Business

Business / 31 Oct 2019

What Is a Pitch Deck? (And How to Make One)

It’s a tool that every startup business or entrepreneur needs – a great pitch deck. A pitch deck is a presentation that you’ll use to help explain or showcase your product or service and potentially drives sales or investment. It needs to be polished and professional to do the job well.

Today, we’ll take a look at what a pitch deck is, how to make one, and how to establish a design that will wow people who come in contact with your new business.

We’ll also feature a few stunning pitch deck templates along the way, to help you get started fast.

Business / 23 Oct 2019

Passive Income for Designers: 5 Tips to Get Started

Passive income is money that you keep earning on a product or service with little or no maintenance. While it takes some work to get started, a plan for generating passive income can be a great supplement to a designer’s revenue stream.

There are plenty of things you can do – create an e-book or t-shirt design; sell UI kits, themes, or design elements; develop an online course; join an affiliate program, or provide hosting services for website clients.

But how do you get started? Here are five tips to help you turn your passive income idea into a revenue-generating reality.

Business / 17 Oct 2019

10 Professional PowerPoint Templates (And How to Use Them)

Let’s face it, not everyone has the time or energy to design a pixel-perfect PowerPoint slideshow for every presentation they make. This is where professional PowerPoint templates can be a live-saver!

Whether you’re in charge of designing a slideshow for the weekly team meeting, or a freelancer pitching to clients, designing unique and attractive PowerPoint presentations for each meeting can be a painful task—even for a pro.

Well, let’s change that, shall we? In this post, we’re going to show you a very simple way you can make stunning presentations using professional PowerPoint templates that will knock your client’s socks off.

Business / 30 Sep 2019

Should Analytics + Stats Impact Web Design? Pros + Cons

Do you take an analytical approach to website design? Most designers understand the logic behind connecting an analytics tool such as Google Analytics to a website. It helps you better understand traffic patterns, user behavior, and what people are looking for on your website.

But analytics can also help shape the design. If a page isn’t converting users, analytics can help you understand why to change the way the page looks. If people aren’t buying a specific product, analytics could help show a usability flaw that you can fix.

But you can also get mired in the numbers and bring website development to a screeching halt.

Today, we’re looking at the pros and cons of using analytics to shape website design.

Business / 25 Sep 2019

What Is a Website Privacy Policy (And How to Write One)

Maybe you first noticed it in WordPress, when the admin started settings asking for a link to a privacy policy. Maybe you’ve been following news and the passing of GDPR. Or maybe you’ve just been talking it over with peers. Regardless, it’s probably time to include a privacy policy in website projects.

But with so much legalese, where do you start? What is a privacy policy? How do you write one?

Here, we have help! Since we aren’t lawyers, it’s always a good idea to have your counsel read over your policy, particularly if it gets complicated in any way.

The good news is that it doesn’t need to be earth-shatteringly complex to fairly quickly have a privacy policy on your site that covers off the most common issues.

Business / 19 Sep 2019

Pitch Deck Design: 10 Tips to Stand Out

A good pitch deck is designed for specifically one thing – to help your startup get funding from investors. But how do you stand out from the crowd, and make a memorable impression?

There’s a delicate balance to creating a deck with just enough slides to entice potential funders, without providing so much information that they are overwhelmed.

Most pitch decks contain less than 20 slides. So how do you create a pitch deck design that stands out? Here are our ten tips to help you get started.

Business / 9 Sep 2019

How to Make a Personal Marketing Plan (With Examples)

You probably understand that everything you do online – and in-person – contributes to your personal brand. But did you know that having a personal marketing plan to establish, maintain, and promote that brand can be equally important?

Particularly for freelancers and anyone working in the gig economy, both full-time or part-part, having a distinct personal brand can impact your design work. Your brand will attract a certain type of potential client and work. Do you have a plan to draw in projects that are most appealing to you?

It can start with a personal marketing plan. Here’s how you do it.

Business / 6 Sep 2019

30 Tips to Learn Web Design in 30 Days

Is learning the basics of web design still on your “someday” list? Why haven’t you got started yet? We’ve put together 30 tips and resources to help you start learning web design this month (and maybe even find yourself a new career path!)

Graphic designers, print designers, and creatives looking to learn something new or break into website need to quit procrastinating. Every day that you don’t take that first step leaves you one day further behind everyone else!

Follow these steps to begin learning how to create your first website, industry best practices, and much more—all in 30 days!

Business / 3 Sep 2019

5 Tips for Building a Website for Friends or Family

How often does someone in your inner circle ask for a website? It happens quite often! Building a website for friends or family members can get tricky fast. These can sometimes your best (or worst) customers.

If you start projects with the right ground rules and a few tools, you can navigate these projects easier. And you can avoid any potential fall-out from setting the wrong expectations or committing yourself to a project that blows way past the time you have to spend on it.

Here are a few tips for approaching a family or friends project in the right way, and setting yourself up for success from the start.

Business / 23 Aug 2019

How to Convert Keynote to PowerPoint

Apple Keynote is one of the most popular apps professionals use to create presentation slideshows. Although, there may come a time when you’ll want to edit a Keynote slideshow in PowerPoint because not everyone has access to the same app.

For example, you may run into problems when you’re collaborating on a team presentation or want to share your slideshow with someone else who’s using a Windows device because the Keynote app is exclusive to Apple devices. Thankfully, the Keynote app has a built-in solution to this problem. In such cases, you can convert your Keynote file to PowerPoint format quite easily.

In this guide, we’ll show you how to export a Keynote presentation to PowerPoint format, step by step.

Business / 24 Jul 2019

How to Find or Create Your Brand Personality

What is the personality of your brand? No, it’s not a trick question. Is your brand formal or spunky or socially conscious?

Identifying and defining the identity and personality of your brand is crucial.

Even if you don’t define it, some sort of personality (even of the multiple variety) will come through. So it’s best to think about it now. The last thing you want is anyone else getting any say in how exactly your brand is defined.

Who do you want your brand to be?

Business / 8 Jul 2019

7 Ways to Create a Website on a Budget

A great website doesn’t have to cost a fortune. You can get a professional-looking design with a few pages – that’s enough to get started – with a small budget. Here’s how.

The good news is that you can create and design a website yourself using a tool such as an online site builder, or work with a professional while maximizing your budget. The key is to be realistic. A website is not free. Even if you do it yourself, you’ll need a domain, hosting, and other tools (many site builders have a monthly fee) depending on how you plan to create the website.

The best practice is to start with a little research, then set a budget. That way you know what you can afford and how to have conversations about planning the website design. Here’s how you do it!