Welcome to the Liv Design blog, an eclectic mix of great design and quirky finds

'Advertising' is such a vague term. Everything that you do to showcase your company, service or product is in effect 'advertising'. It covers a wide area and a broad range of media. From conventional media like TV, radio, press, sponsorship and outdoor, to more modern formats such as html emails, online, viral and social media – it's all advertising. So what route should you take? Well, it depends on what you want to achieve. Firstly, you need to have a plan. Without an effective conclusion how do you expect to know where to start? I don't want to run a whole Marketing article here but make sure you set yourself measurable targets or goals. Have parameters in place. It might be that you want to drive sales up by X%, or you might want to attract Y more visits to your website, or even find Y more distributors and suppliers etc. Secondly, set yourself a budget. You can do this as a percentage of profit, or as a rate based on your projected return. Look at spend pe...

As with all things, they soon get tired with age (except for the Doctor himself of course). The BBC have been doing their best to revitalise and reinvent the Doctor Who series since last January by announcing the new Doctor, 26 year old Matt Smith, who will be the youngest ever Doctor Who. As part of the steady stream of hype we've seen the new Doctor's outfit earlier in the year, an announcement of 21 year old Karen Gillan as his new assistant, and now showing images of her filming in a tiny policewoman's outfit. The BBC have now released a teaser of the new intro, featuring an all new logo and updated theme tune which will air in the Spring. The new logo is the eleventh incarnation and portrays the iconic blue Police Box. The previous logo was designed in 2004 by BBC Wales Graphic Design team and Insect Design. The new graphic is designed by Red Bee.

So you're in business. You go to a seminar/event/exhibition. You know the type. Available at every hotel/conference centre/leisure centre across the UK, all aimed at 'businesses'. You get there and you think to yourself 'Did I really take time out of my busy schedule to come here? A small hall packed with people so desperate for you to buy their services that they will do anything to get your attention. So what would you think these SMEs would do to make themselves stand out as experts in their field – as leaders in their market? They give you a carrier bag... Not the most environmentally sound item in the world, but handy for putting in all the brochures your given later. But what else? The obligatory pen. Seriously? A pen. You want my company to engage in your services because you've given me a pen? Not just a pen though, oh no. Lurking in the bag is a keyring! Wow!! So you want me to put that on my keys and wave my keys around to advertise YOUR company for you FO...