The 20 presenting finalists were selected from nearly 500 online submissions and will present at the two-day PepsiCo10 Summit where PepsiCo brand and marketing teams will have the opportunity to vote for their favorites. Up to 10 start-ups will be named the inaugural PepsiCo10.These organizations will have the opportunity to execute a pilot project with one of the elite PepsiCo brand teams.
Creating black and white photos in Photoshop is quite useful and easy. We will learn basic de-saturation and ways to influence color without destroying our photo. College students learn this within the first few weeks of Photoshop class. I suggest using filters when ever possible to save the original source.
1) Open Photoshop, Press [Ctrl + N] to open a new document. (Web – 800×600px – Landscape)
2) Press [M] to select Marquee Tool for the region you want Black and White. For this example I will split it down the middle. You can select the whole photograph by pressing (Ctrl + A). **Make sure your image has color, durrrr**
3) Using the easy way press: (Shift + Ctrl + U)
NOW —- Stepping back to step 2, I will now display the un-destructive way:
3) On the Layers Panel go to ‘Adjustment Layer’ and add ‘Black and White’ to the selection.
4) When you apply the ‘Black and White’ you will notice another layer added to the layers panel, this layer can be triggered on/off so your photo is never actually affected from the black and white effect. When you choose the adjustment layer with Black and White you have more options to adjust the contrast based on the original color of the image.
That’s how you create a black and white image – fast and super easy.
I just ordered this a few days ago, should be in the mail today.
Getting Real details the business, design, programming, and marketing principles of 37signals. The book is packed with keep-it-simple insights, contrarian points of view, and unconventional approaches to software design. This is not a technical book or a design tutorial, it’s a book of ideas. Anyone working on a web app — including entrepreneurs, designers, programmers, executives, or marketers — will find value and inspiration in this book.
37signals used the Getting Real process to launch five successful web-based applications (Basecamp, Campfire, Backpack, Writeboard, Ta-da List), and Ruby on Rails, an open-source web application framework, in just two years with no outside funding, no debt, and only 7 people (distributed across 7 time zones). Over 500,000 people around the world use these applications to get things done. Now you can find out how they did it and how you can do it too. It’s not as hard as you think if you Get Real.
Have you ever wanted a high paying job while having a blast at work. Ever consider being a digital artist. If this gets your creative juices flowing, motion graphics might be right for you -- or your just greedy and want money.
The top in-demand careers of 2009 includes industries of Business, IT, and Law. Technology is used in each of these industries creating market definition while using creative tools to voice the definition. Your hired to be the voice of the company while making sure everything looks appropriate to market definition.
You can get jobs as a Interactive Art Director. Which pay an average of 70k depending on your experience. You Develop creative concepts and push the limits of design. This job isn’t for people afraid of critics.
There are Design jobs that don’t require years of schooling or experience. A Production Assistance Specialist for example… Which means your the person responsible for various aspects of a production on set.
Revision3 always has opportunities (revision3.com/jobs/) for beginning students or inspired filmier’s, developers, editors, and assorted talent.
The best chance of landing a position in this economy is to do your research and make sure you are up-to-date with current standards in your industry. Here are some free resources, hope you find this helpful. From art schools to career salaries, how the market is working and real life examples.
Education:
The Art Institute of California – Los Angeles
B.S./A.A. - Visual Effects & Motion Graphics
The Art Institute of California -- Hollywood, a Los Angeles based design college is one of the Art Institutes, America’s leader in postsecondary career-oriented education for the creative arts. We offer degree programs in Interior Design, Fashion Design, Graphic Design, and Web Design & Interactive Media, Set & Exhibit Design, and Visual Effects & Motion Graphics.
PrestaShop provides a simple e-Commerce solution for designers in the need of something clean yet extremely powerful putting your brand into the spot light. Other e-Commerce like Zen Cart, OS Commerce, and Wordpress (Using Plugins like: WP e-Commerce) -- gives the user an overwhelming amount of admin tools and data. Experienced web developers would consider community size and usability support which PrestaShop lacks being founded in France and standards could vary depending on your location and needs.
Over the years I’ve seen the PrestaShop community grow from strictly European to a slow mix of American’s or at least people speaking English. I tested version 1.0 back in 2005 for an experiment to see if my sisters clothing site could benefit from something they could easily use and adapt to. Since they were familiar with online stores like eBay, Etsy, and Smashing Darling I knew when it came time to launch a website for them I would considered form over function (not to say PrestaShop doesn’t understand function).
The Google Font Directory lets you browse all the fonts available via the Google Font API. All fonts in the directory are available for use on your website under an open source license and are served by Google servers. View font details to get the code needed to embed the font on your web site.
Simplicity is a state of mind for many tea drinkers, so it doesn’t surprise me how large and innovative the design community is. I just wanted to spend a moment and track down some inspiring/different designs in tea related products. Here are some gems I found, click the image to view the source:
1). Adobe - Adobe revolutionizes how the world engages with ideas and information. For 25 years, the company’s award-winning software and technologies have redefined business, entertainment and personal communications by setting new standards for producing and delivering content that engages people virtually anywhere at anytime.
