashion design, and this makes for a competitive job market. The BLS notes that the best job prospects will be found in firms that create mass-market designs. The average annual salary for fashion designers hovered around $62,810 in 2007.

B. Become a Fashion Designer
You know you're destined to be a fashion designer if you: a) spent most of your childhood making clothes for your Barbie dolls instead of playing with your friends; b) read fashion magazines instead of your school books; c) ran a boutique out of your basement at age 10. In other words: if you want to be the next Yves Saint Laurent, it helps to be completely and utterly obsessed with fashion.

Working as a fashion designer can just as well mean supervising a design team at a sportswear company as producing a label under your own name.

Choosing a strategy
There are as many different ways to embark upon a fashion career as there are styles of design. Ralph Lauren's Polo empire was founded on a small tie collection that he sold to Bloomingdales. Michael Kors built up a network of customers by selling clothes in a trendy NYC boutique. However, most people find that the best foundation for a design career is to get a fine arts degree in fashion at a prestigious school. "We live in a brandname society, and having the name of a good school behind you really does help," says Carol Mongo, Director of the Fashion Department at Parsons School of Design in Paris. It's hard to enter these schools as competition is high, and they tend to be very selective. You apply by sending a portfolio of drawings of your designs. Drawing is also an important skill for a designer – it is the way you communicate your ideas. In order to build an impressive portfolio it's a good idea to have some experience in sketching; taking art classes will help you understand form and proportion.

What school will do for you
Most fashion programs are three to four years long. During that time you will take fine arts classes and study drawing, color composition and form. One of the most important advantages of design schools is that they work really closely with the industry. Parsons, for example, have "designer critic projects" where successful designers like Donna Karan and Michael Kors work directly with the graduating students. One very important event is the fashion show at the end of the last semester, when graduating students show their collections. A lot of important people from the fashion industry attend these shows to scout new talent.

Alternative routes
"Let's be realistic," says Carol Mongo at Parsons, "School's not for everyone. If you're just looking to get a job in the fashion industry Рnot a career as a designer Рyou probably don't need to go school." If you want to work as a seamstress or a patternmaker, the best thing is probably to apply for an internship at a fashion house and work your way up. For example, Dior's brightest new star, men's wear designer Hedi Slimane, had a degree in journalism when he started working with men's wear designer Jos̩ Levy. Balenciaga's Nicolas Ghesqui̬re is another example of a brilliantly successful designer who learned the jobs hands-on, as an assistant at Jean-Paul Gaultier. Usually, you apply for an internship by sending a portfolio to a fashion house you're interested in.

Understanding the business
Unfortunately, it's not enough for a designer to be creative; you also have to have some business sense. A lot of fashion schools are currently increasing business classes in their curriculum. "Our students have to be smart enough to know how to negotiate a contract, or to pick a business partner," says Carol Mongo.


Are Celebrities the New Fashion Designers?

Posted: Sunday, December 12, 2010

The style of Americans is constantly transitioning. capital of the country, and perhaps even the world, Southern California is gaining more prominence due to Hollywood celebrity influence, completely changing the way Americans gain exposure to the newest trends and fashion.

This has even changed the way designers do business, where once, advertisements and commercials was the most significant way to showcase their threads, a paparazzi photo of Paris Hilton in a certain designer's clothes can make headlines in the tabloids, and accidentally promote the designer. The whim of Hollywood celebrities now has precedence over choosing the trends of Americans across the nation.

Several Hollywood celebrities including Nicole Richie, Paris Hilton and Gwyneth Paltrow have gone even a step further from showcasing other designer's lines, into actually starting their own lines. Nicole Richie has already started her own jewelry line named House of Harlow, with aspirations of branching out to clothing, shoes and handbags. Currently, the price of this jewelry line ranges from around $55 to over $400 and is sold exclusively at Kitson, a popular boutique in LA known for its celebrity customers. (http://www.shopkitson.com/index.php?pageId=2&manufacturer_name=HOUSE+OF+HARLOW+1960&show=all).

