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People simply love podcasts! Couchgeplauder is a popular Austrian podcast - entertaining, informative, funny and packed with topics that are particularly interesting for young people. Pauline Unterleitner is the young lady behind the podcast. She originally created the website for her podcast on Jimdo. However, a few weeks ago she moved her website to Wix. Reason enough to interview her and find out which platform is "better": Jimdo or Wix? Helene Clara Gamper: Hi Pauline, you have a podcast called Couchgeplauder - people love it and even Austria's no. 1 radio station Hitradio Ö3 presented it on their radio show. Tell me, what is Couchgeplauder all about? Pauline Unterleitner: Couchgeplauder is about topics that concern young people. These are very different topics: It's about studying, the opinions of older people who may believe that a bachelor's degree is worthless, it's also about environmental issues, it's a lot about mindset and how you can shape your life better. It's all about sore points in young people's lives. HCG: How did you come up with the idea for your podcast? Pauline: I think I got the idea for the podcast because I just wanted something that was my own product. Something I can use to get my own ideas out there. Somehow I never thought of a blog or a podcast. And so it just happened with the podcast. Literally over night I had the idea for the podcast, so to speak, and thought about what I would want to talk about. There are just so many topics that interest us young people - and I wanted to make these topics heard in my own podcast. HCG: When did you launch Couchgeplauder? Pauline: I started on 16 December 2019. It doesn't seem that long to me. Especially at the beginning, when you start a podcast, you are pretty clueless. You just start somehow and try to make the best of it and then you keep improving. I developed myself with the podcast and now I'm actually really happy the way it is. HCG: Okay, so there is the podcast on all known podcast channels. But you also have a website for Couchgeplauder. You created it in Jimdo at the beginning, as far as I know. You switched from Jimdo to Wix a few months ago. How come? What specifically bothered you about Jimdo? Pauline: Well, I've never been entirely satisfied with my Jimdo website. Of course, I had put an incredible amount of work into creating the website. Then it was done and I thought "okay, it actually looks pretty good". Of course you are proud of your own website, into which you have put so much heart and soul. But when you compare it with other websites of bloggers and so on, you can see: Ooookaaaay, they all have great websites, it's all a coherent overall picture. Everything fits together in terms of layout and colors. These websites also fill the whole screen. And with Jimdo I always had the feeling that there was a single block of text here and a single image there, for example. It just never really worked out. I always felt that my website was not a coherent appearance. That was the problem. Maybe I could have solved that with more Jimdo knowledge. But since I don't know how to program websites, I switched to Wix. What I really appreciate about Wix is that there are so many different layouts and so many options. Let me put it this way: It used to be noticed when someone had a super-good website. And today it is noticeable when someone has a poor website. And especially if you are young and want to address young people, you also have to have a product that is digitally valuable and looks high-quality. With Wix, I can always customize my website, it's very quick and easy. I can choose from so many different shapes, colors and layouts and there is always something I like. After I created my website on Wix, I showed it to a web designer friend of mine because I wanted honest feedback from someone who knew their stuff. He also said the website could be from a web designer. You don't see that the website is self-assembled from different blocks. HCG: How did you feel about creating your new Wix website? Everything was certainly new and a completely different environment than Jimdo. Pauline: I think Wix is easier because you see the website in the backend exactly as it looks like in live mode. And with all of the layouts to choose from, there's always something you like. In the end, you get a product that you are really satisfied with. What I also like about my Wix website is the large image above, which spans the width of the screen and is still of great quality. In Jimdo, at least that's how I experienced it, I was only able to place smaller pictures. Maybe I could have solved that somehow. But my Jimdo website just never looked as high quality as my Wix website. HCG: What special features have you implemented on your Wix website? Can I also listen to your podcast episodes there? Pauline: On my website there is a big button "jetzt hören" (which translates "listen now") at the top right, which forwards people on to Spotify, there you can listen to the podcast episodes. Of course, I've also linked my social media channels on my website, such as Facebook or Instagram. There's also an Instagram feed below that automatically fetches my Instagram posts. I think that's really cool. Then I also have a blog on my website that is super-easy to use. That makes the website a lot livelier. HCG: A mobile phone website has been particularly important since September 2020. That was the time when Google switched to “mobile first indexing”. Since then, only the phone version is used for the Google ranking of a website. How have you been with the mobile version of your Wix website? Pauline: That worked great, because you can already view the mobile version of the website in the editor. So you can see exactly what the website will look like on your mobile phone. I find that very practical, because Jimdo didn't have that (or I didn't discover it). HCG: Speaking of SEO: How did you like the Wix SEO Wiz? Did you work with it? Pauline: Yeah, that worked pretty well actually. Especially if you don't have any SEO experience yourself, this is a really practical tool that takes you by the hand and says "hey, here and there is still something to do and that's how it works". That was very helpful. HCG: How is the response from your audience to your new website? How did people react? Pauline: Everyone is thrilled! People think the website is really cool. Many friends think that they could never do this themselves. But I have to say: yes, if you spend a little time with it, anyone can do it! And that's the beauty of Wix: It's so easy to design your own website and you don't have to be a web designer or programmer. You just get a great website and a coherent overall picture. HCG: If you could give points from 1 to 10, 1 point is poor and 10 points is very good: All in all, how is Jimdo doing, and how is Wix doing in your opinion? Pauline: I would place Jimdo at 5 and Wix at 9. HCG: Pauline, thank you for the interview and I wish you all the best with your podcast and your Wix website! "It used to be noticed when someone had a super-good website. And today it is noticeable when someone has a poor website."

