Salesmanship… ”The technique of selling a product. Adeptness at creating interest in new ideas, products, methods, etc.” (Dictionary.com)

Salesmanship is of huge importance in our world today. Our antiquated view of salesmen are the people who come knocking on our door selling vacuum cleaners, brushes, and other household items. A modern view includes those annoying telemarketers who insist on calling during a relaxing evening at home. Salesman may not have the best reputation among professions, but their “skill” – salesmanship – is not something to be taken lightly.

Among all the different jobs existing today, good salesmanship is a trait that needs to be possessed or at least acknowledged by everyone; not just working professionals. Your ability to sell can make a big difference. Whether you’re seeking to get hired from a job interview, proposing a new plan to your boss, or merely trying to convince someone to switch from Tide to Cheer, these all take some salesmanship skills. The previous definition of salesmanship – “adeptness at creating new interest” – really strikes the nail on the head. It’s not just new interest in a product, but new interest in ideas and methods as well.

Salesmanship And Design

I’ve recognized the importance of salesmanship in our world for a while, but it wasn’t until the last year that I’ve started practicing it. In designing web sites and logos there are alot of decisions made in terms of color, fonts, size, placement, etc. There are guidelines taught in design school that influence a person’s decisions during the design process. When I show my clients their web sites or logos the first time, usually there are a few things the client is on the fence about. They like it, but then they’re not sure about it. Depending on what it is, I have to sell to the client. If it’s something like a link or subject matter I usually ask them what they were looking for and act accordingly. They are typically the expert on the content and message of their web site. I am the expert on the design and communicating their intended message through design. So, if it is a design element they are on the fence with, I usually just give them my reasoning for doing it that way. It’s a form of selling. They might not understand why I used a 46 point, sans serif font in the logo accompanied by a 18 point cursive font. Or more importantly, why I didn’t center all the web site content and set it in a crazy red 18 point font. BAD BAD BAD! I have to  ”create an interest” in the new, or new-to-them, idea. Nine times out of ten, the client comes back and agrees with me. It’s important to stand up for your design, even if only just once. It may educate your client and save you from chasing the squirrel around the tree. More importantly, it could save you from going over-budget.

Salesmanship In Design

Now that you’ve seen how important salesmanship can be in working with other people, here is a blip on how salesmanship is also important in the actual design concept. Design… what’s it for? An amateur may say to make things look pretty. Yeah, true, but that’s only about 5% of it. The remaining 95% is to SELL! Some people may say design informs, communicates, portrays, creates interest, etc. However, the underlying theme in all of those is selling. A poster may inform you of a concert, but the purpose of informing is to persuade you to buy a ticket. It is very important for designers to be in touch with the products or services that are behind their design and think about how to sell them in their design, as well as make them look good.

Thanks for reading and Stay tuned, I may have more posts related to this topic coming soon.

- Jessea Rhames

A popular term, or abbreviation, floating around the Internet now is WYSIWYG. Basically all it means is “What You See Is What You Get”… WYSIWYG.

WYSIWYG editors are a user interface that can greatly benefit web site owners. These editors allow individuals to edit their web site without having much, if any, knowledge of HTML, CSS, or other web languages. The WYSIWYG editor presents the user with an interface similar to that of what you would find in the Microsoft suite, where the content during editing looks much like the end result.

The availability of these editors have made my life as a web developer much easier and allow my clients the ability to easily edit their web sites. So far, my favorite WYSIWYG editor is Snippet Master – easy enough to install, easy to use, inexpensive or even free if you don’t want certain features. I’ve only needed help a few times, but between the forum and quick response from support my problems were solved in no time.

If you’ve ever worked with a graphic designer, you’ve probably noticed they have some strange pet peeves or annoyances. Last week we had a TV sales person in our office. While on the topic of design she mentioned a previous graphic designer / co-worker of hers had something against the font Comic Sans. Jokingly, she asked me if I knew why or what the deal was. Laughing I shook my head yes and sided with her co-worker. She was baffled. Maybe I can shed some light on why graphic designers might seem so quirky or picky about things.

The following are some of my personal pet peeves. They may vary depending on the designer, but most I’m sure share some, if not all, of these.

Pet Peeve #1 ~ Comic Sans
It’s fun. It’s groovy. It’s fits any occasion. Right??? WRONG! Comic Sans is highly overused and does not belong on most publications. Save the Comic Sans for your daughter’s birthday invitation if you absolutely feel the need to use it. Many designers are taught in school to avoid using fonts like Comic Sans. We’re taught that everything in design communicates a message, event font styles. Comic Sans communicates fun. period.

