Stop Putting So Much Crap on Your PowerPoints

That may seem harsh, I understand. Some needed to hear it straight. Giving an in-person presentation has value for a reason: people are there for the person, not the slideshow.

Now that we’re ripped the band-aid off, let’s talk about why and how.

Why?

Case in point: You didn’t even read that graphic, did you? 😉

Information Overload

Too much information at once turns people off. The delivery feels disorganized and complicated, and people will eventually quit trying to figure out where to start (listen to you first? read the slide first? open the Facebook App and tune out the presentation completely?), what’s really important, where to expect information presented on each slide, and when to look at visual data.

Animations and sound can be used strategically, but overuse them and they become distractions. Use animations sparingly, and tasteful, unobtrusive transitions. I would argue that sound effects are completely unnecessary, and that sound should be reserved for video or audio information.

You’ll lose them

When you put too many words on your slides, people will often stop listening to you and start reading your slides. This is especially true if they also realize you’re reading your own slides to them without delivering any new information.

Chances are, your audience will assume what is written on the slide is most important. And that should be the case. They may read and then listen, but by the time they stop reading, you’re probably almost done talking. However, as the old adage goes, “if everything is important, then nothing is important.” When you put on the slide every bit of information you think they need to know, what’s the point of ta speech in the first place?

They’ll miss information

If you have too much information on your slides, either they will miss the important thing you said because they were reading, or they’ll miss the important thing on the slide because you were talking. They can’t focus on both at once.

How?

Start by deciding what information needs to be seen, and what information needs to be heard. Ask yourself: what is the number one thing my audience needs to take away from this slide?

Generally speaking, top-level information needs to be seen, and lower-level information needs to be heard. Yes, there can be exceptions, but resist the urge to make every slide or every presentation the exception.

Know Your Presentation

Rehearse, rehearse, rehearse. Rehearse your presentation in front of people. Even if it’s just a friend or spouse who has absolutely no vested interest in what you’re pitching. Being in front of an audience will get you comfortable look at people instead of PowerPoints.

Make an outline of the points you want to make. Hit the high notes, then flesh it out from there. Know what you need to say to fill in the audience with your speech. A talking human is far more engaging than reading a PowerPoint.

Don’t Read Your Presentation

Reading your presentation to your audience offers nothing they couldn’t learn for themselves. If you are reading your slides to your audience, then you (1) have too much information on them, (2) are probably going to bore them, and/or (3) demonstrate you lack the confidence or knowledge to deliver your own pitch.

Visual Aid and Mental Cue

Slides should serve as a Visual Aid for your audience, and as a Mental Cue for you. Use the information on your slides to jog your memory about what you want to say. Slides should support your arguments with three to five short, bulleted snippets, 1 to 2 graphics, or a single video.

Arrange your presentations like you would an outline: Slide Titles are the I, II, and III of your outline: the top-level headings. Body text should be bulleted or numbered and is hierarchically lower information by only one–maybe two–levels. Grammatically complete sentences or full paragraphs should be spoken information.

Less is More

A graphic strategist doesn’t make the information look “pretty,” a graphic strategist makes the information professional. A well-organized presentation makes for a much stronger impact than throwing at your audience all the information you have.

Keep your information tidy so you’re not regurgitating your visual cues. When you can, contact someone experienced in designing information. This is what a graphic strategist does. Panning for gold with a strategic designer helps you sift through the silt to get to the gold.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Why does a quality logo cost so much?

A lot happens.

Some people stagger when I tell them a logo can cost thousands of dollars. Well, none of mine have, but my starting price is sometimes still a bit much for a thrifty business owner to swallow. Other times they don’t understand the process of custom logo design. Here’s why good designers don’t often trade a creative logo for a Thanks-And-A-Handshake.

There’s homework involved.

After the consultation but before I ever even touch a pen, mouse, or tablet, I do my research. I look for things that can tell your story: online, books, nature, engineering, art, photography, user experiences, and everything in between.