Travelling is simply wonderful - especially when your destination is the beautiful city of Hamburg in Northern Germany! Do you also miss going on sightseeing trips and travelling? Yes? Then you will enjoy these photos from my last trip to Hamburg in summer 2020 - a time that seemed at least a little bit like the "old normal".

As a Wix partner, we were invited to the beta phase of a new, promising editor from Wix in March 2020. In addition to the classic Wix editor, with which we have been creating great websites for our customers for many years, Wix has launched an additional WYSIWYG tool ("what you see is what you get") called Editor X to create a professional website. In this blog article we would like to introduce you to a few interesting features of Editor X and our personal experiences with them. On our page www.wixpert.design you can see Editor X and its power in action! And of course: Editor X also comes with a convenient drag and drop function. So there is still a handy bridge between website coding and website design. 100% responsiveness (finally!) Many Wix website designers have been waiting for more responsiveness in Wix. Yes, all Wix websites are fully visible and functional on desktops, tablets and smartphones. The content is displayed correctly on mobile phone websites and can be freely arranged. The text size on mobile phone websites can also be adjusted to the smaller phone screen size in the classic Wix Editor. In order not to overload a website, any elements on the mobile phone version can simply be hidden. However, the new Editor X has much more to offer here: The entire content (images, videos, copy, etc.) can be manually adapted to any screen size (even pixel-perfectly!). The text size can optionally be formatted into a text size range. In other words: on the desktop the text has a size of 30 px, on the iPad Pro 28 px, on the iPad 25 px, on the iPad mini 22 px, on the iPhone 18 px - for instance. This bandwidth is set once and the text size automatically adapts to the corresponding screen size. Design by breakpoint Editor X allows you to design each breakpoint differently. A breakpoint defines the size of a screen. The classic breakpoint sizes are desktop, tablet and smartphone. But other screen sizes can also be styled with pixel accuracy. This enables maximum flexibility and responsiveness. In practice this means, for example: An important button is red on the desktop version, green on the tablet version and yellow on the smartphone version. In the classic Wix Editor, elements in the mobile version can be changed in size or simply be hidden. In other words: If I only want to display something on the mobile phone, I have a problem with the classic Wix Editor. With Editor X, I can design, color, show or hide elements as desired, regardless of the breakpoint or screen size. Docking What sounds like a breakdance move at first glance, is another extremely practical function in Editor X - docking. In the classic Wix Editor, elements can be pinned to the corners of the screen. Docking in Editor X is similar and allows for elements to be aligned towards other elements (or towards the edge of the screen) based on percentage distance or pixel distance. Of course, every breakpoint, i.e. every screen size, is included here. This enables an all-round harmonious website experience on every imaginable screen size. Very convenient! Focal points on images Editor X allows you to define certain parts of an image or video that must always be visible. Think of a promotional photo with a model wearing a watch. The website advertises this watch. Of course, that watch is rarely exactly centered in the picture. If the photo is zoomed or only a certain section is visible on smaller screens, you can tell Editor X to define which part of the image must always be visible. The watch is always in the focus of the viewer and does not move out of the picture. A very clever feature! Fixed, fluent or sticky? In Editor X, all elements can be set as fixed, fluent or sticky. This describes the behavior of an element when scrolling on the page. You want a certain photo to be fixed at a certain point or you want it flow as visitors scroll down the page? When flowing, how shall it flow? Until the end or only up to a certain point? This opens up great new opportunities for us as Wix website designers to optimize the website experience for the user to a maximum. On our page wixpert.design you can see the astronaut with a sticky scroll effect: CSS grids CSS is of course not a new web design term. However, it is new in Wix. Editor X makes it possible to work with CSS grids, i.e. to divide a design area into a table with columns and rows in order to ensure even more flexibility and modularity in the design. This also benefits the different screen sizes or breakpoints. Another aspect for 100% responsiveness. The teething troubles Like so many "new" inventions in the IT world, Editor X comes with a number of teething problems. A few features do not yet work 100% smoothly in live mode. Another minus: some functions that are known from the classic Wix environment are not yet integrated in Editor X. This is a major shortcoming, especially when it comes to multilingual websites. It is currently only possible (as of April 24, 2021) to create a website in several languages with spending many extra hours (thus, extra money for the client). The Wix Developer Team "is working hard" to get rid of these teething problems in Editor X accordingly. And even if the performance is not yet 100% mature and some things still need technical improvement, the Editor X is a very powerful tool for creating great websites. Editor X has of course many more amazing features to offer. This blog article gives you just a brief overview and introduces you to the features that we like very much in particular. Do you fancy a website with Editor X? Book your free call now to start your website project:

