Call for Entries to the First Annual AIGA San Diego NoGo Logo Exhibit & Awards Show

NOGO LOGO is the show where NO client dares to go! We’ve heard it all:

“Can you make the logo bigger”?
“Can I add a gradient”?
“Can you change that font”?
“I don’t know what I want, but it’s not this.”
“Is that the color you’re going to use”?
“Can I see a couple more versions”?
“Please put a bevel and a drop shadow on that.”

Professionals and Students Welcome!
For everyone from local San Diego graphic designers, design enthusiasts and party animals to AIGA members and random passersby that like to have a good time — this is the event to be at and be seen at. Honestly — you will be pissed off all day on Friday if you miss it! We want to see all the great logos you’ve designed that didn’t get picked. The more logos that compete – the better. Bring it on.

Hors d’oeuvres and a host beer and wine bar will be available. All attendees will receive 2 free drink tickets and a chance to vote for the best logos that weren’t a “GO.” The designer of the winning entry will receive $100 as first prize and be prominently featured on the San Diego AIGA Web site, along with the other 20 most voted for entries.

How much?
$10 per submission.

What format do I send?
Submit B/W or color, see PDF for mounting instructions.

When are they due?
By 6 pm September 28, 2009 – Don’t forget to sign up by then to avoid paying more money at the door. So hurry up and REGISTER please! Check out our event on Facebook — you can RSVP to the event, make a comment letting us know how excited you are, upload a funny video, even upload picture(s) of your Logo(s) that you are entering or thinking of entering and we’ll let you know what we think!!

Where do I send my logos?
Jacob Tyler Creative Group
1501 Front Street, unit 107
San Diego, CA 92101

AIGA SAN DIEGO NoGo Logo Exhibit & Awards
October 1, 2009
6pm – 9pm

Hive Haus
770 11th Ave
San Diego, CA 92101
(Parking Available)

Just added! Logo Lounge is officially sponsoring the Nogo Logo event and giving a 1 year free membership to the recipient of the first annual Nogo Logo AIGA San Diego Award.

Register Online:
AIGA Members / IDSA Members / Students: $10
General Public & At the Door: $15

by Jonathan Marshall

This morning I read an interesting blog byRebecca Appleton from Search Marketing Standard that discusses search engine optimization’s role in Web Design. Factors such as timing, amount of flash and session ID’s can all have an impact on your SEO campaign. Regardless of how competitive or unique your keyword list may be- there will always be competing websites, and they will always be making a push toward their top position in ranking. SEO Campaigns are designed to make a formerly invisible site appear in the results of the search engines, but even a well-executed campaign won’t compensate for a poorly designed website. Appleton goes on to talk about some of these design factors that can make or break your SEO strategies in her blog below.

Although traditional search engine optimization methods are paramount to increased web visibility and better site structure, design and usability factors also play an essential role – not just for site improvements but also as part of the overall user experience. This is a critical metric as a positive experience will drive stronger conversion rates.

Poor design will seriously inhibit search engine rankings with an unsuitable URL structure, too much flash animation and a lack of original content and keyword focus making it difficult for the search engines to make sense of what the page is about. If they can’t get an accurate picture of page theme, it’s difficult to justify inclusion in relevant search results.

Lack of Design and SEO Synergy

The easiest design-related mistake to make is to bring in a search engine optimization team after the designer has finished his work. If the SEO consultant only arrives after navigation, titles, headings and internal links have been finalized, important keywords are likely to have been missed out of the site’s cornerstone navigation architecture. Without these signposts, the end user may also find it difficult to seek out the desired information.

Too Much Flash

Too much flash animation is a second design error that can cause problems when it comes to optimization of the site. While a flash move is aesthetically appearing and will add a visually interesting element to the home page or product pages, too much flash will shroud the site in a veil of secrecy. While search engines are getting closer to being able to build an accurate picture of a page from flash coding, it’s unrealistic to expect a site that is heavily flash focused will rank well for dozens of keywords and synonyms. There is no need to steer away from Flash entirely when designing a site but, the visual benefits must be played off against meaningful HTML and text based content.

