Journal
Field notes from the studio.
Writing on brand strategy, web engineering, and the conversations that make client work good.
Small Business Website Platforms: 3 Powerful WordPress vs Shopify Decisions
This article cuts through the overwhelming world of website platform choices by focusing on one crucial question that instantly narrows your options. We'll explore WordPress, Shopify, and other…
Trump Tariffs Survival Guide: 3 Ways Small Businesses Can Adapt
Update: As of April 24, Donald Trump said he could re-impose “reciprocal” tariffs on certain countries within two to three weeks, signaling a potential escalation in global trade tensions. Trump…
Shaping the Future of Agency Leadership – Key Insights from OWN IT 2025
The recent OWN IT 2025 women's agency ownership summit brought together some of the industry's most innovative minds, offering deep insights into the evolution of agency management and growth…
Chykalophia Named One of America’s Top 100 Small Businesses
U.S. Chamber of Commerce CO—100 list celebrates 100 businesses driving growth and innovation in their communities and around the world September 5, 2024 Evanston, IL – The U.S. Chamber of Commerce…
Empowering Women Entrepreneurs: Expert Insight Into Capital Challenges and Funding
Women-owned businesses drive innovation and economic growth in the world of entrepreneurship. Despite their significant contributions—representing 39% of all US businesses and generating $2.7…
5 Tips to Win Back Lost Customers and Regain Customer Trust
Losing customers is an inevitable challenge. Whether due to a subpar customer experience, product issues, or intense market competition, customer trust can dwindle. However, the art lies in not just…
Shared vs. VPS Hosting: Which One Is For You? 7 Effective Key Considerations
Trying to compare shared vs. VPS hosting is an important step for both budget and security conscious folks. Each option offers distinct advantages and is suited to different needs. To shed light on…
Women in Design: An Honest Conversation with 3 Female Designers for International Women's Day
The design industry is not as notorious as the tech industry in terms of male domination. Still, gender issues prevail in design — from susceptibility to the gender wage gap, imbalanced gender…
From Typography to Tone: How to Create a Brand Voice
It's paramount to create a brand voice for connecting with your audience. From choosing the right typography to setting the tone of your messaging, every element plays a crucial role in shaping your…
High Converting Landing Page: 10 Important Elements You Must Have
Your landing page is the virtual face of your business. It's the first handshake that can either captivate visitors or send them elsewhere. Crafting a high converting landing page is not just about…
Unraveling 5 Secrets of Consumer Buying Decision Process
Does your business face the challenge of capturing the attention and loyalty of consumers? Understanding the intricacies of the consumer buying decision process is crucial for creating effective…
Don't Hire a Web Design Agency Before You Read This Guide
Whether you're launching a new website or giving your current one a facelift, it's pivotal to decide if you're going to hire a web design agency or not. However, before diving into this partnership,…
The ABC of Website Redesign: A 5-Step Website Revamp Checklist
If your current website is falling short of expectations, the solution might not necessarily involve building a new one from scratch. Instead, consider a website revamp or website redesign. Why…
Can Social Media Make You Money? 5 Social Media Branding Myths to Debunk
Have you ever invested in social media branding, content, and marketing only to find your efforts falling short of driving sales? Despite gaining followers, likes, and interactions, the financial…
5 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid and Fix Immediately
Since a website is often the first point of contact between you and your audience, let's get to know five critical web design mistakes that business owners and UX designers often make. A…
Inclusive UX Design: 5 Ways to Foster Diversity in UX and Digital Products
Technology and design are evolving rapidly, but so is society. Today, inclusive UX design is more necessary than ever to create digital products that cater to a diverse user base. It's about ensuring…
How to Find a Business Mentor for Women Entrepreneurs in 3 Ways
Mentorship has always been a big part of our growth as a company. Our CEO, Ari Krzyzek, began to find a business mentor more than a decade ago when Chykalophia was just a tiny seed in a big garden.…
Dynamic Website Explained: 3 Ways to Make Your Site Dynamic
You might have often heard that a dynamic website can benefit your business and your users. But what does it actually entail? What makes a site dynamic and how does it help bring you more…
3 Questions to Answer to Maintain Your Brand Consistency
When you start your brand by yourself, it's fairly easy to maintain brand consistency. After all, your brand most likely comes from your personal values. Then come customers and more customers and…
How to Create a Tagline: Successful Brand Tagline Formula
Struggling to find out how to create a tagline? We get that. Crafting a few limited words to represent your entire business is not exactly an easy task. There is a way to make it easier, though, so…
5 Networking Tips for Women of Color Entrepreneurs
Is your network truly your net worth? Regardless, business owners and entrepreneurs are often on the lookout for networking tips, even more so those that belong to minority groups such as…
How to Do AB Testing on Your Website — With 3 Easy Examples
Wondering how to do AB testing on website, why you need it, and what the benefits of AB testing are? You'll find out in this article. But first, let's see these two CTA buttons. Which one do you…
How To Enhance Your Marketing Videos Easily With AI Video Editing Software
With all the buzz about artificial intelligence, have you heard about AI video editing software? "The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer,…
3 Types of Hosting for WordPress: An Easy-to-Understand Guide for Non-tech Business Owners
We present you: an easy-to-understand guide about the most commonly used types of hosting for WordPress. This guide is made for you, non-tech business owners, to stop you from scratching your head…
How to Hire a Web Developer For the First Time: 5 Most Common Issues
It may be difficult to hire a web developer for the first time, especially when you have no to little knowledge in tech, engineering, and computer science. Read the most common hiring challenges and…
The $500 Small Business Marketing Plan: 5 Pro Tips that Don't Include Burning Your Money
Small business marketing strategy should not be expensive — it's unwise to burn so much money when you're just starting out. Let's break down a relatively small marketing budget for your business:…
5 Strategies to Fuel Your Startup Growth with Gen Z & Millennial Talents
Mindset, perspective, and working style differences across generations might present a challenge in your company. Thus, it's important for you business owners to come up with effective strategies to…
How to Create an Autism-Friendly Website: 5 Primary Mistakes to Avoid & Web Accessibility Testing Tools
Symbolizing the journey to inclusivity in web design, this image highlights the importance of simplicity and accessibility.