Pet Peeve #2 ~ Center Alignment
Oh please… do not center align everything in your flyer. An imporant element of design is alignment. Some center alignment can be good, for example on headings. However, when you center align everything in a document it makes it difficult for the readers eye to follow the text. Their eye is constantly figuring out where lines end and begin.

Pet Peeve #3 ~ Stretched Pictures
Pictures have specific aspect ratios and when you don’t keep to the pictures ratio you end up with a screwed picture. Faces become elongated…trees may become fatter… but most importantly… pixels become “pixelated” which means a blurry image.

Pet Peeve #4 ~ Large Type Settings
You want your flyer to get attention? Use a large point heading. Do NOT put all your text in a large point size. If you do you are essentially drowning out your point.

Pet Peeve #5 ~ Web Sites That Don’t Work
Primarily my job is a web designer. As such, I see a lot of web sites – good and bad. It’s one thing to have a web site that doesn’t look good, but by the 2nd click on a web site link that doesn’t work I hit the Red X – Close. It’s a useless site that is wasting my time. What is even worse is that I have seen companies actively promoting a poor working web site like it is agreat resource. Have they even tried using their site? I can more easily accept a poorly designed web site than I can a disfunctional one.

Today I was scoping out some various web design and development companies on the web. My goal was aimed at developing a more systematic approach to quoting web site projects. Many online web design companies put together package deals.

For example…
A 5 page web site including search engine optimization, a flash banner, contact form, e-commerce, etc. Or perhaps the next package up which is a 10 page site, with the same feature as a 5 page site, plus a photo gallery, search forms, etc.

From a developer’s perspective, this sounds like the way to go. It is easy to manage and easy to quote. However, looking at these types of packages from the client’s perspective is a little aggravating.

What the client needs may be 7 page site, with the photo gallery from package two, without the e-commerce from package one. So does he or she contact the company to find out if they are flexible or does he leave thinking the company doesn’t offer what he/she wants? Most likely the latter… at least that’s what I would do. Clients dont want to pay for something they dont need. “Duh!”

It is difficult for a client to fit into a cookie cutter web package. Every client, every business is different and each one may require a unique web site. Stuffing a client into a package that is too big is like putting on a shoe that’s too big. There’s a lot of room left you don’t know what to do with and that emptiness makes for an awkward looking shoe…. errr site.

There are cases when a web package would work – say for example the basic, traditional 5 page site with a Home page, About Us page, Contact page, Products page, Services page, or whatever. A few pictures, simple design and structure, no e-commerce, no Blog, no extras… just the basic info.

My research made me realize that I didn’t want to make up a list of packages for clients to choose from. I want something more customized where client’s can pick and choose certain options. Something easy and not confusing. Stay tuned!

- Jessea

Bread Company Logo

Recently I finished up an Identity Solutions project for The Bread Company in Poplar Bluff, MO. Formerly a franchisee of the San Francisco Bread Company (S.F.B.C), the managers decided to venture out on their own earlier this year. The weekend of September 19th the former S.F.B.C underwent a lot of changes and re-opened as The Bread Company.

This project is so far Streetfire Designs biggest one yet in terms of the amount of exposure the designs will get. It is really nice to see a company take a logo and turn it into an identity, not just an image used here and there. After all, that is the best way to do it. A logo is a representation to be used consistently in an effort to market an entity over a variety of mediums.

Check out the new look for The Bread Company at… www.thebreadco.com

Earlier this year, while still in school, I took a photography class: Photography for the Graphic Designer II. Within the first week of class I found myself with a huge, bulky, black Nikon D70 on my desk. Sitting back I looked at the thing somewhat bewildered for about half an hour. I figured out how to take a picture easily, but that seemed like just the tip of the iceberg – and it was. Thank God it came with a user manual and I have steady access to the Internet. Otherwise that camera would have been my worst enemy rather than my new best friend. At the time I knew very little about photography and couldn’t tell you anything about aperture or shutter speed.

Jessea Takes a Shot

I am sure I can’t be the only one who is (or at least was) intimidated by such a huge camera. At first I thought it was a little uncool. I mean how many people do see carrying around a camera as big as a melon? And when you do they’re usually striking some type of acrobatic pose – right foot back, left foot forward extended past the left hip, body twisted to the right, hand and head pointed upward, mouth open as they look through the eye hole. Who would want to look like that!? I WOULD!! No, not really, but it’s a price to be paid. After my learning experience with the beloved Nikon D70 I have a new found respect for these crazed camera park walkers. I could never go back to my old point-and-shoot again.

