As the owner of a small creative agency that typically sells services, designing a digital product to sell is unfamiliar territory. But I also understand that every business needs marketing. When I decided to create font, I knew the letters weren’t going to sell themselves. Pepperoni, a bold, geometric display font inspired by Connecticut pizza, needs a sales strategy that’s as intentional as the design itself. For me, launching it to the world is an exciting opportunity to test, learn, and grow. Here’s how I approached building the sales page, setting the price, and understanding the psychology behind what makes …

Nothing bothers a graphic designer more than opening a “Thank You” card that reads “Thank Y ou.” Among the character pairings that require extra attention, the “Y” next to the “O” is prime suspect numero uno. To ignore the kerning between these two letters is just plain lazy. Allow me to explain. Kerning is the art of adjusting the visual spacing between individual characters in a string of text. Unlike letter spacing (also known as tracking), which changes the spacing uniformly across all characters, kerning focuses on specific letter pairs. If you’ve ever worked with type, you might recall the …

Though I have no scientific ground to stand on, it’s quite possible that the behavioral pattern typically referred to as “Type A” was first used to describe a typographer. It’s easy to fall into the creative trap of perfectionism, especially when you're trying to design 26 unique characters. Every line and curve feels like it should be original and flawless. But, as I’ve discovered while developing my first display font, it’s also necessary to strike a careful balance between continuously refining every letter and relying on iteration — and intuition — to just get the job done. The Perks of …

In 2016, I was awarded an all-expenses-paid trip to attend the HOW Design Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. To say I was excited would be an understatement. The speaker list was a contemporary Who’s Who of design giants: Aaron Draplin, Paula Scher and Michael Bierut of Pentagram, Pum Lefebure of Design Army, and my personal hero, Stefan Sagmeister. I registered for every session I possibly could fit into my schedule. I was determined to soak up every ounce of inspiration. At last minute, I also signed up to see Erik Spiekermann’s talk. Obviously, I knew who Spiekermann was — Stop Stealing Sheep was …

When I first started to brainstorm new digital product ideas, I knew I wanted to create something that served creators. I quickly narrowed the target audience to entrepreneurs that wear many hats and value the quality of their work, but don’t always have hours to focus on customization. I happen to know the audience quite well, so I created a persona, named Jessica, to represent the freelance designers, web developers, and small business owners I could design for. Jessica takes pride in her business, but time is her most valuable asset. The strategy for each product idea had to help …

In case you haven’t noticed, the creator economy has exploded in recent years. In addition to providing valuable products for corporate business professionals, designers and developers have been rewarded with a unique opportunity to build tools and resources for other creatives. From custom fonts and Procreate brushes to presentation templates and brand kits, the demand for high-quality, customizable digital products has never been higher. For many graphic designers, creating digital assets and products offer respite from the daily grind, especially when the target audience shares a similar sense of style. However, there are other benefits to tapping into this unique …

In today’s content-saturated world, creating something interesting or meaningful is only half the battle — Ensuring it reaches the right audience is the elusive other half. If the process of creating a case study for a recent content series has taught me anything, it’s that a single idea can be transformed into a multi-format, weeks-long campaign. Make Your Wordmark strategically repurposes content to make it more likely that marketing executives and creative professionals get a chance to consider its main concepts. See Case Study The foundation of my campaign centers around the long-form LinkedIn article that explores the power of bespoke typography in …

I just spent the past six weeks planning a social media content series on custom typography for logo design. I carefully crafted a 2,000-word article, made umpteen revisions, and double-checked it against best practices in a concerted effort to beat the latest LinkedIn algorithms. I designed six follow-up carousel and video posts, all in support of the article, and arranged distribution on a strategic month-long calendar. The goal? Establish credibility among creative professionals and pique the interest of marketing executives.  Everything was created, uploaded, planned, locked, and loaded. The urge to publish was real. What could possibly prevent me from …

