With the boom of social networking over the last few years gone there’s a lot more traffic to be squeezed out of your website beyond just having good search engine optimization.

Social network and bookmarking sites such as Twitter, StumbleUpon and Digg have the potential to bring in huge traffic. And while every site can be found through search engines not every one is using these tools, giving you a potential leg up on the competition.

The only downside is social networking requires regular work, and getting to the front page of Digg etc. for a huge boost in exposure requires a little luck. There’s a lot of competition on social bookmarking sites and writing a fantastic article doesn’t guarantee it won’t slip through the cracks.

If you are fortunate enough to have an article land on the front page however, the results are undeniable. It wouldn’t be the first time a web hosting server has been brought down by the huge traffic burst of an article featured on Digg.

Search engines are somewhat the opposite.

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As you probably know, Windows 7 has recently been released to manufacturers and retails channels. This being the case you might be also be wondering if you should upgrade.

It’s been a good rule of thumb in the past that the first release of anything by Microsoft was to be avoided, and maybe upgraded to a service pack or two later, Windows 7 might be the exception.

After more than one fatal experience with Vista, I’ve long been chugging away on XP and planned to do so for some time still before possibly upgrading. Thanks to a friends in high places however, a copy of 7 made its way to me early.

I won’t bore you with features, benchmarks and pretty new wallpapers (shown above) as their is no doubt already a million of these just a Google away. One thing I didn’t find while reading up was how Windows 7 would handle the design software we designers use to earn our bread and butter.

The good news seems to be, for the better. Continue reading...

Well it’s that time of the year again. The one night where kids big and small conjure whatever dark fantasies they can dress themselves in and head out to make dentists everywhere rich, Halloween!

Since I already seem to pay my dentist a fortune just to check under the hood, I’ll skip the candy and instead mark the occasion with this small collection of photographs and illustrations in the spirit of the season, enjoy.

Halloween by Sandara.

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Ninety-nine times out of a hundred that you’re given a business card, chances are that its the standard 90mm x 55m size. Into the rollerdex it goes to be skimmed over and forgotten like all the rest.

There are alternatives however. An extra trim or a simple die-cut can make a card stand out and doesn’t have to cost a fortune. Starting with a piping hot card of coffee, here are a few alternatives to consider.

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There’s no denying that re-branding is an exercise that requires careful consideration. Rather than create an entirely new image and lose a chunk of ( if not all ) brand recognition, many brands elect to refine there existing mark in order to update their look while not discarding any existing street cred.

If a mark is really horrible it may even undergo 3, 4 or more alterations over a period of years to ease into the desired look. But there’s subtle, and then there’s subtle…

Shown here are a few original ( left ) and recent changes ( right ) to some major brands, starting with the above Ford Mustang logo. Ford have;

…lifted the head to make the pony more proud, tipped the neck into the wind to give it a feeling of greater speed and better balance. It’s more chiseled and more defined and looks more like a wild horse.

Looked a lot like a wild horse to begin with I thought…

Comcast’s latest tweak. The new t is an improvement, the changes to the s are neither here nor there, and other than that you’d need to see one image laid over the other to view the miniscule differences.

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