Updates: Web Design, Digital Assets and More
Here are the latest updates on yvenia.com:
New Section: Web Design and Assets
I added a new page for some previous web design work that I have done.
New Design Pieces Added
- Campaigns: Master Your Money, Accelerate Your Success Digital Banners
- Cards & Invites: Flyer for Oh What A Night! A Musical Tribute to Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons
- Newsletters: HQ View Newsletter
- Brochures: Americas Council Directory 2015
Portfolio PDF
I created a PDF version of my portfolio for viewers who want to print it out for a closer look. Click here for more information or go to the the link located on the top navigation bar.
Follow yvenia Design & Media on Instagram
Finally decided to create an Instagram account for yvenia Design & Media – @yveniadesignmedia. I wanted to separate my design work from my personal Instagram (@yvenia), which mostly focuses on health and fitness, as well as some random foodie posts. Check it out and follow @yveniadesignmedia on Instagram!
Printable Portfolio Available
Do you prefer to view my portfolio on paper? If so, I created a PDF version of my portfolio for viewers who want to print it out for a closer look. The reason I created this version is that sometimes when you print out an actual web page, the printout doesn’t look right due to the web format.
This PDF version includes only a few select items from my website, so if you want to see more design pieces, you can either visit my site or scan the QR code on the last page through your mobile phone. If you’re on the website, the link to the Portfolio PDF is located on the top navigation bar.
NOTE: The size is 11 x 17 on landscape format. Before you print it out, make sure to select “fit to page” from your print settings if you’re print on letter-size or legal-size paper.
The Coolest Portfolio Book Ever
The beginning of this year, I mentioned that one of my 2016 professional design goals was to upgrade my physical portfolio so that I can bring it to interviews and client meetings. After eight months since I first announced it, I finally invested in one. After some research, I decided to look into Klo Portfolios.
For my book, I designed a simple cover with just my logo, using the color fill engraving treatment with my brand colors, and my name with regular engraving on white acrylic. The binding of the book uses screwposts so that I can easily insert pages. The overall ordering process, including communication with Klo’s customer service and shipping, took less than two weeks.
Once I received my book, I was extremely impressed with the quality of the piece. Klo did a great job in turning my design and custom specifications into reality. If you’re looking into Klo Portfolios, I do have to say you would have to pay a pretty penny. To me, I find this as a great investment, especially if you want to make that good first impression with your future employer or client! To learn more about Klo Portfolios, please check out the website or like their Facebook, @kloportfolios.
A Design Spin of My 2015 Best Nine Instagram
In celebration of the upcoming new year, Instagram asked users to share their best nine Instagram posts in 2015 while adding the hashtag, #2015BestNineInstagram. I decided to put my own little spin for this hashtag by showcasing some of the designs I did in 2015. Check it out here (#2015BestNineGraphicDesign)
2016 Goals – Upgrade The Portfolio
Hope everyone is having a great holiday so far! With 2016 coming soon, the new year comes planning new (or not-so-new) goals to accomplish. To be honest, I am still drafting my personal and professional goals for 2016 but I want to take the opportunity to mention at least this one goal.
One of my professional goals is to upgrade my portfolio. And I’m not talking about just adding a couple of new design pieces in my online portfolio. I mean actually changing the way it’s presented and ditching the basic black portfolio book entirely, but will keep it for archival purposes.
Even though it’s great to have an online portfolio for easy accessibility and shows your web design and content management skills, it’s always great to have a physical portfolio if in case there is no internet accessibility when showing designs to a potential client or employer. This goal was based on a couple of informative articles from Creative Bloq, a go-to resource for anything design.
Eight Reasons Every Digital Designer Should Have a Physical Portfolio
Create a Perfect Design Portfolio
One of the things that I liked from these articles is that instead of a bulky portfolio book, the samples were presented as brochures or magazine-style collateral, which is professional-looking, lightweight and shows the client/employer your print design and layout abilities. Plus, some print portfolios can be designed as good handout pieces to a potential client or employer.
