Website, Packaging and Graphic Design | Tips, Tutorials & News

White Label WordPress to Brand it as Your Own

November 22, 2011/0 Comments/in Opinion, Web Design/by Matt Everley

A colleague and I recently had a discussion around this question: What is the possibility of white-labeling WordPress to brand it as our own?

The answer she found was a plugin created and available through Video User Manuals called White Label CMS.

This is a great plugin and I think it definitely adds a nice touch to a client’s admin panel, making them feel it’s customized for them. I also like how it has an option for “Hide the nag update” which is great because it disables the “You are using WP version 3.x, please update to the latest version” which tends to throw clients into a tizzy. Using this plugin for this purpose adds an extra little step in the WordPress setup, but I think it goes a long way and is well worth the added effort. Read more

All Fired Up About Customer Loyalty Programs

November 7, 2011/0 Comments/in Opinion/by Matt Everley

I recently went to lunch at Firehouse Subs in my little city of Hickory, NC. I’ve been carrying around a customer loyalty card for at least 2 years now, which says if I buy 7 meal combos, I get the 8th one for free. I knew I was getting close to my freebie and after I ordered my meal, I presented the bent and wallet-worn card to the cashier for her to give me my final stamp. But to my dismay, she says, “we don’t take those anymore, nor do we give out any more stamps.” What !?! How do you not stamp my customer loyalty card? I’ve been coming here steadily for the past couple of years, doesn’t that make me loyal!?! Read more

5 FREE and EASY Ways to Promote Your Web Site

October 25, 2011/0 Comments/in SEO, Web Design/by Matt Everley

Promote your web site

So you just created a fabulous new web site for your business… now what? If you build it they will come? Not really. The following presents a helpful list of “free” and “easy” tips and tactics to promote your web site. Why are “free” and “easy” in quotation marks you ask? Ahh, yes, because nothing is really free and easy these days. These are relative terms of course. The list below takes time and energy, and although these don’t cost money in a literal sense, they do take time and strategy. And as far as being easy, I say that loosely because they are intended as things you—the non-professional web designer/developer or do-it-yourselfer—should be able to do on your own. However, the items below are things you might want to pay someone who knows what he/she is doing better than you, as with any other undertaking. Read more

Hickory NC Designer Wins Three American Graphic Design Awards

October 6, 2011/0 Comments/in Branding/by Matt Everley

HICKORY, NC Matt Everley, of Hickory, NC-based graphic design studio m.e.designlab, was recently selected as a winner for three 2011 American Graphic Design Awards by a nationwide panel of judges. The awards recognize excellence in communication and graphic design.

The competition was presented by Graphic Design USA Magazine. A highly selective 15% of the 8,000+ entries were honored this year. Everley’s winning entries were created as the logo for All Gamers Club, Inc. of Hickory, NC; a pocket folder design for NineSigma, Inc. of Cleveland, OH; and the annual report design for The North Carolina Minority Support Center of Durham, NC. The selected pieces and design credits will be featured in GDUSA’s December issue, “2011 Design Annual” and can be viewed online at www.gdusa.com.

Everley has won numerous awards for logos, web sites, direct mail and corporate identity systems including several previous American Graphic Design Awards in the last 8 years. He resides in Hickory with his wife and three daughters.

Matt’s portfolio can be viewed at www.matte69.sg-host.com. For more information, call 828-441-0010.

PROS and CONS of Submitting RFP’s for Contracting Design Work

August 17, 2011/0 Comments/in Opinion/by Matt Everley

As an independent web and graphic design consultant, I am frequently provided with RFP’s (Requests for Proposals) to provide design and visual branding services. These often are accompanied by requests for printing or web design, development and programming. For the most part, I decline to provide a proposal back to the one who sent the RFP, as seen in some of the cons listed below. However, I do feel the RFP process is important in organizing a web or print project budget, initial project scope, and any deliverables up front in order to get a ballpark estimate. Read more