I took my first job as an Art Director in 2005. After several unsuccessful attempts at explaining what that meant to my parents, I ultimately told them it was just a fancy name for a Graphic Designer. They grasped that concept quickly, and I’ve settled on that occupational description ever since. Over the past twenty years, the title on my business card has changed from Creative Director to Owner, but I remain most comfortable referring to myself as a Graphic Designer. The title that I think describes what I do the best, though, is Communications Designer. When you break the …

Has anybody talked to their friends on Facebook recently? Me neither. It’s not that I haven’t tried. Every time I login, unfortunately, I see one person’s organic post for every five paid posts. I lose interest, and I leave to check out the scores on ESPN instead.  I’m not the only one leaving so quickly. Since 2020, Facebook has experienced a 4% drop in its American user base. That may not seem like much, but considering the U.S. is home to almost 214 million users, 4% equates to nearly 10 millions people walking away in less than 5 years. Even more …

I’ve always been a big fan of documenting the creative process. Sure, it’s extra work. It can also seem like a complete waste of time, especially when you’re on the 12th round of client changes and there’s no end in sight. Times like these make one question, if I don’t like the final solution, what am I keeping all this junk for? Still, there’s something therapeutic about tracking the journey.  Over the years, though, I’ve found my love for process has more benefits than just internal reflection — with any creative project, really, but especially with logo design. Making an effort …

“Didn’t you mention to me, once, that the MFA is the new MBA?” my twin brother, Jim, a professor of Industrial Design at Notre Dame, recently asked me. That was a few years ago, I told him, right after I read, A Whole New Mind, by Danielle H. Pink. Jim is a thoughtful and deliberate designer, so his question intrigued me. “What made you think of that?” I replied. “I just had lunch with the program director at another University. He quoted that book the entire time,” he said. How original, I thought. Don’t get me wrong, I quote authors all …

Massimo Vignelli, the iconic 20th Century corporate identity designer, famously quipped that five good fonts was all that’s needed — Futura, Times New Roman, Helvetica, Bodoni, and Century. That’s it. With those fonts, every piece of communications can be laid out. Every billboard designed. Every brand built.  What’s most interesting about Vignelli’s take on type, of course, is not the specific selection of fonts. (Personally, I would replace Helvetica with Franklin Gothic.) Instead, what historians recall the most about him is his pragmatic approach to graphic problem solving. In a field as subjective and creative as graphic design, can you imagine …

Caraluzzi’s is just like every other grocery store in America. They sell the freshest produce, and stock their shelves with the best name-brand products. The employees are friendly and helpful. They’re close and convenient. Caraluzzi’s is your friendly neighborhood market, just like Trader Joe’s. And Wegmans. And Stew Leonard’s. With so many similarities, how does one retailer stand out from the rest? For starters, they can make an emotional connection with their audience. An authentic social media campaign can help. Reliable Research Creating a compelling social media campaign is not necessarily the work of a creative genius. It takes planning, …

“See link in bio” always seemed like an unnecessary step. Whenever I come across it in social media I think, hey, doesn’t that make the path to purchase more difficult? I suppose that’s the marketer in me. Even as a designer, though, I was taught to make the user experience as seamless as possible. Isn’t clicking once so much easier than clicking twice? The problem, I’ve come to realize, is me. In both instances, I had no empathy for the user. The Social Part My education as a designer and a marketing professional led me to make a few misguided …

I had an existential fear of the alternate digital reality in 1999. If you recall, that’s the year The Matrix was released. Yes, that dystopian sci-fi thriller featuring Keanu Reaves, where humanity lives in a simulated world created by intelligent machines. In the movie, we physically “plug in” to interact with other people in a virtual existence. The plot, genius in hindsight, freaked me out. But I never actually thought it would happen. Looking around, though, seeing people walk down the street with their eyes glued to their screens, it’s not a far stretch to say that the movie’s predictions were disturbingly …

