Our latest template (using Photoshop smart objects, as always) contains a layer group for each of the two default tabs included with a standard LinkedIn company profile. Toggling between the layer groups will allow you to generate proofs for your client’s company profile landing page, and one for the services page.

The template includes smart objects allowing you to create custom files for:

• Company “Standard logo”
• Company “Square logo” (While it does does not appear on your company page, it is part of your profile as the icon that is used around linked in when your company posts)
• Cover image for the landing page
• Banners for the Services page (LinkedIn allows for three of these banners to be uploaded and displayed as a slideshow on the services page)*
• Service icons (Custom icons that appear along with each service you add to your profile)*

*Remember, changing a Photoshop smart object will update all instances of that object. Once you’ve created the logo for one view, it will updated in the other view. However, when you are creating multiple banners or service icons, use “save as” and “place” the new file as a smart object for additional banners or icons to display in your proof. If you simply copy a smart object and edit the new instance, you will be editing (and overwriting) all other instances of that object.

Download and enjoy the LinkedIn Photoshop Template!

LINKEDIN Company Profile TEMPLATE: ZIP File download

View the original post: LinkedIn Company Profile Template by Kandra Churchwell

My sister and I actually have a mini-war going on. She’s all about Apple products, from her iPhone to her iPad. On the other hand, I stick with PC products; my tablet is an Android, and no, I don’t have a smartphone. As with our Rockies vs Diamondbacks rivalry (pop quiz: guess which side I’m on?), we’re polar opposites – and we’re constantly teasing each other over it.

This rivalry was the first thing that came to mind when I saw the new Windows 8 ad, and I nearly fell out of my seat laughing. You don’t have to be an Android or a Windows fan to appreciate the sheer cleverness of the video:

Less talking, more doing – I’ll have to remember that the next time I send my sister a text.

What do you think, Apple fans? Do you have a good comeback yet?

View the original post: Windows 8 vs iOS, Round 1: Fight! by Kandra Churchwell

How many did you come up with? Periods, commas, question marks, and exclamation points were probably at the top of your list, followed by apostrophes and quotation marks. There’s also the colon, semicolon, parenthesis, and more—too many punctuation marks to count. These are the marks we use on a daily basis, to express everything from a brief pause to excitement.

But what about the lesser-known punctuation marks and symbols? Your keyboard holds far more than letters; if you look down, you’ll notice all sorts of cool symbols. We’ve gathered up a few of the ones we like (and how to properly use them).

1) Em dashes, En dashes, and Hyphens

Not all dashes are created equal. You’ve probably noticed the hyphen key, located on both of your number pads. However, there are technically three different dashes, with completely different purposes.

The hyphen is the most commonly used version of the dash. You’ve probably seen a hyphenated word before, but we’ll give you an example anyway: the pink-hatted elephant walked down to the red-doored store.

En dashes are used to connect numbers, and sometimes words (see below). For example: 10–20, 50–100, 100–900. (Just think “to or though”: From 1 TO 10, or everything starting at 10 AND THROUGH 19).

Em dashes are used to break off thoughts. If you were paying attention—although it’s okay if you weren’t—we actually used an em dash in the second paragraph of this post.

You don’t actually have to worry too much about the difference between em dashes and en dashes. En dashes can actually be used to separate a thought as well – you just have to add a space on either side, like this example.

How to Type it:

If you’re using a word processor, it will generally insert the correct dash (or hyphen) for you. However, there are a couple of tricks to make sure your processor knows what you mean.

To type an en dash, type a space, followed by two hyphens and a space on the other side – like this. On a PC you can also type Alt + 0150 (enter the numbers on your number pad), or insert the character code – if in HTML, and Option - on a Mac.

To type an em dash, do the same thing–but this time, ignore the spaces. If you want to use the character codes, try Alt + 0151 on your PC, or — if in HTML, and Option + Shift - on a Mac. Easy, huh?

2) The Pipe Bar

The pipe bar isn’t really a punctuation mark, but it’s still fun to know how to use. Pipe bars look like this: |. Look closely, and you’ll see that it’s not actually a lowercase “L”.

