Glazefolio design blog

Linkswitch #33: Photo Manipulation, Investing, WordPress SEO

Patrik Larsson | Switchof | August 29th

Why I Stick to Pen and Paper for Goals and Tasks

Technology is great…but I sure do like pen and paper – as I mentioned to one of our readers who asked me what I use to keep track of things. For one thing, I remember things better when I write them down by hand; it’s as if my hand keeps memories of each of its motions and my mind is better able to recall these motions later as the words sink deeper in my brain.

How to Search Engine Optimize WordPress

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to making your website easily accessible to search engines, and helping them understand and read the content so that they can rank it high up in their index.

SEO is a huge topic and I won’t go deep into it. This article is primarily targeted to people who own and operate a WordPress blog. Some of the tips mentioned are of course general SEO methods used on all kinds of sites. Other tips and tools focus on WordPress, which has become the preferred blogging tool in the past few years.

14 Resources for Free Fonts and Premium Fonts

You can’t deny that typography is important in design. You could have the most beautiful illustrations in the world, but if you use a font like Jokerman, your entire design will look iffy.

Now if you really want to blow your client away with an awesome design, you have to find a font that works. I mean sure, you could always just play it safe and use a font like Arial or Helvetica, but where’s the creativity in that? There are literally thousands upon thousands of fonts and typefaces out there just waiting for you to download. You just have to find them!

Remote Working from Anywhere

I know it’s not summer for everyone reading FreelanceSwitch right now, but up here in Canada it still is. And one of my favourite things to do in the summer is to camp, but this year it was a little bit different, since this was my first summer as a fulltime freelancer.

50 Stunning Examples of Photo Manipulation Art

Now almost everyone knows that Photo Manipulation is art with which you can create digital miracles. Yes, you got me right! If you know how to manipulate your pictures, you can do whatever you want. Photo manipulation is one of the most creative art forms today, but it requires skills and precision. Here we present some examples of photo manipulation related to nature, photography, objects, illustrations, HDR, abstract and fantasy-related concepts.

A Complete Guide to Progressive Enhancement

For years, web designers have been using graceful degradation principles to make sure visitors in older browsers can at least see the content on their websites, even if they don’t see it exactly how the designer intended.

Graceful degradation let designers design for the newest and best browsers without completely alienating those using older browser versions.

9 Ways to Sell Social Media to the Boss

Conversations are happening online with or without you. This is one of the most frequently used social media sayings. If you’re engaging with social media for your company, it’s almost second nature.

5 Good Ways to Close a Client Deal

Do you have trouble closing client deals? Do you find yourself really close to getting a new client, only to find that the deal (and the new client) never materializes?

It’s happened to me in my freelancing business, and it’s probably also happened to you. It’s really frustrating, I know.

Investing in Your Life Pays Off in the Long Term

Simple living is great. Avoiding shopping malls in favor of clothing swaps, cooking meals at home with your spouse, holding a music jam with friends instead of shelling out big bucks for a concert — all these activities not only save you money, but they also connect you more deeply with what you love.

In a sense, they make you more alive. Which is what getting rich is ultimately about: not simply achieving material wealth, but living a rich life.

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I try and post designer videos every once in a while for those of us out there who are visual people… Who would have thought that people that visit a design website might be visual people? Please watch, learn, and enjoy. Thanks for visiting!

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There is something to be said for good, clean, and simple design that works. We see that on a daily basis and it is great when designers get it right. However, as designers we should always strive for more. To design something that really blows people away and impacts the way they view whatever we are trying to display, should be the goal. In these business cards the designer engages the client in a very interesting and exciting way.

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On the Job print ads
Print Ads, Consumer

Dentsu America launched this integrated campaign for a skin care line that addresses the unique problems of professional tradesmen subject to harsh environmental conditions. The client, Wharton Innovative Products, is innovating the way skin care products are sold and distributed by offering the personal care line where this group already shops—at hardware stores, home centers and auto parts stores. It honors the hard work of their trades and lets them know that there’s a product designed specifically to give their hands the help they need. The visually arresting ads show realistic sets of hands literally taking on the properties of the material they’re working with—wood, metal, cement—as they become damaged. To achieve the effect, award-winning photographer Vincent Dixon and the Paris-based shop Kilato, used an experimental combination of photography, 3-D rendering and Photoshop. The campaign also includes radio.

Aaron Frisch, art director; Arun Nemali, writer; Aaron Frisch/Arun Nemali, creative directors; Mike Wilson, chief creative officer; Vincent Dixon, photographer; Kilato (Paris, France), retoucher; Joe DePreta, account services; Wharton Innovative Products LLC, client.

dentsuamerica.com

www.myonthejob.com

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There is nothing better than ads like this one for a designer seeking inspiration… It is very nice to see a design that has obviously had a lot of thought put into it. If you need inspiration see the Ispiration page here at glazefolio. Inspiration

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by Craig A ElimeliahJuly 21, 2006

There is a lot of buzz right now in the ad industry around Web 2.0. Many people give many different explanations for what Web 2.0 is but in a nutshell it is the next generation of highly interactive, video powered, audio pumped, super speed, and turbo charged websites. These websites engage the user, capture the audience and create an entire experience around the brand, product, service or message they represent. These sites are mainly developed using Flash and have robust back end systems that help them communicate and deliver vast amounts of information and control.

