IamaSource Blog

Best designers freelance: Laimute Varkalaite

IamaBlogger — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 11:38:00 GMT

IamaSource is on designers' side, especially freelance that need visibility through the web to achieve more contacts.

Here there is Laimute Varkalaite from Lithuania that answered to our questions.

1. How did you approach the world of design?

When I am designing - I am alive, and I am alive when I am designing. On my opinion, DESIGN is an infinitive space of creativity investigation of every designer. Design - is a visual message, a tool of communication, a form of expression of yourself.

2. Which of your works you prefer and why?

I love to illustrate and create logos. Why? Illustration is a space of possibilities to express your idea in a vast range of imagination, to produce it in various kinds of drawing techniques (on my opinion, designer should have well basic knowlegde of drawing) and styles of drawing character - from easy sketch to well filled academic work of art. Logo is a very concentrated an logical presentation of your mind. It proves designer's quality an an ability to create well indentified signs.

3. What are your main influences received from the design world?

Less is more - this is the main rule which I try to keep in my creativity process. The most important aspect in each design object (no matter what it is: logo, chair or environmental composition, atc.) is a concept, an idea wchich presents the professional work of designer and surprises client and customer as well. I make attention and analyse these works of design, which are created in original style, have ordinary and logical composition, unexpectable combination of colours and forms and extraordinary character.

4. Mac or PC?

PC.

5. Your dream is working for...

Could I make more accurate: my dream is working with... a great command of designers in order to reach goals professionally, to receive a constructive criticism - an inspiration to go forward. It would be a wonderful chance to divide your knowledge with others and to know useful news from them as well. A great command is always able to achieve great results.

6. Describe your typical working day.

My typical working day... Oh, it is full of different works of design: logo creation, web sites design and communication with programmers in order to reach the best rezult as possible, booklets, advertisements, etc. Sometimes my plan of my work changes very fast and unexpectable.

7. Have you got a website where we can see your works and see something more about you?

No, I have not my personal website yet - but I create a vision, what it could be. For this reason I send to you several of my works.

If you want to have the same opportunity Laimute had, please join our community and "share your best creative work" on IamaSource Facebook page.

New Features on IamaSource: Gallery Search Filters Upgrade

IamaBlogger — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 10:31:55 GMT

Here is a new implementation that should help all the designers on their work on IamaSource. These are the new filters for sorting proposals in the contest gallery.

Through the new filters you can easily find proposals among those present in the gallery. This will make it easier:

- Controlling the flow of proposals submitted, avoiding the risk of loading several times the same proposal or very similar variations

- Never need to remember the number of your proposal and look through the pages of gallery

- Easily check the client comments on your proposals

- See at a glance the client star rating for your proposals

This is an implementation that we have planned to make the work of designers and client more fluid and intuitive on IamaSource. Other developments we're working on will go in this direction: speeding up the flow of information between the community members.

Feel free to give us suggestions and advice for new features, no voice is more reliable of those who work, use and daily navigate on IamaSource.

The Brand New IamaSource Logo

IamaBlogger — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 15:38:38 GMT

We are very happy to present the brand new IamaSource logo, winner of the Global Logo Design Contest.
It has been designed by Stiva Bernabeu, the spanish designer who has won the 2,500 euros prize offered by IamaSource. Congratulations!

This logo has passed a first selection by IamaSource along with other 14 finalists selected among 4308 logos logos presented by creative people. Then it has been the most voted logo by the community, gaining the victory.
We think that this logo can efficiently represent the IamaSource community. We congratulate with Stiva Bernabeu and with the other 718 designers for the work done and the high value of creative proposals.
Soon the new IamaSource logo will take place in the header of our website.

Meanwhile on IamaSource the Hickory logo contest is going on and new creative contests are coming.

Thank you all and keep up the good work on IamaSource.

IamaSource Logo Contest Finalists

IamaBlogger — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:52:58 GMT

Here we are with the finalist logos of the IamaSource contest. After 60 days of our creative competition we are very happy to show the 15 logos that will be voted by all contest patrecipants.

Only one winner and only one logo will become the official logo of IamaSource.

Voting is very simple, you can find out some tips by reading the post: "How to vote a creative proposal on IamaSource.com "

The logos can be voted directly on the contest gallery.