2). Askyourtargetmarket.com - Ask Your Target Market is a comprehensive, self-service internet survey software solution that allows businesses, students, and entrepreneurs to define their own consumer panel and conduct targeted market research for as little as $29.95 per survey.
3). Cazoodle - Cazoodle builds novel vertical search engines using its large scale structured data extraction technology developed at University of Illinois.
4). EffectiveUI - EffectiveUI is an award-winning, user-centered design and development agency that specializes in the creation and implementation of user-friendly Web, mobile and desktop applications. From strategy and conception, to development and execution, EffectiveUI’s tailored applications merge innovative technologies with user-experience strategy to help today’s most respected brands deepen customer engagement through more compelling and meaningful interactions that deliver competitive advantages and produce measurable results.
5). Elance - Elance, the world’s leading online talent marketplace, helps companies hire and manage professionals online to get work done and grow their businesses.
6). Engage - MangoSpring Inc., maker of Engage, is a privately held company based in Bellevue, WA. Founded in 2007, MangoSpring specializes in building business critical communication and collaboration software with access across the browser, the PC and the mobile phone.
7). FILTER - FILTER is a company dedicated to partnering with clients to solve creative and marketing challenges. In a single, unique agency, FILTER combines unparalleled access to creative resources with creative leadership and project management.
8). GazoPa - GazoPa is an image search engine that uses features from an image such as color and a shape to search for and identify similar images.
9). iPlotz - iPlotz is a comprehensive wireframing, collaboration, and task management tool that allows you to create and share navigable wireframes. Using simple drag and drop elements you can quickly develop a website layout to be shared with clients or developers in multiple formats.
10). Tap11 - Tap11 is the intelligent Twitter client that provides businesses with the best analytic and CRM tools to monitor, engage, and grow their real-time audience.
Banksy is a graffiti artist with a global reputation. Fiercely guarding his anonymity to avoid prosecution, Banksy has so far resisted all attempts to be captured on film. “Exit Through the Gift Shop” tells the incredible true story of how an eccentric French shop keeper turned documentary maker attempted to locate and befriend Banksy, only to have the artist turn the camera back on its owner with spectacular results. The film contains exclusive footage of Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Invader and many of the worlds most infamous graffiti artists at work, on walls and in interviews. As Banksy describes it, “It’s basically the story of how one man set out to film the un-filmable. And failed!”
I just purchased my ticket for Friday 5pm at One Embarcadero in San Francisco. I’ll have more posted details here.
San Francisco is known for it’s rich & diverse culture. These niche community’s came together to create and produce some of the highest quality and most stylistic backpacks. I’ll cover 3 San Francisco Inspired Backpack companies and what made them special.
Timbuk2 –
We’re like super glue, or a Chinese finger trap (that doesn’t suck); we just stick. We know you don’t need another bag. You need a sidekick, a constant companion. You need a bag that will take the hit when you skid out or literally “bail” you out of a leaky boat. You need a bag that will be a fire blanket for your stuff; a bag that will float your laptop when you’re drunk and your girlfriend drops it in the ocean. We hear you and we get it because we wear Timbuk2 bags too. We’re fully committed to meeting your needs and we’re confident that with your help, we’ll continue creating like-no-other products that don’t kick Mother Nature in the ‘nads.
Chrome -
San Francisco, a city with a huge urban cycling scene. The business grew. Bags were joined by clothes, gear and shoes. Our products showed up from Brooklyn to Berlin to Tokyo. But what matters today is what mattered in the garage – building products that work, and standing behind everything we make.
The North Face -
We have helped explorers reach the most unfathomable heights of the Himalayas. But The North Face legend begins, ironically, on a beach. More precisely, San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood, at an altitude of only 150 feet above sea level. It was here in 1966 that two hiking enthusiasts resolved to follow their passions and founded a small mountaineering retail store.
It’s a dream to have a million dollars let alone 100 in my bank. These Indian businessmen are really starting to press my buttons. Wouldn’t you share if you have a few billion in the bank?
Forbes estimated Ambani’s net worth at $43 billion in March. Reliance Industries was founded by Mukesh’s father, Dhirubhai Ambani, in 1966, and is India’s most valuable firm by market capitalization.
For Coffee Lovers, San Francisco is the Alpha and Omega of Coffee Houses. Some believe Seattle, Italy or Jamaica would take the cake in memorable cafes. I believe what makes San Francisco special is the scenery, environment and SF locals. Not to forget the coffee, oh… the coffee. I’m not sure what makes good coffee, however I do know good from bad. If you expect to hear positive comments about Starbucks, Peet’s, or Dunkin’ Donuts you’ve clearly got the wrong idea of what good coffee is. You might just find your heart in San Francisco after I cover the top 5 Jolting Coffee Houses in our foggy city.
