20 Unique Gifts for Graphic Designers & Creatives 2017

This article was contributed by 9ightout. 

Chocolates, photo frames and books are the obvious gifts but how can you find something different and exciting for a loved one? Especially, when there’s an artist, designer or a techie on the receiving end.

Relax. We’ve got your back. Scroll through this list of the best Christmas / Holiday gifts to give to a designer and put a dash of happiness in their artistry!

Best Christmas Presents / Gifts for Designers, Artists and Creatives

1. Multitouch Drawing Tablet

I won’t say it isn’t the most obvious choice, it surely is for many. But, with technology getting better every passing month, gifting a multi-touch tablet having the latest specifications is a great option. Artist16, Wacom Mobile Studio Pro, Wacom Cintiq 13HD and so forth are within a feasible price range.

These tablets allow designers to draw directly on the screen where they can collaborate with others, and electronically & manually make changes.

2. Extra Storage / BackUp Drives

Backup storage, of course, is a mind-blowing gift any time. It is a life-saving gift you can present to your designer friends whose work is their vigor. There’s no way they want to lose it; a thoughtful gift idea indeed. So, why not?

This storage software allows syncing data with other cloud services. Whether you want backups, security, file management or just cloud storage, they meet all the requirements. Some of the best disk managers are Seagate Personal Cloud, Synology DiskStation DS216j, Synology DiskStation DS716+. Learn more about network attached storage devices here.

3. Power Dock Station

To cut out the mess and make your friend’s life a tad easier, here is another superhero gift on the list. Power dock stations will make your buddy’s desk a clean slate. No cluttered wires and no entangling. These dock stations can also fit cables, wallets, phones, tablets, and keys. Allow them some fresh space that’s clutter-free.

4. LaMetric Dashboard & Speaker

Live display of pixel notifications together with a speaker; could life be any better? This gadget displays notifications of multiple things; for example, business metrics, emails, tasks, news, etc. Fully customizable, one can connect it either to the mobile phone or computer.

5. QlockTwo Touch

There’s a unique thing about designers. They cannot settle for common objects and decorations. They always have eyes for something that’s equally beautiful and functional. Qlocktwo Touch is a perfect item in the gift wrap. This alarm clock includes a matrix of letters that illuminate to tell you the time. For instance, if it is 8.15, the clock will show ‘fifteen past eight’ in the most stylish way.

6. Headphone Amplifier

Working for long hours on computers can become tedious, but to boost concentration, designers prefer listening to music. Therefore, headphone amplifiers are an ideal match for them. Designed with high-impedance and low-sensitivity, these make a good fit & can also be used on a small workstation.

7. Vanamco DeviceLab

Eye candy and a very useful gift for designers. DeviceLab is a receptive developmental stand. It helps designers test responsive sites at once by bringing several devices like mobile phones and tablets together in a single place. Besides, it also helps increase productivity at par.

8. Dot Grid Sketchbook

Let your designer buddies play with dimensions and space to design logos, UI ideas or UX wireframes. Integrated with a dot grid pattern, this gadget is especially useful for UI Stencils and saves a lot of time. Also, the product is 100 percent recyclable which means a safe sigh for mother nature too.

9. Re-markable Paper Tablet

Read, write or sketch, this Paper Tablet will make it all worth the  experience. For those designers who spill their creativity on papers, this tablet will prove to be a promising gift. Besides, the experience is digital which means combining old ways with new. A perfect combo!

10. Big Big Cursor

Your friends no longer have to use the conventional pen type stylus on their touchscreen devices! Gift your buds this out of the box Big-Big Cursor. Available in shape of a gloved finger and cursor version, this cool accessory comes with a magnet. So, it can be easily stuck to a metal surface to prevent it from getting misplaced.

11. Wacom Inkling Digital Sketch Pen

Most of the times, designers work on laptops and computers. It’s tiring and strenuous. So, how about gifting them something as casual and free like drawing on paper?

Inkling is an ace gadget that allows sketching on paper and records the drawings digitally. Plus, these images work flawlessly with Illustrator, Photoshop, and many other graphic design computer programs. A complete layer control to their design, what else one could ask for?