Now, for the details. I just mentioned my point-and-shoot. To anyone who doesn’t know what I mean, that is my “old camera”. Most all inexpensive ($100-300) cameras are point-and-shoot. I bought a Canon Powershot when they first came out for a little over $300. 4x Optical zoom, 3.2 megapixels. Ouch! It was way to early in the game to be purchasing that camera,  however, I needed it for a certain event and made the investment. In all reality it was served me well, but I was spoiled with the D70 and had trouble going back to the Powershot after I had to turn the D70 back in to the school. 

Basically a P&S (point and shoot) camera is supposed to do all the work for you. Unfortunately, the results may not always be great because the camera is not as smart as a good photographer. Most issues lie around lighting, shutter speed, and white balance. This biggest dislike I have with P&S cameras is the lag time that occurs before the shutter goes off and the viewfinder. On P&S’s you have the view finder and the LCD panel – the screen that shows you the image. How many times have you been in a situation when you could not use the LCD to compose your picture because of glares and poor lighting? To combat the issue you tried using the view finder to compose. Afterwards you were dissatisfied because the picture does not look like what you saw. Don’t worry, it’s not your fault, it is the camera. With P&S cameras the view finder does not actually see what the lens sees and if pictures are taken using the view finder they will look a little off. SLR or DSLR (Single Lens Reflex or Digital Single Lens Reflex) cameras, like my Nikon D70 and most “professional” cameras, do not operate this way. DSLR’s use a mirror to show you the image you’re about to shoot through the view finder. When you take the picture the mirror flips up allowing the image sensor to capture the image. To help you understand, I found this site which has great illustrations on the difference between SLR’s and P&S…. http://www.ted.photographer.org.uk/camera_types.htm

"Mittens" (DSLR)

My favorite feature about SLR’s is being in control! I can make the shutter go as fast or as slow as I want it to, virtually eliminating any lag time. For the average camera user, it may be overkill. If you’re just interested in preserving memories, a simple point and shoot would be just what you need. However, if you are more concerned with the picture itself you might consider looking at a professional SLR camera.

Oh and P.S… this post was brought on because I just purchased my very own Nikon D70! Bye bye P&S. Yay!

Just like a lot of people today, I am an avid addicted Facebook user. It’s makes for a great break at work and provides a wonderful way to keep in touch with family and friends. Recently issues regarding Facebook’s privacy policy and how it treats user content has become more of a concern. When you post of upload something to Facebook it grants Facebook the right to use that content however they see fit. Recently there was a post floating around that discussed how to stop Facebook from using your pictures in ads. By clicking a little box you can stop this, but that doesn’t solve the overall problem. Facebook’s “Terms of Use” spells it out…

Sharing Your Content and Information You own all of the content and information you post on Facebook, and you can control how we share your content through your privacy and applicationsettings. In order for us to use certain types of content and provide you with Facebook, you agree to the following:

1. For content that is covered by intellectual property rights, like photos and videos (”IP content”), you specifically give us the following permission, subject to your privacy and applicationsettings: you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable, sub-licensable, royalty-free, worldwide license to use any IP content that you post on or in connection with Facebook (”IP License”). This IP License ends when you delete your IP content or your account (except to the extent your content has been shared with others, and they have not deleted it).
2. When you delete IP content, it is deleted in a manner similar to emptying the recycle bin on a computer. However, you understand that removed content may persist in backup copies for a reasonable period of time (but will not be available to others).

Check out that bold text. Ouch, not cool! For designers, media producers, or song writers who hold the rights to a valuable piece of work that clause has the potential to really… well… suck! Nothing controversial has happened yet regarding this issue that I’m aware of, but that does not mean it can’t.

Facebook Applications

Onto another point I’d like to make, which is my real reason for writing this post. Most people have known about the Terms of Use for a while and it is old news. Recently, however, the use of Facebook applications have been growing. You know those little quizzes like “Where will I be in 10 Years”, the Flair application, “What color is my personality?”, etc. Those are all applications. Have you ever read the little box that pops up before you use the app? I’m sure you have, and like me, didn’t really think too much about it… or didn’t care. Let me call your attention to it again…

So basically you allow all those applications to see and use your profile information. Most of the time apps are created by individuals, but the one listed above, “Declare You Major”, is not. It was produced by HP (Hewlett Packard). See the little HP logo beside the heading. I didn’t catch this at first, but once I got my results I new it had to be sponsered because it told me I need one of two HP products. “What!? Why would some general user tell me to do that?!” Then I realized who made the application and why they made it. Read this found in Facebooks Privacy Application tab…

When you authorize an application, it will be able to access any information associated with your account that it requires to work.The application can access information like your personal info and photos as well as your friends’ personal info (depending on their settings). Please note that your contact information (such as your email) is never available through Platform. All platform applications are obligated to respect all of your existing privacy settings when requesting this information and when displaying it to other users. Learn more.