 

Then I brainstorm. I identify strong concepts and try to figure out what icons, images, or typographical tricks can condense the mission, objective, and culture of an entire business down into a single icon. Then I make sure no one else has already done it. That’s like trying to stuff 100 pounds of you-know-what into a 1-pound bag.

The effort is collaborative.

I’m not the only one with homework. In my consultations, I ask a lot of hard questions: questions many business owners may not have considered even when they wrote their business plans. I want to be sure I understand the essence of a business, what makes it different, special, or unique–and often it’s not the business’s product or service. It’s tapping into someone else’s inspiration. You may think we’re just having a conversation, but my consultation is a multi-sensory experience I’ve crafted so we can have a real conversation. For a brief moment, I share the client’s vulnerability as he or she talks about their dreams, goals, and fears (that’s my Clinical Psychology degree at work).

Sometimes, though, a potential client wants a logo, any logo, just to have a logo and doesn’t want anything to do with the process. While understandable, that’s not a challenge. That’s not what I provide. We should both come out of this experience with a better understanding of the business and each other so that we can both serve it better.

The software doesn’t do the work.

After the consultation and the research, there’s more work to be done. For my logos, personally, I like to start with good ol’ fashioned pencil and paper. It gets my creative juices flowing, bridges a connection between head and my hands, and frankly, I simply like the experience of soft graphite crushing into textured paper. I will go through 30, 40, or even 50 doodles over the course of a few days or a week until I hit on one that resonates. You just know it when you see it.

Though I sketch out many, many ideas, I revise, reiterate, and/or trash most of them. The research, brainstorming, and conceptualizing makes up the bulk of the cost of the logo. The actual time in the software is much shorter than any single previous step.

 

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The KISS Principle

Simple logos are not necessarily easy logos. Coco Chanel’s fashion advice relates to design as well: Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take at least one thing off. The Three H Medical and PhotoBuzz logos, for example, went though countless iterations to make them look deceptively simple. I filled several 11×15-inch pages with drawings, sketches, doodles, ideas, and words only to reduce them all back down to one idea. But once I saw it, I knew it was the one.

Presentation isn’t just for food

Once I’ve settled on two or three potential logos, I have to–as they say in Math class, “show your work.” I briefly explain the concept and what drove the design. If you don’t connect with a logo, no one else will either.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of these steps take time, skill, and careful consideration to interpret a client and business. Sure, you can pay a sweatshop to bang out just any logo that you can slap into your e-mail signature–and they may very well have tried their best to interpret your goals. There’s a time and a place for that kind of work. But when purchasing a service that produces a product which is supposed to connect, resonate, and inspire, you’ll want to have that experience first hand as well.

Header Illustration by Adam Ellis

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Making a Mark

One of the things that gets my brain moving at light speed is creative storytelling. So when I stumbled on 99% Invisible, the website, blog, and podcast that talks about design, I was all over that like flies on…well, you know.

And then they released this episode: Making a Mark: Visual Identity with Tom Geismar.

What makes a logo resonate?

This is one of those immeasurable qualities about design. It’s a feeling that you can’t quite put your finger on, but you know when it works. Or, in 99% Invisible’s argument, sometimes design is so good you don’t notice it. That’s what the episode delves into. Tom Geismar designed logos you’ve undoubtedly seen.

from 99percentinvisible.com

Mr. Geismar has some insightful thoughts about logo design and making an impact with your branding. He talks about why it’s important to take this seriously, and what his firm does for its clients. He is, in a word, #lifegoals like Ellen Lupton and Paula Scherer.

Give the podcast a listen if you ever find yourself wondering, “What’s the point of hiring a professional designer when my niece/friend/student will do it for free?” If you have the funds for a good designer, hire one. They think of things and follow instincts you might ignore.

It’s not just about knowing your way around the software–the software is only a tool, like a circular saw or stethoscope. A talented designer has acquired skills beyond these tools.