In autumn 2020 we received an inquiry from Thomas Kogler for the development of a brand design including a website for his newly founded forwarding agency called Spedination . Since the transport industry has been with us for many years anyway (in the course of print designs and app designs for Blickpunkt LKW & BUS and the rebranding for Spedifort , the brand design for Spedination was a great project to dive even deeper into the exciting world of freight forwarding and logistics. Helene Clara Gamper: Thomas, you and your team have officially been in business for about half a year now. How have the last six months been for you and your team? Thomas Kogler (founder, owner and managing director of Spedination GmbH): The last six months have been very exciting and, above all, a lot of work. Completely setting up the system, convincing customers and freight forwarders of our quality, giving new employees the chance to become part of the Spedination family, to name just the most important things. HCG: Well, there are a lot of forwarders out there, and - to be very honest - they all do more or less the same thing: They transport goods from A to B. An outsider might think: "He's going to start his own business in an industry with a lot of competition - and even in these uncertain Corona times. He must be totally crazy!" Why did you take the plunge into the adventure of entrepreneurship? Thomas Kogler: I would like to state one thing here: I have no competitors, just companions on the market. And there is a very clear focus here. Better and more modern, but above all maybe a little different from the others. Have you heard of the Red Ocean or Blue Ocean strategy ? Here I have definitely steered my company into blue waters. HCG: I can still remember that in autumn 2020 you already had a logo, even a kind of corporate design "light". Nevertheless, you wanted a rebrand before the official start of the company. Why? Thomas Kogler: As an entrepreneur you have to stand by what you do and therefore there are no compromises on this topic. If even one piece of the puzzle is missing (which was the missing social media icon in the previous CI), it's not good enough. HCG: What kind of feedback do you get from people about your company's appearance? Especially the copy and wording on the website are quite provocative here and there. Thomas Kogler: The feedback on the website is so good that sometimes you might think people just want to slime. But what is really nice about it: We receive emails via the contact form from people who have nothing to do with transport, only to say that the homepage makes them want to work for us. HCG: When you think about our collaboration; were there things that surprised you or that you did not expect? Thomas Kogler: I was surprised by the intensity of the questions that were asked from the start. How much you went into detail about the topic and the overall positioning of our brand over and over again. But that is exactly what delivered a great result and what also greatly simplified any further advertising activity, as it is always immediately clear what is desired. HCG: Yes, the briefing is the most important thing for me as a brand designer, that's for sure. Employer branding was also very important to you from the start. How did the search for employees work out for you in the end? Thomas Kogler: Yes, the branding is extremely important and, above all, being different and better than the companions in the market is fully in line with my strategy. As far as the search for employees is concerned, I was very positively surprised. This is one of the most difficult topics in our industry and usually involves a lot of effort and a lot of money. At the moment, however, I have far more applications than I could hire new employees. And not just career changers, but also experienced professionals who would like to become part of the Spedination family in order to experience our spirit. Growth is great, but in a controlled manner. HCG: That sounds great. So Spedination is ready for expansion. For me it is of course very nice to see how customers flourish and grow. Where do you see your business in five years? Thomas Kogler: It is a bit difficult to give an exact forecast of when I will achieve which goals, as many things are currently changing very much due to Corona and the acceptance of digitization, I would even say: very much better. My goal from the start was 30 x 10! What do I mean by that: I never wanted to set up a company with 100 employees in one location. My goal is to set up 30 branches across Europe with 10 employees each. Due to the new possibilities, I no longer see the business as being tied to one location only. And so I get a whole new level of flexibility and a whole new level of employee satisfaction as well. HCG: If someone wants to get into the freight forwarding industry - what would you advise them to do? Thomas Kogler: To become a member of the Spedination family! And not only as an employee, but also to become your own boss - similar to a franchise system. Many feel the need not to be the cog in the system, but to be the system itself. As part of the Spedination family, you can make your dream of independence come true with a "company within the company" system. HCG: Thank you for the interview and of course for the great cooperation. I wish you and your team good luck and all the best for the future! Thomas Kogler: Thanks also to you for the great cooperation! (Due to the corona pandemic, the interview was carried out "remotely" without personal contact.) Book your free call here if you too want to get started with your business and benefit from a first-class brand design including a website:

