How to get a Job in Advertising, PR, or Just About Anything Else
Hey job seekers! Check out this presentation created by Larry Asher, founder of The School of Visual Concept in Seattle Washington.
Do you have your own blog? Thinking of starting one?
(instantshift.com) – 23 Good Habits of Successful Bloggers
I’m sure all bloggers wonder, “How did others make it to the top? If only someone would share the secrets of becoming a popular blogger.”
Summing up and categorizing the good and bad habits of highly effective bloggers could be frustrating; you might begin to see that some successful bloggers have certain behaviors in common, while others absolutely don’t. What does it take, then, to become a popular blogger, to be accepted, trusted and followed by many? I’ve discovered some interesting similarities among the successful bloggers who I follow. Some traits are common, some unique.
To become a successful blogger, open yourself to your readers as well. Treat them with the same respect and honesty that you would give to your friends and clients.
Read the full article here!
Quote of the Day
“The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.”
~ Oscar Wilde
Letters of Recommendation
(about.com) – What job seekers and employees need to know about references, including information on reference and recommendation letters, sample letters of recommendation and reference lists, how to ask for a reference, and how to use references. There is also information on what reference checkers can ask about you and what previous employers can disclose.
Read the full article here!
Roundup of 40 of The Best Photoshop Tutorials from 2010
(designtutorials4u.com) – 2010 was a banner year for Photoshop, with the release of CS5 and countless amazing tutorials to help us all improve our skills. As we all know Photoshop is probably one of the most sought after and indispensable pieces of software in a designer’s skill set. It can be used for just about anything, including designing for the web, icons, posters and retouching. Since we all have new years resolutions, lets make one of them improving our skills and to learn new tip, tricks and methods in design.
Read the full article here!
Get organized with these free planners!
It’s time for a fresh start! Seize the New Year and streamline your calendar. We stumbled across this great resource; several free and quite unique planners are available for download. Definitely worth checking out!
Quote of the Day
“Being busy does not always mean real work. The object of all work is production or accomplishment and to either of these ends there must be forethought, system, planning, intelligence, and honest purpose, as well as perspiration. Seeming to do is not doing.”
~ Thomas A. Edison
Has Sharing Gone Out of Bounds?
(www.aiga.org) – Designers like to share. If we were honest, many of us would admit we also love to brag. Sometimes a tool comes along that enables us to do both simultaneously. Brilliant.
What is Dribbble? You likely have a Dribbble account, are desperate for an invitation, or have elected to turn a deaf ear to the latest online-community-sharing-feedback-design-tool. If you use Twitter, you have almost certainly had a “sweet shot”—a screenshot in Dribbble’s basketball-themed parlance—come through your stream.
Read the full article here!
Top 10 Ways to Upgrade Your Morning Routine
Never feel like there’s enough time in the morning? Find yourself struggling to get up or into work mode? We know the feeling. Try out these tips on waking up, getting energized, and getting things done in the early hours.
Quote of the Day
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” ~Salvador Dalí
Hate PowerPoint? Here Are 5 Web-based Alternatives
(www.readwriteweb.com) – Whether they’re for clients, customers or colleagues, visual presentations are an unavoidable part of doing business. For years, Microsoft PowerPoint has been the standard bearer of slide presentation applications, but several Web-based alternatives have emerged.
For the most part, the alternatives offer similar functionality to PowerPoint, sometimes more, sometimes less. One obvious advantage to Web-based presentations is that they’re stored in the cloud, eliminating the potential for nightmare scenarios involving lost or corrupted thumb drives.
Check out more here!
HOW TO: Create Custom QR Codes for Your Digital Life
(mashable.com) – Quick Pitch: JumpScan provides a custom “all-in-one” QR code to link your physical and digital world.
Genius Idea: QR codes have been all the rage this year for big brands, and now ordinary consumers and small businesses can get in on the fun, too. JumpScan lets users create customized QR codes that combine all your contact information, including social media profiles, for on-the-go sharing. Think of it as a QR-powered iteration of Flavors.me or About.me especially intended for mobile phones.