You can vote up to 13:00 GMT of August the 3th 2010.

Now we'll await for the contest winner and for the brand new IamaSource logo.

Happy voting to everyone!

Designer: id stiva

Designer: DLazar

Designer: AndrewX

Designer: paulystig

Designer: AlexSilva

Designer: cinghialkrieger

Designer: UroGeyri

Designer: edodag

Designer: pandadesign

Designer: bonettiluca

Designer: Little_skip

Designer: arisamin

Designer: davidmcg

Designer: fly.angel

Designer: matotodesign

IamaSource Log Book #1

IamaBlogger — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 14:33:00 GMT

IamaSource Log Book is a space we want to share occasionally in order to discuss about us, about our community and about IamaSource a bit closer.
It is a space to analyze some issues in more depth, and also it could be an opportunity to answer to your daily e-mails we use to receive, including congratulations for our project, questions, doubts, requests, suggestion and also criticism (constructive, of course).

The last hours main issue is absolutely the choice to ask for help to our designers community to select the IamaSource logo contest winner with voting that will soon begin.
This choice was thought hard and we have found many reasons.

Thanks to this we would like to give the opportunity, to those who want to, to be active part of this contest once more, avoiding to end with an independent and unique choice by IamaSource. At the same time we want to choose the best creative proposals based on simple criteria.

Selection of finalists

Here are the criteria on which we choose the best creative proposals:

- our preferences related to our website layout (avoiding the infamous “I like it because I like it” heard it from too many clients, a sentence acceptable in some situations, not when you have 719 designers);

- a good development of the layout, thanks to the designers who send the proposals and get our suggestion in the properly way, having time to correct and make some variations;

- a strong connection to the brief. The designers saw in our comments the requests to focus on the brief requirements, trying to give suggestion always referring to what we wrote in the brief.

Some criteria for proposals which are not in the final selection:

- personal style but far from what we’ve requested (in this contest). After 60 days full immersion we can recognize the style of our designers at first sight, just looking at his proposal (maybe we need a long holiday). What’s not ok for this contest, could be the style other people are looking for, and many contests are starting on IamaSource;

- development and variations are missing. Unfortunately there are many creative proposals which should deserve to be in the final selection but they have not been developed as requested, or they are not set on a black background as requested in the brief. And we could not turn a blind eye just for one designer: this is not what we want to do;

- far from brief requirements. The creative thoughts run wild and our purpose was to focus on our suggestion (useful hopefully). Sometimes the suggestion helped the designers to improve their proposals, sometimes not.

- confused styles. Some creative proposals look nice, but these are followed by other proposals with a confusing style, created by the same designer: this made us doubt about the final choosing. This is also an example of how is important to “sell yourself the best you can”, so it’s better to concentrate on the details of few layouts then send hundreds of different variations.

Why vote?

We want that the voting method, besides help us choosing the winner, should bring more important messages:

IamaSource is a designers community and who more than the designers has the right to choose which will be the logo, such an important element?

We would like that the 2.500 € prize was awarded to a designer chosen by his “colleagues”. We believe there is no greater satisfaction than receive recognition from a jury of “experts like you” rather than a single voice.

We can not feel exactly as a client, (because we used to work for the client) we’d like to think that we help someone of you with our suggestion about how to change your proposal, trying to give suggestion to everyone request for it. That’s why we used a different way to reach the same goal. There’ll be one winner (unfortunately we still don’t know how to make everybody win) and we prefer to make the choice of the finalists and let the community chose our/their new logo (half and half).

What we want to avoid

Our purpose was to avoid:

- a “popularity contest” where everyone can vote, even if he/she did not join the contest. Think about it: “"Whoever has the most friends/parents wins”. Is that correct?

- the possibility to vote every proposal. For instance: you’ve to select the best 2010 song, choosing among 4300 song and 719 artists. You need to listen to every song at least, or choose without listening most of them. IamaSource have listened all those songs in the past two months, knowing the artists and that’s why we’d like (as a 50% client) to select the finalists following the criteria described.
We’re available for further clarifications and we'd like to have your feedbacks about this..

Happy voting!

Thanks to everyone who join the IamaSource logo contest and for your commitment.

There are new contests on IamaSource you can join.

Crowdsourcing example: the designers choose IamaSource Logo!

