Need to find that perfect match for your favourite font? Type Genius does the hard work for you.

The top 10 bugbears of graphic designers are revealed in this amusing infographic.

“Can you make the logo design bigger?” If that sentence clouds your vision with red mist, it’s likely that you’re a graphic designer who’s fed up with hearing inexperienced advice from non-designer folk. It also means this infographic is right up your street.

Created by Print-Print, the amusing graphic collects together 10 of the most annoying habits and questions that are sure to get under the skin of every graphic designer.

So clients, take note – if you drop any of these clangers you’re sure to invoke the wrath of your design team. And designers, if this infographic doesn’t include your pet hate, be sure to let us know in the comments!

Dom Carter

I recently took a road trip from Los Angeles to Las Vegas.

On the way out of town my friends and I stopped for a bit of shopping.

After having lived in a hot climate for many years I had no long sleeved shirts to wear (there is no winter in the jungle).

But I didn’t end up buying much of anything…

I was struck by this one Chinese woman working in a shoe store.

I watched the Chinese woman hustle for business and I watched the American store clerks lose my business.

The Chinese woman was hard at work trying to make a sale.

She kept saying “firty person off (30% off)” and working to close the deal.

In the other shops, the women and girls working the register don’t even bother to look up at you, let alone try to hustle and make a sale, but the Chinese woman was working like a dog to close the deal.

I would bet ten thousand dollars on two things:

1. The Chinese woman works (or would work) 16 hours per day, 7 days per week and doesn’t complain
2. The American women and girls take any day off they possibly can and they complain about low pay

(Don’t be a fool and take the bet, I will win).

After having lived in China for one year I have no great respect for them, but it is undeniable that they work long and hard.

And I respect all people on God’s green earth who work long and hard without complaint.

So for you killers and real-dealers, here are 18 Ways to Win Big in Business…

(like the Chinese workhorse and not like the American lazy girls.)

1) Days off are for losers

I said it and you read it – days off are for LOSERS.

You will never win big on your day off. You don’t stand a chance of winning a race you don’t show up to.

You will never hear a winner in business say “Sorry, can’t. It’s Saturday, my day off. Call my office on Monday“.

You don’t get days off until you earn days off and you don’t earn days off within the first 5 years in business.

Big business takes big hours, if you don’t work them someone else will.

I will. The Chinese woman offering firty person off will.

The Chinese woman probably built a house for her parents in China with the money she made selling shoes in America.

The American girls no doubt get money from dad to supplement their lack of work ethic.

Here’s the rule: If you’re awake, you’re working.

Always be “on”.

I told you I was “shopping” but I was actually writing this article on my cellular phone.

2) Work 16 hours per day, 7 days per week

If you’re awake, you’re working. No exceptions!

It’s easy, easy, easy – all you have to do is show up.

If you’re there every day you’re ahead of the “competition”.

I put “competition” in quotes because if they aren’t working 16 hours per day, 7 days per week they aren’t real competition.

They’ll blow themselves out of the water, you won’t need to do anything.

Work, work, work and work some more. Work all the time.

3) Work one business/deal at a time

You cannot start two businesses at the same time and see both of them succeed. It doesn’t happen.

FOCUS ON ONE THING.

When your one business is producing an income then you can move on to the next one.

Never start two at the same time because neither of them will work.

Work one deal at a time, and don’t quit until the job is finished.

4) All of your energy should be on work

I keep saying it isn’t hard, all it takes is everything.

Every ounce of energy you have needs to go to your developing business.

Find time for the gym, find time for your wife and kiddos, but business is and should be priority #1.

5) Obsession and work ethic beat talent

You can outwork a talented/lazy person if you are obsessed and dedicated to your work.

But talent + obsession + work ethic beats anything on earth.

Find something you are talented in for best results.

For the rest, it’s will, not skill.

6) The customer is not always right

Sometimes your customers are wrong.

Sometimes they’re having a bad day and want someone to emotionally abuse.

That’s their problem, not yours.

You don’t need to cater to emotionally fragile customers.

You need to cater to good customers and that’s it.

Bad customers can go away.

• See also: Why Small Businesses Fail (and How Yours Can Succeed)

7) Your employees are not always right

You cannot always take your employee’s side over the customer’s side.

Sometimes employees are wrong or bad people.

You have to take situations case by case.

8) Don’t take the side of a bad customer over a good employee

A bad customer is not worth as much a good employee.

As far as I’m concerned, bad customers can get lost.

Life is too short to cater to people who want to give you problems.

