Using Custom Fonts on Websites

February 07, 2012 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Branding, Web Design

As a graphic designer AND web designer one thing that I often find frustrating is making a site look really cool and making sure it’s as SEO (Search Engine Optimization) friendly as possible. One of the biggest ways that I’ve felt constrained often is by what fonts that I can use.  I mean, sure, I could use whatever font I want really and I’m sure it would look good to my eyes, but what if a potential customer of one of my clients goes to their site and they don’t have that same really cool font on their computer?  Then the font gets substituted and likely does not look as cool and perhaps some alignment may also be off.  So a no-go generally for cool fonts.

So what does a web designer do then?  Well generally you’d either choose a font that you know is common (thus limiting the selection that you have – there’s a reason so many websites use arial for a font!) or you put the text in an image.  Of course if you put the text in an image then Search Engine Spiders can’t read the text and thus it’s not SEO friendly – nevermind accessibility for those with different disabilities!  Well Google has come to the rescue again with yet another cool product – Google Web Fonts.

Google Web Fonts lets you choose from over 430 fonts, and I’m sure that number will continue to climb, and you can use any of them on your website with one line of code in your CSS and one in your HTML.  You just have to follow 3 simple steps from their website:

1. Choose: Search or browse hundreds of font families, then add the ones you like to your Collection.

2. Review: Compare and refine your Collection, even see the styles in a dynamic sample layout.

3. Use: Grab the code Google prepares and you’re ready to add the Collection to your website!

How simple is that? I have one word for it, AWESOME!  Now I don’t have to be constrained to certain fonts in my web design projects – thanks again Google!  What will they think of next?

Social Media Management Tools

January 31, 2012 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Social Media

With the big buzz about Social Media now a days everyone is trying to get on board, whether they want to or not!  Well there are some great tools out there that can make things easier for you whether the thought of Social Media makes your head spin or if you consider yourself a well seasoned expert. We’ve talked before about linking social media, and in there we briefly talked about social media managing tools, but I wanted to expand on that thought a bit more.

When we wrote about linking Social Media accounts I had said that we had ours partially linked, but that has since been un-linked.  The only link that I’d had was that posting on Twitter would put a post on both Facebook and LinkedIn, but I realized that I was starting to use much more “Twitter Speak” so decided that was probably not the best idea anymore.  What I’ve opted for instead is to take advantage of a great service called HootSuite.  There are other great services out there as well, such as TweetDeck which is actually made by the creators of Twitter, but HootSuite is great and I love that I’m supporting a great local Vancouver based company!

What HootSuite does is it allows you to manage multiple social media platforms from one interface.  So you can link to Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, MySpace, and the list goes on, all from one point – and you can also connect to RSS feeds too.  This allows you to manage your messaging and your reading/monitoring.

So for messaging, you have a place where you can write and publish your post and you select any of the places that you want it to post and it will also let you know if you’ve gone over your character limit.  One thing that I also find handy is to write it once for twitter, then copy it to my clipboard, post it, then paste it and edit the “twitter speak” out of it and use it again for LinkedIn and/or Facebook.  It also lets you choose thumbnails for links for facebook too.  So I can write it all in one spot and I’m not having to go to a bunch of different websites, try and remember what I wrote, etc.  Nice and simple!

Then there’s the reading, monitoring and general “staying on top of things” – again, all in one simple place!  By default it makes tabs for the different social media platforms.  Twitter one for example is the Home Feed, Mentions and Direct Messages.  Then you also have the option of making custom tabs and choose what things you want on them.  So you could make one with the main feed from three (or more of course) different Social Media platforms.  One example that is also very nice is you could have a custom stream of a particular topic/keyword – so I might have “web design” or one of my competitors twitter handles so I can see how they’re using it or being mentioned.  Think about it, if you see a tweet from one of your competitors complaining about them, why not swoop in and see if you can make them happy?  I’ve heard countless stories about situations like that happening!