IamaBlogger — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 20:26:00 GMT

IamaSource guys are a real crowdsourcing example and want to demonstrate it once more and to choose their logo ask to the first principle of crowdsourcing: that is "ask to the crowd!". That means that IamaSource is going to ask to designers who joined the contest in the last 2 months to choose the new IamaSource logo.

IamaSource Logo Contest numbers

These are the numbers of the first crowdsourcing example on IamaSource.com:

- 2500 euro as first award

- 4308 creative logo proposals in two months

- 1 creative logo proposal each 20 mins

- 719 designers joined from 47 different countries

- 1 contest winner

How to choose the contest winner? Easy: the solution is crowdsourcing!

The 719 designers who joined to the contest will choose their community logo and then the contest winner!

Why asking to the designers?

This choice is due to the dual target IamaSource has got. As you can notice on the brief, our logo should be attractive for creative people, it should give them a sense of belonging to the community and impress visitors. But, at the same time, it should not mislead our clients with something too “out there” (we know... clients are often less creative!).

Then after a selection made by the client (IamaSource), it seems obvious to ask also to the designers' side.

IamaSource Logo voting rules:

- IamaSource has selected a limited number of logo proposals, considered close to the expected result. These ones will be the only one a designer will able to vote for.

- Only the designers who joined the IamaSource logo contest will be able to vote.

- Each designer can vote only once.

- The best proposals ranking will be displayed on the Dashboard section of the contest, where it will be possible to leave some comments.

- End date for voting will be communicated through email to the designers who joined the contest

- New IamaSource Logo will be the one with the highest number of votes received

Please note: other contests on IamaSource.com will follow the standard procedure for choosing the contest winner.

Some tips:

Choosing a logo, you will choose a designer also, then IamaSource Crew suggests also to have a look to the portfolio of the finalists. It could be interesting to see the author behind a logo proposal. In the other hand it wants to be a tip for all designers did not update their IamaProfile yet...

How to vote a creative proposal on IamaSource.com

IamaBlogger — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 11:23:45 GMT

At the end of each contest we're going to ask to our designers community to vote a creative proposal on the contest just ended. Voting will include creative proposals displayed on section "Gallery" of the contest.

Each designer who joined to the contest will be able to vote only one favourite design and obviously will not be able to vote his/her own design. This voting will generate a special best proposals ranking according to the designers thought and it will be displayed real time on the section "Dashboard" of the contest.

Note: in case of Iamasource Logo Contest, this voting will have great importance because will allow us to choose IamaSource Logo and then assign 2500 euros!

Here below there is a tutorial about how to vote a creative proposal on IamaSource.com

1. Click on "Vote me" to choose your favourite creative proposal. You can do it both on section "Gallery" of the contest and on the proposal detail page.

2. Click "Yes" on the confirmation pop-up.

3. You can see how many times the entry has been voted on the proposal detail page.

4. On the section "Dashboard" you can see the best proposal ranking real-time updated.

So, what are you looking for? If you joined a contest just ended, vote your favourite design among the other designers proposals. The best proposals ranking is a funny tool helpful to identify the best designers on IamaSource and best proposals realizaed on each contest. Then... maybe in the future there will be some surprises!

Logo evolution: popular logo case histories.

IamaBlogger — Thu, 22 Jul 2010 13:27:00 GMT

We could write many books about it, but it should be more interesting to analyze some popular logo case histories thanks to a gallery.

We want to present some different cases which can confirm and deny at the same time any theory about the successful logo choice.

The following ones are popular logo beloging to brands really different, but we can clearly assert that they are successful logo, for several reasons.

First of all, focus on brand consistency: should it be better to be tenacious focusing on historical awareness or update, improve and change your own brand with the passing of the time?

We would like to ask for it to Coca-Cola and Pepsi. Two competitors with different marketing strategies, different commercials, with a completely different “logo history”.

There are more than 10 Pepsi logo variations and restyling in 110 years (average one per decade). Coca-Cola has got 1 in the same time, the most famous logo in the world. It was created by a Coca-Cola book keeper in 1885, using the dominant form of formal handwriting in the United States during that period (Spencerian Script), with a few changes.

So, these are two opposite strategies.

