Recommended Products and Resources
I'd like to share with you some of the best graphic design and marketing resources I've found. These include magazines, books, conferences, blogs, webinars and forums. Some of these are free; all provide excellent value. I've organized them into two sections: Graphic Design Resources and Marketing Resources. This is a long and comprehensive list, so be sure to scroll to the bottom of this page.
ITEM TO NOTE: if you click on an item in the Table of Contents, it will take you directly to that section.
Graphic Design Resources
GRAPHIC DESIGN MAGAZINES
Before & After Magazine
Before & After magazine has been sharing its practical approach to graphic design since 1990. Because our modern world has made designers of us all (ready or not), Before & After is dedicated to making graphic design understandable, useful and even fun for everyone.
Graphic Define Magazine
Graphic Define Magazine is an online magazine focusing on the business of running a graphic, web, or interactive design studio. It is published the first week of every month and is absolutely free!
Communication Arts
Communication Arts is a professional journal for designers, art directors, design firms illustrators, advertising agencies, photographers, students, and everyone involved in visual communication.
HOW Magazine
HOW magazine contains ideas and techniques in graphic design that explore the studios of art directors, production designers and computer graphics professionals. Feature articles include: production, marketplace, software review, and specifications - news of people, places and things from the world of design.
Print: America's Graphic Design Magazine
Directed to design professionals - shows what is happening in advertising, graphic design, corporate identity, television, film, computer-aided design, illustration and photography, typographic design, annual reports, magazine design, packaging, and environmental graphics.
Graphic Design - USA
Graphic Design USA is a monthly news and information magazine for and about the professional design community including graphic design firms, corporate in house departments, advertising agencies, and multimedia development firms. The magazine is FREE to creative professionals, this includes titles at design firms, advertising agencies, corporate in-house design departments, marketing communications organizations, and internet, multimedia and digital communications companies. FREE Graphic Design Magazine.
Dynamic Graphics
Magazine covering creative design ideas for Mac and PC users. Includes features on basic Photoshop techniques and Powerpoint presentations; columns on color, the rights and wrongs of using copyrighted work on websites, and digital cameras; and articles on technology.
GRAPHIC DESIGN BOOKS
Thinking with Type: A Critical Guide for Designers, Writers, Editors, & Students by Ellen Lupton
This book offers valuable information about typography and classroom resources.
Rethink Redesign Reconstruct: How Top Designers Create Bold New Work by Re:Interpreting Original Designs by Mark Wasserman
Author Mark Wasserman has created a unique experiment in design that is much like the process of remixing music. Top designers were given the source files to one of 37 original designs and asked to reinterpret the original art into new creations. Ultimately, the project was not about making a design better, but about different visual approaches. Besides being a visual treat, these remixes can also serve as a creative jolt for those inevitable times when designers need a little extra inspiration.
Pantone Guide to Communicating with Color by Leatrice Eiseman
This authoritative guide presents hundreds of color combinations and color principles needed to create effective designs. Every lesson is demonstrated by example, enabling designers of all specialties and levels of experience to make the best color choices for every type of design.
Business Cards 2: More Ways of Saying Hello by Mike Dorrian, Liz Farrelly
With thousands of examples being exchanged around the world, Business Cards 2 casts a wide net, featuring designs for creative individuals and organizations sourced from all continents. Highlighting materials, formats and production methods that push the boundaries of this genre, the result is a book full of inspiring surprises.
Basics Design: Format by Gavin Ambrose, Paul Harris
This instructive handbook examines in detail books, magazines, posters, direct mail, brochures, and Web pages to see how effectively they communicate, how appealing they look, and how strong an impact they make on the user. The original ideas showcased throughout are inspirational.
GRAPHIC DESIGN CONFERENCES
HOW design conference
The HOW Design Conference focuses on graphic design creativity, business and technology. The sessions are created with designers, art directors, creative directors, illustrators, production managers, studio owners, advertising managers, marketing managers and communications managers in mind.
