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Hello, we're GoGo Graphics - providing professional graphic design services to Canmore, Banff, Calgary and beyond.

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April 20, 2018 By GoGo Graphics

Energizing Orange

Since I love working with colour so much, I decided to take on the colour orange as a blog topic.

Orange is glowing like the autumn leaves and sunsets at sea, vital and tangy like the colours of flowers and fruit, and dramatic in a way that’s not as strong as red, since it’s tempered by containing more yellow. You could say it’s a bit more fun or flippant.

Orange and it’s paler counterparts peach, apricot and coral are stimulating colours, stimulating the mood and the appetite in most of us. For that reason, along with red and yellow, it’s often used in food and beverage signage and menus.

It has been called outgoing, uninhibited and free, promoting conversation and social interaction.

“In colour psychology, the colour orange is optimistic and uplifting – it lifts our spirits…adding spontaneity and a positive way of looking at life.”

It’s said it increases the oxygen supply to the brain and stimulates mental activity. It encourages activity and sociality, and increases creativity.

It can be fun and flamboyant, warm and happy. Kids love it.

I can hardly believe this, but it’s one of the colours apparently least-liked by adults, both men and women. I personally don’t get it. I’m one of the orange-lovers as opposed to orange-haters, but it obviously makes people feel strongly, one way or the other.

As it’s a strong colour and evokes strong feelings (sometimes not positive ones as illustrated by the orange-haters), in web design we use it sparingly as perhaps a heading colour to draw attention to a topic on a website.

Then again, Home Depot uses it as their main logo colour – probably because it’s an attention-grabbing colour and their logo is designed to inspire activity and productivity, especially within the home.

Another example of orange used in logos is Gatorade – connected with athletics and fitness, it promotes activity and energy.

I’m good with it, but this research serves to inform us that depending on your company, product or purpose, it may not be the best choice for your imagery as a business – unless you’re in the youth market, or food & beverage market.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

black and white ad2

January 9, 2018 By GoGo Graphics

Black and white, greyscale or colour?

What should it be? The recommendation I make is buy big ads and pay for colour. When buying a newspaper ad, deciding between greyscale and colour may be a difficult decision to make if the newspaper is adding a hefty colour charge to your ad cost. You can see with this example which one packs the most punch.

If you want to go with the cheapest price in this case, I would say your resulting ad will not be as successful as the colour version.

Then again, there are ways to explore making this work for you in black and white in another way, by converting the photograph to art shapes. This will depend on the product or image you have and what your message will be.

Sometimes simple is good if you have an image easily translated to art shapes.

Maybe your neighbourhood coffee shop is trying to get you to their new location. Here’s a very basic example using a photo taken of the outside of the business so you can recognize the shop on the street. Start with the converted photo, add the logo and message, and you see it is a clean attractive way to go and you save the cost of the colour charges!

black&white ad by GoGo Graphics

Let your designer guide you – they will be looking at you and/or your product with fresh eyes and their job is to portray your materials in the most eye-catching way possible. Maybe the ad above could have been a photograph of logo’d coffee cup instead – still having the address big enough to draw the eye at the end of the ad; so you need to be willing to explore options that could be more interesting than you originally thought about.

black&white ad2 by GoGo Graphics

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

I love rocks - blog by Sally Garen, GoGo Graphics

November 6, 2017 By GoGo Graphics

There’s something about rocks…

I love rocks - blog by Sally Garen, GoGo Graphics

Rocks rock! I have always loved rocks. As a youngster I had rock collections in old cigar boxes, all sectioned off and labelled with the type of rock specimen it was. When I got to high school I took some geology to learn more and my love of rocks remains.

They’re so visually interesting because when faced with a ‘field’ of them, they are so varied in colour, shape, texture and size.

You wonder where they came from, how they were formed and how long they’ve been there.

They’re tangible. I love to hold them in my hand – I feel like I’m connected to the earth by doing so. I like to feel their weight. They are solid, strong and durable, so I guess that’s where the saying ‘Solid as a rock’ comes from.

I like that rock is old – much older than we are. It seems to me that rocks must ‘live’ forever.

What would we do without rocks? We crush them into concrete, we make counter tops with them, we mine their minerals for health, we mine their gems for commerce, and we carve them for art.

I think it’s safe to say, they’ll be with us a long time and we will no doubt find more uses for them than ever!

For myself, I’m happy to look at them and enjoy them as I find them.

*And I try not to bring too many home!

mountain stream with rock song

If it weren’t for the rocks in its bed, the stream would have no song.
Carl Perkins

Filed Under: Uncategorized

inspiration

October 5, 2017 By GoGo Graphics

Inspiration

inspirationIt’s been a while since I posted a blog. There are lots of excuses – I was busy, there were other things to do, summer came and went, but I simply wasn’t inspired.

Now I’m newly inspired again – mainly due to a creative conference I attended recently. You find little nuggets of wisdom in the things that come up – like the image featured here.

It was a slide from one of the presentations I attended, reminding us that ‘creativity is just making interesting connections between things’. This is inspiration because although I knew that, this reminded me to look for those visceral connections in visuals, verbiage and styles in the creative process of a project.

Inspiration came from knowing that other creatives are dealing with the same things as I am, like hearing them admit that playfulness and fun need to be a big part of their day. The same presenter who created this slide said, “The more fun and play in my work the better people respond to the end result”. It’s OK to joke around and ‘play’ with the material to see what comes out of it. It will often bring something out you may have missed, and if not you at least had a little fun in the process.