There are also websites that specialize in custom portfolio books. Most of the books are binded with screwposts so that you’re able to add or remove page inserts. Plus, these printers create high-quality portfolio covers with your logo or design. It may be bulky to carry, but at least they don’t look like regular office binders.
KLO Portfolio
Studio EQ Design
Sure, creating or upgrading a portfolio can be very costly in terms of printing, but consider it as an investment instead of an expense. If money is an issue, you can work with your local printer or look into other online printing sites to see what is more cost effective. For example, if you’re presenting a saddle-stitched (brochure-style) portfolio, you’d most likely have to reprint the entire piece every time you update with new designs. Either way, it’s always good to have a back-up plan in presenting your design work to potential clients.
Does anyone have a printed, physical portfolio? Feel free to share your ideas. Also, what are your design professional goals for 2016?
AWCNJ and NJ Creatives Network Hosts “Master Your Money, Accelerate Your Success”
Click here for more info or to register for this event.
The Association for Women in Communications – New Jersey Chapter (AWCNJ) and the New Jersey Creatives Network will be hosting an informative session on money management on Thursday, November 19, 6:00-9:00 p.m. at Unique Photo, 123 US Highway 46 West in Fairfield, NJ. Money and business expert Robyn Crane will speak about the importance of developing a better relationship with your money to achieve greater balance, have more time for yourself and gain peace of mind.
The presenter, Robyn Crane, is a Certified Financial Planner™. She is the host of the TV show, The Financial GSpot, the radio show, Let’s Talk Money, and #1 International Best Selling Author of Mind Over Money Management. Her blueprint for financial and business success has been featured on Fox Business News, The Motley Fool and SavingsAccount.com.
The cost is $5 if you’re member of either organization and $10 for non-members. This is a great opportunity to build your professional network, learn more about the organizations hosting this event, as well as learn how to manage your money more effectively — especially if you’re saving money to build a business or for personal reasons.
Click here for more information or to register for the event.
Women in Communications Hosts Fall Networking Kickoff
The Association for Women in Communications – NJ Chapter (AWCNJ) is hosting a networking event on Wednesday, September 30, 6:30-9:00 pm, to kick start the new programming year! The evening will include dinner, networking and an opportunity to learn about an exciting mentoring program offered exclusively to AWCNJ members. It takes place at the Greek Taverna Restaurant, 292 Bloomfield Avenue, Montclair, NJ.
In addition, you will get to hear from marketing and branding expert Caryn Warner on key issues that professionals, especially women, should consider as they go through different stages in their careers and learn tactics to deploy for professional resume building. A leader with over 25 years of experience, Caryn Warner is the primary strategist and spearheads the marketing for Verisk Insurance Solutions/ISO Claims and Crime Analytics.
The cost to attend is:
$25 for members
$35 for non-members
$15 for students
Registration is highly recommended so please sign up for this event today! If you have any questions, please send an email to info@awcnj.org.
If you are in the communications field, this is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people in the industry and build professional connections.
Design TBT: Web Page Makeover
Here’s a TBT post for you – web design style!
Back in 2011, one of my goals at my corporate job was to redesign an internal portal page promoting Emerald Connect, the company’s approved website platform for field sales advisors who want to promote their financial services online. It was a huge project to redesign this page due to the comprehensive information and outdated look. Plus, at the time, the company changed web content management systems, so a redesign was required. The redesigned site was created in Vignette (now Open Text).
BEFORE: Other than the outdated design interface and drab color scheme, the navigation was also cumbersome.
AFTER: With the use of tab structure and dropdown boxes, these features helped breakdown large amounts of copy and keep information more organized. Plus, it also keeps content in one page instead of going to a separate page for more information.
To see the latest design pieces, please check out the Portfolio.