Pipe bars are used in Unix coding. They also work as a division symbol if you’re typing out a math formula. In design, they are often used to space out information on business cards, like this:

yourname@example.com | xxx.xxx.xxxx

How to Type it:

Find the backward slash (\) key on your keyboard; it should be right next to your “Enter” key. Just hold down shift while you press it, and voila! Pipe bar!

3) Braces

Braces – also known as curly brackets – are familiar to anyone who knows a little CSS. They can be used just like parenthesis and regular brackets, and are particularly useful if you’re putting one set of parenthesis inside of another (which is sometimes done [if you happen do like convoluted sentences {which some people do}]).

How to Type it:

To type a brace, hold down shift while pressing either the opening or closing square bracket key. Yup, it’s that simple!

4) Ellipses

You already know how to type and use this one… but we bet you didn’t notice it’s name. The ellipses is that little “…”, used to denote a pause or a break in a quotation. In comics, it’s also used to show a silence.

Quick grammar rule: if the ellipses is in the middle of a sentence, type three dots. If it’s at the end of a sentence, type four.

How to Type it:

To type an ellipses in your word processor, just key in three periods. On a PC you can also type Alt + 0133, or insert the character code … if in HTML, and Option ; on a Mac.

4) Bullet Points

Here are the reasons you might want to use a bullet point:

• You like lists
• You really like lists.
• You like little round circles.

Now, normally your word processor will take care of bullet points for you, and you don’t have to worry about it; just hit the “list” button, and type away! But every now and then, it’s fun to be able to type it individually. Like the pipe bar, bullets can be used to separate information in your designs.

Use a Bullet Point!
Business cards • Flyers • Really, whatever you feel like.

How to Type it:

To get a bullet (•), type Alt + 9679 on your PC, or ●.in HTML, and Option 8 on a Mac

6) Honorable Mention: Card Suits

While they have no real punctuation purpose, you can also type the card suits: ?  ? ? ? .

How to Type Them:

Spade: PC: Alt + 6 | HTML:  ♠ or ♠  | On a Mac: Hold down the Command and Option keys while you press T. This will display the Character Palette. Choose the symbol and click the Insert button.

Club: PC: <Alt + 5  | HTML:  &clubs; or &#9827; | On a Mac: Hold down the Command and Option keys while you press T. This will display the Character Palette. Choose the symbol and click the Insert button.

Heart: PC: Alt + 3  | HTML: &hearts; or &#9829; | On a Mac: Hold down the Command and Option keys while you press T. This will display the Character Palette. Choose the symbol and click the Insert button.

Diamond: PC: Alt + 4   | HTML: &diams; or &#9830; | On a Mac: Hold down the Command and Option keys while you press T. This will display the Character Palette. Choose the symbol and click the Insert button.

Got any more characters you like typing? We’d love to hear them!

View the original post: Know Your Keyboard: Characters and Punctuation Marks by Alexey Churchwell

Includes layer groups to preview scroll instances.

It feels like we just had this conversation a month or two ago, but Google+ has updated their profile layout – again. The new layout features an even larger cover image that swallows the entire screen, and a bunch of itty-bitty content centered on the page when you scroll down. To be fair, the posts look quiet nice, assuming that you can find them under the behemoth that is your cover image.

The good news is that if you updated your cover image the last time Google updated, your profile will look just fine. The new layout uses the same proportions for the cover image; it’s just blown up to an unbelievably large size.

So your profile probably looks fine. But what about your clients’? Luckily, we’ve got you covered there, too. Thanks to the magic of Photoshop smart objects, making a Google+ profile comp is as easy as ever.

Three Different Screen Views

The new layout generates three different versions of your page as you scroll down. First you have the GIGANTIC full cover image – so big that you can’tsee any posts until you scroll. Then the moderate cover photo cropping (first cropping as you scroll), and finally the sliver: the second cover photo cropping after you scroll about 1/4 of the page down as you are attempting to find some actual content.

We’ve included three different layer group in our Photoshop file, so you can toggle back and forth between screen views. Just edit the smart object “profile-photo” to include your logo, and then edit the smart object “cover-photo” to update the cover image in the comp.

