Mumbai under attack

Late Wednesday night, Mumbai, India found itself the target of a ferocious terrorist attack, and the situation remains unresolved even now, three days later. According to reports, upwards of 60 young men entered Mumbai in small inflatable boats on Wednesday night, carrying bags filled with weapons and ammunition, and spread out to nine locations to begin their attacks. Lobbing grenades and firing their weapons, they entered hotels, a railway station and several other buildings, killing scores and wounding even more. As of this moment, the identity of the attackers has yet to be definitively determined, though there are reports indicating some of the gunmen were Pakistani - at least nine of them have been killed, nine more arrested. As of this writing, there were a reported 151 people killed from 11 different countries - though nearly 100 were Indian. More than 300 injuries have also been reported - those numbers may yet rise as several hostage situations still exist in the city. (35 photos total) - full story on http://www.boston.com

A city bleeds, nation mourns and an army of heroes who have dedicated their lives to the country fight a savage battle with extremists to restore peace and order. But the truth is the terrorists have claimed victory and a small section of their inhumane breed will call them martyrs. Cowards they are. If this what their religion teaches them to do, then I am proud not be born as one among them. Its true, they only represent a small fraction and others from their community cant be held responsible, but my heart cries looking at these images. These are common people from all walks of life. People who are at peace with the word while they fight their own individual battles. Do they deserve to be caught in this ghastly act.
Shame on those who participate and perpetuate these. Shame on your so called religion.

Posted by Bleeding Soul November 28, 08 12:18 PM to www.boston.com | The Big Picture

From The Big Picture.



A reporter talks on her phone as smoke is seen coming from Taj Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. Large plumes of smoke were seen rising from the top of the landmark Taj Hotel in Mumbai on Thursday and heavy firing could be heard, a Reuters witness said. (REUTERS/Arko Datta)
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Injured Indian security personnel lie at the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. The two men later died from their wounds. (AP Photo/Mumbai Mirror, Sebastian D'souza)
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A gunman walks through the Chatrapathi Sivaji Terminal railway station in Mumbai, India, Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2008. (AP Photo/Mumbai Mirror, Sebastian D'souza)
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Employees and guests of the Taj Mahal hotel, site of one of the shootouts with terrorists, are recued by firefighters as fire engulfs the top floor on late November 26, 2008. (LORENZO TUGNOLI/AFP/Getty Images
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Firefighters try to douse a fire at the Taj Mahal Hotel in Mumbai November 27, 2008. Indian commandos freed hostages from Mumbai's Taj Mahal hotel on Thursday but battled on with gun-toting Islamist militants. (REUTERS/Punit Paranjpe)\

- full story on http://www.boston.com

its wrong to blame pakistan or any other muslim country ...[PS: im NOT A MUSLIM]
its the western countries like US and Britain who milk feed terrorism and its centres .....and then pretend to show solace to the victims ......why the hell does US support Pakistan and afghanistan (previously) ....there is a deep divide and rule policy that these countries adopt against asian countries ...and yess ...fuck china too!!!! ....bye take care...love u all ...nothing personal!!!

Posted by varun November 30, 08 09:21 AM to www.boston.com | The Big Picture

- full story on http://www.boston.com

Dover Middle School’s 10 Tips for Photography Students

1. Hold the camera steady with your elbows close to your body, or propped on something stable (table, bench, etc.) OR use a tripod.

2. Don’t be afraid of angles or changing your orientation (portrait or landscape).

3. Before pressing the shutter button, check your focus points. Is your photo focused on the subject or on something in the foreground or background?

4. Check your camera settings before shooting photos…Are they correct for the current conditions? ie: ISO, Shutter Speed, White Balance, etc.

5. Listen to your teacher (if in a classroom situation) AND use great resources such as DPS!

6. Listen to experienced photographers. Also, view and study works of other photographers. This helps provide different perspectives and inspiration.

7. Learn how to use the Macro settings (or Macro lens) for your camera. Give the smallest details of nature great importance!

8. Use the continuous shooting mode to capture movement.

9. Take LOTS and LOTS of pictures!

10. Have FUN!

You can see some of the work of the class who put this list together here.

Web Typography Sins - Top Ten

- By Steven D.

While many designers have been quick to embrace web standards, it’s surprising how often the basic standards of typography are neglected. Here are ten deadly sins to avoid in your web typography:

1. Using hyphens instead of an em dash

If you need to interrupt yourself, do it with an em dash (—) instead of a pair of minus signs. This is a top pet peeve for countless editors.

2. Using periods instead of ellipses.

Most fonts provide a dedicated ellipsis character (…) to keep your type tidy. The ellipsis character fits the three dots into a single letterspace, which is especially beneficial for content that might be printed.

3. Using dumb quotes

These straight “up and down” quotes used in your markup should stay in your markup. In your content, only use them to indicate a measurement in feet or inches.

4. Double-spacing between sentences.

The antiquated practice of double-spacing between sentences seemed like it was finally laid to rest thanks to web typography. Just a few short years ago, it required manually inserting a blank ASCII space to commit this font faux pas. Now, some content management systems will actually format the double-spacing for you if you let them. Don’t give them the chance! Only use single spaces between sentences.

5. Improvising a copyright symbol.

Not only is it ugly and lazy, a copyright symbol hacked together out of a capital C and parenthesis might not even cut the mustard in court. Use the real McCoy (©), and bill your clients extra for the legal advice.

6. Using too much emphasis.

You can bold text. You can italicize it. You can underline it. You can even use all caps if you really need to hammer home your point. Just don’t use more than one at the same time.

7. Underlining your hypertext links.

Underlines cut right through the descenders in your typeface, making it harder to read. Instead of text-decoration: underline;, use border-bottom: solid 1px #00f; to draw a line below your text instead of through it.

8. Faking families in Photoshop.

If your font doesn’t offer (or you couldn’t afford) the bold, italic, or smallcaps branches of the family tree, don’t try to fake it in Photoshop. Sometimes you can get away with it in print, but at web resolutions, it’ll be a mess.

9. Not using accent characters.

I know how annoying they can be (especially when you’re writing about Ikea furniture), but if somebody’s name includes an exotic character, be polite and include it.