What does this mean? Coca-Cola is nicer (hate this word), or Pepsi keeps up with the times? We don’t have the answer.

In 100 years there are incredible (and necessary) evolutions: that’s Nokia. In order to became the brand everyone knows, Nokia had to do something more than a restyling, more than add some shades or improve the font style...

There are also some logos extremely consistent with themselves: after the first strong change they remain quite similar in years and so recognizable. This could be a strategy in order not to lose the “brand awareness” created. This is Alfa Romeo, the company logo used today is recognizable looking at 1910 version. Also Ford took a similar path, changing the logo in the early years and making a very few changes.

Sony and Metro Goldwin Mayer are other examples, but in the second popular logo case history we’re talking about a well know frame more than a logo.

The Fiat logo history also deserves to be mentioned. The brand synonymous with cars (not only in Italy) has changed completely its logo in years. Changing the form, the color, the font, the graphic treatment.

In 2006 the “new” logo is back to the origin: it is derived from the famous shield that decorated the front of Fiat cars from 1931 to 1968, with the elongated letters of the word “FIAT” standing out against a ruby red background, encased in a chromed round frame.

This popular logo case history could reassure every start-up owner: you can always adjust the aim of the concept.

Here below there is a gallery of some popular logo case histories:

Adidas

Apple

KFC

Kodak

LEGO

Warner

Starbucks

Logo Inspiration: The Use of Shapes in Logos

IamaBlogger — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 04:41:00 GMT

The use of shapes is the key element in design.
The basic shapes like circles, squares and triangles can be very effective in designing a logo. From basic shapes it then possible to derive abstract shapes that arise from the composition of different elements: rounded contours, sharp ends, etc..

The more interesting thing, however, concerns the sub-conscious meaning that you can associate with each shape. It 'very important to know that meaning when making a logo or when it is required the creation.

• The circle is an enduring, endless and associated with protection.
• The square denotes stability, honesty and trust.
• The triangle may suggest tension.

Knowing what a shape communicates is one of those creative skills that every good designer must have in his cultural background. You should also be able to associate the right shape with what a brand wants to communicate and then tying it to the intrinsic characteristics of the client or company that requires the development of the logo.
All these considerations and this study can be found in big brands logos. For example, try to identifie logos of companies that belong to the same industry or service category and notice how often the same geometric shapes are applicants in the logos of these brands.

Here is a gallery of beautiful logos characterized by the use of geometric shapes.
Do this experiment: identify how you feel looking at one logo rather than another, this is the first step in exploring your creative sub-conscious.

Are you looking for other logos inspiration?

Initial Logos Collection

Typographic Logos Collection

Brand strategic management: some tips

IamaBlogger — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 05:00:00 GMT

In order to successfully promote your business, it is important to choose your company brand and then respect it in the future. It's really important to have a good brand strategic management because some choices will be the mirror of your business, the first way to communicate to the others what you're going to do and your customers will recognize you behind this company brand.

Here there is a list of some good reasons about the importance of taking care your brand management.

1 - Your company brand is your first communication tool

A brand, is the first impression that your company gives to the outside. That is the concept in the mind of your customers when they think to your business personality. This concept includes merits and defects so a brand must be clear, well defiined and must communicate good vibrations to the outside.

2 - Brand perception is binded with advertising

The brand perception is developed through advertising, classic media campaigns or interactive media campaigns and it is certified and authenticated through the consumer experience. Many times the message given to the customers is more important than the real product.

3 - Brand history and feelings perceived

Brand is the istantaneous mental reaction when a company name is mentioned. This psychological opinion continuously changes with company actions, images, situations and messages that communicates. This group of things, with the passing of the time, are defined brand history.

4 - Brand perception is more important than reality

Many times the brand perception is not always as reality is, but for a company the perception counts; whatever company signals are, what counts is how they are perceived by customers and by the company market target.

5 - Brand perception changes continuously

It is a fluid concept and it can vary in a few hours. Bigger companies use advertising and mass media to change their brand perception or to vary their market target.

6 - Brand and product

Brand perception is what distinguishes the product from all the rest.

7- Uniqueness of product is the brand strategic point

At the same time, messages, advertising and media campaigns are nothing if compared with the uniqueness of a product, that for some brands of the world represents the real brand strategic and successfull point.

