Our buddy Jeff Larche at Digital Solid shares his insight on best practices for measuring clicks and ROI from Twitter. He’s a smarty and we’re glad to have him on the C2 Creative Transitions Seminar series tour coming to Madison and Milwaukee this fall! Check out his blog, follow him on twitter… you’ll be able to MEASURE the ROI! http://bit.ly/18AMPK
Archive for September, 2009
$5 Friday Follow Up! Measure Clicks & ROI from Twitter
Wednesday, September 30th, 2009Web Developer vs. Web Designer vs. Back End Developer
Friday, September 25th, 2009My role at C2 focuses on sales and marketing, which means I represent C2 talent, act as a talent scout for our clients and help identify industry trends/needs to assist in directing curriculum development. Over the course of the last year, C2 has had the pleasure and honor of meeting some VERY smart and savvy web developers, or are they programmers, or coders or presentation-layer developers? It’s been challenging to understand the nuances of the differing titles and skill sets, making it difficult for me to articulate skill sets to clients, encourage curriculum development, etc.
I just came across an article that clarifies the distinction between the evolving roles of web developers, designers and other super smarty-pants web people. It’s a little clearer now, thanks Paul Carvill!
Create ringtones for your iPhone for free using GarageBand
Thursday, September 24th, 2009Learn to create ringtones for your iPhone using Apple’s GarageBand. While you can create a ringtone from any mp3, protected .acc files that you have purchased from the iTunes store will not work with this method.
Tactics for creating a successful online portfolio
Wednesday, September 23rd, 2009As presented by Jim Conway at The Eisner on 9/23
So you want to present your portfolio online? Here are the steps to get a presence on the web.
1 – Sightsee: what are your peers are doing?
2 – Get a domain name, your very own address on the web
3 – Get a host for your domain name, a company that stores and serves your files at your addresss
4 – build a website from scratch or use a site that specializes in hosting portfolios
More things to consider
1 – to flash or not to flash?
2 – to blog or not to blog?
3 – multiple sites?
- Sightseeing portfolios – getting inspired by the best -
What’s new in design and the digital culture | Netdiver Magazine
http://netdiver.net/
The FWA: Favourite Website Awards – Web awards at the cutting edge
http://www.thefwa.com/
- Getting a name on the web -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_top_ranking_domain_registrars
- Web site hosting providers – some of the biggest. -
http://www.godaddy.com/
http://www.networksolutions.com/
http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/webhosting/
http://www.web.com/
- Online articles for your consideration -
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/09/17/portfolio-design-study-design-patterns-and-current-practices/
http://freelanceswitch.com/finding/build-a-killer-online-portfolio-in-9-easy-steps/
http://greyscalegorilla.com/blog/2008/10/30/looking-for-a-creative-job-throw-away-the-resume/
- Portfolio hosting sites for designers, artists creatives – template driven sites that get you up and running fast.
Best for designers, artists creatives:
http://www.coroflot.com/
http://foliosnap.com/
http://www.carbonmade.com/
http://www.foliolink.com/
http://www.sitewelder.com/
http://www.swiftfolios.com/
http://www.dripbook.com/
http://www.bigblackbag.com/
Photographer Focused
http://www.zenfolio.com/
http://www.smugmug.com/
http://www.modelmayhem.com/
http://www.onemodelplace.com/
http://www.musecube.com/
http://www.iqons.com/
http://jalbum.net/
http://pressbook.com/
http://perfectpose.com/
Did I miss anything? Let us know in the comments.
Snow Leopard Presentation Wrap Up
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009The major points regarding Snow Leopard (as shown by Vidas Neverauskas of Apple):
• Do not erase and install system software. Apple recommends running the updater over your existing system instead of the old wipe and clean install.
• Improvements to Exposé, Quick Look, and Preview including faster views, more options and user customization.
• Improved and more stable system.
• Mail improved to up to 2X faster processing.
• Safari 4 compatibility improvements. Also available on Windows and is approx. 6X faster than IE8 and Firefox.
• 64-bit operating system. It will still run 32-bit software so no need to upgrade apps. This also means the computer can access 16 billion (Dr. Evil voice) gigabits of RAM. The max in a 32-bit OS was 4 gigs.