There are really great ways that a tool like this one can be used, and the features that I’ve mentioned are all available free!  Now, you are limited to the amount of accounts that you link with just the free account, but for a basic small business that can be more than enough.  And then if you pay a bit you can have access to more features and the ability to link more accounts.  So the next time you think about Social Media and shudder check out HootSuite or other social media management tools – it may be the de-stressor you’ve been looking for!

Making Great Business Connections During Your Everyday Life

January 24, 2012 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Marketing, Networking

Had a casual meeting with a business associate today and one of the topics of conversation that we spent some time on prompted me to write a blog post.  We were talking about how demanding it can be to be a small business person and lead a normal life at the same time and how tempting it can be at times to just be a hermit and spend hours alone in your office with your computer.  “But I’m working!” Is often the excuse, but if you spend all your time in your office how do you intend to grow your client base?  Keeping yourself stuck at the office or a home office can keep you stuck in a rut – or more likely, stuck in a downhill slide!

One of the easiest forms of networking that a lot of people tend to overlook and not think about are done in our normal daily routine.  Running to the grocery store for milk and eggs, or taking your child to dance or karate – even popping into Starbucks for your coffee, these can all be great places to meet potential clients!  How many times have you either gone for your coffee and got stuck waiting in line, or taken your daughter to dance class and been sitting on the sidelines with the other parents for an hour?  How hard would it be to strike up a casual conversation?  Even commenting on the weather can easily lead into a nice reciprocal question of “So what do you do for work?”

So think about it the next time you’re tapping your foot while waiting in the grocery store line-up stuck behind the person with 100 coupons or 10 things that need to get price-checked, turn to the person behind or in front of you and joke about it and see where the conversation goes.  You may end up needing to use some of your business cards you should always have stuffed in your wallet for emergencies!  So pack your business cards and get your elevator speech ready and be “open for business” whatever errand you’re running!

New Website Live Now!

December 21, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in General, Marketing, Web Design

Hello everyone!  We are happy to announce our new website!  We’ve officially joined the WordPress community now with more than just our blog – our whole site is now WordPress.  We’ve talked before about the many advantages to using Content Management Systems, and now we’re doing it too.

We’ve expanded our portfolio section, updated our services page; and we’ve updated the bios that were already there as well.  It’s a new look for the New Year that’s almost upon us and connects us more with our Social Media as well.

Anyway, a quick blog post this week, but wanted to let you all know that our new site is officially launched!  Would love any feedback you’d like to offer on the new look!

We also want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all – wishing you a wonderful time surrounded by those you love and cherish and a great start to 2012.  See you all again in the New Year!

Networking at Christmas & Holidays

December 13, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Networking

One of the best times of year to get some easy networking done is Christmas – or any holiday people gather for that matter. Either you’re spending time with the ones that you love and care about or the flipside of the coin, you can end up going to tons of different parties that give you a great opportunity to network with people that you haven’t met before.  Both are great situations for growing your business and thinking about networking!

Think family and loved ones for starters. A great source of referral business can be gained from family or close friends because you they know and trust you (we hope anyhow!) and those are the type of feelings that lead to the best referrals.  So as much as you may think, “oh this is a family get together, I don’t want to talk business”, when your cousin Johnny asks “Hey how’s it going?  What have you been up to?” It’s a nice casual way to let him know what’s going on professionally for you as well as personally of course.  Who knows, Cousin Johnny may have a connection with someone that you’ve been prospecting for months and cannot connect with!  Besides, we all want the ones we care about the most to succeed, right?  So if you’re family know what you do and they meet someone who needs your product or service the likelihood of getting a referral is pretty good – so make sure they know what you do!

The other side of holiday get-togethers are all of the new people that you meet.  Many holidays where people are getting together, throwing parties, etc, the name of the game is to meet new people while having a great time.  What better time to make a business connection then when everyone is happy and in good moods?  Connections that you make a holiday gatherings can have some good sticking power because it’s attached to a positive experience.