It’s my job to listen carefully, build trust, a deliver home runs.

I firmly believe in listening more than talking, and to get clients talking about themselves and their passions. I build relationships and we work from the trust and confidence we have in each other. Contact me and we can start that journey together.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Wacom PTZ630 vs. Huion H610Pro

You may remember on Instagram that I posted about my new drawing tablet, the Huion H610Pro.

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For some background, I’ve been using the Wacom Intuos 3 (model PTZ-630) since 2008. Or 2007. I can’t remember. It’s been my all-purpose mouse for most of the last decade. I LOVE this thing, and am certain that using a drawing pen for ALL mouse input has protected me from any form of carpal tunnel.

I needed a new tablet since after a decade of daily use, my Wacom was starting to show some wear and tear (the tablet’s drawing surface started peeling up), plus the driver was giving me more and more attitude as Adobe and Microsoft released newer and newer versions of their software. I shopped around, dead-set on another Wacom, but figured–what the heck–a medium-sized Huion is a fraction of the price (only $77, versus Wacom’s $350 one I was looking at) and has a 60-day return policy. I’m not a Photoshop Painter, unlike my buddies Gavin and Sita (who are amazing), so I didn’t need Wacom’s $1,000 beast (and if you’re reading my humble blog, you probably don’t either). I’ve been using the Huion for a week.

Huion H610 Pro Graphic Drawing Tablet with Carrying Bag and Glove

Features Smart Sensitive Performer Varying the pressure of the pen against the drawing pad can create variations in line width and opacity, which makes you feel as if you are drawing with a real pen on paper. With 2048 levels of pen pressure sensitivity, Huion H610 Pro gives strokes of what you d…

For those interested, I’m running a Windows 10 PRO PC installed with an Intel Core i5 processor and 16G of RAM on dual Samsung monitors with NVIDIA GeForce 9400GT graphics card. I ain’t playin’ around.

Well, I have updates.

I am going to assume you’ve been using a Wacom, and want to know what a Huion is like. This post is for experienced designers who are thinking about making a switch, not designers new to drawing tablets and trying to decide between them.

Now on to the update.

Most annoying: the pen lags.

Like I said, I use my tablet + pen for all mouse input: Browsing the web, in Illustrator, Microsoft Word–everywhere. Using the pen in Adobe Illustrator CC while creating this logo was a bit frustrating: the pointer on-screen would “lag” or get “sticky,” staying in one part of the screen after I’d moved to another. Sometimes the problem would resolve itself, sometimes I had to hit ESC or plug the pen into its charging USB to “reset” it.

Second, if I haven’t used the pen for a while because I’ve switched to my ultra-sensitive Razer Salmosa Gaming Mouse out of frustration with the lagging, I have to tap on the tablet with the pen to get my computer to recognize the pen input method again. It doesn’t just pick up where we left off like we’re old pals.

While we’re talking about the pen…

The pen has a battery.

The pen must be charged. This eats up my highly-prized USB port real estate. The pen does stay charged for quite some time, so I guess I could unplug the cable from my USB port when the pen isn’t charging, but then I’d lose the cable. I am a mess.

If you don’t make a habit of charging it every night, the pen could potentially die in the middle of whatever you’re working on. Sure, you can use the pen while it’s plugged in, but that’s a heckin’ AWFUL experience…

Second most annoying: Text Selection.

I cannot make copypasta with any significant reliability. To highlight a ton of text (say, like in Word) is a pain and sometimes the pen just doesn’t do it (like from a webpage). Double-tapping will select a word or a sentence or nothing or bring up those little iPhone-like teardrop selectors. Whatever the pen is in the mood for. It only works this way on some text, not all, and I haven’t figured out the pattern yet. I’ve resorted to shift+click to select text when the pen won’t play nice.

The construction is definitely China.

