NAPP is in Orlando
I'm in Madison, but thats ok cause I've got twitter! Here is the top news so far.

Photoshop CS5 out April 12 2010!
They are not giving out much info but here is a sneek peak at the Content Aware Fill



"One of the biggest requests we get of Photoshop is to make adding, removing, moving or repairing items faster and more seamless. From retouching to completely reimagining an image, heres an early glimpse of what could happen in the future when you press the delete key. How might you use this new capability in your workflow?"

Sweet! Now if your like me and didn't get a chance to make it to Photoshop World in Orlando you can follow along on Twitter #PSW or #NAPP_News. Still want more? Check out www.photoshopworld.com/

xx joy

Music and Premedia For me music and art go hand in hand. Music facilitates the creative process. So why would that be any different in premedia services? In my daily gig as a pixel pusher, color manipulation and retouching are my creative outlets and music helps my stylus dance across the tablet. Ok maybe that is taking it a bit far... enjoy the show xx joy

Music Playlist at MixPod.com

Photo Selection
The key to successful faux tilt shift in Photoshop is photo selection. A shot that is looking down onto a street scene is going to give you the most realistic look and feel. Keep in mind that tilt shift photography is used to give the impression of a miniature model so the vantage point of your shot is key. You can use this in a photo composition or as a fun stand alone image. The posibilities are endless.





The Moves
In quick mask mode (Q) using your gradient tool (G) set to Reflected, drag a vertical line in an area that you want to keep the main focus of the image. We will use this mask to create our lens blur.

Now exit quick mask and go to Filter - Blur - Lens Blur. The default settings usually give you just what you need, but if you're like me then you'll want to play around and see what else it can do, so go ahead and play. When you've got a blur that you are happy with click ok.

A little bit of Color Manipulation
Now deselect and lets make a few color moves to really bring it home.






A miniature model is painted and plastic so adding a hue/sat move and a contrast curve will help to make your faux shot more believable.

The Result
A new take on a plain old street shot! Now go make one and have some fun!



xx joy

"Keep close to Nature's heart... and break clear away, once in awhile, and climb a mountain or spend a week in the woods. Wash your spirit clean." - John Muir

All About Curves
Using curves in Photoshop CS4 for prepress production can be intimidating to newbies so here are a few tips to help make color manipulation with curves a more enjoyable experience.

Display Options for Curves
If a Curves Adjustment layer is targeted in the Layers panel, selecting the flyout on the Adjustments panel reveals the "Curves Display Options". Here, you can choose to show your numeric values on a scale from 0-255 (light) or 0-100% (ink), Channel Overlays, Histogram, Baseline and Intersection Line.

Adding a Point on a Curve
With the On-image tool selected on the Curves Adjustments panel (that's the one that looks like the hand with the up/down arrow), hovering the cursor in the image area will display a preview circle (bouncing ball) over the corresponding value on the curve.
• Click in the image area to add a point to the curve.
• Click and drag up/down in the image area to add a point on the curve to lighten/darken the targeted value or
• Use the up / down or left/right arrows to move the selected point. (Add the shift key to move it in larger increments.)

Selecting Points on a Curve
With the On-image tool selected on the Curves Adjustments panel, Shift + (plus) will select the next point on the curve and Shift + (minus) will select the previous point.  Shift -click multiple points on the curve to select more than one and move them all at once. Command + D will deselect all selected points.



Deleting Points on a Curve
To delete a point on a curve, select the point and do any of the following:
• Press Delete/Backspace
• Command + click on point (on the panel or from the image area)
• Click and drag the point off of the grid

Curves Grid Preference
In the Adjustments Panel, Option-click in the grid area to toggle more/less grid lines. (10% vs quarter-tone increment)

Adding Color Samplers in Curves
When the Curves Adjustments panel is active, shift-click in the image area to set a Color Sampler. Shift -drag to reposition the Color sampler. Option + Shift-click on sampler to delete it.

Hope these tips help you to gain photoshop enlightenment. Using curves for color manipulation is one of the best ways to control color in your images. An even better way is with camera raws non-destructive color manipulation! Does it get better than this? I think not.

xxjoy

It might not be headline news anymore and the light of the cameras has started to fade, but the need for help is still a reality. A few weeks back everyone at Widen received an email from Reed Widen, our President and Chairman of the Board for Widen Enterprises. The email was about the relief efforts that the What If? Foundation was undertaking to make sure that the people and children of Haiti were getting the help they needed in a time of disaster. They still need help.  Below is an excerpt from the What If? Foundation website.