Coffee Bar -- So far the best coffee shop in San Francisco! The cappuccino is PERFECT. Beautiful artwork, nice thick, dark cream is evident in the design; the taste as excellent. Has free wifi. Seating is couches, benches tables, plenty of raised bar seating. Industrial feel to the place, a little bit of art. Large space, high ceilings, good music & sound system.
Hands down my favorite coffee shop in San Francisco. The open space allows my brain to think more freely, or perhaps it’s the strong coffee. Most of my co-workers know if I am “working from home”, it really means working at Coffee Bar. The food is always great, coffee always strong and tasty and ambiance is clean, open and modern. Also the music is great 75% of the time and the staff always friendly.In terms of the crowd, it’s a real mix of all types from the techy to med students to artsy skinny pants fixie riding hipsters.This place really blends together and captures the best of San Francisco.
Philz Coffee -- Philz Coffee in San Francisco has developed a devoted following, and for good reason. The twenty blends that are now available by the pound are the result of 25 years of coffee alchemy and invention.
Phil Jaber and his son Jacob spent several months developing each blend. Phil’s Tesora or “Treasure” blend took 7 years to find the perfect combination of beans. Only Phil and his son Jacob know the recipes.
Blue Bottle Cafe -- At Blue Bottle Coffee, Artisan Microroasting simply means that we take a hands-on approach to every step possible to discover and preserve the true nature of excellent coffee — no matter how inconvenient or time-consuming.We take Freshness and small-batch roasting to an extreme not considered practical anywhere else in the coffee business. We use only the best certified organic coffees, occasionally using beautiful coffees that are farmed traditionally without pesticides.After roasting, coffee beans exhale CO2 for several hours. Instead of keeping our beans in bins, we mix the blends and bag them within 4 hours of roasting to harness the CO2 to keep oxygen (and, hence, oxidation) out of the bags.
Ritual Coffee -- Ritual Coffee Roasters opened in May 2005 with the intention to share amazing coffee with San Francisco and it was only a matter of weeks, or maybe just one, before Ritual had a line out the door. Many of our customers asked what we were doing to our coffee to make it taste so good, while the connoisseurs simply wanted to know what took us so long to get here.
Illy Coffee -- Founded in 1933 by Francesco Illy, illycaffè produces and sells a unique blend of high quality coffee made from 9 types of pure Arabica beans A careful balance of ingredients from South and Central America, India and Africa creates the unmistakable illy flavor: always identical in any espresso cup, wherever it is drunk around the world.
The illy blend is destined for the Ho.Re.Ca. (hotel, restaurant and catering) sector, household and office consumption. It is now marketed in 140 countries worldwide, covering all 5 continents, and is served in more than 50,000 of the finest restaurants and coffee bars in the world.
Netflix is coming to Android, yupper’s. For the 3 of you that read this on a Android probably already know this. YAY! Wait a sec, will you actually use it? I find it hard to imagine watching clips let alone movies will get me to use this product since I’d rather watch on my computer or HDTV. Thou, I know many that would use Netflix instant queue to watch in bed or during the morning commute to/from work. Currently I own a very sad/slow G1 the first model released by Google and couldn’t expect to use a broken screen on top of it.
Netflix is looking for a full-time “Android Video Playback Expert”, to help build a “Instant Streaming Client” which will closely resemble it’s app on the iPhone. No word on it’s release date as many hope to have within the year. If your a Android developer and curious about the position here’s the brief on it:
You are a senior engineer with a strong background in embedded and mobile development, specifically on media-enabled devices. You have a deep understanding of the idiosyncrasies of these platforms as well as solid experience with Internet client/server programming in general. You have implemented video playback on Android-based devices. You like to work hands-on and self-directed in a fast-paced, growing organization that gives you room to apply your expertise to solve big technical challenges.
If you’re our ideal candidate, you will hold on your own among a very demanding peer group. You’re able to engage with your peers in discussions about e.g. video container formats and codecs, the intricacies of concurrent programming, implementation of streaming media. You’re also motivated and able to apply these concepts wisely to build a real business that is quite unlike others before.
Here’s a video David Prager from Revision3 made about Netflix on iPhone and other smart phones.
I stole borrowed this idea from Kevin Rose and he was inspired by another dood. I figure this list will grow over time, finding new companies & products is what I love to do. Here is my 2010 products I wouldn’t wanna live without.
It’s Hard To Imagine, But Most Children In Developing Countries Grow Up Barefoot. TOMS Is Working To Change That. Walk A Day Without Shoes With Us On April 8th. If your like me and live in a highly dense population (San Francisco) with thousands of people actively using the city 24/7 you might be scared trying such a bold experiment. I found Kevin Rose’s Vibram Shoes to be much more practical in a city full of needles and broken glass every 5 feet.
The average pair of Tom’s shoes run from 30 -- 60 bucks which then another pair is donated to a needy child.
YouTube just informed its partners via email that it’s going to roll out a complete redesign of its video pages later today, making some of the changes that the site has been experimenting with in recent months available to everyone. YouTube is calling this “one of the biggest redesigns in YouTube history,” and the company is scheduled to officially announce the changes later today. Update: A YouTube spokesperson declined to comment on this story and instead referred us to the official announcement scheduled for 11 a.m.