10. Not using CSS for capitalization effects.

I know it’s CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL, but if you’re using caps (or lowercase) for decorative reasons, be sure to use the text-transform property. It’ll save a lot of trouble if you ever decide to change things later.

About the author

Steven D. is a web developer so secretive that he won’t even tell you his last name without entering a mutually-binding NDA. In his free time, he enjoys working instead of enjoying his free time.

My Secret Weapon to Getting Contracts

- By Hollis Bartlett

In my first days of freelance web design, I did all the right things to get business — web-site done, Chamber of Commerce joined, social media networking done. So why wasn’t the phone ringing? I suspect many freelancers feel the same way. The big question remained: where do I get business?

Then I discovered a secret weapon. I wanted local business, as it’s easier to build referrals that way. I went through the local directory looking at businesses without web-sites, or with very old and poor sites and made a list. I made a small brochure, put on some decent clothes, grabbed my business cards and actually physically walked into their offices! I got enough business within two days to keep me busy for months, and had a blast at the same time.

It seems many of us have trouble getting over the fear of actual cold-calling. We will do anything possible to avoid it. We will waste time on catching up on blogs, RSS feeds, Facebook, anything to avoid cold-calling, and still chalk it up as ‘work’. However, once you try this method you will forget all other marketing ideas.

So, if you are new into freelancing, or business is slow, try the GOYAKOD method — Get Off Your Ass and Knock On Doors!

About the author

Hollis Bartlett is a full-time freelance web designer & developer located in Nova Scotia. He loves the freelance lifestyle as it gives him flexible time to spend with his wife, 3 daughters, supports a blacksmithing hobby and still gets the bills paid.

Top 10 Photoshop Moves

- By Tom Giannattasio

Is time kickin’ your ass? Well, learn to defend yourself! Master these killer Photoshop keyboard combos and you’ll find yourself with more time for the important things (e.g. Facebook trivia questions). These combos assume you’re using Photoshop CS3 on Windows platform with default keyboard shortcuts.

Legend:
( ) = Repeat as desired
{ } = Manual Input Required

10. Cloak of Invisibility

Remove everything from the screen except for your file.

• F, F, F | Cycle through Screen Modes
• Tab | Remove Tools and Palettes
• Ctrl+H | Hide Extras (Grid, Guides, Slices, etc.)
• Ctrl+R | Hide Rulers

9. Quick Brush Jab

Quickly and easily customize a brush. This combo is a staple for digital painting.

• B | Brush Tool
• Right-Click and Select or F5 and Select | Open condensed or full Brush Palette
• or . or , or Shift+. or Shift+, | Cycle through brushes or jump to first or last brush
• [ or ]: | Shrink or enlarge brush radius
• Shift+[ or Shift+] | Decrease or increase brush hardness
• {Numeric Input} | Change brush opacity (e.g. ‘5′ = 50%, ‘55′ = 55%)

8. Quick Brush Jab Path Stroke

Stroke a path with a customized brush.

• {Draw Path} | Use any tool to draw a path
• B | Select Brush Tool
• Quick Brush Jab | Use the Quick Brush Jab Combo to customize brush
• Enter | Stroke the path with your customized brush

7. Gaussian Attack

Apply a filter, fade it and apply again. Good combo for fine-tweaking filters.

• {Apply a Filter} | Manually choose and apply a filter (warning: using the Lens Flare filter may result in a swift kick to the mouse balls)
• Ctrl+Shift+F | Fade the filter
• (Ctrl+F or Ctrl+Shift+F) | Reapply filter with or without dialog box

6. Shadow Maker

Create a basic shadow based on a chosen layer.

• {Select Layer} | Select the layer the shadow will be created after. The transparency of this layer needs to resemble the desired shape of the shadow.
• Ctrl+J | Layer via Copy
• Ctrl+[ | Move layer down
• D | Reset color defaults
• Alt+Shift+Backspace | Fill with black and preserve transparency
• Ctrl+T | Free transform
• {Transform} | Modify to your liking
• Enter | Commit

5. Layer Catcher

Select, group and mask layers. Often easier than using the layers palette.

• V | Selection Tool
• Ctrl+Click or Ctrl+Shift+Click or Ctrl+Shift+Right-Click | Select your layers
• Ctrl+G | Group Layers

4. OCD Layer Sort

Rearrange your layers quickly and easily. Great cure for you neuroticism.

• F7 | Show Layer Palette
• Alt+[ or Alt+] or Alt+, or Alt+. | Select a layer
• Shift+Alt+[ or Shift+Alt+] or Shift+Alt+, or Shift+Alt+. | Select more layers
• Ctrl+[ or Ctrl+] or Shift+Ctrl+[ or Shift+Control+] | Move layers down or up or send to bottom or bring to top

3. Ultimate Flattener

Merge All Layers (even those hidden). Quick way to flatten a file.

• Alt+. | Select Top Layer
• Shift+Alt+, | Select all layers between currently selected and bottom layer
• Ctrl+E | Merge the selected layers

2. Infinite Dupe

Duplicate and evenly distribute or transform items. Nice way to distribute something like nav buttons.

• Ctrl+T | Transform
• {Transform/Move} | Manually Move or Transform
• Enter | Commit Transform
• (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T) | Duplicate and transform relative to the newest item

1. Finishing Move - The Web Extractor

Extract a selection and save it for the web. Extremely useful when pulling individual elements from a design, such as buttons or rules.

• {Create Selection} | Select the area you want to extract
• Ctrl+Shift+C | Copy Merged to clipboard
• Ctrl+N | Create New Image based on selection size
• Enter | Confirm New Image
• Ctrl+V | Paste from clipboard
• Ctrl+Alt+Shift+S | Save for the Web

About the author

Tom Giannattasio is a Web Designer/Flash Developer living in Bethesda, MD. In his free time, he enjoys reading, philosophizing, digital painting and going to the zoo. To view a sample of his work, visit his website at www.attasi.com.

Who Do You Design For: Clients or Users?

- By Brian Haught

If you close your eyes and think back to the first design fundamentals class you ever took hopefully you remember the instructor saying,”When beginning a design ask yourself who is your audience? If you don’t know who you are designing for then how can you design anything at all?”