12. The Re-Fold MultiFold Portable Table

All day sitting and working is harmful. Hence, why not gift them something flexible? This multifold table is not only flexible but also portable, affordable and 100% recyclable. Easy to assemble, this foldable desk will be a thoughtful present for your mate.

13. Mollaspace Keyboard Coasters

As creative and versatile as the designers, the Mollaspace Keyboard Coasters features a modern and contemporary design. Their design is a statement style and complements any workstation module. Make your friends’ work feel appreciated by gifting them something work-related.

14. Touch Gloves

Winter is here in the northern hemisphere, which means freezing hands and numb fingers. A tough time for creative amigos. Worry not! Gift them a pair of touchscreen gloves that seamlessly work with smartphone and tablet screens interface. These gloves are integrated with special capacitive thumb and index fingertips to operate your smartphone or tablets. They’re cheap, and they’re fashionable! What’s not to love?

15. Online Courses / Subscriptions

In the era of online shopping and online gift ordering, why not purchase online course or subscription for a gift? Scratch your head and think of a book or course your designer mate wanted from long. If you can, you’ve probably found a great Christmas gift for them because it was already on their wishlist. Try browse Udemy or Skillshare for a great course.

16. Computer Glasses

Another useful gift for designers could be a pair of Anti-glare spectacles (see this article: Do computer eye-glasses really work?). Designers and developers often have to stare at computer screen for long hours, which mostly causes eye strain. Computer eyeglasses with advanced lens technology are designed to minimize these ill-effects. Not only do the glasses look cool, but they also make a superb addition to a designers’ accessories!

17. Slate 2.0 LapDesk

Classy and functional as hell, this Lap desk is for times when you’re all up to work while sitting on the bed or couch. Support your lazy lads and offer them a gift of comfort. The ergonomic design of this desk is meant to make their laptop appear cool while giving them optimal space for work and play. This desk is compatible with laptops ranging from 11˝-17˝ as well as the iPad Mini, iPad Air, and iPhone 6/6s and 6/6s plus.

18. Walls Notebook

Bare city walls decorated with fresh coats of design—is there anything more appealing to doodlers, designers, and graffiti artists? This type of gift invites them to fulfill their inner vandal without the risk of jail time. They can take notes, carve sketches, or draw, whatever they like. It is their minimalistic version of wall that they can draw on.

This Walls Notebook gift is super quirky for those creative gems.

19. Wake-Up Light with Sun Rise Simulation

No one in the world would vouch for early to bed and early to rise, anymore. Therefore, to help your friends have a morning experience in night or at noon here is something incredible.

This wake-up light imitates sunlight to wake them up in a natural way. Also, it has an FM radio, with another option of setting wake-up sounds. All in all, an amazing treat for night-owl designers and party lovers.

20. Projection Keyboard

This little box of joy is a dreamy reality. This projection keyboard provides designers with a full-size keyboard for typing. Moreover, this keyboard is smaller and easier to carry than a regular-sized portable keyboard. Again, a fine present for designers and techies.

From the most expensive ones to the not-so costly, these Christmas gifts will surely entice your designer amigos. So, what are you waiting for? Hurry up and get wrapping! What other christmas gifts would you add?

More Gift Ideas for Creatives

Browse the BlackFriday Deals post, there are some great ideas in there!

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The designer gift idea compilation is presented to you by 9ightout. 

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7 Essential Questions to Define Your Brand

This article was contributed by Emerson Stone.

Branding is more important to your business than ever. A strong brand identity increases the value of your company, motivates and provides direction to employees, and creates a strong follower base.

Contrary to what many believe, branding comes down to much more than memorable logos. Your brand is the sum of people’s perception of your products, vision, and content. Everything from your voice on social media to your packaging design influences the perception that others have of your brand. Branding can be the difference between customers buying from you or buying from your competitors.

Improving your brand identity begins with understanding your current brand identity. If you don’t exactly know your brand identity, here are seven questions to help you uncover your company’s brand.