Overall just make sure that over Christmas or any holiday where people get together you keep your business cards (and business mindset!) handy –  you can meet some amazing people you’ve been dying to connect with and you wouldn’t want to miss that opportunity, would you?

Networking – More than just selling!

November 23, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Networking

One of the biggest mistakes that I see when networking is the Sales Guy that goes around the room trying to get everyone to buy his product right now, that’s not what it’s about.  I’ve talked about Networking Do’s and Don’ts in the past, and one of the points that I’d like to expand on is one of the don’ts “Sell, Sell, Sell”.

Think about it this way, if you’re a friend of someone on facebook, or following them on Twitter, whatever avenue you use, if they were to constantly be talking about their product, how awesome it is and that it’s “on sale, this week only!”, and essentially droning on and on solely about their awesome product you would tune them out pretty quick if not block them, right?  Not dissimilar to ending up on a email list when we go to buy a sweater at a local store and end up getting bombarded with 2 for 1 offers.  No one likes feeling like they’re being advertised to all the time.  Same thing in person!

If you want to get business through networking you have to think of it like a relationship, not simply another place to blast your sales message.  Would you refer someone to the insurance guy that comes up to you in a networking event droning on about how you need insurance and are you covered with this that and the other thing?  Or would you refer someone to a guy that takes the time to learn about you, perhaps meets with you for coffee, doesn’t shove his product in your face but really takes time to learn about your company and your needs before even thinking about talking insurance?  Relationships lead to trust which lead to a higher likelihood of referrals, and STRONGER referrals.

Sure, sometimes you luck out and the first time you meet someone they may be looking for your exact product or service, but most of the time you need to establish a relationship with people so they know you and trust you with either their business or their friend or business associate.  Their reputation is being put on the line when the recommend/refer someone, so they want to be able to trust who they’re referring to.

So the next time you’re networking think about that – think relationship building instead of “Sell, Sell, Sell” and who knows, maybe you’ll walk out with a connection that will refer you clients for a lifetime instead of a one contract client!

Exercise Your Democratic Right – Vote! Municipal Elections this Saturday!

November 17, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in General

With the upcoming BC Municipal Elections this Saturday we thought we’d take a bit of time to highlight something that so many people miss out on.  One thing that we’ve always been active in is voting.  With so many people in the world not allowed this democratic right it’s the least one can do!  And besides, how can voting be the voice of the people if so many people are not voting?  All it takes is you, and your id, going to a local polling station and putting your ‘x’ where needed and there you go!  The action of voting is not a large time commitment.

That being said, I do believe that people that vote should inform themselves so they know who they should vote for.  So stay up to date with the media, if you can try and go to all candidates meetings or watch them on tv if possible (thinking Federal election here), read the brochures you get in the mail or from candidates going door to door, and a great source is your local paper.  For example, one of the local papers for the Tri-Cities (The NOW) has a great feature showcasing all of the candidates in our area, .  It has many articles, lists and bios of different candidates and more.  Of course you can also check out the websites of the candidates as well.

So get ready BC – it’s time to let your voice be heard – join us on Saturday as we head to the polls!

Easy Ways to Look Professional

November 02, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Branding, Marketing

While thinking of what to write for a blog this week one of the things that I thought of is “what are some things that really drive me nuts as a designer?” and a few things started running through my head – so here’s a summary of what they are and easy ways for you to avoid them!  Basically they are ways that a lot of people make themselves look less professional when they could easily have saved themselves the problem.  So here they are my “pet peeves” of designing, or a nice way to think of it “Easy Waysto Look Professional”:

Don’t use handwritten signs for advertising – ANYWHERE!  This photo speaks volumes! Spray Painted SignExpand it further though, do you really want to eat at the Sushi place that has a spray painted sign on the street, or faded orange poster board signs on their walls with old prices replaced covered with whatever colour paper they had lying around to update the price?  I would question the freshness of their food if they can’t spend enough time to make nice displays for their business!  If you need “do it yourself” advertisements print them off on your computer, or if your printer doesn’t print big enough take a print out to a local photo copy place and ask them to increase the size to what you need – at most it will cost a few dollars which would be comparable to buying a piece of poster paper anyway!  Need to make a spray paint road sign?   Buy a stencil of different letters from a dollar store first instead of free-handing it.  And even that should be temporary while you get your permanent sign.  If you NEED to do it yourself take a couple extra moments like this and it will make a huge difference.