5 Key Steps to Create a Winning Pitch Deck for Women-owned Businesses
There is a gender gap regarding venture capital (VC) funding. As female (co-)founders, how can you win the pitch and get the fund to scale up your business? The first thing you can do is make sure…
How to Grow as a Marketer: 5 Non-intuitive Ways to Grow Your Marketing Career & Business
Building your career is only the first step of your marketing journey. You need to continue to grow as a marketer if you want to succeed and make an impact in this field. So, what can you do to grow…
4 Ways to Protect & Secure Your Email Address Against Hackers
How do you know if your email is safe from potential hackers? What precautionary steps can you take to secure your email address and ramp up your email security game? Find out in this article. If our…
5 Best Alternative Browsers to Try If You're Tired of Chrome
We may have been using Chrome for years, but that doesn't mean it's the only browser out there. Check out these alternative browsers and leverage their features to turbo-boost your productivity. Last…
3 Steps to Create a Small Business Website — An Expert Guide
"I'm bootstrapping and doing everything by myself. How am I supposed to create a small business website?"Greetings, small business owners. Our article here holds the answer to your question. Read on…
AI for Creatives: Friend or Foe?
AI for creatives has been considered a threat of some kind. How much truth is in there? How can you leverage AI tools for creatives without killing our jobs? Find out in this article. Before last…
How To Choose The Best E-Commerce Platform For Your Business: 4 Primary Things to Consider
With so many options available, choosing the best e-commerce platform that suits your needs can be overwhelming. Read on to find out the four primary things you need to consider when choosing the…
How to Build a WordPress Site Easily with Elementor Page Builder
Here’s a way to build a WordPress site easily without learning code for months or years. Try using a page builder like Elementor so your online business can run soon. Building a WordPress site for…
How to Stop Irritating Website Visitors — 5 Tips to Try on Your Next Web Revamp
We know all too well how an unenjoyable browsing experience makes us bounce right out of a website. Let’s stop irritating website visitors on your company site with these tips. Do you patiently wait…
3 Key Tips to Build a Successful MLP (Minimum Lovable Product) for Your Business
Forget MVP, it’s time to build a successful MLP during the early stage of your product development, so you can prioritize user experience from the very start. Many founders, at the beginning of their…
How to Leverage Your Brand as Competitive Advantage
To give people reasons to trust your business, to encourage them to choose your business over others, you need a competitive advantage. Learn how you can leverage the power of your brand as…
How to Increase Revenue with Good Design — 5 Advantages of Design for Business
Good design means good business and you can increase revenue with good design. Let’s see how your business and customers can benefit from good design in various ways. We’ve all experienced bad…
5 Tips to Maintain Your Remote Team Collaboration for Female Leaders
It is said that female leaders are better at managing remote team collaboration. If you happen to be leading a digital remote team like us here at Chykalophia, give this article a read! While the…
WordPress vs. Squarespace — Find The Best System that Suits Your Business Needs
Of all the systems available in the market today, some remain more popular with millions of active sites. This article will help you compare and choose between two leading website platforms:…
3 Marketing Alternatives to Try If You Experience Femtech Ads Censorship
Femtech ads censorship can add an extra challenge to your marketing strategy. But it's not a dead end. Read on to see three marketing alternatives you can try today. Femtech advertisement is a tricky…
Sensory System Marketing: Leveraging the 5 Senses for Digital Marketing
Did you know that you can use the five human senses in your business? Read on to learn about sensory system marketing and the examples of how you can leverage it to grow your business. Marketing…
How to Bring Your Product Idea to the Market: 5 Expert Tips for First-Time Business Owners
If you have an idea to create amazing products to sell, you’ve come to the right place. We’re going to tell you how you can bring your product idea to the market. Check out the five expert tips from…
5 Things We Wish Everyone Knew About Social Video Marketing Strategy
We are compiling 5 key tips for a successful social video marketing strategy, taken from our past discussion with Social Snacks Videos. YouTube, TikTok, Instagram… Leading social media platforms that…
5 Easy Fixes to Those Annoying Push Notifications
Annoying push notifications are one of the most common causes of user disengagement. This article will tell you some push notification mistakes you need to avoid, as well as push notification tips…
Logo Debranding: What Is It & Why Are Companies Debranding?
This article talks about logo debranding, a marketing term that created a buzz around April–May 2022, as well as debranding examples from big, well-known global companies. A new term, debranding, has…
3 Things to Do Consistently After Launching a Website - Chykalophia
So, you just finished launching a website — it's finally live! The coding is done, the design looks amazing and everything works great. But that doesn't mean that your work is over. In fact, websites…
Top 2 E-Commerce Platforms to Scale Your Business This Year: WooCommerce and Shopify
This article covers WooCommerce and Shopify, the two top e-commerce platforms used and loved by many global and small e-commerce businesses. If you're in a hurry, click here to take the infographic…
UI/UX Best Practices to Create a B2B E-Commerce
Different business models require different UI/UX strategies. This article covers UI/UX best practices for e-commerce with B2B model. Website design for e-commerce businesses has evolved through the…
Homepage vs. Landing Page: Which One Do You Need?