Fast forward to the present. Now you are a freelance designer, you have met with the client, discussed what they want and agreed to do the job. Suddenly the client sends you a sketch of a horrible monstrosity of a design so unholy your eyes begin to burn. The client attached instructions that do not resemble the previous discussions and break every rule you can imagine.

Now ask yourself, “Who are you designing for?” By definition, your job is to communicate a message via images and text. But, as a businessperson your goal must be to meet the requests of the client. If you go against the client’s explicit requests and produce a user-centric design, oddly enough you’ll have an unhappy client. Now the flip side of the coin. If you cooperate, lay down your sword, turn off the grids and produce what the client has demanded, the design will fail and in turn you will fail. The bad design will always come back like Rocky and smash you right in the face.

I still feel there is no right answer, but all I can do is plead my case. This is the very definition of a catch-22 and this 800 pound gorilla shows no signs of going away. I get down on all fours and beg the client not to demand drop shadows and convince them that whitespace is a beautiful thing and is not to be confused with wasted space.

About the author

After several years as a corporate slave and servant to the public Brian Haught got a wild hair and went to college. Today he landed a position as Art Director for a local company where he oversees and implement the print and online advertising. He manages to do several freelance jobs a year and find time to play video games. You know the important stuff. All in all he is just a guy who likes design, art and anything “techy”.

Note

This post is one of the finalists of guest author contest on smashingmagazine.com.

Design Tip

White space (the absence of text and graphics) is vital to graphic design. The key is to add just enough white space so the eye knows where to go and can rest a bit when it gets there.

You can control white space in the following location: margins, paragraph spacing, spacing between lines of text, gutters (the space between columns), and surrounding text and graphics.

Tips on principles of Design

four principles of design: balance, emphasis, rhythm, and unity. Below are some tips on the same.

Balance:

• Repeat a specific shape at regular intervals, either horizontally or vertically.
• Center elements on a page.
• Put several small visuals in one area to balance a single large image or block of text.
• Use one or two odd shapes and make the rest regular shapes.
• Lighten a text-heavy piece with a bright, colorful visual.
• Leave plenty of white space around large blocks of text or dark photographs
• Offset a large, dark photograph or illustration with several small pieces of text, each surrounded by a lot of white space.

Rhythm:

• Repeat a series of similarly shaped elements, with even white spaces between each, to create a regular rhythm.
• Repeat a series of progressively larger elements with larger white spaces between each for a progressive rhythm.
• Alternate dark, bold type and light, thin type.
• Alternate dark pages (with lots of type or dark graphics) with light pages (with less type and light-colored graphics).
• Repeat a similar shape in various areas of a layout.
• Repeat the same element in the same position on every page of a printed publication such as a newsletter.

Emphasis:

• Use a series of evenly spaced, square photographs next to an outlined photograph with an unusual shape.
• Put an important piece of text on a curve or an angle while keeping all of the other type in straight columns.
• Use bold, black type for headings and subheads and much lighter text for all other text. Place a large picture next to a small bit of text.
• Reverse (use white type) a headline out of a black or colored box.
• Use colored type or an unusual font for the most important information.
• Put lists you want to highlight in a sidebar in a shaded box.

Unity:

• Use only one or two typestyles and vary size or weight for contrast throughout the publication, presentation, or web site.
• Be consistent with the type font, sizes, and styles for headings, subheads, captions, headers, footers, etc. throughout the publication, presentation, or web site.
• Use the same color palette throughout.
• Repeat a color, shape, or texture in different areas throughout.
• Choose visuals that share a similar color, theme, or shape.Line up photographs and text with the same grid lines.

The Psychology of Color

Color -- Associations
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reds -- Energy, Passion, Power, Excitement
Oranges -- Happy, Confident, Creative, Adventurous
Yellows -- Wisdom, Playful, Satisfying, Optimistic
Greens -- Health, Regeneration, Contentment, Harmony
Blues -- Honesty, Integrity, Trustworthiness
Violets -- Regal, Mystic, Beauty, Inspiration
Browns -- Easiness, Passivity
Blacks -- Finality, Transitional Color

'A' Paper Sizes - Art Glossary

Definition: 'A' size or 'A' series is a set of paper sizes established by the International Standards Organization (ISO) that ranges from 2A0 (the largest) to A7 (the smallest). The size of the paper goes down as the number goes up, and each is half the size of the previous e.g. two A4 sheets make up an A3 piece and two A5 sheets make up an A4 sheet.

'A' size -- size in millimeters -- approx inches
2A0 -- 1,189 x 1,682 mm -- 46.8 x 66.2 in
A0 -- 841 x 1,189 mm -- 33.1 x 46.8 in
A1 -- 594 x 841 mm -- 23.4 x 33.1 in
A2 -- 420 x 594 mm -- 16.5 x 23.4 in
A3 -- 297 x 420 mm -- 11.7 x 16.5 in
A4 -- 210 x 297 mm -- 8.3 x 11.7 in
A5 -- 148 x 210 mm -- 5.8 x 8.3 in
A6 -- 105 x 148 mm -- 4.1 x 5.8 in
A7 -- 74 x 105 mm -- 2.9 x 4.1 in

How to be a Design Superstar!

That’s right everyone just wants to be a Design Superstar? Oh really? No the fact of the matter is, when all else is equal, Superstars get hired, and boring designers don’t. The main difference between the two? The Superstar has the ability to sell his/her brand of design and if you want to be a Superstar, correction, a hired designer, you should seriously consider doing the same.

A designer’s guide to self-branding

Of all the professions out there, I think there is no other one that can benefit from “self-branding” as much as a design professional. That is because it is a profession that is almost solely driven by talent. The equation is very simple, in design it’s not about how many certifications or affiliations you have, but what gets you ahead is the quality of your portfolio as well as your plain raw talent.

Before we go on, you might like to take a look at the basics of “self-branding” or what Tom Peters calls “Brand you“. Smart guy that Tom, he has been talking about it since 1997. Briefly, in a world where the consumer product market is so saturated and most products are essentially the same, the only proven way to get ahead is by branding. Not only just about branding of products but a holistic 360 degree effort including everyone else in the process including the design agencies used to create such products.

