Throughout 2011, Quiet City Design has developed new relationships with clients and vendors which have helped to expand the types of services offered. New developments in software and designing techniques have also contributed to the varied list of capabilities and resources available to clients.

2011 has seen some downturns as well.  The global and local economy has made budgets a little tighter at times.  Restrictions on budget has meant that client marketing and promotions have needed creative solutions beyond the design phase and well into the execution and production stages.  Check out some of the creative solutions QCD has produced for clients in 2011.

48 Pendeen Avenue
Toronto, ON  M6N 2P3

Skype: lenmarshall
Tel: 416-737-3081 (remains the same)

Quick Access

A number of updates have been made to make the system easier to navigate.  With the “Quick Access” button found in the top left corner, users are able to quickly select from a pop-up menu the project and tab object of choice to immediately switch to that page.

Advanced Search

Searching on the system has been greatly improved. Clicking the “Search” button in the navigation offers a simple popup search, but by clicking on the arrow on the right, users can search within specific projects and objects (discussions, files, etc).

For users with more than one active project, you’ll see an alphabetical filter has been added to the “Active Projects” tab on the Dashboard.  Clicking on any visible letter will filter out projects starting with that character.

Chat

One of the best new features on the project management system is the live chat tool.  Sometimes adding a comment to a file or discussion forum is unnecessary or takes too long for simple feedback or quick confirmations.  When you open a chat, you can select which users you want to include and for which project the chat is related.  When a chat has been started, other online users will see and hear a notification and can open the chat popup to read and respond in real time.  This can be a valuable way to quickly discuss revisions, plan for meetings, ask questions or give approvals and have live group discussions.

Current active projects and proposals will remain billable at the fee scale that they were initiated at. For more information, please see the General Terms and Conditions online.

Video production has been a steadily growing option for many clients. Video production projects can range from animated photo slideshows to interview and creative film footage, post-production editing and titling, DVD authoring and web-media streaming.  Check out some of the recent video productions and consider how video might enhance your next print or web project.

Building and maintaining web content can be challenging if you’re not up to date with your website framework. WordPress is a free content management system that makes updating and expanding your website easy without special software or knowledge of scripting languages.  If your website is outdated and hard to maintain, consider having it converted to a WordPress framework.  QCD has converted several static HTML sites into powerful and easy to use dynamic websites.

Do you know how many people visit your website each month, week or day? Do you know how long they stay online, or what content they are viewing the most?  Web statistics can help you make your website be more targeted or user-focused.  Contact QCD to find out how easy it is to get reports sent to your email every week.

Do you use PowerPoint at work, church or during special events or occasions?  Most PowerPoint templates are dull, bulky and awkward to use.  Quiet City Design has experience creating branded, light-weight and dramatic PPT templates for a variety of purposes.  Check out a few recent PPT presentations to see how exciting a good presentation can be.

If you’re not yet familiar with QR codes, they’re similar to the barcodes used by retailers to track inventory and price products at the point of sale. The key difference between the two is the amount of data they can hold or share.

Bar codes are linear one-dimensional codes and can only hold up to 20 numerical digits, whereas QR codes are two-dimensional (2D) matrix barcodes that can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information. Their ability to hold more information and their ease of use makes them practical for small businesses.

When you scan or read a QR code with your iPhone, Android or other camera-enabled Smartphone, you can link to digital content on the web; activate a number of phone functions including email, IM and SMS; and connect the mobile device to a web browser.

How can QR codes help your business?

Imagine being able to reach hundreds and thousands of people with your message instantly, as they walk past your poster or shop window, flip through a newspaper or magazine, or pick up your business card and brochure. Here are some of the many exciting ways this on-demand and on-site communication tool can be used to enhance your business’ advertising and marketing campaign.