Earthquake Relief from What If? Foundation

For ten years, we’ve been in partnership with members of the St. Clare’s community in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to provide desperately needed meals to children (and adults whenever possible). Over the years, through incredibly difficult times – an economic embargo, coup d’etat, and hurricanes – the meals have kept flowing.  We received word on Friday, January 15th, that the courageous and devoted cooks and community leaders we work with are safe and that the rectory building where the food program takes place did not collapse.

LATEST UPDATE

Posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Dear Friends,

I’m writing to share with you a link to some extraordinary photos.  They were taken by photojournalist René Merino during his recent trip to Port-au-Prince.  René visited the food program at St. Clare’s, so be sure to look for these pictures towards the bottom of the page.  Click here to go to his photo website.

It’s hard to believe the month of March has arrived and that seven weeks have passed since the January 12th earthquake in Haiti.

I am excited to let you know that our partners at St. Clare’s just launched a special education program for children that takes place every afternoon before the food program meals are served.  With schools closed in Port-au-Prince and no date set for their reopening, this two-hour gathering is treasured by the hundreds of kids who attend.  Members of the education staff are teaching the children songs, providing materials for arts and crafts, and leading group discussions.  Lavarice Gaudin, our earthquake relief coordinator, told me the teachers choose one subject a day to explore with the children.  Topics have included the earthquake and related fears, courage, service to others, life skills and values.  The history of the food program is also shared as Lavarice feels it’s important for the children to know where the meals come from and who is involved in making them happen.  That includes all of you who provide the funding through the What If? Foundation and the extraordinary cooks who work many hours/day in the rectory kitchen.

I continue to be inspired by the vision, resilience, and faith of our partners in Port-au-Prince.  With everything they’ve been through since the earthquake, they have doubled the size of the food program, created educational opportunities to keep students engaged, and have provided an environment of healing, hope, and progress.

Piti piti na rive!  Little by little we will arrive,

Margaret Trost

If you would like more information on the What If? Foundation and their efforts please visit http://whatiffoundation.org/

xx joy

What happends when a production artist has down time? Well, we have fun with Photoshop of course! Enjoy this little movie I made just for the heck of it!




xx joy

Create a Luminosity Selection
Starting with a self portrait I created at the Armstrong Redwoods in the Russian River Valley of California. I wanted to add a bit of detail to the highlights and add density at the same time. Here's how I did it!



Loading Luminosity
Cmd + Opt (Mac) / Ctrl + Alt (Win) + 2 loads the luminosity of an image as a selection. This can then be used for a variety of manipulations such as adjusting color or building density.



Command + J will make a new layer out of your luminosity selection. Then I toggled thru the layer modes (do this by hitting V (for move tool) then use the shift and +). I really liked the way multiply adds density and detail to the highlights.

The Result
A lovely image with just the right amount of depth and movement.



xx joy

A Few Tips to Make Life Easier



Production artists face many challenges throughout a day. Maybe you need to clone grass from one document to another or quickly shift between brushes and sizes.

All of this can be done super simply with your keyboard, stylus, or mouse. Try these tips to make your life easier!


Resizing Brushes

Tapping the left and right brackets to increase / decrease your brush size is so last year. Try using the new Drag-resize brush cursor keyboard shortcut in Photoshop CS4 to make changes to the brush size. Ctrl + Option (Mac) / alt + right click (win) -drag will increase/decrease brush size. Add the Cmd (Mac) /shift (Win) to change hardness.


Changing Brush Opacity

To change the opacity of a painting tool, use the number keys on the keyboard. Tapping one number assigns the percentage of the hit number (1 = 10%, 2= 20% etc. and 0 = 100%). Hitting two numbers quickly will give you that exact amount (5 + 4 = 54%). Note: If you have a tool selected that is not a painting tool, these shortcuts will affect the Opacity on the Layers panel.


Heal and Clone Between Documents

You can use the Healing brush and Clone Stamp tools between two open documents: Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click in the source document and then clone in the destination document.


Heal and Clone Stamp to Multiple Layers

For added flexibility, use the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to clone to blank layers by checking Sample "All Layers" in the Options bar. In addition, you can choose to Sample the "Current & Below" layers. This can be extremely helpful when cloning image layers and adjustment layer information simultaneously.