8 - Brand consistency

Today, more than ever, word of mouth means: blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Social networks... This means also that messages run really fast and especially the bad news do it. Then, another brand strategic point is the brand consinstency that allows customers to trust a company and for a brand this means to beat challenger brands.

These ones are only some tips about brand strategic management, anyway, likely, one of the most important choice for your business will be your company logotype.

Here there are some tips about how to choose a winning logo for your business.

Logo contests: 10 tips to improve your rating

IamaBlogger — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 10:39:00 GMT

This mini guideline comes from the proposals received and from the comments on our first IamaSource logo contest.
The aim - that many of you like– is to give at least one comment to each designer who joins the contest (not that easy). We also want to say that the comments are made according to the brief requirements, and are intended to be constructive, without turning down styles or graphic approach just because “we didn’t like it”.

There is no need to say that it’s easier to write to designers who “lose themselves” when referring to the brief requirements. When we find good designs we try to say that, without exceeding, giving comments and rating stars.
For some proposals we had a doubt about the rating, and sometimes 3 stars as maximum rating means that the proposals, even if we like them, probably require some improvement which we’re going to ask for, in order to have many good proposals and to have a hard decision to make.

In the following there are some tips, good for our contest, and also for future contests. So read them carefully.

1) Read the brief.

In a high award contest there will be lots of proposals. It’s very important not to upset the client at the very first sight. It’s necessary to read the brief requirements and try to follow these. Sometimes it’s a matter of detail: a good proposal can be rejected just because it does not have the details required.
I.e.: in the IamaSource contest brief, among the others, we ask for a black background, a style with a strong impact in the virtual world, an icon that plays along with the name and that can stand on its own…
You can find some of these requests on “Constraints and suggestions”, you can easily understand how the lack of these goes against what can be “love at first sight”.
In that case we’ve sent comments asking for improvement, to try to have a better layout to evaluate.

2) When less is more.

In the uploading of the first proposals, you should avoid sending many different versions of the same layout. Try to focus on one proposal. This is enough to evaluate your style, your graphic approach and the creativity you put in there.
Eventually the client is going to ask for more versions.
If you have many versions of the same layout, make a choice and send your best one. You can ask for a comment before sending other versions.
Thereby the client can concentrate on your best one, without losing their attention while looking at your profile which has five similar layouts.

3) Check your creative proposals and, if you’ve received it, read the comment.

Even if you can’t hear the tone of the client voice, when you read a comment try to take the best from it, whatever it is. Comments are constructive. Thinking “I’m good, the client is bad” will not be very useful if you want to try to win the contest. It’d be better try to understand why the client has sent the negative comment, or focus on the positive comments to create the best layout.

4) Check out the other creative proposals.

Not only to get inspired, see the client’s favorite style, or report a copyright abuse, but also to avoid sending an idea that has already uploaded.
In IamaSource logo contest there are several light bulb proposals. It’s absolutely a correct concept, but after the tenth version we’re going to ask “is that concept so original?”. Once a way has been explored, try something else or a completely different and particular graphic approach.

5) Check the client rating (stars).

Check which is your higher star rated proposal. The client evaluation and yours are not always the same. Check the gallery, sort the proposals by rating in order to under stand what contest style is required.

6) Reread the brief (it’s really IMPORTANT).

We can't stress this enough. During your creative work it’s normal that your ideas are shaken, changed, improved… and the final result is not always close to initial requirements.
The most common risk is to lose the pieces or to go off topic. Maybe creating a good topic, but it’s off.
Before uploading your creative proposal, reread the brief it’s not a suggestion, it’s a must. While you’re rereading, concentrate on your layout. Even better, keep the brief and your creative work opened, in order to see them at the same time. Try to find which elements are close to the brief requirements and what’s wrong or still missing.

7) Emphasis on the strong and replace the weak elements.

It’s useless to be upset if the client doesn’t like a proposal. There is no time to discuss, it would be better to focus on the comments and maybe try to adapt your style to what the client requests are, writing your reasons in the description panel. A good description can support you proposal.

8) Update the profile.

For the client it’s important to understand who the designer is. Don’t be afraid to show your skills even if you’re at the beginning of your career, the client can be surprised in many cases: surprised by a senior designer with a good portfolio who sends a weak proposal, surprised by a young designer with not much experience but a very good proposal.
So whether you are an Art Director with a decade of experience, whether you’re students, don’t be scared. It’s important to be able to sell yourselves with the available tools.