If you provide a good service then you have no need to deal with bad people who give you problems.

There are plenty of good people who want and appreciate your service or product.

9) A bad employee is not worth losing good customers

Some companies (stupidly) take the side of their employees over their customers.

If you blindly take your employee’s side they will have no problem causing problems (just for fun) knowing that they aren’t going to be held accountable.

10) Bad customer service is bad for business

Always remember that customer service is a job, but it isn’t your job. Let your employees do the work.

If you have a bad employee treating customers poorly you need to fire their fucking ass immediately.

• BADNET has stellar customer service.
• RED has stellar customer service.

I will personally not buy anything at a store that has poor customer service – even if I want to buy the item.

I will do my part to bankrupt all companies that provide shit customer service.

11) People are emotional, so you be sturdy

The emotionally fragile aren’t basing anything on logic so it isn’t necessary to be their therapist.

If you give these people everything they want they’ll be trained to be an asshole and get what they want.

Big mistake giving bad customers everything they want.

12) Take the easy way

The easiest way is almost always the best way.

People continually try and make things hard. But making things harder is the same as making them impossible.

Every day someone says to me “that’s all their is to it? That’s all you do? Wow, shouldn’t you be doing so much more?”

The answer is no!

Take the easy way, it usually is the best way and provides the most pay.

13) Be smart enough to keep things simple

The best in business take the easiest route from A to B – a straight line.

Go-nowhere businesses make things complicated and they end up going from A to A in a circle.

Only a moron tries to make easy work hard.

You want results – so it doesn’t matter if you take the easy way to get results.

In fact, taking the hard road to get the same results is DUMB.

14) Don’t listen to dumb people

You will get unsolicited, continual, non-stop advice from dumb people. Ignore them.

If those morons had any idea what to do they’d be in business for themselves, not working for someone else.

The only people worth listening to are people more successful than you.

People who aren’t successful are jealous, resentful, bitter and envious. Their “advice” is aimed to bring you down to their level.

ONLY A SUCCESSFUL PERSON CAN BE HAPPY FOR ANOTHER’S SUCCESS.

The lower classes will always begrudge.

So only listen to the successful (and even then take their advice with a grain of salt).

For example: a bunch of morons believe you can’t make money from a blog.

How did newspapers and magazines survive for so long I wonder…

If I’d listened to those dumb people I’d be as broke as those dumb people.

But I didn’t listen to them and I use the money I don’t make from a blog and use it to buy things like houses, cars, food, clothing, gym memberships, supplements, bicycles, computers – just all the things money can buy.

15) Trust your instincts

Your business is your business for a reason – you thought it up, you identified the market need, you put the plan in motion.

You don’t need to listen to anyone else but yourself.

No one knows what’s going on in your brain except for you!

16) Don’t listen to what your customers want

If your customers knew what they wanted then they would be producers (like You, Inc) and not consumers.

They don’t have a clue what they want until they’re told or sold.

17) Trust your business plan, don’t trust clueless customers

You are the visionary, they aren’t.

You’re ahead of the curve, they’re behind the curve trying to play catch-up.

(But as consumers they will never catch up to the leaders).

18) Trust people to do their jobs, don’t trust people

Trust is what lower conscious people look for.

You don’t need to trust people, you only need to trust people to be themselves.

You need to trust people to do the job they were hired for.

You don’t need to trust them with your ATM code if that isn’t in their job description.

Don’t worry about trust! Trust is for children.

Worry about people doing their jobs.

If you trust them with your life it’s a bonus, it isn’t a necessity.

I don’t trust a lot of the people I do business with.

You pay me my money and we’re straight, you don’t pay and we have a problem.

Trust? Don’t make me laugh.

———–

Th-th-th-that’s it folks.

If you’re intelligent you may have noticed a simple theme…

Work all the time and trust yourself.

In fact, skip all of these complicated steps and do just two things:

1. Work all the time
2. Trust yourself

After you work all the time and trust in yourself you can start to cash your checks.

Until then, have a nice day and get to work.

Your man,

-Victor Pride

Support my friend http://www.boldanddetermined.com

I don’t watch much television — with two small children and a business, I just don’t have time. But there’s one show that I DVR and watch without fail every week: Shark Tank.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, here’s the premise:

Aspiring entrepreneurs get a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to pitch their business to a panel of “sharks” — five self-made millionaires and billionaires including the likes of Mark Cuban and Draymond John — and ask for funding in exchange for equity in their business.