1. QR Codes on business cards. This is probably the de facto way many businesses use QR codes. Rather than overload a business card with all of your contact info you could include the bare minimum for reaching you, then create a QR code that leads people to your Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Plaxo, Yelp, FourSqure, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, Whrrl, and MySpace profiles.
2. Scavenger hunts. Again, for some reason this appears on every list of QR code marketing ideas. Probably because scavenger hunts are fun and engaging, although a lot easier to write about than to administer. Still, for destination marketing, a scavenger hunt approach can be a great way to get visitors to check out places they might not otherwise go.
3. Labeling. Somewhere, a restaurant patron is enjoying wine from your vineyard. They notice the QR code on the bottle and quickly scan it. That takes them to a mobile site where they can learn more about your wine, your vineyard, and links to where you can buy a case for delivery…all before the check comes.
4. Storefront displays. Few retail businesses are open 24/7. Don’t disappoint potential customers after you’ve left for the day. Create a Shop Online Now! QR code and put it in your storefront window. One quick scan and you’ve turned a potential lost sale into an online customer who’s going to share a lot more of their contact information with you.
5. Promotions, discounts and giveaways. If you want to encourage patronage from the iPhone and Android set, you could create discounts that are specific to the QR codes. You could run these codes in advertisements or post them throughout your store. You could even turn them into a “retweet” so that your shoppers share their discount with their followers.
6. Laptop stickers. Slap a QR sticker of your vCard or website to your laptop, making it easier for passers-by to connect with you when you’re at a tradeshow, industry meeting or the local coffee shop.
7. T-shirts. Put your QR code on your t-shirt for some subtle or shameless self-promotion. Make a bigger impression by printing up 100 t-shirts and put them on 100 interns or volunteers and have them attend a public event like a ballgame, street fair or campaign stop. For more engagement from the crowd, put different messages on the shirts, so people take more scans of more of your codes.
8. Get funky with your QR Code design. QR codes allow a little wiggle room, meaning that you can “hack” the code itself. A famous, early example is the BBC’s QR Code. However, you can play around with the QR code once it’s been generated in an image editing tool like Photoshop and work in your own logo or brand. Always be sure to test your QR code before printing up a few thousand copies.
9. Use QR codes to get Likes and Follows. You can create mobile-friendly landing pages with Facebook like buttons or lead them to your Twitter page for a quick follow. The name of the game is engagement, so a Like or Follow can create a long-term marketing opportunity. Caveat: so far the Like buttons that QR tags generate lead to the Facebook website rather than the mobile app. Mobile users rarely log into Facebook’s website from their phone, so that requires extra steps the average person may not be willing to take.
10. Supplement your retail space. QR codes next to pieces of art could help art galleries move more art, or museums replace those aging audio tape tours. Hardware stores could link to how-to videos on YouTube of how to use specific power tools. Groceries could link to pages that talk about how their products were sourced, and perhaps to interviews of the farmers who grew the food. Electronic shops could bring visitors to review sites so they could get unbiased reviews of stocked products. Or to an e-commerce site where shoppers could buy out-of-stock items. Book stores could link to their own reviews of books on their blog.
11. Increase e-commerce sales. Since QR codes can lead to URLs, you can create a code that will populate a shopping cart with specific products. (Assuming your e-commerce solution can handle that.)
12. Build your email subscriber list. Use your QR code to send people to your email signup. Just make sure you give people a compelling reason to subscribe to your list…otherwise you will have just wasted their time. Not the best way to engage your audience.
13. Get the phone ringing. QR codes can also make a phone call.  If you want to get the phones ringing, you can create a code that will dial a predetermined number. Likewise, QR codes can generate SMS text messages.

It won’t take long to come up with many ideas for using QR codes to help your business or organization reach a new audience and boost awareness and interest.

Contact Quiet City Design to see how just how easy QR codes can be incorporated into your next ad campaign or marketing tools.

For those who have a colour logo, have you ever checked what it looks like on the receiving end of a black & white fax? Yikes!  Fax machines and older-model photo copiers use scanners that see colours unevenly (or barely at all), and printers print unpredictably, logo colors are basically uncontrollable. The threshold for grayscale levels is very narrow, so certain colours become black or white.

The original colour logo...

What the scanner sees...

What the fax recipient gets!

The solution is to use a black & white or grayscale version of your logo, which allows for a closer transmitted fax or photocopy match.

Grayscale version of the logo...

What the fax recipient gets!

Does your company have a black & white or grayscale version of it’s logo? Consider all of the various physical and electronic applications it is reproduced by and contact Quiet City Design to help make your brand always stand out.

The obvious answer is “whatever you want”. But if you’re tweeting for your business then you clearly need to be more intentional than that. You need a good strategy.

What Do You Want to Accomplish on Twitter?

Are you trying to address customer service complaints or are you hoping to bring in new customers? Maybe you just want to set yourself up as an expert in your field and start making new contacts. Any of these goals will give you your strategy:

• If you’re tweeting to resolve customer complaints, you better start listening and tweeting helpful tips.
• If you’re hoping to bring in new customers maybe you’ll tweet coupons, brag about your chef or highlight new features.
• If you want to positioning yourself as an expert and make contacts, then you’ll post interesting and helpful links, share advice, and listen and respond to others in your field.

General Tips

In some sense you just need to dive into Twitter and see what works. Pay attention to what people respond to and do more of it. Here are a few tips to get you started:

• Not everything has to be about your business. If something is interesting, share it. If it’s funny, share it. If it makes you cry, share it. You can take that too far, but a little personality goes a long way.
• Offer real value—you should be providing something people can’t get anywhere else. Don’t just tweet your blog posts—give us something more: deals, extra links, behind the scenes scoops, photos, funny stories, etc.
• Twitter is about relationships. The hard sell doesn’t work any better here. It’s fine to push your wares, but avoid the appearance of a spammer: Don’t cram every tweet with links to your stuff, don’t repost the same thing over and over, don’t @reply or direct message people with unrelated information. It’s not all about you. Show some interest in other people. Consider introducing yourself and telling them what you like about their tweets.
• Ask questions. Especially as you gain more followers you’ll find that people respond. Ask what people like about your business, what they’re looking for, what they care about.
• Give credit where credit is due. Many of your links, resources and interesting finds were found somewhere, so give them some credit. It’s not only common courtesy, it’s ethical and gives people a source to track down further information.
• Twitter doesn’t have to be just text. You can link to photos or videos. A number of sites like Twitpic will let you post a photo from your cell phone and tweet about it.
• Whatever you do, don’t Twitter something you wouldn’t want the entire world to know. Anything you tweet better be public knowledge. If there’s a certain someone you hope won’t read what you’re posting, then don’t post it.