Remember, editing any instance of a smart object in Photoshop will update ALL instances of that smart object. To create the perfect proof for your client, simply to update the cover-photo smart object in the Gigantic group, and then toggle on/off the other groups to see how your image will crop. Once you’re happy, just save and upload the cover and profile images, and you’re done!

You can download the new templates here.

The GIGANTIC – default view

Moderate – 1st cropping as you scroll

Sliver – 2nd cropping as you scroll

View the original post: Google Plus Template 2013: Take 2 by Kandra Churchwell

Summer is Here!

Well, almost, anyway. The point is, we just can’t get enough of the lovely sunshine we’ve been having, so we’re planning to take Memorial Day off. That means Phases Design Studio will be closed on Monday, May 27th. We’ll be back in the office on Tuesday, May 28th, all rested up and ready to get back to work.

While you’re enjoying the sunshine (or lack thereof – this is Colorado, you know), don’t forget to take a few moments to pay respect to the brave men and women who gave their lives for our country. After that, you can get back to the pool, park, or wherever you choose to celebrate.

Have an awesome weekend!

View the original post: Memorial Day, 2013 by Alexey Churchwell

What is the Marketplace Fairness Act?

The Marketplace Fairness Act essentially forces all online retailers to collect sales tax for the state they sell to. This means that if you sell an item to someone in New York, you have to factor in the sales tax for that state, even if you ship from Montana.

Technically, you’ve always had to pay sales tax on items bought online, even if the company doesn’t factor it in. You’re required to report untaxed purchases to the IRS when you file your yearly taxes, and pay any extra sales tax that you owe. The problem is that this is so difficult to enforce; who’s going to remember to report the 20 cents of sales tax they should have paid for a pair of headphones they ordered back in May of last year?

With the Marketplace Fairness Act, you won’t be required to report those purchases on your taxes anymore; that’s because the online stores will be collecting the tax for you.

Why So Many People Love It

Every state that charges sales tax pretty much loves this bill; after all, they finally get a cut of that untapped revenue. But what about the businesses who will be affected by this bill?

The Marketplace Fairness Act gets its name from an attempt to level the playing field. Many local businesses, who sell their items in person, can’t compete with tax-free online retailers. In an age where more and more shopping is moving online, local stores are struggling to get by; this act will force online businesses to compete “fairly”.

Why Small Businesses Don’t

On the surface, collecting sales tax doesn’t seem like a bad thing, especially since the money comes from the consumers. The problem comes from the sheer number of states that you’ll have to collect this tax for. Online retailers will have to sort through tax codes for 45 different states, figure out how to calculate that sales tax on their site, and report (and pay) the tax each year. If they mess up, they’ll be slapped with a fine.

Large retailers like Amazon are perfectly fine with this; they have an extensive legal and accounting department that can figure out those tax codes, no sweat. But small online retailers just don’t have the resources to deal with this. If you’re barely able to pay your employees, can you afford an expensive accountant each year?

For people who sell off of their own sites, the Marketplace Fairness Act means that they’ll need to hire a web developer. The site has to be able to automatically calculate the appropriate sales tax for each purpose, and keep a log of which purchases were made each state. There’s no escape for retailers selling through sites like eBay or Etsy, either; those retailers are just as liable for taxes.

Becoming an online retailer is already a difficult process. This bill could prevent start-ups from ever getting off the ground; the sheer amount of paperwork will likely be enough to discourage many people from even trying to start their own company.

Granted, the act isn’t all bad – there’s been talk of an exception for small business who make less than $1,000,000 in revenue each year, and states will be required to provide online tools to help calculate sales tax. But in a struggling economy, is it really a good idea to make starting a business even harder?

What Do You Think?

This is a seriously two-sided argument, and we’d love to know your thoughts. Is it time for online businesses to pay taxes just like everyone else, or is this an unfair damper on already struggling entrepreneurs?

You can state your opinion on the bill through PopVox, and send a message to your state representatives, regardless of which side you support. There’s also a running petition on Change.org to stop the bill from passing the House of Representatives.

So what do you think?

