Category: General

Tips for creating a better portfolio

Portfolio adviceWhether you’re a graphic designer or photographer, your portfolio is your best sales tool; so it only makes sense to make your portfolio the very best it can be. In 20+ years of being in the design business, I’ve seen some really great portfolios that left a long-lasting impression, and enough bad ones to pave a freeway with.

There are no set rules to arrive at a successful portfolio, but here are some sure-fire ways to set it on the right path. These tips apply mostly to a Web-based portfolio, but most also apply to a print version as well.
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Alien Skin offers 20% storewide discount to benefit Haiti relief efforts

Alien Skin Software sale

Alien Skin Software storewide sale to benefit Haiti

Alien Skin Software today announces the immediate start of a store-wide sale to benefit Haiti. From now through February 28th, 2010, everything in the Web store is 20% off. 10% of Alien Skin Software’s profits for the entire month of February (not just from the sale) will be also be donated to Haiti through the Red Cross and the Community Coalition for Haiti. This is on top of significant donations already made by the company and individual employees.

“I am confident that the sale will generate a significant donation to Haiti relief funds,” said Jeff Butterworth, CEO of Alien Skin Software. “I also encourage everyone to donate blood. There is no substitute for this precious resource. I do it for the free cookies and bright bandage to show off around the office!”

Alien Skin, maker of Eye Candy – perhaps one of the most popular filter sets for Photoshop of all time, has been one of my favorite design-related software makes for many years. In particular, I LOVE Blow Up 2 for enlarging images to huge sizes, and Bokeh for creating awesome focus and depth-of-field effects with your photos.

iPad: The ultimate school supply?

Apple iPadYou saw the iPad event video, or at the very least have read one of the numerous feature reviews currently littering the Mac Web. The Apple iPad has finally been released to the masses, ending months of speculation, rumor and wishful thinking.

While tech journalists focus on what the iPad is and isn’t, the lack of a camera, Apple’s choice in 3G providers, and a host of other topics; I’m having one of those light-bulb moments. The iPad is the ultimate school supply!

When you consider some states are handing out $1,000 Macbooks to students and teachers, it’s not hard to imagine Apple’s true reason for the iPad’s existence is to get more product into more hands at a young age.

Think about it. The purpose of the laptop program is to make the Internet available to kids, and to give them something to produce their homework assignments on (even though we know they use it for much more). But in this economy, schools are certainly rethinking these “laptops for every kid” programs.
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8 Great Web resources for freelancers

Freelance resourcesIf you’re new to freelancing, or even a seasoned veteran, you can never have too many resources, answers, and free advice available.

I’ve found the following Web sites to be a fantastic resource for advice, resources, and in one case, a little light-hearted laugh on a tough day with clients. FreelanceSwitch – FreelanceSwitch is a community of expert freelancers from around the world contributing to a blog which covers a vast array of topics about life as a freelancer. AIGA – Founded in 1914, AIGA remains the oldest and largest professional membership organization for design. Guerrilla Freelancing – Provides straight, to the point advice and tips for the guerrilla freelancer. Freelance Folder – A community for all types of freelancers, entrepreneurs, work-at-home business owners, and web-workers. Smashing Magazine – Along with all the great resources and inspiration, Smashing Magazine offers a fantastic job board. Fuel Your Creativity – The place to turn to when you’re having one of your “I’m-going-to-implode-if-I-don’t-get-an-idea-soon” moments. Fuel Your Writing – An offspring of the original Fuel Your Creativity. Being A Starving Artist Sucks – Some great advice for freelancers, wrapped inside a big dose of humor. If you have another great site for freelancers, feel free to share in the comments.

Apple’s Magic Mouse: Ouch!!!

Apple’s Magic Mouse garnered a lot of ooohs and ahhhs upon it’s release. It’s stunningly gorgeous to look at, as is most everything Apple releases, but is it really a great computing mouse?

I recently got to use one for a day of design work, web surfing, and general computing, and got my answer. The Magic Mouse is compact, and glides smoothly on your desk. The cursor was very responsive, and not the least bit “jumpy” on any surface I tried it on, including my lap. But that’s pretty much where the love affair ended for me. Apple Magic Mouse

With the exception of Apple’s iMac hockey-puck mouse years ago, I can’t recall ever using a more uncomfortable mouse in my 20-plus years of computing.

The very thing that makes it so stunning to look at also makes it so uncomfortable to use. After about an hour of working in Photoshop and InDesign, my hand was cramped from squeezing it. It’s just too low-profile for long-term use. I felt like I had to work too hard to keep control of it. While the touch clicking and scrolling was easy enough, using the limited gestures available was virtually impossible for me. I simply couldn’t hold the mouse and swipe at the same time without contorting my hand to the point of causing more cramps in my fingers. The amount of time wasted trying to get the gestures to work could be accomplished the old-fashioned way. Of course, nobody says you MUST use the Magic Mouse for your daily computing needs. Due to its compact size and Bluetooth connection, the Magic Mouse makes a great compliment to your MacBook Pro when you’re on the road. It’s also fine for users who may not require a lot of mousing around, such as writers or anyone who makes extensive use of the keyboard vs. the mouse. At $69 though, the Magic Mouse is awfully expensive for a “backup” mouse.

Apple’s new pro Mac

Apple Mac ProHas Apple already released it’s latest Mac for pros? The upper-end iMac can now be configured with an Intel Core i5 or i7 quad-core processor, a 2TB hard drive, and up to 16GB of RAM; and the mammoth 27″ LED screen is nothing short of stunning. With all this power in Apple’s supposed consumer-level desktop, one has to wonder if there’s any need for a MacPro by anyone shy of George Lucas working on the next horrible sequel to StarWars. As a designer, I’ve spent the last 20 years accepting the fact that I had to buy the most expensive model of Mac available in order to get the power I needed to edit large multi-layered Photoshop files and videos. Buying a G3, G4, G5, and even the early MacPros was the only way to get a Mac which would support enough RAM to accomplish my job without adding two days to the work week. (more…)

Adobe releases Photoshop for iPhone, iPod Touch users

Adobe has released Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone application, allowing users a convenient way to edit photos, apply effects and share images in – all with the flick of a finger. Integration with Adobe’s free Photoshop.com accounts enables photo sharing and data back-up, saving valuable space on your iPhone or iPod Touch. Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone provides users a simple way to view photos with full-screen previews and edit images with gesture-based editing. You can transform your photos with basic editing tools like crop, rotate and flip; as well as adjust color with saturation and tint tools, enhance exposure and vibrancy and convert images to black and white.

Photoshop for iPhone

Photoshop for iPhone

The app also offers eye-catching special effects. The Sketch tool helps photos look like drawings, and Soft Focus can give photos a subtle blur for artistic effect. With a single click, you can also apply dramatic changes to the look and feel of your photos with effects such as Warm Vintage, Vignette and Pop. Edits or changes can be undone or redone so you can experiment without the worry of losing the original photo. The Adobe Photoshop.com Mobile for iPhone application is available as a free download from Apple’s App Store on iPhone and iPod touch, or by clicking here. The application is available in the U.S. and Canada only. While you’re certainly not going to use an iPhone for anything remotely resembling heavy-duty image editing, it’s nice to see Adobe recognize a market, and move quickly to fill the need. Quite frankly, I’m kind of surprised Apple didn’t build-in more of these types of features. The only thing that irks me about this is that iPod Touch users don’t have the benefit of having a camera to really take advantage of the features Adobe offers with this app.

About The Graphic Mac

The Graphic Mac
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