Basically, it’s the dramatization of one of the most stressful, sweat-inducing, make-or-break moments in capitalism: the business pitch.

On any given episode you’ll see amazing and innovative businesses secure hundreds of thousands (and sometimes millions) of dollars worth of capital, or you’ll get to watch what’s obviously a weird, laughably-bad business be eviscerated by the sharks.

This is of course a “reality” show, with those quotes firmly in place; while the businesses are real and the entrepreneurs really do spend an hour or two with the sharks getting feedback on their products or ideas, that footage is then spliced and edited together into 5 minutes of entertaining television. The businesses that are comically bad were clearly handpicked by producers for that very reason.

But while it’s crafted for your viewing pleasure, Shark Tank actually offers a good dose of practical, real-world business advice for would-be entrepreneurs. You won’t get an MBA equivalent education just from watching the show, but you’d be surprised by the amount of actionable business tips you can pick up just from tuning in each week.

Below I highlight nine of the recurring lessons in entrepreneurship I’ve gleaned from Shark Tank:

1. Learn how to pitch. If there’s one lesson you take from Shark Tank and this post, let it be this: master the art of the pitch.

Even if you don’t think you’ll ever find yourself standing in front of a bunch of venture capitalists, every entrepreneur needs to know how to effectively sell himself and his idea to his potential partners, employees, and clients/customers.

You’d think on a show like Shark Tank — in which people know they’ll be asking for tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars on national television – the entrepreneurs would prepare for their pitch like crazy.

But you’d be wrong.

I’d venture that 50% of the pitches on Shark Tank are absolutely horrible, 40% are so-so, and 10% are stellar. Some of the folks on Shark Tank just seem like they’re winging it, which makes for some awkward, yet entertaining moments.

“You have to learn how to communicate your vision. You have to practice in a mirror every morning. It’s the most important thing you can do because you only get a chance to make a first impression once. And when you stand up in front of sharks or any other investors you’ve got to be able to communicate why the idea works and why you’re the right person to do it.

I always tell young kids that I teach now in business school, ‘Look all this stuff you’re learning about numbers is great, but if you can’t stand up in front of your classmates and explain why you’re a winner and how you can be a leader, and how you can inform that business plan, you’re nothing… You’re just a nothing burger ’til that happens.’” –Kevin O’Leary, aka Mr. Wonderful

So how do you avoid being like the cringe-inducing pitchers on Shark Tank? Well, following the guidelines in our post on how to give an effective pitch (as well as what not to do) will put you leaps and bounds ahead of many folks. The gist of the advice in those posts is this: be poised, make your pitch sticky or memorable, know your business (and industry) inside and out so you can answer any question that comes your way, and play to the investor’s self-interest (show them the money!).

The best pitch I’ve seen on the show was from an 18-year-old girl who owns a skincare company called Simple Sugars. She was super poised (more so than many of the much older entrepreneurs who’ve been in the tank), she had a great story for her product (started the company when she was 11 to create an all-natural skincare product that was suited for someone who had eczema, like herself), she knew her business inside and out, answered the sharks’ questions and resolved doubts like a boss, and she clearly demonstrated how the sharks would make money investing with her. Her awesome pitch scored her a $100,000 deal with Mark Cuban. If you want to learn how to pitch like a pro, you’d do well to watch this young woman in action.

2. Hustle is necessary, but not sufficient. A common refrain entrepreneurs on the show resort to when they’re about to get the nix from all five sharks is:  “But I’m such a hard worker! I will toil night and day to make this business a success!” And every time, one of the sharks — usually Mark Cuban — will respond with something to the effect of: “You and everyone else on this show!”

We’ve argued that the world belongs to those who hustle. And it does. If you’re lazy, you’re not going anywhere in life. But in business, hustle is a given. You have to work hard to be a success, but working hard doesn’t guarantee you’ll be successful. If your business sucks and your product is a complete lemon, it doesn’t matter how hard you work. You’re going to fail.

Hustle, but make sure you’re hustling in the right direction.

3. Don’t be blinded by passion. Here’s another recurring theme on the show: the overly-passionate entrepreneur who’s poured their heart and soul into their product and is absolutely convinced that their business is the next big thing/will change the world…even though everyone else can plainly see that their idea is an utter dud.