If you’re new to building a website, all the names and terms might get mixed up and confuse you. It’s normal, though, and you’re in the right place. We’re going to talk about the difference between…
You Don’t Need a Website for Business (Unless You Want to Grow & Scale)
If you are a business owner, making a website for business might have crossed your mind now and then. But you still don’t have one, so either you are still working on it or you’re not quite convinced…
Top 5 Things to Improve User Experience on Your Website
A good store makes visitors feel comfortable and happy to spend more than a few more minutes browsing. A good website should be able to do that, too, and you can have that if you improve user…
How to Create a Successful Brand Name: 5 Key Points
Here's how to create a successful brand name that audiences will love. When you build a brand, coming up with a name can take from five minutes to an infinite amount of time. If you’re a fan of AI…
How to Improve Conversion Rate: 5 Questions to Make Your User Experience Better
Every business owner surely wants to improve conversion rate on their website. To achieve that, you need to understand what your users need. But before looking from your users' POV, why don't you…
Your Complete Guide to 2 Vision Statement for Brands & Business Growth
Get to know vision statement for brands and vision statement for business growth plan. These two will lay out your business values and foundation. Most serious businesses have vision and mission…
5 Love Languages for Branding Your Business
Did you know that you can use love language for branding your business? This article will show you how to do it. It seems like you can never see eye to eye with your audience. Whatever campaign you…
5 Easy Ways to Create a Brand Name without a Generator (+ Legal Protection Advice from a Pro)
For some people, coming up with a brand name can be so time-consuming and even frustrating. But not for us. While we understand it can be challenging to create a brand name, we do love the brand…
Clutch Names Chykalophia as a Top Marketing Company in Illinois for 2021
Design and marketing are in our blood and we just proved it. We are very happy to say that we have been named as the Top Marketing Company in Illinois for the year 2021 by Clutch. Clutch is an online…
5 Ways Custom Packaging Can Help You Build a Better Brand Experience
Do your products come in shiny, glossy customized packages? Or are they wrapped up in bland beige boxes? For your brand’s sake, we hope that you said yes to the first question. That’s because there…
Featured: The Sprout Society - Biz Diaries
In November last year, Peter and I got a chance to be interviewed on the radio with Melanie Adcock on Tech Scene Chicago. A radio broadcast that focuses on what’s trending in the local tech…
Featured: Tech Scene Chicago Radio Broadcast
In November last year, Peter and I got a chance to be interviewed on the radio with Melanie Adcock on Tech Scene Chicago. A radio broadcast that focuses on what’s trending in the local tech…
A Step by Step Process to Attract Right Clients With Brand Design
There are number of reasons you might want to rebrand your business. Your business may have evolved and elevated to a new standard and you want your business growth to reflect in your branding. Maybe…
10 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Re-Branding Your Business
There are number of reasons you might want to rebrand your business. Your business may have evolved and elevated to a new standard and you want your business growth to reflect in your branding. Maybe…
2018 Chicago Innovation Awards Nominee
We made it as a nominee this year! Woot. We're excited to share with you that our community project Creative Women's Co. has been selected as one of the 2018 Chicago Innovation Awards Nominees. Super…
Featured: Google Small Business Spotlight
Recently, Google Small Business Community did a spotlight interview on us. We shared our challenges and hopes for the future, and of course, our top tips for others who just starting out. Wanna read…
Featured: Our 1871
You’ve probably have seen me around 1871 Chicago. Whether it’s for the mentor session or speaking at WiSTEM program (shoutout to Ms.Tech for trusting me to speak about branding and design). Last…
Featured: evolveHer #BossLady of the Week
Recently, one of our client evolveHer asks to feature Ari on their blog for the Boss of the week highlight series. We're so honored to be included in the series. Go check out the quick interview…
Featured: Ari, Sosok Kartini Kini Versi Masbrooo
Last week in Indonesia, we celebrated the Kartini day, which is the Indonesian national women's day. I got the honor to be interviewed by a friend of mine Esha Strya for a Kartini feature on Masbrooo…
Featured: WE Rule United States Women Entrepreneur - It All Starts With A Personal Connection
My interview with WE Rule is up on their website where I share some of my insights and sacrifices I made to build Chykalophia Group and Creative Women's Co. I also shared my favorite quote from Chris…
Featured: Career Advice For Women Entrepreneurs From Female Founders
Want to hear career advice from #femalefounders? This article from Brainchild Studios is your must-read. So many great advice from Terri Brax of Women Tech Founders, Katy Lynch from Codeverse, Cayla…
Featured: Ms. Tech First Class Spotlight
This week, our Co-founder and Creative Director Ari Krzyzek was featured on Ms. Tech First Class Spotlight. Read the full interview on their blog here.
5 Pointers About Typography Your Site Will Love
At the heart of all good web design lies careful attention to the provision of a first class UX. Your website needs not only to look great, but also to be easy to find, access, and navigate. To a…
Our Business Oriented Yet Personal Weekly Review Worksheet
How can you know if you're improving or not in life and business if you're not somehow tracking things? If you aren't already doing so, spending some time doing a weekly review can go a long way to…
How To Find, Download & Install Flatsome 3 Theme & Flatsome 3 Child Theme
Installing WordPress themes is very easy, though getting the correct files (and finding them) from Envato's ThemeForest can be a bit confusing. So here's how to find, download & install the Flatsome…
Best FREE Stock Photo Sites - 2018
Here are the best free stock photo sites (and resources) that we've found and made use of in 2017 and now on into 2018. Our goal is to have this list be well defined with some extra data so that you…
A Handy People vs Goals Tracker
There is a saying that goes something like this: "Your future value is the average of the income of those around you." Going by this idea, who are you hanging around with that's weighing you down and…
Chrome Turn Website Into App
Sometimes you need to turn a website in a 'app'. Thankfully, in Chrome you can turn a website into an app rather easily! Sort of. Sadly there is no 'make this website into app' button but there are…
Featured: Voyage Chicago
Voyage Chicago did an interview with us! Come check out our interview with them and why we think Chicago is a good place to do what we do.