Read the full article here!
Attention Seattle Smarties!
“Seattle GiveCamp happening Jan 14-16, 2011 – NEED YOUR HELP!”
Seattle GiveCamp is a weekend-long event where technology professionals from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists donate their time to provide solutions for non-profit organizations.
If you know a charity or non-profit that needs a new website? Or needs help to escape those Excel spreadsheets and get a real donor database? Or trying to figure out how to build their social media presence?
…if so, then please let your favorite local charity know about National GiveCamp happening early next year!
Also if you are a designer, web developer, database administrators, marketer, web strategists, or something in between or all of the above PLEASE join the Seattle GiveCamp’s team – all you need to do is apply.
Charities apply here: http://bit.ly/gaw7qi
Volunteers apply here: http://bit.ly/dGepKs
50 Startup Logos from 2010
(blog.designcrowd.com) – Startups have flourished in 2010. The last 12 months have yielded some fantastic success stories. Groupon is a standout and is currently receiving a lot of attention, buzz and press. Some believe the latest wave of start-ups are driving a dot-com recovery. Either way, as designers, it is interesting to reflect and see what design trends and styles are used by some of the world’s newest and most innovative companies.
Below are 50 logos for tech start-ups that were launched in 2010 or that came to prominence in 2010. We’ve categorized them into 3 groups: “The Good”, “The Average” and “The Ugly”.
Read the full article here!
Quote of the Day
“You just have to keep trying to do good work, and hope that it leads to more good work. I want to look back on my career and be proud of the work, and be proud that I tried everything. Yes, I want to look back and know that I was terrible at a variety of things.”
~ Jon Stewart
Jobless claims drop below 400,000 mark
(CNNMoney.com) — For the first time in more than two years, the number of Americans filing for their first week of unemployment benefits fell below 400,000 last week — a ray of hope in the one of the longest job droughts in U.S. history.
The number of initial claims fell to 388,000 in the week ended Dec. 25, down 34,000 from the week before, the Labor Department said Thursday.
Read the full article here!
Momentum: The Key to Making Your Big Ideas Happen in 2011
(www.openforum.com) – According to Newton’s First Law of Motion, the tendency of a body in motion is to keep moving; the tendency of a body at rest is to sit still. In other words, it’s a lot less work to keep moving once you have some momentum, than it is to start moving from a dead stop.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a marathon or running a business – momentum is key. If we can take small steps to execute our big, bold business objectives every day in 2011, it will be infinitely easier to stay focused, make great strides, and blast through the roadblocks that inevitably come up.
Read the full article here!
3 Business Tools to Spice Up Boring Work Tasks
(mashable.com) – The small business professional’s workday can be both tedious and mundane when it comes to necessary daily, weekly and monthly tasks that feel more like chores than accomplishments.
Presentations for meetings or keynotes can take hours, if not days, to perfect. Building dynamic accounting reports is a labor of love (or heartbreak), and everyone dreads monthly must-complete expense reports.
While there’s no escaping these unfortunate tasks, newer web and mobile applications, like Prezi, inDinero and Expensify, make the time spent doing them much less arduous, and in the end, you might be infinitely more pleased with the results.
Read the full article here!
Quote of the Day
The designer is a visually literate person, just as an editor is expected by training and inclination to be versed in language and literature, but to call the former an artist by occupation is as absurd as to refer to the latter as a poet.
— Douglas Martin
Revamp Your Resume
(Alison Doyle on About.com) – This is a good time of year, and you should do it at least annually, to check and revamp your resume. It’s important to take the time to write a resume that reflects why you’re a top tier candidate who should be selected for an interview. That means your position descriptions should be as quantified as possible – numbers, percentages, achievements – concrete evidence of what you have accomplished.
Read the full article here!