Hopart, Inc.

2012-01-29T20:51:00.001-08:00

Quick Tip for designers under the gun!

2011-11-15T08:26:00.001-08:00

Andy Warhol

Have you ever found yourself staring down a deadline and the one thing holding you back is that the logo provided for you to use in the layout is the size of a 72dpi postage stamp ripped right off the company web page? And they only want it the size of a billboard! Well, don't bother asking, if they knew where it was they would have given it to you already. Instead, turn to the trusty internet, search for the company name and anything saved as a pdf. Download and open the pdf in Illustrator. If you have been living right, the logo embedded in that pdf is a fully editable vector based file! And there you go.

The Evolution of the Web

2011-10-05T13:29:00.000-07:00

A really impressive interactive visual history of the web programmed using HTML5 is available for view by going here:

http://evolutionofweb.appspot.com/

A lot has changed since 1990, I just wish I'd bought stock in Google back in those early days...

Laurel's Design Deli: Crowdsourcing in My Face

2011-08-05T10:13:00.000-07:00

The following post speaks very well to the fair pricing dilemma that faces professionals in many fields in this global economy. In particular, as a fellow graphic designer whose stock in trade is original, customized professionally executed graphic design – be it a logo or anything else – I find the proliferation of these cattle call design sites where potential "clients" dangle their project out there like dipping a baited hook into a lake stocked with starving fish to be a real threat to the industry. Please read this whole post as it is really well said and actually has a happy ending to boot.

Laurel's Design Deli: Crowdsourcing in My Face: "I recently had an experience that brought home the crowdsourcing nightmare currently infecting the design world. For those unfamiliar with t..."

Why the frog?

2011-08-04T19:22:00.000-07:00

First off , welcome to my first post on my new blog. I have helped so many others get up and running in the blogosphere, but have never really taken the time to practice what I preached. Its the proverbial "Cobblers kids have no shoes" syndrome. I'm sure there are a lot of auto mechanics out there driving around with a leaky gasket or something as well, but I digress.

Anyway, as this is the first official post, I thought I'd take a moment and focus on my leaping frog stylized company logo. It originally emanated from my company name Hopart, frogs hop – and in a more dynamic sense – they leap. With that established, in the context of my business, I want potential clients to take the leap to a better, more streamlined, more efficient solution to their graphic design needs. I am often told at the conclusion of a successful project how the same project would have taken their internal staff or agency way way longer to finish – and it wouldn't have looked as good either. So the frog represents a leap of faith rewarded with a successfully completed design project. One further quick historical note on the company name itself, Hopart was intended to buck the trend of "First Name, Last Name Associates", or "John Hopkins Design". I thought who would ever use the name Hopart? Well, that turned out to be wrong as I'm told there are in fact other Hoparts out there. Proving once again that there is really no such thing as an original idea.