Drawing similar branding parallels from the consumer product industry, we are our now well past the new millennium and into a knowledge economy driven by talent. Competition within the talents for the top job is very high, and logically the only way ahead is by the talent branding themselves in some way. You see the crux of the matter is, every single positive influence adds up to putting you ahead and a personal brand is one big factor.

1) Do a SWOT analysis on yourself.

Remember the design methods class you fell asleep in? Well its a pity, especially since no one told you that a SWOT analysis could and should be done on yourself. Just like a company and its ability to generate revenue, I encourage designers to see themselves as a “business entity” that can generate income as well.

Therefore you need to identify your own Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities (to apply your strengths) and Threats (to your weakness) as a designer. So that when faced with the question of what are your strengths, you should never have a problem. Finally it is always good to have a short, medium and long term plan for yourself and career. It shows prospective employers what you want to do and that you have a vision for your future.

After you have listed all these points, you now have a list of keywords that can be the bases of creating your own personal brand and brand values.

2) Get a hair cut.

No seriously. I believe you are what you design. Many people get insulted when they are told they need to dress like a “designers” to be taken seriously. They figure that its a rude comment and encroaches in their personal style and space. That is further from the truth. Just like a consumer has only 3 seconds to size up a shelf of products, your prospective employer will size you up in that same amount of time.

In any case its pragmatic. Simply, that first impression is the most important. You will be surprise of the amount of control you have if you understood the stereotypes people associate with designers, and by looking like one you can use that to your advantage. Just don’t turn up for an interview in a beanie.

So carefully use your Strengths you have identified in Point 1 to style your own look. Your hair cut, sense of dressing, your watch (for guys), shoes (guys and gals) are all clues to a picture that you want to paint of yourself. It’s all part of your personal brand and something that should be part of your physical presence when you walk into a room. Remember every single positive point counts.

3) Buy your name as a dot com

I cannot begin to tell you how important this is. Not only for identity protection, but what you want is to turn up at the top of a Google search if a prospective employer or employment agency is doing research on you. As the Internet gets more and more integrated in today’s business world, the chances of you getting Googled is very high. I know I do it all the time.

4) Re-Brand your Portfolio

Now that you have identified your personal brand “keywords” and objectives in your design career, its time to “re-brand” your work. Just like a company’s branding initiative, you need to ensure that the documents you leave behind reflect your personal brand as well. Your portfolio, name card, resume, and perhaps that website design needs to reflect this through and through. This is especially important if you are putting your portfolio online.

On a slightly different but related note, do you then create a personal logo or monogram that reflects this personal brand? Personally, my feeling is don’t do it unless you spend some serious time working on it and that it looks good according to everyone who sees it. Most of the time I find personal logos or monograms very ugly and not well considered. A clear name card with just your name in a suitable font is good enough. But at the end of the day if you decide to create a personal logo, do ensure it reflects your personal brand values.

5) Start a blog

Now that you have a website that show cases your design work why not start a blog? The reaction on this, at this point in time, is mixed. There have been instances that people were fired when employers did not like what was written on their employees blogs. But these cases are rare, and if you keep your blog away from office politics you should be fine.

A great reason for starting a blog is to have your “voice” behind your work. Many times you can’t tell a designer’s personality by just looking at the work. But if you are able to share your thoughts, you will be better positioned as many employers often feel that they just don’t have enough time to determine an employee’s personality during those few interview sessions. Another great reason for a blog, is that it allows you to connect with other designers through the posting of your thoughts and by responding to comments left on your blog.

6) Join design networks

Get out there and market yourself! There are tons of great portfolio networking sites like Behance and Design Related. Just sign up, post your work, make friends, ask and respond to comments. Don’t forget that discussion forums on design are a good way to network with other senior designers as well.

Finally, don’t underestimate traditional non-design social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook as a means to share your work and network with other design professionals.

7) Win design awards

While its not the end of the world if you don’t win any, I always say you have nothing to lose by entering, and winning one gives you eternal fame an glory. Well not entirely eternal, but it is a great marketing tool for yourself and a confidence booster to be able to know that your work has been recognized by your peers.

8) Don’t oversell

At the end of the day, you need to be careful of all your different tools that you can use to sell yourself. The important thing to do is not use the wrong tool for the job and worst still end up by looking like you are overselling yourself. For example, don’t bombard people on your social network with every single job you did in your 15 year history as a designer; leave that for your resume. Don’t stick all your beautiful high resolution images on your portfolio website making it hard to navigate, just leave that to your face to face meeting instead.

9) Do good work!

Always, I say ALWAYS do good design work. Even if you hate your job or your boss or the project, make sure that it is the most beautiful design you can make it be. A good reputation is hard to build, and it is just too easy to lose.

10) A different take?

I like to close this post by getting you to check out a few tips at Fast Company’s 2004 update of Tom’s Brand-you Article as a different, more corporate, but relevant take on this issue of Self-branding.

———-

As you can probably guess becoming a Design Superstar is not easy and requires a lot of hard work. It does not happen overnight nor is it something you become. What it is, is that it requires is time before it can happen. Simply because with time, you will do good work, acquire more knowledge, build an interesting portfolio, rinse and repeat, again and again. Best of luck in your design career!

Via: designsojourn.com

Re:Think, Re:Design, Re:Cycle your Business Cards

27 Creative Business Cards You Should’ve Seen

via: http://dzineblog.com/2008/01/...uldve.html

Cool business card designs

via: http://creativebits.org/cool_...rd_designs

18 Smokin’ Hot Business Card Designs

via: http://freelanceswitch.com/general/18-smokin-hot-business-card-designs/

Business Cards - a set on Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dailypoetics/sets/72057594104389710/

Example for Paper Supplier :

http://www.papermojo.com/

http://www.neenahpaper.com/

Make Your Own!:

http://www.pioneerthinking.com/makingpaper.html

http://www.arnoldgrummer.com/index.cfm

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/893532/handmade_paper_diy/

Example for Metal & Plastic Business Cards:

http://www.plasmadesign.co.uk/plasticcardmovies.htm

Paper Crafts, 3D:

http://www.yamaha-motor.co.jp/global/entertainment/papercraft/index.html

Paper History - Gallery of Papermaking:

http://www.ajvalente.com/

Don't go Mad:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoIvd3zzu4Y

- Kiril Balkanov

Best 10 Firefox Addons for Designers

These 10 essential Firefox addons will make your life as a graphic and web designer much easier! The Firefox addons are extremely easy to install and you will be notified when new versions of the addons are available. I have hand picked all of these add ons and without further ado here are the 12 best Firefox addons for graphic designers!

