I’ve always enjoyed the art of infographics – especially ones that are well done. It’s not a cakewalk to take complex data & information and design a graphic that is not only easily digestible, but engaging & aesthetically pleasing.

GOOD.is may be one of the best organizations when it comes to infographic design. There’s some top notch stuff there, and I could spend hours browsing through their archive.

Recently, I found some fantastic SEO infographics on Elliance’s website. Whether you’re an SEO expert, an ameatur looking to boost your knowledge, or know nothing about how Search Engine Optimization works – I think you’ll find the below infographics helpful and/or interesting.

Continue Reading “Inspirational SEO Infographics”

From the day I was introduced to Adobe Photoshop back in 1999, I was hooked. It’s one of the tools of the trade that can keep me up till 3 am with a caffeinated energy drink, playing air guitar when I make creative headway on a client’s project.

The software keeps me humble with its vast complexity, and there’s just SOMETHING about watching a concept come to life that brings an indescribable sense of accomplishment. I do believe if clients witnessed my energy level during a “cranking night” (that’s a 2E reference), they might begin to look at me differently.

Continue Reading “One Designer’s Photoshop Love, Tips & Resources”

Startups. Ask me what we like to do with startups during the mood boarding process. Come on, ask me.

Ok, if you insist.

Most of the startups Caxiam works with typically fall within our Web Application Development services. An idea is born, capital is raised, and our team is brought in to help the idea come to fruition on the Web. Most of the time the client has also engaged our Discovery Phase to generate detailed requirements and construct a framework for strategy & execution. Basically, by the time mood boarding kicks off, we have a great understanding of who the customer is, how they think, and what their needs are.

Continue Reading “Mood boarding. We love it, our clients love us for it (part 2)”

First, lets define mood boarding to prevent some of you from thinking I’m blabbering about some new Winter X-Games Sport (which I’ll take full credit for if someday it does). The great & powerful wikipedia describes it as:

A type of poster design that may consist of images, text, and samples of objects in a composition of the choice of the mood board creator…mood boards are often used by graphic designers to enable a person to illustrate visually the direction of style which they are pursuing.

Our creative team brushed the surface of utilizing “official” (as in, clients were aware & understood it’s part of the overall Caxiam process) mood boards over 5 years ago. It might not have completely stuck because we didn’t layer the process of choosing adjective clouds, color palettes, typography, imagery & textures in a convincing way. Or, maybe the value wasn’t organized in a way understood by the client. Regardless of the failed attempts, we kept massaging the process (realizing its potential) and have found tremendous success in making it officially part of the CG approach. Mood boarding, when done properly & involving the client strategically, can be very useful in creative collaboration.

Continue Reading “Mood boarding. We love it, our clients love us for it (part 1)”

By now, you’ve heard the old saying, “Content is King.” And it’s true – effective, strategic content is ultimately the most important component of a Website. However, often times the term is misused and abused either through lack of understanding of the concept itself, or a willful pursuit of an alternative agenda. Continue Reading “Content, content, content. But where does design fit in all of this?”