I’m sure you have been hearing the buzz behind Facebook releasing the newest move to timeline on their pages. Yes there are pros and cons, people are either angry or excited. We could talk about it but everyone already is let’s do something about it. Let’s dive in and make our timelines beautiful!

5 key items to be aware of

March 30th! – Everyone will be switched so start planning now!

Cover Photo – Dimensions for the large cover image is 851 x 315 pixels.

Follow the Rules! – The rules for cover photos >> no ads, no call to actions, no contact info, no mention of like or share. Nothing word based. Read more.

Profile Photos – The photo you upload must be at least 180 x 180 pixels

No more landing pages - But people are still coming up with some great ways to use the landing page app to create buttons on their favorite section

Want some Great Examples?

I started to through some samples of great Brand Timelines from Facebook on this post but as I was looking for articles to give me clues to who had already switched I found no post. Okay I found a couple posts but I was surprised at how hard it was to find good examples and to find who had switched over. So I decided to write a second post listing up to 60 different Timelines you should check out. So make sure and check out The Ultimate List of 60 Amazing Brand Timelines on Facebook.

How Can You Get an Amazing Timeline? Check out Uniquehorn Designs

As the owner and designer of Uniquehorn Designs I am giving one lucky reader the chance to win their own Timeline Cover Photo Design from Uniquehorn Designs. Three runner ups will also get 50% off a Timeline Design.

You provide your logo in high resolution or vector format. You let me know what you want on your timeline and I will design a cover photo that you will love (and is within the Facebook guidelines)!

Enter to Win

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Once the contest ends you will be contacted and you will have 24 hours to respond to retrieve your prize.

How do you make your customers or readers remember you and your blog or business? How do you make them know instantly that they have arrived at your website, twitter feed or facebook page?

You create a logo that your visitors remember and associate with you and your business. Branding can be one of the most important steps when creating a business. Sometimes this can even make or break your business.

One way that you brand your business visually is by creating a logo for your company.

I have heard advice throughout the web on how to make a logo or brand for your business or blog. Not all of these suggestion for logos are good ideas.

We will be talking about 4 ways of creating a brand or logo and the pros and cons of each option.

1. Use your picture

I’ve actually seen a few suggestions to use your picture to represent you, your blog or your business. The thought behind this is that it is more personal. People really like to see a face behind a business.

You could also do this for very cheap by just taking a photo of yourself, but unless you are an excellent photographer I would not recommend using your own photos. You don’t want to use a bad photo to represent you and your business.

What is the first impression a bad photo is going to give? Is that photo going to be remembered? In a good way?

Another issue with using your photo is that your personal image and your face are constantly changing. Think about your drivers license. Do you still look like that person in that picture?

If you are using your photo on your business cards (and even as a blogger you should have business cards) or on your website or your twitter you will want to keep it up to date. With business cards this can start becoming expensive.

This also runs into the trouble where you are trying to make a “look” that your readers or customers remember. But it will make it harder for them to remember your logo if it is constantly changing.

Let’s now talk about the biggest issue with using your picture. This is not a logo. A logo should be simple, clean, and should be able to go from color to black and white (think photocopy). Obviously a photo is not a logo. It can be used in your branding but you should have a logo that can stand alone also.

2. Use a stock image or premade logo

Something I see constantly, especially in the blogging world, are “logos” created from stock images. This can be an inexpensive option especially when you are starting out.

But everybody is doing it and don’t be surprised when you are browsing the Internet and you find somebody using the same logo as you.

You will also lose a little bit of that personal feeling when people see an image that closely represents you but isn’t quite right. Then if they happen to find the same image on another website they will feel even less connected to you and your brand.

Stock images also have limitations on their licenses. Make sure and read the fine type. You may be limited to the number of printings you can have or limited on where and when you can use the image. Be careful.

3. Hire your brother or a friend

This could be a great option for you. A friend may offer to create a logo for free or a discounted rate. But you have a couple negative outcomes that could show up.

Sometimes your friend may think they know how to make a logo, but you may find that they don’t create it in the correct format so you may have to have it redone in the future. Or if the format is incorrect you may find you cannot use it for different marketing peices including posters, banners, stickers, t-shirts, etc. Logos should be created as a vector, not in Photoshop, and your designer should give you the original files.

You may also find that if your friend does create logos professionally that you will be at the bottom of their to do list. Your friend is still running a business and many freelancers over commit themselves. Doing a free or discounted logo is not going to be high priority for them.

You may find that nothing has been worked on for a month and you are still waiting for your logo. Or you may find that they rushed through your job just to get it out of the way and it is not up to par to their typical work.

4. Hire a professional

Hiring a professional designer will be an investment and this investment depends on the logo and the designer you work with. Talk with the designer and find out if you will work well with them.

Some basic questions to ask:

• How many mock ups will I recieve?
• How many revisions?
• Do you charge by the hour or by the design?

When you hire a professional designer for your logo you will find that they will spend the time with you to find out about you and your business. They will create a logo that is completely unique and will represent you and your business. When you see the final work you will be proud and say this is me, this is my business!