“I think passion is overrated. Everyone has a lot of passions. I have a passion for sports – a passion for music. That doesn’t make it a business, and that doesn’t make you qualified to run the business.” –Mark Cuban

It’s hard to knock these folks. Their passion and emotion is well-intended and is frankly admirable in our day of “overwhelming meh” aloofness. Ideally, you should love doing the thing you’re trying to make money at. But passion isn’t enough. Just like hustling can’t transform a sow’s ear into a purse, if nobody wants your product or service, passion in spades won’t magically turn your business into a success. In fact, that unchecked passion can blind you to warning signs that you’re on a sinking ship — before you know it, you’ve invested years of your life and thousands of dollars into an emotionally and financially costly failure. It’s truly sad when the entrepreneurs on the show admit they’ve taken out a second mortgage or emptied their children’s college fund to pursue a dream that all the sharks end up turning down. Had they led with their head instead of their heart, such a devastating anagnorisis could have been avoided.

4. Just because your friends and family love your idea, doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen people pitch what is obviously a stinker of a business, only to be stunned when Mr. Wonderful declares, “This is insanity! I forbid you to continue!” How do these incredulous would-be entrepreneurs invariably respond? “But all my friends and family think it’s a great idea!”

Of course they do. They’re your friends and family. They think you’re awesome, so they think everything you do is awesome; it’s the halo effect! Even if your friends and family do realize your business idea is a bad one, they probably wouldn’t say so. They’re worried you’ll shoot the messenger and so they’ll simply tell you what you want to hear.

Take the husband/wife creators of  “Elephant Chat.” They invested $100,000 of their own money into developing their product – a little plush elephant stuffed inside an acrylic “communication cube” that a spouse could place out on the counter to let their partner know they wanted to talk about an issue in the relationship (“the elephant in the room”). It retailed for $60. They swore everyone they talked to thought it was an amazing idea. None of the sharks took the bait.

Besides being blinded by your passion, beware the family and friends filter. Always, always get an outside, unbiased opinion. Better yet, test out your idea on the unforgiving public to see if there’s even a demand for it.

5. Know your business. Above we mentioned that in order to pitch effectively, you gotta know your business. But what does that mean exactly?

“Know your business and industry better than anyone else in the world.” –Mark Cuban

First, you need to know your numbers — sales, cash flow, debt, margin, and so on. The sharks often hesitate to make a deal with entrepreneurs who don’t know important data points like their customer acquisition cost.

But knowing your business extends far beyond having a handle on your numbers; it requires a deep understanding and grasp of the industry you’re competing in. Lots of entrepreneurs come on the show pitching a product or service they think is truly unique, only to be informed by one of the sharks that a very similar product or service already exists. If they had done just a bit of due diligence, they could have avoided that embarrassing “surprise.”

There are also plenty of entrepreneurs who come on the show with dreams of conquering certain industries (food, clothing, apps, etc.), but have no idea how those industries actually work; for example, they have a food item they want national grocery stores to stock, yet they aren’t aware of the huge amounts of money big corporations spend to secure that shelf space and what an uphill battle breaking into the market will require. Consequently, their plans to succeed are naive at best — completely misguided at worst.

A perfect example of entrepreneurs who came on Shark Tank without really understanding their industry (or even business) was a pair of doctors pitching a social network for their fellow MDs called Rolodoc. The docs had no clue how social media worked, or even what it was, despite the fact that their business idea would supposedly revolve round it. Consequently, they stumbled over even very basic questions about how their idea would be executed and how it would actually make money. Mark Cuban called it the worst pitch in Shark Tank history.

Before you start your business, research the heck out of the industry you’ll be competing in by reading industry journals and blogs and talking to folks who are already doing business in that market. Heck, even pick up a Dummies guide – there’s one for just about any industry you can think of. This research phase could take months, but it will save you major headaches down the road.

6. Concentrate on your core competency. Sometimes an already successful business will enter the tank seeking more capital to expand and grow. Nothing wrong with that. The problem arises when one of these companies wants to use that money to expand into a somewhat related product line or service that detracts from their original core competency. Most of the sharks are leery of these businesses and will often tell the entrepreneur that they’ll only invest if they drop their plans for the expanded product line. Why would they want their money funneled into an untested product or service instead of being used to boost a proven winner?

It’s good to experiment and try different things in business, but never lose sight of your core competency. Getting sidetracked has been the downfall of many a business. This is especially true with the volume and ease with which you can get feedback on social media these days; you might hear from a bunch of folks who say, “I wish you guys would make this too!” leading you to believe there’s a popular demand for a new expansion in your business. Then it turns out that those commenters actually represented a very small but disproportionately vocal minority.

Know what you’re good at and stick close to it.