If you have your own website don’t use a webmail email address for business!  This joke picture that circulated not long ago speaks volumes!

What Your Email Address Says About You

As much as it’s a joke it’s actually quite accurate. What sounds better to you janedoe@professionalaccountant.com or iloveunicorns@hotmail.com?  If you want people to take you seriously use whatever methods you have access to.  If you have a web domain for your company then you should also have the ability to have email address that use that domain as well – if you don’t then you may need to look for a new web host!  This is something that any good web host provides when you host your website with them.  So if you own your own website, use your domain for your email – you can even forward it to your existing email if you’re really stuck on using it!

If you have a logo carry that look and feel through all of your marketing material.  If you have a logo you’ve likely invested decent money into it, so use it!  Take the colours from it and use them on anything from your business card, brochure, to website and twitter profile.  This unifies your look and increases your professionalism, a marketing 101 kind of trick.  And it really surprises me how many people don’t personalize their Twitter profile, it’s easy to do!  Check out our post about it – Social Media – Personalizing Twitter.

One more short one to end off, this one’s not design related but definitely affects your professionalism – When you write business emails, write them professionally!  Avoid internet slang (no “lol”, no shortened words like “ur” instead our your) and make sure to have a polite introduction and dismissal.  It doesn’t have to be “Dear Mr. Smith” but starting with “Hello John” personalizes the email.  Signing off with a Sincerely, Regards, Until next time, etc. Is also professional.  It really makes me shake my head when a business owner emails me and is far too casual – my impression of their professionalism is affected!

A few tips to help you keep yourself looking good in front of others – I’d think most of them are common sense, but as I’ve heard often “Common sense is not that common”.  And with how many times I see all of these done I tend to agree!

Useful Resources for Web Designers

October 26, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Web Design

I’m always trying to think of useful things to share for those designing their websites – be that a do-it-yourself-er small business owner or an experienced web designer, and I thought I would share 7 of the tools that I find useful for web design:

1 – http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/css/propindex/all.htm – All CSS Properties Listed Alphabetically – This site has come in handy many a time for me when I know in my head that I can do something but for the life of me I can’t remember what the code was. This way I can look it up if I remember basically how it starts and it can remind me.  Another thing that I find handy is it tells you all the different values that you can use as well, so if you’re not sure if you can adjust something or not it will let you know.

2 – http://www.w3schools.com/ – Coding Assistance From HTML and CSS, to AJAX and jQuery – This website has been one of my reference tools from day one of designing sites for my clients. I can look up pretty much any code that I would need to use and they even have testing windows so you can test how different values and properties will act.  It comes in really handy if you want to try a new property in CSS for example that you haven’t used before and you want to know what you can do with it and how it works.  Or if you know a property but aren’t sure what one of the values may do.  Very handy.

3 – http://kuler.adobe.com – Adobe Kuler Colour Palette Creating – With this website you can choose different colour palettes.  Different users have submitted their own colour palettes, you can use some Adobe has created, or you can use a colour wheel and select different palette types (complementary, monochrome, etc) and by selecting a main colour it will help you choose additional colours.  It provides the hex codes, CMYK or RGB values – VERY HANDY!  Useful not only for web design but ANY graphic design – from logos to websites!

4 – http://www.colr.org/ – Colour Schemes from Pictures – This website lets you reference a picture online or upload a picture from your computer and will find different colours in that picture and you can form your colour scheme from a picture. So if you have a picture or drawing that you LOVE the colours in you can upload it to this site and use the colours from it, super handy if you’re having troubles matching the colours to your satisfaction.