Take Paris Hilton's shoe and handbag line for instance. (http://www.theinsider.com/news/642268_Paris_Hilton_Launches_New_Footwear_Line_At_Macys)
Furthermore, one of Hollywood's biggest stars, Gwyneth Paltrow, has decided to launch her own fashion line for next fall and winter. The line will be named ZOEtee's Loves Gwyneth and will be a capsule collection for ZOEtee's, a French fashion house. Paltrow claims that the proceeds of this line will go towards London's Kids Company, drawing attention towards this charity in assisting children over the UK area.

Where it is common for celebrities to use the attention that they attract to promote their movies, events and clothing lines, it is also an upcoming trend for them to use the attention that they attract to draw awareness to other charities and good causes.

A. Top Fashion Design Colleges: Top Fashion Colleges Take You To The Top Of The Fashion Industry
Uniqueness in Common
A common characteristic among fashion designers and those employed within the fashion industry is their uniqueness. Whether you want to study fashion design from a location close to your home or in a large fashion design metropolis, like New York or San Francisco, top fashion design colleges that will meet your educational needs are located throughout the United States.

Even the world's leading designers had to learn and develop their skills before realizing success within the fashion industry. Fashion designers are artistic people who hold within a desire to create new and exciting designs. Combining knowledge and artistic ability, fashion designers turn their ideas into real fashions for merchandising, publications, and the interiors of the homes we inhabit. Many fashion designers are self-employed and provide fashion services for individual clients, while others provide similar services to department and specialty stores.

The curricula of the top fashion design colleges are structured to provide a well-rounded and contemporary educational experience to the fashion design student. Students can learn the most current innovations taking place in fashion design. They are exposed to computer generated fashion design, pattern development and drafting, fashion merchandising, and much more. If you are interested in a career of fashion design, then you should investigate the courses of study from some of the top fashion design colleges in the nation.

Top Fashion Colleges and World Travel
Most top fashion design colleges provide programs that combine traditional skills - like sewing, pattern production and use of fabric - with the standards and trends of today's fashions. Some top fashion design colleges even provide study tours of the world's leading fashion producers located in cities like New York and Paris.

B. Career Haute Couture: When You Absolutely Must Become a Fashion Designer
Becoming a fashion designer means so much more than understanding clothes. Learn that, and your career potential may very well be unlimited.

The Fashion Design 411
The fashion design industry is comprised of a wide variety of professional positions that range from the creative to the systematic.

The median annual wage of fashion designers in May 2007 was $62,810, with the top 10 percent earning $121,640 and the bottom 10 percent earning $31,340. Potential salary and employment opportunities should be best with design firms that create mass market clothing. Also, because about 25 percent of professional in this field work temporary or contract positions, the environment can be right for entrepreneurs and business self-starters.

Becoming a Fashion Designer:
What It Takes to Get There
The road to become a fashion designer is similar to most trade or artisan fields. Two paths exist: a traditional academic route and a career training alternative. Approximately 250 postsecondary institutions accredited by the National Association of Schools of Art and Design offer 2- or 4-year degrees in fine arts.

Program and Course Requirements
The changing landscape of the fashion design industry is taking students through an unusually contemporary readiness strategy. The emergence of Auto CAD as a design tool is placing a premium on candidates with advanced technical skills. Also, communications remains an integral part of the job and encourages students to consider the academic development option.

Common courses may include textiles, color, pattern making, sewing, tailoring, fashion history, and more.
• Make Contacts. Use your preparation period to cultivate valuable industry and career contacts that you can leverage when job-hunting.
• Continue Learning. Your fashion design career should be what you make it.


Designing an Annual Report for Charities and Corporate Customers

Posted: Wednesday, December 8, 2010

As a legal need, the submission of an annual report to shareholders, investors and trustees is something that can re-inforce the organisations core branding and values.