AIGA Design Conference
Celebrate design excellence, reinforce friendships and connections and stimulate thinking about the critical issues that surround design practice.
GRAPHIC DESIGN BLOGS
www.designobserver.com
Writings and news about design and culture by contributers from the fields of graphic design, art, and publishing.
ideas.veer.com/skinny
Veer’s creative and community team blog posts what inspires them in their corner of the world, from their own photography, illustration, and type, to the unusual.
www.logodesignlove.com
Logo Design Love is a website devoted to logos and has information on news, features, and opinions from the world of brand identity.
creativecurio.com
Cre ative Curio is about explor ing and dis cov er ing the world of graphic design and how excit ing it can be to cre ate. Whether new or a veteran to graphic design, the goal is for every blog vis i tor to find useful and valuable information.
leslietanedesign.com/blog
This blog includes tips and information on various aspects of graphic design, such as marketing, writing, software programs, photography and illustration.
www.smashingmagazine.com
Smashing Magazine delivers innovative information to web designers and developers, which includes graphics and typography.
ilovetypography.com
This blog was created to bring the subject of Typography to the masses.
www.graphicdesignblog.org
This blog provides professional insight on graphic design programs, tools, books, and websites, especially providing news and useful resources for graphic artists. It also highlights the legendary graphic designers to exemplify the relevance of the profession and help you understanding graphic design technicalities.
www.graphic-design-blog.com
The Graphic Design Blog is a blog made up of web designers and graphic designers from the Graphic Design & Web Design Forum. The blog includes some of the best Graphic Design, Web Design, Illustrations and Photography from around the web.
www.youthedesigner.com
YouTheDesigner.com is a graphic design, marketing and branding blog that features tips, inspiration, tutorials and resources for creative professionals.
GRAPHIC DESIGN WEBINARS
HOW Design webinars
Learn to flex your creative muscles and develop a satisfying design career with HOW webinars.
Package Design Magazine webinars
Package Design Magazine offers news and information professional package designers need to stay abreast of the latest innovations, materials, and technology driving the packaging industry.
GRAPHIC DESIGN EXPERT
Robert C. Parker
http://designtosellonline.com
www.rogercparker.com/Blog
Roger C. Parker's has a unique blend of pragmatic copywriting, graphic design, marketing, and teaching skills. Clients include Apple, HP, Microsoft, and Mindjet and they have referred to him as the great simplifier.
GRAPHIC DESIGN FORUMS
GDF
GDF is one of the oldest and biggest graphic design forums around with over 20k members. The community is very active, very large and consists of a variety of general categories.
HOWDesign
The HOWDesign forums are great for showcasing your work and getting constructive feedback from other designers. They also have a very active business and freelance section where you can ask questions and find a lot of useful tips.
Estetica
Estetica is very popular, but tends to lean more towards chatting for enjoyment rather then for knowledge. Their off topics section is perfect for chatting with other designers about anything, but design. So if you are looking to chat with people who share common interests, than this is the graphic design forum for you.
All Graphic Design
The All Graphic Design forums are very old and have an extremely active general design section where members chat about all kinds of design news and articles. They also have a great pre press section for designers looking for advice on printing and setting up files.
Your Design Forums
Your Design Forums is You the Designer’s official Graphic Design Forum. YDF is one of the newer graphic design forums in the design community, but is growing quickly and has a very active core user base that is quick to respond to questions and other posts.
Marketing Resources
MARKETING MAGAZINES
Target Marketing Magazine
Target Marketing covers all direct response media, including direct mail, telemarketing, space advertising, the Web and direct response TV. Readers get insight into such subjects as using databases and lists effectively, acquiring new customers, upselling and cross-selling existing customers, fulfillment strategies and more.
