Once upon a time, this very popular illustrator/designer named Von Glitschka created a website to sell logos for $5. The kicker is that he would only spend 5 minutes on each one and there would be no revisions allowed. It was done out of frustration from what he calls ‘cheap a** clients’. However, for fans […]
GOP Candidates & the Obama Design Aesthetic
I couldn’t help but notice a few striking similarities between current GOP candidate websites and Obama’s 2008 campaign website and the current White House website. Glowing Blue Background It seems that the new political design trend is going to be glowing backgrounds. Most of the candidate’s sites use a glowing blue background of some sort […]
Social Media & Brands
Just yesterday, I spoke to Lambda Pi Eta, the communication department’s honor society at Truman State University. I was connected to them by fellow Mountain Dew and Twitter addict, Don Krause (@santee). I was über nervous about speaking, as I always am, but I think I overcame that fear. I talked about my experience with […]
The political impact of design on people
Since the 2008 presidential election, I have become aware of design in politics and how the quality and effectiveness of the design effects particular candidates. As designers, we have a lot of responsibility to design for the greater good and not put forth an image (both meanings of the word) that is misleading, untrue or […]
StephenEmlund.com through the years
It’s been almost 6 years since I originally launched StephenEmlund.com. This October, I redesigned my website for the first time ever. I have been surprised how well my website has held up to all the design trends in the last 6 years. Of course, it’s because I made the website very minimalistic. Although orange was […]
Letterhead, Envelope & Business Cards
Creative Improv started over a year ago as a way for Michael Goldsmith and I to work together and provide web, print and identity design to clients. It has been a joy to continue to work closely with ‘Goldie’. It feels like a dream come true, to be crazy busy with design for such a […]
A look back: 2008 Presidential election
Since it seems like my six-part series on the 2008 presidential election has disappeared within my blog, I wanted to re-highlight it since I spent hours researching various aspects of that election. This series focuses on the websites of Sen. John McCain and then-Sen. Barrack Obama. It was a culmination of a semester of research […]
Publish the Gecko
Michael and I at CreativeImprov.com just recently completed a project for PublishtheGecko.com and GeckoMath.com. This project was inspired by Jamie Varon and her popular website TwitterShouldHireMe.com Jamie gained publicity from CNN, Fortune Magazine and many others for her straightforward approach to finding a job. I first found out about her by Dr. Grow, an education […]
Branding, Clients, Creative Improv, Design Concept/Ideas, Logo Design, Print Design, Redesign, The Design Process, Website Design
Parallax View Band design process
A few months ago, when Creative Improv was in it’s infancy, the Parallax View project came our way at just the right time. I had wanted to work on this project since high school. I knew Ben & Seth in high school and thought it would be cool to do a website for them back […]
Someone once said…
Design is the silent ambassador of your brand. —Paul Rand I think this is important because your brand consists of the quality of your product or service not how great the design of your brochure, website or packaging is. A great design can only go so far, while a great brand must be the guiding […]