Fresh

I have always been a huge fan of cinematography. One of the reasons I like it is because of the dramatic look cinema often has. I decided to try to make some of my photography have that same look in Photoshop. The exact process  and outcome is often dependent on the image you start with, so your mileage may vary with the tools and settings I will describe here. Use this as a starting point and play with the image to get it where you want. I am assuming you have a working knowledge of Adobe Photoshop but if you don’t you might try Lynda.com as a good starting point. That’s where I learned the basics.

More than just give you a step-by-step tutorial I am going to describe the reasons why I did the things I did to (hopefully) give you a better working understanding why it works. I can promise you that if you follow along and give it your best shot you will end up with a moody, interesting image. Here we go.

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This year I had the opportunity to go to SXSW. As a conference newbie I didn’t know what to expect. I heard stories from friends and co-workers and read some awesome blog posts about how to get ready, mainly Last-Minute SXSW 2010 Planning Guide and Tweeting from SXSW — Don’t Throw Up On Me Please. No rookie mistakes for me.

As the new kid on the block, I didn’t know what sessions I wanted to see or which ones would be most appealing. So, after reading through session descriptions, I found a few that I thought would be interesting. Two that I stumbled upon that I found particularly interesting were about web design psychology. Mind control- Psychology of the web by Ben Scofield (here are his slides and blog) and The Art and Science of Seductive Interactions by Stephen P. Anderson (here are his slides and blog).

I had learned about some of these theories from my peers, and most are pretty intuitive, but having them laid out in one place will hopefully be a useful reference or helpful review.

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Can you guess what the most important piece of software is on a personal computer? It’s not Notepad, it’s not any office productivity suite, and it’s not Solitaire. Certainly the most important piece of software, at least since the 90’s, is the web browser. The web browser has brought the whole world together digitally through web email, shopping web sites, and Facebook. (And yes, you can also use a web browser as a notepad, office suite, and you can play Solitaire with one, too.)

Content on the web has evolved from simple text and tables to elaborate layouts of page intermixed with images, audio, and video. The underlying HTML used to display this rich content has evolved as well. From the early workings of HTML 1 all the way to HTML 4, HTML has seen a steady growth. The current version, HTML 4, is great. The language allows for embedded objects (like Flash), and other neat stuff.

HTML 1 (left) to HTML 4 (right)

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You’ve written the copy for your site (or you’re about to), but will it get the results you need? Put your copy to work and get everything out of your site that you possibly can by following these 6 strategic tips.

But first, let’s just get this out of the way: dumping your copy into your site and calling it good will lose business for you. Period. Think about it. When you create an email or landing page, you likely pour over precise pixel placement, copy and button placement. Why wouldn’t you do the same for your website, particularly now that your home page isn’t the guaranteed entry to your website. (Check your analytics, you’ll likely see that your home page isn’t necessarily your front door any more.)

Search continues to change the game so you should make sure every page is playing its part in giving the right impression and achieving your objectives.  You have a narrow window to grab a user’s attention and get them where you want them to go.

Now let’s get to the tips! We’ve split this up into two areas of focus: the first is the “30,000 Foot View” (the big picture) and the second is the “100 Foot View” (digging into the details). (more…)

After spending some time working with Magento (an open-source ecommerce platform that’s been on the development scene for a few years now), I have determined that what their documentation really needs is a WordPress-esque “Template Tags” area.

When you’re just starting out with a new platform, documentation is invaluable, and the documentation for Magento seems woefully lacking in terms of front-end development. (If you have a favorite resource, I’d love to hear about it!)

Here are some tips / shortcuts / code snippets I’ve found useful; maybe they’ll be helpful to new Magento developers as well.

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SXSW Interactive is almost here, so those months of giddy nerd anticipation are almost over! Hooray! But wait, have you studied the schedule yet? Picked your top panels? Perused the party lists? Researched the must-try restaurants and food carts? No?  Well don’t panic yet, you still have a little time. And to help sort through all the madness I’ve compiled a list of tools and sites that are helping me do some pre-planning this year. As a mere SXSW Sophomore I’m far from an expert on the conference or on Austin, but hopefully this post will help you get organized a little bit.

Finding Promising Panels

Sometimes a panel or session that looks amazing based on its short description in the official SXSW handbook turns out to be, ehhhh, not so great.  And of course the one you decided NOT to go to was the must-see panel of the day.  Although you’re not going to pick winners every time, you can help yourself by doing a little research beforehand.

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Over the last couple years I have been salivating over being able to attend the coveted SXSW Interactive Design Conference. This year I have paved myself a path to get down there and soak in the massive amount of inspiration that gets unleashed in Austin this time of year. I couldn’t be more stoked to take it all in… but how on earth am I planning on taking what I hear and retaining EVERYTHING I need to come away a better designer, thinker and doer?

Do I fill up countless notebooks with quotes and drawings, set up my handy tape recorder so next time I feel like re-living the whole weekend I can just flip a switch? Maybe I can just listen carefully and soak it all in, hoping the inspiration seeps in through my pores.

While I most definitely will have a pad and pencil in front of me, I will also have my iPhone, and where there is an iPhone in the hands of an interactive designer… there is the amazing micro blogging tool called @twitter. Have you heard of it? It is kind of a big deal these days. So much of a big deal that its use has become at times… well, overused. I am here to tell you a few easy steps to keeping your followers happy with your content stream. Remember kids, it is all about well placed, relevant content.

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While sorting through the cupboards in my bathroom this past weekend I was puzzled to discover that I owned 23 bottles of lotion: some of these nearly empty, some barely touched, and others well past their expiration date. This got me thinking as to why I seem to forget about all the products I already have at my finger tips, and instead go out and buy the first new item I hear about promising firming, moisturizing, and/or bronzing benefits in a bottle. Like myself, I often witness clients honing in on new technology, overly excited to snatch it up and apply it to their own online marketing objectives, before first asking themselves the question “Do I really need this?”

While change is good, there is something to be said to having a purpose behind each change. We are consumers by nature and always want that new best thing, but why not first take a look at the tools you already have at your disposal and assess if you are indeed using them to their full potential.

Here are some questions to ask when considering whether or not to invest in the next latest and greatest marketing tactic. These might help you figure out if your money is best spent on what’s new or if it’d be better spent fine-tuning what you’re already utilizing.

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While much of the country is still reeling from the effects of massive winter-ness, PDX has had an untimely run-in with Spring for the last week or so. Our cabin fever has been relieved for the moment, and so our thoughts turn towards happy hour on the patio and unplanned use of vacation days.

Now, some of us have a not-so-healthy idea of fun (spring cleaning, anyone?). Of course, often it’s necessary to purge clutter and bad habits, and spring is as good a time to do that as any. In this spirit we wanted to take a moment to talk about some of the best practices we’ve found when working with your design files. Good habits can make the difference between a seamless development process and a complete nightmare, one that will try everyone’s patience and waste valuable time. We’ve even included a little treat at the end to help get you started. Ready to clean house?

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I just found out about this site today, and I really dig the idea! Humble Pied features interviews with creatives (check out the latest post which features Aaron Draplin) over iChat. The advice they share is geared towards recent graduates and folks still finding their way in the industry.

The presentation is super clean and the idea is simple : “One inspiring creative sharing one piece of advice, all over iChat.” Go check it out for yourself!