A professional will also make sure that the files will be in the correct format and may give you the logo in multiple formats for printers and for further work down the road. They should also get you the matching colors and fonts for other branding including your web design.

A professional can also help you learn more about how to make your logo usable in multiple formats including web, print, large or small, black and white or color.

Whichever way you go make sure that you pick a logo that you love and will love for a long time. Make sure that when you see this logo that in an instant you recognize it, it pops at you and that it truly represents you. Then use your logo everywhere: Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, website, blog,  business cards, stationary, and anywhere you can mark your presence.

More Questions?

I’m always happy to help with questions so feel free and ask here in the comments or email me at (unicornbeauty (@) gmail.com)

After a year working on my business, Uniquehorn Designs, I have found my focus. I have found that my favorite projects are creating PSD Web Templates. I love the instant gratification I get using Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop to create a beautiful layout.

What is a PSD?

The .PSD (Photoshop Document) … stores an image with support for most imaging options available in Photoshop. These include layers with masks, color spaces, ICC profiles, transparency, text, alpha channels and spot colors, clipping paths, and duotone settings. – Wikipedia

I’m sure your eyes just glazed over, I know mine did reading that and I know exactly what it’s saying.

In basic terms a PSD is Photoshops file. When you save the file as a PSD you save each separate layer and the different aspects of those layers including transparency, special effects, and more. You can create a design where each shape, text element and photo is on it’s own separate layer and with the layers separated you can edit each element quickly and easily.

As an example I will use one of my images from my free valentine’s day printables:

There are 3 layers in the PSD file of this image.

1. The dark pink scalloped background
2. The textured lighter pink box
3. The XOs

I could quickly open the PSD file and change the colors of each item, I could change the font of the XOs, I could change the texture on the light pink box, or I could change what the picture said all together. But if I tried to do this with the JPG image file I would pretty much have to start over because all those elements have been smashed together.

What is a PSD Web Template?

A PSD Web Template is an un-coded web site. It has all the visual elements of the web site including the background, the images, the layout, the typography and more. But there is no HTML or CSS involved.

Each layer will have the different elements for the website. You will have a layer for the logo, the header, the content, the navigation (or multiple layers in a folder) and so on.

What do I like about PSD Web Template Design?

I know how to write HTML, CSS and some PHP but it is not my favorite part of designing a new website. It can take me days to get the coding just perfect on a website. You are constantly looking at code and then switching to the visual interpretation of the code, then back to the code again.

With PSD Web Templates I can just focus on the design, the beauty, and let someone else worry about the code.

There is something wonderful about finding a focus for my business and knowing exactly what I love and being able to do it: PSD Web Templates!

Photoshop Icon Image by Young Design

Today (well actually yesterday) is all about creating an elevator pitch for your blog. The definition of an elevator pitch is:

“An elevator pitch is an overview of an idea for a product, service, or project. The name reflects the fact that an elevator pitch can be delivered in the time span of an elevator ride (for example, thirty seconds or 100–150 words).” —Wikipedia

After thinking about my blog and thinking about what the main focus was I realized that I really needed to split Pepper Scraps into two blogs. I had one side of this blog that was informational and about blogging and design. Then the other side of Pepper Scraps was all personal and fun, about my boys, me, and some fun memes tossed in. I decided that both of these focuses needed their own blog.

Now I will have Pepper Scraps and a blog on my design site. I decided to revive the name of my old blog, UnicornBeauty for my new design blog. I thought it was fitting as this blog will be all about making your blog or site beautiful.

I created three elevator pitches. One for Uniquehorn Designs (because I thought this was such a great exercise), one for Pepper Scraps, and one for my new blog UnicornBeauty.

THE PITCHES:

Uniquehorn Designs:

a UNIQUE experience. a UNIQUE design.

Who are you trying to please?

I want to be happy in the work I do, not disgruntled that I have to work. I want to make my family function better and also be happier. I want to make my customers find joy and to truly love their new logos and or websites.

Are you trying to make a living, make a difference, or leave a legacy?

My goal is to make a living, but that is so that I can make a difference in my family and in so doing leaving a legacy in my children. I also have decided just recently that I want to try to always be working with a charity or non-profit and giving of my services. God has given me these talents and given me the business that I now have and I want to share these with others. I want to help out and hopefully make  a difference.

How will the world be different when you’ve succeeded?

I’ve talked a little bit about my dream of quiting my daytime job. This would be one of the biggest difference in our lives and one of the best. The reason this is important to me right now is I feel like my boys need more structure in their lives. With my day job this is just not possible. My schedule is constantly changing day to day and even week to week.

One other exciting goal for after I quit my day job is to start doing preschool with Zane. I did a little before Zarek was born and loved it and really would rather do homeschooling with him than to pay to send him somewhere else.

Is it more important to add new customers or to increase your interactions with existing ones?

This is a hard question for me. I am trying to balance this out a little right now. I think maybe this is hard because I’m just starting to grow my business, so I’m constantly trying to find new clients that will become clients now and in the future. I’m finding that I do love that I have clients that stay around and use me as on of there resources.

Do you want a team? How big?

I don’t think I really do want a team. I’m pretty happy just working by myself right now. I have worked in the corporate world for so long and worked with others for so long, some time alone will be nice. And who knows someday I may change my mind and will want to work with someone, but not right now.