Let’s take a step back and look at some of the history behind where we are today.

Designers come from a humble background and a rich tradition that started off in the print world. Designers would draft everything by hand and deliver it to a printer who would then have to go through an exhausting process to set it up for print. I am way too young to know too much about this but I do remember when I first started my design career I had worked with some plate makers who did things like stripping and burning and all kinds of other things that I really didn’t understand, at that time I had been hearing them speak about new digital printing methods that would soon put them out of business. Less than a year later they no longer existed. Shortly after I had become well versed in Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark I soon learned that my passion for design was more geared towards the web. The web, literally in its infancy, offered me a new way to design. I wasn’t stuck to the constraints of print anymore and once I learned how to set up a server and figured out how to FTP using Adobe PageMill I was on my way?

As a designer just getting my feet wet in the mid 90s I was at a crossroads as to where to focus my attention. The web was emerging and although there were many doubters my heart and my soul told me that this internet was here to stay. I quickly learned how to make web pages, I learned the ins and outs of HTML and how to apply my designs to the web and the various nuances of web design. I read all kinds of books that really had no clue where the web was going at this point so I kind of filtered things out myself and felt my way around the darkness. I knew this was my calling and where I needed to be. Many of my friends and people I met who were also designers had no clue what to do, should they take a leap of faith and transition into the web or stay safe and continue designing for print?

We seem to be at another crossroad today. The web has expanded and become a world unto itself. I often times think of outer space, the deep sea and the internet, yes the internet as another realm so vast that when you think about it your head starts to hurt. It is a realm where the creative soul can unleash itself, a place where anything is possible and a place where ideas are infinite. Who ever guessed that us starving artists, struggling writers and creative geeks would one day have a place where we could live and play with every outrageous idea we have ever come up with? It gave birth to the Blogger, the Flasher, the Tweaker and the Seeker; it revealed a world that we only dreamed about. Not only was this a new world but also a giant canvas, a place to post all our designs, our photographs and our ideas, it gave us a home. I don’t know one artist that doesn’t see the web for what it truly is, amazing!

So now we seem to be embarking on a new kind of web, one that demands more interaction, more design, better video, clearer audio, more complex back ends and a level of entertainment that eclipses Television and radio. Designers are now challenged to meet the needs of the new web; our tool boxes no longer consist of Photoshop and Illustrator but now must have Flash, Dreamweaver, video compression tools and audio tools. Adobe gobbled up Macromedia because they knew that our tool box simply wasn’t enough for the next generation of design. A designer must now be able to make their art work come alive, to make it breathe and to make it flow or to pay someone else a lot of money to do it for them. A designer can no longer impress with a flat static comp that tells a story because the web demands that the story come alive, that it move and morph and twist and turn and open up video windows and audio players left and right. The public is now getting used to an interactive experience that has never before existed. Just today someone mentioned that the average number of seconds a person at The Louvre looks at a picture is 2! That is astonishing, 2 seconds for a work of art that took a lifetime to create.

Today’s designer must come to terms with the demands of the web, they must understand and appreciate the level of dedication it requires and they must prepare themselves properly to take on that level of dedication. The web has allowed so many more people to emerge from the farthest reaches of the globe and to express themselves in so many new and exciting ways. The web is massive and there is room for everyone. Those who will take the leap we took 10 years ago and add an interactive design class and a programming class to their major or take the time to learn it on their own will only benefit from the major improvements of the next generation of the web and will be better prepared to unleash their designs onto the world.

About the Author: Craig Elimeliah is an interactive producer at Firstborn Multimedia. He is also a writer and designer and a believer of many things. Elimeliah started his design career in Jerusalem and now lives in NYC.

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When designing you have to think about how you are going to make something better with your final product. Is it easier to read or use. Maybe it is more engaging because of the way the message is displayed. There are many reasons to be innovative and to push the envelope. The designer that came up with this is right on the money. The typography is displayed in a way that is impossible to miss. What a unique design!

L2M3’s body of work is very impressive. The use of typography in their work is especially strong. I love their projects done for interiors and exhibits. More pics and link after the jump.

(Rough translation, their site is in German)
L2M3 communication design is a graphic arts office with high claim in form and contents. Founded in 1999 from Sasha Lobe, it works on beside the classical tasks, like the development of appearances and the creation of print media, also leading systems and exhibit graphic arts. The office received up to now more than 70 international honorings in all areas of the visual communication.

http://www.l2m3.com

http://www.plastolux.com/modern-typography-and-design-l2m3-communication-design.html

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Tips for design students on finding the first job.