I’m more interested in the actual development in comparison to the news but I’ll make sure to post any updates here. Google is experimenting with YouTube beta features all the time and I figure they will implement some of those most requested features. I assume YouTube will launch HTML5 and Insight for Audiences. YouTube hasn’t officially said which features are included but rumors speculate they will Highlight Premium Content and possibly launch HTML5 since Google has already declared IE6 dead.
Here’s a summary of YouTube’s updates (via @cnet):
Video Chat Experience -- Take a seat and join one on one interactive video chat sessions with other Wave participants. For more info on this extension, watch their video or visit their website. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Yellow Highlighter -- If you’re a highlight-happy waver, use this extension to add a one-click highlighter to your toolbar. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Take-Out Gadget -- Use this for ordering out at the office, apartment, classroom, or event, and figuring out who wants what. The gadget optionally lets the admin set a countdown timer for the order, to make sure everyone submits their order on time. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Napkin Gadget -- Use this to doodle with your colleagues -- like a virtual whiteboard. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Phone Conference -- Click to insert a Ribbit Conference gadget to your toolbar. For more info on this extension, watch their video or visit their website. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Yes/No/Maybe Gadget -- Our simplest and most popular gadget. Use this to ask friends if they want to join you for a party, to get their opinion on a topic, or even to petition their support for a movement. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Image Gadget -- Lets you insert, resize and annotate any image from the web. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
Likey Gadget -- Use this to give participants a simple way to express their agreement or disagreement with something -- a great way to replace long threads of “+1s”. For others visit @ Google Wave Extensions.
To celebrate the Digg for iPhone launch, we’ve partnered up with ColorWare to give away 14 highly-coveted, limited edition custom iPads! What’s that? You want a free iPad you say? Just follow the directions below… we’ll be giving away one every day for two weeks to lucky tweeters (one of which could be you!)
Google Insights for Search allows you to compare search volume patterns across specific regions, categories, time frames and properties. Google Insight helps find & target your topic depending on the search volume of that query. Understanding your industry and the history that is packaged with that is key for any professional. But for blogging it’s even more important since trends are updated every hour on the hour. Giving all professions an infinite amount of data to work with at any moment of their career. While many times you can easily become overloaded with the huge inventory of keywords and regional related information. I strongly suggest having a ‘plan’ or at least some goal in mind before actively searching for your post.
Depending where you focus the majority of your professional time is where you will begin researching for your next idea. I focus my post around a wide arrange of industries since I’m all over the board and enjoy a wide arrange of topics. Although I wouldn’t suggest this for a beginning blogger since things can become disorganized and cluttered full of small pieces of useless information which brings no value to the reader.
I’ll be covering the basic history of trends for web developer and designers, while looking into the near future. “And Here We Go…” -- Joker.
2006-2010:
Many trends have happened in the world of design & development between the years of 2006 and 2010. But some are highlighted more than others which would also make them more generic and dense within the blogging community. Here is a sample of the highlighted keywords between designers and developers:
A few things you notice between design and development is obvious -- different terms, percentages, and overall well-establish keywords in the blogging universe. Though many of these keywords are highly ranked between well known sites like: Smashing Magazine, Nettuts+, and Digg. It would be seemly impossible for a beginner SEO/blogger to out-rank sites that have 3+ years on-top of them with better quality & community value. These keywords may seem outer reach to the blog world but they can be optimized within your personal web & print portfolio for potential employment opportunities.
If your a college student or new to the industry I would recommend looking at each one of these keywords and having a rough understanding of that term. Most experienced web designers or developers understand the market & industry and know what to search for.
Use Case for Designers Searching “CSS3” in the last 12 months:
Now remember you can tailor these results into anything of interest. I found out the best way for me to write is when I want to, and how I want to. Within time you’ll wake up in the morning just being inspired by something you heard on the news or something you saw along your morning walk to work. Either way, narrowing or extending your keyword selection is the best way to optimize your post. I used CSS3 for my example above and as you can see there is a helpful list of suggestions.
Included in the list above for Top Searches: CSS3 Shadow, CSS3 Rounded, Rounded Corners, Rounded Corners CSS3, Firefox CSS3
Use Case for Developers Searching “Javascript, Ajax, and jQuery” in the last 12 Months:
Not only does Google Insights give you access to tons of targeted keywords and regions but they also provide a graph which indexes news related events to that query or multiple queries. This is useful for a number of reasons -- 1). allows a quick preview into the history of those queries 2). shows why a peak (headline) happened using your best judgement 3). gives you a sneak peek of how to write a proper title and content for a similar topic.
Like the example above for designers, developers are given a similar list of keyword’s broken into two categories of Top Searches and Rising Searches. Generally the Top Searches are more generic while Rising Searches is something more of an interest to a beginning writer, blogger, or SEO professional. Using the ‘low hanging fruit’ keywords will help you gather more traffic where sites won’t focus their attention as much. Since 6 thou 10 of Rising Searches (low hanging fruit) may still seem generic to an experienced SEO professional, but with a little research and tailoring you can take a generic keyword and write valuable content around that subject which is relevant to the reader.
