Rocky Tilney

Stuff I Love is sort of like Oprah’s Favorite Things without the freebies (sorry). This is part 1 in a multi-part series, we’ll post the next one when we have more stuff we love. Freshbooks I love Freshbooks because they took the mundane but necessary task of accounting and made it fun and simple. I tested [...]

A few years ago, the AIGA produced this simple PDF booklet that helps designers and their clients understand the value of design. I often find myself referring back to it as a reminder of the value I provide clients. In any case, it’s a great example of simple elegance providing a powerful message and progressing the notion [...]

For the last couple weeks I’ve been seeing the TV commercial from Intuit boasting their new website service called “Intuit Websites”. The first time I saw the commercial it really annoyed me, $4.99 per month for a complete website!? You can check out the commercial here: Over the last few weeks I started thinking about [...]

Today we have so many potential distractions like Facebook and Twitter, it’s easy to lose track of time and get caught up in reading posts or tweets. Even e-mail can be a “time suck” if it’s not used with discipline. I decided to start a little experiment and track my entire day for two weeks [...]

During the last two weeks of December I start my goal planning sessions preparing for 2010. I really look forward to this time of year as it allows me to focus on my business for a change. I’d like to share my process with you as well as some insight into goal planning. I don’t [...]

I’m reposting this here because I think it is a valuable tool for those who own or manage Facebook Fan Pages. Enjoy! Did you know that your Facebook Fan page image can be up to 200px wide by 600px tall?! By having an image this size on your Fan Page you can add more detail [...]

Everyone has a right to protect their intellectual property, but I was quite surprised and a bit puzzled when I saw a full-page ad for Little Trees Car-Freshner in the September issue of Graphic Design USA. The ad displayed 5 Little Tree designs and contained the following copy: “This is privately owned property. So is [...]

People buy into cultures, not brands yet, we focus so much of our efforts on building brands. Being in design, I see this nearly everyday. Normally, the client wants a brand image that satisfies their vision of the brand, not the customers. Can a brand stand on it’s own merits without  a culture infused by it’s [...]

When I was in middle school, my science teacher (Mr. Miller, the best teacher ever) once gave the class the following analogy: “Rules are like ropes on a wooden plank bridge, without the ropes you have to walk slowly and carefully, maybe even crawl. There is no goofing around without ropes. With ropes, you can [...]

I heard the term “hyper-local” today in the context of news, but what about marketing? Maybe it’s time to consider marketing at the hyper-local level to build credibility, business, and local market-share? Being the top business in your industry at the hyper-local level is faster than building at a national level. Advertisers get this and [...]