I am not hot about the construction. The pen is very lightweight, almost so much that it feels flimsy. Unlike the solid-feeling Wacom tablet, the Huion feels hollow. Like you half-expect the Huion to be filled with packing peanuts or butterflies. I do like a little more weight to my pen, but for reference the Huion pen weighs about the same as an unsharpened No. 2 Pencil. A knockoff Mont Blanc pen is heavier. The weight of the hardware gives me concerns about its durability.

There’s no mouse option.

That’s pretty self explanatory, but it’s significant because see annoyances number one and two. It would be nice to have a wireless mouse come with the Huion, but I already have a dozen mice, so I guess this is more of me being spoiled by the Wacom than any fault of Huion. Plus my gaming mouse has surgical precision and I prefer it anyway.

Summary

If you’re a student or a newbie to drawing tablets, buy the Huion. If you’re a professional Photoshop painter or a professional digital illustrator, buy the Wacom. The rest of us will fall somewhere in between. The Huion isn’t terrible, but it is inferior to the Wacom if you need an insane degree of accuracy. I’m not set on keeping the Huion, but I’m not set on returning it, either. I am set on giving it a real chance. While my intention with any tablet is to use it for all mouse input, I can say that the Huion is not that tablet. Maybe the new Wacoms aren’t either. Maybe I’m just SOL.

If you have a tablet (purchased new in the last five years), tell me. I want your input; maybe I’ll even update my blog later with what others have said about their tablets.

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Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Some Web Hosts Just Aren’t That Good

“Web Host? A What?”

First things first, if you are already familiar with what web hosting is, you can skip this section. For those who are not internet-savvy, a web host is a company with lots and lots of computers who allows you to lease space on those computers to store the data for your website. It is the computers where your text, images, and dancing bananas GIFs () are stored for your domain name (www.mysite.com) . Hosting is something you must purchase in addition to your domain name if you want to be found on the web (unless, of course, you keep a server handy in a broom closet).

Oh, ok. So They’re not all the same?

Heavens, no. Of course, you can pick any one you want, from the cheapest you can find to the most robust supercomputers that could plan and power a fully automated trip to poor, old, evicted Pluto. The problem in taking a random shot with any old cheap web host is that their servers are unlikely be powerful or modern enough to fuel a professional website. They could be slow, unreliable, outdated, poorly supported, or neglected.

What’s wrong some of them?

Well, we all like a good deal. But when it comes to many things, you get what you pay for. The reason some of these hosting sites are super-cheap (like, $1 a month) is because they skimp on important features, like the storage space you receive, the number of visitors you can get each month, the level of technical support you’ll receive if your site goes down, or, in the case of Yahoo Small Business Hosting, outdated server protocols.

Case Study: Yahoo Small Business Hosting

Cover your eyes, it’s about to get very nerdy in here.

We ran into an issue with launching a website on a very basic Luminate/Yahoo Aabaco Small Business’s hosting service. The .htaccess file is a very normal and common part of a website; this is not some voodoo file that casts spells on visitors. Yahoo doesn’t allow an .htaccess file to be uploaded (reputedly for “security reasons”), which can cause an issue when navigating around the complex website we built. The home page looked and worked fine, but if you clicked on any internal link on the homepage, you received an Error 404: File Not Found. The .htaccess file has a redirect functionality, which will resolve ugly and complicated URLs to tidy and easy-to-remember URLs. Without this file, we had to change our permalinks from Post Name to Custom Structure, appending /index.php/ after the root. All the pages in the site after the home page looked like this: www.mysite.com/index.php/my-page, instead of the preferable www.mysite.com/my-page.

Further, Yahoo’s hosting is slow to upgrade to the newer versions of PHP. This can cause an issue with certain features of a modern website, from contact forms to how the site actually renders and functions.

Okay, you can look now; the nerding is over.

Now, we’re not picking on Yahoo here. Cheap hosting is fine for personal sites: simple HTML sites that don’t do a whole lot or for sites that don’t have a whole lot of data (e.g.: mostly text, a few small photos or graphics, and no fancy animations or slideshows). Cheap-o hosting is not for professional sites.