Featured: Chicago Woman Magazine Blog
The liftUPlift Ally Awards celebrate, connect, and inspire collaboration between the greatest champions of Women Power in Chicago and beyond. liftUPlift's 2017 Ally Award Honorees shared their…
You're Not Alone: Confessions From Real Entrepreneurs About Business
Being an entrepreneur can feel lonely and frustrating sometimes as there are many times when we all feel like no one gets us, there's no sympathy to go around or even that we're alone in our…
Featured: LadyBoss Blogger
LadyBoss Blogger asked us to share Ari's story on how she started her business, the challenges and some insights on her design business journey. Check out the full interview on LadyBoss Blogger.
Featured: Creative Market How to Get Noticed on Dribbble
We got featured via CreativeMarket over the weekend! Check out the article on How to Get Noticed on Dribbble on their blog which includes our Humbbble Dribbble plugin.⠀
Featured: Chicago Woman Magazine October - November 2016
Did you get a chance to pick up a copy of Chicago Woman Magazine today? Jennifer Smith Tapp wrote about Ari Krzyzek in October - November 2016 design issue. Highlighted on the Importance of Branding.…
Featured: RedEye Big Idea Awards 2016 Finalist
A week ago I entered my big idea for RedEye Chicago Big Idea Awards just one day before the submission closed. To my surprise, they grant me as one of the finalists in the Community Development and…
6 Simple Tips to Improve Your Creativity from Circles Conference 2016
Ever since moving to Chicago from Bali, Indonesia back in 2011, I have never really think about investing in myself to go to a design/creative conference. Not until recently that I thought I should…
Featured: Ms.Tech August 2016 Mastermind on Visual, UX, and UI Design
As a VIP Member of Ms.Tech since 2014, I personally love this group. I have met so many great women in tech who are also an entrepreneur and happy to help other women in the group. I also love…
Featured: SheSays Chicago - Thinking of starting a side project? These four creatives say “Do it!”
A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to join SheSays Chicago again for their Roundtable Mentor Session event. This time, I joined as mentor panel for their topic "Working On and Leveraging Personal…
Featured: Design Feaster - Pride, Work, and Necessity of Side Projects
After diving into the life as a freelancer then leveling up as a creative entrepreneur, I often think having a side project is something that can help feed the creativity to my brain. I started…
Free Photoshop Action: Create Image Overlay Based On Foreground Color 5% To 95%
For recent project I needed to quickly and easily create varying levels of an overlay on images ... mostly to test which opacity level worked best. The idea is simple: Have image open Based on the…
Integrate Dropbox Into Gmail: Dropbox For Gmail
Adding Dropbox into Gmail is pretty easy and extremely useful. As we've recently started integrating Dropbox heavily into our client workflows (as well as our own projects) I found it extremely…
What Kind of Employees Should You Pick for Your Startup
Most startups start-off with a small team of people, maybe 3-4 at the maximum and probably grow into 10-15 employees later on. In a startup’s workforce, being as small as it is, each person will have…
Rickshaw Republic Brand Identity
CASE STUDY: Bringing vibrant culture of Indonesia and its street food experience to Chicago
Featured: Women Founders In Chicago Tech
Ever wonder who are the women in Chicago tech industry? Take a peek on A Comprehensive List of Women Founders In Chicago Tech, a list to showcase as many female-led Chicago startups (including…
Make Your Work Place A Happy Place
“A company is stronger if it is bound by love rather than by fear.” Did you know that in Southwest Airlines, pilots load luggage into the planes if they are short-handed? Infact, every employee is…
Best Apps to Manage Your Work-Life Balance
It’s amazing how technology is helping us create more time for ourselves, by helping us get more done in less time - be it through automated machines or through time management apps. It easier now…
Change Yoast Sitemap Frequency And Priority
To Change Yoast Sitemap Frequency And Priority you need to use a little bit of custom code (using filters). Thankfully there is some documentation out there about it (links: change sitemap frequency…
Baby Haven Ecommerce Web & Mobile Redesign
CASE STUDY: Behind the success of Babyhaven.com e-commerce redesign web & mobile experience
Woof Branding & iOS App
CASE STUDY: It’s Tinder for dogs (sort of...) Experience the wuf of your life and saves one dog at a time
Entrepreneur Tools & Apps We Can't Live Without (part 1)
I have always wanted to write down couple of favorite tools and apps that I personally need for my day to day basis, these are tools and apps that mainly help me (A LOT!) running my business, but…
Featured: The Best Startup Logo Designs
Back in 2014, I joined Startup Weekend Women Edition Chicago and joined an awesome team to create a startup and test it over a weekend. It was awesome! We even made it as the first place winner.…
Entrepreneurial Meeting Of The Minds
It's not everyday that you get to meet someone who thinks like you do about business. Lucky for us, we surround ourselves with like minded individuals and companies so while we don't meet everyone…
Stitch Fix vs. Le Tote Fashion Subscription
Why I chose Le Tote over Stitch Fix for My Fashion Subscription Ever since in high school, I’ve started to read many different fashion magazine. From national girl magazine in Indonesia called Gadis…
How to Make Instagram Work for Your Brand
Today there are many different social media sites that you can choose for your business/brand in order to be found or get connected by your customers/users. Instagram is among one of the favorite…
Featured: Best Invoice Design
Some people says having beautifully designed invoice pays off really well. Well, as a designer I couldn't agree more. And while I have you at the invoice design topic, one of our invoice design…
Creative Women Interview With Karen Remsen
This Monday, we're featuring one of the awesome creative and graphic designer Karen Remsen which I had the pleasure meeting at the Creative Women's Conversations brunch last May. When I interviewed…
Creative Women Interview With Beata Orwat
Let's extend the pretty things to this week as it's just getting warmer and prettier here in Chicago. Meet one of our friend Beata Orwat, floral designer and owner of Dahlia Blooms. Not only she's…
Featured: Best Leadpages Landing Page May–June 2015
Give us a high five for getting one of our landing page that we created using Leadpages featured on their blog. It was added to their Landing Page Roundup: Our Top 10 Favorite Pages from May–June…