View the original post: The Marketplace Fairness Act and Your Business by Kandra Churchwell

Fort Collins’ police force agrees with us. After a recent research study proved that the black-and-white cars are more recognizable and easier to notice when driving around, the city plans to replace 20% of its fleet with the new design by the end of the year. If you’re interested, you can catch the full article at the Denver Post.

This is a great example of almost perfect brand parity though color association. When you see a car – any car – painted in black and white, your first response is to tap the breaks, slow down, and make sure you aren’t violating any laws. This visual identity is so ingrained in the American sub-conscious that we’ll bet you do a double take the second you see a black car with a white door on it.

A lot of newer police cars have chosen to forgo this design in favor of a plain white or black background with discreet lettering on the side. We’re sure this leads to a lot more tickets, since there are a thousand single-colored car on the road. Yes, they’re labeled on the side – but should you really be reading the cars around you while you’re going 65 MPH down the freeway?

There’s a reason we all recognize the black-and-white police car; the design has been around as long as anyone can remember. Over the years, there have been variations in make, model, and paint job, but the black-and-white colors have almost always stayed the same.

If you’re anything like us, you don’t just want to read about these designs; you want to see them as well. So, without further ado, here are some of our favorite black-and-white designs. (To get the full effect, we recommend listening to the Cops theme song as you flip through the images.)

Here’s a classic “Black and White”… and look at the grill on the front of this car. So awesome!

We can’t be sure what color this car was, since it’s so old (1920s). But since the photo is black and white, it counts!

Another classic Black and White with badge emblem on the door.

Here’s an example of the current Fort Collins design. It’s pretty, but not as easy to recognize.

Here’s the kind of car we picture when someone says “police.” This traditional design has been around for what seems like forever.

The new Ford Interceptor police car, without any county-specific branding. Fort Collins is ordering 27 of these environmentally efficient cars. Check out that design on the side!

According to Sylvester Stallone’s Demolition Man, this is what police cars will look like in 2032. That’s less than 20 years away! We guess that, even in the future, police cars will still be black and white.

View the original post: Police Cars and Visual Branding by Kandra Churchwell

Now, name the first brand that you think of when we say “diner with pie.”

This is an example of Top of Mind Awareness branding, or TOMA. If a company does this correctly, they will be the first name that pops into your head when you recall a specific type of product.

There are many different kinds of TOMA. Positive or universal TOMA means that you’ve set yourself apart as the one and only good resource for a product. A good example of this is Starbucks; favorite local cafes aside, what do you do when you want a fast, semi-decent cup of java to go, no matter where you are? You look for that smiling mermaid, or a telltale green building on the street corner. There are plenty of other coffee chains out there, but we dare you to name two off the top of your head, and no cheating with Google. (There’s another example of universal TOMA; Google is the search engine  that everyone thinks of.)

There’s also negative TOMA. If your product is downright terrible, or if customers form a negative association with you, you’ll be at the top of their list – of places to avoid. You want to avoid this kind of TOMA at all costs.

But what do you do if you can’t win universal TOMA? If there’s too much competition, you’ll have a hard time become the one and only name in your business. If that’s the case, your best bet is to corner the niche TOMA market.

Did somebody say pie?

Today’s example of good niche TOMA is Village Inn. If you saw that coming, that’s because they’ve been doing a good job – the words “diner” and “pie” should have clued you in at the start of the article.

Village Inn’s brand is entirely based around pie. Head on over to their website right now, and take a look; you’ll likely see a featured pie on the front page. Their logo is subtly shaped like a pastry fresh out of the oven; the tiny “vi” even looks like a fork next to a slice of pie.

Village Inn also features Pie Rush Wednesday every week. With any in-store purchase, whether it be an entree or a drink, you can get a free slice of one of their classic fruit pies (and some of the featured selections as well). When people go to a diner for dessert, where do you think they’ll be headed?

Obviously, Village Inn can’t completely corner the diner market. There are too many major chain diners out there, including Denny’s and Perkins. But by providing a very specific service, and marketing it effectively, they have put themselves right at the top of their customer’s “dessert” list.

How do you get your slice of the TOMA pie?