ColorZilla 1.0

ColorZilla is an advanced eyedropper, color picker and measuring tool.

Download ColorZilla

Window Resizer

The Window Resizer addon allows you to resize your browser to common resolution sizes allowing you to view website designs in a variety of popular browsing dimensions.

Download Window Resizer

Web Developer

The Firefox Web Developer addons is one of the most popular addons for web designers. It has a variety off essential tools that allow you to code quality websites and troubleshoot problems easily.

Download Web Developer

Palette Grabber

Palette Grabber is a nifty little addon that creates a color palette for Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, GIMP, Flash, Fireworks, or OS X based on the current page you are viewing in your browser.

Download Grabber

GridFox

GridFox is a great Firefox extension that allows you to overlay a customizable grid on any website allowing you to make sure the grid you designer in your layout translate correctly to the web.

Download GridFox

FireShot

FireShot is a cool extension that allows you to take screenshots of your web pages and also has a set of built in annotation tools that allow you to add graphics and notes.

Download FireShot

FoxyTunes

FoxyTunes is a kick butt addon for anyone who listens to music while they design. It allows you to control almost any media player from your browser. You can also find lyrics, covers and so on.

Download FoxyTunes

MeasureIt

MeasureIt allows you to overlay a ruler on a browser page so you can verify width, height and alignment of page elements.

Download MeasureIt

IE Tab

IE Tab is a useful tool for designers who need to check to see if their website looks good in Internet Explorer. A simple click will switch you back to Firefox.

Download IE Tab

FireFTP

FireFTP is a free, secure, browser based FTP client that allows you to easily access your server via Firefox instead of having to launch a separate program.

Download FireFTP

Via: youthedesigner

Creating Road Maps in Adobe Illustrator

Sooner or later every designer comes across the exciting job of producing a map, whether it’s on a leaflet or website the overall aim is to visually document a particular area of land to allow for people to find their way to a place of business or event.
An important factor is the amount of detail required for the map, for most situations the map should be basic enough to provide a recognisable road structure without too much intricate detailing. As you will have seen on existing maps, the use of graphics and colours are important to distinguish between different types of road, this tutorial will cover the process of using Illustrator brushes to create a map of a small road network.

The finished map graphic needs to be crisp and clear which is why the map will be created in vector format in Illustrator. Imagine if the map needs to be enlarged on the leaflet as a client requirement, in Photoshop you would be left with fuzzy pixelated edges. Plus, the complete map will be editable allowing the road shapes to be tweaked without having to delete and redraw the complete line.

Start by drawing a straight line (hold Shift) on your new documents, add a quite thick blue stroke. This will be the base for our UK Motorway, being the largest type of road this line needs to be the thickest.

Copy and paste the line back into place (CTRL / CMD + F), and change the weight to a thinner stroke and colour in white. This will give a blue and white striped appearance to simulate the dual carriageways.

Select both of your strokes and click the ‘New Brush’ icon in the brushes window.

In the option box select the ‘New Art Brush’ radio button.

In the next dialog box you have the option of naming your new brush, in this case it’s a ‘Motorway’. Also check the direction is running along the length of the brush and not across it.

You will now notice your new brush appears in your Brushes Palette. (I have deleted the default brushes here to allow for easier access)

Go ahead and repeat the previous steps to create a selection of brushes to represent the different road types. Experiment with different stroke weights and arrangements to produce some interesting effects. Remember to produce these brushes according to the hierarchy of the roads they represent, for example a minor road needs to be thinner and less prominent than a major road.
TIP: Extend the inner stroke outwards slightly on roads that will need to interconnect, this will allow them to merge together without the outline running across the joint.

As well as the road graphics, use circles to produce matching junction icons. Using similar fill and stroke colours will allow them to blend with the roads.

Now we’re ready to draw the actual map, create a container box for reference and press CTRL / CMD + 2 to lock it. Don’t worry about any roads extending beyond this container, we’ll clip these later.
Use the Pen tool to draw your first major road, refer to an existing map to ensure the shape and scale is correct. This is where all you USA residents have it easy! The UK is full of curly whirly roads which are great for driving on, but a pain to draw up!!

Add the appropriate brush to the new path, transforming it into a Motorway.

Add in a couple of junctions where necessary and use the text tool to provide additional information.

To add an interconnecting road draw the path as required, then use CTRL / CMD + [ to send the new path to the back of the stack allowing for the junction circles to remain on top.

Continue drawing paths and selecting the appropriate brush to produce a network of roads.

Go in and add in the junctions and roundabouts by copying and pasting the junction circles created earlier.

Work down the hierarchy onto the minor roads, which will be even more intricate. Draw each path and add the Minor Road brush. This is where the tip mentioned above comes in handy, allowing the roads to interconnect without the outline running across the joints.

To add some names to your roads, use the Pen Tool to draw a path in a similar contour to a particular road.

Then, select the Type tool and hover over this line until you see the Type of Path icon appear. Type out your road name and you will notice the text flow follows the line, you can use the little handles to edit the position of the text, or use the Direct Selection Tool to fine tune the shape of the path.

Finally, trim off the excess roads from beyond the container. Copy and Paste the container shape (CTRL / CMD + Alt + 2 to unlock the object), then select all (CTRL / CMD + A). Go to object > Clipping Mask > Create and notice how the lines are trimmed back to the outline of the box.

Via: spoongraphics.co.uk

BootB.com - New online tool for brand managers

BootB.com opens up the ad industry by bringing creative talent and buyers together, bypassing obstacles to creative thinking and reaching across the world with, ‘out of the box’ thinking

A new online marketplace for the creative services industry launched today. BootB, a product that allows anyone anywhere to respond to the creative briefs of major companies and be paid professional fees for their ideas.