7. The best businesses solve real problems. The entrepreneurs that succeed in landing a deal usually have one thing in common: their business solves a real problem. Typically the problem the entrepreneur sets out to solve was one they experienced themselves.

The businesses that typically fail at securing funding don’t solve an actual problem. They’re either novelty products or products that solve a problem that doesn’t actually exist. Every now and then you’ll see a shark invest in a novelty item because they see the opportunity to make a lot of money really fast by riding a trend or fad, but for every one of those, you have something like Man Medals – novelty items that are as a dumb as a rock, not the next Pet Rock.

8. If you’re not making money, it’s just a hobby. Kevin O’Leary has a saying, “Any business that after three years isn’t profitable isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.” There’s nothing wrong with hobbies. They’re fun and provide a creative outlet. But don’t fool yourself into thinking that your little manly-scented artisanal soapmaking experiment is a promising biz just because you’ve sold 8 bars on Etsy. If you’re plowing lots of money into your project, but seeing little return on your investment, embrace your endeavor for what it is – a pleasant pastime.

9. Not every business needs investors. Some entrepreneurs come on Shark Tank looking for an investment to expand an already successful business, only to be told by the sharks that they don’t need an investor and should actually continue to bootstrap the business. I think this is an important, but often overlooked point. In a business culture that glorifies million dollar venture capital deals, lots of aspiring entrepreneurs have the mistaken belief that if you want to succeed in business, you have to have investors.

Not so.

Plenty of successful businesses bootstrap their way to success without the assistance of investors; with a good idea, hard work, and proper money and resource management, they’re able to fund continued growth with the cash flow they have coming in. Bringing in an investor wouldn’t do much for these businesses except add another cook in the kitchen – and another hand in the pie.

“Banks are not forgiving, and the last thing you want to do is build your business with a priority placed on having to pay back the bank before you invest further in your business. Equity is far better and sweat equity is the best.” -Mark Cuban

Besides, some businesses just aren’t well suited for investment. Investors typically want businesses that they can scale and aggressively expand. You can’t scale a business that specializes in handcrafted wooden chests made by you, unless of course you’re willing to license your design to a factory in China. But managing the mass-production of wooden chests may not be what you envision as your vocation and you’d rather keep things small – making less money, but staying hands-on with the work.

Taking venture capital ultimately means giving up control. We ourselves have been approached a few times with VC offers but have never seriously considered them. Once you bring in people who are only concerned about the bottom line, they’re going to start pushing you to do things that may not jive with your values and vision. “We need to blow the Art of Manliness up and increase traffic faster! Why don’t you publish more often and do like, oh, I don’t know, some posts on the ‘hot girl of the month?’” Um, no thanks.

Before seeking investment, ask yourself: Do we really need outside funding? Have we reached a point where we can’t continue to grow without it? Are we the type of business an investor would even want to invest in?  If so, what would we do with the extra capital? Do I really want to give up control of my business?

Also, if you’re looking for a great bootstrapping success story, look no farther than our friends at Huckberry. I’m so impressed with their success – they keep growing and growing – and they’ve done it without VC. For an inside look at the benefits and challenges of taking this path, check out this great article on them at 37Signals.

If you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, I hope you’ll take all this advice under consideration, or in the words of Mr. Wonderful, “You’re dead to me!”

Brett & Kate McKay

There’s no shortage of advice out there claiming to make you better, but mindfulness meditation is the rare, research-proven technique that boosts your performance by physically altering your brain.

Researchers from the University of British Columbia recently pooled data from more than 20 studies to understand how practicing mindfulness affects the brain. While the researchers found significant changes in eight brain regions, there are two regions that are of particular importance to you.

In these brain regions, the simple act of practicing mindfulness increased both brain activity and the density of brain tissue:

Related: 6 Simple Tricks That Will Make You Way More Productive

1. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is responsible for self-control. It enables you to resist distractions, to focus, and to avoid impulsivity in order to work efficiently and make great decisions. The ACC is also responsible for flexibility, and people who have problems in this brain area are known to stick to ineffective problem-solving strategies when they should be adjusting their approach.
2. The hippocampus, which, among other things, is responsible for resilience in the face of setbacks and challenges. The hippocampus is readily damaged by stress, making it a need area for most people. The hippocampus is red/orange in the image below.

Mindfulness is a simple, yet effective form of meditation that enables you to gain control of unruly thoughts and behaviors. People who practice mindfulness are more focused, even when they are not meditating. Mindfulness is an excellent technique to reduce stress because it allows you to stop feeling out of control, to stop jumping from one thought to the next, and to stop ruminating on negative thoughts. Overall, it’s a great way to make it through your busy day in a calm and productive manner.