We were recently invited to a photo and video shoot for MAN Trucks in the Zillertal. At first the weather played along, but from noon it got increasingly worse. A typical problem when available dates of many participants have to be considered and the weather forecast cannot be taken into account. Photo retouching is a popular service with our customers as part of our print design jobs - especially in this specific case. Here you see a few original photos and the same photos after our retouching service in comparison: As you can see, we let the sun shine for our customers. :-)

In the summer of 2020, the website platform Wix, with which we implement all of our brand design and website design projects, carried out an extensive performance update to make every Wix website faster - on desktop, tablet and mobile. Ultimately, the loading speed (page speed) plays a significant role in the Google ranking of a website. All of this happened in the background at no extra cost and without manual intervention by Wix users and Wix partners like us. The goal: Making every Wix website load faster Wix used to have a problem in the past - or rather, numerous page speed test tools used to have a problem with Wix. The reason: most page speed tools cannot properly read the Ajax technology on which Wix was based and could therefore not correctly calculate the loading time. Therefore it led to incorrect test results. We were informed of this by one of the leading providers of website analysis tools. That might also be a reason why Wix offers its own page speed tool called Wix Turbo. You can see the massive differences in the page speed test times below in our test results. What did Wix do in particular? As part of the major performance update in summer 2020, Wix massively reduced the amount of code that is loaded on end devices and has put more code on its own high-speed servers instead ever since. In addition, Wix also worked on code-based internal topics in order to be able to transport correct test results to the numerous analysis tools out there. Page speed of a Wix website - the hard facts But: How good was the Wix performance update really? We wanted to know the facts and tested some of our customers' websites with four different page speed analysis tools before and after the performance update - specifically on July 13, 2020 and February 19, 2021. The results: VinAvventura on July 13, 2020: Google Page Speed Test (= a value between 0 and 100; the higher the value, the faster the loading time): 33 desktop, 13 mobile webpagetest.org ("fully loaded time"): 11.68 seconds GTmetrix: 23.8 seconds Wix Turbo ("visitor interaction within"): 4.4 seconds VinAvventura on February 19, 2021: Google Page Speed Test: 79 desktop, 46 mobile / 240 % and 354 % faster webpagetest.org: 6.08 seconds / 48 % faster GTmetrix: 3.2 seconds / 87 % faster Wix Turbo: 1.8 seconds / 56 % faster (No significant changes were made on the website.) Holzbau Wegscheider on July 13, 2020: Google Page Speed Test: 43 desktop, 16 mobile webpagetest.org: 14.14 seconds GTmetrix: 19.4 seconds Wix Turbo: 3.0 seconds Holzbau Wegscheider on February 19, 2021: Google Page Speed Test: 85 desktop, 42 mobile / 198 % and 263 % faster webpagetest.org: 6.50 seconds / 46 % faster GTmetrix: 2.3 seconds / 88 % faster Wix Turbo: 1.4 seconds / 53 % faster (No significant changes were made on the website.) Ingenieurbüro Genitheim on July 13, 2020: Google Page Speed Test: 48 desktop, 21 mobile webpagetest.org: 8.28 seconds GTmetrix: 8.6 seconds Wix Turbo: 2.3 seconds Ingenieurbüro Genitheim on February 19, 2021: Google Page Speed Test: 86 desktop, 48 mobile / 79 % and 129 % faster webpagetest.org: 5.39 seconds / 35 % faster GTmetrix: 3.8 seconds / 56 % faster Wix Turbo: 1.1 seconds / 52 % faster (No significant changes were made on the website.) Blickpunkt LKW & BUS on July 13, 2020: Google Page Speed Test: 38 desktop, 16 mobile webpagetest.org: 10.99 seconds GTmetrix: 14.5 seconds Wix Turbo: 3.8 seconds Blickpunkt LKW & BUS on February 19, 2021: Google Page Speed Test: 59 desktop, 20 mobile / 55 % and 25 % faster webpagetest.org: 8.43 seconds / 23 % faster GTmetrix: 10.0 seconds / 31 % faster Wix Turbo: 2.6 seconds / 65 % faster (Between the two testing times, an online shop and a subscription function including a payment system were implemented. Despite these normally slowing elements, the loading speed was greatly increased.) Urlaub Maxnhager on July 13, 2020: Google Page Speed Test: 44 desktop, 18 mobile webpagetest.org: 10.19 seconds GTmetrix: 8.9 seconds Wix Turbo: 2.1 seconds Urlaub Maxnhager on February 19, 2021: Google Page Speed Test: 82 desktop, 56 mobile / 86 % and 211 % faster webpagetest.org: 3.91 seconds / 62 % faster GTmetrix: 2.5 seconds / 72 % faster Wix Turbo: 2.0 seconds / 5 % faster (Between the two testing times, an image gallery was optimized and new text elements and design elements were added.) Conclusion The results are clear: Wix has done a very good job here and could really massively speed up their websites - without extra costs and effort, fully automatically in the background. Well done!