One More Tip

I recently became a fan of Adobe Photoshop on Facebook and you should too! They post fun stuff and everyone gets involved. From "What's Your Favorite Shortcut" to some interesting posts from NAPP!

Happy Photoshopping!!
xx joy

Photo Composition Tips

If you work in prepress production you are going to have to create a photo composition sooner or later. So I thought I would give you a few tips on how to make two images become one.

Even Lighting and High Quality Masks

It takes a bit of artistic know how and a dash of creativity to pull off a quality photo composition. This first thing I do is bring the two images into the same document. Now compare the lighting, tone, and "style". The final look might be directed to you from an art director, client, or it might come from your own artistic style.

Dancing in the Street

In my example image I used a stock street scene and a model shot taken in my studio. I wanted the final image to look like the model was dancing in the street. On the model I added more hair, tattoos, make-up, a grounding shadow, some light rays in her new hair, and then to achieve a grunge look I added contrast, noise, and desaturated her slightly. 

A High Contrast Background

For the street scene I added lens flare, highlights via a white layer set to overlay, noise and a simple S curve for contrast.

Bring it All Together!

Placement was key as was the grounding shadow for the model. Get these two things wrong and the final comp will just look like a great big cut and paste project. The key is to make it look like you photographed her right there on that street! So how did I do?

Have you made any photo comps that you just HAVE to share? Send me a link or a tweet (@PremediaArts) I 'd love to see what your creating!

xx joy

Inspiration is Key!

Whether you work as a creative mind, marketing, sales, inspiration is key!

Not getting enough inspiration?

What about... The great outdoors? A good book? Maybe your favorite music inspires greatness in you.... How about a road trip??

Here is a quick list of people, places, and things that inspire me to be me. Follow me on twitter @PremediaArts and let me know what inspires you.

Anthropolgie has a great blog and is a perfect place to start on our inspirational journey. They ask a simple question. What is Inspiration? and then try to define it... good stuff... go ahead click and see for yourselves.

The entry from David Eustace "IN SEARCH OF EUSTACE" is amazing and brought tears to my eyes. Maybe its because I just returned from traveling with my daughter and husband and long for life on the road maybe its just the idea of reconnecting with ones we love... either way it is truly inspirational.

http://theanthropologist.net

Now that I've gotten that out of my system. Lets take a look at something a bit more corporate in nature.

AIGA
www.aiga.org

American Institute of Graphic Arts has an inspiring and informative web presence that can help you take your skills and career to new heights. I like to visit my local chapter site (http://wisconsin.aiga.org) at least once a week to find out about upcoming events and see member portfolios. Need a job? Find you local aiga and check out the recent job postings! Sweet. You can also follow you chapter on twitter or friend them on facebook.

I'd follow you anywhere!

Some of my favorite tweeters to follow...

@Lowepro 
Name: Derrick Story
Location: Sebastopol, CA
Bio: I'm the Photography Evangelist for Lowepro and have lots to share.

@SusanAkaSARK
Name: SARK
Location: San Francisco, CA
Bio: SARK is a best-selling author & artist, with over 15 titles in print and well over 2 million books sold.

@NAPP_news
Name: Photoshop User
Location: Worldwide
Bio: We are the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (led by Scott Kelby), the leading world-wide resource for Photoshop training.

One of the lists I follow is @GOOD/photographers - a list of photographers they have worked with and a blog... cool!

Well that's my list... I am inspired to make music, make art, and live life on the road... ok so maybe life on the road is not realistic but it is inspirational and inspiration is not about reality its about what defies reality.

Now i leave you with a photo.... inspired yet?

Happy 2010!

Let's take a look at what Camera Raw can do for your digital assets. Search around on your digital asset library or corporate image library and maybe you'll find a few lost images. This super simple tequnique will help you bring new life to these lost treasures.
 

I love a vignette... and really who doesn't? Ok, well not everyone and thats fine. Art is meant to be subjective. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I find beauty in imperfections. I love grain, rusty metal, scratches, etc... the list is long but you get the idea. 

I thought for the new year I would create a quick little art piece out of a photo I took back in November.



I started out in camera raw and clicked Auto. Don't be scared! The Auto button today is fantastic!  Well ok maybe not fantastic, but its pretty darn great.