Would you rather have an open-ended project that’s never done, or one where you hit natural end points?

I would rather have projects that have end points. I enjoy doing large projects but somehow there is this relief and joy in seeing something done. Even large projects I break into smaller projects just to be able to see that end point, to see that check mark on my list.

Are you prepared to actively sell your stuff, or are you expecting that buyers will walk in the door and ask for it?

I have be actively looking for clients but I have also been really blessed with some really great referrals. I have even just had people find me through my site, twitter, and other social events.  Which it is always wonderful when someone just happens to find you.

Which: to invent a category or to be just like Bob/Sue, but better?

I’m kinda a “be like Bob/Sue, but better” kind of person. My aspiration for my business is to help bloggers and entrepreneurs showcase their blogs/business. To help them show off their passion, pride and love for their blog or business. And in this I want to be able to spend time one on one with my clients and not just make a site that works and is there, but make something that really shows off their business, their personalities, something that they love.

If you take someone else’s investment, are you prepared to sell out to pay it back?

My intention is to take in no loans. Maybe this is a crazy idea but so far so good.

Are you done personally growing, or is this project going to force you to change and develop yourself?

Are we ever done growing? I know I’m not. I try to be continuously learning and growing. In a way starting up my business has pushed me to be more involved and to learn even more. I have a huge stack of books to read right next to me right now. I have lists of tutorials and articles to read in my bookmarks. I also have gone to a conference by myself for the first time this year and am planning on going to WordCamp in the fall also. I would love to go to BlogHer, but we will see.

Choose: teach and lead and challenge your customers, or do what they ask…

I love to teach my customers and I love to challenge them. One of the things that I do that is probably unique in the web design world is I try and make my designs as user friendly as possible.

I try to make it so my clients will be able to edit small things themselves. I try and make it so that the menus are easily editable in the control panel or widgetize the sidebars so they can move things around to there liking. Now sometimes this is hard for them and when they feel stuck I am there for them. I will first try to send them instructions on how to do it to see if they can learn how and if they just don’t feel like they can do it then I do it for them.

How long can you wait before it feels as though you’re succeeding?

This is another really hard question, even just the other day I was noticing the mountains and valleys in my business right now as I work on learning how to balance everything. Some months I am amazed at how fast my business has grown, but even just last month I felt as if I was struggling. I didn’t feel like I was a failure, but I felt like I didn’t get as much work as I wanted for the month. But then I sat back and looked at my business for the last 6 months as a whole and it has been growing and I am succeeding. So I would say that I already feel like I’m succeeding, I’m getting to my goals and that’s all that matters.

If you want to see some of my work check out my portfolio at Uniquehorn Designs. You can find the original list, with all 16 questions, at this great blog post: 16 questions for free agents.

These are my answers what are yours?

I was in school for psychology, but quickly changed my degree to graphic design, knowing that in the world of HTML I could make a living following my passion, art.I needed a break from school and then my mother became ill. I never returned to school, but I continued creating my websites.

While still in college I had learned about a site, DiaryLand and this was my first introduction to blogging. Of course at that time ‘blogging’ had not even really been called ‘blogging’ yet.

After a year or so on DiaryLand a friend offered me free hosting, and then I was introduced to WordPress. I loved WordPress and it became a passion of mine. I have had a blog on WordPress ever since.

I continued growing my skills in graphics, HTML, CSS, and PHP. I maintained mutliple websites for myself. But also, I did work for friends and family here and there, but was never really able to shake my doubt in myself and fear of creating my own business and failing.

Last year I got a little nudge in the right direction. While on maternity leave I was demoted at work to part time. This taught me a few things, that we could survive on less, that I was really unhappy at my job and that I wanted to be home with my boys.

But I just wasn’t sure where to start. That was until this year. This January I found etsy, a community I loved and felt comfortable in.

I started bidding on requests for personalized graphics. And after each job and happy client I would get a boost of confidence. I started realizing I can do this.

I made the decision to start pursuing a dream of my own business in graphic design and web design. A dream to be able to quit my part time job and stay home with my two young boys.

After 6 short months I have a business, Uniquehorn Designs, that is growing in leaps and bounds. I hope that this fall I will be able to turn in my resignation and become a WAHM.

If you are looking for a logo, web graphics, twitter background, and/or a website feel free and contact me, Unicornbeauty{@}gmail{DOT}com.

I’m just a lone self taught designer and I feel overwhelmed with the idea of even trying to walk among the talent that will be there. But I will learn things and hopefully I will meet some people I can look up to and look forward to learn from.

My goals are to find some educational materials, get some hints on what the future of web design might hold and maybe hopefully meet some great and amazing talent!

I hope you have a wonderful, beautiful Mother’s Day.

Click the image and download the full sized version to use as a desktop image!

Then I let TJ convince me I was well enough to go to work yesterday. And I definitely was not. Yesterday evening after work I was just done. I couldn’t even contemplate looking at one of my computers.

So today I’m looking at my 75+ emails and catching up with my online work. So much to do and I don’t know if I will make it that long today. Sigh.