Included in the list above for 6 thou 10 of Rising Searches: Javascript Examples, Adobe Flash Player, W3Schools Javascript, W3Schools, Slideshow Javascript
I hope this helps you along your way, I realize this isn’t a full overview of Google Insights product but just a few tips to help web developers and designers. Take low hanging fruit w/ trend related data in order to out-rank some of those noobs. Wishing you the best of luck on your blogging adventures.
Here’s a list of the top 8 most popular Google Chrome Extensions. Google currently has 100’s of extensions available which they list here. I’ve personally used all 8 plugins for chrome and recommend giving 1 a try to see how easy it is to install and operate. Also, if your a developer and interested in publishing your own extension visit the Google Dev for Chrome Extensions.
AdBlock -
AdBlock for Chrome! Blocks ads all over the web. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars by our users! More @ Google Extensions
Google Mail Checker – Displays the number of unread messages in your Google Mail inbox. You can also click the button to open your inbox. More @Google Extensions
IE Tab – Display web pages using IE in a tab. More @Google Extensions
Google Translate – This extension translates entire webpages into a language of your choice with one click. By the Google Translate team. More @Google Extensions
FastestChrome – Save time and enhance your productivity! Get quick definitions, auto-load next pages, search faster, and more. More @Google Extensions
Cooliris -
Cooliris transforms your browser into a full-screen 3D Wall for searching, viewing and sharing the Web. More @Google Extensions
Google Dictionary – View definitions easily as you browse the web. More @Google Extensions
Docs PDF/PowerPoint Viewer – Automatically previews pdfs, powerpoint presentations, and other documents in Google Docs Viewer. More @Google Extensions
Did you know that the tortilla chip brand Tostitos features two people represented as letter T’s. The Tostitos people are also happily dipping to represent the brand line of chips & dip. The Tostitos sign was first highlighted in a Facebook group called, “i just realized that the tostito sign is 2 people eating chips and salsa”, which already has an active user database of 430,000 and growing. I spotted a Google trend that arrived Wednesday night after a spark of conversations via twitter and Facebook. Frito Lay makers of Tostitos tailored the logo for the 2010 Super bowl which premiered on television. The logo says community with warm festive colors. I Digg it.
A comment from a friend:
“wow i really never noticed the logo and why are they sharing one chip lol !! xD haha thats weird!!”
Here’s a list of some features to be developed within the near future to achieve a total video advertising platform.
Video Ratings -- Video rating technology automatically assesses the production quality and safety of online videos. By analyzing the visual content of a video, automatically rate its production quality (professional camera vs. cell phone) and visual safety (the absence of nudity and other potentially offensive content). Allowing to gather safe, high quality video wherever it may appear on the web.
Face Recognition -- Face recognition technology catalogs and indexes every face found in a video and quickly assigns them an identity. All unique faces are automatically found, tracked and extracted. Calculating a numerical signature for each face based upon its structure and appearance. This signature is compared against a database of signatures from known faces seen in previous videos to determine the person’s identity. As more instances of a person are seen, the database entries for that person grow and recognition becomes more accurate.
Object Detection -- Highly scalable object detection algorithms see inside a video to locate and track specific items such as logos, faces, cars and products. Object detection technology is based on the latest computer vision research and is specifically implemented to work at large scale. By making use of intelligent data structures and distributed algorithms, scanning the frames of a video much faster than real-time and detect the presence and location of objects from our visual library. Identifying any visually distinct object such as logos, faces, products, set pieces, etc.
Scene Classification -- Scene classification technology quickly determines whether a video belongs to a specific genre or category, such as television news or video blogs. Through statistical analysis of the colors, textures, shapes and motions that appear in segments of video, determining which videos belong to specific categories of content. Example, distinguish video game walkthroughs from cartoons and video blogs from car chases.
Pharmaceutical companies continue to compete in marketing a safe and honest health ’solution’. Since websites are a key to a companies marketing, executives will spend thousands if not millions of dollars to prepare a fully functional corporate site. The message is simple, simple. The key to making a truth-worthy site is to make things clean with a clear hierarchy. Here I cover the top 5 best riches Pharmaceutical Websites reviewing the good & the bad.
Johnson & Johnson
The Good – Consistent theme w/ beautiful imagery and large readable fonts.
The Bad – Red is overpowering, even if apart of brand identity (mainly suggesting the submenu overlay onto the image banner. The homepage and main navigation elements are developed in Flash which increase load time and also is confusing for SEO & the user.
Pfizer
The Good – Top down hierarchy with contrasting colors and educational content.
The Bad – Little to say about the bad, they could consider reaching out to different demographics by tapping into social media networks like Twitter, Facebook, and other relevant health related forums.
Roche
The Good – Simple, Clean, Informative, Font, Effective SEO. Extremely impressed with 99% of the development/design.
