Author Archive
When Copy Writing, Look To Others For Inspiration
- Published on Friday, 12 April 2013 17:19
- Darin McGilvra
- 0 Comments
For a trained and talented writer, doing quality copy writing for a blog or website page is not difficult. However, writing a blog or article about the same or similar topic once or twice a day over and over again can be quite difficult and may seem overwhelming at times when the ideas refuse toflow.
This is why it is important to know where to go for inspiration. While copying someone’s written work without permission and passing it off as your own is never acceptable, as well as illegal, looking to other writers for inspiration is a great way to keep you supplied with plenty of ideas to continue pumping out great content.
Darin McGilvra
Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.
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Custom Logo Design Tips For Beginners
- Published on Thursday, 11 April 2013 17:28
- Darin McGilvra
- 5 Comments
When you are looking to do a custom logo design for a business, it is important to follow the right process and make a high-quality, professional logo, because this logo will be associated with the business’ brand. You don’t want to make mistakes that could ruin a company’s brand image and marketability.
Whether you are designing the logo yourself or you are having a Web design company do it for you, you need to make sure that the procedure for the custom logo design is laid out in advance so all parties know how the design will be done. Many professional designers start by sketching out various ideas of logos on paper with a pen or pencil. Do not use color initially so that you can see how it will look without color, which is a must for any logo.
These sketches should be presented to the client or to other people in the business to get input and decide together on the way they will be going with the design of the logo. This will give the designer a better idea of what the logo should look like.
When sketching out ideas, don’t try to do too much. Some of the most famous and impactful logos are very simple, such as the Nike swoosh or the McDonald’s golden arches. Also, many logos don’t even have graphics and are just the name of the business in a unique typeface.
Make sure you understand the brand of the company before deciding on a custom logo design because it needs to match that brand. You also need to make it appropriate. You don’t want to make a logo that is too colorful or humorous for a doctor or lawyer because they need to instill trust in the customer.
Once you have decided on the direction you are going with the logo, then you will need to graphically design it into the computer. Here is where you will perfect the logo and add color to it.
Custom logo design should be able to be used in various sizes
It is also important to look at the logo at different sizes. Make sure it looks good whether it fills the screen or is shrunk down to 1 inch.
If it doesn’t look good when it is very small, especially if any words in it or unreadable, consider creating an alternative logo that is intended for when it is needed to be kept small. The alternative could eliminate a tagline or maybe even just keep the first letter of a company name, but the logo still needs to be unique and recognizable even when it is small.
Once you have completed the logo and any alternatives, make sure to have many people look at it before finalizing the logo. Make sure both men and women look at it from different perspectives. You’ll even want to get input from objective observers because there are many examples of logos throughout the world that had unintended reactions from people that could prove disastrous. What you intended for a sleek, modern design could in fact be offensive to some people.
Ask for input on any revisions that need to be made, especially from people in authority for the business the logo is being designed for. Also, consider how it would be used in a website as well as in print.
While it is important to ask for input, don’t stray too far from your creative principles. You want to follow proper design principles and you want the custom logo design to be something you’ll be proud to be linked to even if you aren’t a part of the business the logo is designed for.
Darin McGilvra
Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.
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Website Analysis: Why Is My Traffic So Low?
- Published on Wednesday, 10 April 2013 17:46
- Darin McGilvra
- 3 Comments
Website analysis can be a difficult process, but it is necessary when your website is not bringing in the traffic you were hoping for or even expecting. Analyzing your website can help you determine how to improve your results.
One of the first things that should be done is to just look through the website. Make sure the pages all come up quickly and don’t have any problems with any graphics or videos that don’t want to load. Also, ensure all the links to pages on the website all work.
Darin McGilvra
Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.
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Video Special Effects And Animation Easier With Union Of Software
- Published on Tuesday, 09 April 2013 20:21
- Darin McGilvra
- 5 Comments
Creating motion graphics and 3D effects for video and animation may have gotten a lot easier when Maxon and Adobe announced in early April 2013 that they were bringing together Cinema 4D and After Effects. This union of software will allow artists and animators to greatly speed up their workflows while working with 3D and special effects.
Cinema 4D is a 3D modeling, animation and rendering application that is capable of procedural and polygonal/subd modeling, animating, lighting, texturing, and rendering. After Effects is a digital motion graphics and compositing software package from Adobe.
The two have been used together in previous versions. You could import a creation made in Cinema 4D into After Effects. However, if you wanted to edit your creation, which happens often, you would have to edit it in Cinema 4D and then re-import it into After Effects. Because you would have to render the creation each time you edited it before importing it into After Effects, this could be quite the long process.
However, this process has been streamlined with the addition of Cineware. This software allows the Cinema 4D creations to be edited directly in After Effects, so you won’t need to import it after each edit. You can just drag and drop Cinema 4D creations right into After Effects and edit it right there.
This is most needed when a client decides to make changes on his order for a video. You can make changes quickly this way because you can render the Cinema 4D creation right in After Effects.
Even if you don’t have Cinema 4D on your computer, you can still take advantage of Cineware by using Cinema 4D Lite, which is a new software that comes free with After Effects. It allows users of After Effects to use 3D effects without purchasing another software package.
This will undoubtedly allow many artists and animators an opportunity to use and experiment with 3D effects without having to invest any money. It also will allow the use of various popular 3D exchange formats if you already use something other than Cinema 4D for your video creations.
It also will allow you to use Cinema 4D’s multi-pass system, which allows you to animate using multiple layers. You also can adjust your point of view using the camera tool in After Effects, or even adjust your view for each layer in Cinema 4D.
Another feature is pixel motion blur, which allows you to blur the image to create a sense of motion. Warp Stabilizer VFX will allow you to smooth the video of handheld footage, which tends to bounce around too much. You also can lock a shot automatically with it.
The main advantage to all of this is time. The time you save when using the software will allow you to put more time into being creative and putting your personal touch on the project. If you’ve fallen behind, you can catch up much more quickly than you could have done before Cinema 4D was introduced.
If you like Cinema 4D Lite but would like to have a more powerful software tool, you can easily upgrade to Cinema 4D. It won’t be free, but it could well be worth it depending on how much video graphics and animation you will be doing.
Darin McGilvra
Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.
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Web Design Tips For Beginners
- Published on Monday, 08 April 2013 22:18
- Darin McGilvra
- 2 Comments
Web design will continue to grow and evolve as it becomes more crucial for businesses and individuals to have their own websites. Becoming a Web designer is a safe occupation that you know will be around for years to come.
Getting started in the right direction so you can build a quality portfolio will help you stand out in a crowded industry.
Darin McGilvra
Darin McGilvra has been a professional writer since 1997. He currently writes about personal finances, information technology and sports for numerous websites, including mycashtime.com, mchelper.com, and Yahoo! Sports.
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