5 – http://new.myfonts.com/WhatTheFont/ – Find Out What a Font is From a Picture – I use this site ALL THE TIME. When I’m using an existing design and carrying it into different mediums I may not know what font the initial designer used, particularly if it’s saved as an image and not as text. What this site allows you to do is upload or reference an image online and it will tell you what fonts match those in the image. It works best if you can focus on one font in an image at a time – so if you’re looking at a logo with a company name and tagline in different fonts for example, it’s easiest to focus on just the tagline or company name and do it in two steps.

6 – http://www.typetester.org/ – Compare Fonts on One Screen – This site helps you decide on a font to use for different designs – be that web or traditional media. If you want to compare Bookman Old Style to Times New Roman, you can.  Or see if you like a sans serif font instead of a serif font.  Super handy for testing fonts.

7 – https://browserlab.adobe.com – Multiple Browser Simulation – One thing that every web designer knows is that every browser treats code differently.  Something that make look amazing in Firefox or Chrome may look absolutely awful in Internet Explorer – or the reverse!  Not only that, but what may work well in a current version of a browser may not look good in the previous version of that same browser.  This tool allows you to simulate different browsers and different versions of browsers – and simulate both Mac and PC.  This way you don’t have to have a crazy testing machine set up, you can use this site as your testing tool.

So here’s a few different tools for the web designers and web designers in training!  Hope they can be as helpful to you as they have been to me, and if you have any questions about any of them feel free to contact us at ARK2!

Content Management Systems – How and When to Get Out of a Bad CMS

October 18, 2011 | By Anna Kouwenberg Posted in Web Design

There are many more benefits to a good CMS, the ones mentioned in my previous post about Why Use a CMS are just a few of the ones that I generally highlight to my clients or contacts.  A very important thing to keep in mind though is that not all CMS’ were created equal!  Some are very easy to use, some are near impossible to use and negate many of the points mentioned above.

When you are deciding which CMS to use, make sure that you have a good discussion with your Web Designer about it, use a CMS that they are familiar with and make sure that you will also be able to use it as well.  If you can’t figure out how to do the tasks that you want to be able to do on your own then it’s probably not the right CMS for you!  I know of companies that were in custom CMS’s designed for them that ended up being virtually unusable so they ended up having to pay the company that designed it for them to do the updates – and their minimum charge was not cheap!  It can make changing even one word very expensive, and when going into a CMS is often for cost saving and easy updating abilities it works against that.

So if you find that you’re paying just as much if not more to maintain your site in your current CMS because it is so difficult to use then it may be time to move on.  But what if you like your website the way it is but you just can’t stand the system behind it?  Well then keep the look and say goodbye to the CMS!  A good designer should be able to re-create the exact look for you and put it on another platform.  I’ve had a few times where I’ve had to do that for clients that no-longer want their current CMS, it’s easy enough to make a template based on the old site and then copy the content into it.  With this you would also have the choice of going into a more suitable CMS or leaving CMS’s entirely if it’s not right for you.

Overall when you’re designing or re-designing your website you should always make sure to speak with an experienced designer that can help you choose the best platform to suit your needs both currently and what you plan to do for the future.  For example,  starting out your company you may not have the time for a blog right away, but if you desire to have one in the future it’s best to make sure your website will be able to add that feature easily without a large (and costly) redesign.  We at ARK2 love matching companies with the best solutions for their needs and would be happy to be of service should you need us!

Anna Kouwenberg is a partner and the Creative Director for ARK Squared Productions and lives and works out of Port Moody and the Tri Cities of Greater Vancouver. She has experience in Web Design and Graphic Design of over 13 years. She is a BCIT Alumni from the Marketing Communications program and has worked in the marketing department for a few companies gaining practical real-world experience in her field. A designer with marketing experience that can help you put your best foot forward visually in an effective way.

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