The Bad – Same thing as said before, little to say. I think they should consider removing the Flash homepage banner and use jQuery/AJAX to achieve more SEO rank thou companies like Roche aren’t worried about achieving traffic since this isn’t a B2C relationship.
GlaxoSmithKline
The Good – Full catalog of information inventory of products, company overview and history. Images are effective but lack proper cropping.
The Bad – Oh, man… The problem’s I have with this site could be a page alone – but in the sake of time. I think they should start from step one and redesign the pages with their current content. The colors – awful, The Images(cropping) – awful, hierarchy - awful layout, alignment of type/layout/images – awful. I shouldn’t ‘bag’ on this site since some of my previous portfolio work were designed without research. But since, this company pulls in over 44M yearly I can’t really accept minor issues like this (and in comparison to the others above).
Novartis
The Good – In Touch with their Online audience. Great colors & fonts that allow your eye to easily rest of key elements within the page. Well thought out navigation and good contrast from brown to white type. Mobile application support and video content on display at multiple social media & video publishers.
The Bad – Some wasted white space will little focus on content (text). I think they should reconsider the images used in the homepage to their core clients. From a snap shot view you wouldn’t understand the company mission which is easily identified in Johnson & Johnson.
Being a Youth Tech Entrepreneur isn’t something ‘most’ elementary school kids dream of. However within the captive world of technology some children find a VC nack for success. Between the internet and green movement kids have been known to log, question, research, hypothesis and experiment to conclude their results unlike the past. This week featuring Daniel Brusilovsky whom I was able to meet @ Revision3.
Daniel Brusilovsky -- Daniel Brusilovsky is a 17-year old entrepreneur and student residing in the Silicon Valley. Daniel has been producing media content online since February 2007, and has hosted numerous podcasts along the way.
Daniel is foremost a Twitter suggested user, as well as being the Founder and CEO of Teens in Tech Networks, the parent company of Teens in Tech, Youth Bloggers Network and the Teens in Tech Conference.
Daniel has also been with Qik, the live mobile video streaming service since January 2008, serving as a Special Projects Lead, focusing on product, marketing, and community interaction.
Daniel also is the Host and Executive Producer of the Apple Universe Podcast, one of the largest Apple and technology themed podcasts on the web. Daniel also blogs on his personal blog as well, the Weblog of Daniel Brusilovsky. In June 2009, Daniel joined TechCrunch working as a writer, while also working on events, conferences, and business development. Daniel was at TechCrunch until February 2010.
Jackass was an American television series, originally shown on MTV from 2000 to 2002, featuring people performing various dangerous, crude, ridiculous, and self-injuring stunts and pranks.
1). Johnny Knoxville – Phillip John Clapp, whose stage or professional name is Johnny Knoxville, is an American actor, comedian and daredevil with an estimated net worth of $30 million. He was born on March 11, 1971 and is the co-creator and principal star of the MTV-produced series “Jackass.” Knoxville has said that his early inspiration came from Jack Kerouac’s 1960s beatnik bible, “On the Road Again.” It was what led him into a career as an actor.
In fact, Knoxville got his start by appearing in television commercials, a career path shared by many aspiring actors. Since that beginning, he has appeared in several popular movies, including “A Dirty Shame” (which he co-wrote and directed), “The Dukes of Hazard” and many other films, as well. Knoxville is an in-demand actor and receives many scripts from film producers.
2). Bam Margera – Bam first broke onto the national scene as a 13 year old pro-skater known for his creative street style and wild antics. As a teenager he created the CKY video series, which featured skating, pranks and stunts, all filmed in his hometown of West Chester, Pennsylvania. The combination of Bam’s unique on-screen personality and the tremendous grassroots success of the CKY video series became the platform for the hit MTV show “Jackass”, “Jackass, The Movie” and the later MTV “Viva La Bam” series.
In addition to Bam’s television and film projects, he continues to be heavily involved in the music industry through his work directing music videos, his show “Radio Bam” on Sirius Satellite Radio and his “Viva La Bands” CD/DVD series and tour. Over a very short period of time, Bam has proven himself as a top-tier athlete and innovator in the film, television and music industries.
3). Steve-O – Steve graduated from Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Clown College in 1997. He says the program was more like boot camp than college. Out of 2000 applicants, only 33 were accepted and Steve-O was one of them. However, after graduation, 10 were selected for the circus and this didn’t include him. So he went back home to Albuquerque, New Mexico to film himself doing dangerous and stupid stunts for submission to skateboarding companies. Steve-O’s relationship with Big Brother Magazine began in 1997 when they ran a side-bar article about him catching his face on fire when their Big Brother tour came through Albuquerque.
In 1999 he moved from New Mexico to Florida. For six months he worked as a performer on Royal Carribean Cruise Lines and was then offered a job at the Hanneford Family Circus as a clown. During this time he was featured in several more issues of Big Brother Magazine and even filmed a part for the Big Brother video “Boob”. This is when he became involved with Jackass. He says he did all his filming for the first season of Jackass within three days.