If you want to increase your TOMA, you need to find your niche. Once you know what sets you apart from the competition, make sure that your audience knows it, too. A good place to start is by staying in your clients’ field of vision, even after you’ve finished providing your service. Here are just a few ways you can accomplish that:

• Stay active on social media
• Blog about your industry
• Send out a regular newsletter
• Run ads in your local paper
• Have special deals based around your niche

Do you have any special TOMA secrets to share? Do you know a company whose TOMA strategy succeeded (or flopped horribly)? Let us know in the comments, and don’t forget to go grab your slice of free pie.

View the original post: A Slice of TOMA Pie by Kandra Churchwell

Adventos

Even the strongest brands need to update and modernize; when the company grows, it’s image needs to follow. Our work with Adventos started as a few small projects, and quickly developed into a full fledged graphic update. They now have a professional new logo and a consistent image that spans their entire brand. With spring cleaning out of the way, Adventos is ready to keep doing what they do best.

Advanced Pediatric Associates

In some cases, growth doesn’t mean updating your image – it just means updating your collateral. Our long-time clients at APA are opening a brand new office in Stapleton, and moving their Aurora office to a new location. To help them get ready for the big move, we updated their stationary, designed a few ads, and made sure that their content matched their new addresses. Now they’re ready for the big move, and we’re ready to watch them grow even further.

View the original post: Spring is in the Portfolio by Kandra Churchwell

For you, our readers, this won’t mean any major changes. We’ll still be giving you the same awesome design and brand related content, just as fast as we can churn it out. The biggest difference will be in the number of readers who have access to that content, and how they are able to see it. Our stream will still be published here on the site, but it will be available in several other places too.

It takes a few weeks for our feeds to integrate, so expect to see us appearing in your favorite content applications by mid May.

We’ll see you around the internet!

View the original post: More Places to Read Design Review by Kandra Churchwell

Every now and then, we get a few questions about managing a Facebook page. 

They might look the same, but they’re actually fairly different. So for all of the Facebook page managers out there, here’s a brief refresher course on the limitations of Facebook pages – and the solutions we’ve found.

Difference One: Tagging

People can easily be tagged on Facebook. Just type their name, and you’ll see a drop-down menu of friends to choose from. But have you tried to do the same with a page? It doesn’t matter how you spell the name, or whether or not you’ve “liked” the page – no drop-down menu will show up. This is a big limitation, especially when you’re using your page to separate your business profile from your personal profile.

The Solution:

Facebook and Twitter are are more similar than either company wants to admit. To tag a page (or even a person), just use an “@” sign! If you wanted to tag us, you’d use “@Phases Design Studio”. You can include spaces – Facebook will look out for those as well.

Difference Two: Groups

Creating a Facebook group is a great way to share information with a select number of people. Everyone can post on the group wall, you can add or remove member, and you can even make the group secret.

Unless you’re a page, that is.

You can only add people to a group if they’re your “friends”. Pages don’t have friends – they just have fans. For whatever reason, pages don’t get to make or access groups; you’ll have to use your personal profile.

The Solution:

Since there’s no way to create a group as a page, you’ll have to use a personal profile. Choose a member of your organization, and ask them to be the group leader. As long as they uphold and reinforce the company brand, you can still gain all of the benefits that a private group will provide.

Difference Three: Advertising

If you’re using a page for a business, you have to be really careful about the promotions you advertise. One big rule is that no image can be more than 20% text. This includes cover photos, promoted posts, and any ads you choose to run through Facebook. You also have to follow all of the rules for advertising, even if your post isn’t strictly an ad.

The Solution:

Tread carefully here; Facebook has been known to outright delete pages if they don’t like them. If you’re ever unsure about whether something is okay, just check their page guidelines. Unless you’re flagrantly abusing the terms of use, you should be fine.

Have you noticed any other limitations on your Facebook page? Let us know in the comments!

View the original post: A Few Brief Reminders About Facebook Pages by Kandra Churchwell

When it was our turn to tackle the responsive challenge, we wanted to find a way to accommodate the majority of devices with the simplest code possible. We can’t code for every unique device – but we can code for each type. We hit the digital “books”, looked at what other sites were doing, sought after the emerging industry standards, and determined that the base breaking points found in the Bootstrap framework were spot on. We love the flexible platform that the framework provides, and currently use it as the base for all of our website designs.