 To control which applications are authorized, visit the Applicationspage. If you believe an application is violating Facebook’s privacy policies, please report it immediately. You can report an application by going to the application’s About page and clicking “Report Application” at the bottom of the page, or by clicking “Report” at the bottom of any canvas page within the application.

So before you go adding applications, consider the publisher and whether or not you want them having access to your Facebook profile and information. Go into your Facebook privacy settings, and take a look at the Application settings or just click here: http://www.facebook.com/privacy/?ref=mb#/privacy/?view=platform&tab=other. Basically, I am just posting this to encourage you to look into your privacy settings and read the information there so you better understand what you are dealing with.  The article below is a little blurp about how advertisers are going to start entering the Facebook world.

http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2009/08/05/237186/retailers-flock-to-facebook-with-e-commerce-apps.htm

For years newspapers were America’s leading source of information, but the cry of this American tradition can be heard as it slowly marches to a dark and dusty grave. During the last decade newspaper circulation has been declining, but nothing has fueled that fire more so than the Internet. According to Tim Arango of the N.Y. Times, drop in circulation has accelerated since last year. A seven percent drop, in fact, from April 08 to 09!

In an effort to hold on, many newspapers have gone online. There has been a rise in the number of online web audiences, but the overall potential still doesn’t seem enough to save the traditional paper. In a way, they may be helping to dig the grave. Lets see, do I pay for a paper or go online and get my news for free? Once people have the opportunity to get their news for free online they will most likely stop buying the paper. It’s really a tough spot the industry. It almost seems like a lose/lose situation.

As an advertiser, I deal frequently with a few local newspapers. In the last few years my boss and I have basically come to the conclusion the it’s not worth it to advertise in the paper. We’ve spent who knows how many hundreds of dollars in the last year on newspaper ads and it just did not seem to make one bit of difference. We even offered coupons or incentives such as “mention this ad in our store” to receive a discount. Zip… Zilch… Not-a. Now I’m not saying advertising in all papers is a mistake. Our local papers are particularly dull and don’t offer people much incentive to buy them. By the time the paper comes out, half the town has already heard the latest news through the grapevine. However, despite poor results from the local papers, I decided to run an ad for my father’s business in hopes to target the local crowd with an appealing summer deal. Looking at the one/two year old ad rates I decided to go with a 2 column X 3″ format for $30. Now this was an old price and I assumed it would be a little more now. However, when I called in this size ad was now almost $50.00! Ouch! After retracting our ad we are re-evaluation the advertising strategy. If we sell the lawnmower in the ad is it going to pay for the ad placement? With the past low response rate we are hesitant to place the ad. Driving the lawnmower outside and tying balloons to it might be a better idea.

I brought up this story to bring to light another point. Sure newspapers are struggling. Sure they need to generate more income to pay the bills and balance the decline in circulation, but hiking up ad prices to do so? Not a good idea. For the previously mentioned ad to go up $20 in past 2 years or so is ridiculous, especially under the current circumstances. I checked around and ad rates are going up everywhere. I don’t understand their business strategy at all… unless they want to lose their job. I’m not saying I know the way to solve the problem, give me a little while to think on it and I might come up with some solutions, but raising ad rates in a dying publication and offering services for free online is just going to kill the paper faster.

Source:
Arango, Tim. Apr. 27, 2009. “Fall in Newspaper Sales Accelerates to Pass 7%”
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/business/media/28paper.html?_r=1

Building a web site these days is no quick and easy task. Even a simple 5-6 page HTML/CSS based site requires a lot of work and planning. If you’re not familiar with web sites you probably aren’t sure what all goes into building one. Many people expect a web site to be built out of thin air, but unfortunately that’s not possible and it is these people who usually have the biggest bill. Hopefully this post will help clients and developers like myself.

When building a website for an existing company there are certain things a developer/designer needs:

• General information about the company
• Company logos
• Pictures of the business (maybe even it’s staff)
• Content for each pages

The last one is the biggee… CONTENT. A designer can get to know a company, but it’s not always easy to tell what that company wants to say about themself. To help the designer customize the site to the client, it always helps if the client can provide pictures (at least 800×600 resolution, 72dpi), content, and logos. Not only is this extremely helpful to the designer, but this little bit of homework by the client can save him or her quite a bit of money as well.

Just a fun little quiz to take: How Creative Are You?

My results…

You Are 64% Creative

You are beyond creative. You are a true artist – even if it’s not in the conventional sense of the word.You love creating for its own sake, and you find yourself quite inspired at times.