Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Web/Graphic Design Glossary

by Creative Public

Alpha Channel: An eight bit grayscale channel within some image processing software programs which is used for masking objects, making them transparent or adding specific color instructions.

Anti-Aliasing: The process of elimination of jagged or-"stair stepped" pixel edges or single pixels by a software algorithm, which blends the contrasting colors and shapes.

Binary: The basis for all digital computer information. Relates to the coding of data in terms of either a 1 or 0.

Bit: A shortened form of the term "binary digit," the smallest unit of information that can be stored in a computer. One digit of binary information can be either a mark or a space.

Bit Depth: A measure of a computer monitor's ability to display different colors at the same time. While a monitor with a bit depth of 1 can only display monochrome information, a monitor with a bit depth of 4 can display 16 colors; an 8-bit monitor can display 256 colors and a 24-bit monitor can display 16.7 million colors. A 32-bit monitor has an additional 8-bits for transparency effects or masking as in the case of an Alpha channel.

Bitmap: A pixel-by-pixel description of an image. Each pixel is a separate element. Also referred to as a raster image.

Bitmapped: An image, which is formed by a collection of square pixels in a rectangular format. The more bits per pixel the smoother the final image will be.

Byte: The computer standard of measure for file size, which is made up of 8-bits of information. One megabyte is 1,024 kilobytes. One gigabyte is 1,024 megabytes or about one million bytes. One kilobyte is 1,024 bytes.

Cache: Storage within the computer, which processes data very quickly. Often in RAM or can be a supplemental board. Increases operating speed and efficiency.

READ THE FULL GLOSSARY HERE

Marciano’s Italian New Yorker Cuisine


Watch out for the launch of the Marciano’s Menu by VitalStrats Creative Solutions.

Marciano’s Italian New Yorker Cuisine is inspired by the greatst Italian-American Boxer who proved that dreams do come true.

Here we feature the great city of New York where it all began for most early Italian immigrants. New York, with its character, sophistication, energy, and abundance gave new life to their rustic Italian dishes. The product of which is a dynamic Italian-New Yorker cuisine you will certainly enjoy.

Marciano’s is located at second floor, Greenbelt 2, Makati, Philippines.

Specialize

Find one thing you're good at and then specialize until you are special. It could be a sport, a task, a natural ability, or a personally developed talent. Use that strength as much as you can to build your level of assurance and specialization.

John Maxwell

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

THE SURVIVOR TEST FOR REPUBLIC CHEMICAL INDUSTRIES



VitalStrats Creative Solutions will put the Republic Chemicals Industries Inc. (RCI) to a “Survivor” test in the white sands of Boracay on Oct 23-24.

VitalStrats will be in charge of creating the concept to hype up the sales conference of RCI, the country’s leader in adhesives and sealant. Collaborating with the client, VitalStrats conceived a series of physical challenges based on the popular TV reality show “Survivor.”

All the materials VitalStrats are preparing for the event – the audio-visual production (AVP), event title and tagline, banners and teambuilding games dovetail with that “Survivor” look and feel.

Aside from conceptualizing the AVP, VitalStrats also wrote, shot and edited the material. As for the teambuilding games, they were not just fun physical challenges; these events aim to bring out the sales force’s core values that RCI prides itself with. To ensure that the games are done right, the staff of VitalStrats will be on hand to supervise and act as marshals in the games.

The “Survivor” handle met the RCI management’s objectives of motivating its sales force to work as a team and to pursue excellence.

VitalStrats Creative Solutions is a creative shop that specializes in below-the-line creative solutions, audio-visual productions and the management of sales conferences.