2020 was without a doubt one of the most extraordinary years for all of us - both on a business and personal level. That's why I came up with something very special for this year’s Christmas card design for my customers. All of my customers received a lovingly designed Christmas card with Christmas or winter icons in the background. And if you look very closely, you will discover an icon for hand washing and an icon for mouth and nose protection - a humorous integration of the Corona protective measures into the Christmas card design. Since many people's skin is irritated by all the disinfecting and hand washing, I thought to myself: How about a treat for the skin of my customers? So I contacted the soap manufacturer Jochen Neururer , a good old friend from the Ötztal valley in Tyrol, who makes wonderful natural soaps by hand. Some may know him from the start-up show "2 Minuten 2 Millionen" . I ordered 75 handmade natural soaps with a stone pine scent, all of which are organic, vegan, palm oil-free and extra lipid-replenishing. In this way, the skin is not dried out, but rather moisturized in a pleasant way - wonderful! A treat for the hands in times of disinfectant gel. The natural soaps were glued onto the Christmas cards and sent to all customers. I received many calls and emails in the following days, because the soap was a great idea and my customers were very happy.

The publishing industry has been struggling for years with decreasing reach and - as a result - decreasing advertising income in the print segment. Digital add-on offers for print content are no longer an option, but compulsory for every publisher who wants to be fit for the future. In addition, digital add-on offers can be monetized better and better. DIGITAL PUBLISHING OPTIONS There are numerous ways to start a digital magazine or to seriously address the topic of digital publishing: Blog: A blog on a website (an online magazine so to speak) ensures more reach and longer visits to the website. This has a positive impact on the Google ranking of the publisher's website. Of course, the blog and the website must be SEO optimized accordingly. You can see examples of successful blogs by my customers on Blickpunkt LKW & BUS or Maxnhager . Monetization ideas for an online magazine / blog: paid PR blog articles product placements a paid members area for exclusive content E paper: Digital publishing with an e paper is also very popular and probably the most cost-effective way for a publisher to produce a digital magazine. The layout for the print magazine is created in Indesign anyway, the PDF file is generated for the printer. Publishers often provide this PDF file (in web-optimized resolution) as an e paper. Monetization ideas for a digital magazine or an e paper: e paper sale via an online shop on the website (see an example further down in this article) subscription sales for an e paper directly on the website (see an example further down in this article) App magazine: The most professional way for digital publishing is providing an app including interactivity and multimedia features. Rich media at its best! Image slideshows, videos and other interactive elements smartly guide the reader through the app magazine . Additionally, an app is probably the best digital option for brand loyalty, as an e paper or an online magazine (blog) are quickly forgotten when the reader clicks away. With an app, the reader dives into the app magazine and is not distracted by many other tabs that are just waiting to be clicked. Monetization ideas for an app magazine: in-app purchases of individual magazine issues (like what I implemented for my customer connecting comPETence ) in-app purchases of individual items free access to the app magazine only as a print subscriber paid PR blog articles product placements advertisements (more on this in this blog article ) You can read more information about the new article-based app design approach in this blog article . MY LATEST PROJECT: DIGITAL MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION AND E PAPER SHOP My latest digital publishing project: Austria's no. 1 transport magazine Blickpunkt LKW & BUS has been available as a printed magazine for 35 years, for about ten years also as an interactive and multimedia app magazine for tablets and smartphones (on iOS and Android). I've been responsible for the design of the website , print magazine and app magazine for many years. In order to benefit from the full potential of digitization, I designed an online shop for magazine issues from the archive, to be bought either as a printed copy or as a convenient PDF download (e paper). Additionally, I implemented digital, paper and combined subscription options , which can be purchased directly on the website and are automatically billed every year. The great thing: Just 24 hours after the implementation, the first purchases were made in the shop and a few days later the first digital subscriptions were bought on the website. This is a clear signal for successful digitization in the publishing industry. As part of the digital and combination subscription, paying subscribers receive an email from the website backend with a practical e paper download button. Email marketing couldn't be any easier than that. MY OFFER FOR PUBLISHERS Are you a publisher or do you publish regular print products and would you like to get started with digitization? Or would you like to improve your digitization steps that you’ve taken so far? Then book your free appointment here.