Then I boosted the clarity (a note on clarity: this is an amazing little slider... it can give your wedding photography the look of misty far of romance and then swing it the other way for hard grainy hi pass grunge all in about FIVE SECONDS!) You must try it! Now add a bit in the vibrance then over to the vignette tab...



ohhh ahhh  oooo LOVE the vignette feature in camera raw!  Makes quick work of getting that  old school feel...

Next open to Photoshop and tweek tweek tweek... I added a bit more sharpening and some more contrast... then its all done! What did that take like 10 minutes tops! Here's the final look... SWEET!




A look at 2010

Lets make fabulous images for the world to see! Images that inspire greatness in others. Not an easy assignment but we can make it happen.... Here's my first shot of 2010. My hubby in the woods wearing the winter crown he made with our daughter.





xoxo
Joy


 

Color Retouching for Catalog Production Services



Production artists face many challanges throuout a day. Maybe you need to clone grass from one document to another or quickly shift between brushes and sizes.

All of this can be done super simply with your keyboard, stylus, or mouse. Try these tips to make your life easier!


Resizing Brushes

Tapping the left and right brackets to increase / decrease your brush size is so last year. Try using the new Drag-resize brush cursor keyboard shortcut in Photoshop CS4 to make changes to the brush size. Ctrl + Option (Mac) / alt + right click (win) -drag will increase/decrease brush size. Add the Cmd (Mac) /shift (Win) to change hardness.


Changing Brush Opacity

To change the opacity of a painting tool, use the number keys on the keyboard. Tapping one number assigns the percentage of the hit number (1 = 10%, 2= 20% etc. and 0 = 100%). Hitting two numbers quickly will give you that exact amount (5 + 4 = 54%). Note: If you have a tool selected that is not a painting tool, these shortcuts will affect the Opacity on the Layers panel.


Heal and Clone Between Documents

You can use the Healing brush and Clone Stamp tools between two open documents: Option (Mac) / Alt (Win) -click in the source document and then clone in the destination document.


Heal and Clone Stamp to Multiple Layers

For added flexibility, use the Healing Brush and Clone Stamp tools to clone to blank layers by checking Sample "All Layers" in the Options bar. In addition, you can choose to Sample the "Current & Below" layers. This can be extremely helpful when cloning image layers and adjustment layer information simultaneously.


One More Tip

I recently became a fan of Adobe Photoshop on Facebook and you should too! They post fun stuff and everyone gets involved. From "Whta's Your Favorite Shortcut" to some interesting posts from NAPP!

Happy Photoshopping!!
xx joy

Using creative software applications like Photoshop for creating social media graphics is super fun, or maybe I just need to get out more. Anyway here is what I've been up to...

I am using Twitter, Facebook, and WordPress more and more on a daily basis. So its time for an upgrade! I like change... changing images, changing my style, spare change... its all good. But most importantly keeping things fresh in the world of Social Media is uber important.



For one, it keeps folks interested in coming back for more, and that's the point right? So in keeping with the spirit of change I have created a new twitter background. And I am going to share with you the steps I took to get to the final result.  Let's play. (You can refer to my post Creating a Photo Composition for Social Media for all the bits and pieces on how to create a Twitter background.)

A Photoshop Trick

My photoshop trick for you on this one is how I made the text look like its painted on the background. It very easy, some key points to keep in mind. Chose your font wisely. For my apothecary inspired theme I used Penshurst, because it has a swirly almost handwritten quality. Once you pound out your text, dupe the layer and now change the layer mode of the bottom text layer to overlay and the top text layer to soft light. And there you have it. Now repeat the steps of all of the info you want or need to add to you background.
A photo composition, a little color manipulation, some retouching and voilà a brand spanking new twitter background. Now follow me over to Twitter to see my page in action... @PremediaArts

Tweet me when you create a fabulous new background for your twitter page and maybe you'll end up on my blog...

xx joy

Hello All... Sorry its been so long since my last post but we are on fire! Lots of premedia work here at Widen to get done so the blog got put on the back burner.


Here is a little collection of my favorite websites for designers, artists, photographers, or those of you who just love photoshop and want to take your creations to the next level!