Just as doing curls increases muscle density in your biceps, practicing mindfulness increases the density of brain matter where it counts. Mindfulness is perhaps the only technique that can change your brain in this way, which produces a ripple of other positive effects. Thankfully, you can reap the benefits of mindfulness in as little as a few minutes a day.

Gandhi was once with a group of followers who inquired about his schedule. He told them, “I need to set aside at least one hour each day to meditate.” They were vexed by this and told him, “There’s no way you have that much time!” He responded, “Well, if that’s the case, then I need to set aside two hours a day to meditate.”

Like Gandhi, you’ll soon find that mindfulness is one of very few things that are well worth your precious time, and the busier you are, the more important it is to have a clear mind if you want to be productive.

Mindfulness doesn’t have to take place in the mountains of Nepal or a weekend retreat under a vow of silence. The beauty of the technique is that it’s so simple you can do it anywhere and just about anytime.

Mindfulness is the simple act of focusing all of your attention on the present. This requires you to observe your thoughts and feelings objectively, without judgment, which helps you to awaken your experience and live in the moment. This way, life doesn’t pass you by.

I realize this might sound a bit abstract and complicated at first, but it isn’t. Here’s how you can do it, even with your busy schedule.

Related: How Emotional Intelligence Can Boost Your Career — And Save Your Life

1. Focus on your breathing.

Sit in a comfortable chair with your feet flat on the floor, and spend a few minutes doing nothing but breathing slowly in and out. Focus all your attention on your breath. Feel the air travel into your mouth, down your windpipe, and into your lungs. Then feel your body shift as it pushes the air out of your lungs. When thoughts surface that distract you from your breathing, don’t worry. Just let them pass, and shift your attention back to your breathing. After some practice, you should be able to spend a few to several minutes doing nothing but immersing yourself in the act of breathing, at the expense of all the other thoughts.

2. Go for a walk. 

You can also meditate just by going for a walk. All you need to do is focus on each step. Feel your legs move and your feet hit the ground. Focus solely on the act of walking and the sensations of your surroundings (the cool breeze, the hot sun, or the dog barking in the distance). When you feel other thoughts creeping into your mind, focus even harder on the sensation of walking. Focusing on something that’s second nature is refreshing because it alters your frame of mind as you turn off the never-ending stream of thoughts that normally dominate your attention. You can do the same thing when you brush your teeth, comb your hair, or eat a meal.

3. Feel your body.

You don’t even need to stop doing what you’re doing to practice mindfulness. All you have to do is focus all of your attention on what you’re doing without thinking about why you’re doing it, what you should do next, or what you should be doing. Whether it’s the gentle stroke of your fingers on the keyboard or your posture in your chair, you can direct your attention from your thoughts to your bodily sensations at the spur of the moment.

Related: Why Attitude Is More Important Than Intelligence

4. Repeat one positive thing about yourself, over and over.

One of the main goals of mindfulness is to stop the steam of thoughts that cycle through your mind over and over again each day. Funnily enough, a great way to do this is to choose a short, positive message about yourself and to repeat it over and over with each breath to keep your mind on track. A great phrase of choice is “I am capable.” The simplicity keeps you grounded in the exercise and keeps other thoughts from taking over. The right phrase also builds a little confidence, which never hurts.

5. Interrupt the stress cycle. 

Any moment when you feel stressed, overwhelmed, or stuck on something is the perfect moment to practice mindfulness. Just stop what you’re doing, let the thoughts go for a moment, and practice your favorite mindfulness technique (breathing, walking, or focusing on body sensations). Even a few minutes of this can make a huge difference in quieting your mind and reducing stress. You’ll be surprised how reasonable things look once you’ve taken a few moments to clear your head.

Bringing it all together

Nothing can improve your brain the way mindfulness meditation can. Give it a try, and you’ll be surprised where it takes you.

Travis Bradberry

Typography is an ever-evolving amalgam of artistry and science, business and technology.

The past year saw many exciting developments in the design world. But what’s next?

Here are three select dimensions of typography from 2015 to reflect upon, facets that may inform design trends in the year to come.

01. Serifs get their due

While sans serif designs continually dominate the lists of top-selling typefaces in popular font marketplaces, designers need to remind themselves not to forget the heralded, dignified place serif designs hold within the pantheon of typographic history.