• Quicktime X – totally rewritten architecture for multithreading (see below) and utilizes all hardware acceleration and 64-bit processing. There is no Quicktime Pro anymore. Everything is now available in Quicktime X (player) and FREE including minimal editing and exporting features. Also has HTTP streaming capabilities along with video capture using webcams or a screen capture feature! Still FREE!
• GCD- Grand Central Dispatch. This is a developer tool that allows developers to utilize the Multi-Core processor to increase application processing speed using “Threads”. By sending multiple Threads to the processor instead of cranking up the speed of the processor itself, the apps will have more RAM available for operations and the Mac OS will handle the processing. The framework allows them to access the full power of the hardware. For us end-users this means our apps will be getting much faster in the future.
Photoshop CS4 utilizes this “Multithread” environment and this allows us to have the cool graphic accelerated features.
• Exchange – Allows sharing files and services between home and office environments using MS Exchange including Mail, iCal and Address Book.
Snow Leopard Presentation Update – Quark 8 and Type 1 fonts
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009This was released on Friday from Quark Xpress. This is a must read if you are running Quark on your mac and are looking to upgrade to Snow Leopard:
“Quark recently discovered a serious issue when using PostScript Type 1 fonts with QuarkXPress, QuarkXPress Server and QuarkCopyDesk running under Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard.
Text using a Type 1 font can shift position when opened on Mac OS X Snow Leopard, affecting the leading and vertical position of the text, as well as any drop shadows applied to the text. Quark is therefore recommending that customers who rely on Type 1 fonts not use QuarkXPress with Snow Leopard until this issue is resolved. Customers who don’t use Type 1 fonts are not affected. This issue is specific to Mac OS X Snow Leopard only and does not impact other operating systems. Quark is working with Apple on a resolution.”
This is a change in Quark’s original message that Quark 8 works great with Snow Leopard. Rest assured they are actively working with Apple to remedy this ASAP. If you are using InDesign, no worries and no issues with type.
WPPC Tech Expo – Live Update!
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2009Today I am presenting at the WPPC Tech Expo, showing off Photoshop, Bridge and Illustrator. One of the topics we will be discussing is Apple Snow Leopard – its features and compatibility with Creative Suite. As a preview of the discussion, here are some links with FAQs and Updates:
Automatically Placing Illustrator CS4 Artboards inside InDesign
Monday, September 21st, 2009A wonderful new feature of Illustrator CS4 is the ability to create multiple artboards. When you place an Illustrator CS4 .ai file it will default to the 1st artboard (page) of the file. If you want to choose a different page you will need to use import options when placing the file (hold shift while placing).
Manually placing every artboard on every page of an InDesign layout can be a drag. Luckily there is a script to help! The PlaceMultipagePDF script that comes with InDesign will also work on the Illustrator file since Illustrator files have a PDF wrapper surrounding them.
Running the Script
1. Double-click on PlaceMultipagePDF (located in the scripts panel under window > automation > scripts) and it will prompt you to find the pdf (or .ai). 
2. Chose the document and which page you want to begin placing the artboards on.
3. Sit back and watch the magic
Observations
• All of the links will be placed in the upper left corner regardless of your reference point.
• I tried using this script to place a multi-page InDesign file inside another InDesign file, but InDesign ended up locking up on me. Maybe with some tweaking of the script it could work with other InDesign files, but for the time being I would only recommend that you use it with PDF and Illustrator CS4 files.
• Even though you are using a script that says “place PlaceMultipagePDF” each artboard will be linked as an individual link to the Illustrator file.
Metadata Templates inside Adobe Bridge
Tuesday, September 15th, 2009Use the Metadata Templates in Bridge to streamline your data management for your files. Be sure to keep your main template generic for overall information such as your name, business location, etc. and append additional information using other templates – model name, location, keywords, etc.
Using more than one template can really speed up attaching the all-important metadata to your files and keep you working on the creative side of things.
Hiring a Web Designer & Using Content Management
Thursday, September 3rd, 2009As someone who works as a Web Designer/Web Programmer I have often come up against a common dilemma with people wanting to update their websites.
Most companies want the option of updating their website as soon as they think of something, yet they don’t want to learn HTML code.