I love music - whether it's pop, RnB, German hip hop, house, electro, soul or classical music. In my day-to-day work as a designer, music has an even bigger significance: it can actively improve my creativity and thus allow for even better design outputs. In this article I will give you a little insight into my playlists and you will find out which music can be particularly useful in which situations. Maybe there is some musical inspiration for you too? "The right music at the right time - so music is not an energy guzzler, but a useful creativity turbo." # 1 - MUSIC FOR MAXIMUM CREATIVITY IN LOGO DESIGN A logo design or a holistic brand design requires a maximum of creativity. Trouble-free working without mail, telephone and annoying notifications on the smartphone is essential. As a logo designer, I listen to classical instrumental music in order to really get the creative flow going. To be more precise, I listen to the music of Ludovico Einaudi from Italy. The protagonist of his music is always the piano. For me, Einaudi's pieces always combine two different melodies in one song that complement each other perfectly - similar to Yin and Yang. The sounds of the piano are always floating in the air and free. Like a leaf in the wind that whirls freely in the air and has no fixed points. It is exactly the same with my creative thinking as a logo designer when a maximum of creativity is required. Ludovico Einaudi's music definitely pushes my creativity to a higher level. As a designer, if I had to translate the word "creativity" into something musical, it would definitely be Ludovico Einaudi's unmistakable style. # 2 - MUSIC FOR MAXIMUM CREATIVITY IN BRAINSTORMING Brainstorming also requires a maximum of creativity. Every idea is allowed here and explicitly requested. Two very special songs from the deep house genre have proven to be perfect for me brainstorming (at least they were called deep house about 10 to 15 years ago, today it is a little different): "Stockholm Go Bang!" And "Sandcastles" by DJ Jerome Sydenham . Originally from Nigeria and now living in New York City, he has never lost his African roots and skillfully packs them in his music. Jerome Sydenham often worked with Dennis Ferrer, also a DJ in the deep house scene. Together they built sand castles: The musical build-up in "Sandcastles" and the comparatively monotonous sounds in "Stockholm Go Bang!" shift my thoughts into an almost meditative, trance-like state. Absolutely perfect for brainstorming. # 3 - MUSIC FOR MAGAZINE LAYOUTS When designing layouts for magazines on a regular basis (whether as a print version or digital app), creativity is not as important as in the examples mentioned above. It is clearly about transporting information. At the beginning of every collaboration with clients from the publishing industry, I design templates for layouts that are used in the course of ongoing media design. This saves me time as a media designer and thus costs for my client, the publisher. When designing print and app magazines, it can also be music with vocals - pop, charts, RnB, soul or classic radio . # 4 - MUSIC FOR ADMINISTRATIVE THINGS For administrative work such as accounting or updating my website, I like listening to The Beatles, Michael Jackson or The Busy Twist - a DJ from London who unites Caribbean and African elements with electronic beats. # 5 - NO MUSIC FOR COMMUNICATION Everything that concerns communication needs my full attention, which is why there is silence here, so there is no music in the background. This includes reading and replying to e-mails, reading or writing newsletters or writing blog articles. CONCLUSION One thing is very clear: The more creativity is required, the more it has to be instrumental music for me. How is it with you? I am looking forward to reading your comments!