From old-style, to transitional, to slab designs, the finer typographic points of serif typefaces were often obliterated by the low-resolution limitations of available hardware; nowadays that’s becoming much less of a liability.

With higher resolution screens becoming more prevalent and plentiful — whether in high pixel density notebooks, tablets or phones — digital devices can increasingly handle the often more delicate, refined nuances of serif typefaces and smaller sizes… nuances that give serif designs their distinct personalities.

Specially tuned versions of popular serif typefaces have previously been released to elegantly compensate for the limitations of the hardware that supports them — for example, in long-form reading applications in web and e-reader arenas, where serif designs have traditionally held an edge in terms of perceived legibility.

Because it’s not feasible for a great swath of digital devices (in addition to your everyday consumer electronics), to easily incorporate bleeding-edge display advancements, these kinds of technologies will continue to be a vital component to typographic legibility.

However, we may soon reach a point where serif designs can more readily hold their own as-is in many mediums. As the number of high definition displays making their way into consumers’ hands increases, so too does the opportunity for designers to confidently employ serif typefaces in their digital projects.

With the fear of degraded performance allayed (especially compared with their serif-less counterparts), these classic staples of visual communication may enjoy an overdue renaissance.

Does that mean that screens will soon offer up a pound-for-pound equivalency to the perceived warmth and beauty of printed type?

That’s an ideological point up for debate, but we can agree that a world in which the gap in visual performance between type classifications is lessened is a good world for both designers and readers alike.

02. Prominent custom type and type awareness continue

Whether consciously or unconsciously, everybody knows digital type is everywhere — it’s on your smartphone, your television, your coffee maker. Type even meanders into pop culture, through BuzzFeed typographic quizzes (from the mildly academic to absurd), and even TV references. Type, as it turns out, continues to play a more overt and more discussed topic in our everyday lives.

The San Francisco typeface, a design that debuted first for the Apple Watch, and subsequently rolled out for iOS and OS X El Capitan, continues the trend of the public becoming more aware of the importance (and, indeed, fashion ability) of type.

Changing the typographic landscape of one of the most valuable and recognizable brands in the world is a change even the most typographically unaware will, in some capacity, begin to notice.

Other examples of more type entering the public’s consciousness include Amazon Kindle’s new Bookerly typeface, and Google’s branding update in September of 2015.

Not only was John Q. Non-Designer opining on their like or dislike of the new Google wordmark, but also Product Sans, the company’s corresponding custom typeface.

Stories that one would expect to be circumscribed to the type community — such as the reappearance and revivals of the Unica type family — became big stories in popular media as well.

One can hope that continued exposure to mainstream typography news will, in some fashion, translate to a heightened typographic awareness, sensitivity towards, and demand for well-executed type.

03. Everybody’s a (first-time) type designer, sort of

Type design is a trade that requires a very specific set of skills and sensibilities: rank-and-file graphic designers are acutely aware of this, and (let’s be honest) often jealous.

There’s a great deal of visual power that comes with the talent to successfully create brand new type out of thin air. Over the last few years, tools such as the Glyphs app have provided more affordable production tools for first-time type designers to create professional, technically sound fonts for commercial release.

It needs to be said that easier access to software does not a type designer make. There’s both an irreplaceable artistry as well as a command of the tedious technical production process in the skill set of type designers. These singular skills allow type designers to see a typeface through, from genesis to final form, in a way that software alone cannot.

However, an additional crop of new tools aims to give an even larger share of designers the ability to superficially dabble in type customization.

Prototypo, Adobe’s Project Faces, and FontArk now put the promise of custom type more readily in the hand of designers by allowing them to tweak and personalize fonts derived from a basic starting skeleton.

User-friendly interfaces featuring sliders and toggles allow designers to easily make radical adjustments to default designs — everything from stroke thickness and contrast, character width, to serif style is changed with just a few clicks.

Again, professional type designers need not shutter their shops any time soon — their skills are very much in demand and have an esteemed place in the world, along with a clientele that demands an expertise unmatched by an application.

However, for designers who need just a touch of typographic personalization for their projects, these tools open up a whole new world of possibilities of which their impact in the marketplace is yet to be seen.

Ryan Arruda

An Evolving Color Landscape

Through carefully examining the world around us for new color influences, Pantone has remained the global color authority and provider of professional color standards for the design industries for more than 50 years. Color forecasts including the PANTONE Fashion Color Report, PANTONE VIEW home + interiors and Color of the Year declaration continue to influence product development and purchasing decisions in multiple industries, including fashion, beauty, home and industrial design, as well as product packaging and graphic design.