Who should I pick, then?

Well, you can host through us when you purchase a web design package. We can walk you through the entire Getting-A-Website process and tell you why and how we’re doing everything. We offer hosting plans starting at $39/month. Hosting is fast, reliable, and you speak to an American when you call. This hosting is secure, and prevents downtime, SPAM, hacks, and costly data loss. Most importantly, it is robust enough to power a professional website with the allocated resources necessary.

And you won’t regret having a lightning-fast site with nearly 100% uptime, I promise.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Graphic Strategist Wins Two National Design Awards

Thanks to all of my clients, partners, and colleagues for helping make 2017 a great success in design! Graphic Strategist has earned a 2017 Health + Wellness Design Award and a 2017 American Graphic Design Award, both from the 50-year-old awarding body, Graphic Design USA (GD USA). These mark the fourth and fifth awards, respectively, my clients and I received. These awards acknowledge the team effort and collaboration involved in brand strategy and graphic design. According to GD USA, winning multiple awards in a year is “rare,” and only 15% of the over 10,000 entries are considered for recognition.

 

2017 GD USA American Graphic Design Award

GD USA awarded an American Graphic Design Award for Destin Brewery’s Can Label Designs, which were based on the brewery’s unwavering vision of supporting and representing the local community. These cans stand out on the shelves like no other.

GD USA 2017 Health and Wellness Design Award

The Health and Wellness Design Award was earned for the Three H Medical Logo, a by-veterans, for-veterans prosthetic limb company. The health + Wellness Awards were a newly minted competition for GD USA, started in 2017.

For Clients

What these awards mean for you, the (potential) client, is that you receive top-notch creative services from Graphic Strategist. We offer branding, identity development, logos, websites, eCommerce websites, online stores, social media management, photography, writing, and a host of other creative services executed to the level of all our award-winning design.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Drone Video for BOTE Destin

Check out this awesome video we completed for BOTE Destin’s Wednesday night paddle boarding demo! This project was recorded in one evening and edited over the course of a just one week!

 

Edited and finalized over the course of a week, BOTE Destin received a copy of this file to share across all its social media channels. Your golf course, sports complex, or resort could benefit from showing off its amenities and beauty with the help of an aerial video. Music or no music, this is a service any manager can’t pass up; your potential customers and current clients will gather a full understanding of just everything you offer.

Contact us today to have your own video!

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

New website completed: Villa del Mar

We just wrapped up the design and launched Villa del Mar, an all-inclusive vacation villa in Costa Rica.

Working an international project was no small undertaking. Thankfully, we have a well-oiled team to handle up on this task and distance was not a problem. Together with Gab 4 You Marketing, we coordinated with professional on-site photographer Pura Vida Photo for photography and videography of the property.

The website has a few bells and whistles: a large slide show on the home page featuring the accommodations this villa offers, a live Instagram feed integration, a Google Map location, and a weather forecast for the Costa Rican province in which Villa del Mar is located. Check out the Video Tour which is located both on the home page and as part of the “Photos” menu item.

Villa del Mar will also receive social media management and blogging services to continue the momentum of their new promotional efforts. Follow Villa del Mar’s story on Facebook or Instagram!

Posted on by Lacey Pyle

Destin Chamber Ribbon Cutting

Clients , friends, and business affiliates showed support for Graphic Strategist at my Ribbon Cutting ceremony
Clients,  friends, and business affiliates showed support for Graphic Strategist at my Ribbon Cutting ceremony.

Please join me and my clients, friends, and partners on Thursday, August 10 at 4:00 p.m. for my Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. I’m celebrating one year in business in Destin, and I’ll provide beer from Destin Brewery, wine from Vintage Distributors, and lots of elbow-rubbing at the reception to follow.

Click here to see the Facebook event hosted at the Destin Chamber of Commerce, 4484 Legendary Drive, Suite A.

Posted on by Lacey Pyle