How Video Can Inspire

Video’s all the rage

Motion graphics make text and your message come alive. Cisco predicts that by 2020, 82% of all consumer internet traffic will be video.

Ever see videos in your social feeds? There are roughly 8 Billion video views daily on Facebook alone. Video’s eye-catching abilities are through the roof. Say more with less. Who doesn’t like that?

BMOCA Art Exhibit by Justin Bilancieri

Most social platforms now allow for video. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, Vine, and Pinterest all have video playing capabilities. They have various native formats which can be a little tricky to deal with, but the seasoned video editor that keeps up to date, has no problem navigating the various formats.

Here is a short list to help you get started:

Facebook:

• Preferred Format: MOV or MP4 (with H.264 Codec & AAC audio)
• Frame Rate: 30fps or below
• Maximum Dimensions: 1280px Wide (with a ratio divisible by 16px)
• Playback Length: Maximum of 45 minutes
• Filesize Limit: 1.75GB

Instagram:

• Preferred Format: MP4 (with H.264 Codec & AAC audio, 3,500 kbps video bitrate)
• Frame Rate: 30fps or below
• Maximum Dimensions: 1080px Wide
• Playback Length: Maximum of 60 seconds
• Filesize Limit: 15mb

Twitter:

• Preferred Format: MP4 (with H.264 Codec & AAC Low Complexity audio)
• Frame Rate: 40fps or below
• Maximum Dimensions: 1280px x 1024px (Between 1:3 & 3:1 aspect ratio, with a 1:1 pixel ratio)
• Playback Length: Maximum of 140 seconds
• Filesize Limit: 15mb

I highly recommend videos to our clients. I believe it’s the most bang for the buck. My team of videographers, editors, and motion graphics specialists can help you create your brand story, a funny short, or micro informative piece tailored to you.

Have an idea for a video? Run it by me and let’s make it happen.

2017 Web Design Trends

Below is a list of web design trends that will likely be most popular in 2017

COLOR: We see bright colors very much the rage in 2017 for websites. From color washes to colorful fonts, get ready for color and stimulation on the websites designed in 2017.

BIG BOLD Fonts: Consistent with the trend in my 8 Graphic Design Trends for 2017 blog, we see the same for fonts on websites for the coming year. Expect them to be bold and expect them to be easy-to-read. With attention spans short, easy-to-read fonts get the point across with little time and effort.

Animations and GIFs: With the rise of video popularity, animations follow the same tracks. Adding spice to websites, but not over-doing it, will come in part through animations and animated GIFs. From animated transitions between pages, to subtle movements upon hovers and clicks, more animation will be in vogue in 2017.

3D Geometric Designs: Google has made these popular and expect to see more of it in 2017. 3D geometric shapes in the background of websites, in the use of icons, and in general are becoming more popular. The style will fall somewhere in between the skeuomorphic years and the flat design that Microsoft made popular with Windows 8.

Edge to Edge Pictures: This has been in style for a good year now and we will see more of it. No longer are we boxing in images. They now go from side to side. A picture says a thousand words, so let’s make them big and full width!

Parallax Scrolling: A very cool look and feel, parallax scrolling has become the rage over the last year or two in the more creative fields of website design. Well, you’re also starting to see it branch out to the rest of the world now, too. This sort of scrolling gives a website a feeling of more depth with a touch of 3d. We will see more and more of this in the coming year. See a good example of parallax scrolling on our author’s home page here.

Content: In a way, the coming year will see websites going back to their basics. With the cluttered and crowded websites starting to wane in popularity, sidebars, banners, ads, etc, will start to go by the wayside and we will see the emphasis put back on content.

Creativity: With the popularity of Bootstrap, and the rise of responsive design, websites have all started to take on a similar look and feel. In 2017 we will see more of the creative and imaginative websites that we used to see when Flash was all the rage in years past. Heading styles, navigation layouts, and geometric masks will bring the creativity back to website design. Yessssss, this is good!

Hand Drawn Imagery: As stated in my 2017 graphic design trends blog, hand drawn images will be more common amongst web design this coming year. It adds personality and flavor to websites that could otherwise seem static and robotic.