Splash Pages

Like flash, a splash page may be introduced in to the site design because of its visual impact. We’ll often see a splash page being used as a sales tool to flag up special offers or sale dates. A splash page may well use a flash movie with a link to skip the animation or, may simply be a large graphic with a link to click through to enter the main site. The problem with these pages is the lack of keyword focused content and cross-links needed for effective on page optimization.

Session IDs

A session ID is a unique identifier for each visitor, allowing site owners to chart the user’s journey from start to finish. Session IDs are common for e-commerce sites as they can be used to see what is added and removed from a cart during the user’s time on site. However, since a session ID is tacked on to the end of each URL, each session ID effectively creates a new duplicate page. The URL up to the session ID is the same, the content on page is the same, but the ID is unique to each visit so will be different. This creates a massive duplicate content issue – a problem which search engine’s penalize heavily and one that has caused many an SEO expert hours of lost sleep searching for a viable resolution. Even for small sites this is a big problem as each search engine visit will generate a whole new set of duplicate pages. When the search engines realize this, pages will be dropped and positions will fall. Restoring this broken trust is a massive task that may take months if not years of ethical search engine optimization.

Poor URL Structures

URL structure is very easy to get wrong at the design stage, particularly if a list of keywords and important phrases hasn’t yet been drawn up. As pages are named and navigation structures set up, the use of badly designed URLs can very quickly permeate throughout the site. Poor URL structures include the use of session IDs as mentioned above, the use of characters such as &%*, using only keywords, too many parameters, and using numbers instead of words.

For more information, visit Appleton’s blog and check out Search Marketing Standard for the latest tools, trends, industry news and more.

by Jonathan Marshall

COVERPLAY, Jacob Tyler’s web design and brand strategy client and now Shark Tank entrepreneurs appeared on ABC’s hit TV show The Shark Tank last night. COVERPLAY business partners, Allison Costa and Amy Feldman impressed the Shark Tank investors with their business savvy and the potential of their product. COVERPLAY had the investors scrambling to come up with competing investment offers in the company.

Feldman and Costa created a sanitary cover that is used to cover a child’s play pen to protect them from bacteria and illness. The original idea came to Costa while staying in hotels with her twin babies, she realized there is a definite need for a slipcover to go over a child’s playpen. The inferior playpen provided by many hotels were full of germs and stains. Jacob Tyler Creative Group created the COVERPLAY brand and filmed the Video and pitch that was used to land their Shark Tank debut.

Feldman and Costa initially asked the Sharks for $350k for a 15% stake in their company. In the Shark Tank, the two San Diego business women had multiple ensuing offers from the Sharks, including attempts from all three investors at upwards of $500,000. Finally Allison and Amy chose to go with Barbara Corcoran, who offered $350,000 at 40% interest in the company.

by Jonathan Marshall

Because I like to end the week on a cultural high note I included this inspiring TV spot from SKOF snacks. Borderline talent- everybody has it, and SKOF knows it. They are reaching out to their target audience by asking them to send in videos displaying their “borderline talent.”

As an advertising agency, the amount of creative freedom you have when you are promoting a product like snacks/chips is just plain ridiculous. It’s a common knowledge product, has been around for a long time, and exists in a saturated market. They could have gone pretty much anywhere with this campaign- and that’s exactly what they did. Saatchi & Saatchi uses the idea of “borderline talent” in this video not just because it is funny, but because it is relative. Like I said earlier, everyone has some kind of borderline talent, and as weird, random, inappropriate or stupid as it might be- it is still acceptable in this contest. I mean- it’s obvious that when you set the bar as high as SKOF did with this Ping Pong farting video, contestants will have to dig deep and send only their best borderline talent if they expect to win….

Anyway, as ridiculous and over-the-top as this video may seem, it definitely makes people remember SKOF, a new-comer into the snacks arena, and allows for their target audience to participate and become involved with the brand. In only 24 hours, it already has over 1,200 views on YouTube. Pretty bold move with this one, but I like it- Tip of the cap to the creative agency Saatchi & Saatchi.