About Us
A graphic design and art studio, Knight Design Studio offers an extensive range of services to address your business marketing needs.
The products and services we offer
Recommendations Received (4)
"Debi has been a stellar designer for over 30 years!"
"I've worked with Debi Knight for 31 years.She's not only an exceedingly talented graphic..."
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"I've worked with Debi Knight for 31 years.She's not only an exceedingly talented graphic designer, but knows her way through good grammar and spelling as well. As a writer, I find both skills extremely important. I can't recall a time when she missed a deadline, and she has an uncanny ability to meet a design challenge right out of the gate."
Products & Services
Build your business with a strategic marketing plan carried out with good looking ads and promotional pieces. Make sure your website is up to date ...
Recommendations Given (3)
"Mark is one of the best business writers I've ever worked with. If you want to communicate your..."
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"Mark is one of the best business writers I've ever worked with. If you want to communicate your company's message, you can't do better than hiring Mark to do the writing for you."
"Trinity was very helpful in assisting me with my Medicare decisions. She's great to work with."
Recent Activity
Is this a trick question ... a cleaning company. Seriously?
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Is this a trick question ... a cleaning company. Seriously?
Always always make sure you have a contract and have the client sign it and get a down payment of some sort. Then, don't turn over final files till paid in full, COD. If you haven't done this make sure you do it in the future. For this client, actually going to small claims court is a hassle and...
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Always always make sure you have a contract and have the client sign it and get a down payment of some sort. Then, don't turn over final files till paid in full, COD. If you haven't done this make sure you do it in the future. For this client, actually going to small claims court is a hassle and the extra cost of court and time might not be worth it for the $250. You didn't mention what kind of project. Keep in mind, copyright is on your side. I have on occasion threatened a client with an infringement of copyright lawsuit when I haven't gotten paid. That is only doable if they actually have used the artwork for their benefit or are using it. Sending a letter explaining that they don't own the rights to use the work unless you're paid for it and that instead of small claims court you will sue them for using the work without paying and obtaining clear copyright for their use has sometimes gotten me paid by an otherwise reluctant client. (I have found that small claims court threats don't really get me much.) If you created design or artwork for the client you own the copyright until you sign it over to them. This is important to keep in your contracts and invoices as well. If they don't pay you, they don't have copyright to use the artwork. That opens them up to copyright infringement if they do use the artwork. I threaten a copyright infringement lawsuit, which can be both civil and criminal and is handled by the feds, not a local small claims court. It's worked on occasion. Otherwise, write it off and make sure you use a contract, get a signature and down payment, and state all the copyright technicalities on the contract so you have that leverage in the future. Look into copyright if you need to.
Be the best designer you can be, always meet your commitments, deliver on time and show up when you said you would. That alone will help the business. And don't drop your prices because the clients whine. You don't want to be in the race to the bottom and with online graphic design services so...
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Be the best designer you can be, always meet your commitments, deliver on time and show up when you said you would. That alone will help the business. And don't drop your prices because the clients whine. You don't want to be in the race to the bottom and with online graphic design services so cheap, that's often what you get into. Either they want a custom professional design exclusive to their business or they want cheap. Let them go to 99 designs if they want cheap, don't waste your time.
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Never store everything in Dropbox or any other service exclusively. I keep multiple backups of my files stored both in the cloud and on additional hard drives cabled to the main hard drive I work on. What happens if Dropbox is bought out and the new parent company decides keeping your files is...
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Never store everything in Dropbox or any other service exclusively. I keep multiple backups of my files stored both in the cloud and on additional hard drives cabled to the main hard drive I work on. What happens if Dropbox is bought out and the new parent company decides keeping your files is not important to them, they have other, better revenue streams? This can happen to any online service. So keep multiple back ups and make sure at least one is on a hard drive that is totally accessible by you not using the internet; it will be worth it if you ever have a back hard drive crash.
Make sure your logo and branding are done by someone who knows how to brand, a professional. Spend the money, it's your most important asset. Then use them consistently, even though they bore you to tears because you've seen them so much. Your customers haven't. Get digital copies of your logo...