Photoshop - Creative Software

http://www.marcofolio.net/photoshop/ultimate_photoshop_design_resources.html
http://sixrevisions.com/photoshop/50-free-photoshop-brush-sets-for-modern-design-trends/
http://www.noupe.com/photoshop/1000-free-high-resolution-photoshop-brush-sets.html
http://www.tutorialmagazine.com/33-best-photoshop-tutorials-of-april-2009


Fonts can add that extra sparkle to your promotional materials:

http://www.letterheadfonts.com/fonts/alpha/A.php

Free Stock Sites add depth to your digital image library

http://freestocktextures.com/
http://www.sxc.hu/ - I got the fantastic shot of the fire dancer above from this site! Thx Sue Pizarro of Thailand.

Just for Fun!!

http://www.sumo.fi/products/sumopaint/
http://www.more-thing.com/iphone-3g.html
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw7ko8emxa8

iPhone photo of the week
I am going to attempt to add a new iPhone photo every week, so here is numero uno!



iPhone photos are popping up everywhere from the New York Times to postcards! You can say "Wish You Were Here" with your own fabulous iPhone picture!

Check out some of these iPhone links...

http://bit.ly/napAG - my personal iPhone gallery
http://themoment.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/geek-chic-iphone-postcard-apps/
http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2009/04/iphone-photo-of-week.html

Have fun with these sites... because if you're not having fun, what's the point?
Comments are always welcomed. Send me some of your fav sites and don't forget the tweets baby! twitter.com/premediaarts

xx joy

Ahh Edward....

My recent obsession with the Twilight series got me to thinking... Just how did Richard Kidd and Catalyst Media add all that sparkle? Well, they have a whole mess of creative software to work with and I just have Photoshop. So here it goes.. I hope you like "my Edward" "sparkling as if encrusted by diamonds, yet is smooth like marble.." thanks Stephanie Meyer for the inspiration!



Here are the steps...

I started with a nice sunny shot of "My Edward"... you gotta have sun for the vampire to sparkle... then I made a quick mask selection of the highlights, refining when needed, we don't need to add sparkle to the meadow... so just the skin will do. I placed that on its own layer and started adding effects.

The Effects

Effect number one was a layer style... I used Pattern Overlay... Dirt. I then created a layer of that, made a few curve adjustments to get the right tone and hue and duplicated it. On the dup I added a Radial Blur on zoom at about 16. I placed the blurred layer under the first effect layer so I still had detail. I also changed my layer mode, on the first effect layer to lighten, that seems to add just the right amount of glow.

Next, I had to add some multi-faceted sparkling to the texture... so I made a bunch of tiny little rainbows and some bling using different brushes on its own layer and turned back the opacity to about 81%.

Lastly, I added some noise to the first texture layer, I used monochromatic gaussian at about 5-8 %. I also darkened the surrounding meadow area so the effects would really stand out.

All in all, I used a bit of color retouching, mixed with some color manipulation and ended up with something that could be used as promotional materials for my own little vampire story... that is if it wasn't already beign done by someone else... LOL

I had fun, hope you did too!

I hope you enjoyed this little tutorial. I know it's a bit advanced... sorry about that... I guess it was more of a self challenge to see if I could really get "my Edward" to shine! I'd love to hear your thoughts or questions... especially you Twilighters out there... how did I do?

Ciao
Joy

What in the world does bowling have to do with color retouching, photo composition, and prepress production?

Widen employees love bowling... leagues, parties or just for fun. Most of the cats and kittens here at Widen love spinning the apple down the alley. Believe it or not some of them are pretty good at it too. So this blog is dedicated to all of my bowling buddies out there, you know who you are.

A really good friend of mine and a wonderful photographer, Chris Pan Abby, has graciously given me permission to use her photo of Marilyn, a beautiful pink bowling ball.




Create Photo Compositions for Premedia

I got to thinking about all those bowling ball manufactures out there like, 900 Global, Banger, Brunswick, Columbia300, Dynothane, Ebonite, Hammer, Lane #1, Legends, Roto-Grip, Storm, Track, and Visionary to name a few. They create awesome graphics for bowling balls. So I thought I would give it a go in photoshop and add some special touches.

The Steps

First thing I did was clean up the ball and put the engraved graphics on their own layer. Now its time for a background, I'm thinking a beautiful sky and an old school BOWL sign. I could go out and scour the country side for the prefect shot, but who has time for that? Instead I'l go to my favorite stock photo site stock.xchng. If you haven't heard of stock.xchng click the link above and go there now. Its a FREE stock photo site. I searched and found the perfect shot by Sasha Davas from Australia.



Now its time to take the 2 photos and make them into one smooth rollin graphic.




