If you think of dating as a metaphor for direct response marketing

If you work in my industry, online marketing, and specifically direct response marketing design, there is a mantra and even an acronym for elements being above the fold (ATF).

It is a term that has been carried over from the newspaper print world where the most important piece of information or an enticing image had to be above the line where a newspaper would naturally be folded in a newsstand; the purpose then was that if you enticed them enough, they would buy the whole paper. View Full Portfolio Piece

Defining Your Specific Value Proposition

In the Heuristic we are using:

C = 4m + 3v + 2(i-f) – 2a

Wherein:

C = Probability of conversion
m = Motivation of user (when)
v = Clarity of the value proposition
i = Incentive to take action
f = Friction elements of process
a = Anxiety about entering information

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This article is the first in a series of articles to help readers use some of the best practices for Direct Online Marketing Design.

Small businesses delving into online marketing often take for granted how important design is to an overall online marketing campaign.  If you are going to succeed you’ll need to tackle the sometimes daunting world of online marketing, from email to websites to social media, it is the fastest growing advertising channel.

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This is a guide that I developed in order to get a stronger sense of the process that is needed to be followed in order to take a project from creative brief to quality deliverables in an efficient manner.

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A post from my friend and co-worker Ben – thanks Ben!

Are you getting bored with Illustrator? Pen tool giving you a cramp? Still trying to find a use for those warp tools? Let’s face it, you can only do so much with the tool set that Adobe has provided us… But what if there was a way to make your own tools and filters in Illustrator? Well congratulations, your about to find out how.

Scriptographer is a FREE plugin for Adobe Illustrator. It basically makes Illustrator open-source. When you download and install the plugin, you’ll notice some new things in the illustrator interface. There will be two new tools at the bottom of your tools pallet. These tools are like a blank slate just waiting for you to tell them what to do. Use the Scriptographer window (Window/Scriptographer/Main) to attach a Javascript file to the tools.. And oiala! You’ve got some new tools to play with.
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The secret is to think like a designer!

Here is Ideo’s five-point model for strategizing by design.

Edward Tufte:

I was unpacking my books last weekend and rediscovered this book. Many of you might have heard of him already – but essentially he is the father of Information Design. I would argue that Information Design is the umbrella under which all design falls under, it distinguishes art from design through the specific process of the communication of information (although of course this argument is not water tight but that is a discussion for another time.)
Much of his work focuses on the relationship between Quantitative information and the text and graphics that are used to inform others about this information, One of the themes of Tufte’s work is the relationship between graphics and Text (for him graphics were bar charts and graphs etc etc but for us they could just as well be layout and color scheme). One of his major tenets is that one should reduce to clarify the message or information, and that in order to be successful in information design both analogue and digital info (or graphics and text if you like) need to support each other (and I am simplifying this ) and that they need to be created with a singular goal – to convey in the information a quickly and clearly as possible.
I recommend anyone checking out this book – if information design theory sounds dry and unappealing – then the many beautiful illustration of successful information design are worth the flip through alone.

This is an article from one of the people at Campaign Monitor (who are leaders as far as Todd (again another person who has helped me understand some of the basics of programming and always has time for my inane questions thanks Todd) our programmer for Brooks Bell is concerned) in the HTML email design and deliverability field. Some really good standard email rules for our clients as well as design ideas (with screenshots aplenty!)

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Make the click worth their time: By Scott Meldrum

“Before making a deeper connection, consumers want to have confidence that their clicking time is worth the effort. HypeCouncil’s founder shows how to make them glad they said yes to your brand.”

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This is an Email that I wrote working at Brooks Bell – where I am currently at – stating my opinions on the usefulness of blogs and I think the points are salient for ones own personal development in any given field
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