9) Focus on media and target.

In addition to what is mentioned in the brief, you always have to focus on the final usage of the creative work. Where will it be located? Who will see it?
These are useful tips for a print or a banner campaign, but also for logo.
In the IamaSource logo contest it was evident that the logo has to be placed on the web (see the brief). The first use is in the web-site header. Beyond the aspect ratio guidelines for a logo (see IamaBlog), the proposals with complex backgrounds, layout base:height 1:5, sophisticated styles… they aren’t appropriate for the first placement of this logo and they should give you other tips not written.

10) Add the creativity (as usual).

No fear. What we have written doesn’t mean you can’t be creative.
Also with simplicity you can be creative: sometimes the best layout is the essential one. Other times the winning idea comes from more elaborate treatment, but we like to mention the Apple logo: instantly recognizable all over the world, but it’s not that original (The Beatles used it many years before). We challenge you to say that the Apple logo is not strong, making a strong or easily adaptable.
There are many ways to be creative, it’s up to you to choose the right one.

IamaSource meets the designers: Nicola Antonazzo

IamaBlogger — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:50:00 GMT

IamaSource is on designers' side, especially freelance that need visibility through the web to achieve more contacts.

Here there is Nicola Antonazzo from Italy that answered to our questions.

1. How did you approach the world of design?

I always loved color, lines, shapes, and I have always been fascinated by the world of communication, whether verbal or not. After graduation I joined Scientific IED in Milan. In the last three years I had the opportunity to approach the world of design.
I studied it, I struggled with it, and slowly I got it, but I think it is a process that repeats every day and in order to reach a high level of quality lot of time is needed.
However, now, thanks to the first customers, the first serious works and the first invitations to graphic competitions I can claim I joined the real world of design.

2. Which of your works you prefer and why?

I think the answer is "the ones that will come". The way I do my graphic works is the mirror of my way of being: I'm never happy about them. I always pretend to give my best in everything I do. All what I like and satisfies me today, probably will not like tomorrow. I do and repeat a lot of times my sketches on paper, works with Illustrator or Photoshop. I'm drawing so much, I try and try again until I can see a balance point on my works, that point that allows me to say:"It's ok! We can go!". If I were to sum up everything with a phrase surely I would mention "I Did It My Way" by Frank Sinatra. I put myself in everything I do, or at least I try joining my creativity my client's needs.
Sometimes is frustrating, I spend days, nights, trying to figure out how to do my best, I change my mind as the weather changes, what I liked yesterday is trash today. But I think this approach is also positive, somethings push me to do always better... Sometimes I feel like a child with a box of crayons in his hands.

3. What are your main influences received from the design world?

3 years ago I would have definitely answered something like street art, underground. Now I feel more influenced by clean things, not necessarily minimal, we could perhaps define a Swiss style, with a ratio shapes/weights definitely soft, perhaps with less use of color and a greater use of shapes (rounded lately).

4. Mac or PC?

Once you try Mac, you'll never go back...

5. Your dream is working for...

One million dollars question. Hard to say, if I were to name two feet so I would certainly Studio FM at Milan, Mutado or Leofloft for their unbelievable creativity and work quality.
My dream would be to work abroad, even overseas, would be fantastic working for Lava in Holland, or Unit9 at London. I really could spend a whole day listing great design firm where I would like to work, but also the idea of my own studio would be great!

6. Describe your typical working day.

I fortunately work a lot of time and in different fields. My typical day starts between 7.30am and 9am, when the alarm goes off an average of 10 times. When I get up I have to run to pick the bus, just to remind me that I'm in a hurry.
Right now I have a fixed working time that goes from 9 to 18, then I come home, shower, drink or dinner and evening entertainment. Usually at night I start working on personal projects or works for external clients. I am working with a studio in Sydney that is "stealing" me several hours of sleep but it is giving me great satisfaction.

7. Have you got a website where we can see your works and see something more about you?

Sure! www.nicolantonazzo.com

If you want to have the same opportunity Nicola had, please join our community and "share your best creative work" on IamaSource Facebook page.