1. Why Does Our Company Exist?

This is a question that you should ask yourself every day as a business owner or investor. Simply put, why should people care about your company? Why do you get out of bed every morning?

Simon Sinek gives a great explanation of why some businesses are great and others aren’t in his TED Talk.

The best businesses follow the “Golden Circle” concept; they focus on the “why” behind their business, rather than what they do or how they do it.

Credit: SmartInsights

Apple has become one of the most powerful companies in the world by employing this exact mindset. Rather than create commercials about the features of their products, Apple creates commercials that glorify those who challenge the status quo. Just look at their famous “Here’s to the Crazy Ones” commercial from 1997.

All businesses know what they are creating, but very few understand why they create their products and services outside of monetary profit.

People do not buy what you do; they buy why you do it.

Simply put, your branding should resonate very closely with your mission and vision statement.

2. What Is Our Story?

It is important to understand how you tell the story of your brand. Telling a story is a powerful way to build relationships with your customers. It’s an age-old concept that brings people together and keeps them engaged.

When telling your story, it’s important to emphasize the hero in your company story – the person who succeeded because of your company, whether that is one specific individual, or a persona that you have created. People don’t only want to hear why you created your company; they want to hear how your company has helped others like them to become successful.

Your “story” is a great opportunity to highlight your success stories while sharing your vision with your customers and employees. Our favorite example of this was Subway’s hiring of Jared, a man who lost over 200 pounds while living on a diet of eating at Subway, to be their spokesperson for 15 years. Although his sex scandal unraveled this brand equity.

Think back to your customers from the past year and compile 1-2 case studies that tell the stories of the customers that you are most proud to have helped. Come check out our case studies for a few examples of how to get started.

3. What Problems Do We Help Our Customers Solve?

While it can be easy to get wrapped up in your product features or amazing deals, it’s important to step back and think about the problems that your customers are facing.

Is there something that your product is missing that your customers need? What are competitors missing out on when it comes to helping solve customer problems?

With the growing number of consumers researching brands and products online before making their first purchase, it’s more important than ever to create an outstanding first experience.

Learn as much as you can about your target customer’s behavior, needs, and desires, and find out what concerns they may have about a specific product or the industry itself. Interview your potential customers to understand how you can build a better solution to those needs and desires. You may be surprised to find important information about your market before the competition.

4. Why Do These Customers Trust Our Team Over Our Competitors?

It’s important to understand who you are up against, but also understand what makes you uniquely better than each of these competitors. Other companies may have a deficiency in specific areas that you excel at, or perhaps you offer a diverse suite of services that no one else offers. What makes customers purchase your products over a competitor’s?

You won’t be better than your competitors at everything, but your company should be better than each competitor at something. Perhaps you have the best customer service, or maybe your business caters more to a niche market than any other company. Start by running a SWOT analysis to determine what your business does better than each of your competitors.

McDonald’s doesn’t claim to have the best cheeseburger. They claim to have the most consistent cheeseburger at an extremely affordable price, and that is exactly why millions of people go to McDonald’s every day.

5. What Brands Do We Look Up To?

Which brands did you look up to when first building your business? Whether they were top competitors or powerhouses in other industries, you likely borrowed some brilliance from other great businesses when you started your company.

Looking at brands that inspire you can give a great indicator of the values that are most crucial to your brand, as well as the best way to ensure that those values are properly implemented within your company. You don’t have to copy them completely, but you can take some of their ideas and transform it into your own. For example, many companies look up to Apple for their emphasis on individuality and uniqueness.

6. What 5 Characteristics Would Our Employees Use to Describe Our Brand Today?

How do your own employees perceive your brand? How many of your employees know your company’s mission and vision statement? Your employees’ perceptions about your business are often very different than your own, and they give you the best perspective of how those immersed in your brand 40 hours per week feel about the brand itself.

