Comments on: The Bitch Slap: What the HELL Are You Doing?

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:36:05 +0000

I just threw up a little bit…

How do you say “You're fired” in Spanish?

By: Matt Heller

Matt Heller — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:33:48 +0000

Yes. It was a forest green with too much yellow and not enough black in it, so it came out in a tone that was just off in every way. Not solid and dark enough to be a “strong” color, not clean and bright enough to be a “soft” color. Communicated nothing about the design ethos of the business (a one-man ad agency, of all things).

And did I mention it was paired with creamsicle orange . . .?

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:23:29 +0000

Oh, hell yes. Thanks for the addition! Muddy green? Bleh…

By: Matt Heller

Matt Heller — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 19:16:03 +0000

A month late and a dollar short, here's another business card "don't" from a graphic designer:

Dark colored paper/printing that floods the back of your card and/or covering the back of your card with as much content as the front.

Why? The person you just gave the card to cannot jot any notes down on that business card. Ever. Have you ever cleaned out a wallet flush with cards? And decide which to keep in the wallet? And would you really keep that card with the eggplant purple backside, as opposed to the clean white one?

Had a client that insisted on a deep muddy green for both sides . . . complete muck, and the quickest discard by his clients I'd ever seen . . .

By: DIY looks like shit – Stephen Frost

DIY looks like shit – Stephen Frost — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 04:48:15 +0000

[...] In Redhead Writing today: “do what YOU do. Leverage others to make you look good getting it done.” Good point addressing one of my major dilemmas. I need to refresh myself on the lessons I learned while working for a magazine. Richmond used to have a popular independent newspaper, mostly dedicated to humor. Its demise resulted from its willingness to offer itself freely not only to its readers, but also to its advertisers. Or, rather, its advertisers began paying in gift certificates rather than cash. Sounds like a pretty bad move, right? But they were also dealing with unpaid staff and could likely get more perceived value out of a bunch of free haircuts than distributing ad revenue. They had to hold on to their staff that wasn’t entirely dedicated, they were printing in color, running syndicated content, and crashed. [...]

By: When DIY Is Not AOK - Ph Communications

When DIY Is Not AOK - Ph Communications — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 04:27:03 +0000

[...] inspired by another blog I frequent, Redhead Writing, written by Erika Napoletano. In her post on Tuesday, May 25th, she went off on all the cheap crap some professionals use to market themselves, such as junky logo [...]

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:54:38 +0000

YUP. #dumb

By: ab

ab — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 18:10:05 +0000

is it just me or does everyone else think that it's even more lame to have a domain name and use it for website but then give @hotmail / @aohell / @whateverelse for contact address?

By: The Redhead

The Redhead — Sun, 30 May 2010 07:32:48 +0000

Reminds me of a current fave Crash Test Dummies tune Afternoons & Coffee Spoons: “Some day I'll wear…pajamas in the daytime”

Too many people forget to unwrap the package. Great point!

By: Alysson

Alysson — Sat, 29 May 2010 22:26:25 +0000

When I was a kid I used to go WAY above and beyond from a presentation standpoint. Whether it was a book report or a science project, mine always looked awesome. Book reports were always typed, always had presentation folders, included pretty cover sheets, pictures …the whole 9 yards. It didn't take me long to realize that teachers graded as much on appearance as they did on actual content, even when there was no presentation requirement specified in the assignment.

In middle school I once embedded a smartass remark in a report just to see if my teacher actually read the whole thing. It said, “If you're actually reading this sentence, circle it. This is a test. Let's see if you pass. And if you do, I expect to get an 'F' on this paper for having doubted your commitment.” I was half hoping to get the paper back with a big red “F” atop the page. It didn't happen.

That taught me an important life lesson. You can wrap shit in a pretty package and a lot of people won't bother to look close enough to realize it's shit. Why would a potential client spend more on a suit than they do on marketing? Because an expensive suit makes them appear professional. And all they care about is the appearance of professionalism. Actually BEING professional? That takes too much commitment.

They can have the suits that make them look professional. I'd rather BE professional in my PJs.