It is a shock to the agency world, as Pier Ludovico Bancale CEO of BootB explains, “For years I was on the client side, with L’Oreal, Johnson and Johnson and Colgate-Palmolive, and I was so frustrated with the lack of creativity which the typical agencies show. I have been speaking with brand owners all over the world, and I’m not alone in my frustrations. BootB would break that pattern with its sheer creativity. Clearly, it is an idea whose time has come.”

Martin Lindstrom, internationally renowned branding expert and adviser to BootB, believes brand owners will benefit from opening up channels to wider creative resources. He believes the concept of ‘unlimited creativity’ ™ which comes from engaging the wider world and not just the experts within typical agencies, will unearth best possible creative executions and deliver maximum impact for marketing budgets.

By bringing creative talent and buyers together, bypassing obstacles to creative thinking and reaching across the world with, ‘out of the box’ thinking,it will provide new talent an audible voice, enabling clients and sellers to meet in unexplored territory.

According to Lindstrom, it is the beginning of the end of established advertising agency models since it introduces brands to powerful new dimensions.

If you have ever seen an ad and thought “I could do that,” (or “I could do better than that,” this product will make it possible.

Anyone with any sort of creative impulse is invited to respond to the creative briefs placed on BootB by major advertisers. Children and housewives in Marrakesh are as eligible as Ad execs on Madison Avenue. And the Ad agencies themselves are welcome too – if they’re not afraid of the competition from the man in the street...

The website, www.BootB.com is the brainchild of Pier Ludovico Bancale: “The world is full of creative people – especially children - but most of them have no outlet for their ideas. BootB gives individuals access to a lucrative market where they can win business from top brands. The creative world, thanks to BootB, is now open for business. Anyone, from inside the industry or from outside, can get involved. The BootB message to would-be creatives is Make Your Talent Fly!

How does it work?

The briefs will be published on the site in 12 languages, thus reaching 95% of the global population and giving brand builders access to creative solutions from people across the world.

BootB is already working with some of the world’s biggest brands, people who realize that not all the best ideas come from the great marketing conglomerates in New York or London.

Fees

BootB returns 90% of the budget to those who have the best ideas so people are properly rewarded for their efforts

For every brief published, there is a budget tied to it. This is provided via an ESCROW account so the client doesn’t lose any interest on that amount. And with the budget already covered there is no chance that unethical clients will take the ideas and not pay for them.

The website is SSL encrypted to ensure the integrity of the ideas. And the registration process sets up a legally binding contract between the creators and BootB stating that all ideas remain the creator’s property until a client buys the idea.

Via: livemint.com

Thirteen Ways to Make Your Blog ‘Go Viral’

We asked Chris Bennett, a Search Engine Optimization expert, and someone we seek advice from when it comes to the Elance website, to write a few tips on how to help your blog ‘go viral’.

People tend to think of blogs today the way that websites were thought of ten years ago: “All I have to do is get a site up and I’ll instantly get tons of traffic and my business will take off.” That was the case for a brief time with websites, but it’s no longer the case with blogs.

Here are 13 practical ways you can grow the readership of your blog to help it go viral:

1. First determine why you’re blogging. Who is your audience? What are your goals? What are your readers interested in? If you create compelling content for readers, readers will naturally come back to your blog to read more.

2. Do basic research. Go to Technorati and search for keywords related to your target audience and the topics you want to focus on. While there, try to answer these questions: Who are the influential bloggers in your space? Who is successful at getting in front of the readers you want to get in front of?

Technorati is a great resource for this because it ranks recent blog posts based on their "authority," or how many people link to that blog. High-ranking blogs are the ones you'll want to check out. See what they write about, what people comment about… and while you're at it, also note any posts you particularly like, because later you can link posts you write to those posts, which might generate return traffic through track backs.

3. Avoid sub domains. Never set up a blog under a sub-domain. Install your blog on your own domain as a sub-page, or if you don’t have a domain, get one.

If you’re using Blogger as your blog platform, I recommend switching to WordPress. The reason is that while Blogger is free, your blog will be a sub-domain of Blogger (like myblogwentviral.blogspot.com), and people that visit your blog may never find your website.

4. Create a content schedule. Determine a steady schedule for how you’ll post, and plan ahead to create structure around your workload. If you plan to post on Tuesdays and Fridays, for example, put it on your calendar. While you’re at it, take the time to determine what topics you’ll cover on those days.

Whether you start with a schedule of one, two, or a dozen blog posts a week, stay on that schedule. The more scheduled and consistent your blog postings are, the better. You can also start out with occasional posts, but only if those posts are extremely thought-provoking – make sure each of those posts is a home run.

If you plan on blogging frequently, stick to that plan. If you post regularly and then drift away for a few weeks, your readers will also quickly drift away. Your posting schedule in effect creates an expectation on the part of your readers (“Hey, it’s Tuesday, let’s see what she has to say today”) so make sure you meet that expectation. Don’t disappoint your audience.

5. Be personal. Post a photo of yourself and/or your team, and write good bios to enhance your credibility and demonstrate that you’re a real person to your readers. This engages your audience.

At the same time, if you have a business blog, don’t blog about your family or the new restaurant you tried unless somehow you quickly tie that into a business topic.

6. Be first. Being the first one to post breaking news is a relatively easy way to go viral.

To make the process a little simpler for yourself, create news alerts from Yahoo News!, Google News, and RSS feeds. Then just link to the news source, but don’t forget to put your spin on it.

You’ll get your opinion out there before others do and over time readers will come to rely on your blog to find out what’s new – and for what you think about what’s new.

You can also create resources like how-to articles or lists of helpful sites, such as “100 Tools to Help You be More Organized Online,” “Home Staging Tips to Raise Your Home’s Sale Price by $5,000,” or my favorite and yours, “Thirteen Ways to Make Your Blog Go Viral.”

If you find sources that the average visitor doesn’t know about, you can draw in folks who can’t find – or don’t have the time to find – those sources themselves. Visitors love blogs that provide useful information while saving them time.

