Photography Blog With a Magazine Design and Feel
I recently stumbled across the website of wedding photographer, Jasmine Star. I must say that Jasmine’s website is truly unique in that it is designed to reflect the look of an actual magazine. Normally, this sort of design endeavor would result in a usability disaster but Jasmine pulls it off very well. Her site is fairly easy to navigate and the look and feel of the pages and post design keep me pulled in and interested to read more.
Check it out here
http://www.jasminestarblog.com/
Digital Photo Tip: Sweep the Frame
Before you press the shutter release, quickly scan around the viewfinder for distractions – anything that doesn’t make your photograph stronger should be ruthlessly culled. Pay particular attention to out of focus highlights in a background – the sky showing through gaps in tree foliage is a classic example. Your viewers’ eye will be drawn to these.
Don’t be afraid to try and mask these with your subject or shift your viewpoint to cut them out altogether. Watch out for skies with no colour in them. A flat, greyed-out expanse can drain a picture of life. It’s often better to not feature the sky at all at such times. When taking pictures of people, animals or flowers, watch the position of the horizon – you don’t want to decapitate your subject with a soft horizon line or change in tone. Be prepared to drop or raise the position of the camera and angle it up or down to isolate your subject against a softer, more uniform backdrop.
Media Page, Media Kit – What Is the Difference?
Creating a presence for your company online and offline is vital to the success of your business. In order to make this happen, you need to use the right tools to get the job done. Media pages and media kits are very effective tools for promotion and marketing of your company, but first you need to understand the difference between a media kit and a media page.
In essence, the difference between a media page and a media kit is in the delivery. A media page is an online section of your website that includes important information about your company and products. A media kit contains much of the same information, but contains physical documents to be delivered or mailed to press, advertisers or investors.
Media Page
A media page will contain articles, files and images that directly relate to your company. On the page, you should have company information and history, bios of key figures in the company, and updated information and current news about your business. Including downloadable images of your company logo, brochures and product photos will also be useful for the members of the press that access the page, looking for information for an article or review.
Maintaining your media page is extremely important, as those who are seeking information on your company will generally visit your website to do their research. Be certain that everything on the site is up-to-date and that you include contact details for those who may need further information about your company and products.
Media Kits
A media kit will have essentially the same information as an online media page, but in a hard copy format. These information packets can be sent to the press, advertisers or potential investors, to give them ample information to create a story or make a business decision regarding your company. Some companies also include samples or other promotional items in their press kits.
As with a media page, time-sensitive information such as press releases and company bios should be updated on a regular basis. Media kits are most costly than maintaining a media page, as there are regular printing costs incurred with the creation and updating of the packets.
For many businesses, both of these tools can come into play in their marketing arsenal. One approach that is cost-effective for many businesses is to create a media page that includes documents that are in a format that is printable. They can then print copies of their media kit, as needed.
Having an easily accessible media page and media kit is extremely important to the success of your business. Be certain that yours is regularly updated and contains all relevant information that members of the media and others who might view the page will require.
Website Design Planning
Planning for web site development is critical in building and maintaining a sustainable and scalable web site. The planning process helps managers determine the goals and priorities of the web site, which ultimately aids the web designer in the site’s design and structure. Library web sites have enterprise wide implications, and managers soon realize that upgrades to the site affect many staff members in addition to the customers the site serves. For example, the addition of electronic books (e-books) requires the collection development department to select the titles, technical services to load the MARC records into the catalog, the marketing department to create promotional materials, the information technology department to create authentication for remote use, and staff and public trainers to educate users. Of course, the selection of an e-books vendor, format, delivery, and the allocation of funds would have to precede all of these.
Managers must realize that the more staff and departments they rely on to assist in web site development, the longer the process takes; however, each one is now a stakeholder in the process. Written goals and objectives help the web manager determine and secure the resources necessary to accomplish these goals.
Budgetary considerations include staffing, consulting fees, software, and hardware necessary to create and maintain the web site. The web site serves as a portal for customers to access collections and services of the library that must also be budgeted for. Additionally, marketing materials promoting the web site address and its ONE Planning Your Web Site contents. When all is said and done, the library’s web site may represent a substantial investment, in both financial and human resources.
The library web site is not only an entity unto itself with its own goals, but it can also be an instrumental part of helping other library departments achieve their goals. This may include supporting the goals of the collection development department, for example, in increasing the circulation of seldom-used materials or advertising the multilingual materials recently added to the collection.
Tools You can Use in Creating a Web 2.0 Design
Although Web 2.0 design is different from its predecessors, practically the same programs are still used in creating them. Newer versions of course have different features, but these programs remain essentially the same.
If you would like to create your own website designs, here are some tools that you will need.
- is probably the most ubiquitous graphics-editing software on the entire planet. It is used by amateurs, web designers and professional photographers alike. Since it was created in 1987 by Thomas Knoll, it has since become the market leader in the web design world.
2. GIMP
- is short for GNU Image Manipulation Program. It is a program used for graphics editing just like Photoshop. Although it is not considered as a clone of Photoshop, there has been a lot of comparison between the two. GIMP supports a lot of Photoshop’s files and performs a lot of tasks that Photoshop can also do. But their great difference? GIMP is for free and Photoshop is not.
- is a vector graphics editor than can be used in creating logos, typography and other images. Just like other programs of its kind, it allows images to be resized without degradation.
4. CorelDraw
- is another vector graphics editor that is widely used by graphic designers. It has been used by professionals since its release in 1989.
5. Adobe Flash
- is also a vector graphics editor but is more geared towards creating animated graphics. It can also be used in creating games and even entire websites.