Creative Women's Conversations June Brunch
Join us for a creative conversation over brunch. WHEN: Thursday, June 18, 2015 | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM WHERE: Lutz Continental Cafe & Pastry | 2458 W Montrose Ave, Chicago, IL RSVP at…
Creative Women Interview With Lovely Bastian
As a woman, it's only natural to be attracted to anything pretty. And flowers are the prettiest thing I could think on top of my head that can make me feel special when I receive it as well as happy…
Creative Women Interview With Giedre Krulikas Sidrys
Happy Monday! Our creative women for this week is Giedre from Walking Dot Photography. She is a family portrait photographer based out of Chicago and working primarily in the South Loop, Little…
Creative Women Interview With Candis Hickman
If you follow us on Facebook, you probably have heard about our new meetup group Creative Women's Conversations. Few weeks ago we held the first brunch where I get a chance to meet other young and…
Next Door Gallery Presents: Ari Krzyzek
Have you heard? Next Door Cafe Chicago will showcase our Design Basic Poster series during May - June 2015! We are so excited and would love to invite you to come and check it out. Showcase starts on…
Creative Women's Conversations May Brunch
Join us for a creative conversation over brunch. WHEN: Friday, May 22, 2015 | 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM WHERE: Caffe Streets, 1750 W. Division St., Chicago RSVP at cklph.com/cwcEvents
Creative Women's Conversations April Brunch
Join us for a creative conversation over brunch. WHEN: Friday, April 25, 2015 | 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM WHERE: Julius Meinl, 4363 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago RSVP at cklph.com/cwcEvents
Creative Women's Conversations
When you've become a freelancer, entrepreneur or a solo business owner, don't you just wish that you can meet other creative women business owners like yourself to bounce some ideas or even just to…
A Woofoo Experience at Startup Weekend Women Chicago
Over the last weekend, I decided to check out the first Startup Weekend Women Chicago and hoping to just take a peek on what it's all about. Got there earlier and really didn't expect much until it…
Exhibit: The Happy Show by Stefan Sagmeister
What other great way to spend some of the after hours at an exhibition for the last AIGA Mentor Group meeting? That's exactly what Alyssa Low, our group mentor for this summer suggested to do for our…
Copyright Info For Your Design Work
It usually starts with a new client asking you to create a design for them, either for web or print. It's a great thing right? Of course, until they ask you to send them the original or source files…
Color Palette Inspirations: Food Pairing Pantone
You can literally grab color swatches from anything that are happening near us. From the mountain scenery to the variations of leaves color during the fall. Minneapolis-based designer David Schwen,…
Really Cool PR & Branding Idea: Prescription Bottle
These days it's hard to stand out amongst the business crowd, so you really do have to get creative to grab peoples attention. The other day we were at a local multi-chamber of commerce business…
Need Business Card Ideas & Inspirations? Try CardFaves.com
Business cards are an extension of your professionalism, or there lack of, and brand image. If you have a cheap business card, that says something about you. If on the other hand you have an…
A Tiger Doesn't Lose Sleep Over Sheep
A Tiger Doesn't Lose Sleep Over The Opinion Of Sheep. It's a very true statement which I think all of us designers, programmers, and CEO's alike need to take to heart. Why worry about the musings of…
Oreo Wins The SuperBowl For Best Ad
The Oreo team was at the right place at the right time. They had the tools, the means and the will power to accomplish something amazing within 10 minutes. See, during this 2013 Superbowl there just…
Funny: This Is How A Freelancer Can Be Described
While browsing around on the inter-tubes, I found this rather silly graphic. It describes a typical freelancer. The graphic is by Neil Gaiman (I think). By Neil Gaiman (found on clientsfromhell.com)…
Office Inspirations: Wood Meets Future At Ubiquitous
What's brown and white with technology inside? It's the Ubiquitous offices! This is truly an office space to marvel at. Based on modern warm wood tones mixed in with old factory elements, this office…
2012 Journey
The year 2013 is now a matter of hours. A full year of 2012 has gone by us so quickly, a lot had happened and we feel that we achieved so much this year. We're hoping the next year will bring greater…
Accepted to the Exclusive Professional Women's Networking Group
Originally heard from a fellow member at the Chamber, I feel curious about Exclusive Professional Women's Networking Group (EPWNG). An invite only type of networking group that is dedicated to…
Featured: 365 Awesome Designers No. 302
It's nice to found out and saw that we were featured on 365 Awesome Designers site project. We made it before the year ends! No. 302, yeah!! :)
Glenview Business Expo Fall 2012
Last Wednesday, we joined the Glenview Business Expo for the Fall season of 2012. We were really excited since it was our very first business expo booth, yay! Having the experience of having our…
Glenview Chamber Women Roundtable Lunch
It's not everyday that we got to hangout and have a nice lunch with other women in business who are part of the Glenview Chamber of Commerce. Even special because today Ari got a chance to be a…
DesigningTips.com Interview With Ari Krzyzek
Woot! Few days ago we got a chance to be interviewed by Jay from DesigningTips.com. The interview has been published and we definitely hope it will give you more inspirations and insight about design…
We're A Winner: PsPrint’s Card & Calendar Contest 2012
Wooohooo... we're excited to share the awesome news: we're a PsPrint Winner for PsPrint’s Card & Calendar Contest 2012. What's more awesome is that Xmas Tree Holiday Card was selected by the internal…
Guest Author: New Facebook Page Best Practices and Useful Apps To Support It
We'll cover the best practices for the new Timeline for Facebook Pages and useful Facebook applications that you can use to help you improve your page with different types of content depending on…
Adding WP Featured Image To Mailchimp RSS Campaign
Sending out newsletter email to your client or your blog readers is one of the best approach to keep them into your inner circle. But sometimes, it took a while to prepare the content for your…
Chykalophia Group Promo Video
We have our first promo video up for you to watch and understand what Chykalophia can help you with in a flash.