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Make sure your logo and branding are done by someone who knows how to brand, a professional. Spend the money, it's your most important asset. Then use them consistently, even though they bore you to tears because you've seen them so much. Your customers haven't. Get digital copies of your logo and any other branding materials (biz card, letterhead, etc) and keep them in a safe place where you can find them on your computer. And make sure your logo is done as vector art so it scales, as some others have noted. As a designer, 75 % of my new customers can't find their logo in a decent file to use and then pay me to recreate it in vector art. More work for me but a true waste of money for the client.
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So you're crowdsourcing your pick of a logo for your business???? Even crowdsourcing from a group of designers for your company's logo sounds just weird to me. You don't have an opinion of which logo you like better? If you don't, then maybe you should start from scratch and get a logo you really...
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So you're crowdsourcing your pick of a logo for your business???? Even crowdsourcing from a group of designers for your company's logo sounds just weird to me. You don't have an opinion of which logo you like better? If you don't, then maybe you should start from scratch and get a logo you really love and want to use. It sounds like you're only lukewarm on the two versions you're picking from. Just saying .....
There is no best way. And I agree with Maury Kosh, you are making a judgement from your point of view. They may love their website. Start by asking questions about whether they think it's working for them and why, or why not. Ask them what they think they want the website to do for them. Explore...
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There is no best way. And I agree with Maury Kosh, you are making a judgement from your point of view. They may love their website. Start by asking questions about whether they think it's working for them and why, or why not. Ask them what they think they want the website to do for them. Explore if they think that is working. Find other websites in the same field that you think work better, or know work better if that's possible, in the way they want theirs to work. Show them the difference. Ask if they're open to switching things up to see if their site could work better. Don't push, inquire. Do all this very gingerly, as your opinion, despite being perhaps more educated, is still just your opinion. Keep that in mind when chatting with your customer.
You could introduce yourself to the locals via direct mail; as simple as a postcard, as detailed as a brochure sent out to your target market in the neighborhood. You can purchase mailing lists that conform to various criteria depending on who you want to reach. You can sponsor an event or become...
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You could introduce yourself to the locals via direct mail; as simple as a postcard, as detailed as a brochure sent out to your target market in the neighborhood. You can purchase mailing lists that conform to various criteria depending on who you want to reach. You can sponsor an event or become one of several sponsors of a bigger event. Works well if the event is annual. Create one of your own events or open house. Offer to hold a workshop about what a website should have to your local business community. For free. Serve something good. Send out invites. Or if you're a freelancer, offer a 30 minute consultation to the business community. Can be via online. Join your local Chamber of Commerce or local meet up groups. Support a local charity, host a charity event. Advertise in the local newspaper or in a local coupon type magazine or mailer. Support a school sports team with new uniforms or safety equipment in exchange for hanging banners. Hope this helps.
Robo design won't replace designers but it will make our jobs more scarce and challenging. Robo design will end up all looking alike, robots only know what's programmed into them and will essentially use the same solution to most all the design problems that will fit a set of parameters. A lot of...
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Robo design won't replace designers but it will make our jobs more scarce and challenging. Robo design will end up all looking alike, robots only know what's programmed into them and will essentially use the same solution to most all the design problems that will fit a set of parameters. A lot of possible clients will go there because it will be cheap but it will be really cookie cutter too. But they'll never replace a competent and creative designer because they don't have the capacity to come up with something new or to put two unrelated elements together to make a third that is more than the sum of its parts. That's a specifically human endeavor. But there will always be those design clients that care only about price as long as it looks passable.
Love the commute, hate driving especially in snow. Down the stairs, down the hall and I'm at work, cup of coffee in hand, full and not spilled. Fresh and hot. I can sneak upstairs during the day and see to having a healthy home made dinner for the family. Love being able to cook and work. And...
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Love the commute, hate driving especially in snow. Down the stairs, down the hall and I'm at work, cup of coffee in hand, full and not spilled. Fresh and hot. I can sneak upstairs during the day and see to having a healthy home made dinner for the family. Love being able to cook and work. And lunch is usually last night's leftovers so the food is always good, no guessing at which restaurant to go to. And once the clients realize I'm an hour out of town to visit, they find excuses not to come. Works for me. I can do all my work over the phone and email for them. And meetings are always short because of it.
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