Many young designers find it hard to believe that they can make a living doing something they find compelling and interesting—something they love. Finding the right first job, even if it’s a summer job or an internship, is not just an important step in launching your career. It is an exploration of the field and a continuation of the learning process. Even the most skilled designer finds the search for a first job stressful.The suggestions that follow can reduce that stress by providing an overview of the process.

Before you can begin your job search, you need to understand

1.) yourself: your motivations, strengths, and weaknesses;
2.) your work: its nature, style, and variety; and
3.) the job market: corporations, design offices, and the wide variety of other businesses that employ graphic designers. Then you can get ready to present yourself and your work in a portfolio.

To create a portfolio, select only your best work—the work you are proud of and want to discuss. Bearing in mind that people remember best what is first or last in a sequence, bind together sketches that show your ability to think, to sketch and to brainstorm. Meanwhile think about your strengths and weaknesses (we all have weaknesses), and prepare yourself to discuss them in an interview. Because your well-crafted , unique communications can take a beating when they are handled, safeguard your work. Shoot documentary slides of the work for your own record and for a slide portfolio to send to a distant location.

If your school provides courses or advisory sessions for assembling a portfolio and marketing yourself; take advantage of them. Show your portfolio to teachers and attend any portfolio reviews organized by local professional design organizations. Listen to the feedback you get. Identify special interests or characteristics that you bring to the work situation as well as what you would like to learn on your first job. You’ll want to make clear to your prospective employer that you know learning continues throughout a career. In fact, the learning curve is particularly steep for the first two or three years after you finish school and should continue for the rest of your life.

Everyone looking for a job should have a résumé, but this document can be especially important to a design applicant. Your résumé deserves careful typographic design that reflects your type skill and ability. Remember to give the facts an employer wants to know as well as reliable address and telephone number. It is also a good idea to design and print stationery and business cards for yourself. They provide another opportunity to make an individual design statement. Any designer with whom you interview will appreciate the difficulty of designing this material. Designing for yourself is worse than representing a client; it can be like having an identity crisis.

The next step is to identify the design offices, corporations, or individuals with whom you’d like to interview. School placement offices usually have job leads of real value, and they cover the larger organizations that recruit for design positions. Trade magazines and design annuals in your school library are also good resources. If you want to work in a particular geographic location, look for help wanted listings there. Also scan your school’s alumni lists for recent graduates in that city. Call them up and discuss your interests with them. Alumni know people in design and are often willing to help a recent graduate meet them. Looking for a job is a serious networking activity. This may be the first time you network, but it won’t be the last.

Prospective employers often prefer to receive a brief letter and résumé before committing to an interview. If possible, use the letter to establish your interest relative to a particular job opening or to the organization’s specialty. Give the reader of your letter a sense of who you are. Follow up with a telephone call to arrange an appointment. The person you are contacting is probably a busy professional, so don’t be easily discouraged. Be politely persistent if you do not get an appointment immediately. Sometimes you will get an interview with someone who has no job openings but is still willing to meet with you. Take this “exploratory” interview. It will be excellent practice, and you may be more relaxed if your dream job is not on the line. What’s more, this individual may help you make other connections.

The first interview is always the most stressful, so arrange mock interviews with friends to get practice and feedback. At the real interview, try to relax. Remember to breathe. If you don’t see design work displayed, ask to see some. Ask questions about the organization and its projects. Be interested in them; then explain how you can help with their needs. Don’t drone on about yourself; be attuned to the interviewer’s verbal responses and body language. An interview, when it really works, is a dialogue between people who are sharing information and finding common ground. After any interview, always stop to record your impressions. A follow-up note of thanks will be appreciated as a courtesy and is a way to help interviewers remember you.

When you are offered a job, you may be taken by surprise and neglect to negotiate. Don’t just blurt out a “yes.” Employers will respect your taking time to consider the conditions of your employment. This is your opportunity to establish your market value as a designer. Figure out what it takes to live reasonably in the city under consideration, and don’t forget your educational loans. Try to find out what entry-level design salaries are in that area, and balance that information against your personal strength as a designer. Remember, in addition to money, other things are negotiable, such as health benefits, paid vacations, unpaid leave days, starting date, flexible hours, or months to a performance review (and hopefully a raise). You can sacrifice some of these items for others that are more important to you. Be clear about the offer, ask quesitons, and take time to consider it. Try to adjust whatever is not satisfactory now. It is important to start off a relationship with clarity and trust. After you accept the position, celebrate but don’t throw out your contacts. Send them a note announcing your new position.

Finding your first design job means matching your creativity and skill with an organization’s real needs. It is also a valuable learning experience. While you are looking, you are learning about the various ways design is practiced. Your next job search—whether it occurs soon or well down the road—will be easier; you will have gained a clearer vision of the field and how you want to position yourself within it. Remember to communicate, to follow up, and to be courteous. That way, you’ll take away from this first stressful experience some valuable information, increased confidence, and satisfaction.

Graphic Design: A Career Guide and Education Directory
Edited by Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl
Copyright 1993
The American Institute of Graphic Arts

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