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30 Great Holiday Gifts for The Designer and Developer In Your Lives

Its that time of year again. Time to buy those important holiday gifts for your loved ones or coworkers. As we all know, it is never easy to find the right gift for the designer or developer in your life. They are generally very hard to shop for since they speak a different language and sometimes live in a different world, but now you have more unique, fun and useful gifts than ever. Today lets take a look at 30 Great Holiday Gifts for The Designer and Developer In Your Lives:

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Quote of the Day

A good basic selling idea, involvement and relevancy, of course, are as important as ever, but in the advertising din of today, unless you make yourself noticed and believed, you ain’t got nothin’.  – Leo Burnett

LinkedIn Reveals the 10 Most Overused Job-Hunter Buzzwords

(mashable.com) – LinkedIn has just posted the 10 most overused, tired and trite buzzwords that get slapped onto resumes and professional profiles around the U.S. and 11 other countries. According to our LinkedIn profiles, a great many of us tend to describe ourselves as motivated team players with extensive experience. Ironically, “innovative” is the second-most clichéd word found in LinkedIn profiles. You’d think we’d be able to be more innovative with our vocabularies, no?

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Quote of the Day

Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent. –  Joe Sparano

Start Now to Reduce Holiday Stress

(Dawn Foster on gigaom.com ) – We’re right in the middle of the holiday season, when the stress starts to accumulate until it reaches a breaking point. Start taking steps today to make some positive changes that will help you manage our stress over the next two or three weeks.

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25 Creative & Innovative Ways To Use Twitter For Business

(Sally Walker on www.sallywalker.me.uk) – A lot of people ask me about Twitter and its use. “Surely it’s just a lot of ‘noise’” they say but there are so many creative and innovative ways you can use Twitter, especially for business.

With Twitter, to a certain degree, you have to think out of the box.  The term ‘micro-blogging’ does makes it sound a little clinical, but when you open your mind to the wonders of what it can do for you and your business, then you really get an idea of why Twitter must be part of your online business profile.

Here are a few ways of using Twitter for business.

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Quote of the Day

Far and away the best prize that life has to offer is the chance to work hard at work worth doing. – Theodore Roosevelt 

Debrief Yourself After a Job Interview

(Dave Johnson on bnet.com) – Statistics show that the average person has to weather a dozen interviews to get the job they want. All those meetings with HR and hiring managers aren’t just wasted effort, though — you can use the experiences to be better prepared for next time.

Specifically, The Wisdom Journal recommends that you thoroughly debrief yourself after each interview rejection. There are several key questions you should take the time to answer:

  • What did you learn from the interview?
  • Were you adequately prepared?
  • What could you have done or said better?
  • How can you be better prepared for the next interview?

Be honest, think about your performance objectively, and use your answers to improve your next interview. As Wisdom Journal points out:

Try to view your job candidacy from another perspective – the hiring manager’s. Would YOU hire yourself? Before you answer that – think about why you would hire yourself. Then make certain you mention those in your next interview. [via Lifehacker]

Quote of the Day

Find a job you like and you add five days to every week. – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

70+ Brilliant Examples Of Photo Manipulation Art

(Anders Ross on instantshift.com) – Throughout history, great designers always found new ways to show their creativity to express themselves and create new trends and techniques to remark their work apart from the rest of the crowd. Photo manipulation is an art in itself, that requires a skill and precision as we know, it is one of the most creative artforms to come out of the digital age.

This presentation shows an amazing collection of photo manipulation art related to nature, photography, objects, illustrations, HDR as well as some abstract and fantasy-related concepts. Hopefully, everybody will find something interesting to ignite their creativity.

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The 10 Most Innovative Viral Video Ads of 2010

(Josh Warner on mashable.com) – Everybody loves viral videos. That’s why they’re “viral.” Ad agencies have been trying, in their own way, to replicate the success of viral videos to help their campaigns get exposure and new fans. While some may miss the mark, there are some truly great and innovative viral video ads out there.