As some of you might know, I grew up in a family of publishers. That's why I have a special affinity for magazine design. In addition to media design for print magazines , I have also been taking care of the digital publishing for my publishing clients for many years. This is how I contribute to digitization in the publishing industry. I have been working with the Belgian software company Twixl for many years, before that with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. From my personal experience I can say that Twixl provides the best solution for digital publishing. The general technological progress also affects digitization for publishers of course. This is why all apps created with Twixl have been converted from a formerly magazine-based approach to an article-based approach. You can find out what that means in this article. WORKFLOW FROM PRINT TO DIGITAL May it be magazines, brochures or catalogues - they all have one thing in common: they are created in Indesign. The creative design process in publishing houses mainly takes place in Indesign. As part of my App Design Service , I work with my Belgian software partner Twixl that offers the perfect interface between Indesign and the world of apps. So I create both print and app designs in Indesign, enrich them with interactive and multimedia elements (also in Indesign) and then manage and structure all content assets in the Twixl Distribution Platform in the course of my software license. This ensures a smooth workflow from print to digital which is in the best interest of my customers. The combination of Indesign and Twixl is the ideal option to make content available on various platforms (print, app, web, mobile) - also from a financial perspective. „One format to publish to print, to web and to mobile, adapting the layout per medium and being able to offer a captive reading experience. You need to adapt to the medium and to the user.“ Twixl Media NEW FEATURES FOR ARTICLE-BASED APPS The most important new feature: The magazine is no longer a self-contained unit, but is offered as a collection of all articles within that magazine. In the past, you had to download the entire magazine to read the articles. Now you can consume individual articles separately. The articles are downloaded one by one, which takes up less storage space and speeds up the download process significantly. This allows for a maximum of flexibility, the content can be structured as desired: by topics by reader groups by time periods by issue number by whatever you wish For my app customers, I implemented a dual structuring scheme: The division according to issue number is still there for everyone who likes to read through a magazine in the classic way. In addition, selected topics can be found as separate articles in the corresponding topic tiles. This allows the user to conveniently decide whether to read magazine issue X or whether he/she prefers to read individual articles on the subject of Y that are stored in tile Y. THE BENEFITS FOR PUBLISHERS AND APP PROVIDERS In addition to the modular, flexible structure, the new app design offers other great advantages for publishers and app providers alike: The content can be managed and updated on article level. Individual content parts can be updated independently of each other - and in real time! Each tile can trigger a paywall or login wall and only give a specific group of users access to certain articles. Push notifications can now also address certain topic tiles directly and not just the app as a whole. Push notifications are a great way to stay in touch with the readers! The integrated browser client: All app contents can also be made available in a browser client (= on a domain on the Internet). Different design options for columns and tiles for tablets, phones and the browser client for an optimal user experience (UX / UI). Higher degree of customization in terms of design. For example, custom fonts can also be used in the app. As a corporate designer, I’m of course particularly pleased about this. NEW ADVERTISING POSSIBILITIES WITH THE NEW APP DESIGN Digital publishing, like print publishing, costs money. It is therefore important to think about monetization options for apps from the very start. As described in this blog article , it is, for example, a mistake to include paid print ads one-to-one in the app without asking the advertisers to pay separately for that service. A new, additional monetization option for article-based apps is possible by using advertising tiles, as you can see here in the example of my customer Blickpunkt LKW & BUS : In addition, there is of course still the option to pay for content via in-app purchases . If you want to find out more about advertisements in digital magazines, I highly recommend reading this blog article . In addition to advertising tiles and in-app purchases, paywalls or login walls can be implemented for individual topic tiles. In other words: A specific topic X (tile X) is only accessible when paid - or alternatively via login for specific users. For example, this was implemented for my client connecting comPETence for PETnology / tecPET GmbH. The magazine is published three times a year, has around 120 pages in the printed version and is also offered as an app. Paying print subscribers can log in to consume all app content at no extra charge. If you don't pay a print subscription, individual issues have to be bought in the app. THE BENEFITS FOR THE READERS The advantages of the new article-based app approach for the readers are obvious. In brief: better overview individual articles can also be consumed separately practical structuring in topics more convenient handling requires less storage space on the tablet or smartphone faster download of content convenient online and offline reading APPS FOR CATALOGUES AND BROCHURES Such an app design is not only suitable for regular magazines. The flexible, modular structure is also very well suited for digital catalogue design , a digital brochure or other publications with interactive and multimedia content to be published in the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). A huge image boost, a wider digital offer to advertising partners and last but not least digitization for the readers are perfectly served with this app service from HCG corporate designs. CONCLUSION The new, article-based app design approach offers countless options for efficiently producing content and distributing it just as efficiently across various channels. Managing the content on an article level instead of on a magazine level allows for a maximum of flexibility in terms of design and perfectly timed publishing of the content. Additional options for monetizing the app with advertising banners and a more convenient handling of the app for the reader is a great win-win situation.