4). Chris Pontius – An alumni of the Big Brother Magazine school of skateboarding that also includes such esteemed graduates as Johnny_Knoxville, Jeff_Tremaine, and Spike_Jonze, shaggy-haired stuntman Chris Pontius wandered the world in search of adventure before gaining fame as a core member of the notorious Jackass crew.
Driven by a constant need to explore the world and have fun in the process, Pontius turned his travel obsession into a career when, in the early ’90s, be began documenting his journeys in a series of hilariously ruttish reports originally published in Big Brother Magazine. Despite the fact that Big Brother was first and foremost a skateboarding publication, the magazine ultimately proved the perfect vehicle for Pontius’ irreverent voice, and before long the worldly writer had formed a fairly close bond with editor Jeff_Tremaine.
5). Ryan Dunn – Ryan Dunn is the star of his own show on MTV called Homewrecker. In addition he has established himself as a cast member of both popular MTV programs Jackass and Viva La Bam as well as the motion picture version of Jackass The Movie (2004).
6). Wee Man – Jason was born in Pisa, Italy and moved to LA when he was 3 months old. He is also widely known as Wee Man. He is one of the orgional Jackass members. He is in both Jackass movies and has made lots of apperances on the show Wildboyz with Steve-O.
Microsoft announced today that Internet Explorer 9 is almost halfway finished and it will support HTML5. Although Microsoft hasn’t announced the release date which was to be expected. Microsoft published a blog post yesterday asking for feedback within it’s beta ‘platform preview’ which has been released to developers & designers.
Microsoft says:
Internet Explorer Platform Preview is not a full web browser. It’s intended to give Web developers an early look at the Web platform technology coming in the next release of Internet Explorer. To distinguish it from a full browser, we call it a platform preview.
HTML 5 Demos
Border Radius – This demo illustrates the CSS3 border-radius property in conjunction with border-width and border-style.
CSS3 – CSS3 Selectors provides new, more powerful ways to select nodes using CSS. This helps when styling complex documents or making CSS that can apply to a document as its structure changes.
DOM Events – DOM Events provides an interoperable eventing mechanism.
DOM Style – DOM Style enables reading and interacting with all the style information for a document.
HTML5 T-Shirt Designer – This demo shows a cross-section of features in Internet Explorer 9, including XHTML, that make our platform more standards-compliant and interoperable.
Designing sounds like a dream job but it can come with many draw backs and stressful hard pressed deadlines. Every person should fine a way to treat themselves. Whether you enjoy a cold one after work or burn one during work – you should always consider healthier alternatives like yoga, green tea and massages. Many places in San Francisco tailor to the design & development community while understanding the needs of their client. I’m not the one to enter somewhere I don’t feel comfortable – especially since service(s) can range anywhere from 30 to 300 dollars.
1). Recharge Medical and Day Spa – Recharge Medical and Day Spa, a boutique spa in the heart of San Francisco, is committed to providing the highest quality day spa and cosmetic medical services in the safest and most tranquil environment possible. The spa offers the best of both worlds: a state-of-the-art medical spa inside an peaceful and luxurious day spa. Our intimate space enables us to give each client the highest level of personal attention. Behind the scenes of this little oasis, exceptional attention is paid to the health and safety of our clients, employees, and communities.
2). La Biang Thai Massage – An amazing synthesis of many techniques leaning pressure, reflexology, energy line work, stretching and yoga. To achieve all of these effects, we use palms, thumbs, feet, elbows, forearms, and knees, to give a massage than therapists in any other modality. This system creates a powerful release of stress and tension an in crease in vitality and well – being.
3). EarthBody Advanced Therapies – Each session includes an in depth intake with your therapist to determine the most effective way to work. The Therapists at EarthBody utilize a hybrid of techniques including Deep Tissue, Aromatherapy, MyoFacscial Release, and Asana inspired bodywork. They proudly use organic plant oils and lotions free of nut ingredients, parabens, synthetic fragrances, and petroleum ingredients.
1). Right-side chat – Move the chat box to the right side of the inbox. Find more @ Gmail Labs
2). Google Calendar gadget – Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations, and details. Find more @ Gmail Labs
3). Google Voice player in mail – Lets you play voicemails left on your Google Voice account right from the email notification. Find more @ Gmail Labs
4). Google Docs previews in mail – Shows previews of documents, spreadsheets and presentations directly in the email when you receive any link to a Google Doc. Also gives an option to open directly in Google Docs. Find more @ Gmail Labs
5). Superstars - Adds additional star icons. After enabling this feature: (1) Go to the “General” Settings page to choose which superstars you wish to use. (2) Use either the keyboard shortcut (’s’) or click to rotate through your selected superstars. (3) Use the search operator “has:” to find all messages with your superstar (e.g. “has:red-bang”, “has:blue-star”). Learn the name of a superstar by hovering over its image in the “General” Settings page. Find more @ Gmail Labs
6). Message translation – Uses Google Translate to translate messages you receive in other languages. Find more @ Gmail Labs
7). Sender Time Zone – Should I reply to this mail or just call the guy? Ooops… it’s 1 am. Sorry, I didn’t mean to disturb… Find more @ Gmail Labs
8). Canned Responses – Email for the truly lazy. Save and then send your common messages using a button next to the compose form. Also automatically send emails using filters. Find more @ Gmail Labs
9). Navbar drag and drop – Allows you to reorder the items in your navbar using drag and drop. Find more @ Gmail Labs
10). Authentication icon for verified senders – Displays a key icon next to authenticated messages from certain senders that spammers attempt to fake. Currently works for mail from PayPal and eBay only. Find more @ Gmail Labs
Google launched YouTube Mobile Advertising today which now displays banner advertisements on selected pages like home, search and browse pages. YouTube said they were testing clients like L’Oreal and Land Rover among others assumed. Focusing on things like click-throughs, user experience, and brand awareness (other boring stuff not-included). YouTube also announced that they would support multiple languages and countries who use smart phones. Google experimented with these features in the past and it’s not unlikely that advertisers will be jumping on the band-wagon to experiment with them.