Monday, October 20, 2008

Serge Seidlitz

Check out the awesome work of Serge Seidlitz

Sunday, October 19, 2008

45 Rules for Creating a Great Logo Design

  1. Do not use more than three colors.
  2. Get rid of everything that is not absolutely necessary.
  3. Type must be easy enough for your grandma to read.
  4. The logo must be recognizable.
  5. Create a unique shape or layout for the logo.
  6. Completely ignore what your parents and/or spouse think about the design.
  7. Confirm that the logo looks appealing to more than just three (3) individuals.
  8. Do not combine elements from popular logos and claim it as original work.
  9. Do not use clipart under any circumstances.
  10. The logo should look good in black and white.
  11. Make sure that the logo is recognizable when inverted.
  12. Make sure that the logo is recognizable when resized.
  13. If the logo contains an icon or symbol, as well as text, place each so that they complement one another.
  14. Avoid recent logo design trends. Instead, make the logo look timeless.
  15. Do not use special effects (including, but not limited to: gradients, drop shadows, reflections, and light bursts).
  16. Fit the logo into a square layout if possible, avoid obscure layouts.
  17. Avoid intricate details.
  18. Consider the different places and ways that the logo will be presented.
  19. Invoke feelings of being bold and confident, never dull and weak.
  20. Realize that you will not create a perfect logo.
  21. Use sharp lines for sharp businesses, smooth lines for smooth businesses.
  22. The logo must have some connection to what it is representing.
  23. A photo does not make a logo.
  24. You must surprise customers with presentation.
  25. Do not use more than two fonts.
  26. Each element of the logo needs to be aligned. Left, center, right, top, or bottom.
  27. The logo should look solid, with no trailing elements.
  28. Know who is going to be looking at the logo before you think of ideas for it.
  29. Always choose function over innovation.
  30. If the brand name is memorable, the brand name should be the logo.
  31. The logo should be recognizable when mirrored.
  32. Even large companies need small logos.
  33. Everyone should like the logo design, not just the business that will use it.
  34. Create variations. The more variations, the more likely you are to get it right.
  35. The logo must look consistent across multiple platforms.
  36. The logo must be easy to describe.
  37. Do not use taglines in the logo.
  38. Sketch out ideas using paper and pencil before working on a computer.
  39. Keep the design simple.
  40. Do not use any “swoosh” or “globe”symbols.
  41. The logo should not be distracting.
  42. It should be honest in its representation.
  43. The logo should be balanced visually.
  44. Avoid bright, neon colors and dark, dull colors.
  45. The logo must not break any of the above rules.
Source

Cool Gig Posters

Cool gig posters by Cody Fennell:











All posters are illustrated and laid out by Cody Fennell.

Brainstorming Tip: Think Inside the Box

Oftentimes we hear the phrase "think outside the box" to generate brilliant ideas. This brainstorming tip by Michael Karnjanaprakor proves it otherwise:

When forced to work within a strict framework the imagination is taxed to its utmost – and will produce its richest ideas. Given total freedom the work is likely to sprawl."

— T.S. Eliot

As creative professionals, we’re always told to “think outside the box” and "go crazy with creative ideas." But, as you know, that comes with tons of frustrations and brainstorming sessions that lead to nowhere. How many times have you left a creative session in a worse place than where you started? Now innovative thinkers are saying that we should think inside the box to come up with creative innovative ideas. I’ve been reading a lot of the Harvard Business Review lately and came across this great article. Excerpt below..

“Many managers fail to generate a stream of solid ideas because they employ two common techniques: They encourage their people to go wild and think outside the box or they assign them the task of slicing and dicing the old boxes (in the form of existing market and financial data or specially commissioned market research) in new ways.

In its descriptions of how Nobel laureates and other creative people achieved their breakthroughs, an interesting insight emerged: Once they asked themselves the right question, their ideas flowed rapidly. This revelation prompted us to examine how the most successful companies in recent history had achieved their positions. We found that a number of their innovations sprang from responses to particular questions. But, subsequently, we realized that it didn’t matter whether they had actually asked a question or not. What mattered was whether there was a question that could have uncovered the kind of extraordinary opportunities that CNN, Google, USA Today, eBay, and Amazon identified and exploited.”

And what do you know? The Made to Stick guys wrote a recent article in this month’s Fast Company along the same lines..

Boutique hotelier Chip Conley has used this principle ingeniously in creating his unique properties. He told his team: Let’s bring magazines to life. His company, Joie de Vivre Hospitality, designed the Hotel Vitale in San Francisco to be “Real Simple meets Dwell.” That’s a crystal-clear box. And it makes it easy for his team to brainstorm features of the new hotel. The architects elevated the yoga studio to a prime top-floor location, rather than tossing some token yoga mats next to the elliptical machines in the gym. The front-desk clerks waged war on clutter: Imagine a countertop with no pen cups or frequent-stay rewards-club brochures. The housekeepers don’t just clean the rooms; they organize them. Other Conley hotels feature a Rolling Stone theme and a New Yorker theme. We can all be grateful that he hasn’t yet unveiled the Economist hotel, where staffers continually remind you of your ignorance of foreign affairs.

So what does this all mean? Most innovation and creativity occurs with a good starting and end point. Without a good starting point, great ideas can and will not happen. Here are some tips on how you can run an effective creative brainstorming session.