Colorizing Images: With the popularity of photo filters, we can expect to see more photographic treatments of this nature in websites. Duotone gradients, exaggerated contrasts, and overexposed photos will give images the edginess needed to stand out.

Landing Pages: Content marketers love landing pages and content marketing is on the rise. They guide the viewer to exactly where the marketer wants them to go. Landing pages are usually either a click through page or a lead generation page. Click through pages usually show information and then asks the viewer to click on to another page, often times a shopping cart. Lead generation pages are used to capture user data like names and email addresses. Thus, lead generation pages are often form-based.

8 Graphic Design Trends for 2017

A Brief Look at 2017 Graphic Design Trends

Color: This coming year will be pleasing on our eyes and soothing on the psyche. Expect to see a lot of  bright, bold, contrasting, and a touch of colliding colors this coming year.

Big & Bold Fonts: As attention spans seem to be dropping, the desire to hold eyeballs for more than a second is evident. Big, bold, and easy-to-read typeface will be popular in 2017.

Hand Drawn Graphics: Adding the human element to graphic design will be further explored. Combining hand drawn and computer generated graphics is still on the rise.

Minimalism: Functionality reigns paramount. Simplicity is sexy. Enough said.

Modern Meets Retro: 2016 was a year where we saw the new meeting the old. We see the trend continuing in 2017. Some old-time companies are converting their logo back to their original one. New companies are creating looks and feels that might make the viewer question just how old the company is.

Cinemagraphs: According to Wikipedia, Cinemagraphs are “still photographs in which a minor and repeated movement occurs, forming a video clip. They are published as an animated GIF or in other video formats, and can give the illusion that the viewer is watching an animation.” Expect to see more of these guys. They work great on social feeds and it coordinates nicely with the 2 trends above.

Branding: All encompassing and cross-cultural. Transparency is the new black. Being true to what your brand represents is more important than ever. The days of pulling the wool over consumers’ eyes is gone. So let it all out. Be genuine and true to who you are and what your mission is trying to accomplish.

Design Tools: Popularity of the DIY design is on the rise (sorry fellow graphic designers, but its the truth. However, we will still need you!) With tools like Canva, PicMonkey, Adobe Color Wheel, Meme Makers, and Vectr, its easier than ever to produce material or at least get a start on your ideas.

I look forward to some bold and expressive styles of graphic design in the new year! I hope you do, too! Have comments? Leave them below. I'd love to hear from you!

How to SEO like a Champ

Drastically improve your SEO with these 8 tips:

Tip # 1 – Link, Link, and More Linking

Link internally. Link externally. Probably the best way to be sure your website lands on the first page of search engines is to get as many credible outside websites linking to your website as you can. Linking to webpages inside of your website also helps assure you a spot on that desirable first page on web searches.

Tip # 2 – Keywords are Key

Know your audience and what they are searching for. Do a keyword search in Google Trends and find out what search words are being used the most for your website’s topic

Tip # 3 – Create Webpage Titles with KeyWords

Make the title on each of your webpages with keywords. This means going into the HTML code and placing keywords within the <title> tags. Learn more about placing titles in your website here.

Tip # 4 – Use Keywords in Your Page Headers

The various <h> tags throughout your website are very important to search engines. Placing keywords in your websites as headers will help search engines find you. Learn more about <h> tags here.

Tip # 5 – Pepper Your Copy with KeyWords

Not only does having the keywords in your headers and sub headers help, but placing them inside the body of your webpage helps, too.

Tip # 6 – Image Captions and Alt Tags

Search engines like image captions and alt tags with keywords. Alt tags are what appear for screen reader users, the seeing impaired, and when images do not load or are waiting to load. Learn more about best practices for using images on your website here.

Tip # 7 – Place Keywords in the URL

Any subpages you have need independent URLs. This means you have the opportunity to place keywords inside the URL and this is exactly what you should do. www.yourdomain.com/keywords.html will help search engines find you.

Tip # 8 – Create a Blog and Update It Regularly

Creating a blog is a great way to improve your website’s SEO. Search engines like fresh content over static. Blogging is a great way to continue adding fresh content your website. Blogging about current trends in your industry and what is hot in your field on social media networks is a great way to stay relevant in the eyes of search engines.