Find out what your employees see in the company’s brand today. Send out a company survey or call for a meeting to bring everyone together. Brainstorm and find those characteristics that the majority of employees see in your company. Try starting out with a list of conflicting adjectives and asking your employees to identify the adjective in each group that best resonates with your brand. Some examples could include formal vs. informal; funny vs. serious; and customization vs. consistency.

From there, ask yourself whether these five characteristics are consistent with how you want employees to view your brand. If they are not, then it may be time to start thinking about how to change those perceptions.

7. What Is Our Brand Voice?

Your brand voice is the heart and soul of your communications. Your brand voice is the tone in which you speak to and connect with your audience. Identifying your brand voice will help employees communicate properly across blog articles, social media, interviews, etc.

Whether your brand voice is authoritative, informative, fun or serious, your voice must be 100% authentic. Consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that they connect with on an emotional level. Find the voice that matches best with your brand’s characteristics and vision, and then implement it into everything that your team creates.

Finding your brand identity may be difficult. However, finding maintaining a consistent brand identity will help you build a strong following amongst consumers and employees. Not only will consumers feel more confident about purchasing your products and services, but your team will also have a better understanding of your vision and your “why”.

Looking for more insight on your brand identity? Is it time for your business to re-brand? Explore our to see if we’re the right company to help you out.

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About author: Emerson Stone is a product-centric design agency based in Boulder, Colorado. They help brands to take their business to the next level through branding, strategic consulting, application development, product development, and much more.

How to Win at Email Design

Below is an interview with Mike Smith, the art director for Aweber (the email marketing service I use for JUST Creative) and he has answered a few common questions on email design.

On a side note, if you’ve designed a great email newsletter, enter it into EmailMonks’ free newsletter competition and win your share of $10k in prizes.

1. How can using a consistent template build brand trust?

Templates are beneficial for many reasons, but specific to your customers, a consistent template design helps to establish expectations. A consistent template makes the cognitive load on subscribers lighter because they see a recognizable structure and aesthetic. This minor mental trigger builds a subconscious trust with readers which goes a long way to making your brand stronger.

2. What are the best colors and placements for CTAs in emails?

The best way to know how subscribers will respond is through testing, but here are some tips we’ve learned with our own testing. If you can place a link or button just under a header image or headline we’ve seen marked increases in the click through.

When it comes to color, matching your brand is important but so is contrast. The higher the contrast between a button and the background it sits on the more actionable it will appear.

3. How much do I really need to change on the template to make it unique?

The templates in your email provider have been designed to make your life easier. If you only change the colors and logo that is sufficient enough to make a well designed email. No need to go crazy with changing all the elements just to “make it your own”.

The templates are also created to be flexible so adding additional images and content should be easy to make work within the constraints the email designer created for that specific template.

4. Should my template match my website?

It’s a big challenge to match an email and web experience 1 to 1. The use cases for each are quite different so there isn’t a point in beating yourself up to make it perfectly match. The important elements of your site–fonts, colors, logos, image styles– are enough to make the two coexist.

Think about your email in the way that old school correspondence kits were designed. Your business card and letterhead don’t look identical, because they have different purposes. But they did obviously live as part of the same brand. That is the same logic that applies to a website and email template, similar but designed with the medium’s intent in mind.

5. Should design or content come first when thinking about creating an email newsletter?

A flexible email template design should allow for all types of content.

6. What are fun and unique ways to make your email stand out from other brands?

Let your personality shine! This doesn’t have to be through witty copy or flashy GIFs but it could be. Whatever you do make it true to you. Every person and brand are a unique mix of their history, their convictions, and their personality. Allow that to come through in your design decision making, don’t focus on “being different”.

7. What’s the number one mistake you see marketers make in email designs?

Trying to be fancy. Clip art images, crazy fonts or font colors, or whacky layouts aren’t necessary. Drive home the value every time you send an email and subscribers will want to hear from you. Don’t put a bunch of silly distractions in the way of getting to the value!

Win at Email Design: Video Series

Mike Smith has been working on a series of videos about email design. Below is the first video which teaches you how to design an awesome welcome email, focusing on the principles of brand aesthetics, setting expectations and showing humanity.

Enjoy!