1) Keep the brainstorming session groups small (no more than 4). Gather people from diverse backgrounds, experiences and interests. The best ideas happen when different people with different experiences collaborate. If you have a big group, break them into smaller groups and keep them separate from each other.

2) Start each session by asking the right questions - “If your city got destroyed, how would you rebuild it?”

3) Or start each session with the right context and framework as guidelines - “Imagine if Good Magazine meshed with Apple to create a hotel. What would that look like?"

4) Hold more than ONE brainstorming session with an end goal at each one - "What are we trying to accomplish? A new product."

5) Leave the meeting with ACTION STEPS. Hold each person accountable for always moving the ball forward.

That’s all for today. Feel free to leave your thoughts below! Or if you have any tips you would like to add, I would love to hear them!

When Cloning Goes Wrong

I envy the photo manipulation skills of the artist who did these. Look very closely on the details and check if you see some flaws.











View the rest here.

13 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer

Do you hate rainbow gradients, Comic Sans and Bevel and Emboss?

Find out how to do bad typography on the list compiled by graphic designer Jason Cass.

13 Signs You’re A Bad Graphic Designer

Interesting article! Find out if you're guilty of these signs. Feel free to react if you think there's anything objectionable.

Drunk Driving Ad

Saturday, October 18, 2008

OVERSENSITIVITY

Oversensitive people are constantly licking their wounds. They look inward and are not aware of the needs of others. Naturally, people don't flock around them.

John Maxwell

Friday, October 17, 2008

PERFECTIONISM

Perfectionism is an obsessive need to perform flawlessly. It stifles creativity and freedom and it turns people away. Perfectionists can rarely affirm themselves; therefore, it's very difficult for them to affirm others.

John Maxwell

Thursday, October 16, 2008

Animator vs. Animation

This video was shared to me by altumviditur.



Awesome animation by Alan Becker

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Clorets Ad

This ad has a very strong and effective visual representation of a stinky mouth/breath. If this happens to me, I think I'd feel like cutting off my tongue rather than resorting to Clorets. :P


Playboy Beach Towel


Will you use it if you had one? :)

PEPSI "Straws" Ad

Unforgettable PETA Ad





"The action is named ‘None of us would like to end up like this.. neither would other-than-human animals’ and it was done with four big foam trays, each of them containing a naked activist inside, and covered with a see-through plastic with a ‘Human meat’ sticker on it. The idea was to imitate the ‘meat’ trays we can find at the supermarkets and to show that we are also animals, just as other-than-human animals, we neither would like to end up there."

Sources: Vegan Activist | Unforgettable Advertisments

COLOURlovers™

COLOURlovers™ is a resource that monitors and influences color trends. COLOURlovers gives the people who use color - whether for ad campaigns, product design, or in architectural specification - a place to check out a world of color, compare color palettes, submit news and comments, and read color related articles and interviews. See More Color

Plus63

















+63 is a collective blog dedicated to providing an online venue for Philippine creatives. The idea behind +63 is to create a rallying point for the industry by adapting and updating the international country code for the Philippines into a recognizable trademark for Filipino culture, design, and art. 


PRIDE

A prideful person will have a tendency to look down on other people, feeling a sense of superiority. People will not follow or identify with a snobbish personality who is conscious of status and position.

John Maxwell

Monday, October 13, 2008

AFFIRMATION

Affirmation - the ability to build up. We tend to become what the most important person on our life thinks we will become. Think the best, believe the best, and express the best in others.

John Maxwell

Friday, October 10, 2008

What happens to you speaks of your circumstances. What happens in you speaks of your character. And what happens through you speaks of your charisma.

John Maxwell

Our First Out-of-Luzon Event

We just acquired an events management project! We're all excited about it because its going to be held in Boracay two weeks from now.

This will be our second project for the Filipino-owned adhesive company. We handled their sales convention which we mounted at Mount Sea Resorts last January. I guess they liked our work so they're getting us again for their next sales con.

Our general tasks: coming up with the main concept of the event which includes the event title, design and activities aligned to the sales objectives; management of the event flow, production of an AVP -- overall we're planning an experience that the company's sales people will not forget and at the same time will let them inculcate the values, motivation and empowerment the top management wants to instill.

As I am writing this, our director and account manager are boarding the plane to Caticlan for an ocular and our writer is already drafting the AVP script. Our creative team has already executed design studies for the approved event title and I am tasked to submit adjustments on the costs within the day. It feels nice that everything is under control. :)

We have exactly 12 days to make everything happen. Here comes the adrenalin rush!