This season displays an umbrella of accord that weaves earthy neutrals with a range of bold color statements and patterns to reflect a landscape of hope, fun, fantasy and all things natural. The colors are evocative of a love for nature and a timeless appreciation for warmth and security, which are conveyed through naturally inspired colors that remind us of things that are real and protective.

We are brought back to progressive moments in American history — from the seductive ‘20s to the bohemian hippie and modernists of the ‘60s and ‘70s — while stringing together an affection for colors and styling that is a truly unisex color palette. One such color is Marsala — the 2015 Pantone Color of the Year. Rich and robust, Marsala is an earthy wine red that enriches the mind, body and soul, exuding confidence and stability. Eye-catching, but not overwhelming or bright, Marsala is ideal for use in graphic design and packaging.

— Leatrice Eiseman Executive Director, Pantone Color Institute

TOP 10 COLORS FOR FALL 2015

An olive green shade once thought of as strictly safari or military, Dried Herb has been elevated into a color we now perceive as sophisticated and chic. Closely related to nature, Dried Herb is an organic shade redolent of nature’s earthy fragrances.

 

 

A cool and soothing greenish gray, Desert Sage is the ideal neutral. Timeless and unobtrusive yet at the same time stylishly powerful enough to make an impactful statement on its own, Desert Sage speaks to this feeling of naturally inspired colors that remind us of things that are real and not invented.

 

 

Reminiscent of the sky on a gray, overcast day, Stormy Weather is dependable, cool and above all, constant. Implying quality and luxury, Stormy Weather is a powerful blue gray shade that is strong, protective and enduring.

 

 

Just as the sun comes out after stormy weather to bring us cheer and a glimmer of hope, Oak Buff is a mellow, comforting and warming shade that brings good feelings. Another one of nature’s illustrious shades, the golden yellow Oak Buff acts to nurture and comfort.

 

 

Interesting on its own and a wonderful contrast for other hues, Marsala is a winey red-brown that adds finesse and savoir faire. Rich and robust, Marsala incorporates the warmth and richness of a tastefully fulfilling meal, while its grounding red-brown roots point to a sophisticated, natural earthiness.

 

 

A lush and elegant teal, Biscay Bay splashes up against more heated tones with its cool touch. Combining the serene qualities of blue with the invigorating aspects of green, the cool and confident Biscay Bay inspires thoughts of soothing, tropical waters, taking us to a place that is pleasant and inviting.

 

 

Thoughtful, contemplative and composed, Reflecting Pond is a cooling blue with a lot of depth. Conveying a message of credibility, Reflecting Pond is a serious shade that speaks to our need for stability and security. A nod to the ‘60s and ‘70s, Cadmium Orange evokes a sentiment of optimism, fun and fantasy.

 

 

Both playful and sophisticated in its appeal, Cadmium Orange is a warm, welcoming and subtly dramatic orange shade that is striking enough to stand on its own or act as a bold contrast.

 

 

 

A play on the 1960’s with a twist of today, Cashmere Rose is a tactile and soft pink hue that renders exactly what it promises. Cultivated in its richness, Cashmere Rose is a gentle and composed pink that is more upscale than downtown.

 

 

Indicative of our affection for color, Amethyst Orchid is the jewel in the crown. Intriguing, vibrant and somewhat sensual, this enigmatic shade is an extraordinary hue that is unique, bold, creative and exciting.

 

 

 

PANTONE VIEW home + interiors 2016 contains visual inspiration, suggested color harmonies, individual tear-out palette cards for each of the nine forecasted palettes, swatches of the 77 forecasted colors, and product imagery for use in presentations and storyboards. Highlighting additional insight and direction, a summary page provides a comprehensive color overview and a look at other factors influencing the world of home furnishings and interior environments. The nine directional color palettes for 2016 are: Natural Forms, Dichotomy, Ephemera, Lineage, Soft Focus, Bijoux, Merriment, Footloose and  Mixed Bag.

In the French language, Bijoux means “jewelry” — a fitting title for this palette that gleams with drama and intensity across many jewel tones.

Capricious color combinations with vacation-destination blues and blue-greens create Footloose — a palette that supports the idea of throwing off the constricting scheduling of everyday life and simply enjoying the freedom of the outdoors.

Mixed Bag is an assortment of eclectic patterns and prints, with exciting and unique colors like pirate black and mandarin red as well as violet and florid orange.