Since we work in a visual industry, and we’re visual thinkers (just like you), we complied an infographic containing visual guides for the breaking points, testing tools, and a few key resources from our research.

Without further ado, here it is: our visual guide to responsive breaking points for the responsible designer.

Share this Image On Your Site. Copy and Paste the Code Below

<p><strong>Please include attribution to DesignFiles.net with this graphic.</strong></p> <p><a href='http://designfiles.net/blog/responsive-infographic/'><img src='http://designfiles.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/phases_responsive-break-points.jpg' alt='A Guide to Responsive Breaking Points' width='540px' border='0' /></a></p> <p>

View the original post: A Guide to Responsive Breaking Points by Kandra Churchwell

Designing for a company you love can really pay off – two of our designs for Westerra Credit Union recently won Diamond Awards from the Credit Union National Association; one in the category of Direct Mail (single), and the other for Plastic Access Card Design. CUNA’s marketing and business council awards the best designs in a wide variety of categories, from credit cards to direct mail pieces to email marketing. Entries are submitted from all across the nation – imagine how surprised we were to hear that we’d won!

Nothing inspires you as much as working for a business you care about, so we’d like to say thanks to Westerra for the awesome relationship we’ve developed over the years. If you want to see our winning designs, we’ve included them below. You can also head over to our portfolio to see the rest of the work we’ve done for Westerra over the years.

Diamond Award
CATEGORY: Plastic Access Card Design
Assets $1Billion and Above

Diamond Award
CATEGORY: Direct Mail (single)
Assets $1Billion and Above

View the original post: CUNA Diamond Awards for Westerra Credit Union by Kandra Churchwell

We know we were recently complaining about circles, but we take some of it back. Circles are an awesome shape, and make for sweet and simple designs.

In honor of the circle, we give you Simply Circles, our latest icon set. We like them so much, we’re even using them ourselves! If you want them, just download and unzip the file, and they should be ready to go.

We’ve also rounded out a couple of our other icon sets. We couldn’t forget one of our favorite members of the social media family, so our Uplinks and Flyby sets now include Pinterest icons in the standard download. Now you can represent all of your profiles with any of our snazzy badges.

Do you have any ideas for a new icon set? Let us know in the comments!

Download the zip file containing the PNGs and Illustrator vector files.

View the original post: Simply Circles Social Media Icon Set by Kandra Churchwell

First, Happy Pi Day! Yesterday’s date was 3/14, the annual celebration of math and delicious things baked in a crust. (Kandra used it as an excuse to bake.)

Next, we have some unfortunate news to report: Google Reader is closing its doors. We don’t know many people who still used the RSS feed, but we’re sad to see it go. Google said that they need to pour the energy and resources into other products that people use more frequently. Of course, this caused and outrage among the thousands of people who still do use it every day. What’s your opinion? Should it stay, or should it go?

Of course, not every social media site is cutting back. Pinterest has announced its new web analytics function. You can now check how many people are pinning your content, which will be a great way for artists to keep track of their work.

Perhaps the biggest news of all: remember the Higgs-Boson? They found it. Don’t get too excited right away; the researchers say they still need to do more tests. But so far, it’s showing all of the signs of being the god particle. If it is, they have even more work ahead of them; Higgs-Boson particles are said to hold the fabric of the universe together. If they can figure out how they do that, will there be anything that they won’t be able to discover?

And speaking of God, there’s a new pope around too. Pope Francis (the first to choose that name) was elected two days ago. Like every other pope, he as some good qualities and some bad qualities. We’ll just have to wait and see how he turns out.

Last, but by far not least— our good friends seOverflow are now listed as a recommended SEO company by SEOmoz, one of the most trusted sources for SEO. Congratulations indeed!

Long story short: We lost a service from one website, and gained a service from another. The Higgs- Boson was discovered (maybe), we have a new pope, and a great group of folks received much deserved kudos. Talk about a crazy week!

View the original post: Friday’s News Roundup by Kandra Churchwell