Thursday, October 9, 2008

"BAYANI" A Short Film on the life of a Modern-Day Hero


"BAYANI"
Story and Direction: Mike Alcazaren
Script: Patrick Manahan
Production Company: Vitalstrats Creative Solutions
Produced by BPI

Bayani, an IT specialist, is duped the first time he goes abroad intending to seek the proverbial “greener pastures”. Wife Felize is all heart and would not find fault, in spite of her man's obvious blunder. Meanwhile, Bayani's mother-in-law Lola Conching, is much less understanding. Fact is, she has never liked plain-looking Bayani for her pretty daughter. The couple has an only child, Roland, from whose point of view the story curiously unfolds. From gaffes to triumphs and a curious twist at the end, follow the travails of Bayani and his family as he attempts to overcome his first failed foray as a migrant worker and try a second time around. A light-hearted tale about the Pinoy modern-day hero.

MAIN ACTORS
Jun king Austria
Kalila Aguilos
Abner Delina
Julius Danielle Gareza
Maribel Escover
Bernard Laxa

STAFF AND CREW
Director - Mike Alcazaren
Screenplay - Patrick Manahan
Director of Photography - Pao Pangan
Assistant Director - Melvin Lee
Musical Score/ 2ND AD - Nani Naguit
Producer/Editor - Amrei Dizon
Assistant Editor - Francis Ventura
Production Designer - Joy Puntawe

"Bayani" will premiere tomorrow and will be shown to over a hundred people at BPI's posh function hall at their main office. Most of the attendees are from the top management of BPI and their clients from other big corporations. Press people will be present too.

VitalStrats has co-produced two full-length independent films -- Nick Olanka's 2006 Cinemalaya entry "Ang Huling Araw ng Linggo" (starring Johnny Delgado, Boots Anson-Roa, Baron Geisler) and Ed Lejano's "SEROKS" (Juliana Palermo, Neil Ryan Sese) for Cinemaone Originals. The premiere for these two films were both held in cinemas (CCP and Robinson's Galleria Indie Sine).

"Bayani" gave us a different experience because it is a commercial work. Although we worked with the same team for our independent film projects, the experience with veteran advertising director Mike Alcazaren and Melvin Lee gave us a taste of how it is in a TV commercial production setting.

VitalStrats has produced a number of corporate videos and producing TV commercials in the near future is one of our goals. This project has been a great big opportunity because it leads us one step ahead. ;)

INFLUENCE

Influence - the ability to lead. Leadership is influence. If something new, exciting, and interesting is happening in your life, you will want to share it. In doing so, you will influence others and they will want to follow your lead.

John Maxwell

Wednesday, October 8, 2008

RESULTS

Results - the ability to produce. Charismatic people want to be on the winning side of life. People like being around winners and want to play on the winning team. Find your strength and then find someone who needs your strength. That creates productivity.

John Maxwell

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

ACTION

Action - the ability to make things happen. Something exciting always seems to be happening around a person with charisma. The charismatic person has an aversion to being boring. He or she may be controversial, unusual, or entertaining, but never boring.

John Maxwell

Monday, October 6, 2008

HELP

The ability to reach out. Put simply, charismatic people are helpers. They are out to see others profit; they have the gift of grace. In fact, the Greek word of gift is "charisma" meaning "gift of grace."

John Maxwell

Sunday, October 5, 2008

CONCERN

Concern - the ability to show you care. Charismatic people have the ability to show concern for people's deepest needs and interests. That doesn't mean charismatic people are mushy or patronizing, but when you are around them, you sense their interest and care and leave them feeling that you are important.

John Maxwell

Going into Food Photography




Photography is one of the artistic skills that I want to develop. I am a photography enthusiast and I started to photograph commercially when our agency acquired restaurant clients that required for us to shoot their food items.

Way back in 2004, I used a point-and-shoot camera to shoot food for banners and menu boards. Last year, since client's budget cannot afford the rates of our freelance photographer, I took the plunge and went for it. I only had a few DSLR technical knowledge, composition skills and a lot of guts. I borrowed a Canon 400D and lighting equipment for our first stint. After the succesful trial, we were referred to other restaurants and had regular food photography projects.

All the shots above were taken with just the lens kits. You may view the rest at my food photography set in flickr.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

CHARISMA

C-Concern
H-Help
A-Action
R-Results
I-Influence
S-Sensitivity
M-Motivation
A-Affirmation

Keep in mind that these traits are not simply inborn; they are attainable by anyone who cares about other people and wants to develop his or her rational skills.

John Maxwell