Another message I took away was that collaboration is actually inspiration. To collaborate is to be inspired by others and their ideas, whether it’s with a client or another creative person. It reminded me that it makes my job easier to really listen and collaborate with my clients – leading to a better result in that we’re not just making something ‘pretty’, we are putting heart and soul into it and communicating that message.

So with a little fun and collaboration, the creativity and inspiration will come! Works for me!

I’ll be looking for more inspiration by staying connected with my creative community at other upcoming events.

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Uncategorized

Adobe Max conference, aerial sculpture by Janet Echelman

November 21, 2016 By GoGo Graphics

Sky magic

Adobe Max conference, aerial sculpture by Janet EchelmanTo see is to be inspired.

True inspiration comes from seeing things like this that are so visually appealing that they feel like magic. The example shown above is contemporary art supported by amazing engineering.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Web Design

You know it's summer when...

July 21, 2016 By GoGo Graphics

A Summer Day

Policemans Creek, Canmore, Alberta in Sally's blog 'Summer in the Mountains'

It’s tentative and it’s temporary.

This is an example of a summer day in Canmore. Summer is so tentative in the mountains, so temporary as to be something to be treasured when you happen upon a scene like this. So now you know where I’m coming from – this beautiful town in the Rocky Mountains.

Continue Reading

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Web Design

GoGo Graphics design collage of the colour purple

February 10, 2016 By GoGo Graphics

“The Colour Purple”

GoGo Graphics design collage of the colour purpleI seem to have the colour purple present in my mind lately.

It’s an under-used, less-understood colour than the reds and blues used prominently throughout graphic design in logos and advertising of all kinds.

And yet, the colour purple is commanding, because it’s made up of both red and blue. So it has the excitement and noticeability of red, and contains the tones of tranquil blue. It’s a glorious powerhouse of a colour with it’s own range of undertones, from daring to calming.

It can be contemplative, regal, sensual, spiritual, elegant and radiant.

It is unique, creative, sophisticated, genteel and strong.

Lavender is it’s softer side, a sweeter, more genteel and delicate shade associated with scents and flowers.

The psychological impacts of purple cannot be ignored. Purple invokes feelings and perceptions of:

  • royalty
  • wealth
  • sophistication
  • wisdom
  • exotic
  • spiritual
  • prosperity
  • respect
  • mystery

Purple combines the stability of blue and the energy of red. Maybe it’s suitable as one of the colours for your venture…think about it. If a lot of your competitors use blue for example, you’ll stand out among them by using purple. 

Contact GoGo Graphics for some help. Call 1.403.688.5781 or email us now.

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Web Design Tagged With: advertising, colours, design services, marketing

GoGo Graphics helps you get the word out with expert marketing skills!

February 4, 2016 By GoGo Graphics

Getting the Word Out; The Fine Art of Marketing

GoGo Graphics helps you get the word out with expert marketing skills!In my experience, marketing can be a real conundrum. How does one market a business, a non-profit group, a product or set of services effectively?

Where do you start? How do you create a marketing campaign? How do you reach your target audience?

When you don’t know where to start, have a look at the profile of your business or non-profit.

Some key questions must be addressed to find direction:

• What image do you want to project? Do any of your current materials portray that image? Eg Your logo, business card, website or other pieces? Do you have any of these pieces? Or do they need refreshing?

• Do you want to advertise in print or online? Who is your target audience; in other words, who is your ideal customer and where are they? Where can they be reached? How will the advertising communicate to them?

• What can you offer your target audience that is unique to your venture? How does it address what your audience may be looking for (and maybe not even not know it)? What’s your story?

• What is your objective – your goal for the advertising – what do you want your audience to think, feel or do?

• What’s the most important thing to say (or show)? What are the most compelling reasons for your audience to believe, to try, to buy?

• What do you need and when?

• Do you have a budget?

Still need some help?

A creative company like ours can help. With over 10 years experience, we know about media and producing the kinds of projects for your campaign that will address your needs most effectively, and begin to bring you the results you’re looking for.

Contact GoGo Graphics for some help. Call 1.403.688.5781 or email us now.

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Uncategorized Tagged With: advertising, marketing

January 20, 2016 By GoGo Graphics

The cost of graphic design services

 

New Canadian plastic 100 dollar

Everyone needs to know the bottom line…and a frequent question is “How much will it cost?”.  There isn’t an easy answer in most cases…

The only way designers can charge for their services is to charge by time spent. Each project has it’s own requirements and sometimes there is a more direct route than at other times to the end result. Therefore, we provide you an estimate based on the scope of the job as we see it, and describe the parameters and the process to you. We will normally take a 50% deposit for the estimated amount at the start of work, with the balance to be adjusted up or down accordingly at the time of final billing.

If an unexpected issue arises during the project that was not apparent at the time of estimating that affects your bottom line, we will discuss it with you as soon as the issue becomes apparent.

We ask your timeline and arrange our work schedule accordingly. We keep you abreast of work progress and get approvals from you each step throughout the project, start to finish.

Once the project is complete, we will send you the final files and expect timely payment in return. And we accept Visa and Mastercard for your convenience!

Request an estimate on your project today or email us now.

Filed Under: Graphic Design, Web Design Tagged With: costs, design services, project estimates, Websites

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