#stratcommsarah

[sarahtcommunications]

10 Rules for Good Design

These tips are from Design Elements: A Graphic Style Manual by Timothy Samara

Communicate- don’t decorate

Speak with visual voice

Use 2-3 typefaces max

Pick colors on purpose

Less is more

Don’t be afraid of white space

Treat type as an image

Be universal

Be decisive

Don’t be afraid of asymmetry 

[sarahtcommunications]

I can’t un-see this....

I know I probably wouldn’t notice this if I had designed it, but now that I see it...

[sarahtcommunications]

Over the next couple days, I am going to be retiring some pieces I did in school. This was an identity set I did for a restaurant for zombies.

[sarahtcommunications]

5 Reasons I Love Hemingway

1. It tells you when your sentences are too complicated

Now sometimes this tool doesn’t always work out. It depends on what you're going for, but this tool rates your work based on grade levels. If you're aspiring to be the next Mark Twain, writing at a level a 5th grader could understand may not be what you are going for. However, since I’m in public relations I want to be as clear as humanly possible while still preserving the artistic value of my writing.

2. It identifies weak words

It shows you spots where you could totally whip out your thesaurus and make your work pop more.

3. It identifies repetitive phrases

Sometimes our favorite words can be our downfall. This lets you know when your idea of good vocabulary becomes a problem.

4. It tells you when you're using passive voice.

This is another one of the tools that you should take with a grain of salt. You may not always want to use active voice, but if you do want to use passive voice this will let you know you succeeded.

5. It's Free

I like free. 0 dollars. Nothing. There is a desktop version you can download to use it offline, but that download is only $20. Let's be real, in this line of work $20 for software is nothing!

[sarahtcommunications]

Just found out my average email open rate is 39%

It says the average for my industry is 26%, so I’m going to consider that pretty good.

[sarahtcommunications]

Brands like The Macallan, Remy Martin, Ford and Air New Zealand are using HoloLens technology.

I think the headset with our smartphones is a much better route...