This leads to one of two results:
- Send all updates to the web designer who will charge you each time to do something that likely takes them very little time.
- Try to figure out the HTML and FTP stuff so you can save the money – but wind up messing up the navigation or something else. Or at least wasting a greater portion of your time.
Neither of these is particularly desirable which is where content management comes into play. If you want to frequently update content but do it without messing up the HTML, CMS systems work well to isolate only the parts that you want to edit (think of it like making a blog posting, where you have no access to the navigation or other important structure HTML).
There are two things I have used recently which are decent, free (or cheap) CMS providers. There are many others but I want to highlight these two to show what exactly they do:
SquareSpace : A website builder all done in clean, easy-to-understand menus. It is easy to add navigation, disable and enable pages, and add content. Really neat thing is the way in which you can quickly configure different types of pages (galleries, forms, journals). Downside is that there are only a few templates and you need to have a basic understanding of CSS to really configure the changes to these designs.
CushyCMS: This is something that only allows you to change text in your body copy. Once your designer marks what is editable and what isn’t, this program allows you to go to a webpage and modify the content you need. The downside is that if you need to get in and change something that is not marked as editable, you will need to call your web designer to put in new code… which will take as long as making the change would have on its own.
There are many, many other systems out there, in fact I have worked with a couple of them, but the flexibility they allow can be a perfect fit for both client and webmaster. It just depends on which system is the best for your company.
So next time you do a redesign, think about whether you want more access to refreshing your content. It may take more time up front to design the site for CMS – but it may pay off if you update enough.
Creative Transitions Seminar Series ’09 Continues!
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009
C2 continues the Creative Transitions Seminar Series with 3 innovative half-day presentations created to help you transition effectively into the fast-evolving world of: 1. web site design/development management, 2. content development for maximum return on investment (ROI) and 3. using new and existing measurement tools to assess an end users’ level of Attention, Interest, Decision and Action for any web page.
Milwaukee Dates: Tuesdays: 10/27, 11/17 and 1/12/10
Madison Dates: Tuesdays: 11/3, 12/8 and 1/26/10
Check the CTC link on our events page for more information in the coming weeks!
Tactics for Creating a Successful Online Portfolio
Wednesday, September 2nd, 2009Would you spend $15 on lunch if you thought it would get you a job? Well, get your money ready, we have a lunch seminar intended to do just that! Go to http://www.mystuffisreallygoodsowouldsomeonepleasehireme.com/ for all the details on the most valuable lunch you’ll eat this month! Student discount available: enter code studentdiscount
Networking Opportunities ABOUND!
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009From burger contests to BMA, meet-ups, user groups and professional organization meetings all get underway this September, making for a very full and exciting month of opportunities for networking and professional development! I’m going to offer some highlights, but all the organization fun (meeting times, locations and links) can be found on the C2 Pipeline and C2 User Groups pages.
Great C2 Seminars (VERY affordable): $5 Friday-SEO, PPC and other web acronyms demystified 9/18, Creating an Online Portfolio 9/23, Web design for print designers made easy 9/29 – MADISON
Featured Meetups: Spreenkler 9/2, Web414 9/10, Third Ward Interactive Luncheon 9/17, Madison Web Design & Development Meetup 9/21
Featured Professional Organization Meetings: AAF-Madison features Clint! Runge 9/21, WPPC’s annual Technology Update 9/22, BMA-Milwaukee & Chicago attend the Cubs v. Brewers Game at Miller Park 9/23, AIGA-WI welcomes Patrick Coyne 9/25
Other Fun:
Appleton: SOHO Naked Biz Growth presents: Learn How To Develop A Social Media Strategy 9/17
Madison: Taste of Madison 9/4 & 5
Milwaukee: Twitter #Burgerchallenge between @ajbombers & @stackedbar ENDS 8 pm, 9/6
C2 Hot Talent-September 2009
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009Ah September, fall is in the air. Time for raking leaves, football, celebrating back to school and our freedom to read! Buy and read a banned book from your local bookseller this month. September is National Banned Book Month. Itching to start a new novel or reread a banned classic? C2 can help..see our HOT TALENT in Milwaukee and Madison to give yourself time to chill! For a project, temporary assignment, temp to hire or direct hire–C2 is ready when you are. As always, it’s free to read talent resumes and view samples and bios. Just ask!