Choosing the right annual report designers
Many charities and some corporate firms are tied to strictly budgeted guidelines and often use amateur designers or recommended friends to produce these complex reports. It obviously makes sense then to choose an annual report design company that have a proven track history in this field and can show off some impressive design portfolio of past annual reports they have designed to back up their quality.

Don't make a mess of the figures
More often than not an annual report graphic designer will be handed over a bunch of excel documents including balance sheet reports and financial statement reports and be expected to turn a page of numbers into something approaching creative design.

Make full use of white space - the designers default trick
White space, to fill or not to fill that is the question. On balance and especially if you are able to maintain a straight face while convincing a head of accounting that leaving the page design as a minimal exercise in preserving a blank canvas is the way to best portray annual report designs, you should always try to move in the white space design direction. Another good design trick to use on annual financial statements is to have a photoshoot and have the normally camera shy accounting division staged to look like they mean business. It will provide an amusing counter balance to the dry waffle contained in the report wording.

A financial report design should make you want to rub the page with glee not send you to the land of nod.

A. Annual Rapport – Today's Annual Reports Need to be More Than Mere Numbers
Blah, blah, blah. Blah, blah, blah. Exciting initiatives. Blah, blah, blah. Proactive approach. Blah, blah, blah. Poised for the future.

Financial Reports:
Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah = Blah.
Your annual report shouldn't be “blah”.

Your annual report is the single most important document your company produces – and it’s most powerful public relations and marketing tool. A thoughtfully designed annual communicates corporate culture and values, recruits new talent, builds brand recognition, boosts corporate image and offers people a glimpse at the organization behind the numbers.

Dollars and Sense
In studies conducted by the Ernst & Young Center for Business Innovation diverse investors consistently placed a premium on non-financial criteria. Attributes such as branding, strategy execution, management credibility, innovation, ability to attract and retain talented people, and R&D ranked high among those polled.

Maximize the Message
Your annual report will leave a lasting impression. Navigating production obstacles and emerging with a compelling annual requires finesse.

1. Communicate excellence through design. The quality of concept, layout, printing and bindery, paper, graphics, photography, illustration and copywriting are all reflections of your organization.
2. Eschew pedantry and esoteric vocational patois. Straightforward, engaging copy will get the message across and create momentum that carries readers from page to page.
3. Flaunt your assets. Non-financial performance information lets them know if you’re poised for growth and capable of weathering financial storms. Emphasizing advantages such as comprehensive branding, or skilled management and labor retention rates reassures investors you have what it takes to keep moving forward.
4. Go digital. Making your annual report available via the company web site is cost- effective and eco-friendly. A digital version of your report is an excellent supplement to the printed book, but not a replacement – printed reports are still a must.

B. Graphic Design Tips for Digital Printing
Graphic designing calls for a lot of patience, perseverance, imagination and creativity. May be some useful graphic design tips may help you improve on your designing skills. Spend time experimenting with color, textures and your favorite software - be it Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel. Every tutorial in graphic designing can be a valuable source of inspiration; but avoid picking the too hard or the too easy ones. Most experienced graphic designers recommend watching science fiction and fantasy movies as a potential source for new ideas. Some persons new to graphic designing visit exhibitions to collect calendars, booklets and other promotion materials. It is a good practice to continually browse Google images, Flicker, stock photos sites.

Very often you will find eye-catchy design works either accidentally or by searching using different keywords. It is true that a lot of designers find inspiration in reading and writing blogs and planning posts for graphic design. If you are able to conceive a perfect design first in your head, then it will be easier to implement it in real design work.