IamaSource is a Killer Startup!

IamaBlogger — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 22:00:00 GMT

KillerStartups.com, website that reviews the best startups on the web, has reviewed IamaSource.com, crowdsourcing website about design and communication, mentioning it as one of the best startups on the web. It was a goal we set long time ago and now the article is here, earlier than we expected. Follow the link below to read the review and give your vote to IamaSource.

We are honored about this review and we wanted to share this good news with our designers! This is also thanks to you and the impressive quality of your artworks seen on our website and as customers (remember that IamaSource is holding a contest for its own logo) we are satisfied!

Now, our aim is to become the best startup of the month, so please help Iamasource.com and vote for us here.

Thank you so much and good creativity!

IamaSource Crew

Start-up advertising: "out of the line" and guerrilla marketing

IamaBlogger — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:32:00 GMT

Above the line or below the line. These are the classical categories of the advertising techniques .
Above the line is a type of advertising through classical media (e.g. television, print, radio, print, banners and web search engines).

Below the line is a type of advertising which does not use classical media (e.g. sponsorship, PR, direct marketing…).

More recently, the neologism "through the line" describes an existing process as a mix of ATL and BTL, used to integrate a marketer's efforts and optimize returns from these separate investments.

But you can find also something out of these schemes and sometimes you can have some doubts about what kind of advertising you’re looking at: that is "out of the line".

Here are described the basic principles of advertising you can categorized as guerrilla marketing (maybe) or buzz marketing (also), or viral marketing (why not?). Above the line and below the line… well there are something “out of the line”.

Guerrilla Marketing basic

1. Use it for new product or innovative services.
2. Got an original idea.
3. Promote viral spread.
4. Use a teaser strategy to increase curiosity.
5. Be in the web community, in the forums and blogs in order to increase product awareness and give an answer to the teaser idea.
6. Be honest, show fairness and transparency.
7. Do advertising consistent with the objectives.
8. Use an emotional campaign in order to achieve empathy with the target.
9. Humor: it is important to understand when it’s necessary and when it’s not.
10. Follow the rules and know the risks.

Guerrilla marketing: cases history.

In advertising, thinking of something “out of the line” we have to mention Guerrilla Marketing events, or advertising campaigns which stand out not only for their messages, but also for the unique media and way of promotion.

The stronger is the advertising the more it’s related to the product or service promoted, especially if the same message can’t be used in other product category.

DHL is a good example of this (“If it is where it belongs, it was probably delivered by DHL”). The simplicity is all, the message is strong, and this advertising “on the street” can meet every target.

Also “Formula” toothbrush (“Builds strong teeths”) builds his message on a great visual impact.

and “Jobsintown” advertising (“Life’s too short for the wrong job”) is also a good example of creatiity of the message.

Referring to Guerrilla Marketing, we can describe it as an unexpected and unconventional way of marketing, potentially interactive, with the consumers targeted in unexpected places. The aim is to catch people attention in a different, surprising and sometimes provocative way. It can meet also consumers in times and places where their defense against advertising is lower.

Even if Guerrilla Marketing, as Jay Conrad Levinson said (the first man to coin and use this term in 1984), is especially useful for start-ups, small and medium enterprises with small budgets, this kind of advertising is becoming increasingly important.
That’s why Nike or Sony use it in order to promote their products... and very soon... IamaSource will do it.

Design Inspiration: Fifa Word Cup 2010 South Africa

IamaBlogger — Sat, 19 Jun 2010 11:09:07 GMT

In this gallery we have gather together the best graphics resources on the 2010 FIFA World Cup taking place in South Africa in these days.
The collection is divided into three sections dealing with web design, video (motion graphics and computer animation) and wallpapers (graphic design and photo manipulation).

In the first section we have web included the web pages that well-known brand sponsors or partners of FIFA Word Cup have dedicated to this event.
Every brand refers differently to the theme of the football World Cup but at the same time color and joy are some of the constant factors. These themes are still very common in major sports events but come back with particular strength in South Africa with reference to its culture and its history.

In the second section are collected some wonderful videos that we recommend to see, with just admiration for their creators.

The third section is then dedicated to the collection of beautiful wallpapers and graphic works of great impact and inspiration made by talented designers. A great idea for your iPhone background.

Enjoy!