March 15, 2009
Most people take billions of pictures of their children. Since we have no children, I tend to take billions of pictures of our dogs. I’ve taken over a gig worth since I got my E-510. I thought I would share a few of my favorites:
March 10, 2009
Project 2 for my computer illustration class involved redesigning an existing advertisement. I found this Bookmans ad in The New Times. Bookmans is my favorite bookstore in the area, so I thought I could do better.
Project requirements:
Use a sample you really hate and make it better.
Here is the original piece:
Notes:
I wouldn’t say that I really “hate” the original ad, but I certainly find it lacking. The original ad was promoting a “green” message in the copy, but the design wasn’t supporting that message. I addressed this in my redesign with a green and blue color scheme, and a Photoshop composite of a tree growing out of a book.
I searched for other designs with a “green” message, and found that most used clean san serif typefaces. I checked the Bookmans website and found that it mostly uses Myriad Pro, so I selected that as my primary typeface. I considered Helvetica, but decided it looked too “corporate” to fit with the culture of Bookmans.
Here is the redesign that I turned in:
Positives:
I think the colors used in the spheres behind the text go well with the tree, and I like the repetition of the logo. I think the concept of the tree growing out of the book is a good one, though it might have been a little more effective with a higher quality tree image.
Negatives:
I think the Photoshop composite came out OK, but I think the photo of the tree is a little blurry. It works OK for this ad, but it would have worked better with a sharper picture. I would have taken my own photo, but searching out a single tree in an empty field wouldn’t have been practical. Overall I think the composition may be a little too busy. Subtracting one of the “bubbles” or perhaps making an illustrated version of the tree/book image might have solved this. However, I don’t know that an illustration of this image would have been quite as compelling.
Teacher’s feedback:
Nice rework. I would suggest distinguishing “Bookmans” in the logo with another color – it’s getting lost in the sea of green.
For the final version I changed the logo lettering to white:
March 7, 2009
I was pretty excited a couple of days ago when I checked my stat counter and found that I had 51 hits in a single day! I was much less excited when I figured out that around 40 of those were from browsershots.org, which is a tool to see how your website looks in a variety of different browsers.
Well, this got me thinking about web traffic, and more specifically my lack of it. I average around 10 hits a day, mostly from Google image search. Of course I would like to see the number increase, but I don’t see that happening anytime soon. I decided it might be fun to look at all the things I could be do to boost my traffic, and why I’m not likely to do them.
1. Post more often
One of the cardinal rules of blogging is to post frequently. Search engines have psychic powers that let them know how frequent a site is updated. Those sites with more frequent updates get higher ranking, which means more hits from the Google fairy.
Why I won’t do it:
Between work, school and all the other obligations of life, I have very little time to blog. As an aspiring writer, I also try to spend time doing odd writing exercises such as, oh I don’t know, writing. Of course writing a blog is writing, but it’s not adding to the word count of my novel.
2. Be more focused
Niche sites can find niche audiences. I have creative schizophrenia, oscillating from photography to graphic design to writing, then back to photography. Throw in my infrequent posts concerning bacon, and you’ve got a recipe for discomblogulation. (Technically, I’ve got the recipe, not you. And since it involves bacon, you better believe it’s delicious.)
Why I won’t do it:
As I said, I have creative schizophrenia. If I only posted about one of my creative pursuits, I would have an even bigger problem with #1 than I do now.
3. Promote, promote, promote
Many “boost your blog traffic” articles will tell you that one of the best ways to get traffic is to run around commenting on other blogs. Anywhere you can get a link back to your site will increase your exposure. Of course there are also things like Twitter, Digg, and all the social networking sites, all of which can help build on your overall web presence.
Why I won’t do it:
Again, this all goes back to time. If I don’t have time to put up a new post every single day, do I really have time to hunt for Myspace friends, or Twitter my every inane thought? Sorry, but traffic just isn’t THAT important to me. If I were trying to make a living off of this, it would be a different story, but right now that stupid little Twitter bird can go find the nearest jet liner.