Many people are under the impression that it is easy to convert a print brochure to a website and vice versa little realizing the difficulties involved. You have to bear in mind that the print resolution is generally higher than web resolution which is 72dpi. Therefore images are bound to appear much larger in 72dpi screen resolution. Many nice design fonts will not work on your website except if you keep them as images. When using general HTML fonts, you are restricted to only a limited number of fonts. A simple brochure will invariably be not designed to the same scale requirements to suit a website. Keep in mind that converting a print design to a website might require some advanced skills!

There are quite a few other sustainable design tips when it comes to graphic design. The present trend is to avoid superfluous white space.


How to Make Web Pages Using Professional Design Templates

Posted: Saturday, December 4, 2010

You would be surprised at how numerous people are establishing their own Web pages to express opinions, promote causes or simply be present online. You may be tempted to have your own Web site as well. Creating your own Web site is a tedious task to do. Time is gold, as they say. One setback about putting up your own Web site would be the availability of time. With your very limited time, you would find that professional design templates are really usable and highly recommendable.

Ways on how to use professional design templates
When using professional design templates for creating your own Web pages, you have to observe the following procedures.

1. Ready made Web pages are pre-made.
2. Initially choose the Web design that would best suit the type of the content you would put into the page. Consider the nature of the Web site. Would it be a personal or informal site or a formal business Web page? Professional design templates have specific designs for all purposes.
3. Download the package or the professional design templates you have chosen. You would be surprised that there are also ready-made Web templates that are offered for free across the Internet. Unzip the designs and start inputting the specific content.
4. Open the Web design or professional design templates in an HTML editor or even in a Notepad. You could easily incorporate any logo, video or image you aim to include on the page. You could preview the initial Web page. Once the Web page is done satisfactory, you can easily roll out the site. Doing so would require you to coordinate with certain Web coordinators, who would do the rolling out job so the Web site can be legally and appropriately put up. A good catchy Web name would also be imperative if you aim to lure readers to get into the online page.

Creating a Brand Identity With Professional Design
The design process is crucial to any business, whether it is creating a simple company logo, or the design of an entire corporate campaign. Many companies never change their logo design dramatically but only make the smallest of changes to keep the design looking fresh. It is worth taking time and not rushing a company logo or corporate identity design as your design will represent your company and be around for a very long time.

Logo design is creating a unique symbol / graphic to reflect your companies image and vision. If you own a small company, with a well-designed logo your business will look big. A striking logo is paramount for the image of any business, small or large. The design creates a starting block for a companies corporate identity, the right colours, fonts and is of great importance when starting to design business cards, compliment slips, letterheads and a website, keeping all styles consistent throughout creating your brand identity.

Logo design types

High / Low resolution

If you are looking at starting a new business, you will need a logo. All logo designs should be unique to your business, no templates, no free graphics or clipart, just bespoke designs for your company.

Logo designs for print
High resolution CYMK 300dpi
High Resolution Logo Design

Must be use for printing high quality material e.g. letterheads, business cards, compliment slips, banners, posters etc.

Logo design - redraw and enhancement
Alternatively, if you do not require full logo design service, you could re-design, redraw or enhance your existing logo for print or website use.

Finding A Professional Designer Yor Your Home
As with anything else there are different ranges when it comes to hiring a professional designer and there is an affordable price range for everyone.

A professional designer can take any room in your home and transform it to your tastes and their professional tastes as well. It is incredibly important to find a professional designer you can communicate easily with and one who understands your needs and ideas for the project being worked on. It will not be a successful experience if you find yourself working with a professional designer who does not take your input or ideas.

What many people are finding to be the most successful way to find their professional designers and companies is to do a simple Google search. Enter a search phrase such as "professional interior designer yourcity state." Such a simple search will find designers in your area.

You will find many companies and websites which offer free online quotes and a great deal of detailed information right from their site including:

- Hourly Rates
- Free Quotes
- List of designers in your area
- Indoor and outdoor designers

This is a very detailed and practical list of features that each and every client can utilize in order to find the best professional designer for you and your home needs. Choose the professional designer in your price range and reap the benefits.


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