From the Marketing Mentor: How to Research Your Best Prospects
Whenever I try to market my creative services business, it seems that what I look for in finding prospects are too vague. Plus, I was focusing more on building my portfolio and updating my marketing materials, that finding prospects is placed dead last in my marketing to-do list. How do I offer my services if I don’t have clients, let alone prospects?
Ilise Benun, founder and owner of Marketing Mentor, provided some insights on YouTube on how to find your dream clients through “mining.” She provided some very useful nuggets that I’m planning to use right away.
Web and Digital Marketing Trends
Digital marketing is very effective in building and promoting your business. From having a website, to email marketing, to social media, businesses have more exposure to the masses than traditional marketing.
If your goal is starting your own business or if you’re planning to take your business to the next level, here are a few top business marketing and design trends to consider while building your brand online:
Website designs are looking bolder and easier to navigate. Websites are a lot more responsive. What does that mean? In web design, having a responsive website means that the layout is scalable so that it’s easily viewable through a computer, tablet and smartphone. More customers are purchasing products through their tablets and smartphones than their desktop computers. Your website should be well-designed and user-friendly in those platforms so that customers can come back for more.
Content: More visual, less text. Visual content, such as photos and graphics, can help tell a story a lot more than text and can help promote something more effectively. Plus, having a consistent look and feel — for example, logo and colors — to your website, as well as other digital platforms, can help build your brand. Don’t get me wrong – the written content (or text) is just as effective, as long as information is short and to the point.
Social media continues to dominate. Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr…the list of social media channels keeps growing. Even though there are many social media channels to choose from, you don’t need to use all of them. Whichever social media channel you choose depends on how much you use it and your purpose of using it. For example, some businesses would find Facebook and Twitter more effective in promoting than Pinterest and Instagram. Here’s an informative “cheat sheet” on some of the popular social media networks and how each network is best used for business.
Email marketing provides a lot more value to your business. To some people, email marketing is perceived as “junk mail” and tend to delete from their inboxes. However, email marketing offers a lot more value than people realize, especially when it comes to offering important content. The purpose of email marketing is to inform customers and prospects of what’s going on in your business or industry. Plus, email marketing usually provides a “bridge” to your website, which can act as your site’s promotional tool. So whether you’re promoting a new product, recapping an event, or just want to provide something newsworthy, email marketing can be an effective marketing tool.
Here’s one informative article that I found on Business2Community on “why email marketing is still in style.”
Metrics is actually more important than you realize. You have your website and you’re promoting your business via email and social media, but do you know if people are taking notice? Websites and other digital accounts usually have metrics reporting tools to track how many people are visiting your site, what pages are more popular than others, and for long have a visitor viewed your site.
If you’re looking to expand your business online and want to take advantage of the digital marketing tools that are out there, please contact me.
yvenia Web Solutions is a partnership between yvenia Design and ma WebCenters®, an innovative Internet marketing company specializing in business website design, eCommerce and hosting services. Here are five reasons why yvenia Web Solutions can help promote your business.
Sources:
Success in 2015, MA Webcenters Blog, 12/22/14.
Why Email Marketing Is Still in Style — And Thriving, Business2Community, 3/11/15.
Social Media Cheat Sheet, Ad Week, 10/2014.
Portfolio Update: Promo Banners for Leadership Workshop
Just added some design pieces in the portfolio. I designed three custom social media banners promoting a networking event/leadership workshop in Madison, NJ, co-hosted by The Association for Women in Communications – New Jersey and Women in Computing – Northern NJ. Please click the graphic above to learn more about it.
If you’re in northern NJ, you’re welcome to attend this exciting and informative event, which includes an opportunity to network with colleagues and friends over a light buffet dinner. Afterwards, Kathleen Cashman of Cashman Consulting, LLC is presenting a workshop, Your Best You – Tapping the Leader Within, to help you identify your leadership skills and formulate a personal action plan to develop and utilize them right away.
For more information about the event and to register, click here to go to AWCNJ’s site.