4. Live in the Now
Google provides a tool that shows the most popular keywords of the moment. Right now, for instance, there are an awful lot of people searching for information about the American Idol wild card. If I put up a post with that phrase in the title, I could probably triple my traffic for the evening. I know this because I put up a post about last minute Halloween costumes at the end of October, and my traffic skyrocketed for about 2 days.
Why I won’t do it:
I don’t even know what the American Idol “wildcard” is, nor do I care. That show jumped the shark about 30 minutes after it first aired. Ever since then it’s done nothing but pump more second-rate musicians into the recording industry. Even if I were a rabid Idol fan, does the world really need more coverage of that vacuous hack factory?
The same goes for most other “topical” subjects. Unless I feel I have something different to contribute, I don’t see the point in adding another opinion to the pile that always develops around the big news story of the day.
March 5, 2009
The Bleam Corp Annual Chili Cook-off part 4
(see part 1 here)
(see part 2 here)
(see part 3 here)
The Bleam Corp employees lined up, empty chili bowels in hand. John thought the line looked a lot like the one they formed at the time clock at the beginning of a shift.
A large metallic cylinder crashed through the cafeteria ceiling, interrupting John’s musing. The Bleam Corp employees forgot all about ‘Gustav’s Gut Bomb’, ‘Bob Bluster’s Gut Buster’, and the other various bean related delicacies. Everyone stared at the object now dominating the center of the room. Skeeter Davis finished her song and Barry Mann started asking, Who Put the Bomp in the Bomp Bah Bomp Bah Bomp?
To John’s eyes the object had about the same circumference as a port-a-potty, and about twice the height. A ring of cracked tiles radiated out from the point of impact.
A door on the cylinder slid open to reveal a slimy creature with skin the color of steamed carrots. Roughly the height of a man, it had a small oval shaped torso. A neck stretched from the middle of the torso out to support an eyeball the size of a human head. Small caterpillar-like tentacles lined four long, sphincter tipped, multi-jointed appendages.
“What the Hell is that?” John stared at the creature.
The Bleam Corp employees screamed and scattered.
“Who cares what it is, I’m getting the Hell out of here!” Carlos bolted for the door.
The two main exits to the cafeteria quickly clogged. John saw Carlos trip and fall. The frantic exodus trampled him into something that looked like ground beef.
The alien creature lumbered toward the chili table, tossing aside tables and chairs. Three more cylinders crashed through the ceiling. Then two more. More creatures emerged from each, leaving a trail of orange slime behind as they sloshed toward the chili.
“Oh great, look at that mess,” John said.
The first alien reached the chili table, and plunged one of his tentacles into a pot of Bob Bluster’s Gut Buster. The other aliens caught up and began slurping the other contest entries. When they’d sucked a pot dry, they would fling it off the table.
The sight of the overturned tables and discarded cookware angered John.
“You disgusting alien scumbags. I’ll fix your little red wagon.” John turned and walked through the swinging double doors into the cafeteria kitchen.
“This is even worse than last year’s mess.”
He went to the back of the kitchen, and through the rear exit. The exit opened into an alleyway. The administrative building made up one wall of the alley, which also housed the cafeteria. The Bleam Corp bean cannery made up the other side.
John retrieved a bottle of ammonia-based window cleaner from one of the several storage sheds that cluttered the alleyway.
“This ought to do the trick.”
He locked the door to the shed, and returned to the kitchen. John the jugs into the pots of chili bubbling on the stovetop, and loaded them onto a metal catering cart.
As you can see, this is where things start to get weird. They don’t get any less weird as the story goes on.
March 2, 2009
I spent all weekend in CSS Hell to complete my new theme. I hope everyone likes the new look. I’d love to hear any oppinions anyone cares to offer. If you notice any bugs, please E-mail me, or leave a comment.
© 2009 E.R. Ellsworth