7. Stay on top of what other bloggers are saying. If an influential blogger posts about a topic and you disagree with their viewpoint, link to their post and state your position. Don’t worry about taking a different position or even being negative, as long as you’re not insulting. Disagreement creates interaction and interaction builds a community. If you say the same thing everyone else does, why should people read your blog?

8. Pay attention to social networking sites. Take the time to study the social sites to see what people like. An article that goes “popular” on Digg can generate tens of thousands of visitors to your site. The same is true for StumbleUpon or del.icio.us.

To get a feel for the kinds of posts that can be popular on social networking sites, do searches on social networking websites for keywords to identify content that works well.

On Digg: do a search and change the search criteria to only show stories that have gone popular and you’ll see articles that reached the first page in your subject area.

On del.icio.us you can search for a keyword and see what articles have been “tagged” – the more people that saved those articles, the more popular they were.

StumbleUpon works the same way.

9. Stay in control of your blog. Real time statistics from your blog are important, so keep up with your live stats so you can see what works and what doesn’t.

The reason real time stats are important is because new blog postings have a “hot” shelf life of about 24 hours, and if you wait until the next day to find out what’s happening, you can’t take steps to add to the popularity of your posting. For example, if your article gets picked up by a social networking site, you can grab a button off Digg and post a vote count for the article on your site, which will entice readers to check you out, hopefully vote for you, be more interactive with your blog, and help your blog grow.

Google Analytics is a free tool that takes about five minutes to sign up for. I use and recommend this tool, but the downside is you’ll have to wait until tomorrow to get a report on today’s traffic.

Mint, which is available for $30 per site on haveamint.com, gives you live, real-time statistics. You can post to your blog and almost instantly watch the traffic that goes to your site.

10. Make it easy for your readers: Put your RSS feed in a prominent place. RSS feeds let users display the content from multiple blogs through one program so they can easily see the latest posts from all their favorite blogs. Many visitors prefer to use RSS feeds to subscribe to your content so they don’t have to visit your blog through a browser.

Also, use FeedBurner, a free, analytical tool that lets you see how many people subscribe to your blog. Google Analytics and Mint won’t give you statistics for your RSS readership, so without FeedBurner you’ll miss critical information about your blog’s readership.

For more information about RSS feeds and FeedBurner, check out Patrick Bennett’s article “8 Must Do’s to Start a Successful WordPress Blog”.

11. Rinse and repeat. Watch your blog carefully to see what works. And know that some blogs do better on StumbleUpon, some blogs do really well on Digg, and others seem to perform better on del.icio.us.

To figure our what works for your blog, first determine where your traffic comes from and which resources bring the most visitors or comments. If three articles are failures and one is a home run, don’t rehash the same content used in the home run but use it as a blueprint for other posts.

If news works well for you, spend time finding ways to get news alerts more quickly so you can grow that audience. If how-to articles are popular, make sure your blog contains a healthy dose of how-to information.

The bottom line is that you should experiment and pay attention to the results so you can see who your audience is and what that audience wants. Find out what works – and then stick with it.

12. Don’t try to please everyone. Have opinions and stand by them. Even if everyone doesn’t love what you do, that’s okay. Some of my favorite blogs are ones I frequently disagree with. Even though I have a different opinion their posts make me think … which makes me come back for more.

13. Finally, don’t get discouraged. Many bloggers write a couple of posts, don’t see much traffic, and give up. Building a readership and going viral takes time and experience. It takes effort to find ways to get your particular audience to visit, comment on your posts, and recommend you to others – but it’s worth it.

About
Chris Bennett is the President and Founder of 97th Floor, a leading edge SEO Firm specializing in Search Engine Optimization, Reputation Management, Social Media Marketing and Blog Optimization. Chris has been involved with the Internet “since the days of Alta Vistas reign, the good ol’ days when you could change your meta tags, submit your site through Inktomi, and see your rankings improve by dinner.”

- Elance Blog

Doodle 4 Google - Google Doodles Animation

a competition where K-12 students can play around with the G home page logo and see what they come up with. The theme is What if?

http://www.google.com/doodle4google/

Graphic Design?

Graphic design is the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information. Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Like other forms of design, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

• Graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge.
• Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation of text.
• Intricate and clever pictures are used when words cannot suffice.
• Graphic design helps set the theme and the intended mood.
  

Tool:
The primary tool for graphic design is the creative mind.

Critical, observational, quantitative and analytic thinking are required for designing page layout and rendering.

Uses:

Administration - road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference manuals.

Advertising - sell a product or idea through effective visual communications, Elements of company identity like logos, colors, and text, together defined as branding.

Education - Graphics in textbooks.

Entertainment - From decoration, to scenery, to visual story telling. Cover to cover in novels and comic books, from opening credits to closing credits in film, from programs to props on stage.

Journalism - scientific journals to news reporting - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries use to inform and entertain.

Web - (Graphic designers are often involved in web design) Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site and enhance the online experience of web site visitors.

>> List of notable graphic designers <<
>> List of graphic design institutions <<

Free Color Manipulation tools on the web

Here are some of my favorite online tools for exploring and manipulating colors.
These are free and simple color manipulation tools which require NO installation and can be easily used off the web.

• Color Blender — Very convenient tool to blend any two colors with a varying number of midpoints

• Color Code Chooser — tool helps you manipulate colors in a number of very helpful ways.

swf Image Replacement

swfIR is a new Flash replacement technique that replaces and adds visual effects to images on the fly using simple JavaScript. It’s similar to the the popular Flash text replacement technique, sIFR. You can, without physically editing an image, set borders, shadows, alpha transparencies, blurring, rotation and more to any image on your website. Pretty neat!

This is the most awesome advancement to designer-friendly web technology I've seen in a long time. The fact is that
1. it's easy to integrate and use
2. it's packed full of features that everybody wants and reflect current trends
3. is well-written largely standards compliant code and
4. is free - blows my mind.

If someone blocks your Flash, you'll still get the non-swfIR'd image, which is great. This is progressive enhancement at it's best, just like sIFR is. If people have Flash, they get an enhanced experience. If people don't have Flash (or block Flash), they still get a good experience.