Milwaukee Talent
Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You!
Supremely detail-oriented Production Artist with five years of experience in point-
of-sale, print ads, out-of-home, packaging, vehicle wraps, and catalogs. Proven ability to handle challenging jobs in a fast-paced environment. Enjoys opportunities for personal growth in the industry while maintaining a focused and result-driven attitude in the workplace.
Good Designer is an Understatement!
Eugene is an extremely creative designer/art director with a fabulous web/print/fine art and illustration portfolio and international Fortune 100 client experience. He tested at professional+ in Illustrator and Photoshop, and professional in InDesign. He is available for full or part-time projects, temp to hire, or direct hire.
Muvipix-ish Art Director with massive production skills
Steve, art director and published author of three software-related books, is an expert project manager, talented graphic designer and video editor responsible for assuring client brand and style integrity. He tested at professional level in Illustrator and exceptional in Photoshop, InDesign and Final Cut Pro. Steve can take any project from concept to completion including ads, brochures, corporate signage, direct marketing materials, promotional items and the Chairman’s annual meeting presentation. Steve is available full or part-time on a project, temp to hire, or direct hire basis.
Kreative Director Who Can Rock Your Ads
John K is a versatile Creative Director with excellent print and web concepting skills. He tested at the exceptional level across the board in Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign. With excellent interpersonal skills, John has been the liaison to national and international clients and presented a book that reflects a talented, smart eye and a vision for typography. He also LOVES retouching and excels at it. John is available full or part-time, on a project, temp to hire, or direct hire basis.
Madison Talent
Savvy Designer Who Can Manage Projects Too!
Denise is a business savvy, graphic designer/art director who is comfortable taking
any project to the finish line. She tested professionally in Illustrator, and professional+ in Photoshop and InDesign. Her print and web portfolios showed extensive examples of high-impact print design and web lay-outs. She has project managed the re-branding of comprehensive national media campaigns, including sales aids, cover wraps, sales kits, logos and identities, and has extensive magazine lay-out experience including headlines, captions, sub-captions. She enjoys doing her own color correcting and re-touching work. Denise is available full or part-time on a project, temp to hire, or direct hire basis.
Sizzlin’ Web & Print Designer
Dina presented a gorgeous professional level portfolio with a diversity of print and electronic designs. She rated between exceptional and expert levels in Quark/InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. As represented in her portfolio, Dina can design for print and for web as seen at http://www.redhotskillet.
Production Artist
Brenda is a recent graduate who tested professionally across all print software evaluations-
Illustrator, Photoshop and professional+ in InDesign. Brenda can execute a project from concept to completion and is very detailed in her approach to production. She is comfortable on both Mac and PC, and available part or full-time, temp to hire, or direct hire.
After Effects Tips & Tricks
Tuesday, September 1st, 2009
Creating a perfect motion path in After Effects.
The common way of creating a motion path in After Effects is to click on the stopwatch and move an element around in the Composition Window. For those more adventurous, they might take out the pen tool to custom create points on the path and move the handles.
There is a much quicker and neater way to accomplish this and at the same time evenly distribute the points through time.
Let’s say we have a spaceman who has stumbled upon a Black Hole (or if that is too scary let’s say it is a Worm Hole). He is going to get sucked into this hole, much like water circles down the drain. If only there was a way too…
Let me cut you off right there. The “motion” that we want here is perfectly expressed by a spiral, which conveniently is a tool in Illustrator. If you create a composition that is the same size as your comp, you can just draw a spiral that neatly fills the artboard. Select and copy it.
Copy is nothing without paste. Inside of After Effects, select your layer AND then select the POSITION value. If you don’t do this step it will not work. Now Paste. you should get a tight set of keyframes all fitting within two seconds.
Notice if you pull one of the edge keyframes out, the others follow proportionally. 
If you have never seen this before, these are known as Roving Keyframes.
Now if you play back your comp, you spaceman should be going into the spiral. Add a little decreasing scale animation and you should have a quick and easy animation of your spaceman being sucked into the vortex.
Note: This can also be done by copying path shapes inside of After Effects and pasting them onto the layers position value. In this case Illustrator is preferred because of the spiral shape.