Brand Packaging Magazine
Brand Packaging is focused on the role of packaging in the consumer product marketing mix. It is written for brand, category, product, group and marketing managers, product development and packaging design groups.
iMedia Connection Magazine
iMedia Communications, Inc. is a trade publisher and event producer serving interactive media and marketing industries. Their missions is to advance the business of interactive media and marketing by serving as the primary conduit between buyers and sellers and to inspire marketers of all types to explore and embrace interactive marketing strategies.
MARKETING BOOKS
Word Trippers by Barbara McNichol
The Ultimate Source for Choosing the Perfect Word When It Really Matters. Do you get tripped up by further vs. farther, accept vs. except, less vs. fewer, or affect vs. effect? Are you tired of these naughty gremlins blemishing your writing when you’re in a hurry? Word Trippers gives you an easy-to-search tripper-tracking resource for selecting the perfect word.
The White Paper Marketing Handbook by Robert W. Bly
This book explains how to create effective white papers using a variety of media, while building successful marketing campaigns to create interest, generate leads, build relationships, and ultimately drive sales. Offering insight into the "Edu-Marketing" revolution, the book explains the dynamics of white paper marketing and why it works, equipping readers with the tools to create content, educate buyers, generate leads, and develop marketing plans using white papers; and measure the results. It also illustrates how white papers effectively fit into successful Integrated Marketing Communications efforts to speak with one voice, be where the prospect is, and help the prospect find you.
Permission Marketing : Turning Strangers Into Friends And Friends Into Customers by Seth Godin
Instead of annoying potential customers by interrupting their most coveted commodity -- time -- Permission Marketing offers consumers incentives to accept advertising voluntarily. Now this Internet pioneer introduces a fundamentally different way of thinking about advertising products and services. By reaching out only to those individuals who have signaled an interest in learning more about a product, Permission Marketing enables companies to develop long-term relationships with customers, create trust, build brand awareness -- and greatly improve the chances of making a sale.
Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? by Seth Godin
Meatball Sundae is the definitive guide to the fourteen trends no marketer can afford to ignore. It explains what to do about the increasing power of stories, not facts; about shorter and shorter attention spans; and about the new math that says five thousand people who want to hear your message are more valuable than five million who don’t.
All Marketers Are Liars: The Power of Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-Trust World by Seth Godin
Every marketer tells a story. And if they do it right, we believe them. Successful marketers don't talk about features or even benefits. Instead, they tell a story. A story we want to believe. This is a book about doing what consumers demand - painting vivid pictures that they choose to believe. Every organization-from nonprofits to car companies, from political campaigns to wineglass blowers - must understand that the rules have changed (again). In an economy where the richest have an infinite number of choices (and no time to make them), every organization is a marketer and all marketing is about telling stories. Marketers succeed when they tell us a story that fits our worldview, a story that we intuitively embrace and then share with our friends. But beware: If your stories are inauthentic, you cross the line from fib to fraud. This is a powerful book for anyone who wants to create things people truly want as opposed to commodities that people merely need.
MARKETING BLOGS
Duct Tape Marketing Blog
The Duct Tape Marketing Blog was chosen as a Forbes favorite for small business and marketing and is a Harvard Business School featured marketing site. This blog was also chosen as "Best Small Business Marketing Blog" in 2004, 2005 and 2006 by the readers of Marketing Sherpa.
Hubspot Blog
The HubSpot Inbound Internet Marketing blog covers all of inbound marketing - SEO, Blogging, Social Media, Landing Pages, Lead Generation and Analytics.
Marketing Sherpa Blog
MarketingSherpa is a research firm specializing in tracking what works in all aspects of marketing (and what does not.) They are not an agency, consulting firm or vendor and are not available for private research. Their goal is to give marketers of the world the stats, inspiration, and instructions to improve their results.
Seth Godin Blog
Seth Godin writes one of the most popular marketing blog in the world, he is the author of several bestselling marketing books, and he speaks to large groups on marketing and new media.
Big Marketing for Small Business Blog
Most entrepreneurs and small business operators are completely frustrated with their marketing. They’re not quite sure why they should do it, how to do it and how to measure it while working with a shoestring budget. This site provides common and uncommon tactics to help small businesses take control and move ahead with their marketing.