Tips to shoot great snaps with your Digital Camera

Do you wish you were a better photographer? All it takes is a little know-how and experience. Keep reading for some important picture-taking tips. Then grab your camera and start shooting your way to great pictures.

• Look your subject in the eye
  Direct eye contact can be as engaging in a picture as it is in real life. When taking a picture of someone, hold the camera at the person's eye level to unleash the power of those magnetic gazes and mesmerizing smiles. For children, that means stooping to their level. And your subject need not always stare at the camera. All by itself that eye level angle will create a personal and inviting feeling that pulls you into the picture.
• Use a plain background
  A plain background shows off the subject you are photographing. When you look through the camera viewfinder, force yourself to study the area surrounding your subject. Make sure no poles grow from the head of your favorite niece and that no cars seem to dangle from her ears.
• Use flash outdoors
  Bright sun can create unattractive deep facial shadows. Eliminate the shadows by using your flash to lighten the face. When taking people pictures on sunny days, turn your flash on. You may have a choice of fill-flash mode or full-flash mode. If the person is within five feet, use the fill-flash mode; beyond five feet, the full-power mode may be required. With a digital camera, use the picture display panel to review the results.
  On cloudy days, use the camera's fill-flash mode if it has one. The flash will brighten up people's faces and make them stand out. Also take a picture without the flash, because the soft light of overcast days sometimes gives quite pleasing results by itself.
• Move in close
  If your subject is smaller than a car, take a step or two closer before taking the picture and zoom in on your subject. Your goal is to fill the picture area with the subject you are photographing. Up close you can reveal telling details, like a sprinkle of freckles or an arched eyebrow.
  But don't get too close or your pictures will be blurry. The closest focusing distance for most cameras is about three feet, or about one step away from your camera. If you get closer than the closest focusing distance of your camera (see your manual to be sure), your pictures will be blurry.
• Move it from the middle
  Center-stage is a great place for a performer to be. However, the middle of your picture is not the best place for your subject. Bring your picture to life by simply moving your subject away from the middle of your picture. Start by playing tick-tack-toe with subject position. Imagine a tick-tack-toe grid in your viewfinder. Now place your important subject at one of the intersections of lines.
  You'll need to lock the focus if you have an auto-focus camera because most of them focus on whatever is in the center of the viewfinder.
• Lock the focus
  If your subject is not in the center of the picture, you need to lock the focus to create a sharp picture. Most auto-focus cameras focus on whatever is in the center of the picture. But to improve pictures, you will often want to move the subject away from the center of the picture. If you don't want a blurred picture, you'll need to first lock the focus with the subject in the middle and then recompose the picture so the subject is away from the middle.
  Usually you can lock the focus in three steps. First, center the subject and press and hold the shutter button halfway down. Second, reposition your camera (while still holding the shutter button) so the subject is away from the center. And third, finish by pressing the shutter button all the way down to take the picture.
• Know your flash's range
  The number one flash mistake is taking pictures beyond the flash's range. Why is this a mistake? Because pictures taken beyond the maximum flash range will be too dark. For many cameras, the maximum flash range is less than fifteen feet—about five steps away.
  What is your camera's flash range? Look it up in your camera manual. Can't find it? Then don't take a chance. Position yourself so subjects are no farther than ten feet away.
• Watch the light
  Next to the subject, the most important part of every picture is the light. It affects the appearance of everything you photograph. On a great-grandmother, bright sunlight from the side can enhance wrinkles. But the soft light of a cloudy day can subdue those same wrinkles.
  Don't like the light on your subject? Then move yourself or your subject. For landscapes, try to take pictures or late in the day when the light is orangish and rakes across the land.
• Take some vertical pictures
  Is your camera vertically challenged? It is if you never turn it sideways to take a vertical picture. All sorts of things look better in a vertical picture. From a lighthouse near a cliff to the Eiffel Tower to your four-year-old niece jumping in a puddle. So next time out, make a conscious effort to turn your camera sideways and take some vertical pictures.
• Be a picture director
  Take control of your picture-taking and watch your pictures dramatically improve. Become a picture director, not just a passive picture-taker. A picture director takes charge. A picture director picks the location: "Everybody go outside to the backyard." A picture director adds props: "Girls, put on your pink sunglasses." A picture director arranges people: "Now move in close, and lean toward the camera.
  
  

Most pictures won't be that involved, but you get the idea: Take charge of your pictures!!

Xcavator : A cool Visual Search Engine for Images

Xcavator is a cool new Visual Search Engine for Images of very excellent quality. Thanks to this wonderful service which allows to find images that are really beautiful. It is much more useful than the classic search engines since it searches using meta data such as the categories of the images through Tag. One particular interesting feature is the search based on color, it has a very useful comfortable widget with which you will be able to select the exact color which you have in your mind. This is a cool online tool that emphazises that a photo has much to express!!

Easily Identifies colors on the web

Instant Eyedropper

Instant Eyedropper completely free desktop application that lets you identify any specific color on the web with a single click. The Best feature is that it automatically paste's to the clipboard the HTML color code of any pixel on the screen with just a single mouse click.

Supported color formats:

• HTML
• HEX
• Delphi Hex
• Visual Basic Hex
• RGB
• HSB

Something of particular note with this tool is that it allows you to ZOOM to the elements to copy exactly the color you are looking for, this is especially useful when you try to get a color within an image.

It is a fairly lightweight application(415KB) . So give it a try today!!

10 most commonly used Shortcuts in Google Reader

Here is the list of 10 most commonly used Shortcuts in Google Reader to improve your efficiency while reading dozens of stuff a day. Since the official blog of Google Reader does not show the 10 most commonly used commands or shortcuts of this very popular feed reader. I thought I'll expose them for you. Here we go:

1. j - Down to the next item.
2. n - In list mode, go to the next item without opening it.
3. k - Up to the previous item.
4. m - Mark Read / Unread.
5. t - Tag an item.
6. p - In list mode, enters the previous item without opening it.
7. shift+n - Skip to the next subscription.
8. v - Visiting the original article.
9. o - To expand / collapse element in list mode.
10. s - Add star (highlight).

Hope you find this easy and useful to use.