Many car manufacturers have recently redesigned their brand symbols ( BMW , Mini , Opel , VW , Audi , Citroën , Seat and most recently Nissan ). However, those modernized brand designs do not only concern the logo design alone, but often secondary style elements and typographic adjustments alike so that the brand as such is not lagging behind the logo redesign. FROM "OLD STINKER" TO "ZERO EMISSION" The automotive industry sees the need for an image shift from "old stinker" to "zero emission". The motto is: a clear commitment to a more sustainable future. This new perception of a brand naturally requires a corresponding visual adjustment. The fact that valuable raw materials for the car batteries’ production are mined from the earth (thus keeping the exploitation of our planet going), the fact that most of the electricity for "fueling" e-cars is generated "not so environmentally friendly" and the question of how to dispose the electric cars’ toxic waste in future - all of this is of course a completely different topic and shall not be the subject of this article. HIGHER REQUIREMENTS FOR LOGOS - NO MATTER WHICH BUSINESS Our everyday lives are increasingly accompanied by different sizes of communication touchpoints - be it an app icon on a smartphone or an XXL billboard on a football stadium’s side. This extreme balancing act must be mastered by a great logo design. A professional logo design always creates the perfect balance between simplicity and uniqueness. In addition, it also has to work in small size as well as in large size. Scalability is one of eight things that make a good logo design . LOGO REDESIGN FOR AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS Here you see an overview of old and new logos of automotive brands; and how they look like on the corresponding websites. As a corporate designer, I find the "moving frame" as Volkswagen’s secondary style element really beneficial and executed very successfully. The frame ensures maximum flexibility in connection with the new VW logo in flat design style: WHAT THE NEW LOGO DESIGNS HAVE IN COMMON All these new logo designs have one unmistakable goal: the clear reduction from the former 3-dimensional appearance to a flat symbol in the flat design style. Flat design has been on the surface (haha, great wordplay) since the introduction of Windows 8 (it's been a long time). Even if Apple is mostly seen as a design pioneer in the IT industry, it was Microsoft’s designers who really introduced flat design into our everyday lives and thus created a worldwide design revolution that has since gained a foothold in all industries. CONCLUSION With new brand designs, the automotive industry is trying to fulfill the society’s demand for electric mobility and the ever increasing challenge of different sizes of logos. Flat design is driven to the extreme here - in most cases it works out nicely, although the customers need some time to get used to the new logos - as it always is with a logo redesign.

Since the CJEU judgment of October 1, 2019 (see my blog article about its effect on all websites in the EU), the term "cookies" is associated with headache among web designers and online marketers. I implemented a legally compliant cookie consent banner solution for my customers. This means that all website visitors are informed about the type and use of cookies right from the start and have the option of only accepting technically necessary cookies or additional cookies for preferences, statistical and marketing purposes as well. In the data protection section of the website, the visitors are also informed which cookies are set specifically and how long they are stored. In addition, every website visitor can change his or her cookie settings easily at any time. COOKIES AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS Since the use of legally compliant cookie consent banners, user numbers shown in Google Analytics have of course decreased. Not because there are fewer website visits, but because they are no longer tracked due to the lack of a cookie consent on the part of website visitors. This represents a massive problem for online marketers, who often feel threatened in their right to exist and therefore often ignore the cookie consent obligation and thus run into legal issues. Well, it's a dilemma: "Google Analytics in combination with a legally compliant cookie consent banner is like buying a Lamborghini and sneaking through the city at a speed of 30 km/h.“ MORE AND MORE COOKIE CONSENT BANNERS Over time, you notice that more and more companies are becoming aware of their duty and are implementing legally compliant cookie consent banners on their websites. Fortunately, this goes hand in hand with a higher acceptance of cookies on the part of users, as I hear from online marketers. SMART COOKIE BANNER DESIGN I use Cookiebot for the legally compliant cookie consent solution for my website customers. For a few months now, Cookiebot has been offering more options for buttons in the cookie consent banner, which my customers benefit from. Up until a few months ago, preference, statistics and marketing cookies had to be selected separately and be confirmed by a click on the "OK" button. At this time, the cookie consent topic was still relatively unknown and many users felt overwhelmed, which is why there was hardly any user consent. Hence: hardly any tracking in Google Analytics. More options in the Cookiebot backend now allow for a much easier user consent: there are two buttons - one for "only technically necessary cookies", which I design in a subtle way, and one for "allow all cookies", which I design prominently for preference, statistics and marketing cookies altogether. If I take a closer look at the backend in the cookie consent solution on my customers' websites, I can see a significant increase in user consent (in green below). The user consent to all cookies (green) now exceeds the user consent to the only technically necessary cookies (red). CONCLUSION A smart cookie banner design significantly increases tracking in Google Analytics and thus helps your website analysis. Your online marketer will be delighted.