MARKETING WEBINARS
Hubspot webinars
Download free on-demand Internet marketing webinars / videos about blogging, SEO, social media and more.
Constant Contact webinars
Email marketing webinars
Bright Talk webinars
BrightTALK provides live and recorded webcasts for business professionals. This link lists the various webinars on marketing.
MARKETING EXPERTS
Joe Vitale – Marketing Specialist and Copywriter
http://www.mrfire.com/
According to Succeed Magazine, Dr. Joe Vitale is one of the five top marketing specialists in the world today. He just created a software program to help anyone write better sales letters, articles, news releases, speeches and even entire books. It's called Hypnotic Writing Wizard. He also has a brand-new membership program for those who are serious about learning marketing at HypnoticGold.com. If you're interested in marketing, copywriting, publicity, or advertising, you've come to the right place. On this site you will learn the very techniques that Dr. Vitale has used for over 25 years to become known as one of the world's most powerful copywriters and marketing minds. He is the author of the international #1 best-seller, The Attractor Factor, the #1 best-seller Life's Missing Instruction Manual, the #1 best-selling e-book Hypnotic Writing, and the #1 best-selling Nightingale-Conant audio program, The Power of Outrageous Marketing, among numerous other works.
Mari Smith – Facebook expert / Relationship Marketing Specialist
http://www.marismith.com/
FastCompany.com dubbed Mari "the Pied Piper of the Online World." She is a Relationship Marketing Specialist and Social Media Business Coach. Through her consulting and training business, Mari helps independent professionals, entrepreneurs and business owners to accelerate their business profits using an integrated social marketing strategy, with particular focus on Facebook and Twitter.
MARKETING TOOLS
14-Step Formula for Getting Clients
Link to Getting Clients Home Study Program
To develop a steady stream of clients, to build your business, and to make more income, you need to take action. This step-by-step formula by business coach and marketing strategist Jennifer Davey is straightforward, easy to follow and gets results. Each step leads to the next, until you are expertly positioned in a clear niche, which will allow you to PULL clients to you using the right marketing tactics for YOUR business.
Small Business Television
http://sbtv.com
Link to marketing topics on SBTV
SBTV.com is the first television network on the web devoted 100 percent to the small business market - from business start-ups to established enterprises. We believe that being an entrepreneur is a way of living - not just a way to make a living.
International Association of Writers, Speakers and Experts - Fern Reiss, Director
http://www.associationofwriters.com
For $149/year, the IAW can help you:
• Get speaking engagements, via their speaker’s bureau.
• Get quoted by journalists, through their directory of experts to the media.
• Get syndicated, in their syndicated articles directory.
• Get published, using their query letter-manuscript forum for literary agents.
• Get writing jobs, through their freelance writers’ jobs bank.
• Get discounts, on everything from press releases to media leads.
• Plus you receive their newsletter, filled with articles, audios, special reports and eBooks on topics such as small business strategies, organizing tips and garnering media attention.
Services to host your own internet radio show
http://www.blogtalkradio.com
BlogTalkRadio is the social radio network that allows users to connect quickly and directly with their audience. Using an ordinary telephone and computer hosts can create free, live, call-in talk shows with unlimited participants that are automatically archived and made available as podcasts. No software download is required. Listeners can subscribe to shows via RSS into iTunes and other feed readers. Our network has produced tens of thousands of episodes since it launched in August of 2006.
http://www.nowlive.com/
NowLive is a social broadcasting network that lets anyone create a live, interactive talk show.
http://www.talkshoe.com
TalkShoe is a service that enables anyone to easily create, join, or listen to Live Interactive Discussions, Conversations, Podcasts and Audioblogs. These hosted Community Calls can be discussions, conversations, talk shows and podcasts. Recorded Community Calls can be listened to, downloaded, or subscribed to. And if your Community Call becomes popular, you can make money too.
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