Chykalophia Brand Redesign
Last month we completed our brand redesign and today we're proud to showcase the snapshot of the new image of Chykalophia Group. The idea behind our decision to do the rebranding is because we had so…
iWork Pages Template Design Tutorial
I grew up in the era of PC and Windows, but that changed as soon as I got my first MacBook white back in 2007 (geez I'm old) So, we got the full iWork app and start using it. As much as I love them,…
Design Basics Project
Last month we completed the Design Basics Poster Series as part of the project called Design Basics. Design Basics was originally created as a poster series to study three main elements on visual…
The Huffington Post Uses Blackhat SEO Techniques, Link Bait Titles, & Powerful A/B Split Testing To Maximize Traffic
It's rather clear from many studies and even from simple observations that the The Huffington Post Seo Strategy is to essentially be a giant blackhat SEO autoblog. 98% of what the Huffington Post…
Guest Author: 25 Save the Date and Wedding Invitation Designs by Web & Graphic Designers
As we go on and find ourselves meeting the one person we would like to spend our life with, we like to make sure that the celebration will be memorable. Starting by sending out Save the Date…
The Single Dribbble Invite
Just in time for an invite. I got my first Dribbble invite to giveaway today. And yes, I know you're eager to know how to get it. Here's the details and the simple steps you need to do to get it.…
Facebook Page News Feed Tips
As many of you know Facebook has change the number of status updates from Facebook Pages shown in your Facebook news feed. It looks like if you don't regularly participate in commenting or like or…
We Joined The Northbrook Chamber Of Commerce!
This is an amazing year! First Glenview and now we're moving on to conquer Northbrook. We've joined the Northbrook Chamber of Commerce. We'll be going to their First Friday Networking events as well…
10 Absolutely Amazing Strategies To Reduce Shopping Cart Abandonment in eCommerce
You've got your online store ready, all the products are there and your prices are perfect and yet a large portion of your visitors never finish the checkout process. OH NOES! What is an entrepreneur…
The Two Worst Mistakes Your Business Is Making Right Now Online
Most likely, your business is making these two horrible mistakes online which cost you many clients, time/energy and brand image loss. Put these together and that means you're ROI goes down (bad…
What Your Online Image Says About You
Most people either make a website themselves or have one made without caring too much about the presentation. As long as it's "good enough" they are happy and soon forget that the website ever…
Why Hire A Consultant - Three Extremely Darn Good Reasons!
There are many good reasons why hire a consultant, but here are three extremely darn good reason really why you need to hire professional consultants on any project. These three reasons are: fees,…
AIGA Small Talk: Shedd Aquarium
Last Tuesday was a perfect day to be around downtown Chicago and visit the AIGA Small Talk event at the Shedd Aquarium. The event displayed how the in-house creatives on their Planning & Design…
Scratch Collaboration Project: the Timeless
Since late March, you have seen the sneak peek on my latest collaboration with Scratch Clothing Bali. And here we finally have the final look of the t-shirt, Scratch the Timeless by Chykalophia.…
We're Part of AIGA
Being a designer is just not complete without taking part on a design community. We're proud to announce that we're officially part of AIGA Chicago as of today. We got prove! :)
An Introduction to Moo.com
Over the years, one piece of paper which contains a person's contact details has been popular among us. The one piece of paper that everyone in every business should carry with them. Yup, it's the…
UNshow Design Competition Entry
We need you! One of our design is up for a competition. Help us vote for UNshow Design Competition, your vote for our design means a lot to us :)
Finding the Best Logo Designer
If you want to promote your business and create brand awareness you will need to have a quality logo that stands out above all of your competition. Because a logo provides a point of recognition for…
Creative Chicago Expo 2012
Last week, we attended the Creative Chicago Expo to check out their free creative workshops. All of the workshops sounds very interesting, and we were right. The information given through their…
Interview with eMazeMe Founder Chris Pauly
I had the privilege of having lunch with Chris Pauly the other day. He is one of the founders of a great new local lead generation site called eMazeMe (http://www.emazeme.com). During our lunch we…
Branding Basic: Visual Perception
Every single day we notice a new logo making it appearance around the web. Most of us will instantly judging the design of the logo itself and start to analyze what makes it effective or how will it…
Behind The Making: Redesign v.4
Some of you might notice the big changes on the website. It's new, it's different, yet still classic. I've been wanting to redesign this website and finally got the chance to do so earlier this…
Design Basic: Typography Poster Release
I started this year with a goal to create a poster series for Design Basic. The first completed one is Typography. This poster explains the basic understanding of type, typography and font. The…
Now Open: Chykalophia Store
It's a good day and we got awesome news. Chykalophia Store is now open online. We (mainly organized and run by Ari) opens Chykalophia Store to share and help others outside the coorporate design…
Start The New 2012 Year Off Right By Knowing Your Past
Welcome to the new year. 2012 has so many awesome revelations for us all and so many exciting paths to walk. The Mayan calendar ends, the world is also 'supposed' to end and it's our time to put our…
Add Pinterest Pin It Button To Blogger Post
Last time I wrote about how to add Pinterest Pin It button I designed to Wordpress Page and Post, today since I realize that other Pinterest addicts who happen to love blogging as well are using…
Chykalophia Group Is Ready For Action!