1). Attach Google Docs – Attach a Google Docs word processing document, spreadsheet or presentation to your event. You must share each attached document. Find More @: Google Calendar
2). Gentle Reminders – Do you like pop-up reminders but hate how they rudely interrupt whatever you’re doing? This feature will prevent reminders from bringing Calendar to the front. Instead, the title of the Google Calendar window or tab will happily blink in the background. Find More @: Google Calendar
3). Event Flair – Bring life to your calendar and organize your events with icons for things like flights, vacations, parties and meals. Note: icons added to events you organized will be visible to all attendees. After you enable this feature, click on an event and look for the “Calendar flair” gadget to activate. Find More @: Google Calendar
4). Next Meeting – See what’s coming up next in your calendar. Find More @: Google Calendar
5). World Clock – Keep track of the time around the world. Plus: when you click an event, you’ll see the start time in each time zone as well. Find More @: Google Calendar
A company emblem or device used to deliver a message within a certain market. I’m focusing on logo’s that imply cleanliness to drive product sales in brick & mortar stores like Walmart or Target.
1). Mr. Clean – The product’s mascot is the character Mr. Clean. In 1957, Harry Barnhart conceived the idea and Ernie Allen in the art department at the advertising agency Tatham-Laird & Kudner in Chicago, Illinois drew Mr. Clean as a muscular, tanned, bald man who cleans things very well.
In March 2007, Mr. Clean launched an online competition with YouTube that gave consumers the opportunity to create a commercial advertising the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.
2). Tide – Tide is specially designed to provide great cleaning that’s gentle to your skin.
3). Glade – The family of products include: Aerosol Sprays, Candles, Car Scented Oil, Carpet & Room, Glass Scents, PlugIns, PlugIns Scented Oil, Press’n Fresh, Secrets, Scented Oil Candles, and Wisp.
4). Brawny Man – With Brawny® paper towels in the house, you’ve got the strength to get things done.
5). Dove Soap – Dove’s products include: antiperspirants/deodorants, body washes, beauty bars, lotions/moisturizers, hair care and facial care products.
Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
Why I Love Google Wave:
Simple - If you’ve ever used Google Search or Gmail, you already know how simple they build their products. Google Wave is no different, allowing the user to easily customize the project based on their needs. As long as you have a pre-existing Google account which is free – you can sign up for their beta at: wave.google.com
Free - Unlike Basecamp, Backpack, and Campfire from 37 Signals – Google Wave is totally free. At presentday you need an invitation to create an account in Google Wave. Feel free to drop me a line and I’ll send you one.
Easy - Creating a ‘Wave’ is a breeze. To start a wave, you click on the New Wave button. Enter a title and initial message, and click on Done. You can then add contacts to collaborate on that wave by choosing them from your Contacts list. When you add a contact to a wave, you can give him or her full read-write or read only privileges.
Clean - The User Interface was developed with simplicity in mind, taking a look at the screen shot below you’ll notice how light and organized the panels are. Each panel can be minimized or maximized depending on importance within the project for you. I normally use wave for web production so things like chat doesn’t interest me since I use Gmail/Pidgin for chatting.
I decided that the best way for me to keep organized was by creating ‘Folders’ within Wave to separate different (company’s, projects, clients, etc). Within each Wave I added ‘Tags’, allowing me to do a custom search for that individual project. The search features still feel a bit ‘wonky’ to me, so I keep things organized by Folders since this method was common in Gmail.
Google - One word should really sum up this paragraph, “Google”. If you were living in a cave you might not have a clue to what I’m talking about. Google is the most widely used search engine that uses text-matching techniques to find web pages that are important and relevant to a user’s search. Since that time at Standford in 1998 Google has adopted the times and found new solutions for common everyday problems. Google’s model is simple, fix problems to help people and build effective business models around those products.
What I’m trying to say is, Google’s products have the ability to scale and become integrated among one another. Google has already talked about integration within Gmail, Google Calendar and Buzz. Only time will time…