Just about every night, while I’m watching TV or reading in bed, something on her phone will inevitably make my wife giggle. Or crack up, laughing. We share a similar sense of humor, so eventually I cave and ask, what’s so funny? Check your phone, she’ll respond. I’ll click on the notification and, even though I’ve told her many times that I don’t have that app, it will be a link to a TikTok video. Should I just download it, already?! TikTok has grown to be more than just funny dance videos, of course. It’s a marketing machine. Despite the …

I had just spent the previous four weeks crafting the perfect social media campaign. That’s what I thought it was, at least.  The idea was to raise money for a local entertainment venue with an easy social challenge — help name the theater’s main stage. It was mentioned during a client conversation about branding but came to fruition in a class devoted to social media for the public good. I remember thinking, what a fantastic opportunity to test educational theory with professional practice. The concept was simple: Ask users to share their stage name idea using #upstagenewtown. Donate to the …

Has social media impacted social justice or affected global political movements? It’s a valid question. Evidence suggests it has served as a catalyst for awareness, mobilization, and change. During the Arab Spring in 2011, platforms like Twitter and Facebook undoubtedly enabled activists to share real-time updates and amplify dissatisfaction with oppressive regimes. Bilingual users helped to bridge language barriers and facilitate global engagement with hashtags such as #Egypt and #Libya (Bruns et al., 1993). However, digging further into the use of such hashtags reveals that global participation was not particularly “active.” In fact, local uprisings may not have needed social media …

Among my favorite developer acronyms is GUI. It’s fun to say, short, easy to remember, and quickly references the thing a digital designer is most likely to be working on, the Graphical User Interface. Spelling it out takes a whole three syllables, so those in the industry lovingly pronounce it with two instead — gooey. Without getting into the nuances of website or interface design, the purpose of every decision is to make the interface intuitive. It should be easy to navigate and interact with. Since most screen devices now combine images and icons with text, the term isn’t as …

Carved into the theoretical Mount Rushmore of most horrifying humans would be Adolph Hitler, Osama bin Laden, Genghis Kahn, and… Joseph Kony? While the first three inductees are immortalized in history books, the last is an outlier. Kony was made famous by social media’s ability to go viral. In 2012, filmmaker Jason Russell created a documentary-style YouTube video highlighting the atrocities of the Ugandan guerilla group leader. In, Kony 2012, Russel attempts to raise awareness and, ultimately, get viewers to take political action. Within a week, the video was viewed over 112 million times. Since then, it has been deemed a landmark …

How Social Media Helps to Mobilize Movements A consequential role of the Legislative Branch is to check the power of the Executive Branch. So, when Congress allows a President to circumvent approved legislation, the foundational balance of power is fundamentally demolished. In other words, there’s never been a more important time in history to stand up for Democracy in America. With Constitutional freedoms in question almost daily, can social media activism help mobilize networks to fight for change? Activists are wise to leverage social media for one simple reason — it makes action easier. Not easy. Not simple. Just, easier. Importantly, activism …

How social media can help create positive change. Doom is synonymous with unavoidable ill fortune. As in, oh no, I didn’t start my homework until the last minute. I’m doomed. On social media, it’s called “doomscrolling” because, apparently, nothing good can be accomplished by compulsively scrolling through negative news or distressing content. Or can it?  We scroll to escape the present and, in doing so, often discover what’s trending. Activism doesn’t have time to wait until the 5 o’clock news. Social media provides real-time information on the issues of the day. It can supply all the inspiration needed to take action, oftentimes …

LinkedIn is my go-to social media destination for discovering new business opportunities. Unlike other platforms, users network, engage, and communicate with their careers in mind, making it a more professional online experience. While it originally acted as a resource primarily for job seekers, members now use it to share industry news and insights, increase brand awareness, and connect with potential collaborators. For my business, Map Agency, it’s relatively easy to find and connect with customers. Since interest-based targeted advertising has become one of the platform’s offerings, however, I’ve noticed that my personal account gets tracked by other businesses more frequently. …