It's been a long time coming and now it's finally here, the official Chykalophia Group website! We've got pretty portfolios, great web forms and best of all ...we've got an awesome, action packed,…
Every Pixel Matters
When you’re starting to set your goals, you want to have it perfect right? So does everybody else. The first time I decided to resign from the company I’ve work for and go freelance I imagined that…
11 Key Questions To Find The Best Web Hosting Provider For Your Company
With so many different hosting options available to corporations it can get hard to select the perfect option. A cheap web hosting provider will over promise and under deliver, while others do…
Graphic Design Compilation of Halloween Artwork
When October comes and all the leaves are changing colors it awakens the Fall season and of course the Halloween season. I'm pretty sure you have seen a lot of Halloween theme artwork for the pas few…
Support Pink - Designs for Breast Cancer Month
Breast cancer has become an international awareness of which happen annually in October. With so many foundations, organizations to companies trying to support the cause of Support Pink, I found some…
Ecommerce Store Design: 5 Tips to Help you Sell More
Clunky layouts, dreary aesthetics and a confusing user experience can ruin the online shopping experience. Understanding how to effectively design your ecommerce site can go a long way in building…
Add Pinterest Pin It Button To Wordpress Page & Post
I was working on one web design project for vintage event/theme rental company, Intaglio Vintage of which you have seen the teaser on my Facebook Page. And since Pinterest has been very common for…
Custom Wedding Invitation Set - Letterpress Print
Last February I held a custom wedding invitation contest for future brides and grooms who are still planning for their upcoming wedding. One of the winners for the contest is Carly & Kirk with their…
Guest Author: Huge Freebies Collections For Your Future Design Projects
Being an active web and graphic designer is excellent. However, there are times when you have too many projects to handle and wish you could save time with some graphic templates. Imagine if you have…
You Start Here On Xheight
A month ago, founder of Lovedsgn David Bushell reached to me. He got a new blog idea where designers can learn and read the insight xheight authors experiences and advices about life and design. The…
Pin Favorites Digitally: Pinterest
Few decades ago, I would create a scrapbook full of many clips, pictures, and other stuff I daily found interesting. Today, in this digital era, I barely have time to do that. I tried bookmark, but…
Guest Author: 30 Creative Clothing Ecommerce Website Designs
There are many e-commerce sites being published online in every minute. Ranging from the small in-house company to the giant company, all of them are trying to compete and and sell their product…
The Winners: Wedding Invitation Design Set
Before I announce the two lucky winners for Chykalophia Wedding Invitation Design Set giveaway, I'd like to thank you every couples who have enter and joined this giveaway. I really enjoyed reading…
Chykalophia Now On Etsy Shop
Good news for all Etsy fans out there! Chykalophia on Etsy Shop is now open. My Etsy shop will only focus on print design material. Ranging from Custom Wedding Monogram/Logo, Business Card Designs,…
Guest Author: Twitter Design – Inspiring Twitter Background & Resources
If you are a freelancer like me, you will probably find social media sites these days are your best friends. Facebook and Twitter are the most common social media sites being used to promote…
Giveaway: Wedding Invitation Design Set
Wedding is the word which made some people jump happily for you and congrats you right away. To some other it means serious (mostly for all the guys). Though, however it means to any other people is…
Guest Author Post: 15+ Design Related & Project Management iPhone App for Designers
Technology in smart phones these days are amazing. It has helped us with a better communication by using the 3G technology and stay up connected through wireless internet using the data plan. What's…
Guest Author Post: 45+ Amazingly Creative Papercut Artwork
Derives from the Greek term for the ancient Egyptian writing material, paper as we call it today is being used for many purposes. From writing a simple note to advertising media, the paper it self…
Guest Author Post: How To Create A Logo Guideline For Your Client
Working on a logo project sometimes can be challenging especially when you are working on a fresh start up companies who needs an identity for their product or company. Despite the process of how a…
Guest Author Post: 15+ Community Based Portfolio Websites to Showcase Your Work
Being involved in a creative industries like graphic or web design requires talent and good marketing, especially if you are a freelancer. With the common internet connection and social media these…
60 Awesome Digital Artworks For Your Inspiration
Digital arts these days are amazing. Most of the advertisement you see on the billboards, posters, or even flyers are using this design technique. It's pretty, artsy and just stunning. In this post,…
Guest Author Post: 20+ Inspirational And Informative Resources For Logo Creation
Being a logo designer and finding ideas to design a stunning yet effective logo is not an easy task. Sometimes we have to check out what logo trends are going on in the current year, and seek the…
Guest Author Post: Upcoming and OnGoing Web Design Trends of 2010
Trend is a set of rules we somehow follow, not as something we designers obey. It is more like a guidance to help us set new ideas whenever we create a design. In the web design industry, we realized…
Guest Author Post: Designer Quotes – Mindsets and Inspiration
There are many ways to get inspired these days. For designers, looking through design pieces around the internet help them grow their ideas for current or future projects. Though sometimes when…
Guest Author Post: Beautiful Examples of Textures in Web Design
Whenever you visit website these days, every single one of them is trying to compete one and another. Despite the difference of products or services they offer, their mission remain the same: to…
Guest Author Post: 35+ Unique Product Packaging Designs
Whenever we're going to buy a product, especially the new ones we will directly pay more attention to the packaging of the product it self. Product packaging has tremendous power to grab our…
Guest Author Post: Get And Give Design Feedback – Sites + Tips
Whenever we as designer working on a design project, we often find ourselves staring at the designs to look for the flaws. Most of the time we need others opinion or critiques to help us improving…
Guest Author Post: 15 Famous And Successful Logo Redesigns – What Has Been Improved?
