Inbound Web Design

I have a confession to make.

I am a bit of a “quote collector.” I have files upon files of quotes tucked away on my hard drive, post-its on my computer monitor, and littering my desk. Most are one-liners, each summing up a particular area of life and sharing a “pearl of wisdom” from the lives of great marketers, business people, or those who have a knack for motivating us mere mortals.

Each week I share some of these quotes via Twitter in a series called “1001 Marketing Messages in a Bottle,” and I thought I would share some of my favorite design quotes with you here today... 

Finally.

Someone has created a simple way to create basic infographics for free. That “someone” is Piktochart.com, our favorite tool (from a rather short list) for building super-simple, pseudo-custom infographics in a matter of minutes.

The piktochart site offers both a free and paid option, with the paid version ($14.99 a month) offering a greater number of templates, tools and images. But, we were very impressed with what we were able to churn-out using the free version in a mere 5-minute trial run.

A suitable number of pre-loaded graphics are ready to use out of “the box,” along with the ability to upload items from your own stash of images. What’s more, the free option also offered up a tool for creating custom charts by entering your metrics manually or from a CSVfile…pretty slick.

What’s Your Favorite Color? Your Answer May Change Once You Better Understand How Color Theory Can Boost Your Conversion Rates.

Easily dismissed by some, color theory (color psychology) is often viewed as marketing “black magic.” In reality the very best color theory is the result of countless studies and the compellation of real-world data over decades of research.

As with many disciplines in this same vein, when these metrics are viewed from a distance, often times, some very clear conclusions can begin to be drawn. It is no mistake that some of the worlds most distinguishable brands have adopted, and stayed with, a single color scheme deeply rooted in this type of study. 

Even in today's changing marketing landscape, we could stand to learn a thing or two from those who came before us.

Modern-day marketing...meet timeless design.

Many of you may already be familiar with the Mad Men television series and its protagonist, Donald Draper, the prototypical, charming (and troubled) 1960’s ad man.

If you haven’t yet seen the program, imagine back to the days where a hunch and a catchy tagline could shape the way America made its purchasing decisions for decades to come. Our preconceived opinions on virtually everything from vodka to Volkswagens were shaped during these “golden years” of advertising.

Ahh…the good old days.

While the traditional ad-shop will probably always have a place in how we conduct business, there is absolutely no denying that the divide between Madison Avenue and Main Street USA is atrophying with each day that we better understand the true power behind the internet. Namely, the web’s amazing knack for speeding up the process of creating meaningful relationships.

However, we can still learn from the traditional advertising greats...