Graphic & Print Design

Whenever my clients ask for an infographic, I usually ask, "Why?" The most common reasons are that they: Want to add visual interest to a design (such as a brochure, information packet, or a webpage) Plan to share it on social media Hope infographics can boost traffic, data retention, etc. Most small businesses use infographics to build brand awareness, engage customers, or generate website traffic. However, many businesses struggle to understand the basics of how to make an infographic. Building a better infographic starts with understanding the "info" part. What is an Infographic? Designers draft visual images, such as a [...]

When Pantone first released Emerald as the color of the year for 2013, I was surprised at its vibrancy. In my mind, the tone is darker because my brain aligns with the lowlights of the gem. I see dark green satin or mossy, muddy tones. However, they selected a classic fashion jewel-tone version of Emerald — a series of colors that dominated fashion, beauty, and home design during the 2010s. This particular shade of green looks almost preppy — somewhere between a Kate Spade Green and Kelly Green with a touch of blue. Emerald: The Pantone Color of the Year [...]

I'm all for taking one season at a time and September is no exception. It's almost a second summer in the south — with 90-degree days, green grass, and soft, sandled feet. Even as the sunshine stays, the leaves start to turn yellow. Days feel a little shorter. Glasses of iced tea slowly change into warm cups in the evenings. Those early, soft autumn shades peak out at at us from nature. When it comes to web designs, my Lynchburg advertising team often takes cues from the golden browns and soft oranges of September days. Autumn Color Ideas for Web [...]

Autumn fills me with a new year energy — a hangover from the school calendar. We fill new planners with new schedules, pull out boots and sweaters, and breathe in the changing chill in the air. For my designs, I seek out fresh color combinations — or at least variations on old favorites. Below is a roundup of colors that inspired recent design projects at my Lynchburg advertising marketing agency. When I create these color roundups, I use hex codes because I tend to work most in web design. If you're designing in Canva or Illustrator, you can download my images. [...]

Green is a color you don't see often in marketing and design. It's nuanced and not nearly as popular for logos as red or blue. Also, people tend to think it represents nature or eco brands best. So, if you're working in an unrelated industry, the color doesn't appear frequently. Often associated with the environment, forest green has been used for designs related to causes supporting the earth and its ecosystem. - Canva Green can represent more than earth-friendly, caused-based marketing. It's a life-affirming tone. People see green as a natural and sensuous color. Most people link it to friendliness, refreshment, and [...]

I use the power of Pinterest to keep my designs fresh. How? I regularly collect design inspiration and organize them into boards like popular fonts, color palettes and layouts. Whenever I'm feeling low on ideas, a quick scroll gets me thinking creatively again. 52 Color Palettes with Hex Codes Since most of my design projects are for web design, I tend to save my favorite colors as hex codes. This makes them easy to plug into code and saves me time. What Are Hex Codes for Color? If you work on digital designs, you know that colors come with six-digit [...]

As Canva has become a popular, easy-to-use tool, its selection of available fonts has grown. In fact, if you have a subscription, there are few popular fonts you won't be able to access within the tool. Below are some of my favorite Canva font combinations. 25 Canva Font Combinations I challenge myself to create new font pairings from time to time. Sometimes, I simply jot them down in my notebook during a project. In this case, I wanted a visual record of the headline, subhead, and body copy fonts together — so I could easily grab them for client projects. [...]

Soft shades of green often fill my camera roll. I'm not the only one who has been leaning into these herbal tones — with sage green becoming a huge color trend in 2020. Layered with meaning, sage evokes two mental images — the fresh, fuzzy plant and the dried bundles associated with cleansing spaces. The leaves are aromatic and well-known for cooking, teas, essential oils, and body products. It's the quintessential herb of health (the Latin root roughly means "healthy"). Ancient Egyptians used the herb to boost fertility in women. Then, Romans adopted the plant as part of their spiritual [...]