As we realize that we are now living in the Brand Era, where everything is branded and labelled we are more concern to companies we believe can help us, shops where we can get our supplies, or…
Guest Author Post: 25+ Sites And Resources To Learn Typography
Typography has been practiced and used in our daily life. Range from handwriting in a pocket notebook to the big advertising billboard. It’s sometimes typed using Times New Roman in 12 points for…
Inspiring Graphic Design Magazine - Round Up
Everyone needs inspiration, it doesn't matter in what department are they involved with in their everyday life. Though, for creatives like graphic designers, interior designers, web designers, and…
Guest Author Post: Tips and Inspiration on Creating a Great Website Footer
As most of us know, there are three important parts of a website’s design: the header, the content, and the footer. None of these should be ignored when creating a web design. Sadly it happens in…
Guest Author Post: 35+ Warm VS Cool Color Website Designs
A website resembles the identity of a company, a certain community, or even a person. Thousands of websites live out there on the internet these days, and their number increase every single second.…
Beauty & Creativity of Interior Graphic Design
Almost everything in this world wrapped up by designs, shoes design, clothing design, glasses design, and on and on. Any designs. Human eyes loves to see beautiful things, from panoramic view to…
Guest Author Post: 4 Distinct Types of Website Illustrations
There are many elements that designers can consider in creating a website design. Readable text, suitable icons, graphics, background colors or textures, and illustrations. Our eyes are much more…
Design in Fashion Industry - Nancy Zhang
Fashion inspirations may come from anywhere. There are hundreds or perhaps thousands of fashion styles in this world. From the beginning time, colonial time, the 80's, the 90's, the vintage style,…
Guest Author Post: 35+ Beautiful Examples of Creative Collage
With numerous graphic design software these days, creating aesthetic artworks is just a matter of artist’s or designer’s ideas, creativity, and concepts. The basic idea of design is to unite the…
Designer Signature Through Their Artwork
Despite of graphic design being visually similar to the general idea of Art, its creativity within is absolute. Designers are able to visualize their ideas with or without following the rules in…
Guest Author Post: Designing for iPhone
For most Apple lovers, having an iPhone or iPod Touch can be very useful and exciting at the same time. You can transfer your music playlist, take pictures or record a video, or keep e-books to read…
Featured On ToekangWeb Post: Indonesian Women Web Designers
Thanks to Moch Zamroni for featuring me in his post "Indonesian Women Web Designers", really appreciate it. Read the full post here
Design In Fashion Industry - Laura Laine
Design hold a great role in visually marketing any kind or type of product. This also applied in fashion industry, yet it has greater impact unlike in other industries. Fashion is commonly the key to…
Get Inspired By Your Desktop Using GeekTool & CandyBar
Inspiration comes from anywhere. With the technology we have today, it is only a matter of quality to feed your brain with selective inspirations to keep you going with new ideas. From browsing for…
Guest Author Post: 40 Creative Twitter Status Designs for Your Inspiration
This is my first post as a guest author for 1stWebDesigner.com. For you who is not familiar with the 1stWebDesigner.com yet, here a little bit about who they are. 1stwebdesigner is a design blog…
Senorita iPhone Theme: Behind the making
Apple says: It’s three devices in one. iPhone is more than just a phone. It combines three devices in one: a revolutionary mobile phone, a widescreen iPod, and a breakthrough Internet device. All…
Valentine in Designs
Love is in the air, or so people said and keep talking about since the beginning of this month. Well, how can they ignore the day of love when almost every single person worldwide planing and…
Photography Vs Graphic Design
Being a part of graphic design community and get involved with the creative mind and creations within it is enjoyable. The more creative artworks I see, the more blurry and difficult for me to…
Frespiration! #1. Coming Up Soon!
With the fresh New Year '10 spirit, we are proud to announce the upcoming inspirations all over the globe. We call it, Frespiration! We want these collections to be share to other creative people and…
Design Concepts: Review and Get Reviewed!
Every designers are taught to think about the concept first before creating any designs. Although some designers get inspired for the concept along when creating the design itself. The point is, you…
Begin to Make Website for Designer
For most Print Graphic Designer, design and create a website would be a challenging task to do. As much as we enjoy ourselves working on the artwork and layout for it, those principles on print…
Selling logo on IstockPhoto
Various stock photos and illustration are sold on the net, everything you need for your project and saving more budgets for most freelancers. After releasing the audio stocks at the beginning of this…
Be Awesome at Work?
Most designers nowadays are split into two categories; one prefer to go freelancing, and other prefer to work for a company. Despite those two categories, we all want to be great on our work. We…