Portfolio Update – Digital Assets
It’s been a very busy few weeks for me, but I wanted to give you a portfolio update. I’ve added the following new pieces to the Web Design and Assets portfolio page.
- Profitable Social Media for Your Business Workshop – Digital Assets
- 2015 Conferences e-Promotional Campaign
- Conference Promo Banners
To see more designs, please visit my portfolio.
Visual Content Marketing Tips Using Pinterest and Instagram
I recently attended a very informative webinar hosted by Piqora, a California-based company specializing in marketing and analytics for visual, interest-based networks like Pinterest, Tumblr, & Instagram. The team presented very helpful tips on how to market and promote products and services using Instagram and Pinterest.
More than just sharing photos, Instagram and Pinterest are two of the fastest growing social media platforms to help promote brands through visual content marketing. What are the main reasons for their success and what does using these platforms mean to your business? Here are some helpful nuggets that I learned from the webinar. If used strategically, Instagram and Pinterest can help promote your business more effectively.
What does Pinterest mean to your business?
- Virality – Viewers collect images through inspiration or if customers want to buy something. “Repins” help amplify the message.
- Content – Learn what type of of content is performing well and see what’s trending or popular.
- Traffic – 50% of web referrals happen 3.5 months after the initial pin on Pinterest.
- Money – Posting a product catalog can help drive traffic to your website or business, which in turn can generate revenue.
- Strategy – According to Piqora, pinning at the right time or when viewers are active leads to 36% higher repins. The best pinning time is before 9am on weekdays and after 9pm on weekends.
- One tip I learned: Hashtags are useless in Pinterest since the platforms can search keywords automatically. In other words, hashtags are NOT needed in Pinterest.
What does Instagram mean to your business?
- Posting frequency – Best posting time is usually after 5:00 p.m.
- Using multimedia types – Test and experiment with different media to see what your audiences love. For example, videos are a good visual to view an entirely different picture of a product while some brands don’t find video as effective as pictures with filters.
- Hashtags play a central role for your content to be discovered. According to Piqora, adding up to 7 hashtags on each post generates the most engagement with your audience. Having 8 or more hashtags would be perceived as spam. When adding hashtags, make sure they are concise, catchy and easy to remember.
- Should be a visual diary of your brand’s story – For example, if you want to show a logo or brochure that you designed, how about showing different variations of the piece or show inspiration on how you came up with the design.
- Build a community in Instagram through authentic visual storytelling. Instagram provides an opportunity to show your brands personality and build emotional bonds with your audience. In addition, hosting a contest or promotion can help accelerate community growth, just make sure that you have a clear goal and strategy in mind before promoting the contest.
For more tips and resources on Instagram and Pinterest marketing, go to www.piqora.com.
Why You Need a Responsive Mobile-Optimized Website (Infographic)
So what exactly is a responsive website and why does your business need one? Having a responsive site means that a website is designed and optimized for a better viewing experience through a desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet and smartphone. The infographic below shows responses from customers regarding mobile-optimized websites, as well as their opinions on email marketing and blogs, especially how these marketing methods help improve customer satisfaction and engagement.
Infographic created by the yvenia Web Solutions design team.
yvenia Web Solutions is a partnership between yvenia Design and ma WebCenters®, an innovative Internet marketing company specializing in business website design, eCommerce and hosting services. Here are five reasons why yvenia Web Solutions can help promote your business.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Portfolio Update – Logo Concepts for Conference
The communications organization that I’m part of originally wanted to host a conference for communications professionals this fall in New Jersey, but have decided to delay the event until next year. I usually provide final designs in my portfolio, but in this particular case, I decided to post some design concepts for a logo that’s NOT going to be used. Click on the image below to view a couple of concepts that I have designed for the non-event.
Beautiful Website Design for Make-up Artist
Designed by Design team from yveniaWeb Solutions.