The tail was added using a radial blur method, similar to the one I used to create light rays in a previous blog. Then I transformed the tail warpping it until it looked like a nice swoop form the sky. After lots of masking and fading I was able to achieve a comet like tail for my bowling ball. Now its time for a little fun by adding different graphics to the ball...



Hope you enjoyed this post I sure I had fun creating this image!
See you at the lanes!

-Joy

A new iPhone of my Very Own   

I finally did it! I reserved myself a brand spankin' new 3Gs iPhone to be picked up this Friday at my friendly local Apple Store. So, naturally, I started thinking about premedia and my life in prepress and color retouching... I wonder what types of iPhone creative software apps are out there for a design addict like myself??

Here's the rundown so far...

WhatTheFont

WhatTheFont allows you to identify the fonts in a photo or web graphic!

Ever seen a great font in a magazine ad, poster, or on the web and wondered what font it is? Whip out your iPhone and snap a photo, and WhatTheFont for iPhone will identify that font in seconds! ...Instant gratification!

iPod touch users — you may not have a camera, but you can still get in on the action! WhatTheFont for iPhone will identify fonts in images saved from apps such as Safari and Mail.

Price: FREE
Color Expert contains powerful tools to help artists and designers identify, translate, capture and showcase color.

This has got to be one of the best finds for me so far. When it comes to corporate branding, premedia services, and design you just never know when inspiration will strike!

Look down. See the color of that pomegranate in your cart? Go get it. It'd be perfect for the project you've been working on. Whip out Color Expert and it tells you that shade is PANTONE® solid coated PANTONE 220 C. The interactive color wheel then finds the perfect color schemes and palettes to match. Now, email that color scheme to your friends or clients. But, you might not want to tell them you're still in the check-out line.

Price: $9.99

Now for the photogs out there... don't worry you too are taken care of when it comes to the iPhone.

We all love gadgets right? That's why we do what we do. Here is another tool to help you get the best shot ever! iPhone app prices are low -- about $1.99 on average -- yet they can turn your iPhone into one of the best assistants you've ever used. Jennifer Wills has a great article featuring all of the great apps for photographers!

Check out this article by Jennifer Wills for CreativePro.com


I'll post an update on how these apps and other goodies i find for my iPhone work as soon as its in my hot little hands!

Cheers,
Joy

Instant Gratification

I have been doing a ton of reading on social media marketing, digital media and corporate branding and the best ways to get it all out there in this crazy ever-changing world of instant gratification using twitter, blogs, and RSS feeds, etc. With the success of iPhones, the sky's the limit!



So the wonderful world of Wikipedia defines Social Media as content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content.

Social media has become extremely popular because it allows people to connect in the online world to form relationships for personal and business. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).  YAWN!!

Now in the immortal words of Chris Brogan its time to "Share, share, share!"

What makes a blog post something worthy of links? What makes a blog post something that people will send around to their friends? If you’re looking to find some kind of value and impact in your blog as a communication tool, it might be useful to know what makes a post share-able, versus those posts that people read and forget.

Some notable ideas from Chris's original post:
    1.    It starts with a picture that captures your eye.
    2.    No. It starts with a title that makes you pay attention.
    3.    It’s written in a human voice, and not corporate-ese.
    4.    You write in small words where possible. Remember: eschew obfuscation.
    5.    You use links out to resources liberally. Share, share, share.
    6.    Writing list posts never dies. Wish it weren’t true, but my top posts are lists. Always.


I gotta give it to him he's got some great ideas. (see Chris's original post)


My Two Cents...

Please don't use places like Twitter and Facebook, to name a few, as a dumping ground for every blog post you write. Try MyBogLog or something of that nature instead. Social Media spaces are made for communication... plain and simple. With that said, I don't think you'll get blocked by your followers for the occasional tweet about your best blog ever!

How does all this relate to Premedia Arts?

In the field of prepress services, color retouching and brand recognition it can be huge! Or hugely devastating!  Is print dead? The eternal question I am always pondering. Print as an art form will always be around, we are a tactile society after all. However, marketing a new brand or product?? Got a big sale coming up?? Stop sending me junk mail about it and tweet it, blog it and share it with the world!

What are your thoughts? Do you think print is dead? How do you use Social Media to your advantage in the world of prepress, design, or marketing? Is your blog share worthy?

Ciao
Joy