In the end, have fun. Twitter is a pretty laid-back communications avenue, so if you’re stressing over it you’re not doing it right.

Everyday Essentials

Weather

To see the weather for many U.S. and worldwide cities, type “weather” followed by the city and province/state, postal/zip code, or city and country.

Stock Quotes
To see current market data for a given company or fund, type the ticker symbol into the search box. On the results page, you can click the link to see more data from Google Finance.

Time
To see the time in many cities around the world, type in “time” and the name of the city.

Sports Scores
To see scores and schedules for sports teams type the team name or league name into the search box. This is enabled for many leagues including the National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, and Major League Baseball. All sports data provided by STATS LLC

Music
To listen to music, search for artists, albums, songs or lyrics.

Sunrise & Sunset
To see the precise times of sunrises and sunsets for many North American and worldwide cities, type “sunrise” or “sunset” followed by the city name.

Reference Tools

Calculator
To use Google’s built-in calculator function, simply enter the calculation you’d like done into the search box.

Book Search
If you’re looking for results from Google Book Search, you can enter the name of the author or book title into the search box. Then, click on “Books” from the left-hand navigation to view book content. You can click through on the record to view more detailed info about that author or title.

Earthquakes
To see information about recent earthquakes in a specific area type “earthquake” followed by the city and province/state or postal/zip code. For recent earthquake activity around the world simply type “earthquake” in the search box.

Unit Conversion
You can use Google to convert between many different units of measurement of height, weight, and volume among many others. Just enter your desired conversion into the search box and let Google do the rest.

People Profiles
If you’re looking for someone you just met or a long-lost friend, enter the name of that person plus some identifying words about him or her to see a list of people with that name.

Choosing Keywords

Synonym Search
If you want to search not only for your search term but also for its synonyms, place the tilde sign (~) immediately in front of your search term.

Dictionary Definitions
To see a definition for a word or phrase, simply type the word “define” then a space, then the word(s) you want defined. To see a list of different definitions from various online sources, you can type “define:” followed by a word or phrase. Note that the results will define the entire phrase.

Spell Checker
Google’s spell checking software automatically checks whether your query uses the most common spelling of a given word. If it thinks you’re likely to generate better results with an alternative spelling, it will ask “Did you mean: (more common spelling)?”. Click the suggested spelling to launch a Google search for that term.

Local Search

Local Search
If you’re looking for a store, restaurant, or other local business you can search for the category of business and the location and we’ll return results right on the page, along with a map, reviews, and contact information.

Movie Showtimes
To find reviews and showtimes for movies playing near you, type “movies” or the name of a current film into the Google search box. If you’ve already saved your location on a previous search, the top search result will display showtimes for nearby theaters for the movie you’ve chosen.

Health Search

Health Conditions
To see information about a common disease or symptom, enter it into the search box and we’ll return the beginning of an expert summary. You can click through to read the entire article.

Suicide Prevention
You can quickly find phone number and online resources for suicide prevention by entering “suicide prevention” or similar phrases into the search box.

Flu Vaccine Finder
During flu season, search for “flu” to find tips on how to stay healthy and a flu shot locator which uses Google Maps to show you nearby locations offering seasonal and/or H1N1 flu vaccine.

Trip Planning

Flight Tracking
To see flight status for arriving and departing flights, type in the name of the airline and the flight number into the search box.

Currency Conversion
To use our built-in currency converter, simply enter the conversion you’d like done into the Google search box to provide your answer directly on the results page.

Maps
Looking for a map? Type in the name or postal/zip code of a location and the word “map” and Google will return a map of that location. Clicking on the map will take you to a larger version on Google Maps.

Query Refinements

Plus (+) Operator
Google ignores common words and characters such as where, the, how, and other digits and letters that slow down your search without improving the results. If a common word is essential to getting the results you want, you can make sure Google pays attention to it by putting a “+” sign in front of it.

Related Search
To search for web pages that have similar content to a given site, type “related:” followed by the website address into the Google search box.

Fill in the Blank
Sometimes the best way to ask a question is to get Google to ‘fill in the blank’ by adding an asterisk (*) at the part of the sentence or question that you want finished into the Google search box.

Search by Number

Package Tracking
You can track packages by typing the tracking number for your UPS, Fedex or USPS package directly into the search box. Google will return results that include quick links to easily track the status of your shipment.