If you’re a make-up artist who’s looking to expand your business online, here’s a beautiful website design created by the Design team from yveniaWeb Solutions. Simple, clean and easy to navigate.
yveniaWeb Solutions is a partnership between yvenia Design and maWebCenters®, an innovative Internet marketing company specializing in business website design, eCommerce and hosting services. Here are five reasons why yveniaWeb Solutions can help promote your business.
If you have any questions, please contact me.
Portfolio Update: Custom Debutante Invitation
Project: Custom 18th Birthday Debutante Invitation and RSVP Card
Printing courtesy of Cards & Pockets
Designed an 18th birthday party invitation, which is a debutante ball to be held in New York. I’ve used Cards & Pockets for their printing services before for a wedding invitation that I designed and I can’t say enough positive accolades for this company.
Please click on each image below for a larger view.
Invitation
RSVP
Folded Invitation
Invitation and RSVP card
yveniaWeb Solutions – A Web Design and Online Marketing Partnership
Websites are designed by yveniaWeb’s design team.
As a graphic designer, I usually work independently and efficiently in designing pieces that can help market and promote your business, organization or event. My portfolio mostly consists of print marketing collateral, web assets (web banners and other graphics) and other custom design pieces.
In terms of web design, I can build and design web pages using a content management system, such as Dreamweaver, WordPress, Vignette and SharePoint. However, I am still learning and understanding the web programming aspect in building a website from scratch, such as JavaScript. With a full-time job, building a business on the side, being a co-president of a professional organization, as well as finding room for some social time, even graphic designers need some help.
This is why I have partnered with maWebCenters®, an innovative Internet marketing company specializing in business website design, eCommerce and hosting services. yveniaWeb Solutions offers an online marketing strategy, as well as web design services, for small businesses, start-ups and other organizations who want to build their web presence. Our business also includes an award-winning Customer Service team and a group of talented web designers who can help your business with unlimited support for your website and other questions you may have.
Click here to learn more about yveniaWeb Solutions. If you want to see a demo of our web design and marketing solution, please contact me for an appointment.
Why Small Businesses Can Benefit From a Website Redesign
Image by MA Webcenters Design Team.
Well, think of it this way. Having a web presence is one of the most popular and effective ways to advertise your business. If your website is outdated, then your business is not taking advantage of the ever-growing online marketplace, which includes social media, blogs, email marketing, as well as e-Commerce and mobile/tablet-friendly capabilities. Plus, having an outdated website can leave a bad impression to your prospective customers.
If you’re thinking of revamping your site, you can contact me to schedule a free demo about how our integrated online solution can help promote your business.
yvenia Web Solutions is a partnership between yvenia Design and ma WebCenters®, an innovative Internet marketing company specializing in business website design, eCommerce and hosting services. Here are five reasons why yvenia Web Solutions can help promote your business.
Portfolio Update – Shop.com Custom Business Card
Even though I am currently building my own graphic design business AND work a full time marcom job, I am also an independent distributor for Shop.com since February 2013 (which is why I have the shop.com logo on the right). After joining this business, I wasn’t impressed with a selection of business card designs so I decided to design my own.
This is a two-sided business card using my signature red from the yvenia business card to keep it consistent with my own brand. I couldn’t find a high resolution Shop.com logo so I end up recreating the logo. It may not be exact, but luckily it was mostly type.
Plus, I added a QR code, which links to my own Shop.com site (www.yvbshop.com). You can create a QR code through any QR code generator site and download a high resolution image — I got the code through GOQR.me.
Portfolio Update – Corporate Invitation and Newsletters
I added the following items in the Portfolio.
This is a series of materials for an event that brought together consultants from across the country for a day and a half of education, as well as networking with colleagues and 403(b) retirement industry experts. This event was supposed to take place in Chicago this year, but was cancelled. The series includes a logo, save the date card, invitation/agenda, a banner for an HTML email version of the invitation, and binder cover. Click on the logo above to view samples or go to Portfolio > Cards and Invites > Consultant Forum 2013 – Invitation and Stationary.