For this year’s top innovative viral video ads, advertisers and ad agencies split their goodness between web specific videos and great TV ads that did well online. Regardless of origin, the top 10 videos share several traits worth noting. Every creator knows his or her audience well and what executions appeal to them most. The videos are also inclusive in tone, making you feel like you’re a part of the brand’s message and experience.

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A Complete Strategy to Write Valuable Content

(Daniel Pintilie on instantshift.com) – Every online presence has as a main purpose to be visited by an increased number of visitors or clients. The most important traffic source is represented by the search engines; there is a huge difference, in terms of potential surfers, between a position on the first page and a position on the second page. It is more than obvious that a product, a company or a website that is situated on a top position when someone performs a search is more reliable and fits better to your requirements.

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Quote of the Day

“Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” -Steve Jobs, 2003

7 Tips for Succeeding as a Social Media Strategist



(Erica Swallow on mashable.com) – The role of social media is expanding rapidly and many organizations of all types are trying to stay afloat amidst the changes. Meanwhile, a small group of innovators pulls the industry onward.

In the past few years, the social media marketing role has become increasingly present, leading the way to more strategic social media programs. Enter the social media strategist.

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Get Creative with Your Resume

(Cameron Chapman on instantshift.com) – With the current economy, it’s important for job-seekers to stand out if they want to land a job, whether that’s in the corporate world or a freelance gig. The good news is that if you’re a creative-type, there’s a ton you can do with your resume that will set you apart.

The key in creating a great resume is to make it unique. Your resume should reflect you: your skills, your personality, and your experience. Combining those in a way that will catch the eye of whoever is in charge of hiring is what this article will teach you!

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Beauty Matters

(Mark Cook on aiga.org) – I recently acquired a bottle of Method hand soap. I spent two dollars more than I would have on the generic brand—why?—because I liked it. I liked the bottle shape, the minimalist design aesthetic, the embossed brand mark, the color palette. The fact that Method produces a responsibly made product was a perk, but (please don’t judge me) this wasn’t the foremost factor in my decision to make the purchase. I simply wanted something I liked. As you might have guessed, this decision was driven primarily by formal design considerations.

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15 Ways to Enjoy Freelancing

(Yanuar Prisantoso on instantshift.com) – Freelancers are always in search of some work, so that they can earn something by rendering their services to people from the comforts of their home. Most of us read a lot about productivity, marketing, pricing, customer service, and these aspects of business are all important. But it’s also important to enjoy the work that you do.

Being a freelancer is a great opportunity that allows you to shape and customize your ideal work style. Here is a look at some things you can do to help make your work more enjoyable.

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Beyond Viral: How Successful Marketers Are Embracing the Social Web

(Matthew Latkiewicz on mashable.com) – Just as early television shows were essentially radio plays shot on film, the earliest attempts by online marketers mimicked the worlds of television and print. While banner ads and pre-roll commercials are still with us, of course, a new generation of marketing professionals and companies are exploring techniques more native to the web: multi-platform marketing campaigns that encourage interactivity.

Marketers who take advantage of the Internet’s unique capabilities have the potential to build increasingly engaged customer communities. Here’s a look at three major trends.

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Interview Questions

(Alison Doyle on About.com) – What are you going to say when a hiring manager asks Tell me about yourself? or Why were you fired? – do you have an answer ready? If not, you should. In fact, you should be ready to answer most of the typical interview questions you’ll be asked.

Taking the time to prepare answers will save you from fumbling around trying to figure out what to say, and will prevent that awkward moment or two of silence while you try and gather your thoughts.

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The Road to Know Where: Design for Navigation

(Phil Patton on www.aiga.org) – Dragons have begun to appear on our dashboards and sea serpents on our mobile devices. The screens of our navigation units have very quietly, almost without our noticing, begun to acquire decorations like those of ancient maps: fictional elements, like the monsters than once warned sailors against traveling too far, the full-cheeked mythological figures of winds, the elaborate florid geometry of the compass rose.

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