Plus, the Newsletters section includes links to sample eNewsletters for the AWCNJ.
How to Add Social Media Icons to Your WordPress Blog
NOTE: This tutorial shown here is for WordPress blogs only.
Just recently, I added three social media icons (Google +, Twitter and LinkedIn) on the right sidebar so that anyone can connect with me. For the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how to add these icons on the sidebar — until now.
Here are the steps to add these icons on the right sidebar. One tip before doing this: Save yourself some time by having all your social media URLs or domains listed on a separate Word document (including “http://”). When you’re ready to link the icon, you can easily copy and paste URLs from one spot to another without opening separate web pages.
- Customize the social media icons. The logos for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google Plus are available to use from their respective sites. They all have specific guidelines for their logos so make sure to follow their brand standards. For this example, the icon size shown on my site is 76×76 px (you can go larger if needed). The icons can be saved as a JPEG, GIF or PNG.
- Add a new post. Go to Posts from the left navigation and select “Add New.” On the Title field, I would title my post as “Social Media Icons – DO NOT Publish” so that I make sure that I don’t publish this post by accident. I use this post for the icons’ HTML code.
- Upload the icons by going to “Add Media” then upload the files. Once they are uploaded, make sure that each icon is “Left” aligned so that the icons are next to each other. Select these files and click “Insert to Post.”
- Link the icons. Go to the “Visual” tab to view the social media icons. Click on one of them and select the “Edit Image” button. Copy URL from the document, go to “Link” field under Advance settings, paste the URL on the field and click Save. Repeat this for the other icons.
- Once you’re done linking, then “Save Draft”, but DO NOT publish.
- Under the “Text” tab, select and copy the entire HTML code.
- Go to “Appearances” from the left navigation bar, then Widgets.
- Click and drag the “Text” widget to the right sidebar.
- Paste the HTML code and save the widget.
- Preview the page. The icons should be able to show on the right sidebar. Make sure links go to the correct social media sites.
This tutorial also applies to other images, such as logos and banner ads.
Dream Board
I’m surprised that I didn’t post this here. I did this project a few weeks back with several business partners as a way to re-evaluate my personal and professional goals that have been in the back burner for quite some time. As you can see, there are several things that I would like to have once I reach to the top (and yes, I want to be like Oprah!). Plus, I missed this type of stuff when I was in art school.
Design | AWC Spring Membership 2013 Campaign
The Association for Women in Communications (AWC) annually promotes their membership campaign during their second quarter. I volunteered to design their promotional materials that are editable for all local chapters to use. In this campaign, I created a writable flyer and postcard, and web banners for the organization’s website and email blast.
After some time off…
I finally updated my portfolio! It has been redesigned to be more user-friendly and organized. Feel free to check it out!
Tech Buzz – Logo Design for company’s technology initiative
Designed a logo for an internal video series aimed to help employees learn more about what’s happening in technology at Prudential, including key initiatives featuring business technology leaders across the company.
Tech Forward: Roving Tech Expo Campaign
Developed and provided art direction for an internal branding campaign to promote the company’s Tech Forward initiative. Global Technology teams volunteered to take part in a roving expo where they visit internal, corporate events to present technology products and services that help employees be “tech forward” and stay productive at work.
The campaign included a logo, branded PowerPoint templates for digital signage and presentations, a SharePoint informational site, a placard, and a set of trade show banners.
Campaign: Internal Cyber Security Event
Designed and developed a communications campaign for an internal employee forum on cyber security where industry experts and special guests shared their insights and practical steps to keep information secure in a digital world.
How I did it:
- Created an event page and registration form in SharePoint (1st image below)
- Wrote copy for intranet article, employee newsletter and other email communications (2nd image below)
- Designed promotional and marketing materials
Event page created in SharePoint
Intranet article promoting event
yvenia.com 